First, a note: Yan Welli, my assistant, the Chinese meaning of whose name is apropos, informed me that the mayor of Castroville has, unceremoniously, booted our AA team from her town due to an incident some of our players had with some local farmers at a notoriously rough watering hole.
Not to worry, she said, I’ve already found them a new home in Inglewood and our crackerjack marketing team is, just now, putting the finishing touches on their new team concept. We’ve landed on the Sentinels, which, will do in a pinch…. So, just like that, it’s done. When the dust settles, I think it will be clear to all involved that Yan Welli is the best assistant we’ve ever had in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Kings (68-51, .571 2nd NL West) @ Houston Dynamo (54-67, .446, 5th NL West)
I don’t think that, given the number of times I've spoken on the state of the Houston Dynamo, that there is anything new of note worth calling out here – what’s been said is still accurate, they’ve not turned any corners requiring explanation and are, in fact, as poor a club as they were the last time we met. I’ve not even bothered to crack open the scouting report that Zahur has provided to all the pertinent parties… I’ve got Megan back in the fold for the day-to-day – the President of Baseball Operations, as I’ve deemed myself, has no time to get bogged down in the minutiae of such matters. I’ve got bigger fish to fry, or a bigger fish fry to eat, or, better yet – I have a butter-poached crab served on a kimchi pancake to devour while meeting with Dynamo Owner, and heir to a Kentucky-based Whiskey fortune, Victor Davies at a spot called Tris. The subject of our meeting is, really, as much a mystery to me as it is to you – from what I recall, it concerned my future and wanted to know what I thought of the Lonestar State. My answers, of course, were non-committal – after all, I was too busy enjoying my meal, the scenery, and the flirtatious bartender to give Vic anything more than the minimum required amount of my attention to make him think that I was actually listening to whatever it was he was blathering on about. For desert, I had a whiskey neat, and as a parting gift, I let Vic down softly enough with my usual spiel – I’m happy in LA, have no plans of leaving, but do very much appreciate his interest, and will, of course, keep it in mind. The future, after all, is a terribly difficult thing to predict.
120 of 162: Trevor Dotson (7-9, 4.76) @ Abe Meinecke (10-12, 4.65)
Win, 6-2. We’d get a multi-HR day from Dontrell Gay and a complete, 1-run effort out of Dotson, who, despite his recent missteps, looked quite good out there tonight. The win, as it were, required a late-innings charge from the Kings… we delivered the message, set to the tune of 5-runs, during the top of the 8th and 9th innings, and succeeded in sending Houston’s fans back out to their everyday lives with a sour taste in their mouths while securing our 69th win of the 2078 campaign. Rajkumar & Rake Lewis were responsible for the two runs that Dontrell didn’t provide, Goodwin hit a SAC BUNT, and, from the bad news department, OH HONG had to leave early after he injured himself while running the bases – diagnosis: no biggie, he’ll be listed DtD for 4-5 days…
Elsewhere: Tom Franzone, still on his quest for immortality, added a dinger to his running tab and finished 5 for 6 with a double, a jack, 4 RBIs, and 3 runs in Pittsburgh’s 13-3 win over Orlando City… 45 and counting for him. The odds-on favorite to take home the Boyce Rigg hardware hit an RBI single in the 1st, doubled in the 2nd, grounded out in the 4th, singled in the 6th, hit a two-run home run off SP Reed Pirelli in the 8th and came around again to hit an RBI single off of RP Jack Grace later in that same frame. He’s doing the things that, once upon a time, Otto used to do for us – pre-Yogi inspired dietary shenanigans and the subsequent season-ending injury that followed… speaking of which, I’ve not heard a peep out of that guy since I sent him to the Sullys Hill National Game Preserve to look in on a possible Foggy sighting – this could mean one of two things… he’s either still working on her or he’s taking this whole birding cover much too seriously. In some news out of the CITY OF COMPTON, RF Aris Anaconda went 3 for 4 with 3 RBIs (all on run-scoring singles by the way…) in the Raiders 4-0 win over the Sugarland Skeeters – Kirk Johnson, not to be completely outdone, went 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run. Oh, and our starter, Paul Wilson threw a complete game, 2-hit, shutout. His curveball was dominant, his fastball serviceable, and his smile, for those in the audience who are so inclined, was, undeniably, charming. And, lastly, the newly re-named Inglewood Sentinels lost their first name contested under that moniker to the Bremerton Yardies by a score of 5-4 despite homers from Tim Thorp and Pete Glass and because of Bremerton’s Maverick Page’s bottom of the 8th, PH, 3-run ding dong.
