June Review (2036-7)

[Fat Nige]

By June the Sluggers were picking up a little bit of pace despite opening the month with two losses for the third straight month. They followed that up with their third two game winning streak, still their longest of the season. That feat was repeated once more before finally, on the 19th, they expended that longest streak to three games when they took two off Wichita to win their first series against the Aviators before grabbing a one-run win at KTP Stadium. The rest of the month was very much nip & tuck as Louisville finished the month 13-14, still very much rooted to the foot of the JL Southeast at 30-53 overall. It had been though a bit of a stop-start month with injuries with six being sustained during the month, thankfully all relatively minor until Vince Osborn broke a finger being hit by a pitch in the final days of the month.



Morales, an ace with no starlight, was the subject of several trade inquiries
Again it was the bottom end of the rotation that put up any sort of resistance, Mike Singleton repeated May’s 3-1 tally while Julio Barajas came to life and matched that. Pepe Jaramillo won two games but still ended up with a 2-3 losing record while Carlos Rosa added a 2-2 record to his seven saves. Still not entirely comfortable in the closers role Rosa has at least not been totally bombed out with a 4-6, 13 saves record this season. Kevin Morales had another month to forget, as the team’s ace the fans were all looking to him to kickstart the team but it wasn’t just happening. He got bombed out 0-6 in his first start, conceded three in each of two no decisions and left early with nagging injuries in his other two June starts. Doug Clement, the rotation’s only lefty, had certainly left 2035’s form behind as he added another two losses to his 2036’s rising tally while Yasuoka Okamura continues to prove a solid middle reliever in his rookie season, he’s now 3-2 on the season with 14 runs surrendered in 30 IP.



Jose Vazquez looks far more like a BBA player following his return from Double-A
22-yr-old first baseman Jose Vazquez came to the fore after a callup from Double-A Louisville Fire at the start of the month, he previously had only 20 BBA starts to his credit following a 2035 September Call-up. He tied Shag Hopkins for the team lead in homers for the month with seven and hit .286/.330/.551, Hopkins had at least climbed over the Mendoza Line for the month with .210. Pedro Debesa’s average had sunk to .185 but his six homers and 14 RBI was the third best offensive contribution to the team in June. Pedro Saldana showed that his baserunning had definitely improved as he stole 12 in 14 attempts while legging out three triples as well. Sean Maguire just missed hitting .300 as he finished on .299 but he walked 21 times during the month, by far the best of anyone this season. Young Abay Omoruyi, the rising star of the last two months, went into a slump following last month’s injury, starting only 12 games and registering just six hits for a .158 average but two of those went for home runs.