All posts by Brian

Voice-over pro. Former broadcaster. Current president of Harrisburg Senators Fan Club. My passion is "baseball" - the strategic nine-player game (without a DH) where each player must run, hit and field.
2017 Seasonings

ABs 2017 Regular Season

Leave a comment

I had some good luck late in the season to force a deciding game for first but sometimes that 1/36 chance goes against you.

Some quick notes
Shutouts
AB’s shut out their opponent 9 times and was shutout 10 times
AB’s go 17-9 in one run games
That’s all I’ll give up at this time

I accomplished my goal of a 5th straight playoff appearance with my highest finish in that stretch.
After a slow start, not pulling the plug on one deal and pulling it on another the team came together In the middle part of the season.

Good luck to Tony, Brian, Kevin and Bob in the playoffs. It’s down to 5 for the title.

Manager Steve

2017 Seasonings

Worst Possible Scenario

Leave a comment

After going 21-15 in the 1st Period, the Speakers slip to 12-15 in the 2nd, and then start off the 3rd Period well before losing each of their final 6 series to finish 14-13.

In the 3rd, the offense slashes a robust .200/.247/.319 (just .195/.244/.305 vs. RHP) and gets thoroughly out-homered, 28-13. Additionally, with Fielding 1 defense everywhere on the diamond, the Speakers commit 14 errors in the final 27 games. Basically, they found every way to lose games, never came from behind, and usually never scored against the opposition pen (unless the runs were completely meaningless).

Speakers staff prevented only 17.9% of walks this season. Speakers hitters lost 21.5%. The Speakers slugged just 65 homers and lost 27 while opponents mashed 100, losing only 19. Speakers pitching prevented 29.6% of singles; Speakers hitters lost a whopping 34.6% of singles–more than a third!

Individually, NL MVP Kris Bryant finished the season with 2 HRs (.184/.276/.285). We get that 90 games is hardly a valid sample size, so let’s further the agony:

Posey – .198/.262/.307
Machado – .204/.244/.341
Simmons – .171/.202/.222
Swanson (with a .300+ card as a +4 against LHP) – .171/.190/.293.

No Speaker reached double-digit home runs. None had more than 3 SBs. (It’s hard to run when you’re always playing from behind and can’t get on base.)

Starters went 34-36, which tells plenty about getting into early holes and never recovering. Speaking of scoring (or lack thereof), the Speakers were blanked 10 times this year. That’s more than 11% of the OOTL season!

Julio Teheran shut out the Speakers on only 3 hits (no walks) in the final regular season game. The Speakers rolled just 6 hit numbers and never moved a runner. (Only one runner got as far as 2nd base, but was doubled off on a line drive.) In fact, Teheran faced only 1 over the minimum, thanks to 2 DPs. That should have brought down the curtain on a sad, sad season of getting consistently out-rolled. However, …

… To make matters worse, a playoff appearance means nothing more than ranking lower in draft order.  Even if this team somehow gets past the 4-5 match-up, facing the 1st seed doesn’t bode well for a team that can’t do anything well.

2017 Seasonings

Down to the Wire

Leave a comment

Sounds like this week may decide quite a bit.

Can the Lemonheads hang on or are the ROLLING MATLOCKS going to catch them?

The Bastards will finish at least 2nd for the first time since returning – no 4/5 this year!!!! And no Stars in their first round.

All 5 playoff positions are up for grabs!!!!

So many scenarios….

The Speakers and Eliminators square off on Thursday I believe. As well as the Stars and Wahoos. The Wahoos are playing the already eliminated Plague today. The Wahoos figure significantly in the playoff positioning as well the draft positioning. ALL RISE! Who gets the former Bastard?????

Next Sunday should determine 1st as the Bastards will visit the Stars.

Good luck to those wanting to win as well as those that don’t!!!!!

Manager Steve

2017 Third Period

Eliminators at Lymebees

Leave a comment

Game 1: Teheran vs McCullers; Pederson hits 2 run HR for Bees in 1st, Eliminators get single runs in 2nd and 3rd, Bees get solo HR by Braun in 3rd, Eliminators score 2 runs in 4th on a Beltre error with bases loaded and two outs, Bees tie game in 6th on solo HR by Cano, Bees win in extra innings on Joc Pedersons 2 run HR.
Bees 6/10/1 Eliminators 4/5/0

Game 2; Taillon vs Hendricks; Segura leads off game with a 3 bagger and Donaldson singles him in, Bees string 3 singles together in 4th to tie the score, Eliminators get another lead off 3 bagger by Naquin in 9th and Martinez hits a sac fly to get him in and Eliminators win 2-1
Eliminators 2/6/0 Bees 1/6/1

Game 3; Sale vs Devenski; Eliminators score a run in 2nd, Bees tie in 3rd, Eliminators get there only HR of series in 4th on 2 run shot by Lucroy, Bees get one run back in 6th, Eliminators put it away in 8th as Lucroy hits a 2 run double and Eliminators win 5-2
Eliminators 5/9/1 Bees 2/7/0

Lymebees finish season at 42-48.

John Ingiosi

2017 Seasonings

2017 Browns Final Stats

Leave a comment

The Shartlesville Browns completed their second season at 47-33 and made the playoffs for the first time in team history. After a fast start the ’17 Browns had a bad second period and stood at 30-33 after two. This was the same record they had at the end of the 2nd in ’16, but the ’17 Browns went 17-10 in the third whereas the ’16 Browns tanked in the 3rd going 10-17 to finish 40-50.

The key to the Browns playoff run can best be summed up by left handed pitching. The Browns lefty starters were 10-4 in 16 starts with a 2.33 ERA in the 3rd. Likewise, the trades Browns management made to better hit lefties paid huge dividends. In the 3rd the Browns saw modest overall rises in BA (+4 Points) OBP (+4) and SLG (+7) but that was heavily driven by stats against LHP: up 20 points in average, 22 in OBP and 27 in SLG in about a third of total at bats.

The stars of the 3rd Period further bear this point out. Jon Lester posted a 5-1 record with a 0.79 ERA and Rich Hill was right behind him at 3-0 with a 1.09 ERA in just 3 starts. At the plate it was the added ability to platoon brought by trades that helped the Browns thrive. Jose Reyes slashed .500/.541/.618 in 34 at bats against LHP. On the other side of the platoon Corey Seager blew up in the 3rd hitting .303 with 4 HR, 9 2B and 12 RBI. The other key platoon was in RF where Brandon Guyer (.355/.444.452) handled the lefties and Josh Reddick (.246/.316/.377) with 2 HR and 11 RBI against the RHP.

For the year the team MVP’s were Hill (10-0,1.72 ERA over 83.66 innings in 11 Starts) and Brian Dozier who slashed .224/.292/.463 with 18 bombs and 53 RBI. He was involved in nearly a quarter of all the runs scored by the Browns on the season (80/358).

On the season the Browns hit .216 with two outs while hitting 29 2-out homers and driving in 129 runs. With runners in scoring position the Browns slashed .269/.331/.457 but were only 9 for 35 with the bases loaded.

Manager Tony