OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post

Art Deco · 11-18-2020, 04:47 PM

Game 1: This was perhaps the most frustrating game of the season as the Rays blew leads of 2-1, 3-2, 4-3, and ultimately 5-4 as they lost 6-5 in 11 innings. The offense started slow before finally getting going, and Christian Little was dominating again over 6 innings, but the bullpen was atrocious as 3 different Rays relievers blew leads. First, Liam Hendriks gave up a Yusniel Diaz homer in the 7th after the Rays went back ahead 3-2 in the top of the inning, then after the Rays went up 4-3 in the top of the 9th JDLC gave up a walk and an RBI double, and finally after scoring in the top of the 11th, Jose Alvarado couldn't get anyone out, giving up the tying and winning runs on 3 hits and a walk. Only Evan Godwin among the relievers, who retired all 4 batters he faced, could hold his head up with pride tonight. Little went 6 5 2 2 0 12, giving up a Vlad Jr HR in the 1st and a run in the 6th (scoring when he got Vlad Jr to hit into a double play). The bats got going somewhat tonight with Triston Casas hitting #10 in the 2nd inning and Hunter Bishop single-handedly doing his best to win the game, homering (#11) in the 7th to make it 3-2, hitting an RBI single in the 9th to make it 4-3, and delivering an RBI double in the 11th to make it 5-4. And Bishop had to end up playing CF because Brandon Marsh sprained an ankle legging out a double and will be out almost a month. His natural and projected replacement at Durham, Julio Cedillo, is himself injured so we'll have to play with a 45 CF in Bishop for a while. This could mean we finally see Nate Clark, I'm going to have to look at things. Jhon Diaz was playing his way out of a job (0-3 tonight with his 4th CS, he's 241/299/310 and a major disappointment playing almost every day), but he may get a reprieve. The Yankees fortunately lost but Baltimore won, so both of those teams are 8 1/2 back.

June 16: Placed OF Brandon Marsh on the 10-day IL with a sprained ankle, purchased the contract of OF Nate Clark from AAA Durham.

Let the Nate Clark era begin! The #10 prospect in baseball, who was merely hitting 370/456/621 at AAA Durham with 13 HR, 46 RBI and 20 SB (the dude has wheels) and a 32/26 BB/K ratio is ready to make his MLB debut. The editor sees him as a 307/382/575 guy. It's June 16, so he's probably safe from a Super 2 perspective. The plan is to play him at DH, with Fabian shifting to LF, Bishop to CF and Jhon Diaz playing RF against righties, and then put him into LF with Fabian shifting to RF against lefties. Perhaps he'll jump-start the offense, which is need of one. We had an open 40-man spot after the Asa Lacy trade, so right now nobody needs to go on waivers, but Aaron Ashby is due back soon from the 60-day IL (he struck out the side on rehab at Durham last night) so someone will have to be waived soon.

If Clark hits, he'll stay in the lineup when Marsh comes back with Diaz the odd man out (unless he really gets going too, a dilemma I'd be happy to deal with). Diaz is out of options, though, so he can't go back to Durham. I've already been exploring the trade market for Diaz and it's still pretty good and might be at its peak now especially if he doesn't start hitting soon.

Game 2: The Nate Clark effect? Making his MLB debut today, the rookie went 2-5 with a steal and it seemed to jump-start the offense as they pounded out 15 hits and 11 runs, including a pair of longballs from the suddenly job-threatened Jhon Diaz in an 11-4 win. Despite the final score, it wasn't all fun and games as Yusniel Diaz continued to torment his former team with a 3-run first-inning homer off Shane McClanahan and the Rays were in an early 3-0 hole. But they answered back in the 3rd with a Judson Fabian RBI double and a 3-run HR from Triston Casas (#11) to make it 4-3. Then Jhon Diaz went to work in the 6th, homering with Clark aboard to make it 6-3, and Yordan Alvarez followed with an RBI double and it was 7-3. Those two did it again in the 8th with Diaz homering to lead off the inning (#3) and Alvarez following with a 3-run HR (#10) to make it 11-3 and complete a 4-5, 4-RBI night. McClanahan meanwhile was lights out after that first inning, not allowing a hit over the next 7 and ending with an 8 2 3 3 2 7 line to improve to 11-2, 2.42. Cole Patten allowed a run in the 9th mopping up. The Yankees and Orioles both won so the lead remains 8 1/2.

