Transcontinental Baseball League (TBA)

[HumanRainDelay]

My condolences on your loss, but it looked about as close as it could get with going 4-3 with Renton in #5. Hopefully, you got good money on the quick sale of your surf boards before you head north.

Three cheers for Williamsport in making it as far as they did--even though I dislike how that city inaccurately portrays themselves as the home of the popular Little League World Series, when actually none of those games are played in Williamsport, but in the neighboring borough of South Williamsport. During the annual series in August, all the young players now even stay in South Williamsport at the complex's dorms.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by HumanRainDelay

My condolences on your loss, but it looked about as close as it could get with going 4-3 with Renton in #5. Hopefully, you got good money on the quick sale of your surf boards before you head north.

Three cheers for Williamsport in making it as far as they did--even though I dislike how that city inaccurately portrays themselves as the home of the popular Little League World Series, when actually none of those games are played in Williamsport, but in the neighboring borough of South Williamsport. During the annual series in August, all the young players now even stay in South Williamsport at the complex's dorms.

Interesting tidbit there, thanks for sharing! Surfboards traded in for some chaps and spurs - here we go!

[luckymann]

No point in hanging around, I have a new home to decide upon.

As I mentioned earlier, the five leagues with a Reputation of 3 are Maine, Montana, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Vermont.

The teams eligible for my consideration are:

• MEL: Bangor Lumber Barons (35-70, 32 GB)
• MTL: Butte Mountaineers (34-71, 31 GB)
• RIL: Pawtucket Slaters (31-74, 51 GB)
• SDL: Rapid City Monuments (44-61, 26 GB)
• VTL: Montpelier Green Mountain Boys (44-61, 16 GB)

I rule out the Green Mountain Boys immediately, as they made the National Championship in 1951.

If I were feeling super-masochistic then Pawtucket would be an ideal way to flagellate myself—they are an utter basket case. But I’m keen to keep moving onward and upward through these lower reaches as speedily as possible, so I’ll save that penance for another time.

The other three teams each have aspects that appeal to me.

Bangor has an absolute gun CF in Sam Glenn, with a decent offensive support crew around him. Their pitching is terrible, although they do have lights out prospect Chris Mazilli. All in all it’s a manageable roster, but the owner is Lucifer reincarnate. Pass, life’s too short for that shirt.

Rapid City has two fantastic SP but its bullpen is shambolic to say the least. It has an abundance of position players who would make good trade bait for some decent pitching. But it is an old group without a prospect to its name, a monument to short-term planning (you see what I did there?). Close, but no cheroot.

Butte is my choice. They’re very much the middle ground in this bunch. Halfway decent roster with a few good prospects, plenty of budget space and an owner who seems fair-minded. A genuine superstar in 1B Chris Macon. An up-and-coming ace in southpaw Jake Pargis and a good-looking SS prospect in Ben Pope, whom I think I tried to sign at Honolulu. Only 41 in the squad for some reason, so room to add players, with a payroll that is reasonable and not at all top-heavy, with the top earner getting just $34k.

The job is available. I apply for it and get taken on, signing a 3-year contract. My salary is a huge jump from the pittance Honolulu was paying me – a whopping $22k a season. Butte is renowned for its range of temperatures, from below freezing in winter to scorchio in summer. On those wages, I’ll be able to afford a place with both air-con and central heating, as well as all the sheepskins products known to man.

My first job is to ascertain just how much of a mess my predecessor left the place in. Before anything else, pending offers and arbitration need to be looked at and taken care of one way or another. In order to be able to make these sorts of calls, I need to familiarise myself with the players I have.

CATCHERS

• Dan Foote, 25 RHB: Dan is a typical “good glove, no bat” backstop. That said, he managed to hit .285 last season. In the squad as it is, he’s the starter at this position. He’s on league minimum, too.
• Justin Howell, 26 RHB: not much of anything, really, and at $17k per is a likely trade option.
• Jonathan Secor, 24 RHB: only marginally worse than Howell but on an MiLB salary so he’s better value.

