Category Archives: 2015 First Period

Series Highlights

2015 First Period

Speakers vs. Asian Tsunamis

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Game 1 – The Speakers 2nd inning unearned run is matched by a pair of 4th inning doubles by Miguel Cabrera and Jose Bautista. The 1-1 tie holds until the 7th when Jeurys Familia walks Bautista with the bases loaded.

Drew Pomeranz and friends hold the Speakers to four hits in the 2-1 Tsunamis win. Hard-luck loser Jesse Hahn allows just five. The Speakers have scored 18 runs in their first nine games.

W – Pomeranz (1-0), L – Hahn (0-1), S – Drew Storen (1)

Game 2 – Tsunamis pick up a scratch run in the 4th on Drew Stubbs’ bunt single and 2-out RBI single by Kennys Vargas. In the 5th, the Speakers finally snap their 22-inning scoreless streak with Felix Hernandez on the mound. The Speakers erupt for six runs, which is more than they’ve scored in any game this season. RBI doubles by Howie Kendrick and Buster Posey surround a 2-run single by newcomer Danny Santana in the 11-batter frame.

The Speakers pound out 14 hits en route to a 7-2 win. The Tsunamis collect 11 safeties, but only Jimmy Rollins’ HR adds to the scoreboard.

W – Hernandez (1-2), L – Jeff Samardzija (0-1)

Game 3 – The Tsunamis jump on Bud Norris for a 1st inning Corey Dickerson 2-run HR. They talley three more in the 2nd and continue to destroy Speakers pitching for an 11-2 final on 19 hits.

Dickerson adds another HR in the 6th, the same inning Yasmani Grandal goes deep. Starling Marte, Cabrera, Kyle Seager and Dee Gordon all record 3-hit days.

W – Johnny Cueto (1-0), L – Norris (0-2)

Game 4 – The Speakers score in three consecutive innings leading to a 6-0 Jordan Zimmermann CG 5-hit shutout. A 4-run 2nd includes a bases-loaded 2-run double by Andrelton Simmons followed by Jason Heyward’s 2-run single. Stephen Vogt connects for his 1st OOTL HR in the 3rd.

W – Zimmermann (2-1), L – Phil Hughes (0-1)

2015 First Period

Arrogant Bastards vs. Shooting Stars II

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With last year’s opening series sweep dealt by the Bastards still fresh in the mind of the Stars, eight players contribute to a victory and Lynn, Hughes and Ramos combine for the win.

Top of the second, Bastards get their only run on an error committed by Crisp as Longoria smacks a single and Crisp fumbles the throw. Stars also score in the bottom half of the second. Frazier doubles. Cervelli singles him home and Pedroia smacks a double to score the catcher.

Stars don’t stop tagging it as Kemp blasts a solo shot to lead off the bottom of the fourth. With two outs in the fifth, Crisp walks. Pagan gets a 31 hit-and-run single followed by Morneau’s h/r single scoring Crisp. Kemp then hits a 1-1 number 5 HR only to realize his 3 run blast is a 7 against a 9 pitcher, so Pagan scores and Morneau holds up at second. Score now 5-1 Stars.

Pence scores in the 6th after walking and back to back singles by Cervelli and Pedroia. Pedroia scores in the 8th after a leadoff walk, a double by Crisp and a single by Pagan. Final 7 to 1.

Game 2 – Pitchers earn their keep as no runs score until the 8th. ABs get a lead off single followed by back to back walks and a sac.

Stars only hit a double in the 9th by Cuddyer with two outs.

Game 3 – Fister gives up 3 long balls and 4 runs and the Stars muster only 4 hits and score two runs, 1 unearned in the ninth. HRs by Stanton, Gonzalez, Trout.

Game 4 – Frazier hits a two run HR in the 4th, but the stars are hammered by the CHAMPS. 5 HRs in 3 innings and two multiple run scoring HRs kill any chance for a split.

ABs get dingers from Ozuna a two run shot in the 2nd. A two run shot in the 2nd by Martin GIFTED. Gonzalez hits a solo shot in the 3rd. Martin smacks a solo shot in the 4th. Stanton Smacks a solo shot in the 5th.

Team Owner goes nuts and starts throwing coconuts onto the field. What started so promising ended with a frustrated Stars team batting only .190 and being out homered 8 to 2.

2015 First Period

Birds of Pray vs. Speakers

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Game 1 (and then some) – Neither team’s offense seems to care. Yasiel Puig nearly dents the scoreboard in the 5th, but Garrett Richards denies the home run attempt.

So after 9, each team is blanked on 4 hits. The Birds’ Melky Cabrera finally becomes the first runner for either team to reach 3rd base in the bottom of the 15th.

JJ Hardy puts an end to the embarrassment with a 2-out RBI single in the bottom of the 23rd inning! After nearly 2.5 hours, league officials will investigate pace of play initiatives. (Maybe they should just teach each team how to hit.) The Speakers finish with just 7 hits, all in separate innings, while the Birds pound out only 10!

