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Ruwisc · 01-10-2020, 03:23 AM

April 24-25: Bees (12-13) vs. Jacksonville Anchors (10-16)
Not much was expected of the Anchors this year, and they've matched those expectations. Their win over Indianapolis yesterday snapped an eight-game losing skid in which they were swept by Minnesota, Las Vegas and Nashville. Their offense has been OK, a middling one in the AL, but the pitching that buoyed them to a .500 record last season has evaporated. Marquee free agent signing Josh Bell has been their best hitter, probably, though Domingo Santana is also doing well.

Because I play GM-only, I have to deal with AI Mike Matheny's idiosyncracies, and right now he's deciding he wants to try Jonathan Holder in the bullpen. I can't for the life of me figure out why, and he won't let me override him on this. Because he now doesn't want to start Holder, he sees the best choice for today's game to be a banged-up Michael Pineda on short rest. So, I do have to go get a spot starter after all. SP Griffin Canning returns from Hawaii, and RP William Gonzalez will go back down. William has actually pitched well, but he's the guy in the bullpen without a real niche. He'll certainly be back, probably soon.

Game 1 - Griffin Canning (1-1, 6.48) vs. Michael Sandborn (1-1, 5.73)
JAX: 2B Paris, CF Nimmo, 1B Bell, RF Santana, LF Stowers, 3B O'Donnell, C Pages, SS Engelhart, P Sandborn
SLC: CF Mesa, C Cottam, 3B Guerrero, RF Robles, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, 2B Maezes, SS Mota, P Canning

Oh yeah, I also can't stop Mike from playing Cottam, even though he's banged up. Thankfully Kole will be back to full strength by about Friday... Canning worked around a Josh Bell double in the first... three singles would produce a run for us in the bottom half, with Robles driving in Mesa... Canning would allow three baserunners in the 3rd inning, but because they sandwiched a double play no harm done... we would double our lead in the 3rd, Cottam's triple converted by a Guerrero hit... but Jacksonville took it back in their half of the 4th. Zack O'Donnell doubled and was driven in by Zach Engelhart. I wonder if they have arguments about the spelling of their names. I'm a Zach myself and I feel really strongly about it... Sandborn would come apart in the 4th. Shirah's ten-pitch walk was a big start, and after Maezes struck out, Mota slapped a ball in the hole that Engelhart could only knock down. Canning successfully bunted both men over, but it wouldn't matter - Victor Victor Mesa smacked his first home run of the season to grow the lead to 5-1! Sandborn would exit there, only pitching 3.2 innings, with 5 runs on 7 hits... But again, Jacksonville would answer immediately, and in fact identically. Domingo Santana's 3-run shot got the Anchors within a run... Reliever Luis Cabrera would strike out Guerrero and Robles to start the 5th, but Ishihara got him for a solo shot, his second in as many games... Canning would be done after five, well done for him coming in to start on short notice... not to be outdone, Guerrero added his own home run leading off the 7th, his league-leading tenth... the Bees would add two more, Robles' triple leading to an RBI for Maezes and Ishihara driven in by pinch-hitter Joe Breaux... the Anchors would get a hit each in the 8th and 9th but never really threaten.

PotG: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

With his 4-5 day, Vlad Jr. has cracked the 2 WAR mark for the season in just 26 games!

Game 2 - Michael Pineda (2-1, 4.34) vs. Jairo Pacheco (1-0, 15.00)
JAX: 2B Paris, CF Nimmo, 1B Bell, RF Santana, C Curry, LF Bradfield, SS Engelhart, 3B O'Donnell, P Pacheco
SLC: CF Mesa, C Cottam, 3B Guerrero, RF Robles, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, 2B Maezes, SS Mota, P Pineda

Pacheco has had a fascinating year already - he's been claimed off waivers four times and the season is barely a month old! He started the year with the Blackbirds (where he was a starter all last year), but was claimed by Arizona, Hartford, Arizona again and now Jacksonville. In all that time, he only made three relief appearances, so this is his first start of 2023. Despite going over to the AL, he's facing one of his old division rivals. Michael Pineda is finally back to 100%, and pitching today on regular rest... Michael worked around a Brandon Nimmo hit in the first inning... just like yesterday, Mesa would single leading off the game and come around to score, this time when Guerrero reached on an error... Maezes and Mota singled to start the second, and even though Pineda's bunt attempt was caught on the fly, they would still both score on RBI hits from Mesa and Guerrero respectively... Pacheco would not get an out in the third. Ishihara, Shirah and Maezes all had hits, producing two runs, and that was it for Jairo... Victor Victor Mesa would get Maezes around for a third run, making it 6-0. Hm... 1 run in the first, 2 in the second, 3 in the third... are we gonna win 36-0? Well, Easton Lucas would settle things down for the Anchors, retiring us in order in the 4th and 5th, so I guess not... in total, Anchors relievers would retire 13 straight Bees from the 3rd through the 7th... Jacksonville would get on the board in the 7th, Engelhart doubling to score Santana... RJ Alvarez had entered this game having still not allowed a run all year, but we'd get to him in a big way in the 8th... Alvarez would face 6 batters and be charged with 5 runs. Shirah opened the inning with a solo HR, finally pushing his average above .200. Maezes, pinch-hitter Granite, and Mesa all had hits, and Cottam was plunked, before Guerrero singled off Dan Otero to score two more. After a strikeout of Robles, Ishihara crushed a 3-run home run, his third in three games, and Shirah followed with his second solo home run of the inning to put the capper on an 8-spot. Jacksonville would get one off of Hermeling in the 9th but it barely mattered.

