Vs. Seattle Metros (12-18, .400, 6th AL West)
Down and out in the Emerald City… these Metros have seen better days, that much is clear, as they amble along on a dismal 12-18 record dragging our leagues worst offense and 3rd worst pitching staff along with them. They’re no doubt looking forward to leaving April in their rearview after performing at a .375 clip so far this month and know full well that they’re better than they’ve managed to show in the early going of this 2086 campaign. Of course, closing out the month, on the road, and against the likes of us is unfortunate for them because, despite getting embarrassed a little bit by New Orleans our last time out, no opportunity to stick it to a Cascadia Cup rival will go unrecognized… our mission here is destruction, complete annihilation – the Metros should, by all accounts, cease to exist after this set is complete.
Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP D. Hornbrook (1-3, 6.33) vs RHP M. Fauske (3-0, 3.26)
RHP P. Yamaguchi (1-0, 1.00) vs RHP J. Grace (0-1, 2.57)
RHP M. Holman (1-3, 4.31) vs LHP C. Newby (1-2, 4.07)
#31: Loss, 0-7… Best laid plans and all that – it’s never ideal to end the month on a loss, at home, against as fierce a rival as these Seattle Metros. But, as ever, if we didn’t take the long way here in Portland, we might as well just stay home. Even still, all the Voodoo Donuts in the world couldn’t help the boys wash down the taste of this loss - strung up by these Seattle Metros, tortured by
Austin Velasquez’s TWO SAC FLIES, undone by run-scoring doubles courtesy of
Nick Arredondo &
Gunner Fletcher, held down by
SP Morten Fauske over 6-innings of 2-hit filthiness, and tickled to death by
RP Ron Bishop over the final three frames of the game… and all in front of our fans. Some rough stuff here…
A few things… I think I brought it up earlier, not sure… I updated the Bush League, combining the Western Bush and Eastern Bush into a Big Ol’ Bush Leage and was going to write about my adventures GMing the Reno Ramblers, who’ve since been rechristened the Reno Berserkers… and, while I am still using the secondary GM character to run that team, I’ll not cover them in a separate thread – too much work, and, really, I just want to run a Bush League club so that I spend more time interacting with that league… so, to that end, I’ll likely look in on them from time to time here. Also, we’ve made it to May Day, so, as always, feel free to peruse the current standings, League Leaders, and our Clubhouse…
National League Leaders
American League Leaders
And, just because… my first box score for the Reno Berserkers is attached… we got beat, on the road, by the Ontario Dumplings. Our only run came courtesy of
2B BJ Cristoforo, who managed to get a cup of coffee with the Los Angeles Leopards back in 2081 before becoming a Bush League mainstay after toiling in the minors for a couple more years…
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming…
#32: Win, 6-5… things were going swimmingly, the boys were up 5-1, conversations in the dugout had turned to what everyone had planned for after the game, what restaurant
Leo would take his most recent girlfriend too, what club
Micky and
Simon Harris were headed to, when, seemingly out of nowhere, the Metros put four on us during the top of the 7th, chasing
Peter Yamaguchi from the game and knotting this one up at 5 each. We’d get the win and it would take pretty much everything we had, 4 homers as a club (2 each for
Micky Austin and
Skyler Dickey), two swiped bags, both courtesy of
Blanco Whitt, and some rock-solid performances out of the pen as
Morris Jones picked up with win in relief with
DiMaio earning his 10th save right behind him. Less than ideal? Sure. But, we’ll take it.
#33: Loss, 0-1… We’d finish on the wrong side of a pitchers’ duel, and get shut out at home, as Seattle Starter,
Joseph Grace, kept the boys scores over 6.2-innings of work before turning it over to
RP Stuart Durham for the Hold and
CL Liam Lambrou for the Save. Our guy,
Micah Holman, dropped to 1-4 on the season after a fierce 7-innings of 5-hit, 6 K, 1 earned work and was done in during the top of the very first frame when Seattle stalwart,
LF Patrick Adams, went yard for a solo shot. Rough way to drop a set at home, wasting an effort like that from our Starter.
Record: 18-15, .545, 1st AL West
Up Next: We’ll welcome last season’s American League champion to town for a 3-game set as the 17-16 Dallas Chaparrals pay us a visit in Pendleton Park.