[fuzzy_patters]

5/22-5/24/70 vs Oakland (DH on 5/24)

Before game one, I took a quick look at the waiver wire. Cubs reliever Juan Pizzaro was there. He was interesting. In 57 appearances, 4 of which were starts, for Oakland, Boston, and Cleveland he had a 3.35 ERA last year. He hasn't been nearly as good for the Cubs this year. Through his first 9 appearance (14 IP) he has a 6.43 ERA, but part of that is due to a .391 BABIP. The scouting profile shows a pitcher on the downside of his career with slightly better than average stuff due to having four pitches highlighted by an average fastball and screwball, poor movement on his pitches, slightly below average control. My pitching staff could really use the help, but after much debate, I decided to pass on his $25,300 salary at 33 years old. I was tempted, though.

Then I shopped a few players around for a second baseman. There are some interesting players that I could get for back-up catcher Duane Josephson. The only one who both hits and fields farely well is Yankees second baseman Horace Clark, but his $43,000 salary is really high. The other players are all either limited hitters, which I already have, or limited fielders, which would be bad when my top two pitchers, Tommy John and Joe Horlen, both give up a lot of groundballs with very few strikeouts. I'm going to sit tight with what I have for now.

5/22/70 White Sox 8 A's 4
Aparicio was 5 for 5 with a double and a homer, but it was Bob Spence's pinch-hit RBI single that broke a 4-4 tie. That's one more hit than Gail Hopkins had in a month-and-a-half in that role.

5/23/70 A's 6 White Sox 0
Ken Frailing was pretty good and only allowed 2 earned runs in 5 innings pitched, but he had to leave early due to a minor back injury that will leave him day-to-day for about a week. Chuck Dobson was better. He pitched a 3-hit shutout for Oakland.

I don't have very good options to replace Frailing, and Pizarro is no longer on the waiver wire. I'll probably just let Frailing pitch during his next start and hope he doesn't exacerbate the injury. My medical staff tells me that it should only have a minor impact on his throwing. It will be his running that will be more severely affected.

5/24/70 Game 1- A's 4 White Sox 2
I gave Duane Josephson the start because the pitchers have been better with him behind the plate, and because I was hoping that would help Horlen get out of his slump. It seemed to work. Horlen pitched 7 innings allowing 7 hits and 3 earned runs with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts. Unfortunately, we only managed to scratch across 2 runs against Vida Blue without Ed Herrmann's bat in the lineup.

5/24/70 Game 2- White Sox 9 Orioles 6
Rich McKinney was 3-for-4 with a homer and a double, and an Ed Herrmann homer broke a 6-6 tie in the bottom of the 8th. Floyd Weaver picked up his first win after allowing Oakland's Felipe Alou to tie it in the top of the eighth with a pinch-hit, RBI single.

Record: 17-27