INFIELDERS

• 1B Chris Macon, 25 LHB: like Malone at Honolulu, a player to build a club around. Won the MTL MVP Award in 1950 and had an even better season the one just past, with a .352 / .493 / .688 slash, 30 dingers and 87 RBI, an OPS+ of 183 and a league-leading 6.7 WAR. Earned $17k last year, arb estimate is 36k, an offer on the table for $30k. I’ll happily pay more to get him locked down.
• 1B Roberto Ardila, 22 RHB: #2 prospect yet to play a game in the MTL but who looks ready now. Problem being we have Macon, who isn’t a great defensive 1B and is an even worse OF. Still, I think that’s the only move available to me: Macon in LF, Ardila @ 1B. Of course that’s just my initial reaction. It certainly bears more investigation, given the holes in this squad and how many of them could be decently filled by trading Ardila.
• 2B Alan Ringenbach, 27 RHB: FA eligible which means the only chance of keeping him is via an expensive QA. Hits for OK contact (.301 BA last season), but has as much pop as a balloon in a vacuum. His defence is his greatest asset, but I just don’t think he’s worth the $$. Especially given the coverage we have in the middle infield, as you’ll soon see.
• 2B Travis Greenblatt, 30 RHB: couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat but scouting on him raves about how he gives it all he’s got. Which is laudable, but doesn’t score you many runs or win you many games. At 30, he’s trade bait.
• 3B Ted Calvert, 27 SHB: a solid, if unspectacular sort of utility infielder. Hit a buck 97 last season, so he’ll need to be better than that. On league minimum and plays 2B / 3B / SS solidly enough to make him a keeper.
• 3B Alvin Nelson, 36 LHB: would have been handy in his day, no doubt, but that day is gone or nearly so. At $18k he is an expendable luxury we can’t afford.
• 3B Jimmy Poland, 31 RHB: his biggest liability in my setup is that he only plays 3B. I am all about versatility. If he was a gun, maybe I would be able to look past his one-dimensionality. But he isn’t, so I can’t. Plus he’s on $17k. We can get better than him for that.
• 3B Felix Veraza, 25 RHB: see my comments about Poland. The only thing that makes Felix a potential keeper is that he’s on the min.
• SS Drake Brown, 24 RHB: OK contact hitter, little power, average defence. Will hang on to him for now and see how things pan out. He’ll likely start somewhere on Opening Day, just not sure where.
• SS Ted Grindstaff, 26 RHB: apparently a real gamer. Hit .308 in limited gametime last season, which earns him another go-around. Plays 1B as well.
• SS Taylor Macrae, 20 LHB: one of those no-prospects prospects who would have fit right in on the “Hitless Wonders”. On the Reserve Roster and will likely make a home there.
• SS Ben Pope, 21 RHB: the league’s #1 prospect, and with good reason. Yet to play a game but he will be in our lineup on OD. Most likely, but not 100% certainly, at SS. A gun on offence, more with gap than HR power, but will hit his share of dingers. Not elite defensively, but solid all the same.
• SS Ken Russell, 22 RHB: another OK player but only plays SS and for that will more than likely be moved on before too long.
• SS Juan Seda, 27 RHB: almost an identical player to Russell, with an almost identical fate.
• SS Travis Thompson: should develop into a solid enough ball player. More for next season than this.

OUTFIELDERS

• Tyler Franchi, 29 SHB: at this moment in time, our second-best position player. Expensive, though. He’s arb eligible and prices out just under $40k, making him our highest earner by a fair way. Mashed 27 last year and drove in 84, good enough for 3.4 WAR. A free swinger, he’s kind of an all-or-none bet with each AB. Dependable in LF, but would be poor in either CF or FR, thereby making the whole three-way with Macon and Ardila even tougher to solve.
• Phil Landoll, 38 SHB: will be one of the first players I shop around. Not because he’s terrible, but because he’s 38 and on $30k.
• Ryan Scott, 28 LHB: another 1B / LF but can also play RF fairly well, which might be the only thing that keeps him here.
• Tom Shellenberg, 33 LHB: his .253 / 14 HR 1952 was a bit of an outlier for him, a fact I might try to exploit before he goes back to creating more wind at the plate than a turbine farm.
• Kyle Grubb, 26 LHB: a definite keeper. Doesn’t hit for much average, but rattles them fences plenty. Will be our starting RF on Opening Day.
• Jonathan Stanford, 22 LHB: another keeper, will probably start him at CF and hopes he learns the pos more. Has been more of a corner man to this point. If we find a better option he’ll still be our OF4.
• Terry Ryan, 33 LHB: hasn’t been used much, getting just 87 PA in the two seasons he has been with the club. I’d keep him if he were 5 to 10 years younger, he’s not a bad player. But at almost 34 he’ll be shopped around at the earliest convenience.
• John Freshcorn, 28 RHB: plays all three OF spots well enough, and will probably start as our 5th outfielder.

