Strangeverse 2076+

[pauwoo]

Pittsburgh Pipers (45-44, .505, 3rd NL East) @ Los Angeles Leopards (54-35, .606, 1st NL West)
Pittsburgh is home to one of the brightest, and some say future king, of professional baseball in 1B Tom Franzone… he hits for contact and power, can put it in the gap at the drop of a hat, has a great eye, and doesn’t get caught chasing bad pitches. If he could field at all the guy would be the second coming. The problem with Pittsburgh then is that, after Franzone, they don’t have much. Their Ace, Robby Garrett, is better suited as a #2, and the guy they have behind him, Josh Allen, is serviceable, but not a true #2 – and then, if you care to dig a little deeper, you’ll find a staff leaves a lot to be desired paired with a ho-hum offense that needs to fill in the gaps around Franzone if they are to ride his talent to the promised land while he’s still in town. Neither bad, nor good, this is the epitome of a .500 club – if you come up against them with your focus waning, you’re likely to get KO’d, but if you come correct, ready to play, and focused on the task at hand they’re an easy enough beat – a gatekeeper for the riff raff as it were. Here we have the opportunity to come back from the break, refreshed, and with renewed focus, as we quest for the ultimate prize and attempt to right last season’s wrong...

90 of 162: Josh Allen (9-4, 3.49) @ Merl Crawford (7-7, 4.22)
Win, 6-4. Merl was solid with 6.1 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K’s, Dom went 2 for 4 with a double, 3 RBI, and a run, and Franzone was as good as advertised, crushing a solo homer during the top of the 8th in an attempt to put things out of reach for us. Nothing doing though as we exploded for 5 runs in the bottom of that same frame, built ourselves a cushy little 2-run lead, and left it there to get off on the right foot after the break. Hamza went 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI (and contributed to his first DP as our starting SS), OH HONG went 2 for 4 in his post-Compton debut, and PEPPER drove in our first run of the night with a run-coring single. Ethan picked up his 38th stolen bag and was caught once, ending his consecutive steal streak at 17, and Sterner racked up another save to make it 33 on the year.


Elsewhere: Our own SP Leonardo Duarte, currently ranked at #42 on the Top 100 Prospect List, came up smelling roses in a tilt at home in Inglewood against the Juneau Huskies… your boy put in 8.1 innings of work, allowed 4 hits and 0 earned while fanning 6 during the outing and led our Sentinels to an outstanding 6-0 victory. I have high hopes for this kid, I really do – our fans seem to like him, he’s a handsome fella, and he has a rocket for an arm… but, given my proclivity for poor decision making, I’ll probably wrap him up in some half-baked trade in a fit of boredom before he has a chance to develop into an LA all-timer…

91 of 162: Gregory Morgan (6-6, 3.57) @ Stephen Estevez (10-4, 2.81)
Win, 4-1. Estevez proved that the 3rd try is a charm, going 7 rip-roaring innings while allowing only 4 hits and a run to go along with his 7 Ks, and PEPPER went 2 for 3 with a double and a couple of runs to help add this win into our permanent record. 2 runs brought in by Ethan, same for Otto, who also swiped a bag, and a team-first SAC FLY from our resident All-Star, Tony Voorhis, would round things out for us offensively while Sterner closed the show with 2 Ks on 12 total pitches to notch save #34.


Elsewhere: SP Brian Candelario, highlighted here as much for his performance as he is for his superb mustache, hurled a complete-game, 8-hit shutout to lead the AAA Fargo Rallybirds to a resounding 3-0 win over the Thornton Talons during a rehab start. He also fanned 8 batters during the appearance and looks primed to make his return to the big club in Salt Lake City with the quickness… Also, not pictured (you can see him a few posts above) but worth highlighting, everyone’s favorite San Marcos Supremo, Jules Winnfield, was at it again in Bush League paly as he went 2 for 4 with TWO TRUCKS, 4 RBI, and 2 runs to lead his club to a6-0 win over the Beaumont Bullies.

92 of 162: Robby Garrett (7-7, 4.37) @ Trev Anderson (7-0, 2.21)
Win, 7-3. It was the Ethan & Hamza show tonight with Mullens laying down a 3 for 4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI line and McDonnell putting down a nearly as sick 2 for 3, 2B, 3B, 3 R line himself. Trev was less than his usual self, allowing three runs over 6 innings of work and getting a ND here, but “Better Call” Saul Guzman worked admirably in relief, sniping the win in a 2.2 inning, 3 K performance to close out the contest. We also went for the team cycle – 4 singles, 3 doubles, a triple courtesy of Hamza, and 2 homers, including Voorhis’ 14th – showed our team first mentality with a SAC FLY and a SAC BUNT, and even flashed some leather with two expertly executed DPs. A good day for the La La’s, indeed.

93 of 162: Tim Kelly (5-8, 4.96) @ Michael Brisk (6-6, 5.10)
Loss, 5-3. Michael Brisk pitched 4.2 innings. He allowed 4 hits. 5 runners plated against him tonight. He doled out 4 free passes. Don’t be like Michael Brisk.


Elsewhere: SP Alan Wall, of the Boston Shamrocks, went the distance, allowing a mere 3 hits and no runs with 8 K’s in a shutout performance, on the road, over the Seattle Metros by a score of 7-0. Aitor Cubas, arguably Seattle’s best hitter (though his splits heavily favor right-handed pitching), fanned three times against the lefty. With the win, Wall improves to 6-4 on the year with a 3.71 ERA and 80 Ks while his club finds itself a mere 2 games off division-leading, Montreal’s current pace. Seattle, for their part, are now 5-5 over their last 10, with a ½ game lead over the hard-charging Vancouver Bears.

Record: 57-36, .612, 1st NL West
Up Next: Leaving on a jet plane, returning on Friday, after a 3-game set in Brooklyn followed by a day off on Thursday. I do enjoy a visit to Brooklyn. It's alwasy fun to see hipsters in the wild.

[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (57-36, .612, 1st NL West) @ Brooklyn Atlantics (57-34, .626, 1st NL East)
Brooklyn has established themselves as top dog in the east where they sit perched at the top of the pops like some Medieval gargoyle keeping rainwater from eroding the house they’ve built on power hitting and lights out pitching. Their staff, led by Ace, Josiah Kawka, ranks 1st in runs against and Starters ERA, their defense ranks 1st in efficiency and zR, and their offense gets on base at a decent clip while sending balls over the fence with nearly as much regularity as we do. They’ve proven themselves to be formidable in the East where they lead the 2nd place club, Philadelphia, by 6 games, but are a little better on the road than they are in their own park. We’ll try to pick at that a bit and see if we have what it takes to waltz into Brooklyn, an L.A., best coast outfit, dressed to impress and preoccupied by the frivolous desires espoused by the Los Angeles elite, and come away with a winning set here. A tall order to be sure…

94 of 162: Keith Baeza (3-2, 5.31) @ Josiah Kawka (9-6, 2.78)
Loss, 7-6. Close but no cigar… OH HONG came up big, 2 for 4 with 2 JACKS, 4 RBI, and 2 runs, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a 5-run bottom of the 1st that had us looking for a way out from the jump. Baeza looked fine, but errors from Ian Hanan and Pepper Grant (his 1st of the year) led to 5 unearned runs and an early exit for the understandably frustrated starter. Brooklyn’s Gavin Roberts was the man of the match, delivering the bulk of that opening salvo with a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double in the bottom of the 1st. Nothing to do here but take our loss like men, get a good night’s sleep, and come back tomorrow ready to put in some work and look for some get back.

95 of 162: Merl Crawford (7-7, 4.22) @ John Aivazian (10-8, 4.14)
Loss, 3-2. Ruh roh, ours is suddenly a leaky vessel, listing portside, and on the verge of capsizing… Merl continued his run of superb form in a 5.1 inning, 3-hit performance where he’d allow only one runner to plate and Otto put his 25th ball out of the park, but, in the end, it wasn’t enough as the Brooklyn Atlantics managed to find ways to chip away at us, doing just enough to get the win in their park. For our part, we did everything in our power to help them out – the heart of our order, save Otto, went hitless, multiple batters K’d 2+ times, and Masaya Nakagawa came undone in relief to allow the Atlantics to secure the late, come from behind win.

