The Grand Rapids Darts

[Archelirion]

They do say that imitation is the best form of flattery, and I must be head-over-heels with Westheim or something because, at least initially, this is going to bear more than a glancing resemblance to his fantastic Portland Raccoons dynasty (if you've not read it, there's an awful, awful lot there but it makes amazing lunchtime reading if you're so inclined). Hopefully, as I get more of a feel of what I'm doing I'll incorporate my own bits and pieces, but that's the measure of it for the time being.

Anyway.

For the purposes of this save, I’ve set up a fictional league called the National Challenge League (or NCL, for short). It’s a 32-team league with two separate sub-leagues (imaginatively entitled the Blue League and the Red League), which themselves are split into four divisions of four – the Southeast, the Northeast, the West, and the South/Central. Despite a two sub-league setup, neither will use the DH – frankly, it’s more for the purpose of having some meaningless interleague rivalry, and as of next season interleague games will start up too (I’d already gone onto Opening Day when I realised that I’d forgotten to set up a schedule for it. Oops.)

The only ruling behind the cities selected is that they must not have a current MLB team, and that each state was only allowed a maximum of two teams (mostly to prevent it becoming a secondary Californian league).

Blue League




Red League




(I’ll sort logos out… at some point. Maybe.)


Of course, being the overall commissioner of the league I’ve decided to take on the team with the strongest financial standing:

Budget: $100,000,000 (1st)
Player payroll: $65,932,500 (1st)
Money for free agents: $7,078,380
Money for extensions: $14,297,900
Market size: HUGE
Fan loyalty: EXTREME
Fan interest: 95

Actually, that’s not entirely true, as those numbers belong to the San Antonio Sun Kings, who play in the Blue League South/Central. So in fact… it’s not true at all. This is more our speed:

Budget: $43,000,000 (31st)
Player payroll: $17,440,000 (31st)
Money for free agents: $2,017,160
Money for extensions: $2,954,400
Market size: Below avg.
Fan loyalty: Average
Fan interest: 48

Note the usage of the word more in that sentence – yes, a $43m budget is closer to us than $100m, but again, it’s not us. No, those belong to the Omaha Atomics, who also play in the Blue League South/Central.

“How bad can it be?” I hear you cry? The answer is, ‘uh, very.’ Presenting to you, the financial standing and market interest of my team, the Grand Rapids Darts:

Budget: $35,000,000 (32nd)
Player payroll: $16,634,500 (32nd)
Money for free agents: $3,410,640
Money for extensions: $9,298,760
Market size: Small
Fan loyalty: Poor
Fan interest: 37

Oooooffff. We have far more available money for expansion than Omaha, but still, ooofff. So, the bullet that I have chosen takes the form of Michigan’s sole entrant in the NCL, the Grand Rapids Darts (that play in the Red League South/Central) – and what a bullet to take. For reference, $3.4m (the amount I have to spend on frees) is a tad less than the league average for a player defined as ‘good’. Not ‘super star’ or ‘star’, merely ‘good’, and we’re not even fully there.

As it happens, we’re stone dead last in almost every single financial-page metric I can pull out –

- Payroll: 32nd ($16.6m – 1st place San Antonio Sun Kings, $65.9m - $0.8m behind 31st placed Omaha Atomics)
- Season tickets: 32nd ($3.7m – 1st place San Antonio Sun Kings, $22.1m - $0.9m behind 31st placed Sacramento Flames)
- Media revenue: 32nd ($18.6m – joint 1st place Fresno Mechanics/San Antonio, $56.6m - $5.5(!) behind joint 29th placed Omaha/Sacramento/Albuquerque Destroyers)
- Total budget: 32nd ($35m – 1st place San Antonio, $100m - $8m behind 31st placed Omaha)
In fact (you’ll like this), there’s only one financial metric we don’t come last in – and that’s expenses! Yes, we come a fantastic 29th there with $6.3m on our bankroll, in front of the Hartford Panthers ($6m), the Dayton Sluggers ($5.6m) and the Jacksonville Hurricanes ($5.2m). Omaha sit in joint 17th with $10.25m however, so I guess it could be far worse. Could be them.

So – what of the ownership? Well, the big man in charge is 45-year-old Nick Patterson from Indianapolis (the Indianapolis Motors, by the way, are being pipped to take the National Challenge Trophy at the end of the year… already suspicious). He seems to expect a lot from us and quickly – he wants us playing 0.500 ball this year and in the playoffs within three – but he seems charitable with money (which may explain why we have a lot more to put on frees than Omaha) and looks content to let me do what I feel is right. Whatever that is.


THE TEAM

Our team is spectacularly un-good. Really.

C – Jason Elder (29). Mediocre batter, with slow but fairly intelligent baserunning and dodgy arm. Will start against RHP, probably bottom of the line-up.

C – Jonathan Magallanes (31). Mediocre batter, with a slight trade-off of power for discipline. Again, his arm’s not brilliant but fractionally better than Elder – he can’t run for toffee though. Will start against LHP.

1B – Steve White (34). Probably our best hope for home runs this year, and possibly doubles too (though with his speed, maybe a triple is out of the question). Is stronger against lefties, but no slouch against right-handed pitchers too. On $7m this year and $6.5m a year for the next three, I’m hoping for big things.

2B – Butch Martinez (24). An overall class-act on second, Butch is durable, a solid all-round batter and very capable defensively, too. As a high-school 200m specialist he can run like billy-o, but his basestealing ability is… awful, frankly. Brawn will definitely have to overcome brain on this one.

3B – Malachi Webb (26). Okay-ish on the bat (4th against lefties and 6th against righties) but a hugely intelligent baserunner with a little bit of pace, Webb should be solid if unremarkable with a stick in his hand. He excels defensively, however, his range and error avoidance looking good and his arm looking amazing.

3B – Scott Winters (29). Probably my most versatile ‘good player’, Winters is a pretty impressive all-rounder for us. Not particularly great defensively (though not awful), he’s got a great-looking bat on him and can play anywhere in the infield for us – as well as emergency outfield.

SS – Scott Meiman (28). Taking a little bit of a risk on this one. An amazing candidate defensively (probably the best we’ve got), Meiman’s infield ability is matched by world-beating baserunning and – shocker – the pace to match. However, he looks to be an awful, awful batter. So the plan is, pray for a bit of form and if that doesn’t work…

SS – Ryan Riffle (30). …We’ll play this guy instead. In all honesty, he’s only here as he refused his minor-league assignment (so we’re off to a fine start with this one), but to be fair he’s okay defensively and – provided his iffy contact is having a good day – should be in line for a few dingers, too. Stupidly slow, though. Might be better on third, actually.

SS – Leonardo Silos (32). My actual choice for my shortstop backup fella. Decent outfielder, okay pace, mediocre batter. Really nothing special, but doesn’t do anything badly either.

LF – Bryan Bastyr (22). Holy baserunner Batman, look at this guy. Very decent outfield range too, with some versatility in the position. Sadly, again he’s nothing to really gawp over offensively, although he will take the coveted RHP LF position over Olivares.

LF – Alfredo Olivares (31). One of those folks that can do it all - not necessarily well, but he can do it. Nothing to write home about offensively (again – actually contact is outright BAD) but reasonably quick and solid in defense. Will probably never get injured, though.

CF – Floyd Osmond (23). Suuuuuuper speedy, and potentially with a semi-handy bat on him too, if he develops well enough. Excellent outfield range and appropriate error/arm signifiers. My scout doesn’t think too much of him but… what does he know?

CF/RF – Alex Ramos (27). Pretty much ditto Osmond.


Pitching

SP – LHP Caleb Guymon (28). Throws a tight fastball (tops out at 94mph), slider and changeup, all of which are pretty well developed. Fantastic stamina and player holding – iffy movement on his pitch, though.

SP – RHP Edwin Quintero (33). Has a 95mph fastball, curveball, changeup, splitter and (enticingly) a knuckle curve in his well-developed setup. Again, solid stamina and player holding, but his movement on the pitch is even worse than Guymon’s.

SP – RHP Nick Jordan (29). Favours a sinker, but has a passable changeup, curveball and forkball in his arsenal. Runner holding is probably his best asset – stuff, movement and control is all decent (movement at least is better than Guymon and Quintero) but unexceptional.

SP – RHP Tomoshi Ishibashi (28). Carries a 97mph fastball, with a decent curveball and forkball too – he has the bare bones of a changeup down, but frankly it’s not brilliant. Iffy stuff, control and control. May look to replace.

SP – LHP Joe Johnson (26). Unlike Ishibashi actually favours a changeup, and has a decent cutter and forkball to play with on top of that – there’s a curveball being worked on, but it’s not amazing. Actually solid stuff and movement, but his control is concerning.

CL – LHP Eric Sardis (26). A two-pitch guy, but his 97mph fastball and slider are outstanding. Frankly, his stuff covers a plenitude of sins in control and particularly movement, so he may not hold on to the closer role. We’ll see.

