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liberty-ca · 02-28-2026, 04:15 PM

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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June 15 – June 28, 1992 | Games 68–79 of the Sacramento Prayers 1992 Season

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55-24. EIGHT GAMES UP. EIGHT IN A ROW. AND MUSCO JUST HIT TWENTY.

Let me tell you about June 28th at Abbots Park in El Paso, Texas.

Third inning. Sacramento trailing 3-2. Edwin Musco steps to the plate with the bases loaded and a season already so extraordinary that a grand slam almost seems like the logical next thing. He gets a fastball from El Paso's Navarro, turns on it, and deposits it well beyond the outfield fence. Twenty home runs. The Prayers lead 6-3 and never look back, winning 16-6 on eighteen hits from nine different players.

That is the 1992 Sacramento Prayers in a single at-bat. Twenty home runs from their shortstop. Sixteen runs on a Sunday in the desert. Eight consecutive wins entering the All-Star break. A division lead of eight games that has quietly grown from five two weeks ago while the rest of the American League watches and takes notes.

The All-Star ballot is open. I have some thoughts on who deserves to be on it. But first, let's talk about how this team got here.

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THE SIXTH TWO WEEKS: A GAME-BY-GAME TOUR

At Fort Worth: Games 68-70 (June 15-17)

Sacramento came to Spirits Grounds for the most anticipated series of the season and left with two wins in three games. The division lead expanded. The mission was accomplished, though not without drama.

Game sixty-eight on June 15th was the one to forget. Robby Larson was knocked out in 1.2 innings — six runs, five hits, a Schultz three-run homer in the second — and Fort Worth coasted to a 7-1 win. "A well-rounded effort by the whole team," said Schultz afterward, and he was right. Sacramento had five hits and looked nothing like the team that had won five of its previous six games. Fort Worth starter Wil Alzate was injured while pitching, which means the Spirits paid a physical price for the win. On balance, a forgettable night.

Game sixty-nine on June 16th was the response. Rubalcava took the ball and threw seven innings — nine hits, four runs, but he gutted through it the way elite pitchers gut through it — and Sacramento won 9-4 behind sixteen hits. Jose Rodriguez hit his third home run of the season, a two-run shot in the sixth that broke a 4-4 tie, and finished with four RBI on the evening. Alex Torres went 3-for-5. Jesus Hernandez contributed two hits and an RBI. Chris Ryan threw two clean innings for the save. "This is a very good team," Rodriguez said after the game. "We have the chance to do something special." He has said some version of this sentence twice now. At 46-23, he is not wrong.

Game seventy on June 17th went thirteen innings and Sacramento won 4-3 on David Perez's two-run double in the thirteenth. Espenoza threw 7.1 innings of two-run ball. The bullpen — Dodge, Prieto, Caliari, Scott — held Fort Worth scoreless for five and a third innings. A team effort in the truest sense. Musco hit his sixteenth home run in the fourth. After the game Espenoza said simply, "I still think this team can play even better." From a man who has been excellent all season, that is either supreme confidence or gentle understatement. Probably both.

Columbus Heaven at Home: Games 71-73 (June 19-21)

Three games against the AL East leaders, and Sacramento went 2-1 in a series that felt more competitive than the record suggests.

Game seventy-one on June 19th was the loss, and it was the kind of loss that stings. Andretti threw 5.2 innings, gave up three runs, and Columbus starter Jake Becerra scattered three hits over eight innings to win 5-4. Sacramento trailed entering the ninth, rallied for three runs — MacDonald delivered a clutch two-out triple — but fell one run short when Columbus closer C. Bruce came in and retired the final batter. Bruce has 19 saves and a 2.08 ERA. I mention this not to twist the knife on Prieto but because the contrast is real and the data demands acknowledgment. Rodriguez hit his fourth home run of the season in this one.

Game seventy-two on June 20th belonged to Edwin Musco and Robby Larson. Larson threw 7.2 shutout innings — zero walks, ninety pitches, three strikeouts — and Musco hit his seventeenth home run, a three-run shot in the third off Columbus's Brinegar. Sacramento 4, Columbus 0. "It takes a lot of things to win a ballgame," said Aces afterward. "It's usually not just one thing." True. Tonight it was Larson's precision and Musco's power, and that was quite enough. Larson has now earned back-to-back wins, which should happen more often than it does with a 2.94 ERA.

