[Bub13]

April 20-23 vs TEXAS 2048: 8-5, tied for 2nd place // 2047: 61-101, 6th place
Are you sitting down? Texas Rangers: 1st in runs, AVG, OBP, OPS, and HR. Rookies Omar Gurrola, Luis Venegas, and Juan Espinoza are all producing, which is good since their one free agent acquisition, SS Emilio Tejeda, is out for four months. Pitching hasn't been so good, with new closer Dan Brown currently on the skids. Let's see if we can keep him down and out. New manager TH Nam has pushed all the right buttons so far. Fun Fact: The Rangers were alive for 35 years before making the playoffs. Their current run is now 23. Ten post-season appearances in over 80 years, and no championships. Maybe that's not such a fun fact after all.

HAW pitchers: LH Eric Jones (1-0, 3.38) / RH Ben Germann (2-0, 4.30) / LH Brandon Mercer (debut) / RH Ryan Ratliff (0-1, 5.19)
TEX pitchers: RH Antonio Amezcua (1-0, 4.97) / LH Bill Butts (0-0, 0.00) / RH Greg Buchanan (2-1, 6.19) / RH Mike Messinger (0-2, 6.53)

#13: WIN 7-5 ... 2 HR for Lasky, and solo shots from Frederick and Groff...Jones with a poor outing, but what ho! A strong bullpen tonight!
#14: WIN 6-1 ... calm night for Germann, 7 IP and just 3 BB...13 hits for the good guys
#15: WIN 7-0 ... nice debut: 7-hit shutout for Mercer...2-run HR for Padilla, and 3 hits each for Simmons and Klump
#16: WIN 10-4 ... we break open a 2-1 deficit with 9 late runs...2 HR and 5 RBI for Daley...Klein and Rich combine for 5 hits and 5 RBI as well

All or nothing for us right now: sweep, swept, sweep. This series vaults us into a first place tie with Seattle, and drops Texas into 5th.... Lasky moves into the lineup for Klump, goes 5-for-12 in three starts with 2 HR and 6 RBI. Klump then has a big game too. Genius!... And nice pickup in Mercer so far! He'll never be able to top that.... Stoneback returns in three days, and will move into the lineup rather than going down for a rehab stint. Simmons will go back to 3B, and Padilla to DH since he's been hot so far.... ELSEWHERE: St Loo won a game, but are still languishing at 2-14 now.... Toronto is 6-10, and Brandon Jarmon has saved all six victories.... SD's Blake Langer is still batting .464. Yes, it's early, but I'm hoping for someone to have a long run at .400 this year, like William Antonio's stab last year. (Antonio is struggling at .213 this year.).... Toronto's Joe Erkel just became the third active pitcher with 3000 K, behind Eddy Llamas and Rafael Maldonado. Erkel currently sits 29th on the career list, just 20 behind Garrett Gooden and Zack Wheeler.


April 24-26 @ TAMPA BAY 2048: 6-9, 4th place // 2047: 80-82, 3rd place
Fifth in runs, and 14th in runs against, for a -2 run differential. After a poor start, the hitting has started to come around, with off-season acquisitions Dan Starr and Brendan Glenn leading the way. But two starting OF are now on the DL, and SP Ross Barnett is out as well. Tony Bajoczky is in his sixth season as manager, and is popular with his players, which is a rare thing. Fun Fact: RF Vance Wise went .304/42/124 last season, and is batting .339 so far this season. He's also listed as the closer, with two appearances and 4 K in 3.2 IP.

HAW pitchers: RH Shamar Jackson (1-1, 4.13) / LH Eric Jones (1-0, 4.74) / RH Ben Germann (3-0, 3.32)
TBR pitchers: LH Jimmy Dalaba (1-2, 4.56) / LH Taylor Barnett (1-0, 11.57) / RH Tony Zuniga (0-1, 13.50)

#17: WIN 2-0 ... two-hitter for Jackson, with the dancing knuckler...nine hits for us, two each for Padilla and Lasky
#18: WIN 8-2 ... 17 hits tonight, at least one for everyone...Rangel gets 4, just misses the cycle...complete game four-hitter for Jones
#19: WIN 5-4 ... Germann walks six, but yields just 5 hits and 2 runs over 8 IP...3 hits for Rich and Simmons, and another HR for Padilla

