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The Colonels split 8 games with the 49ers (2-2 home, 2-2 away) and currently trail by one-half game (one in the loss column). My team is still a work in progress but I feel like it is going in the right direction.
Appling has cooled off and is .182/.280/.193 in 100 at bats vs. LHP, but that should turn around at some point and he is up to 80 at 2B now. The improved middle infield defense should help the pitchers down the stretch, particularly the bullpen where some pretty high BABIP's reside (Gagne @ .429 BABIP ?!?).
I switched back to 12 pitchers (from 11) after several seasons running a 6-man bullpen. The extra position player wasn't playing much unless I forced it, so I thought maybe an extra lefty in the pen would give the AI manager another option.
The position player going to the reserve roster was 100 Mays. I have been struggling with outfield alignment for many weeks. The real struggle has been to choose between 100 Mays and 100 Aaron as my third starting outfielder to go with 100 Mantle and 100 DiMaggio. This year, Mays was doing nothing at the plate and Aaron was hitting a ton when he played, so I am now trying an alignment with Aaron in LF, JoeD in CF, and Mantle in RF. All three are rated in the 70's at those positions so the defense is good but not great. Will I miss Mays' 91 rating in CF enough to bring him back? I have to stop tinkering someday.
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