2054/2055 Season - February
Notable Performances
1 Feb: Jorge Diaz scooped another PotW with a .483/.483/.897 performance, including 3HR.
1 Feb: Sean Carr put together a 5-6 night, including a walk-off rbi-single in the bottom of the 10th, to help Newcastle fight their way past Sydney 7-6. It was the 6th time Carr had recorded 5 hits in a game, and the 2nd time this season.
4 Feb: Jean-Louis Villard managed to keep his hit streak alive in his first game back from injury, but could go no further, the Thunder taming him today. Villard’s streak lasted 21 games.
4 Feb: As 1 streak ended, another continued. Manuel Salinas went 2-5, marking 20 consecutive games with a hit.
5 Feb: Nathan Beckett recorded his 3rd shutout of the season in what was turning into a remarkable turnaround from last year, when he led the league in losses. The southpaw strikeout machine gunned down Darwin, allowing only 4 hits while walking none. He struck out 7, Christchurch winning 2-0 to give them a 7-game win streak, though they were still 5 games below .500 (but only 4 back in the division).
6 Feb: Hitters were the guys dominating the highlight reels today. First, Mitchell Swan dominated Hobart, going 5-5, including a double and a HR, to help Kununurra smash their opposition 16-7. Swan scored 3 runs and drove in 6.
6 Feb: In that same game Jose Diaz hit a HR, making it 4 consecutive games he’d done so. Today’s blast moved him level with Ismael Aguirre at the top of this season’s HR tree, both players with 36.
6 Feb: Whangarei’s Tom Doig also collected 5 hits, and his 5-5 too included a HR and double. His performance helped Whangarei beat up on Brisbane 14-5.
8 Feb: Marcos Lopez hadn’t been in the spotlight all that much this season as new team Christchurch sputtered along. He couldn’t be ignored over the past week, though, his .517/.548/1.034 performance, including 4 doubles, 1 triple and 3HR, netting him PotW.
8 Feb: Salinas was held hitless by the Venom, ending his streak at 23 games.
8 Feb: Diaz didn’t homer yesterday, but cleared the fences today in a 3-3 night, putting him ahead in the HR race.
12 Feb: Rob Lane recorded his 5th career 5-hit game, going 5-5 against Hobart as Christchurch shot their way to an 11-2 victory.
15 Feb: Jacob Blanksby topped off a remarkable week (.750/.778/1.250) by winning PotW.
16 Feb: Ismael Aguirre’s walk-off solo HR in the bottom of the 14th in Canberra’s 5-4 victory over Cairns gave him 38HR for the year, moving him back into a tie for first-place with Diaz.
18 Feb: 38 y/o Young-tae Lee went 1-4 in Canberra’s narrow 5-4 loss to Central Coast. Lee wasn’t too upset after the game, though. His 1 hit, a solo HR in the 8th that kick-started Canberra’s scoring, was career hit number 2500. Lee, who had an amazing 8 Championship rings, modestly said after the game, “I’m surprised I lasted long enough to get there, to be honest.”
19 Feb: 35 y/o Matt Panther reached a significant milestone today. The burly American-born 1B went 2-5 to help Sydney best Christchurch 11-7. His first hit, a single in the 3rd, marked career hit 2000.
21 Feb: Aguirre bashed Canberra’s only run in their 5-1 loss to Central Coast. The solo HR was his 39th jack of the year, putting him ahead of Diaz by 1.
22 Feb: 22 y/o Aces’ rookie Terence Guyatt, who’d been in the majors less than 2 months, was .467/.515/.900 over the last week, his 14-30 including 2 doubles, 1 triple, and 3HR. Unsurprisingly, his performance netted him PotW.
23 Feb: Jay Cummins’ season had been a struggling, injury-interrupted affair so far. He would’ve felt good after today’s game though, as he went the distance, conceding just 3 hits and 2 walks, punching out 4 to help Wellington squeeze past Christchurch 2-0. This was Cummins’ 9th career shutout, moving him into a tie for 5th on the all-time ladder. He was only 2 behind all-time shutout leader Keiran Tennant.
26 Feb: Elijah Deas held Whangarei to 5 hits and walked none, helping Hobart to a 4-0 shutout victory. He struck out 4.
27 Feb: 33 y/o Robert Bywaters became the 8th AUNZBL pitcher to 300 saves, reaching the mark today in Newcastle’s 7-4 win over Central Coast.
Notable Injuries
12 Feb: Damon Liao (.316/.372/.472, 16HR) had a strained oblique. Cairns’ medical staff were hopeful the CF would make it back in time for the end of the season.
16 Feb: The Crocs lost another player today, Lindsay Colson (.274/.370/.484, 18HR) fracturing his finger, and gone for at least 6 weeks.
19 Feb: Christchurch were unlikely to get Sterling Bull (.308/.356/.452, 10HR) back this season after he was diagnosed with recurring back spasms.
21 Feb: Wellington, in a tight tussle with Auckland in the NZ, would be without Jean-Louis Villard (.271/.332/.448, 17HR) for the rest of the regular season, and possibly some of the postseason, were they to make it, thanks to shoulder tendinitis.
