Playing like a team with playoff implications when nothing could be further from 2063 reality, the Valencia Stars went on a 6-1 run for the second time in three weeks.
Three weeks ago including four consecutive one-run victories over then second place Bikini. This past week included three wins in four tries against the Hawaii Tropics.
During both of those series, the victorious outings saw strong starting performances by Kinzo Iwamoto, Sam MacPherson and Gerardo Rea while Dana Pualani had a strong performance in one of the Bikini victories.
None of those four pitchers were penciled into the starting rotation as of opening day with Kinzo and Dana being added via trade and MacPherson being added via a waiver claim from Louisville. Although none of those pitchers will set the world on fire, they are keeping games close enough to allow the young bats and closer to eek out their share of games.
Although Kinzo and Pualani did not get all o f the decisions, Valencia has gone 7-3 in the games where Kinzo has started and 6-3 in games when Pualani took the hill. This has resulted in the Stars going 18-14 since the All-Star break (good for 5th best in the Frick) including a 14-6 run over the last 20 games with three of those losses coming at the hands of the Pacific leading Portland Lumberjacks.
While the locals don't expect this pace to continue, it is fun while it lasts.