Friday, September 29, 2017

Onward....

Congrats to Matt on a great season and winning the 2030 Cecil Cup. 

Next sim (the first one will cover only one day) will be Sunday night.

Monday, September 25, 2017

He mau hōʻailona (Champions!)

Game Date:  Oct 10 2030

The Maui Mashers have captured their fourth Cecil Cup today with a 7-3 win over the Brick Barracudas.

Masher bats struck early, putting up a four spot in the first on home runs by batting champ and series MVP Antonio Venet and Juan Arroyo and adding another two in the second with a blast off of Don Jones.  That was all it took, as Brick could not recover from the deficit.

Congratulations to Matt on a well played season, and congratulations to Fred as well, on another well-played season.

We'll give Matt a few days to bask in his glory before kicking off the offseason.




Sunday, September 24, 2017

Game Five To Brick As Barracudas Stay Alive

Game Date:  Oct 10 2030

The Brick Barracudas managed to stave off elimination with a 5-2 victory over Maui.  Brick struck early with a two run home run by Matt Foster in the second, an RBI double by Martin Cox in the third and a solo shot by Salvador Velasquez in the fifth.   Maui managed to put up two runs on homers off the bats of David Seibel and Thomas Lyons, but it just wasn't enough to overcome the strong pitching of rookie Jake Glenn.

Game Six:  Monday night.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Maui Wins Game 4

Game Date: 10/8/2030

The Maui Mashers knocked Brick starter Gustavo Melendez out of Game 4 of the Cecil Cup in the first inning, and rolled to an 11-5 victory that leaves them one win away from the championship.

Thomas Lyons led off the bottom of the first with a walk, and Aaron Hampton homered to give the Mashers a quick 2-0 lead. Don Jones singled, Antonio Venet and Carlos Madrigal both walked to load the bases. Juan Arroyo and David Seibel each singled in a run, keeping the bases loaded for Jesus Barcello, who cleared the bases with a grand slam. It was 7-0 Maui, and Melendez headed to the showers.

Game 5 will be Saturday night. Will Brick stay alive? Will the Cecil Cup bask in the Hawaii sun? We'll find out then!

Monday, September 18, 2017

Game Three Goes to the Mashers

Game Date: 10/7/2030

Catcher Aaron Hampton led the way with three hits as the Maui Mashers won game 3 of the Cecil Cup in front of a sold out crowd in Maui's Old League Park. Three Mashers mashed home runs off Brick starter Miguel Archuleta in the first two innings. The final score was 6-1 Maui, who take a two games to one lead in the best of seven series.

Brick's bullpen again pitched well, holding Maui scoreless after Archuleta left in the fourth inning, but the damage was already done. Maui starter Luis Salazar pitched four scoreless innings before leaving with an strained oblique, ending his season.

Maui is now two wins away from their first Cecil Cup victory in nine seasons.

Game 4 will be Tuesday night. Brown vs Melendez. Don't miss it!

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Maui Ties Series

Game Date: Oct 6 2030

The Maui Mashers have tied up the Cecil Cup Series with a 6-4 victory against Brick today.

Maui utilized the long ball to put up six runs in the third inning on a lead off homer by Jesus Barcello, a grand slam by Don Jones and another solo shot by Juan Arroyo, sending Brick starter Enrico Hernandez to an early shower.  The Brick bullpen held Maui scoreless the rest of the way as the Barracuda bats tried to make up the lost ground.  They put two across in the fourth and another two in the seventh, but in the end, they could not catch up to the Mashers.

Game 3:  Monday night

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Brick Takes Game One

The Brick Barracudas drew first blood in the 2030 Cecil Cup with a 5-4 victory over the Maui Mashers.

Maui got the first run on the board with a solo home run by Antonio Venet, but Brick responded with three in the bottom of the frame with back to back homers by Martin Cox (2 runs) and Salvador Velasquez.  Brick added two more in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Velasquez and another one by Fred Kennedy.

Brick would not score again, but they would manage to hold on despite two more runs in the fifth and another solo home run by Venet in the sixth.  Maui had a shot to score with runners on first and third with no one out in the seventh, but could not score against Jake Glenn.

Game 2:  Thursday night.

Monday, September 11, 2017

The World Turned Upside Down...





The Maui Mashers have dethroned the Monarchs with a 12 inning, 2-1 victory.  They go on to face Brick, who advanced to the Cecil Cup finals with an 8-4 victory over Philadelphia.

Game 1:  Wednesday night.

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Mack Claims Moral Victory, Brick Takes Lead

Game Date: Oct 1 2030

Seattle got to claim a moral victory today with a 13-6 victory over Maui today.  In the nightcap, Brick shut out Philadelphia and limited them to five hits to take a 3-2 lead in their series.

