A bit of second-half malaise for the Cedar Rapids Kernels

CEDAR RAPIDS — It has been a late June Swoon. Lite version.

A bit of an early July malaise, if you will.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels went into their Independence Day night game against Quad Cities at Veterans Memorial Stadium just 4-8 in the second half of the Midwest League season.

That’s fifth place in the six-team Western Division, just a game in front of last-place Wisconsin. A reversal from a dandy first half that saw the Kernels win the division and secure a spot in the MWL playoffs come September.

“The second half, we have not played as crisp as I expected us to play,” said Kernels Manager Brian Meyer. “But I think that’s to be expected in a way. At some point in the year, it’s going to happen. It has just happened to happen to us now.”

Things got decidedly better with a 6-3 win Friday night over Quad Cities, in which starting pitcher Cole Peschl threw six good innings and the Kernels peppered a good QC starting pitcher in Drew Beam for six runs in 3 2/3 innings.

A baseball club that has been really good offensive this season has been good in the first dozen-plus-one second-half games. Cedar Rapids is averaging exactly five runs per game.

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But it had given up an average of 5.67 runs a game, as the pitching hasn’t been quite as good and the defense has been uncharacteristically wonky at times. Just routine plays not being made.

“We’ve had guys playing different positions, getting them more reps at those positions, so those mistakes are going to happen,” Meyer said.

The manager also pointed out this is a time when guys playing their first full seasons (infielders Kyle DeBarge and Billy Amick, outfielder Caden Kendle and catcher Jaime Ferrer are examples) have played more games in a season than they ever have. That is not an insignificant thing.

Pro ball is a grind: 132 regular-season games over five months.

“So they are bound to hit a wall at some point,” Meyer said. “You learn to get through it. Whereas the guys who were at (low-Class A) Fort Myers last year or elsewhere, they’ve been through it once or twice. They know how to handle it a little better.”

The good thing here is that most guys catch a second wind. And, as mentioned, the Kernels (44-34) will play in the postseason regardless of their second-half record.

And they could get some injured guys back at some point. Meyer said starting pitcher Charlee Soto (forearm strain), he of the 100-mile-per-hour fastball, is throwing live batting practice at the parent Minnesota Twins’ complex in Fort Myers, Fla., with the hope of returning to game pitching by season’s end.

Catcher Khadim Diaw (broken thumb) has a doctor’s appointment this week and could soon head to Fort Myers for rehabilitation in hopes of being game ready at some point. Then there’s the upcoming MLB Draft, in which the Kernels could eventually see a player or two, as they did late last season with the addition of first-round shortstop Kaelen Culpepper, who excelled here the first half of this season and got a promotion to Double-A.

In other words, don’t panic yet about things.

“It was bound to happen, and we’re just trying to get back to every day playing clean baseball,” Meyer said. “Then the results will take care of themselves.”

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