The Yankee Hater's Dynasty

[Elendil]

After getting back to New York, the Organization Formerly Known as the Yankees was beginning the transition to Montreal. Offices had already been purchased in Montreal, and the staff were packing their stuff.

Rickey Henderson took his former boss aside to let him know his services would not be needed next year.

"The new ownership team wants to bring its own staff in," the Hall of Fame leadoff man turned owner-manager explained. "We'd like to get someone better acquainted with the economics of small-market sports franchises. Billy Beane's contract in Anaheim is up, and we are talking to him as well as some others."

George Steinbrenner struggled to maintain his dignity. "But just look what I've done with the team on a shoestring budget," he countered.

"Yes, but you were able to do it because you could trade away some elite players and get good youngsters in return," Rickey explained. "That strategy may not be available to us in the long run, although of course we hope to create a very sizeable fan base in Quebec and Canada as a whole."

And that was that. George Steinbrenner had little left to do but to clean out his office. The last remnant of old Yankee-dom was leaving the Québécois.

[jaykno14]

Poor old George...Congrats on making it to the WS!!

So does this mean that you are going to write "journals'' with Billy Beane or Ricky Henderson, or whomever the next GM of the Québécois may be.

By the way, how do you say that?

[Elendil]

Originally Posted by jaykno14

Poor old George...Congrats on making it to the WS!!

So does this mean that you are going to write "journals'' with Billy Beane or Ricky Henderson, or whomever the next GM of the Québécois may be.

By the way, how do you say that?

Well, I'm not sure. I think this might be a fine way to end the dynasty. I had a hunch that the team might make the World Series, so I had to act quickly to make this team the non-Yankees. In a way, everything has reached a climax now, and the rest would almost be a bore by comparison.

P.S. "Québécois" is pronounced "Kay-bay-kwah."

[jackson41]

Maybe George should take over Florida/New York and try to make them into the new Yankees. It would be fun to see if can take a poor team and turn then into the next evil empire

[Elendil]

Originally Posted by jackson41

Maybe George should take over Florida/New York and try to make them into the new Yankees. It would be fun to see if can take a poor team and turn then into the next evil empire

Heh, heh... That's a pretty good idea!

[jaykno14]

BTW, what rosters did you use?

[Elendil]

Originally Posted by jaykno14

BTW, what rosters did you use?

Halofan's. The only downside to them is that you can't use Catobase each year, b/c team abbreviations change (e.g., from NYY to NYA). You could edit every player in the CSV files, but that is pretty intensive work.

[Elendil]

On Saturday the 23rd the World Series began at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals, NL Wild Card champs, were slightly - but not heavily - favored to defeat the ex-Yankees. Chien-Ming Wang was the starter for Montreal, while Dontrelle Willis (4.35, 14-10) took the mound for the Cardinals.



(Former Yankee Nic Jackson is now the Cardinal leadoff hitter.)

Willis had an 8.02 ERA so far in the playoffs, and the Québécois didn't help him out. In the second inning, a three-run homer by Wes Long made it 4-0.

Scott Rolen then made things close again with a three-run shot of his own in the third inning. 4-3.

Jackson got revenge on his former teammates with a two-out single in the fourth that put the Cards up, 5-4.

Wang struggled through five while Willis cruised. Liriano entered the game in the sixth and pitched one scoreless inning before being lifted for a pinch hitter.

The normally reliable Cali then yielded two more in the seventh, and the Cardinals finished off the Québécois, 8-4.

[Elendil]

For Game 2, the Québécois decided to send out lefty Zachary Jackson instead of "Heart-Attack" Buchholz, as Steinbrenner used to call him. With four lefties in the lineup, the Cards might be at a disadvantage against Jackson. St. Louis brought rookie Adam Harben (4.51, 6-8). (Two pitching dominant clubs these were not.)

The Québécois scored a run in the top of the first, manufacturing something from a leadoff double by Padilla, a wild pitch, and aggressive running on a groundout.

Dubois added another on a solo shot in the top of the second, and it was 2-0. Hardly meaningful insurance with a pitching staff like the Québécois'.

