Los Angeles Kings (36-32, .529, 3rd NL West) @ Miami United (33-36, .478, 6th NL East)
Los Angeles is a good, if underperforming club, that underwent a lot of personnel changes after I left –
Megan, in an attempt to establish the club as hers, shed payroll, added depth to her development program, and updated her lineup for power (1st) and average (2nd). Her moves did not go unnoticed and have, largely, come in for her so far in 2080, where the Kings have the #1 rated offense in the National League. Her pitching staff, however, is a different story – constructed to hold water, and not much more, the crew has been serviceable but far from great. They’re ranked in the bottom half of the National League and are mired in down years from their top 3 arms –
Aiden Jensen (6-5, 4.08), Trevor Dotson (7-3, 4.20), and Newton Weiser (4-6, 3.95) haven’t performed up to last seasons standards and the smart money says that one or more of them will be gone before the trading deadline. This is not to say that the Kings don’t have what it takes to surprise some folks during the playoffs – they do – it’s just that they are sort of listless right now… shuffling along as if to trade on past success, victims of championship expectations after a fantastic 4-year run. They’ve been solid of late, 6-4 over their last 10 games, are -2 against the Pyt, have the 2nd-best rDiff in the NL at +47, and hit right-handers really well (we’ll give them a look at two lefties over the next four games). We’d like a split here – that would be acceptable – but, if I can have my druthers, I’d like to get all four, complete our 2nd straight 4-game sweep, and remind
Megan where she came from.
Also, because this is important, I purchased the contract of
RP Donald Tully from the Shreveport Sashimi Samurai of the Bush League against
Cheech &
Yan’s better judgment… because I’m the boss and I like his mustache… he’ll head to Barbados for some fun in the surf. You can never have too many Canadian ex-pats with a
Eugene Levy level mustache game in your development system.
70 of 162: Newton Weiser (4-6, 3.95) @ Julian Horne (7-1, 2.51)
in, 2-0. Team shutout for
Horne (7.1 IP, 4 K’s),
Sullivan (0.2, 2 K’s, 2nd Hold), and
Dial (1.0 IP, 1 K, 13th Save),
OH HONG hit his 4th jack,
Magmo went 1 for 2 with a solo HR and a walk, and, interestingly (I guess), LA Catcher,
Dom Cooke, gunned us down at 2nd FOUR TIMES…
Magmo, Gordon, Saucerman, and Marshburn were each caught with their hand in the honeypot – it’s only comical because we won, had that not been the case, we’d have sent them all to Barbados…
by bus.
Elsewhere: Heathcote Kinton’s (PDX) 25-game hitting streak came to an end against the Atlanta Falcons, at home, while
Tom Franzone extended his streak to 26 games off his 23rd dinger of the year in a home tilt against the Houston Texans that Pittsburgh won by a score of 5-3.
SP Chandler Keaton, of the Hartford Whalers (a Philadelphia affiliate), pitched a complete-game, 4-hit shutout and fanned 12 batters in a 6-0 win over the Calgary Flames at home.
Keaton is a low-key, back of the rotation type, who was picked 77th in the 2068 draft by Portland, at 33-years only, and with just a little bit of petrol left in the tank,
Chandler may be looking at finishing his career in the Bush League as early as the 2081 season… here’s to a few more years in the sun for the former Aggie of New Mexico State. Also, while I’m not 100% sure what exactly a circle-change is, it sounds cool, so I’m pulling for the guy.
71 of 162: Aiden Jensen (6-5, 4.08) @ Kordell Littles (8-4, 2.85)
Loss, 7-5. Well, streaks were made to be broken, I guess – and this one was snapped in emphatic fashion off a 2-run dinger courtesy of
Otto Isaac that put the Kings up for good.
Kordell took a 3-hit, 1-run effort into the 9th,
Dial couldn’t close the door on LA,
Loy went 3 for 4 with a two-bagger, a jack, an RBI and 3 runs, and
Saucy Saucerman when 4 for 5 with an RBI and run. The
OH HONG/Anaconda duo failed us here – going a combined 0 for 9 at the plate with 4 K’s… and, as opposed to yesterday,
Dom didn’t gun anyone down at 2nd – in fact, we stole two bags in this one in a small, but ultimately unsatisfying, measure of revenge.
