Live From ATT Park
You would think that averaging 5 runs/game in notoriously pitcher friendly ATT park would be good. But when your opponent averages 8 runs/game, then you get swept. Jon's team crushimated me.
Game 1 -- Barry Zito does not last to the seventh out and I yank him (big mistake). Marmol pitches 4 innings to allow me to get within a few runs, but nothing good happens. Cruz also pitches multiple innings, so all my long relievers are tired. I lose 3-7. At least Zito severly injured Brad Hawpe, forcing him to miss the rest of the series.
Game 2 -- Can faces nine batters in the first ... and nine batters in the second. Despite being fatigued after 5 outs, I keep him in the full game (who else do I have to replace him). However, he goes 1-2-3 in the 3rd, 4th and fifth, and shuts Jon out for the remainder. I lose 6-8.
Game 3 -- Lincecum manages to make it past 7 outs before fatiguing. Since I'm not on the board and it worked so well ... keep him in! He blanks Jons team, except for a Bond's solo home. In the top of the 8th I score six runs (Jon kept Brandon Webb in when fatigued for a few hitters, but lifted him after Martinez hit a 3 run HR. At this point I put in Rivera (two run game), and Bonds got another solo jack for insurance.
Some stats (no batting stats yet) -- According to my pythagorean, I should be 5-4. I'm 3-6. (54 RF, 49 RA).
As I told Jon, if those breakouts occured in the fifth (or later), I'd have likely won all three games, since I'd have yanked those bad boys.
My starters -- 56 IP 5.79 ERA, 1.8 WHIP. 38 BB, 35 K.
My relievers -- 21 IP 2.14 ERA, 0.76 WHIP, 6 BB, 23 K.
Victor Martinez allowed a passed ball and gave up an error in the same inning. Way to go!
Remember my request that the gods of baseball not punish me with any multi-base errors? Denied.
In all games Jon loaded the bases by the 2nd inning, I believe.
Bonds had something like 6 RBIs (including two scored on walks). Imagine what he would have done if he played all three games. One of the HRs was on the Petco diamond result (HR 1-4).
I did finalize one players batting stats. Matt Holliday has shattered the Mendoza line. BA .143, OBP .244, Slug .249 (OPS of .493). Serious slump. He actually hit a home run (1-4 Right) in the final game .... and then I realized he was on first, and looked at the right card. One of his walks was actually mis-read from another card, but we let it stand rather than rewind.
Jon is 4-2.
Labels: SABBL
posted by Brian @ 10:30 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
In some total, I had fatigued pitchers throwing for 9.1 innings. I think I gave up 1 "dot" result (strikeout converted to hit).
Oh, I also forgot the obscene number of defense checks that I made. Normally that's fine for my team, but in the first game both of my "poor defense/lefty smashing" players (1B and RF) got called. Not to mention Veritek's horribleness.
Jon actually had to roll on a 3E30 pitcher, and rolled a 16 .... missing the errors on 15, 17 and 18.
OK, Batting stats ...
Orlando Hudson is also sub-mendoza with a .194 BA. (40 PA).
On the plus side, Alou, Beltran, Lowell and Martinez have OPS > 1 (with 30+ PA each). On the down side, no other player on my team has a HR, and that group only has six total.
Lowell has hit in 8 out of 9 games, and reached in every game. Martinez has an 8 game hitting streak ...
Beltran has hit in seven games. Alou, of course, rests once a series.
Chris and I are two games in to our series, and I'm down 0-2. Game one was a blowout, not much offense generated on my end. It was a pretty defensive game though...
The second game was the gut-wrencher - first inning Chris scored two runs, and I follow up with three runs. This almost matches our run totals for the entire previous game. Chris's third out was a stretch run to home, with a 1-15 chance at making it, and he rolls a 19 - Sizemore makes the throw to home!
For the rest of the game we kept trading the lead, but we were never ahead more than one run for an entire inning. After giving up a soft single in the 4th, I pulled my starting pitcher, and my reliever goes four innings without giving up a hit... I had to replace him only because he was completely out of playable innings.
In that time I regained the lead, and headed into the top of the 9th ahead 9-8. Chris steps up his first two batters and gets on base, finally rolling on his batter's cards instead of my pitcher's. The third hit is a third baseman X check - and my third baseman had to sit, so I was playing my backup who is a 4e53. I rolled a 7 - just good enough for a groundball, and somehow miss the huge list of numbers that would have been an error. My third baseman was in shock that he had the ball in his mitt, and actually made a good throw...
Chris scores two runs in the top of the 9th, regaining the lead by one run. Bottom of the ninth - I replace both my second and third batters with "Better" batters, though not stunning... and go out 1-2-3.
I think the blowout games are easier on my nerves - I like not worrying about winning more than losing it all in the 9th! :)
We should also mention that Sean's pitchers are a little...belligerent (although Sean would probably say that they're "protective of the plate"). He hit my batters 6 times in 3 games. Ouch.
Just telling you other managers. Might want to invest in some of that whole-body armor that Bonds wears when he steps to the plate.
I'm trying to think of interesting stats from our games (interesting to the other SABBL'ers, at least). The play at the plate that Sean mentioned was actually a base hit to the outfield that a runner on second tried to come home from second on. Running range 1-15. Not held +1. 2 outs +2. Outfielder's arm 0. End result: he actually is safe on 1-18. I rolled a 20.
"Yerrrrr OUT!" And that run came in the game that always had the flip-flopping one run lead. I must have looked at that play a dozen times and cursed silently during that game because I was sure that run was going to be the difference. It almost was.
The only errors during the two games, if I recall correctly, were two THROWING errors on the catchers (in consecutive half-innings) on attempted throw-ours on steals. Both runners took third on the errors. Both runners scored when the next batter hit an extra-base hit, so the errors never really mattered--each would have still scored from second based on the hitting of the batters behind them.
Surprising that there were no more errors. I may have just jinxed myself though. I'm due.
The other critical play that I remember from the second game was a situation where Sean was at bat and was down by one run (7th inning, I think). Runners on second and third, one out. The mighty Frank Thomas (the newly acquired Frank Thomas, the Frank Thomas *I* wanted to acquire) stepped to the plate as the #3 hitter. I gave up my only intentional base on balls of the season so far to set up the double play that I so desperately needed. Bases loaded, one out. The next batter...grounded into the 3-6-3 double play (gb-A (1b)). That's one of the few managerial decisions I've made (that I can remember) that actually made a difference in the outcome of the game.
I'm sure my batters have crazy stats that I haven't bothered to figure out yet. I know A-Rod is essentially the Matt Holliday (Brian's version) of my team. I like to call him Mr. Clutch. It makes me laugh.
Oh, and in the first game, the only run Smoltz gave up was on a WILD PITCH (how often do we see that?) with a runner on third. Other than that, he was pretty effective at getting out of jams. Both starters (starter (6)'s) threw complete games, and neither fatigued.
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