The 2016 NASOMA All Star Game

The first ever NASOMA All Star Game was a showcase for the home town kid. Played at the Baptist Bowl, Inmate Carlos Gonzalez stole the show, homering twice in his friendly confines and winning the MVP as the BUD/HWD PigPals defeated the MFD/AWD SnakeCharmers 4-1.

The PigPals came out hot, loading the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the 1st against Zach Greinke, but CarGo struck out and Xander Bogaerts bounced into a double play.

There were no other real scoring threats by either team until the 6th inning. With the Inmates' Matt Thornton on the hill, Buster Posey of the Drillers blasted a 1-out double off the wall in left. Thornton got the Mavs' Bryce Harper to line out, bringing up Paul Goldschmidt, the slugging first baseman of the Zaps. While intentional walks are frowned upon in All Star Games, PigPal manager Pigman backed up his "We're playing to win!" message and ordered the free pass. Chris Davis was due, but was called back for Alex Rodriguez. The Pigs' own Darren O'Day relieved Thornton, but walked ARod to load the bases. The packed house of 50,165 erupted when O'Day then struck out the Drillers' Josh Donaldson to the end the inning.

That Baptist Bowl eruption was only a precursor to the deafening roar that came in the bottom of the inning when their own CarGo launched a 1-out fastball from the Goofs' Jacob deGrom into the home run porch down the right field line.

The lead was short-lived, however. Over in the PigPal dugout, manager Pigman laughed at the Wahoo manager's notion that Dellin Betances was the worst pitcher in baseball, and brought the big righty in to protect the 1-0 lead. He didn't. It turns out he IS the worst pitcher in baseball. Betances walked Freddy Freeman (Bees) and Jose Iglesias (Tweeners) on 8 straight pitches, 3 of which hit the Pig mascot. Erasmo Ramirez of the DVs came on to still the rising tumult, but a Ben Zobrist (Tweeners) single tied the score and put runners on the corners, still with no outs. A dazed Pigman made yet another trip to the mound. As he would say later, "I was trying to decide who could get us out of this without too much damage, and I remembered that the Rhino right-hander Gerritt Cole had shut down the Warpigs earlier this year, so maybe he could do the same now." And shut them down he did. Brantley and Posey both hit grounders right at infielders, the latter getting Iglesias thrown out at the plate. And when Cole struck out Harper looking, the place was jumping again.

With the score now 1-1, SnakeCharmer manager Snakeman brought in his own Chris Sale to pitch, but the DVs' Giancarlo Stanton pinch hit a double to start the inning. After Mike Trout (Fungoes) struck out, local hero Jose Altuve of the Inmates came up to hit. His routine grounder to third was booted by Donaldson, putting runners on the corners with 1 out. Raisel Iglesias, the young Buckeye hurler, relieved Sale, but Warpig Jason Kipnis hit a sacrifice fly to left to give the PigPals the lead again. The Snakeman here made the controversial decision to bring in the Zaps' Brad Ziegler to face CarGo, eschewing the Mavs' Zach Britton, who was warm in the pen. CarGo said thank you very kindly and blasted the ball off of the transformer above the upper deck in right field.

Side note... In true Inmate fashion, the mobbing of CarGo at home plate resulted in the need to remove him from the field on a stretcher. He suffered a separated shoulder, a cracked elbow, two broken ribs, three upper ankle sprains, and several knife wounds. He will miss the rest of the season.

The "good" Wahoo relievers, Jake McGee and Mark Melancon, pitched the 8th and 9th innings respectively to close out the win.

A great time was had by all. Even CarGo said "totally worth it" when asked about the injuries. And, well, "all" is a bit hyperbolic. Brantley and Harper combined to go 0-10 with 4 strikeouts, and Mike Trout suffered a laceration on his throwing hand, which he claimed to have accidentally done to himself with his own knife during the CarGo celebration. Trout's reaction? "Totally worth it."

Thanks to everyone who showed up to view the game. TeamViewer is only as good your computer's connection, so it isn't perfect... but it's a better option than NetPlay.

