WORLD SERIES RESULTS

October 21, 2020 at 3:54 pm (Aphra Behn, Blaise Pascal, Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ibsen, John Townsend Trowbridge, Jonathan Swift, Juvenal, Lewis Caroll, Martin Luther King Jr, Mirza Ghalib, Robert Louis Stevenson)

John Townsend Trowbridge - Wikipedia
Laureates’ John Trowbridge homers 3 times in the first 2 games

LAUREATES 3 UNIVERSE 0

Jonathan Swift shuts out the Universe in Game One. Allowing only two hits, walking one, and striking out 17, Swift, who was 22-5 during the regular season, wins his second game of the playoffs. The LA Gamers beat Swift in LA, 2-0 behind Lewis Carroll, despite Swift’s 18 strikeouts. John Townsend Trowbridge provided all the offense Swift would need when he homered in the second inning, off Lucian Freud, giving Dublin a 1-0 lead. Freud struck out six and walked none, turning in a solid performance, but he was burned again, by a Trowbridge home run in the 8th, this time a two run blast with Mirza Ghalib aboard. Bob Dylan, who doubled in the seventh, was the only player to reach second base for the Universe.

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Blaise Pascal fans 13 and goes the distance, as the Laureates go up 2 games to none, in Dublin, against the Phoenix Universe. Martin Luther King Jr took the loss, as Dublin’s John Townsend Trowbridge hit his third homer in two games in the fourth inning with two aboard, to give the Laureates a 3-0 lead. The Universe made it 3-2 in the fifth when Chuck Berry and Henrik Ibsen singled and Bob Dylan doubled them in. But Pascal then fanned Juvenal and Paul Celan to end the inning. Aphra Behn added an insurance run when she homered against King in the seventh. The series moves to Phoenix for Game Three as Harriet Beecher Stowe will be called on to stop the Laureates. Robert Louis Stevenson will start for Dublin.

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MORE ROUND TWO RESULTS

October 16, 2020 at 2:26 pm (Ben Franklin, Ben Mazer, Bob Dylan, Christina Rossetti, Czeslaw Milosz, Dante, Delmore Schwartz, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Juvenal, Leonardo da Vinci, Lorenzo de Medici, Martin Luther King Jr, Mozart, Paul Celan, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Philip II, Raymond Carver, Richard Feynman, steven spielberg, Thomas Wyatt)

My inaugural Dylan concert: It was Bob being Bob . . . with a little swagger and prancing - The Vinyl Dialogues Blog
Bob Dylan leads Universe to Game 4 victory

UNIVERSE 8 BANNERS 5

The Florence Banners again found themselves in the middle of controversy as Percy Shelley lost control of his temper, and round two game four, when calls did not go his way from home plate umpire Richard P. Feynman. “When an umpire takes away a portion of the strike zone which rightly belongs to the pitcher, he’s altering the outcome of the game in favor of the other team,” is how Shelley put it to the press after the Florence Banners lost to the Phoenix Universe. The home crowd in Italy came to see Shelley tie up the series, 2-2. Instead, a big home run late by Bob Dylan propelled the Universe to an 8-5 victory, and a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. The Banners knocked out the Universe starter, Lucian Freud early, as Christina Rossetti continued her exceptional hitting in the playoffs with a 3 run double in the third. Glyn Maxwell, the Banners back up catcher, homered after Thomas Moore doubled in the fourth, giving Florence a 5-0 lead. But Shelley began to question calls in the top of the fifth, as he walked three straight hitters. Henrik Ibsen then hit a ball off the wall to score two—and red hot Delmore Schwartz slammed another home run to tie the score. Czeslaw Milosz, Edward Said, Michel Foucault, and Jean Cocteau came out of the Phoenix bullpen to keep the Banners scoreless.

BANNERS 3 UNIVERSE 2

Virgil wins his 3rd playoff game in 3 starts as he out-duels Martin Luther King Jr 3-2, in Florence, keeping the Banners alive. King struck out 11 in the loss, while Virgil fanned 12, walking none. With the game tied at 2, Stefan George, the Banners catcher, picked up his second game winning hit of the series, homering down the left field line in the 8th. Virgil struggled a bit in the ninth as Chuck Berry singled, but Berry was thrown out trying to steal by George, and after Bob Dylan singled, Virgil struck out Juvenal on a high fastball for his third complete game win in the post-season. Christina Rossetti singled, went to the third on a bad pick off attempt, and then came home on Friedrich Schiller’s home run, as the Banners jumped off to a 2-0 lead in the first. Anthony Hecht took Virgil deep in the third, making it 2-1, and then singled in Paul Celan in the sixth to tie the score.

