Rebuilding A Champion II: Turning the Corner - Page 17

Chappy · 06-06-2005, 11:45 AM

Sim Twelve, 2012

7/21 - 3-1 loss @ New York - Skip Burns allowed 1 ER on 4 hits in 7 innings, but NY's Dennis Moreland held us in check. Northrup gave up the game-losing rin in the 8th to fall to 0-2 on the year. A Franklyn Thom sac fly led to our lone run.
7/22 - 7-2 WIN @ New York - Russell Hults allowed 2 ER on 6 hits in 6 innings, and Salguero and Rapier finished the game with 2 and 1 scoreless innings respectively. On offense, it was the Commons and Horizon show. Lane was 2-for-4 with a walk, a double, a homer (7), 2 runs scored and 3 RBI. Bick was 2-for-5 with a homer(24), 2 runs scored and 2 RBI. Tally added a 2-run double in the 4th inning.
7/23 - 7-6 WIN @ DC - Chris Curcio allowed 5 ER in 4 innings, but the offense bailed him out. Franklyn Thom was 2-for-4 with a homer (7) to lead the offense. Mark Hart pitched a scoreless 8th for the win and Joseph Melbourne pitched a scoreless 9th for his 12th save.
7/24 - 1-0 loss @ DC - Former Pen prospect Peter Iuvani blanked us for 7.2 innings, with the DC bullpen finishing off the shutout. Meanwhile, our top prospect, Micheal Wilmot (who was called up in place of Nietz) had a wonderful debut go to waste. He took the loss despite allowing just 1 unearned run on 3 hits in 8.1 innings, striking out 6. Thom was 3-for-4 in the losing effort.
7/25 - 2-1 WIN @ New York - Another top-notch performance by a former Pen prospect, as Charlie Clowers loses a nice duel to Lowell Stang, who picks up his 12th win of the year with 7.1 fine innings. Melbourne saved his 13th game. M-Rod was 3-for-4 and Franklyn Thom was 2-for-4 with both of our RBI.
7/26 - Off Day
7/27 - 3-2 WIN vs Tennessee - Russell Hults moves to 10-3 after allowing 1 ER in 6 innings of work. Melbourne allowed a run but escaped with his 14th save. William Chipman hit a pinch hit homer (2) for us, and pinch hitter Chris Trosclair drove in a run with a clutch single. Ant Pooler had our other RBI.
7/28 - 6-5 WIN vs Tennessee - Skip Burns allowed 4 ER despite allowing only 5 baserunner in 7 innings. He k'd 8 batters. Joseph Melbourne blew a save but left with a win. Bernard Lust and Lane Commons had 3 hits a piece to lead the offense. Commons scored the game winning run on a Pat Galyon sac fly in the bottom of the 9th.
7/29 - 5-3 loss vs Tennessee - Today Melbourne took the loss, after entering with the game knotted at 3. Curcio had allowed 3 ER in 7 innings of work. M-Rod led the offense with a 2-run homer (5), and Commons and Tally each had 2 hits.
7/30 - 7-1 WIN vs Virginia - Lowell Stang allows 1 ER on 4 hits in 7.1 innings, and we took advantage of 3 errors by Vir 3B Ernie Brandt to win big. In fact, our 4-run 4th inning rally was kicked off by back-to-back Brandt errors, on balls batted by Tally and Pooler. Ward, Commons and Horizon each drove in 2 runs in the game.

Standings

Code:

North 
 
Team            W  L  PCT   GB Streak Last10 
Maryland       66 36 .647    -   W4     8-2 
New York       62 41 .602  4.5   L1     8-2 
Pennsylvania   61 41 .598  5.0   W1     6-4 
Maine          48 56 .462 19.0   W2     4-6 
D.C.           40 62 .392 26.0   L2     3-7 
Massachusetts  38 65 .369 28.5   L1     4-6 
 
South 
 
Team            W  L  PCT   GB Streak Last10 
Louisiana      59 44 .573    -   W1     6-4 
North Carolina 58 45 .563  1.0   W1     6-4 
Virginia       57 45 .559  1.5   L5     3-7 
Mississippi    50 52 .490  8.5   W1     6-4 
Tennessee      44 58 .431 14.5   L1     4-6 
Florida        33 71 .317 26.5   L1     2-8

Well, we didn't sweep NY, and they were hotter than we were after we split our series. So, now we trail them by half a game. Maryland is pretty hot right now, as well. We've got to win a lot of our remaining games against those two. Nobody else is going to beat them for us.

Pitching

Code:

   Name          G GS  W L SV  ERA    IP  HA  R ER BB   K 
s1 L. Stang     24 24 13 3  0 2.17 170.0 134 44 41 17  80 
s2 R. Hults     20 20 10 3  0 1.88 129.0 104 30 27 32  59 
s3 S. Burns     22 22  8 6  0 2.97 151.1 104 51 50 39 140 
s4 C. Curcio    20 20  9 5  0 3.62 131.2 141 59 53 10  24 
s5 M. Wilmot     1  1  0 1  0 0.00   8.1   3  1  0  1   6 

mr J. Salguero  56  0  7 3  0 2.30  66.2  64 22 17 12  27 
mr M. Welch     27  0  5 3  1 2.38  34.0  24  9  9  4  12 
mr M. Hart      37  0  1 1  5 4.05  33.1  36 17 15 14  12 
su B. Rapier    47  0  1 3 11 3.35  48.1  44 18 18 15  21 
su T. Northrup  36  1  0 2  1 3.97  34.0  29 16 15  8  11 
cl J. Melboure  23  0  2 3 14 3.38  21.1  20  8  8 12  10

Rookie Michael Wilmot impressed, but it's just one start. He actually took a control hit last sim, but he still has an 8 versus righties and 7 overall. Let's hope the pitching can keep up the good work...

Batting

Code:

     Name           G  AB   H 2B 3B HR RBI  R BB  K  AVG  OBP  SLG 
1 LF B. Ward       99 355  97  9  1  2  27 41 51 45 .273 .370 .321 
2 RF B. Lust      100 369 115 18  3  5  29 46 29 35 .312 .369 .417 
3 2B L. Commons    71 253  74 19  1  7  39 41 32 10 .292 .377 .458 
4 1B B. Horizon   101 374 105 17  0 24  71 50 27  9 .281 .324 .519 
5 CF F. Thom       91 339  99 16  3  7  37 39 20 28 .292 .335 .419 
6 3B M. Rodriguez 100 354  95 15  1  5  28 49 34  5 .268 .332 .359 
7 SS M. Talamantez 97 313  71 11  0  9  38 29 26 32 .227 .287 .348 
8  C A. Pooler     82 274  70 11  0  1  30 20 11 35 .255 .284 .307 

     B. Handel     55  76  23  6  0  0   6 18  3  9 .303 .325 .382 
     C. Trosclair  75 108  27  3  0  4  17 16 13 12 .250 .344 .389 
     A. Slaughter  26  60  15  1  0  0   2  3  1 13 .250 .262 .267 
     P. Galyon     40  49  12  0  0  5  13  8  2  8 .245 .296 .551 
     A. Silvia     60  99  23  6  0  1  10  6  8  7 .232 .287 .323 
     W. Chipman    47  86  18  3  0  2   5 16  2 10 .209 .227 .314

I don't know if 'regret' is the right word... but I do know that I really miss Claus' power. Nothing against Lane Commons, who I still feel is a playmaker and a difference maker unlike anyone else in our organization, but I need more homers. Oh well, not really much I can do about that now.

Speaking of Commons, he'll soon lead our team in runs scored; an impressive feat considering he trail most starters by 100 at bats.

