Knights Fall Prey To Evil Empire

LOS ANGELES, CA - Pete Halvorsen speaks. Hide the children, and valuables, too.

"Yeah, it's an embarrassment for me to be wearing this f -- uniform because of the way I'm playing," Halvorsen said Sunday. "Now go away."

With that, he shooed away the quote-getters and flipped a laundry cart downside up, turning the dirty-clothes-on-wheels into a visual metaphor of the current state of affairs for Halvorsen and the Knights.

Of course, if Halvorsen had handled a few ground balls as surely as he did the clubhouse belongings, maybe the Knights wouldn't have lost for the first time against the Yankees this season. The latest, a loss, dropped the Knights into 2nd place for the 3rd time this season, a hole they will now have to dig themselves out of.

"We couldn't have had a worse start than what we had and we know it," manager Ryan Saul said. "To lose like this here at home ... we're better than this. There's no way that should happen. At this point, we keep fighting and, hopefully, you get ticked off and do something about it." Saul who later mentioned he did all he could connecting on a basehit to right and throwing a runner out at 2nd base, for the second time this season as he was quick to remind the press.

"It's been a tough few games for him, there's no getting around it," Saul said of Halvorsen. "I know his arm has been hurting him, but he won't let that be an excuse."

Don't think Halvorsen is sinking this ship alone. It merely looked that way as he booted one ball and threw another one away in the first inning.

Truth is, most everyone is finding ways to botch it when at-bats matter most. The Knights left 11 men on base and never truly looked like they were ready to attack the Yankees like the two previous victories. The Knights beat Singleton back in May but were unable to put together a solid rally.

Even starter Rod Boaz got dragged into the mess, giving up 8 earned runs in 3 innings to undo a personal three-game win streak.

"No one's happy about the way we're playing, including ourselves," first baseman Kevin Murkey said. "I think we've been ticked off for a while. It's not like the schedule's going to get any easier for us."

Leading All-Star vote getter Jonathan Williams sounded more optimistic about life "One thing you learn when you are 1,000 leagues under the sea Max...there's no where to go but up." I asked Williams to elaborate he got a crazed look in his eye and stepped up on his chair "Do you have a dorsal fin? To train ze dolphin you must zink like ze dolphin! You must be getting inside ze dolphin's head. I am saying to Snowflake, "Akay!... Akay Akay Akay?" und he is saying "AKay Akay!" und he is up on ze tail "Eeeeeeeeee!" und you can quote him! "

To quote Homer Simpson "Before, Before...Quit living in the past Marge." The Knights will now look forward and hope to get back on track and stop their win-lose-win-lose-win-lose pattern.

Looking forward the Knights will play the Cubs this Sunday @ 10 AM.

I leave you with this...



I'm Max Mercy and I'll see YOU at the ball park.