96 of 162: Stephen Estevez (11-4, 2.71) @ Edgar Lopez (10-4, 2.73)
Win, 8-0. We’ll leave Brooklyn with some semblance of our pride intact after a rollicking road win for the good guys… Estevez was all bravado & tiger blood here, giving us 7.2 innings of 4-hit ball, while Dom Cooke hit a double, went yard, and drove in 3 runs, and OH HONG went 3 for 4 with a two-bagger and an RBI to help make sure we walked away with at least one win over this 3-game set. We’d also get homers from Voorhis (#23) and Otto (#26), three doubles as a club, two swiped bags (Otto’s 21st, Hamza’s 15th), and a beautiful Orosz-Hanan-Ono double-play on an ill-fated Brooklyn rally attempt. Listen, we wanted them all, would’ve happily settled for 2 of 3, but will take what we can get here and getting a win after having it handed to us over those last two will do the trick for now.

Record: 58-38, .604, 1st NL West
Up Next: Headed back to La La Land where we’ll host our next six games, starting with a 3-game set against St. Louis after enjoying a quick day off.

[pauwoo]

St. Louis Blue Birds (46-50, .479, 4th NL East) @ Los Angeles Leopards (58-38, .604, 1st NL West)
Here is a team that has enough to get started, just not enough to get over the finish line… they boast one of the top center fielders in the game in Lynden Urmanski, have a great middle infield combo of 2B Mike Duncan & SS Isaias Osborn, and are the proud owners of a bullpen that, on most nights, is capable of giving opposing lineups fits. What they are missing is depth, players that fill in the gaps in the margins, glue guys that keep the clubhouse together, and enough guys who can get on base. After bouncing back from a 5th place finish in 2074 to post a 86-76 record the following year, only to get unceremoniously bounced out of the ’75 playoffs in the second round by the Philadelphia Patriots, they’ve been running in place. A 78-84 finish in ’76 and on pace to finish a shade below that this year, the Blue Birds are a listless & directionally challenged vessel that is having a hard time location the north star to guide their way back to prominence. They’re not terrible, and, as I mentioned above, have some nice ingredients in the cupboard, but without some key offseason acquisitions, St. Louis fans are doomed to suffer through what looks like one of the laziest, inefficient, and aimless rebuilds I’ve ever seen.


Elsewhere: Before I forget… yesterday, the 15th, during the big club’s day off, pitching prospect Newton Weiser was busy on the bump for your CITY OF COMPTON RAIDERS doing the dirt and leading our AAA club to victory. For the game, he posted a complete-game, 5-hit shutout, doled out 3 free passes, and fanned 7 as our Raiders defeated the Annapolis Corsairs by a score of 4-0.

97 of 162: Adam White (6-11, 4.62) @ Trev Anderson (7-0, 2.35)
Win, 9-3. Otto led the charge with a 2 for 5 day that included a triple, a 3-RUN JACK, 4 total RBI, and a couple of runs, while Trev kept STL guessing over 5.2 innings of work, allowing only 3 hits and 2 runs while fanning 6. OH HONG continues to look strong since the call up and contributed a couple of RBI to the cause, Ono went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI, we’d get a crafty Hamza-Hanan-Ono double play, and Adrian Bae stepped in for Sterner to pick up his first save of the year while Cory was given a break from carrying the load so often recently.

98 of 162: Steve Unger (1-1, 4.91) @ Michael Brisk (6-7, 5.05)
Win, 3-1. Finally… we’d get some vintage Brisky here – 8 innings of work, 4 hits, 1 earned, and 6 Ks – and some run support for everyone’s favorite youngster, OH HONG, who went 1 for 4 with his 3rd DING DONG since the call up. Ian Hanan drove in our other run, Dom hit his 14th two-bagger, Mullens swiped two bags (#40 & #41), and Sterner was back in the thick of things, notching his 35th save of the year on 11 total pitched (2 K’s and a pop out). 54K showed up to watch Brisky work, it was a balmy 73 degrees underneath palm trees in the park, and with a game time of only 2 hours and 46 minutes it’s safe to say that most of our fans left with something to feel good about.


Elsewhere: Big Burt McElheny, of the Salt Lake City Alpines, did the dirt tonight in a dominant performance against the Boston Shamrocks. He finished with a complete-game, 5-hit shutout masterpiece that included 9 K’s as the Alpines walked away with an easy 7-0 at home against the Shamrocks. This was Burt’s first complete game on the year and his 14th quality start (putting him 2 off the lead, currently held by New Orleans’ Luc Felix).

99 of 162: Medardo Garcia (7-8, 3.30) @ Keith Baeza (3-3, 5.10)
Loss, 6-3. We’d get to Medardo a bit early, but, once he settled, in we were flummoxed and doomed to failure… 7.1 innings, 5 hits, 3 earned, and 10 Ks for the opposing pitcher with a 1 for 2, RBI, 2 run contribution from STL 2B Mike Duncan, who gave us the business a little bit despite being better known for his fielding wizardry. Baeza gave up 5 runs for the second consecutive game, though these five were earned while the previous were not, Otto hit another TRUCK, he has 28, leads the NL in the category and is second in JACKS overall behind Montreal’s Harlem Peterson who has trucked 33 longballs thus far. Unfortunately, we’d fail to earn the sweep here, but do come away with a solid series win and we’ve seen our lead over Las Vegas in the NL West grow back to 3 games as they’ve stumbled a bit of late.

Record: 60-39, .606, 1st NL West
Up Next: A 3-game set, at home, against the hard-charging, 52-48, 3rd place Phoenix Coyotes. Should be a tough match up for us, they always seem to give us a run.

[pauwoo]

Phoenix Coyotes (52-48, .520, 3rd NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (60-39, .606, 1st NL West)
Phoenix is the little engine who could, a buoy struggling against the current but just buoyant enough to keep it’s head above water… They do it on pitching, where they are ranked 3rd in the NL Overall, with all-timers like SP Landon Sampson (5x Pacheco Winner) in the mix, and a collection of arms good enough to rank 3rd in starters ERA, FIP, and Strikeouts. The offense is a mixed bag – 11th in runs score (not great), 10th in average (a little better), and 7th in OBP (OK, I’m listening) – and is likely 2 or 3 quality bats away from playing up to the level required to be a legit contender. For now, they will have to make do with treading water and being fodder for clubs like ours.

100 of 162: Adam Lymon (6-8, 3.74) @ Merl Crawford (7-7, 4.10)
Win, 5-0. Merl had something snappy tonight – 8.2 IP, 2 H, 0 earned, 8 K’s – and PEPPER’s 2-run double during the bottom of the 3rd was enough to put this one to bed, though we’d add a few more to the final tally for good measure. Mullens went 2 for 2 with a run and 2 walks, Voorhis put his 24th ball out of the park, Mullens stole two more bags, Otto swiped his 22nd, and the 45 thousand fans who graced us with their presence on this chilly, 67-degree night would not leave disappointed as we were on fine form in this one.

101 of 162: Dejuan Burns (9-5, 3.19) @ Stephen Estevez (12-4, 2.53)
Loss, 5-0. Phoenix picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and showed up to our park and gave us the business after getting shutout here last night… Dejuan Burns fanned 8 of our guys, the Coyotes hit 3 dingers, all against RP Masaya Nakagawa, and the rest of their club basically had their way with us. Hamza & Ono each hit doubles (kinda cool), Otto & Voorhis each ground into double plays (not cool), and we left 8 runners stranded over the course of the contest. Not a great showing for the La La’s – this could test our mettle a little bit… will we show the same resiliency that Phoenix did in handing it to us tonight after being summarily dismissed only one game back, or will we wilt like a fragile little flower devoid of sunlight and with nothing to drink?

102 of 162: Kikuzo Ueno (4-9, 3.99) @ Trev Anderson (8-0, 2.40)
Loss, 3-2. Oof… Anderson did enough to put us in a position to win this one, but the offense did not oblige as Phoenix starter, Kikuzo Ueno, gave us all we could handle for 6.2 innings as the Coyotes offense punished us again with three more homers. For our part, Otto put out a solo shot, his 29th TRUCK of the year, OH HONG drove one in on what was, otherwise, a pretty lackluster 1 for 4 day, PEPPER and Kyle Weaver each hit a double, and we crafted a really nice Hamza-Hanan-Ono DP to keep Phoenix from running up the score on us. In the end though, Phoenix were able to earn this one the hard way, hanging a loss on closer extraordinaire, Cory Sterner, to drop his record to 1-1 on the year with a 1.21 ERA.


