Monthly Archives: April 2017

What could Bryce Harper’s April lead to?

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As we head into the games on Saturday, the Washington Nationals hold the best record in the Majors at 16-7 (.696).

Whilst Ryan Zimmermann’s outstanding April catches the eye after a poor 2016 season, the figurehead for the Nationals’ great start once again has been Bryce Harper.

He’s hitting .405 /.519/.786 with 8 home runs through the first 23 games and if you had him down as your prediction to be the National League MVP this season, there’s reason to be confident that he’ll prove you right.

However, when I saw him at the top of FanGraphs’ WAR position player leaderboard, my first though was ‘didn’t he does this last year?’

This is Harper’s monthly breakdown from 2016:

Month BA OBP SLG OPS HR
April/March 0.290 0.410 0.710 1.120 9
May 0.200 0.420 0.360 0.790 4
June 0.280 0.380 0.420 0.800 3
July 0.180 0.300 0.320 0.620 4
August 0.310 0.400 0.540 0.930 3
Sept/Oct 0.210 0.330 0.320 0.650 1

In a sense the answer is ‘yes’ as he launched a load of home runs, but his strong batting line in April 2016 pales in comparison to the ridiculous numbers he has this year.

Looking at that table though, what stands out is how April was his best month. There was plenty of talk of potential injuries that Harper was playing through last season, so the next question to ask is whether last year was just a one-off?

The following provides Harper’s batting lines over his career so far per month (I’ve left out HR’s as April would understandably be boosted by his 2017 total compared with the other months).

Month BA OBP SLG OPS
April/March 0.324 0.431 0.638 1.069
May 0.264 0.405 0.545 0.950
June 0.304 0.387 0.505 0.892
July 0.236 0.344 0.393 0.737
August 0.286 0.376 0.482 0.858
Sept/Oct 0.290 0.384 0.518 0.901

The first thing to note is that he doesn’t exactly get into a slump at any point, although he looks mortal in July for some reason, but the stats show that April has been his best month and that he hasn’t matched his start the rest of the year. His 2017 numbers boost the April line too, of course, but the trend is there regardless.

The MLB season is a 162 marathon and we hear a lot about how the games, and heat, catch up with everyday players as the season goes on, so it’s worth considering if this is a more general trend. Firstly, we can look at the other great young position player in the Majors, Mike Trout.

Month BA OBP SLG OPS
April/March 0.305 0.391 0.558 0.948
May 0.306 0.386 0.568 0.955
June 0.349 0.431 0.605 1.036
July 0.319 0.413 0.610 1.022
August 0.289 0.401 0.525 0.926
Sept/Oct 0.280 0.413 0.511 0.924

Although his batting average goes down in August and September (again, down is relative here), his on-base percentage is higher and there’s certainly not the clear difference we see with Harper’s numbers.

Trout and Harper may be linked as the two great players of their generation, yet they’re not identical hitters so let’s complete the research by looking at batting lines across the whole of the Majors in 2016.

Month BA OBP SLG OPS
April/March 0.249 0.319 0.405 0.724
May 0.255 0.319 0.414 0.733
June 0.263 0.328 0.432 0.760
July 0.252 0.318 0.413 0.730
August 0.259 0.323 0.428 0.751
Sept/Oct 0.253 0.322 0.411 0.733

We’re bringing together a total of 184,580 plate appearances here and the averages, by their nature, will smooth out the exceptions, so this doesn’t show that Harper is unique in hitting better in April, but it does show there isn’t a wider trend that this is part of.

However, there has been one notable season from Harper in which he didn’t peak in April: 2015.

Month BA OBP SLG OPS HR
April/March 0.286 0.440 0.545 0.985 5
May 0.360 0.495 0.884 1.379 13
June 0.370 0.452 0.691 1.143 6
July 0.300 0.440 0.575 1.015 5
August 0.327 0.460 0.449 0.909 2
Sept/Oct 0.333 0.469 0.747 1.216 11
Season 0.330 0.460 0.649 1.109 42

There was no drop-off from April there, in fact he went bananas in May with 13 homers. Harper does tend to get into home run grooves – as do most power hitters – but when you can hit two homers in a month and still put up an OPS of .900, as he did in August, it goes to show that he is much more than ‘just’ a home-run hitter.

Harper’s 2015 season won him an MVP award. He’s going to have a post-April tail-off this year because he’s hit .405 /.519/.786 in April (with a couple of games to go) and you can tail off quite a bit and still put together a great season.

Yet his other-worldly start does make me excited for what numbers Harper could put up this season and what that could mean for the promotion of baseball.

Harper is exactly the sort of player who could grab the attention of sports fans in countries that don’t currently concentrate much on baseball.

Even if his performances on the field don’t quite manage that, the contract he signs when he becomes a free agent at the end of next season certainly will.

BGB Fantasy League 2017: Week Three

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It’s time to look back at week three of the BaseballGB fantasy league, which featured a large number of very close matchups. Which teams are still off to a flying start and which unlucky managers had MadBum and Starling Marte?

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Jesmond Dennings 29 6 20 1 .269 .786 2 2 45 5 2.05 0.98 2
The Bath Bombers 32 6 27 5 .274 .789 6 1 51 6 2.25 0.95 9

The Bombers are top after their impressive 9-2 win against Jesmond. The hitters fell a homer shy of an offensive sweep as Eric Thames and Michael Brantley did most of the damage.

The Bombers lost Miggy to the DL but at least Trea Turner and Kipnis returned. Darvish was one of six pitchers with a win, led the staff with 12 strikeouts and teamed with Carrasco and Wacha to take WHIP. Votto had a three-homer week for Jesmond while McCullers helped take ERA and Casilla had two saves.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Orpington Isotopes 24 7 29 4 .253 .749 0 5 44 1 6.30 1.45 4
Cheshunt Maltsters 23 7 26 6 .244 .732 2 6 60 1 2.36 1.05 6

It was a pretty poor week for the Isotopes as they suffered a 6-4 defeat to the Maltsters and had the small matter of a massive ban for Marte to deal with as well. Fair play to Cheshunt who deserved the victory.

