Going Undergroud - a London Underground blog

[Nigel]

June 27th 2016

London are ruing missed chances after a hard homestand against Gloucester and Florida. All six games were very tight, only two games were won by more than two runs and 2-1 series defeats in both series let Arlington with a 5-1 effort in the same period sneak past the Underground into second place in the Pan Atlantic.


'Zippo' leads the Underground with 109 K's

Hiroyuki Nii will be most disappointed with the 4-0 loss in his start against the Fishermen. He gave 7.1 strong innings allowed just two hits and one run while striking out 11 but got no run support at all. Ken Cates gave up three more runs in just over an innings pitched and that was all she wrote. The final game of that series was a doubles fest as both teams combined to knock out 10 doubles but only London managed to send the ball out of the park, the three runs coming off two long bombs accounting for the winning margin.

Three runs in the final two innings of the series opener was enough for the Featherheads to sneak past the Underground 4-2. The second game was a real heart-breaker too, Luis Torres slid in with only his second triple of the season in the top of the eighth driving in two and sealing a 2-1 win for the visitors. London rallied to win the final game of the series again but only by the smallest of margins. A Chris Long double in the bottom of the seventh followed by a single by Bob Adams and a wild throw by Featherhead’s Eric Springer allowed Long to score the only run of the game. A rain delay of almost an hour in the fifth saw London end up sending six to the mound to share the shutout while despite two errors the home defence contributed three double plays to keep the visitors off the board.

Despite that the pitching staff remain in good shape with four out of the rotation owning winning records, the odd one out is Ángel Luján who is 2-2 but has had precious little run support with opponents only hitting .233 off him. Luis Montoya (0-1) is the only one in the bullpen with a losing record, a bullpen which has only eight losses to it’s credit.
The bats continue to struggle for power, only three long bombs were hit last week bringing the season total to 60. Only one player, Wen, has double digit homers (14) and only two more, Dennis Carter (7) & Long (6), have passed five homers. When you’re relying on going station to station for your runs and your team batting average is a mere .256 - life is going to be a struggle.


Erwin Callahan the London 1st round pick is still to sign

With just three of the ‘Class of 2016’ to sign after the First-year-player draft the franchise will soon be issuing a ‘meet the new boys’ press release. It is true to say though that the Underground management are very disappointed with the amount of signing bonuses being demanded by the top picks, way over the amount that it was believed they would sign for. One has been hearing though that London are not the only PEBA club to suffer from the greed of this years class.

[Nigel]

 
July 4th, 2016
 
Last Results: Another rough week for the Underground with series losses in West Virginia and New Jersey. Two one-run games went the way of the home team while the two blowouts were one for London and one against.
London got on the board first in the series opener in West Virginia with Nii on the mound but despite a steady stream of hits they just couldn’t add to the first innings run. The Alleghenies tied it in the second and scored in the fifth, sixth and seventh to give them a commanding lead. London clawed it back to 4-3 but with the tying run 90 feet away Chris Long struck out to end the game. Cipriano Peña was just awful in the second game, three doubles given up in the first handed the home team a three run lead and by the end of the second he had given up another three hits and three runs. London did manage to plate two in the third but five more hits given up by Peña including four doubles put an early end to his day. Luis Montoya came in without any difference and he exited sharply after Ronald Harmon launched a three-run homer over the wall in the fifth to put the Alleghenies 13-2 up. The bullpen kept it scoreless for the last four innings but the game was long gone, statisticians will be scrambling for the record books to see if the seven doubles given up by Peña is a record. Miguel Rosa notched his team leading ninth win in the final game with a 5-2 win but it took 13 hits to get those runs. The power was noticeably absent from the series with Harmon’s homer being the only one by either side in the three games.
 

 Dennis got the only homer of the week
 
A three-run top of the first in the opener in New Jersey featured a homer by Dennis Carter, London’s only long ball of the week. Three hits and two errors by the Hitmen in the fifth handed the Underground an 8-1 lead with the home side just couldn’t make up. Their hopes flickered with a two-run homer and a RBI triple in the sixth reduced the deficit to 9-4 but London put the game away in the top of the eighth when four hits including two doubles left them 12-4 up. Ángel Luján picked up his third loss of the season in the second game despite giving up only two earned runs. The home side plated three unearned runs and the Underground could only put up two runs in support of him as they went down 6-2. Danny Hendricks and Hiroyuki Nii served up a pitchers duel in the final game, Nii leaving after eight inning in a 2-2 tie. Luis Mora though threw it away in the bottom of the ninth when he gave up a walk-off homer to the second batter he faced. New Jersey even won the ‘error count’ as they recorded 4 errors to London’s three in the series.
 
Next up: The first full week of July sees the Underground return home to face four games against Pan Atlantic second-placed Arlington and two against Connecticut. Arlington lead the season series 3-1 while the Nutmeggers have the edge 5-4 over London.
 
