July 13: Rocks spend the “Weekend at Bernie’s”
The characters may be different but the symbolism between the 1989 hit movie and its sequel were certainly paralleled over the weekend.
The Rocks were riding an impressive seven game winning streak that included wins over the respected Lyon’s Pub, Lakers, and Cobras. With their match-up against the Metro Merchants on Friday, the Rocks had high expectations. In his post game press conference, Rocks manager quoted two former NFL coaches by saying, “You play to win the game. Metro is who we thought they were. Enough said. We let them off the hook.”
It goes to show that no-team in the Park National league can be overlooked. This is not an assumption that the Rocks were expecting a win, but rather Metro is a relatively decent team when they play mistake free baseball as they did Friday evening. It also helps when Dave Laukkonen is pitching.
The crafty left-hander silenced the Rocks bats after the Rocks emerged with an early score of 2 – 0. That’s when the Rocks left their guard down and Laukkonen took charge. Metro battled back slowly as the drizzling rain started to pick up. Metro scored in the third inning on a passed ball and then scored three runs in a decisive 5th inning thanks in part to clutch hitting.
The Rocks had no answer for their rally, mostly in part by being their own worst enemy. In all but one inning the Rocks had runners on base. They just weren’t able to deliver the big clutch hit.
The Sequel
Coming into the rematch against the Angels, the Rocks were looking forward to avenging an extra inning loss earlier in the season. In that game the Angels charged back to score 4 runs in the top of the 7th inning to tie the score. The rematch between these two rivals was well worth any paid admission to Parade Stadium on Sunday.
The Rocks were the first to score and would score one run in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th off starter Darren Ginther. The damage could’ve been worse, but as in the Metro game, the Rocks left several runners on base.
Through 6 innings, it appeared that 3 runs might just be enough. Starter Brian Johnson cruised through five solid innings and hadn’t allowed a hit. But the Angels played the role of a cornered animal. With the Rocks needing only six outs to preserve the victory, the Angels made their move. They loaded the bases with one out in the sixth before Maslow made the move to the bullpen. In came Aaron Larson. On the first pitch he delivered, the Angels right fielder, Rathmann, hit a deep double to the ivy scoring all three base runners and effectively tying the score.
As the home team, the Angels would finally plate the winning run in the bottom on the 9th.
Park National
As the season wraps up for our league, only one thing is for sure…it’s going to be a wild ride. There are still six teams vying for the top spot and seven teams trying to earn a first round bye in the playoffs. Buckle up.
