9-News: 36.056 – LaLoosh Leads Hot Rotation

[RonCo]

With the club on a hot streak, it’s no secret that many in the Yellow Springs organization were worried the All-Star break might break their mo-jo. But the combination of a super-hot rotation and the appearance of Charm City on the schedule for four games has quieted those fears.

Game 1: The Nine opened the traditional second half of the season with Hiroyasu Osaragi going eight innings and giving up only two runs. Aaron Stone and George Robertson both went deep early, and reliver Curt Phillips threw a goose-egg in the ninth as the team won 5-2.

Game 2: Ace Lawrence Columbus LaLoosh followed up with a dominating seven inning performance in which he struck out 8 Jimmies and allowed only three hits in 100 pitches. Rookie Curt Phillips pitched another scoreless ninth for his 19th save. The victory raised LaLoosh’s record to 9-2, and dropped his ERA to 3.60 on odd little quest to recover from a horrendous first two outings of the season. Angel De Castillo hit his 24th homer of the year. Miguel Padilla hit his third.

Game 3: The club traveled to Baltimore for the next two games, and if there’s a dark cloud to the week, it was that ace Jose Chavez left the mound complaining of back tightness in the sixth inning of what was to become his 9th victory of the season. He went 5.1, striking out 7, walking only one, and allowing only two hits—one, unfortunately, a homer. But the club had already staked him a 6-2 lead, and wound up winning 8-2, clubbing five doubles and a homer as well as stealing three bases. Swing man Tristan Alfama went the final 3.2 innings for his second long-stint save of the year.

After the game, the medical staff released positive news about Chavez, saying the spasms were not expected to impact Dogface’s next start.

Game 4: Young Carlos Valle was a bit less sharp than the other three starters as the Nine played the second of their two-game road trip, but he went 8 innings and threw 95 pitches en route to his 6th victory of the season. The Jimmies got to him for two homers, but Valle’s control was still solid and the bats got him 8 runs, and second baseman Angel De Castillo turned a timely double play to end a threat in the 6thinning.

PUNDITS PONDER RIP-ROARING HEARTLAND FINISH

“If the Nine’s rotation can keep this kind of performance going, the Heartland is going to be a complete dogfight,” said ESPN analyst Gail Combs. “Omaha’s not going anywhere, but Yellow Springs is hitting the part of the schedule they’ve been pointing to.”

The week sees Yellow Springs trailing Omaha by three games in the Heartland division table, down from as many as 8 games earlier this year.

Combs noted that while both teams are relatively healthy, the Hawks have lost Stephen Clulow, a key member of their rotation, and that injuries can go a long way toward deciding these kinds of tilts. “History rarely remembers that a team wins or loses on a key injury here or there,” she said in the segment’s outro.

The Nine travel to Edmonton for three games, then return home for a twelve-game stint that will end July. One thing is for sure: Nine fans are getting geared up, and they’re having fun watching this rotation round into shape.