The day Baseball Changed Forever

[twinsGM]

That was a big jump lol

Yeah lol, but I had to continue the same storyline and facts from my Cubs dynasty a couple months ago.

[twinsGM]

Previous Games:
4/05- Beavers 3, Red Sox 2. Kory Casto went deep and had all our RBI, and Brad James went 7 innings, allowing only 1 run.
4/6- Beavers, 7 Red Sox 4. Kotsay had a triple and 3 RBI and Vargas went 7 innings allowing 2 runs.
4/7- Off-Day

April 8th, 2011

Portland Beavers vs. Detroit Tigers
Yoslan Herrera vs. Jermey Bonderman

Comerica Park
Detroit, Michigan

1st After 2 straight flyouts, Casto continued his hot streak, hitting a 453-foot bomb to center.

1st Herrera only needed 10 pitches for a 1-2-3 inning.

2nd Desi singled, but we didn’t get anything else.

2nd Yoslan didn’t allow a run despite a bad defensive play that was ruled a single.

3rd Yolsan singled, but Pierre grounded into the DP. Delmon Young struckout to end the inning.

3rd A 9 pitch inning got Herrera his first K, and it’s 1-0 after 3, in favort of the Beavers.

4th Our 3-4-5 went 1-2-3 in the 4th.

4th Yoslan continued with his pitch count now at 54.

5th With Desi on first and one out, Barmes hit a 454-footer to left-center to make it 3-0. Yoslan is now 2-2 today, with 2 singles. Pierre then popped out, and Delmon Young grounded out.

5th Larish then hit a rightfield homer on the 2nd pitch from Yoslan of the inning. Despite the hgomer, Yoslan has only thrown 64 pitches through 5. I was looking for him to go 6 today, and It’ll be great if he could do that.

6th Our meat of the order once again went 1-2-3.

6th Hermida homered to right after a double play and a hit by pitch for one run. Yoslan had thrown 80 pitches, and I’m undecided about if he’ll be pitching next inning.

7th Meske doubled but Desi struck out. Barmes I now up, and he singled to right for corners with 1 out. Cole Armstrong came into pinch hit, who struck out. It’s up to Pierre.. Oh, gawd… And he came through! Barmes to third on the single! Young popped out, but our lead is now 4-2.

7th Ramon Troncosco came into pitch the 7th. A single and a flyout led to Jason Jamarillo hitting. With corners, Ordonez scored on a 320-foot fly ball, to make it 4-3. Miner struck out (Why is he hitting?!) to end the inning.

8th Casto singled, but Montero grounded into a double play.

8th Bautista came into pitch in the 4-3 game. I decided to pitch to Cabrera with 2 out and a guy on second, since he is 0-3 today. On deck is Ordonez, 2-3, doing good today. This worked out, with Cabrera popping up.

9th Our guys went 1-2-3 with 2 K’s, so Bisenius will try to close it out with a one-run lead.

9th Ordonez lined out to short for one out. After a single, Jamarillo grounded into the 6-4-3 to end the game, Bisenius’ first save in four years since his MLB debut.



MVP of Game: Clint Barmes: Was 2-4 and had the homer in the 5th for 2 RBI.
LVP of Game: Miguel Cabrera: Was 0-4 and missed a clutch opportunity in the 8th.



Missing the box scores, but next game will have them!

[twinsGM]

Previous Games:

4/9- Tigers, 4 Beavers 2: Miguel Cabrera had a homer and 2 RBI, though Juan Pierre and Mark Kotsay each had 2 hits.
4/10- Tigers 12, Beavers 3: Miggy had another homer and 4 RBI, and the Tigers got 16 hits in the blowout.
4/11- Off-day

April 12th, 2011

Portland Beavers (4-5) vs. San Francisco Giants (6-3)
Brad James vs. Tim Lincecum

AT&T Park
San Francisco, California

James was coming off a 7-inning, 1 run outing, so I was excited to see him pitch again. The random schedule was being a little weird, having us play 1 game here in San Fran, then 2 in San Diego. There was no complaining in the clubhouse about it though, since we had an off-day to travel from Detroit, and another one earlier to travel from Portland to Detroit. There won’t be one tomorrow, but San Fran is pretty close to San Diego. Anyway, the game is about to start, with a large cheer for Tim Lincecum, who has a 1.35 ERA in two starts this year.