Game seventy-three on June 21st was Rubalcava being Rubalcava — eight innings of controlled excellence, ten strikeouts, one run allowed, and a 14-1 record with a 2.18 ERA. Prieto came in and gave up a homer to Fujimoto in the ninth — because of course he did — but held on for the save. Sacramento 3, Columbus 2. "I got in a good groove," Rubalcava said. "I was getting some swings and misses." Fourteen wins. One loss. The man has now won more games than any pitcher in baseball before the All-Star break and he is not finished.

At Los Angeles: Games 74-76 (June 22-24)

Three games at Saints Field. Three extra-inning games. Three Sacramento wins. This team's capacity for winning games that refuse to end in nine innings has become one of the defining characteristics of the 1992 season, and the Los Angeles series was the fullest expression of it yet.

Game seventy-four on June 22nd: Salazar gave up five runs in the sixth inning — three doubles in sequence, Sacramento's lead evaporating in real time. But then Mike Scott threw 2.1 shutout innings to keep it close, Rafael Baldelomar hit a three-run homer in the sixth to retake the lead, and Rafael Alonzo stroked a two-run single in the tenth to win it 7-6. Prieto gets the save despite giving up a hit. Baldelomar was named Player of the Game and said afterward, with the quiet pragmatism of a man who has been through a lot of baseball, "It wasn't our best performance, but a win in this league is nothing to sniff at." The man has found his voice.

Game seventy-five on June 23rd was the Edwin Musco game, full stop. Two home runs — his eighteenth and nineteenth on the season — including a three-run walk-off shot in the thirteenth inning that gave Sacramento an 8-5 win after the Saints had battled back to tie it. Musco went 2-for-5 with four RBI and three runs scored. Alejandro Lopez also hit his tenth home run. Francisco Hernandez hit his fifth. Chris Ryan threw three clean innings for the win. "We were able to get some things going offensively," Musco said afterward, with the admirable understatement of a man who just hit a walk-off homer in the thirteenth inning of a road game.

Game seventy-six on June 24th: Sacramento trailed 3-2 entering the twelfth, and then Gil Cruz happened. Four hits on the day including a solo home run off Schlageter in the twelfth inning that gave the Prayers the lead for good. Jose Rodriguez added a two-run homer and a sac fly for three RBI. Mike Scott came in and threw 1.1 clean innings for the win. Cruz said his team "played with determination." That is perhaps the most apt description of this Los Angeles road trip I can offer.

At El Paso: Games 77-79 (June 26-28)

Three games against the last-place El Paso Abbots, and Sacramento did what good teams are supposed to do against bad teams — won all three, extended the winning streak to eight, and sent several players into the All-Star break with momentum and confidence.

Game seventy-seven on June 26th: Rubalcava's worst outing of the season — 5.1 innings, ten hits, five runs — and Sacramento still won 6-5 on Rafael Baldelomar's two-run single in the ninth. Prieto closed it cleanly with a 1-2-3 ninth, his sixteenth save. On his worst night in months, Rubalcava kept his team close enough to win. That is what aces do. That is why he is an ace.

Game seventy-eight on June 27th: Larson got another quality start — 7.1 innings, two runs, zero walks — and Sacramento won 8-2 behind Baldelomar's home run and a Gil Cruz three-run triple in the seventh. A clean, professional win. Note was also made that Cruz was injured in a base collision during this game — the bruised foot that appears in the injury report. He played through it the following day, which is either toughness or stubbornness, and probably some of both.

Game seventy-nine on June 28th: The grand slam game. Musco's twentieth. Eighteen hits. Five home runs — Musco, Hernandez, Cruz, Baldelomar, and Lopez all going deep. Baldelomar hit for the cycle in spirit if not in technical fact — double, triple, homer in consecutive at-bats. Salazar threw 8.1 innings and got the win despite allowing five runs, because Sacramento scored sixteen times and the math was overwhelmingly in his favor. El Paso manager Eric Alexander called it "a rough patch" for his team, which is the most diplomatic possible description of a 16-6 defeat at home.

