[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (70-44, .614, 2nd NL West) @ Detroit Motors (58-56, .509, 2nd AL East)
Detroit came out gangbusters to start the year but came crashing back down to earth during an 11-17 month of June before rebounding in July to post a 15-11 month to get themselves heading the right direction once more. Unfortunately, they’re on the same sort of ‘dog days of summer’ lull that we seem to find ourselves in… this set, 3-games of interleague buffoonery as it were, isn’t so much about who wins as it is about who can snap out of their funk first… and while, under normal circumstances, the smart bet would be laid on our club, Detroit will be bringing their 2nd-ranked AL offense to the table against our suspect bullpen and will pair that with a serviceable, 5th ranked staff that, given our current state, is more than capable of giving us some serious fits. If I was a betting man, and I am, I’d put it all on me drinking myself into a stupor over the course of these next few days, eventually waking up in some unknown place with my favorite watch gone and my wallet super light on cash.

115 of 162: Merl Crawford (11-4, 2.42) @ Matt Martin (11-10, 4.17)
Win, 3-2 (13). All knotted up, 2-2, at the stretch, and with only 4 hits and 2 runs each, Detroit’s Paulo Legna would put his club ahead on a run-scoring single in the bottom of the 7th that would hold until the top of the very next frame when Ethan brought the equalizer across on a 2-out single. From there we’d trade zeroes until the 11th when Ernie Sparacino, our light-hitting defensive specialist, snuck one through the infield to bring Hamza home, putting Donovan Turnbull on the mound in the bottom of the 9th with death on the line… and he’d not disappoint as he shut down the side and earned his 6th win of the year for his efforts. A good, hard-fought win against a real lunch pail and hard hat type of club that had an impressive 9-4 record in extras until we charged loss #5 to their account.

116 of 162: Trev Anderson (3-4, 3.69) @ Al Bundy (7-4, 3.69)
Win, 10-5. Detroit’s Al Bundy, Polk High School’s favorite son, was no match for the La La’s in this one as he’d come unglued early when Hamza drilled a 3-run TRUCK during the top of the 1st that put us up by 4 runs before the contest even had a chance to get started… from there it was more of the same until we chased Al out of the game during the 4th frame, charging 6 runs to his account, and started in on the Motor City bullpen a bit. Ono drove 3 in and put one out, and Shepard drove two in, each on a single, while former Leopard’s Tony Voorhis (1-for-5) and Archie Imanov (1-for-4) couldn’t get it going against their former club. Trev gets the win, we’ve won our second straight, on the road, and the defense was stout in fielding two double plays… man, it feels good to be on the road, mowing them down like Otto is Rob Tyner on the microphone, with the rest of the club kicking out the jams behind him.

117 of 162: Dwight Beasley (4-0, 1.11) @ Trevor Dotson (5-10, 6.66)
Loss, 7-6. The battle of two future studs, our own Dwight Beasley and the D’s Trevor Dotson (who I think they have up on the big club too early), did not live up to the hype… Beasley went 5.2, fanned 6, gave up 4 TRUCKS and SEVEN RUNS (not sure what my Skipper was thinking) while Dotson gave up 6 runs on 4.2 innings of work with 2 HR’s against and ZERO K’S… a pitchers duel this was not. Voorhis was scary, TRUCKED TWO, both off Dwight, and drove 3 in, Otto and Shepard followed his lead but it wasn’t enough, and, in this live action version of Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em robots we’d play the part of Dan Hardy to their Carlos Condit – we went for it, got after it, and, unfortunately, went out on our shield, taking the loss, instead of securing the confidence-boosting road sweep I so desperately wanted.

Record: 72-45, .615, 2nd NL West (still 2 games back… running in place)
Up Next: A travel day to get back to Los Angeles and then a 3-game interleague set against the Charlotte Imperials.