Big matchups continue in the tight USA Division
Friday, May 12th through Sunday. May 14th 2056
Detroit Thunderbirds 17-14 vs Chicago Architects 16-15
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
Big matchup with Detroit as the Architects enter this series 1 game behind both Detroit and Duluth who are tied for 2nd place. Toledo is up 4 games on us and leading the division. So far this season the Architects are 3-0 against Detroit sweeping the first series of the season in Detroit several weeks ago.
Detroit’s offense has scored 171 runs and rank 2nd in the USA, their .300 batting average ranks 1st. On the other side of the diamond, they have given up 146 runs (3rd) with their starters compiling an ERA of 5.18 which ranks 6th. Their bullpen sports an ERA of 3.77, ranking 2nd.
Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP T. Noble (2-0, 2.90 ERA) vs RHP J. Kim (1-0, 4.35 ERA)
RHP J. Johnson (0-2, 7.06 ERA) vs LHP D. Miller (3-2, 4.97 ERA)
RHP J. Cedeño (4-0, 2.86 ERA) vs LHP B. Miller (1-3, 7.33 ERA)
The top 5 players on their team are:
1. SP Bill Clary (Age: 28, Overall : 3.0, Potential: 3.0)
2. RF Stan Gillis (30, 3.0, 3.0)
3. 1B Mal Johnston (22, 3.0, 4.0)
4. LF Melvin Akerval (26, 3.0, 3.0)
5. SP Joo-seok Kim (27, 3.0, 3.0)
Game #1 - Friday May 12th 2056
Detroit 17-14 vs Chicago 16-15
RHSP Joo-seok Kim 1-0 4.95 vs Val Imbert 2-2 4.42
A - 37,066
Chicago’s
Val Imbert (7.1 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K) and John Moore (1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K) shutout Detroit. Joe Hunt hits two home runs. But the game’s best performance probably belongs to 22-year-old Tom Stone, who goes 4-for-4 with a double, a run scored, and five RBIs. Three of those RBIs came on a bases-loaded double.
Chicago 9, Detroit 0.
2B J Lambert 2-4 DB TP BB 2R, RF T Stone 4-4 DB R 5RBI, C J Hunt 2-4 2HR 2R 3RBI, SS P Farrulla 2-4dB 2R
HR - CH C J Hunt 2 (4) Det- non
POTG - Chicago RF Tom Stone (1)
Game #2 - Saturday May 13th 2056
Detroit 17-15 vs Chicago 17-15
LHSP Dwayne Miller 3-2 4.97 vs Terry Noble 2-0 2.90
A - 36,999
Chicago scores the first four runs, Detroit scores the next five. Chicago’s Reagan Osborn ties things up in the seventh by doubling in Joe Justice. Dai-Lin Tah gives Detroit the lead again in the eighth by doubling in Trace Brunel. The T-Birds take a one-run lead into the bottom of the ninth. Osborn singles in the tying run. With the bases loaded and one out, José Aranda flies to right. Kent Noseworthy makes it home without a throw.
Chicago 7, Detroit 6.
2B J Lambert 2-3 DB 2R 2BB, 1B R Osborn 3-5 DB TP 2RBI’s, CF C Luna 2-4 HR R 2RBI, DH J Aranda 3-4 RBI
HR - Det LF M Akerval (3), CF F Bernier (2), CH - LF R LeRoy (14), CF C Luna (3)
POTG - Detroit LF M Melvin Akerval
Game #3 - Sunday May 14th 2056
Detroit 17-16 vs Chicago 18-15
LHSP Brian Miller 1-3, 7.33 ERA vs Jose Cedeno 4-0 2.86
A - 36,999
The Architects sweep the T-Birds behind Chicago’s top pitcher Jose Cedeno who goes 8IP allowing 8 hits and 3 runs with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts. Reagan Osborn hits a two-run home run. Joe Justice hits a two-run single. Thomas Arnaud singles in Osborn and triples and scores.