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THE EMERGING STORYLINES

Edwin Musco: The All-Star Case Is Closed

Twenty home runs. A .316 batting average. A .987 OPS. A .625 slugging percentage that leads the entire American League. Sixty-seven RBI. Nineteen stolen bases as a shortstop. Three-point-seven WAR. These are the numbers of an MVP candidate, and I do not use that term lightly in June.

Musco has spent this season answering every question about his durability, his defense, his ability to perform under pressure, and his capacity to deliver in the biggest moments. The walk-off homer in Los Angeles. The grand slam in El Paso. The quiet doubles and singles in between that keep the lineup turning over. The recurring throwing discomfort that he has managed and played through without complaint. He is the best position player in the American League and it is not particularly close. I expect his name to appear prominently on the All-Star ballot results and I will be surprised and disappointed if it does not.

Jordan Rubalcava: The Historical Conversation Continues

Fourteen wins. One loss. A 2.36 ERA. A 0.99 WHIP. One hundred thirty-seven innings of elite starting pitching. The "Who's Hot" designation shows 12-0 with a 1.87 ERA over his last fifteen starts. He has thrown more quality innings than any starter in the AL and won more games than any pitcher in baseball before the All-Star break. Even his worst start of the season — the June 26th outing in El Paso — resulted in a win because his team found a way. This is the season Jordan Rubalcava has been building toward his entire career and it is something worth stopping to appreciate before October arrives and changes the stakes entirely.

Rafael Baldelomar: From Question Mark to Cornerstone

When I questioned the Baldelomar acquisition in these pages two months ago, he was batting .226 with no power and the organizational logic was unclear to me. I owe him and the front office a proper accounting of what has happened since. In the last six games alone he was batting .400 with three home runs. On the season he is now hitting .288 with four home runs, fifteen stolen bases, and a .782 OPS. He has been named Player of the Game twice in the last two weeks. He has made outfield assists. He has delivered clutch hits in extra innings. He has, in the most complete way possible, earned his roster spot. The acquisition was right. I was wrong. I write that without reservation.

The Winning Streak and What It Means

Eight consecutive wins entering the All-Star break. The last team to beat Sacramento was Fort Worth on June 15th. Since then: two wins in three at Fort Worth, two wins in three against Columbus, a sweep of the Saints in Los Angeles, a sweep of El Paso. The division lead is eight games. The Pythagorean record from the standings sheet suggests this team's underlying performance is even better than 55-24. In the extra-inning category alone, Sacramento is 13-5. That number tells you something important about the character and depth of this roster — when games go long, these Prayers find a way.

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CONCERN CORNER

Prieto: Progress, But Let's Not Get Carried Away

Luis Prieto converted saves in the June 22nd and June 26th games without incident. His ERA has dropped from 6.75 to 5.98. The "Who's Not" designation still shows a 7.71 ERA in his last eighteen games, and he gave up a homer to Fujimoto in the June 21st ninth inning in what should have been a clean close. The ERA is trending in the right direction and I will acknowledge that. I will not pretend the problem is solved, because it is not. Sixteen saves in twenty-one opportunities means five blown saves, and the pattern of giving up at least one hit or run in most appearances remains. The Fort Worth series in July — now just two weeks away — will be a far more meaningful test than El Paso was.

Gil Cruz: Bruised Foot and Playing Through It

The injury report lists Gil Cruz as day-to-day with a bruised foot, sustained in a base collision on June 27th. He played the following day and went 3-for-5 with a home run. That is admirable. It is also exactly the kind of situation that turns a day-to-day injury into a week-to-week injury if managed incorrectly. Cruz is in the middle of the best offensive stretch of his career — .458 in his last six games, twelve home runs on the season — and Sacramento cannot afford to lose him for any meaningful stretch. The medical staff and Jimmy Aces need to monitor this carefully through the All-Star break.

Bill Marcos: The Roster Question That Won't Go Away

Bill Marcos is batting .095 in his last fourteen games. On the season he is hitting .185 with one home run in 49 games. Jose Rodriguez is batting .237 with five home runs in 30 games and has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the second half of this stretch. Alex Torres has a .720 OPS and has been a reliable contributor at second base. The question of what Marcos contributes to this roster that cannot be provided by the players currently outperforming him deserves an honest answer from the front office. He is a professional and I have no doubt he works hard. The numbers, however, are what they are.

