OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - Yet Another OOTP6 Dynasty, Year 2: One Flew Over the Pale Hose

cknox0723 · 11-20-2005, 03:06 PM

Thurs. 6/8: @ CLE

Want to know why Mr. spuds loves Yorvit Torrealba so much? His first A.B. in this one, Yorvit lines a ball into center field for a one out hit, eventually coming around to score on a Magglio Ordonez single up the middle. The next half-inning, Yorvit! cuts down Angel Berroa trying to swipe second, a bit of a baserunner manslaughter that leaves Mark Bellhorn and the Tribe with nothing to show from a first and third, one out threat.

Yorvit! comes through again just a half-inning later, coming to the plate with a pair of men on and bringing one of 'em home with another base hit to center field. Two innings later, he plates Raul Gonzalez again with his third hit, again a stinger out into center field.

It makes you wonder what the hell I was thinking starting Miguel Olivo in this one. Miggy went oh-for-three against southpaw Cliff Lee, and so despite Yorvit's Herculean efforts from innings 8 through 12, we come up short. It ain't 'cause of the lack of production from our first catcher; no, blame the bullpen, which blew another nice start from Jon Garland, and maybe give some credit to Cleveland moundsman Lee, who fanned ten and allowed just three hits and two runs in seven-plus.

But blame me more than anyone, not just for not starting Yorvit!, but for getting ejected arguing a double play in the tenth, because that leads to faulty bullpen management, and rookie Fabio Castro and a tired Aki Otsuka ain't the guys you want out there in a neck-and-neck game. Sure enough, they give up a few too many runs in extra time, and we fall 6-5 in 12 innings.

Fri 6/9: @ CLE

With Ryan Franklin coming off the disabled list to make his first start in three weeks, the cards are probably stacked against our club stopping a skid where we've lost four out of five. Maybe moreso since left-hander C.C. Sabathia and his 2.20 ERA are on the bump for the other side.

This one just goes to show that thinking like that is too simplistic. Franklin rolls through the first two innings and by the time he has his inevitable fits and starts and control problems, we're already up 2-0 on a Magglio Ordonez quadrangle. Jody "Odysseus" Gerut flies out to leave the bags full in the bottom of the third, saving us from certain doom. Frank Thomas doubles home the unnaturally suave Raul Gonzalez with two out in the top of the sixth to kick our lead up to three-nil, especially helpful since Cleveland plates a couple in the next half-frame against the slightly rusty Franklin. But Mike Gallo keeps the lead in our pocket by coming on to retire the opposing moundsman Sabathia, and we bust the game wide open in the seventh when the portly left-hander inexplicably loses his control. Armando Benitez comes out of the 'pen with two out and two men on, but he serves up a hearty meatball to Brian Anderson, who clobbers the ball and any chance at a sweep far, far out of Cleveland. We leave Ohio with an 8-2 victory and head back home for three with the Halos.

Sat 6/10: OFF DAY

In one of those hyper-organized moods, we take an early flight back to the Second City, grab a Fresca and chill. Well, the ballclub does; I spend the day at the Cell, enjoying the pithiness of a management-organized contest. "Throw Oranges at Jorge DePaula's Bare Ass!" said the advertisements. Sadly, only Fred Talbot shows up.

Sun 6/11: vs. ANA

A Mark Buehrle-John Lackey duel is everything the small-ball aesthete could have hoped, with across-the-board zeroes through 8 sullied only by a Yorvit Torrealba run-scoring single in the fourth and a solo tater off the bat of Jack Cust to lead off the top of the seventh. Aside: Christ, is Yorvit allergic to outs or something? But I make the heinous decision to pull Buehrle after eight innings and 108 pitches, and Aki Otsuka lays a terrible egg in the ninth. Sadly, it's not of the ganderic (?) persuasion. He puts a couple men on and gets chased when third sacker Justin Leone thumps a double to left, and Mike Gallo only makes a bigger mess, allowing journeyman 26 year old Dallas McPherson to stroke a two-out single to center and give his club a 4-1 advantage. Brian Schneider, who donned the official All-Star tools of ignorance last year, continues a frustrating season of regression by flying out to end the frame, but the damage is irrevocably done.