Altuve and Jose Ramirez each hit two homers and had two steals while Kluber, Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez took care of wins, strikeouts, ERA and WHIP in a very impressive week for the pitchers. Brach had three saves. Arenado and Cruz helped my team salvage four offensive categories but it was a pretty miserable week for the pitchers.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Durham Riverkings 21 9 27 3 .259 .748 3 1 37 2 2.57 1.11 6
Weston-Super-Sox 27 7 27 7 .300 .808 1 3 31 0 4.10 1.21 5

The Riverkings edged past the Sox 6-5. Shaw had three homers and knocked in eight while Leake won again and Eickhoff and Santana helped take ERA and WHIP. The pitching staff has been hit by injuries to Gray and MadBum though.

The Sox had the better of the offense as Betts scored four runs, drove in nine, swiped three bases and teamed with Braun to take average and OPS. Maurer had two saves on a pitching staff riddled by injuries.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Mighty Slugs 41 15 43 2 .311 .980 1 1 50 2 6.17 1.58 6
Richie’s RBI’s 43 11 32 1 .299 .885 2 1 40 3 1.63 0.89 5

The Slugs hit their way to a 6-5 win over the RBIs in a matchup full of power. Story hit three homers and knocked in eight while Trout stole two bases and teamed with Souza to take average and OPS. Archer led the staff with nine strikeouts.

The RBIs were unlucky not to win more offensive categories given the impressive numbers – particularly a 10-run, three-homer, 7 RBI, .550 week for Harper. Benoit had two holds while Tanaka and Nova took care of wins, ERA and WHIP.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Newcastle Knights 21 8 26 0 .271 .789 4 4 69 1 5.31 1.45 4
Norwich No II 36 11 26 4 .245 .750 3 4 45 1 4.39 1.36 5

Norwich squeezed past the Knights 5-4 in another closely-fought matchup. Freeman hit four homers and scored seven times while Tomas went deep three times and drove in eight. Duffy made the difference in ERA and WHIP. Stanton hit .400 with four homers for the Knights while Salazar picked up a win and led the staff with 16 strikeouts.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Iron Men 25 6 23 2 .268 .798 3 7 35 0 3.23 1.14 6
The Cheddar Chasers 26 7 31 3 .251 .776 1 2 50 3 6.27 1.63 6

The Chasers and Iron Men couldn’t be separated, drawing 6-6. Polanco and Haniger helped Iron Men take average and OPS while Oh and Giles had three saves and Manaea picked up a win and helped take ERA and WHIP. Goldschmidt scored six runs while Duvall and Fowler hit two homers each for the Chasers. Ray struck out 16 and Wilson had two holds.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Batteries Essential 26 7 26 9 .255 .751 2 3 42 1 4.43 1.38 6
Beckenham A&E Dept 23 8 25 6 .238 .707 4 4 52 0 2.52 1.00 6

Another matchup, another tie. This time Batteries Essential and the A&E Dept finished all square. Pollock and Blackmon did most of the offensive damage for Batteries Essential while Glover had the lone hold.

Beckenham had the edge in homers thanks to three from Rizzo and two each for Bruce and Schoop. Scherzer picked up a win and helped take ERA and WHIP while Wainwright struck out nine and Davis had two saves.

Close matchups

I’m not sure we’ve ever had so many close matchups in a single week, with five out of seven being decided by one category or ending in a tie. That bodes well for a very competitive league this year. What with a number of injuries this past week, it might not be a bad idea to make sure you use your DL spots and either scour the free agent pool for help or have a look at the other rosters in case there are any trade possibilities.

Week four matchups:

Bombers (1st) v Slugs (9th)

Norwich (2nd) v Riverkings (5th)

Sox (3rd) v A&E Dept (11th)

Isotopes (4th) v Iron Men (13th)

RBIs (6th) v Knights (12th)

Maltsters (7th) v Batteries Essential (10th)

Chasers (8th) v Jesmond (14th)

MLB This Week: Astros-Indians, Nats-Rockies, Dodgers-Giants

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Tuesday to Thursday are the days to watch some live baseball at a convenient time this working week.

The Astros-Indians series will all be pre-midnight starts, although at 23.10 they are certainly the later end of the scale.

Elsewhere, the Royals versus White Sox should be an interesting match-up on Wednesday with Jose Quintana set to take the mound.

It’s been a sketchy start to the season for Quintana after spending the off-season wondering which team he would be playing for. He’s still with Chicago for now and, as is the way for a rebuilding team, they will hope he can get back to top form to keep his trade value high.

There are seven early games on Thursday including a potential Bartolo Colon start against the New York Mets and games from series between the Nationals and Rockies, and the Dodgers and Giants.

All times are in BST.

Monday 24 April

No early games

Tuesday 25 April

23:10    Astros at Indians (Keuchel (3-0), Tomlin (1-2)) *MLB.com Free Game

Wednesday 26 April

18:40    Reds at Brewers (Adleman (0-0), Peralta (3-1))
19:10    Royals at White Sox (Karns (0-1), Quintana (0-4)) *BT Sport/ESPN
23:10    Astros at Indians (McCullers Jr. (2-0), Bauer (1-2))

Thursday 27 April

18:05    Marlins at Phillies (Conley (1-1), Hellickson (3-0))
18:10    Braves at Mets (Colon (1-2), TBD)
18:10    Mariners at Tigers (Iwakuma (0-2), Verlander (1-2))
18:45    Blue Jays at Cardinals (TBD, Wainwright (1-3)) *MLB.com Free Game
20:10    Nationals at Rockies (TBD, TBD)
20:45    Dodgers at Giants (TBD, TBD) *BT Sport/ESPN
23:10    Astros at Indians (Fiers (0-1), Kluber (2-1))

Friday 28 April

No early games.

