WHEN YER HOT, YER HOT
&
WHEN YER NOT, YER NOT
APBA is a simple game, it’s a children’s dice game, to recreate the feel of a baseball game. If you roll good dice & the other guy doesn’t, you win, even if the other guy has the ’27 Yankees and your team more closely resembles Casey Stengel’s New York Mets, it’s just that simple. Although Rob Moore’s charges, the Highlanders, were right on our tail, and neither team looked like the Bronx Bombers, nor the lovable Metropolitans of old. But the dice analogy did hold true, the Champions won six games, in which we scored 45 runs, over seven runs per game. In our three losses we averaged an LP, 33 1/3 – 33, that’s right, we only scored one run total over our three losses.
We congratulate our players upon jobs well done, curse them when they fail to perform, have heart to heart talks with pieces of cardboard, fling them across the room, and even rip them in half when frustration completely overtakes us. Then there are the dice, the lucky dice, or the unlucky dice, in reality, there is no such thing, it’s all random. Do I ever feel like I can control my dice? You bet I do, sometimes. And when I can control them, I am one smart manager. But sometimes I can’t, and then APBA is a very frustrating game!
It doesn’t seem as though these cubes, with numbers on them, are random, not one bit. Although Papa Bunchie is known for coining the phrase, “I just can’t roll any friggin’ numbers!!!” We’ve all been there. We know exactly how he feels. And when we’re rolling numbers out of our butt, there ain’t a better feeling in the world.
I finally returned to Chicago after being out of town from July 5th till August 10th, the lion’s share of that time spent in Santa Barbara, where my brother put a new roof on Lee’s house. The Moore Man agreed to bring his boys to my place for our nine game set before heading off to get together with friends in Indianapolis.
Tim Lincecum posted seven scoreless innings before giving way to the bullpen, leaving with a 3-0 lead. The Highlanders got off the mat to tie the game with three 9th inning runs being charged to Cory Wade, who was trying for a two inning save, Joey Devine came on to stop the nonsense, and keep the game tied heading into the bottom of the 9th. Pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit lifted a sac-fly to left, with 1st & 3rd and one out, to score Matt Joyce from third with the game winner.
In the 2nd game, we scored 7 runs off King Felix & Ryan Madson, and Mark Buehrle went six for the win, with Devine working the 9th for the save. We were out-homered 3-1 (Justin Uptin, Chris Young, & Ivan Rodriguez to ARod). ARod’s was a 6 with a runner on 3rd & 2 out (BTR, better than Ruth).
Matt Cain didn’t have it, we trailed 7-0, Brett Myers worked 4 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. But it wasn’t nearly enough as we scored a single run with two outs in the 9th off Julian Tavarez, who notched the save throwing 4 innings in relief of starter Mark Guthrie. Out-homered three to nothing (Ivan Rodriguez, Lance Berkman, & Adrian Beltre).
My dice came to life in the bottom of the 3rd off Jon Garland, five runs, a big fly off the bat of ARod with the bags juiced was the big blow. DonS doesn’t think it was a coincidence my dice got hot versus Young Jon, more on that later. Andrew Miller (D Y-W) was brought on to stop the bleeding, major hemorrhaging occurred, and the Highlanders lost 11-3. Greg Maddux went six for the win, with Brett Myers (he didn’t allow a run) getting the three inning save. The homers were even at two (Adrian Beltre & Lastings Milledge for them and ARod & Ian Stewart for us.
The last game at Crackerjack Park would feature Ian Snell matched up against Josh Beckett. Snell wouldn’t last long, surrendering eight runs in the first two innings, ARod hit a two run bomb in the 1st, while the Champs hit for the cycle in the 2nd, 10-3 being the final score. ARod & Justin Morneau hit the only long balls of the contest.
Champs bats (dice) erupted (rolled hot) once again in game six, scoring eight off Roy Oswalt in 5 innings. Tim Lincecum got the win, allowing two runs over 7 innings. Home Runs were even at two (JRoll & Grady Sizemore for us and Lance Berkman hit two 2-run shots for them).
Mark Buehrle sued the Champions hitters for lack of support, losing 4-0 to Felix Hernandez & two relievers. All four runs came in the 3rd, a two out, 2-run double by Chris Davis, followed by a homer by Stephen Drew.
Lucky Dice, aka bats, were back for game eight, as the Champs won a tight one, 9-7. Mark Guthrie allowed seven runs in 5 innings, and it was enough for Matt Cain & four relief pitchers. Homers were again even at two (Matt Joyce & Justin Morneau for us and Chris Young & Lance Berkman for them).
Greg Maddux allowed two 2-out runs to score in the 3rd, another in the 7th (a homer by Ivan Rodriguez) and that was all Young Jon Garland needed as he shut us out, 3-0, if that doesn’t show you this game is all about luck, I don’t know what does.
Still we’ll take a 6-3 series win over the Highlanders anytime.