The league will be in suspended animation of sorts between July 23-28, while I am on vacation. Expect a flurry of last-minute game play between now and Wednesday morning.
Also, have you ever heard of the sabermetric tool called (somewhat in jest)
the Pythagorean Theorem? I've taken the liberty of preparing an Excel spread sheet that calculates the predicted winning percentage of BARB clubs based upon their runs scored and runs allowed.
You can download that spreadsheet here. When crunching the numbers, it seems that clubs like Frostbite and Brooklyn have won more games than you might expect, whereas Worcester and Lexington have actually won somewhat less! Whether or not these trends will approach the mean remains to be seen, but the data is interesting.
In BARB action:
WORCESTER 4, BROOKLYN 1
WP: Joba Chamberlain (1-0, 0.36)
LP: Micah Owings (6-2, 4.21)
SV: Morrow (1)
Joba Chamberlain pitched six innings in his Worcester debut and fellow former Rebel Brandon Morrow got the last four Moab hitters for his first-ever BARB save as the Eliminators (42-34) won their seventh straight to take over sole possession of third place in the East.
LAS VEGAS 5, OAKEYLAND 3
WP: Aaron Heilman (5-1, 3.51)
LP: Daisuke Matsuzaka (5-6, 5.68)
SV: Rivera (15)
Matt Holliday and Jorge Posada hit run-scoring doubles, and Aaron Heilman bailed out an ineffective (4.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R) Jered Weaver as the Luchadores (41-39) held on to edge the visiting Ballers. Las Vegas’s division lead has been trimmed to just two-and-a-half games as we approach the break, in part due to the Boom Stick’s 16-8 record over the last month.
S-MART 10, POTTSYLVANIA 1
WP: James Shields (8-4, 4.08)
LP: Gil Meche (6-9, 2.62)
The Boom Sticks (37-40 overall) annihilated Gil Meche, scoring six times in the second, as Gary Sheffield hit his fourth home run of the year to lead off the inning and Alex Rodriguez hit his BARB-leading 31st , a three-run shot, to end the massacre. “A-Rod” would go on to add his 32nd of the year, a solo shot, as the Boom Sticks won for the seventh time in their last ten games.
CASSELTON 8, YUMA 0
WP: John Lackey (5-3, 4.72)
LP: C.C. Sabathia (10-4, 2.92)
Sabathia, the BARB leader in wins, was denied his eleventh victory for the second straight start as John Lackey pitched seven shutout innings and little-used DH Kendry Morales hit a grand slam off the Yuma starter, sending the Firebirds (44-39) allowed a season-high 15 hits to the opposition.
LEXINGTON 4, BLACK MESA 3
WP: Johann Santana (9-5, 3.32)
LP: Todd Wellemeyer (4-10, 5.94)
SV: Street (11)
Jarrod Saltalamacchia cleared the bases with a three-run double and threw out a pair of Anomalies on the basepaths to lead the Rebels (43-35) to their third straight win, and their eighth in their last ten games. Rebels ace Johann Santana became just the fourth hurler in the league to reach nine wins, casting doubts on the likelihood of any 20-game winners in BARB this season.
FROSTBITE FALLS 7, DARWIN 5
WP: Joe Nathan (4-0, 0.84)
LP: Brandon Lyon (1-2, 3.82)
SV: Soria (4)
Albert Pujols hit a tie-breaking, two-run double off Jonathan Broxton in the eighth and the Squirrels (41-34) pulled within two-and-a-half games of the slumping Finches, who have dropped seven of their last ten games. With all three clubs in the East within three games of the Darwinians….who really cares who is in last place, at this stage?
1 comment:
how is darwin is always games ahead or tied then we jump a few games forward and darwin is once again pulling away? it seems every update following a tie for first has darwin two plus games ahead again.
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