SIM COMPLETE - 1988 - Regular Season 23

[Andrew]

next sim: Wednesday

[Clay]

I may not only fire my Team Trainer this off-season... I may have him killed.

[BradZ]

I may not only fire my Team Trainer this off-season... I may have him killed.

He's been busy keeping Woodbury on the field. Probably doesn't have time for everyone else.

Costly SIM for us. We went 6-1 which is great since all 7 were on the road, but we lost Geoff Scott (and his 73.5+ VORP) and OT (and his 38.7 VORP) in back to back games. Scott is out for 3-4 weeks, OT for 6. Yuck.

[Jake]

What an interesting sim, injuries and all, for the IL wildcard and Porter race. Wow. Gonna come down to the end.

[Spear]

What an interesting sim, injuries and all, for the IL wildcard and Porter race. Wow. Gonna come down to the end.

Pretty much says it all. There are a ton of unanswered questions across the league.

As for Davenport...

Pretty mechanical 4-3 sim. Still up a game on the Playboys, split the two game series.

We headed back to Davenport where Washington squeaked us out of a series. Every game was decided by one run and it might come back to haunt us at the end of the year. Tsunayoshi Sato is really wearing out his welcome in Davenport.

[Gyrodork]

My "gift" to the BLB...CL "Godzilla" Kraft and LF/DH Shinamius are headed for Free Agency. I have one more shot at signing LF Cahill, but it's looking like he'll be leaving Los Lunas too.

It's gonna' be God-awful ugly for the next few seasons.

[Jistic]

Not many times you give up 4 runs in the 17th inning of a game....and win. Wow.

[Lintyfresh85]

126 runners left on base in 7 games. Yep... that'll do it.

[Delandis]

Wow. Caballero was amazing this week, too bad we don't win.

[Ryan]

Ha, Denver and I both go 2-5 for the sim, while Dallas goes 5-2. Never count out the Turtles.

[Carlos]

Ha, Denver and I both go 2-5 for the sim, while Dallas goes 5-2. Never count out the Turtles.

Collapse.

[Clay]

Virginia Colonials (78-65)
2nd in Stout
Leader (Tied) in IL Wildcard Race

2-0 vs Morgantown
1-1 vs Wilmington
3-0 vs California

What Went Right:

-- 6-1 - We'll take a 6-1 any time. No complaints. Sure, I could "boo hoo" about the 9th inning loss to Wilmington in my only 'L' of the week, but I also had two walkoff wins this week.

-- 1-Run Wins - Three of them this week. It was the scurge of our existance early in the season, but we've finally moved about .500 in 1-run games. We get two walk-off wins this week including a fantastic scene against Wilmington where Pepe Gonzalez hit his first career HR to turn the lights off. Gonzalez, who was a legit slugger in AAA, reached the seat for the first time in his Pro career.

-- Lonnie Coleman - A fine debut for the 26 year old rookie making his first BLB start. He outdueled Veteren hurler Joe Toapanta and shut down the high-powered Kodiaks' offense in the 6-1 win. The kid, who was still throwing on a pitch limit, worked 6.2 scattering 4 hits and 2 BBs while punching out 9 California hitters.

-- Rod Phillips - The rookie, who has been filling in at 1B for Maeda the last few weeks, continues to leave Management wishing they had him in the lineup full-time all season. He went 10 for 20 this week and showed premiere patience at the plate taking 7 free passes including laying off a 3-2 pitch to draw the game winning walk in the third Cali game. He also ended a game defensively with an unassisted DP at first. His late push may at least steal him a couple 2nd or 3rd place votes for IL New Brew.

-- Power - 9 more HRs after 16 last SIM. Going to have to swing big bats to stay in this race. Too much talent on the DL. Need to score some runs.

What Went Wrong:

-- Joshua Poling - Done for the rest of the season legging out a 9th inning double against California for what would end up being the winning run. Huge loss for the team with an outside chance of their first playoff appearance. He ends the season with a respectable .272/.349/.446/.795 season with 23 HR and 85 RBI and two IL Player of the Week honors.

-- Amistad Caballero - While it didn't have a direct effect on my SIM, the Baltimore Slugger had an unbelievable SIM and, in my opinion, pulled even and probably past Mel Woodbury in the IL Stout Slugger race. They certainly aren't the only horses in the race, but it's going to be a battle down the homestretch.

-- Depth - The injury bug has hit the Colonials hard. Some players are starting to trickle back in, but we're hurting in the depth department. Danny Nelson returned in the last game of the week and Yoritoki Maeda is off the DL as well. Doctors believe Vernon Simmonds is ready this week too. Unfortunately, with the loss of Poling added to O'Hegarty's injury that will keep him out till at least the last day of the season, the Colonials have no good options up the middle. A double-play tandom of Cristian Martinez and Rodney Nakagawa is just not what you want to enter a playoff push with.

Bottomline:

Go into the Cali series down 3.0 games, come out of it tied for the IL Wildcard. The injuries suck ass, but the bottomline is I'm where I've never been before - in the hunt. 19 games to go and forced to play them without your #1 and #2 hitter, plus your #3 SP is not where anyone wants to be. But, that's why you make the trades I did the last two seasons to bring in a Future Hall of Famer like Vincent Nino and, arguably, the best all around hitter in the BLB in Mel Woodbury. They need to carry the weight on their backs. And they are. More importantly, young guys are chipping in. Happy to be in the race.

Coming Up:

Huge week for us. Not only do we go in tied for the IL Wildcard. Not only are we playing two teams that have very, very good chances of making the playoffs. Not only do we go in with an enormously depleted lineup. After 9 opportunities earlier in the season, on 9/13 the Colonials will finally face Joe Arrendondo for the first time. Arrendondo was obviously a lynchpin in the Woodbury deal and has been fantastic for the Freedom. The Colonials have looked forward to taking on their former ACE in what should be a fun, but spirited matchup.

[Jake]

Weren't you in it back in 84?

[Clay]

Weren't you in it back in 84?

I won 68 games in '84.

[Lintyfresh85]

Not a great sim in Cali.

Philly seems to be on fire. They're 16-4 over their last 20 and pulling away with every sim.

We lost our SS for the rest of the year. It doesn't really hurt my offense... but he's a three time gold glove winner so the defense will suffer a bit.

Not sure how the rest of the season will go. Should be interesting.