[Bub13]

The twenty-fourth season of Hawaii Islanders baseball kicks off now! April sees us playing 27 games: 12 at home, 15 on the road. We'll play road series against our top competitors, Texas and Detroit, as well as a roadie against the up-and-coming Brewers.

April 2-4 vs SEATTLE
Winners of 72 games a year ago, the Mariners haven't had a winning season since '49 and last made the playoffs the year before that. The usual trio of Ger van Mourik, Paul Stough, and Jon Terrell shore up the middle of the lineup, and leadoff 2B Dan Bruno is capable of .290 with 25+ HR. But there isn't much after that, especially with CF Rogelio Pena out for 2 weeks and new 3B Sean Friedman for six months. They did add SS Jesse Ryder from Cleveland, but he's a defense-first guy who'll probably hit .240. The rotation is largely the same, with MR Paul Boyd now occupying the #5 slot. But I think their #3 prospect John Knipp will be there soon (and should be there now, fwiw), once he gets some more games in relief under his belt. They also added a few RP, including re-signing Marco Mendez, last seen destroying our bullpen after we traded for him in the '56 off-season. If he's recovered from whatever happened to him here, he'll be a better closer than Jimmy Unangst, now in a setup role. Manager Dwayne Cloninger starts his seventh year, GM Matthew Marry his second. MLB says they'll struggle, winning only 71 games. Owner Adam Yamauchi says he's "content" right now, but that may not last...

HAW pitchers: LH Matt Waugh (20-7, 2.77) / RH Josh Irvin (15-9, 3.38) / LH John Loeb (19-6, 3.16)
SEA pitchers: RH Vince Push (10-17, 5.16) / RH Danny Diaz (11-12, 4.65) / RH Mike Bader (16-13, 4.24)

#1: WIN 5-1 ... Waugh is back, with 8 IP of 5-hit ball, fanning 8...9 H for us, 2 each for Villalpando and Collins...2-run triple for Simmons
#2: WIN 1-0 ... PERFECT GAME! Irvin fans 8 and rides Medici's 3rd inning solo HR, for the first Perfecto in franchise history!
#3: WIN 4-2 ... Collins knocks a 2-run HR in the 11th for the win...2 doubles and a single for Villalpando...we record 16 strikeouts

I guess that's a good start? A sweep and a perfect game. That's the tenth perfect game in this dynasty, and the third no-hit game by a Hawaii pitcher. Ken Clark tossed the first back in '37, and Ryuma Sato got his in '44.... Waugh and Loeb shook off their spring training rust, and Villalpando (he needs a short nickname) made a ton of contact, going 5-for-11.... ELSEWHERE: Six teams sweep their opening day series, including top AL squads in Texas, Detroit, and Miami.... 4 HR for MIL's Ricky Ayala, already closing in on the 58 predicted for him by MLB.... Lance Powell finished his 22-year career with 609 HR, leaving Tampa star Jose Tavares (560) as the active leader. Free agent Victor Sanchez (554) is next, followed by Ryan Walton (WAS, 531) and Chris Goldthwait (NOZ, 521).... On the hit parade, Andrew Taylor leads actives with 2865, but is currently toiling in AAA Albuquerque. He's good enough to still play in the bigs, and must be pissed that he's getting held back from reaching 3000.


April 5-7 @ HOUSTON
Predicted by MLB to win 75 games, which would be good enough for third place in a mostly-moribund division. They did nothing to help an offense that struggled for much of last year, adding only the all-glove-no-hit Bubba Gillmore at short. (Although injured John Capps may replace him, as he's a decent fielder and a much better--if still not really good--hitter.) The rotation should be better, with #1 Winton Jones returning from an injury that held him to 21 starts last season, and adding veteran Josh Haynam from Toronto. They only added one reliever, but still remade things from within by giving three prospects roles in the opening day bullpen. And all of those guys could (should?) start. The problem here isn't just a lack of talent: it's a lack of drive to improve things. Owner Jim Crane has kept the budget to a 34th-ranked $138M, and a 35th-ranked salary total of $86.5M. There's a big market here and over $31M to spend on free agents, even now. So...why haven't they? They haven't been bad enough to get top five draft picks recently, nor have they shown any real improvement over than a couple of single-season blips in '48 and '53. Long-time Cuban star Alejandro Garcia is the manager, in his fourth year, but he hasn't been given much to work with yet.

