Final SOMBILLA Standings 2005-2006

                   W   L  Pct  GB
Swarzluna         35  21 .625  --
Bay City          32  24 .571   3
Constantinople    32  24 .571   3
Future Wax        32  25 .554   3.5
North Dakota      31  26 .554   4.5
New Orleans       27  29 .482   8
Area 51           22  34 .393  13
Manila Folders    14  42 .250  21

League Leaders
All stats
Second half schedule
Ballparks

MVP - Jim Edmonds, Future Wax
Cy Young - Tom Gordon, Bay City
Manager of the Year - Matt

World Series - Saturday March 18, 2006
Constantinople 3  Future Wax 2
Constantinople 12 Future Wax 8
Future Wax 5  Constantinople 3
Constantinople 17 Future Wax 6
Future Wax 5  Constantinople 1
Future Wax 9  Constantinople 6
Constantinople 3  Future Wax 1

Constantinople wins World Series 4 games to 3

That's 2 in a row for Tom!

One game playoff for 4th place: March 4-5
Future Wax 3 North Dakota 2 (10 innings)

Playoffs - March 5
Constantinople 8  Bay City 2
Constantinople 11 Bay City 4
Constantinople 5  Bay City 4
Constantinople 9  Bay City 4

Constantinople wins 4 games to 0

Swarzluna 6  Future Wax 2
Future Wax 5  Swarzluna 2
Future Wax 6  Swarzluna 1
Swarzluna 5  Future Wax 4
Future Wax 18 Swarzluna 4
Future Wax 8  Swarzluna 5
       
Future Wax wins 4 games to 2

Twits* Notes: (5/25)

New SOMBILLA records set this year:

Longest losing streak:  Manila Folders 16 (old record  Manila Folders ‘00-01 14)
Most strikeouts, season: Randy Johnson, ND 159  (old record R Johnson 157 ‘02-03)
Fewest errors, Bay City 13 (old record A51 ‘04-05 17)
Most triples:  Michael Young, Area 51 10 (old record 7 held by Nomar (FW 04-05) Deshields (CN 98-99) and Beltran (BC 02-03)

Most triples, team 23 Area 51 (old record 21 Bay Cuty ‘96-97 and ‘02-03)
Most strikeouts, pitchers  North Dakota 550 (old record FW ‘04-05 505)
Best record, non-playoff team ND 31-26 (old record FW ‘92-93 30-26)
Most consecutive seasons, playoffs  FW 13 (1993-2006)
Most strikeouts, game, extra innings:  Randy Johnson 21 in 11 innings (12/1/05 ND  vs CN)
 
Final Home/Away records


Home    W    L    Pct       Away        W    L    Pct
                           
Eric    18    10    .643    Eric      17    11    .607
Randy   18    11    .621    Arnie     17    12    .586
Tom     17    11    .607    Tom       15    13    .536
Robin   17    11    .607    Robin     15    13    .536
Arnie   14    14    .500    Randy     14    14    .500
Harold  13    15    .464    Harold    14    14    .500
Jeff    12    16    .429    Jeff      10    18    .357
Matt     7    21    .250    Matt       7    21    .250
                           
TOTAL    116    109    .516  TOTAL    109    116    .484


(3/4)   The one-game playoff of 2006.

The first controversy erupted when North Dakota ended the 56 game season with only 2 ininngs of relief left for the one-game playoff.  And starter Randy Johnson had only 4 1/3 inns available. The only other ND eligible starter was Escobar.  Did Escobar have to start?  Could Randy Johnson start?  What happens after 6 1/3 innings?  A flury of e-mails skyrocketed around the league - with well-thought out issues, proposals, indignations and controversy.  Finally, ND sent an e-mail entitled "I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ANYMORE" and agreed to adopt the FW proposal :

"OK, Randy Johnson will start this game in one hour.  He will pitch 4 1/3 innings.  Then I have three relievers available to pitch 2 1/3 innings. That's right, 2 1/3 innings.  I audited all of my innings for the entire year and found another 1/3 inning.  Then after 6 2/3 innings, whoever is on the mound will be tired for the rest of the game.
And I'm going to kick your ass."

FW won the game 7 -3.

The next morning (Sun. 3/4), Randy sent the following e-mail to the league:  

"I was sitting down this morning to write to you all about the exciting season finale in which Jim Edmonds went 4-4, with 3 doubles and a home run, for 5 RBIs, leading Future Wax to a 7-3 victory over North Dakota.

But first I was going to finish my season stats by adding the 57th game to the regular season total. In doing so, I looked at my check sum routine and discovered that there were no innings reported in game 53 (the other stats were entered). I looked closer and to my horror, it was a game Zambrano pitched 7-1/3 innings.

This reduced Zambrano's available innings for game 57 to 5.3, but he pitched 6.6 in the game -- clearly illegal.

Therefore, we are going to have to replay some or all of the game. We are going to need a ruling by Matt as to whether we should replay the game from the point of "infraction" (that is, after the first out of the 5th, when Zambrano's arm should have fallen off) or replay the entire game.  (I want the former, Arnie the latter, there is nothing decisive in the bylaws, I think).

To make matters worse, Arnie and I cannot play before 2 pm today (he has a road race). If I win, I am prepared to play Eric immediately, but Arnie may or may not be.  So we will have to work out with Eric whether he should come out this way today and when.

If all this wasn't farcical enough, after the game last night Arnie ripped his entire team in half. He will have to break out the Scotch tape to replay the game.

In his last act as Vice Commissioner, Matt ruled that the game had to be replayed in its entirety.  Andrew responded angrily "I do not agree at all with the ruling.  It would have been perhaps different if they entered the game thinking Zambrano had unlimited innings and come to find out he had 1-2 innings.  In this case it's a difference of his leaving in the 6th versus Randy choosing to leave him in a bit longer.  He made an honest mistake and in effect gets a 1972 Russian Basketball team "replay". 

The game was replayed anyway.  

