THE HOT CORNER
Baseball coverage from the inside — Sacramento Prayers and the FBL
By Claude Playball | Baseball Insider & Analyst | Host, "Hot Corner" Podcast
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April 16 – April 29, 1992 | Games 14–25 of the Sacramento Prayers 1992 Season
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18-7. SIX IN A ROW. AND MAD HARE IS AGELESS.
Two weeks ago I sat down at this desk and told you that 9-4 wasn't good enough because Fort Worth was running away with the division. Well, the Prayers heard me — or more likely they didn't, because professional baseball players don't read podcast recaps — and went out and won nine of their next fourteen games, cut the division deficit from two and a half games to half a game, and closed April on a six-game winning streak that had Cathedral Stadium buzzing like it was October.
So let me revise my opening statement. Eighteen wins and seven losses is very good. It is, in fact, first in the American League in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, OPS, runs scored, hits, extra-base hits, home runs, stolen bases, and runs allowed. The starting rotation ERA is 2.54, best in the AL. This team is doing almost everything right.
Almost.
We'll get to the almost. But first, let's talk about Fernando Salazar, because if you're not paying attention to what this man is doing on a baseball field at age 41, you are missing something genuinely historic.
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THE MAD HARE'S APRIL: A MOMENT OF REVERENCE
Fernando Salazar finished April 4-0 with a 1.78 ERA. Four starts, 30.1 innings pitched, 27 hits allowed, six earned runs, five walks, eleven strikeouts. A WHIP of 1.05. An opponent average of .237.
I want you to sit with those numbers for a moment.
This is a 41-year-old man. The greatest pitcher in the history of the Fictional Baseball League — career ERA of 2.56, 404 wins, 178.9 WAR, and a Hall of Fame plaque that should've been hanging in Cooperstown since 1989 — is out there every fifth day in 1992 pitching like he's in the middle of his prime. His April 24th gem against Washington was 7.2 innings of shutout baseball. His April 29th outing against Albuquerque: 6.2 innings, one earned run. His April 19th start at El Paso: 7.1 innings, two earned runs, Player of the Game.
After the El Paso win, Salazar told reporters that "the only difference is executing pitches and not executing pitches. When you don't execute, you get beat. When you execute, you usually give your team a chance to win." That's the kind of statement that sounds simple until you realize that for 23 seasons, Fernando Salazar has been executing at a level no one in this league has ever matched. Some people make pitching sound complicated. Mad Hare has always made it sound inevitable.
I said it in our first article of this season and I'll keep saying it: we are watching the final chapter of the greatest pitching career this league has ever seen. Watch every start. Remember every outing. This is the kind of thing you tell your grandchildren about.
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THE SECOND TWO WEEKS: A GAME-BY-GAME TOUR
At El Paso: Games 14-16 (April 17-19)
The road trip to Abbots Park opened with one of the best individual pitching performances of the young season. Jordan "Pluto" Rubalcava went the distance on April 17th — nine innings, five hits, zero runs, one walk, five strikeouts, 114 pitches. A complete game shutout. El Paso manager Eric Alexander summed it up perfectly afterward: "He just had us in his thrall. We couldn't put anything together against him." That's about right. Rubalcava on his best day is a different animal entirely, and this was his best day.
Game fifteen on April 18th was the one that got away, and the way it got away was frustrating. Bernardo Andretti was excellent — 6.1 innings, five hits, zero earned runs — but the moment he left the game, Chris Ryan came in and immediately surrendered four hits and four runs in a third of an inning. A 3-1 lead evaporated into a 7-4 loss. El Paso's Josh Bradford was named Player of the Game despite leaving after six innings, which tells you everything you need to know about how the bullpen situation affected the narrative of that game. We'll come back to the bullpen situation at length below, because it deserves more than a passing mention.
Game sixteen wrapped up the El Paso series with a 6-2 Sacramento win and another strong outing from Mad Hare, as noted above. David Perez crushed a two-run home run in the first inning to set the tone. Murguia went 3-for-5. Alex Torres was back in the lineup and contributed. Series split, move on.
Fort Worth at Home: Games 17-18 (April 21-23)
Now we get to the games that mattered most in terms of the division race, because the Fort Worth Spirits came to Cathedral Stadium and the Sacramento Prayers needed to make a statement. The statement they made was: complicated.
