2011.htm

Final SOMBILLA Standings 2010-2011                       W   L   Pct   GBGo Avocado           36 20 .643 --Fugakyu                33 23 .589 3New Orleans            32 24 .571 4
North Dakota           32 24 .571 4Constantinople         28 28 .500   8Area 51                25 31 .446 11Future Wax             24 32 .429 12Bay City               14 42 .250 22 MVP – Albert Pujols, North Dakota
Cy Young – Tim Lincecum, Go Avocado
Manager of the Year- Harold

League Leaders All Stats
6/11 New SOMBILLA Records set this year:

Lowest WHIP, season: Carpenter, NO 7.00   (Old record, Halladay, BC '06-07 9.00)
Worst Home Record, seaosn: Bay City 5-23 (.179) (Old record, M. Folders, 5-20, '00-01)

New SOMBILLA record retroactively acknowledged:

K's per 9 innings: P. Martinez, FW   '00-01 12.85

HOME/AWAY RECORDS

Home:

AWAY
Eric   18-10 .643      Eric   18-10   .643
Jed    18-10 .643      Arnie 17-11   .607
Harold 17-11 .607      Harold 15-13   .536
Arnie 15-13 .536      Jed    15-13   .536
Tom    14-14 .500      Tom    14-14   .500
Randy 13-15 .464      Jeff   13-15   .464
Jeff   12-16 .429      Randy 11-17   .393
Robin   5-23 .179      Robin   9-19   .321
Total 112-112                112-112
(6/2) SOMBILLA RECORDS TIED THIS YEAR: Most home runs, game 4 Albert Pujols, North Dakota 12/5/10 (2/28) Future Wax played the role of the spoiler in the regular season ending makeup series, ending New Orleans chances at second place. The results made for a 3rd place tie between New Orleans and North Dakota, necessitating a coin flip. Arnie proposed a 7 PM rolloff. Harold's response "just flip a coin right now to decide, I trust you. I call heads". And so at 8:10 AM, the coin was flipped, heads it was (witnessed by Robin...Draft Day March 27.
(2/27) Fugakyu may have used up a season's worth of karma in this series vs. Constantinople. Fugakyu won all four games and had three come from behind victories, including a pinch hit HR to win game 4 (on a HR 1-2)to sweep into the playoffs. Meanwhile, numerous Constantinople ballpark homers that would've been gone in the thin mountain air of what is now Turkey turned into harmless fly outs in Pufferfish Pond.So, here's what the FW/NO makeup series tomorrow night means. Harold wins 3 or 4 games, he finishes 2nd. If Harold splits, he takes 3rd place, losing the tiebreaker to Jed 6 games to 2. If Harold wins 1 game, NO and ND have a thingoff for 3rd place (the teams split the season series 4-4). If Randy sweeps, Harold finishes 4th.As always, the computer generated TWITS notes don't really tell the story - the death rolls, the lo-maxes and so on. In game 1, Joey Votto had 2 base hits at Pufferfish Pond as the Fugakyu Pufferfish beat the Constantinople Manatees by the count of 5 to 4. Fugakyu scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning when they had 3 base hits. It was a chippy game, as Felix Hernandez hit 3 Manatees with pitches and the Manatees eventually retaliated by hitting Matt Holliday. In game 2, one run was the difference as Fugakyu won 3-2. The key offensive moment was provided by Carlos Pena who came through for the home fans when he smashed a two-run homer. Constantinople had a chance to come back in the 9th but they came up short. In a close game 3 it was Fugakyu 4-2. Andrew Bailey looked good in relief and was the winning pitcher. He didn't give up much, just 2 hits and no walks in 2 innings. The pitchers took over after the 4th inning as neither team was able to score again. In a thrilling game 4 finish the Fugakyu Pufferfish won in dramatic fashion coming back to beat the Constantinople Manatees by the count of 6 to 5. Fugakyu had the game winning rally in the bottom of the 9th inning scoring 2 runs. Casey Blake led off the inning for Fugakyu when he drew a walk. Mark Derosa next to the plate and he bombed a two-run dinger making Fugakyu the winners and sending the 40,607 fans home happy.Draft Day, March 27.(2/24) News trickles out slowly from Area 51 as we learn of the split 4 days after the fact. Good news for North Dakota fans; the split guaranteed at least a one-game playoff for ND. Nevertheless, New Orleans, North Dakota, Fugakyu and Constantinople could all finish anywhere from 2nd - 5th....Draft Day March 27.
(2/19) A rare Friday night SOMBILLA matchup ended in a split, leaving Tom one game out of the playoffs at this point (no doubt pleasing his scouting department, which had its entire draft strategy ruined by last year's championship)...All four remaining series have playoff implications...Thanks to Tom for sending out the revised stats, which have been posted to the website...Draft Day March 27. (2/17) After Randy won game 1, (pounding Haren with Berkman and Hill homers to win 7-5), Arnie saw his SOMBILLA season flash before his eyes, thinking 'I'm going to choke my way out of the playoffs and will never live it down!' After winning game 2 (6-1, Johnson 4-hitter) and game 3 (8-4, Cruz 2 HR, Reynolds HR), Arnie was thinking 'cool, I'll win the series anyway and get 2nd place'. After the finale (FW goes up 7-1, thanks to McCutchen's 5 rbi, Pujols GS nmakes it 7-5, Pedroia HR makes it 7-6, too little too late, Nathan save for FW), a disgruntled Arnie congratulates Randy on playing hard and wishes him luck in his upcoming stage performances...Lots of big series with playoff implications coming up to finish the regular season...The cards arrived today...Draft Day March 27.
