Portland Pioneers (SVMLB)

[pauwoo]

New Orleans Gators (53-46, .535, 2nd NL East) @ Portland Pioneers (52-47, .525, 3rd AL West)
Over the course of their history, New Orleans have won 3 titles in 41 playoff appearances… and this year, after not making the playoffs since 2077, the Gators are looking to give winning the whole thing a try for the 42nd time. That is, of course, if they can keep winning at the clip they’ve established so far this year. And, look, I don’t want to blow smoke or anything – their standing so far isn’t exactly surprising and the BNN punditry had them pegged as a likely wildcard club in their annual predictions… it’s just, after so many seasons playing this save, especially those last ten in Los Angeles, this isn’t something we see much of – a good team in the bayou, relying on their guile and skill instead of black magic. But, we’re a good team too – I think that, at this stage of the season, we’ve proven our mettle… here we have an opportunity to show the sports world that we’re for real against a club that everyone already believes in. A chance to extend our current 3-game winning streak and to solidify ourselves as a bonified contender sent down from the heavens on a mission to wreck the plans of clubs like Charlotte, Dallas, and Los Angeles…

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP P. Yamaguchi (2-0, 3.38 ERA) vs RHP N. Estopinan (7-9, 3.95 ERA)
RHP W. Macomber (9-7, 4.14 ERA) vs RHP P. Edmonds (1-3, 1.66 ERA)
RHP K. Voll (6-4, 3.65 ERA) vs RHP J. Haugh (10-6, 4.46 ERA)

#100: Win, 3-0… SP Peter Yamaguchi was dealing – your boy turned in an 8-inning, 4-hit shutout with 8 K’s to remain perfect in a PDX kit, winning his third game for us in as many tries…. Aitor and Jess Alford each drove one in on a double, we fielded a couple of fierce DP’s, Fukumoto swiped his 12th bag of the year, and we managed to win our 4th game in a row against a solid ballclub, at home, in front of our fans. Not a perfect win – I’d still like to see more out of the offense, but boy oh boy is it nice to see Yamaguchi acclimating to our club so brilliantly.

#101: Loss, 2-6… So, to no ones surprise, New Orleans refused to go and die politely, instead treating us and our fans to a good old fashioned butt kicking on the back of a C Dexter Storck GRAND SLAM hit during a 6-run top of the 6th… our only runs were brought around by Wyatt Raphael, whose 4-for-4 day would serve as our sole offensive highlight while our bullpen squandered a nice little 5-inning, 3 hit, 1 earned performance from our starter…

#102: Win, 4-3 (15)… Good grief. No one wants, needs, or supports a 15-inning regular season game. Though, if you’re going to take part in one, at home, it’s best to win the damn thing – and, that’s exactly what we did, sending the New Orleans Gators on their merry way with an Angel Marino walk off run-scoring double acting as a kiss at the door. Leo Bullock kept us in this one – he’d finish the game 2-for-5 with 3 RBI on a bases-clearing double – the defense was stout, four double plays as a unit in this one, and our pitching – all six that we trotted out to the mound – gave a good account of themselve with RP Morris Jones securing the win after turning in 4-innings of scoreless work.


Elsewhere: RF Lucas Reese, a one-time Leopard with 3 years & 120 days of MLB service time who is currently cashing checks made out by the Hagerstown Beavers down in the Bush League, had himself something of a game tonight, finishing 3-for-5 with THREE TANKS and 4 total RBI as his club narrowly defeated the Footlongs on the road in Coney Island…

Record: 54-48, .529, 3rd AL West
Up Next: No rest for the weary… the boys & I will be boarding a flight bound for Toronto tonight, heading northeast for a set against the Maple Leafs.

[pauwoo]

Portland Pioneers (54.48, .529, 3rd AL West) @ Toronto Maple Leafs (44-58, .431, 4th AL East)
Outside of being in possession of the #1 prospect in all of baseball in Australian-born 3B Hudson Neely, these Maple Leafs don’t have a lot going for them in 2023… 44-58 so far, including a bleak 6-13 record in July, and the proud owners of the American League’s worst offense overall, suffice it to say that Toronto has seen better days. In fact, they haven’t so much as sniffed the playoffs since 2079, the year they won their 6th World Series title, finishing no better than 3rd in their division over that stretch. This isn’t a club on a come up, one with brighter days ahead… this is an also ran, a formerly great club that had made 47 playoff appearances over its illustrious history gone to hell. Mismanaged, poorly conceived, and an afterthought of its owner – if Toronto is to taste the kind of success that riddles their past, a complete overhaul from the front office all the way down to A-Ball should be the first order of business.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP B. Sánchez (11-6, 2.64 ERA) vs RHP T. Wightman (1-5, 4.10 ERA)
RHP D. Hornbrook (5-6, 2.95 ERA) vs RHP T. Belew (5-2, 3.45 ERA)
RHP P. Yamaguchi (3-0, 2.78 ERA) vs RHP C. Guzman (4-10, 5.78 ERA)

#103: Loss, 1-4… with the game all knotted up at a run each, Toronto’s RF Atilla Mullins (no relation to Ethan) would settle things with a perfectly hit, bases-clearing double during the bottom of the 8th to saddle Bernal with his 7th loss of the season despite turning in 7.1 innings of better-than-average work. Leo drove in our only run on a double, his 24th two-bagger, and everyone else just kind of hung back in this one – saving it for tomorrow, I guess? Who knows… sucks getting throttled by such a poorly conceived ballclub, even if we’re on the road.

#104: Win, 8-1… Micky Austin did the dirt for us in this one – exacting some small measure of revenge on the back of his 4-for-5, HR, 3B, 3 RBI day that included his 16th steal of the year, which is good enough to put him at 9th on the AL SB table… Frodo got after it too – driving in two on a double – with Angel, Jess, and Wyatt rounding things out nicely for us with an RBI each. Hornbrook picked up his 6th win of the year after turning in a 5.2-inning day and the defense backed him up admirably with 2 double plays and an Aitor Cubas OF Assist. We’ve knotted this set up with a chance to bury Toronto deeper into what has been a terrible July for them.


Elsewhere: 1B Satoru Ono, still putting it down something fierce with the Mexico City Jaguars, went off in Brooklyn, leading the charge for his club with a 5-for-7, 2B, TWO TANK, 3 RBI day during what would eventually become a 7-6 win for the Jags after 14-innings of play. Satoru, despite only starting against LHP, leads Mexico City with 16 homers so far this season and is trending to deliver 1.5 WAR in limited playing time.


Also, and this is more important than that last bit… 2B Heathcote Kinton has secured his 2000th hit as a professional during a 3-2 win over the Miami Herons… Kinton has a lifetime .286/.353/.458 slash with 2001 hits, 262 doubles, 37 triples, 290 HRs, 1106 RBI, a 131 OPS+ and 69.8 WAR. Dude’s a stud…

#105: Win, 4-2… SP Peter Yamaguchi, acting again as a follower during our customary bullpen day, stayed perfect as a Pioneer, winning his 4th contest since joining us in PDX after turning in a tip-top 6.1-inning, 4 hit, 2 earned day that included 7 K’s… the offense was humming too – a double for Leo, a triple and homer for Aitor, and homer #11 for Frodo would round us out offensively here, and, before I forget, CL Payton Inzen notched his 19th save in this one on our way out the door… leaving Canada on a win!

Record: 56-49, .533, 3rd AL West
Up Next: We’ll head home, take Monday off as is our custom, and then get back after it in Pendleton Park against the New York Sluggers.

[pauwoo]

New York Sluggers (42-63, .400, 6th AL East) @ Portland Pioneers (56-49, .533, 3rd AL West)
New York has done nothing of note as a baseball club since 2075 when they last made the playoffs as a wildcard entrant that finished 3rd in their division on a ho-hum, 85-77 record… residing in one of our leagues most glamorous cities then is one of our least glamorous clubs. One with no fashion sense, a finger far, far way from the pulse of, well, anything, and a complete lack of the self-awareness required to know that whatever it is they are doing, or have done, isn’t working. The city deserves better than what this club has gave them over the years… and continues to give them for their patronage. And, this season has been one of their worst – dead last in AVG and OBP, 11th in everything else offensively and not much better on the other side of the ball where their staff ranks last in the AL with an RA & Starters ERA rank of 12 followed by an 11th place ranking in, you guessed it, everything else. There are Triple-A clubs that could sweep this unit… here, in front of our fans at Pendleton Park, let’s hope we come correct and don’t get beat by a glorified 4A club.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP W. Macomber (9-7, 4.04) vs RHP V. Uhlman (5-7, 3.82)
RHP K. Voll (6-4, 3.53) vs RHP N. Holmberg (5-10, 4.76)
RHP B. Sánchez (11-7, 2.69) vs LHP A. Giddings (3-6, 3.00)

#106: Win, 8-4… Jess Alford led the way with a 2-for-4 day at the plate that included a 2-run DONG DONG and four total RBI and was backed up, admirably, by Leo Bullock who finished 3-for-4 with a solo TANK… Frodo and Fukumoto brought runners around as well, Micky Austin hit his 18th double of the year, we fielded four, count ‘em, FOUR, double plays, got two outfield assists from Leo, and Macomber managed to win his 10th game after turning in a 6-inning, 7-hit, 4 earned performance. Of note… Waldo was credited with a hold, his first of those since joining the big club, and our closer, Payton Inzen, secured his 20th save of the season on 9 total pitches, striking out one of the two batters he faced to close this one out.

