Games

Sidewinders 4, Nads 1 at the Snake Pit.
The Snakeman reports...
I dragged the nads under the wire(much as I did in college on a dare - it was
for beer money, DONT JUDGE) SSWs win 4 of 5 at the snakepit. We have 10 with
the tweeners and 5 at the nads left. Then it is bean flickin time in
DFW........

With October just a few hours away, only the Zaps, Inmates, and Tweeners are short of the 140 game minimum. I fully expect the following:

*The Tweeners will have an email awaiting me in the morning with some late night gaming going on to elude the Demerit Man once again.

*The Inmates will fall just short of the mark, bitchin and moaning the whole way about how no one will play him. Somebody please play the Inmates.

*The Zaps will fall well short of the mark again, but will make various and sundry promises about getting many games played in the very near future. Then he'll go back into hibernation for a month.

33rd Roster Spot Final

The Drillers are the winners, riding the ChiSox down the stretch to victory. The Drillers earned it, because they were the ONLY team in NASOMA to take the White Sox this year.

The final numbers:
1. Drillers 541
2. Oilers 540
3. Fungoes 539
3. Zaps 539
5. Sidewinders 537
5. Wahoos 537
7. Mavs 535
8. Inmates 533
9. FFTs 531
10. Nads 524
10. Warpigs 524
12. Buckeyes 520
12. DVs 520
14. Tweeners 508
15. Rhinos 460
16. Bees 456

Trade

The Tweeners trade Giambi and the Tweener 2009 6th rounder to the Buckeyes for a 2009 reserve pick and the Buckeye 2010 3rd rounder.

33rd Roster Spot Contest Update

The Monday game between the White Sox and Tigers will help determine the winner of our contest. With only that game to go, here are the standings:

1. Oilers 540 wins
2. Drillers 539
2. Fungoes 539
2. Zaps 539

The Oilers, Fungoes, and Zaps all have Detroit, so the Fungoes and Zaps cannot win the contest. If Detroit wins, the Oilers are our champs. The Drillers have the White Sox. A Chicago win means the Drillers and Oilers tie.

Go Tigers! hehehe

Trade

Tweeners trade Kyle Lohse and the Tweeners' 2009 5th round pick to the Wahoos for Cody Ross, Nick Swisher, and the Wahoos' 2010 3rd round pick.

Games

The Wahoos went 3-2 vs the Buckeyes today. Then the Wahoos played one game against the Oilers and lost.

The Rhino magic number to win the BUD is now 7.

The Buckeyes are now a game and a half behind the Inmates. The Buckeyes have 14 games remaining - all vs the Inmates.

Update

One day to play in MLB. The Fungoes and Zaps have moved ahead of the Drillers in the 33rd roster spot contest. In fact, the Oilers have moved ahead of the Drillers, too. The standings with one day left:
1. Zaps/Fungoes 537
3. Oilers 536
4. Drillers 535

Games

The Zaps won home series against the Oilers (4 games to 1) and against the Buckeyes (3 games to 2).

The Buckeyes drop to 1 game in back of the Inmates.

Update

The Fungoes, Zaps, and Drillers are STILL tied entering the last Saturday/Sunday of the season. And the Oilers are still only 1 win behind.

Here again are your teams and the games they play:
Red Sox vs Yankees (the Drillers have the Yanks; everyone else has the Sox)
White Sox vs Indians & Tigers vs Rays (DD has the ChiSox; the others have Detroit)
Mets vs Marlins & Phils vs Nats (Oilers have Phillies; the others have the Mets)
Cubs vs Brewers (DD has the Brewers; the others have the Cubs)
Dodgers vs Giants & D-backs vs Rockies (Oilers have D-backs; the others have LA)

Just to muddy things up a bit, the Snakes and Wahoos are still just 3 wins back. The Snakes can't mathematically catch up, but the Wahoos could. The Wahoos need the Indians to take both remaining games from the White Sox to have any chance at all.

The tie-breaker, should we need it, was guessing the number of popular votes Senator McCain gets in November's general election. Here were your guesses:

Fungoes 58,279,666
Zaps 56,000,000
Drillers 73,000,000
Oilers 62,000,000
Wahoos 63,470,000

Wake me up when September ends...

Just a quick reminder: You should reached at least 140 games played by the end of this month, and this is the last weekend. Six teams aren't there yet: Oilers, Tweeners, Zaps, Buckeyes, Nads, and Inmates.