Big Papi's solo blast held up through 6 innings, ND ominously stranding 7 runners through the first 6.  Bonds led off the 7th with a triple (on a 1-5, out otherwise) and was knocked in by Chavez to tie it.  M. Alou smacked his 21st homer in the 8th to make it 2-1 ND. 

Bottom of the 9th, ND up 2-1.  Bonds walks, Edmonds, singles, Giles walks.  Bases loaded nobody out for FW against a tired Gonzalez.  Infield in.  But Chavez strikes out (on his card).  C. Wilson up.  He hits a GB1b(X).  Pujols (3e11) fields it cleanly and gets Bonds at the plate.  Clayton up.  Tying run on 3rd, winning run on 2nd, ND one out away from the win.  Clayton walks.  Ford strikes out.  Extra innings.

ND gets 2 more on in the 10th but can't score (story of the season).  Bottom of the 10th, Burke walks.  Berkman hits a gbss(x). It should be a dp, but rolls a "5" so Burke moves over.  Bonds hits an open single to left.  The slow (1-9) Burke rounds 3rd with Crawford (0 arm) throwing.  Randy rolls a 5. Game over, team ripped in half again.

M. Gonzalez, the last ND pitcher, with an arm that had fallen off, but was then glued back on, pitched the final 4 innings tired (and yielded no tired singles).  ND stranded 12 runners in all.

(3/18) In one of the strangest series in SOMBILLA history, Eric and Harold split their make-up games. The four games were played in a brisk hour and forty minutes, which included several bathroom runs, beer fills, cat issues, a reminisce by Eric about the playoff series he lost prior to this make-up series (likely a SOMBILLA first), and a slow-load look on Eric's computer to check out the final standings before game 4. Despite this, the games were highly competitive, and no one, as they say (read Tom), "tanked."

(3/2)  Constantinople tied Bay City for 2nd place last night, winning 3 of 5 over the Folders.  The series represented Matt's last managing hurrah in a SOMBILLA uniform.  Game 1 was the famous Pedro Feliz makeup up game, won by CN on a 2 out single from Melvin Mora giving Torres the actual victory.  CN's Schmidt won the second game to clinch a post-season berth.  But the Fodlers came on to win the next two games, setting up an important game 5.   Clemens for MF versus Hudson for CN.  Hudson went 7+ giving up 2 runs to pitch CN into a 2nd place tie wining 8-2. 

One game playoff!  North Dakota at Future Wax.  Escobar at Zambrano for all the marbles.  North Dakota would love to be able to pitch Randy Johnson in this game, especially as he is next up in the rotation.  The problem is that he has only 4 1/3 innings left on the season, and he doesn't provide enough combined innings with only 2 innings of available relief in the ND bullpen. So Escobar, the only other eligible starter, is pressed into service for at least 7 innings.

Also, you can bring in a used up reliever only if there are no other relievers with innings available.  So, if ND uses up the 2 innings of relief and the game goes into extra innings, at that point all remaining relievers are tired and they are all eligible.

(2/28)  No details about last night's series available, as Matt's managerial tenure winds down.  Eric has clinched at least 2nd place; only Tom can catch him now.  Speaking of Tom ,he can finish anyhere from 1st - 5th, although losing 4 or 5 games to Matt (and thus missing the playoffs) seems extremely remote...Draft night April 2, 2006.

(2/26) In what may be the most satisfying series of the year for Eric, Swarzluna came back from big deficits in each of the first 3 games to win 3 of 4 from Future Wax last night. Swarzluna scored 6 runs in the 8th and 9th of game one to win, 8-7. Game 2 saw Swarzluna wipe out a 9-3 deficit, which included a run in the 9th to tie the game (one a bases loaded walk) in a 14-10 win. the game 3 deficit was "only" 3 runs, but the winning run wasn't scored until the 9th, in a 6-5 squeaker.

Randy smoked Eric in game 4, 11-3, a game he had to win to tie Arnie for 4th place, setting up a possible one-game playoff matchup, depending on how the final games of the league turn out. stay tuned....

(2/25)  After North Dakota won the first 3 games today, (Pujols hitting the bp HR ("1" for righties in Harold's park) in the 1st inning of game 1 to set the tone) for a brief moment the standings looked like this:

        GB
Eric    --
Randy    1
Robin    1
Tom      1.5
Arnie    1.5

All kinds of crazy 3-way and 4-way playoff scenarios were possible.  Alas, New Orleans was able to avoid the sweep and play the spoiler on the back of Glaus (2-run HR) and Dunn (3-run HR) in an 8-3 game 4 win, leaving ND playoff hopes hanging by a thread (with only 2 inns of potential one-game playoff relief available).

(2/21)  The most bizarre season in SOMBILLA history became more bizarre when the ever honest Eric discovered that he had played 8 home games against Harold this year.  The first series (when Harold was supposed to be home) will now have to be replayed.  

(2/18) Swarzluna's winning streak is up to 10 games as Eric took over first place from Bay City after sweeping Robin.  

Robin allowed Eric to remain deluded that his team has a snowball's chance in hell in the playoffs by getting swept.  Westbrook went the distance in game 1, and good thing, too, because Eric didn't know who was tired in his pen.  After that, it was all Swarzluna relief.  Game 4 went 12 innings, with many tired pitchers, and dubious defensemen.  For Robin, Cantu played 2nd as a "4", and finally got victimized in the 13th, making a one-base error with the bases juiced.

Draft Night, Sunday April 2.

(2/16)  North Dakota's season virtually ended in humiliation, losing 2 games to the Folders earlier tonight.  In fact, ND had to hit two bottom of the 9th homers in game 4 to barely avoid the ignominy of being the first team to lose a series to the Folders this year. After missing yet another bp homer earlier in the series, Arnie officially renamed his park "My Own Fucking Park" for the remainder of the year...Although he is resigning from managing at the end of the SOMBILLA season, Matt has refused to vacate his Vice Commissionership. He did agree however, to "perhaps" consider considering reconsidering his decision to resign.