Note: It’s August 1st… the trade deadline has passed (we did nothing) and another month is in the books. As is our custom, lets take a peek at the league standings, our league leaders (divided by sub-league this time), and our clubhouse…



American League Leaders... Cunningham is low-key going for the triple crown.


National League Leaders


And… your Portland Pioneers…


#107: Win, 12-2… Micky Austin finished 3-for-4 and came around twice and Wyatt Raphael powered our offense with a bases-clearing double and 2 additional RBI… Frodo got after it as well, adding 3 RBI of his own, and Aitor put one out, his 4th dinger since joining the club, during a 2-for-5 day at the plate. The pitching was solid too with Kade Voll earning his 7th win after turning in 5-innings of work where he’d allow just two runners to plate.

#108: Loss, 3-6… New York starter, Logan Maldonado, gave us the business over his 6.1-innings of work where he’d allow 4 hits and nothing earned while fanning 4 hapless hitters to earn his 6th victory of the season and DH Reuban Johnson, a 1x MVP & World Series winner with Toronto, led their offense, driving in 2 runs on 1-for-4 hitting – his homer off our SP Bernal Sanchez put the Sluggers up for good in this one as our late rally attempt fell well short, forcing us to settle for a series win instead of a sweep.

Record: 58-50, .537, 3rd AL West
Up Next: We’ll travel to Charlotte for a 3-game set against the AL East leading Imperials.

[pauwoo]

Portland Pioneers (58-50, .537, 3rd AL West) @ Charlotte Imperials (64-44, .593, 1st AL East)
To go from a home set against what is essentially a glorified Triple-A club who somehow cribbed a charter to play in the Major Leagues in the New York Sluggers to a set on the road against the class of the American League in Charlotte could be tough… but, after a 15-8 month of July and starting off August with a winning set, we could be good for it. Are we team enough to deal with the biggest bully on the American League block? Likely not… what with their top ranked staff and 4th ranked offense, and in their park to boot. But, and this is important to note, Charlotte is not necessarily in a good way – they finished the month of July off with a poor 10-13 record, are 1-1 so far this month, and find themselves mired in a 3-7 stretch over their last ten contests… so, if ever a time to find these guys waiting for us at the end of some dank, dark alley, I think now would be it…

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP D. Hornbrook (6-6, 2.85) vs RHP W. Peña (7-9, 3.52)
RHP P. Yamaguchi (4-0, 2.79) vs RHP L. Myers (9-7, 4.32)
RHP W. Macomber (10-7, 4.14) vs RHP N. Granado (12-1, 2.84)

#109: Loss, 1-9… there’s just what the Doctor ordered, and then there is your Portland Pioneers… here we’d have it handed to us by the biggest bully on the block, cornered in a back alley, robbed of our last 5 dollars, and left for dead. LF Demetrio Abdul & 1B Alex MacDonald led the charge for Charlotte’s offense, driving in 5 of their clubs 9 runs between them, while their top ranked staff did what a top ranked staff does… 5-innings of 8-hit, 1-earned work from the recently acquired SP Wilson Pena (he came over in a trade with Miami for two SS prospects) who earned his first win as an Imperial for his efforts. Not much to parse out for us – Aitor brought in our only run on a SAC FLY, Leo swiped a bag, his 12th, we fielded a solid, Fukumoto-Raphael-Marino double play, and Dominic Hornbrook got pummeled over 2-innings of work, allowing 5 bad ones in limited action.

#110: Loss, 4-5… handled, again, though we’d put up more of a fight in this one, falling just one run short during an ill-fated, 8th inning rally attempt to drop to 1-3 so far in August. 1B Angel Marino was the whole show for us offensively – he’d finish with a 2-for-3, HR, 3 RBI line – while SP Peter Yamaguchi, acting in a follower capacity, saw his first loss get charged to his account after allowing 5 runners to plate in just 3-innings of burn. Rough one for the boys… though, we’ll have a chance at some good old fashioned get back tomorrow on our way out the door.

#111: Win, 11-3… it’s always nice to go out with a bang, on a win, especially one as complete as this one, but – it sure would have been nice to spread these runs around a little bit to come up with a couple of wins instead of just this one. Still, beggars shouldn’t be choosers and all that… here Frodo led the way – 2-for-5 with 5 RBI – and 1B Angel Marino fell in line right behind him with a 4-for-5 day that included a well hit 2-run TANK. We’d finish with three doubles, a triple, and a homer offensively while SP William Macomber picked up his 11th win of the season and second winning start in a row to lead us outta dodge on a big fat DOUBLE-U.

Unfortunately, after dropping this set we now find ourselves in 4th on the AL West table, a full 3 games off the pace being set by Salt Lake and Dallas, and now a game behind the Mounties of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Record: 59-52, .531, 4th AL West
Up Next: We’ll kick off a 6-game homestand against the Seattle Metros before welcoming the Dallas Chaparrals to town over the weekend.

[pauwoo]

Seattle Metros (57-54, .514, 5th AL West) @ Portland Pioneers (59-52, .532, AL West)
What a division I find myself in for my first sojourn outside of Los Angeles as a General Manager in over a decade… not an easy out amongst us with our next opponent, who currently occupies 5th place on the AL West table, a near mirror image of our club, albeit one who’s had less luck. LF Patrick Adams, a verifiable PNW legend at this point, continues to be a beacon of shining light for Seattle and leads their offense in each of the triple crown categories while their 8th ranked staff has been serviceable enough to give their offense the room to lead their club to 57 wins so far… their Achilles heel, however, is the fact that, even with their well-crafted offense, the pitching and defense have been weak overall, so weak in fact that, as a club, they’ve put up a -19 RDiff and are +4 against the Pyt. Here, at home in Pendleton Park, we’ll have an opportunity to put some distance on Seattle, to entrench them securely to their deserved lot in life as we quest for what would be the most undeserved world Series banner in the history of this save.

Actually, that’s not true… back in 2022, Portland, when they were known in this save as the Timbers won the World Series as a wildcard entrant that punched its playoff ticket on a 81-82 record after defeating the Green Bay Packers in a play-in game. They bested the Toronto Reds and Carolina Panthers en route to the series where they defeated the Phoenix Suns, 4 games to 2. To be fair… Phoenix wasn’t great either – they made it all the way to the series on an abysmal 80-82 record. Such a weird year that was.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP K. Voll (7-4, 3.54) vs RHP B. Dauncey (9-5, 4.11)
RHP B. Sánchez (11-8, 2.85) vs RHP S. Kenny (4-7, 5.42)
RHP D. Hornbrook (6-7, 3.33) vs LHP A. Gunter (9-9, 3.84)

#112: Win, 7-3… as fine a start to our 6-game home stand as I could hope for as Jess Alford capped off a four run 1st inning with a bases-clearing double before the club poured on 3 more over the next two frames to all but bury the Metros before they’d have a chance to even get their motor turned over… Leo hit his 19th homer, a solo shot during the bottom of the 2nd, fielded a crispy, Alford-Raphael-Marino DP, and we were witness to another solid start from Kade Voll who gave us 5-innings of relative filthiness to earn his 8th win of the year. In some not-so-good news… CF Micky Austin was injured during the game and will be listed as day-to-day over the next four with a thumb contusion he suffered after being hit by a wayward pitch.

Elsewhere: Seattle’s Short Season A-Ball club fared a bit better than their big club as their Bremerton Yardies took it to the Frisco Toros, winning by a score of 7-5 and led by LF prospect, Sirius Conner, who put two balls out of the park during a 3-for-4 day at the plate. In other Washington baseball news… the Bellevue Players, of the Western Bush league, earned a 5-4 win over the Minot Minotaurs on the back of CF Peter Pascual’s 3-for-3, 2 TANK, 3 RBI day.

#113: Win, 6-4… Seattle put up more of a fight in this one but we, mostly Shane Fukumoto honestly, were good for it as he paced our offense with a 3-for-4 day at the plate that included a triple, 2 RBI, and 2 runs of his own. Micky Austin, showing no ill effects from that thumb contusion, contributed a 2-run MOONSHOT, his 11th longball this year, and Leo Bullock, that low key model of consistency, drove one in on a run-scoring single that would act as the game-winner after Seattle had knotted things up at 4 each during the top of the 7th. Bernal secured win #12, even in allowing four runners to plate over his 6.2-innings of work, and CL Payton Inzen picked up his 21st save on a whopping 23 pitches… get that man some ice!


Elsewhere: SP Rad Taylor, currently plying his trade with the Montreal Alouettes, had what has to be the best pitching performance of his career… nearly etching his name into the annuals of time with a complete-game, ONE HIT shutout, that included 9 K’s as your boy led his club to a tightly contested, 3-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pipers. Rad improves to 7-10 on the season while his Alouettes improved to 54-59 on the year, putting them 8 games off the pace being set by the Brooklyn Americans in the NL East.