PotG: Will Shirah

Just our third series win of the year, but we've only lost three as well (counting the one game played in Buffalo as a "series"). We're back above .500 as well, for the first time since we were 9-8.

I ultimately decided LHP Tim Hill wasn't gonna stick with this roster after our acquisition of Brad Hand, and so he goes back onto waivers. We also sent SP Griffin Canning back to Hawaii and recalled RP William Gonzalez with our rotation crunch solved.

April 27-28: Bees (14-13) vs. New York Mets (15-13)
The Mets have lost three of four on their current road trip, through New Mexico and Philly, and will visit us and the White Sox before going back home, so a tough stretch. Their bullpen has been horrid, 29th in the NL in ERA, while their starters were 10th. They've been a below average offensive team so far too, so I think it might depend on which starters we hit, and lo and behold, we're getting their #4 and #5 guys.

Game 1: Will Shirah (1-2, 7.47) vs. Rodney Hutchison (2-0, 3.00)
NYM: CF McCarthy, SS Nunez, LF Adams, C Contreras, 3B Diaz, 2B Trinkwon, 1B Infante, RF Martinelli, P Hutchison
SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, P Shirah, CF Mesa, 2B Maezes, C Cottam, LF Granite

Shirah's gotta get himself figured out on the pitching side pretty soon... Hutchison is actually having a pretty solid season so far, going pretty deep into games and keeping scores low. It looks like he's been burned by the Met bullpen or he'd have a better record... Jake McCarthy is one of the NL's better leadoff men, and he tripled to lead off this game. Nasim Nunez would drive him in on the next pitch... we would strand runners on second and third in the bottom half... Shirah hit two consecutive batters in the second, but didn't suffer for it... the middle of the Bees order struck well the next time they came up. With two out and a man on first, Guerrero singled ahead of Ishihara's three-run home run! That extends Ishi's home run streak to a really impressive four games... Shirah would give the lead straight back, though, allowing a double followed by three singles in the 4th. The last single came with a throwing error by Mesa in center that allowed the go-ahead run to score, making it 4-3... but these Bees hitters don't go away. Maezes and Cottam hit consecutively in the 4th, and Mota's hit got them both home to flip the lead back over to us! Shirah would exit after 5 with 4 runs allowed, and that would actually lower his ERA slightly... Brad Hand allowed the first two to reach in the 6th, but got out of it impressively. Kole Cottam's 4th home run doubled our lead in the bottom half... Holder would get the 7th and 8th, and though the Mets had two on in the 8th the lead held at 6-4... Miller needed a lot of pitches to do it, and he walked a man, but he gets the save unscathed!

PotG: Morio Ishihara

Game 2 - Jack Flaherty (1-2, 6.03) vs. Adam Morgan (1-1, 7.52)
NYM: CF McCarthy, SS Nunez, LF Adams, C Contreras, 3B Diaz, RF Martinelli, 1B Infante, 2B Trinkwon, P Morgan
SLC: CF Mesa, C Cottam, 3B Guerrero, RF Robles, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, 2B Maezes, SS Mota, P Flaherty

Morgan is coming off of his worst start of the year, 5 runs in 2 innings at New Mexico last Saturday. He still walked away with a no-decision, though, because the Mets had staked him to a 5-0 lead... Jack also had a tough time last time out, in game 2 of the Columbus doubleheader, where he allowed 7 runs over 5 innings... neither team would get a hit in the first two innings, though. Morgan walked two, while Flaherty was perfect. In the third, Julian Infante and Brandon Trinkwon started the inning with singles, and Morgan bunted them into scoring position, but neither McCarthy nor Nunez could come through... Flaherty had the first Bees hit, coming in the 3rd, and he came all the way around to score on a double by his catcher Cottam. Guerrero followed Kole with a single to plate him and make it 2-0... the Mets would score one in the fourth, with doubles on consecutive pitches from Danny Diaz and David Martinelli... we would counter that run with one in the bottom half, though, with Shirah scoring on a groundout by Mota... Morgan would last just four innings, a high-ish pitch count, but only 3 runs - overall, that'd lower his ERA... we wasted a golden opportunity in the sixth, squandering a bases loaded chance with just one out... all would become good in the 7th. Cottam and Guerrero reached with no out, and Shirah would slice a double against former Bee Devan Watts to score them both and make it 5-1... Flaherty finally ran out of gas in the 8th. 3 hits produced another run, and Matheny went to Riley Ferrell to stop the bleeding at 5-2... I had missed this name when checking the Mets roster earlier, so imagine my surprise when Stephen Strasburg came in to pitch the 8th! He's a very, very expensive middle reliever right now. The Mets are paying him $35 million this year, but lucky for them next year is a team option with a buyout 15% of that size... Anyway, he walked the bases loaded in the 8th, but struck out Guerrero and Robles to get out of it... Miller on for the save, and he hits David Martinelli with his first pitch... a strikeout of Infante, and then Matheny surprisingly goes back to the pen. On comes Hand, who then hits Trinkwon with a pitch and walks pinch-hitter Ty Blankmeyer to put the tying run on... McCarthy gets a hit that scores Martinelli, and that'd be it for Hand, no outs recorded... Sam Bennerman on to try to actually close it out up 5-3, with the bases loaded and one out. Nunez chops a ball at Maezes too slow to turn two, so Trinkwon scores and the tying run goes up to third... Bennerman then walks Caleb Adams to put the go-ahead run in scoring position, but coerces a groundout from Willson Contreras to secure the series. It wasn't pretty but it was a win!