Transactions: The biggest move of the week was London losing patience with the current lack of power and bringing back 35-year-old Rémi Young on a one-year deal. Rémi first arrived at London in 2009 in a trade with Bakersfield and went on to make 697 appearances hitting 129 homers and 433 RBI at a .250 average. His career year was 2010 when he hit 31 homers with 112 batted in at a .305 average. He left the English capital as a free agent in 2013 and went on to play 218 games for Tempe before being traded to Omaha in 2015 who used him sparingly. He will replace George Worley who despite some outstanding defence was only hitting .197 with three homers, George’s future will be decided if he clears waivers. Meanwhile Millard Wooten has cleared waivers and will report to Worcester while management ponder whether to offer him a contract for 2017. Top prospect Lorenzo Valenzuela has returned to Dover after his second spell on the D/L this year and will try to get his season back on track.
 
News & Notes: Leonard ‘Snacks’ Carver continues to impress after his promotion to Triple-A Worcester, he is currently 7-2 with a 2.44 ERA in 14 starts. He will probably get a September call-up and will more than likely head for winter ball for his final seasoning before entering Spring Training with high hopes of getting a place in the 2017 rotation.
With crowds up again in Wembley plans are being laid behind the scenes to extend the capacity and a feasibility study is being commissioned into the possibility of adding a roof to the famous old stadium.
The only holdout of London’s 2016 draft picks is their second round pick, Gerardo Mora, and the franchise are hopeful he will sign soon.  

[Nigel]

July 10th 2016

A frustrating week all round as London crash 1-6 and slump to 44-44. Just one game against Arlington was picked up behind the pitching of Mitch Anderson and the Underground were swept by the Nutmeggers. Only Hiroyuki Nii offered any resistance to them but in his bid for a complete game win he gave up the winning run in the ninth as we went down 4-3. It was a recurring theme as the so far reliable pitching staff had an off week. Cipriano Peña had another poor showing, losing both his starts and posting an 11.12 ERA in the process while Alfonso Robles suffered a thankfully rare lapse too. He appeared in three of the games, pitched four innings and gave up 11 runs while walking five but only striking out two. The opposition batters seemed to have no difficulty finding the bleachers at regular intervals, our pitchers gave up 13 during the week, chief culprits being Peña (4), Nii (3) & Robles (3).

While the batters weren’t exactly blameless in the week’s showing they at least showed a bit more pop in their bats although it was mainly all down to Chris Long who almost doubled his season’s total of homers when he launched five during the week. Those five resulted in a total of 15 runs driven in, the most productive tally after that being Bailey Rohr with three! With 64 hits and 18 doubles we should be driving more home more of these runners. New boy Rémi Young didn’t quite hit worse than Worley’s .197, he managed .200! He did coax two walks though and score twice while driving in two.

Wilson Vélez is due back next week from the D/L giving me the problem of which of the underperforming outfielders head for Worcester? Meanwhile Peña has exhausted the patience of management and is consigned to the long relief role as Robert Collins returns to the rotation after his stint as the long man following his Montréal rehab stint & torn rotator cuff. Peña has managed to give up 133 hits, 75 runs and 48 walks in 18 starts, way higher than anyone else in the rotation and it just became time for Collins to see if he can recapture former glorys as he heads for the final year of his contract.


Collins is set to return to the Underground rotation

Transactions: In a quiet week the only major transaction could have big implications for the next month. Nathan Carter is set for the D/L after colliding with Bureaucrats’ catcher Roger Bruce at home plate and suffering a torn thumb ligament. Nathan had been a dependable figure this season hitting .295/.362/.413 and driving in 31, his misfortune though will be a momentous one for the franchise. When management considered who to call up to replace him for the next five weeks they came to the conclusion that no-one in Worcester would be a solid replacement but James Tinker, although only hitting less than .200 would at least be a sound defensive replacement at 2B. More than that he would become the first English player to take the field for the Underground in their 10 year franchise history.

News and Notes: The franchise’s farm players have scooped up a few awards recently, after Joe Buchanan won the Appalachian Mountain League Batter of the Month for May, Leonard Ramsey showed that his return to Worcester after his cup of coffee had fired him up as he won the last June AML batter of the week award hitting .625 with 2 HR, 6 RBI & 6 R. Another award going to a Worcester player was the AML June pitcher of the month that went to Leonard Carver for his 4-0 in five starts with a 1.86 ERA, it really can’t be long before this young 20-year-old is gracing the PEBA with his skills. Stanton Bryant, who has just been called up to Double-A Montréal, picked up an Amber Waves League (Hi-A) batter of the week award in June while 2014 seventh rounder, Oliver Garza collected a Hawaiian League batter of the week for going 11-26 with 3 HR 5 R & 8 RBI. The Maui Stingrays picked another award too when 17-year-old Cuban Raúl García, who was discovered by the scouting team, picked up the June pitcher of the month award after he posted a 2-0 record with 5 saves and a 0.82 ERA. The Stingrays are off to a flyer this year leading the Archipelago with a 19-5 record.


