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Terrific regular season, crummy playoffs.
That's the epitaph for the 2013 Cedar Rapids Kernels, who delighted their fans for five months before firing blanks in the Midwest League playoffs.
The Kernels collected only four hits for the second straight game and got bumped from the postseason by the Quad Cities River Bandits, 4-2, before 2,660 bummed-out fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium Thursday night.
DAVENPORT — The Cedar Rapids Kernels compiled the best record in the Midwest League this year, but if they don't win Thursday night their season will be over.
The Kernels lost to the Quad Cities River Bandits, 2-1, Wednesday night before 2,417 fans at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport in the opening round of the playoffs.
This is a best-of-3 series, so the Kernels will face a "must-win" predicament when they meet the River Bandits on Thursday at 6:35 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids.
"We're going home. We'll have a packed house, I'm sure," said Kernels Manager Jake Mauer. "The crowd will be fired up. And hopefully these boys will be fired up. We'll see what we get."
Cedar Rapids has to win Thursday night and again Friday night at home to reach the semifinals of the MWL playoffs.
"I definitely feel like we can go home and win two," said Kernels right fielder Adam Brett Walker, the league's home run and RBI king. "We're still a good ballclub. Just go back home, get some life, get some energy and just try to convert on the opportunities we're given."
Cedar Rapids Kernels righthander Tim Shibuya has been named the Midwest League Pitcher of the Week for the period Aug. 26 through Sept. 2, the league announced Tuesday.
Shibuya threw a complete-game shutout Aug. 31 at Clinton. He allowed only four hits, walked one and struck out six. He finished the 2013 regular season with a 4-0 record, 0.96 ERA and one save in 10 appearances (four starts).
The Minnesota Twins selected Shibuya in the 23rd round of the 2011 draft and he spent last season with Beloit.
In baseball's postseason, “Every single pitch is so important. Every at-bat, no matter what inning.”
That was Cedar Rapids Kernels third baseman Travis Harrison talking about the playoffs, which start Wednesday night in Davenport against the Quad Cities River Bandits.
Harrison knows what he’s talking about. He was a member of the rookie-level Elizabethton Twins team that won the Appalachian League title a year ago.
Elizabethton won two “best-of-three games” series to claim the league crown, but Harrison and his teammates will need to equal that this year just to earn a berth in the Midwest League championship series as the representative of the league’s Western Division.
If they can best the River Bandits in the first best-of-three series, they’ll take on the survivor of a similar series between Clinton and Beloit in another best-of-three challenge. The championship series between the Eastern and Western Division finalists is a best-of-five series that will decide who wears the Midwest League crown for 2013.
Cedar Rapids has not worn that crown since 1994 and has not qualified for the league championship series since 1997.
CLINTON - The Cedar Rapids Kernels don't get too wrapped up in statistics and numbers, but something caught their eye Monday.
The Kernels belted Clinton, 15-6, to finish the regular season in the Midwest League with 88 victories and only 50 losses.
The special number is 88, which ties for the second-most in club history and is the most victories since the 1990 Cedar Rapids Reds went 88-46.
CLINTON - The Cedar Rapids Kernels clinched the best record in the Midwest League several days ago and are comfortably headed to the playoffs, but Manager Jake Mauer doesn't like to see any lolly-gagging among his players.
He closed the clubhouse door for about 10 minutes Sunday to let his players know he wasn't happy after they lost to the Clinton LumberKings, 3-1, on a warm afternoon before 885 fans at Ashford University Field.
It was Game 137 in a long, hot, five-month campaign and it didn't really matter who won or lost, except to the skipper of the losing squad.
CLINTON - With both the Cedar Rapids Kernels and Clinton Lumber Kings already having their postseason plans cemented in place, the Kernels and Lumber Kings still have a three game series in Clinton to play out the string in the regular season.
The first game in the series went to the Kernels, 5-0, Saturday night at Ashford University Field, in a game that took just 1 hour and 56 minutes to complete.
But if the plan was to simply play out the string on the regular season, someone forgot to tell Kernels starting pitcher Tim Shibuya.
Shibuya gave up a two-out single to Dario Pizzano, the Clinton designated hitter, in the first inning and then retired the next 16 hitters he faced. The right-hander struck out six batters and walked one en route to his complete game shutout over the Lumber Kings.
The Kernels not only finished their final homestand of the regular season strong with an 8-2 win over the Kane County Cougars Friday night, but they finished strong at the box office as well.
With the 3,286 that attended the regular season home finale at Veterans Memorial Stadium, the Kernels totaled 180,688 in attendance for the year.
That total is the third largest total since the stadium opened with the 2002 season. It’s an increase of 12.9 percent over last season. The Kernels averaged 2,697 per game spread over the 67 home dates, which is second only to the 2,841 fans per game that showed up in 2002.
The Cedar Rapids Kernels and Minnesota Twins announced Friday that infielder Niko Goodrum has been activated from the 7-day disabled list and that infielder Ryan Walker has been assigned to the Twins in the Gulf Coast (Rookie) League. Brad Steil, Director of Minor League Operations for the Twins, announced the move.
Goodrum went on the disabled list back on August 22 with a right groin strain. He has played in 100 games for the Kernels this season, batting .256 with 3 home runs, 42 RBI and 20 stolen bases in 24 attempts.
Walker played in six games for the Kernels, batting .250 (5-20) with a double and two RBI. He was selected by the Twins in the 18th round of the 2013 First Year Player Draft out of the University of Texas-Arlington and played 42 games at Elizabethton before joining the Kernels on August 23rd. The Gulf Coast League season ended Thursday.
Byron Buxton of the Cedar Rapids Kernels has been named the Midwest League's Most Valuable Player and Prospect of the Year, league president George Spelius announced Friday.
Buxton batted .341 in 68 games for the Kernels before a late June promotion to Fort Myers of the Class A Advanced Florida State League. He had eight home runs, 55 RBI and 32 stolen bases.
The last Kernel to sweep the Midwest League MVP and Prospect of the Year awards was Mike Trout in 2010.
Buxton also was named to the league's postseason all-star team and is joined by two other Kernels - first baseman Dalton Hicks and outfielder Adam Brett Walker.
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