[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (63-33, .656, 1st NL West) @ Montreal Alouettes (52-46, .531, 2nd NL East)
With a staff that looks like a who’s who of Leopards castaway’s and a lineup that features Los Angeles Legend and 2x MLB Champ Satoru Ono, that Montreal has managed to cobble together a winning club featuring so many of our scraps is something of a low-key miracle… or maybe, just maybe, it speaks to our organizations depth and ability to restock the coffers with otherworldly talent despite losing good players each offseason. Names like Toni Cartwright and Dwight Beasley call out from the Bullpen, and all-time favorite, Michael Brisk, leads the staff as its Ace – this could be a reunion of sorts for some of our guys… let’s hope we don’t get to comfortable enjoying our time with old friends and lose track of the task at hand in the process.

97 of 162: Dani Thorpe (5-5, 3.86) @ Michael Brisk (2-7, 3.50)
Loss, 2-6. Perhaps it was seeing Michael Brisk sans facial hair that threw our guys off, or the new elegant, yet modest, style he’s adopted since signing with Montreal, his subscription to the ‘Sunday best’ style every day of the week, or his insistence that there is no such thing as casual Friday… whatever it was, this was not the version of Brisky we’ve come to know and love, that shaky, inconsistent hurler whose cocksureness is as misplaced as it is unshakeable. No, this was a killer, some unseen assassin who held us in check for 5-innings before turning things over to a bullpen that almost blew it for him. And, just like that, against one of my favorite players this save file has produced, our run as pop juggernauts has come to an end at 7-straight… we’ll pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and get back after it tomorrow I suppose.

98 of 162: Leonardo Duarte (6-1, 3.16) @ Tony Cox (9-0, 2.78)
Win, 4-0. A late, top of the 9th, 2-run DING DONG courtesy of OH HONG added some much-needed emphasis to this win after last nights debacle and pumped hi RBI total up to three for the game. Duarte allowed just 4-hits in 6.2 innings of work and Orland Arce held things down from the last out of the 7th on, earning his first save of the season on 28 total pitches where he’d not allow a single hit while fanning 3. Now, if we can only win tomorrow’s rubber match, I’ll be able to work my way through Cohen’s Book of Longing without letting S.O.S. 1995 rabble my rouser too much.

99 of 162: Marco Ortega (10-4, 2.95) @ Miguel Almeida (5-0, 2.52)
Loss, 5-7. Montreal bludgeoned Marco early, putting 5 bad ones on the board during the bottom of the 1st, breaking things open with a 3-run homer and following that up, rather quickly, with a 2-run double. We’d work on playing catch up from there but never could get over the hump with our 4-run rally during the top of the 6th falling well short as we dropped this second set of our 6-game road trip. A 2-run homer from OH HONG and a run-scoring double courtesy of Otto would not be enough to get done after Marco left just two outs into the game a shell of his former self. He drops to 10-5 on the year and we’ll board a long flight bound for Los Angeles where revelry will, undoubtedly, be replaced by self-loathing.

Record: 64-35, .646, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll take Monday off, bag some rays in the warm California sun, and get back after it against Detroit in our park on Tuesday.