8/3 – 8/4
Chicago Fire (57-50, .533, 3rd AL East) @ Los Angeles Lakers (63-42, .600, 1st NL West)
A solid club made better by an active GM in July… Clark Antonucci got trigger happy as the trading deadline approached and managed to improve his team demonstrably with the acquisition of SP Evan Church (53/55; 9-8, 4.96) and CL Roddy Ossa (78/78, 22 Saves) to improve a staff that was already ranked at 4th in the American League. Pairing his revamped staff with an offense that is 3rd in the AL will, undoubtedly, pay some dividends as we head into the stretch. LF Jerry Landowski leads the offense and is showing no signs of slowing down at the ripe old age of 37… he’s batting .307/.386/.506 with 16 bombs and 62 RBI, and the Ace if the staff, Nathaniel Firestone, has performed admirably so far this season for the club – his 11-9 record is a tricky thing, he’s been good but unfortunate. We’re 2-1 against them so far this season with both wins coming on their turf, so the Fire will be looking for some get back here – good timing on their part, too, because we kind of suck right now.
106 of 162: Nathaniel Firestone (11-9, 3.71) @ Lee Myers (9-5, 3.88)
Win, 7-0. Myers is all scorched earth in this one – 7 strong, 0 earned while Firestone leaves after the 6th, burnt to a crisp after we charged 6 to his account in the bottom of that frame… Rollins hit a 3-run jack, Lonzo Gonzo goes 3 for 4 with an RBI and a run, and Dom scored twice. Nice win for the Purple & Gold.
107 of 162: Shizuka Takeuchi (5-3, 3.60) @ Dejuan Burns (10-7, 3.50)
Win, 4-0. We hold the Chicago offense scoreless for the second straight game – Dejuan is magic, 2-run homer for Pepper, and Lonzo Gonzo plates twice. Two stolen bases in this one – Otto (33), Lonzo (25) – and FOUR double-plays.
108 of 162: Ashton Hughes (6-5, 3.97) @ Michael Brisk (10-6, 4.01)
Win, 2-1. Brisky allows only one run to plate, Marshburn drives in a run, and Oh Hong, up for a cup of joe and the lulz, gets his first MLB RBI. Nice, well-timed sweep for us here. Coincidentally, Brisk is now 2-1 in Sweep close-out games. Dig it.
8/5 – 8/9
San Diego Chargers (51-57, .472, 4th NL West) @ Los Angeles Lakers (66-42, .611, 1st NL West)
RF Kelford Jackson is an under-appreciated talent – partly because he has been too lazy in his work to sharpen his natural gift and partly because he’s been plying his trade on a team that is historically good, but never good enough – they’ve made the playoffs in 7 of the last 10 season but haven’t made it to the World Series in any of those appearances and haven’t won the whole thing since 2023. But maybe that’s not the point – the Chargers are also a club that has been in the black in 9 out of the last 10 season and that has had some success despite their average market size and often tepid fan interest. San Diego is a case study in averageness – never the worst, seldom the best… they live comfortably in the middle, content to eke out a comfortable existence on the fringe of greatness.
109 of 162: Aden Grey (6-6, 5.02) @ Newton Weiser (4-3, 4.25)
Win, 4-0. Weiser was able to recover from his recent tailspin – throttle to idle, full opposite rudder, ailerons neutral – and deliver a phenomenal start – 8.2 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 2 K’s. Nice to see that he wasn’t just a flash in the pan – the kid might stick. Pepper hit a 3-run homer and drove in another on a double – he is responsible for all our runs in this one bringing in Newman, Rollins, Hanan, and himself. This makes it 15 homers on the year for Grant – he’s now trending to come in at 22 jacks which would be a new career record (by 1) for the 33-year old gamer.
110 of 162: Shiro Nakamura (2-5, 5.82) @ Nat Millard (11-2, 2.80)
Win, 4-3. Nat allows 3 on 8 hits, Otto hits one out, Hanan drives in two, and Rudolph gets his 20th save… we’re on something of a roll now.
Elsewhere: Adrian Bae took the loss today as his Hagerstown Hummers were bested by the Coney Island Footlongs by a score of 4-0. Bae gave up two in five innings, struck out 4, and gave up two solo HRs. Outside of those homers, it wasn’t a bad outing exactly – just not enough to get anyone from the bigs to pay attention.
111 of 162: Artyom Fadeyev (2-4, 7.06) @ Lee Myers (10-5, 3.67)
Win, 3-2. Otto went 3 for 3 with a double, a homer, an RBI, 2 runs, and a walk while Lee Myers gave us a quality start before turning it over to the pen. Rudolph in a nice groove – picks up his 21st. Not sure what I’ll do when Barbaccia returns from the IL.
112 of 162: Mike Augustine (7-10, 6.02) @ Dejuan Burns (11-7, 3.32)
Win, 10-2. Otto hits a 2-run blast, Dejuan K’s 6, and Dom hit a 2-run double to secure our 7th win in a row and second consecutive sweep – how sweet it is to don the Purple & Gold. With the win we now have 70 on the season with 50 left to play.
So, um, yeah – this was a great week. We’re firing on all cylinders, winners of 7-straight, and are now the #1 ranked team on the Weekly Power Rank – we’ve usurped Philadelphia… for now (let’s not kid ourselves – they’re still the class of the league). Elsewhere… Philadelphia has opened up a 13 ½ game lead on the Montreal Impact – so the NL East is all but decided. Heathcote Kinton won the Player of the Week honor in the American League – he’s also regained his spot atop the WAR rankings, bumping Ray Gerhold to 2nd in the standings. Also, his LA Galaxy are starting to make some power moves – they’ve passed Houston on the table and are now only a 1 ½ games back from Seattle. There should be some interesting Wild Card & Divisional races down the stretch.
We have two games in Minnesota before heading to Orlando for another 4-game series after getting what feels like our first day off in a grip.