Category: Jack Bauer Squared

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Baseball Jack Bauer Squared Sim Baseball

Games 70-72: Hot Hitters Help Out

I’ve fallen a couple of series behind on my recaps due to a busy week. In our first series, against Tulo? More Like Too High, we needed a good showing to keep pushing for the division lead and a wild card spot.

We didn’t start off well, though. For just the second time all season, Jack Bauer Squared was shut out. It didn’t help that Burt Hooton got shelled for 8 runs, but even if he’d only allowed 1 we still were coming out on the wrong end. An 8-0 loss means not much went well.

Game 70

The second game of the series didn’t look promising either as we fell behind 4-1 early. The offense came alive, as both Kal Daniels and Carlos Delgado had three-hit games including homers as we charged back to win 8-4.

Game 71

That set up a rubber game for two teams fighting for respectability. Once again we trailed and came back. Daniels and Delgado had three hits apiece again as we rallied for 2 in the 8th to win a rare one-run game, 3-2. Bert Blyleven pitched well, allowing 2 runs in 7 innings, but he was gone before the rally and didn’t earn the victory.

Game 72

That earned us a series victory, and we need as many of those as we can get. We’re now 34-38 and inching toward .500 still. Our six-game homestand at Olympic Stadium continues next with Royal Gamers coming to town. 

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Baseball Jack Bauer Squared Sim Baseball

Games 67-69: Fighting to Compete

Our series opener with Block Chain started out well, with a leadoff homer by Kal Daniels to open the game. It was Daniels’ 10th of the season, and he’s slashing a very fine .298/.410/.535 leading off against right starters. No complaints there.

We still led 2-1 into the 7th, but the ever-maligned Mike Cuellar gave up a three-run double to flip the script. In 1969, Cuellar went 23-11 with a 2.02 ERA for the Orioles. Even normalized because of pitching’s edge in that time, his ERA is still 2.08. He really should be much better than 5-7 with a 5.01 ERA.

We got within a run in the 9th and had the tying run on 2nd with no outs, but we couldn’t budge him and fell 4-3. That makes us 7-13 in one-run games now.

Game 67

The offense rebounded in the second game of the series, fortunately. Bobby Murcer hit a three-run homer, his 8th, as we opened up an 8-1 lead and cruised to a 9-4 win. 

Bert Blyleven notched his 10th win to lead the team. He’s 18th in the league in ERA, too, and again he was drafted as the 4th starter!

Game 68

That brought us to the rubber game, and it would certainly have been nice to come out of this series a step closer to .500. Alas, Block Chain broke a 1-1 tie in the 6th inning with a pair of solo homers off Teddy Higuera, then tacked on three more runs off Rod Beck in the 8th to pull away for a 6-1 win.

Game 69

At 32-37, Jack Bauer Squared remains 5 games out of first place and 3 behind the wild card leaders. To reach my goal of .500 at the 81-game mark, we’re going to need a really nice run now.

Next up: our first series with Tulo? More Like Too High since the season’s first three games. Always tough going against my friend NebHusker, whose team is also fighting to compete at 34-35. This is one of the teams I need to pass in the wild card chase, plus there is potential for trash talk if we can put up a good showing.

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Baseball Jack Bauer Squared Sim Baseball

Games 65-66: Joining the Wild Card Race

The first game of the series with Throw the Spitball, Gaylord had a few highlights … for them. For Jack Bauer Squared, it was a forgettable 9-1 loss featuring poor starting pitching, relief pitching and hitting. 

Game 65

We fell behind 5-1 early in the second game back in Olympic Stadium, but we chipped away with two in the 6th and then exploded for six runs in the 7th. Six consecutive hits produced the rally, and it left enough cushion for some shaky relief so we emerged with a 9-7 win and a split.

Game 66

That was enough to make a small move in the division race, though, as the teams above and behind us got swept. So after 66 games, we sit 31-35, 5 games out of first place and 2 ahead of third place.

