Final
SOMBILLA
Standings 2009-2010
W L Pct
GB
Future
Wax
39 17 .696 --
Dem
Bums
34 22
.607 5
Fugakyu
32 24 .571 7
Area
51
29 27 .518 10
Constantinople
28 28 .500 11
New Orleans
23
33 .411 16
The Flaming Earthworms
20 36 .357 19
Bay
City
19 37 .339 20
League
Leaders
All stats
Ballparks
MVP -
Adrian Gonzalez
Cy
Young - Jeremy Guthrie
Manager
of the Year - Eric
World Series (March 20, 2010):
Dem Bums 10 Future Wax 1
Dem Bums 8 Future Wax 5 (10 innings)
Dem Bums 9 Future Wax 5
Dem Bums 10 Future Wax 8
Dem Bums d Future Wax 4 games to 0
Playoffs (March 6-7, 2010):
Future
Wax d. Area 51 4 games
to 0
Dem Bums
d. Fugakyu 4 games to 3
(6/8) NEW
SOMBILLA RECORDS SET THIS YEAR
Best home record, team: Future Wax 23-5. Breaks old record: 22-6
Yoknapatawpha '89-90, Future Wax '91-92, '94-95
Best home record, league: 125-99 .558. Old record:
124-100 .554 '08-09 . Every team had a better
home record than away, even the worst teams. The league breaks,
by one game, the best league home record set last year.
Most doubles, team. North Dakota 140. Old record:
Constantinople, '01-02 139
Fewest walks, walk leader: Shoppach, North Dakota 38. Old
record: E. Martinez, NO '99-00 41
HOME and AWAY Records
HOME
RECORDS
AWAY RECORDS
Randy 23-5
.821 Eric 16-12 .571
Jed 20-8
.714 Randy 16-12 .571
Eric 18-10
.643 Tom 13-15
.464
Jeff 16-12
.571 Jeff 13-15 .464
Tom 15-13
.536 Jed 12-16
.429
Harold 12-16 .429
Harold 11-17 .393
Arnie 11-17 .393
Robin 9-19 .321
Robin 10-18 .357
Arnie 9-19 .321
TOTAL 125-99 .558
TOTAL 99-125 .442
World Series (March 20, 2010):
Dem Bums 10 Future Wax 1
Dem Bums 8 Future Wax 5 (10 innings)
Dem Bums 9 Future Wax 5
Dem Bums 10 Future Wax 8
Dem Bums d Future Wax 4 games to 0
Playoffs (March 6-7, 2010):
Future Wax d. Area 51 4 games
to 0
Dem Bums d. Fugakyu 4 games to 3
Twits Notes:
(3/20) it’s the first day of spring, and randy and i start around
90 minutes later than we would’ve liked, in part because randy has a
singing lesson and partly because neither of us has one of those
20-sided thingies (until dede scrounges one up) and partly because it’s
oh-shit-we-gotta-bring-all-our-crap-electronic-gear-to-the-natick-town-dump-day
and we (randy, dede, me) load the honda with monitors and burnt out
stacks and boomboxes and dead vacuums and off dede goes (bye, hon,
thanks!) and by 2:30 randy and i finally settle in to play at randy’s
vintage 50's kitchen table, springsteen’s born to run playing in the
background, corn chips and a bowl the hottest salsa known to man
sitting on a lazy susan, and a saranac at each manager’s side.
game one, and randy's the home team, but da bums are still riding high
from tulo’s miracle walk-off against jed because brian giles starts the
game with a walk off hamels and manny follows with a bomb to the
center, and before the kid under the scoreboard can say ‘i gotta funny
feeling about my dunkin’ donuts team leader’ it’s 2-0 bums. it’s not
rightly a blow out until da bums break it open with 5 runs in the 8th
and 9th, courtesy of geovany soto, who homers and triples and finishes
the game with 4 hits and 6 rbi’s. lincecum breezes through 9,
surrendering 5 hits and fanning 8. final: 10-1
game two is tight. the wax spring to life and score 5 runs through 4
innings, ludwick and reyes each taking dempster yard. but da bums
counter with 2-run shots by gonzalez and manny (again) off guthrie,
then plate an unearned run off a very uggla error in the 6th to knot
the score at 5. both bullpens take over until the 10th, when randy
trots outs nathan and nathan lets two get on for soto, who with two
outs hits his 2nd homer of the series (driving in four more runs), and
the wax go meekly 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 10th and find themselves
down two games to none. final: 8-5,
in game 3 randy once again comes out strong, with back-to-back blasts
from berkman and ludwick off lowe in the 1st, but the lead is
short-lived as da bums tie it after two against harden and then send
nine to the plate in the 4th and score 4 back-breaking runs. soto (2
more ribbies) and manny each go deep for their 3rd homers of the
series, and da bums coast to an easy 9-5 victory and a take commanding
3-0 series lead. (arnie later tells eric that randy inadvertently posts
the game on-line as a victory for wax.) final: 9-5
in game 4 against lincecum the wax waste no time capitalizing on two
walks in the 1st as hamilton hits a 3-run blast and randy is determined
to win one effin’ game if it kills him, but da bums get 4 in the bottom
of the inning off hamels as huff and utley go yard. but the wax answer
with 3 in the 3rd and 2 in the 4th and just like that it’s 8-4 after 4
and eric is thinking it’s jed all over again. amazingly lincecum isn’t
tired, and goes cy young on the wax and surrenders only one hit and a
walk over the next five innings as da bums score single runs in the 6th
and 8th (a drew solo shot) to close within 8-6.