The Québécois got yet another in the third on a sac fly. 3-0. All this patient accumulation, and Jackson could blow at any moment...

But he didn't blow, exactly. He seemed to rise to the occasion of his first postseason start, more or less. Of course, he got no help from Santangelo, who was being run on with no tomorrow. At one point Nic Jackson ran on a pitchout, and Santangelo still couldn't throw him out. (That set up a two-out single that drove in the Cardinals' first run and drove Rickey Henderson to epithets at his catcher.) The catcher position was the Québécois' Achilles heel this postseason, especially since Santangelo wasn't hitting that well.

Through five, it was still 3-1, and the Cardinals brought in Jay Powell (4.15, 8-3) for the sixth. With the help of amazing plays in the outfield and infield and at least one questionable call, Powell kept things close.

In the seventh Nic Jackson was lifted with the score 4-1 (Santangelo having just redeemed himself by homering) after pitching six innings of one-run ball - a clutch performance indeed for the youngster.

Unfortunately, Sunny Kim again insisted on sucking, giving up a hard single and then a homer to Weber before Henderson, wild with fury, yanked him. Cali came in to retire the side. 4-3.

Padilla gave the Québécois the slightest bit of breathing room with a solo shot to lead off the eighth. (He really was the Québécois' MVP of the postseason, just as he was their season MVP.)

Cali, Proctor, and Tucker combined to go the rest of the way and nail down a 6-3 victory, tying the series at a game apiece.

[Elendil]

After an off day, the series recommenced on Tuesday the 26th in a packed, raucous Olympic Stadium. Many fans made the drive up from New York, while others came from Toronto and places as far away as Goose Bay. As multicultural as the chaos was, there was only one team for them all: the Québécois.

The fates of the Québécois in game three would depend largely on the performance of inconsistent young ace Sean Henn. He'd been superb in his last start, but would that performance carry over? The Cardinals, meanwhile, brought their young ace as well - Blake Hawksworth (3.06, 13-5), the 2006 Cy Young winner. It would be a stiff challenge for the Québécois hitters.

A double, a wild pitch, and a sac fly gave the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead. Henn was wild and threw 22 pitches in the first - a very bad sign for him.

The Québécois got the run back in the bottom of the 2nd on a daring suicide squeeze by Giles, plating Youkilis, who had tripled. Giles ended up on first and later Santangelo tripled him and Dubois, who had singled, home. 3-1 for the home team, and the crowd roared.

Henn gave the runs back in the third, though, and walked another batter and had another wild pitch. He might not last long.

The Québécois bats came to the rescue. Hit after hit after hit, and suddenly it was 6-3. Still Hawksworth was left in there, and he managed to finish the inning.

The Cardinals countered with a triple and a double in the fourth, making it 6-4. Henn was nearly done but finished the last three batters in the inning with two strikeouts and a popout.

In the bottom of the fourth Hawksworth made a statement, giving up a walk but striking out the side. Henn answered in the 5th with two more K's and a 1-2-3 inning. Nic Jackson got himself ejected for arguing one of the strike three calls.

In the fifth Hawksworth struck out the side again! He seemed to be getting into a groove. Henn allowed a leadoff walk in the sixth and was pulled for Kim. Kim, despite having been a good reliever most of his career, had clearly lost a screw or something. He gave up a three-run shot that put the Québécois down 7-6, and the boo-birds came out. He was gone, and would likely never pitch again for the team, at least if the fans had anything to say about it. Cali again got them out of the inning.

Hawksworth now had a one-run lead and a newfound dominance of the Québécois hitters. Then, with one out in the bottom of the seventh, Long doubled, Youkilis followed it with an RBI single, and Hawksworth was gone. Former Yankee prospect Juan Morillo (6.24, 2-2) came into the tie game.

In the top of eighth Cali was gassed, and Rickey Henderson went with closer Rusty Tucker. Desperate times called for desperate measures - Liriano and Littleton were the only other available relievers (Proctor was tired), and both were extremely unreliable. Tucker kept the Cardinals off the board in the eighth.

