OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post

Art Deco · 02-22-2021, 11:58 PM

Game 1: The Rays dropped a 3-2 decision to Cleveland in Christian Little's final tuneup before the playoffs, and he was dominant through 5 before running into 6th inning trouble, a not uncommon occurrence. He put two men on in the inning and then served up a 3-run homer to Jordan Evangelista, a one-time Rays farmhand who was one of the pieces dealt to Cleveland four years ago for Daniel Espino. Evangelista has turned into a legit MLB power hitter, and is now .287-28-115. Of course if we still had him he'd probably be in his third year at Durham right now. Anyway, his homer was enough to offset Joe Barker's sac fly and Dane Ayers' 11th HR of the year. Little ended 6.1 8 3 3 1 11 and the reason why there's a third of an inning in there was because I brought him back for the 7th to get one more out so his ERA would end up at 3.99 instead of 4.00. Little finishes the year 14-5 with a 38/279 BB/K ratio in 171.1 innings. Jon Whiteleather made his 2nd MLB appearance and this one went a little better with a scoreless inning while Brad Ballmann got the final 2 outs in the 8th.

Playoff race update: Things have suddenly gotten interesting in the 2nd AL wild card playoff race as Oakland lost for the second night in a row and the White Sox won, putting Chicago only one game back with two to play. And a similar development has occurred in the NL with San Diego winning and the Cubs losing, so the Padres are now within 1 game of the 2nd wild card as well.

Game 2: Alec Sachais was denied in his bid for a Rays team-record 22nd win as Cleveland shut down the Rays 4-1. The bats could only manage 4 hits against Cleveland pitching, with the only run coming on a Joe Barker RBI double. The anemic offense the last two nights gives me pause as they'll be going against good teams in the playoffs and won't be able to feast on the bad pitching of lesser teams as they've done lately. Ricky Widmar and Jasson Dominguez are going to be missed no matter how capable Caleb Picciotti and Dane Ayers are, so it would really help if Adley Rustchman were Adley Rutschman, but he went 0-4 again today to drop to 213/302/335 as a Ray. Hopefully he has a switch to flip on come playoff time. Sachais pitched well (6 4 4 3 1 6) but the key hits against him were a homer and a couple of well-timed doubles. He finishes the season 21-4, 3.59 with an outstanding 29/227 BB/K ratio, the first time he's gone over 200 Ks. Mike Mooney and Evan Godwin had scoreless innings in relief.

Playoff Race Update: Congrats to Oakland for making the playoffs for the first time since the Rays beat them in the 2019 wild card game as they won 4-3 over Texas behind a Jhon Diaz homer while the White Sox lost. Things went the opposite way in the NL where the Cubs lost and the Padres won to move into a tie with Chicago for the 2nd NL wild card going into the season's final day.

Game 3: The bench was emptied today as the only true regular playing (not counting those who are playing more regularly thanks to injuries) was Dayle Jenkins, but that had nothing to do with Jon Hayes' bad day as the Rays were swept in their final regular season series 7-4 by Cleveland. After allowing 2 runs in the first 4 innings, Hayes was bombed in the 5th without getting an out, giving up a 2-run single to Julio Cedillo and a 3-run homer to Austin Hendrick, both lefties. Hayes left with an ugly 4 10 7 7 1 1 line and between this start and his last one which was also bad, his ERA ballooned from 3.49 to 3.89 to end the season. Still it was a good first year as a Ray for him, going 17-8 and finishing 2nd in MLB in pitcher WAR at 5.4. Dane Ayers was the offense today, staying hot with a pair of homers and driving in 3 to give him 13 dingers on the season. Mike Lammers was on base all four times with 3 hits and a walk, and drove in the other run with a double. On the mound Brad Ballmann had 2 scoreless innings while Jon Whiteleather and JDLC contributed one each.

Team record: 117-44. Next up: A quick trip to Fenway to make up last Wednesday's game and close out the regular season, hopefully on a winning note.

Playoff race update: The Cubs and Padres each lost today, setting up a 1-game playoff for the 2nd NL wild card tomorrow.

