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electriceel883
Joined: 05/26/2021
Posts: 1505

Irvine Infernos
III.3

Broken Bat Baseball
Big series with New Orleans as we tried to continue our longshot rise, starting the day 9 games back...well it did not go as planned. Moreno and Corral delivered victories, but the Mayor and Olivera werent able to. Its funny how we've won 20 of 24 games but Olivera is 0-2 in his last 4 starts with 2 no-decisions.

I called up Nunez and Coronado, and after Moreno blanked them for 7 1/3 IP, Coronado got his first major league action: 1 2/3 scoreless IP. Paez launched 2 homers. The Mayor was only able to complete 4 1/3 as New Orleans hit 2 HR but Johansen had 3 2/3 shutout IP but the bats couldnt do any lifting as we lost 4-2.

Corral gave up a measly 4 hits and 2 runs in 8 innings, with Johansen tossing a scoreless frame. Waters hit his 10th homer and is now one point off last years BA. Its taken him all year, with most of the work since Aug...May 1: .226, June 1 .246, July 1, .255, Aug 1, .260, Sep 1, .283.

Olivera was chased after 4 innings and 4 ER. Benavidez came in and gave up 2 HR, only his second and third of the season, and Johansen continues being ridiculously hot: he has pitched 18 2/3 IP since his last update, with 2 HR being the only damage and his ERA is now 3.26. Finally resembling the pitcher who has so shut-down in 2053.

So that should put the final nail in our great run as far as going from worst to first. We are still 9 games back, 24 to go. We did cement ourselves in 2nd place with a second-best RD league-wide at +65.

Time to play the kids.

I called up Porter already, as he has gained just 1 SI in AAA this season, all the way back in #2, and RNG has been quite fluky for him, since he has just 9 hitting: He was sent down Apr'6 with a League BA of .211, he is 10-29 in this stretch for .262 on the year.
electriceel883
Joined: 05/26/2021
Posts: 1505

Irvine Infernos
III.3

Broken Bat Baseball
Weird stretch. After we were not able to push back on New Orleans and to play the kids, we had three 2-3 losses in 4 games. Olivera is 0-3 in his last 5 starts.

Game 2 was something else. Nunez got the start and didnt pitch well, 7 runs (4 ER) in 7 1/3. We were down 7-3 going into the 9th, a 2 run homer, a double, a triple and a sac fly tied it. Then in the 10th we scored 4 runs again with a 3 run homer by Zavala to ice an 11-7 win. Glover had 2 HR. Porter had a rare 5-5 game, all singles with no RBI, and 2 SB. Johansen followed Nunez and picked up his 8th win.

We pounded them 13-1 in Game 3, as the rarely used Lloyd Wiggins put in his 2nd terrific start in a row. 1 ER, 4 hits, 7 2/3 IP. He had 4 rather crappy starts in late June, early July and only the fact that he may still gain a point of two of SI put him in the rotation. He had strong strong work at SP late last season as well. Taking his season as a whole, his H/IP is good, 61 IP, 4.28 ERA, 7 HR, 2.21BB/9, 6.05K/9. Pretty good for a Lefty. Coronado finished with 1 1/3 scoreless IP. Goodson followed Glover's lead in the previous game and had his THIRD multiple homer game this season. Grooms had 4 hits, Arriaga and Porter with 3 (along with Goodson). Chasing Ibanez felt good. He is getting older and having a below average season, but he stuck a dagger in our eye many times in VI. 18.

Yamasaki had a great start for the first time in awhile. 1 ER in 7 1/3 IP. Coronado finally got his "Welcome to the Bigs" moment and got whalloped. He faced 17 batters in 1 2/3 IP, threw 68 pitches, surrendered 8 ER and yet we still won the game 10-9 even though Round Rock scored 9 over the last 2 frames.

