[Bub13]

JUNE 2050

We start June at 34-19, a half game out of first. Nearly 1/3 of the season done, and despite our improving record, this team feels quite fragile. Not health-wise, but that it wouldn't surprise me to see us drop, say, 8 of 10 or the like.

One roster move to start the month: after Nick Kramer gets pushed around in his first appearances after his callup, we send him back to AAA and recall Yue-jiu Yi. Yi will see his first MLB action; I believe he is also the first Islander from Taiwan, and was signed as a free agent in December 2048.


June 1 @ CLEVELAND
Final game of the three-spot.

HAW pitcher: LH Eric Jones (6-2, 3.56)
CLE pitcher: RH George Millard (0-0, 14.54)

#54: WIN 12-5 ... 18 hits, 3 for Simmons and Goodloe, including his first HR of '50...we add three other HR as well...Jones fans 8, he's like Nolan Ryan suddenly

Oakland loses, and we're back in first place.... Simmons is batting .300 for the first time since the end of '48.... ELSEWHERE: NYY has opened up a 6 game lead over MIA and TB, while Brooklyn is now 7.5 up on Richmond.


June 2-5 @ SEATTLE
We took 2 out of 3 against the M's to open May. They went 16-13 in May, and currently sit at 25-29, fourth place. Stats are middling across the board, except for having the 5th best rotation and bullpen ERA in the AL...while being 9th in runs allowed. Veteran Mike Wapner will come off the DL in a couple of days, but two-time Cy Young winner Miguel Moreno tore his rotator cuff and is done for the year. Closer Daryl Kennedy is working on team MVP honors: 24.2 IP, 36 K, 0.36 ERA. Chemistry: Happy! Owner: Adam Yamauchi, who--by contrast--is unhappy, with none of his demands being met. And he expects a Championship by 2052. Good luck with that!

HAW pitchers: RH Dennis Perry (4-5, 5.90) / RH Shamar Jackson (6-4, 4.76) / LH Mike Garfield (2-2, 4.73) / RH Ryan Ratliff (5-1, 3.61)
SEA pitchers: RH Edgar Tinajero (5-3, 4.64) / RH Dan Welker (4-1, 1.99) / RH Erik Ramey (5-5, 4.75) / LH Carlos Zenon (3-4, 4.82)

#55: WIN 4-2 ... we're outhit and muster very little until a 3-run 9th wins it...3 hits for Frederick...10 K, 8 IP for Perry, still on a roll
#56: LOSS 2-11 ... nothing good here, outside of a couple of hits for Groff...Jackson is terrible, and Yi gets lit up in his debut
#57: LOSS 2-3 ... Daley homers, but we only manage four more hits...sharp game for Garfield however
#58: WIN 10-3 ... Ratliff fans 9, and a pair of 2-run HR spark the offense...3 hits for Simmons

We put another game on Oakland, now 1.5 games ahead. Houston has improved of late, and is just 5 games back.... Four weeks away from getting Goldthwait and Stoneback back from the DL.... Latest All-Star balloting shows Cam Daley leading all AL LF. This would be his first appearance.... After a slow April, AAA Santa Barbara went 19-8 in May. If they could stay healthy--five regulars/starters on the DL--they might never lose.... ELSEWHERE: Two teams still do not have twenty wins: Toronto (18) and Austin (19).... The mobsters in St Louis have switched from kneecapping to "torn labrum-ing" I guess, as the Cards just lost two SP for several months to this latest violent outbreak.... 20 HR for NYY Andy Howard, just ahead of Toronto's Tony Mendoza and Oakland's Ryan Walton.


June 6-7 @ CALIFORNIA
Down in last place now at 23-36, and they've gone 15-34 after their hot start in April. Twelfth in both runs scored and given up, but only 17th in AVG and OBP. LF Nate Atwater already has a career high 15 HR, and leadoff batter Luis Rivera is batting a solid .312, but with zero power and not many more walks. SP Jon Carlsen, as expected, leads the rotation at 5-4, 2.80, but with two other SP out with injuries, the pitching staff looks thin. A couple of MR are having good years, but you need more than that to win games. All of their top prospects are at least a couple years away, and even though there's a steady profit being made, owner Arturo Moreno Jr likes money so isn't likely to go spending it all on decent players any time soon. Best ranked player: SS Kevin Lutz, #7 by MLB, only by dint of his excellent glove, and not his .244 career average.