(2/14) Eric swept into 2nd place last night, continuing his torrid pace. Eric outscored Jeff by a total of 5 runs for the series. The game in which he lost on a 2-hitter was decided by a home run by Koskie in the bottom of the 8th. Final: 1-0.  Meanwhile, Randy took over 3rd place, going 8 for 8 in ballpark home runs at North Dakota, while Arnie was 0 for 2 .

(2/12)  Eric and Matt were supposed to finally play their ill-fated series Friday night, but Eric had to cancel.  That leaves the series at Eric - 2 cancellations, Matt - 1 cancellation. Matt need to cancel one more time to gain the split.

(2/9) Bay City pulled out a hard-earned split against Future Wax last night and early this morning, winning two extra inning games and unintentionally helping husband/playoff competitor by wiping out Randy's bullpen (including completely using up closer Joe Nathan) for their series on Sunday. Rolaids nominee Tom Gordon blew a save in Game 1, giving up a 3-run HR to Chavez in the ninth for a 5-4 FW victory. Game 2 featured 8 walks allowed by Oswalt through 5 innings, but his manager stuck with him, and he made it into the 10th. Bay City was down 6-4, but Nathan blew the save in the ninth thanks to an error by defensive replacement Lew Ford in RF followed by a 2-run double by Jeter. BC won it in 11 on a Blalock single and Cabrera double. In Game 3, Bonds, in his second game back from an injury, gave FW a lead they wouldn't relinquish on a 3-run homer in the third, and FW won 4-1. Game 4 was a 16-inning marathon that could easily have ended much earlier had Sosa not rolled a 20 on a 1-19 BP HR with the bases loaded in the 8th. BC settled for the sac fly, which brought the score to 5-3. Frank Thomas sent the game into extra innings with a 2-out 2-run homer in the ninth. Bonds was walked intentionally 3 times in extra innings (to give him 6 BB for the game), Gordon had to hit (unsuccessfully), and Juan Cruz had to hit in the 16th. He came through, getting a tired strikeout/single off Linebrink but then was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Cabrera's double. Noted RBI man Luis Castillo finally ended it with a long single over the drawn-in infield and outfield, making a winner out of Cruz (batting average 1.000).

(2/7) The Folders losing streak hit 17 after Matt lost game 1 of his series. He was finally able to halt the streak by squeezing out a win over 7th place Jeff in game 2.  By winning 1 of the 4 games, the Folders improved their winning percentage...Swarzluna took 3 of 4 from 'nawlins to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, moving to within 1 game of 4th place. Clement pitched a complete game, 3-hit/12-k shutout in game 3 (5-0 win), and the bullpen did the rest in games 1 and 2. Harold eked out a 5-2 win in game 4 to prevent the sweep, and promised Eric to use his bullpen to the max against Arnie and Tom, in his two remaining series.

Strategies for finding a new manager for the Folders will be the league's first order of business at the annual meeting and draft night - April 2, 2006.  Between now and then, let's be sure we have exhausted our supply of connections, friends, friends of connections, etc.  I have already been turned down by a Strat-O-playing running friend because "he was afraid he'd like it".

(2/6) First place Bay City was happy with a split after losing gold-glove 2B Luis Castillo for virtually the last 3 games of the series.  In game 1, an 8th inning pinch-hit homer by Travis Hafner off Battalico led ND to a 5-3 win.  Homers by Durazo, Mueller and M. Cabrera in game 2 backed solid pitching by Oswalt for BC to even the series, 4-3.  ND tired Halladay in the 1st inning (Pujols 3-run HR the key blow) and never looked back winning game 3, 11-6. In game 4, Tom Gordon picked up his 12th save to win the nail-biter 5-4.

After shocking the league by announcing his retirement, Matt cancelled his series with Tom. The two busy managers tried valiantly to come up with a makeup date, before settling on 2/27 as the first mutually available date.  The Folders will instead put their 16 game losing streak on the line Monday night against Jeff.

For the survivors - start asking everyone you know if they want to be a SOMBILLA manager...Draft night April 2, 2006.

(1/29)  It must be an unusually important ocurrance to usurp the annual SOMBILLA hockey game for headlines, but Matt has done so.  By getting swept for the fourth consecutive series today by Harold (Robin, Randy & Eric were the previous sweepers), the Manila Folders broke the franchise's 4-year old league record (14) for longest losing streak.  The streak could be more than 16 games, however.  The last series before that was the infamous Pedro Feliz series against Tom, and further research is needed to determine if he won the last "legitimate" game in that series.  Regardless, the streak will be on the line Thursday against Tom.

On the ice, the conditions were actually good for a morning tilt among the aging combatants, thanks to a cold night.  Once again it was Jeff & Harold vs.  Arnie & Matt.   Harold scored first as a defensive breakdown and some crisp passing led to an easy goal.  A determined Arnie skated through the entire J&H defense to tie it up at 1.  Tough defense and hard skating on both sides kept the score tied at 1.  But Jeff slammed home a loose puck to make it 2-1.  A hard shot from the point by Matt tied the score at 2, and once again, the annual grudge match would come down to one goal.   Jeff & Harold weaved toward the net exchanging passes, but Arnie appeared to have made a nice play, intercepting a Jeff pass in front of the net.  As Arnie turned to easily skate out of the zone with the puck, the puck rolled off the end of his stick toward the open net and Harold tapped in the gimme for the 3-2 win as Arnie lay prone on the ice, pounding it with his fist in frustration.  Pictures to follow.

Back on the table, BC opened up a 2-game lead over the pack in a sweep of Jeff.   Jeter, Sweeney and M. Cabrera all homered in game 1 and Gordon notched his 10th save.  Oswalt won his 5th game and Cantu had 3 rbi for the 7-3 game 2 win.  Mench (grand slam), M. Cabrera (4 hits) and Prior led the way in a game 3 rout, 13-2.  And Frank T.'s grand salami and Beltran's 2-run shot led the way in game 4.  Mota pitched 2 2/3 innings of great relief and Gordon picked up his 11th save in the 9-8 win.

Draft Night is officially Sunday April 2nd at 7:00 PM.  Thanks to everyone for being flexible. Actually a few people said that night was better for them anyway, although one manager was visibly bummed at the change to the draft day festivites.

