The Maine Loggers had gotten off to a fantastic 10-2 start to the season, when it all came crashing down in a series of swings and misses that this manager has never seen in 40 plus years playing this game. After losing 2 of 3 in Mount Pleasant, the Loggers came home to host the TrainWreck for three more games. Fans in Maine sold out the concession stand of coffee over the course of three nights. In Game 1, the Loggers suffered FOUR injuries in the first seven innings, completely depleting the already thin Maine bench. Mount Pleasant suffered two injuries as well, and there were three HBP (no brawl anymore, but both managers commented that this was definitely the most "brutal" game of the year). The teams went to extra innings tied at 3-3. It stayed that way until nearly 2 AM Eastern when Eddie Rosario launched a 3-run homer, sending Maine fans home cursing after a 6-3 loss in the 15th inning. The teams combined for an unbelievable 30 men left on base, and what has to be a league record, combined 38 strikeouts.
Things would get worse. In the next game, the Loggers were shutout, losing feebly 2-0. Things would only continue to get worse for the Maine offense, which was already looking downright offensive. In the series finale, the Loggers managed to push across a single run in 17 innings. In the top of the 17th, with the game stalled at 1-1 for the 12th straight inning, that man, Eddie Rosario (Mount Pleasant's leadoff hitter, mind you) launched another game winner. The Loggers had lost 5 of 6 games to MTP, despite oddly outscoring them 25-23 over those six games (thanks to a 13-2 win).
The Loggers then prepared to host Pittsburgh, coming in having scored a grand total of 1 run over the previous 36 innings. Somehow, someway, the drought continued. Pittsburgh won the first game 5-2. That would be the peak of the Maine offense. Pittsburgh then won 1-0, and 4-0 in the next two games. Maine had scored an astounding 3 runs over 63 innings!! (That's the equivalent of 7 full games, for those keeping score at home).
Manager Steve Willnus was ready to down an entire bottle of rum at this point. Sensing nothing to lose, he went with the old "pull the lineup out of a hat strategy". And what did the Loggers do, against James Paxton, who had shut them out in the 1-0 game? They went out and scored 19 runs. Of course, they did. Pittsburgh finally eaked out a run in the bottom of the ninth to cut the final margin to 19-1. The Loggers had outscored Pittsburgh 21-11 over four games, and lost three of them. During the course of the 2-8 slide, Maine outscored it's opponents 46-34. And won 2 of 10 games. I have never seen anything like it. This crazy year goes on...…….
Gonna leave you with this one, from Geoffrey Fieger's bro....and the Knack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LjsOoO0VdM
