4/14/2081 to 4/16/2081
The Denver Broncos
AT
The Miami Dolphins
Expected Pitching Matchups:
LH Robert McNett (1-0, 2.84 ERA) VS. LH Jim Miller (1-0, 3.78 ERA)
RH Christopher Kirk (1-1, 7.07 ERA) VS. RH Jose Caceres (1-1, 1.29 ERA)
RH Kenny Pillsbury (1-1, 5.56 ERA) VS. RH Mark Prior* (2-0, 2.51 ERA)
*Author's note: Yes, there is a player named Mark Prior in this league. No, he's not a walking injury. In fact, he is the 2080 AL ROTY, having won 18 games with a 3.53 ERA, over 200 strikeouts, and a league leading 4 shutouts.
Thank You for the Lesson, Professor Miller
4/15/2081
Al Vincent
Staff Writer
39 year old
Jim Miller spent yesterday's game schooling the Denver lineup, throwing 8 innings, allowing just 5 hits, and only 2 runs as Miami cruised to a 7-2 victory. Denver fell behind in the 1st inning when Miami third-baseman
Thomas Fuentes, Jr. hit a 2 out, three run homer. Denver starter
Robert McNett appeared to settle down after that, throwing three scoreless innings. Denver inched back into the game when shortstop
Javier Cordero was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the top of the 5th inning to drive in a run, but in the bottom of the inning, McNett fell apart. Dolphins' 1B
Aaron Shorts ripped a two out, two run double, and LF
Roy Springs followed by putting one over the fence to make the score 7-2.
Five in a Row
4/16/2081
Al Vincent
Staff Writer
Denver lost their fifth straight game, falling to the Dolphins by a score of 5-1. Miami jumped on the Broncos in the 1st inning when catcher
Jake Foss ripped a 2 run homer off of starter
Christopher Kirk. Kirk gave the Broncos 8 innings, but gave up 5 runs. The Denver lineup was shut down again, this time by Miami starter
Jose Caseres, who surrendered only 4 hits in the win.
More First Inning Blues
4/17/2081
Al Vincent
Staff Writer
For the third straight game, a Denver starting pitcher gave up a 1st inning, multi-run home run. This time,
Kenny Pillsbury coughed up a 2 run shot to 2B
Edward Rehberg. Pillsbury settled down after that, giving up only one more run as he threw 7 1/3 innings. But the three runs were too much for the Denver lineup which has gone ice cold in this series. Miami starter
Mark Prior threw a complete game 5 hitter, whiffing 7 batters. One of the few bright spots in Denver's 6th straight loss was
Alexis Vazquez collecting 4 hits in the game.
Miami manager
John Wilkerson, clearly frustrated with the losses, seemed glad to have another day off today. "It's good to be able to step back for a day to look at what's been happening. You play every day, and sometimes you miss out a little bit on being able to do that. You get a day off, and you can reexamine things. Alright, so we've lost 6 in a row. But these are good teams we've been playing. You're going to lose sometimes against good teams. Most of our hitters are doing okay right now. If we can just get Ellis out of his slump, the lineup will pick things up. The pitching has gotten a little bit better, which is good. Yeah, there's been trouble in the first innings lately, but we'll get that sorted out. Knoxville will be tough, but after that we get some games against Charlotte and Atlanta, and they've been struggling a bit, too. It's early yet, we can get this ship righted in no time."
First-baseman
Ellis Bolling, his batting average mired well below .200 right now and only 1 HR to his credit, was surprisingly relaxed. "Of course it's tough, feeling like you're not contributing very much, but I know what I am capable of as a hitter. We've been facing some good pitching, and I'm just in a little slump. I'm not worried. It's only 14 games. 14 out of 162. I'm working with Johnny [Dear] every day, trying to get my timing where it should be. We'll figure it out."