Rankings
Batting AVG: .252 (8th)
Homeruns: 86 (13th)
Walks: 289 (8th)
Stolen Bases: 35 (20th)
Runs Scored: 402 (13th)

Pitching ERA: 2.94 (3rd)
Opponents AVG: .231 (6th)
HRs Allowed: 63 (3rd)
Walks Allowed: 203 (3rd)
Runs Allowed: 334 (3rd)

Still strong in pitching, and better than ever in batting.

Upcoming Games

Code:

Date       Opponent                  Probable Starter      Season Series
7/31 vs Virginia Cannons        Michael Wilmot (0-1, 0.00) Pen leads 5-2
8/1  vs Virginia Cannons        Russell Hults (10-3, 1.88)
8/2         Off Day 
8/3   @ Florida Bluefish        Skip Burns     (8-6, 2.97) Pen leads 4-2
8/4   @ Florida Bluefish        Lowell Stang  (13-3, 2.17)
8/5   @ Florida Bluefish        Chris Curcio   (9-5, 3.62)
8/6  vs North Carolina Clippers Russell Hults (10-3, 1.88) Pen leads 4-2  
8/7  vs North Carolina Clippers Michael Wilmot (0-1, 0.00)
8/8  vs North Carolina Clippers Skip Burns     (8-6, 2.97)
8/9  vs Louisiana Blaze         Lowell Stang  (13-3, 2.17) Pen leads 5-4
8/10 vs Louisiana Blaze         Chris Curcio   (9-5, 3.62)

I've played well against these guys, so lets hope for a good sim... Go Freedom!

Chappy · 06-06-2005, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaxmagicman

A reason not to is because Rodriquez gets on base a lot more and with the hits doubles, triples and homeruns Thom shows that means that Thom will drive in less runs because you already have Horizon cleaning up quite nicely.

I see your logic, but with Thom in the 5 spot, he's only seperated from my 3 .370 OBP batters by one guy - Horizon. I don't know if it's worth it to put him behind M-Rod for that reason. After all, Thom's hits are worth more than M-Rod's walks if there are runners on base.

Chappy · 06-06-2005, 02:14 PM

Franklyn Thom Returning to Form?

After a pair of disappointing seasons, Franklyn Thom is putting up his best numbers since his rookie year. His OPS is nearly 50 points above his career mark. Here is a look at the 2005 2nd round pick's career numbers:

Code:

Year      TEAM           G   AB   H  2B 3B HR RBI   R BB HP SF   K SB CS  AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS
2005  Valley Forge (A) 134  542 145  13  4 12  52  65 25  -  - 160  9 16 .268 .292 .373 .664
2006  Valley Forge (A) 130  544 178  23  3 10  64  57 29  -  - 129 13 14 .327 .357 .436 .793
2006  Reading     (AA)   6   22   4   2  0  0   1   2  0  -  -   5  0  0 .182 .182 .273 .455
2007  Valley Forge (A)  46  180  53  12  0  3  10  21 15  -  -  35  2  3 .294 .345 .411 .756
2007  Reading     (AA)  91  366 109  26  1  4  34  29 22  -  -  71  7  8 .298 .334 .407 .741
2008  Allentown  (AAA) 137  514 146  23  3  8  52  56 21  -  - 111 13 13 .284 .309 .387 .696
2008  Pennsylvania       8   27   6   1  1  0   3   2  0  0  0  10  1  0 .222 .222 .333 .556
2009  Allentown  (AAA)   9   31   8   1  1  1   5   8  5  -  -   6  2  1 .258 .342 .452 .794
2009  Pennsylvania     123  385 126  24  4  8  47  56 11  0  0  39  2  5 .327 .346 .473 .819
2010  Pennsylvania     147  533 128  34  0  8  58  62 29  7  2  57  3  7 .240 .287 .349 .636
2011  Pennsylvania     154  538 132  35  1 16  64  72 20  6  1  66  4  1 .245 .280 .403 .683
2012  Pennsylvania      91  339  99  16  3  7  37  39 20  3  2  28  3  6 .292 .335 .419 .754
Total                  523 1822 491 110  9 39 209 231 80 16  5 200 13 19 .269 .305 .404 .709

Hopefully, with Thom up in the #5 spot, he'll be able to increase his RBI totals. We need all the help we can get, and although he's no home-run hitter, his 35 doubles ranked 8th in the league last season.

HolyCow98 · 06-07-2005, 01:01 AM

Looking at the schedule....I have a feeling if you do well next sim...by the end of the month...you're going to pass New York.

Next sim you play teams you have winning records against. The sim after that...you have a 4 game set against New York. The sim after that...New York has a 3 game series at Maryland (me) which so far I'm 6-3 against them. I can pretty much guarantee my rotation is going to be set so Yim will start that first game...at full strength...and the rest of rotation will fall in line with full rest
The Barons could still beat us both, I suppose, but as banged up as they are right now I think they are going to have a hard time. Now if I could figure out how to beat Maine I'd be happy.

Chappy · 06-08-2005, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HolyCow98

Looking at the schedule....I have a feeling if you do well next sim...by the end of the month...you're going to pass New York.

Next sim you play teams you have winning records against. The sim after that...you have a 4 game set against New York. The sim after that...New York has a 3 game series at Maryland (me) which so far I'm 6-3 against them. I can pretty much guarantee my rotation is going to be set so Yim will start that first game...at full strength...and the rest of rotation will fall in line with full rest
The Barons could still beat us both, I suppose, but as banged up as they are right now I think they are going to have a hard time. Now if I could figure out how to beat Maine I'd be happy.

As you'll see in the following post, I'm about to miss an excellent chance to overtake the Barons.

Chappy · 06-08-2005, 11:11 AM

Sim Thirteen, 2012

7/31 - 5-4 WIN vs Virginina - Michael Wilmot made his second career start, and allowed 10 hits in 5.1 innings. But the bullpen was solid, and fellow rookie Joseph Melbourne wound up with the win. Lust, Commons, Tally and Pooler each had 2 hits for us. Pinch hitter Pat Galyon led off the bottom of the ninth (game tied at 4) with a double. Brett Ward sac'd pinch runner Mikey Welch over to 3rd, and after Lust grounded out, Lane Commons singled Welch home for the win.
8/1 - 4-1 loss vs Virginia - Russell Hults allowed 4 ER on 9 hits in 7.1 innings. Not much happened offensively. Brenton Handel was 2-for-4 with a steal in a rare start.
8/2 - Off Day
8/3 - 5-0 WIN @ Florida - Superman Skip Burns allowed 0 ER on 4 hits in 6 innings to pick up his 9th win. Franklyn Thom was 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored, and M-Rod, Tally and Pooler each drove in a run for us.
8/4 - 2-0 WIN @ Florida - Lowell Stang allowed just 3 hits in 7.2 innings, and Melbourne earned his 15th save with a perfect 9th inning. Bick Horizon was 2-for-5 with a double, a homer (25) and 2 RBI.
8/5 - 2-1 loss @ Florida - Commons was 1-for-3 with a steal, a walk and a run, and Bick drove him in with an RBI single. Chris Curcio allowed 1 unearned run in 7.1 innings. Joseph Melbourne took the loss, despite allowing only 1 unearned run.
8/6 - 6-3 loss vs North Carolina - Lane Commons hit a pair of doubles, but the rest of the offense took the night off. As did the defense. Russell Hults allowed 3 runs (1 earned) in 6.2 innings to fall to 10-5 on the season.
8/7 - 7-3 loss vs North Carolina - Michael Wilmot falied to pick up a win in his 3rd try, allowing 5 ER on 8 hits in 6 innings. Commons scored a pair of runs for us, and M-Rod hit a 2-run homer (6) to lead the offense. Horizon was 2-for-4 with an RBI double.
8/8 - 5-4 loss vs North Carolina - Skip Burns lasted just 3 innings, allowing 5 ER on 3 hits and 4 walks. Ward broke out of a month-long slump with 3 hits and Lane Commons drove in 3 to lead the offense.
8/9 - 10-1 loss vs Louisiana - Our losing streak reaches 5 in an ugly manner. Lowell Stang gets roughed up for 4 runs (3 ER) in 6.1 innings, and Joel Saluero allows 5 (3 ER) without recording an out. I cannot stress how poorly our defense has played during this losing streak. Lane Commons was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, but nobody could get him around the bases.
8/10 - 3-1 loss vs Louisiana - Chris Curcio allowed 3 ER on 6 hits in 6 innings. We made 2 more errors today. Commons was 2-for-3 with a walk but didn't score again. Horizon? Thom? M-Rod? Where are you guys? Manny Talamantez scored our only run on a solo homer (10).

