Los Angeles Leopards (SVMLB)

[pauwoo]

Top 10 Picks…
Round 1, Pick 1 - San Jose Seals: SP Lucas Torres (Blue Mountain State), age 20, 33/70
Round 1, Pick 2 - New York Sluggers: SP Will Rouillard (Kentucky), age 20, 27/65
Round 1, Pick 3 - Austin Grackles: SP Ayden Devin (St. Johns), age 21, 33/61
Round 1, Pick 4 - Portland Pines: SP Leland Morelli (TCU), age 20, 30/61
Round 1, Pick 5 - Buffalo Nickels: 2B Kenton McMahon (Fresno State), age 21, 20/55
Round 1, Pick 6 - Dallas Chaparrals: LF Simon Harris (West Virginia), age 20, 20/51
Round 1, Pick 7 - New Orleans Pirates: SP Tom Abraham (Houston), age 21, 27/60
Round 1, Pick 8 - Toronto Maple Leafs: SP Arthur Laws (USC), age 21, 20/60
Round 1, Pick 9 - Seattle Metros: C Kevin Oltean (Fresno State), age 20, 20/49
Round 1, Pick 10 - Phoenix Coyotes: 3B Rayan Impellizeri (New Mexico State), age 20, 20/48

Our Top 3 Picks…
1st Round, 18th Overall…


Supplemental Round, 28th Overall…


2nd Round, 50th Overall…


Up Next: Bah-stahn is headed our way for a 3-game set. They’re a better club than New York, but not by much.

[pauwoo]

Boston Shamrocks (28-29, .491, 5th AL East) @ Los Angeles Leopards (35-23, .603, 1st NL West)
After making the playoffs in each of their last 7 seasons, 2078 may bring that streak to a end as the Shamrocks haven’t been able to put anything substantive together so far with their 12th ranked offense (11th in Runs Scores, 12th EVERYWHERE else) and middling, 7th ranked staff. Boston is a proud club – 7161 - 6833 overall with 49 playoff appearances and 5 World Series titles – suffering through the type of year that their fans aren’t used to seeing, making the early part of the 2078 campaign a disorienting start for the Shamrocks faithful. Look, to fall from grace so quickly after finishing 1st in the AL East in 2076 & 2077 wouldn’t necessarily be the end of the world for Boston… they have a track record of success that will, undoubtedly, grant them some good will amongst their fans, so a quick rebuild before their next run of prolonged success shouldn’t be a deal breaker… the key here, however, likely lies in how long this rebuild will take coupled with how long their fans will be willing to stomach it before jumping ship and finding some other local team to follow instead.

59 of 162: Alan Wall (4-6, 6.63) @ Trev Anderson (3-3, 3.71)
Loss, 2-1. Trev managed to pitch to only 5 batters before leaving due to a finger blister that will keep him off the mound for 1-2 weeks… Beasley took over from there would deal for the next 3.2 innings allowing just 2 hits and no runs while fanning EIGHT. So, while the pitching was solid, even though the pen was called upon early, it was our offense that would let us down here as our only run would come on a HAMZA hit SAC FLY with everything else we put wood on being sent right into the teeth of the defense… we’d leave 9 stranded, get caught with our hand in the honey pot on the basepaths twice, and, really, just treat our hometown fans to another ho-hum effort from a club that has been looking mighty entitled lately… like wins against struggling clubs are just some foregone conclusion that should come our way with little focus or effort on our part…

Some roster moves… Trev to the IL, SS Hetereki Ailani, LF Justin Burton, LF Kyle Weaver, and RP Zechariah Stillman to Compton, SP Jan Hernandez, RP Ignazio Armendariz, CF Manuel Soto, and 3B Owen Gibbs to the big club.

60 of 162: Abe Meinecke (4-4, 4.75) @ Jan Hernandez (1-2, 7.24)
Win, 4-1. Welcome home, misplaced son.. guess what we were doing while you were gone? Cocktail party's in gear, and we're glad that you're here… Jan returned to the fold on good form, gave us a rabble-rousing 5 innings of work, allowed just 3 hits, with nothing earned and 4 K’s en route to earning his 2nd win of the 2078 campaign, and Dom drove one in & scored twice to lead the offense to victory. Our other runs would come from Ono (a run-scoring triple), Hanan (a run-scoring single), and Manuel Soto (a run-scoring single) who’s RBI came on his very first hit as a Major Leaguer (FINALLY – I guess we didn’t break him during his last sting in L.A. after all…). We’d get some solid bullpen contributions here as well… Ground Control to Major Hansen gave us 3.1 innings in relief, fanning 7, and Turnbull picked up his 16th save by striking out the only two batters he faced during the top of the 9th. A better, more focused, and hard-fought victory for the La La’s here…


Elsewhere: Tom Franzone, standing at 6 foot, 3 inches of lean steel and sex appeal, went 4 for4 with a double, TWO TRUCKS, 4 RBI and 3 runs to lead his Pittsburgh Pipers to a topsy-turvy and, ultimately, resounding win over the Salt Lake Alpines by a score of 11-7. A good win against a top club for last season’s NL champion as they fight to maintain their tentative grasp on one of the wild card spots during the early part of this year. Now a scant 5 games off Brooklyn’s pace with Montreal even with them and Miami not far behind at 6 games back. Things are nearly as tight in the NL East as they are in the West.

Also… big ups to 1B Wil Lewandowski…


61 of 162: Jeronimo Tucker (5-4, 2.41) @ Keith Baeza (0-0, 3.38)
Win, 11-0. FINALLY… we’d explode here for 11 runs with Satoru Ono leading the way on a 3 for 5 day with 4 RBI and a run, Ethan Mullens following along with a 2-run JACK, and Otto Isaac joining the fray with a solo shot, his 18th truck of the year, to add to the kitty. Keith Baeza made the most of his 1st start of the year, going 6.2 innings while allowing just 5 hits, nothing earned, and registering 10 K’s, and RP Ignazio Armendariz, back with the big club for the first time since the Tricentennial Campaign in ’76, gave us a sturdy 2.1 innings in relief to close this one out with the shutout intact. 2 doubles, a triple, and 3 homers for the club with 4, 2-out RBI, a sublime little SAC FLY courtesy of OH HONG, and 11 scores with another 9 left stranded… we’ve been waiting for our guys to put it together like this for a good stretch… now, our next task will be to keep the good times rolling with Las Vegas all set to pay us a visit over the weekend…

Record: 37-24, .606, 2nd NL West… um, San Jose, winners of their last 5, have moved into the spot at the top of the pops and sport a ½ game lead over us. Buncha goons you ask me.
Up Next: A day off, one that I’ll likely spend a good portion of sitting in my owners office explaining how San Jose got the jump on us, followed by a 3-game home set against the Outlaws.

[pauwoo]

We reactivated Stephen Estevez from his suspension yesterday… Ignazio was the unlucky one here as he’ll head back to Compton (or elsewhere as he was DFA’D & placed on waivers).

Las Vegas Outlaws (35-26, .574, 4th NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (37-24, .607, 2nd NL West)
Currently a victim of plying their trade in such a strong division, the Las Vegas Outlaws are as good as any of the top clubs and better than most… their offense is ranked 1st overall in the National League, 2nd in Average, OBP, OPS, and wOBA with 302 runs so far while their staff ranks somewhere in the middle of the National League. In that respect, they really just need their Ace, Jack Sanchez-Flores, and Long-Reliever Donald Barraza to dial it in a bit for the staff to make an appearance in the top 3 of the league. They arrive in La La Land on something of a tear… 9-1 over their last 10, winners of 6 straight, and the proud owners of a rock-solid +34 RDiff so far… and will look to take advantage of the up & down form we’ve put on display recently. For our part, our mission is clear – we need to hold these guys at arm’s length, keep them from breaching our castle walls, and send them off with their tails tucked firmly between their legs once the dust has settled on this 3-game set.

62 of 162: Jack Sanchez-Flores (5-3, 5.84) @ Stephen Estevez (5-0, 1.92)
Loss, 5-4. More of the same here as we’d get clipped at home by a squad with everything to gain and nothing to lose… The Outlaws would be led offensively by Jaden Utley who went 2 for 4 with a double, a TANK, 3 RBI, and 2 runs, while Sanchez-Flores, in a 6.2 inning, 9 hit, 4 earned outing, would do just enough to leave his club in a position to win this one when he left in the middle of the bottom of the 7th. Estevez looked good in his return from a self-imposed exile with 5.2 innings of 4-hit, 2 earned ball while PEPPER did his level best to get us a win with a 2-run double in the bottom of the 6th that had put us up 4-2 at that point. We just couldn’t get it done, again, as our bullpen gave up the ghost late (Rishon was the culprit once again as he records his 3rd loss of the season and sees his ERA balloon to 7.36) to underscore the point that, here lately, no lead is safe for the La La’s.

63 of 162: Cam Murphy (5-3, 3.19) @ Peter Garcia (3-2, 4.18)
Win, 4-3 (10). We’d require extras to get this one sorted as OH HONG would bring the hometown fans to their feet during the bottom of the 10th as he hit a game-winning, walk off solo truck with two outs already on the board against elite closer Johnny Dial to send Las Vegas off to the showers an emotional, down-trodden, disheveled version of themselves. We’d chip away at them throughout the contest to finally knot things up during the bottom of the 8th off a Satoru Ono solo-shot that would, finally, bring us even with the 3 runs they put up during the top of the very first frame. Garcia was uneven early, obviously, but was eventually able to get things dialed in and go a full 5 frames for us before handing it off to the pen where Major Hansen, Turnbull, and Rishon Shaw would combine for 5 shutout innings to set the table for what would eventually become OH HONG’s game-winning DING DONG. Good stuff… let’s hope the pen can start doing this sort of thing with more regularity.

Elsewhere: An early, National League All-Star voting update… Pittsburgh’s Tom Franzone leads all vote-getters with 1.7mm votes while our own Dom Cooke (leading all Catchers), Hamza (3rd in SS’s), Andy Shepard (3rd in LFers), Otto (leading all CFers), Ethan Mullens (3rd for RFers), Estevez (4th for Starters), Merl (5th for Starters), and Grumpy Losito (5th for Relievers) are all in the mix so far…

64 of 162: Jake Talley (7-1, 3.17) @ Merl Crawford (4-2, 2.51)
Win, 1-0. We’d take the rubber match by the skin of our teeth as Merl twirled a solid, 6.2-inning shutout performance and Kumar Bovie trucked the game-winning solo-shot during the bottom of what was otherwise an uneventful 5th inning. Not much to say here, really… we’d earn the win despite being outhit by the Outlaws 8-3, seeing Hanan commit his 4th fielding flub of the ’78 campaign, and Las Vegas managing to put 9 men in scoring position over the course of the game… story here was another tip-top performance from the pen – Grumpy fanned a guy to close out the 7th, Major Hansen made mincemeat of the Las Vegas lineup with a 3 up, 3 down top of the 8th, and Turnbull, earning his 17th save here, finishing the Outlaws off with a 25-pitch top of the 9th.