RP – LHP Tye Guthrie (22). Found this Australian in the Single A’s, but if he can work his movement up, then we may have a quality closer should Sardis falter. Solid cutter/curveball mixture, with absolutely outstanding runner holding. Could probably do long relief with that stamina, too.

RP – LHP Devin Etzler (33). To continue with my suspiciously left-handed bullpen, Etzler calls on a cutter and an exemplary slider to do the damage. Kinda similar to Sardis in that the stuff covers a lot, but the stuff isn’t as strong and the weaknesses aren’t as… weak.

RP – LHP Jorge Vargas (27). Exceedingly dodgy movement aside, Vargas is still not brilliant. His 92mph fastball, changeup and forkball setup (with a weak slider) was originally for a starter position but… he’s not ready for that. And is unlikely to be. May look to replace. Great runner holding, though.

RP – LHP Chris Waldon (27). Uh. Okay, another leftie. Sick. Amazing runner holding (again), Waldon is actually super solid – solid fastball, solid slider, solid stuff, solid movement and (just about) solid control. Nothing outstanding, but yeah. Solid.

RP – LHP Jason Milton (23). Risky, but in a mid-game situation his fastball/changeup/splitter/knuckle-curve game could throw a few batters off? Maybe? His movement and control certainly won’t.

RP – RHP Ted Idema (25). A righty! Sadly, not an amazing one. Another converted starter (fastball/curveball/forkball/weak changeup), he has unremarkable, but not bad stuff, movement and control to his name.


By the way, do you like our jersey?



I’m honestly not sure who’s modelling the kit.


Our first series is an away journey (all 1,850 miles) to RL West’s Tucson Jesters, who are expected to finish 75-75, or breaking exactly even at the end of the season. They have a real potential juggernaut in Jake Fitch, a right-fielder who is easily better than any single batter we have.

Let’s see how we get on… eh?

[Archelirion]

Game One

GR – 2B Martinez - 1B White - 3B Winters - C Elder - LF Bastyr - RF Osmond - SS Meiman - P Guymon - CF Ramos

TUC – CF Hinojos – 2B Johnson – RF Fitch – 1B LaForce – SS Vasta – LF Denton – 3B Ramirez – C Ruiz – P Bourke

LHP Chris Guymon (0-0, 0.00 ERA) v RHP Danny Bourke (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

First ever batter for us was 2B Butch Martinez, who went on to take the accolade of first ever batter struck out when he swung on a 73-mph 1-2 pitch off of Bourke. In fact, Bourke ended our first innings spectacularly badly for us, going 1-2-3, all on K’s. Meanwhile, Hinojos hit the first ever pitch that Guymon threw out, although he ground it towards third-base Winters who got it to White on first for the out. Thankfully, we snuffed out the danger of Jake Fitch with a flyball going to centre-right, meaning we’d survived our first ever innings – even if we didn’t threaten ourselves.

First ever man not to be struck out for the Darts? Bryan Bastyr, who instead flew out towards left-field. Amazingly, we got the first man on base in the entire game, in the FOURTH INNINGS – Scott Winters, who collected a walk with no strikes. Unsurprisingly, he was stranded. In the bottom of the fourth, Meiman fumbled a hit from Hinojos to put the CF on-base, but thankfully, he went unpunished – Guymon claimed his first man to end the innings. Still 0-0.

First Darts man to get a hit? Floyd Osmond, who in the 5th levelled a single up centre-right to get on-base with no outs (he was stranded too). Meiman committed his second error of the game (not a good start for someone I thought would be mindblowing defensively) in the top of the 6th to put Ruiz to second with no outs, but handily a strikeout from Guymon and a kind-of face-saving catch from the shortstop meant again, unpunished.

First Darts man to get an extra-base hit? Same fella that got on base first – Scott Winters, who pummelled a fastball in the top of the 7th (no outs) to collect a double. He then went on to become the first Darts man to score a run, with Elder’s weak hit being mis-thrown to 1st and allowing him time to get to home plate and Elder to second. In the 8th, pitcher Guymon doubled our tally after drawing a walk, with Martinez hitting a double and White chalking up the sac fly.

Amazingly, Denton’s hit in the bottom of the 8th was the breaker of Guymon’s no-hit effort, but the shutout was still on! A double play to end the innings meant that, assuming, he could hold it together in the 9th, a debut shutout (for both man and team) was on the cards. And so it came, bottom of the 9th. PH Tehandon – ball. Not a good start. Hinojos – single. Crap. Johnson – out on the bunt. Everyone advances a base. Fitch – ball.
Bases loaded. My gut tells me to sub him, but my heart wants to leave him on… and so I do. LaForce – flies out. Vasta… FLIES OUUUUUUUUUUUUT! 2-0 Darts to end the game, and we get a debut shutout – with Guymon collecting a 114-pitch, 2-hit, 5 K shutout of his own. Happy days.

Notable performers: Caleb Guymon (9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, W [1-0]), Scott Winters (1-from-2, 2B, R, 2 BB), Steve White (0-from-3, RBI). Spare a thought for losing pitcher Danny Bourke, who picked up the L despite striking out 10 Darts in 7 innings.

100% record! Make the most of it.


Game Two

GR – 2B Martinez - 1B White - 3B Winters – CF Ramos – LF Bastyr – RF Osmond – SS Meiman – P Quintero – C Magallanes

TUC – CF Hinojos – SS Vasta – RF Fitch – 1B LaForce – LF Denton – 3B Ramirez – 2B Johnson – C Grogan – P Calamaco

RHP Edwin Quintero (0-0, 0.00 ERA) v RHP Enrique Calamaco (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Winters started the game off well for us, with a 2-out double whacked towards left-centre – sadly, Ramos’ flyball JUST missed the boundary, instead being intercepted by Denton for out #3. In the 2nd, Osmond and Meiman bounced consecutive singles between first- and second-base, but sadly it came to naught. In the 4th, Osmond and Meiman were again on-base, with the former hitting another single and the latter getting nicked by a changeup from Calamaco’s erring hand – again though, nothing came of it.

After doing so well though, things looked to be turning sour – walk for Vasta, single for Fitch, HBP to LaForce – and before I knew it, the bases were loaded with 0 outs. Despite a strikeout, the sac fly which followed put Vasta across plate – 1-0 Jesters by the end of the 4th. With two out in the 5th, White hit a heroic double out left, and then Winters bode his time well to claim a walk from a 3-2 pitch – and then Ramos managed to get his flyball the right side of the boundary… 3-RUN DINGER FROM ALEX RAMOS!

PH Tehandon then went and hit one of his own (almost identical, actually) to claw back a run, but it remained 3-2 at the end of the 5th. Tye Guthrie replaced Quintero on the mound in the 6th, and despite issuing two walks managed to see the innings out with a strikeout to his name. In the top of the 7th, White mashed an absolute howitzer out to the left, 400FT FOR A SOLO HOME RUN, making it 4-2 – again though, a Darts homer was immediately followed by a Jesters dinger, this time from catcher Brad Grogan. In the 8th, a Meiman single saw some magnificent baserunning from Ramos pay off to see it 5-3, although two were stranded by the end of that runout. Guthrie came off for Devin Etzler, who gave up a walk but oversaw a double play to ensure the score remained the same. In the 9th, Martinez found a no-out single, compounded by Winters’ single effort and then batted-in by Bastyr for run #6 - #7 came swiftly afterwards, with an RBI-single from Osmond. Despite ANOTHER Grogan hit, Etzler ended the game on strikeouts. 7-3 Grand Rapids!

Notable performers: Butch Martinez (1-from-5, R), Steve White (2-from-5, 2R, RBI, HR, 2B), Scott Winters (2-from-4, 2R, 2B, BB), Alex Ramos (1-from-4, 2R, 3-RBI, BB, HR), Bryan Bastyr (2-from-5, RBI), Floyd Osmond (3-from-5, RBI), John Meiman (2-from-4, RBI). Edwin Quintero (5.0 IP, 3H, 2R, 2ER, BB, 3K, HR, W [1-0]), Devin Etzler (2.0 IP, H, 0R, 0ER, BB, 3K, SV [1]).

There’s… a sweep on here.


Game Three

GR – 2B Martinez - 1B White - 3B Winters - C Elder - LF Bastyr - RF Osmond - SS Meiman - P Jordan - CF Ramos

TUC – CF Hinojos – SS Vasta – RF Fitch – 1B LaForce – LF Denton – C Ruiz – 2B Johnson – 3B Ramirez – P Morales

RHP Nick Jordan (0-0, 0.00 ERA) v RHP Jose Morales (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Martinez started us off right, with a 4-0 walk getting him on those all-important bases. White then hit us a lovely double down left to get two men in a dangerous position – the first of those made it home following a Jason Elder sac fly out far right, while the second was stranded. Nick Jordan started well too – two K’s and a Fitch flyout ensuring we ended the 1st in a leading position.