BANNERS 5 UNIVERSE 1

Leonardo da Vinci struck out 14 hitters as the series returns to Phoenix, as the Banners force a game 7, with a 5-1 victory over Harriet Beecher Stowe and Steven Spielberg’s Universe. da Vinci also homered and began a 1-4-3 double play when Paul Celan tried to bunt a runner over for the Universe in the second. Lorenzo de Medici’s Banners, the Wild Card team from the Glorious Division, knocked off Ben Franklin’s Boston Secrets in 7 games—winning game seven as the visiting team. Florence is now in a game 7, played tomorrow in Phoenix—and Dante Alighieri hopes to complete the Banners’ comeback. The winner tomorrow enters the World Series against the Dublin Laureates. Singles by Juvenal, Alice Walker, and Galway Kinnell produced the only Universe run. Thomas Wyatt and Ben Mazer knocked in 2 runs apiece for the big Florence win. The Universe will call on Raymond Carver to stop the Banners. Carver has pitched well in his two post-season starts but has received no run support—the Universe were blanked both times. The Universe were the visiting club when they beat Wolfgang Mozart to eliminate Philip II’s Madrid Crusaders in six games.

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PLAYOFFS, ROUND TWO

October 13, 2020 at 1:59 pm (Anthony Fauci, Ben Mazer, Christina Rossetti, Chuck Berry, da Vinci, Delmore Schwartz, Galway Kinnell, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Jean Cocteau, John Keats, Lucian Freud, Madrid Crusaders, Marsilio Ficino, Martin Luther King Jr, Maya Angelou, Paul Celan, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Poetry Baseball, Raymond Carver, Stephen Dobyns, steven spielberg, Thomas Moore)

Erasmus of Rotterdam - Quotes, Books & Facts - Biography
Erasmus, manager of the Florence Banners, ejected for questioning the umpire in game one

UNIVERSE 7 BANNERS 5

As the Dublin Laureates wait in the wings to play the winner, the best of 7 series opens in Phoenix, Arizona as the Modern Division winner, Steven Spielberg’s Universe, who knocked off the Madrid Crusaders, takes on the Wild Card Florence Banners of the Glorious Division, who eliminated the Boston Secrets. Martin Luther King, jr gets the win as the Universe prevail, 7-5. Delmore Schwartz, an offensive force for the Universe against the Crusaders in Round One, hit a 3 run homer against Leonardo da Vinci with the Universe trailing 5-4 in the 7th inning. Galway Kinnell and Paul Celan singled with two outs before Delmore’s game winner. Leonardo da Vinci said he “had no idea where the strike zone was” because of the way home plate umpire, Anthony Fauci, called balls and strikes. Fauci tossed the Banners manager, Desiderius Erasmus, in the fourth inning, for questioning calls. Ben Mazer led the Florence Banners attack in the losing effort, with two doubles, a triple, and a stolen base. John Keats homered for Florence.

UNIVERSE 6 BANNERS 5

The Universe wins again, in Phoenix. Harriet Beecher Stowe, who beat Beethoven twice in Round One, struck out four and walked none, as she held Florence to 3 runs through 7 innings, running her record to 3-0 in the playoffs. Marsilio Ficino started for the Banners and took the loss. Christina Rossetti continued her hot hitting for Florence—with the score 6-3 in the top of the ninth, she doubled in two runs to make it 6-5. Jean Cocteau, who has been invaluable for the Universe out of the bullpen, got the final out for the save, walking John Keats and then striking out Friedrich Schiller. Ficino and Thomas Moore both homered in the second to give the Banners a brief 2-0 lead. Stephen Dobyns singled in two in the bottom of the second to tie the score. In the third, Juvenal doubled in Chuck Berry and Maya Angelou, and one out later, scored on a sacrifice fly, as Phoenix took the lead for good.

BANNERS 1 UNIVERSE 0

Dante Alighieri fans six and walks none as he tosses a 5 hit shutout as the series moves to Florence, the Banners winning Game 3 by a score of 1-0. The Banners catcher, Stefan George, slapped a single through a drawn-in infield to score John Keats, for the game’s only run. Raymond Carver struck out 11 in taking the loss—almost pitching well enough to give Phoenix a commanding lead in the series. Paul Celan was 3-3, and a walk, and also made several outstanding plays from his short stop position for the Universe. The Banners’ pitching is why they are favored to win this series, and Dante, who threw inside often—which Florence, with their intimidating pitching staff likes to do—stepped up for the Banners. Percy Shelley, 23-8, 2.78 during the regular season, will attempt to tie up the series for the Banners tomorrow. Universe manager Billy Beane will counter with lefty Lucian Freud—who joined Steven Spielberg’s club mid-season, along with MLK Jr and Raymond Carver.

