23 September 2004

Vol. X No. 24

FIN 105-44 .705 -
QUI 98-51 .658 7
MOO 78-71 .523 27
NES 74-76 .493 31.5
MEA 68-81 .456 37
WIL 56-93 .376 49
PIO 27-122 .181 78

PYT 97-52 .651 -
NOM 94-55 .631 3
NOI 94-56 .627 3.5
DIR 87-62 .584 10
BEA 60-89 .403 37
GIA 59-90 .396 38
RAC 55-94 .369 42

 

 

 ISBL HOME    WEEK 24 DISKS & PAST FILES    FINANCES    AUCTION SITE    FORUMS    E-MAIL 

   WEEK 24 MATCHUPS    USAGE ISSUES    VIOLATIONS    NOTES    TRANSACTIONS    AUCTION    DL REPORT    POWS  

 

Chicago Forces the Issue in AL Battle

The Chicago Force rode the hot bat of Alex Rodriguez (who collected 16 RBI to lead all ISBL batters for the week) to a 5-2 series win against the Toronto Crown Royals and a share of the lead in the American League with the Beltway Bandits, just in time for the two teams to battle this week in a series that could very well decide the AL Champion.

The Omaha Orange Crush kept themselves alive in the AL title hunt by going 5-2 against the Bandits to pull within 5 games of the league lead. Omaha's pitching staff held Ichiro Suzuki hitless in the opening three games at Beltway to end his streak of consecutive games with a hit at 36.


TWO WEEKS TO GO ...

The Finns went 6-1 against the Willows to remain seven games ahead of the Quicksteps (6-1 vs. Pioneers) and reduce their magic number to seven. The Finns could clinch the NL title this week with a commanding performance against the Nessmen, while the Steps take on the Crown Royals in interleague play.

The showdown for fourth place in the NL between the Nessmen and Meat Possums saw the Nessies sweep the final four at home to go 5-2 and extend their advantage over the Possums to 5½ games. The Nessmen are now 16-4 over their last 20 games, but this week's tilt with the Finns could see that advantage erased, as the Meat face the Willows, who are now assured of being in the relegation playoff and -- short of a miracle -- are a lock for sixth place.

 

The Bandits and Force sit tied atop the AL (with the Bandits holding an 8-6 head-to-head advantage) as they battle each other over six games this week. The Force will likely need to impose their will on Beltway, as the final week sees the Bandits taking on the Legends while Chicago has to contend with the Orange Crush. And as for Omaha, they could still sneak into the AL title race in the final week, sitting just 5 games back, with a strong performance against the Cardinals.

And that would be bad news for the Cards, as they now sit 8½ back of the sixth-place Legends with just 12 games to play and look increasingly likely to be automatically relegated. Meanwhile, the Legends and the fifth-place Gridlock play head-to-head in what is a probable preview of the relegation playoff.

 

The Pythons went just 3-3 against the Cyclones in interleague action, allowing the Nomads (6-1 vs. Raccoons) to climb to within 3 games and the Noise (6-1 vs. Giants) to get within 3½ of the FL lead. But this week sees the Nomads and Noise going head-to-head in a potential battle of attrition, while the Pythons' schedule over the final two weeks -- the pitching-depleted Giants and the last-place Raccoons -- should see Pittsburgh take the FL title.

Still lingering on the fringe of contention for a promotional-playoff spot are the Dirt Dogs, who sit 6½ back of the Noise for third and could climb into the final-week mix with a strong performance against the Prairie Fire.

 

The Sidewinders are poised to become the first team to clinch their league title, despite a 3-4 week against the Bulldogs, as they remain 8 games ahead of the Prairie Fire and take a magic number of six into their series with the bottom-dwelling Sluggers.

The Fire went an impressive 5-2 against the Wolverines to solidify their hold on second place as they face the Dirt Dogs in interleague play. The Cyclones sit 6 back of the Fire in third and take on the Wolverines, while the fourth-place Bulldogs still cling to hope of a promotional playoff berth, 5 back of the Clones, as they look to rough up the Underdogs.