Tweeners 2, Inmates 1

Entertaining 3 game set at the Hooverdome, with the home team taking 2 of 3.

7/22 – Inmates 4, Tweeners 3.  A Car-go 1^st inning HR gives the Inmates an early lead against Shelby Miller, Tweeners get a 3-run 4^th featuring back-to-back jacks by Arenado and Cruz, but a 2-run bomb by JD Martinez in the 8^th made a loser of Andrew Chafin.  W – Ross, S – Tolleson.

7/23 – Tweeners 1, Inmates 0.  Only 4 hits for each team, but an Aaron Hicks HR off Quintana is all MadBum needs for the CG SHO.

7/24 – Tweeners 5, Inmates 4 (11 inn.).  Inmates score 4 in the 4^th off Felix on 2-run homers by JD Martinez and Adam Jones.  Tweeners plate a run in the 5^th, and a Vogt tater in the 7^th cuts the lead to 2.  Arenado ties it with a 2-run shot in the 8^th.  Top of the 11^th Martinez is thrown out trying to score from 1^st on a 2-out Castro double.  Arenado leads off the bottom half with a triple, with OF in Blazek fans Cruz and Colabello, but Schoop comes through with the walk-off hit.  Carson Smith picks up the W.

Funny, But Not

Mrs. Pig brought to my attention today a short video of the Cleveland Indians performing a Jobu ceremony in their clubhouse to try and get Yan Gomes out of his 0-27 slump. Pretty funny stuff.

Then in today's game, Gomes doubled his first time up to end the drought. His next time up, though, he tripped trying to run out a ground ball. He was carted off the field with a separated shoulder.

"I'm pissed off now, Jobu. Look, I go to you. I stick up for you. You no help me now. I say "Fuck you Jobu", I do it myself."

Rhinos 6, Wahoos 4

Rhinos win 6 of 10

Game 1
at Wahoos
Rhinos set the tone and win, 4-1
Game 2
at Wahoos
Arrieta pitches great and Wahoos win, 6-1
Game 3
at Wahoos
Norris walks off with a homer, 5-4
Game 4
at Wahoos
Arrieta spins a seven-hit shutout, 3-0
Game 5
at Wahoos
All Rhinos all the time, 10-1
Game 6
at Rhinos
Eickoff allows only one unearned run and Wahoos win, 4-1
Game 7
at Rhinos
Rhinos score early and Wahoos don't score at all, 4-0
Game 8
at Rhinos
Betances sucks, Rhinos hang on to win 5-4
Game 9
at Rhinos
Rhinos score early, middle and late, 8-1
Game 10
at Rhinos
Rhinos blow a lead and then rally off Betances and company and win, 9-8

Wahoos hit .204 for the series and Rhinos hit .282

Starting Lineups for the NASOMA All Star Game

BUD/HWD
1. Trout (Fungoes), cf
2. Votto (Rhinos), 1b
3. Cabrera (FFTs), dh
4. Gonzalez (Inmates), rf
5. Bogaerts (DVs), ss
6. Pollock, (Warpigs), lf
7. Panik, (DVs), 2b
8. Bryant, (Rhinos), 3b
9. Perez (Fungoes), c
SP - Arrieta (Wahoos)

MFD/AWD
1. Brantley (SSWs), lf
2. Posey (Drillers), c
3. Harper (Mavs), cf
4. Goldschmidt (Zaps), 1b
5. Davis (Mavs), dh
6. Donaldson (Drillers), 3b
7. Cruz (Tweeners), rf
8. Iglesias (Tweeners), ss
9. Phillips (Goofs), 2
SP - Greinke (Zaps)

First pitch is scheduled for 8:00 CST. The TeamViewer meeting# will be emailed to you 30 minutes prior to the game.

Sidewinders 3, Nads 2

Snake pitching coach Mario Soto told Hector Santiago to pretend he is Clayton Kershaw. Hector one hit the Nads in game 1 and no hit them in game 5. Nads take 2 of the middle 3 for the traditional Tweener split.

