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The Western Baseball Association - 1/4/2008 10:11:54 PM

Taz0713

Posts: 186
Joined: 5/16/2006
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Well they say that the third time is a charm. At least I hope so, as my attempts at doing a dynasty have not been very well carried out. I am not exactly sure of the reason for that, but at some point I do have get it right. Right?

Well enough about my past failures at this and it is time to introduce the formation of a new Baseball Association............

With the first games to be played on March 31, 2008 the Western Baseball Association became a reality. This is a league of twelve teams representing ten western US cities and two Canadian cities. The set up of the league is on Conference with three divisions of four teams each. The owners of the current twelve teams have agreed that expansion is possible, but don't expect to see any new teams added until after year two at the earliest.

The Association will play a 120 game regular season followed by four team playoff (each division winner and a wild card).

The teams that make up the league are:

North Division

Anchorage Grizzlies
Edmonton Huskies
Seattle Stampede
Vancouver White Caps

Pacific Division

Boise Outlaws
Honolulu Surf Dawgs
Portland Pioneers
Sacramento Sea Wolves

South Division

Albuquerque Generals
Los Angeles Gauchos
Reno Wranglers
Salt Lake City Scorpions

After receiving several offers after the draft, I decided that I would take on managing the Portland Pioneers. We are team that I believe is built on decent pitching and defense. I do have some concerns regarding our ability to score runs, but who knows. I will be managing out Portland's games and siming the rest of the day's schedule.

I will introduce the players later on in the thread, but it is time for us to fly off to Hawaii. Yes, I know that it is a virtual Hawaii, but with all of the rain here in southwest Washington I can dream.

< Message edited by Taz0713 -- 1/4/2008 10:22:58 PM >

Post #: 1

RE: The Western Baseball Association - 1/5/2008 12:20:03 AM

Frozen Stiffer

Posts: 1059
Joined: 8/19/2005
From: California, USA
Status: offline

A potentially career-ending question here, Taz....

....Portland, Oregon... or Portland, Maine?

_____________________________

"It ain't braggin' if you can do it."

-Hall of Fame pitcher Jerome 'Dizzy' Dean

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Post #: 2

RE: The Western Baseball Association - 1/5/2008 12:42:59 AM

Taz0713

Posts: 186
Joined: 5/16/2006
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Frozen Stiffer

A potentially career-ending question here, Taz....

....Portland, Oregon... or Portland, Maine?

Believe it or not that would be Portland, OR. I personally live just across the Columbia River in Washington State.

(in reply to Frozen Stiffer)

Post #: 3

RE: The Western Baseball Association - 1/5/2008 1:39:27 AM

Frozen Stiffer

Posts: 1059
Joined: 8/19/2005
From: California, USA
Status: offline

Ouch. Wrong answer.

Portland, Maine is better.

Nice try though.

_____________________________

"It ain't braggin' if you can do it."

-Hall of Fame pitcher Jerome 'Dizzy' Dean

(in reply to Taz0713)

Post #: 4

RE: The Western Baseball Association - 1/7/2008 5:33:31 AM

Taz0713

Posts: 186
Joined: 5/16/2006
Status: offline

Pioneers take two out of three from Surf Dawgs

It was a good thing we started the season away from Oregon. With all of the rain back home we would have never played any of the scheduled games.

When I first saw the schedule I was a little nervous about starting off against Honolulu. Not only were we starting off against the team with the highest payroll, but their line up would remind many of the Harvey's Wallbangers. Up and down through the line up (pitcher excluded), they all have a power. Their biggest power bat was catcher Frank Vargas (90 contact, 100 Power).

Knowing that we have a very good pitching staff, I knew we would be tested. Early in the season it was hard to tell what to expect.

We ended up losing game one 4-2, as the Surf Dawgs scored three runs in the first and a single run in the fifth. We were never really in this one although we did score two in the ninth to make it a little more respectable.

Game two was a higher scoring affair as we had to come back twice to win 8-6. It was just one of those games that made you wonder if it would end the way we wanted. Thinking that we were strong on defense, we gave up two more errors in this one (three in two games).

In game three we actually pitched the way I was expecting winning a nail biter 2-1. I am also a little concerned with our closer Steven Blevins. For the second game in a row he gave up a run in the ninth. With the game as tight as it was, I actually had to pull him with one out and two on. Thankfully Marcus Liu finished off the game for us. On a side note, I did threaten our shortstop Todd Beaudoin that if he did not get a hit in this one I was going to cut off his tail.

Over all not a bad series, we gave up only four home runs to this power lineup. I am hoping that our defense was just having first series jitters. That was too many errors for a three game series.

We are headed home for a quick three game series with division leading Boise Outlaws. The Outlaws swept the Sacramento Sea Wolves to open their season. The Outlaws did it with a strong offense and pitching.

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Post #: 5

RE: The Western Baseball Association - 1/8/2008 6:37:01 PM

Taz0713

Posts: 186
Joined: 5/16/2006
Status: offline

Pioneers in a three way tie for early division lead

After our three game series with the Boise Outlaws, we are now in a three way tie with the Outlaws and Surf Dawgs atop our division. We were able to take two of three games from Boise, while Honolulu swept the Sacramento Sea Wolves. All three of us stand at 4-2, with the Sea Wolves at 0-6 our next opponent.

Back to our series with the Outlaws. Yes we were able to take two of three, but after game one I thought we were in serious trouble. Boise took us out behind the wood shed, gave us a beating and left us for dead. Thankfully we were able to come back with a pitching gem in game two and then able to administer our own beating in game three.

