TEAM ROSTER AVERAGE AGE
- 3-13
How old is your team? Do you have an aging team or is your team full of young up and comers? Attached is a spreadsheet showing the average age for all the teams. The youngest team, Milford followed by Arsenal and Illinois. The oldest team, Taxachusetts followed by Klee's and California.
Click here to open the 2014 Roster Ages....
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JOHNS CREEK "OUTSIDER" POWER RANKINGS- 3-25
Vic Handel has created a fantastic article, the FBN "Outsider" Power Rankings. Great job Vic and thanks for all the hard work!!
Click here to open the Outsider Power Rankings....
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WORD ON THE STREET- 3-31
Barons 11-9 despite woeful offense 234/292/406. 20 gm stud - Saltalamacchia 417/462/1063!!! 7dbl 8hr 21 rbi in 15 games. Pitching - Scherzer & Sale solid, surprise = D Hale 12 ip 10h 2r 2er 0bb 19K !! unfortunately, those 12 IP are it for the season!!! but he was 2-0.
As MLB gets underway the Barons have 30 players on opening day rosters, 1 retired (Mariano), 3 DL, 3 minors and according to USA Today the 36 under contract produce a payroll of $186,338,642. The Barons block I 25 man roster $141,555,742 which would be 7th highest in MLB. "This is the kind of stuff you do when you are retired and you see snow falling heavily as you look out your window!!!"
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SCHOOL YARD CHATTER- 3-31
"We've been in all but three games this year but we have come out on the short side on 8 of those games. We need to get some help or it's going to be a long season" said Mgr. Stengel.
Team Notes: Soriano's RBI in game three this year vs. Norwich was his 819th to pass Pujols for 2nd All-Time. Matt Cain 1322 IP to pass Shane Reynolds for 5th All-Time. The 17-1 loss to Norwich was one of the worst defeats in time history. In the 4th game vs. CT Soriano had his 5500th AB. He K's vs. Tommy "SAM" Milone. In the first game vs. TX Victorino played in his 1100th FBN game. His BB in that game was his 347BB to pass Mike Lowell for 9th on the 89ER All-Time List.
Next Series is scheduled for April 1, with Klee's.
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NEWS FROM THE SUN- 4-1
The Sun is struggling at home at 2-10 while on the road they are 6-6. "I guess we'll have to start keeping these guy's in hotel rooms at home so they will start to feel they are on the road," said interim manager, Leo Durocher.
"We have three guy's hitting over .300 in Martin, Kipnis and Lind. But, we also have three guy's hitting below .200 in Reynolds, Simmons and Lobation. I'm going to shake up the lineups. I can't keep Simmons in the 2 hole. He'll have to start hitting. Yeah, a 1 is great at short but we cannot afford a sub .200 OPB at the top of the lineup."
The Sun sent T.Flowers down to Triple A and promoted "Yas" Grandel. "Yaz will give us help of the bench from both sides of the plate. I hope he can hit as well as his dad", said Durocher.
The pitching staff has done a respectful job with an ERA around 3.96. Starter, Phil Hughes was been a disappointment. He has been sent to Triple A to see if he can find his stuff. Hughes ERA is just under 8. N.Eovaldi will take Hughes' spot in the rotation.
"We don't want this race to go by us. I'll start Verlander and Chacin on three days rest to see if that will turn things around", said Durocher.
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DEVIL DOODLES- 4-1
The Blue Devils began their 28th season in the FBN with a strong start winning 3 series and splitting another before faltering on the road losing their first series to Illinois. At 12-8, management is pleased with the start especially with the pitching staff which sports a solid 2.95 ERA. Cliff Lee is off to his best start as a Blue Devil going 3-1 1.48 in 4 starts including a 1 hit shutout of the powerful Barons. Lee has allowed just 20 hits and struck out 31 in 30 innings. Tommy Milone, however, sporting a 1.69 ERA is only 1-2 in 4 starts not getting any run support.
Offensively, it’s been more of a struggle which is somewhat expected as the team is batting just .252. 5 players are batting over .300 but 5 other players are batting under .200. Yadier Molina is leading the team with a .370 BA along with 3 HR’s and 10 RBI. Newly acquired Chris Denorfia has kept up with Molina batting .310 with 3 HR’s , 11 RBI and 12 runs scored. On the down side, Matt Dominguez, replacing Chipper Jones at 3B, is off to a rough start batting just .133 but has some company with Emilio Bonifacio(.160), Jordan Schafer(.152), Jayson Nix(.194) and Freddie Galvis(.156) all struggling. Team speed is one of CT’s strengths but hasn’t quite shown itself yet with just 11 stolen bases in 16 games. Last season, the Blue Devils swiped 202 bases and this year’s team was expected to reach or exceed that mark. One series left vs. Burlington in Block 1 . . . .
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SCHOOL YARD REPORT CARD- 4-15
Robinson Cano is leading the team with a .310 average. He has 11D, 4HR and 21RBI. Alfonso Soriano has 5HR, 18R, 19RBI while batting .265. Rajai Davis is hitting .290 as he is leading the team with 19R and 18SB. Rookie Oberholtzer is 2-2 with a 1.76ERA. He has 33K's in 46IP and has walked only 11. Kyle Lohse finally won a game in his 8th start. At 1-3 with a 3.63 Lohse has not had much run support. Mark Melancon is 1-0-3 as the teams primary closer.
Failing Grades: Shane Victoriano has not found his groove as he's hitting .169. He's also made 3 errors. Placido Polanco while playing a fine third base is only hitting .178. Victorino will be working with lefty hitting coach Bobby Murcer to try and improve his batting against right handed pitching. Polanco will be working with righty hitting coach Elston Howard to see if Howard can get Polanco to hit more to the opposite field like he did with the Navigators. A major problem with the team is the number of strikeouts, 287. "If we were the '61 Yankees hitting all those homeruns, ok, the strikeouts wouldn't be a problem. But, we are more like the '62 Mets. We have just 27 HR's in 36 games", said Stengel.
