[Bub13]

August 15-17 vs CLEVELAND
In the thick of the AL Central race, at 66-52 and just a game behind the Tigers...and just behind the Twins, and just ahead of the Brewers and Royals. Tight division. 1B Nate Rogers (.314/25/89) has been their best hitter, but overall they're about average: 9th in runs scored, 10th in average, 7th in OBP. Pitching is a bit better: despite being 10th in runs against, they're 5th and 8th in rotation and bullpen ERA. All-star LF Greg Tackett is on the DL, and is missed, but they've been healthy otherwise. Fun fact: the team is openly feuding. Nobody is happy, and best of all is lazy, disruptive pitcher Mike Cote is complaining about lazy and disruptive players.

HAW pitchers: Mark Phillips (5-1, 5.62) / Eric Jones (12-2, 2.87) / Leon Casillas (17-4, 2.22)
CLE pitchers: Billy Minnifield (11-7, 4.64) / Dave Gonzalez (9-7, 3.64) / Mike Thomas (4-6, 4.31)

#118: LOSS 3-9 ... awful. Next.
#119: WIN 7-3 ... rainy game, called after the 8th...Jones shows up strong again, but new guy Saez gets hammered...OF Mel Carillo injured, pending
#120: WIN 6-3 ... Casillas pulled in the sixth, but still gets the win...three HR pace the attack, including two in the first

Maintaining a nine-game lead over Oakland, now 22 over Seattle.... Waiting on Carillo's injury diagnosis. He's filled in fairly well for Wiggins these last few weeks, although his average has dropped from .320 when he was on the bench, to "just" .301 now. Broken record time: he's still got very high potential--my scouts love him--but his ratings haven't moved in over a year, and his power just has not developed at all (1 HR in 207 PA, and just 3 in 462 PA at AAA last year), and I'm starting to worry about his contact now too. Power-hitting Jesse Henkel moves into LF while we await the diagnosis.... Still hoping Groff is going to heal up quickly; no new word, tho.... ELSEWHERE: Andy Fisher, the Dodgers pitcher I considered trading for in July, is done for the season. Bullet DODGED lol....Portland's Toichi Kaneko is the first to 200 K, while Cubs SS Jordan Cruz is (as usual) leading the way among batters with 183 K.


August 19-21 vs KANSAS CITY
Continuing our tour through the Central Division against the Royals. In fifth place, but their record is 64-55 and they're just 5 games out of the lead. SS and cleanup hitter Pedro Delgado is third in WAR, hitting .279/20/68, and a former MVP with the Pirates. DH Zack Pusz (.309/19/70) is also having a great year. The rotation has held them back, 14th in ERA, but the bullpen is second best. No longer a small-budget team, KC has the 7th largest budget in baseball, at $170M.

HAW pitchers: Bobby Piccirillo (6-4, 4.81) / Rob Hart (9-9, 6.23) / Mark Phillips (5-2, 6.13)
KCR pitchers: Francisco Duarte (13-5, 3.13) / Mike Head (0-0) / Yutaka Fujino (9-8, 6.28)

#121: WIN 9-3 ... four home runs, including two from Hullinger (plus 5 RBI)...Hunter gets his 40th double...Piccirillo is on-again this time
#122: LOSS 5-6 ... so close: Kieffer vomits three hits and runs in the 9th to blow it...Hart is okay, but Head is way better in his season debut...Hullinger now with 102 RBI
#123: WIN 3-2 ... Groff is back, with 2 hits and an RBI...Phillips is money over seven innings, then gets hurt. Sigh.

GROFF IS BACK. And then Phillips hurts his shoulder. It's only a 'dtd' injury, but for seven weeks, which has him coming back either right before or right after the end of the regular season. Not sure who I'm calling up to take his place.... And Carillo get his diagnosis: broken leg, out for three months. Former minor league free agent Matt Harris gets called up, lacking anyone else.... ELSEWHERE: Detroit is slumping and Minnesota has moved into first in the Central. Meanwhile, San Diego is now 12.5 up on Arizona, and has the lowest Magic # at 26.


August 22-24 @ CHICAGO WHITE SOX
The only team in the Central not still in the hunt, at 53-71. Fifteenth in runs scored, 18th in runs against, and a -183 differential. They also have the worst team defense. CF Francisco Gervacio (.251/34/89) and SS Jaiden Elliot (.251/30/63) are the only batters doing anything, and only one starting pitcher has an ERA below 4.60.

