May I Sim Done

Game Date:  May 16 2030

Standings:
Adams:  Brick leads Brooklyn by five.
Zotti: Seattle's lead over Appalachian is a single game
Signorino: Philadelphia's lead over Maui stands at eight games.

Awards & Accomplishments:
Seattle 1B Hector Valera named Player of the Week (5/6)
Wilmington's Luis Santiago named Player of the Week (5/13, 2nd career award)

Significant Injuries:
Appalachian will be without RF Ed Weber for 6-7 weeks with a hamstring sprain.
Highland RP Luis Quinones has a torn laburm.  He's gone for 4-5 months.
Appalachian LF Martin Perez strained a groin muscle.  It'll cost him 2-3 weeks.
Wilmington will need a new closer with Yoshifumi Tanaka missing the next 12 months with a torn rotator cuff.
Philadelphia RP Hector Estrada is done for the year with a damaged elbow ligament.

Milestones:
Seattle's Norman Kuhn reaches 1000 runs scored.
Atlanta's Jesus Flores notched is 1000th RBI

Batting Line of the Sim:
Mepkin Abbey's Ron Wood went 3-4 with 2 HR, 2 walks, 3 runs scored and 6 RBI vs. Houston (5/4)

Pitching Line of the Sim:
Appalachian's Jose Sandoval pitched a complete game, three hit shutout vs. Atlanta, walking one and striking out ten (5/1).

Answer to Last Week's Trivia Question:
When is the only time that a team is allowed to (and, in fact, required to) skip a player's turn in the batting order (and how does such a situation come about)? 

For example, suppose Ruth is the scheduled hitter and Meusel is next in the batting order.  When Ruth's turn comes up, the manager is required to send up Meusel instead.

The answer is... if the proper batter is on base.  So, in our example, if Ruth is the scheduled batter, but he's on base, then his spot in the order is skipped and Meusel is the proper batter.

But, you might be asking.. how is it possible for the scheduled batter to be on base?  Surely, by the time his turn to bat comes around again, he'll have either scored or the inning will be over.  

The answer lies in the batting out of order rule.  There are two things that you have to keep in mind regarding the batting out of order rule:

1. The umpire may not call attention to the fact that the batter at the plate is not the proper batter.  It is the responsibility of the opposing team to keep track of the batting order.  The umpire may only take action if the other team brings it to his attention.  As such, it's possible for an improper batter to complete his turn at bat without the umpires calling him out for batting out of turn.

2. Once a pitch is thrown to the next batter, the previous out-of-order batter becomes legitimated, the current becomes the proper batter (assuming, of course, he was batter following the previous one) and the opposing team loses it's chance to appeal.  So, let's take an example, using the rule book's sample batting order of:

Abel
Baker
Charles
Daniel
Edward
Frank
George
Hooker 
Irwin.

So, let's say Daniel walks and Abel (an improper batter) comes to the plate.  The umpire, of course, says nothing.  Abel flies out and Baker comes to bat.  Once a pitch is made to Baker, Abel's at-bat is legitimated and Baker now becomes the proper batter.  Now, let's say Baker also flies out and Charles walks (or the other way around).  The proper batter is now Daniel, but he's on base.  As per the rule book, Daniel's turn is skipped and Edward becomes the proper batter.


This Week's Trivia Question:
The following list of people have something in common.  They (and two others) are the only members of this group.  What do they have in common and who are the two missing members of the group?

Frankie Frisch
Jimmy Rollins
Mickey Mantle
Chipper Jones
Maury Wills
Ken Caminiti
Willie McGee
Terry Pendleton.