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GAME SEVEN RESULT

October 10, 2020 at 4:25 pm (Ben Franklin, Ben Mazer, Christina Rossetti, Dante, John Keats, Lorenzo de Medici, Marsilio Ficino, Martin Luther King Jr, Paul Simon, Plato, POE, Poetry Baseball, Pushkin, Stephen Cole, steven spielberg, Virgil)

Moscow book fair brings out Pushkin fans, lockdown-weary - ABC News
Alexander Pushkin, no. 3 starter for the Boston Secrets

John Keats hit a grand slam in the 8th inning to break a 2-2 tie, as the Florence Banners defeat the Boston Secrets 7-2 in the seventh game of their series, in Boston.

The Florence Banners advance with 2 other teams to the second round, as the only Wild Card Team from the 5 divisions. The Banners won 89 games during the regular season, finishing 2 games back from the 2nd seed Dublin Laureates, who also advanced, defeating the LA Gamers in 6 games. The Banners will now take on the Phoenix Universe, who took 6 games to beat the 3rd seed Madrid Crusaders, the team owned by Philip II of Spain, whose fortunes rose with the mid-season acquisitions of Beethoven and Mozart. The Universe won 82 games in their season, edging out John D. Rockefeller’s Chicago Buyers in the Modern Division. If the Banners beat the Universe—and they are favored, despite being a Wild Card team—the World Series will feature two Glorious Division teams—the Laureates from Dublin and the Banners from Florence. The Secrets, with the best record in the league (95 wins) could not beat Virgil (in games 3 and 7) and that was the difference.

Game 7 in Boston was a re-match of Game 3 in Florence, between starters Virgil and Pushkin, whose records during the regular season are similar: Virgil 19-11, 3.01, 280 K, 4 Shutouts, Pushkin 19-5, 3.61, 328 K, 5 Shutouts. Pushkin was all too happy to play for Ben Franklin, owner, and George Washington, manager of the Boston Secrets—who some have called, “America’s team,” with their “Founding Father” bullpen; their “Republic” author, Plato, and Edgar Allan Poe as top pitchers; and Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, gracing their starting lineup. The complex negotiations of a world poetry league, put together by Muse Inc., favored the English-speaking lands. It was rumored Edgar Poe convinced Pushkin to join the Secrets, but Pushkin said “No one had to convince me. Russia and the United States grew up as nations together in my beloved 19th Century. Poe did tell me something about the British Empire and how their “free trade” wasn’t really “free trade.” I knew what he meant. I will always love the United States.”

Pushkin homered and fanned 15 in the loss. Washington refused to take Pushkin out in the 8th, with the bases loaded. Virgil reached on a bloop single, Ben Mazer walked, and Christina Rossetti beat out an infield hit, for her 15th hit of the series, bringing John Keats to the plate. With Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton warming in the bullpen, pitching coach Clarence Thomas checked on Pushkin, who said he was fine. John Keats has made no secret of the fact that he wanted to play for the Secrets. Shelley wanted to, as well. Both poets preferred America even to England. But Dante, Cavalcanti, Ficino, and Boccaccio told Banners’ owner Lorenzo de Medici they would not play unless he signed both Keats and Shelley. Shelley convinced Keats the Banners would be a great team and bestow great honor. What must Keats have been thinking, when he stepped to the plate against Pushkin and the Secrets in that crucial moment? It would be silly to speculate. Keats reached for a 1-2 curve just off the plate and poked it down the line for an opposite-field home run, breaking the tie in Game 7, bringing glory to the Florence Banners. Paul Simon, the Secrets right-fielder, had the ball in his glove as he smashed against the fence, and made the claim that a fan (a visitor from Florence?) somehow knocked the ball out of his hand for a home run, but replay evidence was inconclusive. The controversy stopped play for half an hour.

With the score 6-2, Friedrich Schiller added a run for the Banners, smashing a home run off Thomas Jefferson in the top of the ninth, to make it, 7-2, and Erasmus, Florence’s manager, stayed with Virgil in the ninth—who ended up with 16 strike outs, and a marvelous series for the Banners. Stephen Cole began the Secrets 9th inning with a double, just missing a home run off the top of the wall, but Virgil quickly retired the next 3 hitters. Virgil was in total command throughout the game.