Porter is now hitting .326 through 95 AB. He is not lifting the ball at all, only 5 of his 31 hits have went for extra bases. He is 7/10 on SB. With 3 errors in 24 starts, we might as well have Quintero out there lol. But if his game otherwise works out he has many more points to gain in fielding.

Nunez has been pitching reasonably well for 89 SI. 17 IP, 21 hits, 4 BB, 3.18 ERA. Since he is just a right-handed Mayor, he has only 3 K's.

We drop a 1/2 game and are 9 1/2 out of first, but solidly second as we beat back Round Rock and lead them by 5. The difference between this years and last years late season pitching grind is last year I tried to get short relievers some SI. This year Yamasaki, Coronado, Wiggins, Nunez all have legit SP stamina so we should probably finish better than last season and end up with a winning record.
electriceel883
Joined: 05/26/2021
Posts: 1505

Irvine Infernos
III.3

Broken Bat Baseball
Well since the split with New Orleans I have been pitching the kids. All have pitch counts relatively in line with their stamina.

Yamasaki: 3 GS, 21 1/3 IP, 7 ER, 1 HR.

Not projecting him as a starter at all, but I do want to see improvement as his SI rises and whether he can pitch a few innings in a row without running into trouble.

Macias: 2 GS, 7 IP, 9 ER, 2 HR.

Not sure this guy even makes it to Spring Training. Picked him up just before deadline. Got him because its possible he will end up with nice velocity/CoS/Movement. But there is not a clear spot for him on the team

Nunez: 4 GS, 28 2/3 IP, 9 ER, 0 HR.

I have high hopes for the "Right-Handed Mayor". He has been a bit lucky, as he has surrendered 5 unearned runs. That being said, having given up less than 1 H/IP with his moderate skill set is outstanding, along with only 6 walks and 0 homers. The homers are not a big surprise, since he gave up 40 in 1155 IP in the minors. He was whipped pretty bad in Cup earlier in the season, but those were 150 pitch outings. These have a better chance of success.

Wiggins: 4 GS, 32 2/3 IP, 7 ER, 0 HR.

He also had some poor-mediocre starts early in the season. Yamasaki and Nunez are close to finesse pitchers, and Wiggins has a bit more heat with 22K in this stretch. The difference between he and Helm (besides being left-handed) is that he continued gaining SI and thus far in 155 1/3 League IP he has given up just 15 homers. There are stretches where he really shows some juice as a SP.

May give Coronado a start or two. Settings arent really set up for him to get in there, as there are no hooks for these development starts.

Zavala continues to show great power. He leads the team in homers with 18 (big whoop I know) and is the best slugger on the team with 1 HR/21.1 AB.

This year barring a disaster in the last 10 games is much much more satisfying than last year. Aside from finishing with a better record, several stars were average at best:

Hodson 110G, 400AB .273/3/52. 41/59 SB. The only area where he was normal was SB and OBP .353.

Nakajima 118G 455AB .279/16/85. While the average is relatively normal, the power is way off. Last 3 seasons together he had 1 HR/18.4 AB. This year its 1/28.44 AB.

Former All-League performers:

Moreno 11-10 4.62 ERA. His ERA on Aug 13 was 5.56. He has gotten very hot since or this number would be worse. This year his homer rate is 1.07/9 IP and 3.80BB/9. His career homer rate in his previous 3 seasons was 1.01/9 IP. Walk rate 2.91BB/9. These other seasons he had 86,98,109 SI.

Quintero 82G .252/4/34 OBP .309. His career prior (over 1000 AB) he batted .285. So maybe just an off year. Still he is a ground ball hitter, who is not a very good 3B. So his roster spot is pretty tenuous

Heroes that grew:

Arriaga: 132G .300/15/80 OBP .393. He has been around my whole tenure. What he did this time was bat decently against LHP (.271).

Goodson: 128G .303/17/75 OBP .351. I have spent no time looking at any rookies, but he is MY rookie of the year anyway.