So, yeah, we’ve got a surplus of middle infielders. Let’s hope they get us some pitching. Wait until you see this lot...

• STARTING PITCHERS

• Jake Hargis, 22 LHP: let’s start on a high. This guy is the real deal. Still probably a year or two away from full maturity, but he’ll be our ace.
• Chris Sienkiewicz, 26 RHP: did your ears just pop? Don’t be alarmed, that was just due to the vertiginous drop to the rest of our staff. Nominally our SP2, Chris is one of those 2 ½ pitch guys who always seem on the verge of disaster, and regularly encounter it. My goal is to have made him our SP5 by Opening Day.
• Brice Masterson, 26 RHP: was a grunt before he blew out his elbow and missed all of last season. Obviously, that R&R won’t have done him any favours. He’ll probably be kept on for warm-body duties but if I can replace him I will.
• Matt Battista, 32 RHP: Matt and his near-7 ERA will be pitching somewhere else in 1953.
• Joe Donovan, 25 RHP: I’m not sure why Joe did so poorly (2-3 / 7.87) last season. He looks like an OK pitcher and the word on him is that few players work harder. So he’ll get another run with us just to see what’s what.
• Jonathan Williamson, 21 RHP: one of our better prospects, and will prob work from the pen this season before hopefully coming on strong and moving into the rotation.
• Ray True, 26 RHP: reputation as clubhouse cancer reached my within hours of taking the job. So he’ll be gone ASAP. More like False, not True, in my books.

RELIEVERS

OK, so we have a bunch of these not worth the keystrokes of being listed individually. I’ll keep my comments to those worthy of them.

• Vince Goodall, 21 RHP: already our putative closer and still has a continent of improvement in him.
• Steve Reynolds, 22 RHP: a solid long-relief option who looks set to get as much work as his 81 innings last season, and perhaps more.
• Tom Lamb, 21 LHP: one of the few lefties on the staff, and far from a great one with an apparent allergy for the strike zone. If he can corral that and develop his changeup he’ll end up being handy enough.

Yup, that's it...

I don’t think I need to tell you this squad needs a fairly comprehensive rebuild. I’ll be back with an update once that’s been done, or at least begun. This could take a while.

[HumanRainDelay]

Go Butte go.

I won't flood your thread with Montana observations as it is a place I have always wanted to go, but never been. I concur in retaining Donovan though. Since Butte is alleged to have the highest percentage of residents of Irish descent in comparison to all US cities, having a Donovan and perhaps adding an O'Reilly or Shaughnessy would buy you instant street cred with the locals.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by HumanRainDelay

Go Butte go.

I won't flood your thread with Montana observations as it is a place I have always wanted to go, but never been. I concur in retaining Donovan though. Since Butte is alleged to have the highest percentage of residents of Irish descent in comparison to all US cities, having a Donovan and perhaps adding an O'Reilly or Shaughnessy would buy you instant street cred with the locals.

I plan to try and do a bit of research on each of the places I visit on this journey, but that I did not know - thanks for sharing.

[luckymann]

One final bit of housekeeping from my time with the Seahawks.

The following Honolulu players won award for their performances in 1952:

• Chris Blair: Gold Glove @ C; Platinum Stick @ C
• Marcus Strickland: Gold Glove @ 1B
• Fidel Vazquez: Gold Glove @ RF; Platinum Stick @ CF
• Art Zachry: Reliever of the Year
• Jason Edwards: Platinum Stick @ P; Pitcher of the Year
• Brian Malone: Platinum Stick @ 3B; Most Valuable Player
• Roland Taylor: Platinum Stick @ SS
• Aaron Mecham: Platinum Stick @ LF
• Dustin White: Platinum Stick @ CF

And for what it’s worth, the following Butte players did likewise:

• Dan Foote: Gold Glove @ C
• Chris Macon: Gold Glove @ 1B; Platinum Stick @ 1B; Most Valuable Player
• Tyler Franchi: Gold Glove @ LF

We had just one player who had an arb hearing: C Justin Howell. He was awarded $20k v his 1952 salary of $17k, making him even more tradeable.

[HumanRainDelay]

Originally Posted by luckymann

I plan to try and do a bit of research on each of the places I visit on this journey, but that I did not know - thanks for sharing.

Ok. Your write-ups are always detailed--I appreciate the amount of work you put into describing your leagues.

[luckymann]

Probably a good time to mention one of the little rules I have imposed in this exercise: I’m not allowed to instigate any trades with the team I ran immediately prior to my current one. I am allowed to pick up FAs that may have played there, and if the trade proposal comes from them I am permitted to engage. I just can’t start the ball rolling.