Real quick… as I advanced to Monday, I was alerted to the fact that our top dog, Trev Anderson’s recouperation from that pesky little finger blister is taking longer than expected and that our training staff isn’t entirely sure how long it’ll take for him to get back to full strength. So, that’s cool… The weekly awards came out, as is customary, but nothing too exciting there as Toronto’s Dick McTaggart and Pittsburgh’s Mack Ramirez claimed the hardware. ALSO, PR’s came out as well – the experts over at BNN slotted us in at #2 behind the surprisingly effective San Jose Seals… I’ll be spending some time in my condo tonight looking out over the city of Angels with two fingers of whiskey in my cup, Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain on the HiFi, and my phone off the hook…

Record: 39-25, .690, 2nd NL West (now 1 ½ games off SJ’s pace)
Up Next: A quick hop to Phoenix in the morning to meet the team at the Coyotes Den for a quick, 2-game series.

[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (39-25, .609, 2nd NL West) @ Phoenix Coyotes (36-28, .562, 3rd NL West)
Phoenix boasts one of the top 3 pitching staffs in the National League – it’s, really, what has kept them afloat so far in 2078 as their lineup is in need of some fine tuning… 10th in runs scored, OPS, and bWAR, 11th in wOBA, 12th in home runs… their order hasn’t been productive, relying instead on their staffs ability to keep things close and their ability to produce timely hits. All told, even with an offense in such disarray, Phoenix owns a +29 RDiff, wins 2/3 of their home games, and has a knack for coming through in 1-run games. Basically, they’re a tough out at home, but we’ve won our last two contests against stiffer competition and expect to bring those good vibes to Phoenix with us as we quest to install ourselves back into our rightful place perched at the top of the pops in the NL West.

65 of 162: Masaya Nakagawa (4-3, 3.02) @ Logan Gorsline (3-0, 3.71)
Win, 10-6. Ethan Mullens turned in a season-best performance for us in Phoenix, finishing this contest at 4 for 5 with a double and FIVE RBI, and HAMZA did his level best to follow suit with a 4 for 5 day of his own with only one riblet to Ethan’s five. Nakagawa got shelled – 4.1 innings of work, 7 hits, 6 earned, 3 HRA – but Dwight Beasley, making quite a name for himself so far, shut that fuss down over 4.2 innings of his own where he’d allow Phoenix to secure only three hits with nothing earned and picked up his 2nd win as a Major Leaguer in the process. Ethan would also swipe his 17th bag in this one, Otto would score and drive one in, we’d get three doubles as a club, bring 10 around despite leaving another 13 stranded, and overcome Pepper’s 4th error of the season with a late, rally-killing, McDonnell-Hanan-Ono double play during the bottom of the 8th.

Note: Ethan’s line, which didn’t even crack the Top 25 Single Game Performance’s of the year, was good enough to earn him the #1 Performance of the Day in all of organized baseball with some kid called Martin Wainwright, of the Annapolis Corsairs (a Pittsburgh affiliate), taking the #2 slot behind a 5 for 6 day that included a triple, 3 RBI, and a couple of runs… his club smashed the Corona Condors by a score of 17-3 in that one… YIKES.

66 of 162: Keith Baeza (1-0, 2.25) @ Landon Sampson (7-3, 2.29)
Win, 2-0. MINI SWEEP! And a timely one at that! Here it’d be Keith Baeza who led the charge, outdueling Phoenix’s Ace, Landon Sampson, over the course of a 7.1 inning day where he’d allow a paltry two hits, nothing earned, and fan 8 hapless hitters for the game while OH HONG would put what was ultimately the game winner on the board during the top of the very first inning as he sent a moonshot over the fence for his 13th long ball of the season. Otto was responsible for our other run, another solo shot, his 19th TRUCK, during the top of the 4th… a good defensive effort from the club, including another expertly crafted McDonnell-Hanan-Ono DP, and some clutch pitching as Rishon Shaw secured his 9th hold and Turnbull his 18th save to preserve the team shutout and enter our 4th straight DUB into the permanent record.

With this mini sweep, we pulled ourselves back into the lead in the NL West and are now the proud owners of a half game lead over the San Jose Seals…

Record: 41-25, .621, 1st NL West
Up Next: Travel Day as we make our way to Mexico City, followed by a 4-game parlay against the Jaguars. After that, we get another Travel Day / Day Off as we make our way all the way up to San Jose for another one of those 2-game quickies…

[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (41-25, .621, 1st NL West) @ Mexico City Jaguars (29-36, .446, 5th NL West)
Mexico City is mired in a funk so pervasive that it’s as if they are lost in one of Billy Bass Nelson’s grooves aboard the Mothership with all the exits blocked… and, while I know that we’ve talked about it before, it’s not the offense that is causing the problem. Mexico City’s lineup is as fierce as any, better than most, and, certainly, the top hitting outfit in the National League. They are ranked 1st in 4 categories (AVG, OBP, OPS, wOBA) and no lower than 3rd anywhere else and are adept at putting on a show, especially in front of their home fans where they have barely held on to a winning record so far. Their pitching, however, is still the opposite side of that coin… 12th in RA and Bullpen ERA, 11th in Starters ERA and FIP, and no better than 10th anywhere else… if they could just find themselves some serviceable arms, they could be a contender. It’ll be interesting to see if they make a splash on the trade market before the deadline – there’s some big names on the block right now, like Luc Felix (66 OVR, 1x Pacheco, 3x All-Star), Tommy Matthieu (61 OVR, 2x All-Star), and Dejuan Burns (55 OVR, 1x All-Star) - any one of these guys could be a big part of righting the Jaguars ship. For now, we’ll get the version that can’t pitch, do our level best to hold their order in check in their house, and focus on moving forward to, hopefully, open a bit of a gap between us and the San Jose Seals… easier said than done.

67 of 162: Stephen Estevez (5-0, 2.01) @ Lee Myers (3-4, 4.46)
Win, 6-3. OH HONG looked good at altitude tonight – 3 for 5 with a 3-run TANK, and 2 runs – while Otto sent his 20th ball over the fence, and Satoru Ono punched one out, his 8th on the year, to give us all the cushion we’d need. Estevez was sharp too – 5 innings pitched, 6 hits, nothing earned, and 6 K’s for our starter – and the bullpen, Igarashi specifically, struggled a bit to close it out until Turnbull took over in the 9th, struck out the side on 17 pitches, and entered his 19th save into the permanent record.

68 of 162: Peter Garcia (3-2, 4.26) @ Casey Tucker (2-7, 5.02)
Win, 5-2. We’d put 5 runs on the board before the stretch, with nothing doing for Mexico until Peter Garcia handed it over to the pen in the bottom of the 7th… Garcia was studly – 6.1 innings of filthiness, 5 hits, nothing earned, and 7 K’s – and Otto was at it again with a 3-run DING DONG during the top of the 3rd. Ono sent one out, his 9th and 2nd in as many days, as did Hanan, his 4th, Otto got cute on the basepaths with his 15th steal, and we crafted two perfectly executed double plays that killed both of the Jaguars hackneyed rally attempts. 20th save for Turnbull, on 10 total pitches, too… I mean, it’s all systems go so far for the club.


Elsewhere: The awesomely named, Bennett Styles, a young pitching prospect putting in work with the Cleveland Buckeyes as part of Charlotte’s development system, twirled a complete-game, 2-hit shutout with 7 K’s as his club ran roughshod over the Sugar Kings in Havana. Look, I don’t expect Styles to make any kind of future impact in the MLB, and, really, I ‘d be surprised if he ever made it that far… but, worth a callout, and, I’d bet that, given time, we see this guy holding it down something fierce with a Bush League club before his career is through.

69 of 162: Merl Crawford (5-2, 2.30) @ Ben McGillicuddy (2-2, 2.60)
Win, 6-4. Again, we’d do our offensive work before the stretch with each of our runs coming before then and rely on another rock-solid start from our starter… this time, it was Merl’s turn and he didn’t disappoint with 6-innings of work, only 4 hits, nothing earned, and 3 K’s while Satoru Ono, who’s as hot as he’s been all year, trucked another one out, his 10th on the year and 3rd in as many games, and drove in two of our six runs. We’d also get homers from OH HONG and Manuel Soto (his 1st as a pro), 2-out RBI’s from Hong, Ono, and Soto – each on those aforementioned dingers – Beasley pitched to one batter and struck him out, our bullpen tried to come unglued with Hernandez giving up 4 runs, but Grumpy and Turnbull were able to dial it back in to close this one out… our 7th win in a row to open a tentative 2 ½ game lead over the hard-charging San Jose Seals.

A quick look at the All-Star voting leaders by league..
American League
1B Paulo Legna (Detroit Motors) – 2,099,701
RF Patrick Adams (Seattle Metros) – 1,933,433
2B Richard McTaggart (Toronto Maple Leafs) – 1,839,291
LF Tony Voorhis (Detroit Motors) 1,800,840
CF Smith Wells (SLC Alpines) – 1,760,328

National League
1B Tom Franzone (Pittsburgh Pipers) – 2,421,506
CF Otto Isaac (Los Angeles Leopards) – 2,269,926
2B Rich Hamilton (Brooklyn Citizens) 2,161,302
LF Palmer Parker (Philadelphia Founders) – 2,124,657
1B Harlem Peterson (Montreal Alouettes) – 2,258,710

70 of 162: Masaya Nakagawa (4-3, 3.66) @ K.J. Judd (4-6, 4.64)
Win, 10-7. Dance and rejoice! We’ve swept the Jaguars, on their turf, and secured our 8th straight win in the process… HAMZA was our man of the match – 4 for 5 with an RBI with 2 runs – Ono hit another one out, his 4th in a row, Soto, feeling it now, hit his second TRUCK as a Major Leaguer, and Turnbull came in late to save us after Rishon Shaw blew his opportunity, letting 1 get across during his 2-innings of relief work. All in the boys brought it for us in Mexico City, rolling through town like a freight train, and helped our club pick up the pace a bit on those pesky San Jose Seals… great stretch for us!

Elsewhere: Our own Watts Warriors, the shiny new edition to our 3-tiered development system, is now 30-35 on the year after their near cataclysmic 1-17 start to the inaugural season. Still 8 games off division leader Fontana Venom, but it’s a start and a very welcome surprise after that dismal beginning.

