Monday, July 10, 2006
StratoMatic May Be More Addictive Than Golf
After a 4 month layoff, I have started another season based on last season's results. I think the reason this game is so addictive is that it so thoroughly involves numbers/stats in the success of the team. The type of pitching matters (groundball versus strikeout versus flyball), defensive range matters more than errors, injuries matter, onbase and slugging matters, running speed and skill matters.
My team, the Boondock Saints (after one of the great B Movies of all times), has the best rotation in the 12 team league. Santana, Martinez, Randy Johnson & Burnett make up my 4 man rotation- all can pitch after 3 days rest. My bullpen is lacking. Tony Clark, M Cabrerra and Abreu make up the heart of my hitting corps. After a 3-6 start, we are tied for 1st at 12-9.
There are 162 games played- 3 each night. Each team has a $80 million dollar budget. A minimum of 24 players- 10 or 11 pitchers/ 13 or 14 fielders. Some leagues are DH. Each player has a value based on his previous year's actual performance. (Pedro & Santana cost me $8.5 each Cabrerra was $9m, Schneider $1.7m.)
There are several versions- Historical- (Imagine a team with Ruth, Dimaggio, Mays, Ted Williams, Hornsby, Clemente, Steve Carlton, Bob Gibson, etc.) - Back to the 80's ( Gary Carter, Guerrero, Blylevin, Ryan, Ozzie, McGuire, Rose)- Alot of sportswriters and old geeks like me play on the Sporting News site for $25 a pop. If your team sucks- and mine often do- it is still alot of fun- every morning I get box scores like this:
Clark launches 10th HR
Boondock Saints 5, Nerd Herd 2
Game 19
Saints.......... 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 5 8 0
Herd............ 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 7 1
Win:Burnett(2-1) Loss:Lackey(0-1) Save:Baez(5th)
Homeruns- W.Betemit(3rd), T.Clark(10th), T.Glaus(5th)
A.J. Burnett struck out 11 batters as the Boondock Saints defeated the Nerd Herd by the score of 5 to 2 at US Cellular Field.
Burnett(2-1) pitched a fine game. He allowed 7 hits and 3 walks in 8 innings lowering his ERA to 4.30. Boondock had 8 hits for the afternoon. Danys Baez recorded the save, his 5th.
John Lackey(0-1) took the loss. He gave up 4 runs in 2 and 1/3 innings of work.
Burnett was asked about his big strikeout performance, 'Well, it's a little odd when you rack up these numbers on the road - instead of cheers and a running tally in the stands, everything gets real still and quiet. Just strange - but it's nice to be able to take the crowd out of the game.'
Saints AB R H RBI AVG Herd AB R H RBI AVG
W.Betemit SS 4 1 1 1 .357 R.Winn LF 5 0 2 0 .378
B.Abreu RF 4 2 1 0 .188 G.Sizemore CF 4 0 1 0 .295
M.Cabrera 3B 5 1 1 1 .316 M.Teixeira 1B 3 0 1 0 .263
T.Clark 1B 4 1 2 3 .200 G.Jenkins RF 4 0 0 0 .304
M.Alou LF 4 0 1 0 .296 J.Valentin C 4 0 0 0 .203
C.Duffy CF 3 0 1 0 .203 T.Glaus DH 2 1 1 1 .298
B-E.Bruntlett PR,CF 0 0 0 0 .333 B.Mueller 3B 4 0 1 0 .214
R.Aurilia 2B 3 0 1 0 .239 T.Iguchi 2B 3 0 0 0 .324
B.Hawpe DH 4 0 0 0 .267 N.Perez SS 2 1 1 0 .338
B.Schneider C 4 0 0 0 .208 A-A.Blanco PR,SS 0 0 0 0 ----
C-S.Burroughs PH 1 0 0 0 .333
-- -- -- --- -- -- -- ---
Totals 35 5 8 5 Totals 32 2 7 1
A-Pinch Ran For Perez In 7th Inning
B-Pinch Ran For Duffy In 8th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Blanco In 9th Inning
INJURY: Neifi Perez INJURED (for 1 more game) in 7th inning
INJURY: Chris Duffy INJURED (for 1 more game) in 8th inning
Saints.......... 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 5 8 0
Herd............ 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 7 1
Saints IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
A.Burnett WIN(2-1) 8 7 2 2 3 11 1 143 4.30
D.Baez SAVE(5th) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 12 2.70
Totals 9 7 2 2 3 12 1
Herd IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
J.Lackey LOSS(0-1) 2 1/3 4 4 3 2 4 2 46 4.91
S.Schoenewei 1 2/3 1 0 0 0 1 0 21 0.00
S.Munter 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 29 1.46
M.Gonzalez 3 2 1 1 1 3 0 44 3.97
Totals 9 8 5 4 3 10 2
ATTENDANCE- 17,294 WEATHER- Bad
T- 2:32
LEFT ON BASE- Saints: 7 Herd: 8
DOUBLE PLAYS- Saints: 1 Herd: 0
ERRORS- N.Perez
DOUBLES- B.Abreu(5th), B.Mueller(3rd)
HOME RUNS- W.Betemit(3rd), T.Clark(10th), T.Glaus(5th)
CAUGHT STEALING- E.Bruntlett, R.Winn
WALKS- W.Betemit, B.Abreu, R.Aurilia, T.Glaus-2, T.Iguchi
HIT BY PITCH- C.Duffy, M.Teixeira, N.Perez
STRIKE OUTS- B.Abreu-3, M.Cabrera-2, T.Clark, M.Alou, B.Hawpe-2, B.Schneider,
R.Winn-3, G.Sizemore-2, M.Teixeira, G.Jenkins, J.Valentin-2,
T.Glaus, B.Mueller, T.Iguchi
GIDP- G.Sizemore
WILD PITCHES- A.Burnett, M.Gonzalez
My team, the Boondock Saints (after one of the great B Movies of all times), has the best rotation in the 12 team league. Santana, Martinez, Randy Johnson & Burnett make up my 4 man rotation- all can pitch after 3 days rest. My bullpen is lacking. Tony Clark, M Cabrerra and Abreu make up the heart of my hitting corps. After a 3-6 start, we are tied for 1st at 12-9.
