The weather was cold and at the start of the week, the bats
were even colder. But, the Liquid Courage League 2015 season was under way, and
people were playing baseball that counts. What else can you ask for?
Game 1
 |
| He'll make you an offer you can't refuse |
|
TEAM
|
BATTERS
|
PITCHERS
|
TOTAL
|
|||||||||||||
|
NAME
|
R
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
QS
|
SV
|
ERA
|
WHIP
|
K/9
|
K/BB
|
SCORE
|
|||
|
53
|
9
|
39
|
3
|
.3164
|
.4033
|
5
|
4
|
4.470
|
1.311
|
10.192
|
2.591
|
4-7-1
|
||||
|
39
|
9
|
38
|
11
|
.3100
|
.4148
|
8
|
5
|
2.353
|
1.058
|
7.506
|
3.045
|
7-4-1
|
||||
Neither team could seem to put a bat on the ball at the
beginning of the week, but both managed to put together strong power hitting
performances down the stretch as the week went on, highlighted by a 3 homer
week from the Todd-father in Cincinatti. The strong run production from the
Wahoos was countered by Billy Hamilton’s absurd 7 steal week, with the other offensive
categories close all week long. Despite some shakiness from Tanaka and
Smardzija, the Empire’s ace-heavy pitching staff would tell the tale in this
one, putting together a solid 8 quality starts and finishing with a sub 2.5
ERA. Still, a strong outing from the Wahoos shows that this team will not be an
easy out for any team this season.
MVP: Billy Hamilton-7SB, 6R, .364 OBP. Hopefully a sign of
maturity at the dish, the Reds leadoff man seemed to be getting on base freely
and swiping bags at will.
LVP: Clay Bucholz-3.1 IP, 24.3 ERA, 1.5 K/BB. Added as a
streaming option to try and catch up on QS’s and get over the innings floor,
Bucholz ensured that no one will be eager to touch him again in the foreseeable
future.
Game 2
 |
| It never gets old |
|
TEAM
|
BATTERS
|
PITCHERS
|
TOTAL
|
|||||||||||||
|
NAME
|
R
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
QS
|
SV
|
ERA
|
WHIP
|
K/9
|
K/BB
|
SCORE
|
|||
|
39
|
13
|
35
|
2
|
.2906
|
.3866
|
5
|
3
|
3.395
|
1.042
|
8.569
|
3.533
|
6-6-0
|
||||
|
43
|
8
|
47
|
10
|
.3183
|
.4373
|
6
|
1
|
4.556
|
1.369
|
8.269
|
3.267
|
6-6-0
|
||||
One of two draws in opening week from the AL, this one
really turned into a tale of two sides of the field. Neither team came away
looking particularly solid either at the
plate or on the bump, with a .318 OBP taking that stat for VPLC and a 3.395 ERA
winning that category for DLA. Bright spots have to be seen from 13 homers for
the 2 time league champs, with the fightin’ Omar’s getting a solid 10 steal
week in the books. Julio Teheran and Sonny Gray led the DLA’s pitching efforts,
with two-start sub 1.5 ERA weeks. Sal Perez anchored the offensive efforts for
VPLC, hammering 3 homers, 8 RBI’s, and even getting a steal. By contrast, the
VPLC’s pitching efforts were pretty much sunk by Matt Latos’ implosion and DLA
continued their string of disappointment from 1st round picks, with
Robi Cano going 3/25 on the week. Ultimately, I think both teams will look to
rebound next gameand get some more consistent production from their starters.
MVP: Sonny Gray-15.1 IP .59ERA .59 WHIP/ Salvador Perez 3HR
8RBI 1SB
LVP: Matt Latos-.2IP 94.5 ERA/ Robinson Cano-.120 OBP
Game 3
 |
| Somewhere, right now, he's still hitting all the baseballs. |
|
TEAM
|
BATTERS
|
PITCHERS
|
TOTAL
|
|||||||||||||
|
NAME
|
R
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
QS
|
SV
|
ERA
|
WHIP
|
K/9
|
K/BB
|
SCORE
|
|||
|
40
|
11
|
44
|
9
|
.3065
|
.4385
|
4
|
7
|
1.967
|
0.894
|
8.046
|
3.462
|
8-3-1
|
||||
|
28
|
4
|
31
|
3
|
.3135
|
.3467
|
4
|
4
|
2.928
|
1.157
|
8.458
|
3.467
|
3-8-1
|
||||
With the rule changes this season to discourage streaming,
everyone was curious to see what the DZ would have to offer now that last
season’s strategy was going to be much harder to execute. The answer was to
draft heavily for closers and speed, and it worked to a large degree in this
week 1 match-up. The Bat Breakers had a strong pitching effort themselves, but
a 1.97 ERA and .894 WHIP proved too much to overcome. In the meantime, their
offensive efforts were somewhat lacking, with 5 regular starters finishing with
sub-200 OBPs and only 4 HR to show for their efforts.