Record: 45-25, .642, 1st NL West +3 ½
Up Next: Travel Day as we make our way back to the states to meet up with the San Jose Seals in their park for a quickie 2-game series.

[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (45-25, .642, 1st NL West) @ San Jose Seals (41-29, .586, 3rd NL West)
San Jose has been something of a surprise so far in 2078 after finishing with a sub-.400 record two seasons in a row and missing the playoffs every year since 2072. They had a good offseason, bringing in key FA’s like RF Andrew Beck (57 OVR; 2yr/$26.2mm) and SP Julen Morales (52 OVR; 2yr/$31.6mm) while seeing their hard work spent on developing pitchers start to pay dividends, especially in the bullpen where they rank 1st in the National League. Still, there is the belief that the Seals are punching above their weight through the first 3rd of the season, that the clock is ticking, and that, any day now, this early run of success will be revealed to be a mirage, nothing but smoke and mirrors with no real substance beneath the surface. So far, we’ve been able to see through the haze and play them tough in 6 head-to-head matchups, winning 4 of the contests, and hope to continue that success as we put our 8-game winning streak on the line in the Bay Area…

Some minor awards… 2B Mike Duncan, of the Charlotte Imperials, took home the PoTW award in the American League after hitting .428 with 5 RBI and 5 runs while LF Blas Polo, of the Phoenix Coyotes, did the same in the NL after putting up a .400 AVG with 4 HR’s and 12 RBI.

Weekly PR… Top 5

1. Los Angeles Leopards (131.7)... who? what?
2. Brooklyn Citizens (115.6)
3. Las Vegas Outlaws (115.5)
4. Salt Lake Alpines (107.6)
5. Pittsburgh Pipers (99.7)

A Trade: Looks like the Outlaws are trying to shore up their staff… Las Vegas and Portland announced today in a joint press conference that 26-year old SS Jess Alford (58 OVR) and 23-year old minor league CF Jack Gorton (39 POT) will be going to the Pines in exchange for 26-year old LHP Shizuka Takeuchi (50 OVR; 55 POT).

71 of 162: Keith Baeza (2-0, 1.65) @ Julen Morales (3-3, 3.07)
Loss, 6-3. Julen Morales toyed with our lineup, went 8 strong for San Jose, allowed 5 hits, 3 earned, and secured his 4th win of the season and CF Eden Holbrook led their offense with two, two-baggers and 3 RBI. Otto gave it his all for us here, doing his level best to lead our club to our 9th straight victory, with 2 for 4 with 2 solo shots… Mullens hit his 17th double but no one was on at the time, Soto hit his first triple as a pro, but again no one was one, our other run came on a run-scoring walk drawn by Ian Hanan, and Baeza will be charged with the loss as he’d already allowed 5 earned before handing it off to the pen midway through the 4th.


Elsewhere: LF Bakari Konate, the lone Ivory Coast representative in our league, currently putting in work with the Oklahoma City Friendlys (Dallas’ Triple-A outfit), went 5 for 5 with TWO TRUCKS, 4 RBI, and 2 RUNS to lead his club to a 9-4 win over the Long Beach Titans. Konate was the 12th overall pick out of Binghamton in 2076, is currently the 43rd ranked prospect, and should, with a good roll of the developmental dice, become a major league mainstay as early as next season. He’ll be one to watch for sure…

Some unfortunate injury news… SP Luc Felix, the Pacheco Award winner in 2075, and the best pitcher in New Orleans’ barren rotation, will miss the remainder of the 2078 campaign with a torn rotator cuff… in truth he’ll not just miss the rest of this year but at least half of next season as his recovery is expected to take at least 13 months… lame.

72 of 162: Stepehen Estevez (6-0, 1.89) @ Bentley Hunt (7-3, 3.69)
Loss, 2-0. Oof… we went from winning 8-straight to being on the wrong side of a mini-sweep with the quickness here as Bentley Hunt gave a great account of himself holding us scoreless over 8.2 innings before turning it over to CL Manny Sepulveda who earned his 20th save on 4-pitches … Otto went 3-3 with a free pass, our starter, Estevez, took the loss, his first of the season, after giving up 1 earned (and another unearned) in a mere 4.1 innings of work, and Dwight Beasley kept San Jose off the board the rest of the way to give our offense a chance… of course, given that we never brought one across, we squandered that opportunity.

Record: 45-27, .625, 1st NL West… barely
Up Next: Straight to the tarmac and off to New Orleans for a 4-game parlay in the bayou.

[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (45-27, .625, 1st NL West) @ New Orleans Pirates (28-44, .389, 6th NL East)
The New Orleans Pirates are in a bad way… 12th in EVERY SINGLE OFFENSIVE CATEGORY and nearly as bad in the pitching department, this is a club that doesn’t seem to have much going for it. Their best starter, SP Luc Felix, is out for 13 months, their world-class closer, Dexter Moreau, is out for 4-5 more months, and their top prospect, SP William Macomber seems stuck in neutral, languishing in Louisiana at half way developed… This represents about as good an opportunity to right the ship as we are likely to get, so… our challenge here, which we whole-heartily accept, is to secure ourselves a 4-game sweep in the bayou before meeting Miami back at our place on the 28th. Should be easy…

73 of 162: Peter Garcia (4-2, 4.03) @ Pete Taylor (4-7, 3.63)
Win, 3-1. The only thing crispier than Garcia’s ‘stache was his curve as your boy went 5 the hard way, allowing 3 hits and 1 earned while fanning 9 hapless New Orleans nobodies… DOM trucked one, his 6th, and drove each and every one of our runs in on it, we secured 3 double plays despite Pepper committing his 5th fielding flub of the year, got a tasty little hold off Major Hansen who went 3 innings, fanned five, and let nothing find its way home, and sat idly by, confident, indifferent, as Turnbull picked up save number 23 on SIX total pitches during the bottom of the 9th. That’s that easy money…

A Trade: It looks like the Pines are getting serious about making a run at the Salt Lake City Alpines as they traded for CF Wasp Hauck (Ovr: 55) from Charlotte, sending Pitching Prospect RHP Kenny Ibuna (Pot: 50) back in return. Seems like a win now situation… AT 6 ½ games off SLC’s pace, now is as good a time as any for PDX to start trying to make a move, I suppose…



74 of 162: Merl Crawford (6-2, 2.15) @ Ty Peterson (2-0, 3.53)
Win, 6-3. Solid outing for Merl who gave up 7 hits, 1 earned, and fanned 7 over 5.1 innings of work, and a solid day on the basepaths for OH HONG who scored twice for us during a 3 for 5 day at the plate. Hanan put his 5th ball out of the park, Otto drove two in on his 9th two-bagger of the year, HAMZA & PEPPER both got in on it with an RBI for each, respectively, and we’d earn 18 total bases as a club. Beasley was a bit flat in relief, allowing two scores to inflate his ERA to a still phenomenal 1.60, and Turnbull did it again, securing his 24th save of the year on 11 total pitches this time.

Elsewhere: Big day for Seattle’s Austin Rollins…


75 of 162: Masaya Nakagawa (4-3, 4.39) @ Joseph Hinder (6-5, 3.06)
Win, 4-1. Nakagawa followed suit with our previous two starters here and even upped the ante a bit in a 6.2 inning, 4-hit, 1 earned masterpiece with 5 K’s and Hamza McDonnell drove in the game-winner during the top of the 4th on a run-scoring single with everything else we got across from there just icing on the cake. Mullens trucked a solo shot, his 5th on the year, Otto hit an absolute TANK for jack # 24, we swiped two bags, both belonging to Hamza, got another hold from Rishon Shaw, his 10th, and unleashed Turnbull once more to work some magic during the 9th – 11 pitches, 2 K’s, and save #25.

76 of 162: Keith Baeza (2-1, 2.90) @ Socrates Nava (0-2, 6.14)
Win, 3-0. All I know, in addition to knowing that I know nothing, is that we got another hard-earned victory, our 4th in a row, and secured the much-needed ROAD SWEEP over the ho-hum Pirates of New Orleans. Baeza was par for the course – 6.1, 1 H. NADA EARNED, and THIRTEEN K’S to earn his 3rd WIN – Kumar Bovie styled on New Orleans a bit during his 3 for 4 day that included a double, a JACK, 2 RBI and a couple of runs, and CL Donovan Turnbull, doing that voodoo that only he can do-do, charged save #26 to the Pirates account on a hard-scrabble 15 pitches. Four doubles as a club, Kumar’s dinger, 2, 2-out RBI, and burgled bag # 18 for Mr. Mullens… all in a days work my friends.

Record: 49-27, .644, 1st NL West
Up Next: Travel day as we head home to relax for less than 24 hours before welcoming the Miami Herons to town for a 3-game set.

[pauwoo]

Lets start with some old news, hot off the press yesterday… First, top 5 NL All-Star vote getters thus far – Tom Franzone (Pittsburgh; 3.28mm), Otto Isaac (Los Angeles; 3.07mm), Rich Hamilton (Brooklyn; 2.93mm), Harlem Peterson (Montreal; 2.93mm), and Palmer Parker (Philly; 2.85mm). Second, some weekly award winners – Buffalo’s 1B Benjamin Herrera earned the AL nod with a 12 for 24 week that included a long ball and 9 total RBI, and Mexico City’s LF David Pritcher held it down for the NL with a .833 AVG, 3 JACKS, and 5 RBI. Third, peep the top 5 in the weekly PR…

Los Angeles Leopards (126.1)
Brooklyn Citizens (113.0)
Las Vegas Outlaws (105.9)
Miami Herons (100.7)
Salt Lake City Alpines (99.6)

Miami Herons (42-37, .532, 4th NL East) @ Los Angeles Leopards (49-27, .644, 1st NL West)
The Herons saw their stock rise some last week, moving all the way up to 4th on the Weekly PR after navigating a phenomenal 6-1 home stand (8-1 if you include the last two days of the previous week). They have the unfortunate distinction of being a pretty good club in a division with plenty of those, have the 3rd ranked offense in the NL (ours is currently ranked 4th), and can toss it around a little bit as evidenced by their 6th ranked staff. They’re led by Ace Cathal Magill, though he’s struggled to dial it in so far at 4-5 with a 4.15 ERA, and 2B Telma Tavares who’s operating at a superstar clip with a .312/.389/.482 slash, 8 JACKS, 7 SB’s, a 146 wRC+, and 3.3 in WAR so far. They are, no doubt, a club on a come up, one that may be coming in a bit ahead of schedule, but who is formidable and able to compete with any club, anywhere, nonetheless. We both are entering this set on 8-2 records over our last ten, the good times are rolling, and, after their visit to Los Angeles one of us will be off the good stuff and trying to figure out what happened. Let’s hope it’s not us in need of some serious introspection and self-reflection after this set.

