The Leeds Rams of the Britannia League

[Archelirion]

In a world where everything remains untouched by the dreaded lurgy, 2020 is the first year of the Britannia League. The BL’s 30 teams are split between two aptly named leagues – the Northern League and the Southern League – which are then divided in three divisions a conference. Kinda like the MLB, really! There’s interleague play, with 162 games to decide who moves onto playoffs, which will be contested by the six divisional winners and a wildcard from each league.



I will be taking charge of the Leeds Rams, while trying not to wish the Portsmouth Destroyers (my home team until about two months ago) every success. More on that in a bit.

3 days waivers, option years enabled, All-Star break. Rosters are 25-man (30 on the 1^st September onwards till playoffs), with 40 on the secondary and for playoffs. Rule 5 draft will take place in December. There will also be a 12-round amateur draft in June, and international amateurs some time after July. So far, so normal.

The biggest change in the Britannia League is that player trades are banned. As far as players go, you can either use the free agent market, the waiver wire, or you see what you can pick up during Rule 5 or amateur draft times. To somewhat help with this, arbitration is available after 2 years, while minimum service years is only 3, instead of the usual 6. Furthermore, maximum contract length is 5 years. This may be reviewed in a few years if it’s awful, but it could be interesting (and furthermore stops the computer doing stupid stuff and me exploiting it for all it’s worth).

But lo! The Rams! Leeds are owned by 52-year-old Richard Brown, from Bolton (who, funnily enough, have an AAA-team called the Yellow Jackets in the Civics’ organisation). The good news is, he’s an understanding, patient chap that’s prepared to let his GM do his own thing, rather than meddle too much. On the downside, if he was any tighter he’d squeak while he walked. Amazingly, the Rams don’t have the smallest budget in the competition, an accolade reserved for the Sunderland Panthers at £25.8m (we have £27.6m – the Ealing Wolves stand up top with a monolithic £70m) – we do only have about £1.3m to play with in the free agent market though, which is good enough for a pretty average player. Just the one, mind.

By my very, very rough estimations, the Rams are the worst team in the BL (Belfast and Swansea aren’t too far off, though). Through eyeballing my team, our starting rotation isn’t actually horrible, and is probably the best part of our team, overall. Probably upper-average. Our bullpen is shocking. Our outfield is a travesty. Our infield is borderline-passable. At least the catcher is alright, in relation to the league. Oh, and the top prospect, SP Lewis Nolan, is #90 overall. Smashing.

On opening day, this is our starting 25:

SP Bruce Mackenzie (24, B:S, T:R, £3.2m/1 year) – Scottish/Cuban fellow, with high stamina, control, stuff… honestly, very little to complain about here.
SP Finley Gibbs (26, B:R, T:R, £280k/1 year) – three outstanding pitches (fastball, slider and changeup). Stuff is best but movement and control are still above average.
SP Lewis Nolan (23, B:L, T:L, £125k/1 year) – the #90 prospect. Extremely high stamina, solid tools, three solid pitches. Very intelligent fella, but also cripplingly lazy.
SP Isaac Rowland (25, B:R, T:R, £2m/2 years) – maybe earning a hair too much with his control and movement, but his stuff and stamina is quality. Throws an excellent fastball, splitter and curveball. Loyalty of a mercenary.
SP William “Love Machine” Harris (27, B:R, T:R, £131k/1 year) – high stamina, three great pitches, good even temperament. His stuff is alright but his other tools are a little bit lacking.

CL Declan Malley (21, B:R, T:R, £125k/1 year) – horrible movement, but probably my first choice of replacement if any starter gets injured. High stuff, three excellent pitches, good mentality.
SU Gareth David (29, B:R, T:R, £250k/1 year) – average movement, average control, barely above-average stuff. He’d get eaten up as a starter which is a shame, as otherwise he’d be a great rotation guy. Good personality for it, seen as a leader.
MR Theo Mitchell (28, B:L, T:L, £131k/1 year) – high stamina again, decent control, six pitches. Sadly, his six pitches aren’t that great, his movement is average and his stuff is pretty week even for a reliever. A southpaw though, which is always handy.
MR Bazid Jafri (25, B:L, T:R, $125k/1 year) – the walking epitome of unseasoned porridge. Honestly, the only remarkable thing about his play is how utterly unremarkable everything is. He’s apparently a nice dude though.
MR Callum Caulfield (27, B:L, T:L, £131k/1 year) – three amazing pitches (including a wicked curveball), solid stuff, solid control. If his stamina was higher and he could generate any kind of movement, he’d be a quality rotation dude.
LR Reece Vince (29, B:R, T:R, MiL) – another cripplingly average guy on tools, although two decent pitches and high stamina does mean he can play a couple of low-leverage innings and he might get away with it. Does own his own ventriloquist’s dummy however so already on a short leash.
LR Dennis Berkley (24, B:R, T:R, MiL) – injury prone, weak movement, iffy control and outspoken. On the plus side, he can throw his bad pitches all day long. Emergency emergency starter.

C Connor Devlin (35, B:R, T:R, £2m/2 years) – Mr. Popular. Runs like a drugged sloth, but with a sledgehammer of a bat on him. Decent catcher, although his arm isn’t outstanding. Likely to get injured.
C Bart Kettell (34, B:R, T:R, £900k/1 year) – kinda like Devlin in every way, but a little bit worse: big bat (but not as big as Devlin), decent-ish catcher (but not as good as Devlin), popular sort. Will probably get regular play, maybe 1 in 3 games.

1B/LF/RF Wayne Goulden (35, B:R, T:R, £1.6m/1 year) – big bat with excellent plate discipline, but slow as tar. You know, the quintessential first baseman. Actually not quite – he has an absolute bazooka of a fielding arm and can play in the outfield as a result.
2B Slevin Brown (29, B:R, T:R, £131k/1 year) – hard-working, defensively capable, tricksy baserunner with quality discipline and adept on the gaps. If his contact was better, he’d probably be an all-star.
2B Nicholas Manifold (28, B:R, T:R, £610k/1 year) – lightning on the double play but with not the greatest arm in the world. Another big bat but otherwise unremarkable on the plate.
[will likely play Brown against lefties but rotate Brown and Manifold against righties pretty regularly]
3B/LF Doug Phillips (40, B:R, T:R, £1.6m/1 year) – probably his last year, which is a shame. Great bat (but again, not outstanding contact – seems to be recurring) and really fast, too. I’d prefer a bit more of a defensive presence. Will play on third for now, but if I can maybe snag a third-baseman then I’ll move him into the outfield.
2B/3B/SS/LF/RF Luboslaw Lewandowski (28, B:R, T:R, £1.1m/2 years) – a defensive master with baserunning smarts, although he’s not particularly quick. Not likely to hit many homers and his eye is iffy, but actually has some slightly okay contact.
2B/SS/LF/RF Tyler Mitchell (23, B:R, T:R, MiL) – I think I’ve got a better appreciation of the strike zone than Mitchell. Fast, but not clever. Defensively average. If he wasn’t unflappable, he’d not survive five minutes.

LF Ben Henderson (22, B:L, T:L, £125k/1 year) – defensively infallible but with the baserunning nous of the aforementioned Mitchell. His bat is… alright. Nothing to shout about, but with room to grow for the young Scot.
LF/RF Gideon Thorne (22, B:L, T:R, £125k/1 year) – S-L-O-W and indecisive. Range isn’t the best, but has the arm of a cannon. Bat is pretty similar to Henderson actually, but with a slightly better eye.
LF/CF/RF Ewan Cousins (28, B:R, T:R, £250k/1 year) – veeeeery average hitter, but defensively not too bad and a good, captainly figure to have around the clubhouse. Was a sprinter at secondary school. Sadly, he still has the speed but has no idea when to run.
CF Craig “Stilts” Taylor (37, B:R, T:R, £2m/1 year) – some contact! Hard-working, too. Doesn’t really have anything he excels at but he doesn’t have anything he’s bad at, either.
1B/LF/RF Albert Henneberry (41, B:L, T:L, £325k/1 year) – the man from Calgary is a long way from home in Leeds. Always tries hard, is an above-average fielder and has a big swing. Will probably get injured at some point though.