Chicago 7, Detroit 3.
C J Duran 2-4 R, 3B T Arnaud 2-4 TP R RBI, 1B R Osborn 1-2 HR 2R 2RBI 2BB
HR - Det LF M Arkerval (4), CH 1B R Osborn (5)
POTG - Chicago 1B Reagan Osborn (1)
Summary - The Architects move to 6-0 against Detroit who is still at 500 despite the woes against Chicago. With the win Chicago moves to 19-15 and into a 2nd place tie with Duluth with both clubs trailing division leading Toledo by 2 games.
It was sure nice to see 1B Reagan Osborn get a POTG nod. It was his first this season and it came at a great time in support of SP Jose Cedeno who moves to 5-0 on the season with a 2.94 ERA. Osborn has upped his average to 226 on the season and now has 5 home runs along with 18 RBI’s.
With the close of this series the season has gone through 2 of the 6 rounds of inter-division play. Against the US division the Architects are 18-12 now but the 1-3 mark against the Canadian clubs continues to haunt us. And we have games against two Canadian clubs on the road to start off this new week.
Monday, May 15th and Tuesday May 16th 2056
Chicago Architects 19-15 T-2nd US @ Toronto Maples 17-17 3rd place in Can
Next up is a 2-game series on the road against the Toronto Maples kicking off today. Here is my report on the opponent:
A slight pitchers park, Ontario Ballpark has room for 40000 fans.
With their record standing at 17 wins and 17 losses, the Maples have a winning percentage of .500. They are in 3rd place in the North of the Border, 6.0 games behind the leader. The Maples are playing well at the moment, having a 5-game winning streak going. Their number of runs scored of 156 rank 5th in the Canadian, their .288 batting average ranks 2nd. On the other side of the diamond, they have given up 166 runs (3rd) with their starters compiling an ERA of 4.78 which ranks 5th. Their bullpen sports an ERA of 3.60, ranking 1st.
Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
LHP J. Castro (0-4, 5.71 ERA) vs RHP M. Inoue (4-2, 3.31 ERA)
RHP V. Imbert (3-2, 3.68 ERA) vs RHP E. Hale (2-2, 8.42 ERA)
The top 5 players on their team are:
1. SP Motoyuki Inoue (Age: 28, Overall : 4.0, Potential: 4.0)
2. 2B Carlos Figueroa (30, 4.0, 4.0)
3. CF Peyton Coffman (28, 3.5, 3.5)
4. LF Dwayne Adams (33, 3.0, 3.0)
5. SP José Cardona (26, 3.0, 3.5)
This is the first meeting of the season against Toronto. In the overall all-time series Toronto leads 75-69. Last season the two teams split the 4 games played.
Game #1 Monday May 15th, 2056
Chicago 19-15 @ Toronto 17-17
Julio Castro 0-4 5.71 vs RHSP Motoyuki Inoue 4-2 3.31
A - 19,419
Chicago’s Júlio Castro (6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K) and John Moore (3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K) hold Toronto to one run and three hits. A slow start of the season for Inoue so far this year only being 4-3 after the tough decision today.
Chicago 5, Toronto 1.
RF J Ashley 2-4 HR R RBI, SS P Farrulla 2-4 DB 2RBI BB
HR - CH RF J Ashley (5), Tor - none
POTG - Chicago SP Julio Castro (1)
Game #2 Tuesday May 16th, 2056
Chicago 20-15 @ Toronto 17-18
RHP Val Imbert (3-2, 3.68 ERA) vs RHSP Ed Hale (2-2, 8.42 ERA)
A - 16,401
In the eighth, three Maples singles and a sac fly score the tying run. The game is still tied, 3-3, in the 13th. And here we get a play that I don’t understand. Here is how it’s listed in the game log: 3-2: Foul Ball, location: 2F
SINGLE, rundown, safe at 1st
After that single (?), two more singles bring the runner around home.
