[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Kings (63-46, .578, 2nd NL West) @ Phoenix Suns (66-45, .595, 1st NL West)
Phoenix has 6 batters who are hitting .300 or better in their lineup and, with the addition of Tony Voorhis, could very well have themselves a 7th if he heats up a bit. By way of comparison – we have a lineup that boasts only two .300 or better hitters. Outside of this, and a few other, stark contrasts – one could make the argument that we are very evenly matched clubs. They have the top-ranked offense to our 5th ranked offense and we have the top-ranked pitching staff to their 4th ranked collection of arms. But, and this is a critical point, one of the key differences is that we are paying nearly $30M more than they are to achieve similar, if not quite as good, results. The Suns are an easy team to hate – and, no, not because of my unceremonious and completely unfair dismissal from the club after the 2074 season – as they have a dearth of talent, a well-stocked development system, and fantastic AI-driven management team, and some of the best uniforms in Strangeverse. Plus – have you been to Phoenix? It's awesome – on so many levels… it’s close to Northern Arizona, Vegas, and Mexico, winter is not a thing, it has purple and orange sunsets, and it is, without a doubt, and absolute rubberneckers paradise. Good food, too… all of which is largely ruined by the fact that these guys play us so tough that I often arrive in town with the butterflies and leave it on a steady diet of Tums.

110 of 162: Trevor Dotson (7-7, 4.22) @ Crusher Melendez (9-5, 3.74)
Loss, 8-4. OH HONG was solid in this one – 2 for 3, a 3-run homer, and a run – but it was former Laker, Tony Voorhis, who stole the show in a 2 for 3 performance with a 2-run blast in the winning effort for Phoenix. Dotson was saddled with his 8th loss of the season, our offense left 4 runners stranded, Rajkumar committed an uncharacteristic error (it’s only his 2nd this season), and even the fact that we hit for the team cycle couldn’t save us from embarrassment in the 1st of these 4 games…

111 of 162: Newton Weiser (13-7, 3.30) @ Jack Sanchez-Flores (8-6, 3.80)
Loss, 6-3. Newton fell apart a bit in the bottom of the 6th and picked up his 8th loss of 2078, Dick McTaggart hit a 3-run homer in vain, and PHX 2B Craig Berry went 3 for 4 with the 2-run Jack that got Weiser lifted from the game. Mullens hit a triple and scored, Dick got caught trying to get away with moving forward a base when he thought no one was looking, and we left 4 stranded for the second night in a row. Our offense is operating like an ’86 Monte Carlo with a dead battery and a Foghat bumper sticker – we’re wearing our sleeveless Steve Miller Band T-Shirt, leaning on the drivers' side front bumper with a lit cigarette in hand just trying to look cool for the ladies… but, despite our best efforts, they just keep walking right on by…

Elsewhere: In his first game without me looking over his shoulder, Compton’s Kirk Johnson went 3 for 5 with a double, 2 RBI and a run in the Raiders’ hard-fought win over the visiting Columbus Bluejackets. He’s not fooling me though… something off about that kid.

112 of 162: Jonny Garcia (6-5, 2.60) @ Jake Talley (14-5, 2.57)
Win, 3-1. Garcia gave us a great eight, Barbaccia was fluid in earning his 34th save, and Lloyd Daniels hit a solo HR and was responsible for each of our 3 runs in this one… Dontrell Gay was injured during the contest and is expected to miss the next 5 days (or so…), Ethan walked 4 times (he ties our regular-season record for free passes in one game), and Dick McTaggart lifted his 19th bag of the year.

113 of 162: Paul Yeager (12-8, 3.52) @ Teagan Rachel (5-3, 3.86)
Win, 4-0. We split the series – an acceptable result, I suppose – got a good performance out of Yeager – 0 earned, 6 Ks, no free passes in 8.1 – and OH HONG went 2 for 4 with a 2-run dinger. We lost Ethan for a couple of weeks due to back tightness…. It’s nothing major, but he will be missed. Brisky faced two batters in relief and got both to fly out, Zody stole his 21st base, and both Oh & Dick hit 2-out RBIs.

So, we’ll head home to face the Los Angeles Galaxy in their park – which is cool, sort of fun to play the cross-town rival. We’ll follow that up with a trip to the Bay Area to face off with the best team in baseball. No rest for the wicked… With Ethan out we’ve brought CF Rake Lewis up from Compton, have placed Julian Goodwin on irrevocable waivers, called up SS Eli Bigham from Compton, and have promoted RF Eric Beach & SS Steven Huskins from Castroville to Compton.