[pauwoo]

Vancouver Mounties (26-25, .510, 4th AL West) @ Portland Pioneers (29-22, .569, 3rd AL West)
Most experts still believe in these Mounties… it’s early, they’ve represented our league in 3 of the last 4 World Series, winning it all, against my Leopards, in 2081. And, the club that nearly went all the way last season, its core at least, is still intact – underperforming, sure, but far from ready to throw in the towel. May hasn’t been their month, though, as they’ve only entered 9 wins into the permanent record while dropping 12 others, and, should we have anything to say about it, we’d like to help them continue that trend. We’ll need our 3rd ranked staff to hold their top-rated offense in check – they are ranked 1st in runs, AVG, OBP, OPS, wOBA, and HRs – if our 2nd-ranked offense is to have any chance of leading us to victory against their 6th ranked staff. Here we have a battle of offensive behemoths, two juggernauts going toe-to-toe in the proverbial phone booth with one going out with his arm raised and the other on his shield.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP D. Hornbrook (4-4, 3.23 ERA) vs RHP J. Salcido (1-6, 4.80 ERA)
RHP W. Long (0-0, 8.00 ERA) vs RHP M. Villalobos (5-3, 4.53 ERA)
RHP K. Voll (4-1, 2.67 ERA) vs RHP T. Pushkin (6-2, 3.29 ERA)

#52: Loss, 1-4… Held in check by Vancouver’s beleaguered staff, at home, as SP Jonathan Salcido picked up his 2nd win, improving to a subpar 2-6 on the year, after turning in 5-innings of 5-hit, 1 earned, 6 K work with their bullpen keeping the boys hitless the rest of the way. Hornbrook dropped to 4-5 on the year after allowing 3 of the Mounties’ 4 runs, we fanned 8 times as a club, secured just one EBH, an Angel Marino double, and left 8-runners stranded much to the dismay of our fans that showed up at Pendleton Park to cheer us on. Not out finest work, to be sure.

Elsewhere: Not that it matters in the larger scheme of things, especially considering that I don’t really pay much attention to my feeder league (outside of analyzing players before the draft, and shortlisting future studs as the are created by the game each year), but the NCAA’s Final Four is all set with the Michigan Wolverines & Binghamton Bearcats representing one side of the bracket while the Mississippi State Bulldogs and North Carolina Tar Heels represent the other. I have no dog in this fight… but, if I had to hazard a guess, I’d go with North Carolina to win it all.

#53: Loss, 1-11… so, um, yeah… what had happened was… that Vancouver would start their inevitable ascent as we begin our inevitable decline, in our park, is not a huge surprise – and, while I’d have liked the timing to be different, coming, perhaps, at a time when we were on the road, against a team our fans care less about, here we are. It was nothing doing for the club today as we fanned 10 times as an offensive unit, with three of those belonging to Jess Alford, managed to, again, hit just one EBH, a double for Micky Austin, while we looked on helplessly as Vancouver treated our staff like some little pipsqueak on the playground – especially Waldo who had 6-runs charged to his account and saw his ERA balloon up to 9.22 since joining us on the big club.

Elsewhere: The NCAA final is all set – with the North Carolina Tarheels facing off against the Michigan Wolverines in what could be a final for the ages… or not. Who knows about these things.

#54: Loss, 4-6… we put up a fight, attempting to rally our way back from a 5-run deficit during the bottom of the 9th, ultimately falling 2 runs short of what we’d need to send this one into extras and 4 short of what a victory would require… instead, we were swept, at home, by one of our fiercest Cascadian rivals in front of all those we hold dear – family, friends, mistresses, wives. Sam Gore, subbing in for Jess Alford who was given the day off, hit a 2-run double to pace the offense, the defense fielded two double plays, but, there wasn’t enough good stuff to parse out as the offense left 8 runners stranded and our starter, Kade Voll, got shelled for five runs over 5.2 innings of work to drop to 4-2 on the year. This did not go as I drew it up – that is for sure.

Record: 29-25, .537, 4th AL West
Up Next: We’ll travel to Salt Lake City for a set against the division-leading Alpines. Fun times…