The Middlebury RBI Baseball Regular Season World Series

[AlecTrevylan006]

NOTE: Please excuse me here, but I feel the compulsive need to chronicle this somewhere, so I figured, where better than here? I've had this account and have been lurking for a while, but never got around to posting... here goes nothing.

AND SO IT BEGINS...
At the beginning of this, my freshman year of college, I decided to bring my NES with RBI baseball with me in desperate hopes of finding some RBI Opponents. After an initial flurry of interest in which we had a dozen players face off in an early "Temple Cup"-esque tournament that was won 4-0 by yours truly as Houston.

Over time, we lost those followers to late night drinking activities, women, or because they were just tired of losing. It came down to me and Mike, who had developed an addiction for RBI, and who would become my greatest challenge yet in RBI.

He is a huge Twins fan, so he plays them every single game (except for the rare allstar game). He always uses the same style of playing Viola for 4-6 innings, and then having Bly come in for the rest of the game, going to his other two relievers in the ninth only if necessary. Brunansky is a god when he plays, Hrbek is clutch, and Laudner and Gaetti like to punish me whenever I need to get them out quickly.

I am a long time RBI player. My favorite and best team was always boston, but I played all 7 other teams to try to expand my skills (and because it'd be really boring to do the same matchup EVERY TIME). In contrast to his Viola-Blylevyn strategy, I have an unwritten rule of only using 1-starter unless the game goes to extra innings.

We played pretty much daily through the fall and early winter. We mixed it up a bit with "reliever complete games" where one reliever must pitch the entire game, along with a couple all star games and some drinking games..

