2032 All-Star Game

[Borealis]

It's on to the sixth... Ronald Turton of Okinawa takes the mound for the SL with hometown 'Dr. Evil', Naomi Homna taking short.

'Dracula' comes to the plate for the IL, hoping to get something started. And it looks like he would - Lining a ball - hard, to right-center - Shane Willis racing, racing, dives and he makes an incredible over the shoulder catch to retire Salazar... Amazing!

Javier Drake is up next for the IL, but 'Doppler' checks his swing on a 1-2 pitch and it rolls to Turton's left for an easy out at first...

Pinch-hitting for Pedro Rodriguez is 'Red Hook', but Bothwell lifts one to center where Jimenez handles it for the third out...

Of to the bottom of 6...
SL 2
IL 1

[Borealis]

Manchester's Yo Tomita comes on to pitch the 6th for the IL - and heading out to left, replacing Jose Aguilera is Luis Antonio Aguilera - as word has come in that London has traded Aguilera to Okinawa - mid-game! Wow!!

Tomita goes full to his first batter - PEBA Kendama Champ, Naomi Homna, who then loops one into right for a single...

Pablo Ortiz, the Codgers 2B comes up and on the first pitch, Homna takes off an steals second - beating Hernandez' throw by a hair...

With the count 2-1, Ortiz hits a slow roller to short - Homna takes third and Salazar has no play - it's an infield single for Ortiz - and No outs!

The crowd at the Neo-Tokyo Grounds rise as one as fan favorite Tomas Martinez comes to the plate. Tomita, caught up in the emotion of facing his countryman in a big moment, loses track of Ortiz on a 1-2 pitch - and he takes off and steals second - Yo Tomita is now in a bind...

Martinez makes the most of it - as the infield plays in, he lines it past Lujan, into left - Homna scores, Ortiz scores as Aguilera's throw goes to the plate - Martinez races over to second - it's a 2-run single for Martinez and a 4-1 lead for the SL...

Antonio Santos - the powerful Evas 3B stands in. Tomita, with a base open, wants nothing to do with Santos and walks him on a 3-1 pitch...

And then, Ruben Jimenez, seeing pitches all over the strike zone, walks on a wild 3-2 pitch to load the bases... Which gets Tsuramatsu Ito up in the IL 'pen...

Aurora's Shane Willis comes to the plate with a chance to make it a big inning for the SL. Willis lifts a 1-0 pitch into shallow right... Martinez tags... Drakes throw home - NOT IN TIME! It's a sac fly for Willis, with Santos taking third...

IL manager Sergio Manetti comes out of the dugout - and he's signaling for Ito...

The 'Ghost' is the first batter to face Ito - and Guzman takes a pitch and Jimenez steals 2nd easily - german had no chance there...

Guzman swings at a 2-2 pitch and lifts it to center - Santos tags - and scores ahead of the throw from Canseco - with Jimenez hustling over to third - It's a big inning for the SL - it's now 6-1!

But Ito keeps the damage to 4-runs, as he strikes out Ryan Lambert on three pitches. But now, as we head to the 7th, the IL has it's work cut out for it...

Off to the 7th...
SL 6
IL 1

[Borealis]

Fargo's Dan Boorman comes in to start the 7th for the SL, with Duluth's Sean Kirkland coming in to lay right for Shane Willis and Yuma's liang Choe coming in to play second for Ortiz...

Boorman's first hitter is Antonio Canseco, Kentucky's impressive young star. Canseco swings at the first pitch, grounding it to Choe for the first out...

San Antonio's Luis Aguilera is up next, but Boorman gets him to ground it wide of first, Hernandez grabs it - flips it to Boorman covering for the second out...

And out of the dugout comes manager Paul Woods - and he's signaling for Tempe's Rob Imhoff...

Imhoff will face a familiar foe - Alejandro Lujan, from the 2030 PEC. Lujan wastes no time, lining a 1-1 pitch into left-center - Tomas Martinez races over, dives - and makes a beautiful dive and somersault 'dismount' - racing into the dugout under a rising audience...

