Dallas Chaparrals (25-17, .595, 3rd AL West) @ Portland Pioneers (25-17, .595, 2nd AL West)
Even winning at a .595 clip gives us no comfort with clubs like Dallas keeping our pace while the Salt Lake’s of the world outpace us both by two games, running roughshod over all comers despite their obvious roster deficiencies. So far the Chaps have paired the AL’s best pitching staff with its 5th ranked offense while we are doing the opposite… the RA & Defensive Efficiency is tops in our league and they boast the 2nd best Starters & Bullpen ERA’s. They’re a solidly built club whose window may be closing on winning championships with their current roster but one who, once the dust has settled, should at least secure a ticket to the dance. In fact, before said dust has settled, I fully expect them to be one of the clubs we’re competing with for that final spot in the AL West and if that premonition comes true, this set could come back to haunt us unless we find a way to take care of business, in our park…
Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP W. Long (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs RHP J. Arai (1-2, 4.30 ERA)
RHP K. Voll (4-1, 1.76 ERA) vs LHP K. Judd (0-1, 0.82 ERA)
RHP B. Sánchez (4-3, 4.05 ERA) vs RHP K. Western (3-2, 3.96 ERA)
#43: Win, 6-4… After the Chaps put 4 bad ones on us prior to the start of the 3rd inning, the boys found a way to kick it into gear late, scoring our final four runs after the 5th with the game winners coming during the bottom of the 7th when
CF Micky Austin put a 2-run dinger out of the park.
LF Adam Collins hit a 2-run double, Frodo put a SAC FLY on the board, and we’d find a way to win despite Waldo giving up 4 runs in 4 innings of work and our offense stranding 8 baserunners over the course of the contest.
#44: Loss, 3-4 (15)… it’s always tough to lose a long slog of a ballgame at home – here we’d get caught looking late after
RP Morris Jones walked the bases loaded during the top of the 15th and then gave up the game-winning, run-scoring single to
2B Rocco O’Gara.
Kade gave us a sturdy 6.1-inning, 7 hit, 3 earned outing with the bullpen backing him up admirably until
Morris came in and promptly gave us the ghost. We also left 15 runners stranded, so… the opportunities we created were squandered early and often.
#45: Loss, 0-2…
oof – we’d take the loss by shutout, lose a set, at home, against a club in our division, only secure 4 total hits, fan 9 times, and drop to 3rd in our division all in one fell swoop. Not wonderful.
Bernal was brilliant – 7-inning, 8 hits, 1 earned – but it’d not be enough as the bats went silent, amassing just two extra base hits, both doubles, both with nobody on. Also,
SP Kito Western, who we traded to Dallas for a 1B prospect in
Russ Adelman (hitting 286/375/714 in A Ball) and a 1st round draft pick, tossed a 4-hit, complete game shutout with 9 K’s to let us know how he feels about us… which is to say,
not good.
Kito Western looks good in his Dallas kit… putting in good work for the Chaps too – 4-2, 3.45 ERA, 54 K’s… nothing too outlandish, but a solid rotation guy nonetheless. And, really, I didn’t have a good reason to trade him – just got fidgety and wanted to put my thumbprint on the club as quickly as possible. I’d like to still have him in the club, actually. Maybe I’ll get something great with that first round pick.
Record: 26-19, .577, 3rd AL West
Up Next: We’ll travel to my former home - Los Angeles – to lock horns with the Leopards for the first time since I turned my back on them for the, hopefully, greener pastures of Portland, Oregon.