Los Angeles Angels (52-36, .591, 2nd AL West) @ Seattle Mariners (62-26, .704, 1st AL West)
Operating a scant 10 games off the pace we’ve set so far, the Los Angeles Angels are formidable. Their rent gets paid on defense, where they rank 2nd in runs against & defensive efficiency, and pitching, where their serviceable staff (5th in Starters ERA) and lights out bullpen (ranked 1st) keep opposing hitters off balance and always leave their team in a position to get the W. The offense, however, has left a little to be desired – they rank 9th overall in the AL – and if there is any department where we shine when compared to them, it’s at the plate. This will, undoubtedly, be a tough set… OC is coming in on a 2-game winning streak, has been the 5th best road team in the AL, and have played us tough so far with a 3-4 head-to-head record already in the books. Let’s hope that the
Trout-Ohtani-Rendon show will be on hiatus while they’re in town over the next three days…
89 of 162: Griffin Canning (7-4, 3.76) @ Jon Duplantier (6-1, 2.83)
Loss, 11-9. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before -
two teams with dominant pitching staffs meet in a pitcher’s park and… here we have an offensive outburst piloted by two teams that have established themselves as mid-table offensive units. Orange County managed to put 4 jacks on the board, including homers from, you guessed it,
Rendon (11th), Ohtani (16th), and Trout (18th)… meanwhile,
Trammell hit his 2nd DING DONG for the good guys.
Kelenic went 3 for 4 with a two-bagger, an RBI, and a couple of runs, and
Kyle Lewis drove two in on 2 for 3 hitting. It, unfortunately, was not enough, however, as
Inspector Duplantier only lasted 2.1 innings (he left with a forearm strain, but we’d probably pulled him at the end of the frame anyway), saw 5 runners score (only 1 earned though), and gave up two of the Halos’ 4 homers.
Elsewhere:
Dane Dunning,
Rec Specs spokesperson and 3rd in the rotation for the Tejas Rangers, was seeing 20/20 out on the mound and used that sweet, sweet clarity to twirl an 8-inning, 3-hit shutout that included a very charitable two free passes and 7 Ks. His performance propelled the Rangers to their 14th 1-run victory over the Oakland Athletics by a score of, well, 1-0. Also, because they just aren’t stacked enough, the Los Angeles Dodgers managed to pry
LHP Eduardo Rodriguez from the Red Sox for reliever
Brett De Geus and some minor league fodder. The AI out here in a red Buick laying down an intense cover of
Randy Newman’s I Love L.A. – it’s like they have “LA must dominate” embedded in the game code. Okay, you’re right – I’m exaggerating, but if the Dodgers win it all in this sim I’m going back to
Earl Weaver Baseball.
90 of 162: Patrick Sandoval (5-4, 2.96) @ Marco Gonzales (11-4, 2.29)
Loss, 4-2. Things were going smoothly, we’d put a couple on the board before the 6th, gave one back in the 7th, and, all things considered, we were looking pretty good – the engine was humming, our car was sticking to the track & seemed perfectly attuned to our driving style. It’d be a late pit stop during the top of the 9th that’d be our undoing – our crew struggled to replace our tires and couldn’t get the car off the jack in time for us to bring this one home. Instead, after
Marco gave us a lights-out 7.2 innings of work where he allowed a mere 4 hits and 1 run, former Mariner, and my IRL #1 main man,
J.P. Crawford sent a 3-run homer over the fence to put the Angels up for good. I mean, look, if we must lose – I’d rather have
J.P. sending the game-winner over the fence than
Ohtani, Trout, or Rendon… so, there is that.
Elsewhere: Nick Ahmed, of the Arizona D’backs, went 3 for 4 with TWO DING DONGS, 4 RBI, and 3 runs to lead his club over the Los Angeles Dodgers by a score of 7-5. With the win, Arizona is now firmly established as the #2 team in the NL West and now find themselves a scant 12.5 games off L.A. propers pace. Also, because it came at the expense of Houston, New York’s
Brett Gardner went 2 for 3 with 2 dingers, 3 RBI, and 2 runs during the Yankees 15-5 win over the struggling Astros.
91 of 162: Shohei Ohtani (4-5, 4.67) @ Matthew Boyd (7-7, 4.23)
Win, 4-3. Finally, we managed to get a win in this series – on a walk-off during the bottom of the 12th inning as
Big Bat Bobby Dalbec put on out of the park to seal the deal. Good stuff from
Boyd – 7.1 IP, 3 hits, 2 earned, 6 K’s – RBIs for
Fletcher and
Moore (in addition to Triple-B’s game-winner), a
SAC BUNT from
JOC, and a double for
Fletch would round out the highlights in this one. All told we sent 7 hurlers to the bump to earn this one and now head into the All-Star break looking to rest and steel ourselves up to quest for immortality.
Elsewhere:
MacKenzie Gore, of the San Diego Friars, twirled the 1st No-No of the season (that’s refreshing all things considered) against the Colorado Rockies to lead his squad to a 7-0 victory at home… 9 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 Ks for the youngster in only his 12th start as a hurler in the show. Kid looks like a keeper.
Record: 63-28, .692, 1st AL West
Up Next: A much-needed respite from the grind, with a return to action on the 16th down in Orange County with a chance to exact some revenge against the Halos.