02-22-2021, 11:58 PM	#677
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 8,179	September 27-29, 2030: at Cleveland (3) Game 1: The Rays dropped a 3-2 decision to Cleveland in Christian Little's final tuneup before the playoffs, and he was dominant through 5 before running into 6th inning trouble, a not uncommon occurrence. He put two men on in the inning and then served up a 3-run homer to Jordan Evangelista, a one-time Rays farmhand who was one of the pieces dealt to Cleveland four years ago for Daniel Espino. Evangelista has turned into a legit MLB power hitter, and is now .287-28-115. Of course if we still had him he'd probably be in his third year at Durham right now. Anyway, his homer was enough to offset Joe Barker's sac fly and Dane Ayers' 11th HR of the year. Little ended 6.1 8 3 3 1 11 and the reason why there's a third of an inning in there was because I brought him back for the 7th to get one more out so his ERA would end up at 3.99 instead of 4.00. Little finishes the year 14-5 with a 38/279 BB/K ratio in 171.1 innings. Jon Whiteleather made his 2nd MLB appearance and this one went a little better with a scoreless inning while Brad Ballmann got the final 2 outs in the 8th. Playoff race update: Things have suddenly gotten interesting in the 2nd AL wild card playoff race as Oakland lost for the second night in a row and the White Sox won, putting Chicago only one game back with two to play. And a similar development has occurred in the NL with San Diego winning and the Cubs losing, so the Padres are now within 1 game of the 2nd wild card as well. Game 2: Alec Sachais was denied in his bid for a Rays team-record 22nd win as Cleveland shut down the Rays 4-1. The bats could only manage 4 hits against Cleveland pitching, with the only run coming on a Joe Barker RBI double. The anemic offense the last two nights gives me pause as they'll be going against good teams in the playoffs and won't be able to feast on the bad pitching of lesser teams as they've done lately. Ricky Widmar and Jasson Dominguez are going to be missed no matter how capable Caleb Picciotti and Dane Ayers are, so it would really help if Adley Rustchman were Adley Rutschman, but he went 0-4 again today to drop to 213/302/335 as a Ray. Hopefully he has a switch to flip on come playoff time. Sachais pitched well (6 4 4 3 1 6) but the key hits against him were a homer and a couple of well-timed doubles. He finishes the season 21-4, 3.59 with an outstanding 29/227 BB/K ratio, the first time he's gone over 200 Ks. Mike Mooney and Evan Godwin had scoreless innings in relief. Playoff Race Update: Congrats to Oakland for making the playoffs for the first time since the Rays beat them in the 2019 wild card game as they won 4-3 over Texas behind a Jhon Diaz homer while the White Sox lost. Things went the opposite way in the NL where the Cubs lost and the Padres won to move into a tie with Chicago for the 2nd NL wild card going into the season's final day. Game 3: The bench was emptied today as the only true regular playing (not counting those who are playing more regularly thanks to injuries) was Dayle Jenkins, but that had nothing to do with Jon Hayes' bad day as the Rays were swept in their final regular season series 7-4 by Cleveland. After allowing 2 runs in the first 4 innings, Hayes was bombed in the 5th without getting an out, giving up a 2-run single to Julio Cedillo and a 3-run homer to Austin Hendrick, both lefties. Hayes left with an ugly 4 10 7 7 1 1 line and between this start and his last one which was also bad, his ERA ballooned from 3.49 to 3.89 to end the season. Still it was a good first year as a Ray for him, going 17-8 and finishing 2nd in MLB in pitcher WAR at 5.4. Dane Ayers was the offense today, staying hot with a pair of homers and driving in 3 to give him 13 dingers on the season. Mike Lammers was on base all four times with 3 hits and a walk, and drove in the other run with a double. On the mound Brad Ballmann had 2 scoreless innings while Jon Whiteleather and JDLC contributed one each. Team record: 117-44. Next up: A quick trip to Fenway to make up last Wednesday's game and close out the regular season, hopefully on a winning note. Playoff race update: The Cubs and Padres each lost today, setting up a 1-game playoff for the 2nd NL wild card tomorrow. Last edited by Art Deco; 02-23-2021 at 10:23 AM.