Boise Taters (Puresim 2007 career)

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Started a fictional Puresim career in 1982. Using the template function in PS I've simmed a couple of other test associations (to make sure the resulting stats are near where I want them to be) using the exact same team (for financial purposes) and stadium setups, though with completely different rosters each time. The prior testing has indicated that the Boise (ID) Taters and the Nitro (WV) Glycerin have been the worst teams after 20+ seasons....mostly due to their lack of financial resources.

Boise has the smallest financial pool in the game with the Altoona (PA) Fish and the Glycerin not much better off. I'll be taking over Boise to see how things pan out this time around. Thanks to the handy in game generated almanac, you can go here to check out all of the relevant league data. I will update it periodically, but for now it is fairly sparse as I am only four days into the inaugural season.

I will be playing out most of the games as time permits, so this certainly won't be a fast moving career. But, hopefully the slower pace will allow for a better immersion experience than simming days/weeks at a time and just reading through the old boxscores.

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Once I reloaded the template and created a new fictional player set, I had the computer take over all twelve teams for drafting the initial rosters. In addition to having the lowest payroll and finances, the computer drafted us the oldest major league roster in the association (avg age is 29.16 yrs). We do have the youngest avg age in the minors, though, so hopefully some of our prospects pan out.

Taking a quick look at the roster (as the season progresses I will have more detail on the individual players), our starting rotation is filled out by Steven Taube, Michael Coughlin, David Render, Billy Sanders, and Matthew Piper. The bullpen is led by closer Danny Hill.

The everyday lineup doesn't appear to have a whole lot of platooning as selected by the AI, and is very heav on righthanded batters. Only have two lefties on the major league roster (C William Valdez and 3b Darren Barros), and they both start. RF Stephen Pumphrey is probably our best all around player.

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We open the season on the road in Beaumont, Texas on March 29, 1982. Steven Taube pitches a shutout and William Valdez' two run homer provides all the scoring we need in a 4-0 association opening win. We lose the second game 3-2. Rally from a 5-2 second inning deficit to take a 12-5 lead in the the seventh and hold on for a 12-10 win in game three. Billy Sanders goes seven strong innings in the series finale as we exit Texas with a 5-1 win in game four. RF Stephen Pumphrey (.389-0-5) leads the team with 5 rbi, and 2b Robert Dillion (.500-0-3) has scored 6 runs.

We head home to face the Memphis Express (2-2) for the weekend series. Projected pitching matchups are:

Robert Rolfes (0-0, 0.00 - 7 shutout innings vs Oshkosh in season opener) vs Matthew Piper (first start of season)
Thomas Fullmer (1-0, 3.00) vs Steven Taube (1-0, 0.00)
Charles Kessler (0-1, 4.50) vs Michael Coughlin (0-0, 2.57)


Our current everyday lineup looks like this (vs RHP...a couple minor order changes vs LHP):
2b Dillon
3b Darren Barros
C William Valdez
RF Stephen Pumphrey
1b Robert Alvarado
CF Matthew Urena
LF Melvin Rhymes
SS Felipe Jensen
P (no dh in the Fake Baseball Association)

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We return home to face Memphis (2-2). We get a solid effort from SP Matthew Piper (7 IP, 3R) and two rbis each from 2b Robert Dillon, 3b Darren Barros, and SS Felipe Jensen in a 7-4 win. In the second game of the series, Memphis' Thomas Fullmer throws a three hit shutout, and LF Joe Sartori goes four for six (all singles) in a 7-0 Memphis win. In the series finale Michael Coughlin allows one run in six innings, and chips in with a homerun in his first at bat. Stephen Pumphrey adds a two run homer, and Robert Dillon drives in two runs as well. RP Charles Leal pitches three innings to notch a save in our 6-2 victory.

Notes:
The Taters head to Springfield (3-3) and Flagstaff (3-3) before returning home for a ten game homestand. 1b Robert Alvarado (.100-0-4) has temporarily lost his staring 1b job to David Murray versus RHP. Alvarado is one for his last twenty-two at bats. C William Valdez has been given the past two games off from the starting lineup by the ai (very tired).

Expected pitching matchups versus Springfield:
David Render (1-0, 10.12) vs Erick Diaz (1-0, 1.12)
Billy Sanders (1-0, 1.29) vs Franklin Downey (1-0, 1.00)
Matthew Piper (1-0, 3.86) vs Jacob Mayberry (0-1, 2.57)

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Decided to speed things up a little bit. Instead of watching every game, I'll sim a week at a time and watch the Sunday game.

We're now up to April 18. 1982. The Taters are tied for first place with three other teams (Beaumont, Springfield and Oshkosh) at 10-9. We're sixth in the league in both offense (71 runs scored) and defense (71 runs allowed). We have dropped seven of our past ten games, though.

Notes from around the league:
Earl Briggs (Norfolk) and Spencer Freund (Beaumont) have eleven and ten game hitting streaks respectively going right now. 2b Robert Dillon is fourth in the league with twenty-two hits (Briggs leads with twenty-five). Buck Hearn (Flagstaff) is tied for the league lead with six homeruns, but playing at over 6000' can't hurt. Jesus Filson (Kitty Hawk) also has six. James Perez has 5 GIDPs to lead the league.