The story of the Jack Bauer Squared season has quickly become about one-run losses. We managed to suffer two more of them in our four-game series with Steroids Make You Fast and have now lost all six games decided by one run in just the first 16 games of the season.
This makes us profoundly unlucky, as our 6-10 record should be 9-7 based on our expected winning percentage (we have outscored opponents 82-75). There’s reason to believe the law of averages will turn around the bad luck, but it’s also possible there’s a deficiency in the team that is leading to this trend.
Game 13 was a 3-2 loss that extended our slide to five games. In the bottom of the 9th we put runners on 1st and 3rd with no one out but couldn’t get a run home. For some reason (I’d say go ask him, but we don’t have postgame interview abilities here), Joel Youngblood didn’t score on a double play grounder. Runners on 3rd almost always would break for the plate as soon as the first throw didn’t go home but to 2nd instead. The next batter flew out to deep center, and the rally fizzled.
The second game of the series found a new way to create disappointment. We led 3-0 after 6 innings and then it all fell apart. Steroids Make You Fast put together a 6-run 7th and we dropped our 6th straight game, this time 6-4.
We finally snapped the streak in Game 15, flipping the score for a 6-4 win. Our bullpen continued to be a strong element of the team, pitching three scoreless innings to preserve the lead. No outstanding individual performances, but at this point it’s just a relief.
Alas, it didn’t take long to return to our one-run losing ways, however. Instead of salvaging a split of the series, Bert Blyleven gave up four runs in the top of the 1st and we never led. We rallied for three in the 2nd but didn’t score again until the 8th and would up losing 5-4.
Despite being just 6-10, we don’t face a big deficit in the division yet. The leader sits at just 8-8, and the rest of us are all 6-10. We have another four-game series coming up with A Rod, some Wood and a Big Unit, another of the 6-10 teams in the division. Clever name, but let’s just say that we aren’t curious to see what their team mascot would be.