All of these games are available to watch or listen to live via an MLB.TV subscription. TV coverage of MLB in the UK comes courtesy of the BT Sport channels and these are highlighted above, as are any games that are available to view online for free via MLB.com. The above list of games just shows those starting before midnight UK time. The full schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com.

Thank you for the A’s: More fun when you win

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Four wins out of four certainly makes the baseball world seem a better place.

The Oakland A’s have turned on the style this week, buoyed by being at home in a city that the team looks set to call home for years to come.

The A’s marketing slogan this year, ‘Rooted in Oakland’, is a clear message of intent while the other sport teams in the area (Golden State Warriors in the NBA, and the Oakland Raiders in the NFL) get ready to move away in the next few years.

It’s not as though the A’s have been immune from the attraction of relocation, as the dalliances with Fremont and San Jose over the past 10 years prove, but through design or default it is they who are the last team standing.

This year has seen a complete change of tone from the club thanks to the arrival of new President Dave Kaval. He has made it his mission to be accessible and open with the fans and whilst undoubtedly there is a ‘good PR’ business aspect behind this, there still seems to be a genuine intent to reconnect with the fans after strained relations in recent years.

Kaval joined the A’s broadcasting crew during Friday night’s game against the Seattle Mariners to confirm that the team will announce the chosen site for the new ballpark this year, so there’s every reason to be happy as an Oakland fan and the team have even managed to put together a winning streak to enjoy.

Wins keep on coming

Two wins against the Texas Rangers and then two more against the Seattle Mariners have put the team on a 9-8 record.

The second win against Texas was the series finale on Wednesday and a day-game to enjoy during the British evening. The A’s jumped on Texas’ starting pitcher Martin Perez by scoring four runs in the first inning on their way to a comfortable 9-1 victory.

Khris Davis continued his home-run-hitting ways and once again spoke about his connection with the team and city, something you don’t hear much of from A’s players.

“I like coming to this ballpark,” Davis said. “It’s a grungy stadium, but I don’t need the fancy art, high-tech stadium to perform. I just go out there and play”.

You’ll find most comments about Oakland (either the current ballpark or the city in general) have a certain back-handed compliment feel to them and it often seems like the A’s almost treat that as a badge of honour.

Still, I expect players and fans alike will quite enjoy a “fancy art, high-tech stadium” once we finally have one.

Valdez faces the M’s

After the two wins against Texas to take that series 2-1, the A’s began a four-game series against the Seattle Mariners on Thursday night.

The big story in the opener was Cesar Valdez getting the start for Oakland. If your reaction to that name is ‘who?’ you’d be saying the same word as most A’s fans when it became clear he would make the spot-start in place of injured Kendall Graveman (the A’s nominal ace in place of the injured Sonny Gray).

Valdez is no rookie, he’s 32 years old and prior to Thursday his last Major League start came in June 2010. His Big League return didn’t last long, he pitched four innings and was optioned back to the Minors after the game, but he did all you could ask of him by keeping the team in the game and it’s a great story for him to have made it back to the big-time at all.

The weekend

The final two games of the series on Saturday and Sunday are both 21.05 BST starts, which will be particularly welcome as the A’s next series in Anaheim is the first of the season so far in which none of the contests are day-games.

Marcus Semien won’t be involved as the only real blow from the week has been him heading to the DL, likely for a couple of months, due to a wrist injury.

There were no dirt-bikes involved though, so that’s something.

MadBum indeed.

A History of Norwich baseball

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It’s always encouraging to see new clubs joining the British baseball leagues.

One of the new entrants to the BBF in 2017 are Norwich Iceni, particularly exciting for me as they are based in my home city.

As shown by BaseballSoftballUK’s Team Finder map, the area has a number of softball teams as part of the Norfolk Softball Association, but there’s plenty of space for baseball too.

The two nearest baseball blue flags belong to the Cambridge Royals/ Monarchs in Cambridgeshire, who brought baseball back to the city in 2011, and the Haverhill Blackjacks in Suffolk.

Norwich Iceni will be the first league team in the city since the Norwich Wanderers of the early 1990s, joining the UEA (University of East Anglia) Blue Sox who compete in the university leagues.

UEA, alongside Nottingham and Southampton, were one of the key places that helped get the University Baseball scene up and running again 10 years or so ago, and UEA graduates are part of the group that have formed Norwich Iceni.

Norwich baseball history

Thanks to the Iceni club being born, a local newspaper clip was uncovered and published on their website about the Norwich Wanderers being founded in 1991.

It explains that the team was formed in 1991 and that, as known at the time (and yet to be disproved) they were the first baseball team in the city’s history (outside of the UEA team).

The team was based in Heartsease, an estate to the north-east of the city centre, and the article includes several photos of the team, showing their red and white uniform.

Inspired by the newspaper clip and Norwich Iceni’s 2017 debut this coming Sunday, I’ve undertaken some research in the records we have digitised and available online as part of Project Cobb to put together what we know about the Norwich Wanderers.

If you have any further details, please do get in contact.

1991 – Friendlies?

Norwich Wanderers were formed in 1991. Whether they played in a league in their debut year, or played friendly games as and when they could, is not confirmed. The newspaper article states that they were expecting to play Mildenhall in 1991 and the Old Timers website notes that they played Norwich in this period so it’s possible they had a game or two that year.

1992 – BBF Anglia League

Norwich competed in a BBF Anglia League alongside Bury Saints B, Stevenage Knights, Tiptree Hotsports Rays and UEA Anglians.

The UEA Anglians were part of the university in Norwich and the press article states that the UEA had been running a baseball team for a couple of years prior to the Wanderers starting out in 1991.

The press article also shows an interesting link with Tiptree Hotsports Rays. Norwich were able to gain sponsorship from the local Hot Sports shop and so presumably the branch in Tiptree supported their local team for several years too.

Further details about the 1992 season have not been uncovered to this point. If you can fill in any blanks, please get in contact.