Opening Day, and mysteriously our free agent ability has gone down from £1.3m to about £80k… and we’ve not signed anyone. Heard there were plans for a new leisure centre going up in Bolton, which was definitely unrelated.

[DandricSturm]

As an Anglophile, I'll be following.

[Archelirion]

30th March – 31st March: Games 1-2 @ Leicester Foxes

RHP Bruce Mackenzie (0-0) v RHP Hayden Horton (0-0)
RHP Finley Gibbs (0-0) v LHP Lewis Copland (0-0)

My scout's picks to watch:

3B Fergus Aldred
RP Albert Johnston
CL Lucas Martin
RP David Wellman
RP Arthur Cook

Opening Day of the opening season of the Britannia League, and we’re one of the lucky ones to play! Sadly we have to travel a couple of hours down the M1 rather than host our opponents, to Leicester, to face the Foxes. Happily, we do seem to have the upper hand on starting pitching, although it goes without saying that our bullpen is below-par. How will this go? ...er.

Game One – 7-0 WIN

Fantastic start! Up 3-0 in the 1st after a Henneberry 3-man dinger, although the injury to opposing starter Hayden Horton fairly cheapened that a little. From there it was pretty much one-way traffic,a Phillips hitting a sac single in the 3rd and a 2-run double off Thorne in the 5th more-or-less sealing the game off for us. Mackenzie pitched a blinder, throwing 94 pitches in all and only walking two. I’ll take another one of those tomorrow please.

• Taylor 1-5, 2 R, 2B // Lewandowski 2-3, 2 R, 2B // Henneberry 1-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR // Thorne 2-4, 2 RBI, 2B
• Mackenzie W (1-0), 8.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Elsewhere: the first ever Glasgow derby was one to remember, after a 3-run would-be-winning upper 9th by the Centurions was met by a 3-run actually-winning bottom 9th from the Stags – police presence was needed but ultimately the celebrations were without serious incident.

Game Two – 3-0 LOSS (13th inning)

Well… that was less good. Cousins getting himself ejected in the 3rd after contesting a strike call pretty much set the tone. Brown’s 7th-inning double was probably our best chance at getting something but nothing came of it, as the Foxes pitching staff were pretty locked in all game, only giving up 8 hits and a walk across 175 pitches of work (we gave up 12 hits, 9 walks across 231, with 7 separate pitchers going out). It was a wonder we lasted as long as we did, but Aldred’s 3-run dinger in the bottom of the 13th still stung a bit. We had a collective .174 batting average today, and without Lewandowski that goes down to .122. Time to move on.

• Lewandowski 3-5
• Gibbs 5.0 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 4 K // Vince L (0-1), 0.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, BB, HR

Elsewhere: George Carter of the Coventry Blazers pitched a 4 hit, 10 K blinder to chalk up the BL’s first ever shutout – and Cardiff were the victims, 5-0. Elsewhere, Newcastle slugger Louie Simpson absolutely silenced Panthers Ballpark during the first ever Tyne & Wear derby, smashing 3 dingers for the Shorebirds and leading them to a comfortable 8-1 victory over Sunderland. “An instant legend” said one astounded fan.

Cousins evaded a suspension, thankfully, and I am very, very grateful that we now have two whole days of rest before we go over to Belfast. We won’t see another rest period like that until the All-Star Break in July.

[Sizeman21]

Yes! Another Archelirion dynasty! Let's go Rams!

[Archelirion]

1st April - 5th April: (two off days +) Games 3-5 @ Belfast Lions (1-1) @ (0-2)

Tried claiming a couple of relievers on waivers, but forgot to check how much the free agent kitty is at now. About £38k, apparently – or in other words, absolutely bloody useless. Tight owners eh.

Baseball continued even on our days off (even the notion!) and as always, it was interesting. The Glasgow Centurions continued their mission to be the worst team in Scotland after getting swept in the Glasgow derby, by getting swept in a 2-game series against Edinburgh. They lost 6-0 and 7-3. On the 1st, Leicester tore apart Nottingham on the Marksmen’s home turf in a 20-3 routing, with both C Brandon Cox and 2B Simon Hargrove batting in 5 each, and Portsmouth overturned a 5-0 deficit in the final two innings to beat the Plymouth Green Sox 7-5. Finally on the 1st, 2 dingers from Cougars 2B Danny Chadwick went a long way in Wolverhampton’s trashing of Swansea, 14-5. The 2nd was a far less eventful day, although Brighton third-baseman Callum Stewart went deep twice during their 6-1 victory over the Bournemouth Poppies.

Sadly, two major injuries to the league, bringing down the competition’s overall quality. The first is 40-year-old Browns third-baseman Marcus Cartwright, who batted 3-5 in his first two appearances before tearing an abdominal muscle running the bases. The second is Plymouth #2 Noah Hollinshead, who pitched only three innings against Portsmouth before tearing his UCL. The 28-year-old will miss 14 whole months.

My scout found a 15-year-old pitcher in the Dominican Republic called Jesus Gomez. He throws a fastball, a cutter, a changeup and a forkball, and is likely never to get beyond rookie level. But, you never know.

LHP Lewis Nolan (0-0) v RHP Stuart Flanders (0-0)
RHP Isaac Rowland (0-0) v RHP Jude Powell (0-0)
RHP William Harris (0-0) v RHP Kieran Sutherland (0-0)

CL Manny Garcia
1B Josh Thomas (.222, 0 HR, 0 RBI – 9 AB)
SS Dominic Lawrie (.222, 1 HR, 1 RBI – 9 AB)
RP Bart Patel
RF Mick McGhee (.125, 0 HR, 0 RBI – 8 AB)

Almost forgot we were playing too! Belfast are not anticipating a great year, probably around 72-90, and are coming off a 2-game sweep at the hands of the Bradford Charges, outscored 3 to 11. Mercifully, all our bullpen is back to rude health, so hopefully we can avoid any extra-innings marathons for the time being. In terms of quality, we’re still pegged for a worse year (63 wins…) but this is one we have a chance at doing some damage to.

Game Three – 10-6 WIN

A win, but I’m only somewhat happy. We went up 3-0 in the first inning thanks to a Connor Devlin drill into the stands, but Lewis Nolan only went one inning before coming off – which meant it was bullpen time from inning #2. Brilliant. 2B Nicholas Manifold was on absolute flying form, going 4-5 with a double and a home run, and we were up 9-2 by the end of the 5th following a dinger from Dominic Lawrie. Sweated a bit after Vince was once more shellacked in the 6th, but the damage was only three runs and we were able to get the win wrapped up. So, we’re up 2-1, but now down a starter for most (if not all) of the season and already playing catchup with the bullpen while staring down the barrel of a 20-game run. Heeeeeeeeeeck.

• Phillips 2-5, 2 R, 2 RBI [3], HR // Devlin 1-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR, BB // Manifold 4-5, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR // Goulden 1-1, R, RBI, HR
• Nolan 1.0 IP, H, ER, BB // Berkley W (1-0), 3.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, BB, 4 K // Malley SV (1), 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 K

I’ve brought up Rio Glynn, a pretty solid-average starter from AAA-Huddersfield to replace Nolan, who’s gone on the 60-day DL. He’ll pitch 5th in the rotation.

Elsewhere: Wolverhampton RF Junro Mato gave all he had and went deep twice, although his Cougars side failed to rise to the occasion and let the Sunderland Panthers record their second win of the year, 5-3. Edinburgh and Birmingham played 4 innings at a 2-2 stalemate before Birmingham knocked in 2… and then Edinburgh knocked in three. The Volcanoes remain unbeaten, while the Aces remain winless. In the NL, only Edinburgh, Sheffield and the Glasgow Stags have a 100% record, while Belfast, Liverpool and Birmingham are still 0-fers. In the SL, Bristol and Portsmouth are 3-0 and 4-0 respectively, while the London Avengers and the Plymouth Green Sox have the opposite fates.