1st Juan Pierre bunted to open the game, and Delmon Young struck out. Kory Casto doubled for the RBI with Montero coming up. Montero was caught looking at a 96-MPH heater, and Kotsay would get his chance, but would groundout. Now, let’s see what Brad can do…

1st Lewis and Davis singled to open up the game, but James got Frandsen looking. A pop out and grounder later, James is heading back to the dugout, still with the lead.

2nd Lincecum made quick work of us in the 2nd, striking out James Desi and Jorge Meske and getting Barmes to fly out.

2nd One hit and a steal, but no runs still for the Giants. 1-0 through 2.

3rd Lincecum has just thrown 45 pitches through 3, while James has thrown 16 pitches per inning.

3rd With Nate Schierholtz up and Frandsen on second, I decided to walk Nate and face the catcher, Eliezer Alfonzo, the far less dangerous hitter. It worked out, as Alfonzo grounded out to second.

4th Lincecum continues his stellar performance with a 1-2-3 inning, 11 pitches and now a total of 6 strikeouts.

4th James countered with a 1-2-3 inning of his own, now he’s thrown 62 pitches.

5th We struckout twice in that inning, but we’ve still got the 1-0 lead.

5th Brad James walked one, but got a strikeout, and he’s only thrown 6 more pitches than Lince

6th Lince got another 2 K’s, now with 10 on 85 pitches.

6th Schierholtz doubled, and with Alfonzo coming up, I’m going to walk him this time, to bring up David Winfree, the first baseman. Winfree doubles to make it a tie, and we’ll be issuing another intentional walk here, to bring up Brad Williamson. Brad doubled to bring in 2 runs, and our Brad now has 95 pitches to his name. Now he’s most likely going to pitch to Lincecum and then be relieved. With a strikeout, I’m walking out of the dugout to bring out my starter who threw 98 pitches and was excellent except for this inning. “Thanks a lot, dick.” He said as he handed me the ball. Huh, never had that happen to me in baseball…
Jon Huber is the new pitcher, and will bat in the second spot with Jesus Guzman coming in to play right and bat ninth. Huber gets Davis on 6 pitches, bringing up Fred Lewis, who would also be struck out by Huber.

7th With two out, Kotsay doubled to right, and it’s now up to Jorge Meske to deliver, down by two. He strikes out, and Little Timmy is at 100 pitches and 12 K’s.

7th Huber gets the firs guy he faces on a flyball, and the next one. Alfonzo singles on a lazy flyball to center, and I make my second trip to the mound today to bring in Denny Bautista, mainly because he is hard throwing, and David Winfree has struck out in 22% of his big-league at-bats. Make that 25% now.

8th two straight outs have Lince cruising through this inning, but Guzman looks to change that, which he can’t.

8th Bautista gets a ground ball and a K, and Lincecum is not going to hit, even with 110 pitches to his name tonight. Nice job by Bautista, 3 K’s in 1.1 IPs, but we still need 2 runs off a great pitcher…

9th Cole Armstrong is now the pinch hitter, after a Pierre flyout. Armstrong grounded out, and Casto flied out to end the game.

MVP of Game: Tim Lincecum: Went 8 innings, allowing just one run and getting 12 strikeouts, along with no walks.

LVP of Game: I’m going to have to say James Desi, going 0-3 and missing a clutch opportunity as the tying run.

 	    1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Beavers  0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	                    
Giants   0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	x	3	7

Beavers	AB	H	BB	R	HR	RBI	K	SB	AVG
Juan Pierre CF
4	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.277
Delmon Young RF
3	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	.109
  Jon Huber P
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
  Denny Bautista P
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
  Cole Armstrong PH
1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.143
Kory Casto 3B
4	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	.342
Miguel Montero C
3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.190
Mark Kotsay LF
3	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.302
Jorge Meske 2B
3	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	.262
James Desi 1B
3	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	.219
Clint Barmes SS
3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.243
Brad James P
2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000
  Jesus Guzman RF
1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250

2B: Kory Casto (3), Mark Kotsay (3)

Beavers	
Pitcher IP	H	BB	HR	R	ER	K	PIT	ERA
Brad James 5.1	6	5	0	3	3	6	98	2.92
Jon Huber 1.1	1	0	0	0	0	2	22	12.60
Denny Bautista 1.1	0	0	0	0	0	3	15	1.13
Totals	8.0	7	5	0	3	3	11	135

WP: Tim Lincecum (2-0)
LP: Brad James (0-1)
SV: Brian Wilson (1)

Temperature: 49F
Wind: 6 MPH (in from right)
Attendance: 41,503
Time: 2:54


Season Record: 4-6
Month Record: 4-6
My Manager Record: 1-3

[twinsGM]

April 14th, 2011

Portland Beavers (4-6) vs. San Diego Padres (8-3)
Jason Vargas vs. Mark Prior





Beaver Dam
Portland, Oregon


1st On 7 pitches, the Padres have corners with no outs, thanks to two singles. Kouzmanoff then did the same, scoring a run. The first two outs were then made via the double play, but with a man on third now. With a strikeout, Vargas made this inning look a lot better than it was, just allowing one run.