HAW pitchers: LH Eric Jones (7-2, 3.62) / RH Dennis Perry (5-5, 5.45)
CAL pitchers: RH Ken Demers (2-4, 4.97) / RH Ryan Kuehner (2-6, 6.82)

#59: WIN 6-2 ... 4 hits and 3 RBI for Frederick, and 3-and-3 for Daley. Both also homer...Jones keeps winning, going 7 IP and fanning 6
#60: LOSS 1-2 ... only three hits a side, with only one XBH...an error plates one CAL run, and two hits, a walk, and a fielder's choice scores the winner in the 8th

Perry has probably his best game of the season but takes the loss. Tough.... Eric Jones is tied for first in AL wins with 8; Cam Daley and Adam Groff are tied for third in batting at .346; and Josh Frederick is tied for second with 51 RBI.... My DH platoon is not DHing very well right now: Cappuccilli is batting .241, Whitton .250.... ELSEWHERE: Toronto is still stuck at 19 wins; Austin at 20.... 21 steals for Atlanta's Marquis Moore, looking for his fourth straight crown, and fifth total. He also has four Gold Gloves, and if he hit better than his career .237 average, he'd be a superstar.... With Philly and Richmond slipping a bit, the defending champs in Brooklyn have opened up a 7.5 game lead in the NL East.... Five two-way players are making a go of it this year. Sean Kropp (AUS) is probably having the best season, .264/6/15 and 4-5, 3.48; Phil Lasky (NYM) is pitching well, at 8-3, 4.03, but not hitting, at .162 with 1 HR; Chad Akers (NOZ) is 6-4, 4.37 on the mound, and .190/2/5 in 13 starts at 1B; Bob Harrison (NOZ) has been a whiz in the bullpen, 0.38 in 23.2 IP, and is hitting .259 in 27 AB; and star Vance Wise (TBR) is batting .267 with 11 HR, and hasn't given up a run in two seasons. Of course, he's only pitched 5.1 innings over that stretch, but he's nevertheless listed as the Rays' closer.


June 9-12 vs OAKLAND
The rivalry lives! We've surged past the A's for the moment, but this team is for real. Seventh in runs and 1st in HR, with four batters having reached double figures already. Ryan Walton's 20 HR is typical for him, but his .289 average is 40 points above his career stat. Nobody's batting .300, but nobodby's slumping either. Pitching is 2nd, and the 1-2 punch of Jim Schwartz and Chris Larimer are earning their dough. They swept us in three back in April, so we need revenge.

HAW pitchers: RH Shamar Jackson (6-5, 5.29) / LH Mike Garfield (2-3, 4.57) / RH Ryan Ratliff (6-1, 3.63) / LH Eric Jones (8-2, 3.54)
OAK pitchers: RH Scott Janulis (0-1, 4.98) / RH Jim Schwartz (7-1, 1.90) / LH Chris Larimer (7-4, 2.48) / RH Oscar Escobedo (2-6, 6.45)

#61: WIN 7-0 ... 12-K 4-hitter from Jackson...HR and 2 RBI each for Frederick and Daley
#62: LOSS 6-14 ... we're outhit, but only 15 to 13...Garfield is pulled in the 5th down 5-1, but the pen gives up 9 in the next 3 innings
#63: WIN 8-3 ... Simmons doubles twice, drives in 3, but gets hurt...more pen woes: Kym walks all four batters he faces in the 9th, but gets bailed out by White
#64: WIN 12-4 ... 15 hits, including 3 HR (Groff, Goodloe, Daley)...everyone gets a hit tonight

Two injuries here, but neither one is serious. Simmons sat out the last game with back spasms, but will be back next series. Josh Matson also has a back issue, so will probably sit out the next series, maybe the next two.... Pretty good series otherwise, despite that one shellacking. The pen did struggle a bit, with Kym's walk-a-thon, Money getting beat up twice but tossing 3 solid IP in the last game (overuse much?), and newbie YJ Yi not pitching well at all.... So with that last bit noted, I decide to send Yi back down, and call up Jeremy Kolek for his first taste of the big leagues. A 2nd round pick in '46, Kolek got off to a fast start in AAA last year and was looking like the next callup until he got hurt in May. Welcome to the show, J.... ELSEWHERE: Richmond RP Kaichi Endo had his season endo'ed with an elbow injury. Sorry, couldn't resist.... Both John Lane and Dustin Lambert knocked 5 hits in Cleveland's 8-7 win over the White Sox. Two household names there.