In the bottom of the eighth, Santangelo doubled. After Padilla flied out, there were two outs, and Jon-Mark Sprowl came up. The Cardinals countered with a lefty, Ray King, who has a fastball in the mid-90s. Rickey pulled back Sprowl and sent "Happy" Condit (f) to the plate. He grounded out, and it was still 7-7 going to the ninth. Condit took over at third; Youkilis went to first.

Both Tucker and King enjoyed 1-2-3 innings in the ninth. Game three was going to extra innings.

Tucker had an easy tenth, giving him three scoreless innings of relief, with just one hit allowed. King also had an easy tenth, benefitting from a great play by Hart at short, enhanced by a questionable call when the ball arrived at first.

Tucker kept going. He was tired - heck, he was exhausted. But he allowed just a single and kept the Cardinals scoreless another inning. He'd thrown 54 pitches - the most he'd ever thrown at one time since single-A ball.

In the bottom of the eleventh, the Cardinals brought in their closer, Jason Pearson (3.70, 6-9, 44 SV). Santangelo drew a leadoff walk and was lifted for pinch-runner Wayne Lydon. The Québécois didn't expect to run, even with Lydon, on Yadier Molina, but it's always good to have speed on the bases when you're playing for a run.

The next batter was Jorge Padilla. He was an acceptable, but not great, bunter. He was pretty good at the hit-and-run, but getting the bat onto one of Pearson's 99-MPH fastballs could be tricky. If the Québécois brought in Rouse, a fantastic bunter, it would be all too clear that the bunt was on. There was no choice but to swing away.

He hit into a double play to the pitcher.

With two outs, the Québécois got another runner when Rolen couldn't get a handle on a routine grounder from Condit. Barge (f) stepped in - the young rookie who'd just started playing in the majors in August. He struck out. We were going to the twelfth.

The Québécois had to pick their poison now, and they went - apprehensively - with Francisco Liriano. Oh, he'd be good eventually, but he wasn't there yet. Tonis came in at catcher, giving them a great arm behind the plate.

That great arm didn't help them when Boyd singled and stole second. Liriano hadn't paid him much attention - he simply assumed someone that slow wouldn't run. Then there was no choice but to intentionally walk Scott Rolen with two outs. Bo Hart then came to the plate. Rickey went out to talk to Liriano, hopefully settle him down.

After a minute, he went back to the dugout, and everyone in the stadium settled in to watch. On an 0-1 count, Hart knocked a grounder with eyes right past Wes Long, and Boyd readily scored from second. 8-7 Cardinals, and the air went out of the stadium.

Littleton came in and got the final out, but the damage had been done. Pearson easily finished off the Québécois in the bottom of the 12th, and the Cardinals took a 2-1 edge in the series.


Jason Pearson, Cardinals' hero of Game Three

[Elendil]

Game Four was what commentators like to call a "must-win" for the Québécois. After a heartbreaking, come-from-ahead, 12-inning loss, the team would have to rely on "Dog Wang" on three days' rest to stop the bleeding. The bullpen was ravaged, and the Cardinals were putting Dontrelle Willis back out there, who'd dominated in the last five innings of his game one start.

Wang got rocked from the start, allowing three runs in the first inning, including homers to Nic Jackson and Bo Hart. The Québécois did get one run back in the bottom half on a two-out double by Condit (f) that knocked home Santangelo.

Wang and Willis both pitched out of trouble in the second and third, but in the bottom of the third Condit got his second extra-base hit of the day, a solo homerun. 3-2. Slowly but surely, Montreal was crawling back. In the bottom of the fourth, they got there, when Barge (f) hit a solo bomb to right. In the fifth inning, Condit really got the crowd hopping when he hit his second solo blast of the day, a flyball that just got over the right field fence to the left of the foul pole. The two young rookies brought up in August were having their way with Willis. 4-3 Québécois.

Wang again managed to scatter two singles and get through the sixth without allowing another run. Willis was taken out in the sixth, and Morillo came in.

