SIM COMPLETE - 1988 - Regular Season 12

[Clay]

No one is going to claim Grandon.

[Delandis]

No one is going to claim Grandon.

Its not Grandon.

[Ryan]

Wow, this sim closed out an 11 game win streak and built a new four game streak.

Probably one of the best offensive weeks this season for this lineup. Borkholder is living up to his expectations - he was the last of my worries for my hitters.

Murillo will make his first career start next sim. MacOwl has earned himself a spot in the bullpen. His happiness is no concern of mine.

Yeah, you guys are playing some insane ball right now. It's taking us everything we can do just to keep up.

[Carlos]

Yeah, you guys are playing some insane ball right now. It's taking us everything we can do just to keep up.

When I saw my sim results I thought that I had at least a one game lead.

But you were right there all week. This is why people hate clowns, man.

[Jistic]

I got smoked by some great pitching this SIM. That Windy City staff is nasty, nasty... like Stomach Flu nasty.

Nice.


We're having our typical bad month this year...well I hope it's just one. Curious use of the bullpen by the manager but that's always a part of the game. Gonna let Hogan start some games see if he helps. Opio's been exactly what we've expected. Theodore is having some trouble though and we look for him to right the ship hopefully soon.

[BradZ]

Philadelphia Freedom (46 - 30, 1st)

We played 6 on the road this week (3 at Wilmington and 3 at Virginia) and finished the week with a 4-2 record, so overall we are very pleased. We won one game in which we got 2 hits, another in which we managed 3 hits and lost one in which we got 12. Crazy game this baseball.

2-1@ Wilmington

Gm 1: Joe Aurillo picked up his 8th victory of the season, needing only 90 pitches to cruise through 7 innings (4 H | 1 ER | 0 BB | 5 K). The offense didn’t have much to offer against Cats SP Victor Alicea, but they managed to push 2 across in the 4th on a HBP, an error, a single and a sac fly. In total we managed 3 hits and those two runs but the bullpen made sure that was enough. Jim Newlin did manage to get 2 out of our 3 hits on the afternoon.
PHI 2 WIL 1

Gm 2: SP Tim Nathan was human allowing as many runs (5) as innings pitched as we wasted what for us is a good offensive showing (5 runs on 7 hits). Jim Newlin once again produced a multi-hit game with a 2 for 4 outing. Juan Coera is back from injury and hit his 4th HR of the year. We look forward to him staying in the lineup and becoming the productive member he usually is. We can certainly use his bat.
PHI 5 WIL 6

Gm 3: Joe Arredondo once again missed the chance to pitch against his old team, pitching game 3 of the Wilmington series instead. He was game enough and evened his record for the year at 6 W and 6 L. He went 6.2 innings in a rain shortened outing allowing 6 hits and 1 ER while failing to sit a single batter down on strikes. The defense was solid behind him which was not the case for young WIL SP Dave Carr and the rest of the Cats staff as the D committed 3 errors in the game. 3B Juan Coera continues to show signs of shaking off his rust while recording a 3 hit afternoon. Joe Seagarra equaled the 3 hit effort as well while driving home 2 runs and scoring 3. He hasn’t been terribly consistent this year, but he does seem to get his hits in bunches. I think he’s capable of going on a hot streak at some point and getting his average up to a more respectable figure.
PHI 10 WIL 3


2-1 @ Virginia

On to Virginia for a grudge rematch after they swept us in PHI earlier this season we were hoping to return the favor. We fell one short of that, but a series won is a series won.

Gm 1: Ben Irvin and Jerry Collins got tangled up in a pitching duel. Neither was dominating or overpowering (Irvin only produced 2 K while Collins tallied 5), but the two teams combined for a grand total of 6 hits (PHI 2 VIR 4). Thankfully for us, we made more of our 2 hits than VIR could manage with their 4 (although our 1 run that scored in the first did so without the benefit of a hit so that’s a bit misleading). Two leadoff walks and two flyouts plated the only run of the game before the top of the 1st was even over. Irvin’s tidy effort (8.0 IP | 4 H | 0 ER | 1 BB | 2 K) earned him his 6th victory of the year and Joe Alveraz waltzed through an 8 pitch perfect 9th to grab his 21st SV of the year.
PHI 1 VIR 0

Gm 2: 3 of our best hitters had multi-hit games and touched Colonials SP Jerry Morgan up a bit (6 ER in 1.2 IP). OT went 2 for 5 with a run scored and 3 RBI against his former team. Geoff Scott produced 3 hits in 5 trips including his 5th triple of the year (a stat he led the league in last season). Jim Newlin continued to produce at a high level, driving 2 hits in 4 trips, scoring 2 runs and knocking in 4 (including his 8th HR of the year). I fear the All-Star voters may have overlooked the season he is having because he has spent so much time playing out of position at 3B while Juan Coera has been on the DL twice. #5 SP Ray Minnoz was the beneficiary of all that run support and one his 8th game of the year with a 7 IP | 3 ER effort. Former franchise player Mel Woodbury went 4 for 4 (all singles), collecting 4 of the Colonials’ 6 hits.
PHI 9 VIR 3

Gm 3: I don’t like losing games like this. With a chance to sweep a winnable game was turned over to the bullpen and they just weren’t up to the task on this day. Joe Aurillo threw way too many pitches (105) in barely making it into the 6th inning (5.1 IP), allowing 5 free passes. Despite his struggles he left the game with a 2 to 1 lead. It wasn’t enough as the Colonial offense came back (as they are wont to do) to steal this one in the end to avoid the much wanted sweep.
PHI 3 VIR 4


Good:

- it always feels good to win a game in which your team scores only 1 run
- Juan Coera, in his second stint back from the DL this year, went .320 | .333 | .480 and drove in 3 runs. Doesn’t sound like much, but that production is much appreciated (and needed) in our lineup
- Jim Newlin seems to make this section more often than not this year. This week, .409 | .462 | .636 with 5 R and 9 RBI
- OT is hopefully getting over his mini-slump after producing a nice line of .357 | .357 | .571 for the week, though the lack of any BBs is odd for him
- The pitching was fairly good this week, with the occasional bad outing here and there.


Not as Good:
- Trevor Broomfield allowed 2 ERs this week, which doubled his total for the year to 4. Not a disaster by any stretch, but we are fairly reliant on his consistent ability to get people out. I would much rather see him have the occasional meltdown than start slowly leaking runs on a consistent basis. Obviously a small sample this week, just something we’ll be keeping an eye on.

[Ryan]

When I saw my sim results I thought that I had at least a one game lead.

But you were right there all week. This is why people hate clowns, man.

Ah, we're just misunderstood.

[Ryan]

Huh, just noticed that 4th rounder Ivan Gonzales threw a perfect game in his 2nd pro start.