The State of the Tippers, Winter Edition

It has been another active and exciting winter trading season here in Salem. Our primary goal this winter was to build a competitive team without sacrificing our core players: Miguel Sano, Amed Rosario, Andrew Benintendi, Shohei Otani, Rafael Devers, Stephen Matz, Jon Gray, and Trea Turner. We would have succeeded in that mission if not for the trades of Sano and Rosario to Granite State. However, we feel that both trades were justified for different reasons.

By trading Sano, we received another player that we hope can join that core in Gary Sanchez. Since the beginning of this franchise, when we drafted a young Ben Davis at a salary of $2 million, we have been searching for our "catcher of the future." That search has led us to the likes of Jeff Clement, Matt LeCroy, Kurt Suzuki, Jeremy Brown, Kenji Johjima, and countless others. Needless to say, our track record with catchers has been abysmal. We're hoping that Sanchez can finally break that trend.

As for Rosario, we had countless opportunities to trade him over the years. We've had numerous offers for him, and we have offered him in many offers ourselves. Thankfully, none of those offers materialized. We received many offers for Rosario this winter, and nearly traded him for an ace starting pitcher earlier this winter. We rejected that temptation, as we believe that Rosario will be an all-star MLB shortstop in the very near future. However, when the Washington Nationals traded their shortstop, Danny Espinoza, to the Angels, that meant Trea Turner would be moving back to shortstop. Suddenly, we had one too many "shortstops of the future."

The opportunity to acquire an MVP bat like Jose Altuve's was too tempting to dismiss. Although he will only play one year for us, we look forward to seeing him at the top of the Salem lineup this year. Trading Altuve also meant that we could fortify our bullpen by trading our second baseman, Neil Walker. We did just that, receiving lefty Mike Montgomery in return. We feel that Mike will have some future value that will offset the loss of the future value we traded in Rosario.

As it now stands, the Salem starting lineup looks very strong this season. In addition to Altuve, we recently acquired lefty masher Kyle Seager to play third base. This allows us to shift Jose Ramirez to shortstop against right-handers, which sends our expensive albatross, Starlin Castro, to the bench where he belongs.

As we head into the auction, our starting lineup looks very strong against both left-handed and right-handed pitching:

vs. LH			vs. RH
CF Turner	.317/.338/.413 (65)		2B Altuve	.348/.398/.544 (531)
2B Altuve	.306/.391/.494 (186)		LF Herrera*	.303/.374/.467 (494)
LF Werth	.322/.411/.620 (141)		SS Ramirez	.312/.361/.457 (436)
1B Cabrera	.302/.409/.517 (176)		3B Seager*	.307/.394/.538 (437)
3B Ramirez	.311/.368/.473 (182)		C Sanchez	.338/.404/.689 (166)
C Ruiz	.271/.407/.386 (86)		1B Cabrera	.321/.388/.578 (503)
RF Soler	.267/.345/.467 (84)		RF Dickerson*	.254/.333/.477 (219)
SS Sardinas	.302/.343/.492 (69)		CF Turner	.348/.378/.607 (259)

Obviously, we will need to frequently substitute for Turner, Sanchez, and some others, but we have some capable backups in place for those occasions. Our starting rotation looks strong as well:

Strasburg	148-119-15-44-183 (615/658)
Shoemaker	160-166-18-30-143 (705/745)
Matz*	132-129-14-31-129 (698/686)
Gray	168-153-18-59-185 (694/712)
Guerra	122-94-10-43-100 (618/645)
Norris*	69-75-10-22-71 (648/800)

And our bullpen is rounding into shape:

Solis*	41-31-1-21-47 (556/639)
Iglesias	78-63-7-26-83 (777/483)
de la Rosa	51-43-8-20-54 (656/725)
O'Rourke*	25-18-3-10-24 (359/725)
Montgomery*	100-79-8-38-92 (570/691)
Hunter	34-35-1-8-23 (715/656)

We have a little more than $15 million to play with in the auction and draft, and we've yet to decide what we will do with that. Our farm system (which we believe would have ranked #1 in this year's Farm Report if we hadn't made any trades this winter) has been depleted, so we still have a lot of work ahead of us.