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NEWS FROM THE RAISING SUN- 4-15
After a 9-21 start and a complete white wash at Taxachusetts Leo Durocher resigned as Interim Manager of the Florida Sun. "I'm to old for this *^*# (crap), said Durocher. I'm going back to Allyn Street to be the first base coach. Let someone else try and get these guys motivated." Upon hearing of Durocher's resignation, Commissioner Bruno called former FBN manager and now bench coach of the 89ERS, Ralph Houk to see if Houk would be interested in the job. "Interested!? Are you kidding me!? I'll take the job", said the Major. Houk last managed the Taxachusetts Chiefs.
The first series played under Houk the Sun swept the Blue Devils. The Sun scored 6 runs in each win over the Blue Devils while holding the Blue Devils to just 9 for the series. Next in town was the Navigators. The Sun won game 1 by the score of 6-2. "We like the number six, said Houk. If we keep scoring 6 runs a game we'll win a lot of games." In game one the Sun lost their first game under Houk by the score of 3-1. "What can you do, Kershaw pitched a whale of a game for the Gators", said Houk. In game three Houk witnessed why Durocher had had enough. Down 2-1 going to the 6th inning, three Sun errors lead to a big Norwich Gator fess and a Sun defeat 8-2.
"We have some work to do but I see a light at the end of the tunnel. I think we are going to be just fine", said Houk.
Sun Rays: Torii Hunter batting .331 with 22R, 9D, 4HR. Followed by Adam Lind at .313 with 17R, 11D. Coco Crisp leads the team with 28 runs scored and 25RBI. He has 14 homeruns in 36 games. Asked about his power surge, "I'm eating more Coco Puff's this year", said Crisp.
Nathan Eovaldi who was promoted to the show after Phil Hughes was sent to the minors is 3-0 with a 3.06ERA in his first three starts. He also has 21 strikeouts in 17 innings pitched.
Sun Blind Spots: Mark Reynolds batting .170 will be sent down for Block 3. The team will go with an extra pitcher during Block 3. Returning from Triple A will be Nate Jones. Ubaldo Jimenez is 0-4 with a 5.93 ERA. Mgr. Houk has decided to take Jimenez under his wing and watch his starts carefully. "This kid can pitch. We just need to figure out what is bothering him", said Houk.
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SCHOOL YARD REPORT CARD- 4-21
After Stengel's 4-15 complaint about only 27 HR's in 36 games the 89ERS hit 10 HR's in their next 6 games. "I guess we can play like the '61 Yankee's. But, I really wouldn't know since they fired me after the '60 season. No, I'm not bitter. I'm PO'ed still", said Stengel.
The 89ERS finished block 2 on a 5-5 pace. The team average is now .246 and the team ERA was reduced to 3.88. Robinson Cano is still leading the team in hitting. He's at .314. Raji Davis is back at .300. Davis also went on a tear stealing 9 bases in 6 games. Davis is now at 24SB. Alfonso Soriano took over the homerun lead with 8. Justin Smoak is right behind him with 7. New acquired Ryan Flaherty will platoon with Placido Polanco at third base. The 89ERS traded Ryan Roberts and Scott Rice to Taxachusetts for Flaherty. "We wanted to get younger at third base", said GM Branch Rickey.
Rookie Brett Oberholtzer 4-2, 39K and 1.83ERA will be rested until the final block of the season. "Oberholtzer only pitched 72 innings in MLB last year. We'll limit him to 79. We don't want to rush his development", said Lefty Pitching Coach Warren Spahn. (In Spahn's day if you didn't pitch over 250 innings a year, you were a wimp.) Dylan Axelrod will be called up from Triple A West Broad Street to take Oberholtzer's place in the rotation.
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TAXACHUSETTS QUARTERLY REPORT- 4-27
Taxachusetts Quarterly Report
(27-15) H: 13-8 A: 14-7 1R: 8-3 EX: 3-2 SO: 3 TSO: 0
Random stats:
Batting in the 1st inning: .322/.419/.601 51 R 12 HR
Batting in the clutch: .311 (50 for 161), 11 HR, 75 RBI
Starting Pitching 16-11, 5.25 ERA, .281 OBA
Relief Pitching 11-4, 14 Saves, 3.05 ERA, .226 OBA
Individual Stars:
Miguel Cabrera .318/.431/.623 14 HR 39 RBI
Albert Pujols .320/.346/.648 12 HR 34 RBI
Cesar Ramos 0.72 ERA in 25 IP
Joe Nathan 4-1, 12 SV, 0.84 ERA in 21 IP 31 SO
Nathan started the season with 20 scoreless innings.
Oddities:
Anthony Recker .412 (14 for 34) 4 HR 14 RBI
Garrett Richards (pitcher's hitting card No. 1) is 4 for 5.
Chris Iannetta (16-7 hit chances) had an 11-game hitting streak.
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DEVIL DOODLES- 4-29
The Blue Devils completed an up and down Block 2 to finish at 22-20. After getting swept 3 games by Florida to start the block, CT then went 8-4 in the middle before ending the block on a very sour note getting swept on the road at Arsenal. In the Arsenal series, the Blue Devils managed just 1 run and 3 hits combined in the last two games vs. Jeremy Hefner and Henderson Alvarez – ouch!!
With the poor offensive showing against the Gunners, the CT team batting average dropped to .236 and the team is scoring less than 4 runs/game (3.83) but at least remain competitive through one quarter of the season. The offense has just one hitter batting over .300 in Yadier Molina (.313) while having 8 batters hitting under .240. Alex Rios has been productive with 23 runs, 10 HR’s and 25 RBI but is hitting just .239. Mitch Moreland has proven to be a very productive off season acquisition batting .255 with 9 HR’s and a team leading 26 RBI’s. The left side of the infield has been brutal with 3Bman Matt Dominguez and the platoon of Jose Reyes/Jason Nix at SS batting a combined .180 in 345 AB’s. Reyes, who is so important as the top of the order catalyst is hitting .197 with just 13 runs scored and only 2 stolen bases.