And is it ever. Singles by rookie outfielder Clint King and Yorvit "Hives" Torrealba give me the faintest of hope in the bottom of the ninth, particularly when an error by center fielder Tike Redman on the latter hit puts both men in scoring position with no one out. But Enrique Wilson and Ramon Vazquez both ground to second, plating the runs one by one but also eating away our two most precious commodities at this point in time. An Adam Kennedy line drive single into right-center chases Proven Closer (TM) Percival and sets up a battle of JCP & L and GE, Frankie Rodriguez and Maggs Ordonez, power and power.

Of course Ordonez eliminates all suspense by bouncing the first pitch right over to first base. Darin Erstad, the most grating of folks, ain't there to gobble it up; General Jack Cust is -- but Erstad, the Rally Monkey in human form, may as well be flipping me the bird as I simmer over a 4-3 loss.

Mon 6/12: vs. ANA

After surrendering two runs in six innings in his first start in a month or so, southpaw Glendon Rusch's ERA is a symmetrical 6.66. That's as good an explanation for our 3-2 win in this one as anything else. Esteban "The Art of Suck" Loaiza is the hero after tossing seven innings of two-run ball and stroking a two-run second inning double to boot, but it's rookie Clint King who tallies one in the 'GWRBI' column. He brings home Frank "Tabby" Catalanotto with a two-out single to left after the latter stepped out of the dugout, into the box, and cracked a ground rule double into the right field seats. Mike Gallo's the winner for the second time this season, and Aki Otsuka records an out and, with it, his second save.

Tues 6/13: vs. ANA

The highest of many highs in this 2007 comes in the bottom of the fourth inning of this ballgame. Trailing 1-0 after Jack Cust greeted Jon Garland and the fourth inning with a long ball, Magglio Ordonez starts the inning off with a simple single to left off of southpaw Jarrod Washburn. The next two batters, Russ Branyan and Brian Anderson, both walk, and left fielder Clint King follows with a bloop over short. Ordonez scores easily to tie the game, Branyan runs through a stop sign at third -- but Reggie Willits' throw home is late, and we have a two-run edge and men at 2nd and 3rd with no one out.

Nice position to be in, sure, but the bottom of the order's coming in. I didn't expect much from 87 year old Frank Thomas, rotting woodsman Enrique Wilson, or the pitcher Garland.

Certainly not this.

"Two balls, one strike to Thomas. Second and third, no one out here in the 4th, two-one Chicago. Washburn from the stretch. Schneider setting up towards the inside half. The pitch to the Big Hurt -- fastball, swung on and elevated, deep left field! Down the line, Anderson giving chase, at the track, at the wall, is it fair?"

Yes. Yes, it is. Thomas has struggled to crack even the Mendoza line in this, his swan song, but have his few hits ever been timely. His 513th career home run put this one out of reach and brought us back to .500 in one fell swoop, and...what else is there to say? One of those nifty little baseball moments.

Wed 6/14: vs. OAK

Oakland is coming to town, and since this is a club that we swept out of California in a four-game set in May, I feel like a kid at Christmas. Never mind the fact that went from May 18th to June 2nd (15 games) without winning a single game. That is, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, just gravy.

But Santa Claus is dead, Ryan Franklin is but a mere punching bag, and Joe Blanton's gone from the valley to the mountaintop. A year after going 4-18 with a 7.76 ERA (no, really), he's tossed six strong innings against a fearsome team from Chicago (ferocious!) in a gruesome 7-2 loss. (Pitiful!)

Attitude, though. Attitude. A year like that, I would have gone Larry Bowa-apesh*t after such a thrashing. This time around, I'm content at the solid work of hangers-on Rick Ankiel (4 IP, 1 R) and Fabio Castro (2 scoreless frames) in mop-up duty.

