Monday, January 22, 2024

Starting9 Series #3 Clemente Published!

  We here at Phungo HQ are very happy to announce that we have published the third series of Mystery Games for Starting9. 

If you want to play the new library of 9 mystery games go directly to Starting9 by clicking HERE or scanning this QR code: 


Once you have entered the game click the About button top right to start playing the new games. You may need to finish your current game before the About button becomes available. 

I#Starting9 is a baseball trivia game that tests your knowledge of baseball using the Starting Lineups from notable games. If you want to find out more click here

To See a list of answers to previous mystery games click here

Series Clemente Update

1) Bug Fix: There was an error related to losing team processing that has been corrected in this Clemente release. 

Monday, January 15, 2024

Starting9 Series #2 Bell Published!

 We here at Phungo HQ are very happy to announce that we have published the second series of Games for Starting9. 

If you missed it last week #Starting9 is a baseball trivia game that tests your knowledge of baseball using the Starting Lineups from notable games. If you want to find out more click here

If you want to play the new library of 9 mystery games go directly to Starting9 by clicking HERE or scanning this QR code: 


Once you have entered the game click the About button top right to start playing the new games. You may need to finish your current game before the About button becomes available. 

Series Aaron Results 

The following table lists the answers from our first Series of games which were originally Posted on Monday January 8 2024: 

Series Aaron
1Arizona Diamondbacks (1998-present)https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/june-22-2018-corbin-and-nova-duel-but-diamondbacks-beat-pirates-in-extra-innings/
2Milwaukee Braves (1953-1965)https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/june-21-1959-braves-henry-aaron-crushes-three-home-runs-at-seals-stadium/
3Philadelphia Athletics (1901-1954)https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/september-9-1945-dick-fowler-becomes-first-canadian-to-toss-a-major-league-no-hitter/
4New York Yankees (1903-present)https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/may-29-1982-yankees-roy-smalley-strikes-out-to-begin-twins-bizarre-triple-play/
5Toronto Blue Jays (1977-present)https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-3-2016-j-a-happ-and-an-offensive-explosion-lead-blue-jays/
6Boston Red Stockings (1871-1875)https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/april-6-1871-boston-red-stockings-take-the-field-for-the-first-time/
7Houston Astros (1962-present)https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/august-28-1998-big-unit-fans-16-in-third-straight-shutout-in-the-dome/
8Milwaukee Brewers (1969-present)https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/august-16-1970-bat-day-crowd-brings-the-original-bernie-brewer-down-in-milwaukee/
9Brooklyn Dodgers (1884-1957)https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/october-4-1955-brooklyn-dodgers-win-first-world-series-as-next-year-finally-arrives/


Series Bell UPDATES:

Along with the 9 new mystery games the following updates have been added:

1) Bug Fix: The Splash Screen was producing a non-existent empty lineup. This has been removed, Apologies for the confusion. If your clicking Positions and/or teams and nothing is happening on the Lineup portion of the screen, scroll to the top of the screen and click the Yellow Start button.  Thanks to Dave for noticing this issue. 

2) Added Losing Team Identification. This feature will likely help players, if you select the Losing Team they will be identified atop the Lineup Boxes in RED. Thanks to Nick V for recommending this feature. 

Quick Note - this feature is era specific. If you select Philadelphia Athletics and the answer is Kansas City Athletics, this will not generate the Red indicator for the Losing Team.

3) The position picked most recently will appear in purple. This will become apparent on the 2nd and subsequent positions chosen for a mystery game. This feature will allow users to more quickly identify the players that have just been added to the lineup. 

If you have any issues or suggestions/issues please add them to the #Starting9 documentation page which can be found here

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Introducing Starting9

Team Phungo is exicted to announce our latest Creative Endeavor - Starting9.



Starting9 is a phone game (think Wordle/Immaculate Grid) designed to test your knowledge of Baseball Teams using starting lineups drawn from the long history of the game.  

The game is structured as the final inning of a Baseball Game with you at the plate as a member of the Mudville  9. During the inning you have 5 chances to get a Hit for Mudville and secure a victory

Game Play

The goal of Starting9 is to guess the Winner of a random baseball game based upon the starting lineups for that game. 