In game one, Boise came out swinging and never really stopped beating us 10-5. Yes we did score five runs, but the game was never that close. The first batter for the Outlaws was Antony Lindsey who promptly put it over the wall for a quick one run lead. Boise would score more two runs in the third, a single run the fifth, three in the eighth and finally three more in the ninth. We did score two in the forth and finally three in the ninth, but we were truly out of this one.

In game two, Marcus Liu would pitch a complete game shut out 4-0. He would only give up five hits and only had a man reach third once during the game. He finished with seven strikeouts and only two walks. On the offensive side, 3B Thomas Mack hit his third homer of the season and LF Raymond Thompson went 3-4 with a double.

Finally in game three was time for payback for our game one beating. We ended up winning this one 7-1. Our starter James Malchow went eight innings only giving up the one earned run, while spacing out six hits and five walks. Giving up only one run with all of those runners on base says a lot about James ability to get out of a jam. 1B Ali Campbell continued is torid start to the season by going 4-5 with two doubles and three RBIs. He is hitting .542 to start the season. For Boise the had two hitters who we could not keep off the basepaths, LF Terry Pina 2-3 and 1B Stan Nichols.

Next up is Sacramento, a team who is really struggling to start the season. I am nervous as we head south to face a team despirate for a win. Here's to hoping that we can continue their troubles.

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Post #: 6

RE: The Western Baseball Association - 1/9/2008 2:08:40 AM

Taz0713

Posts: 186
Joined: 5/16/2006
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Portland swept by Sacramento

Well my worse fears come true. We decide to lay down and rollover to what was the worst team in the division. Although that might change now that they swept us. We are a full two games behind first place Honolulu and only a game up on Sacramento.

I had a feeling it was going to be a long series, when in game one the first run they scored was by their starting pitcher Harold Sims. Not only does he help himself, but he pitches a shut out winning the game 5-0.

Game two was no better as they beat us 5-1. At least we scored a run.

In game three, we had a chance in a pitchers dual, but still came up short 2-1.

Our pitching failed us the first two games and our offense was non existant the whole series. I am at a loss for words as we are out scored 12-2 in the series. I have gone back to try and shuffle our line up to see if we can get anything going. What is even worse we are hosting Seattle who is coming off a sweep of Achorage out scoring them 27 to 6. It is not looking too good.

Well I am open to suggestions on how to get a team out of a slump. The organization is hoping that the home fans will help as we are playing our northwest rivals.

Until next time, wish us luck.

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Post #: 7

RE: The Western Baseball Association - 1/12/2008 12:42:35 AM

Taz0713

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Portland takes three from Seattle

It is amazing how coming home to play an geographical rival can get your team to rise to the occassion. After losing three straight to Sacramento, I was very concerned about how the guys would handle the situation. Even worse we were playing a team that was coming off a very strong series. I would never have thought we would take all three games from them though.

In game one, a 7-3 victory, we came out on a mission. We scored a run in the first and two in the third. They would get a single run in the forth off of starter Marcus Lui, his first earned run given up this season. Speaking of which Marcus gave us a strong starting performance going seven innings giving up the single earned run and striking out ten. As for the offense we were able to pound out thirteen hits. RF Raymond Thompson and 1B Ali Campbell led our attack with three hits apiece.

We took game two 4-2 on another decent pitching performance, this time from James Malchow. The only thing with Malchow on the mound you can expect a lot of nervous times as he is a little wild and seems to have a lot of runners on base. The good thing is that he seems to be able to get out of it without giving up much. On offense we were led by 3B Thomas Macks three hits. Both LF Leon Scruggs and 1B Ali Campbell connected deep for us.

Game three turned out to be the barn burner between the two teams. We were able to hold and win 6-5. Once again we were blessed with a decent starting performance by Michael Kirpatrick. He went seven innings giving up seven hits, three earned runs but he struck out fourteen Seattle batters. The one Seattle hitter that did give him trouble was 1B William Ford who had three hits on the day. We were up 6-1 after five, but we ended up giving back two in the sixth and two more in the eighth. Steve Blevins was able to give us an inning and third of shut out ball to save the game.

Next up is the Salt Lake Scorpions, who took two of three from Albuquerque and are another team who has a strong pitching staff. It should be interesting series for both teams as both teams have been relying on their pitching to get by.

On a side note, I am getting a little concerned about our offense. Specifically the offensive production we are getting from our catcher, shortstop and second basemen. Their defense is fine, but I am starting to worry that we need some offense from those spots. To make things worse we don't have any down on the farm who can help at these three spots. I hope they are able to turn it around.

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Post #: 8

RE: The Western Baseball Association - 1/12/2008 6:08:35 PM

Taz0713

Posts: 186
Joined: 5/16/2006
Status: offline

I will post the results from our series with Salt Lake City when I get to my work computer, but I thought I would post some tidbits as it currently stands in our league.

Right now we are tied for first in our division at 10-5 with Honolulu. Our current team batting average is around .240 (sounds like the Oakland A's) and our staff ERA is around 3.40. We are currently winning with pitching, but at some point we need to figure out our offensive issues. I do need to see what our OBP is though, although I have to presume it will be in the middle of the pack with the rest of the league leaders.

One thing I am hoping is that the offense will come around as the we did just finish the series with Salt Lake whose pitching staff leads the league with an 2.5 ERA. I will have to post some of my roster to see if you have any suggestions. I believe that the league batting average is around .264.

As it stands, team records are anywhere from our 10-5 to 5-10, with most teams two games above or below .500. I realize that I have a small sample size, so hopefully there will be a little more of a split between teams. Speaking of team record, we are off to an amazing start in Portland (8-1). I hope we don't cool off here. Unfortunately, we have struggled early in the season on the road (2-4), where our next six games are. We also have only the third best record against our division at 4-5, although we get our next shot at a division opponent at the end of the month.

Well until the next update, thanks for reading.

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Post #: 9