Standings

Code:

North 
 
Team            W  L  PCT   GB ST L10 
Maryland       72 39 .649    - W4 7-3 
New York       64 48 .571  8.5 W2 2-8 
Pennsylvania   64 48 .571  8.5 L6 3-7
Maine          56 58 .491 17.5 W1 8-2 
D.C.           45 67 .402 27.5 L2 5-5 
Massachusetts  42 70 .375 30.5 L1 4-6 
 
South 
 
Team            W  L  PCT   GB ST L10 
North Carolina 65 47 .580    - W5 8-2 
Virginia       65 47 .580    - W2 8-2 
Louisiana      62 51 .549  3.5 W2 3-7 
Mississippi    55 56 .495  9.5 L3 6-4 
Tennessee      49 63 .438 16.0 L1 5-5 
Florida        34 79 .301 31.5 L4 1-9

Thank goodness that sim ended. We need to regroup. It seems like every time we play a bunch of southern division teams, we quit hitting. Granted, NC, Lou and Mis have insanely good pitching staffs. But we should have scored more runs vs Florida and even first-place Virginia. We missed an excellent opportunity to build a lead on NY.

Pitching

Code:

   Name          G GS  W L SV  ERA    IP  HA  R ER BB   K 
s1 L. Stang     26 26 14 4  0 2.15 184.0 144 48 44 21  87 
s2 R. Hults     22 22 10 5  0 2.01 143.0 118 37 32 35  65 
s3 S. Burns     24 24  9 7  0 3.09 160.1 111 56 55 44 146 
s4 C. Curcio    22 22  9 6  0 3.47 145.1 153 63 56 12  28 
ss M. Wilmot     3  3  0 2  0 4.12  19.2  21 10  9  1  13 

mr J. Salguero  61  0  7 3  0 2.93  70.2  75 30 23 15  28 
mr M. Welch     29  0  5 3  1 2.19  37.0  26  9  9  4  13 
mr M. Hart      40  0  1 1  5 3.58  37.2  41 17 15 15  13 
su B. Rapier    55  0  1 3 11 3.23  55.2  52 20 20 16  25 
su T. Northrup  40  1  0 2  1 3.62  37.1  31 16 15  9  13 
cl J. Melboure  29  0  3 4 15 3.08  26.1  23 10  9 12  12

I've tried Moreno, Nietz and Wilmot in the 5th spot, and none of them have really satisfied me. So, I'm going to go with a 4-man rotation and keep Wilmot on as a spot starter... I don't really use 4-man rotations very much, but I know other teams have had success with them, so I'll give it a go.

Batting

Code:

     Name            G  AB   H 2B 3B HR RBI  R BB  K  AVG  OBP  SLG 
1 2B L. Commons     81 285  87 24  1  7  43 46 39 10 .305 .393 .470 
2 LF B. Ward       109 393 105 10  1  2  27 44 54 49 .267 .360 .313 
3 RF B. Lust       110 403 120 18  3  5  29 47 32 41 .298 .357 .395 
4 1B B. Horizon    111 411 114 19  0 25  76 53 28  9 .277 .318 .506 
5 CF F. Thom       101 371 107 18  3  7  38 42 22 33 .288 .331 .410 
6 3B M. Rodriguez  109 386 101 17  1  6  32 52 36  5 .262 .324 .358 
7  C A. Pooler      91 300  75 14  0  1  35 20 13 41 .250 .281 .307 
8 SS M. Talamantez 107 344  77 12  0 10  40 31 29 37 .224 .286 .346 

     B. Handel      59  83  25  6  0  0   6 19  3  9 .301 .322 .373 
     P. Galyon      42  53  14  2  0  5  13  8  2  8 .264 .310 .585 
     A. Slaughter   32  70  18  2  0  0   3  4  2 16 .257 .288 .286 
     C. Trosclair   82 117  30  3  0  4  18 16 13 13 .256 .343 .385 
     A. Silvia      65 106  26  6  0  1  10  7  8  7 .245 .296 .330 
     W. Chipman     51  93  19  3  0  2   5 17  2 10 .204 .221 .301

I'm moving Commons into the lead-off spot to spark the offense. Hopefully, Ward can get it together. He was hitting .300 not that long ago. Lust hasn't been particularly hot, either. I've also switched Pooler and Tally, if for no other reason than because its different. We need to get this thing going.

Rankings

Batting AVG: .250 (9th)
Homeruns: 89 (13th)
Walks: 313 (10th)
Stolen Bases: 41 (20th)
Runs Scored: 428 (14th)

Pitching ERA: 2.99 (4th)
Opponents AVG: .234 (6th)
HRs Allowed: 67 (3rd)
Walks Allowed: 223 (3rd)
Runs Allowed: 375 (4th)

Upcoming Games

Code:

Date       Opponent             Probable Starter      Season Series
8/11 vs Louisiana Blaze    Russell Hults (10-5, 2.01) Lou leads 6-5
8/12        Off Day
8/13 vs Mississippi Ravens Skip Burns     (9-7, 3.09) Pen leads 6-3
8/14 vs Mississippi Ravens Lowell Stang  (14-4, 2.15)
8/15 vs Mississippi Ravens Chris Curcio   (9-6, 3.47)
8/16  @ New York Barons    Russell Hults (10-5, 2.01)  NY leads 6-5
8/17  @ New York Barons    Skip Burns     (9-7, 3.09)
8/18  @ New York Barons    Lowell Stang  (14-4, 2.15)
8/19  @ New York Barons    Chris Curcio   (9-6, 3.47)
8/20 vs Maryland Admirals  Russell Hults (10-5, 2.01) Mry leads 5-4

Crucial sim alert. We must win 5 games this sim. At this point, I'll take a split with NY. The Blaze showdown will be tough. We'll need to win to avoid being swept. Mississippi is a game below .500, but they just picked up 3 All-Stars in a deal with Utah on the eve of the trade deadline, so they'll be tough as well. Then four games with the Barons. We're both struggling now, so this could be a pivotal series. The we have the first game of a 3-game series with Maryland, who has the best winning % in the entire NPBL. Whew... This will be tough...

Now that I look at the schedule, the 8/12 open date is our last day off until September 2nd. Maybe this is a bad time to try the 4-man rotation... Any thoughts?

Stang and Hults have 7 in endurance. Burns has a 10, and Curcio a 9...

Chappy · 06-08-2005, 12:47 PM

Heh, I just realized that Joseph Melbourne's name is really Joseph Melboure. All these years I've been wrong!

It's kind of funny. Maybe I just assumed it was Melbourne because he's from Austrailia.

HolyCow98 · 06-08-2005, 03:42 PM

Ouch...that hurt...but maybe its better to get a bad sim out of your teams system than. Here comes the really important sim.