(2/16) Harold jumped back into 2nd place with his 2nd sweep against Bay City this season. He trashed Robin 14-2 in game 1, while Bartlett was the star of the series, hitting game-winning walk-off homers in games 3 & 4.   In game 3, Robin's Reimold had tied the game in the 7th with a HR and hit a go-ahead homer in the 9th before Bartlett won it for New Orleans. Harold also hit a home ballpark homer (HR 1 both sides) for the first time all year. "Good defense by both teams"; small consolation for Bay City which tied the legendary '05-06 Manila Folders for the 2nd worst record of all time (behind the even more legendary '00-01 10-43 Folders). Meanwhile, Jed jumped back into 4th place winning 3 of 4 while simultaneously ending Area 51's post-season chances. Only 3 games now separate 2nd place through 5th place. With a week and a half to go in the season, it's a high stakes game of musical chairs with 4 teams vying for 3 playoff spots...Draft Day March 27. (2/14): Eric swept Randy 4 games plus their suspended makeup game to clinch a playoff spot if not actually clinch first place. Long drive for Randy to lose 5 games.   Eric will send Twits Notes later. Speaking of Randy, he has apologized to Harold and they will play their makeup series on Mon. 2/28 (2/11) Jeff writes "I believe Randy and I effectively knocked each other out of the playoffs by splitting. Including one 16 or 17 inning game (a game where I let a 10 run lead drift away but eventually won)....... you can well imagine how time consuming the series was!" (2/9) while it may appear that jeff considers eric his friend, it also appears he hates playing the go avocado meister, whether in plymouth or in mansfield or anywhere else it would seem. poor eric had to endure a barrage of invectives and strato tantrums and accusations of cheating while on his way to what he thought was an amiable near-sweep of his beloved comrade. it was not eric's fault he hit over half of his ballpark homeruns (1-6) while jeff connected on only one of six or seven. as eric noted: "i didn't pick the fuckin' park. that alien boob did." such friends as these bring a mist to the eyes. and the games themselves, the source of this dicey animus? in game one lincecum shut out A51 for the second time this season, even though jeff hit 4 doubles and triple. those two missed bp's with runners on base didn't help, of course. final: 5-0. game two saw A51 holding down a 2-0 lead into the 5th, when eric sent 9 batters to plate, 4 of whom got on base via walks, and two of whom crushed singles plating 3 runs. the 6th followed a similar pattern, as lester surrendered 4 more free passes, accompanied by another single and a double, for 3 more runs. it was all downhill from there. a weakened lester went the distance for A51, giving up an astonishing 13 walks. verlander went the distance for the avocados, to notch his 7th win. final: 9-2. in game 3 jeff whalloped 4 dingers to go along with 9 other hits and 6 walks to amass 10 runs. problem was eric scored 14 runs of his own, 8 in the 7th inning to break open a 5-5 tie, and it was at this point that jeff began throwing his dice around and insisting that eric not "touch" him, which raised the eyebrows of arnie and tom, just on the other side of the kitchen table. game 4 provided an element of revenge for jeff, as wandy wodwiguez baffled the avocados with an assortment of junk and spitters on his way to a complete game, 5 hit 6-1 victory. weaver took the loss for the avocados, blaming the slime-coated mound he inherited every half inning from the drooling wandy-man. however, as the night came to a close jeff and eric were able to put it all in perspective. "you suck." "fuck you." "drive safely." "you too, man. nice car." "thanks, i'd like to run you over with it." "i'd be honored." (2/6) Fugakyu jumped back into a playoff spot with a 3-1 series win over Bay City (wrapping up a 7-1 season againt hapless Bacy City). In game 1 Derrek Lee hit a homerun and had 2 RBI and Felix Hernandez pitched a complete game at Miller Park as Fugakyu beat Bay City Rollers by the count of 6 to 1. In game 2, Bay City won a dramatic crowd-pleaser over the Pufferfish, pulling it out in their last at bats, 6 to 4. Bay City scored the decisive runs in a big bottom of the 9th inning with 2 runs. After an out was recorded, Nolan Reimold began the Bay City spurt when he drew a walk. Pablo Sandoval stepped into the batter's box and he blasted a two-run home run giving Bay City the victory as 40,515 happy fans celebrated wildly. In game 3 Pufferfish center fielder Rajai Davis hit 2 doubles and had 4 RBI as Fugakyu outscored BC 8 to 3. Davis enjoyed a big evening at the plate. He doubled in the 1st inning, slapped a single which plated a run in the 7th inning and doubled with all three runners coming home in the 8th inning. Game 4 saw Carlos Pena homer and drive in 4 RBI as Fugakyu beat Bay City by a score of 6 to 2. Pena had a big day with his bat. He banged out a single in the 1st inning, smacked a one-base hit plating a run in the 3rd inning and clubbed a three-run home run in the 5th inning. Overall, Rajai Davis was the hitting star of the series for Fugakyu, going 7 for 10 with 4 RBI and 2 SB. Pena had 6 RBI and batted .429. Meanwhile, for Bay City, Granderson hit .400 with 2 HR and Hawpe went 5 for 12. Randy has surfaced, finally reading his e-mails from the past 2 weeks, and will try and reschedule against Jeff and Harold...Draft Day March 27. (2/3) For the first time in the SOMBILLA's long history, a league manager completely dissed an opponent, without a single phone call or e-mail response. Yes, it appears Randy has not only stopped using e-mail again, but has stopped his phone service as well. Harold notes "blown off by Randy; no call, no email, no answer when I called his house." Not cool. What gives? In real action, Robin and Tom split - Halladay pitched a CG 4-hit shutout in game 1, and she pounded her former pitcher Joel Pineiro 8-2 with 4 homers (Hawpe 2, Granderson, Reimold) in game 2. 5 CN pitchers (Bergesen, Papaelbon, Thornton, Gregerson, Rhodes) combined for a 4-2 7-hit win in game 3. Tom gained the split 7-3 in the finale, racking up 12 hits, including homers by Youk and Escobar. Draft Day March 27. Will Randy be back in civilization by then? Will he have apologized to Harold by then? Will he quit the league? Stay tuned.
(1/30) The Pufferfish and the Avocados squared off in an early sunday morning affair that saw the Avocados take 3 of 4, barely losing out on a sweep, knocking the Pufferfish back into 5th percentage points behind the 'cellar-dwelling' Manatees.