PotG: Will Shirah

It doesn't feel like we've won five in a row, but we have! We're only a half-game behind the Suns now, headed into our weekend set with the reeling Flyers.

April 29-30: Bees (16-13) @ Charlotte Flyers (12-18)
The Flyers have been a really streaky team thus far. They started 3-10, then won 8 of 9, and have now lost 7 of 8. Although, the teams they played during their hot streak were all bad, so maybe they can just beat other bad teams. They're ranked 20th in the NL in both runs scored and allowed, but it's a bit more interesting than that - their starters are much better than their bullpen, and offensively they rely on the long ball. You would think that single-season record holder Matt Olson (61 HR in 2020) would lead the way, but he's been terrible so far! He only has 1 HR and is slugging just .262! That translates to below replacement level. Hope he doesn't figure it out this weekend... the team is still without SS Addison Barger and CF JaCoby Jones. In their absence, the offensive star is Tyler Wade.

Game 1 - Joey Lucchesi (2-2, 4.81) vs. Steven Farinaro (2-1, 4.18)
SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, CF Mesa, 2B Maezes, C Cottam, P Lucchesi
CHA: LF Abraham, RF Floyd, 2B Wade, 1B Olson, C Hedges, 3B Steel, SS Ahmed, CF Deering, P Farinaro

Farinaro had his weakest start on Monday against the Twins in a 9-5 loss... before that game, he had thrown a quality start every time, but against Minnesota he allowed 5 runs in just 3.1 innings... Of course, Lucchesi had a tough time in his most recent start, the first game of the Columbus doubleheader, in which he only got 3 outs. That was our most recent loss... Farinaro walked the first three batters, none on more than 5 pitches, to get in a real early jam. He did the hard part, getting Ishihara on a fly ball too shallow to score Mota, and striking out Shirah, but Mesa took him out for a grand slam! Guerrero would add a sac fly in the second to make it 5-0... Flyers LF Ryan Abraham injured himself on the sac fly, to make it worse for Charlotte... things would really be pretty uneventful until the sixth, when Lucchesi lost control. He walked Wade, and hit the impeccably-named Bruce Steel, before being forced out by Nick Ahmed's single that loaded the bases... that could've been fine, but Martin Perez allowed all three runs to score on a pair of singles from Casey Deering and pinch-hitter LJ Talley... we failed to capitalize on a two-on, one-out situation in the seventh, Ishihara and Shirah both striking out... Maezes crushed a ball 462 feet in the 8th for a solo homer, his 2nd of the year... mired in a losing skid, Charlotte brought in closer Drew Rom for some work in the ninth, and that would prove to be a mistake. Rom faced six batters, and retired none of them... Shirah's bases-loaded double scored Robles and Guerrero (Vlad Jr.'s second IBB of the game... I wonder how common that's going to become); Mesa's single scored Ishihara, and Maezes clubbed his second home run in as many innings to make it 12-3. Not to be outdone, RP Javy Leon walked the bases loaded after replacing Rom, but actually got out of it... Ferrell pitched the eighth and ninth, allowing one run in the final frame, and because he came in when it was 6-3, he gets a save.

PotG: Travis Maezes

Amazingly, this win moved us ahead of New Mexico and into first place! It doesn't feel like we should be at the top (and we do have the worst record of any division leader right now) but here we are!

Game 2 - Michael Pineda (3-1, 3.38) vs. Logan Gilbert (1-2, 4.50)
SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, CF Mesa, 2B Maezes, C Cottam, P Pineda
CHA: LF Abraham, 3B Talley, 2B Wade, 1B Olson, C Hedges, SS Ahmed, CF Deering, RF Guimbarda, P Gilbert

Gilbert's last start was the only win for Charlotte in their last nine games - a really nice performance against the Twins and former Flyer star Nomar Mazara on Tuesday... Pineda, for his part, was masterful against the Anchors on Tuesday as well... the Bees would go down in order in the first, but force Gilbert to throw 18 pitches to do it... Pineda worked around a leadoff single much more efficiently... the Bees strike first in the second on a solo shot by Shirah - he's really having his best stretch as a Bee right now. That's his 5th of the year... we've has dealt with a lot of trouble in this game, but dealt with it nonetheless. Two hits allowed in the second, and three in the fourth: Olson and Austin Hedges were on first and third with no outs before Pineda struck out Ahmed. Michael felt something in his arm at that point, and again we had to wonder how long we'd have to be without him. Martin Perez came in and struck out Casey Deering, and then Nick Guimbarda was awarded a single when his ground ball hit Austin Hedges between first and second base! I don't know if I've seen that actually happen in OOTP before... that was the final out of the inning, and Charlotte didn't score... we would, though, in the next half inning. Mesa singled and Maezes reached when Ahmed dropped his popup. Cottam made an out, and then Perez made one on purpose by sac bunting the two runners into scoring position. Luis Mota made that strategy pay off by driving in both Mesa and Maezes with a single! Nothing else would really happen until the 8th when we tacked on another on an RBI by Ishihara... as has become our norm, we poured it on in the ninth. With the bases loaded and no outs, Te'Kwaan Whyte came up to pinch-hit for Jonathan Holder and doubled down the right field line to score two. Cottam would be driven in on a Robles groundout and Whyte would also come in to score on Ishihara's single... Justin Wilson worked a clean ninth to preserve our first shutout of the year!