We finally started recording games on February 15th, and between then and last saturday we recorded 110 "regular season games" --anything goes (no two strike knucklers though). I unfortunately witnessed his slow but steady increase in RBI skills. After those games, we had these stats

~~~REGULAR SEASON STATS [Me-Him]~~~ (all games are vs. Mn)
California: 9-4
Boston: 6-2
Detroit: 11-3
Houston: 5-11
New York: 13-6
St. Louis: 9-9
San Francisco: 7-15
OVERALL: 60-50

Last weekend, with the term coming to an end, we decided to end the year with a World Series title. I had won the regular season, so I'd get home field advantage, and run the gauntlet (all 7 teams) for the World Series vs. his Minnesota.

THE MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE WORLD SERIES OF RBI, 2007
Mike vs. Spencer

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Game 1:
Minnesota - 2 @ Houston - 1 (11)
Summary: Frank Viola started vs. Nolan Ryan. The Astros get on the board early with an RBI double by Reynolds in the 2nd, but Minnesota gets one back on a 5th inning Brunansky homer. Blyleven comes in in the 7th to shut down the 'stros. Nolan is replaced after 8 innings of 4-hit, 1 ER ball for Kerfeld, who pitches 2 scoreless innings. The tie is broken on Smith's first pitch in the 11th is a home run to Laudner, and Bly continues his shut down performance and notches in the win. Bly gets the win, Smith the loss as Minnesota takes a 1-0 lead in the series.

Players of the game:
Mn:
Gladden: 4-5 (but no runs scored)
Laudner: 1-5 Game winning HR

Ho:
Nolan Ryan: 8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 5 K, 0 BB
Bass: 2-4, R

-----------------------------------

Game 2:
Minnesota - 4 @ New York - 5
After the previous night's lacking offense, New York jumped on the board early. A two run triple by Ray Knight in the third, followed by a 0-2, 2-out, 3-run homer in the 3rd by Strawberry put the Mets on top 5-0. Doc Gooden is on fire early, giving up 2 runs (1 earned) over the first 7. Blylevyn again comes in (in the 5th this time) and shuts down the opposing offense for the rest of the game. In the top of the 8th, a 2-run Kirby Pucket homer was followed by back to back singles. Orosco was brought in with the tying and lead runners on base with one out, but records back to back Ks to get out of the jam, and gets a 1-2-3 ninth to record for the save, as the Mets hold on for a narrow 5-4 win to tie the series.

Players of the Game:
Mn:
Blyleven: 4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 5 K
Brunansky: 2-4, HR, Reached on Error

NY:
Daryl Strawberry: 2-4, 1 HR, 2 runs, 3 RBI
Wally Backman: 2-3, SB, 1 R

--------------------
Game 3:
St. Louis - 3 @ Minnesota - 4
Heading to the Metrodome, St. Louis made the controversial decision to start Cox, who had been more effective recently, despite John Tudor's superior career numbers against St. Louis. Cox gave up an Hrbek homer to lead off the second, and allowed 3 straight singles to lead off the 5th, giving Mn a 2-0 lead. Blylevyn came in in the 6th after a pinch hit for Viola, and St. Louis came back to within one when Cox helped his own cause with a single, stolen base, and then scoring on a ozzie smith double, but was forced from the game in the 6th, leaving Brunansky and Gagne at second and third with one out. Both would come around to score on poor fielding (though no errors were charged), leaving St. Louis with a 4-1 deficit. Ozzie Smith led off the ninth with a double, but was caught at third on a fielder's choice. This proved costly as Jack Smith immediately hit a 2-run homer to bring St. Louis within one. Pendleton reached on a single, but Morris (playing for Ford) grounded out to first to end the game and put Minnesota ahead in the series, 2-1.

Players of the game:
St. Louis:
Ozzie Smith: 2-4, 2x 2B, RBI
Jack Clark: 1-4, HR, 2 RBI

Minnesota:
Viola: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 K, 0 BB
Laudner: 2-4, RBI, R

------------------
Game 4:
Anaheim @ Minnesota

Expected Starters:
Mike Witt (---) vs. Frank Viola (1-1, 3.60 ERA)

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Game 5:
San Francisco @ Minnesota

Expected Starters:
Mike Krukow (---) vs. Frank Viola (1-1, 3.60 ERA)


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My thoughts on the rest of the series:
Not exactly how I would have wished to have started. I didn't expect much better out of Houston, the days of my dominance even with them are long past. The Mets win was good, though the almost-blown-game could be foreboding. The St. Louis game was a key loss, as I suck with SF and at this point am hoping to go back home with a 3-2 deficit.

I'm usually pretty good with Cali, so hopefully I'll pull the win there, or I'm in desperate shape. A good pitching performance from San Fran would be VERY key, but also very unlikely. I feel that I would probably win a potential game 6 with detroit at home, though my streak of good pitching with Alexander is unlikely to hold up... I really did not want a game 7 at home as Boston, as I no longer have confidence in my rarely tested boston abilities, especially with how poorly their bullpen holds up.

Updates will likely be made if I don't cry.

[broiler]

good stuff.  theres still slots available in the national championships next month in columbus.

[AlecTrevylan006]

Heh, it's tempting, but I'm strapped on cash, strapped on time this summer, and getting out to Ohio from CT/VT would be a bit difficult :-/

[Darky]

Good shit Alec. No stats? What's up with the no knucle ball rule with 2 strikes?

[AlecTrevylan006]

Well, it's unofficial. I suppose we could, but we just never do. Just got tired of the often unhittable 2-strike pitches that we had to swing at anyways because we didn't know until too late, especially with music on in the background. *shrugs* I think we really mostly don't use them because we're both much better at nipping corners with curves and such. I don't mind this little unwritten rule as I tend to be a little less discriminating with which pitches I swing at, so it'd hurt me more than him :-P