 


FINAL WEEK OF AUCTION POSTING/WAIVER WIRE

This is the last week for you to ask for players to be put up for auction or to post players on the waiver wire. All requests must be submitted before 9pm EDT Thursday.

 


ROSTER EXPANSION

ADDITIONAL NOTE ON THIS: You CAN now make moves in mid-series if you want, what with the roster expansion, if you're looking to protect players from overusage.

 

Just remember that you CAN NOT bring up <<Junior Draft>> or ++Overused++ players. And overusage rules still apply, so doublecheck where your guys are with usage before you bring them up so that you don't take them over 110% and lose them for the postseason/cup.

 


WEEK 24 MATCHUPS  

All series are SIX games, scheduled 9/21-26.

 

First team listed is the away team for the first three games.

 

Be sure to get in contact with your opponent early ("e-mail him before he can e-mail you" is always a good rule to follow) and figure out if you're going to NetPlay or MP them, then schedule accordingly.

 

 

SENIOR CIRCUIT

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Nessmen v Finns

Moose v Pioneers

Meat Possums v Willows

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Legends v Gridlock

Cardinals v Orange Crush

Bandits v Force

INTERLEAGUE

Crown Royals v Quicksteps

 

JUNIOR CIRCUIT

FEDERAL LEAGUE

Pythons v Giants

Noise v Nomads

Raccoons v Beavers

UNION LEAGUE

Underdogs v Bulldogs

Sluggers v Sidewinders

Cyclones v Wolverines

INTERLEAGUE

Dirt Dogs v Prairie Fire


NEW DISK CODING

1. Players who are Junior Draftees are marked as such: <<NAME>>. Don't bring them up.

2. Players who are overused and mandatorily farmed are marked as such: ++NAME++. Don't bring them up.

3. Players who are placed on the DL, but were injured for less than 15 days, have had their return date amended so that they can't be brought up until those 15 days have passed.

 

Additionally, the usage and DL lists provided here each week will remain in place and continue to be updated. Hopefully that knocks out most of the violation buggaboos. 

 


USAGE ISSUES

The following players have exceeded 110% usage for the year. New additions are in bold. They have been mandatorily farmed for the year, can not be traded, and are ineligible for postseason and cup play. These players are noted in your roster with the coding ++NAME++.

BATTERS
  • Fernando Vina (LEG) -- 119%
  • Brian Daubach (LEG) -- 119%
  • Mo Vaughn (LEG) -- 117%
  • Javy Lopez (LEG) -- 117%
  • Ryan Freel (SLU) -- 116%
  • Rod Barajas (SLU) -- 115%
  • Ray Durham (UND) -- 115%
  • Kevin Witt (CAR) -- 115%
  • Kevin Mench (SLU) -- 114%
  • Adam Melhuse (GIA) -- 114%
  • Mendy Lopez (CAR) -- 113%
  • Austin Kearns (RAC) -- 112%
PITCHERS
  • Al Reyes (GIA) -- 145%
  • Tony Fiore (GIA) -- 143%
  • A.J. Burnett (CAR) -- 140%
  • Scott Strickland (GIA) -- 137%
  • Josh Hall (SLU) -- 132%
  • Tommy Phelps (Released) -- 129%
  • Justin Duchscherer (WIL) -- 128%
  • Chad Cordero (SLU) -- 128%
  • Aaron Taylor (Released) -- 126%
  • Ricardo Rodriguez (GIA) -- 123%
  • Grant Balfour (GIA) -- 121%
  • Kazuhiro Sasaki (RAC) -- 119%
  • Cliff Politte (SLU) -- 118%
  • Jaime Cerda (SLU) -- 118%
  • Jeremi Gonzalez (GIA) -- 118%
  • Terry Adams (LEG) -- 116%
  • Terry Mulholland (UND) -- 116%
  • Josh Towers (CRO) -- 114%
  • Julio Mateo (SLU) -- 114%
  • Mike Gallo (GIA) -- 114%
  • Rick Reed (RAC) -- 114%
  • Jim Mecir (PIO) -- 113%
  • Andrew Good (PIO) -- 113%
  • Jason Isringhausen (NES) -- 113%
  • Adam Bernero (GIA) -- 112%
  • John Franco (LEG) -- 112%
  • Billy Koch (BUL) -- 112%
  • Pat Hentgen (CRO) -- 112%
  • Felix Rodriguez (LEG) -- 111%
  • Nelson Figueroa (GIA) -- 111%
  • Danny Patterson (WOL) -- 111%
  • Mickey Callaway (LEG) -- 111%
  • Jesse Foppert (WIL) -- 111%
  • Seth McClung (CRO) -- 111%
  • Carlos Reyes (CRO) -- 111%

