Playoffs

Future Wax vs. Area 51 (Jeff’s house, March 6 2010)

Background

Despite being picked for 5th in the pre-season poll, Future Wax jumps out of the gate in style, sweeping Eric at home. Another home sweep (against the hapless Earthworms) 2 weeks later, and FW is 8-0 at home en route to breaking the league’s single-season home winning percentage record. By the end of November, Randy is 12-4 and never looks back. Despite a mediocre 7-5 December, FW is still in front (of Jed) by 2 games. With a hectic February looming, Randy plays 20 games in January (13-7) and caps off with a 7-1 February to cruise to a 5 game advantage over 2nd place, the biggest margin by a first place team in 13 years.

Jeff (6th in the poll) jumps out to a good start and is only 2 games behind Randy at the end of November at 10-6. But after going only 5-7 in December, Jeff is in a pack of 4 teams, only 3 games apart, with a table set for only 3. But he wins 3 of 4 from Tom on January 3, and despite going only 6-6 in January, he is helped as Tom (4-8) falls off the pace. He seems to be sitting pretty in 4th until he gets swept by Jed in the final week of the season. With Tom only a game behind, Jeff backs into the playoffs thanks to some help from the pitiful Earthworms on the final night of the season.

Randy won 6 of 8 games against Jeff in the regular season.

　

Game 1: was a match up of lefties Hamels (FW) and Lester (A51). Jeff drew first blood on a Renteria HR in the 1st, but Belliard doubled in Cameron in the bottom of the frame to tie it. Phillips and Teixeira both homered in the 3th, making it 4-1. Reyes walked, stole second, and scored on a Cameron double to reduce the lead to 2.

The key moment came in the bottom of the 4th. Randy had runners on 1st and 3rd, one out. Reyes puts down a safety squeeze. Jeff throws home (1-10) rather than taking the sure out at first, but Braun is safe. Both runners score when Prado triples, and Prado then scores on Cameron's ground out (which might have been the 3rd out had the earlier play gone to first). Both starters go 5 innings, and neither bullpen allows a run. Final score 6-4, Future Wax



Game 2: was Cy Young Award winner Guthrie vs Garza. Jeff scores in the 1st without a hit: Longoria is hit by a pitch, steals second, then scores on a Reyes error. The pivotal play in this game also occurred in the bottom of the 4th. Hamilton comes up with the bases loaded, one-out, and rolls a ballpark homer chance. Unfortunately for him, the dimensions for lefties are HR 1-1 (low fence). He rolls a 2, which means the CFer is making the play: Sizemore is a 1, so it becomes a 1-3 chance -- Randy rolls a 3, Grand slam!



As tough as this turn of fate is to swallow for Jeff, the game is far from over. Teixeira and Phillips again homer in the same inning (5th) to knot the score at 4. Uggla breaks the tie with a solo blast in the bottom of the frame, for the lead. For the second game, Future Wax uses 7 relief pitchers who again do not allow a run. Final score, 5-4 Future Wax.

Game 3 features Harden vs Meche. For the third straight game Jeff scores in the 1st inning, plating 2 on a Longoria sac fly and Molina (Benjy) triple. Uggla ties it in the 3rd with a 2-run shot. Michael Young counters with his own 2-run bomb in the 4th, only to have A. Ramirez re-tie it with another 2-run homer in the 5th. Uggla puts Future Wax up by 1 by doubling in Braun (also in the 5th). Future Wax then adds 4 more insurance runs in the 7th, after Quentin hits a sac fly with the bases loaded, Prado drives in the other two with a single, then scores on a McCann triple. Harden goes 7, and the Wax pen closes the door. 9-4 Future Wax.



In Game 4, Future Wax jumps off to a 6-0 lead on homers by Prado and Quentin, and doubles by Braun and McCann. Damon homers and Ianetta then scores on a Prado error to reduce the lead to 4. Reyes triples and scores on a Ramirez sac fly. Lowell's 3-run HR cuts the lead to 2, then in the 8th Phillips hits his third home run of the series to cut the lead to 1. Hamilton homers in the 9th, and Nathan gets his second play off save. Final score, 8-6 Future Wax.



Future Wax sweeps Area 51, 4 games to 0.

