The Cedar Rapids Kernels wouldn’t use the “F” word. They wouldn’t go that far.Nothing from The Hawkeye, yet. Will update later.
It was apparently up to the 1,033 fans at Memorial Stadium last night to do that.
We’re talking about “frustrating,” by the way. A season-ending 2-1 loss to Burlington in the deciding Game 3 of the Midwest League Western Division championship series sure seemed every bit of that.
You give up only four hits, leave 11 guys on base. You go 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
Yeah, maybe “frustrating” isn’t the right “F” word in this case.
“Frustrating, to me, would be if you didn’t get bunts down, you played bad defense, you didn’t pitch,” said Kernels Manager Bill Mosiello. “That would be frustrating. This is unfortunate because we didn’t get the big hit. Frustrating is when you play bad baseball … Except for not getting big hits, we played about as well as you could play.”
From the Eastern Finals? Nothing from the Midland Daily News, yet. But, the Fort Wayne Journal? Oh, you bet!
First, photos by Cathie Rowand
A win worth shouting about
Extra-inning homer carries ’Caps to finals
Robert Lara raised his right hand as he made it halfway to first.
A postseason filled with frustration at the plate for the catcher ended with one swing of the bat.
Lara blasted a home run to the lawn section in left field leading off the bottom of the 10th, ending a 0-for-15 playoff slump and giving the TinCaps a 4-3 victory against the Great Lakes Loons.
With the home run, Fort Wayne won the decisive Game 3 of the Eastern Division Championship series and will play for its first Midwest League title. The TinCaps play Burlington, which beat Cedar Rapids, starting today.
“I don’t even remember the last time I got a hit,” Lara said. “I wasn’t feeling too good at the plate.
“I went in there trying to get on base. I took the first pitch and then from there for some reason I felt comfortable for the first time in a while. He gave me a pretty good pitch to hit, a fastball.”
Lara worked the count full against Cole St. Clair. He hit the ninth pitch of the at-bat out for his first home run since July 15.
Teams with 94 wins will do that.
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