Game 1 was a masterpiece by Lincecum, who had a perfect game going into the 8th, only to see it broken up by a solo shot by Derek Lee, which made it a 2-1 game. but Eric scored 3 in the bottom of the 8th to blow it open, and Lincecum went the distance, giving up just one hit, walking none and striking out 14.

Game 2 was the one Eric let get away, as Jed made all the right moves and scored 3 times in the top of the 9th off Wilson and Wuertz to squeak out a 6-5 win.

game 3 was a slugfest. each team scored 4 times in the 1st, and Jed came back with 4 more in the 2nd, while Eric countered with 3 in the bottom of the frame, making 8-7 after 2 and both pitchers tired. From then on Eric's bullpen took over, giving up just one unearned run over the next 7.3 innings. Drew broke a 9-9 tie in the 6th and Eric held on for an 11-9 win.

Looking for the split, Jed jumped out in the 1st on a 3 run blast from Pena, only to see series star Prince Fielder tie it after one with a 3-run shot of his own. from then on Eric out-scored Jed 8-2 to win the game 11-5.

For the series fielder hit .529, with 4 homers and 13 rbi's.

Draft Day March 27.
(1/27) There was a bit of delay as the field needed to be cleared. (Stella was being slow with her dinner and then a quick taste of chips for dessert...) Greinke came out and gave up 4 early and then 4 late and 8-2 as CN hit 3 ballpark homers. In game 2, the ballpark taketh as Wax came out and beat up Pineiro and Lyons as Piniero gave up walks (none on his card) to lose the lead 5-4 and then 2 ballpark homers put the game out of reach in the 9th 8-4. In game 3, Bergesen came out and 4 batters later it was 4-0 and he was on the rocks. He never was tired but Wax went up 7-0 and held on to win 8-7. Well, it was now a struggle to salvage a split as Johan Santana came out to face Matt Cain. Cain went down 3-0 nothing early, but CN came back to tie it on a Morales homer. Hughes is excellent versus righties, but it does not matter if you roll on the hitters cards as Yunel Escobar hit a 3 run homer to allow CN to salvage a split after a 6-3 final. Deadlines to remember: Before the 41st game – Trading deadline for playoff eligibility Before the 45th game – Teams can call up a 26th man Before the 49th game – Trading deadline March 27th - Draft Day (1/23) A surprisingly unsatisfying split for last place Bay City and a satisfying split for first place ND this weekend. BC jumped on Haren in game 1, leading 5-2 heading into the bottom of the 8th. But homers by Pujols (solo) and Reynolds (2-run homer) tied it up and BC was stunned. But in the 9th, Pablo Sandoval hit a BP homer on a 1-7 off Bell, with Cruz having a chance to rob it (also on a 1-7) and failing to do so. In the bottom of the 9th, ND had the tying run on 3rd with 2 out. Pujols has a chance to tie it on a S 1-13, but rolls a 14 and BC has won its 3rd in a row. Bay City pounded ND and J. Johnson 10-3 in game 2, backed by homers from I. Rodriguez, Granderson and M. Cabrera. It is Bay City's 4th win in a row (against the top two teams in the league)! A reeling (andembarrassed) North Dakota beaned Miguel Cabrera in the 2nd inning of game 3, knocking him out for the series. Still, BC took a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the 8th. A bases loaded double by Cruz off Darren O'Day in the 8th gave ND the lead, relief mutant M. Adams pitched the 9th for his 9th save, and ND exhaled. ND bats came alive in game 4, pounding out 5 homers for the 9-4 win to gain the split. Draft Day March 27. (1/20) For the first time this season, Fugakyu entered the playoff conversation with a sweep of New Orleans. What the box scores won't tell you is that this series was all about bad karma for Harold. All of his 1 fielders made errors. Ichiro Suzuki got at least 4 1-3 death rolls. Adam Dunn had a ballpark home chance (1-14) to tie a game and rolled a 19. Mariano Rivera got tired for the first time all season. The games all were actually close, but given the karma, Harold didn't have a fair chance. Here are the slightly edited computer generated TWITS Notes, which are so much better than any human could write: Game 1 At Pufferfish Pond, the Fugakyu fans witnessed a great pitcher's duel. Felix Hernandez finally bested his New Orleans opposite, J.A. Happ, by the score of 3 to 1. Hernandez pitched well for Fugakyu in their victory. He was reached for 7 hits and 4 walks in 7 and 1/3 innings. Sean White was great in relief and recorded the save. Happ was the loser. He surrendered 2 hits and 2 walks in 5 and 1/3 innings. Game 2 First baseman Carlos Pena touched them all and had 2 RBI at Pufferfish Pond where the Fugakyu Pufferfish beat the New Orleans Ellis by the score of 5 to 3. Jeremy Affeldt(1-0) did the job in relief, and he got credit for the win. He was reached for 2 hits and no walks in 1 inning. New Orleans went down quietly in the 9th. Andrew Bailey was credited with the save. Mariano Rivera was the losing pitcher in relief. He surrendered 3 hits and no walks without