Our goal isn't to merely compete this year, but to compete for the next several years. This past year, two franchises developed the blueprint that we would like to follow: the Chicago Cubs and the Los Altos Undertakers. If we can mimic even a fraction of the success those two franchises have experienced, then we will consider it a great success.

'Tippers Announce 2017 Trades

The end of the BDBL World Series means the official beginning of the 2017 season. With that comes the announcement of trades that were made during the league's "quiet period." The Salem Cowtippers front office has been working tirelessly over the past month to secure the pieces they need to launch the 2017 Cowtippers back into contention. Today, we announce the completion of three trades that have been made so far that we hope will achieve that goal.

Trade #1: Salem traded Jeff Hoffman, Austin Hedges, and Huston Street to Charlotte for Miguel Cabrera.

It is difficult to justify trading prospects for a $13 million player when we could easily spend that money on a free agent instead without sacrificing any prospects. Freddie Freeman, for example, would be a comparable player to Cabrera, and will likely sign for somewhere in the neighborhood of $13 million in January.

We justify this decision for several reasons. First, this trade gives us certainty. History has proven that the auction is filled with uncertainty, and there are no guarantees. Secondly, Cabrera fills a desperate need for a middle-of-the-lineup, MVP-caliber, hitter, at a position where we had few desirable options. Thirdly, we only need to commit to two years with Cabrera, and we have hindsight with the first year. He is among the most consistent hitters in the game, and is a solid bet for 2018 as well. Lastly, the inclusion of Street (a $1.5 million cut) lowers Cabrera's cost to $11.5 million. For that price, it would be difficult to find an equally good hitter in the auction.

We have several good, young arms on our staff, which makes Hoffman somewhat expendable. And our next trade made Hedges expendable.

Trade #2: Salem traded Miguel Sano and Jorge Mateo to Granite State for Gary Sanchez and Odubel Herrera.

When we acquired Sano last year, we never intended to trade him. This is why we can't have nice things. It became clear to us after several weeks of negotiating with numerous teams that we would have to deal Sano if we were going to make any progress this winter. With Jose Ramirez at third base this season, and Rafael Devers set to take over the hot corner in the near future, Sano had become homeless. We believe that he will become an annual 30-40 home run hitter in the coming years, but we had to make this move in order to compete.

Likewise, we have very high expectations for Mateo. We believe that he has the potential to become a Trea Turner-like center fielder in the near future. However, given that we already have Turner, Mateo became somewhat expendable.

We will get roughly two chapters of usage out of Sanchez this season. When he is in the lineup, he will be a force to be reckoned with. Moving forward, we hope that he will become the long-term solution behind the plate that we have been looking for since this franchise was born.

Herrera gives us a solid left-handed bat in our righty-heavy lineup. He also fills a need in the outfield, where both Turner and Alex Dickerson are limited in usage. With this trade, we can now field a starting lineup with six hitters with an 800+ OPS against right-handers.

Trade #3: Salem traded Mike Fiers to Cleveland for Luis Sardinas.

This was actually our first trade of the 2017 season. We had great expectations for Fiers in MLB this past season, but he disappointed with a very inconsistent performance. He would have been an innings-filler for us in 2017. Instead, we flipped him for a useful part-time shortstop who will fill in against left-handers on occasion. With the addition of Sardinas, we can now field a lineup that includes six hitters with an 800+ OPS against left-handers.

There is still more work to do with our 2017 team. Our focus for the remainder of the trading season will be filling out our pitching staff. If we come up empty on the trading front, then we will have roughly $15 million to spend on free agents. The 2017 Cowtippers don't look like a division winner on paper as of yet, but we're making progress.