PotG: Logan Gilbert (only one of his three runs allowed was earned)

This definitely wasn't the most difficult week of the schedule, but a sweep feels really good no matter what. This makes seven straight wins for the Bees, and a first-place record going into a tough couple of road series to begin the month of May.

Bees' Player of the Week: I find it so impossible to choose this week, since our hitters were clicking so well this week, but I'll give it to SP/LF Will Shirah - he had six extra-base hits this week, including three homers, drove in eight, scored seven runs and was also the winning pitcher on Thursday. There were so many worthy candidates, really - five of our regular starters had a 1.000 OPS or better for the week, and Guerrero wasn't even one of them!

On the Leaderboard:
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: 1st in average (.403), T-4th in HR (10), 1st in RBI (39), 6th in OBP (.439), 4th in slugging (.694), 3rd in OPS (1.133), 2nd in WAR (2.0), 1st in hits (54), 7th in runs scored (28), 1st in total bases (93)
Victor Victor Mesa: 3rd in average (.383), 5th in OBP (.440), 3rd in hits (49), 2nd in runs scored (30), T-3rd in stolen bases (8)
Morio Ishihara: T-5th in RBI (30)
Kole Cottam: 9th in slugging (.611), 9th in OPS (1.001)
Victor Robles: T-8th in runs scored (27)
Jonathan Holder: 9th in ERA (2.51), 4th in K/BB ratio (5.8), 7th in BB/9 (1.7), 4th in WHIP (1.02). Still qualified, for now...

Minor League Bees:
- the AAA Hawaii Islanders swept the week as well, beating Yuma (D'Backs), Santa Barbara (Silver Sox) and starting their series with Lincoln (Thunder) off right
- AA Monterrey had a tough week, going 3-4, but remain 1st in the Mexican League
- and A Burlington lost a tough series to Wisconsin (Brewers) but continue to have a 3-game lead in their division

All three teams are #1 in their respective Power Rankings

Standings:

League News:
April 27: New Mexico CL Roberto Osuna has a torn triceps and will be out a few months. The Suns are also missing SS Brice Turang for about another week. Coincidentally, we play in Albuquerque on Monday and Tuesday.
April 28: Sad news from Boston as former Bee Vince Velasquez announced his retirement due to a torn labrum. We had foisted him onto Boston as a salary dump as part of a trade that netted us Pineda last year. He only spent about half a year with us, but I'm sad for him nonetheless.
April 30: Another disaster for San Antonio, who lost another starting pitcher for the year - this time Lupe Chavez, a ten-game winner for them last year. Triston Casas, who I mentioned in the San Antonio preview as the Marshals' best hitter, is now also their best starting pitcher.

Players of the Week:
Las Vegas RF Bryce Harper - 11-21, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 10 R
Buffalo 1B Michael Toglia - 11-23, 5 HR, 12 RBI

Monthly Awards for April:
Batter of the Month:
Las Vegas RF Bryce Harper - .418, 8 HR, 31 RBI, 29 R
Salt Lake 3B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. - .405, 8 HR, 33 RBI, 22 R, .430 OBP

Pitcher of the Month:
Nashville CL Jose Torres - 2-0, 7 saves, 1.84 ERA, 20 K in 14.2 innings
Atlanta SP Carson Fulmer - 5-0, 2.05 ERA, 40 K in 30.2 innings

Rookie of the Month:
New Orleans RF Alexis La Madrid - .311, 7 HR, 24 RBI, 23 R
Houston RF Ramon Gutierrez - .347, 5 HR, 21 RBI, 24 R, .422 OBP

Well deserved for Vlad Jr., it really seems like this is just a normal statline for him but nobody else does this (except for Harper).

Power Rankings:
It was obviously a huge week for us, going 6-0, and the power rankings recognize that by shooting us all the way up to #9, up 23 spots from last week!

1. Ottawa Lynx (23-9)
2. New York Burros (23-9)
3. Las Vegas Scorpions (22-10)
4. Seattle Mariners (22-10)
5. Louisville Colts (21-11)
56. Arizona Diamondbacks (10-22)
57. Colorado Rockies (10-22)
58. Jacksonville Anchors (11-21)
59. Cleveland Indians (9-23)
60. Boston Red Sox (8-23)

Next Week: things get tougher than they were this week. Our road trip continues to New Mexico and Sacramento, both playoff teams last year, but then we head home for the last-place Hartford Oaks on the weekend.