We don’t have a huge surplus of cash or budget room, so this first time around it is all about just getting things headed in the right direction both on and off the field. Our poor performance last season of course means we have a pretty sweet Draft position of #16, so we should pick up a gun and 2 or 3 handy enough types in early June. That should help, although perhaps not with the immediacy I seek.

Here’s a summary of the wheeling and dealing in which I participated over the offseason. I won’t go into too much depth, you’ll get to know the important ones as things progress.

TRADED AWAY

• P Ray True
• P Matt Battista
• 2B Travis Greenblatt
• 3B Alvin Nelson
• C Justin Howell
• SS Ken Russell
• P Kurt Larson
• LF Ryan Scott
• 1B Roberto Ardila
• SS Taylor MacRae
• P Jon Champagne
• P Jayden Jones
• P Roy Mackelprang

TRADED FOR

P Matt Skinner
Back end of the rotation type with a decent arsenal but far from overwhelming. Will be our #5 starter.

P Paul Webb
RH reliever who should develop into a decent enough LR / ESP over the next couple of years.

P Steve Miller
Career 32-18 / 3.34 lefty who will be our #2 starter.

P David Hague
Straight-up southpaw middle reliever.

P Mauricio Sotelo
A real workhorse who will be our ace until Jake fully develops.

P Jason Roberts
Top-notch RH reliever who’ll be our setup man.

P Scott Cutrer
Our best reliever by some margin, which makes him our stopper or closer or whatever you want to call it.

P Shawn Mason
Should turn out to be a fairly good SP4 for us.

P Dave Nolen
Warm body duties to cover the inevitable injuries.

P Chris Berrios
I’m calling him our “lefty of last resort”.

IF / OF Matthew Withers
Handy utility although far from defensively elite. Will start at 3B v RHP and RF v LHP

OF Matt Kendall
Plays all 3 OF slots plus 1B fairly decently. More a slappy hitter than I’d like and next to no power, which means he’s more a bench and backup than everyday player. Has hit over .300 his last two seasons in Nevada, so you never know.

2B Mike McCarthy
Lovely low-key guy who should hit .280 or thereabouts but again has no pop.

FREE AGENT BUYS

P Blake Palmer: 1-year / $20k
Lefty mid-long swing man who should see plenty of innings.

It’s an OK squad, not great but OK for this league. Decent speed but light bats so we’ll be adopting a smallball approach for the most part. Our big weakness is the mediocrity of the vast majority of the group, which makes us overdependent upon too few players.

As if the universe could hear my thoughts in this regard, Tyler Franchi falls down the stairs at home a month before the season starts, sustaining multiple injuries that will see him miss the first month of action or thereabouts. Fantastic. Oh well, at least we’ll get to see some of these other guys in action and hopefully get a bead on their gumption, guts and game-smarts.

I have suitably tempered expectations here. Lowball 40-45 wins / hoping for .500 ball / 55-60 would be a huge success.

The pros are thinking the same way, predicting us to go 54-51 with a team BA of .261 (3rd in the MTL), 105 (5th) and ERA of 4.25 (2nd). That would put us third and 13 games behind Billings. I’d take it. Gladly.

[luckymann]

We start the season with an Opening Day win, coming back from 4-2 down to win it 6-4 over Great Falls. We drop the next two but then string some good performances together, with Matt Winters going yard twice in a 5-4 win over Billings, the first of three straight one-run road wins over them in which we take the lead in the final inning and hang on. Another highlight comes in the final game of the next series at home to Missoula. Trailing 5-3 in the 9th with bases loaded and two out, Chris Macon walks it off with a slam to get us the 7-5 decision.

A couple days later Sotelo pitches a one-hitter in a tight 1-0 win over Helena, and we follow that up with a 12-2 win the next day in which Winters bashes his 5th dinger and 3 ribbies to take him to an MTL-leading 15. No surprise when he wins the PotW for his efforts.

While we only go 6-4 in our first 10, most aspects of our game seem to be working OK so far, early as it is. We still have Tyler Franchi a week away from returning, which will be good because Kyle Grubb is hitting a buck and change. Landoll is defying Father Time so far, hitting .421 to lead the league, but I’m expecting a fairly vicious regression to the mean at some point. He is a career .323 hitter, though, so it may not be as bad as I fear. Still, he is a defensive liability with the range of a battery-depleted Roomba and at 38 is better deployed off the bench, as he will be when Tyler returns. Starting pitchers Jake Hargis and Matt Skinner are two concerns, both having begun the season poorly. But like I said, it’s early days.