Game seventeen on April 21st was a beating. Fort Worth 8, Sacramento 3. Willie Varela — who is now 4-0 and pitching with real swagger — held the Prayers to three runs over seven innings while the Spirits offense touched Robby Larson for five runs in five innings. Mike Chavez hit a two-run triple in the fifth that put the game away. Jon Guerrero went 3-for-4 and called the win the result of "everyone being in sync," which is exactly what you don't want to hear from your division rival's shortstop. Fort Worth looked like the better team that night. Credit where it's due.
There was also an injury — Danny St. Clair went down in that game while pitching. I can report that the "Saint" stayed off the injured list with what turned out to be a minor ailment, and he was back on the mound before long. But for about 24 hours, the bullpen situation looked even darker than it already was.
Game eighteen on April 22nd was the response Sacramento needed. Francisco "Slicker" Hernandez had the game of his season — three hits including two doubles, four RBI — and the Prayers offense erupted for six runs in the third and fourth innings combined against Fort Worth starter A. Santamaria. Rubalcava had some control issues — five walks — but gave the team six innings and got the win. Luis Prieto closed it with a clean ninth for his fourth save. Final: Sacramento 8, Fort Worth 5. Cathedral Stadium exhaled.
But then came April 23rd, and that one is going to stick with me for a while. Bernardo Andretti threw 7.2 innings of three-hit baseball. Seven and two-thirds innings, three hits, two earned runs, five strikeouts. It was arguably the best start of his season and one of the better individual pitching performances at Cathedral Stadium in recent memory. The Prayers led 3-2 heading into the eighth inning.
Then Luis Prieto came in and gave up a two-run single to a pinch-hitter named Bernardo Pianta, who had exactly one at-bat in the entire game. One at-bat. Two-run single. Prieto blew the save and took the loss. Fort Worth 4, Sacramento 3. Andretti's masterpiece went unrewarded. The designated hitter called it a testament to his team's "tenacity," which, again, is exactly what you don't want to hear from the other dugout.
Jimmy Aces said nothing publicly after that game. He didn't need to. Fort Worth is 14-4 and they play to win close games. Sacramento needs to figure out how to do the same.
Washington at Home: Games 19-21 (April 24-26)
Three games against the Washington Devils, who came in at 8-12 and left at 8-14. Sacramento swept, which was exactly what needed to happen, and the sweep featured some genuinely lovely individual performances.
Game nineteen belonged to Fernando Salazar and Alex Vieyra. Salazar threw 7.2 shutout innings against Washington — zero runs, six hits, one walk — and Vieyra went 4-for-4 with two RBI. The backup catcher was the Player of the Game in a contest where the starting pitcher was arguably better. That's a lineup depth story. "We just try to have good at-bats, whether we're winning, losing, or tied," said Vieyra, which is the kind of professional thing a backup catcher says when he's gone 4-for-4 and is trying not to make it weird. I appreciate the restraint, Alex.
Game twenty on April 25th was Mario Espenoza's night, and what a night it was. Complete game shutout. Nine innings. Three hits. Zero walks. Eight strikeouts. The Washington manager Shawn Strull said afterward of Espenoza's changeup: "You knew it was coming and you still grounded out — and then he threw it even slower." That quote deserves a plaque. Espenoza told reporters that "keeping the ball down is the key to being successful in this league. If you don't do that, they'll make you pay." The man threw 103 pitches and looked like he could have gone thirteen innings. At 2.31 ERA through five starts, the lefty is establishing himself as a genuine fifth-starter-to-watch.
Game twenty-one was Robby Larson continuing his quiet excellence — 7.2 innings, zero earned runs, seven strikeouts — while Edwin Musco hit two home runs, his eighth and ninth of the season, and George MacDonald added his fifth. "It felt good to put the barrel on the ball," Musco said, with the understatement of a man who has been absolutely destroying American League pitching all month. The Prayers won 6-4 despite Gil Caliari giving up a three-run homer in the ninth — we'll revisit that in the concern section — and Sacramento's sweep was complete.
Albuquerque at Home: Games 22-24 (April 27-29)
The Albuquerque Damned came to Cathedral Stadium missing Brian Larson, their left fielder, who served a four-game suspension after throwing his hat at an umpire during an argument in Detroit. Larson, batting .362 with three home runs on the season, is the kind of player whose absence you notice. He was back by April 29th, but the Damned lost all three games in Sacramento, and the suspension probably didn't help.