#114: Loss, 0-8… why don’t you come to my house, why don’t you drag me right out… after securing this set yesterday, it would seem like the boys partied a bit too hard last night – or at least, that’s what I’m telling myself… these kids never invite me out for a night on the town. Here, SP Adam Gunter owned us like we were some anthropomorphic puppet animated by an Egyptian spell, giving Seattle a tip-top, complete-game, 1-hit shutout that included 9 K’s. There’s really not much to say from our perspective… we got handled, mightily, by a so-so club in our house, in front of our wives and girlfriends. So, in the interest of a picture saying 1000 words… I’ll leave you with this:



Hey! On the bright side, we’re back in 3rd place!

Record: 61-53, .535, 3rd AL West
Up Next: 3 games, at home, against the division leading Dallas Chaps. This one feels meaningful.

[pauwoo]

Dallas Chaparrals (64-50, .561, 1st AL West) @ Portland Pioneers (61-53, .535, 3rd AL West)
There will be no platitudes about our belief in self, no wannabe-clever run-on sentences where I ramble on substance-free… there will be none of that because this set is important, a real big deal, so, instead, let’s see what we’ll be dealing with over the next three contests…



Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP P. Yamaguchi (4-1, 3.42) vs LHP C. Tucker (9-6, 2.45)
RHP W. Macomber (11-7, 4.04) vs LHP J. Hruska (8-7, 3.03)
RHP K. Voll (8-4, 3.54) vs RHP J. Arai (6-7, 3.98)

#115: Win, 8-4… wow, what a victory – we did the deed on a 7-run bottom of the 7th, led by Shane Fukumoto’s SAC FLY that broke our 2-2 tie to begin that frame and was followed up closely thereafter by a bases-clearing double courtesy of DH Tate Ramsey… lots of guys got in on it here with Aitor, Wyatt, Arvinda, Jess, and Micky all contributing an RBI to give SP Peter Yamagutchi all the room he’d need to earn his 5th victory in a Pioneers kit after turning in 7-innings of 2 hit, 2 earned work. This is how you kick off your most important series of the season so far… with punches in bunches delivered in crisp precision and KO power.

#116: Win, 2-1… a huge, albeit close, victory for the club, taking down the biggest bully on the block much to the delight of the hometown faithful! Micky Austin put us up during the bottom of the 7th with a run-scoring double and our staff, especially the pen, took the reins from there with RP Jeremiah Fletchall being credited with the win after turning in 1.2 innings of work followed by a hold for Robinson Bridges and another SAVE for Payton, his 22nd of those, after he tossed an 11-pitch top of the 9th to close this one out. Just a great team win here – it’s good to see the boys dig down deep, concentrate on the task at hand, and find a way to get it done against such a solid American League club.


Elsewhere: 3B Reuben Johnson, of the New York Sluggers, had himself a day against Detroit… the 1x Boyce Rigg winner and World Series champion with the Leafs, finished 3-for-3 at the plate with TWO TRUCKS, 5 total RBI, 3 runs, and a couple of free passes to lead his club to a resounding 9-2 win over the Motors at home in the city. 34yo and still trucking – you love to see it!

#117: Win, 1-0… Sweep City, USA! What a win, what a series… the boys would gut this one out in the end, breaking a scoreless tie on a Leo Bullock solo tank, moonshot #20 for him this year, during the bottom of the 6th and relying on another night of superb craftsmanship from the staff as Waldo Long (credited with a hold) and CL Payton Inzen (credited with save #23) held it down for starter Kade Voll after he turned in a rip-roaring, 7-inning, 4-hit shutout with 4 K’s to pick up his 9th victory of the year.

With the win we now find ourselves in a 4-way tie for top of the pops in the AL West… what a fun campaign this has been so far!



Record: 64-53, .547, t-1st AL West
Up Next: We’re hitting the road and headed to Utah for a critical 3-game set against the Salt Lake Alpines.

But, wait! There’s more… check this out – another perfect game coming out of the Los Angeles organization, this time down on the farm in Inglewood… what a time to be a member of that organization, amiright?!?

[pauwoo]

Portland Pioneers (64-53, .547, t-1st AL West) @ Salt Lake Alpines (64-53, .547, t-1st AL West)
Swimming with the sharks, outperforming their lot as predicted by the BNN punditry, and boasting a personal favorite, Big Burt McElheny, in their rotation, suffice it to say that I’ve moved past the ‘surprised’ stage and have now come to accept Salt Lake as one of our leagues best. Of course, that acceptance, if we’re being honest, is wholly unnecessary as the Alpines keep putting it down something fierce on the back of the 4th ranked lineup and 6th ranked staff – they’re not some club that is performing above their head, relying more on luck than guile, but instead are exactly where they should be… running with the big dogs, even pacing them at times, as they make their case to be the alpha of this pack of clubs that call the AL West home.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP B. Sánchez (12-8, 2.96) vs RHP R. Halbur (7-9, 4.44)
RHP D. Hornbrook (6-8, 3.89) vs LHP W. Winston (9-6, 3.70)
RHP P. Yamaguchi (5-1, 3.32) vs LHP B. McElheny (9-3, 2.66)

#118: Win, 4-3… we’d get off on the good foot on the back of Bernal's 7-inning, 6-hit, 3 earned performance and rely on the timely hitting of our catcher, Elijah Arvinda, whose 2-run dinger during the top of the 9th gifted our club and RP Waldo Long with the win and positioned Payton Inzen nicely to pick up his 24th save of the year. Aitor and Leo were responsible for our other runs, both on well hit singles, Angel hit his 16th two-bagger of the year, and we fielded a rally killing, Marino-Alford-Sanchez double play to get Payton out of a jam at the end.

Don’t look, but we’re now only sharing the distinction of being 1st in the AL West with Dallas…

#119: Loss, 1-3… Salt Lake showed their mettle in this one, scoring all three of their runs during the bottom of the 7th, capped off by an Andy Oransky 2-run MOONSHOT, to knot this series up with the rubber match all set for tomorrow. SP Wendell Winston was solid for Salt Lake, turning in a 6-inning, 3-hit, 1 earned outing for the home team and holding our lineup in relative check throughout his time on the hill while our guy, Dominic Hornbrook, gave up the ghost in the form of two 7th inning HR’s that all but assured he’d be saddled with his 9th loss of the 2085 campaign.


I think it’s important that we all take a moment to appreciate this game generated fg for Salt Lake’s SP Wendell Winston, who, if I have my way, will be a Pioneer as early as next season – I don’t think he would necessarily upgrade our staff in any major way, I just need a man with this kind of style on the squad… I’ve not seen a ‘stache so sweet since Michael Brisk was starting for my former club several years ago…

#120: Win, 5-1… the boys came through gangbusters, winning the rubber match by relying on another tip top pitching performance from SP Peter Yamaguchi who gave the club a sturdy 7-inning, 3-hit, nothing earned performance while Micky Austin paced our offense with a 2-run homer during the top of the 4th that put us up for good… doubles for Aitor and Leo, homers for Micky, Fukumoto, and our backup backstop, Chris Levesque, would round things out for us offensively even while we can all agree that the real star of this show was Yamaguchi coming through yet again in his customary follower role. At the end of this season, when I look back at things that went right – so far it’s picking up Frodo during the offseason on the cheap and trading for Yamaguchi… jury’s still out on my Aitor signing.

Note: Even after cribbing this set off the Salt Lake Alpines we’d find ourselves in 2nd on the AL West table once the dust had settled when it was revealed to us that Dallas swept Colorado their last time out… opening up a 1-game lead on us. Is okay, don’t worry, is normal.

Record: 66-54, .550, 2nd AL West
Up Next: We make a quick hop back to Oregon where the Vancouver Mounties will be anxiously awaiting our arrival for a 3-game set over the weekend… another big one for us.

[pauwoo]

Vancouver Mounties (64-56, .533, 5th AL West) @ Portland Pioneers (66-54, .550, 2nd AL West)
That the unofficial class of our division finds itself languishing all the way down at 5th place in the AL West, and on a 64-56 record no less, is something of a major surprise. This wasn’t in the script, it’s all bad improv at this point, a cut or two below ‘Whose Line is it Anyway’… Where Vancouver lacks is in pitching (ranked 10th in pWAR) and defense (ranked 8th for errors) as their offense, currently ranked 1st in AVG, RS, OPS, wOBA, and HRs, is easily, on paper and otherwise, the best in all of organized baseball. The problem here is that despite posting an obscene +90 RDiff on the season so far, which, if you’re counting, is the best in baseball, Vancouver still finds itself operating 6 games below their expected record that would have them leading our division by 3 full games. They’re 14-22 in 1-run games, haven’t had a lucky bounce since this time last year, and are overdue for some good fortune… let’s just hope that this windfall of good karma their club is owed doesn’t come in while they’re playing against us, in Portland, and that we can carry our own good fortune forward if only for these next three games…

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP W. Macomber (11-7, 3.93) vs RHP J. Salcido (7-11, 5.24)
RHP K. Voll (9-4, 3.36) vs RHP M. Villalobos (11-6, 3.53)
RHP B. Sánchez (12-8, 3.00) vs RHP T. Pushkin (10-9, 3.37)

#121: Loss, 0-2 (13)… SP William Macomber put it down something fierce for us here – 7 crafty innings with nothing getting across, just 2 balls successfully put in play, and 7 total K’s – but it’d all be for naught as our offense was held in check by Vancouver’s so-so staff as 7 total hurlers combined for the shutout in the first of this three game set… for our part the club fanned 16 times, with 3 each being charged to Aitor and Angel’s accounts, as we couldn’t find a way to score despite putting 14 baserunners on over the course of the contest.

