Final SOMBILLA
Standings 2021-2022
W L
T Pct GB
Oceanus 32 23 1 .580 -
Bay
City 30 25 1 .545 2
Future
Wax 30 26
.536 2.5
North
Dakota 29 26 1 .527 3
Constantinople 28 26 2
.518 3.5
Neverwinter 24 28 4 .464 6.5
New
Orleans 22 30 4 .429 8.5
Vita-Rays 21 32 3 .402 10
World Series Results (3/12/2022):
North Dakota d. Future Wax 4 games to 2
Playoff results (3/5/2022):
North Dakota d. Oceanus 4 games to 0
Future Wax d. Bay City 4 games to 2
League Leaders
All stats
MVP – Sal Perez, Bay City
Cy Young – Aaron Nola, Oceanus
Manager of the Year- Arnie
Twits Notes: (3/12 at Holliston)
North Dakota 5 Future Wax 1
North Dakota 8 Future Wax 4
North Dakota 4 Future Wax 0
Future Wax 2 North Dakota 0
Future Wax 9 North Dakota 1
North Dakota 9 Future Wax 6
North Dakota wins series 4 games to 2, its first championship in 3
years and 7th overall.
FW had beaten ND 6 out of 8 games this year. Instead of this fact
being in their heads, the North Dakota team and its manager used
this as motivation for being the underdog. This was the third World
Series between these two teams in 5 years and 4th post-season series
between the two in the last five years.
Game 1
North Dakota 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 - 5 11
1
Future Wax 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 3 0
WP - Bieber LP - Woodruff HR - ND: Betts
North Dakota jumps on Woodruff early on a 2-run single by
Mayor Pete Alonso. The Wax gets an unearned run in the 2nd, but
Kyle Tucker's rbi in the third singles in Betts who was 4 for 5 with
2 stolen bases in this one. An easy game one win as Bieber throws
8 innings, giving up just 1 unearned run, 3 hits and 2 walks (he did
hit 3 batters), with 10 k's and North Dakota has stolen a game in
the Wax Home.
Game 2
North Dakota 0 0 0 0 2 0 6 0 0 - 8 14
1
Future Wax 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 4 5 0
WP - Givens LP - V. Gonzalez HR - ND: Walsh, FW: Springer
George Springer hits a 3-run bomb off deGrom in the 2nd
inning to delight the home crowd. Jared Walsh hits a 2-run homer
for ND in the 5th to get 2 runs back, but a Belt walk, Machado
double and Moreland sac fly makes it 4-2 FW after 6 innings. North
Dakota starts off the 7th with a Bohm double and Contreras single to
chase Armstrong. Lefty Victor Gonzalez comes in to face Grisham.
Rather than pinch-hit for Grisham, the ND manager surprises the
infield back FW defense with a squeeze bunt that he beats out to
give ND the 5-4 lead! This is followed by rbi singles from Walsh
and Lindor and then a one out pinch hit rbi double by Alex Dickerson
makes it an 8-4 game against a demoralized Future Wax. Rich Hill,
Dolis, and Soria finish off the game for ND, going home with a
surprising 2-0 lead.
Game 3
Future Wax 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 - 0 3
1
North Dakota 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 - 4 6 0
WP - Lynn LP - Lamet HR - ND: Lowe
Lance ("I love pitching in this park") Lynn throws 6 shutout
innings and combines with Rich Rodriguez, Andrew Miller, and Liam
Hendricks to hold Future Wax to just 3 hits in the spacious Gackle
Park cow pasture. Gackle Park was the only park in the league to
favor lefty hitters and this helped the team all season long.
Dickerson and Bohm's rbi hits in the first inning provide all the
run support needed as North Dakota is on the brink of its 2nd
straight post-season sweep. Can they go 8-0 in the post-season?
Game 4
Future Wax 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 - 2 5
1
North Dakota 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 7 0
WP - Martin SV: Ramirez LP - Bieber HR - FW: Springer
No they cannot go 8-0. A frustrating game for ND as they strand 9
runners through 5 innings, knowing that this would come back to bite
them. Sure enough Turner and Machado double in the 6th inning for
FW to break the tense pitchers' duel. Shawn Armstrong, David
Peterson and Erasmo Ramirez pitch the final 4 1/3 innings, giving up
just one hit. The luck, which was all with North Dakota in the
first three games, has now shifted.
Game 5
Future Wax 0 0 2 1 2 3 0 1 0 - 9 14
0
North Dakota 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 1 3 1
WP - Peterson LP - deGrom HR - FW: Cronenworth, Belt (2), Murphy
Future Wax lays a good-old fashioned beating on North Dakota, which
never had a chance. Belt hits two homers to lead the hit parade
against a procession of North Dakota pitchers. Sean Murphy's
ballpark homer (1-4) is emblematic of the reversal of fortunes
between the two teams, and Future Wax is heading home in high
spirits after forcing a game 6.
Game 6
North Dakota 4 2 2 0 0 1 6 0 0 - 9 11
0
Future Wax 3 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 - 6 12 0
WP - Dolis LP - Lamet SV - Hendricks HR - ND: Betts, Slater FW:
Machado (2), Arozarena
The Nuclear Warheads are pissed off. Goldschmidt begins the
game with a double off Lamet's card. Betts promptly singles him
in. After an out, Bohm hits a single, then mutant Luis Guillorme
cracks a 2-run double to make it 3-0. First round MVP Contreras
singles him in, it's 4-0, and ND is smug. The smug is wiped away in
the bottom of the first after a Turner single, Machado homer, out,
and Arozarena homer. Lefty Rich Hill is pulled after just 1/3 of an
inning, as ND still has plenty of bullpen left thanks to Biebers' 2
long starts (both 8 innings). Still pissed off, Mookie hits a 2-run
homer in the 2nd to tire out Lamet. In the 3rd, Randy elects to
leave Kershaw in to face the lefty-killing Slater (in his defense,
Randy needed some innings from Kershaw after playing desperation
managing for the last few games). Slater makes him pay with a 2-run
homer and it's 8-3.
But FW chips away, scoring runs in the 3rd (another Machado homer),
4th (Cronenworth rbi) and 5th (Stevenson pinch-hit rbi single). In
the 6th, the ND manager elects to let Betts (not good against
lefties) bat and stay in the game against lefty V. Gonzalez with men
on 2nd and 3rd and one out and he hits a sac fly to make it 9-6. In
the 7th, FW manages to load the bases against Pomeranz and Hendricks
with 2 outs and Springer up and a chance to tie the game with a
homer. Hendricks strikes him out to end the inning. Bottom of the
9th, a tired Liam Henricks is still pitching (only bad options
remaining in the bullpen as the teams combined to use 14 pitchers in
this one). With one out, Arozarena hits a tired single. With two
on, Belt gets another tired single. 2 on, 2 out, and George
Springer is up against the tired Hendricks with a chance to tie the
game. Hendricks strikes him out and North Dakota has won its second
championship in 4 years.
MVP - Shane Bieber 1-1, 16 innings, 7 hits, 5 walks, 21 strikeouts,
0.50 ERA. Saved the bullpen for the other 4 games
Honorable mention - Mookie Betts 7 for 17 (.412), 6 runs, 2 homers,
5 rbi, 2 stolen bases
(3/6) A disappointing finish to season for the soon-to-be renamed Vita-Rays,
with Eric driving 3+ hours round trip for a brisk 2 hour & 15 minute
series in sunny Marblehead, taking 3 of 4 from Harold, gaining ground
on rather than losing it to him, as management preferred. But management
doesn't always get what it wants....
(3/6)
Bay City 4, Future Wax 3
Bay City 11, Future Wax 5
Future Wax 10, Bay City 6
Future Wax 6, Bay City 5
Future Wax 7, Bay City 3
Future Wax 7, Bay City 1
Future Wax takes the series 4 game to 2.
FW put up a crooked
number in the first inning of this game, and four of the next five
games as well. Cronenworth walk, Belt doubled, and Mountcastle
hit a 3-run homer. And.. that was it for the FW offense. Darvish found
his groove and stopped the bleeding. Winker’s solo shot put BC on
the board in the 4th. On to the bottom of the 9th,
with FW up 3-1. Kershaw give up a lead off single to Iglesius, and
Randy brings in Chris Martin (acquired from New Orleans at the last
possible moment) for just this situation. His first pitch
grazes mutant pinch-hitter Stephenson. Hernandez ground out, then
Dalbec launches a walk off moonshot. The BC fans are rolling!
FW plates 2 in the first on a Moreland homer. But the 3rd
kicks off a slew of X-roll hits and errors (for both teams) that plaque
the rest of the series. A HBP, a walk, and a 2-base error by Stevenson
(RF) puts BC on the board. Another walk loads the bases. Randy puts
only the corners in, so a ground out to SS yields another run. Another
walk reloads the bases, then another error (Cronenworth) produces the 3rd unearned run of the inning. Winker homers in the 4th and Profar answers in the 5th. In the 6th,
Perez doubles in two knocking out a shaky Lamet. Kershaw is no help,
yielding a walk and single to load the bases. In comes Martin, who
again hits the first batter he faces, forcing in a run. Then he grooves
one down the middle of the plate, which Hernandez clobbers for a grand
slam, giving BC an 8 run lead. Homers by Nola and Springer barely put a
dent in the lead, and BC cruises to an 11-5 thrashing.
The first-inning FW
fireworks continue. After the first two batters reach base, Belt hits
his fourth double in 3 games for an RBI. Productive outs from Moreland
and Locastro knock in two more. In the 2nd, Murphy and Machado homer to double the lead. BC closes the gap with 2 unearned runs in the 5th
when Cronenworth boots another one. But a bases-loaded Gimenez single
re-establishes the lead, and a Cronenworth sac fly extends it. Moreland
homers again in the 6th. BC rallies in the 7th
for 4 runs. Hayes singles, steals second, and scores on an Inglesius
hit. A walk and two outs later another error – this time Machado – sets
up a Myers 3-(unearned) run double. FW longman Gausman shakes it off,
and shuts down BC in the last two innings for a 10-6 win.
This once BC flips the script, scoring in the 1st
on a Myers solo shot and blanking FW in the bottom of the frame. FW
takes the lead on a single, Herandez error, then back-to-back-to-back
RBI singles from Murphy, Merrifield, and Cronenworth. A Springer error
in the 3rd sets up a 2-run blast by Winker, putting BC back in the
lead. Voit homers (following Belt’s fifth double) in the 3rd, and the lead flips again. Machado hits into a double play in the 4th,
notable only in that it plates an insurance run for FW. As a result, FW
was still up by 1 following Perez’s two-run bomb in the 8th. Martin, Armstrong, and Ramirez each get an out in the 9th for a relay save. It’s now a best of 3 series.
Moreland’s second 2-run homer of the series puts FW ahead in the 1st. Albies singles in a run in the 3rd, but it is off-set by a run-costing Urshella error in the 4th. BC ties it in the 6th
on a Myers homer, Urshella single, and Iglesius double. An Albies error
sets up a Turner sac fly in the bottom of the frame, and FW is back on
top. Murphy homers in the 8th, and FW adds another run due to an Iglesius error. Just to be sure, Machado doubles in a final run on the way to a 7-3 FW win.
At this point, BC is down a game, but the home team has won every game of the series, and the last two games are at BC.
At this point it may not surprise you to learn that FW put up a crooked number in the 1st
on Moreland’s third 2-run homer of the series. Profar added 2 HR and a
triple for 4 RBIs, putting FW up 7-0 after 6. Brosseau’s pinch-hit
homer in the 7th broke up the shut out, but it was too
little too late. Dejected BC fans filed out of the silent ballpark,
their hopes for a championship dashed yet again.
Mitch Moreland was named the “Steve Pearce” MVP, with 3 HR and 7 RBI over 10 AB.
The Future Wax series victory sets up the series
no one wanted to see (again): Future Wax vs North Dakota. This will be
the fourth playoff meeting of these two teams in the last 5 years (and 3rd
World Series). The last two WS between these teams went to game 7: a
walk off win for FW in 2018, and an extra-inning win for ND in 2019.
P.S. How you know you have been playing in the
Sombilla a long time? In proof the draft report I caught myself
referring to my outfielder as “Salmon” instead of “Springer”.
(3/5) Internet
North Dakota 9 Oceanus 4
North Dakota 7 Oceanus 0
North Dakota 8 Oceanus 7
North Dakota 5 Oceanus 3
North Dakota wins series 4 games to 0
Before the series, I tried to visualize winning in 6 or 7 games. In
none of my planning did I envision a sweep. Sorry, Jed.
Game 1
NuclearWarheads. 3 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 - 9
10 0
Assholes........ 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 - 4 6 1
North Dakota jumps on Nola early in the first inning, scoring on an
rbi single by Contreras and 2-run triple by Kyle Tucker. Rbi
singles by Betts and Contreras in the 2nd make it a 5-0 game. A
2-run triple by Jared Walsh in the 3rd makes it 7-0 and Nola is
tired. Fletcher's solo homer in the 3rd makes it 7-1, but Luis
Guillorme hits ND's third 2-run triple of the game in the 5th and
it's 9-1. The game is really never in doubt although OC scores a
few more off Bieber, including a tired run in the 9th. Bieber
pitches a complete game 6-hitter with 10 ks and 5 walks.
Game 2
NuclearWarheads. 0 0 0 4 3 0 0 0 0
- 7 11 0
Assholes........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 6 0
A scoreless tie is broken by a Contreras rbi hit, followed by yet
another 2-run triple (by Lindor) and a sac fly by Walsh. A 2-run
double by Bohm and rbi hit by Contreras in the 5th makes it 7-0.
