2016 Second Period

The Plague at Speakers

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Currently the top two teams, The Plague and Speakers have played two consecutive one-run games (both won by The Plague) following two blowouts (both won by the Speakers) during the 1st Period. Today’s action only solidifies how well these two squads match up.

Game 1 – Manager Ed’s team opens the proceedings with a 3-run 1st against David Price. Brett Lawrie’s 2-out 2-run double does the damage.

The Speakers answer with 3 straight singles (with a Scott Kazmir wild pitch in the middle) to get 2 back. That’s when both southpaws settle in.

Rajai Davis leads off the bottom of the 7th with a triple into the right field corner. Newcomer Ian Kinsler flies to Billy Hamilton in foul ground (65-35) as Davis races home for the 3-3 tie.

Both teams squander scoring opportunities, so rookie Francisco Lindor goes deep off Darren O’Day in the 11th for the game-winner, 4-3. Jonathon Papelbon sets down the Speakers in order to record the save.

W – Blaine Hardy; L – O’Day (0-1); S – Papelbon

Game 2 – The Plague score in the 1st again on Lorenzo Cain’s 2-out RBI single after Denard Span’s leadoff double. This time, the Speakers go 1-2-3 in the 1st; however, they bat around in the 2nd. 5 singles, a walk and Mike Mousatakas’ throwing error result in a 5-run inning.

The Plague storm back in the 4th, scoring 4 to tie. Doubles by Cain and Moustakas sandwich a Michael Brantley single and HBP. Span plates the tying run with a 2-out single.

True to form, the starters each go at least 7 IP, then hand the tie to their respective pens. Today, the Speakers pen doesn’t allow a baserunner from the 8th to the end.

The Plague’s Blaine Boyer surrenders Manny Machado’s leadoff double in the 13th. Chris Young bunts Machado to 3rd (rolling a 33-0!). Joe Smith comes in to face Rajai, who singles in the hole (51-9) to walk off 6-5, knotting the season series at 3-3.

W – Brett Cecil (2-1); L – Boyer

Game 3 – Yet again, The Plague scores on a 2-out RBI single in the 1st, this time by AJ Pierzynski. Kris Bryant answers with a solo shot (7), the Speakers only HR of the series, in the 4th.

Again, chances to score for both teams come up empty until Span strokes a solo homer in the 7th. The Speakers get the tying run to 2nd in the 8th, but The Plague’s tough pen holds to complete the dramatic 2-1 finish.

W – Felipe Rivero; L – Carlos Martinez (6-2); S – Papelbon

2016 Seasonings

A Good Craftsman – Shartlesville Browns 2nd Period Stats

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A good craftsman never blames his tools, but after more woeful Browns offense in the 2nd period I just placed a big order with dicegamedepot.com. The Browns slashed .188/.258/.321 in the 2nd making the numbers from the first (.218/.268/.367) look like they’re from the steroid era. Despite trading Kershaw and Strasburg the pitching staff held steady, even slightly lowering their ERA by a hundredth from 3.28 to 3.27.

The Browns scored 1 or no runs in 7 of the 27 games in the second period and had 3 or fewer hits in 4 games. Amazingly those were both improvements over the first period when they had 0 or 1 runs 14 times and had 3 or fewer hits 6 times. The Sharts were 6-6 in 1 run games and 1-4 in extras in the 2nd…

… and somehow despite all of this epic sucking the Sharts managed to go 13-14 in the second and sit just 3 games below .500. We’re hoping the addition of Jose Abreu and Adam Jones will help.

Manager Tony

2016 Second Period

Speakers at Shartlesville Browns

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Let’s face it: The Shartlesville Browns are not meant to be a winning team. Consistently throughout the season when they’ve clawed their way to within site of being .500 they’ve crapped the bed. The Sharts were 2 games under when the Speakers came to town today:

Game 1: Shields v Harvey. The Speakers struck first when Cespedes doubled and was driven in on a Bryant 3B. Bryant made it 2-0 with an RBI ground out in the top of the 3rd. The Browns tied it up in the bottom of the 3rd when Iglesias dropped a 66 to get into the second column followed by an 11 for his first homer of the year. The Speakers 5th inning proved decisive as they used 2 walks, 3 singles and a sac-fly to move ahead 5-2. Matt Harvey earned the win and Darren O’Day got a one out save, marking his 3rd save against the Browns in the last 7 games.

