Brooklyn Citizens (4-1, .800) @ Los Angeles Kings (4-1, .800)
The Citizens finished 2nd in the NL West based on their H2H record against the Pittsburgh Steelers. They finished 8-12 against them in the regular season before turning that trend of its head to kick off the 2078 playoffs. They finished 4-3 against us, played us tough… but, the sample size makes that essentially meaningless. This is being billed as an evenly matched series and, in a way, it is. Brooklyn is solidly built with no real outlier categories – they play team ball and count on every man to do his job. No heroics, nothing fancy – just do your job and the rest, as they say, will take care of itself. Their pitching is a strength – they have a strong rotation filled with durable, high-stamina power arms that can, when necessary, deal with the finesse of a Columbia St. Ballerina – it’s all in the footwork, the mechanics make the man. They have two pitchers with whom I am intimately familiar – Merl, a former Laker, who was still feeling his oats when we had him… he’s settled into a quality ace for Brooklyn, and Cam Murphy, who I drafted, developed and then watched slip away after being summarily dismissed by his former club, the Phoenix Suns. We’ll have our work cut out for us here – a no-nonsense staff backed by a solid pen and a patient, battle-tested lineup that habitually strings together quality AB’s and has a knack for testing a pitcher’s fortitude. That being said, the club enters this series with confidence, swagger, and believes that we can get the job done here. We’re in a good position as we enter this series – our form is great, confidence high, and no one is ready to call it a day just yet.
Game 1: Merl Crawford (1-1, 3.29) @ Newton Weiser (1-0, 7.27)
Loss, 7-4. This contest was won & lost in the 4th frame. Brooklyn won it by scoring 7 in the top of the 4th and we lost it when we could only answer back with four of our own in the bottom of the frame. Weiser got in trouble early in the 4th, all 7 of the Brooklyn runs will be added to his permanent record and serve to balloon his ERA up to 10.50 for the 2078 playoffs. And, Crawford wasn’t much better – his trouble wasn’t as life-threatening in the 4th but he did leak 4 runs including a 3-run dinger courtesy of Joseph Zody. Outside of that though, we didn’t do anything of note offensively – Crawford kept us off balance, and even though he labored for long stretches in this one our guys were unable to make him pay. This is one of those games, or innings really, that you’d love to get back… but can’t, because time-travel doesn’t exist (yet) and even if it did the ramifications of going back and making that kind of a change could spread far & wide… it’s just impossible to tell. What if someone bet their life savings on Brooklyn tonight and then used her winnings to cure cancer? No, we’ll just have to live with it – time travel isn’t worth the trouble.
Elsewhere: The Coney Island Footlongs won the Bush League Series over the Gainesville Gamecocks, 4-1. This is Coney Island’s 5th Bush League Championship and 2nd in the last 4 seasons of play. Weiner takes all! Wait, is it too early for hotdog jokes? Yeah? Okay, strike that and move along then…
Game 2: Cam Murphy (0-0, 3.86) @ Jonny Garcia (0-0, 4.26)
Win, 3-1. Jonny Garcia gave us an 8-inning, 3-hit shutout with 10 Ks and Michael Brisk picks up his 4th save despite giving up a late, top of the 9th run to Brooklyn. The offense was still of little use for us in this one – we got a double from OH HONG, a 2-out RBI from Goodwin, and managed to steal three bags… nothing fancy, just enough, barely enough, to get the job done. Brooklyn got what they needed – a split – and now we will make the cross-country trek to meet them on their turf for a 3-game set that could spell the end for this semi-magical, low-key entertaining journey we’ve been on in 2078. Our hope is that the pitching follows the example set by Jonny tonight and that the offense lays off the snooze button and shows up ready to play while in Brooklyn.
Elsewhere: Golden State won game one against the Toronto Reds with a 10th inning, 2-run, walk-off homer. They’re really firing on all cylinders right now, and, if they aren’t already, should be installed as the heavy World Series favorite by every book from here to Antarctica. Or not, they lost game two by a score of 4-0… shut out at home in front of their wives, children, parents, cousins, girlfriends, mistresses, side-chicks, and second-cousins – and that’s not how a champion gets things did.