But, first… a trade: the Dallas Chaparrals, last in the AL West and likely throwing in the towel on 2078, have traded 32-year-old, 2-time All-Star, SP Tommy Mathieu (Ovr: 60) to the Boston Shamrocks for a couple of low-key prospects in 2B Clinton Testa (Pot: 45) and RHP Jacob Amero (Pot: 38). Boston, even with a poor 37-38 record so far, is only one game of Charlotte’s pace in the AL East… so, this could do the trick.



77 of 162: Nacho Valadez (2-8, 5.91) @ Stephen Estevez (6-1, 1.90)
Win, 8-5. Manuel Soto, who seems to have finally secured his footing since being called up, came out gangbusters for us tonight – 1 for 2 as a late substitute, with that 1 being the game-winning, 2-run DING DONG, putting us up 6-5 at the time. Satoru Ono and Otto joined Soto with homers of their own, Ethan went 3 for 4 with an RBI and a run, and Hamza drove one in on a double during a 2 for 3 day at the plate. Estevez struggled against the Herons, giving up 5 earned over as many inning and seeing two TRUCKS leave the yard on his watch, but the pen came up smelling roses with Igarashi cutting his ERA to 6.44 after 2.1 innings of scoreless work to get the win, and Turnbull putting it down something fierce to earn his 27th save on a laborious 20 pitches… not pretty this time, just effective.


Elsewhere: Hanford, California’s finest, who is currently plying his trade with the Gainesville Gamecocks in the Bush League, RF Shock Vaughan had himself something of a game against the Nolanville ‘Nauts as he put up a 2 for 4 line with 2 DING DONGS, 6 RBI, and 3 runs to lead his club to a RESOUNDING 13-0 victory.



78 of 162: Cathal Magill (4-5, 4.15) @ Peter Garcia (5-2, 3.89)
Win, 5-3. We’d persevere in a close one as OH HONG drove in three during a 4-run bottom of the 7th with a bases-clearing double that was the difference maker for us… Dom Cooke also drove two in on a single, Major Hansen, who came in for a struggling Peter Garcia to start the 6th, earned his first win of the year on 3 innings of no hit ball, and Turnbull, the workhorse, turned out for us once again with another laborious 24-pitch save. We need to give this guy a break, and soon, as he’s due to blow one of these if we keep sending him out there…

Injury Update: Trev Anderson is eligible to come of the IL… we’ll be sending him to Compton for some rehab before mixing things up on the Big Club… look, we got a good thing going right now, and, while Trev is a HUGE part of that, we are in a position where rushing things is unnecessary. Let’s hope that he understands and that he doesn’t mind taking a seat on that rickety old bus we use to get the team to most of their road games… Meanwhile – we got news that HAMZA will be day-to-day with a sprained knee. Not great… we’ll actually let him rehab on the IL and bring up SS Hetereki Ailani in his stead for a stretch.

79 of 162: Mike Clendenin (6-5, 3.56) @ Merl Crawford (7-2, 2.12)
Win, 10-4. Clendenin did his level best to give his Herons a chance and held us scoreless over 5 innings of work, but once we got to their pen that was all she wrote as we’d blow it up during a 7-run bottom of the 8th to put another SWEEP on the books. Ernie Sparacino, getting the start at SS in HAMZA’s absence, went 3 for 3 with two, two-baggers, an RBI, and a run, Kumar Bovie hit a 2-run dinger to open the flood gates during that fateful bottom of the 8th, and both OH HONG & SATORU ONO would put balls out to add to the cause. RP Grumpy Losito earned the win, his 5th on the year, in only 1.1 innings of work and 13 total pitches for us after we got yet another spotty start out of our rotation with Merl letting Miami put three bad ones on us before the end of the 3rd.

Some more roster moves… LF Andy Shepard is back from the IL, we’ll slot him back into the thick of it on the big club which means that your boy, Manuel Soto will be heading back to Compton. I’ll likely throw him up on the trading block as we get closer to the deadline as he doesn’t really factor into my long-term plans and has improved his stock recently with his good run of form.

Record: 52-27, .658, 1st NL West
Up Next: San Jose heads our way for a no hold barred cage match with death on the line…

[pauwoo]

I mean, why not…

American League:
Top Hitter: LF Aramis Wright (New York Sluggers) - .357, 4 HR, 25 RBI, 17 R
Top Hurler: CL Don Haag (Vancouver Mounties) – 14 Saves, 24 K’s, 17.2 Innings, 0.51 ERA
Top Greenhorn: 1B Gabe Dominique (Boston Shamrocks) - .327, 4 2B, 4 HR, 20 RBI, 15 R



National League:
Top Hitter: CF Otto Isaac (Los Angeles Leopards) - .309, 12 HR, 26 RBI, 21 R
Top Hurler: CL Johnny Dial (Las Vegas Outlaws) – 12 Saves, 31 K’s, 21 Innings, 0.84 ERA
Top Greenhorn: LF Lucas Keiler (San Jose Seals) - .373, 5 HR, 21 RBI, 18 R

[pauwoo]

San Jose Seals (47-32, .595, 2nd NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (52-27, .658, 1st NL West)
At a full 5 games off our pace now, even after a great 17-10 month of June, the San Jose Seals have to be wondering what they can do to overtake us in the National League West. They’ve been offensively sound, good enough to rank at 3rd in the NL, and have shown themselves to be a good pitching outfit where they rank a respectable 5th. They even own a 4-4 head-to-head record against us so far, playing us tougher than any of our other divisional rivals, save Las Vegas, so far… yet we managed to pull away. And, granted, our sudden burst of speed was fueled, no doubt, by a miraculous 20-6 month of June, including our current 7-game winning streak – but, still, you have to wonder if we will cool down a bit, and, if so, can San Jose put together the kind of run required to knock us off our perch at the top of the pops in the NL West?

80 of 162: Patrick Zielinski (1-1, 3.70) @ Masaya Nakagawa (5-3, 4.11)
Loss, 4-1. San Jose would pick up right where they left off last time we lined up against them… on the winning end of a ball game that looked a lot closer than it actually was. C Wilfredo Ovando called a great game for his staff and went 2 for 3 with a 2-run homer for his Seals and star SS, Jalen Payton, hit 2 doubles and scored on each to provide more than enough cushion for San Jose to get the win, and, in the process, put an unceremonious end to our 7-game winning streak. In our house. In front of our fans. Our families. Our wives. Our children. Our girlfriends. Our mistresses. A bunch of people we don’t even know. And the Deacan of Peter Garcia’s church. For our part it was nothing doing… we’d get a homer from Hanan, his 6th on the year, an 0 for 4 day from Shepard in his first game back from injury, and a nice double play that kept this one closer than it should have been. Yeah, not our best look – we’ll need to work on that.

81 of 162: Julen Morales (4-4, 3.03) @ Keith Baeza (3-1, 2.41)
Win, 2-0. Baeza was in prime form, putting in 7-innings of work with 2 hits against and no scores while fanning TWELVE, and Satoru Ono put out the game winner during the bottom of the 4th and went 2 for 3 overall. Shepard, still hitless in his return, went 0 for 2 with a walk, Otto and Lee Rolon, our backup backstop, each registered a hit to run our total, including Ono’s, up to 4 hits as a club, and OH HONG drove in our only other run on a SAC FLY. So, not our best look offensively, but our Starter was strong, Grumpy completed his 6th hold of the year, and your boy, Donovan Turnbull, saved the day for the 29th time this year.


Elsewhere: SP Ondino Orellana, of the Vancouver Mounties, hurled a complete-game, 2-hit shutout with 7 K’s to lead his squad to a 10-0 victory over the recently low-key retooled Portland Pines. And, while this isn’t the most exciting performance to highlight, I mean complete game shut outs are cool and all, the real reason I chose to write it up was because the BNN headline of, “Pines lead with Chin, Get KO’d, 10-0”, made me stop and take notice… so, good on ya Ondino, may you continue to experience fair winds and following seas good sir.

Another trade… the Pittsburgh Pirates sent minor leaguers, 22yo RHP William Allen and 24yo Derek Lavener, and a 2nd Round Pick to New Orleans for CL JR Orton (Ovr: 68). At 2 games off Brooklyn’s pace in the NL East… it looks like the Pipers are trying to shore up their roster a bit in preparation for a sprint to the finish.

82 of 162: Bentley Hunt (9-3, 3.35) @ Stephen Estevez (6-1, 2.29)
Win, 2-1. Up 6-5 on San Jose for the season after this win… Estevez was solid, 6-innings of work, 2 hits against, 1 earned, and 10 K’s, and each of our runs, 1 each for Dom & Pepper, were brought in on SAC FLYS for the win. Ono hit a double with a man on first, setting up our first score on a PEPPER SAC FLY, Otto swiped his 19th bag of the year to put himself in position to score on Dom’s SAC FLY, Rishon Shaw secured hold #13, and Turnbull, cooking with Crisco now, entered his 30th save into the permanent record on 16 total pitches.

Look – these two wins weren’t necessarily our finest work… short on style, yet substantive … but we got it done, showed San Jose whose boss, and managed to extend our lead over these yokels in the process. Oh, and we also managed to knock the Seals, with the Outlaws help, back to 3rd place on the NL West table at 6 games back now, with Vegas taking their slot in 2nd at 4 ½ games off our pace.

Record: 54-28, .658, 1st NL West
Up Next: A quick hop to Sin City for a 3-game set against the Outlaws… good opportunity to do them just like we did the Seals and put some more distance between them and ourselves.

[pauwoo]

Weekly Awards… Seattle’s Austin Rollins, our most recent entrant into the 300 HR club, hit 11-for-24, a .458 AVG for those of you who don’t feel like breaking out the TI-84 Plus CE, with 3 HR’s, 7 RBI, and 3 scores to earn the nod in the American League… and, San Jose’s Wilfredo Ovando was the NL PoTW winner after hitting .476 for the week with 1 dinger, 10 riblets, and 6 scores.

Weekly PR…
Los Angeles Leopards (128.5)
Las Vegas Outlaws (119.4)
Salt Lake Alpines (111.6)
Pittsburgh Pipers (108.0)
Brooklyn Citizens (103.4)

Los Angeles Leopards (54-28, .658, 1st NL West) @ Las Vegas Outlaws (50-33, .602, 2nd NL West)
After a 19-8 month in June, their best so far, a 3-0 start to July, and winning 7-straight, the Las Vegas Outlaws have hard charged their way to the second slot on the NL West table, swapping spots with the San Jose Seals and moving to within 4 ½ games of our club. This is a rock-solid club on both sides of the ball, with some legit superstars in the mix, and with enough swagger to give any club fits.



