Scott's 2009 AL team names

Scott East
Otsego Myth - With Team East, I go back to baseball history, a la King Kelly and the Zany Rubes. Baseball lore says that the game was invented on the shores of Lake Otsego in Cooperstown by a man named Abner Doubleday. However, that is no more true than it is to say that the game was invented in the back yard of 105 Plum Street in Tipton, Iowa by a young man named Scott Norris.
In truth, the game evolved over the course of many years, kind of like the way our league has evolved - from the house across the sheep pasture in Downey all the way to Cooperstown and on to Pittsburgh with many interesting stops in between.

• Suggested three-letter abbreviation - OMY, just like the signature call of former Iowa basketball television broadcaster Bob Hogue who used to yell "Oh, my!" after Vince Brookins hit a shot from the deep corner or Ronnie Lester made a nifty drive to the hoop or Steve Krafcisin made a gentle dunk. But I digress ......

Scott West
Freeze Frame - You know I can't go without a reference to 80's music. So, combine a great hit from that era with my interest in capturing peak-action moments and there you have it. I will also make this the theme song as my closer enters the ninth to "freeze the frame." Come to think of it, I can't believe no MLB team has adopted this catchy little tune to do just that. Or have I missed it?

• Suggested three-letter abbreviation - FZF. Any team with a "Z" in the initials has to be good. Take Zany Rubes for example. Oh, wait....

Come on cards, get here! Please!

Random thoughts

OK, since no one uses the blog to post game results AND because I am in a Stratomatic holding pattern (as seemingly everyone is), I thought I would pass along some random thoughts:

Last weekend, I made my first trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Wow. Almost religious like. Not quite like the first time I stepped into Wrigley, but close.

• For some reason, I found the coolest thing to be THE glove worn by Willie Mays when he made THE catch. It really struck me.

• Lots of Iowa references at the Hall. First, at the beginning you can visit a theater for an impressive multimedia/movie experience. In one part the narrator talks about where baseball can be found and to paraphrase he says something like "From the streets of New York to Fenway Park to a warm autumn night in Iowa...." Then, they have a small exhibit displaying baseball movies and the clip playing was from Field of Dreams. And, there were lots of Bob Feller items, each of them mentioning his Iowa upbringing.

• They have Barry Bond's home run ball on display, but certainly not proudly. You have to search for it. It is found in a room devoted to the current game and is in a display that faces the back wall with several other items in it. They have a card that explains the asterick and mentions that the museum does not condone such action. I didn't realize the asterick was atually carved in the leather.

• Some other cool items: Curt Schilling's bloody socks, and an exhibit on baseball board games from America's history. I was dissapointed that Strat was not among the displayed BUT it was mentioned on a item that listed 10 or so important dates in baseball gaming history.

The visit also gabe me another of my wild ideas. Wouldn't it be the ultimate trip for all of us to meet in Cooperstown, visit the hall and then draft. The whole town is baseball. Memorabilia shops galore, baseball taverns, you name it. AND, in a weird way it would be the ultimate experience to stay in what appears to be a complete dive motel that sits next to the museum. It is an old memorabilia shop, complete with old wood plank floors, on the first floor with a small desk in a middle with a sign that says "Hotel check in." Anyway, put it on your calendar for somewhere in the future. And bring your glove so we can throw around on Doubleday Field...

To Greg's point, I have thought about the idea that HAL is in control of the games but in my naive and optimistic mind, I don't think it is. Very true that odd things happen and in improbable ways, but the Cubs can score four runs off the Brewers' closer with two outs in the ninth to tie a game in real life. I think if you seriously tracked the rolls, it would all even out. However, I have certainly felt that way at times and have been on both sides of the "luck." But, in the end Chad always wins and HAL don't know Chad from Harry Carry so I can't see that he decides the games to any degree.