Game 3: Nate Clark continues to be the story as his first MLB HR, a 3-run shot in the 2nd, propelled the Rays to an 11-3 rout of the Jays as they take 2 of 3 in Toronto. His 429-foot shot with an exit velocity of 108.1 MPH gave the Rays a 3-0 lead which they never relinquished, although Toronto did get close before the Rays blew it open. Matt Manning started slowly, giving up 3 runs in the first 3 innings after the Rays went up 4-1 on Yordan Alvarez's sac fly, but like Shane McClanahan last night he got it together in the middle innings and ended up 7 6 3 3 1 5, finishing with a flourish by striking out the side in his final inning. Mike Bayley capped it off with 2 scoreless innings. In between the big inning for the Rays was the 5th as they put 6 on the board with a parade of hits. The scoring kicked off with Alvarez's 11th HR of the year and his second in as many games with Wander Franco aboard to make it 6-3, then Hunter Bishop and Triston Casas each doubled for another run, Keibert Ruiz singled home Casas, Clark singled (he ended up 3-5 and should have had 4 hits but was robbed by a diving catch of his liner to RF), Jhon Diaz singled in Ruiz and Vidal Brujan singled in Clark. Hunter Bishop added HR #12 in the 8th and the next batter up Casas was hit by a Simeon Woods Richardson pitch and charged the mound, setting off a bench-clearing brawl. Casas was suspended 4 games for his part in the fracas and will miss the Baltimore series as well as the first game against Oakland next week so Keston Hiura will be getting some extra ABs. The Yankees and Baltimore each won so the lead is still 8 1/2.

Team record: 49-27. Next up: 3 games in Camden Yards. Here's hoping the bats continue to bop as they're out of Tropicana Field, where offense goes to die.

Minor league note: 1st-round Mike Champagne continues to bubble up, going 7.2 7 1 1 3 5 in his 2nd pro start for Bowling Green.

