South Georgia Baseball League (OOTP meets SimCity 4!)

[Gwatkin]

Thank you, rleb. Seems to work just fine. And with the day that's in it, the game has added some seasonal colour. Happy Christmas from Barrington!

[rleb]

Originally Posted by Gwatkin

Thank you, rleb. Seems to work just fine. And with the day that's in it, the game has added some seasonal colour. Happy Christmas from Barrington!

Very very cool

[rleb]

Week 5 Showcase Review



Spartans offense falls short, Giants grab 6th straight victory




Walt Vergeer, GSN correspondant
May 2nd, 2015

The Nemessey Giants are certainly on a roll.

The team got a solid start from pitcher Elton Lloyd, and it was enough to take the wind out of Husvik Valley's sails, as the Spartans could not get any meaningful offense rolling for most of the game, despite slapping 12 hits.

The Spartans' best chance against Lloyd was in the 5th inning, when they chained together a series of hits, scoring a pair of runs with only one out. This cut the Giants' lead down to 4-2. However, Lloyd then got a key strikeout and then a pop up to end the inning.

As the game wore on, Lloyd began allowing more and more hits (9 in total), and by the 8th inning when he was replaced, Husvik Valley had caught up and was now trailing 4-3.

It was as close as they would get. Each team added a run near the end of the game, but Nemessey won another game in front of another sellout crowd.

Giants Shortstop Radu Lorenz was named player of the game, going 3-for-3 with a walk and 3 RBI. This was only Lorenz's 4th SGBL game. He had been called up from AAA Sunny Point last Sunday.

"I like our moxie," said Nemessey Giants manager Jacob Shannon.

Final Score : Husvik Valley 4, Nemessey 5

[rleb]

April 2015 Players of the Month



Batting : Mick Shaw (Nemessey)



Though his face is weathered and his hands are callused, Mick Shaw can still get it done in South Georgia Baseball League. The 36-year-old right fielder for Nemessey was named the South Georgia Baseball League Batter of the Month today after putting up an impressive performance at the plate.

In April he batted .367 with 3 home runs, 19 RBIs and 24 runs scored.


--------------------------------------


Pitching : Ryan Gibb (Johanssen)



Ryan Gibb took a much-deserved turn in the spotlight earlier today as he accepted the South Georgia Baseball League Pitcher of the Month award for April.

The 26-year-old Suns starter was solid, racking up an impressive 5-1 win-loss record in 6 starts. This month he fanned 26 batters in 50.1 innings and compiled a 1.79 ERA.

[rleb]

League Gives Gutierrez and Aldair 8-Game Suspensions




Karl Peters, GSN correspondant
May 1st, 2015

Bad blood could be brewing between the Suns and the Aces.

In yesterday's contest at South Georgia National Stadium, Johanssen DH Jose Gutierrez and Port Smith pitcher Kenny Aldair caused the benches to empty when they went toe-to-toe against one another.

One batter earlier, Callum Christy of the Suns smashed a towering solo home run to right-center field off Aldair. The crowd erupted into cheer, and Christy certainly did not hide his emotion as he went around the bases, being his first ever home run at the pro level. The blast gave the Suns a 2-1 lead.

Now it was Jose Gutierrez at the plate. The very first pitch he saw was way inside, prompting a staredown between Gutierrez and Aldair (not to mention members of both dugouts). Aldair's second pitch pounded Gutierrez squarely in the ribs, and the batter darted towards the mound. Instead of punches, Gutierrez used his background as a Rugby player, and laid a huge Rugby-style tackle on the pitcher. Both teams joined in, and the brawl lasted for several minutes before things eased off.

Only Gutierrez and Aldair were ejected by the umpires. Aldair for his obvious retaliation pitch, and Gutierrez for his wild tackle on the pitcher.

Upon hearing that the two players had been suspended 8 games each by the league office, harsh comments came from both clubhouses.

League officials have warned both organizations about the consequences of premeditated retaliation.