In the next inning, Floyd Osmond whacked the first ever Grand Rapids triple – with a little help from some uninspiring fielding from RF Fitch (sadly, it was all for nothing, with a K-K-GO following). Better still in the 3rd though, as Martinez went deep for a 419 FOOT DINGER OUT CENTRE-RIGHT to make it 2-0 Darts! Winters, who hit a double, made #3 after a double from Bryan Bastyr, followed by a THIRD consecutive two-bagger (this time from Osmond) to bring the left-fielder home. With 4-0 by the top of the third, things were looking good for the sweep.

A massive error from White (with two already on base) saw Hinojos claim the first run for the Jesters in the bottom of the 3rd. From there, nothing really happened until the bottom of the 6th – with the score still 4-1, Guthrie came on for Jordan… and on his first pitch, whacked LaForce in the arse with a 92mph cannon. However sketchy it may have been though, he made it to the end of the innings unscathed (Guthrie that is, not LaForce).

In the 7th, we saw our first glimpse of Jorge Vargas, coming on to replace the tiring Guthrie. He did his job dutifully, and three flyouts later, it was still 4-1 at the end of the innings. His 8th was almost as solid, giving away a solitary walk before the side was through. With little good happening offensively (a walk was about it), Eric Sardis had the job of ensuring that it remained 4-1 by endgame. It looked to be going well – a K and a groundout – but then a hat-trick of BBs meant that the bases were loaded on two outs. Oooohhhh no. Sure enough, Fitch steps up, and grand-slams us into oblivion. Cheers Sardis, you useless [REDACTED]

5-4 Jesters.

Notable performers: Butch Martinez (1-from-4, 2R, RBI, BB, HR), Steve White (2-from-5, 2B), Scott Winters (1-from-3, R, 2B), Jason Elder (1-from-3, RBI), Bryan Bastyr (1-from-4, R, RBI, 2B), Floyd Osmond (2-from-4, RBI, 2B, 3B). Nick Jordan (5.0 IP, 3H, R, 0ER, 3BB, 2K), Eric Sardis (0.2 IP, H, 4R, 4ER, 3BB, K, HR, BS [1], L [0-1])

Overall, I can’t be too unhappy with how the first series went – we came so close to a sweep, before Fitch and Eric useless-three-balls-in-a-row-how-do-you-even-do-that-like-come-on Sardis ruined it for us. We made the news for good reasons following Guymon’s amazing Opening Day, two-hit shutout, and we have a winning series under our belt, away from home. Furthermore, we have three players above 0.300 (Steve White on 0.308, Scott Winters on 0.444 and Floyd Osmond on 0.462) and currently lead the league on defensive efficiency (0.822 – the only other team above 0.800 are the Richmond Gophers, with a 0.812). So, can’t complain too much.

But agh. So close.

Got our first home series next, a three-gamer against the Austin Warriors, who play in the RL South/Central – the same division as us! Turns out, between ourselves, Austin, the Birmingham Alligators and the Tulsa Steers, Tulsa are the only RL South/Central side expected to end with a winning record – and only just, with a 76-74 expectation. Austin are looking 69-81, so a solid .100 above our lofty 54-96. The Warriors’ biggest threat looks to be a guy called Owen Baker – slow and with a poor eye, but as a contact hitter, he looks to be the absolute business.

[ayaghmour2]

Love the format and the challenge you're going to face!

And I as well absolutely love the Portland Raccoons dynasty that is so amazing to read

Definitely going to follow this one!

[Archelirion]

Game One

AUS: RF Snead – 2B Villalpando – LF Baker – CF Grajeda – 1B Martel – SS Boettcher – 3B Baughan – C Millar – P Aguilar

GR: 2B Martinez – 1B White – 3B Winters – CF Ramos – LF Bastyr – RF Osmond – SS Meiman – P Ishibashi – C Magallanes

Manny Aguilar (0-0, 0.00 ERA) v Tomoshi Ishibashi (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

The first innings against the Warriors seemed to go pretty smoothly for us – 1-2-3 went the visitors, with Baker being struck out for the third out, followed by Martinez catching a leadoff walk. Winters and Bastyr ended up being walked too to load the bases, but Osmond with the decisive hit was caught out JUST short of the boundary, ending the firs innings 0-0. Then… it all started to unfurl a bit. Consecutive doubles from Grajeda and Martel put Austin up 1-0, following which Ishibashi clutched his shoulder and called it a day. Worried faces here.

Ted Idema replaced the outgoing Japanese pitcher, but immediately gave away two singles to make it 2-0 Austin. By some miracle it stayed that way and two errors on first base put Meiman and Magallanes on base with one out between them. Meiman was tagged out at home, but a wayward pitch towards White’s thigh loaded the bases… but Winters couldn’t do the damage. A second innings played for us where we retire on a full complement.

The dodgy start continued continued when Austin loaded the bases on no outs in the 4th, following a second Martel double, a walk and a base hit. Huffman’s single made it 4-0 (still no outs), and while the inning was seen out, Idema was done. In the bottom of the 4th, Ryan Riffle (pinch-hitting for Idema) slogged a beauty of a double out left, but again, it came to zilch.

Jason Milton came on to pitch and immediately oversaw a double (partially thanks to some motionless ‘fielding’ from White on first), and then (after two outs) run #5 for Austin courtesy of a single. Our boy Bastyr managed to make second after a wayward 5-3 throw, but SHOCKINGLY, was beached at the end.

Another inning, another two runs conceded. Milton was subbed for Jason Waldon, who saw off the 7th and 8th (mercifully) with consummate ease. Sadly, we only managed a walk in those two innings, so it remained 7-0. With really nothing to came back from in the 9th we brought Jorge Vargas on to finish it off, who amazingly oversaw our first double-play of the game! And then a home run. Never mind. The game finished 8-0 Austin, and we have A LOT to answer for.

Notable performances: Ryan Riffle (1-for-1, 2B). Tomoshi Ishibashi (1.0 IP, 2H, 2R, 2ER, K, L [0-1]).

Special notes: SP Tomoshi Ishibashi was injured while pitching. Chris Martel ties the RL regular season game record for doubles with 3. Manny Aguilar set the RL regular season game record for walks with 8.

Ooooookay. We just got trashed by a side that outhit us 15 to 1, despite their pitcher gave us 8 walks, struck out ‘only’ two and we had 3 errors go our way. So how did we lose so badly? Rubbish batting (far, far too many easy flyballs) and a shockingly bad bullpen runout. I think I’m going to need to upgrade my bullpen very, very soon.


Game Two

AUS: 2B Villalpando – RF Snead – LF Baker – CF Grajeda – 1B Burks – SS Cook – 3B Baughan – C Miller – P Harmeyer

GR: 3B Winters – 2B Martinez – 1B White – RF Ramos – LF Olivares – SS Meiman – CF Osmond – P Johnson – C Magallanes

Nick Harmeyer (0-0, 0.00 ERA) v Joe Johnson (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

When the game starts with a leadoff double against you, the hackles start to come down. When that player tries to run to third and gets tagged out, then the hackles lift a little. When Snead crashes a home run out immediately afterwards, those hackles are bolted right down again. In fact, after loading the bases again and conceding another run, Johnson wasn’t settling into my good books early on at all… We had no response either, with Martinez’s single counting for nowt following a GDIP attributed to White. Good, promising start then.

Singles from Floyd and Meiman in the 2nd went stranded, but things started to look up in the 3rd, when Magallanes got by on a fielding error and was able to get to third following a single from Winters. Winters ended up getting forced out, but Martinez was able to speed out to first to prevent the double play while Magallanes got on the board. Better than last time already!

Etzler came on for Johnson after three innings, and promptly dealt very well with a bunt opportunity to force out Miller who was cruising for second. Harmeyer ended up getting injured on the play for the Warriors. In the 4th, Ramos hit a single, followed by Olivares getting caught out (quite finely, admittedly) and a walk for Meiman – Osmond then was struck out, but we caught a break with Etzler’s bat, who saw a strike three but a wild pitch, meaning the bases were loaded. Sadly, Magallanes is about as good at batting as my 98-year-old great-grandfather, and we lost the opportunity to lead.

Another opportunity presented itself in the 5th, following another exemplary Etzler inning. Winters hit a blooper out left-centre for a single, after which Martinez collected a walk… and then White did the nasty, surging a hit into the centre wall for a double, which of course brought Winters and Martinez home. 3-2 Grand Rapids! Sadly, their infield was suspiciously alert and caught out the next three, but we’d managed to make it.