Raúl was discovered in Cuba and has won his first award as the Stingray's closer

The Underground’s first and third round picks in the 2016 draft, Erwin Callahan & Victor Santiago, have now signed and will report to Maui but the second round pick, Gerardo Mora, has turned down a substantial offer and has indicated that he will return to education and look to the 2017 draft. This means that 13 out of the 15 ’Class of 2016’ have signed with the London franchise, Mora and the released 15th round pick Alex Avila being the two exceptions.

[Nigel]

July 18th 2016

Firstly I must congratulate our three players selected to appear in the 2016 PEBA All-Star game, Hiroyuki Nii & Luis Mora both making their second consecutive All-Star appearance and Mitch Anderson making his All-Star bow.

After the All-Star break The Underground played a three-game series at the league leading Gloucester Fishermen and frankly were lucky to come away with one win. After falling two behind in the third innings of the first game London came back in the sixth when a Bob Adams double drove in both the tying runs. The game went to extra-innings and unfortunately Mora repeated his All-Star performance in the same park a few days earlier when he gave up the winning run in the bottom of the 10th. Robert Collins’ return to the rotation in the second game lasted just one innings as he left after one with a hamstring strain. Already though he had given up two homers and London trailed 3-1. The Underground gave up two more homers and failed to produce any threat as they eventually went down 6-1. The final game was a real pitchers duel with Ángel Luján outdueling Leslie Johnson. Luján pitched eight scoreless innings giving up just five hits while Johnson went seven giving up four hits but crucially one of those was Dennis Carter’s third innings homer which proved to be the only run of the game. Mora closed out the game for his 22nd save of the season. One of the highlights of the series was the debut of the first Englishman to play for London, James Tinker. He sadly went 0-11 for the series but only struck out twice and gave the ball a good ride on a few occasions only to be denied by a fantastic defensive play. He was very solid at Second though helping the Underground turn three double-plays with 11 put-outs and 12 assists.


Wilson is heading for a rehab stint in Worcester

News and Notes: Wilson Vélez was activated from the D/L and sent to Worcester for a rehab stint, it is likely that when he returns to the London line-up it’ll mean the end of Rémi Young’s brief second spell with the club. Rémi has unfortunately shown nothing in his first ten games back going 6-35 and striking out 14 times. It may seem he hasn’t had a proper chance but as London’s stricken outfielders come back from injury there isn’t room in a crowded outfield for another passenger. George Worley has cleared waivers and has reported to Worcester. They lead the Appalachian Mountain League by two games and will appreciate having an outfield of Vélez, Worley and Schaffer who have all had stints with London this season. César Hernández has also joined the Saucers as a minor league free agent as infield cover while Tinker is with the Underground. 27-year-old Hernández played at Single-A & Double-A in the Duluth, New Jersey and Gloucester organisations.


Montoya is 32, in the final months of his contract and now on waivers

Luis Montoya is currently 0-1 with a 7.41 ERA and has only had four appearances in June & July so far and Management have decided to put him on waivers and call-up Jamie Camacho from Worcester to replace him in the bullpen.21-year-old Jamie was 3-1 with a 3.81 ERA in 22 Triple-A appearances; he was signed in the off-season as a free agent on a one-year deal and made two appearances early on in the season posting a 4.50 ERA

[Nigel]

July 25th, 2016

It was a good week … just … for the Underground. London finished off their road trip with a 3 games to one success over the Pan-Atlantic second-placed Bureaucrats before returning home and being lucky to pick up one game out of three against Kentucky.

Nii & Arlington’s José Avalos fought a pitcher’s duel for the first four innings of the series opener before London bust the game open in the fifth. The Underground put five on the board in an innings which included Englishman Tinker’s first ever hit, a squeaky infield single. Arlington clawed it back as far as 5-3 but London finished them off with four in the eighth and two more in the ninth. Amongst those celebrating in the eighth was Tinker again as he hit his first ever home run, a two-run shot off Bureaucrats’ reliever Vicente Medina who had already given up a long ball to Dennis Carter in the innings. Miguel Rosa got his 10th win of the season, the first London pitcher to reach that plateau, in the second game when he pitched eight strong innings giving up just one run and six hits in the 3-1 win. Arlington bounced back with a vengeance, crushing London 7-1 after scoring five in the first two innings. Luján only went four & two-thirds in the final game, giving up three runs and four walks but left with the score tied at three. The bullpen took it the rest of the way only surrendering three hits and no runs while Decheng Wen drove in the winning two runs with a double in the top of the 7th.

After the glory of overturning Arlington the Underground returned home to face three against Kentucky. London scratched out a run in the second and another in the third thanks to a Chris Long homer and Mark Lamb’s first triple of the season. Just when it was seeming easy the Thoroughbreds ruined Robert Collins’ 2nd start back from rehab by hitting five runs in the fifth. London came back again and tied it at five next innings before Kentucky thought they had won it with two in the top of the ninth. The Underground were not to be denied and got the runs back in the bottom half of the innings but with two out and the bases loaded Anastasio Hernández induced Baily Rohr to ground out and send it to extra innings. The home fans went home happy though after Wen delivered a 2-run walk-off bomb in the bottom of the 11th. That was their last joy of the series as Kentucky took the next two. First a 4-0 shutout as the Underground couldn’t find any runs in support of Nii and then an 8-4 win as Rosa gave up six runs in six innings and combined with Robles to give up a four run seventh.