1st Pierre was hit, and I wanted him to steal right away, which he did for his first steal of the year. I am definitely looking to get him more steal opportunities this season. Delmon Young was coming up, and I was considering have him bunt: He’s 0 for his last 25, but his bunting is terrible, and I need to let him hit sometime. He’s a good enough hitter anyway, so I’m giving him the swing away sign. Delmon struck out, and Casto moved Pierre over to third with a long fly ball to left. Now Montero has the pressure on him to get the tying run in. Miguel does more than that, sending a homerun into center, his third of the year. Kotsay followed him up with a single while Meske flew out. Our dugout just got a lot cheerier, looking like we just won the World Series as we came out of the Dugout for the second. “Hey, be cool guys! No over excitement!” I shouted as they left.

2nd Besides a measly infield single, it was 1-2-3 and Vargas got his second strikeout. He’s definitely not going to repeat his 7-inning outing like last time, he just doesn’t have his best stuff, but he’s still doing good. Case in point, his fastball hasn’t been above 90, and one out this inning was a long flyout near the wall, another a sharp grounder to third, but he’s getting lucky on where the balls are being hit to.

2nd Two strikeouts and a long flyout get nothing for us. Prior has now thrown one less pitch in three innings than Vargas has thrown in two.

3rd Vargas walked Matt Antonelli, but got a double play on the next batter. The next batter, Kouzmanoff, flied out to right.

3rd After Pierre flied out, Delmon walked for Kory. Once Casto flied out, Montero got a walk and I put on the hit-and-run sign with Mark Kotsay due up. Kotsay flew out to end the inning.

4th Vargas got his third strikeout, but also allowed two long flyballs to the track.

4th Clint Barmes and Vargas struckout with Desi on first to strand him.

5th Mark Prior laid down a sacrifice bunt with Bard on first, but we had the corners in, so we easily nabbed Bard at second base to make it two outs. After a single, a long flyball was launched into right center, but Vargas continued his luck as Pierre tracked it down.

5th Pierre struckout, but Delmon Young appeared to of broke out of his slump, knocking a single to left. Prior now has thrown 87 pitches, and if we keep this up, we can knock him out of the game, hopefully in this inning. But that didn’t happen. Casto grounded into a 5-4-3 on four pitches.

Beavers 2, Padres 1 through 5.

6th Kouzmanoff immediately slapped a triple down the first-base line, and Vargas is most likely on his last batter, with 99 pitches now. Adrian Gonzalez hit a flyball as far as he possibly could to left without hitting it out: it was caught at the wall, and I’d seen enough of Vargas and his luck today. As I walked out to the mound, he said “Man, I can’t believe I only gave up two runs.”
“You’re a lucky man.” I replied while motioning for Jon Huber.

Huber entered the 2-2 tie and gave up a single to Jack Wilson on three pitches, but got Khalil Greene to ground to first, forcing the runner at second. Bard then flew out.

6th Montero opened up our half of the sixth with a single, but then he got forced out at second on Kotsay’s groundball. Jorge singled, moving Kotsay to third, and Prior is still in there with 107 pitches his count. Desi hit a 300-footer to right, easily bringing in Kotsay to take the lead again.

7th A small single to center led to a groundout to third, now a runner on second, one out. I chose to pitch to Antonelli, because if I walked him, the closer I was to facing Kouzmanoff and Gonzalez. Matt lined out to right and Kulbacki was hit. I walked out of the dugout again, signaling for Bautista. We need just one out here, and he’s a hard thrower, so best chance for a strikeout from him. On four pitches, he got the groundout to short to end the inning.

7th With one out, I let Pierre bunt, and he got on with a drag bunt to first. I was going to let him show off his speed more by stealing second, which he did. It didn’t make much of a difference, as Delmon was hit, so Casto came up, trying for an insurance run. Kory flied out, but Pierre was sent to third and made it. Montero, 2-2 with a homer today, came up and struckout.