Elsewhere: Benny Hill, the spectacularly unfunny left-fielder currently plying his trade with the Shreveport Sashimi Samurai, finished 4 for 5 today with a 3-run DING DONG, and 3 runs to lead his team to a smashing 8-1 victory over the Beaumont Bullies in Bush League play. Hill, a native Los Angelino who washed out of the minors four years after being drafted 231st overall out of Auburn by the Montreal Impact (now known as the Montreal Alouettes), seems to be coming in to his own at 27-years old. So far this season, Benny is flexing a 291/374/629 slash with 23 dingers, 64 RBI, and a 162 OPS+. With any luck, he may find himself getting another crack at making it to the bigs…

Record: 61-41, .598, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll have a day off, of respite, to relax and reflect on our recent misfortunes before heading back into Sin City for three more against the resurgent Las Vegas Outlaws…

[pauwoo]

The big club is off, enjoying a break, clearing our collective heads, and steeling ourselves up for another brouhaha in Sin City… meanwhile, down on the farm, our own Inglewood Sentinels were busy getting no-hit, on the road, against the Rochester North Stars (a Brooklyn Affiliate).


You read that right… SP Mikel Stein, drafted by Toronto (when we still had a big-league club in that city), out of Fresno State in 2072 and now working in AA for the Atlantics, hurled a no-no with 14 K’s against our development club and, in so doing, ruined my day of relaxation. Stein, as mentioned above was drafted in ’72, spent only one season in Toronto’s development program before being released, signed with the Coney Island Footlongs in the Bush League as a means to keep his Major League dreams alive, was traded to the Gainesville Gamecocks, was eventually released by them, then picked up by the Hagerstown Hummers, before having his contract bought out by the Brooklyn Atlantics for another go at the big time… quite a journey for the young man, who, If nothing else, has etched his name into the AA history books with this no hitter and now owns the Rochester North Stars single-game record for Ks at 14.

[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (61-41, .598, 1st NL West) @ Las Vegas Outlaws (58-44, .569, 2nd NL West)
The Las Vegas Outlaws, still 3 games off our pace, are hanging tough like NKOTB on their never-ending reunion, holographic, reunion tour… We took them down a peg or two during our last visit to Sin City, but after catching a few shells during that last set in Phoenix, have sauntered into Vegas with a limp and lacking the supreme self-confidence we had last time we were here. The Outlaws aren’t necessarily in a good way themselves, they’ve after dropping to 3 games back, have managed to shadow us like a pace car, but, after cribbing two of three off Austin during their last series, will be looking to put some bad ones on us at home, pull even with us on the table, and make another run at taking our spot at the top of the pops in the NL West.

103 of 162: Michael Brisk (7-7, 4.76) @ Julen Morales (13-3, 3.35)
Loss, 4-3 (11). It took extra frames, but, in the end, the result was the same… another loss, our 3rd in three tries, and our enemies from the city whose debauchery rivals that of our own have successfully chipped away at our lead a bit. Julen, who we stupidly traded to the Outlaws for Sterner during the offseason (Sterner is a stud, but to give up a quality starter to a division rival… not my best look), acquitted himself nicely here over 6 innings of work allowing 4 hits and 3 earned to go along with his 7 K’s. Brisk was solid, even good, in lasting 7 innings while allowing 8 hits and 3 runs, but, even with his above average form it wouldn’t be enough as our offense looked like a shell of its former self for the 3rd straight contest… OH HONG did put one out though, so, that’s cool..

104 of 162: Keith Baeza (3-4, 5.44) @ Cam Murphy (5-3, 5.40)
Loss, 5-3. When it rains, it pours, the sky is falling, and what did we do to deserve our current run of misfortune… Homer Wingard kept a stiff jab in our face with each at bat, finishing 1 for 3 with a 3-run homer, and a walk, and Cam Murphy was all check hooks and uppercuts as he fanned 7 in a mere 5 innings of work… 4 of Phoenix’s 5 runs were charged to Baeza’s account, our only extra base hit was a double from Tony, and we left 7 stranded as a club, essentially erasing every opportunity we gave ourselves to score. Not ideal… our lead over the Outlaws has shrunk to one game, our offense, once hitting gangbusters and with reckless abandon, has the look of a gaunt weakling with an abnormally short reach and poor balance, and our staff, while serviceable, has been unable to carry us through our dry spell at the plate.

105 of 162: Merl Crawford (8-7, 3.79) @ Patrick Keith (6-4, 3.18)
Win, 8-0. With Merl on the bump and Ian and Otto back to putting balls out of the park, we were able to stave off disaster, move to 2 games ahead of these clowns, and manage to salvage a shred of our dignity as we leave town with a little pep in our step instead of having our tails tucked between our legs. Merl gave us 8, hard-scrabble innings of filthiness, allowed on one hit and ZERO EARNED, Ian went 1 for 4 with a GRAND SLAM during the top of the 6th that made the 7th inning stretch a bit more tolerable for us, and Otto crushed ball #30 to pad his homerun lead in the National League. A double for OH HONG, a yo-yo, Ono-Orosz-Ono double play, and a 15-pitch bottom of the 9th for Adrian Bae would close things out for us nicely… a good way to end a bad trip, and a better way to end our 5-game skid. We’re back on that high life again, boys!

Record: 62-43, .590, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll run through San Jose for a quickie, 2-game parlay, before heading back to Los Angeles for a 7-game homestand that will take us all the way to August 5th.

[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (62-43, .590, 1st NL West) @ San Jose Seals (42-63, .400, 6th NL West)
Another quickie, 2-game series against San Jose… a curious case of déjà vu, a glitch in the matrix, or just your standard, run-of-the-mill, MLB scheduling silliness… they’re still a subpar club, plodding along aimlessly like some Romero-esque zombie methodically searching for brains, with an ineffectual offence built on light-hitting, and a staff that’d have a difficult time keeping a low-end NCAA club in check. They’ve recently (10 days ago) thrown in the towel on 2077 and traded their best hurler, LHP Cuco Verhoeven, to the Salt Lake City Alpines for a collection of stiffs that will be lucky to make it as far as AAA. To their credit, Verhoeven is on an expiring deal, is likely to ask for a significant raise on top of the $3mm he makes today and was unlikely to have any interest in staying with the Seals... for us, and any other club that finds themselves looking across the diamond at San Jose, it should make them an easier out. With SHOULD being the operative word.

106 of 162: Trev Anderson (8-0, 2.42) @ Bently Hunt (6-13, 4.57)
Win, 7-0. Trev gave us 6 innings of 1-hit ball, Otto went 2 for 4 with another DINGER and a couple of runs, and Satoru Ono put his 17th over the fence to put this one way out of reach for the Seals. We did most of the dirt early – a 2-run double from OH HONG got us started in the top of the 2nd, putting us up 3-0, Ethan hit his 3rd triple of the year and scored an inning later, and Otto punched his out during the top of the 9th as a way to rub it in a little bit. We were dominant here – 3 doubles, a triple, 2 dingers, 3, 2-out RBI, 3 stolen bases, a double play, and 9 strikeouts for our staff would round out San Jose’s dismantling… just an ugly game for any of the ~22K who came out in support of the Seals. Yikes.

107 of 162: Stephen Estevez (12-5, 2.57) @ Emerson Barros (4-3, 4.31)
Win, 3-1. Estevez, on something of a roll now, came correct over 5.2 innings of work, allowed only 4 hits with ZERO EARNED, and OH HONG put out what would go down as the game-deciding homer during the top of the 3rd for his 5th long ball since getting the call to join the big club. Voorhis finished 2 for 4 with an RBI, Hamza swiped his 17th bag of the year, and PEPPER added some late insurance during the top of the 9th with a run-scoring single that all but made everyone forget that he hit into a double play in his previous at bat. Also, because this is important, Sterner picked up his 36th save on 16 pitches, fanning 2 and getting the third on a weak grounder up the middle.


Elsewhere: Jonah Dove, of the Orlando Stars, went 2 for 3 with TWO JACKS, 3 RBI, 2 runs, and a walk to lead his club to a succinct 4-0 win over the Buffalo Nickles in Buffalo. The 34-year-old vet, 2072 Boyce Rigg recipient, and 8-time all-star continues to impress despite his advanced age – his recent trade to Orlando, seen as his last chance to win that ever-elusive World Series, seems to have rejuvenated the Lexington, MA native who’s hitting 329/402/507 with 4 homers and 16 RBI in 18-games with his new club. So far, the same can not be said for SS Austin Eicher and RF Thrill Bush who’ve each looked like a deer in headlights since joining Allegheny’s finest.

