If only all their games were on Saturday mornings
The Tacoma Rainers’ Major League affiliate has managed to make this season as entertaining as a Wile Coyote cartoon. Each day we’re all wondering just how this team is going to lose in the end. Will they smash into a painted wall? Or have an anvil fall on their collective heads? No, this team is more like every instance Mr. Coyote runs off a cliff for several moments, only to realize he has no more ground left to stand on.
That is what it has felt like keeping track of the Tacoma Rainers’ Major League affiliate. Every game we just watch and wait for the team to plummet.
Fortunately for those of us who have things to do in the evening, it didn’t take long for you to turn off the TV in disgust. After just four innings, starter Erik Bedard was out of the game and his team was trailing 5-0. Sure, there was a furious comeback. One run in the fourth inning and three runs in the fifth pulled the team within one run. But that was all the scrambling the team could do in mid air before they realized who they were, last place in the West and tied for the worst record in baseball. Then, they fell, eventually losing 5-4.
Just five players combined for the team’s six hits. Counting those who pinched hit, a total of six players went 0-fer for the evening. And just one of the team’s four runs were earned meaning that if it hadn’t been for the Angels’ momentary ineptitude, the Rainers’ Major League affiliate would’ve likely lost by three rather than one.
But there was a lone bright spot. Reliver R.A. Dickey went 5-2/3 innings, scattering three hits and striking out six batters while allowing zero runs. In fact, he’s hasn’t allowed a run in his last 13-2/3 innings pitched. His current ERA is 2.82 and his recent performances (he pitched 5-1/3 on May 30) may earn him a spot on the rotation.
It would be a rare bright spot for a season devoid of any happiness right now.