There are four teams ahead of us in the wild card race, all bunched at 32-34 or 33-33. We are definitely in the race now though, as we head to Shea Stadium for a three-game series against Block Chain.

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Baseball Jack Bauer Squared Sim Baseball

Games 62-64: Alone in Second Place

Coming into this series with $24 and Some Change, Jack Bauer Squared had a chance to move into 2nd place in the National League West with a sweep. A tall order, sure, but we’ve started seeing results more in line with expectations. Sights are set on getting to .500 and contending for the playoffs.

The opener featured perhaps our best pitching performance of the season, as Burt Hooton allowed a single hit over 8 innings. The sixth-inning triple by Pete Rose (he did get a lot of hits, after all) broke up the no-hitter. Carlos Delgado hit his 10th homer and drove in three runs in a 4-1 victory.

Game 62

As in our previous post where we looked at the start breakdowns of two other members of the rotation, let’s look at how Hooton has fared. His record of 4-6 belies how effective he’s been, posting a 3.42 ERA in 15 starts.

  • 0 runs: 1 time
  • 1 run: 6 times
  • 2 runs: 2 times
  • 3 runs: 1 time
  • 4 runs: 2 times
  • 5 runs: 1 time
  • 6 runs: 0 times
  • 7 runs: 1 time
  • 8 runs: 1 time

What jumps out is giving up 1 run or fewer in almost half his starts, and he’s keeping us in nearly every game he pitches. Coupled with Bert Blyleven in what is supposed to be the back half of the rotation, these two have been closer to our aces.

Nothing is truly contagious in a sim, but we’ll take any explanation for a good start by Mike Cuellar. Buoyed by a grand slam in the 1st inning by Garry Maddox and a two-run shot by Gene Tenace, Cuellar allowed just 1 run on 2 hits in 7 innings. 

That’s only the second time Cuellar gave up 1 run or fewer, so we can only hope it’s the start of a trend. Maddox finished with 5 RBI, and we sailed to a 7-1 victory. That puts us in a tie for 2nd place with $24, so this final game of the series will put someone there by themselves.

Game 63

Despite falling behind 2-0 in the 1st inning, JBS battled back to score in each of the first four innings. Kal Daniels and Tenace homered to back Blyleven, who gave up 3 runs in 7 innings.

Bob Woodward came on to pitch the 9th and recorded his 15th save in 15 tries and kept his ERA at 0.00. It’s unusual to see a pitcher not give up a run this deep into the season, even if he has only pitched 14 ⅓ innings. (Psst, forum jinx, you didn’t hear me say that.)

Game 64

The three-game sweep did indeed put us alone in second place at 30-34, 6 games out of 1st but only 3 behind the current wild-card leader. Each league’s three division winners make the playoffs, plus the second-place team with the best record as the wild card. Since no one else is running away with this, we’re right in the thick of it now.

It’s also worth noting that our expected winning percentage continues to climb and is now at .520, and only the three division leaders are that high. That means we “should” be 33-31, which is exactly the record of the wild-card leader. We can easily point at a 7-12 record in one-run games and 1-5 in extra innings as the culprits. Those may even out yet.

Next up is a single quick interleague series against Throw the Spitball, Gaylord, starting off with our one visit to Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field to kick it off. Let’s keep it going, lads!

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Baseball Jack Bauer Squared Sim Baseball

Games 59-61: A Tale of Two Pitchers

Jack Bauer Squared needed a rebound after the sweep in Dodger Stadium, and though you wouldn’t generally think a trip to Yankee Stadium is a way to make things better … well, in this case it worked out well enough.