retiring a batter. Game 3 Joe Mauer had 2 base hits as the Fugakyu Pufferfish topped the New Orleans Ellis by a score of 3 to 1 at Pufferfish Pond. Joakim Soria did the job in relief, and he got credit for the win. He was reached for 2 hits and no walks in 1 and 2/3 innings. Fugakyu and New Orleans each finished the afternoon with 8 hits. Soria got relief help from Andrew Bailey who gained credit for his 2nd save of the series. The losing pitcher was Huston Street(0-1) in relief. Game 4 In a tight game it was the Fugakyu Pufferfish 4, the New Orleans Ellis 2 at Pufferfish Pond. Fugakyu had 3 runs cross the plate in the 2nd inning with the help of 4 hits. It was enough to earn the victory. The pitchers took over after the 3rd inning as neither team was able to score again. Scott Feldman allowed no runs in 2 and 1/3 innings, and picked up the victory. Angel Guzman earned the save. Chris Carpenter took the loss. Draft Day March 27 (1/18) Getting every game to run was painful and CN started like a house on fire winning the first two games. Then the wheels fell off and pitching could not get that last out in big puffer innings as the fish came back to even out the series.. It was an unsatisfying split for Tom and a satisfying split for Jed, given that Tom beat me the first two games and was really looking to press his home field advantage. But he did maintain his hold on fourth place. The scores were 7-5 (but it was 7-2 going into the 7th and somehow didn't feel that close), 12-5, 10-9 and 11-5. In the 10-9 game, Jed took a 10-6 lead into the 9th and had Bailey pitching. Tom's relentless offense tired Bailey and Jed had 2nd and 3rd before Guzman got the final out. So that was the best game of the series, um, from an impartial fan's perspective. Tom out-homered Jed 12-7. Jed’s team batting average went up 20-25 points and his team ERA went up .3-.4.... Draft Day March 27.(1/17) Fugakyu took the first 3 against Future Wax but the Candles came back to win game 4 decisively and keep their playoff hopes alive. Game 1 must've been THE pitching duel of the season, as both Greinke and Hernandez took 2-hit shutouts into the 9th. Here are the computer-generated TWITS notes for that game, slightly edited (for some reason, the 2nd game wasn't a "league game" and so I don't have computer-generated TWITS notes, and you'll have to read human-generated verbiage): Game 1 Felix Hernandez delivered 9 solid innings as the Fugakyu Pufferfish won in dramatic fashion over the Future Wax Candles by a score of 2 to 1 at Pufferfish Pond. Fugakyu won the game with a rally in the bottom of the 9th inning with 2 runs utilizing 2 base hits. Carlos Pena led off and started the attack as he doubled. Matt Holliday came next and he smashed a two-run homer making Fugakyu the victors to the delight of the home town faithful. Both teams ended up with 4 hits on the afternoon. The winning pitcher was Hernandez who allowed 1 run for the game. Joe Nathan took the loss in relief. He was unable to retire a batter giving up 2 hits and no walks. Game 2 A 2-2 nail-biter after 5 was broken open in the bottom of the 6th by the Pufferfish. Shin Soo Choo cracked a 2-run dinger and followed up with another 2-run shot in the 8th. Choo had 5 ribbies in all. Andrew Bailey manufactured himself a save by allowing a homer to Aaron Hill to make it a 3-run margin before all was said and done - a 6-3 victory for the Pufferfish. Bailey's ERA for the season did go down. Soria managed to pick up the win somehow and Zambrano was tagged with the loss after 5 1/3 undistinguished innings. Game 3 Once again, a tight contest in the beginning, 2-2 after 3. However, Fugakyu managed to take advantage of Johan Santana's propensity to allow homers to left-handed hitters. First Joey Votto, the Carlos Pena. And the Pufferfish had a 4-2 lead after, which was expanded to a 6-2 lead after 6, and that score held up. Votto had 4 RBI. Nolasco got the win, Santana the loss. Fugakyu's bullpen pitched 4 scoreless innings of relief. Carlos Ruiz, a replacement for the injured Brian McCann, was the lone bright spot for the Candles. Ruiz had a homer and a walk. Game 4 The Candles jumped to an early 3-0 lead and never looked back, ultimately winning 8-2 in a game with little drama. The Pufferfish threatened against Clayton Kershaw but he made pitches when he had to and his defense came up with 3 double plays. In all, Kershaw scattered 8 hits and 6 walks for a complete game victory. Aramis Ramirez and the fresh-off-the-injured-list Brian McCann each hit taters, and Ramirez had 3 RBIs. Joe Mauer, who overall had a quietly good series (6-15) to break out of a slump went 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI. John Lackey was lackeyluster allowing 5 runs in 4 innings to take the loss. The Pufferfish relief only allowed 1 earned run in 5 innings, but 2 errors by the normally reliable Marco Scutaro, who also was unable to range over to prevent an infield hit, led to 3 runs for the Candles. Draft Day March 