The pitching staff has been very good sporting a team ERA of 3.52. Cliff Lee is finally off to a good start going 5-3 2.28 in 10 starts while C.J. Wilson has been solid as usual at 4-2 4.06. Tommy Milone continues to get limited run support going 2-3 in 8 starts despite a fine 2.74 ERA.
Connecticut heads into Block 3 hoping the offense can wake up a bit and keep the Blue Devils in the playoff chase before returning to divisional play in Block 4.
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WORD ON THE STREET- 5-1
The Word on Wall Street - through 2 blocks: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly.
Good= Salty continues to shine 333/386/684, 14 dbl, 9 hr, 26 rbi's
Bad= Team BA 246 !! Team OB% 311
Ugly= Swisher 4 for 54 (vs LHP- nearly impossible given he platoons vs LHP and #'s on his card!!!) 074/206/130, 0 Hrs, 3rbi
Longoria 49K /152 ABs
Barons Shut Out 6 times in 42 gms
Pitching - Good= Team era 2.92 !!!
Scherzer 2.29, Sale 2.60
Bad= lack of a #5 SP
Ugly= Mariano 0-3, 3.97 era, 5bb, 3K's does have 5 sv)
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SUN STROKES- 5-11
The SUN is shining in Florida: The SUN started the season under Leo Durocher at 9-21. Since Durocher's resignation Ralph Houk has guided the team to a 19-6 record. The sweep at NE put the SUN over .500 for the first time this year. Offensively the team is lead by the "Four Amego's" Tori Hunter, Coco Crisp, Leonys Martin and Adam Lind. Hunter is batting .347 with 15D, 6 HR and 23RBI. Crisp is hitting .312 with 18HR and 37RBI. Martin is also hitting .312 with 9D, 3T, 1HR and 12RBI. Lind is batting .310 with 13D, 1T, 5HR and 25RBI. The team average is up to .272.
Justin Verlander leads the team with 6 wins followed by JHoulys Chacin with 4 and Nathan Eovaldi with 3. In the bullpen Neal Cotts has 6 saves with 29 strikeouts in 21 IP. Bryan Shaw has turn his year around since Houk took over. He was 0-5 after 36 games. Over the next 19 games he's been outstanding with 3 saves and 5 strikeouts lowing his ERA to 1.35.
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TAX NOTES- 5-14
The Chiefs continue a rough stretch, going 4-9 over the last 13 despite outscoring opponents in those games, 82-81. Miggy has heated up: .341, 17 HR, 44 RBI in 48 games. David Wright is coming off a 4 HR series at Hart St. The pitching (surprise) and defense (no surprise) have been brutal. The road doesn't get any easier. Up next in the next week - YA, MD and UR.
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DEVIL DOODLES- 5-14
The Blue Devils are in the midst of their worst stretch of games in franchise history. After reaching 5 games above .500 at 22-17 – the Blue Devils have gone 1-12 in the next four series managing one win vs. Hart Street and getting swept by Arsenal, Yorktown and Urpaign to sink to a season low 23-29. The Urpaign series was utterly ridiculous as CT batted .120 for the series managing 7 runs on 11 hits in the 3 games. Amazingly, the Blue Devils could have won 2 games with just a big hit or two which never came.
Jose Reyes is the poster child for the offensive collapse. Reyes was batting .300 after the first 24 games of the season. Since then, in the next 28 games Reyes is batting 11 for 81 – a robust .135 bringing his season average down to .206. And he only plays vs. RHP where he has 40 on base chances. Alex Rios and Mitch Moreland have been the most productive with both guys hitting 10 HR’s with 28 RBI.
The pitching has been pretty solid overall with a team ERA of 3.89 – can’t complain too much about that. Cliff Lee has done well with a 2.63 ERA but only a 6-4 record. Tommy Milone has been getting no support going 2-3 despite a 2.79 ERA. The back end of the rotation has struggled with John Danks and Ross Ohlendorf combining for a 6.93 ERA and 2-8 record.
With 3 series left in Block 3, can CT right the ship vs. Louisville, Milford and Baton Rouge??
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SUN STROKES- 5-15
Florida Sun the Hottest team in the FBN!
From dead last at 10-23 .303 start in the American League the Sun has turn the season around going 21-4 .840. Over their last eight series the Sun has swept Connecticut, USJarheads, Allyn Street, New England and Illinois. The Sun took 3 of 4 from Burlington and 2 of 3 from Klee's. The only series that the Sun has lost since Ralph Houk has take over as manager has been to Wall Street where the Sun lost 2 of 3.
"I do believe the team was in a state if confusion at the beginning of the season when Mike Gerack needed a Leave of Absence. Mike was a calm manager and he took things in stride. Leo Durocher was named interim manager and Leo was just the opposite. After Leo stepped down and I was named as the new interim manager the players responded to my methods. I'm like Mike, nice and calm", said Ralph Houk.
Well, whatever Houk is doing it's working. Next up for the Sun is the powerful Powderkegs. This match up will help to tell if the Sun is for real and on the rise or not. The only team that the Sun has beaten in this run with a winning record is the Jarheads.
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SCHOOL YARD CHATTER- 5-15
Before playing the Whippets last night the 89ERS had just completed a modest 5 game winning streak. We extend the streak to 6 games taking game one but the Whippets took home the prize as they won games 2 and 3. The 89ERS are now 22-32.
Let's take a selfie of the season. We have lost 10 games by 1 run. Six games by 2 runs and 7 games by 3 runs. We have only won 4 games by 1 run, 5 games by 2 runs and 4 games by 3 runs. To make matters worst we have lost every extra inning game that we have played this year and we have played 9 of them! The team has been shutout twice.
