[Ruwisc]

Week 15: July 3-9, 2023



Bees (55-29) @ San Antonio Marshals (42-44)
Our second trip to San Antonio in pretty quick succession - we were just here about three weeks ago. Not much has really changed as the Marshals seem locked into their lane. Probably gonna finish just below .500 and most likely in fourth place. San Antonio fans will remember this season for what might have been - recall that star 1B/SP Triston Casas is done for the year, as are SPs Tim Perez and Lupe Chavez. Despite that SA is largely a decent pitching team, partially due to their good defense. The Marshals have won two straight, but that was against Reno, who have lost 11 running.

Game 1 - Will Shirah (7-4, 4.12) vs. Andrew Barbosa (1-2, 7.08)
SLC: SS Mota, P Shirah, 3B Guerrero, RF Robles, 1B Ishihara, C Phegley, CF Mesa, LF Garry, 2B Maezes
SAN: 2B Malone, SS Hamilton, RF Herron, 1B Woodall, 3B Wofford, C McCann, LF McIlwain, CF Cruz, P Barbosa

We've seen plenty of Barbosa over the years, just not with San Antonio. This lanky Puerto Rican was definitely one of the players who benefitted from an increased number of major league jobs with this expansion. He's hopped around the league, now on his fifth major league team, but all the while pitched well enough to hold a major league job, from Memphis to Columbus, Pittsburgh to Boston, and now San Antonio. While with the Red Sox in spring camp last year, he tore up one of his fingers causing him to miss the entire 2022 season and the first few weeks of this season. Hasn't come back super strong here with the Marshals, but with the injuries they've had in the rotation they need someone with his steadiness... Will has won two straight starts, not allowing a run in either case, but his start before that was also in San Antonio in the game that we lost... we sent four batters to the plate in the 2nd inning, and three of them singled. We of course didn't score, though, because the other hit into a double play and the third single was followed by an out on the bases made by Phegley... in the bottom of the 2nd, Shirah got a little wild, and his walk and HBP both turned into eventual runs, on RBIs from Kyle McCann and Fadriel Cruz... in the 3rd, Garry led off with a double, but appeared to hurt himself while sliding into second base. More on that later... Gamel replaces him in LF... Jimmy Herron doubles the Marshals' lead with a two-run shot the other way, his 10th... Robles hit a solo HR in the 4th to put us on the board... consecutive doubles by Herron and Kevin Woodall in the 5th ended Shirah's day, and we only survived further damage when Gamel pegged Woodall trying to score later... the Marshals added another run on a wild pitch to make it 6-1 in the 6th... we won't talk about the bottom of the 7th. Just know that the Marshals tacked on seven more insurance runs to make it 13-1, and really cinch up the end of our winning streak, which ends at 12.


W: Andrew Barbosa (2-2) L: Will Shirah (7-5)
PotG: Jimmy Herron

Not only did we get clobbered, but Willie Joe Garry is going to miss 6 weeks with a severely sprained ankle. We can be OK without him just like we were good without him for the season's first two months, but it's no fun. OF Gabriel Perez is back up from Hawaii. Jimmy Herron's 3-XBH day makes him the leaguewide player of the day for this Monday.

Game 2 - Michael Pineda (3-2, 3.64) vs. Branden Nunn (5-5, 4.70)
SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, CF Mesa, 2B Maezes, C Cottam, P Pineda
SAN: SS Hamilton, 2B Malone, RF Herron, 1B Woodall, 3B Wofford, C McCann, LF McIlwain, CF Nelson, P Nunn

Nunn made his name as a member of the Navigators, who he played for from 2018-22, but was acquired in a minor but interesting offseason trade that sent Marshals 3B Jake Armstrong to Norfolk. Nunn is nothing if not reliable - he's never been on the IL, and hasn't had even a minor injury since 2019. A real fifth starter type, but that's what San Antonio needs with all of their injuries... dating back to mid-April, before his injury, we have won eight of Pineda's last nine starts, but he's just 2-1 in those games with 6 NDs. He's a good luck charm for the late innings, I suppose... we threatened in the 2nd, but didn't break the ice until the 3rd. Mota tripled and scored on an RBI hit from Ishi... Pineda retired the first eight batters he faced, only to then surrender a single to the opposing pitcher Nunn. When David Hamilton singled next, Nunn took a risky move to try to get to third, which you might not normally see a pitcher do, and Mesa pegged him out! Weird play... our guys would club leadoff home runs in the next two innings, Maezes in the 4th and Robles in the 5th... Nunn exited after 5 innings with those 3 runs allowed... pinch-hitter Grant Macciocchi got the Marshals on the board in the 6th with an RBI groundout, and there were a pair of doubles by Hamilton and Herron later in the inning to make it 3-2 Bees... San Antonio had a man on 2nd in the 7th when Drevian Nelson singled to left. Shirah came up firing and nabbed the slow runner Kyle McCann trying to score! Sam Bennerman needed just 4 pitches to retire the side in the 8th, and though Jared Miller labored through long at bats and allowed a hit, he got the job done in the 9th.


