[battists]

The start of the week had been promising, taking two three from Juarez, and wow, what a series! On Sunday, they'd fallen behind 1-0 in the first, and 3-2 in the fourth, and had trailed all the way up until the bottom of the ninth. And then they'd walked it off . . . literally. CF Dennis Bergeron had led off with an infield single. Trujillo had advanced him to third on another single. Alfonso Martinez had grounded out but moved Trujillo to second. They had walked Daniel Davis, and Paul had sent up lefty Jorge Flores to face Carroll Crumpler. Good call, as the Dominican free agent signing had drawn a walk to score Bergeron and tie the game. Then Johnny Brandon had come up, and they'd seen that Crumpler was struggling and signaled Brandon to be patient. And to his credit, the kid had done the job. A four pitch walk to end the game! A great start to the week.

Then Monday was even better! This time they had fallen behind 3-0 in the 4th, and trailed into the 7th, when a four-spot put them in the lead. But then they couldn't hold it, as Walt Studebaker had walked the first two hitters in the ninth, and Eduardo Maldonado had scored on a squeeze bunt to tie the game. But he had gotten out the innning still tied. And in the bottom of the ninth, Trujllo was the catalyst again, singling to right, then stealing second. They walked Sanchez, but Andy Moss singled and moved everyone up to load the bases. Glenn Payne had struck out, but then Paul had sent up Ivan Cordova, he of the 4 AB so far this season, and Ivan delivered his only hit of the season to bring Trujillo home with the winning run! Man, it had been a while since he had enjoyed a game like that! Juarez was now 21-8, and way ahead them in the standings, but 4 of those losses were courtesy of your Hermosillo Estrellas.

But they'd lost the following series, to Chihuahua, bringing the Whirlwinds to within a half a game of them in the standings. Paul wasn't under any pressure from management to win the division, but for anyone who had played the game, the desire to win was pretty much hard-wired. He knew the minors were all about player development, but he certainly didn't want to finish in the bottom half. Besides, he had something to prove. To himself, to Cary, to Patty, to everyone.

So, it wasn't a great week overall. Paul would have felt better if they had gone 4-2 at least, but there was certainly some great team effort. And individual ones too. Trujillo had broken the Liga Mexicana steals record, and he hadn't stumbled across the finish line, either. He had been simply a terror this week, in the running for player of the week with a .417/.440/.625 slash, a grand slam, 7 RBI, 7 runs scored, and TEN stolen bases, bringing his total to 33, without ever having been caught! Paul had noticed his bevy of talented baserunners, and had long since determined to be aggressive on the base paths, and it had paid off. Not only had Trujillo already smashed the record, but the top six players in the league in steals were all on his roster. The pitching was still a little spotty, but Bill Ulrich had pitched a solid seven, something they hadn't had enough of. And with the team in the midst of a stretch of ten games in ten days, they needed as much of that as they could manage. This was a long stretch on the road. They'd finished three, but this week they had four in Mexicali, three in Puebla, and next week three in Guadalajara before finally coming home on the 28th to play Acapulco. Two of those three sets versus teams they hadn't faced before. They hadn't seen Mexicali since their first series of the season, and the Diablos were now firmly mired in the basement at 10-19. Puebla, at 15-13, was right in their neighborhood. Acapulco, however, was at the bottom of the Division Sud, with the worst record in the entire league at 7-21. Paul was hopeful the next few weeks would get them back at least a few games over .500.

Team Status
Season Record: 13-14
Record for this Stretch: 3-3
Position: 3rd

Standout Performers
2B Carlos Trujillo (.417/.440/.625, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 7 R, 10 SB)
LF Terry McCoy (.400/.462/1.000, 2 HR, 5 RBI)

SP Bill Ulrich (7.0 IP, 1.29 ERA, 0.86 WHIP)
RP Ken Carman (2.0 IP, 0.00 ERA, 13.5 K/9)