I now have 49 different batting helmets in my strat room, two catchers masks, 13 wood bats (my Hank Aaron model is my favorite), 15 baseball gloves (tie betweent the Mickey Mantle and Ron Santo model for my favorite), many soft hats and miniature helmets as well as various other memorabilia. My wife calls in clutter. I call it amazing and keep looking for more.

I have bored you enough - someone play me in strat please.......

Three Quick Reports

Round 19:
Harrison Bullpen Lets Sweep Slip Away, Split With After The Snow Results

Game 1: After 6, Harrison 3
W-J.Lackey (6-5), L-A.Burnett (6-6), S-H.Street (10)
Burnett was cruising until the 7th. When Ron Villone and Joel Zumaya were called on to stop the bleeding, neither retired a batter and Zumaya surrendered a pinch-hit grand slam to Emil Brown.

Game 2: Harrison 5, After 4
W-D.Matsuzaka (6-3), L-D.Haren (5-6), S-R.Perez (17)
Daisuke managed to work eight innnings around a three-hit game from Ichiro and home runs by Dan Johnson and Raul Ibanez. The scoring was nickel and dime off Haren as eight Cougar starters had at least one hit.

Game 3: Harrison 4, After 0

W-C.Durbin (2-3), L-J.Washburn (5-5), S-J.Zumaya (1)
Durbin had his best outing of the year, allowing no runs and only three hits in 7 innings. Washburn wasn't bad either, striking out eight in the defeat.

Game 4: After 5, Harrison 2

W-D.Moseley (3-2), L-R.Perez (0-4), S-H.Street (11)
The kind of game that makes you want to give up Strat. James Shields can't get any support on the rare occasions that he does pitch well, like this game as his 8 1/3 shutout innings were rendered moot by another five-run outburst from The Snow and Perez's third blown save. Emil Brown was heroic again with a pinch-hit two run triple which tied the game.

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Round 20:
Loblaw Takes Two From Amigos

Game 1: Bob 3, Santa Poco 1
W-J.Tavarez (6-4), L-E.Santana (3-6), S-M.Delcarmen (18)
Miguel Tejada's two-run homer in the 6th was the only moment worth mentioning in this one. Tejada had three hits.

Game 2: Bob 5, Santa Poco 4
W-C.Sabathia (7-5), L-G.Meche (3-6), S-M.Delcarmen (19)
Sabathia was awesome, taking a no-hitter into the 8th. The score only appears close because of HAL, allowing Travis Buck to hit a three-run homer off a fatigued Sabathia in the 9th.

Game 3: Santa Poco 7, Bob 1

W-J. Garland (6-6), L-T.Wakefield (4-6)
Wakefield was battered around including Marco Scutaro's first bomb of the year. Scutaro also had a web gem. Garland tossed a CG four-hitter for the win.

Game 4: Santa Poco 2, Bob 0

W-Z.Greinke (5-3), L-C.Schilling (5-8), S-J.Putz (16)
Another unexpectedly good pitching performance as Greinke lowers his ERA to 5.52 after this three-hit, 10 strikeout outing. Putz tossed the final two hitless frames for the save. Injury replacement Ryan Shealy had his first productive game of the season, 2-for-3 with a solo HR.

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Round 20:
Harrison Shows Life Taking Three From Kinnicks

Game 1: Clean-Sweep 4, Harrison 2
W-B.Bonser (4-4), L-D.Cabrera (8-2), S-F.Rodriguez (11)
Despite stacking every limited lefty in the lineup, the Cougars could not crack through against Bonser. A trio of relievers secured the victory including a two-inning save by K-Rod. Ramon Vazquez had three hits for the Kinnicks.

Game 2: Harrison 8, Clean-Sweep 3
W-A.Burnett (7-6), L-J.Santana (6-6)
Santana was damaged in a five-run 5th as Pudge Rodriguez and Jason Michaels had back-to-back 2 RBI hits. Burnett went the distance scattering nine hits in the win.