Record: 64-43, .598, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll welcome Heathcote Kinton and his Mexico City Jaguars to town in a battle of the NL West jungle cats.

[pauwoo]

Mexico City Jaguars (54-54, .500, 4th NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (64-43, .598, 1st NL West)
Outside of clawing their way back to .500 since we last met, not much has changed for the Mexico City Jaguars. They can still hit – 1st in runs, average, OPS, and wOBA, 2nd in OBP, bWAR, and Home Runs – and their pitching/defense is still in shambles – 12th in every category that matters, 11th in pWAR, 10th in Defensive Efficiency. They’ve brought in a few pitchers by trade to help stop the bleeding in RHP Sean Settle (50/50 with 55 stuff and only one good pitch – a 75/75 fastball) and RHP Paquito Ruiz (50/50 with 55 stuff, 45 Movement, and 4 pitches, only 2 of which are any good), but neither will bring enough to the table to help this club make a late run at securing a playoff spot. And, that is really too bad as theirs is as high octane an offense as we’ve seen in some time with a middle infield of 2B Heathcote Kinton & SS Sandber Aviles that is equally adept defensively as they are with the bat. It’s the kind of offense that, at its best, can inspire fans’ imagination, drum up some much-needed interest in our game, and drive significant playoff ratings for the league. It’s too bad, then, that their ownership and current GM lack the creativity and courage to make the moves necessary to put their supreme offense in a position to do something memorable in the postseason.

108 of 162: Lee Myers (8-3, 3.02) @ Michael Brisk (7-7, 4.71)
Loss, 4-3. Mexico City, after treading water with a 54-54 record heading into this series, and currently riding a phenomenal 15-9 record so far in July (with only one game remaining to close out the month) was good for it tonight against Brisky, batting him around to the tune of 6 hits and 4 runs as they escaped with a close win in our park. 3B JJ Barbari went 2 for 4 with a double, a 2-run dinger, and 3 total RBI for the bad guys to seal the deal and CF Aaron Capeheart managed to punch out his 5th longball on a hung curve served up on a platter by an unfocused and unprepared Brisk. Offensively we were serviceable – 8 total hits for the club, 3 doubles (PEPPER, Ono, Hamza… stand up), a 2-run TRUCK from C Dom Cooke, and 2 stolen bases (Mullens with #46, Otto with #25) were not enough to overcome Mexico City’s poor pitching in this one as their offense managed to find a way to outpace us tonight.

109 of 162: Casey Tucker (10-8, 3.70) @ Merl Crawford (9-7, 3.55)
Loss, 4-0. Held to five hits and shutout by the worst pitching team in the National League, at home, if front of our fans… not a good look. Merl was decent, 7 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, and 5 K’s, but Casey was better, way better, and the Mexico City Jaguars found a way to continue their run of good form by peeling the first 2 of 3 off us here, in our own park. Not much of note to parse out for us offensively – Otto swiped his 26th bag, we failed to secure any EBH’s, left 6 runners stranded, and 23 of our 27 outs came by putting the ball in play, weak little dribblers, one & all.


Elsewhere: SP Kicks Ford, putting in work for the Rochester North Stars in Brooklyn’s development system, twirled a complete-game, 5-hit shutout with 8 K’s to lead his club to a resounding, 5-0 win over the Henderson Ducks. Kicks now has a 4-2 record in 7 starts, has gone 8 or more in 4 total outings, is posting a 1.16 ERA, and has fanned 48 batters. Something tells me that the Brooklyn brass may be looking to make some room for Kicks on their AAA club in Charlotte in short order.

110 of 162: KJ Judd (4-4, 5.14) @ Keith Baeza (3-5, 5.60)
Loss, 3-1. Getting swept, at home, against a club as poorly constructed as the Jags is not how you make your owners happy, and I fully expect to get a call from mine to make that point crystal clear… Keith put us in a position to win, gave a good account of himself over 5.2 innings of work, and only allowed 1 runner to plate… but, it wouldn’t be enough as our offense continued to sputter against MC’s locked in staff while our bullpen came undone a bit during the top of the 8th, relinquishing the lead and spelling our doom. Again, our offense didn’t leave much on the table for me to parse out – 8 total hits, 8 total K’s, another swiped bag for Otto, his 27th, and, for the second contest in a row, we’d fail to secure even a single extra base hit.

Note: After dispatching us with ease and doing the same against Austin in the series before arriving in Los Angeles, Mexico City has finished off the month of July with a 16-9 record (only Brooklyn (17-8) and Virginia Beach (17-9) were better) and is currently riding a 7-game winning streak.

Record: 64-46, .581, 1st NL West
Up Next: Austin joins us on the loser’s bracket for a 4-game parlay in Los Angeles.

[pauwoo]

Brooklyn continues to rule the roost in the NL East while each of the other three divisions are still very much up for grabs… and check out the American League – some very compelling stories seem to be developing in both divisions.

American League Standings & Leaders


July Award Winners

AL Hurler of the Month – SP Oswald Johnson (Buffalo Nickels) made 6 starts, surrendered 35 hits in 42 innings of work, struck out 30, and walked 15 finishing 4-0 for the month of July with a 2.15 ERA.
AL Batter of the Month – RF Preston Wallace (Denver Miners) put together a .404 average with 8 dingers, 28 RBI, and 20 runs scored – his contract is up after this season as well, so he may be one to watch during the offseason.

National League Standings & Leaders


July Award Winners

AL Hurler of the Month – CL Sawyer Dahlgren (Brooklyn Atlantics) complete 6 saves in 7 attempts, had 3 wins, posted a perfect 0.00 ERA in 14 innings of work to take home his 2nd consecutive award after taking home the same honor in June.
AL Batter of the Month – 1B Austin Matthews (St. Louis Blue Birds) banged out a .317 average with 32 hits, 9 jacks, 30 riblets, and 11 scores for the month.

[pauwoo]

Austin Grackles (48-63, .432, 5th NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (64-46, .582, 1st NL West)
In finishing out July with a 13-12 record, Austin is coming off its best month of the 2077 campaign and has their sights set on taking another step towards winning back some fans in August. It could be a tall order, however, as 9 of their 13 wins came in 1-run games where they may have been the beneficiary of more than a couple lucky bounces inflating the win total of a club that is still near the bottom of the NL in total offense with a bullpen that holds water about as well as a colander. And, while they are a fantastic base stealing team – they’ve swiped 188 bags so far, good enough for the #1 slot in the NL – they can’t really do much else at the plate. It’ll take more than some slick base running to come away with a winning series against us, in our park, as we kick off the dog days of summer… hopefully… who knows, we’ve been made to look pedestrian by worse.

111 of 162: Dwaine Schilling (5-7. 3.53) @ Trev Anderson (9-0, 2.29)
Loss, 2-1. Trev pitched well over 5 innings of work where he’d allow 2 hits and 2 runs while fanning 6… unfortunately for our previously undefeated stud, our offense could not be bothered to help him out here, and, due to our malfeasance, Anderson will take his first L of the year bringing his streak of 10 straight wins (extending through late last season) to an unceremonious end. Offensively, the club left us with little to parse out here… OH HONG tried to get the ball rolling with a solo homer during the bottom of the 9th, and we’d get doubles from PEPPER and Ono, but, outside of that, it was nothing doing as our bats stayed cold bringing our losing streak to a nearly soul crushing 4 in a row.


Elsewhere: SP Pappy Kincaid, the 96th ranked prospect currently plying his trade with the Juneau Huskies (Seattle’s AA Affiliate), pitched a complete game, 4-hit shutout with 10 K’s to lead his club to a 9-0 win over the Rochester North Stars. Pappy was taken with the 86th pick out of PCU by Seattle, and the former Whooping Crane has already made a splash in the Minor Leagues with an All-Star selection this year, 10+ K’s on 4 separate occasions, and a 3-hitter against the Henderson Ducks early last month.

112 of 162: Brendan Thompson (0-7, 4.30) @ Stephen Estevez (13-5, 2.46)
Win, 8-3. And, finally, after four games of futility, the La La’s have decided to grace the hometown faithful with their presence once again… Voorhis was scary, 3 for 4 with 2 solo shots, Pepper punched 2 out and drove in three, and OH HONG, wait for it, punched out two of his own and drove 3 more in as well. Estevez got away with it a bit here – he gave up three earned over five innings of work – but it was no bother as we went after Thompson and did whatever was necessary to drop loss #8 on him… the poor guy gave up 4 dingers for goodness’ sake… like, why’d the Austin Skipper leave the kid in there? Additional highlights: OH HONG & VOORHIS each hit 2-out RBIs (homers for both), Hamza hit a double, and we fielded a Nakamura-Hanan double play. Also – I have no idea If I’ve ever had three players hit multiple TRUCKS in a game before… likely not, but not 100% on that.




