French Baseball League & Julien Henri

[stevem810]

Well, the guys are trying to keep Vic's dream alive.
Cosman still in the game having thrown 64 pitches.

[stevem810]

The Fab 5 certainly had an impact.

M.Michel goes 4/5 with 4 runs batted in
L. Mercier goes 2 for 5 scoring and batting in one
Julien Henri goes 2 for 5 scoring 2 and batting in one
Herve DeLage goes 2 for 5 scoring 2 and batting in one

Vic Cosman settles down after a disastrous first and gets the W as he allowed only 1 unearned run until his exit in the 7th with 2 out.

[stevem810]

Paris, with their recent winning ways, has a 2 game lead for the only WC in the FBL. The Division championship not out of the question, but, Nice is playing excellent ball.

Julien is hitting .303 with 10 HR's and 51 batted in.
On the mound he is 8-9 with a 4.19 ERA/ 1.37 WHIP

[stevem810]

Julien had it going for him tonight as he picked up 2 hits including a solo jack while pitching into the 9th having not allowed any runs. Gallant the Save, as Paris wins in Saint-Michel.

The Soleis win by a run to remain one game back in the WC and Nice loses and they see their lead drop to 7 over Paris.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by stevem810

Not the stuff dreams are made of.

Nice that he settled down to have not a disastrous outing, but I think the word "stuff" is the key here.
There comes a time in a veteran pitcher's career where the lack of stuff starts to lead to disastrous results. (I certainly saw that with future HOF'er Cheol-han Lee on my Denver Brewers team.)

[stevem810]

Yeah, 'stuff' is certainly the operative word in Vic's case.

Cosman is unlikely to pitch with the consistency and effectiveness of his prior years and really is more of a storyline than an on the field force.

It will be fun to see how the remainder of the year plays out for the former Le Diamant Diamonds now that they are reunited across the Atlantic.

Those were some teams they had while in Martinique.

[stevem810]

Julien Henri helped apply the brakes to a two game Artist losing streak as he pitched his way to a 6-4 win against the Herons.

The win, combined with the loss for the Soleis, gives Paris a 1 game edge on the only Wild Card spot.

Nice continues to run away from Paris and Marseille having won 5 straight giving them a double digit 10/11 game lead over the two ball clubs in the France League.

[stevem810]

The August losses keep mounting for the Artists and it just might cost them the post season. A 9-14 (.391 winning pct.), coupled with two loses to the Soleis in the recently completed 3 game set, the team is wondering what went wrong.

With 6 games left on the team schedule they will need help as the Soleis lead the Artists by a single game after their successful appearance in Paris this week.

Marseille has 6 games left against two Martinique teams with one eliminated and the other hanging by a thread with a 1 game magic number staring them in the face.

Paris must play the first place Le Morne Rouge Toucans (.523) and then conclude the season with 3 vs. the Expedition (.364).

Julien Henri should get two more starts so it will be interesting if he can improve upon his 10-11 record. More importantly, can he help elevate his team to the post season.

At the plate his .790 OPS is slightly above his career average of .767. The 29 year old from Sainte Pierre has swiped 13/15 this year.

Julien's glove work has fallen off considerably this season as his ZR, always a positive, slipped into the negative category for CF. His 6 errors in CF easily surpass his previous career high of just 2.

[stevem810]

Something is wrong with the team this year as players seem to be under performing almost across the board. We get a lead and then a big inning by the opposition and it's gone. In prior years it was the reverse. We always knew we could come back and win and often did.

Maybe some of the fire is gone from our stars. At the same time I can't really point to any one player that comes up short. I mean, everyone looks like they are giving it their best.

Six games to go. I'll be pitching two of them and I'm going to give it all I've got on every pitch and every at bat.

[stevem810]

August 26 in Le Morne Rouge.

Crazy, crazy game.
The bad news? I leave the game after 7 IP with a 4 run lead and the pen gives up 4 in the 8th and 1 in the 9th.

But, there is good news, too. We score 3 in the 9th (2 on a homer by Kobayashi) and we win it.

It's tough with Laurant injured but the other guys picked up the slack as we bashed 17 hits on our way to an 11-9 W.

Not knocking the guys in the pen but we're rated 6th out of 12 teams. Same for our offense. But, this is what we have and we're all going to have to be accountable for these final 5 games and we'll just have to see.

Damn, the Soleis won 1-0. Give LeGrand credit. His team gets 2 hits and he keeps them off the board.

The official word came down from the trainers office. Laurant Mercier has a severe hip strain. He's done for the year. Wow, our best player.

[stevem810]

Here's the Ace of the Marseille rotation. He's having probably his best season. Just 26 but he's had 24 documented injuries in his pro career to date. But, so far, so good as we hit the final week.

This team is 10th in scoring but they can pitch and play D.

[stevem810]

Ugh. Pitiful display of hitting tonight. Corronado pitches his heart out allowing 2 runs and we still lose, 2-1. On top of that skip benched me tonight. Said I needed a rest.

How are we going to win with Herve, Laurant (injured), and me out of the line up at the same time?

Insult to injury the Soleis win 4-2 and now we are 1 GB in the WC race. Got a bad feeling right now.

[stevem810]

What would we do without Herve? Out of the line up yesterday we lose.
Back in the line up and we win by two. Herve's 4 hits in 5 AB's were the difference.

