Austin Grackles (63-56, .529, 4th NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (78-41, .655, 1st NL West)
In any other division, the Grackles would be in the mix, a true playoff contender with championship potential. But, here in the NL West, with the likes of us plying our trade in the same division they instead find themselves on the outside looking in – 15 games off the pace, and, despite their 6th ranked RDiff, won’t so much as get a whiff of the cake by the time this thing is all sewn up. And, it’s too bad really… they’re probably one of the top four clubs in all of baseball on paper, have our games most exciting youngster, or one of them at least, in two-way stud
SP/CF Joe Matthiessen, and play in a market widely considered one of visiting clubs’ favorites to visit throughout the year. To reach their potential, by virtue of sharing a division with us, would have to come at our expense however, and though I also like Austin, it's laid back, artistic attitude so at odds with the rest of its state, I’ll not let that happen again on my watch. This is our division.
120 of 162: Joe Matthiessen (9-6, 4.37) @ Larimel Alvarez (10-8, 3.19)
Win, 8-5. We’d charge 3 runs to
Matthiessen’s account early, putting him on notice that the end is neigh during the bottom of the 3rd and would go on to completely dismantle his replacement,
RP Elmar Pirov en route to securing a game one win at home while effectively ending the 3-game winning streak Austin arrived with.
Joseph Brant, doing his work in a DH role for us here, drove in two on a double and another on a sacrifice,
Oh Hong finished 2-for-5 with a run and two riblets, and
Otto Isaac got the ball rolling for us in that fateful 3rd inning with a run scoring double that led to
Matthiessen’s eventual demise.
Alvarez was so-so, only lasting 4.1-innings in this one,
RP Ryan McGuire did enough to get the win, and
Don Haag recorded his 41st save on 13 total pitches and now sits just 4 games off the league leading pace being set by Montreal’s
CL Max Egner.
Elsewhere: CF Dario Lewis, our 1st round selection during this year’s draft, put in some work for our Short Season A-Ball club, the Brentwood Bishops, today, finishing 4-for-6 at the plate with a double, 2 TANKS, 5 RBI, and 3 runs during a hard-fought, 8-5 win over the Punxsutawney Phils. This was easily his best performance at the plate so far as a professional – he’s off to something of a ho-hum start, hitting just .178/.247/.322 so far while posting -1.6 in WAR. All in good time, young grasshopper, all in good time.
121 of 162: Alfred Adcock (8-12, 4.64) @ Dani Thorpe (7-6, 4.17)
Win, 3-2 (15).
RF Dalton Burch would put everyone out of their misery with a run-scoring, walk off single during the bottom of the 15th to officially put this long slog of a regular season baseball game to bed… he’d finish 3-for-6 on the day with two runs and that magical RBI and our 6th pitcher of the day,
Rad Taylor, was all but gifted his 6th win of the season after tossing just one, short 10-pitch inning. There’s really not much more to say about it… we secured just one extra base hit for the game, left 7 runners stranded, and stole only one bag in two attempts over 15-innings of play… the pitching was solid though, so we had that going for us. One more to secure a sweep….
122 of 162: Joshua Moeller (4-6, 4.76) @ Marco Ortega (13-6, 3.51)
Win, 7-3. Sweep City, USA… 2-run TANK for
Otto, his 32nd on the year,
Oh Hong went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and 2 scores, and
Benavidez drove in 3 on his 10th jack of the season.
Ortega did the dirt for us on the mound, finishing with 5 innings pitched, 6 hits allowed, 3 earned runs, and 6 K’s on the way to earning his 14th win so far with
Ewing Rivera picking up a 2-inning hold followed by
T-Rex Stiles closing out the final two frames without allowing a single hit.
We’re firing on all cylinders… it’s been a beauty to behold, but what I wouldn’t give for the season to end here and the playoffs to begin straightaway.
Elsewhere: 3B Jesse Brannock, the 9th overall selection out of Port Chester University back in 2080, and current Daytona Beach Hurricane (a Miami affiliate), put together a fine, 3-for-4, HR, 4 RBI performance to lead his club to a 14-3 drubbing of the visiting Waco Rivermen. With the win, Daytona Beach extends its lead in their division to 3-games ahead of Waco. Nice to see the 17th ranked prospect come through in such an important game for his A-Ball club… bodes well for his future, I’d say.
Record: 81-41, .663, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll board a plane bound for the East Coast to contest three games in Brooklyn against the Citizens… such dumb scheduling.