Jack Bauer Squared headed on as tough a road trip as we could imagine to end the first half, playing the two best teams in our National League back to back. First up was a visit to the Oakland Coliseum to face Hitmen 24×24.
The first game was tight and low-scoring, as Mike Cuellar and Dennis Eckersley dueled to a 1-1 tie that went into extra innings. Unfortunately another error by Bobby Bonilla (his 16th) helped the hosts score in the 11th and win 2-1 and extend our losing streak to four.
The second game was a case of karma coming back to bite me, as I had made light mockery of the opposing pitcher, La Marr Hoyt, during the draft. So of course he held us hitless through 5 innings as Hitmen took a 7-0 lead.
We picked up a few late runs to make it a little close but lost 7-3, our fifth straight setback. To say the least, not the direction we wanted to be heading.
We needed one win just to avoid a second straight sweep now. In the 6th inning, we racked up four runs on five hits to take a lead, but Hitmen closed the gap. In the top of the 8th, however, we picked up another four, including a three-run homer from Ryne Sandberg.
Sandberg has been light on first-half highlights, and this was just his 4th homer. But we’ll take the 9-4 victory and the end of the five-game slide for now.
Another tough series awaits, alas. Just trying to hang in these races.
