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pauwoo · 04-24-2022, 12:28 PM

Los Angeles Leopards (44-28, .611) @ Denver Miners (40-33, .547, 2nd AL West)
We arrive in Denver in need of an offensive reawakening – something the unique physics of their park and its reduced form drag on hit baseballs is uniquely qualified to help with – after dropping three straight to the less-than-formidable Miami Herons. Here we’ll get sturdier competition, rowdier fans, and a club coming off a nice series win over the New York Sluggers… ranked 1st or 2nd in all of the offensive categories that matter and as high as 2nd on the other side of the ball (FIP – everywhere else it’s 5th or worse, as you’d likely expect), this year’s edition of the Denver Miners look to be returning to the form they put on display in 2077 when they finished 1st in the AL West at 92-70, and, ultimately, bowed out of the Playoffs against the Vancouver Mounties, who somehow managed to carry that good fortune all the way to an improbable World Series win, in 7-games, against the Pittsburgh Pipers. For our part, with our lead over Las Vegas reduced to a paltry ½ game after Miami put those bad ones on us, we’ll need to slow down Denver’s roll over these next three games, get ourselves back on track, and start to put some distance on our division rival once again.

Side note: CL Major Hansen, who missed ~7 weeks with elbow strain, is returning to the fold, rested, rehabbed, and better than ever… which means that RP Newton Weiser is the odd man out, returning to Compton (after a stint on waivers) for the first time since April.

73 of 162: Masaya Nakagawa (3-1, 3.15) @ Taylor Pushkin (6-3, 2.99)
Win, 3-2. In desperate need of a win, by any means necessary – even if those means, in baseball’s liveliest ballpark, were more defensive in nature – our road weary, Best Coast club, found a way to get it done despite turning in a performance light on offense. Nakagawa cut through Blue Moon Ballpark’s dry air over 8-innings of 7-hit, 2-run ball without hanging a single curve, managing to fan 5 while only giving up one long ball, Ono, Otto, and OH HONG each hit doubles into the gap, and, after bringing Hong in on a run-scoring single, Isaac would score the game-winner, during the top of the 5th, on a DOM hit SAC FLY. That’s just good baseball – nice team win for the club, coming at a time when anything less would have led to finger pointing and further erosion of our clubhouse espirit di corps.

74 of 162: Stephen Estevez (7-2, 1.66) @ Paul Wilson (4-5, 4.50)
Loss, 2-11. Denver came out gangbusters, sprinting across the cage and landing a hellacious, Masvidal-esque flying knee right to the temple of our Ace, who, for his part, suffered the indignity of giving up 7, 1st inning runs and getting yanked, for what has to be the first time in his career, without recording a single out… all told the Miners would score all of their runs during that frame with 4 more coming at RP Leonardo Duarte’s expense before all was said and done. 15 hits, 5 doubles, 2 homers, and 11 scores for the home team despite leaving 9 more stranded (Solomon Lawrence, their hard-charging Left Fielder, led the way with a 4-for-4 day with 2 doubles, a TANK, and 5 total RBI)… we’d hit a few doubles too, of course, but failed to do much of anything with them as all of the internal goodwill we built back up during last nights hard-fought, game 1 win has disappeared like a hard-hit ball in Blue Moon Ballpark giving way to all the finger pointing we had only temporarily kept at bay.

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Not Elsewhere: LF Solomon Lawrence put up the 15th ranked Individual Game Performance of the year against us tonight, finishing, as stated above, 4-for-4 at the plate with two, two-baggers, a TRUCK, 5 RBI, and a run to lead his club to a resounding, hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife, shellacking of our visiting club en route to our embarrassing 2-11 loss. Also, it seems that Charlotte has claimed Newton Weiser off waivers… I really thought I’d get away with that one.

75 of 162: Merl Crawford (7-5, 5.59) @ Misael Enriquez (3-6, 5.26)
Loss, 3-5. After maintaining relative control of this contest through the top of the 8th, Denver, as is their wont, would pour on 3 runs during the bottom of the frame as C Rex Engelstad, operating as a PH here, would get things rolling with a game-tying, run-scoring single followed by an RBI each for Solomon Lawrence and RF Kelford Jackson to take & extend the lead. We’d get well-hit doubles from OH HONG and Hanan, a perfectly hit SOLO HOMER from Otto, and 6.1 hard scrabble innings of work from Merl where he’d fan 9 while giving up a couple of early solo homers. In the end, and despite Otto’s best efforts (4-for-5, HR, 2 RBI), we’d just not have enough in the tank to get this one over the finish line and instead suffer the indignity of losing consecutive away series for the first time this year.

We’re in something of a bad way, folks… and, in other news, Charlotte’s waiver claim was executed today (goodbye, Newton, we hardly knew ye), I got news from our head trainer, Hidetoshi Hasegawa (in Japan, heart surgeon #1), that Donovan Turnbull is not healing as fast as expected, and I have a meeting with Phil Murray tonight upon our return to discuss why we suddenly suck so bad at baseball among other things… should be fun!

Record: 45-30, .600, 1st NL West (still ½ game up on LV)
Up Next: Some hopefully delicious home cookin’ against the 31-45, 5th place in the AL West, vanilla ice cream eating, Salt Lake Alpines… three games to right the ship before heading to Las Vegas for an all-important set.

