More May Home Games with Last Place Milwaukee
and First Place Toledo!!!!!
Time to makeup some ground!!!!!!!
Milwaukee Eagles 7-18 last in the US vs Chicago Architects 13-12 T-3rd in US
Friday May 5th - Sunday May 7th 2056
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
When is a “big” series against a last place team really big? When your club is scuffling and trying to find its footing and separate itself from a logjam of clubs. While we knew Duluth would be hanging around with us likely chasing Toledo, we did not expect both Traverse City in the mix and chasing Detroit. But that is the situation the Architects find themselves in. Chicago could really use a sweep or at least a series win here as Toledo comes rumbling into town next, and that is a BIG series.
The Eagles rank 5th in the US in runs scored led by C Cecil Phillips who re-signed with the club after winning the GLBL title last year in Thunder Bay. Phillips (33) has spent most of his career in Milwaukee having been the Eagles 1st round pick (#5 overall) in the 2043 draft. One has to wonder if he is questioning his decision to resign with his old club.
The Eagles have the worst pitching staff in the GLBLwith their starters giving up an ERA of 5.75 on the season. They are the only bullpen in the US that is worse than the Architects, as their bullpen ERA stands at an ugly 8.86 (YIKES).
The Eagles come into this series having lost 7 straight games.
Game #1 -Friday May 5th 2056
Milwaukee 7-18 vs Chicago 13-12
RHSP Kent Bennett 1-1 3.42 vs Julio Castro 0-3 5.52
A - 37,183
Milwaukee’s Luo-Lang Petit triples in a run, then scores on a sac fly. Teammate Kennelly Mulford hits a three-run home run. Kent Bennett (6.2 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K) shuts out Chicago for nearly seven innings.
Milwaukee 5, Chicago 1.
LF R Leroy 2-4 HR R RBI, 3B T Arnaud 2-4
HR - Mil SS K Mulford (3) CH LF R LeRoy (11)
POTG - Future Chicago SS (we hope) Kennelly Mulford (personally I would have gone with SP Bennett)
Game #2 -Saturday May 6th 2056
Milwaukee 8-18 vs Chicago 13-13
LHSP Arthur Tiller 1-1 4.76 vs SP Val Imbert 1-2 5.12
A - 36,492
Chicago scores three in the first, with Rodeo Leroy hitting a two-run home run. Milwaukee comes back, one run at a time, tying things back up, 3-3, in the sixth. In the seventh, the Tects took the lead on three walks and a sac fly.
Chicago 4, Milwaukee 3.
SP V Imbert 8IP 6H 3R 2ER 2BB 4K, LF R LeRoy 2-3 HR R 2RBI, C J Duran 2-3 R BB
HR - Mil C C Phillips (2), CH - LF R LeRoy (12)
POTG Chicago SP Val Imbert (1)
Game #3 -Sunday May 7th 2056
Milwaukee 8-19 vs Chicago 14-13
RHSP Jon Atkinson 1-3 8.10 vs Terry Noble 1-0 3.91
A - 37,039
Chicago’s Terry Noble (8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K) pitches eight shutout innings. Cris Luna and John Lambert hit two-run home runs. Luna also singles in a run.
Chicago 6, Milwaukee 0.
LF R LeRoy 2-4 DB, C J Hunt 2-4 DB 2R RBI, CF C Luna 3-4 HR R 3RBI
HR - CH 2B J Lambert (4), CF C Luna (2) Mil - none
POTG - Chicago SP Terry Noble (2)
Summary - Huge game out of swingman veteran Terry Noble who won his 80th GLBL game in his career. While sweeping the last place Eagles was the desired hope we ran into Kent Bennett who was definitely dealing. We have had our eyes on Milwaukee SS Kennelly Mulford for some time. He will be expensive both in salary as he has 2 more arbitration years left and in prospects to likely acquire him. The internal discussion is ongoing, but don’t be surprised if we do engage in those talks seriously.
Monday May 8th - off day at home in Chicago
Toledo Neptunes 18-10 1st place in US vs Chicago Architects 15-13 4th place in US
Tuesday May 9th through Thursday May 11th, 2056
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
Today we begin a huge 3-game series with the Toledo Neptunes at home.
The Neptunes are playing .643 ball this season, compiling a record of 18 wins and 10 losses. They are leading the South of the Border. Their number of runs scored of 166 rank tied for 1st in the USA, their .298 batting average ranks 2nd. On the other side of the diamond, they have given up 115 runs (2nd) with their starters compiling an ERA of 4.04 which ranks 2nd. Their bullpen sports an ERA of 3.79, ranking 3rd. When playing against our Architects this season, they have a record of 3 wins and 0 losses.