Game twenty-two on April 27th was Rubalcava's second gem of the homestand — eight innings, one earned run, six strikeouts, 126 pitches. Jimmy Aces called it simply: "Jordan went out and did what we needed." Eli Murguia had two doubles and three RBI. Sacramento 6, Albuquerque 3. Sacramento goes to 16-7.
Game twenty-three on April 28th was a showcase. Alex Torres — and let me say that name clearly, because he's been in and out of the lineup and this performance deserved attention — hit two home runs and drove in five runs in a 13-4 blowout. Two home runs in one game from a second baseman who entered the contest with exactly zero on the season. Torres told the Sacramento Citizen afterward, "If we play like this, we can win a lot of games." He's not wrong. Rafael Alonzo added two triples and went 4-for-4. Bernardo Andretti won his third game of the season. It was the kind of game that reminds you this offense has genuine depth, top to bottom.
Game twenty-four on April 29th closed out the homestand and the month of April with a 10-1 Sacramento win, Fernando Salazar getting his fourth win, and David Perez going 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. The Prayers went on a six-game winning streak to close April and enter May with genuine momentum. "We put the pedal to the metal," said Perez. He wasn't exaggerating.
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THE EMERGING STORYLINES
Edwin Musco: The Best Shortstop in the American League?
Nine home runs. A .368 batting average. An OPS of 1.153 through 24 games. Musco has been the most productive offensive player on the most offensively dominant team in the league, and at $880,000 — the highest salary in the entire FBL — he is right now the clearest example of a player worth every dollar he's being paid. The "Mustang" is playing with a ferocity and consistency that reminds this observer of the best years of players like Ben Swift and the great hitters of Sacramento's championship runs in the 1980s.
We also need to talk about his glove, and we'll do that honestly below.
George MacDonald: The Quietly Magnificent
"BigMac" is hitting .388 with five home runs and twelve RBI, and I genuinely wonder sometimes if he's the most underappreciated player in this lineup. He plays first base when Cruz needs a day, he hits in the middle of the order with professional consistency, and he does it without anyone making a fuss about it. He's 30 years old, he's been in this league for ten seasons, and right now he's playing the best baseball of his career. Five home runs in April from a guy whose career high was 22 in a full season. I'm watching.
The Rotation: A Five-Headed Monster
Consider what Sacramento's starting staff has given this team in April. Salazar at 4-0, 1.78 ERA. Andretti at 3-1, 2.29 ERA. Larson at 4-1, 2.79 ERA. Rubalcava at 5-1, 3.22 ERA. Espenoza at 1-1, 2.31 ERA. The collective starters' ERA of 2.54 is the best in the American League. On paper, and on the field, this is the finest rotation in baseball right now. The question — and it's a real question — is whether five starters can stay healthy over 162 games. We've already seen Salazar play through discomfort. We've seen Rubalcava have rough outings. But right now, in April of 1992, this rotation is the best argument for Sacramento's championship case.
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CONCERN CORNER
The Bullpen: A Five-Alarm Fire in Slow Motion
I've been dancing around this for two articles. It's time to say it directly.
The Sacramento Prayers bullpen ERA is 5.34. That is 12th in the American League — last. Dead last. In a league of twelve teams. The best team in baseball by almost every offensive and pitching metric has the worst bullpen in the league, and it has already cost them games they should have won.
Chris Ryan has a 13.50 ERA. Gil Caliari has an 8.00 ERA. Steve Dodge — who entered this season as an organizational shortlist prospect with a career ERA of 1.59 — has an 11.57 ERA and has been mercifully kept away from high-leverage situations. Danny St. Clair, the most reliable of the bunch, sits at 4.08.
Luis Prieto is the closer and he's doing his job — 1.80 ERA, six saves — but even Prieto blew the save in the April 23rd Fort Worth loss that cost Andretti a deserved win. When your best reliever is having an off night and every other option in the bullpen is a potential catastrophe, that's a structural problem.
Jimmy Aces built this team with the largest payroll in the FBL. The rotation is historic. The offense is elite. But the bridge between the starters and Prieto is currently held together with tape and optimism, and Fort Worth is too good for Sacramento to keep losing close games because of bullpen failures.
Edwin Musco's Glove
Eight errors in 24 games at shortstop. Eight. I said in our first article that three errors in thirteen games was concerning. At eight errors in twenty-four games, it has graduated from concerning to something that needs to be addressed. Musco's offense is so extraordinary that it's easy to overlook the defensive problems, but a shortstop making errors at this rate will eventually give games away — and against Fort Worth, Sacramento cannot afford to give anything away.