There are 162 games played- 3 each night. Each team has a $80 million dollar budget. A minimum of 24 players- 10 or 11 pitchers/ 13 or 14 fielders. Some leagues are DH. Each player has a value based on his previous year's actual performance. (Pedro & Santana cost me $8.5 each Cabrerra was $9m, Schneider $1.7m.)
There are several versions- Historical- (Imagine a team with Ruth, Dimaggio, Mays, Ted Williams, Hornsby, Clemente, Steve Carlton, Bob Gibson, etc.) - Back to the 80's ( Gary Carter, Guerrero, Blylevin, Ryan, Ozzie, McGuire, Rose)- Alot of sportswriters and old geeks like me play on the Sporting News site for $25 a pop. If your team sucks- and mine often do- it is still alot of fun- every morning I get box scores like this:
Clark launches 10th HR
Boondock Saints 5, Nerd Herd 2
Game 19
Saints.......... 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 5 8 0
Herd............ 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 7 1
Win:Burnett(2-1) Loss:Lackey(0-1) Save:Baez(5th)
Homeruns- W.Betemit(3rd), T.Clark(10th), T.Glaus(5th)
A.J. Burnett struck out 11 batters as the Boondock Saints defeated the Nerd Herd by the score of 5 to 2 at US Cellular Field.
Burnett(2-1) pitched a fine game. He allowed 7 hits and 3 walks in 8 innings lowering his ERA to 4.30. Boondock had 8 hits for the afternoon. Danys Baez recorded the save, his 5th.
John Lackey(0-1) took the loss. He gave up 4 runs in 2 and 1/3 innings of work.
Burnett was asked about his big strikeout performance, 'Well, it's a little odd when you rack up these numbers on the road - instead of cheers and a running tally in the stands, everything gets real still and quiet. Just strange - but it's nice to be able to take the crowd out of the game.'
Saints AB R H RBI AVG Herd AB R H RBI AVG
W.Betemit SS 4 1 1 1 .357 R.Winn LF 5 0 2 0 .378
B.Abreu RF 4 2 1 0 .188 G.Sizemore CF 4 0 1 0 .295
M.Cabrera 3B 5 1 1 1 .316 M.Teixeira 1B 3 0 1 0 .263
T.Clark 1B 4 1 2 3 .200 G.Jenkins RF 4 0 0 0 .304
M.Alou LF 4 0 1 0 .296 J.Valentin C 4 0 0 0 .203
C.Duffy CF 3 0 1 0 .203 T.Glaus DH 2 1 1 1 .298
B-E.Bruntlett PR,CF 0 0 0 0 .333 B.Mueller 3B 4 0 1 0 .214
R.Aurilia 2B 3 0 1 0 .239 T.Iguchi 2B 3 0 0 0 .324
B.Hawpe DH 4 0 0 0 .267 N.Perez SS 2 1 1 0 .338
B.Schneider C 4 0 0 0 .208 A-A.Blanco PR,SS 0 0 0 0 ----
C-S.Burroughs PH 1 0 0 0 .333
-- -- -- --- -- -- -- ---
Totals 35 5 8 5 Totals 32 2 7 1
A-Pinch Ran For Perez In 7th Inning
B-Pinch Ran For Duffy In 8th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Blanco In 9th Inning
INJURY: Neifi Perez INJURED (for 1 more game) in 7th inning
INJURY: Chris Duffy INJURED (for 1 more game) in 8th inning
Saints.......... 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 5 8 0
Herd............ 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 7 1
Saints IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
A.Burnett WIN(2-1) 8 7 2 2 3 11 1 143 4.30
D.Baez SAVE(5th) 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 12 2.70
Totals 9 7 2 2 3 12 1
Herd IP H R ER BB SO HR PC ERA
J.Lackey LOSS(0-1) 2 1/3 4 4 3 2 4 2 46 4.91
S.Schoenewei 1 2/3 1 0 0 0 1 0 21 0.00
S.Munter 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 29 1.46
M.Gonzalez 3 2 1 1 1 3 0 44 3.97
Totals 9 8 5 4 3 10 2
ATTENDANCE- 17,294 WEATHER- Bad
T- 2:32
LEFT ON BASE- Saints: 7 Herd: 8
DOUBLE PLAYS- Saints: 1 Herd: 0
ERRORS- N.Perez
DOUBLES- B.Abreu(5th), B.Mueller(3rd)
HOME RUNS- W.Betemit(3rd), T.Clark(10th), T.Glaus(5th)
CAUGHT STEALING- E.Bruntlett, R.Winn
WALKS- W.Betemit, B.Abreu, R.Aurilia, T.Glaus-2, T.Iguchi
HIT BY PITCH- C.Duffy, M.Teixeira, N.Perez
STRIKE OUTS- B.Abreu-3, M.Cabrera-2, T.Clark, M.Alou, B.Hawpe-2, B.Schneider,
R.Winn-3, G.Sizemore-2, M.Teixeira, G.Jenkins, J.Valentin-2,
T.Glaus, B.Mueller, T.Iguchi
GIDP- G.Sizemore
WILD PITCHES- A.Burnett, M.Gonzalez
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