Revisiting my childhood baseball days (1980 Cubs) - PureSim 2007 1.86

[hoopsguy]

We return home to face 8-7 San Francisco. The pitching is rock solid in the opener, a 6-0 win. But we see the pen blow up in the second game, with Alejandro Pena giving away a Gullickson win in a 5-2 loss. They are at it again the next day, as we lose 5-4 thanks to a blown save by Smith. Ugh - annoying series against a pretty decent team.

San Diego does what they could not do last October - beat us at Wrigley. 6-2 final, despite another Barfield homer. We split the next two games, which leaves us at 2-4 on this homestand. Not good at all.

Gullickson picks up his 3rd win in a 3-1 decision over the Dodgers at Wrigley. Then Viola slams the door on them in a 9-0 triumph. Everyone in the lineup had a hit that day, with seven players (including Viola) getting multiple hits. We sweep the Dodgers, with Barfield finishing off a torrid May with his 7th homer and 21 RBIs.

An early look at the division races reveals the following:
AL East - it is the Yankees on top with a 14-8 mark. Everyone but Milwaukee has a winning record; five teams are within two games of the Pinstripes.

AL West - Minnesota has the best record in baseball at 17-7. They are two in front of Oakland and 3.5 ahead of Texas. Everyone else is at least 7.5 games; that is unfamiliar territory for the Kansas City Royals and California Angels.

NL East - the Mets are running with us and at 15-7 sit a half game back. Montreal is 14-8 and very much in the mix as well. The Cards were along for the ride before they lost five straight but now find themselves 5.5 back.

NL West - San Francisco is 14-9, one up on Houston and 1.5 ahead of an improved Atlanta team.

[hoopsguy]

A couple of notes from around the league:
- we do not have anyone in the minors that is making a push for the big leagues, except Corbett. But he is pretty much a known entity. I should really look at dealing him sooner rather than later, just to see what we can realize in return.
- Boone is one of the oldest position players in the league. Only Seattle's Hal McRae, at 38, is older than the 36 year old Boone. Other 36 year olds still playing in the field include Fisk, Bench, and Hebner. Cey and Kingman are both 35 and in the geriatric team photo as well.
- Mookie Wilson now has an 18 game hitting streak.
- Barfield is leading the majors in RBIs. He is one in front of Baltimore's Murray and three in front of the closest NL competitor: Dusty Baker of the Dodgers.

Off to San Francisco to see if we do a little better against them our second time around. Not so much, as we lose 2-1 in the opener despite another bomb from Barfield. He is going to sue his fellow hitters for lack of support pretty soon. But Barfield does it again the following night as we earn a split with the Giants thanks to a 7-2 win.

Time for a quick look at the Cubs batting averages:
Oberkfell: .257
Boggs: .283
Rice: .305
Barfield: .301
Yount: .231
Hall: .217
Cey: .353
Scioscia: .264

I let Hall know that we need more from him. There is no need to push Yount, who is an accomplished big league player and I trust to turn it around on his own.

[hoopsguy]

We win a taut 1-0 affair against the Padres. Barfield knocked in Oberkfell with a sac fly in the 9th to get us the win. I do not think getting two hits is a good formula for victory. But getting shutouts is, as Viola demonstrates the following night in a 5-0 win. Viola threw a complete game shutout, allowing only one hit (two out double in bottom of 6th). Yount had a three run homer in the first that was all the offense we would need. We finish off the sweep in San Diego the following afternoon, 4-2 final after scoring three in the 9th to break a 1-1 tie.

We win our 5th in a row in LA, but that really is not the story on this day. No, that would be the 5th win in a row for the Expos. It was a 26-0 shellacking of the Braves in Atlanta. How would you like to pay for that ticket? The Expos "only" had 21 hits, but benefited from 3 Atlanta errors and 20 walks. I guess that the Atlanta bullpen really needed the rest ... check out this statline:

Rick Mahler (Atl) 8 IP, 20 hits, 26 runs, 23 earned runs, 20 walks, 0 Ks. His ERA jumped from 6.61 to 12.95 after this outing. Rick is considering going back to college to complete his graduate studies.

One more note on that game - it is a good thing that Glenn Hubbard has a pair of Silver Slugger awards because he is not winning a Gold Glove. He already has nine errors on the year.

Dennis Martinez moved to 4-0 with a 5-3 victory over the Dodgers. The pen gave him three great innings of relief, backed by save #13 for Smith. That completes a tidy little 6-1 road trip for the Cubs.

[rjolley]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

1.84RC2, actually. I updated my version after finish last season and before rolling into the new year. I agree that the drafting looks far superior to what I saw with 1.82.

Didn't know RC2 was out. Haven't had a chance to play with RC1 yet.

[hoopsguy]

Home to face the Phillies, who have had a wretched season. They are 7-22, which is 14.5 back. On May 12th. Yeesh. But they find a win in the series opener by a 3-1 margin. Apparently Smith was not available to save a 1-0 game and Caudill was not up to the task of throwing two scoreless innings, giving up a three run double to Manny Trillo. Viola throws another gem and Barfield hits another homer. Nice formula, 2-0 victory. Same thing the next day in a 3-0 win where Witt gets a no-decision after throwing seven innings of one-hit ball. Barfield, you see, waited until the 8th inning to homer in this one. We close out the series with a 16-2 laugher that was good for the team batting averages. Everyone had a hit; starter Morgan had four of them.

Crap - I just realized that I did not post end of season numbers for last season's league leaders. PSPN will help bring them to us at some point. Here are the NL ones for 1982.

Batting Average - .314 Bill Madlock (Pit)
On Base % - .391 Jack Clark (SF)
Slugging % - .582 Bob Horner (Atl)
OPS - .952 Bob Horner (Atl)
Home Runs - 41 Bob Horner (Atl)
Stolen Bases - 90 Mookie Wilson (NYM)
Hits - 195 Wade Boggs (Chi)
Runs - 96 Dale Murphy (Atl)
RBI - 100 Jack Clark (SF)
ERA - 1.88 Bill Gullickson (Chi)
Wins - 19 Bob Welch (LA)
Saves - 48 Joe Sambito (Hou)
Strikeouts - 213 Mario Soto (Cin)
Complete Games - 6 Scott Sanderson (Mon)
Shutouts - 3 Scott Sanderson (Mon)
Innings Pitched - 246 2/3 Bob Welch (LA)

"Coldest Pitcher in the Association"
Rick Mahler:
Last 2 weeks: 15.50 ERA 0-3, 4 K, 31 BB
Season: 12.56 ERA, 0-4, 5K, 38 BB

Boggs is in a funk, hitting .125 over the past two weeks to bring his average down to .244. I expect he will snap out of it, but this is just weird to see after how productive he was last season.

[hoopsguy]

Martinez is off to his best season ever with the Cubs and seems determined to make me lock him up to a long-term deal. He moves to 5-0 with a win against the Braves. You-know-who homered again. In the second game we slap the Braves around 12-5. It was a sloppy game, with each side committing three errors. Everyone had a hit and Oberkfell had four RBIs. Horner had a three run homer in the loss.

The Reds are next to run into our buzzsaw at Wrigley. Viola improves to 5-1 and we up the winning streak to 6 in a 6-1 win. Boggs gets his first homer of the year in win #7, a 4-3 decision in 11 innings. The 8th win features a homer by Rice, who is having a pretty good year even if he is being overshadowed by Barfield. .293/6/23 through two months is not chopped liver by any means.

30-9 and off to Houston to play the 21-21 Astros. Make that 30-10, as ex-Cub Mike Krukow hands Martinez his first loss of the season in a 5-3 game. A quick peek at our stats shows that Templeton is hitting .129 this year. I'm not sure why I tolerate this. We fall 1-0 the following day; tough luck for Gullickson as we only gave up three hits. Joe Sambito, who led the NL is saves last year, is a middle reliever for Houston this year. He is now 5-0 on the season and Frank LaCorte picked up his 12th save on the year with a 3 strikeout 9th. So what does Viola do when we lose a game in front of him? Not give up runs; I think that is the third time this year. 2-0 win, and we pick up one game in Houston.

[hoopsguy]

Off to Atlanta, where Mahler is scheduled to start. We note that his ERA is down to 10.91, but he is still seeking his first win of the year. It does not come on this day. 10-4 final, but Mahler does bring his ERA down to 10.31 in the process of throwing 3 2/3 innings. Both Yount and Boggs had four hits. Morgan wins a showdown with Larry McWilliams; both of these guys have a shot at making the All Star team. The final was 3-2, thanks in part to a home run by The Penguin, Ron Cey. It has been awhile since I said this, but Barfield homered in a 7-0 effort that included a three hit shutout by "El Presidente". We finish the four game sweep off the following afternoon, 4-1 final. Gullickson over Hershiser. That Atlanta team has some good starters if you can get past Mahler in the rotation.

Back home to face the Astros, we run our win streak to 6 in an 8-7 decision. Smith gave up three in the 9th to tie the game at 7 but Hall cranked over the wall in center for the walk-off win. Witt is the winner in a 1-0 affair that takes the win streak to 7. He is now 6-0. Hall does it again, although not a walk-off this time, in win #8. 5-1 final and we swept Houston.

Meanwhile, the Mets hung with us in the standings for awhile before cracking. In a big way, as they have stumbled to nine straight losses and now sit at 27-23. The Expos have fallen off their pace a bit as well, but are still 28-21. Montreal actually has the second best record in all of baseball.

AL East - The Yankees are 27-21 and a half game ahead of Detroit. Six teams remain within 3 of first.

AL West - Oakland is on top at 28-22, just .5 ahead of Texas and one up on Minnesota. Only Seattle (17-34) is more than 4.5 back.

NL West - San Francisco is on top at 27-23. The Braves, Astros, and Dodgers are all two back.

[hoopsguy]

We surge to #9 in a row behind two more Barfield homers in a 7-6 win at home against the Pirates. The Mets snap their losing streak at 9. Our winning streak is officially in the double digits after a 5-2 win. Yount had two hits, 3 RBIs, and was caught stealing for the 7th time this year. Dude, exercise a little judgement, OK? The winning streak comes crashing down in a 9-1 loss led by Dale Berra and his two homers. We win the 4th game of the series 10-7. Templeton is up to .204 and has qualified to play 3B for us.

