Tag Archives: The Plague

2016 Playoffs

2016 Championship – #2 vs. #1

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Although The Plague topped the OOTL much of the regular season, they got a formidable scare from the Lymebees, the perennial #2 or #3 team, in the playoffs. The Speakers squeaked by both teams late in the season to enjoy the #1 seed. The Speakers then had to tamp down the Arrogant Bastards in five games to reach the finals.

Game 1 – Jake Arrieta walks Lorenzo Cain with 1 out in the 2nd. Cain swipes 2nd base and trots home on AJ Pierzynski’s single, which Rajai Davis fumbles in center field.

After Jose Fernandez K’s Davis to start the Speakers’ 3rd, Ian Kinsler rips a double. Andrelton Simmons singles him home. Manny Machado follows with a 2-run home run for an early 3-1 lead.

Pierzynski doubles to start The Plague 5th. Mike Moustakas takes one in the ribs. Michael Brantley sacs the runners to 2nd and 3rd. That sets up Kevin Kiermaier’s perfectly placed RBI single (8). 3-2.

One out in the 7th when Moustakas walks. Brantley whiffs for the 2nd out, but Kiermaier comes through again — this time with an RBI double. Jason Kipnis singles him home as Davis boots another ball in center.

On the other side of the ball, Anthony Rizzo doubles immediately after Machado’s homer. The Speakers would muster only one more hit, a Kris Bryant single, the rest of the way.

The Plague 4 – 6 – 1
Speakers 3 – 5 – 2

W – Fernandez (1-0); L – Arrieta (0-1); S – Blaine Hardy (1)

Game 2 – Southpaws Jaime Garcia and David Price lock horns in an epic battle. Matt Wieters’ solo shot in the 3rd brings home the only run of the game.

Chris Young attempted the same trot in the 2nd, but Garcia (+41) denied him. The Speakers never got a runner to 3rd base.

The Plague 1 – 6 – 0
Speakers 0 – 4 – 0

W – Garcia (1-0); L – Price (0-1); S – Jeff Manship (1)

Game 3 – Through the first 18 innings, the Speakers have scored in only one. To make matters worse, Matt Harvey would fare much worse than his two predecessors to put the Speakers in a major predicament.

Kipnis walks in the 1st. DJ LeMahieu triples him home for a quick 1-0 lead.

Machado hits his 2nd homer of the series to lead off the 3rd, but The Plague come right back. With 2 away and no base runners, Denard Span singles (7) and steals 2nd. Kipnis singles him home (8).

Two additional candlesticks in the next two innings open a 4-1 lead. Cain’s fielder’s choice scores Paul Goldschmidt in the 4th. Francisco Lindor singles home Kipnis, who had doubled to lead off the 5th.

The Plague add two more on Cain and Brantley RBI doubles in the 8th. Meanwhile, the Speakers again muster just two hits after Machado’s 3rd inning home run.

Speakers 1 – 4 – 0
The Plague 6 – 11 – 0

W – Stephen Matz (1-0); L – Harvey (0-1); S – Blaine Boyer (1)

Game 4 – The Speakers hand the ball to young Luis Severino to prevent an embarrassing sweep. Machado continues to do his part by going deep twice more (both solos) in the 1st and 3rd innings.

On one swing, Yoenis Cespedes brings home 3, launching a 6th inning 3-run HR. The Speakers have now scored 5 in Game 4, equaling their series total runs.

On the hill, Severino steps up, surrendering two Kipnis singles until the 9th. LeMahieu homers to start the inning. Goldschmidt walks. After two infield outs, Moustakas ropes a 2-run shot.

At 5-3, a shaken Severino walks Kiermaier to bring the tying run to the plate. That also brings Darren O’Day to the mound.

With Brantley at the dish, Kiermaier breaks for 2nd. Buster Posey finally nails his first base runner to end the game, 5-3. O’Day earns a save without an official batter faced.

