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.......... Blazers Off To A Surprising Start!! .....
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"I'm telling you it's smoke and mirrors," Montreal Blazers GM Herb DeSpain said at his press conference on Monday. The Blazers had just finished April with the best record in the Brewster with a 19-8 record. "It's not pretty as far as baseball goes," DeSpain added. "But it's fun to watch!" Montreal was picked to finish in the middle of the pack by most and now they've gone out and won almost a quarter of the games they were predicted to win in the first month of the season. "We know it's ugly but it's winning." said SS Angel Zalapa starting his first full season with the club. Zalapa is hitting around .240 after one month but he has provided the club with 14 RBI, 12 runs, and 10 bases on balls during that first month, as well as provide much needed leadership in the clubhouse. Last season the Blazers struggled in some very specific areas like finishing the season 5 games under .500 at home. This year they are off to a better start winning six of their nine home games in April. Last season they were just 22-26 in one run games while in 2045 they are already 11-2 in one run contest. A huge turn around and confident boost for the team. Finally, the Blazers are 8-1 verses left handed pitchers this year after finishing 24-35 in 2044. If these trends continue throughout the 2045 season there is no reason that Montreal shouldn't remain on top of the Johnson League.
At the plate 2B Lineu Aldo continues his hot hitting from 2044 into 2045. He leads the team with 16 runs scored and 16 runs batted in and is tied with OF Manoell Whanon for the team lead in extra base hits with 13. Whanon was suppose to be a platoon player for the Blazers this season but a roster crunch forced Montreal to use him as the full time starter in center field and so far it has paid off.
On the mound it has been hit or miss. The bullpen that lead the way for the Blazers last season is a Johnson worst after one month but no one believes that will continue much longer. Stopper Carlton Casson was an all-star last year as a rookie and he's off to a pretty good start to the 2045 season posting seven saves and two wins in April. Montreal needs to watch his innings as he gets wild and careless once he starts to get fatigued. It doesn't help that there are three rookies in the bullpen, two of which are rule 5 pick ups. The rotation has also been up and down posting a record of 13-6 for the month but relying on a lot of timely hitting to prevail. None of the starting five have an ERA below 3.48 while Dani Garcia sits at 5.83 for the month.
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