Week Nine: Summary of Series

And now for something new
Weekend off results in a tie
By Beth Sass / hereforthesass.blogspot.com

OAKLAND -- The Here for the Sass team faced the Tygers. Prior to the series, Tygers’ manager Kristie said that her team, in a similar way to the Sass, liked to take weekends off. The Sass felt this could be a fun match-up because the playing up until Thursday would be completely irrelevant. However, as the teams took great joy in working as hard as they could at taking it easy for the weekend. In the end, it turned out that the teams were evenly matched, ending with a 6-6 tie.

Again, hitting led the way for the Sass, taking 4 of 6 categories, while pitching took 2 of 6. The final results were: runs (27-26), home runs (8-5), RBIs (30-20), stolen bases (1-4), walks (14-18), average (.276-.247), wins (3-4), saves (2-6), strike-outs (28-44), holds (3-1), ERA (3.64-4.19), and WHIP (1.53-1.19).

“The Sass were clearly not showing patience at the plate, as the walks show clearly, while they were seeing the ball very well, as shown by their home runs and batting average. The Tygers, clearly, were seeing the ball much better, as the Sass had significantly less strike-outs by their pitchers,” Beth said, analyzing the stats provided by Justin Duchscherererererer’s database of stats.

Leading the way in hitting were outfielder Jermaine Dye and third baseman Edwin Encarnacion. Jermaine led the team in runs (8) and home runs (3); e.e. led the team in RBIs (7), and batting average (.368). Carlos Guillen had the only stolen base (Mrs. Guillen sent the Sassians apple crisp in honor of it), while Adam Dunn led the team in walking 5 times.

“Sometimes it pays to just watch the ball,” Adam said of his free-swinging teammates.

For the bench, only Mark Grudzielanek had any playing time last week, and his .500 batting average, 2 runs, and RBI show his worth in the line-up.

“Playing off the bench is hard,” Mark said, “But it’s something I need to do. There’s no excuse for not getting things done at the plate. It’s my job, and I take it very seriously.”

The pitching again proved that it’s a group effort. The Sassian pitchers were allowing too many hits to fall in, but were fortunately tempering their hits with just enough key outs to avoid runs from scoring.

“The relievers really are turning into a hold machine,” Beth said, “I hope they keep it up. It’s nice to see one category where we’ve got a strong hold on.”

Brandon Medders had 2 holds, while Carlos Silva made a relief appearance to get him a hold, too. Ambiorix Burgos worked hard early this week and was rewarded with the opportunity to get some saves. While his pitching wasn’t spectacular, and Beth always keeps a bottle of Ambiorix nearby when he pitches, Ambiorix did manage to pull off 2 saves. Brad Halsey managed to get the lone win of the relievers, while Julio Mateo took the honors as the reliever with the best ERA (1.93), and WHIP (1.07). Both Matt Guerrier and Julio had 2 strike-outs.

“Clearly, we need some more strike-outs by our relievers,” Beth said, “Although I guess as long as they’re preventing runs from scoring and getting holds, I’d be okay with ground-outs and fly-outs. The final result of an out is really all that matters.”

Among the starters, Aaron Harang and Chan Ho Park proved themselves leaders, with both getting wins in their games and having team-leading WHIP of 1.17, while Chan Ho had the most strike-outs (8), and the best ERA (0.00).

The 14th place Here for the Sass team (39-64-5) will be facing the 3rd place Save the Twinkies (62-39-7) this coming week.

“This looks like the exact match-up we need to make a strong showing. We need to go out and show the BFL that although we’re here for the sass, we’re not to be taken lightly,” Beth said. To prepare her team for the week, the Sassians will take a field trip to Valleyfair on Monday before the game. Sunscreen will be worn by all players, and plenty of breaks will be scheduled, in hopes of avoiding any possible negative affect.

“We just want to have fun, relax, and bond as a team,” Beth said. Rumors indicate that the entire staff from Nice will join the team for the day.