Into the 9th and nursing a 2-run lead, randy sends galaragga to the
mound against series mvp soto, who promptly deposits his 4th home run
in 4 games into the upper deck in left to make it 8-7. after giles
whiffs, randy brings in nathan, game 2’s hard-luck pitcher. in
succession nathan walks huff and coughs up a single to chipper jones,
sending huff to 3rd. jones steals 2nd and randy brings his infield in
against manny, who grounds hard to reyes and keeps huff dancing off 3rd
with the tying run. into the batter’s box steps drew and nathan grooves
a fat one and drew absolutely rips the ball into the stands in right
and da bums have taken their second post-season series with a walk-off
home run. final: 10-8.
soto is a monster, batting .600 (9 for 15) with 4 home runs and driving
in 13. lincecum goes 2-0 with 2 complete games. da bums bullpen
surrenders just 2 earned runs in 9 innings, and da team bats .333 and
slugs .627.
(3/7) Dem Bums 18-5
Dem Bums 5-4
Dem Bums 3-2
Fugakyu 4-3
Fugakyu 5-4
Fugakyu 8-7
Dem Bums 5-4
Dem Bums defeats Fugakyu 4 games to 3
Series in brief:
This was a spectacular series that ended spectaculary. I will do my
best to be concise. at home against the Pufferfish, game 1 was a
blowout, as Dem Bums crushed 6 dingers off Webb and Shields, and scored
at least one run in every inning but the 7th. Lincecum went the
distance, striking out 12.
Game 2 began what turned out to be 6 consecutive nail-biting one-run
games. The Pufferfish took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the 8th hoping
to knot the series at 1-1, but Geary coughed up a 2-run shot to Manny,
and Balfour nailed down the save. Dem Bums up 2 game to none.
Game 3 was 1-0 Dem Bums into the 8th, when the Bums padded their lead
by scoring 2 off wade for what seemed a comfortable 3-0 lead. but Jed
came right back with 2 off Arrendondo in the bottom of the 8th, and set
a tone of comebacks that would go right into the 9th inning of game 7.
in this case, Balfour came on the get his 2nd save of the series. Even
though Jed lost the game and faced a 3-0 deficit in the series, things
were just heating up. With Jed virtually conceding defeat, Eric started
to sweat through the bottom of his soggy jeans....
Game 4, or game 1 of Fugakyu's comeback, looked like a cakewalk for the
Bums, with Lincecum pitching with a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the
7th. but Lincecum tired and surrendered 3 runs for the tie, and
Delcarmen failed to hold the tie as the Pufferfish scored 4 in the 7th
and held on for a 4-3 win, with Soria picking up the save.
Game 5 was crazy. the Pufferfish, with Beckett on the mound, got down
to business early, scoring 3 runs off Lowe through 3 innings. For the
Pufferfish, Beckett then scattered 8 hits throughout 6.3 scoreless
innings and whiffed 6 without surrendering a walk. But with a 3-0 lead
going into the 8th and 9th, Springer, Sheilds and Geary managed to blow
the hold and give the Bums a 4-3 lead going into the bottom of the 9th.
Eric brought in Balfour looking for his 3rd save (and the series win)
but surrendered a run with 2 outs by walking Furcal and giving up a
double to Mauer. After failing to score in the top of the 10th, the
Bums put Scott Downs on the mound. with runners on 1st and 2nd with 2
out, Jed pinch-hit Derek Lee against Downs, and Eric decided to face
him, and Lee got a clutch hit on a 1-6 roll to bring Theriot around for
the winning run. Suddenly, Jed was down only 3 games to 2. In games 3,
4 & 5 the Bums missed about 6 or more ballpark homers at
Pufferfish's ridiculously vast ballpark....
Game 6, back in the friendly confines of Sandover, looked like the
clincher for the Bums. They got out to a quick 4-0 lead in the 1st
inning off Webb, and had a 6-1 lead after 2. but Jed quickly halved the
lead with solo blasts by Pena and Choo to make it 6-3. The Bums added a
run in the 6th, to take a commanding 7-3 lead, which they held into the
8th, when the Pufferfish scored 4 runs off Delcarmen and Okajima to
incredibly tie the game. With the Bum's relief pitching stretched thin,
Eric kept Okajima on the mound, who promptly gave up another run in the
9th on a solo blast by Victorino, his 2nd dinger of the game. Soria
came on for a dominating 2-whiff save, and lo and behold, Jed had come
back from the brink of doom and was now up 3 games to 3, going in to
the one-game elimination...
Game 7 started with the Bums (and their quickly aging manager) in a
state of catatonia, and though they managed to take a 2-0 in the 3rd on
a 2-run blast by giles, no one in the dugout felt secure. The
Pufferfish, with their backs to the wall, threw all their pitchers at
the Bums, and managed to hold the home team to no more runs as the fish
mounted yet another comeback, scoring 2 runs in the 4th, one in the 5th
and adding a killer run the 7th, to take a 4-2 lead into the 9th.
