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Bub13 · 04-11-2020, 11:33 AM

June 17-19 @ PITTSBURGH
Coming off three consecutive 90+ win seasons, this year's 32-36 record is a disappointment. But that's what happens to a mid-budget team that doesn't go after its own free agents. Offense in 9th, pitching 16th; with a -23 run differential maybe they're lucky to be only four games under .500. No standouts at the plate or in the rotation, but closer Manny Gomez has 18 saves and a 2.42 ERA. Like us, they don't hit many HR (53, 17th in the NL) but are third in steals with 45. Manager: Dario Agrazal, who won a title with the Braves and led the Pirates to 96 wins last year, his first with the club. Ninth year overall. Chemistry: Unhappy, and a couple of the outspoken and unmotivated players are starting to grumble about...something. Can't Miss Prospect? 2nd ranked system, with three players in the top 20, all currently with the big club. Jose Rivera (MLB #10) is just a solid changeup away from joining the rotation, as is Kenny West (#12). They're both high-stuff/low-movement guys. Alex Correa (#18), on the other hand, reminds me of Eric Jones but with better stuff. Once he fully develops, he'll be very good.

HAW pitchers: RH Ryan Ratliff (7-1, 3.46) / LH Eric Jones (9-2, 3.60) / RH Dennis Perry (5-5, 4.61)
PIT pitchers: RH Rick Horan (4-6, 3.83) / RH Roberto Higuera (3-7, 5.79) / LH Mike Victor (4-5, 5.17)

#68: LOSS 6-9 ... Frederick's HR is pretty much the only highlight...Ratliff is pushed around, and Kym is wild again, walking 3 in 1.1 IP of relief
#69: WIN 9-3 ... 13 singles and a pair of doubles still equals 9 runs...Simmons and Daley with 3 hits each
#70: WIN 7-4 ... Simmons and Lynn drive in runs in a 4-run 6th...Perry lasts just 5, and Kym--yep--walks 3 more in 1.1 IP, gives up 2 runs

Still 5.5 up on Oakland, righting their ship after a bad stretch.... Groff batting .355, Daley .349.... I'm not picking on HC Kym. He's been okay, with a 3.33 ERA and 34 K in 24 IP. Also, though, 24 walks.... Stoneback suffers a setback, because of course he does. He's now going to miss 2-3 months, rather than weeks. Hopefully he'll be back in early September; haven't I said that before? Multiple times? Sigh.... ELSEWHERE: LA's Greg Sipes wins a 1-0 no hitter over the Marlins, fanning 6 and walking 3.... White Sox ace Ben O'Neal is having a breakout season, at 6-1 and a 1.89 ERA. But he's going to miss the next six weeks with a bum shoulder.... NL Central leaders New Orleans just extended SP Ricky Munoz for five more years. Munoz leads the NL with a 1.88 ERA.... LA is now just a half game behind SF, with the Padres just a game behind the Dodgers, and Portland 2 more games out.

June 20-22 vs CHICAGO CUBS
The Cubbies are also now 32-36, and just ahead of Pittsburgh thanks to us. Only 12th in runs despite having the 4th best OBP and the 5th most HR. Pitching has been pretty bad, at 15th in runs against. Jason Eastep (.285/21/40) paces the offense, while ageless Rafael Maldonado is still kicking it on the mound. And somehow John LaBarbera is 5-0 despite a 1:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Of the three regulars added during free agency, only 3B Juan Garcia is hitting well, but even his .291 is over 30 points below his career average. Manager: Tony Thompson, fourth year. Players are kinda meh about him, no one's mad but no one's thrilled. Chemistry: Happy, but with no team captain and only one leader. Can't Miss Prospect? No surprise that the 32nd ranked system has a middle reliever as the top prospect: Seth Broom, already with the Cubs, is a good-not-great pitcher, and will be just fine in his career. 2B Jose Ibanez is an excellent fielder and will hit for average one day, but that's it. The raft of pitchers behind him do not stand out.

