Finally home, Kernels deliver extra-inning win

Cedar Rapids Kernels Manager Bill Mosiello had this telling comment following his team's 8-7, 11-inning win over Beloit on Friday night at Memorial Stadium.

"This would be the one time where you are excited to know you're (already) in the playoffs," Mosiello said. "What's amazing to me is that we still hold first place ... You look at our numbers. We don't have big numbers throughout our lineup. We don't have a guy with 10 home runs, a guy with 60 RBIs. It's a testament to these kids that they do a good job of coming to play."

The Kernels moved to 22-17 in the Midwest League's second half (good for first in the Western Division) and 63-47 overall with a gift of a win Friday night. Cedar Rapids scored unearned runs in the eighth and ninth to tie the game, then won it on - of all things - a two-out, RBI broken-bat infield hit off the bat of Alexi Amarista.

It was Amarista who hit a routine grounder to second base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth that Beloit's Drew Thompson fielded but threw wildly past first to allow the tying run to score. This time around, his well-placed hit scored Tyson Auer, who tripled with two outs against losing pitcher Winston Marquez (0-1).

"The worst thing for us today was going extra innings. Unbelievable," Mosiello said, referring to a taxed bullpen. "You couldn't ask for a worse scenario, with a double-header going tomorrow and the way things have been going - our starters coming out of games so early. It's been a gut check."

The Kernels are home for a full week (nine games in eight days), which will help, too. Of their previous 21 games, 15 were on the road, including trips to three cities in Michigan.

But the real killers are the commuter trips, like the one Cedar Rapids just finished at Quad Cities. Four straight days of going back and forth to Davenport.

"It's our job. It comes with the territory," Auer said. "We had that commute to Quad Cities this week, and those are always harder than when you stay somewhere. Just because you get back here late, you've got to eat something, then get to bed and get ready to come right back here. We're definitely excited to be home and sleeping in our own beds for a week."

"This time of year, yeah, (travel is) tough," Mosiello said. "The Quad Cities trip, that's way worse than actually being on the road. At least you're staying in a hotel there. (The commuter trips) we're getting home 12:30, 1:30 every morning. Then it's doing it all over again.

"This trip we didn't hit (pregame in Davenport). We hit here about 2:30, then went over. But you're sleeping and everything, it really messes you up."

But not enough apparently. This club just continues to win, despite what's thrown in front of it.

"We don't talk about the travel," Mosiello said. "Because it's just reality."