Elsewhere: Tito Fonseca, on the hill for the AAA Abilene Roughnecks (an Austin Affiliate), hurled a complete game, 3-hit shutout and fanned 8 to lead his club to a resounding, 3-0 win over our AAA club, the CITY OF COMPTON RAIDERS. Tito, who walked 4 batters and allowed 6 earned in just 2.1 innings of work his last time out against the Victoria Royals, found a way to control the ball, mix in his pitches, and, ultimately, make us question the coaches we employ down on the farm…

113 of 162: Dylan Sistrunk (0-3, 5.37) @ Michael Brisk (7-8, 4.77)
Win, 6-5. We’d overcome Livan Frias’ 2 JACK, 4 RBI day behind OH HONG’s 3-run dinger, PEPPER’s 9th longball, and Ono’s 18th TRUCK to keep the good times rolling, and escape this one with a victory by the slimmest of margins. Brisky was serviceable – 6.1 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 Ks, and the DUBYA – Ethan got back to thieving on the basepaths and brough home his 47th base, we hit two doubles as a club, saw Guzman stop the bleeding, and earn a hold, after Nakagawa let our lead slip away, and sat idly by as Cory Strener saved the day for the 37th time this season. All in a days work my friends, all in a days work…

114 of 162: Ryan Burg (5-7, 3.89) @ Merl Crawford (9-8, 3.63)
Win, 1-0. Merl was masterful here – a complete game, 1-hit shutout with 10 Ks for our Ace, and the offense, while anemic, did what it needed to do to eke out a win as a Tony Voorhis SAC FLY brought Ethan Mullens home during the bottom of the 4th to give us all the run support we’d need to get our 3rd victory in a row. Mullen wrecked the base paths for us, stole 2nd & 3rd before Tony’s SAC FLY brought him home, and stole one more later in the game to finish with 3 SB’s, we’d help Merl’s cause with TWO phenomenal DPs (including a MERL-HAMZA-ONO DP), and find a way to reverse our fortunes after losing 4 in a row, included our first two contests in August, prior to putting this little streak together.


Elsewhere: C Antonis Theophanous, out of Alexandria, VA (a surname most prevalent in Cyprus, but occurring in 1 of every 1.1mm Virginia Residents according to forebears.io), went 3 for 4 with a two-bagger, 2 DING DONGS, 3 RBI, and 4 runs during his Tallahassee Tomcats’ resounding 12-2 win over the visiting Hagerstown Hummers. Theophanous went undrafted out of OK State in 2071 and has played in the Bush League ever since with stops in Dearborn, Decatur, Beaumont, Shreveport, Columbia, Naperville, Gainesville, Coney Island, and finally Tallahassee along the way… if you’re counting, and why wouldn’t you be, he’s played for 9 of the 12 BL clubs during his less than illustrious career.

Record: 67-47, .587, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll pack our bags for a quick trip to Salt Lake City for some interleague silliness before returning home and hosting the Portland Lagers… should be fun. SLC may seem tame on the outside looking in, but, let me assure you… it is not.

[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (67-47, .587, 1st NL West) @ Salt Lake City (57-58, .495, 4th AL West)
The Alpines are a middling club plying their trade as a member of the American League in the West Division. They’ve won three titles over the course of their history, with their most recent coming way back in 2023 when they called San Diego home as the Chargers… of late, or over the last decade I should say, they’ve been something of a playoff mainstay, punching their ticket to the dance 6 of 10 years. Those days may be in the rearview, however, as they missed it last year, finishing 4th in the AL West with a 84-79 record, and are looking to repeat that performance, albeit on an even worse record. The version we’ll get here pairs a so-so, 6th ranked offense, with a pitiful 10th ranked staff… the result of that pairing, as you’d expect has been mixed as this club looks to be focused on treading water at the moment, content to float it’s way in to the off season – good enough to sell some tickets, not good enough to take too seriously. Should be an enjoyable trip to SLC.

115 of 162: Keith Baeza (3-6, 5.22) @ Big Burt McElheny (10-5, 3.34)
Loss, 9-7. So much for our enjoyable trip to Salt Lake City… here, even though Otto came alive a little bit with a 3 for 4 day that included a 3-run dinger, our staff would be punished early and often as SLC managed to score 9 runs on 8 hits and got the win despite committing two Bush League fielding flubs. Baeza was charged with the loss after getting shelled for 5 runs, we’d hit weak grounders into DP’s three times, and Otto got caught with his hand in the honeypot… it wasn’t all bad, of course, how could it be when you put up 7 runs – 7 doubles as a team, with only two of those driving in a run, 2 swiped bags for Ethan, who now has 52 of those on the year, and Otto tried to crank up our esprit de corps with a SAC FLY during the top of the 9th that, ultimately, led to nothing. Nothing to do here except find an underground club to get into some trouble at, wake up in some unknown location next to some unknown person, shuffle our way back to the park, pull on the ol’ Leopard’s kit and take another crack at it tomorrow.

116 of 162: Trev Anderson (9-1, 2.35) @ Cuco Verhoeven (7-11, 3.86)
Win, 8-2. Like his record would suggest, Cuco was open for us 24/7, giving up 5 runs over 5 innings of work, and our offense reappeared a little bit as OH HONG went 4 for 4 with a two bagger, a TRUCK, 2 RBI, and 2 runs to lead us to the promised land. We’d also get contributions from backup backstop Yoshi Nakamura who sent one into the cheap seats in his first at bat of the day, ONO who put a run-scoring double on the board, Otto & Hanan who each put one out, and Adrian Bae who came on in relief a bit early for Trev and sniped the win. Now, we’re off into the night to retrace our steps, and, with any luck, to find the shoes we lost last night during our misadventures in SLC after that game one loss.

117 of 162: Stephen Estevez (14-5, 2.57) @ Manuel Morales (0-1, 13.50)
Win, 3-1. Estevez continues his run of acceptable form, pushes through 5.2 so-so innings, allows 6 hits, and only 1 earned, and OH HONG was at it again with another moonshot into the cheap seats, his 11th since the call up… he’s homered in 9 of 28 games for us, which has him trending at ~51 were he to play in 158 games this season. Otherwise, we were a bit light on offense with backup outfielder, Justin Burton, finishing 2 for 4 with a HR and 2 RBI, being the other bright spot at the plate and Otto’s 29th steal listed as our lone bit of baserunning ballyhoo. A good enough effort to get the win, and series victory, on the road against one of the most ho-hum clubs in the American League. Yay us!

Record: 69-48, .589, 1st NL West (5 game lead over Las Vegas now!)
Up Next: More interleague silliness, this time at home, versus the more-ho-hum-than Salt Lake City, Portland Lagers.

[pauwoo]

Player of the Week... It was announced today that our own, 1B/DH OH HONG, was named the NL Player of the Week. Your boy hit for a .346 (9-for-26) average, belted 6 home runs, and drove in 11 runs to come away with the hardware. For the year HONG is batting .342 with 38 hits, 11 TRUCKS, 17 runs, and 30 RBI! Your boy looks swank with that sweet 'stache too...

[pauwoo]

Portland Lagers (50-67, .427, 5th AL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (69-48, .590, 1st NL West)
On the verge of collapse, an unvenerable shell of its former self – the once proud, perennial playoff participant, with 6 titles and 53 playoff appearances to their name, hasn’t so much as sniffed the dance in 10 seasons, amassing a paltry 691-884, .439 record over that stretch. Mired in a decade long run of poor form, 2077 has not provided any relief for their dwindling fanbase – the offense is one of the worst in the AL, bottom 3 at best, can’t score (430 runs, good enough for 12th in the AL), and the pitching might be even worse with their 12th ranked bullpen and 10th ranked rotation. There’s just not a lot to celebrate in PDX – their market is sinking faster than Oakland did in the 2020’s, their ownership is disengaged & shallow-pocketed, and their development system is in shambles. Hopefully, if this once proud franchise is lucky, there is some truth to the rumors that their current ownership is looking to sell in the offseason… perhaps, some creative thinking and a massive cash infusion is all this club needs to regain past glories.