Meanwhile, deGrom, R. Rodriguez, Dolis, Soria, and Andrew Miller
pitch a combined 6-hit shutout with 17 k's and only 3 walks, and a
surprised North Dakota team heads back home to the Gackle Park cow
pasture up 2 games to 0.
Game 3
Assholes........ 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 - 7
12 0
NuclearWarheads. 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 4 - 8 11 1
The pissed-off Assholes jump out to a 4-0 lead against Rich Hill on
a Nelson Cruz grand salami in the first inning. Former Warhead Cruz
hits another homer off Hill in the 3rd and it's 5-0, with Walker
Buehler sailing along with a one-hitter through 5 innings. With
2-out and nobody on in the bottom of the 6th ND gets 2 runners on
for Walsh who slams a 3-run homer. A Betts' rbi single makes it a
5-4 game. Oceanus plates 2 insurance runs in the 7th (Cruz and
Fletcher rbi singles) and they carry a 7-4 lead into the bottom of
the 8th inning.
Jed brings lefty Jarlin Garcia in and he promptly gives up a walk to
B. Lowe and a 2-run homer to pinch-hitter Curt Casali to make it
7-6. After Lindor singles, Darin O'Day comes in. Jared Walsh
promply smacks O'Day's first pitch for his 2nd homer of the game to
give ND an 8-7 lead against a bunch of stunned Assholes. Liam
Hendricks makes his first appearance of the series in the 9th and
gets the save.
Game 4
Assholes........ 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 - 3
9 1
NuclearWarheads. 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 - 5 6 0
The game is a classic pitchers' duel between Nola and Bieber as a
Kole Calhoun bp homer in the 2nd inning is the only run through 5
innings. Nola has given up just 2 hits. But in the 6th inning,
Lindor walks and then Goldschmidt blasts a 2-run homer off Nola's
card to give ND the 2-1 lead where it stays until the 9th inning.
Liam Hendricks comes in to wrap up the sweep. But with one out and
one on, pinch-hitter Dominic Smith stuns the crowd, not to mention
Hendricks, by hitting a 2-run homer to take the 3-2 lead.
Jed brings in mutant pitcher Trevor Rosenthal for the save. He
walks A. Dickerson to lead it off, but strikes out Grisham. Brandon
Lowe singles. 2-on, one out. Willson Contreras is up. He gets a
ballpark homer (1-4). He rolls a "3" for the series sweeping
walkoff home run.
Series MVP: Willson Contreras 7 for 15 (.467), 1 HR, 1 2B, 1 BB, 8
RBI
The first two games required little managing and neither manager
made any obvious managerial mistakes. There wasn't a lot of
difference in the two teams' talent - certainly not a 4games to 0
difference - but North Dakota obviously had the better rolling. Jed
took it well (at least over the phone - for all I know, his room was
completely destroyed and trashed) and was gracious in defeat.
(3/2)
The Alpacas go into Three Line Park and take 2 of 3 with a tie in game three.
Neverwinter wins game one 2 - 0.
Lucas Giolito struck out 13 batters at Three Line Park where the Neverwinter Alpacas beat the Vita-Rays by the score of 2 to 0.
Giolito pitched one of his finer games as he simply was too much for the Vita-Rays batters. He was stingy on the mound,
allowing just 5 hits and 1 walk in 8 innings. Neither team managed to score after the 2nd inning.
Raisel Iglesias preserved the game for Giolito, recording his the save. Dallas Keuchel was charged with the loss. 'Everything felt great' Giolito
said. 'I had a good fastball, I felt I could throw it by everybody tonight.'
Vita-Rays win game two 5 - 1.
Shortstop Nick Ahmed had 2 base hits and 2 RBI as the
Vita-Rays club outscored the Neverwinter Alpacas 5 to 1.
The Vita-Rays had 4 runs cross the plate in the 7th inning with the help of 3 hits. The big moment was provided by Ahmed
who made the home-town crowd a happy bunch when he ripped a single bringing in two baserunners. The game was a scoreless duel until the 6th inning.
The victory was credited to Anthony Bass who went 1 inning, allowing 1 run. John Gant was the losing pitcher in relief. He pitched 1/3 of an inning
giving up 2 hits and 1 walk.
Game three ended in a 4 - 4 tie.
The Alpacas built a 4 to 1
lead courtesy of a two-run blast by Dylan Moore, but the Alpaca bull pen
blew a good start from Tyler Clippard as the Vita-Rays tied it up off
of Kolarek and Gallegos. Gant and Hernanadez
for the Alpaca's along with Graterol, Bass and Cisnerno kept the
offenses quiet through the 11th inning.
Alpacas take the series finale 8 - 2.
Kenta Maeda dominated striking out 12
Vita-Rays batters and Freddie Freeman hit one over the fence and had 5 RBI as the Neverwinter Alpacas defeated the
Vita-Rays ballclub by a score of 8 to 2 at Three Line Park.
Freeman provided the offensive punch. He doubled bringing home two baserunners in the 5th inning and launched a three-run homer in the 8th inning.
Neverwinter totaled 12 hits on the afternoon. Maeda allowed 2 runs on the game. Jose Berrios was the losing pitcher. He struck out 7 batters in 4 and 2/3 innings despite
losing the game. 'Everything felt great' Maeda said. 'I had a good fastball, I felt I could throw it by everybody today.'
***Of note the teams combined to hit into 15 double plays through the four-game series***
(2/27) FW needed 3 wins to force a one-game play-in with the Manatees, or a sweep to capture a 4th
place playoff berth. NO needed to win at least 2 to keep their slim
playoff hopes alive (and then sweep Eric in their final series). FW had
homefield advantage with a ballpark favoring RHB against a line-up full
of LHB and switch hitters. But NO pitchers matched up well against FW
RHB. In the end, it was Future Wax sweeping into 3rd place to finish the regular season.
The
opening pitching match favored NO, with Bauer vs Woodruff. But Woodruff
was masterful, yielding only just 6 hits, with no walks and 9 K, over 8
innings. Bauer gave up 1 in the 3rd (Belt HR), 2 in the 4th (Machado and Moreland HRs), and 3 in the 5th (Machado 3-run blast). A tired Woodruff allowed 2 baserunners in the 9th, but Peterson came in and retired all 3 men he faced to secure the 6-0 shutout.
The remaining pitching match ups favored FW. Next up: Wheeler vs Lamet. Murphy singled in a run in the 2nd after a Hosmer error extended the inning. Machado added a solo-shot in the 3rd. NO got on the board in the 4th, after a Trey Turner error set up a Castro RBI single. Harold then tied the game in the 7th,
when Heyward led off with a triple and Hosmer singled him home. Machado
got to NO reliever Gonsolin with a lead-off double in the 8th, and Arozarena cashed in the go-ahead run with a long-single. Ramirez then retired NO in order for the save.
FW
now put up their best pitcher, Plesac, against Sonny Gray. Gray was
awful, yielding 2 singles and 4 walks in a third of an inning. He was
pulled, but FW was up 6-0 by the time the inning was over. The home town
crowd roared. They quieted down a bit after Heyward’s 2-run longball in
the 3rd, then went silent in the 7th when homers by McCann and Frazier made it 6-5 while knockibg out Plesac. NO then tied it in the 8th on a Castro pinch-hit triple off Sims. Sims gave up another triple in the 9th,
bringing NO’s best hitter Evans to the plate. FW closer Ramirez came
in, issued an intentional walk, and then put down pinch-hitter Akimaya
to preserve the tie. George Springer then brought down the house with a
lead-off, walk-off home run (7-6 win).
The
managers consulted the standings and confirmed that NO was now
eliminated from playoff contention. Then the special league rules for
this season were reviewed, confirming that: 1) there is no trade
deadline, and 2) any player who played in the league at any time during
the regular season is post-season eligible. With that established, Harold traded limited one-year bullpen wonders Martin and Armstrong to Randy for his 6th round pick.
After the two pitchers changed locker rooms and uniforms, and the
associated call-ups and send-downs were made, the final game got under
way.
FW
put up S/R Gausman against Alecantara (who is excellent against RHB but
has a problem with LHB). FW put every lefty/switch bat in the first 6
slots in the order. This paid off in the 3rd when a Belt
double was followed by a Moreland homer (with 1 AB left for the season).
This was followed by walks to Stevenson and Profar. A tough situation,
but now Alcantara was facing the right-hand part of the order. But
Springer singled in a run, and then Murphy hit a 3-run bomb to put FW up
6-0 again. New acquisitions Martin and Armstrong put out the side in
the 8th and 9th respectively, securing the 7-2 victory and sweeping FW into the playoffs (securing 4th place, one game ahead of the Manatees).
Machado was the home team hero, going 6 for 13 in the series, with 3 HR, 6 RBI, and 6 runs scored.
Draft Day is still, for now, Saturday April 2.
(2/25) CN
won its series over NO on Wednesday to remain in 4th place.
Harold is now two games out of a playoff spot with 8 games
remaining. Sunday's three series should settle much of the
permutations.
Game 53 for
CN saw Carrasco facing off with Wheeler. Trout hit a 1st inning ball
park shot to give the home team a 1-0 lead. But they got to Carrasco
for 5 in the 3rd as Cody took over after the quick hook but he gave up
a Ball park homer (1) then ball park homer (2) in the next two innings
to let CN fall further behind 7-2. CN hit a couple of homers but could
not chip away enough as New Orleans quiet the faithful with a 7-4
series opener.
Game 54 started out a shaky pitchers duel until CN got 4 in the 5th to go up 4-0 and then they cruised to a 7-1 victory knotting the series at 1-1.
Game 55 NO's Alcantara has the kind of card that should never pitch in CN's ball park, but he came in up 2-0 and immediately he gave up 3 in the first and it looked like it might be an easy night. But New Orleans scored again in the 6th after 4 shut out innings to tie it. But then we go to the bottom of the 7th and there is a infield x rating that got a single and a error and then 2 quick outs set up a chance for NO's Brad Hand and his no action for lefties card to face Harper and Harper hits a clean shot on his card to give CN the lead. They are able to hold on to guarantee at least a split, 5-3.
Game 56 was as exciting as possible -- New Orleans started it off BPS*, walk and BPHR (18) to go up 3-0. Donaldson with 4 at bats left for the season answers 3-2 in the bottom of the 3rd. NO goes up 4-2 in the top of the 4th and then adds another in the 6th. Tellez hits a BPHR (19) to get it to 5-3 after 6. So we go to the bottom of the 9th and Donaldson comes up for his 4th at bat hits a BPHR(15) 2 run shot to tie the game 5-5. NO comes back and gets a run off of Williams to go up 6-5. But Harper comes in again in the series to hit a big homer to tie it 6-6 after 10. Donaldson boots a ball for a 2 base error in the 11th but CN holds on to keep it 6-6 going into the final set of outs in the bottom of the 11th. A LFx is hit to I think was a 1 LF who gives up a 2 base error with 2 outs and Donaldson comes up. Potential storybook ending in the making as he has gone 2-4 with two 2 run homers, and he flies out between action for the last out.
As I get up to chatter about the draft, why Marblehead and other inanities -- I then remember that Donaldson had only 4 Abs and I had no remaining 3B to play so he had to bat and he should have been an automatic pop out anyways to end the last one in futility no matter what I had rolled.
...
Draft day is still Saturday April 2!
(2/22) North Dakota finished up its regular season by moving back into
3rd place tonight with a 2-1 series win over Constantinople, leaving
the Manatees just 1/2 game ahead of Randy for 4th place.
It did not begin well for the Nuclear Warheads. Harper led off
game 1 with a homer and Telliz also homered in the first off Elizer
Hernandez. Devers tripes home Tatis to make it 3-0. A
Seager homer and Devers rbi double in the 3rd makes it 5-0.
Trout's solo shot in the 6th makes it 6-0 as lefty Marco Gonzales
baffles the ND lineup. Dustin May pitches 3 shutout innings to
finish up the game for CN and earn the save, 6-2.
In game 2, deGrom finally makes it out of the first inning, only to
give up a grand slam to Seager in the 2nd, tiring him out early yet
again. (Randy tired him out in the first inning last week).
Berated by his Billy Martin-esque manager, deGrom makes it to the 5th
wihout further damage before he is relieved. Brandon Lowe's 2-run
shot makes it a 5-3 game in the 5th and Walsh's solo homer in the 6th
makes it 5-4 where it stays until the 9th. Harper's bomb off Rich
Rodriguez is a nice insurance run in the top of the 9th, but the never
say die (unless they land on you) Nuclear Warheads tie it in the bottom
of the 9th on a single by Lowe, pinch-hit double by Tucker, groundout
rbi by Guillorme, and rbi single by Betts. ND's Rodriguez, Dolis,
and Hendricks are matched by Devon Williams of CN to pitch scoreless
10th and 11 innings and both teams have their first tie, 6-6.
Harper homers off Bieber to lead off game 3, prompting more berating of
pitching aces by the ND manager. Goldschmidt's 2-run single gives ND
the 2-1 lead in the 3rd, and the team explodes for 5 more in the 5th on
only 2 hits, helped by an unlikely Trout error, 5 walks, and a
HBP. Solo homers by Seager and Tatis are too little too
late. Final score ND 7 CN 3.
