Thursday, July 27, 2000 | 10:24 a.m.
Steve Guiremand is a Las Vegas Sun sportswriter. Reach him at 259-2324 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Regular Thursday columnist Ron Kantowski is on vacation.
Whoever came up with the old sports axiom that it's sometimes better to be lucky than good could very well have had the Las Vegas Stars in mind.
For the first two months of the 2000 triple-A season, it looked like Stars president and GM Don Logan was going to get his wish and have his club hosting September's Triple-A World Series at Cashman Field.
With a lineup that included a triple-A version of Murderers' Row -- Mike Darr, John Roskos, Joe Vitiello, Dusty Allen and Ben Davis -- Las Vegas found itself 16 games above .500 with a 40-24 record on June 16 and in first place in the Pacific Coast League's Southern Division.
The Stars' pitching, led by Brian Tollberg, Stan Spencer and veteran relievers Matt Whiteside and Dan Serafini, also ranked at the top spot among PCL staffs.
But here's where the bad luck comes in.
The parent San Diego Padres, who are nearing a club record after having used 46 different players on their roster this season, have been hit hard by injuries, especially in the pitching department.
Tollberg, Spencer and Whiteside have all been called up by the Padres and pitched well enough to stick in the big leagues. Serafini was traded to the Pirates. Relief ace Brandon Kolb and starter Will Cunnane have also spent time in San Diego.
Meanwhile, the once-solid starting lineup has lost Vitiello and Davis to the Padres, Allen to a trade and Roskos to the sidelines for a while with a badly broken nose. And shortstop Kevin Nicholson also departed for San Diego when Chris Gomez underwent season-ending knee surgery. Only Darr, who has played like an All-Star despite back problems recently, remains from that studly early season lineup, although Roskos could be back next week.
Even manager Duane Espy got summoned to San Diego to take over for hitting coach Ben Oglivie, who was demoted after a number of complaints by Padres players.
Espy's replacement, veteran infield instructor Tony Franklin, had barely gotten his manager's chair warm when he lost gritty leadoff hitter and second baseman David Newhan for almost a month after he severely cut his knee on the exposed edge of home plate while sliding home at Cashman Field.
Just your everyday kind of injury, right?
Franklin soon found himself shorthanded in key pitching and roster spots. Seems double-A Mobile has also been hit hard by the injury bug, leaving Las Vegas with few resources to help out. Things have gotten so bad in the past month that on more than one occasion in the past month Franklin has had to call upon pitcher Buddy Carlyle to pinch-hit in key situations.
Las Vegas opened a nine-game road trip on Wednesday night in Salt Lake City trailing first place Sacramento by six games with just 44 games to go. Sacramento and the Stars have eight head-to-head games left, including a season-ending series Sept. 1-4 at Cashman Field.
The bad news is Sacramento, which has won 22 of its last 26 games at its new Raley Field, plays 28 of its final 40 games at home.
So, barring a miracle and something that has been lacking around Cashman Field lately -- good luck -- the Stars can forget about any postseason play this season.
Put a fork in them. They're done.
archive