#122: Win, 8-7… Micky Austin knotted things up at 5 each during the bottom of the 9th on a bases-loaded SAC FLY and Shane Fukumoto knotted things up for us again on a 2-run TANK after Vancouver took a 2-run lead during the top of the 10th… which set up our walk off hero, Sam Gore, perfectly to bring the game-winner across on a run-scoring single that brought the hometown faithful to their feet. And with that we’d get some of that sweet, sweet get back against our Cascadian rival to set up a most consequential rubber match with real playoff implications.

#123: Win, 5-2… to set the scene - down 1 during the bottom of the 8th, bases loaded, 1B Angel Marino at the plate, RP Justin Torres, struggling a bit after giving up a walk to load them up, tosses in a gigantic meatball that was taken for a ride way, way, way out of the park for the game-winning, GRAND SLAM! It was Angel’s only hit during the game, his 12th DING DONG this year, and could be the hit that solidified our chances of earning a ticket to this years playoffs… sure, there’s a lot of runway left, and we’re as capable of messing this thing up as we are of pulling it off, but it’s hard not to see a scenario where we don’t manage to get this jalopy up in the air for a joy ride the likes of which our home town hasn’t seen since 2065.

Record: 68-55, .552, 2nd AL West
Up Next: We’ll head to Denver for a 3-game set against the Colorado Kings… who find themselves in the rear with the gear so far this season at 6th place in our division.

[pauwoo]

Portland Pioneers (68-55, .552, 2nd AL West) @ Colorado Kings (57-66, .463, 6th AL West)
I’m not sure what they’re up to, what kind of alchemy the Colorado brain trust employed during the offseason when they cobbled together this loose collection of misfit toys capable of accomplishing the rarest of all feats in baseball – having the worst offense in the Majors despite contesting over half of their games at altitude. 11th in nearly every single offense category worth tracking, these Kings, such that they are, have found new and exciting ways to suck… and, when you pair that suckage with a so-so starting rotation backed by an impressively poor bullpen, what you get is the worst club in the American League, hanging on by the thinnest of threads to keep their thing from falling completely apart. I honestly don’t know what’s more confusing – that they are so bad offensively despite being a Denver based ballclub or that they are this terrible yet have still managed to cobble together enough in ticket sales to rank 12th overall for attendance…

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP D. Hornbrook (6-9, 3.90) vs RHP J. Dickrell (6-10, 4.73)
RHP P. Yamaguchi (6-1, 2.99) vs RHP E. Belanger (13-6, 2.69)
RHP W. Macomber (11-7, 3.73) vs RHP B. John (4-9, 4.52)

#124: Win, 16-8… like a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos where each marble represented a run, both teams would light it up like a Guns N’ Roses pinball machine here with our squad having the good fortune of nailing that Slash solo shot with the 2x multiplier enabled. Angel Marino was your man of the match, finishing 4-for-5 at the plate with a 2-run double, 5 total RBI, and a run with Micky Austin being the next best thing, driving in 4 runs on 2-for-4 hitting. Aitor and Leo each scored four times, we hit 3 doubles, 2 triples, and 3 SAC FLIES as a unit, and even fielded two beautifully executed DP’s despite giving up 8 total runs defensively.

#125: Loss, 3-6… a great win for the Kings, for their fans, and, most of all, for RF Smith Wells, who collected the 2500th hit of his 15-year professional career as Colorado evened up the series after being completely dismantled the last time out. 2-for-4 with a run scored for the man of the hour and a 2-for-4, 3 RBI day from the man of the match, LF Lucas Zander, who did his level best to ensure today’s effort was a winning one. For our part, two homers, one each for Micky & Aitor, wouldn’t be enough to get the deed done as Yamaguchi labored through his start, allowing all 6 of Colorado’s runs on 8 total hits during his 5.1-innings of work.


Elsewhere: Smith Wells, only our 27th batsmen to make it to the 2500 hit plateau, has had quite a career, putting in significant time with the San Diego Chargers, Salt Lake Alpines, and Philadelphia Founders before taking his talents on the road with quick stops in Buffalo and Montreal before landing in Colorado, and has hit .299/.345/.424 for his career with 174 homers, 1095 RBI, 1009 runs, a 117 OPS+ and contributed 36.5 in WAR. A solid pro with 6 all-star appearances, 4 silver sluggers, a gold glove, and a World Series championship won during his time with the Founders. He’s still got something left in the tank, so no rush, but when he does decide to hang them up, he’ll be able to look back fondly on the career he managed to carve out for himself after joining the league out of the University of North Carolina. Good stuff, Smith… long may you run.

#126: Win, 1-0 (12)… our winning run, scored during the top of the 12th, came around on a bases-loaded walk drawn by Shane Fukumoto – a fitting end to a defensive pitchers duel contested at altitude. CL Payton Inzen was credited with the win and improved to 6-3 this year after turning in 2.2 innings of work where he’d allow just three total hits after an early tone was set by SP William Macomber, who led off today’s effort with 6-innings of 2-hit, 5 K baseball. We managed to hit three doubles as a club, left ten men stranded, fielded an expertly executed, Raphael-Alford-Marino, double play, and did just enough to steal this win on our way out the door, taking another series victory with it while winning our 70th game this season. As days at the office go, this was a good one.

With this series win, we’ve managed to pull into a two-way tie for 1st place in the AL West with those dastardly Dallas Chaps.

Record: 70-56, .555, 1st AL West
Up Next: We’ll head to San Diego where the Skipjacks will be anxiously awaiting our arrival to take a run at us during a 3-game weekend set.

[pauwoo]

Portland Pioneers (70-56, .555, 1st AL West) @ San Diego Skipjacks (64-62, .508, 3rd NL West)
San Diego is a ho-hum, decidedly middle-of-the-pack ballclub that is aimlessly shuffling their way through the 2085 campaign with only the hope of a better tomorrow to occupy their thoughts… their offense, a middling unit that ranks at or below the mid-range of every worthy offensive category, has struggled with putting anything substantive together on a consistent basis while their rotation, a wholly capable unit that deserves to be paired with better hitters, has done their level best to keep San Diego afloat. They are, basically, a real halfway house… a club whose brain trust didn’t pay enough attention to its lineup during the offseason and, as a result, has paid the price for it on the field. I mean, it was only a couple few years that the Skipjacks looked to be on the precipice of… something. And, while that something may not have been Championship-level greatness, most of the BNN Punditry were predicting that it would look a lot better than it does right now.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP K. Voll (9-4, 3.37) vs RHP M. Morales (7-6, 2.78)
RHP B. Sánchez (12-8, 3.00) vs LHP B. McGillicuddy (3-13, 4.55)
RHP D. Hornbrook (6-9, 4.18) vs RHP B. Mackay (11-6, 3.26)

#127: Loss, 1-4… Our undoing would begin with a SS Jess Alford error that led to an unearned run for Martin Wainwright during the bottom of the 7th, representing the first of 4 runs that the Skipjacks would score during that frame, and was completed by our lineups inability to get anything going for us offensively. Skipjacks Starter, Manuel Morales, gave us the business over 6.2-innings of 2-hit, 1 earned work, our lineup fanned 8 times as a unit, we could only muster one extra base hit, and were just thoroughly dismantled by an unworthy outfit to start this 3-game interleague set.

#128: Loss, 4-5… We’d mount an ill-fated, 3-run rally during the top of the 8th but were unable to get it done, instead dropping our second game in a row to the lowly Skipjacks of San Diego while simultaneously losing our tentative grip on the top position in the AL West. So, um, yeah – not our best day. There’s not really a lot to parse out for us offensively and our starter, Bernal Sanchez, our Ace if you will, was shelled by San Diego’s mediocre offense, lasting just 3.1-innings after allowing 5 runs on 7 total hits to drop to 12-9 on the season. With our opportunity to win this set now squandered, the club will have to settle for landing a shot on our way out the door as consolation… assuming we even have what it takes to sneak a jab through San Diego’s Philly Shell.

#129: Loss, 4-5 (11)… San Diego would complete the sweep on an 11th inning walk off homer courtesy of 2B Early Felger, only his 3rd jack this season, after we’d knotted this one up on a 2B Wyatt Raphael run-scoring single during the top of the 9th. In the end, the club was unable to match San Diego over these three games as they consistently found ways to counter our offense with some expertly executed and timely hitting of their own – so much for coming to town, the newly crowned kings of the AL West, and taking it to a ho-hum National League club. Instead, we’ll head back home on the same 70 wins we arrived in San Diego with to play a set against the Philadelphia Liberty in Pendleton Park.

