OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - My 1983 iOOTP replay with the Phillies: the stretch run

BradC · 08-29-2011, 06:44 PM

I've been replaying the 1983 season in iOOTP with the Phillies, but it didn't occur to me to post anything about it until now, so I'm going to cover the last month or so of the season. I'm a lifelong Phillies fan and went to a bunch of games in the early 80s, including Game 4 of the NLCS and Games 4 and 5 of the World Series in 1983, so this has been fun.

I'm also going to run an abbreviated version of this on Facebook and Twitter, if you want to follow along in either of those places. (And it's always nice to get more fans and followers.)

https://www.facebook.com/ootpbaseball

https://twitter.com/#!/ootpbaseball

So, here goes:

We started the season on an uneven keel, winning some, then losing some. We were hovering around .500 for a while as I tried to get a good feel for the lineup. Then I started doing some wheeling and dealing and landed Don Baylor, Larry Bowa (yes, I brought him back to the Phillies as a bench player), Kent Tekulve (before he came to the Phils in real life), Frank DiPino (the Astros closer at the time; I admit I was trying to weaken my likely NLCS opponent; more on that in a bit), Derrell Thomas (Derrel Thomas Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com -- not a major coup, but he can play a lot of positions), and Bill Almon (Bill Almon Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com -- again, not a big fish, but I needed someone dependable to play shortstop).

Interestingly, both Thomas and Almon wound up playing for the Phils in real life, at the end of their careers: Thomas in '85 and Almon in '88. I didn't know that before trading for them.

Of course, I had to give up some key players to land some of those guys, so Juan Samuel, Kevin Gross, Jeff Stone, and Ozzie Virgil were among those who I shipped off. Yes, I robbed my farm system of some top prospects to put together a solid '83 campaign, but I wasn't sure when I started that I necessarily wanted to play '84 and beyond. If I do, though, I'll have quite a challenge ahead of me, especially since the real-life Phils dropped off after 1983; I have a bunch of older players to deal with (their nickname wasn't The Wheeze Kids for nothing). However, I did hold on to Darren Daulton.

Some other notes:

Mike Schmidt's avg. has hovered around .230 all season, but he's leading the league in HRs and RBIs, and he's among the leaders in walks and runs, so he has stayed in the lineup, except when tired. Interestingly, out of 120 hits, he only has 12 doubles and 1 triple (along with 37 HRs), so he's basically knocking it out of the park or getting singles. Or, of course, he's also striking out a lot -- on more than one occasion, I could hear the Veterans Stadium boo birds in my head. (Yes, I remember those days all too well; I also have that image of him in that Rasta wig burned into my head.)

Joe Morgan is leading the league in walks, which is interesting, especially considering his #3 slot in the lineup, right ahead of Schmidt. I guess opposing pitchers aren't scared of Schmidt?

Batting Garry Maddox and Greg Gross at the top of the lineup has been a good strategy. When Maddox gets on base, I almost always put on the hit and run with Gross. Both of them have been hitting north of .300 all season.

I've been hot and cold with Gary "The Sarge" Matthews. I platooned him for a while, which pissed him off, and then I gave in and started playing him every day. His avg. is .256 right now, whereas it was around .230 when I was platooning him, so hopefully he'll keep hitting.

I've had to deal with my share of injuries. Von Hayes was on the DL once earlier in the season, and he was lost for the rest of the year a few weeks ago with a broken hand. He was another underperformer, so I kept putting him in the lineup and then pulling him out. We're pretty healthy right now, though, except for Gross, who is out a couple days with a hamstring injury. (A trick to avoid the DL with a short-term injury: put the guy in the minors and call someone up; since the minors are just a static roster, it doesn't matter. In this case, though, we're past Sept. 1, so I can just leave him where he is.)

On the pitching front, John Denny has been replicating his Cy Young season from that year: a 23-5 record with a 2.13 ERA through 30 starts. Yes, he only has 2 no-decisions so far, which is incredible. Carlton, Bystrom, and Hudson are all 14-game winners at the moment. Dick Ruthven has been pitching the way you expect a #5 guy to pitch.

The bullpen has been interesting. Nabbing DiPino and Tekulve means I have 3 closers. Ron Reed and good ol' Tug McGraw have been dependable setup men. Sid Monge, with his 5.06 ERA at the moment, has been in long relief, and Larry Andersen, Larry Christianson, and Ed Farmer have been disasters, although at least Anderson and Christianson have gotten their ERAs under 6: Farmer is currently at 7.84 (!).

I'm going to end this here and continue with a recap of the season to date and what lies in store for the rest of Sept. To be continued.