83 for 162: Peter Garcia (5-2, 3.87) @ Jake Talley (7-3, 3.21)
Loss, 9-8 (11). Jacob Wells hit the 3rd HR of the game, this one off our own Grumpy Losito, during the bottom of the 11th to deliver his team a walk-off, home victory. Angry Eloy Delando punched out his 19th long ball for the bad guys, and, for our part, only OH HONG tried to answer back with a HR of his own during the top of the 8th that put us up 8-5. Things came undone for us during the bottom of the 9th when Donovan Turnbull blew his 4th save of the year, giving up three runs on three hits as Las Vegas knotted things up during the final frame… from there we traded zeroes until Jacob Wells answered the call, threw his hat in the ring for the open position of Las Vegas folk hero, and was offered the job on the spot.

Elsewhere: Big day for power hitters… Seattle’s Austin Rollins ran his career HR total up to 305 during a 3-for-5 day at the plate that included TWO LONG BALLS and NINE RBI to lead the Metros to a resounding 12-6 victory over Salt Lake, Boston’s CF Victor Benfield finished 3-for-4 with THREE DING DONGS and SIX RBI and was the whole show during the Shamrocks 6-1 win over the Toronto Leafs, and Brooklyn Left-Fielder, Roan Munoz, laid down a 3-for-5 line with TWO TRUCKS, FOUR RBI, and 3 runs during the Citizens 12-0 thrashing of the Pittsburgh Pipers.

84 for 162: Merl Crawford (7-2, 2.28) @ Shizuka Takeuchi (5-7, 4.41)
Loss, 3-2 (10). Walked off in Sin City for the 2nd game in a row… this time it would be a run-scoring single for Angry Eloy that did the trick as Grumpy Losito gave up the ghost again, running his loss total up to 5 after earning the 4th of those only yesterday. Merl was good, only giving up two runs over 5.2 innings of work, but Takeuchi was better over 5 scoreless innings of work… Satoru put one out, his 19th on the year, servings as our lone offensive bright spot, the defense was mostly stout, but the relief work was suspect once again as the Outlaws secured the series win after walking us off twice in a row to the delight of their fans everywhere.

85 of 162: Masaya Nakagawa (5-4, 4.20) @ Patrick Keith (2-1, 1.62)
Loss, 7-6. Swept out of Sin City… but, at least we didn’t get walked off again (always look on the bright side of life). OH HONG did his level best to lead our club out of the darkness, went 2-for-4 with a double, a 2-run DING DONG, 3 total RBI, and 2 runs, but it’d not be enough as the Outlaws stayed hot, leaning on Mick Udelhoven’s 2-for-3 day in the box, where both of those two were TRUCKS, to send us packing, a disheveled and shopworn version of our former selves. As ever, it’d be the pen that let us down again with Rishon Shaw being the culprit this time, taking the loss, his 3rd of the season, and being charged with his 3rd blown save.

So, um, yeah… not great.


On a lighter note… not sure why the game chose to throw up RP Russell Harper on this BNN story – kinda fun, I forgot that I made this FG file way back when…

Also, current table and league leaders because I forgot to post it with the June Awards…




Record: 54-31, .635, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll head to Austin for four and attempt to shake some evil before breaking for the All-Star game…

[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (54-31, .635, 1st NL West) @ Austin Grackles (33-52, .388, 6th NL West)
After being big brothered for 3 games in Las Vegas, a 4-game trip to Austin could be exactly what the doctor ordered… after finishing 10-18 in June, the Grackles are off to a nondescript 3-3 start in July with each of those wins coming by a single run while each of the losses came by a 5+ run margin. Austin is a club whose General Management needs to go on a major Costco run… they have jelly, but no peanut butter, coffee but no cream, chips without guac… where they do sort of shine, however, is in the Annual Top Systems report where they rank 7th with prospects like 3B Ronaldo Guzman (Pot: 80) and SP Mateo Trachtenburg (Pot: 65) in the pipeline. It would be nice to see these guys be an active participant during the Winter Meetings, spending some cash on filling in the gaps, and marrying those moves with the big-league debuts of some of their prospects next season.



86 of 162: Keith Baeza (4-1, 2.03) @ Vin Uhlman (5-7, 5.27)
Loss, 4-3. Baeza was solid – 6-innings of work, 2 hits, and 11 K’s for our #4, but, as is becoming a habit, our bullpen couldn’t hold water as our listing vessel was capsized by a 4-run bottom of the 8th when RP Rishon Shaw gave up 4 runs on 5 hits in only 1.1 innings of work. Otto went 2-for-3 with a run-scoring double, a run, and his 20th steal, Ethan got a hit, scored a run, and swiped his 21st, and we even got an OF Assist from Isaac who picked off D.J. Wilders as he tried to stretch one out from second base at home. Tough loss… everything was fine, we played fine, but the pen struggled once more.


Elsewhere: SS Stewie Lazaro, a 28-year-old Colombian putting in work down on the farm with our Inglewood Sentinels, went 4-for-5 with a double, a GRAND SLAM, and 3 runs to lead the charge for us during a satisfying 9-7 win in Mexico against the Tijuana Goats. Stewie is unlikely to ever make it all the way up to Los Angeles, hell, he doesn’t even seem to have the skills required to be successful in Compton, but, he had himself something of a game today which might be enough to earn himself a gig on a Bush League club one day.

87 of 162: Stephen Estevez (7-1, 2.24) @ Joshua Moeller (6-8, 4.32)
Win, 7-2. We’d finally awake from our 4-game slumber to get a much-needed win in Austin… Estevez was sharp, gave us a hardscrabble 6-innings of work, allowed just 3-hits, and fanned 7 during the appearance, while Dom Cooke’s grand slam during a 5-run top of the 8th would put us up for good. This one would feature a solid bullpen performance as well with Major Hansen earning his 4th hold and Dwight Beasley retiring the last 4 Austin batters to close the show. Ethan installed himself atop the Stolen Bases leaderboard with 2 swiped bags on 2 attempts as well…

88 of 162: Peter Garcia (5-2, 3.96) @ Brendan Thompson (0-0, 4.02)
Win, 6-1. Back in the good graces of the baseball Gods it seems… Satoru Ono went 2-for-4 with a double, a jack, and 4 RBI while Peter Garcia held it down on the bump, going 5-innings with 3 hits allowed, nothing earned, and 5 total K’s. Ethan put one out during a 3-for-5 day and scored 3 runs, we hit 4 total extra base hits, and, once again, the bullpen came through with Beasley putting in 2.2 innings of middle relief work while Jan Hernandez retired Austin’s last 4 batters on 27 total pitches.


Elsewhere: Our own WATTS WARRIORS went big today during a smashing 19-3 win over the Fontana Venom and were led by the contributions of right fielder Dalton Burch, who went 5-for-6 with a triple, 3 RBI, and 3 runs, and 1B Taylor Velasco, who hit TWO TRUCKS with 7 RBI on a 2-for-4 day.

Peep the carnage...


All-Star Leopards:
SP Merl Crawford (LAL) - 7-2, 2.33 ERA, 104.1 IP, 1.06 WHIP, 8.4 K/9, 2.3 WAR
SP Stephen Estevez (LAL) - 8-1, 2.20 ERA, 102.1 IP, 0.84 WHIP, 11.5 K/9, 2.3 WAR
RP Grumpy Losito (LAL) - 5-5, 2.22 ERA, 44.2 IP, 0.99 WHIP, 9.5 K/9, 0.9 WAR
C Dominic Cooke (LAL)* - .228/.324/.394, 254 AB, 8 HR, 1 SB, 100 wRC+, 1.3 WAR
CF Otto Isaac (LAL)* - .302/.388/.585, 318 AB, 25 HR, 20 SB, 167 wRC+, 4.7 WAR
RF Ethan Mullens (LAL) - .269/.374/.385, 327 AB, 6 HR, 23 SB, 127 wRC+, 3.5 WAR

Some Other Cool All-Stars:
American League…
SP Josh Allen (SLC) - 5-4, 2.24 ERA, 72.1 IP, 1.01 WHIP, 9.2 K/9, 2.7 WAR (Injured)
CL Don Haag (VAN) - 1-4, 24 SV, 2.06 ERA, 39.1 IP, 1.02 WHIP, 11.7 K/9, 1.5 WAR
1B Benjamin Compton (PDX)* - .329/.361/.539, 343 AB, 17 HR, 1 SB, 153 wRC+, 3.7 WAR
1B Paulo Legna (DET)* - .319/.375/.490, 361 AB, 16 HR, 147 wRC+, 2.8 WAR
2B Richard McTaggart (TOR)* - .326/.392/.502, 319 AB, 11 HR, 8 SB, 154 wRC+, 3.0 WAR
LF Aitor Cubas (SEA)* - .233/.389/.378, 275 AB, 10 HR, 7 SB, 122 wRC+, 1.7 WAR
LF Aramis Wright (BOS) - .279/.376/.478, 301 AB, 14 HR, 17 SB, 145 wRC+, 2.8 WAR
RF Patrick Adams (SEA)* - .300/.386/.553, 320 AB, 19 HR, 2 SB, 170 wRC+, 3.5 WAR

National League…
SP Bradley Hughes (BRK)* - 10-4, 1.23 ERA, 124.0 IP, 0.91 WHIP, 12.5 K/9, 5.7 WAR
SP Josiah Kawka (BRK) - 8-4, 2.48 ERA, 141.2 IP, 1.16 WHIP, 6.5 K/9, 3.6 WAR
SP Norm Rodriquez (MON) - 11-3, 2.04 ERA, 110.1 IP, 0.93 WHIP, 8.7 K/9, 2.9 WAR
CL Johnny Dial (LV) - 3-3, 32 SV, 2.61 ERA, 51.2 IP, 1.10 WHIP, 11.8 K/9, 2.1 WAR
1B Tom Franzone (PIT)* - .335/.440/.560, 316 AB, 16 HR, 176 wRC+, 4.1 WAR
2B Rich Hamilton (BRK)* - .312/.440/.490, 304 AB, 11 HR, 173 wRC+, 4.0 WAR
2B Heathcote Kinton (MCD)* - .320/.377/.491, 334 AB, 13 HR, 11 SB, 133 wRC+, 3.6 WAR
2B Ryder Nieman (MCD) - .345/.411/.564, 328 AB, 13 HR, 13 SB, 169 wRC+, 3.8 WAR
2B Telma Taveras (MIA) - .297/.378/.459, 290 AB, 8 HR, 7 SB, 137 wRC+, 3.5 WAR
LF Palmer Parker (PHI)* - .312/.383/.508, 321 AB, 16 HR, 148 wRC+, 3.2 WAR
RF Mack Ramirez (PIT)* - .308/.359/.556, 315 AB, 20 HR, 156 wRC+, 3.6 WAR

89 of 162: Merl Crawford (7-2, 2.33) @ Ryan Burg (6-6, 3.58)
Win, 2-1. Three straight for the La La’s now as we head into the All-Star break… Merl came up smelling roses, gave us 6 innings of work, allowed just 5 hits with nothing earned while fanning 5, and Andy Shepard, who’s been a bit quiet since returning to the fold from the IL, finished 2-for-4 with a 2-run moonshot to give us all the runs we’d need to saunter out of town on something of a winning streak. Pepper hit a double, his 12th, and sees his AVG improve to .202 on the year (yikes), Mullens & Kumar Bovie each burgled a bag, and we supported our resurgent staff with two, expertly executed double plays. The bullpen, stout once more, brought this one home with a 2-inning hold from Shaw and save #31 from Donovan Turnbull. All systems go as we enter the break!