Note: Dallas is in the midst of a 6-game winning streak and has now opened up a 3-game lead over us at the top of the pops in the AL West with Vancouver and Salt Lake only a scant game behind us tied at 3rd on the table.

Record: 70-59, .542, 2nd AL West
Up Next: We’ll return to Oregon, to the (hopefully) friendly confines of Pendleton Park to lock horns with the Philadelphia Liberty for the next three games.

[pauwoo]

Philadelphia Liberty (63-66, .488, 4th NL East) @ Portland Pioneers (70-59, .542, 2nd AL West)
I miss the old Kanye, err Philadelphia… the one known as the Founders, the one that boasted a young Palmer Parker on their lineup before he grew out his goatee and turned heel in a Detroit Motors uniform… this current version, rechristened the Liberty prior to 2085, is a far cry from the club that won a World Series championship just 2 short seasons ago. They’re on pace to finish 4th in their division (which would be their worst finish since 2078), will likely miss the playoffs for the first time in three years, and will produce their worst balance sheet in well over a decade. Simply put – they’re not in a good way, and, for our part, after being swept in San Diego, could represent an opportunity for us to get back on the horse – a chance to regain the forward momentum that propelled us into a tie for first place in our division. Old Kanye, new Kanye, any Kanye… doesn’t matter – what matters is that we get this thing back on the tracks, rolling in the right direction so as not to squander the good fortune we’ve experienced throughout the 2085 campaign.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP P. Yamaguchi (6-2, 3.50) vs LHP L. Langston (14-8, 3.44)
RHP W. Macomber (11-7, 3.57) vs LHP M. Crawford (8-11, 3.74)
RHP K. Voll (9-4, 3.24) vs RHP L. Brittingham (10-8, 2.89)

#130: Loss, 3-7… First, you’re going to want to get your oxygen mask securely fastened before attempting to help anyone else with theirs, then please assume the crash position and brace for impact because this plane is going down… we’re in a death spiral, the Captain has passed out, and our only stewardess has locked herself in the bathroom with an entire tray of airplane vodka. Here, we’d have it handed to us for the fourth time in a row, dropping the first of three to the lowly Philadelphia Liberty, in our house after SP Peter Yamaguchi came up lame for the second time in a row. Frodo and Leo did all our damage, each hitting a HR (or, in Frodo’s case, 2) to get us on the board, but it was all for naught as even their herculean efforts were not enough to overcome DH Hunter Ortega’s 6th inning GRAND SLAM.


Elsewhere: To be filed under holy moly, hold the cheese and add extra guacamole… SP Elias Belanger, of the Colorado Kings, fanned 15 hapless hitters during a complete game, 2-hit shutout against the Brooklyn Americans at home in Denver. In winning by a score of 2-0, Colorado improved to 60-70 on the year while Americans dropped to 67-63, though they still lead the NL East by 2 games over the New Orleans Gators – who, it should be noted are 65-65 so far this year… so, um, yeah, the NL East isn’t necessarily home to the best eggs in the National League basket.

#131: Loss, 0-1… First, some not so bad news – RP Waldo Long, who I’ve likely ruined by calling him up too early, has amassed 50 strikeouts this year, bringing his career MLB total to 65. So, that’s kind of cool, I guess. Next, the bad news… we’ve lost our 5th straight, our second straight series, this time at home, on the back of a well-hit, bases-loaded, SAC FLY courtesy of Philadelphia’s RF Jordan Walsh. Macomber loaded the based and gave up the game-winner so he’ll be charged with the loss, our offense couldn’t manufacture a single EBH, and, as a unit, we left 7 runners stranded to turn in an uninspired, 1-0 loss for the ~27K fans who bothered to grace us with their presence.


Elsewhere: All hail Tom Franzone… the greatest thing since pork rinds.

#132: Win, 3-1… We’d successfully stop our skid thanks to Leo Bullock and his 22nd HR of the year, a 2-run MOONSHOT that put us up for good. Micky brought in our 3rd run on a double, his second two-bagger of the day, and SP Kade Voll added win #10 of the 2085 season to his permanent record after giving us 5.1-innings of 4-hit, 3 K burn. Holds for Switzer, Bridges, and Waldo, with Payton Inzen shutting the door for us during the top of the 9th, earning his 26th save in the process. We’re back on our trusty steed once more, ready to raze castles and plunder villages as we work our way through the last 30 games of the year.


Elsewhere: It’s with a heavy heart that I drop this next call out, though it comes with a bit of parental pride tossed in as well… OH HONG, of your Los Angeles Leopards, went buck for his squad today. He finished 3-for-5 at the plate with TWO TANKS and three total RBI to pace the Leopards to a dominant 7-1 win over the Seattle Metros. With the win, Los Angeles improves to 80-52 on the year and are leading the NL West by an insurmountable 8-games… well, it is technically surmountable, but you know what I mean.

Record: 71-61, .537, 3rd AL West
Up Next: We’ll sit idly by and await the arrival of the Buffalo Nickels to PDX for a 3-game set to be contested over the weekend in, you guessed it, Pendleton Park.

[pauwoo]

Buffalo Nickels (77-55, .583, 2nd AL East) @ Portland Pioneers (71-61, .537, 3rd AL West)
The Nickels are a tough out for anyone – operating a scant 3 games off the pace being set in the AL East by the top shelf Charlotte Imperials, Buffalo is still in a position to shock the punditry by winning their division. They’re in possession of a tip top offense, ranked 3rd overall in the American League, and, for my money, the best defensive unit our league has to offer. They’re just a well-built automobile that comes stock with 4-wheel drive and fog lights – nothing fancy, they’re not precision tuned, just the type of ride that can get you where you need to go in rain, sleet, or snow. Meeting them at the end of the dank, dark alley that is Pendleton Park while in the midst of a 4-6 run over our last 10 and coming off a losing set against the lowly Philadelphia Liberty is far from ideal – but, here we are… nothing to it but to do it.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP B. Sánchez (12-9, 3.21) vs LHP P. Lindgren (14-4, 2.40)
RHP D. Hornbrook (6-9, 4.01) vs LHP R. Chen (8-5, 2.21)
RHP P. Yamaguchi (6-3, 4.04) vs RHP G. Rice (11-8, 3.63)

#133: Loss, 3-4… lost on a top of the 9th run-scoring single hit by 1B Harrison Poggio off RP Jeremy Fletchall while our offense was done in by Buffalo’s 4, count ‘em FOUR, double plays, the final score really doesn’t give a good picture of how thoroughly dismantled we were in this first of three games. SP Bernal Sanchez pitched well, giving us 7-innings of 5-hit, 3 earned work but was bested, a bit, by Buffalo’s SP Pablo Lindgren who saw Bernal’s 7 and raised him one, earning his 15th win for the Nickels as a result. ~32K of our most ardent fans were in attendance to see Buffalo’s defense make mincemeat of our lineup, forced to leave Pendleton Park a shell of their former selves.


Elsewhere: Your boy, Oh Hong, one of Los Angeles’ finest, doing big things in my absence…

And a quick look at our current standings, league leaders, and our BNN report as we turn the page on August. Don’t look now, but Brooklyn is in a tailspin the likes of which we don’t see that often from a 1st place club… note our current predicament – a game out of the cake & looking down the barrel of a gun. This should be quite a finish to the 2085 campaign.







#134: Loss, 5-10… Is this it? Has the end to what has, so far, been a pretty magical season suddenly arrived – in the form of a blue collar, meat-and-potatoes outfit hellbent on showing us soft Pacific Northwesterners how it’s done? Here, the Nickels dismantled us from pillar to post, hitting four total HRs as a club including a top of the 4th GRAND SLAM courtesy of SS Steve Green, who, as you can see here (starting at post #486) exists throughout the multiverse to wreck things in fake baseball league’s everywhere. Not much to parse out for our club here, obviously, so let’s just hope that the boys can steel themselves up to get some of that sweet, sweet get back tomorrow before these Nickels have a chance to sweep us in our house.


Elsewhere: Steve Green, of the Buffalo Nickels, still hanging around, still doing big things… he finished 2-for3 with 2 TANKS, 5 total RBI, 3 runs, and a walk to lead his Buffalo Nickels in taking us apart, piece by piece, before selling anything of value off for parts – your boy is leading a band of brigands, a car thieving crew the likes of which we’ve not seen since Nicholas Cage and team put in down something fierce in that Hollyweird classic, Gone in 60 Seconds, and Pendleton Park, sadly enough, is his chop shop.

#135: Win, 3-0… Satisfying? Yes. Too little, too late? Probably. Here we’d secure a much-needed win while dropping our 3rd set in a row and 2nd in a row at home. The result of this run of poor form is that we now find ourselves in 4th place on the AL West table and a full 2-games out of the last wildcard slot in our league. Suffering the indignity of a 3-7 stretch, at this juncture of the season, when the thread we were depending on was already thin could be our ultimate undoing – so, with just 27 games left to play out this season, suffice it to say that nearly every single one of them will be important. Oh, and before I forget, Yamaguchi got the win tonight and secured 10 K’s during his start – he’s back, baby, and just in time too!

Record: 72-63, .533, 4th AL West
Up Next: We’ll take the day off to rest and reflect before embarking on a 6-game road trip starting in Detroit, where the 53-82 Motors will, hopefully, play of the part of ‘just what the Doctor ordered’.