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AROUND THE LEAGUE

The All-Star game is scheduled for July 14th and should be a showcase of the finest talent the FBL has produced in 1992. From a Sacramento perspective, the ballot is obvious: Rubalcava starts and wins it, Musco hits a home run, and Jimmy Aces manages the AL side. I am being slightly facetious. I am also not entirely wrong.

Columbus Heaven leads the AL East at 47-32 after a six-game winning streak — a genuine contender and a team Sacramento may well face in October. Their closer C. Bruce has 19 saves and a 2.08 ERA, which I mention for no particular reason at all.

Charlotte leads the NL East at 47-29 and their closer Tom Pallo has converted 14 of 15 save opportunities. Charlotte's Carlos Gonzalez is out another five weeks with a strained groin — a significant blow to the best team in the National League.

Phoenix Crucifixes are on a seven-game winning streak at 41-37 in the NL West and have moved to the top of the NL wildcard standings. The NL West race between Phoenix and Albuquerque at 43-35 is genuinely interesting.

Phoenix also lost closer Jared Faught for the season with a torn labrum — twelve saves gone, and a cautionary tale about the fragility of relief pitching that Sacramento's front office would do well to contemplate. The difference between a functional closer and a vacancy can be a single pitch.

Tucson's Todd Foreman — batting .327 with seven home runs — is expected to miss five weeks with a fractured hand. A meaningful loss for a Cherubs team surprisingly close in the wildcard conversation at 40-39.

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MAILBAG — The Hot Corner audience has questions, Claude Playball has answers.

From Big Eddie in Rancho Cordova, who signs every letter with his hat size: "Claude, Musco has twenty home runs and is playing hurt. Is he the MVP?"

Big Eddie, he is the frontrunner. At twenty home runs, a .987 OPS, and 3.7 WAR before the All-Star break, Musco is having the kind of season that wins awards. The caveat is that the AL MVP race is long and the second half matters enormously. If he finishes the season the way he has started it — and there is no reason to believe he will not — the trophy conversation will be loud and justified. The throwing discomfort concerns me from a durability standpoint, but the man has shown up every day and produced regardless. You do not give the MVP to toughness alone, but toughness combined with these numbers is a very compelling argument.

From Donna-Marie P., who has attended every home game since 1988 and wants everyone to know it: "The eight-game winning streak is wonderful but I'm nervous about the Fort Worth series in July. Should I be?"

Donna-Marie, your loyalty to this franchise is an inspiration and your nervousness is completely appropriate. Fort Worth is 46-31, leads the AL wildcard, and has Giacomo Benoldi hitting .314 with fourteen home runs. They are not going away and they play Sacramento three times at home in July. I would characterize the appropriate emotional posture as cautiously optimistic rather than nervous. This Sacramento team has the best starting rotation in the American League, an offense that leads the league in runs scored and stolen bases, and a division lead of eight games. The Spirits would need to win all three and Sacramento would need to lose all three just to trim the lead to five. That is not impossible. It is also not likely. Watch the games. Bring a lucky item from your 1988 collection. Enjoy it.

From the guy who sits three rows behind the visiting dugout and heckles everyone, known to the Hot Corner audience simply as "Dugout Dave": "I've been on Prieto all season. Is it time to give him some credit?"

Dugout Dave, I respect the consistency of your position and I have shared it loudly in these pages. Credit where it is due: Prieto threw a clean ninth inning against El Paso and converted the save. His ERA has come down from its peak. He has sixteen saves, which is a real number that matters in the standings. I am prepared to say the bottom may have been reached and that a measure of stabilization is occurring. I am not prepared to say the problem is solved, the ninth inning is secure, or that the July Fort Worth series is not a genuine test of whether this improvement is real. Heckle responsibly, Dave. But maybe a touch less aggressively for now.

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The Sacramento Prayers return from the All-Star break to host Seattle July 17-19 before welcoming Fort Worth for a critical three-game series July 10-12 at Cathedral Stadium. First, though, a well-deserved rest for a team sitting at 55-24 with the best record in the American League. They have earned it.

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.