HAW pitchers: RH Shamar Jackson (8-5, 4.32) / LH Mike Garfield (2-4, 5.17) / RH Ryan Ratliff (7-2, 4.12)
CHC pitchers: RH Lee Robinson (5-7, 5.74) / RH Tim Ciotta (4-3, 5.20) / RH John LaBarbera (5-0, 3.58)

#71: WIN 3-1 ... only 8 IP for Jackson this time, but still only 4 hits allowed...2 hits for Frederick, only 5 from everyone else
#72: LOSS 4-6 ... White takes his first loss, in the 10th inning...Garfield gives up 4 runs in 7 IP, so a slight improvement for him
#73: WIN 6-5 ... extra innings again, this time Groff wins it with a walk-off HR in the 11th...Frederick triples home 2 in the 4th

Oakland got slapped around some, so now we're up by 8 games.... Down to 17th in home runs, but leading baseball with 77 steals! Go, us.... One week left on the DL for Goldthwait, unless he's going to hand us bad injury news too.... ELSEWHERE: CF Ed Haley is reportedly unhappy in Texas, which he denies. Son, no one is happy playing in Texas.... Miami has surged of late, winning six straight and passing the Yankees for first in the East.... Austin still brings up MLB's rear, at 25-49. Toronto is 26-46, St Louis 27-46.... Two-time defending NL batting champ Dan Dellinger recently came off Arizona's DL and has retaken the batting lead at .350.

June 24-26 @ CALIFORNIA
Now 22-43 since their enviable 8-2 start. Feels like years ago. Batting has declined to 16th in runs, 17th in AVG and OBP. LF Nate Atwater is at least trying, at .261/21/48, but two regulars are below the Mendoza Line. In fact, they're below the line that's below the Mendoza Line, hitting just .145 and .143. Pitching is 10th, with ace Jon Carlsen continuing a solid year. Team chemistry has slid into unhappiness, and catcher Antonio Chamorro (the .145 guy) is unhappy with the manager. (He's probably not thrilled either, Tony.) Oh, and when I did their top prospects last time, I missed catcher Manny Fontane, an actual honest-to-god top-notch catching prospect: excellent batter and good enough behind the plate. All-star potential, a pretty rare bird these days.

HAW pitchers: LH Eric Jones (10-2, 3.53) / RH Dennis Perry (6-5, 4.55) / RH Shamar Jackson (9-5, 4.08)
CAL pitchers: RH Ken Demers (2-5, 4.66) / RH Jon Carlsen (6-5, 2.42) / RH Ryan Kuehner (3-8, 5.95)

#74: WIN 5-2 ... everybody but poor Rangel gets a hit, plus he makes an error...7 IP, 8 K, 2 R by Jones, and his 11th win
#75: LOSS 6-7 ... three hits apiece for Daley and Matson, and Josh gets his first HR of the year...bad outing from Perry, a la his April starts
#76: WIN 11-3 ... 4 hits from Frederick, just missing the cycle by a HR...another CG from Jackson, despite walking 6

Division lead now up to ten games, with Oakland really leaking oil right now.... Eric Jones might be pitching his way into a contract extension. On paper he doesn't look like much, but he keeps getting it done on the field.... Josh Matson has gone 5-for-15 since sharing time at 2B with Rangel, and hit his first HR of the year. His defense has been average, which is better than I hoped, actually.... ELSEWHERE: Getting close to the All-Star game, and Hawaii 1B Adam Groff has the 2nd most votes of all candidates at the moment. First place? Another AL 1B, William Swanson. Oh well.... Oakland's seven-game losing streak has moved them farther away from first place (10 games out) than last place (9.5 games ahead of CAL).... Not seeing any big rookie seasons so far, with Texas CF Ronnie Halverson having a good, not great, year: .261/13/36, on pace for 4 WAR, and in the running for a Gold Glove.