The State of the 'Tippers, 2017: Offense

Turning to the offense...

Trea Turner was supposed to be the starting shortstop for the Washington Nationals on Opening Day. Everyone in the baseball world recognized that this kid was ready for primetime, and that it would be a complete waste of his talent to let him spend any more time in the minor leagues. Naturally, that's just what the Nationals did (as that is always what they seem to do.) After they were done dicking around with his service time, Turner was finally called up. He proceeded to explode onto the MLB scene: .342/.370/.567, with 13 homers, 8 triples, and 33 stolen bases in 39 attempts. Thanks to all that dicking around, though, he amassed only 324 plate appearances.

When we made the big Kris Bryant trade earlier this year, we knew exactly the risk we were taking. The goal was to spread that risk through diversification. A major element of our more diversified portfolio was Miguel Sano. Of course, within days of making that trade, Sano missed a significant chunk of the season with a hamstring strain. Then he hurt his elbow and missed even more time. Then he hurt his back. This is a 23-year-old kid we're talking about. By the time the dust settled, Sano managed only 495 PA's, with a disappointing .236/.319/.462 triple-slash line. Chalk it up as a wasted season. He will likely serve in a platoon role for us next season.

Another major factor in that trade decision was the acquisition of Andrew Benintendi. We are extremely high on this kid, and believe that he is the piece of the puzzle that we've been missing since Alex Gordon said goodbye to Salem. Unfortunately, the Red Sox also dicked around with Benintendi's service time. After tearing up NCAA and three levels of the minor leagues, it was obvious that he was ready for the big time very early in the year. Instead, the Sox waited until August to promote him. Then, of course, he twisted his knee and missed over two weeks of the remainder of the season. That left him with just 118 PA's, making him a valuable pinch hitter for us in 2017.

We signed Neil Walker as a free agent last winter with the intention of eventually trading him during the season. Instead, he exploded out of the gate, and finished the season with a .282/.347/.476 batting line. Unfortunately, he, too, missed a significant portion of the season due to injury, and ended up with only 458 PA's -- barely enough to avoid the split usage limitations.

Travis Shaw was another player we drafted with the sole purpose of flipping him in trade. But he, too, caught fire early in the season, and was hitting .292/.358/.508 at the end of May. It was around that time that Bob Sylvester offered Jameson Taillon for Shaw, straight-up. We said no. Seriously, that happened. Needless to say, Shaw went into a tailspin after that, and finished with a mostly-useless batting line of .242/.306/.421. Meanwhile, Taillon overcame his past injury issues, was promoted to the majors, and became one of the most exciting young pitchers in the game.

Last winter, we took a gamble by making a deal with the Akron Ryche in which we sent high school phenom Austin Bergner to Akron in exchange for Jose Ramirez. The gamble was two-fold: Bergner (at the time) was ranked the #1 prospect in the Class of 2016, and Ramirez carried a $2 million salary and a MLB career OPS of .604. Needless to say, that trade worked out well for us. Ramirez was among the bigger surprises in MLB, and finished the season with a line of .312/.363/.462. Bergner wasn't selected until the 38th round (pick number 1,138.) You lose some, and once in a blue moon you win some.

When the Granite State Lightning traded Justin Upton to the St. Louis Apostles last winter, and St. Louis GM Bobby Sylvester insisted that it was a salary dump trade, I made the comment that I would have taken Upton's contract in exchange for nothing. Sylvester took me up on the offer (although I somehow ended up giving something.) At the time, we looked at Upton as a terrific bounce-back candidate after a disappointing 2015 MLB season. At the all-star break, however, it looked as though his career was finished. His .235/.289/.381 batting line ranked among the worst in baseball. Then, the Detroit Tigers gave him a few days to think about how much he sucked. Upton hit .260/.337/.579 in the second half of the season and turned his season around. Incredibly, he hit .292/.382/.750 (yes, .750!) in the month of September, with a whopping 13 homers. His overall line of .246/.310/.465 is hardly awe-inspiring, but at least it has some value.

