Going Undergroud - a London Underground blog

[Denra44]

Smell that? if you smell the hot dogs coming off the grill, bubble gum, popcorn, nachos, the sweet smell of leather rolling across a dirt and grass field. Then we smell the minor league baseball playoffs. Most people look over the minors. But, it showcase several future stars. Where else can you find four future hall of famers on one team? Unfortunatly the only major Underground team to make it is the Saucers. They will play against the Chesepeke Bay Oysters. You can listen to the game at FM 108.9 in the London area. You can catch the game on BESPN at 6:45. Get ready to smell sweet victory.

[Nigel]

September 21st, 2016

The second week on the trot that London were edged just below .500 (2-3) for the week. Desperately close, four of the games were decided by one run, two went to extra-innings and the other game was a three-run loss. London completed their final road swing of 2016 by losing the rubber game of the Manchester series by one run in a topsy-turvy game. Maulers led by four when doubles by Lamb & Dennis Carter helped to plate four runs in the top of the eighth before the bullpen gave up another two to the home side in the bottom half of the innings. The Underground came back again to tie it in the top of the ninth but Mora couldn’t hold it and gave up the walk-off homer in the bottom half. The New Orleans’ series featured two 11th innings wins, one by each side, with a three run win for Trendsetters sandwiched in the middle to give them the series. London started the final road series by taking an early 4-0 lead at San Antonio before clinging on for grim life as the home side closed to 4-3. Mora though secured his 35th save of the season with an 11 pitch final innings, striking out two of the three batters.

Going forward the Underground face the final two games in San Antonio before heading home for the final three series against Gloucester, New Jersey and Connecticut. London are currently 36-35 at home & 40-39 on the road and looking good for their second successive 80 win season.


Leonard didn’t think he would start 0-1

News and Notes : Leonard Carver finally made his PEBA debut on the 17th of September and unfortunately it wasn’t the dream debut he or his legions of fans imagined. Up against the Trendsetters it looked promising at first. With London leading 1-0 from the top of the first Carver gave up just one walk in the first three innings before giving up a solo homer to tie the game in the fourth. London went ahead again, 2-1, in the top of the fifth and then it fell apart for Carver. Giving up two 2-run homers in the bottom of the fifth he held it together briefly before a sixth run chased him from the game in the seventh innings. His final line for his debut was 6.1 innings, 8 hits, 6 runs, 4 BB, 4 K, he threw 107 pitches at 31 batters and was dammed by the three homers given up.


Scott walked four times against Trendsetters Sept. 16th but only scored once

There is a chance that we might see Tuo-zhou Yang in the final week after he has sat out since April 14th with his torn shoulder labrum. Decheng Wen has broken his own London single season home run record and now sits on 36 chasing his first 40-homer season. The game in New Orleans on September 17th saw London write two entries in the record books, firstly two triples by Chris Long tied the Underground single game record for triples and then Scott Morris tied the Imperial League single game record for walks with four.

[Nigel]

September 27th, 2016

So finally with six games left in the season it becomes mathematically certain that London will not figure in the end of season play-offs. Seven games back after a 3-3 week leaves Gloucester & New Jersey, both one game back of Arlington, to fight a three way battle for the Pan-Atlantic title and the two IL wildcards.
The last two games of the San Antonio series were complete opposites, first Bob Harris pitched a complete game shutout behind the home side racking up eight runs and London struggled to come up with three hits. Then Nii took over and in eight innings kept the Calzones of Laredo to just one 2nd innings hit while the Underground plated seven runs. It all went a bit sour for him though in the final stanza as he surrendered six hits and three runs but Mora stepped in and finished it as a 7-3 London win.