Of course a full lineup would often be too simple a task for many Baseball Trivia buffs. To make the game more challenging we start with a blank slate and give you the opportunity to select a Position for which you would like to know the players.


I like to pick Shortstop to start my games but any position will suffice. I am sure Pitcher can tell you a lot about the mystery game. 

The SS for this game are WEIS and TORRES. The next step is to pick the Winning Team based upon the lineup Information.  I can't recall either a Weis or Torres from any specific team play short. I think I remember seeing a 1964 Topps card of a White Sox player named Weis and have elected that for my first guess. 


Once you have chosen a team click SELECT and the results of your guess appear. Unfortunately the White Sox was incorrect  and I have been dealt a Strike. 

For my next guess, I decide to go with a stronger hitting position of RF. The names revealed are SWOBODA and the more common MILLER. Has to be Ron Swoboda so I go with Mets. 


Also incorrect Strike 2. 

I have chosen two position players, for my 3rd pick I will change things up and choose pitcher


(Tom) SEAVER! typically this would be a HUGE hint, but I have already picked Mets. And unless Ron Swoboda had a late career revival with the Reds that I don't recall it appears that the Mets must have been on the Losing end of our mystery game. 

This leaves a Home Team that features Miller, Torres & Wilson at RF SS and P respectively - all with names that leave me stumped. Going out on a limb here and guessing this may be a World Series game with an O's pitcher I may have forgotten. (ed note - Apparently I totally ignored Frank Robinson as the O's RF with this guess) 


Ugh Strike Three and this is my first Out. 

We have only 2 more opportunities to guess the game winner, but we have likely eliminated the Away team so we can focus on the Home squad. I am going with the IF power bat position of 1B. 

This reveals another Mets luminary in KRANEPOOL, but unfortunately this tells us nothing as we have established the Away team lost and we need to figure out the Winner. The Home First Baseman is STAUB. I am thinking Rusty Staub - and the first team I think of for him is....  the METS. 

however I know that is wrong so I will go with my 2nd guess Les Expos. 


In correct and another Out! 

Thats Ok, I recall Rusty played for four teams and we have eliminated two of them.  

For my final position guess I am going with Left Field and we get yet another familiar Mets Name in SHAMSKY but on the important side of the ledger we have WYNN. There may be a few Wynn's in baseball history but the first non-pitcher that comes to mind is the Toy Cannon - Jim Wynn Who I will always think of as an Astro - who just happen to be Rusty Staub's first club. 


The Astros is Correct, Mudville Wins!! 

It's that simple, You reveal players by position and find the game winner. If you miss all 5 guesses that will be a Loss for Mudville. Guess the correct winner in 5 attempts or less Mudville Wins. 

Starting9 will keep track of your stats as you play along. In general the sooner you get the correct team the better outcome for your batting stats. 

Clicking Next Game in the top Right will move you on to another game. Each week Staring 9 will curate 9 new games for testing your skills. 

On the results screen I would like to point out that in addition to your stats we have two important links. 1) We have a link to the SABR game story. Our mystery game made the cut for being a Pitchers duel that remained scoreless for 23 INNINGS - This explains why Seaver didn't get the W despite going 10 shutout innings. 2) we have a link to the  Box Score from the mystery game. It turned out that two of the Heroes from our starting9 game Rusty Staub and Jim Wynn were also important to the real game played in 1968 as each were able to move up the winning runner in the 24th inning. 

to play Starting 9 follow this Link or the QR Code below 


Play Ball!!!

https://starting9.vercel.app/


Details

This first release of Starting9 includes a Series of 9 Games. We will attempt to publish a new series of 9 games once a week - shooting for Mondays. Each Series will have a different name - The title of our opening series is "Aaron"  

New Series announcements will be made here at Phungo in a posting similar to this and via x/witter (phungo2008)
 
If you have any questions, have suggestions, or find bugs please leave them in the comments. 

Updates:
2024 01 15: Series Bell Released! Series Aaron Key Results Published. Issue 1 Fixed. Losing Team Logic Added. Current Player Logic Added.

