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TCBA Yearbook |
2022 |
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INDEX Seasons 1911 1912 1913 1921 1922 1923 1930 1931 1932 1940 1941 1942 1950 1951 1952 1960 1961 1962 1970 1971 1972 1980 1981 1982 1990 1991 1992 2000 2001 2002 2010 2011 2012 2020 2021 2022 Miscellaneous |
Comments
– Frank Tedeschi - Don
Hirsch has resigned from the TCBA and as a result the Arlington franchise is
now vacant. If anyone knows of a candidate that may have interest in
joining us, please let me know. Always preferred to bring in a known
commodity with existing ties to our membership. It is a bit of a rebuild
effort - but not that bad all in all. 7th from the bottom in team
value, but 7th in cash and with the 7th FA pick. Bob Wood – Ed, we just were informed that Don Hirsch is resigning from TCBA-Today. Would you be interested in a "current" club, again? Frank Tedeschi – Bob, Ed is in our league now. Ed Hebscher - Glad I’m making an impression 🤐 Bob Wood - Sorry Ed - how
soon I forget ......... (I'm just delighted that you are in Origins <G>) Frank Tedeschi - I'm
delighted he is (in) Today! Ed Hebscher - Can somebody
tell me about Tomorrow? Frank Tedeschi - Sure. It will be Thursday. Walt MacEachern (responding to a call for cuts and nominations) – Won’t get to this till tomorrow morning. Ed Hebscher – Was that
intentional???
Bob Wood - Sometimes you just have to
laugh...
Sure. The pitcher's name? Tomorrow. You don't want to tell me today? I'm telling you now. Then go ahead. Tomorrow! What time? What time what? What time tomorrow are you gonna
tell me who's pitching? Now listen… Who is not
pitching. I'll break your arm if you say
who's on first. I want to know what's the pitcher's name. What's on second. I don't know.... Third base Frank Tedeschi - I am very pleased to announce we have a new manager to take over the Arlington franchise. While we have father-son participants in the league we have been missing a good sibling rivalry in our ranks. Please welcome Jeff Sajdak to our TCBA Today family. Larry Smith – Albert Pujols collected home run #600 and hit #3000 on the same pitch on May 21 off Horseshoe Bay’s Huascar Ynoa. http://www.tcba.info/Pujols%203000.htm Walt MacEachern (following a series with Silver Spring) - Frank H. is now officially in the race and MUST pull out all the stops to challenge the Highlanders :) Frank Howard - …(N)ooooooooooooooooooo!!!! 🙃 We "fell forward" and backed into the playoffs last year with a losing record, getting promptly manhandled by the Beacon Braves and losing $33K in the process ($27K vs $60K). I sure hope we don't do it again, LOL. I'm sure Steve will guide the Highlanders to the Capitol Division pennant, and no WC slot for the Senators. 🤞 Steve Lyon - Well not when we can only take 2 of 5 from Hamilton. Michael Mancini - In a meaningless series, Farmington bested Hilton Head 4 out of 5 games. However, Game 1 had some pretty interesting things happen. Salvador Perez hit 2 homers to reach 50 for the year. More importantly, with 1 out in the 3rd inning, Clayton Kershaw struck out Taylor Trammell for his 3000th career strikeout to move into 16th place all time in TCBA history. Kershaw joins both Bethesda's Zack Greinke and Evanston's Max Scherzer in reaching the 3000th strikeout mark this season. Kershaw also picked up his 206th win moving him ahead of both Dazzy Vance and Curt Simmons, who each had 205 victories, into 48th place all time. Kershaw failed to tie Billy Pierce with win #207 in Game 5 of the series when he lost on an unearned run. Kershaw should have 2 or 3 starts left this season to try and tie/pass Pierce. Marty Fiehl - Beacon
sat down on Fri Morning in Harrisburg to do battle with Bethesda in a Semi
Final Matchup. The Scranton GM had a box seat close to the action, to
scout out both squads, as the Spanflies would be playing the winner of this
match in the Finals. Although I don’t have the F file of that semi-final match, I recall that Beacon ‘had their way’ with the Bambino’s……stole a lot of bases, and drove in a lot of runs. Braves went out to a 3-0 game lead, and there was buzz in the room of the Bambino’s ‘pulling a Rochester’, by losing the first 3, then turning it around and winning the next 4. And Bethesda began copying that strategy right away..., winning game 4. The problem they had was in winning any of the next 3. In this case, the next 1. Beacon took game 5, and the series win, by a 4 game to 1 game score. This gave the Braves 2 days of rest to get the bullpen to full power, and set up the rotation. As much as the Scranton GM was hoping for some injuries to happen in that semi-final matchup, the Braves emerged unscathed. So they advanced to the World Series versus a Scranton team that wrestled and wrangled with Rochester for a full 7 games. “No Rest for the Wicked” would be the appropriate summation of Scranton’s condition heading into the World Series. WORLD SERIES: Beacon vs Scranton It was Standing Room Only (except for those that were
seated and watching on their laptops via Zoom) It was brought up that of the almost 50 season history of Tcba Today…..Beacon and Scranton had NEVER met in a Playoff World Series for the Plaque. Either they were never Playoff Quality at the same time; or one of us would get knocked off before it reached the Final Series. So two Original members finally face off to see who’s the Alpha.