(1/25)  Eric's playoff hopes took a hit as Tom moved to within a 1/2 game of first place by taking 3 of 4 last night.  It was a relaxed Tuesday with snow on the ground and a nice dark beer or two for refreshment.  CN had 3 players cut down at the plate over the first two games and Schmidt and Sheets were both shaky early allowing 4 runs each. Corey Koskie hit a  2 run homer in both games.  JT Snow was out injured (thanks Robin) in game 1 and Casey could not reach a 2 run single and kicked a ball.   But despite all this CN pulled out 2 wins with the final scores of 9-4 and 6-4.
 
Radke, who had been brilliant at times this season, came out and gave up 5 runs on 3 homers (2 LH BP HRs 1-7) and the offense could not bail him out as he lost 5-3.
 
Hudson came out to put the capper on the series and shutdown Eric for 5 innings and left up 3-0.  CN failed 3 BP homers, but after Romero coughed up 3 base runners in the first three batters faced the relief core held on to give CN a 3-2 win in a nail biter.
 
The series was all close games (Game 1 ended 9-4 only after a 4 run 9th inning for CN) and was remarkably calm and congenial considering the close games and number of players coming in and out.
 
The ballpark hated me as I was 5-11 in homer chances (2-4 LH and 3-7 RH) and 2-6 for BS*.  Eric was 3-8 in BP HR (2-5 LH and 1-3 RH) and 0-1 in BS* chances so it was not fond of him either. Beltre and Bay carried the offense going 13-31 with 3 walks, 5 Rs, 2B, 3 HRs and 9 RBIs.

Sunday's annual hockey game has been moved to the morning when ice conditions should be better than at 1:00...DRAFT DAY, Sunday night?  April 2, 2006.

(1/23)  Harold was the big winner on Sunday, winning 6 of 8 at his bash hosting to move into 6th place.  He's still 5 1/2 games out of the playoffs however.  The bash was moved in hopes of saving this year's SOMBILLA hockey challenge, set for this Sunday...You'd think people Tom would be falling all over themselves to try and reschedule their games with the 8-27 Folders... DRAFT DAY Sunday April 2, 2006

(1/18)  Despite the best gloom and doom efforts of Tom, he swept Randy last night on the back of three walk-off home runs to move back into 4th place. Game 1:  Schmidt had a 3-1 in the 7th. But Bonds homered and then Edmonds doubled and later came around to tie the score 3-3.  A Line out max by Nevin versus lefty Rusch ended all hopes of the game finishing in regulation. Romero came out in the 10th versus Bonds and held on to post the 0 in the top of the 10th.  Colome came out to face three right handers.  Andruw Jones hit a ball park homer shot that was pulled in easily by Berkman.  Mirabelli worked a walk and then Jose Guillen hit a big 2 run homer to win the game.
 
Game 2: A pitchers duel between Sheets and Santana.  Sheets gave up 3 early, but then never looked back as Santana struck out 13 and allowed 8 runs and CN won 8-3.
 
Game 3:  Radke vs.. Pedro.  Wax gets a valuable insurance run in the 8th to go up 11-9, however Nathan is not up to the challenge as he blows a save giving up a 2 run homer to Bay to tie up the game 11-11 in the 9th.  The 10th started with Randy bemoaning that Bonds would have lead off, but Piazza hearing the negative comments hit a homer to put Wax up 12-11.  Nathan came out to hold CN back for the personal victory, but A. Rod greets him with a single with the Guillen boys due.  Jose strikes out, and Carlos hits a 2 run game winner.   
 
Game 4:  Hudson vs. Leiter.  Wax scores 5 in the 7th to go up 7-6.  In the 8th CN greeted Colome "The Best Pitcher Against Right Handers" with an Easley Ball Park Homer (4th ball park chance of the game, 2 made, 2 failed) to tie the game and A. Rod added a double and Beltre hit the game winning 2 run shot as the entire pitching staff for CN ends up in the game to save it.  (Torres was the last one to pitch to get the actual save.)  A lucky evening ... A. Rod in injury relief hit .438/.526/.750 to score 6 runs and Bay hit 3 homers for six RBIs.

Scheduling update:  Weather forced a postponement of the annual SOMBILL hockey game, thanks to flexible managers being able to move the bash at Harold's to this weekend (1/22).  The hockey challenge will now be 1/29, weather permitting.

(1/16) Try as they might, Swarzluna did their best not to sweep the Folders in Manila, but miserably failed to lose a single game. The games were brisk, the children were wild, the dip was mild, the beers smooth, and the dice uncocked. Caroline came in during the second game and announced that a gazillion seconds was equal to a billion years, or something like that, which rather put it all in perspective, and made the old bones creak. Smoltz was the unfortunate recipient of bad karma, coughing up two games in the late innings. Eric bitched to Matt that, thanks to the sweep, he'll probably have to audit his relief pitching. ... DRAFT DAY Sunday April 2, 2006
(1/9) So, at about 7:00 with both of the other series underway at his house, Matt calls 'Mr. Senility' on the phone.  

Eric:  "Hey, Matt!  How are ya doin?"
Matt:  "Good.  Uh, you and I are supposed to be playing tonight?"
Eric:  "Oh, shit.  OK, I'll be right over"

5 minutes later Mr. Senility calls back.  "Sorry, dude.  Don't get mad, but uh, I've already made other plans tonight".

The last game of the evening at Matt's, the non-playing host's house, was the most remarkable - won by FW in 17 innings.  Up 2 games to 1, in the final game Harold overcame a 5 run deficit, taking a 6-5 lead in the top of the 9th on a pinch-hit squeeze play (set up by a sac bunt). Then Craig Wilson hit a 2-out homer to send the game into extra innings. In the 11th, Harold intentionally walked Bonds and Edmonds sucessfully to get Ford to hit into a dp.  Harold used 8 pitchers (including 3 coming in tired) to stymie the Wax attack. NO loaded the bases in the 16th, but couldn't score. In the 17th, NO scored a go-ahead run on a Pokey Reese (tired pitcher) single, but a failed squeeze play kept the lead at 1. A tired Rivera came in to close, only to give up two tired singles. Clayton then failed on a safety squeeze. With two on and two outs, Rivera walked Chavez, then gave up a short single to tie the game, then walked Bonds for the loss.