Dem Bums vs. Fugakyu (March 7, 2010)

Background:

Bursting with confidence (not literally, though), Eric (2nd in the pre-season poll) starts slowly, with an 8-8 November. But that’s good enough to tie him with 3 other teams, including Fugakyu (picked 4th). Both teams have a great December, with Jed’s sweep of Robin on 12/6, capping a 9-3 month, while Eric goes 6-2, and these two teams set up a 2nd half where they will essentially jostle for 2nd and 3rd the whole way. Eric sweeps Tom on 1/10 to highlight an 11-5 January (Jed goes 7-4) as he leads Jed by just ½ game going into February. Jed has a quixotic end of the season, getting swept by both Tom and Randy, while sweeping Robin (again) and Jeff for a wild 10-11 month, allowing Eric (9-7) to take 2nd place.

The two teams split both series, portending what is to follow.　.　.　 .

<Linescores to be posted in the online version shortly>

Game 1: At home against the Pufferfish, game 1 was a blowout, as Dem Bums crushed 6 dingers off Webb and Shields, and scored at least one run in every inning but the 7th. Lincecum went the distance, striking out 12.

　

Game 2: began what turned out to be 6 consecutive nail-biting one-run games. The Pufferfish took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the 8th hoping to knot the series at 1-1, but Geary coughed up a 2-run shot to Manny, and Balfour nailed down the save. Dem Bums up 2 game to none.

　

　

Game 3: was 1-0 Dem Bums into the 8th, when the Bums padded their lead by scoring 2 off Wade for what seemed a comfortable 3-0 lead. But Jed came right back with 2 off Arrendondo in the bottom of the 8th, and set a tone of comebacks that would go right into the 9th inning of game 7. In this game, Balfour came on to get his 2nd save of the series. Even though Jed lost the game and faced a 3-0 deficit in the series, things were just heating up. With Jed virtually conceding defeat, Eric started to sweat through the bottom of his soggy jeans....

　

Game 4: or game 1 of Fugakyu's comeback, looked like a cakewalk for the Bums, with Lincecum pitching with a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the 7th. But Lincecum tired and surrendered 3 runs for the tie, and Delcarmen failed to hold the tie as the Pufferfish scored 4 in the 7th and held on for a 4-3 win, with Soria picking up the save.

　

Game 5 was crazy. The Pufferfish, with Beckett on the mound, got down to business early, scoring 3 runs off Lowe through 3 innings. For the Pufferfish, Beckett then scattered 8 hits throughout 6.3 scoreless innings and whiffed 6 without surrendering a walk. But with a 3-0 lead going into the 8th and 9th, Springer, Sheilds and Geary managed to blow the hold and give the Bums a 4-3 lead going into the bottom of the 9th. Eric brought in Balfour looking for his 3rd save (and the series win) but he surrendered a run with 2 outs by walking Furcal and giving up a double to Mauer. After failing to score in the top of the 10th, the Bums put Scott Downs on the mound. With runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 out, Jed pinch-hit Derek Lee against Downs, and Eric decided to face him, and Lee got a clutch hit on a 1-6 roll to bring Theriot around for the winning run. Suddenly, Jed was down only 3 games to 2. In games 3, 4 & 5 the Bums missed about 6 or more ballpark homers at Pufferfish's ridiculously vast ballpark....

Game 6, back in the friendly confines of Sandover, looked like the clincher for the Bums. They got out to a quick 4-0 lead in the 1st inning off Webb, and had a 6-1 lead after 2. But Jed quickly halved the lead with solo blasts by Pena and Choo to make it 6-3. The Bums added a run in the 6th, to take a commanding 7-3 lead, which they held into the 8th, when the Pufferfish scored 4 runs off Delcarmen and Okajima to incredibly tie the game. With the Bums’ relief pitching stretched thin, Eric kept Okajima on the mound, who promptly gave up another run in the 9th on a solo blast by Victorino, his 2nd dinger of the game. Soria came on for a dominating 2-whiff save, and lo and behold, Jed had come back from the brink of doom and was now up 3 games to 3, going in to the one-game elimination...

