Wow, that was a pretty wordy way of saying "YOU SUCK Vancouver" and "So Do You Heartland Division!"
Of course the third sim ended much like the second one did.... With pitchers arms fatigued to no end, leaving the front office scrambling to figure out what to do before the next sim. The team's attempt to fix the fatigue issue caused by the opener/follower debacle by using a 4-man rotation while limiting starters to just 18 batters faced was met with similar issues and now the team has no rested nor viable starting pitcher to start the team's next game against the "Greatest Seventh Place Team Ever" @CTBrewCrew
Nonetheless, after a 48 win season last year, things could be a lot worse than 7-12 right now in Portland I suppose.
Pitcher of the Sim
Vincente Venalde
We have to give Venalde all the love we can in the first half of the season... We've seen this script far too often. The team's 2042 All Star is notorious for having a hot first half of the season, only to wither away to suckiness in the second half of the season. That's evident by the fact he finished that All Star season with a NEGATIVE WAR. But I digress... Venalde made one start this sim and turned in 5 solid innings to pick up the win. In a 10-1 win against the Sluggers, Venalde allowed 2 hits and walked just 1 while striking out 1.
Hitter of the Sim
Marcos Gonzalez
Gonzalez is doing the best he can to stay on the roster while the pitching is in dire need of reinforcements. Gonzalez used his limited time last sim to hit .417/.500/1.083 with a pair of homeruns, a pair of doubles, and 4 RBI. Marcos' 0.7 WAR currently leads the offensive side of things for the Lumberjacks, which is both impressive and sad considering he's played in just 10 of the Lumberjacks 19 games this season.
Kate's Kookies Moment of the Sim
Trailing 6-0 after 4.5 innings, Portland mounted an impressive comeback against Madison to eek out an 8-7 win in 10 innings. Manuel Martinez hit a 3-run blast in a 4-run 7th inning that brought the club to within 1. Miguel Cortez's 2-run homer in the 9th with 1 out tied the game. Jorge Lugo's single in the 10th won the game in walk-off fashion. "Wins like this really, I mean really, excite me" said Fiscus after the game.