W – Zach Britton (1-0), L – Jeremy Jeffress (0-1)

Game 2 – The first four Birds reach against hard-luck loser Felix Hernandez, scoring the only run Miguel Gonzalez needs in his 8.2 IP of 5-hit shutout ball. Melky goes deep in the 8th for insurance, 2-0. The Speakers have yet to score this season with King Felix (2.81 ERA) on the mound.

W – Gonzalez (1-0), L – Hernandez (0-2)

Game 3 – The Birds strike in the top of the 1st as Chris Davis strokes a 2-run HR off Bud Norris. The Speakers snap their 36-inning scoreless streak on Anthony Rizzo’s 2-out RBI single in the bottom half.

Melky Cabrera (2) homers again in the 3rd for a 3-1 Birds lead, but the Speakers scratch back to even the score through 9. Davis nearly homers again in the 10th, but settles for a 2-out RBI double followed by Nelson Cruz’s RBI single.

The Speakers get one back, but fail with 2-outs and the tying run in scoring position for a 5-4 final. Two of the Speakers’ runs are unearned, so they’ve scored two earned runs in 46 innings and drag a six-game losing streak into Game 4.

Game 4 – Davis yet again is denied a HR in the 1st, but scores Scooter Gennett with an RBI double. Danny Santana leads off the bottom half with a fly ball that just sneaks over the wall in left, thanks to Julio Teheran’s -12 power.

Puig comes up clutch in the 3rd with a 2-out 2-run double to put the Speakers in foreign territory: a lead, and 3 runs scored in 3 innings! Of course, Davis crushes yet another HR to answer in the 4th.

The Speakers nurse that 3-2 lead until the 7th when Yoenis Cespedes guns down Alex Gordon as the potential tying run at the plate following Jose Altuve’s single to end the inning.

Teheran (remember, -12) gifts Anthony Rendon in the bottom of the 8th for a 2-run margin to the 9th. Rendon carries an incredible .081 batting average (3-37, 12 Ks) into Game 9 later this week. Of course, the team average stands at a paltry .185.

Yoervis Medina retires the Birds in order in the 9th, but needs to turn back two hits to earn the save, 4-2.

W – Jordan Zimmermann (1-1), L – Teheran (0-1), S – Medina (1)

2015 First Period

Speakers vs. Unhinged Wahoos

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Game 1 – First batter of the season, Mookie Betts, nearly homers to begin the series and eventually scores an unearned run on Scott Van Slyke’s RBI single. The new look Unhinged Wahoos strike on Devin Mesoraco’s 4th inning 2-out Baltimore Special to take a 3-1 lead.

Andrelton Simmons immediately solos to begin the 5th as the Speakers climb to within a run. In the 7th, Simmons strikes again with Yoenis Cespedes on 2nd for a 4-3 lead. Anthony Rendon almost follows with a 2-run shot of his own yet neither Speaker scores.

With Leonys Martin on 2nd in the 8th, the Wahoo thunder (Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Abreu) pops up and whiffs, respectively. (They would get their revenge later in the series.) Jeremy Jeffress sets down the Wahoos in order in the 9th.

W – Chris Archer (1-0), L – Danny Duffy (0-1), S – Jeffress (1)

Game 2 – 2015 #1 pick Corey Kluber lives up to expectations by firing a neat 3-0 2-hitter to defeat Felix Hernandez. Encarnacion’s 1st inning sac fly is all the support Kluber requires; however, Nolan Arenado and former Speaker Asdrubal Cabrera tack on 7th inning RBIs.

The Speakers roll one walk (denied) and 5 singles, and never touch 2nd base in Kluber’s complete game gem.

W – Kluber (1-0), L – Hernandez (0-1)

Game 3 – Solo shots rule early as Mesoraco clocks his 2nd and Betts strokes 2 in consecutive innings. Jon Lester also walks Albert Pujols with the bases loaded to give the Speakers a 3-1 4th inning advantage.

With Encarnacion and Abreu on board in the 8th, Carlos Gomez hits the top of the wall to knot the game at 3-3. That’s where we stay until the 14th inning!

With 2-away, Adam Eaton doubles and Martin triples him home with the Wahoos’ game winner. Andrew Miller retires all 5 Speakers he faces to earn the victory, 4-3.

W – Miller (1-0), L – Yoervis Medina (0-1)

Game 4 – After being blanked for 10 innings, the Speakers blitz Adam Wainwright for 4 in the 1st, highlighted by Rendon’s bases-loaded walk and Jason Heyward’s 2-run double. With 2-outs and nobody on in the Wahoo 2nd, Jordan Zimmermann flubs a chopper and Pujols misplays a grounder. Cabrera makes the Speakers pay with a 3-run bomb.

Encarnacion and Abreu each go deep in the 3rd following Eaton’s triple as the Wahoos quickly erase the deficit and take a 6-4 lead. The teams trade a single run the rest of the way as the Wahoos write OOTL history, 7-5.

W – Wainwright (1-0), L – Zimmermann (0-1)

Manager Mann’s squad enjoys an official record over .500 for the very first time. Congratulations to the Unhinged Wahoos!