A double-play ensured we’d see the 6th bottom in the lead. Etzler found a walk, and then Magallanes got fortunate with ANOTHER error going his way to push him onto base and Etzler to second. They were, however, beached. With Etzler going 1-2-3 in the 7th my decision to leave him on was justified, but he was out of it for the 8th, so Tye Guthrie ended up coming on. A flyball, a K and a flyball later and he’d done the damage; Meiman was nicked in the bottom (of the 8th, I mean), and made it home after Magallanes(!) hit an RBI-single dead centre. 4-2 going into the 9th! Guthrie looked tired by the end, but he saw the game out. 4-2 – a win!!!

Notable performances: Scott Winters (2-from-5, R), Butch Martinez (1-from-3, R, RBI, BB), Steve White (1-from-4, 2RBI, 2B), John Meiman (0-from-2, R, BB), Jonathan Magallanes (1-from-4, R, RBI). Devin Etzler (4.0 IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K, W [1-0]), Tye Guthrie (2.0 IP, 2H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 3K, SV [1]).

Much better! We were still outhit, but 9-to-7 is a damn sight better than 15-to-1. Special mentions go to Devin Etzler and Tye Guthrie, who both pitched brilliantly to stave off the Warriors following Johnson’s short, increasingly better but damaging start. Still no news on Ishibashi, which doesn’t bode well.


Game Three

AUS: 2B Villalpando – RF Snead – CF Grajeda – LF Baker – 1B Burks – SS Cook – 3B Baughan – C Miller – P Montoya

GR: 2B Martinez – 1B White – 3B Winters – C Elder – LF Bastyr – RF Osmond – SS Meiman – P Guymon – CF Ramos

Juan Montoya (0-0, 0.00 ERA) v Caleb Guymon (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

It was a cold evening in Grand Rapids with the ambient temperature at 36 degrees, but the fans were jumping to see what their new-found favourite man, Caleb Guymon, would do on the mound this time. And despite giving away a hit, the first innings looked good, taking out the team in 4. With White hitting a single and Elder getting a walk (on two outs) there was something of a chance to take the lead early on, but Bastyr swung at air and so the first innings ended sans run.

The 2nd passed without event, and in the bottom of the 3rd another half-opportunity came up: with two outs, Martinez and Winters were on 2nd and 1st respectively after two base hits. Elder’s shot flew out though, so again scoreless. Osmond went flying around the bases for a double in the 4th (another great pitching show from Guymon preceded this), but also wound up stranded following two catches.

Austin snuck into the lead in the 5th following some audacious baserunning, effectively signalling the end of a tiring Guymon’s game. Ted Idema saw the innings out, but it was 1-0 Warriors. Following White getting clobbered by another pitch and Winters getting some luck with the wind in outfield, there was another 2nd-1st two-out situation, but again, Elder couldn’t finish the job off.

With the score still 1-0 midway in the 7th, Idema was subbed off after a commendable outing for the 25-year-old (conceding a single hit, no walks and forging two K’s in 2.1 IP). Ramos copped a base-hit following PH Riffle just – JUST – missing out on a home run, and another single-bagger from Martinez meant that two were on base with one out. White wound up getting walked to load the bases, but Ramos was forced out on home following Winters’ iffy infield hit. Elder AGAIN couldn’t do the damage on two-out, and we missed out on the best opportunity of the game so far.

Jason Milton came on in the 8th, and got two out easily… before loading the bases. With Cook copping a base-hit and letting two round, the score was 3-0, and I realised we weren’t winning this one. However, a little hope followed, with Osmond cracking out a 368FT DINGER straight right for a run – it remained 3-1 though, so we needed to damage limit in the 9th and then score at least two.

Sardis replaced Milton and walked two, but was able to see the innings out unscathed. Just as Ramos stepped up to play, we had the game stopped for 43 minutes due to freezing Grand Rapids rain – this would either work in our favour, or kill any chance we had. As it turned out HERE. Ramos got to second on a walk and wild pitch, and then to 3rd on a sac hit from White. Winters collected another walk to make first, but on two-out it was… SURPRISE! Elder. And shockingly, it didn’t come off. 3-1 Austin, and we’d lost the series.

Notable performers: Floyd Osmond (2-from-4, R, RBI, 2B, HR). Caleb Guymon (4.2 IP, 5H, R, ER, BB, 4K, L [1-1]).


Got news the following day about Tomoshi Ishibashi’s injury – shoulder inflammation, 3 months out. Marvellous. With no minor league games until the 10th and no history to go off, I have to trust my gut a little – using my very scientific spreadsheets Milton should be next in line, but after giving up 5 earned runs in as many innings over two games, I’d sooner shoot my foot off. So, it’s Ted Idema instead who will take Ishibashi’s place – I liked the look of what he gave us in the last game, so fingers crossed for more of that. Dominican Luis Macias will replace his spot in the bullpen. Macias, 26, offers a straight-forward fastball/curveball combo with good stuff (93mph), but unspectacular movement and control.

To end the first week on a 0.500 record is about as much as I could’ve hoped for, so I’ll take it and run with that. I have two primary concerns, however – the run-scoring and the bullpen. We’ve managed 18 runs across 6 games (which for the mathematicians among you is 3-a-game) while conceding 21 (3.5-a-game) – 3.5 conceded a game I can live with in most circumstances, but 3-a-game scored is royally naff. Annoyingly, the conceded tally could be better, too; with an ERA of 2.28 we have the 2nd lowest starter ERA in the Red League, only behind the Albuquerque Destroyers’ 1.83, but our bullpen’s ERA of 4.76 is the 3rd HIGHEST. Idema, Etzler and Guthrie have done well, and Idema’s landed himself a position starting; I’ve been singularly unimpressed with Sardis, while Milton is on last-chance. After only one week that may seem too quick, but I just have a terrible feeling about him.

Our next two series are an away trip to Birmingham, Alabama to face the Alligators, and then a visit from the Jacksonville Hurricanes. Both finished their respective opening weeks 2-4 (Birmingham being in the South/Central like us, and the Hurricanes in the Southeast), although the ‘Gators have been offensively interesting.


ELSEWHERE

1st April: 1B Nate Sari hit 5-for-5 to help the Omaha Atomics towards a lovely 8-0 victory over the Salt Lake City Tornadoes. He hit singles in the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 8th innings, and hit a solo dinger in the 9th.

2nd April: SP Jayden Walker of the Fresno Mechanics will be out for 6 weeks as of today, after incurring an elbow strain during the ‘nics’ 6-1 victory over the Tulsa Steers. He had pitched 6 innings, given up 4 hits and a solitary run (with 5 Ks) at the time of injury.

In happier news, Sacramento Flames SS George McDuff hit for the cycle in the Flames’ 9-3 victory over the Orlando Owls today – he went for the three-bagger in the 1st (hitting in two runs in the process), an RBI double in the 3rd, a single in the 6th and an 8th-inning dinger off Cliff Wasson in the 8th. “Productive day,” he said afterwards.

5th April: Honolulu Volcanoes C Mitch Karp made the news as an important safety lesson for correct training discipline – coming very, very close to a serious injury involving a weights-machine. The 31-year-old from Shreveport is struggling for form in these early stages, not delivering on his purported $1.1m salary with a 0.111 average from 4 appearances.

6th April: SP Bill Pennington waited 4 days to learn that his shoulder inflammation will keep him out until the start of August at least. The 39-year-old fan favourite of the Birmingham Alligators’ injury will have the GM and owner gasping, as his $4.8m salary will come to nothing.

More tragic news from the injury bunker, as Omaha Atomics starter Dave Maldonado tore his UCL in yesterday’s 3-4 defeat to the Charlotte Stallions. While not thought-of highly from a technical standing, his manager is said to be “gutted for such a tireless worker”, regarding the 29-year-old Dominican being out for 13-14 months.

Aaaaand yet more. SP Melvin Miralles of the Salt Lake City Tornadoes is out for 4 weeks following elbow inflammation during their game against the Portland Thunderbirds (which ended 4-1 in the Tornadoes’ favour).

Finally, SP Danny Bourke of the Tucson Jesters held the Hartford Panthers to a 1-0 scoreline, effectively winning the game single-handedly for the Arizonans. The 27-year-old from Delafield, Wisconsin gave them no walks, only four hits and struck out 2 Panthers in the process.

[Archelirion]

Birmingham, intriguingly, have a bullpen ERA of worse than ours – in fact much so, with their game-tiers clocking up a 7.48 (although results like 1-11, 1-9 and 7-8 will do that). My scouts have identified Omar Arrieta, their pitcher in the first game, as their biggest threat to us, although I’m looking at LF Brandon John’s 0.368/3 HR/11 RBI line and hoping he doesn’t show up. Thankfully Pennington is injured, as bad as that sounds – takes a very capable pitcher out of our hair.

I’m keeping the lineup the same for the first 10 games just to let everyone bed in and see what they can do. So far Winters and Osmond are my golden boys (.364 and .320), while Elder and Meiman (.000 and .095) will need to improve.

