…but use a second sheet next time, manager!
A week ago Thursday, I had my first Illowa APBA League series since our draft weekend. It was test to see if my Twin City Thunderchickens’ 17-13 was a fluke or not. Well, we got five games in that night playing over Skype and by the end, I was pretty down on my team. We lost all five falling below .500 for the year. Todd and his Gamblers didn’t exactly kill me but he came through with the big inning, scoring four or five runs, just enough to win.
The good news, is that our intra-divisional series are nine games and we had four more games to redeem ourselves. So Todd and I fired up Skype again the same time last Thursday. Fortunately, a different Thunderchickens team decided to show up and we won three of the last four. Not only did we salvage a 3-6 series but we still maintain a winning record in the IAL with a 20-19 record.
We won our 18-inning game 3-1. Thanks Justin Maxwell!
I mentioned that we played four games last Thursday but it felt like five. Our last game was an 18-inning affair. Kudos to our bullpen. Starter Homer Bailey gave up a hit in the sixth inning before being pulled. Our bullpen of Papelbon, Siegrist, Kelly and Torres didn’t give up a hit to the Gamblers till the 14th inning. After seven innings of no-hit ball and a total of twelve shutout innings by our relievers, our offense finally came through with a run and our overuse of the pen was not for naught. Justin Maxwell hit a two shot in the top of the 18th and Aaron Crow held the Gamblers in the bottom of the inning. T-Chix win it 3-1!
Now Todd and I use similar score sheets and when it came to the 15th inning, he said, “Hold on! Let me fill in a new score sheet.” Smart man. I decided to squish it in till someone won it.
This is what happens when you do that…
What the heck? I think I was able to decipher this when doing my stats.
Some interesting stats for the 2014 season for my Thunderchickens
How the mighty hath fallen… In 78 at-bats, Albert Pujols is hitting .244 with ZERO homeruns and six rbis.
-Jason Kipnis leads in hitting (.322), homers (7), runs scored (27), rbis (tied with Ryan Zimmerman with 20), walks (26), steals (10), and OBP (.424). Safe to say, he’s our go to guy. Surprisingly, Justin Maxwell is leading in slugging with a .677 mark. He just has four 0s and no first column 1.
-Our 2013 Pitcher of the Year is continuing his pace in 2014. The funny thing is that he’s doing it as a DRZ. In six games and 37 1/3 innings, Scott Diamond has a 1.93 ERA. He needs more support though as he’s 0-2 now.
-Joe Kelly is enjoying his second year of baseball. He’s allowed two runs in just 24 2/3 innings
-As a team, we have seven pitchers who have a sub-3.00 ERA. Alex Torres has a 0.00 ERA through 10 1/3 IP.
Next up is Chuck Lucas’ Northside Hitmen in May. On June 6-8, we have our annual Spring weekend in the Quad Cities area.
