[Bub13]

April! Ah, you can finally smell the popcorn and beer. We'll play 26 games this month, 17 at home. After our opening set against Toronto, we'll actually get a day off. Scheduling weirdness right off the bat.

April 3-5 vs TORONTO
Winner of 63 games last year, MLB says they'll win 87 games and be the third-best offense in the AL. They lost 14 players, a combined 3.6 WAR, this off-season, but only so-so SP Joe Payne (1.4 WAR) really produced anything at all. They added excellent SP Alberto Reyes from Philadelphia, a pair of solid RP, and declining-but-still-productive OF/DH Aaron Harrison from Seattle. They also picked up 2B Jose Gonzalez, who doesn't hit much (.224) but is an excellent defender. Two rookies made the starting lineup: leadoff batter and LF Melvin Bernabe, a high contact speedster, and C Harry Rivers, an okay batter and solid receiver. Three rookies made the pitching staff too: SP Gary Stamp is the #9 prospect in baseball, and RP Mark Middleton and Nick Palmer are also top 30 guys. Manager Jose A Jimenez begins his fifth year in charge, and has winning seasons in every other year. (He's due for one this year.) Money and stuff: 27th in budget, 29th in payroll. Season ticket sales are up 61% too.

HAW pitchers: LH Eric Jones (22-3, 3.26) / RH Shamar Jackson (17-12, 4.33) / RH Tim Ciotta (9-13, 4.48)
TOR pitchers: RH Alberto Reyes (17-7, 3.22) / RH Gary Stamp (0-0, 0.00) / LH Chris Rivera (7-11, 4.79)

#1: WIN 4-2 ... Frederick's 2-run HR and Matson's solo shot stake an early 3-0 lead...7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 4 K for Jones
#2: LOSS 4-8 ... Jackson can't get anyone out, and Collier allows 4 hits in his inning...3 hits for Matson, and two more HR (Groff, Daley)
#3: WIN 5-3 ... strong 8.1 IP from Ciotta, despite allowing 2 runs in the 9th...3 hits for Lynn, 2nd HR for Frederick

Two wins out of three is always good.... Not much to report except that the one guy who can't hit yet is...Dunklee. Pick it up, old man! Three games doesn't say much.... Simmons' return has been delayed, for an uncertain period. Great.... ELSEWHERE: Oakland starts the season 3-0, as does Pittsburgh.... Philly wins two games, but their shaky pitching staff just lost their #2 starter for the season.... Milwaukee and Brooklyn are winless.


April 7-9 vs BALTIMORE
Winners of two titles in the late '20s, the O's are in yet another long (or is it permanent?) rebuild. Winners of 62 games last year, MLB has them winning just 60 this time around. They added only two free agents of note: SP Mike Victor from Pittsburgh and RP Tyler Trovato from San Diego. Both are okay, nothing more. The drawback to not adding anything at the plate is that there was little to begin with. LF B.J. Valencia (.267, 16 HR) is decent, but not much of a cleanup hitter; rookie DH Miguel Echevarria has promise but is a year away from hitting his stride; and RF Cesar Juarez popped 17 HR in his rookie year but batted just .222 and doesn't look much better than that. The top of the lineup also features two guys who hit .191 and .210 last year. Everyone but catcher Jeff Williams is in the bottom five of the league rankings. The bullpen is the best unit here: closer Ken Zeolla would be a star on a good team, and setup men John Starkey and Tony Gamez are legit. Manager: after leaving us, Pat Wilson couldn't wring anything out of the Rangers in three seasons, and is repeating that bad fortune in his fourth season here. Money and stuff: budget and payroll are bottom of the barrel, 36th place. The fans don't seem very interested, but season tix and attendance look to be trending upwards.

HAW pitchers: RH Dennis Perry (13-8, 4.62) / RH Mike Pearse (MLB debut) / LH Eric Jones (1-0, 2.57 in '51)
BAL pitchers: RH Pat Karahalios (9-20, 4.83) / LH Jose Palomino (2-6, 4.01) / LH Rich Davis (1-0, 1.50 in '51)

#4: WIN 4-2 ... 7 IP, 13 K from Perry, already miles better than his '50 start...2 hits, RBI triple for Goodloe
#5: WIN 10-0 ... wow, a 3-hit, 14-K CG from Pearse...3 hits and an RBI from Groff
#6: WIN 6-2 ... HR from Groff and Matson, and 6 good IP from Jones...Baltimore loses their SP and C to unknown injuries

Impressive. Yes, Baltimore looks truly terrible, but I'm still happy with these games.... Quite a debut for Pearse! He did make an error, however, so it was wind sprints all the next morning for him. Tut tut.... Only one hit each so far for DH platoonees Dunklee and Whitton. Fab.... ELSEWHERE: Bad news for the Giants, with ace Jesus Chavolla going out for the season just two batters into his first game. Two days later, top MR Calvin Webster suffers the same fate.... Boston is 5-1, and 2B Mike Sanchez has a fun 11 RBI in those six games.... Nobody is undefeated, and nobody is winless, which means no fun for me.