We've kept scorecards for the world series games, but I'm not exactly sure what the best way to put them up is... they're kinda skewed as Mn plays 7 times and each other team plays once... and we didn't actually keep any stats other than W/L until now

[BeefMaster]

Nice writeup, Janus.  Good luck in the rest of the series.

[AlecTrevylan006]

God damnit.

--------
Game 4
California - 4 @ Minnesota - 9

Despite hitting into two triple plays, Minnesota has taken a dominating 3-1 series lead over our heroes. Powered by homers from the bottom of the lineup and key defensive miscues, the Twins came away victorious in the first game of the series to be decided by more than one run.

In a last minute choice before the game, apparently influenced by a coinflip, California started the late but not-so-great (especially in playoffs) Donnie Moore, perhaps in a desperate ploy to take some of the load off the usually ineffective California starting staff. California started off the game well, with a single and a triple to leave a runner at third with no outs. He was stranded however as Viola proceeded to retired the next 12 consecutive batters. Donnie Moore had a 1-2-3 first, but ran into trouble in the second. A single and a double put runners at second and third. An infield single on an attempted fielder's choice loaded the bases, and on the next play a potential double play ball was smacked for an error by the shortstop, allowing a run to score. Another run was scored on a short single to left, put the Twins up 2-1 with bases loaded and no outs. Moore induced Viola to line into a 3-3-6 triple play to escape without any further damage.

The Twins furthered their lead in the 4th when Laudner ripped a 3-1 inside pitch into the bleachers for a 2 run homerun. The Angels managed to load the bases with two outs in the 5th on multiple miscues by the Twins, but Blyleven came in to face the pinch hitting Hendrick, who popped out to short to end the threat. Wally Joyner led off the sixth inning with a homer to close the score to two, and in the seventh Schofield hit a fly ball that just barely made it out of the park to bring the game within one at 4-3.

This would not last however. Gaetti led off the 8th with a homer, and after a single by puckett Hrbek blasted another one out for a 9-3 lead. This was followed by two singles and another line out triple play (1-6-3), but the damage was done. Shofield reached on an error to lead off the ninth, but Burlson grounded into a double play. Jones hit a meaningless pinch hit homerun before Pettis grounded out to first to end the game and also to end the regular season champion's hopes of a victory in the first world series.

In the post game conference, General Manager and Owner Spencer stated "This is just depressing. A victory tonight was absolutely necessary to ensure we got back home after our inevitable loss in Game 5. Our pitching and defense have been uncharacteristically poor lately, and this is unacceptable. Fortunately, that won't matter, because it'll all be over tommorow night.

Oh, I have faith in my team. I expect Krukie to get 4 fantastic innings tommorow night. It's just the 5th onwards that I'm afraid of... especially with our lack of offense and abominable defense lately.

Ah well, at least we don't have to suffer the humiliation of getting owned like Dred Scott in front of our own fans"

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Yeah... just a little unhappy right now. That's my worst game in a while >_<

How the hell did I lose as the Angels?

[AlecTrevylan006]

GAME 5
SF -1 @ Mn - 3

Well folks, it's all over. Mike's Minnesota Twins are the new World Champions of Middlebury College.

In a must win game for the Giants, they just didn't seem to have the spirit to get it done. Viola pitched a gem, giving up only one hit--a two out single in the first--recording 5 Ks, and retiring 13 straight batters.

Krukow was hit hard early but luckily escaped without a run. He found himself with batters on first and second with one out in the first, and the bases loaded for Gary Gaetti with two outs in the 2nd, but escaped both jams without allowing a run, and going on to retire the side in order in the 3rd and 4th innings on a very effective knuckleball.

The tie did not last long however, as Krukow was pulled after allowing a one-out single to Gladden to lead off the 5th. Gaetti sent Garrelts' first pitch to the wall for the second out, but Pucket doubled high off the wall in what just narrowly avoided being a homerun, seemingly "pulled in" by the fielders. But it would make no difference as Ken Hrbek smashed the ball to straight away center, out of the park over the scoreboard. Garrelts would settle down, and combine with Robinson to retire the next 11 batters and hold the Twins hitless for the rest of the game, but the damage had been done.

The giants threatened with a leadoff double by Thompson in the 6th, and after Krukow and Spilman went down on a K and a groundout to first that did not advance the runner, Mitchell worked the count full and finally walked on a twelve pitch at bat in which he sent two hard hit line drives just inches foul of the left field pole. Leonard grounded to second to end the threat, and a Will Clark double was wasted the next inning as Blyleven struck out Brenley and Chili back-to-back. After going down in order in the 8th, Leonard lined an inside pitch to left with one out in the ninth to avoid the shutout, but the game was ended on a spectacular diving stop by Lombardozzi retired Will Clark, securing the World Championship.

General Manager Spencer has been quoted as saying "****", but could be reached for no further comment.

The World Champions could also not be reached for comment, as nobody likes them and they will die alone anyways after an unloved life.

------

I'm not gonna post anything now, because it'd come off as even more bitter than it already has. But god damnit, I picked a miserable time to start a cold streak, especially after winning 6 of 8 with SL, SF, Ho and NY right before the series to stretch my league lead to 10 :-/