Chris Long leads the Underground with a .319 avg and needs one homer for 20

The opening game of the Gloucester series gave Leonard ‘Snacks’ Carver the chance to show his vision of the future. After his poor showing in his PEBA debut the ‘Red-Top’ press were all over him and headlines such as ‘Carved up’ & 'Too much Snacks’ were common place. At Wembley he showed his take on the story. It was the sixth inning before he gave up a hit to the title contenders and London were already 2-0 up then. He went on to face just 31 batters as he recorded a 4-0 complete game shutout giving up four hits & two walks while striking out seven. On that form a place in the 2017 Underground rotation seems a certainty, but ‘what Snacks will you get?’ is the question he has to face now. In the second game hits by Lamb and Nathan Carter in the first innings set the table for Lamb’s steal of third and shortstop Kurt Thornton’s error to plate London’s first two runs. That turned out to be all the offence Mitch Anderson needed as he pitched eight strong innings giving up just four hits and one run. Once again Luis Mora came in and shut the door on the Fishermen in the ninth. Searching for their 80th win of the season Miguel Rosa gave up a solo homer second pitch and allowed three runs to plate in the top of the first in the final game of the series. He recovered to go the full nine innings giving up just two further runs but had to look on as London stepped up in the bottom of the ninth 5-3 down, needing two runs to tie. Two doubles and a single plated those two runs and we went to extras. Worcester’s closer, Don Killy, on for his fifth PEBA outing in the top of the 12th gave up two singles and a double to hand Gloucester a two run lead and unfortunately London could only claw one run back to the bottom of the 12th to go down 7-6.
The start of the penultimate series of 2016, against New Jersey at Wembley, saw Augusto Torres make his tenth and possibly final start for London. Up 1-0 from the second innings London failed to find any more offence and the Hitmen scored three times in the ninth to turn a 3-1 lead into a 6-1 win.


Ramsey returns to London for the final week of the 2016 season

News and Notes : With six games left, three against New Jersey & three against Connecticut, all at Wembley and London’s record standing at 79-77 you would bet on them reaching the 80 win mark for only the fourth time but it’s not in the bag yet. The Season series records against the Hitmen (6-9) and the Nutmeggers (7-8) are close enough though to suggest that the Underground can finish the season above .500 for the second year running following a four-year run of sub .500 performances. Next week Worcester’s other masher, Leonard Ramsey finally returns to England’s capital for his second 2016 cup of coffee. After a stint on the D/L caused him to miss the Saucers’ play-off series and most of September he is finally fit to return and will replace Joe Buchannan at first base for the final week. Joe has done fantastically well hitting 11 homers and driving in 23 during his 40 appearances in a London uniform, he needs to go away now and work on his hitting for average in order to be ready for a right royal battle in spring training. Luis Mora needs three more saves to tie his career mark of 40 set last year while both Chris Long and Nathan Carter are currently batting over the Underground’s current single season record average of .305. Hiroyuki Nii has already grabbed several single game pitching records this year but Alfonso Robles needs five more appearances to tie his mark of 80 appearances last year.

[Nigel]

October 3rd, 2016

What a disappointing and frustrating end to the 2016 season. While the pitching staff tried their best for the last six games at Wembley the offense were already thinking about the holiday beaches. London only knocked out more than seven hits once in the final week and in only two games did they actually score before the seventh innings (one run in the 2nd against New Jersey and one in the 2nd & 4th against Connecticut). In contrast the opposing teams topped double figures in hits in four out of six games and out-hit the Underground 66-40 for the week.
Several pitchers were very frustrated by the lack of run support as they fought deep into games while the offense swanked around, hitting .214 as a team, getting thrown out on all four steal attempts and scoring just 15 times in the six games.

News & Notes : London reached the 80 win plateau on September 29th with a 4-2 win over New Jersey after being stuck on 79 for the previous four games. Miguel Rosa struck out 10 in the next game as London beat Connecticut 5-1 to record their final win of the season. The Nutmeggers won the final two games of the season 5-2 to leave London’s final tally at 81-81 after they had promised so much at various points of the season. The last week was not good news if your name was Leonard. Leonard Carver found that the PEBA is a big step up from the Global Baseball Brotherhood as he recorded two losses to leave his PEBA tally at 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA. He went 5.1 in his first outing, gave up 10 hits and five runs whilst going 6 innings in his second giving up nine hits and five runs. Meanwhile Leonard Ramsey returned to London and hit .130/.167/.174 in 23 AB’s with just one extra base hit. Seven players of the Worcester Saucers showcased their talents in London at the back end of 2016 and most of them found success at Triple-A is a world away from cutting it at PEBA level.