It's the rubber game as the teams are 1-1-1 coming into game 4. But the
game is never in doubt after ND scores 6 in the first inning to chase
Sanchez. A 2-run single by Bohm, rbi double by Contreras, and
bases clearing 3-run triple by Lowe are the key hits. North Dakota is
unable to score again as a succession of CN relievers throw 8 shutout
innings. After CN scores 3 off starter Lance Lynn in the 4th and
5th, Mychael Givens comes in and shuts the door, giving way to Liam
Hendricks who picks up his 15th save. Final score ND 6 CN 3
Draft day is still Saturday April 2!
(2/20) Future
Wax hosted North Dakota in a series they needed to win to keep playoff
hopes alive. They did so, winning 3 of 4 games to move into 5th
place. It started well, as FW scored 5 runs in the 1st off deGrom
(single, double, out with no run due to infield-in, 2-run single due to
infield-in, out, double, Springer homer) to tire him out. ND closed the
gap with a 3-run Betts blast in the 3rd, but solo shots from Murphy and Machado insured a 7-4 win for Woodruff and company.
In game 2, ND took an early lead on a Walsh homer and unearned run from a Mountcastle error (at 1B) in the 2nd
inning. FW immediately answered with 3 runs on a HP, single (hold
effect), single, DP for a run, and 2-run Murphy homer. FW pulled away in
the 6th with a 2-run shot from Trea Turner. Final score 9-4, a
complete game win for Plesac (over a pounded and stunned Shane Bieber).
Game 3 saw FW clinging to a 3-2 lead before exploding for 6-runs in the 6th
(6 singles, 4 walks). Arnie raised the white flag by putting in
position-player pitcher Pete Alonzo. Final score 10-4. Pete
Alonso (2/3 of an inning only 1 ER) was North Dakota's most effective
reliever.
The delirious
home-town fans brought out the brooms as FW took a 6-0 lead in the
final game, on 2-run homers from Machado, Stevenson, and Turner. Pete
Alonso started warming up for ND, which meant that had he actually come
into the game to pitch again, he'd be a tired pitcher for the next
game. But ND closed the gap on a Grisham solo shot in the 7th (followed by sarcastic clapping from his manager).
In the 8th ND scores 2 more on a single from Bohm (after Gonzalez issued 3 consecutive walks). FW
closer Ramirez put out that fire. But the manager, with a 3-run lead
going into the 9th,
decided to save his innings and bring in Hahn to close it out. With 2
outs, Brandon Lowe hit a 2-run homer to make it a 1-run game (6-5) on a
ballpark homer 1-6 (rolling a 3). Erstwhile pitcher Pete Alonso
comes in to pinch-hit and keeps the rally going with a single. Still
needing just one out for the sweep, mop up man Peralta (no RHP left on
the bench, as Gausman had started the game) comes in and surrenders a
dramatic 2-run homer to Jared Walsh put ND ahead, 7-6. Screaming,
shouting and dog barking ensues. In the bottom of the 9th, the ND
manager is forced to use 4e16's in RF and LF and a 4 at SS, having lost
the DH, just to have this chance. Liam Hendricks retires the side in
order for the save.
The ND
manager swears has was never so elated to lose a series 3 games to 1,
and is animated and bubbly. Randy on the other hand, after
winning the series 3 to 1, seemed subdued and chagrined over the
dramatic game 4 finish.
........
Game 57 one game-playoff note: Randy, Robin and Arnie discussed
this and agreed that if there is such a game, the 11-inning tie rule is
waived and the game will continue until one team wins. The
alternative (declare a tie and play game 58) is silly, and we will not
waste everyone's time on a vote over such an obvious solution.
Draft Day Update: Draft Day is still on for Saturday, April
2! MLB has not cancelled opening day (yet) and so we have not
postponed the draft (yet). Fingers crossed.
(2/17) While the Alpacas enjoyed the relative comfort of playing in milder
Rehoboth Beach, alas they dropped 3 out of 4 to the surprising
Assholes. Here are the slightly edited computer generated game stories.
Game 1
Center fielder Ronald Acuna cracked 2 homeruns and had 4 RBI and Lucas Giolito
mowed down 14 Oceanus batters as the Neverwinter Alpacas bested the Oceanus
Assholes 9 to 2 at Rehoboth Parking Lot.
Acuna
led the offense for Neverwinter. He hit a bases-empty home run in the
1st inning and lofted a three-run bomb in the 7th inning. For the game
Neverwinter out-hit Oceanus 14 to 6.
The victory went to Giolito who went 8 and 1/3 innings, allowing 2 runs. German Marquez was tagged with the loss.
Game 2
Aaron
Nola racked up an impressive total of 10 strikeouts (needs 15 in his
last start to tie the record) and designated hitter Marcell Ozuna had 2
base hits at Rehoboth Parking Lot where the Oceanus Assholes beat the
Neverwinter Alpacas by the score of 3 to 1.
Nola (now 7-1) gave Oceanus a solid outing. He gave up just 4 hits and 3 walks in
8 innings. Oceanus finished with 10 hits while Neverwinter ended up with 5.
Trevor
Rosenthal earned the save. Antonio Senzatela took the loss. He was
hit hard and gave up 10 hits and 2 walks in 5 and 1/3 innings.
Game 3
Pablo Lopez had a strong outing at Rehoboth Parking Lot where the Oceanus
Assholes beat the Neverwinter Alpacas by the score of 1 to 0.
The
winning run, and the only run, was scored by Oceanus in the 3rd inning
on an Ozuna RBI single. Neverwinter made it exciting in the 9th, but
they were unable to push the needed runs across.
Alex Colome
got credit for the victory, pitching 1 and 2/3 innings and allowing no
runs. Trevor Rosenthal preserved the game for Colome, recording his 2nd
save of the series while running out of innings for the season. Tyler
Clippard took the loss.
Game 4
They almost ran out of baseballs at Rehoboth Parking Lot as Oceanus Assholes
clobbered the Neverwinter Alpacas pitching staff, scoring 12 runs while Dane
Dunning, with relief help from Ryan Yarbrough, surrendered 2 runs to Neverwinter.
It
was a good day for Oceanus thanks to A.J. Pollock. He doubled bringing
home two baserunners in the 1st inning and bombed a two-run dinger in
the 3rd inning. Overall Oceanus out-hit Neverwinter 12 to 7.
Yarbrough
was credited with the save. Max Fried was the losing pitcher. Oceanus
knocked him around a bit, as he gave up 7 runs in 2 and 2/3 innings.
Acuna
was the hitting star for Neverwinter, going 5-16 with 2 doubles, 2
homers and 4 RBIs. Meanwhile, Ozuna went 6-15 for the Assholes, mostly
getting hits off of the pitchers' cards.
(2/13) Bay City
took advantage of some very poor split rolling by Sam to luck
back into second place over her housemate by taking 3 of 4.
Gerrit Cole, who pitched brilliantly against Eric a day earlier,
imploded against the Alpacas, allowing 5 hits, 5 walks, 3 HBPs
(and only 2 strikeouts), and 8 earned runs in 2 1/3 (although he
didn't allow a homer for the second straight start), as
Neverwinter cruised to a 10-4 Game 1 win over the Rollers (who
did out-hit the Alpacas).
In Game 2, Darvish pitched 5 2/3 hitless innings before tiring,
thanks in part to Sam consistently rolling 18, 19, & 20
(including several times over the series on HR 1-17 chances) on
split rolls. Sal Perez went 3 for 4 and Urshela and Marte
homered in the 6-3 BC victory, as the home team out hit the
visiting Alpacas 14-4.
In Game 3, BC feasted on the cute but hapless lefty Fried,
getting 15 hits (including a Perez homer and 3 hits from Miguel
Cabrera in what may finally be his last SOMBILLA season) to romp
to an 11-0 win. Neverwinter managed only 2 hits, as Gallen
pitched 8 1-hit innings, striking out 13.
Game 4 was a nailbiter,as BC led 2-0 against the tough Maeda on
solo HRs by Myers and Dalbec, but NW tied it in the top of the
9th against the tough Nick Anderson, after Keller had shut them
out for 7 innings. In the bottom of the 9th, Jesse Winker hit
Gallegos's first pitch for a homer to give BC a dramatic 3-2
victory.
(2/12) Eric was the
most gracious guest, assisting North Dakota's sweep into 2nd place.
Helped by a friendly ballpark, solid pitching, and timely luck, the
Nuclear Warheads had an enjoyable day.
Shane Bieber (6-2, 4.10) threw 8 innings of 3-hit ball with no earned
runs to shut down the Vita-Rays in game 1. Homers by Lindor (2-run
shot) and Walsh (solo HR) and a timely error by the VR's Ahmed staked
North Dkota's to an early 5-0 lead. Final score, 5-1.
Alex (the Dick) Dickerson hit a 3-run homer in the first inning of game
1, and an rbi by Kyle Tucker makes it 4-0 before most of the 792
patrons at Gackle Park have had a seat. A Molina rbi and Ahmed HR
chase Lance Lynn in the 6th to make it 4-2 and The Dick's ugly error
makes it a 4-3 game. But R. Rodriguez, Pomeranz and Dolis shut the door
for ND, yielding no more runs, while Grisham's 2-run homer seals the
game. Final score 7-3, North Dakota.
At this point, many fans leave, knowing that ND will inevitably
lose the last two games of the series. The remaining crowd is
suspicious even after Brandon Lowe's 3-run homer gives the home team a
3-0 lead in the 3rd. Sure enough, the Vita-Rays take the lead
with 4 runs in the 5th inning, Huff's 2-run pinch-hit double the key
blow, although VR's Bogaerts is out at home thanks to a great block by
Casali, his 2nd of the game. North Dakota gets 3 right back in the
bottom if the 5th, helped by Tucker's 2-run single. In the top of
the 6th, it appears that the Vita-Rays have tied the game 6-6 on Kevin
Pillar's 2-run pinch hit triple. But the following inning, Eric
realized he fucked up; Pillar had actually started the game and been
pinch-hit for by Huff in the 5th (see above). Oops!
Rewind... the runs are taken off the board, V-R doesn't actually score
in the 6th. Or the 7th. Or 8th. In the 9th with 2-out and
nobody on, Soto walks. JA Happ triples him in and it's 6-5 with
the tying run on 3rd. But Liam Hendricks strikes out Arreaz to
end the game for his 13th save.
In game 4, the V-Rays score in the top of the first on a sac fly by
Soto. Betts' rbi single in the 3rd ties it at 1 apiece.
Wainright and Eliezer Hernandez (who again?) pitch great through 5
innings but in the 6th, Happ hits an rbi double to give V-R the 2-1
lead. Grisham's rbi off Tate ties the game again in the 8th,
2-2. We go to extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th,
Kyle Tucker has a chance for a walkoff ballpark homer (1-8) but rolls
an 11. In the bottom of the 11th, it's Christian Yelich's turn
and he doesn't miss the walkoff 1-8 ballpark homer, rolling a 3 to send
the several hundred remaining fans rampaging through the cow fields.
...
Robin notes that Sal Perez was just one double away from the cycle when
he was HBP in his last at bat...After giving up a leadoff homer, Zac
Gallen pitched 6 shutout innings.
....
According to USA Today, the MLB players were "unimpressed with the
owners' proposal; start of season in jeopardy". An anonymous
SOMBILLA manager (Eric) asks, why postpone the SOMBILLA draft if the
MLB season doesn't start on time? One reason is that there are
nearly 300 unsigned free agents and 197 unsigned arbitration eligible
players. Another reason is that spring training is a great time
to scout who is injured, healthy, playing well, getting playing time
etc. With all those unsigned players and np spring training to
evaluate players, it doesn't seem to make sense to hold a draft.
(2/10) For
the 6th time this year, North Dakota won the first two games of a
series, only to end up with a split. Looking beyond that,
however, it was an exciting series of close games, with both managers
trading bouts of self-flagellation.
The Nuclear Warheads jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings in game
1 against the former North Dakota pitcher G. Marquez on a two-run homer
by Grisham and a 3-run blast by The Dick, Alex Dickerson. But the
Assholes chipped away, helped by homers from Buxton and Rendon and it
was 5-3 after six innings. Shane Biber (now 5-2) bore down and
gave up no more runs. Liam Hendricks pitched a perfect 9th for
his 12th save.
In game 2, Lance Lynn pitched his 2nd great game in a row as he
combined with Dolis, Givens, Pomeranz, Rodriguez and Hendricks (13th
save) to pitch a combined 6-hit 3-0 shutout. Lynn was helped by home cooking as Jed missed multiple ballpark HR 1-4 chances. Tough
luck pitcher Aaron Nola struck out 12 batters in the loss. He
needs 25 strikeouts in his last two starts to tie Randy Johnson's
16-year old league record.
In game 3, Walker Buehler carried a no-hitter into the 6th inning as
the Oceanus Assholes topped the North Dakota Nuclear Warheads 2 to 1 .
D'Arnaud's homer in the 2nd off Eliezer Hernandez (who?) gave OC the
1-0 lead. Contreras's rbi double in the 7th made it 1-1.
With 2-out in the top of the 9th, Abreau homered off Rich Rodriguez to
make it 2-1. Rosenthal pitched a perfect bottom of the 9th to
preserve the win.
Game 4 was a back and forth game. The Assholes jumped on deGrom
in the first inning with D'Arnaud's 3-run home run. But North Dakota
chipped away with 2 runs and was still down only 4-2 in the 6th inning
when Grisham squoze home a run and Dickerson doubled in two more to
give ND the 5-4 lead. But once again, Oceanus comes from behind,
this time it's a 2-run pinch hit 8th inning home run by Jose Ramirez
off Dolis. Jared Walsh hits a pinch-hit triple to lead off the bottom
of the 9th for ND. But he ends up stranded there as the rally
falls short against J. Garcia who hangs on for the split.
