Virtual Baseball Season/Franchise Updates

Mariners drop to 22-23, getting swept by the Giants at home.  My game was Eric Bedard vs. coverboy Lincecum who was a friggin unhittable robot.  I lost 6-1 and scored the one run in the bottom of the 9th off an Ichiro single, a hit and run Betancourt single, and a Griffey sac fly.  We had 5 hits to their 16, 6 strikeouts on each side, and 1 BB on each side.

I'm in a real hitting slump right now.

OK, played a bunch of games tonight and it was amazing enough that I'm posting from home for the first time... :-)

2-game-set against Chicago White Sox (whose record is similar to ours).

First game: Brad Penny pitched very well and we got lots of singles, but we couldn't string them together and showed no power, and we trailed 4-1 entering the 9th.  Their closer couldn't do much though, and suddenly we had an unexpected rally.  We got it to 4-3 with 2 on and 2 out...and Juan Pierre delivered a pinch hit to tie it up!  Carl Crawford followed with another hit to win it!  4 runs in the 9th, and a 5-4 walk-off win!  This was maybe our third-ever big 9th inning rally in the 4.5 seasons I've played so far, just so unexpected and gratifying.  It also meant a 3-game winning streak for us!

Second game: Riding the momentum of the win, Nick Neugebauer pitched great.  Unfortunately we again couldn't get the key hit, and we were shut out, 3-0.

Next: 3-game-set against the division-leading Yankees.  They have three great RH power hitters in Pujols, Jeff Kent, and Marty Rice (fictional but good), and the top pitching stats in the AL thus far.  I felt like we needed 2 out of 3 to feel like we were back in the race.

First game: Tim Hudson was not sharp, giving up single runs in the first three innings, but he was gritty and kept us in it, as did the bullpen.  Mark Buehrle was phenomenal for New York, at one point retiring 18 straight batters.  It was the closest thing I've seen to being no-hit in High Heat, ever.  I had only 2 singles through 8 innings.  Regardless, it remained 3-0 entering the 9th.  Carl Crawford was hit by a pitch, and with 2 out Carlos Beltran got our third hit of the game.  Aubrey Huff was up next, abd he's our top RBI guy, and I laughed to myself that all we needed was a homer -- remember that we hadn't scored for 17 straight innings since our great rally.  Lo and behold he pounded one into the bullpen and it was 3-3!!  I was freaking out!   Unfortunately, we couldn't finish it off.  In the 11th, two errors and a great bunt by New York led to two runs, and we lost it 5-3.  I just couldn't believe that we tied it but still lost.

Second game: Two of the top pitchers in the AL, Mark Mulder (3-1) vs. Dannys Baez (3-0), so I expected another low-scoring game, and that's what it was.  I decided that if we weren't hitting for power, we were going to play for single runs using our speed.  Both pitchers were outstanding.  We played great fundimental baseball, and got a run on a Huff sac fly in the third.  Both pitchers got into jams, but worked their way out.  New York finally broke through in the 7th, and it was 1-1.  In the last of the 7th we eeked out another run on a walk, a balk, and a Carl Crawford base hit to lead 2-1.  Both teams were into their bullpens.  We survived an error in the top of the 8th, then got another sac fly in the bottom half to make it 3-1.  Colby Lewis saved it for an intense win.  This snapped an 8-game win streak for New York.

Third game: Our hitting finally came to life early with 3 doubles and a triple, and a 4-1 lead after 4 behind Adam Eaton.  I figured with how our pitching had been shutting people down lately, we were on our way.  Suddenly it all turned around.  Their bullpen was fantastic, and David Segui (of all people) hit two 2-R homers as the Yanks exploded against Eaton and the bullpen for a 10-4 win.  Eaton has now had 4 bad starts out of 5 tries, and is being demoted out of the rotation for now.  After giving up only 5 HR all last year in 10 starts, he has given up an amazing 15 this season through 5 starts.

So we are now 8-15, and 8.5 games back of the Yankees.  Remember that we started 2-8, so we're just 1 game under .500 since, but what really hurts is that New York has won 10 of 11 and opened up a big lead on the rest of the division.  We now have a 2-game set in Cleveland (pretty good), and follow that with a short homstand against Oakland (bad) and KC (ok).

I may play a bit tomorrow time permitting, but really am going on vacation after that for over a week.  Will play and post again eventually, and look forward to catching up on others' seasons.

2-2 now with my Yanks on All-Star after the patch.  I decided to bite the bullet and make this my 'real' season, using rosters with Arod back but Posada out, etc.

At this point my greatest skill is restarting my franchise.  I think I'm on number four or five now!

OK, the 2007 Red Sox High Heat Season is now complete.  We went 19-29, and finished 5th in the East, 13GB of the Yankees, who won their first World Championship.  We probably could have finished fourth or even third, but I was playing to see which pitchers could help for next year and it definitely cost us a couple of games.

Our team hitting ranked 11th in the AL in all key categories: .269 Average, 43 HR, and 219 Runs Scored (4.6 RPG).  Remember that we were HORRIBLE for the first 15-20 games, way last in all categories; the offense really came on strong after we got Carlos Lee, and I'm cautiously optimistic for next season.

On other other hand: Our team pitching, after finishing 1st or 2nd in the AL in most key stats in 2006, was 13th in all key categories this season: 5.08 ERA, 20 Quality Starts, and a 53% save percentage.  Tim Hudson was much worse this season, Adam Eaton went from great to horrible to traded, and the bullpen was inconsistent until we rearranged roles.

The big questions for the offseason are all about pitching, and particularly the rotation.  Right now there's Mark Mulder and a lot of question marks:

- Tim Hudson had a 5.97 ERA, and his ERA has risen each of the last three years; I am probably going to try to move him. 
- Brad Penny had a 4.81 ERA, and seems like a 4th-or-5th starter at best. 
- Nick Neugebarger showed flashes, pitching well late in the year; he was 0-3 but had a 4.44 ERA and is only 26 years old (so he may still be improving).
- Stan Sheridan was my top draft pick in the 2005/2006 draft and he finally got the call mid-season.  He had his moments, but was 1-3 with a 5.73 ERA so I still don't think he's really ready.
- Marc Glenn is my other rookie pitcher.  He had a 3.86 ERA, but only pitched 14 innings and has limited endurance, he'll probably move to the bullpen.

The bullpen was better in the second half, but my big worry there is age.  My top two setup men, Eddie Guardado and Steve Karsay, are 35 and 36 and I've seen a lot of relief pitchers just lose it  in the game as they get older.  Colby Lewis was strong as a closer, and is 27 years old.  I'd consider putting him in the rotation if absolutely necessary, but he wasn't as strong this season in his spot start and middle relief as he was as the closer.

There's not a lot of pitching help down on the farm.  None of my top pitching prospects are ready.  However I do have a number of good position players in AAA who hopefully can bring me pitching via trades.  I am scouring pitching rosters for teams that are pitching-deep but hitting-poor and will see what I can make happen.

With any luck I'll get through the offseason this week.


Are any of you still playing your seasons ?