If it was me...I'd wait a sim before going to the 4-man. I'd probably keep it at start highest rested starter. You're not in catch up mode yet...right now you need the right guys..the right match ups. Hopefully you can get Stang, Holtz and Burns in that matchup with New York. I wouldn't panic yet. The Barons are the team who of late has had a trend for bad sims. This was the first sim that I can remember where the Freedom had what I would consider a poor sim.

I remember the year I went to a 4-man...Yim was great and won 30 games...and I think I had one other guy pitch well....but the other two guys crumbled on me and it was my worst season in the NPBL (83-79). On the other hand...your pitching staff is a lot better than my 2007 was even with a 30 game winning Yim.

Dougiestyle · 06-09-2005, 02:33 AM

Just wondering, but for some reason I forgot (and don't have the endurance to re-read the entire thread), has this team made the playoffs at all?

HolyCow98 · 06-09-2005, 04:52 AM

Yep....

They were a wild card in 2010 and won the first NPBL title in 2000 (hence the name of the thread.."Rebuilding a Champion).

Here is their year-to-year:

http://www.npblbaseball.net/npbl/cat...pen/index.html

Chappy · 06-09-2005, 12:22 PM

Yeah, we were stuck in a division with 4 90-game winners last year so we missed the playoffs, even though we won 3 more games than we did in '10 when we were the wild-card winner.

Chappy · 06-09-2005, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HolyCow98

If it was me...I'd wait a sim before going to the 4-man. I'd probably keep it at start highest rested starter. You're not in catch up mode yet...right now you need the right guys..the right match ups.

Yeah, I think if Stang had a 10 in endurance I'd try it, but I might be better off with a rested Michael Wilmot than a tired Lowell Stang; especially if I have a rested Stang pitching the following day...

jaxmagicman · 06-10-2005, 10:24 AM

I am ready for the playoffs, bought my tickets already!

Chappy · 06-10-2005, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaxmagicman

I am ready for the playoffs, bought my tickets already!

Uh oh... Um, no refunds...
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sim Fourteen, 2012

8/11 - 5-0 WIN vs Louisiana - Russell Hults allowed just 1 hit in 7 innings, and Mikey Welch pitched a hitless 8th and 9th to complete the one-hitter. Ward, Thom and Pooler each had a pair of hitts for the Freedom, who were resting both Horizon and Commons.
8/12 - Off Day
8/13 - 9-1 WIN vs Mississippi - Skip Burns allowed 1 run on 2 hits in 7 innings, and Lane Commons was 2-for-5 with a run scored. We managed 9 runs on 4 walks and 10 singles.
8/14 - 4-3 loss vs Mississippi - The Ravens came back from a 3-2 deficit with runs off of Rapier and Melboure in the 8th innings. Commons, Pooler and Handel each had 2 hits for the Freedom.
8/15 - 4-0 loss vs Mississippi - Chris Curcio lost, despite allowing just 3 ER in a complete game effort. Commons was 2-fo-4 with a 2B and a steal, but we only had one other hit in the game off of Ryan Turner.
8/16 - 8-0 loss @ New York - Hults was roughed up by the Barons, allowing 5 ER in 4.1 innings. Ward and Tally each had 2 hits for us, but we were unable to score.
8/17 - 6-5 loss @ New York - This one hurts. We led 5-2 in the bottom of the 9th, when Joseph Melboure came in. He allowed 4 ER on 2 hits and 2 walks, giving up a game winning walk off grand slam with two outs to Alex Cabezas. One out away from a win, and we give up the game. Grrrrr.
8/18 - 4-1 loss @ New York - M-Rod and Tally accounted for 4 of our 6 hits, and Skip Burns allowed 4 ER in 8 innings of work...
8/19 - 5-2 loss @ New York - New York completes a crucial sweep, as they score 5 runs off of Lowell Stang before he can record 2 outs. Horizon hit his 26th home run - our first homer of the sim.
8/20 - 3-2 loss vs Maryland - James Yim shut us down for 7, and we fell short after rallying against the Maryland bullpen. Chris Curcio allowed 3 ER on 8 hits in 8 innings. Horizon was 1-for-4 with a 2-run homer (27).

Standings

Code:

North
Team		W	L	PCT	GB	Streak	Last10
Maryland	78	43	.645	-	W5	6-4
New York	72	50	.590	6.5	L1	8-2
Pennsylvania	66	55	.545	12.0	L7	2-8
Maine		58	65	.472	21.0	W1	3-7
D.C.		51	70	.421	27.0	W3	6-4
Massachusetts	46	76	.377	32.5	L3	4-6
South
Team		W	L	PCT	GB	Streak	Last10
Virginia	70	51	.579	-	W1	6-4
North Carolina	70	52	.574	.5	L3	5-5
Louisiana	67	55	.549	3.5	L1	6-4
Mississippi	61	60	.504	9.0	W3	6-4
Tennessee	55	66	.455	15.0	W2	6-4
Florida		36	87	.293	35.0	L2	2-8

Could our disasterous 14th sim be the one that cost us a playoff birth? We played poorly, but could have come away with 4 wins instead of just 2 had Joseph Melboure not collapsed twice. Still, I'm not going to panic or anything just yet. Our remaining schedule gives us a slight edge over the Barons. And, we have a full 6 weeks to make up 5.5 games, so it's not like it is the end of the world. But this definitely isn't the situation I'd hope I'd be in right now... We are 4-14 in the month of August.

Pitching

Code:

   Name         G GS  W L SV  ERA    IP  HA  R ER BB   K 
s1 L. Stang    28 28 14 5  0 2.30 191.1 157 55 49 23  89 
s2 S. Burns    26 26 10 8  0 3.08 175.1 120 61 60 49 162 
s3 R. Hults    24 24 11 6  0 2.16 154.1 126 42 37 38  72 
s4 C. Curcio   24 24  9 8  0 3.44 162.1 168 70 62 12  29 
s5 M. Wilmot    4  4  0 2  0 3.51  25.2  27 11 10  3  15 

mr J. Melboure 31  0  3 6 15 4.40  28.2  26 15 14 15  13 
mr M. Welch    31  0  5 3  1 1.93  42.0  27  9  9  4  16 
mr M. Hart     43  0  1 1  5 3.19  42.1  43 17 15 15  15 
su J. Salguero 64  0  7 3  0 2.99  75.1  79 34 25 16  31 
su T. Northrup 41  1  0 2  1 3.58  37.2  31 16 15  9  13 
cl B. Rapier   59  0  1 3 11 3.17  59.2  56 21 21 16  26

With 4 blown saves in the last 2 sims, I can't keep Melboure in the closer role. I'll give Rapier another chance, and let Melboure pitch in middle relief. In the end, I decided to stay with my 5-man rotation. Wilmot allowed 1 ER in 6 innings in his lone start, so it looks like it was the right decision.

Batting

Code:

     Name            G  AB   H 2B 3B HR RBI  R BB  K  AVG  OBP  SLG 
1 LF B. Ward       118 426 116 11  2  2  30 48 55 53 .272 .360 .322 
2 RF B. Lust       119 437 124 18  3  5  32 49 33 45 .284 .341 .373 
3 2B L. Commons     89 317  98 26  1  7  45 51 42 11 .309 .394 .464 
4 1B B. Horizon    119 439 119 20  0 27  83 57 31 11 .271 .314 .501 
5 CF F. Thom       110 401 114 19  3  7  41 43 22 39 .284 .323 .399 
6 3B C. Trosclair   89 126  31  3  0  4  18 17 13 14 .246 .333 .365 
7 SS M. Talamantez 116 370  82 12  0 10  41 35 33 40 .222 .287 .335 
8  C A. Pooler      98 325  84 15  0  1  36 22 14 47 .258 .289 .314 

     B. Handel      60  86  27  6  0  0   7 19  3  9 .314 .333 .384 
     M. Rodriguez  118 417 110 19  1  6  33 54 37  5 .264 .323 .357 
     P. Galyon      45  59  15  3  0  5  14  8  2 10 .254 .297 .559 
     A. Silvia      70 113  28  7  0  1  11  9  8  7 .248 .293 .336 
     A. Slaughter   36  78  18  2  0  0   3  4  2 19 .231 .259 .256 
     W. Chipman     56  99  20  4  0  2   6 17  2 10 .202 .218 .303

In our most drastic lineup change since the season began, Chris Trosclair has stolen the 3B job from M-Rod (but only vs righties). Frankly, we could use the power, and Trosclair is also a slight defensive upgrade. I really need somebody to start hitting... Anybody, really.

