NPBL: The Nevada Jacks

[jeheinz72]

Originally Posted by kreitena

Cool, you also have a player named Frank Dukes, just like the guy from Bloodsport. It is spelled a little differently but it still kicks ass.

Frank will be the first to tell you that he kicks ass.

[jeheinz72]

Well, the 2020 Trade Deadline came and went, with just 1 minor deal for the Jacks. We dealt for reserve OF Eugene Hiller from Virginia in exchange for AA Reliever Pedro Velasquez. We don't like giving up youth, but we're deep at MR and needed to get a decent bench bat on the team. Hiller hit .309 for the Grays last year in 269 AB's.

With that said, the Jacks got back to the winning ways, going 6-3 on the sim. Here's all the news that's fit to type:

7/31 - 12-1 Loss vs Wisconsin - SP Clark gets pounded for 6 ER in 3.2 IP
8/1 - 7-5 WIN vs Wisconsin - Payton doubles twice and scores twice
8/2 - DAY OFF
8/3 - 4-2 WIN vs New Mexico - Hall dominates for 8 with help from Stone's 1st career HR.
8/4 - 6-0 WIN vs New Mexico - Pequero throws 5-hit shutout and Dukes drives in 3
8/5 - 4-1 WIN vs New Mexico - Team gets sweep behind 7 strong from SP James Jason
8/6 - 7-1 WIN at Texas - Streak goes to 5 thanks to Bandit's 3 miscues and Russell's 2-run blast.
8/7 - 11-1 Loss at Texas - Thumping ends the good run as Clark sucks again.
8/8 - 7-2 WIN at Texas in 10 - 5 in the 10th gets the Jacks a series win over GE East leading Texas
8/9 - DAY OFF
8/10 - 2-1 Loss at Kansas - Offense wastes good outing from Pequero, team loses opener in Kansas

Development News
Top Relief Prospect John Montana takes a hit to movement, from 3/7/9 to 3/7/7.
Defensive hits to backup C Mar Sarellano and some minor bumps to never-will-be's
New acquisition Eugene Hiller learns catcher with 2 rating. Should be handy.

Top Performances
Pitching - Single Game
SP Roderigo Pequero - 8/4 vs NM - 9 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K's. Gets his 10th win on the year

Pitching - Entire Sim
SP Armando Campana - 2 GS, 2-0, 15.2 IP, 2.87 ERA, 15 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 7 K

Batting - Single Game
CF Blair Payton - 8/1 vs WI - 3 hits, 5 AB, 2 R, 1 RBI (50), 2 2B's (20), 1 SB (39)

Batting - Entire Sim
2B Mark Stone - 13 Hits, 30 AB, .433 Avg, 1 2B, 1st Career HR, 7 RBI, 4 Runs

Surprising Performance
Backup C Mar Sarellano - 8/8 at TX - 2 hits including 3-run HR in the 10th to ice the game for the Jacks

Disappointments of the Sim
I'm disappointed to lose to Kansas, they're in 5th in the East and sub-.500 at home. We now need the final 2 to start next sim to take the series.
C Carlos Fimenez was pretty bad, just 5 hits in 21 ABs with no extra base hits and 3 walks.
SP Joseph Clark was terrible again. 0-2, 12 ER in 8.2 IP (12.46 ERA) only 3 K's and a WHIP over 2.00 on the sim. He's 5-9, 7.85, 1.86 WHIP on the season. But I've got a fix, see below.

On the Horizon
2nd best SP Prospect Powell Hoffman is getting the call-up from AAA. I wanted to wait until September, but the time is now. He's 11-8 in the minors this year and 7/4/6 over 7/8/6. Originally, Jason was going to head to the pen, since I thought his low EN was taxing the pen. I'm going with Clark instead since even with his higher EN he pitches 2 less outs per start than Jason, with an ERA 2 runs higher. Yes, the man we thought would be our ace when we dealt for him, is now our long reliever.

For the schedule...
2 more @ Kansas, 45-67, 5th in GE East. 8-2 vs KS on the season. Ranked #21
3 @ Illinois, 49-63, 4th in GE East. 3-6 vs IL on the season. Ranked #20
4 vs Colorado, 48-63, 6th in GE West. 3-8 vs CO on the season. Ranked #19
1 vs California, 71-41, 2nd in GE West. 2-7 vs CA on the season. Ranked #2

We're now 51-61, 5th in the West, out of the playoff hunt and 2.5 up on CO for the basement. On pace for 74-89 record which would be the best since our playoff days. Ranked #15.

What I'd like to see: A strong showing with no blowouts. The teams we play aren't the best (aside for the CA game), but we've struggled against them. I'd like 6-4 or better, but would be happy with 5-5 as well.

[Chappy]

Joseph Clark is a terrible underachiever!