RULE VIOLATIONS

  • NONE

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CUT YOUR ROSTER DOWN TO 25 MEN BEFORE STARTING THIS WEEK. 

BE CAREFUL TO KEEP PLAYERS ON DISABLED LIST FOR MINIMUM 15 DAYS. Check the DL listings below to be sure what date players are eligible to return. PLEASE NOTE: The game program allows players to be brought back before they've served 15 days. ISBL DOES NOT, so please consult the DL listings to ensure that you're bringing players back on the correct date.

DON'T MAKE NON-DL-RELATED MID-SERIES ROSTER MOVES. The only moves you can make during a series are to put someone on the DL or to take them off (and an accompanying promote/farm to cover THAT player). And be sure to consult the list below to see when your player is eligible to come off the DL.


CHECK YOUR MANAGER PROFILE

Remember what Troy always says. Recheck your manager profile weekly to make sure phantom zeros aren't popping into your usage limits. Check to see if you have injured players, or players eligible to be reactivated. Be sure to check that your roster is at 25, especially if you have acquired new players through trade or free agency, as the game tends to make all of these players active.

We would advise those of you that constructed preseason manager profiles (before the Week 1 disk was released) to double check them to ensure that playing limits are correct. The last preseason disk that was posted showed several players with settings of zero, and the CM will pass over many of these players when your team is away. You can see this on the final page of the profile where the players are listed. The playing limits were corrected to the actual usage numbers on the Week 1 disk. If you put together an MP using an older V9 disk, you can correct the playing limits this way:

  1. Click on the "Other Actions" button in the lower right corner of either the "Pitching," "Saved Lineup" or "Depth Chart" page of your Manager Profile.
  2. Click on "Generate Manager Profile."
  3. Uncheck everything EXCEPT "Generate playing time limits," keeping that one checked, and click OK. This should retain your other settings while ensuring that the playing time limits are correct.

Of course, once you've corrected these playing time limits, you can manipulate them as needed to make sure that players are used only in the specific roles you want them to play (i.e. if you have a pitcher rated both to start and relieve, and you only want him used as a starter, you can set his relief appearances to zero). Also, be sure to note that in Version 9, there's a new page for setting player-specific tendencies, as well as team tendencies.

PAY ATTENTION TO OPPONENT'S INSTRUCTIONS

If an owner takes the time to send you an MP and/or instructions as to how to install his pitchers/lineups, take care to use these. Seen a couple of instances this year where MPs have been sent, only to be ignored/looked over/forgotten by opponents. If they're sending you an MP, it means they have changes from what's on the disk that may affect their rotation, or player usage, or whatever. So use them. Otherwise, you're risking having to play the games over again. And might get fined for repeated occurances.

