[mikev]

Hello, September

So, August is gone. We're heading into the "Dog Days of September", as it were.

The Crusaders are currently enjoying a comfortable-but-not-quite-enough-yet 6 game lead over Los Angeles. They're still doing it with a solid mix of offense and pitching. August was finished off with a nice sim, with a Win over Chicago, a 3 game sweep of Vegas, 2 of 3 from Valencia, and a win over Baltimore. At 79-52, the team is a few games better than they're projected, but after the last two seasons of being 5 or 6 games under Pythag, we're not complaining.

The batter of the sim was clearly Tony Reyes who abused pitchers to the tune of a .448 average and a video-gamey 1.446 OPS.

The pitcher of the sim, and look the hell out if he starts to regain his form, was Henry McHaney. HMC made 2 starts, going 7.2 innings against Vegas allowing a run on 3 hits while striking out 7 Hustlers and walking only 1. He followed that up with a complete game 2-hit shutout against Baltimore, striking out 4 and not walking a batter. Hopefully he's catching fire at just the right time.

Jorge Enriquez, the lamented All-Star Game starter, is a perfect 8-0 in the second half. After being blasted on more than one occasion by several GMs around the league, Enriquez has been utterly dominant since the midsummer classic. He's pitched 8 innings or more in every start, has 53 strikeouts and only 13 walks in 66 innings, and is currently tied for second in the GUBA with 19 wins. Suck it, JQ! I bet you didn't know that I secretly told Enriquez to pitch underhanded in the ASG so he wouldn't get hurt. Hah!

Along with Enriquez, lefty Ken McKain has been nearly as dominant since being aquired by the team for Jack Bryant and Chadili Tengelei prior to the All Star Break. So far with California, McKain sports an 8-2 record with a 3.26 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 95 Ks/11BBs in 94 innings, and an impressive 17.4 VORP in 12 total starts.

On the offensive front, Jakob Forest finally has his AVG up over .300. It's a little weird when a guy has a .305/.407/.515 line and a 54.4 VORP and people are asking "What's wrong with Forest?", but I suppose that's what having back to back seasons with .450 OBPs and .550 SLG will do.

Oh, also: Guess who hit his 30th homer and is on pace to break 100 RBI? Yeah, baby. Sake-Bomb FTW!

The Next Crusade

9/1 - v. Baltimore
9/2 - v. Baltimore

9/3 - v. Birmingham
9/4 - v. Birmingham
9/5 - v. Birmingham

9/6 - @ Los Angeles
9/7 - @ Los Angeles
9/8 - @ Los Angeles

9/9 - @ Vancouver
9/10 - @ Vancouver