Jed sends in Soria looking for his 3rd save and gets two quick outs,
striking out Adrian Gonzalez and getting Chris Dickerson on a harmless
grounder to Roberts. with one little out to go, Soria loses control of
a fastball and nails Utley in the elbow. Up comes JD Drew, who rolls a
1-2, which is a single 1-5, and he rolls a "1" for the measly, cheap
hit. Then up strides....Troy Tulowitzki, who's in for Tejada,
spectaculary un-clutch, and without a home run all year, with with no
one on the Bum's bench to come in and pinch hit... In short, a perfect
matchup for Soria, who gets Tulo to roll a 6-2...and holy shit!! It's
the only diamond on Soria's card, and the ball fuckin' flies out of
Sandover Field and the Bums win the series, the Bums win the
series!!! Jed was magnanimous in defeat, and managed brilliantly
throughout the series. Eric feels he was outmanaged and lucky as shit.
(3/6) FW v A51
Playoffs!
Game 1 was a match up of lefties Hamels (FW) and Lester (A51). Jeff
drew first blood on a Renteria HR in the 1st, but Belliard doubled in
Cameron in the bottom of the frame to tie it. Phillips and Texiera both
homered in the 3th, making it 4-1. Reyes walked, stole second, and
scored on a Cameron double to reduce the lead to 2.
The key moment came in the bottom of the 4th. Randy had runners on 1st
and 3rd, one out. Reyes puts down a safety squeeze. Jeff throws home
(1-10) rather than taking the sure out at first, but Braun is safe.
Both runners score when Prado triples, and Prado scores on Cameron's
ground out (which might have been the 3rd out had the earlier play gone
to first). Both starters go 5 innings, and neither bullpen allows a
run. Final score 6-4, Future Wax.
Game 2 was Guthrie vs Garza. Jeff scores in the 1st without a hit:
Longeria is hit by a pitch, steals second, then scores on a Reyes
error. The pivotal play in this game also occurred in the bottom of the
4th. Hamilton comes up with the bases loaded, one-out, and rolls a
ballpark homer chance. Unfortunately for him, the dimensions for
lefties are HR 1-1 (low fence). He rolls a 2, which means the CFer is
making the play: Sizemore is a 1, so it becomes a 1-3 chance -- Randy
rolls a 3, Grand slam!
As tough as this turn of fate is to swallow for Jeff, the game is far
from over. Texiera and Phillips again homer in the same inning (5th) to
knot the score at 4. Uggla breaks the tie with a solo blast in the
bottom of the frame, for the lead. For the second game, Future Wax uses
7 relief pitchers who again do not allow a run. Final score, 5-4 Future
Wax.
Game 3 features Harden vs Meche. For the third straight game Jeff
scores in the 1st inning, plating 2 on a Longoria sac fly and Molina
(Benjy) triple. Uggla ties it in the 3rd with a 2-run shot. Michael
Young counters with his own 2-run bomb in the 4th, only to have A.
Ramirez re-tie it with another 2-run homer in the 5th. Uggla puts
Future Wax up by 1 by doubling in Braun (also in the 5th). Future Wax
then adds 4 more insurance runs in the 7th, after Quentin hits a sac
fly with the bases loaded, Prado drives in the other two with a single,
then scores on a McCann triple. Harden goes 7, and the Wax pen closes
the door. 9-4 Future Wax.
In Game 4, Future Wax jumps off to a 6-0 lead on homers by Prado and
Quentin, and doubles by Braun and McCann. Damon homers and Ianetta then
scores on a Prado error to reduce the lead to 4. Reyes triples and
scores on a Ramirez sac fly. Lowell's -run HR cuts the lead to 2, then
in the 8th Phillips hits his third home run of the series to cut the
lead to 1. Hamilton homers in the 9th, and Nathan gets his second play
off save. Final score, 8-6 Future Wax.
Future Wax sweeps Area 51, 4 games to 0.
(We played this series at Jeff's house on Saturday, March 6.)
(2/28) Needing to win 3 games against the lowly Earthworms, the
Manatees quickly found themselves in a 2-0 hole, helped by a costly
Kinsler error in the 2nd inning. They clawed back and managed to
tie it in the 8th on a pinch-hit homer by Nady off Qualls. Tim
Hudson pitched valiantly for CN into the bottom of the 10th, yielding
just 6 hits. But he was done in by Ian Kinsler who misplayed
Papi's grounder into a single and error. A walk to Kapler and sac
by Pedroia forced CN to bring the infield and outfield in. Then
Ryan Doumit's sac fly won the game, 3-2, and CN had their backs up
against the wall.
The Manatees jumped out to a 4-0 lead in game 2 and surprise 26th man,
starter C. Young is yanked in the 3rd. Mediocre relievers Heath
Bell and Mike 'wait till next year' Adams pitch the next 5 2/3 innings
yielding just one run for the Earthworms, but they're still down, 5-2
going into the bottom of the 7th. Whereupn the Earthworms explode
for 5 runs off Chad Billingsley. Season over for the Manatees,
stopping CN's 10-year consecutive playoff streak. Final score
7-6, Flaming Earthworms. Tom won the final two meaningless
anti-climactic games.
Across the table, Eric clinched 2nd place, beating New Orleans
convincingly 13-2, 8-2 and 3-2 (losing 5-1).