ISSUES BUGS:
1) If you are playing and selecting a position and no player appears you are still on the Splash Screen scroll to the top of the screen and click the Yellow Start Button. This will move into you the Mystery Game session. 

This issue is due to the splash screen having an empty lineup for test purposes. This will be corrected in a future release.  

Sources:  
Additional Graphics:  tenor.com

*** For weekly game updates or to report issues/questions please return here OR follow phungo2008 on X/witter ***
*** If you enjoy Starting 9 please try our Wine Tasting Game Sofa Somm ***

Monday, October 24, 2022

1990s Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Tournament

Last Winter we started a project to try and figure out what season produced the best Topps All-Star Rookie Team. That tournament was between the 10 squads that represented the 1960s. It was won by the Little Joes from 1966 led by Joe Morgan, Tony Perez, and stellar pitching by Marcelino Lopez. 

For our second Tournament we visit the 1990s. Lets take a look at the seeding for the last decade of the 20th century. 

seedYearTeamCaptain
11993Kenny's Kids 1993Kenny Lofton
21991Maple Larry's 1991Larry Walker
31992Team Pudge 1992Ivan Rodriguez
41996ChippersChipper Jones
51994Piazza Peeps 1994Mike Piazza
61998Todd's GodsTodd Helton
71998Rock and RolenScott Rolen
81990Juniors KidsKen Griffey Jr
91995Manny Being MannyManny Ramirez
101997Team CaptainsDerek Jeter

No I am not a Jeter hater, we determined seeding using a forumula. Turns out the rest of the 1997 team was pretty weak. 

Lets get to the actual games. The preliminary round is a double elimination featuring the bottom 4 teams. Two of these teams advance to the major tournament while the other two will be eliminated. 

1990s Game 1
1997Team Captains0 - 4 - 1
1998Rockin and Rolen5 - 6 - 1
W: Jason Dickson (1-0)L: Billy Wagner (0-1)
HR 1990: None
HR 1997: None
MVP: Scott Rolen (1)



1990s Game 2
1995Manny Being Manny5 - 7 - 0
1990Juniors Kids2 - 6 - 1
W: Brian Anderson (1-0)
L: Tom Gordon (0-1)
HR 1995 Ryan Klesko (1), Javy Lopez (1), Jose Oliva (1)
HR 1990: none
MVP: Ryan Klesko (1)

1990s Game 3 Avancement Game
1995Manny Being Manny3 - 10 - 2
1998Rockin and Rolen0 - 6 - 1
W: Joey Hamilton (1-0)L: Mike Holtz (0-1)
HR 1995: None
HR 1998: None
MVP: Joey Hamilton (1)


Manny Being Manny (2-0) Advance as 7 Seed

1990s Game 4 Elimination Game
1997Team Captains1 - 8 - 2
1990Juniors Kids6 - 10 - 2
W: Jim Abbott (1-0)L: Alan Benes (0-1)
HR 1997: none
HR 1990: Ken Griffey Jr (1). Gary Sheffield (1)
MVP: Ken Griffey Jr (1)
Team Captains (0-2) Eliminated Finish 10th Original Seed 10th

1990s Game 5 WTA Game
1990Juniors Kids4 - 10 - 1
1998Rockin and Rolen2 - 8 - 0
W: Tom Gordon (1-1)L: Jason Dickson (1-1)
HR 1990: GREGG JEFFERIES (1), BOB GEREN 2 (2)
HR 1998: None
MVP: GREGG JEFFERIES (1)
Juniors Kids (2-1) advance as 8 seed

The two teams that advance out of the preliminary tourney are Manny Being Manny (1995) and Junior Kids (1990) they will be the 7th and 8th seeds respectively. The Surprise is the elimination of seven seed 1998 Rockin and Rolen. 

This brings us to the opening round of the major tournament. 

