Saturday, December 20, 2014

Season 29 Award Winners

American League Most Valuable Player: Roger Byrne (Indianapolis – qtip32)
Byrne won the AL MVP in only his second big-league season.  He led the AL with an impressive 1.070 OPS, finished second in homeruns at 44, fifth in batting with an average of .318, and tenth in RBIs with 116.  He also added speed to the lineup as he successfully swiped 40 bases in only 44 attempts. 

American League Cy Young: Yoshinori Zhou (Vancouver – skplayer07)
At only 23-years-old, Zhou took home the AL Cy Young award by finishing with an impressive 21-8 record.  Zhou was a workhorse, pitching 224 innings.  He led the AL in wins and strikeouts (199), finished seventh in OAV at .237, and eighth with a 1.24 WHIP.  Zhou helped 6th-seed Vancouver advance to the World Series by going 6-2 with 3 complete games and a 2.39 ERA in the playoffs.

American League Rookie of the Year: John Martin (Milwaukee – horvie78)
23-year-old Martin used a combination of hitting and speed to earn the AL ROY honors.  He batted .312 with a .387 on-base percentage, while adding 15 homeruns, 71 RBIs, and 40 stolen bases.  Martin also took home the AL Silver Slugger award at LF and helped Milwaukee win their first division title in franchise history.

American League Fireman of the Year: Esteban Mesa (Rochester – wylie715)
Mesa won his second career Fireman of the Year award, as he led the AL in saves with 44.  He finished the season with a 3.25 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and opponents batted .251 against him. 

National League Most Valuable Player: Benito Rodriguez (Toronto – sgmedia)
Rodriguez won his first career MVP by leading the NL in batting average (.337) and OPS (1.101).  Rodriguez finished third in runs scored by crossing the plate 117 times and ninth in homeruns with 40.  He added 87 RBIs, 21 stolen bases, and had 9 plus plays at 1B.

National League Cy Young: Tim Daubach (Seattle – ghutton9)
Daubach was a run-away winner for his second career Cy Young award.  He has now captured the Cy Young in both the American and National League.  Daubach impressively led the NL in wins (21), ERA (1.98), WHIP (0.87), and OAV (.177).  He not only led the NL, but set the all-time Pine Tar single season records for WHIP and OAV.

National League Rookie of the Year: Neal Hartzell (Albuquerque – csudak)
24-year-old Hartzell, 4th overall pick in the Season 26 draft, won the NL ROY after an impressive offensive season.  He finished fifth overall in the NL with 121 RBIs, and first among NL rookies in runs scored (106), homeruns (37), and slugging percentage (.527). 

National League Fireman of the Year: Juan Sierra (Seattle – ghutton9)
Sierra won his fourth consecutive Fireman of the Year award, and fifth overall.  He led the league with 52 saves, which were only two shy of his own Pine Tar single season record, and helped Seattle earn the National League’s #1 seed.  Sierra now has 367 career saves at only 29-years-old.

Silver Slugger Award:
-1B Armando Mota (Dov) and 2B Benny Navarro (Vanc) both won their 9th Silver Slugger award.  3B Raymond Petrov (Sea) won his 7th, and C Bengie Trajano won his 5th.
-Wichita had 3 first-time Silver Slugger winners: P Rondell Collins, C Alving Torrealba, CF Bartolo Ortiz.
-Additional first-time Silver Slugger winners: Rafael Vincente (Vanc), Buddy Berry (NY), John Martin (Milw), Mendy Lee (Dur), Roger Byrne (Ind), Benito Rodriguez (Tor), F.P. Gentry (Scra), Rickie Halama (Iowa).

Gold Glove Award:
-CF Brent Summers (Dov) won his 7th Gold Glove award.  P Rock Randall (Stl) and SS Miguel Garces (Bos) each won their 5th award.  LF Saul Trevino took home his 4th award.
-First-time Gold Glove winners from the AL: Charles Zhang (NY), Kris Everidge (Ind), Ed Darnell (NO), Yamid Lee (Fla), Marvin Rose (Nash).
-Of the nine NL Gold Glove winners, 7 won the award for the first time.  Louisville’s Clay Vernon (P) and Ben Tate (CF) each won their second Gold Glove.

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Pine Tar Championship Series Season 29

Pine Tar Championship Series Season 29

Four teams remain, let's take a look at them:

Salem Volcanoes(Jkenned) 106-56.   1st Place
Last Season's Pine Tar Champion
JKenned has already won 4 WS titles in all worlds.

Vancouver Canucks(skplayer07) 91-71 2nd Place
This franchise has never won a Pine Tar title.
In Season 26 Vancouver made their only Pine Tar World Series Appearance.  They lost 4 games to 1, to a then Helena team.
Skplayer07 has already won 1 WS title in another world.

Wichita DwArf'y Mojados(Jibe) 86-76 1st Place
This franchise has never won a Pine Tar title.
This franchise has never made a Pine Tar World Series appearance.
This is the first NL Championship Series that this franchise has ever participated in.
Jibe has won 7 WS titles in other worlds.

Scranton Red Barons(Reggie988) 91-71 1st Place
This franchise has never won a Pine Tar title.
This franchise has made 2 Pine Tar World Series Appearances.  They were last season's NL champion.  They also went to the Pine Tar World Series back in Season 17 under a different owner.
Reggie988 has never won a WS title.