Los Angeles Leopards (43-25, .632, 1st NL West) @ Miami Herons (33-36, .478, 5th NL East)
Down but not out, the Miami Herons, at 5.5 games off the wild card pace, are doing their level best to tread water long enough to make some moves in September as they try to come in a bit early on their promise of better days ahead. To make that leap, from also-ran to playoff caliber club, the Herons will need to improve their offense, where they rank a paltry 8th in runs scored, OBP, and OPS, and their pitching, where they’re held back by starters
Mike Clendenin (3-6, 4.33),
Marco Ortega (3-7, 4.36), and reliver
Dominic Hornbrook’s dismal 0-4 record and 5.09 ERA out of the pen. At -2 against the Pythagorean, with a 0 RDiff, and a 5-5 record over their last 10 we expect Miami to focus on the little things over these next four games, contested in their park, as they try to pick up a little steam at our expense… of course, that’ll be much, much easier said than done as we saunter into town on a 7-3 record over our last 10 contests looking every bit the BMOC, walking purposefully into the visiting clubhouse, all chesty and indifferent.
69 of 162: Stephen Estevez (6-2, 1.67) @ Marco Ortega (3-7, 4.36)
Win, 12-1. OH HONG and
Satoru led the way offensively, each with a homer,
Hong’s a 3-run TRUCK and
Ono’s a GRAND SLAM that got things rolling for us during a 6-run top of the 5th, and
Estevez held the Herons down from the bump over 6 inning of work where he’d allow only one runner to plate, 3 total hits, and 3 free passes while fanning 6.
Hanan contributed a double, his 12th,
Otto brought one in on a run-scoring single,
Mullens was our only batsmen who failed to record a hit as we completely dismantled the suddenly frazzled Miami Herons in this first of four contests at SPF 200 Park. We’ll need our guys to reign it in a bit tonight, of course, there’s still a lot of baseball for us to play in Florida during this trip… plenty of time to partake in the Lambada at some local hotspot, with a fresh Caipirinha in one hand and a Cubano in the other.
70 of 162: Merl Crawford (7-4, 5.10) @ Cathal Magill (8-1, 2.67)
Loss, 2-7. It seems that keeping our guys away from the forbidden dance, and those extra strength Caipirinha’s, was more challenging than I anticipated as we schlepped our way through this one, hung over, sore, and trying to operate on the diamond with a wicked case of Cubano-induced heartburn…
SS Juan Castro got after it for the Herons, hitting a
GRAND SLAM to clap back at
Ono’s performance during yesterday’s tilt, at the expense of
Merl, and leaving our offense dumbstruck, out of answers, and without the wherewithal to climb out of the hole he put us in during the bottom of the 2nd… not our best look, folks. Move along, nothing to see here…
Elsewhere: Tony Voorhis, fan favorite and
Leopards Legend now plying his trade with the Detroit Motors, went 3-for-3 with a double, a TRUCK, 4 total RBI and a run to lead his squad to a much-needed, come from behind win over the Seattle Metros to improve their lead in the wild card race to a formidable 7.5 games. On the year,
Voorhis is posting a .248/.287/.437 slash with 12 long balls and 40 RBI so far…
71 of 162: Keith Baeza (5-2, 1.99) @ Hunter Vaughn (5-4, 2.84)
Loss, 3-4 (11). Former Leopard, and member of our
first-ever championship club, that 2075 outfit of ne'er-do-wells who turned the baseball world on its head,
Nehemiah Jenkins would have his revenge on Los Angeles as he ended this one on a
game-winning, walk off, run-scoring single that sent our guys to the showers with their heads hung low and tails tucked firmly between their legs… best we can do now is fight our way out of town to earn a split. We’d put three balls out of the park, one each for
Ethan,
Otto, and
PEPPER, but it was all for naught as each was a solo shot leaving us a day late and a dollar short in this one.
Bummer biscuits…
72 of 162: Dwight Beasley (7-3, 3.32) @ Russell Wooten (4-3, 3.48)
Loss, 5-8 (15). While I’d like to chalk this one up to a bad beat, I’ve not the will nor desire to write this monstrosity up for myself… so, in lieu of that, I’ll just leave you with this…
Also, because why not pour some salt in our wounds,
Beasley strained his elbow in this one, is headed for a short stint on the IL (10-day) while
SP Leonardo Duarte comes up from Compton in his stead.
Record: 44-28, .611, 1st NL East (our lead over Vegas is now down to a single game after Miami gave us the business)
Up Next: Headed to Denver for a 3-game set against the 40-32, 2nd Place AL West juggernaut. Should be harrowing.