Trade

The FFTs trade the Pig 3rd round pick to the Drillers for Scott Rolen.

Games

Zaps 4, Tweeners 3

From the Tweeners...
Zaps take 4 of 7 at the Hooverdome. With all the locals consumed in preparation for the annual Tobacco Festival, no one in Logan County seemed to much give a shit about these games.

Magic Numbers

At the moment, here are the Magic Numbers for each of the Division Leaders...

Rhinos 10
* The Rhinos have 10 games to play; the Wahoos have 22. Any combination of Rhino wins and Wahoo losses that equal 10 will clinch the BUD for the Rhinos.

Inmates 28
* The Buckeyes are only a half game back. The Inmates have 31 games remaining; the Buckeyes have 24. They have all 14 left against each other. Fun, fun, fun.

Killer Bees 10
* The Bees have 15 games to play; the Sidewinders have 20.

DVs 10
* The DVs are tied with the Drillers, but the Driller season is completed. The DVs have 18 games to play. He must win 10 of them to win the NERDD.

Updated Rosters for 2009

Please visit NASOMA.org for the latest team rosters, complete with the draft picks you own. Let me know if you find mistakes, no matter how minor (like misspelled names or a pitcher highlighted as a batter or whatever).

Cards on the Table

Here are some available players...

Drillers are looking to trade for picks or second base.
Available are...
Rolen
Konerko
Posada
Andruw
Loretta
R.Soriano

Bid on one or bid on all! All Stars of recent past can be yours if the price is right.
dd

Warpigs possibly available...
Marcus Thames
Delmon Young
Adam Jones
Ryan Freel

From the Tweeners: Anyone interested in overpaying for Jason Giambi or Kyle Lohse? Tweeners seeking youngsters poised to blossom into superstars, and/or draft picks (2009 or 2010) and/or reserve picks.

If you have players you want to throw out there for consideration, either post them in the comments section, or email me and I'll add them to this list.
Pigman

Extra Roster Spot Contest

With five days left in the baseball season, we have a great race going on for the extra roster spot. Here are the totals through games of Tuesday, September 23:

1. 524 Fungoes (Red Sox, Tigers, Angels, Mets, Cubs, Dodgers)
1. 524 Zaps (Red Sox, Tigers, Angels, Mets, Cubs, Dodgers)
1. 524 Drillers (Yankees, White Sox, Angels, Mets, Brewers, Dodgers)
4. 523 Oilers (Red Sox, Tigers, Angels, Phillies, Cubs, Diamondbacks)
5. 521 Sidewinders (Red Sox, Tigers, Angels, Mets, Cubs, Diamondbacks)
6. 520 Wahoos (Red Sox, Indians, Angels, Mets, Brewers, Diamondbacks)
7. 518 Inmates (Yankees, Tigers, Angels, Mets, Cubs, Dodgers)
8. 517 Mavs (Red Sox, Tigers, Angels, Phillies, Brewers, Dodgers)
9. 513 FFTs
10. 512 Nads
11. 506 Warpigs
12. 504 DVs
13. 503 Buckeyes
14. 494 Tweeners
15. 443 Rhinos
16. 441 Killer Bees

As you see, there is a three-way tie for first, with three other teams just off the pace. The Fungoes and Zaps have the same teams, so if they finish tied for first, the tie-breaker question will determine the winner. And with the Drillers tied with them at the moment, and with the Oilers, Snakes, and Wahoos on the cusp... we may finally get to use our tie-breaker. Too bad we won't know the answer to the tie-breaker until November (if ever). I haven't done the math to see if the 8th place Mavs have a chance to catch the others, but the Inmates in 7th cannot win because they cannot mathematically catch the FungoZaps.

The (last place) Killer Bees had both the (last place) Padres and the (last place) Mariners. Way to go BeeBoy!

Trade

The FFTs traded Jeff Keppinger to the Buckeyes for Brian Schneider.

Games

The Rhinos took 5 out of 7 at the Oilers. The Rhino lead in the BUD is now 7 games over the Wahoos. Time for me to find that Magic Number formula again. I wonder where I left it.

Trade

The Killer Bees trade Garrett Atkins, Heath Bell, and Russ Springer to the Warpigs for Johnny Cueto, the Inmate first round pick, and a player to be named later.

Trade

Warpigs trade Ryan Church and Aaron Boone to the Wahoos for the Warpig 6th round pick.

Games

Nads 3, Fungoes 2 at The Jock
From the Nadman...

