New York Sluggers (23-32, .407, 6th AL East) @ Los Angeles Leopards (34-21, .618, 1st NL West)
The New York Sluggers are in a bad way… stuck at the bottom of the barrel in the AL East, 6 ½ games off Detroit’s leisurely pace (they’re leading the division on a paltry 28-25 record so far), are 3-7 over their last 10, have lost all 7 of those in a row, and have made a habit of getting dusted by the competition on the regular as indicated by their -63 RDiff. The wildly popular
RF Neil Jahraus is easily their best player, is probably the 4th best right fielder in baseball, and is currently down for the count, injury diagnosis pending, which doesn’t look good as the young man, at only 26-years of age, has already missed significant time in his career with lingering back trouble. After
Jahraus there’s just not a lot in the pantry – the ingredients they do have would be unlikely to create an appetizing flavor profile, they’re missing the essential items required for most ‘from scratch’ recipes, and even if they had sufficient ingredients, the quality of their cooks (see: management) is suspect. New York arrives in L.A. looking like a kitchen in disarray where the tickets are coming in fast & furious, the line is short a man, and the flat top is struggling to maintain a consistent temperature.
A quick trade: We traded
3B Rishon Orosz, a fantastic defender with a so-so bat, to Mexico City (usually not a good idea to trade with a division rival) for
CL Major Hansen, who should see time in the Majors as early as next season, and low-end OF prospect
Richie Glow who I asked them to include as much for his name as anything else…
56 of 162: Ash Newman (3-4, 4.10) @ Merl Crawford (4-2, 2.31)
Loss, 7-6. Otto, who had been enjoying a day off prior to being called upon for a PH at bat, went yard in his only try, sending a 3-run moonshot over the fence that put us up 6-4 that would have been enough had New York’s
Leandro Mercedes not done the same thing during the top of the very next frame against
Rishon Shaw to put New York up 7-6, which, as you already know by now, is where we’d leave it…
Merl pitched fine, gave up three earned over 5.1 innings of work, but our pen fell apart once again, this time allowing a suspect offense to sucker punch us at home.
Ethan,
OH HONG, and
PEPPER drove in our other runs, we swiped two bags, 1 each for
Mullens and
Burton, and committed a couple of costly fielding flubs to aid the Sluggers’ cause… this was not the start to this series that we were looking for.
Elsewhere: Adrian Bae, a former Leopard who entered Free Agency during the offseason and ended up taking his talents to the Bush League, put up an 8.1 inning, 2-hit shutout with 9 K’s to lead his Decatur Donnybrooks to a resounding 5-0 victory over the Quincy Quackers. So far, as a Starter in the BL (he was a career reliever in the Bigs),
Adrian hasn’t fared so well… he’s 2-4 with a 7.11 ERA, .337 BABIP, 63 ERA+, and 5.17 FIP over 7 starts… with those numbers, it’s unlikely a Major League suitor will come calling anytime soon.
57 of 162: Lenny Rios (2-4, 6.64) @ Masaya Nakagawa (4-3, 2.63)
Win, 6-4. Back in the good graces of the Baseball Gods it seems as we overcome a solid start from New York’s
Lenny Rios, who went 7 IP with 4 hits and 2 earned, to get the win here on the back of
OH HONG’s 2 for 4 day that included TWO TRUCKS, and
Hanan’s pinch hit, 3-run, WALK OFF, DINGER! Not much else to work our way through here –
Dom hit a run-scoring double,
Otto swiped a bag, we got a sweet double play, and a highlight-reel worthy outfield assist from
Justin Burton who caught New York's
2B Ray Martin trying to get cute and stretch one all the way around to home plate. A good win for the club, one that required steady focus for the entire game… good to see the club keep fighting in this one.
58 of 162: Stewart Klinger (2-8, 5.08) @ Peter Garcia (3-2, 4.07)
Loss, 7-4. A late surge from New York would be our undoing here as the Sluggers managed to score 3 runs after the break to give themselves all the cushion they’d need to leave Los Angeles with a series win under their belts.
Hamza turned in a 2 for 4 day at the plate with a 2-RUN JACK and 2 runs,
Otto put his 17th ball out of the park, and our starter,
Garcia acquitted himself nicely over 6-innings of work, but, once again, the bullpen would come undone with
Zechariah Stillman being the culprit this time as he gave up the game-winning 2-run moonshot to New York’s
Ray Martin. A tough set here, losing a series at home to such a ho-hum, interleague opponent.
Elsewhere: SP Wilfredo Felix, of your Inglewood Sentinels, was up to no good again during a complete-game, 5-hit shutout with 7 K’s, leading our Double-A club to a resounding 9-0 win over the Reno Travelers. New guy,
Richie Glow, also gave a good account of himself, finishing with a 2 for 3 day at the plate and a run scored….
Record: 35-23, .603, 1st NL West
Up Next: the 2078 Ammy Draft… I’ll post the Top 10 picks and maybe run through our top three…