Side note: Houston, it should be noted, is, in addition to housing some really fine eating establishments and despite its penchant for orange, a beacon of shining light for those among us who are interested in vintage paperbacks and hard-to-find, eclectic vinyl. I’ve found some absolute treasures at Becker’s Books –
enter at your own risk, you have been warned.
121 of 162: Newton Weiser (13-8, 3.69) @ Mark Borello (3-4, 6.14)
Loss, 6-1. Borello kept us cuffed and got the best among us to spill all their secrets over 8.2 innings of work… and Weiser obliged by being a shell of his usual self – his boat sprung leaks in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th innings before our, formerly highly regarded manager, Ryan Rudnick thought to hook him from the game. Rake Lewis used his bat to combat the humidity and K’d twice for his efforts, we did nothing at the plate, less on defense, and we were rode hard and put away wet in this one. Houston’s C, Pablo Gamera, called a masterful game in this one – and, because I’ve been spending a bit of time looking at old Kaiju movies, I just wanted to call that out as much for the name as anything of merit he did on the field to deserve it.
Elsewhere: Given that an LAK loss wouldn’t be complete without a Phoenix win secured on the same day… the Suns defeated the San Francisco Seals by a score of 11-3, Jason Bland, their Center Fielder, went 3 for 3 with 2 dingers, 2 RBIs, 4 runs, and 2 walks for the Burnt Orange and Eggplant Purple. 1B Pablo Madera, now hitting .370 for the Carolina Panthers, went 5 for 5 against the Chicago Fire… Carolina won the game by a score of… wait, they lost – 11-10, Chicago. SP Cole English, so-so prospect plying his trade in Newport Beach (Vancouver’s AAA affiliate), delivered a complete-game, 6-hit, 10 K shutout for the Gypsies in their 4-0 win over the Columbus Bluejackets – the 83rd overall pick out of Purdue hasn’t so much as sniffed the Major League in 6 seasons with Vancouver. At one point, the former Boilermaker, was a prospect of some regard but his body ran out of reps earlier than most and, as a result, he’s spent as much time in rehab and hospital waiting rooms as he has on a baseball diamond. And, from the terrible news department, SP Paul Yeager was diagnosed with a torn UCL and will miss the remainder of the 2078 season as a result of a moped accident near Surfside Beach that involved the daughter of a local Oil Magnate and an Ice Cream truck. What a scene – a professional ballplayer, known as one of the good guys, the bikini-clad daughter of an Oil Man who is held in high regard by the local politicians, and 200 gallons of Cherry Jubilee… something tells me that Daddy’s fixer will keep this one from hitting the local rags… also, Ramsay Hudson, and not Rad Taylor, will be joining the Big Club as a result of Yeager’s attempt to impress a girl by breaking the sound barrier on a Vespa Motor Scooter. On this decision, Megan and I disagree – but, I gave her the keys to the castle… so, if she wants to leave the door ajar for the barbarians at the gate, who am I to argue?
Side Note: Rudnick told me that he’s inserting Brisky back into the rotation at the #5 spot… so, for every negative, you get equal and potentially NOT opposite “positive” – or, something like that… my college Physics course held open-book tests.
122 of 162: Jonny Garcia (7-6, 2.91) @ Gabe Uruburu (9-7, 3.89)
Loss, 5-2. OH HONG, who, unlike his peers, is seemingly impervious to bad injury news, went 4 for 4 with a solo jack and provided what was our only legitimate highlight of the game… Rajkumar hit his 33rd double, we left him out there to wither away, Dom and his buttered up glove let another ball get by him, Jonny Garcia fell to 7-7 on the year, and, for the second time in as many days, we fell to a club that has no business handling us with such ease. This, as I’m sure you are well aware, is no way to begin a road trip.
Elsewhere: In an effort to add insult to injury, SP Luis Ruvalcaba, of the Bremerton Yardies, pitched a 1-hit, complete-game shutout against the Inglewood Sentinels and the club from Kitsap County walked us off in the bottom of the 10th when LF Rocky Speaker hit a run-scoring double off of CL Jimmy Stockman. For our efforts, or lack thereof, we’ve fallen all the way down to 8th on the weekly power rankings, are still three games off of the pace that Phoenix is operating at and are 5-5 over our last 10 contests. For my part, I’ll fly out to Gwinnett to catch a Compton game before rejoining the big club day after tomorrow – we’ll have Rad Taylor on the mound, I still have some questions for Kirk Johnson, and I’d never miss an opportunity to meet my old friend, Ben Ryan, who manages the Stripers currently, for a bite at Graft where their seasonal Sea plate never disappoints.