Rankings
Batting AVG: .249 (9th)
Homeruns: 91 (16th)
Walks: 327 (10th)
Stolen Bases: 49 (20th)
Runs Scored: 455 (17th)

Pitching ERA: 3.02 (4th)
Opponents AVG: .234 (6th)
HRs Allowed: 78 (3rd)
Walks Allowed: 239 (3rd)
Runs Allowed: 410 (4th)

I'd love to finish the season with a .250 average. Our team record is .253 from our championship season in '00, and our second best team average is .241 from 2009.

Upcoming Games

Code:

Date          Opponent               Probable Starter      Season Series
8/21 vs Maryland Admirals      Russell Hults  (11-6, 2.16) Mry leads 6-4
8/22 vs Maryland Admirals      Michael Wilmot  (0-2, 3.51)
8/23 vs Massachusetts Patriots Skip Burns     (10-8, 3.08) Pen leads 6-3
8/24 vs Massachusetts Patriots Lowell Stang   (14-5, 2.30)
8/25 vs Massachusetts Patriots Chris Curcio    (9-8, 3.44)
8/26 vs DC Senators            Russell Hults  (11-6, 2.16) Pen leads 8-3
8/27 vs DC Senators            Michael Wilmot  (0-2, 3.51)
8/28 vs DC Senators            Skip Burns     (10-8, 3.08)
8/29 vs DC Senators            Lowell Stang   (14-5, 2.30) 
8/30  @ Virginia Cannons       Chris Curcio    (9-8, 3.44) Pen leads 6-3
8/31  @ Virginia Cannons       Russell Hults  (11-6, 2.16)

Maryland and New York will go head-to-head for 3 games, so it would be nice if the Admirals could beat the Barons for us. After all, we won't be able to catch the Admirals. But, first we must try to beat them, as we have a chance to even our season series with them up at 6-6. Massachusetts and DC are both rebuilding, so hopefully we can take at least 2 out of 3 in each of those series. The Cannons are good, but we've played well against them this season. If we keep it up, we ought to be able to make up 1-3 games on the Barons this sim. I'd settle for that.

Actually, after last sim, I'd settle for not falling back any more...

Chappy · 06-10-2005, 12:09 PM

Code:

Pennsylvania 
            Rec
9 vs mas - 46-76 
7 vs dc  - 51-70
5 vs mry - 78-43
3 vs vir - 70-51
3 vs ten - 55-66
3 vs nc  - 70-52
3 vs fla - 36-87
3 vs ny  - 72-50
2 vs mai - 58-65

New York
            Rec
9 vs mry - 78-43
6 vs mai - 58-65
5 vs dc  - 51-70
3 vs mis - 61-60
3 vs lou - 67-55
3 vs ten - 55-66
3 vs vir - 70-51
3 vs pen - 66-55
2 vs mas - 46-76

Here's a look at the remaining games for us and the Barons. If you do the math, you'll see that when weighted by number of games, New York's remaining opponents have a winning percentage of .523, while ours have a winning % of .473. They have 37 games left while we have 38. Nearly 25% of their remaining games are against Maryland.

Still, we can't count on NY losing. We need to count on us winning...

jaxmagicman · 06-10-2005, 03:12 PM

Damnit and you said no refunds. Maybe, this time, you can get Lust to take me out to lunch.

HolyCow98 · 06-10-2005, 06:27 PM

Damn....now I really feel the pressure.....I figure I need to go atleast 7-2 against the Barons to have any effect.

John P. Yuda · 06-11-2005, 01:54 AM

I've got two against NY at the beginning of the sim, and my guys have been playing well of late -- we just hung 11 runs on their pitching staff at the end of last sim. A split isn't out of the question...

HolyCow98 · 06-11-2005, 03:03 AM

Here is a little comparison of Penn-NY-and Maryland....

Code:

     Maryland    New York   Penn.
AVG   .265(1)    .263(3)    .249(9)    
HR    117(5)     130(4)     91(16)
BB    351(5)     349(t7)    327(10)
SB    88(3)      129(4)     49(20)
Runs  559(3)     618(1)     455(17)

ERA   2.98(3)    3.74(15)   3.02(4)
OAVG  .216(1)    .249(16)   .234(6)
HRAlw 91(6)      81(4)      78(3)
BBAlw 278(8)     290(12)    239(3)
Runs  398(3)     503(14)    410(4)

Run+/- +161      +115       +45

Clearly Chappy and Penn have an advantage over NY in terms of pitching...but the Baron's offense has the edge on the Freedom. Before last sim...Penn's ERA was the lowest of the three. If your pitching can maintain that 3 runs a game average that got going on....than it seems like your fate in catching NY is going to ride alot on how much you get from your offense.

Your pitching has been real good...its something like a half a run below the FF average. On the flipside...though...you've only scored 455 runs...and the FF average is 486.8. You need to tell your boys to cork their bats and juice up for the stretch run

Chappy · 06-11-2005, 10:53 AM

Yeah. When I see the offense struggling, I start second-guessing the Ludwig trade. But he is just batting .237 now, and Commons has an .858 OPS vs Claus' .816, so I don't think that deal has really hurt us. I think Brett Ward is the guy who has to pick it up... If he can get on base more regularly, Lust, Commons and Horizon will take care of the rest.

If you look at the pitching of our remaining opponents, we have 9 games against Mas and 7 against DC. Both of these teams are allowing their opponents a .252 average; only Florida is worse (and we have 3 games against them). Hopefully this will help get our offense going...

