The Lynx were supposed to, after limping into the All-Star break, have caught their collective breath, looked in the mirror, dug their heels in, and start afresh and with renewed vigour and determination. Instead, week fifteen saw them lose four in a row and five of seven. It would seem that Ottawa will be lucky to escape last place, never mind making a run at the playoffs. Every phase of the game was bad, even the defence this time, and it left the team frustrated, silent and feeling hopeless despite the positive spin which was being put on the situation by players and management alike and finally a good start by J.A. Happ to end the week.

The week started off decently enough for Ottawa. Norfolk evened up this four game series behind the excellent pitching of former Lynx Craig Anderson, (2-2), who pitched seven innings of two hit shut out baseball. Ottawa got one more hit, (off of reliever Jim Hoey), but Michael Doyne pitched a two strikeout perfect ninth for his franchise record setting 27^th save. Landon Jacobsen, (1-2), pitched a solid five innings for the Lynx, giving up all three Norfolk runs.

“Sometimes you just have to give the other team credit,” explained John Russell. “Anderson pitched a great game against us.”

Despite the loss, the team seemed to be playing much better and with more spark and with Russell able to finally set his rotation, maybe this team could begin to start turning things around.

Instead of turning things around and on a day honouring the fifteenth anniversary of the Lynx, Ottawa lost in one of the worst games a team could possible play. Norfolk took this one 10-1 and Ottawa deserved far worse than even that. J.A. Happ, (1-4), was once again able to go only four innings, giving up eight hits, four runs and walking four. He also gave up a long home run to J.R. House, over the fence in dead centre. The outfield made three errors on routine singles, (Leon made two, Roberson one), and the offence managed only one run, this on an error and a bases loaded walk in the eighth. As the Lynx are one roster spot short, (they are carrying only three outfielders), Carlos Leon, normally an infielder, was put in left field. His error and the Chris Roberson error on easy singles hit right at them, lead to four Norfolk runs in the third and seemed to take the fight out of the team. Ottawa seemed to merely go through the motions after that. Hitting into five double plays didn’t help the situation either as Ottawa left seven runners on base. Both managers were philosophical after the game.

“Leon has played well for us all year and he feels bad enough about the two errors, “explained Russell. ” He’s been an important part of this team all season.” Russell added, “Hitting into five double plays doesn’t help much either.” To be fair, Leon is normally an infielder and anyone can have a bad game. But the Lynx, once again, seemed to play with little or no passion, seeming to accept the loss and shrug their collective shoulders.

Tides manager Gary Allenson was also being diplomatic. “Anytime you hit into five double plays, you must be getting a lot of guys on base. We were struggling early in the year and we’ve finally got our pitching and hitting to come around.” Added Allenson, “These guys, (Ottawa), are too good to keep struggling like they have been. We’re lucky we’re playing them when they’re having problems.”

In the finale of this series, the problems continued as Norfolk once again defeated Ottawa, this time 6-1. Bubba Nelson, (2-6), surrendered all six Tides runs over his six innings of work and Norfolk starter Kurt Birkins, (6-2), shut Ottawa down in his five innings of work. The Lynx sole run came in the eighth inning as Randy Ruiz drew a bases loaded walk. Two games, two runs, two bases loaded walks. Jim Rushford had the most frustrating afternoon of any of the Ottawa hitters, leaving six men on base while going 0-4. Again, the Lynx seemed lifeless and confused, losing three of four and three straight on this quick four game home stand.

Ottawa hit the road for a series in a four games series against the fourth place Pawtucket RedSox to finish out week fifteen. Pawtucket were on a three game winning streak while Ottawa were hoping to snap their three game losing streak. Game one would feature one of the Boston Red Sox top prospects, Clay Buchholz, in his Triple A debut after dominating in Double A Portland this season. Ottawa welcomed Buchholz to Triple A, scoring three runs in three innings and making this his shortest start of the season. Randy Ruiz hit a long home run for three runs in the second although the rookie pitcher dominated in the first and third innings. But Pawtucket won this one despite the early exit by their starter, 6-4. Eude Brito was solid for Ottawa for the second straight start but this time the bullpen couldn’t hold the Lynx lead as Fabio Castro, (4-1) took the loss and suffered his first blown save of the year, giving up three runs in 1.2 innings pitched and Anderson Garcia gave up an unearned run in the eighth.

The next night saw Ottawa snap their losing streak and play the type of game this team is capable of and should be playing far more often. Ottawa fell behind 4-0 after two innings but fought back to win the game 6-5 with three home runs, two late to tie and then win the game. Ottawa starter Matt Childers, (5-1), despite giving up five runs in six innings and surrendering eight hits, picked up his fifth straight decision. Pedro Swann hit his fifth home run of the year to tie the game in the sixth and Jason Jaramillo hit his eight an inning later to put the Lynx on top for good. Jim Rushford had three hits and three RBI and Chris Roberson hit his third home run of the season in the fifth, extending his hit streak to fourteen games. Ottawa relievers Kane Davis, Geoff Geary and Yoel Hernandez were outstanding, allowing only one hit and striking out a combined five over the last three innings to preserve the victory for Ottawa. Hernandez picked up his fourth save.

Game three of this series was won by Pawtucket who put six runs up in the seventh, breaking a 3-3 tie and eventually winning 9-4. Landon Jacobsen, (1-3), suffered his third loss in a row, giving up all nine runs, (eight earned), in seven innings. The big blow was a three run home run by David Murphy in the seventh, driving in the final three runs for Pawtucket. Chris Roberson extended his hit streak to fifteen games and randy Ruiz hit another home run, (his fourth).

The final game in this brief road trip was an afternoon meeting and this time J.A. Happ, (2-4), finally got things going. Happ went six strong innings for the win, allowing only one run and striking out six and the Lynx scored five runs in the sixth and three more in the eight, holding on for a 9-7 victory . Jim Rushford made his first home run of the season count as he hit a grand slam in the Lynx big sixth inning. Pawtucket starter Michael Burns, (2-7), gave up six tuns in 5.1 innings, taking the loss. Lynx reliever John Ennis gave back four runs in the Pawtucket half of the eighth and John Russell was forced to bring in Anderson Garcia to get out of that eighth inning. Anderson gave up two more but finally nailed down the win. Chris Roberson went 0-5, ending his fifteen game hitting streak. The Lynx with hits win managed a split in the four game series in Pawtucket and their record now stands at 37-57, in last place and 15.5 back of Scranton in the Northern Division.

Lynx Notes: Anderson Garcia was returned to Ottawa July 15 and Brian Sanches, the Lynx save leader, was sent down to Ottawa the following day. Clay Condrey was recalled by Philadelphia, July 15 and Jason Anderson was transferred to Reading. Joe Besinius was activated from the DL July 17.