Player and team News:
Shane Victorino played in his 1131st game to pass Albert Pujols for 9th on the Allyn Street All-Time list. Robinson Cano 4800th At Bat during first set of games in Block 3. Rajai Davis with his 128th career steal passed O. Guillen and N. Moran for 8th. Davis has 32 stolen bases in the teams 54 games. He is on pace to break the team record of 74 set by Wally Backman in the teams ingnoial season of 1985. Matt Cain struck out 10 Sun batters to pass R.Martinez for 3rd all time with 1368K's. Cain has 120 career wins. His next win will tie him for 4th with D.Kile. Kile's career was cut short as he died of a heart attack at the young age of 33. Will Venable 31st career triple to tie S.Mack for 10th. Mack has 8 triples on the season. Ellis Burks set the team mark in 1991 with 17.
Venable's triple was the teams 1300th.
Passing Report Cards:
Venable is on a four game hitting streak. Cano had the season longest at 11. Davis 298/260, Soriano 267/255 and Venable 275/268 the only regular players batting above their cards. Cano is close 314/310. For the starting pitchers the only starter doing better is Oberholtzer 4-2, 1.83ERA. Close are Lohse is 3-3, 3.67ERA, Cain is 4-4, 4.36ERA and Deduno is 4-3, 4.38ERA. Out of the bullpen we have Juan Gutierrez better at 0-0 2.84ERA. Close are Melancon, Hunter and Swarzak.
Failing Report Cards:
Of the eight regulars doing below their cards the worst are Victorino 185/294, followed by Polanco 214/260. For starting pitchers Axelrod is 1-2, 13.50ERA. His first loss was 14 runs and 16 hits a complete game vs. Florida. Followed by a win, 5.1IP, 5runs 5ER, 2HR but the team beat Hotlanta 12-6. His next game was 4.2IP. 12H, 8R, 8ER in a 8-1 loss to Lake Wobegon. Out of the pen Peralta is 1-3, 5.19ERA.
At Triple A, West Broad Street Bruno's there isn't any improvement. The forecast is Lohse and Cain and pray for rain!
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TAX REPORT- 5-25
The Chief season preview listed pitching as a strength, and yet the Taxmen are in the basement in the NL in team ERA. Pitching coach Mike Henneman is still waiting for the starting pitchers to perform to their capabilities. So far, it's been a collective disaster. Team ERA for SP is 5.51, and this has really taxed (pun intended) the pen. Below are the individual FBN ERAs with MLB ERA for reference. Management acquired Chase Utley mainly to stabilize the middle infield defense. As Joe Carter said, "No more excuses!"
Kuroda 5.50 (3.31)
Masterson 4.71 (3.45)
Peavy 7.40 (4.17)
Dickey 5.50 (4.21)
Hernandez 6.97 (4.89)
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DEVIL DOODLES- 5-28
After starting Block 3 going 1-9, the Blue Devils rebounded in the second half of the block going 7-2 including a very rare 3 game sweep of Milford to finish Block 3 at 30-31 and remained on the fringe of the wild card chase.
Pitching continues to be solid with Cliff Lee leading the way at 7-4 2.60. Tommy Milone 3-3 2.58 and C.J. Wilson 6-4 4.54 have kept CT in most games. The bullpen has generally been effective although closer Koji Uehara has 4 disappointing losses. However, with a 1.74 ERA and 13 saves – he’s been decent. Setup men Matt Albers 3-3 2.62 and Craig Stammen 2-0 3.16 have both been workhorses logging over 34 inning each in the first 61games. Offensively, Alex Rios leads the team in runs(32), RBI(34) and second in HR’s(12) while batting only .247. 2nd base has been the black hole in the lineup as Emilio Bonifacio and Freddy Galvis who share the position are both batting .183 but somehow have combined for 23 runs scored out of the 9th spot in the lineup.
Connecticut heads back into NL play for the next block facing stiff competition with Norwich and Taxachusetts as well as the long time rival Klubbers.
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SCHOOL YARD CHATTER- 5-30
Allyn Street has improve from a 7-17 start in Block 1 to 9-9 in Block 2 and a respectable 11-8 in Block 3. With 27 wins in just 61 games the 89ERS will out do the 1962 Mets in wins. "We just need 14 more to beat their record of 40 and we have 101 games left. We may actually win 60!" said Allyn Street manager, Casey Stengel.
The 89ERS number 3, 4 and 5 hitters have continued to produce. Cano has been "Mr. Consistent" hitting over .300 all year. In the 19 games during Block 3 he had 11R, 3D, 3HR and 13RBI. Soriano in the 19 games scored 9R, had 6D, 2HR and 10RBI. Venable had 11R, 2D, 3HR and 11RBI.
Kyle Lohse heard all the trade rumors but did not let that effect his pitching as he won all 4 of his starts in Block 3 to improve his record to 5-3. Matt Cain won 2 and had 2 ND in his for starts to improve to 5-4. The bullpen was steady at 0-2-7.
Block 4 Challenges: Rookie Jarred Cosart has met his innings limit finishing his rookie year with a 2-4 record and a 4.88ERA. Cosart will be sent to the 89ERS "summerball" club, the Houston Astro's to work on his control. "We hope the kid will get in plenty of innings with the Astro's so he can come back and have a good sophomore year with us", said Stengel. Replacing Cosart in the rotation will be Josh Johnson. Some 89ER fan's feel this may be the last they see Johnson in an 89ER uniform as Johnson is already scheduled to have a second Tommy John surgery after the FBN season. Also being promoted from Triple A, West Broad Street Bruno's is Burch Smith. "We need another guy that I can spot start when I give Axelrod a day off. You know if you don't rest or oil an axelrod it could break. Don't want that", said Casey.
Who's Hot: Raji Davis batted .351 rasing his average to .314 for the year. He also had 14SB in 18 attempts.
Who's Not: A.J.Pollock "hit" .160 reducing his average from .268 to .237.
Still below the Mendoza line: Shane Victorino Block 1- .179. Block 2- up to .182. End of Block 3- .181.
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GATOR TALES- 6-16
Nearing the half-way point, Norwich is cruising at a 50-27 record. Luck may indeed be a bit of a factor, as the team is 11-4 in one-run games, and 6-0 in extras! The team has been performing as advertised, with no major surprises or disappointment amongst the bats. The pitching has been solid, with the “Big Two” of Kershaw and Zimmerman combining for a 21-6 record, and a 1.75 ERA! Greg Holland has been solid closing the door, with 17 saves and a 0.93 WHIP. The dreaded Taxmen await to finish the first half, and will give the Navigators a bit of the “post-season experience”.