Let’s play ball!


Game One

GR: 2B Martinez – 1B White – 3B Winters – C Elder – LF Bastyr – RF Osmond – SS Meiman – P Quintero – CF Ramos

BIR: CF Willicott – LF John – 1B Garza – RF Jusino – 2B McBroom – C Castilleja – 3B Cline – SS Olivera – P Arrieta

RHP Edwin Quintero (1-0, 3.60 ERA) v RHP Omar Arrieta (0-1, 5.40 ERA)

My Darts made an instant (well, almost instant) impact, with Winters crossing the plate following base-hits from himself, Elder (who must have heard my ruminations!) and Bastyr on two outs. Sadly, this high didn’t last long, as the danger man John blasted a Quintero curveball out of the park to equalise shortly afterwards. In the 2nd, however, we went ahead again! A single from Meiman was beautifully timed to sit behind a Ramos scorcher out left – the hit itself was a double, but Meiman cruised around 2nd and 3rd to make it home in one go. Speedy tyke that yin, I’ll give him that. This time there was no hideous dinger to blow us off, and we led the 2nd, 2-1.

Elder amazingly got a second hit – another single – in the 3rd, but was forced out despite Bastyr making it to first (Bastyr was eventually stranded). However, with Quintero pitching well it was soon our turn again, and Meiman hit single #2 before the pitcher managed to get a blooper base-hit of his own. A sterling drive out right for Ramos earned the CF his second RBI of the game, as Meiman sprinted back once more for run #3. With Martinez’s catch-out the first out of the innings, White then loaded the bases with a single, after which Winters’ sac fly allowed Quintero to bust home for 4-1. Jason Elder, who must have put something on his cornflakes this morning hit in number 5 – yup, a single – before Bastyr struck out. With Quintero still doing good things on the mound, it remained 5-1 at the end of the 4th.

The 5th saw Cline clobber Alligators run 2 into existence, with Birmingham’s second dinger of the game. Amazingly, the 6th saw Orlando Jusino whack their third solo one out of the park too, and with McBroom clobbering one into the wall for a double afterwards, Quintero’s game was done. Chris Waldon came on, but wasn’t able to end the innings early enough to stop it becoming 5-4. This was getting edgy for us. Waldon survived the 7th, but given we’d have the second consecutive 1-2-3 out in the 8th, we needed him to do it again for us in the bottom. After two outs though he looked shot, and so we brought Sardis on – who amazingly did the business first time of asking. One more inning to go.
White ended a concerningly poor run of batting in style, hitting a double to run the hustling Martinez (on base due to a walk) and make it 6-4. Winters was then intentionally walked, but flyouts from Elder and Bastyr ended our lot. All we had to do was restrict them to a run or less. Easy, right?

Well, it seemed it was, with Sardis finally having a good time out with three strikeouts in the 9th. We won the first game of the series, 6-4 Darts!

Prominent performers: Butch Martinez (0-from-4, R, BB), Steve White (2-from-5, RBI, 2B), Scott Winters (1-from-3, R, RBI, BB), Jason Elder (3-from-5, RBI), Bryan Bastyr (1-from-5, RBI), John Meiman (2-from-4, 2R), Alex Ramos (2-from-4, R, 2RBI, 2B) // Edwin Quintero (5.1 IP, 6H, 4R, 4ER, BB, 3K, 3HR, W [2-0] / 1-from-3, R), Eric Sardis (1.1 IP, 0H, 0R, 0ER, BB, 3K, SV [1])

Nate Cline took MVP, going 3-from-4, with a run, 2-RBI, and a home run to his name.


Game Two

GR: 2B Martinez – 1B White – 3B Winters – C Elder – LF Bastyr – RF Osmond – SS Meiman – P Jordan – CF Ramos

BIR: CF Zamora – LF Willicott – 1B Garza – RF Jusino – 2B McBroom – C Castilleja – SS D’Amours – 3B Olivera – P Riley

RHP Nick Jordan (0-0, 0.00 ERA) v RHP Nick Riley (0-1, 9.00 ERA)

Battle of the Nicks today, and it was Riley to go first. Annoyingly, despite White claiming a single the pitcher seemed to have his act together and we were dealt with pretty quickly. Thankfully, our boy managed to go one better, flying out Zamora and striking out Willicott and Garza to end the 1st 1-2-3.

Sadly, it was them that scored first, with our impotent hitting coming back to bite us in the arse. Run-scoring triples were followed by a two-man dinger from D’Amours – and before we knew it, we were 3-0 down. Jordan managed to get on base by drawing a walk but found himself stranded, before Jusino got a run-scoring double to give the Alligators run #4 – and still no outs. McBroom hit a single down the centre to draw them another two (thanks to some lazy shortstop work), before Winters muffed a catch to get two on base AGAIN. This was followed by an error from Bastyr allowing D’Amours round (it’s now 7-0), and then another run-scoring single… 9-0.

What.

Another two were scored in the 4th, at which point I mercifully allowed Jordan off. His pitching hasn’t been amazing, but the fielding has been [REDACTED]

Ahem. Jorge Vargas replaced Jordan and managed to get through the 5th totally unscathed. Amazingly, we actually got a HIT in the 6th thanks to a single from Martinez, but this was quickly rendered useless by White’s double-play immediately afterwards. To cap off our abject misery, D’Amours hit an inside-the-park home run (I mean really – in 2018). Almost as a final middle finger, we actually woke up in the bottom ninth – a solo dinger from Martinez was followed by a double from White, then a walk for Winters and Elder, and then a sac fly for Bastyr (White got home). The game ended 12-2. Unacceptable.

Prominent performers: Butch Martinez (2-from-4, R, RBI, HR), Steve White (2-from-4, R, 2B) // Nick Jordan (4.0 IP, 11H, 11R, 10ER, 3BB, 3K, HR, L [0-1]).

That was horrific.


Game Three

GR: 3B Winters – 2B Martinez – 1B White – RF Ramos – LF Olivares – SS Meiman – CF Osmond – P Johnson – C Magallanes

BIR: CF Zamora – 2B McBroom – 1B Garza – RF Jusino – LF John – 3B Cline – SS Campbell – C Croegaert – P Cruz

LHP Joe Johnson (0-0, 6.00 ERA) v LHP Ricardo Cruz (0-1, 4.50 ERA)

Two lefties faced off for the deciding game of the series, which I decided we had to win to save some sort of face. Imagine my delight, then, when the first innings when groundout/flyout/strikeout for the first three batters, followed by Zamora walking without having to even swing a bat. Zamora made it round following a wild pitch and a sac fly to give the Gators an early 1-0 lead.

Alfredo Olivares got our first hit of the game, with a one-out single plunged straight down the middle. Sadly, he was forced out, but the single from Meiman which caused the situation proved productive, as a tremendous two-bagger socked by Osmond out left prompted another 3-base run from the shortstop to get home. Tied game! Johnson caught John out with a fantastic reaction stop, and after a walk the pitcher did his job tremendously. Magallanes opened up the 3rd with a double, but was stranded once more by the three men supposed to get the job done – Winters, Martinez and White.

Meiman base-hit in the 4th but the upper innings was otherwise uneventful. Not so the lower, which saw the bases loaded on two singles and a walk with no-outs – and no, we didn’t come out unscathed, although Johnson did restrict them to just the one extra. Magallanes hit his second two-bagger of the game but AGAIN was let down by Winters and White (Martinez had walked onto first). Etzler came on for a tired Johnson to pitch the 5th, and oversaw two flyouts and a groundout to end the innings quickly.

Olivares cracked out a single in the 6th almost identical to his first one, and was quickly followed on base by John Meiman who took his 3rd plunk of the season. Both, however, were stranded, and I was beginning to wonder if the break would ever come. Guthrie replaced Etzler for the 7th and got through the innings reasonably easily. White opened out 8th miraculously with a hit (his first from 4 today) and was followed up by a Ramos base-hit… and then a Meiman double play to end the innings. By the game’s end, we had abandoned a tragic 17 players and it was 2-1 Birmingham. Ugh.

Prominent players: John Meiman (1-from-3, R), Floyd Osmond (1-from-4, RBI, 2B), Jonathan Magallanes (2-from-4, 2-2B) // Joe Johnson (4.0H, 3H, 2R, ER, 3BB, 4K, L [0-1]).

Player of the game was SP Ricardo Cruz, who went for six innings and gave up six hits, an earned run and a walk while finding 6 strikeouts.


Joe Johnson picked up the loss there, but it really wasn’t a bad performance – the run support just wasn’t there, which is especially frustrating as we have three guys who only managed a single hit in 12 attempts between them (being Martinez, White and Winters). Should really be doing better, and we just lost the series because of impotence.

