Sim #13 Completed

We're now into June. The sun is out. The weather is warm. Most importantly, the good looking women are wearing much more revealing clothing.

In the Platonic League, Seattle has opened up a four-game lead over second place Maryland. Stockholm has passed Sylva to claim third place, with the two squads standing six and seven games back respectively. Pittsburgh is solidly in fifth (although the hottest PL team with a 7-3 record in its last 10 games), with Cairo in last.

In the Socratic League, chaos continues to reign. On the roulette wheel that is the league standings, Jersey City holds the top spot today. Winnipeg is one-half game back, with the wild card. Helena is just 1 game behind Winnipeg and 1.5 games behind Jersey City in third. Marietta is in fourth by percentage points as both the Mammoths and the fifth-place Brooklyn Bombers are only three games out of first. Only last place New York has really solidified its place in the league, as the Knights are hoping that Roy Hobbs will be available with the first pick in next year's draft.

In the latest bullet-point news items...

The monthly best were recognized during Nate's sim, but due to workload didn't get their proper credit. Seattle swept the Platonic awards as Thomas Holte won Pitcher of the Month for May and Carlos Araoz was named Batter of the Month. In the Socratic League, Brooklyn's Trevor Canela was the top hurler while Winnipeg's Hung Odell was the top hitter. (And if you think I didn't put this news item in just so I could point out Hung Odell's name, you obviously don't know me at all.)

Seattle continued its award-winning ways as Thomas Wilkerson was named PL Player of the Week while Marietta's Constantino Martinez won the SL award for the sixth time.

Injury was added to insult for Cairo as they lost #1 starter Baltasar Acevedo for 4-5 weeks due to bone chips in his elbow. Acevedo had just a 2.52 ERA and was clearly not the reason for his dismal 3-9 record.

That wasn't the only significant injury though. Helena lost third sacker Ben Anguita was hit by a pitch and will be out 5 weeks due to a broken finger. I'm sure we all believe that the pitch from Winnipeg's Hernando Desalvo just slipped. No way it's the first stirrings of Skynet flexing its virtual muscles. No sirree.

Stockholm lost reliever Ralph Ferri for the season when he ruptured a disc in his back. Ouch! His ratings may not have overwhelmed, but Ralph had just a 2.79 ERA in the first two months of the campaign.

Finally, the most amusing injury was sustained by Seattle's John Covas, who suffered a scratched cornea in an alleged bar fight. He's day-to-day for the next ten days or so. The sad thing is that there really was no bar fight. He simply got drunk and jabbed his finger in his own eye while gesturing during an argument over what was the best entrance song ever for a closer. (The correct answer, of course, is Hells Bells for Trevor Hoffman.)

On the field, Marietta smoked Brooklyn 11-1 on June 2. Tough day for the defending champs.

On June 3, Cairo pushed a run across in the bottom of the ninth to nip Maryland 5-4.

On June 4, Marietta and Brooklyn went an extra frame in a tense pitchers' duel before the Mammoths scored a 2-1 victory to finish off a four-game sweep.

On June 5, Stockholm beat Sylva 4-3 in a wild ten inning contest. The score was 1-1 going into the ninth. When Stockholm's Suguru Mutsuhito stroked a two-run bomb in the top of the ninth, the contest looked sealed. Sylva came back though and plated two in the bottom half of the inning. Charles "Chick" Hicklin won the game though in the top of the tenth for Stockholm with his seventh home run of the season, a solo shot.

On the same day, Pittsburgh's Wilfredo Desilve somehow scattered seven hits and five walks over 8.2 shutout innings as Pittsburgh topped Maryland 6-0.

That's it for now. The league file is posted and web pages are en route. Nate's got the next sim on Friday.

Edited to add: Nate just reminded me that I'm running the sim this Friday. Sorry.