4/13 – 4/15: Austin Grackles (5-7, .417, 5th NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (6-7, .462, t-3rd NL West)
On paper, when you look at the Grackles, they are exactly where you’d expect them to be – a lineup with little to no pop (11th in HR’s), impatient (9th OBP), and a staff that lacks in both the stuff and control departments (12 RA, Starters ERA, and Bullpen ERA)… theirs is not a club that should inspire any confidence from the Austin faithful. Is it a rebuilding year, a never-built year, or just the neglected plaything of Owner Victor Davies (who made his fortune off his father’s whiskey business and has squandered the profits on a line of less-than-thoroughbred racing horses and a baseball club)? Who knows… what is clear is that so far this year we’ve been remarkably similar to these Grackles… we’re both 4-6 for our last 10 (though they’ve won their last two in a row), possess rDiff’s in the red, and can’t seem to get our motors running. The difference, or early season surprise as it were, is that everyone knew that Austin had a stock Hyundai motor under the hood and assumed that we were lighting up an Italian tuned high-performance engine when we turned it over to get the season underway… now, people are starting to wonder about our lead mechanic, and the chorus of folks calling for my head seems to be growing by the day.
Projected pitching matchups (LA//Austin):
LHP M. Crawford (2-0, 1.26 ERA) versus RHP M. Borello (0-2, 8.71 ERA)
LHP J. Morales (1-0, 5.40 ERA) versus RHP C. Cornejo (0-1, 6.75 ERA)
RHP C. Guzman (2-1, 3.94 ERA) versus RHP R. Padilla (1-0, 15.43 ERA)
14 of 162: Win, 8-6.
Webster continues to dominate – 3 for 3,
THREE HOMERS, 3 RBIs, 3 runs, and a walk, Zippo hit a 3-run jack, and we win despite a poor performance from Merl (4 innings, 5 earned), another no show from Otto (0 for 4), and a hitless day from Pepper (he did get hit by a pitch though). We’ll take them any way we can get them at this point…
15 of 162: Win, 9-1.
First thing’s first… new guy, Arnold Webster, has hit at least one homer in 5 straight games.
He looks good wearing our kit, don’t ya think? Otto woke up a bit – 2 for 5 with a double, a jack, and 5 RBIs, Julen was solid over 6 innings of work (7 Ks, 1 earned), and Zippo put his 5th ball out of the park. Pepper went 0 for 4 with 3 Ks… yikes – but, two wins in a row, so we’ll deal with him later.
16 of 162: Loss, 5-2.
All good things must come to an end… our 9 Ks balanced out our 9 free passes in this one and we couldn’t overcome Otto’s 0 for 3 day or Guzman’s second straight start where he’s allowed 5 or more runners to score. Pepper went hitless and grounded into a double play, Ethan scored on a solo homer, and, as a squad, we left 9 runners stranded before this loss was entered into the permanent record.
Where, oh where has Mr. Isaac gone?!? 2075 MVP, 2076 also-ran...
With only the moon to guide our way, we’ve navigated back to .500 – of course, with Otto largely relaxing below deck the entire time… we’ll need him to turn this start around quickly if we are to gel into the type of club we all know we are capable of being. Even with 3 homers and 11 RBIs a .169/.275/.339 slash isn’t going to cut it from our captain. Nevertheless, we’ve come through these rough seas rated 1st for OPS, bWAR, wOBA, and HRs, while our pitching and defense have been, well, suspect – 10th in RA, 9th in Starters ERA, and dead last in FIP and pWAR. With Otto, the rest of the guys have stepped up a bit to fill in the gaps, but, amongst our pitching staff, no one, down to a man, has done the same. Our pitching coach has some explaining to do… I better get him in a sit down before Phil comes calling…Elsewhere... Down on the farm - SP Rad Taylor gave up 7 runs in 6.1 innings of work in his second start of the International League season... so, we got that going for us.