I decide it is time to set Doug Corbett free. Texas is willing to offer Gwynn, which does not make me feel great about the AI. But a closer look shows me that he is not playing for the Rangers; he only has 48 at bats on the year. Still, I'm not looking for more outfielders. But I can't resist grabbing Gary Gaetti from the Twins. The 25 year old 3B is having a down year at .208/1/13 while batting 9th but he is a plus defender who is still developing and I think he almost as good as Cey right now. Plus he is under contract for 5 years at 2.8 million, so he is not terribly expensive if he does not adapt well to Wrigley. Done. He is now platooning with Cey, getting the nod against lefties. We demote Juan Samuel to get him some at bats.

[hoopsguy]

So Strawberry has gotten hot and is looking like a shoe-in for AL ROTY. .343/14/34 with 27 steals after two months. He also has a 13 game hitting streak.

Meanwhile Ripken and Roy Smalley are waging war for the starting SS spot for the AL.
Ripken: .325/10/37
Smalley: .335/4/29

Baltimore's Eddie Murray has a 17 game streak. I think he would be a worthy successor to Gibson but all who have tried to get to 21 have failed. KC's Andre Thornton is just one game behind Murray.

Career year? Yep, that is what is happening for Pittsburgh's Vance Law. He is hitting .364 with an OPS of .929. He has never been better than .260/.700 in his first three years, so this should come crashing down sometime soon.

The Mets come calling and we engage in a wild one. 9-8 final, advantage good guys. Mike Scioscia hits two homers and we score 7 runs in the 9th to force extra innings! Scioscia's 2nd homer was a walk-off in the 10th inning. Rice homered and had three RBIs the following afternoon in a 4-1 win that gave Martinez his 8th win on the year.

The Angels won 7 in a row to get back in the mix in the AL West, but still trail three teams by 2.5 - 3 games.

Boston is very interested in acquiring MR Bob James but I'm not in the mood to abuse the AI and take Fred Lynn, even if he does hail from Chicago. But color me a little disappointed that I could have had 90% of the Red Sox roster for a good (but not great) middle reliever with a decent contract.

[hoopsguy]

The Cardinals are the next victims to visit Wrigley, but someone forgot to tell them to lay down for us. We lose the opener 5-2, despite homer #17 by Barfield. Oh, did I forget to mention that it was an EIGHTEEN INNING GAME? Gah, that sucks. They then proceed to hand Witt his first loss of the year in a 9-4 defeat. We beat Vukovich to take one game out of this set, 2-0 final. Morgan threw seven shutout innings, gave up two hits, and got a no decision because Barfield couldn't knock the ball out of the park until the bottom of the 8th.

Kansas City Royal 1B Andre Thornton broke the hit streak record, taking it out to 22 games. We are excited to see such a hallowed record change hands in our lifetime.

We travel to New York and lose to the Mets 4-1. Hmm, maybe we are finding a little funk right now. Confirmed after a 3-1 loss the next night. I guess these things happen. It is hard to get too angry about it when the team is 45-16 but I'm not sure how far they want to push me on this point. Viola gets the message, as well as his 9th win, in a 5-2 decision. Rice homers and has 4 RBIs on the night.

We head to St. Louis and get some revenge. Bob Sykes, who has his only win of the year against us, is the loser in the 9-4 opener. A homer and 5 RBIs for Cey and #19 for Barfield. Cey connects again the next night in a 6-2 win. And Martinez matches Viola for wins as he earns the decision in a 1-0 game to close out the series sweep. Smith adds save number twenty seven.

We move the win streak to five with a 6-1 win at Pittsburgh. That is the first loss (2-1 record) for Sid Fernandez in his career. The score is the same the next night, as we get homers from Rice (10), Barfield (20), and Gaetti (2). The 7th straight win is very satisfying, as it comes against a red-hot John Candelaria. 9-2 final, with homers by Hall (7), Barfield (21), and Yount (6). Candelaria is now 9-2 with a 1.67 ERA and pretty much an All-Star lock. We are just firing on all cylinders again, as Morgan wins another 1-0 game when Rice knocked in a run in the 9th. Blyleven was great, only allowing one hit over seven innings.

[hoopsguy]

As hot as Barfield is, he is not leading the majors in homers. That honor goes to Kansas City's Ron Kittle with 22. His .232/22/52 is not nearly as productive as our guy, but he does have the most balls over the wall. Tony Armas of Oakland also has 21 homers. .258/21/50 for Armas.

Vance Law is down to .316 now and has not had an RBI since I posted about his torrid start.

Oakland stud starter Rick Langford will miss 6 1/2 weeks with a calf injury.

We head to Montreal to face the Expos. They are 39-30 and playing some good ball. The main weapon has been Tim Wallach, who has 56 RBIs on the year. Our first game of the series is a slugfest; we win 10-8. Scioscia was 4-5 and Gaetti homered again to help us rally back after giving away a 6-2 lead early. It is not reasonable to expect the same kind of outburst against Ray Fontenot, who is 9-1 with a 2.01 ERA for Montreal. But we do it anyway, winning 10-6 to get our second double digit win streak on the year.

Kingman hit a three run homer but had to leave the game with a bicep injury. He'll be placed on the 15 day DL. We'll call up Joe Carter, who frankly still needs to work on contact at AAA Iowa.

Back to business with Montreal - we bring the streak to 11 with a 2-1 win. The game was scoreless through 9 but Hall tripled in a pair of runs in the top of the 10th. He had four hits on the night and is up to .299 on the season. The last game in Montreal is against Scott Sanderson, who is 10-2 with a 2.40 ERA. Make that 11-2, as our streak dies at 11. Barfield hits his 22nd but is overshadowed by Larry Parrish who has two homers and six RBIs.

[hoopsguy]

We do not waste time lamenting the loss, as Morgan throws 8 1/3 scoreless innings in a 7-0 win. Gaetti and Barfield each have multiple RBI efforts. The Pirates pay us back 4-2 the next evening as Mike Easler drives in 3. Gullickson picks up win #10 on the year, backed by Rice and Barfield homers, in a 10-6 win. Pirate Jerry Dybzinski had 5 RBIs in the loss, bringing his total to 8 on the year.

Montreal flies into Chicago coming off an 18 inning win in Philadelphia. Are they jet-lagged for the afternoon game? If so, they hide it well but still lose 2-1. We rough up Sanderson in a return engagement. Well, technically we rough up the pen as he only gave up three of the eleven runs in an 11-4 Cub victory. Scioscia, Yount, and Rice all left the building. Morgan gets his 10th win in a 4-0 win. Three more hits for Yount, who is up to .283.

We sweep a July 4th double-header against Montreal in contrasting styles: 13-0 and 2-1. Barfield hit two homers and had five RBIs in the opener (.294/24/75) to get Martinez his 10th win. Oberkfell knocked in the game winner in the 10th to get us a win in the second game and a sweep of the five game series.

Kittle hit a ball 480' - that is a long, long way.

Philly CF Gorman Thomas is out for a month with a bicep injury. Hmm, I wonder if there were any performance enhancing drugs in the game back in 1983?

[hoopsguy]

Steve, I'm having a lot of fun playing in this time period. I'm not sure if I would enjoy a 100% fictional universe as much, but that is just me.

I've certainly found some things that I think are "off" but on the whole I think that the statistical engine is very impressive. Especially for a free game. And the developer is actively working on this, as there have been numerous updates (1.80 to 1.84 RC2) in the six weeks or so since I originally downloaded the game.

As far as the powerhouse, I'm strongly considering putting in some house rules to see if I can even this out a little bit and create a better challenge. There is no sense in beating the game silly and winning 130 games every season when it is clearly exploitable. I just had not played enough prior to this dynasty (or with the amount of focus that I'm applying now) to really have much of a sense on how to set up those house rules.

[Izulde]

Man, it's crazy the numbers Barfield's putting up.

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Man, it's crazy the numbers Barfield's putting up.

He put up pretty strong power numbers last year in limited time (.243/17/48 in 337 at-bats). So I think you could assume that if I gave him 600 at-bats and put him in the cleanup spot that he had a chance to do some real damage (maybe 25/85?) but he already has those kind of numbers by the All-Star break.

Looking at his player page, he has seen his "Power" rating go up from mid-70s when he was drafted to 93 now. He still has 53 potential (24 years old) so there is a chance it will keep going up but I expect it to level off right around here for the next few years.

Every once in awhile our scouting department does its job with their picks

[hoopsguy]

Our last set of games before the All Star break takes us to San Francisco. The Giants are 45-36 and have opened a 4.5 game lead on the pack in their division. We just clobber them in the opener, by a score of 15-5. Hall homers twice and has 4 RBIs. Rice also homered and matched Hall's RBI total. All in all, we sent six balls over the wall against Vida Blue and company. We do not have as easy a time with Nolan Ryan, who wins his 9th game with a 2-1 decision. Barfield knocked in the only Cubs run. Jack Clark homered for the second straight game against us. We sweep a double-header on the July 10th to finish with 3 of 4 in San Francisco. Hall went 4-4 with a homer in one of those games. He is locked in right now.

[hoopsguy]

Here are your American League All Stars:

AL Starters (in order of votes):
RF Darryl Strawberry (Mil) - .303/22/50 w/34 steals. So it begins.
SS Cal Ripken (Tex) - .334/16/59. Repeat selection.
3B George Brett (KC) - .306/12/45. 3rd selection for Brett.
CF Tony Armas (Oak) - .260/21/59
1B Pat Putnam (Tex) - .305/8/35. Was an AS reserve in '81.
C Jim Essian (Min) - .320/7/34
LF Bill Sample (Tex) - .312/8/53. AL version of Vance Law (career year). Third Ranger hitter in lineup, their fans are rocking the vote.
2B Dave Stapleton (Bos) - .283/10/36. 3rd straight start in AS game.

AL Reserves
1B Steve Garvey (NYY) - .293/10/32. The Yankees have to call him up from AAA to participate in this game. Kind of embarrassing ...
CF Fred Lynn (Bos) - .305/10/35. 3rd straight AS game for Lynn.
1B Willie Aikens (KC) - .281/13/39
RF Harold Baines (Chi) - .300/12/50. 2nd straight AS game.
C Lance Parrish (Det) - .293/7/48. Also AS in 1981.
SS Roy Smalley (Min) - .322/5/36. 2nd straight AS game.
RF Ron Kittle (KC) - .230/24/55. Chicks dig the long ball.

