LondonUnderground
#1 vs London Underground
Tuesday 11th April 2034 5:05 PM PT
Elysian Fields 24,725
W 6-2
Dean McNeil
The Calzones had just come of a stretch of 6 games were they had won 1 game, morale not only with the players but the fans had taken a dip. Nearly 43,000 fans had turned up for Opening Day, in there last home game just 18,223 had come through the gates, something had to be done.
Top Of The 1st.
3 up 3 down, it wasn't the conventional 3 up 3 down but McNeil faced only 3 batters. He seemed a bit nervous for a veteran when lead off hitter Freddy Hernández came to the plate, the nerves seemed to ebb away though when Hernández got on base with an infield single.
The second standing ovation of the game the first came when he took the mound came when Bill Jones of the Underground aptly ground into a 5-4-3 double play, the top of the 1st came to an end when Luis Cervantes struck out swinging.
"We needed a marque player, we looked at Tony Parker and a couple of other players but Dean McNeil caught my eye. I'll be honest I did everything I could to bring both Tony & Dean to the Calzone family but it was a dollar to far, so after picking up Yasunari Fujihara to fill the catchers role I felt Dean was our main target so we went all in for him".
GM Neil Thomas.
Top Of The 2nd.
McNeil would face 4 in the top of the 2nd, Lorenzo González went back to the bench via a ground out. Jaime Villanueva got on first when a pop up just evaded the outfielders but Ed Black (groundout) and Jo 'Socrates' Nii (struck out swinging) didn't worry McNeil.
" I told my manager I wanted a challenge, of course I wanted to get paid and a ring would be a bonus but a challenge was top of the list".
Dean McNeil
Top Of The 3rd.
McNeil admitted later on he lost a bit of composure at the start of the 3rd, a couple of balls that could have been strikes that ended up walking Raúl Padilla his eye was on the umpire rather than the game. He was still unsettled for Juan León who reached on a single, he got Freddy Hernández out on a 3-1 groundout but Padilla who had reached 3rd on Leóns single crossed the plate. He finished the inning getting both Bill Jones (1-3) and Luis Cervantes (6-3) out via groundouts.
"Dean said he felt good the couple of days he'd been with the team, I'll be honest I felt he should have waited until the Amsterdam series to pitch but he wanted to pitch against London, he'd waited all off season and didn't want to wait any longer to pitch".
Tadakuni Hayashi pitching coach.
Top Of The 4th.
Although he walked Jaime Villanueva he dispatched Lorenzo González with 1 pitch on a groundout to 1st, Ed Black struck out swinging and Jo 'Socrates' Nii hit a fly ball to left to end the top of the 4th.
"Deans never nervous, I'm the nervous one, always have been".
Helen, Deans wife.
Top Of The 5th.
The second of the 2 runs that McNeil gave up came in the top of the 5th, a single from Raúl Padilla got the ball rolling and a stolen base during Juan León at bat put him in scoring position. He got closer to his goal on a 6-3 León groundout moving him to 3rd, then crossed the plate on a Freddy Hernández 4-3 groundout, the inning ending when he got Bill Jones out on a fly ball to centre.
"For an old man he as the body of a man 10 years younger than he actually is".
Juan Santos, Team Trainer.
Top Of The 6th.
3 up 3 down, Luis Cervantes, Lorenzo González and Jaime Villanueva all came up in the 6th and all followed each other without troubling McNeil. All 3 popping up, Cervantes & Villanueva to centre and González to right.
"The couple of days he's been with us he's worked his socks off, I've never seen someone so determined to pitch in a game" .
Tadakuni Hayashi, pitching coach.
Top Of The 7th.
If Jo 'Socrates' Nii (error) and Raúl Padilla (single) hadn't reached then the top of the 7th would have lasted 3 pitches, Ed Black popped up to right before Nii and Padilla got on base. Juan León popped up to centre after Nii and Padilla got on base and a Freddy Hernández 3-1 groundout ended the top of the 7th.
"He's a great addition to the ball club, if you can't learn from a guy like Dean you can't learn from anyone".
Juan Garanzuay, Calzones pitcher.
Top Of The 8th.
McNeil left the game after facing Bill Jones who got on with a single, his final contribution to the game was to get Luis Cervantes to pop up to leftfield and to take the standing ovation from the Calzones faithful.
" We'd agreed that unless he was pitching a perfect game his pitch count would be 100, when he clocked 100 up he looked over gave a smile and before I could stand up he'd pitched that 101. He looked back over gave another smile, gave a nod of the head to say he was done then took his hat off and saluted the crowd".
Kijuro Yoshida, manager.
The Calzones eventually went on to win the game 6-2, McNeil not only went on to claim the W but also the player of the game as well.
London Underground
#2 vs London Underground W 2-1 (13)
5:05 PM PT Wednesday 12th April 2034
Elysian Fields 17,615
Miguel Torres
San Antonio and London duked it out and the Calzones of Laredo came out victorious.
In a tight affair between the San Antonio Calzones of Laredo and the London Underground, pitcher Miguel Torres was in the zone. The San Antonio left-hander helped his team win the game, 2-1. The winner was Ash Thompson in relief. His record improves to 1-1. Jim Rowe took the loss.
A defensive lapse proved costly in the contest. With the game tied in the bottom of the 13th, an error by the Underground allowed the Calzones of Laredo to score the winning run.
"This place was rockin'," said Aguilera.
With the loss, London sinks to 4-4.