Draft Day
Saturday
April 10.
(2/26) In a rare Friday night SOMBILLA matchup, Fugakyu swept
into the playoffs over the hapless Area 51 Aliens. Things started
off poorly for Jeff, when he inadvertently left the computer's default
lineup of Carlos Delgado at 1B (a "5"), with Teixera (a "1") the
DH. Sure enough, Delgado screwed up a play that turned out to be
the winning run. Jed's ballpark and pitching were the story in
games 2-4 as the Puffer Fish kept Area 51 from scoring even a single
run in the final 3 games. Jeff missed 6 ballpark homers, while Cy
Young candidate Brandon Webb improved to 7-2 with an ERA around 2.00.
Tom needs to win 3 games from the Earthworms Sunday night to force a
one-game playoff...Draft Day
Saturday
April 10.
(2/21) After an hour
of abortive attempts to keep online Stratomatic from crashing, Randy
ran the series on his computer, giving Jed the play by play over the
phone. Future Wax swept Fugakyu by scores of 11-9, 6-1, 10-3, and
5-2. The Wax out homered the Fugs 8 to 3, and were helped out by
errors, injuries (Roberts), and lucky X-rolls. Jed now finds
himself fighting for a playoff spot with Jeff entering the final series
of his season. Two games out of the playoffs heading into the final
week, Tom still needs some help from Jed (or Jeff)...Draft Day Saturday
April 10.
(2/14) Bay City was
kind enough to host A51 in a rare Saturday
afternoon matinee. The host BC manager made every effort to win so they
would not be accused of positioning themselves for the number one
pick. BC want so far as attempting to torture the A51 alien squad
by piping loud eclectic earthly (and some crunchy)music into the venue
but the Stratto gods, feeling pity on the “aliens”, saw to it that the
sound system became overload and zapped it into silence just at the
start of the series. The only noise heard over the course of the random
tumbling dice was from the only fan in attendance, the manager of the
Flaming Earthworms (also vying for the number one pick) with jabs of “I
can’t believe you broke my stereo”.
Game 1 – The start of game one was the only highlight for BC as they
started out strong getting to Lester right away taking a 3-0 lead into
the third inning but as fate would have it everything went south for
BC’s ace Halladay. A51 bats woke up led by Young’s home run in the
forth and Young and Sizemore’s back to back dingers in the 6th. Lester
settled down to toss complete game 7-4 win.
Game 2- “Gil(ga)” Meche continued where game one starter Lester left
off by saving valuable bullpen innings for a hopeful play off stretch
run by pitching a complete game. He yielded only 6 hits, 1 run and
struck out 10 as A51 won 4-1. The offensive hero of the game was
Delgado going 2 for 3, with a home run and 3 RBIs.
Game 3- Featured starting pitching Garza but because of inning
management he was pulled after 4 innings being replaced by Oliver then
K-Rod. The three pitchers combined on yielding 9 hits and 1 run leading
to an A51 5-1 victory led offensively by Sizemore who was 3-4 with a
dinger.
Game 4- Completed the A51 sweep with a 5-2 victory led by Teixeira and
Innetta launching back to back bombs in the forth.
Don't forget to cal up your 26th man for your last 12 games...Draft
Day, Saturday, April 10
(2/11) Don't look now, but Tom is up to old tricks. In the
annoying pesky way unique to the Manatees, the oversized sea mammals
came out and swept the playoff bound Puffer Fish, to close to within 2
games of Area 51 for 4th place. Worse for Area 51, Tom's
final 8 games are all against the last place Flaming Earthworms, due to
an earlier cancellation.
Game 1 was a pitching duel where the Manatees held on to win 1-0.
Game 2 was back and forth and tied at 4 after 5. But the Manatees drove
in 2 and the Death Fish stopped scoring as Manatees win 6-4.
Game 3 was all Manatees and James Shields got lit up for 26 runs.
Sabathia got the win 26-4.
Game 4 was a nail biter. Carlos Pena led off the 2nd with a ball park
homer - 3 - but the fences are low and there was no second roll. The
thing comes out and it is a 20 and an out. But the Fish get a run and
then Jason Bay answers back for a ball park homer - 10 - same issue --
roll -- 11 -- Holiday is a 3 and it is gone. 1-1 after 3. They go to
the 9th tied 1-1, and the Puffer Fish get a run to go up 2-1. Soria
comes out to hold the lead and gives it right back. As the last thing
we see is Nady hitting a bases clearing triple to win 4-2 (3-2 if you
look at the box because I guess they don't really count the extra runs
and they only credit Nady with a single even though it was a triple
which would have won it even if Carlos Pena had hit the Ball Park
homer).
Draft Day Saturday, April 10.
(2/8) The most amazing thing about tonight's split
was
that it was played in less than 2 hours!...Draft Day Saturday, April 10.
(2/6) In spite of large snow drifts, New Orleans and Fugakyu managed to
make up the final game of their series. Fugakyu jumped to a 4 run lead
in the first inning and that was pretty much all she wrote. Justin
Duch-bag pitched 6 innings of shutout ball. New Orleans did score a run
off of Chris Sampson, but could not parlay their 9 hits into anything
more. Brian Roberts and Milton Bradley both went 2 for 4 for Fugakyu.
