Bears Notebook: 9/8/2013
Sunday, September 8, 2013
This edition of Bears Notebook looks at the Sovereign League Playoff race, the debut of Rubén Díaz and the Roberto Alonso no-hitter.
A LOOK AT THE SL PLAYOFF RACE
With 21 games left, the Bears are one of three teams left fighting for one of the two wild card playoff spots. Aurora (110-32) has safely secured the Desert Hills division title and will be the top seed for the playoffs. While Omaha (74-69), Palm Springs (71-71) and Canton (70-72) are not mathematically eliminated, it would be very difficult for any of them to really enter the picture as a playoff team. Either Crystal Lake (89-52) or Fargo (83-59) will win the Great Lakes division title, and the loser will compete with Tempe (88-53) and Bakersfield (88-53) to avoid becoming the team that will finish the season left out in the cold despite a great year.
Assuming that both division leaders hold onto their leads, the Bears’ upcoming series with Tempe and Fargo will be huge and should shed some light on the playoff race. Each team has six series left. Bakersfield will entertain Tempe and Duluth at home before traveling to Fargo and Yuma. They’ll return home for a series with Aurora and then will finish the season by hosting Palm Springs. Tempe travels to Bakersfield, Crystal Lake and Omaha before hosting Aurora and then finishing up on a road trip to face the two teams with the worst records in the PEBA in Reno and Yuma. Fargo has a home stand with Omaha, Yuma and Bakersfield before ending the season with 10 straight games in the beautiful cities of Duluth, Kalamazoo and Crystal Lake.
Both Tempe and Fargo appear to be very formidable opponents, as both teams feature some of the top stars of the league. Fargo features two 16-game winners (Chandler Davis and Armando Gallegos), as well as Flores, who recently hit his 40th home run of the season. And, of course, Tempe has arguably the two best pitchers in PEBA history in Markus Hancock and Conan McCullough.
BEAR MAKES DEBUT COUNT
Rubén Díaz finally made his long-awaited Bakersfield Bears debut last week and made it a memorable one. Díaz hit home runs in both his first and second games as a major league player. After six years in the Bears organization, the little shortstop from Ecuador has been waiting a long time to show what he was capable of doing. The Bears are not expecting Díaz to hit .500 and get a home run in every game, but his first two games were a great start. Both were at Palm Springs, and the Bears’ veterans rewarded the young rookie with a night of shuffleboard and soup.
NO-NO FOR ALONSO
Sandwiched in between the two fantastic games for Díaz was a pretty spectacular performance for Roberto Alonso, who pitched the 15th no-hitter in PEBA history and the third no-hitter in Bears history. It was the 4th no-hitter of the year in the league. Alonso used 118 pitches to get the job done, and although it was over his usual pitch count, there was no way Alonso was going to come out of the game. He has had the worst year of his career this season, which made the no-hitter even more special. After the game, there was no shuffleboard and soup for Alonso; he was treated by his teammates to a night of bingo and soup.
