The OC @ The Nimrods game is done. The attached ZIP folder has the game video as well as the ROM used. To watch the game, simply open the ROM using VirtuaNES, and play the video.
Game recap and box to come shortly.
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<Announcer>: Welcome to RBI Baseball Tonight. Brought to you by the makers of "Super Mario Lemon Party", the new adult game for Nintendo Gamecube. And, by Arby's: It's not a great roast beef sandwich, but it's cheap.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/ravech_karl_c.jpg): Welcome to the dawning of a new Fantasy RBI Season. We've seen the league expand to 10 teams, with four new franchises entering play for the first time. However, the opening game of the season featured two veteran teams: defending Fantasy RBI World Series champion The OC and defending regular-season champion The Nimrods. This is certainly the marquee match-up of the Opening Week, and I'm joined by Harold Reynolds and Peter Gammons as we look at the highlights.
The OC jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning behind doubles from Ellis Burks and Andre Dawson, turning the ball over to last season's Cy Young winner Dwight Gooden. However, Doc was far from sharp early.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/gammons.jpg): My sources have told me that Doc spent the off-season training in his home in Florida. Unfortunately, most of the training was a form of "stomach crunches" that involved leaning over to sniff something off of a table or mirror, if you know what I mean.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/reynolds_harold_c.jpg): Like my good friends Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five say: "Freebase: Don't do it!"
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/gammons.jpg): You're good friends with Grandmaster Flash? Isn't that song 25 years old?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/reynolds_harold_c.jpg): Hey, man, get my case! Better than you – I understand you were a college classmate of Hoagie Carmichael!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/ravech_karl_c.jpg): Well, glad to see that you two are in fine midseason form. Anyway, as we said, Doc was roughed up a bit in the bottom of the first, as The Nimrods scored four to take a 4-1 lead, highlighted by back-to-back home runs by Ruppert Jones and Tim Laudner.
But The OC showed the kind of grit that brought them the World Series title last season, coming right back in the top of the second inning with three runs off of Don Sutton to tie the game.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/reynolds_harold_c.jpg): It should be pointed out that The Nimrods helped them out by committing two throwing errors. And if Doc Gooden wouldn't have thought he was Flash Gordon and got thrown out trying to take third on one of those errors, it could have been an even bigger inning.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/ravech_karl_c.jpg): Things calmed down quite a bit from there, as The Nimrods scored one run each in the fourth and fifth, while The OC added a run in the sixth to pull to within one at 6-5. Then, in the top of the seventh, things started to get ugly for The Nimrods.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/gammons.jpg): Rick Sutcliffe had looked very sharp in relief over the first two innings. Then, in the seventh, he just plain fell apart. He left a lot of pitches over the heart of the plate, and against The OC's offense, you simply cannot do that.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/reynolds_harold_c.jpg): It was like batting practice for The OC. You know you're in trouble when the pitcher leads off with a double. But then you had Hernandez with a double. Then Hawk gets a single, but then a double for Candyman, a double for Pendleton and then a homer for Buckner. Next thing you know, this is getting out of hand.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/gammons.jpg): I know, it was so bad that even YOU could have got a hit
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/reynolds_harold_c.jpg): Wait, did someone say something? I thought I heard Gammons criticize my playing, but I realized that he couldn't have done that, because the only time he played was when he was a kid, back before they counted fouls as strikes and when they didn't use gloves.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/ravech_karl_c.jpg): As ugly as is in here, it was just as ugly for The Nimrods' offense. They only managed two runs off of Fernando Valenzuela in the final five innings of the game? Harold, is this a one-game fluke, or is this a sign of things to come?
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/reynolds_harold_c.jpg): I think it was a little bit of both. First, Nando had a great game, so let's not overlook that. But The Nimrods got a little impatient and took some cuts at some bad pitches after they fell behind big. And Ruppert, after that bomb in the first, pretty much was a non-factor the rest of the game.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/gammons.jpg): And I think this game showed a trend that's going to continue this season: scoring is going to be down across the league. With 10 teams and every player on a roster, that means that there are a lot of guys who were bench players last year that are now starting. Not only does that impact starting line-ups, it means that you aren't going to see big explosions of offense coming from the bench.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v37/fightonusc/RBI%20Baseball/ravech_karl_c.jpg): It will be interesting to see as the season progresses. It will also be interesting to watch the BDawk/Teddyballgame experiment as the season moves forward – so far, so good.
Keep tuning into ESPN2 for more RBI Baseball Tonight. Up next is our new reality series "Who Wants To Punch Terrell Owens in the Cock?" Goodnight, everyone.
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nice work as always, fighton. congratulations on your first win as a gm, bdawk.