[John P. Yuda]

Originally Posted by Chappy

Joseph Clark is a terrible underachiever!

Yes. Trade him to Virginia!

[jeheinz72]

Well, it was basically all out carnage for your Nevada Jacks this sim. That 6-4 or 5-5 I was talking about? Yeah, not so much.

8/11 - 6-3 WIN at Kansas - Vera drives in 2 to support Campana who gets his 10th win on the year
8/12 - 7-3 Loss at Kansas - Poor outing by James Jason wastes Frank Dukes' 10th HR.
8/13 - 6-1 Loss at Illinois - Offense goes silent and Hall can't hold the Jethawks.
8/14 - 8-1 Loss at Illinois - Prized rookie SP Hoffman allows a 4-run first while the offense gets just 4 hits for him.
8/15 - 7-2 Loss at Illinois - Pequero pitches strong, Russell hits #19, but pen allows 5 late runs to lose the game.
8/16 - 11-1 Loss vs Colorado - Losing skid runs to 5 as offense again fails to produce runs.
8/17 - 6-2 WIN vs Colorado - Carruth scores 3 times and Jason pitches 6 strong to end the losing streak.
8/18 - 6-3 Loss vs Colorado - 2 errors lead to 4 unearned runs and a disappointing loss.
8/19 - 6-2 Loss vs Colorado - Hoffman shelled in 2nd start (5 ER in 3.2 IP) and the offense is back in a funk.
8/20 - 3-0 Loss vs California - What's worse than getting shutout? Losing ace SP Pequero in the 3rd for a 3-week day-to-day 80% injury. That's what.

Development News
Nothing really noteworthy. Career minor leaguer Viktor Tay lost some power and new MR Joseph Clark took a control bump but it's still a 5. He did pitch 5 scoreless in relief however.

Top Performances

Pitching - Single Game
Armando Campana - 8/11 @ KS - 7 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 K's and 10th win of the year

Pitching - Entire Sim
Roderigo Pequero - 2 GS, 8.2 IP, 8 H, 1 BB, 2 R, 2 ER, 10 K's. Injury shortened 2nd start, but he pitched the best...ugh.

Hitting - Single Game
3B Danny Carruth - 8/17 vs CO - 2 singles, 1 double, 3 runs scored.

No Entire Sim Batting award - We only scored 25 runs in 10 games and were under 4 runs in 8 out of 10. Guh.

Where we stand
My goal from the outset of the season was to avoid 90 losses for the first time in 5 seasons. We were hanging in there, but thanks to this 2-8 stinker, we need to finish 20-20 to end at 73-89. We're in the cellar of the GE West, 2.5 back of Colorado for 5th place. Lots of division games remain, 20-20 is going to be a challenge.

We are however 8 games ahead of where we were through 122 last season, when we finished 65-97 and we did play 20-20 through the last 40 last year.

Upcoming...
2 more vs California (76-45, 2nd place, 2 back in West, Ranked #2, 2-8 vs CA)
3 at Utah (67-55, 3rd place, 11.5 back in West, Ranked #8, 4-5 vs UT)
3 at Idaho (66-55, 4th place, 12 back in West, Ranked #10, 6-6 vs ID)
1 at Wisconsin (61-60, 2nd place, 10 back in East, Ranked #13, 5-4 vs WI)

We're 53-69, 6th place and 25.5 back in the West, Ranked #21.

This could be another brutal sim for the Jacks. 4 good teams, 7 on the road, but a mix of records against these teams. I honestly have no idea how we'll do, though 4-6 would make me pretty happy. A split with CA, 1 of 3 from UT, 2 of 3 from ID and a loss to WI would work just fine.

[John P. Yuda]

You planning on any September callups this year?

[jeheinz72]

Originally Posted by John P. Yuda

You planning on any September callups this year?

Possibly...

C Angelito Saverdra may come up and be the backup C. He was drafted to possibly start but with his contact falling from 7 to 5, not much use in him waiting any longer. Sarrelano (3 contact) stinks.

I called CF Dean Lawson up last year, and will probably do the same this year. He's still a ways away though and actually hit a bit worse this year in AAA.

Also possibly a few relievers, mainly guys who have already played for me like Lorne Bolt and Samuel De La Vega.

[Chappy]

THREAD HIJACK ALERT

Sorry John, I'll let you have your thread back in a moment.

But I wanted to let your readers know of a pretty remarkable event that just occured in the NPBL. Brandon Ivy of the Minnesota Wolves just had his hitting-streak snapped at 44 games, shattering the old league record of 36 games.

Box Score

The two longest streaks are both in the NPBL's Great Explorers League. The Founding Fathers League record is 34 games.

Okay John, it's all yours.

[jeheinz72]

Chappy jacked my thread, yeah, that's it, that's why I haven't posted in a month and a half.

Seriously though, I'll get back to this...