David Perez at Third Base
Five errors in 24 games. The same caveat applies — Perez is hitting .315 with five home runs, and his offensive contribution is real and valuable. But five errors at third base, combined with eight at shortstop, means the left side of the Sacramento infield has combined for thirteen errors in 24 games. That is a number that will come back to haunt them if it doesn't improve.
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AROUND THE LEAGUE
A few notes from the broader FBL landscape that are worth your attention.
Washington shortstop Rafael "The Iron Horse" Rastelli — one of the preseason's most anticipated players, projected to hit .316 with 15 home runs — has been lost for the season with a torn labrum. He was batting .329 when the injury occurred. Washington, already struggling at 8-14, loses their best player and effectively disappears from the conversation. The Iron Horse said he plans to come back strong next year. I believe him, but that's cold comfort for Devils fans right now.
Albuquerque lost Hee-ho Kim for the season with a torn ACL — eleven games, .306 average, five RBI, gone. Between Kim's injury and Brian Larson's four-game suspension for throwing his hat at an umpire during the Albuquerque-Detroit game, the Damned have had a rough month off the field. For what it's worth, Larson's act of launching his hat at the umpire "several times" is one of the more creative forms of protest I've encountered in my years covering this league. I don't condone it. I'm also not not entertained by it.
Tucson lost Armando Rodriguez for the season with a broken bone in his elbow — a significant blow for a Cherubs team trying to stay competitive in the AL West.
On a more celebratory note: Philadelphia's Jared "Trolley Line" Roark collected his 2,500th career hit during a game against Nashville. Roark is 40 years old, a career .295 hitter with 205 home runs and 1,236 RBI over 2,264 games. In a league full of extraordinary careers, Trolley Line's is one of the quieter great ones. Congratulations to him.
And finally, the Charlotte Monks reeled off ten wins in a row at some point during this stretch — manager Ben Smith urged fans "not to take it for granted," which is the correct thing to say. Whether Charlotte can sustain it is another question. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Saints are 5-19 with a fourteen-game losing streak. If you thought your team was having a rough start, call Los Angeles.
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MAILBAG — The Hot Corner audience has questions, Claude Playball has answers.
From T.W. in Land Park: "Claude, Fernando Salazar at 4-0 and 1.78 ERA — are we watching the greatest single season a 40-plus pitcher has ever had in this league?"
We might be watching the greatest single season by a pitcher of any age in the history of this organization, and that's saying something for a franchise that had Mike Kucan go 20-5 with a 2.56 ERA in 1973 and appear in 45 postseason innings with a career 3.82 ERA. It's fourteen games into the season, so let's not get ahead of ourselves — but what Salazar is doing at 41 is not just impressive for his age, it's impressive on its own terms. If he finishes this season the way he's started it, there won't be words adequate for it.
From M.C. in Natomas: "I'm worried about the bullpen. Should I be?"
Yes. I don't say that to alarm you, I say it because I think you deserve an honest answer. The bullpen ERA of 5.34 is the worst in the AL, and it has already cost Sacramento at least two games they should have won — the El Paso game where Andretti was excellent and Ryan imploded, and the Fort Worth game where Andretti was brilliant and Prieto couldn't hold the lead. The rotation will keep Sacramento in most games. But wins aren't automatic when you hand a two-run lead to a bullpen this inconsistent. Jimmy Aces knows this. The question is what, if anything, he can do about it.
From R.K. in Elk Grove: "What do you make of Alex Torres hitting two home runs against Albuquerque? Is he back in the regular lineup?"
Torres is an interesting case. He's 30 years old with a career .290 average and genuine versatility, but he's been platooning at second base with Bill Marcos all month, and neither of them has seized the job definitively. The two-homer game against Albuquerque was spectacular and real, but one game doesn't make a regular. What I will say is that Torres at .235 on the season with two home runs is not dramatically worse than Marcos at .270 with zero, and the competition at that position is healthy for the team. Jimmy Aces will figure out who gives them the best chance to win. He always does.
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The Sacramento Prayers open May at Seattle before returning home to face El Paso, then heading to Brooklyn and San Antonio. The Fort Worth series at the end of May — games 29 through 31 — is already circled on every calendar in the AL West. Claude Playball will be back with full coverage after the next two-week stretch.
Got a question for the mailbag? Find the Hot Corner wherever you get your podcasts.
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Claude Playball is a baseball insider and analyst and host of the Hot Corner podcast, based in Sacramento, California.