June 27-30 vs TEXAS
Even just 70-some games into the season, you figure the Rangers are well out of the post-season discussion. But with Oakland faltering, they're at least moving into the "2nd in the AL West" conversation, only 2.5 games out. Still, they're 8.5 games out of wildcard contention at the moment, so they need to start making noise now if they want to jump back in. Sixth in runs scored, thanks more to home runs (4th) and walks (7th in OBP) than to hitting (11th in AVG). Pitching ranks 10th, with the AL's best bullpen working hard to bail out the 16th-ranked rotation. What happens to SP when they go to Texas? On paper, the rotation looks at least decent; on the field, they've been an absolute mess, with an ERA near 5. And if they can get a few more bats to surround 1B William Swanson (.307/21/56), the offense could become a major force.

HAW pitchers: LH Mike Garfield (2-4, 5.16) / RH Ryan Ratliff (7-2, 4.25) / LH Eric Jones (11-2, 3.46) / RH Dennis Perry (6-5, 4.92)
TEX pitchers: RH Mike Kent (3-7, 5.52) / RH Mike Messinger (3-9, 5.70) / RH Greg Buchanan (7-5, 3.81) / LH Bill Butts (7-3, 4.01)

#77: WIN 6-3 ... the Garfield of old showed up tonight, going 8 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 11 K...Whittington gets 2 hits, but made his 5th error (in just 17 starts at catcher)
#78: LOSS 7-9 ... we blow a 7-2 lead late, with Ratliff left in too long and Kolek getting shelled inn relief...17 hits aren't enough
#79: WIN 8-6 ... our turn, coming back from a 6-2 deficit in the last two innings...Groff homers twice, including a walk-off GRAND SLAM
#80: WIN 6-4 ... we give up two runs late but hold on to this one...3-run HR for Frederick, solo shot for Rangel

Typical AL series here, lots of scoring and mostly erratic pitching.... After his outing in game one, Garfield wants to talk contract extension. The 32-year-old wants 7 years. Too long, my man.... Top prospect Medici is now batting .301 in AAA. My scouts say he's not ready, but maybe I should start paying more attention to stats, huh? Plus, #2 guy Cardenas is batting .321 and playing lights-out defense. Hmmm.... Frederick's big series puts him on top of the AL RBI race, with 78.... ELSEWHERE: Hawaii has opened up the largest divisional lead, at 10.5 games. Every other race is within 3.5 games.... Toronto and Austin, with 28 each, are the last teams without at least 30 wins.... Zephyrs ace Chad Akers fanned 19 Expos in an 8-1 win, the most since Detroit's Raul Bravo did it in 2046.

......

TL;DR Version: Cruising along at 9-4 here, 18-9 for the month, and 52-28 overall. We're first in runs, AVG, and OBP, but 4th in SLG and 3rd in OPS. I feel like we've become a '70s/'80s era smallball team: lots of hits--although fewer XBH than usual--and first in steals, while fewer HR than usual. Hey, wins are wins. Pitching looks okay right now too: 4th in team ERA, 3rd in runs allowed, 4th in K, 5th fewest walks, and 2nd fewest HR allowed. Defense has been troubling, however, at 16th in DEF and 15th in ZR. (With backup catcher Tom Whittington having a crazy .280 def efficiency rating. Wut.) Some individuals are showing up on leaderboards too: Groff leads AL batters at .348, Daley is second at .340; Frederick leads with 78 RBI; Simmons is tied for first with 21 steals; Groff is second with a .977 OPS; Frederick shares the AL lead with 4.0 WAR; Jones leads with 11 wins, Jackson tied for second with 10; and Jon White is tied for first with 20 saves.

Besides team defese, the only negatives right now are a) lack of production out of our DH platoon, b) Rangel's continued cold season (.247, 4 HR, -1.5 ZR!), and c) Stoneback's extended presence on the DL. Most of these can be worked around, hopefully. Chris Goldthwait is ready to come off the DL, so hopefully he can get on track as DH; Rangel, I dunno; Stoneback, we just have to wait.

