2057/2058 Season - February
Notable Performances
2 Feb: Jay Cummins wrote himself into a piece of baseball history, recording his 2nd shutout of the season, and the 11th of his career in leading Wellington to a 5-0 victory over Whangarei. Cummins allowed just 1 hit (in the 5th) and 3 walks, while striking out 7. He was now tied with Keiran Tennant for the most career shutouts. 35 y/o Cummins said after the game, “Yeah, I’m feeling my age, and the ball’s not duking about as it used to, but I still feel if I pitch smart and pick my spots I’m pretty hard to get away.”
3 Feb: 23 y/o Sam Woodger found himself in the deep end, called into the rotation of a floundering Canberra. In his first start, on the 18th of January, he walked 8, but this didn’t appear to be a one-off case of nerves, rather, a problem with control. Today he walked 10 batters (as well as giving up 6 hits), the first pitcher to walk 10 or more since 2048. Still, Canberra somehow got the win, out-punching Newcastle 10-6.
4 Feb: Patrick Maggs battered opposition pitching around to the tune of .407/.500/.778 over the last week, hitting 3HR along the way, to be awarded PotW.
7 Feb: Marty Palmer conceded 7 hits but walked none and, more importantly, didn’t allow a single run to shut out Melbourne. His Blue Sox eased to a 7-0 win, Palmer striking out 3 in the victory.
11 Feb: Auckland catcher Yen-nien Liu won PotW, hitting .500/.556/.917, with 2 doubles, 1 triple, and 2HR among his 12 hits.
11 Feb: Damon Liao boosted his hit streak to 20 games with a 7th-inning double in Central Coast’s 3-0 victory over Cairns. He would go hitless the following night.
13 Feb: Marcos Gallo was toiling away in Darwin’s rotation, the drop in his velocity over the last 18 months very noticeable. He’d gone from throwing his fastball in the mid-150s to struggling to get it to touch 143 km/h, but was still getting enough movement on his pitches to make it hard to get him away. Today he used all his wiles to restrict Adelaide to 4 hits and 1 walk, while accruing 5 strikeouts. Darwin cruised to a 5-0 victory, Gallo getting through the game on 99 pitches.
13 Feb: Last month Marcos Lopez slugged his 300th HR. This month he recorded his 2000th career hit, doubling in the 4th inning of a 5-4 loss to Hobart. The career .319 hitter was on track for 200 hits and 40HR this season. He’d last hit 40 or more HR in 2052 (the only time he’d done so), and reached 200 hits last in 2054.
14 Feb: Byron Moore allowed 4 hits, struck out 6, and kept Auckland to 0 to help Wellington get one over their local derby rivals to the tune of 6-0. This was Moore’s 2nd shutout of the season.
16 Feb: John Foreman became the first hitter to 40HR this season, cracking a solo shot in Central Coast’s 5-3 loss to Melbourne.
16 Feb: It had been a while between drinks, but Okolita showed some of his best form in striking out 13 Crocs hitters in 7.1IP. In a game that came down to the wire, Whangarei edged their rivals 5-4. Okolita’s haul took him to 190 strikeouts for the season.
17 Feb: Awful Adelaide lost their 10th straight, surrendering 8-1 to Canberra.
18 Feb: Hobart’s Rick Roughley snared PotW. He took opposition pitching apart in the last week, hitting .469/.485/.969, his 15-32 including 4 doubles and 4HR.
19 Feb: Beau Snell crashed through the 200-hit barrier, his 3-5 in Melbourne’s 6-3 win over the Sluggers taking him to 202 hits for the season, 20 more than next closest Sean Carr.
21 Feb: 35 y/o Arnold Dethridge recorded his first major-league shutout, spooking the Metros with a 4-hit, 6-strikeout performance. Hobart finished with a comfortable 6-0 win.
21 Feb: Mitch Sutherland had been up and down between Canberra’s rotation and bullpen, appearing in 28 games but having only started 12 before today. He made this one count though, going the distance with a 4-hit, 2-walk, 4-strikeout effort. Canberra made the most of his pitching, beating up on Darwin 8-0.
21 Feb: Okolita picked up the loss as Whangarei slumped to a 9-0 defeat to Melbourne. He allowed 9 runs in 7.0 innings off the back of 14 hits and 2 walks. In amongst the offal, though, he struck out 11 hitters, putting him on 201 punch outs for the year. Afterwards he was at a loss to explain his performance, saying, “I felt good, you know. That 7th kinda did me in, the Grand Slam a shot to the heart, but I didn’t feel like I was throwing bad. Had the wind behind me and everything.” The loss was Okolita’s 12th of the season.
