First thing is first… Brooklyn 2B, Leandro Mercedes, hit for the cycle at the Purple Palace in Minnesota against the North Stars – Brooklyn won the game by a score of 15-5. Leandro was an international signee of Orlando City at just 16-years old – he had some promise but wasn’t considered a sure thing by any stretch of the imagination and was named the 33rd top prospect in the MLB while plying his trade for their minor league affiliate in Mexico City. Mercedes came to Brooklyn by way of trade – his was one in a series of deals that helped Brooklyn become a perennial contender of sorts. And he’ll be staying in the borough of Brooklyn for a while after signing a 3-year, $51M deal during the offseason… It’s always enjoyable to see an International discovery make it on to a big-league club.
Portland Timbers (25-28, .472, 5th AL West) @ Los Angeles Kings (29-24, .547, 2nd NL West)
It may seem like we are clearly the better club when stacked up next to Portland – numbers, usually the wrong ones, have a way of making things seem a certain way. The reality, however, when given the opportunity, would paint a much different picture – one where, at our core, we are the same, only in reverse. We’re both playing out ballgames like a halfway house – they are a solid pitching club (3rd in the AL) with an underwhelming offense (8th in the NL), while we are a solid offensive outfit with a pitching staff whose hallmark is inconsistency. Portland hasn’t made the playoffs in 10 seasons, 2078 is looking like it will be #11, and it’s hard to figure how they ever will… they have no trajectory, it’s all just status quo for PDX. We should be able to assert our will here… oh, and we get to say hi to PEPPER. I sure miss that guy…
In other news… I sent SP
Rad Taylor back to Compton and recalled Roldan Freitas. In total, Rad only pitched two innings for the Big Club – two scoreless innings, but still. He’s not quite ready to live up here, maybe next year or maybe never at all…
54 of 162: Bill Marvin (3-7, 6.31) @ Michael Brisk (4-3, 4.33)
Win, 4-2. Brisky was fine – dude just doesn’t really seem to have an A-game anymore, just good, solid, consistent stuff (so, the perfect over-paid #3) – Barbaccia picks up his 18th save, Freitas, fresh off his stint in Compton, got the hold, and we get RBIs from Hong, Otto, and Dylan Tucker (2 for the backup catcher today). PEPPER didn’t do much in this one – 1 for 3 with a 2-out RBI. Meanwhile – Rad got a start tonight in Compton and went 8.1 innings with 3 earned and 7 K’s… he was, unfortunately, saddled with the loss here (San Jose took home the win by a score of 2-1) as the Raider offense just couldn’t be bothered to contribute anything of note.
Elsewhere: 1B Tom Franzone put two out of the park, drove in 5, and scored 4 runs in Pittsburgh’s 13-6 dismantling of the Carolina Panthers… after his stellar day at the plate, he is now leading the Majors in HRs at 20 – two ahead of Cubas & 5 ahead of Jo Jo Jackson (who still leads the league in K’s). Franzone, it should be noted, also leads the league in RBIs, Slugging %, OPS, Total Bases, Isolated Power, Extra Base Hits, OPS+, wOBA, and WAR – so, yeah, basically running things in 2078.
55 of 162: Leonardo Duarte (6-3, 3.93) @ Trevor Dotson (4-2, 4.34)
Win, 6-5. We survived a poor start from Dotson and rallied late to win it with a walk-off run-scoring single that Rajkumar laid down with two outs on the board to secure the win and, more importantly, avoid an extra-inning marathon. Mullens hit his 14th two-bagger, we got a SAC FLY from backup second baseman Eli Bigham and completed two double plays. PEPPER drew two free passes and scored for Portland – he hasn’t exactly broken out on us in this set (yet) but has been solid enough to get his name called here and there.
56 of 162: Peter Garcia (4-3, 3.82) @ Paul Yeager (4-4, 4.71)
Win, 5-2. We secured the sweep – always a good time – and continue to get good performances from some of our lesser-known players. The legend of Lloyd Daniels continued to grow with a HR and 2 runs, backup Catcher Sueki Kojima went 1 for 3 with a 2-run homer, Barbaccia cleaned up Yeager’s scraps to earn his 18th save, and PEPPER, in his last opportunity to make an impression against us in his old stomping grounds, went out with a whimper – 0 for 4 with 3 K’s for our old friend.
Elsewhere: SP Orlando Vasquez continued to state his case for a spot on the big club one day with an 8-inning, 3 earned, and 7 K win over the Salem Silverbacks for your
CITY OF COMPTON RAIDERS… He’s now on a 4-game winning streak where he’s pitched 8 or more innings in each start and averaged 7 K’s per start – conversely, he also averaged 2.5 walks per game during that stretch. His control will hold him back at the next level if he can’t get it dialed in.
2078 Draft... the Top 2 picks… - Vancouver Giants select 3B Bulldog Johnson (Florida State) – Bulldog’s power and contact potential coupled with his eye at the plate make him the closest thing to a sure-fire prospect that we’ve seen in a while. He’s seen as a leader in the clubhouse and is described as a great teammate by his Florida State peers – I’m excited to see this guys career progress and, while it is unfortunate that he’ll be mired in Vancouver’s suspect developmental system, I expect this guy to, on the low end, be a perennial all-star.
- San Diego Chargers select RF Boogie Barnett (MIT Equations) – An intelligent, hard-working, 5-tool guy who looks to develop some pop down the road and already has a knack for putting the ball in play. Boogie is MIT’s highest drafted player in the history of their program and, for my money, might have the make-up to outperform his suspected ceiling and, in the process, prove himself to be the player that should have been drafted 1st overall.
Coming up soon(ish)… Recapping the Los Angeles Kings 2078 draft…