To date this year Gutierrez is batting .281 with 2 home runs. Meanwhile in 4 starts this season, Aldair has picked up 2 wins while suffering 1 loss. He has pitched 31 innings, allowed 24 hits, struck out 14 and posted a 1.74 ERA.

Johanssen eventually won the game, 3-2.

[rleb]

Attached are the SGBL Player Statistics, team by team, after April 2015 in a PDF file if anyone wants to go "statistic surfing"!

Note:
Batters are sorted by number of AB
Pitchers are sorted by number of IP

In the absence of an online report, this will give a clearer picture of who exactly are the "have" and "have not" players on each team.

I haven't ruled out the idea of uploading the HTML report to a website in the new year so that people can roam freely around the South Georgia baseball universe whenever and wherever they want. For now, I am trying very hard to resist that urge, since it is our busy season at work (I work in accounting, and the end-of-year at work coincides with Jan 1st). If I have access to my league at work, productivity will grind to a complete halt

However, it might happen at some point soon!

Another article coming shortly!

[rleb]

Dark Horse, you will probably enjoy this next article

[rleb]

Hobbs who? Husvik Valley pitcher throws gem versus Aces




Dominic Fry, GSN correspondant
May 4th, 2015

Husvik Valley neutralized the only weapon Port Smith had, and turned it into a pitching clinic.

Ben Beveridge of the Husvik Valley Spartans had a solid evening on the mound and took the Port Smith Aces to school at Barrett Properties Park today, spinning a complete game shutout and holding the visitors to 2 hits.

Even more satisfying for Beveridge, was that he out-pitched the league's top hurler Lonergan Hobbs in the process.

"He's got a bunch of different arm angles and his ball was really moving," said Hobbs after the game. "He was impressive to watch".

Beveridge whiffed 6 and walked 2 in the 2-0 win.

"If I make good pitches, I'm going to get some outs," Beveridge said. "I was making good pitches the entire game."

So far this season, Beveridge has logged a 3-3 record with a 3.88 ERA. He has started 7 games, hurled 46.1 innings and registered 28 strikeouts and 9 walks.

It is still early days in the season, but the Spartans are the main outside challenger for a playoff spot. They will need to leap-frog either Nemessey or Salvesen to get in the show, but they are certainly within reach. They trail the top two teams by only 3.5 games so far.

[rleb]

Standings after Week 5 (Thursday May 7th 2015)

[rleb]

WEEK 6 PREVIEW

This week's featured Friday Night game : Clinging to life in the bottom of the North Division
Batallion Royals (10-23) at Gold Harbour Bobcats (16-17)

AT


Dominic Fry, GSN correspondant
May 8th, 2015

As the South Georgia League marches through it's second month of existance, some harsh conclusions start to appear for certain teams.

As fun as it would be for a city to get instant success in the league, the laws of mathematics and just about anything else keeping the cosmos together dictates that this simply isn't possible. Someone has to lose a baseball game, and someone has to, inevitably, lose more than most.

Batallion Royals
This has certainly been the case for the Batallion Royals. Their rocky introduction to the SGBL has been well-documented. Not to mention the hot-headedness of their manager Magnus Hansen, who seems completely disinterested in going through the 'growing pains' phase of his team. To his credit (or, perhaps, his relief), the Royals have begun to win a few games recently. The once-embarassing record of 5-22 has evolved into a slightly more digestible 10-23 one week later.

Let's not kid ourselves, the record is still a significant distance away from the next-to-last team, but at least they have closed the gap. Most of their success has been thanks to the pitching staff, which seemed to have finally figured it out over the last week. During the last week, they swept a powerful Salvesen Aeros team, and outscored them 9-2 over the three games. The upturn in fortunes could bring the team back, but we will see if this is only a flash in the pan, or a significant improvement in the team over the long run.

Pitching tonight for the Royals will be 28-year-old Shawn Lovell. He is a breaking ball pitcher with some potential, but has gotten a tough initiation in the league so far : an ERA of 5.56 with 28 K's and 16 walks.

