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Soundin' Off -- the lifeboat

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Heeeeeeeeeere, Fishy Fishy Fishy Fishy!

Spent the night with the Bluefish, but at least got to watch most of the Belmont between pitches. You think, when Hard Spun and Curlin got back across the street to the stables, the other horses were like, "Ha ha! You got beat by a girl"? (The juveniles probably were, anyway.)

Patrick Moran passed on this piece of the D&C, about how Rochester re-upped its dual affiliation. The D&C followed up a day later with this about how the Amerks' and Knighthawks' minority partner is suing Steve Donner. These are always a blast... as long as you're not the one covering them. Parts of this one sound too familiar. A link to the actual complaint is on the paper's Web site, if you've got the free time to plow through.

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With my own free time the past week or so, I'd set up a little Micro League Baseball tournament, using the ol' Apple emulator. (The program is a slightly different version than the one I'd had on my old Apple IIc, but it works.) Did it as a 16-team double-elimination tournament; used the top pitcher every game, and let the computer run the games until the bracket finals. With this version, it meant that it would panic and yank pitchers quickly if they ran into trouble, and it would leave them in forever if things were going OK.

For one pitcher, that made it a legendary tournament; I was rather surprised that his team won, but he was incredible. He pitched four consecutive four-hitters; the second one lasted 17 innings. I was stunned the computer had left him in, until I realized that, given the scoreboard when I checked in the eighth, he allowed just one hit over the final 10 or more innings. In that fourth game, the winners bracket final, he hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the seventh. Then in the championship, he had an RBI fielder's choice, and a two-run home run, which gives him one more fictional homer in two fictional games than he had in a 10-year real career, in which this one year was by far his best, still memorable for one stat in particular.

They beat another team that surprised the heck out of me. That team had one of my favorite all-time players, though he's a favorite of mine for what he did with his first team, not this team, which came out of the losers bracket and avenged its only loss along the way; he closed out their last three wins (and the loss, actually).

Here are the opening matchups, randomly generated. Wanna guess which teams made the final and which players I meant?

1961 Yankees -1980 Royals
1984 Tigers -1978 Yankees
1955 Dodgers-1980 Phillies
1975 Red Sox-1975 Reds
1968 Tigers-1955 Senators
1927 Yankees-1973 A's
1963 Dodgers-1945 Cubs
1969 Mets-1979 Orioles


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Cardillo's prediction. Cardillo's gamer. That's called "clutch."

2 Comments:

  • Mike, any word about who we could be getting/getting rid of?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:07 PM  

  • Mike,
    Your reference and link to the current Amerks' legal battles seem all too common among minor league teams, and aren't foreign to major sports teams either. Let's not forget the first tenet among sports team owners is, "Never show a profit", followed closely by the second law of survival, "Bleed it dry." Anyone who still naively believes owners are benevolent people who want what's best for the players and FANS is smoking something tha must be outlawed. Remember, G-R-E-E-D. This is a sad commentary on ownership, especially in today's hockey atmosphere where professional wrestling outdraws the Stanley Cup playoffs. You'd think if owners cared, they would wake up and make the investment in their team and sport to keep it a viable option for the fan dollar. Ah, can't wait for Roller Derby to come to Harbor Yard...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:07 PM  

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