Tag Archives: Speakers

2016 Second Period

Speakers at Asian Tsunamis

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Game 1 – Kris Bryant doubles home a 2-out 1st inning run for the Speakers. This would be Bryant’s only hit of the series.

From the 9-hole, in his first plate appearance as a Speaker, Ian Kinsler homers off Adam Warren. The Speakers tack on 4 more in the 4th, highlighted by Kinsler’s 2-run double.

Meanwhile, 7 hits through the first 4 innings leave the Tsunamis with a ton of stranded base runners and zero runs against Matt Harvey. Kinsler (4-4, D, HR, 4-RBI, 2-R debut) and Manny Machado add RBI singles in the 6th and 7th, respectively, for a commanding 8-0 lead.

Finally, with 2 outs in the 9th, the ATs’ Miguel Cabrera ropes a 3-run HR to dent the scoreboard. Harvey calmly whiffs Jung Ho Kang to claim the CG 8-3 victory, scattering 13 hits.

W – Harvey (5-3); L – Warren

Game 2 – Yoenis Cespedes finds a gap for a 2nd inning 2-run double and an early 3-0 lead for David Price. Anthony Rizzo’s RBI single in the 7th would be the only other run of the game. Price goes the distance, twirling a 3-hit shutout, 4-0.

W – Price (4-3); L – Gio Gonzalez

Game 3 – Clayton Kershaw turns the tables, pitching a 5-hit CG shutout at the Speakers. The Tsunamis bat around in the 2nd to chase Carlos Martinez, who suffers his first loss of the season.

Xander Bogaerts and Kang each contribute 2 singles to the cause. Bogaerts chips in a pair of RBIs to prevent the sweep. Javier Baez (3-4) earns the majority of the Speakers 5 singles.

W – Kershaw; L – Martinez (6-1)

2016 Second Period

Speakers at Eliminators

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Game 1 – Former Speaker, Yasiel Puig, opens the scoring with a 2-out RBI single in the 1st. That immediately followed a top half where Kris Bryant walks with 2 away. Yoenis Cespedes gets robbed of a 2-run HR (Edinson Volquez +25) and Bryant is nailed at the plate to end the inning.

Victor Martinez’s double play grounder with the bases loaded in the 3rd makes it 2-0 Eliminators. AJ Pollock mows down Carlos Gonzalez at the plate in the 4th, but Andrelton Simmons’ 2-run HR caps that 3-run inning for the Speakers.

The Eliminators tie on 3 consecutive singles to open the 6th. Puig with his second RBI hit.

Ian Kinsler leads off the Eliminators’ 9th with a double off Jeurys Familia. After Joe Mauer walks, Jonathon Lucroy walks off with a double in the gap, 4-3.

W – Bryan Shaw; L – Familia (0-4)

Game 2 – The rout is seemingly on. Andrew McCutchen (2-run HR in the 3rd) and Carlos Correa (3-run shot in the 4th) back Jon Lester, who doesn’t allow a base runner until the 6th. That’s when the Speakers bat around plus two. 7 hits and a walk produce 6 runs for an improbable 6-5 lead. Bryant (3) and Chris Young (3) each go deep.

While the Speakers pen stymies the Eliminators, the offense adds another 6-run inning in the 8th. 5 hits (4 doubles), a walk and a costly Correa error complete the 12-5 come-from-behind win.

Interestingly, the Speakers only hit safely in those 2 big innings and do not get a base runner in the other 7! The Speakers have only scored in 3 of the first 18 innings, yet are 1-1 in the series.

W – Chris Archer (4-2); L – Lester

Game 3 – Roughned Odor (5) and McCutchen match solo shots in the 3rd. Freddie Freeman singles home another in the 4th for a 2-1 Eliminators lead.

Bryant strokes a clutch 2-out 3-run homer (4) in the 5th to put the Speakers on top, 4-2. The Eliminators get 2 singles and a walk the rest of the way against the Speakers’ relief corps while Bryant adds to the lead with another 2-run shot (5) in the 9th. 6-2 final and series win for the Speakers as Bryant slugs more HRs in this series than he has to date.

