PEBA Weekly
In the years ahead, Scottish Claymores fans will refer to it darkly as “The Streak” – a string of baseball futility unmatched in recent memory.
From April 27 to May 18, the boys in powder blue lost 21 consecutive games.
It was a skein so disheartening that:
- Outfielder Jim Fox – signed to a 4-year free agent contract amid hopeful fanfare just months before – demanded a trade midway through. Insiders say he renews the demand periodically, and his demeanor is so livid that teammates avoid even talking to him for fear he’ll erupt in a furious rage.
- General Manager Vic Caleca’s league-wide reputation, as measured by the Baseball News Network’s proprietary formula, plunged from “Great” to “Average” in just one month.
- Manager Hayato Sasaki went from being the winningest manager in Claymores history (with a .541 winning percentage) to third place (currently .504 and dropping).
“It took my breath away,” said Sasaki, shaking his head. “And it’s not like we were blown out in every game during those weeks. There were plenty of opportunities to break the skid, but we simply could not get it done.”
To be sure, there were a few opportunities to break the streak along the way: a one-run (6-5) loss to Manchester on 4/29; a 1-0 loss to San Juan on 5/6; one-run losses to Charleston (on 5/14) and New Orleans (5/16) followed by a 5-4, 11th inning loss to the Trendsetters the next day.
But make no mistake, Scotland played miserable baseball during those three weeks.
The Claymores scored 51 runs over those 21 games, an average of just 2.43 per contest, while allowing 116, or 5.52 per game.
Pretty hard to post wins when you’re allowing your opponent more than twice the number of runs per game.
As you'd expect, Scotland's other offensive numbers were pretty putrid, too. The Claymores hit just .209 as a team during The Streak, with 12 home runs. Their opponents? Well, they hit .247 with 29 home runs. A few more telling stats for good measure: Scottish pitchers walked 62 batters and struck out 110, while the Claymores’ offense managed 44 walks while striking out 147 times.
Six Claymores hitters – and we’re using the term loosely here – posted batting averages under .200 during The Streak. OF Marcos Uribe slashed .118/.167/.118 over that stretch, but he had just 17 at bats. More distressing was OF/DH Will Nelson, who went to the plate 49 times and managed just six hits (two of them homers) for a slashline of .122/.140/.245.
The only regulars who even approached respectability at the plate were infielder Rod Rodgers, who played in 16 games and slashed .288/.327/.308; OF Jim Fox, who slashed .286/.359/.343 in 70 AB; and SS Matt Longchamps, who slashed .265/.345/.388.
No one else even topped .225.
Pathetic.
The pitching staff had its share of screwups, of course, led by relievers Toru Yamada, Orlando Moya, and Cesar Fuentes, who posted ERAs of 15.26, 8.44 and 8.22, respectively.
But more common were guys like SP Miguel Heredia, who started 5 games and lost 4 of them while posting a semi-respectable ERA of 3.73 in 31.1 innings.
The occasional bouts of hard luck aside, there’s really just conclusion you can reach about The Streak: Scotland earned those losses. From the 9-5 pasting by Hartford at the beginning to the 3-0 shutout at the hands of New Orleans at the end, the Claymores played miserable ball.
In the end, then, the only real surprise came on May 19, when the Scottish finally broke the skid by beating powerhouse Havana 5-1 on the road.
It was a relief, of sorts, to the team.
But by then the damage (not to mention Scotland’s season) was done.
All the fans can do now is shake their heads and curse The Streak.
