SIM COMPLETE - 1988 - Regular Season 8

[BradZ]

Regular recap to follow, but we went 5-2 which we are certainly happy with. Took 2 out of 3 @ Windy City (lost to Raul Carillo, again) which is an accomplishment for our team.

Weird that we had 2 losses this week and Joe Aurillo picked up both of them, despite an ERA for the week of 3.07 over 14.2IP. Not outstanding numbers from him, but just strange that he managed to lose both games that we dropped this sim.

[Clay]

Virginia Colonials (22-29)

This Week: 3-4

1-2 vs <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on">Davenport</st1:City>
2-2 @ <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Wilmington</st1:City></st1:place>

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Just about what I expected (sadly) from this week. The 1-run games came back and McQueen got a case of the ‘yips’. Lost 3 1-runners this week. Blew a few leads. Left too many ducks on the pond. <o:p></o:p>

What Went Right This Week:
-- Vincent Nino continued to hit well. He’s putting himself in positions to score; he’s just not getting the help he needs. The IL is loaded at 3B this season with Nino, Harcourt and Buzzell all playing great ball. At least one worthy All-Star will probably get left at home.<o:p></o:p>
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-- Alberto Hernando responded to being shifted into a platoon. Giving Rod Phillips more starts woke up the Vet who put in a .429/.500/.629 sim and got some timely hits.<o:p></o:p>
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-- George McSwain took his first LOSS, but had a good outing and, most importantly, pitched a full 7.0 innings alleviating previous concerns that he was locked into 5.1 inning MAX.<o:p></o:p>
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-- 8 of 10 pitchers who saw at least 3.0 innings of action this SIM, put up a WHIP of 1.00 or less.<o:p></o:p>
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-- No Major Injuries

What Went Wrong This Week:
-- Losing the close games again. Blowing saves. As good as McQueen has been, when he gets shaky, he blows games. Changes are coming!<o:p></o:p>
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-- Power was very light this week. We banged out only 4 HRs this week and two of them came from unlikely sources (a pinch hit and Dale O’Hegarty).
-- Getting caught stealing way too often. Caught on 5 of 7 attempts this week. We’re a speed team, but need to be smarter.<o:p></o:p>
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-- Delmar Oyos appears to have made the official conversion to reliever. He can’t put in the innings anymore, no matter how well he’s doing. Changes are coming!<o:p></o:p>
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COMING UP!
I may be crazy. I may be alone on an island. But, I’m a firm believer in MORALE and giving players what they want to maximize their output. Therefore, the Colonials, in an attempt to get back in the race are changing their pitching Staff. Jayson McQueen is going to start this week. Delmar Oyos is going back to the ‘Pen. RC Pierce is coming up from AAA Detroit to give the backend of the bullpen more options. Ivan Perez will take over the Set-Up role.<o:p></o:p>
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Don’t know if this is the answer, but I have to try something.<o:p></o:p>

[Pat]

The Bats smell fear.

[Clay]

The Bats smell fear.

That's just M.A.P.'s pussy.

[Pat]

So that's how Magness ruptured his finger....

[Clay]

So that's how Magness ruptured his finger....

If the finger fits...

[Pat]

Yeah, that MAP injury sucks though. He just made his debut on the top players list a sim or two ago. On top of that, after a slow start, he was really tearing it up again. Dude has been injury prone since draft day. Shame, because he is my best hitter and still just 22.

Larry Fitzsymons immediately gets moved to the starting lineup, possibly even top three in the batting order. The kid has been bitching about not starting since the season started. Well, here is your chance.

[Clay]

Yeah, that MAP injury sucks though. He just made his debut on the top players list a sim or two ago. On top of that, after a slow start, he was really tearing it up again.

Maybe it's like the SI Cover or Madden Curse.

The SIM that I lost O'Hegarty and Magness, they both hit #20 on their respective Top Players list. Magnesss hasn't moved despite the injury and O'Hegarty has actually moved up as high as #16.... but... they both were at 20 the SIM they got hurt.

Conspiracy theory!!!

[BradZ]

Philadelphia Freedom (32 - 19, 1st)

5-2 overall sim for us, can’t ask for much more than that. First time in a long time we’ve taken a series from Windy City, especially on the road. Tied for the best record in the IL, but it’s still so early in the season.

2-1 @ Windy City

Gm 1: This one was wild from the start. The Playboys jumped out to a quick 5 to 1 lead after three full innings at the expense of #5 starter Ray Minnoz (2.1 IP | 4 H | 5 ER | 5 BB | 1 K). Our anemic offense managed to keep chipping away at the lead and ended up sending it to extra innings. Jim Newlin was 4 for 7 with 3 R, 2 RIB and a HR. Joe Seagarra and Victor Alveraz each contributed 3 hits. A 5 run top of the 13th blew this one wide open for us. WC 3B Yoshi Toiguchi had a fine effort going 3 for 6 with a double, a triple and 2 SB’s. Philly RP Trevor Broomfield saw his ERA go from 0.00 to 0.54 as he allowed his 1st earned run of the season (a solo HR by Cliff Burgett, no shame there).
PHI 12 WC 8