27. (1/15) In a very rare Sunday, A51, for once, fared better the Patriots winning 6 of 8 games in a no holds barred Stratto bash in Marbleheadto take over 5th place and move to within 2 games of 4th. The first series A51 travelled to Bay City. Game 1: A51 scored 3 runs in the top of the 11th assisted by Avila and Sizemore tatters and went on to win 5-2 Game 2: Was an 11-2 runaway capped off by a complete game win by Lester fanning 12 and Longoria going 3-5 with 2 doubles and a home run. Game 3: A51 came back in the top of the eighth with 4 runs powered by triples from Coghlan and Longoria. Oliver went on to save a 5-3 victory. Game 4: Marked yet another come back 2-1 victory with top of the 9th heroics. With two outs Sizemore singled, followed by a triple from Phillips to tie the game and a pinch hit single by Parra to take a 2-1 lead. Sherrill and Feliz (S) held Bay City in the bottom of the frame to preserve the sweep. In the second series New Orleans and A51 battled to an unsatisfying split. Game 1: A51 won a 4-3 nail bitter powered by 3 HRs (Sizemore, Teixeira and A. “Paul” Lind) coupled with a save by Feliz Game 2: NO came storming back scoring a 4-2 victory. Lester pitched a complete 9 inning loss and was out dueled by G. “Pink” Floyd who spun a 4 hitter. Game 3: NO spanked the Aliens like a Seahawk winning 13-2 led by Bartlett (4-6, double, triple and 3 runs). Game 4: A51 held on for the split by winning 5-1 with assistance from 2 Sizemore home runs. Draft Day March 27. (1/13) North Dakota pulled to within a game of first place with an impressive series win at the tough Pufferfish Pond earlier tonight. F. Hernandez and Haren had a magnificent 1-1 duel that went into extra innings in game 1. Hanley Ramirez drove in Rolen in the 11th inning, and Mike Adams notched his 7th save for the 2-1 win. Josh Johnson pitched 6 innings of no hit ball in game 2 before tiring in the 7th, but ND pounded out the 9-4 win. Homers by Ramirez, Rolen and Reynolds paced Cliff Lee to an 11-0 laugher in game 3 as ND smelled a sweep. The sweep appeared lost when FU entered the 9th inning of game 4 ahead 3-1. But Rolen and Ramirez did it again with rbis to tie the game at 3. But Fugakyu newcomer Ian Stewart won the game with a walk-off homer to salvage the series for FU and keep them in contention for the wild card. Draft Day March 27. (1/9) Playing their second series in four days (a make-up series), Tom and Eric hit lots of homers and scored lots of runs, all of which resulted in a grinding. split. Tom won 8-7 and 10-8, and Eric won 6-4 and 12-5...Draft Day, Sunday March 27.
(1/8) Randy pulled to within 2 1/2 games of 4th place with a series win over celler-dwelling Bay City on Saturday afternoon. Greinke outdueled Halladay 2-1 in game 1. Santana, Hughes and Howell pitched a combined 3-hitter to help Randy to a 6-1 win in game 2. Homers by G. Jones, A. Ramirez, and Braun paced FW to an 8-5 win in game 3. In game 4, Reed Johnson's first AB after his 10-game injury was a 2-run homer, helping Robin avoid the sweep. Her magic number to avoid breaking Matt's all-time worst record is now 4...Draft Day, Sunday March 27. (1/6)  Newcomer Carlos Beltran hit 12 homers, had 26 rbis and went 19 for 19. Not really. Actually, it was Scott Hariston's two dramatic late inning homers led North Dakota to a 3-1 series win over Area 51 last night and back into 2nd place. Beltran made his mark early in game 1 with a spectacular leaping catch over the centerfield grazing cow to rob Brnadon Phillips of a home run in the 3rd inning. ND held a 2-0 lead into the 7th, but Teixera's 2-run bomb tied it and Molina's homer in the 8th made it 3-2 A51. But in the bottom of the 8th, Hairston, pinch-hitting for Cruz, hit a two run homer off Broxton on a "1-12" much to stunned Jeff's dismay. Adams pitched an uneventful 9th for his 6th save.
J. Johnson scattered 9 hits as ND won game 2, 6-1. In game 3, A51 held a 4-3 lead after just 1 inning. It wa 5-3 into the 7th. Cruz homerd to make it 5-4 and Bellisario came in to pitch for Jeff. With one on and one out Hairston (in the game only because DH Reynolds got injured), homered to give ND the 6-5 lead. Jeff loaded the bases with 2 out in the 9th, but Adams came in to fan Lognoria for anotehr save. Jeff got redemption in the finale, overcoming a 3-run homer by Beltran to tie up the game 4-4 in the 3rd. Sizemore's 2-run homer in the 5th was all they needed to hang on for the 6-4 win and avoid the sweep. Draft Day - Sunday March 27.(1/5) Trade Update: North Dakota, now 11 years removed from its last championship, and 2 years removed from its choke as the league's overwhelming favorite, has acquired centerfielder Carlos Beltran from hapless Bay City in exchange for 3B Chase Headley and a 2nd round draft pick. Despite (true) whispers that the two GMs were sleeping with each other, the Bay City front office points out that it was in fact, Fugakyu which initiated trade talks, "driving up the price" by forcing North Dakota to sweeten its offer.