Game 7 started with the Bums (and their quickly aging manager) in a state of catatonia, and though they managed to take a 2-0 in the 3rd on a 2-run blast by Giles, no one in the dugout felt secure. The Pufferfish, with their backs to the wall, threw all their pitchers at the Bums, and managed to hold the home team to no more runs as the Fish mounted yet another comeback, scoring 2 runs in the 4th, one in the 5th and adding a killer run in the 7th, to take a 4-2 lead into the 9th.

Jed sends in Soria looking for his 3rd save and gets two quick outs, striking out Adrian Gonzalez and getting Chris Dickerson on a harmless grounder to Roberts. With one little out to go, Soria loses control of a fastball and nails Utley in the elbow. Up comes JD Drew, who rolls a 1-2, which is a single 1-5, and he rolls a "1" for the measly, cheap hit. Then up strides....Troy Tulowitzki, who's in for Tejada, spectacularly un-clutch, and without a home run all year, with with no one on the Bums’ bench to come in and pinch hit... In short, a perfect matchup for Soria, who gets Tulo to roll a 6-2...and holy shit!! It's the only diamond on Soria's card, and the ball fuckin' flies out of Sandover Field and the Bums win the series, the Bums win the series!!! Jed was magnanimous in defeat, and managed brilliantly throughout the series. Eric feels he was outmanaged and lucky as shit.

World Series

1. Future Wax vs. Dem Bums
(March 20, 2010)

Background:

Future Wax won 5 of 8 against Dem Bums in the regular season.

It’s the first day of spring, and Randy and I start around 90 minutes later than we would’ve liked, in part because Randy has a singing lesson and partly because neither of us has one of those 20-sided thingies (until Dede scrounges one up) and partly because it’s oh-shit-we-gotta-bring-all-our-crap-electronic-gear-to-the-Natick-Town-Dump-day and we (Randy, Dede, me) load the Honda with monitors and burnt out stacks and boomboxes and dead vacuums and off Dede goes (bye, Hon, thanks!) and by 2:30 Randy and I finally settle in to play at Randy’s vintage 50's kitchen table, Springsteen’s "Born to Run" playing in the background, corn chips and a bowl of the hottest salsa known to man sitting on a lazy susan, and a Saranac at each manager’s side.

Game 1: and Randy's the home team, but Da Bums are still riding high from Tulo’s miracle walk-off against Jed because Brian Giles starts the game with a walk off Hamels and Manny follows with a bomb to center, and before the kid under the scoreboard can say ‘I gotta funny feeling about my Dunkin’ Donuts team leader’ it’s 2-0 Bums. It’s not rightly a blow out until Da Bums break it open with 5 runs in the 8th and 9th, courtesy of Geovany Soto, who homers and triples and finishes the game with 4 hits and 6 rbi’s. Lincecum breezes through 9, surrendering 5 hits and fanning 8. Final: 10-1

Game 1

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
DB	2	1	0	1	0	1	0	2	3		10	13	0
FW	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0		1	5	0

WP: Lincecum LP: Hammels SV: Delcarmen

Game 2 is tight. The Wax spring to life and score 5 runs through 4 innings, Ludwick and Reyes each taking Dempster yard. but Da Bums counter with 2-run shots by Gonzalez and Manny (again) off Guthrie, then plate an unearned run off a very Uggla error in the 6th to knot the score at 5. Both bullpens take over until the 10th, when Randy trots outs Nathan and Nathan lets two get on for Soto, who with two outs hits his 2nd homer of the series (driving in four more runs), and the Wax go meekly 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 10th and find themselves down two games to none. Final: 8-5,

Game 2

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
DB	0	2	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	8	11	1
FW	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	9	1

WP: Balfour LP: Nathan

HR: (DB) Adrian Gonzalez (1); M. Ramirez (2) Soto (2)

　

In Game 3 Randy once again comes out strong, with back-to-back blasts from Berkman and Ludwick off Lowe in the 1st, but the lead is short-lived as Da Bums tie it after two against Harden and then send nine to the plate in the 4th and score 4 back-breaking runs. Soto (2 more ribbies) and Manny each go deep for their 3rd homers of the series, and Da Bums coast to an easy 9-5 victory and a take commanding 3-0 series lead. (Arnie, who along with Robin was following the results online, later tells Eric that Randy inadvertently posts the game on-line as a victory for Wax.) Final: 9-5.