1993 – BBF Midlands Division One

In 1993, Norwich Wanderers competed in the BBF Midlands Division One (details from the Brit-Ball series). The teams were as follows:

  • Derby Crowns
  • Leicester Hawks
  • Long Eaton Sluggers
  • Newark Giants
  • Norwich Wanderers
  • Nottingham Pirates

The season started on 9 May and Norwich took an 18-14 defeat at the hands of Nottingham, with Newark Giants crushing Derby 44-2 (no ‘mercy’ rules in effect in this league, by the looks of it!).

One week later and Norwich took another loss, this time a heart-breaker against those Newark Giants. Newark got a 26-25 walk-off victory to send the Wanderers to an 0-2 start.

By 13 June Norwich had a 1-2 record, with the other results recorded and league table showing that the win must have come against either Derby or Long Eaton.

However, that’s where the Brit-Ball records end. A league table and results from the Midlands League are conspicuous by their absence from August onwards and the record of 1993 champions in Issue 7 doesn’t include a winner from the Midlands League.

That would all suggest that the League petered out for some reason during the course of the season and wasn’t completed.

1994 – BBF Division Three South

Norwich Wanderers were one of five new teams that joined the 10-team BBF Division Three South in 1994 (details from the Brit-Ball series and the Line Drive series)

The regular season standings were split into a North and South league, with Norwich being in the North, although teams faced each other over the two leagues.

North South
Cambridge Fellows Brighton Buccaneers B
Fulham Flames Burgess Hill Red Hats
Milton Keynes Truckers Eastbourne Aces
Norwich Wanderers Gloster Meteors B
Waltham Abbey Cardinals Guildford Mudcats

Thanks to the Brit-Ball records, we’re able to piece together Norwich’s entire season, with just one educated guess along the way.

Norwich started off their season on 8 May with a 24-14 victory over Fulham before splitting a double-header with Milton Keynes on 15 May. A comfortable 29-0 win over Waltham Abbey on 22 May gave the Wanderers a 3-1 start to the season before a rest weekend for the Spring Bank Holiday.

Norwich resumed their campaign on 5 June. Comparing against the published standings shows that they must have lost that day. The Brit-Ball records don’t show that result but they do show part of a 9-0 victory for Milton Keynes (presumably a forfeit) with their opponent obscured by the way the page has been scanned. It’s likely, if not 100% certain, that it was Norwich who forfeited that game.

The Wanderers then won six games in a row before facing off once again against Milton Keynes on 31 July. The Truckers won 13-4 and, with a couple of assumptions built in (the possible earlier forfeit loss to MK and guessing the likely tie-breaker), that would prove decisive in terms of splitting the teams in the final standings.

Norwich were handed a forfeit win on 7 August against Waltham Abbey and then edged a one-run contest with Brighton (17-16) on 14 August to put them on an 11-3 record for the season to that point.

A chastening 30-1 loss at the hands of Burgess Hill followed on 21 August and that proved to be Norwich’s last action of the season, as their final game against Guildford was forfeited by their opponents.

That all meant that Norwich had compiled a 12-4 record; however during the course of the season Cambridge Fellows and Eastbourne Aces withdrew from the league and results against those teams were removed from the standings. Three of Norwich’s wins came against Cambridge (two by way of forfeit) so their record in the final standings was 9-4 (Norwich didn’t play against Eastbourne).

Norwich ended the season with the same record as Milton Keynes, but the Truckers were crowned as the North division champions, with Norwich in second place. Burgress Hill won the South division, with Brighton coming second.

Issue 16 (July/August) of Brit-Ball includes batting and pitching leaders and there are three Norwich names in there: Wightman and Bond on the batting side, and Nock on the pitching side.

Listed below are Norwich’s full results and the final standings.

8 May. Fulham 14 – Norwich 24 (Nch Win-loss record: 1-0)
15 May (Double-header). Norwich 11 – Milton Keynes 26 (1-1)
15 May (DH). Norwich 16 – Milton Keynes 3 (2-1)
22 May. Waltham 0 – Norwich 29 (3-1)
29 May. No game
5 June. Norwich played and lost, possibly a 9-0 forfeit to Milton Keynes (3-2)
12 June. Gloster 11 – Norwich 16 (4-2)
19 June. No game 
26 June. Norwich 24 – Waltham 11 (5-2)
3 July. No game 
10 July. Fulham 15 – Norwich 26 (6-2)
17 July. Cambridge 0 – Norwich 9 (F)    (7-2)
24 July (DH). Cambridge 0 – Norwich 9 (F)    (8-2)
24 July (DH). Cambridge 3 – Norwich 45 (9-2)
31 July. Norwich 4 – Milton Keynes 13 (9-3)
7 August. Norwich 9 – Waltham 0 (F) (10-3)
14 August. Norwich 17 – Brighton 16 (11-3)
21 August. Burgess Hill 30 – Norwich 1    (11-4)
28 August. Norwich 9 – Guildford 0 (F)    (12-4)

North W L W% GB
Milton Keynes Truckers 9 4 0.692
Norwich Wanderers 9 4 0.692
Fulham Flames 5 8 0.385 4
Waltham Abbey Cardinals 4 9 0.308 5

 

South W L W% GB
Burgess Hill Red Hats 12 1 0.923
Brighton Buccaneers B 10 3 0.769 2
Gloster Meteors B 3 10 0.231 9
Guildford Mudcats 0 13 0 12

1995 – Wanderers off into the sunset

Norwich Wanderers were listed as being entrants in the BBF South – Division Two North league for 1995 in the March 1995 edition of Brit-Ball, showing that there finish in 1994 was enough to earn them promotion.

However the standings for the league in future editions do not include the Wanderers.

It would seem that they were unable to get a team together for that year, and so didn’t take to the field, and that is where the Wanderers’ story comes to an end.

Other notes

Back in November 2008, an article here on BaseballGB about Southern top-tier baseball prompted Herts Baseball’s Paul Auchterlounie to pass on some anecdotes and details from his time in Norwich in the comments section.

Paul joined the Wanderers in 1994 and confirmed that after that season “the departure of several key players (some of whom were US forces personnel)” resulted in the club folding, although he also noted that some social baseball / softball continued for a few years afterwards.