The outlook for next year is more like last year’s team, with no superstar seasons, but having decent bats at all positions. The pitching is “so far so good”, with Johnny Cueto looking like himself, making the rotation a “Big Three” once again. The “Shark”, Jeff Samardzja has been disappointing this season for the ‘Gators, mostly due to untimely HRs. Looks like next season will be more of the same. The team is eagerly waiting what Derek Holland will look like when he returns, and would go a long way to filling out half of the #5 spot for next season. Martin Prado looks like he is getting it together, which will help make the controversial deal with the Dogfish look better. A minor deal was made with Lousiville, as JP Arencibia takes his 2nd-rd draft status to the Easy Riders for Darren Oliver, who may make the post-season roster as a reverse lefty rp (more than what JP would have contributed).
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TAX REPORT- 6-29
Chiefs made more of a commitment to defense, and the pitching is starting to come around. Offense is on pace for 900+ runs scored. Three-time MVP Miggy is having his best season - .358/.463/.656.
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SCHOOL YARD CHATTER- 7-1
GM Branch Rickey traded long time 89ER Shane Victorino to Yorktown before Block 5. Victorino was in the 10 Ten of every offensive category for ALL-Time 89ERS. “Victorino did a great job while he was here, said GM Rickey. I had a chance to get some young players and I took that chance. We wish Shane well with his new team.”
Rajai Davis had his 53 stolen base of the season tonight in the first game with Milford. He is now just 11 behind his season best of 64 which he accomplice in 2011. His 64 SB’s in 2011 tied Brady Anderson’s 64 of 1993. Wally Backman has the team record of 74 stolen bases. Backman set the record in the teams inaugural season in 1985. In ’85 the team was known as the Mystic Red Skins. The team became Bruno’s Red Skins in 1986. To be PC Bruno changed the name to Ole Mystic Eagles in 1988. In 1989 he changed it to the Allyn Street 89ERS. The State of Connecticut was so happy about the name change that it put up an Exit sign off I95 for all to see…Exit 89, Allyn Street.
Robinson Cano 1500th hit was a double in game 1 at Hart Street this block. Cano had 2HR’s in game three at HS to pass Mike Lowell for 6th All-Time with 146. Matt Cain won his 122 game. It was a 10-2 win last block over Wall Street. The win moved Cain past D.Kile for 4th All-Time.
Alfonso Soriano 5800th AB.
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DEVIL DOODLES- 7-14
After losing 11 of 12 games a couple blocks ago, the Blue Devils have been playing much better recently winning their last 5 series – 3 out of 4 from New England, a 3 game sweep of Johns Creek and 2 out of 3 against California, Arsenal and the Whippets. This moved Connecticut to 9 games over .500 – their high mark of the season and within a game or so of Hazardville for the last playoff spot. A season that looked like it was going to end early may prove to have an exciting finish.
Despite the recent success, the Blue Devils offense continues to struggle batting .248 as a team. In fact, no regular starting player is batting over .288 and no one on the entire roster is hitting over .300. LJ Hoes has the highest BA at .298 in 47 games. Alex Rios is having an all-around productive season batting .285 with 42 runs, 28 doubles, 13 HR’s and 48 RBI. Since being inserted as the cleanup hitter and everyday 1Bman, Mitch Moreland has blossomed producing a team leading 21 HR’s and 55 RBI and .279 BA. The middle infield has been the offensive black hole as the SS position (Reyes & Nix) are batting a combined .220 while 2B (Bonifacio & Galvis) are hitting a paltry .186.
The pitching has carried the team with a 3.53 team ERA. 10 pitchers on the roster have ERA’s under 3.75. Only 4 pitchers have ERA’s over 4.00. Cliff Lee is finally having his first dominant season for Connecticut. In his first 5 years with the team, Lee has a 4.51 ERA going 68-71 – a far cry from what was expected when he was acquired. But this season, Lee is 13-4 with a 1.99 ERA. He has allowed just 136 base runners in 154 IP for a 0.88 WHIP along with 146K’s. Rookie Alex Wood – CT’s first pick in this year’s draft (#39 2nd rd) has made 8 starts going 3-2 with a 2.95 ERA showing quite a bit of future potential highlighted by only allowing 1 HR in 42 IP with 39K’s.
CT finishes out the current block with home series vs. Florida and Hotlanta before starting the final interleague block. Can they sustain their recent solid play?
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BATON ROUGE NOTES- 7-15
It’s time for the all-star game and a look at the first half of the season for the team from Baton Rouge. The Bullets went into the season expecting/hoping for a playoff spot after a disastrous 2012 (53 wins) and an only slightly better season in 2013 (67 wins). We filled some holes in the draft and got a good start going 12-8. The pitching staff has performed better than last season with an overall team ERA under 4.0 with Yu Darvish leading the way with 11 wins and a 2.65 ERA. The defense has been very good allowing only 18 unearned runs on 33 errors. However, the offense has been very poor with no improvement in team average (.355) over last year and a slugging percentage of only .390 compared to .404 last season. We have scored 2 or fewer runs in 31 games so far this season in 93 games – one third of the time! Hard to win very many of those games. Zimmerman and Morneau typically lead the team in hitting but they are both having bad seasons with triple slashes of .226/.312/.339 and .231/.290/.347 respectively. Morneau has only 4 home runs. Carlos Gomez leads the team in almost every offensive category at .256/.314/.481 with 13 home runs, 52 runs scored, 51 RBI, and 18 steals. The team has gone just 3-9 in this round of games dropping the team to 3 games under .500 and in 7th place in the AL. While we are certainly not throwing in the towel, it will take an extended win streak to finish with a playoff berth.
