July 22nd through 25th 2055
Just a 3-game series with the Traverse City Bears. We are on the road for this series and this year we have just dominated the Bears going 12-3 so far this year. Somehow the fans are still showing up at over 30,000 per game, but some of the locals have started calling the 40-57 Bears, the Bad News Bears. At home on the season they are just 22-28 and it is hard to believe that this team was in the running for the playoffs last season until the last week of the season.
The Bears last won the GLBL World Series back in 2051 so it has not been that long ago that they were on top of the mountain, but this year has been a real drag. The biggest culprit of their fall has been pretty much squarely on the pitching staff. Their starting pitchers ERA is 6.05 which is dead last in the South of the Border. In comparison our starting pitchers have a 4.91 (which sounds just awful to me) which is 2nd in the South of the Border division. The Bears have started 9 different pitchers so far this season and they are in talks about perhaps adding another guy to those ranks, but more on that later. The only real bright spot from a starting pitching source has been the surprise re-emergence as a starting pitching the man with 2 first names, William Charles. Charles has been with the Bears his entire career after being a 6th choice in the first round in 2040. He started 53 games back in 2049-2050 but has only started 7 games in the last 3 seasons before this year. On the season Charles is 7-4 with a 3.38 ERA.
The offense is led by the best ⅔ of an outfield in the league in CF Cal Braud (26) hitting 346/372/905 with 6HR and 47 RBI’s and RF Earl Foote (26) who is angling for his 3rd straight NOTB Lake Superior Best Player award. Foote is hitting 354/442/1.012 with 13 HR and 79 RBI’s. OF Ben Marshall isn’t a bad 3rd part of the outfield but has only been in LF for about ½ of the club's games and played in CF when Braud was injured. He has DH’d quite a few times as well. The only knock on Braud is his durability as he frequents the DL which seems like it is more often than most. When he is out of the lineup that leaves Foote exposed and unprotected in the lineup.
If the Bears can straighten out their pitching they could once again be a first division club, but until then they will be in the lower end of the spectrum. Expect them to be taking a hard look at any arms that are available in the off-season.
Chicago Architects (63-34 1st in the US) @ Traverse City Bear (40-57 5th in the US)
July 23rd through July 25th 2055
Games played at TC’s The Den
Game 1 Friday July 23rd 2055
A - 31,253
Jose Cedeno 5-6 4.74 vs RHSP Philip “Muscles” Reid 0-0 3.96
All this game’s runs are scored one at a time. Traverse City’s Alexis Martin and Chicago’s Thomas Arnaud hit solo home runs. Arnaud also hits an RBI double. Matt Graves drives in two runs despite going hitless: one run scores on a groundout, the other on a sac fly.
Chicago 5, Traverse City 2.
SP J Cedeno W 6.2IP 7H 2R 2BB 2K, 2B W Dunse 2-3 DB BB 2R SB, DH M Toledo 2-4 DB R, 3B T Arnaud 3-4 DB HR 2RBI R
CH HR - 3B T Arnaud (18)
Game 2 Saturday July 24th, 2055
A - 32,453
Joe Johnson 5-0 3.36 vs RHSP William Charles 7-4 3.48
The Traverse City Bears converted a terrific effort from starter William Charles into a win over the Chicago Architects at The Den. William Charles (5.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K) and three Bears relievers combined on a two-hit shutout. His record improves to 8-4. The Bears improved their record to 41-58 by beating Chicago. Both hits are Pedro Farrulla singles. Traverse City scores all their runs in the third. Alexis Martin hits a sac fly, Cal Braud doubles in a run, Earl Foote triples in Braud, and Barney Tomiak singles in Foote. The Architects Joe Johnson suffered his first loss of the season (5-1 3.58)
Traverse City 4, Chicago 0.
SS P Farrulla 2-3
CH HR - None
Game 3 Sunday July 25th, 2055
A - 31,857
Val Imbert 7-6 4.33 vs RHSP John Nelligan 6-5 5.70
All nine Bears batters get at least one hit, and everyone except Barney Tomiak gets at least one RBI. Leadoff man Tomiak singles twice and scores twice. Bernie Stoddart, Bob Harris, and Cal Braud all homer. The only real bright spots for the Architects was the continued hot hitting of OF Jose Gomez and the first 2 hits since he was activated off the DL for 1B Reagan Osborn.
Traverse City 11, Chicago 5.
CF J Gomez 3-4 TP, HR 2R 4 RBI’s, 1B Reagan Osborn 2-4 SB
CH HR - J Gomez (1 with CH, 6th overall)
Summary - A very annoying weekend in Traverse City. We just didn't look very into this series. Maybe its over-confidence of having beaten them so much. Maybe its the summer duldrums of a long season. Whatever it is that game on Saturday produced 2 hits and they were by all people than our SS Pedro Farrulla who is not necessarily known for his bat. But give Farrulla credit, he has played great defense at SS and allowed 2B Walker Dunse to return to his more natural position at 2B and he has managed to hit 295 with us. The batting was not expected, but maybe we (and a few other clubs) sold him short.
One player who has been struggling in July after a torrid start to the year is C Sean White. Since July 1st is only 9 for 70 (129) with 2 doubles and 6 RBI's. With White struggles we are seeing more and more of C Juan Duran who is hitting 300 since his return from the DL.
While it was great to get 1B Reagan Osborn back, his return saw him just go 2-12. Hopefully he will find his stroke soon.
RF Jim Ashley has a slight ankle sprain and probably played more in the last 2 games than he should have. His afternoon in Sunday's 11-5 loss was cut short when he was ejected for aruging balls and strikes with the umpire. Clearly the veteran Ashley was trying to light a spark in his team who seemed to be sleep walking, and he immediately when in and got ice on his ankle. Ashley will see very limited action in the series against Toledo starting Tuesday.
An Architect hitter won the player of the week for the 2nd straight week. RF Jim Ashley won it last week, and this week 3B Travis Arnaud won the honor.
Trade Announcement
As was hinted after the Duluth series, P Bradley "Hurricane" Sentner has been dealt. In a minor move Sentner was sent to the pitching starved Traverse City Bears for a minor league prospect. The prospect is 2B Miguel Rojas (20) who was signed by the Bears as an international amatuer in March 2052. He appeared in 56 games with the Bears class A affiliate and hit 226/319/667 with 4 home runs and 21 RBI's.
After the deal was announced, reporters caught up with the Architect's owner Georgory Bocquet Jr. who was seen doing cartwheels down the teams office hallway. He was excited because the move saved the Arch's roughly $450,000 in salary for the remainder of the season. Not quite off-setting the $1.75 million the club had to cough up to acquire OF Jose Gomez.