McCann: 116G .317/13/70. OBP .367 35/45 SB. Coming off a 2054 that was hot garbage (.229/11/62), he was batting .241 on Jun 1/.263 on Jul 1/.270 Aug 1/.289 Sep 1/.313 Oct 1. So yea, no idea what to make of him.

Out of nowhere:

Paez: 113G .339/11/59 OBP .384, 2 errors, 11 OA. I could easily have been among the 37 teams that missed out on him. He bats exclusively against RHP, and obviously is killing them.

Grooms: 39G .324/0/11. OBP .395. Thrice released this season, but seems like he has enough left to possibly be around next season. He is expensive and does boot some balls: 7 errors, but he may be able to help transition to the Gomez era.


Updated Thursday, July 14 2022 @ 7:42:38 pm PDT
electriceel883
Joined: 05/26/2021
Posts: 1505

Irvine Infernos
III.3

Broken Bat Baseball
One of the best updates of the year.

Glover's development has been a bit strange. A single point in #2 aside, he has had 2 updates with 3 arrows and nothing else.

I called up Porter in part because he gained nothing in half a dozen updates in the minors, so I put him in all lineups and his first update after, 4 arrows. Plus he has actually hit fine in league play.

Deadline signing Matt Nelson gained +1 range. Shanks gained his 10th SI of the year, and I was actually going to call him up next season, but his gain of SI has been very strong in AAA at 25, so he is a year ahead of gaining SI into 14 range by Age-28 and could do my normal due diligence of waiting 5 empty trainings in AAA to try and cut down on stunting. He will be added to the League Roster for Spring/first 10 game though as normal.

Gomez has gained nothing in 4 updates. Possibly his ridiculously rapid rise from A-AAA is near completion and he actually is ready for the bigs. Wont be finding out though this season lol.

Since he is back in the rotation, Yamasaki went back to gaining. I was kind of hoping he would skip Stamina, because he was already at 18 and if that hits 20 its over. Alas, now 19 there, with his commented slider only 12. He has now officially broke the Mayor's record (29 SI gained in one season) with 32.

No surprise that Nunez control and velocity ticked up. His control has always been outstanding, and while his velocity is still only 8, he hasnt been bad in the minors whiffing people.

Another fringe roster guy besides Macias (gained Vel) is DH-y Ryan Buck. I got him in time to play him in a few cup games as his SI was really low to already be recommended to League - 61. I got him because of growth curves on hitting and power. Despite being in AAA since our Cup concluded, he has gained 8 SI so far this season (5 for me). Everyone wants those young, high SI guys, but the growth rate is quite eye-opening. Statistically hes been nothing much so I will keep and eye on that too. At 89 SI he would a 16H,18PD,16P guy. At 95 17,20,17. (Which is probably why he didnt rise to 12 POT this season at Age-22 - no room). His fielding would be 12, and I have been putting a little more time into finding 1B types that dont make quite so many errors but still have low range/arm.

2055 #3, Catcher of the future (hopefully) Gentile got the call to AAA, after a strong posting in AA: .296/9/59. Omi did also, but as he is only 20 I will wait until after the flip. Mares neither gains SI normally (2 in #4), nor has any call to League after 4 seasons in AAA. Looks very much like the flipside of force promoting Rookie/A Ballers after awhile. But he will be 25 next season, so I will promote him then. Early Aug pickup CaƱizles was drafted this year, posted in Rookie ball, and when I picked him up the AI wanted him in AA. So he has been posted to A since I got him. Undecided how long I should leave him there. We will see what update #0 does for him, if anything.

Anyway, my team is coming along nicely. If Nunez and some of the other youngsters can be even better next year, I think our strong hitting will make the team very competitive.

As I said in previous post: All-time stars Hodson, Nakajima havent done much lifting this year, Shockley will be retiring - he has been used a bit to try and reach a milestone, and Tony Rodriguez has moved on to another team. Those were all 4 of the NP that made the 2052 ASG, our first competitive season 84-76.


