[Bub13]

June 14-16 @ CALIFORNIA
The same record as us, 34-35, and many of the same problems: can't hit, decent pitching. At 15th in runs scored, 9th in runs against, and a -23 run differential. Superman William Swanson has turned his season around, batting .463 this month to get himself to .316/.397/.636, all right around his career averages. Mauricio Marquez is hitting .302 with 16 HR, but that's about it for the team offense. Top prospect Chris Burns (#7 in MLB) is already platooning in CF, batting .246/.305/.493 and getting better each month. After signing Swanson this off-season, they have enough money to add another star or two this winter too. Otherwise that spending will have been a waste.

HAW pitchers: RH Andy Burke (debut) / LH Matt Waugh (9-0, 1.82) / RH Danny Carbajal (2-1, 3.38)
CAL pitchers: RH Seth O'Neill (6-5, 4.83) / RH Nate Elder (7-5, 5.86) / LH Travis Fox (7-1, 3.04)

#70: WIN 10-2 ... 8-run 9th inning wins it, sparked by 3 HR including Covington's GRAND SLAM...5 HR for us, and Burke goes 7 IP, 0 ER
#71: WIN 1-0 ... one-hit ball through 8 IP for Waugh, with 10 K...Hed's RBI in the 7th is the key hit, one of just six for us
#72: WIN 5-1 ... Espino knocks a solo HR in the 1st then a 2-run double in the 6th...Medici adds a solo shot, and Carbs goes 8.1, allowing just 6 hits

Well that was a long time coming. Outside of that single inning explosion in the first game, we didn't produce a ton on offense, but hitting seven HR certainly helped.... Solid pitching from all three starters, and a great debut from Burke.... The only blemish is a pending injury diagnosis for Pederson, who hasn't delivered the power like he did last year (SLG down from .633 to .518), but has still been a strong mid-lineup bat.... Groff is platooning against RHP at DH, and while he's hitting just .233 (but .278 this month), he just knocked his 480th career home run.... ELSEWHERE: A big week for MIN's Jordan Foots sees him win player of the week honors, and move past Detroit's Pat Townsand for the HR lead. Foots (.380) and Milwaukee's Mitch Elmore (.381) also pass Townsand (.377) in the batting race.... I mentioned Texas SS Ryan Boers in my last post as being a potential #1 free agent this fall. Another contender is Portland 3B Gerardo Nieto. The 26-year-old franchise cornerstone should never be allowed to leave, but don't underestimate the cheapness of MLB GMs. The 2051 NL MVP has produced HR seasons of 48, 51, and 50, and is on his way to passing those numbers this year. He's also a lifetime .310 hitter, and has produced over 31 WAR in just over four full seasons.... SF's Juan Garcia is now at 2951 career hits, but has a pending injury diagnosis.


June 18-20 @ MILWAUKEE
Fifth place in the Central at 29-36, already 23 games behind the terrific Tigers. Despite some bad underlying numbers (10th in AVG, 13th in OPS), they're sixth in runs scored. And that's come down a bit after losing CF Oscar Espinosa (.301/.392/.595) for several months. 3B Mitch Elmore leads the AL at .381, and 43 year-old Dan Starr--while immobile behind the plate--has 12 HR and an .815 OPS. I can only guess he wants to play until he's 50. (How thin is catching talent right now? Starr ranks 4th in MLB.) Pitching is next-to-last in runs, and only closer Xavier Pride (2.00 ERA) and setup guy Eric Lantier (3.48) are above water. They also have 3 RP out with injuries, but none of them had done anything positive either. Perhaps worth noting that outside of R ball Helena (at 1-0), every other farm team has a losing record. The farm system also ranks just 30th, and I only see three guys with obvious MLB potential right now. The clubhouse is unhappy currently, and the entire pitching staff is ignoring manager SG Che (who won AL manager of the year and nearly a title in his first season, 2046, but has seen a steady decline since). He's temperamental, but so is 1/3 of the staff, and another third loves cranky guys. So at least the coaches are happy.

HAW pitchers: RH Mike Pearse (4-5, 4.35) / RH Mike Bader (4-5, 5.72) / RH Andy Burke (0-0, 0.00)
MIL pitchers: RH Josh Kennedy (1-10, 7.08) / RH Merlin Lemay (9-4, 5.17) / RH Chris Ronan (3-5, 7.07)

#73: LOSS 4-7 ... I mean, we were efficient, getting 4 runs on just 7 hits, but that won't cut it night-in night-out...blew a 4-0 lead too
#74: LOSS 1-5 ... no comment
#75: LOSS 4-7 ... fffff

Oh for **** sake. This ****ing team is going to kill me.... Burke gets shelled in that last game, welcome to the bigs.... Good to see that we can't do **** all against this ****ty pitching staff.... Pederson's injury report comes in: torn calf, out for 3-4 months. Great.... All momentum lost from the California series.... ELSEWHERE: A 9-1 run has propelled New Orleans to first in the NL Central, a game up on the Cards. Meanwhile, 7 losses in a row has kept Cleveland as the only sub-30 win team, at 25-50.... Otherwise, who cares.


June 21-23 vs HOUSTON
We come back home to face the 39-36 Astros, two games ahead of us and likely to stay there given our disinterest in scoring runs. They're 14th in runs scored, and not better than that anywhere else. Yet somehow we'll make them look good. Pitching is 5th in runs against, and despite some questionable rotation ERAs most of those five are pitching well of late. Again, we'll help them out. On offense, only 1B Jose Renteria is really delivering, at .323/23/55. If you couldn't tell already, I expect nothing of these three games, at least outside of the one Waugh starts.