Thurs 6/15: vs. OAK

The banananananana is most certainly dancing. Fifth starter Mike Nannini had been lost in the shuffle after three half-decent starts since being acquired from Montreal back in mid-May, but his first outing in 11 days is brilliant beyond his wildest dreams. Despite falling behind nearly every hitter, Nannini is a cool customer, getting some help from Maggs Ordonez in right field to prevent a first-inning fiasco and just rolling on from there. It's 4-0 Good Guys in the sixth when Nannini's spot comes up in the order, and I tell the 27 year old to hit the showers -- but not before a bunch of hooligans in black & white shirts stand up and cheer a lot, as if that will somehow make the guy's day. Aside: I'm sure it would have; I'm not that heartless. Eric Munson takes a ride on the home run train in the seventh, blasting his ninth jack of the year off Chad Durbin, and even this crew can't blow a 6-0 lead in two innings. Not against last-place Oakland, at least.

Fri 6/16: vs. OAK

(555) 555-5555

I wonder why it's fives that are used in fake telephone numbers.

Maybe Brian Anderson is, too.

Code:

Chicago (A)	AB	R	H	RBI
SS/3B Vazquez	5	1	2	0
2B Kennedy	4	0	1	1
RF Ordonez	5	1	0	1
3B Munson	4	3	2	0
 P Otsuka	0	0	0	0
CF Anderson	5	2	5	3
LF King		5	0	1	0
1B Catalanotto	3	1	1	1
C Torrealba	5	0	3	2
P Buehrle	3	0	1	1
 SS J. Wilson	1	1	1	0
TOTALS		40	9	17	9

Yeah, I know it was most of the offense that was in sync here, and not just Anderson, but five hits in five A.B.'s is more than just pretty good. Aside: But who wouldn't be in sync against Brett Tomko???

And with Mark Buehrle on the mound, you know nine runs is good to go. 11 K's and just short of 11K worth of pitches from The Buehrle One in seven, and we've got ourselves a nice 9-2 victory to take two out of three.

And here we are:

Code:

Minnesota.........35-32 (.522), -- GB
Chicago (A).......34-33 (.507), 1 GB
Cleveland.........34-33 (.507), 1 GB
Kansas City.......34-33 (.507), 1 GB
Detroit...........33-33 (.500), 1.5 GB

Sure, we could be in last tomorrow, but do you know when we recorded our thiry-fourth win last season? It was against Oakland, coincidence of all coincidences, and Mark Buehrle was the victor...

...on July 14, 2006. The day after the All-Star break.

So, anyway, how was your week?