Updated Friday, July 15 2022 @ 6:52:32 am PDT
electriceel883
Joined: 05/26/2021
Posts: 1505

Irvine Infernos
III.3

Broken Bat Baseball
With the sweep of division leading New Orleans in front of sold out crowds at the Volcano, we have now won 7 straight, as our fans pray for a miracle. Which is about what it would take for us to overtake New Orleans. We are now 5 games back with 7 to play. Not having a tie breaker I think they would have to go 1-6 or worse and we'd have to win every game lol

Its with a lot of pride I see my hard-charging teams and the young arms that continue improving. Its not every day starting Coronado, Yamasaki and Nunez can hold a team that has won 87 games to 5 runs for a series.

Since adding Coronado to get him some work, because current settings dont allow the MR to come in very much, it was an unusual game. He has always had control problems, so 86 pitches only got him 4 innings. But strong ones with 0 runs, 3 hits and 1 walk.

Because I have shuffled the rotation around, Olivera came on in relief for the first time ever. He allowed an inherited runner to score, but in doing so earned his 15th win, finally, in his 6th attempt, as we scored 2 in the bottom of the 8th in a 1-1 game. Porter's HR broke the tie, and Goodsons RBI single added an insurance run. For his timely blow, Porter earned his 1st POTG.

Yamasaki has made 5 starts in the late-going: he is starting to get his H/IP under control: 34 IP, 38 hits. For the year he has 42 more than IP. 4 straight starts going at least 6 1/3 with 3 ER or less each time, his ERA falling from 6.75 to 5.81. His GB rate of .99 and HR rate of 1.18/9 is a bit high, but it should be mentioned again that his SI has risen from 73 to 105. He has a stretch of 13 starts where he surrendered a HR in 11 of them.

Nunez whipped them good in his start: 8 1/3 IP, 3 hits, 2BB, 5K. He has surrendered 5 hits in his last 17 2/3 IP (2 starts). Its starting to look like more than good fortune. He has 5 GS/4 QS this season, no homers allowed in 41 innings and a 2.20 ERA.

I want to again thank TPS for releasing this guy 3 seasons ago. In other news, Collins came up as his minor league play is concluded. He was 2-10 in the series. We are now 82-71.

So, whats the takeaway? Without the partly self-caused 12 game losing streak at the beginning of the season, or as Jerbeetwo puts it, "trying to win the update", its possible that developing some players cost me a shot at promotion. Yamasaki springs to mind. She also told me Yamasaki wasnt worth the effort - which may well be true: his slider may fall short, and while he may end up solid, I wouldnt say he will be a high value pitcher. He started 27 games and we were 13-14 in those games. That being said, there is some value in a pitcher who can actually start, even if he doesnt do so regularly, and his 4 straight QS are good news.

That being said, with Moreno's below average season, The Mayor and Harvey being who they are (below average but consistent SP), the pitching needed a lot of help/development this season. It was Olivera and 3 days of rain at times.

There were some things that happen outside of development that led to this hot stretch: Moreno returning to form, somewhat, the signing of Corral, who's been terrific, Wiggins who had a stretch of strong starts last season, but didnt do much there earlier in the season, but when added to the rotation lately, 4 QS in a row and good metrics. Johansen returned to form, and Benavidez and Roque found their footing this season. Now Nunez is here and holding his own. If Coronado can build on his great AAA season thats even better. Plus the hitting making up for the absence of Shockley and down years for Hodson/Nakajima.

So, amazingly next season, pitching might actually be a strength. As always on my teams, theres not going to be too many old guys. I hope I can another good season out of 35-to-be Grooms and Corral. Sure things wax and wane. I dont think I can ever expect Paez and McCann to have the ridiculous years they are having this year. Got several guys in AAA who are ready to go or will be soon, including top prospects P Kennedy, SS Gomez, 3B Mares, 2B Shanks and depth guys such as OF Alford 3B Knudsen. Lots of talent there.