Gold Harbour Bobcats
On the other side of the diamond are the Gold Harbour Bobcats. Not much has been said about them so far, but for good reason : they are just about as 'average' as a baseball team can get. Instead of building for the future at the major-league level, they decided to go for the 'win now, find veterans' route. Of the 25 players on the main squad at the moment, only three are under the age of 30. The rest are a collection of wily veterans, plucked from various pro and semi-pro leagues across the globe.

Both the team's batting and pitching has been respectable (top-5 league-wide in most major categories), but their 'seasoned' players haven't exactly kept opposing pitchers on their toes, or broken any speed records between bases. After 33 games, they have only stolen 3 bases, which places them squarely as the worst base-stealing team. Unfortunately for them, they face a left-hander who is an expert at keeping runners in place. This might be a tough obstacle to overcome for the team tonight.

The team does not have a genuine 'superstar' yet, but a solid list of starters who can contribute... which makes sense if you think about it, given it is a team of calm, cool veterans who can all pull their weight together.

Pitching for the Bobcats tonight is 30-year-old Evan Welch. He is a finesse pitcher who can paint corners when needed. So far this year, he has a 3.90 ERA, 22 strikeouts, and only 6 walks in 32 innings pitched.

[rleb]

Week 6 Showcase Review



Gold Harbour Tops Batallion to Return to .500




Dominic Fry, GSN correspondant
May 9th, 2015

Batallion Manager Magnus Hansen had lots to yell about tonight.

Gold Harbour's offense was too much for Batallion to handle, and the Bobcats won the game comfortably. It all started rather well for Batallion, leading the game 4-1 in the top of the 3rd inning, but then Leo McBain of the Bobcats neutralized it all with a 3-run home run in the bottom of the inning.

Once the momentum swung, the Bobcats never looked back.

Another home run by the Bobcats in the 4th drove Batallion starter Shawn Lovell out of the game. His replacement, Menelik Saugstad, did not fare much better. In the 7th inning, the Bobcats unleashed their bats on Saugstad and notched up hit after hit, eventually getting Saugstad replaced as well. By the time the inning was over, Gold Harbour had their 12-5 lead.


Menelik Saugstad

Overall, it was Leo McBain who made the biggest impact, and was named player of the game. He went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, and a walk. He scored twice and drove in 3 with his home run.

"The boys came out and just played their butts off," said Gold Harbour manager Cy Van Mersbergen.

Never a man to miss an opportunity to give a soundbite, Batallion skipper Magnus Hansen was his usual grouchy self. "We suck", he said. "If a fan walked out of the stadium after two innings, they would have thought we were pretty good...... but we don't play 2-inning games! The other 7 innings we stunk!" he added, slamming his fist.

He then walked out of the press conference.

The Bobcats bumped their record up to 17-17 with this latest triumph, while the lowly Royals drop to 10-24.

Final Score : Batallion 5, Gold Harbour 12

[rleb]

Standings after Week 6 (Thursday May 14th 2015)



After 1/3rd distance in the season, it seems like the North Division's playoff teams are beginning to assert themselves. Both Nemessey and Salvesen have sat at the top since the start of the season, but Gold Harbour and Husvik Valley are very much in the hunt. The only team that seems in a tail spin are the much-documented Batallion Royals.

In the South Division, it has been much more open. Even though teams like Port Smith and Port Charles are at the bottom of the standings, they could still bounce back with a good winning streak or good injury luck. The season is still young, but a picture is beginning to emerge!

[rleb]

Here is a look at how their AAA teams are stacking up so far this year :



Remember that the AAA leagues will be playing a 96-game season.

[Dark Horse]

Go Spartans!

[rleb]

Now that the chaos of my personal life seems to have calmed down, the SGBL is back on the airwaves!

As we slowly march towards June 2015, there are so many unanswered questions :

- Can Robbie Halford keep his average in the .400s?
- Will the Aeros keep slugging?
- What kind of pitching season will Lonergan Hobbs end up with?
- How long will Batallion's manager stick around, or can he actually turn the team around and keep his job?
- Who will the initial list of all-stars?


A lot of questions, and hopefully a lot of answers coming up!

