New York Sluggers (42-63, .400, 6th AL East) @ Portland Pioneers (56-49, .533, 3rd AL West)
New York has done nothing of note as a baseball club since 2075 when they last made the playoffs as a wildcard entrant that finished 3rd in their division on a ho-hum, 85-77 record… residing in one of our leagues most glamorous cities then is one of our least glamorous clubs. One with no fashion sense, a finger far, far way from the pulse of, well, anything, and a complete lack of the self-awareness required to know that whatever it is they are doing, or have done, isn’t working. The city deserves better than what this club has gave them over the years… and continues to give them for their patronage. And, this season has been one of their worst – dead last in AVG and OBP, 11th in everything else offensively and not much better on the other side of the ball where their staff ranks last in the AL with an RA & Starters ERA rank of 12 followed by an 11th place ranking in, you guessed it, everything else. There are Triple-A clubs that could sweep this unit… here, in front of our fans at Pendleton Park, let’s hope we come correct and don’t get beat by a glorified 4A club.
Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP W. Macomber (9-7, 4.04) vs RHP V. Uhlman (5-7, 3.82)
RHP K. Voll (6-4, 3.53) vs RHP N. Holmberg (5-10, 4.76)
RHP B. Sánchez (11-7, 2.69) vs LHP A. Giddings (3-6, 3.00)
#106: Win, 8-4… Jess Alford led the way with a 2-for-4 day at the plate that included a 2-run DONG DONG and four total RBI and was backed up, admirably, by
Leo Bullock who finished 3-for-4 with a solo TANK…
Frodo and
Fukumoto brought runners around as well,
Micky Austin hit his 18th double of the year, we fielded four, count ‘em,
FOUR, double plays, got two outfield assists from
Leo, and
Macomber managed to win his 10th game after turning in a 6-inning, 7-hit, 4 earned performance. Of note…
Waldo was credited with a hold, his first of those since joining the big club, and our closer,
Payton Inzen, secured his 20th save of the season on 9 total pitches, striking out one of the two batters he faced to close this one out.
Note: It’s August 1st… the trade deadline has passed (we did nothing) and another month is in the books. As is our custom, lets take a peek at the league standings, our league leaders (divided by sub-league this time), and our clubhouse…
American League Leaders... Cunningham is low-key going for the triple crown.
National League Leaders
And… your Portland Pioneers…
#107: Win, 12-2… Micky Austin finished 3-for-4 and came around twice and
Wyatt Raphael powered our offense with a bases-clearing double and 2 additional RBI…
Frodo got after it as well, adding 3 RBI of his own, and
Aitor put one out, his 4th dinger since joining the club, during a 2-for-5 day at the plate. The pitching was solid too with
Kade Voll earning his 7th win after turning in 5-innings of work where he’d allow just two runners to plate.
#108: Loss, 3-6… New York starter,
Logan Maldonado, gave us the business over his 6.1-innings of work where he’d allow 4 hits and nothing earned while fanning 4 hapless hitters to earn his 6th victory of the season and
DH Reuban Johnson, a 1x MVP & World Series winner with Toronto, led their offense, driving in 2 runs on 1-for-4 hitting – his homer off our
SP Bernal Sanchez put the Sluggers up for good in this one as our late rally attempt fell well short, forcing us to settle for a series win instead of a sweep.
Record: 58-50, .537, 3rd AL West
Up Next: We’ll travel to Charlotte for a 3-game set against the AL East leading Imperials.