Among the possible records in the game: 41 played a part (including 14 pitchers) and 5 bunts (including 3 squeeze plays).

(1/5) Stripped of secret weapon Pedro Feliz, Matt resorted to beanballs, injuring Thome and Giles for several games each. But Jim Edmonds was unstoppable, hitting 4 homers and 3 doubles on the way to driving in 10 runs.  Future Wax took the first two games easily 11-3 and 13-5. But Roger Clemens slowed the Wax attack in game 3, and the Folders turned the tables with 3 consecutive home runs to start the 4th, then added 4 more consecutive hits, giving Pedro Martinez his worst inning since the 2003 ALCS, culminating in a 6-2 Folder win. The final game was scoreless through 6-1/2. Bruce Chen, in a rare start, at one point struck out 6 Wax hitters in a row. But Edmonds secured a Wax win with a 2-run blast in the 7th, on the way to a 4-0 Wax victory, enabling Randy to regain 1st place. ... DRAFT DAY Sunday April 2, 2006

(1/2) On a fine night for the Bay City/Commissioner household, Robin swept fellow "Couch of Woe" manager Matt to move into first place, while Arnie took 3 of 4 from Tom. Buehrle, who gave up 22 runs in his previous outing, allowed only 3 (all on solo HRs) in going 8 1/3 in game 1, which featured a clutch hit by Sweeney, a double and HR by Blalock & a 2-run Cabrera HR.  Beckett pitched 7 for Matt in the 6-3 BC win before leaving with a blister.  Game 2 featured CGs from real-life teammeates Oswalt and Clemens.  Oswalt shut out MF on 6 hits, while Roger allowed 8 runs on 3 HR (another by Cabrera & 2 by Sweeney.  Dustin Mohr was 3 for 4 2 w/2 doubles.  In game 3,Gordon picked up his 8th save, as he Prior, Cruz & Mahay combined for a 5-4 BC win.  Pudge was a single short of a cycle & Sweeney homered again.  In game 4, Robin took a 12-run lead against Webb, who quickly tired and cost his team more runs by giving up a couple of tired longs singles. Sweeney hit a 3-run HR in the 1st & also had 2 singles & a walk. Durazo, Beltram & Mohr also homered.  Torii Hunter had 5 RBI with 2 HR & a double, as Matt climbed back into it but fell short 13-8.  Star of the week was Mike Sweeney - 8 for 17, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 1 clutch hit.

(12/25) In a Game 1 Christmas day blowout, Eric scored more runs than Robin did the entire series, yet BC took 3 of 4 from SW to move back into a tie for 2nd place. In a complete-game effort, Buehrle gave up 22 runs, all earned, and was saved from further ignominy only by J.D. Drew’s clutch out to end the ninth. Westbrook, who also went 9, got the win 22-2. Buehrle gave up 7 HR, 9 doubles (including 3 consecutively in the 5th), walked 6, and hit two batters.

Game 2 saw Oswalt go all the way, despite allowing 3 HRs, as Bay City won 8-5, thanks to a 3-run HR by Pudge, clutch hits by Pudge and Sweeney, and newcomer Kevin Mench’s first BC hit, a 2-run homer in the 8th. Eric sent out a parade of Japanese relievers to no great effect... Three-run homers by Pudge and Hank Blalock led BC to a 7-3 victory over Sox pitchers Clement and Timlin (and non-Sox Rincon) in Game 3. Future Red Sox Tejada hit a 2-run homer for SW.

Game 4 was a nail-biter as starters Bonderman and Halladay each allowed only a solo homer (Blalock and Lieberthal) heading into the 7th.  Dustan Mohr scored on a passed ball with Sweeney at the plate and 2 out in the 7th as Bay City took a 2-1 lead, but in the 8th, Tom Gordon blew his first save and allowed his first earned run of the season as Corey Koskie greeted him with a homer. Beltran led off the bottom of the 8th with a HR off Tavarez, and Gordon pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the victory.

In Manila's split, persona non-grata Pedro Feliz watched from the dugout in the battle of the bottom dwellers.

(12/21)  Jeff was unsatisfied with the split.  The highlight of the series was Hideki Matsui's 3-run walk-off homer in the botoom of the 9th of one of the games after Randy had scored 2 in the top of the 9th.

(12/18)  There was still a palpable buzz over "Feliz-gate", with some teams now referring to Manila as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of the SOMBILLA.  On the table, solid pitching and home cooking helped North Dakota regain sole possession of 2nd place.  In game 1, New Orleans' O. Perez, M. Rivera, King and Hawkins comibed on a 5-hitter to win 4-2, ND stranding 10 runners.  In game 2, Sheffield's 8th inning HR off Lidge tied it at 4 all, and Ramon Hernandez hit a 9th inning pinch-hit walk-off homer (also off Lidge) for the win.  In game 3, four New Orleans pitchers (Lilly, Cordero, King and Hawkins) combined to limit North Dakota to only 3 hits.   But 2 were homers (Pujols and Ginter) as ND pitching (D. Davis, Shields and Gagne) yielded just 5 hits and 0 runs for a remarkable 2-0 victory.  ND won the finale 7-3 as Hafner had 3 hits and 3 rbis.

(12/16) It will go down in SOMBILLA lore.  Last night, in his series against Tom, Matt used an ineligible player, Pedro Feliz.  Not only is Feliz not on MF's roster, having never been drafted by any SOMBILLA team, but Feliz hit a key homer to help Matt win the game.  Tom & Matt will be replaying the game.  Matt has no idea how Feliz ended up on his team.  (Matt notes he has played in only one other game - it was as a 9th inning defensive replacement against Randy (no PAs), which he lost anyway).