Turns out, we’re not the only ones to see an injured starter today – Nottingham lose Shane Bowen (1-0, 4.76) for four months with forearm inflammation. We feel you.

Game Four – 4-1 WIN

That’s more like it! A nice, clean win for us, although a little bit stressful as we held onto a 4-0 lead from the word go thanks to Gideon Thorne’s first-inning grand slam. Rowland played well, pitching for six innings, leaking 5 hits, walking 4 and striking out 9, and Jafri soaked up two innings excellently before Malley came in for the save. Only Taylor and Goulden hit more than once and Brown went 0-4 (although he’s nursing a bruised shoulder), but we played our part well. Good show!

• Taylor 2-5 // Goulden 2-3, R, BB // Thorne 1-4, R, 4 RBI [6], HR
• Rowland W (1-0), 6.0 IP, 5 H, ER, 4 BB, 9 K // Malley SV (2), 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Elsewhere: Marcus Hunter’s duo of homers drove Newcastle to a solid 6-3 victory over Swansea, although Fergus George’s two weren’t enough to give Liverpool their first win of the year as Nottingham clipped the Clippers 10-8 in extras. In the Southern League, a 7-run 6th surged the Croydon Skeletons to a 9-2 victory over Bristol, while Plymouth are now 0-5 after losing the ultimate embarrassment – a 2-1 loss to the Ealing Wolves, who only got one hit all game. The most high profile game, however, was the Waltham Forest Beavers beating the Brighton Dolphins in an absolute epic. Brighton went 8-5 in the 8th with four runs but the Beavers hit back immediately to take it to extras. Both sides scored 2 in the 10th, before Iestyn Wileman’s single did the damage for Forest in the 12th. However, Dolphins RF Pedro Cisneros is the first player in BL history to hit 5 in a a game, going 5-7 with 3 RBI, 4 runs and a homer.

Game Five – 7-6 WIN (11th inning)

Thanking every lucky star under the sun that Mackenzie pitched this one and not a lesser pitcher, as this was still only a 3 pitcher affair thanks to Brucie going 8 innings. What was frustrating was, Gareth David blew the save with a 2-run buffer in the 9th, meaning we could’ve gotten this wrapped up earlier – thankfully though, Theo Mitchell (a guy who I had little faith in beforehand, admittedly) saved the day… just about. Kettell’s solo dinger in the top of the 11th proved the difference, but the offence was on form all day! Sweep sweep sweep!

• Taylor 2-5, 3 R // Lewandowski 3-5 // Goulden 2-5, 2 RBI [3], BB // Phillips 2-5, R, BB, 2 2B // Henneberry 1-5, R, 2 RBI [5], HR [2] // Kettell 1-1, R, RBI, HR
• Mackenzie 8.0 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 2 HR // David BS (1), 1.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 0 K // Mitchell W (1-0), 1.1 IP, 2 H, ER, 2 K, HR

Elsewhere: Edinburgh continue their ripping start with an 11-4 win over Birmingham, punctuated by a 3 HR day from outfielder Lee Robinson. Meanwhile, Sutton rallied late to defeat Bournemouth 9-7 and win their 4th on the trot, and the hapless Green Sox lose again: Plymouth 0, Ealing 3. Plymouth are now the only winless side in the BL, currently sitting on 0-6.

NL PLAYER OF THE WEEK: SS Lance Brady (Sheffield) - .444 (8-18), 4 HR, 7 RBI
SL PLAYER OF THE WEEK: 1B Doug Baird (Cardiff) - .435 (10-23), 4 H, 7 RBI

4-1 is a pretty fantastic start, all told, and 5th on the power rankings is just amazing. It’s still too early to comment on a huge amount, but an impressive start to life for Luboslaw Lewandowski (currently batting .455) and Wayne Goulden (.312, 3 RBI) gives me hope on the offensive side. Gideon Thorne and Connor Devlin are both a little rusty, sitting on .167, although Thorne’s grand slam endears me to him a bit.

Tough series coming up against the 4-1 Glasgow Stags.

[Eugene Church]

Really like the traditional nicknames... looking forward to following your Brittania dynasty.

[Archelirion]

Thank you. For the first time in almost a year I have a stable hard drive, so I'm hoping that maybe this one won't end in corruption...

I've never really gelled with non-traditional names. They're cumbersome to talk about in the same way you'd talk about teams with plural nicknames.

[Archelirion]

6th April - 8th April: Games 6-8 @ Glasgow Stags - (4-1) @ (4-1)

RHP Finley Gibbs (0-0, 0.00, 1 G) v RHP Gideon Hosey (1-0, 4.50, 1 G)
RHP William Harris (0-0, 0.00) v RHP Albert Littlewood (0-0, 0.00)
RHP Rio Glynn (0-0, 0.00) v RHP Josh McArthur (1-0, 4.50, 1 G)

CF Martin Cole (.368, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 19 AB)
1B Tom Moss (.150, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 20 AB)
RP Dwaine Best (0-0, 0 SV, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP, 2 G)
RP Ashley Monaghan (0-0, 0 SV, 7.71 ERA, 3.00 WHIP, 2 G)
C Daryl Stewart (.353, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 17 AB)

The Stags have had a good start to the season, winning a 2-game sweep against cross-city rivals the Centurions and then winning their first interleague series against Coventry. They’re currently far-and-away the best offensive team in the competition, topping the NL in AVG, OBP, OPS, WAR and wOBA. With 6-of-8 of their starting lineup hitting over .300, I’m not particularly optimistic about bringing the second half of my rotation to them, on their home turf. However, they are struggling a bit with their pitching, and that’s the weakness we have to exploit…

Game Six – 20-3 LOSS

Bloody hell. To give you an impression of how this game started, it took 7 batters for us to get one out, by which time they’d scored five including a 3-man dinger and a routine 6-3 error. Another 4 runs followed in the 3rd. 9 – NINE – followed in the 4th. Gibbs only got to play 2 innings before being pulled, and was followed up by Vince and Mitchell to try and eat some innings – which went well, apparently. Goulden’s 2-man homer in the 9th was very, very scant consolation. What an utter nightmare.

• Henderson 2-4, R, RBI [3], HR // Goulden 2-4, R, 2 RBI [5], HR [2]
• Gibbs L (0-1), 2.0 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, HR, K

Elsewhere: while I was busy living out my personal nightmare in Glasgow, the other Glaswegian side were giving Stoke some last-innings hell by putting 5 past them in the final two innings to win 9-7. Louie Simpson gave an 8.1 inning, 12 strikeout masterclass to put Newcastle in a 6-0 commanding position against Leicester… and the Shorebirds blew the lot in one go! 7-6 Leicester! Simon Hargrove’s 3-run walkoff was a nightmare end to a cataclysmic collapse. Meanwhile, Plymouth wo-- oh no, they lost. 6-1 to the 1-4 Wolverhampton Cougars, and they’re now 0-7 this year.

We’ve got another two games to play against these guys yet.

Game Seven – 4-3 LOSS

LEE: LF Henderson – 1B Goulden – RF Henneberry – 3B Phillips – SS Lewandowski – CF Cousins – 2B Brown – C Kettell – P Glynn
GLS: CF Cole – LF Corbett – SS Douma – 1B Moss – C Stewart – 3B Hussey – RF Broadhurst – 2B Jones – P Littlewood

You know, after a defeat of yesterday’s magnitude this almost feels like a notch in the W column. After dropping a single run in the first, Phillips hit a 3-run homer in the top of the 3rd to give us a head start… but then this was followed in the bottom of the 3rd with a 3-run dinger from Stewart. Glynn actually went longer than Littlewood but both bullpens did their job – fair play to Caulfield and Harris (Harris moved to the bullpen after some recent decision making by the manager). Sadly, the offence didn’t come up. Lewandowski was nailed in the shoulder on his first plate appearance and while he’ll be okay, he had to come off, which doubtless didn’t help on the runs front.