W: Michael Pineda (4-2) L: Branden Nunn (5-6) S: Jared Miller (19)
PotG: Michael Pineda

Nice overall win. Not our best offensive performance against a pretty mediocre pitcher but when you hit homers you score.

July 5: Bees (56-30) @ Buffalo Beacons (50-36)
This is a makeup game from one that was cancelled back on April 5. We weren't playing so well back then so this might be a plus for us. Buffalo is two games behind Montréal at the moment, but is holding the top wild card spot in the NL. The Beacons have just returned from a road trip, having just won two straight games in Omaha.

Game 1 - Jack Flaherty (10-4, 3.38) vs. Mitch Stallings (7-4, 2.71)
SLC: CF Mesa, LF Shirah, 3B Guerrero, RF Robles, 1B Ishihara, C Phegley, 2B Maezes, SS Mota, P Flaherty
BUF: LF Swaggerty, SS Franco, 2B Albies, 1B Toglia, RF Kjerstad, CF Siani, 3B Groshans, C Krause, P Stallings

Stallings took the loss in his last start, Friday in Charlotte, giving up 3 runs over 5 in a 3-1 loss... Flaherty is coming off a dominant performance Thursday against the Burros, just 1 hit allowed over 7.1 innings as we won 12-0... we had three hits in the first but thanks to Mesa's being caught stealing they kept us off the board... Flaherty had a rare bad inning in the first. Heston Kjerstad drove in the first run with a ground ball scoring Franco, then Sammy Siani drove in both Albies and Michael Toglia with his double putting the Beacons up 3-0... a big two out rally for us, though, in the 2nd. With two out and Maezes on first, Flaherty extended the inning with a single to right, and we're rather glad he did. Mesa also got a single through to right scoring one run, and Shirah took the next pitch deep to left for his 13th home run, giving the Bees a sudden 4-3 lead... Jordan Groshans tied the game in the 4th with a home run, but they weren't done there. Even after a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play, the next four batters all had hits, punctuated by Toglia's home run to make it 8-4 Buffalo. The home run was off of Ben Parks, but the others were all Flaherty's, so 7 runs allowed in 3.2 innings. A far cry from his dominance in Brooklyn last week... Mota had an RBI single to get us a bit closer in the 5th, and Guerrero's 6th inning solo HR got us within 8-6... but Parks walked two batters in the bottom of the 6th which would both come around to score... any hope of a comeback was dashed in the 7th when Buffalo added three more runs, separate RBI for Swaggerty, Franco and Albies, not helped by a two-hour rain delay that removed Nolan Blackwood from the game... Guerrero hit another HR in the 8th but it wouldn't affect the outcome of this game.


W: Rafael Ramirez (9-2) L: Jack Flaherty (10-5)
PotG: Ozzie Albies

It was about 1 AM when this game ended - miserable for these guys making a quick trip in and out of town, but thankfully tomorrow's game isn't too far away. On the plus side, Guerrero hitting 2 HR is great for him - he's been in an extended funk for like two months now.

July 6-7: Bees (56-31) @ New York Mets (44-44)
The Mets have been out of it most of this year, but playing really well at the moment. They lost yesterday to the Cardinals but had won 7 of 8 before that. We did win a pair of games from the Mets at home at the end of April as part of a 7-game win streak we had then.