1990s Game 6 - Major Bracket - Double Elimination 8 -> 4 teams Opening Round
1990Juniors Kids (2-1)3 - 10 - 1
1993Kenny's Kids (0-0)1 - 4 - 0
W: Jim Abbott (2-0)L: Cal Eldred (0-1)
HR: 1990 None
HR: 1990 None
MVP: Jim Abbott (1)

1990s Game 7
1995
Manny Being Manny (2-0)
1 - 10 - 0
1991Maple Larry's (0-0)6 - 10 - 0
W: Kevin Appier (1-0)L: Brian Anders (1-1)
HR: 1995: None
HR: 1990: None
MVP: Delino DeShields (1)

1999Todd's Gods2 - 11 - 0
1992Team Pudge 19921 - 11 - 0
W: Kerry Wood (1-0)L: Mark Leiter (0-1)
HR 1999: Mark Kotsay (1), Todd Helton (1)
HR 1992: None
MVP: Kotsay (1)

1990s Game 9
1994Piazza Peeps 19943 - 4 - 1
1996Chippers4 - 5 -1 (10)
W: Hideo Nomo (1-0)L: Greg McMichael (0-1)
HR 1994: None
HR 1996: Garrett Anderson (1)
MVP: Garrett Anderson (1)

Major Round 2 Winners Brackets
1990s Game 10 - Major Bracket - Round 2 - Pivot Round Winner Advacnes
1990Juniors Kids (3-1)3 - 5 - 0
1996Chippers (1-0)4 - 9 - 1
W: Carlos Perez (1-0)L: Tom Gordon (1-2)
HR 1990: Bob Geren (3)
HR 1996: Chipper Jones (1)
MVP: Chipper Jones (1)
Chipers (2-0) Advance as #1 Seed

1990s Game 11 - Winner Advances
1999Todd's Gods (1-0)4 - 10 - 0
1991Maple Larry's (1-0)2 - 6 - 0
W: Jesus Sanchez (1-0)
L: Scott Radinksy (0-1)
HR 1999: None
HR 1991: None
MVP: Jesus Sanchez (1)
Todd's Gods (2-0) Advance as #2 Seed



Major Round 2 Losers Bracket (elimination Games)
1990s Game 12 - Elimination Game
1995
Manny Being Manny (2-1)
5 - 6 - 0
1992Team Pudge 1992 (0-1)3 - 6 - 2
W: Joey Hamilton (2-0)L: Al Osuna (0-1)
HR 1995: none
HR 1992: none
MVP: Joey Hamilton (2)
Team Pudge 92 (0-2) Eliminated finish 8th orginal seed 1

1990s Game 13 - Elimination Game
1994Piazza Peeps (0-1)3 - 8 - 0
1993Kenny's Kids (0-1)1 - 4 - 2
W: Steve Cooke (1-0)Dave Fleming (0-1)
HR 1994: none
HR 1993: none
MVP: Steve Cooke (1)
Kenny's Kids (0-2) Eliminated Finish 7th original seed 3

Major Round 3 WTA Bracket, Winners advance, Losers Eliminated. 
1990s Game 14 - Major Bracket - Round 3 - WTA Round
1995
Manny Being Manny (3-1)
1 - 2 - 0
1991Maple Larry's (1-1)2 - 4 - 2
W: Kevin Appier (2-0)L: Brian Anderson (1-2)
HR 1995: none
HR 1991: Felix Jose (1)
MVP: Felix Jose (1)
Maple Larry's (2-1) Advance as #4 Seed


1990s Game 15- WTA Game
1994Piazza Peeps (1-1)1 - 3 - 1
1990Juniors Kids (3-2)3 - 6 - 0
W: Jim Abbott (3-0)L: Greg McMichael (0-2)
HR 1994: none
HR 1990: none
MVP: Jim Abbott (2)
Juniors's Kids (4-2) Advancd as #3 Seed



This brings us to the Final Four who will meet in a pair of best of 3 semi-finals

The 1-4 match up is:
1991Maple Larry's (2-1)
1996Chippers (2-0)

The 2-3 match up is:
1990Juniors Kids (4-2)
1999Todds Gods (2-0)

The 2-3 pairing features the surprises with 8 seeded Juniors Kids and #6 Todd's Gods both getting to the semis. #1 seed Kenny Kids had a horrible showing, losing both of their games to finish 6th in the 10 team tournament. 

Ok that is it for now, The Final four will be featured in our next post. 



a thousand words

a thousand words
2008 World Champions