[Nigel]

November 22nd, 2016

It’s all quiet in the office now, the players have left for the winter, off to sunnier climes some never to return. I’m sat here in the half darkness lit just by my small table lamp contemplating 2017, it seems a long way off but before you know it the first pitch will be thrown out and baseball will return to Wembley.

Millard Wooten & Augusto Torres have left at the end of their contracts, gone are my first mistakes no doubt not my last ones. After three years with us Luis Montoya has been released and has quickly found a home in the Dominican winter league. Hitting coach Stephen Reid has retired and in recognition of the fine work Emílio Flores has done in Worcester he has been promoted to the Underground’s vacant post of hitting coach. It didn’t make sense to me to go out chasing a new coach when we had someone who had produced a play-off team in our own organisation.


Gabriel has arrived at his third PEBA franchise

Gabriel Álvarez has arrived, claimed off waivers from New Orleans. So far he has faced just two batters in the PEBA, ironically those being Dennis Carter (walked) & Ralph Wood (ground out), after earning his cup of coffee last September with the Trendsetters. He will be given a chance to fight for a rotation place with our Worcester hurlers but will probably end up in Worcester replacing the boys that have claimed an Underground rotation place. The arbitration hearings have just been completed and they ruled in favour of the club in all three cases. We had offered Wallace, Vélez and Burgos a fair raise for their 2016 work and the panel agreed with us.

So that’s the off-season so far, what’s coming up now? We have several exciting projects which are all but ready to be rolled out over the next few months, Wembley will undergo a refurbishment and two of our brightest prospects will head for winter ball. Partially due to our finances and partially due to the high regard in which we hold our Worcester players we will not be a major player in the free agent market this winter but there might well be some trade movement as we look to sort out the log jam between certain positions in London & Worcester.

[Nigel]

December 12th, 2016

It was two out and one in after the Rule 5 draft. With London’s draft position of 13 we didn’t hold out much hope of getting any of our targets but we were lucky enough to get Felipe Garza from San Antonia. Felipe is a veteran of 117 PEBA games with Connecticut & San Antonio, no power but has a .286 career average and will slot into the outfield mix possibly even as the starting leftfielder. The two out were pitchers Jonah Martin & George Haines from Worcester. Their loss were not unexpected but still hurts, with Carver, Bedell and Jacoby expected to all be in London that leaves me to find a whole new rotation for Worcester this year. Cipriano Peña hasn’t helped matters by refusing demotion after clearing waivers, a tough decision had to be made but with the shortage of pitchers in Worcester I felt I couldn’t compound it by just cutting him so he will spend 2017 in the Underground’s bullpen while Gabriel Álvarez will have to cover in Triple-A.

Trying to find someone to fill the rotation spots in Worcester will prove difficult. There’s a lack of outstanding prospects in the organisation as a whole and it may well be sink or swim time for a few young arms. The window that London has to be a winning side is very small, people like Carver, Luján and Bedell have to step up now. The back-ups are all used up and the party’s nearly over, 2017 could be make or break.

[Lions]

I had high hopes for Garza, and my scouts have always liked him, but he never performed for me and I simply had other guys I wanted to give a shot in the outfield. I think he was ultimately a victim of 40-man roster space for me.

[Nigel]

December 16th, 2016

We have managed to sign the only free agent that we pursued this year, leftfielder Dan ‘Snake Hips’ Truax, who has 457 PEBA games under his belt for Kentucky. Unfortunately because we secured Garza in the Rule 5 draft it has left me a bit of a headache fitting him into the 40-man roster. It’s a good problem to have though as the one thing I learnt from 2016 was that our current back-up outfielders just weren’t good enough to cope with the number of outfield injuries we suffered that season. The odd man out, sadly for him, appears to be Mark Lamb. He performed adequately last year and is probably better that a couple we are keeping on the 25-man but the key is the word ‘adequately’. For his $7m salary London expect someone who performs more than adequately and so people like Truax ($3.2m) and Velez ($720k) become more attractive. I’m more than pleased now with my likely options going into 2017 with our starting outfield shaping up to be Carter in right, Yang in centre and Garza in left although Truax will be out to prove in spring training that he’s more than a back-up.