04-24-2022, 12:28 PM	#96
pauwoo Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: Seattle Posts: 2,255	2079 Season (June 23rd – 25th) Los Angeles Leopards (44-28, .611) @ Denver Miners (40-33, .547, 2nd AL West) We arrive in Denver in need of an offensive reawakening – something the unique physics of their park and its reduced form drag on hit baseballs is uniquely qualified to help with – after dropping three straight to the less-than-formidable Miami Herons. Here we’ll get sturdier competition, rowdier fans, and a club coming off a nice series win over the New York Sluggers… ranked 1st or 2nd in all of the offensive categories that matter and as high as 2nd on the other side of the ball (FIP – everywhere else it’s 5th or worse, as you’d likely expect), this year’s edition of the Denver Miners look to be returning to the form they put on display in 2077 when they finished 1st in the AL West at 92-70, and, ultimately, bowed out of the Playoffs against the Vancouver Mounties, who somehow managed to carry that good fortune all the way to an improbable World Series win, in 7-games, against the Pittsburgh Pipers. For our part, with our lead over Las Vegas reduced to a paltry ½ game after Miami put those bad ones on us, we’ll need to slow down Denver’s roll over these next three games, get ourselves back on track, and start to put some distance on our division rival once again. Side note: CL Major Hansen, who missed ~7 weeks with elbow strain, is returning to the fold, rested, rehabbed, and better than ever… which means that RP Newton Weiser is the odd man out, returning to Compton (after a stint on waivers) for the first time since April. 73 of 162: Masaya Nakagawa (3-1, 3.15) @ Taylor Pushkin (6-3, 2.99) Win, 3-2. In desperate need of a win, by any means necessary – even if those means, in baseball’s liveliest ballpark, were more defensive in nature – our road weary, Best Coast club, found a way to get it done despite turning in a performance light on offense. Nakagawa cut through Blue Moon Ballpark’s dry air over 8-innings of 7-hit, 2-run ball without hanging a single curve, managing to fan 5 while only giving up one long ball, Ono, Otto, and OH HONG each hit doubles into the gap, and, after bringing Hong in on a run-scoring single, Isaac would score the game-winner, during the top of the 5th, on a DOM hit SAC FLY. That’s just good baseball – nice team win for the club, coming at a time when anything less would have led to finger pointing and further erosion of our clubhouse espirit di corps. 74 of 162: Stephen Estevez (7-2, 1.66) @ Paul Wilson (4-5, 4.50) Loss, 2-11. Denver came out gangbusters, sprinting across the cage and landing a hellacious, *Masvidal-esque* flying knee right to the temple of our Ace, who, for his part, suffered the indignity of giving up 7, 1st inning runs and getting yanked, for what has to be the first time in his career, without recording a single out… all told the Miners would score all of their runs during that frame with 4 more coming at RP Leonardo Duarte’s expense before all was said and done. 15 hits, 5 doubles, 2 homers, and 11 scores for the home team despite leaving 9 more stranded (Solomon Lawrence, their hard-charging Left Fielder, led the way with a 4-for-4 day with 2 doubles, a TANK, and 5 total RBI)… we’d hit a few doubles too, of course, but failed to do much of anything with them as all of the internal goodwill we built back up during last nights hard-fought, game 1 win has disappeared like a hard-hit ball in Blue Moon Ballpark giving way to all the finger pointing we had only temporarily kept at bay. Not Elsewhere: LF Solomon Lawrence put up the 15th ranked Individual Game Performance of the year against us tonight, finishing, as stated above, 4-for-4 at the plate with two, two-baggers, a TRUCK, 5 RBI, and a run to lead his club to a resounding, hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife, shellacking of our visiting club en route to our embarrassing 2-11 loss. Also, it seems that Charlotte has claimed Newton Weiser off waivers… I really thought I’d get away with that one. 75 of 162: Merl Crawford (7-5, 5.59) @ Misael Enriquez (3-6, 5.26) Loss, 3-5. After maintaining relative control of this contest through the top of the 8th, Denver, as is their wont, would pour on 3 runs during the bottom of the frame as C Rex Engelstad, operating as a PH here, would get things rolling with a game-tying, run-scoring single followed by an RBI each for Solomon Lawrence and RF Kelford Jackson to take & extend the lead. We’d get well-hit doubles from OH HONG and Hanan, a perfectly hit SOLO HOMER from Otto, and 6.1 hard scrabble innings of work from Merl where he’d fan 9 while giving up a couple of early solo homers. In the end, and despite Otto’s best efforts (4-for-5, HR, 2 RBI), we’d just not have enough in the tank to get this one over the finish line and instead suffer the indignity of losing consecutive away series for the first time this year. We’re in something of a bad way, folks… and, in other news, Charlotte’s waiver claim was executed today (goodbye, Newton, we hardly knew ye), I got news from our head trainer, Hidetoshi Hasegawa (in Japan, heart surgeon #1), that Donovan Turnbull is not healing as fast as expected, and I have a meeting with Phil Murray tonight upon our return to discuss why we suddenly suck so bad at baseball among other things… should be fun! Record: 45-30, .600, 1st NL West (still ½ game up on LV) Up Next: Some hopefully delicious home cookin’ against the 31-45, 5th place in the AL West, vanilla ice cream eating, Salt Lake Alpines… three games to right the ship before heading to Las Vegas for an all-important set. __________________ Be excellent to each other. the Portland Pioneers \| the Los Angeles Leopards Last edited by pauwoo; 06-10-2022 at 06:18 PM.