When your opponent has taken the time and care to create an MP for your series that week, make sure to import it into the database. If you're unsure that you're doing things correctly, please contact Micah, Troy or Tim for help. Some important things to consider:
  • Merely downloading the zip file from the e-mail doesn't install it. You have to go to Import Statistics (found in the game menu under Transfer), find the zip file, click it open and import it.
  • If you do this, and the initial import screen comes up, and you don't see your opponent's team name there highlighted, there's a problem. Contact your opponent or one of us to resolve this.
  • You need to make sure the new disk for the week is installed BEFORE you import the MP. Otherwise, when you install the new database, it will overwrite the new MP with the old one.

SOME ADDITIONAL DIRECTION ON PLAYING IN NETPLAY

When FTF players set their rosters to 25 (or make changes to their roster between weeks), whoever the host is won't have those handy, so you'll need to at least make whatever pre-series changes on your disk, generate an MP file with those changes (just like you would a file with played games to send), and send it to whichever of the two of you is hosting. That's an extra step we haven't had to contend with before with the NetMeeting, where you could just make the changes yourself or instruct your opponent to do so. And you can STILL instruct your opponent to do so, but you'll need to do that before you link onto the NetPlay, 'cause there's no way to get to the MPs once you've linked. Because of this, it's advisable that for the series, one team remains the host throughout, who will have made his changes and installed the MP (or made the changes as directed) of their opponent.
 
Switching between who is the home manager and who is the away manager is pretty simple if you're mid-series and already connected with one as home and one as away. The host needs only to click on "NetPlay" in the top menu line and then "Swap manager roles" to flip them.
 
As for changing options, this is done by the host. Make sure the settings for the host are "Human" and for away are "Remote." If for some reason, you get into the game and one party doesn't have control of, say, baserunning, have the host go in and fix it.

If you have any additional questions about V9 play, please direct them to stats@isbl.com.


TRANSACTIONS

  • NONE

You can track your finances, as well as your payroll ceiling, at the ISBL Finances page (http://www.isbl.com/isbl_2004/isbl_finances.htm).


AUCTION

  • NONE
  • THIS IS THE LAST WEEK TO POST PLAYERS

If you want players put up for auction, you need to send an e-mail to stats@isbl.com by Thursday afternoon stating what players you want put on the board. Players will typically be put on the board at 9 pm Eastern Thursday night and stay there for 72 hours. If you are a new owner and need to set up an auction account, please contact stats@isbl.com.


DL REPORT

Please be sure to check if you have injured players. This lists only players already placed on the DL.

NOTE: Not sure if V9 handles DL'ed players the same as V8. With V8, you typically could call a player back up on the day listed as his last day on the injury line (i.e. if if said "Out from 4/20/2004 to 5/17/2004," it'd let you call him back up on the 17th), so that's what I've used here. If it turns out that it's one more day, let me know so I can start accounting for the extra day. Sorry if this causes any confusion.

These players were DL'ed during the past week and must remain there for at least 15 days:
  • NONE
These players are eligible to come off the DL at some point (see below) this week:
  • Sparks (BUL) -- OK to return
  • Wilson,E (FOR) -- OK to return
These players were placed on the DL previously and are not eligible to come back this week:
  • NONE

POWs FOR WEEK 22

12 teams voted: CRO, NES, BAN, CAR, GRI, CYC, PIO, SID, DIR, BEA, PRA, FOR

SENIOR BATTER: Albert Pujols (Meat Possums)

Pujols (MEA): 6 votes -- CRO, NES, PIO, SID, DIR, BEA

Cameron (BAN): 3 votes -- BAN, PRA, FOR

Mueller (FOR): 2 votes -- GRI, CYC

Lugo (QUI): 1 vote -- CAR

 

SENIOR PITCHER: (TIE) Denny Neagle (Legends) & Horacio Ramirez (Meat Possums)

Neagle (LEG): 4 votes -- CRO, CAR, GRI, SID

Ramirez,H (MEA): 4 votes -- NES, CYC, PIO, PRA

Wolf (BAN): 2 votes -- BAN, BEA

Eaton (ORA): 2 votes -- DIR, FOR

Mulder (NES): no votes

 

JUNIOR BATTER: Alfonso Soriano (Beavers)