• Phillips 1-4, R, 3 RBI [6], HR [2] // Cousins 0-4, 3 K
• Glynn L (0-1), 6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, HR

Elsewhere: Plymouth still can’t win, this time losing 2-1 to Wolverhampton – they’re currently only scoring marginally over 2 runs per game. They’re not the only .000 side however, as Belfast go 0-6 after a 9-7 defeat at the hands of the 5-1 Sutton Gold Sox. Louie Simpson (of Newcastle) and Bradley Eden (of Waltham Forest) become the first players to reach 5 homers and thankfully both their teams won, with the Shorebirds overcoming Leicester 10-7, and the Beavers beating the Bradford Chargers 8-4. Finally, Kyle McIntosh hit his first two four-baggers of the year today, helping his Bristol Buccaneers side defeat the Swansea Devils – also, 8-4.

I signed reliever Ashley Walsh on waivers from Ealing. Honestly, he’s not great – a two pitch guy with questionable control – but he can’t be any worse than Vince. He cannot be ANY worse. Vince drops down to Huddersfield with, from 3 innings of work, an ERA of 29.70, a WHIP of 4.80 and a WAR of -0.4.

Game Eight – 12-2 LOSS

LEE: LF Henderson – 3B Phillips – RF Henneberry – 1B Goulden – C Devlin – SS Lewandowski – 2B Brown – CF Cousins - P Berkley
GLS: CF Cole – LF Corbett – SS Douma – 1B Moss – C Stewart – 3B Hussey – RF Broadhurst – 2B Jones – P McArthur

Thumped again. If you’re counting, that’s a sweep, us back to .500, and a 36-8 cumulative run count across only three games. What’s sad is that we were briefly in the lead – 2-1 at the top of the 4th – before 11 runs were scored in the next three innings to well-and-truly put us to bed. Jafri takes the loss, but his performance is somewhat mitigated by a pretty horrendous error from Brown. Sadly, the nail in the coffin was new-boy Walsh, who pitched just over an inning and gave up 4 earned runs, including a 2-run dinger. Can I just point out though – old Manager Clive Robinson just put out an entire game of relievers. So guess who’s getting fired? If he’s doing stuff like that, I’ll just manage the damn team myself. That being said, we were outhit 17-to-5, too. We can’t pitch, we can’t hit. Let’s get out of Glasgow now. On the other side, McArthur was only ten pitches away from a complete game shutout.

On the plus side, Cousins got his first hit today! 1-in-14 is… something, right?

• Devlin 1-4, 2 RBI [4] // Goulden 1-2, R, 2 BB
• Jafri L (0-1), 0.2 IP, 4 H, ER, BB, 2 K

Elsewhere: Another 2 HR day for Louie Simpson and the Newcastle Shorebirds, who easily beat out the Leicester Foxes 8-4. Less good news for Dominic Lawrie of the Belfast Lions, who also clanged out 2 but saw his team nevertheless get brutalised 14-7 by Sutton – and yes, the Lions are still winless. The London Avengers surged from 2-6 down in the 7th to thrash the Manchester Browns 9-6, to earn their second win of the game, but the Brighton Dolphins are now 1-9 after an easy 8-3 loss to Coventry. Plymouth are now only one loss away from double digits without a win – 4-1 Wolverhampton.

We host our first ever team tomorrow, as we welcome the 6-4 Leicester Foxes to Leeds. We’ve already taken them on and swept them in our opening series… but after that Glaswegian affair, I’m not feeling quite so optimistic now.

At least the manager experiment is over now. Not playing a starting pitcher, unbelievable...

[Sizeman21]

Oh damn, I think you might have found your early season rivals! Glasgow weren't messing around that series. Seems like you need a bit more of everything on the team! Hope you bounce back against Leicester.

[PocketsAintFull]

Let's Go Aces!

[Archelirion]

Originally Posted by Sizeman21

Oh damn, I think you might have found your early season rivals! Glasgow weren't messing around that series. Seems like you need a bit more of everything on the team! Hope you bounce back against Leicester.

I shall be wanting to exact my revenge, put it that way! More pressing though is trying to make sure Leicester don't exact theirs on me in the next four games...

Originally Posted by PocketsAintFull

Let's Go Aces!

Brum are off to a slow start at 3-5, although they've just won their last two against Portsmouth () so the tide could be turning! They're looking at around 77 wins this year as per the predictions so nothing amazing - the Midwest is set to be a battle royale between Cardiff and Coventry. Poor old Swansea are anticipating a 107-loss season though, so at least the Aces should beat those ;w;

[Archelirion]

9th April – 12th April: Games 9-12 v Leicester Foxes (6-4 @ 4-4)

RHP Isaac Rowland (1-0, 1.50, 1 GS) v LHP James Worrall (1-0, 2.57, 1 GS)
RHP Rio Glynn (0-1, 6.00, 1 GS) v LHP Lewis Copland (1-0, 0.00, 2 GS)
RHP Bruce Mackenzie (1-0, 1.69, 2 GS) v RHP Joshua Stanley (1-0, 6.30, 2 GS)
RHP Finley Gibbs (0-1, 6.43, 2 GS) v RHP Bradley Lander (0-0, 3.60, 2 GS)

CL Lucas Martin (0-0, 2 SV, 0.00 ERA, 0.25 WHIP)
RP David Wellman (0-2, 1 SV, 3.86 ERA, 1.07 WHIP)
3B Fergus Aldred (.225, 3 HR, 12 RBI, 40 AB)
CF Tierney Williams (.267, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 45 AB)
1B Declan Smith (.311, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 45 AB)

Turns out, my memory was already failing me – we had NOT swept the Foxes last time we played them, instead beating them 7-0 on Opening Day and then losing 3-0 the following. Since then, they had trashed Nottingham 20-3, swept Bradford, and lost a series to the power-mad Johnson and his Newcastle cronies. Also turns out, my short-tenured manager had set a David as a follower, which might have explained the weird pitching setup seen yesterday. Still, I’m not having such radical ideologies in my setup.

Leicester haven’t been slugging too well despite the Ballpark of Leicester being a reasonably tater-friendly ground, but maybe that will change here with our obscenely dingable park. I do hope not. Their starting lineup has been fairly average as well, but they’ve excelled in the bullpen run by Martin and currently top the Northern League in pitcher WAR – so, if we don’t win this in the first half, we probably won’t at all.

Game 9 – 4-2 LOSS

LEI: LF George – 1B Smith – RF Lockwood – 3B Aldred – CF Gardner – SS Johnson – C Cox – 2B Cobley – P Worrall
LEE: CF Taylor – 3B Phillips – 1B Goulden – C Devlin – 2B Brown – RF Cousins – LF Henderson – SS Lewandowski – P Rowland

I am already growing to dislike Aldred, who hit two homers and an RBI-single today to absolutely ruin our day. Rowland pitched pretty damn well, if uneconomically – he struck out 13 in 6 innings, but somehow used up 108 pitches with no walks during that time – but picks up the L due to Aldred’s efforts and our utter lack of ability to clutch hit. We actually did out-gun them 8 to 6, though three of those were Goulden and two of those were Cousins who (whispers) might be starting to get the hang of things. Only Aldred seemed to be awake for the Foxes. Problem is, when you’ve got Brown, Henderson and Lewandowski totally failing to make contact you’re effectively losing half a batting order, and that’s what happened.

• Goulden 3-4, R, 2B // Cousins 2-3 // Brown 0-3, 3 K
• Rowland L (1-1), 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 13 K, HR

Elsewhere: PLYMOUTH WON. It may have taken them 10 games and 12 innings today, but an 11-8 result for the Green Sox is just what the doctor ordered (fun fact: more runs were scored today than in the last 7 Plymouth games combined). They did it with a 2 run equaliser in the 9th, and blasting 4 past the Buccaneers in the 12th. Belfast also won their first game despite leaking 4 homers to the Sutton Gold Sox, scruffing the Gold Sox for 5 late runs to win 7-6. Also, Sunderland continue their quiet tear with a 4-1 win over Nottingham that sees them land a 7-1 record, joint-top in the BL with the Glasgow Stags. In the only other Southern League game today outside of Plymouth-Bristol, Coventry shortstop Joseph Wilson mashes two into the stands to help the Blazers win 8-2 against the Swansea Devils.