Another series, another sweep. We're now 3rd in runs and have a +34 differential. What a strange month this has been.... At the risk of upsetting the apple cart, Stoneback is now off the DL, and will probably bat 4th, with Lasky going back to a part-time role. One of Goodloe or Matson (backup IF) will go back to AAA.... Pitcher Joe Koval still has four weeks on the DL, and RP Ben Willard 4-5 weeks.... ELSEWHERE: St Louis won another game! But they're still at 3-16. I'm hoping for a historically bad season, just for fun.... One more STL note: the team batting average is .195. The rotation has a combined record of 0-14. Please please please keep this going.... Washington's Kevin Mazurowski is the first to reach 10 HR, while our own Dante Padilla has 24 RBI. SD's Blake Langer (.435) and CLE's Eddie Hummel (.408) are the only batters chasing that dream.... Hey, remember Mel Carrillo? He was our first truly hopeful Int'l. Free Agent, signed back in '34, our inaugural season. He developed as promised, and batted .301 in '39 after a mid-season call-up. He battled injuries (and fans) over the next three seasons, before finally getting over 400 AB and hitting .358 with 4.5 WAR in '43. Sensing imminent disaster, however, I sent him and a handful of players and picks to Austin for OF John Cannon and a pitcher. Cannon gave us a 43 HR campaign in '44 and a World Series title. (And then a less successful, but at least healthy '45.) Carrillo missed all of '44 with injury, and made just over 800 PA in the next three seasons. And today? He's hurt again, out until the end of June after playing a single game. Oh, and he's making $20M a year for the next five seasons. CRISIS AVERTED.


April 27-29 @ NY YANKEES 2048: 9-8, 2nd place // 2047: 77-85, 5th place
Truly just another team now, with few winning seasons these days and an almost-forgotten playoff appearance way back in '29. But the East looks winnable this year, so maybe they've got a shot. Right now, hitting is 16th in runs, but pitching is 1st, for a +12 differential. It remains to be seen, however, if the pitching can weather injuries to starter Phil Avery and closer Brendan Gallo. (Avery will be back, Gallo won't.) Signee Craig Long has taken over the power-hitting duties from departed Tony Flores, but 3B Jon Diaz (37 HR last year) has had nagging injuries and hasn't hit one out yet. Former #2 overall pick Chris Hinrichs is finally getting his shot in LF, batting .167 with no walks and two XBH. Just do better, Chris. Manager Efrain Nevares is in his third year, and has yet to distinguish himself. Fun Fact: Compare the Yankees budget and salaries ($168M and $120M) to ours ($200M and $148M) to see everything you need to know about the two clubs respective standings of late. They're even getting outspent by the Rays, Marlins, and the Royals. Maybe half of New York is under water by now?

HAW pitchers: LH Brandon Mercer (1-0, 0.00) / RH Ryan Ratliff (0-1, 5.01) / RH Shamar Jackson (2-1, 3.00)
NYY pitchers: RH Yo****oki Oh (0-1, 10.32) / RH Travis Heumann (0-1, 7.88) / RH Jim Kieffer (3-1, 2.65)

#20: WIN 4-0 ... two starts, two shutouts for Mercer...solo HR for Daley and two hits including an RBI double for Frederick...we also take 8 walks
#21: WIN 4-3 ... with us down 3-2, Frederick wins the day with a 2-run HR in the 8th...Ratliff went 6, was fine, but gets hurt and is pending
#22: LOSS 2-5 ... Jackson's knuckler was flat today, as he yields FIVE solo HR and walks 6...Groff homers, and Simmons gets two hits, staying hot

After a rainout, we played a double header for those last two games.... Stoneback returns, going 2-for-11. Josh Matson gets sent down, Simmons moves to third, and Padilla to DH.... So, this Brandon Mercer kid looks okay so far, huh. Two starts, two shutouts, 14 K and 4 BB. Not excited to see Ratliff get hurt, however, and we're hoping for just a short injury.... There's a pitcher-killing virus on the loose in my minor league system, with four AA pitchers and three A guys currently out. We've promoted a couple of probably-overmatched guys to cover for them, and also signed a couple of free agents as filler. There are some decent arms on the Short A and rookie ball teams, but they're not ready to move up yet. No sense in infecting them too.... ELSEWHERE: There were three other shutouts on Mercer's latest night, so he doesn't even get a "three stars" billing.... The NL Central looks tough this year: Chicago is 15-7, Pittsburgh 15-8, and Cincy 14-8. Oh, and St Louis has greatly improved, now at 5-17.... Early season stats don't necessarily mean much, but Mets journeyman starter Andrew Martin had himself a month: 3-0, 1.09 ERA, 33 IP, 24 K, 3 BB.

......

TL;DR Version: Outside of that one horrendous series against Texas, this was a successful month. We're 16-6 and 2 games up on Seattle, 4.5 over Houston. We're up to 3rd in runs scord, and 1st in AVG/OBP/OPS. Fifth in HR, which is a surprise. Second in runs against, with some more stable pitching (led by Mercer!) of late. Ratliff's pending injury is concerning, but no other players have been added to the DL, and the offense is now fully healthy with Stoneback's return. And some nice starts to the season hitting-wise, with Simmons batting .385, Klein .360, and Frederick at .300 with 5 HR. Klump has been the only sour note, and he's been relegated to the bench for the most part. If we need to make a trade later this season, he's looking like a prime candidate, especially making over $5M to just watch most games.