Los Angeles Lakers (38-25, .603, 1st NL West) @ San Francisco 49ers (27-35, .435, 6th NL West)
Our day off is spent in San Francisco - we settled in the night before after a short hop from LA, had meetings with the training staff and went through the developmental updates in the morning, and then were left to our own devices. I start with a bland and overpriced bowl of migas at the Wharf, where I’d idle my time by watching buskers of varying skill perform Tom Petty covers before heading over to Lombard Street. After an hour of lurking around in the hope that some brave soul would attempt to navigate it on a skateboard, I head to Coit Tower where I take in the spectacular view of San Francisco - the City we intend to raze over a two-game set. The 49ers are not in a good way right now – they have the lowest-rated offense in the NL, Hamza is giving them -0.2 WAR, and they have some key guys on the IL. But, be that as it may, they are still 4-4 this month with a sweep over Portland. They’re dangerous, capable of making good things happen on occasion – primarily due to their rock-solid defense and better than average starting pitching. They have the look of a team that played well above their head last season, and with the 18th ranked minor league system it looks like their return to earth will be semi-permanent. They’ll need a few seasons to right the ship. And it would be in their ownerships best interest to expedite their improvement – with an astronomically sized marked and good fan interest and loyalty overall, attendance is down by 15% this year and their revenue/game is down by that much as well. If they finish below .500 for the season, it will be their first time doing that in 8 years when they missed that mark by a mere 3 bips.
64 of 162: Josiah Kawka (7-3, 3.02) @ Matthew Townsend (7-2, 2.38)
Lineup shuffle in this one as injuries force us to bat Pepper in the cleanup spot – he doesn’t respond well and finishes 0 for 4 with 2 K’s. Kawka gives us a complete game with only 2 earned, but Saul strikes again in extras and allows the game-winner to score – picking up his 3rd loss of the season in a 3-2 49ers win. Townsend pitches well for San Francisco and Frosty Dillard did an admirable job closing the door in the 9th and 10th – he struck out 4, allowed no hits and gets credited with a win. Hamza went 2 for 5 with an RBI, Otto finished 1 for 5, and not a single Laker had more than one hit for the game.
Elsewhere (City of Compton): Your boy
Rad Taylor struggled again, this time against the Austin Grackles. He gave up 4 runs in 6 innings of work, walked 3, and gave up 2 HRs. Compton wins in extras, but he didn’t have much to do with it.
65 of 162: Julen Morales (7-3, 3.43) @ Foster Bantel (1-2, 2.54)
We end up on the wrong end of a mini-sweep to start off our 13-game road trip – that’s inauspicious. Foster Bantel had the ball on a string for 7+ innings as he struck out 10 and allowed only 6 hits in the 9ers 4-0 win. Pepper went 1 for 4 in the cleanup spot – that’s not really working out so far – Otto went hitless, and for the second game in a row, not a single Laker registers more than 1 hit. Morales, who was on the verge of becoming our De Facto Ace, struggled through 5 innings in this one – he gave up all 4 runs and had two walks.
We’re 4 and 6 over our last ten games – as rough a stretch as we’ve experienced so far this season – and with a 5 ½ hour long flight to Montreal to dwell on that it will be difficult to find any positives from this stretch. We’re tired, our play has been poor, and our guys are sleepwalking through games like they think we don’t have to try like the result is a given. Obviously, it’s not and as we move beyond the LA bubble our rivals are more than happy to drive that message home. In Montreal we face another club that looks bad on paper – another poorly rated offense in the NL – but, lately, we’ve been the penultimate paper tigers content to lay down and play dead.