An added tragedy – Rowland currently holds the record for the most amount of strikeouts in a game. I don’t want to wish Aldred a serious injury, but if he could just tweak an intercostal or something for a week that’d be smashing, ta. To make matters worse for the Bristol Buccaneers, top-of-the-rotation Chris Torres partly tore his labrum today, and will miss the next month-and-a-half of play to recover.
ettell)
Game 10 – 5-4 WIN

LEI: CF Williams – 1B Smith – LF Gardner – RF George – 3B Pritcher – SS Johnson – C Leech – 2B Medina – P Copland
LEE: C Devlin – 3B Phillips – 1B Goulden – CF Taylor – 2B Manifold – LF Cousins – RF Thorne – SS Mitchell – P Mackenzie

Well that was a heartstopper! Doug Phillips lead the charge today stupendously, hitting 2 homers (the first Ram in history to do so) and batting 3 in, in the 1st and 5th innings respectively. We were fairly comfortably up at 5-0 in the 8th but I got stupid with Mackenzie pitching for the shutout – on two outs, the bases were loaded, and I knew I should’ve subbed him them. But, I didn’t, and catcher Leech (a man batting .050 before today) ripped in a two-run single. Malley then allowed a second hit, a double off Medina, and suddenly it was a very, very tense game. Still, Malley saw it out when it mattered, and we have our first win in 5 games. Have at it!

• Phillips 3-4, 2 R, 3 RBI [9], 2 HR [4] // Manifold 2-3, R, BB, 2B
• MacKenzie W (2-0), 7.2 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 8 K // Malley SV (3), 1.1 IP, H, 0 ER, 2 BB

Elsewhere: Apparently with newfound mojo, the Plymouth Green Sox blanked the Bristol Buccaneers today, with Marcus McCartney holding the Buccs to a 2-hit, 1-walk game, chalking up 10 K’s in the process. Waltham Forest smacked two past the bloody Stags late to win 4-3 – notably, both sides are now 7-2. Louie Simpson is now on 9 homers already for the Newcastle Shorebirds after another two-HR day, Newkie easily beating the Croydon Skeletons 7-2, and the 8-2 Ealing Wolves told Sunderland exactly what they thought of their start to the season, thrashing them 7-0. 2-HR days were also had by Dominic Lawrie (again) of Belfast, the Lions squeaking their 2nd win this year with a 3-2 result over Bradford, and Bertrand Hunt of the Edinburgh Volcanoes, who helped his team win against the ailing Centurions 6-1. Finally in a day filled with action, the London Avengers, courtesy of a 7-run 5th due to a Matthew Ward bases-clearing double, trashed the Sutton Gold Sox 12-4 to climb up to 3-6.

Game 11 – 8-6 LOSS

LEI: CF Williams – 1B Smith – RF Lockwood – 3B Aldred – LF George – SS Pritcher – C Cox – 2B Cobley – P Stanley
LEE: CF Taylor – SS Lewandowski – 1B Goulden – RF Henneberry – 2B Brown – LF Thorne – C Kettell – 3B Mitchell – P Gibbs

When a game starts with a homer off the third pitch, you know it’s going to be an interesting day. We had a few tired faces in the lineup so this one was always going to be rough with people like Thorne, Kettell and Mitchell in the offering but… crikey. To be fair, at times we were very much a match for them, but I can pinpoint the two moments the game went to crud – that 1st inning, and Lockwood’s 3-man dinger off Caulfield in the 7th. Before that, we’d actually managed to tie the game up, with Kettell’s 2-man homer doing a lot of damage, and Manifold hit another 2-man job in the 9th to give us a fighting chance. Unfortunately, that prompted the Foxes to bring on Lucas Martin, and we struck out in order.

Oh, forgot to mention. Tierney Williams hit two of the dingers against us. Agh.

• Lewandowski 2-4 // Manifold 1-1, R, 2 RBI [4], HR [2] // Henneberry 0-2, R, 3 BB // Kettell 1-3, R, 2 RBI [3], HR [2]
• Gibbs L (0-2), 6.0 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 2 HR

Elsewhere: Some big results today. Louie Simpson cruises to being the first man in BL history to hit 10 home runs, and then 11, with ANOTHER 2-HR day in Newcastle’s 10-4 routing of Croydon. He now has more homers than games the Shorebirds have played. Ealing become the first side to reach 10 wins with a 6-0 shutout of Sunderland, and the Bradford Chargers utterly obliterate the Belfast Lions in Northern Ireland with a 17-6 lambasting. Bad day for Manchester, good day for the south coast: Brighton’s Jay Beattie hit 2 boundaries as the Dolphins win only their second game of the year against the Manchester Browns, while the Civics are shellacked 15-3 by the Bournemouth Poppies, 1B Zak McPherson with two-tater damage there. Finally, Swansea inflicted 5 home runs and an 11-2 scoreline on the visiting Coventry Blazers – both sides are now 6-5.

I now have a slightly difficult choice to make. I have only two players batting over .300 and one of those is Luboslaw Lewandowski, currently the leader with .333. However, he’s only just recovered from a bruised shoulder and now he’s on the DtD for a projected 4 weeks with a strained oblique. It seems playing impact is minimal so I might try and keep him on, but chances are I’ll have to play him less and that… that will suck.

This to at least go .500 against Leicester...

Game 12 – 4-3 WIN

LEI: CF Williams – 1B Smith – RF Lockwood – 3B Aldred (hot) – LF Gardner – SS Johnson (cold) – C Leech – 2B Cobley – P Knowles
LEE: C Devlin – LF Henderson – 1B Goulden – RF Henneberry – 2B Brown – 3B Phillips – SS Lewandowski – CF Taylor – P Glynn

Would you believe it, Williams opened with a dinger. Fine start Glynn. Despite that however, Glynn actually gave us a perfectly serviceable outing, aside from the fact that all three runs came from home runs for the Foxes (another two from Tierney and one from Aldred). Bazid Jafri played almost two innings for the save, and while got into a sticky spot at the end (needed an out otherwise it was extras pretty much) he did his job well enough for sure. On our end, solid offensive effort really – all four of our runs came from homers too, with 2 from Devlin who had a belter of a game and 2 from Phillips who becomes the first Ram to breach 10 RBIs. Concerns for Brown who is on a 0-10 run at the moment. Still, this result means we can welcome our next opposition with a .500 record… oh it’s the 8-3 Sheffield Jets.

Cool.

• Devlin 3-4, R, 2 RBI [7], 2B, HR [2] // Henderson 2-4 // Phillips 1-3, R, 2 RBI [11], HR [5]
• Glynn W (1-1), 7.1 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 3 HR // Jafri SV (1), 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, K

Elsewhere: Stags 1B Tom Moss hit a walkoff 10th inning homer to close the Glasgow-Waltham Forest tie with both sides at 8-3 – the game ended 6-5. Louis Marsden struck 14 out in 7 innings during the Newcastle Shorebirds’ 5-1 victory over Croydon (and, as a bonus, that game was closed with a Marcus Hunter grand slam). 8 balls went into the fair stands during the Sheffield-Birmingham 14-inning classic, with 2-of-the-best from the Aces’ Fergus Blundell, but it was the Jets who won the spoils with Robert Hughes’ eventual winner. All three of Stoke’s runs were solo homers too, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a resilient Cardiff Wyverns who won 5-3 (there were 5 errors committed in that game), and the London Avengers once again dismantled the Sutton Gold Sox, being 10-1 up by the 5th and finally winning 12-2. Finally, Plymouth catcher Waweru El Hadrioui hit a 2-run double in the 11th to make the difference in the Green Sox’ 4-2 result over Bristol. Got all that? Good.

You know I said that Leicester hadn’t been slugging well? In those four games, they climbed from last to 12th in the OPS standings. You’re welcome, Tierney. Ya git.