8th My original plan was to have Bautista get the first out or two, but he struckout the side in order on 12 pitches. Man, I thought, this guy is good.

8th We went one-two-three. Now Bisenius will try to close out the game.

9th 14 pitches later, Bisenius got a K, a flyout and groundout, and his second save in our 5th victory in franchise history.

MVP of Game: Miguel Montero: A homerun in the 1st, and another single to lead us to victory.

LVP of Game: No one really deserves this “award”, but I’ll have to give it to Greene, who went 0-4, and could not protect Gonzalez and Kouz in the lineup.




Season Record: 5-6
Month Record: 5-6
My Manager Record: 2-3

           Team Abr  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9   R  H  E
        Padres (SDP) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0    2  9  1
       Beavers (Por) 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 x    3  6  0

PORT Beavers Pos    ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
J. Pierre (CF)        3  1  0  1  0  0  1  2    .280
D. Young (RF)         2  1  1  0  0  0  1  0    .125
K. Casto (3B)         4  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .310
M. Montero (C)        3  2  1  1  1  2  1  0    .222
M. Kotsay (LF)        4  1  0  1  0  0  0  0    .298
J. Meske (2B)         4  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .261
J. Desi (1B)          3  0  0  0  0  1  1  0    .200
C. Barmes (SS)        3  0  0  0  0  0  2  0    .225
J. Vargas (P)         2  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .000
 J. Huber (P)         0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 D. Bautista (P)      1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 J. Bisenius (P)      0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
TOTALS               29  6  2  3  1  3  7  2

HR: M. Montero (3)
HBP: J. Pierre, D. Young
GIDP: K. Casto

PORTLAND   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
       J. Vargas  5.1  7  1  0  2  2  3 104   4.67
        J. Huber  1.1  2  0  0  0  0  0  24   9.95
     D. Bautista  1.1  0  0  0  0  0  3  16   0.96
     J. Bisenius  1.0  0  0  0  0  0  1  14   0.00
          TOTALS  9.0  9  1  0  2  2  7 158

WP: J. Vargas
LP: M. Prior (2-1)
SV: J. Bisenius (2)

Temperature: 39F
Wind: 3 MPH (in from center)
Attendance: 42,211
Time: 3:05

[twinsGM]

Portland Herald


April 15th, 2011
Mutinski Faces Death Penalty

The New York State court system announced yesterday that Michael Mutinski, the bomber of Yankee Stadium on June 27th last year, has a court date set for April 20th. The trial in July of 2010 determined Mutinski would spend 10 months in jail, then have a court date set in April 2011 to determine Mutinski's life: The jury will decide if Mutinski will face the death penalty.


Sports

Peavy Powers Padres to top of NL West

The Padres defeated Portland Thursday, as Jake Peavy went 7 and 1/3, allowing 1 run and getting 5 K's en route to his first win of 2010. Craig Wilson and Ryan Raburn each had a homerun, and batted in 3 runs combined.

Yoslan Herrera went 7 innings, allowing 3 runs on 89 pitches. "He only gave up 6 hits. It was a good outing for him, but he couldn't get enough run support. He's improving, coming off a 4-hitter over 6 innings last week in Detroit, which helps especially after that rough first start he had." Said Portland bullpen coach Mike Timlin.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
        Padres (SDP) 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 1 1    5  9  0
       Beavers (Por) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0    1  9  0

April 16th, 2011

Portland Beavers (5-7) vs. Detroit Tigers (8-5)
Comerica Park
Detroit, MI

Lance Cormier vs. Dustin McGowan

Lance made his last start against Detroit, back on April 9th. He went 5 innings, allowed 4 runs, not a bad outing for him. My biggest concern for him was Miguel Cabrera, by far the best hitter on the Tigers. I told him we have the same plan as last time we played Detroit: Miggy will not get anything to hit.


1st Pierre started us out with a single, and with Delmon's struggles, I wanted him to bunt for Casto to get the man in scoring position. Casto delivered, scoring Pierre on the single. Nothing else going on with Montero and Kotsay getting out.

1st After a strikeout and a groundout, Hermida singled to left, bringing Miggy up with two out. I knew we couldn't walk him, since Maglio is still a good hitter, so I trusted Cormier to do what he should. A 315-foot flyball was no problem for Kotsay, and it's 1-0 Beavers after one.

2nd Jorge Meske, 1 for his last 11, hit a towering opposite field homer, a 380-foot bomb to left, giving us the 2-0 advantage.