Travis Cruz, joining from the Canton Longshoremen

Transactions: As the trade deadline looms London made a couple of moves. Firstly Robert Collins was shipped off to Canton in exchange for their 2017 draft second round pick and infielder Travis Cruz. Robert at 36 wasn’t expected to have much of a future in London as his $6m contract was up at the end of the season so the Underground pick up a high pick for him and a solid hitter who will take the Secondbase role initially. That unfortunately means Tinker heading back to Worcester just as he had started hitting but London need more production out of the bottom half of the line-up. Also the return of Tinker to Triple-A means that César Hernández’s stay was brief, the Saucers released him to make roster space after just three appearances, four AB’s and one hit. The vacant slot in the Underground rotatation will be filled by the promotion of Bryan Bedell from Worcester, Bryan was 8-7 with a 4.11 ERA in Triple-A. Again there was plenty of calls for Leonard 'Snacks' Caver to make his PEBA bow but management are resolute that Snacks will benefit in the long run for a solid season in Triple-A and a finishing clinic in winter ball before he gets to 'The Show'.


Joe is set to get his cup of coffee in the PEBA

In the second trade, in a move which caught a few by surprise, Bob Adams was sent to Bakersfield in exchange for two pitching prospects. With London’s power outage they had been casting envious looks at Leonard Ramsey & Joe Buchanan mashing balls for fun in Worcester but with Decheng Wen, Scott Morris and Adams tying up first, third and the DH spot there was just no roster spot for them. This trade frees up a slot and opened the debate – Buchanan or Ramsey? Leonard had already had a look hitting four homers and .217 but he has time on his side and it was decided that Buchanan should have his cup of coffee, the extra advantage is that Joe is only hitting .155 against lefties in Worcester so Baily Rohr, a .283 hitter v lefties, can grab some AB’s covering first against LHP.

[Nigel]

July 31st, 2016

Bottom of the first,
Two out, one on,
The first baseman steps in,
Joe Buchanan, making his PEBA debut,
Glenn Dixon stares in,
Decheng Wen takes his lead at first,
He kicks, delivers - Ball One!
The pitcher gets ready again, kicks, delivers …
Crack
WELCOME TO LONDON MR BUCHANAN!
TOUCH THEM ALL!
Second pitch faced in the PEBA, spanked for a two-run bomb …

And that’s how Joe’s PEBA career started. Drafted by the Underground in the 11th round of the 2010 draft he finally made it to the bigs as a replacement for the traded Bob Adams on July 25th, 2016. Two pitches later he became the new darling of the Underground faithful and justified his call-up. Now he’s just got the rest of his career to live up to that moment. A second homer, this time a three-run shot, in his next appearance doubtless helped there.


Joe hit two homers and 6 RBI in his first week with London

London continued their good finish to July as the swept the Trendsetters in three games at Wembley and headed off to Charleston to split the first two games of the series.
Joe wasn’t the only debutant in the London ranks this week. Travis Cruz arrived for Canton in a trade and managed five games at second base, in 17 AB’s he had four hits, one double and two RBI’s. The third debutant came up with Joe from Worcester, 24-year-old pitcher Bryan Bedell. He had been 8-7 with a 4.11 ERA at Triple-A and took the PEBA mound for the first time on July 27th against the Trendsetters. He gave up his first hit in the first innings without any further damage and first batter up in the 2nd he faced Tsumemasa Morimoto chasing three homers for his 400 milestone. Six pitches later he had pulled the string and left Morimoto heading back to the dugout shaking his head as he became Bedell’s first ever PEBA strikeout victim. Bryan finished with the win (Underground won 9-2) after going eight innings, giving up six hits, two runs (one to a Pexego homer) whilst walking one and striking out seven. If the three of these can keep the good work going maybe London can climb the division again.
It was an offensive barrage in the two games in Charleston as the two teams produced 44 hits between them. Six runs over the last two innings in the opener gave London a 10-1 victory over the home team while a John Prentiss Grand Slam in the bottom of the eighth helped the Statesman to five runs in the innings off Aaron Hobbs as New Orleans blew past London 6-3 in the second game.

News & Notes: Despite blowing the game in Charleston the Underground have decided that Aaron Hobbs 1-2 record in 33 games with a 3.12 ERA is good enough for an extension and it was announced yesterday that the two parties have come to an agreement on a one-year $7,470,000 extension. With Wilson Vélez hitting well in his rehab stint in Worcester the Underground were looking forward to welcoming him back probably at the expense of Remi Young. Young, who has generally been a bust in his second stint in London, hit .375 with three hits, a double with two runs scored and an RBI in two appearances in a desperate attempt to save his job but he needn’t have worried as Vélez came up with a bone bruise in his knee and headed back to the D/L. Heading the opposite way is Augusto Torres who was activated from the D/L and heads to Worcester for a rehab stint.