Game 1 - Joey Lucchesi (8-4, 3.75) vs. Leon White (2-1, 6.84)
SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, C Cottam, 2B Maezes, CF Perez, P Lucchesi
NYM: CF McCarthy, SS Nunez, LF Adams, 3B Diaz, 1B Infante, RF Martinelli, 2B Trinkwon, C Maris, P White

White is a youngin - the Mets' 3rd-round pick last June, who moved quickly through the minor leagues (23 minor league starts). This is his seventh start in MLB. He's a hard-throwing sinkerballer who, theoretically, will keep the ball on the ground, but the results haven't been there yet... We have won seven straight Lucchesi starts, during which he has four wins... Maezes provided the game's first scoring, smacking a two-run homer in the second inning... Robles, Guerrero and Ishihara drew consecutive walks starting the 3rd and all three would eventually score. Shirah doubled into the left-field corner to score two, and Cottam followed with a sac fly to make it 5-0... the Mets pinch-hit for White in the third inning, so Leon never picked up a bat. He's done after 3 with 5 runs allowed on just 3 hits. Lucchesi also had three hits through 3 innings but had kept them off the board... Perez greeted new pitcher Parker Aquino with a triple, and Lucchesi grounded one to short that scored him... Danny Diaz led off the 4th with a double and came around to get the Mets on the board at 6-1... Mota had a sixth-inning RBI single, and Guerrero drove in two more with his own single to make it 9-1... Lucchesi was pinch-hit for in that 6th, but the Bee bullpen did their best to undo his good work in the bottom half. Julian Infante homered off of Hand, and Hand/Paul Goodwin combined to allow a further five hits in that frame putting New York within 9-5... Blaise Maris added another in the 7th with a single... with Mota on 2nd and two outs in the 8th, Ishihara hit a fly ball to right that Martinelli just dropped, allowing our tenth run to score... Mota capped off the scoring himself in the 9th with another RBI single.


W: Joey Lucchesi (9-4) L: Leon White (2-2)
PotG: Luis Mota

Friday morning, we woke up to some mixed news: we had signed one of our two big IFA targets, but not the one that I was most excited for. Australian OF Allan Hauer convinced the Nashville Stars to use their entire bonus pool on him, which I wasn't as comfortable with. We'll see if I come to regret that decision, since he might be worth it. We did, though, sign the American Steve McLaren after giving him a little more than our original offer ($1.2MM). Having missed out on Hauer, I pivoted over to the North Korean player I mentioned in the previous update, 3B/1B Min-sik Yaung, and also extended new offers to a pair of catchers, Joel Avanzo and Victor Negron, both Venezuelan. We'd offered Avanzo before but now have a bit of extra cash to convince him with.

Game 2 - Ray Gaither (1-1, 5.87) vs. Cody Martin (0-3, 4.23)
SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, CF Mesa, C Cottam, 2B Maezes, LF Granite, P Gaither
NYM: CF McCarthy, SS Nunez, C Contreras, LF Adams, 3B Diaz, RF Martinelli, 1B Infante, 2B Trinkwon, P Martin

Martin is another beneficiary of the expanded number of MLB roster spots. IRL, he played 2018 in independent ball, then retired to become a scout at age 29. But here, he latched on with the 2018 Nationals, and joined the Mets in 2020. He had an excellent 2020, winning 12 games with an ERA just above 3, but hasn't captured that magic since. He most recently pitched out of the bullpen last Saturday, getting the loss against the rival Burros... Gaither was a bit lucky to get a ND last time out when we came back to beat the Astros on Sunday... the first big swing in momentum was ours. After a first-inning HBP and walk, Caleb Adams came up with men on first and second and one out. He hit a single sharply through the right side, and the speedy Jake McCarthy motored around third, but the ball was hit really hard, and Robles came up throwing to nail him at the plate! Our first hit didn't come until the 3rd, when a pair of singles by Mota and Robles brought Granite in to score... Maezes doubled in the fourth inning but came up tenderly with what appears to be a back injury. More on that later... Granite was intentionally walked to bring up Gaither with two outs. But Gaither is a really capable hitter for a pitcher, and he lifted one over the right fielder's head for a two-run double! 3-0 Bees! Gaither was also having his best game on the mound, and made it through 7.1 innings without much incident. The Mets never really threatened until the 8th, when a pair of singles off of Holder brought Adams to the plate as the tying run. Holder struck him out looking, though, and they could only muster a single walk in the ninth.