2nd Two quick outs had Lance cruising, but Jaque Jones scorched a triple to right, though Jamarillo grounded to second.

3rd Now Pierre is looking like a leadoff man. He just got a single to lead off the third, with the greenlight from me to go anytime. He took that sign and stole second, his third this year. With no outs, we gave the sign for him not to run, since it would be too risky. Delmon Young, 2 for his last 32, stepped in. Delmon hit a liner to center, and Pierre tried to move up. Jones has a gun though, and the double play was completed. There's nothing worse than a great oppurtinity being wasted like that. I kicked myself again was Casto's single was bobbled by Maglio and Kory moved to second. Montero struck out to end the inning.

3rd Two of my biggest rules were broken, ones that I had WRITTEN on a piece of paper on the wall in the clubhouse, when McGowan got a single. These rules:
1. Never waste an oppurtinity.
2. Hustle everything out.
3. Play Fundamental baseball.
4. Everyone will bunt. And sacrifice for the team. No exeptions.
5. Never give up a hit to the pitcher.
6. No one is indespencable.

Numbers 1 and 5 were broken, and I made sure in the Dugout after the 3rd none of them would be broken again. Thankfully, McGowan did not score, saving a couple players from having their heads cut off.


Due to time constrants, the game was simmed, Tigers 4, Beavers 3.

                     1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
       Beavers (Por) 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0    3 11  0
        Tigers (DET) 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 x    4 11  2

PORTLAND             ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
J. Pierre (CF)        5  3  0  1  0  0  0  1    .288
D. Young (RF)         3  0  1  0  0  0  1  0    .125
K. Casto (3B)         4  2  0  0  0  1  1  0    .354
M. Montero (C)        4  1  0  1  0  0  2  0    .208
M. Kotsay (LF)        4  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .291
J. Meske (2B)         4  2  0  1  1  1  0  0    .259
J. Desi (1B)          4  1  0  0  0  1  1  0    .233
C. Barmes (SS)        4  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .229
L. Cormier (P)        2  0  0  0  0  0  2  0    .000
 J. Carroll (P)       1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .250
 B. Brown (P)         0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 C. Armstrong (P)     1  1  0  0  0  0  0  0    .333
TOTALS             36 11  1  3  1  3  7  1

HR: J. Meske (2)


PORTLAND ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA
L. Cormier 6.0 10 0 2 3 3 4 108 5.00
B. Brown 2.0 1 2 0 1 1 0 31 8.31
TOTALS 8.0 11 2 2 4 4 4 139


WP: Z. Miner (1-0)
LP: B. Brown (0-1)
SV: F. Rodney (2)

Temperature: 54F
Wind: 2 MPH (in from center)
Attendance: 41,070
Time: 3:13

[twinsGM]

Previous Games:

4/17: Beavers 0, Tigers 10.
4/18: Rockies 15, Beavers 3.

At 1:15 that day, our first game against Tampa Bay at home, Delmon Young came into my office. I'm glad he came in, since I was about to call him in anyway.
"What's on your mind, Delmon?"

"Charlie," He said, as I wanted everyone to call me, "I'm not happy here in Portland. I just don't think we're committed to winning."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but let me assure you, we are. Mark Cuban is a great owner, and will do whatever it takes to win. But, if you feel that way, we don't want you on the team. Do you understand?"

"Yes. Thanks for your time Charlie."

As he left, he looked angry, as opposed to sad when he came in. What I thought was ironic is that Delmon is 2 for his last 33, and he complains the team cannot win. I will definatley make a call to our GM, but I do not want it to be a distraction to the team, so most likely after this 4:00 game.

Delmon Young was riding the bench today, so my lineup looked like this:
1. Juan Pierre CF
2. Mark Kotsay LF
3. Kory Casto 3B
4. Miguel Montero C
5. Jorge Meske 2B
6. Jesus Guzman RF
7. James Desi 1B
8. Clint Barmes SS
9. Jason Vargas P

Tampa Bay Rays (9-9) vs. Portland Beavers (5-10)
Beaver Dam
Portland, Or

Jason Vargas vs. Andy Sonnanstine

1st Upton was caught stealing second after his walk, and Vargas got one strikeout in a shaky 1st inning (2 long flyouts.)

1st Pierren started us off again with a single, and stole second. Kotsay struck out, and now Casto, 6 for 12 during that last road trip, who walked. Montero also walked, bringing Meske up with the bases juiced. I put on the sacrifice fly, one of my favorite tools as a small-ball manager, but Meske hit into the double play. A wasted oppurtinity.