April 1012 vs BOSTON
A nice 5-1 start for the Sox, looking to get back to the post-season for the first time in four years. They added some pop to the lineup in the fall, with four new regulars including 40-year-old 3B Paul Foster and slugging DH Sean Kropp (who also doubles as the #5 SP). Only two of last year's SP are back currently, although nominal ace Jonathan Esquivel comes off the DL in a month. Closer William Soch looks promising but is untested, with only 8 MLB innings before this year. Manager Gustavo Nunez begins his second campaign, and guided the team to 84 wins last year. Money and stuff: budget places 11th, payroll 18th. The fans still love this team, and there's a ton of money to spend, if only economizing owner Matthew Zunker would spend more of it.

HAW pitchers: RH Shamar Jackson (0-1, 8.53) / RH Tim Ciotta (1-0, 3.24) / RH Dennis Perry (1-0, 1.29)
BOS pitchers: RH Zion Robinson (0-0, 2.57) / RH John Sutton (0-1, 6.43) / RH Jose Ambriz (0-0, 10.80)

#7: WIN 12-6 ... 21 hits, including 5 doubles and a Goodloe HR...Jackson is smacked around again, but Yi tosses 4.1 shutout innings for the win
#8: WIN 2-1 ... much quieter tonight, and we win it on Daley's RBI single in the 10th...HR for Daley, second hit for Dunklee...10 K for Ciotta
#9: WIN 8-2 ... everyone gets a hit tonight, including 2 H and 2 RBI from Rich...Perry goes 7 IP again, fans 9

Surprised by the sweep, but not complaining.... Dunklee finally tossed in a few hits, raising his average to .174.... Still no return date for Simmons. In his place, Ryder is batting .360, and Edwin Morales is 2-for-8 in spot duty.... Single A Eureka has started their season and are off to a 5-1 roll.... ELSEWHERE: More trouble in San Fran, with 3B Austin Reinwald now out for six months. That makes for an injured list containing their 3B, ace SP, and four RP, all out long term. Plus, 1B Fernando Lerma is out until early May.... Minnesota ace Conor MacLeod is predicted by MLB to fan 365 batters this year. So far he's gone out and fanned 11 and 18 in his two starts.... Atlanta has matched Hawaii with an 8-1 start.... Portland's Gerardo Nieto is the first batter to reach replacement level, 1.0 WAR.


April 13-16 vs OAKLAND
They've only made the playoffs once over the last five seasons, but I believe last year's .500 squad will be highly competitive this year. They let former MVP Jordan Coronado go via free agency, but grabbed RF Hughie Noonan and his 33 HR from Houston, and inked high-contact defensive 2B Travis Tanner from Atlanta. Justin Sandy was also added from Milwaukee, and while he has a big power bat, he can't hit anything else. Like the Red Sox, there's a rookie closer (Jason Petty) in town, and they've finally promoted MR Jaden Davis, who has some of the heaviest stuff I've ever seen. Manager Ethan Larrison was surprisingly available after four straight division titles in Detroit and signed a five year contract. Money and stuff: budget is 15th, payroll 17th. Attendance looks unchanged after a $0.41 ticket price drop this off-season. I also like the first game starting pitcher name matchup below.

HAW pitchers: RH Mike Pearse (1-0, 0.00) / LH Eric Jones (2-0, 2.77) / RH Shamar Jackson (0-1, 10.80) / RH Tim Ciotta (1-0, 2.20)
OAK pitchers: RH Mike Pearson (0-1, 5.87) / RH Jim Schwartz (1-1, 4.20) / LH Chris Larimer (2-0, 0.53) / RH Conrad Robertson (1-0, 4.80)

#10: LOSS 3-8 ... Pearse is brought down to earth, pulled after 4 IP, 5 ER...HR for Goodloe and Frederick
#11: LOSS 4-7 ... 2nd straight game yielding 3 HR...blew a 4-0 lead over the last three innings...Jones gives up 13 hits, all 3 HR
#12: WIN 7-3 ... we gave up 3 more HR, but hit 3 of our own too...lots of late runs blow open our 2-1 lead in the 7th...8 IP for Jackson, yields 3 R on 3 HR
#13: LOSS 5-9 ... we lose on a run in the 9th and 4 more in the 10th...and we give up three more HR, which is not great

Well that was a stinker. I guess we were "due" for that.... Giving up 12 home runs didn't help our cause. We hit seven out, but we're not built to try to out-power opponents.... ELSEWHERE: Oakland ties Hawaii for first in the West at 9-4. Atlanta and Washington in the NL, and Cleveland in the AL are the first teams to ten wins. Brooklyn is the first to ten losses.... Boston's Sean Kropp has hit .350 in five starts at DH, and has a 0.00 ERA in his two pitching starts.... Here's two fun headlines: "Automatic Tarp Traps Fields," then a day later "Tarp Trip More Serious than Thought for Fields." Yes, that's a month-long high ankle sprain for Detroit pitcher Mike Fields. Fun and games.

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TL;DR Version: Nothing wrong with a 9-4 start, but it feels a bit worse than that after dropping three of our last four. We're first in runs scored, AVG, and OBP; and 6th in runs against. The team is batting .312, and nearly everyone is getting in on the act. The exception is Dunklee, batting only .121, with no HR and one RBI. Pitching has also generally gone well, with only Shamar Jackson having multiple bad starts. Early days, tho, early days. Last, only J.J. Simmons is on the injured list, and with a return date still unknown. But Jesse Ryder (.343, +0.2 ZR) has played well in his stead and already has more at bats (35) in these three weeks than he did all of last year (34).