The opener saw Mike Cuellar do typical Mike Cuellar things for us. He gave up 5 runs in 6.2 innings. In his 16 starts now, here is a breakdown of runs allowed (earned and unearned combined): 

  • 0 runs: 1 time
  • 1 run: 0 times
  • 2 runs: 1 time
  • 3 runs: 2 times
  • 4 runs: 3 times
  • 5 runs: 4 times
  • 6 runs: 3 times
  • 7 runs: 2 times

That’s pretty much how you end up with a 5.35 ERA and ongoing scorn in these posts. When 75% of the time you give up at least 4 runs, you are not helping your team win games. The underlying code that represents our maligned Mr. Cuellar is better than that, otherwise I wouldn’t have drafted him in the second round. He’s doing worse than pitchers who aren’t as good, so he’s suffering some bad luck. In theory, the law of averages should catch up and he should fill the top half of that list up as the season progresses. In theory anyway. The reverse jinxes aren’t helping any, clearly.

As it happens we pulled out the series opener anyway with a couple runs in the top of the 9th on Kal Daniels’ RBI double and a wild pitch. That gave us a 7-5 win and the end of the little three-game losing streak.

Game 59

The second game featured an excellent start from Bert Blyleven, who despite being drafted as a fourth starter has performed the best so far. He pitched 7 shutout innings to improve to 8-4 with a 3.21 ERA. We won 5-0 to take the first two games of the series.

Seems like a good time to compare Blyleven’s 15 starts to Cuellar’s:

  • 0 runs: 3 times
  • 1 run: 3 times
  • 2 runs: 2 times
  • 3 runs: 1 time
  • 4 runs: 2 times
  • 5 runs: 3 times
  • 6 runs: 1 times
  • 7 runs: 0 times

In contrast to Cuellar’s only yielding 3 or fewer runs in 25% of his starts, Blyleven has done in 9 out of 15 times, or 60%. I think my inner geek is showing a bit here, so let’s move on.

Game 60

The final game of the series started with each team scoring twice in the 1st inning and then zeroes until A Rod broke through with two more in the 7th. We squandered scoring opportunities in the 6th, 7th, and 8th and couldn’t get a run home. So the 4-2 loss ended the road trip and left us at 27-34, 8 games out of 1st place but only 5 games out of the wild card.

Game 61

Next up: Another divisional battle against $24 and Some Change, who sit just above us at 29-32. A good showing here could put us a step closer to contention. At this point, the first goal is to get to .500 on the season, hopefully by the halfway point in 20 games. We’d have to go 14-6 to do that, but that’s possible to be sure.

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Baseball Jack Bauer Squared Sim Baseball

Games 56-58: Wrong Kind of Sweep

There is an absolutely proven to exist thing called a forum jinx. If you post anything good about your team or a player, the coding somehow reads it and causes bad things to happen to you. There is also a Sasquatch-like reverse jinx that some claim to have seen, where you can post about underachievement and get the luck to change.

I feel like I might have reverse jinxed Jack Bauer Squared into staying off the scrap heap of the season, but it also seems that whenever I write about a little success we are doomed to have a setback.

So it was for our four-game winning streak heading into a series with first-place Steroids Make You Fast, one into which we carried dreams of a legitimate run at the leaders. And the forum jinx laughed, and spat out a three-game losing streak instead, the wrong kind of sweep.

Things were looking good in the series opener at Dodger Stadium (the park I’ve seen the vast majority of my big-league games in), as JBS took a 3-1 lead on Bobby Murcer’s three-run homer and Bert Blyleven’s 7 innings of one-run ball. Then we gave up a homer in the bottom of the 8th to cut our lead to 3-2, left the bases loaded in the top of the 9th, and then with two outs in the bottom of the 9th yielded a tying homer to Milt May.

That sent us to extra innings, and in the bottom of the 10th it was time for their third homer in late innings. Willie McCovey did the honors with a walkoff two-run shot and a 5-3 comeback win for Steroids.

Game 56

The second game of the series followed a parallel script. We took a 3-0 lead in the top of the 1st and ran the advantage to 5-1 in the 6th. That held until the 8th inning, when Steroids pushed across the tying runs on a three-run homer by Tony Gwynn.

