Los Angeles Leopards (21-11, .656, 1st NL West) @ Toronto Maple Leafs (16-16, .500, t-3rd AL East)
Unlike the Buffalo Nickels, the Toronto Maple Leafs came into the season as one of the more highly regarded clubs in the AL East and are expected to be in the running for the division crown once the dust has settled on 2078. So far, however, they’ve not held up their end of the bargain to propel that prophecy bestowed on them by our trusty BNN Preseason Prognosticators forward. In fact… they’ve done the opposite. At 16-16 on the year, the Maple Leafs have done just enough to stay afloat, just enough to stave off drowning in a sea of expectations, and don’t have the look of a club, so far, that has what it takes to do much better than that… their offense is pedestrian, ranked in the lower half of the American league in every category save OBP where they rank 5th, and their pitching, while better, has had it’s effectiveness hobbled by a poor defensive efficiency (ranked 9th), Zone Rating (12th), and proclivity to commit errors (11th). And despite their having power bats like former Leopard,
Arnold Webster (only 3 bombs so far), and legendary contact guys like
Richard McTaggart (.353 AVG) on the club, they look like another easy out for us as we finish up this quick jaunt through the also-rans of the AL East.
33 of 162: Peter Garcia (3-1, 4.91) @ Murray Wagner (0-5, 4.05)
Win, 8-5. We’d get a sturdy version of
Garcia tonight – 5.1 innings, 7 hits, 3 earned, and 6 K’s for our mid-rotation mainstay – and another tip-top day at the plate for
Shepard who blasted
TWO DING DONGS and drove 4 in to lead the La La’s to our 4th straight win.
Otto put his 11th ball out of the park and drove two in,
Hamza &
Pepper each brought in a run,
Grumpy Losito managed to secure the win despite blowing the save opportunity in the bottom of the 6th frame, and
Turnbull picked up his 11th save after a 3-run top of the 9th turned in by our offense, with the game-winner coming on an
OTTO SAC FLY, gave him the opportunity to do so.
Elsewhere: RF Ethan Bartle, a no-future non-prospect currently plying his trade in Good Ol’ Watts, had himself a day to remember at the plate, turning in a 3 for 3 day that included TWO DING DONGS, SEVEN RBI, and THREE RUNS, to lead our Warriors to a decisive 13-4 win over the San Gabriel Brown Bears. With the win, Watts has improved to 10-21 on the year… and, while it’s nothing to get too excited about, it’s nice that we’ve gone 9-4 since our dismal 1-17 start in A-Ball.
Note: We’ve signed 5 minor league Catchers in
Oscar Angulo, Logan Ackeret, Martin Hinson, Kenny Klosinski, and Lucas Avila, based solely on their 70+ Catcher’s Ability and the idea that, while they SUCK at the plate, they may aid in the development of all these young arms we have in the pipeline… would be cool to see the TCR work some magic on one of these guys…
to that end, I’ve got myself a shortlist to keep my eye on these backstops… A fools gambit, to be sure.
34 of 162: Trev Anderson (2-1, 3.06) @ Teodoro Herrera (5-1, 3.70)
Loss, 3-2. Everything
Trev buried into the zone came up smelling roses early but started to decay late as he gave up the ghost during the bottom of the 6th in the form of a 2-run homer for Toronto’s
LF Evan Prag that knotted things up and
Grumpy Losito would come unglued, briefly, during the bottom of the 8th to let the game-winner, a run-scoring double for
3B Mercury Aghajari, usher us out the door.
Ethan went 2 for 4, scored, and swiped 2 bags,
Hanan finished 3 for 3 with a run, and
Ono tried his level best to move the runners along with a
SAC FLY… in the end, of course, it wouldn’t be enough as the Maple Leafs’ staff stayed resolute throughout this contest and, ultimately, kept us slightly off kilter for long enough to get the win.
35 of 162: Stephen Estevez (3-0, 2.28) @ Burt McElheny (3-1, 2.32)
Win, 2-1.
Big Burt McElheny is my guy, a player that I’ve grown fond of in this universe, and one that I hold in as high a regard as I do
Brisky… and, I’m not sure why really. Neither one of them are the best at their craft, but I’ve got these back stories in my head for each of them nonetheless… party boys on a mission for a life filled with
bourbon, broads, and baseball. But, enough with all that… here
Big Burt gave us the business over 7 hard-scrabble innings of work where he’d allow 7 hits and 2 runs while our guy,
Estevez, couldn’t last quite as long but was more effective in the run prevention department over 6.1 innings of work.
OH HONG drove in the game-winner, off
McElheny, during the top of the 5th on a double, our other run came courtesy of
Shepard’s run-scoring single during the 3rd, and we’d swipe two bags on the day, 1 each for
Otto and
Hamza. Also – despite the fact that it’s probably not important –
Grumpy Losito managed to secure the hold, his 3rd of those, and
Turnbull turned the Leafs away during the bottom of the 9th on 12 total pitches to notch his 12th save of the year.
Elsewhere: SP Cristobal Ruiz, our 1st round pick (16th overall) in 2077, continues to make strides with the
Watts Warriors and even shut out the Craig Waveriders during a complete-game, 4-hit performance where he’d tack on 12 K’s for good measure. The Warriors, playing at home in
Good Ol’ Watts Ballpark in Good Ol’ Watts, won the game by a score of 10-0. Also known as annihilation…
HEY – with that last win,
the La La’s have not dropped a series yet all season and are 9-0-2 in them so far this year.
Record: 23-12, .657, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll board a plane bound for Las Vegas in an attempt to bring the Outlaws to justice in Sin City…