[pauwoo]

Portland Pioneers (72-63, .533, 4th AL West) @ Detroit Motors (53-82, .392, 6th AL East)
Less Eminem, more Kid Rock, these Detroit Motors are a shopworn, tired outfit built on the cliches of a bygone era that some folks like to cling to as if it were a pair of water wings in the kiddie pool. And, while they don’t have a lot going for them, they do have a few bright spots languishing on their roster – names like SP Trevor Dotson, whose 6-10 record and 2.33 ERA don’t seem to jive, and LF Palmer Parker, a 33yo 2x Boyce Rigg winner who has 17 TANKS so far this year, each flex a Detroit kit… but, as ever, the drop-off after those two is as treacherous as it is steep. What this set represents is an opportunity. For us. An opportunity for the boys to get back on the good foot and to start making some real inroads towards claiming the last playoff spot in the American League.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP W. Macomber (11-8, 3.49) vs RHP T. Dotson (6-10, 2.33)
RHP K. Voll (10-4, 3.19) vs RHP M. Ferguson (4-2, 3.56)
RHP B. Sánchez (12-9, 3.23) vs LHP J. Chacon (6-8, 3.90)

#136: Win, 8-7… a real, rock ‘em, sock ‘em slobber knocker the likes of which Detroit hasn’t seen since Kronk Gym was putting on boxing events 2 to 3 times a week… with our own Frodo Gonzales hitting the run-scoring single during the top of the 6th that would ultimately decide the game after Wyatt, Leo, and Aitor each had driven in two to knot things up after the Motors posted a 5-run bottom of the 4th. Two doubles, a 2-run homer from Wyatt, and a SAC FLY from Aitor would round things out nicely for us on offense while the defense fielded two crispy double plays in support of our staff as reliever Miguel Cejas picked up his first win of the season and CL Payton Inzen secured his 27th save.

What we need is wins… any & all of them, so – we’ll take it.

#137: Loss, 1-2… we’ve petered out, reached the end of the line, we’ve met our full potential and have been found wonting. Which is an overwrought way of saying that this thing, a successful first season as the newly crowned GM of these Portland Pioneers, is likely no longer in the cards given our poor form of late. Frodo put one out, his 15th long ball of the season so far, but it represented our sole extra-base hit, and RP Morris Jones dropped to 3-6 after giving us two hard-scrabble innings of work where he’d allow just one run… the game-winning, solo DING DONG from CF Erhard Maze.

#138: Win, 5-3… finally, in what seems like forever, we’d find a way to win a series with Frodo leading the way for us in this one, bringing in the game winning runs during the top of the 7th on a single. 1B Angel Marino brought two in on a double, Leo finished 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored, and Bernal Sanchez picked up his 13th victory after putting in 6-innings of work where he’d allow 3 runners to plate… save #28 for Payton, who finished things off with a 16-pitch bottom of the 9th, closing the door on this set to help the club stay within 2 games of a wildcard slot – look, we hoped to make up some ground, but, with the way things have been going running in place will work too.

Record: 74-64, .536, 4th AL West
Up Next: Our road trip continues with a stop in Mexico City for a 3-game set against the Jaguars.

[pauwoo]

Portland Pioneers (74-64, .536, 4th AL West) @ Mexico City Jaguars (64-74, .464, 5th NL West)
An also ran in the NL West, and operating 22 games off the pace, these Mexico City Jaguars are likely just biding their time until they can pack it in on the 2085 season and go fishing instead of playing baseball. Which is not to say that they don’t want to win – what with the whole, “I hate losing even more than I love winning” mentality – it’s just that, if they don’t, well… it’s no big deal at this point. Of course – we’ll be contesting these next three in Mexico City, at altitude, in the land of loose women, mezcal, and alcohol-soaked worms so potent that they’ll make you trip harder than your hippy grandma’s mushroom tea. Here our challenges will extend beyond the field of play as I and my team do our level best to keep our boys in line and away from the many, many distractions a city like Mexico City is capable of.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP W. Long (5-5, 5.26 ERA) vs RHP T. Cox (4-4, 4.41 ERA)
RHP P. Yamaguchi (7-3, 3.71 ERA) vs LHP H. Cartmel (7-13, 4.90 ERA)
RHP W. Macomber (11-8, 3.74 ERA) vs RHP P. Torres (10-11, 3.71 ERA)

#139: Win, 8-4… winner, winner, weenie roast! The boys were really swinging the bats nicely today – Leo finished 2-for-3 with 2 runs, Fukumoto 3-for-5 with 3 runs and an RBI, a 3-for-4 day from Frodo… and the list goes on as we’d hit two doubles and two homers, and TWO SAC FLIES as a club as we brought 8 bad ones around while leaving 5 more stranded. Waldo picked up his 6th victory despite allowing all four of Mexico City’s runs and the bullpen kept the Jaguars off the board from there – all in all a great effort to begin this 3-game set.

#140: Win, 8-5… the boys, led by C Elijah Arvinda’s 2-for-3 effort that included a 3-run TANK and 2 runs of his own, managed to put this series down as a win in the books while also keeping our hope of sweeping Mexico City, in their house, alive. Aitor Cubas also smashed a 3-run DING DONG, his 6th jack so far, Leo, Angel, and Frodo each scored, and our staff, led by Peter Yamaguchi’s 7-inning, 9-hit, 4 earned, 10 K gem, stayed stout to help us earn another victory against the Jags despite partaking in the local nightlife last night – which, as always, included loquacious amounts of Mezcal.

#141: Win, 17-2… we’ve found a gear that no one within the organization realized we had – it seems that when fueled by Mezcal and barbacoa tacos, this squad can accomplish anything. There’s really way too much to parse out here, so… the box is attached for your perusal.





Oh, and we’re back in the Lord’s good graces… sitting on that last wildcard slot with a 1-game lead over the Vancouver Mounties!

Record: 77-64, .546, 3rd AL West
Up Next: We’ll head back to Portland, take a day off to rest & reflect, and then get back after it, at home, against the Austin Grackles.

[pauwoo]

Austin Grackles (77-64, .546, 2nd NL West) @ Portland Pioneers (77-64, .546, 3rd AL West)
If the Austin Grackles did their work within our division, the AL West, they’d still be in the thick of it – on the outside looking in, sure… but with a real shot at winning the division still very much on the table. Instead, as a card carrying member of the NL West, and despite the fact that, for all intents and purposes, they are a good club, the Grackles find themselves operating 10 full games off the pace being set by Los Angeles, with their ultimate goal being to secure a 1st round bye as the top ranked Wildcard entrant to the NL bracket… and, as far as that goal is concerned, it’s looking pretty good – they have a 5-game lead over Brooklyn and Montreal in the WC standings, have played better than each of those clubs here lately, and should present us with some stiff competition in our park despite the good vibes we’re feeling after that set in Mexico City. For us… these are of the utmost importance – wins that we must get if we are to further secure our standing as a playoff club and, hopefully, as a contender.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP D. Hornbrook (6-9, 3.99) vs RHP V. Welcome (10-10, 3.57)
RHP K. Voll (10-4, 3.15) vs RHP A. Adcock (14-11, 2.78)
RHP B. Sánchez (13-9, 3.28) vs RHP J. Matthiessen (12-9, 2.76)

#142: Win, 8-3… we took Austin apart like Captain Ivan Drago pieced up Apollo Creed in in Rocky IV – with cold & indifferent precision, looking on vacantly as we removed the limbs from their torsos to use as bats, putting 14 total hits on the board in this one with 8 of the 16 men we put on base making it all the way back around. Aitor finished 2-for-4 with a run-scoring double and a solo homer, Fukumoto scored twice on 2-for-5 hitting, we hit two triples on the day, both belonging to Micky Austin, and swiped a total of four bags… suffice it to say that we did whatever we wanted to do on offense while the staff, led by a winning, 5.1-inning, 3-hit, 0-earned effort from Dominic Hornbrook and finished by RP Jeremiah Fletchall who earned the first save of his career after giving us 1.2-innings in relief.

#143: Loss, 6-9… there’s another Rocky IV reference to be had, some low hanging fruit, but I won’t do it. I’m better than that even if my imaginary baseball team is not… here we’d have it handed back to us with Austin’s 1B Luis Cavazos doing the lions share of the work for the Grackles with a 2-for-4 day that included a GRAND SLAM and 3 total runs of his own. Former Leopard, SS Hamza McDonnell, hit a run-scoring double for the bad guys, Dwight Beasley cooled us off during the bottom of the 8th, and CL Noah DiMaio shut us the rest of the way down with a 17-pitch bottom of the 9th to secure his 39th save of the season. 3 doubles and a triple for us, 3 more swiped bags – BUT, when your first two hurlers of the day give up 9 runs between them, that’s usually all she wrote.

#144: Loss, 1-6… there’s the result you want and the one you get… here, we came in angling to get a three-scoop banana split, Neapolitan with fudge, butterscotch, whipped cream, and a cherry on top but would, instead, settle for a soft-serve twisty cone where the McDonald’s ice cream machine crapped out halfway through making it. What a mess – we fanned 12 times as a club, scored our only run on a Fukumoto solo homer, and sat idly by as our staff, namely Bernal Sanchez and Waldo Long, each gave up the ghost early and often, allowing Austin to put all six of their runs on the board prior to the start of the 6th frame. A really sad state of affairs.