Next year’s offense should be much improved as some of our young players are coming into their own this season in the majors. Rizzo and Meseraco have started strong this year, with Gomez, Morneau, and Martin also playing very well. And there is still hope for Zimmerman to get hot. The problem for next year will be our starters. After Darvish and Santana there is no one. Straily is in the minors. Gonzalez has given up 16 homers already but he will be in the rotation anyway. Chen and Pelfrey are hurt. Redmond has been a reliever only so far. Jurrjens, Hanson, and Volstad look like they are done and won’t have cards. If we get to the 9th inning with a lead however you will see Doolittle. Maybe we can win 6-5 next year instead of losing 3-2.
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TAX REPORT- 7-23
Miguel Cabrera connected for his 400th FBN homerun. Here are the Chiefs All-Time HR Leaders:
HR Miguel Cabrera 400 Joe Carter 340 Cecil Fielder 271 Dean Palmer 254 David Wright 238
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DEVIL DOODLES- 8-1
The Blue Devils streak of winning series reached 8 in a row with a sweep of Louisville putting Connecticut to 15 games over .500 – the high point of the season. CT then split a 4 game series vs. the Hogs to end their series winning streak before getting swept on the road at Yorktown to leave the Blue Devils at 62-50 – on the edge of playoff contention. The Admirals must just be a bad match as CT has lost all 6 games to Yorktown this season including 3 one run losses. The last game was the toughest to take as Cliff Lee was coasting with a 4-0 lead in the 7th. The usually solid bullpen blew the lead as Yorktown tied the game 4-4 and closer Koji Uehara came in the 9th and promptly gave up a double followed by a game winning RBI single. That was the 6th loss for Uehara in 48 appearances, however, he does have 31 saves and a 1.29 ERA allowing just 43 base runners in 56 IP with 70K’s. Pretty good numbers . . .
Jose Reyes, the usual catalyst at the top of the lineup, continues to struggle batting just .226 with only 40 runs scored in 95 games. Because he has failed to consistently reach base, he only has 9 stolen bases – way below his career average. Matt Dominguez, given the full time 3B job this season has been fairly productive with 12 HR’s and 50 RBI in 109 games but the .225 batting average must be improved.
The Blue Devils finish the block with a 6 game home stand vs. Urpaign and Milford. To remain competitive for a wild card spot, CT must win at least 4 if not 5 of those games to put some pressure on Hazardville who is holding the last wild card berth.
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SCHOOL YARD REPORT CARD- 8-27
GM Branch Rickey was able to move Alfonso Soriano to a playoff bound team to give Soriano a chance to earn a World Series ring in his 14th year in the FBN. Soriano was drafted by the 89ERS 57th in the 3rd Round of the 2001 Draft. Drafted ahead of Soriano by the 89ERS in 2001 were #1 Rafael Furcal, #27 Frank Castillo, #40 Kazuhiro Sasaki and #51 Todd Van Poppel.
Furcal earned high marks. He was #2 in games at 2030, #3 in runs at 877, #5 in RBI at 628, #2 at bats with 6164, #2 hits 1704, #5 doubles 298, #1 triples 63, #10 HR 92, #2 SB 320 and #4 BB 598.
Soriano also did very well as an 89ER. Soriano will finish his career at #3 in games, #2 runs #2 RBI, #3 AB's, #5 H, #3 D, #6 T, #2 HR, #4 SB and #7 BB.
How about Castillo, Sasaki and Van Poppel? Castillo pitched one year for the 89ERS; 23GAS, 162IP, 10-4 4.09 and 109K. Sasaki pitched for 3 years; 189GA, 198IP, 12-15 3.68 with 59Sv, 196K. Van Poppel pitched for 3 years; 118GA, 170IP, 13-6 4.29 with 3Sv., 173K.
Based on these facts I do believe GM Rickey will be looking for fielders over pitchers in the 2014 Draft.
WHO'S HOT:
AJ Pollock - First 80 games: .226 24R, 11D, 4T, 3HR, 15RBI and 11SB.
AJ Pollock - Last 44 games: .327 18R, 9D, 2T, 2HR, 10RBI and 7SB.
WHO'S COLD:
Robinson Cano - First 87 games: .316 51R, 20D, 1T, 12HR and 41RBI
Robinson Cano - Last 50 games: .203 23R, 10D, 0T, 4HR and 25RBI
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DEVIL DOODLES- 8-31
Paul Konerko, who has been moved to a mostly platoon player this season, went on a hot streak that increased his playing time. In a 17 game stretch, Konerko batted .463 (25 for 54) with 5 doubles, a triple, a HR, 13 runs scored and 13 RBI. At one point, he had 8 hits in a row against Allyn Street. Konerko has indicated that next season will most likely be his last season. So far this year, he’s batting a robust .337 with 15 doubles, 9 HR’s 55 RBI and 47 runs scored in 106 games. His potential replacement at 1B – Mitch Moreland has also been productive showing excellent power with a club leading 27 HR’s and 75 RBI. Matt Dominguez has also shown some power potential with 19 HR’s and 69 RBI.
The Blue Devils chances of making the playoffs took a devastating hit when they got swept 4 games at home vs. Illinois. The Prairie Dogs outscored CT 25-7 in the series and out hit them 50-32 – one of the worst 4 games series in Blue Devil history. With 24 games left in the season, CT is 6 games behind Hazardville for the last playoff spot – a very bleak chance of making those games up. Therefore, rumors have it that management is shopping around some veteran players that might help other playoff teams down the stretch.
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BATON ROUGE NOTES- 9-1
The Bullets are experiencing a hitting renaissance as the team has gone from 4 under .500 to 7 over in the past two rounds. Our pitching has been pretty solid all year lead by Yu Darvish who is now 16-7 with a 2.87 ERA. He has a chance to win 20 games which hasn’t been done by a Bullet since Estaben Loaisa won 20 in 2004 (Tommy Hanson had 19 wins in 2011). Offensively however the Bullets have been less than stellar with to date 47 games where the offense scored 2 or fewer runs in 135 games – 35% of the time. We are projected to score less than 700 runs for the season which would be the 5th lowest total in our 26 year history. Ryan Zimmerman has lead the recent charge hitting .338 (26 of 77) with 24 RBI in 20 games. The overall team batting average has increased from .257 to .265 over that period. We still are 1 ½ games out of the last playoff spot, so the renaissance has to continue.
