Los Angeles Leopards (0-0, .000) @ Phoenix Coyotes (0-0, .000)
We’ll begin the 2078 campaign in Phoenix, locking horns with a club that has playoff intentions… they’ve retooled the rotation a bit in the offseason with FA signings
SP Prior Balazs (53 OVR/53 POT),
SP Kayden Thomason (54/54),
SP Logan Gorsline (48/48),
SP Cuco Verhoeven (48/48), and
CL Wayne Conley (62/62)… but have not done much to shore up an offense that in 2077 was pedestrian at best. The punditry expects the retooled staff to be enough to earn them a ticket to the postseason, but what I see is a club that is a trade or two away from that result being a lock. They’re formidable as a mid-tier competitor, adept at keeping the riff raff at bay, while not always having enough in the tank to keep up with the big dogs… more of the same for Phoenix fans, it seems.
1 of 162: Stephen Estevez (0-0, 0.00) @ Landon Sampson (0-0, 0.00)
Loss, 5-4 (10). It’s never fun losing on opening day – it makes hope springing eternal a tough sell. Here we’d struggle early against a dialed in
Landon Sampson, before finally breaking through on off-season acquisition,
Prior Balazs, who was making the first relief appearance of his semi-illustrious career.
Otto and
Ethan began the 2078 campaign by going a combined 1 for 8 at the plate with 6 K’s split evenly between them,
PEPPER hit a 2-run dinger to get us going a little bit in the 8th, and we were sloppy in the field, committing two fielding flubs to set an ominous early defensive tone for the club. And, while the official box score will list
Marcel Suggs and his walk-off, run-scoring single, as the reason we were sent off so quietly into the night, the reality here is that our heads were never in this one – the guys will need to get their game faces on, and quick, if we are to show our fans, and by extension our rivals, what we are really capable of during this first road set of the 2078 campaign.
2 of 162: Merl Crawford (0-0, 0.00) @ Dejuan Burns (0-0, 0.00)
Win, 1-0 (11). In our second try at it, we’d get the riff sorted out – though the song we played here was a far cry from the rockin’ tune we’re trying to lay down this year.
Merl was good, gave us 7 hard-scrabble innings of work, fanned 6, and was as stingy as you can be in the runs department, and
Dom Cooke, backstop extraordinaire, hit the
SAC FLY that would spell the Coyotes’ doom. Not a lot to parse out offensively with nary an extra-base hit recorded by the Yellow Tops, but our staff was stout with
Merl,
Rishon, and new guy
Donovan Turnbull entering a combined shutout into the permanent record. We’ll take it, do our level best to carry this good fortune forward, and try to earn a series win in Phoenix before heading home to L.A. where we’ll welcome the Seals to town for the home opener on Friday.
Elsewhere: Speaking of the Seals, their own
2B Mario Marshburn went buck in Mexico City, finishing 5 for 5 at the plate with a 3-run jack, 5 runs, and a walk as San Jose dispatched the Jaguars by a score of 21-8. His teammate,
RF Andrew Beck, hit a
GRAND SLAM during the contest and managed to score 4 times himself. Nice to see Mexico City taking a bad one on the chin after they summarily dismissed our band of merry men so unceremoniously from the playoffs last season.
3 of 162: Trev Anderson (0-0, 0.00) @ Kikuzo Ueno (0-0, 0.00)
Win, 8-1. Trev Anderson went 7 strong, allowed 5 hits and 1 earned while fanning 6 and
Andy Shepard,
who I picked up in the offseason for depth (but didn't deem worthy a mention in the introductory post), went 3 for 4 with a double, a solo homer, 2 RBI, and 3 runs to lead the charge offensively.
Hanan fell in line behind
Shepard with a 3 for 4 day at the plate that included two, two-baggers, and 2 RBI,
OH HONG recorded his first two RBIs of the season, and
Hamza, in addition to being an instrumental part of two double plays, drove in his first RBI of the season on a
SAC FLY. Two
SAC BUNTS for the club today too, not sure what that’s all about as I have that turned all the way down in my strategy settings… an acceptable start to the 2078 campaign for the La La’s, kicking things off with a series win, on the road, against a division rival.
Elsewhere: Tony Voorhis, flexing his brand-new Detroit Motors kit, went 2 for 3 with 2 home runs, 3 RBI, 2 runs, and a walk during his clubs 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. It’d be the straw the broke the proverbial camels back as
Voorhis’ scary performance was enough to secure the series win, on the road, for his new club.
Record: 2-1, .666, t-1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll pause for a day, get the fireworks ready, and lay it all on the line against the San Jose Seals in our home opener…