01-10-2020, 03:23 AM	#19
Ruwisc All Star Reserve Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Southwestern Illinois Posts: 610	Week 5: April 24-30, 2023 April 24-25: Bees (12-13) vs. Jacksonville Anchors (10-16) Not much was expected of the Anchors this year, and they've matched those expectations. Their win over Indianapolis yesterday snapped an eight-game losing skid in which they were swept by Minnesota, Las Vegas and Nashville. Their offense has been OK, a middling one in the AL, but the pitching that buoyed them to a .500 record last season has evaporated. Marquee free agent signing Josh Bell has been their best hitter, probably, though Domingo Santana is also doing well. Because I play GM-only, I have to deal with AI Mike Matheny's idiosyncracies, and right now he's deciding he wants to try Jonathan Holder in the bullpen. I can't for the life of me figure out why, and he won't let me override him on this. Because he now doesn't want to start Holder, he sees the best choice for today's game to be a banged-up Michael Pineda on short rest. So, I do have to go get a spot starter after all. SP Griffin Canning returns from Hawaii, and RP William Gonzalez will go back down. William has actually pitched well, but he's the guy in the bullpen without a real niche. He'll certainly be back, probably soon. Game 1 - Griffin Canning (1-1, 6.48) vs. Michael Sandborn (1-1, 5.73) JAX: 2B Paris, CF Nimmo, 1B Bell, RF Santana, LF Stowers, 3B O'Donnell, C Pages, SS Engelhart, P Sandborn SLC: CF Mesa, C Cottam, 3B Guerrero, RF Robles, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, 2B Maezes, SS Mota, P Canning Oh yeah, I also can't stop Mike from playing Cottam, even though he's banged up. Thankfully Kole will be back to full strength by about Friday... Canning worked around a Josh Bell double in the first... three singles would produce a run for us in the bottom half, with Robles driving in Mesa... Canning would allow three baserunners in the 3rd inning, but because they sandwiched a double play no harm done... we would double our lead in the 3rd, Cottam's triple converted by a Guerrero hit... but Jacksonville took it back in their half of the 4th. Zack O'Donnell doubled and was driven in by Zach Engelhart. I wonder if they have arguments about the spelling of their names. I'm a Zach myself and I feel really strongly about it... Sandborn would come apart in the 4th. Shirah's ten-pitch walk was a big start, and after Maezes struck out, Mota slapped a ball in the hole that Engelhart could only knock down. Canning successfully bunted both men over, but it wouldn't matter - Victor Victor Mesa smacked his first home run of the season to grow the lead to 5-1! Sandborn would exit there, only pitching 3.2 innings, with 5 runs on 7 hits... But again, Jacksonville would answer immediately, and in fact identically. Domingo Santana's 3-run shot got the Anchors within a run... Reliever Luis Cabrera would strike out Guerrero and Robles to start the 5th, but Ishihara got him for a solo shot, his second in as many games... Canning would be done after five, well done for him coming in to start on short notice... not to be outdone, Guerrero added his own home run leading off the 7th, his league-leading tenth... the Bees would add two more, Robles' triple leading to an RBI for Maezes and Ishihara driven in by pinch-hitter Joe Breaux... the Anchors would get a hit each in the 8th and 9th but never really threaten. PotG: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. With his 4-5 day, Vlad Jr. has cracked the 2 WAR mark for the season in just 26 games! Game 2 - Michael Pineda (2-1, 4.34) vs. Jairo Pacheco (1-0, 15.00) JAX: 2B Paris, CF Nimmo, 1B Bell, RF Santana, C Curry, LF Bradfield, SS Engelhart, 3B O'Donnell, P Pacheco SLC: CF Mesa, C Cottam, 3B Guerrero, RF Robles, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, 2B Maezes, SS Mota, P Pineda Pacheco has had a fascinating year already - he's been claimed off waivers four times and the season is barely a month old! He started the year with the Blackbirds (where he was a starter all last year), but was claimed by Arizona, Hartford, Arizona again and now Jacksonville. In all that time, he only made three relief appearances, so this is his first start of 2023. Despite going over to the AL, he's facing one of his old division rivals. Michael Pineda is finally back to 100%, and pitching today on regular rest... Michael worked around a Brandon Nimmo hit in the first inning... just like yesterday, Mesa would single leading off the game and come around to score, this time when Guerrero reached on an error... Maezes and Mota singled to start the second, and even though Pineda's bunt attempt was caught on the fly, they would still both score on RBI hits from Mesa and Guerrero respectively... Pacheco would not get an out in the third. Ishihara, Shirah and Maezes all had hits, producing two runs, and that was it for Jairo... Victor Victor Mesa would get Maezes around for a third run, making it 6-0. Hm... 1 run in the first, 2 in the second, 3 in the third... are we gonna win 36-0? Well, Easton Lucas would settle things down for the Anchors, retiring us in order in the 4th and 5th, so I guess not... in total, Anchors relievers would retire 13 straight Bees from the 3rd through the 7th... Jacksonville would get on the board in the 7th, Engelhart doubling to score Santana... RJ Alvarez had entered this game having still not allowed a run all