Rakeville Times: Rockets lose 5-3

Roy Oswalt led the Rockets with a 1.08 ERA in two starts last week against Weymouth, but the Rakeville ace's effort wasn't enough to lift his team past the island hippies.

Rockets lose 5-3, but O’leary finds no faults.
By Hernandez Firstname, Rakeville Times

Troy O’Leary looked solemn after the game, slipping through the clubhouse like a man who found out his father died. At a later press conference, he would take all the blame, but if you could have seen him in the minutes after a tough loss to Weymouth, the words would not have been necessary.

“I can’t find any fault with the way we pitched this week,” said O’Leary. “We had an exceptional week. They just had the home field advantage. Three or four of their top guys pitched again at the end of that game, and we couldn’t do anything about it. Felix was ready, but he never got the chance.”

Rakeville had a 4-0-1 lead heading into the weekend, only to have the game slip away when Johan Santana and company stepped up and pitch their way into a 2-1-2 pitching victory.

“We hit Santana hard in his first start,” said O’Leary, “but you can’t give a guy like him a second chance. You aren’t going to get two bad starts in a row from him, or Zambrano. It is the same way with our pitchers, but we just weren’t able to use them. I should have gone to Jack Reed and told him we needed more pitching for the weekend. It has always been Rockets policy not to churn, but this game was a perfect example of when an extra start or two would have made a huge difference.”

Weymouth joins Las Vegas on the top of the East, with both pulling out last minute wins over their opponents. Bridgewater is also tied for first, but their win was a blow-out of Peoria.

“It is a step in the wrong direction,” said Rockets first baseman David Ortiz, who belted two homeruns in the final day to secure the category. “We are lucky we get to face another East team this week so hopefully we can make up for the loss.”

After an impressive 12 strikeout, shutout performance earlier in the week, Felix Hernandez is expected to start again Tuesday. “I tried like hell to get back in that game. If I had gotten a shot, it would have been different. There is nothing worse than sitting there, unable to help your team when they need you.”

The Rockets did get an impressive two-start performance from Roy Oswalt, and single game studs Josh Beckett, Javier Vazquez and first round pick Rich Hill. Miguel Cabrera was the catalyst on offense, batting .500 for the week.