A 3-game win streak propels Aviators past the 50 mark, in sight is the 2041 tally now
Well, we’ve passed our revised target of 50 wins and are now just seven shy of last year’s 59 tally. Can we do it? Unlikely I think, but the line-up will be getting a shake-up next week with four of our 40-man players coming up from Albuquerque now that their season has finished. Still undecided on resigning Maldonado, his production since coming over to us is not screaming $12 million a year plus to me. Hector Garza’s $500K - $1 mill probably looks better for our budget. Maldonado’s fan favourite status has helped us, but I’m torn on whether I fancy giving him around $80-90 million for that privilege. I really feel I need a few more years of developing players to come up and support that kind of player before I’ll feel happy laying out those sorts of contracts.
Games 134, 135 & 136 vs Phoenix Talons
9/1 vs Phoenix L 2-6 (38.941)
9/2 vs Phoenix L 4-5 (39,625)
9/3 vs Phoenix W 9-5 (31,613)
Aviators opened the month with a second innings homer from Francisco Mendez, but by the time they got another hit, in the fifth, they were 3-1 drown. By the time they got their second run, in the eighth, they were 6-1 down and about to record another loss. In the second game both teams had two 2-run innings but it was the odd one that dashed Wichita’s hopes, Yann Legrand somehow let seven batters come to the plate and let only one score. That one was enough to cost Aviators the game though. Phoenix opened the final game with a 2-run shot in the top of the first but an all too rare, these days, Luis Maldonado 2-run shot in the bottom half tied it up. Five hits in the bottom of the second blew the game open, scoring four runs and leaving Talons in Aviator’s wake. Duane Coutts pitched into the seventh, another Wichita rarity, and collected his fifth win while Maldonado went 2-4 and drove in four runs.
Games 137 & 138 @ Brooklyn Robins
9/4 @ Brooklyn W 2-1
9/5 @ Brooklyn W 9-5
A rare series sweep, a feat only achieved three times before in 2042 (Charlotte in the opening series of the season, Charm City, April 11/12 and Jacksonville May 22/23, all 2-game series). Wichita took advantage of two walks to score in the first innings of the first game and wrapped up the win in the seventh when Hedde Aalbers tripled and Jim Abernathy’s sac fly got him home for the winning run. Tony Alomar pitched two clean innings for his 21st save. Sancho Torres allowed a 2-run homer in the bottom of the first in game two, leading to a 3-run innings . Two runs in the third and the fourth innings plus another four in the fifth broke any resistance from the Robins though. Matt Chambers went 2-4 with a walk and drove in three on his 13th homer of the year while Jorge Rincon, who hasn’t played as often as he’d have liked, went 4-4 with a walk, scoring twice and driving a run in.
Game 139 @ Atlantic City Gamblers
9/7 @ Atlantic City L 2-9
On a three- winning game streak the Wichita fans in Atlantic City got excited when Juan Hernandez hit the game’s first pitch over the fences, but Atlantic City matched his feat in the start of their innings and hit another homer off Jose Montoya a few minutes later. Unfortunately Aviators next two hits were in the fifth and the sixth, both batters were also erased on a caught stealing for the final outs of the fifth & sixth innings. By then though Gamblers had plated eight runs and the game was gone.
Standings as at September 7th
Record v Johnson League
| Frontier | HW | HL | AW | AL | Atlantic | HW | HL | AW | AL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boise | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | Atlantic City | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Calgary | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | Brooklyn | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Edmonton | 2 | 5 | 2 | 5 | Charlotte | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Las Vegas | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | Charm City | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Mexico City | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | Jacksonville | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Phoenix | 2 | 5 | 3 | 4 | Montreal | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| San Antonio | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | New Orleans | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| Wichita | X | X | X | X | Rockville | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| TOTALS | 11 | 21 | 22 | 26 | TOTALS | 11 | 19 | 10 | 19 |
Batter of the Week was 24-yr-old Juan Hernandez. In five games Juan hit .333/.429/.556, launched one homer, three RBI and scored five times. He walked three times and only struck out three times in 18 AB’s.
