The biggest impact of the September call-ups was Jose Vazquez, he was acquired from Wichita at the trade headline and went straight into the expanded roster as the DH. In his first ever BBA start he went 0-3 with two K’s, the second game it was 0-2 but the two K’s had become two walks and he scored his first run. The last three games of the week were all multi-hit games as Jose went 7-12 with three doubles, small sample sizes but it looks as though Jose is determined to win that DH role on a permanent basis in 2036. Gabriel Talamante continued to show why he is now headed towards being one of the premier second basemen in the league, two more homers and seven RBI in the week took his total to 31 & 77 with a possible career year in the offing. His 120 hits mean he has reached that plateau in three out of his four full BBA seasons and a solid defensive display with a 5.28 range, 3.4 ZR and 1.020 Def Eff.
Kevin Morales has almost fifty K's less than 2034 but still leads the team with 159 this year
Sluggers only loss in September so far is a 1-3 setback to Valencia at Waterfront Park mainly due to a first innings error by Pedro Debesa that allowed two to score. Louisville only managed six hits and a run in support of Kevin Morales who left shaking his head in disbelief how he’d been tagged with that loss. So far the changes at the bottom end of the rotation have been working with Julio Barajas posting a 3-1 record and Mike Singleton a 2-1 record from five starts each. Carlos Rosa collected another three saves last week from four appearances while only surrendering one run, the only one in his last seven outings.
Three games over .500 now at 73-70, the Sluggers start next sim attempting to sweep Huntsville who are on a 15-game slide. Once seemingly out of sight, a win by Louisville will put them level with the Phantoms and with a real chance of third spot in the JL Southeast. While the six-year streak of 90+ wins and the seven-year playoff streak look to have been broken, the late revival of Louisville could see them finish around the 85-win mark. The one thing that could well halt the Sluggers revival is that their last 12 games are away from Waterfront Park where they are only 27-41 compared to a commanding 46-29 in the friendly confines of home.