Augusto Torres is heading for a rehab assignment in Worcester

Luis Montoya cleared waivers and also heads for Worcester which means the release of Ernesto Escobar to free up roster space. Ernesto was signed as a minor league free agent in the off-season and made 24 appearances in Worcester, three of them as a starter. He had a 1-2 record with one save and a 6.46 ERA.

[John]

Congratulations to Joe on an outstanding and dramatic PEBA debut!

[Nigel]

August 8th, 2016

It was a disappointing way to start August. After besting the best of the Dixie league at Wembley the Underground headed across the Atlantic and just failed to perform to any standard in Manchester where they were ‘Mauled’ in four straight games. Only one game did they get anywhere near the home side, in the second contest (and I use that in the loosest possible sense) London managed to tie the game at four in the eighth and take it to extra-innings but despite scoring in the top of the 11th finally lost in the bottom of the 12th. In the other three games in Manchester the Underground were out-hit 36-19 and soundly beaten.
The week had started out so well when Travis Cruz’s two-run bomb had looked to open the Wembley series against Florida with a win. Hobbs & Cates conspired to blow it though, giving up four hits and two runs in the eighth to allow the Featherheads to squeeze home 6-5. The game was notable for a triple play in the top of the first when Ángel Luján got out of a two-on, none-out jam as Luis Torres hit a line drive straight at Ralph Woods who had the presence of mind to initiate the 7-4-3 play as both runners were caught too far off their bases. In the final two games of the series London hit two runs in both the first innings and never relinquished the lead. The Underground finally showed a outburst of power as they sent four into the Wembley seats in the second game.


Scott picked up an IL Player of the Week award

Chris Long continued his almost one-man quest to drag London along as he hit .406/.424/.719 with another two homers, four doubles and eight RBI. Decheng Wen deserves a special mention too with his slash line of .346/.485/.692 with three solo long balls as well. Scott Morris also picked up an IL Player of the Week award for the last week in July after he went 10-22 (.455) with three homers & eight RBI. Aaron Hobbs didn’t get a decision in his five appearances but he did end up with a 15.43 ERA over the 4.7 innings he pitched. New boy Bryan Bedell went 1-1 and only lasted 1 2/3 innings in his second outing but a .444 BABIP points to the fact he was a bit unlucky.

Transactions: London delayed the decision over who gets squeezed in the infield by activating Nathan Carter from the D/L and sending him to Hi-A Dover for a rehab assignment. Cristián León cleared waivers on his return from the D/L and found himself assigned to Double-A Montréal. For someone who entered Spring Training with hopes of a roster spot in the majors he is getting further away by the week.


Torres is doing well in rehab in Worcester

News & Notes: Augusto Torres is 1-1 two starts into his rehab stint in Worcester but has an ERA of 0.60 while out of favour Millard Wooten hasn’t given up hope of a contract extension after going 2-2 with a 2.48 ERA in six starts since his demotion from London. Leonard Carver still looks a shoo-in for a 2017 Underground rotation slot, in 21 starts in Worcester he is 9-2 with a 2.10 ERA and 120 K. On the other side of the coin Englishman James Tinker seems to have taken his demotion to Triple-A hard hitting just 0.80 in his last six games. Maui Stingrays, the clubs low-A affiliate still lead the way in their division with a 33-16 record but can’t shake off the Lan’I City Pineapples who are level with them. 17-year-old Cuban wonderkid, Raúl García, is still in fine form in the closers role going 4-1 with 9 saves and a 1.80 ERA. Dover buoyed by the arrival of the Underground’s No.9 pick in 2016, Richie Zimmerman, and Wade Morris from the Bob Adams trade have picked up and are now just four games back in their Hi-A division.

[Nigel]

August 16th, 2016

London extended their record to two games over .500 but it could have been even better with the first two games being lost by the single run. Those two 4-3 defeats were made even galling by the fact that three of Arlington’s runs, one in the first game and two in the second, were scored thanks to two passed balls and a wild pitch.
In the first game they still managed a 3-2 lead in Arlington but after the Bureaucrats had tied it Luis Mora unusually gave up a walk-off homer on a 0-2 pitch to Jorge Velasco. It was heartbreak in the second game too, after spotting those two lucky early runs to the home side London came back with runs in the seventh & eighth to tie it at three before Velasco took a hand again. Ken Cates came on to pitch the bottom of the eighth and at the moment he’s the pitcher that makes my heart sink, I always feel he’s a homer waiting to happen. Sure enough the second batter he faced, Jorge Velasco, took the 1-0 pitch deep for his second game winning homer in two days. Three runs in the fourth & one in the fifth seemed to have made London favourites for the final game of the series behind Mitch Anderson but it became ‘squeaky bum’ time when Arlington rallied with five hits and three runs in the bottom of the seventh. London were determined not to go home without anything and three runs in the eighth and a final one in the ninth made the game safe.
London returned home to face three against San Antonio and were pleased when a Scott Morris homer and two more hits in the fourth put the Underground 2-0 up going into the fifth. Luján couldn’t hold it though and San Antonio scored five unanswered runs in the rest of the game to take the opener. Bryan Bedell took the mound in the second game for his fourth ever PEBA start and produced the performance of his career. Three hits in the bottom of the first gave him a three run lead and that was all he needed. Holding the Calzones of Laredo to just four hits Bedell struck out 10 as he went the distance and recorded his first ever professional shutout, the Underground winning by 4-0. Nii was back to his dominating best in the final game of the series, taking a no-hitter into the seventh innings before London ran out comfortable 7-2 winners.