23 Feb: The off day did Adelaide’s flagging players a world of good, helping them regroup and defeat Hobart 6-2, ending their losing streak at 14 games.
25 Feb: Yin-ti Zhuo only played 4 games last week, but his stat-line of .600/.700/1.133 was deemed good enough for PotW. His 9 hits included 2 doubles and 2HR.
26 Feb: Alan Sneddon was roaring along, on track to break his own season walks record. Today, though, he celebrated another achievement, 2000 hits. Darwin sank to their 7th straight loss, going down 10-9 to Brisbane, but there were still plenty of cheers from the fans when Sneddon doubled in the 3rd to bring up the mark.
26 Feb: Aguirre crashed his way closer to 600HRs, going deep twice in Christchurch’s 11-6 defeat of Auckland. His 1st jack, a 2-run blast in the 1st, gave him 595 career HRs. His 2nd, a solo effort in the 6th, moved him to 596. Just 4 to go!
28 Feb: Christos Hutchinson, the career leader in triples with 126, became the 15th player to 2500 hits, doing so with a single in the top of the 1st of an eventual 8-0 slaughtering of the Sluggers.
28 Feb: Clint Aitcheson didn’t have a great outing, going 5.1 innings and scattering 8 hits and 2 walks for 5 runs, but his offense went gangbusters, piling 13 runs on Brisbane to give Aitcheson the W. It was his 20th win of the season, the first time he’d reached that mark.
Notable Injuries
2 Feb: The Sluggers, 5 games back in the wildcard, would be without Japanese speedster Yoshihito Morimoto (.331/.356/.399, 0HR, 34SB) for the next 3 weeks while he recuperated a strained back.
7 Feb: Christchurch would be without dependable CF Kelvin Pickhills (.284/.330/.447, 11HR, +9.7ZR) for the rest of the season after he was diagnosed with a broken elbow.
8 Feb: Manuel Salinas was almost finished a lengthy AAA rehab assignment after being out since ST with a torn back muscle. Yesterday, though, he twisted awkwardly sliding into base and had to be helped from the field. Today the diagnosis was in: a hip strain. At least 3 more weeks on the DL for him!
13 Feb: Newcastle would miss the services of Guillermo Julio (.305/.353/.416, 3HR) for up to a month after he strained his hamstring. Julio’s 51 stolen bases was a league-leader.
14 Feb: Hobart’s move to strengthen their pitching, acquiring Carlo Lane from Auckland, came crashing down in injury-induced flames. Lane had been good so far for the Prospects, his record from 3 starts 1-1, with a 3.52 ERA, 4.31 FIP, and 1.04 WHIP. Sadly, his 3rd start, on the 10th, came to an abrupt halt after 1 inning. Today he learned that he had a torn flexor tendon in his elbow. Best estimates at recovery time? 13-14 months. 30 y/o Lane would be a free agent at season’s end, but would he still hold any value when he finally came back, likely in the 2059 season?
19 Feb: Peter Moy (.286/.327/.435, 12HR) might not make it back for Whangarei this season. He had a strained abdominal muscle.
20 Feb: Brisbane’s Craig Fisher (9-9, 5.22 ERA, 4.15 FIP, 1.46 WHIP) also faced a lengthy period out of the game, his torn rotator cuff set to keep him sidelined for at least a year.
25 Feb: One of Kununurra’s trade acquisitions, Gareth Kellett (.270/.338/.345, 4HR) was gone for the rest of the season with a broken kneecap.
25 Feb: Marshall Hooks (.276/.326/.570, 38HR) took a pitch to the foot, resulting in a fracture. He was hoping to be back in time for the playoffs, “perhaps a bit sooner if I can do this rehab right.”
28 Feb: Gary Young (.295/.365/.564, 32HR) had a wretched injury record. He’d already had 2 minor trips to the DL this season, and was now set for another, his jaw fractured by a brushback pitch. He wouldn’t be back this season.
Notable Trades/Signings
24 Feb: Christchurch moved to buy out the rest of 26 y/o Marshall Hooks’ (.275/.324/.567, 37HR) arbitration years plus at least the first year of his free agency with a 4-year contract extension. Hooks, 2nd-equal in the HR standings, and having recorded the most extra-base hits (73) of any player was “over the moon,” adding, “It’s great to know the club values me.”
