Sim 4A Complete!

More Sim 4 Transactions

The La Chapelle-Aux-Saints Neanderthals (who by the way set a record for most characters in a team name before) drop Ken Sanders and Joe Grzenda. Sanders appeared in just 2 games, giving up 5 hits and 3 runs while recording 1 out. However bad this was aside, he appears to have been dropped mostly because the Neanderthals wanted another batter off the bench. Filling this role, is ATB New Guy, 1992 John Kruk.

Grzenda was a injury replacement for the now recovered Tug McGraw, but held his own in 5 2/3 innings with a 3.18 ERA and 1.40 WHIP. Interestingly enough, the Neanderthals will now carry just 11 pitchers, a definite outlier when considereing the 30-man rosters.

The Willets Point "Mechanics" part ways with Gene Garber and Greg Luzinski in favor of 1968 Bill Hands and 1909 Harry Krause. Garber turned in an ugly 5.52 ERA in 17 relief appearances and Luzinski went hitless in his 7 pinch hit at bats. Bill Hands is another new player to the ATB Database; Krause has been used before, but did not play in ATB X.

Sim 4 Transaction

After being singled out on this very blog, HEYHOWARYA has rectified their abysmal catching situation. Free Agent and new to ATB backstop Bob Boone (1978) has been summoned from the pages of Baseball-Reference.com.

To make room HOWARY parts ways with third basemen Darrell Evans. Evans was one of the worst players in the game batting .104 / .231 / .149.

Pitcher of the Week - Toad Ramsey

Our Sim 3 Pitching Player of the week is Toad Ramsey of the Bellevue Freakin Franchise. Ramsey made three starts, only giving up earned runs in 1 of them:

5/6 - 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, No Decision
5/11 - 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, Win
5/16 - 9 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 9 K, Win

Batter of the Week - Rogers Hornsby

Bucky Dent's Middle Name second basemen Rogers Hornsby is the Week 3 Batter of the Week. In 62 at bats Hornsby batted .419 with 5 HR, 5 doubles, and a triple. "Rajah" also scored thirteen times and recorded 17 RBI in 15 games.

My personal favorite stat though - he's had multi hit games 9 of the last 10 days.

Power Alley - Week 3

Movers and Shakers

• +8: DC Chips - With a 10-5 record and a +27 Run Differential, it was a great week for DC. As a team they batted .323 / .381 / .435 and Tris Speaker, Tim Salmon, Rod Carew, and Babe Herman all had OPS scores over .900.
  
• +7: Duke Street Kings - The Commerce Comet hit 4 HR and drove in 14 while Ted Lyons went 2-1 with a 1.99 ERA in 23 innings this sim.
  
• +5: Planet 10 - Their pitching continues to dominate. Sim 3 totals: 136 IP, 112 H, 2.51 ERA.
  
• +5: Helena Handbasket - the quietest .600 Wpct team in a long while. Albert Pujols appears to have emerged as a new perennial 1st Round pick - .367 / .437 / .598 with 8 HR, 27 R, and 32 RBI to date.
  

Losers and Fakers

• -10: Rusty Kuntz Travelling All Stars - starters Kid Nichols, Dutch Leonard, Joe Wood, and Warren Hacker combined for a Sim Three 7.48 ERA.
  
• -5: Bucky Dents Middle Name - Not a bad week at 8-7, but their -13 RD is a far cry from his Week 1 and Week 2 +20 RD.
  
• -5: Wedge Tornado - 3-13 and well deserved being outscored by 24 runs. Their offense was inept batting .225 with a .268 OBP.
  

Sim 3E Complete!

Wild Night in the Baker Bowl

What a game Downsouth. The Rusty Kuntz Traveling All Stars (20-22), struggling to get back to the .500 mark, added another tick mark to the laundry list of the problems plaguing the Downsouth Brews (15-27). After scoring three runs in the bottom of the 8th to break a 4-4 tie and perhaps propel the Brews to an all too scarce win, their bullpen blew the game giving up 5 runs of their own in the top off the 9th.

Duane Ward came in to pitch the the last frame but was blitzed despite retiring two of the first three batters. Catcher Carlton Fisk went down easy enough on three straight pitches but Ward coughed up a ground ball single to the left side by .320 hitter Fred Lynn. He then retired Will Clark for the second out and the game seemed in hand, but 5 consecutive All Star hits ended that line of thinking.

Pinch hitting, Ken Caminiti doubled down the first base line, putting runners on the corners. With the tying run at the plate, the Brews elected to intentionally walk the feared Barry Bonds (his 5th walk of the night!) but this backfired as the next batter, Frank Thomas, singled home both Lynn and Caminiti, making the score 7-6.

That was all for Ward, and the manager summoned Fred Beene from the pen to face Willie Stargell. Batting .218 with 8 HR's, the right fielder has been all or nothing for much of the season. He got all of Beene's first pitch fastball, drilling the ball deep into the night, well over the right center field wall. Three runs scored and the Brews could not recover.

Still, the line of the game belonged to Barry Bonds. 0-0, R, 5 BB, 3 IBB. Bonds has 11 HR and 29 RBI on the season.

Sim 3D Complete!

Publish Post

AOPSAP Leaders as of May 15

First, the avg OPS scores by position. Handy to know where your are behind the competition

.774 - Right Field
.748 - Center Field
.741 - First Base
.718 - Left Field
.693 - Third Base
.682 - Catcher
.673 - Second Base
.647 - Shortstop

Top 3 By Position
Catcher
25.9 - Mike Piazza, OPR
20.5 - Josh Gibson, JuP
17.9 - Bill Dickey, WPP

First Base (and DH)
62.7 - Albert Pujols, HH
41.2 - John Olerud, RBB
33.2 - Travis Hafner, JuP

Second Base
30.9 - Hardy Richardson, JuP
29.2 - Nap Lajoie, BFF
27.4 - Cupid Childs, WPP

Third Base
63.1 - Dick Allen, JMF
38.7 - Al Rosen, CR
25.7 - Harmon Killebrew, WTP

Shortstop
40.7 -Honus Wagner, JMF
28.2 - Lou Boudreau, DCC
25.3 - Herman Long, DB

Left Field
65.9 - Barry Bonds, RKA
49.7 - Tip O'Niel, ECT
47.5 - Albert Belle, WPM

Center Field
61.1 - Mickey Mantle, DSK
38.2 - Ty Cobb, WPP
37.9 - Oscar Charleston, BFF

Right Field
78.9 - Babe Ruth, RBB
47.7 - Sam Thompson, BFF
32.2 - Steve Evans, WPP

Full list here.