The SweatSox are half way through the 2014 campaign, and we’re not exactly where Craig “The Prophet” Cornell projected we’d be in the preseason. With a 3-9 record, the tied-for-last-place SweatSox are on pace for our worst season since the 1-win 2001 season; but even that team put up 5.67 runs per game. The 2014 SweatSox have scored the 2nd fewest runs (3.33 RPG) in the NCBL, ahead of only the Tier III Knights (3.17). Fortunately, after such a horrible start, there really isn’t much more room to drop, unless it’s possible to be relegated to Tier III during the actual season.
As mentioned, scoring runs has been at a premium for the SweatSox, but to score you need to get on base, and the easiest way to get on base is with a hit. As a team, we’ve hit a brutal .207. Here’s a look at how all Tier II teams have hit in games involving the SweatSox:
The OMV Tracker has always been a great tool for determining individual futility at the plate. This year, we have 6 players on pace to finish on the board, which would crush the previous record of 2 in a season set in 2002, 2011, and 2012. Let’s pick it up boys!
The Gatineau Marc Sports and Cornwall River Rats haven’t had problems getting hits in SweatSox games, as evidenced by this graph showing the hit leaders against us this year. Should be noted that Marc Sports and Cornwall have both played 3 games against us so far this year, so don’t worry rest of the Tier, I’m sure you’ll get your hits when we play you again:
If the SweatSox aren’t hitting well, we must at least be doing something else well. This is indeed true, as we appear to be striking out at an absurd pace. As you can see, through 12 games, we’ve already hit previous SEASON totals, and are on pace to crush the all time season record.
Speaking of strikeouts, this seems to be a good place to peek in at the award named after me, the Shaun “K” Accolade. The all-time single season K record is 24, set by me in 2007. 2 SweatSox are on pace to beat this illustrious single season record:
The SweatSox aren’t in the business of making excuses, but if we were perhaps we could blame some of these strikeouts on the dominant pitching we’ve seen this year. Here’s a look at how many strikeouts ALL pitchers have in games played by the SweatSox:
Opposing pitchers haven’t just dominated us with strikeouts, as a whole, opposing team ERA’s are pretty impressive in games we’ve played. Here’s a look at Tier II ERA’s in games played by the SweatSox:
So we’ve had a look at our atrocious offense and the dominating opposing pitching, but perhaps the real issue is with team management. Is it a coincidence that as Cory “The Authority” Bond closes in on the all time managerial win record, we’re losing at an unprecedented pace? Could the pressure of closing in on manager legends Doug Dorion and Craig Cornell be getting to him when he’s creating lineups? If GLE had any interest in turning this team around, he’s step down as manager immediately and hand the reigns to someone who knows what the hell they’re doing.
One record Cory Bond doesn’t have to worry about any time soon is his active Ironman streak, which took a big step forward in our last game before the midseason break (vs Marc Sports at Allen last Sunday). Heading into Sunday, GLE’s streak was at 131 consecutive games, with the second longest active streak being held by Eric White at 35 straight. All good things must come to an end, and when Eric went camping or whatever last weekend, so did the 5th longest ironman streak in team history. Solid effort Wally.
There were a few other records set in our last game before the break worth noting. Since 2004, when Kent Johnston joined the team, 19 players have played an inning in CF. Last Sunday, we added a 20th member to the CF club: Ross Hughes!
The turning point of the 2013 season was when we got the new jerseys. This means that since joining the team in 2003, Craig has hung 3 different SweatSox jerseys in his closet (a 4th if you consider him buying a pre-2003 jersey on eBay a few years back). Last Sunday, Craig came out of the closet with all 3 and put them to work in an effort to break out of his (and the team’s) offensive slump. Maybe we would’ve won if he wore all 4.
Real quickly, I’d like to give a shoutout to the SweatSox Social Media Analytics Team, who combed through the NCBL cloud to find some pretty incredible statistics. Did you know that sweatsoxbaseball.com is the most viewed NCBL-related website of all time? Did you also know that the 2nd most viewed NCBL-related site isn’t really even a site? It looks like so many people get excited about typing our site into the address bar they add an extra “m” in .com. Our old site is in 3rd place, but big shoutout to the NCBL who’s main site sits comfortably in 4th place.
The SweatSox SMAT also figured out what the top NCBL related Twitter trends of all time are. The Jose Canseco “experience” from last week jumps all the way to #3, behind the SweatSox winning the 2013 Tier II Championship, and the SweatSox new jerseys.
Since I have to head over to Kinsmen in a few minutes for our game vs the Expos, I’ve got to wrap this up, but not before announcing the unsanctioned, unofficial, completely meaningless 2014 Midseason Award Winners.
Most Valuable Player: Mark Bond
Batter of the Half: Mark Bond
Pitcher of the Half: Martin Trepanier
Top Left Handed Pitcher: Martin Trepanier
Rookie of the Half: Martin Trepanier
Defensive Player of the Half: Ross Hughes
Mr. Hyjinx Two Thousand Fourteen: Eric White
Ms. Hyjinx Two Thousand Fourteen: Darya Wynter
The Shaun “K” Accolade: Shaun Keay (me) + Marc Lett
Manager of the Half: Cory Bond
The Mike Hindmarsh Top Teammate: Andrew Elias
Cash Money Homey (RBI): Craig Cornell
The Flash Award (SB): Eric White
Webmaster of the Half: Shaun Keay
The Murdock: Ross Hughes
The Leader of the “Mark’s”: Mark Bond
Tallest Promotion to Full Time: Josh Ramage
Most Cuddly: Shaun Keay
Most Likely to Get Married Next: Chris Lidstone
The Red Bull Full of Energy So He Never Sleeps Award: Mark Stinson
Most in Need of an UPGRADE: Kent Johnston
See you all in the 2nd half, where we’ll try and avoid the automatic drop to Tier III, plus a guest appearance in the Brewers Tournament. That should go well.
#3AND9