Oh well, getting a visit from the Jacksonville Hurricanes tomorrow, who just got swept by the Louisville Wheelers. 1B Francisco Barrera is definitely their danger fella this time around – a .306 with two home runs isn’t that impressive in 9, but if he shows up then we’re in trouble as deep as where he sends the ball.

And that’s pretty deep.

[Archelirion]

Game One

JAC: CF Guerrero – SS Ramires – 1B Barrera – LF Fuentes – RF Hadden – 2B Vega – C Shepherd – 3B Watkins (cold) – P Hernandez

GR: 2B Martinez – 1B White – 3B Winters – C Elder – LF Bastyr – CF Osmond – SS Meiman – P Idema – CF Ramos

RHP Celso Hernandez (0-1, 7.20 ERA) v RHP Ted Idema (0-0, 3.38 ERA)

The first innings was scrappy for both sides – a single here, an error there – but emerged scoreless for everyone. Watkins (the cold hitter…) smacked a double up the left in the 2nd but wound up stranded; he was followed by a stupendous double from Osmond, and then a base-hit from SS Meiman pushing the CF up to third. Idema’s groundout was good for Meiman to find second, but then Ramos hit a sac fly for Osmond to careen home… 1-0 Darts! The shortstop then made good on Martinez’s single to double the tally before the innings’ end.

Another two baserunner stranded innings for the Hurricanes was made possible by an error on Winters’ part that thankfully went unpunished. Osmond made our 3rd as well, crushing a (two-out!) triple towards the right field that batted Winters in for run #3 today – and amazingly, we dealt with the opposition in the top of the 4th with three pitches (they turned into three flyouts). Winters batted in #4 after a sequence of base-hits to end the 4th 4-0.

White was becoming an increasing liability with a 0-for-4 record by the bottom of the 6th, but Idema was miraculously holding on to the shutout even as the upper 7th drew to a close – despite he was shattered. In the bottom of the 7th, Jason Elder – JASON ELDER GOES DEEP FOR 414FT – to make it 5-0, before Osmond hit another extra-base hit with a double.

The bottom 8th came around, and it was a second dinger of the day for the mighty Darts as MARTINEZ HIT 422FT OUT CENTRE-RIGHT, making it 6-0 as the game went into the 9th. Idema looked absolutely knackered, but believed he could see the game out. Barrera – flyout, out right. Fuentes – walked, 3-2. Hadden – fly out. Vega, on the 3-2… also walked. Shepherd…

FLYOUUUUUUT! Ted Idema had done it in his first ever major-league start for the Darts! 4 hits, 4 strikeouts and giddy with that kind of tired happiness which is only seen in sport, he seemed to do a victory lap before jumping into the dugout to meet his colleagues. In a poor display of sour grapes, Jonathan Woloshin (J’ville’s manager) told him off for his celebration, at which point I waded in and set the record straight. Or something.

Prominent performers: Butch Martinez (3-from-4, R, 2-RBI, BB, HR), Scott Winters (2-from-5, R, RBI), Jason Elder (2-from-4, R, RBI, HR), Floyd Osmond (3-from-4, R, RBI, 2-2B, 3B), John Meiman (1-from-3, R, BB), Alex Ramos (1-from-3, R, RBI) // Ted Idema (9.0 IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 4BB, 4K, W [1-0])

After the fireworks died down, I decided to make my first lineup change of the season – Bryan Bastyr, batting a miserable 0.129 in 8 showings, would be replaced by Alfredo Olivares in the LF position against righties. Bastyr will remain in the main 25 for the time being, but I’ll be keeping an eye on my AAA lot, the McAllen Rogues. They started their season yesterday with a 5-1 victory over the Chattanooga Cannons – a game notable for SP Dave Robinson’s performance. The sidearm slider fella not only felled 8, kept a clean nose in 7 innings and took the win, but also batted in two (which included a double). Not a bad day out!

As for the other two behind the Mendoza line… we’ll see. John Meiman’s .171 with one RBI and no extra-base hits is pretty poor viewing, but he has scored 5 due to his ridiculous pace so I’m inclined to see if the batting picks up. As for Magallanes, neither he nor Elder have done particularly well at catcher in the batting stakes (the Venezuelan has hit 0.188 in 4 starts, while the New Jerseyite scraped 0.200 with the dinger in the last game from 6) – but I’ll keep an eye on them both.


Game Two

JAC: CF Guerrero – SS Ramires (cold) – 1B Barrera – LF Fuentes – RF Hadden – 2B Vega – C Shepherd – 3B Watkins – P Gonzalez

GR: 2B Martinez – 1B White – 3B Winters – CF Ramos – LF Olivares – RF Osmond – SS Meiman – P Guymon – C Magallanes

RHP Ricardo Gonzalez (0-1, 10.13 ERA) v RHP Caleb Guymon (1-1, 0.66 ERA)

Super windy today. From Idema’s unexpected heroics to a man already etching a little place for himself, big things were expected today… and a clean 1-2-3 start was exactly what the doctor ordered for Guymon. Martinez started our batting game off with a 4-0 walk, which was followed by at double slogged at the wall from White – 2nd and 3rd were now loaded. Gonzalez then loaded the bases 4-2 (Winters advanced to first)… but as Ramos attempted the sac fly, Martinez was tagged at home and we had two out. No problem though, as Alfredo Olivares launched a howitzer out right to score two runs and earn himself a double! 2-0 Darts!

Then, a rebuttal, as Fuentes hits a double and Hadden a dinger out right to tie up the game instantly. The following innings, it started to get uglier, as two base-hits, a double and a couple of walks surged Jacksonville up 5-2 – we stranded two in the lower 3rd to ensure the score remained the same at the end.

The 4th saw Guymon get his act together again and strike out the side, but we went down in order too. The pitcher saw his K count get to 8 by the end of the 5th, but his time was up – tired and with 5 runs to his name already, there was no case to keep him on, so on came Tye Guthrie.

We got one back in the 6th, as Meiman’s impressive double saw Olivera surged round from 1st to cross the plate – but on the very first pitch in the 7th, Guerrero cracked a 373ft shot out right to make the difference three again. Martinez thumped a mighty triple in the bottom of that innings which thankfully was converted by a White base-hit (so 6-4) and then… Olivera gave us the mighty goods. Ramos base-hit, Olivera double, and White/Ramos both made it home to equalise. Come oooon! Bastyr was doubtless looking on, thinking ‘I’m never getting back into the side at this rate.’

I decided to bring Macias on for Guthrie at the start of the 8th, with the view of giving him an innings and then passing it to Sardis for the close. Macias played his part well, but with us going 1-2-3 out in the bottom of the innings, I figured it wasn’t time to bring Sardis on just yet. Boy did the Dominican deliver, with a groundball and two K’s ending the Hurricanes’ inning before it started. Sadly… we went 1-2-3 again too, and we were in extra innings.

Sardis came on for the 10th, and despite giving away two walks did what he needed to do and kept the ‘Canes quiet. For the 3rd inning on the bounce, however, we went 1-2-3 (uuuugh). Sardis made it through the 11th, but AGAIN we were out in order. Etzler replace Sardis, and after a walk and a single from Barrera, I started to wonder if this was… it. And it sure looked like it. With one already over the plate (7-6 now) a horrific error from 3rd Winters meant that we had a bases-loaded, one-out situation to deal with. Mercifully, Shepherd was punched out and Watkins groundout, but we were now playing catchup.

An early base-hit from Martinez at least meant we weren’t 1-2-3ing again (I might have cried), and a follow up single from White meant that 1st and 2nd were loaded with no outs. Winters struck out (cheers fella), and Ramos came ridiculously close to a GDIP. Two outs, 1st and 3rd occupied. Olivares to bat. He flew out. Game over. 12 innings and we lose 7-6.

Prominent players: Butch Martinez (2-from-5, R, BB, 3B), Steve White (3-from-5, 2R, RBI, BB, 2B), Scott Winters (1-from-5, R, BB, 2B), Alex Ramos (1-from-6, R, BB), Alfredo Olivares (3-from-6, R, 4-RBI, 2-2B), John Meiman (1-from-5, RBI, 2B) // Devin Etzler (1.0 IP, 2H, R, ER, BB, K, L [1-1])

Kyle Hadden made POTG going 2-from-3 with a run, as well as a 2-RBI double and a 2-RBI dinger.

Frustrating day out. We could look at the dodgy 3rd that Guymon had, but frankly, going 3 innings 1-2-3 when looking for a winner is straight-up unacceptable. Shoutout to Floyd Osmond who may as well have not been there today, but a more sincere commiserations to Olivares, who really, really deserved more than he got.


Game Three

A temporary shuffle-about was in order today, as both Winters and Ramos looked like they needed a rest. Malachi Webb comes in for Winters, and the outgoing Bastyr is now ingoing again, replacing Ramos for the game.