The second round of the playoffs begins with Steven Spielberg’s Universe hosting the Banners in Phoenix. Leonardo da Vinci (14-11 3.44 229 K 5 SO) will pitch for the Florence Banners against Martin Luther King Jr (11-7 3.99 156 K 1 SO) of the Phoenix Universe. The Dublin Laureates, as the top seeded team remaining, will play the winner of the best-of-seven contest between the Universe and the Banners—for the top prize.

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GAME FOUR RESULTS

October 5, 2020 at 7:14 pm (Albert Einstein, Arnaut Daniel, Boccaccio, Charles Dickens, Cole Porter, da Vinci, Dante, Delmore Schwartz, Edgar Allan Poe, Garrison Keillor, Guido Cavalcanti, Handel, Hans Christian Anderson, Hilaire Belloc, Jean Cocteau, Joe Green, John Betjeman, John Townsend Trowbridge, Leigh Hunt, Marsilio Ficino, Martin Luther King Jr, Mikhail Lermontov, Mirza Ghalib, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Phillis Wheatley, Stephen Cole, Yusef Komunyakaa)

Italian Humanists (Six Tuscan Poets), 1554 - Giorgio Vasari

BANNERS 9 SECRETS 4

The city of Florence is on the verge of a huge celebration. The no. 1 seed Boston Secrets are one game away from being eliminated by the Wild Card Banners. Guido Cavalcanti hit a grand slam and drove in six runs to lead Florence to a 9-4 win in game 4, who are now up 3-1 in the series. A shutout by Plato is the Secrets’ only win. Dante Alighieri will start game 5 in Florence against Edgar Allan Poe. If the Secrets win, the series will return to Boston. Leonardo da Vinci earned the victory, fanning 7 before leaving in the sixth inning, when Nathaniel Hawthorne hit a 3 run homer, making the score 6-3. Mikhail Lermontov of the Banners and Stephen Cole of the Secrets also hit homers. Moliere took the loss for the Secrets. Giovanni Boccaccio and Marsilio Ficino came out of the bullpen to seal da Vinci’s win.

LAUREATES 19 GAMERS 14

Charles Dickens hit 2 more homers and the Dublin Laureates held off a furious rally in Los Angeles, as the Gamers fell short 19-14, and now trail the best-of-seven series 3 games to 1. John Betjeman and Joe Green continued their hot hitting for the Gamers—7 RBI and a homer by Betjeman, 4 RBI and a homer for Green. The Laureates led 13 to 2 after 5 innings. Samuel Johnson, who got the win, imploded in the sixth—which could have been a much bigger inning for the Gamers, but Arnaut Daniel was thrown out trying to score in a controversial call. The home plate umpire, Albert Einstein, said Daniel missed home plate sliding in to beat the throw. Daniel attacked Einstein and was thrown out of the game. John Townsend Trowbridge and Mirza Ghalib also homered for the Laureates, as Woody Allen was gone by the second inning. LA did tie it, 13-13, in the seventh. However, the Laureates’ Leigh Hunt and Hans Christian Anderson shut out the Gamers the rest of the way, and Dickens hit a grand slam in the 8th off Garrison Keillor. Lewis Carroll will try and keep the Gamers alive tomorrow in LA, against Jonathan Swift.

UNIVERSE 4 CRUSADERS 1

Delmore Schwartz belted a 3 run homer off George Handel to break a 1-1 tie as Martin Luther King Jr and the Universe stopped the Crusaders in Phoenix, tying up the series 2-2. Yusef Komunyaaka and Anthony Hecht hit back to back doubles to give the Universe a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Handel then retired the next 14 hitters in a row. Meanwhile the Crusaders scraped together a run to tie the game in the 5th, with singles by Hilaire Belloc, Phillis Wheatley, and Leona Florentino. Lionel Trilling relieved King in the 8th with the bases loaded and got Aeschylus to pop up to end the inning, and Jean Cocteau set down the side in order in the ninth. The game one starters, Harriet Beecher Stowe of the Universe and Ludwig Beethoven of the Crusaders, will face off again in game 5.

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IN SCARRIET POETRY BASEBALL, BOSTON SECRETS REMAIN STRONG; FOUR DIVISIONS CHANGE LEADERS

August 3, 2020 at 2:47 pm (Jane Austen, Jean Cocteau, Mark Twain, Martin Luther King Jr, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Plato, Poetry Baseball, Pushkin, Scarriet Editors, steven spielberg)

Jean Cocteau s'adresse... à l'an 2000 (1962) - IMDb

Jean Cocteau has fooled everyone. He’s the new bullpen ace for the Universe.