Speakers 5 – 7 – 1
The Plague 3 – 4 – 1

W – Severino (1-0); L – Aaron Sanchez (0-1)

Game 5 – After beating Arrieta in Game 1, The Plague were determined to win their first ever championship at home. Jake and Fernandez fire blanks through the first 3 innings.

Rizzo walks to begin the 4th. Posey singles him to 3rd and Carlos Gonzalez lifts a sac fly to RF to score the first run of the game.

Again, The Plague storm right back in the bottom half. Kipnis and LeMahieu each single (both 9’s) to put runners at the corners. Goldschmidt walks to load the bases.

Lindor grounds to Machado, who steps on 3rd for the first out scoring Kipnis. Then Pierzynski singles (7) in the go-ahead run, 2-1.

The Plague tack on another in the 5th. Span strokes a leadoff single (11) and steals 2nd. Kipnis bunts (9), but the Speakers can’t get an out. LeMahieu singles home Span (9) for a 3-1 advantage.

The Speakers manage a one-out triple, a two-out single (but the runner gets picked off down by 2), and a 9th inning one-out single (on a 0). So the Speakers are held to just 4 hits for the third time in the series.

That allows the 3-1 score to become The Plague’s very first OOTL Championship! Manager Ed, in the preseason predicted to finish 7th, brings home the hardware with a fast, aggressive offense, solid defense and a shutdown bullpen.

Speakers 1 – 4 – 0
The Plague 3 – 8 – 1

W – Fernandez (2-0); L – Arrieta (0-2); S – Manship (2)

Manager Brian saw the The Plague’s potential from the first four-game series between the two teams last spring. After two lopsided Speakers’ victories, The Plague carved themselves a pair of dramatic come-from-behind wins, getting clutch steals and hits at exactly the right times. “This Championship series presented more of the same. While most OOTL teams build with power, The Plague went in an excitingly different direction and proved it could work through an entire season and post-season,” said the losing manager. “Congratulations to the new champs!”

During the post-game celebration, Manager Ed, awash in a bath of iced tea, stated, “I knew that I could stay in games this season as long as opponents didn’t crush a ton of extra-base hits.” The strategy worked well enough to earn an OOTL Championship plaque. There will now be a new name on the trophy and a new defending champ.

 

2016 Playoffs

2016 Playoffs – #3 vs. #2

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Lymebees/Plague series played Monday (12/5).

Game 1; Gray vs Fernandez; Bees get 1 run in 1st, 1 run in 6th and 3 runs in 7th before Plague come back in bottom of 7th with 3 runs of there own, both teams would get single runs in 8th and Bees hold on to win 6-4

Game 2; Bumgarner vs Garcia; Plague get a solo HR by Goldschmidt in 1st, Bees tie score in 4th on a Beltre 2 out double, Bees take the lead in 6th on a 2 out single by Beltre and Bees hold on to win 2-1

Game 3; McCullers vs Matz; Bees get a unearned run in 2nd on no hits, Plague get a 3 run HR by Brantley in 3rd, Bees get a run in 4th, Plague get a run in 7th and in the 8th Goldschmidt hits a 2 out solo HR, Bees get a lead off HR by Franco in 9th and Tulowitzki scores in 9th to get things closer but that would be it as Plague win 5-4

Game 4; Syndergaard vs Sanchez; Cano hits a solo HR for Bees in 2nd, Plague get a run in 3rd, both teams score in 6th, Bees get a run in 7th in 9th they would add 3 more with Hosmer hitting a 2 run HR as Bees win 6-2

Plague at Lymebees

Game 5; Fernandez vs Gray; Plague get to Gray for 6 runs and Grimm would give up another 5 runs in top of 9th and Fernandez goes all 9 innings for a complete game shutout and a 11-0 Plague win

Game 6; Garcia vs Bumgarner; Bees would score first with a lead off HR by Hosmer in 4th, Plague tie game in 6th and get the lead in 8th as both teams use there bullpens and 5 relievers and Plague win 2-1

Game 7; Estrada vs McCullers; Lymebees score 2 runs in 3rd and 2 more runs in 9th and that should be enough for this team to win most games BUTT the Plague get 3 runs in 1st on 2 hits and 5 runs in 2nd on 3 hits, solo HR by Moustakis in 3rd, 2 runs in 5th-6th-7th innings as McCullers gives up 7 runs, Siegrist 4 runs, Givens 2 runs and Giles 2 runs as Plague win the game 15-4 and the series 4-3 to move on.