4/29 Snakes cruise 8-0.Dozier draws a walk in the8th to break up perfect game. Revere singles sharply with one out in the 9th to ruin the no-hitter. Nick Hundley goes 3-3 with 4 RBI in his first game batting second.

4/30 Nads win 7-3 behind CG effort by CJ Wilson. Game was tied at3 until Snakes had another bullpen fail late. Chapman is the loser but the big blowwas 3 run HR off of Brach by the ToddFather.

7/22 CJ strikes again and Nads win 5-3 beating Jon Lester. Rondon with the save.

7/23 Volquez with the CG victory over Fiers 9-1.

7/24 This time Santiago finishes the no-no. Snakes win 4-0 Big Papi drives in3. Santiago's line for the series is 18 IP, 1 hit, 4 walks, 8K.

Wahoos 4, Nads 1

Game 1:
Fiers vs. Travis Wood
The fourth batter of the game (Todd Frazier) hits a 3-run homer. Wahoos string together 4 hits in the bottom of the first and get a pair of runs back. Looks like it's going to be one of THOSE games. Calhoun hit a 2-run blast in the seventh to tie the score, 5-5. Refsnyder answered with a 2-run shot in the bottom of the inning. Wahoos added 2 in the eighth and Betances retired the final four batters to nail down the save. 9-5 Wahoos

Game 2:
Dickey vs. Estrada
Refsnyder -- in at 2B this series -- giveth and he also taketh away. He blasted a big triple in the second inning and scored. He also allowed a single at second in the fourth to allow a run. And then he added an RBI double in the sixth. Wahoos hang on for a 6-3 victory after Melancon and osuna combine to hold the Nads scoreless the final 4 innings.

Game 3:
Nick Martinez vs. Anibal Sanchez
Kendrys Morales helped puncuate a 4-run Wahoos outburst in the third with a three-run jimmy jack. He hit a solo blast in the 5th. All hell broke loose in the seventh. The Nads broke out for eight runs including a grand slam from Todd Frazier to greet Dellin Betances. Now, the Nads lead, 8-7. Crap. Dozier followed with a homer. Ugh. Nads hang on to win, 9-7.

Game 4:
Dickey vs. Verlander
And here we go again. Montero hits a grand slam in the first inning for the Nads. Wahoos fall behind 5-0 before a Norris solo shot in the fourth. Then, in the ninth, the comeback began. Kendrys Morales hit a 2-run homer to tie the score with 2 outs in the ninth. Refsnyder scores on a game-winning single from Pham with one out in the 12th. Wahoos hang on, 6-5.

Game 5
Martinez vs. Sanchez
Wahoos jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Refsnyder stayed hot with a homer in the second. Sigh. After building an 8-4 lead the Nads wouldn't go away. Betances and company let them back in the game. To keep things interesting, Khris Davis homered with two on in the ninth to give us the 11-8 win. Absolutely nothing comes easy.


For the series, Rob Refsnyder hit .609 with 4 doubles, a triple and 3 homers. Wahoos hit .321 as a team with 16 homers. Khris Davis hit 5 homers. The Nads hit .257 with 8 homers. Frazier hit .500 with 9 RBI.

Transaction

As a result of the Home Run Derby, the Warpigs traded their 2017 13th round pick to the Wahoos for their 2017 14th round pick.

Extra Reserve Contest Update

At the All Star break, the DVs have surged into the lead in the Extra Reserve Contest. The Rhinos dominated for most of the first half, but have currently fallen into 3rd place.

Here are the current point totals:

1. DVs 618 (If he had picked the Braves instead of the Phillies, he'd have already clinched.)

2. Warpigs 613 (Go Pirates)

3. Rhinos 612 (Cubs and Rangers struggling at the same time hurt him, but Indians were a great pick.)

4. Fungoes 604 (He did pick the Braves, but the White Sox haven't sucked as much as they need to.)

5. Sidewinders 603 (Picking the Orioles to be bad hasn't worked out yet.)

T6. Buckeyes 601 (Another one who didn't believe in the Cubs)

T6. Mavs 601 (Only one who picked the Yankees to lose. Would be better off right now with the Rays.)

