Johnson League Roundup Sim No.2

[Fat Nige]

As the first month has flown by the Johnson League teams are battling hard for those coveted play-off spots

ISSUE 2: APRIL 16th –30th

Washington still lead the way after an 8-5 spell but Louisville went 9-4 and are reeling them in. Phoenix’s 8-5 record enabled them to rise up the Midwest Division where worst to first team, Madison, are the only team above .500. Valencia lead the Pacific as three out of four teams here have winning records.

Atlantic Division Round-up

A three game losing streak by Washington at the period start was snapped by back-to-back shut out wins over California. Valencia was swept in a three game home series before the Bobcats went 3-2 on a road trip to Omaha and Madison. With 6 out of their eight wins coming by three runs or less, Oscar Acosta had to once more step in with four saves, a win and a 1.50 ERA.
Louisville edged closer, opening with 5-1 and 4-1 victories over Bobcats. Omaha surprisingly came away with an 11-2 victory before Sluggers edged the next two. Improving Phoenix won their series leaving Louisville to summon up the away form and finish with a rousing 4-1 road trip. Pitching is the key to Sluggers fine start, Steve DiBartolomeo went 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA, Floyd Bannister’s line was 2-0, 3.00 ERA while Luke Nastay lived up to his name in three starts going 2-0 with an ERA of an incredible 0.40. Wings Hauser hit three out with 13 RBI’s and a .446 avg.
Greenville remained becalmed in mid-table going 6-7 in the period. A strong start with two wins in Baltimore was hampered by a 3-3 homestand with Omaha and Phoenix before a shut-out win in California was the only win on their five game swing of the Pacific Division. Garlands P. Gumdrop was the pitching staff ace with 2 wins from three starts and a 2.37 ERA. Both Aaron Hayes and Leroy Lane stole five bases in the period
Baltimore remain firmly in the basement of the division after a 6-7 period took their overall record to just 8-16. Their fifth win of the period produced their first success, a4-2 at home to Valencia before they pinched two 5-4 wins over California in their next home series. Road trips to Phoenix and Chicago surprised the Monarchs fans as they went 3-2. Larry Laselle did his bit going 2-0 from two starts with a miniscule 1.06 ERA, a complete game and a shutout but that was the exception with a staff ERA of 4.77. Two players also hit three long balls this time round.

Midwest Division Roundup

Madison went 5-8 but retained the top spot in the division. After three straight losses their bats roared into life with a 24-5 slaughter of Hawaii and a three game sweep in Vancouver, scoring seven in each of the three games. Disappointingly they then took only one game from a trip to the other JL division leaders, swept in Valencia and splitting a two game series in Washington. The offence was the star this sim cranking out 141 hits, 65 runs and 12 long balls
A good opening series saw Phoenix record 7-4 & 3-1 wins over Madison before Talons went 3-3 on a road trip to Greenville and Louisville. Returning home a 2-1 series loss to struggling Baltimore and a 1-1 split with Vancouver was enough to move them fourth to second. McKinley Washington did his bit saving four games and despite losing one posting a 1.29 ERA while Andy Nebraska won all three of his starts. The offence went homer crazy as Joe Belinda (6), Ali Mowbray (6) and George Peralta (5) helped Talons send 20 into the crowd.
Chicago went 3-2 on a road trip to Omaha and Vancouver but returned home to be swept by Hawaii and almost by California, just picking up the third game with them 5-2. They ended the period by splitting a two game homestand with Baltimore. Daniel Marquette’s four saves and 1.42 ERA not quite offsetting starters Evander Kilkenny and Umeshirou Sojiro who racked up ERA’s of 14.21 & 16.88. as the Black Sox surrendered 70 runs in the 13 games.
Omaha slipped to the division’s bottom, ½ game behind, losing their two games at home to Chicago they recovered to beat high flying Louisville 11-2 on the road. The Sluggers came back to win the series 2-1 and the Barnstormers lost their road series with Greenville by the same score despite winning the opener by another double digit score. A five game homestand against Washington and Hawaii wasn’t any better as they went down 2-3. Four of the bullpen owned double digit ERA’s as the staff posted a 4.97 ERA overall despite the rotation pitching three complete games. Lance Pere hit three out but poor James Coniglio managed just one hit in 19 AB’s.

Pacific Division Roundup

Valencia stayed top, opening with four straight road wins before losing the next four to end the trip 4-4. Midwest hotshots, Madison, were then swept at home but Louisville proved harder as Sluggers won 4-1 and 2-1. The wins were founded by the pitching staff posting a staff 2.14 ERA including eight ERA’s of less than 2.00. Nate Hollins went 2-1 in his three starts with 2 CG and a 1.11 ERA, Bo Jackson launched four out of the park while DeMario Davis hit three more and posted a .389 average.
California took a two game series at home to Vancouver 2-1 & 3-1 and added a win at Washington before Bobcats shut them out twice and Baltimore pinched two 5-4 decisions. A 2-1 series win at Chicago and a 1-1 split with Greenville kept them one game over .500 overall. Pat Combs’ three starts brought a 2-0 record and a 1.17 ERA whilst Billy Taylor had three saves despite a 13.50 average. The Crusaders bats were cold striking out 102 times in 431 AB’s with a team avg of .246 and only four long balls.
Hawaii climbed from 3-7 to 12-11 despite being swept by Valencia in a two game set to start the period. Fans were lifted by a 6-3 win in the series opener at Madison but plumbed the depths of despair as Wolves took the next 24-5 scoring in 7 out of nine innings including10 in the eighth. Embarrassed as they were the Tropics sprung into life and went eight games unbeaten before Omaha shut them out 2-0 in the period’s final game. After only going two innings and giving up 8 runs in that 24-5 loss Ramon Cisneros recovered to end the period 2-1 with a complete game shutout and a 5.21 ERA. The offence outscored the opposition 62-37 in the other 11 games with Dave Manzanillo sending four into the crowd.
Vancouver crashed to joint bottom overall in the JL with a 3-10 record for the period. Swept in two games in California, a narrow 8-7 win was all they had to show against Chicago at home and just one 4-3 win in the Louisville homestand before splitting a series a Phoenix 1-1 with a 5-4 win. All three wins were recorded by the bullpen, surprisingly there was no saves and the offence only registered 92 hits at a .201 average but managed to launch 14 over the fence thanks to Jimmy Dugan (4) and Bobby Bonds Jr (3).

Two out of three aint bad: JL teams upped the SB rate to 87 but were also caught stealing 46 times

It’s not how many but when: Hawaii (9-3) only scored six runs more than they gave up.

Save me, Save me: 43 out of the 78 JL wins produced a save.

[pedersenkirk]

We're hurting pretty bad right now. Hopefully now that I have the file, things will improve.

[Afino]

I like the neat little facts at the end too.

[recte44]

Seeing all these names again has made me so very happy.

[ronzonie7]

I feel like Greenville is about to turn the corner...

[elligator]

I feel like Greenville is about to turn the corner...

Something tells me you've been saying that since 1973.