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Post Gameday Points V
The
league finally got a chance to see Keith Carlson, who never played in
the Playerz' first three gamedays. He didn't disappoint either. Sure,
he went 0-6 in his first game, but it WAS his first game, and it WAS against
Scott Carmichael and John Deatrick. In his other game, he picked apart
the Horsemen pitching (no small task) en route to an impressive 5-7 effort,
which included a homerun off Yoder (1.20 ERA) and 3 RBIs. If you ignore
their pitching, the Playerz showed a glimpse of greatness with their bats.
Things could have been much different had Matt Holmberg showed up, who
is by a decent margin their best pitcher. Asking Robins or Smith (or Carlson)
to throw 5-6 innings in the kind of weather they were in Sunday, against
the teams they were against, is asking too much.
I
spoke with Carmichael after his day, and he seemed impressed with the
team. As he pointed out, you could mock Smith's .215 mark, or Robins'
.197 mark, but these guys are getting some bigtime AB that will come in
handy down the road. And it couldn't hurt to finally get Carlson out there,
who sparked their offense in the final game of the day. The bottom line
is, Smith had two hits in each game, despite the fact that they were shutout
in two of them. And his 3.16 Kratio is very respectable when you realize
his low batting average. In other words, he's putting the ball in play,
and when the balls start carrying (when it hits 100 degrees), watch out.
The only players with higher Kratios than him are Cain (hitting .295),
Carlson (.385), Uhland (.206), Sylvester (.235), Evans (.385), Carmichael
(.382), Byrd (.465), and Creighton (.400). Some high averages and impressive
names in that list.
The
Horsemen looked solid after their horrid day last week. They were forced
to play another double dip in rough conditions at The Byrd House, but
they pulled out the split, and then made up for the last five games (four
runs scored) by tagging the Playerz for 13. Not unlike the Playerz, this
Horsemen team, when clicking together, has a vicious offense, as was probably
the intention when they picked up Byrd. They combined for 18 hits (including
SIX from Christensen!!) against the Playerz, which is
an incredible number. In their previous five games, they only managed
to pick up 16 hits (3.2 per game). They should be a little worried though
about their inability to pick up the free passes. As a team, they've only
earned 6 BBs in 12 games. From the mound, they've walked 18 batters. That's
a ratio of 1/3. Last season, their ratio was 41/35, or about 3.5/3. This
may or may not be a hint as to why they have a 5-7 record and are currently
not in the playoffs.
On
a totally unrelated note, Joey Creighton finally hit the roof in right-center,
albeit not in an offcial game. He had gone over 6 years without ever doing
it. Congratulations, on your entirely unimportant feat.
| Current
Rookie Standings |
| Name |
Brnk |
Prnk |
Ornk |
| 1.
Curtis Henning |
9 |
5 |
1 |
| 2.
Matt Plummer |
10 |
8 |
2 |
| 3.
Keith Carlson |
5 |
18 |
3 |
| 4.
Pat Plummer |
20 |
6 |
4 |
| 5.
Tavis Beynon |
14 |
13 |
5 |
| 6.
Matt Smith |
18 |
15 |
6 |
| 7.
John Robins |
17 |
17 |
7 |
Brnk
= Batting Rank (overall)
Prnk = Pitching Rank (overall)
ORnk = Overall Rank (rookies)
Ornk determined by summing both Brnk and Prnk. In the event
of a tie, player with more ABs is given priority. |
|
He
doesn't qualify (yet), but I'm going to count Keith Carlson in the Rookie
Standings. After one third of the season, the Rookie Game is set to be
teammates Curtis Henning and Pat Plummer taking on Matt Plummer of Wiffolution
and Keith Carlson of the afore-mentioned Playerz. Thanks mainly to getting
rocked on the mound, Matt Smith and John Robins dropped down the list,
but could easily climb once the other rookies start pitching in decent
weather. As you can see from the chart, both Plummers are ranked in the
top 10 in pitching. Matt in particular has been very impressive as of
late, giving up only 1 run in his last 12 IP. And his opponents those
games were no slouches (Holy Whites 3x and Horsemen 3x). One can appreciate
him more when they compare him to his teammates. Jeff Morrison, when asked
how well he's pitching, will tell you how many runs he's given up in how
many innings. Ask Matt Plummer, and he tells you how many hits
he's given up in how many innings. Point being, he's not giving up many
runs.
Matt
Plummer did his best Casey Sylvester impression, hitting a GW HR for Wiffolution
in their nite-cap matchup with the Holy Whites. There was some controversy,
but since I wasn't there, I can't be bothered to comment. The gist was,
though, that John Deatrick had hit a similar shot, but the fair/foul question
was brought up, since John hit it right down the line. The teams compromised
and called it a double. Later, Matt Plummer hit one on a seemingly similar
line (but deeper) and it was quickly called a homerun by Wiffolution.
Both teams have their sides of the story, so I'm going to stay out of
it.
Poor
Jeff Morrison, entering Sunday's games with a .206 average, had to play
all three games at The Byrd House, a pitcher's dream. Still, he managed
to climb to .224 and at the same time threw three impressive 1-2-3 innings,
picking up 6 Ks. He continues to speak of how he's reverting back to his
old ways. With Plummer swinging the bat the way he is, that's probably
the best idea.
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