The top 5 players on their team are:
1. SP Nick Keddy (Age: 29, Overall : 4.5, Potential: 4.5)
2. RP Ricardo Valentín (30, 4.5, 4.5)
3. SP Christopher Bouchard (29, 3.5, 3.5)
4. 1B Eric Molina (29, 3.5, 3.5)
5. SP Harvey Moore (32, 3.0, 3.0)
The Neptunes swept us at their place earlier in the season, it would be great to return the favor here.
Game #1 - Tuesday May 9th, 2056
Toledo 18-10 vs Chicago 15-13
LHSP Harvey Moore 3-2 5.71 vs Jose Cedeno 4-0 2.06
A - 37,636
The Neptunes scored three in the fourth, with Carlos Montaño doubling in two. The Architects scored three in the bottom of the fourth, with Reagan Osborn hitting a two-run home run. The Neptunes scored two in the fifth, with Ken Armour tripling and scoring. The Tects wait until the seventh to respond. There they score three. Rodeo Leroy singles in one, and José Aranda doubles in two.
Chicago 6, Toledo 5.
2B J Lambert 2-5 R, LF R LeRoy 2-4 2R RBI, SS K Noseworthy 2-4 DB R RP B Lutz 2.1IP 2H 0R 3BB 4K
HR - Tol none CH 1B R Osborn (4)
POTG - Toledo SP Harvey Moore
Game #2 - Wednesday May 10th, 2056
Toledo 18-11 vs Chicago 16-13
RHSP Christopher Bouchard 4-0 1.24 vs Julio Castro 0-3 5.52
A - 37,441
The bottom of Toledo’s order shows some muscle. Paul Jackson and Jean-Paul Richard both homer in the second, with Jackson’s home run plating three runs. That’s enough for Christopher Bouchard (7 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K). He wins his fifth game of the season and has so far been the front runner for the US Pitcher of the Year.
Toledo 4, Chicago 2.
2B J Lambert 2-5, LF R LeRoy 2-3 HR R RBI BB, C J Hunt 3-4 DB RBI, 1B R Osborn 2-4
HR - CH LF R LeRoy (13), Tol CF P Jackson (2), C J Richard (1)
POTG - Toledo SP Christopher Bouchard
Game #3 - Thursday May 11th, 2056
Toledo 19-11 vs Chicago 16-14
RHSP N. Keddy 1-1, 2.95 ERA vs Joe Johnson 0-1 6.11
A - 37,441
The Neptunes hit six home runs. Schnozz Park and Luis González each hit one; Mark Wadell and Philippe Labbé each hit two. Terrible start for Johnson who looked great in his last outing. Chicago isn’t giving LF Robert LeRoy enough support, he can’t do it all by himself. LeRoy is hitting 452 on the season with 13 home runs and 36 RBI’s and leads the GLBL in all 3 categories.
Toledo 12, Chicago 4.
LF R LeRoy 2-4 2DB 2R RBI BB, DH J Aranda 2-4 DB
HR - Tol 2B S Park (2), 3B L Gonzalez (3), RF M Wadell 2 (7), 1B P Labbe 2 (6) CH - none
POTG - Toledo 1B Phillippe Labbe
Summary - Toledo got the best of us again so we split the 6 games at home 3-3 against the 1st Neptunes and last place Eagles. At 17-15 the Architects are in the thick of the US race tied for 2nd place with Duluth and Detroit. All 3 clubs are 4 games back of the front-running Neptunes 21-11. Hamilton leads the Canadian division with a GLBL best 23-9. The Mounties have been on fire all season ever since their rush to the playoffs last year. One one point the Mounties were 57-57 last season (and they were below that mark at one point) but since that time the Mounties went 22-8 to close out the 55 season and with this year's 23-9 they are 45-17 over their last 62 regular season games.
After the series with the Neptunes we made a call with Milwaukee and engaged in serious talks with the Eagles about acquiring their SS Kennelly Mulford. We made progress in those talks and we hope to have an announcement soon on his acquisition.
1B Reagan Osborn has had a rough start to the season, but he is 1 home run away from hitting the 100th in his career. Hopefully it comes soon and he can get going as this club needs his bat to start making a difference.
We have also sent SP Yale Hulburt on a rehab assignment. We are looking at possible activation after 2 or 3 starts at AAA. Somewhere between May 17th and 20th will be his likely call up to rejoin the big league rotation.
Next up on our schedule is a home series against Detroit which the Architects swept in Detroit earlier this year and the club would certainly like to do that again at home. So far against the teams that were called the bottom of the USA division (Detroit, Traverse City and Milwaukee) the Architects have an 11-4 record against those clubs. I felt that we needed to win 50 games against these 3 to have a realistic chance at the top of the league. So a sweep would definitely put the club on that pace and target. But if we don’t start at least splitting games with Toledo it might be a moot point.
After the Detroit series the club will begin its 2nd set of games against Canadian clubs with 2 games at Toronto and then 2 more against red-hot Hamilton. So far this season we are 1-3 against Canadian teams.