Game 2: Burnett v Archer. The Sharts did all their damage in the 2nd as new Brown Jose Abreu led off with a single followed by a K. Seager walk. With one out Morales drove in a run with a single before Danny Espinosa delivered a 2-run double to put the Browns up 3-0. The Browns would ground into more double plays (2) than hits (1) off Archer the rest of the way. The Sharts pitching staff made the lead stand up, allowing just one unearned run as Burnett got the win and Tony Watson got a 2 inning save. Archer was a tough luck, complete game loser.

Game 3: Hahn v Gallardo. After the Speakers went 3 up, 3 down in the 1st, they plated 2 in the second and batted around while scoring 4 in the 3rd. That chased Gallardo as Carlos Rodon was summoned from the pen to start the 4th. He settled things down, going 4 1/3 and allowing only a solo homer to Gonzalez. Two other relievers also kept the Speakers from inflicting more damage, but all that did was help to lower the pen’s ERA. Hahn baffled the Browns, going the distance for a 4 hit shutout; walking just one while striking out 7 along the way.

Notes:

The Browns wrap up the 2nd period at 30-33. The Speakers improved to 31-20.

For the series the Browns slashed .172/.226/.256. and had only 4 extra base hits.

The Speakers outhit the Browns 28-15.

New Browns Jose Abreu (3) and Adam Jones (2) accounted for a third of the Browns hits.

The Browns had only 3 multi-hit innings in the series: The 3rd in Game 1 and the 2nd in Games 2 and 3.

The Browns are now 4-3 vs the Speakers this year.

Fact: The way I roll I could have the ’27 Yankees card set and still hit .200.

Second Period stats will be out soon.
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

Asian Tsunamis at Shartlesville Browns

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The Tsunamis traveled to Shartlesville for an early morning series on Saturday. Here’s what went down:

Game 1) Gallardo v Nola. The Tsunamis struck first when Cabrera singled with the bases loaded to drive in 2 in the 3rd. The Browns evened the score in the bottom of the 3rd with a solo HR from former Asian Danny Espinosa and an RBI single from Iglesias. Espinosa put the Sharts ahead with an RBI single in the 4th before the Tsunamis tied it up again in the 7th. They would go ahead with a ridiculous series of events in the top of the 8th. Kang and Cabrera reached on errors to lead off the inning and Grichuk drove in one with a ground out. The Browns won it 5-4 in the bottom of the 10th when Hairpin worked a 2-out walk and was driven in by a Perez double.

Game 2) Wacha v Gonzalez. The Tsunamis got the leadoff hitter on in 7 of the first 8 innings but didn’t score in any of them. Meanwhile, the Browns got a run in the 5th when Iglesias singled in Joseph and unearned solo runs in the 6th and 7th to lead 3-0 going into the top of the 9th. Wacha allowed yet another leadoff runner as Cabrera singled. Grichuck smacked a 2-out homer to make it 3-2 with no one out. Wacha struck out Davis and got Hundley to ground out before Tony Watson was summoned to face Gordon. Former Brown Ryan Zimmerman pinch hit and popped up to 2B to end the Game. Wacha improved to 3-7 while Watson earned his 5th save.

Game 3) Cueto v Zimmermann. The Asians jumped on their former mate Cueto quickly, and often. Bogaerts led off the game with a double and was plated by a Kang single. Kang came around to make it 2-0 on a Cabrera double. Another Espinosa HR in the 3rd made it 2-1, but Hundley homered in the 4th to make it 3-1. The Browns pushed ahead again in the bottom of the 4th as Harper singled, Morales doubled and Dozier homered to make it 4-3. The Tsunamis tied it up on an RBI groundout by Grichuck in the 5th and looked to have broken things open in the 7th with doubles from Kang, Dickerson and Grichuck around a Cabrera walk to take a 7-4 advantage. With one out in the Browns’ 8th, Perez reached on an E6, Harper singled and Seager walked to bring Morales to the plate. He hadn’t homered in 27 starts but dropped a 66 to deliver a grand slam. Uehara struck out the side in the 9th to secure a 8-7 win and the Browns first ever sweep.

Notes:

The Browns were out-hit 32 to 26 in the series but turned 5 double plays and had 2 outfield assists to avoid more damage.

The Brown came into the series hitting .203 on the season but hit .252 for the series.

The Brown improve to 29-31 while the Tsunamis fall to 19-23.

Former Tsunami Danny Espinosa went 4-12 with 2 homers and 3 RBI.

Manager Tony

Starting Lineup