Soriano,A (BEA): 12 votes -- unanimous

Lowell (NOM): no votes

 

JUNIOR PITCHER: Brett Tomko (Cyclones)

Tomko (CYC): 6 votes -- NES, GRI, CYC, DIR, BEA, PRA

Loaiza (BUL): 4 votes -- CRO, CAR, PIO, SID

Mussina (SID): 2 votes -- BAN, FOR

Johnson,Ja (DIR): no votes

 


POW BALLOT FOR WEEK 23

You can vote for BOTH Senior AND Junior players. Submit by Sunday, 5 pm EDT. 

Player of the WEEK Ballots

Senior Circuit BATTERS:
BATTER TM OPP AB R H BI 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS AVG OBP SPC RC EXTRA
Bonds FIN wil 23 10 10 12 2 0 6 6 0 0 0 435 567 1304 17.9
Cameron BAN ora 23 6 12 5 2 0 3 5 3 0 0 522 607 1000 13.9
Pujols MEA nes 24 10 12 8 2 0 4 7 3 0 0 500 613 1083 15.5
Rodriguez,A FOR cro 30 10 14 16 3 1 4 3 3 0 0 467 515 1033 16.4
 
Senior Circuit PITCHERS:
PLAYER TM OPP  GS CG SHO W L S IP H R ER BB K HR ERA OPS GS/EXTRA
Batista,M QUI pio 2 0 0 0 0 0 15.2 10 1 1 2 13 0 0.57 418 74, 74
Hernandez,L NES mea 2 1 1 2 0 0 15.0 11 2 2 5 11 1 1.20 592 53, 82
Santana BAN ora 2 0 0 1 1 0 12.2 3 3 2 4 13 1 1.42 345 56, 83
Sheets LEG moo 1 1 1 1 0 0 9.0 1 0 0 2 4 0 0.00 136 87(1hit 9/16)
Wood,K MOO leg 2 1 1 1 0 0 11.0 5 0 0 4 17 0 0.00 364 55, 91(15k)
 

RC - Runs Created (see definition at http://longgandhi.com/formulas.html)

GS - Game Scores, shown in order pitched (see definition at http://longgandhi.com/formulas.html)

 

Junior Circuit BATTERS:
BATTER TM OPP AB R H BI 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS AVG OBP SPC RC EXTRA
Giles,M PRA wol 30 8 17 7 6 0 1 4 1 1 0 567 583 867 16.7
Lieberthal PRA wol 24 7 13 10 3 1 2 1 2 0 0 542 538 1000 13.3 Cycle 9/15
Ramirez,M BUL sid 29 8 12 6 2 0 5 2 3 0 0 414 452 1000 13.3
Simon UND slu 28 4 12 11 0 0 3 1 3 0 0 429 448 750 9.5
 
Junior Circuit PITCHERS: 
PLAYER TM OPP  GS CG SHO W L S IP H R ER BB K HR ERA OPS GS/EXTRA
Colon NOI gia 2 1 0 1 0 0 15.0 7 3 3 4 10 1 1.80 410 61, 78
Graves SLU und 1 1 0 1 0 0 9.0 2 1 1 0 3 0 1.00 175 82
Morris,M SID bul 2 2 1 2 0 0 18.0 12 3 3 0 8 1 1.50 474 84, 62
Mussina SID bul 1 1 1 1 0 0 9.0 4 0 0 2 7 0 0.00 321 84

Name:
Team:

 

BAN 98-51 .658 -
FOR 98-51 .658 -
ORA 93-56 .624 5
CRO 82-67 .550 16
GRI 61-88 .409 37
LEG 57-92 .383 41
CAR 49-101 .327 49.5

SID 101-48 .678 -
PRA 93-56 .624 8
CYC 87-62 .584 14
BUL 82-67 .550 19
WOL 60-89 .403 41
UND 43-107 .287 58.5
SLU 27-115 .215 69