The Melonheads' Opening Day lineup:
Ashley Webber SS
Maria Luna RF
Kimmy Eckman 2B
Marky Dubois 1B
Lisa Crocket 3B
Gretchen Hasselhoff LF
Reese Worthington C
Kenny Kawaguchi P
Ricky Johnson CF
See that? Batting the pitcher eighth. We're innovative and all that.
It should be noted that Dubois had higher ratings for this game than usual, but the plan was to bat him cleanup regardless. I wanted the R/L balance, and he's one of the better hitters on this team.
Anyway, this will probably be the go-to lineup, although I plan on rotating Dubois and Kawaguchi between pitcher and first base. The two should combine to make the 14 starts. In the bullpen, Johnson is the middle reliever, Webber is the right-handed setup, Hasselhoff is the lefty setup and Crocket is the closer.
As for the game:
Kawaguchi gave up a leadoff triple on the first pitch. Not promising. But things improved from there! The runner stayed at third on a bunt single, Kenny struck out the next two batters and Pete Wheeler grounded out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the second, the bottom of the order sparked a two-out rally. With the bases empty, Reese singled to left-center and stole second. Kenny then made weak contact on the left side, but the third baseman couldn't handle it, putting men on the corners with two outs for Ricky Johnson. The worst hitter in the game. Sure enough, he drove in the first run of the season with a grounder up the middle out of the reach of the diving shortstop. Webber then swung at a Spitball (one of the power-up pitches) and reached on an infield hit. For those of you unfamiliar with the game, if you get a hit on a power-up pitch, you get one of the offensive power-ups. As a result, the Melonheads got to exploit the Under Grounder. Maria Luna wouldn't use it, though. She walked with the bases loaded. Kimmy Eckman and Marky Dubois did get to use the power-up, and both drove in two on ground-rule doubles. That chased White Sox starter Uma Morris from the game. She gave up six unearned runs in 1 2/3 innings.
With that, Morris was replaced by Frank Thomas. Despite making a living as a power hitter with excellent plate discipline, Thomas was one of the top-rated pitchers on the game. I still don't know why. If anyone does know, please explain it to me. I'm begging for answers.
Anyway, Thomas held the Melonheads' offense in check from there on out. Over 6 1/3 innings, he allowed just three hits and a walk while striking out ten.
Luckily, the big inning was all Kenny Kawaguchi would need. He allowed single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth. The first of those runs was on a Pete Wheeler inside-the-park homer on a line drive to shallow center that got by Ricky Johnson. The second was an unearned run on a Webber throwing error and the third was on a two-out double by Mary Reilly. Kenny threw exactly 100 pitches over eight innings, allowing 11 hits but striking out ten. Lisa Crocket pitched a 1-2-3 ninth with a pair of strikeouts for the save.
W: Kenny Kawaguchi (1-0) L: Uma Morris (0-1) S: Lisa Crocket (1)
So what did we learn?
Well, this team is pretty fast. Speed is going to be their best weapon. They stole four bases (two by Reese, one each by Ashley and Maria) and an infield hit was a major part of the rally.
This game typically features tons of infield hits. So long as a runner isn't painfully slow, most balls that aren't hit right at an infielder will result in hits.
Outside of the second inning, this offense wasn't all that great, though that was against Secret Ace Frank Thomas. It'll be interesting to see how this offense fares moving forward.
We'll face the Indians next. If you have any suggestions for shenanigans that I can try with this team, be sure to let me know.
Godspeed, Melonheads.
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