[pauwoo]

St. Louis Rams (73-83, .468, 6th NL East) @ Miami United (77-78, .497, 3rd NL East)
St. Louis is in a tailspin, they’ve lost control in September and are unlikely to pull out of it. 1-9 in their last 10, 5-15 on the month - this is not how you close out a baseball season. After 5-months spent as a well-respected fly-tying artisan, they’ve suddenly come up short on dexterity and have depleted their supply of exotic birds of paradise skins for their salmon flies. And, using turmeric dyed pigeon feathers affixed to hooks with poorly executed counter wraps on the hackle isn’t going to fool anyone. Theirs is a case-study in lost magic, in the failure of muscle-memory... and we just need to make sure that they don’t make any inroads into their task of picking up the pieces on our watch. Easier said than done, of course, because even though St. Louis is in a bad way, they can still score (4th in Runs Scored), get on base (4th in OBP), and they still wreck the base paths (3rd in Base Running)… their pitching is in shambles, but they still got some sticks that can put a bad one on you with the quickness.

156 of 162: Cosmo Puente (9-13, 4.81) @ Rad Taylor (5-5, 4.08)
Win, 7-5. Rad allowed 4 runs over 7 innings of work and OH HONG went 3 for 4 with a 3-run HR, and 2 runs. We overcame 2 homers from STL (both off of Rad) to win this one with a 5-run 8th and managed to survive a mini-rally from the Rams in the top of the 8th when Jonah Dove hit into a double play after they had already put a couple of runs on the board. We’re on something of a run lately – unfortunately we only drew 24,123 fans to Carnival Cruise Lines Ballpark to see us put a bad one on the Rams. It’s a Monday night game, but still – we’re in the hunt and our fans should care about that.

157 of 162: David Ouwerkerk (6-9, 5.48) @ Radoslav Borovsky (11-9, 3.47)
Win, 6-4. Despite Jonah Dove’s acquittal of himself after yesterday’s game-ending GIDP as he went 3 for 4 with a HR and 3 RBIs, it was the OH HONG show as your boy went 3 for 4 with a 2-run jack and 2 runs, and Radoslav K’d 9 batters in only 5.1 innings of work. We got 3 double, a dinger, 3 two-out RBIs, and a steal as a unit. Harvey Allen picked up his 28th save in this one as well.

Elsewhere: the 2nd round of the International League Playoffs are all set – Long Beach will battle Huntington Beach, Hartford will face the Louisville Bats, the Austin Grackles, who dispatched the Salem Silverbacks in 6 games, will face the Nashville Picks, and the Seattle Supersonics, after defeating the San Jose Sharks in a thrilling game 7, will advance to face the Compton Raiders.

158 of 162: Austin Joshua (3-3, 4.79) @ Kordell Littles (11-12, 4.77)
Win, 7-4. Late season, home sweep! Kordell gave us 8 strong innings of work (4 earned, 7 K’s over the course of his appearance), Donavan ripped a 3-run homer, and Harvey Allen picked up his 29th save of the year. Team Cycle… three singles, two doubles (one for OH HONG), a triple (Scharmer), and a HR! We would also get a SAC BUNT from Magee – a little bit of everything here.

Elsewhere: Jerry Landowski reached the 2500-hit milestone this afternoon at Giant Grounds. The 40-year-old Giants left fielder went 2-for-5 in a losing effort at home in an 8-5 defeat at the hands of the Golden State Warriors. His all-time numbers show Landowski has compiled a .286 batting average and collected 2501 hits, 434 home runs, and 1489 RBIs. For our part – we are 80-78 now and have clinched the final wild-card berth in the National League – we’ve done the impossible and earned the right to, at the very least, be bounced out of the playoffs in the 1st round. Craziness.