MVP: Miguel Cabrera .586 OBP 8RBI .840 SLG-It looked like
shades of the triple crown winner coming back in this early week. Time will
tell if Miggy can keep it going all year and stay healthy.
LVP: Steve Cishek 33.75 ERA 1.1IP 0SV. The 5 sub-200 OBP
guys could all fall in here, but she-sells-Cishek-by-the-seashore tanked the pitching
stats for the Bat Breakers pretty hard. The Miami closer had better tighten up,
or he may find himself on the closer carousel.
Game 4
 |
| El oso blanco tiene todos los sombreros. |
|
TEAM
|
BATTERS
|
PITCHERS
|
TOTAL
|
|||||||||||||
|
NAME
|
R
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
QS
|
SV
|
ERA
|
WHIP
|
K/9
|
K/BB
|
SCORE
|
|||
|
26
|
8
|
34
|
3
|
.2981
|
.3780
|
8
|
1
|
3.073
|
1.061
|
7.354
|
3.722
|
6-6-0
|
||||
|
27
|
5
|
27
|
4
|
.3062
|
.3125
|
5
|
7
|
2.650
|
1.196
|
9.939
|
2.727
|
6-6-0
|
||||
The other draw of the week saw a bit more of a mixed bag of
performances between the two teams. Another team favoring closers, the Sax
final pitching stats reflected what one would expect of a team favoring
closers, a high K/9 and saves and low ERA, though Fernando Rodney and Dellin
Betances also showed the dangers inherent in this strategy early on by walking
far too many and giving up runs that could have hurt the final ERA totals. In the meantime, Evan Gattis got off to a truly awful start, striking out 8 times in 8 at bats over two games. The
Dragons put together a strong team effort for power, with no one really
standing out but with 6 players contributing at least one homer. A number of
categories remained close all week on this one, and when the two teams play
again later in the year it’s anyone’s guess who’ll come away with the win.
MVP: Johnny Cueto-
2QS .64 ERA/ Matt Harvey 0.00 ERA 13.5 K/9
LVP: Evan Gattis .048
OBP 2 Gold Sombreros/ Aramis Ramirez .174 OBP 0HR 0RBI
Game 5
 |
| Did you miss me? |
|
TEAM
|
BATTERS
|
PITCHERS
|
TOTAL
|
|||||||||||||
|
NAME
|
R
|
HR
|
RBI
|
SB
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
QS
|
SV
|
ERA
|
WHIP
|
K/9
|
K/BB
|
SCORE
|
|||
|
36
|
14
|
48
|
5
|
.3181
|
.4169
|
3
|
6
|
4.101
|
1.215
|
8.886
|
2.737
|
10-1-1
|
||||
|
32
|
10
|
27
|
5
|
.2923
|
.3818
|
5
|
4
|
5.053
|
1.508
|
8.807
|
2.652
|
1-10-1
|
||||
Last year’s reigning champion and all-time Most Interesting
Team In The World™ Bowling Overhand came out swinging, picking up where they
left off last season and pummeling Team No Idea. Most of their success came at
the dish, with 14 HRs and a whacky 48 RBI’s leading to the dominant Power
Performance of the week. Neither team had a very good week on the mound, but
early acquisition Jason Grilli put together a 3 save 0 ER week that was part of
a pitching effort that was good enough to overcome a truly disappointing start
for the No Idea folks. They’ll look to pick themselves off the mat next week
and get the wheels going in the right direction.
MVP: Joey Votto- 3
HR, .429 OBP, 8RBI. The usually high OBP lower power Votto had an
uncharacteristic outburst of long bombs this week that BO will hope to see
continue.
LVP: LaTroy Hawkins-16.88 ERA, 3.00 WHIP, 1 SV. Hawkins was
capable last year, but things have fallen apart in 2015 en route to losing his
closing job.
Standings
|
American League
|
||
|
1.
|
7-4-1
|
|
|
2.
|
6-6
|
|
|
3.
|
6-6
|
|
|
4.
|
6-6
|
|
|
5.
|
6-6
|
|
|
National League
|
||
|
1.
|
10-1-1
|
|
|
2.
|
8-3-1
|
|
|
3.
|
4-7-1
|
|
|
4.
|
3-8-1
|
|
|
5.
|
1-10-1
|
|
|
Updated
Friday, April 17, 2015
|
||
Trophies
Tiger Blood-Bowling Overhand
El Sombrero de Oro-Starling Marte, Ryan Howard, Evan Gattis
2x, Brett Lawrie
The Dirty Fuentes-Drew Storen
The Sandman-David Robertson, Zack Britton, Trevor Rosenthal,
The Montgomery Scott More Power Award-Adrian Gonzalez
Speedy Gonzalez-Billy Hamilton
Gehrig-Hanley Ramirez
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