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SCHOOL YARD REPORT CARD- 9-11
In the last 8 games the team is 3-5 helped by Robinson Cano going. Cano was hitting .307 and slid to a rock bottom .275. He has his average up to .288 as he went .434 in his last 46 at bats. He has scored 8 runs, with 5 doubles, 4 homeruns and 9 RBI. "I guess I missed Soriano and I just had to put his trade behind me", said Cano.
Edwin Jackson got pummelled in his first outing for the 89ERS in a loss to Illinios. In his next start at Hazardville he earned the win. Jackson went 8 innings giving up 11 hits and 2 walks but only 4 runs. A two run homerun by Justin Smoak in the top of the 8th gave Jackson the lead that lead to his victory.
In game 4 the 89ERS pulled off a triple play. In the 4th inning with runners on third and first Hunter Pence hit a liner that looked like it was going to be a clean hit but short stop Pete Kozma leaped into the air and pulled it down. As he was still in the air he threw to 3rd for the second out to get the surprised Brandon Belt and Matt Davidson completed the triple killing as he threw first to nail Josh Donaldson who was already standing on second base. After the game Pence was asked about hitting into the triple play. "I hit the ball hard all day. I homer in the 1st and 6th and I thought the one Kozma caught was going to be a triple not a triple play", said Pence.
The 89ERS have USJ, Wall Street and Burlington left on their schedule.
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TAX REPORT- 9-12
Chief Career Hits
Miguel Cabrera 2002
David Wright 1585
Joe Carter 1403
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DEVIL DOODLES- 9-14
After trading away their two best pitchers – Cliff Lee & Koji Uehara, Connecticut ended any slim chance of making the playoffs by losing 7 of their next 8 games to Norwich and Taxachusetts. Although most games were close and competitive, the Blue Devils could not get a big hit or big out when needed and have now dropped back to 79-71 – still solid in the 6th spot in the NL standings. CT hopes to finish with a winning record for the 25th time out of 28 seasons.
Cliff Lee finished his 6 year career with CT going 84-78 4.24 ERA. For most pitchers – not a bad record but considering how many great cards Lee received during those 6 years – the overall results were very disappointing. Lee will now look to lead the Jarheads staff in the playoffs with hot rookie Matt Harvey right behind him. For Koji Uehara, he pitched 4 years for CT amassing 75 saves with a 2.75 ERA – good solid pitcher hoping to handle the closing chores for Hart Street in the playoffs. In return, Blue Devil management acquired a promising young lefty starter in Mike Minor who they hope will replace Lee and is 10 years younger. CT also acquired a 1st rd pick in the upcoming draft to hopefully pick up another young player for the future.
Offensively, Alex Rios continues to perform in all areas leading the team in hits, runs, RBI & doubles. Rios is batting .288 with 82 runs, 82 RBI, 44 doubles, 19 HR’s and 21 stolen bases. For pitchers, rookie Alex Wood, a 2nd rd pick in this year’s draft, has shown potential to be a big part of next year’s rotation. Wood is 5-4 in 13 starts with a 3.33 ERA. He has only allowed 3 HR’s in 73 innings while striking out 70. Maybe Wood and Minor will be the future 1-2 punch for the CT rotation . . .
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SCHOOL YARD REPORT CARD- 9-27
Allyn Street started their "playoff" run with a split with the Jarheads. "We will do as good or better against Burlington and Wall Street", said Casey Stengel after the USJ series. Casey was asked if he'd bet his job on it. "No need to, said Casey. That kid owner of ours loves me!"
After starting the final block 1-3 with Illinois the 89ERS split at Hazardville and then split with the Jarheads. "We're feeling good about ourselves", said Lohse. We feel we can finish the season strong and we look forward to 2015." At Burlington the 89ERS will use Diamond (0-5), Cloyd (0-7), Lannan (1-6) and Lohse (12-7). At Wall Street they will use Lohse, Deduno (7-7), Diamond and Jackson (1-1).
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DEVIL DOODLES- 10-05
The Connecticut Blue Devils completed their 28th season in the FBN at 85-77 – making it their 25th winning season. The team was solid and competitive most of the year reaching a peak of 16 games over .500 at one point in the second half but not good enough to reach the playoffs in the NL and eventually leading management to trade away their two best pitchers – veterans Cliff Lee & Koji Uehara. No team or individual records were set although there were a couple individual performances to note.
Alex Rios was voted Team MVP with an all-around solid year. Rios batted .288 leading the team in hits (189), runs scored (90), doubles (47), stolen bases(26) and added 22 HR’s and 90 RBI while playing in all 162 games. Yadier Molina led the team in BA at .300 while Mitch Moreland led the team in HR’s (33) and RBI (92). Paul Konerko, who announced he will retire after next season, was excellent in part-time duty. In 123 games he batted .318 with 10HR , 60 RBI and 50 runs scored. Matt Dominguez tried to make his case to be the 3Bman for the future by producing 22 HR’s and 77 RBI but his .226 BA and 20 errors leave a question mark. Finally, Todd Helton ended his excellent FBN career on a down note batting just .214 with 4 HR’s and 11 RBI in 182 AB’s.
On the pitching side, after the departure of Lee and Uehara, the top pitchers remaining were rookie Alex Wood 6-5 3.19 and John Danks 7-9 3.67. Matt Albers was tops in the pen at 8-4 3.10. C.J. Wilson had his worst season as a Blue Devil with a 5.23 ERA but managed a 13-11 record. This was a far cry from how Wilson came into the season with a CT career ERA of 3.60 and a 61-32 record.
Looking to the future, the Blue Devils acquired a young lefty Mike Minor that they hope can replace Lee down the road and team up with Alex Wood at the front of the future rotation. The bullpen should be anchored by hard throwing southpaw Jake McGee and righty Drew Storen. A new face for the offense will be Gerardo Parra to give some depth to the OF and the return of Grady Sizemore – although expectations are limited. Management also hopes to get some youth with the 22nd pick in next year’s draft.