HAW pitchers: Eric Jones (13-2, 2.80) / Leon Casillas (18-4, 2.30) / Bobby Piccirillo (7-4, 4.75)
CHW pitchers: Bart Raygoza (2-2, 4.62) / Lance Hansen (9-8, 4.33) / Hideyuki Asano (7-11, 5.32)

#124: LOSS 1-2 ... dead game...Jones hurts his ankle, but I'm tempted to keep him in the lineup because WHO WILL TAKE HIS PLACE
#125: WIN 4-1 ... Casillas strikes out 10 over 7 innings...Groff homers, and Robertson (5'9" 180#) hits two, giving him 11 on the year
#126: LOSS 5-7 ... Henkel drives in all five runs, but no one else shows up...Piccirillo just doesn't have it, again

Pretty pathetic showing against an awful team. Not much more to say than that.... Oakland is flailing too, so we're still 9.5 games up.... Bryan Hardin gets the call from AAA (his second call-up) to take Phillips' place, but I'm considering making a rarely-used post-deadline trade. We'll see.... ELSEWHERE: Let's look in on Pittsburgh, that once-dominant team from just a few years ago. They're still hitting: 4th in runs scored, first in average and home runs. But they're a cautionary tale for anyone who doesn't take care of their pitching: 18th in every category besides bullpen ERA (11th) and strikeouts (14th). They're six games under .500, looking at their first losing record since 2029, ten years ago.


August 26-28 vs HOUSTON
Once again going nowhere, 52-76 and 34 games out. They hit a lot of home runs (152, 8th in AL), but are 16th in runs and 15th in runs against. Their rotation looks pretty decent, but no one's having a good season at the plate. We have got to make hay against these guys.

HAW pitchers: Rob Hart (9-9, 6.11) / Bryan Hardin (1-0, 6.35) / Eric Jones (13-3, 2.77)
HOU pitchers: Jason Ray (9-11, 4.89) / Khalil Palmer (8-6, 3.67) / Jay Russo (7-10, 3.76)

#127: WIN 13-0 ... Hart a 3-hit complete game, Groff with 2 homers, and the team hits six out of the park
#128: WIN 10-4 ... SIX more home runs this crazy game...aaaand Hardin gets hurt in the third, diagnosis pending. Is it time for a 4-man rotation?
#129: WIN 7-1 ... only one HR this game, but it's a Martinez GRAND SLAM...Groff gets three hits, and Jones calms things down with 7.2 innings of four-hit ball...and NO injuries

Holy crap what a series: 30 runs, 13 home runs, and two more injuries. OF Matt Harris gets hurt in his first game after his call up this week, so I send him back down and bring up Ian McGowan, a first round pick from 2036. Decent hitter, speedy guy, and a hell of a fielder.... Bryan Hardin hurts something during his first start, and I'm waiting on his diagnosis right now. Once again, I'm not sure who will take his place if he's out long-term.... ELSEWHERE: San Diego's Julio Gonzalez continues to lead the NL triple crown categories, and is the first in MLB to reach 50 HR.... The Padres are rolling, at 85-46...but the Tigers are in freefall, having lost 11 in a row, and they're now in fifth place, six games out of first.


August 29-31 vs LA ANGELS
A few numbers: 47 wins, 41.5 games out, 10 players on the DL, -124 run diff. In the midst of a slow rebuild, but there are some pieces here that we'll be hearing about in the years to come: 3B Tony Mendoza, 2B Travis Tanner, SS Danny Gipson, RF Pat Sexton. Only one pitcher is 26 or younger, however, so the future there still looks pretty grim.

HAW pitchers: Leon Casillas (19-4, 2.27) / Bobby Piccirillo (7-5, 5.00) / Rob Hart (10-9, 5.75)
LAA pitchers: Jeff Caraway (7-11, 4.58) / Fred Caviness (4-10, 7.04) / Erik Blackham (3-4, 5.69)

#130: WIN 5-4 ... Dunklee hits two out, and Casillas survives a four-run fourth, but doesn't get the win...two more OF gets dtd injuries
#131: WIN 11-6 ... everyone gets a hit and Martinez drives in five, which overcomes Piccirillo's pretty poor pitching: 10 H, 6 R, over 7.2 innings
#132: LOSS 4-6 ... Hart is back in the dumps after this game. Enough said.

Injuries are biting us hard: eight on the DL, and two more with dtd aches and pains. I can't keep five starting pitchers healthy either. Bryan Hardin gets his diagnosis, and it's doom: out 13 months with a ruptured UCL. I'm reminded of this exchange from Slap Shot, after a player gets beaten up and is done for the game: "Ok, Dave's out. Who's gonna take his place?" "Is the answer Jesus?" Yeah, it's that bad. So much so that I call up our top prospect, Mike Messinger, from AA. It's too soon for him, but someone has to pitch, right? Tomorrow is roster expansion day, so there will be more call-ups, but no one I want for the rotation.... Big four-game series vs Oakland starts tomorrow. We're up by 11.5 on them, so we need to get at least two of these games to maintain.... ELSEWHERE: Tampa becomes the first team eliminated from the playoffs, now 40-91.... Outside of Detroit's collapse, there are no changes in the standings anywhere.... Gary Florence (SD) is the first pitcher to 20 wins. He's not on the WAR leaderboard, but does have an outrageous 9.1/0.9 ratio of K/9 and BB/9.