Los Angeles Leopards (45-25, .642, 1st NL West) @ San Jose Seals (41-29, .586, 3rd NL West)
San Jose has been something of a surprise so far in 2078 after finishing with a sub-.400 record two seasons in a row and missing the playoffs every year since 2072. They had a good offseason, bringing in key FA’s like
RF Andrew Beck (57 OVR; 2yr/$26.2mm) and
SP Julen Morales (52 OVR; 2yr/$31.6mm) while seeing their hard work spent on developing pitchers start to pay dividends, especially in the bullpen where they rank 1st in the National League. Still, there is the belief that the Seals are punching above their weight through the first 3rd of the season, that the clock is ticking, and that, any day now, this early run of success will be revealed to be a mirage, nothing but smoke and mirrors with no real substance beneath the surface. So far, we’ve been able to see through the haze and play them tough in 6 head-to-head matchups, winning 4 of the contests, and hope to continue that success as we put our 8-game winning streak on the line in the Bay Area…
Some minor awards… 2B Mike Duncan, of the Charlotte Imperials, took home the PoTW award in the American League after hitting .428 with 5 RBI and 5 runs while
LF Blas Polo, of the Phoenix Coyotes, did the same in the NL after putting up a .400 AVG with 4 HR’s and 12 RBI.
Weekly PR… Top 5- Los Angeles Leopards (131.7)... who? what?
- Brooklyn Citizens (115.6)
- Las Vegas Outlaws (115.5)
- Salt Lake Alpines (107.6)
- Pittsburgh Pipers (99.7)
A Trade: Looks like the Outlaws are trying to shore up their staff… Las Vegas and Portland announced today in a joint press conference that
26-year old SS Jess Alford (58 OVR) and
23-year old minor league CF Jack Gorton (39 POT) will be going to the Pines in exchange for
26-year old LHP Shizuka Takeuchi (50 OVR; 55 POT).
71 of 162: Keith Baeza (2-0, 1.65) @ Julen Morales (3-3, 3.07)
Loss, 6-3.
Julen Morales toyed with our lineup, went 8 strong for San Jose, allowed 5 hits, 3 earned, and secured his 4th win of the season and
CF Eden Holbrook led their offense with two, two-baggers and 3 RBI.
Otto gave it his all for us here, doing his level best to lead our club to our 9th straight victory, with 2 for 4 with 2 solo shots…
Mullens hit his 17th double but no one was on at the time,
Soto hit his first triple as a pro, but again no one was one, our other run came on a run-scoring walk drawn by
Ian Hanan, and
Baeza will be charged with the loss as he’d already allowed 5 earned before handing it off to the pen midway through the 4th.
Elsewhere: LF Bakari Konate, the lone
Ivory Coast representative in our league, currently putting in work with the
Oklahoma City Friendlys (Dallas’ Triple-A outfit), went 5 for 5 with
TWO TRUCKS, 4 RBI, and 2 RUNS to lead his club to a 9-4 win over the Long Beach Titans.
Konate was the 12th overall pick out of Binghamton in 2076, is currently the 43rd ranked prospect, and should, with a good roll of the developmental dice, become a major league mainstay as early as next season.
He’ll be one to watch for sure…
Some unfortunate injury news… SP Luc Felix, the Pacheco Award winner in 2075, and the best pitcher in New Orleans’ barren rotation, will miss the remainder of the 2078 campaign with a torn rotator cuff… in truth he’ll not just miss the rest of this year but at least half of next season as his recovery is expected to take at least 13 months… lame.
72 of 162: Stepehen Estevez (6-0, 1.89) @ Bentley Hunt (7-3, 3.69)
Loss, 2-0. Oof… we went from winning 8-straight to being on the wrong side of a mini-sweep with the quickness here as
Bentley Hunt gave a great account of himself holding us scoreless over 8.2 innings before turning it over to
CL Manny Sepulveda who earned his 20th save on 4-pitches …
Otto went 3-3 with a free pass, our starter,
Estevez, took the loss, his first of the season, after giving up 1 earned (and another unearned) in a mere 4.1 innings of work, and
Dwight Beasley kept San Jose off the board the rest of the way to give our offense a chance… of course, given that we never brought one across,
we squandered that opportunity.
Record: 45-27, .625, 1st NL West…
barely
Up Next: Straight to the tarmac and off to New Orleans for a 4-game parlay in the bayou.