HAW pitchers: LH Matt Waugh (10-0, 1.69) / RH Danny Carbajal (3-1, 2.90) / RH Mike Pearse (4-5, 4.20)
HOU pitchers: RH Ken Demers (5-5, 4.10) / RH Mike Messinger (3-5, 5.92) / RH Chris James (4-9, 7.19)

#76: LOSS 3-5 ... well, there goes our one chance, as Waugh gets shelled early...six hits tonight, all singles
#77: WIN 8-7 ... who knows anymore...3 hits, 3 RBI from Royer, and Hed's 2-run HR is the GW
#78: LOSS 3-4 ... more meh hitting and another bad bullpen outing...oh hey, we did hit two HR!

It may be time to cut bait with this team. Half the lineup is hitting for average, and half couldn't hit their granddad's pitches.... Groff is dropped from the lineup, batting .210 now. Simmons is under .200 and is out dtd. He probably won't play for a while regardless. No one we install at short or second can hit a ball out of the infield right now anyway.... Somehow our bullpen still has the 3rd best ERA in the AL, despite blowing saves and earning nearly every one of our last eight losses.... ELSEWHERE: Padres starter Emanuel Vasquez got shelled in his first three June starts, but his last two? A 12-K one hitter and a 19-K two hitter.... Detroit (56-22) and Chicago (50-28) are the top two teams in MLB, and are miles ahead of the rest of a sad division.... Oakland is the coldest team going, on a 1-9 streak. But they play us next, so cheer up A's fans.... Ten straight wins for the Zephyrs before dropping their last game. Three games separates NO, STL, and CHI in the NL Central.


June 24-26 vs OAKLAND
One last putrid series before the all-star break. Are we really not even halfway through this season yet? Anyway, Oakland's numbers look pretty bad right now: 15th in offense, 13th in pitching, and a -71 run differential. Former Isles star Mike Hunter, 39, leads the team at .304; and Ryan Walton has added 33 HR, Felix Reyes 22. Pitching has been really devastated by three season-ending injuries to their top three starters--Jim Schwartz, Eric Stockton, and Tom Baker. A lot of the staff has seriously underperformed this season, most notably closer Matt Rabideau, sporting a gaudy 8.28 ERA (double last year's number). These guys won 101 games two seasons ago: losing free agents and not having many viable replacements has stunted the offense. They've also gotten worse each month, and are 17-32 since May 1. (Hey, we're 20-29 so maybe I should just shut up.)

HAW pitchers: RH Mike Bader (4-6, 5.66) / RH Andy Burke (0-1, 5.40) / LH Matt Waugh (10-1, 2.02)
OAK pitchers: RH Kyle Forney (4-5, 5.55) / RH Jason Petty (2-6, 5.02) / RH Jaden Bartholomew (6-6, 6.06)

#79: WIN 7-4 ... outhit 13 to 8, but we add 7 walks...still not sure what happened here tho...Bader and Covington get hurt, so that's great
#80: WIN 8-4 ... Royer and Espino homer, and somehow we outhit an opponent...Burke gets the win even with his ERA climbing again
#81: WIN 6-4 ... I still have no idea with these guys...hits are 15 to 4 tonight, and Matson actually hits a home run, first one this month

So...what gives. I know Oakland's pretty terrible. But guess what: we've been no better. How does this series square with getting swept by the equally-awful Brewers? Our pitching wasn't great, but we started to hit here. Can we keep it up.... Major lineup tweaks may have helped. Ulkini moves to 2B, despite being no good as an infielder. He bats third, and Matson drops to sixth. Russ Venters starts in right and bats seventh; as long as he keeps hitting .344 and getting on base 40% of the time, he'll keep playing. Simmons and Groff are glued to the bench for now; hit better than a combined .203 and we'll talk, guys.... Pitching? Bader herniates himself and is out for six weeks. Hold your noses, readers: Josh Irvin and his 7.71 ERA are back up, after not really doing anything good in AAA. But someone has to be a fifth starter, and Skiff has done even worse than Irvin since being demoted. In the pen, Kyle Johnson has once again played his way out of the closer spot. Jordan Ruiz gets a crack, and Johnson (along with the equally-bad-of-late Sam Bohlen) is moved to middle relief. Nate Kearns and Anthony Booker move into setup roles.... ELSEWHERE: Oakland has dropped 11 in a row now THANK GOD.... Staying in the AL West, Texas and Seattle are tied at the top at 47-34, with Houston three games out.... New Orleans stays hot, and is now three games ahead of the Cubs, with the Cards (losers of five straight) dropping into third.... LA's Irish-Japanese slugger Junjiro McDonnell leads all NL batters with 30 HR; and Detroit's Pat Townsand has cooled off some allowing teammate Elliott Wheat to surge to the top of the batting list at .377.

......

TL;DR Version: Well that last sweep did put us at 41-40 halfway through the season, and 7-5 in this little stretch. Suffice to say, however, that we most likely will NOT match our 122 wins from a year ago. Out on a limb I go, I know. And despite showing some signs of life of late, I'm not convinced our hitting is here to stay. I said above that Venters will start as long as he hits. Thing is, he doesn't have Pederson's power, and we're really lacking in that department. Is it worth making a trade to shore that up? Maybe...and there is a solid RF on the block in the form of Pittsburgh's Miguel Iglesias. But I'm not sure it's worth trading away an asset for a free agent-to-be, when we obviously need more than one guy to help out this lineup. There aren't any move-the-needle hitters on the block right now, but maybe it's worth seeing who might be gettable from the various bottom-dwellers. Maybe there's even a power hitting 2B out there! Or one who can hit at all!