(2/9) Tom
swept into third place this evening. Details forthcoming....All
games last weekend had to be postponed. Please try and reschedule
your series...Draft Day is in jeopardy. Blame MLB and the players
union. If the regular season does not start on time, we will
postpone the SOMBILLA draft a la 2020. Stay tuned for real
baseball news.
(2/2) In chilly Neverwinter the Alpacas took three of four from the Candles, featuring three close games and one not so close game.
Game 1: Neverwinter defeated Future Wax 7 - 6
Giolito gets the win despite giving up two homers in the 1st to
Moreland
and Voit. The Alpacas answered with three in the bottom of the first
on a three-run blast from Moore adding single runs in the 2nd and 3rd only to see a four-spot put up by the Candles in the top of the 4th followed
by solo shot by Bregman to tie it up again. The Alpacas took the lead for good in the bottom of the 7th on an RBI single by Anderson. Iglesias pitched the 9th for the save.
Alex Bregman hit a homerun and had 2 RBI as the Neverwinter Alpacas outscored the Future
Wax Candles 7 to 6. Future Wax was unable to claim the lead after Neverwinter went ahead in the7th inning scoring one runner using 2 hits. Neverwinter had 9 hits overall, while
Future Wax had 6. The win was credited to Lucas Giolito (1-0) who went 8 innings allowing 6 runs. Raisel Iglesias got the save, his 1st. Brandon Woodruff(0-1) was tagged
with the loss. Although losing the contest, he whiffed 10 batters in 7 innings.
Game 2: Alpacas defeat the Candles 2 to 1
Fried pitched a gem, allowing only a solo shot to Voit in the top of the 7th earning the win.
RBI singles by Freeman in the 5th and the game winner by Vazquez in the 6th sealed the win in this pitcher's duel. Thielbar picked up the save.
Center fielder Ronald Acuna had 2 base hits as the Neverwinter Alpacas defeated
the Future Wax Candles 2 to 1 at Icewind Dale Corral.
Neverwinter took the lead for good in the 5th inning plating one baserunner on2 hits. After an out was recorded, Joey Wendle delivered a single. Wendle was safe at second
on a stolen base. Christian Vazquez then delivered a base-hit scoring the run. Future Wax threatened in the 9th but Neverwinter was able to put down the rally.
Max Fried(1-0) was the winner allowing 1 run in 7 innings. Caleb Thielbar got the save, his 1st. Max Scherzer(0-1) was the losing pitcher.
Game 3: Alpacas shut out the Candles 2 to 0
Maeda tossed a gem, going eight strong striking out 11. Iglesias picked up his 2nd save
of the series. An RBI single by Kiner-Falefa in the 1st and another by Rojas in the 4th were the only runs scored this evening.
Game 4: Future Wax defeat Neverwinter 8 to 3
The
Alpacas could not complete the sweep as the Candles bats came
to life in game four, knocking out Brault after only three innings.
Arozarena when 3 for 5 with a pair of homers and a double leading the
Candle attack. The Alpaca's made a game of it following an error from
Merrifield, Bregman smacked his 2nd homer
of the series closing the game to three, but that was as close as they would get. Insurance runs in the 7th and 9th sealed the deal. Lamet was dominant, allowing only 1 earned run through 8 innings. Hahn closed the door
in the 9th with 2 k's.
Left fielder Randy Arozarena smacked 2 homeruns
and had 5 RBI as the Future Wax Candles topped the Neverwinter Alpacas by a score of 8 to 3 at Icewind Dale Corral.
Arozarena enjoyed a great evening at the plate. He delivered a solo blast in the 2nd inning, launched a three-run homer in the 3rd inning and doubled which plated a run in
the 7th inning. Future Wax had 11 hits for the night while Neverwinter had 4.
The winning pitcher was Dinelson Lamet(1-0) who allowed 3 runs in 8 innings. Steven Brault(0-1) absorbed the loss. He was knocked around, surrendering 6 runs
in 3 innings. 'The ball was jumping off my bat' Arozarena said. 'I didn't do anything differently, it's the same way I always approach the game.'
(1/30) Constantinople and Neverwinter split. Home team takes the first two, visitors last two in the year of the split.
In person games in Frigid Vermont, but no snow.
Draft Day, Saturday April 2, assuming the MLB season starts on time.
(1/29) The bomb cyclone forced the ND-NO game onto the computer as
driving to Marblehead in a blizzard would not have been the best idea.
Harold's park dimensions are 1-10 HR for both sides, basically a tossup. But
North Dakota could seemingly not miss a roll and pounded out 10 home
runs to NO's 4 to lurch back to .500 and a tie for third
place.
In game 1, Lance Lynn pitched his best game of the year for the Nuclear
Warheads, scattering 5 hits over 8 innings. Brandon Lowe broke
open a 1-1 tie in the 6th with a solo shot, Grisham singled in two runs and Lindor blasted a 2-run
shot in the 9th to ice it. Final score 5-2
Game 2 was a great pitchers' duel between Clevinger and Glasnow.
Glasnow pitched 6 2/3 innings and gave up only 3 hits for New
Orleans. But two of those were solo shots by Brandon Lowe. That
was all Clevinger (7 innings, 5 hits, 9 k's, 1 run) needed as North
Dakota won 2-1. Liam Henricks pitched a perfect 9th for his 11th
save.
North Dakota scored early and often in game 3 which was never in
doubt. They pounded out 5 homers off Ryu (Slater, Grisham,
Mondesi, Hoskins, and Brandon Lowe's 4th of the series). Rich
Hill pitched 7 innings yielding 3 hits for the 9-3 win.
North Dakota jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning of
game 4, and with deGrom on the mound, the keg is tapped in anticipation
of the sweep. But New Orleans storms back, helped by some
questionable ND defense. Castro's rbi single in the 4th gives NO
the 5-4 lead and they never look back, winnning 7-4. Bauer
settled down after the first inning and was the winning pitcher,
hurling 8 innings, with 8 hits, 0 walks and 10 k's.
Star of the series: Brandon Lowe .313 (5 for 16), with 4 homers and 5 rbis
Oceanus took 3 out of 4 games from Constantinople by way of Vermont and are now percentage points out of first place. 3
close games (including an 11 inning almost tie) and a blowout. Here are
the slightly-edited, computer-generated game stories.
Game 1
Jose
Ramirez cracked 2 homeruns and had 3 RBI as the Oceanus Assholes
defeated the Constantinople Manatees in 11 innings by the score of 7 to 6
at Building 19 Park.
The score was knotted at 6 after nine
innings. Oceanus won the hard fought contest in the 11th inning. After
two outs Byron Buxton drew a walk. Marcell Ozuna stepped up next and
he drew a walk. Anthony Rendon then doubled scoring the run. Oceanus
rapped out 9 hits for the afternoon.
Darren O'Day was the winner
allowing no runs in 2 and 1/3 innings. Thomas ("Down the") Hatch ended
up with the loss in relief. He gave up 1 hit and 2 walks in
1 inning.
Game 2
Aaron
Nola racked up an impressive total of 15 strikeouts (well, technically
14 as one of the strikeouts was on an "undo" of a play) and Marcell
Ozuna had 4 hits as the Oceanus Assholes staged a dramatic comeback over
the Constantinople Manatees by a score of 9 to 7 at Building 19 Park.
Oceanus came up with the deciding runs in the top of the 9th inning scoring 4
runners
on 3 hits. The big moment was provided by Kole Calhoun who helped
quiet the crowd when he quieted the crowd by clouting a Grand Slam.
Oceanus had a total of 12 hits for the game.
The win was credited to Alex Colome who went 1 and 1/3 innings allowing 2
runs.
Darren O'Day recorded the save. Devin Williams ended up with the loss
in relief. He surrendered 3 hits and 1 walk in 2/3 of an inning.
Game 3
Marcell
Ozuna rocketed 2 homeruns and had 4 RBI as the Constantinople Manatees
were badly beaten by the Oceanus Assholes, 15 to 5.
Ozuna was a
thorn in the side of the hometown fans as he enjoyed a fine day at their
team's expense. He cracked a two-run shot in the 1st inning, ripped a
base-hit in the 2nd inning and lifted one out of the park for a two run
home run in the 3rd inning. Oceanus bats were very productive in the
3rd inning when they had 7 runs on 7 hits. Oceanus simply wore out the
Constantinople pitching staff, scoring in 6 different innings.
The win went to Dylan Bundy who allowed 3 runs in 5 and 2/3 innings. Ryan
Yarbrough
got the save, his 1st. Sixto Sanchez was charged with the
loss. He allowed 3 homeruns in 9 innings of work.
Game 4
Mike Trout smashed 2 homeruns and had 3 RBI at Building 19 Park where the
Constantinople Manatees beat the Oceanus Assholes by the score of 10 to 7.
Trout
enjoyed a fine evening at the plate. He lofted a solo-blast 'downtown'
in the 2nd inning and blasted a two-run home run in the 7th inning.
Constantinople banged out 11 hits on the night.
Thomas Hatch
got the win allowing no runs in 2 and 2/3 innings. Devin Williams earned
the save. Cam Bedrosian took the loss in relief. He was knocked
around pretty good, giving up 3 runs in 2 innings.
Draft Day, Saturday April 2
(1/24) The Vita-Rays visited the empty Rehoboth Parking lot and shocked the
overconfident Assholes in a come-from-behind 11 inning game 1 victory.
The Rays then proceeded to come back again from 4 runs down in game 2
and seemed headed toward a 2 games to 0 series lead. But Oceanus turned
the tables with some absurd luck to take game 2 and then games 3 and 4
for the series win. The series featured Anthony Rendon getting 3 homers
on a 1-8 chance. And a double plus 2-base error by Ian Happ (an e3)
where Marcell Ozuna (boo) just...scored. And Kevin Pillar constantly
getting a 2-8 roll for a popout. All of the games ended up being
competitive. Here are the slightly-edited computer generated game
summaries.
Game 1
Adam Wainwright went 6 solid innings at Rehoboth Parking Lot where the
Vita-Rays ballclub beat the Oceanus Assholes in 11 innings by the score of 3 to 2.
The
score was knotted at 2 after nine innings. Vita-Rays ended up winning
it in the 11th inning. Xander Bogaerts drew a walk. Eric then called
for a steal which was successful. Juan Soto then slapped a single
scoring the run. Oceanus was out-hit by Vita-Rays, 9 hits to 6.
Edwin Diaz allowed no runs in 2 innings, and picked up the victory. J.B.
Wendelken was the losing pitcher in relief. He surrendered no hits and 1 walk in 2 innings.
Game 2
0
fans watched an exciting game at Rehoboth Parking Lot. The Oceanus
Assholes topped the Vita-Rays team by the slimmest of margins, 7 to 6.
Ryan
Yarbrough put in a pedestrian relief performance just good enough for
the victory. He allowed 6 hits and no walks in 3 innings. Vita-Rays
threatened in the 9th but their rally came up short.
Trevor
Rosenthal was credited with his 5th save. Dillon Tate was the losing
pitcher in relief. Even though Tate is almost lights out against
righties, he gave up back-to-back homers to Darren Fletcher and Travis
D'Arnaud. That's the absurd luck I was referring to, especially with
Fletcher.
Game 3
Marcell Ozuna had 4 hits and 3 RBI at Rehoboth Parking Lot where the Oceanus
Assholes beat the Vita-Rays team by the score of 9 to 4.
Vita-Rays
never recovered (well, actually, they recovered a bit...) after Oceanus
took the lead in the bottom of the 3rd inning when they came up with 2
runs on 2 hits. The key offensive moment was provided by Ozuna who
elicited silence from the empty stadium when he slapped a single scoring
two baserunners. Oceanus ended up with 11 hits for the game while
Vita-Rays had 6.
The victory was credited to Dylan Bundy who
went 5 and 1/3 innings, allowing 3 runs. J.B. Wendelken was credited
with his 1st save. Jose Berrios suffered the loss. He got hammered,
allowing 8 hits and 6 walks in 5 innings. This was one of those "do I
leave my tired pitcher in" situations for Eric where the Vita-Rays made
it tight (7-4 at one point) and forced him to go to the pen.
Game 4
Trevor Story collected 2 extra-base hits and had 3 RBI at Rehoboth Parking Lot
where the Oceanus Assholes beat the Vita-Rays club 8 to 5.
Walker
Buehler pitched well for Oceanus in their victory. He went 7 innings
and surrendered up 5 hits and 2 walks and was touched for 2 homeruns.
Oceanus out-hit Vita-Rays for the game, 10 hits to 5.
Jarlin
Garcia recorded the save, his 1st. The loss was charged to Tyler
Mahle. He got hit pretty hard, allowing 7 hits and 5 walks in 4 and 2/3
innings.
Hitting stars for the series:
Xander Bogaerts went 7-17 and the aforementioned Kevin Pillar had 6 RBIs
for the Vita-Rays. Anthony Rendon had 3 homers and Travis D'Arnaud had
2 homers for the Assholes.
Draft Day Saturday April 2.
(1/22) Bay City
took 3 of 4 from Future Wax to maintain the top spot--the first
two games were BC blowouts, the second two were close games that
could have gone either way.
