Hold My Log - 57.26 - Weeks 8 and 9 end Portland's Hopes

[7teen]

The month of May started dismal and it ended in pretty much the same fashion. Portland lost its first 5 games to kick off the season's second month and then watched the team lose 8 of its last 10 to end the month and 10 of its last 12 to end week 9. This will be the stretch the effectively ends any false hope that this team could hang around a while longer for post-season push.

"Who were we kidding" commented a frustrated Kate Fiscus after the club lost its 4th straight to Omaha, completeing the sweep. "This team doesn't have enough pieces to be a serious threat. The pitching staff is being held together by scotch tape. To say it's being held by duct tape is an insult to the strength of duct tape. At this point, for the fans, I just hope we can may work our way back to .500 so the fans don't just abandon the season and cause the organization to lose profits."

As for the pitching staff problem, 5 of the team's pitchers find themselves on the "Who's Cold" list after week 9. The staff ranks dead last in the Frick League in runs allowed with 304. A total that wasn't helped by the fact the staff allowed double digit runs in 5 of the team's 13 games over these two weeks.

On the attendance front, it would be a tough blow to the organization if fans do abandon attending games. Granted, over this last losing stretch, all the games were played on the road, which seems to be a theme here in the first two months of the season. In weeks 8 and 9, Portland played just 2 home games, splitting a pair against Hawaii to kick off week 8 before embarking on an 11 game road trip through Des Moines (team went 1-3), Omaha (team went 0-4), and Long Beach (team went 1-2). In the two home games, 41,000+ and 36,000+ attended to the Tropics contests.

On the season, the Lumberjacks have played 37 games on the road compared to just 19 at home.