He Who Walks Behind the Rows - Vo. 4 Ep. 1

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He Who Walks Behind the Rows - Vo. 4 Ep. 1

Post by FuzzyRawley » Mon Nov 30, 2020 5:01 pm

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On a balmy 53 degree day and Edward Murphy Memorial Stadium, the Des Moines Kernels goth the 2045 season a poppin’. Check that, they left six on base and didn’t score a run against Yorikane Miyamoto and the Madison Wolves. That’s more like a sputterin’ than a poppin’.

Timmy Karnes only gave up three earned runs but got the early hook in favour of Bobby Lynch, who’s starting the season from the pen for the first time in a while. He was solid, only surrendering 1 hit over two innings and set the game up for Francisco Rodriguez, who did his job and held the Wolves to no runs. Too bad the offence just couldn’t get anything done and the Kernels squandered some reasonably good pitching.

Game two against the Wolves saw the offence wake up with Lucio De La Cruz getting his first dinger of the season and knocking in 3 RBIs. Nori Knuckles and Luis Barreraadded to more RBIs, but this time the bullpen couldn’t keep it together with Jose Rivera and Juan Garcia (the reliever) giving up 4 runs between them, with two crucial runs happening in extra innings.

The third game of the season saw the Long Beach Surfers trade in the California sunshine and smog for a blustery, cold midwestern spring day. Unfortunately, the frigid 46 degree day cooled off the Kernels offence more than the Surfers and the Kernels ended up losing this 2-1 squeaker. Juan Garcia pitched in back to back games and this time he held the opponents to no earned runs, making up for his rotten effort the day before. The offence put up only four hits and they only came from De La Cruz and Chua-kah Yang. The only run of the game for the Kernels didn’t come from a bat, but a balk, leaving a curious box score which lists one earned run against the Surfers pitchers but no RBIs for the Kernels batters.

The Kernels finally put one up in the win column on game #4 of the season. Normally, the dreaded day game after a night game scenario didn’t result in the typical quiet bats. Instead, the pitching staff for both squads seemed to suffer from the quicker turnaround. The Kernels beat up on the 24-year old Matthieu Vallette, putting up five runs against the right hander. They were as cruel to reliever Francisco Lucero, putting up 4 runs on 4 hits in the form of home runs from Luis Barrera and Juan Mateo. It’s a good thing the Kernels did all that mashing early because Bobby Lynch nearly blew this game before Pedro Tanon came in to get the situation under control.

The worry here with these first four games is that they resemble the 2044 season in a microcosm. Weak runs scored coupled with an inconsistent bullpen, is putting too many ticks in the loss column. The good news is that the defence hasn’t been horrendous yet and the waiver wire could have some interesting pieces to help address some problem areas.

Lucio De La Cruz is starting the season hot and the Kernels are in a pickle with this one. Rumour has it, De La Cruz is looking for a big long-term deal north of $12 million a year. If that’s the case, it will be tough for the Kernels to hold on to him. He’ll likely be put on the block once the season’s direction becomes clear.
:cool: They say it don't be like it is, but it do!

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