Neat Stuff, Post-Sim Thread: 2036, Season 30

[Borealis]

Neat? Aurora hit a homer this week to double our total? Neater? We then hit another? Neat-0? We had a player ('Matchbox' - about time) who hit 2 in a game? Neatest? a four-homer game! With 8 on the week, that was pretty darn Neat!!

- Juan Rodriguez, backing up around the infield and at DH was 9-19, while David Simmons had a pair of homers on a 6-15 week. Angel Silva, 9-24, continues to swing it well, with a pair of 2B and a homer.

- Claudio Hernandez actually had 3 HR on the week and 11 RBI (where was that v. KZoo?).

- Brian Clark held Fargo to a run on 4-hits in his 8 IP, and after allowing a grand slam in the first inning to The Evil Evas, Richard Neely shut Shin Seiki down on 3-hits over his 6.1 IP - giving Aurora a chance to scatch out 5-single runs to win 5-4!

[Wind Dancers]

A fairly slow start for the WinD's quickly turned around with a perfect sim this week. Fresh off of his big contract extension in the offseason, DH John Pulsifer has so far rebounded this season hitting .287/.345 with 7 HRs and 18 RBIs to start the year. Rookie RF Takeichi Kobayashi, who was permanently snubbed as a top 100 prospect, has also been a quick starter this season. "Primer" is hitting .309 and has 3 HRs and 5 RBIs to his name. And the most pleasant start goes to Alfredo Gonzalez who is reminding fans why he got the big contract coming out of the Mexican league in 2032. Gonzalez has given up just 3 runs in 26.1 innings while striking out 30 as he heads into a player option for his last year in the offseason.

There's been a bit of chatter from other RS teams about their early season success, but that chatter always seems to get very quiet come September when I have to scroll down to see their names on the wildcard list...

[Borealis]

There's been a bit of chatter from other RS teams about their early season success, but that chatter always seems to get very quiet come September when I have to scroll down to see their names on the wildcard list...

Yikes!

[Hitmen]

There's been a bit of chatter from other RS teams about their early season success, but that chatter always seems to get very quiet come September when I have to scroll down to see their names on the wildcard list...

Yikes!

Shots fired!

[Nigel]

Really hard to find neat stuff for San Antonio at the moment, but at least I'm trying. Best thing this week is Manuel Mojica's hitting streak, my first round R5 pick from Arlington (12th overall) has started 16 out of our 20 games and currently has a 16-game hitting streak; he has hit four homers in that streak, driven in 11 runs, scored 13 runs himself and walked seven times. He has also proved to be a sound rightfielder with a +2.5 ZR

[JayA]

Javier Aguilar hits for the cycle for the first time in his career against the Ghosts. At least I'll have one player fun to follow in addition to the minor leagues this year! Haha!

[Wind Dancers]

Random sim fun fact: The Atlantic Conference of the IFHS (US Highschool Ball) finished the season with all 8 teams under .500. The Annapolis Jaguars (24-25) and the Union City Hillers (23-26) are the division's two playoff representatives this year. They just played each other in the players which Union City won 4-1.

[Thoroughbreds]

The injury to Davis more than likely opens up a spot for 2b Dale Spencer. Spencer is probably one of the bigger busts in Kentucky history. He was drafted 14th overall in the first round in 2030.
Now 27 he has played 122 games in the big leagues and has a .211 average and he is only hitting .179 in AAA this year. He is good defensively though, so that will be the reason he gets an opportunity now.

[Apollos]

The injury to Davis more than likely opens up a spot for 2b Dale Spencer. Spencer is probably one of the bigger busts in Kentucky history. He was drafted 14th overall in the first round in 2030.
Now 27 he has played 122 games in the big leagues and has a .211 average and he is only hitting .179 in AAA this year. He is good defensively though, so that will be the reason he gets an opportunity now.

I was bummed to see Davis go down, so close to being the second member of the PEBA’s 3000 hit club. Hopefully he gets back to full strength quickly and hits this huge milestone in 36

[JayA]

33-year-old former Shisa AAA OF Sean Kirkland got the call up early this year after an injury. Really stepped up his game against the team that was letting him rot in the minors last year with Player of the Game honors in both wins over the Shisa. He went 3/9 with 2 HR and 4 RBI in the two games he started.

[Underground]

My first winning sim of the season but yet I am now above .500 for the year, I will definitely take that. The Trans Atlantic is super tight so far and it's all to play for heading into the thick of May.

Also was excited to see Bill Jones come back to life. He's been one of my most reliable bats since 2032 but was off to a terrible start to the year to the point I shifted him down my lineup for this sim. He responded by earning player of the week batting .542 with 8 RBI!

Also I must say I am quite pleased with the old man Andres Hernandez. Brought him in just to boost ticket sales and occasionally play 1B if Rocky needed a rest but he's already hit 4 home runs and has a .310 OBP. Given the long, storied career he has enjoyed I'd love for him to have a successful campaign at age 39 in his 15th PEBA season.

[Arroyos]

YUMA ESCAPES BASEMENT!
Film at 11.

With a 6-4 record over their last 10 games, including 3 straight wins, the Yuman Beings have crawled out of the cellar. They don't recognize the terrain. No walls, no ceiling, what kind of hell could this be?

Some of the Yumans have been here before, briefly, but for most of the team it is a new experience. The only question is how long will it take before Tempe clubs the Yuman Beings back into their rightful hole?

Stay tuned.

[JayA]

Javier Aguilar hits for the cycle for the first time in his career against the Ghosts. At least I'll have one player fun to follow in addition to the minor leagues this year! Haha!

One sim after hitting for the cycle, Aguilar finished one single shy of doing it again.

[Thoroughbreds]

Kentucky ended up 23-4 in the month of May, by far the best streak I have had in my short 2 seasons. Big numbers for many Kentucky players for the month:

C Mesegue .392 with a .472 OBP
OF Mu .361 with a .462 OBP and 2.0 WAR
OF Kowalski .355 and 27 RBI
OF Canseco .303 with a .355 OBP

SP Jimenez was 5-0 with a 1.12 ERA
SP Brown was 5-0 with a 2.31 ERA
SP Park was 3-0 with a 2.41 ERA
CL Brown had 10 saves and a 0.81 ERA

Hopefully we don't drop off too much!

[Underground]

A big bounceback sim for the Underground, going 6-1 including a "pinch me am I dreaming?" 4 game sweep of West Virginia. We still find ourselves in 3rd in the division but have narrowed the gap to Havana to just 1.5 games. The Scottish have a comfy 4 game lead, but one bad week for them combined with one good week for us can erase that easily.

Today on my axe to grind list is All Star voting for the IL 1B spot. Fresh off being crowned IL batter of the month I went and proudly placed by vote for Mr. Rocky Nichols only to find out I am the ONLY VOTE cast for him.

I guess having the best batting average (.370), second best OBP (.428), second best slugging (.605), T-third most HR (10), third most RBI (35) among eligible 1B is not worthy of a single vote other than my own

Hard to imagine that the player with the second highest BA in the entire PEBA can't even make it to his own league's All Star roster but such is the tough times we live in. Personally I feel like this is a strong indicator that we open voting far too early and (unwisely) expect teams will go back and modify their votes diligently when I think the truth I'd be willing to bet the majority of teams who vote do so as a set-it-and-forget-it task.