8. Killer Bees 594 (Only team to pick the Cardinals, so there's hope.)

9. Drillers 589 (If the Orioles go into a nose dive, he's in the race.)

10. Inmates 585 (If the Orioles AND the Indians go into a nose dive, he's in the race.)

11. Wahoos 584 (The Indians are killing the Wahoos. Gotta be a joke in there somewhere.)

12. FFTs 580 (Same situation as the Inmates, only without the Nationals)

13. Zaps 569 (Another Buck Showalter doubter)

14. Tweeners 557 ("I swear I thought the Diamondbacks would be good.")

15. Goofs 545 (The Goof selections placed 5th in the Inmates' top Adult Jokes of the year.)

16. Nads 0 (Go Expos!)

Transaction

The Buckeyes traded the Snakes' 2nd in 2017 and a 2017 reserve to the Killer Bees for Carlos Santana.

Inmates 6, FFTs 4

INMATES 10 – FFTs 1 (Baptist Bowl): Inmates pounded W. Chen from the get-go, highlighted by a three-run homer by Jones in the 3^rd. Not much good happened for the FFTs.

FFTS 6 – INMATES 2 (Baptist Bowl):  Cano hit a pair of taters off of Salazar and Lynn pitched 8 2/3 for the easy FFT win.

INMATES 6 – FFTS 4 (Baptist Bowl): Castro hit a three-run HR in the 6^th for the final Inmate runs. An FFT rally in the 8^th fell short; Ramos picked up the save for the Beakless Chicken Gang.

INMATES 5 – FFTS 2 (The Grove):  The Inmates hit solo homers by Cargo, Cespedes, and Rizzo to put the game away. Salazar inhaled a little less vociferously to pick up the win.

FFTS 3 – INMATES 2 (The Grove): A pitcher’s duel between Samardzija and Pineda. JD Martinez hit a two-run spud in the 2^nd for all of the Inmate runs. Warren picked up the save for the FFTs.

INMATES 3 – FFTS 1 (Baptist Bowl):  Another quasi-pitcher’s duel. Jones and Suarez hit back-to-back HRs for the Inmates in the 5^th for all of the LDMF scoring. Chen took it on the chin for a loss. Or maybe it was Chin took it on the Chen. Whatever.

FFTS 9 – INMATES 2 (Baptist Bowl): Collin McHugh allowed nine runs on sixteen hits in another of his usual effective starts. Only Wieters avoided the hitfest among FFT starters, going 0-5. Samardzija K’d twelve in 8 1/3 for the easy win.

FFTS 6 – INMATES 2 (The Grove): McHugh once again self-imolated, allowing taters to Pederson and Realmuto, to continue his year-long suck-O-rama. Lynn got the easy W for the FFTs.

INMATES 6 – FFTS 3 (The Grove): Reddick hit two HRs for the FFTs but Chen did his best McHugh imitation and allowed homers to Rosario, Suarez, and Lawrie as the Inmates managed to finagle a win.

INMATES 3 – FFTS 1 (The Grove): Solo homers by Cargo, Rizzo, Valbuena, and Realmuto accounted for all of the scoring in this snoozer.

The HEAD INMATE

School and Baseball

Warpigs 3, FFTs 1

Via TeamViewer. All games at The BallPork.

May 30 - Game 1 of Double Header - Warpigs win 7-6 in 12 innings. In the opening game of the Memorial Day Double Header, the Warpigs came from behind to win their 4th straight against the FFTs this season. Errors by Michael Wacha and Prince Fielder led to 4 unearned runs by the FFTs in the 4th inning, but the Warpigs scored 3 in the bottom of the 4th to get within 1. Lorenzo Cain doubled in A.J. Pollock in the 8th inning to tie the game. Then in the 12th, Ian Kinsler delivered the walk-off hit, singling in Yadier Molina. Darren O'Day (1-1) got the win for his inning of work.