Record: 57-32, .640, 1st NL West
Up Next: With the exception of our best & brightest, we’ll take a few days off to rest, collect our thoughts, and recharge as we prepare to hit the ground running in the 2nd half.

[pauwoo]

But first, some weekly awards…
American League: CF Victor Benfield (Boston Shamrocks) - .458, 3 HR, 9 RBI
National League: LF Palmer Parker (Philadelphia Founders) - .375, 5 HR, 9 RBI

Weekly PR: 4-of-5 from the NL, 3-of-5 in the NL West…
Los Angeles Leopards (118.3)
Las Vegas Outlaws (118.0)
San Jose Seals (107.2)
Miami Herons (100.9)
Detroit Pistons (100.0)


Home Run Derby: Despite fielding two of the entrants, OH HONG and Satoru Ono, both of whom were bounced in the 1st round, we’d have to sit idly by as Pittsburgh’s Mack Ramirez won the derby by one TRUCK over Portland’s Benjamin Compton.

American League All-Stars @ National League All-Stars
Contested @ SPF200 Park in Miami, FL
Buffalo’s Roddy Dubey (7-6, 2.24) @ Brooklyn’s Bradley Hughes (10-4, 1.23)
AL wins, 6-3. Mack Ramirez had himself a weekend, winning the HR Derby and following that up with a 2-run TANK during the game itself, while 1B Paulo Legna, representing Detroit of the AL, hit a 3-run JACK that put the American League up for good during the top of the 5th. None of our guys secured a hit, though our hurlers gave a solid account of themselves with both Grumpy & Estevez putting in 1 hitless inning of work while fanning 2 each, respectively.

Detroit’s 1B Paulo Legna took home the Player of the Game hardware…

A Trade Proposal: Odd that it comes from our next opponent, but… the Philadelphia Founders want to send RP Better Call Saul Guzman back to Los Angeles for 3 minor leaguers in 1B Nemo Tejeda, LF Joshua Green, and C Jeff Washburn. It’s a no-go, not because Saul can’t help us, he can, and not because I’d be giving up too much, I wouldn’t… but because I don’t want to deal with reorganizing the pen for a piece that isn’t much better than what I already have there… plus he’s 35-years-old.

Up Next: We’re back at it with a 4-game series, at home, against Palmer Parker and his Philadelphia Founders.

[pauwoo]

Philadelphia Founders (39-50, .438, 5th NL East) @ Los Angles Leopards (57-32, .640, 1st NL West)
Philly is proof positive that having one of the best players in the game flexing your kit on a daily basis does little to improve your lot in life if you don’t surround him with half-way decent parts. In Philadelphia, they’ve chosen to surround their premium offensive engine, Palmer Parker, with aftermarket parts of suspect origin and the results, as you’d expect, have been poor thus far. After three straight seasons of making the playoffs, Philadelphia’s days as a contender are surely numbered given their pedestrian performance thus far, their lack of minor league pieces to entice the type of trade that could shake up the big club, and a front office that lacks the creativity required to even complete a paint-by-numbers watercolor.



90 of 162: Steve Allen (5-6, 2.66) @ Keith Baeza (4-1, 1.79)
Win, 2-1. An exciting game for fans of tip-top pitching and sturdy defense as both clubs relied on those attributes throughout this tilt, with our offense good for one more run than theirs and our staff just a touch more resolute. Baeza went 5.2 innings for us, allowing the only run against us of the game on a run-scoring walk, and Igarashi, Rishon, and Turnbull combined to toss a shutout the rest of the way with Shaw getting the hold and Donovan securing his 31st save of the year. Shepard drove our first run in on a solo shot during the bottom of the 3rd and Sparacino scored on a bases-loaded walk drawn by Ethan Mullens that’d prove to be the game winner… I mean, we’ll take it.

91 of 162: Johnny Garcia (8-7, 3.81) @ Peter Garcia (6-2, 3.75)
Win, 10-3. We’d put it in cruise control after brutalizing Philly for 6 runs within the first two innings… Otto attacked with a 2-for-3 day that included a 3-run dinger, 2 runs, and a couple of free passes to lead the offense, and Garcia was solid enough over 5.2 innings of work where he’d allow 3 earned runs while fanning 7. Ono and Hanan joined the homerun derby, Satoru with his 17th and Ian with his 7th, Ethan scored twice and wrecked the basepaths with two steals and came around twice with one of the runs coming after he reached on a haggard looking HBP. Beasley, who’s never going back down, earned the save, his first as a pro, in 3.1 innings of work where he’d allow just one hit while fanning 4 hapless hitters. This was better than yesterday, and, again, we’ll take it.


Elsewhere: RF Eli Polly, a 25-year-old former Washington State Cougar who went undrafted in 2074 but lives on in the Bush League with the San Marcos Supremos, went 3-ffor-4 with a double, 2 DING DONGS, 5 RBI, and 2 runs to lead his club to a satisfying 6-3 win over the Decatur Donnybrooks on the road. After the game, Eli was escorted by local law enforcement back to the hotel to protect him from Decatur’s sketchy home crowd. Okay, not really, it’s a bush league game so nobody cared… plus it was $1 hotdog night.

92 of 162: Linden Brittingham (6-6, 4.67) @ Merl Crawford (8-2, 2.45)
Win, 6-4. A little closer this time, but we’d get the same result as Merl went 5.1 strong ones, allowed three hits, 2 runs, and a walk while fanning 8, and Ono led the offense with 2 run-scoring singles… 2 hits and a run for OH HONG, RBI’s for Otto, Dom, PEPPER, and Ernie, and 6 runs for the club despite leaving 10 runners stranded during the contest. Grumpy, fresh off his solid All-Star appearance, was the only reliever to let anything come around (he gave up two runs and retired only two batters before Donovan relieved him), Major Hansen recorded his 5th hold of the year, and Turnbull was dialed in during his 32nd save so far.

93 of 162: Jim Girardin (4-6, 5.36) @ Masaya Nakagawa (5-4, 4.07)
Win, 4-1. SWEEP CITY… DANCE AND REJOICE! Nakagawa was clutch over 6.2 innings of work, allowing a lone run to score on 4 hits, Mullens TRUCKED his 7th long ball, a 2-run, game-breaking shot, and the bullpen remained hot as the Rishon/Turnbull show was at it once more with hold #16 entered into the permanent record by Shaw and save #33 added into the annuals of time by Donovan. It’s been nice to see our leaky pen come back after the All-Star break all patched up and ready to get back after it in open waters.

Big UPS to BENJI HERRERA! Note: he’s led the league in walks three times but never in hits…


Record: 61-32, .655, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll face some stiffer competition next as the NL East’s Brooklyn Citizens head our way for a 3-game set.

[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (61-32, .655, 1st NL West) @ Brooklyn Citizens (50-41, .549, 2nd NL East)
After consecutive .600+ months in April and May, Brooklyn stumbled a bit in June, finished even at 13-13, and relinquished their stranglehold on the NL East to current leader, Pittsburgh. So far in July, their fortunes have only gotten worse as they’ve gone 5-8 in their first 13 games of the month with a low-key promising +2 RDiff over that stretch. Look, Brooklyn is a good club, one of the better ran clubs in our league, but they’ve been held back by a cold offense and a pitching staff who have been solid, but not as good as I would have expected at the start of the ’78 campaign. There’s time, of course, but if they want to be heard from in the post season, they need to start making some moves… yet, at 1-3 since the All-Star break and with our club, and its 7-game winning streak, headed their way, righting the ship will be a tall order in the short term.



But first some Weekly Recognition… 1B Quinn Charvat, of the Boston Shamrocks, took home the PoTW honor in the American League after turning in a 10-for-14 week with 3 JACKS and 5 RBI in 4 games, and 1B William Lazenby, of the Mexico City Jags, did the same on the strength of his 9-for-20 week with 2 TRUCKS, 8 RIBLETS, and 3 runs.

Some injury woes in Pittsburgh… the 1st Place, NL East Pittsburgh Pipers will be without their Closer, Ricky "Bobby" Surber, for the rest of the season as he’s currently suffering from an Ulnar Nerve Entrapment, which just sounds terrible. And likely is.

The Weekly PR’s go like this…
Los Angeles Leopards (129.1)
Las Vegas Outlaws (113.3)
Salt Lake Alpines (108.5)
Pittsburgh Pipers (107.6)
San Jose Seals (103.6)

Our next opponent, Brooklyn, came in at 9th with a 95.9 score…

94 of 162: Stephen Estevez (8-1, 2.20) @ Josiah Kawka (8-4, 2.48)
Win, 11-1. Estevez gave up Brooklyn’s only run during his 5.2 innings of work, fanned 8, and walked 2, and Ethan Mullens led us offensively with a 2-run, two-bagger, 2 runs, and a steal. Shepard, back at full speed it seems, hit a 3-run TRUCK during the top of the 6th, OH HONG hit a 2-run DINGER, his 19th, during the top of the 9th, and the bullpen was stout once again with Jan Hernandez giving us 2.2 innings of filthy relief work before handing it off to Dwight who’d give us 1 more with 2 K’s to close the show. That makes it 8 straight for the La La’s and a 1-4 stretch after the break for Brooklyn.

95 of 162: Trev Anderson (3-3, 3.75) @ John Aivazian (7-7, 4.23)
Loss, 1-5. Guess who’s back, back again… wait. Never mind. Doesn’t matter. Aivazian outdueled Trev in his return from his rehab assignment down on the Urban Farm in Compton, and the Citizens offense gave him the business early in the bottom of the 2nd when CF Marco Paredes sent a 3-run TRUCK over the left field wall. Nothing doing for the La La’s in this one… the offense was weak, the pitching suspect, and the effort… lacking. You never want a streak to end, but ending our 8-game winning run with a thud this loud? Not ideal.

