[pauwoo]

San Francisco 49ers (12-10) @ Phoenix Suns (14-8)… 4/27 – 4/29
So far in this young season, we have lost two series – one in San Diego and the other in San Francisco. California is a problem. Donny has been mostly relegated to the bench due to his poor play… hopefully, he’ll turn it around to contribute during this homestand as we’ve sold a lot of tickets on the back of our Jeter Bros ad campaign. On paper, the 49ers is a good club – they’ve played in poor form of late (going 5-5 in their last 10) – but the talent is there. They have a really good rotation and stout defense that currently sits at 3rd in the National League for runs against, they are 2nd in starters ERA, and 4th in defensive efficiency. Their bullpen is a problem, so we’ll need to make their starters work, and they are a middling club at the plate. Good opportunity to make a good impression on the home fans… let’s hope our club doesn’t squander it.

23 of 162: Justin Covert (2-2, 2.45 ERA) @ Oswaldo Flores (1-3, 5.01 ERA)
Note: Oswaldo went the distance in his last outing against the Chargers and only gave up 2 runs. It was our only win of that series… also, his ‘stache game? On fleek.
First and foremost, we gave Donny the start at DH today, because, well, why not… and he struck out during his first at-bat, because, well, why not… Derek did his best ‘whatever you can do, I can do better’, and struck out looking right after him. This was not the start we were looking for. In the bottom of the 3rd, RF JR Marsh hit a leadoff triple, and your boy Pepper hit a nicely placed almost-sac fly – but Marsh duck-waddled home and was called out on a one-hopper hucked by the 49ers Center Fielder. We finally broke through in the bottom of the 5th when your boy, my boy, everybody’s boy PEPPER hit a 3 run jack off of Colvert to put us up 3-0… C Nakamura hit an RBI double in the bottom of the 6th, stole 3rd and then scored a run on a wild throw to put us up 5-0 – DIG. And then the rails came off as the 49ers pulled the ol’ San Francisco treat out and put up 5 on us in the top of the 7th to tie it up. Great. Not to worry though – Yoshi strikes again with another RBI double to re-secure the lead… for a minute. San Fran scored again in the 8th, but PEPPER wasn’t having it – your boy put another baseball into the cheap seats and secured the eventual 7-6 win. Score one for the good guys!

File under awesome: Pepper was named the #2 Performance of the Day after going 2-3, with 2 ding dongs, 4 riblets, 2 runs and…. Wait for it… wait for it… a walk.

24 of 162: Ryan Wiggins (0-2, 5.85 ERA) @ Ash Newman (1-1, 4.57 ERA)… We got ourselves a pitching duel folks!
Guess who was tired today? Old Man Donny… what else is new? After giving up 2 runs to the 9ers through the top of the 7th, we finally got some offense going in the bottom of the 7th when Wells hit a solo shot followed by a couple more runs courtesy of LF PJ Amador and RF Jong-Hwan Song… Derek hit his 5th jack of the season in the 8th to cushion the lead and that was all she wrote. We got a good thing going here – 5 wins in a row (3 without old man Donny).

25 of 162: Landon Sampson (2-2, 2.00 ERA) @ Del Miller (3-0, 4.50 ERA)
Listen, Landon Sampson is tough – really good pitcher – so we will take whatever we can get today. The 2-time Victor Pacheco award winner had a tough go his last time out – let’s hope that he’s still in poor form today… San Francisco wasted no time getting a run across the plate in the first and Donny, back from his day of rest, wasted no time getting caught rubbernecking a slider. This one went to extra innings after 9-innings of run-scoring quid pro quo… the 49ers scored in the top of the 10th and we did nothing in the bottom of it – Suns lose, the Jeter Bros finish a combined 2-for-10, and Pepper went 0-for-5 with 2 K’s. Win streak snapped at 5… the struggle is real you guys.

For the season we are an imperfect 3-3 against the 49ers. Lame.