Between games of the double header, the Warpigs had their Ring Ceremony for their 2015 championship. Team captain Yadier Molina said, "It just made sense to have the ceremony today. There were 27 of the 30 members of last year's squad here today. 9 playing for us, 8 playing for them, and 10 who suck so bad they are out of baseball this year. We were only missing 3 guys."

May 30 - Game 2 of Double Header - Warpigs win 4-3. The FFTs scored 2 first inning runs, forcing the Warpigs to come from behind again. The Pigs scored 2 in the 2nd to tie the game, and in the 6th, Adeiny Hechevarria, A.J. Pollock, and Lorenzo Cain all hit doubles for the other 2 runs. Jake Peavy (5-2) got the win, and Pedro Strop earned his 8th save.

May 31 - Warpigs win 7-2. The FFTs again had a 2-run first inning, but that would be all they got. Jake Lamb blasted a 2-run homer, and Garrett Richards (6-3) settled down to go 6 innings for the win. Tyler Clippard went the final 3 innings for his 2nd save.

June 1 - FFTs win 3-1. Joc Pederson homered, J.T. Realmuto had 3 hits, and Delino Deshields twice plated runs with RBI base hits. John Lackey went 6 innings for the win. Jake Diekman, Sam Dyson, and Adam Warren each threw an inning, holding off any hopes the Pigs had of coming back for a 4th straight game.

All Star Rosters

Before injury replacements are selected, starting pitchers (and NL DH) are named, and the Final Vote guys are elected, here are the original All Star rosters by NASOMA team.

Fungoes (9 total, 4 starters) - SPerez, Hosmer, Trout, Betts, Lindor, WHarris, DMurphy, Carpenter, Kershaw

Sidewinders (8,1) - Ortiz, Sale, Brach, WDavis, Kimbrel, AMiller, Cueto, Lester

Inmates (7,3) - Altuve, Rizzo, Cespedes, DSalazar, WRamos, CGonzalez, AJRamos

DVs (6,2) - Bogaerts, Fowler, Colome, CSeager, Duvall, Strasburg

Wahoos (6,0) - Encarnacion, Estrada, Betances, Arrieta, Familia, Melancon

Mavs (5,3) - Bradley, Russell, Harper, Britton, Lucroy

Zaps (4,1) - Machado, Hamels, KHerrera, Goldschmidt

Rhinos (4,1) - Bryant, Myers, Syndergaard, Jansen

Tweeners (4,1) - Zobrist, Vogt, Arenado, Bumgarner

Drillers (3,1) - Posey, Donaldson, OHerrera

FFTs (3,0) - Wieters, Cabrera, Cano

Killer Bees (3,0) - Trumbo, JFernandez, Tehran

Buckeyes (2,0) - Desmond, MOzuna

Goofs (1,0) - SWright

Warpigs and Nads (0)

NASOMA Free Agents - ENunez, Beltran, Rodney

Next Deadline

By the end of July, everyone should be up to 90 games. The official deadline for July games is Sunday, August 7th.

Not meeting the May deadline: Warpigs, Wahoos, Rhinos

Not meeting the June deadline: Wahoos, Killer Bees

Rhinos 3, Buckeyes 2

Details to come.

The Buckeye season ended today.

Rhinos 6, FFTs 4

Details to come.

Tweeners 5, Rhinos 5

Details to come.

Warpigs 3, Tweeners 2

Games played via TeamViewer.

6/30 @ The BallPork - Warpigs win 4-2. Martin Prado broke a scoreless tie in the 4th with a 2-out rbi single. Francisco Cervelli then followed with a 2-run double. That was enough for Garrett Richards (4-3), who went 7 innings. Four relievers combined to go the last 2 innings, with Brandon Maurer getting his 3rd save of the year. Nellie Cruz hit a 2-run homer in the 6th for the only Tweener runs. Drew Smyly went the distance in the loss, striking out 13 and allowing only 5 hits. The Tweeners were held to 4 hits.