118 of 162: Liam Anderson (6-11, 3.91) @ Michael Brisk (7-8, 4.67)
Win, 7-1. Michael Brisk delivered something of a vintage performance – 7 innings of work, 5 hits allowed, 1 runner earned it, and 4 K’s – and Satoru Ono opened the flood gates during the bottom of the 4th with a run-scoring double that served as an opening salvo in what would end up being one of two consecutive 3-run innings for the La La’s. PEPPER finish 2 for 4 with a two-bagger, 2 RBI, and a run, Ethan went 3 for 5 with a run scored, and Ian Hanan drove in two on a double in the 5th. All good things for the yellow tops tonight – 4 doubles, 2, 2-out RBI, TWO SAC FLIES, two swiped bags for serial thief, Ethan Mullens, and a sweet PEPPER-Hanan-Ono double play would round out the highlights for us as we managed to highlight each one of Portland’s defensive shortcomings en route to victory.

119 of 162: Peter Garcia (3-11, 4.52) @ Merl Crawford (10-8, 3.40)
Win, 4-2. We’d get the nod here despite Portland’s 1B Benjamin Compton’s 3 for 4, 2-run homer day behind a steady performance from Merl, who gave us 5.2 hard-scrabble innings of work & only allowed one runner to find his way home, and a 2-run double during the bottom of the 5th from Voorhis that would put us up for good. Otto drove one in and swiped a bag, every batter would secure at least one hit for the game, and Cory Sterner added an exclamation point to this one for us at the end, gunning down the side on 14 total pitches to secure his 39th save of the season.


Elsewhere: 3B Romeo Esparza, a one-time Major Leaguer in Portland when they were still called the Timbers who is now, at a relatively young 27-years of age, doing the dirt for the Hagerstown Hummers down in the Bush League, went 2 for 4 with 2 TRUCKS, 5 total RBI, and 2 runs to lead the Hummers to a dominant 9-3 win over the Quincy Quackers. Romeo is currently enjoying his best season as a professional with a .313/.403/.687 slash, 14 home runs, and 37 RBI while amassing a career-best 1.8 WAR so far.

120 of 162: Kito Western (3-3, 5.52) @ Keith Baeza (3-7, 5.54)
Win, 7-3. SWEEP CITY! Finally, against a club we’re supposed to handle with ease, we earn a home sweep, sending the faithful into a tizzy while righting all that is wrong with the world… OH HONG went off, 2 for 5 and a GRAND SLAM, Baeza gave us a workmanlike 5.1 innings of work, and Ethan Mullens poured it on during a 2 for 3 performance that included a run-scoring double, a run of his own, two free passes, and, as is customary, a burgled bag (#55). Otto sent his 34th over the fence, Better Call Saul Guzman picked up his 2nd save of the year, and we missed an opportunity to really run up the score as we left a total of 12 runners stranded for the game.

Record: 72-48, .600, 1st AL West
Up Next: We’ll welcome the Phoenix Coyotes to town for a 3-game set.

[pauwoo]

Phoenix Coyotes (65-56, .537, 3rd NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (72-48, .600, 1st NL West)
With the 3rd place Phoenix Coyotes in town, coming in hot on a 3-game winning streak as one of FOUR 60+ win teams in the NL West, it’s safe to say that, despite our 6-game lead on the 2nd-place Las Vegas Outlaws, our division is far from decided. This is an important set for us – we’re 7-7 against these guys so far for the year, and, in contesting these at home, need to establish some kind of home park advantage that we can carry into the playoffs should we suffer the misfortune of having to face off against these upstarts. This is about defining an edge, about establishing a proper pecking order in the NL West where brigands like the Phoenix Coyotes are firmly put into their place like Baby when Johnny Castle isn’t around. That we’ll have to find a way to perform against their much-vaunted pitching staff – currently ranked 2nd pWAR and 1st in FIP in the National League - while keeping their opportunistic offense at bay is a tall order, to be sure, but one we are more than good for…

121 of 162: Dejuan Burns (12-6, 3.21) @ Trev Anderson (9-1, 2.33)
Win, 8-5. 6-straight for the La La’s and off on the good foot against a worthy divisional rival… Ethan gave the Coyotes the business – 2 for 3 with an RBI and 2 runs – and Otto sent his 35th over the fence, a 3-run blast during what would become a 7-run inning for the club. Three doubles for the club (Voorhis, Ono, Nakamura), Otto’s aforementioned jack, another stolen bag from Ethan, and Sterner’s 40th save on the year would round things out for us nicely. A good start, and step in the right direction, as we seek to establish ourselves firmly as the biggest bully on the block.


Elsewhere: 2B Jaden Utley, of the Las Vegas Outlaws, had himself a day… the 32-year-old, 3-time All Star, and member of the 2068 champions St. Louis Blue Birds, finished 5 for 5 with 3 DING DONGS, 5 total RBI, and 3 runs to lead his club to a resounding 11-1 win over the Austin Grackles. The grizzled vet has been working his way through a tough slog of a season so far in posting a career-worst .239/.309/.381 slash with 15 homers and 66 RBI so far. This could be just what he needed to turn the corner and start playing up to his capabilities.

122 of 162: Kikuzo Ueno (5-11, 4.06) @ Stephen Estevez (15-5, 2.53)
Win, 3-2. Estevez helmed the USS Leopard through rough seas early before we settled in and did what was necessary to navigate game 2 of this 3-game set admirably. Our starter gave us 7 hard-scrabble innings of work, allowed five hits and 2 earned while punching out 6 batters, and the offense, while uneven, kept us afloat with Ethan, OH HONG, and Hanan each driving in a run. We’d get 3 doubles from the club (Ethan, Dom, and Hamza), a solo shot from Hong, his 13th, and a SAC FLY from Ian to round things out… and Cory Sterner, that bastion of calm under duress, entered his 41st save into the permanent record to close the show.


Elsewhere: SP David Arney, of the Seattle Metros, twirled a complete game, 4-hit shutout to lead his club to a noteworthy, 3-0 win over their PNW rival, Portland Lagers. During the contest, Arney fanned 12 batters and doled out a GOLDEN SOMBRERO to Portland leadoff man RF Hernando Benavidez. In his three appearances against Portland so far, Arney has led his team to victory twice, and has amassed a total of 28 K’s in 22 innings of work.

123 of 162: Arnold Mistele (4-0, 2.66) @ Michael Brisk (8-8, 4.50)
Loss, 2-1. After taking the first two, we’d hit a little bit of a rough patch in the 3rd as Phoenix was able to hold on to the lead they established during the top of the 4th to avoid the sweep by the slimmest of margins… Brisk was okay – nothing dominant on display but went 5.2 and allowed only one runner to plate and utility man Rishon Orosz hit his 6th homer to keep us from getting shutout. Not much else to parse out after such a lackadaisical effort from the club – PEPPER hit his 14th double, only 4 of our batsmen registered a hit, and we left 4 runners stranded, which was two too many, as we limped to the finish.


Elsewhere: 1B Warren Kwan, of the Shreveport Sashimi Samurai, was at it again as his club recorded a 10-6 win over the Quincy Quackers in Bush League play… he finished 4 for 6 at the plate with THREE DING DONGS, 4 total RBI, and 3 runs to lead the charge for the 53-46 Sashimi Samurai who look poised to make it to the playoffs for their 3rd consecutive year.

Record: 74-49, .601, 1st NL West
Up Next: San Jose heads to town for a 4-game series… which will be our second-to-last time seeing these guys as we will be closing out the 2077 campaign on their turf in late September.

[pauwoo]

San Jose Seals (46-77, .373, 6th NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (74-49, .602, 1st NL West)
The Seals are in a bad way… playing .374 ball, winners of a paltry 46 games, and a whopping 28 games behind our club, there doesn’t appear to be any short-term relief in sight for this woefully unbalanced ballclub. Offensively, the Seals rank 11th in runs, 9th in average, and are at about that level or worse everywhere else, while their pitching and defense is not much better – 9th in runs against, 10th in ERA. They’ve also been particularly bad against us… head-to-head, San Jose has only won twice in thirteen tries against us, most recently being on the wrong side of a mini-sweep at home last month. For our part, our form has been stellar of late, we’re coming in semi-hot, and should run rough shod over these guys…

124 of 162: Knox Hussman (8-11, 4.75) @ Merl Crawford (11-8, 3.33)
Win, 5-3. After delivering the opening salvo early, putting three runs on the board by the 5th frame, and up by two, the San Jose Seals, on a mission to salvage some pride, would knot things up in the top of the 9th, requiring extras to get this one sorted… and our hero, the man of the match, and our biggest superstar, Otto Isaac would come through in the clutch with a 3-run, walk-off TRUCK during the bottom of the 11th to secure the win for the good guys. Merl pitched well, 7 innings, 6 hits, nothing earned, and Ethan was great with a 2 for 5 day at the plate that included a double, a solo homer, 2 runs, and a walk. Some more of the good… we secured THREE double plays on the day. Some of the not-so-good… Sterner recorded his 3rd blown save of the year against our leagues most ineffectual offense, we missed lots of opportunities to finish them off early as we left 10 runners stranded, and we trotted out three relievers tonight, further extending an already weary bullpen.

