Sidelines
THIS loss, this 5-4 kick in the gut, is the kind of loss that eats your insides. Trapasso has ’Bows believing
This is good.
The Rainbows were shocked yesterday, stunned by the fact that they couldn't beat Nevada, surprise turning to anger by the time they hit their own dugout after the game. It was like watching someone bump their head -- at first they can't believe it, and when they do, they are enraged.
And the curses echoed sharply out of the tunnel to the locker room as the team stomped away.
Good.
This is progress, painful progress.
Hawaii knew it would win yesterday, which is a change. Earlier in the year they weren't quite so sure. It was the win that came as a surprise, and not the loss. Hawaii was supposed to lose.
"Guys would actually get giddy when we won a game," Mike Trapasso said. Not a good sign.
"That's the first thing you have to change," Trapasso said. "The level of expectations."
Hawaii expected to win yesterday. Trapasso certainly did. "We were going to score in bunches," he said. "I'm surprised they held us down." All his guys needed to do was break through to the Nevada bullpen, and the hits would come and the runs would follow. Trapasso told his team this, and his team believed him.
They were going to win.
They should have won.
And when they didn't they were shocked, and then enraged.
A much better sign.
This time, they were surprised to lose.
These are baby steps in building a program, slow and subtle changes but crucial ones. The guys know they will win and hate it when they lose.
Get them to react that way, and you've already built the foundation for winning. When you get down to it, is there really any more to coaching than that?
But if it were so easy, anyone could do it.
"It's a hard thing, to change how you think sometimes," Trapasso said.
It's all but impossible.
But maybe the Rainbows are starting to, at least a little. Hawaii has had more confidence the past few games, has been playing better, has something a little bit different about it. This team has always worked hard. But now there is a new way of thinking.
And in the last 12 games or so, guys have bought into that, Trapasso said.
But it's still a slow, difficult process, and after the initial change, now comes another hard part.
"It's up to our guys to keep that same level of expectation," said the coach. "You know, the psychology of winning."
Hawaii isn't there yet. But at least the Rainbows are surprised to lose.
In the final minute heading into the last of the ninth, Trapasso talked to his hitters, had an extra moment with the guys going up to bat just before they went 1-2-3.
He told them they were going to win this.
They believed him.
You could see it in the look on their faces when they didn't.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com