San Francisco 49ers (62-72, .463, 5th NL West) @ Los Angeles Lakers (82-52, .612, 1st NL West)
The 49ers have the 2nd best (some would argue best) pitcher in the National League in Landon Sampson – the Kentucky alum has made 9 all-star appearances and has won the Pachecho 3 times – unfortunately, he anchors a staff that drops off dramatically at 2 through 5. And, I mean DRAMATICALLY – basically if he is a box of Chicken Rice-A-Roni then the rest of the staff is a single-serve cup of Cheddar Broccoli Rice-A-Roni. On a club that has only won 62 games this season, 18 of those wins were charged to Sampson’s account – 18-7, 2.61 ERA, 233 K’s (#1 in the majors), 12.1 K/9 (also ranked at the top of the pops), and a 6.4 pWAR… the guy is an absolute savage, and, unfortunately, we’ll likely get a look at him in the third game of this 3-game set. Outside of Landon – San Francisco’s club doesn’t have much going for them, save, maybe 1B Charles Vecera who is hitting .345/17/74 from, seemingly, out of nowhere. It’s the kind of performance you save for a contract year, so the fact that he’s doing this with two years left gives credence to the scouting report my team put together on him for me that says he’s a hard worker with low intelligence. We’re sitting at 5-5 against these guys so far in 2076, which is unsatisfactory, but can take solace in the fact that this version of the 49ers won’t be pulling the ol’ Trojan Horse on the league during the playoffs as they did in ’74 because, well, they won’t be getting in the door this time.
136 of 162: Jan Hernandez (5-3, 3.20) @ Lee Myers (13-5, 3.90)
Loss, 3-2. Myers is good… 8 innings, 1 earned, and 7 K’s, but Barbaccia bombed out in the 9th when he did his best Rudolf impression and gave up two runs in the top of that frame. The fact that we brought Rudolf in after him – low leverage situation, but still – who faced two batters and struck them both out only serves as the icing on our black bean cake. This has been a bit of a rough patch for us – I’m eating Tums like they are Redhots, not getting any sleep, and I’m pretty sure that my hairline has moved back a full inch over these last 11 games. Otto hit #30, Newman got two steals, and the defense turned in two double-plays – all nice – but when your closer, the guy you brought in to so much fanfare delivers a gut punch like this, it’s enough to abandon the baseball life and spend your life’s savings on a ranch out in the middle of Wyoming. No one can laugh at you while you're tending to your flock of sheep, right?
Elsewhere, in THE CITY OF COMPTON… SP Newton Weiser gave our Raiders 8-innings of 4-hit ball with just one earned run in Compton’s 3-1 win over the Mexico City Diablos. Sadly, 1B Oh Hong went 0 for 4 with 4 K’s – brutality.
137 of 162: Foster Bantel (6-9, 4.88) @ Dejuan Burns (14-7, 3.47)
Win, 6-3. Dance and rejoice! We actually won a game – and in semi-convincing fashion. 1B Austin Rollins went 2 for 4, with 2 homers, 4 RBI, and 2 runs – he was fierce. Otto scored a run, backup C Dylan Ticker hit his third out of the park, Mullens swiped his 31st bag of the season, and we turned a sick Kwaku-Marshburn-Hanan rally-killing double play. Oh, and, hey – Barbaccia shook last nights debacle off and eanred his 23rd save of the year after Ash got us the hold. In fact, 5 of the 11 K’s our staff produced tonight came from those two (Ash -2, Barbaccia – 3). So, it looks like I won’t be dropping a handful of tums into my Old Fashioned tonight after all.
Elsewhere, in the Bush League… CF Pablo Zapata led a BL homerun revolution for the Dearborn Dilly’s as he put two over the fence against the Beaumont Bullies and SS Julio Sandoval did the same for the Quincy Quackers against the Gainesville Gamecocks. Zapata, it should be noted, went undrafted out of Holy Cross and has played his entire professional career in the Bush League. He’s currently pacing to match his career-high in HRs at 18. This guy is looking like a Bush League lifer – a real Strangeverse Crash Davis, just without the philosophical rants – he’s more of a manifesto type.
138 of 162: Alex Gillentine (3-11, 5.85) @ Michael Brisk (13-7, 3.67)
First thing’s first… Okay, I was wrong, we didn’t get Landon. My bad…
Win, 8-3. Brisky is like a fine wine – he makes even the stinkiest cheese taste good. We got a 1-run, 6-hitter out of the leagues most debonair hurler. A fine night of work. Larry Williams hit a 2-run jack, Mullen drove in a couple (on a triple – his 3rd on the year), Newman steals another bag – his 26th – and we got TWO SAC FLYS. We needed this one – badly – so, let’s just saunter out of here like it ain’t nothing and then freak tf out when we get home, ok? Cool.
Elsewhere… Phoenix took the #1 spot on the weekly power ranking for the week. Let that one sink in and completely ruin your night. Big series win against SF for us – it was a must-have. Next up is a 13-game road trip with stops in Vancouver (awesome), Pittsburgh (kinda cool), Montreal (Amazing), and San Diego (paradise if you have the right sunblock and some fresh Oakley shades). We’ll need to be the best version of ourselves over this stretch if we intend to keep Phoenix from leapfrogging us in the standings.