Storm Starts Strong

 Round Robin Game 1 - In which two VERY unlikely home runs are hit.

Storm started strong in game 1. The defense kept the Falcons off the board in the top of the first, and the bats came alive in the bottom. Jeff led off with a single. Duran flew out and Craig got some help from some sloppy defense. Joey, Bob, and Al all singled. Then Brad came up and smacked a three run home run over the fence. Yes, you read that right. Brad hit his first home run since.... Well, statleaders is down and nobody can actually remember when Brad last hit a home run.

The second was more of the same as Storm held the Falcons to two runs, and then batted through the lineup for six runs with Craig knocking in half of them with a three run blast. 

The script flipped in the third. Joey was perched under a fly ball in short left, until he realized he wasn’t under it, and the ball bounced off his glove. The Falcons took advantage this rare miscue and scored six. Storm couldn’t manage any, and all of a sudden it was 11-8 and a tight game.

Storm blanked the Falcons in the fourth, and then had a very strange inning offensively. With runners on first and second, Al hit a hard ground ball. He sauntered to first and stopped until the throw went home, at which point he went to second. Bob, being as aggressive as ever, rounded third, and when he saw the ball bounce away from the catcher, ran home. He took the pitcher and third baseman with him and beat the throw to the plate. At this moment, Al decided he could sneak into third, since there wasn’t anyone covering. One of the many Falcons surrounding home plate saw this, and threw the ball to the short stop who was now attempting to cover third. But the ball got away from them and went to the outfield. Al then sauntered home. This play was so confusing to our scorekeeper that she circled 1B, 2B, 3B, and HR and then eventually wrote a large question mark beside the whole thing. After the dust settled, Storm got five more hits and three more runs for a mercy inning. 

The fifth and sixth inning were fairly uneventful and Storm went into the final frame leading 20-8. In the seventh, however, Storm decided to get generous. After six innings of solid baseball, Storm decided to bobble a few. This led to the Falcons putting up nine runs. They only pulled to within three, so it was never THAT close, but it was close enough to invoke the annoying rule that the home team has to bat if they aren’t winning by seven. It makes you think the league should remove runs for and run differential from time breaking procedures to avoid this type of situation.

Notable Boxscores:

Craig - 5 for 5, HR, triple, 5 RBI, 5 runs 

Joey - 4 for 5, 3 runs, 2 RBI

Al 4 for 5, 7 RBI, 3 runs, single turned inside the park home run via three base error

Brad - 3 for 5, HR, 3 RBI

Jeff - 4 for 5, 2 runs, RBI

Kevin 3 for 4, 2 doubles, 2 RBI, run

Dave - 4 for 4

Cycle Watch: Craig missed the double

In other news….

Storm Award Vote - In which Brad votes for himself and STILL wins most sportsmanlike player

Storm award voting is much like AGT or an American election. In the MVP race, Duran’s heart wrenching story of recovering from a heart attack and then leading the team in eight different offensive categories pulled at the heartstrings of his teammates, and he won the MVP award.

There were calls for a recount after Brad won the MSP award, and then jokingly mentioned how he had voted for himself, or rather his nom de plume, but it called into question the integrity of the vote.

A Covid-19 shortened Year in Review

 Season Writeup

The league had a different format this year which led to less variety and more consistently challenging competition. The rust was apparent early in the season, and Storm definitely had trouble with the doubleheader format as they rarely won game 2 of the doubleheader. We’ll see how that plays out in the playoffs when it will take three consecutive wins to win the tournament on a day with four games. 

Storm had its lowest winning percentage since 2011 when, gasp, Storm had a losing percentage. But most players were just glad to be out at the park playing ball and drinking beer with other people again. 

It was still a good year for Storm, finishing second in the division and leading the league in runs scored. The major difference is that Storm was third last in runs against, which is strange for the team, and will have to be fixed if they expect to go on an extended playoff run.

Team Leaders

AVG. : Duran - .824, Rene - .775, Lance - .694

HR: Duran - 19, Craig - 18, Joey - 11

RBI: Duran - 65, Craig - 58, Joey - 53

Runs: Duran - 62, Joey - 59, Craig - 57

2B: Rene - 20, Bob and Joey - 16

3B: Duran - 6; Bob, Joey, and Jeff - 2

Hits: Duran - 70, Craig - 68, Joey - 62

SLG: Duran - 1.812, Craig - 1.366, Rene - 1.254

OPS: Duran - 2.643, Rene - 2.051, Craig - 2.045

Single Season Records

Percentage based records are easier to maintain in a shortened season, so these records come with an asterisk. But Duran had an incredible season smacking extra base hits almost every time he came up, and broke the single season records for OPS (2.643) and SLG (1.812).