Good Luck to all the playoff teams and have fun!
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BATON ROUGE NOTES- 10-7
The Bullets took another step toward respectability in 2014. The team win total has increased from 53 to 67 and now to 87 over the past three years. Team pitching and defense were the highlights of this season. A team ERA of 3.795 just beat the 1995 team ERA of 3.797 for the second best ever by a Bullet team. Yu Darvish lead the staff with 19 wins and an ERA of 2.78 with 262 strikeouts in 230 innings, the 3rd best season ERA and the most strikeouts by anyone not named Curt Schilling (who had over 300 Ks four times). The staff had a total of 13 shutouts, second only to the 2000 Bullet team’s 14 shutouts. The 2014 team made fewer errors than any previous Bullet team by far – making only 54 miscues leading to only 34 unearned runs. The previous low was 68 errors by the 2004 team that won the AL East title. Team hitting this season was not good however, scoring only 700 runs, well below the team average of about 800 runs per season. Carl Crawford’s .310 average with 31 stolen bases, DJ LeMahieu’s .315 average with 45 stolen bases, and Russell Martin’s 22 home runs were the only highlights. The team scored 2 or fewer runs in 54 games. The offense should be much improved next year but the pitching will be much worse. Our goal is to continue to improve, pushing the win total into the 90’s and into the playoff picture next season.
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TAX REPORT- 10-9
Congratulations, Bill! For those of us who have competed against him face-to-face for over 25 years, we've always known that he was a championship caliber manager. Now that he has built a championship caliber team, the Jarheads are a juggernaut. He managed six flawless games and deservedly moves on to the NLCS. This could be the Year of the Jarheads.
The season began with the Chiefs having only one player with more than 430 at bats. It looked as if the ballclub's collective age was finally catching up with them. And so it seemed every day Manager Joe Carter was dealing with injuries or resting players. The electronic scorebook tells me that the Chiefs used 122 different lineups this season, compared with 52 last season. In the postseason, injuries again crippled the Chiefs. Here is a listing, game by game, of players injured in this series: 1. Wright, Quentin. 2. Wright, Quentin. 3. Kottaras. 4.Wright, Quentin. 5. Wright, Quentin. 6. Pujols, Utley. This helps to explain how the Taxmen scored exactly one run total (a Miggy solo HR) in three games against left-handed starting pitchers.
The regular season was incredible fun, witnessing the historic seasons of Miguel Cabrera (.383, 60 HR, 155 RBI, 148 R, 231 Hits, 110 BB) and Justin Masterson (23-2). But this marks the close of the Golden Decade of Chiefs Baseball, during which the Taxmen have won more than a thousand FBN games, if you include postseason wins.
Thanks to all league members for the competition and the laughs. I'm proud to be associated with such a great group of guys. Can't wait for the 7th round of the draft!
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US JARHEAD SCUTTLEBUTT- 11-13
The 2014 US Jarheads Win the World Series!!!
During the regular season the Jarheads relied on a powerful offense and an extremely stingy defense to battle their way to 103 wins. In addition to leading the NL in batting at .269, the Jarheads blasted 203 HRs and only allowed 134. They also had 149 more hits and 134 more walks than their opponents. All together this led to USJ scoring 235 more runs than the opposition.
The Jarhead defense was stellar and led the entire FBN with the fewest errors with only 43. An incredible defensive milestone was the performance of SS Asdrubal Cabrera ss2e12. Asdrubal began the season with an astounding streak of 92 errorless games….and he ended the season with only 5 errors total.
This offense/defense combination was a prime factor in allowing USJ’s back of the rotation starters to avoid a losing record.
Guthrie 11-10, 5.30
Edwin Jackson 9-9, 5.91
Kyle Kendrick 11-11, 5.43
US Jarhead pitching was headlined by the All Time Single Season FBN ERA leader and Perfect Game author Matt Harvey 16-4, 1.42. Carlos Villanueva 12-5, 3.81 and Chad Gaudin 6-1, 3.75 made solid rotation contributions as well. The bullpen did an excellent job of keeping the Jarheads close in games and this is reflected in their win totals.
7-3-1 1.88 Avilan
7-2 34 1.55 Cishek
4-2-2 1.40 Machi
5-1-8 2.53 Smyly
9-2-0 1.52 Stauffer
3-4-2 3.08 Ziegler
The Offense was ignited by MVP candidate Mike Trout. Trout led the team with 148 runs, 214 hits, 101 walks, 44 doubles, 4 triples, and was 2nd with 37HRs. Trout was 3rd in rbi with 91 from the leadoff position, trailing Goldschmidt .299 42 117 and "The Big E" .281 34 114.
In this Championship Season there were contributions from up and down the lineup and from two pinch hitters that came through time and again. Josmil Pinto .381 5hr 21rbi and Willie Bloomquist .347 23rbi.
A vital cog in turning an excellent season into a Championship year was the late season machinations of Asst GM Harry Nieman. The Asst GM scoured rosters and looked at pitching possibilities and was constantly banging on managements door to get some trade action going. He initiated talks with CT and AS that resulted in the acquisition lefthanders Cliff Lee and Bret Oberholtzer.
Oberholtzer was 2-0 in the regular season and took a no-hitter into the 8th inning in his first Jarhead start and into the 7th inning in his 2nd start. Cliff Lee wasn’t impressive in three late season starts, but once the playoffs started he was huge, going 3-1, 1.99 and winning the MVP in the NL Divisional round and again was MVP in the World Series.
Playoff Shrapnel:
Neil Walker 2b2e8 made only 4 errors in 159 games. In 18 playoff games he made 3 errors.
Mike Trout was caught stealing 4 times in 41 attempts…in the playoffs he was CS 3 times in 6 attempts.
Matt Harvey allowed 8 HRs in 196 innings. He allowed 8 HRs in 45 playoff innings… but still managed a 4-1, 2.78 record.
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