This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week 12, 2028

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This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week 12, 2028

#1 Post by Vic »

By Hamish Campbell
The Edinburgh News
06-19-2028

The Big Picture
At the end of Week 12, we found the answer to the ultimate question.

What’s that, you ask? The answer to Life, the Universe and Everything? You mean 42?

Of course not. This is baseball. We found the answer to why there was virtually no movement in the Trans Atlantic Division standings this week: 4-2. As in, Havana, Scotland, San Juan and London all went 4-2 for the week.

And while that didn’t add much to the excitement of the division race, it did further demonstrate just how much progress this division has made over last season, when London and Scotland both lost 99 games and San Juan lost 102.

Don’t look for a repeat this year, baby.

It’s a new division, a tough division. And, in fact, right now it’s the only division in the Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance where every team, from first place to last, is over .500.

So, maybe, the ultimate question for the week should be this: What’s the winningest division in the Imperial League?

It ain’t 42, folks. It’s the TAD.

Havana Happenings
The Leones picked up 3 of their 4 wins this week against hapless Amsterdam, sweeping their series against the Lions, which have now lost 14 straight games. In the process, though, the Leones lost reliever Doug Wells for the year. Wells, who missed six weeks early in the season, was making just his second big league appearance of 2028 in the June 20 game against Amsterdam, when he went down with a serious elbow injury … Player of the Week: SP Enrique Vázquez made a little history during his start against New Orleans on June 24 – he tied the Leones team record for most K’s in a game by fanning 14 Trendsetters over 8 innings of work. Vázquez, who allowed 2 runs, 6 hits and no walks, came away with a no-decision and Havana ultimately lost the game 3-2 in 15 innings. But we still tip our caps to an overpowering performance. Vázquez is now 7-2 on the season and leads the IL with 111 strikeouts. One final game note: New Orleans batters struck out a total of 23 times in that contest. If you look up the phrase “free-swinging,” chances are you’ll find the Trendsetters logo staring back at you … Game of the Week: Although that 15-inning marathon was something to see, we’ll go with the epic late-inning comeback Havana mounted the next afternoon to beat New Orleans 9-8. Havana went into the 8th inning of that June 25 game trailing 7-5, when New Orleans brought in left-hander Chee-hwa Ya. After striking out the lead-off batter, Ya yielded a single to LF Motoki Suzuki. C Gareth von Wandel followed with another strikeout, and Ya appeared to be on the verge of getting out of the inning. He popped up the next batter, 2B Colby Peña, but the ball dropped into shallow left field, and there were runners at first and second. Moments later, the bases were full when SS Ricardo Mateo rifled a line drive single to left. Again, it appeared that Ya would escape the inning when he induced a weak grounder from 1B Ira Murdoch, but 2B Manuel Wassink couldn’t handle it, allowing Suzuki to score and keeping the bases full. That wouldn’t last long, though. RF Claudio Hernández banged a bases-clearing double to deep left-center, and Havana had seized a 9-7 lead. Although New Orleans mounted a threat in the top of the 9th and trimmed the margin to a single run, Havana RP Don Montgomery ultimately nailed down the win. After the game, manager Yoshihiro Seki told reporters, “If you want to be considered a good team, these are the kind of games you have to win.” Don’t worry, Yoshihiro. We think everyone considers Havana a good team.

Coqui Cables
The injury gods also frowned on San Juan last week, sending talented SP Tatsui Kuono, the 5th starter in the Coqui rotation, down for at least 4 months with bone chips in his elbow. Kuono was riding a hot streak going into the June 24 game against Florida, throwing 12 innings of scoreless ball before going down in the 5th inning. Fortunately for San Juan fans, the team has a wealth of pitching talent in its minor league system, so the Coqui figure to weather this storm with little trouble ... In other pitching news last week, San Juan sent RP Ryan Sims and a second-round draft pick in 2029 to Amsterdam for $5 million … Player of the Week: Staff ace Hou Hao continued to impress, allowing just 1 run in 13 innings of work, picking up 1 win to bring his record on the season to 10-5, with an ERA of 2.36. Right now, Hao stands 6th in the All-Star voting for the IL team. Perhaps another week like this past one will put him over the top … Game of the Week: There were plenty of games to choose from, but we’ll go with San Juan’s dramatic 9-7 comeback win over Kentucky on June 20. The Coqui actually went into the top of the 9th leading the Thoroughbreds 7-6. With shutdown stopper José Gómez on the mound, fans rightly assumed things were well in-hand. That notion quickly went out the window, though, as Gómez gave up a line-drive homer to left to pinch hitter Bo Banks. Suddenly the score was tied, and that’s the way things stood at the end of the inning. In the bottom of the 9th, 2B Shigekazu Shimizu hit a lead-off single off Kentucky RP Kevin Brown, who got a groundball fielder’s choice from the next batter, DH Kevin Ramírez. Manager Sergio Manetti then made a couple of switches: Rafael Vega pinch ran for Ramírez, and OF Ju-chan Na came in to bat for 1B Jack Speed. After taking Brown’s first two pitches, Na lined a 2-0 fastball 342 feet into the right-field stands and the Coqui walked off with an exciting win.

