St. Louis Rams (25-27, .481, 3rd NL East) @ Los Angeles Lakers (34-19, .642, 1st NL West)
First thing’s first… what does it say about the NL East when a team, in this case, St. Louis, loses 4 out of their last 5 games and still moves up to 3rd in the standings? It’s a sad state of affairs, man. And, if that isn’t enough news of the “sad” variety – in addition to losing LF Joshua Newman for 4 weeks during the last game when he tore an abdominal muscle sliding into 3rd, our Closer, Steven Barbaccia, was injured as well – after getting save #19 he went straight to the training room – diagnosis is still pending… that can’t be good. This one could get interesting really quickly as we are putting Lee Myers on the bump – he gave up 5 over 6 his last time up – given that we really need him to eat some innings here. Game 3 of this 4-game set is up for grabs – a good opportunity for the Rams to pick up that ever-elusive road win.
54 of 162: Octavio Cervera (3-3, 4.18) @ Lee Myers (4-3, 3.80)
Win, 3-1. The Rams managed to punch one through in the top of the 2nd on a two-out double from 3B Mike Udelhoven – it’s always nice when you hang a curveball to a scrub and he makes you pay for it. 14th double for the serviceable veteran… it’d be a couple of innings before we’d answer back when Ethan Mullens brings Otto home on a well-hit sac fly. We’d get a couple more in the frame – a Larry Williams triple brings Cooke home, and Stan Wilkins manages to bring Williams in during the next at-bat. From there it was all zeros to close it out – with a dicey top of the 9th as Rudolf Caldwell, doing his best Barbaccia impression, picks up his 1st Major League save on 26 pitches.
Elsewhere… Dallas SS Kalid Zamara – the MLB’s only active player from Saipan, went 6 for 8 with only a single run and a single RBI in the Cowboys’ 7-3 loss against the Green Bay Packers. A wasted effort… interesting score as well – might as well have been a football game, am I right? Kalid was drafted 62nd overall by the New York Jets out of Notre Dame – he’d spent most of his time bouncing between AAA and the Majors before securing an everyday role with the Cowboys in 2075. He’s out there for his defense and baserunning ability – so a 6 for 8 performance, given his poor contact and avoid K rating is something of a surprise. He may never have a more productive day at the plate…
The Ballad of Adrian Bae… your boy picked up his 4th win of the season (he’s now 4-0 with a 2.67 ERA) in Hagerstown’s 7-1 win over the Decatur Donnybrooks… Bae went 5.1 innings with 1 earned and 1 K – wait just a gosh darn minute – ONE K? THAT’S IT? He managed to keep the ball down & let the defense eat tonight, I guess – 8 ground out & 4 fly outs. This guy is a tough one to figure – he’s a gamer, and has a knack for making his stuff work for him – but, he doesn’t exactly pop out of the box score, does he?
In other news – the diagnosis of Barbaccia’s mysterious injury is still pending. Can someone tell me just what I pay my medical staff for? How hard is it? Take a picture, check your little medical book, and tell me what the hell is going on with my closer. See? Easy. The Doctors I have on the payroll are charlatans. Hell, I'd have better luck getting a solid answer out of a fortune-teller whose storefront sits in a strip mall sandwiched between a Payless Shoes and a Little Caesar's...I mean, look at this guy - SKETCHY. Got a real Creed vibe, you ask me...