Look, we’re still holding on to that last wildcard slot, still at a game ahead of the Mounties (and now a game behind the Alpines) but our time has to be now… we simply can’t drop any more sets if we want to be in control of our destiny.

Record: 78-66, .541, 3rd AL West
Up Next: We’ll welcome the Boston Patriots to town for a 3-game set before closing out the season with 5 straight interdivision sets.

[pauwoo]

Boston Patriots (62-83, .431, 4th AL East) @ Portland Pioneers (78-66, .541, 3rd AL West)
We’ll welcome the Boston Patriots to town, our final non-Divisional opponent of the 2085 campaign, before taking one more run through the AL West with our season on the line. Here, the hope will be that these Patriots, despite boasting our game’s greatest player, Tom Franzone, will play patsy as we truck headfirst into the most consequential set of games we’ll contest this year. And, they’re in a bad way – of sorts – posting a 5-5 record over their last ten contests and losers of 2 straight to the Los Angeles Leopards their last time out. This is an opportunity to best a middling team, pad our standing in the American League Wildcard race, and to enter the last stretch of this regular season on something of an upswing.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP P. Yamaguchi (8-3, 3.82) vs RHP K. Littles (11-8, 3.34)
RHP W. Macomber (12-8, 3.74) vs RHP C. Sisson (1-4, 5.81)
RHP D. Hornbrook (7-9, 3.80) vs RHP C. Forbes (10-10, 3.50)

#145: Win, 9-2… Peter Yamaguchi was on that good stuff – 7.1-innings of filthiness, 6 hits allowed, 1 earned, with 6 K’s – and improved to 9-3 as a Pioneer while the offense busied itself by scoring early and often in this one for our 79th win of the season. Aitor finished 1-for-3 with a bases-clearing double, Angel, Frodo, and Micky each brought in a run, we swiped two bags, and helped our starter out of a jam with a timely, Alford-Raphael-Marino double play. It was all systems go in this one – a lot of good looks from the squad and hopefully a precursor of what’s to come down the stretch.

#146: Win, 6-3… 1B Angel Marino led our offensive effort, finishing 3-for-3 with a SOLO HOMER and 2 total RBI, Micky Austin brought one around on a deep SAC FLY, and we’d get the nod for the second game in a row, despite our leaving 13 runners stranded over the course of this one. Inzen picked up his 29th save on 12 total pitches, Macomber was solid, but didn’t do enough to earn the win, and Gray Switzer put in some solid relief work here, giving us 3-innings of 2-hit, 4 K ball as the second man trotted out to the bump – he’d earn his 3rd win of the campaign as a result and is turning in a solid season for us with his 2.61 ERA over 38-innings of work for us thus far.

#147: Win, 5-4 (10)… the sweep would prove more difficult than the first two, but, in the end, the boys would find a way to get it done, in extras, as FRODO put a solo dinger out during the bottom of the 10th to tread all over the 1776 boys and send them back from whence they came, a shell of their former selves… Aitor was at it again, putting a 3-run TANK out to knot this one up during the bottom of the 5th, RP Joe McMillen gave us a sturdy 3-innings of relief, and CL Payton Inzen was credited with the win after pitching the top of the 9th and 10th for us. A great, timely, and much-needed sweep for the boys here – boosting our confidence as we head into the home stretch with nothing but interdivision sets left to close out the 2085 campaign.

Record: 81-66, .551, 3rd AL West
Up Next: We’ll begin our sprint to the promised land (or decent into madness) with a home set against the Salt Lake Alpines, who we’re currently tied with in the AL West.

[pauwoo]

Salt Lake Alpines (81-66, .551, 2nd AL West) @ Portland Pioneers (81-66, .551, 3rd AL West)
It was always in the cards, that we’d find ourselves here, at this juncture of the season with a shot at making the playoffs – I knew it before I traded for Yamaguchi and before I brought Aitor in from the Bush League… we had something snappy, for sure, the only question – a question still yet to be answered – was whether what we had would be snappy enough. What wasn’t in the cards, as far as I was concerned, was a scenario where the Salt Lake Alpines – a team I considered taking on before settling on Portland – would be here with us while Dallas sat above the fray at the top of the pops with Vancouver, the class of our division on paper, sitting on the outside looking in. Of course, by the end of this set, those circumstances could look a lot different as every game from here on out will have something significant to say about how this whole thing plays out… these are, simply put, must win games.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP K. Voll (10-4, 3.33) vs LHP B. McElheny (11-4, 2.91)
RHP B. Sánchez (13-10, 3.35) vs RHP W. Allen (14-8, 3.57)
RHP P. Yamaguchi (9-3, 3.62) vs RHP P. Parrow (12-8, 3.11)

#148: Loss, 4-8… If at first we stumble… We’re either on the precipice of a Shakespearean tragedy of our own design or on the brink of the greatest dash to the finish line our sport has ever seen. Or neither. Probably neither. Here we’d find ourselves on the business end of a run-scoring machine, with CF Mason Duryea and RF Neil Jahraus leading the way for Salt Lake, each contributing a tip-top 3 RBI to the Alpines cause while our starter, Kade Voll, and his first replacement, RP Joe McMillen, were shelled in this one, leaving little room for our offense to make up the difference – and, to be honest, we may not have been good for it anyway given our 11 K’s as a club.

#149: Loss, 0-3… if we should fall so succinctly here at the end it will be a hard pill for me to swallow – we’ve spent time telling ourselves that we’re capable – that we’re good enough, smart enough, and that, doggone it, people like us… yet, here we are, mailing it in and all but letting these Salt Lake Alpines take away everything we’ve worked so hard for. We’d strikeout 10 more times as a unit in this one, hit just two, inconsequential, bases-empty doubles, get caught with our hand in the honey pot twice, and look on helplessly as our top dog, SP Bernal Sanchez, was saddled with his 11th loss of the ’85 campaign. This is not the version of our club that the fans purchased a ticket to see – no one wants to sit in the front row during their favorite club’s collapse.

We’re still a game up on Vancouver for the last Wildcard slot… so, that’s good. BUT, now find ourselves two games behind Salt Lake and four games off the pace Dallas has set.

#150: Win, 6-3… We’d stave off complete embarrassment with a Game 3 win, avoiding the sweep at home, and, hopefully, getting ourselves back on the good foot. 1B Angel Marino paced the offense with a 2-run TANK during the bottom of the 6th that put us up for good, Leo brought one around, and our backup backstop, Chris Levesque, hit an earlier 2-run DING DONG of his own to get things started… also, it was In Peter We Trust once again as he picked up his 10th win for us after turning in a 6-inning, 5 K, 3 earned performance here. With the win we’re back to living just one game behind Salt Lake and have, somehow, extended our lead over Vancouver to two whole games.

That’s called a cushion – albeit not a comfortable one.

Record: 82-68, .546, 3rd AL West
Up Next: We’ll travel to Texas for a 3-game set against our division-leading rival, the Dallas Chaparrals. Which will mark the beginning of a 9-game road trip. Yikes.

[pauwoo]

Portland Pioneers (82-68, .546, 3rd AL West) @ Dallas Chaparrals (86-64, .573, 1st AL West)
Dallas is power starved at the plate and in no way your prototypical, ‘everything is bigger in Texas’, Texas club… they make their living on fierce pitching, rock-solid defense, and a small ball offense that has, so far, done just enough to keep these Chaps in the win column most nights. They’ve proven themselves the best of the AL West so far – outpacing the next best club by a full three games on the table and, should they get the occasional ground ball with eyes during the playoffs, could surprise the punditry by making it all the way to the World Series this season. They’re not perfect, far from it, but seem to be great in all the right places and those areas where they’re lacking should find sufficient cover behind the pitching and defense I brought up earlier. On paper they’re built for the playoffs – all lights out pitching and flawless defense. Here we have a chance to measure up, to see how we look against the top club in our division at a point in the season where form matters most.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP W. Macomber (12-8, 3.79) vs LHP K. Judd (8-5, 2.84)
RHP D. Hornbrook (7-9, 3.95) vs RHP K. Western (15-4, 2.94)
RHP K. Voll (10-5, 3.39) vs RHP J. Arai (9-9, 3.58)

#151: Win, 3-1… Super Utilityman, and today’s center fielder, Sam Gore, put us up for good with a 2-run double during the top of the 4th, running our total up to 3 for that frame after Wyatt opened things with a run-scoring sacrifice… and the pitching, led by SP William Macomber’s 5-innings of 4-hit, 1 earned work, stayed stout as our bullpen allowed just 1 total hit from the 6th inning on… CL Payton Inzen picked up his 31st save, needing only 8 total pitches to get it done, as our boys marched into Texas looking every bit the world beater so far.


