RBI Console League 2011

[Turd]

Cool, keep them coming, Bradwick.

[TbT]

EAST:
DET is in the driver's seat for now, but has NL/BOS/MIN left.
Boston has shit the bed splitting with MIN/NY.  They have DET/STL left.  Winning 3 of 4 might get them the division title.  
Hou is eliminated.  Barring a crazy run by STL the East playoff teams are set.
MIN has SF/DET to finish.  They still have a decent shot to win the division, but they have 2 div losses which are hurting them most of all.

WEST:
SF is also in the driver's seat, and has a decent shot to rack up wins with MIN/CAL/AL
AL blew it chance to sweep HOU, and goes against front runners NL/SF to finish.  Should play the biggest role in deciding the race.
NL has DET/AL/NY  

CAL and NY are both barely hanging on in the West race.
CAL has STL/SF left, and needs to sweep all 4 games to entertain playoff hopes.
Mets only have 2 games left(vs NL).  Need to sweep and get some help.

[TbT]

CAL @ STL
Game 1:  Tied at 1, this game goes into the 12 before Cal can plate a couple runs.  Moore cleans up and the Angels get back on the winning track
Game 2:   Lindeman's 3 home runs and 4 RBI along with Tudors solid performance go down the tubes in the 9th.  Burleson's 3 run homer with 2 outs in the top of the 9th with 2 strikes puts Cal on top 5-4.   Cards get swept despite a gritty effort.

Angels get a couple must win games.  The Cardinals playoff hopes are hanging by a thread.  Cards have to sweep HOU/BOS, coupled with MIN/BOS losing all their remaining games. 
Current Standings


Remaing match-ups in the 5th set. 
N.L.(3-3) @ DET(5-1)
MIN(5-3) @ SF(5-1)

A couple sweeps here will really shake up the standings.

[TbT]

N.L. @ DET
Game 1:  National pours it on with 4 in the 7th and rolls 6-1.  Homers by Murphy, Guerrero, and Dawson.
Game 2:  Homers by Dawson, and Guerrero give NL a 3-0 lead headed into the bottom the 9th.  Gibson Jacks one out, but thats as close at the tigers can get.  NL gets their shit together, and finally pulls off a sweep.

Big losses for the Tigers, but they hold the current edge in the East with a better division record.
DET  5-3
BOS  5-3
MIN  5-3

NL gets a needed boost with the sweep, and puts Cal/NY in a bad spot.
SF  5-1
A.L. 5-3
N.L. 5-3 (AL holds a better division record)
CAL  5-5
NY 4-6

MIN vs SF coming up in the next day or two. 

[TbT]

SF @ MIN
Game 1:   Gagne and Laudner homer early off Krukow, and Puckett and Bruno go yard in the 7th as the Twins roll 4-1.

Game 2:   Giants get up early 6-2, and appear to be in for an easy win, but a spirited Twins rally gets them back in the game.  Pucketts homer in the 6th ties things up at 6.  In the 8th Leonard and Maldonado hit solos and the Giants hold on 8-6.

East
DET  5-3
BOS 5-3
MIN  6-4

West
SF  6-2
AL 5-3
NL 5-3
CAL 5-5
NY  4-6

[TbT]

STL @ HOU
Game 1:   McGee pounds out two 2-run homers and the cards win 4-0.
Game 2:   Astros plate 1 in the 1st and hold on 1-0
The loss eliminated the cardinals from playoff contention.  Houston has played their final game of the year.  Astros beat NL, AL, and STL.  Came an eyelash away from splitting with Boston as well.

SF @ CAL
Game 1:   Wally Joyners 2 out double ties things up in the bottom of the 10th, and Downing wins it in the 11th with a walk off homer
Game 2:   Giants offense goes on a  home run tear and they win 6-1.  Maldonado hits 2 out and barely hit another foul. 

Current standings

Typos:  Bos is NOT 1 GB, and NL is only 1 GB.

Giants are the 1st team in the West to have clinched a playoff spot.
California is done playing for the season and based on a bunch of tiebreakers is basically hanging by a thread.  Consider them all but out of the playof race.  Mets need NL to lose their remaining 4 games to get in. NL plays AL &  NY.....or the Mets need AL to lose out, and NY sweeps NL.  either way, its some very bad odds.     

DET vs BOS this week will be a huge 2 game set.  MIN is off.  DET finishes with MIN.  Lots of key division games for the Tigers.  Boston finishes with the Cardinals.