Heading to the bottom of the 7th...
SL 6
IL 1

[Borealis]

It's time for the 7th inning Stretch!!

Enjoy this musical interlude from Tokyo Japan!

[Borealis]

Ito will stay on for the IL in the bottom of the 7th, facing Andres Hernandez...

Ito gets to a 3-1 count with Andres when he launches a ball, deep into right field... 'Doppler' races back.. to the wall... he leaps... AND HE MAKES THE CATCH!!!

That brings Manetti out of the dugout and San Antonio's Alfredo Reyes into the game to face Dr. Evil...

Homna swings at Reyes 0-1 offering and grounds it to third, with Lujan making the play smooth as can be...

Hai-liang Choe comes up for his first at bat of the day. He rolls the only pitch he sees to Titmus for the final out of the inning...

Off to the 8th...
SL 6
IL 1

[Borealis]

Kyle Weaver, the Sandgnat's reliever comes on to start the 8th, with Bakerfield's Hsin-ta 'Storm Shadow' Lian throwing in the bullpen...

Weaver faces off with Noberto Escamilla as the IL needs runs in a hurry. But Weaver strikes him out on four pitches.

With that, Weaver's night is over and on comes Lian...

Titmus is overpowered by Lian - as he strikes out on four pitches, too...

German Hernandez comes on for the IL and he knocks a 2-2 pitch down the third base line - Santos backhands it, fires to first for the out, and the IL is down to their last three outs...

Heading to the bottom of 8...
SL 6
IL 1

[Borealis]

Matt 'Zippy' Brown - Hartfords long-time closer, takes the mound in the 8th, with Bob Burns throwing in the 'pen...

'Zippy' faces Tomas Martinez, who again gets a wild applause. Zippy has no trouble getting Martinez for the first out on a roller to Choe...

Out of the 'pen comes New Orleans' Burns to face Santos - a very familiar match up...

Santos and Burns battle to a full count before the former-Aurora closer walks him...

Up comes Ruben Jimenez. Jimenez takes a strike before grounding it to second - Titmus to Salazar - who fires it back to Escamilla - DOUBLE PLAY!!

And it's on to the 9th...
SL 6
IL 1

[KenH]

One day the IL will win an all-star game

[Borealis]

Toyama's Scotty Shorland comes in, with Kalamazoo's Miguel Vega up in the 'pen...

Shorland will face Salazar, who walks on a full count pitch...

Javier Drake heads to the plate p no doubt looking to get into one and make this a closer game. But Shorland makes short order of 'Doppler' striking him out on three pitches...

And out of the bullpen comes Vega...

And it's 'Red Hook' he faces... And Bothwell lifts a 2-2 pitch to center for the second out...

That leaves Antonio Canseco as possibly the IL's last chance... Canseco loops one over short - Homna races back and grabs it over his should for the last out - a fitting end...

The SL WINS!!! 6-1!!!

[Arroyos]

Brilliantly narrated, Mike! You made a pretty boring game damn interesting. Thank you.

[Borealis]

For the Imperial League it's 1-run on just 3-hits and no errors.
The SL had 6-runs on 12-hits and no errors.

The winning pitcher was Crystal Lakes Dean McNeil and the loser Ramon Gonzales of Kentucky. Henry Cluett and Ronald Turton earned holds.

Game time was 3:47 and the attendance was 37,500.

The MVP was Crystal Lakes Yakamochi Kobayashi, whose 3rd inning 2-run homer was the game winner.

[Evas]

The play by play was great to read through. Fun stuff. Thanks, Mike!

[ehortness]

Great stuff to read. It's one of the things that makes PEBA, PEBA. Thanks Mike!!

[Apollos]

This made for nice coffee reading upon waking up. Thanks for the effort on it Mike. Even if he managed to only record one out, we’re proud of Imhoff, our lone rep - and even moreso at his heretofore unknown Kendama skills

[Lions]

Great to see Kobayashi star in this one. His first year in NT sure looks out of place with the rest of his career right now.