Sim #24 review
The biggest blow of the week was that Saturday loss at Huntsville, having won both the previous games in the series Sluggers were looking to draw level with the Phantoms and perhaps kick on clear into third spot in the JL Southeast. Instead all Sluggers could manage was four singles as they crashed 6-1; that snapped Huntsville’s 15-game losing streak and gave them the conviction to win three more games that week and once more pull clear of Louisville. One of the most pleasing things of the week, if you can really call it a pleasing thing, is that the three wins were all by one-run. Before the start of September we were pretty shaky in one-run games but five one-run wins in the month so far has improved the record to 22-27, that gives us a real target to aim for next season. Turn five or ten of those one-run losses into wins and suddenly you’re right in the wildcard race. It’s a hard finish to the season now as following the final game of the series against Phoenix, Louisville heads out on the road for series at Wichita, Nashville, New Orleans and Jacksonville to round it all out. With our road record being 27-42 it’s not hard to see the Sluggers struggling to finish at .500.
Vince Osborn hit Louisville's only homer on the week to take his tally to 15 in his rookie season
The bats were fairly silent all week, Vince Osborn hit the only homer and also led the team with three RBI as the Sluggers only scored 18 runs. Jaime Ramirez had a good eye as he knocked nine hits but only drove in one run and scored twice while he & Javier Tavarez stole two each of the team’s measly seven base total. In fact five of the team did manage over a hit a game but they just failed to convert them as Louisville were outscored 18-26. Gabriel Talamante’s recent good form ended with eight strikeouts to take his season tally to 150, Ramirez’s two base steals took his tally to a team leading 51 from 60 attempts. Surprisingly enough, joint fourth on the steal list is the soon-to-be 42-yr-old Brian Clough who has 16 from 27 attempts; only once has he reached that tally of steals since 2024. Two more hits coming off the bench takes ‘Ol Big Head’s’ career total to 3,012 now, clear into 14th overall on the All-Time hits list. Juan Escobar is currently 70 hits ahead of him in 13th spot while the nearest active player catching him is former Slugger Leon Sandcastle in 18th spot, 107 hits behind.
Rookie pitcher Julio Barajas was beaten in both his starts in the week, not overly embarrassed as he only allowed seven runs, but he won’t be happy with the three balls over the fences. Kevin Morales & Mike Singleton both produced quality starts but couldn’t get credited with a win as both their games went to the wire. Carlos Rosa was a busy man, Manager Abe Colbert called on him five times in the six games, but he walked out with just one save despite a comfortable 12/4 K/BB ratio and four runs given up. Dylan Schmidt, arrived in August from Madison, got into his first two Louisville games and pitched 1.2 innings walking two and striking out three while another rookie, Samuel Cant, couldn’t as he got into his fourth BBA game. He only gave up an unearned run in 1.2 innings of work but that was the losing run in a 4-8 loss to Charm City as he was tagged with his first BBA loss, Samuel now has pitched 5.1 innings and allowed four hits & only two earned runs. Doug Clement in his fourth year as a BBA pitcher but first as a rotation member pitched his 30th start and improved his record to 14-9. By the time 2035 comes to a close all three top pitchers in the rotation for Louisville will have made 30 starts, pitched over 200 innings and will be comfortably double figure winners.