AL Pitchers
Starter Jim Clancy (Tor) - 15-2 2.39 ERA, 4 CG, 2 SO, 83:50 K/BB, .205 BAA, 1.08 WHIP. Career .500 pitcher (44-44) coming into this year, he has exploded at age of 28.
Starter Chris Welsh (Bal) - 11-5 2.47 ERA, 2 CG, 1 SO, 57:46 K/BB, .230 BAA, 1.21 WHIP. Former ROY has started to learn how to win games.
Starter Charles Hudson (CHW) - 11-4 2.91 ERA, 2 CG, 84:45 K/BB, .239 BAA, 1.26 WHIP. Probably not the last AS game for this rookie.
Starter Matt Keough (Oak) - 8-8 2.23 ERA, 9 CG, 1 SO, 66:56 K/BB, .228 BAA, 1.21 WHIP. Quality start machine.
Starter Richard Dotson (CHW) - 9-7 2.64 ERA, 2 CG, 87:49 K/BB, .217 BAA, 1.15 WHIP. Very high potential young (24) pitcher on a team that is collecting good arms.
Closer Pete Ladd (Min) - 0-0 0.96 ERA, 29 saves, 0 blown, 20:13 K/BB, .210 BAA, 1.21 WHIP.
MR Dave Rozema (Det) - 8-6 2.80 ERA, 8 CG, 69:37 K/BB, .234 BAA, 1.14 WHIP. Detroit must be stocked with good arms to even consider putting him in relief role. Has 20 appearances, 17 of them are starts, so this seems like a recent change.
MR Dave Tobik (Det) - 5-1 1.75 ERA, 1 blown, 4 holds, 25:19 K/BB, .217 BAA, 1.17 WHIP. Tobik is a four time All Star; premier AL reliever?
MR Tom Neidenfuer (KC) - 5-3 1.85 ERA, 3 saves, 0 blown, 4 holds, 38:13 K/BB, .212 BAA, 1.05 WHIP. Tom has amazing stuff.
MR Don Carman (Min) - 2-3 1.83 ERA, 4 holds, 19:11 K/BB, .183 BAA, 0.99 WHIP

[hoopsguy]

And the NL All Stars:

NL Starters (in order of votes):
RF Jesse Barfield (Chi) - .292/26/77
3B Nick Esasky (LA) - .310/13/36 - I knew I wanted to draft him! ROY lock?
RF Jeffrey Leonard (StL) - .317/10/42 w/27 steals.
SS Robin Yount (Chi) - .298/8/47 w/17 steals. Also AS in 1981.
1B Dan Driessen (Cin) - .315/11/39. 4 time AS is a steal under current contract (1.5 million).
CF Jim Rice (Chi) - .288/14/54. 3rd straight AS game for Rice.
2B Vance Law (Pit) - .321/1/21
C Terry Kennedy (StL) - .311/3/41 - seamless transition from Ted Simmons

NL Reserves
3B Dale Berra (Pit) - .316/8/39. Already career high for homers, just 5 off best RBI total.
3B Bob Horner (Atl) - .295/13/47. 4th straight AS game, first as non-starter.
RF Jack Clark (SF) - .284/14/44. Repeat AS.
1B Keith Hernandez (StL) - .319/6/27. 3rd time as AS reserve. Can't stand that Driessen keeps winning the starting job AND the Gold Glove.
LF Don Mattingly (SF) - .293/9/53. Tough to get time in outfield w/Giants. Maybe a position change to 1B would make sense?
2B Tim Raines (Mon) - .319/2/25 w/22 steals
LF Pedro Guerrero (LA) - .286/8/29. Also an AS in 1980.

NL Pitchers
Starter Scott Sanderson (Mon) - 11-2 2.65 ERA, 2 CG, 110:34 K/BB, .214 BAA, 1.07 WHIP. Just one off his career high for wins, but I expect more seasons like this from him.
Starter Mike Morgan (Chi) - 10-1 2.42 ERA, 1 CG, 69:49 K/BB, .235 BAA, 1.29 WHIP.
Starter Bill Gullickson (CHI) - 10-3 2.34 ERA, 2 CG, 67:20 K/BB, .212 BAA, 0.95 WHIP. 3rd AS game, all with Cubs.
Starter John Candelaria (Pit) - 9-3 2.19 ERA, 3 CG, 1 SO, 83:24 K/BB, .215 BAA, 0.99 WHIP. In last year of deal, will get a ton of money if Pittsburgh allows him on FA market.
Closer Lee Smith (Chi) - 1-0 1.89 ERA, 32 saves, 1 blown, 25;11 K/BB, .228 BAA, 1.17 WHIP
Starter Frank Viola (Chi) - 10-2 2.52 ERA, 4 CG, 2 SO, 64:44 K/BB, .221 BAA, 1.18 WHIP.
MR Joe Sambito (Hou) - 6-1 0.88 ERA, 1 blown save, 5 holds, 33:10 K/BB, .174 BAA, 0.82 WHIP. This guy is having a monster year.
MR John Urrea (StL) - 1-0 1.45 ERA, 1 save, 5 holds, 31;23 K/BB, .208 BAA, 1.16 WHIP
MR Bud Anderson (Mon) - 4-6 1.70 ERA, 6 holds, 39:25 K/BB, .165 BAA, 0.96 WHIP. How does a guy with these stats have 6 losses?
MR Dave Stewart (Cin) - 3-2 2.17 ERA, 3 saves, 4 holds, 33:13 K/BB, .272 BAA, 1.31 WHIP. Yes, it is "that" Dave Stewart who apparently does not have much Endurance in this universe. Tempting to explore the editor capabilities to right this wrong.

[rjolley]

If the AI is drafting and signing free agents better, I would think powerhouse building would a lot harder to do. Before, it was easy to build a strong team because you could pick up good players every round of every draft, then trade the ones you didn't want for the position you needed.

I'm going to try out 1.84RC2 and see if that's still true.

[hoopsguy]

I'm not convinced that the AI does better with either FA signings or with trade logic. I definitely saw improvement in the draft - especially with pitching prospects.

I'm holding off on any house rules until the end of this season, but some of the ideas that I'm batting around are (won't do all of them together just yet):
- max number of years to sign players
- max salary that I can pay to a player or player group (starting pitchers = 20 million, for example)
- no multi-player trades (already largely follow this one)
- no trades that involve taking on salary
- no trades for players under the age of 25
- no trades for 1st round draft picks

I just want to make sure that when I do put the rules in place that I have a reasonable idea of the impact that they will impose and that the game will remain fun. Fun does not necessarily equal winning huge, but it does involve liking the team building process.

[hoopsguy]

Seeing as how we now have a 23.5 game lead after playing 85 games I'm going to dial back a little bit on the game-by-game details from now until the end of the season.

7/11 - we head to San Diego for our first post-All Star series. Barfield homers in his first game, #27 on the year. We sweep them. Rice adds his 15th homer in the finale.

7/14 - off to LA, Barfield with #28 in the opener, #29 the following day. We sweep the four game set to move our winning streak to 9.

Alejandro Pena is wondering what in the world he needs to do to get on an All Star team. Overall, I do not have many beefs about our representation - 6 of 25 players. But check out his numbers.
7-1 1.32 ERA, 2 blown saves, 9 holds, 20:6 K/BB, .206 BAA 0.99 WHIP

Mario Soto is having a dreadful year for the Reds. He is 1-8 with a 3.50 ERA. Obviously he is not getting run support with those numbers, but that ERA and a 1.27 WHIP are elevated for him compared to his career numbers. Actually, his WHIP has gone up every year:
1980: freakish 0.86
1981: very strong 1.03
1982: moving back to pack 1.23
1983: 1.27

He is only 27 years old so in theory he should be entering his prime right now. The Reds must hope so as he is signed for the next 4 seasons for nearly $10,000,000 each year.

Our own Mike Witt is going through a very ineffective streak. Back on 5/31 he was 6-0 with a 1.81 ERA. Now, nearly two months later he is 10-3 with a 3.83 ERA. Only three of his eight starts would be considered a "quality start". This is the kind of problem that is masked when you are winning 75% of your games, but I'm hoping that he can return to the dominant pitcher that we've seen for the first two years and two months in the league.

[hoopsguy]

Cincinnati is looking to acquire Von Hayes. I'm very interested in pursuing a deal. Barfield is a monster, Hall is a very productive player, and Rice is a three time All Star who is only 29 years old. I feel like my OF is set for awhile, unless I want to start messing around with house rules right now. Since I don't, I think it is time to start getting some value for our other young OFs sooner rather than later.

The Reds are willing to give us just about anyone on their roster - Soto, Driessen, and Charlie Liebrandt (pretty good starter, 27 years old) are some of the attractive options. The guy that they will not deal is Jose DeLeon, their 23 year old #2 starter. But there is not much in the way of young talent on this team so I decide to look elsewhere for trading partners.

But I honestly don't know what I want to add right at this moment.
C - Scioscia is probably not All Star material but he hits .260 and was clutch in the playoffs last year. I kind of like him as a player.
1B - Boggs is a guy I plan on leaving in the lineup for years.
2B - Oberkfell is the guy I would be most willing to replace. It is not a sure thing that Samuel grows into a good option.
SS - Yount is a guy I want around for years.
3B - I just traded for Gaetti earlier and he has been productive so far.
OF - covered those three spots earlier
SP - I've got great young starting pitching.
MR - I've got a deep bullpen right now at the majors
CL - Smith is up for a contract, so maybe here?


I think I would take a really strong reliever or a 2B as my preferred options right now.

The deal is struck with the New York Yankees, in exchange for Willie Randolph. I'll see over time if it is an upgrade from Oberkfell but it is at least a push and gives me another body to put in the infield mix. It also is not a trade that rapes the AI, such as the option I had to acquire Rickey Henderson from Oakland.

[hoopsguy]

7/19 - we host the Giants. And the 9 game winning streak comes to an end in a 6-0 loss. Another non-quality start for Witt. All six runs came in the 5th; he is getting killed by big innings lately. We lose two in a row but beat Nolan Ryan in the 3rd game. Fine performance by Martinez and another homer for Barfield.

7/22 - Padres come to town and we are once again shut out in the series opener by a non-stud pitcher. But Viola wins the 2nd game 1-0 on a Boggs homer. The offense feels like it has slid off track again since we moved Hayes. Witt comes back to win 5-0, firing a two hit shutout, in the finale against the Padres. Nice to see him have a good outing.

