Season Log: Iowa City Country

philliesfan134 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 31, 2013 12:07 am

I think it's a good move, based on your analysis. I think having a 2B/C is nice depth though, maybe he does well for the Jays.
Finnigan might be a really good player, and if not I say just have him work on multiple positions and be a super-utility guy (like Ben Zobrist maybe?) because he has that GG fielding.

ERISA Dude · **Posted:** Sun Mar 31, 2013 10:00 pm

philliesfan134 wrote:

Finnigan might be a ...super-utility guy (like Ben Zobrist maybe?) because he has that GG fielding.

I agree with your thinking - assume you meant "DD" instead of "GG". Junge was a nice player, but his e level arm meant I didnt like him at catcher and would not bother trying him on the left side of the IF.

Right now, I've got 2 superU's - Towles (FDCBCC) and Riggins (DFEACC) who play every IF spot except 1b. They're young guys, so I'm not that interested in another, but since Finnegan should be able to reach a C level arm relatively easily, and he's got that gold glove ability, that might be how it turns out. For now, he's focusing on upping power since that's what I have the level 3 equipment for. I've got 100,000+ in points saved up and plan to buy defense equipment after the season.

He's really competing with SS/2b DeVore (FDCDCD, gold glove), who is a year older, and our starter Huisman (CDCCCD). I'm playing DeVore some, mainly because when he gets a base hit, it ups his contact while he continues to up his power from training. My plan is to let those 2 sit on the roster and develop this and next year, and then compare them with Huisman, the incumbent.

philliesfan134 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 31, 2013 10:10 pm

ERISA Dude wrote:

philliesfan134 wrote:

Finnigan might be a ...super-utility guy (like Ben Zobrist maybe?) because he has that GG fielding.

I agree with your thinking - assume you meant "DD" instead of "GG". Junge was a nice player, but his e level arm meant I didnt like him at catcher and would not bother trying him on the left side of the IF.

Right now, I've got 2 superU's - Towles (FDCBCC) and Riggins (DFEACC) who play every IF spot except 1b. They're young guys, so I'm not that interested in another, but since Finnegan should be able to reach a C level arm relatively easily, and he's got that gold glove ability, that might be how it turns out. For now, he's focusing on upping power since that's what I have the level 3 equipment for. I've got 100,000+ in points saved up and plan to buy defense equipment after the season.

He's really competing with SS/2b DeVore (FDCDCD, gold glove), who is a year older, and our starter Huisman (CDCCCD). I'm playing DeVore some, mainly because when he gets a base hit, it ups his contact while he continues to up his power from training. My plan is to let those 2 sit on the roster and develop this and next year, and then compare them with Huisman, the incumbent.

I see, I see. I meant GG as in "gold-glove" fielding.
How's Huisman doing this season? I wouldn't like to be in his situation where backups are competing and his job isn't completely safe. Eh, I wanna see how that turns out.

ERISA Dude · **Posted:** Wed Apr 03, 2013 4:37 pm

Funny that you would ask about Huisman - I just abandoned thoughts of doing a post comparing him to other SS. Looking at other teams made me realize how stacked that position is, so I narrowed my focus to SS under 30, but from Reyes & Hanley Ramirez to Great Kennedy, there were still loads of great SS, so I narrowed it further to SS with less than 5 years experience.

At that point, I figured the analysis would be too watered down to be worthwhile.

Anyway, Huisman is playing solidly. He's focusing on power, like all of my players. SS seem to come out of the draft with the best all-around skills, so I tend to have the most competition at that spot. When I switch to defense practice, if Huisman (CDCCCD) can get to B arm/FLD before DeVore (FDCDCE) gets to C arm and before Finnegan (DEDDDE - I think I misreported him as having D power before) gets to D power and C arm/FLD, he'll be fine for another season. If he gets bumped, he might push my starting catcher (CDECDC). And of course, I after the current and 2 more seasons (I think), Hudson's contract ends and I'll have an opening at 2b.