In Game 1, Randy took a 1-0 lead in the first on a Profar homer
off Corbin Burnes and then proceeded to go scoreless for the
next 17 innings. Robin came back with 2 in the second and third,
4 in the eighth, and 2 in the ninth to win 10-1.Perez and
Urshela homered back to back and Iglesias and Dalbec also
homered. A clutch hit by number nine hitter Albies also figured
in.
Game 2 was even more lopsided as BC tired Kershaw in the second
(after Miguel Cabrera and Little Miggy [Avasail Garcia] homered
back to back in the first)), Perez hit 3-run homer in the
second, and the rout was on. He fell a triple shy of the cycle,
as Cole (12 strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings) and his teammates
cruised to a 16-0 win.
Game 3 went back and forth as Belt homered in the first for FW
but BC scored a couple of unearned runs in the second. Robin was
definitely rolling well (15 and higher) on error chances, as she
forced FW into four errors this game. Perez homered for the 4-3
BC lead in the eighth, but FW tied it again in the bottom of the
eighth on a double by a pinch hitter (Blackmon or Merrifield--I
can't tell who). A Brosseau pinch hit homer in the ninth gave BC
the lead back and Nick Anderson got the save in a 5-4 BC win.
In Game 4, the same team who pounded FW in Games 1 & 2 could
muster only 3 singles through eight innings, but Keller was
matching Plesac until the eighth when Randy scored three (all
with 2 outs) on a triple (Cronenworth), walk (Blackmon), HBP (+
inj.--Arrozarenea), walk (Moreland), and clutch hit (Stevenson)
as neither Scott nor Karinchak could get anyone out--the third
out was a caught stealing. Robin got her first extra-base hit of
the game in the ninth, but it was not enough, and FW won 3-0.
Alpaca's and NuclearWarheads split a four game series on the
frozen tundra of Neverwinter.
Game 1: Alpaca's win 4 to 3 over North Dakota
Neverwinter manager didn't make it to the game until the 2nd
inning as his assistant failed to realize Rich Hill was a lefty
throwing out his right-hand lineup. The Warheads built a 2 - 0
lead, then 3 -1 after eight but a three-run rally in the 8th
solidified Giolito's fourth win of the year. Iglesias pitched a
perfect 9th for the save.
Giolito(1-2) gave a fine effort for
Neverwinter. He allowed 7 hits and 7 walks in 8 innings lowering his ERA from 5.73 to
4.74. Giolito got help from Raisel
Iglesias who pitched a perfect ninth and was credited with his
1st save.
Richard Rodriguez(0-1) was hit with
the loss in relief. Everyone seemed to enjoy the performance of Giolito - except North
Dakota. Arnie lamented, 'He just
was 'on' tonight. He was keeping our guys off balance all game.
A fine game by a good strikeout
pitcher - makes it a fun game for the hometown fans- unfortunately we were the visitors!'
Game 2: North Dakota wins 9 to 4 over
Neverwinter
Tyler Clippard gave up a grand slam to
Lindor in the top of the 8th blowing open a tied game. Andrew
Miller was credited with the win. Neither starter was too
impressive and Spencer Howard (making his second and final
desperation start for ND) was pulled after only 2 innings.
Senzatela pitched "ok", but gave up two solo shots to
Goldschmidt and Betts, then settled down through 6 innings.
Acuna and Yaz homered for the Alpaca's in a losing effort.
Shortstop Francisco
Lindor blasted a grand slam at Icewind Dale Corral where the North Dakota NuclearWarheads beat the
Neverwinter Alpacas 9 to 4.
Lindor had a big day with his bat.
He tripled in the 6th inning and depressed the partisan hometown fans with a grand slam
home run in the 8th inning. North
Dakota had 13 hits overall, while Neverwinter had 4. Andrew Miller(1-0) went 1/3 of an inning
allowing no runs for the victory. The losing pitcher was Tejay Antone(0-1) in
relief. He was unable to retire a batter
allowing 3 hits and 1 walk.
Game 3: Warheads win 3
to 0 over the Alpaca's.
Jake Degrom pitched 8
strong innings striking out 15 Alpaca's cruising for the win.
Hendriks pitched a perfect ninth for the save. Austin Slater hammered a three-run
homer in the 3rd providing the only offense Degrom would need
tonight at Icewind Dale Corral. Steve Brault took the loss,
surrendering three runs over 4 1/3 innings. The Alpaca bullpen
kept them in the game but they never were able to catch up to
Degrom's fastball. Christian Vazquez, fresh off the DL lead the
home team going two for three in the losing effort.
Austin
Slater slammed a homerun and had 3 RBI and Jacob Degrom
racked up an impressive total
of 15 strikeouts at Icewind Dale Corral as the North Dakota NuclearWarheads beat the Neverwinter Alpacas
by the count of 3 to 0.
Degrom(1-0) escaped virtually
unscathed against the Neverwinter hitters. He didn't give up much, just 5 hits and 1 walk
in 8 innings. After the 3rdinning,
neither team was able to score. Liam Hendriks was credited with his 1st
save. Steven Brault(0-2) was the losing pitcher. He pitched 4 and 1/3 innings
giving up 5 hits and 5walks.
Degrom didn't realize how many
strikeouts he was racking up. When told he had15 he was obviously surprised, 'No kidding?
Man, I knew that I had a decent total, but I didn't think I had K'd that many.
Say, that's pretty good, isn't
it?'
Game
4: Neverwinter wins 7 to 5 over North Dakota
In
a rare day game with the roof open and sun shining a
pinch-hit grand slam for C.J. Cron turned the tables on the
Warheads in the bottom of the 7th off Mychal Givens caping
starting the five-run rally. North Dakota had just scored
four runs of starter Mike Fried who had a strong game until
the 7th. The Alpaca bullpen closed the door on the
Warheads, Gallegos picking up the win, Kolarek the hold and
Iglesias nailing down his second save of the series. The
hard-earned split keeps the Alpaca playoff hopes alive.
In a close game the Neverwinter Alpacas got
by the North Dakota NuclearWarheads
by the score of 7 to 5.
Neverwinter had 5 runs cross the
plate in the 7th inning with the help of 4hits. The biggest moment was provided by
C.J. Cron who made the home-town crowd a happy bunch when he emptied the
bases with a Grand Slam homerun. Neverwinter finished with 7 hits in the
victory.
The victory went to Giovanny
Gallegos(1-1) who went 1 inning, allowing no runs. Raisel Iglesias preserved the game for
Gallegos, recording his 2nd save.
Mychal Givens(0-1) took the loss in relief. He was unable to
retire a batter allowing 1 hit
and 2 walks.
Draft Day (assuming the season begins on time) - Saturday, April 2.
(1/21) New Orleans climbed into 4th place while knocking Oceanus out of first place last night.
Game
1: The New Orleans Ellis bested the Oceanus Assholes by a 5 to 2 score at
Doc Ellis
Field. New
Orleans wasted no time and took the lead in the first inning plating one baserunner
on 3 hits. The Oceanus bats were silent in the 9th.Sandy
Alcantara(1-0) picked up the victory, allowing 1 run in 5 innings. Alcantara
got relief help from Shawn Armstrong who gained credit for his 1st save.
German Marquez(0-1) took the loss.
Game
2: At Doc Ellis Field, the New Orleans fans witnessed a great pitcher's duel. Aaron
Nola(1-0) finally bested his New Orleans opposite, Hyun-Jin Ryu(0-1), by
the score of 3 to 1. Oceanus
wasted no time and took the lead in the first inning as they scored 2 runs
on 1 base hits. The early run support proved sufficient for Nola and Oceanus.
That was all the run support Nola required. Both teams finished the
game with 4 hits. Darren
O'Day recorded his 1st save. Ryu took the loss. He pitched 4
innings allowing
2 hits and 5 walks.
Game
3: Trevor Bauer carried a no-hitter into the 7th inning at Doc Ellis Field as
the New
Orleans Ellis beat the Oceanus Assholes 10 to 1.
Bauer(1-0)
pitched well for New Orleans in their victory. He was reached for 2
hits and 4 walks in 6 and 2/3 innings. The right-handed Bauer had his no-hit
bid broken up by Marcell Ozuna who singled with nobody out in the 7th inning.
Overall New Orleans out-hit Oceanus 10 to 2. Walker
Buehler(0-1) suffered the loss. Despite taking the loss, he whiffed 8 batters
in 4 and 1/3 innings.
Game
4: Jackie Bradley Jr had 2 base hits at Doc Ellis Field as the New Orleans
Ellis won
a thriller over the Oceanus Assholes in, 4 to 3. The
game was decided in the 9th inning. After an out was recorded, Jason Heyward
drew a walk. Jeimer Candelario stepped up next and he laced a base-knock.
Phillip Evans then delivered a base-hit resulting in a mighty exciting
win for New Orleans and the 46,446 home town fans in attendance. Both
teams totaled 10 hits on the night. Cesar
Valdez(1-0) got the win allowing no runs in 2/3 of an inning. Rafael Montero(0-1)
was given the loss in relief. He gave up 1 hit and 1 walk in 1/3
of an inning.
Draft Day (assuming the season begins on time) - Saturday, April 2.
(1/16) The year of the split continues...
After a mellow Sunday drive up
to Natick, Randy took the first two handily, 6-4 & 8-4. I took the
next two with consecutive shutouts, 6-0 & 8-0. Ninth hitting Arenado
was the Vita-Ray's star, going 7 for 16 with 2 homers, 3 doubles and 8
RBIs. Randy missed 4 BP HR chances, 1-6, in game 4.
(1/15) No
report from CN vs FW from earlier this week, but I was able to deduce a
split from Tom's stats. Thanks for doing those Tom.
Remember to send your stats to him! Meanwhile, today:
NO took one, NV took one, and there were two ties. It felt like dead-ball ear baseball with the lack of runs.
G1: NO wins 5 to 1. A close game until NO scores 3 in the 8th to break it open.
G2: a 1-1 tie. And if you thought that was exciting…
G3: a 0-0 tie.
G4: NV wins 3-2.
Draft Day Saturday April 2.
(1/9)
An unsatisfying split no matter how one looks at it. All close games,
the 1st and 4th were won by the Vita-Rays 5-3 and 7-6, with the
Manatees taking the middle games, 5-4 and 5-3. What's unsatisfying is
that the Rays were about to drop 3 of 4 when the they scored 5 runs in
the bottom of the 8th of the final game (3-run shot by Boegarts, 2-run
dinger by Pillar) to pull off the comeback win and gain the split in
front a stunned and disappointed home crowd.
Jed vs Tom has been rescheduled for Sat. 1/29
Draft Day Saturday April 2.
(1/7)
We were able to solve the computer issue and Robin and Harold got their
4th game in. The issue was that after game 3, the computer shows
a couple of Harold's relievers being tired but they weren't, so Robin
granted the teams a few days off. The computer didn't like that
for some reason and was acting weird. Simply restarting the league
solved the issue (although as the game progressed, Robin said she liked
the old league better).
There was no computer writeup for some reason but basically Robin got
pounded 10-1. W. Castro hit a 3-run homer, C. Frazier hit a 2-run
homer, Candelario had 3 hits a 3 rbis, and Alcantara, Hand, and Duffey
(pronounced "Doofy" by Harold) combined on a 5-hitter.
Draft Day Saturday April 2.
(1/6) In a series played on the computer due to New Orleans being in
COVID protocols, Bay City swept the first 3 games in record
time (to take over first place), then Harold and I and the Commissioner spent about a half
hour trying to get Game 4 up and running without success, so the
final game of the series is TBD.
In Game 1, Gerrit Cole atoned for his previous pounding by NO
and pitched his second game of the season in which he did NOT
allow a home run. Cole lost the no-hitter and the shutout in the
6th (and became tired), but both Cole and Bauer (who gave up 4
homers) pitched complete games, Cole allowing 3 hits and
striking out 10, as Bay City cruised to a 10-2 win.
In Game 2, Jose Iglesias hit 3 doubles and had 2 RBI
and Yu Darvish reeled off a total of
12 strikeouts as the Bay City Rollers defeated the New Orleans Ellis
5 to 3. Sal Perez homered for BC and NO left 12 on base.
In Game 3, the relatively unsung Gallen notched his 6th win of the
season, striking out 10 and pitching 8 shutout innings, allowing
just 3 hits. Jesse Winker threw out Heyward trying to score on a
1-18 chance, and Heyward let it get to him, later committing a
2-base error (as did Taylor [who didn't get thrown out at the
plate]); Grandal also committed an error, as BC capitalized on
miscues by normally sure-handed players to win 7-0. Myers hit his
second homer of the series (and 12th of the season) and Urshela also
homered for BC.
(1/5) The
Wax came to the empty Rehoboth Parking Lot and missed at least 7 single
chances of 1-15 or better. Still the series boiled down to the
bottom of the 11th in game 4. It could have been a
satisfying/unsatisfying split. Instead it was a
satisfying/unsatisfying 3-1 series win for the Assholes, who now sit
atop the SOMBILLA in first place. Newly acquired domestic abuser
Marcell Ozuna had quite a series, going 9 for 19 with 2 homers, 2
doubles and 10 RBI! Here are the game summaries.
Game 1
A 19-5
laugher for Oceanus as Future Wax's Brandon Woodruff got hammered early
and was left in to take one for the team (giving up 27 hits in the
process). Marcell Ozuna went 5-6 with a homer and a double.
Travis d'Arnaud hit two homers for the Assholes and Kyle Lewis and Mark
Canha also went yard. George Springer hit a homer for the Wax.