96 of 162: Keith Baeza (4-1, 1.77) @ Matthew Krebs (4-10, 4.83)
Loss, 3-4. Oof. The wheels have fallen off, our confidence is shaken, and our swagger is all but spent… Krebs picked up where Aivazian left off yesterday, held us in relative check over 6.2 innings of work, and fanned 9 of our batsmen. Dom Cooke did his level best to keep us in it and went 2-for-4 on the day with a 2-run JACK and a couple of runs, Baeza was strong over 5 innings, allowed three early runs before settling down a bit, and Major Hansen took the loss after he gave up the tie-breaking run on a SAC FLY to Brooklyn’s Jake DeChamps.


Elsewhere: New Orleans’ Carson Vespa, whose choice of transportation is an Electric Dodge Neon, hurled a complete game, shut out with 9 K’s to lead the Pirates to a 2-0 home win against the hard-charging San Jose Seals. Carson ran his record up to 7-8, improved his ERA to 3.90, and moved into the 5th slot on the Strikeouts leaderboard with 135 on the year with the performance. A solid pitcher putting it down for a bad club… would love to see someone make a run at trading for him. When I inquired the price was way too high… Beasley (NOPE), Cullen Craig (22/60 – Um, nah), Stephen Estevez, OH HONG… I mean, c’mon man. Get serious.

Record: 62-34, .645, 1st NL West
Up Next: TRAVEL DAY to head home then a 3-game set against the visiting Pipers… who, as you may know, are currently making their living at the top of the pops in the NL East.

[pauwoo]

Pittsburgh Pipers (53-43, .552, 1st NL East) @ Los Angeles Leopards (62-34, .645, 1st NL West)
After we gifted the Brooklyn Citizens two wins our last time out, Pittsburgh’s lead in the NL East became mighty tentative… now at just ½ game ahead, the Pipers need to put their best foot forward against us in Los Angeles should they intend to maintain their perch atop their division. They have the offense to do it – 2nd in AVG and WAR, 4th in runs, OPS, and wOBA – even if their 9th ranked pitching staff often leaves a bit to be desired. Still, given our poor run of form recently and their 26-23 road record, they’re a difficult club to right the ship against, no matter where you play them…



97 of 162: Robby Garrett (9-10, 3.56) @ Merl Crawford (9-2, 2.49)
Loss, 0-3. Shutout. At home. Yikes… Robby Garrett gave us the business over 9-innings of work, only allowed 3 hits, doled out 4 free passes, and fanned 9 for the game while Merl was bounced early after giving up all three of the runs scored during the top of the very 1st frame. Nothing doing offensively, clearly, as Ono fanned three times, Otto & Andy each left 3 runners stranded, and Pepper hit into a double play… we’d also commit a couple of fielding flubs, #7 for our second baseman, Ian Hanan, and #6 for our third baseman, PEPPER GRANT. I mean… ugh. Not a good look.


Elsewhere: SP Kordell Littles, of your CITY OF COMPTON RAIDERS, put in some work, at home, against the visiting Condors as he hurled a complete-game, 5-hit shutout with 6 K’s and only one walk. 121-pitches of filthiness… Miguel Soto got after it a bit as well – it seems that he’s trying to figure out a way to get back up with us in Los Angeles – during a 1-for-3 day that included a walk, a run, and an RBI. He’d also get caught with his hand in the honeypot while trying to crib second base, but we won’t worry about that so much.

98 of 162: Jaxton Mottola (6-3, 3.12) @ Stephen Estevez (9-1, 2.17)
Loss, 1-2. Yikes… just when you think there’s nowhere left to go, we dig the hole deeper to prove you wrong… Estevez was dealing… 8-innings of work, 2 hits against, nothing earned, and 11 K’s for our Starter,,, but the bullpen, namely Donovan Turnbull, came unglued during the top of the 9th, gave up the ghost to the tune of 2-runs, and registered his 4th loss as our closer this season. For as good as this guy is, and he’s really, really good, this seems to happen a lot. Anecdotally. It’s frustrating either way… AND, equally frustrating... our offense showed up in shambles once again with OH HONG, Otto, and Andy going hitless from the heart of the order, not a single extra base hit between us, and we grounded into a double play TWICE.


A Trade… this one hurts a bit, in a weird way… Former Leopard, current (now former) Founder, RP Better Call Saul Guzman (54/54, 35yo) is headed to Pittburgh in a swap that saw MiLB talents, 3B Dominick Kemmer (25/35) and RHP Edward Rossman (31/31), head out to Philly. This will help Pittsburgh shore their pen up after losing former closer, Ricky “Bobby” Surber, only 6 short days ago. A solid move for the Pipers if I do say so myself…

99 of 162: Casey Tucker (4-10, 5.00) @ Peter Garcia (7-2, 3.81)
Win, 2-0. Peter Garcia came in with his toolbox, reattached & realigned our wonky wheels, hurled an 8.1-inning masterpiece, and saved the day as he led the charge to earn our first victory in our last 5 tries… our scoring came early, not often, as OH HONG was brought around on a PEPPER double during the bottom of the first and drove in another of his own on a SAC FLY only 1 short inning later. And, Donovan Turnbull, showcasing his ability to not get too low with the lows, earned his 34th save by striking out the final two batsmen on 13 total pitches. That'll play.


Elsewhere: SP Ram Chen, our 9th round, 214th overall pick out of San Jose State in 2077, who is currently putting it down something fierce with our own Inglewood Sentinels, twirled a complete game, 7-hit shutout with 9 K’s to hold the Newark Colonials at bay during a 5-0 road win. After pitching in 13 contests in Watts, and amassing a 3.80 ERA, Chen was promoted to Inglewood where he’s gone on a tear and now has a 6-0 record with a 2.72 ERA. Kid just might do something with his life …

Record: 63-36, .636, 1st NL West
Up Next: More, and hopefully better, home cookin’ in Los Angeles as we welcome the 4th place Phoenix Coyotes to town for a 3-game set.

[pauwoo]

Phoenix Coyotes (52-48, .520, 4th NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (63-36, .636, 1st NL West)
At 11 ½ games back, you’d think that Phoenix would be well out of consideration for the playoffs. They’re not. In fact, they find themselves in the thick of it – locked in a battle for the last wildcard slot with the Miami Herons, and are, really, just one or two good stretches away from solidifying their place in the Wildcard race with Brooklyn and San Jose not too far ahead. Phoenix has been trading on their pitching acumen so far – 2nd in FIP, 3rd in RA, Starters ERA, and pWAR, and 4th in Bullpen ERA – while their offense has lagged a bit at 10th overall in the National League and ranked dead last in power with only 68 homers so far. I’d like to see them loose a reliver or two to shore up the offense… of course, if the goal is to simply make it into the playoffs, then maybe they don’t need to do that…

100 of 162: Dejuan Burns (3-9, 3.98) @ Trev Anderson (3-4, 3.99)
Win, 4-1. We lost Trev Anderson for 9 games when he beaned RF Turner Williams after Justin Jenkins pimped a HR only one AB prior during the 4th inning, ingniting an all-out, benches-clearing donnybrook… not awesome… BUT, our bullpen gave a good account of itself as Dwight Beasley held on to a 1-hitter for 4.2 innings and fanned 5 before handing the pill off to Losito for the hold and Turnbull for the save. Offensively, we’d get contributions from Otto who went 2-for-4 with a run, Hamza who drove one in and scored, and Hanan who finished 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI… two in a row for the La La’s – lets hope we are putting another run together.

101 of 162: Kikuzo Ueno (9-7, 2.88) @ Keith Baeza (4-1, 2.07)
Loss, 0-4. Kikuzo gave us the business over 8 innings of work where he’d allow us only 1-hit while fanning 4 to lead the Coyotes to a hard-earned win on the road… and Tyler Hill punished Baeza during the top of the 3rd with a 3-run jack that would, essentially, be both the game-winner and their opening salvo. Nothing doing for us offensively… only DOM and Ian secured hits, we drew 5 free passes as a club, left 7 runners stranded, and sat idly by as Satoru Ono hit into a double play during an ill-fated rally attempt during the bottom of the 8th. Welp… so much for putting something snappy together.


Trade alert… Austin “the Wolf” Rollins (60/60), a former Seattle lifer who’s spent his entire 9 year and 48 day pro career flexing a Metros kit, was traded to the Miami Herons along with MiLB SS Brandon Watkins (32/38) for Seattle's RP Ronald Ames (55/58), & Minor Leaguers LF Norman Bogdonovic (22/37) and C Randall Washington (22/31)… Miami, as indicated in the intro, is battling it out with Phoenix for that last wildcard slot and this move may well put them over the top… hell, they’re only 2-games off Pittsburgh for the NL East – suddenly that’s a lot more doable too.

102 of 162: Damian Harris (6-5, 3.00) @ Merl Crawford (9-3, 2.61)
Loss, 1-3. Our only score here would come on an Otto solo shot and Merl was better-than-solid during a complete-game, 5-hit, 3 earned performance that should have been enough to win… unfortunately the rest of our lineup wouldn’t contribute, and we’d suffer the indignity of 2-consecutive home losses against a division rival. Germain Sturdivant put it down something fierce for Phoenix in a 2-for-3 performance with two, two-baggers, 2 RBI, and a run while we fanned 8 times as a club, left 6 stranded, and found a way to hit into 2 DP’s over the course of the game… Bummer biscuits, for real.

Record: 64-38, .627, 1st NL West
Up Next: Another day off followed by a quick hop to Las Vegas for 3-games to close out July…

[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (64-38, .627, 1st NL West) @ Las Vegas Outlaws (63-39, .618, 2nd NL West)
Still playing second fiddle but maybe not for long, the Las Vegas Outlaws’ days spent as the bridesmaid could come to an end depending on the result of this series… here they’ll put their #1 ranked offense up against our #1 ranked pitching staff, try to run up the score just enough for our 4th ranked offense not to be able to keep the pace, and, ultimately, knock us from our spot at the top of the table in the NL West. Vegas is entering this set on better form than us, they’ve won 6 of their last 10 contests, and are coming off a hard-fought, 4-2 win over the Austin Grackles in their last time out. Conversely, we’ve been in a bit of a rough patch, are spinning somewhat out of control, trying to neutralize the stick, and giving the rudder input opposite the spin direction… the question we’ll need to answer here is if it’s enough to stop our current tailspin, on the road, against the second biggest bully on the block.