New FA signing Dan Truax

Spending over we sit back now and wait. We’re still looking to boost the farm system though and to that end last week we picked up three young outfielders, two Mexicans and an American to replace some of the senior farm pros that will be losing their jobs over last year’s poor showing. Another player joining us is an Englishman, reliever Bradley Goldsworthy who has just been released by Manchester after a couple of years at Double-A for them.


Bradley becomes the third Englishman in the organisation

[klewis]

I really like Snake Hips. I remember when Traux was first drafted. I labeled him as a flat out stud. Unfortunately, his career stagnated with a multitude of injuries where he never lived up to the hype. Picking up Traux is a low-risk move with potential for a decent payoff. Now, I don't ever expect him to ever fulfill his draft hype. But I'd be happy if he can give a team an above average production at his position.

[Denra44]

"Years late, and a lot more then a buck short." Those were the words that the Montreal Met's (AA affiliate) pitcher Tristan Morrall, at twenty seven the right hander grumbled. Tristan pitched in AAA last season and for a few seasons. After being knocked back to the Mets this off-season, Morrall blasted GM Nigel Laverick. Stating "He obviously knows nothing about this sport! A GM should know a future Superstar when he see's one!" Morrall should know that insulting his boss is not a way to get promoted. Laverick is entering his 2nd season as London's GM, going 77-85. Laverick is seen as a possible premier GM. Laverick also spent a season in the East GMing for the Kuwana Steel Dragons.

[Nigel]

April 2nd, 2017

So now my first full spring training with London is over and a surprising one it was. I was very pleased with the team’s general showing but also pleased with the number of players who came to camp to give 200% and prove to me that a poor 2016 was just an aberration. I had expected that the only real position battle would be Buchanan & Ramsey’s showdown for first base, that turned out to be a bit of a damp squib but other battles were more full-blooded.

Catcher Luis Cruz after spending 2016 at Triple-A Worcester was expected to just make up the numbers at camp with Glen Wallace and his new contract slated for the back-up role. Wallace though looked poor and hit just .067 while Cruz came through with clutch hits, hitting .409 / 480 / .682 with six doubles. The problem that gives me now is that Wallace has the right to refuse demotion while Cruz has options left.


Tuo-Zhuo is back after an injury filled 2016

Paco Shaffer had his first PEBA cup of coffee in 2016 and failed to hit at all, hitting just .163 in his 12 appearances. The outfield was ticketed to be Rule 5 draftee, Garza, Yang who missed most of 2016 with injury and the reliable Dennis Carter with Vélez & Truax backing them up. Tuo-Zhuo Yang came back on fire posting a lead-off average of .426 with an OBP of .542 to book his place, Carter was Carter and got his right field spot while Garza’s .347 with four doubles and a homer was enough to secure the starting left field job. The back-up spots were a different question. Vélez started poorly and only really tried in the final week. His last week’s effort of .429/.467/.786 with two doubles and a homer was great compared to the previous .111/.227/.167 with one double. Truax’s .282 was pretty much where we expected him to be while Shaffer was out of the blocks from the start finishing camp with a .351/.419/.486 slash line and five doubles. I could only keep two from three though.

Scott Morris for the second year running missed a lot of camp with injury, last year it was almost May before he took the field but this year he was back in the final week of camp posting a slash of .409/.519/.455 from his 22 AB’s. Burgos performed as he had done last year when taking Morris’ third base spot while Bailey Rohr was a little away from what we had expected from him. The surprise was Lyndon Hodges who had shown nothing in his brief four-game 2016 cup of coffee. This time round he proved he could handle third as well as short and hit .378/.452/.486. Travis Cruz really disappointed with a .175 average and just one extra-base hit. Morris or Burgos for third? Rohr, Hodges and Cruz for one or maybe two slots.

Joe Buchanan built on last year’s performance with four homers, six doubles and a .255/.293/.582 average line. That showed be he had adjusted to PEBA hitters and was starting to show some plate discipline as well as power. Leonard Ramsey managed a homer, a triple and three doubles at a .311/.311/.489 average. Ramsey has the average up from his 2016 .193 but is not showing his undoubted power while Buchanan has the power and is improving his hitting for average.

