You know what they say about falling off the horse and getting back on.
The Victoria HarbourCats will have to giddy up if they want any chance of catching the West Division-leading Bellingham Bells in West Coast League play.
Swept at home just a few days ago in a three-game series at Royal Athletic Park by these same Bells, the HarbourCats will climb back into the saddle tonight for the start of three on the road following Monday night鈥檚 all-star game, which was also in Bellingham.
The Bells, 24-12 and seven games up on the HarbourCats, are solid at home with a 13-5 record.
Victoria, at 17-19 overall, is 9-9 on the road thanks to six straight wins in Klamath Falls and Medford just before returning home to drop the three against Bellingham.
鈥淥ur team has been through this before with the slow start, then winning nine straight. We know we鈥檙e a good team and that we can stay with them,鈥� said outfielder Ben Polshuk, who was one of the stronger HarbourCats over the three straight losses, going 3-for-7 with four walks and three RBIs.
鈥淵eah, we lost three games at home, but they were all within a couple of runs or so. You know, a couple of bounces our way, and maybe we win all three,鈥� he said optimistically. 鈥淗opefully, we can take a couple in their yard now and make a playoff run. That鈥檚 the goal.鈥�
It sounds simple enough, but the HarbourCats will be hard pressed to catch the Bells (who they will play again in another three-game set in Bellingham from Aug. 7-9 to close out the season). A more realistic target may be the league鈥檚 only wild-card berth. The HarbourCats are three games back of Yakima Valley in the wild-card race. And they will face those Pippins Aug. 3-5 in Victoria.
The focus now, however, is directly on the Bells in Bellingham.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think they鈥檒l be different at home. It鈥檚 the same club,鈥� said HarbourCats head coach Graig Merritt. 鈥淚 think it鈥檒l be a cleaner series with less errors, even though I thought we played pretty good defence in this last series. On Astroturf there will be a lot less errors.
鈥淲e鈥檙e excited to get on the road. We have a pretty good road record and we鈥檙e excited about winning some games,鈥� he added.
Asked what his team needs to do differently this time around, he replied: 鈥淛ust execute. We have to eliminate the mental mistakes and just keep playing hard. There were a lot of stranded runners and that comes with youth again.鈥�
鈥淲ith runners in scoring position you鈥檙e not going to get a fastball and our guys are still looking for a fastball. It鈥檚 a development phase and we鈥檒l be OK.鈥�
He鈥檚 definitely got Polshuk believing.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not any tougher in their yard,鈥� he said of facing the Bells at Joe Martin Field at 7 p.m. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to come out hard and hopefully get the wins.鈥�
ALL-STAR NOTES: HarbourCats pitcher Dominic Topoozian threw one inning in Monday鈥檚 WCL all-star game, allowing no runs and chalking up one strikeout.