Home teams go 1-6.

Congrats to Ed and Merry Christmas to all.

John Ingiosi

2016 Third Period

Speakers at The Plague

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The current #1 and #2 teams spontaneously filled a postseason void Wednesday evening in Oberlin. (No baseball? We’ll create our own baseball.)

Game 1 – After the Speakers scored 7 total runs in 3 games (and no more than 3 in a game) against the Lymebees, they rally for 4 in just the 3rd inning. Buster Posey’s 3-run double breaks a scoreless tie. Yoenis Cespedes follows with an RBI single.

AJ Pierzynski doubles home DJ LeMahieu in the 4th as The Plague close to 3-1. The Speakers answer back with a rare, patient Cespedes plate appearance: a bases loaded walk in the top of the 5th.

Mike Moustakas takes matters into his own hands with solos in both the 5th and 7th innings. Down 5-3 in the 9th, Lorenzo Cain triples to start the inning. Trevor Rosenthal comes in to face pinch hitter Matt Wieters, who lifts a sac fly to left (22-7, but would have been a 22-0 for Moustakas).

That’s as close as The Plague can get as Rosenthal retires Michael Brantley and Denard Span for a 5-4 Speakers win.

W – Luis Severino (3-0); L – Jose Fernandez (RIP)

Game 2 – Jake Arrieta surrenders an RBI double to Pierzynski and a Paul Goldschmidt sac fly. However, the Speakers 3-run 1st is all Arrieta would need to pocket an 8-2 final.

The Speakers tag Jaime Garcia with 8 runs and 14 hits. Posey knocks in 3, including his 6th homer. Cespedes drills his 6th in the 9th for icing. Anthony Rizzo (4-5, D, RBI, 2 R) slotted between them in the batting order. Even his one out was a turned-back hit number.

W – Arrieta (2-0); L – Garcia

Game 3 – Through the first 4 innings, The Plague have 7 hits; the Speakers total 8. The Plague lead where it counts, 5-2, thanks to Rizzo’s 1st inning error leading to 3 huge unearned runs.

Goldschmidt hits a pair of 2-run homers for The Plague while Carlos Gonzalez lines his 6th of the season, a solo blast, for the visitors. The Plague avert the sweep, 6-2, to maintain a 2 game margin in the standings.

W – Marco Estrada; L – Matt Harvey (6-6)

2016 Third Period

Lymebees at The Plague

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Game 1; Hendricks vs Sanchez; The Plague gets a leadoff HR by Hamilton in the 1st with Goldy adding another on a single. The Plague get a 2-out double in the 2nd by Kipnis to score Hamilton. Bees get a 2-out 2-run double by Lind in the 6th. Bees would get a couple of walks in the 7th, but do not score again as The Plague wins, 3-2.

Game 2; Bumgarner vs Kazmir; Bees get a 2-out 2-run double by Tulowitzki in the 2nd, a 3-run HR by Braun in the 3rd, and another run by the Bees in the 5th. The Plague score 1 run in the bottom of the 5th. Bees score another run in the 6th. Lindor hits a 2-run HR for The Plague in the bottom of the 6th. Bees add 2 runs in the 9th and win 9-3.

Game 3; Gray vs Ramirez; The Plague get a 2-run HR by Cain in the 2nd. Bees tie the game in the 7th with a 2-run HR by Tulowitzki. The Plague get a 2-out walk and steal of second by Cain, followed with an RBI single by Moustakas. Bees get a 2-out walk to Valbuena in the 9th and pinch run Braun, who gets thrown out on a 65 roll to end the game. The Plague wins again, 3-2.

Lymebees record at 42-33.

John Ingiosi

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