06-06-2005, 11:45 AM	#321
Chappy Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 2,721	Sim Twelve, 2012 7/21 - 3-1 loss @ New York - Skip Burns allowed 1 ER on 4 hits in 7 innings, but NY's Dennis Moreland held us in check. Northrup gave up the game-losing rin in the 8th to fall to 0-2 on the year. A Franklyn Thom sac fly led to our lone run. 7/22 - 7-2 WIN @ New York - Russell Hults allowed 2 ER on 6 hits in 6 innings, and Salguero and Rapier finished the game with 2 and 1 scoreless innings respectively. On offense, it was the Commons and Horizon show. Lane was 2-for-4 with a walk, a double, a homer (7), 2 runs scored and 3 RBI. Bick was 2-for-5 with a homer(24), 2 runs scored and 2 RBI. Tally added a 2-run double in the 4th inning. 7/23 - 7-6 WIN @ DC - Chris Curcio allowed 5 ER in 4 innings, but the offense bailed him out. Franklyn Thom was 2-for-4 with a homer (7) to lead the offense. Mark Hart pitched a scoreless 8th for the win and Joseph Melbourne pitched a scoreless 9th for his 12th save. 7/24 - 1-0 loss @ DC - Former Pen prospect Peter Iuvani blanked us for 7.2 innings, with the DC bullpen finishing off the shutout. Meanwhile, our top prospect, Micheal Wilmot (who was called up in place of Nietz) had a wonderful debut go to waste. He took the loss despite allowing just 1 unearned run on 3 hits in 8.1 innings, striking out 6. Thom was 3-for-4 in the losing effort. 7/25 - 2-1 WIN @ New York - Another top-notch performance by a former Pen prospect, as Charlie Clowers loses a nice duel to Lowell Stang, who picks up his 12th win of the year with 7.1 fine innings. Melbourne saved his 13th game. M-Rod was 3-for-4 and Franklyn Thom was 2-for-4 with both of our RBI. 7/26 - Off Day 7/27 - 3-2 WIN vs Tennessee - Russell Hults moves to 10-3 after allowing 1 ER in 6 innings of work. Melbourne allowed a run but escaped with his 14th save. William Chipman hit a pinch hit homer (2) for us, and pinch hitter Chris Trosclair drove in a run with a clutch single. Ant Pooler had our other RBI. 7/28 - 6-5 WIN vs Tennessee - Skip Burns allowed 4 ER despite allowing only 5 baserunner in 7 innings. He k'd 8 batters. Joseph Melbourne blew a save but left with a win. Bernard Lust and Lane Commons had 3 hits a piece to lead the offense. Commons scored the game winning run on a Pat Galyon sac fly in the bottom of the 9th. 7/29 - 5-3 loss vs Tennessee - Today Melbourne took the loss, after entering with the game knotted at 3. Curcio had allowed 3 ER in 7 innings of work. M-Rod led the offense with a 2-run homer (5), and Commons and Tally each had 2 hits. 7/30 - 7-1 WIN vs Virginia - Lowell Stang allows 1 ER on 4 hits in 7.1 innings, and we took advantage of 3 errors by Vir 3B Ernie Brandt to win big. In fact, our 4-run 4th inning rally was kicked off by back-to-back Brandt errors, on balls batted by Tally and Pooler. Ward, Commons and Horizon each drove in 2 runs in the game. Standings Code: North Team W L PCT GB Streak Last10 Maryland 66 36 .647 - W4 8-2 New York 62 41 .602 4.5 L1 8-2 Pennsylvania 61 41 .598 5.0 W1 6-4 Maine 48 56 .462 19.0 W2 4-6 D.C. 40 62 .392 26.0 L2 3-7 Massachusetts 38 65 .369 28.5 L1 4-6 South Team W L PCT GB Streak Last10 Louisiana 59 44 .573 - W1 6-4 North Carolina 58 45 .563 1.0 W1 6-4 Virginia 57 45 .559 1.5 L5 3-7 Mississippi 50 52 .490 8.5 W1 6-4 Tennessee 44 58 .431 14.5 L1 4-6 Florida 33 71 .317 26.5 L1 2-8 Well, we didn't sweep NY, and they were hotter than we were after we split our series. So, now we trail them by half a game. Maryland is pretty hot right now, as well. We've got to win a lot of our remaining games against those two. Nobody else is going to beat them for us. Pitching Code: Name G GS W L SV ERA IP HA R ER BB K s1 L. Stang 24 24 13 3 0 2.17 170.0 134 44 41 17 80 s2 R. Hults 20 20 10 3 0 1.88 129.0 104 30 27 32 59 s3 S. Burns 22 22 8 6 0 2.97 151.1 104 51 50 39 140 s4 C. Curcio 20 20 9 5 0 3.62 131.2 141 59 53 10 24 s5 M. Wilmot 1 1 0 1 0 0.00 8.1 3 1 0 1 6 mr J. Salguero 56 0 7 3 0 2.30 66.2 64 22 17 12 27 mr M. Welch 27 0 5 3 1 2.38 34.0 24 9 9 4 12 mr M. Hart 37 0 1 1 5 4.05 33.1 36 17 15 14 12 su B. Rapier 47 0 1 3 11 3.35 48.1 44 18 18 15 21 su T. Northrup 36 1 0 2 1 3.97 34.0 29 16 15 8 11 cl J. Melboure 23 0 2 3 14 3.38 21.1 20 8 8 12 10 Rookie Michael Wilmot impressed, but it's just one start. He actually took a control hit last sim, but he still has an 8 versus righties and 7 overall. Let's hope the pitching can keep up the good work... Batting Code: Name G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K AVG OBP SLG 1 LF B. Ward 99 355 97 9 1 2 27 41 51 45 .273 .370 .321 2 RF B. Lust 100 369 115 18 3 5 29 46 29 35 .312 .369 .417 3 2B L. Commons 71 253 74 19 1 7 39 41 32 10 .292 .377 .458 4 1B B. Horizon 101 374 105 17 0 24 71 50 27 9 .281 .324 .519 5 CF F. Thom 91 339 99 16 3 7 37 39 20 28 .292 .335 .419 6 3B M. Rodriguez 100 354 95 15 1 5 28 49 34 5 .268 .332 .359 7 SS M. Talamantez 97 313 71 11 0 9 38 29 26 32 .227 .287 .348 8 C A. Pooler 82 274 70 11 0 1 30 20 11 35 .255 .284 .307 B. Handel 55 76 23 6 0 0 6 18 3 9 .303 .325 .382 C. Trosclair 75 108 27 3 0 4 17 16 13 12 .250 .344 .389 A. Slaughter 26 60 15 1 0 0 2 3 1 13 .250 .262 .267 P. Galyon 40 49 12 0 0 5 13 8 2 8 .245 .296 .551 A. Silvia 60 99 23 6 0 1 10 6 8 7 .232 .287 .323 W. Chipman 47 86 18 3 0 2 5 16 2 10 .209 .227 .314 I don't know if 'regret' is the right word... but I do know that I really miss Claus' power. Nothing against Lane Commons, who I still feel is a playmaker and a difference maker unlike anyone else in our organization, but I need more homers. Oh well, not really much I can do about that now. Speaking of Commons, he'll soon lead our team in runs scored; an impressive feat considering he trail most starters by 100 at bats. Rankings Batting AVG: .252 (8th) Homeruns: 86 (13th) Walks: 289 (8th) Stolen Bases: 35 (20th) Runs Scored: 402 (13th) Pitching ERA: 2.94 (3rd) Opponents AVG: .231 (6th) HRs Allowed: 63 (3rd) Walks Allowed: 203 (3rd) Runs Allowed: 334 (3rd) Still strong in pitching, and better than ever in batting. Upcoming Games Code: Date Opponent Probable Starter Season Series 7/31 vs Virginia Cannons Michael Wilmot (0-1, 0.00) Pen leads 5-2 8/1 vs Virginia Cannons Russell Hults (10-3, 1.88) 8/2 Off Day 8/3 @ Florida Bluefish Skip Burns (8-6, 2.97) Pen leads 4-2 8/4 @ Florida Bluefish Lowell Stang (13-3, 2.17) 8/5 @ Florida Bluefish Chris Curcio (9-5, 3.62) 8/6 vs North Carolina Clippers Russell Hults (10-3, 1.88) Pen leads 4-2 8/7 vs North Carolina Clippers Michael Wilmot (0-1, 0.00) 8/8 vs North Carolina Clippers Skip Burns (8-6, 2.97) 8/9 vs Louisiana Blaze Lowell Stang (13-3, 2.17) Pen leads 5-4 8/10 vs Louisiana Blaze Chris Curcio (9-5, 3.62) I've played well against these guys, so lets hope for a good sim... Go Freedom! __________________ NPBL - Pennsylvania Freedom AFBL - North Carolina Aviators MLB-Pro - Kansas City Royals

06-07-2005, 01:01 AM	#324
HolyCow98 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Douglasville, GA Posts: 2,735	Looking at the schedule....I have a feeling if you do well next sim...by the end of the month...you're going to pass New York. Next sim you play teams you have winning records against. The sim after that...you have a 4 game set against New York. The sim after that...New York has a 3 game series at Maryland (me) which so far I'm 6-3 against them. I can pretty much guarantee my rotation is going to be set so Yim will start that first game...at full strength...and the rest of rotation will fall in line with full rest The Barons could still beat us both, I suppose, but as banged up as they are right now I think they are going to have a hard time. Now if I could figure out how to beat Maine I'd be happy. __________________ NPBL Enjoying its 60th season Georgia GM