2nd Longoria promplty smacked his first homer of the season 424 feet into the left field bleachers.
Baldelli walked on a very close pitch, and Jaso grounded out, as Chris Nowak flied to right, advancing Baldelli to third. Akinori flied out, 1-0 Rays.


2nd 1-2-3, weak inning.


3rd One of my biggest rules was broken again, when Sonnantine got a hit. The next two popped out, but Crawford walked. Good thing that Longoria struck out.


3rd Vargas struck out, and Pierre groundedout, while Kotsay got a hit. I put on the hit and run sign, which I like to do with 2 outs. Didn't have any affect, as Casto flew out.


4th Nowak is now up with Baldelli on first and one out. I thought about going to double play depth, but Vargas has one of the lowest ground ball percents in the MLB. Baldelli ended up stealing, and Nowak flied out. Aki also flied out, and Vargas has allowed one run and 3 hits through 4, but has thrown 77 pitches.


4th Montero flew out, but Meske got on via an error. This is where we have to take advantage of mistakes like that. I set up the hit and run, which helped us avoid the double play, but not what I was looking for. Desi popped out, and Sonnanstine has only thrown 59 pitches.


5th Upton stole second and third after his single with one out. and He isn't even that fast. Vargas got his third K, but it came on his 90th pitch. If he doesn't get Crawford out here, this is most likely his last inning for today. Crawford homered, making it 3-0 now. Longoria walked, and I went to replace Vargas. This just wasn't his day. Edinson Volquez was the new pitcher, who could throw up to 95, very helpful for a strikeout. He got the groundball instead, which also works well.


5th 2 K's to start led to a Pierre single. I of course had the greenlight on, and he already had a good steal of Sonnanstine today. Why not? Well, Pierre was caught for the first time this year.


6th One out and Nawak on second, I intentionally walked Iwamura to bring up Sonnanstine. I have no idea why Sonnanstine did not bunt, but he grounded into the 6-4-3 to end the inning.


6th We could only muster 2 weak groundouts, along with Kotsay's K.


7th Volquez still in, hopefully he can get us through this inning. Volquez got 3 outs on crushed liners to the outfield, but still no runs for the great long reliever.


7th We had 2 out with a runner on first, and since Barmes has been ice cold lately (0-13) I decided to put in a pinch hitter. The question is, who? Delmon Young is for sure the best hitter on the bench, btu do we go with him? He supposed to be being punished. I figured this is his last game as a Beaver most likely, so I want to give him a chance to finish his short career in Portland with a bang. he got the walk, bringing up the pitcher spot. Cole Armstrong was my choice, who grounded out.


8th I brought in Ramon Troncosco, my usual set-up man to pitch the 8th. he hit Nowak, but otherwise was fine.


8th Pierre got out on a bunt attempt, and Kotsay popped out. Casto gave us some life, getting a single to left. Montero walked, and I put Ian Vanderveer in to run for Casto, in case a single is hit so Vanderveer can easily score. Meske struckout, leaving us with no runs through 8.


9th I put Bisenius in to pitch, mainly because he hasn't pitched in 5 days, and we need our closer to stay loose. briganc hit a sac fly to bring in a run, and now there's 1 out with Upton on first. Crawford got his second 2-run homer of the game, making it 6-0 now. Baldelli singled and Jaso walked with two out. Last batter for Bisenius, even though I usually try to avoid taking out my closer. Luckily, Nowak struck out.


9th Delmon Young came up in the 9th with two out and no on, as most fans headed for the exit. Of course, they had no idea about the conversation of Delmon and I before the game. He struckout.


MVP of the Game: Carl Crawford, hit two homeruns and had 4 RBI.
LVP of the Game: 5/6/7 of my order: went a combined 0-12 with 4 K's and missed a few oppurtinities.