We go 7-3 over our next 10, the last of which sees Franchi celebrate his return with a 2-run dinger in a 7-5 win at home over Billings. Our 13-7 record to this point puts us a game behind Bozeman and 2 in front of third-placed Great Falls. We are hitting at a .274 clip and, while our rotation is still struggling for consistency, our bullpen has been solid and our 3.79 FIP leads the league.

We head toward the end of the month with the wind in our sails and all seems to be going swimmingly. But then, in the last two games of April, first Steve Miller and then Franchi again go down with injuries. Miller fortunately hasn’t suffered anything major and will miss only one start, with Paul Webb getting the call-up. Franchi’s looks more serious, and we await word from the medical staff with great eagerness and some trepidation.

As we enter May we are 19-9. Good news is we’ve pulled 5 games away from Great Falls. Bad news is Bozeman have pulled 3 games ahead of us. Still, a most satisfying first month of my Butte tenure.

[luckymann]

The month begins poorly. Bozeman beats us 3 straight times. We get Franchi’s diagnosis back; it’s not as bad as it could have been but he’ll still miss 5 weeks or so. John Freshcorn gets the call-up. We run hot and cold the next week, loss-win-loss-win-loss-loss-loss, with our pitching the main problem. Miller is back, but he is struggling along with the rest of them, as our starter ERA of nearly 5 attests to.

We lose 6 on the trot before finally busting out in a big way with a 15-2 win over Helena. Another win the next day looks to have come as a big cost with Withers, so good for us so far, succumbing to injury. With the danger of losing another key member of our lineup hanging over our heads, we have the Draft to attend to.

With the pool being relatively thin this time around, it’s all about our first pick, number 16 overall. I am convinced we need an infielder that is ready now but will get better. I narrow my selection down to Moti Linch and Jared Holmberg. Moti plays 3B better, which is where I think we need reinforcement, and has a little more pop. But Jared is better in every other aspect, and shows some promise as a two-way player. So I decide he’s our guy.

For the other 4 picks I just tell Assistant GM Tristan Burgess and Scouting Director Mark Buda to get us as good a pitcher still in the pool as they can in Round 2, then just whomever grabs their eye after that.

I am apparently the master of delegation all of a sudden.

They return from the Draft having procured Jared, along with a pretty solid southpaw pitching prospect in Cory Meisner, trade bait CF Nate Hale, and two other guys I doubt you’ll hear any more about from me other than in a trade missive.

Certainly none of these guys are going to turn us into a Championship team overnight, but Jared should be handy from the get-go and Cory will hopefully develop into a decent lower rotation starter or long reliever for us in a few years’ time.

We get an excellent 10-3 win over the leaders the following day, as Macon goes bananas with 4 hits including a dinger plus 4 ribbies, Matt Kendall goes 4-for-5 with 2 doubles, and Drake Brown knocks in 4 as well. We also get the relatively good news that Matt Withers will only miss a week or so with a strained oblique. I decide to play it safe and IL him, which also gives us a chance to check out newbie Jared. This is all capped off by Macon winning the Player of the Week Award.
We proceed to lose the next two games against Bozeman and then get the news that Tyler’s return has been delayed by close enough to a month. Rollercoaster much?

We settle ourselves with a sweep of Great Falls, with a 6-hit shutout by Steve Miller the highlight. Close second is Jared’s pitching debut, in which he gives us 5+ scoreless. Ben Pope’s steady progression is also encouraging.

With us not having made much – any – progress in this regard via the Draft, I decide to go find a couple top-notch lefty relievers via the trade route. The first one is easy, and helps us lighten our salary load in the process when we offload Phil Landoll and his $30k salary / age-40 bones to Bellevue for gun closer Greg Perkins. We also have to give up Felix Varaza, which is absolutely no biggie, but also Jonathan Williamson whom in a perfect world I would have kept in case we get a rash of rotation injuries. We also grab Bob Lynn from Grand Prairie in a deal that costs us 5 warm bodies of little consequence to anyone but their mothers but actually nets us $2500.

I’m enjoying working with the front office group we have in place so i decide to take this opportunity to lock them all down for another year. There are a couple of initial holdouts for more dough, but eventually they all locked down.