This was the season when Jorge Soler was supposed to break out and become the MVP candidate that we envisioned when he first exploded onto the MLB scene. He posted an .898 OPS in his brief minor league career, and then hit .292/.330/.573 in his MLB debut in 2014. 2015 was a huge disappointment (.262/.324/.399), but he capped that season with a phenomenal postseason performance that seemed to portend that great things were ahead. Or so we thought when we traded for him last winter. Instead, Soler began the first half of the season hitting just .223/.322/.377. Like Upton, he turned his season around in the second half (.258/.348/.515), but like Upton, his overall performance isn't strong enough to make him an asset for us in 2017.

Upton and Soler both came to the Cowtippers in the same trade (in which we sacrificed Freddie Freeman, Chris Coghlan, Luis Valbuena, and Yadier Alvarez.) We received pitcher Jon Gray in that deal as well. We also took on Starlin Castro's albatross of a contract. The best that we can say about Castro's MLB 2016 performance is that it wasn't as bad as his 2015 "effort." He hit .270/.300/.433 overall, with 21 homers. We're hoping that his three games at shortstop will mean that he will be rated at that position, and that his rating will be adequate enough for us to play him at that position. If not, I have no idea what we'll do with him.

Lastly, we picked up Alex Dickerson off the free agent scrap heap earlier this season. While we were hoping he would get a little more playing time down the stretch, we'll settle for his .254/.333/.477 batting line against righties and stick him in a platoon role with Jorge Soler.

vs. LH	PA	BA	OBP	SLG
CF Turner	65	.317	.338	.413
2B Walker	110	.330	.391	.610
3B Ramirez	182	.311	.368	.473
1B Sano	114	.227	.333	.485
RF Soler	84	.267	.345	.467
LF Upton	179	.236	.313	.441
SS Castro	172	.265	.308	.432
C ?
vs. RH
CF Turner	259	.348	.378	.607
RF Dickerson	219	.254	.333	.477
3B Ramirez	436	.312	.361	.457
2B Walker	348	.266	.333	.433
1B Sano	381	.238	.315	.456
LF Upton	447	.249	.309	.474
SS Castro	172	.265	.308	.432
C ?

The State of the 'Tippers, 2017: Starting Rotation

The Great Rebuilding Project of 2016 was supposed to have been brief. By the time we finished the 2016 winter draft, I was convinced that the Cowtippers would be very competitive in 2017. Now that the 2016 MLB regular season is officially in the books, it's time to take a look at where we stand heading into the 2017 BDBL preseason. We'll begin with the starting rotation.

For the better part of the year, it appeared as though our starting rotation would be our greatest strength in 2017. Through the end of July, Stephen Strasburg was a strong candidate for the NL Cy Young award. He owned a 2.68 ERA at that point, and an opponents' OPS of just .571. He then injured his elbow -- again -- and made only five more starts before shutting it down for the season. Naturally, he was so horrendous in those five starts that it jacked his ERA up to 3.60 and his OPS up to .637. In just five starts, he went from a Cy Young contender to a mid-rotation starter. He will also be limited to just 167 innings next season.

We had very high hopes for Stephen Matz heading into this season. Through the end of June, it looked as though he would join Strasburg as two possible Cy Young contenders in 2017. At that point, Matz owned an ERA of just 2.27 with an opponents' OPS of .566. Then, he hurt his elbow and was forced to abandon the slider that greatly contributed to his success. His ERA ballooned to 3.40 over his next five starts and remained at that level until he was inevitably shut down in September. He was shut down repeatedly throughout the season and managed to throw only 132 innings, which gives him 145 innings of usage next season.

