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Washington drew first blood, but then got sliced up by the Larimer Knights, 7-3, and then lost again in the second half of a day/night doubleheader, 3-2. The losses were disheartening for the Sea Dogs, who had finally started to gain some confidence.
"After yesterday, when Mike (Mimbs, who beat Binghamton ace Frank Rodriguez yesterday) pitched his heart out, we thought that it might spark us to a winning streak," said RF Matt Stairs.Ê "Guess not."
The Sea Dogs jumped right on Larimer starter Ugueth Urbina, as Stairs crushed a three-run homer over the left-field fence to put Washington up in the first inning.Ê But Urbina settled down, and didn't allow another run for the next four innings before giving way to the pen.
Shawn Boskie, who started for the Sea Dogs, said it was tricky getting past the lineup twice.
"The first time through, I was able to shut them down pretty easily," said Boskie.Ê "But they seemed to adjust pretty well after the first time around.Ê I also hung a couple pitches to the wrong people."
Indeed, Boskie gave up three of his trademark homers, a back-to-back-to-back job in the fourth inning by Edmonds, Giles and Hoiles that knotted the score at 3 apiece.Ê Then, in the sixth inning, he gave up a single to Dykstra, then a double to Edmonds, and after striking out Giles, gave up a two-run single to Hoiles.Ê He stayed in another inning before being pulled.
"Shawn had good stuff out there today," manager Aaron Weiner said.Ê "He struck out what, five batters in six innings?Ê I mean, he almost pitched his way out of that jam in the 6th, too.Ê I guess he was just a little cautious...but we didn't want to walk Hoiles with Orlando Merced on deck."
The Sea Dogs suffered a heartbreaking loss in the nightcap.Ê Todd Stottlemyre, who had been struggling some as of late, pitched seven strong innings striking out six and giving up only six hits and one run, leaving the Sea Dogs with a 1-1 tie. But the usually reliable Fred Smith came in and gave up a run in the 8th inning, putting the SEa Dogs down 2-2.
Then, in the top of the ninth inning, Chuck Knoblauch came to the plate and hit a 3-2 sinker over the centerfield fence to even the score back at 2-2.
"When I hit that shot over the fence," Knoblauch said, "I thought that we were going to win the game.Ê We were on the road, but I thought we could get to the Larimer bullpen."
The celebration didn't last long.Ê Smith and Brian Bevil combined to shut down the Knights in the ninth, but in the tenth, the Knights put the game away with a homer by Jim Edmonds.
"I wanted to bring in Fernandez," Weiner said, "but I thought I'd give Bevil another inning.Ê I'm taking full blame for this one."
The Sea Dogs drop to 39-42 with the losses, and tie Larimer for the worst record in the Data Division.Ê Washington will play one more in Larimer.
Notes and Quotes:
The Washington Sea Dogs trade rumors are currently surrounding minorleaguer Dino Rigopolous.
"Ever since we said he was for trade, there's been interest.Ê Right now, we're looking for a guy to be our 5th starter next year, and we think we might have found him.
Weiner declined to mention who was involved in the offer.
"We're not sure that we want to trade Rigopolous, though...he's certainly a future closer, and unless we get a guy who we're sure is going to be a legitimate starter, we're not even going to think about it."
Weiner was sorry to say goodbye to Gus Brocail this week.
"We had such high expectations for Gus, that maybe we pushed him too fast, said Weiner."Ê Though we don't like to lose any of the original Sea Dogs, we picked up a great arm by the name of Al Harshman, a guy who has decent control but needs to work on his stuff."
Written by Aaron Weiner