The new-look bullpen gets a proper workout the day after these acquisitions arrive, as they hold Billings scoreless over 5+ as we come back late from an 0-5 deficit and win it in 12 on a walkoff 2-run dinger by Macon, his 18th of the season. He continues to absolutely carve it up over the final week of the month, which sees us go 6-1 to make it 9 wins from 10 and put our record for May at 14-13, which is quite amazing given we started it by going 2-10.

No surprise when Chris Macon wins both the Weekly and Monthly player awards. He hit an even .400 during May with an astonishing 14 round-trippers while driving in 37 and scoring 34 himself. He’s not playing a lone hand by any means, with Withers providing superb support, as is Grubb. Our rotation is still a bit too inconsistent for my liking but the pen are more than compensating for that with a league-leading 2.55 ERA.

Most importantly, after Bozeman looked set to run away with the title this year, they suddenly hit the wall, with a couple of key injuries really upsetting their proverbial apple cart. While we were on a tear during the second half of the month, they were going in the opposite direction. Their 6-game losing streak at month end has allowed us to narrow the gap to just 2 games, with Billings hot on our tail another 2 behind and Great Falls a further 2 back from them.

Looks like we’re smack bang in the middle of a dogfight people!

[luckymann]

Unfortunately I'm going to have to shelve this little project for now, and perhaps forever.

A bunch of hinky things have started creeping into the game: Draft is broken, simming doesn't advance days, various other issues that have all but killed the enjoyment for me.

And the file size issue has already made this an unwieldy beast which obviously will only get worse at an exponential rate over oncoming seasons. I do believe I may have found the limits of OOTP's capacity for saves.

So I apologise to those who have invested their time following this til now (especially you, HumanRainDelay). It may return at some stage, but for now it is dead in the water.

Thanks

G

[Pelican]

Your narrative is awesome, reads like a good baseball novel. I really feel like I’m getting to know the players. Rooting for you. All those trades must be so exhausting. And you’re right. They have to gel. Whole greater than the parts. One thing though, you’ve obviously never been to Hawaii. It’s a true paradise, never cold and rarely hot. My first trip, I was astounded at that. Always pleasant, gentle breezes, never rains for long. Compact. Your players could live on the North Shore and drive to Honolulu. Should be a major selling point. One other thing, there is no “Middleton” in Delaware. We have a Milford (which once had a minor league team) and a Milton (home of Dogfish Head Brewing) and a Millville (too small to support a team). I would pick Milton.

[reflections]

Probably meant Middletown.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by reflections

Probably meant Middletown.

Yes I did, apologies to all those from The First State, and MiddletoWn in particular.

[care4ameatball]

This is pretty cool! Love the idea of every state having its own league.

[pauwoo]

Good stuff here - looking forward to your next project.

[luckymann]

I haven't given up on it entirely, I'm fiddling around with a few elements to see if I can fix the issues. Will take a while, though. Appreciate your support and patience.

In the meantime, I've just started the Paragon Baseball League - check it out to tide you over if you haven't already. I think it's a good one!

Link, as I'm sure you can see, is in my sig.

[luckymann]

I have checked and the Middleton entry was merely a typo on here, they are named correctly as the Middletown Peaches in-game.

I have been doing some work on this but it has become obvious the changes needed are ones which will take plenty of work. But I feel it unfair to leave this season hanging so I'm going to complete it before proceeding with opening the hood.

[luckymann]

Vince Goodall picked up a bit of a forearm niggle late in May and I decide not to risk further damage and IL him for a stint, calling up Paul Webb in his place.

We run our win streak to 7 entering a road series against Bozeman. That ends the first game we play, as they beat us 11-7 after Matt Skinner is shelled for 7 early. They knock us off again the next day by 3 to 1 and then finish us off with a 7-0 blanking to sweep the series and push back out to a 5 game lead.

Consider us put in our place, then. Right.

We lose another one, to Great Falls, and seem to have lost the power to score. A Macon walkoff homer in the next game gets us home and we’re hopeful of getting a lift from Franchi finally coming off the IL and rejoining the squad, quickly followed by Goodall.

Not that Tyler has all that much to do with it, but we do get our mojo back, tacking on 5 straight wins before dropping one to Missoula. Then another. And another. There’s no real issue standing out with our game, we just aren’t very consistent. Streaky, I believe, is the word best used to describe us. Lucky for us, Bozeman is in the middle of a funk the size of the Grand Canyon, losing 6 in a row and 9 from 10, and when we finally do get a win – 2-1 over Helena, we are just one behind them.

A 13-2 smashing of Helena two days later along with Bozeman’s 8th straight loss gets us into a tie for first as Macon stays hot, banging out his 25th dinger.

