SIM COMPLETE - 1987 - Regular Season 22

[Clay]

NEXT SIM: Tuesday

SIM NOTES: 6-day sim. We're back on normal schedule now. Early reminder that there will be NO SIM on Thursday this week.

***

Sorry about the delay... T'Storm swept through at about 8:15p and KO'd us big time.

[liquidcrash]

5-1 week for the Tobs. That certainly makes things a bit more interesting in the Bock.

[BradZ]

Whoops, wait a second Clay. Looks like your power outage messed up your system. Looks like we need to resim:

M. Woodbury was injured on a defensive play. The Diagnosis: torn rib cage muscle. He's expected to miss about 3 months.

Let me know when it's done.




Damn.

[Spectre]

Lost 3/4 to Los Lunas and am now only 6 games up on them. The 2006 Mets are beckoning me, I'll never be able to chase the ghost of that team.

Got 2 each again Sin City and Hyundai and then a big 3 game set against Denver. Need a good sim this time or else my lead could evaporate.

[Clay]

That Bock race is crazy. I did call at the All-Star break to watch out for Carolina.

[liquidcrash]

That Bock race is crazy. I did call at the All-Star break to watch out for Carolina.

Well I certainly wasn't expecting anything like this. On July 11 (one game after the ASG), our record was 34-49. Since then we've gone 38-15.

The wheels have to fall off soon.

[Spectre]

This has to be the most interesting set of playoff races in BLB history... at least since I've been here.

[spot]

Damn!

All of the Bock played each other that sim.

Car: 5-1
Dav: 3-3
LAM: 2-4
WC: 2-4

What's going on here?

[liquidcrash]

I don't see anything wrong with those results.

[spot]

I don't see anything wrong with those results.

No, you actually helped me a ton this week. My starting pitching on the other hand...

[Jistic]

We're doing everything we can to give this division away, but nobody wants it. Lost our lead off hitter for the year. Starting pitching is folding down the stretch, even the mighty Carillo has been getting shelled. Think this will be our last week with a share of the lead.

[Whale]

Freakin Maine...

[liquidcrash]

Carolina Tobs- 72-64, T-1st in Bock

2-0 @ Davenport (series sweep)
3-1 vs. Windy City

The Good

-We’re somehow tied for first place. I was ready to leave this team for dead when we were 34-49, but we’ve been red hot ever since. I’m not sure if it can last, but it’s been fun to watch.

-Hector Castre- The rookie pitched a gem against the Playboys: 8 IP, 1 H, 8 K, 1 BB. He gave up the hit and the walk back-to-back to lead off the 2nd and then retired the last 21 hitters he faced. We look forward to seeing more just like that in the future.

-Micah Beauregard- I didn’t even bother to mention that I called Beauregard up since I wasn’t expecting much, but he’s one of our top 10 prospect according to BA. His line from his first week in the Bigs: .364/.397/.727 with 2 HR and 7 RBI. He hit a bomb in his first 2 BLB games.

-Frank Hamlet, Dan Hogan and Angelo Opio all had very good weeks. Hamlet now has 26 RBI since the All-Star Break; and to think he almost got dealt.

The Bad

-Ted Jackson had another rough week with a 6.75 ERA in 3 appearances. It looks like he’s come back to Earth after having an ERA under 2 for the first 5 months of the season.

-Shawn Gates had a rough outing in our only loss of the week.

The Ugly

-Herb Lefebre and Nevada Guizan combined to go 4 for 32. I don’t expect a whole lot from them, but we’re going to need more than that.

[BradZ]

Philadelphia Freedom (77 - 59, 1.0 GB)

4-2 Overall Mel Woodbury left in the 3rd inning of the first game of the week with a rib injury and he is done for the year. Ouch. We’re 1 game out in the division and 5 games up in the Wild Card. 26 games left and it’s going to be a real struggle to hang on while missing a top 5 IL offensive force.


2-0 vs. California

Gm 1 Greg Josey went 2-4 and hit his 11th HR to break a 3-3 tie in the 6th inning. That was the final differential. Joe Alveraz struck out 2 in a perfect 9th while picking up the save.
CAL 3 PHI 4

Gm 2 With a chance to sweep a 3 game series from the division leading Kodiaks, SP Joe Aurillo didn’t bring his best stuff to the mound and the defense didn’t help. 3 errors led to 3 unearned runs on his ledger (4 runs overall). The bullpen came in and settled things down. Jim Newlin and Desi Rochs each hit 2 run homers in the 8th off of Dan Arpad to stun the Kodiaks and thrill the home town crowd. Joe Alveraz pitched another perfect 9th to seal the deal. Sweep!
CAL 4 PHI 5

