Indians Misfire, Lose 8-3 Hot Dogs A Big Hit With Crowd, But Tribe Can’t Get Hit It Needs

The most noise made by fans at Seafirst Stadium Monday night occurred after 3-1/2 innings when the Spokane Indians’ team mascot, “Otto,” the blue dinosaur, and members of the marketing department, fired hotdogs from the field into the audience of 2,767.

Otto’s performance was more impressive than the team’s. Eugene beat Spokane 8-3.

Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth, the Indians had the bases loaded with no outs. But in typical Spokane fashion, only one run crossed the plate.

In the inning, Ems reliever Billy Blythe came in for starter Chris McKnight. Blythe hit the first batter he faced before walking the next three to drive in a run that helped Spokane cut the deficit to 5-3.

Blythe was lifted for Thad Chrismon, who faced Tyrone Frazier. With one swing of the bat, Frazier summed up what this season has come to represent for the Tribe.

With the bases loaded and the suicide squeeze attempt on, Frazier bunted the ball in the air back to Chrismon, who caught it before throwing back to third base to double up Victor Moreno, who was trying to score.

As far as Otto was concerned, he was sharp.

With a giant slingshot, the prehistoric prima donna gunned two hotdogs through the press box windows.

It was reminiscent of the two balls Spokane catcher Pat Hallmark launched into center field in the first inning trying to gun down runners.

To start the game, Eugene’s George Lombard walked before stealing second base. On the steal, Hallmark threw over shortstop Mark Melito’s head allowing Lombard to go to third. Center fielder Tony Miranda then threw a hot potato to third in attempt to get Lombard. It was a wild throw and allowed Lombard to score.

After Joe Trippy walked, he then stole second base before being driven in by Roosevelt Brown. Brown then stole second and reached third on another Hallmark throwing error.

Though Brown never scored, the first inning was a sign of things to come. Once again, fielding errors put the Indians behind the eight-ball and they never recovered.

Someone who might be having a tough time recovering this morning is a Seafirst fan who only identified himself as “Ed.” He drew the second biggest roar of the night.

A rather rotund gentleman, Ed wolfed down four ice cream sandwiches in 35 seconds in the Darigold Ice Cream Sandwich Eating Contest.

Before Ed tried to upstage Otto, though, the Emeralds put two more runs on the board in the top of the third using four hits to chase Spokane starter Justin Adam from the mound.

Eugene was less than stellar in its performance, too. In the bottom of the third, the Emeralds gave up two unearned runs with the help of two errors. However, Eugene got one of those runs back as Lombard smacked a homer over the left field wall against pitcher Modesto Villareal.

When it was all said and done, 3 hours later, the Indians’ public address announcer told what was left of the crowd to “come out and tune in” to the Indians in their nationally televised contest on ESPN2 against Yakima at Seafirst on Aug. 31.

It was just that kind of night.

, DataTimes