Ben Franklin’s Boston Secrets have a commanding 9 game lead to go with their league-leading 61 wins in the Society Division.

The Kolkata Cobras owned the second best record in the league at the all-star break, but the Peoples Division is now led by the Santa Barbara Laws.

In the Modern Division, Steven Spielberg’s Universe have caught Rockefeller’s Buyers—both have 51 wins.

The Florence Banners are stunned to find themselves trailing the Dublin Laureates in the Glorious Division.

And over in the Emperor Division, the surging Paris Goths have overtaken the once-mighty Rome Ceilings.

Emperor Division

Paris Goths 54 42 —
Rome Ceilings 52 44 (2)
Corsica Codes 51 45  (3)
Madrid Crusaders 47 49  (7)
Rimini Broadcasters 40 56 (14)

Glorious Division

Dublin Laureates 54 42 —
Florence Banners 53 43  (1)
London Carriages 50 46  (4)
Devon Sun 44 52  (10)
Berlin Pistols 40 56  (14)

Society Division

Boston Secrets 61 35 —
New York War  52 44 (9)
Connecticut Animals 49 47 (12)
Westport Actors 42 54 (19)
Virginia Strangers 38 58 (23)

Peoples Division

Santa Barbara Laws 52 44 —
Kolkata Cobras 51 45 (1)
Beijing Waves  48 48  (4)
LA Gamers      46 50   (6)
Tokyo Mist      41 55   (11)

Modern Division

Phoenix Universe 51 45 —
New York Buyers 51 45 —
Manhattan Printers 47 49 (4)
Philadelphia Crash 45 51  (6)
Arden Dreamers    43 53  (8)

Most of the owners of these 25 teams know that pitching wins pennants.

The Secrets were carried by starters Plato and Pushkin. Now Poe is 4-0 in his last 5 starts and Moliere has won 6 of his last 8 starts. The starting pitching of Poe, Plato, Pushkin, and Moliere is why the Secrets are playing better than anyone, not only in the Society Division, but in the whole league.

The Emperor Division-leading Goths replaced Baudelaire (who couldn’t win) with Goya, but the real story are starters Goethe, Chateaubriand, and Wilde—neither one has lost since the middle of July!

Why are the Dublin Laureates in first place? They added Pascal to the starting rotation, and he’s 5-2 in his last 8 outings. Robert Louis Stevenson, Samuel Johnson, and Jonathan Swift are pitching above .500 and Livy continues to dominate in relief. Hans Christian Anderson, a lefty relief specialist, and the side-armed J.D. Salinger have been added to the Laureates bullpen. But don’t count out the Florence Banners in the Glorious Division: Dante, Shelley, Virgil, and da Vinci are still their starters, though Dante and Virgil have suffered from some arm weariness.

The Santa Barbara Laws, owned by TV producer Dick Wolf, now lead the Kolkata Cobras in the Peoples Division by one game—Starters Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Horace, and Oliver Wendell Holmes have all been solid, and when they give it to the new bullpen ace Ferdinand Saussure or Quintilian, the Laws win.  The Waves are in striking division in the Peoples Division, and they’ve patiently stuck with Voltaire, Lucretius, Rousseau, and Lao Tzu as their starters, with Confucius, Ho Chi Minh and Khomeini in the bullpen.  The second-place Cobras still have Tagore, Rumi, Gandhi and Hesse as their big four starters with Kabir Das as their bullpen ace.  Merv Griffin’s LA Gamers, who added Charlie Chaplin and Woody Allen to their starting rotation, are quietly staying close (6 games out).

Finally, in the Modern Division, the Universe now share first place with Rockefeller’s Buyers. Why? Jean Cocteau (5-0), their new bullpen ace, has been lights out in relief.  Recent additions Lucien Freud, Raymond Carver, and Martin Luther King jr have been effective as starters. Steven Spielberg has been making moves! And the Buyers have slumped. Starters Mark Twain and Paul Engle are no longer winning consistently. Whitman and Freud continue to struggle in the middle innings. Andy Warhol’s third-place Printers, the fourth-place Crash of A.C. Barnes, and Pamela Harriman’s fifth-place Dreamers, who just added Jane Austen to the starting rotation, are still in striking distance. Every club in the Modern Division is still in this thing!

Scarriet Poetry Baseball reporting.

 

 

 

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