The time for talking was done, the roster had to be trimmed for opening day. We were already eating the $7m contract of Mark Lamb, squeezed out of the outfield picture, would we have to eat more money? I just couldn’t keep Cruz over the other candidates for the utility slot(s) so his $1.8m contract was added to the pile of wasted money. That saved Wallace’s job for the time being, I just couldn’t burn his contract as well so we had to option Luis Cruz to Worcester with the promise he’d be back if Wallace didn’t shape up. First base was a real poser, we chose in the end to go with the one with the most upside, Ramsey, but if he can’t hit them long balls as he did in Worcester Buchanan will be back to take his job. We sat a long while looking at the worth of Rohr, Hodges and Burgos as utility men, Morris we agreed just had to have the third base gig if he was fit. Finally it was Hodges that was ticketed for Worcester, he just came up short of the skill set of the other two no matter which way we looked at it.


Leonard, the 2016 GBB AAA AML Outstanding Hitter, will get his PEBA chance in 2017

The rotation panned out just the way it we pencilled it in, Nii, Anderson, Carver, Rosa and Luján. Nii breezed through spring training and Carver showed the benefits of winter ball whilst Luján was rocky in places but still shows signs of a breakout season. Bedell is still slightly wild even after a spell in winter ball but we all feel another year in the long relief role will really help him. Chad Fountain, Juan Pérez and Sergio Días all stood out as ones that will play a big part in London’s future but returned to Worcester, squeezed out by the numbers game. Cates ($3.3m) and Hobbs ($7.5m) are in the final year of big contracts and will probably not receive extensions, Cipriano Pena again showed the form that saw him marginalised in 2016 and will depart after his contract expires. Mora’s control was a bit wilder than last year but he’s still an absolute lock for closer.

All of that leaves us with one cut to make. Thirteen pitchers and thirteen batters on the roster, who gets the final cut? It has to be either Rohr or Burgos if it’s a batter or if it’s a pitcher it would have to be Pina or eating Pena or Cates contract. If only I had 26 spots! We really don’t think we can lose another batter and we’d hate to eat more money so unfortunately Pedro Pina becomes the final passenger on the Worcester flight

Sir John Fowler jr thinks we ought to win it all this year, that would be a good feat, from 81-81 to winning it all. Is it possible? Carver will make a difference, Ramsey and Garza could and having Yang back should but is that enough? Bring on 2017, London is coming …

[Nigel]

April 8th 2017

Once more London have started the season strongly. As in 2016 the Underground started on the road and have opened with a 2-1 series win over top Pan-Atlantic side Gloucester. But it has not been the expected players that have led London to victory.

Hiroyuki Nii had a rough start to 2016 but after an impressive spring training he once more took the ball on Opening Day. Fisherman’s William McKee got on base twice in the opening three innings but Al Murdoch threw him out both times attempting to steal second. Decheng Wen opened the scoring in the top of the 4th with a solo homer and Gloucester were in trouble again in the 5th. Nathan Carter, Garza and Murdoch all hit one-out singles to load the bases and Yang drove two home with a double. Although Nii walked the lead-off man in the bottom of the 5th and McKee drove him in London was on the way to the win. Wen singled in the 8th and stole second, Dennis Carter moved him over to third with a ground-out and Morris came up to drive-in the insurance run. Nii went 6.2 innings giving up five hits but only one run while walking three and striking out seven. Mora notched his first save of 2017 without a scare, allowing a lead-off single but finishing off the next three batters.