W: Ray Gaither (2-1) L: Cody Martin (0-4) S: Jared Miller (20)
PotG: Ray Gaither

Maezes' injury is minor, but I still wanna make sure we can afford to sit him. He will avoid the IL but be D2D for about a week. I've sent OF Gabriel Perez down to Hawaii, and called up IF Kyle Kasser. Kyle was, at one point in his career, the starting shortstop for the Flyers, but he's more suited for a bench role. We got him from Charlotte in a 2021 trade, in which our only real goal was clearing a 40-man spot, and despite not having very good ratings he's been a good utility infielder for us when called upon. He's played about 50 games for us over the prior two seasons.

But that's not all - I've pulled off a trade that I've been thinking about for quite some time. I think this is the one that's gonna really put us over the top - makes sense, since we're acquiring the best pitcher in the National League. The Bees have acquired SP Jose Quintana and $6 million in cash from the Nationals, sending to Washington RP Martin Perez, SP Ryan Kirchner, CF Mike Nondorf and SP Justin Zerbe. Perez is to offset salary, because Quintana is owed $28.6MM for this and next season. Kirchner and Nondorf are promising players but I didn't see a future for them here - Nondorf was once our top prospect but doesn't have the work ethic to really make it, IMO. I don't know what the deal is with Zerbe - he looks like an absolute nothing prospect with very little shot at the bigs, but the Nats wouldn't do the deal without him. The one downside to this deal is that the writing's on the wall for Joey Lucchesi, who is a free agent at the end of this year. Hard to picture him being back with us next year - I'm gonna give it a go but he's going to want more money than I can probably offer.

Quintana is expected to make his Bees debut on Tuesday when we host Memphis. For now, Will Shirah will depart the rotation, focus on hitting and maybe occasionally pitch out of the bullpen. More moves may be coming on that front and he'll be on standby if Gaither falters.

Enough about all that - we're finally home from our 9-game road trip! We went 7-2 on the trip but did see our lengthy win streak come to an end. This'll be an 8-game homestand that takes us all the way through to the All-Star break.

July 8-9: Bees (58-31) vs. West Texas Blackbirds (37-53)
The Blackbirds are mired in last place at the moment, 2 1/2 games behind 5th-place Omaha and 21 1/2 games behind us. The home team has won every game of the season series thus far - we lost twice in El Paso in mid-May, but beat them twice in early June at home. West Texas is fully healthy, which is a rarity for a team at this point in the year. They have some injured players but not major ones. This team is lucky not to be last in almost every pitching category, and they can thank Reno for being even worse. (We'll see the Silver Sox for the first time next week.)

Game 1 - Michael Pineda (4-2, 3.58) vs. Cole McKay (4-7, 5.27)
WTX: SS Alexander, RF Keenan, CF Trout, LF Baca, 1B Davis, 3B Rahier, 2B Merrill, C Barraza, P McKay
SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, CF Mesa, 2B Maezes, C Cottam, P Pineda

I was hoping that "C. Davis, 1B" was Chris, but it's Conor Davis instead. This is his Blackbirds debut having spent the whole year at AAA Amarillo, but he's played in MLB with the Padres and Suns before... McKay's got the dreaded snowflake next to his name, despite having won his last start against the Dodgers. His best game of the year came against us in May, when he threw 7.1 scoreless and struck out 10... Pineda pitched earlier in the week, beating the Marshals on Tuesday. A bit unfortunate that he goes on short rest today - theoretically this is Shirah's day to throw, but AI Mike now sees Will as a bullpen guy. If he wasn't in left today I'd have thought we see him for a few innings this afternoon... Pineda allowed a hit to Blaze Alexander leading off the game, and then signaled for a trainer. Oh boy, here we go again... he's out of the game, and with Shirah standing in the field, they don't think to bring him in to throw. Ben Parks in instead... Parks then hits Mike Trout in the knee with a pitch, and Trout has to come out of the game. That's one way to neutralize the best player in the NL, I guess... Jordan Prendiz is a capable CF who comes in to pinch-run. A really eventful top of the first... Parks allows a HR to Tanner Rahier in the second, so WTX is on the board first... Ishi and Shirah started the 2nd with walks, Mesa's infield hit loaded the bases, and a wild pitch scored 1 before Maezes knocked in a second with a hit. Suddenly we lead! Cottam contributed by hitting into a run-scoring double play as well, so 3-1... Blaze Alexander came up again in the 3rd, and his presence is a bad omen, apparently. While getting him to fly out to center, Parks pulled something in his torso and has to exit. Ay caramba... Two more runs for the Bees in the 3rd, with hits by Mota, Guerrero and Ishihara pulling off the scoring... Chad Keenan homered off of Brad Hand in the 6th, a solo shot... Maezes then returned the favor in the bottom half... Shirah then extended the lead in the 7th, a double scoring Guerrero and Ishihara... Bennerman and Wilson combined to retire the final seven Blackbirds.