125 of 162: DJ Carpenter (2-6, 4.72) @ Keith Baeza (4-7, 5.50)
Win, 8-2. This one was more like it… Baeza had good command (6.1 innings, 1 earned, 11 K’s), Dom hit a GRAND SLAM during the bottom of the 5th, we put three balls over the fence (Voorhis, Dom. Orosz), and just decimated the downtrodden Seals of San Jose. Three total steals (2 for Ethan, 1 for Otto), 2.2 innings of work in relief for Adrian Bae, and a well-timed SAC FLY for OH HONG would round things out for us here as we’ve now reeled off two in a row and are back on that good stuff again.

126 of 162: Bentley Hunt (8-15, 4.44) @ Trev Anderson (9-1, 2.63)
Win, 4-3. The La La’s would gut this one out, getting to Bentley Hunt late after being mowed down by him for most of the game, put the game-winning run on the board after the stretch, and fail to get Trev his 10th win of the season once again – Anderson now has three no decisions since taking his first loss of the season back on August 2nd. OH HONG was our man of the match, 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs for the fan-favorite, PEPPER brought in a run on a SAC FLY, Ethan secured swiped bag #59, and Sterner was back at it again as he posted his 42nd save of the season to close the show.

127 of 162: Emerson Barros (5-6, 3.74) @ Stephen Estevez (16-5, 2.53)
Loss, 8-3. And, in the last game of a 4-game parlay, the downtrodden, summarily dismissed San Jose Seals would catch us looking and put a bad one on us on their way out the door… Barros gave us the business over 8 innings of working, allowing only 5 hits, and 2 scores, and Nate Ferreri bashed a 3-run jack during what would become a 7-run top of the 6th for the Seals to put this one to bed. Not much of note to work through for us – Hamza put one out, his 7th, Otto drew two walks, stole 3 bags, and scored, PEPPER hit a double, and Justin Burton, our backup outfielder, taking his queues from Otto on the basepaths, got caught with his hand in the honeypot while trying to do his best Ethan impression. Listen, this wasn’t a great day at the park for us, but, it happens, and, well, we move on… forward, never straight.


Elsewhere: SP Luther Ratliff, a 32-year-old journeyman currently putting in work for the Annapolis Corsairs (AAA club of the Pittsburgh Pipers), hurled a magnificent, 7 K NO-NO against none other than your CITY OF COMPTON RAIDERS, leading his club to a smashing 4-0 victory in Maryland. Not a good look for our development club as this is the 2nd or 3rd No-No against us this season – especially when you consider that it came from a guy in Luther who has been a career minor leaguer who spent 7 years in Tucson as a member of the Phoenix organization, with two stops in the Bush League (Columbia Blowfish & Decatur Donnybrooks), before joining the Pittsburgh Org on their AAA club. Perhaps this will serve as notice to all the dreamers out there that it is never too late to fluke into a legendary pitching performance. On the flip, and this makes me feel pretty good, our own SP Dwight Beasley led our Inglewood Sentinels to victory behind a complete-game, 6-hit performance where he’d allow only a single run while fanning 14 unlucky batsmen. Good stuff for mean Mr. Mustache…


Mean Mr. Mustache pities no fools.

Record: 77-50, .606, 1st NL West
Up Next: No rest for the wicked as we welcome Las Vegas to town for a 3-game set before heading back out on the road, to the Lonestar State, for a date with the Austin Grackles.

[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (77-50, .606) @ Las Vegas Outlaws (71-55, .563)
Las Vegas, after we took over the top spot in the NL West, stumbled a bit. More accurately, they went into a tailspin, dropping a full 5 ½ games off our pace, before leveling their wings, pulling back to a nose-level altitude, and getting themselves back on course. Now, on a 7-3 run and looking every bit the giant killer, Las Vegas has regained some of their swagger, are playing with some real verve, and are arriving in LA on a mission to make up some ground against us so they can focus on making a move to reclaim their perch at the top of the pops in September. We’ll have the atmosphere, emotions will be running high, and this may be a preview of what is to come during the 2077 playoffs… for our part, we need to assert our dominance here, widen the gap, and make sure that Las Vegas has a complete understanding of their place in the pecking order.

128 of 162: Patrick Keith (6-5, 3.14) @ Michael Brisk (8-9, 4.38)
Win, 6-0. All hail King Brisk, purveyor of all that is stylish, dealer of all that is nasty – 7.2 innings, 4 total hits, nothing earned, and 6 K’s for LA’s favorite man about town – and Satoru Ono who finished 3 for 4 at the plate with TWO TRUCKS, FOUR RBI, and TWO RUNS. A great overall effort from the guys in this one with Ethan (1 for 2, 2 runs, and a steal), OH HONG (1 for 4 with a run and an RBI), and Ono (3 for 4, 2 JACKS, 4 RBI) each brought their A-game, Brisk improved to 9-9 on the year, and Adrian Bae went 1.1 strong, closing out the show on 24 total pitches.


Elsewhere: SP Nich Rich, donning the Silver & Black kit that has become synonymous with your CITY OF COMPTON RAIDERS, hurled a complete-game, 5-hit shutout to lead our AAA club to a 6-0 win over the Annapolis Corsairs who no hit us only 1 short day ago. A nice piece of get back from the 26-year-old righty who should be on the big club, in a permanent role, as early as next year.

129 of 162: Julen Morales (14-5, 3.70) @ Merl Crawford (11-8, 3.18)
Loss, 5-1. Former Leopard, Julen Morales, gave us the business over 5.2 innings of work, improving his record to 15-5 with the win and stopping us in our tracks in game two of this 3-game set. Not a ton of goodness to sort through for the La La’s as you can imagine – Otto put one out, his National league leading 37th longball of the year, Ethan swiped bag #61, and OH HONG put his second consecutive 0 and 4 day on the board. Not our best look, more JC Penny than haute couture….

130 of 162: Cam Murphy (7-3, 5.08) @ Keith Baeza (5-7, 5.16)
Loss, 7-3. Ruh roh, two straight shellacking’s at the hands of our most-hated divisional rival, at home, is not the result we were looking for. Here, Cam Murphy looked good, put in 5 innings of work, allowed 4 hits and both of our runs, while LF Eloy Delando, the soon-to-be FA, went 1 for 4 with a TWO RUN DING DONG to close the book on this one. For our part we got a solo shot from Voorhis, his 20th jack, an RBI double from Hamza, and PEPPER put another SAC FLY on the board… so, some low-level highlights from the La La’s which when added together don’t amount to much at all. So, it’s all bummer biscuits in Leopard land as we missed our opportunity to widen the gap on Las Vegas and further assert our dominance in the NL West…

Record: 78-52, .600
Up Next: We’ll head to Austin for a 3-game set in Dell Park against the Grackles.

[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (78-52, .600) @ Austin Grackles (56-75, .427)
To house such a ho-hum club in such a happening town is, truly, one of the great tragedies of Strangeverse. At 56-75 on the year, hope is on train that left the station long ago… instead, what we have here is a club that is busying itself by biding its time and going through the motions until they can officially close the book on 2077 and hit the links. Austin has struggled with every facet of the game this season – offensively they’re ranked 12th in AVG, 10th in OBP, and 8th or worse everywhere else, while their pitching staff hasn’t fared much better, ranked 10th or worse in all the important categories and 9th in a couple that no one cares about. Top Dogs, Rich Bell & Livan Frias, are looking for the exit, the owner refuses to spend money on the pieces they need, and the fanbase, with their 18th ranked attendance, has all but abandoned this poor excuse for a baseball team. Good opportunity for the La La’s to get back on the horse after having our tails handed to us, at home, by Las Vegas.

