April 6, 2045
by Banjo Jackson
Nashville, TN
Your Nashville Bluebirds begin the 2045 season with little surprises. The team added DH Martín 'Duck' Marín and RP Miguel Angel 'Swami' Garza, but the only other additions to the 27 man roster were LHP Barney Lindsay and RHP Charles Fry, neither of which are expected to provide much impact. This season’s biggest question mark headed into the season was the pitching staff, but they quieted critics after the first week of the season.
The Bluebirds faced the revamped Twin Cities River Monsters in the 2045 opener. Chris ‘The Wolf’ Moran was on the bump and pitched 7 innings of 3 run ball with 7 strikeouts. Lorenzo de’ Medici finished off the River Monsters with two perfect innings. Moran avoided trouble in the 4th inning when he allowed a two out single to C Parker Davenport, who was thrown out at second base by RF Pedro Mendoza as the lead runner advanced to third. Nashville C Alberto Rodríguez also helped defensively by throwing out two would be base stealers, including newly acquired 3B Alex Ramirez who was thrown out just before Moran gave up a solo blast to Jose Calderon in the top of the 6th. The Bluebirds took that momentum into the bottom half of the inning and scored four runs, including a two run blast from Rodríguez. Nashville held on for the 4-3 victory.
Alvin Chartrand took the mound for Game 2 against the RHB stacked Twin Cities. The veteran did struggle with control, hitting three batters and walking three more, but pitched well overall as he allowed only 4 hits in 6 IP and, most importantly, kept the ball in the park. Meanwhile, Rodríguez and Tony Frost each homered off former Bluebird, Hao Kun, whose team option was surprisingly declined in the offseason. de’ Medici and Martin Román closed out the victory.
RHP Alvin Chartrand
After an off day on Monday, the San Fernando Bears traveled to Nashville on Tuesday for a four game series. Nashville fans were excited to see youngster Scott Bugbie start his first game of 2045 against fellow young southpaw, Gusby Pinkerton. The two lefties did not disappoint as Pinkerton pitched a complete game, yet fell short of Bugbie’s one-hit performance. Although Bugbie only threw 53 of his 101 pitches for strikes, the second year Bluebird struck out six batters and looks to be very promising if he continues to work on his control. 2B Robert Franklin scored the game’s only two runs, including a solo homer in the 8th and Román secured the game with his second save of the season.
LHP Scott Bugbie
The Birds turned to another exciting young pitcher in Robinson Valdéz for the next game. Originally built for the bullpen, Valdéz was molded into a starter by management and has developed a screwball that shows promise as a devastating pitch. Valdéz is still being stretched out and was held to throwing just 2 1/3 IP where he allowed a solo homerun and nothing else. LHP César 'Warthog' Sánchez came into the game with one out in the third inning and didn’t look back, allowing two hits and a HBP on his way to 10 K’s as he completed the game. Jesús Yan had two sacrifice flies and the Bluebirds took their record to 4-0.
LHP César 'Warthog' Sánchez
Nashville anticipates seeing their 4th southpaw in 5 games in tonight’s contest with Felipe Guevara penciled in as the starter.