Odd man out Dexter Fowler, who was designated for assignment, stormed out of the locker room and his whereabouts are unknown.
(12/30) Go Avocado got their season back on track after their disastrous 1-7 bash a few weeks ago by sweeping A51 in four close games to leap back into 2nd place. In game one, Lincecum out-dueled Vazquez 2-0, giving up just one hit while walking 2 batters and striking out 7. Game 2 was back and forth, with Go Avocado holding a slim 4-3 lead through the bottom of the 6th when Eric scored 2 insurance runs in the 7th and held on for a 6-3 win. Game 3 was tied 6-6 when Go Avocado broke it open with 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th leading to a 10-6 win. Game 4 was the one Jeff needed to win, and his staff kept Avocado off the board for 10 innings. Problem was, Eric's staff kept A51 off the board as well. A51 finally took their very first lead of the series in the 11th when Longeria doubled off Howry to to score Sizemore. but Utley came back for the Avacados by leading of the bottom of the 11th with a solo shot to tie the game, and Tulowitzki took it home in the bottom of the 13th with a solo blast for the series sweep. Chase Utley, coming out of a year and half long slump, was the hitting star for the Avacados, with 3 homers and 4 rbi's. Jed's comments on his split with Randy "It was an inevitable split. Randy won by 3, I won by 4, Randy won by 2, I won by 1. Excellent computer performance - it was about 2 1/2 hours of actual playing time, once we were set up."Remember, at the stroke of midnight tomorrow night, all teams get a day off to reset their pitching (as well as to knock off an injury game). (12/18) North Dakota solidified its hold on 2nd place while knocking Fugakyu into a 5th place tie with Area 51 in an exciting series marked by a slow computer, a tired controversy, close games and late inning heroics. In game 1, ND leapt to an 8-0 start tiring F. Hernandez. The endless game finished 15-6; Dan Haren moves to 4-1 while averaging 8.4 of run support/game for hist first 7 starts. Joe Mauer's 8th inning homer off Aardsma broke a 2-2 tie in game 2, with Bailey notching the save. Game 3 featured a tired inning controversy when the computer insisted M. Gonzalez was tired, while Arnie disagreed. We agreed to let Gonzalez keep pitching 'untired' watching for potential tired singles. Turns out it didn't matter; the next batter, Holliday, smacked a 3-run homer to give FU an 8-6 lead in the 7th, after they had trailed 5-0. (It also turns out the computer was correct, Jed, so perhaps some of us have been playing incorrectly all these years. [Relievers are tired by outs - and if three hits/walks occur in a three-out period after their point of weekness, they become tired even if the three-out period cuts across two innings, which would happen if the pitcher came into the game with one or two outs in the inning]). Anyway, trailing 8-6 in the bottom of the 7th, with two out and 2-on, Mark Reynolds cracked his league-leading 11th homer to give ND the 9-8 lead, which held up thanks to Hoffman and Adams in the 8th and 9th. In the finale, the Puffer Fish held a comfortable 6-3 lead heading into the bottom of the 8th. ND loads the bases against Bailey, who then gets 2 outs. Hairston pinch hits and singles to make it 6-4. Ordonez is up, not the best matchup for ND, but nobody is left on the bench. Conjuring up shades of Tulowitzski, Mags hits an unlikely bases-clearing triple, and ND takes the lead 7-6. FU has one last chance in the 9th when Mauer is up with one on and 2 out, but this time Aardsma gets him to fly out and the Puffer Fish will have to endure a long flight home wondering what if. Pujols (5 for 15) had 3 homers and 8 rbis, while N. Cruz (5 for 13) had 2 homers, 6 rbis for North Dakota. (12/16) New Orleans, picked for a shaky 4th place in the preseason poll, continued its hold on first by sweeping Bay City to create some distance from the pack. Their bats came alive, hitting 7 HR's, including three by Zobrist, and grand slams by Cano and Suzuki. Their stellar relief gave up only one run in 11+ innings. Bay City, meanwhile, is on pace to finish with the thrid worst record of all time. Indicative of Robin's season, two players (I Rodriguez and Sanchez) were injured on a gbA. Her magic number to not break the all-time worst single season record (10-43, held by Matt) is five. (12/12) First place New Orleans knocked Constantinople back into 4th place in dramatic fashion with two walk-off wins, opening up a 2-game lead over the pack. All three of Harold's wins were by one run. Tom was 1 for 10 in ballpark homers in the spacious park... A51 pitching kept up its torrid pace of knocking out opponents with injuries. In this series 3 of Robins players found their way to the DL, which given Robin’s history is an upgrade from the morgue. Jeter was knocked out for only two games. But A51 pitching was able to pretty much end the season of two of BC limited batsmen! Bay City's tough season continued with Robin rolling a '19' for Reed Johnson (10 games), followed by a '20' for Andres (been nice knowing you) Torres (15 games). In game 1, A51 cruised to a 12-4 win featuring a complete game performance from Vazquez holding Bay City to 7 hits. In game 2, Robin came storming back to win 4-2 in the 10 by brilliant hitting by Beltran. Former A51 pitcher Kiko Calareo shut down the last six aliens for the win. In Game 3, A51 won a nail biter by a score of 3-1 highlighted by some clutch hitting by Parra who pinch hit for Coghlan in the 7th giving Feliz a cushion for the inevitable save. In the ginale, A51 cruised to a 9-4 victory highlighted by a Teixeria 2-4 performance with 4 RBIs and great 7 inning pitching from Wandy yielding only 5 hits. (12/9) Eric and Randy discovered that Randy's last win over Eric was actually a 5-5 tie due to scorers' errors. So, that game will resume at a future point in extra innings...Randy continued his hot streak, beating first place New Orleans 3 of 4 earlier tonight to tighten up the standings even more. Only 4 1/2 games separate the top 7 teams. Randy's three wins were by a total of 4 runs, but he insists he checked each scoresheet carefully this time. Blanks had 2 homers and 6 rbis to lead the Wax. Harold notes that the series was "pretty boring, quite frankly". In the last at bat of the A51/ND series, North Dakota had the tying run at bat in the 9th, but, having lost the DH earlier, the pitcher had to bat. So, Dan Haren (#4R) was brought in to face the lefty Sherrill. Jeff countered with his ace N. Feliz. So, Josh Johnson (#6L) was brought in. Johnson rolled a "1-2", flyout plus injury to ccontinue the ND injury streak in macabre fashion. He is out for two games and will have to be pushed back a start, the first time a pitcher has ever been injured in the SOMBILLA. Randy's series against Jed this Sunday has been postponed - because Randy hasn't ordered computer Strat-O yet. (12/5) It was upside down day in the SOMBILLA as the season