HAW pitchers: LH Curt Christensen (debut) / LH Daniel Croft (15-12, 4.28) / LH Matt Waugh ('57: 1-0, 1.12)
HOU pitchers: RH Jason Knight (9-14, 4.79) / RH Josh Haynam (13-9, 3.79) / RH Winton Jones ('57: 0-1, 16.88)

#4: LOSS 5-6 ... 3 HR for each team, and we outhit them 12-9...3 H and first career HR for Villalpando...Chritensen struggles in his debut tho
#5: LOSS 1-5 ... 7 hits, Reynolds' solo HR our only run...Croft is flat and pulled in the second after allowing all five runs...Shinnick goes 6, zero runs
#6: WIN 3-1 ... Villa' goes deep again, and Waugh is solid over 8 IP, but only fans 3

Saved face with that last game, putting us at 4-2 and a game behind Texas, and tied with California.... It's only six games, but Villalpando has been lights-out, with Collins and Medici also hitting well. No one else is doing much yet, however, and a few guys have left their bats at our spring camp apparently.... Shinnick fanned 7 and allowed only 3 hits in his 6 innings of relief work for Croft. Interesting.... ELSEWHERE: Washington is the last undefeated team, while Montreal and Portland are the only winless squads.... Six games, six home runs for MIL's Ricky Ayala. Can he hit 162? Stay tuned.... Now for some pitching career leaders: a raft of retirements the last few years has cleared out a bunch of long-timers, leaving PHI's Conor MacLeod the active K leader with 2857 to start the season. STL's Alberto Reyes has 2847, and Austin's Emanuel Vasquez 2846. Pitchers don't throw as much or stick around for wins like the old days, so it's no surprise that no actives have 200 wins, although Richmond's Chris Larimer is right there with 199; Reyes has 192.


April 8-10 vs BOSTON
Off to a 1-5 start, last year's 84-win team is slated by MLB to become this year's 67-win team. They added 1B Jason Anderson from TOR and C Dan Morra from LA, who should be nice complements to OF Dustin Wasilewski and Ty Knott, along with ageless vet 2B Cortez Ortiz. But there's not a lot of explosiveness behind those guys. On paper they've got a solid rotation, but #1 Yuya Watabe is out until August, and solid mid-rotation guys Matt Postlewait and rookie Angelo Luna are also out until mid-summer. But they've still got solid vets Dave Yocum, Art Garner, and Chris James, while vet Jon Jones and rookie C.J. Freestone are more than capable. The pen looks in capable hands with Luis Garcia, Dusty Browning, and Elijah Jelks. I'm not sure how MLB sees them only winning 67 games? Is the offense really that shallow? There are some kids who are still growing and are in crucial lineup slots, but does MLB discount them that much? Anyway, despite their slow start, I think this is a better team that they're credited for. Manager Ryan Day is in his fifth season and has yet to finish under .500.

HAW pitchers: RH Josh Irvin (1-0, 0.00) / LH John Loeb (0-0, 1.35) / LH Curt Christensen (0-1, 7.94)
BOS pitchers: RH Dave Yocum (0-1, 7.50) / RH Art Garner (0-1, 10.12) / RH Chris James (0-1, 3.38)

#7: LOSS 0-3 ... only 4 hits, all singles...Irvin gives up 12 hits, but is okay otherwise
#8: LOSS 5-6 ... we finally hit, but get no pitching...all our runs come late, as we at least try to come back
#9: LOSS 5-7 ... terrible again...three late runs make this look more respectable than it was

