[Bub13]

August 23-26 vs SEATTLE
Mike Wapner has been the only highlight in the Pacific NW this year. After four injury-plagued seasons, he's having a career year: .347/.450/.737, with 39 HR and 97 RBI. After him, it's crickets, with the team 12th in runs and dead last in AVG. They do hit a lot of home runs (7th) tho. Pitching is bottom-tier too, so maybe...just maybe...we can right the ship over this four-game stretch. At home too, where we're 41-25 (vs 28-34 on the road). We've taken 5 of 7 from the Mariners so far.

HAW pitchers: Eric Jones (8-6, 4.46) / Jim Kieffer (8-8, 4.71) / Rob Hart (7-5, 4.13) / Leon Casillas (12-9, 4.00)
SEA pitchers: Aaron Myers (12-12, 4.09) / Jimmy Stanford (7-12, 5.70) / Sean Easter (10-10, 4.78) / Ruben Alvarado (8-7, 5.09)

#129: WIN 8-2 ... Jones! Is above average! 7 IP, 2 R, 5 K...Mercedes knocks in two with a pair of doubles, and Hunter adds two more hits
#130: LOSS 2-8 ... Kieffer! Is truly terrible! Again! He does K 10, but in-between tosses a lot of softballs...Groff blasts his 30th HR and 100th RBI
#131: LOSS 3-4 ... Hart is mysteriously pulled after 5, and our pen immediately blows it up, then calms down for extra innings, and blows up again in the 12th
#132: WIN 2-1 ... Again with the quick hook: Casillas is stout through six but gets yanked...this time it's okay thanks to Hullinger's walk-off in the 9th

Somehow we scratched out two wins, especially that last one with just four hits. Like us, Oakland is also just scrabbling along, allowing us to stay 3 games behind; we're also 2.5 games up on Miami for the second wild card (7 behind Detroit for the first).... with our AAA team in KC having a rare off year, I'm probably going to heavily raid their roster for the September callups. Might as well get a look at a lot of guys.... ELSEWHERE: Padres ace Gary Florence is in the news again, this time as the first pitcher to reach 20 wins. Yes, it was another shutout (his 8th of the year).... Pittsburgh's injuries have cost them the division lead, as they're now a half game behind New Orleans. Yes, New Orleans! They're 75-55, which has already topped their previous best season of 67 wins. Go Zephs go!


August 28-29 vs HOUSTON
The Astros are locked in a pretty serious battle for the first overall pick with the Nationals (48-83 vs 45-83). It's been a struggle everywhere for the team: last in runs, next-to-last in runs against, and currently with five regulars on the DL. No starter is hitting over .268 (and only three over .250). Jay Russo has been stout in the rotation, and just kills us, but his prime years are being wasted on this franchise.

HAW pitchers: Billy Heine (10-6, 3.78) / Eric Jones (9-6, 4.37)
HOU pitchers: Jason Ray (3-6, 5.32) / John Fox (3-5, 3.97)

#133: LOSS 1-15 ... my head just exploded and I am dead...Heine's line: 3.2 IP, 14 H, 11 R, 7 K, 3 BB
#134: WIN 7-1 ... Jones pulled early again, but this time Messinger is on his game and looks great in 4 relief innings...Hunter closing in on 50 doubles

All that talk of playing bad teams in August, and having to feast on them to make a move. Well, feast on this: we swept the Yanks, and took 2 out of 3 from Detroit. Otherwise we've gone 6-14 this month against less-than-stellar opposition.... We're now 15th in runs against, and team defense is next-to-last. Don't get me wrong: I love good hitting and lots of home runs. But I always try to build my teams with pitching and defense in mind, so this season is particularly galling. Lots to do this off-season, lots to do.... One more series before roster expansion, and even though we'll play Texas through the 2nd, I'll probably wait until then to bring guys up.... We're 3.5 in back of Oakland, and just 2 up on Miami in the wild card.... ELSEWHERE: Bad news for the Twins, as 18-game winner Chris Kruse tore his rotator and is done for 10 months. They're still two up on the Tigers, but have NINE players on the DL.... Gary Florence got his 21st win, and surprisingly it wasn't a shutout. The Pads are 11 up on the Giants.... Close division races: NL Central, with New Orleans 1.5 up on Pittsburgh, 2.5 over the Cubs; AL Central, with Minny 2 up on the Tigers; AL West (see above); NL East, where the Mets are 5 up on Brooklyn.


August 31, September 1-2 @ TEXAS
Holding on to third in the division at 65-69, unable to make a move this month (12-14 so far), and looking at another season of what-ifs. MLB had them as a playoff contender, too. Their team stats look pretty good: 5th in runs and AVG, 7th in HR, pitching at league average (nothing to scoff at there, believe me), but they just can't put it all together. Injuries have hurt: two closers out for good, along with four decent-to-good OF on the DL. Help is on the way: top prospect Alex Mares was forced into the rotation this year, and has not looked out of place. Slugger Callum Hewitt, who will hit a TON of big league home runs one day soon, is tearing up A ball with 35 dingers, and there are a few more in AAA who should make the jump next year.

HAW pitchers: Rob Hart (7-5, 3.95) / Leon Casillas (12-9, 3.92) / Billy Heine (10-7, 4.29)
TEX pitchers: Jeff Sullivan (12-8, 4.22) / Lorenzo Rangel (1-2, 3.74) / Seth Purdy (6-11, 5.00)

#135: WIN 10-4 ... Hart looks good (8 IP, 3 R, 10 K), but our bats slumber until a 7-run tenth (4 hits, 3 walks, 1 HBP; all but one scored)
#136: WIN 8-4 ... we plate three in the 7th thanks to a pair of RBI doubles...Groff's error costs Casillas a pair of unearned runs, but he pitches well
#137: WIN 7-5 ... Heine=butt again, yielding 3 HR early, but the bats come ALIVE with 4 in the 4th and 3 in the 8th, and we put 21 runners on base in this one

At this point, you just shrug your shoulders. We've won four in a row, and Oakland got swept by Houston--HOUSTON!--putting us just a half game back. We're still 3 up on Miami for the second wild card, and guess who's coming to town next.... Thanks to a couple of days off, I skip Kieffer's spot in the rotation and boot him back into the pen. Mike Messinger take his place in the rotation.... Looking at the roster expansion. KC is finally back over .500 for the first time in months, and I'm about to gut their pitching staff. Sorry! Getting the nod are returnees Bobby Piccirillo, Cam Bornhoft, and Ricky Jimenez, along with Bart Raygoza (a vet who hasn't been MLB-good since 2032, but what the hey). Batters making the move up are IF Steve Douglas, and OFs Steve Hopkins and Dave White. All had turns in Hawaii earlier in the summer. OF Mel Carillo is coming off the DL in a couple of days too.... ELSEWHERE: Washington is the first team eliminated from playoff contention, you won't be surprised to know.... The Mets have dropped six straight and are now just 1.5 up on Brooklyn, looking for their first-ever division title. New Orleans continues to hold a precarious lead in the NL Central, and St Louis (72-64) has emerged as a late-runner for a wild card position. The Cards are looking for their first winning record since 2029.... AL pitching is down this year (league average ERA is 4.63, up from 4.49 a year ago), and the best individual ERA in the league is Toronto's Joe Henderson, at 3.01.... Our old friend Austin Collins, now with Portland, won NL player of the month for August after hitting .456 with 7 HR and 26 RBI.