RENO - The dog days of summer. They are great if you're involved in a pennant chase. They are brutal if you have nothing to play for.
The Reno Silver Sox are simply playing out the string, and they showed it in a 9-4 loss to first-place Long Beach Monday night at Peccole Park.
Reno dropped to 11-21 in the second half of Golden Baseball League play with just six games left in the season.
The Silver Sox seem to be going through the motions. There doesn't seem to be a lot of enthusiasm. The Silver Sox want the season to be over with, the quicker the better.
"It's the end of the year," said hitting coach Mike Done, who ran the team while manager Les Lancaster watched the game from the press box. "We're not playing for anything. The last few games can make or break a season. If you're hitting .250, you could easily drop to .230. If you're hitting .230 or .240, you could get up (close) to .250.
"The enthusiasm has to come. You want to finish the season strong. It's something you have to play through. It's hard because everybody is different. It's whether they have a competitive spirit or not. You have to fight to find a way to win."
There certainly wasn't much fight in the Sox on this night. Except for a three-run outburst in the third and a run in the ninth, they went out rather meekly against Long Beach starter Ryan Claypool and relievers Marcel Vianna, Brandon Thompson and Sean Buller, who scattered nine hits.
The quartet was helped out by some solid defense. Jonny Kaplan twice robbed Reno's Adam Amar of doubles with running catches in the right-center field alley. Jorge Araiza also made a nice play to take a hit away from Maurice Cole.
Reno was just 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position, and clean-up hitter Kane Simmons left four teammates stranded thanks to three strikeouts. The Sox left runners in scoring position in the third, fifth, seventh and eighth innings.
Ex-McQueen star James Johnson got off to a rocky start, allowing two runs in each of the first two innings, putting his team in a quick 4-0 hole.
Johnson plunked Kaplan to open the game. Kaplan stole second, advanced to third on an error by Johnson and scored on Chris Klemm's infield out. Jaime Martinez reached on an error by Amar, advanced to second on a single by Wakeland and scored on a single by Gabe Mayorga.
David Ramirez singled to open the second and scored on Araiza's double that bounced around the left-field corner for a 3-0 lead. Two batters later, Klemm singled home Araiza for a 4-0 lead.
"I had absolutely no feel," said Johnson, who fell to 1-4. "Even the outs I got in the first inning were hit hard. My slider and curveball were both up."
Lancaster spotted something that Johnson was doing during the second inning, and the right-hander turned things around with three straight scoreless innings.
"I was hooking everything instead of bringing the arm straight out," Johnson said, explaining how he was bringing the ball back incorrectly. "I've done that before. I felt OK the rest of the time."
Reno closed to 4-3 in the third when a bunt single by Sam Walker and walks to Josh McLeod and Cole loaded the bases with no outs. Victor Hall singled to right scoring Walker. Ryan Kowalski grounded into a double play that scored McLeod from third base. Juan Senreiso was safe on an Araiza error, allowing Reno's third run to score.
Johnson was touched for two more runs in the sixth, but he should have gotten out of the jam. With the bases loaded and two outs Martinez hit a slow roller to short. Walker didn't charge the ball and his throw short-hopped Amar, which allowed Ramirez and Kaplan to score for a 6-3 lead.
Reno put runners on first and third with two outs in the sixth, but Vianna retired Cole on a broken-bat groundball to first base.
In the seventh, Kowalski doubled to left with two outs, but was stranded when Simmons struck out against Buller.
The bottom of the eighth was the same story. Walker hit a two-out double, but it went for naught when McLeod grounded out, leaving the Sox staring at a 7-3 deficit entering the ninth.
Reliever Josh Evans was touched for two in the ninth before turning the ball over to Matt Parris, who retired the Armada without further scoring.
Reno scored in the ninth when Hall singled, moved to second on an infield out and scored on a single to right by Senreiso.
The loss was Done's second stepping in for Lancaster.
"The first time, Les was in the dugout to guide me a little," Done said. "This is the first time where I did it all the way. It's a draining experience, all the things you have to think about. I'm exhausted. It's something I want to get into when my playing days are over."
Watching a team go through the motions certainly is exhausting.
Notes: The three-game series continues tonight at 7 with Reno's Nick Moran opposing Dustin Gober ... The team is playing a season-ending 5 p.m. double-header on Saturday with fireworks to follow instead of finishing the season on Sunday.