11-20-2005, 03:06 PM	#612
cknox0723 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2003 Location: NJ Posts: 1,957	week's worth Thurs. 6/8: @ CLE Want to know why Mr. spuds loves Yorvit Torrealba so much? His first A.B. in this one, Yorvit lines a ball into center field for a one out hit, eventually coming around to score on a Magglio Ordonez single up the middle. The next half-inning, Yorvit! cuts down Angel Berroa trying to swipe second, a bit of a baserunner manslaughter that leaves Mark Bellhorn and the Tribe with nothing to show from a first and third, one out threat. Yorvit! comes through again just a half-inning later, coming to the plate with a pair of men on and bringing one of 'em home with another base hit to center field. Two innings later, he plates Raul Gonzalez again with his third hit, again a stinger out into center field. It makes you wonder what the hell I was thinking starting Miguel Olivo in this one. Miggy went oh-for-three against southpaw Cliff Lee, and so despite Yorvit's Herculean efforts from innings 8 through 12, we come up short. It ain't 'cause of the lack of production from our first catcher; no, blame the bullpen, which blew another nice start from Jon Garland, and maybe give some credit to Cleveland moundsman Lee, who fanned ten and allowed just three hits and two runs in seven-plus. But blame me more than anyone, not just for not starting Yorvit!, but for getting ejected arguing a double play in the tenth, because that leads to faulty bullpen management, and rookie Fabio Castro and a tired Aki Otsuka ain't the guys you want out there in a neck-and-neck game. Sure enough, they give up a few too many runs in extra time, and we fall 6-5 in 12 innings. Fri 6/9: @ CLE With Ryan Franklin coming off the disabled list to make his first start in three weeks, the cards are probably stacked against our club stopping a skid where we've lost four out of five. Maybe moreso since left-hander C.C. Sabathia and his 2.20 ERA are on the bump for the other side. This one just goes to show that thinking like that is too simplistic. Franklin rolls through the first two innings and by the time he has his inevitable fits and starts and control problems, we're already up 2-0 on a Magglio Ordonez quadrangle. Jody "Odysseus" Gerut flies out to leave the bags full in the bottom of the third, saving us from certain doom. Frank Thomas doubles home the unnaturally suave Raul Gonzalez with two out in the top of the sixth to kick our lead up to three-nil, especially helpful since Cleveland plates a couple in the next half-frame against the slightly rusty Franklin. But Mike Gallo keeps the lead in our pocket by coming on to retire the opposing moundsman Sabathia, and we bust the game wide open in the seventh when the portly left-hander inexplicably loses his control. Armando Benitez comes out of the 'pen with two out and two men on, but he serves up a hearty meatball to Brian Anderson, who clobbers the ball and any chance at a sweep far, far out of Cleveland. We leave Ohio with an 8-2 victory and head back home for three with the Halos. Sat 6/10: OFF DAY In one of those hyper-organized moods, we take an early flight back to the Second City, grab a Fresca and chill. Well, the ballclub does; I spend the day at the Cell, enjoying the pithiness of a management-organized contest. "Throw Oranges at Jorge DePaula's Bare Ass!" said the advertisements. Sadly, only Fred Talbot shows up. Sun 6/11: vs. ANA A Mark Buehrle-John Lackey duel is everything the small-ball aesthete could have hoped, with across-the-board zeroes through 8 sullied only by a Yorvit Torrealba run-scoring single in the fourth and a solo tater off the bat of Jack Cust to lead off the top of the seventh. Aside: Christ, is Yorvit* allergic to outs or something?* But I make the heinous decision to pull Buehrle after eight innings and 108 pitches, and Aki Otsuka lays a terrible egg in the ninth. Sadly, it's not of the ganderic (?) persuasion. He puts a couple men on and gets chased when third sacker Justin Leone thumps a double to left, and Mike Gallo only makes a bigger mess, allowing journeyman 26 year old Dallas McPherson to stroke a two-out single to center and give his club a 4-1 advantage. Brian Schneider, who donned the official All-Star tools of ignorance last year, continues a frustrating season of regression by flying out to end the frame, but the damage is irrevocably done. And is it ever. Singles by rookie outfielder Clint King and Yorvit "Hives" Torrealba give me the faintest of hope in the bottom of the ninth, particularly when an error by center fielder Tike Redman on the latter hit puts both men in scoring position with no one out. But Enrique Wilson and Ramon Vazquez both ground to second, plating the runs one by one but also eating away our two most precious commodities at this point in time. An Adam Kennedy line drive single into right-center chases Proven Closer (TM) Percival and sets up a battle of JCP & L and GE, Frankie Rodriguez and Maggs Ordonez, power and power. Of course Ordonez eliminates all suspense by bouncing the first pitch right over to first base. Darin Erstad, the most grating of folks, ain't there to gobble it up; General Jack Cust is -- but Erstad, the Rally Monkey in human form, may as well be flipping me the bird as I simmer over a 4-3 loss. Mon 6/12: