Green Bay Packers (11-6, .647, 1st AL East) @ Los Angeles Lakers (9-8, .529, 4th NL West)
Coming off of a 4-game series where they took two and lost two against the Toronto Reds, the Green Bay Packers have not quite captured the form they had in the 2nd half of 2075. Truth be told, they haven’t needed to as most clubs, save maybe the Philadelphia 76ers (Josiah looks great at the start of 2076 – 2-0, 0.98 ERA – only 3 RA in 27.7 innings) and the Portland Timbers, have come out of the gates slow & inconsistent. Teams are looking to work their way into 2076… settle into a groove and start being the best version of themselves. What’s different about the Packers so far is that they keep winnings ballgames while they figure things out – expertly uncovering opportunities to turn contests to their favor. Their pitching has been great – head and shoulders above the rest – they are 1st in both Starters ERA and Bullpen ERA, and 3rd in WAR & FIP. Their performance here has been interesting – there really is no standout guy on their rotation… it’s just 5 solid guys where the #1 through #3 guys look interchangeable – there really isn’t a clear ace. Offensively the book on these guys does not read as well – 10th in OBP, 9th in OPS, 6th in AVG – ho-hum in aggregate but situationally superb. Something has to give with these guys – their record and their stats suggest that they are a band of world-beaters – they are not, this is a mirage – let’s hope that their inevitable descent back to earth starts with our 3-game set in LA.
18 of 162: Elijah Rizzuto (1-1, 3.38) @ Michael Brisk (1-1, 2.53)
Win, 6-3… Brisk gave us 7 innings and allowed only two to come home, Barbaccia gets save number 7 and brings his ERA down a few ticks to 10.80 (yikes….), and Joshua Newman hits his team-leading 3rd HR of the season – a 2-run shot off of Rizzuto in the 6th. Newcomer Mario Marshburn endeared himself to the hometown fans a little bit as well when he hit a 2-out, 2-run single in the bottom of the 7th that put us up in this one for good. Only 32K fans came to this one – not a great sign… we are down 14% in attendance year-over-year despite no material change in ticket prices.
Elsewhere: Josiah Kawka, who is now in the starting rotation for the Houston Dynamo, git his 4th start of the season as his club was in Montreal to begin a 3-game set against the Impact. He was shaky in the 1st inning, allowing two runs in the bottom of the 1st before settling in nicely in the 2nd inning – however, he was lifted in the 3rd due to an undisclosed injury, details pending. Listen, I don’t necessarily like what how the guy performed for us last season – especially during the second half and in the playoffs – but he’s a good dude and we wish him a speedy recovery… FWD to the morning of 4/25 – turns out he has a mild abdominal strain – he’s DtD for 5… let’s hope it doesn’t turn into a lingering thing.
19 of 162: Teagan Rachel (1-1, 3.50) @ Case Tunnell (2-0, 5.32)
Win, 4-3…
PEPPER walked the Packers off tonight in the bottom of the 9th with a dramatic two-out, run-scoring single and Case single-handedly gave the bullpen the night off as he went the distance against Green Bay, only allowing 2 earned runs in the contest. We gave Otto the night off, got 3 hits from Nash Aguillar, and 2 each from Newman and Mullens. The Packers committed two fielding flubs for us – and we were able to get a run across as a result… ~37K attended this one – an improvement, let’s hope that with the exciting finish they’ll bring some more friends with them next time they pay us a visit.
Elsewhere, well not really elsewhere: One of the marketing “geniuses” in the office decided that today would be a good day to run our first popcorn promotion of the season – essentially, she set up a promotion where local flavored popcorn vendors get to set up popup popcorn stands throughout the stadium to give out to the kids. Our flavor representation is off the charts - we got dark chocolate espresso, buffalo wing (what kid wants buffalo wing flavored popcorn?), green apple, hot-pink watermelon, ranch, mint chip, and because this is LA,
sushi flavored… what in tarnation? So, let me get this straight – we’re going to give out loquacious amounts of sugar to kids, for free, and at the expense of our regular concession stands? Never mind that I’m expecting a call from the Union’s shop steward any minute – 1000’s of kids plus tons of sugar? Not good. Listen, I like out-of-the-box thinking as much as the next guy – but we might have a riot on our hands by the time we reach the 7th inning stretch… it’s about to get all Lord of the Flies up in here.
20 of 162: Dacquan Lyons (1-0, 2.41) @ Phillip King (2-0, 1.11)
Win, 5-2… Our second
SWEEP of the season, another late rally, and, despite some dicey moments in the crowd – including one where a group of sugared up 9-year-olds rushed one of the ESPN cameramen, but were stopped just short of reading their manifesto live on the air by an overzealous usher – we managed to come out of this one unscathed and smelling like roses. The return of the King continues to be the story of our team so far – he gave us another 8 inning, 2 earned effort (and K’d 8 hapless batters) in the win, and Nash Aguilar, in his second consecutive start, went 1 for 2 with a 3-run jack. Barbaccia gets save #8, Otto scored twice, Mullens finished 2 for 4 with 2 runs, and the Kids didn’t riot so only the game was televised…
We got ourselves a perfectly timed sweep – one that will hopefully dominate local coverage as I don’t want too much ink spent on the popcorn debacle – I already have multiple voicemail messages from the union representative of our concession workers… apparently, all those free treats cut into their profit (hey, it cut into my profit too… sheesh). So, whatever, we got a three-game set in Toronto next and given the fact that someone thought it would be funny to fill my car with more popcorn then the scientist/teacher bad guy had in his house in ‘Real Genius’, I’m going to take an UberLyft to the airport to claim my spot on the 5+ hour flight to Hollywood North… we’re looking for another 3-game sweep in the 6, so no sleep ‘til Danforth – the next three days are going to be all about Baseball and Gyros folks… let’s get it.