7/25 - Dodgers arrive at Wrigley. We win two of three. Yount hits a pair of homers (now 10 on year) in the finale.

The Brewers ask us for a deal involving Hall but then tell us that there is not a single player on their roster that they would trade straight-up for him. In other words, he is rated like Kingman. This is really confusing. Here are the numbers on the worthless Mel Hall:
Contact - 77/100
Power - 74/100
Eye - 63/100
Potential - 100/100
Range - 55/100
Arm - 50/100
Hands - 60/100
Speed - 66/100

He is 23 years old, in his 2nd season at the big league level, and is hitting .294/12/50 w/13 steals. I'm not expecting him to win Gold Gloves, but he is a legit 20/20 guy for the next decade and looks like he will settle in around .280. I'll take those guys every day and twice on Sunday.

Looking at the league leaders, Barfield has 95 RBIs and the next closest player (Gary Ward of Minnesota) has 71. Unreal.

[hoopsguy]

7/29 - Off to Philadelphia, where the Phillies still suck. 39-62 is my definition of suck. We take the broom to them over a three game set.

Around baseball, the Twins have been busy over the last two weeks. They have compiled an 11 game win streak to surge to the top of the AL West standings. 61-44 is 3.5 games better than the Oakland A's and five in front of the Texas Rangers.

The AL East is still almost anyone's to grab. Right now percentage points separate the Yankees and Tigers, with both 10 games over .500. They are a half game in front of Boston and one up on Toronto. The Blue Jays have also won six in a row to tighten this race up.

NL West - San Francisco remains on top, but only by a half game over Cincinnati. The Giants are 56-49. Atlanta is looming, three games off the pace.

Time to have some contract discussions with our players:
1.) Bud Black - with the newly competitive draft I think it probably makes sense to see if we can keep Bud around. He is only 26, and is showing signs of being a big league player. Heck, he would be a 5th starter or long reliever for a lot of teams. Terms are pretty reasonable, so we ask him back for 3 years at just over 1.5 million a season.
2.) Steve Ontiveros - good bye.
3.) Dick Tidrow - I hope that he can pick up with another team for a season or two, as he probably has enough left in his arm to help someone. I should have tried to move him for a bucket of balls before the deadline.
4.) Bob Boone - I would be fine having him become a scout or some kind of coach. But we are not re-signing him. We thank him for his service, especially his strong role off the bench in the playoffs last year.
5.) Ron Cey - has done his job as a one-year option, but we have dealt for a longer term solution.
6.) Dave Kingman - he has been a nice bench player the last two years. I wish we could have dealt him for something back in 1981. We will not be bringing him back.
7.) Ken Oberkfell - has been solid at 2B for us over last 2.5 years. Let's see how much of a raise he wants from his current 1.3 million dollar salary. Congratulation on your reasonable demands, Ken. Welcome back for three more years @ 1.9 per season.
8.) Jesse Orosco - here is a guy that I'm concerned will price himself out. He is making about 500K now and wants 5x that amount. It is not crazy money for a productive, young MR. I'll come back to him later.
9.) Jim Rice - hmm, I do not want to pay both him and Barfield crazy money at the same time and Barfield has another two years at his current deal. So I'm thinking of signing Rice to a two year extension. That is going to cost $15,000,000, or a 50% raise. Jim's agent sure does have a high opinion of his player. Again, I'll come back to this one. This is not a surprise but it is a big number.
10.) Lee Smith - I'm having a very hard time justifying paying a closer 9 million a year like Smith is requesting. I've got a lot of good arms and I think many of them would be capable of giving us 90% of what Smith has yielded over the past few years. I'm just about certain that he is gone, but we'll definitely bring back Orosco if we let him go.
11.) Mike Witt - has two years left on deal, but I'm thinking about seeing what the extension will run. The answer? Dirt cheap! We add another two years to his deal for just over 2 million per year. Biggest bargain in baseball? Intensely loyal guy? He just earned himself some loyalty back from this GM.

[hoopsguy]

Pretty big deal in the AL, where Seattle moves Willie Upshaw in exchange for Cleveland's Doug DeCinces. These were two of the biggest FA signings last year and both teams have failed to move up the standings. Cleveland is 14 under .500 while Seattle is the worst team in the league at 37-69. So maybe this is just a culture shake-up in both clubhouses? Their numbers are almost identical as well, once you look past the ages of the players.
3B DeCinces - .248/13/39. 33 years old, contract 3 years @ 17.6 million
1B Upshaw - .262/14/39. 26 years old, contract 2 years @ 14.9 million
Advantage - Cleveland. Just to cement that point, Upshaw hit two homers in his first game with Cleveland.

8/2 - off to St. Louis to see our old rivals. They are 50-55, just 32 games back but still mathematically alive. They close that gap in the first game, winning 2-0. Barfield hits #31 the next game and Boggs extends his hit streak to 12 games in an 11-5 win. Smith blows a save in the 3rd game of the series. We are only 5-4 against the Deadbirds - hopefully we can pick it up against these guys the rest of the year.

8/5 - The Mets arrive and we get back to winning games. Boggs homers and runs his hit streak up to 14 games. It ends there, but Barfield hits #32 the next day in a 9-0 win. Martinez won his 15th game and lowered his ERA to 2.69. The Mets won the finale to avert a sweep.

There was a wild game on this day between KC and Boston. It ended with a walk-off grand slam by Andre Thornton, 17-13 final in 11 innings.

Strawberry has now tied Barfield for the major league lead in homers. He is over 30 RBIs behind, but both of these guys look like good bets to shatter the home run mark (41) held by Bob Horner.

[hoopsguy]

8/9 - we host the Cardinals and are looking to administer a beating to these guys. Well, consider this a fail as we are shut out 3-0 in the opener. Hall and Rice both homer in the second game, an 11-7 win. Rice does it again the following day, for his 18th of the year, in a 5-4 win.

8/12 - it is off to Shea to lock horns with the Mets. My jokes about teams being mathematically eliminated are going to be true very soon. The Mets are 34 back with 48 to play. The "magic number" shrinks further as we win 2 of 3.

8/15 - Philadelphia is the place. The place where we find a team that is mathematically eliminated, since they are 45 back with 45 to play. That does not stop them from winning the series opener. We end up splitting the two game set.

Fred Lynn sustained a serious knee injury and is not expected back until the playoffs. Not that Boston is making the playoffs ...

On that note, time to take a look at the division races:
AL East - Toronto (68-53) is the current leader of the pack, one in front of Boston and two up on the Tigers. The Yankees have played themselves into a gaping hole, as they are now seven back along with Baltimore.

AL West - Oakland (70-52) has taken advantage of a five game losing streak by the Twins to assume a 3.5 game lead. Texas sits 5.5 back and everyone else is probably out of it.

NL West - The Reds have taken off, surging to a 68-52 mark and a six game lead over Atlanta. The Giants have lost five in a row and have seven games to make up if they want to win the division they led most of this year.

[hoopsguy]

8/18 - we host Atlanta, who is desperate for wins if they want to catch the Reds. Rick Mahler is on the mound, with his 1-9 record and 8.56 ERA. Martinez picks up his 17th win in this game, but had to work for it in a 3-2 decision. We split the other two games, with Barfield homering in the last game of the series. Just when I was starting to wonder about him Actually, it was a four game series and the players seemed as lost as I was in giving away the final game.

8/22 - The Reds come to town, and Soto has won his last three decisions to move to 4-8. He gets a no-decision in a 4-3 loss to us. We fall to them the next day, allowing them to break a 5 game losing streak. And again the next day, this one a 2-0 loss in 11 innings. This was not a very good home stand.

8/26 - off to Houston to see if we can recapture some magic. Nope, we lose 3-1 to a team 30 below .500. I'm getting sick of Mike Krukow having good outings every time he faces us. Barfield cranks #34 in the third game of this set, as we rallied to win the final two contests.

Armas is up to 34 homers and 86 RBIs. Professional slugger.

[hoopsguy]

8/29 - The Braves have lost three straight but are only 4.5 out of first in the NL West. They get to take another shot at us in this series. We pull out a 6-5 win in the opener with Rice hitting his 20th on the year. Kingman parks one 459', which is longer than any of the Barfield homers all year. Gullickson loses a start against Mahler and he is officially in a slump. His record has fallen to 14-8, his ERA is up to 2.90, and every other start is messy. We need him to square himself up before the playoffs or he will find someone else taking the bump for Game #1. The only good thing out of that game was homer #35 for Barfield.


Dusty Baker is up to 18 consecutive games with a hit. I'm sure Thornton is shaking in his boots.

Ray Fontenot, who has done a great job all year pitching for the Expos, will miss a month. He had a legitimate shot at the Cy Young if he closed strong. I think this race is way too close to call right now. But lets take a look at some of the candidates.

- Fontenot 13-4 2.31 ERA, 1 CG, 66:47 K/BB, .229 BAA, 1.13 WHIP
- Larry McWilliams (Atl) 13-7 2.37 ERA, 1 CG, 116:52 K/BB, .245 BAA, 1.24 WHIP
- Ray Burris (NYM) 13-3 2.45 ERA, 1 CG, 76:49 K/BB, .211 BAA, 1.10 WHIP
- John Candelaria (Pit) 13-5 2.45 ERA, 4 CG, 1 SO, 136:38 K/BB, .220 BAA, 1.01 WHIP
- Frank Viola (Chi) 14-4 2.49 ERA, 4 CG, 2 SO, 113:71 K/BB, .216 BAA, 1.17 WHIP
- Scott Sanderson (Mon) 16-4 2.59 ERA, 3 CG, 1 SO, 154:48 K/BB, .232 BAA, 1.13 WHIP
- Jose DeLeon (Cin) 15-5 2.66 ERA, 2 CG, 1 SO, 191:74 K/BB, .209 BAA, 1.18 WHIP
- Mike Morgan (Chi) 16-2 2.70 ERA, 2 CG, 112:70 K/BB, .231 BAA, 1.24 WHIP
- Dennis Martinez (Chi) 17-4 2.85 ERA, 1 CG, 1 SO, 87:46 K/BB, .231 BAA, 1.16 WHIP


I think that Candelaria is the guy who wins the award if the season ended today, with DeLeon and Sanderson also on the medal stand. But if one of our guys runs and hides with wins in the last month then who knows?