JAC: CF Guerrero – SS Ramires – 1B Barrera – LF Ojeda – RF Hadden – 2B Vega – 3B Watkins – C Rhodes – P Larios

GR: 2B Martinez – 1B White – SS Meiman – 3B Webb – LF Olivares – RF Bastyr – CF Osmond – P Quintero – C Magallanes

LHP Roberto Larios (0-1, 3.46 ERA) v RHP Edwin Quintero (2-0, 5.23 ERA)

Having 5 pitches is all well and good, but the sheer volume of 3-2 pitches Quintero was generating was concerning in the early stages. Still, the first actual talking point came in the bottom of the 3rd from Jonathan Magallanes, who gave fans of offence something to look at with a one-out double. Martinez then moved the bases along one after taking advantage of a Watkins error, and then White finished the job off with a base-hit down centre. 1-0 Grand Rapids!

The bases were loaded in the 4th by the unlikely batting trio of Bastyr (single), pitcher Quintero (single) and Magallanes (walked), following which Martinez did the nasty with a 2-RBI single to push us up 3-0. With the bases reloaded by Meiman drawing a walk, it fell to Webb to either do some damage or strand three – and damage he did, clobbering a 3-RBI double to boost us up to 6!

With Quintero’s K-count up to 6 we were still 6-0 up in the mid-8th, base hits from Quintero, Magallanes (a smidge lucky, granted) and Martinez meant we loaded them up with no outs. Steve White steps up – AND CATCHES THE FASTBALL DEAD-ON! 457-FT GRAND SLAM! 10-0! YOU ABSOLUTE BEAUTY! And so, all we had to do was see if Quintero could get our 3rd shutout of the year. The 9th begin with Ojeda singling, but then being forced out on Hadden’s base-hit. Benito Vega swung on a 3-2 going WAY out the strike zone… and so, all that separated Quintero from a 4-hit shutout was cold-hitting 3B Rob Watkins. Hit infield… GROUND OUT. QUINTERO DOES IT! TWICE IN A SERIES! 10-0 Darts!

Prominent performers: Butch Martinez (2-from-5, 2R, 2-RBI), Steve White (2-from-5, R, 5-RBI, HR), John Meiman (0-from-3, R, 2-BB), Malachi Webb (2-from-4, 3-RBI, 2B), Bryan Bastyr (2-from-4, R), Jonathan Magallanes (2-from-4, 2R) // Edwin Quintero (9.0 IP, 4H, 0R, 0ER, 3BB, 7-K, W [3-0])

Week Two’s done, and we’ve somehow matched our first-week fortunes to continue with a 0.500 record!

Having one solo shutout in a week is cool but having two is downright greedy… not that I particularly care about that. It does, however, present us with something to think about. This week, our defensive efficiency has crashed to .731, down around 0.090 if memory serves from last week. While I understand the differences will be more pronounced in the early stages, how can we be so horrifically weak fielding on one day (see the 12-2 defeat to the Gators on the 8th) and then solid enough to earn two pitchers a shutout mere days after?

I gave our game plan a bit of a shufty about following the 1-2 defeat, and having scored 22 in 3 games, I think – think – it’s working, though we’ll have to play a team that isn’t Jacksonville to properly judge that. Magallanes and Martinez are both batting +0.400 this week so far, and I’m tempted to leave Webb in the team following yesterday’s performance… but maybe a rest is what Winters needed? Who knows. Maybe I’ll leave it.

On that note thankfully, we have a rest day before our next four series – Meiman, Martinez and Osmond all look like they need one. The two we’re playing next? We’ve got a road trip out west; firstly, we play the 5-7 Las Vegas Blue Hawks (3rd in the RL West) before hoping the Albuquerque Destroyers (4th in the RL West) are still having a horrible time. They’re currently on 2-10, sitting on a hideous 0.167 batting average and scoring only 2.25 runs a game.


ELSEWHERE
7th April: Only 7 days into the new season, Pete Brown of the Greenville Foresters (Blue League Southeast Division, 2-5) decided to make very public his frustrations at losing, following a 4-2 home defeat at the hands of the Sacramento Flames. He decided to take it out on Giovanni Williamson – the #5 pitcher, no less – who had admittedly had a poor game on the 5th (5 earned runs in 4 innings, to lose 5-2 to Oklahoma City) but didn’t exactly deserve his ire that day. Press were quick to point out that Brown was only batting 0.138 in 7 starts, giving him an OPS+ of 52.

9th April: The first ever NCL Player-of-the-Week Awards were dished out today, and first base came out well. For the Blue League, the award went to 1B Chad Supinger of the Honolulu Volcanoes, who went 11-from-28 with 4 dingers, 4 doubles and 6 RBIs for the Hawaiian side. In the Red League it was picked up by 1B Juan Aguillon of the Raleigh Rampage, who pulled out an astonishing 16-from-28 with 2 home runs, 2 doubles, 8 RBIs and 4 scored for himself.



CF Jose Guerrero for the Jacksonville Hurricanes went 5-for-5 today with 5 singles, but this display of amazing contact hitting still wasn’t enough to prevent the Floridians getting pumped 10-4 by the Louisville Wheelers. Guerrero is currently batting 0.243 this season, his numbers certainly pumped by today’s display.

10th April: You wait for a solo shutout and two come along at once – Idema’s magnificent effort, and Jordan Fuselier’s 3-hit, 5-K shutout for the Raleigh Rampage during their 7-0 victory over the Albuquerque Destroyers. The 28-year-old cutter fan from Savage-Guilford, Maryland, now has a 2-0 record with an ERA of 1.28.

11th April: RP Kevin Latimer’s season is well-and-truly over with the Rochester Cascades, following a torn flexor tendon which will keep him out at least until the midpoint of NEXT season… and on $387,000 with a contract which ends at the end of 2018, his return may not be in New York state. The injury occurred during the Cascades’ 7-3 defeat to Tucson – he finishes his season with a 1.50 ERA, played over 6 innings.

Star pitcher for the Greenville Foresters, J. T. German, also got placed on the DL today following spraining an ankle in the Foresters’ 0-10 hammering to the San Antonio Sun Kings. Currently with an ERA/WHIP/BABIP of 2.81/1.00/.243 over three starts he’s played well so far, but will be out until the end of May at the earliest.

12th April: A certain Edwin Quintero got a shutout today, making it the third of the year for the Grand Rapids Darts. Betcha didn’t see that coming!

Fresno Mechanics closer Josh Peterson has only just started wrangling his season under control (dropping his ERA from 18.00 on the 3rd to 7.94 on the 9th, and finding 3 saves), but it emerged yesterday that his house had been robbed last night. Originally from Towson, Maryland, he had recently purchased a home in the prestigious Van Ness Extension in order to be available to play for the Mechanics.

After 16 years in the sport, Orlando Owls 2B Tony Holt is calling it a day. Originally from Miami, the 41-year-old had lived for the last 22 years in Orlando and said in his press statement “to play for a professional team in Orlando is something that I’ve always wanted to do, and I’m so, so grateful to have had the opportunity. But anyone who’s seen me play this past few games will probably understand [laughs].” Indeed, he has failed to hit in 5 games, striking out 3 times.

Juan Aguillon may be attracting a lot of the attention in Raleigh right now, but Russ Eastman’s 5-for-5, including a 4th-innings grand slam and a 2-RBI double in the 8th, has earned the 29-year-old Utahn some recognition of his own. His efforts went some way to earning the Rampage their 8th win of the season, going 12-6 against the struggling Albuquerque Destroyers.

[Archelirion]

I breathed a slight sigh of relief when Sentell’s scout report came through on the Las Vegas Blue Hawks – their top three players were all starting pitchers, but we’d only have to face one of them in Tim Hain. With a fierce changeup and a solid fastball/slider I was briefly interested in Haim a few days back, as I’d seen that the Blue Hawks had placed him on the trading block; inheriting a $7,000,000 payslip, however, is not in my interests (besides, I don’t even think we can afford that!)

I decided to leave Webb out for the time being, but I’ll be watching Winters like a hawk on 3B – any major slip-ups or drops in batting form, and he’s swapped in, no question.


Game One

GR: 3B Winters – 2B Martinez (hot) – 1B White – RF Ramos – LF Olivares – SS Meiman – CF Osmond – P Jordan – C Magallanes

LV: CF Arevalo – 2B Goolsby – LF Cortez – 3B Bates – 1B Butler – C Rodriguez – RF Wiggins – SS Shammami – P Hain

RHP Nick Jordan (0-1, 10.00 ERA) v LHP Tim Haim (0-1, 3.00 ERA)

With Nick Jordan’s last game ending in tatters (it was the 12-2 obliteration job from the Gators) I was a little anxious about this one. But, who are you without a little faith? Probably a wiser man than I, but I dunno. Winters opened up the game for us with a leadoff base-hit, and was then aided to third by a single from Martinez, too. After not risking it on White’s flyout, Winters went for it following Ramos’ sac fly and pushed us into the lead, 1-0! With a double-play finishing the innings, we survived the opener to maintain that slender lead.