ERISA Dude · **Posted:** Wed Apr 03, 2013 10:45 pm

6/21 – 23/2010: Iowa City Country versus Kansas City Royals

Game one: Country Bailey (94 DB 2SF – three, HSL – two, DCB – four) versus Royals ?? (95 FD SL – two, CH – two)

End the four, four – three, Royals

Jack Cust hammered an Okijama fastball that was thrown right down the middle of the plate, tying the game at five!

The game stayed tied until the bottom of the 11th when Spilborghs singled, stole second, and came home on a walk off hit from Erdos

Final score: 6-5 (11), Country

Game 2: 8-2, Country

Game 3: 6-4, Country. Backup outfielder Joe Thurston filled in at second base today and wound up making the play of the game. He hit his second homerun of the year and it stood as the game-winning homerun as it pulled the Country from down two up a run. He also assisted with the final two outs of the game

ERISA Dude · **Posted:** Wed Apr 03, 2013 10:56 pm

6/24-26/2010: Country v Marlins

Game 1: 6-4, Marlins (7 infield hits; Ameziga climbs the wall to rob Cust of what would have been a 2 run HR in the 6th)

Game two: 10 – 8, Country. Lincecum versus Weaver - 9 lead changes in this game, 3 of the Country's leads coming on homeruns - a three run shot from Hunter Pence in the first, a two run shot from Cust in the third, and another two run shot from Cust in the fifth that was his 250th career home run

Game three: Rijos (97 DB SL – four, CB – three, F – three) Versus Scobie (93 EC CB – one, FO – three)

Gary Sheffield kick-started the Marlins with a two run homerun in the first. Starting in the second inning, Rijos relied more on his off speed pitches, especially as forkball early in the count, and kept the dangerous Marlins team off-balance. Meantime, Scobie pitched like a rookie in that he seemed to have difficulty finding the plate and used a lot of pitches to get through the early innings, but the Country were not able to take advantage on the scoreboard. Scobie was unable to get past the first batter of the fifth inning. The Marlins built a four – one lead, but after chipping away in the fourth and sixth innings, the Country tied it in the eighth on back to back homeruns from Cust and Pence. Both teams threatened to score in the ninth and the Marlins threatened the top the 10th, but the Country won the game when Pence led off the bottom half of the 10th inning with his second homerun of the day
Final score: five – four, Country

Jack Cust was named MVP for the week ending June 27, 2010. During this week, he hit 440 with 6 homeruns and 15 RBIs

All-Star voting was announced and the current, preliminary results show Orlando Hudson leading all second baseman by 200,000 votes and Fields leading third baseman by almost 300,000 votes. Spilborghs is now third in outfielder voting by under 10,000 votes

ERISA Dude · **Posted:** Thu Apr 04, 2013 9:39 pm

6/28 – 7/1/2010: Iowa City Country versus Minnesota Twins

The Twins and Country met eight times so far this season, with the Country winning all eight

Game one: Country Grindell (94 EB CU – three, CB – three, PA – three, HSK – three) versus Twins Bonser (94 CB SL – three, CB – two, CH – three)

The Twins starter kept the Country off-balance and had a one hitter entering the bottom of the 9th inning, but the Twins offense, generating 13 hits in that same timeframe, were unable to push a running across the plate. In the bottom of the ninth, the Country led off with their second hit of the game, this one from JR Towles who waited until the third pitch of the next at bat to successfully steal second. The next two batters grounded out and flied out, respectively, bringing up Orlando Hudson, who stepped to the plate and hit a towering walk off homerun over the left-field fence.