We weren't expecting much from Matt Shoemaker this season, but by the end of April he managed to wildly surpass even our lowest expectations. After five April starts, Shoemaker owned an ERA of 9.15. Seriously. We practically begged someone to take him off our hands. Fortunately, no one took us up on that offer. On May 21st, Shoemaker fired seven-plus innings of shutout baseball, with no walks and twelve strikeouts. That began an amazing streak where he posted an ERA of just 1.87 over his next eight games. By September, he managed to lower his overall ERA to 3.88. Then...he hurt his shoulder, and was shut down for the rest of the season. With 160 innings on the season, Shoemaker is now the "workhorse" of the 2017 Salem Cowtippers.

We had high hopes for rookie Jon Gray as well heading into the MLB season. Through the end of May, however, he owned an ERA of 5.56, and looked to be a lost cause for our 2017 rotation. Then he discovered a new grip on his slider. Over his next 11 starts, he posted an ERA of 2.60, with an opponents' OPS of .625. He managed to lower his ERA all the way down to 3.77 -- a remarkable feat for a Rockies pitcher. By the middle of August, we were beginning to think that he might become the ace of the Salem rotation in 2017. Then...he went into a massive slump. Over his last ten starts of the season, he owned a 6.41 ERA with a .771 opponents' OPS. He finished the season with a 4.61 ERA in just 168 innings. Another mid-rotation starter (at best.)

We've always liked Rubby de la Rosa, and were happy to have snagged him in trade last winter. By the end of April, that trade was looking like the work of a genius. De la Rosa owned an ERA of 4.18 and an opponents' OPS of .650 pitching in the tough pitcher's environment of Arizona. In his last start in April, he fanned ten batters in seven shutout innings. His future looked bright. His position in the 2017 Salem starting rotation seemed a lock. He managed to lower his ERA to just 3.53 by the middle of May. Then...you guessed it...he hurt his elbow. He made just one more start, missed the entire months of June, July, and August, tried to pitch out of the bullpen in September, and was ultimately shut down and introduced to Dr. James Andrews.

In MLB 2015, Mike Fiers managed a 3.69 ERA for the season and fanned 180 batters in 180 innings. If nothing else, we expected him to provide us with some innings at the back of our 2017 rotation. Instead, he gave us a 4.48 ERA in MLB 2016, with 26 home runs allowed in only 168+ innings, with only 134 K's and a league-leading 17 wild pitches.

That is our 2017 starting rotation as it stands today: four mid-rotation pitchers, three with elbow problems, a mostly useless #5 starter, and so many usage issues that we'll be forced to add another starter just to make it through the season.

	IP	H	HR	BB	K	Splits
Strasburg	148	119	15	44	183	615/658
Shoemaker	160	166	18	30	143	705/745
Matz	132	129	14	31	129	698/686
Gray	168	153	18	59	185	694/712
Fiers	169	187	26	42	134	749/843

Chapter Two Review

Hello there, baseball fans! Believe it or not, more than one-third of the way into this season, the Salem Cowtippers are the leaders in the OL wild card race. That's right; if the season ended today, your Cowtippers would be playing year-end bonus baseball. Who woulda thunk it?

Coming into this season, our primary goal was to build a team to compete in 2017. It seemed unlikely that we would be competitive this season, as we traded most of our best talent last winter in exchange for future considerations. So how on earth did this happen?

It hasn't exactly happened because of luck. Our Pythagorean record is nearly identical (+1 win) to our actual record. We haven't taken advantage of any home-field fluky factors, as our home record (16-12) is nearly identical to our road record (15-13.) It hasn't happened because we play in a weak division, as our divisional record stands at just 13-11. So why on earth has it happened?

The best explanation to date is: lack of competition. The Flagstaff Outlaws, Bear Country Jamboree, and Granite State Lightning were supposed to be the main competition for the runner-up trophy this year. Instead, Flagstaff is eight games below .500, Bear Country has been outscored by nearly 40 runs, and the Lightning are sporting the worst winning percentage in the Ozzie League.

