Jacksonville Jaguars @ Los Angeles Lakers
After taking two of three off the Jaguars, the 6.5-hour flight back to Los Angeles doesn’t feel that long – the atmosphere on the plane is jovial and our confidence is high. We’ll get our second crack at Joseph Thompson in the first game of a potential 2-game series – he got the win against us in Game 2 where he only gave up 3 runs in 6 innings of work. Our offense isn’t exactly clicking right now, but you have to think that seeing the same guy twice in 7 days will be advantageous. We’ll put Michael Brisk on the mound, basically giving one of my favorite guys the chance of a lifetime in a closeout game – he’s been the
okayest pitcher on our staff so far in these playoffs with his last two outings ranking among his best thus far. I like our chances – I don’t love them, but I do like them. What I don’t like and what I’m struggling to parse out of our 3-2 series lead, is Otto’s terrible play through the first 5 games of this series – batting just .210 with 3 runs, 1 homer, 1 RBI, and 7 K’s for the series… we’re are not getting anything close to what we’d expect from our best player. We’ve been fortunate to see other guys step up and it’s been exciting to watch, but when does that train run out of fuel? And, it’s not just Otto – Ethan has been below average too – we’ve been getting it done offensively (if you can call it that) in fits and starts, on the backs of guys who typically don’t lead our offense, but instead ply their trade by filling its gaps and contributing from the fringe. Here’s to the hope that our offense will wake up a bit here and close this one out so I can get some sleep.
6 of 7: Joseph Thompson (2-0, 3.18) @ Michael Brisk (2-2, 4.91)
Brisk comes out looking primed and preened – looking into the batter’s box with his best screw-face before delivering his first pitch. Looks can be deceiving though as he gives up a lead-off HR to Telma Taveras – not ideal, but nothing to worry too much about… yet. He’d labor through the next three batters – a 22 pitch 1st for Brisk – but puts them down in order. Thompson, for his part, gives up a hit to Mullens, but navigates the bottom of the frame efficiently enough and gets out of it largely unscathed. We’d trade zeros for a few innings until the Jags get another run on us in the top of the 4th – Brisk had dialed it back in, but is starting to make little mistakes here and there against a team built to capitalize on the most minute of opportunities. We show some life in the bottom of the 6th and get one across on an Otto sacrifice, but leave another stranded – we’re putting good AB’s together now, starting to come alive a little bit. We’ll need more of that – like now. We’d not get it – what we would get, however, is another shaky 9th inning performance from Kawka before going out 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th as the Jaguars force a game 7 by a score of 2-1. Frustrating game. Brisk is serviceable, even good at times, Ethan goes 2 for 4, Otto is mired in the doldrums, he walked twice but who cares, and Pepper leaves 3 stranded in a 0 for 3 performance. Yikes.
7 of 7: Nat Millard (3-2, 2.18) @ Dejuan Burns (3-0, 2.57)
Dejuan gives us a 1-2-3 top of the 1st – breathing a little bit of life into the dugout early in this one. Those good vibes are quickly extinguished when Nat responds in kind, on fewer pitches, to close out the 1st frame… Otto commits an error on a flyball in the top of the 4th, leading to a run for the bad guys – things fall apart, man… good grief. 1-0 lead for Jacksonville. It’s starting to feel like we’re stuck in quicksand with cinderblocks for cleats. We’d get a leadoff base knock from Newman in the bottom of the 6th, which gets quickly erased when Clay Daniels hits into a double-play – nothing doing for the Purple & Gold – Dejuan, for his part, is dealing though, giving us everything he’s got out there… we just can’t reward him offensively. In the end – our suddenly nonexistent offense screws the proverbial pooch, gets shut out for the second time in this series and wastes a clutch performance from burns. Otto was the worst version of himself here, Ethan wasn’t much better, and Pepper found a way to disappear – he has a future in magic. We dropped two at home to close out the 2075 campaign, losing the World Series to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the process. A tip of the ol’ cap to the ballclub from Florida – this is a difficult one to swallow, a difficult result to rationalize. Telma wins the WS MVP honors as our guys watch the festivities while doing their best versions of a pribolof stare… baseball is a cold, cold business, the seas are rough... we're battered, bruised, and humbled. Headed off in multiple directions to face an offseason that will likely be filled with regret, anxiety, and many a night spent tossing and turning in our beds wondering where it all went wrong. This will be the season of our discontent.
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes are definitely coming for the La La’s… we have a lot, I mean
A LOT, of players with expiring contracts – we built this thing for 2075 without considering the future beyond it. So, it will be a busy offseason for me, if I remain a Laker that is – our owner, ever the eccentric, can be a bit of an emotional decision maker as one who is not used to losing at pretty much anything sometimes tends to be. There is also talk of expansion in the MLB (though I don’t know if I want to materially alter my set-up here as it has been so much fun to play, I just feel like I need some new blood to think about – some new cities to visit), which means there would be an expansion draft -FUN! – and opportunities to land on should my Owner show me the door. Decisions, decisions… I don’t know where I should go with this universe yet. I’ll give it some distance, I suppose, navigate my list of chores, head out to the dog park before the Texas sun gets too hot, and get on with reality a bit while mulling it over.
One thing is for sure - I'm trading Kawka for whatever I can get. A $2 dollar bill and a bag of Corn Nuts? Absolutely - DEAL. Hell, if they're Chile Picante Con Limon flavored I might throw in a prospect. Or two. Who's counting, let's make a deal!