Final score: two – zero, Country

Game two: Country Bailey (94 EB 2SF – three, HSL – two, DCB – four) versus Twins Slowey (93 DB SL – three, CU – one, CB – one, CH – one)

Final score: three – one, Country (A Josh Fields two run home run after the Twins scored a run in the second inning wound up being the difference maker)

Game three: Country Stratton (88 DC SL – three, CB – four, FO - three, SHU – three) versus Twins Hensley (92 EC SL – five, CB – three, CH – three)

Final score: four – two, Twins (Some early clutch hitting by the Twins gave them a 4-1 lead after three innings, while the Country only managed five hits for the entire game)

Monthly MVP: the MVPs for the month of June were announced and Hardin was named picture of the month. For the month of June, Harden notched 10 saves with 10 strikeouts and had an ERA of 0.82. Relief picture of the month was the Angels picture Mosley who notched eight saves with six strikeouts and a 0.93 ERA

Game 4: James (95 CB SL-4, CH-3) v Moyer (85 FB 2SF – two, CU – one, CB – one, CCH – two)

Final score: 7-3, Country (The Country scored 5 runs in the first four innings while the Twins barely managed to score one run the seventh, when they had two infield hits in a single inning)

philliesfan134 · **Posted:** Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:06 pm

Heh, Moyer pitching for the Twins. His abilities will probably get real bad in a year or two.

Is Scobie any good for the Marlins? Just curious to see how some other rookies are doing.

ERISA Dude · **Posted:** Thu Apr 04, 2013 10:19 pm

I guess we could pretty easily see his 2008 abilities - I suspect his control and at least 2 of his off speed pitches dropped. His stamina will probably take a hit and his off speed stuff will all fall to 1s next season.

ERISA Dude · **Posted:** Fri Apr 05, 2013 6:18 am

June in review

OVERALL RECORD

The Country's current record of 73 and 8 puts them 27 games ahead of the division rival White Sox, 26 games ahead of the AL Western and Eastern Division leading Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox, and 24 games ahead of the National League Leading Astros.
MONTHLY RECORD

THROWING THE ROCK

Lincecum – 3.12 – Sixth in major-league baseball between Buehrle and the Red Sox Harang
Depablos – 3.15 – the same as Lincecum
Pettyjohn – 3.09– Tied with Buehrle for fifth
Bailey – 3.17 – Same as Lincecum
Rijo – 2.88 – Fourth place between Buddy Carlyle and Kevin Millwood
James – 2.84 – Same as Rijo
Grindell – 2.17 – Number one in major-league baseball

Lincecum, Depablos, and Stratton

Hardin

POUNDING THE ROCK

Ryan Spilborghs

Jack Cust leads the league with 55 home runs and 107 RBIs. [color=#0000BF]Josh Fields

Hunter Pence

NEED FOR SPEED

Ryan Spilborghs

Erdos

Matt Kemp

ERISA Dude · **Posted:** Fri Apr 05, 2013 3:22 pm

7/2 – 4/2010: Iowa City Country at Florida Marlins

Game one: Country Rijo (97 DB SL – four, CB – three, FO – three) at Marlins Scobie (93 EC CB – one, FO – three)

Final score: one – zero, Country

Comments:

After the game, it was announced that the Marlins and Yankees struck a deal sending Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla to the Yankees in exchange for centerfielder Miguel Cabrera.

philliesfan134 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 05, 2013 4:23 pm

Another strange trade.. I have a question though, what Miguel Cabrera is that?

ERISA Dude · **Posted:** Fri Apr 05, 2013 5:03 pm

CF. did I get the name wrong? I dictate my posts during the ga,e and then edit it later. Sometimes a few days later. When the names are wrong, I use my best judgment.

PowerPro Jr · **Posted:** Fri Apr 05, 2013 5:05 pm

I believe you meant Melky Cabrera instead of Miguel.

philliesfan134 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 05, 2013 5:14 pm

ERISA Dude wrote:

CF. did I get the name wrong? I dictate my posts during the game and then edit it later. Sometimes a few days later. When the names are wrong, I use my best judgment.

Yeah, I was gonna say - is there another Miggy? or is that a draft pick? heh.

But the Marlins have done a nice job of picking up OF so far, it seems. Well, with the exception of that trade, another head-scratcher.

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Season Log: Iowa City Country

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