The Good Luck Charm to Start Game 1 Against Bears
by Olaf Halvorsen, Senior Blogologist
October 2, 2017
The team has announced that veteran southpaw Alberto Semblano will be starting Game 1 of the first round series against Bakersfield starting tomorrow. Duluth will likely come back with Dave Barker in Game 2.
Semblano was signed midseason after four Duluth starters were hurt in a 10 day period of late May and early June. Now, he's expected to leadoff the Warriors rotation, likely against the Golden Arm favorite Markus Hancock. Some may think he is the lucky charm this team needs as it heads to the playoffs winning only 12 of its last 29 games. Semblano's last two playoff appearances have been nothing short of magical.
Back in 2013, Semblano was sent from a middling Duluth team at the trade deadline to a surging Arlington Bureaucrats team looking for a starter. The Venezuelan responded, posting an 11-2 record for the 'Crats down the stretch and going 4-1 with a 1.93 ERA in six starts as Arlington won the Rodriguez Cup.
Fast forward to 2016, his second season in the LRS after his agent priced him out of the PEBA market. Semblano was decent during the season (15-9, 4.20 ERA), but came alive in the playoffs (2-0, 2.22 ERA) as the wild card Kure Arsenal won the championship overseas. Two seasons, two championships in two different countries.
On a whim (with a hint of desperation), Warrior GM Bill McKenzie made the trip to Venezuela this summer to talk him out of retirement to pitch for his former team. He relented, came to northern Minnesota, and the rest was history. He had a few bad innings while shaking the rust off, but proved to be one of the team's more reliable starters down the stretch (9 QS in his last 15 outings).
The 2017 version of the Warriors hopes this good luck charm has a little more magic in that left arm.