06-08-2005, 11:11 AM	#326
Chappy Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 2,721	Sim Thirteen, 2012 7/31 - 5-4 WIN vs Virginina - Michael Wilmot made his second career start, and allowed 10 hits in 5.1 innings. But the bullpen was solid, and fellow rookie Joseph Melbourne wound up with the win. Lust, Commons, Tally and Pooler each had 2 hits for us. Pinch hitter Pat Galyon led off the bottom of the ninth (game tied at 4) with a double. Brett Ward sac'd pinch runner Mikey Welch over to 3rd, and after Lust grounded out, Lane Commons singled Welch home for the win. 8/1 - 4-1 loss vs Virginia - Russell Hults allowed 4 ER on 9 hits in 7.1 innings. Not much happened offensively. Brenton Handel was 2-for-4 with a steal in a rare start. 8/2 - Off Day 8/3 - 5-0 WIN @ Florida - Superman Skip Burns allowed 0 ER on 4 hits in 6 innings to pick up his 9th win. Franklyn Thom was 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored, and M-Rod, Tally and Pooler each drove in a run for us. 8/4 - 2-0 WIN @ Florida - Lowell Stang allowed just 3 hits in 7.2 innings, and Melbourne earned his 15th save with a perfect 9th inning. Bick Horizon was 2-for-5 with a double, a homer (25) and 2 RBI. 8/5 - 2-1 loss @ Florida - Commons was 1-for-3 with a steal, a walk and a run, and Bick drove him in with an RBI single. Chris Curcio allowed 1 unearned run in 7.1 innings. Joseph Melbourne took the loss, despite allowing only 1 unearned run. 8/6 - 6-3 loss vs North Carolina - Lane Commons hit a pair of doubles, but the rest of the offense took the night off. As did the defense. Russell Hults allowed 3 runs (1 earned) in 6.2 innings to fall to 10-5 on the season. 8/7 - 7-3 loss vs North Carolina - Michael Wilmot falied to pick up a win in his 3rd try, allowing 5 ER on 8 hits in 6 innings. Commons scored a pair of runs for us, and M-Rod hit a 2-run homer (6) to lead the offense. Horizon was 2-for-4 with an RBI double. 8/8 - 5-4 loss vs North Carolina - Skip Burns lasted just 3 innings, allowing 5 ER on 3 hits and 4 walks. Ward broke out of a month-long slump with 3 hits and Lane Commons drove in 3 to lead the offense. 8/9 - 10-1 loss vs Louisiana - Our losing streak reaches 5 in an ugly manner. Lowell Stang gets roughed up for 4 runs (3 ER) in 6.1 innings, and Joel Saluero allows 5 (3 ER) without recording an out. I cannot stress how poorly our defense has played during this losing streak. Lane Commons was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk, but nobody could get him around the bases. 8/10 - 3-1 loss vs Louisiana - Chris Curcio allowed 3 ER on 6 hits in 6 innings. We made 2 more errors today. Commons was 2-for-3 with a walk but didn't score again. Horizon? Thom? M-Rod? Where are you guys? Manny Talamantez scored our only run on a solo homer (10). Standings Code: North Team W L PCT GB ST L10 Maryland 72 39 .649 - W4 7-3 New York 64 48 .571 8.5 W2 2-8 Pennsylvania 64 48 .571 8.5 L6 3-7 Maine 56 58 .491 17.5 W1 8-2 D.C. 45 67 .402 27.5 L2 5-5 Massachusetts 42 70 .375 30.5 L1 4-6 South Team W L PCT GB ST L10 North Carolina 65 47 .580 - W5 8-2 Virginia 65 47 .580 - W2 8-2 Louisiana 62 51 .549 3.5 W2 3-7 Mississippi 55 56 .495 9.5 L3 6-4 Tennessee 49 63 .438 16.0 L1 5-5 Florida 34 79 .301 31.5 L4 1-9 Thank goodness that sim ended. We need to regroup. It seems like every time we play a bunch of southern division teams, we quit hitting. Granted, NC, Lou and Mis have insanely good pitching staffs. But we should have scored more runs vs Florida and even first-place Virginia. We missed an excellent opportunity to build a lead on NY. Pitching Code: Name G GS W L SV ERA IP HA R ER BB K s1 L. Stang 26 26 14 4 0 2.15 184.0 144 48 44 21 87 s2 R. Hults 22 22 10 5 0 2.01 143.0 118 37 32 35 65 s3 S. Burns 24 24 9 7 0 3.09 160.1 111 56 55 44 146 s4 C. Curcio 22 22 9 6 0 3.47 145.1 153 63 56 12 28 ss M. Wilmot 3 3 0 2 0 4.12 19.2 21 10 9 1 13 mr J. Salguero 61 0 7 3 0 2.93 70.2 75 30 23 15 28 mr M. Welch 29 0 5 3 1 2.19 37.0 26 9 9 4 13 mr M. Hart 40 0 1 1 5 3.58 37.2 41 17 15 15 13 su B. Rapier 55 0 1 3 11 3.23 55.2 52 20 20 16 25 su T. Northrup 40 1 0 2 1 3.62 37.1 31 16 15 9 13 cl J. Melboure 29 0 3 4 15 3.08 26.1 23 10 9 12 12 I've tried Moreno, Nietz and Wilmot in the 5th spot, and none of them have really satisfied me. So, I'm going to go with a 4-man rotation and keep Wilmot on as a spot starter... I don't really use 4-man rotations very much, but I know other teams have had success with them, so I'll give it a go. Batting Code: Name G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K AVG OBP SLG 1 2B L. Commons 81 285 87 24 1 7 43 46 39 10 .305 .393 .470 2 LF B. Ward 109 393 105 10 1 2 27 44 54 49 .267 .360 .313 3 RF B. Lust 110 403 120 18 3 5 29 47 32 41 .298 .357 .395 4 1B B. Horizon 111 411 114 19 0 25 76 53 28 9 .277 .318 .506 5 CF F. Thom 101 371 107 18 3 7 38 42 22 33 .288 .331 .410 6 3B M. Rodriguez 109 386 101 17 1 6 32 52 36 5 .262 .324 .358 7 C A. Pooler 91 300 75 14 0 1 35 20 13 41 .250 .281 .307 8 SS M. Talamantez 107 344 77 12 0 10 40 31 29 37 .224 .286 .346 B. Handel 59 83 25 6 0 0 6 19 3 9 .301 .322 .373 P. Galyon 42 53 14 2 0 5 13 8 2 8 .264 .310 .585 A. Slaughter 32 70 18 2 0 0 3 4 2 16 .257 .288 .286 C. Trosclair 82 117 30 3 0 4 18 16 13 13 .256 .343 .385 A. Silvia 65 106 26 6 0 1 10 7 8 7 .245 .296 .330 W. Chipman 51 93 19 3 0 2 5 17 2 10 .204 .221 .301 I'm moving Commons into the lead-off spot to spark the offense. Hopefully, Ward can get it together. He was hitting .300 not that long ago. Lust hasn't been particularly hot, either. I've also switched Pooler and Tally, if for no other reason than because its different. We need to get this thing going. Rankings Batting AVG: .250 (9th) Homeruns: 89 (13th) Walks: 313 (10th) Stolen Bases: 41 (20th) Runs Scored: 428 (14th) Pitching ERA: 2.99 (4th) Opponents AVG: .234 (6th) HRs Allowed: 67 (3rd) Walks Allowed: 223 (3rd) Runs Allowed: 375 (4th) Upcoming Games Code: Date Opponent Probable Starter Season Series 8/11 vs Louisiana Blaze Russell Hults (10-5, 2.01) Lou leads 6-5 8/12 Off Day 8/13 vs Mississippi Ravens Skip Burns (9-7, 3.09) Pen leads 6-3 8/14 vs Mississippi Ravens Lowell Stang (14-4, 2.15) 8/15 vs Mississippi Ravens Chris Curcio (9-6, 3.47) 8/16 @ New York Barons Russell Hults (10-5, 2.01) NY leads 6-5 8/17 @ New York Barons Skip Burns (9-7, 3.09) 8/18 @ New York Barons Lowell Stang (14-4, 2.15) 8/19 @ New York Barons Chris Curcio (9-6, 3.47) 8/20 vs Maryland Admirals Russell Hults (10-5, 2.01) Mry leads 5-4 Crucial sim alert. We must win 5 games this sim. At this point, I'll take a split with NY. The Blaze showdown will be tough. We'll need to win to avoid being swept. Mississippi is a game below .500, but they just picked up 3 All-Stars in a deal with Utah on the eve of the trade deadline, so they'll be tough as well. Then four games with the Barons. We're both struggling now, so this could be a pivotal series. The we have the first game of a 3-game series with Maryland, who has the best winning % in the entire NPBL. Whew... This will be tough... Now that I look at the schedule, the 8/12 open date is our last day off until September 2nd. Maybe this is a bad time to try the 4-man rotation... Any thoughts? Stang and Hults have 7 in endurance. Burns has a 10, and Curcio a 9... __________________ NPBL - Pennsylvania Freedom AFBL - North Carolina Aviators MLB-Pro - Kansas City Royals

