2016 Second Period

Lemonheads at Lymebees

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Game 1; Greinke vs Bumgarner; Bees score 2 runs in the 3rd after Norris gets on via error, Braun doubles and Hosmer follows with a single. Bees get single runs in the 7th and 8th. Lemonheads get one run in the 9th as Bees win 4-1.

Gane 2; Odorizzi vs Hendricks; Heads get a run in the 1st on a Martinez double, another run in the 3rd, and in 4th Walker hits a 2-run HR. Bees get a solo HR by Reddick in the 8th as the Lemonheads go on to win 4-1.

Game 3; Anderson vs Gray; Lemonheads get a 1-out solo HR by Peralta in the 1st. Bees also get a 1-out solo HR by Hosmer in the 1st. Bees get a 1- out double by Beltre in the 2nd and, with two outs, Tulowitzki gets a double and RBI. That would be all the scoring for both teams as Bees win 2-1.

Bees record at 27-21 and looking to schedule after July 4th.

John Ingiosi

2016 Second Period

Shartlesville Browns at The Plague

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The Browns took on the first-place Plague tonight and it was blow-out shutouts wrapped around a tight extra inning affair.

Game 1 Wacha v Sanchez. Fowler and Herrera walked leading off the 1st and Salvy Perez smacked a 3-run homer to get things started for the Browns. Seager reached on an E2 and was plated by an Iglesias triple to make it 4-0. Iglesias picked up another RBI in the 3rd and Hairpin rocked a 2-run homer in the 5th to give the Browns 7 runs. Wacha improved to 2-7 and picked up the Browns first ever CG Shutout by working around 8 hits and 3 walks.

Game 2: Shields v Ramirez. The Sharts struck first when Espinosa doubled and was driven in by Herrera to go up 1-0. The Plague evened things up in the 4th as Kipnis led off with a single and came around to score on a Cain triple. Cain was then thrown out at home by Hairpin’s cannon arm. The Plague started the 6th with back-to-back-to-back singles from Pierzynski, Span, and Kipnis that chased Shields. Strop came in with the bases loaded and struck out Goldschmidt before Lindor plated a run on a 6-3 grounder to make it 2-1. Strop K’d Cain to end the threat. Hairpin evened the score with a solo shot in the 8th to make it 2-2. It stayed that way til the bottom of the 10th when Hunter Strickland K’d the first two batters before giving up a 2-out single to Billy Hamilton. Hamilton promptly stole 2nd and 3rd which rattled Strickland as he walked Santana. The Browns summoned Uehara to face Goldschmidt but The Plague stole 2nd with Santana, flipping to the 2nd & 3rd board and making the 8 they got from Goldy good to win the game 3-2. Managing error from Champa who should’ve looked at the board and walked Goldschmidt and taken a chance with Lindor.

Game 3 Gallardo v Matz. The Plague batted around in the 1st against Gallardo sending 11 to the plate and scoring 7 on 3-run homers from Goldschmidt and Moustakas and a double from Span in his second at bat of the inning. Gallardo did his best to save the pen and gutted it out through 6 2/3 giving up 10 runs, 7 earned. The Plague end up winning 11-0 behind a 3-hit shutout from Matz. Both teams had some pretty shaky D as the Browns had 3 very costly errors while The Plague worked around 4 miscues.

The Brown fall to 25-29 while The Plague continue to surge atop the standings to 34-17.
Manager Tony
2016 Second Period