Paul’s comments are copied below:

“Matt – I was interested to read where you live.

I’m from Norwich originally and indeed that is where I first started playing baseball. Having picked up the game whilst in the States on a uni exchange program, I returned to Norwich and found out there was a team – Norwich Wanderers. I joined up and had a mediocre start to the game, competing in the then division 3 south (I think) within the BBF.

The club overall were successful, winning the division, but like so many teams followed success with the departure of several key players (some of whom were US forces personnel) and the club folded.

A few years of social baseball / softball with some of the old guys and some new guys followed, before I moved to Herts in 1999 and found that there was a team here too! Been involved ever since. Is there any likelihood of a team (other than UEA) being started again up in Norwich?”

…

The diamond was on a council field in the Heartsease estate – behind three tall tower blocks. I have no idea whether it’s still there or not (chances are probably not).

The social softball / baseball was mainly played in Eaton Park (big wide open spaces) but with no proper diamond or anything.

One thing I do remember about the diamond is this (it seemed quite funny at the time, but wasn’t when you look back on it): There was a car park around the back of one of the tower blocks. This would be so far into foul territory down the left field line as to be out of sight, and almost in line with where our HR line was.

One of our hitters stepped up to the plate. Big bloke – worked as a bouncer in the city. He absolutely crushed the ball but was way out in front of it and it just kept on carrying into foul territory – right into the car park and smashed the quarter light (I think it’s called) on the back on window of his mates car!! Incredible shot – probably never to be repeated!

…

Also – we had a quite incredible 3rd baseman. Nicknamed Hoover – cos he seemed to field absolutely everything that came his way. Worked on the farms, so was built like the proverbial brick out house and had a bullet of an arm (still don’t think I’ve seen one as good). I was playing 1st base in a training session, and he picked one up to fire over to 1st. I just put my glove out and prayed he’d hit it cos it was travelling about 8 inches above the ground at about 90 mph!!!!

 

The Heartsease diamond is long gone, although baseball and softball has continued to be played intermittently on Eaton Park over the years. Indeed, that’s where Norwich Iceni trained last year.

2017 and beyond

Norwich Iceni are now writing a new chapter in the baseball history of the city. The team will be based at Locksley School, just to the south of the city centre.

It’s possible there will be a home for the team on the university site in the future. Norwich Rugby Club are selling up their current land to housing developers and hope to move to a new sports facility at the UEA. The potential impact on wildlife on the site has prompted plenty of controversy locally and although planning permission was granted in November last year, this decision reportedly is now out for judicial review.

If the move does go ahead, the current plans include space for a baseball field, albeit one that will cut across football, cricket and training areas (see the site plan at the bottom of this Eastern Daily Press news article).

If you’re wondering where the Iceni name comes from, it was the name given to the Celtic tribe that settled in what is now Norfolk (plus parts of north-western Suffolk and eastern Cambridgeshire) in the Late Iron Age. It’s a common name for clubs and organisations in the county (and also a Wetherspoons pub!) and makes for a unique nickname in the British baseball leagues.

Norwich Iceni’s first BBF game takes place on Sunday (23rd) at home against Kent Mariners. Further info about the club can be found on their website, http://www.norwichbaseball.co.uk/, and related social media accounts.

Here’s hoping it’s the start of a successful new club in British baseball and one that will bring the sport to Norwich for years to come.

Thank you for the A’s: Two weeks into 2017

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Unfortunately, it’s probably been a fitting start to this new column.

The original plan was to write up my thoughts on the Oakland A’s opening two weeks on Easter Sunday.

Then Game Two of the A’s series against the Houston Astros happened on Saturday night and I thought I might wait a day for a more positive start.

Sunday’s game was then rained-out, the first postponement of an A’s home game for three years.

So, the omems don’t bode well …

A sign of things to come?

One thing you learn quickly when you jump on board with an MLB team is that in a 162-game season, most individual games don’t count for much. A gut-wrenching loss doesn’t have to hurt too much because chances are you’ll be playing again the next day, then the day after that, and the day after that etc.

I’ll be honest, I’ve always struggled a bit with that. I shouldn’t care too much about the A’s throwing away a 5-0 lead in a mid-April game, but I do.

In this case, there’s some justification in that it probably does serve as an accurate guide to the A’s in 2017. We have some good parts, yet the bad parts keep surfacing at inopportune moments and revealing the limitations of the team this year.

Keeping score and keeping awake

It didn’t help that I’d chosen the game as the first one I would be keeping score of this season. I’ve always enjoyed keeping score of games, irrespective of the fact that every detail you could ever wish for about a game is available at your fingertips online nowadays.

Whenever I’m emailed by Brits who have started getting into baseball and want to learn more about the game, I always recommend they learn to keep score.

Unlike in the States, most of us Brits don’t get into baseball by playing it as kids. Learning to keep score of games is the perfect way to fill the knowledge gap this creates. Quite simply, you have to pay attention to everything that goes on and therefore you pick up on all the little details that otherwise might pass you by.

It also matches up with my love of making things. You either enjoy spending a few hours with a clipboard on your lap, switching between different coloured pens and fastidiously jotting things down on a bit of paper, or the thought of it makes you wonder why anyone would want to do it.

I’m in the former camp, as you’ll see more of in future posts with some of the other things I do in following the A’s season.

A nightmare game

Here’s a scan of my completed scorecard of Saturday’s game, one that tested my commitment to always finishing a started scorecard.

It was the type of slow-paced game that apparently keeps MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred up at night, even to the point of the A’s TV announcers (Mark Mulder filling in for Ray Fosse) picking up on the Astros’ infielders struggling to stay focused in between pitches.

It was all going so well for Oakland after five innings. Trevor Plouffe and Khris Davis had both hit solo home runs in the bottom of the fifth (having both homered the night before) to make it 5-0 to the A’s and Sean Manaea had pitched five no-hit innings.

Then it all went to pot.