W – Roberto Osuna (2-0); L – Yordano Ventura; S – Familia (7, in his final appearance with the Speakers)

2016 Second Period

Arrogant Bastards at Speakers

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Game 1
Miller v Price. Ozuna knocks in Piscotty for a 1-0 lead in 2nd. Posey doubles home 2 and Cargo singles 1 home in the 4th for 3-1 Speakers lead. In the 5th, Piscotty plates 2 w/ a 2-out double. Trout SAC Fly’s Andrus home [on an OF F1 error roll] in the 7th for the game-winning run, 4-3. W-Cedeno L-Price S-Davis
Game 2
Karns v Hahn. Betts belts an RBI double in the 2nd for a 1-0 lead. In the 6th, Piscotty gets a 2-out 2-run double on an OF F2 error roll, then scores on a Forsythe single. AB’s win 3-1.
W-Karns L-Hahn S-Davis
Game 3
Hamels v Harvey. Trout homers in the 1st and Turner singles home Agone for a 2-0 lead. Rizzo homers in the 1st. Parra homers in the 2nd. Machado homers in the 2nd. Swihart doubles home Turner in the 4th, then scores on a Forsythe groundout for a 5-2 AB’s lead. W/ 2 outs in the 4th, Machado BB’s, Odor singles and Rajai Davis cracks a 3-run HR to tie the game. Trout singles home Forsythe in the 7th to regain the lead, but the Speakers bounce right back on a Betts RBI single followed by a Cespedes (+52) 2-run HR off Cody Allen – with 2 outs. Speakers win 8-6.
W-Harvey L-Allen S-Familia

2016 Second Period

Speakers at Unhinged Wahoos

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Game 1 – The first 3 Speakers hit safely in the 3rd as Andrelton Simmons doubles home a pair. Chris Archer’s version of “shutdown inning” includes retiring the first 2 Wahoos, and then coughing up 5 straight hits with a HBP and Nolan Arenado 3-run bomb mixed in.

While the Speakers fold, the Wahoos never look back, tacking on a Chris “Stiff” Colabello 2-run double and Jose Abreu RBI single in the 7th. Wahoos handily win their first of the season against the Speakers, 7-3.

W – Daniel Norris (CG); L – Archer (3-2)

Game 2- The Speakers bat around in the 2nd. Although red-hot Rajai Davis loses a homer, the Speakers score 4 on 4 hits. Carlos Martinez promptly surrenders another Colabello 2-run double and Abreu RBI single with 2 away in the 3rd.

This time the Speakers storm back to match those tallies as Anthony Rizzo detonates for a 3-run homer, his 9th and the Speakers’ only long ball of the series, to reduce long time Speaker, Justin Verlander. “Spanky” Eaton singles home an unearned run in the bottom half to keep it close, 7-4.

Verlander steals a homer from former teammate Carlos Gonzalez in the 6th, and he doesn’t score. Arenado greets Joe Blanton with a 55-7 2-out RBI single in the 7th to close the gap to 7-5.

The Wahoos threaten in the 8th with 2-on and 1-away, but Roberto Osuna wriggles out of the jam. Rizzo starts the top of the 9th with a triple, yet doesn’t score. Finally, Jeurys Familia retires the top of the Wahoos’ lineup in order in the 9th for his 6th save, 7-5.

W – Martinez (6-0); L – Verlander; S – Familia (6)

Game 3 – The Speakers greet Rasiel Iglesias with 2 2-out RBI singles in the 1st, thanks to Gonzalez and Mookie Betts. A pair of doubles by Travis d’Arnaud and Ben Zobrist get the Wahoos on the board in the 3rd, 2-1.

The Speakers answer in the 4th. Kyle Schwarber doubles. With 2-away, Rizzo singles him in and Manny Machado coaxes a walk, setting up Buster Posey’s RBI single.

