Bane 'G.O.A.T.' McCoy #13
Was I excited we swept Twin Cities on the road to open the 2059 campaign, and as my first sim in the BBA? Hell yeahs! Do I expect to ever do that again? Hell no! But when the going is good we goin' celebrate. Because I know the goings not all gonna be good all the time. (I think I'm beginning to sound like, who's that annoying floppy-eared dude in SW: Phantom Menace?)
I accompanied the team to Twin Cities, which I guess is Minneapolis-St Paul, if so that makes them quite a rival for this Iowa based squad. Twin Cities (TCRM) is one of the tip-top teams in the league, and part of what makes the Heartland the best in every sense. I took my seat in, there it is, Land-O-Lakes Ballpark, so I feel definitely Minnesota, although no Twins to be seen. Go River Monsters. I took my seat in Box 4302, so grateful for the executive box and watched Bernie Stuart take his warm-up pitches. There he was, last season's FL Steve Nebraska Golden Arm, shining, like a god, on the mound.
DM scored our first runs of the year on a combination of a walk (expect many from the ultra-patient Bane McCoy, a single by Turcotte, a balk, a wild pitch (1 run), and then a sac fly (2nd run). After that, catcher Andy Elmer hit the first home run for DM this season. Not who I would have picked for that. By the 5th we were up 8-2 (Stuart exiting the game after giving up seven runs). Our ace, Akers departed in the 6th. Slawomir Trzcinski blew a save in the 8th, and the game would go extra innings.
In the tenth, last year's FL Rookie winner, Ricardo Norman, who some, including myself at times, think susceptible to a sophomore jinx, touched Peter Fuller for a line-drive home run that ended up being the winning hit. I see, now, that the Kernels also defeated Fuller in ST on March 11. Garth Dobbs saved the game. DM 10, TW 8.
The Poppers shocked me when we won the next two, 6-2 (W: Felipe Méndez), 2-1 (W: Dave Lachance). Friday the 4th was spent in meditation, and we took the field on sat the 5th for the home opener. High schooler Lila Thompson's song "Kernels on Fire" blared through the PA as the 3-0 Kernels took the field.
Manuel 'Smalls' Camacho, a crowd fav, pitched well, but so did Madison's Ramón 'Phenom' González. The Wolves won 2-1. McCoy hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to give the 50K+ crowd something to cheer about. Madison also won the next game, 6-1, before Des Moines got its first home-game win 3-1, powered by McCoy's two-run double. Hmm, that name McCoy has come up a lot. Maybe he is the GOAT, and the 23-yo switch hitter 6/7/6 with 10 eye will make me glad that we lost to Phoenix in the chance to sign 38-yo Ernest McBride. I had left a spot for McBride in the lineup card, but instead of him, it was filled by, yes, I have to say, it, the real McCoy. cringe
Dobbs saved three of our first wins, thus far feeling at home in the pen after an unsuccessful spring as a starter, as the Media Guide mentioned.