Manchester Civics reliever Amrita Sangem (0-0, 1.69 ERA, 0.47 WHIP, 10 IP) has gone home to India on extended leave, the Civics press citing ‘personal circumstances’ for the 26-year-old native of Punjab.

NL PLAYER OF THE WEEK: RF Louis Simpson (Newcastle), 12-22 (.545), 8 HR, 17 RBI
SL PLAYER OF THE WEEK: RF Bart Davis (Bournemouth), 11-21 (.524), 4 HR, 6 RBI

Louis Simpson is an absolute animal.

So, it’s the end of week two and things are looking… okay… ish. Given we’re not expected any more than .400 this year the fact we remain on .500 is an acceptable start to say the least, Pythagorean record be damned (4-8? Ugh). Offensively we’re doing about midway on most statistics – 53 runs (7th), .740 OPS (9th), baserunning +1.0, whatever that means. Concerningly we’re stone last in the NL on OBP (.310), although Cardiff are only running a .301 and they’re 8-5! Doug Phillips is on a hot streak, batting 8-26 in the last 7 games and hitting 4 clangers – not insane numbers, but certainly the best we’ve got at the moment. Sadly, Slevin Brown has hit a worse dry spell than I thought, and is 3-from-25 lately with absolutely no production whatsoever. Dude is seriously just wasting a spot. Finley Gibbs has also failed to impress so far, and is now on 13.50 ERA with a 0-2 record. He’s on a leash, put it that way.

What’s most worrying is that my bullpen is shaky, and this is becoming very apparent in these very early stages. Granted those numbers are aggravated by the 27.00 that Grant has and the 10.80 of Mitchell – without those two, between Berkley, Caulfield, David, Jafri and Malley we’re probably nudging 3.50. That’s not so bad, but we’ve had some tight escapes already and I’m aware that we just don’t have the quality – my scout rates Malley as 45 and he’s our BEST. Trouble is, the pot is empty and remember, trading is banned. So… looks like we’ll have to muddle through somehow.

We play Sheffield next, which I’m looking forward to. Last time we played a team doing as well as they were, it was the Glasgow Stags. Yeah, looking forward to this one very much indeed.

[Archelirion]

13th - 16th April: Games 13-16 @ Sheffield Jets (6-6 @ 8-3)

RHP William Harris (0-0, 9.00, 0 GS) v LHP Andre Lake (2-0, 1.29, 2 GS)
RHP Isaac Rowland (1-1, 2.25, 2 GS) v RHP Dylan Wakelin (1-1, 5.73, 2 GS)
RHP Bruce MacKenzie (2-0, 2.66, 3 GS) v LHP Thomas O’Connor (1-0, 4.00, 2 GS)
RHP Finley Gibbs (0-2, 8.31, 3 GS) v RHP Uinsin Snell (0-2, 8.44, 2 GS)

CL Graeme Bryan (1-0, 1 SV, 1.69 ERA, 0.56 WHIP, 5.1 IP)
SP Andre Lake (2-0, 1.29 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, 14.0 IP)
RF Ultan Baker (.289, 5 HR, 12 RBI, 45 AB)
SP Dylan Wakelin (1-1, 5.73 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 11.0 IP)
RP Joel Murdoch (0-0, 1.35 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 6.2 IP)

Trip down the road to South Yorkshire now, for a four-game series against the Sheffield Jets who are doing really rather well at the start of this season – much to our chagrin, as they’re divisional rivals. Topping the league in home runs and stolen bases seems to suggest that they’re successful no matter what style of play they attempt. Their 4.65 starters ERA is good for 5th in the league and a perfect 2.00 is 2nd for the bullpen, while their defensive efficiency is also top draw. Only places they’re lacking so far are in a .233 batting average (12th in the NL) and a .317 OBP (11th), and indeed, there are only two clear high-performers in their lineup in these early stages – Ultan Baker (see above), and shortstop Lance Brady, hitting .286 with 5 dingers and 9 ribbies.

William Harris will take his first start this year, after my manager played him in the bullpen. Was my manager right? His first game up against the fantastic Andre Lake is not going to be an easy start to life in the rotation, but I’ll take a good performance over the win… although the win would be nice.

GAME 13 – 4-2 WIN

LEE: C Devlin – 3B Phillips (hot) – 1B Goulden – CF Taylor – 2B Manifold – SS Lewandowski (inj.) - LF Cousins – RF Thorne – P Harris
SHF: LF Hawkins – CF – Milne – RF Baker – 1B Rees – SS Brady – 3B Neale – 2B Lewis – C Murphy – P Lake

As expected, Lake made life very, very hard for our boys, and until he came off after 7-and-a-third innings, we’d only grabbed 2 hits and gone down in order 5 times. Devlin had a hideous 0-3 outing but arguably had the most important AB of the game for us in the 8th, luring Lake for 13 pitches and taking him over the 100 pitch mark comfortably – this meant he was subbed for Rubin, after which Thorne(!) and Henneberry (pinch-hitting for Goulden) went deep for 2 men each. Harris played okay but only featured in 4 innings – his pitch economy was poor with a 52-33 strike-ball count, and the bases were loaded on his at-bat so it made sense to sub him for a batter at that moment.

• Henneberry 1-1, R, 2 RBI [7], HR [3] // Cousins 2-3, R, BB // Thorne 1-4, R, 2 RBI [9], HR [2]
• Harris 4.0 IP, 5 H, ER, 2 BB, 4 K // David W (1-0), 1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K // Malley SV (4), 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Elsewhere: the Glasgow Stags went to Sunderland and made themselves very unwelcome guests, making it 13-0 within the first three innings and ending the game 17-5 to the good. Liverpool got their second win of the year but at a hefty cost, with their 2-1 win ending after 15 innings with Lewis Watts’ solo homer and 7 pitchers used. Meanwhile, Avengers shortstop Dane Gray went 5-5 during London and Waltham Forest’s epic 34-hit shootout, but it was the Beavers that won 16-12 after a 7-run 2nd and an 8-run 5th! Plymouth put 3 past Bournemouth in the bottom of the 9th to tie their game up 7-7 but ultimately had no response to Bart Davis’ solo bomber at the start of the 10th. Finally, Tim Ward’s 2-run single in the top of the 9th tied the Wolverhampton-Coventry game up 4-4, which was great for the Cougars as they ultimately won 5-4, albeit also only after 15 innings of play.

GAME 14: 3-1 LOSS

LEE: 3B Phillips – LF Henderson – 1B Goulden – RF Henneberry – 2B Brown (cold) – SS Lewandowski (inj.) - CF Cousins – C Kettell – P Rowland
SHE: LF Lindsay (cold) – CF Milne – RF Baker – 1B Rees – SS Brady – C Shepley – 2B Lewis – 3B Neale – P Wakelin

(exhales) That was grim. Rowland had a spectacularly naff start and used up nearly 70 pitches in his first two innings, although somehow only gave up 3 runs (all from a 3rd-inning Rees smash) and was able to play until the end of the 5th, with a 104-pitch effort. Theo Mitchell came on and played through the final 3 innings with no runs, only one hit, 3 strikeouts, and a mere 34 pitches, so a fantastic effort from him. The bats just… weren’t there. Kettell reached on a second to drive in a bases loaded run in the second, but that was all that prevented us from getting shut out. Phillips and Henderson were ghastly at the top of the rotation. Goulden ground out all the time. Henneberry got bloody unlucky twice, requiring superb dives from Baker to deny what would undeniably have been two-baggers. In fact, the only man to record a hit was Lewa, who clocked two singles up the centre – but even he didn’t escape my bad books, with two consecutive errors he was VERY lucky to get away with.