Our next series is a homestand against the co-leaders. In the first game they take an early 5-0 lead and chase Sotelo in the 5th, but then the pen keeps them quiet and we post a 6-spot in the 7th around a Grubb homer and get the tight win to move into outright top for the first time. The next game is almost the mirror image of its predecessor as we give up the lead late as Perkins blows his first save of the year and they take it 4-3. The decider is an anticlimax to say the least as we whiff 15 times and manage just 5 hits in an 8-2 blowout loss.

With all the focus on Bozeman, I have failed to notice both Great Falls and Billings are only 3 games behind us.

I feel we are one good starting pitcher short if we’re going to make an unexpected run on winning this thing. So I go a-shoppin’ and find the guy I’m after in Matt Smith. It takes Tyler Franchi and two guys on our RR to swing the deal, but swing the deal it does. Tyler’s run of injuries really seemed to knock him about and he’s not done much for us, so I have no problems letting him go for such a good cause. Matt Smith slots in at SP4 and Matt Skinner heads off to the pen. On offence, Jared Holmberg will now get much more gametime against both LHP and RHP.

Bozeman seem to rediscover their strut and try and kick away again. We drop two to Great Falls but bounce back with a big 16-5 win as Mike McCarthy knocks in 5.

At the end of this series I get a phone call from Danny Edgerton, GM at Sheridan over in Wyoming. He offers us a 1B I have no interest in for RF Jonathan Stanford and RR shortstop Travis Thompson. I have a look at their roster and really like the look of their catcher Johnny Hernandez. Even though it’s only a fart in the wind I counter with him as their side of the trade, and am astounded when he agrees. Dan Foote has been solid for us but this guy looks the real deal and the net cost is only $3k or so. Signed, sealed, delivered. Johnny is supposedly a switchie, but his stats paint him as more of a lefty, which works perfectly. Dan can start v LHP and whenever Johnny needs a rest.

Next up is Billings, who have just dropped off the pace a bit and will be super keen to arrest that slide with a good showing against us. We sneak past them in the first game 4-2 thanks mainly to a 2-run double in the 8th by Matt Kendall. Matt Smith makes his debut for us the next day and pitches a gem as we win 2-1, with both our runs coming on Johnny Hernandez’s first hit for the club. Bozeman lose to Helena and we’re back tied with them. The Mustangs bounce back to beat us 5-1 in the final game, but Bozeman drops another one as well.

Our final two games for the month are at Missoula. We come back from 4-0 down to take the opener 5-4. Macon homers twice to take his tally to 27 and Hernandez bumps out his first in the top 9th to get us the win. Bozeman drops a squeaker to Great Falls and once again we’re on top by ourselves. We guarantee this holds at month’s end with a strong 7-3 win as Hernandez makes me look good with 2 homers while Jared Holmberg bangs out his first. Bozeman loses again and we close June out with a 16-12 mark that leaves us 2 games to the good of the Trailblazers with 22 to play. Great Falls (4 GB) and Billings (5 GB) are still well and truly in it.

[luckymann]

The final month of the 1953 regular season begins with the last game of our series at Missoula, which we win 5-1 behind a strong effort by Jake Hargis that evens his record at 7 and 7. Drake Brown hits two dingers and Jake Holmberg one.

Roster expansion means we bolster our squad with catcher Jonathan Secor, 3B Jimmy Poland, outfielder Nate Hale and pitcher Blake Palmer. I’m happy with our group as is, so the Trade Deadline passes without activity.

Next up is a homestand against Helena. We take the first game 6-3 as Matt Withers goes yard twice, including a 3-run 8th inning number that proves the difference. We get out of jail the next night as the pen implodes to give up 4 runs in the 9th and we need to score 3 of our own just to send it into spares. Then we win it in the 10th on a Mike McCarthy single, his 4th hit of the game. Both a red-hot Matt Withers and Chris Macon mash a pair of taters. We’re not so lucky the following day when we lose 2-1 in 10 and Bozeman wins to cut our lead to 1. Billings, on a 7-game win streak, haven’t gone anywhere and are still just 4 back and ready to punce if we our Bozeman slip up.

Which makes our trip to Bozeman all that more critical. We make a real statement with an 11-3 mauling of them in the first game, as Withers cranks another round-tripper and Johnny Hernandez has one as well and knocks in 3. But we undo all our good work in the next game when we give up a 6-3 lead late and lose 7-6. We get our own back in the decider, however, with a 5-4 win in which we score all our runs in a high-octane 8th that sees Withers again rise to the occasion with a slam. We’re two up on the Trailblazers again and the Mustangs have fallen off the pace a bit after being swept at Missoula, now 6 GB.

