Boston Shamrocks (28-29, .491, 5th AL East) @ Los Angeles Leopards (35-23, .603, 1st NL West)
After making the playoffs in each of their last 7 seasons, 2078 may bring that streak to a end as the Shamrocks haven’t been able to put anything substantive together so far with their 12th ranked offense (11th in Runs Scores, 12th EVERYWHERE else) and middling, 7th ranked staff. Boston is a proud club – 7161 - 6833 overall with 49 playoff appearances and 5 World Series titles – suffering through the type of year that their fans aren’t used to seeing, making the early part of the 2078 campaign a disorienting start for the Shamrocks faithful. Look, to fall from grace so quickly after finishing 1st in the AL East in 2076 & 2077 wouldn’t necessarily be the end of the world for Boston… they have a track record of success that will, undoubtedly, grant them some good will amongst their fans, so a quick rebuild before their next run of prolonged success shouldn’t be a deal breaker… the key here, however, likely lies in how long this rebuild will take coupled with how long their fans will be willing to stomach it before jumping ship and finding some other local team to follow instead.
59 of 162: Alan Wall (4-6, 6.63) @ Trev Anderson (3-3, 3.71)
Loss, 2-1.
Trev managed to pitch to only 5 batters before leaving due to a finger blister that will keep him off the mound for 1-2 weeks…
Beasley took over from there would deal for the next 3.2 innings allowing just 2 hits and no runs while fanning
EIGHT. So, while the pitching was solid, even though the pen was called upon early, it was our offense that would let us down here as our only run would come on a
HAMZA hit SAC FLY with everything else we put wood on being sent right into the teeth of the defense… we’d leave 9 stranded, get caught with our hand in the honey pot on the basepaths twice, and, really, just treat our hometown fans to another ho-hum effort from a club that has been looking mighty entitled lately… like wins against struggling clubs are just some foregone conclusion that should come our way with little focus or effort on our part…
Some roster moves… Trev to the IL,
SS Hetereki Ailani, LF Justin Burton, LF Kyle Weaver, and RP Zechariah Stillman to
Compton,
SP Jan Hernandez, RP Ignazio Armendariz, CF Manuel Soto, and 3B Owen Gibbs to the
big club.
60 of 162: Abe Meinecke (4-4, 4.75) @ Jan Hernandez (1-2, 7.24)
Win, 4-1.
Welcome home, misplaced son.. guess what we were doing while you were gone? Cocktail party's in gear, and we're glad that you're here… Jan returned to the fold on good form, gave us a rabble-rousing 5 innings of work, allowed just 3 hits, with nothing earned and 4 K’s en route to earning his 2nd win of the 2078 campaign, and
Dom drove one in & scored twice to lead the offense to victory. Our other runs would come from
Ono (a run-scoring triple),
Hanan (a run-scoring single), and
Manuel Soto (a run-scoring single) who’s RBI came on his very first hit as a Major Leaguer (
FINALLY – I guess we didn’t break him during his last sting in L.A. after all…). We’d get some solid bullpen contributions here as well…
Ground Control to Major Hansen gave us 3.1 innings in relief, fanning 7, and
Turnbull picked up his 16th save by striking out the only two batters he faced during the top of the 9th.
A better, more focused, and hard-fought victory for the La La’s here…
Elsewhere: Tom Franzone, standing at 6 foot, 3 inches of lean steel and sex appeal, went 4 for4 with a double, TWO TRUCKS, 4 RBI and 3 runs to lead his Pittsburgh Pipers to a topsy-turvy and, ultimately, resounding win over the Salt Lake Alpines by a score of 11-7. A good win against a top club for last season’s NL champion as they fight to maintain their tentative grasp on one of the wild card spots during the early part of this year. Now a scant 5 games off Brooklyn’s pace with Montreal even with them and Miami not far behind at 6 games back. Things are nearly as tight in the NL East as they are in the West.
Also… big ups to 1B Wil Lewandowski…
61 of 162: Jeronimo Tucker (5-4, 2.41) @ Keith Baeza (0-0, 3.38)
Win, 11-0.
FINALLY… we’d explode here for 11 runs with
Satoru Ono leading the way on a 3 for 5 day with 4 RBI and a run,
Ethan Mullens following along with a 2-run JACK, and
Otto Isaac joining the fray with a solo shot, his 18th truck of the year, to add to the kitty.
Keith Baeza made the most of his 1st start of the year, going 6.2 innings while allowing just 5 hits, nothing earned, and registering 10 K’s, and
RP Ignazio Armendariz, back with the big club for the first time since the Tricentennial Campaign in ’76, gave us a sturdy 2.1 innings in relief to close this one out with the shutout intact. 2 doubles, a triple, and 3 homers for the club with 4, 2-out RBI, a sublime little
SAC FLY courtesy of
OH HONG, and 11 scores with another 9 left stranded… we’ve been waiting for our guys to put it together like this for a good stretch… now, our next task will be to keep the good times rolling with Las Vegas all set to pay us a visit over the weekend…
Record: 37-24, .606, 2nd NL West… um, San Jose, winners of their last 5, have moved into the spot at the top of the pops and sport a ½ game lead over us.
Buncha goons you ask me.
Up Next: A day off, one that I’ll likely spend a good portion of sitting in my owners office explaining how San Jose got the jump on us, followed by a 3-game home set against the Outlaws.