Jason Bartlett went 3 for 4 for New Orleans. Final score: 6-1 Fugakyu.
Draft Day, Saturday April 10.
(2/4) The Wax impressively won the first three games, coming from
behind in all three against the beleaguered Earthworm pitching staff
(9-3, 5-3 and 4-3). But the Earthworms refused to get swept 8-0
on the season by FW, winning the finale 5-1 to gain the moral
victory. Randy has only 4 games left in the regular season.
His schedule was front-loaded in January due to a hectic February
thespian schedule.
Draft Day, Saturday April 10.
(2/3) Great pitching against Bay City led Fugakyu back into 2nd
place earlier tonight. After losing game 1, 4-2, the Puffer Fish
won game 2 by breaking open a 3-3 tie in the 8th on Furcal's 2-run
double. James Shields pitched an impressive game 3. As the
computer put it "Shields was indeed brilliant as he hand-cuffed the Bay
City offense. He was stingy on the mound, allowing just 4 hits
and 1 walk in 9 innings." The game was 2-0 heading into the 9th, before
Bay City unraveled, losing 8-1. Game 4 was a laugher, as FU won
12-1, with a CG win for Webb.
Draft Day, Saturday, April 10??? Hopefully, Randy will let us know for
sure tomorrow.
(1/31) Randy won 3 of 4 in dramatic
fashion tonight, winning the finale 4-3 in 10 innings at Tom's
house. With only 2 series remaining for his team (vs. the
Earthworms and Fugakyu), Randy looks like he is pretty much in control
of first place at this point. Randy is also apparently in control
of Draft Day as all 7 other teams have said OK for Satruday April 10.
Randy will let us know on Thursday if he can also do it that day.
(1/24) Trade acquisition Josh Hamilton (who batted
.198 with 3 homers and 7 rbi in 32 games for the Earthworms) had an
immediate impact for Future Wax, going 7 for 14 with 2 homers in his
first series. Future Wax swept New Orleans to reclaim sole position of
first place, outscoring Harold 24 to 5. Ludwick hit for the cycle in
the first game, with 7 extra base hits in the series. Berkman also had
2 home runs. Game scores were 5-0, 4-3, 10-2, and 5-0...
Computer issues caused Jed and Harold to decide to postpone their 4th
game - probably to be played this week.
Draft Day, Saturday April 3.
(1/22) Only two games separated 2nd place
Future Wax from 4th place Area 51 as they met for an important series
last night. Jeff got off to a good start, taking the first game 8-3, as
Lester won the battle of the lefties over Hamels. But the Wax bounced
back, teeing off on Meche for 13 runs on 18 hits, 5 walks, and 3 hit
batsmen. In game 3, Thome's pinch-hit homer erased a 3-run deficit, and
FW went ahead for good when Oliver and Zeigler walked 4 batters and
allowed a 2-run single in the 7th: FW holding on for an 8-6 win.
In the final game, Jeff's early lead was submerged by FW 2-run homers
in each of the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th innings, including 2 from Quentin
who also contributed a solo shot. Homers from Lowell and Teixeira
brought Jeff to within one, but mutant pinch-hitter Teagarden ground
out with the bases loaded to end the threat. Final score: 9-8.
Taking 3 of 4 puts Future Wax back in a tie for first place with Dem
Bums.
Draft Day Saturday April 3
(1/21) CN’s “high level” of play
(futility) continued as they lost the first game to make it 8 losses in
a row. Tim Hudson once again got shelled giving up 8 runs in 3 innings
as 3 tired pitchers kept him in the game to absorb a few innings. Roy
Halladay stifled the CN offense and held on for a 9-4 Complete Game win.
However, BC just does not have the offense this year and CN came
roaring back.
Volguez started game 2 and gave up 6 runs over the first 5 (without
becoming tired) and Ervin Santana held on to win 6-3 in a complete game.
Oswalt started game 3 and in the first inning gave up 5 hits off his
own card and got out of the inning with a double play to start the game
4-0. Well Oswalt did settle down and did not become tired till the 7th
when he left with the bases loaded and 2 outs down 7-0. Bradford got
out of the inning without any more damage, but CN’s pitching was in
control as 2 pitchers combined for a 5 hit shutout and 7-0 win.
The rubber game saw Ben Sheets facing the plucky lefty Maholm. But
Maholm could not get out of the 4th as Hunter hit a 3 run shot and
Aviles tripled to chase him down 6-0. Lee hit a Ball Park shot that was
caught that ended the 4th. A Lee ball park solo shot finished off the
scoring for CN who went on to win 7-4 after Jeter (6th inning) and
Granderson (9th inning to bring in Papelbon who then gave up a ball
park homer that was caught) hit 2 run ballpark homers to bring BC back.
Draft Day April 3 … Saturday
(1/19)
Trade Update: after what seemed a prolonged negotiation in which
little was actually negotiated, arnie agreed to trade grant balfour to
eric for ramon ramirez, straight up, no chaser. it relieves eric of one
sox bullpenner, which was his primary motive. too many pitchers on the
olde home team had proved too stressful. balfour said he was pleased to
hear he was leaving a team that had changed its name mid-year.
(1/13) "My team
might
suck, but at least they're not pathetic", said the Earthworm manager
after pinning a humiliating split on Area 51 earlier tonight.