06-08-2005, 03:42 PM	#328
HolyCow98 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Douglasville, GA Posts: 2,735	Ouch...that hurt...but maybe its better to get a bad sim out of your teams system than. Here comes the really important sim. If it was me...I'd wait a sim before going to the 4-man. I'd probably keep it at start highest rested starter. You're not in catch up mode yet...right now you need the right guys..the right match ups. Hopefully you can get Stang, Holtz and Burns in that matchup with New York. I wouldn't panic yet. The Barons are the team who of late has had a trend for bad sims. This was the first sim that I can remember where the Freedom had what I would consider a poor sim. I remember the year I went to a 4-man...Yim was great and won 30 games...and I think I had one other guy pitch well....but the other two guys crumbled on me and it was my worst season in the NPBL (83-79). On the other hand...your pitching staff is a lot better than my 2007 was even with a 30 game winning Yim. __________________ NPBL Enjoying its 60th season Georgia GM

06-09-2005, 04:52 AM	#330
HolyCow98 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Douglasville, GA Posts: 2,735	Yep.... They were a wild card in 2010 and won the first NPBL title in 2000 (hence the name of the thread.."Rebuilding a Champion). Here is their year-to-year: http://www.npblbaseball.net/npbl/cat...pen/index.html __________________ NPBL Enjoying its 60th season Georgia GM

06-08-2005, 12:47 PM	#327
Chappy Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 2,721	Heh, I just realized that Joseph Melbourne's name is really Joseph Melboure. All these years I've been wrong! It's kind of funny. Maybe I just assumed it was Melbourne because he's from Austrailia.

06-09-2005, 02:33 AM	#329
Dougiestyle All Star Reserve Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Flagstaff, AZ Posts: 922	Just wondering, but for some reason I forgot (and don't have the endurance to re-read the entire thread), has this team made the playoffs at all?

06-09-2005, 12:22 PM	#331
Chappy Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 2,721	Yeah, we were stuck in a division with 4 90-game winners last year so we missed the playoffs, even though we won 3 more games than we did in '10 when we were the wild-card winner.

06-10-2005, 10:24 AM	#333
jaxmagicman Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Retired defloration-maker living in Myrtle Beach, SC Posts: 7,801	I am ready for the playoffs, bought my tickets already! __________________ See ID Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Minor League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with the permission of Minor League Baseball. All rights reserved.

06-10-2005, 12:09 PM	#335
Chappy Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 2,721	Code: Pennsylvania Rec 9 vs mas - 46-76 7 vs dc - 51-70 5 vs mry - 78-43 3 vs vir - 70-51 3 vs ten - 55-66 3 vs nc - 70-52 3 vs fla - 36-87 3 vs ny - 72-50 2 vs mai - 58-65 New York Rec 9 vs mry - 78-43 6 vs mai - 58-65 5 vs dc - 51-70 3 vs mis - 61-60 3 vs lou - 67-55 3 vs ten - 55-66 3 vs vir - 70-51 3 vs pen - 66-55 2 vs mas - 46-76 Here's a look at the remaining games for us and the Barons. If you do the math, you'll see that when weighted by number of games, New York's remaining opponents have a winning percentage of .523, while ours have a winning % of .473. They have 37 games left while we have 38. Nearly 25% of their remaining games are against Maryland. Still, we can't count on NY losing. We need to count on us winning...

06-10-2005, 03:12 PM	#336
jaxmagicman Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Retired defloration-maker living in Myrtle Beach, SC Posts: 7,801	Damnit and you said no refunds. Maybe, this time, you can get Lust to take me out to lunch. __________________ See ID Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Minor League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with the permission of Minor League Baseball. All rights reserved.

06-10-2005, 06:27 PM	#337
HolyCow98 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Douglasville, GA Posts: 2,735	Damn....now I really feel the pressure.....I figure I need to go atleast 7-2 against the Barons to have any effect. __________________ NPBL Enjoying its 60th season Georgia GM

06-11-2005, 01:54 AM	#338
John P. Yuda Minors (Double A) Join Date: May 2002 Location: Alexandria, VA Posts: 177	I've got two against NY at the beginning of the sim, and my guys have been playing well of late -- we just hung 11 runs on their pitching staff at the end of last sim. A split isn't out of the question...

06-11-2005, 03:03 AM	#339
HolyCow98 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Douglasville, GA Posts: 2,735	Here is a little comparison of Penn-NY-and Maryland.... Code: Maryland New York Penn. AVG .265(1) .263(3) .249(9) HR 117(5) 130(4) 91(16) BB 351(5) 349(t7) 327(10) SB 88(3) 129(4) 49(20) Runs 559(3) 618(1) 455(17) ERA 2.98(3) 3.74(15) 3.02(4) OAVG .216(1) .249(16) .234(6) HRAlw 91(6) 81(4) 78(3) BBAlw 278(8) 290(12) 239(3) Runs 398(3) 503(14) 410(4) Run+/- +161 +115 +45 Clearly Chappy and Penn have an advantage over NY in terms of pitching...but the Baron's offense has the edge on the Freedom. Before last sim...Penn's ERA was the lowest of the three. If your pitching can maintain that 3 runs a game average that got going on....than it seems like your fate in catching NY is going to ride alot on how much you get from your offense. Your pitching has been real good...its something like a half a run below the FF average. On the flipside...though...you've only scored 455 runs...and the FF average is 486.8. You need to tell your boys to cork their bats and juice up for the stretch run __________________ NPBL Enjoying its 60th season Georgia GM

06-11-2005, 10:53 AM	#340
Chappy Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 2,721	Yeah. When I see the offense struggling, I start second-guessing the Ludwig trade. But he is just batting .237 now, and Commons has an .858 OPS vs Claus' .816, so I don't think that deal has really hurt us. I think Brett Ward is the guy who has to pick it up... If he can get on base more regularly, Lust, Commons and Horizon will take care of the rest. If you look at the pitching of our remaining opponents, we have 9 games against Mas and 7 against DC. Both of these teams are allowing their opponents a .252 average; only Florida is worse (and we have 3 games against them). Hopefully this will help get our offense going...