San Francisco Seals (51-57, .472, 4th NL West) @ Los Angeles Lakers (65-42, .607)
Despite their mid-season rebranding, the artist formerly known as the 49ers, are still a bad team – they can’t score (12th in the NL for runs), don’t hit for average (8th in the NL in AVG @ .260), and have the power of a 7-year old (12th in the NL for HRs). Their top power guy, Aaron Sammon, has, at 15 homers so far, hit twice as many dingers as their #2 guy… that’s not great. Sammon, who went to Cal despite hailing from Yelm, WA, spent 7 years in the Citizen’s organization before beginning his second career as a journeyman. He’s made stops in Carolina and Portland before starting the 2077 season in the Bush League with the Naperville Nibblers. San Francisco purchased his contract before the start of the 2077 campaign, and before he had the honor of playing a game for that organization, and the move has paid some pretty okay dividends… he’s batting .273 (good enough for his second best showing in the pros) with 15 homers and 52 RBIs from the cleanup spot. Not wonderful, but worth every penny of his $545K price tag. We’re 6-1 against these guys so far – we play them pretty tough – and are in need of a patsy to run up our lead on Phoenix a little bit. Let’s hope that the La La’s don’t do that thing they do against bad teams over these next four contests…
108 of 162: David Ouwerkerk (7-7, 3.28) @ Newton Weiser (11-5, 2.91)
Win, 8-0. Newton was phenomenal over 9 innings of shutout baseball and PEPPER GRANT went 3 for 4 with a HR and 2 runs (where has he been anyway?) to help secure a nice game one victory. We got a 3 for 4 day out of Lonzo Gonzo, Dontrell brought in 3 runs (on a 2-run HR and a SAC FLY), Ethan picked up his 38th steal, and our defense completed 3 double-plays – Hamza-Mack-Hong, Gay-Mack-Hong, and Mack-Hamza-Hong…
Elsewhere: Payton Gardner, of the Staten Island Killer Bees (Brooklyn affiliate), went 2 for 2 with 2 homers, 5 RBI, 3 runs, and 2 walks in their 14-4 win over the Louisville Bats. At 29-years old, Payton has bounced between the big club and the minors throughout his career – in 2077 he managed to make 38 appearances for the Citizens (he hit .238 with 2 homers and 13 RBI) before being demoted on July 29th. In other bad news out of Brooklyn – Jules Winfield was demoted to Staten Island on the 30th… he’s only played one game for the Killer Bees during which he went 1 for 4 with a walk and a K.
109 of 162: Gareth Bertrand (5-1, 2.85) @ Aiden Jensen (7-10, 5.22)
Loss, 4-3. Aiden took another loss in a game that he could have just as easily won – 7 innings, 9 hits, 4 earned… Otto struck out THREE times, OH HONG struck out TWICE (he also hit a double though), and PEPPER had the day off...
Elsewhere: 2B Telma Taveres (JAX) hit two out against the Toronto Reds (Jacksonville lost by a score of 11-8), former Laker, current Citizen, Merl Crawford pitched a complete game gem and earned a 9-2 win over the Steelers, and former Phoenix Sun, current Shreveport Sashimi Samurai, 2B Gianni Berghuis, went 5 for 8 with TWO doubles, FOUR runs, and TWO walks in a hard-fought, 5-3 win over the Gamecocks in Gainesville, FL.
110 of 162: Jan Hernandez (8-8, 4.27) @ Paul Yeager (15-4, 3.12)
Win, 4-1. Paul Yeager pitched an 8-inning, 7-hit, 1-run game, and RF Rajkumar Kosciusko went 1 for 3 with an RBI in the win… 29th save for Barbaccia, PEPPER returned to the lineup and went 1 for 4 with a run and an RBI, OH HONG K’d twice (again), and Otto stole his 19th bag… a good win, we’ve secured a split but need a 3-1 series win (our 3 ½ lead over Phoenix is not enough)…
Elsewhere: Micky King, of the Hagerstown Hummers, was at it again in Bush League play – another 2 HR game for the young slugger. The Hummers beat the Dearborn Dilly’s by a final score of 10-3.
111 of 162: Nolan Wilkins (2-3, 5.09) @ Dejuan Burns (8-8, 3.77)
Loss, 2-1. Dammit. Dejuan was a’ight – he allowed 2 over 6 – but the offense was not… 9 K’s as a team, an error for O. Mack, and another unsatisfying series result at home. We’re just mailing it in at this point, man. Nothing else to say about it…
Elsewhere: Phoenix beat the Minnesota North Stars by a score of 15-9 and are now a scant 2 ½ games behind us… we got three against the Chargers before heading out on the road – another poor team in our park bent on making us look bad to our hometown fans. FUN! Oh, and Payton Gardner, who I highlighted earlier, got called back up to Brooklyn… meanwhile, Jules is still a Killer Bee – it’s an unfair world.