JetHawks sputtering bats fall to Giants

By DAVE RASBACH
Valley Press Staff Writer

Soon they'll find themselves without an invitation.

With Saturday's 6-1 loss to San Jose before 1,857 fans at Municipal Stadium, the JetHawks were officially eliminated from the South Division wild-card chase.

Lancaster, which lost its fourth straight and fell to a minor leagueworst overall record of 44-82, stands at least 15 games behind High Desert with only 14 games remaining.

The JetHawks, who are 21-35 in the second half, still have an outside shot at the South Division second-half title, but time is running out to make up ground on division-leading San Bernardino. The Stampede held an 11-game advantage over Lancaster entering play Saturday.

"It ain't over till it's officially over," Lancaster manager Darrin Garner said. "We're never going to quit."

But if the JetHawks continue to play like they did Saturday, the race will be over before they know it.

"We came out a little flat today," outfielder Harvey Hargrove said. "We just didn't seem ready to play."

Despite that, the JetHawks were in the game, trailing only 2-1 until the bottom of the sixth inning, when San Jose scored four runs to put the game away.

Even though Lancaster starter Patrick Dunham (0-4) loaded the bases with no outs, allowing singles to Tim Flaherty and Tony Zuniga and walking Kevin Tommasini, he could have escaped unscathed.

Dunham struck out Yorvit Torrealba looking before getting Pedro Mota to send a tailor-made double-play ball toward shortstop Joel Ramirez. But the ball rolled between Ramirez's legs for the first of his two errors on the day, allowing two runs to score and the Giants' rally to get rolling.

"That was a ball I definitely thought he should have turned," Garner said. "We needed the big pick-me-up. We could have been in the game. But we didn't get it. That's how things have gone for us this year."

The five-run deficit proved to be too much for the stagnant Lancaster offense to overcome.

The JetHawks managed only three hits, their lowest total in a nine-inning game this season, and scored just one run for the second consecutive game. In fact, Lancaster put six runners on base in the game and stranded three.

"We didn't swing the bats well at all," Garner said.

Part of the problem might have been facing former major league reliever Julian Tavarez, who was on a rehab stint with San Jose following his demotion to Class AAA Fresno.

Tavarez faced the minimum in his four innings of work, striking out three and allowing one hit and one walk.

Usual San Jose starter Jeff Urban (7-4) finished the job, holding Lancaster to a sixth-inning run on two hits and a walk in the final five innings while striking out eight.

"Tavarez pitched a pretty good game and then the lefty came in and threw well, too," Garner said. "I didn't think we were real aggressive at the plate against either of them."

San Jose jumped on top in the first inning when Flaherty doubled in John Tsoukalas and Brett Casper. But Dunham settled down to retire 12 of the 14 Giants batters he faced in the next four innings.

Lancaster finally got into the game when Rafael Lopez opened the top of the sixth with a triple to right-center. He scored on Hargrove's two-out RBI single.

But that's as close as it would get.

Uploaded August 23, 1999