Month Awards
Rookie of the Month: Elijah Lutz won RotM for the 2nd month running. In February he hit .366/.388/.559, 34-93, with 15 runs, 6 doubles, 4HR, 14RBI, and 4BB.
Hurler of the Month: Byron Moore had an excellent month, going 4-0 from 5 starts, with a 1.30 ERA, 2.96 FIP, and 0.89 WHIP. He fanned 28 in 41.2 IP, allowing only 6 ER.
Slugger of the Month: Ismael Aguirre wasn’t quite over the hill yet. His .373/.427/.664 stat-line was deemed good enough for SotM, the 11th time he’d been awarded that honour. His 41-110 included 11 doubles, around half of which probably would’ve been HR at any park other than Cowboys Ballpark, and 7HR. He scored 25 runs and drove in 28 runners, while getting walked 11 times. For the season he was back on track to get 200 hits and only needed 3 more RBI to reach 100 for the 14th consecutive campaign. While his 31HR for the year saw him 10 back in that race, his strong month had moved him into 7th on the WAR leaderboard, his season mark now 5.7.
Other Notes
Coastal Division: Darwin (13-13) and Perth (13-13) stayed 4 games apart, while Cairns (12-14) dropped a game back to an even .500.
East-West Division: Central Coast (16-10) added 2 games to their division lead, Newcastle (14-12) doing their best to stay in the hunt.
NZ Division: Christchurch (15-13) had their first sputtery month of the season, enabling Wellington (17-9), thanks to a late month rush, to cut their deficit to 14 games.
Southern Division: Melbourne (14-12) and Sydney (14-12) kept pace with each other, the Aces’ division lead still 6 games. Hobart (12-14) were 9 games back, playing .500 ball.
Wildcard: Wellington had a 2-game advantage, while the second slot was all tied up between Newcastle, Perth, and Sydney. Cairns and Hobart were 5 games back, hoping to pounce if the other teams faltered.
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John Foreman (.281/.335/.525, 41HR) maintained his grip on the HR lead, now 2 clear of Justin Auger (.267/.381/.538, 39HR). Auger had 107 RBI, 105 runs, and 100 walks, giving him a triple-double with a month to spare.
Sean Carr (.369/.420/.551, 23HR) moved into the BA lead. He also had the league’s best wOBA (.421) and WAR (8.3), though he, club and fans would be sweating over a possible injury sustained in the last game of the month.
Beau Snell (.366/.423/.473, 8HR) might’ve lost the BA lead, but he still had the most hits of any batter, with 214. No-one else had yet reached 200 hits.
Fei-hsien Chang (.302/.379/.597, 33HR) still had the league’s best SLG, OPS, and ISO (.294).
Alan Sneddon (.305/.475/.444, 10HR) was 20 points ahead in the OBP standings, and had 40 more walks than anybody else, with 148. He led the league in runs scored too, his 110 five more than next best Auger.
Jorge Diaz (.326/.386/.570, 33HR) had jumped into the RBI lead. He’d also rounded more bases than any other hitter, with 311 so far.
Canberra’s Jay Saunderson (.305/.365/.493, 19HR) had hit 42 doubles, to head that board, while the Crocs’ Dylan Glynn (.307/.354/.447, 8HR) topped all comers in triples, with 11.
Clint Aitcheson (20-6, 3.07 ERA, 3.73 FIP, 1.02 WHIP) not only led the league in wins, but also in WHIP, K/BB (4.78), and IP (229.0). He’d thrown 21.2 innings more than any other pitcher.
Isaac Russell (18-4, 2.91 ERA, 3.77 FIP, 1.17 WHIP) had the best ERA of any pitcher and was a good chance to reach 20 wins.
Lance Ralston (10-10, 3.42 ERA, 2.90 FIP, 1.32 WHIP) continued to lead the league in FIP, HR/9 (0.32), and WAR (5.7).
Okolita (9-12, 4.04 ERA, 3.85 FIP, 1.23 WHIP) was the only pitcher past 200 strikeouts so far, with 208, and had a K/9 of 10.36, making him the only qualified pitcher to be striking out more than 1 batter an inning.
Perth rookie Jose Ramirez (10-10, 3.93 ERA, 4.35 FIP, 1.24 WHIP) led the league in H/9 (7.40), and OAVG (.220).
Fingleson’s 37 saves kept him in front on the saves board.
Standings, Mar 1