Lots of choking going on around the diamonds the last few days. The Padres dropped 10 straight and nearly all of their NL West lead before finally snapping the skid with Monday's win over the Giants. It's the first time since the 1932 Pirates a team has lost at least 10 in a row and still maintained a division lead.
In the International League, Wednesday's semifinal openers are set as North Division champ Scranton/Wilkes-Barre plays Columbus, the wild-card team, and South Division champ Durham meets West Division champion Louisville. Columbus lost four straight over the weekend to last-place Toledo to blow the West, allowing Louisville to cap a comeback from 13 games down in early July with its win over Indianapolis.
And there was plenty of drama in the Pacific Coast League as well. Iowa manager Ryne Sandberg did his job to keep Cubdom going by blowing his North Division crown over the final two games at home against defending league champion Memphis. Guess he's got a future in Chicago?
The I-Cubs suffered an 8-7, 15-inning loss on Saturday and dropped Sunday's game, 7-6, after leading by three runs but then giving up a ninth-inning home run (two longballs by ex-Bison Jason Dubois weren't enough for Iowa to survive). The teams actually finish tied but Memphis won the playoff berth on the tiebreaker of best division record. Boo to that. They should have played again today in my book.
So the PCL matchups are Memphis vs. Oklahoma City and Tacoma vs. Sacramento. Durham beat Memphis in last year's Triple-A National Championship and the Sept. 21 game could have the home club in it this year; it's played annually at Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.
---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)
tagged
International League | Major leagues | Minor leagues
