[Bub13]

June 13-15 @ MONTREAL
The final round of Interleague Play starts today, with a set in Montreal. The Expos are 31-33, 4th place and 6.5 behind the Cubs. Statistically, they're pretty middle-of-the-pack, being 10th in runs, 7th in AVG and OBP, 9th in runs against. The batters are a fairly middling lot, with one large exception: 3B Matt Anderson, whose career 162-game averages are .332/41/119. He's having a good year, albeit a down one for him, at only .324/15/50, 1.3 WAR. LF Fernando Abalos (.336/12/34) is also a stud, but will miss at least the first two games. Pitching is also just fair (excepting Rafael Maldonado, who is a beast), but they've managed to put up the 5th best bullpen numbers in the NL despite having five relievers currently disabled. Michael Ryan is managing his seventh season in Montreal, and has only one losing record to his (dis)credit. (Fun fact: he was also the Pirates manager in 2032 when they started their impressive dynastic run, winning 108 games, but losing to San Diego in the League Championship. He was fired after the season, and the Pirates went on to two World Series titles without him.)

HAW pitchers: Bobby Little (7-0, 4.40) / Bobby Piccirillo (3-1, 3.72) / Leon Casillas (10-2, 2.09)
MTL pitchers: Carlos Tapia (6-2, 3.24) / Rafael Maldonado (6-4, 3.05) / D.J. Breland (5-8, 5.19)

#64: WIN 3-2 ... outhit 10-4, but Dunklee's three-run shot in the first is all we need...Little remains undefeated with six pretty quiet innings
#65: LOSS 4-6 ... outhit again, Dunklee goes deep again, but it's not enough this time...Piccirillo gets knocked around for 6 runs in 4.1 innings...Yates at least has his ERA below 7 now
#66: WIN 3-2 ... Tiny Robertson's 2-run shot in the seventh ties it, and Dunklee's bases loaded sac fly in the 10th caps it...Casillas good, pen goes 3 strong innings

Three close games, but you can never argue with winning 2 out of 3....Piccirillo has been bad in three of his last five starts. Mark Phillips' rehab stint is ending soon, so right now it looks like Pics should be making travel plans. Although, to be honest, none of them have impressed....Reliever Rich Beltowski has been a good middleman for us, 2.67 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and 45 K in 33.2 IP. Which still doesn't explain why he's third in AL all-star balloting for relief pitchers...."Impossible" draftee Jonathan Klump signed with us, fyi.... ELSEWHERE: Seven teams in MLB have 40+ wins; three of them are in the AL West (Hawaii 48, Seattle 42, Oakland 41)....Hawaii and the Mets have the biggest division leads, both at 7 games. NY is facing a run by Richmond tho, having won 8 in row....In this last week, rumors have surfaced about four disgruntled players wanting trades; all four are decent, but not great, and all four are currently starting for their respective teams. The other shared trait? All want to bat at the top of the lineup, but are currently hitting 6th or lower.


June 17-19 @ CHICAGO CUBS
Winners of 90+ games two years running (but with zero division titles), the Cubs sit in first place at 41-27, four up on Cincy and St Louis. They're good all around, 5th in runs for, 2nd in runs against, 1st in OBP, and 4th in starters ERA. Their lineup is a reverse donut: solid in the middle, with Cuban rookie Oscar Sandoval (.270/14/41), Luis Mendez (.301/13/55), and Alex Castillo (.301/12/47) driving the offense. Only one of their starting pitchers (Mike Martin) is homegrown, but they've all been good this year: no starter has an ERA above 3.86 (league average is 4.00). "Mr K" Jordan Cruz is still leading off, somehow, while batting .215 and with 99 K in 261 AB.