Elsewhere: SP Patrick Torres, the undisputed best pitcher in organized baseball who’s currently doing the dirt for the Mexico City Jaguars, had himself a game against the Los Angeles Leopards and their legendary lineup, posting an 8-inning, 4-hit, 2 earned, and 12 K line as he earned his 12th win of the year during a complete, 7-2 victory at home. Big timers RF Ethan Mullens and 1B Otto Isaac each fanned three times on the day. One day Patrick Torres will be the Ace on a tip-top club and post some legendary playoff performances… we hope. Would hate to see his talent squandered as a Mexico City lifer.

#152: Loss, 3-4… done in by a bottom of the 8th run-scoring double courtesy of 3B Rayan Impellizeri that came off RP Waldo Long and unable to answer during the top of the 9th against Dallas Closer, Elmar Pirov, who earned his 41st save off us here, we’ll have to work for the victory tomorrow to secure the much-needed, and basically required, series win even as we remain tied with the Alpines and 2 games up on the Vancouver Mounties for the last Wild Card slot. With this loss we drop back to 4 games off Dallas’ pace with only 10 games left to make up that ground…. Impossible? Not really. Unlikely? Definitely.

#153: Loss, 1-3… We’d just not have enough in the tank to get this one over the finish line – done in here by a 3-run bottom of the 4th brought forth by the very bottom of Dallas’ batting order with LF Jeff Meyer driving in two on a triple, and SS Dylan De La Rosa bringing him in during the Chaps’ next AB. Kade Voll takes the loss, his 6th this year, after giving us 5-inning of 3-earned work, we hit one extra base hit – a home run for our backup catcher – left 5 runners stranded, and kept this thing from getting way, way out of hand by turning two expertly crafted DP’s. It’s a bummer, y’all.


Elsewhere: 23yo SP, Lyndon Langston, who has been putting in some rock-solid work with the Philadelphia Liberty in his first full season in their starting rotation, has etched his name into the annuals of time with his first career NO HITTER that came complete with 11 K’s as his club bested their in state rival, the Pittsburgh Pipers, by a score of 3-0. This was Langston’s second complete game of the season with his last one being a 3-hit shutout that also came against these Pipers back in early August. Kid’s got their number it seems… he’s in the Victor Pacheco conversation as well – 18 wins already with a 3.39 ERA.

Of note… Charlotte, Los Angeles, and Austin have each punched their playoff ticket.

Record: 83-70, .542, 3rd AL West
Up Next: We’ll head out of Dallas Love Field for a flight back to the PNW where we’ll land in Seattle, WA for a date with the Metros.

[pauwoo]

Portland Pioneers (83-70, .542, 3rd AL West) @ Seattle Metros (73-80, .477, 6th AL West)
The Metros are finished for 2085… kaput, felled, destroyed, out of the cake. They’re one of 7 clubs that have officially been eliminated from the playoffs along with Pittsburgh and Phoenix in the National League and Toronto, New York, Boston, and Detroit in the American League. Of course, with the Cascadia Cup still up for grabs and a chance for them to draw even with us at 9-9 on the year, they’re not quite done… and when you add in the fact that they own a 10-8 record over Vancouver this year – a sweep here would put them at 19-17 in the Cascadia Competition and us at 17-16 going into our last set against Vancouver… basically with a sweep over us they can position themselves nicely for the cup. An ultimately meaningless consolation prize? Maybe… but, it’s one that the PNW citizenry care about and thus, so do we.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP B. Sánchez (13-11, 3.39) vs RHP M. Fauske (7-6, 2.70)
RHP P. Yamaguchi (10-3, 3.67) vs RHP P. Street (10-11, 3.69)
RHP W. Macomber (13-8, 3.73) vs RHP B. Dauncey (9-10, 4.56)

#154: Win, 2-0… Well, there will be no sweep, there will be no Cascadia Cup for Seattle as this win all but guarantees that it will end up at Pendleton Park on public display inside our trophy case. 1B Angel Marino led the offensive charge, finishing 2-for-4 with a run-scoring double and Aitor Cubas trucked his 11th homer of the season, a solo shot that put us on the board during the top of the 2nd. The pitching was good too with Bernal Sanchez finally earning his 14th win of the season after turning in 8-innings of work and fanning 6 Metros and CL Payton Inzen earning his 32nd save after striking out the side during the bottom of the 9th.

#155: Loss, 2-3 (10)… walked off in extras on a Ryan Bearnson SAC FLY. Good grief. Not a ton to parse out for us here – Leo and Angel brought our only runs around, Leo’s on a SOLO TANK and Angel’s on a SAC FLY, Jess Alford swiped his 22nd bag of the season, and William Macomber gave us 7-innings of 4-hit, 2-earned ball but left the game with things all knotted up, handing just enough rope to Payton Inzen who hung our hopes & dreams out to dry after giving up that game-winning SAC FLY. Rough one…

#156: Loss, 4-5… CF Nick Arredondo took Peter Yamaguchi yard, a 2-run TANK, during he bottom of the 8th to help his club take the late, 1-run lead that they’d not relinquish the rest of the way, dealing us a terrible blow as we head into our last two sets of the regular season with our playoff lives still very much in the balance. A real rough one for us here – Yamaguchi gave up two homers, we’d only manage two extra base hits, leave 6 men stranded, and suffered the indignity of fanning 11 times as a club – with three of those being charged to Leo Bullock’s account. Talk about coming up lame at the most inopportune of times.

We’re still occupying 3rd place on the AL West table, still in possession of the final wildcard slot in our league, and, somehow, have a 2-game lead over the Vancouver Mounties.

Record: 84-72, .538, 3rd AL West
Up Next: Our most consequential set of the 2085 campaign – 3 games in Vancouver BC with all of our playoff hopes & dreams on the line.

[pauwoo]

Portland Pioneers (84-72, .538, 3rd AL West) @ Vancouver Mounties (82-74, .526, 4th AL West)
Vancouver has our leagues second best offense, have made it all the way to the World Series in 3 of the last 4 seasons, and looked like a lock to do it again at the start of the 2085 campaign… instead, after playing out the bulk of this season, they somehow find themselves on the outside looking in, albeit with a chance to reverse their fortunes should they do what they are capable of against us, in their building, in their town, and in front of their fans. A real fortuitous situation for those in attendance – a chance to cheer their squad to victory, and to leave a mark on the final outcome of the 2085 season. To rattle our guys, to bury them in a chorus of boos so loud that they can’t even hear themselves think – oh yeah, we’re in the thick of it here and will undoubtedly have our mettle tested… should we find a way to peel this set off Vancouver we’ll win this years Cascadia Cup and secure our spot in the playoffs – what a time to be alive.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
RHP D. Hornbrook (7-9, 3.98) vs RHP T. Pushkin (13-10, 3.39)
RHP K. Voll (10-6, 3.45) vs RHP M. Villalobos (13-7, 3.70)
RHP B. Sánchez (14-11, 3.25) vs RHP C. Tunnell (6-12, 3.05)

#157: Loss, 3-6… When you stack our guys up next to Vancouver, there’s really not a lot of areas that you can point to and declare, “see, that’s where Portland is better”. On paper, at least. In practice, thus far, we’ve been better – better enough to have a two-game lead on them in the Wildcard standings prior to this contest… which, of course, brings us to today where these Mounties brutalized our squad much to the delight of their hometown faithful. We’d get close at one point, pulling to within a run off a top of the 8th run-scoring single courtesy of C Elijah Arvinda, but Vancouver wasn’t having it and ended our mini-rally with a 2-run DING DONG hit by 3B Lance Tabor, his 12th on the year, off reliever Joe McMillen. A rough start in British Columbia as our lead shrinks to a single game with two more of these to play…

#158: Loss, 2-5… Listen, when you’ve been living on borrowed time for as long as we have this season you start to take it for granted… and, when you’re in that mode and find yourselves on the brink with an underperforming behemoth staring back at you from the home dugout, well… all bets are off. And it’s a good thing too, as these Mounties roughed us up like some playground bully showing off for the homecoming queen. Here, Vancouver SP, Marcos Villalobos, would keep our squad in relative check while SS Joshua Norman and 1B Wilton Cunningham did the lions share of the work for the Mounties, driving in 4 of their 5 runs between them. All knotted up in the WC standing now and not looking wonderful… we’ve gone from an 88% likelihood of making it to the dance to a 46.4% likelihood in just 2 games against these yokels. Not awesome.

#159: Win, 4-2… All’s well that ends well and all that – here, we’d finally show out with Aitor leading the way with a 2-for-4 day at the plate that included a dinger, a double, a score, and 2 RBI while Leo Bullock, doing that thing he keeps doing, hit a late, top of the 9th, 2-run TANK to give our club the runs we’d need to get the nod. Solid stuff from Bernal – 6-inning, 8 hits, 2 earned – with the win going to Waldo Long, he improves, officially, to 7-6 on the year, and the save going to Inzen, who secured #33 on 16 total pitches. With the win we see our 1-game lead in the wildcard race back on the board and with it our playoff odds improved to 90.3% with just three games remaining to ruin it for ourselves.

Oh, and if you're counting... we've officially collected our first piece of hardware - the Cascadia Cup is all ours!

Record: 85-74, .534, 3rd AL West
Up Next: We’ll close out the regular season with a 3-game set against the lowly Colorado Kings at home in Pendleton Park.