June 13-15 @ MONTREAL
Fifth place, 28-37, and likely starting at their 7th straight losing season, and sixth finishing fifth. Dead last in NL runs scored, and last in every major category except AVG and HR, where they're 16th in each. Pitching places 13th, not too bad considering four regular RP are on the DL. Not a lot of pitching depth here, but #1 SP Elijah Bragg could be a #1 on most staffs, and #2 Chris Milano is solid, if a little shy on stamina. Fun bit: the leadoff batter is named Jon Monreal. Manager: Andres Reyna, in his seventh season. Chemistry: Feuding! Only one leader in the clubhouse, and just enough selfish slackers to ruin the mood. Can't Miss Prospect? OF Edwin Rodas (MLB #41) is a future .300 hitter with 20+ HR power and solid defense. Top pitcher Andy Ayers (#43), however, looks average at best and is now out for at least a year with a torn rotator cuff.

HAW pitchers: RH Dennis Perry (5-5, 4.93) / RH Shamar Jackson (7-5, 4.75) / LH Mike Garfield (2-4, 4.90)
MON pitchers: RH Chris Milano (4-4, 4.11) / RH Bill Barger (6-3, 3.81) / RH Elijah Bragg (6-4, 3.12)

#65: LOSS 2-3 ... 7 strong innings for Perry, but the pen costs us this one: Germann yields a solo HR in the 8th, and Johnson gives up the GW in the 9th
#66: WIN 6-0 ... 2nd straight 4-hit shutout for Jackson, and he adds a single to the fun...Frederick drives in 3 with an RBI single and a 2-run HR
#67: WIN 7-5 ... quite a comeback from 5-1 down, thanks to a Simmons 2-run double in the 10th...4 hits for Goodloe, 3 and 2 RBI for Rich

Two wins here, and Oakland getting swept means we're now 5.5 games up on them.... The top four in our lineup are batting over .300: Simmons .323, Daley .344, Groff .348, Frederick .319.... Klein has responded to the Joe Lynn Challenge by upping his average to .299. Lynn is going well too, 10-for-30.... Shamar Jackson has gotten hot, but Mike Garfield struggles again. He gave up all 5 runs in 5 IP in that last game.... ELSEWHERE: Richmond's "Gotta collect 'em all!" old man free agent pitching strategy took a huge blow, with 39-year-old Eddy Llamas' labrum exploding. He'll miss a year at least, and is probably done for good.... The Yankees have lost 8 of 10 and seen their lead in the East shrink to just one game, over the Marlins.... San Fran is still holding on to the top spot in the West, at 39-26. One of their stars has been pitcher Jesus Chavolla (10-2, 2.76), whom I thought would probably never amount to much when I traded him to the Gints in '44 along with (perennial .320 hitter) Dillon Ritter, for pitcher Shamar Jackson (good), and OF Kenny Welch (meh). See, I do give up some value in trades after all.

......

TL;DR Version: Satisfield with that 9-5 stretch; and with Oakland dropping five straight, we've opened up a bit of a lead in the division for the first time this year. Team offense is back in first in runs and AVG, 2nd in OBP. Still 16th in home runs, but with Stoneback and Goldthwait coming back in two weeks that should improve. Not hitting so well is the DH platoon of Cappuccilli (.237) and Whitton (.250), and 2B Rangel (.241) who is in a contract year and wants a big bump on his $13M salary. Hmmm.... Pitching is 6th in runs allowed, with the bullpen continuing to outperform the rotation. But Jackson has gotten really hot, Perry good, Ratliff and Jones okay, while Garfield is faltering. New callup Kolek tossed two scoreless innings in his debut; I know that says nothing at all about his long-term future, but it's miles better than Yi (11.81 in 5.1 IP) and Mwaura (10.50 in 6 IP) had accomplished. And 19-year-old superprospect Jules Medici isn't seeing the bigs yet this season, but I'm mildly encouraged by him batting .262 in a recent injury-forced AAA callup. No power yet (1 HR in 42 AB), but at least he's not getting shut down.

Also a few things to ponder over the coming weeks: 1) Rangel is in a contract year and not hitting at all. He still has high value in the field. So do I keep him and consider losing him for nothing this fall, or trade him to shore up some other area? If I trade him, what do I want coming back? And possible replacement Josh Matson is no defensive whiz, but it may be time to put his bat in the lineup full time to see what he's got. And would anyone send me a prospect for a 29-year-old Gold Glove-level 2B? Would you, dear reader? 2) Four of my SP will be free agents. What to do with them? Three want to talk extensions, but with all the other potential roster movement this off-season, I'm leaning towards not signing all (or any?) of them, and seeing what comes up on the market. If I had to choose right now who to sign, this would be my ranking: Jones-Perry-Ratliff-Garfield. Not sure yet in what direction I'll go.