N vs AL 2 game set this week will be big.  SF will be rooting for a split there.  SF/AL play in the final series.

AL is 1 win away from a playoff berth, NL needs 2 wins to clinch.

We put some football type tiebreakers in place to avoid a 1 game winner take all playoff at the end of the season to determine who gets in the playoffs. 

[TbT]

NL @ AL
Game 1:   Mattingly goes yard in the 1st inning.  In the 8th Jimmy Key walks dawson to load the bases then walks Davis to tie the game up at 1 before getting Schmidt to ground out to end the inning.  Bottom of the 9th Mcgwire hits the 1st pitch over the wall just foul, but homers a couple pitches later to give AL a 2-1 win. 

Game 2: Murphy and Schmidt homer early and NL takes 2-0 lead.  In the 8th Franco homers, but AL is unable to come back and loses 2-1.

Giants maintain their lead with the split. 
SF  7-3
AL  6-4
NL  6-4
 

[TbT]

Hashing out the figures it looks like AL has clinched a playoff spot today.  California has now been eliminated, and NY can still get in if they can sweep NL.  NL just needs a split with the Mets to get in the playoffs.

SF, AL, and NL are all in a position to still get the #1 seed and 1st round bye.  NY could at best only get the #2 seed. 

[TbT]

BOS @ DET 
Game 1:  Boston gets up 3-1 and holds off Detroit 3-2. 
Game 2:   Tigers come out red hot and Madlocks home run gives Detroit a 3-0 lead in the 1st.  Whittaker adds a solo in the 2nd and Detroit rolls 4-1.

Final week of the season......

MIN @ DET
Game 1:  Tigers get up early and hold on 3-2.  Bergman's home run gave the tigers a 3-1 lead in the 5th.  Puckett added a solo shot in the 8th to make things interesting.

Game 2:   With the divisions title on the line for the Tigers, they roll 9-1. Detroit pounds out a slew of timely hits and led 7-0 after 3. 

Detroit gets a 1st round bye.  Boston and Minnesota will face off in round 1(best of 3 series).  Boston just needs to take 1 of 2 vs the cardinals to claim the #2 seed and be the home team.     

[TbT]

Tigers have already won the East with the best division record.

[TbT]

AL @ SF  Sweep by either wins the division
Game 1: Spilman hits a 3 run shot on the 3rd to put SF up 3-0.  AL pounds out 6 homers the rest of the way, and AL rolls 8-4.   

Game 2:  Mattingly hits a solo homer in the 4th, and Bell adds a 3 run shot in the 6th, as AL wins 4-1, and claims the division title with the sweep.

AL  8-4(won division)
SF 7-5 (clinched playoff spot)
NL 6-4
NY  4-6

NL/NY series will determine the last playoff team.  NY needs to sweep NL to get in. 

[TbT]

NY(4-6) @ NL(6-4) 
What's at stake?:  NY sweep knocks NL from playoff race, and NY gets the 3 seed.
NL sweep gives them the #2 seed, and home games vs SF in the playoffs opening round.

Game 1: Raines homers on the opening pitch for the NL.  Carter hits a 2 run shot in the 3rd to give the Mets a 2-1 lead.  Davis ties it up with a homer in the bottom half.  Game goes into extra innings tied atb 2, where Dawson cranks out a walkoff in the bottom of the 13th to win 3-2.  Mets are eliminated in a great game with major playoff implications on the line. 

Game 2:   Wild and crazy game early as the score is 5-5 through 6 innings, but the NL does some serious damage with 2 outs in the 7th and 8th and NL pounds the Mets 12-5.   

Playoff series is set.  SF @ NL in a best of 3 series next week.  Winner then plays @ AL in best of 3.

The only regular season games left are in the East.   Boston and St Louis have a 2 game set.  Boston just needs to win 1 to ensure playing at home in the opening round against Minnesota.

[TbT]

Season finale

BOS @ STL.   Sox need just 1 win to host playoff series vs Minnesota
Game 1:  Boston cranks out 4 solo HRs and wins 4-2.  Jack Clark hit a 2 run shot in the 4th to tie it up.

Game 2: Scoreless through 6 1/2 inning, the Cardinals offense erupts for 6 runs.  Lindeman hits a 2 run shot to get ont he board, and Morris jacked out a grandslam to put the game out of reach.  Cardinals roll 6-0.