02-28-2026, 04:15 PM	#232
liberty-ca All Star Reserve Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: New Westminster, BC Posts: 506	THE HOT CORNER *Baseball coverage from the inside — Sacramento Prayers and the FBL* By Claude Playball \| Baseball Insider & Analyst \| Host, "Hot Corner" Podcast ______________________________ *June 15 – June 28, 1992 \| Games 68–79 of the Sacramento Prayers 1992 Season* ______________________________ 55-24. EIGHT GAMES UP. EIGHT IN A ROW. AND MUSCO JUST HIT TWENTY. Let me tell you about June 28th at Abbots Park in El Paso, Texas. Third inning. Sacramento trailing 3-2. Edwin Musco steps to the plate with the bases loaded and a season already so extraordinary that a grand slam almost seems like the logical next thing. He gets a fastball from El Paso's Navarro, turns on it, and deposits it well beyond the outfield fence. Twenty home runs. The Prayers lead 6-3 and never look back, winning 16-6 on eighteen hits from nine different players. That is the 1992 Sacramento Prayers in a single at-bat. Twenty home runs from their shortstop. Sixteen runs on a Sunday in the desert. Eight consecutive wins entering the All-Star break. A division lead of eight games that has quietly grown from five two weeks ago while the rest of the American League watches and takes notes. The All-Star ballot is open. I have some thoughts on who deserves to be on it. But first, let's talk about how this team got here. ______________________________ THE SIXTH TWO WEEKS: A GAME-BY-GAME TOUR At Fort Worth: Games 68-70 (June 15-17) Sacramento came to Spirits Grounds for the most anticipated series of the season and left with two wins in three games. The division lead expanded. The mission was accomplished, though not without drama. Game sixty-eight on June 15th was the one to forget. Robby Larson was knocked out in 1.2 innings — six runs, five hits, a Schultz three-run homer in the second — and Fort Worth coasted to a 7-1 win. "A well-rounded effort by the whole team," said Schultz afterward, and he was right. Sacramento had five hits and looked nothing like the team that had won five of its previous six games. Fort Worth starter Wil Alzate was injured while pitching, which means the Spirits paid a physical price for the win. On balance, a forgettable night. Game sixty-nine on June 16th was the response. Rubalcava took the ball and threw seven innings — nine hits, four runs, but he gutted through it the way elite pitchers gut through it — and Sacramento won 9-4 behind sixteen hits. Jose Rodriguez hit his third home run of the season, a two-run shot in the sixth that broke a 4-4 tie, and finished with four RBI on the evening. Alex Torres went 3-for-5. Jesus Hernandez contributed two hits and an RBI. Chris Ryan threw two clean innings for the save. "This is a very good team," Rodriguez said after the game. "We have the chance to do something special." He has said some version of this sentence twice now. At 46-23, he is not wrong. Game seventy on June 17th went thirteen innings and Sacramento won 4-3 on David Perez's two-run double in the thirteenth. Espenoza threw 7.1 innings of two-run ball. The bullpen — Dodge, Prieto, Caliari, Scott — held Fort Worth scoreless for five and a third innings. A team effort in the truest sense. Musco hit his sixteenth home run in the fourth. After the game Espenoza said simply, "I still think this team can play even better." From a man who has been excellent all season, that is either supreme confidence or gentle understatement. Probably both. Columbus Heaven at Home: Games 71-73 (June 19-21) Three games against the AL East leaders, and Sacramento went 2-1 in a series that felt more competitive than the record suggests. Game seventy-one on June 19th was the loss, and it was the kind of loss that stings. Andretti threw 5.2 innings, gave up three runs, and Columbus starter Jake Becerra scattered three hits over eight innings to win 5-4. Sacramento trailed entering the ninth, rallied for three runs — MacDonald delivered a clutch two-out triple — but fell one run short when Columbus closer C. Bruce came in and retired the final batter. Bruce has 19 saves and a 2.08 ERA. I mention this not to twist the knife on Prieto but because the contrast is real and the data demands acknowledgment. Rodriguez hit his fourth home run of the season in this one. Game seventy-two on June 20th belonged to Edwin Musco and Robby Larson. Larson threw 7.2 shutout innings — zero walks, ninety pitches, three strikeouts — and Musco hit his seventeenth home run, a three-run shot in the third off Columbus's Brinegar. Sacramento 4, Columbus 0. "It takes a lot of things to win a ballgame," said Aces afterward. "It's usually not just one thing." True. Tonight it was Larson's precision and Musco's power, and that was quite enough. Larson has now earned back-to-back