The Los Altos Undertakers (+127) are outscoring their competition by more than 100 runs so far this year. The New Milford Blazers (+123) trail closely behind in that category. Care to guess which team ranks third? That's right, the Cowtippers -- at just +14. The third best team in the Ozzie League is outscoring their competition by only 14 runs after 56 games have been played. How pathetic is that?

We somehow managed to go 18-10 in Chapter Two, despite batting just .238/.312/.397 as a team. Our pitching was respectable, as we posted a team ERA of 3.10 (third in the OL) and struck out more batters than innings pitched. Travis Shaw (.295/.354/.511) was once again our Hitter of the Chapter, and Stephen Strasburg (2-1, 1.42 ERA, 31 K in 25+ IP) was our top pitcher. Our bullpen was extraordinary as well. Zach Duke, Xavier Cedeno, and Huston Street managed to allow just one earned run in nearly 38 innings combined.

We didn't lose a single series in Chapter Two despite playing a tough schedule. We split four series, took three out of four in two series (against Flagstaff and New Milford), and closed our chapter with a sweep of the Lightning.

So, where do we go from here? We can squeeze another chapter out of the players that we have used throughout the first two chapters of the season. Beyond that, we will need some help to complete the usage requirements. Whether or not we trade for that help or pick it up off the free agent scrap heap remains to be seen. If we have another chapter like this one, it would seem dishonest not to make an effort to finish this season as strong as possible. With Los Altos and New Milford dominating the league as they are, however, trading away the future for a million-to-one shot in the postseason is not something that we will do.

Meanwhile, all eyes in our front office are focused with laser-like precision on the 2017 season. The month of April was more than disheartening, as several of the players we were counting on to carry us to contention in 2017 stumbled out of the gate. But it's a long season, and anything can happen over the next five months.

No one expected the Salem Cowtippers to be in a position to even consider the possibility of trading away a bit of the future for a better chance to contend this year. 2016 has been a pleasant surprise -- so far.

Chapter One Review

Our off-field goal this season is make every effort and take every opportunity available to strengthen our team for the 2017 season. On the field, our goal remains the same as it has always been: to win as many games as possible. Although our focus is on 2017, we still have games to play this season, and winning those games is our immediate priority.

With that goal in mind, Chapter One can be considered a surprising success. We finished the chapter with a record of 13-15, good enough for third place in the division, and managed to outscore our competition by a single run. Our offense posted a triple-slash line of .252/.324/.377, which is roughly league-average, and our pitching staff recorded a 3.83 ERA, which is slightly under the league average (as of this writing.)

On an individual basis, Mike Fiers (2-3, 2.89 ERA in 43+ IP) was our Pitcher of the Chapter. Incredibly, Fiers pitched two games this chapter where he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Rookie Raisel Iglesias (2-1, 1.83 ERA in 19+ IP) got off to an outstanding start to his big league career, as did fellow rookie Steven Matz (0-0, 1.65 ERA in 16+ IP.)

On the flip side, Stephen Strasburg continues to mystify us with his propensity for allowing home runs. In only 25 innings, Strasburg allowed seven home runs -- half of the total amount he allowed all of last year in MLB. He finished the chapter with a 6.04 ERA, yet Matt Shoemaker (7.30) and Mychal Givens (7.84) somehow managed to surpass Strasburg's suckitude in Chapter One.

Offensively, Travis Shaw (.380/.443/.704) was easily our Hitter of the Chapter. He led the team in nearly every offensive category, including runs created, despite batting only 79 times. Ryan Zimmerman (.327/.382/.571 in 49 AB), Travis d'Arnaud (.293/.359/.561), Mark Canha (.275/.370/.536), and Neil Walker (.296/.350/.398) were also impressive in Chapter One.

Not so impressive: Starlin Castro (.206/.213/.243), Jorge Soler (.229/.326/.289), and most disappointing, rookie Kris Bryant (.231/.367/.308, with just one home run.)

