Re: Going Undergroud - a London Underground blog
Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2013 6:19 am
![Image](http://i937.photobucket.com/albums/ad217/bobby_manc/LUbanner-2.jpg)
April 19th, 2018
Gloucester 0 London 3 After the previous day’s marathon that used every one of London’s bullpen they needed Nii to take control which is exactly what he did. Two singles, a double and two walks off Fishermen’s starter Chris Graves who had a poor outing, walking seven batters, enabled London to take a 2-0 lead in the third innings. That was all Nii needed, he pitched slowly, calmly and collected for eight innings without allowing the visitors anywhere near the plate. Garza’s sac fly in the sixth got the insurance run home and Mora came in to close the ninth out. Gloucester had a glimmer of hope as they picked up their second walk of the game with two out but Mora shut the door striking out Estrada to end the game.
London MOM : Hiroyuki Nii – went eight innings allowing seven hits, one walk and struck out seven.
Gloucester 2 London 5 When Decheng Wen drove home Tuo-zhou Yang in the bottom of the first you could almost see the Gloucester players slump. They couldn’t get to Leonard Carver until deep into the game, he allowed just two hits his first six innings before the Fishermen coaxed an Arias solo homer out of him. By then though Gloucester had given up two-run bombs to Dennis & Nathan Carter leaving the game long gone. Rule V draftee, José Valverde, surrendered another solo homer but that was scant conciliation to Gloucester as they went down for the third straight game, the Underground’s 10th straight win. Chad Fountain got the nod in the ninth to produce a 1-2-3 save.
London MOM : Nathan Carter – scored twice, once on a two-run shot that lifted his RBI total to a team leading 12. Oh! And a walk thrown in for good measure.
Gloucester 4 London 10 As we came to the bottom of the fifth Gloucester were feeling pretty good about themselves, they had managed to strand six London base-runners so far and had pumped a two-run shot into the stands off Miguel Rosa. Then they had one of those innings, two wild pitches, a passed ball and two walks added to London’s two singles & two doubles saw seven runners home and the Fishermen were heading for a four-game sweep. They grabbed two runs on three walks in the ninth off Chad Fountain’s second innings of work but the Underground had added three more to that seven-run stanza by then and London were unbeaten in 11.
London MOM ; Nathan Carter – 3 for 5 including two doubles, four RBI and two more runs scored.
New Jersey 2 London 7 Angel Luján struck out the first five batters he faced before walking the sixth. In the bottom of the second Joe Buchanan, 2 for 15 since his call-up, launched a three-run homer off the Hitmen’s Shunsuke Takayama but the visitors stepped up a gear. A run in the fourth & fifth innings brought them to within one run of the Pan-Atlantic leaders but Decheng Wen’s solo homer in the bottom half of the fifth marked the beginning of the end of New Jersey’s battle. Joe Buchanan got his second homer off Takayama which knocked the Hitmen’s starter out of the game, that was followed by Wen’s second homer, a two-run shot, which stretched London’s lead to 7-2. Alfonso Robles got the final five outs in relief of Luján as London made it 12 straight since losing the first two of the season.
London’s MOM : Joe Buchanan – finally got some offense going! 2 for 4, both homers and 4 RBI
![Image](http://www.pebabaseball.com/reports/news/html/images/person_pictures/player_3970.png)
Buchanan once more was unable to hit PEBA pitchers
New Jersey 2 London 4 Gabriel Alvarez started a bit shakily and a walk and a wild pitch enabled the Hitmen to get on the board first. London bounced back in the bottom half of the first innings though with Chris Long’s first triple of 2018 scoring Wilson Berry and then Decheng Wen knocking home Long. Despite giving the visitors several chances Alvarez kept New Jersey’s second run off the board until the eighth innings but by then a solo homer by Yang and doubles by Nathan Carter & Buchannan had London 4-1 up. It was too late for the Hitmen as on came Mora for yet another 1-2-3 save.
London’s MOM : Gabriel Alvarz – shaky but ended up with 8 IP, 2 ER, 2BB and 2 K
News & Notes : Despite his two-homer game against New Jersey Joe Buchannan showed his Achilles Heel again – he just can’t hit PEBA pitching. His .211/.211/.632 line gave management a decision to make. With Dan Truax ready to be activated from the disabled list and Ramsey due back in a week or two it was decided that Dan would work his way back in slowly as the fourth outfielder / bat off the bench while Joe’s PEBA stay would be brief as he headed back to Worcester to make room on the roster. To cover the vacant first base Decheng Wen, who last played there for 42 games in 2016, would get a stint there while Lorenzo Valenzuela would take the DH role. A bold move indeed with such a monumental series coming up against Dixie leaders Charleston Statesmen given that Lorenzo has barely 30 career AB’s in the PEBA and the 144 K’s of the Statesmen staff. He has shown promise with the bat though and has given the ball a good ride several times only to be robbed by outstanding defence.
![Image](http://www.pebabaseball.com/reports/news/html/images/person_pictures/player_10313.png)
Garcia is ticketed to be an Underground closer of the future
Montréal Métros haven’t had the best of times in recent years and have started 2018 7-9. 18-yr-old Cuban discovery Raúl Garcia is progressing well, not being used so much at the moment in the closer role but being stretched out a bit with three of his nine outings being more than one innings. Another prospect pitcher, Robby Holmes, who came over in the Juán Hernandez trade, has done well fresh from surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow. He has a 1-1 record with a 4.50 ERA in his first four starts at the Double-A level.
The Dover White Cliffs has just started their A-Ball campaign with a 2-1 record. 24-year-old catcher-turned-leftfielder Jesús Navarro has started well with the bat, hitting his first homer already with a .333/.429/.750 slash line but after last year’s -30.4 ZR rating is being used in the DH role. He has just been called up to Montréal as injury cover for his first Double-A spell. Going the other way is Canadian discovery Marc Bourbonnais who many felt hit a bit of a wall last year in his native Montréal. He has set off at a tear hitting .500/.538/.667 desperate to prove himself and to get back to his hometown.