GM1 - Halladay vs Webb - Fungoes play small ball perfectly - win 5-2

GM2 - Penny vs Arroyo - Fungoes win on 13 hits - Nads have 10 hits but strand too many baserunners

GM3 - Sampson vs Bannister - Nads manager re-shuffled batting order with JD Drew leading off for the first time - NADS win 7-2

GM4 - Penny vs Webb - Webb throws 5 hit complete games - Fungoes are shut out

Gm5 - Arroyo pitched complete game won 7-1 - fungoes had trouble moving baserunners around the bases


Mavs 4, Warpigs 1 at The BallPork

Game 1 - Mavs 10, Pigs 9 - Hardy homered twice and drove in 4
Game 2 - Pigs 13, Mavs 0 - Felix and Pineiro combined on a 5-hit shutout
Game 3 - Mavs 4, Pigs 3 - Dye hit a 3-run homer in the 8th
Game 4 - Mavs 5, Pigs 4 - Dmitri Young went 4/5. Delmon Young went 3/5. Oh, to be Young
Game 5 - Mavs 13, Pigs 10 - Dye homered twice and drove in 5

Rule Clarification

With so many close pennant races going on, this would be a good time to remind everyone what happens in the case of ties. According to our Constitution...I

If there is need to resolve a tie to determine the final wildcard berth or division winner, even if the loser is guaranteed a playoff spot as a wildcard team, a playoff game shall be played, under the direction and guidance of the Commissioner, to determine which team makes the playoffs and proper seeding. The 1-game playoff will be treated as a playoff game. At bats and innings pitched count toward the playoff totals for both teams. Teams advancing after the 1-game playoff must follow a regular pitching rotation with no day off before their first round series. The determination of the home team for the 1-game playoff is determined by roll of the dice prior to the start of the game.

In short, the head to head result is not a determining factor when it comes to the playoffs. For example, if the DVs go 9-9 the rest of the way, they will finish with the same record as the Drillers. And even though the Drillers won the season series 8-6, the two teams must play a game to determine which is the division champ (and gets the probable first round bye) and which is second place (and likely wild card team).

Another important point is that the AB and IP used in that game count toward your playoff totals, and your rotation is affected if you have to play the next series.

Trade

The Drillers trade Josh Beckett, Aaron Cook, and Andy Sonnanstine to the DiamondVision for Kelly Shoppach and Ryan Ludwick.

Games

In games played this past week...

Drillers 3, DVs 1
This from the DrillerDude...
In Barry Bond’s last regular season at bat: Game tied 1-1… Three Run TATER vs Derek Lowe for the win.

DVs 5, Zaps 0
PropellerHead reports...
Not a lot to report – when the Zaps did have a lead, the bullpen got smoked, and the DV bats stayed hot to win all 5 games.

Sidewinders 5, Zaps 2
The Snakeman reports...
My penis gets harder to find every day.

Tweeners 4, Nads 1
The Logan County Mayor reports...
The Nads wouldn't hit in the Hooverdome. The first 3 games were all decided by one run, including game 3 taken by the Tweeners 1 - 0 in 10 innings (Tweeners are 10 - 9 in extra inning games). Tweeners looked like a playoff team the last 2 games. WTF.

Buckeyes 3, Wahoos 2
This from the Chief...
Wahoos had a chance to salvage the day and blew a 6-0 sixth-inning lead in Game 5 and lost 8-7.

Game Updates

In the past week...

Drillers 4, Mavs 1

Buckeyes 5, Rhinos 5
From the Rhinos...
Rhinos miss a great opportunity to pull away from the Wahoos after having a 5-1 lead in the series and then proceed to lose the next 4. Rhino skipper says; "Of course I know that we had a lot of breaks go our way but we only remember the ones that didn't.; Tulowitzki missing a 1-11 HR with 2 on and losing 3-5 and later in the game pinch hitting and of course the guy makes an out, if you would of stayed with the original guy it would of been a 1-18 HR chance to win the game; or the 2 HR, 5 RBI game by Yunnel Escobar on 2 1-9 chances resulting in 4-5 loss, or maybe the 3 run HR on 1-6 chance with 2 outs by Yunnel and losing 2-3. "Either way it goes to show you the Rhinos just can't close the deal when it really counts; who ever said that you can't coach a great team into mediocre one."

