Los Angeles Leopards (6-3, .666, 1st NL West) @ Miami Herons (4-5, .444, t-4th NL East)
Had I not elected to return to Los Angeles my likeliest destination was Miami – a solid, if uneven, club that looks like a short-term reclamation project. They have some good pieces with enough in their development system to upgrade the areas where they are lacking by trade, and could, with the right GM at the helm (so, not me), contend as early as 2079. They boast one of the best second basemen in the game in
Telma Taveras, have a tip-top hurler at the top of their order in
Cathal Magill, and have a bullpen that should elevate their staff to the top 5 in the National League when all is said and done. They could turn some heads this year but likely won’t, electing instead to continue the course and unleash some of the youngsters they have in their development system on the NL as early as next season instead. Had I taken over my impatience would’ve led to several, go-for-broke style trades to attempt to speed up the process on bringing a winner to South Beach – in truth, it’s probably for the best that I didn’t throw my hat in the ring for the Miami job as I kind of like this organic approach the AI seems to be taking instead.
10 of 162: Stephen Estevez (1-0, 1.29) @ Marco Ortega (0-0, 0.00)
Win, 6-5. OH HONG was made for South Beach – the Oakley shades, his Selleck-styled ‘stache, and penchant for wearing floral patterned button downs – and tonight he was the star of the show with a 3 for 5 day at the plate that included a two-bagger, a 2-run
DING DONG, and a run, and
Steven Estevez, in a less effective performance than his last time out, gave us a hard-scrabble 5 innings of work, allowing 3 to hit safely and 3 to plate while fanning 9 in the process.
Mullens stayed ice cold – a stint in Compton wouldn’t hurt if he’d agree to it – with another 0 for 4 day,
Otto scored twice without recording a hit,
Ono, who we’ve not heard much from so far, drove the game winner in on a double, and
Turnbull, who has settled nicely into his role as our closer, picks up save #4 on the year.
11 of 162: Merl Crawford (0-1, 1.29) @ Cathal Magill (0-1, 9.00)
Loss, 3-2 (10).
Magill, who gave up 5 in his first outing and 3 more his next time up, was a little better for Miami in this one as he went 5.1 innings and only allowed two of our guys to come around… and, as it turns out, a little better was good enough as our sputtering offense continues to choke itself up against top-flight pitching and failed to rise to the level of our starter who went 7 strong, only allowing 1 to get across.
Rico Sosa, Miami’s rock-solid backstop, came up gangbusters for his club in the bottom of the 10th as he blasted one out of the stadium off none other than
Donovan Turnbull, who had been settling in so nicely as our bootleg
Captain Sterner…
12 of 162: Jan Hernandez (0-1, 12.00) @ Mike Clendenin (1-1, 2.13)
Win, 5-4. We’d win another close one, our 4th win in 1-run games, despite
CF Kasey Philipps' 3 for 5 day at the plate, on the back of
Jan’s solid 5.1 innings of work and
Satoru Onu’s clutch hitting during the top of the 5th when he smashed a 2-run TRUCK that put us up for good…
Ethan managed to get a hit and scored, he also swiped two bags (perhaps he’s getting some of his swagger back),
Hamza hit a run-scoring double,
PEPPER went 0 for 4 dropping his average to .086, and
Turnbull, fresh off giving up the game-winner yesterday, shook that disaster off and secured his 5th save of the year on 9 total pitches.
You can’t get too high with the highs or too low with the lows as they say…
Elsewhere: Victor Forrest, a promising prospect currently ripping it up for the Arizona Wildcats in NCAA play, hurled a complete game, 4-hit shutout with SIXTEEN STRIKEOUTS to lead his club to a resounding 3-0 win over Mississippi State, and, despite what
Bulldogs Skipper Chester Guevara has to say about it, the Arizona Wildcats, not unlike Texas Tech, has maintained that they do not, in fact, owe him any money.
13 of 162: Trev Anderson (2-0, 0.75) @ Hunter Vaughn (0-1, 1.38)
Win, 7-5. A good showing for the club in this one –
Andy Shepard led the way on 2 for 4 hitting and a 2-run moonshot, and
PEPPER GRANT, determined to keep his season from capsizing, pieced together a nice 2 for 4 day at the plate with an RBI double and 2 runs of his own. We did most of the dirt late in this one, scoring 4 runs in the 7th and a few more after the stretch,
Ethan was given the day off,
Ono hit his 4th double of the year,
Hanan, who we need to find a way to use a bit more, went 2 for 4 with 2 runs batted in, and
OH HONG drove one in on a
SAC FLY and left three others stranded. A good win for the club – one we easily could have lost if our focus waned at all – and a nice series victory in Miami for the good guys.
A quick, little trade… We sent
SP Nick Rich who really should be in a big league rotation and we lack the room in ours to make that happen, to the Seattle Metros for solid CF prospect
B.J. Cristoforo and low-key RP prospect
Wayne Matthews. The deal here is
Nick deserves a chance to earn a spot on a big club and taking on a couple of low-IQ prospects was a reasonable enough deal to give him that opportunity.
Record: 9-4, .692, 1st NL West
Up Next: Our brief cruise through the NL East continues as we head north to Montreal for a 3-game set in Canada.