Matt says "Whatever punishment the League decides would be fine. It's my bad. I'm sorry. It won't happen again. A thousand pardons, etc.".  Nevertheless, I think we need to punish him in some manner.  Flogging, public humiliation, playing his games naked (actually, that's probably more a punishment for the rest of us, so nevermind), etc. come to mind.

From Robin ( propose that Matt forfeit his lost-then-found $3000 check to the league--it seems only fair for a transgression of this magnitude.  Alternatively, he could be replaced as manager by two young "co-managers" (Jack & Carolyn?), wear a gorilla suit to the annual hockey/Strato bash, and then we could endlessly discuss the chance that Matt could return to the Sombilla with a new title and Jed could leave MF to work for a franchise close to his home in Washington, D.C.

Eric summed it up when he wrote: Rosey Ruiz strikes again! Matt, you're a genius. I don't think any punishment is necessary. The mere exposure of the incident is enough. I stand in awe.

There has been no comment from GM Jed "Hand to Forehead".

(12/14) Future Wax finished off a 6-2 homestand aginst the Holliston contingent by beating ND 3 of 4 Wednesday night to take over sole possession of first place.  ND was down 4-3 in the 9th inning of game 4 with the bases loaded and one out after having knocked out closer Nathan.  But pinch-hitter Estrada grounded into a dp to end the series.

(12/11)  Ill-timed injuries to Beltran, Durazo and S. Green hurt the Bay City offense, as evidenced by Al Leiter's 3-hit 1-0 shutout in game 4, as FW knocked Robin out of 1st place on Saturday...Trade update: Bay City acquires Mench from Area 51 for a 4th round pick and Quiroz...Eric, Tom, Matt and Randy please respond to your schedule survey so I can complete the 2nd half schedule.

(12/4)   It is believed to be the first time in league history that North Dakota and Bay City are 1-2 in the standings... All teams except Matt & Randy are now at the roster freeze... To those teams not doing their stats: please remember the league bylaw that allows for a league audit of your stats before you are allowed to play in the playoffs, to ensure you haven't gained an unfair advantage by over-using pitchers or limited batters.
   
On Sunday, the much delayed Wax-Folder series finally took place.FW took the first game 6-4, on homers by Thome (2) and Griffey.  Matt pulled within two in the 8th, but left the bases loaded when Jack Wilson grounded out against a tired Nathan.

In game two, Matt jumped out to an early lead on a Polanco solo shot off Santana, only to have Bonds counter with two blasts of his own. Chavez put the Wax up 4-2 in the 7th, with a 2-run shot. Matt then rallied in the bottom of the 9th: with two on and one out, pinch-hitter Figgins singled in a run, then pinch-hitter Wilkerson walk to load the bases, allowing Roberts to tie the score with a sac fly. But in the 10th, Bonds got on via HBP, and Edmonds doubled him home. Matt got the tying run to second, but his second rally fell short.

In contrast to the previous contest, game three was a sloppy, high scoring affair ­ over the first 3 innings anyway. The Folders managed three 2-base errors leading to 3 unearned runs.  But poor pitching and poor defensive managing allowed the Folders to keep pace, such that it would 6-5 after 2-1/2.  But Pedro settled down, allowing only only 3 hits over the next 6-1/3 innings, striking out 13 total.  A 3-run blast by Thome sealed the deal, with the Wax coasting to a 9-6 win.

In the final game, the Wax took a 4-0 lead into the final frame, on solo homers by Berkman and Chavez, and an least 5 successful 1-6 (or less) split roll singles on Clemens card. The Folders scattered 7 hits over 8 innings. A belated 9th inning rally plated a run, but fell short, giving Future Wax a 4-1 victory and a sweep.

(12/1)  I've always maintained it's better to be lucky than good.  Tonight's series against Tom bears that out.  I made every single roll that I needed to.  Tom did not, and in fact, couldn't even capitalize on North Dakota's spotty defense despite many an X-roll chance.  

The details:  Randy Johnson broke the all-time record for strikeouts in a game with 21 in game 1, although with an asterisk - it was in 11 innings.  A 3-3 tie was broken open in the 11th on a Johnny Estrada pinch-hit rbi double off Baez followed by a Juan Uribe 2-run double as Johnson scattered 8 hits over 11 innings for a CG 6-3 win.

After beginning game 2 with a 6-0 lead, the Manatees rallied for a 5-run 5th.  But M. Gonzalez, Hoffman and Gagne (a 2-inning save) closed the door for a 7-5 win.  In game 3, ND jumped out ahead again 4-0.  CN rallied to make it 5-3.  The key moment was in the bottom of the 8th.  A 2-out single by Bay was followed by a double by Varitek off Izzy.  J. Guillen pinch-hit for A. Jones and was intentionally walked to load the bases.  Easley then pinch-hit for Durham.  M. Gonzalez came in to get Easley and CN left 'em loaded.  Gagne pitched the 9th for another save.

Game 4 was 2-2 until the 9th.  Pujols hit a 3-run homer on a 1-10 ballpark HR for the sweep.

Miscellaneous business:  Randy!!  Tom has 5 of your players.  Talk to him before you play your makeup series with Matt on Sunday.  Cancel jerk: Sorry, Matt, Eric and Randy!  I cannot play next Wednesday, which means I can't host.  Randy, I'll need to reschedule.

(11/27) An extraordinary low-scoring affair between NO and SW, with finals of 3-1 (13 innings),  2-1, and 7-4 in SW's favor, and a 5-4 squeeker for Harold. I can't say there were offensive heroes of much note for either team, as pitching dominated. Al Embree recorded a win and a save for Swarzluna. Lefty Oliver Perez was masterful in game one for Harold, going 5 innings of no-hit ball, with 10 k's. Thankfully for me, he could only go five, and Harold couldn't offer him any run support. .. ND pounded out 6 homers and routed BC 15-2 in game 1.  But Robin clawed back in game 2, overcoming 3-0, 4-2 and 5-4 deficits before a huge 2 out 2-run double by Bill Mueller in the 8th off Gagne gave her her first lead of the series.  Tom Gordon picked up his 3rd save to even it up 1 game to 1.