Game 3: Harrison 11, Clean-Sweep 0

W-D.Matsuzaka (7-3), L-J.Vazquez (6-7)
Daisuke didn't need all that offense as he tossed a complete game three-hit masterpiece. Vazquez couldn't come close to matching his previous one-hit outing as Matt Stairs took him deep twice, including a grand slam.

Game 4: Harrison 9, Clean-Sweep 2

W-C.Durbin (3-3), L-M.Batista (1-11)
Miguel Batista tries to rival Joel Pineiro for least effective regular starter in JKSA history, falling to 1-11 after allowing eight runs in less than four innings in this one. Every Cougar starter had at least one hit, while Magglio had three hits and 2 RBI.

FTC extends East lead

A three-game set in a hitter's park ended up with Finer Things Club (Chad East) taking two of three from Army of Steamrollers (Scott East) in a trio of pitching duels.

Game 1: Finer 4, Army 2
W-Westbrook (4-1), L-Sonnastine (1-3), S-Chamberlain (3)
Frank Thomas hit his 10th home run of the season, and Jake Westbrook danced around his five walks in 5 1/3 innings as the Club escaped a winner. Scott Downs was the game's hero, going 2 2/3 scoreless innings against the Steamrollers' lefty-dominated lineup while striking out five. Army managed just four hits.

Game 2: Finer 4, Army 3
W-Verlander (7-4), L-Bedard (3-6), S-Betancourt (11)
Justin Verlander and Erik Bedard matched each other with 10 strikeouts apiece, but the Verlander allowed fewer runs in a pitcher's duel. Finer jumped out early with Mike Lowell's two-run single in the first, and Thomas later added his 11th homer of the year. Bedard-killer Robinson Cano batted 3-for-3 and scored twice for FTC. Franklin Gutierrez made it interesting, going deep off Downs in the eighth in a pinch-hitter spot for Curtis Granderson to cut it to 4-3. But part-time closer Rafael Betancourt worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his 11th save.

Game 3: Army 6, Finer 3
W-Guthrie (8-3), L-Halladay (7-4), S-Wolfe (2)
Granderson hit a pair of ballpark two-run homers (each on 1-8 rolls), helping Army avoid the sweep. The game got very interesting in the ninth, when Finer loaded the bases with two out in a 6-3 game, but Brian Wolfe got all-or-nothing pinch-hitter Raul Casanova to tap out to end the game.

Up next:
Bob Loblaw (26-28) at Finer Things Club (34-20)
Surly Nausicians (27-24)* at Army of Steamrollers (28-26)

Wild card drama ahead ...

We've got a heckuva wild-card race going on. The new rule to include the best two non-division winners (rather than both division runners-up) has created some drama that surely will continue to unfold over the next 30 or so games.

In the East, Finer Things Club (32-19) has pulled in front by three games and the Big Hebs (30-21) have a two-game edge out West despite Greg missing the Ganza. Biv's Harrison Cougars (29-22) have the best non-leading record. Let's look at the standings for the wild cards (top two advance):

Team .......................... W-L .... GB
Harrison (Biv) ................... 29-22 .... --
Hawaiian (Chad) ............... 28-23 .... 1
Surly (Brian) ..................... 26-22 .... 1.5
Army (Scott) ..................... 25-23 .... 2.5
Bob (Paul) .......................... 26-25 .... 3
Santa Poco (Biv) ................ 25-26 .... 4
Clean-Sweep (Kyle) .......... 23-28 .... 6

At least two of these teams will notch a playoff spot by season's end, and even the division leaders are not safe by a long shot. The team to watch right now is the Surly Nausicians. Seemingly riding a wave of good health and good fortune, Brian's lone squad has won eight in a row behind the beastly performance of David Ortiz (league-leading 17 homers and 45 runs scored).