• Lewandowski 2-4 // Henderson 0-3, 3 K
• Rowland L (1-2), 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, HR

Elsewhere: Fairly quiet day all round. Jamie Kerr hit two HR’s for the Edinburgh Volcanoes, beating Newcastle 7-4, while a walkoff single for Chris Baxter handing the 3-11 Glasgow Centurions a shock victory over the 11-3 Ealing Wolves. Lions 1B Josh Thomas also crushed two in Belfast’s 11-5 win over the Civics – their 3rd win of the year and the first not only with more than 10 runs but also their first by more than one run. The Birmingham Aces soundly thumped the Swansea Devils 9-1 in Wales, and for the second consecutive day, the Green Sox equalised in the bottom of the 9th against the Bournemouth Poppies – but THIS time won 4-3.

GAME 15: 3-2 LOSS

LEE: C Devlin – 3B Phillips – 1B Goulden – CF Taylor – 2B Manifold (hot) – SS Lewandowski (inj.) - LF Cousins – RF Thorne – P MacKenzie
SHE: LF Lindsay – CF Milne – RF Baker – 1B Rees – SS Brady – C Shepley – 2B Lewis – 3B Neale – P O’Connor

Devlin took O’Connor’s very first pitch for a 374ft ride, which was a particularly lovely start after yesterday’s traumatising experience. Sadly, it very quickly became even more frustrating than yesterday, as while we were hitting, it was only one or two an inning and the production was just not happening. MacKenzie was pitching brilliantly until the 4th at which point the wheels fell off and the full-counts came rolling in and while he only walked one, it brought his count up far too quickly. Berkley pitched superbly and was possibly going to see the game out, until he came off clutching his elbow and… it looks bad. We’ll find out soon, but I’m not optimistic. Goulden, Taylor and the before-brilliant Manifold looked awful.

• Devlin 1-4, R, RBI [8], HR [3] // Goulden 0-3, BB, 3 K // Lewandowski 2-4, R // Thorne 2-3, RBI [10], BB, 2 2B
• MacKenzie L (2-1), 5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, BB, 5 K, HR

Somehow, Thorne becomes the second Ram to reach 10 RBIs, and is steadily improving his BA too - currently .189. When did that happen?! Bone chips for Berkley. That’s his year as good as done. Problem is, our bullpen is heroically awful in the minors. We haven’t played enough of the AAA season yet for me to get a good read on players, so I’m really playing a straws game here. Not Reece Vince though. He’s crap. (Pulls name out hat) Gayan Namdev. Born in Jabalpur, India, with a 0.00 ERA from 2.1 IP of work. See what I have to work with here?

Elsewhere: The Newcastle Shorebirds’ catcher Angel Rosiles did the damage in the bottom of the 12th with an RBI-triple, meaning the Shorebirds beat Edinburgh after equalising at the bottom of the 9th, 4-3. The Glasgow Stags were sitting to hand the Sunderland Panthers a 3-0 shutout after Lewis Crawford’s amazing 8 innings of work, but Nathan Pearce undid it all and, inexplicably, the Panthers won 4-3 after 3 walks and 4 singles. Ealing’s Pakistani contingent won their game against the Glasgow Centurions 13-8, with Merdasan Bhatti batting in 7 with two homers and Alam Zardari clocking his 6th of the year – meanwhile, Wolves RF Jake Chan is suspended for 4 games and Centurions reliever Oliver Stoyle for 9 after a nasty fight during the game. Manchester Browns outfielder Floripes Lenzi went 5-5 with two walks but the Browns were still comfortably whacked 12-5 by Liverpool, while in Nottingham, Kevin Evans’ second homer of the day was also the walkoff as the Marksmen beat the Stoke Flames 7-6. Finally, the Birmingham Aces were held at a 7-hit shutout by the Swansea Devils who strode to a 7-0 victory, despite Devils starter Oscar Bassett only pitching 58.

Finley Gibbs to pitch now – the possible difference between remaining .500 and going .438. Oh boy. Our only chance is that their starter, Uisin Snell, is almost doing as badly as Gibbs is.

GAME 16 – 5-0 WIN

LEE: C Devlin – CF Taylor – RF Henneberry – 3B Phillips – 2B Brown (cold) – LF Thorne – SS Lewandowski (inj) – 1B Kettell – P Gibbs (cold)
SHE: 2B McMahon – CF Milne – RF Baker – 1B Rees – SS Brady – C Shepley – 3B Neale – LF Hatch – P Snell

THAT was the performance I knew Gibbs was capable of when evaluating him at the start of this year. 9.0 IP, 6 H, 9 K’s, 122 pitches – THAT. IS. A. SHUTOUT! We deserved to win that as well – Devlin’s opening triple set things off right, and then Kettell bashed a homer into the stands on the 3rd to make it 2-0. The defining inning was the 6th, when we actually got a hit out of Slevin Brown for the first time in what feels like forever (it was 14 at-bats, which might as well be forever) - an RBI-double no less – and then a 2-run single from Thorne more or less finished off the job. We weren’t perfect – 10 strikeouts in the first 5 innings is not a perfect day by anyone’s standards, and Lewa had an uncharacteristically bad day – but we were close. He’s a genuinely nice guy is Gibbs, and it’s good I can actually say something nice about him.

• Taylor 2-3, RBI, BB // Thorne 1-4, 2 RBI [12] // Lewandowski 0-4, 3 K // Kettell 2-4, R, RBI [5], HR [3]
• Gibbs W (1-2), 9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 9 K – SHUTOUT

Elsewhere: Stoke 1B Joe Phillips hit his 4th and 5th dingers of the year en route to the Flames beating the Nottingham Marksmen 6-3 – they are now 6-9 and 7-8 respectively. The Belfast Lions scored in all but two innings (including all of the final 5) and 7 in the 9th during their 19-3 annihilation of the Manchester Civics – catcher Reece Catling, 1B Josh Thomas and LF Euan Hay all had duo-HR days, batting in 12 between them. Meanwhile, the Portsmouth Destroyers continue on their 6-game run – their second consecutive sweep – with a 6-3 victory over the Bristol Buccaneers, meaning they’re now 12-3 and owners of the highest win percentage in the Britannia League. Lastly, the Birmingham Aces hit 6 past Swansea in the final inning to cement an 8-1 victory, going 6-9 – they are now 3.5 games behind SL Midwest leaders Cardiff.

Our first taste of interleague play starts tomorrow, with the 8-7 Bournemouth Poppies making the long journey up north to play here in Leeds. I'm still bouncing off the ceiling after Gibbs came good. After Brown finally broke his bad streak as well, I'm hoping I'll have more reasons to celebrate soon.

[Buster Cherry]

Play up, Pompey.

[Archelirion]

Pompey, play up

[Archelirion]

17th - 19th April: Games 17-19 v Bournemouth Poppies (8-8 v 8-7)

RHP Rio Glynn (1-1, 4.72, 2 GS) v RHP Doug Butler (1-0, 5.59, 2 GS)
RHP William Harris (0-0, 5.14, 1 GS) v RHP Ewan Timms (1-1, 4.79, 2 GS)
RHP Isaac Rowland (1-2, 3.18, 3 GS) v RHP Reardon Burgess (1-1, 3.98, 3 GS)

RF Bart Davis (.368, 7 HR, 14 RBI, 57 AB)
1B Zak McPherson (.340, 3 HR, 12 RBI, 50 AB)
2B Steve Smith (.317, 5 HR, 15 RBI, 60 AB)
SP Ewan Timms (1-1, 4.79 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 20.2 IP)
SP Bill Rees (1-0, 1.74 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 20.2 IP)

After a slightly rough start to their season which saw the Poppies drop to 1-4 following a Gold Sox sweep, the Dorset side haven’t lost a series yet – 2-1 against Cardiff, a sweep against the Manchester Civics, and then a 2-2 split to the Plymouth Green Sox. The top four in their regular rotation – SS Zajda, 1B McPherson, 2B Smith and RF Davis – have all got at least 10 RBI, and Davis in particular is on a bit of a tear recently, batting 12-33 with 6 dingers and 10 ribbies from his last 9 games. Their weakness? Bullpen, currently sitting on an ERA of nearly 5 and a closer with an ERA of over 8. I’m just glad that we should avoid Bill Rees.

