Washington Loses Two, Leefenhaufenhauz Injured August 31, 2000
(AP) WASHINGTON--Somehow it was fitting that the Washington Sea Dogs, on
the day they acquired injured shortstop Omar Vizquel, the man who
was supposed to bolster their offense, lost two one-run games due to a
lack of offense and another player to injury.
The Sea Dogs dropped a doubleheader at home today against Coos Bay 4-3 and
1-0 to split a four-game series and cast serious doubt upon Washington's
motiviation to stay ahead in the playoff race.
"We've never really been in a race like this," manager Aaron Weiner said.
"Before, our competition has always crumbled. This year, we seem to be
crumbling with our competition."
Weiner makes the point that Binghamton has not gained on Washington in two
weeks, but Washington has not managed to gain but one game in that time.
"We're drifting right now," Weiner said. "We were hoping Omar Vizquel
would be able to come in and jumpstart the offense, but that isn't going
to happen any time soon."
With it more and more likely that WAshington will have to rely on pitching
and defense to get them into the playoffs, the Sea Dogs were solid in that
department today. However, Washington managed just ten hits in the two
games, and managed only one scoring rally in nineteen innings.
"We're just bogging down out there," Weiner said.
A lot of the blame can go to Troy O'Leary, who has no homers since coming
over from Sacramento. O'Leary, a Sea Dogs reclaimation project, has hit
almost .300 but without any power, which was the reason Washington
acquired him.
"We told him to hit the ball the other way, but we didn't tell him to stop
pulling the ball," Weiner said. "We were hoping to get a lot of
production out of him."
The Sea Dogs, once in control of the wild-card race, are now looking down
the barrell of a six-shooter. They have a four game set against archrival
Phoenix and a key six-game road trip with three games against Battle Axe
and three more against Phoenix.
Washington still holds a two-game lead over Binghamton and a four-game
lead over Battle Axe for the wild card.