Rule 5 draftee Felipe got his London career off to a good start

In the second game Mitch Anderson took just six pitches including a lead-off walk to finish off the bottom of the 1st before London struck in the 2nd. Doubles by Dennis Carter, Garza and Murdoch drove home three runs and the Underground were on their way to another win. Anderson went 7.2 innings and allowed two runs but excellent defence kept the tying run off base until the last out of the 8th when he walked Árias. Ken Cates came on in relief and took just one pitch to end the innings. Mora again allowed the lead-off man on but secured his 184th PEBA save with three straight outs.
There was great anticipation of Leonard ‘Snacks’ Carver ‘s first start as an official member of the Underground’s rotation in game three. He looked like a rabbit in the headlights as McKee tattooed his first pitch 412 ft over the deep right fence and following two singles and a double was lucky to get away with just one more run on the board as Garza’s long throw beat John Lee to the plate. Two more singles in the bottom of the 2nd got Gloucester’s third run home and the bullpen was already up & throwing. A pep talk by pitching coach Del Carley between the innings seemed to do the trick though as ‘Snacks’ gave up just two hits and three walks in the next 5.1 innings. London weren’t giving him much run support though and still trailed 2-3 in the bottom of the 8th when Hobbs gave up the vital insurance run. A double by Nathan Carter followed by a single from Garza closed the gap to 3-4 but with the bases loaded Wen flied out to end the game.
On to Charleston then and a shaky couple of innings from Miguel Rosa. London led 3-0 after the top of the 2nd when the Underground hit three singles and a double. The Statesmen got on the board in the bottom half of the 2nd with a lead-off homer from Frank Murphy and took the lead in the third with they touched Rosa for a two-run shot by Patton and a solo bomb by Prentiss. Staring a second straight defeat in the face London rallied and tied the game in the 6th through the unlikely source of an Al Murdoch homer. Extra innings loomed but Wen hit a one-out single in the top of the 9th. Charleston’s Jesús Garcia looked worried and hit Ramsey next ball. Two pitches later Wen swiped third and Dennis Carter doubled him home. That was all Luis Mora needed and two strikeouts & a groundout later the Underground had their third win of 2017.


Al Murdoch, the 2016 PEBA IL All-Leather Award winner at catcher, has impressed with his bat in 2017

Worcester seemed inspired by their new identity as they opened the season 4-1 with Underground rejects Wilson Vélez hitting .471/.565/.824 & Joe Buchanan sending two over the fences. Montréal weren’t so lucky, opening 1-4. Lorenzo Valenzuela, the PEBA’s 47th prospect in 2016 before injury ruined his year, made a bright start at Double-A hitting three doubles and two homers in his first five games.

[Nigel]

April 14th, 2017

Last year the Undergrounds .500 finish owed much to their strong showing in April and they’ve started strongly again in 2017, leading the Pan-Atlantic by one game after the first two weeks.
In the second game of the Charleston series Ángel Luján was ambushed by the Statesmen in the second innings. Jeff Wilson started it with a one-out triple and three consecutive double later the home team led by three. Luján steadied the ship and shut Charleston down but even so Tuo-Zhou Yang’s first homer of 2017 seemed like a mere consolation as the innings ran out. Several times though this year the Underground have shown resilience and they bounced back in the ninth. Ramsey launched his first homer of 2017 to bring them within one before Morris doubled and ‘Snake Hips’ Truax drove him in with his first hit in London colours. Jesús García took over to try get the Statesmen to the bottom of the ninth still level but walked Nathan Carter and allowed a single to Garza. He could only watch then as Yang doubled them home to give London a 5-3 lead, leaving Mora to come on and close out an improbable win. He wasn’t as commanding as he has been but a walk and two singles only cost him a run as London sneaked past Charleston 5-4 for the second day running.
The Underground completed the sweep of the Statesmen next day behind Nii. John Prentiss’ bottom of the first solo homer was to prove to be the only run Hiroyuki gave up and Tuo-Zhou Yang had already sent one over the fences. Both the Carters dumped balls into the bleachers as did Wen and the five doubles the Underground added led to London running out comfortable 9-1 winners.
Finishing their opening road trip in West Virginia London traded runs in the first innings before the Alleghenies’ second baseman gave the home side a third innings lead with a solo homer. London got to starter Chris Renfroe in the sixth with a single, balk and two doubles driving in two runs to give the visitors a 3-2 lead. Bernie Jacoby relieved Anderson for his first outing of 2017 and promptly surrendered the tying run but once more London pushed home the winning run in the ninth. Mora once more went unpunished for allowing a lead-off hit as he collected his fourth one-run save.