wins, which should happen more often than it does with a 2.94 ERA. Game seventy-three on June 21st was Rubalcava being Rubalcava — eight innings of controlled excellence, ten strikeouts, one run allowed, and a 14-1 record with a 2.18 ERA. Prieto came in and gave up a homer to Fujimoto in the ninth — because of course he did — but held on for the save. Sacramento 3, Columbus 2. "I got in a good groove," Rubalcava said. "I was getting some swings and misses." Fourteen wins. One loss. The man has now won more games than any pitcher in baseball before the All-Star break and he is not finished. At Los Angeles: Games 74-76 (June 22-24) Three games at Saints Field. Three extra-inning games. Three Sacramento wins. This team's capacity for winning games that refuse to end in nine innings has become one of the defining characteristics of the 1992 season, and the Los Angeles series was the fullest expression of it yet. Game seventy-four on June 22nd: Salazar gave up five runs in the sixth inning — three doubles in sequence, Sacramento's lead evaporating in real time. But then Mike Scott threw 2.1 shutout innings to keep it close, Rafael Baldelomar hit a three-run homer in the sixth to retake the lead, and Rafael Alonzo stroked a two-run single in the tenth to win it 7-6. Prieto gets the save despite giving up a hit. Baldelomar was named Player of the Game and said afterward, with the quiet pragmatism of a man who has been through a lot of baseball, "It wasn't our best performance, but a win in this league is nothing to sniff at." The man has found his voice. Game seventy-five on June 23rd was the Edwin Musco game, full stop. Two home runs — his eighteenth and nineteenth on the season — including a three-run walk-off shot in the thirteenth inning that gave Sacramento an 8-5 win after the Saints had battled back to tie it. Musco went 2-for-5 with four RBI and three runs scored. Alejandro Lopez also hit his tenth home run. Francisco Hernandez hit his fifth. Chris Ryan threw three clean innings for the win. "We were able to get some things going offensively," Musco said afterward, with the admirable understatement of a man who just hit a walk-off homer in the thirteenth inning of a road game. Game seventy-six on June 24th: Sacramento trailed 3-2 entering the twelfth, and then Gil Cruz happened. Four hits on the day including a solo home run off Schlageter in the twelfth inning that gave the Prayers the lead for good. Jose Rodriguez added a two-run homer and a sac fly for three RBI. Mike Scott came in and threw 1.1 clean innings for the win. Cruz said his team "played with determination." That is perhaps the most apt description of this Los Angeles road trip I can offer. At El Paso: Games 77-79 (June 26-28) Three games against the last-place El Paso Abbots, and Sacramento did what good teams are supposed to do against bad teams — won all three, extended the winning streak to eight, and sent several players into the All-Star break with momentum and confidence. Game seventy-seven on June 26th: Rubalcava's worst outing of the season — 5.1 innings, ten hits, five runs — and Sacramento still won 6-5 on Rafael Baldelomar's two-run single in the ninth. Prieto closed it cleanly with a 1-2-3 ninth, his sixteenth save. On his worst night in months, Rubalcava kept his team close enough to win. That is what aces do. That is why he is an ace. Game seventy-eight on June 27th: Larson got another quality start — 7.1 innings, two runs, zero walks — and Sacramento won 8-2 behind Baldelomar's home run and a Gil Cruz three-run triple in the seventh. A clean, professional win. Note was also made that Cruz was injured in a base collision during this game — the bruised foot that appears in the injury report. He played through it the following day, which is either toughness or stubbornness, and probably some of both. Game seventy-nine on June 28th: The grand slam game. Musco's twentieth. Eighteen hits. Five home runs — Musco, Hernandez, Cruz, Baldelomar, and Lopez all going deep. Baldelomar hit for the cycle in spirit if not in technical fact — double, triple, homer in consecutive at-bats. Salazar threw 8.1 innings and got the win despite allowing five runs, because Sacramento scored sixteen times and the math was overwhelmingly in his favor. El Paso manager Eric Alexander called it "a rough patch" for his team, which is the most diplomatic possible description of a 16-6 defeat at home. ______________________________ THE EMERGING STORYLINES Edwin Musco: The All-Star Case Is Closed Twenty home runs. A .316 batting average. A .987 OPS. A .625 slugging percentage that leads the entire American League. Sixty-seven RBI. Nineteen stolen bases as a shortstop. Three-point-seven WAR. These are the numbers of an MVP candidate, and I do not use that term lightly in June. Musco has spent this season answering