08-29-2011, 06:44 PM	#1
BradC All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: northern CA Posts: 1,874	My 1983 iOOTP replay with the Phillies: the stretch run I've been replaying the 1983 season in iOOTP with the Phillies, but it didn't occur to me to post anything about it until now, so I'm going to cover the last month or so of the season. I'm a lifelong Phillies fan and went to a bunch of games in the early 80s, including Game 4 of the NLCS and Games 4 and 5 of the World Series in 1983, so this has been fun. I'm also going to run an abbreviated version of this on Facebook and Twitter, if you want to follow along in either of those places. (And it's always nice to get more fans and followers.) https://www.facebook.com/ootpbaseball https://twitter.com/#!/ootpbaseball So, here goes: We started the season on an uneven keel, winning some, then losing some. We were hovering around .500 for a while as I tried to get a good feel for the lineup. Then I started doing some wheeling and dealing and landed Don Baylor, Larry Bowa (yes, I brought him back to the Phillies as a bench player), Kent Tekulve (before he came to the Phils in real life), Frank DiPino (the Astros closer at the time; I admit I was trying to weaken my likely NLCS opponent; more on that in a bit), Derrell Thomas (Derrel Thomas Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com -- not a major coup, but he can play a lot of positions), and Bill Almon (Bill Almon Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com -- again, not a big fish, but I needed someone dependable to play shortstop). Interestingly, both Thomas and Almon wound up playing for the Phils in real life, at the end of their careers: Thomas in '85 and Almon in '88. I didn't know that before trading for them. Of course, I had to give up some key players to land some of those guys, so Juan Samuel, Kevin Gross, Jeff Stone, and Ozzie Virgil were among those who I shipped off. Yes, I robbed my farm system of some top prospects to put together a solid '83 campaign, but I wasn't sure when I started that I necessarily wanted to play '84 and beyond. If I do, though, I'll have quite a challenge ahead of me, especially since the real-life Phils dropped off after 1983; I have a bunch of older players to deal with (their nickname wasn't The Wheeze Kids for nothing). However, I did hold on to Darren Daulton. Some other notes: Mike Schmidt's avg. has hovered around .230 all season, but he's leading the league in HRs and RBIs, and he's among the leaders in walks and runs, so he has stayed in the lineup, except when tired. Interestingly, out of 120 hits, he only has 12 doubles and 1 triple (along with 37 HRs), so he's basically knocking it out of the park or getting singles. Or, of course, he's also striking out a lot -- on more than one occasion, I could hear the Veterans Stadium boo birds in my head. (Yes, I remember those days all too well; I also have that image of him in that Rasta wig burned into my head.) Joe Morgan is leading the league in walks, which is interesting, especially considering his #3 slot in the lineup, right ahead of Schmidt. I guess opposing pitchers aren't scared of Schmidt? Batting Garry Maddox and Greg Gross at the top of the lineup has been a good strategy. When Maddox gets on base, I almost always put on the hit and run with Gross. Both of them have been hitting north of .300 all season. I've been hot and cold with Gary "The Sarge" Matthews. I platooned him for a while, which pissed him off, and then I gave in and started playing him every day. His avg. is .256 right now, whereas it was around .230 when I was platooning him, so hopefully he'll keep hitting. I've had to deal with my share of injuries. Von Hayes was on the DL once earlier in the season, and he was lost for the rest of the year a few weeks ago with a broken hand. He was another underperformer, so I kept putting him in the lineup and then pulling him out. We're pretty healthy right now, though, except for Gross, who is out a couple days with a hamstring injury. (A trick to avoid the DL with a short-term injury: put the guy in the minors and call someone up; since the minors are just a static roster, it doesn't matter. In this case, though, we're past Sept. 1, so I can just leave him where he is.) On the pitching front, John Denny has been replicating his Cy Young season from that year: a 23-5 record with a 2.13 ERA through 30 starts. Yes, he only has 2 no-decisions so far, which is incredible. Carlton, Bystrom, and Hudson are all 14-game winners at the moment. Dick Ruthven has been pitching the way you expect a #5 guy to pitch. The bullpen has been interesting. Nabbing DiPino and Tekulve means I have 3 closers. Ron Reed and good ol' Tug McGraw have been dependable setup men. Sid Monge, with his 5.06 ERA at the moment, has been in long relief, and Larry Andersen, Larry Christianson, and Ed Farmer have been disasters, although at least Anderson and Christianson have gotten their ERAs under 6: Farmer is currently at 7.84 (!). I'm going to end this here and continue with a recap of the season to date and what lies in store for the rest of Sept. To be continued. Last edited by BradC; 08-29-2011 at 06:46 PM.