103 of 162: Stephen Estevez (9-1, 2.02) @ Cam Murphy (8-4, 2.79)
Loss, 4-5. Things were going well, Estevez was dealing, gave us 5-innings of 4-hit, 1-earned filthiness, before handing it off to the pen. The offense, to that point, had put 3 bad ones on the board off a run-scoring single from Ethan and a 2-run, two-bagger from PEPPER. But, it’d not be enough as our bullpen sprung a leak, our nightwatchman, Rishon Shaw, ran us right into an iceberg, giving up 2 dingers and 3 runs during the bottom of the 7th, and the USS Leopard was sunk once again. A tough one to swallow as the Outlaws pull even with us on the NL West table…

104 of 162: Peter Garcia (8-2, 3.52) @ Jake Talley (10-3, 3.37)
Loss, 2-5. OH HONG did his level best to lead the charge for us here with a 3-for-4 day that included a DING DONG and a swiped bag, but the rest of our offense couldn’t be bothered to follow suit as we were dismissed with prejudice in Las Vegas once again… 1B Jacob Wells broke things open with a 2-run double during the bottom of the 3rd that put the Outlaws up for good while our offense squandered every opportunity afforded to us, left 4 runners stranded, and found a way to hit weak little dribblers into double plays three times over the course of the contest. When you play like we have lately, you don’t deserve a seat at the head of the table… 2nd place in the NL West now and looking hopelessly lost, listing portside, and all but sunk for good.


Elsewhere: One of my Strangeverse favorites, 2B Heathcote Kinton (80/80), is headed to Buffalo after the Mexico City Jaguars traded him to the AL East’s 2nd place Buffalo Nickels for SP Victor Hamm (34/53), SP Theodore Junkersfeld (43/55), 3B Luke Bernhard (42/42), and LF Stanley Paige (30/32). While the move immediately improves the Nickels regular season and playoff prospects, it’s not without some risk as Heathcote’s contract expires after this season and he’ll likely be looking for a pretty hefty raise on his $24mm/yr pricetag.

105 of 162: Masaya Nakagawa (6-4, 3.87) @ Patrick Keith (4-1, 2.32)
Win, 6-5. We’d escape Vegas with some of our life savings still in the bank, going out on a win behind Dom’s 2-for-4, 2B, HR, RBI, 2 run day at the plate and Nakagawa’s 6-innings of work where he’d allow 6-hits with 4 earned. Ian Hanan drove 3 in, one on a single, the other two on a bases-clearing double, Ono and Shepard got in on it a bit with one riblet each, and Rishon acquitted himself over 2-innings of work before handing it off to Turnbull who closed the show by striking out the side to earn his 36th save of the season. With the win, we’d pull even with the Outlaws once again… with some dangerous curves ahead as we are heading to San Jose for two quick ones before returning home to do battle with the suddenly Heathcote-less Mexico City Jaguars… talk about a toothless little kitten…

Record: 65-40, .619, t-1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll kick off the month of August with a quickie 2-game series on the road in San Jose…

[pauwoo]

Some Awards… 1B Benjamin Compton, of the Portland Pines, took home PoTM honors in the AL after hitting .378 with 5 TRUCKS, 19 RBI, and 17 runs during 26 games played in July. LF Palmer Parker, a Philadelphia Founders mainstay, took home the NL’s version of that trophy after hitting .351 with a .422 OBP, 9 DINGERS, 25 RBI, and 22 runs… some pitchers & rookies took home some hardware as well, but… meh.

PR Update… we’ve been ousted from the top slot by Sin City.
Las Vegas Outlaws (114.4)
Los Angeles Leopards (108.4)
Pittsburgh Pipers (107.9)
San Jose Seals (107.6)
Buffalo Nickels (104.7)

Standings as of 8/1…


Los Angeles Leopards (65-40, .619, t-1st NL West) @ San Jose Seals (61-44, .581, 3rd NL West)
Back in the Bay Area to face a club that has played us tough all year… sitting at 6-5 head-to-head so far and coming in tepid on our worst form of the year, the time is ripe for San Jose to give us a comeuppance of sorts in their park. A balanced club that makes few mistakes and is adept at not beating themselves, San Jose gets it done on balance… pairing a 6th ranked offense with a 4th ranked staff, adept at winning the close ones (21-16 in 1-run games), and refusing to fold when things go long (7-4 in X-inning games), the Seals are a club capable of giving anyone fits that expertly waits for opponents’ concentration to wane. They’re built to give us trouble – not an L.A. wrecking machine like Las Vegas, more a rival 154-lber who ends up busting your bracket during the state wrestling tournament on some fluke cow catcher that you can’t get out from. This is a test, one we’ll likely not pass given our recent troubles, and one that I’d rather postpone as we work to regain our form… unfortunately, however, we play the games as they’re scheduled. So, we’ll enjoy the delicious street tacos in San Jose proper, drink ourselves into a stupor after each game, and try not to take the baseball too seriously.

106 of 162: Merl Crawford (9-4, 2.64) @ Julen Morales (5-6, 2.64)
Win, 5-1. Merl was at it for us again – 6.2 innings of work, 2 hits allowed, and nothing earned while fanning 10 of San Jose’s finest batsmen. Otto did Otto things, went 2-for-4 with a 2-run, two-bagger, and scored twice, Satoru Ono hit TWO SAC FLIES, earning an RBI on each, and we’d get 5 across while leaving 5 more stranded. Good stuff from the staff too as Jan Hernandez put in 1.2 innings of tip-top relief work before we unleashed Turnbull on them in the 9th to record his 37th save of the season.

107 of 162: Keith Baeza (4-2, 2.44) @ Knox Hussman (4-11, 4.23)
Loss, 3-5. All’s well that ends poorly… Knox Hussman held us in check over 6.2 innings of work, allowing just one run during the appearance and 1B Ryan Wright put out a 2-run TRUCK during the bottom of 1st that we’d never recover from. PEPPER tried to keep our head above water with a 2-run TANK during the top of the 7th, a rally attempt that would ultimately come crashing down when Ethan hit into a double play only two batters later… Beasley gave us a rock-solid 4.1 innings of relief work after Baeza was chased off the mound during the 4th inning, but the offense was unable to get us to where we needed to be and, as a result, we’ll have to settle for the split here as we head back to L.A. and await the arrival of the Mexico City Jaguars.

Record: 66-41, .616, t-1st NL West
Up Next: A day of rest, relaxation, and reflection at home, followed by a 3-game battle against the Jags on our turf.

[pauwoo]

Mexico City Jaguars (49-59, .454, 5th NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (66-41, .617, t-1st NL West)
It would seem that, in trading away their best player in Heathcote Kinton, the Mexico City Jaguars have all but packed it in on the 2078 season. It was the right move – he was unhappy, on an expiring contract, and they had little hope of resigning him, but still… Without Heathcote in the fold, their offense, currently ranked 2nd in the National League is now, for all intents and purposes, a toothless little kitten – they still have some pieces, sure, it’s just that, when you add them up, they leave a lot to be desired. And, so, this represents an opportunity for the La La’s… a chance to get back into the good graces of the baseball gods, to play up to our capability, and to reassert ourselves as the biggest bully on the block even if our 5-10 head-to-head record against Las Vegas says different…

108 of 162: Lee Myers (7-7, 3.07) @ Stephen Estevez (9-1, 2.01)
Loss, 1-3. Our descent into madness continues - we can be found just outside the door, half-dressed, and behaving erratically… ours is less a baseball club than a loose collection of stiffs suffering through some group-level existential crisis. C Gary Alvarado, Mexico City’s extraordinarily average backstop, went 3-for-4 with a double, a JACK, and 2 runs to lead the charge for the Jungle Cats while Lee Myers turned in a solid performance against us over 5 innings of work where he’d allow just 4 hits and 1 earned run while fanning 5. For our part, Satoru Ono put one out, our only score & his 19th longball of the season, and Estevez, who was charged with his 2nd loss, was fine – 3 hits, 3 earned, 7 K’s in 5.1 innings, but the rest of the group, mired in some deep seated depression, could not escape their woes for long enough to contribute, and, as a result we drop the first of three against a club that should be an easy out for us.

109 of 162: Ben McGillicuddy (6-6, 3.52) @ Peter Garcia (8-3, 3.82)
Win, 4-2. We’d play a bit of small ball here with contributions from Otto (1-3, RBI on a SAC BUNT), OH HONG (1-2, RBI on a SAC FLY, R), Ono (2-4, RBI), and Shepard (1-2, RBI)… the baserunning was smart, nothing too fancy, we completed two double plays, both routine but we’ll take it, and get 3 shutout innings from the pen after Garcia left one out into the 6th. It’s good to get the win, to come out of the fog and to get some visibility on the road ahead… hopefully it will be smooth sailing tomorrow so we can carry whatever good vibes a couple of hard-earned wins affords us forward.


Elsewhere: Buffalo’s SS Joshua Norman led the charge for the Nickles with a 3-for-4 day at the plate with a two-bagger, a TRUCK, 3 RBI, 3 runs, and a free pass as his team absolutely destroyed their division rival, the Toronto Leafs, at home, by a score of 19-7. New guy, 2B Heathcote Kinton, looked good during a 3-for-5 day that included 2 RBI and 3 runs, and RF Ulisses Ventura, LF Aaron Johnson, and 1B Benjamin Herrera matched Norman’s RBI total with 3 each, respectively. Absolute carnage. Also cool, Buffalo came back from an early 6-0 hole as starter, Case Tunnell, couldn’t survive for an entire inning after letting 6 bad ones get across during the top of the very first frame.

Note: Trev Anderson is eligible to return to the fold after serving his 9-game suspension for his role in that kerfuffle he incited against the Phoenix Coyotes back in July.

110 of 162: Jaxon Dupre (2-4, 2.19) @ Merl Crawford (10-4, 2.51)
Win, 7-0. We’d ride Satoru Ono’s 1st inning GRAND SLAM all the way to the victory here as our opening salvo would hold for the rest of the contest after Merl (5 innings, 1 hit, 0 earned, 3 BB’s and 6 K’s) handed it off to the pen to preserve the shutout over the game’s final four innings. Kumar Bovie put one out, a 2-run shot for his 5th TRUCK of the year, Ethan swiped his 26th bag of the year, and each of our 7 runs were scored by a different batsman as our squad spread the love throughout. A much-needed, timely series win at home for us. Not enough to maintain our tie for 1st in the NL West where we are now a full game off the Outlaws pace but enough to keep us within easy striking distance with the Grackles headed our way.

Record: 68-42, .618, 2nd NL West
Up Next: A 4-game series against the Austin Grackles, who are currently locked in a no holds barred cage match for worst team in the NL against the New Orleans Pirates… our goal here will be to help them win that battle in any way that we can.