Three walks to load the bases and a couple of errors (the A’s have taken an early MLB lead in errors with 15 from their first 12 games) sent Manaea out of the game and started an Astros comeback that resulted in them scoring 10 runs across the 6th to 9th innings.

The game took just under four hours, finishing at 1am UK time. Not the most fun way to spend Saturday night/Sunday morning, it has to be said, but you have to go through the bad games to enjoy the good ones even more.

The good points?

Khris ‘Krush’ Davis has been the main positive story over the first two weeks. He’s a masher, plain and simple, and when you’ve got a few of those guys in your lineup you always feel you have a chance. The A’s really only have one of those guys, but one’s better than none.

It’s wonderful to read how Davis has taken to Oakland since joining the team in the 2015/16 off-season in Jeff Passan’s recent article and that he hopes to be here for years to come.

It’s not so nice to read – and know from previous experience – that Davis is unlikely to be on the A’s for much beyond this season.

Seeing former A’s favourite Josh Reddick serenaded with Careless Whisper on Friday night on his return to the Coliseum with the Astros put that into perspective.

Sometimes it does make sense not to extend a player’s contract and get some players back in a trade before they hit free agency. Jharel Cotton – a poor team’s Pedro Martinez? – has been another bright spot so far and he was part of the package we got back for Reddick and ‘Blistering’ Rich Hill last summer.

However the A’s have struggled for years in attracting free agents to Oakland (as Passan’s article notes). When you’ve got a player that’s quite good and wants to be here, why not spend a bit of money keeping him rather than blowing it on mediocre free agents (yes, the Billy Butler deal comes to mind).

We’re never going to be able to compete with the big spenders, but you know what, it’s nice to have a few players that are quite good, rather than just a collection of players that possibly might be quite good one day and players that are just okay (Jed Lowrie, Yonder Alonso etc).

Coming up

The A’s were 5-5 heading into the weekend series, which was the start of a 10-game home-stand (now a 9-game home-stand), so the two losses against Houston have put us back into sub .500 territory.

Three games against the Texas Rangers, then four against the Seattle Mariners, are what faces us over the next seven days.  Three of them are day-games so are convenient to watch in the British evening.

As for the title (the column, not the World Series)

The column title came about from a typical random thought process:

Easter weekend breakfast consisted of tea and hot cross buns. That reminded me of the lyrics from Autumn Almanac (“Tea and toasted buttered current buns, are to compensate for lack of sun …”) by the Kinks, which got me thinking of other Kinks songs, including Days.

So, Thank you for the A’s (Days) it is.

Although based on how I felt after Saturday’s game, it could have been Stop Your Sobbing instead, or Where Have All The Good Times Gone.

And as for Dead End Street, well things aren’t quite that bad. Yet.

BGB Fantasy League 2017: Week Two

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Which teams would continue their good starts and which were out to prove opening week defeats were not the norm? It’s time to look at the scores from week two of the BaseballGB Fantasy League.

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Iron Men 26 2 24 8 .289 .781 2 3 36 2 4.06 1.19 3
The Bath Bombers 31 12 34 2 .278 .864 3 5 64 1 1.88 1.11 9

The Bombers were the biggest winners of the week, defeating iron Men 9-3. Eric Thames led the team with eight runs and RBIs, launched five homers and unsurprisingly helped take OPS too. Bundy and Taillon each picked up wins on Sunday, teaming with Darvish and Carrasco to take ERA and WHIP while Robertson had three saves. Bogaerts and Cain hit .435 or better for Iron Men while Polanco stole three bases and Giles had a hold.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Mighty Slugs 23 5 17 2 .189 .614 4 0 51 6 3.20 1.24 3
Norwich No II 27 5 22 5 .216 .624 3 4 42 1 2.25 0.98 8

Norwich go top with their 8-3 win against the Slugs. It wasn’t a matchup packed with offense, but Yelich scored eight runs, homered, knocked in six and stole a base. Cotton and Duffy helped take ERA and WHIP while Kimbrel had three saves. Paxton was the star performer for the Slugs, winning twice, striking out 17 and not yet allowing any earned runs this season. Ottavino had three holds.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Cheshunt Maltsters 33 11 42 4 .328 .982 5 3 78 2 3.90 1.19 7
The Cheddar Chasers 37 8 24 5 .284 .825 4 7 50 2 2.82 1.31 4

The Maltsters outslugged the Chasers on the way to a 7-4 win. Ozuna hit four homers and knocked in 12 while Altuve, Jose Ramirez and Avisail Garcia all batted well over .500 for the week. Sale had a win, 22 strikeouts and helped take WHIP. Lindor scored six runs for the Chasers while Dozier swiped two bases. K-Rod had four saves while Ray made the difference in ERA.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Jesmond Dennings 27 11 36 1 .274 .870 2 0 64 2 4.87 1.25 7
Richie’s RBI’s 29 8 30 6 .250 .792 3 4 37 3 5.71 1.39 5

Jesmond picked up their first win of the year by defeating the RBIs 7-5. Cespedes hit five homers and drove in nine while Piscotty knocked in eight and Kepler batted .400. In an up and down week for the pitchers, Pineda won twice and struck out 17, one more than de Grom, as both New York starters helped take ERA and WHIP. Villar swiped three bases for the RBIs while Harper scored eight runs. Chapman had three saves, Rivero three holds and Tanaka and Severino each picked up wins.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Orpington Isotopes 21 8 26 2 .256 .723 4 7 65 0 2.78 1.18 6
Beckenham A&E Dept 21 7 21 2 .272 .792 4 3 55 0 4.16 1.29 2

The Isotopes made it back-to-back wins to start the year but had to dig themselves out of an early hole to defeat Beckenham 6-2. Khris Davis and Cruz made the difference in homers and RBIs while Holland had three saves, Samardzija struck out 15 and Estrada helped take ERA and WHIP. Rizzo and Schoop both hit .409 for the A&E Dept and helped take OPS while Davis and Iglesias picked up wins out of the pen.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Batteries Essential 24 8 21 5 .220 .655 4 0 27 0 3.10 1.22 5
Weston-Super-Sox 29 7 26 4 .307 .862 3 0 29 0 5.25 1.42 5