with a foregone conclusion was suddenly shaken up from top to bottom. For the first time in many years, a team went 8-0 during a bash (Harold claims the last time was when he beat Clint 8 straight on the computer). "Anything that could possibly have went right did, and conversely any bad karma that may have happened, happened to Eric and Jeff". He hit ballpark 'ones', Rivera "had 4 or 5 saves", and for good measure A. Jones hit a 2-run shot in the finale to cap a come from behind winto knock Eric from first all the way out of a playoff spot.Fugakyu swept into 4th place with a phenomenal pitching performance, throwing 3 shutouts with a 0.25 ERA for the series! F. Hernandez gave up the only earned run in the series, but atoned for it with 14 k's. Beckett, Nolasco, and Lackey pitched the other shiutouts (with bullpen help), holding BC to just 15 hits over 4 games. Albert Pujols tied a 12-year old league record with 4 homers in the game 1, 17-0 North Dakota win. Constantinople, the self-proclaimed 'cellar dwellers' won the next three games to take over 2nd place. Go Avocado, Future Wax, Bay City and North Dakota are now at the roster freeze. (12/2) The Cellar dwellers and the cream of the league got together under one roof December 2nd. The cream of the league split with many random interesting noises – Eric was “thinking” out loud a lot and pulled out a 10-9 walk off win on a Adrian Gonzalez homer after Lincecum was tired in the early innings but went on for a complete game since he had no idea who had relieved in the last game against Jed. Arnie roared back winning two games and decided to make it interesting by putting out his lineup for a left handed pitcher for Weaver*, J, who as his team kept pointing out is not left handed even with the asterisk… Arnie lost the game in another walk off (?) for a split and within a minute Randy and Tom finished with the Manatees salvaging a 3-1 series victory. Game 1: Greinke is great, but had one of those middle innings where he put two batters on and then Kendry Morales hit a clean 3 run shot and the Manatees never looked back as Cain got the complete game 5-1 victory. Game 2: Manatees went up early, but had 3 death rolls with men on 2nd and 3rd and could not put away their waxen foes and went into the 9th up 3-1. Jones hit a clean shot and then with two outs Kinsler kicked a ball and the Manatees come face to face with the Wax Mutant Blanks. As I looked at it, if he rolled the 3 column it is over or I could go for a left hander and then he pinch hits and then it is a question of does he hit the 1 column --- What do you do? Over manage – One Column -- game over and Randy is dancing in the streets as he doubles his win total on a dramatic walk off for Justin Upton. Game 3: This game is all the Manatees as they go up and stay up winning 13-5 as Olivo is the star of the game starting the scoring with a 3 run ball park shot and putting the Manatees ahead for good with a clean 3 run homer in the 5th causing Wax to throw in the towel leaving Ubaldo (I am going to be dominate next year) Jiminiez to take the beating. Game 4: This game felt a lot like game 2 as the Manatees go up 4-1 but cannot get the big hit to put it out of reach with men on 3rd. In the 9th, Wax gets a catcher X ground out and error (16) to start the inning. A walk and then a SS-x double play ball comes up but Escobar kicks it (14) and the bases are loaded. Then a strike out and Aybar comes to the plate and hits a Px to the 2e20 and again a double play looms but randy asks for all the error numbers to be read out and he rolls and Thornton throws the ball over the catcher on the force play (6). Banks strikes out and we are down to the last batter – Berkman bases loaded, two outs, and he grounds the ball and it is over. Manatees win 4-2. (11/29) Fugakyu's Mauer (.500, 2 homers, 6 rbi) and R. Davis (.500, 1 homer, 6 rbi) were the starts of the series. Fugakyu outhiy Area 51 .291 to .206 for the series, but they still split...Bash on Sunday! (11/28) Dan Haren (5 hitter) was backed by a 3-homer 4th inning (H. Ramirez, Hairstom, Wieters) in game 1 to help ND to a 7-1 win at Bay City. North Dakota came from behind in game 2, overcoming a 2-0 deficit to win, 5-2. Hairston's 3-run blast off Jair Jurrgens was the key blow. Game 3 was the best game. Robin's YovaniGallardo scattered 5 hits through 8 innings, but he was matched by Lee, Massett and Bell. In the bottom of the 10th, Montero led off with a double off Aardsma, and Brad Hawpe singled him in for the exciting walk off win for the Bay City crowd. Game 4, a 12-2 laugher for North Dakota (early Cy Young candidate Wainright moving to 3-0) was a costly win as both H. Ramirez and Pedroia went down with late game injuries (ND's 6th and 7th injuries on the year). Both will miss the first two games of the big showdown against Eric on Thursday. Remember to send your stats to Tom! (11/22): It was a satisfying split - North Dakota grateful for clawing back after losing the first two and New Orleans for storming into unfriendly cow-infested Gackle Park and coming away with the split. After Arnie incorrectly thought the series was scheduled for 7:30, the Strat-O gods punished him severely in game 1 for this breach of basic Strat-O etiquette, helping the on-time 7:00 arriving Harold to an easy 8-2 win. Game two was a nailbiter. The game's crucial play came at the very end. Down 4-2 in the bottom of the 9th with 2 on and 2 out, Pedroia hits a gapper, scoring Kapler, Hairston rounding third. With Ichiro's arm, its a 1-10 chance to tie the game, 11-20 to end it, or stop at third and let Pujols bat. North Dakota goes for it, rolls a 19, game over. ND's bats came alive in games 3 & 4. But so did New Orleans's. It was, in fact, Bartlett's two costly errors in the 2nd inning of game 3 that was the difference there (he had 4 for the series), a 7-5 ND win. The finale was a 9-0 ND laugher, at least through 7 innings. But a 3-run homer for Napoli in the 8th and a 2 run shot by Bartlett in the 9th makes it 9-5. Aardsma walks the bases loaded and Napoli is up again. A grand slam would tie it at 9. He strikes out, series split. North Dakota has already had 2 players injured for 6 games - Pagan and Wieters, while Shoppach is out for 4 games, and also lost Pujols and Fowler each for one game.