Champions League

Game 1 - Piazza, Giambi, and Palmeiro go yard as the Wheelers jump out to a huge lead and hang on to beat the Hogs. Kile struck out 8 Hogs in the process.

Game 2 - I may indeed be the first PTP team in history to get 13 hits but get shut out. Yes, Jim Parque, coming in at 1-6 with a 12.66 ERA, shut me out. Not good.

Seconds later - The Wheelers, now officially hot, albeit too late, sweep the Scorps and, thus, the Hogs clinch the playoffs and a division title. Two games for fun remain in the division between said Scorps and Hogs. The Wheelers are the first team in the league to complete all 40 of their games, having won only 18 of them, but ending on a 4-game win streak. The Hogs are now percentage points behind the Knights in the battle for the #2 seed in the playoffs. With the Scorps’ swoon over the last 4 games, they are likely not going to be the wild card, either. The Foxes now have the leg up in that department. With that team in the same division as the front-runner for the #1 seed, all sorts of playoff 1st round matchups appear possible at the moment.

Hogs fans, delight. The brooms are in full bloom. This game featured starters with the 2nd and 4th best ERA’s in the league, coming in, Barcelo and Reynoso. Smithfield tagged Reynoso for 5 runs in the 1st, however, highlighted by a Valentin bases-clearing triple. In the 5th the Hogs pushed the lead to 7-1, but Bagwell came right back in the 6th with a 3-run jack that sent Barcelo packing. Two more homers in the inning off Hog relief made the game all the sudden as tight as Cameron Frye at 7-6. The Hogs couldn’t quit scoring, however, and ended up winning going away, 12-6. For the 2nd game in a row the last 9 Scorp batters go without a hit. Edmonds and Bags go 1-11 in the series. The Hogs magic number to clinch the division is 2 with 4 games left, 2 of them again against these Scorps.

Within a game of each other, both vying for a divison title and a wild-card berth, the two hottest teams in the league squared off at Three Rivers. It was Vazquez (3-2, 6.97) vs. Hudson (1-1, 6.85). The Hogs got the party started early with 2 runs in the 1st, as 4 of their first 5 batters singled. A botched double steal prematurely ended that party for Karren, as Everett tried to swipe home plate. He may have had larceny on his mind. The Hogs couldn’t get it going after that 1st, but Scottdale kept getting runs here and there off Hudson. The Scorps got a Justice homer and two runs on groundouts as they took a 3-2 lead into the bottom off the 7th. Vazquez was left in a bit past his prime as he allowed three singles in the inning before being lifted. Then, with 2 out and the score tied, Sheffield went yard as Three Rivers and Karren’s basement erupted. 5-3 Hogs. The Hogs pen pitched 3 hitless shutout innings to seal the deal, and Benitez got his 5th win in the process. The Scorps only managed 5 hits off Hudson and the Hogs relief corps. Hector Ortiz went 3-3 to raise his avg. to .439 on the year, but doesn’t have the PA to qualify for a batting crown. The Scorps’ big two, Edmonds and Bagwell, went a combined 0-7.

He has hit 11. The Big Hurt and Delgado each have 9. Someone in the Diamond Mind programming department must have a boner the size of Texas for Jeter and secretly juiced up his power. How else is this possible?????????????????????????????????????????????????
Everytime I think about it, I become more flabbergasted, incredulous, and slightly bitter (considering he’s hit like 5 bombs against my righties). I just don’t get it. I really don’t. In fact, you know what? I give up. Derek Jeter 2019, you win. You are my white whale.

Funny pitching matchup in game 1. Frank Castillo for the Hogs, at 0-5 with an 11.07 ERA on the year, and Jim Parque for the Wheelers, 1-5 with a 13.95 ERA on the year. And you know what? It was a pitcher’s duel. Going into the bottom of the 8th, the score was 2-1 Hogs. David Oriz had hit his 2nd RBI single of the day in the 5th to push the Hogs to that 2-1 lead. The Wheelers manager decided to leave Parque in just a hair too long, into that 8th inning, though. He gave up 3 singles and a HBP before being lifted. It was still 3-1 at the time, but his replacement, Henry, allowed a sac fly and a 2-run pinch triple by Valentin. At the end of the storm, it was 6-1 Hogs, and they thought it was over. Not so fast. New Mexico got 3 runs back in the 9th, and had Sosa at the plate as the tying run, but he K’ed to thwart the threat and give Karren a 6-4 win.