Sadly, our useless, lethargic infield meant that we went 2-1 down in the third. Following a walk given away, a hit was sprayed out to Winters on third… and he bumbled it, popping two on base. This was then followed up by the slowest turn I’ve ever seen from White, allowing Wiggins and Shammami home. The 4th then saw hitting gremlins return, with Olivares getting stranded (he was walked) signifying the first Dart on base for three offensive innings. The hitting woes continued into the 5th, and two runs and a loaded base later, Nick Jordan was told to get off my field. Unfortunately, a base hit made it 6-1, and the future looked bleak for us in this one.

Another no-hitting 6th gave the Blue Hawks a chance to advance further – mercifully, however, we 1-2-3’d them to get to the 7th. Macias kept them quiet but yet another series of flyballs and strikeouts saw us go through the 7th and 8th without a single hit to our name AGAIN. Jason Milton came on, and promptly secured his relegation to AAA ball by offering three leadoff walks and a single before getting unceremoniously chucked off for Eric Sardis. David Bates… then hit a grand slam. Cos why not. Guess what – we no-hit in the 9th too, ending a disgusting game 11-1 Las Vegas, who also won on hits 11-to-2.

Prominent players: Scott Winters (1-from-4, R), Alex Ramos (0-from-3, RBI) // Nick Jordan (4.1 IP, 8H, 6R, 5ER, 4BB, 2K, L [0-2])


Nick Jordan and Jason Milton both got relegated to Triple-AAA McAllen after the game. I know we’re only three games in for starters, but neither have shown me a single thing that has made me want to keep them anywhere near my major-leaguers. I eventually settled on Dave Robinson as my starter replacement and Higino Dentinho as my reliever. Robinson, 33 from Oakland CA, doesn’t have much to shout about in stuff/movement/control, but runs a fastball, slider and a forkball, and he shutout the Chattanooga Cannons in his game so far so he’s worth a shot. 25-year-old Higino Dentinho, a Venezuelan/Colombian from Caracas, chucks a 99mph fastball with a changeup, and hasn’t given a run or a walk up in two appearances made up of three innings (while striking out 5!).

I can’t really put all the blame on those two – our batting last game was atrocious (can you believe our only two hits came from our first two ABs? Ridiculous). We had best do better in game two. So inconsistent right now.


Game Two

GR: 2B Martinez – 1B White – 3B Winters – C Elder – LF Olivares – RF Osmond – SS Meiman – P Robinson – CF Ramos

LV: CF Arevalo – 2B Goolsby – LF Cortez – 3B Bates – 1B Butler – C Rodriguez – RF Biondi – SS Shammami – P Hernandez

RHP Dave Robinson (0-0, 0.00 ERA) v RHP Javier Hernandez (0-1, 4.50 ERA)

All we had to do was beat 11 conceded runs and two hits in order to give a better performance than yesterday, which frankly is all I want right now. Imagine my expression, then, when we went 1-2-3 in the first innings, with all three batters going out on flyballs. Is this going to be Game One all over again? I will leave the game, I swear down.

Dave Robinson’s first move as a major-league pitcher was to strike out Arevalo on three pitches, already showing that he had a better breaking ball than Jordan. In fact, he struck-out Cortez to end the innings too – a great start for the newbie. In fact, Robinson did a great job for us in the 2nd too, and THEN broke our no-hit streak in the upper 3rd with a base-hit. Beginner’s luck? Who knows, but I wasn’t complaining.

The 4th came around, and White FINALLY did what a position player is supposed to be able to do with a stick in hand, and hit the damn ball for a no-out single. This seemed to temporarily get us out of a gyp – so much so that by the time Robinson was struck out, we’d hit four and both Osmond and Meiman had RBI singles to their name.

And then… a whole heap of ‘what the [REDACTED] was that?!’ Ray Biondi was walked on a 3-2 pitch, before Shammami was struck out and the bat went to Trevor Wiggins – who then hit an easily catchable blooper out to the right-field for a single. Osmond THEN had the bright idea to throw it to third, and got his throw waaaaay wrong. Long story short, Biondi made it around three bases when he shouldn’t have done a single one. After a wild pitch I decided it was probably time for Dave to call it a day and brought on Jorge Vargas, who scraped us out of a tough spot with two straight K’s. 2-1 Darts still.

Bottom of the 6th, and more misery as Vargas issues a single and three straight walks to tie the game. What the hell are we doing!? Biondi batted in the 3rd run with a sac fly before Vargas JUST got the final done in time. Despite getting two on base (both walks… you don’t think we actually hit something do you) we stranded them in the 7th, and Etzler was brought on to try and mitigate damage and give us a chance of getting back in. Sadly, we 1-2-3’d the 8th and despite his best efforts, our offense was just too terrible. 3-2 Las Vegas.

Prominent players: Steve White (1-from-3, R), Alfredo Olivares (0-from-4, R), Floyd Osmond (2-from-4, RBI), John Meiman (1-from-4, RBI) // Jorge Vargas (1.2 IP, H, 2R, 2ER, 4BB, 2K, BS [1], L [0-1])


*sighs* So… we actually out-hit them today, 8-to-4, but Vargas’ inning really killed it for us with those walks. Osmond’s decision to throw it to 3rd and then botching that hardly helped either, although he was probably the only batter worth mentioning today with a 2-from-4. We have absolutely no power in this team right now at all – White’s only firing singles when he does, Martinez is not coping with the Nevada weather at all well and everyone else is striking out 2, 3 times a game. Long gone is the side that welcomed Jacksonville a few days back, it seems.


Game Three

Decided to have a bit of a wiggle round – Ryan Riffle will start in the place of Meiman (who I don’t think has hit above the Mendoza line in 14 games now) while Malachi Webb goes 3rd. Scott Winters will also be experimentally tried out on the left-field (he has a savage arm) to replace Alex Ramos, who has been dire lately, and Magallanes more-or-less assumes full-time catcher for the time being ahead of Elder. We’re now 6-8 so there’s no way of leaving this series with a 0.500 record, but some kind of face-saving would be lovely.

GR: 2B Martinez – LF Winters – 1B White – 3B Webb – SS Riffle – C Magallanes – RF Osmond – P Idema - CF Olivares

LV: CF Arevalo – 2B Goolsby – LF Cortez – 3B Bates – 1B Butler – C Rodriguez – RF Golaszewski – SS Shammami – P Burkhart

RHP Ted Idema (1-0, 1.26 ERA) v RHP Ken Burkhart (0-0, 7.00 ERA)

Today started hideously. After hearing the numbers 1-2-3 all over again in my head while watching us bat, Las Vegas surged into the lead. Arevalo got a leadoff base-hit, which was followed by a Goolsby walk and a Cortez double to take the lead. Butler then also hit a double to make it 3-0, all happening with only one out. God help us.

Another 1-2-3 in the second (all flyouts!), and Idema was a very lucky boy to have escaped the 2nd after loading the bases (I was starting to wonder if he knew where the strike zone actually WAS). However, we did claw a run back in the 3rd – Olivera walked, before a double from Martinez saw the Dominican peg it around the bases with all the power he could muster. Two double-plays in two consecutive innings meant that we were holding them to 3-1 marvellously in the lower 3rd and 4th, and in the upper 5th, Idema and Olivera gave us something to smile about with the pitcher clobbering a double and the centre-fielder with the bat-in. 3-2 Las Vegas now.

Guthrie replaced Idema in the lower 5th and dealt with the Blue Hawks pretty easily. Riffle opened the 7th with a base hit but found himself stranded, before Arevalo hit a single dinger to probably end any chance of a comeback we had… and if that didn’t work, Cortez whacked one too. Olivares once more opened up the 8th with another single, but Martinez, Winters and White were all absolutely useless.

Riffle shut the home fans up temporarily in the 9th after smashing a 360 FEET DINGER OUT LEFT, but I wasn’t in the mood to celebrate. The game ended 5-3, we’d been swept, our offense is appalling. It was going to be a long journey back to Michigan.

Prominent players: Butch Martinez (1-from-4, RBI, 2B), Ryan Riffle (2-from-4, R, RBI, HR), Alfredo Olivares (2-from-2, R, RBI, BB) // Ted Idema (4.0 IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 4BB, 2K / 1-from-2, R, 2B0


Winters. White. Webb. Magallanes. Osmond. There, listed for posterity, are the surnames of the 5 men that had 4 AB’s today and didn’t hit one. I expect much, much better from the first two in particular, and frankly Webb has more ability than that too. When the pitcher – the PITCHER – is hitting RBI-doubles and 5 men can’t hit a single worthwhile ball in 4 attempts, something is seriously wrong.

Thank Christ that the Albuquerque Destroyers were also swept. We should be able to beat a side playing 0.133 ball, right?