An ex-RAT special - a Jeff Kent 2-run triple and Sheffield 2-run homer - keyed a 5-run 6th inning to lead ND to a 6-3 game 3 victory. But Robin won the finale, 8-5 thanks to timely hitting by Jorge Cantu, Carlos Beltran and Luis Castillo to remain tied for 1st place with CN.

(11/22) Bay City, the surprise team of the SOMBILLA’s young season, maintained control of 1st place by taking 3 of 4 from the Folders Monday night. In a matchup of two teams with a fine tradition of dead pitchers, the amazingly sturdy Mark Buehrle pitched a complete Game 1, not allowing a run to score after the 1st. Bay City veterans Mike Sweeney and Sammy “Baseball been berry berry good to me, but steroid testing been berry berry bad for my manager” Sosa  homered in a 6-1 win.

Game 2 saw new Sox star Josh Beckett best Oswalt, who allowed homers to Polonco and Huff, as Bay City managed only 6 hits (including another Sweeney HR) in a 9-2 drubbing.

Game 3 was a battle of past and hopefully future real-life Cy Young winners, as Clemens struggled with his control and Prior gave up two early runs but then settled down to get the win, 10-2, with strong relief from Juan Cruz, Mahay, and Mota. Plucky BC leadoff man Luis Castillo walked three times, and Durazo, Beltran, Pudge, and Cabrera homered.

Game 4 was a matchup of 2005 Yankee disappointments in Pavano and the oft-injured Jaret Wright. Castillo went 4 for 5, injury call-up Cliff Floyd made a bid for a spot on the roster with a single and homer, and Durazo and Sweeney homered again in a 7-3 Bay City win, as MF left the bases loaded in the 9th when Tom Gordon closed it out for Bobby “I pitched 4 entire innings before leaving with a season-ending injury after being drafted by Robin” Madritsch .

Player of the Week: Mike Sweeney--7 for 13, 3HR, 7RBI


(11/20)  It was supposed to be the first total league gathering of the year.  But first, the "year of the SOMBILLA wife" caught up with Jeff, forcing his series with ND to be held at his house so he could babysit.  Then, Eric had to cancel with Harold due to a bad cold. Finally, a missing $3000 check was the first of a chain of events causing Matt to forget to show up to play Robin.  And so, Randy & Tom played a lonely series.  

After a lackluster opening road trip, Future Wax held its home opener before a capacity crowd. With their former whipping boys, the Manatees, having taken the Charles Atlas course and morphed into archrivals, the series had a playoff atmosphere from the start.
 
In game one, a two-out first inning miscue by Durham led to a 3-run Griffey homer. Bonds and Edmonds also homered early, and the Wax then held on for a 5-3 win. Game two saw Bonds walk four times (three intentional), but hit a 3-run blast on the one good pitch he sees. Edmonds cashes in, homering twice, and FW cruises to a 10-5 win -- despite three home runs by Abreu.
 
In the third game, FW grabs the early lead on blast from Berkman and Edmonds. Tom pulls ahead, 4-3 in the 6th on a 2-run shot from Snow. But FW answers immediately as a pinch-hitting Ford drives in Edmonds (who led off with a double). Thome then takes back the lead with a shot to the cheap seats, after the Manatee pitcher apparently missed the signal for the intentional walk. Tom used up everybody but Casey and broke his DH over the 6th and 7th innings to take the 5-3 lead by scoring 4 runs over those two innings , so that there was no one left to pinch-hit for the pitcher with the game on the line. Nathan easily blew him away for a 6-5 save.
 
Tom’s game four starter got the IBB signal OK, giving a free pass to both Bonds and Edmonds in the 1st.  Ken “who am I, chopped liver?” Griffey immediately homered for a 3-run lead.  However, Weird Al Leiter then gave up 3 runs (while stranding 5 base-runners) in 3 innings – without giving up a hit.  After a lead-off double in the 4th, Leiter got the hook, triggering a run of four consecutive pinch-hitters, including Ryan Howard, who hit a two-run blast for the lead. After Thome and Durham hit offsetting homers, Urbina then passing through the gauntlet of Berkman, Bonds, and Edmonds to close out a 6-4 Manatee win, avoiding a sweep.

(11/16)  New Orleans shocked RAT last night, however, details are sketchy.  This leaves the league with only 3 teams above .500...Leftover from Sunday: A sudden change in venue (two phone calls Sunday morning made sure that I made it) saw four gas expelling Sombilla Managers gathered in Arlington for a dipless night of Strat. Schmidt my suppossed ace gave up 6 runs in the 3rd on 3-run homers to Manny and ex-CN Tejada.  However, CN avoided the long ball but still clawed back to win game 1, 10-6. In game 2, SW's Konerko hit a solo shot in the fourth and then with 2 outs in the 5th a passball and Konerko double put Team Scrappy (Swarzluna) up 4-2. This is all he would need and all he was going to get.  Burnett gets the win and Takatsu the save to even the series.  In game 3, CN's Radke scattered six hits and did not allow a runner to score.  A runner he walked in the 9th came round to score when the bullpen allowed it.  Final Score, 4-1.  Game 4 was contentious and probably the most hotly contested game of the series.  Andruw Jones' walk off homer in the 9th brought the series victory to CN...The first 4 game series between A51 and the Folders turned out to be a continuation of all of last year series, yes you guessed it, 4 lopsided games resulting in yet another unsatisfying split!  The two most exciting highlights of the evening were:  1) a mêlée somewhere off in the distant stands which inadvertently sucked the opposing MF and A51 managers into the fray because they couldn’t resist adding verbal fuel to the ruckus and; 2) low quality concessions of broken tidbits of chips, each one single handedly inspected by one of the combatants in the stands.

(11/14) Despite losing a game for the first time all season, defending champ Constantinople increased its lead over the league last night in a fight-filled donnybrook. Arlington police are still questioning witnesses...Sunday, Matt's wife permitting, the entire league gathers in one place for the first time all season.

