Murderer’s Row Follow Pattern, Drop Another Contest

If you have followed Murderer’s Row and their 2021 baseball season, you may be aware that this season was supposed to be different than all previous ones.

The new season was deemed a retooling one with no New York Yankees players in the lineup, giving us a chance to contend the first time. Even with a talented group of hitters and elite pitching, the team can’t find the wins to contend.

Week 12 proved to be another step back for the team, who have yet to win back-to-back contests this season.

Terrible lineup decisions cost Murderer’s Row this past week. The boys were winning the matchup for most of the week before some questionable pitching and hitter maneuvers ultimately blew a lead and cost us another loss.

Our overall pitching numbers were lights out until June 20, when management decided to sit Philadelphia Phillies ace Aaron Nola. After a terrible out the week before, we sat Nola to fear losing out sub 1.00 ERA and WHIP. Nola went out and collected a career-high 12 strikeouts en route to a 0.00 ERA and 0.56 WHIP, which would not have been damaging at all.

After that head-scratcher, Carlos Rodon (Chicago White Sox) stayed in the lineup and posted a 5.40 ERA, bringing our numbers up. The very next day, June 26, JT Brubaker (Pittsburgh Pirates) had a chance to right the ship; however, he gave up many runs to the tune of 4.50 ERA. Then on the final day of the matchup, Sandy Alcantara took the mound and imploded for a 6.75 ERA finishing our epic collapse in that category. We still won 2.44-3.13, but it was a stressful end to the week.

There were other opportunities to collect points. However, the boys didn’t have it in them to win more than three categories. Murderer’s Row tied in runs, but lost home runs by five, RBIs by four, and stolen bases by two. Only a 0.60 advantage in batting average saved the team from a shutout in offensive categories.

The pitching categories were also lost, with defeats in wins (5-1), saves (3-2), and strikeouts (70-43).In one of our best performances all seasons against one of the league’s best teams, Murderer’s Row held the lead from Tuesday through Friday. Then after Saturday, the score turned on us, and the Bad News Bears never looked back.

This week’s bench numbers would have affected the final score changing a 6-3-1 defeat into a 5-5 tie. The new outcome would have impacted the standings in regards to points and games behind numbers.

With six runs and six RBIs off the scoresheet, Murderer’s Row could have erased a 6-3-1 score and made it a 5-5 tie.

Thanks to another loss, the team’s overall numbers continue to get worse as the season chugs along.

During the week 12 matchup, both runs and batting average dropped a few spots, while stolen bases leaped from fourth to third.

Even though some of our pitchers had terrible starts on the mound, our ERA and WHIP numbers improved. The wins, saves, and strikeouts positions stayed in the same spots for the second week in a row.

It’s been pointed out for several weeks now, and the standings have pretty much sorted themselves at this point. Barring a significant shift with one team or another, these should be the final numbers with HOMERsexuals with the best chance to win the championship.

Last year’s champion Screw the ‘Stros are hanging around, about 6.5 games out of the final playoff spot. We now find ourselves in a tie with the ‘Stros, with inconsistency our biggest problem. The season is about halfway done, but it doesn’t matter where we are in the standings without the wins.

In the last matchup, Murderer’s Row lost a star pitcher, Aaron Civale (Cleveland), to a finger injury. In his absence, we signed New York Yankees backstop Gary Sanchez. The Sanchez signing broke the team rule of no players from the Bronx in the lineup; however, he is one of the hottest hitters right now, so his signing made sense.

Armed with another catcher option, we decided to part ways with James McCann (New York Mets), favouring Jonathan Schoop (Detroit Tigers).

Weekly Move Total: 2/4

Season Move Total: 18/40