No Hitter!

Springfield (AP) - When Chris Capuano walked Michael Bourne to lead off last night's game against the Chow Chows, nobody saw what was about to happen coming.  Capuano then proceeded to retire 27 straight hitters to join Sidney Ponson as the only Topes pitchers to ever hurl a no hitter.

The Topes offense provided more than enough run support for Capuano and the Topes went on to beat the Chows 5-0.  "Everything was working out there tonight," said Capuano after the game.  "This is crazy.  Who would have thought that I would throw a no-hitter when great pitchers like C.C., Weaver, and the rest of the guys on the staff have never thrown one?"  Capuano had high praise for his catcher, A.J. Pierzynski.  "This belongs to A.J. just as much as it belongs to me.  He hit a homer and called a great game.  I just threw what he called and never shook him off all night."

The tension in Springfield started to build around the 7th inning and only continued to build as Capuano kept retiring Chow Chow after Chow Chow.  Capuano cruised in the 9th, retiring Dan Uggla, Darwin Barney, and Michael Bourne in order to preserve the no-hitter.

Topes GM Doug Sherlag was effusive in his praise for Capuano.  "This is why we brought Chris into Springfield.  He has no-hit type stuff every time he takes the bump."

BOXSCORE: 2013 Illinois Chow Chows At 2013 Springfield Isotopes     7/28/2013
Capuano NO HITS Chows - Retired 27 Straight Chows
 
  Chow Chows         AB  R  H RBI AVG     Isotopes           AB  R  H RBI AVG
  M.Bourn CF          3  0  0  0 .276     S.Choo RF           4  0  0  0 .369  
  J.Reyes SS          3  0  0  0 .271   A-C.Gomez CF          1  0  0  0 .199  
  A.Ramirez 3B        3  0  0  0 .261     L.Forsythe 3B       3  1  2  0 .258  
  C.Ross LF           3  0  0  0 .259   B-D.Wright 3B         0  0  0  0 .298  
  S.Perez C           3  0  0  0 .246     J.Ruggiano LF       4  0  2  1 .276  
  J.Upton RF          3  0  0  0 .232   C-C.Gonzalez LF       0  0  0  0 .317  
  Y.Alonso 1B         3  0  0  0 .222     M.Saunders CF,RF    4  1  1  0 .325  
  D.Uggla DH          3  0  0  0 .159     A.Dunn DH           3  1  1  1 .223  
  D.Barney 2B         3  0  0  0 .230     M.Moreland 1B       4  1  1  1 .300  
                                          S.Castro SS         3  0  1  0 .314  
                                        D-C.Pennington SS     1  0  0  1 .264  
                                          G.Beckham 2B        3  0  0  0 .207  
                                          A.Pierzynski C      3  1  1  1 .320  
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      
         Totals      27  0  0  0                 Totals      33  5  9  5
 
A-Subbed Defensively (CF) For Choo In 8th Inning
B-Subbed Defensively (3B) For Forsythe In 8th Inning
C-Subbed Defensively (LF) For Ruggiano In 8th Inning
D-Subbed Defensively (SS) For Castro In 8th Inning
 
Chow Chows...... 0 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  -  0  0  0
Isotopes........ 0 1 1  0 1 1  0 1    -  5  9  0
 
Chow Chows (14-37)       IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET
J.Vargas LOSS(3-6)        7 2/3   9   5   5   3   6   3   5.62  A1 D8
J.Axford                  0 1/3   0   0   0   1   0   0   3.15  D9
Totals                    8       9   5   5   4   6   3
 
Isotopes (52-27)         IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET
C.Capuano WIN(8-5)        9       0   0   0   1   5   0   4.22  A1
Totals                    9       0   0   0   1   5   0
 
ATTENDANCE- 40,145 DATE- Tuesday, July 28th 2013 TIME- Night 
T- 2:36
LEFT ON BASE- Chow Chows: 1  Isotopes: 8
DOUBLE PLAYS- Chow Chows: 0  Isotopes: 0
DOUBLES- L.Forsythe-2(10th), J.Ruggiano-2(15th), M.Saunders(20th)
HOME RUNS- A.Dunn(16th), M.Moreland(9th), A.Pierzynski(19th)
WALKS- M.Bourn, L.Forsythe, A.Dunn, G.Beckham, A.Pierzynski
STRIKE OUTS- S.Perez-2, D.Uggla-2, D.Barney, S.Choo, M.Saunders, M.Moreland-2,
             S.Castro-2
2-out RBI- J.Ruggiano
RLISP 2-out- M.Saunders-2, C.Ross, J.Ruggiano, A.Pierzynski, C.Gomez-2
WEB GEMS- Bot 7th: Cody Ross robbed Shin-Soo Choo of an extra base hit.