GAME 17: 5-4 LOSS

BOU: SS Zajda – 1B McPherson – 2B Smith – RF Davis (hot) – LF Lewis – CF Thomas – 3B Cleaver – C Ravandur – P Butler
LEE: C Devlin – LF Henderson – 1B Goulden – RF Henneberry – 2B Brown (cold) – 3B Phillips – SS Lewandowski (inj.) - CF Taylor – P Glynn

Henneberry was absolutely fantastic for us today, but he was the only one. 3 hits, two dingers, a double, all 4 RBIs… you name it, he did it. To be fair to Glynn he wasn’t horrible on the mound today, but the infield was an absolute joke in the first half of the game – 2 errors from Phillips, one from Goulden all went towards runs that should never have even reached base. Two passed balls from Devlin didn’t help either. Henneberry matched Poppies whenever they scored – 1 in the 1st, Henneberry scored one in the 2nd. 2 in the 4th, Henneberry put two past in the 5th. The sad thing is, when the rest of the team is playing as appallingly as we were, McPherson’s 9th-inning solo dinger was all we deserved. Disgusted.

Oh, and Lewandowski has a severe hip strain and is out for 6 weeks now, so bang went the only reliable contact that we have in the side. Fantastic.

• Henneberry 3-4, 2 R, 4 RBI [11], 2 HR [5], 2B
• Glynn 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, HR // Jafri L (0-2), 1.0 IP, 2 H, ER, K, HR

Elsewhere: while I was busy trying not to beat nearly every Ram to death with a training bat, Newcastle and the Manchester Civics were having a fantastic ding-dong battle that ended 11-10 – and at 11-7 at the start of the bottom 9th, the Civics nearly overcame the Shorebirds at the last. Two Kieron Lowe dingers helped the Birmingham Aces to a 5-3 win against the Croydon Skeletons, and two from Sutton’s Arthur Davis saw the Gold Sox beat the Swansea Devils 9-4; more troubling for the Devils, however, is that key starter Damien Clark (2-1, 3.16) has absolutely destroyed his UCL and will not play baseball until next July at the earliest.

To replace Lewandowski, who has broken my heart and my resolve in doing so, I’m bringing up SS Logan King from AAA-Huddersfield. He’s not very quick but apparently is a low-average hitter with a mean fielding ability so… he might be okay…? He’s also a switch hitter, which is cool.

GAME 18: 15-5 LOSS

BOU: SS Zajda – 1B McPherson – 2B Smith – RF Davis (hot) – LF Lewis – CF Thomas – 3B Cleaver – C Byrne – P Timms
LEE: CF Taylor – LF Henderson (cold) – 1B Goulden – 3B Phillips – 2B Manifold – RF Thorne – C Kettell – SS Mitchell – P Harris

I had this one already pencilled in as a loss after the 4th. Harris was absolutely shocking right off the bat, and by the time I’d acquiesced and determined it to be better to delve into the bullpen, he’d pitched only 4 innings, given up 8 hits, 8 earned runs, 3 walks and 3 dingers. Namdev and Walsh were appalling as well, with a further 9 hits and 7 runs between them, but by that time the game was practically lost and I’d rather have kept the players I knew could make a difference in an actually salvageable situation. Taylor, Henderson and Phillips were pathetic on the plate (in Henderson’s case, AGAIN), but Manifold, Thorne, Kettell and Mitchell all had two hits apiece. Still, the Poppies entire lineup had at least one (most had two), Davis hit two dingers, Smith hit a 3-man and, the biggest humiliation, even pitcher Timms took one for a ride. I’ll be glad when these guys bugger off down south.

• Henneberry 1-2, R, 2 RBI [13], HR [6] // Manifold 2-4, R, 2B // Thorne 2-4, 2 R // Kettell 2-3, RBI // Mitchell 2-4, RBI
• Harris L (0-1), 4.0 IP, 8 H, 8 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 3 HR

Elsewhere: Reasonably uneventful day. Nottingham spanked the visiting Bristol Buccaneers 13-0 despite starting pitcher Charlie Strong tweaking an abdominal early on – amazingly, they won with only one double, one triple, and 11 base hits. Josh Thomas had another 2-HR day as the Belfast Lions just about hung onto a 4-3 win against the Edinburgh Volcanoes, while the Ealing Wolves had probably their lowest day of the season so far, the 13-5 team getting thumped 16-3 on their own turf by the Cardiff Wyverns.

If we can play a game where we don’t get toasted, or shoot ourselves in the foot, that’d be magnificent thanks.

GAME 19: 8-7 LOSS

BOU: SS Zajda – 1B McPherson – 2B Smith – RF Davis (hot) – CF Thomas (hot) – LF Hulse – 3B Cleaver – C Ravandur – P Burgess
LEE: C Devlin – LF Henderson (cold) – 1B Goulden – RF Henneberry – 2B Brown (cold) – 3B Phillips – SS King – CF Cousins – P Rowland

JAFRI YOU USELESS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA A

This game is going to make me an emotional wreck. We started off fantastically well, with good contact play and a little bit of luck meaning we were up 5-2 by the end of the 6th. The 7th was quiet but then, in the top of the 8th, our game fell apart as David managed to load the bases up on one out – not great, huh. Jafri comes on… base-clearing triple to Hulse. I could’ve cried. The misery continued and by the end of the inning, we were 7-5 down. Another run on Caulfield in the 9th and things were almost dead in the water, but then, by a mixture of luck and judgment, the bases were loaded on two outs. Mitchell, hardly a titan, steps up. It’s a flyball into the outfield, Thomas closes on i-- NO, HE DROPS IT, NOW IT’S A ONE RUN GAME. Sadly, Cousins, despite having a 2-4 game couldn’t do the final cut to take us to extras, and that was that. We got swept.

Excuse me while I crawl into a hole and sob.

• Devlin 3-5, R // Thorne 2-2, R, 3B, RBI [13] // Goulden 1-5, R, RBI [6], HR [3] // Henneberry 1-4, 2 R, BB, 2B // Phillips 2-3, R, 2 BB // Cousins 2-5, 2 RBI [3]
• Rowland 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K // Jafri L (0-3), BS (1), 0.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, K

Elsewhere: the Glasgow Stags and the Liverpool Clippers had a classic, 30-hit outing which the Clippers won, 12-10. The Clippers reached a nadir of 1-7 but have regrouped lately and are now 6-9, while the Stags were at a dominant 9-3 clip but now sit at 10-8. Louie Simpson hit a 2-run tater, #15, to help extend the Newcastle Shorebirds’ winning run to 5 by beating the flailing Manchester Civics 8-6. Meanwhile in the midlands, the Brighton Dolphins smashed 8 past the Leicester Foxes in the last inning to comfortably settle an 11-2 result, themselves starting to recover after a dodgy start (this time last week, they were 2-11 – they are now 7-12).

What a hideous week that was. 2-5, outscored 28-to-36. With Lewandowski out for 5-6 weeks now we have no one batting above .300 in our rotation – Manifold however is batting .306 as a backup and in all honesty is probably about to go into the first team ahead of Brown, who is still killing me. Similarly Henderson, after a decent start, is now being a liability and is being increasingly humiliated by Gideon Thorne – Thorne if you remember was doing appallingly until about a week ago, but has come alive lately and join-tops the RBI charts with 13, along with Henneberry. Neither will feature prominently for the next fortnight.

One final series before we’ve got a day off – getting visited by the 14-4 Sunderland Panthers, currently on a six-game tear. Believe me, I’m not thrilled. After our day off, we travel to the 13-6 Ealing Wolves. In short, tough, tough week coming up. On the plus side, Sheffield got swept by Plymouth, so we’re still only 2.5 games behind the NL East’s leader!

NL PLAYER OF THE WEEK – 1B Jamie Kerr (EDI): .310 (9-29), 6 HR, 14 RBI
SL PLAYER OF THE WEEK – CF Lucas Tedd (CAR): .565 (13-23), 2 HR, 10 RBI

[PocketsAintFull]

Aces have woken up!