year, but we'd get to him in a big way in the 8th... Alvarez would face 6 batters and be charged with 5 runs. Shirah opened the inning with a solo HR, finally pushing his average above .200. Maezes, pinch-hitter Granite, and Mesa all had hits, and Cottam was plunked, before Guerrero singled off Dan Otero to score two more. After a strikeout of Robles, Ishihara crushed a 3-run home run, his third in three games, and Shirah followed with his second solo home run of the inning to put the capper on an 8-spot. Jacksonville would get one off of Hermeling in the 9th but it barely mattered. PotG: Will Shirah Just our third series win of the year, but we've only lost three as well (counting the one game played in Buffalo as a "series"). We're back above .500 as well, for the first time since we were 9-8. I ultimately decided LHP Tim Hill wasn't gonna stick with this roster after our acquisition of Brad Hand, and so he goes back onto waivers. We also sent SP Griffin Canning back to Hawaii and recalled RP William Gonzalez with our rotation crunch solved. April 27-28: Bees (14-13) vs. New York Mets (15-13) The Mets have lost three of four on their current road trip, through New Mexico and Philly, and will visit us and the White Sox before going back home, so a tough stretch. Their bullpen has been horrid, 29th in the NL in ERA, while their starters were 10th. They've been a below average offensive team so far too, so I think it might depend on which starters we hit, and lo and behold, we're getting their #4 and #5 guys. Game 1: Will Shirah (1-2, 7.47) vs. Rodney Hutchison (2-0, 3.00) NYM: CF McCarthy, SS Nunez, LF Adams, C Contreras, 3B Diaz, 2B Trinkwon, 1B Infante, RF Martinelli, P Hutchison SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, P Shirah, CF Mesa, 2B Maezes, C Cottam, LF Granite Shirah's gotta get himself figured out on the pitching side pretty soon... Hutchison is actually having a pretty solid season so far, going pretty deep into games and keeping scores low. It looks like he's been burned by the Met bullpen or he'd have a better record... Jake McCarthy is one of the NL's better leadoff men, and he tripled to lead off this game. Nasim Nunez would drive him in on the next pitch... we would strand runners on second and third in the bottom half... Shirah hit two consecutive batters in the second, but didn't suffer for it... the middle of the Bees order struck well the next time they came up. With two out and a man on first, Guerrero singled ahead of Ishihara's three-run home run! That extends Ishi's home run streak to a really impressive four games... Shirah would give the lead straight back, though, allowing a double followed by three singles in the 4th. The last single came with a throwing error by Mesa in center that allowed the go-ahead run to score, making it 4-3... but these Bees hitters don't go away. Maezes and Cottam hit consecutively in the 4th, and Mota's hit got them both home to flip the lead back over to us! Shirah would exit after 5 with 4 runs allowed, and that would actually lower his ERA slightly... Brad Hand allowed the first two to reach in the 6th, but got out of it impressively. Kole Cottam's 4th home run doubled our lead in the bottom half... Holder would get the 7th and 8th, and though the Mets had two on in the 8th the lead held at 6-4... Miller needed a lot of pitches to do it, and he walked a man, but he gets the save unscathed! PotG: Morio Ishihara Game 2 - Jack Flaherty (1-2, 6.03) vs. Adam Morgan (1-1, 7.52) NYM: CF McCarthy, SS Nunez, LF Adams, C Contreras, 3B Diaz, RF Martinelli, 1B Infante, 2B Trinkwon, P Morgan SLC: CF Mesa, C Cottam, 3B Guerrero, RF Robles, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, 2B Maezes, SS Mota, P Flaherty Morgan is coming off of his worst start of the year, 5 runs in 2 innings at New Mexico last Saturday. He still walked away with a no-decision, though, because the Mets had staked him to a 5-0 lead... Jack also had a tough time last time out, in game 2 of the Columbus doubleheader, where he allowed 7 runs over 5 innings... neither team would get a hit in the first two innings, though. Morgan walked two, while Flaherty was perfect. In the third, Julian Infante and Brandon Trinkwon started the inning with singles, and Morgan bunted them into scoring position, but neither McCarthy nor Nunez could come through... Flaherty had the first Bees hit, coming in the 3rd, and he came all the way around to score on a double by his catcher Cottam. Guerrero followed Kole with a single to plate him and make it 2-0... the Mets would score one in the fourth, with doubles on consecutive pitches from Danny Diaz and David Martinelli... we would counter that run with one in the bottom half, though, with Shirah scoring on a groundout by Mota... Morgan would last just four innings, a high-ish pitch count, but only 3 runs - overall, that'd lower his ERA... we wasted a golden opportunity in the sixth, squandering a bases loaded chance with just one out... all would become good in the 7th. Cottam and Guerrero reached with no out, and Shirah would slice a double against former Bee Devan Watts to score them both and make it 5-1... Flaherty finally ran out of gas in the 8th. 3 hits produced another run, and Matheny went to Riley Ferrell to stop the bleeding at 5-2... I had missed this name when checking the Mets roster earlier, so imagine my surprise when Stephen Strasburg came in to pitch the 8th! He's a very, very