7/1 @ The BallPork - Warpigs win 3-1. Martin Prado and Ender Inciarte both took King Felix deep. Mike Leake (7-3) got the win with last out help from Maurer. The Tweeners were held to 5 hits.

8/12 @ The Hoover Dome - Tweeners win 8-3. The new park helped the Tweener bats light up. Nelson Cruz and Zack Cozart combined to go 5-8 with 2 homers and 7 RBI. Felix Hernandez went 7.1 for the win. Jaime Garcia (7-3) took it on the chin. Jason Kipnis had 3 hits for the Pigs.

8/13 @ The Hoover Dome - Tweeners win 3-2. The Tweeners, with the help of another Cruz homer, scored 3 times in the 2nd inning off of Adam Wainwright (4-1). The six Tweener relievers combined to hold the lead. The Pigs threatened several times - including a missed 1-18 BP homer - but 5 of the relievers got credit for holds and the last one, Francisco Rodriguez, got the save. Robbie Ray, who went 5 innings, got the win. Darrin Ruf went 2-3 with a homer for the Pigs.

8/14 @ The Hoover Dome - Warpigs win 6-1. Garrett Richards (5-3) again stifled the Tweener bats, holding them to 5 hits. A.J. Pollock went 3-5 with a double, a homer, and a stolen base. He scored 2 and knocked in 2. Sonny Gray took the loss for the Tweeners. Andre Ethier homered for the only Tweener run.

Both teams remain in first place in their divisions, but the Tweener lead over the Sidewinders is down to a half game.

Wahoos 7, Inmates 3

Wahoos vs. Inmates played at the Baptist Bowl with cards and dice.

Game 1:
Estrada at Tyson Ross
Wahoos bats muster only two hits and the three-run homer from Adam Jones in the fourth inning was more than enough for the Inmates in their 4-0 victory.

Game 2:
Anibal Sanchez at Pineda
Wahoos unload for a five-run first inning thanks to two walks, two doubles and a triple. Wahoos scored three more with two more doubles and a triple in the fourth. Sanchez struck out nine (no walks) in his 7.1 innings and the bullpen of Osuna, Albers and Betances hang on for the save and a 9-7 victory.

Game 3:
Quintana at Iwakuma
The trip back to The Reservation didn't help the Wahoos much. Inmates hit three more homers including the winner in the eighth. Manship and company nailed down the save in the 5-4 Inmates win.

Game 4:
Ross at Travis Wood
More of the same as the Inmates scored early and often. Anthony Rizzo took his 18th HBP of the series and 49th of the season in the first to help them jump to a three-run inning. Manship and company hang on to the third win in four games, 7-3.

Game 5:
McHugh at Arrieta
This time the Wahoos scored a pair in the first with solo homers from Mahtook and Granderson. MelDanancon, Watson and Betances nail down three scoreless innings to help the Wahoos to a 5-4 win.

Game 6:
Iwakuma at Danny Salazar
Back to the Baptist Bowl and the Wahoos scored a pair in the first on the power of Encarnacion's first of two homers. Each team hit three bombs. Familia hung on for the save in the 7-6 win.

Game 7:
Verlander at Ross
In what became a trend of sorts, the Wahoos scored two in the first with another Encarnacion homer. This time the Inmates hit three homers but struggled to score otherwise. Albers, Watson, Osuna and Betances slammed the door with 3.1 scoreless innings in the 6-5 win.

Game 8:
Estrada at Quintana
The Wahoos scored two in the fourth then put the game out of reach with a pair of homers (Encarnacion and Casali) in the sixth. Betances threw 1.2 innings of scoreless relief in the 5-2 win.

Game 9:
Salazar at Verlander
Wahoos explode for four homers and Verlander showed off for his bride to be with a complete game victory. Wahoos win, 6-3.

Game 10:
Quintana at Arrieta
Make it six wins in a row with another two-run first on the strength of a Seager homer. Quintana was out of the game after giving up six runs in the first two innings. Arrieta went eight strong for the win.