[pauwoo]

OKC, like us, is a good team. A piece or two (or three or four) away from glory. What they lack is consistency – throughout June they’ve been a win one, lose one kind of club. They beat Jacksonville 13-1 one night, lose 5-6 the next, then close out the series on an 8-1 triumph – then follow that up with more of the same against Toronto. They’re balanced – and, are, without a doubt, the best offensive club in the NL – 1st in runs, average and OBP and second in defensive efficiency. They boast a +35 rDiff. In short, they are good and really should be in the top two of our division (and maybe they will be after this series given our form) – but – they’ve been the victim of a bad bounce here and a short hop there. With the best catcher in the league anchoring their fierce lineup and one of the top young pitchers in the game at #1 in their rotation this is a team that is on a come up – they’ll be a force to be reckoned with over the next few seasons barring any boneheaded moves from their front office.

62 of 162: Tim Kelly (6-5, 3.58) @ Michael Brisk (6-4, 2.89)
And we’re baaaack! 10-1 win for the Suns! Brisk is lights out in a complete game, 1-run performance where he only walked one and struck out 8 – really good stuff from the new guy. CF JR Marsh hit a couple of doubles in a 3 for 3, 2 RBI performance and RF Jong-Hwan Song went 2 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI. 1B Jacob Well went 2 for 4 with a couple of runs for the good guys as well and even Derek got a double to go with his 3 K’s. We hit 4 doubles, a homer, a Sac Fly (Luca sacrificing for the team – atta boy!), and even stole 4 bags. Our other new guy, and Pepper’s replacement at 3rd put an error on the board. Third basemen are hard to find. But - hey, we did it you guys! We won a game!

Ruh roh… Pepper was removed from the Chicago Fire’s starting lineup. Given that they are 3rd in defensive efficiency in the AL, it’s not hard to understand why they don’t have any patience for a poor defensive player that occasionally hits bombs.

63 of 162: AJ Hinson (0-5, 5.69) @ Oswaldo Flores (2-5, 4.84)
Oswaldo, not to be outdone by the new guy, gave us a complete game 2-run game and sprinkled in 10 K’s for seasoning in our 11-2 win! We’ve broken OKC’s win one, lose one cycle. The only runs Oswaldo gave up were to RF Brandon Roa who hit 2 solo shots (one in the 1st and again in the 5th). RF Jong-Hwan Song was 1 for 4 with 3 runs and 2 RBI – we moved Derek to 6th in the lineup and he went 1-3 with 3 runs and an RBI, and Donny was 2 for 4 with 2 runs from the 3-hole as our DH today – great effort. Three doubles and a triple – we’re a double-hitting machine!

64 of 162: Jimmy Garcia (5-1, 3.12) @ Ash Newman (5-3, 3.15)
Garcia gave up 4 runs in 6 innings of work in his last start against us – it was our only win in that series. He wasn’t much better today – 7 innings & 4 runs against and the result was essentially the same, 4-3 win for Phoenix. This is our second sweep of the season – we are now 2-2 in sweeps… progress. Derek went 2 for 3 with a HR and 3 RBI – with Donny on the bench he batted 3rd in the lineup. Newman nearly got the shutout but was pulled in the 9th after 8 innings of work with no runs and 10 K’s on his sheet. All runs scored were the result of our fielding errors – we had 4 as a team, 2 belonged to Derek. Would’ve had a team shutout if our team could play D.

So… this is what I’ve been looking for – finally our second sweep of the season. And we managed to right the ship against a good club. The loss puts OKC at an even .500 for the year and we move to within 2 games of the 1st place Chargers. Next up is the division rival San Francisco 49ers who’ve been nipping at our heels – they are 34-30 and 8-2 over their last 10 games, so a series win will be tough, but doable. We will see them for a two-game set before a day off in the California sun while on our way to visit San Diego – tough stretch ahead.