MVP Race

The same player won the Storm team MVP all but three years from 2006-2019. And usually it was pretty much default. But this year there is not a clear winner. Storm MVP candidates will be listed below in alphabetical order to avoid perception of bias.

Craig - Criag had a dominant offensive start to the season. Then someone told him we keep track of statistics, after which he struggled a little. But he still had an excellent offensive season finishing third in the league in home runs and in the top three on Storm in home runs, RBI, runs, hits, slugging percentage, and on base plus slugging. In addition to his excellent offensive season, Craig was arguably Storm’s best defensive player. Not only did he catch nearly anything in the air in his direction, he also made some excellent throws from the outfield, hitting his cutoff throws with precision. If you’re taking both sides of the ball into consideration, Craig has a very strong case for MVP.

Duran - Slo-pitch is primarily an offensive game, so if it’s offense you’re looking for, Duran led the team in eight different categories including every percentage based category and every power based category except doubles. And Duran also has the sentimental  vote going for him. He started the year on the IL after suffering from a heart attack. Disappointed with how the team was playing without him, he started by playing the minimum innings and worked his way up to full games. And he got married this year.

Joey - The team’s perennial MVP had a down year for him, but still had a year that most players would dream about. While he had a rough start and didn’t finish at the top of any percentage based statistic, he finished in the top 3 on the team in home runs, RBI, runs, hits, doubles, and triples. He also plays shortstop, a very demanding position. In his one game in the outfield he demonstrated just how strong his arm is with hard and accurate throws from the outfield to home plate. 

Rene - Rene hit 20 doubles in 19 games, and finished in the top 3 in every percentage based statistic. He led the team in walks. He also played solid defense after sustaining an injury on his first play of the season. 

Most Sportsmanlike Race

Unlike the MVP, Storm has had a different MSP almost every year. And every year the vote is so spread out, that occasionally two votes can get you the trophy. And again, this year there are many players who deserve the award. But is the award limited to players? Or could Scoops Jockovitch, supply sports reporter be eligible? And if he is eligible, is he deserving of votes? Always good for a laugh, even if you might have no idea what happened in the game (or even if a game was played) after reading his writeups. But he’s a good guy. Wears a fedora like nobody’s business and is never short on Cubans (either the cigars or the sandwiches). We have learned far too much about his wedding night, his interest in dominatrixes, and his fetish for monkeys with cymbals. But he’s certainly good for a laugh. Vote Scoops Jockovitch.*

*This message was paid for by Scoops Jockovitch. 

I’m  still waiting for my paycheque Bra… I mean, Scoops. 

Storm Season Summary

Storm had another first place finish. Unlike last year, which came right down to the last game of the season, this one was wrapped up pretty early on. This could be bad for Storm as their last two games of the season were pretty pathetic. Sloppy defense and lackadaisical hitting was problematic. They’ll have to turn it around if they hope to be successful in the playoffs. While their season record is impressive (31-6-1), they lost twice each to the 2^nd through 4^th place teams (one of the losses to Broadway was in the mid-season tournament).

The theme of the season was defaults. Storm had five default victories, which helped with the record but hurt people trying to put up individual statistics.

As a team; Storm led the league in runs scored – 719 (tied with the A’s), and fewest runs against 415 (though this statistic as aided by the five forfeit victories).

The two new players were solid additions to the team. They both hit very well and played solid defense. As you can see below, their names appear all over the Storm leader boards. We’ll see if they are enough to help get Storm  win the playoff championship.

Team Leaders:

AVG. – Joey - .807, Rene - .720, Jeff -.688

HR: Joey – 22, Craig – 15, Duran, Lance, Bob – 12

RBI: Joey – 86, Duran – 74, Lance – 73

Hits : Joey – 92, Jeff – 88, Lance – 84

Runs : Bob – 74, Joey – 72, Duran – 69

Doubles: Jeff – 21, Duran – 20, Rene – 19

Triples : Duran – 6, Bob – 5, Jeff and Craig – 4

OBP: Joey - .792, Rene - .716, Craig - .689

SLG.: Joey – 1.570, Rene – 1.440, Craig – 1.333

OPS: Joey – 2.362, Rene – 2.156, Craig – 2.022

Individual Season Bests:

Kenny – Doubles – 10

Lance – OPS – 1.756

Brian – doubles -- 2

Bob – Walks – 12

Al – triples – 2

Jeff –  AVG -.688, doubles – 21, triples – 4, SLG. -.961, OPS. – 1.642

Storm Clinch President's Division Title!!