expensive middle reliever right now. The Mets are paying him $35 million this year, but lucky for them next year is a team option with a buyout 15% of that size... Anyway, he walked the bases loaded in the 8th, but struck out Guerrero and Robles to get out of it... Miller on for the save, and he hits David Martinelli with his first pitch... a strikeout of Infante, and then Matheny surprisingly goes back to the pen. On comes Hand, who then hits Trinkwon with a pitch and walks pinch-hitter Ty Blankmeyer to put the tying run on... McCarthy gets a hit that scores Martinelli, and that'd be it for Hand, no outs recorded... Sam Bennerman on to try to actually close it out up 5-3, with the bases loaded and one out. Nunez chops a ball at Maezes too slow to turn two, so Trinkwon scores and the tying run goes up to third... Bennerman then walks Caleb Adams to put the go-ahead run in scoring position, but coerces a groundout from Willson Contreras to secure the series. It wasn't pretty but it was a win! PotG: Will Shirah It doesn't feel like we've won five in a row, but we have! We're only a half-game behind the Suns now, headed into our weekend set with the reeling Flyers. April 29-30: Bees (16-13) @ Charlotte Flyers (12-18) The Flyers have been a really streaky team thus far. They started 3-10, then won 8 of 9, and have now lost 7 of 8. Although, the teams they played during their hot streak were all bad, so maybe they can just beat other bad teams. They're ranked 20th in the NL in both runs scored and allowed, but it's a bit more interesting than that - their starters are much better than their bullpen, and offensively they rely on the long ball. You would think that single-season record holder Matt Olson (61 HR in 2020) would lead the way, but he's been terrible so far! He only has 1 HR and is slugging just .262! That translates to below replacement level. Hope he doesn't figure it out this weekend... the team is still without SS Addison Barger and CF JaCoby Jones. In their absence, the offensive star is Tyler Wade. Game 1 - Joey Lucchesi (2-2, 4.81) vs. Steven Farinaro (2-1, 4.18) SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, CF Mesa, 2B Maezes, C Cottam, P Lucchesi CHA: LF Abraham, RF Floyd, 2B Wade, 1B Olson, C Hedges, 3B Steel, SS Ahmed, CF Deering, P Farinaro Farinaro had his weakest start on Monday against the Twins in a 9-5 loss... before that game, he had thrown a quality start every time, but against Minnesota he allowed 5 runs in just 3.1 innings... Of course, Lucchesi had a tough time in his most recent start, the first game of the Columbus doubleheader, in which he only got 3 outs. That was our most recent loss... Farinaro walked the first three batters, none on more than 5 pitches, to get in a real early jam. He did the hard part, getting Ishihara on a fly ball too shallow to score Mota, and striking out Shirah, but Mesa took him out for a grand slam! Guerrero would add a sac fly in the second to make it 5-0... Flyers LF Ryan Abraham injured himself on the sac fly, to make it worse for Charlotte... things would really be pretty uneventful until the sixth, when Lucchesi lost control. He walked Wade, and hit the impeccably-named Bruce Steel, before being forced out by Nick Ahmed's single that loaded the bases... that could've been fine, but Martin Perez allowed all three runs to score on a pair of singles from Casey Deering and pinch-hitter LJ Talley... we failed to capitalize on a two-on, one-out situation in the seventh, Ishihara and Shirah both striking out... Maezes crushed a ball 462 feet in the 8th for a solo homer, his 2nd of the year... mired in a losing skid, Charlotte brought in closer Drew Rom for some work in the ninth, and that would prove to be a mistake. Rom faced six batters, and retired none of them... Shirah's bases-loaded double scored Robles and Guerrero (Vlad Jr.'s second IBB of the game... I wonder how common that's going to become); Mesa's single scored Ishihara, and Maezes clubbed his second home run in as many innings to make it 12-3. Not to be outdone, RP Javy Leon walked the bases loaded after replacing Rom, but actually got out of it... Ferrell pitched the eighth and ninth, allowing one run in the final frame, and because he came in when it was 6-3, he gets a save. PotG: Travis Maezes Amazingly, this win moved us ahead of New Mexico and into first place! It doesn't feel like we should be at the top (and we do have the worst record of any division leader right now) but here we are! Game 2 - Michael Pineda (3-1, 3.38) vs. Logan Gilbert (1-2, 4.50) SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, CF Mesa, 2B Maezes, C Cottam, P Pineda CHA: LF Abraham, 3B Talley, 2B Wade, 1B Olson, C Hedges, SS Ahmed, CF Deering, RF Guimbarda, P Gilbert Gilbert's last start was the only win for Charlotte in their last nine games - a really nice performance against the Twins and former Flyer star Nomar Mazara on Tuesday... Pineda, for his part, was masterful against the Anchors on Tuesday as well... the Bees would go down in order in the first, but force Gilbert to throw 18 pitches to do it... Pineda worked around a leadoff single much more efficiently... the Bees strike first in the second on a solo shot by Shirah - he's really having his best stretch as a Bee right now. That's his 5th of the year... we've has dealt with a lot of trouble in this game, but dealt with it nonetheless. Two hits allowed in the second, and three in the fourth: Olson and