Solution: Winning Builds…Something Something

Here's the dish on yesterday's puzzle. You were instructed to "Run the numbers" but the clues you were given didn't make a lot of sense on their own, so let's parse them out. Each clue is associated with a particular number or year.

• A medical journal from the year that Watson and Crick made their famous discovery. - DNA discovered in 1953
  
• A novel featuring the adventures of an Assyrian-American WWII bombardier. - Catch-22
• A 8x10 glossy of the Pope, signed "To Mr. C - Keep up the good work!" - Benedict XVI
• A set of architectural plans for the top floor of the Empire State Building. - 102nd Floor
• A copy of the official MLB rule book from the first year the DH was used. - DH was instituted in 1973
• Edmond Halley's Synopsis Astronomia Cometicae. - Halley's comet returns every 75 years.
• A psychological treatise on the origins and causes of triskadekaphobia. - Fear of the number 13
• A Torah. - 5 Books of Moses
• The transcript of the Quayle/Gore/Stockdale Vice-Presidential debate. - 1992 Presidential campaign
• A guitar tab from the Beatles' "White Album" - Revolution 9
• The infamous inaugural address of the first president to die in office. - William Henry Harrison was the ninth president
• The book Lost Moon by Kluger and Lovell. - Subtitled "Apollo 13"
• Eliot Asinof's baseball scandal retrospective. - "8 Men Out"

So our resulting pattern is 53, 22, 16, 102, 73, 75, 13, 5, 92, 9, 9, 13, 8. If we consult the dreaded periodic table and use the abbreviations for the elements listed above, we get the following. I, TI, S, NO, TA, RE, AL, B, U, F, F, AL, O. A Bison is most certainly not a real Buffalo, but Matt Kemp is most certainly the Bison.

Thanks to all who played. I'll update the standings faster than a stampeding Bison.

Winning Builds…Something Something

Differing personalities can periodically have unexpected effects on a clubhouse. Sometimes they are complimentary, and other times they...well, other times they break their hand punching a concrete wall or get injured "washing their truck". Still, it can't all be magic, can it? Are there some elements of a team that can be scientifically isolated and proven? Yours Truly was testing a hypothesis, but the secret laboratory was left in disarray when I fled the country following the previous VORP puzzle debacle. See if you can run the numbers and recreate my findings based on the items that were abandoned on the table in the rush.

• A medical journal from the year Watson and Crick made their famous discovery. (date)
  
• A novel featuring the adventures of an Assyrian-American WWII bombardier. (title)
  
• A 8x10 glossy of the Pope, signed "To Mr. C - Keep up the good work!" (ordinal)
  
• A set of architectural plans for the top floor of the Empire State Building. (ordinal)
  
• A copy of the official MLB rule book from the first year the DH was used. (date)
  
• Edmond Halley's Synopsis Astronomia Cometicae. (time)
  
• A psychological treatise on the origins and causes of triskaidekaphobia. (numeral)
  
• A Torah. (count)
  
• The transcript of the Quayle/Gore/Stockdale Vice-Presidential debate. (date)
  
• A guitar tab from the Beatles' "White Album". (title)
  
• The infamous inaugural address of the first president to die in office. (ordinal)
  
• The book Lost Moon by Kluger and Lovell. (title)
  
• Eliot Asinof's baseball scandal retrospective. (title)
  

The answer to the puzzle is a current Dodger. Comment freely in the thread, but if you have the solution, please don't give it away to everyone in the comments section. Instead, do the following:

• email me with the first and last name of the Dodger who is the answer, along with your reasoning (answers arrived at via luck or the wrong reasoning, even if correct, count for participation credit only). Please include your screen name somewhere in the email.
• Post a comment simply saying you have emailed your solution attempt. I may not be able to reply to your original email promptly, so please be patient and check back on the comment thread for the latest news; I may confirm correct answers there.

You have until 11pm PT tonight to submit your answer. Solution will be posted tomorrow. Good luck!

Hint 1: Clues to the first step in the solution are highlighted in blue. Once you have "run the numbers on the table" you'll need to convert them somehow into a coherent message.

Hint 2: Added a clarification after each the clues for step 1.

Hint 3: Highlighted additional clues in the description that might be helpful for step 2. The title is also a hint regarding step 2.

