June 13, 2013: Yuma, Arizona – In sports, it is easy (and often times expected) that we praise the powerhouse.  All fans revere those teams that slash through the season, leaving the emaciated corpses of their would-be competitors lying in the wake of their destruction.  All players dream of achieving the perfect or near-perfect season, but the true beauty in athletics is shown in the perpetual losers who get back up and continue to fight, even when they clearly suck – or at least that’s what their high school guidance councilors told them.

Last night, the Reno Tenpinners managed to tie the Yuma Bulldozers’ record for consecutive losses.  The record stands at 24 games without a win.  For added suspense, the two teams will face off tomorrow night.  If Yuma wants to hold onto a share of this dubious honor, they will have to step up their game.  Both teams currently reside in the cellar of the Desert Hills division.  It is difficult not to encourage both teams to go hard and strive to achieve the record because no one remembers second but everyone remembers the worst team of all time.

Reno has twenty-seven-year-old Nelson Martínez toeing the rubber with his 3-8 record and 5.47 ERA so far this season.  Yuma will counter with the equally mediocre Eric Hill.  Hill posts an identical 3-8 record but has a better ERA (4.57).  Both pitchers are right-handed and Reno has a lefty-dominant lineup ( if it is ever wise to use dominant and Reno in the same sentence).  Yuma will have home field advantage, however, and Yuma has a superior home record this season (.258 home win% versus .171 road win%).  This contest of losers will undoubtedly be decided by equal parts ineptitude and bad luck.  At the end of every contest, you are left with a winner and a loser, but in this case, I think we can all agree that they are both losers.