Despite the sad state of the bullpen, Henderson had to go to it in the seventh. Liriano came in to pitch to two lefties. He allowed a double to the first and a long sac fly to the second. Man on third, one out - but he ended up getting a groundout and a popout to end the inning.

It was still 4-3 as Liriano started his third inning of work in the top of the ninth. This was a pressure situation like no other the youngster had yet faced. Leadoff man Guzman worked the count full, but grounded out. Then Québécois nemesis Nic Jackson singled and was pulled for a pinch runner. Chad Boyd flied out, and now .193 hitter and earlier defensive replacement Dustin Pedroia was all St. Louis could bring up. Liriano walked him. You could hear the groans throughout the crowd.

Jeff Keppinger came up, and Rickey pulled Liriano for righthander and usual mopup reliever Wes Littleton. Kim was simply not an option anymore, and Proctor was good at avoiding homeruns but not at getting the strikeout and preventing the basehit that could tie the game.

Littleton got Keppinger to foul out to 1B Youkilis, and it was all over. 4-3 Québécois, and the series was tied.



That leg-kick doesn't even fool rookies anymore.

[Elendil]

For game five, the pressure was again on the Québécois. Cali and Tucker were still too tired to pitch (well), and the Québécois did not want to go into St. Louis facing two elimination games.

The Québécois would have to get it done with Taylor Buchholz, who was sporting a postseason ERA of 4.02 - better than any other starter! The Cardinals brought Harden on three days' rest.

The early innings were marked by great defensive plays in the outfield. In the first there were some good catches for both teams, then in the second Dubois was nailed by LF Jackson trying to stretch a double into a triple. At least he did knock in the run, as Giles scored from first base. 1-0 Québécois. Padilla then hit a flyball that backed Guzman up against the wall, where he made the catch.

Harben got into serious trouble in the third, loading the bases with nobody out. Guzman then robbed Youkilis of a hit with a diving catch. Sprowl was too slow to score from third on it. Giles then struck out, but Erstad redeemed them both by smashing a grand slam to left-center. 5-0 Québécois.

Just as the Québécois got a hefty lead, Buchholz started to deteriorate. He allowed two doubles, a walk, and several hard hit balls that fortunately were right at fielders in the top of the fourth, good for two Cardinal runs.

After that, both pitchers settled down, and it was still 5-2 at the seventh inning stretch. Jay Powell was now on the mound for the Cardinals. He gave up a leadoff double to Barge (f), but he had to be taken out of the game after coming up lame. Lydon was the pinch-runner and scored on a wild pitch. 6-2 through seven.

With one out in the eighth, Liriano came in for Buchholz to pitch to a series of lefties and a switch hitter. It had ended up being another great start for Buchholz, who was turning out to be the pitching star of the postseason for the Québécois. Liriano allowed no runs, and Montreal added two more in the bottom of the eighth.

It ended up being a blowout, with the final score 8-2. The Québécois were now one win away from bringing a world championship to Montreal for the first time ever.

[jaykno14]

Oh what a good way to begin a franchise in a new city!

[Elendil]

Game Six opened in Busch Stadium on a breezy, sunny, unseasonably warm late-October Saturday afternoon. Québécois manager Rickey Henderson had finally learned his lesson and decided not to start Henn on three days' rest. Instead, #4 starter Zachary Jackson would take the mound. Henn would be ready for game seven, if needed. The Québécois would be without young Phillip Barge, whose injury turned out to be a strained Achilles.

St. Louis was more desperate. Both of the next two games were literal must-wins for them. Tonight, they went again with their ace, Blake Hawksworth, on three days' rest.

Hawksworth was in fine fettle, striking out the side in the top of the first (but allowing one smash single to Sprowl). Jackson also struck out the first two batters he faced, then gave up a double off the wall to Boyd, but Boyd was thrown out going for three.

The Cardinals scored first, in the bottom of the second, stringing together a walk and a couple of singles. Jackson's pitch count was already up to 75 after three innings.

Jackson made it fine to the sixth, but then gave up two more runs and was lifted for Scott Proctor. Proctor allowed another run, making it 4-0.