11-18-2020, 04:47 PM	#399
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,984	June 15-17, 2027: at Toronto (3) Game 1: This was perhaps the most frustrating game of the season as the Rays blew leads of 2-1, 3-2, 4-3, and ultimately 5-4 as they lost 6-5 in 11 innings. The offense started slow before finally getting going, and Christian Little was dominating again over 6 innings, but the bullpen was atrocious as 3 different Rays relievers blew leads. First, Liam Hendriks gave up a Yusniel Diaz homer in the 7th after the Rays went back ahead 3-2 in the top of the inning, then after the Rays went up 4-3 in the top of the 9th JDLC gave up a walk and an RBI double, and finally after scoring in the top of the 11th, Jose Alvarado couldn't get anyone out, giving up the tying and winning runs on 3 hits and a walk. Only Evan Godwin among the relievers, who retired all 4 batters he faced, could hold his head up with pride tonight. Little went 6 5 2 2 0 12, giving up a Vlad Jr HR in the 1st and a run in the 6th (scoring when he got Vlad Jr to hit into a double play). The bats got going somewhat tonight with Triston Casas hitting #10 in the 2nd inning and Hunter Bishop single-handedly doing his best to win the game, homering (#11) in the 7th to make it 3-2, hitting an RBI single in the 9th to make it 4-3, and delivering an RBI double in the 11th to make it 5-4. And Bishop had to end up playing CF because Brandon Marsh sprained an ankle legging out a double and will be out almost a month. His natural and projected replacement at Durham, Julio Cedillo, is himself injured so we'll have to play with a 45 CF in Bishop for a while. This could mean we finally see Nate Clark, I'm going to have to look at things. Jhon Diaz was playing his way out of a job (0-3 tonight with his 4th CS, he's 241/299/310 and a major disappointment playing almost every day), but he may get a reprieve. The Yankees fortunately lost but Baltimore won, so both of those teams are 8 1/2 back. June 16: Placed OF Brandon Marsh on the 10-day IL with a sprained ankle, purchased the contract of OF Nate Clark from AAA Durham. Let the Nate Clark era begin! The #10 prospect in baseball, who was merely hitting 370/456/621 at AAA Durham with 13 HR, 46 RBI and 20 SB (the dude has wheels) and a 32/26 BB/K ratio is ready to make his MLB debut. The editor sees him as a 307/382/575 guy. It's June 16, so he's probably safe from a Super 2 perspective. The plan is to play him at DH, with Fabian shifting to LF, Bishop to CF and Jhon Diaz playing RF against righties, and then put him into LF with Fabian shifting to RF against lefties. Perhaps he'll jump-start the offense, which is need of one. We had an open 40-man spot after the Asa Lacy trade, so right now nobody needs to go on waivers, but Aaron Ashby is due back soon from the 60-day IL (he struck out the side on rehab at Durham last night) so someone will have to be waived soon. If Clark hits, he'll stay in the lineup when Marsh comes back with Diaz the odd man out (unless he really gets going too, a dilemma I'd be happy to deal with). Diaz is out of options, though, so he can't go back to Durham. I've already been exploring the trade market for Diaz and it's still pretty good and might be at its peak now especially if he doesn't start hitting soon. Game 2: The Nate Clark effect? Making his MLB debut today, the rookie went 2-5 with a steal and it seemed to jump-start the offense as they pounded out 15 hits and 11 runs, including a pair of longballs from the suddenly job-threatened Jhon Diaz in an 11-4 win. Despite the final score, it wasn't all fun and games as Yusniel Diaz continued to torment his former team with a 3-run first-inning homer off Shane McClanahan and the Rays were in an early 3-0 hole. But they answered back in the 3rd with a Judson Fabian RBI double and a 3-run HR from Triston Casas (#11) to make it 4-3. Then Jhon Diaz went to work in the 6th, homering with Clark aboard to make it 6-3, and Yordan Alvarez followed with an RBI double and it was 7-3. Those two did it again in the 8th with Diaz homering to lead off the inning (#3) and Alvarez following with a 3-run HR (#10) to make it 11-3 and complete a 4-5, 4-RBI night. McClanahan meanwhile was lights out after that first inning, not allowing a hit over the next 7 and ending with an 8 2 3 3 2 7 line to improve to 11-2, 2.42. Cole Patten allowed a run in the 9th mopping up. The Yankees and Orioles both won so the lead remains 8 1/2. Game 3: Nate Clark continues to be the story as his first MLB HR, a 3-run shot in the 2nd, propelled the Rays to an 11-3 rout of the Jays as they take 2 of 3 in Toronto. His 429-foot shot with an exit velocity of 108.1 MPH gave the Rays a 3-0 lead which they never relinquished, although Toronto did get close before the Rays blew it open. Matt Manning started slowly, giving up 3 runs in the first 3 innings after the Rays went up 4-1 on Yordan Alvarez's sac fly, but like Shane McClanahan last night he got it together in the middle innings and ended up 7 6 3 3 1 5, finishing with a flourish by striking out the side in his final inning. Mike Bayley capped it off with 2 scoreless innings. In between the big inning for the Rays was the 5th as they put 6 on the board with a parade of hits. The scoring kicked off with Alvarez's 11th HR of the year and his second in as many games with Wander Franco aboard to make it 6-3, then Hunter Bishop and Triston Casas each doubled for another run, Keibert Ruiz singled home Casas, Clark singled (he ended up 3-5 and should have had 4 hits but was robbed by a diving catch of his liner to RF), Jhon Diaz singled in Ruiz and Vidal Brujan singled in Clark. Hunter Bishop added HR #12 in the 8th and the next batter up Casas was hit by a Simeon Woods Richardson pitch and charged the mound, setting off a bench-clearing brawl. Casas was suspended 4 games for his part in the fracas and will miss the Baltimore series as well as the first game against Oakland next week so Keston Hiura will be getting some extra ABs. The Yankees and Baltimore each won so the lead is still 8 1/2. Team record: 49-27. Next up: 3 games in Camden Yards. Here's hoping the bats continue to bop as they're out of Tropicana Field, where offense goes to die. Minor league note: 1st-round Mike Champagne continues to bubble up, going 7.2 7 1 1 3 5 in his 2nd pro start for Bowling Green. Last edited by Art Deco; 11-18-2020 at 10:09 PM.