[hoopsguy]

8/31 - we travel to Cincinnati to try and bring more parity to the NL West race. All we can manage is a split of the two game set.

9/2 - back home to play the Astros and looking for some kind of groove for October. Morgan picks up his 17th win and Barfield goes deep again. Martinez pulls back ahead of Morgan for wins the next night in a 7-0 shutout. Gullickson extends the Astros scoreless streak and Barfield adds #37. Sweep. That was also win #100 on the year.

9/5 - host Montreal is the proud owner of a 76-60 record, second best in the NL. but they are already eliminated with a month to play. Just sick. We win two of three. Barfield is up to 38 homers and Hall had a pair in the finale to move to 21.

9/9 - it is Cardinals time again @ Wrigley. We blow the doors off them in the opener, 14-4. Win #19 for Martinez. Gullickson continues his on-again/off-again ways in a 6-4 loss that included #39 for Barfield. Then we are on the wrong end of a 1-0 shutout to wrap up the series. I hate those guys.

We brought up several players for the September call-ups and it is immediately apparent that Bud Black will be part of our playoff roster. The guy who is most likely taking the hit? Last year's hero, Dennis Lamp. Lamp is 0-5 this year with a 3.24 ERA.

[hoopsguy]

9/12 - we host Montreal and lose 8-7. Witt's ERA is now over 4.00. He is also the only Cub starter to have not won 15 games. We lose 8-6 the following day when Smith blows a save. Barfield is the first to 40 homers, hitting two and collecting 5 RBIs. .284/41/133. There is little doubt who is going to be MVP in the NL this year.

9/14 - We head to Pittsburgh next. It is therapeutic as we win a pair and see Smith pick up his 50th save on the year.

9/16 - two more homers for Barfield in the opener at Shea. I'm dismayed to see that Rice is now hitting .256 on the year. Apparently he is on a bit of a slide. It is hard to justify 15 million coming off a year where a guy tanks after the All Star break. We end up winning two of three in the series, with Morgan getting win #19.

Quick look at the division races:
AL East - Toronto is closing in on their first divisional crown, holding a 3.5 game lead on the Tigers with 11 to play. Neither team is sprinting to the finish. The Blue Jays are 84-67, which is a solid record but very gettable for the Tiger teams of yore.

AL West - Oakland (88-63) has their magic number down to 5. Texas is 7.5 back and the White Sox (79-70) are heading towards their first winning season in this dynasty.

NL West - The Reds hold a five game lead over San Francisco. Atlanta is six back, but they need the Reds to fold to have any chance.

9/19 - @ Philadelphia, Martinez wins #20. Barfield has another two homer game the next night. 45 and counting!

9/21 - back to Wrigley to face the Pirates. We are chasing history, knowing that the most ever in baseball history is 116. We are 109-42 right now, so we need to finish 8-3 to take sole possession of that mark. Winning % is not gettable, as the 1906 Cubs went 116-36. Well, our first game chasing history is a 6-4 loss. But Witt throws a shutout and pushes his ERA back under 4 to get us to 110.

9/23 - we host the Mets next. Morgan loses only his 3rd game of the year. Boo. Then Martinez loses 3-2 the next night. That probably will end up costing him the Cy Young as he really needed to pile on wins to have any hope of winning. Gullickson wins the finale, helped by a Rice homer.

9/26 - we are 48 games better than the Phillies at this point, although they have assured themselves of not losing 100 at this point. We club them like seals in the opener 14-1. 6-5 in second game. 113-45, we need to win out to get 117. 11-9, and Morgan has his 20th win although his ERA drifts over 3. Two more homers for Rice and another for Barfield.

Ripken has an 18 game hitting streak. Dare to dream.

Willie Upshaw has been crushing for Cleveland. He is up to .271/30/78. By comparison, DeCinces is .255/19/54.

[hoopsguy]

9/30 - We finish, appropriately enough, in St. Louis. 15-4 in the opener, another Barfield homer and two for Yount. 10-0 the next night. The man, the myth, the legend - Barfield goes yard again. Three hit shutout for Gullickson. We've now tied the most wins in a season. And a 3-1 win in the finale gives us sole possession of the mark. Seven straight wins to end the season.

Next up are the Cincinnati Reds, who finished 90-72. It will be Oakland (93-69) and Toronto (92-70) in the AL championship round.

Lets pause for a moment to acknowledge the Tigers on their strong run over the past three years. They made the World Series three straight seasons, winning one of them. This year was a disappointment, by comparison, as they finished 87-75 and five back of the Blue Jays.

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by Izulde

Congratulations on winning the World Series, even if it is with those bloody Cubbies.

Heh - sorry that I missed this yesterday when putting up all the season recap stuff. I'm hoping that these bloody Cubbies are poised for a repeat. Either way, we'll see how stuff works in 1984 (tough year for Cub fans) and beyond as I try to artificially ratchet up the difficulty in the game.

[hoopsguy]

OK, time for a roster recap.

RF Jesse Barfield - season for the ages. .287/48/154, just shattering the old HR and RBI marks. If I want to be picky I could ask him to cut down on his 115 strikeouts? He is only 24, is under contract for 420K through 1985.

SP/MR Bud Black - 1-1 1.21 ERA in 14 September appearances. He has taken over the long relief role previously held by Lamp.

1B Wade Boggs - .318/10/70. I love the 80 walks compared to 79 Ks. OBP of .394 is off the charts good. I think he had 3 different 10+ hit streaks this season.

C/3B Bob Boone - .254/3/18. Epitomizes the transition from our first team (traded for Randy Martz) to now.

MR Bill Caudill - 7-3 3.50 ERA, 2 saves, 4 blown, 12 holds, 59:18 K/BB, .253 BAA, 1.26 WHIP. Mildly disappointing season from him, because his stuff is better than these numbers.

3B Ron Cey - .307/13/49 in 323 at bats. I loved our 3B platoon this year and hope that Gaetti can come close to matching it on his own next season.

3B Gary Gaetti - .245/14/55 in 433 at bats. Was only hitting .210 or so when we acquired him, so his production for us was better than these numbers by far. 25 year old is locked up for 5 years @ 2.8 million.

SP Bill Gullickson - 19-9 3.05 ERA, 5 CG, 2 SO, 133:45 K/BB, .232 BAA, 1.07 WHIP. Won his last four starts, final two were dominant, keeps his #1 starter in playoff position as a result.

CF/RF Mel Hall - .290/24/84 w/25 steals. Great season totally overshadowed by Barfield, Rice contract, and runaway win totals. I expect we'll have to pay dearly for him next season.

MR Bob James - 1-0 2.03 ERA, 3 holds, 25:12 K/BB, .235 BAA, 1.35 WHIP. Kind of a forgotten man this year but did his job well when called upon.

LF/RF Dave Kingman - .312/8/26 in 138 at bats. Really productive bench player for us this year. We'll end up missing him when he is gone, something that I would have been surprised to say back in 1981.

SP Dennis Martinez - 21-5 2.96 ERA, 2 CG, 2 SO, 106:59 K/BB, .238 BAA, 1.20 WHIP. By far the best run support of his career.

SP Mike Morgan - 20-3 3.07 ERA, 2 CG, 130:82 K/BB, .238 BAA, 1.26 WHIP. I would love to see his Control improve, but his results the first two years have been awesome.

2B Ken Oberkfell - .285/6/51 w/33 steals. Surrendered some playing time to Randolph down the stretch. Will be interesting to see if either one separates themselves next season.

MR Jesse Orosco - 7-1 1.69 ERA, 4 saves, 3 blown, 11 holds, 53:18 K/BB, .233 BAA, 1.17 WHIP. I extend him for 4 years @ 2.8 million per season. I wonder if he will be named closer next season?

MR Alejandro Pena - 7-2 0.95 ERA, 1 save, 2 blown, 11 holds, 39:15 K/BB, .179 BAA, 0.97 WHIP. If not Orosco as closer, then probably Pena.

2B Willie Randolph - .306/3/22 in 252 at bats. Will likely continue to platoon with Oberkfell unless something strange happens.

LF/CF Jim Rice - .268/25/93. I'm pretty much convinced that I will not be resigning him next year. That will be one of the first acts of tightening up the difficulty ... some sort of draconian salary rules. So > 13 million per season for Rice is out. Also, I can suggest that it would have sent a bad message to Barfield and Hall when they are working for pennies next year.

C Mike Scioscia - .291/7/49. I appreciate the heck out of him when I think back to Barry Foote.

Closer Lee Smith - 2-2 3.41 ERA, 56 saves, 5 blown, 42:16 K/BB, .250 BAA, 1.22 WHIP. Sorry you asked for so much cash, Lee.

SS/3B Garry Templeton .263/3/21 in 137 at bats. Amazingly productive season by his standards. Really high RBI numbers for such limited at bats. He will be around one more year, gone after that unless Samuel busts.

MR Ed Vande Berg - 0-0 0.48 ERA, 1 save, 19:1 K/BB, .200 BAA, 0.80 WHIP. Dude needed more than 21 appearances and 18.2 innings based on these results.

Starter Frank Viola - 17-6 2.63 ERA, 5 CG, 2 SO, 138:80 K/BB, .228 BAA, 1.20 WHIP. Serious stopper for us early in year, I like him so much better this year than I did during his rookie year.

Starter Mike Witt - 15-8 3.87 ERA, 6 CG, 2 SO, 126:82 K/BB, .237 BAA, 1.28 WHIP. Just had a number of bad outings; there were also a bunch of great ones mixed in. But I'm not used to him being so unpredictable.

SS Robin Yount - .313/18/100 w/29 steals. Would be a potential MVP if it was not for the other guy on our team. He is going to cost a ton next year.

[hoopsguy]

Game #1:
ALCS: As you would expect, both teams have heavyweight starters on the mound. Keough for the A's and Stieb for Toronto. Oakland scored a pair in the top of the third and that was enough for Keough. Steve Balboni had a solo homer in the bottom of the 7th, but it was one of only four hits for the Blue Jays. 2-1 final.

NLCS: Rice had a pair of hits and an RBI single to help us win the series opener 3-1. Gullickson outdueled Soto, posting six scoreless innings. Bud Black, in his first postseason action, had two shaky but scoreless innings of relief. Smith gave up a 9th inning homer to Leo Sutherland to allow the Reds to avoid the shutout, but otherwise it was smooth sailing for the Cubs at Riverfront.