Team Abr 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +  R  H  E
           Rays (TB) 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 3    6 11  2
       Beavers (Por) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0    0  4  0

PORTLAND             ab  h bb  r hr bi  k sb     avg
J. Pierre (CF)        4  2  0  0  0  0  0  1    .286
M. Kotsay (LF)        4  1  0  0  0  0  2  0    .303
K. Casto (3B)         3  1  1  0  0  0  0  0    .345
 I. Vanderveer (P)    0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
M. Montero (C)        2  0  2  0  0  0  0  0    .175
J. Meske (2B)         4  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .242
J. Guzman (RF)        4  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .125
J. Desi (1B)          4  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .218
C. Barmes (SS)        2  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .193
 D. Young (RF)        1  0  1  0  0  0  1  0    .138
J. Vargas (P)         1  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .000
 E. Volquez (P)       1  0  0  0  0  0  1  0    .400
 C. Armstrong (P)     1  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .364
 R. Troncoso (P)      0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
 J. Bisenius (P)      0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0    .000
TOTALS               31  4  4  0  0  0  9  1

GIDP: J. Meske
CS: J. Pierre

     PORTLAND   ip  h bb hr  r er  k pit    ERA
       J. Vargas  4.2  5  4  2  3  3  3  99   4.91
      E. Volquez  2.1  2  1  0  0  0  0  45   5.65
     R. Troncoso  1.0  0  0  0  0  0  0  17   7.84
     J. Bisenius  1.0  4  1  1  3  3  1  32   4.50
          TOTALS  9.0 11  6  3  6  6  4 193

WP: A. Sonnanstine (1-0)
LP: J. Vargas (0-1)

Temperature: 43F
Wind: Calm
Attendance: 41,652
Time: 3:32

[RedsoxRockies]

This season is going to take a long time lol

[twinsGM]

Yeah, you're right. I like managing games though, I can't really get into a dynasty when I sim everything. I think I might convert to picking one game a week to manage.

[ghettostar]

Wow, kudos for having the nerve and imagination for the start to this thing. It was like watching an episode of '24'.

[twinsGM]

Beavers work out Deal for Bell, Cora



Ken Martin, Beat writer for the Beavers, reported The Beavers had reached an agreement with the Boston Red Sox at 11:35 PM Eastern for Alex Cora and Bubba Bell. Portland will send Delmon Young, making the Red Sox the 4th MLB team to have him. Manager Charlie Lumarsa held a press conference an hour later to discuss the move, as many media members and fans were confused.

"Delmon just wasn't happy on the Beavers. That's mainly why we did this. Delmon was slumping and not happy, so we got Bubba Bell as a good replacement and a strong clubhouse leader in Cora." Lumarsa said in a press conference room in the Beaver Dam.

The Beavers also had to include 18-year old Dave Jones, career minor leaguer Hiroshi Deguchi and 20 year old catcher Marshall Brogdon, along with $1.5 million that was sent to Boston. Bill Simmons, the new Gm of Boston with the departure of Theo Epstein to the Commissioner job, said this gives the team a strong hitter off the bench, and satisfies Delmon Young's wishes to play on a contender.






As I sat in my office after the press conference, everyone gone save for a clubhouse attendant or two, I thought of how much more satisfied I was with this trade than I let onto the media: I could just tell Young put little effort into his at-bats, and Alex Cora is on our club for a different, more important reason as well: Our coaching staff is weak, lacking Major League Baseball knowledge, and once Cora retires, I plan on him joining the staff, most likely as the third base coach, that is if he wants to. The process will begin tomorrow, when I call him in for a meeting in my office before tomorrow's game, and I will show him the ropes of coaching in the big leagues throughout the next season or two.

[twinsGM]

Wow, kudos for having the nerve and imagination for the start to this thing. It was like watching an episode of '24'.

Thanks! It's great getting all these comments after 2 other terrible dynasties and another ok one.

[hanramtrumps]

im proud of you charlie
i didnt realize your prevalent skills at dynasty writing
well done
this 4-page epic is entertaining
as soon as the season started though the quality in my mind began slumping. you became less story-oriented and more obsessed with the box scores and the like

[twinsGM]

im proud of you charlie
i didnt realize your prevalent skills at dynasty writing
well done
this 4-page epic is entertaining
as soon as the season started though the quality in my mind began slumping. you became less story-oriented and more obsessed with the box scores and the like

Thank you, especially for the constructive criticism. Here's my changes to the dynasty to address these problems:

-Game write-ups will only feature scoring plays and other important plays from the game, so they are shorter and more exciting.
-More thoughts from the manager/GM.
-I will manage one game a week, do those recaps and help tell the reader(s) more about what happened in the past week.

I also realized you guys do not know about my stadium, so that will be next post, details of the stadium.

[twinsGM]

The Delmon Young trade now made our roster a bit weaker, and I know how to pick a new Rightfielder. With a small minor league system, I had limited options:

Bubba Bell (78/81, 28 yrs old)
Bell is the front-runner for the job, but he lacks experience: only 120 MLB at-bats after being drafted in 2002.