04-11-2020, 11:33 AM	#323
Bub13 All Star Reserve Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Maine Posts: 748	June 17-19 @ PITTSBURGH Coming off three consecutive 90+ win seasons, this year's 32-36 record is a disappointment. But that's what happens to a mid-budget team that doesn't go after its own free agents. Offense in 9th, pitching 16th; with a -23 run differential maybe they're lucky to be only four games under .500. No standouts at the plate or in the rotation, but closer Manny Gomez has 18 saves and a 2.42 ERA. Like us, they don't hit many HR (53, 17th in the NL) but are third in steals with 45. Manager: Dario Agrazal, who won a title with the Braves and led the Pirates to 96 wins last year, his first with the club. Ninth year overall. Chemistry: Unhappy, and a couple of the outspoken and unmotivated players are starting to grumble about...something. Can't Miss Prospect? 2nd ranked system, with three players in the top 20, all currently with the big club. Jose Rivera (MLB #10) is just a solid changeup away from joining the rotation, as is Kenny West (#12). They're both high-stuff/low-movement guys. Alex Correa (#18), on the other hand, reminds me of Eric Jones but with better stuff. Once he fully develops, he'll be very good. HAW pitchers: RH Ryan Ratliff (7-1, 3.46) / LH Eric Jones (9-2, 3.60) / RH Dennis Perry (5-5, 4.61) PIT pitchers: RH Rick Horan (4-6, 3.83) / RH Roberto Higuera (3-7, 5.79) / LH Mike Victor (4-5, 5.17) #68: LOSS 6-9 ... Frederick's HR is pretty much the only highlight...Ratliff is pushed around, and Kym is wild again, walking 3 in 1.1 IP of relief #69: WIN 9-3 ... 13 singles and a pair of doubles still equals 9 runs...Simmons and Daley with 3 hits each #70: WIN 7-4 ... Simmons and Lynn drive in runs in a 4-run 6th...Perry lasts just 5, and Kym--yep--walks 3 more in 1.1 IP, gives up 2 runs Still 5.5 up on Oakland, righting their ship after a bad stretch.... Groff batting .355, Daley .349.... I'm not picking on HC Kym. He's been okay, with a 3.33 ERA and 34 K in 24 IP. Also, though, 24 walks.... Stoneback suffers a setback, because of course he does. He's now going to miss 2-3 months, rather than weeks. Hopefully he'll be back in early September; haven't I said that before? Multiple times? Sigh.... ELSEWHERE: LA's Greg Sipes wins a 1-0 no hitter over the Marlins, fanning 6 and walking 3.... White Sox ace Ben O'Neal is having a breakout season, at 6-1 and a 1.89 ERA. But he's going to miss the next six weeks with a bum shoulder.... NL Central leaders New Orleans just extended SP Ricky Munoz for five more years. Munoz leads the NL with a 1.88 ERA.... LA is now just a half game behind SF, with the Padres just a game behind the Dodgers, and Portland 2 more games out. June 20-22 vs CHICAGO CUBS The Cubbies are also now 32-36, and just ahead of Pittsburgh thanks to us. Only 12th in runs despite having the 4th best OBP and the 5th most HR. Pitching has been pretty bad, at 15th in runs against. Jason Eastep (.285/21/40) paces the offense, while ageless Rafael Maldonado is still kicking it on the mound. And somehow John LaBarbera is 5-0 despite a 1:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Of the three regulars added during free agency, only 3B Juan Garcia is hitting well, but even his .291 is over 30 points below his career average. Manager: Tony Thompson, fourth year. Players are kinda meh about him, no one's mad but no one's thrilled. Chemistry: Happy, but with no team captain and only one leader. Can't Miss Prospect? No surprise that the 32nd ranked system has a middle reliever as the top prospect: Seth Broom, already with the Cubs, is a good-not-great pitcher, and will be just fine in his career. 