Meanwhile, Hawksworth was dominating, striking out 11 and allowing no runs through 8 2/3. Jay Powell completed the shutout. Final score: 5-0 Cardinals. The series was going to game seven.

[Elendil]

Halloween was another sunny, warm day, a perfect Sunday for a Game Seven. Young Sean Henn, the Québécois ace, would be facing off against Dontrelle Willis on three days' rest. The Québécois had a heavy advantage on the mound, but would the offense perform after being totally shut down the day before?

The Québécois started the game out right, drawing two consecutive walks. Santangelo then worked the count full before singling to left. Boyd had an average arm, and Youkilis decided to test it. He was thrown out. Second and third, one out. Giles then drove a line drive to center, but Guzman made a shoestring catch and then fired the ball to first to double off Santangelo. Poor baserunning by Montreal and great defense by St. Louis kept the Québécois off the scoreboard in the first.

The baserunning mistakes didn't stop there, though. The first Cardinal hitter, Freddy Guzman, singled to left and was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double. Both teams were clearly going for an aggressive style of play.

Henn had a horrible first, yielding three more basehits and two walks for three runs. He simply had not been on his game at all this postseason.

After that point, Willis settled in, scattering four hits over six innings for no runs. Henn never completely settled down and was chased in the sixth with the score 5-0.

The Québécois looked to be going down to another frustrating defeat, when in the eighth inning they managed to string together three hits against Juan Morillo and score their first run. With runners on first and second and two out, Lino Condit (f) slammed a double to the left-center gap, plating both runners. All of a sudden, the game was interesting. 5-3. Tyler Johnson (2.44, 9-0) came in and whiffed Jason Dubois to end the threat.

Rusty Tucker entered in the bottom of the eighth, hoping to give the Québécois some kind of chance at a comeback in the final frame. He did his job, and the world championship came down to a two-run difference with three outs remaining. Closer Jason Pearson came in to pitch to Erstad, who was pulled back for a righthander, backup catcher Mike Tonis. Pearson hadn't allowed an earned run all postseason.

Tonis singled to lead off the inning. Rickey decided not to pinch run for him, since he wasn't the tying run. Wes Long came up and promptly grounded into a double play. The Québécois were down to their final out, and lefty Jon-Mark Sprowl was stepping in. Because of his high OBP, he was left in there against Pearson. He grounded out to short, and the St. Louis Cardinals were world champions.

[Elendil]

Despite losing the World Series in seven games, the Montreal Québécois were in good position for the future. Of their 25 postseason players, 19 were making the league minimum. The team had made over $40 million in 2008. The team had come a long way since its dark days as the hated New York Yankees, when Donald Trump turned to ridiculous promotions to get someone, anyone in the stands. All the former Yankee players and management from 2004 and before were out. A new franchise meant a fresh start - for baseball fans everywhere.

~ THE END ~

[GoCubsAndJays]

, this was great while it lasted at least...

[jaykno14]

Really good dynasty sad to see it end. =( So whats the next dynasty going to be about Elendil?

[Elendil]

Thanks; glad you guys enjoyed it! I felt I couldn't continue with it, because I was starting to cheer for my team. I'm not sure when exactly I moved from "Yankee hater" to "Yankee lover," but I think it happened when Derek Jeter got picked up on waivers by Detroit. So I guess if the Yankees cut their payroll by 80% and got rid of all their current players, I could become a Yankees fan after all. Fortunately, that's not going to happen.

I don't think I ever fully got my "voice" for this dynasty either. For the first two pages of the thread, it was pretty silly, and I enjoyed it, but after that it settled into standard dynasty reportage too often for my tastes.

Also, I'm really excited about another dynasty idea. I'd actually like to get a lot of forum input and help in designing this one. The kernel of it is the "small town" dynasty idea that I was considering before this one started, but I would like to make it a quasi-multiplayer dynasty. I'll post something about it shortly.

[Elendil]

I just realized... Game Seven was on Halloween. No wonder the ex-Yankees lost. Curses from the past still haunt the new franchise...