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While the festivities off the field led to a promising holiday weekend, the El Paso Diablos did not have many reasons to celebrate.
What started as a promising home stand after winning two out of three games against Grand Prairie turned into frustration. The Diablos closed out their six-game home stand by losing two out of three games to Shreveport-Bossier, a team that El Paso had not lost to in six prior meetings.
In doing so, the Diablos (21-27) squandered an important opportunity to get back into the divisional race that would have helped close the gap in the South Division between them and first place Fort Worth.
Thousands filled Cohen Stadium over the weekend in hopes of creating a home field advantage that would help the Diablos improve their position in the league standings. Fans wanted to see fireworks both on and off the field, but were dealt some duds along the way.
"Consistency is a major issue right now, one night it's good and one night it's bad, it's even to the point of being inning to inning," manager Butch Henry said. "We fall asleep in the middle of games right now, we got to learn for nine innings and put teams away when we got them on the ropes."
The inconsistencies were spread out throughout the week, especially in the late innings. Against Grand Prairie, the Diablos lost their series opener 6-5 after allowing the game winning run to score in the ninth inning. Two days later, the Diablos pulled out a ninth inning rally as well, scoring five runs to win 8-7 to take the series.
Diablos box office manager Steve Martinez felt that despite not being able to exceed last year's Fourth of July attendance record of nearly 13,000, the night was a success and a remarkable event for many El Pasoans to enjoy. The Diablos fed off the high volume of intensity that the home crowd produced, which resulted in a holiday win against the Captains.
"We fell a little short, about 2,000 people," Martinez said. "It was a real good crowd and a good win."
The atmosphere this weekend seemed to spark the Diablos at times. El Paso played like a team possessed and hungry for wins some of the times, while at other times, they showed their inexperience, such as allowing 12 runs in the last two innings of the series finale with the Captains en route to a 15-11 loss.
"We definitely got a great group of guys, we're about to end the first half of the season and were having ups and downs, but in the second half we're going to try and come out stronger and try to win," outfielder Tyler Johnson said. "We just got to put it together."
The Diablos hit a point in the season where they must start playing better baseball if they want to make a serious push in the standings, a goal that was once within reach. In order to do so, the team will need performances like those produced by pitcher David Whigham.
The right-hander had a no-hitter into the fourth inning in the July 2 game against Grand Prairie, until he was hit by a line drive and forced to leave the game. On the season, Whigham leads the team in wins and is second in innings pitched.
On the verge of losing the game, the Diablos rallied back in the bottom of the ninth inning by scoring five runs, resulting in the teams' sixth walk-off victory of the season.
"His loss is really going to hurt us. It's going to be a challenge for me to find someone to replace him based on his stats, the fact he is a rookie, the fact that he produces the way he has been this year, and how he has been throwing the ball extremely well," Henry said. "My thoughts and prayers are with him everyday for full and speedy recovery."
El Paso goes on the road for a six-game series against the Pensacola Pelicans. The road series starts a stretch for the Diablos where they will play nine of 12 games away from home. The Diablos and Pelicans have matched wits six times with both teams taking three wins a piece in their season series thus far.
"Right now I think we're still searching for an identity," Henry said. "I think we are still searching for who we are as a team. I got good ball players, I got good pitchers and I got a good team."
Christopher S. Silva may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.
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