Miami United (36-37, .493, 5th NL East) @ New York Jets (33-39, .458, 5th AL East)
The New York Jets are like a lot of middle-class clubs in Strangeverse – they are a halfway house… in this case, pairing an above-average offense with a poorly constructed staff. Interestingly, or not, their bullpen is solid – they just don’t find themselves in too many “here I come to save the day…” scenarios as their starting rotation specializes in ruining things for everyone involved.
RP Nate Millard is hanging on to his major league career for dear life – at 38-years old and 4 seasons removed from winning a championship with my Los Angeles Lakers (now the Kings),
Millard finds himself plying his trade in the Jets’ bullpen where he is 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA in 8 total appearances. If he’s not a pitching coach (or inside a booth) somewhere this time next season, then I’m calling shenanigans. We’ll need to pitch these guys tough during our stay in the Big Apple – they get on base at a reasonable clip, can score, and are an above-average baserunning team… their issue is power where, while not starved, they go hungry more often than not. So, we’ll pitch them heavy, down in the zone, and hope that our defense will remain stout enough to eat whatever it is they hit our way.
74 of 162: Murray Wagner (4-3, 5.97) @ Ismaldo Montero (1-4, 9.00)
Win, 7-2.
Murray went the distance, fanned 9, and only allowed 2 runners to find their way home, and
Saucerman went 2 for 4 with a dinger, 2 RBIs, and 2 runs. We broke this contest open with a 5-run top of the 8th that was kicked off by an
Arnold Webster 3-run shot (his 2nd homer in a ‘
Mingo kit). The defense was stout (3 double plays), we got a timely 2-out RBI from
Saucerman in the top of the 7th to knot things up and managed to come away with a game one win in the Bronx (yeah, I know – but, in my head, I can’t have a club playing out of East Rutherford)
Elsewhere: 1B Tom Franzone’s hit streak has ended at 30 in Jacksonville, FL. Your boy went 0 for 5 with 1 K and a total of 3 batters left on base. Pittsburgh lost the game by a score of 5-4…
Franzone had a chance to be the hero here, but, in the top of the 9th and at-bat against Jacksonville reliever
Ty Peterson, he looked at a hittable strike before taking a ball and ultimately whiffing at the next two pitches in succession. Hate to see the streak end that way when there was such good potential for a real, honest-to-god, defining moment for the guy – it’s no bother, he’s looking like a lock for the 2080 NL Boyce.
SP Funky Martin, of our Havana Sugar Kings, pitched a 7-hit, complete-game shutout over the Newport Beach Gypsies to lead the club to a 6-0 road win. He’s ready for all levels now – time to get
Yan to investigate options around trading from a strength to address a weakness (and to get the young man up here where he belongs).
Also, a bit of bad news for former ‘
Mingo,
Mirko Samsonenko… he suffered a ruptured ulnar collateral ligament in a recent ballgame and will miss the rest of the season as a result. He’ll finish this campaign at 2-7 with a 2.81 ERA and 72 Ks in a grand total of 93 innings of work. Bummer biscuits…
A Trade: After a week of negotiations (or, more like 15 minutes of me moving players in and out of the trading UI), the United and Seals have come to terms on a deal that will send 28-year-old
LHP Randy Kline, 25-year-old
2B Scottie Farless, 23-year-old minor league
2B Rick Casablanca and 20-year-old minor league
LHP Ken Bartholomew to San Francisco for 24-year-old
2B Jeremy Collins, 20-year-old minor league
2B Sklaer Kukta, 22-year-old minor league
3B Walther Breedveld and 24-year-old minor league
RF Legend Gfeller. Note:
Funky will not join the big club as a result of any of this silliness…
75 of 162: Julian Horne (8-1, 2.31) @ Thor Rogers (4-4, 4.48)
Win, 6-1.
Horne gave us a quality start in 6 innings of work,
Ardolph Golberg earned his 1st save of the year, and
Magmo went 2 for 3 with a solo homer, 2 runs, and a couple of walks to take home Player of the Game honors… a double for
Anaconda (
off Nat Millard), a 2-out RBI for
OH HONG, 7 total stolen bases (4 for
Magmo –
is that right?!?), and an expertly executed SAC BUNT from
Manookian. All systems are a go for the
Flim Flams right now…
76 of 162: Kordell Littles (8-4, 2.75) @ Oswaldo Flores (4-6, 5.74)
Canceled due to bad weather; rescheduled for 7/29/2080.
Elsewhere: SP Marius Milbank, of the
Compton Raiders, pitched a complete game, 6-hit shutout with TWELVE Ks to lead his club to a 4-0 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. At 34-years old, the Chelsea, AL native spent his last 4 seasons in the Bush League before signing a minor league contract with
Megan’s club to take one last shot at getting a cup of coffee in the show before hanging them up.
Notes: First, what a difference a series makes… we now find ourselves in 3rd place on the NL East table and have gone 9-1 for our last 10 contests. Crushing it…
CF Ethan Mullens took home the American League Player of the Week honor as he went 11 for 27 with a homer and 9 RBIs over the last seven days… Our own,
1B Ned Saucerman took home the honor in the National League after hitting .625 with a HR and 5 RBIs for the week. We’ll head home for a 3-game set against the Atlanta Falcons before heading back out on the road to see about Montreal and Brooklyn.