[mikev]

Crusaders Extend Lead, Start Eyeing Postseason?


A 6-4 record over the last 10 days is generally not going to be considered enough to put any distance between first and second place. However, when the second place team goes 3-7 over those same 10 days *and* one of those series includes losing 2 of 3 to the frontrunners, well then we see a 6 game lead stretched out to 9.

The Crusaders kept on marching towards the MBBA Pacific crown with three straight wins to open the sim - 2 over Baltimore and 1 against Birmingham before losing the next 2 against the Bandits. One could say that California was overlooking the Birmingham series, because following that was a three gamer against the second place Quakes that was going to have a huge impact on the Pacific race.

Game One couldn't have gone better for the Crusaders. Jorge Enriquez went 8 strong innings, allowing 2 runs on 8 hits while striking out 6 Quakes and walking only 2. Outfielder Carlos Garza hit his 23rd home run of the season, and Jakob Forest connected for his 25th, and the Crusaders rolled 10-2.

Game Two would see Quakes ace Tomas Gonzalez pitch 7.1 innings and give up only 3 runs, while Crusaders hurler Griz Hayagawa was knocked around for 6 runs in 6 innings, and Los Angeles evened up the series at 1.

Game Three was the Carlos Garza show. His 4th inning homer off of Gilberto Rivera erased a 2-run defecit, and his 9th inning blast off Ralph Anderton extended the Crusaders lead from 1 run to 3. The pitching combination of Arturo Fernandez, Angel Sandoval, and Hsin-ta Jin held L.A. to just 2 runs, and the Crusaders took the series 2-1 and were in command of the Pacific division.

The sim ended after 2 games of the 4 game series against Vancouver, with each squad taking a victory.

The pitching star of the sim was clearly Enriquez, who tossed a rare 10 inning complete game against the Monarchs to open the month of September, and followed that up with 8 innings against Los Angeles in the crucial opening game of the series against the Quakes.

With 21 games remaining on the schedule, it would take a fairly colossal chokejob for the Crusaders to not make the playoffs. Their magic number is 13, but the team is focused and is not going to take their foot off the gas until the Division Champion hats and shirts are actually given out.

The Next Crusade

9/11 - @ Vancouver
9/12 - @ Vancouver

9/13 - v. Louisville
9/14- v. Louisville
9/15- v. Louisville

9/17 - @ Washington
9/18- @ Washington
9/19- @ Washington

9/20 - @ Valencia