2-2 vs. Baltimore

Gm 1 Ray Minnoz was in control until the 5th when 4 Bulldogs’ runs crossed the plate, one on a passed ball. The offense kept chipping away scoring 1 run in each in the bottom halves of the 5th, 6th and 7th innings. Trevor Broomfield was called in to close because Joe Alveraz wasn’t available to pitch and Broomfield picked up his 3rd save of the season.
BAL 4 PHI 5

Gm 2 Ben Irvin only allowed 1 ER in 6.1 innings, but the defense cost him two more. The offense only managed 4 hits total (all singles).
BAL 4 PHI 1

Gm 3 Tim Nathan wasn’t great, but he was good enough as the offense roughed up stud SP Joe Soto, tagging him with 6ER in less than 3 innings. Jerry Fortin hit a 3-run HR in the first to open the scoring for the good guys. Dave Ibison and Desi Rochs each hit 3rd inning 2-out homeruns to drive Soto to the showers. Nathan hit the wall in the 7th and didn’t make out of the inning (6.2 IP 4ER 9H), but it was enough to pick up the W. Joe Alveraz picked up his 3rd save of the week (33rd of the year) with another perfect 9th.

Gm 4 Nathan MacOwl had given up 2 hits and no runs after 6 innings and then he lost it. The Freedom offense plated 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th to take a 2-0 lead and then the 7th happened. Larry Headington crushed a solo homerun to deep left-center to leadoff the 7th and MacOwl put the next two batters on (1 BB/1 single) and he was done. Merlin Thompson was the first call out of the bullpen (for reasons unknown) and he didn’t make it out of the 7th either. 6 runs crossed the plate in the 7th with Thompson allowing both inherited runners to score while allowing 3 ER on his own. There’s nothing more demoralizing to a team than to have your offense go out and grab the lead in 1 inning and have the pitching staff cough it up in the very next half inning.
BAL 6 PHI 3


Good:

Joe Alveraz - 3 appearances, 3 saves, 3 perfect innings, 4Ks.

Trevor Broomfield - picked up the save in the other win this week when Alveraz wasn’t able to go after two straight days of pitching. Broomfield has quietly put up an outstanding second half. He hasn’t allowed a run (earned or unearned) since 07/20.


Not as Good:

Mel Woodbury - after 2 straight years where it looked like he had put his early career injury concerns behind him, Woodbury will miss significant time due to injury. One of the priorities of the offseason will be an attempt to find a starting CF to allow Woodbury to move to a corner outfield spot in hopes that the wear-and-tear will be less.

[Lintyfresh85]

California Kodiaks (78-58)

0-2 @ Philadelphia
3-1 @ Batavia

The Good
- Robby Shannon is now in the lead (or tied) for the triple crown! He is tied for the lead in AVG, and leads the league in HR's and RBI's. If he keeps it up, history will be made in the BLB this year as Shannon will become the first ever Triple Crown winner.

- Joe Lopez finally had a good start again. He went 8 IP while giving up no runs and striking out six.

The Bad
- Romn Magueu had a bad week with a 11.57 ERA in three appearances. Actually had to be pulled from a save opportunity due to his struggles. Still, with 41 saves this year, I can't complain too badly about Magueu.

- Neto Bermeo continues to struggle. After his inital hot streak and player of the week honors he's really came back down to earth.

The Ugly
- Dan f****** Arpad. Why the hell was this dude even brought into the game? I didn't have him listed on my pitching chart... he was supposed to be a September call up that did nothing more than pitch in blow outs... yet there he was in a crucial game against Philly in the eight inning doing his best to kill our playoff chances. Dan's night went a bit like this...

*Bullpen phone rings*

BP Coach - "You want WHO to warm up? What about your other six or seven relievers that have proven to be effective this year and are actually listed on the depth chart. No? Ok... I'll go wake him up."

*Dan Arpad, sleeping on the end of the bullpen bench is shoved awake by the BP Coach*

BP Coach - "Arpad, wake up, you're going in."

Arpad - "Oh shit."

BP Coach - "Oh shit"

*Arpad warms up and heads to the mound*

*First batter he faces - Two run home run... no big deal, California still has a 4-3 lead*

*Next batter - four pitch walk...* (My heart rate starts to elevate... and I'm yelling at the CPU to replace him)

*Next batter- 3-0 count, I'm thinking another four pitch walk... the results are much worse... another two run homer, and now California is losing 5-4* (By this point I've decided to cut Arpad the first chance I get)

And scene.

For the sim and for the last game of his career as a Kodiak, Arpad finishes with a line of 0.0 IP, 2 H, 2 HR's, 1 BB, 3 R.

Needless to say, Dan Arpad is no longer a member of the California Kodiaks.

Next Week: 2 vs. Philadelphia, 2 @ Baltimore, 3 @ Virginia