[pauwoo]

Mexico City Jaguars (31-32, .492, 5th NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (39-22, .639, 1st NL West)
Even at 9 games off our pace and listed at 5th on the NL West table, Mexico City isn’t as bad as they look – they have an offense that can crack (ranked 3rd overall) and a staff that has struggled at times but looks much better on paper than they have in practice. If their hurlers can play up to what my scout believes is their potential and somehow find a way to put a couple of winning months together, they’ll be right back in the thick of things. They’re working through their best month of the season so far, at 8-7, and are looking to close out the 2nd half of June as strongly as possible so that this season will not slip too far from their grasp before we even make it to the All-Star break. Here they’ll have an opportunity to do just that as they carry a 3-1 head-to-head mark against us so far, and, despite our superb form right now, will look to carry that good fortune forward to set the tone for a rip-roaring 2nd half of June.

62 of 162: Patrick Keith (3-7, 4.11) @ Jan Hernandez (4-2, 1.64)
Win, 2-1. Down 1-0 after 8-innings where our offense kept coming up empty while the staff, led by Jan’s 5-innings of 6-hit, 1-run ball, did everything in their power to give us a shot, Satoru Ono, with two outs already on the board and a man on first, blasted a 2-run, walk-off dinger to extend our winning streak to 4 games. OH HONG finished 4-for-5 on the day and represented the tying run of Ono’s walk-off, the pitching was fierce, and we’d find a way to win despite committing two fielding flubs and leaving 12 runners stranded.

Elsewhere: Former Leopard, Tony Voorhis, made his desire to stay in Detroit with the Motors official as he signed a 2-year, $26.4mm extension with the club today. The contract will have Voorhis under contract through is age 35 season.

63 of 162: Jaxon Dupre (3-4, 4.76) @ Dwight Beasley (5-3, 5.40)
Win, 6-2. We’d ride a 5-run bottom of the 1st all the way home in this one as our offense, led by William Henderson’s 2-run double, would give our staff all the buffer they’d need to bring home our 5th win in a row. Beasley went 7-strong, allowing just 2 runs on 5 total hits, and Ram Chen closed the show, pitching a nearly perfect 2-innings, allowing no hits while fanning two. With the win we move to 3-3 head-to-head against Mexico City, with the chance to both earn our second sweep in a row and take the season lead against the Jags tomorrow.

64 of 162: Davey Halimkusuma (0-0, 1.03) @ Dentrell McNeil (2-1, 4.47)
Win, 12-6. Sweep City, USA! Down by a run heading into the bottom of the 8th, we’d ride a 4-run inning all the way to victory as Otto led the way again with a 4-for-5 day that included a run-scoring double, a 2-run DINGER, and 3 runs scored from the leadoff spot. The relief pitching was once again resolute with Durate getting credited with the win after 3.1 innings of burn followed by a 2-inning, 4-hit save from offseason acquisition, Manny Sepulveda, who entered his first of those this season into the permanent record. The La La’s are in a good way, folks… breathing some rarefied air currently, I just hope we can get onto something similar once the playoffs come around.

Record: 42-22, .656, 1st NL West
Up Next: We contest our next four at home against the visiting New Orleans Gators who we’ve not yet had the opportunity to play against.