(at least that’s what a matchup might have looked like a couple decades ago) This week-end though,…….it was more like this:
And we both vowed to play until a winner was unveiled, or until our current prescriptions needed to be refilled. (that is several levels below “Last Man Standing”. Not sure either of us would have been answering the bell very many rounds in that kind of cage match.) To look at a ‘snapshot’ of what our two teams are bringing into the Championship, here’s a quick review of the two teams after playing the 162 game Regular Season:
Scranton tied for the League Lead in Fielding Percentage, but the Braves were no slouch, coming in 3rd at getting to the ball cleanly and getting outs. So we can expect some tight, well played games.
Beacon finished 2nd in Offense in the league, and Scranton 5th. Both of us with exactly the same number of Home Runs……and almost the same R/G. (Of note: Rochester hit about 80 MORE Homers than either of us…. and scored ONE full run MORE per game. Just an outstanding offensive achievement by the Cheetahs. If one believes in the old adage of “Walks and Homers wins Apba games”….then the Cheetahs are the Poster Child for that! (and having a Babe Ruth Clone that bats cleanup and leads your Starting Pitching Staff at the same time…..sure doesn’t hurt!)
Pitching-wise: The Braves had one of the most well balanced, fully stocked, pitching staffs, both starting and relieving, that the league has seen in these Modern times. High grades, control, and a bullpen that was both many, and alternate handed. Over the course of the season, they allowed more than 80 runs LESS than the runner up! Scranton finished 5th best in ERA, more than .60 earned runs a game more than Beacon. That ain’t a little. Okay, here we go! GAME 1…
Scranton’s Adrian Houser goes SIX shutout innings, and 3 relievers finish up with 3 more zero’s….as Scranton handcuffs the Beacon hitters en route to a 3-0 Opening Game Win! GAME 2…. Scranton pitchers go FIVE more shutout innings to start
off the game, getting the first four from Tyler Mahle, with Eric Swanson
adding another one to it. Thru 5 innings complete, Scranton held a 2-0 lead. The Beacon batters looked flat, couldn’t get a rally of any kind going. They chipped away with two single runs, and managed a 2-2 tie thru 9. Things were tense, Beacon would get a runner on, but couldn’t get that two out hit to bring him home. The Beacon bullpen held down Scranton batters, but finally, in the 12th we score a run on a double play ground ball. Scranton wins this one in 13 innings, 3-2, while getting only 5 base hits. GAME 3…. Beacon’s Starling Marte wakes up! He was oh for nine
in the first two games. As leadoff hitter, his impotence hamstrung the
Beacon offense. But today, he puts 2 hits up on the board, along
with 3 stolen bases. He was the sparkplug that was misfiring in the
Beacon motor. Scranton got most of their offense today from a 2 run dinger by Jorge Polanco. Meanwhile, Freddie Peralta was tossing a solid game for Scranton. In 6 1/3, he only gave up 2 Beacon runs, with a mere 1 walk, and TEN big strikeouts! Scranton starters have been able to work into the middle innings before giving way to the bullpen. In this case; Bleier and Swanson finished it with 2 2/3rds shutout innings, and Scranton wins a squeeker; 3 to 2! GAME 4….. Beacon Bats Breakout Bigly! Michael Brantley with 3 hits, and Einar Diaz with a Monster 3 run dinger! This one downgrades Scranton pitcher, Framber Valdez, as Beacon puts up a Six Spot in the 4th inning. They don’t score anymore after this……but they don’t have to. The Brave pitching holds down the Scranton bats, and Beacon WINS this one 6-2. On top of that, they hit often-injured Luis Robert with two fastballs. He goes to the ground each time, but somehow stands up and trots to firstbase. We breathe a sigh of relief. The Braves live to see another day, and wonder if this was where the momentum changes and swings Beacon’s way. GAME 5…. Beacon throws their Ace, Strohman in the hopes that he can