I have been giving Shockley some starts. He will be retiring at Age 35, and he is trying to get a milestone: 450 SB. 7/10 this season. He is hitting a respectable .277 but its clear he's about done.

I totally expect to compete for a division title next season. I dont know who will replace New Orleans/relegators, but New Orleans was the only one I really had a problem with this year, because of their outstanding pitching. Bold talk I know.

Updated Friday, July 15 2022 @ 5:16:11 pm PDT
electriceel883
Joined: 05/26/2021
Posts: 1505

Irvine Infernos
III.3

Broken Bat Baseball
Mixed feelings....it feels awful to lose 3-1,2-1,3-2...yet how can I be mad that the "Inspurnos" are kicking ass?

Coronado was called up and had two good short relief outings, and then the stint for hell: 1 2/3 IP, 11 hits, 8 ER. Then these two starts: 4 1/3 and 5 1/3 IP, 2 ER. Batters must be swinging at a whole lot of 3-0 pitches: his ST% is less than 60% but he has only 4 walks in 14 1/3 IP. With 8 K's and 0 homers his ERA is 6.28 but FIP is 2.82. If it werent for that one outing...

Yamasaki and Wiggins tossed 8 inning complete games with 2 and 3 ER allowed, 13 K's against 3 walks but what am I supposed to do when the team scores 1 and 3 runs? Great outings though...

Finally won one in Game 4. Nunez wasnt quite as sharp as usual: 4 ER in 6 1/3 IP. He uncharacteristically issued 5 walks and gave up his first homer of the season (47 IP). Benavidez cleaned up and we won 5-4. We had only 28 hits in the whole series, 7 a game. Trying really hard to give Shockley an opportunity to reach his milestone. He stole 1 of 2 bases this series.

Almost there. 3 games to go.
Jerbeetwo
Joined: 06/30/2019
Posts: 327

Tyler Goldendoodles
IV.3

Broken Bat Baseball
She?
NotGood88
Joined: 08/28/2020
Posts: 510

Prattville Black Cats
II.2

Broken Bat Baseball
Prattville is trying its best to give its fans heart attacks, as we dropped 3/4 against Eau Claire, so the magic number is at 2 heading into the final series, which somehow has implications for everyone in the East. We'll go game-by-game.

PRV vs. APO - If we win 1/3 and Boca Raton loses 1, we win the division (or if we win 2/3). If APO wins 2/3, they stay up if CUM wins only 1/4 (or wins 2/4 and APO takes it on +/-) or if ECL gets swept.

CUM vs. CAR - CAR needs to win at least 3/4 to guarantee a spot in V.15 next year, if they get anything less than that, APO controls its own destiny. Meanwhile, CAR needs a sweep to stay up, and they do have a sizable advantage in +/-, however, if APO wins 2/3, they are doomed anyways.

BR vs. ECL - BR can win 2/3 and have PRV get swept, or a sweep by BR and 1/3 from PRV to get into the tiebreakers (BR has PRV by 2 runs at the moment), but BR wins outright if PRV gets swept and BR sweeps. Meanwhile, ECL only needs to win 1/3 to stay up, and a sweep could very well doom them. They have no incentive to win more than 1/3.

So as you can see, it's very confusing, and nobody's actually locked into any position after 157 games. The West, meanwhile, has a boring and likely decided fight for who gets in 4th and 5th. Yawn.
electriceel883
Joined: 05/26/2021
Posts: 1505

Irvine Infernos
III.3

Broken Bat Baseball
@Jerbeetwo Typo, sorry.
Jerbeetwo
Joined: 06/30/2019
Posts: 327

Tyler Goldendoodles
IV.3

Broken Bat Baseball
NP lol. But I must admit that I am shocked that you were able to get a 32 SI bump in a 27 year old this season so that alone proved me wrong to a degree. But in his final configuration is he even a #5 starter next year?


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