DFW heading in Right Direction (FOR NOW)

Dallas Morning News......

For the first time in years the Spurs have knock the Cowboys off the lead story in the DFW area.  Coming off a successful 19-8  BK-2 home record the Spurs have a legitimate chance to make a play-off run.  A big part is the leadership of  OF'ers Andrew McCutchen .325ba, 15-hr, 57rbi & Jason Heyward .315ba, 14-2b, 10-hr, 52rbi, both are having bounce back years after a subpar year in 2012.  Sports writer Ima Dumbas writes that the pair of McCutchen and Heyward are excelling both at the plate on in the outfield where they are playing at a Gold Glove rate!  Heyward is trying to live up to the hype that GM Red Robbins tried to sell to the media when DFW made Jason the #1 ovrall pick back in 2011.  Dumbas was trying to compare the drafting styles of DFW Spurs under Robbins compared to the Dallas Cowboys under the Jones tenure. If here was a camera  crew in the Spurs war room like we have in the Cowboys, what do you think we might see?  An advance scouting system making inform decisions or a couple of organization flipping a coin!

                                                       
                                                 Robbins                                      Heyward

The answer is -YES

Earlier in the year the question all the EdCouch fans wanted to know was the team going to make any moves to the pitching staff for the final stretch of the season and possible playoff push?

GM Ed Killmer answered with the team was designed for both this season and beyond and wanted to be careful not to sell of much of the future for the present. He did acknowledge that that teams like LVI and Troy were making big moves and he wasn't sure how or if he was going to make any moves.

Some fans are going to say the the GM saw the big moves that Troy made last week may have upped the ante for hopeful  post season teams. In a surprise move, the GM has decided to make a deal that will hopefully help the team for the playoff push and postseason and next year.

EdCouch announced today that Seattle and EdCouch made what both teams have called a good trade for each with EdCouch receiving C. Janssen and S. Atchison  and SEA 10th for Stammen and Buehrle and Ed Couch's coveted 3rd round pick(a steep future  price). When asked why they made the move, the GM stuck to his same line about balancing the current team needs(great relief pitchers) with Janssen's next season and beyond...and time will tell if the team can go all the way this year with the new pitchers and will Janssen keep up his excellent current MLB season?

Haymakers Hire Mercenaries for Playoff Push, Mortgage Future

Troy, NY:  For the past two seasons the Haymakers have made the playoffs, even making the championship series in 2011.  This taste of success has hungered the fans for more and brought much pressure on the current GM to be able to be able to have the team make that final step of winning it all.   If they do not win this year, there has been talk of ownership making a move to bring in different management.
  The Haymakers made two major deals this weekend bringing in starter/reliever Kris Medlen, starter Jon Niese, thirdbaseman Chase Headley, secondbaseman Aaron Hill, starter Phil Hughes and the injured Juan Carlos Oviedo.  Sent packing are Troy's first and second round picks, as well as starters Hiroki Kuroda and Paul Maholm, thirdbaseman Pablo Sandoval, secondbaseman Brandon Phillips, shortstop/pinch runner Dee Gordon and the injured outfielder Brett Gardner.

 The new look lineup will add much to the offensive power of the Haymakers, while Niese and Medlen will be very useful in the rotation and bullpen.
  "These kind of moves should help bring Troy back to the playoffs again in 2013, and hopefully to the championship," said GM Ken Anderson, "I mean, that's the plan anyway.  We hate to move the players we did but this is what we felt would finally bring us the championship."
  The Haymakers currently sit a game out of first place in the Less Filling West and these moves help Troy's positioning for the playoffs.
  "I am excited," said slugger Josh Hamilton, "We are going to have one of the best lineups in the league.  From top to bottom we are going to have guys that can get at you, knock you around."
   Watch for the new look Haymakers at ballpark near you!

EdCouch starts to gel as a team...

The EdCouch New Potatoes have finally started hitting their stride as a team with the help of a cavernous park that features ballpark singles to 20 and the hot hitting of Ben Zobrist(OPS 1.037), Y.Molina(OPS .927) and Mike Trout(OPS .950) our team batting average is high (unsustainable) .296.