We host the Electrics next, one of those series you should win, which makes them harder to or so it seems. We get the 8-4 W in game one but then put in a shocker the next day, managing just 2 hits in a 7-1 loss. Thankfully Bozeman also loses so we stay 2 ahead with our magic number down to 12. An 8-2 win the next night steadies the nerves a bit, especially as Bozeman drops their game with Billings. Chris Macon hits his 30th dinger.

12 to play, 3 ahead, # 10, as we head to Billings.

The series starts well with a 6-1 win as Shawn Mason is fantastic, three-hitting them over 8+ scoreless. A Trailblazers loss stretches our lead to 4 and drops our MN to 8. Our 16-8 win the next game is tougher than it looks as it was 8-8 heading into the 7th before we ran away with it. Matty Kendall has a feast with half a dozen ribs (sauce optional). They outgun us 8-4 to take the third, but again we are spared any damage in the standings as Bozeman loses as well.

9 to play, 4 up, # 6. Missoula is next but my mind seems to only want to focus on the final series of the season – yep, you guessed it: Bozeman – and that is a dangerous thing. I give myself an uppercut and snap back to the task at hand. The easiest way to do that is to remind myself how much more enjoyable that final series will be if we’ve already clinched. I do that, but give myself another uppercut—you can never be too sure of these things, especially with my stoopid brain.

In the first game, a win earlier in the day by Bozeman increases the pressure and our performance reflects that. We trail by 2 after 7 but post a run in both the 8th and 9th to send it into spares. The Bucks score a run in the top 11th, but we respond mightily, walking it off 8-7 on a Dan Foote single. Macon is superb yet again, knocking out 2 dingers including the 9th inning game-tier. The next night is a much more controlled and comfortable affair for us as Macon goes yard again and Matty Withers bangs out a pair as well in a 9-3 win that keeps us 4 ahead and gives Jake Hargis his 10th victory. We do it tough again in the final game with another walkoff win, with Withers delivering the clutch hit this time to get us home 4-3. A win by the same scoreline by Bozeman means our magic number is 3 with 6 to play.

Our penultimate series is away at Helena.

Macon seems to have found yet another level, one few players attain, as he single-handedly carries us in a tough 5-3 win in the opener. Two more homers take his total to 35, along with 105 ribbies and a league-leading .354 BA, and it comes as no surprise when he garners the PotW award. Bozeman loses to Missoula and all of a sudden our # is down to 1.

Despite my urging the lads to make sure of it with a win, we end up clinching via the back door when both ourselves and Bozeman drop our games the next day. Still, this has been an amazing feat coming from last to first and I couldn’t be prouder of the lads for the effort they have put in this season. They celebrate with an 11-0 cakewalk to round out the series as Steve Miller hurls a 9-hit shutout and Johnny Hernandez mashes two taters and drives in 6. What a pick-up he’s been for us down the stretch with 7 HR and 24 RBI in just 22 games. Makes me look pretty smart to boot, just how I like it.

And, if you were wondering, yes I sure do find that final series against Bozeman far more enjoyable with nothing riding on it. We get a 6-5 win in the opener, walk it off 3-2 on a Hernandez single in the middle game, and finish off the season in style with a 5-2 victory behind a strong outing by Sotelo.

Which makes the final standings look like we did it far more easily than was the case, finishing 9 games clear of both Bozeman and Billings with a 66-39 record. In an outstanding response to the pressure-cooker of a pennant race, the group went 17-5 in June.

Macon’s .351 average wins him his first batting title, while he finishes third in homers with 36 and second in ribsters with 106. He also leads the league with 97 runs, 77 walks, a 208 OPS+ and a 7.74 WPA, and his 8.0 WAR is a full 2 points clear of second. I see no chance of him not winning the MVP for a third time. But he was far from alone, as Matty Withers (.259 / 28 HR / 87 RBI) and Kyle Grubb (.258 / 25 HR / 62 RBI) were also instrumental in us getting the title, with many others playing their part. Our pitching was solid as a rock, with our starters laying the table and the rotation packing it away. Scott Cutrer deserves special mention for his 1.99 ERA over 68 innings, as well as 15 saves, which was the second-highest in the league.

So here we go – off to the Lincoln Cup and I reckon this bunch will give it a mighty shake.