Los Angeles Leopards (29-18, .617, 1st NL West) @ Pittsburgh Pipers (24-22, .521, 2nd NL East)
Pittsburgh is part of a glut of teams in the NL East that are hanging on for dear life as they work towards securing a Wild Card spot… they’re currently operating 6 ½ games off Brooklyn’s pace despite posting an 8-2 record over their last 10 and winning 6 in a row… of course their cause is not helped by the fact that Brooklyn has an identical record over their last 10 and are currently riding a 7-game winning streak of their own, but I digress… Pittsburgh’s problem, to the degree that they have one, is that, after their superstars, the role players aren’t always fulfilling their responsibilities. On offense,
Tom Franzone (.320/8/27) and
Mack Ramirez (.293/6/19) are doing their part but everyone else is mired in a bit of a funk, all batting .220 or worse… and the Pitching is the same story – Ace
Robby Garrett is dealing, Bullpen stalwart,
Cristian Cassiano has been nearly unhittable, but everyone else seems to be serving up meatballs with extra parm and all the breadsticks you can eat. Listen, you can’t count these guys out… they represented our league in the World Series last season and are really just 1 or 2 guys on each side of the ball away from making some real noise once again… our goal here, over the next four days, will be to make sure those guys don’t start to heat up against us and to secure another series win on the road.
48 of 162: Peter Garcia (3-1, 4.22) @ Gregory Morgan (2-3, 3.10)
Loss, 3-2. So far, so bad as
SP Gregory Morgan kept us off balance for 5.1 innings and we lose in Pittsburgh despite a solid outing from
Garcia and homers from
Otto & Ethan.
Tom Franzone played as advertised, went 2 for 4 during the game, drove two in, and scored, and the Pittsburgh defense was on point as they managed to field three, rally killing double plays over the course of the game. For our part, in addition to squandering
Garcia’s performance, we played an uninspired brand of baseball, left 6 of our guys stranded out there, and kept hitting into the teeth of the defense every time it looked like we might do something of note. Not a great look to start this 4-game parlay.
Elsewhere: The NCAA final is all set as the Alabama Crimson Tide dispatched the TCU Horned Frogs by a score of 5-1 while North Carolina was busy doing the same against Arizona State, earning their bid to the final by a score of 11-4. Alabama last won the NCAA Championship in 2055 while the North Carolina Tarheels would raise their first championship banner with a win.
49 of 162: Trev Anderson (3-2, 3.58) @ Edwin Blaxley (4-4, 4.01)
Loss, 5-1. Pittsburgh, burning bright now, extends their winning streak to 8 at our expense behind
Cody Keenan’s 2 DINGER day and
Edwin Blaxley’s tip-top 8.1 innings of work where he’d allow just 1 run and rely on his defense to keep the vast majority of our 11 base runners stranded.
Hanan went 3 for 4 and drove in our only run, we hit 4 doubles as a team, but, once again, failed to capitalize on our opportunities as the red-hot Pipers managed to keep the good times rolling.
Elsewhere: Donny Jeter, the last of our Super Jeter Bros in the MLB who has extended his Major League life with the Denver Miners, went 3 for 4 with a 3-run TANK, 2 runs and a walk as his club rubbed the New York Sluggers face in the dirt during an 8-5 win in Colorado.
Darryl retired way back in 2071… he just wasn’t about that life, while
Derek continues to play organized ball in Kelowna for the Vancouver Mounties Triple-A outfit.
50 of 162: Stephen Estevez (5-0, 1.90) @ Robby Garrett (4-5, 2.66)
Win, 2-1. We’d get the win and put an abrupt end to Pittsburgh 8-game winning streak despite
Robby Garrett’s sublime complete-game, 6-hit, 2 earned effort. The reality here is that we were lucky to get the win – with
PEPPER, our 3x Gold Glover, bringing in the game-winner on a run-scoring ground out during the top of the 8th. Must’ve been tough for Pittsburgh’s fans to watch us gut this one out and get the wholly undeserved victory… what a lame way for their team’s streak to end. Bummer biscuits, man… sucks to be them.
Elsewhere: Palmer Parker, Philadelphia’s 2x MVP (most recently in 2077), went 3 for 5 with a double, a dinger, 3 RBI, 3 runs, and a walk to lead the Founders to a resounding 16-5 win over the visiting Las Vegas Outlaws. So far this season,
Palmer is not off to his customary start – he’s currently flexing a .278/.356/.417 slash with 5 home runs and 31 RBI… by contrast, your boy finished .340/.408/.595, 39, 111 last season with a 7.4 WAR. He definitely has some ground to make up if he wants to make it 3 Boyce Rigg awards in as many years. ALSO… let it be known that the
Alabama Crimson Tide won the 2nd NCAA title in school history by a score of 3-2 over the North Carolina Tarheels.
SP Nuno Granado took home POTG honors after giving Alabama 5.1 innings over work with just 1 earned and 7 Ks.
Oh.. and one more thing…
51 of 162: Merl Crawford (4-2, 2.08) @ Tim Kelly (3-2, 3.83)
Loss, 8-7 (10). Yikes… dissed in the Malibu.
Tom Franzone went 3 for 5 with a 2-run double and
Mack Ramirez tallied 5 hits and 3 RBI as the Pipers took 3 of 4 off of us in Pittburgh, keeping their hot streak alive and moving within 5 games of the NL East leading Brooklyn Citizens.
OH HONG put his 9th ball out of the park and recorded 3 total RBI,
Mullens scored twice, and
Ono brought two around… but, in the end, it wasn’t enough as
Turnbull gave up the ghost late when Pittsburgh sent this one to extras (that’s his 3rd blown save for those of you who like counting things) and
Zechariah gave up the game winner, a run-scoring single courtesy of
Mack Ramirez, during the bottom of the 10th. Walked off, shoved out the door, and put on a flight back home… for shame.
Record: 30-21, .588, 1st NL West (only ½ a game up on San Jose…)
Up Next: We’re headed home to meet the NL Division leading Brooklyn Citizens in our house. Timing isn’t great, I’ll admit, but we’ll do our level best to make the most of it.