August 13th wasn’t unlucky for Bedell as he pitched his first career shutout

London took that form forward to the first game of the series in New Orleans against the Trendsetters going back to their station-to-station hitting game to lead 4-1 going into the last of the ninth. Mora though came up with another shaky performance and Pablo Cabrera hit a two-run shot off him to give the Trendsetters hope. Alfonso Robles came on to relieve Mora and saw out the rest of the game safely to give the Underground a 4-3 win and a 4-3 record for the week.

Transactions : There was a fair bit of movement at the end of this week. London were spared a decision about who should make way for Nathan Carter after his brief rehab assignment when Travis Cruz headed for the D/L with a bruised foot after being plunked by Bob Harris in the final San Antonio game. Leonard Ramsey avoided the D/L with his bruised shoulder but Englishman James Tinker’s season is over after he fractured his ankle in the 11th innings against Fayetteville on the 9th August. Cristián León got a swift recall to Worcester as Eduardo Pérez headed for his second D/L stint in as many months. 23-year-old second baseman Dave Hurley, a second round pick in the 2015 draft, also got the call to head from Montréal to Worcester to fill Tinker’s spot.


Dave Hurley was promoted to Worcester after hitting .287 at Montréal with 9 homers

News and Notes: Ángel Luján & Bryan Bedell started the year in Triple-A Worcester but are now ably anchoring the No.4 & 5 slots in the Underground rotation. This gives the two London off-season free agent signees a problem, both Millard Wooten and Augusto Torres are now languishing in Worcester after signing one year deals last winter. Wooten lost form and was demoted after slumping from 3-0 to 4-6 while Torres is currently there on a rehab assignment after he sat three months out with torn triceps. Both are pitching well there but their ages (36 & 32) plus their contracts ($2m & $8m) mean they are most likely to hit the free agent market again in 2017. Nathan Carter only played seven games in Dover during his rehab stint before his .280/.438/.560 with two homers and seven walks convinced London he was ready to return to the PEBA.
Double-A Montréal are the only underperforming affiliate of London, they are currently 34 games back of the leaders in their division. Worcester (67-55) lead their division by three, Low-A Maui (35-21) are 5 back in a strong division while Hi-A Dover have had a good run and at 53-56 are three off the lead.

[Denra44]

August 16th 2016:

David Nelson here of the Times, this week I had extraordinary luck. I got a sitdown with London's next premier pitcher. He is the Yankee from North Ogden, Utah, and the undisputed champion of Worcester's triple AAA hot dog eating contest. Leo “Snacks” Carver was in the Winchester Pub watching Manchester United face off against Chelsea. Luckily enough I spotted him when I entered and he agreed to an interview.

Nelson: “So I hear you never pitched a single inning in your life before high school. Is this right?”
Carver: “Absolutely.”
Nelson: “When did you know that baseball was your sport?”
Carver: “At about sixteen, I spent most of my time dreaming about playing wide receiver for my Dallas Cowboys. At football practice I suffered a concussion and it was an awful experience. Also, I was a terrible batter at the YMCA and was stuck at Right Field. So, it was a real blessing for me to be such a good pitcher.”
Nelson: “How do you like it here in England?”
Carver: “Well it sure isn’t apple pie Americana. But, it really isn’t tea and crumpets. Y’know everyone has a fat butler, like some movies have you think. Overall I really had to get used to watching football instead of, well, football. But, I do enjoy watching Man U.”
Nelson: “Are ready for the big leagues yet?”
Carver: “Four words. Ten wins, two loses.”
Nelson: “How did it feel winning the hot dog contest?”
Carver: “Great, until the next day.”
Nelson: “Anything else you want to tell the people?”
Carver: “Uh, yeah. Start planning your parade, cause the Underground Dynasty is about to get a few more banners!”

And so our interview concluded. Leo is London’s best farm player. Whether we do get more banners or not, Carver is ready to carve some Major League Batters. | D. Nelson

(Sorry I did not link the names,ect. I am just really tired and rushed through that. also look forward for more articles. I have been very busy of later, between School newspaper, Finals, and just life i've been very busy. Gonna try to do a weekly article and interview.)

