[pauwoo]

@ Miami (10-17, .370, 6th NL East)
That the scheduling department of the MLB did us dirty like this makes me wonder who’s working there now that may have been on the wrong end of one of my youthful indiscretions. Who did I wrong so severely that sending my club on a nearly 7-hour flight with no day off before our next game seemed fair, like it was the right and just thing to do? I suppose that I can take some consolation in the fact that Miami boasts the National League’s worst offense, ranked last in runs, AVG, OPS, and wOBA, while not being ranked better than 9th anywhere else… but, the fact remains that for as bad as these Herons look, they’re still a professional baseball outfit, filled with players who, to a man, likely take pride in their work. The boys will need to shake off the jet lag and get after it early & often in this set if we’re not to come unglued against what could be the weakest club in the NL…

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP M. Holman (1-2, 3.81) vs RHP L. Torres (2-3, 3.38)
RHP B. Sánchez (4-1, 2.81) vs RHP Z. Foster (0-0, 7.20)
LHP N. Vera (2-2, 4.68) vs RHP K. Western (1-3, 4.10)

#28: Loss, 2-4… It’s not that Miami took it to us, that they did anything of real note in taking us down a peg, it’s that, after that long, seemingly endless flight to Miami we just couldn’t be bothered to get after it with our typical gusto… or, at least that’s the excuse I’ve settled on here. SP Micah Holman drops to 1-3 on the year after allowing 4 runners to plate over his ho-hum 5.1-innings of work, he’ll see his ERA balloon to an untenable 4.31 as a result, and our offense couldn’t be bothered to get in line behind Bruce Sarmiento, whose 5th-inning, 2-run TANK was all we’d muster in this one… a wasted game where what little effort we did get from the boys came at a premium.

#29: Win, 3-1… what a difference a day makes, with the cobwebs wiped away and our jet lag gone, Blanco Whitt carried the club to victory with a solo shot during the top of the 4th that would provide all the margin we’d need to get the win as Bernal Sanchez kept the Miami offense confused over 6-innings of work where he’d allow just one of the 7 hits against him to make it all the way back around. 6 walks for the club in this one including two free passes each for Leo, Skyler, and Micky… and we found a way to win despite leaving 13 batsmen stranded over the course of the game – this one should have been a bloodbath.

#30: Loss, 1-7… a tough way to go out, leaving Miami on a harrowing loss and looking at another 6+ hour flight to get us back to the PNW where, after a much-needed day of rest, we’ll get back after it against the Seattle Metros in our park. Here we were undone by a subpar performance from Starter William Macomber – he could muster just 1.1-innings of work after being shelled for 5-runs one out into the second frame and an offense that couldn’t be bothered to put up much of a fight after that hole was dug so quickly. A real rough stretch in South Beach – nice to see Kito Western still coming correct – 7-inning of 7-hit, shutout baseball from the 31yo, 1x all-star… I just don’t like it as much when it comes against my club.

Record: 17-13, .567, 1st AL West
Up Next: We’ll return to PDX, take a day off, and then follow that up with a 3-game set, at home, against one of our fiercest division rivals, the Seattle Metros.