The cavernous park also features ballpark HR to 0 and that has helped our pitching staff featuring mostly home starts for Buehrle and Kennedy hence lowering their unsustainable ERA's, and that also includes Lynn pitching over his head. On the other hand with David Price pitching more on the road and facing the high diamond parks in our division, currently has a 5.02 ERA and is giving up 11.4 baserunners per 9 inn and 1.4 HR per 9 inn(double his real life total) and is nowhere near the Cy Young conversation!

In total the New Potatoes are hoping their lineups that feature many interchangeable parts can keep up the hitting and their pitching staff can remain competitive to lead the New Potatoes from a last place finish last year to a first place finish this year and a postseason berth.

Verlander One-Hits Outlaw

 

Justin Verlander was on top of his game, blanking Outlaw on just 1 hit as the Shawnee Crows crushed the Outlaw Josey Wales 12 to 0.  Mike Napoli's third inning single was Outlaw's lone hit.

Verlander(6-1) was indeed brilliant as he hand-cuffed the Outlaw offense.  He didn't allow much, just 1 hit and 2 walks in 9 innings.  Verlander whiffed an impressive total of 11 Outlaw batters dropping his ERA from 3.55 to 2.96. Shawnee had a total of 15 hits for the game. 

Justin Masterson(0-1) was the losing pitcher.  Verlander didn't realize how many strikeouts he was racking up.  When told he had 11 he was obviously surprised, 'No kidding? Man, I knew that I had a decent total, but I didn't think I had K'd that many.  Say, that's pretty good, isn't it?'

BOXSCORE: 2013 Shawnee Crows At 2013 Outlaw Josey Wales              5/1/2013
  Crows              AB  R  H RBI AVG     Josey Wales        AB  R  H RBI AVG
  D.Dejesus CF        5  2  3  2 .245     E.Andrus SS         4  0  0  0 .229 
  D.Jeter SS          5  2  3  2 .371     A.Beltre 3B         3  0  0  0 .178 
  R.Braun LF          5  2  2  2 .299   C-A.Miller PH         1  0  0  0 .000 
  A.Dirks RF          5  2  3  2 .338     A.De Aza LF         3  0  0  0 .200 
  C.Ruiz C            4  2  2  1 .305   D-P.Strop PH          1  0  0  0 .000 
  T.Colvin 1B         4  0  1  1 .289     M.Kemp CF           2  0  0  0 .339 
  D.Nava DH           5  1  1  1 .188   A-T.Hudson PH         1  0  0  0 .000 
  D.Murphy 2B         5  0  0  0 .224   B-L.Cain CF           0  0  0  0 .350 
  S.Rolen 3B          3  1  0  0 .200   E-T.Byrdak PH         1  0  0  0 .000 
                                          A.Gonzalez 1B       3  0  0  0 .227 
                                          D.Pedroia 2B        2  0  0  0 .259 
                                          J.Herrera DH        2  0  0  0 .231 
                                          M.Napoli C          1  0  1  0 .185 
                                          N.Cruz RF           3  0  0  0 .200 
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---

         Totals      41 12 15 11                 Totals      27  0  1  0

A-Pinch Hit For Kemp In 7th Inning
B-Subbed Defensively (CF) For Hudson In 8th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Beltre In 9th Inning
D-Pinch Hit For De Aza In 9th Inning
E-Pinch Hit For Cain In 9th Inning

Crows........... 4 0 0  0 1 4  1 2 0  - 12 15  0
Josey Wales..... 0 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  -  0  1  2
Crows (23-16)            IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA
J.Verlander WIN(6-1)      9       1   0   0   2  11   0   2.96
Totals                    9       1   0   0   2  11   0

Josey Wales (8-8)        IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA
J.Masterson LOSS(0-1)     0 1/3   5   4   4   0   0   0   4.63
J.Hughes                  2 2/3   1   0   0   0   0   0   3.77
J.Venters                 2 2/3   3   5   1   1   1   1   5.40
J.Norberto                0 1/3   2   1   1   0   1   0   3.68
C.Villanueva              3       4   2   1   1   1   0   2.63

