The first half of the 2022 season is now officially in the books for the Salem Cowtippers. We finished Chapter Three with our weakest chapter yet -- a record of 14-10. We won three series -- all against Eck League teams: Cleveland, Charlotte, and Chicago. We did not sweep a single series this chapter, and we finally lost our first series of the season, to Akron.
That Akron series is notable for Game Three, which will go down in history for all the wrong reasons. Framber Valdez allowed ten earned runs before recording his third out. We then brought position player Abraham Almonte into the game, and he coughed up three more runs before that final out was mercifully recorded. That 13-run first inning likely stands as a league record. We ended up losing that game by an embarrassing score of 16-2.
That game perfectly highlights an issue that I can't help but notice about this 2022 team. We consistently beat up on bad teams and struggle against the good ones. We are 27-5 against the Darien Blue Wave, North Carolina Iron Spider Pigs, Flagstaff Peaks, South Loop Furies, and Lake Norman Monsters. We are 14-14 against the Las Vegas Flamingos, Ravenswood Infidels, Akron Ryche, Bear Country Jamboree, and Blacksburg Beamers. In fact, we don't own a winning record against any of those five teams.
The lone exception is that we own a 4-0 record against the Los Altos Undertakers, who are a good team (although they probably won't make the playoffs.) There is an exception to every rule, I suppose. The lack of success we've had against good teams tells me we will struggle in the postseason regardless of how dominant we seem to be overall.
Overall, we look like a champion on paper. We own a .700 winning percentage, which puts us on pace for a 112-win season. We have outscored our opponents by 176 runs, which puts us on pace for a runs differential of 352. In the 23-year history of the BDBL, seven teams have reached those two figures:
2002 Allentown Ridgebacks: 113 wins, +433
2010 Los Altos Undertakers: 113 wins, +378
2013 New Milford Blazers: 113 wins, +356
2015 Los Altos Undertakers: 116 wins, +404
2016 Los Altos Undertakers: 128 wins, +437
2017 New Milford Blazers: 120 wins, +413
2017 Los Altos Undertakers: 117 wins, +373
Of those seven teams, only four (the '02 Ridgebacks and the last three Undertakers teams) won the championship. If we expand the criteria a tiny bit, we can find four other teams that dominated almost equally:
2002 Salem Cowtippers: 112 wins, +344
2012 New Milford Blazers: 111 wins, +324
2016 Kansas Law Dogs: 115 wins, +343
2018 Flagstaff Outlaws: 115 wins, +299
None of those four teams won the championship. In other words, merely winning a lot of games and outscoring your opponents by a shit-ton of runs during the regular season is no guarantee of ultimate success.
***
Our pitching, which was our greatest asset for the first two chapters, completely fell apart in Chapter Three. We posted a 4.06 ERA for the chapter, although if you remove that one game against Akron, it falls to 3.55. Unfortunately, we can't remove that Akron game, either from the record book or from our memory.
It seems as though every one of our pitchers was beaten up at some point this chapter. The normally-reliable righty-killer Luis A. Garcia was lit up by both Chicago and Akron. Luis H.Garcia was crushed by both Cleveland and Myrtle Beach, allowing 11 earned runs in only 9 innings. Jon Gray tossed a no-hitter against Cleveland, but was then toasted by Myrtle Beach for six earned runs in only three innings.
Steven Matz was brutalized by Cleveland for eight runs (six earned) in five innings, and was also lit up by Bear Country (6 ER in 6.1 IP.) Shohei Ohtani was brilliant against Charlotte and Myrtle Beach, but was absolutely pounded by Chicago (5 ER in 6 IP) and Bear Country (5 ER in 4.2 IP.) Then, of course, there was Valdez.
Overall, Chapter Three aside, we have to be very happy with the performance of our bullpen. Ranger Suarez (8-0, 1.72 ERA), David Bednar (2-0, 2.09), and Joe Kelly (3-0, 2.10) all deserve some consideration for the all-star team. Shohei Ohtani (8-0, 3.41) deserves consideration to start that game. Aside from Ohtani, the rest of the starting rotation is rather mediocre -- which is sort of what we expected. The only exception there is that we expected Lance Lynn to compete for a Cy Young award. Instead, he's gone a modest 9-4 with a 3.53 ERA.
***
On the offensive side, it is difficult to complain. We currently lead the league (by a lot) with 461 runs scored, which puts us on pace for 900+ for the season. Our .819 team OPS currently tops the entire BDBL. We rank among the top three in the BDBL in on-base percentage, home runs, triples, and walks. (Of course, all of that can change as teams continue to play this chapter.)
Brandon Crawford (.333/.397/.609, 17 HR, 53 R, 52 RBI) deserves some MVP votes if he can keep up this pace in the second half. Brandon Belt (.264/.363/.582, 19 HR) has been worth every penny we paid for him last winter, and I believe the best is still yet to come. Ohtani (.224/.360/.515, 23 HR, 54 RBI) has been a productive beast on both sides of the ball, deceptive batting average notwithstanding.
Rafael Devers (.243/.311/.514, 22 HR, 60 RBI) can't seem to get on base, but his power allows us to forgive him for it. We got a lot of flak for going "Type H" on Mark Canha, but man, has that guy produced! He's hitting .280/.403/.471 overall, and ranks #2 on our team in runs created (54.3), behind Crawford and ahead of Ohtani!
All of the above players deserve some consideration for the all-star team. If not for their low usage numbers, both of our catchers -- Austin Nola (.340/.414/.456) and Zack Collins (.261/.408/.478) -- would deserve consideration as well.
Of course, the one guy who has disappointed beyond belief is Trea Turner. He should be posting MVP numbers for us, just as he did in MLB last year, when he posted the top WAR in baseball. Instead, he's hitting a paltry .253/.311/.401. He can't get on base, he can't steal bases (just 9-for-14 in that category), and he isn't racking up the extra base hits we expected he would. His performance this season has been an absolute head-shaking mystery.
***
As mediocre as our Chapter Three performance was, we managed to end on a high note. When Jon Gray allowed seven straight batters to reach base in the third inning of our final game against Myrtle Beach, it appeared as though we were on the verge of another Valdez-like collapse that would have resulted in another embarrassing double-digit loss and the second series defeat of the chapter.
With the bases loaded and one out, Gray struck out the dangerous Dylan Carlson. He then whiffed the not-so-dangerous opposing pithcer, Zach Thompson, to wriggle out of the inning. "Only" three runs scored that inning. It could have been far worse.
Faced with a 6-1 deficit, I have watched this Cowtippers team roll over and die far too many times over the years. For a while, it appeared that this team would die, too, as they struggled to make contact against Thompson. But then Trea Turner -- of all people! -- made it a one-run game with his two-run single in the fifth inning.
Crawford then tied the game in the sixth, and pinch hitter Chad Pinder put us ahead in the seventh. Our offense came through in the clutch -- but so did our bullpen, who held the Hitmen scoreless after Gray left the game in the third inning.
Games like that one give me hope that maybe -- just maybe -- we'll be okay in the postseason. When our team performs the way they're supposed to, great things tend to happen.