Game 3

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
FW	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2		5	9	0
DB	1	1	0	4	0	2	1	0			9	13	0

WP: Lowe LP: Harden

HR: (FW) Berkman (1); Ludwick (1) (DB): M. Ramirez (3); Soto (3)

　

In Game 4 against Lincecum, the Wax waste no time capitalizing on two walks in the 1st as Hamilton hits a 3-run blast and Randy is determined to win one effin’ game if it kills him, but Da Bums get 4 in the bottom of the inning off Hamels as Huff and Utley go yard. But the Wax answer with 3 in the 3rd and 2 in the 4th and just like that it’s 8-4 after 4 and Eric is thinking it’s Jed all over again. Amazingly Lincecum isn’t tired, and goes Cy Young on the Wax and surrenders only one hit and a walk over the next five innings as Da Bums score single runs in the 6th and 8th (a Drew solo shot) to close within 8-6.

Into the 9th and nursing a 2-run lead, Randy sends Galaragga to the mound against series MVP Soto, who promptly deposits his 4th home run in 4 games into the upper deck in left to make it 8-7. After Giles whiffs, Randy brings in Nathan, game 2’s hard-luck pitcher. In succession, Nathan walks Huff and coughs up a single to Chipper Jones, sending Huff to 3rd. Jones steals 2nd and Randy brings his infield in against Manny, who grounds hard to Reyes and keeps Huff dancing off 3rd with the tying run. Into the batter’s box steps Drew and Nathan grooves a fat one and Drew absolutely rips the ball into the stands in right and Da Bums have taken their second post-season series with a walk-off home run. Final: 10-8.

Game 4

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
FW	3	0	3	2	0	0	0	0	0		8	6	0
DB	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	4		10	14	0

WP: Lincecum LP: Nathan

HR: (FW) Hamilton (1); Ludwick (2); Berkman (2) (DB): Huff (1); Utley (1); Drew 2 (2); Soto (4)

　

Soto is a monster, batting .600 (9 for 15) with 4 home runs and driving in 13. Lincecum goes 2-0 with 2 complete games. Da Bums bullpen surrenders just 2 earned runs in 9 innings, and da team bats .333 and slugs .627.

　

THOUGHTS WHILE LISTENING TO THE FROGS IN NEIGHBORS’ POOL


Minutes of the Annual Meeting and Draft April 10, 2010

1. Dues. Jed and Eric still owe me $6.80.

2. Awards Voting - 5 points for 1st place, 3 for 2nd place, 1 for 3rd place. Since managers cannot vote for their own players, 7 votes would normally be a unanimous vote.

One person left their Manager of the Year vote blank, while another split his 2^nd place vote three ways.

3. Presentation of the Richman Cup by last year's champion, Tom, to this year's champion, Eric.

4. Rule change proposals

1. Clarification and agreement of cutting of players.

• "I expect most teams to decide in < 24 hours that they don’t want to draft anyone" (well, I was half right).
• "Considering that we’ve never had a year when > 1 player was drafted from the cut list, there’s no need to overthink this" (perhaps we should have).
• "This cut list draft will probably go quickly" (Oops).

Yeah, it will be different next year. But these are just the minutes, so we’ll just move along.

2. By-law clarifications.

1. Clarification of mismanagement of starters’ innings.

Just a minor clarification, deleting the following phrase:

"If no starter on the roster is eligible because they do not have enough rest (to comply with B and C above) because you had to use up all your available starters in relief in a prior game to replace a reliever who was used up……..

We realized (via Jed) that there are a myriad ways to mismanage your starters’ innings at the end of the season, yet the basic rule we came up with should still apply. So no need to have a reason listed.

2. Explicitly note in the bylaws that the post-season roster is your roster immediately prior to calling up your 26th man.

Both of these clarifications passed 8-0.

3. Ballparks.
As with last year, I proposed amending the current floor for lefty-righty differentials to be 5 instead of 7. (For a reminder, we always use the maximum lefty-righty differential of actual ballparks. But in ’07 that maximum was only "3", so we came up with a ‘floor’ to allow for designing ballparks with a greater differential than 3). For this year’s proposal, I included a brief history of the ballpark differential floor rules.