2B Jose Ibanez is an excellent fielder and will hit for average one day, but that's it. The raft of pitchers behind him do not stand out. HAW pitchers: RH Shamar Jackson (8-5, 4.32) / LH Mike Garfield (2-4, 5.17) / RH Ryan Ratliff (7-2, 4.12) CHC pitchers: RH Lee Robinson (5-7, 5.74) / RH Tim Ciotta (4-3, 5.20) / RH John LaBarbera (5-0, 3.58) #71: WIN 3-1 ... only 8 IP for Jackson this time, but still only 4 hits allowed...2 hits for Frederick, only 5 from everyone else #72: LOSS 4-6 ... White takes his first loss, in the 10th inning...Garfield gives up 4 runs in 7 IP, so a slight improvement for him #73: WIN 6-5 ... extra innings again, this time Groff wins it with a walk-off HR in the 11th...Frederick triples home 2 in the 4th Oakland got slapped around some, so now we're up by 8 games.... Down to 17th in home runs, but leading baseball with 77 steals! Go, us.... One week left on the DL for Goldthwait, unless he's going to hand us bad injury news too.... ELSEWHERE: CF Ed Haley is reportedly unhappy in Texas, which he denies. Son, no one is happy playing in Texas.... Miami has surged of late, winning six straight and passing the Yankees for first in the East.... Austin still brings up MLB's rear, at 25-49. Toronto is 26-46, St Louis 27-46.... Two-time defending NL batting champ Dan Dellinger recently came off Arizona's DL and has retaken the batting lead at .350. June 24-26 @ CALIFORNIA Now 22-43 since their enviable 8-2 start. Feels like years ago. Batting has declined to 16th in runs, 17th in AVG and OBP. LF Nate Atwater is at least trying, at .261/21/48, but two regulars are below the Mendoza Line. In fact, they're below the line that's below the Mendoza Line, hitting just .145 and .143. Pitching is 10th, with ace Jon Carlsen continuing a solid year. Team chemistry has slid into unhappiness, and catcher Antonio Chamorro (the .145 guy) is unhappy with the manager. (He's probably not thrilled either, Tony.) Oh, and when I did their top prospects last time, I missed catcher Manny Fontane, an actual honest-to-god top-notch catching prospect: excellent batter and good enough behind the plate. All-star potential, a pretty rare bird these days. HAW pitchers: LH Eric Jones (10-2, 3.53) / RH Dennis Perry (6-5, 4.55) / RH Shamar Jackson (9-5, 4.08) CAL pitchers: RH Ken Demers (2-5, 4.66) / RH Jon Carlsen (6-5, 2.42) / RH Ryan Kuehner (3-8, 5.95) #74: WIN 5-2 ... everybody but poor Rangel gets a hit, plus he makes an error...7 IP, 8 K, 2 R by Jones, and his 11th win #75: LOSS 6-7 ... three hits apiece for Daley and Matson, and Josh gets his first HR of the year...bad outing from Perry, a la his April starts #76: WIN 11-3 ... 4 hits from Frederick, just missing the cycle by a HR...another CG from Jackson, despite walking 6 Division lead now up to ten games, with Oakland really leaking oil right now.... Eric Jones might be pitching his way into a contract extension. On paper he doesn't look like much, but he keeps getting it done on the field.... Josh Matson has gone 5-for-15 since sharing time at 2B with Rangel, and hit his first HR of the year. His defense has been average, which is better than I hoped, actually.... ELSEWHERE: Getting close to the All-Star game, and Hawaii 1B Adam Groff has the 2nd most votes of all candidates at the moment. First place? Another AL 1B, William Swanson. Oh well.... Oakland's seven-game losing streak has moved them farther away from first place (10 games out) than last place (9.5 games ahead of CAL).... Not seeing any big rookie seasons so far, with Texas CF Ronnie Halverson having a good, not great, year: .261/13/36, on pace for 4 WAR, and in the running for a Gold Glove. June 27-30 vs TEXAS Even just 70-some games into the season, you figure the Rangers are well out of the post-season discussion. But with Oakland faltering, they're