[pauwoo]

New York Jets (29-26, .527, 3rd AL East) @ Phoenix Suns (31-24, .564, 2nd NL West)
The New York Jets are the best offensive team in the American League. Leading every offensive category in the AL Rankings, it is thier pitching that sometimes holds them back. They are currently 10th in Bullpen ERA and 9th in Defensive efficiency – so, often, when they get beat teams are just matching & eventually eclipsing their offensive output. Led by the best middle infield in the American League in 2B Rich Hamilton and SS Raymond Haynes and with the #10 prospect RF Neil Jahraus waiting in the wings – the Jets look to be a winning club for the foreseeable future – and with a key acquisition to shore up their bullpen, they could contend for the title this season.

56 of 162: Elijah Betancourt (4-5, 3.84) @ Del Miller (6-1, 4.54)
Big offensive effort from the Suns – Luca was 2 for 4 with 2 runs & Nakamura was also 2 for 4 with 2 RBI and a run of his own. Del Miller makes it 5 games in a row with a quality start for our pitching staff going 7 innings with only 4 hits, 1 run and 6 K’s. We struck out 9 times in the game and only had one error (courtesy of Pepper). Derek was 2 for 5 with a run and an RBI. Good all around effort from our club today, Marshall Louis got a little shook in relief, but Cordova was able to come in and earn the save by striking out the last two batters of the game on 14 pitches. Suns win, 8-6.

57 of 162: Nell Edwards (5-2, 4.06) @ Michael Brisk (5-4, 3.94)
New guy Brisk makes it six straight quality starts, giving us 7.2 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, and 6 K’s – very nice. RF Jong-Hwan Song went 3 for 4 with a run, Derek was 1 for 5 with 2 runs and 2 RBI (he also struck out 3 times), and your boy Pepper went 1 for 4 with a solo homer in the 6th. As a team we struck out 10 times and committed 3 errors (none for Pepper though) – so, while we got the W, we weren’t exactly dialed in. Suns win, 5-4.

58 of 162: Sergino Bautista (5-4, 3.70) @ Oswaldo Flores (2-4, 4.70)
Pepper’s 3-run homer wasn’t enough for us today as Oswaldo struggled through a 7-inning, 5 earned performance where he gave away 4 free passes. Raymond Haynes went 2 for 4 with an RBI and 2 runs for the bad guys and their SP Sergino was lights out over 7.2 innings of work (he did give us 6 walks of his own). As a team, we only struck out 5 times (improvement in a losing effort), and 1B Jacob Wells was responsible for 3 of them and guess who committed his 20th fielding error? Pepper, that’s who. In Phoenix, we are all about celebrating milestones.

Well… a couple of solid wins followed by a shellacking. We’ll take the series win, but it would have been nice to complete what could have been our 2nd sweep of the season – our first (and only) came against the Lakers waaaaaaay back in April. Can it be that it was all so simple then? We’ll welcome the Carolina Panthers to town tomorrow for some more interleague silliness. They haven’t been good this year, which gives me pause because we haven’t been wonderful against sub-par clubs. Side note: I shopped Donny around today, for the lulz – the Jets are offering 5-Time Boyce Riggs winner 2B Rich Hamilton who at 33 with 3 years left at $36M per still has a lot of gas in the tank. Too bad I can’t make it work without pillaging our affiliate club and asking our owner if he can sell one of his yachts to make up the difference – actually that’s not entirely true… we have the money, just seems dicey. I’d rather hoard prospects and try to become a perennial powerhouse.