Game #2:
ALCS: Oakland means business. They put two runs up in the first, with both coming home on a Dwayne Murphy triple and never looked back. Starter Rick Langford went eight innings before handing it over to closer Jeff Jones to complete the shutout. Right now Toronto this year is looking like the Angels last year - just not enough offense to hang with a better team. The Blue Jays will now have to win three straight in Oakland to advance, which seems like an impossible task after watching the last two games.

NLCS: The Reds just crushed Viola, posting 8 runs in 2 1/3 innings against the young left-hander. Meanwhile, the Cubs had 15 hits (5-5 for Rice) against the Reds but could only translate them into 3 runs. The end result is a frustrating 9-3 loss. Sutherland homered for the second straight day for the Reds, along with 3 RBIs and a steal. We'll head to Chicago in a better place than we were last year after the two road games, but that is about the only consolation I can take from this game.

Game #3:
ALCS: Luis Leal has been one of the underrated players in the AL this year, going 14-2 for the Jays. Well, he certainly took advantage of the big stage on this night by willing his team to a 3-2 victory on the road. He was backed by a two run homer off the bat of Bill Schroeder. Closer Bill Dawley recorded three strikeouts in the ninth to close this one out. 2-1 Oakland, with two more shots at home to wrap this up.

NLCS: So which Mike Witt could we expect to show up for this pivotal game? The guy who won the Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards the past two seasons? Or the guy who was 0-2 in the postseason last year and prone to giving up big, fat crooked numbers one inning every game during the second half of this year? Even if we got the "good" Witt it might not be enough against a young stud pitcher like DeLeon. Well, we got a GREAT performance from Witt. He combined with Orosco to hold the Reds to 2 hits in a 5-0 win. Barfield hit a grand slam in the 7th to break the game open. We are one win away from our second straight World Series appearance.

[hoopsguy]

Game #4:
ALCS: If you like pitchers duels then this has been a wonderful postseason for you so far. The Jays/A's were at it again, posting a combined three runs. Oakland got their two in the first, then held on the rest of the way to advance to their first World Series. Murphy knocked in a run, stole two bases, and scored the other run in the victory.

NLCS: Again, only three combined runs in a Game #4, and the third run in this one did not cross the plate until the 11th inning. Pinch hitter Tom Foley delivered a two out hit to bring home Sutherland with the winning run. Jody Davis went 4-5 for the Reds. We'll have Gullickson vs Soto to determine who plays Oakland in the World Series.

Game #5:
NLCS: We had invoked the 116 win season of the 1906 Cubs earlier in this dynasty. Sadly, that baseball team lost in the World Series to the cross-town White Sox. Could we find ourselves on the same path, winning a ton of games and failing to bring home the hardware? Will our fans have to start yet another countdown of years/decades awaiting our next title if we fail here today?

Top of 2nd - The Reds put their first two men on with a Len Matuzek walk and a single by Davis. But Gullickson works his way out of the jam with three straight fly outs.

Top of 3rd - Two on, two out for Matuzek. But he grounds out to first to end the inning.

Bottom of 5th - Scioscia gets our first hit of the day but is stranded when Gullickson strikes out to end the inning.

Bottom of 6th - Rice gets a two out double. Barfield is intentionally walked to bring up Yount. Soto dominates him with a bevy of inside heat, striking him out on five pitches.

Top of 7th - Paul Householder hits a leadoff double but advances no further. Plus we get Soto out of the game for a pinch hitter. Nice.

Bottom of 8th - Jim Rice goes deep, deep, deep (!!!!) to center, 465' to put us on top 1-0!

Top of 9th - Smith gives up a two out double to Householder, but only needs three pitches to punch out Ray Knight and send us to our second World Series.

[hoopsguy]

World Series - Oakland vs Chicago.
Game #1: Matt Keough vs Bill Gullikson - nice start to this series. Gullickson rewarded us richly for keeping him in the #1 spot in our rotation, going 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in his two starts against the Reds. Keough, like all of the A's starters, routinely goes deep into games. He had a 1-0 record with a 1.13 ERA in his only start last round.

Top of 1st - Rickey Henderson starts the game off with a double, moves to third on a ground out and scores on a sac fly by Dwayne Murphy.

Bottom of 4th - Rice is on after an error by 3B Wayne Gross. He moves to second on a one out single by Yount, but is thrown out at the plate trying to score on a single by Hall. Hall moves to 2nd, setting up two men in scoring position for Cey. But the Penguin flies out to center. That damn Murphy is off to a strong start against us.

Bottom of 5th - Boggs hits a two out double, setting up men on 2nd and 3rd. Rice knocks in a run, but Boggs is stranded at third when Barfield strikes out. 1-1.

Top of 6th - Ugh, a one out walk to the pitcher Keough is followed by a two run job by Henderson. 3-1 A's.

Bottom of 6th - another web gem for Murphy, stealing a sure double from Yount.

Top of 7th - Gullickson falls apart, giving up hits to the first two batters, then an RBI single to Joel Skinner and a three run homer to John Shelby. I'm pretty sure that is game/set/match. The crowd at Wrigley is silent.

Bottom of 7th - Kingman pinch-hits for Gullickson to lead off the inning and socks a homer just over the wall in left/center.

That is all the scoring in this one. Disappointing start to the series. We should try not to give up so many homers with men on base. That is today's bit of deep baseball thinking.

[hoopsguy]

Game #2:
Will Viola manage to lower his 30.86 ERA? Can anyone hit the Oakland pitching staff? Just how big a choke would it be for the Cubs to lose this series? Those are the story lines for this game.

Top of 1st - once again Henderson is on base to start the game, this time with a single. He advances to second on a Whitaker walk. But Viola strikes out the next two batters and is the beneficiary of a huge defensive play by Rice in left field to end the inning. That has to be a lift for him, after the way the last start went down.

Top of the 4th - The A's waste a leadoff double by Tony Armas.

Bottom of 4th - Oberkfell is on for the second time today, hitting a triple to start the inning. Boggs flies out to left, 295' away and Oberkfell is going to try to score against Armas. Dead meat. Still scoreless.

Bottom of 6th - Scioscia draws a one-out walk and moves to 2nd on a two-out single by Oberkfell. Boggs drives a single past the diving Gross at third and Scioscia comes home for the first run of the game. Rice takes one for a ride, but only has warning track power.

Top of 7th - Black is in for Viola, who certainly did his job today. He gives us two very solid innings of work.

Bottom of 8th - Randolph singles to start the inning and moves to 2nd when Oberkfell walks. That is four times that Oberkfell has been on base this game. Boggs hits a single to load the bases with no outs. Rice pops out to 1st; he has left a ton of runner on today. And Barfield hits a shallow fly to RF, going only 263'. Randolph decides on his own to try and score, but Armas is once again up to the task. I'm just sick about blowing this opportunity.

Top of 9th - Smith does not permit any drama, needing only four pitches to get three routine outs.

The series is tied 1-1 and we are headed to Oakland. We'll need to have some better hitting from the middle of the order and less idiotic base running if we want to win this series.

[hoopsguy]

Game #3:
So who is the pressure on for this game? The 117 win Cubs or the A's as they try to defend home field advantage? The starting pitchers for this game are Witt and Steve McCatty.

Top of 1st - once again the first man of the game gets on base, and again it involves Henderson as he muffs a fly ball and allows Oberkfell to advance to 2nd. But we do not advance the runner. One interesting decision by the manager to bat Kingman 4th as the DH, dropping Barfield to 5th.

Top of 2nd - Barfield singles and advances to 2nd after an error by McCatty, who mishandled a grounder by Yount. But we again fail to capitalize.

Top of 3rd - Oberkfell is on again by error, this time by Armas! Three errors, compared to six outs - this is astonishing. Next play is a fly ball to Henderson, and he drops another one! A run comes in and Boggs is on 2nd. But again the heart of our order can't come up with any clutch hits. We should be up a lot more than 1-0 right now.

Top of 4th - Hall leads off with a single and moves to second on a Scioscia groundout. Gaetti brings him home with a hard hit ball up the middle. We don't add any more runs, but McCatty is already up to 84 pitches.

Bottom of 5th - Alfredo Griffin walks to start of the inning, but Witt doesn't allow him to advance thanks to a great catch on the run by Hall and a double play groundout.

Top of 6th - Yount doubles to left with two outs and scores when Scioscia hits a ball right at Henderson. Rickey butchers it, his third error on the day. 3-0 Chicago. McCatty has seen his defense commit five errors behind him and is not at all pleased about this fact.

Bottom of 7th - Armas knocks one over the wall in right, cutting the deficit to 3-1. Witt looks like he is laboring a little more this inning, but gets out without allowing anyone past first. His pitch count is at 100.

Top of 8th - Kingman answers Armas, depositing a ball in the left field bleachers. Out goes McCatty. Two batters later Hall clears the fence and we are up 5-1. We end up filling the bases with two outs thanks to some wildness by reliever Mike Armstrong but Boggs grounds out to the pitcher after a 15 pitch at bat to end the inning.

Bottom of 8th - Witt strikes out Armas with two on to end the inning. 125 pitches for Witt, who has looked masterful this postseason.

What an embarrassing game for the A's in front of their home fans. But we'll take it. Two more wins for us to become the first repeat champions of this era.

[hoopsguy]

Game #4:
We are expecting Oakland to come out fighting mad for this game. I'm hoping that we have started to figure out their pitching staff a little bit by now and get to see our big boppers contribute. Rice, who had a monster series against Cincinnati, has been quite. And the regular season Barfield has not shown up this October.

Bottom of 1st - Morganb fans the first two hitters before giving up a double to Murphy. Armas gets some good wood on the ball, but flies out to deep left to end the inning.

Bottom of 2nd - Griffen walks and moves to third on a double by Skinner. But Morgan takes care of Jamie Nelson to end the threat.

Top of 3rd - Scioscia walks and scores when Dave Kingman knocks the tar out of the ball, showing up his namesake (Brian Kingman) in a big way.

Bottom of 3rd - Henderson get a walk to start the inning but is thrown out on a pitch out. Nice job, skip!

Top of 5th - Kingman singles with one out, but is gunned down by Henderson at the plate after a two out double by Boggs. Honestly, we stink on the base paths right now.