Batteries Essential and the Sox finished in a 5-5 tie. Franco, Blackmon and Andrus each hit two homers for Batteries Essential while Hamilton stole three bases. King Felix and Gio Gonzalez each picked up wins and helped take ERA and WHIP. Myers helped take average and OPS for the Sox, while Gordon and Springer scored five times and McCann knocked in five. Harvey struck out 11.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Newcastle Knights 25 7 21 2 .231 .739 2 1 49 2 4.65 1.45 5
Durham Riverkings 21 7 20 0 .223 .680 2 2 50 6 2.40 0.97 5

Finally, there was another 5-5 tie as the Knights and Riverkings couldn’t be separated. Stanton hit three homers and knocked in six for the Knights while Chris Davis scored six runs and teamed with Seager and LeMahieu to take average. Renfroe had a multi-homer week for the Riverkings while Santana helped take ERA and whip with his complete game gem, Eickhoff struck out 12, Jansen had two saves and Jones, Dunn and Betances each had two holds.

Week Three matchups:

Norwich (1st) v Knights (12th)

Bombers (2nd) v Jesmond (11th)

Isotopes (3rd) v Maltsters (8th)

Sox (4th) v Riverkings (6th)

RBIs (5th) v Slugs (10th)

Chasers (7th) v Iron Men (14th)

Batteries Essential (9th) v A&E Dept (13th)

MLB This Week: Three days out of five

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There are MLB day-games to enjoy on three days out of five this working week.

The week starts with the traditional Patriots Day early game from Fenway Park. The Red Sox host the Rays in the final game of a four-game series (Boston lead 2-1) with coverage beginning on BT Sport/ESPN at 16.00.

Wednesday offers up three day-games total from the NL Central and the AL West, plus an interleague match between the Miami Marlins and the Seattle Mariners.

The Mariners got off to a slow start but have picked up in recent days and the King’s Court section should be in full voice for this game with Felix Hernandez set to start for the home team.

There are four early games on Thursday, all from the American League and currently scheduled to include appearances from Chris Sale, Corey Kluber and Ervin Santana among others.

Santana has been outstanding in his first three starts for the Twins so his outing against Cleveland will be worth watching to see if he can keep that run going.

All times are listed in BST. Unfortunately, none of the day-games have been selected to be the MLB.com Free Game this week.

Monday 17 April

16:05    Rays at Red Sox (Snell (0-1), Wright (0-1)) *BT Sport/ESPN

Tuesday 18 April

No early games

Wednesday 19 April

18:45    Pirates at Cardinals (Cole (1-1), Wacha (1-1))
19:20    Brewers at Cubs (Milone (1-0), Hendricks (1-1))
20:35    Rangers at Athletics (Perez (1-1), Hahn (0-1))
20:40    Marlins at Mariners (Volquez (0-1), Hernandez (1-1)) *BT Sport/ESPN

Thursday 20 April

17:37    Red Sox at Blue Jays (Sale (1-1), TBD)
18:10    Indians at Twins (Kluber (1-1), Santana (3-0))
18:10    Tigers at Rays (Norris (1-0), TBD)
19:10    Angels at Astros (Shoemaker (0-0), Keuchel (2-0))

Friday 21 April

No early games.

All of these games are available to watch or listen to live via an MLB.TV subscription. TV coverage of MLB in the UK comes courtesy of the BT Sport channels and these are highlighted above, as are any games that are available to view online for free via MLB.com. The above list of games just shows those starting before midnight UK time. The full schedule of MLB games can be found on MLB.com

British Baseball Beat: Hawks, Robots, and Glasgow Galaxy

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The British Baseball season moved into its second week this past weekend and there was plenty of drama along the way.

We’ll be able to digest the news further over the coming Easter weekend, with no games being played. The following weekend will see Triple-A and Single-A getting their league campaigns underway, with the rest of the teams continuing where they left off.

National Baseball League: Results to be determined

Last Sunday saw the Southampton Mustangs playing their first home games as reigning NBL champions.

Both games of their double-header against the Herts Falcons ended early, but for very different reasons.

The Falcons travelled south with two opening day wins in their pockets and a chance to make a statement by getting the better of the champion Mustangs on their own patch.

It looked like they might do just that in the first game, but the victor is still to be decided at time of writing. Herts lodged a protest with the scores tied 7-7 in the sixth inning, reportedly due to believing that the Mustangs had fielded an ineligible player. The BBF are considering the case and will issue a ruling in due course.

There are no such doubts over the winner of the second game, though. The Mustangs took out their frustrations by launching a ball-hitting blitz on Herts. They jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first inning and continued to pile on the runs before the game was called on the mercy rule with Southampton winning 18-2 in five innings.

The other NBL action took place at Townmead Field where the London Capitals and Essex Arrows split a double-header with two lop-sided results. The Arrows fired against the Capitals in the first game to take a 20-3 victory, before the Caps shot back with a 16-5 win in the second-half of the double-header.

The games were most memorable for the Arrows’ Ollie Thompson launching a grand slam on his NBL debut to bring Game One to a Mercy rule conclusion.

Full details of last Sunday’s NBL games can be found in Carli Stehle’s BBF report.

The results currently leave the Falcons and Mustangs tied at the top of the standings on 2-1 records, with the BBF’s ruling on Game One set to determine which one stands alone at the summit, for the time being at least.

Double-A: Hawks Hit the Heights

In the Double-A league, the East London Latin Boys followed up their opening day win with a 15-12 victory over Southampton Mustangs II. The game was tied 10-10 after four innings and remained close throughout the rest of the contest, but the Latin Boys were able to edge it and to set the early pace in the South Pool-A.

At Farnham Park, the big match brought together the reigning Double-A and Single-A champions. Herts Hawks showed they are up for the challenge of moving up the leagues by beating the Daws Hill Spitfires 20-13.