Austin Hedges were on first and third with no outs before Pineda struck out Ahmed. Michael felt something in his arm at that point, and again we had to wonder how long we'd have to be without him. Martin Perez came in and struck out Casey Deering, and then Nick Guimbarda was awarded a single when his ground ball hit Austin Hedges between first and second base! I don't know if I've seen that actually happen in OOTP before... that was the final out of the inning, and Charlotte didn't score... we would, though, in the next half inning. Mesa singled and Maezes reached when Ahmed dropped his popup. Cottam made an out, and then Perez made one on purpose by sac bunting the two runners into scoring position. Luis Mota made that strategy pay off by driving in both Mesa and Maezes with a single! Nothing else would really happen until the 8th when we tacked on another on an RBI by Ishihara... as has become our norm, we poured it on in the ninth. With the bases loaded and no outs, Te'Kwaan Whyte came up to pinch-hit for Jonathan Holder and doubled down the right field line to score two. Cottam would be driven in on a Robles groundout and Whyte would also come in to score on Ishihara's single... Justin Wilson worked a clean ninth to preserve our first shutout of the year! PotG: Logan Gilbert (only one of his three runs allowed was earned) This definitely wasn't the most difficult week of the schedule, but a sweep feels really good no matter what. This makes seven straight wins for the Bees, and a first-place record going into a tough couple of road series to begin the month of May. Bees' Player of the Week: I find it so impossible to choose this week, since our hitters were clicking so well this week, but I'll give it to SP/LF Will Shirah - he had six extra-base hits this week, including three homers, drove in eight, scored seven runs and was also the winning pitcher on Thursday. There were so many worthy candidates, really - five of our regular starters had a 1.000 OPS or better for the week, and Guerrero wasn't even one of them! On the Leaderboard: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: 1st in average (.403), T-4th in HR (10), 1st in RBI (39), 6th in OBP (.439), 4th in slugging (.694), 3rd in OPS (1.133), 2nd in WAR (2.0), 1st in hits (54), 7th in runs scored (28), 1st in total bases (93) Victor Victor Mesa: 3rd in average (.383), 5th in OBP (.440), 3rd in hits (49), 2nd in runs scored (30), T-3rd in stolen bases (8) Morio Ishihara: T-5th in RBI (30) Kole Cottam: 9th in slugging (.611), 9th in OPS (1.001) Victor Robles: T-8th in runs scored (27) Jonathan Holder: 9th in ERA (2.51), 4th in K/BB ratio (5.8), 7th in BB/9 (1.7), 4th in WHIP (1.02). Still qualified, for now... Minor League Bees: - the AAA Hawaii Islanders swept the week as well, beating Yuma (D'Backs), Santa Barbara (Silver Sox) and starting their series with Lincoln (Thunder) off right - AA Monterrey had a tough week, going 3-4, but remain 1st in the Mexican League - and A Burlington lost a tough series to Wisconsin (Brewers) but continue to have a 3-game lead in their division All three teams are #1 in their respective Power Rankings Standings: League News: April 27: New Mexico CL Roberto Osuna has a torn triceps and will be out a few months. The Suns are also missing SS Brice Turang for about another week. Coincidentally, we play in Albuquerque on Monday and Tuesday. April 28: Sad news from Boston as former Bee Vince Velasquez announced his retirement due to a torn labrum. We had foisted him onto Boston as a salary dump as part of a trade that netted us Pineda last year. He only spent about half a year with us, but I'm sad for him nonetheless. April 30: Another disaster for San Antonio, who lost another starting pitcher for the year - this time Lupe Chavez, a ten-game winner for them last year. Triston Casas, who I mentioned in the San Antonio preview as the Marshals' best hitter, is now also their best starting pitcher. Players of the Week: Las Vegas RF Bryce Harper - 11-21, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 10 R Buffalo 1B Michael Toglia - 11-23, 5 HR, 12 RBI Monthly Awards for April: Batter of the Month: Las Vegas RF Bryce Harper - .418, 8 HR, 31 RBI, 29 R Salt Lake 3B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. - .405, 8 HR, 33 RBI, 22 R, .430 OBP Pitcher of the Month: Nashville CL Jose Torres - 2-0, 7 saves, 1.84 ERA, 20 K in 14.2 innings Atlanta SP Carson Fulmer - 5-0, 2.05 ERA, 40 K in 30.2 innings Rookie of the Month: New Orleans RF Alexis La Madrid - .311, 7 HR, 24 RBI, 23 R Houston RF Ramon Gutierrez - .347, 5 HR, 21 RBI, 24 R, .422 OBP Well deserved for Vlad Jr., it really seems like this is just a normal statline for him but nobody else does this (except for Harper). Power Rankings: It was obviously a huge week for us, going 6-0, and the power rankings recognize that by shooting us all the way up to #9, up 23 spots from last week! 1. Ottawa Lynx (23-9) 2. New York Burros (23-9) 3. Las Vegas Scorpions (22-10) 4. Seattle Mariners (22-10) 5. Louisville Colts (21-11) 56. Arizona Diamondbacks (10-22) 57. Colorado Rockies (10-22) 58. Jacksonville Anchors (11-21) 59. Cleveland Indians (9-23) 60. Boston Red Sox (8-23) Next Week: things get tougher than they were this week. Our road trip continues to New Mexico and Sacramento, both playoff teams last year, but then we head home for the last-place Hartford Oaks on the weekend. Last edited by Ruwisc; 01-10-2020 at 10:59 AM.