Houston Texans (44-48, .478, 4th NL West) @ Miami United (51-39, .567, 2nd NL East)
At 44-48 and going nowhere fast, the Houston Texans should turn their attention to next year, to their development program, and to adding some depth to a club that has been riddled with key injuries to their starting rotation.
SP Mirko Samsonenko, who they got from us for
RP Ardolph Goldberg, is out for the season with a ruptured UCL, and
SP Gabe Uruburu recently went down with a shoulder strain –
Gabe will be back in short order, but if they lean on him too heavy in
Mirko’s absence, the notoriously fragile
Uruburu will undoubtedly make another prolonged appearance on the IL. Even without their top two arms, Houston’s staff has been good, giving glimpses of what could have been, and if they’re lucky, what will be, to their fans – they rank 3rd in Starters ERA, 7th in Bullpen ERA, and have given up the 4th fewest runs in the NL so far this season. Offensively, they have some work to do where their loose collection of over-the-hill vets (
3B Mustafa Boltz and
DH Wasp Hauck come to mind) and future greats (
SS Woody Cobb &
C Ichabod Dugdale) have not combined to do anything of note – 10th in OBP, 11th in runs… for us, these guys represent an opportunity to keep the good times rolling provided that we stay focused on our craft and take advantage of their weaknesses. This is easier said than done – focus, for a young club like ours, is a fickle business – in one moment we’re reaping phenomenal returns on our investments and in the next we find ourselves mired in a malaise that is as difficult to define as it is to navigate away from.
91 of 162: Mark Borello (1-1, 4.65) @ Rad Taylor (9-5, 2.49)
Win, 5-3. Houston’s
Sam Kilgour went 4 for 4 with a double and an RBI against
Rad, but it wouldn’t be enough to lead his team to victory in this contest as
Rad went 8, with only 3 earned, and fanned 7 batters in a winning effort (his 10th of the year).
Dom walked twice and drove one in,
Anaconda scored,
Magmo hit his 6th homer,
OH HONG hit his 9th, and, as a team, we hit for the cycle with
Norton putting the elusive triple on the board in the 4th inning off
Borello.
Dial picked up his 21st save of the year on a smashing, 21-pitch, 3 K top of the 9th, and, the good times don’t seem to have an end in sight…
Elsewhere: RF Tony Voorhis (PHX) went 3 for 4 with 2 jacks and 4 RBIs in Phoenix’s 13-4 win over the Philadelphia 76ers – I don’t make a habit of rooting for the Suns, but, taking a game off a division rival, at this stage of the season? I can get with that.
SP Bubacarr Garba, of the Calgary Flames (a Montreal affiliate), pitched a complete-game, 5-hit shutout against the Staten Island Killer Bees –
Garba is now 2-0 with a 2.59 ERA in two International League starts this season.
92 of 162: Adrian Hollyfield (1-2, 3.04) @ Julian Horne (10-2, 2.40)
Win, 6-2.
Anaconda went 2 for 3 with a 2-run dinger and a walk,
OH HONG hit a GRAND SLAM in the bottom of the 1st that pretty much carried the day, and
Horne sleepwalked through a stress-free, workmanlike performance while milking his
OH HONG provided cushion for all it was worth over 7 innings of work.
Norton hit his 2nd triple in as many days but the club couldn’t get the double required to make it our second team cycle in a row, and former Texan,
RP Ardolph Goldberg struck out every batter he faced over the final two innings of the game on only 24 total pitches… something tells me that the Houston brass would happily travel back in time to undo the
Mirko trade right about now – if that was something you could do without, you know, scrambling your human essence at a molecular level.
Elsewhere: Seattle’s
Palmer Parker went 4 for 4 with a GRAND SLAM in the Sounders 7-2 win over the New York Jets… the HR was the 17th round-tripper for
Parker so far this season, here’s to hoping that he will get hot in the second half and take a run at
Jonah Dove and
Jo Jo Jackson in the AL HR race… Down on the farm –
SP Santino Andrade, of your
Havana Sugar Kings, pitched an 8-inning, 4-hit gem allowing 0 runs while fanning 4 in a 3-0 win over the San Jose Sharks. He could be a Miami mainstay as early as next season with the way he’s been developing.
LF Franklin Ratterman, of the Birmingham Billy’s, had himself a game in a 9-2 win over the Columbia Blowfish in Bush League play – the undrafted North Carolina State Alum went 2 for 5 with 2 HRs, 4 RBIs, and 3 runs in the win and has now amassed 8 total jacks in 90 games with a subpar .197 average, which, perfectly illustrates why no one took a flier out on the kid despite having a cool surname.
93 of 162: Abe Meinecke (9-8, 3.92) @ Kordell Littles (11-4, 2.63)
Win, 6-2. SWEEP!
Kordell dealt for 7-innings and fanned 7 would be hitters,
Anaconda finished 2 for 4 with a triple (our 3rd as a team in as many days), and we earn our second straight home sweep.
OH HONG finished 2 for 4 and scored,
Noyola drove two in before leaving with a minor injury (merely a flesh wound), and
Ardolph labored through 2 ½ innings before handing the pill off to Dial who secured his 22nd save on FOUR PITCHES striking out the only batter he faced.
Elsewhere: Los Angeles
SP Aiden Jensen pitched a complete-game, 3-hitter and fanned 10 hapless hitters in the Kings’ 6-1 win over the Montreal Alouettes while managing to stay dialed in despite the three Hollywood starlets seated in the Diamond Club who were batting their lashes at the stud from Juneau for the majority of the game – 2080 has seen him take a step back from his 19-win 2079 season, but there’s still plenty of time for him to go on a run and given his command during this outing his prospects are looking up…
CF Vance Dudgeon, of the Atlanta Falcons, made the record books with a 3 HR day ina 9-7 win over the Dallas Cowboys – for context he’s the 228th player to accomplish the feat in StrangeVerse history (
Heathcote Kinton (PDX),
Senol Delalto (I don't know who he is but do see that he's back in Triple-A right now), and
Jarel White (BRK) accomplished the feat in 2079)… Cowboys
RF King Disney went 5 for 5 with two two-baggers and 3 RBIs for Dallas in the same contest…
1B Hunfredo Tavares (DEN) and
SP Cam Murphy (BRK) engaged in some silliness that resulted in a bench-clearing brawl and will miss 5 & 6 games respectively as a result – no significant punches were landed because, generally speaking, baseball players can’t fight very good…and lastly,
SP Mitch Claxton, of the Roanoke Racoons, pitched a NO-NO in a 1-0 win over the Kalamazoo Kraken in Bush League play – the former Miami by way of Orlando big leaguer fanned 9 during the historic effort. In looking at the Bush League history, I noticed that there has been 6 perfect games thrown, which is, well, pretty neat. With little control and basically no movement on his pitches, this one is a bit of a pleasant surprise to be filed under ‘every dog has his day’.
Notes: We’ve, sort of, taken over 1st place on the NL East table – by winning percentage on two fewer games played than the Pittsburgh Steelers – and with three more at home, against the very-good Montreal Alouettes, it'll be everything we can do to keep it.