W: Ben Parks (1-0) L: Cole McKay (4-8)
PotG: Morio Ishihara

All three injured players were not seriously hurt. Pineda is D2D with a back strain, Parks has an oblique strain, and Trout has just a knee bruise. Because our bullpen was really taxed yesterday, though, I did put Parks on the DL and call up William Gonzalez.

Game 2 - Jack Flaherty (10-5, 3.82) vs. Nic Enright (1-2, 6.20)
WTX: RF Prendiz, 1B Verdon, CF Trout, LF Baca, C Norris, 3B Rahier, 2B Merrill, SS Alexander, P Enright
SLC: SS Mota, RF Robles, 3B Guerrero, 1B Ishihara, LF Shirah, CF Mesa, 2B Maezes, C Cottam, P Flaherty

Enright has been with the club most of the year, we've just missed him each time. Not much to note about him except that he's got a deceptive changeup. He pitched the entire 2022 season in the Blackbirds' rotation despite having an ERA near 8, so 6.20 is an improvement... Flaherty is also on short rest here, so the bullpen is on notice again. He was rocked on Wednesday in Buffalo, taking his first loss in five weeks... The Blackbirds again scored first. The two Jordans, Prendiz and Verdon, each reached, and Prendiz scored on a wild pitch... in our first frame, Robles-Guerrero-Ishihara strung together three singles to score a run, and then Shirah hit a bomb to right-center to make it 4-1... Mesa and Maezes both doubled, scoring another run, and after Flaherty reached on an error Mota came up with another RBI to make it a 6-run inning. That was it for Enright, who didn't make it out of the first. Flaherty seemed to settle in after that, and got through 5 innings without an issue. Cottam's RBI groundout in the 5th made it 7-1... William Gonzalez in to pitch the 6th, and you wouldn't believe it, Mike Trout was again injured on another HBP. That's the kind of thing that normally sparks a brawl. That HBP became a run on Miguel Baca's RBI double to make it 7-2... the last few innings were jam-packed with ticky-tack scoring. Travis Moniot's double made it 7-3, before Travis Maezes' double made it 8-3. Rahier homered for the second straight day to get it to 8-5, but Guerrero's two-run single made it 10-5. Finally, with Paul Goodwin on to pitch the 9th, he was unable to get more than one out and passed Jared Miller a bases-loaded situation. Miller faced four batters, two of whom received bases-loaded walks, but when the go-ahead run stepped into the box, Jared got him.


W: Jack Flaherty (11-5) L: Nic Enright (1-3) S: Jared Miller (21)
PotG: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Very much ready for this week to be over, even though we did pretty well the bullpen is absolutely beat. Some reinforcements are coming in for Monday:

To shed a bit more salary, and get us basically back to where we were pre-Quintana deal, I've made another trade, sending RP Justin Wilson to San Antonio for SP Jake Junis. Junis reports to Hawaii, but we might see him later this year. He's already pitched for two of our division rivals this year, having been with the Blackbirds before the Marshals.

I also placed Michael Pineda on the DL so we could stop using all these starters on short rest - Shirah will pitch on Monday before Quintana makes his team debut Tuesday. Now with two empty spots in the bullpen, we purchased the contracts of RHP Shane Watson and LHP Zeke Young from Hawaii. We acquired Young from Pittsburgh in a deadline deal two seasons ago, a salary dump for us that let us shed Trevor Rosenthal's big contract. It'll be his major league debut when he gets in. Watson is a swingman, having mostly started over the past four seasons with Tucson and Portland. We got him from the Beavers last offseason as part of a deal that got Matt Andriese off our hands.