We went to extra innings again, and once again McCovey came up with a chance to end it … and did. His two-run homer in the 11th gave Steroids a 7-5 victory, both now on extra-inning walkoff shots by McCovey.

Game 57

The series finale required no dramatics. Steroids busted out to a 4-0 lead in the 4th inning, opened it up to 7-0 in the 7th and sailed to a 4-2 win and a three-game sweep.

Game 58

So that put us 8 games behind in the division and erased all the gains from the previous series. Next up: a three-game set in Yankee Stadium against A Rod, some Wood and a Big Unit, the only team trailing us in the National League West.

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Games 53-55: Another Winning Streak

I know it’s difficult to look at a team with a 25-30 record and feel optimistic, but when that team was recently 16-28 it’s quite exciting to see the progress. Jack Bauer Squared could have been buried before we got through a third of the season, but we’ve flashed potential and have a legitimate chance to be in the hunt now.

We opened our three-game series with 24 Hours at Wrigley with a tight game that required a four-run rally in the 7th to pull out. Bobby Murcer’s two-run double keyed the inning, and we managed to win one of those elusive one-run games, 7-6.

Game 53

Reaching the one-third mark of the season with style, in Game 54 JBS recorded its fourth shutout in the past 10 games. This time it was Burt Hooton going 8 innings for the win, 3-0. Each of our four starting pitchers has been at the fore of one of the shutouts in this stretch, so that’s good to see.

Game 54

Trying for the sweep, we found ourselves in a pitchers’ duel with Mike Cuellar acquitting himself well for a rare treat. Cuellar went 6 innings and allowed 2 runs. 

The game was tied 2-2 into the 9th inning, and JBS put together three consecutive singles in the bottom of the inning. Carlos Delgado delivered the walkoff hit for a 3-2 victory and a fourth consecutive triumph.

Game 55

This four-game winning streak puts us only 5 games out of first place and with a pair of one-run wins now have a 7-12 record in those decisions. Things are starting to even out, and with that our standing is improving.

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Games 49-52: A Pair of Splits

We are closing in on the one-third mark of the season, and thanks to a five-game winning streak Jack Bauer Squared is at least moving in the right direction. We split two interleague two-game series to leave our record at 22-30, 7 games out of first place. 

We have now scored exactly as many runs as we’ve allowed, 236, which usually would indicate we should have a record closer to 26-26. The continuing culprit preventing that is the one-run losses, as we are just 5-12 in those decisions.

In our previous report we had wrapped up a three-game sweep and had won four straight, looking to sustain the momentum (not that code knows such a thing, of course) against 576. (That’s 24 times 24, in case you missed it.)

We were scoreless into the 6th inning of the opener at Olympic Stadium until Carlos Delgado belted a two-run homer, his 8th. Then after giving the lead away, JBS responded in the 8th inning with a two-run homer by Kal Daniels and a grand slam by Garry Maddox.

That was plenty to secure an 8-3 victory, our fifth straight. We headed next to Boston’s historic Fenway Park for our only visit.

Game 49

JBS belted two homers in the top of the 1st, by Daniels and Bobby Murcer, to take the lead. Delgado homered in the 3rd to retake the team lead from Daniels, 9 to 8, and we later broke a 3-3 tie with Daniels doubling in a run and later scoring in the 7th. 

The bullpen couldn’t hold the lead, however. This time it was Todd Burns yielding four runs in the bottom of the 8th, and our winning streak ended at five with a 7-5 defeat.

Game 50

From there JBS packed bags for the single trip to Seattle’s Kingdome, where we’d square off with 24×24 Kingdome Krushers, run by the league’s commissioner, footballmm11. Turns out he knows baseball darn well, too!

The Kingdome didn’t disappoint for Krushing, as each team had a three-run homer in the second inning (ours from Gene Tenace), and the game remained tight into the 7th inning. The Krushers worked over our bullpen to tack on 3 more runs and pulled away to a 9-5 win.

