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Rainbows appear
just in time

THINK Nuke Laloosh in ladies' underwear. Yes, people. Five straight now. This is a streak.

The Rainbows are illustrating that old axiom that you can hit the snooze button -- but you'd better get going when you do get up.

Actually, that analogy doesn't quite fit. They've been good. They've been bad. They've had things go against them when they've been in-between.

So the current state of affairs has been a welcome change. The Western Athletic Conference standings are a mess and now, who knows, it could be up for grabs. And the 'Bows are grabbing games by the fistful.

Just in time.

Yeah, it's late. But maybe it's not too late. And at this point, that's all you can ask.

And these guys have been delivering, lately. Sure, Nevada grabbed an early lead in last night's game. But then Esteban Lopez hit a two-out, two-run triple that escaped sliding right fielder Shawn Scobee, then bounced into the corner and stayed there. The fans were jumping, Lopez was chugging and the game was tied.

And right then, the game had changed.

Well, maybe not quite right then. Right then Scobee (and if you don't immediately recognize the name it's because he plays for the visiting team) crushed one. So much for that.

But this is not the team that seemed to be aimlessly searching for answers at midseason. This group is not lost. No, these guys have answers, now. That's it. They have the answers. They're getting the breaks, not giving them. As Matt Inouye's at-bat theme song says, for the most part they've been doing it with expert timing.

They've always had players. Please forgive me for being two months late on this, but Joe Spiers is the real deal. In the third inning, Spiers did a Jackie Robinson. He smacked a leadoff single (his second of the night), then went halfway to the next bag and forced the center fielder to make a choice. Wrong one. The ball went behind him, and Spiers slid in with the extra base.

And then came the rallies and the hits and the breaks. Steven Wright pitched three scoreless innings in middle relief, before they finally got to him. Nice. And Nate Thurber? Gone.

But of course, just when you thought it was over, the Wolf Pack went Yogi Berra on us. A scary seventh. Scobee doobie doo.

No, with these Rainbows, you can't exhale until the final out, which came, by the way, in a pair, a dramatic double play to seal the win.

What a way to win.

So now they've got this series, but could use another W tonight. Now they are in the thick of the chaos of the race, and tonight the big crowd would be out. UH needs to deliver in front of its big crowd, just once. The place would explode.

Tonight, the crowd will come ready to believe.

It looks like it may have a reason to after all. Yes, this team is a year behind schedule, but then again, maybe it isn't. Maybe it was just a half a year behind. And that's something, suddenly. I would take that, if I were this team. I would take that and run.