Overall, so far, so good. Despite our focus on 2017, we have managed to play like an average Ozzie League team to this early point in the season. Here is how our first chapter unfolded, series-by-series, in BDBL calendar order:

@ New Milford Blazers

For the seventeenth year in a row (or so it seems) our season began on the road in Nestle Field, which has been a death trap for us, historically. This series was no different. Strasburg was rocked in Game One (which is nothing new, with the exception of last year's OLDS.) In four innings, he managed to allow seven runs and two home runs.

We had a chance to split the series when Fiers tossed an absolute gem in Game Two, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning. The top of the seventh ended with Fiers lacing a single to center field, and d'Arnaud being gunned down at the plate. Fiers allowed his first hit of the game in the bottom of the inning, and got in trouble by walking the bases full, but escaped without damage. The scoreless tie was then broken by a Jason Castro RBI double off of Givens in the eighth. And that was the ballgame, as we lost a squeaker, 1-0.

Shoemaker was absolutely pounded in Game Three, and it looked as though we would see yet another Opening Day sweep. Instead, Iglesias saved the day by tossing seven shutout innings in Game Four to avoid the sweep.

@ Western Kansas Buffaloes

We didn't expect Drew Hutchison to give us much this season, but for one game, at least, he earned his spot on the roster. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, as we lost the first game of this series, 2-1, thanks to an utter lack of clutch hitting on our side and uncanny clutch hitting by Western Kansas.

We lost yet another heartbreaker in Game Two, losing 2-0, on a freakish homer by backup catcher and pinch hitter Robinson Chirinos. Once again, we failed to hit in the clutch, and wasted several scoring opportunities. That, however, turned around in a big, BIG way in Game Three, when we scored TWENTY runs against Ian Kennedy and the Buffaloes bullpen. The highlight of the game was Kris Bryant's first BDBL home run: a grand slam.

We wrapped up the series with an 8-5 win in Game Four, giving us a split.

vs. Granite State Lightning

In the order in which these games were actually played, this was our true Opening Day. After raising yet another wild card flag in Sam Adams Stadium, we rallied for five runs in the fifth inning and won our first game of the season. Unfortunately, that would be our last win of this series. Shelby Miller and the Granite State bullpen shut us out in Game Two. Givens blew our chances to win Game Three. We then lost a heart-breaker in extra innings in Game Four when Givens blew yet another one.

vs./@ Kansas City Boulevards

The first game of this series went into the eleventh inning with the score still knotted at 1-1. Our $5 million closer, Ryan Madson, recorded the first two outs of the 11th inning...and then served up three singles in a row -- the last of which scored the go-ahead run.

In Game Two, Fiers allowed a two-run blast to Kendrys Morales in the first inning, but then settled down nicely and cruised to a 6-2 win. Matt Shoemaker allowed six runs on eleven hits through seven innings in Game Three...and earned the win. How? Because circus clowns poured onto the field in the eighth inning. We scored six runs (mostly off of reliever Chris Hatcher) and turned a 6-1 deficit into a 7-6 victory.

We had another circus-related rally in the fifth inning of Game Four, turning a 2-1 deficit into a 6-2 lead. Hutchison provided yet another surprising performance, and d'Arnaud smacked a grand slam home run, giving us our first series win of the season.

@/vs. New York Giants

The New York Giants cannot be defeated; they can only be contained. At least, that is how they played through the first two games of this series. New York won an easy 7-1 laugher in Game One, as Arlo Guthrie pitched the game of his life for the Giants. Fat-ass boozer C.C. Sabathia then followed that effort with a gem of his own in Game Two, which New York won, 5-3.