Mora, 6 for 6 in saves during 2017

Carver’s second outing of 2017 was no more lucky than his first. He surrendered two homers but only three runs and one walk in eight innings of work while striking out eight but again the Underground gave him no run support. Ramsey had driven in Yang to give the visitors a first innings lead but that was it as London lost their second game of 2017 by 3-1. The winning pitcher for Alleghenies was ex-Undergrounder Augusto Torres who recorded his second win in as many starts.
London’s third 2017 loss followed hard on the heels as they lost their first series. Thirteen pitchers came to the mound in the series finale as West Virginia’s Juan García left in the first with a sore back and a 59 minute third innings rain delay knocked out Rosa for London. Cipriano Pena showed why he is so out of favour as he gave up three runs in the fifth and Bedell followed up by giving up another three in the sixth to blow London’s early 4-2 lead. The runs and hits came and went almost as frequently as the pitchers as the home side won 10-7.
London’s home opener finally arrived on April 14th against Arlington. Wembley’s marvellous new roof was closed for the first time to stop the rain and Ángel Luján fought a pitcher’s duel with José Avalos for the first half of the game. Avalos flinched first as Nathan Carter led off the bottom of the 5th with a 354’ solo homer but Luján wasn’t far behind, giving up a two-run shot to Velasco in the top of the 6th. Bureaucrats were threatening to spoil the fun of London’s largest ever crowd, 39,813, thanks to the off-season refurbishment but London sealed their first home win in the bottom of the 7th when four hits, a walk and an error turned a 2-1 deficit into a winning 4-2 margin. Luján went eight, London turned four double plays and Mora gave up a hit and a walk but still only took 16 pitches to finish off Arlington.

Leonard Ramsey is starting to prove he belongs in the in the PEBA hitting .400/.423/.760 for the week with two homers plus a double and a triple but Chris Long (.083) and Dennis Carter (.200) have still to shake off the rust and get back into the grove. Nathan Carter, Wen & Yang also added two homers to Ramsey’s pair as London hit nine long balls in the second week.
Luis Mora surrendered four hits and two walks in his three outings but they only cost one run as he was a perfect 3 for 3 in save opportunities. Anderson, Hobbs and Jacoby all had the opposition hitting less than .170 against them.

Worcester didn’t have such a good week going 3-4 but still share the division lead with New Brunswick, the Triple-A affiliate of Manchester. Ralph Woods issued a ‘don’t forget about me’ note, hitting two homers as both he and Buchannan drove in five runs during the week. Chad Fountain who impressed so much in spring training has still to give up a run in five outings and has now probably overtaken Don Killy as London’s closer in waiting.


Watchout for Chad, three saves so far for the T's

Montréal lost their first game of the week 1-0 to slump to 1-5 but roared back with six straight wins to end the week 7-5 and sharing the lead of the Québec Division. Dan Hill was the man with three long bombs and 14 RBI but Valenzuela continues to impress with two more homers and 10 walks which unfortunately netted him just three RBI. Gene Hunter won both his two starts in the second week of the season but 2016 1st rounder, Erwin Callahan, was unlucky. He pitched 15 innings and struckout 17 in his two starts with an 1.20 ERA but failed to get a decision in two one-run games (0-1 & 7-6).
Dover will start their season next week and the focus will be on 17 year old Cuban Raúl García as he makes the step up following his 6-3, 17 saves 2.89 ERA record in his first pro season in Maui.

[Nigel]

April 22nd, 2017

London’s strong start continues with their only loss this week being behind the luckless ‘Snacks’ Carver. Poor Snacks now has three starts in the PEBA this season and the Underground have scored 3, 1 & 2 runs for him, he needs to get out of that frame of mind and knuckle down, get that first win on the board and many more will follow.
London finished off the sweep of Arlington in their home opening series winning the final two series games 6-2 & 3-1. The brief lead the Bureaucrats had in the top of the sixth in the home opener was their only lead of the series.

With Connecticut due into town next the media was predicting a second straight series sweep but the Nutmeggers had to face Carver first. Oliver Douglas launched a two-run shot off of ‘Snacks’ in the third and although Scott Morris drove home Wen in the fourth a double, two singles and a walk in the next innings by Connecticut put the brakes on the Underground’s three game winning streak. That 4-2 success was the Nutmeggers only one though as London came from two down in the second game to win 3-2 before slaughtering the visitors 13-4 in the final game with five runs in the second and six in the eighth. That six included a Grand Slam by Al Murdoch off Alberto Flores, this game was also notable for Decheng Wen hitting a double, single, solo homer and two further singles to go 5-5 and tie London’ regular season record for hits. The downside was Scott Morris twisting his ankle in the second innings and early reports have him out till late May.