Tony Escudero goes to 5-0 but, if we are being honest, 8 walks is pushing it if you expect to win. With the Soleis losing at home we are now tied for the WC with three left on the schedule.

We just need to win our games and the rest takes care of itself. The worst team in the league Ottawa (48 wins) is coming to Paris so there are no excuses if we can't win the final 3 in our own park.

The thing that scares me about that team is Xavier Rolland. The guy kills us whenever we play the Expedition. His 200 hits in 1968 are still the most for any season.

[stevem810]

I'm liking what I saw on the field tonight, our 3rd win in a row. We overcame a 1 run deficit on our way to a 9-3 win.

Herve Delage had 4 more hits. He's killing it. With Mercier and Nao Yamada (out most of the year) the top of the line up has been devastated. But, Herve led the team, again, as he scored 3 runs on his 3 for 4 day.

The young kid Stephan Rossignal is beginning to show his stuff. We've been waiting on the 23 year old OF to show some of the promise he displayed in Saint-Nazaire and it is finally beginning to surface. His .318/.400/.409 slash line is giving us some of the offense we lost. And, his big single this game plated two when we needed them.

So, I got my 11th Win tonight in a complete game outing and will end the season 11-11. Not my best year on the mound but I feel good about coming up big my last two outings, even though one of them got away from us.

We win tomorrow and we're going to the playoffs. I'm feeling good about Denis Merlin on the mound and a rested bullpen.

Kudos to the Waves and SP Bruno Roy as they kicked the Soleils butt in Marseille winning 6-0. Cause he did it against their ace, Miguel Rosales (15-8).

[Bliketa]

Wow as a Frenchman, I find it really cool that you set your world in the french-speaking world (and that you also included Martinique)
Looking forward to read more of it.



I noticed that the Marseille team is called Soleis, did you mean "soleils", the word for suns by any chance ?
I will be happy to help you with French words, if you ever need help : )

[stevem810]

Originally Posted by Bliketa

Wow as a Frenchman, I find it really cool that you set your world in the french-speaking world (and that you also included Martinique)
Looking forward to read more of it.



I noticed that the Marseille team is called Soleis, did you mean "soleils", the word for suns by any chance ?
I will be happy to help you with French words, if you ever need help : )

Ha, I can use all the help I can get! Edit very much appreciated.
So, yeah, my worst moment in Martinique (because of my paltry French speaking ability) was last year when we got a flat tire with a rental.
No idea how to release the spare tire in that car that drops down to the ground after unscrewing the appropriate nut (thank you man in the parking lot).
Then, trying to buy a tire that is available in like one place on the island was a nightmare. It took us hours to figure out the problem. Driving into Fort de France we spent a few hours trying to find the only store. Turns out they didn't have that tire, either. Back to the airport to exchange cars (yes there will be a charge for that, sir). LOL, it was exhausting.

But, yeah, thanks for weighing in on anything French.

[Bliketa]

That's some very bad luck with the tire, haha
Something I also noticed about your league are the players with very French names, Julien, Hervé, Henri, Michel, Valentin, etc that are also consistent with the league.


Can I ask which team is the best throughout history ? I think I saw that it was implied that the mainland teams were not that good


Also here are some other typos I have seen :
- Arc de triomphe (nice name for a venue btw)
- Laurant is usually spelled Laurent
- and I think Giverney is spelled Giverny, not gonna lie I didn't know the city and I look it up to see where it was lol, that's where I found how it is spelled

[stevem810]

Originally Posted by Bliketa

Can I ask which team is the best throughout history ? I think I saw that it was implied that the mainland teams were not that good


Also here are some other typos I have seen :
- Arc de triomphe (nice name for a venue btw)
- Laurant is usually spelled Laurent
- and I think Giverney is spelled Giverny, not gonna lie I didn't know the city and I look it up to see where it was lol, that's where I found how it is spelled

Thanks, again, for the spelling heads up.

I'll post the champions below. When Julien Henri was with Le Diamant (my city of choice when I'm on Martinique) they were the best team, by far. I carefully made the roster decisions through the first 6 years, or so. Once Henri was traded to Paris (I initiated the move) Le Diamant began to fade a bit and Paris became stronger, but, not to the extent of Le Diamant. The Soleils have always been a strong team that has been A.I. run from the inception (only Le Diamant and Paris have been managed by me).

As GM for Paris there were a few years I drafted with stats only. A short lived experiment that set them back. I make very few moves for Paris as I'm more interested in what Julien does than the team. Many of the players Julien played with on Le Diamant ended up playing for Paris, most through free agency. This was done, in part, to add to the story line.

This thread began with version 19. Herve Delage and Julien Henri were from the same part of Martinique, Delage being somewhat of a role model for the younger Basse Pointe Bandits like Henri at the Single A level for Le Diamant. DeLage and Henri came to Paris together in a trade in 1969.

[stevem810]

The Artists surrendered leads twice but Blanchet's solo jack in the bottom of the 8th gave Paris the lead for good as they went on to win 3-2 and claim the only wild card entry into the post season.

Marseille put up a 5 spot in their 8th to secure a win but still came up a game short. After reaching the post season the first 8 years of the French Baseball League the Soleils have now come up short in 6 consecutive seasons.

Five time champion and a participant in the last 8 post seasons the Le Diamant ball club misses the playoffs as Le Morne Rouge qualifies for the first time since 1961.

[stevem810]

Both rounds are a best of 7 series.