Meanwhile, the Clean-Sweep Kinnicks have taken a turn for the worse and need to rebound soon. Kyle, already playing against a stacked deck by being in the West, got off to a fast 13-6 start and hung on to be 16-10 and in first place at one point. But since, the Kinnicks have slipped considerably, winning just seven of their last 25 games -- including a sweep last night at the hands of the red-hot Hebs, who have won five in a row and 10 of their last 11.

The Hebs were 11-13 after the Ganza, but an even-worse 7-12 at one point -- but have gotten their players out of the hospital and onto the diamond and are a stirring 23-9 since.

Another team on the downturn is the Santa Poco Amigos, who are 7-14 in their last 21 (.333).

Some big out-of-division games in Rounds 19-20 will surely be huge in crafting the wild-card push ... will a West team actually rise into the mix? Or will we get two East teams as expected? A big series between Army and Surly is scheduled for Wednesday night. A sweep by either one of them could present a worthy East challenger to FTC and Harrison.

Also: In the words of Frank "The Tank" Ricard .... "Keep on truckin'."

We're on a really nice pace now, so let's not lose it. I think we can tidy up this AL season by early July with some good effort, which means getting our NL season started in mid- to late-July, which puts us on target for a November finish. Keep scheduling your series one or two steps ahead so we don't get caught in any ruts. Great job so far.

Who's with me? Can we get this done?

Leistikow teams rebound, win 2 of 3

You won't hear much complaining from me, except in the heat of the moment, because HAL has always been looking kindly upon my teams. But for a stretch, HAL was taking me behind the woodshed.

Chad-owned teams lost their ninth game out in 10 on yet another unbelievable roll -- a 1-19 "safe" roll that was missed with a 20, followed by a 1-14 "safe" roll for blocking the plate that came up 15 -- but finally bounced back to get on track with the Hawaiian Organ Donors (Chad West) taking the last two from Santa Poco Amigos (Biv West) and two of three with Finer Things Club (Chad East) vs. Bob Loblaw (Paul East).

Game 1 West: Amigos 3, Donors 2
W-Garland (5-4), L-Escobar (6-3), S-Soria (5)
Let's go straight to the bottom of the ninth, where Joakim Soria continued into his third inning of work with a 3-2 lead. Paul Konerko led off with a single for the Donors, and Luis Terrero (a 1-14 runner) was beckoned to pinch-run. Billy Butler, another piano-carrying runner, then executed a hit-and-run to put men on the corners with none out. That brought up newly acquired Josh Fields, who produced a flyball RF(b)?. That made the speedy Terrero a 1-19 prospect to score and Butler a 1-7 chance to move up if the throw was cut. The Donors decided to hold Butler at first, which is when the 20 was rolled ... giving Kurt Suzuki an improbable chance to block the plate. But, only 30% effective on plate blocks, Suzuki managed to secure the ball and make the tag for a 9-2 double play. Danny Richar flew out to center to end the contest as Soria notched a 2 1/3-inning save.

Game 2 West: Donors 11, Amigos 3
W-Baek (3-0), L-Grienke (4-3)
Cha Seung Baek continued his sparkling efforts as a limited starting pitcher. Despite a card ERA of 5.15, Baek improved to 3-for-3 in starts, going the distance for an 11-hitter. Konerko his hit eighth homer for Hawaiian, who got the benefit of playing against a very banged-up Amigos squad which got even more banged-up for Game 3. Baek has one start remaining in his Hawaiian season.

Game 3 West: Donors 5, Amigos 2
W-Baker (5-4), L-Garza (2-2), S-Jenks (14)
As Biv said after the series, "I was just lucky not to get swept." Consider these lineup anomalies for the Amigos' starting nine: Marco Scutaro was batting fifth behind Justin Morneau, and the last two hitters were minor-league scrap-heapers in Adam Melhuse (3B) and light-hitting Josh Rabe (DH). Konerko went deep again to help the Donors' cause, and Michael Young had three hits. Travis Buck was Santa's star, going 3-for-4 and upping his BA to .322.