Top of 6th - Yount gets aboard with a two out single and Hall collects a pair of RBIs with a round tripper. 4-0, and that lead feels pretty safe with the way Morgan is going right now.

Top of 7th - Scioscia and Kingman hit singles back-to-back to start the inning. But Oberkfell wipes out one of the runners when he hits into a 4-6-3 double play. Boggs picks him up with an RBI single down the first base line. 5-0 Cubs! Rice hits another long fly out, this one going 388'.

Bottom of 7th - Gross starts the inning with a double but goes no further.

Bottom of 8th - Mike Davis is on after a leadoff single and goes for broke on a one out double by Whitaker. He is broke, getting rung up by the long arm of Rice.

Bottom of 9th - Morgan closes out the game by retiring Skinner on a ground out to 3rd.

That was our most complete win this postseason. One more win to go.

[hoopsguy]

Game #5:
All eyes are on starting pitcher Bill Gullickson, who fell victim to the long ball in the series opener. If he pitches like he did against the Reds then we can start worrying about the design for our 1983 World Series rings.

Top of 1st - Oberkfell continues his strong series with a leadoff single and scores on a one-out double by Rice. Great to see him do something against this Oakland staff. Now if only Barfield would do the same, but he flies out to end the inning.

Bottom of 1st - Henderson lines the first pitch to left field for a base hit and moves to second when Yount boots a grounder by Whitaker. But Gullickson bears down, fanning Armas and getting Gross to ground out to end the threat.

Top of 2nd - we waste a leadoff double by Hall.

Bottom of 2nd - Griffen doubles with one away. Skinner walks, bringing up .165 hitting Jamie Nelson. Naturally he strokes a single to center. There is a play at the plate, but Griffen is safe and the runners advance to 2nd/3rd. Henderson singles home run #2 and Whitaker hits a shallow (252') fly. The runner tags and Rice does not challenge him at the plate??? Dude! 3-1 Oakland. Two more Oakland hits make it 4-1 and this game has officially gotten away from us. How in the world did Gullickson give up five hits in an inning, particularly to the weak links at the bottom of their order?

Top of 5th - Keough has been locked in with the lead but we finally mount something resembling a rally. Scioscia singles with one out and moves to second when Gaetti completes a 12 pitch at bat with a single. But Oberkfell hits a tailor-made double play ball. End of the inning.

Top of 6th - Kingman hits a solo shot with two outs. That is his 4th of the postseason. He is loving the DH role. 4-2 Oakland.

Top of 7th - Another Oakland error, this one by Whitaker with one away. Scioscia walks, putting two men aboard. Oberkfell then doubles to left, bringing home Yount and Scioscia. Tie game, 4-4! Boggs flies out to end the inning.

Top of 8th - Rice walks to lead off the inning and advances to 3rd on a two out single by Cey. But Yount flies out to center, leaving yet another runner in scoring position.

Bottom of 8th - Gullickson is pitching very angry, and Oakland is paying the price for that 2nd inning. They have not had a runner on 2nd since that time.

Top 9th - pinch hitter Randolph singles with one out and moves to 2nd on a single by Oberkfell. Out goes Keough, in comes Dave Beard. He does his job, inducing pop-ups to short by both Boggs and Rice. Ugh, how many opportunities are we going to waste???

Bottom of 9th - another 1-2-3 inning for Gullickson, who is up to 116 pitches.

Bottom of 10th - Whitaker leads off the inning with a single and Gullickson is done. In comes Black. He does not do his job, immediately giving up a two run homer to Murphy. Game over.

Gut punch loss. Back to Wrigley to see if Viola (or Witt, potentially) can put the pieces back together.

[hoopsguy]

Game #6:
Good news = Viola's ERA went down 22 runs last game.
Bad news = their pitcher, Langford, has an ERA of 0.60 this postseason.

I'm going to guess that runs will once again be at a premium for us, so we'll need Viola to bring his best stuff once again.

Top of 1st - Whitaker triples and comes home on a two out single by Gross. 1-0 Oakland.

Bottom of 1st - Boggs walks and comes home on a two run homer by Barfield. Great to see, and our fans are delirious.

Bottom of 2nd - Cey walks, advances to 2nd on a single by Viola, and scores when Oberkfell doubles. Viola stays at third, which is a shame because that damn Dwayne Murphy takes two runs off the board with a diving catch to end the inning. 3-1 Cubs.

Top of 3rd - Henderson starts the inning with a double and scores on a single by Murphy. 3-2 now.

Bottom of 3rd - leadoff homer for Rice. Yount singles and tries to score on a double to center by Cey. I say "tries" because he is thrown out at the plate by Murphy. Damn, that guy is single-handedly killing us these last two games. I officially hate him now. Welcome to #2 on my list behind Keith Hernandez.

Top of 4th - Skinner doubles with one out but is thrown out at 3rd on a failed sacrifice. Langford walks. Uh-oh. Henderson singles to load them up and Whitaker ties the game with a single. Up comes Murphy, and of course he gets a hit to make it 5-4. Armas follows with a single: 6-4. C'mon skipper - get another pitcher in here. This is the fricking World Series that you are letting slip away here! Single for Gross, 7-4 Oakland. Single for Griffin, 8-4 and finally a pitching change. What do you know - Caudill gets an out to end the inning. God, what a train wreck that was.

Bottom of 4th - Caudill draws a walk with one out and goes to third on a double by Oberkfell. Boggs flies out to left and Caudill comes home uncontested. I wonder why they did not throw home, as pretty much every throw beats our guys there. 8-5 Oakland. They intentionally walk Rice to get to Barfield. Are they nuts??? Nope, not when Jesse rewards them with a meek grounder to SS to end the inning.

Top of 5th - Nelson walks and Langford - yes, the pitcher - puts one over the wall in center. 10-5 Oakland, and this is officially not our day. Murphy gets another single and scores when Armas doubles. 11-5, when it rains it pours.

Bottom of 5th - Yount singles, moves to second on a walk to Cey, and scores when Scioscia knocks him in with a single. For some totally unfathomable reason we leave Caudill in to hit for himself, but he does the job by singling to load the bases. Oberkfell flies out and Cey tries to score .... SAFE! 11-7 now. Boggs singles to bring home another run, and suddenly Rice represents the tying run. Sadly, he grounds out on a 3-2 pitch.

Top of 6th - it would not be the World Series if Oakland did not make errors and they do so again to start this inning. Henderson drops a soft fly ball by Barfield. Hall singles with one out, putting runners on the corners. Scioscia brings home a run with a two out single. 11-9. This time we do pinch-hit for Caudill, but Kingman grounds out to 2nd.

Bottom of 7th - one out hit for Boggs, and that is followed by another single by Rice. Barfield hits a screamer to left, but Henderson makes up for his earlier blunder by making a great grab on the run to save a run or two. Then Yount flies out to center to end the threat. Darn, we are so close to making up this deficit.

Top of 8th - The A's load the bases with no outs against Black, who had pitched a good 7th. Nelson singles to bring home a run and we yank Black. But once again we've allowed the damage to already be done. Pena is absolutely masterful in working out of the jam without allowing any more runs, but we trail 12-9.

Bottom of 8th - we put men on the corners with two outs before Oberkfell flies out to end the inning. Damn.

Top of 9th - Pena gets out of a jam, stranding two A's. 12-9, do we have another comeback in us?

Bottom of 9th - nope.

[hoopsguy]

Game #7:
I'm very torn about who to start in this game. Witt has been great in his two playoff starts but Morgan has been a much more consistent pitcher this game. I'm also a bit annoyed about my rule of only assuming GM duties; the game management last game was awful.

In the end, we give the nod to Witt. He has the chance to add yet another chapter to his story - Rookie of the Year 1981, Cy Young 1982, Game 7 winner in World Series 1983.

The Chicago fans are stressed out of their minds after seeing their team lose these last two games. Just how much worse would they be if we had not won last year, and were staring 75 years in the face? God, it would be awful to root for a team that could not win a title for 75 years, right?

Top of 1st - one, two, three inning including a punch out of Murphy! The crows roars its approval.

Bottom of 1st - first pitch, Oberkfell singles to center. C'mon offense! No dice for the next two hitters but Barfield coaxes a walk and Hall makes McCatty pay by lacing a single past first. Armas comes up gunning but we are safe at home for once. 1-0, men on 2nd and 3rd. Yount drives the first pitch he sees over the wall in right center! 4-0! Wow, the wind helped that one out ... we could be headed for another high scoring game if that ball is any indication. Scioscia nearly does the same, flying out to Armas on the warning track. Great start!

Bottom of 3rd - a Yount double play wipes out a threat.

Top of 4th - The A's get their first hit with two outs when Armas knocks one past Gaetti. But Witt looks great so far. 4 innings, 44 pitches.

Bottom of 5th - Scioscia grounds out, leaving two men on. As good as Witt looks, I want some insurance runs with this wind.

Bottom of 6th - McCatty is out, Edwin Nunez is in. Welcome to game 7, pardner. Gaetti takes him out to left; that was no wind aided homer. Oberkfell walks, Boggs finally capitalizes on a long at bat (he had failed twice earlier in this game) to earn a single, and Rice loads the bases with another single. Barfield flies out to left, 337' away, and Oberkfell is out at the plate. Man, did he pull a hamstring running home? That is pretty embarrassing.

Top of 7th - another 1-2-3 inning, punctuated with a strikeout of Gross to end it. Still only one hit allowed. Damn, Witt is just owning this game!

Bottom of 7th - the inning ends with Witt grounding out. I'm fine with leaving him in, based on his pitch count (72) and dominance. I want to see him finish this one.

Top of 8th - Gaetti flashes some leather to retire Skinner. Yet another perfect frame for Witt. Three outs to go!

Bottom of 8th - bases loaded with one out for Hall, and he smokes a single past a drawn in infield. Scioscia delivers a two out hit to bring home two more runs. The fans are giddy, realizing that they have this one in the bag.

Top of 9th - Mike Davis gets the second Oakland hit of the day, a high fly ball that carries out to left. 8-1. Witt sets down the next three batters in order, with that jag Murphy recording the final out.

Back to back! What a pressure packed run through the playoffs! Gullickson came up huge in the first series and Witt gave us everything we could possibly ask for in this round. It is very gratifying as a GM to see your horses come through in big moments like this.