Elsewhere: 1B Pablo Madera (CAR) went 3 for 4 with a
GRAND SLAM and 2 runs in the Panthers 11-8 win over the Los Angeles Galaxy…. It was his 5th career Grand Salami and his 16th jack of the 2080 campaign.
Madera is now hitting .371/.420/.584 with 16 dingers and 50 RBIs… his 3.5 WAR so far is good enough for 3rd in the Majors and 2nd in the American League (behind the unflappable
Heathcote Kinton).
72 of 162: Trevor Dotson (7-2, 4.20) @ Harvey Allen (4-5, 3.61)
Win, 8-6. The Kings attempted another late-inning rally, putting up 4 runs in the 9th to close the gap, but ultimately
Dial was able to hold on to earn his 14th save of the season despite giving up a
GRAND SLAM to
Rajkumar Kosciusko….
SP Harvey Allen went 7.2 strong innings, allowed only 2 runners to plate and fanned 10, and
Magmo went 1 for 3 with a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 6th that gave us all the cushion we’d need to bring this W home. Team cycle –
OH HONG with his 7th double of the year, a triple from
Saucerman, and
Magmo’s homer completes it… and we got
FIVE stolen bases in this one (
if you’re counting, we are now 7-4 against Dom in the SB department).
Elsewhere: 2B Heathcote Kinton (PDX) went 3 for 5 with a two-bagger, a dinger, 4 RBIs, and 2 runs for the Timbers in their 8-2 win over the Atlanta Falcons… he’s on a tear this season and, if he can stay healthy, is looking like an early favorite to win the AL’s Boyce Rigg this year (it would be the 2nd time he’s taken that honor home if he can muster it)…
2B AJ Love, of the Cincinnati Bengals (an Atlanta Falcon affiliate), went 3 for 4 with a double, two homers, 4 RBIs, and 3 runs in his clubs 9-5 victory over the Nashville Picks.
SP Fernando Calderon, of the San Jose Sharks (a Golden State Warriors affiliate), pitched a complete-game, 1-hit shutout with 10 K’s to lead his team to a 1-0 victory over the Newport Beach Gypsies on the road…
Calderon was discovered by Oakland’s international scouting team in 2072 and is looking like a lock to make the big club and stick) in 2081… sky’s the limit for this kid.
73 of 162: Jonny Garcia (5-3, 4.06) @ Rad Taylor (6-5, 2.91)
Win, 11-3. We’re on a tear and
Rad came through after a couple of ho-hum outings – CG, 9-hit, 2 earned effort from the gnarliest arm in
Miami…
Loy drove two runs in,
Marshburn hit a 2-run triple, and we put 7 runs on the board in the bottom of the 3rd to give
Rad all the cushion he’d need to settle into this one and take us the rest of the way home.
SIX MORE SWIPED BAGS IN THIS ONE! TWO ERRORS FROM DOM. His soul is ours… make it 13-4 in SBs against him for the series. We also had 3 double plays – this brand of baseball we have on exhibit is really something to behold.
Notes: We’ve managed to, finally, dig ourselves out of the cellar of the NL East and now find ourselves at 5th on the table (we’re tied for 5th with Philly, but, let’s be real, we’ll take what we can get)… Up next we’ll engage in some interleague silliness against the New York Jets for the last 3 games of this homestand. After that, we’ll get fitted for our pink tops for a trip to Atlanta before returning to Miami to meet Montreal, followed by Brooklyn in a winner take all cage match (without the stakes and without the cage). Our Starters continue to carry the club – we’re 2nd in Starters ERA in the NL – with
Rad earning his 7th victory of the year last night and
Kordell is starting to get himself worked into a groove at 8-4 with a 2.75 ERA. Offensively,
Saucerman is leading the team in average at .351 with
Anaconda leading in HRs (20), RBIs (59), and almost everything else… the closest to him in total RBIs is
OH HONG at 25… we really need to remedy that. I don’t mind having a club that’s built on pitching, but would it kill my guys to
give me a little bit of balance?