Fresh off that surprising sweep of Hitmen 24×24, the Jack Bauer Squared squad headed to Atlanta Fulton County Stadium for another huge series against Piazza Blues. When you’re tied for the division with 21 games to go, every loss starts to sting. Not to mention those 21 one-run losses we’ve racked up through the season.
Piazza Blues jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the 5th inning of the series opener, and we never really had a decent look at the game. The 7-2 loss put us a game behind in the division race and kept us from hitting .500 on the season.
We came out in the second game with a run in each of the first three innings, and Mike Cuellar put up another strong start. Cuellar allowed 2 runs and 3 hits across 7 innings, which normally would be good enough to win.
Alas, the home squad tied it in the bottom of the 8th, and we went to extra innings. We broke it open in the 11th with a four-run inning, keyed by Bob Bailey’s two-run single, and went on to win 7-3.
Coupled with a loss by Steroids Make You Fast, we moved back into a first-place tie and again just one game below .500. The rubber game of the series would be yet another shot at reaching the even mark.
Things started off exceedingly well. Joel Youngblood homered to lead off the game, and Carlos Delgado hit a solo shot two batters later for a 2-0 lead. We added 3 more in the 3rd inning, keyed by Bobby Murcer’s two-run homer. (Fun fact: Delgado and Murcer both with exactly 24 HR and 97 RBI.)
Two can play at that game, unfortunately. Piazza Blues kept going deep, and going deep, and going deep … to the tune of six homers in all. We wound up losing 9-6 to slip yet again to two games under .500 but remained in a first-place tie.
JBS and Steroids are tied at 71-73, with our division opponents only 4 and 6 games back and still with a chance to get in there, too. The wild-card leader is at 75-69, which means there’s even some chance still of making the playoffs that way.
With 18 games to go, we get a bit of a schedule advantage with back-to-back three-game series against the NL’s two worst teams. After that it’s four games each against our three division opponents, and that’s all that’s left. The playoffs are in sight, and you never know what can happen if you make it.
