I'll be honest with you, it's not much fun to write the game recap after a loss, let alone after a bunch of losses in a row. In case you didn't know, "el web maestro," the author of these little nuggets, is one of the players. Now, as a player, I lack the requisite objectivity and desire to talk about our mistakes during a specific game or flaws as a team in general that someone like a beat writer for an independent institution has to have in order to be good at their job. Pick up the Star Trib and read Phil Miller's stuff on the Twins or Russo's on the Wild; this, obviously, is not that, not only in terms of the quality of the writing (and just to be clear, I am not putting myself in their company as sports writers/reporters), but also in terms of the style and purpose. We're doing something categorically different here. And so you aren't going to read the same type of story regardless of whether we win or we lose. You just won't, and I make no apologies for that.

But there's another way to look at this as well. And it's this: it's easy and fun to write the game recaps after a win, just like it's easy and natural to have a positive attitude and maintain high-energy lighthearted chatter during the game when you have more runs than the other team. Anyone can do that. When things aren't going your way . . . not so much. Baseball teams are very much like individual people in this regard. Their true character shines through not when things are going well, when everything is rainbows and unicorns and butterflies, but when they're in the middle of the $#@&, when it's a struggle, when you're showing up, doing the work, and still not getting the results you want---in this case, a win.

And so, in the name of showing up and being honest with both ourselves and you, dear reader(s), though it would be much easier just to say, "Muskies lose, seeya Friday in Lonsdale" and leave it at that, here's the fact of the matter. We've lost seven of our last nine games, which is one of the worst stretches we've had in the last decade, and this, quite simply, is uncharted territory for us. Even in the midst of this funk, the expectation, from player to player, without exception, is that when we show up at the park, we're going to win. I promise you, friends, no one has mailed it in or anything like that. Nevertheless, it's hard to point at that one thing and say if only we could fix that, then everything would be fine, because frankly, it doesn't really feel like anything is broken. Sure, our homeruns are down by about half from last year, we're striking out more than we're walking (which is atypical for us), and we've made more errors in the field than we have in the past. But we've basically got the same group of guys, and with the addition of the four rookies, we arguably have a better roster than last year.

And so, for better or worse we're going to find out the true character of our team over the course of the next few weeks. It's been a long time since we've been this low in the standings, meaning it's gut-check time. I, for one, know we have what it takes to make a deep run at this thing. We have the talent, we have the coaching, we have the community support, we have the beer, and now we just have to remember that we have---and have always had---the grit.

Seeya Friday in Lonsdale.