========

Game 1 East: Finer 3, Loblaw 1
W-Halladay (7-3), L-Wakefield (3-4), S-Chamberlain (2)
Roy "K-a-day" Halladay pitched well, going seven innings with three Ks, and Joba Chamberlain locked up his first save since being lit up for two homers by the Surly Nausicians in his last appearance. Mike Lowell's two-run homer in the first was all that FTC needed -- that and several missed homer rolls from Bob, including a 1-14 shot for Miguel Tejada.

Game 2 East: Loblaw 5, Finer 3
W-Schilling (4-6), L-Ohka (0-1), S-Delcarmen (13)
Tomo Ohka was called up to make a spot start for FTC, and it was likely his last. He scattered 10 baserunners in five innings, and Bob took advantage with five runs and it could've been much worse. Bob got four in the first, and Curt Schilling coasted after giving up a homer to leadoff man Jorge Posada.

Game 3 East: Finer 7, Loblaw 6
W-McGowan (4-3), L-Tavarez (5-4), S-Betancourt (10)
Sorely missed B.J. Upton returned from a four-game injury -- a span in which FTC went 1-3 -- and got on base four out of five times to spark Finer's series victory. Posada (10th) and Lowell (7th) homered for the winners, while Brian Roberts had a homer (8th) and three RBIs for Bob, which suffered another hard-luck loss with two unearned (cheap) runs.

Up next:
Hawaiian Organ Donors (28-23) at Huge Mistakes (14-34)*
Big Hebs (30-21) at Santa Poco Amigos (25-26)
======
Army of Steamrollers (25-23)* at Finer Things Club (32-19)
Long Ball Larry (17-34) at Bob Loblaw (26-25)

Amigos Get Back To .500

In the unprecedented second Strat competition in one weekday for Biv, the visiting Santa Poco Amigos took the first and last games to claim a series victory over Clean-Sweep Kinnicks.


Game 1: Santa Poco 10, Clean-Sweep 8
W-C.Bootcheck (2-1), L-O.Perez (5-2). S-J.Putz (13)

Before the game even started, two comments were made:

• Kyle: "I can't beleive that Odalis Perez's ERA is that low."
• Biv: "This team is really awful offensively since Jack Cust is injured."

Well.....Odalis got knocked out in the 2nd inning after allowing 9 earned runs to the lefty-bashing Amigos lineup, capped off by Travis Buck's 2-run homer (5). Kyle didn't give up however as Amigos starter Matt Garza was chased in the 4th after allowing six earned runs on nine hits, including a three-run bomb by Adrian Beltre.

Things started to settle in when with two runners on in the bottom of the 6th, Joakim Soria entered the game to escape the jam. But HAL decided to show his ugly face again when Soria became fatigued with two outs in the 9th and allowed three straight doubles, making the score 10-8. J.J. Putz had to be called on to record the final out.

Game 2: Clean-Sweep 7, Santa Poco 2
W-M.Myers (1-0), L-E.Santana (3-4), S-S.Casilla (1)
A 2-2 tie in the 7th inning was blown open by two Amigos errors, the first by Alex Cintron and the back-breaker by Scott Podsednik. Boof Bonser's quality start helped the Kinnicks to victory while Shannon Stewart had three hits.

Game 3: Santa Poco 7, Clean-Sweep 0
W-G.Meche (3-4), L-J.Santana (5-4), S-J.Putz (14)
This pitchers duel featured Gil Meche scattering 4 hits over 6 2/3 innings versus Johan Santana's six strikeouts over the first 7 frames. But the 1-0 game came unraveled in the 8th after Shannon Stewart's error allowed two runs to score. Three batters later, Mark Grudzielanek hit a three-run homer to make the game seem more lopsided than it really was.

Next up:
Santa Poco Amigos (24-24) vs. Hawiian Organ Donors (26-22)
Clean-Sweep Kinnicks (23-25) vs. Big Hebs (27-21)