Game 2
A seesaw
affair where Oceanus went up 1-0 in the first inning but Future Wax
turned the tables in the 3rd to go up 2-1 and then added another run in
the 5th. But the Assholes countered with a run in the bottom of
the 5th (an Anthony Rendon solo shot) to make it 3-2. Oceanus
tied it up in the bottom of the 7th and had a 1-15 chance to score
another run but chickened out. Because...the run was scored on a
1 split pick, so the Asshole manager feared Strat-O karma versus
playing the percentages. The Wax took a 4-3 lead in the top of
the 8th but Oceanus countered with 2 in the bottom of the 8th.
Future Wax could not put anything across in the 9th versus Cam
Bedrosian, who got the save. Max Scherzer as usual bamboozled the
Assholes in 5 strong innings, notching 9 Ks but not getting a
decision. Likewise, Aaron Nola pitched well, allowing only 3
earned runs in 7 innings and striking out 7. Manny Machado and
Sean Murphy hit homers for Future Wax. Ultimately, Jarlin Garcia
got the win in relief and Kevin Gausman was tagged with the loss.
Game 3
A 12-5
laugher for Future Wax, getting some measure of revenge for game
1. It was 1-1 after the first inning but 9-1 after 5. A
tired Pablo Lopez soaked up some innings for Oceanus, and as is often
the case pitched better tired. The Assholes made things
interesting with an Ozuna grand slam in the bottom of the 7th but the
Wax tacked on 3 runs in the top of the 9th to win by a touchdown.
Future Wax hammered out 15 hits and had homers from Brandon Belt and
Machado. Pretty much everyone got in on the action for the
Wax. Lopez of course took the loss. The carefully curated
Dinelson Lamet pitched 5 innings of 1-run ball for the win.
Game 4
What a
game. Oceanus scored a run in the first inning and Future Wax
tied it in the 6th (via a former Asshole Whit Merrifield solo
shot). It went into extra innings tied 1-1. In the top of
the 11th, the Wax cobbled together a run (a walk to Arozarena and a
double by Trea Turner). But reliever Freddie Peralta couldn't
hold the lead. As the computer-generated game story put it:
"Nelson Cruz led off and got things going when he delivered a one-base
hit. Sam Huff came to the plate and doubled. Byron Buxton
then laced a base-hit giving Oceanus the win." What the computer
doesn't say is that Buxton's hit was a G3# with the infield in.
Zach Plesac pitched 9 innings of 1-run ball for Future Wax, striking
out 11. Dylan Bundy had a fine outing for the Assholes, pitching
6 innings and allowing only 1 run on 2 hits. Ultimately, Yusmeiro
Petit got the win in relief and Peralta of course suffered the loss.
(1/2) North Dakota beat Bay City 4 out of 5 games this weekend. Wait, what? I'll start at the beginning.
North Dakota took a 1-0 lead in game one on the Dick's (Alex
Dickerson's) homer off Gerrit Cole. Bay City ominously stranded 9
runners through 6 but Jessie Winker's 9th homer of the year, off Rich
Rodriguez, makes it 1-1 after 7. In the 8th, Lindor hits a home
run off Cole to make it 2-1, and more two singles chase Cole.
After an out is recorded, Trent Grisham squeezes in a run off T. Scott
to make it 3-1, and Bohm's rbi single makes it 4-1. Liam
Hendricks earns his 9th save and ND wins 4-1.
The Nuclear Warheads strike first in game 2 when Yu Darvish walks in a
run, but Sal Perez homers in the bottom of the first and it's tied
1-1. In the 3rd inning, Sal Perez is injured on a beanball thrown
by deGrom ("It slipped, honest!") and Urshela makes deGrom pay with a
two-run single to make it 3-1, BC. With no other catchers on the
28-man roster, Teoscar Hernandez (5 +5 e16) comes in to catch. ND
gets distracted by this and nobody fast is able to challenge him as
Darvish scatters 6 hits through 8 innings. Another Urshela 2-run
single makes it a 5-1 game after 8. In the top of the 9th,
Goldschmidt belts a 2-run homer off Zach Britton to make it 5-3.
With two outs, speedy Trent Grisham gets a single. He can't get
the lead, but it's still a 1-16 chance to steal with Teoscar behind the
plate. But Teoscar guns out Grisham trying to steal (a roll of
'17') to end the game, and it's 1 game to 1.
In pseudo game 3, mutant catching callup Tyler Stephenson hits a grand
slam in the 3rd inning off Bieber to give BC the 4-1 lead. An ND
sac fly makes it 4-2 in the 6th. After 7 innings have been
completed, with BC holding a 4-2 lead, the scorekeeper notices that Bay
City only had 2 outs in the third inning (Stephenson's homer came with
one out and was followed by a walk and a groundout [may or may not have
been a double play, but the scorekeeper assumed it was the third out
and did not score it as a double play]. In an attempt to save
time and aggravation, the teams agree to keep playing and if BC loses,
not count the result and replay the game from BC's 2nd out in the third
inning. Sure enough, ND ties the game in the 9th on a pinch-hit
2-run homer by Guillorme, and then 'wins' it 5-4 in the 10th on B.
Lowe's rbi single.
So the game is replayed from the 3rd inning. It's 4-1 BC.
The Dick homers in the 4th to make it 4-2, then Betts singles in 2 in
the 5th to tie it 4-4. Winker's 10th homer in the bottom of the
5th gives BC the lead back 5-4. But in the top of the 6th, Zac
Gallen walks in a run and then Mookie hits a grand salami off Corbin
Burnes. Robin then requests that this game also be replayed, but
the request is denied. ND scores two more late, and wins 12-5,
Bieber pitching a complete game.
Although up 2 games to 1, North Dakota is prepared for their 5th
consecutive unsatisfying split. Game 4 is a sparkling pitcher's duel
between Lance Lynn and Brad Keller as it is 0-0 through 7
innings. (Not trusting Lynn, ND actually uses Pomeranz and Dolis
though that point). In the 8th, singles by Betts, Tucker, and
Bohm chase Keller and its 1-0. Uber mutant catcher Stephenson
homers off Givens in the bottom of the 8th to tie it 1-1, where it
stays until the 10th. A single by Goldschmidt is followed by a costly
single and error by RF and erstwhile game 1 star catcher T. Hernandez
and ND takes the 2-1 lead. With one on and one out in the bottom of the
10th, Correa pinch-hitting against lefty Andrew Miller rolls a
3-column! But its a death roll double play "3-2" and ND has won
its first series of the season and climbs all the way up into 6th
place, just 1 1/2 out of a playoff spot.
Draft Day Saturday April 2nd
(12/27) It wasn't a stick of chewing gum this time, it was the tiny dice. I'll start at the beginning.
The Nuclear Warheads scored a run but left the bases loaded in
the first inning of game 1. Sure enough Judge hit a 3-run BP HR
(1-4) in the 2nd inning to give New Orleans the 3-1 lead. It
stayed that way until the 7th inning when North Dakota exploded for 6
runs off Valdez and Jansen (Valdez not retiring a batter) led by a Rhys
Hoskins pinch-hit 2-run homer and rbis from Goldy, Bohm and the Dick
(Alex Dickerson). Dolis enters the game in the 8th and promptly
walks the bases loaded. Evans then hits a tired single off him to
make it a 7-5 game. But Andrew Miller and Liam Hendricks (7th
save) shut down New Orleans to preserve the win.
In game 2, a 1-1 pitchers' duel between deGrom and Glasnow ends when
Colton Wong blasts a 2-run shot to send deGrom down to defeat, 3-1.
Glasnow, Gonsolin, Armstrong, and Martin combine on a 3-hitter for New
Orleans.
In game 3, Shane Bieber strikes out 16 and scatters 7 hits to win his
3rd game, 5-2. Grisham, Lowe, and Contreras all homer for North
Dakota, while Hendricks picks up his 8th save.
North Dakota can smell its first series win of the year. Game 4
is a scoreless tie through 4 innings between Ryu and Lynn. The tiny
dice are used for the 5th inning. (The managers had first meant
to use them in the 3rd inning of game 3 but forgot. Then it was
the third inning of game 4, but also forgot). Used for the first
time in almost two years, the tiny dice grant Harold a 2-run BP HR
(1-8) to Jason Heyward. Crawford's rbi hit makes it 3-0, NO. Ryu
leaves after 6 innings with a one hitter. The Nuclear Warheads score a
run in the 7th (pinch-hit rbi by Walsh) but the Ellis score two more on
rbis by Evans and Akiyama off Pomeranz to make it 5-1. Final
score 5-2 (save Chris Martin) and a split.
(12/20) In a battle
for first place, Bay City bested New Orleans to regain the top
spot headed into the All-Star Break.
Game 1 was a blowout win for NO, 14-1; both starters pitched
complete games, and Cole struck out 15 to Bauer's 14 (but gave
up 3 homers to Bauer's 1--Cole is, however, a much better person
than Bauer). Hosmer went 4 for 4 with 2 homers and a walk (but
missed the triple for the cycle), while NO's Heyward struck out
4 times.
The other three games were all close. (Robin switched from using
Harold's dice after Game 1, and it seemed to do the trick.) Game
2 featured 6 doubles after 2 innings (BC had 8 doubles in the
game, and NO had no doubles and no runs after the second inning.
NO was up 6-1 after 2, but it was all BC from there, as Winker
homered and everyone else in the starting lineup except Hayes
had a double. After a shaky start, Darvish, Britton, and
Anderson kept NO from building on its lead to win 8-6.
Bay City took the lead in Game 3 on a 2-run homer by Sal Perez
and followed that up with two more 2-run homers (Brosseau and T.
Hernandez) all by the 4th. NO battled back to cut the lead to
6-3 in the 4th on a HR by Grandel and a clutch hit by Akiyama.
BC scored in the 7th but NO came back with 3 more in the bottom
of the 8th, capitalizing on some of the 8 walks given up by BC
pitchers, but they fell one run short, as BC held on for the 7-6
win.
BC again took an early lead in Game 4 thanks in part to a clutch
hit by LaStella (all 3 runs scoring with 2 outs). BC doubled its
lead in the fourth on a 3-run homer by Sal Perez. NO came back
with 2 in the bottom of the fourth and 2 more in the seventh. BC
got an insurance run in the ninth, and Burnes relieved Keller to
preserve a 7-4 victory.....
Meanwhile
Oceanus visited Neverwinter and came away with 3 out of 4 games.
Basically, Sam got mutant-ed by a guy named Sam.... Should mention, the
series did start with a rainout.
Game 1 Neverwinter 3 Oceanus 2 (11 innings)
The
Alpacas were leading 2-0 after 7 innings as Lucas Giolito was dealing.
A trio of singles scored one of the runs and a Bregman homer accounted
for the other. Then in the top of the 8th Travis d'Arnaud got hit by a
pitch (but not injured) and the mutant Sam Huff was brought in to pinch
hit. Result: a 2-run homer to tie the game. I should mention that Sam
(the manager) probably should have scored about 5-6 runs by this time
but had been stymied by getting caught stealing on 70% chances etc. The
game went into extra innings and all the way to the bottom of the
11th. With one out, Miguel lefty-killer Rojas doubled off of Jarlin
Garcia. And then with two outs, Mike Yastrzemski hit a walk off
single. Alex Minter got the win and Cam Bedrosian was tagged with the
loss.
Game 2 Oceanus 4 Neverwinter 2
Aaron
Nola pitched a gem - 8 innings allowing only 4 hits and no earned runs
while striking out 14 for the win. Anthony Senzatela pitched a mediocre
5 1/3 innings allowing 4 runs and was tagged with the loss. The
Assholes scored singleton runs in the 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th innings.
Jose Abreu hit 2 homers. For the Alpacas, Dylan Moore stole 4 bases and
was stranded at 3rd at least twice. Moore and Mike Conforto each had 2
hits - the only Alpacas to get hits.
Game 3 Oceanus 11 Neverwinter 0
Neverwinter
lefty Max Fried was treated roughly - giving up 11 runs in the first 4
innings. The beleaguered Fried did then settle down and although tired
gave up no runs the rest of the way. However, the Alpacas bats were
completely silent except for a Mike Yastrzemski double. Walker Buehler
pitched 7 innings and struck out 8 for the win. Oceanus hit 5 homers,
with Jose Ramirez getting 2.
Game 4 Oceanus 4 Neverwinter 3
Oceanus
starter Dylan Bundy dueled with Neverwinter ace Kenta Maeda for 4
scoreless innings. But in the bottom of the 5th, the Alpacas scored 2
runs in nickel and dime fashion (a combination of hit-by-pitches, walks,
singles with a stolen base or two thrown in). Maeda still had a
shutout after 6 innings. In the top of the 7th, Jose Abreu and Kole
Calhoun drew walks and the mutant Sam Huff made his second appearance of
the series. Huff hit another homer and the Assholes jumped to a 3-2
lead. The Alpacas tied the game in the bottom of the 7th on a Tim
Anderson home run. But Oceanus got a Dom Smith homer in the top of the
8th and the bullpen, mainly in the form of Rafael Montero (who picked up
a save) held on. Tejay Antone suffered the loss in relief.
(12/20) Randy may or may not do some verbiage...
Game 1: Future Wax 7 Neverwinter 1
Game 2: Alpacas 10 Candles 3
Game 3: Future Wax 5 Neverwinter 3
Game 4: Alpacas 4 Candles 3
Two close games, two not so close games.
Send your stats to Tom!
(12/17) Harold came to win, but settled for a split.