Our fortunes turned when the series switched to Salem's home turf. We carried a 2-2 tie into the ninth inning of Game Three, and then won it with a walk-off single by Jorge Soler. In Game Four, New York took an early 4-1 lead, but we battled back in the seventh and eighth innings and escaped with a 7-4 win to earn a series split.

vs. Los Altos Undertakers

In all likelihood, this was the most lopsided match-up of our season. Yet, we more than held our own against the defending champs. We carried a tie score of 3-3 into the ninth inning of Game One before the floodgates opened and Los Altos scored five runs to turn this one into a laugher. They weren't laughing in Game Two, though, as Fiers -- for the second time this season -- carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning. We managed to peck away at Gerritt Cole and the vaunted Los Altos bullpen, giving us a 6-1 win.

In Game Three, Iglesias gave a phenomenal and gutsy performance against defending Cy Young Chris Sale, but our offense provided little support. We had a chance to tie the game in the eighth inning, but the fleet-footed Bryant was gunned down on a throw to home plate in which there was such a tremendous collision that the Los Altos catcher was injured for 33 games. Los Altos eked away with a 3-2 win.

In Game Four, we turned the ball over to Steven Matz in the third inning (to the booing of the Los Altos dugout), and he tossed five innings of one-hit shutout ball. That gave us a chance to get back into the game -- which we did. We carried a tie into the ninth inning. Then, with two outs and Los Altos closer Dellin Betances on the hill, d'Arnaud hit a shocking walk-off home run, sending the Salem fans home with smiles on their faces.

I cannot recall the last time we walked away with a split against Los Altos. I'm not even sure that it has ever happened. Incredibly, we were in all four games, and were two lucky breaks away from sweeping the series.

@ Las Vegas Flamingos

Another game by Strasburg and Givens, another huge disappointment in Game One. Strasburg allowed two more home runs, and Givens coughed up four runs in an inning, as Vegas ran away with a 7-3 win. We rallied for three runs in the ninth inning of Game Two, and closed within a run, but ran out of bats and lost a one-run heartbreaker.

The clutch hitting we needed was revealed in Game Three, when Jose Ramirez drew a pinch-hit bases-loaded walk to tie the score and force extra innings. An inning later, Justin Upton singled home the go-ahead run, resulting in a 3-2 Salem victory.

Game Four resulted in yet another extra-innings game. This one stretched to the eleventh inning, where Soler led off with a double, moved to third on a fly ball, and scored on a sac fly. Matz closed it out and we walked away with another one-run win and a series split.

'Tippers Celebrate Lance Berkman Day

Lance Berkman apparently isn't good enough to make it to the BDBL Hall of Fame, but on Monday night in Salem, he was officially inducted as the first member of the Cowtippers Hall of Fame.

In a pre-game ceremony, Berkman's number seventeen was officially retired and hung beneath the Jumbotron in center field. Former teammates, including Jeff Bagwell, Bernie Williams, Todd Helton, and Mark Teixeira, joined in the ceremony and congratulated Berkman as he strode onto the field with his family. The Salem fans greeted each former star with a roar of applause, and saved their loudest for former World Series hero Mike Magnante.

Berkman played a franchise-record eight seasons with the Cowtippers -- three more than any other player in history. In those eight seasons, he averaged a .290/.406/.512 triple-slash line (a .918 OPS), with 209 home runs (an average of 26 per season), 773 RBI's (an average of 97), and 932 runs created (an average of 117.)

He currently holds the all-time Salem franchise career records for hits (1,224), runs scored (787), RBI's, doubles (282), home runs, extra base hits (512), walks (829), intentional walks (63), strikeouts (800), sac flies (42), and runs created.

Berkman was among the first players selected in the inaugural BDBL farm draft. He was acquired (along with Adam Piatt) by the Cowtippers in a 2001 trade with the Litchfield Lightning in which Salem sacrificed pitcher Darren Dreifort. He played his first season in Salem that year and hit .323/.462/.617 in limited (338 PA) time. He enjoyed arguably his greatest season two years later when he hit .321/.442/.566 in a full season, with 54 doubles, 26 home runs, 120 RBI's, 119 walks, and 150.7 runs created.