Bees' Player of the Week:
3B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. - 11-26, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 6 BB

On the Leaderboard:
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: 2nd in RBI (84)
Victor Victor Mesa: 9th in average (.330)
Zack Granite: T-7th in triples (7)
Jose Quintana: 5th in ERA (2.95), T-6th in wins (9), 1st in WAR (4.4), 1st in innings pitched (131.1), T-1st in CG (3), T-1st in shutouts (2), T-7th in K (133), 7th in WHIP (1.16), 2nd in FIP (3.15), 1st in QS (14)
Jack Flaherty: T-1st in wins (11), 4th in WAR (2.9), 4th in innings pitched (118), 6th in K/BB (4.5), 5th in BB/9 (1.8), 6th in WHIP (1.14), T-2nd in QS (13)
Joey Lucchesi: 8th in WAR (2.5), 8th in FIP (3.95)
Jared Miller: T-7th in saves (21)

Minor League Bees:
AAA Hawaii had a two-faced week. They were swept in Spokane (Angels) but swept back over the weekend against Santa Clara (Giants). The Islanders remain 1 game behind 1st-place Hollywood (Dodgers).
AA Cedar City was 4-3. They swept Las Cruces (Blackbirds) but lost 3 of 4 to Grand Junction (Oilers). They're in 2nd place, 7 games behind Grand Junction.
A Burlington was 3-3, winning a series against Gateway (Cardinals) but losing a series against Fort Wayne (Padres). The Lil' Bees are 55-26, 5 games ahead of Quad Cities (Blackbirds) in the MWL West.
The AZL Bees were 2-4 and fall to 9-10 on the year. They lost 2 of 3 to Oakland and two to Arizona while beating Cincinnati once.
The PRSL Bees were 4-3. They split four games midweek, beating the Brewers twice but losing to the Lions twice, then won their weekend series against the Orioles.

All-Star Voting Updates:
The only change for us is that we're now in line to have the NL starting pitcher as well as 3B, since Quintana has been leading that vote since day 1.

AL 3B: Kris Bryant (Red Sox) passes Alex Bregman (Oilers)
NL SS: Tim Anderson (Thunder) passes Francisco Lindor (Cubs)

Standings:



League News:
July 4: Is New Mexico giving up? They've traded 3B Christian Hicks to Austin in exchange for SP Juan Nicasio and a meh prospect. Austin already has a superstar 3B in Chris Antrim, but Hicks is just as good at 2B and will likely become the immediate starter there. Hicks is under contract for 2 1/2 more seasons, while Nicasio is a free agent at season's end, and although he will probably slot into the Suns' rotation his inclusion was more financial than anything, it seems.
July 4: The Astros explode for 22 runs in a win over West Texas. 5 different Astros had 3-hit games, and Ramon Gutierrez had 8 RBI from his 4-4 outing.
July 4: Nico Hoerner's dramatic 2-out, 2-run home run gives Indianapolis a 5-4 walk-off win against San Bernardino.
July 6: Angels CF Parker Meadows, who was set to be voted in as the All-Star starter in the AL, broke a finger in today's loss to the Cherries. He'll definitely miss the game and probably about a month total. With that development, the Scorpions' Nick Schnell is likely to be the AL starter in center. The Angels also announced today that SP Drew Smyly is done for the season with a fractured elbow.
July 6: Baltimore's Dave Hogan hit Alex Reyes' first pitch for a leadoff home run, and that was the only scoring in the Orioles' 1-0 win over the White Sox.
July 8: Charlotte, mired several games back of the playoff race, has signaled the end of their window by trading 2B Tyler Wade to the division rival Braves for three prospects, two of whom look like OK major league infielders. Atlanta, though, at the time of the trade, was actually tied with the Flyers in the NL South standings, and Wade is a rental, so not so sure what the deal is there.


Players of the Week:
Oakland LF Eloy Jimenez - 11-25, 4 HR, 12 RBI
Buffalo LF Travis Swaggerty - 15-30, 1 HR, 8 RBI

Power Rankings:
We remained in 1st place in this week's power rankings!
1. Salt Lake Bees (60-31)
2. Louisville Colts (61-31)
3. Las Vegas Scorpions (63-29)
4. Indianapolis Rounders (52-40)
5. Monarques de Montréal (56-36)
56. Cleveland Indians (35-57)
57. West Texas Blackbirds (37-55)
58. Boston Red Sox (32-60)
59. Reno Silver Sox (34-58)
60. Colorado Rockies (29-62)

Next Week: we finish out the first half of the season by playing host to the Lions, Silver Sox and Beacons.