Victor’s journeyed to London for coffee rather than sightseeing

Transactions: With Morris headed off to the D/L a chain reaction of movements was set in place. 26-yr-old Victor O’Sullivan is sent from Worcester to London for his first PEBA cup of coffee. His Triple-A record is .263/.295/.385 in 136 games but he’s hitting .343 this year abet with no homers and only five RBI. London’s 2016 fourth round draft pick, Decheng Zháo, gets his first taste of Triple-A and their 2016 eighth rounder, Glaucio Gondar, moves from Dover to Montréal. We could of course used Burgos or Rohr to cover Morris but we like to see our youngsters pushed and O’Sullivan’s future with the organisation could depend on his showing in the coming games.

News & Notes: Morris’ loss could be keenly felt by London, he was hitting .562/.588/.688 in his last week with two doubles and three RBI. Chris Long still hasn’t hit top form, hitting just .208 last week and was thrown out on both stolen base attempts. Luis Mora gave everyone a scare when he was taken out after just seven pitches against Florida. He’s only listed as DTD with back spasms which is just as well as Ken Cates came in and straightaway issued two walks but came back hard then with three K’s.
The newly re-named Worcester T’s sit on top of their division with an 11-7 record while Montréal are 8-10 and Dover have started off 3-2.

[Nigel]

May 8th, 2017

Over the last two weeks London have continued to play over .500 baseball but only just! The last fifteen games have produced eight wins for the Underground and only seven losses. Leonard Carver looked as though he had turned a corner, winning his first two games of 2017 but once more looked like a rabbit in the headlights as New Jersey got to him, hitting seven runs off him before he was relieved just 1.2 innings into the game. Hiroyuki Nii, praised for his 4-0 start, suffered a blip losing close games to Kentucky & New Orleans but managing a strong win over New Jersey.

Two one-run losses in Kentucky cost London the series there before they returned home to sweep Gloucester in three very tight games, the biggest margin was two runs in the series finale. London’s 17-7 record in April not only meant they continued clear at the top of the Pan-Atlantic division but brought some rare silverware as well. Nii’s 4-1, 1.50 ERA mark in five starts brought him April’s Imperial League pitcher of the month award while Leonard Ramsey picked up the IL rookie of the month award for his four homers, eight runs, 15 RBI and .309 batting average in his first ever month as a full-time PEBA player.

May started well too with two wins over New Jersey but they showed why they are a perennial top side as they came back to square the four game series. New Orleans also rolled into town and took two out of three to leave London (20-11) clinging to a one-game lead over New Jersey (19-12) but 4.5 ahead of third placed Connecticut (16-16).


Hiroyuki Nii – IL Pitcher of the Month for April

News & Notes: One thing you can be sure of when you watch a London game is that you’ll be on the edge of your seat. 26 of London’s 31 games have been decided by three runs or less while runs are certainly hard to come by, London have scored double figures on one occasion only (13-4 v Connecticut) and only West Virginia have scored double figures against the Underground (7-10). The roof at Wembley has certainly been a worthwhile investment, it has been closed for each of the Underground’s home games so far preventing several major rain delays or postponements.


Leonard Ramsey – IL Rookie of the Month for April

Victor O’Sullivan has now played in 25 games since being called up to replace the D/L bound Scott Morris and is currently hitting .400/.423/.600. He’s also hit his first PEBA home run, a solo shot in a 5-2 win over New Jersey. Dan Truax introduced himself in style, hitting three homers in his first four games after he replaced the injured Garza in the starting line-up but has dropped off since and now owns a .184/.216/.408 slashline. Ken Cates has looked decidedly rocky at times but in his seven outings over the last two weeks has gone 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA allowing only one run, striking out six whilst walking none. Chris Long seems to have finally shaken off the rust too, hitting two homers over the last two weeks with two doubles and a triple at a .403/.422/.565 clip. Hiroyuki Nii leads the IL in wins (5) and Luis Mora leads it in saves (13) while Wen is third in batting average (.345)

Down on the farm: All three affiliates in season currently have winning records. Worcester are 1.5 back with a 18-15 record, Montréal are 3.5 back with a 17-16 record and Dover have started on fire, leading their division by three games with a 16-4 record.