The New Orleans Ellis went up 4-0 early in game one and CN could barely scratch an unearned run and lost 4-1.
Game 2 was pathetic as both teams scored a run in the first innings and then CN left the bases loaded in each of the first 3 frames and left men in scoring position 6 of the first 9 innings. The same (6 innings with runners left in scoring position over the first 9) could be said of the home team (NO). After 9, Rizzo hit a go ahead solo shot and CN held on using both Williams and Foster in the bottom of the 10th to strand two NO runners on 1st and 2nd to close out the game 2-1 CN.
The bats woke up for Game 3 as NO went up 3-1 then 4-1 and then 7-2 after 6 innings as the bad CN defensive came into play. CN came up in the 9th and loaded the bases for Harper with 2 outs who walked to make the game 7-4. Mike Trout came up with a chance to put CN in the lead but struck out to give New Orleans a 2-1 series advantage.
CN came out in Game 4 looking unstoppable as they went up 4-0 when Sonny Gray gave up back to back doubles followed by a 2 run homer before striking out the clutch Will Smith. New Orleans clawed their way back to a 4-4 tie after 4 on 2 solo shots and finally a pitcher x (2e0) single. But the 5th saw the vaunted New Orleans D giving up two errors (1B and P) and 2 unearned runs to see CN go up 6-4. CN got one more insurance run and blanked the home team with 4 relievers for a final 7-4 game and split.
(12/14) The split epidemic continues. North Dakota blames
the unsatifying split on a stick of gum. Let's start at the
beginning. The Nuclear Warheads came out firing (so to speak) by
putting the lead runner on base in 15 of the series' first 16
innings. Game 1 was a see-saw affair actually, as the Vita-Rays
struck first against deGrom with trade bait Ozuna's 2-run double in the
first. ND took a 3-2 lead in the 3rd (Bohm 2-run single), but
Eric scored 2 in the 4th, helped by 'get me out of here' Ozuna's homer
to take a 4-3 lead. Alex Dickerson's 3-run shot off Wainright in
the 5th sealed deGrom's 4th win. Drew Pomeranz got the save,
lowering his erstwhile 32.40 ERA.
The Nuclear Warheads tired out Berrios in the 3rd inning of Game 2,
scoring 5 runs (2 unearned), and after Betts' 2-run shot, and Bohm's
homer in the 6th it was 9-2. Eric threw in the towel, pitching SS
Ahmed in relief. He gave up only one run in the 7th and retired
the first two hitters in the 8th innning. Then he gave up 8 runs
(4 from Alonso's Grand Slam). Because Ahmed was tired, Eric
pitched Kevin Pillar in the 9th to move the game along and he pitched a
1-2-3 inning. Final score 18-2.
In between games, Eric offered Arnie a stick of Orbitz Sweet Mint
chewing gum. North Dakota had only 10 hits over the final two
games. While he'd been getting every single split roll until that
point, the ND manager could not chew gum and roll well at the same
time. Game 3 was scoreless after 6 innings (Bieber and Mahle pitching
great). With only one hit in the game to that point, the ND
manager spit out his gum and scored a run on Contreras' rbi double to
lead 1-0. Bieber had given up only 2 hits through 7, but in the
bottom of the 8th, 2 straight hits chased him, and 2 more hits off
relief ace (and former Haiku Agreession reliever) Liam Henricks made it
3-1 VR, which was the final score.
In a small bit of mismanaging starters, North Dakota was forced to
start the best bad option Spencer Howard in game 4, with an eye to the
starter yanking rules. Sure enough a C. Hernandez rbi double and
Soto 2-run homer made it 3-0 Vita Rays in the first inning, and it
became a North Dakota bullpen game. Hoskins' HR made it 3-1, but 3 more
runs for Eric in the 6th ('when will he be traded' Ozuna's 2-run double
and Maldonado rbi single) made it 6-1. But ND gets two in the 7th
to make it 6-3. Unfortunately the Orbitz gum karma injures Trent
Grisham and ND realizes he has no backup CF. So Pete Alonso (5 +5
e25) comes in to play CF. ND loads the bases with one out in the 8th!
But Matzek and Tate pitch out of it. In the 9th, ND loads the
bases on a HBP, E-6 and an intentional BB to Jared Walsh. Cisnero then
walks B. Lowe and its 6-4 with 2 outs and bases loaded in the 9th.
Brian Anderson grounds out to end the game and the gum series.
Arnie will never again accept chewing gum from Eric while playing Strat-O. (Or at the draft, nice try Eric).
(12/12) Randy will be supplying more detailed Twits notes as he was the
big winner on Sunday. Interestingly, New Orleans is now in first
place, despite being 1/2 game behind Future Wax (due to better winning
percentage and 8 fewer games played). There has been a plethora
of rescheduled
series through the end of the year. Thanks to everyone for
staying on top of rescheduling. The 2nd half schedule will be out
by
Tuesday.
(12/5) Oceanus came to play the Vita-Rays and, noticing a
distinct similarity to their own Rehoboth Parking Lot, felt
comfortable. In spite of hitting only .213 for the series,
Oceanus came away with a sweep. Mainly because the Vita-Rays hit
only .191 for the series while their pitching staff gave up 20 walks
and 5 HBP. Here are the game summaries:
Game 1 - Oceanus 8 Vita-Rays 5
Oceanus roughed up Tyler Mahle in the top of the 1st to take a 4-0
lead, thanks to a Jose Abreu grand slam. But the Vita-Rays struck
back for 2 runs in the bottom of the first, getting doubles from Luis
Arraez and Juan Soto and then taking advantage of German Marquez's
godawful (5e51) fielding for an unearned run. The Assholes made
it 5-2 in the top of the 2nd on a lucky Kyle Lewis homer (I think it
was a 1-6 BP). The plucky Vita-Rays got to within 5-4 in the
bottom of the 5th (another Arraez double and a sac fly from
Soto). But Oceanus scored 1 in the top of the 7th (on a David
Fletcher double) and 2 in the top of the 8th (a 2-run Kole Calhoun
homer). The Vita-Rays got a solo shot from Soto in the bottom of
the 9th but that was all she wrote. Marquez got the win,
scattering 10 hits (the Vita-Rays had 13 overall) in 5 2/3 innings and
Mahle got the loss.
Game 2 - Oceanus 5 Vita-Rays 1
Oceanus went up 1-0 in the top of the 2nd on a Trevor Story
homer. But the Vita-Rays tied it in the bottom of the 3rd as
Brandon Nimmo committed a 2-base error. The Assholes scored 4 in
the top of the 4th as the mutant Sam Huff (Eric: "I guess I should have
looked at his card") hit a grand slam (following 2 walks and an
HBP). And that was that. Aaron Nola had an outstanding
game, allowing only 2 hits and no earned runs while striking out 10 in
8 innings. Former Asshole Dallas Keuchel was charged with the
loss.
Game 3 - Oceanus 8 Vita Rays 1
For some reason I didn't capture all the details for this game so the
summary will be a little more high-level. The Assholes struck
first again with a run in the top of the 1st (may have been a Travis
d'Arnaud homer). It stayed 1-0 through 4 innings. Then the
Assholes got 3 more runs in the 5th, 3 more in the 8th and 1 more in
the 9th. The Vita-Rays finally got on the board in the bottom of
the 9th (a Nolan Arenado home run). The hitting stars for Oceanus
were d'Arnaud and Byron Buxton, who also hit a homer. Nick
Madrigal and Anthony Rendon had 2 hits apiece. Pablo Lopez hurled
7 innings of shutout ball for the win. Ian Anderson was tagged
with the loss.
Game 4 Oceanus 6 Vita Rays 5 (11 innings)
(What follows is the slightly-edited computer-generated game story.)
One run was the difference as the Oceanus Assholes defeated the
Vita-Rays in 11 innings 6 to 5. Both teams had scored 5 runs after nine
full innings. Oceanus came out the victor in the 11th
inning. After two were out Trevor Story doubled. David
Fletcher followed next and he ripped a base-knock scoring the
run. Both teams totaled 8 hits on the afternoon. The win
went to Alex Colome who allowed no runs in 2 innings. Trevor Rosenthal
got the save, his 1st. Shane Greene suffered the loss in relief.
Travis d'Arnaud hit a 3-run homer for Oceanus. 4 players hit
homers for the Vita-Rays (DJ LeMahieu, Marcell Ozuna, Yadier Molina and
Nolan Arenado).
Eric adds that he never once led at any point during the series.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile, Harold tied Robin for first place beating Future Wax 3 out of 4:
Game 1 FW 4, NO 2. Wax hits 3 HR’s to take the first game.
Game 2: NO 7, FW 3. This game featured NO batters getting hit 5
times, including Hayward twice (second caused an injury) and his
replacement Judge getting hit and injured as well.
Game 3: NO 4, FW 3: FW takes a 3-0 lead after one (they took a
first inning lead in all four games), but Frazer ties it with a 3 run
blast in the third. NO takes the lead in the 7th as four
relievers close it out.
Game 4: NO 4, NO 1: Bauer wins his 4th of the year striking out nine as JBJ hits a 2 run HR.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Remember all teams get a day off after 20 games (as well as 28 and 40). This seems especially important this year.
(12/3) A rare Friday SOMBILLA matchup resulted in an
unsatisfying/satisfying split as Constantinople drops the first two
games but salvages the series by taking the last two games. Here
are brief game summaries.
Game 1: The Assholes were down 2-0 after 5 innings but tied the
game in the bottom of the 6th. That's the way that it stayed
until the bottom of the 11th when Trevor Story hit a walk-off
homer. Final score: 3-2 Assholes.
Game 2: Once again the Manatees jumped to an early lead (1-0 thanks to
a Will Smith home run). The Assholes tied the game in the bottom
of the 5th, then proceeded to go up 4-1 by the bottom of the 7th.
A Donaldson solo shot in the top of the 8th tightened things up a
little but the much maligned Trevor Rosenthal (who came in with a 40.5
ERA...not a typo) pitched a 1-2-3 9th for the save. Nola got the
win and 11 more Ks. Final score: 4-2 Assholes.
Game 3: Constantinople jumped to a 6-0 lead after the top of the 4th,
tiring out Walker Buehler, who stayed in to take one for the
team. It was 8-0 Manatees after the top of the 8th. But the
Assholes mounted a comeback, with 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th and 2
more in the bottom of the 9th to make the score respectable.
Perez (whom I referred to derisively as a defensive catcher before his
at bat) hit a homer for the Manatees. Trout had 2 doubles and 3
RBI. Final score: 8-5 Manatees.
Game 4: And yet again the Manatees grab the early lead - 1-0 after 1
inning and 3-0 after the top of the 5th. Oceanus responded with a
run in the bottom of the 5th and another in the bottom of the 8th to
make it 3-2. Constantinople got an insurance run in the top of
the 9th and they needed it as the Assholes got a run in the bottom of
the 9th. But Lakins held on for the save. Tatis went 2-4
with a homer and 3 RBI for Constantinople. Final score: 4-3
Manatees.
P.s. it took multiple attempts to get going but after a reboot we
stayed connected and didn't experience any problems. Also, game 1
was quite chippy, with two Assholes going down with injuries.
Eventually, late in game 4, the Assholes countered by injuring Mike
Trout. Too late to make any difference though.
...
Remember to send your stats to Tom!
(12/1) North Dakota pulled out a satisfying split after losing the first two games to the Alpacas convincingly.
You know it's going to be a long night (figuratively only - the series
was played in 2 hours 15 minutes with only a couple of minor computer
glitches) when your opponent scores 7 runs on 3 home runs (Conforto,
Moore, Yaz) in the top of the first inning of game 1. It was 10-0
at one point, but ND made it interesting scoring 3 in the bottom of the
9th to make it 10-7, forcing Sam to manage. But it was too little
too late, Jonathan Hernandez got the save for Giolito.
Game 2 was similar, except that North Dakota actually jumped out to a
2-0 lead. But in the 5th, with the game tied 2-2, Tim Anderson
hit a Grand Slam on a BP HR 1-4 by rolling a "1", and it was all
Neverwinter from there. Final score 10-2. Max Fried had a
CG 6-hitter.
Game 3 was a reversal of fortune with North Dakota jumping in front
10-0 (7 of the runs came in the 2nd inning). Yelich had 2 homers
and Casali had another. The ND manager was drinking from a keg in
the dugout late in the game before he noticed the Alpacas scoring 7
runs in the 8th inning, forcing him to manage. But it was too
little too late, Hendricks picking up the save for Shane Bieber.
Game 4 was the only actual close game throughout. Poor Sam missed
many BP homers in cavernous Gackle Park, and he will be glad not to
have to play there again. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt had 3 base
hits as the North Dakota Nuclear Warheads bested the Neverwinter
Alpacas 4 to 3 at Gackle Park. North Dakota had 3 runs cross the
plate in the 2nd inning with the help of 3 hits. After an out was
recorded, Alec Bohm was the sparkplug when he delivered a
base-hit. Willson Contreras stepped up to the plate and he
slapped a single. One out later, Jared Walsh then belted a
three-run homer. The pitchers took over after the 4th inning as
neither team was able to score again. Newly acquired Red Sox
hurler Rich Hill(1-1) picked up the victory, allowing 3 runs in 6
innings. Liam Hendriks earned the save, his 5th! Antonio
Senzatela took the loss.