Game 1 was a microcosm of the Earthworm season as the Earthworm bullpen
blew three different leads. Grady Sizemore was the hero as his
2-run homer in the bottom of the 9th tied it and his rbi single in the
10th won the game for Area 51.
A fired up Grant Balfour notched his 5th save for the last place
Earthworms in game 2 (won 6-4) in front of dozens of scouts feverishly
taking notes. Cliff Lee dazzled Area 51 in game 3, allowing just
5 hits for the 6-1 win. Game 4 showed the stark difference in the
teams' bullpens - Jeff's Broxton, F. Rod, Ryan and Devine pitched 5
innings of 1-hit relief while the Earthworms pen was simultaneously
blowing a 3-0 lead to lose the game, 4-3. (Markakis walkoff
homer).
The Earthworms magic number (to avoid breaking the all-time worst
season record) is now 6.
A fired up Grant Balfour notched his 5th save for the last place
Earthworms in game 2 (won 6-4) in front of dozens of scouts feversihly
taking notes. Cliff Lee dazzled Area 51 in game 3, allowing just
5 hits for the 6-1 win. Game 4 showed the stark difference in the
teams' bullpens - Jeff's Broxton, F. Rod, Ryan and Devine pitched 5
innings of 1-hit relief while the Earthworms pen blew a 3-0 lead to
lose the game, 4-3.
Draft Day, Saturday April 3.
(1/9) Thanks to Eric and Robin for supplyting
the league with entertaining writeups of the weekned's action.
Lost in all the Dem Bum hoopla over winning 7 of 8 is that Eric is now
in first place! Tom's getting swept seemingly creates a nice
split among the haves and have nots, but there's still plenty of
Strat-O left and stranger things have happened. Like last
year...Draft Day Saturday April 3.
so a little home cookin' was all it took to almost cancel out randy's
opening night sweep of Eric back in november. Dem Bums took the series,
3-1, and it was a tough nut for randy to swallow. down 2 games to 1
going into the final game, wax was up 7-0 after harden pitched 5 nearly
perfect innings. ohman came on to start the 6th, and gave up three solo
shots to the 1st 4 batters he faced. in the 7th, chipper jones whacked
another solo shot to bring the Bums within 3, then soto hit a 3-run
blast in the 8th to tie it, and back-to-back doubles (utley, dickerson)
in the 9th off wood gave the Bums the come-from-behind shocker.
(1/8) Eric asked tom to play today so Eric could
watch the pats tomorrow, and tom obliged, dropping all four games in
plymouth. it was payback from last year, when tom wrecked Eric's season
and went on to win it all. adrian gonzalez had a monster series for the
Bums, hitting 5 home runs, all critical blasts, and knocking in 13, and
tom rolled a bevy of death rolls. game 3 was tom's one chance to win,
with the manatees going into 8th ahead 3-0, but gonzalez hit a 3-run
shot off lefty thornton to tie it, then coughed up a painful unearned
run, only to tie it in the bottom of the 8th, and then implode in the
10th, as the Bums blew the game wide open with 4 runs. tom was
magnanimous to the end, though dead-set against to returning from
plymouth for some time.....
The plucky Bay Cityites increased their claim on 7th place by splitting
against Future Wax at the Waxdome--becoming the first team this season
to get more than 1 win there. Randy hit 12 homers against BC--5 each in
his two wins and 1 each in his two losses. Halladay doubled his win
total (to 2) with a complete-game 5-2 victory in Game 1.
Nathan proved too tough for a third Bay City comeback in Game 2 after
they had tied the game in the 6th and again in the 7th, and Future Wax
won 8-7. In Game 3, Oswalt gave up only 6 hits in 7 innings--alas, half
of them were homers, and Randy won on the strength of back to back
homers (Uggla and Ludwick) off Bradford in the 8th, taking it 6-5 with
Nathan getting another save. Game 4 was another tight battle as Maholm
held FW to just a 3-run Braun homer and Gregg, Breslow, and Saito
combined to shut down FW over the final 2 2/3 innings. Bay City held on
for a 4-3 win despite losing A51 castoff and starting 3b Crede to a
strikeout + 6-game injury (after losing Kotchman to injury in the
previous game).
(1/6) The ‘Worms came to New Orleans and left their
bats back in North Dakota, getting swept by the Doc Ellis 9.
Through the first 22 innings of the series, the ‘Worms only had 5 hits,
being three hit in the first game and one hit in the second. The
futility of New Orleans made the series scores actually close:
5-0, 4-2, 4-3 and 3-2. The series was notable for having the
first ballpark hit in New Orleans this season (BP HR and S both being
1), a BPS by David DeJesus. Kind of sad when the series high
light is a ballpark single. Overall, with the 6th and 7th place teams
playing and the anemic bats, the series had the feel of a late season
Royals game played in front of a sparse crowd.
(1/4) In the showdown for 4th place, "Jeff crushed me 3-1. He has to do
the write up since he won... As I said to Jeff, on paper my lineup vs
his starters should be better than his lineup vs. mine and then he
should have the advantage when the relievers come in.
But he just hammers my starters and I can't seem to knock his out..."
The Constantinople/North Dakota series has been rescheduled for
2/21...Draft Day Saturday, April 3
(1/1) Dems Bums and Fugakyu split the first SOMBILLA games ever
played on New Year’s Day.