Gm 2: This one is the same old story that could be recycled each time we face Raul Carillo. He was really good (Game Score of 74) and we lost. Jim Newlin somehow managed to get 2 hits but did no further damage. The only interesting thing from our perspective was new addition Eddie Taylor made his Freedom debut against his ex-team and it went well with .2 scoreless innings.
PHI 2 WC 3

Gm 3: Two veteran lefties went at it in game 3 to decide the series: Tim Nathan vs. Dunmore Theodore. Piglet blinked first and Nathan made it stand up, even doing a little damage on his own, doubling in the 7th off Theodore and coming around to score the second Freedom run of the game. Greg Josey had 3 hits in 4 trips and scored the only other run of the game.
PHI 2 WC 0


3-1 vs. Batavia

Gm 1: This one was a bit of surprise since we managed a walk off win for what seems like the 1st time this year. SP Joe Arredondo was average (6.1 IP | 3 H | 3 ER | 2 BB | 8 K), but didn’t factor into the decision. Jim Newlin delivered a clutch 2 out, 2 run double in the bottom of the 9th off CL Ken Bayer, delivering only his 2nd BS of the season. Greg Josey, Jose Urra and Newlin each had 2 hits in the win.
BAT 4 PHI 5

Gm 2: The bats jumped on BAT SP Chet Stephens as soon as possible, scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the first (also tacking on the game winner in the 5th). Jim Newlin recorded 2 more hits in this one, both doubles at the expense of Stephens. Stephens allowed a total of 5 doubles as the number 2 through 5 hitters each recorded at least 1 double and 2 hits total. Ben Irvin was good enough over 7.2 innings, allowing 4 ERs to pick up the victory. The Muckdogs tried to chip away, but couldn’t quite get there.
BAT 4 PHI 5

Gm 3: Ray Minnoz bounced back from a disappointing effort in game 1 of the WC series to produce the type of outing we’ve become accustomed to: 8.0 IP | 5 H | 2 ER | 1 BB | 5 K. Geoff Scott and Dave Ibison each had a couple of hits, each one picking up a double. Joe Seagarra drove in 2 runs on a 1 for 2 day. Trevor Broomfield worked the 9th for a tired Joe Alveraz, picking up his 2nd save of the year.
BAT 2 PHI 5

Gm 4: We liked our chances for a sweep with Joe Aurillo going for us, but we weren’t able to pull it off. Aurillo picked up his 2nd loss of the week despite pitching a good game (7.1 IP | 5 H | 2 ER | 1 BB | 6 K). The offense out hit the Muckdogs 6 to 5, but produced 0 runs while BAT was able to deliver 2 in the top of the 5th. Ken Bayer slammed the door in the 9th, recording 3 outs on 6 pitches .
BAT 2 PHI 0

Good:
-not sure this belongs in the Good category, but it’s interesting to me. We are 11th in the IL in HRs, but 1st in XBH. I like that type of offense for us. I think it works well with our pitching staff.
-Jim Newlin continues to have a strong year after a disappointing ’87 season. This week he produced a line of .400 | .438 | .600 with 5 RBI and a HR
-Greg Josey is the other member of our lineup who is having a strong bounceback year. He was even more disappointing than Newlin last year, but a .435 | .567 | .522 pushed his season numbers up to .311 | .385 | .411. We still expect a higher slug%, but after last season we’ll take that production.


Not as Good:

-not much to complain about this week

[Carlos]

Your team is on a roll and Seagarra hasn't even started hitting yet.

[Matt]

3-4

The Porter Division battle!

Baltimore 0-2
California 2-0
Philadelphia 1-2

Good

- AAA 1B Raul de Jesus has become a beast! His ratings have jumped up to a Batavia all-time high. I want to bring him up...but I don't want to bring him up. He's hitting .428 in AAA.
- Chet Stephens throws another gem and is now 5-5 with a 2.37 ERA.
- 1B Si Phan has hit 8 HR's in 13 games.
- C Pat May was called up and hit .318 over the week.

Bad

- SP Sasaki's star season has gone down the drain. 1-7 with a 4.73 ERA.
- Run support per game for Maine's starting pitchers: 5.17, 4.27, 5.08, 4.55, 3.58. Run support per game for Batavia's starting pitchers: 1.08, 1.17, 2.10, 2.33, 2.55. Awesome job guys!

Man I hope my draft isn't a complete bust like '86. Of the 9 guys they all amount to the equal of warm spit in a bucket.

[Delandis]

Of the 9 guys they all amount to the equal of warm spit in a bucket.

That is quite possibly the nastiest thing I've heard in a while.

[Matt]

I think it was supposed to be "not worth a warm bucket of spit." Same difference.

[Delandis]

I just looked at Raul From Jesus.....my lord, not looking forward to next year.

[Jake]

Not a great week health wise in Syracuse:

Sunday, June 5th, 1988
RF B. Carter was injured while running the bases. The Diagnosis: high ankle sprain. He's expected to miss about 4 weeks.
Saturday, June 4th, 1988
SS N. George was injured in a collision at a base. The Diagnosis: broken kneecap. He's expected to miss about 7-8 months.
Wednesday, June 1st, 1988
P. Reardon has suffered a setback in his recovery. He is not expected to recover for another 5 days.
Tuesday, May 31st, 1988
3B H. Carbajal was injured on a defensive play. The Diagnosis: high ankle sprain. He's expected to miss about 3-4 weeks.