[Denra44]

(double post)

[Nigel]

Nice one Joe, enjoyed that one Keep up the investigative work

[Nigel]

August 24th, 2016

It was a rough week for the Underground as the Pan-Atlantic leaders New Jersey out-classed them and the loss in Gloucester suggests that the series with the Fishermen might go the same way.
London were surprised at the start of the week when New Orleans rebounded from their game one loss by steadily swiping runs against Mitch Anderson, by the time they knocked in two against Jamie Camacho in the seventh they led 7-1. London staged a rally in the eighth but despite a Chris Long two-run shot, three more hits, a wild pitch and a Trendsetters error the visitors could only plate four runs as they went down 7-5. The final game in the series saw London back on top behind Ángel Luján. Homers by Nathan Carter, Bailey Rohr and Decheng Wen helped London to a 5-0 lead after five and two in the ninth snuffed out any thoughts of a Trendsetters rally, Underground winning 7-3.
Heading into the Hitmen’s den the Underground pitchers must have felt they were serving up batting practice balls as the New Jersey hitters teed off on them, hitting double figure hits in each of the four games and amassing 54 hits for the series including 20 in game two. After 8-2 & 12-6 losses in the opening games the English fans feared the worst but the Underground were tied at three after two in the third game and ahead 4-3 in the fifth. Bottom of the eighth a two-out Téllez triple off Rosa drove in the tying run and Chris Weaver’s hit a few moments later drove in what was to prove to be the winning run as despite three errors the Hitmen came through to win 5-4. Finally in the fourth game London out-hit New Jersey 14-10 and this time it was the visitor’s that pulled out the big eighth innings. Two hits and two doubles plated three runs to turn a 2-1 Underground deficit into a winning 4-2 position. Chris Weaver’s solo shot off Pedro Piña in the bottom of the ninth made it uncomfortable but Pedro hung on to close out a 4-3 win. Scott Morris tied the London regular season record with five hits but finished with just one run and no RBI to show for his 5 for 5 effort.
In the opening game in Gloucester Luján and Velázquez fought out a pitcher’s duel for four & a half innings as the Fishermen protected a 1-0 lead but finally three hits and a Mark Adams two-run shot sunk London without trace, Gloucester going away to win 6-2.

Transactions : It was a busy week for trips to the D/L, Aaron Hobbs fresh from his new contract suffered a partially torn labrum and his season is done. Four more minor league players headed for the D/L to join the seven already on there and the position is so bad that minor league contracts were offered to three players to ensure that the farm teams would have enough cover for the last few weeks of the season and any play-offs. Jamie Camacho headed for Worcester again and Luis Montoya was promoted to London again. He was joined by Augusto Torres who had finished his rehab assignment (1-3 in five starts with a 1.95 ERA)

News and Notes : Travis Cruz will be activated off the D/L next week and word is that, barring any further injuries, it will be Ernesto Burgos that will be waived to make way for him. Burgos started in fine form having unexpectantly made the team out of spring training but lost his way after a six week D/L stint and has only actually managed 6 AB’s since mid-July. With London falling away from the wildcard race in recent weeks it is likely that both Leonard Carver and Leonard Ramsey with be invited to London when the roster expansion arrives at the start of September. Sergio Días and Lyndon Hodges are two more Worcester players that might well make the trip to the English capital although probably after any Global Baseball Brotherhood play-offs as the Saucers still lead the AML division by two from Canton’s Triple-A affiliate, Allentown.
Nathan Carter celebrated his first week back in London after rehab by hitting three doubles & two homers with a slash line of .407/.484/.741. Remi Young finally hit his first homer of his second spell in London, his 130th for the Underground while Joe Buchanan hit two more to take his tally to 7 in the 14 games he has appeared in for London and more pleasingly has upped his batting average to .245. For the second week running London have ‘out-homered’ the opposition hitting 12 to the 11 by their opponents this week.

[Nigel]

September 1st, 2016

A very good week for London as they finished off slumping Gloucester before travelling to West Virginia to best the mid-table Dixie side. The return to London wasn’t as triumphant as they hoped as another Dixie side thrashed them on their own patch.
Having lost the series opener 6-2 at the end of last week the Underground feared the worst from this series but they bounced straight back behind rookie Bryan Bedell. He was a bit more erratic than normal, walking five, but still gave the visitors 7.1 strong innings in which he struckout eight and only allowed four hits. The Fisherman’s Manuel Corona had been almost as good but no sooner than he was lifted in the top of the seventh than a Dennis Carter double drove in the first two runs of the game. Ralph Woods doubled home another run in the ninth and London’s bullpen closed out the 3-0 win. The series’ final game was cagey too as Nii went up against Santiago and once more the Fisherman’s pitching staff blinked first. Three singles and a double had already got three runs home in the top of the seventh when Decheng Wen steeped to the plate to face new reliever, Tetsui Kono. Leading 5-1, two on and one out Wen launched the 2-0 ball 373ft into the stands and secured the series win despite two further Gloucester runs. Nii went the distance and became the third pitcher in the London organisation behind Carver and Rosa to reach the 10 win plateau.