The era of good feelings from that first series is officially over. Last year's bugaboo--where is the offense?--is back again, with a vengeance. Yes, it's only nine games, but we're next-to-last in runs and out of the top ten in most offensive category.... Beau Collins comes in for the .091-hitting Hassell and pops two home runs. Hassell does get two pinch hits, trying to redeem himself already.... Gonna need some wholesale lineup shifting very soon here.... Maybe Christensen isn't quite ready yet, after another bad start. He'll get one or two more before we make a move.... ELSEWHERE: WAS and PHI are 8-1, BKN is 1-8.... LA is 3-6, so we're not the only team predicted to fluorish that's struggling right now.... Since we can't hit, let's check in on our old buddy Joe Lynn, now with Miami: .447 with 6 SB. Okay, bad idea. How about Doug Pederson (.324) and Jose Rivera (3.18 ERA) in Arizona? Yeah, I better stop.


April 12-14 @ DETROIT
Oh goody, just what a slumping team needs, a trip to the defending champs. The Tigers are 6-3, with just a 12th-ranked offense (and only 5 home runs!) but the league's best pitching. No surprise that these guys didn't change much to the lineup, adding only C Juan Espinoza from Richmond. But like us, they haven't gotten on track yet, with only three regulars batting over .275. The veteran staff (only one SP is under 30) has been great so far, however, and four of their RP have yet to surrender a run. It's also worth noting that always-injured OF Roberto Gomez has been 100% healthy nine games into the season. Better give him ALL the lucky charms, Tiger fans. Manager Tyler Macklin is in his fifth season, and has never missed the playoffs. This franchise's long run of success finally paid off with a long-overdue championship title last fall. Now it's our turn to knock them off that perch.

HAW pitchers: LH Daniel Croft (0-1, 27.00) / LH Matt Waugh (2-0, 1.12) / RH Josh Irvin (1-1, 1.06)
DET pitchers: RH Chris Liles (1-0, 2.25) / RH Jose Hernandez (2-0, 1.59) / RH Tony Gamez (1-1, 4.91)

#10: WIN 4-1 ... only 6 hits, but Calderin and Villalpando go deep, and Croft is miles better than his first outing, lasting 8 IP
#11: WIN 4-0 ... 3 more HR, and 10 hits total including 3 from Beau Collins...Waugh tosses a 2-hitter
#12: LOSS 1-4 ... only outhit 6-5, but add in 10 K and zero BB, and we're just not getting on base enough...Irvin with a CG for some reason

Better, but: still next-to-last in runs, 15th in AVG, 14th in OBP. Fewest runs allowed, however, so at least that's going for us.... Beau Collins now has five MLB hits, three have left the yard.... Simmons sat a game after getting hit on the wrist by a pitch. He's batting .162 so far, while Bill Gamboa is hitting a near-mirror .167.... At this rate, Villalpando--hitting .395/.435/.674--will either be hitting leadoff or cleanup in another week.... Nice 8-1 start to their season for Eureka (A).... ELSEWHERE: Nine wins out of ten for Philadelphia, topping MLB (with NOZ) at 10-2. Brooklyn still trails everyone at 2-10.... Zephyrs RF Manny Leos had a 22-game hitting streak end just now.... A sharp 7-1 start for Texas has stalled with four straight losses.... Three starts, 34 K for new Phillies ace Conor MacLeod. Zephs star Jeffrey Foley is just behind him, with 31.

......

TL;DR Version: Great start but after that, a whole lot of meh. Good to take two from the hot Tigers just now, but we've really got to get our bats in order, and soon. The offensive numbers are not pretty: 17th in runs, 15th in AVG, 14th in OBP. Seventh in HR, which is an improvement from recent years, but it hasn't boosted the rest of the offense. At least our pitchers have been solid, leading the AL in runs allowed and 2nd in both rotation and bullpen ERA. So 12 games in, and the early returns on my pre-season "issues" watch list: UP - Matt Waugh has been great; the bullpen is money; rookie Villalpando is looking like a winner. DOWN - JJ Simmons is hitting .162, Bill Gamboa .167, Kevin Reynolds .238, and Jules Medici .256; Curt Christensen has looked supremely unready for MLB action with a 9.53 ERA. My favorite stats so far? Rookie Beau Collins has five hits: a single, a triple, and three home runs.