(11/21) Eric knocked Jed back into 6th place yesterday, taking 3 of 4. Playing against each other for the first time since their epic playoff last year, Jed and Eric got off to a slow start, losing an hour to a downloading glitch caused by Eric (who else) and resolved by Jed (of course). The waiting was just prelude, as game 1, featuring Lincecum and Hernandez, went 13 and a half scoreless, agonizing innings before Carlos Pena took Wuertz out of the yard for a 2-0 Fugakyu victory. Lincecum went 9 innings, allowing 2 hits, 2 walks and getting 16 k's. Hernandez went 8 innings with 8 k's, and worked his way around 6 hits and 3 walks. The fans were thrilled. Six Fugakyu relievers wowed Go Avocado for the next 6 innings, allowing 0 hits to utterly flamboozle the much hyped offense. The rest of the series was equally close and painfully low scoring. Eric took the next 3 games, 3-2, 5-4, and 3-2. Games 3 and 4 were decided in the top of 10th and 9th innings respectively, with Ryan Zimmerman providing the difference in each with solo shots. Carlos Pena was the hitting star for Fugakyu, with 3 homers and 5 ribbies, but struck out 12 times. The teams combined for a mere 53 hits and a whopping 91 k's. That's the best thing I can say right now about computer Strat-O. It's ready abundance of stats. Want some more? According the box score, the first game was attended by 46,282 fans, while game 4 drew only 41,421. I donâ€™t know about that. I didn't see more than a few squirrels and blue-jays and a cat around the bird feeder outside my kitchen. I think Jed's inflating his numbers.(11/20) Bay City kept Future Wax in the SOMBILLA cellar on Saturday afternoon, taking 3 of 4 from the distracted thespian. Game 1. In a battle of aces, Halladay (who allowed 5 doubles and a triple but no homers) and Greinke each go 8 innings with Bay City coming out on top, 7-4 thanks to a 2-run homer and triple by Granderson and 2 HRs and a double (4 RBIs) from number 9 hitter Pablo Sandoval. Game 2. Randy bats around in the 4th when Jurrjens allows 3 BBs, a single, double, and triple, but FW fails to homer to hit for the cycle in the inning. Santana, Valverde, Burnett, and Nathan combine for the 5-4 Future Wax win, as Randy will not go 0-56. Michael Brantley becomes the first second-generation BC player (following in the outfield footsteps of dad Mickey) when he goes 2 for 3 as an injury call-up. Game 3. This game is speeding along, with Randy Wells and Ubaldo Jimenez setting a swift pace until the 7th, when Bay City ties the score 2-2 on a Granderson homer. Then FW tires Marmol with a single followed by 2 walks in the 8th, but fails to score. BC returns the favor by tiring Nathan with a single and 2 walks in the bottom of the inning, also failing to score, but they take the lead in the 9th when Jeter (3 singles, 3SBs) knocks home Beltran (who had doubled to lead off the inning). Calero holds on for the 3-2 win, as Randy uses a Harold-esque six relievers. Game 4. First-round (and still uninjured) pick Tommy Hanson goes 5, allowing only a single and 3 walks and giving up one run on a sac fly. McClellan and Marmol combine to allow FW just a single and a walk the rest of the way as BC cruises to a 5-1 win on the strength of a 3-run Sandoval HR. (11/12) For the first time in its 31-year franchise history, North Dakota had to cancel due to work. Robin had to reschedule her December series against Tom anyway, so subbed in for ND. The Manatees were diverted because of bad weather to Bay City. Hung over from being stuck in the Chicago Airport overnight, they came out to the buzz saw of Roy Halladay. Two solo shots and a bad 5th inning by Cain had the score tied at 3-3 after 7 and a half innings. Two walks, a strikeout and ground out later saw the turning point of the game – A pitcher (2e20) error and a short single beyond the 2 shortstop and BC jogged home for a CG 5-3 win for Halladay. Pineiro faced his old team in game 2 and Jeter just owned him. Pineiro went the distance and gave up 7 runs without a lead till the 8th inning, but 5 solo shots and some other hits allowed Manatees to win 9-7. Game 3 was another close game as Billingsley faced the young stud Tommy Hanson as it went into the 7th knotted at 1. The Manatees went up 3-1 and BC came back to 3-2, but the Manatees scored 3 in the 9th to close out a 6-2 win. Everything went well for the Manatees in Game 4 of the series. The Manatees went up 5-0 early and then batted around in the 6th. At one point with bases loaded and two outs, Escobar came up and hit off of Kiko Calero’s card a 1 – Double or 2-20 – Out. Tom said, “If I hit this, you can [should] just go home.” And boom – 1 – 2 more runs score and it was a 8 run inning and the Manatees were up 13-0. Robin did not leave and the final score was 13-3. (11/7) After sweeping Robin to keep pace with ND, Eric quickly bolted out the door before I could cajole him into giving me any fodder for Twists Notes. Looking over the scoresheets, he scored 29 runs in the 4 games, having his way against a pretty good Bay City pitching staff in winning 5-4, 7-2, 9-6 and 8-4. It was quite a balanced attack, with 4 players with at least 4 rbis (Manny, Utley, Fielder and Tulo) and 7 different players homering...Eric notes a correction to his official team name, adding punctuation and the word "Go". Ballparks:                    L          R       fences Harold     S      1-15       1-9       high           HR      1            1      high Arnie      S      1-13       1-19       low           HR      1-7      1-15 Randy      S      1-10       1-13       high           HR      1-10       1-7       Jeff       S     1-6     1-6       high           HR      1-6     1-6       Jed    S      1-11       1-5       high           HR      1-14     1-5       Tom    S      1-19     1-19       high           HR      1-17       1-17       Eric    S      1-7     1-7       high           HR      1-17       1-17           Robin      S      1-5         1-2        high           HR      1-12    1-9   (11/6): Turnabout is fair play. On opening day last year, Future Wax crushed North Dakota in a 4-game sweep teeing off a campaign in which FW set the SOMBILLA's single-season home winning percentage record, while sending ND into a tailspin they never could recover from. This year, ND marched into the Waxdome and shut down FW, oustcoring them 16-4 to open the season with authority. A portending of things to come? We'll just have to see. Game one of the entire SOMBILLA's 224-game regular season was a ridiculous, 90-minute, 15-inning affair, in which Randy missed a 1-17 HR in the 8th, had McCann thrown out at home in the bottom of the 9th on a 1-10, and spilled beer all over his team and scoresheets in the 12th inning. He stranded 10 runners overall, but cleaned up the beer. Greinke (11 innings) and Nathan (3 innings) matched 6 ND pitchers through 14 innings at 1-1. But once Randy had to put in a non-Greinke/Nathan pitcher, that was the end, as Mark Reynolds' 2-run shot off Vargas won the game 3-1 in the 15th. Josh Johnson (CG 5-hit shutout) and H. Ramirez (grand slam) won game 2 for ND, 6-0. ND came from behind to win game 3, 4-3 as Hoffman, Bell and M. Gonzalez shut down FW over the last 6 innings (although ND readily admits to having complete luck of the dice). A final farcical moment occurred before game 4 when Pujols was injured and ND needed to call up Delgado but did not have his card (despite 2 summmer e--mail requests to Jeff and then forgetting to print off the computer version). So, Robin had to read Delgado's card over the phone. Sure enough, a Delgado HR helped ND win the finale, 3-0 as Wainwright, Massett, and Aardsma combined for a 5-hitter.