The Hawks put up six runs in the second inning and, perhaps crucially, responded to the Spitfires cutting into that lead with two runs in the bottom of the third by hitting back with another five runs in the top of the fourth.

Daws Hill scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to make it 15-9, but the Hawks ensured there would be no ninth-inning heroics by adding six more runs to their lead in the top of the ninth to seal an impressive win.

There were also victories for the Sidewinders, London Marauders, Brighton Redhawks and Tonbridge Wildcats.

North British Baseball League: Beware the Robots of Doom

The Robots of Doom exterminated Durham Spartans in a double-header, although the scores of 9-7 and 15-10 showed that the Spartans gave their tech-filled tormentors a tough fight.

Liverpool Trojans swept Halton in their first two games of the season, whilst the Twojans fell to 1-3 following two defeats at the hands of Harrogate Tigers.

As for the clash between Sheffield Bladerunners and Hull Scorpions, Sheffield made some noise in the early running of Game One but were unable to stamp on the Scorpions, who prevailed in both encounters by scores of 8-4 and 17-8.

Scottish League: Glasgow Galaxy lead the way

In the Scottish baseball league, Glasgow Galaxy were fresh off a one-run win against the Edinburgh Diamond Devils on Opening Day when they welcomed Edinburgh Giants to Tollcross Field on Sunday.

Glasgow’s pitcher Luke Powell brought the Giants down to size with 10 strike-outs as the Galaxy completed a seven-inning 10-0 win to give them an early lead in the league table.

In the other game played that day, Edinburgh Cannons beat the Granite City Oilers 13-2 at Bobby Thomson Field.

Young Mets on tour

And finally, good luck to the London Mets teams competing in Prague this weekend.

BGB Fantasy League 2017: Week One

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The fantasy baseball season is under way. Read on to see how the first week of the 2017 BaseballGB league shaped up.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Jesmond Dennings 21 4 12 1 .210 .624 2 0 61 1 4.26 1.11 2
Norwich No II 28 8 25 7 .256 .727 4 3 51 3 3.70 1.36 10

Norwich are off to a flying start after a 10-2 win against Jesmond. Odor, Freeman, Tomas and Trumbo powered an offensive sweep while Duffy was the pick of the starters and Kimbrel and Neris took care of saves and holds. McCullers notched 17 strikeouts for Jesmond, teaming with deGrom to take WHIP.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Cheshunt Maltsters 16 3 27 2 .236 .626 1 2 32 3 2.61 1.16 3
The Bath Bombers 31 9 26 7 .285 .861 4 4 61 2 2.95 1.11 9

Bath go second with a 9-3 win against the Maltsters. Mazara hit two homers and drove in nine while Perez hit four solo homers. Trea Turner stole three bases before going on the DL. Britton had three saves while Strasburg picked up a win and 11 strikeouts. Ozuna and Santana each knocked in six for the Maltsters while Brach had three holds and Sale helped take ERA.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Newcastle Knights 25 7 24 1 .227 .669 3 4 51 1 4.02 1.19 3
Weston-Super-Sox 31 14 35 3 .235 .800 2 1 27 2 1.47 0.77 9

The Sox started well with a 9-3 win against the Knights as Springer hit four homers and Puig, McCann, Myers and Braun all hit a pair in an offensive sweep while Gordon stole two bases. Madson had two holds while Harvey, Iwakuma, Sanchez and Keuchel put up great ERA and WHIP stats. Verlander struck out 10 and had a win for the Knights while Treinen notched three saves.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Orpington Isotopes 34 11 30 2 .308 .903 2 6 61 1 4.04 1.22 7
Batteries Essential 27 8 26 3 .247 .745 3 2 59 1 3.09 1.07 4

The defending champs started 2017 with a win against Batteries Essential. Khris Davis hit three homers while Diaz, Arenado and Realmuto all went deep twice. Cueto struck out a dozen to go with his two wins while early returns on Greg Holland are good with four saves. Batteries Essential had the edge in steals thanks to Blackmon, Hamilton and Pollock while Fulmer and Syndergaard helped take ERA and WHIP.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Iron Men 21 4 15 5 .212 .644 3 2 47 2 4.57 1.11 4
Richie’s RBI’s 34 10 36 7 .237 .719 4 1 43 2 5.71 1.51 7

The RBIs got off to a winning start with a 7-4 score against Iron Men. Torreyes knocked in seven while Villar and Harper went deep twice in an offensive sweep. Sano knocked in eight for Iron Men, who took four pitching categories thanks to Giles, Kershaw and Carlos Martinez.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Beckenham A&E Dept 21 3 13 6 .202 .602 4 8 52 0 2.15 1.03 5
The Cheddar Chasers 31 8 25 8 .231 .722 1 3 41 1 5.37 1.42 7

The Chasers got the better of a tight matchup against Beckenham, winning 7-5. Goldschmidt and Lindor powered an offensive sweep while Wilson picked up a crucial hold. Greinke, Scherzer and Lester helped the A&E Dept take ERA and WHIP while Davis, Rodney, Iglesias and Allen each had two saves.

 

Team R HR RBI SB AVG OPS W SV K HLD ERA WHIP Score
Mighty Slugs 33 12 39 2 .256 .872 4 3 59 7 2.85 1.09 6
Durham Riverkings 23 9 35 2 .295 .897 5 1 63 1 3.03 1.01 5

Finally, the Slugs edged past the Riverkings 6-5. Belt made the difference in runs, homers and RBIs for the Slugs while Strop and Ottavino had three holds each, Colome notched three saves and Paxton helped take ERA. Wieters and Murphy helped the Riverkings take average and OPS while Arrieta had two wins and joined MadBum in racking up 16 strikeouts.

The week two matchups are as follows:

Norwich (1st) v Slugs (7th)

Bombers (2nd) v Iron Men (11th)

Sox (3rd) v Batteries Essential (10th)

Isotopes (4th) v A&E Dept (9th)

RBIs (5th) v Jesmond (14th)

Chasers (6th) v Maltsters (12th)

Riverkings (8th) v Knights (13th)