Miami United (23-33, .411, 6th NL East) @ Carolina Panthers (30-25, .545, 2nd NL East)
Carolina can hit. They’re 1st in AVG, OBP, OPS, and wOBA, and 2nd in Runs Scored and bWAR – they do lack in the power department, but they are built on speed, moving runners over, and wrecking the base path. Pitching is average with a starting rotation that is a bit top-heavy – after their Ace,
Matt Martin (6-2, 2.84) and their #2,
Lee Myers (5-3, 3.95) the talent drop-off gets steep in a hurry. They have the look of a club that can make a run at the top prize, though it remains to be seen if their Front Office has the mettle to go after some pitching improvements before the trading deadline. 2077’s AL Boyce Rigg winner,
1B Pablo Madera, still leads the offense – he’s put together a better-than-respectable campaign thus far at .372/.414/.516, 11 HRs, 35 RBIs and is tied for 2nd overall in WAR with
Jason Spears (PHI). It’s easy to get up for a trip to Charlotte – it’s a great town with a rock-solid brewery scene and a populace that verges on being too accommodating, so I’ll find plenty of opportunities to hole up with
Cheech to put the finishing touches on our draft strategy… it’s just too bad that our club isn’t playing with more verve – it’s hard to stay excited about the baseball when our club is playing like a traveling rock band that can’t seem to get their bass player and drummer on the same page. After all, a disjointed rhythm section only serves to weaken the foundation of the band and even the most virtuosic of lead guitarists will struggle to build anything of value on top of that mess.
57 of 162: Cullen Craig (1-4, 6.14) @ Adam White (3-1, 4.53)
Loss, 4-3. We battled admirably,
Cullen gave us a solid 8.1 inning effort where he only allowed 3 runs, and
Anaconda hit a 3-run blast that tied things up in the top of the 5th. From there we went flat and spent 5 more innings trying to sort things out until
Larry Wronski hit a solo shot off of
Jerome Dial during the bottom of the 10th. Again, we battled here, there was no quit in our guys – but, if we don’t start getting some results in these close games, I fear our club is just going to pack it in and start going through the motions. Who knows, maybe they’re in that mode already – I mean, for Pete’s sake we’re 0-14 in 1-Run games… that’s ‘snake-bit’ defined.
Elsewhere: SP Orlando Vasquez, the #80 prospect in baseball and a member of our Barbados Tridents, pitched a complete game, 7-hit shutout over Chula Vista in a nice bounce-back performance from the Trident who improved to 2-1 on the year after securing the victory here by a score of 1-0.
2B Rick Casablanca’s solo HR in the bottom of the 2nd was all we’d need to secure the victory. Of note: We’re 2-1 and currently have a -5 rDiff.
58 of 162: Harvey Allen (3-3, 4.10) @ Matt Martin (6-3, 2.84)
Loss, 3-1.
Harvey was solid over 8 innings of work – he allowed 5 hits, 3 runs, and fanned 6 – but our offense struggled again in managing only a single run against starter
Martin before being closed out unceremoniously by Carolina’s bullpen. Carolina’s
Jonah Dove led the offensive effort for the Panthers – he went 2 for 3 with a solo HR and
1B Pablo Madera put his 12th ball out of the park for the bad guys. Outside of
Allen’s gritty performance, not much of value to highlight for the
Pink Tops… it’s a sad state of affairs.
Elsewhere: Tom Franzone (PIT) went off for Pittsburgh during their 11-3 win over the New York Jets… the most likely candidate for this year's Boyce award went 3 for 4 with 2 dingers, 4 RBIs, and 3 runs in the win. St. Louis’
SP Ash Newman pitched a complete game, 6-hit shutout for the Rams to lead them to a 2-0 victory over the Toronto Reds BC. In fact, and it pains me to point this out, the
‘Mingos were the only NL East team to lose against the AL East in interleague play today as Montreal, Philly, and Brooklyn were all victorious for the National League. In Continental League play,
SP Jean-Jacques Turgeon, of the Bremerton (WA) Yardies, pitched a complete game, 3-hit shutout with 9 Ks to lead his club to an 8-0 victory over the Fontana Venom.
Turgeon is a long shot for future greatness… he’s rated low in movement (not wonderful) and is considered ‘fragile’ when it comes to injury proneness (that won’t bode well…). He’s got a cool, movie star-ish first name though… so, maybe there’s a future for him in the entertainment business.