Game 2 was title “The Revenge of Barcelo”. Inflamed by Ockey’s comments earlier in the week after his tough outing against Bay Area, he pitched like a man possessed to solidify his spot in the Cy Young arms race. He allowed only 5 hits, 0 walks, and 1 run in 7.2 innings for the easy win. He and Woody are now 1-2 in the league in Winning Percentage, Batting average, OBP, SLG, and WHIP. He’s the first pitcher to 5-0 on the year now. He had some serious help, too, in this one. The Hogs crushed Radke, who came into the game with the league’s 5th best ERA. The Hogs tagged him for 5 homers, and finished with 7 in the game - 2 each by Hansen and Hundley. McGwire and Sheff also homered. These 4 guys each have .300+/.400+/.600+ numbers. I appreciate that. On a bizarre note, I’d recently noticed that my SS, Valentin, had a great fielding percentage for me this year even though his card is horrible on that count. Well, in tonight’s game he had THREE errors. A PTP record you never want to have? Hogs win 10-1.

Nantucket Knights take over operations, personnel.

Despite my attempts to integrate myself into the Bay Area, I was never able to fully embrace the name change.  So I changed it.  I looked up the rules and I couldn’t see anything that would prohibit me from doing so.

The Bay Area Breakers had a great run, but my heart is in Nantucket.

That is all, my friends.  The Bay Area Breakers will be having a farewell luncheon this afternoon at 2:15 on flight DL3113.

A full post.  A rarity.

Game 1.  We were held in check by tricycle starter Benson who despite his incredibly high ERA coming into the game was throwing BBs.  It was fairly ordinary game until the 6th when the tricycles pulled ahead on an RBI single by Vidro.  The Breakers tied the game in the 8th when Nuschler beat out an infield hit.  I ran Hunter for him and promptly stole 2nd.  Hunter took 3rd on a ground out as Manny gave himself up for a ground ball to the right side.  The next hitter, Larkin, would single to right center but not before he balked in Hunter from 3rd.  Tied game.  We took the lead in the top of the 10th.  But the Breakers have been fighting pitching fatigue for the last 5 games and they literally didn’t have a fresh arm.  Kerry Wood was pitching for a couple innings when he went to the mound for the rare save.  Vidro grounded out, then Stewart lined a single.  Beltre tagged one, but right to Sheldon who was playing first base.  2 outs, runner on 2nd, up by one.  Then this:

Walk - 2 men on
Lorraine enters from the bullpen
Walk on 4 pitches - bases loaded
Walk on 6 pitches - tied game
Walk on 4 pitches - game over Breakers lose.

#*&!!

Game 2.  Seems the Breakers were pissed, and with a revamped order the Breakers got key hits at key times and worked the split, winning 6-4.  My 1-6 hitters are arranged like this:

.416
.333
.396
.316
.320
.329

Not to shabby methinks.

My pitching staff was even worse off this game than the first, but Ankiel kept things close despite giving up 8 hits in 4.2.  Oddly enough, Lorraine was the tough guy in this one, coming back from the most humiliating loss of his career to go 2.2 innings allowing 3 hits and 1 walk.  He got the win and moves to 2-1 despite his 11.12 ERA.

So my staff is a little busted up going into the upcoming Hairys series and as the season comes to an end, the Breakers will be worrying less about season record and more about resting pitchers for a highly probably postseason appearance.

I can already start to hear the Edmonds ‘19 vs. Lopez ‘18 debates beginning to heat up.

The Hogs got a win in game 1, then dropped the 2nd game to fall to 17-15 on the year. It was Hudson vs. Milton in the opener, and the first 6 innings of the game were a pitchers duel. Well, kind of. Hudson only allowed three solo homers, to Bernie, AROD, and Dye, and Milton was pitching a shutout going into the 6th. Hidalgo homered for Smithfield in the 6th to pull the Hogs to within 2, but Bernie immediately hit his 2nd jack of the game off Hog reliever Sirotka in the next inning for a 4-1 Cannon Beach lead going into the 7th inning stretch. Aybar came in for the Crows, and promptly gave up 3 singles to the Hogs. Enter Crow Chouinard. He gives up an RBI single Hog pinch hitter Burkhart, a bases loaded walk to McGwire, and a 2 RBI single to Sheff. Hogs go up 5-4 just like that. Benitez pitched brilliantly in the 7th and 8th and decent enough in the 9th to get the win for Karren, as Ward pitched the last 2 outs for the save. Another nice, comeback win.