While the Speakers squander 3 more in scoring position, including Eaton nailing Stephen Vogt at the plate in the 6th, the Wahoos chip away. Abreu crosses the plate after a 2-out double in the bottom of the 6th. Newly acquired Starling Marte singles him home.

In the bottom of the 8th, Colabello greets Tony Sipp with a 1-out solo shot. Fortunately for Sipp, neither team reaches base thereafter. Sipp retires the last 5 Wahoos in order to preserve the 4-3 squeaker for the Speakers.

W – Jesse Hahn (3-2); L – Iglesias; S – Sipp (2)

2016 Seasonings

Speakers through 36

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Two 1st Period sweeps make the difference as the Speakers finish 8 over .500. To continue in the playoff hunt, the Speakers will need to improve on their two series in which they went a flat 1-3.

Although (lack of) offense is still our Achilles, those stretches seem to be less frequent this season. Management is quite pleased with our .235 team average (2nd in the league) and .395 Slg%.

We’ve stung 40 homers while surrendering 30. It’s been a long time since the Speakers averaged over 4 runs per game, but that’s where we currently sit. Opponents have scored 3.16, but many of those were timely.

The Speakers went a crushing 5-8 in one-run games, including 3 consecutive one-run losses (2 to The Plague and 1 to the surging Browns). However, shutouts (long a cold-dice bane for this team) have tilted in the Speakers’ favor so far, 5-4. (Harvey should have one in Game 3 and Severino in Game 16. I’ve updated our stats since hastily sharing them before vacation.)

Offense: Buster Posey leads the way with 38 hits (15 more taken away) while leading the regulars with a respectable .281 average and .345 OB%. Manny Machado knocked in 23, but Anthony Rizzo and Yoenis Cespedes earned 22 RBIs (all in the current top 10).

Cespedes has also found gaps with 13 doubles (tied for first in OOTL). Surprisingly, Rizzo has legged out 3 triples while sharing the lead in long balls with Machado (7 each). Rizzo leads the league in runs scored (28).

Rizzo also wins the patience in the box award with 20 walks. Cespedes has trudged back to the dugout 45 times already after striking out.

Mookie Betts has swiped 4 bases while Kolten has taken off at all the Wong times (1 in 4 attempts). We expect our 62% SBA to improve.

Machado has grounded into 6 of the team’s 24 DPs. We still have too many 24s in our lineup, but this should go hand-in-hand with SBs, since we were conservative on the base paths.

As expected, Rizzo was plunked 5 times to lead the squad. Wong leaned into one 3 times.

The Speakers lost 8 HRs, but were gifted 3. Opponents lost 13 with no gifts. Prevented walks were nearly even as the Speakers lost 19 to opponents’ 20. We lost 129 singles to 116 that we prevented.

Defense: 25 errors seems like a lot when we’re normally running 45 points onto the diamond. However, average defenders Roughned Odor and Kike Hernandez each have 3 while pitchers account for 5. OF3 Cespedes and Chris Young each have a pair of miscues.

Posey has gunned 31% of potential base stealers (18-8) while Stephen Vogt nailed Christian Yelich, the only attempt against him in limited duty.

Pitching: This will definitely black cat him, but Carlos Martinez is 5-0 while coughing up a hit per inning with a robust 4.30 ERA. Meanwhile, Chris Archer (3-1) has surrendered 55 hits and prevented 24 more. Archer also started 9 times and has finished 3 to lead the team with 67 IP.

Harvey has watched 11 pitches disappear, yet has only given up 18 total ER. He and David Price enjoy ERAs just under 3.00. Price has prevented 5 HRs while Harvey has turned back 9 potential walks.

Although the starter and pen ERAs are similar, the pen seems to leak at just the wrong times. Jeurys Familia (0-3, 4 S) has allowed a hit per inning, as have Brett Cecil, Roberto Osuna and Trevor Rosenthal.

The pen has lost nearly half of our games (3-6) with 9 saves while starters are an impressive 19-8. Leading the league in ERA was a pre-season goal that we’ve achieved through the 1st period.

Overall, we’re pleased with our current standing and look forward to starting the 2nd period soon.