Time to celebrate, then take a look at what the new baseball landscape has in store for us in 1984.

[hoopsguy]

AL Cy Young - Chris Welsh (Bal) 24-7 2.52 ERA, 2 CG, 1 SO, 114:79 K/BB, .240 BAA, 1.22 WHIP. Led the league in wins.
AL MVP - Darryl Strawberry (Mil) .293/42/103 w/55 steals. Led the league in homers, runs, walks, and OPS. First 40-40 man in history of baseball (I think, probably should check Murphy's numbers from 1980).
AL Rookie of the Year - Darryl Strawberry (Mil)
AL Rooke Pitcher of the Year - Charles Hudson (CHW) 18-8 2.73 ERA, 5 CG, 149:85 K/BB, .229 BAA, 1.20 WHIP.


AL Gold Glove Winners:
P Keith Atherton (Det) - won by a reliever???
C Bill Schroeder (Tor)
1B Kent Hrbek (Bal)
2B Lou Whitaker (Oak)
3B Hubie Brooks (Tex) - also won in NL back in 1980
SS Jim Anderson (NYY)
LF Dave Henderson (KC)
CF Dwayne Murphy (Oak) - three time winner
RF Ron Kittle (Chi)

AL Silver Sluggers:
C Lance Parrish (Det) .302/15/80
1B Steve Balboni (Tor) .228/33/88 - previous career high for homers was 13.
2B Paul Molitor (Tex) .282/15/79 w/43 steals - repeat winner.
3B Mike Marshall (Tor) .273/22/77 - repeat winner.
SS Cal Ripken (Tex) .328/27/100 - repeat winner, is very sad that Strawberry is going to start taking his MVPs. Has only played in 160 games each of last three seasons. Led league in batting average, hits and OBP.
LF Gary Ward (Min) .287/21/93
CF Dwayne Murphy (Oak) .244/24/88 w/31 steals. Stole award after Lynn was injured.
RF Tony Armas (Oak) .265/42/108 - led league in homers and slugging %.
DH Tom Brunansky (Sea) .270/38/111 - repeat winner, although honored as LF last season. Led league in RBIs.

[hoopsguy]

NL Cy Young - Scott Sanderson (Mon) 22-4 2.20 ERA, 4 CG, 2 SO, 177:56 K/BB, .223 BAA, 1.07 WHIP. Led the league in ERA, Wins, SO, Innings Pitched (246).
NL MVP - Jesse Barfield (Chi) .287/48/154. Led league in homers, runs, RBIs, OPS, Slugging%.
NL Rookie of the Year - Nick Esasky (LA) .287/27/75
NL Rooke Pitcher of the Year - Jose DeLeon (Cin) 16-8 2.87 ERA, 2 CG, 1 SO, 228:87 K/BB, .215 BAA, 1.20 WHIP. Led league in strikeouts.

NL Gold Glove Winners:
P Dave Righetti (LA) - another reliever
C Mike Scioscia (Chi)
1B Keith Hernandez (StL)
2B Johnny Ray (NYM)
3B Buddy Bell (NYM)
SS Julio Franco (LA)
LF Don Mattingly (SF)
CF Mookie Wilson (NYM)
RF Leon Durham (StL) - also won in 1981

NL Silver Sluggers:
C Gary Carter (Mon) - .239/11/60. Three straight.
1B Wade Boggs (Chi) - .318/10/70. Led league in hits, walks, OBP.
2B Vance Law (Mon) - .302/7/57
3B Bob Horner (Atl) - .290/30/91. Three straight.
SS Robin Yount (Chi) - .313/18/100. Repeat winner, led league in triples (14).
LF Jim Rice (Chi) - .268/25/93.
CF Mel Hall (Chi) - .290/24/84 w/25 steals.
RF Jesse Barfield (Chi) - .287/48/154.

We had a clean sweep of the outfield. Plus two infielders. Damn. I can't imagine that happening again.

[hoopsguy]

League Leaders - Hitting:
BA:
AL - .328 Cal Ripken (Tex)
NL - .324 Larry Herndon (SF)
Top Cub - .318 Wade Boggs (3rd)

HR:
AL - 42 Tony Armas (Oak), Darryl Strawberry (Mil)
NL - 48 Jesse Barfield (Chi)
Top Cub - Jesse Barfield

RBI:
AL - 111 Tom Brunansky (Sea)
NL - 154 Jesse Barfield (Chi)
Top Cub - Jesse Barfield

Runs:
AL - 119 Darryl Strawberry (Mil)
NL - 106 Jesse Barfield (Chi)
Top Cub - Jesse Barfield

Hits:
AL - 203 Cal Ripken (Tex)
NL - 200 Wade Boggs (Chi)
Top Cub - Wade Boggs

Stolen Bases:
AL - 98 Rudy Law (Tor)
NL - 89 Mookie Wilson (NY)
Top Cub - 33 Ken Oberkfell (tied 27th)

On Base %:
AL - .392 Cal Ripken (Tex)
NL - .394 Wade Boggs (Chi)
Top Cub - Wade Boggs

OPS:
AL - .927 Darryl Strawberry (Mil)
NL - .897 Jesse Barfield (Chi)
Top Cub - Jesse Barfield

[hoopsguy]

League Leaders - Pitching:
ERA:
AL - 2.36 Matt Keough (Oak)
NL - 2.20 Scott Sanderson (Mon)
Top Cub - 2.63 Frank Viola (tied 8th)

Wins:
AL - 24 Chris Welsh (Bal)
NL - 22 Scott Sanderson (Mon)
Top Cub - 21 Dennis Martinez (4th)

Saves:
AL - 50 Larry Andersen (CHW)
NL - 56 Lee Smith (Chi)
Top Cub - Lee Smith

Innings Pitched:
AL - 297.2 Matt Keough (Oak)
NL - 246 Scott Sanderson (Mon)
Top Cub - 233.1 Bill Gullickson (28th)

Complete Games:
AL - 15 Scott McGregor (Bal)
NL - 7 Bill Laskey (LA)
Top Cub - 6 Mike Witt (tied 16th)

Shutouts:
AL - 2 cast of thousands
NL - 2 another slew of dudes
Top Cub - 2 (all starters except Viola)

Strikeouts:
AL - 203 Britt Burns (CHW)
NL - 228 Jose DeLeon (Cin)
Top Cub - 138 Frank Viola (tied 29th)

Walks:
AL - 113 Matt Keough (Oak)
NL - 121 Rick Mahler (Atl)
Top Cub - 82 Mike Witt, Mike Morgan (tied 27th)

Run Support:
AL - 152 Jack Morris (Det)
NL - 145 Mike Morgan (Chi), Dennis Martinez (Chi)
Top Cub - Mike Morgan and Dennis Martinez. All five starters in top 16.

[hoopsguy]

Team Stats for 1982:
Offense: 835 Runs Scored - 1st (+161 Runs, +5 Rank)
Defense: 485 Runs Allowed - 1st (-19 Runs, same Rank)
Total Salaries: $54,479,397 - 1st (-13 million versus same point last year)
Available Finances: some stupid amount
Approval Rating: 78/100 - not sure where to see compared to other teams (+27 from previous year)

The salary continues to plummet as we are letting Rice, Smith, and Cey (18 million in payroll) head onto greener pastures. I'm guessing that any gains above this payroll will be pretty modest.

Draft/FA needs - we are going to need another OF with Rice heading out, unless Carter is ready to play now. Maybe another MR, since someone is going to be moving into the closer role. Other than that, not too much.

I really thought this year would be tougher given the guys that we did not resign - Ogilvie and Harrah. We sort of replaced Harrah, although I don't think it was a equal trade. This year we'll lose two starters, a key pinch hitter (Kingman), and our closer. At some point I would expect that we are losing more than we are bringing in, and the league should start catching up in a hurry.

[hoopsguy]

Here is the list of guys who have one year left on their deals:
- Robin Yount
- Dennis Martinez
- Gary Templeton (I think I know how I will handle this one)
- Dennis Lamp
- Mike Scioscia
- Ed Vande Berg
- Mel Hall
- Oil Can Boyd (needs to improve like Black did)
- Jay Pettibone (gone)

So three starters (two of whom won Silver Slugger awards this year, the other a Gold Glove), a 20 game winner, and a very good reliever. Yep, there will be some interesting negotiations.

[hoopsguy]

The score goes up to 80. Hmm, just how far shy of 100 could I have been with that last season? 117 wins, World Series, MVP, most runs scored, fewest runs allowed, salary in the bottom 1/3 of the league. If that is not enough for a single season score of 100 then I really want to know what the criteria is for that rating.

Here is the description: "Your GM score is a measure of your overall performance running the team this season". Shrug - I don't get it.

New single season records:
BA - 1983 Ripken (.328) beats 1981 Durham (.323)
On Base % - 1983 Boggs (.394) beats 1982 Clark (.391)
Home Runs - 1983 Barfield (48) beats 1982 Horner (41)

*** RBI - 1983 Barfield (154) beats 1982 Ripken (115) ***

Runs - 1983 Strawberry (119) beats 1980 W. Wilson (113)
Hits - 1983 Ripken (203) beats 1980 W. Wilson (198)
Doubles - 1983 Brett (44) ties Lemon
Triples - 1983 Yount (14) ties Stearns
Walks - 1983 Caldwell (35) beats Eckersley (37)

[hoopsguy]

Initial house rules:
1.) Draft: sign players for descending years based on draft position. R1 = 5 years, R2 = 4, R3 = 3, etc
2.) I can spend up to $10,000,000 per year re-signing/extending players.
2a.) Readers can nominate a player that they would like to see extended outside of the salary cap. I can choose to exercise this once every two years. This will allow for potentially signing a player for more than the 10 million cap.
3.) Trades must match up, from a salary perspective, within 25% in either direction. I can, however, trade for players who have more years on their contracts as a way to try and circumvent the 10,000,000 rule.
4.) No FA signings allowed of players over 35 years of age. I don't think this happens often, but just in case older players lower their demands to sign for one last season.
5.) No plundering the Cardinals for trades in an effort to weaken them. I can sign the players they let go to free agency, however.
6.) I can spend up to $5,000,000 per year, plus whatever balance I have left from $10,000,000 in #2 above, on free agents.

I think those should provide some challenge initially, but would love to get feedback from others on whether these should make this a more interesting read or if you are concerned that it will diminish reading along.