In game 2 I was up 2-0 in the 4th inning, they started scoring tons of runs, like 13 of them, and beat the hell out of me.

4 games ago I owned the division. Now the Scorps keep winning, and it’s getting tighter that I like it. I’ve only got 8 games to go, and only a 1 game lead over hot (no pun intended) Scottsdale, and also just a 1 game lead over Grand Junction and Brighton for the coveted Wild Card spot. Of those 4 teams, 2 will be headed to playoff glory soon, and 2 will be left out in the cold, like Jurgis in the Jungle. I play the Scorps head to head in 4 of my last 8 games. I like that challenge. Nice scheduling perk too - a FOUR day layoff before playing my first series against them, and a two game layoff before my final series with them…the last 2 games of the year. Oh, I can hear Vincent Price just laughing like a maniac right now in my head, as my anticipation and delight builds.

Breakers, losers of 6 straight, met the Hogs, winners of 7 straight, late Monday night.  Breakers sweep.  I’m tired.  And happy.

Game 1 - Lieber and McKnight squaring off at Three Rivers, each under .500 and each with an ERA over 6 coming in. They allowed a combined 11 runs in a combined 4.2 innings. Man.

1st inning - Vlad hits solo homer for Sox, then McGwire counters with 3-run chimichanga. 3-1 Hogs early.
2nd inning - Sox get 4, highlighted by Andruw Jones solo homer and Klesko 2-run double. Hogs counter with Hansen and Sheffield back to back solo homers. 5-5 after 2.
3rd inning - Tejada 2-run jack. Hogs don’t counter offer. 7-5 Sox.
4th inning - Bonds solo blast. Hogs counter with sac fly. 8-6 Sox.
5th inning - Grebeck RBI single and another sac fly tie the thing up at 8-8.
6th inning - Hogs THIRD sac fly of the night puts them ahead, 9-8.
6th, 7th, 8th, 9th innings - Hogs bring in 5 relievers at the Sox, none of them allowing any hits or runs. Hogs hold on to win by a run.

Game 2 - Back and forth, baby. I’m facing 3-1 Schilling.

1st inning - Sheffield and Everett both go deep in the first to stake the Hogs to a quick 3-0 lead.
2nd inning - Sox manufacture runs. They score on a sac fly, a groundout, and RBI hits by Cirillo and Lieberthal. 4-3 Sox.
4th inning - Valentin and Sheff get RBI hits for the Hogs, and McGwire walks with bases loaded. We go up 6-4, but ground into a DP moments later with the bases loaded. That smarts.
5th inning - Everett hits 2nd homer of the game. Schilling hits the showers. We’re now up 7-4. With how my relievers have pitched lately, I THINK I’m golden from here.
6th inning - My nemesis, Bonds, homers off me. He’s KILLED me this year. 7-5 Hogs.
7th inning - Sox send 9 men to the plate, score 3 runs, and retake the lead,8-7. Fatigued Benitez gets us out of bases loaded jam to prevent it getting even worse. A Sox error and wild pitch allow me to score 2 cheap run in my half of the inning, we go back ahead, 9-8.
8th inning - Jones homers to tie for Sox, and Thome hits RBI double (he’s SICK this year, isn’t he?) to give them back the lead, 10-9.
9th inning - I’m down to my last chance. They’ve got Shaw in, their closer, who’s been amazing so far this year. Hundley pinch hits, and homers to tie it. I like that. Then i get a double, and walk, and a single to load the bases, still no outs. I win on a weak ground ball that their guy can’t throw to home fast enough.

I feel dang good. My first win as a father of 3. The win streak is at 7, and in the last six of those wins I’ve been behind at some point in the game, often late in the game. The last 5 wins have all been by 2 runs or less.