Los Angeles Leopards (14-8, .636, 1st NL West) @ Montreal Alouettes (13-9, .591, 3rd NL East)
Montreal has settled in nicely to the role the Preseason Punditry positioned them for – a 3rd place finisher, late playoff qualifier with enough under the hood to cause some trouble but lacking in the horsepower required to finish things off with a Championship in 2079. Everything about this club is middle of the road… their offense currently ranks 7th in the NL overall and 7th in runs scored, AVG, OBP, and OPS, and the Pitching, outside of the Starters who currently have the best ERA in the NL, is ranked no higher than 5th in any of the other categories that matter. It’s early, so that they find themselves a scant 2 games off the pace being set by Philly & Miami is no surprise, what would be worth noting however, is if they were to find a way to keep this up, buck the predictions laid forth by the BNN, and actually do some damage this year… eh, not likely, that one’s on me… I let my imagination get the best of me there. Sorry.
23 of 162: Masaya Nakagawa (0-0, 2.61) @ Vincent Urquhart (2-1, 3.51)
Loss, 1-3. A late run-scoring single from backup outfielder,
Zackary Boyle, put Montreal ahead one during the bottom of the 8th and they’d get one more when,
Kaoru Kudo came unglued and walked another in during the same frame. For our part, outside of
Ethan’s solo homer, it was nothing doing as the club, road weary and jet lagged, did nothing of note, sleepwalking their way through this one and paying the price you’d expect as a result.
2B Clay Daniels, a member of our 2075 Championship Team, was injured running the bases when, after being caught with his hand in the honeypot by
Dom, came up lame on the play and had to be helped off the field. Diagnosis, as ever, is pending…
Elsewhere: Arnold Webster, a short-lived Leopard who we traded to Toronto in 2077, went buck for his new-ish home during a 3-for-5 performance that included THREE TRUCKS, FIVE RUNS BATTED IN, and THREE RUNS to lead the Maple Leafs to a hard earned, 12-10 road victory over the Vancouver Mounties. Half of Canada rejoiced, the other half did not.
24 of 162: Dwight Beasley (2-1, 3.68) @ Rex Marler (3-0, 1.57)
Loss, 3-5. It seems that drowning our sorrows in Labatt Blue and poutine is not the recipe for success – here, after having it handed to us last night, we’d have it handed to us again. This time with Montreal doing the dirt earlier in the contest with each of their 5 runs being scored prior to the 7th frame serving to underscore the fact that, despite charging three to their account in the top of the 7th, we’d not have enough in the tank to pull even with the home team and had no hope of passing them tonight.
1B Rex Fogg’s 2-run HOMER off
Beasley set the tone with
C Darby Helton doing the same only two innings later –
Beasley, it should be noted, is now tied for 3rd on the HRA table where the leader, Charlotte’s
Vladimiro Aguilar, is ahead by 3 so far.
DOM hit his 5th ball out of the park,
Ethan and
Ono both drove one in, and, despite our best efforts here, we wouldn’t be able to overcome
Beasley’s 5-earned, 2 HRA start and have now dropped our second series of the season.
25 of 162: Ramiro Marte (1-3, 6.43) @ Rad Taylor (0-1, 5.73)
Win, 4-3. There’s this belief that Canadians are an alarmingly nice, agreeable sort who are always welcoming and eager to please… and while this widely held belief is easily proved incorrect by the French speaking contingent of Canada, you wouldn’t have known it today as the Alouettes, playing us close throughout the contest, were kind enough to allow
OH HONG to seize the win with a run-scoring single during the top of the 9th frame and to go down in order during the bottom of it, on strikes each and every one, as
Haag recorded his 7th save as a Leopard. Two doubles for
PEPPER, his 4th and 5th on the year, a tasty little 3-run
DING DONG from
ONO that helped us pace Montreal,
Ethans 7th steal that helped us let them know we meant business, and that
OH HONG magic that carried us home… off into the sunset with our heads held high.
Some unfortunate injury news… SP Carson Vespa (80/80) of the New Orleans Alligators will miss the remainder of the season with a torn rotator cuff… that’s a huge downer. Oh, and the weekly PR is out…
Teams (Total Points, Tendency):
1) Toronto Maple Leafs (130.4, +)
2) Detroit Motors (122.7, ++)
3) Las Vegas Outlaws (117.5, +)
4) Philadelphia Founders (116.2, -)
5) Los Angeles Leopards (111.0, +)
6) Montreal Alouettes (109.0, ++)
7) Miami Herons (107.0, --)
8) Brooklyn Citizens (101.0, -)
9) New York Sluggers (100.6, ++)
10) Mexico City Jaguars (98.6, ++)
11) Denver Miners (94.5, --)
12) Boston Shamrocks (92.3, +)
13) Portland Pines (88.4, ++)
14) Pittsburgh Pipers (87.4, ++)
15) San Jose Seals (87.4, +)
16) Phoenix Coyotes (85.4, -)
17) Dallas Chaparrals (83.4, --)
18) Salt Lake Alpines (83.4, --)
19) Seattle Metros (81.4, --)
20) Buffalo Nickels (71.0, +)
21) Austin Grackles (63.8, +)
22) Charlotte Imperials (51.6, o)
23) Vancouver Mounties (47.6, --)
24) New Orleans Gators (25.6, o)
Record: 15-10, .600, 2nd NL West
Up Next: Headed west to Los Angeles for a date with the Herons…