’Zippo’ was the third pitcher in the organisation to reach ten wins

Flying into West Virginia London rode roughshod over the Alleghenies in the opening two games winning 6-2 & 8-2. Rosa and Anderson pitched strongly and although London didn’t hit one long ball their station to station game was enough. Augusto Torres pitched 2.1 scoreless innings in relief in the second win but probably still won’t get an extension unless he substantially lowers his demands. West Virginia bounced back with a six-run fourth innings to break open a 5-4 game. Luján had already been knocked out of the game before Peña and Piña gave up the winning runs, Alleghenies preventing the sweep by finally winning 13-5.
Returning back to London Kentucky handed the Underground a thrashing in Wembley. The Thoroughbreds knocked out the London starter, Bedell, with three in the third and four in the fourth finished off Alfonso Robles too. Six runs in the eighth led Kentucky to a 13-3 win in which the visitors out-hit the London boys by 18-7. London steadied the ship though with two one-run victories behind the staff aces, Nii & Rosa. The first, a 6-5 win, was secured in the bottom of the 14th after three walks allowed a Mark Lamb sac fly to drive home the winning run and give Torres, who had pitched four scoreless innings, his third win of the season. They also sneaked home a run in the bottom of the ninth in the third game to win 4-3 and take the series 2-1.


Bernie was flying off to London for a cup of coffee

News & Notes : With Worcester winning the AML in the Global Baseball Brotherhood the initial roster expansion saw only two make the trip across to London. Pitchers Sergio Días & Bernie Jacoby were added to the Underground bullpen and the only other transaction in the majors was the activation of Travis Cruz from the D/L. Leonard Ramsey turned his ankle and blew his chance to return to London as he is expected to miss probably the rest of the season while Leonard ‘Snacks’ Carver is not expected to make the trip across the Atlantic until the end of the Triple-A play-offs as management feel the pressure of his first ever pro play-offs will help his development.

[Nigel]

September 8th 2016

Despite another ‘Mauling’ from Manchester the week ended as a good one after the Underground travelled to Connecticut and completed a three-game sweep of the home side.
In the first game of the series against Manchester at Wembley Mitch Anderson gave up nine hits in his 6.2 innings of work but he kept a tight rein on things, not walking anyone, and left with a 2-1 lead. Debutant Bernie Jacoby gave up a double though in the top of the eighth that tied the score but he picked up his first ever PEBA win in his first ever outing when Decheng Wen spanked a 3-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to secure the 5-2 win. Luján continued recent poor form by giving up three runs in the first two innings of the second game but knuckled down and when he left in the top of the eighth London had cut the deficit to 3-2. Leith Geldart came on for the Maulers and pitched a perfect innings to seal the win. A six-run fifth innings against Bedell broke open a 2-2 tie in the third game and although London chipped away at the gap Maulers comfortably won 10-6. The final game produced another tight effort, Nii gave up back-to-back homers in the third to turn a 1-1 tie into a 4-1 deficit and although those proved to be the last runs the Underground would give up it was enough. A Dennis Carter 2-run shot was all the home side could manage as the Maulers snuck past London 4-3.
Connecticut grabbed an early three run lead helped by Lowry’s two-run homer but Ralph Wood’s three-run bomb in the sixth turned the game on its head as visiting London moved ahead 4-3. Robles couldn’t hold the lead for Rosa, credited with his first blown save. He picked up the win though as Scott Morris’ eighth innings solo shot clinched the game. Anderson pitched a two-run seven innings effort as London out-hit the Nutmeggers 12-10 and beat up on them 8-2 in the second game. The sweep was completed when London scored in each of the first three innings to lead 4-0 in the final game. Luján looked back to form as he lasted seven innings only giving up one run and although Sergio Días gave up another one it was an easy 4-2 victory.


Jonah lost his first ever postseason appearance

Play-off Watch : Worcester are currently making their third ever play-off appearance and looking to add to their one Global Baseball Brotherhood championship gained in 2013. They are playing Florida’s Triple-A affiliate, Chesapeake Bay Oysters, and have just lost the first game away 4-2. 22-year-old Jonah Martin (8-7 in 16 Triple-A regular season starts) took the loss and now the Saucers must return home hoping to win the next two behind their ace, Leonard Carver, and Millard Wooten.


2011 eighth rounder, Lyndon Hodges, will make his PEBA debut next week

Transactions : Wilson Vélez returned from his second D/L stint and headed straight for London while the end of the Double-A season allowed Juan Montoya to head from Montréal to Worcester and allow Lyndon Hodges to head for the English Capital as well for his cup of coffee.

Record Watch : With 22 games of the season left several player’s 2016 performances are now climbing the single season leader boards. Decheng Wen needs two more homers to break the single season mark of 32, set by himself in 2014 while Nathan Carter is chasing two triples and Wen three triples to equal Orlando Germán’s 2009 mark. Chris Long’s batting average which is currently .312 is topping the single season mark of Rémi Young (.305) set in 2010, Young’s 2010 slugging mark of .539 is also under threat from a duel attack from Wen (.521) & Long (.503).
Alfonso Robles needs to appear in exactly half the 22 games left to tie his own appearance record of 80 set in 2014 while ‘Zippo’ Nii is six homers shy of giving up more homers (35) than Francisco Sousa in 2007. Nii’s other stats are causing waves too as he currently leads the single season record list for BB/9 (1.4), K/9 (9.1), K/BB (6.70), WHIP (1.00) and is just 29 strikeouts away from tying his own mark of 230 set last year.