HAW pitchers: Rob Hart (6-4, 6.12) / Eric Jones (6-1, 3.78) / Bobby Little (8-0, 4.30)
CHC pitchers: Jay Lamb (7-3, 3.80) / Mike Martin (6-7, 3.86) / Scott Kopetsky (5-6, 3.07)

#67: LOSS 3-8 ... you're killing me, Hart. Six runs in six innings, and we lose despite outhitting an opponent again...Mike Hunter hits his first career HR
#68: LOSS 0-1 ... it's not your day when you outhit your opponent 11-5, give up your only run on a wild pitch, and lose
#69: LOSS 1-3 ... you ask: did we outhit them? What do you think...Little is good, but loses his first of the season...Groff pulls a hammy and will miss THREE WEEKS.

Ugh. We outhit (30-19) and out homer (4-2) the Cubs, but lose all three games. Sometimes the dog bites you, I guess....Worse, Groff is out for three weeks. Ernesto Martinez comes off the DL, but now we have six OF and zero backup IF on our roster. CF Josh Drayton has been terrible all season, and is making 18.7M for two more seasons. Yes, he's a fan favorite, but it might be time for a change.... ELSEWHERE: Oakland and Seattle are now tied at 44-27, just four games back. Why do they BOTH have to be good this year?...Don't look now, but Tampa has won three in a row to move to 18-50, while Austin has lost 11 straight to drop to 23-47. That's my kind of race, right there....Cranky 1B Raul Molina got his wish, getting sent away from fifth-place Washington, but right to the last place LA Angels. Devlin Ransberger, who at 36 has no business playing catcher anymore now gets to do it every day.

......

We interrupt this broadcast to announce a major trade involving, duh, YOUR HAWAII ISLANDERS. Despite our recent run-scoring drought, I still feel like we need better starting pitching. So I sent slumping CF Josh Drayton back to his original home, San Francsico, along with AA reliever Lorenzo Quinones (acquired from Cincinnati two years ago) and a pair of draft picks, for starting pitcher Billy Heine and minor league reliever Lorenzo Saez. From our perspective, this was eminently doable: we have outfielders to spare, Drayton has a huge contract, and Quinones has potential to be a decent closer, he is (and always will be) wild as hell. What we're getting in Heine is a solid #2 starter, with five pitches and quality across the board. He's outspoken though, with a stupid little beard, but if we win it won't matter. Saez is insurance, who at 35 still has something in the tank and will play in AAA for now. San Fran is also retaining 6M of Heine's salary.

......

June 20-22 vs CINCINNATI
Now six games in back of Chicago, thanks to our roll-over-and-play-dead job. Stats-wise, they're schizo: 7th in runs scored but 13th in AVG but 8th in OBP but 14th in HR. And 10th in runs allowed but 4th in starters ERA but 14th in bullpen ERA. Whatever, they win games. 1B Franklin Espinal is the team leader at .267/11/35, with ancient 2B Jimmy Campbell (at 38) back from the dead to hit .314. Pitcher Khalil Palmer has been money, 7-2 with a 2.48 ERA, but he's injured so he doesn't matter.

HAW pitchers: Bobby Piccirillo (3-2, 4.86) / Leon Casillas (10-2, 2.12) / Rob JUST PITCH DAMMIT Hart (6-5, 6.31)
CIN pitchers: Robbie Collier (6-6, 3.62) / Arturo Franco (6-5, 3.25) / Ryan Ranck (3-3, 5.02)

#70: WIN 4-3 ... Holguin's single in the ninth ties it, and Wiggins repeats same in the 10th to win it...Piccirillo fighting to keep his role in the rotation
#71: WIN 2-0 ... Casillas with a gem, complete game two-hitter, second shutout of the season...Dunklee homers, scores twice
#72: WIN 4-0 ... Hart goes nuts! Seven innings, four hits, thirteen Ks! Wiggins and Martinez with three hits apiece

Nothing like a trade to shake things up: both starters on the edge of being sent to the bullpen toss strong games. Still, it looks like Piccirillo will be going to the pen for now, as I have higher hopes for Hart.... ELSEWHERE: The Mets have five starters on the DL and have lost six straight, and nine out of ten. Their lead over Richmond is down to just four games.