Chicago 4, Toronto 3.
13 innings
SP V Imbert 5.1IP 4H 2R 4BB 1K, 2B J Lambert 4-7 2DB, HR 2R RBI, DH J Aranda 2-4 HR R RBI, CF C Luna 2-5 TP BB
HR - CH DH J Aranda (1), 2B J Lambert (5)
POTG - Chicago 2B John Lambert (1)
Summary - Huge wins in Toronto put the Architects at 21-15 and in a first place tie with Toledo with Duluth in 3rd place 1 game behind. That is the way this season is going to be I believe and it still feels like a 3-team race but Detroit is hanging around so that makes them a dangerous club.
After the game the Toronto GM and I started talks about several players. Toronto is feeling the pinch of being over-budget and well we are feeling the pinch but not over budget….yet. The conversations were good in regards to a potential blockbuster type of deal, but that will have to wait.
We did make another deal that addressed our clubs perhaps biggest weakness and that was the bat at SS. While Pablo Farrulla’s glove is among the better ones, his bat has been a black hole most of this year. After today’s game he had brought his average up to 190 on the season (up from a season low of 118 just several weeks ago). While this move that we made might not be a big one to many, it felt big to us. Several factors went into this decision.
1.) We are a contending team now and while we had hoped prospect SS Cristo Sandoval would be ready to start the season with the big league club. But his September cup of coffee going 2-29 with 15 strikeouts had made us concerned his bat was not ready. So Farrulla stepped into the full time SS role that we only intended to have him in the 2nd half of last season. He played solidly for us last year and earned his spot on the roster, but we wanted that spot to be a backup in the middle infield. Because he had to start, we decided to sign veteran former Architect Kent Noseworthy to a deal to back up 2B, 3B and SS.
2.) Sandoval is not ready and through the first part of the season he is hitting just 245 at AAA with the Joe’s. His strikeouts continue to be a concern as he is 25+% of the time.
Chicago Strikes a Deal to Bring SS Kennelly Mulford to Architects
So to solve the problem, we struck a deal with the Milwaukee Eagles. In the deal we acquired SS Kennelly Mulford (27) who was hitting 304/354/811 with the Eagles. He is a very good defensive SS with good range. To make the deal the Architects had to send several top end prospects, including 3B Jesus Hernandez (20 prospect #35) and OF Don Hill (22 prospect #48). The Architects also sent former starting OF Matt Graves who led the GLBL in steals last season but had dropped out of the starting outfield mix with the emergence of Tom Stone and the free agent signing of LF Robert LeRoy. Also going in the deal was minor league SS Pedro Santana (21).
With the acquisition of Mulford we immediately began negotiations to sign him to an extension to buyout his last 2 arbitration seasons and his first 4 years of free agency. This would give us some payroll certainty with the SS position.
While this move seems to indicate that we are giving up on SS Cristo Sandoval, that is not true. If Sandoval can put it all together he would be brought up and between them I could see a Sandoval/Mulford partnership up the middle with either playing either 2B or SS. Now if we did that it would move current 2B John Lambert to the super sub role that he enjoyed last season, but he would still be playing a starter amount of games since he can play in so many different positions. But I don’t think based on where things are at right now that we are concerned about having to move Lambert around.
Chicago 1B Reagan Osborn Named USA Player of the Week
Chicago fans have something to crow about today as Chicago first baseman Reagan Osborn nabbed the USA Player of the Week Award for his performance over the last seven days.
"I know there are times when it's hard to lay off pitches. Everyone goes through stretches when he's too eager to put the ball in play. You know, though, I feel like this past week I was able to get in the right frame of mind and just let things come naturally," said Osborn.
He posted a .429 average (9-for-21) this past week with 2 home runs, 7 RBIs, and 3 runs scored.
Currently Osborn is batting .226 with 28 hits and 5 home runs. He has knocked in 18 runs and scored 19 times.