Scottish Scoops
Veteran SP Terry Dumont made a little team history last week as he tied Akio Sai (now playing in Amsterdam) as the franchise career leader in wins with 80. Dumont, whose career with the team began in 2019 when the franchise was still based in Japan and known as the Fushigi Yugi Celestial Warriors, was philosophical about tying the record. “Let’s not get too excited,” he groused. “I’m also the franchise leader in losses.” Which is true enough: Dumont has 105 losses, and has a commanding 29-game lead in that category. The victory that put Dumont into the Claymores record book was a 13-9 slugfest with Kentucky on June 24, in which he pitched 5.1 innings and yielded 5 runs on 6 hits. “See?” he said. “I told ya not to get too excited.” … Player of the Week: C Jason Aaron appeared in just 3 games last week, but made his presence felt – especially in Terry Dumont’s history-making win on June 24 … which we’ll just go ahead and make our Game of the Week, too. Aaron knocked in 5 runs that day on 3 hits, including a 4th inning run-scoring double and a 5th inning 3-run homer. The Scottish scored 6 runs in that 5th inning, giving them an 11-3 lead at the time. Of course, they turned around and gave up a 6-run inning of their own in the bottom of the 6th, allowing Kentucky to creep within 2 runs. But relief aces Eitoku Tamura and Ken Fisher came in to shut the Thoroughbreds down the rest of the way and secure the win.

Underground Utterings
London stayed hot for June, running its record for the month to 15-8, despite a worrisome meltdown by normally-reliable closer Gideon Byrd last week. On June 23, Byrd gave up 4 runs (including a 3-run homer) in 0.2 innings against San Antonio as he was tagged with the 6-5 loss. The next day, he blew a save by allowing 2 runs in the top of the 9th to the Calzones, although London came back to win the game in the 10th. “I made a couple of mistakes that cost me,” Byrd told reporters. “But it’s just a blip. The arm’s fine, I’m fine. No worries.” … Player of the Week: In the good news, MR pitcher Roberto Peña has picked the right time to get hot. He’s allowed no runs over his last 20.2 innings pitched, and racked up 20 K’s over that span. On the season now, he has an ERA of 1.60, 2 wins and 2 saves. Game of the Week: The Underground squeezed out an exciting 2-1 road victory over San Antonio on June 20, behind a strong pitching performance from SP Félix Reyes. He allowed just 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 6 and walking no one. Gideon Byrd picked up the save by throwing a scoreless 9th. London scored 1 run in each of the first 2 innings, which turned out to be enough. London manager David Hernández summed it up in his post-game press conference: “Runs were at a premium,” he said.

Where They Stand
On the morning of June 26th, the division standings were: 1). Havana, 48-29; 2). Scotland, 43-34, 5 GB; London, 39-38, 9 GB; San Juan, 39-38, 9 GB.

See you next week!
Last edited by Vic on Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
Vic Caleca
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Re: This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week 12, 2028

#2 Post by MikeB »

Hao is 6th in all-star balloting? Did people vote a month ago?
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Re: This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week 12, 2028

#3 Post by Arroyos »

Coqui wrote:Hao is 6th in all-star balloting? Did people vote a month ago?
Yup, we did. And some of us keep on voting, over and over and over ...
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Re: This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week 12, 2028

#4 Post by Fishermen »

Another quality piece from the pen of Hamish ;-D
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Re: This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week 12, 2028

#5 Post by Leones »

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Re: This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week 12, 2028

#6 Post by Fishermen »

Cracking Shot :clap: :clap: :clap:
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#7 Post by Borealis »

That's a fizzer Patrick!!!
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