every question about his durability, his defense, his ability to perform under pressure, and his capacity to deliver in the biggest moments. The walk-off homer in Los Angeles. The grand slam in El Paso. The quiet doubles and singles in between that keep the lineup turning over. The recurring throwing discomfort that he has managed and played through without complaint. He is the best position player in the American League and it is not particularly close. I expect his name to appear prominently on the All-Star ballot results and I will be surprised and disappointed if it does not. Jordan Rubalcava: The Historical Conversation Continues Fourteen wins. One loss. A 2.36 ERA. A 0.99 WHIP. One hundred thirty-seven innings of elite starting pitching. The "Who's Hot" designation shows 12-0 with a 1.87 ERA over his last fifteen starts. He has thrown more quality innings than any starter in the AL and won more games than any pitcher in baseball before the All-Star break. Even his worst start of the season — the June 26th outing in El Paso — resulted in a win because his team found a way. This is the season Jordan Rubalcava has been building toward his entire career and it is something worth stopping to appreciate before October arrives and changes the stakes entirely. Rafael Baldelomar: From Question Mark to Cornerstone When I questioned the Baldelomar acquisition in these pages two months ago, he was batting .226 with no power and the organizational logic was unclear to me. I owe him and the front office a proper accounting of what has happened since. In the last six games alone he was batting .400 with three home runs. On the season he is now hitting .288 with four home runs, fifteen stolen bases, and a .782 OPS. He has been named Player of the Game twice in the last two weeks. He has made outfield assists. He has delivered clutch hits in extra innings. He has, in the most complete way possible, earned his roster spot. The acquisition was right. I was wrong. I write that without reservation. The Winning Streak and What It Means Eight consecutive wins entering the All-Star break. The last team to beat Sacramento was Fort Worth on June 15th. Since then: two wins in three at Fort Worth, two wins in three against Columbus, a sweep of the Saints in Los Angeles, a sweep of El Paso. The division lead is eight games. The Pythagorean record from the standings sheet suggests this team's underlying performance is even better than 55-24. In the extra-inning category alone, Sacramento is 13-5. That number tells you something important about the character and depth of this roster — when games go long, these Prayers find a way. ______________________________ CONCERN CORNER Prieto: Progress, But Let's Not Get Carried Away Luis Prieto converted saves in the June 22nd and June 26th games without incident. His ERA has dropped from 6.75 to 5.98. The "Who's Not" designation still shows a 7.71 ERA in his last eighteen games, and he gave up a homer to Fujimoto in the June 21st ninth inning in what should have been a clean close. The ERA is trending in the right direction and I will acknowledge that. I will not pretend the problem is solved, because it is not. Sixteen saves in twenty-one opportunities means five blown saves, and the pattern of giving up at least one hit or run in most appearances remains. The Fort Worth series in July — now just two weeks away — will be a far more meaningful test than El Paso was. Gil Cruz: Bruised Foot and Playing Through It The injury report lists Gil Cruz as day-to-day with a bruised foot, sustained in a base collision on June 27th. He played the following day and went 3-for-5 with a home run. That is admirable. It is also exactly the kind of situation that turns a day-to-day injury into a week-to-week injury if managed incorrectly. Cruz is in the middle of the best offensive stretch of his career — .458 in his last six games, twelve home runs on the season — and Sacramento cannot afford to lose him for any meaningful stretch. The medical staff and Jimmy Aces need to monitor this carefully through the All-Star break. Bill Marcos: The Roster Question That Won't Go Away Bill Marcos is batting .095 in his last fourteen games. On the season he is hitting .185 with one home run in 49 games. Jose Rodriguez is batting .237 with five home runs in 30 games and has been one of the most pleasant surprises of the second half of this stretch. Alex Torres has a .720 OPS and has been a reliable contributor at second base. The question of what Marcos contributes to this roster that cannot be provided by the players currently outperforming him deserves an honest answer from the front office. He is a professional and I have no doubt he works hard. The numbers, however, are what they are. ______________________________ AROUND THE LEAGUE The All-Star game is scheduled for