What happens when you're the defending champions in the tightest
division in baseball? The consensus would be that you overcome all
obstacles because your star players pull through in the clutch. "I
wish." says MapleDogs owner Jesse Gouldson.
Continuing the saga of perhaps the greatest roller-coaster team of all
time, the Mississauga MapleDogs have languished in last place of the
Kirk division for about a month and a half now. Though only 9.0 games
back right now, and at the most 16.0, the M-Dogs have fallen far below
expectations.
"I thought we'd still be competitive, maybe give another shot at the
World Series after falling a few games short last year. Boy, was I
wrong." said last year's Cy Young winner, Kevin Brown. He is only 5-3 on
the season even though he's started 22 games, 16 of which are quality
starts. 7 decisions on 22 starts. Please.
There have been many injuries throughout the year including Mack
Leefenhaufenhauz on his very first start of the season. He is expected
back in 4-6 weeks. Chan Ho Park was injured a month or so ago and won't
be expected back until spring training next year. Rolando Arrojo is just
getting back, as is Manny Ramirez, from about a month and a half off.
Luckily Curt Schilling has been dominating. No... wait... that was
every other year he's played. This year he's 8-10 with an ERA of 4.47.
Not at all the Big Curt we all know and love.
The main reason of all this is fairly simple. For the first time since
moving to Mississauga the team hasn't gotten a steady supply of maple
cookies. That's right. The maple cookie issue will never die, only those
who try to stop it.
But it all seems to be coming together now. The M-Dogs are 8-2 in their
last ten while pulling themselves to within 9.0 games of division leader
New Diggens. People are returning from injury and with any luck,
Mississauga might still be in the race when Leefenhaufenhauz gets back
from his injury for the stretch run.