The 2080 Draft: This is not the deepest draft I’ve seen… in fact, I’d say that it’s sort of a disappointing one – however, we should get some value out of our first two picks and will highlight any low-key amethysts in the rough we find… I’m just not seeing the type of generational maybe I usually do here… time will tell, of course, but given the research
Cheech and I have done neither of us is super excited about making picks after the second round.
The Top 3 Picks:
Jacksonville Jaguars (Rnd 1, Pick 1): SP Myeong-Seok Moon, Binghamton Bearcats
This one was a bit of a surprise,
Moon is good with the potential to develop into something a couple of ticks above that, but
Cheech and I had this guy going 7-10. There are better pitchers on the board, so, I’m not sure what the Jaguars play is here – but, what they get in
Moon is a durable arm that tops out at 101 MPH with great stuff/movement potential and poor control. The kid has a major league ready fastball with a Changeup and Forkball that aren’t too far behind.
Denver Miners (Rnd 1, Pick 2): SP River Hudson, UCLA Bruins
Another surprising selection… a power pitcher with velocity reaching up to 99 MPH who tracks to develop killer stuff with a great fastball and a better-than-good slider/changeup combo. He’s durable, well-liked by his teammates and had a sub 2.00 ERA in each of his seasons at UCLA. This is a good pick, one that likely addresses a need – but, they left some pretty solid talent on the board to reach for this guy. What did
Shawna’s brain trust see that we didn’t?
Houston Texans (Rnd 1, Pick 3): SP Alfred Wallace, Grand Lakes University Hooters
Another reach – that’s three in a row. Here’s a guy who is not quite as powerful a power pitcher as the two selected in front of him but he does top out at 97 MPH, has great stuff, a killer fastball, and his slider/changeup isn’t far behind. He’s a strong kid of Danish origin who could make an impact with some development in the Minors – I look at him like a
Michael Brisk type – always solid, sometimes good, and occasionally great with a flair for wiggling his way out of compromising situations (both in life and on the mound). He’ll be fun – and perhaps will make an all-star game or three.
Our Top 2 Picks:
Rnd 1, Pick 11: C Michael Wilson, Pittsburgh Panthers
Cheech is higher on this guy than I am, but, passing on the ever-elusive Catcher who can both play the position and hit proved too difficult to fight… add in that the kid is seen as a leader with an ability to adapt (he’ll need that in Miami) and who possesses a renowned work ethic and this really was a no brainer for
Cheech and I. He’ll be difficult to sign – but, if we can clear that hurdle,
Wilson tracks to be a good line-drive hitter with a little bit of pop and an above-average patience at the plate.
He could be our catcher of the future.
Rnd 2, Pick 12: RF Evan Colon, LSU Tigers
Cheech and I are reaching a bit here…
Colon, in addition to having a stellar ‘stache, is a wizard in the field who is still developing at the plate but looks to have the tools necessary to develop into a guy who hits for average and draws a lot of walks – he’s also durable, good at running the bags, and is dutiful in his approach to baseball… like a good soldier content to go about his business for the greater good. We’ll turn him loose in Barbados and see what he can do – if we’re right, he’ll become a mainstay on the big club, if not – well that would be par for the course.
59 of 162: Randy Kline (1-2, 8.59) @ Dontell Wilburn (1-1, 6.23)
Win, 9-4. For the 2nd series in a row, we woke up just in time to avoid the sweep…
Magmo went 4 for 5 with a two-bagger, an RBI, and 2 runs,
OH HONG hit s 2-run jack and scored twice, and
Kline worked for 7.1 innings, gave up 4 runs, and still got the W (somewhere deep inside the clubhouse
Rad &
Kordell are busying themselves by plotting their revenge). Two doubles (
Magmo &
Anaconda), a triple (
Marshburn), and a homer (
HONG) complete the team cycle,
Manookian stole three bags, and we survived another
Madera homer to hold on for the victory in this one.
Notes: Sure, it’s nice to record the win in game three, but all it really does is underscore our complete inability to play up to our potential night in and night out. Frustration is a constant emotion when you’re the Vice President of Baseball Operations for a club like the ‘
Mingos. Up next is a 4-game foray through Philadelphia, followed by some home-cooking' against the St. Louis Rams. Philly will be tough, harrowing even, and we’ll start things off by facing good ol’
Cliff Slavinski in the first of four games. I’m sure he’s looking forward to showing Yan and I all the reasons our trading him was stupid. Something to look forward to, I suppose.