[rleb]

Week 7 Showcase Review



Johanssen's Gibb : "Accolades are temporary"




Dominic Fry, GSN correspondant
May 16th, 2015

Given that a pitcher only plays every 5th day, a spectator with general reasoning wouldn't make a big deal out of a pitcher's injury; but Johanssen's Ryan Gibb's injured calf could be extremely costly for the team over the season. In a newly-formed league, quality starters aren't readily available, as the pressure of playing a large role is mostly reserved for a select few... but Ryan Gibb's strained calf will put a big limiter on a Johanssen Suns team hoping to punch above their weight; a city with a stadium able to hold 1/5th of it's citizens, for goodness' sakes. During April, Gibb was voted as the SGBL pitcher of the month, registering a 5-1 record and only a 1.79 ERA.

"Accolades are temporary" Gibb said to reporters as he made his way to the hospital for testing. "It just proves how fragile it can be to be at the top. Anyway, I'm just focusing on returning as soon as possible, at this point.", he added, politely pushing reporters away as he made his way to the medical team.

Despite the apparent doom and gloom with the Suns' loss of their starting pitcher in the 2nd inning, they did do something inadvertedly right by holding a commanding 7-2 lead when this happened. It would have been a 7-0 lead if Gibb haden't allowed Port Charles' Emil Nelsen his only SGBL home run prior to injuring himself two pitches later.

For the rest of the game, the scramble was on to keep competent pitchers on the mound to compensate (as Port Charles' Toby Lawrence demonstrated, as he was imploding in a rare big-league start as well, surrenduring those numerous early Suns runs).

Over the course of the game, it came down to the catchers to make the difference: Suns catcher Bill Jones was 3-for-4 with 3 runs. His catching compatriot was Hans van Haastrecht for Port Charles, who went 3-for-5 with 3 hits and 3 RBI. Not a bad day at the office either.

The game was originally a blowout, but things tightened in the late innings, as Port Charles attempted to chip away at a 9-2 deficit starting in the 5th.

By the bottom of the 9th, it still looked like Johanssen had survived 11-8, but Hans van Haastrecht homered again to bring the game to 11-10. All of a sudden the tension had returned, at least momentarily, but Brede Jensen popped out to end the inning and a wild game.

Final Score : Johanssen 11, Port Charles 10

[rleb]

Standings, and the Week 8 writeup coming up!

[Izz]

Welcome back!

[rleb]

Originally Posted by Izz

Welcome back!

Thanks! It's good to be back

[rleb]

Standings after Week 7 (Thursday May 21st 2015)



Some interesting patterns to talk about :

Grytviken has won 9 of their last 11 games, and are now once again in the running in the North Division, somehow. Even more incredibly, the previously-inept pitching staff has recorded 3 shutouts in those games, and 7 games in which they recorded three runs against or less! It seems like first-round selection Taka Buchannon might just get some pitching support after all! To the pitching rescue are Armando Garay, Angel Trevino, Gael Wright, and AAA recruit Oscar Olsson.

Nemessey is running away with the North Division at the moment, a solid 8 games ahead of the rest of the pack. To give you some idea of the dominance this team has had : the last time they allowed more than three runs, was a 7-6 win vs. Port Charles on May 8th ... 13 games ago! Elton Lloyd and the rest of the starters have been lights out these last few weeks.

Robert Halford still has his batting average at .405, but his Pajt-Vorten Comets had to play without him these last few weeks, and managed to claw themselves into a South Division playoff position despite his bruised ankle he suffered on May 7th. He is expected to return to the Comets lineup within the week. This will certainly strengthen the team's chances at the playoffs. The "Hitting Brit" is down, but not out!

A reminder that the inaugural SGBL All-Star Game is nearing closer, scheduled for Sunday, June 7th! Expect GSN to give you all the coverage on who will be selected, and who will start! Don't miss it! Coming up in Week 10 coverage.



Coming up within a day or so, the preview of the Week 8 match up : Robert Halford's Pajt-Vorten Comets visiting the North Division's runaway powerhouse Nemessey Giants! On the mound for the Giants is none other than their star pitcher Elton Lloyd! Stay tuned to GSN for all the details!