(11/10)  North Dakota won 2 extra-inning games and pounded out 11 home runs to spoil the Fodlers season opener last night.  ND scooted out to a 7-0 lead thanks to 2 Hafner homers in game 1.  But Manila came clawing back, and a pinch-hit rbi double by Mauer the mutant tied it at 7 all in the 7th.  Rolen's solo shot in the 10th inning off John Smoltz was the game winner.

In game 2, the Folders carried a 4-3 lead into the 9th.  But a pinch-hit sac fly by bench-warmer David Ortiz sent the game to extra frames.  Both teams stranded many runners in a frustrating game, until Ramon Hernandez' pinch-hit homer off Paul Quantrill in the 13th inning won it for ND.

Albert Pujols's 2 homers and 5 rbi led the way for ND's 7-4 game 3 win.  In game 4, Manila jumped to a 12-0 lead, as the tired managers played out the series.  But ND scored 4 in the 8th and 4 more in the 9th to make it interesting before expiring.

Star of the series was Travis Hafner, who was 12 for 21 (.571), with 7 runs, 5 homers, and 9 rbi, 1 sb and 1 bb.  Pujols added 5 more rbi to up his league leading total to 18 after 8 games.

(11/5) UPSET ****  UPSET  ****  UPSET.  CN defended its title by coming out to win his first series of the year. Just like last year CN started the season vs. Harold, but unlike last year (where Montreal was the same park as his home park) the "Barge" is a spacious mirror image of CN's new home park.  The series was an injury fest.  6 injury rolls occurred with CN losing its Jasons (Varitek and Bay) for 2 games each and New Orleans losing Kotsay (2 games), Glaus (6 games), Walker (3 games) and Posada was OK.  Harold had no luck despite
rolling on his cards for entire innings, he always seemed to hit the holes therein.  While CN would find the N-Homer split on the pitchers card (6-4 for Hawkins twice) and then hit the 1-12 thing roll for homers over the double alternative.

I have had a cold for over three weeks and woke up Thursday with a hitch to my breathing and hacking cough like a 4 pack a day smoker.  My big fear was that it had finally turned to bronchitis, but I went into work and took drugs and had a great singing voice (a smoky husky voice designed for Romantic Blues ballads).  I was already to cancel, when I felt enough better in the afternoon and decided that I should just go or who knows when the series will happen.

Game 1 was Ace vs. Ace:  Schmidt came out and loaded the bases in the first inning and gave up a Dunn walk to score a run, but after loading the bases again in the second he settled down and held New Orleans scoreless through the end of the 8th.  CN put 4 runs up on no homers
through seven.  The eighth saw Abreu single and then steal second (1-18 chance) and Posada on his first throw of the year sailed it out to Dejesus and Abreu ended up on third.  A catcher-X wild pitch scored the insurance run. Schmidt came out in the bottom of the 9th and gave up a
HBP and triple before quitting.  Romero came in and gave up the Sac Fly to Helton and struck out the hated Walker but Posada hit a SS-X for single and Baez came in to record the last out for a his first save.
Game 2 saw Carpenter versus Sheets in the most even of offensive matches.  CN went up 3-0 with Durham hitting the first homer of the season for CN, but NO came back with a 3 run David Wright homer to tie it after 2.  NO went up 5-3 after 4, and CN came back in the fifth with
2 homers and three runs to go up 6-5.  NO tied it in the bottom of the fifth 6-6 and then went up in the bottom of the sixth 7-6.  But A Rod and Beltre hit solo shots to put CN up 8-7 in the top of the 7th.  Sheets settled in and did not allow any more runs as Abreu added his
second homer of the game and the final score was 11-7 with 6 CN homers and Varitek leaving for the series and Walker also leaving after an awkward third strike swing.  (Not exactly a pitchers duel.)
Game 3 saw Radke versus Lilly in a laugher.  The final was 14-0 which featured a 3 homer 4 run inning and an inning with 13 batters, 2 homers and 9 runs scored (without tiring the relief 3 pitcher).  In the eighth, Harold loaded the bases and tired Radke and I started to bring in relief and Harold stopped me with a "You have a 13 run lead."  I had to admit
that I had lost track and was on autopilot and let Radke continue and thanks to a Helton clutch out ...
Game 4 saw Hudson vs. Benson.  CN started fast scoring 5 over 3 innings, but after a big 4 run bottom of the 3rd NO tied the game at 5.  Harold then pointed out that every time he took a lead or tied it I had come back with a homerun.  Two outs into the 4th and JT Snow hit a homerun and then when the dust settled it was 7-5.  Hudson was not on his stuff
but left after five with a 7-6 lead.  Benson also left, but the talented NO bullpen came apart giving up 8 runs over the last 4 to lose the game 15-7.

Now Harold has 1/3 of his lineup out and had Randy to look forward to ....

(10/30) Jeff has the scoresheets, so this is a half-assed summary from Robin. Bay City, historically having no luck in average parks or pitchers’ parks, makes the surprising move of choosing a hitters’ park: the home of the World Champion Chicago White Sox (and the park geographically closest to Bay City, Illinois). The move immediately pays off, as Mark Buehrle gets his first (and possibly only) win playing in his home park. A51 took Game 2, as Oswalt, coming off a disappointing real-life Series start, gave up a bunch of homers. The Bay City first basemen/DH’s excelled in the series, with Sweeney getting the team’s first homer of the 05-06 season, Erubiel “the Big E” Durazo getting a bunch of clutch hits, and  Frank “the Walking Man” Thomas  (also playing in his actual home park) likely leading the league in OBP. Jaret Wright managed to escape Game 3 with a win and without being knocked out by a liner up the middle. The final game was a blow-out as Bay City pounded Jeff Weaver and Roy Halladay jumps to 1-0, recording possibly his first winning record since being drafted by Bay City.. Eric incurred the Commisioner’s wrath by showing up 70 minutes late after spacing out and assuming opening day was at 6:30 instead of 1:00.  As a result only 3 games were able to be played...Rogue franchises Future Wax and the Manila Folders violated league rules by not declaring their park dimensions by opening day.  For that reason, the other 6 parks are not being disclosed.

* This Week in the SOMBILLA, the world’s first blog.