Totals                    9      15  12   7   2   3   1

ATTENDANCE- 26,855 DATE- Friday, May 1st 2013 TIME- Day
T- 3:00
LEFT ON BASE- Crows: 5  Josey Wales: 4
DOUBLE PLAYS- Crows: 1  Josey Wales: 1
ERRORS- M.Napoli, N.Cruz
DOUBLES- D.Dejesus(7th), D.Jeter-2(10th), R.Braun(9th), A.Dirks(10th),
         C.Ruiz(8th), T.Colvin(10th), D.Nava(6th)
HOME RUNS- R.Braun(7th)
WALKS- T.Colvin, S.Rolen, D.Pedroia, J.Herrera
HIT BY PITCH- C.Ruiz, M.Napoli-2
STRIKE OUTS- R.Braun-2, S.Rolen, E.Andrus, A.Beltre-2, A.De Aza, P.Strop,
             M.Kemp, T.Hudson, A.Gonzalez, J.Herrera, N.Cruz-2
GIDP- D.Murphy
PASSED BALLS- M.Napoli
2-out RBI- R.Braun, D.Dejesus-2, D.Jeter-2, A.Dirks
RLISP 2-out- D.Murphy, R.Braun-2, M.Napoli, N.Cruz-2, S.Rolen-2, D.Dejesus-2,
             A.Dirks-2

NASBL Early & Simulated Results

Well now we have some early results.  [This is like listening to the news during a gubernatorial election before the polls are closed.]  Early stats of actual played games have Ed Couch, Troy, Lehigh Valley, and Grundy County jumping into division leads.   How good are these indicators?  I think – WONDERFUL!

But I will take it a step further:  When we received the playball file from “Fear the Steve Beard,” I played 3 simulated seasons using just the Block 1 playing instructions.  Results were interesting.  Two teams, Lehigh Valley and Slatington, repeated their results in each of the 3 season.  The fourteen other teams showed individual and inconsistent patterns with varied results.

The Taste Great (“TG”) East division title was won two of 3 times by EdCouch.  TG East results overall had EdCouch (272-214 and .560 winning percentage) edging out Lake Champlain (269-217 .553) by 3 games.  LCC won one division title.  Springfield tallied a near .500 record at (242-244 .498) and the Chow Chows took a few lumps.  Illinois collected two 100+ losing (simulated) seasons and an overall (193-293 .397) simulated record.

The Less Filling (LF) South Division is the Wackiest Ship in the Army, or the submarine with the most holes to fill. Vermont won the most games in 3 replays (246-240 .506) but came in 2^nd in the division race all 3 simulations.  Pocono, with 1 division title and (242-244 .498) record edged two time division winner Grundy County (240-246 .494) by 2 games.  VFS, PCM, and GCG each only topped the .500 mark once.  It would appear that a trade or a dice roll can change this division title race.  Did I hear rumors that Springfield wants to move to LF South? 

Oh yeah, 2012 NASBL Champion, the Slatington Bulldogs, were one of the most consistent teams losing a whopping total of 355 games in 486 tries.  It appears that Adam Leickel can name the first pick in the 2014 draft any time after finishing 3 simulated seasons with a 131-355 record and .269 winning percentage.

The LF West Division had better results and look to carry the division flag into the championship round.  All four teams look strong and three teams played above the .500 high water mark.  Seattle with a (219-267 .450) record will need to make a few trades to improve their chances against the top 3 teams, according to my computer.   Those 3 teams are Dallas Fort Worth (267-219 .549), Shawnee (261-225), and Troy (249-237 .512).  DFW edged SHA by 6 wins and 1 simulated title (2 to 1).  All three teams had at least one simulated 90+ win season in 3 tries.

Well, that brings us to TG South Division.  Johnny Miller’s Roadkill had a respectable winning percentage of .490 overall, (238-248 record) but will have to make a few adjustments to get in to the hunt with its 3 division mates.  Canyon County took 3^rd place in division simulations with a .508 winning percentage and 247-239 record.  The Outlaw Josey Wales did not steal a simulated division title from the Iron Pigs despite its second best overall record of (279-208 .573).  So that brings us to 3 time simulated division champion Leigh Valley (293-193) and the only team with a winning percentage higher that 60% (.603).  The Iron Pigs look good and were the only team with 100+ wins in a simulated season (106-56). 

So – now you know.  Know what?  You know my simulated results and early season results and with that knowledge you can choose to change the path your team is taking.  You can add a good hitter or pitcher or trade one.  This information is as good as a sunny day on the beach, and is unlikely to repeat as that sunny day on the beach if the beach is in Minneapolis.  League results aren’t necessarily going to end this way.  Lets see how the trade market warms up and how the dice roll.

 

Part 2 Simulated Results of Player Performance to come.