Los Angeles Leopards (85-64, .570, 2nd NL West) @ Montreal Alouettes (70-80, .466, 4th NL East)
Montreal is a lot of things to a lot of people – an enclave of French speaking malcontents, the birthplace of Québécois nationalism, the place Cohen kept revisiting, “to renew [his] neurotic affiliations” … to us, it’s just home to a once-storied, recently ho-hum franchise that has only made it to the playoffs 4 times in the last 14 years, a place where talent drowns in an endless pool of poutine gravy, immersed in its buttery thickness like snow sand in the fire swamps with no masked hero nearby to dive in after them. So far this year, the Alouettes have played true to form, winning exactly 11 games in June, July, and August, and all but guaranteeing that they’d not be making an unlikely appearance in the playoffs at the season’s conclusion. Our challenge here will be to not stumble against a squad that is surely looking at the horizon behind us, daydreaming about their favorite fishing holes, family trips to Mexico or Jamaica, and anything else that can help them purge this dismal season from their short-term memory.
150 of 162: Nacho Valadez (8-5, 3.70) @ Vincent Urquhart (12-11, 4.71)
Loss, 3-4. First Baseman
Bill Cox, a low contact hitter with a little bit of pop who’s been with Montreal for two seasons since we traded him to the Alouettes in 2079 for
William Henderson, who has since been flipped for tonight’s starter,
Nacho Valadez, hit a walk-off solo home run off
Don Haag to send our club to the showers in a state of low-key shock… a small measure of revenge for sending him packing before winning the World Series in 2080 I suppose. For our part,
Chance Bell provided most of the offense, finishing 2-for-4 with 2 RBI,
Oh Hong helped out some too with SAC BUNT, and
Nacho Valadez, our prize that started with human paperclip, Bill Cox, gave up three runs off two hits in only 4.2 innings of work.
151 of 162: Ram Chen (2-8, 3.31) @ Norm Rodriquez (7-7, 3.68)
Loss, 2-5. For a team whose future is spelled vacation, the Alouettes sure are trying hard to beat us… here their efforts were rewarded with a clean, 3-run victory as
Jason Spears drove in the go ahead runs on a 2-run DING DONG off
Ram Chen and
Sfinx Borunda drove in two more a few frames later to make sure we were good and buried.
Oh Hong and
Otto drove runs in for the La La’s but no one else could be bothered to contribute offensively to cover the 4 runs
Chen allowed to plate and the additional run that
Shibuya (ya ya Shibuya, roll call..) let plate during the bottom of the 7th. Not our finest hour…
Elsewhere: Victor Fuller, who spent
11 years in AAA, including three in Compton, before taking his talents to the Bush League, tossed a gem for the Frankfort Sultans, turning in an 8-inning, 1-hit, 1-earned masterpiece with 13 K’s, doing everything in his power to give his squad a chance to win… they’d squander it of course, losing 1-0 against the Naperville Nibblers in Illinois, so... that's a bummer.
152 of 162: Jan Hernandez (7-6, 4.19) @ Toni Cartwright (8-9, 3.44)
Loss, 3-4. Not quite walked off… done in during the bottom of the 8th when
Arthur Grant, a short-lived Leopard from 2077 who played in 12 games for us, hit a
SAC FLY to put the Alouettes up for good. Neither club gave us much to parse out – Montreal’s
Toni Cartwright went 5-innings, allowing 7 hits, 3 earned during his time on the mound while our guy,
Jan Hernandez, allowed just two runs over his 4-innings of burn… of course
Hank Wilson gave up two more in relief, but really, with us being on the wrong end of a sweep, who’s counting… other than the haters, of course. Who, I suspect, are counting each one of these losses with glee – Like Sesame Street’s Count if his focus was our misfortune.
Record: 85-67, .559, 2nd NL West
Up Next: We’ll head south to Mexico City for a 3-game set against the Jags.