Filling the Void

With our mighty leader, @MLBShowdownGuru, currently unable to post anything due to his lack of internet at his new apartment, we instead get a guest post from one of the members of our MLB Showdown team, @BucNforTheCard.  He is playing a 7 game series against @tkilpatrick2, and he was gracious enough to provide us with this series preview.  Be sure to give these guys a follow on Twitter and watch for #EddieVSTravis

As a Showdown aficionado since the debut of the game in 2000, I love building teams that win games largely due to hitting home runs.  Few things are more satisfying than rolling a 16 or 17 with the advantage and watching the bases clear while chugging iced coffee.  In the most recent series I played, I tried an opposite strategy of loading my team up with the best pitchers out of the 2010/2011 sets and was miserably swept by my good friend @tkilpatrick2 and his hitting-heavy lineup.  After licking my wounds, I vowed to never make such a vital mistake again. I also wanted revenge since I taught @tkilpatrick2 the game and wanted him to remember that. Therefore, I challenged him to the following:

“Let me pick a 20 man team out of the 2010/2011 players that totals 5000 points; then, you can pick a team that’s worth 5500 points.  I guarantee I’ll beat you in 7 games.”

To beat a team comprised of 500 more points and to do it in my preferred way (home runs), a manager has to get creative.  I decided to employ a strategy that is not the sexiest way to build a team but I believe will be effective: ground ball pitching. As one will see when they look at my lineup below, I picked a team heavy on infield fielding score (a combined 14 when you add it up), elite power hitting outfielders, and a few high-on base, little-damage-with-the-advantage plodders that I hope will simply get on-base and score off home runs and extra base hits by my sluggers. The back end of my lineup will suffer with the low on-base, but that is the sacrifice I decided to make. On the defensive side, both my starting pitchers and relievers all have high ground-ball outs, which when combined with my 14 infield could have some fun double-play results. My ace especially should dominate with a 4 1-17 out with a 45% chance of rolling a GB out every time he has the advantage. Overall, although @tkilpatrick2 has a team comprised of 500 points more, I believe I will take this series in 7 and teach my friend a lesson in team building. 

Here are the teams:

Team Kilpatrick

Starting Lineup	Card Year	Position	Value
Joey Votto	2010	1B	630
Ian Kinsler	2011	2B	370
Hanley Ramirez	2011	SS	200
Chipper Jones	2010	3B	250
Manny Ramirez	2010	RF	420
Johnny Damon	2010	LF	230
Josh Hamilton	2010	CF	570
Josh Thole	2010	C	190
Starting Pitchers
Roy Halladay	2011	SP	630
Clay Bucholtz	2010	SP	520
Ubaldo Jimmenez	2010	SP	440
Fausto Carmona	2011	SP	30
Relievers
Alfredo Aceves	2011	RP	270
Carlos Marmol	2010	RP	220
Brian Wilson	2010	RP	200
Daniel Bard	2010	RP	160
Bench				Bench Value
Gordon Beckham	2011	2B	40	8
Ryan Zimmerman	2011	3B	250	50
Omar Infante	2010	2B/3B/LF/RF	200	40
Jamey Carrol	2010	2B/SS/3B	300	60

Team Melville

Starters	Points	Control	IP	Out	GB Out
Cole Hamels	560	4	7	1 to 17	7 to 15	Ace
Tim Hudson	580	5	7	1 to 16	7 to 13	# 2
Chein-Ming Wang	250	4	5	1 to 15	5 to 11	# 3
Derek Lowe	40	0	6	1 to 17	7 to 14	# 4
Total	1430
Relievers
Ronald Belisario	110	4	1	1 to 15	6 to 13	Set Up
Johnny Venters	200	6	1	1 to 16	9 to 15	Closer
Brian Duensing	300	5	2	1 to 16	7 to 12	Long
Chad Qualls	80	2	1	1 to 17	6 to 14	Middle

Order	Position	Starters	Points	OB	HR	Fielding
1	C	Joe Mauer	330	10
2	LF/RF	Kosuke Fukudome	200	9	20
3	LF/RF	Jose Bautista	650	9	15 to 20
4	1B	Albert Pujols	570	10	17 to 20	1
5	CF	Curtis Granderson	650	9	17 to 20
6	3B	Scott Rolen	270	8	19-20	3
7	SS	Edgar Renteria	140	7	20	5
8	2B	Mark Ellis	10	5		5
		Total	2820			14
		Bench
	2B	Chone Figgins	32	8
	C	Ivan Rodriguez	10	5
	SS	Jason Altuve	10
	OF	Ichiro Suzuki	8	6
		Total	60