Dem Bums took the first two games at Pufferfish Pond and looked like
they might win the third as well. However, Derrek Lee doubled in the
winning run in the bottom of the ninth, much to Eric's chagrin as Eric
had contemplated intentionally walking Lee. In the fourth game, Fugakyu
scored 3 in the bottom of the 9th and that was the only scoring in the
whole game. Nolasco, Fuentes and Wade combined on the shutout.
In game 1, Dem Bums fell behind briefly 1-0 in the 1st but scored 4
runs in the 3rd and 2 in the 4th and never was in serious jeopardy the
rest of the way. It ended up 8-5, with Lincecum getting the win in
spite of a sub par performance. Soto, Ramirez and Utley homered. Oh,
Chipper Jones did get the first RBI of the game for Dem Bums (but did
not have a good series overall).
Game 2 was the real gem of the series. It was 0-0 going in to the 12th.
Adrian Gonzalez drew a lead off walk. Jayson Werth was next and he
delivered a base-hit. J.D. Drew then laced an RBI single. Both of the
hits were due to corners or infield in. And that was it, a 1-0 win.
Fugakyu's Brian Roberts did have a leadoff triple in the bottom of the
9th. However, he was blocked at the plate by Yadier Molina trying to
score on a fly ball to left field (Manny Ramirez). Dempster, Downs,
Ramirez, Arredondo, Delcarmen and Johnson combined on the 12-inning
shutout.
Pufferfish Pond was clearly a major factor, as Dem Bums missed at least
9 ballpark home runs.
All teams received a day off at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s
Eve. . . Draft Day, Saturday April 3 (due to Easter falling on Sunday
April 4)
(12/20) A reasonably fast split eariler tonight. Halladay falls
to 1-6,Jeff hit into a couple of clutch outs and "he kept rolling 2's
on my 2 2nd-baseman"...Send your stats to Tom.
(12/19) Future Wax entered this series undefeated at home (8-0),
and continued the streak through the first three games, winning 6-2,
9-2, and 6-1. In the final game, Johan Santana gave up 7 hits in the
2nd inning to spot Harold a 6 run lead. But Uggla cut the lead in half
with a 3-run homer, and then Rivera gave up 4 straight hits in the
bottom of the 9th with 1 out, making it 6-7 with runners on 1st and
3rd. Ludwick rolled his column, but hit the death roll (2-7) to give
Rivera a shaky save and giving Future Wax' its first non-sweep series
of the year at home.
(12/13) Jed gained 2nd place earlier tonight, beating Harold 3 of
4. The computer appears to have lost stats for the final 3 games,
but at least we know who won.
(12/11) Future Wax extended it's first place lead to two games over the
pack, knocking Jeff back into 5th place. Jeff syas "my relief
went south in game 1; he pulled ahead in seventh- something like 0 hits
2 HBP four walks to win by 1 -ARRRRG"
(12/9) BC Continues to swoon as they visit Constantinople,
Florida.
This series could have been a split, but enough of the breaks went to CN
to allow them a sweep. There was an unusual number of CF-x rolls
(8) and Torii Hunter played the whole series and his 1e0 allowed him to
make all the plays including a couple with low thing rolls (a 1 and a
couple of under 6) and solid error number rolls. A couple C-x rolls
including a double play for the Catcher Martin allowed the CN defense
to shine. (A week after Youk and Martin both had errors that lead to
runs.)
Game 21: Both teams came out well with Halladay getting 2 key double
plays to hold CN in the first two innings getting out of 1st and 3rd 1
out jams but this did not work in the 3rd as he gives up the big 4 run
inning and loses 4-1 in a complete game disappointment.
Game 22: CN ran out against the rookie 9-0 after 1 inning high-lighted
by a Torii Hunter grand slam. BC bats came alive for 6 quick runs, but
CN came back for 3 runs for a 12-6 win.
Game 23: This was the defensive/pitching thriller of the series. It was
knotted at 0 as the CN batted in the 7th with 2 outs no one on, Nady
hit a double and Span ran for him and Lee hit an open single and Span
slid in with the 1-0 lead. Miggy came up in the 8th and homered (clean
3-4 second one of the series) with 1 out. Then a walk later Thornton
comes in to hold BC and gives up an open double and the throw comes
home ... out ... wait blocking the plate but it is Martin so BC needs a
1-2 and the thing comes up in the double digits. 1-1 bottom of 9, 2
outs and Span at bat ... call for a 3-4 ... 3-4 happens and homer 1-15
chance (or double) and 11 it is a walk off for Span.
Game 24: Lefty Starters have trouble against CN at home and Paul Maholm
gave up 6 runs over the first 4 innings and CN held on for a 6-3 win as
Papelbon came in with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs in the 9th to
save the game. The Ball park was not CN's friend as they were 0-2 (both
in Game 23 which was 2-1). BC went 2-3 in BP Homers all in Game 22
after going down 9-0.The extra inning grind obviously was good for CN
and Puffer Fish as they both came out against BC for sweeps.
Five teams are separated by only 2 games.