Unhinged Wahoos at Shartlesville Browns

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You guys may not know me well enough to know that I am not an optimistic person by my very nature. So it was surprising that as Mike and I ate our Mother’s subs prior to our series I uttered something like “If I sweep you and Brian sweeps Steve I’ll be in a tie for the 5th spot.” Re-fucking-diculous. Here’s what actually happened:
Game 1: Wacha v Verlander. Herrera led off with a double and the Browns couldn’t do a damn thing to get him in… and that was the high point of the game. Verlander went all the way with only a 5th inning walk against him en route to a complete game 1 hit shit-out. The Wahoos got the only run that mattered when Wacha plunked Crawford leading off the 6th. Crawford swiped 2nd and was plated by an Eaton double. They’d add a 9th inning unearned run just to rub it in.
Game 2 Shields v Bauer. Bauer retired the first 8 he faced, meaning the Browns went 35 up 35 down with only a walk from Game 1 to Game 2 before former Wahoo Dexter Fowler picked up a 2-out single in the 3rd. Fowler also got things started for the Sharts in the 6th with a second column triple and hey.. even the Browns can’t screw up with a man on third and no one out… well, Herrera tried by flying out meekly to left. Iglesias picked him up with a single, which plated the game’s only run. Shields got the win and Tony Watson got the last 4 outs to earn the save.
Game 3 Cueto v Cole. The Tribe got a 2-run homer in the 1st from Encarnacion, which in this series seemed like more than enough. It only got more daunting for the Browns when Arenado hit a solo shot in the 4th to make it 3-0 and it looked all but over when Arenado doubled to lead off the 6th and was driven in by a Marte double. Making the Wahoo’s 4-0 lead seem even more insurmountable was the fact that Cole had a no-hitter through 7. Espinosa walked to lead off the 8th and then Duda struck out before Fowler broke up the no-no with a single. Herrera singled to load the bases to bring the Game 2 hero to the plate in Iglesias who got into the second column with an 11. A grand slam? A bases clearing double? Hell no! These are the Browns and they get a 2-run single and ate more shit when Hairpin bounced into a 1-4-3 double play against Miller to end the inning. Miller came back in to pitch the 9th and surrendered a leadoff double to Perez followed by a game tying homer by Kyle Seager. With no outs Morales walked, but Miller got the next three to end the inning. The Wahoos won the game and the series with a homer from former Brown Starling Marte (on a 66) off Tony Watson in the top of the 11th. Boxberger got the win while K-Rod got a 1-2-3 11th to earn the save.
The Sharts slashed .087/.143/.163 while falling to 24-27. They had 8 hits in the whole series, which seems like a bad omen as they get ready to take on The Plague Monday night.
Manager Tony
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.

 

2016 Second Period

Lemonheads at Arrogant Bastards

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Game 1
Anderson v Karns.  AB’s get 1st and 3rd no outs in the 1st and bust a DP by Agone for a 1-0 lead. Former AB Walker jacks a solo shot in the 3rd to tie it. Russell Martin homers in the 4th for a 2-1 AB’s lead.  W/ 1 out in the 5th Fielder gets a gift (-15) BB and later scores on a 2-out Duffy single.  Game goes 12 where the Heads score 2 to win it 4-2 as Hechevarria hits a 2 run homer.   Winner Young; loser Melancon; save Lopez.
Game 2
Greinke v Hamels. LH get an RBI single from Shaw in the 1st. AB’s tie it in the 5th after a Russell double and an Owings error at 2nd on a RP (I think). Panik (who hit the ball) is thrown out at 3rd on the  scoring 2-6-5-4-5. Game goes to the 10th where the AB’s get a Swihart single and error on JD in left.  W/ Swihart at 2nd, Gardner tries to SAC and drops a 33 for 2 strikes.  W/ Gardner still SAC’ing he rolls a 33-0 (FUCKING AGAIN) for a good second column 6 – GOOD SAC!!!  Awesome.
Pillar does follow w/ an 8 single vs. a plus 20 pitcher to win the game. Win Davis; loss Greinke.
Game 3
Odorozzi v Scherzer.  AB’s get 2nd/3rd no outs then load the bases but get nothing in the 1st.  Trout hits a solo HR in the 3rd. Fielder knocks in Blackmon on a ground out to tie the game 1-1 in 4th.  In the 5th, Trout leads off w/ a BB, gets picked off, and tossed from the game.  Gardner BB’s and gets thrown out stealing (63 or higher)…whatever.  Peralta and Fielder hit back-to-back HR’s w/ 2 outs in the 6th. Heads win 3-1.  Odorozzi wins; save Lopez; loss Scherzer.

AB’s go 1 for 21 in the series w/ RISP. Heads went 3 for 14.
AB’s 23-22 at the midpoint.
Team is hitting .207 but a whole 4 points higher w/ RISP at .211.
No one wants any part of being clutch by knocking in runs when an opportunity arises.

Starting Lineup