2018 Storm Season Recap

Storm had an incredibly exciting end to the season. After losing to the A’s in the second game of the season, they did not hold first place position until defeating the A’s in the last game of the season. There were some tense moments near the end, including the worst game Storm has played in years against Broadway, but for most of the season Storm was solid on defense and the entire lineup hit extremely well. Storm finished the regular season in first place for the fourth consecutive year, and they also led the league in runs scored and gave up the fewest runs against.

Team Leaders:

AVG: Joey - .747, Duran - .743, Bob - .723, Al - .716

HR: Joey – 30, Duran – 20, Bob – 13, Jeff – 8

RBI: Duran – 129, Joey – 118, Bob – 95, Al – 62

Runs : Duran – 112, Bob -100, Joey – 97, Jeff – 79

Hits: Duran – 124, Bob – 115, Joey – 115, Jeff – 101

Doubles: Duran – 33, Bob – 28, Joey – 23, Lance – 18

Triples : Duran – 19, Bob – 8, Joey – 5, Kenny and Brad – 4

Slugging Percentage: Joey – 1.545, Duran – 1.527, Bob 1.245, Jeff - .877

The whole team played well, but there were a few exceptional seasons:

Duran Spray - Duran had a season worthy of MVP consideration. He broke his own personal bests in virtually every category, but also set a number of Storm records.

Storm records:

Doubles – 33

Hits – 124

Runs – 112

Total Bases – 255

Triples – 19

He also set the record for consecutive games with an extra base hit at 39

Personal bests that aren’t Storm records:

AVG. - .743
HR – 20

RBI – 129

OBP - .736

SLG – 1.527

OPS. – 2.263

Jeffrey Thomas - While he didn’t have a record setting year  like Duran, Jeff put up arguably his best offensive season, at least in the power categories:

Personal Bests:

Hits – 101

Runs – 79

RBI – 59

Doubles – 16

Total bases – 143

SLG. - .877

OPS. – 1.485

Kenny Bodnar - Kenny seems to have spent some time at the gym (or lifting lots of crates of food at No Frills) as he also had his best offensive season, and displayed more power and ability to pull the ball than previous years.

Personal Bests:

AVG. - .698

RBI – 51

Runs – 57

Hits – 81

Doubles – 10

Triples – 4

BB – 12

OBP - .689

SLG - .853

OPS – 1.542

Other players with personal bests :

Greg Andrews: RBI – 30

Dave Hobbs: AVG. - .588, Runs – 41

Brad MacDougall: AVG. - .667, OBP - .686, Runs – 48

Bob Peppler: RBI – 95, Runs – 100, Doubles – 28

Al Stanfield: AVG - .716, Hits – 96, Triples – 2,

Regular Season Wrap-up

Storm’s name was appropriate this season as their biggest obstacle was not another team, but Mother Nature herself. When the weather decided to cooperate, Storm had a fantastic season, finishing in first place and leading the league in runs for and against.

The other story was five forfeits. Storm led the league with 709 runs. If they had the opportunity to play those five other games, they might have broken the league single season record of 799. Storm only needed 90 runs, and was averaging 21.5 runs per game throughout the season, so it is within reason that they would have broken that record.

Storm also allowed the fewest runs against. In this category, the forfeits might have helped. Storm allowed only 341runs for an average of 10.3 runs per game. With 54 runs fewer than Hanet, had Storm played all five games and only allowed their average, they still would have ended up with  fewer runs allowed than Hanet, but you can never know for sure how those five games would have played out.

This was also a season with the potential to break Storm season records. In the end, only one record fell. Duran broke Joey’s single season triples record. On the final day of the season, Duran hit a triple in each game of a double-header to break the record.

Joey, himself, had the chance to break some records but fell short. He fell one double short of tying Bob’s single-season doubles record (Joey 26, Bob 27), two hits short of tying his own single-season hits record (115 this year, record 117).

Individual records broken:

Lance – AVG. - .669, OBP - .664

Dave – Walks – 10

Duran – Triples – 13, HR – 9, RBI – 89,

Al – Hits – 92

It was another great regular season for Storm, and the hope is that the quality and consistency of play will translate into another successful playoff tournament!

Storm playoff and season wrap

 Storm played well for most of the playoffs. The team was fairly consistently good defensively and got some timely hitting and big homeruns. Unfortunately, it seems as though Storm ran out of steam in the championship game, but that is baseball. Any team can win on any given day, and Bradley certainly deserved it. The playoff run was good. 4-1 is nothing to sneeze at. In the playoff run, Storm made it to 40 wins, which makes them the first team to achieve that. Final record: Storm vs. Bradley 2-2. Storm vs. the rest of WMSPL 38-1.

Joey hits for the cycle

Just wanted to let everyone know that Joey hit for the cycle in the big win over Hanet on Tuesday. He was the 4th player in team history to achieve this feat.