July 14th and should be a showcase of the finest talent the FBL has produced in 1992. From a Sacramento perspective, the ballot is obvious: Rubalcava starts and wins it, Musco hits a home run, and Jimmy Aces manages the AL side. I am being slightly facetious. I am also not entirely wrong. Columbus Heaven leads the AL East at 47-32 after a six-game winning streak — a genuine contender and a team Sacramento may well face in October. Their closer C. Bruce has 19 saves and a 2.08 ERA, which I mention for no particular reason at all. Charlotte leads the NL East at 47-29 and their closer Tom Pallo has converted 14 of 15 save opportunities. Charlotte's Carlos Gonzalez is out another five weeks with a strained groin — a significant blow to the best team in the National League. Phoenix Crucifixes are on a seven-game winning streak at 41-37 in the NL West and have moved to the top of the NL wildcard standings. The NL West race between Phoenix and Albuquerque at 43-35 is genuinely interesting. Phoenix also lost closer Jared Faught for the season with a torn labrum — twelve saves gone, and a cautionary tale about the fragility of relief pitching that Sacramento's front office would do well to contemplate. The difference between a functional closer and a vacancy can be a single pitch. Tucson's Todd Foreman — batting .327 with seven home runs — is expected to miss five weeks with a fractured hand. A meaningful loss for a Cherubs team surprisingly close in the wildcard conversation at 40-39. ______________________________ MAILBAG — The Hot Corner audience has questions, Claude Playball has answers. From Big Eddie in Rancho Cordova, who signs every letter with his hat size: "Claude, Musco has twenty home runs and is playing hurt. Is he the MVP?" Big Eddie, he is the frontrunner. At twenty home runs, a .987 OPS, and 3.7 WAR before the All-Star break, Musco is having the kind of season that wins awards. The caveat is that the AL MVP race is long and the second half matters enormously. If he finishes the season the way he has started it — and there is no reason to believe he will not — the trophy conversation will be loud and justified. The throwing discomfort concerns me from a durability standpoint, but the man has shown up every day and produced regardless. You do not give the MVP to toughness alone, but toughness combined with these numbers is a very compelling argument. From Donna-Marie P., who has attended every home game since 1988 and wants everyone to know it: "The eight-game winning streak is wonderful but I'm nervous about the Fort Worth series in July. Should I be?" Donna-Marie, your loyalty to this franchise is an inspiration and your nervousness is completely appropriate. Fort Worth is 46-31, leads the AL wildcard, and has Giacomo Benoldi hitting .314 with fourteen home runs. They are not going away and they play Sacramento three times at home in July. I would characterize the appropriate emotional posture as cautiously optimistic rather than nervous. This Sacramento team has the best starting rotation in the American League, an offense that leads the league in runs scored and stolen bases, and a division lead of eight games. The Spirits would need to win all three and Sacramento would need to lose all three just to trim the lead to five. That is not impossible. It is also not likely. Watch the games. Bring a lucky item from your 1988 collection. Enjoy it. From the guy who sits three rows behind the visiting dugout and heckles everyone, known to the Hot Corner audience simply as "Dugout Dave": "I've been on Prieto all season. Is it time to give him some credit?" Dugout Dave, I respect the consistency of your position and I have shared it loudly in these pages. Credit where it is due: Prieto threw a clean ninth inning against El Paso and converted the save. His ERA has come down from its peak. He has sixteen saves, which is a real number that matters in the standings. I am prepared to say the bottom may have been reached and that a measure of stabilization is occurring. I am not prepared to say the problem is solved, the ninth inning is secure, or that the July Fort Worth series is not a genuine test of whether this improvement is real. Heckle responsibly, Dave. But maybe a touch less aggressively for now. ______________________________ The Sacramento Prayers return from the All-Star break to host Seattle July 17-19 before welcoming Fort Worth for a critical three-game series July 10-12 at Cathedral Stadium. First, though, a well-deserved rest for a team sitting at 55-24 with the best record in the American League. They have earned it. Got a question for the mailbag? Find the Hot Corner wherever you get your podcasts. ______________________________ Claude Playball is a baseball insider and analyst and host of the Hot Corner podcast, based in Sacramento, California.