4. Thing-off proposals.

• Resolve the thing-off for the earliest pick in the draft. The team with the worst record will then know his or her draft position for the entire draft, regardless of any additional thing-offs.

• The teams involved in the second thing-off now have picks adjacent to each other in every other round. The winner of the second thing-off gets the earliest adjacent pick and then all adjacent picks alternate later in every other round. Got that?

4. Draft uncarded players.
Eric proposed that we open the draft to players for whom there are no cards, such as true rookies, but actually any player without a card The proposal would be thus: a team may choose to pick just one player for whom no card exists, but would automatically forfeit their first pick round for the following season. A team without a first round pick for the following season would be ineligible.

7. DH.
Jed then proposed that home teams are allowed to ban the DH. This was rejected 7-1. Jeff, on behalf of Matt, proposed that we eliminate the DH. This was rejected 6-2.

8. Card burning I printed off a computer version of A-Rod and an old computer version of Clemens (to prevent a reoccurance of last year when the league voted to burn A-Rod, but Tom refused to allow his A-Rod to be burned). Jeff offered up Brett Myers as well, and for the first time ever, we had a triple burning. There was brief concern as the pyre grew to record heights.
9. Draft Notes

There was one trade made on draft day: RAT traded Tom its 12th round pick for Tom’s 7th round pick in 2011. With the pick, Tom selected LaPorta.

Retread report:

• The very first player drafted who used to be in the league was the fourth overall pick! With much angst, Tom drafted the player who was cut by Robin just last year after 7 years on her roster, Joel Pineiro.
• Next, North Dakota redrafted their own former lefty reliever, Mike Gonzalez, in the 3rd round.
• Eric then drafted Ryan Franklin, a former reliver for Jeff, in the 3rd round.
• In the 4th, Eric picked up former CN reliever, Howry.
• Jed drafted Affeldt in the 5th round; he played for Jeff once.
• Former ND outfielder Juan Rivera was scooped up by Eric in the 6th.
• Jeff returned the favor from Eric, by drafting Millwood in the 7th.
• Harold drafted former BC reliever Huston Street in the 8th, engendering oohs and ahhhs.
• Harold drafted former Bay City reliever Robinson Tejada in the 8th.
• Jed went with former ND OF Francouer in the 9th.
• Former catcher for the Aliens,. Olivo, was picked up by Tom in the 10th
• Jed drafted ‘cute’ former BC reliever CJ Wilson in the 10th.
• Eric took a shot on Kouzmanoff in the 11th. He was cut by ND last year.
• Jed’s former second pick, Zumaya, was drafted by Jeff in the 12th.

• Eric took former CN catcher Ausmus with the last pick in the 12th.

Of course, the following week we began the cut list draft odyssey. A total of 27 players were drafted in that supplemental draft and every single fucking one of them was previously cut this year.

Here is our first unscientific look ahead to the 2010 cards (due out in January).

Eric (12) – Bourn, Crawford, A. Gonzalez, Konerko, Lincecum, Molina, R. Soriano, Tulewitzski, Utley, Verlander, Weaver, B. Wilson

Jeff (11) – Andrus, Broxton, Bucholz, Ethier, Feliz, Guerrero, Lester, Longoria, Pettitte, Phillips, Swisher

Jed (10) – Bailey, Beltre, Capps, Holliday, Howard, Mauer, Price, Soria, Suzuki, Votto

Arnie (10) – H. Bell, J. Johnson, Lee, Ortiz, Pedroia, Pujols, H. Ramirez, Rolen, Wainright, C. Young

RAT (9) – Braun, Cahill, Hamilton, Hughes, Jimenez, McCann, Prado, Reyes, Valverde

Tom (9) – Howard, Hart, Hudson, Hunter, Kinsler, Rhodes, A. Rodriguez, Sabathia, Thornton

Robin (8) – Byrd, M. Cabrera, Gallardo, Halladay, Jeter, Kuo, V. Martinez, Wells

Harold (6) – Cano, Carmona, Carpenter, Morneau, Rivera, Wright

(because Game 7 of the World Series would be Thursday November 4)