(12/6) Jed swept into thrid place earlier tonight at Robin's
exepnse. Fugakyu gave up only 5 runs in the 4 games. "The
ballpark did its job", Jed notes, as Robin missed numerous bp
homers. Webb was pulled by Jed with a no-hitter through six, but
Jed still pitched a 2-hitter in that game..Arnie and Harold were nice
enough to visit Plymouth and Dem Bums in their new home, and both were
nice enough to drop of 3 of 4 at Eric's personal bash. The first series
against Harold flew by in a flash of missed ballpark singles and
homers. New Orleans managed just 7 runs in the series, squeeking out a
1-0 win in game 3 on a combined one-hitter (Floyd/Wagner/Rivera), but
the rest of the day belonged to dem pitching Bums. All the games
against Arnie were tight, but his defense let him down in game one, and
with exception of a 3-1 victory in game 2 he just didn't have enough
horses in the bullpen to hold Eric at bay in the late innings. Star of
the afternoon for Dem Bums:
Manny Delcarmen, who pitched 6.3 perfect innings over 4 games and
recorded 9 k's without issuing a walk.
All teams except Jeff are now at the roster freeze...Send your stats to
Tom.
(12/5) In a stunning reversal of fortunes, Bay City won its first
series of the season, taking 3 of 4 from Future Wax and handing Randy
his first series loss of the season. In game 1, Ludwick hit a 2-run
homer along with three doubles and Halladay was chased after allowing
Quentin’s 2-run homer in the 7th. He was replaced by Kuo, who struck
out McCann for the third out, but both managers failed to recognize
that it was the third out, and Future Wax went on hitting (and scoring)
for 4 more batters before the Bay City manager realized that Halladay
had gotten the first 2 batters of the inning out. FW held on for a 6-2
win.
In game 2, Volquez walked the bases loaded in the first but allowed
only a solo HR by the cute Cameron in going 8 to win 4-1.
Game 3 featured a strong start by Oswalt, who allowed only a single
through five before giving up the lead by allowing 2 runs in both the
6th and the 7th. BC came back with two in the bottom of the 7th with
some timely pinch hitting (by Conor Jackson, B.J. Upton, and Reed
Johnson), but FW tied it up in the 9th (failing to take the lead when
Johnson threw out Cruz at the plate. Chris Davis knocked in Granderson
(who had doubled) with a two-out single in the 10th, for the 6-5 win.
In game 4, Miguel Cabrera hit his third HR of the series and added a
sac fly to knock in an insurance run, as Bay City won the battle of the
lefties (Maholm vs. Santana), 4-2, with Saito (no longer a Red Sox)
getting his second save of the series.
(12/4) The Flaming Earthworms cranked 5 home runs in the opener,
including a huge 3-run blast by Pujols (his 2nd of the game) in the
bottom of the 8th to score a come from behind win in game 1,
10-8. Balfour secured the team's first save of the season.
After the Earthworms cranked 3 more homers to win game 2, 6-4, hopes
were high for a season salvaged. But New Orleans gamely fought
back to gain the road split, pounding Cliff Lee 7-5 and winning the
finale, 4-1 in 11 innings (3 run bomb in the 11th broke a 1-1 tie).
Still no communication from Fugakyu or Constantinople after 2 days...
(11/26) Jeff took over sole possession of 2nd place earlier
tonight, winning 3 of 4 over Jed via the Internet. After
splitting the first two games, A51's Mark Texeira's walkoff HR in game
3 was a prelude to A51's 4 runs in the bottom of the 9th to win game 4
as well. M. Young had the game-wiunning rbi off of a tired
Soria. Only two teams are over .500. Happy Thanksgiving
from the SOMBILLA turkey himself!
(11/25) Eric jumped back into a tie for 4th Wednesday night
beating Robin 3 of 4. In Dem Bums's series against Bay City,
Lincecum finally decided to pitch like he earned his Cy Young in real
life, going the distance in a 3-hitter, surrendering just a lonely solo
shot. And Manny finally decided to return to his home planet, hitting
his first two homers of the year, and driving in seven...Please send
your stats to Tom.
(11/19) North Dakota has changed its team name to "The Flaming
Earthworms"
(11/15) Eric, who won 3 of 4 games from Jeff did not submit any
Twits Notes, perhaps because he is still stuck in traffic trying to get
home from Harold's. Therefore, we will use Jed's writeup:
"Fugakyu won the first two games by 1-0 (James Shields threw 6 shutout
innings) and 2-1 scores and it looked like the cavernous Pufferfish
Pond was overwhelming the Future Wax sluggers. But the Wax
Whackers found their stroke in game 3, shellacking Ricky Nolasco
17-4. Nolasco did throw a complete game, with a pitch count of
317. Future Wax jumped to a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning of
game 4. The game remained briefly close and Fugakyu did make an
effort by actually using relief pitchers. But Future Wax tired
out 4 Fugakyu pitchers in a row, eventually winning 13-3. For the
series, Future Wax batted .329 as a team, with 8 homeruns, 4 of which
were hit by Lance Berkman."
Please send your stats to Tom.
(11/8) Future Wax, picked to finish out of the playoffs in the
preseason poll for the first time ever, opened its season by sweeping
Erc at home, outscoring Dem Bums 20 to 11 and outhomering them 10 to
4. It was sweet revenge for Randy, who was swept by Eric on
opening night last year. McCann led the attack with 3 home runs,
while Reyes hit 3 triples to go with his HR. Nathan had 2 saves
as well.