Playoffs start next week.
MIN @ BOS (best of 3)  Winner to face DET

SF @ N.L. (best of 3)  Winner to face A.L.

[TbT]

Probably going to record the playoffs and create box scores.

Did chart home runs during the season.  I'll have to gather all the game notes and come up with the home run leaders on the year.

[TbT]

Playoff results.
Boston sweeps Minnesota, and wins both games 3-1.  Twins got out in front 1-0 in the 1st inning of both games.

Baylor had a couple HRs....don;t have the notes in front of me, but not much excitement in either game.   Twins bats really went in the dumpster this series.  Sox pitchers served up a shit ton of ground balls.

Boston moves on to play Detroit.

With any luck we can play SF @ N.L. tomorrow.

[TbT]

SF @ N.L.
Game 1:
Closely fought battle that goes into the bottom of the 9th tied at 3.  Managerial error sees a tired  Don Robinson serve the game winning homer to Eric Davis in the 9th, even though Garrelts was still in the pen. 

N.L. also had a questionable strategy as Bedrosian got them a rock solid performance as the starter, but Sutcliffe is brought in mid-game instead of Valenzuela.  Had the Giants been able to pul out game 1, they would only have had to face Fernando once in the 3 game series. 

Game 2:
Bedrosian gives the N.L. another great start, and the bats are on fire as N.L. rolls in game 2 by a score of 9-0.  Fernando enters the game with a huge lead and mows through the SF bats.  N.L. leading 4-0 through 4, adds another 3 in the bottom of the 6th. 
NL blasts out 7 homers.  Eric davis hammers out 3 in 2 games, and the N.L. is off to face A.L.

[TbT]

Sad news today as the official RBI and Tecmo Bowl league VCR started smoking and ultimately ceased to function.  The Orion brand VCR was purchased from Nozzys pawn shop in the spring of 2004 for the small sum of around $10-15.

The VCR came with a non-functioning tape eject door, and no remote.  Modification to the unit saw the door ultimately removed and a remote was purchased on ebay just days later.

The VCR recorded an estimated 425 to 450 games of Tecmo Bowl during its career, along with multiple Buccaneers games, an NFL draft, and various college bowl games.

The VCR was a valued member of the team and will be missed.  Multiple contingency plans for acquiring a replacement have been considered.     

[TβG]

i won't believe the vcr is dead until i see some evidence with my own eyes.

[TbT]

Western League Championship Series
Best of 3.

National league @ American league
Game 1:
Bedrock and Jimmy Key took the hill respectively to start the game.  
Dawson hammered out an inside pitch in the 2nd to stake NL to a 1-0 lead.  Canseco and Ripken answered in the bottom of the 2nd with solo shots.   Guerrero knocked out a solo in the 4th to tie things up.   NL eventually went to Sutcliffe again in game 1 after Franco had tired.  This time the move back fired as Harold Baines lined a single to right with 2 outs to score the winning run in the bottom of the 9th.

Not only would Valenzuela not be called on to close out the series in game 2, but the AL would only have to face him once in the 3 games.

Game 2:
Ripken and Baines go yard in the 2nd off Bedrosian and Canseco adds a solo in the 4th as AL gets on top 3-0.  Valenzuela comes in mid-game hoping to pace the NL and give them a shot to come back late.  Instead he hangs one to Canseco that gets destroyed into another galaxy in the 8th.  The 2 run shot puts AL up 5-0 and all but signals the end of the NL's championship hopes.  Saberhagen gets a ground out from Raines to end the game, as he gets through an uneventful 9th inning.

Righetti started off slow having trouble finding the strike zone, but Henke pitched admirably in the middle innings.  Saberhagen only had a short amount of work to do down the stretch to end the threat.  

Looking over the scores from the previous games, the AL only allowed 6 runs to the NL in 4 games this season.    

The American League moves onto the world series and will face either Boston or Detroit in a best of 5 series.

Coming into the series the NL had won 7 of their last 8 and Bedrosian had been key as he allowed very few runs and continually racked up 4+ inning performances.  The AL was able to get to him early in both games and ultimately knock out the NL.

[TbT]

i won't believe the vcr is dead until i see some evidence with my own eyes.

Damn this Dee-Nee all to hell! 

I am not mailing its corpse to you.  Eventualy I will release some photos of the corpse.