be effective this time……but he was not. We knock him out of the game
before the 3rd inning. Scranton scores FIVE in the 3rd
inning and Stohman’s going to the showers. Brandon Belt wakes up and
strokes a 2 run homer to finally contribute some offense to Scranton’s cause. Beacon doesn’t pout about it, they keep plugging away, tallying single runs in 5 out of the first 8 innings. The Braves put up FOUR homers in this game. Two by Goldschmidt. They tie it up 5-5. Bot 8th….. Beacon has their stud reliever, Aaron Lefty Loup on the mound. His grade 25 is a killer on my lefty hitters….his 1st inning of relief went 1-2-3. But now, in his 2nd inning, he might be getting a little tired. He gives up a hit and run single to Lux, a lefty, and up steps yet another lefthanded hitter in Brandon Belt. We already pulled Ruf and our other firstbaseman, Pavin Smith was used to pinch hit. So we gotta keep Belt in the game, and at the plate, his minus 3 handicap be damned. At this point, we don’t even know if its possible to get a base hit against a Net Grade 28. And then we get the answer to that: Yes it is! A HOMER! He buries it! It more than clears the rightfield fence for a three run homer, Belts 2nd in the game. This puts us ahead 8-5 and Beacon will be down to their last 3 outs. Top 9……Generic reliever Rich Rodriguez takes the mound for Scranton, looking for those 3 outs. Rodriguez has been out of ML baseball all season, so he’s kind of an Innocuous guy to be in the game with a World Series on the line. Rich gives up a single and double, and a single run, but he gets the third out before any more runs score, and Scranton WINS the game 8-6! And we win the World Series 4 games to 1. End of series team category stats look like this:
Fielding was pretty much even, with both teams botching 2 plays. But the BIG difference comes in the stolen bases. Scranton only stole ONE base, as the +6 on the Beacon Catcher scared the beejeebers out of our runners, and they hugged firstbase when they got there. Beacon, on the other hand, ran like Richard Pryor on crack, as the Brave runners rack up 13 stolen bases against Daulton Varsho, who then tells us that he’s a pretty fine outfielder, and why don’t we use him out there next season?
Pitching-wise….the two teams were fairly even….not all that many runs scored for a 5 game series.
Batting….neither team has anything to be proud of there. The main difference is that Beacon had TWICE as many xbase hits than Scranton, 18 to 9. The Spanflies had the same number of walks, and less hits than Beacon, yet we outscored them 19-16. I guess we just came thru in the clutch more than the Braves did. There is no doubt the breaks broke Scranton’s way….a lineout double play from second base to pick the runner off of third, broke the back of a crucial Beacon rally, stands out in my mind. A couple of games with dead bats for Beacon, and a couple of breaks for Scranton is all it takes in a short series to pull an upset, and the Spanflys were able to take full advantage of it. We definitely think that Beacon had the better 26 man team…winning the most games in the league during the Regular season……..but in the short Playoff series, we were able to put 4 wins on the board before Beacon was able to get 2. Hats off to the Beacon general manager for building one of the better all around teams seen in many, many seasons. Their 117 wins was testament to that. Scranton knows that Jo Boo was on the Spanflys side in this one!
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