A Brief Word from the Board of Direrctors

Dear readership,

In light of current events, the Board would like to assure our loyal clientele that the upcoming VORP release has been deemed fit for human consumption! Rest assured that quality control team will continue its rigorous testing program to insure that a error-free and sanitary product is delivered for optimal brain satisfaction.

In a related note, laboratory testing has determined that any exposure to the fungal bloom discovered in the break room last week will almost certainly not not be fatal. For those of you still under quarantine, we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

Perspicaciously yours,
The Board

Solution: The Lasorda Code

Here's the solution to the VORP #3. First, you had to determine the relationship of the players listed. You'll notice first that they are all in order by their uniform number

Lasorda - 2

Sax - 3
Nomar - 5
Loney - 7
Mota - 11
Cora - 13
Ishii - 17
Gilliam - 19
Gibson - 23
Beltre - 29
Piazza - 31
Dreifort -37
Shaw - 41
Ashby - 43
Orosco - 47
Drysdale - 53
Mota - 59
Park - 61

They're all prime numbers! If the prime numbers are applied sequentially to the flavortext, a intelligible message can be deciphered. The second letter is a "W", three letters after that is "H", etc.

---

I was home for a typical evening game. Lasorda was up in the booth giving this bombastic speech about all time dodger greats like Sax and Nomar.

Who? Did he just misspeak?

Meanwhile, Loney picked a short hop for the second out of the frame. His story soon moved to Manny Mota’s pinch hitting then Alex Cora’s memorable marathon at-bat.

“Just my hearing, I guess.” I made a mental note to get it checked out.

But then, in an inexplicable moment, he was rambling about Kazuhisa Ishii!

Is my mind playing tricks on me? What about Jim Gilliam or Kirk Gibson? Even Beltre had the one great year! I doubt I’m alone in wanting to remember Piazzas as opposed to the Dreiforts of Dodger history. Now, Vin, he can make even a Jeff Shaw interesting. Or even Andy Ashby if he really worked at it. The man had called games seasons even before Jesse Orosco was born!

That got me thinking. Was the skipper really trying to teach me that being able to see one like Don Drysdale in Dodger blue, it’s worth waiting through 100 Guillermo Motas? “Hey, that’s deep for such an old blowhard,” I thought. So, will there be some eventual cosmic payoff for watching the game when Park served up two slams in an inning?

“Better be damned good” I muttered.

---

The message we have decoded is "WHO CAUGHT MORE GAMES IN OOs", to which the answer is Paul Lo Duca, by 39 games over Martin. Congratulations to those who answered correctly. The initial standings will be posted shortly.

The Lasorda Code

Welcome off-day refugees. VORP classic round 3 is officially underway.

---

I was home for a typical evening game. Lasorda was up in the booth giving this bombastic speech about all time Dodger greats like Sax and Nomar.
Who? Did he just misspeak?

Meanwhile, Loney picked a short hop for the second out of the frame. His story soon moved to Manny Mota’s pinch hitting then Alex Cora’s memorable marathon at-bat.

“Just my hearing, I guess.” I made a mental note to get it checked out.

But then, in an inexplicable moment, he was rambling about Kazuhisa Ishii!

Is my mind playing tricks on me? What about Jim Gilliam or Kirk Gibson? Even Beltre had the one great year! I doubt I’m alone in wanting to remember Piazzas as opposed to the Dreiforts of Dodger history. Now, Vin, he can make even a Jeff Shaw interesting. Or even Andy Ashby if he really worked at it. The man had called games seasons even before Jesse Orosco was born!

That got me thinking. Was the skipper really trying to teach me that being able to see one like Don Drysdale in Dodger blue, it’s worth waiting through 100 Guillermo Motas? “Hey, that’s deep for such an old blowhard,” I thought. So, will there be some eventual cosmic payoff for watching the game when Park served up two slams in an inning?

“Better be damned good” I muttered.

---

The answer to the puzzle is a Dodger. Comment freely in the thread, but if you have the solution, please don't give it away to everyone in the comments section. Instead, do the following:

• Email me with the first and last name of the Dodger player who is the answer, along with your reasoning. Partial credit may be awarded at the discretion of the board of directors. Please include your screen name somewhere in the email.
• Post in the comments notifying me you have mailed you solution attempt.
  

You have until 11pm PT tonight to submit your answer. The solution will be posted tomorrow. Good luck!