at least moving into the "2nd in the AL West" conversation, only 2.5 games out. Still, they're 8.5 games out of wildcard contention at the moment, so they need to start making noise now if they want to jump back in. Sixth in runs scored, thanks more to home runs (4th) and walks (7th in OBP) than to hitting (11th in AVG). Pitching ranks 10th, with the AL's best bullpen working hard to bail out the 16th-ranked rotation. What happens to SP when they go to Texas? On paper, the rotation looks at least decent; on the field, they've been an absolute mess, with an ERA near 5. And if they can get a few more bats to surround 1B William Swanson (.307/21/56), the offense could become a major force. HAW pitchers: LH Mike Garfield (2-4, 5.16) / RH Ryan Ratliff (7-2, 4.25) / LH Eric Jones (11-2, 3.46) / RH Dennis Perry (6-5, 4.92) TEX pitchers: RH Mike Kent (3-7, 5.52) / RH Mike Messinger (3-9, 5.70) / RH Greg Buchanan (7-5, 3.81) / LH Bill Butts (7-3, 4.01) #77: WIN 6-3 ... the Garfield of old showed up tonight, going 8 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 11 K...Whittington gets 2 hits, but made his 5th error (in just 17 starts at catcher) #78: LOSS 7-9 ... we blow a 7-2 lead late, with Ratliff left in too long and Kolek getting shelled inn relief...17 hits aren't enough #79: WIN 8-6 ... our turn, coming back from a 6-2 deficit in the last two innings...Groff homers twice, including a walk-off GRAND SLAM #80: WIN 6-4 ... we give up two runs late but hold on to this one...3-run HR for Frederick, solo shot for Rangel Typical AL series here, lots of scoring and mostly erratic pitching.... After his outing in game one, Garfield wants to talk contract extension. The 32-year-old wants 7 years. Too long, my man.... Top prospect Medici is now batting .301 in AAA. My scouts say he's not ready, but maybe I should start paying more attention to stats, huh? Plus, #2 guy Cardenas is batting .321 and playing lights-out defense. Hmmm.... Frederick's big series puts him on top of the AL RBI race, with 78.... ELSEWHERE: Hawaii has opened up the largest divisional lead, at 10.5 games. Every other race is within 3.5 games.... Toronto and Austin, with 28 each, are the last teams without at least 30 wins.... Zephyrs ace Chad Akers fanned 19 Expos in an 8-1 win, the most since Detroit's Raul Bravo did it in 2046. ...... TL;DR Version: Cruising along at 9-4 here, 18-9 for the month, and 52-28 overall. We're first in runs, AVG, and OBP, but 4th in SLG and 3rd in OPS. I feel like we've become a '70s/'80s era smallball team: lots of hits--although fewer XBH than usual--and first in steals, while fewer HR than usual. Hey, wins are wins. Pitching looks okay right now too: 4th in team ERA, 3rd in runs allowed, 4th in K, 5th fewest walks, and 2nd fewest HR allowed. Defense has been troubling, however, at 16th in DEF and 15th in ZR. (With backup catcher Tom Whittington having a crazy .280 def efficiency rating. Wut.) Some individuals are showing up on leaderboards too: Groff leads AL batters at .348, Daley is second at .340; Frederick leads with 78 RBI; Simmons is tied for first with 21 steals; Groff is second with a .977 OPS; Frederick shares the AL lead with 4.0 WAR; Jones leads with 11 wins, Jackson tied for second with 10; and Jon White is tied for first with 20 saves. Besides team defese, the only negatives right now are a) lack of production out of our DH platoon, b) Rangel's continued cold season (.247, 4 HR, -1.5 ZR!), and c) Stoneback's extended presence on the DL. Most of these can be worked around, hopefully. Chris Goldthwait is ready to come off the DL, so hopefully he can get on track as DH; Rangel, I dunno; Stoneback, we just have to wait. Attached Images __________________ Introducing Your Hawaii Islanders!