Los Angeles Leopards (14-14, .500, 2nd NL West) @ Las Vegas Outlaws (13-15, .464, 5th NL West)
On paper, it’s Las Vegas then Los Angeles… everyone else in the NL West is meaningless, fodder for Kings like us. The reality, however, has been something else – up is down, left is right, the toilet is flushing counter-clockwise, and the tissue is loaded such that you have to pull from the bottom to get what you need, touching the wall, squares that you’re not removing from the roll, and spreading bacteria like some preteen who refuses to shower… in short, reality has run amok with ourselves and the Outlaws struggling to stay afloat while the Austin Friggin’ Grackles rule the roost at 19-11, setting a pace 4-games better than our own. And, look, Vegas has been a weird one, okay – they dominated off the line, winning their first 6 contests in back to back sweeps before dropping a set to, you guessed it, Austin and then finishing the month of April at 10-10. Currently, and not unlike us, they’re mired in a poor start to May at 3-5 so far, and have to be looking at these 3-games against us, in their house, as their best path back to respectability. Something’s got to give… my hope here is that it’s not us. I mean, I like my job and I’d like to keep it.
29 of 162: Dwight Beasley (2-1, 3.29) @ Evan Church (0-1, 6.48)
Win, 4-2. OH HONG’s 2-run
MOONSHOT during the top of the 3rd served as our opening salvo with runs driven in by
Hutchinson and
Tignor acting as the difference-makers in this one for us…
Hendo swiped a bag, the 3rd one of those he’s added to his collection so far,
Beasley and
Matthews each gave up only 1 earned run, and
Haag, who we hope is back in the saddle for good, gave us 1.2-innings in relief, fanning 3, and earning his 6th save of the year. We also gave
Evan Church the business in this one – charging each of our runs to his account – while our staff kept
Cubas off balance during an uncharacteristic 0-for-4 night with former Leopard,
Andy Shepard, providing their lone offensive highlight, a 2-run blast off
Wayne where one of the runners was inherited. Bottom line, folks, is this… we’ve managed to put those three loses in Pittsburgh in the rearview mirror and found a way to win what I have no doubt will be an important game in the larger scheme of things… two more to go. Gotta have it.
Elsewhere: Danbury’s
RF Van Van Gundy, highlighted here as much for his funny moniker as his game performance, led the Buffalo affiliate he’s a member of to a resounding 18-5 win over the Daytona Beach Hurricanes with a 5-for-6 day at the plate that included a JACK, 5 RBI, and 3 runs… this kid isn’t exactly a stud – he’s got no pop, no eye – but he can field, hits for contact, puts balls into the gap, and doesn’t strike out that often (10.3% of the time so far in A-ball). In short, the Blue Mountain State legend will undoubtedly make it to primetime and while he’ll not likely be a star, he’ll contribute more than just making me smile every time I see his stupid name.
30 of 162: Stephen Estevez (2-2, 5.52) @ Lee Myers (1-1, 2.53)
Win, 4-0. Otto, never one to miss an opportunity to assert himself as top dog, went 2-for-5 with a 2-run BLAST during the top of the 1st that would put us up by 2 with
Ono and
Tignor trickling a couple more in before all was said and done – as it turns out, it’d be more than enough as
Estevez combined with
Armendariz and
Chen on the clean sheet, fanning 10 hapless hitters between them and doing what was required to ensure that we’d come away with a hard-earned series win against our most reviled of division rivals. Ahh, who am I kidding, we hate them all. Equally.
31 of 162: Merl Crawford (2-3, 4.75) @ Cam Murphy (4-1, 1.36)
Win, 4-2 (12). We’ve now been part of three sweeps in a row – two that were great and another we’d rather forget – as the Yellow Tops put their recent past behind them and got down to business against the Outlaws, in Sin City, to crib three in a row off the supposed division favorite entering the 2080 campaign.
Kyle Weaver played the hero role in this one – he’d blast a 2-run TANK in a PH at bat that would ultimately be the difference maker for us and
Don Haag, one of 7 hurlers who tossed it around for us a bit today, managed to pick up his 3rd win of the season, improving to 3-4 on the year with 6 saves.
Record: 17-14, .548, 2nd NL West
Up Next: We’ll head to the Bay Area for the second time this season to get after it against the San Jose Seals over a 3-game set.