Jesus Guzman (76/79, 26 yrs old)
Normally a middle-infielder, can also play the outfield fairly well. He has only had 115 big league ABs since entering pro baseball in 2004.

Alex Cora (78, 35 yrs old)

is injured for 16 days, and has never played right field in his 13-year career: just one inning in the outfield. Hius hitting is also a concern, hitting .251 and .252 in 2010 and 2009 with at least 350 ABs in each of those seasons.

Eric Reed (71/73, 30 yrs old)
A new FA pickup, Reed usually plays center, but can still play right. Is a terrible power hitter, but can hit some and has great speed, his best tool.



I still haven't decided, but I will with my advanced scout, as soon as I bolster my bench and minors. I am in search of a third catcher, and Brandon Inge and Jason Varitek top my list. After reviewing the file of him (My scouting team, mainly, put together scouting reports of almost all Free Agents that had ever played in the MLB almost the day I had hired the group, and are working on amateur draft players now) he seemed not the guy we wanted to sign, with his lack of almost everything, even his fielding by now. It would be nice to have him for the clubhouse, but we're about 4 million under budget, and his one million dollar asking price is not worth it.


While searching through names, I found a 17-year old ctacher, Takatoshi Endo, a nice pickup for the Bristol Boom, our AA team, once one of my assistants had got the contract ready and signed by Endo, who lived in Oregon City.




As for Inge, I called him up in Detroit, and he picked up one the second ring:

"Hello, Mr. Inge?"
"Yes, this is he. Who is this?"
"Charlie Lumarsa."
"Who???"
"The manager and co-GM of the Portland Beavers." I replied.
"Oh, ok. WHo's the other co-GM?"
Annoyed, I answered, "Well, they haven't named the other co, so that's just my title right now."
"Ok. So what did you call about?"
"Well, I'm interested in having you on the team. You'd make a fine addition."
"Would I start?"
"Well, no, er, probably not."
"What would it take for me to start?"
"Either for Montero to get injured or you winning the job in spring training next year."
Inge sounded angry in the next sentence: "Well, then, I probably won't sign with you. It would take more and some starts at thirdbase and/or catcher, maybe even center if possible."

"Ok, how much would this cost?"
"2.4 mil, plus 25 guaranteed starts this year."
"That will be tough. You see, we only have $4,400,000 in budget room, and a contract like that would almost slash it in half."
"Well, I'm sorry you are very poor."
"Excuse me, Mr. Inge, but you're the one without a job!" I exclaimed, getting a little carried away. After a moment of silence, I said, "Ok, let me talk to my financial advisers, and I will get back to you within a day or two."


Two hours later, Noze Pigger and Dick Grabbert were in my office, discussing the finances of the team with me.

"Sir, the team is currently third in the league in attendance, and the budget will spike over the next few months." Grabbert said.

"Yes, the $4.40 million under means nothing now. When we continue profits, we will have an even larger budget."

"Thank you. You two may leave now."



I didn't wait to call Inge back, and said this before he got a word in:

"Brandon, we've decided we can spend 1.8 million max on you. A maximum of 20 starts also."

"Well, 1.8 million WOULD be fine with me if there was more starts, but I need more cash then. 2.15 million is my asking price." Inge said, acting as his own agent. I always had more respect for those players smart enough to be their own agents.

"Look, 2.05 is what we have."
"Ok, great. You know where to send the contract."


The deal was faxed to him, signed the next day and he agreed to go to Oregon City on the 21st to play a game to loosen up after not playing for a while, then join the team the next day 15 miles away in Portland to open the series against the Twins.




April 20th, 2011


Gestenate Still has Free Members

Michael Mutinski's trail today decided he would be killed by

lethal injection in New York on May 3rd, but that was not the top story at the courthouse today: A gun was fired into the courthouse about 25 minutes after the Mutinski trial was decided, and one jurer was killed while still in the courtroom. In the same instint, a rock was thrown through the window that read GESTENATE IS WATCHING. The Judge of the case, all other jurers and county prosecuter Don Milson were put under security watch and driven to undisclosed locations. The same was also done to MLB commissioner Theo Epstein, as the group was after him when he became commissioner, and no one is allowed within 2 blocks of the Brooklyn King's new stadium without a valid ID.
Theo Epstein says the season will not be delayed this time like last after deaths due to Gestenate.

[SrMeowMeow]

How exactly did you do your expansion draft?