2057 Brisas Watch - Sim #9 review

[conman14]

The Week in Review
Another successful week for the Brisas, who have started to pile on some runs in their favour on the run differential. A 5-1 record on the week, including three shutouts, sees the Brisas extend their lead at the top slightly to two games over Jerusalem, with long-time leaders at the start of the season, Sydney, in hot pursuit one game back from the Hammers.

To top off the week, starter Ferede Keohi was awarded the GBC Rookie of the Month for May, having firmly established himself in the rotation. In six starts, he achieved a 1.85 ERA and struck out 16 in 34 innings. He’s been impressive for the majority of the year, maintaining a 2.52 ERA that’s good enough for 2nd in the GBC. His ability to find the strike zone has been brilliant, as he leads the league in BB/9.

The week featured a 2-game series sweep of Cairo, with the Brisas putting up nine runs in both games. The first game featured two homers for team leader Cesar Torres, who has now cracked double figures on the season. Another offensive leader, Andrew MacColl, may not have homered during the week, but hit in every game except the defeat to Athens, as he maintains an AVG around .290.

There was also a 3-1 series win over bottom team Athens, where the rotation put up a master class in the first three games of the series – Keohi and Richard Balgera both went scoreless in 6.1 and 5.2 innings respectively in the first two games of the series, while Antonio Ramirez struck out 8 in 5.2 innings in a 6-1 win. #2 starter Enrique Lopez couldn’t continue the streak as he left the final game of the series early with a blister.

New boy Sosa Seki got off to a slow start this week, slashing just .200/.346/.250 on the week, but has driven in his first RBIs. Look for him to establish himself further over the coming weeks.

Roster News
It’s not just Seki who has come in to help the Brisas on offense – this week it was announced that former Jerusalem infielder Dylan Malloch has signed for the rest of the season, as Buenos Aires look to build up momentum on offense after a slow start to the season.

Malloch has split time evenly between the BBA and GBC over the course of his career, starting out in Jerusalem where he hit 80 home runs across 500 games before making the jump to the BBA at the age of 27. There he put up at least 20 home runs across four seasons with Edmonton (including a half season in Vancouver in 2055), but despite some solid statistical showings, he never quite stuck in the BBA and took 2056 off. Having just turned 32, there is plenty of baseball left in him, and Swain will be keen to extract any untapped potential that may remain.

The addition of Malloch could see some huge changes to the line-up, with some combination of Malloch, Seki and Cesar Torres likely to line up 2-3-4. It remains to be seen who will be entrusted with the lead-off roll, which is likely to come down to Andrew MacColl and Gary Robertson. Both Swain and Coach Inkster however cooled off the suggestion that this was any kind of competition, pointing out that both players would still be playing a key role going forward.

“This kind of competition is a nice problem to have. Both players will still have huge roles going forward, but it’s about maximising their value and potentially utilizing a second lead-off man lower down the order. If we can start inflicting some damage lower down, this offense could be something to behold”, Inkster remarked.

Swain added further “these guys understand the bigger picture, they know what we’re trying to build now. Their place in the team isn’t under threat, and we are optimistic about how the next portion of the season will play out”.

[Jwalk100]

The Top 3 teams are beginning to separate themselves from the others. Ah, shit. I just jinxed ya'll.