Game 51

That sent us back to Olympic Stadium, where Bert Blyleven joined the club as we recorded our third shutout in eight games after none in the first 44. Blyleven allowed 2 hits in 7 innings to improve to 7-4, and Rafael Ramirez drove in both runs in a 2-0 win.

Game 52

Next up: a three-game home series against 24 Hours at Wrigley. This is the part of the schedule where we start facing teams for the second time this season, and we lost 2 of 3 to these guys the first time around. If we’re going to make that march toward .500 stick, we’ll need to flip that around.

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Games 46-48: OMG, a Winning Streak!

Dear Faithful Reader, perhaps there is finally a reward for sticking with the exploits of Jack Bauer Squared. Possibly even something good could yet come of the season. Because, yes, we actually have a winning streak going!

Fresh off our series win against Tigers of the Ontario Peninsula, we headed to Candlestick Park for three games against Todd Helton??? looking to sustain momentum. And, astonishingly, for the first time all season, we did.

We jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the 1st inning, finding The Stick very much to our liking. Bobby Bonilla’s two-run triple started the scoring, and we went on to a 5-2 victory behind a strong start from Burt Hooton, who earned just his second win.

Game 46

The second game featured more unlikely feats based on how the season had gone so far. Mike Cuellar finally pitched like an ace, going 8 innings for our second shutout in three games after none all season before that. He improved to 4-5 and dropped his ERA to 5.40, still a long way from where it needs to be.

Bonilla continued to be a major lifter on offense with a two-run homer, his sixth, as we cruised to a 5-0 victory.

Game 47

In the final game, we again jumped out to an early lead with a four-run 3rd inning keyed by Garry Maddox’s two-run triple. Ryne Sandberg had a pair of triples and a double as we cruised to a 10-4 victory.

Game 48

The three-game sweep ran our winning streak to four games and gave us five wins in six games. A 20-28 record looks a lot more promising than 16-28 did, and if we can sustain this push we still have a chance to get into the race soon.

Next up: two more interleague series. Hopefully this trend continues.

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Games 43-45: An Actual Series Win

What’s that saying about a blind squirrel finding a nut every now and then? Maybe that’s the best explanation for Jack Bauer Squared actually winning a series. Until we make a habit of it, that’s all we deserve.

JBS hosted Tigers of the Ontario Peninsula, and the opener featured a not-awful start by Mike Cuellar, one of the few times we’ve able to say that. Cuellar allowed 3 runs in 8 innings, and we actually won one of those 1-run games, 4-3.

Game 43

It’s been a long time since we won two games in a row, and so it’s no surprise we reverted to old form in losing a 1-run game right after winning one. The tiebreaking run scored in the 6th inning when catcher Gene Tenace tried to pick a runner off third base and threw it away. We twice couldn’t get a runner home from third over the final four innings and it finished up 6-5.

Game 44

The rubber game of the series featured an accomplishment we’d yet to achieve in the first 44 games. We didn’t give up any runs. And I’m pretty sure even the most casual of fans can tell you that you can’t lose if you do that.

Teddy Higuera went 8 innings, allowing 5 hits, to even his record at 5-5 and drop his ERA to 3.72. We didn’t score much, but we didn’t need to, taking the final game 2-0.

Game 45

If a sim could possibly comprehend momentum, maybe a win like that could propel us in a good direction. At 17-28 we are only 8 games behind in the NL West and still playing way below expected win percentage (.378 to .466). Granted, .466 still isn’t good enough to win, but it would be a lot more competitive.

Next up we face Todd Helton???, which is tied with Tigers of the Ontario Peninsula at 20-25 pulling up the rear of the NL East. Another series win wouldn’t be too much to ask for, I’d think.

We’ll be playing in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, where I once had the, uh, privilege to see a game. The ‘Stick was not a great place to play baseball, largely because of wind. And compared with the beautiful park the Giants replaced it with, there’s no reason to have much nostalgia for it.