25 Feb: Ed Geoghegan (.296/.367/.495, 25HR) had fractured his finger and was off on holiday. “Japan, Indonesia, Philippines,” he told reporters, “and maybe finish up in Samoa or Fiji.”
Notable Trades/Signings
4 Feb: Wellington and Hobart slipped through a waiver-wire trade today, with Wellington sending 32 y/o CF Isaac Blythe (.270/.351/.402, 5HR) to Tasmania, getting 27 y/o corner outfielder Larry Nelms (.266/.304/.373, 3HR) and a good-looking OF prospect in return.
Month Awards
Rookie of the Month: 25 y/o Hobart catcher Declan Kraft. Acquired by Hobart in a trade with Kununurra earlier in the season, Kraft was .360/.366/.640 in February, 32-89, with 10 runs, 7 doubles, 6HR, 25RBI and 2BB.
Hurler of the Month: Edwin Kerr won this for the second time this season. He was 4-1 from 5 starts, with a 0.90 ERA, 2.60 FIP, and 0.57 WHIP. He struck out 36 in 40.0 IP. For the season he was 18-3, with a 2.45 ERA, 3.43 FIP, and 0.98 WHIP, leading the league in wins, WHIP, H/9 (6.85), and OAVG (.208). His 184 Ks had him equal-second in that category.
Slugger of the Month: Aguirre might’ve had a bit of a down month, by his lofty standards, but that was no matter, as Jacob Blanksby picked up the slack, winning SotM on the back of a .376/.438/.710 stat-line. 35-93, with 20 runs, 7 doubles, 8HR, 24RBI, and 10BB.
Media Watch
Ashley Snijders: Snijders had an awful February, finding himself on the bench by the end of the month. His stat-line was .173/.333/.267, and he managed only 1HR. For the year, Snijders was .246/.348/.397, with 17HR. He needed 13 more to get to 600 but certainly wouldn’t get there this season.
Other Notes
Coastal Division: The Venom (13-13) saw their lead over Darwin (14-12) reduced by 1 game.
East-West Division: Killer February did nothing to sort this division out. By the end of the month, it was tighter than ever, with Newcastle (11-15) somehow managing to remain at the top, with Kununurra (12-14) 1 game behind, Central Coast (14-12) another 3 games back, and Brisbane (14-12) only 5 games in arrears, having also lost their last 5. The whole division was .500 or better.
NZ Division: Auckland (15-11) held the division lead for a good portion of the month, but Wellington (13-13) snuck back ahead come month end, heading into March 1 game ahead of the highly-unfancied Metros. Reports were Auckland was operating with the 2nd-lowest payroll in the league, and had already turned around the massive debt they had at the beginning of the season into a tidy profit.
Southern Division: The only division that wasn’t really that interesting. Canberra (16-10) had a magic number of 3 heading into March, leading all their division opponents by at least 20 games.
Wildcard: This promised to go down to the wire, as most of the division battles did. Darwin and Kununurra held both spots at the moment, their records identical. Auckland was 1 game back, Central Coast 3, and late chargers Brisbane 4.
#
Aguirre (.346/.405/.628, 39HR) might’ve had a slow month, but he hadn’t surrendered his lead on any of the season ladders. He continued to lead the league in SLG, OPS, HR, RBI (124), wOBA (.429), hits (202), runs (121), ISO (.283), XBH (84), TB (367), and had moved into a tie for the doubles lead, with 42. If he kept up his run-scoring rate he was set to break Alan Sneddon's 2049 record of 137. He also only needed to safely touch 41 more bases to break Mildren’s 2039 record of 407.
Sean Carr (.364/.422/.551, 20HR) had moved into the BA lead.
Vern Bull (.297/.440/.531, 27HR) had patiently taken the OBP lead.
Alan Sneddon (.285/.437/.372, 5HR) continued to top the league in walks (127) and stolen bases (48).
Kununurra hitters held the 2nd-4th spots on the HR ladder heading into the final month of the season. Jorge Diaz (.310/.352/.553, 38HR) and Arthur Lee (.253/.320/.518, 38HR) were tied for 2nd, while Edwin Hayes (.329/.394/.685, 36HR) was in a tie for 4th, though he’d be unlikely to get the batting PA necessary to qualify for most other leaderboard spots. Lee had also struck out more than any other hitter, getting punched out 163 times so far.
Lance Ralston (11-6, 2.31 ERA, 3.15 FIP, 1.21 WHIP) continued to have the best ERA of all qualified pitchers, and the best HR/9 (0.48).
Teammate Marcos Gallo (16-10, 3.73 ERA, 3.02 FIP, 1.13 WHIP) led the league in FIP, BB/9 (1.29), K/BB (5.89), and WAR (5.9).
Nathan Beckett (15-8, 3.21 ERA, 3.33 FIP, 1.20 WHIP) had 189 strikeouts, 5 more than next-best, but it continued to be Brad King (15-9, 3.90 ERA, 4.48 FIP, 1.30 WHIP) who had the best K/9 rate, striking out 9.57 hitters every 9 innings pitched.
Melbourne’s Alastair Butcher had moved into the saves lead, with 35.
Standings, Mar 1