[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (79-63, .556, 2nd NL West) @ Las Vegas Outlaws (76-66, .535, 3rd NL West)
In what will be our last meeting against the Las Vegas Outlaws of the regular season, we’ll pit our top ranked staff against their 2nd ranked offense in their park… with, well, everything on the line. We’ve played them tough this year, owning a 10-4 head-to-head record against them so far, but in making our living so close to them on the NL West table, these next four have taken on some additional importance. We’ll arrive in town on something of a hot streak, compiling an 8-2 record over our last 10 contests, most recently lifting 2 of 3 off Phoenix in their park. There’s also our sweep, at home, over Las Vegas at the beginning of the month to draw from… surely the Outlaws will be looking to exact some small measure of revenge after we big brothered them so severely the last time we met… our challenge, goal, and prime directive here will be to keep that from happening, to reassert our dominance over a rival who, while formidable, can’t measure up to the cut of our jib.

143 of 162: Dontrell McNeil (10-7, 3.36) @ Jack Sanchez-Flores (11-10, 3.98)
Win, 8-3. We’d kick things off in Vegas by pummeling the Outlaws on the strength of OH HONG’S 2-for-4, 2 HOMER day and Simon Paulino’s 3 total RBI, including an early, top of the 2nd, 2-run double. Otto swiped his 30th bag of the year, the club crafted two perfectly executed DP’s, Mullens struck down Ray Gerhold at home from RF, and the pitching, led by McNeil’s winning performance, was stout throughout the contest. Not much else to parse out here, really… just another dominant win over a rival, no big deal...

144 of 162: Stephen Estevez (12-6, 3.39) @ Cam Murphy (10-7, 3.78)
Win, 7-4. We’d open this one up with a 3-run top of the 8th when a 2-run double, courtesy of OH HONG, put us up by two… on the day, he finished 4-for-5 with two doubles and those two RBI, while Koloski drove in two on a homer, and Chance Bell contributed to the cause with a SAC BUNT. Estevez turned it over to the pen after putting in 5.1 innings of work, allowing 4 total hits and 2 earned while fanning 4 hapless hitters, Nakagawa got the win, his 7th of the year, and Don Haag was at it again, entering his 43rd save into the permanent record after T-Rex and Major Hansen each secured single out holds. We’ve now opened our lead over Las Vegas up to 5 games but still trail the division leading Austin Grackles by three.

145 of 162: Nacho Valadez (8-5, 3.75) @ Shizuka Takeuchi (11-9, 3.62)
Win, 3-1. OH HONG’S name would ring out once again – 2-for-4 with a 2-run TANK – Rad Taylor would be credited with his 6th win of the year after taking over for Nacho who left after walking 5 batters in 4.1 innings of work, Major Hansen & T-Rex each earned another hold, Haag saved his 44th game, and the club backed our staff with 3, Hutchinson-Paulino-Hong double plays. This kind of a low-key win, honestly… not a ton to parse out, but we did position ourselves for the sweep, and if we can get it done tomorrow that would put us at 8-0 against these guys in September. That’d be cool.

146 of 162: Ram Chen (2-8, 3.42) @ Garvy Bean (12-7, 4.95)
Win, 6-1. SWEEP CITY! Backup backstop, Darby Helton, was a big part of the show offensively, finishing 3-for-3 with 2 doubles and an RBI, and Ethan Mullens was our man of the match with his bases-clearing double during the top of the 4th putting us up 5-0 at the time. Chance and OH HONG were responsible for our other runs, we hit 3 singles, 5 doubles, a triple, and a homer as a club, fielded a crispy Paulino-Hutchinson-Hong double play, and still got the win despite Otto donning a platinum sombrero and striking out 5 times to tie the NL regular season game record. 8 straight wins against Las Vegas this month… must be some sort of historical team record.

Record: 83-63, .568, 2nd NL West
Up Next: A quick flight home to face the Pittsburgh Pipers… only 1 game off Austin’s pace now.