(11/24) Future
Wax visited Bay City to joust for the early season lead. The first game
was a pitchers' duel between Woodruff and Keller. BC took the lead on a
1st inning blast by Perez. But back to back doubles form Moreland and
Machado tied it up the next inning. Robin retook the lead on a lead off
homer from Myers in the 7th, but FW again answered with a run in the
8th (Stephenson singled in Belt, after his double). Stevenson led off
the 9th with a triple and scored on a Locastro sac fly. Ramirez nailed
down the save, for a 3-2 victory.
Game 2 was another pitching duel: Plesac vs Cole. Cole pitched very
well, yielding just 5 hits and 2 runs over 8 innings. But Plesac was
even better, pitching a complete game 2 hit shutout for the win. Belt
tripled in a run in the 3rd, and Stevenson doubled in another in the
6th. Robin loaded the bases in the 5th, but Albies's long fly (BP HR
1-7) fell short. 2-0 FW.
Game 3 was yet another pitchers' duel: Kershaw vs Darvish. Locastro’s
solo shot in the 2nd was answered by a Wil Myers long ball in the
bottom of the inning (his 8th HR). FW regained the lead in the 5th,
when Springer singled as a follow up to a Cronenworth double. Kershaw
and the bullpen held BC to one hit (no walks) from that point on, for
the 2-1 victory.
Robin summoned Gallen to avoid the sweep and he answered the call,
allowing just 5 hits and 1 run in 7-2/3rds. Robin pounded
off-year-Scherzer for 2 runs in the 1st and 2nd, capped with a pinch
hit (Miguel) Cabrara homer in the 3rd. FW’s only run came from a bases
loaded walk in the 8th. Mayers then struck out Mountcastle to put out
the fire and preserve the sweep-preventing 5-1 victory.
(11/21) BC
took 3 of 4 from ND in a weekend series at the Commissioner's Residence
to increase their first place lead to 1 1/2 games. In Game 1, ND jumped
out to an early lead thanks to a 3-run homer by Lowe off semi-surprise
starter Kim (who proved slightly better than last week's fully surprise
starter Zeuch). Kim left after 4 trailing 4-2 and having walked 4 and
hit a batter, but his teammates rallied to score in each inning from
the 5th through the 9th, and held on to win despite ND scoring 3 on
another Lowe homer before an out was recorded in the 9th. In perhaps a
SOMBILLA first, Arnie used position player Brett Phillips for 1 1/3
(scoreless!) innings. Final, 11-7.
Game 2 was a BC runaway, 22-4, that featured a rare 9-inning effort by
both starters (Cole and Hill, whose ERA will never recover [B. Phillips
lobbying hard to take Hill's next start]). Teoscar Hernandez was moved
into the leadoff spot and responded by homering on the first pitch of
the game and falling a triple shy of the cycle. BC also got homers from
Winker and rookie K. Hayes, as well as a mess of doubles.
Game 3 was a pitchers' duel (Darvish vs. Bieber), with BC up 2-1 after
7. In the 8th, BC scored 6 without the benefit of a homer, but ND scored
4 in the bottom of the 8th as Darvish and Mayers combined to pitch for
the cycle. Scott and Anderson held ND to 1 run in the 9th and BC held on
to win, 8-6.
Arnie avoided the sweep by pitching DeGrom in Game 4. BC went up 1-0 on a
homer by Taco Hero Ozzie Albies in the 3rd but ND tied it up in the
bottom of the 3rd. BC again took a lead in the 4th (helped by the team's
first triple of the season- LaStella), but again, ND came back in the
bottom of the inning to tie it on a 2-run Walsh homer. ND took the lead
for good on a Lowe homer in the 6th, and Hendricks struck out the side
in the 9th for his third save (of DeGrom's 3rd win for the last place
Nuclear Warheads).
...
Meanwhile there is a Bummer of a controversy! Eric cut reliever Aaron
Bummer back in April. Despite this, Bummer made two appearances for
Eric against Tom last week, both games of which he won. Bummer! Both
wins (and losses) have been wiped off the board while Tom and Eric
decide what to do (probably replay the games from where the literally
and figuratively sad situation occurred). This reminded me of an
episode years ago when Matt was managing a team he shared with Jed and
actually used a player who had never even been on his roster! Eric's
comment at the time was that he was in awe of Matt.
(11/18) From Jed: "Note that the game was glitchy - multiple freezes
requiring killing and restarting. But we fought through it.
Game 1
A 9-4 laugher for New Orleans even though, as usual, Oceanus took an
early 2-0 lead. The Ellis pounded out 14 hits and the
righty-killing Alcantara pitched 7 strong innings for the win.
Frazier hit two homers for New Orleans, who had 4 in the game.
Cruz had a 2-run homer for the Assholes. All 3 Asshole were
pretty much equally ineffective.
Game 2
A 7-1 laugher for Oceanus. Aaron Nola pitched a complete game for
the Assholes, striking out 15. Sonny Gray pitched a complete game
for New Orleans (taking one for the team). Trevor Story had 2
triples for Oceanus and now has 5 on the season. Cruz had another
homer.
Game 3
Again Oceanus took an early lead and the game was 2-2 after 8
innings. New Orleans got 3 runs in the 9th. Once more
Rosenthal did not get the job done, allowing 2 hits that scored
runs. I didn't realize at the time but the runs were all unearned
(there was an error in there by mutant catcher Sam Huff). Bauer
got the win for New Orleans and Martin the save - final score
5-2. Bundy matched Bauer but the bullpen let him down.
Game 4
Started out looking like New Orleans would take the series as they
raced to an early 4-0 lead. But the Assholes fought back and
eventually it was tied 4-4 after 7. In the top of the 9th, Judge
came in to bat against Oceanus lefty reliever Garcia. I thought
about walking Judge but decided against it. Judge missed a 1-17
two-run homer chance. In the bottom of the 9th, Calhoun hit a
walk off homer. Final score 5-4 Oceanus. A rare excellent
performance from the Asshole bullpen - 3 2/3 no-hit innings."
Send your stats to Tom!
(11/17)Long
story short, Tom traveled south Plymouth so that the Vita-Rays could
travel to Constantinople and take 3 of 4. Funny how that works. "I like
my company to leave happy," Eric said after the series. "Tom's a good
egg. He traveled 90 miles to and fro with grace, dignity and good
humor, and I broke this heart." Both managers expected to be swept, so
a split would have been welcome. But enough with the prologue...
Game 1: VR 8-6 (10 innings)
Game 2: VR 5-2
Game 3: CN 6-1
Game 4: VR 4-3 (10 innings)
Gm 1: CN jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, only to be overtaken by 6
runs (4 in the 8th) by VR, who eventually prevailed in the 10th on a
jack by Maldonado off May, his (Maldonado's) 2nd late inning dinger of
this young season... Anyway, the win went to Anderson (7 innings, 5
runs), despite going walk-walk-homer (Seager) to the 1st 3 batters of
his SOMBILLA debut...
Gm 2:This one was tied 2-2 thru 6 when VR's Bogaerts connected for a
2-run shot and the pen tossed 3 perfect innings for a 5-2 victory.
Gm 3: CN scored 6 runs over the 1st 3 innings and Marco Gonzales hurled
(barfed?) a masterful complete game, scattering 9 hits (including 4
doubles) and 4 walks while somehow managing to give up just a single
run.
Gm 4: This was a tough one for Tom to lose. CN fought back to knot the
game late at 3 apiece only to strand a shit ton of runners over the
final 3 innings (including a home-to-first inning-ending DP with the
bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th), with VR scoring a run in the
10th on a shallow sac fly by Lemahieu.
.....
A
hard-fought series between Future Was and North Dakota featured three
one-run games, two of which were decided by self-questioned managerial
decisions by Arnie.
In the first game, Woodruff and Hernandez each had 3 hits and no runs
over 5, only to give up a run and come out of the game in the 6th. In
the 7th, Arnie brings in Pomeranz who walks the first two batters.
Randy brings in lefty-killer Arozarena. After much deliberation, Arnie
does not make a move, and Arozarena hits a 3-run blast for a 4-1 win.
The next game had Kershaw battling deGrom. ND breaks a 1-1 tie in the
6th when Goldschmidt triples and pinch hitter Walsh drives him in.
Pinch hitter Lindor adds a crucial home run in the 8th, ensuring
that Turner’s lead off blast in the 9th is not enough. ND wins 2-1.
Game 3 had ND ace Bieber facing off against off-year Scherzer. ND was
up 5-2 going into the 7th, only to have FW rally for 4 (2-out) runs in
the 7th. Down by 1, Betts led off with a triple in the 9th. After a
strike out, Arnie brings in pinch hitter Mondesi (A bunter) who
attempts a suicide squeeze! But he pops up the bunt attempt, resulting
in a game ending double play and a 6-5 FW win.
The final game was all Lamet, who pitched a complete game shut out. FW
batters chipped away, accumulating enough runs for a 6-0 win and a 3-1
series victory.
Send your stats to Tom!
(11/16) Bay City
went 3-0-1 vs. Oceanus to take over first place in a series that
saw the home Rollers come from behind three times. In Game 1,
surprise BC starter TJ Zeuch gave his manager zilch, pitching 4
innings and allowing 9 hits (possibly 8 for extra bases) and 6
runs, but the BC bullpen was superb, as Mayers, Britton,
Slegers, and Scott allowed 1 hit and no runs in 5 innings. Bay
City came back from a 6-2 deficit to score 2 runs each in the
6th, 7th, and 9th, the last two on a Jesse Winker walk-off homer
against Bedrosian after former Bay Cityite O'Day blew the save.
Game 2 wasted an 8-inning 2-run, 2-hit, 17K effort by A. Nola as
BC overcame Gerrit Cole allowing 3HRs and striking out only 7 in
8 innings to come from behind and make the most of their 6 hits
(to the Assholes' 14) to score 5 runs--thanks to homers by Sal
Perez, Urshela, and Dalbec. Ex-Asshole Burnes pitched 3
scoreless innings in relief and the game ended in a 5-5 tie.
Game 3 saw Yu Darvish get tired in the first inning (but stick
it out for 6 innings); he allowed only 1 homer (to Buehler's 4)
and the game was tied at 6-6 after 6. Jed took a 7-6 lead in the
7th, but Bay City countered with 6 in the bottom of the 7th, en
route to a 13-7 win (thanks to 7 homers [McNeil, Urshela, Hayes,
Winker, T. Hernandez, Albies, and Dalbec]). In Game 4, each team
tried something different, as BC took an early lead and Jed
tried to mount a comeback, but fell one run short--as Kyle Lewis
(pinch hitting for Story) hit into a clutch out with the tying
run on third in the ninth. Zac Gallen had a solid start for BC
as he allowed 4 hits and 3 runs (all solo homers) in 8 innings.
(11/15) Game 1:
Alpacas win 5 to 2 over New Orleans. Giolito goes eight strong innings
as he defeats Gray at Ellis stadiam. 12 K's for Giolito plus a homer
for Freeman lead to the win. Gray struggled with his control giving up
six walks in the opener. Gallegos strikes out the side and pitches a
perfect 9th to earn the save.
Game 2:
New Orleans shut out Neverwinter 1 - 0. In a pitcher's duel, Bauer
outduels Fried going seven strong innings. The Alpacas only managed
three hits against the New Orleans. A Grandal single in the bottom of
the 6th plated the only run in this pitcher's duel. The bullpen did the
job and Armstong earned a save getting the last out after allowing a
walk before striking out Wendle to end the game.
Game 3:
Neverwinter 11 New Orleans 5
The Alpacas jumped on Ryu early scoring nine runs in the first three
innings cruzing to an 11 to 5 victory. Maeda goes the distance as does
Ryu preserving both bullpens. A grand slam by Kiner-Falefa let the
Alapaca's attack. Maeda struck out 14 in the complete game victory.
Game 4:
Ellis over Neverwinter 15 to 12. In a real pitchers duel, New
Orleans overcame an 8 to 1 and 11 to 5 deficit to earn the victory.
Valdez gets the win while Iglesias takes the loss. The game had
27 runs and 33 hits combined. The Alpacas jumped on Wheeler early but
their bullpen couldn't hold the lead. Each move made by management was
like putting gasoline on the fire as New Orleans scored 10 runs in the
final three innings to secure the victory. Brad Hand came on and nailed
down the save, but not before Chris Martin added some intrigue allowing
a hit and walk in the top of the ninth giving the Alpacas hope.
(11/7) The
very first game of the SOMBILLA's season ended in... a tie! In
game 4 of the New Orleans Vita-Rays series, Judge threw a runner out at
the plate in the 10th inning to preserve New Orleans win...Alpacas take
the first two games at the Coral against BC, including a 10 inning
affair in game one involving a computer issue resorting to dice in the
10th inning. (The computer used a ghost runner in the 10th inning
instead of the pre-2020 rules). Game two featured a triple play
hit into by Sal Perez ending a bases loaded rally...
Future Wax won game 3, 17-7 of their series. 66 runs were scored in that series.
Ballparks
L R
Fences
North Dakota S: 1-14 1-14 High
HR: 1-8 1-4
Constantinople S: 1-19 1-19 High
HR: 1-19 1-19
Neverwinter S: 1-7 1-9 High
HR: 1-7 1-9
New Orleans S: 1-18 1-4 High
HR: 1-10 1-10
Vita-Rays S: 1-5 1-14 High
HR: 1 1-6
Oceanus S:
1
1-15 High
HR: 1 1-10
Bay City S:
1-6
1-12 High
HR: 1-4 1-7
Future Wax S: 1-10 1-15 High
HR: 1-6 1-15
First half schedule