vs. ANA After surrendering two runs in six innings in his first start in a month or so, southpaw Glendon Rusch's ERA is a symmetrical 6.66. That's as good an explanation for our 3-2 win in this one as anything else. Esteban "The Art of Suck" Loaiza is the hero after tossing seven innings of two-run ball and stroking a two-run second inning double to boot, but it's rookie Clint King who tallies one in the 'GWRBI' column. He brings home Frank "Tabby" Catalanotto with a two-out single to left after the latter stepped out of the dugout, into the box, and cracked a ground rule double into the right field seats. Mike Gallo's the winner for the second time this season, and Aki Otsuka records an out and, with it, his second save. Tues 6/13: vs. ANA The highest of many highs in this 2007 comes in the bottom of the fourth inning of this ballgame. Trailing 1-0 after Jack Cust greeted Jon Garland and the fourth inning with a long ball, Magglio Ordonez starts the inning off with a simple single to left off of southpaw Jarrod Washburn. The next two batters, Russ Branyan and Brian Anderson, both walk, and left fielder Clint King follows with a bloop over short. Ordonez scores easily to tie the game, Branyan runs through a stop sign at third -- but Reggie Willits' throw home is late, and we have a two-run edge and men at 2nd and 3rd with no one out. Nice position to be in, sure, but the bottom of the order's coming in. I didn't expect much from 87 year old Frank Thomas, rotting woodsman Enrique Wilson, or the pitcher Garland. Certainly not this. "Two balls, one strike to Thomas. Second and third, no one out here in the 4th, two-one Chicago. Washburn from the stretch. Schneider setting up towards the inside half. The pitch to the Big Hurt -- fastball, swung on and elevated, deep left field! Down the line, Anderson giving chase, at the track, at the wall, is it fair?" Yes. Yes, it is. Thomas has struggled to crack even the Mendoza line in this, his swan song, but have his few hits ever been timely. His 513th career home run put this one out of reach and brought us back to .500 in one fell swoop, and...what else is there to say? One of those nifty little baseball moments. Wed 6/14: vs. OAK Oakland is coming to town, and since this is a club that we swept out of California in a four-game set in May, I feel like a kid at Christmas. Never mind the fact that went from May 18th to June 2nd (15 games) without winning a single game. That is, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, just gravy. But Santa Claus is dead, Ryan Franklin is but a mere punching bag, and Joe Blanton's gone from the valley to the mountaintop. A year after going 4-18 with a 7.76 ERA (no, really), he's tossed six strong innings against a fearsome team from Chicago (ferocious!) in a gruesome 7-2 loss. (Pitiful!) Attitude, though. Attitude. A year like that, I would have gone Larry Bowa-apesht after such a thrashing. This time around, I'm content at the solid work of hangers-on Rick Ankiel* (4 IP, 1 R) and Fabio Castro (2 scoreless frames) in mop-up duty. Thurs 6/15: vs. OAK The banananananana is most certainly dancing. Fifth starter Mike Nannini had been lost in the shuffle after three half-decent starts since being acquired from Montreal back in mid-May, but his first outing in 11 days is brilliant beyond his wildest dreams. Despite falling behind nearly every hitter, Nannini is a cool customer, getting some help from Maggs Ordonez in right field to prevent a first-inning fiasco and just rolling on from there. It's 4-0 Good Guys in the sixth when Nannini's spot comes up in the order, and I tell the 27 year old to hit the showers -- but not before a bunch of hooligans in black & white shirts stand up and cheer a lot, as if that will somehow make the guy's day. Aside: I'm sure it would have; I'm not that heartless. Eric Munson takes a ride on the home run train in the seventh, blasting his ninth jack of the year off Chad Durbin, and even this crew can't blow a 6-0 lead in two innings. Not against last-place Oakland, at least. Fri 6/16: vs. OAK (555) 555-5555 I wonder why it's fives that are used in fake telephone numbers. Maybe Brian Anderson is, too. Code: Chicago (A) AB R H RBI SS/3B Vazquez 5 1 2 0 2B Kennedy 4 0 1 1 RF Ordonez 5 1 0 1 3B Munson 4 3 2 0 P Otsuka 0 0 0 0 CF Anderson 5 2 5 3 LF King 5 0 1 0 1B Catalanotto 3 1 1 1 C Torrealba 5 0 3 2 P Buehrle 3 0 1 1 SS J. Wilson 1 1 1 0 TOTALS 40 9 17 9 Yeah, I know it was most of the offense that was in sync here, and not just Anderson, but five hits in five A.B.'s is more than just pretty good. Aside: But who wouldn't be in sync against Brett Tomko??? And with Mark Buehrle on the mound, you know nine runs is good to go. 11 K's and just short of 11K worth of pitches from The Buehrle One in seven, and we've got ourselves a nice 9-2 victory to take two out of three. And here we are: Code: Minnesota.........35-32 (.522), -- GB Chicago (A).......34-33 (.507), 1 GB Cleveland.........34-33 (.507), 1 GB Kansas City.......34-33 (.507), 1 GB Detroit...........33-33 (.500), 1.5 GB Sure, we could be in last tomorrow, but do you know when we recorded our thiry-fourth win last season? It was against Oakland, coincidence of all coincidences, and Mark Buehrle was the victor... ...on July 14, 2006. The day after the All-Star break. So, anyway, how was your week?