Miami United (11-14, .440, 5th NL East) @ Los Angeles Kings (15-10, .600, 2nd NL West)
Los Angeles is a true-to-life, land-of-plenty - more milk than honey, with most of the good bits out of reach for the Everyman, it’s where dreamers descend to the trailhead that leads to the Hollywood sign and where most bail out before reaching its apex. Instead of untold riches and mind-blowing degrees of fame, they begin careers in the service industry and shuffle along until going back home is the only option. For a ball club like ours, though, Los Angeles is none of these things - sure, there’s an opportunity to rise above our station, but, like dreams left behind by would-be movie stars, it only represents an imminent failure on the grandest of scales. We’ll play the part of the poker player who went all-in on a suspect hand in hopes that he will catch something on the river, and they’ll play Johnny Chan... with their top-tiered, if slightly underpowered (1st in HRs, without Otto… not so much), offense and superbly constructed staff. Odds are such that we should get trucked in this one, summarily dismissed, and chased out of town by a parade of taco trucks, sushi chefs, and starry-eyed waitstaff.
26 of 162: Kordell Littles (3-2, 3.41) @ Aiden Jensen (2-1, 3.66)
Loss, 4-3. This one was something of a low-key pitcher’s duel with
Kordell giving us 7+ with 3 earned and 4 walks, and
Aiden giving them 8 strong innings of 7-hit, 3-run ball.
Murray Wagner was saddled with the loss – he gave up the go-ahead run in the bottom of the 8th,
Dontrell Gay’s solo HR in that frame sealed the deal for LA (and tied him with Otto at 9 so far this season), and the Anaconda cold-streak continued with an 0 for 3 day at the plate.
Close but no cigar…
27 of 162: Harvey Allen (0-1, 3.27) @ Trevor Dotson (2-0, 3.78)
Win, 7-4.
Harvey got the job done – he allowed 4 to plate in eight innings of work – and
Johnny Dial picked up his first save of the season – all good things, but it was the offense that really shined in this one.
Early Felger went 4 for 4 with a solo homer and 2 runs,
Magee his a 2-run bomb and scored twice, and
Kyle Weaver went 4 for 5 with an RBI double.
Anaconda hit one out with two runners already retired,
Hamza laid down a perfectly placed SAC BUNT, and we managed to swipe 4 bags as a team (
Felger x2,
Magee,
Saucerman). Good stuff from the
pink tops tonight – giving us an opportunity to take a series off my old club, on their turf, when we have no reasonable expectation of doing so.
Elsewhere: SS Jingqi Dong, of the Birmingham Billy’s, went 2 for 3 with 2 HRs, 7 RBIs, and 2 runs in his clubs 9-2 win over the Roanoke Racoons in Bush League action… the former Oklahoma Sooner signed with the 76ers as a free agent after going undrafted, spent three years in their development program, one of which was wasted on the IL, and, after washing out, signed a 1-year agreement worth $396K with Birmingham during the offseason. Had the Bush League not expanded, this guy would have languished on the sideline, resorted to taking a desk job, or worse, would’ve tried his luck at earning a spot in the PBA. I don’t like to toot my own horn, but had I not pulled the trigger on my aggressive expansion, none of this last paragraph would’ve been possible… so – toot, toot! And, as to the question of whether that is a good thing or not… well, the jury’s still out on that one, folks.
28 of 162: Cullen Craig (0-1, 5.59) @ Newton Weiser (2-2, 3.54)
Win, 7-4.
Cullen gave up 10 hits and walked a guy – but, he only allowed 4 runs while we scored seven. Not
Newton’s fault though… 7 innings of work, 2 runners scored. We’d punch our ticket late after
Newton had handed it off to LA’s bullpen when
Early Felger hit a bases-clearing triple in the top of the 8th.
Saucerman hit a two-bagger, we got 2-out RBIs from
Hamza,
Early, and
Ethan Loy, stole two bags as a club, and turned a critical
Craig-McDonnell-Ives double play in the bottom of the 9th to put this one in the books. The flight to Miami from Los Angeles is a long one, fraught with boredom, and short on good food options – but, it’ll go down a little easier after taking a set off of my old club, in their house, when the smart money said we should’ve been swept.
Notes: After our unlikely series win in LA, we’ve improved to 9-7 on the road, are now 3rd on the NL East table, and expect to have
Oh Hong back in the lineup after he buttons up his post-injury rehab in Havana – we’ll probably see him in the 3rd game of our next set at home against the Alouettes or in Pittsburgh after that. San Francisco has inexplicably joined Golden State and Carolina in the upper echelon of contenders – most pundits don’t see them remaining a member of the exclusive club, so enjoy it while you can Seals fans. And, with
Otto out on the IL,
LA’s Dontrell Gay has taken the top spot on the HR rankings with 10… he’s the first player in the majors to reach double digits so far this season.