Game 6: Monday night

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Seattle Staves Off Elimination, Brick Ties Series

Game Date:  Sep 29 2030

Seattle managed to stay alive to play another game, thanks to Roy Watts throwing eight shutout, four-hit, no-walk innings.

Watts retired the first ten batters he faced and, throughout the game, only one Maui batter, Juan Arroyo managed to reach third when he hit a one-out triple in the fifth.  However, Watts struck out the next two batters to get out of the inning. The hitting star of the game was Norman Kuhn, who went 2-3 with a home run and 2 RBI.

In the nightcap, Brick defeated Philadelphia 6-2 to tie their series at two games apiece.  Brick starter Gustavo Melendez went seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and striking out eight for the victory.  1B Martin Cox hit his third home run of the series.

Game 5:  Saturday night.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Maui Takes Commanding 3-0 Lead, Philadelphia Outlasts Brick in Another Overtime Game

The Maui Mashers took a commanding 3-0 lead over the Seattle Monarchs and are in a position to be the first team to take the long-reigning Monarchs out of the playoffs since 2023.

Seattle starter Ernest Metcalf became the latest pitcher to be unable to stop the Maui bats, giving up eight runs and ten hits in 4 2/3 innings.  Maui's leadoff second-sacker Thomas Lyons hit his third home run of the series, and both Tae-Sang Pak and Juan Arroyo had two doubles off of Metcalf apiece.

In the nightcap, Philadelphia outlasted Brick in thirteen innings to take a 2-1 lead in their series.  Philadelphia had a 7-2 lead after five and a half innings, but Alajandro Baez and Joe Younger could not hold the lead and the game went into extra frames.

Philadelphia managed to put two across the plate in the top of the 13th on a home run by C Steve Broadbent.  Brick managed to push one run across in the bottom of the inning and had runners on second and third when RF Thomas Kalakay grounded weakly to first to end the game.

Game 4:  Wednesday Night.

Monday, September 4, 2017

Playoffs: Maui Takes 2-0 Lead, Brick-Philadelphia Tied

Game Date:  Sep 27 2030

The Maui Mashers took a 2-0 lead against the Seattle Monarchs with a 9-6 victory.  The hitting star for the Mashers has been second baseman Thomas Lyons who went 3-5 and smacked his second home run in as many games.  Seattle pitcher Chris Williams simply didn't have it today, giving up thirteen hits and seven earned runs in 5 2/3 innings.  The bright spot for Seattle was third baseman Sung-heun Hwa, who hit his third home run of the playoffs.

In the nightcap, it took 11 innings for the Philadelphia Hornets to beat the Brick Barracudas 7-6.  Philadelphia had a 5-4 lead going into the top of the ninth when closer Anthony White failed to hold the lead by giving up a game-tying home run to Anthony Powers to lead off the inning.

Brick took a lead in the top of the 11th on an RBI single by Salvadore Velasquez, but could not hold off the Hornets.  Brick brought in Frank Carey to face Javier Ortiz.  Ortiz smacked the first pitch of the inning for a single.  After a sacrifice bunt, Manuel Hidalgo launched a 1-0 pitch over the right field wall for a two run home run to win the game.

Answer to last week's trivia question:
Which Hall of Fame pitcher* did not earn his first major league win until nearly five years after his major league debut.

(* Only players elected as pitchers should be considered... so Jimmie Foxx, who earned his first [and only] pitching victory 20 years after his major league debut does not count.)

Fred came up with Warren Spahn, which is a good guess, but not the correct one.  Spahn made his big league debut for the Boston Braves on April 19, 1942.  He failed to win a game that year, enlisted in the Army after the season and spent the next three years in the war.  He earned his first win on July 14, 1946, a stretch of four years and nearly three months.  I will admit that that can be construed as "nearly five years" and give Fred partial credit.  But it is not the answer I was looking for.

The correct answer is Bob Lemon.  Lemon made his debut for the Cleveland Indians on September 9, 1941.  He played five games that year and five more in 1942 before joining the US Navy and missing the next three seasons.  He finally won his first game on June 9, 1946, four years and ten months after his debut.

Spahn pitched in four games in 1942 (including two starts) and did not win a game.  Lemon, however, had a pretty good excuse for failing to win any of the ten games he appeared in in 1941-1942... he was stationed at third base.  Lemon did not become a pitcher until he returned from the war.

Next sim:  Tuesday night

Saturday, September 2, 2017

Game 1 to Maui and Brick

The Maui Mashers started off the 2030 postseason with a bang, as they jumped all over Seattle starter Toyoshige Takahashi for seven runs in three innings.

Takahashi's troubles started right away when leadoff hitter Thomas Lyons launched a 1-2 pitch over the right field wall in the first inning.  Takahashi would end up giving up two more home runs before being lifted to start the fourth inning.

In the nightcap, Brick waited until the fifth inning to put a run on the board, but by the time the game ended, they put up ten more, to defeat Seattle 11-2.

Game 2 will be Monday night.