Friday, September 08, 2006
Sports columnist Aaron McFarling: End comes quickly for Avs
Aaron McFarling
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KINSTON, N.C. -- Some renditions of the national anthem have lasted longer than this Salem Avalanche playoff run. The entire affair was confined to a mere two games, the final one skipping by Thursday night in just 2 hours, 14 minutes.
The final: Kinston 5, Salem 0.
Two and through.
And maybe that's a good thing. Because the streakiest team in the Carolina League was showing signs that it was hitting another cold spell, and nobody wanted to see that.
"We're contagious," catcher Jeff Mackor said. "We have been all year. When we hit, everyone hits. When we don't hit, nobody hits."
Nobody hit Thursday. And nobody hit Wednesday night in Salem until it was much too late.
Hindsight tells us that's really when this series ended -- Wednesday. Once the Avs showed they weren't going to be perfect, or at least something very close to it, their chances were shot.
Because it was going to take a lot to beat these Indians. They have the best two pitchers in the league, and both pitched like it. They have the best run-producer in the league, and he produced.
The Avs? They have their first division crown in 18 years. They have a 14-game winning streak to cherish. They have winter ball and families and offseason workouts to consume them in the coming months.
They have pride in what they accomplished -- going from worst to first in the second half -- and plan to remember the journey if not the end.
"The first half, we were the same team," Mackor said. "In the second half, we were the same team. We didn't bring in many guys. To do what we did, to turn it around like we did, guys have got to feel pretty good about what we were doing.
"It's tough to go out on a note like this," he added. "But that's the game, you know? Somebody's got to lose."
And somebody's got to win. Make no mistake: Salem may have donated Wednesday's game by committing three errors, but Kinston earned every bit of Thursday's triumph.
Salem starter Rory Shortell, who was so good during the team's long winning streak, was admittedly overexcited when he took the mound Thursday.
The Indians? They looked like they'd spent two weeks sipping tea and practicing yoga.
They waited for Shortell to throw strikes, then punished the right-hander for his lack of command. Shortell, who entered the game with a three-game winning streak, was gone after two-plus innings. With him went all hope.
"I felt really good in the bullpen, and then I just failed to get in a groove," Shortell said. "Couldn't find it.
"It wasn't anything that I could really pinpoint. I just failed to get where I needed to be mechanically."
And that's the great mystery of baseball. How can a player who was performing so well, on a team that was performing so well, suddenly fall apart?
"If I would have maybe gotten lucky and gotten a few guys out right away, it would have been easier to kind of settle in," Shortell said. "But I never really had a chance to get comfortable."
Nobody did. And quickly, mercifully, the Avs extended their losing streak to five.
They'll try to snap it in April.
