A Win, Mistrust, and a Conclusion

Daily Ramble 235: A Win, Mistrust, and a Conclusion

My main excitement this morning is that the Angels won the first game of their series with the Astros. That puts the teams into a tie for first place in the AL West and actually surprises me since the Angels haven’t been playing well at home.

I also took a step back into the DC Rebirth series, all the way back to Action Comics #962. This comic finishes off the Path of Doom storyline and we get to see the finish of Superman’s fight against Doomsday.

Finally, I take a step back in LOTRO to work to complete all quests in Archet before advancing beyond the small town. I’m getting there even though it’s slow going…actually it’s about as fast as I usually go but in comparison to others, it’s slow. I have fun at this speed at least.

First Look at Action Comics #962

Path of Doom: Conclusion by Dan Jurgens and Stephen Segovia. Published by DC Comics, 2016.

In the previous issue Doomsday and Superman were battling it out almost to a standstill while Wonder Woman took Jonathan and Lois up to the Watchtower and safety. As things heated up and Superman starts to tire, the mysterious Mr. Oz steps in and sends his minions to help…

But of course they barely slow down the beast. We do learn, though, that this is a test devised by Mr. Oz to see what this Superman’s limitations are.

With the Oz forces destroyed, Superman lures Doomsday to his Fortress of Solitude where he has a plan in place for a situation just like this. But the beast is almost too much to handle. Fortunately, Wonder Woman shows back up to help distract the creature and give Superman the time to zap him into the Phantom Zone…goodbye and good riddance! The beast is gone but we learn he’s not where Clark wanted him to go…he’s actually a captive of Mr. Oz and we’re left with a foreboding feeling that things are only gonna get worse.

This issue continues with well drawn fight scenes. All 3 of the combatants get a few good blows in and it’s clear these are some powerful beings. We also see Luthor playing at being the hero in Metropolis and after the battle is settled, Superman shows up and let’s him know he’s keeping an eye on him.

We’re still left with a super powered Luthor, a new Superman, a human Clark and the dead Superman who was the original in this world. And, of course, lots of questions. At least we see that the 2 humans and the new Kryptonian seem to be able to get along to the benefit of Metropolis.

This Rebirth thing can definitely be confusing…

I rate this issue a B.

This comic can be found of Comixology or at your local comic book shop.

Practicing the Gambits

After going over some of the Warden Gambits last time, Katethein and I were ready to head outta the town of Archet. We spoke with Strider and even though I had more information about Calder Cob’s coming treachery, Captain Brackenbrook still didn’t believe us – I suppose if I do this again I should bring the burnt up sign from The Mad Badger Inn to try to convince him. Since he’s not convinced to trust Strider or us, Kat and I have to head back down to Springley’s Farm to see if he’ll write us another letter detailing the Cob betrayal.

With the knowledge that Cob set up an ambush at Bronwe’s Folly it was a simple matter to dispatch the Blackwold Wolf Master and gather the evidence against the traitor. It was actually a good opportunity for Kat to try out her Gambits. She’s been focusing on the Shield Gambits. These cause some damage but also help with defense. We figure they’ll eventually be the most important for survivability so we wanted to make sure we knew how to use them. Anything that increases our defenses or heals us is definitely welcome. The fact that these Gambits barely get enacted before our opponents die is, I’m sure, a short term situation as I know the bad guys get more difficult outside the tutorial.

In any case, Kat and I get through the battle of Bronwe’s Folly, rediscover that the road to Combe is blocked by the Blackwolds, and grab a new letter of endorsement to present to Captain Brackenbrook without much difficulty. Tomorrow, we’ll head back out to secure the support of the hunters and see if the Blackwold attack plans are similar to the one’s they put together last time.

Game 1 Victory

Yesterday’s game featured the 5–1 Lance McCullers Jr. going for the Astros against the 1–2 Andrew Heaney for the Angels and it was a battle of the top 2 teams in the AL West. The Angels entered the match a game behind Houston with a chance (if they pulled off a sweep) to take over first place. Entering the game, both teams were pitching well with the Astros featuring the best AL starters in May with a 1.78 ERA, but the Angels were right behind them with a 2.27 ERA so it looked like things could be low scoring, at least in the early going.

And that’s exactly what happened. A total of 3 runs were scored in the first match and happily the Angels ended up with most of them. The final was 2–1 and Andrew Heaney outpitched Lance McCullers.

Heaney threw 85 pitches and picked up 10 strike outs in 8 innings. I thought he was gonna pitch the 9th but Scioscia kept true to his determined plan to never let a starter go 9 innings this year. Of course bringing in a reliever opened the door for Houston to put something together. And they certainly did try.

George Springer picked up his only hit of the game – a single to center and it looked like things were starting to fall apart. Fortunately Justin Anderson coerced Alex Bergman to pop out to right field and when Springer tried to take second on the play, Kole Calhoun threw a perfect strike to Simmons to put the tag on.

With 2 outs Jose Altuve picked up his only hit of the game. So after 4 hits given up all game, a reliever comes in and gives up 2 hits in 2/3 or an inning. Scioscia really needs to think about his late game strategies. A passed ball moved Altuve to 2nd leading to an intentional walk. Then finally with 2 on and 2 out, Anderson induced Yuli Gurriel to hit an easily playable grounder to the base and the game was over.

Justin Upton was the offensive star for the Angels going 2 for 3 with one of the RBIs but my Player of the Game has to go to Heaney who outdueled McCullers. It was a good pitchers duel and a fun game to watch. I’m just really happy the Angels pulled off the win.

Today’s game will feature Garrett Cole (4–1, 1.43) for Houston and Jaime Barria (3–1 2.45) for the Angels. It looks like it could be another pitching duel.