131 of 162: Trev Anderson (9-1, 2.74) @ Tito Fonseca (0-0, 0.00)
Win, 4-1. Trev Anderson put in an admirable 5 innings of work allowed only 2 hits with nothing earned, and, finally, picked up his 10th win of the season as the offense cracked 14 hits for the game and brought 4 of those guys all the way around. Ethan hit his 13th longball, Hamza swiped his 18th bag, and Ian Hanan drove in his 28th run on the year as the La La’s put this one into cruise control, kicked back, and enjoyed the ride… if only they could all be this easy.

132 of 162: Stephen Estevez (16-5, 2.62) @ Marcos Villalobos (3-2, 3.81)
Win, 12-4. And when it rains, it pours… homers for OH HONG (14), PEPPER (10), Ono (21), Voorhis (21), and backup, backstop Nakamura (4) would add an exclamation point to an already loud 12-run performance for the club, while Estevez put in the required 5 innings of work and picked up his 8th win as a Leopard, and 17th on the year overall.

LA LA’S SMASH…


133 of 162: Michael Brisk (9-9, 4.16) @ Brendan Thompson (0-11, 5.42)
Win, 12-2. Brisky delivered a vintage performance – 7.1 innings, 2 hits and no runs allowed, and 3 Ks – while Otto reasserted himself as Los Angeles’ undisputed and brightest star with a 2 for 5 day, a GRAND SLAM and 2 runs. The club came in hot, closing this series out with some real verve, two doubles, two triples, and two homers… we’d also get two SAC FLIES, a swiped bag (Otto’s 38th), and two double plays. The team did what needed to be done while in Austion, righted the ship after LV caught us looking at home, put a nice little streak together, and injected some of our patented swagger back into the order.

Record: 81-52, .609, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll take a much-needed day off before heading to Pittsburgh for a 3-game set against the 68-64, 2nd place Pipers.

[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (81-52, .609) @ Pittsburgh Pipers (69-64, .518)
Pittsburgh is 6-4 over their last ten, 13-10 for the month of August after finishing with a 12-13 record in July and have been bobbing along in the water for a couple of months now. After looking like world beaters in May, finishing 19-9 on the month, they went 9-17 in June, and now, for the last couple of months, have found a way to tread water, doing just enough to maintain their grasp on one of the final two wild card slots where they lead their division rivals the St. Louis Blue Birds and Philadelphia Patriots by 1 ½ & 2 ½ games each. They have some high-octane pieces, Tom Franzone & Jonah Dove come to mind, but not enough in the pantry to put anything worthwhile together. Provided we maintain our focus, we should come out of this three-game set smelling roses.

134 of 162: Merl Crawford (11-9, 3.31) @ Edwin Blaxley (8-10, 464)
Loss, 4-2. Our first game in Pittsburgh, trying to get acclimated to our surroundings and, instead, we get beat down by the Pipers in front of their low-key rabid fanbase. Blaxley held us in check, going 8 strong while allowing only 4 hits and 1 earned run and the unheralded C Jorge Teixeira, in addition to calling a great game, went 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run. For our part it was nothing doing… Otto fanned twice, Voorhis & Hanan each hit into double plays, and we left 6 runners stranded over the course of the game.

135 of 162: Trev Anderson (10-1, 2.64) @ Robby Garrett (8-12, 4.47)
Win, 10-2. After last night’s embarrassment, the boys showed up tonight… Voorhis finished 3 for 5 with a 3-run DING DONG, Trev picked up his second straight W after that four game run of ND’s and is now 11-1 with a 2.58 ERA, and Satoru Ono finished 3 for 5 with a two bagger, 3 RBI, and 2 runs. Good stuff all around – 3 doubles for the club (PEPPER, Ono, Hanan), a triple (Otto), a TRUCK (Voorhis), 4, 2-out RBI, and a perfectly executed McDonnell-Hanan-Ono double play.

136 of 162: Keith Baeza (5-8, 5.56) @ Josh Allen (12-7, 4.00)
Loss, 5-4. We’d get dingers from Voorhis, his 31st, and Hanan, a 2-run shot and his 12th on the year, and not much else as a late Pittsburgh rally, 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th, secured the series and moved the Pipers to 15 wins so far in August. Our problem here wasn’t necessarily the offense as our bullpen came unglued with Hernandez giving up three runs over 3 innings of work, and Parker took the loss, giving up two more after taking over in the 8th.

Record: 82-54, .620, 1st AL West
Up Next: We’ll close out the month at home with the other Pennsylvania club paying us a visit.

[pauwoo]

Philadelphia Patriots (67-70, .489, 4th NL East) @ Los Angeles Leopards (82-54, .602, 1st NL West)
I suppose that all is not lost for the Philadelphia Patriots, they’re not that far out of the conversation in the NL East, but recent history has been less than kind to this club as they’ve stumbled on a 2-8 record to close out August and were most recently swept by Las Vegas in Sin City. Coming into this season, Philadelphia was highly regarded, expected to compete for the NL East division, and looked like a surefire, playoff lock… things started off well enough, they stayed within striking distance, and, really, were just a medium-length hot streak away from making their move… until August where they’ve gone 7-20 so far and have all but lost their way. Here, after getting ground into the mud against the Outlaws their last time up, Philly will look to reverse their fortunes and get their locomotive back on the track against us in Los Angeles.

Latest Power Ranking is out…
1. Los Angeles Leopards (107.5, ++)
2. Vancouver Bears (106.6, +)
3. Las Vegas Outlaws (103.6, -)
4. Orlando Stars (103.3, ++)
5. Brooklyn Atlantics (102.9, o)
6. Montreal Alouettes (101.6, --)
7. Boston Shamrocks (100.9, -)
8. Pittsburgh Pipers (99.0, o)
9. Mexico City Jaguars (97.6, ++)
10. Denver Miners (96.9, +)

137 of 162: Jim Girardin (8-9, 4.21) @ Stephen Estevez (17-5, 2.60)
Win, 7-2. We sprinted out to a 4-run lead by the end of the 3rd and never looked back as Voorhis (32), OH HONG (15) and Ono (22) each put balls out of the park and SP Stepehen Estevez picked up his 18th win after 6.2 innings of work. Otto finished 2 for 3 with an RBI, a run, and a walk, Ethan burgled two more bags, his 64th and 65th of the year, and RP Reynaldo Igarashi picked up his 3rd save of the year as regular Closer Cory Sterner was on a mandatory rest day…


Elsewhere: 2B Richard McTaggart, of the Ottawa Senators, went 2 for 4 with 2 TRUCKS, 4 RBI, 3 runs, and a free pass to lead his club to a resounding 8-3 win over the red-hot Las Vegas Outlaws. Ottawa has now won 2 in a row after seeing their 4-game winning streak come to a halt at home against Austin on the 28th.

138 of 162: Prior Balazs (4-9, 4.28) @ Michael Brisk (10-9, 3.96)
Win, 5-3. Brisky came through with a 7-inning, 5-hit performance, only allowing two runners to plate while fanning 6, and OH HONG’s 2-run homer, his 16th, during the bottom of the 2nd would provide all the insurance we’d need as we win our second straight at home since returning from the road. Another solid day from Otto, 2 for 4 with a run, two more steals from Ethan, who, at 67 steals on the year, is looking like a man on a mission, and Captain Cory Sterner was back at it in relief with save #44.

139 of 162: Jonny Garcia (10-7, 4.38) @ Merl Crawford (11-10, 3.42)
Win, 5-4 (14). We’d close out this 3-game set with a 14-inning war of attrition that was put to bed by a timely, walk-off solo dinger from Satoru Ono that sent the hometown faithful into a tizzy. We’d hit two doubles as a club, 1 each for Kyle Weaver and Justin Burton, put three out (Hamza with his 6th, Ono’s 15th, and Dom’s 14th), swipe 4 bags (one of which belonged to Ethan), and get rock-solid performances from the rest of our bullpen after Nakagawa blew the save during the top of the 9th. Igarashi picked up his 8th win in relief, PEPPER posted a GOLDEN SOMBRERO (but at least we won the game), and we managed to pull out a sweep while simultaneously closing the door a bit more on Philadelphia’s champaign wishes and caviar dreams…

Record: 85-54, .611, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll engage in a duel, to the death, with the honor of our loved ones on the line as we host Ottawa in Los Angeles for a 4-game parlay…

Oh, and, how’s about a quick look at the state of the league with August in the books…
We’re the best team in the majors, by record at least, while Brooklyn, Montreal, and Vancouver each look to maintain control of their respective divisions as we head into the last full month of the season.

Standings, the Leaderboard, and a look at the La La's as we head into the stretch are each attached...

[pauwoo]