New Flash ---Rhino 2009 season ticket prices just reduced in effort to keep fan base---

Sidewinders 4, Zaps 3

Rhinos 6, Oilers 1

Games

The Inmates went 7-3 vs the Zaps to move back into first place in the MFD.

The HEAD INMATE reports...
Inmates go 7-3 vs Zaps, including a 14-run 21-hit ass-kicking of Ian S(m)ell.

The Wahoos and Mavs split a 10-game series. The Wahoos remain 2 games behind the Rhinos in the BUD.

Strateegery

Game situation: Game tied 5-5, bottom of the 7th. Your opponent has a runner at third, but there are two outs. Your pitcher on the mound is not your best reliever, but he is a rhp who shuts down right handed batters pretty well, although he is susceptible to lefty batters. In the pen, you have plenty to choose from: a lefty or two, a backwards rhp, and a couple of rhp who are good on both sides of the card. The batters due up are:
1. lefty batter who doesn't hit LHP, but who has been crushing RHP (has already hit two homers this game)
2. on deck is a righty who is slighly below average on both sides of the card.
Either or both can be pinch hit for, although the pickings on the bench don't include anybody who is scary-good.

What's your move?
Option 1: pitch to the lefty and hope to get lucky
Option 2: walk the hot lefty and see what kind of pinch hitter comes out to replace the below average righty
Option 3: bring in a LHP and force the other manager's hand (does he pull the hot lefty? does he leave him in?). you could still walk the pinch hitter if necessary.
Option 4: same as option 3, but instead of the lefty, bring in the backwards rhp who is so bad vs rh batters that a pinch hitter is almost a certainty.

These options faced the Chief in a game. The batter was Ryan Church, who had 3 homers and a double in his last 5 at bats. The on deck batter was Garrett Atkins. The Chief went with option 4. I was then faced with the choice of a rh pinch hitter or sticking with Church. In real life, there's no way you pull a guy as hot as Church here - even if a lefty had been brought in - but this is Strat, where unrealistic moves happen all the time. In this case though, I couldn't stand the thought of bringing in Thames and watching him roll in the 2-column, costing Church another hit, so I stuck with Ryan. The Chief had been counting on a pinch hitter and an intentional walk to him, but decided since it was still the lefty bat to pitch to him. (Sidenote: The Chief actually said right before the roll: "He'll probably roll 5-9 and it won't even matter.") Church rolled 5-9 for a triple.

The damage was done, but it escalated anyway. Atkins was walked intentionally to get to the lefty hitting Hafner. Thames hit for Hafner, which brought in one of the balanced rhp's. Thames drove in both runners with a double that very nearly left the yard.

Standings Update 9/1/08

B.U.D.	W	L	%	GB		Remaining Games	Last Update
Rhinos	68	60	.531	--		34	8/3/08
Wahoos	62	58	.517	2.0		42	8/30/08
Oilers	56	64	.467	8.0		42	8/28/08
Warpigs	46	89	.341	25.5		27	8/30/08
M.F.D.	W	L	%	GB
Buckeyes	68	55	.553	--		39	8/27/08
Inmates	66	55	.545	1.0		41	8/31/08
Nads	60	60	.500	6.5		42	8/31/08
Mavs	54	83	.394	21.0		25	8/13/08
A.W.D.	W	L	%	GB
Killer Bees	95	52	.646	--		15	7/30/08
Sidewinders	75	53	.586	10.5		34	8/27/08
Zaps	33	31	.516	20.5		98	8/27/08
Tweeners	56	67	.455	27.0		39	8/23/08
N.E.R.D.D.	W	L	%	GB
DVs	80	55	.593	--		27	8/23/08
Drillers	85	63	.574	1.5		14	8/28/08
Fungoes	63	86	.423	24.0		13	8/25/08
FFTs	63	99	.389	30.5		0	8/23/08

Games

In games this weekend, the Warpigs swept two dice games from the Wahoos. Ryan Church was the hitting star both games, He homered and doubled in game 1, then hit two more homers and a back-breaking, game-winning triple in game 2. With the double dip, the Wahoos drop to 2 games back of the Rhinos.

At the Baptist Bowl, the Inmates went 5-2 against the Nads to pull closer to the MFD front-running Buckeyes.

From the HEAD INMATE...

Nads out-scored Inmates 29-25, but most of their runs came in a game 11-2 blow-out.

One interesting tidbit – Nate Schierholtz had three triples in one game.

Every team except the Zaps reached the 120-game mark by the end of August. Good job!