Yet Another OOTP6 Dynasty, Year 2: One Flew Over the Pale Hose - Page 21

cknox0723 · 06-02-2005, 02:51 AM

Brief moments. Life doesn't allow for much more than that. If it did, the sunrise would be perpetual. We get one of those moments right away in this sixth game of the season.

Ramon Vazquez leads off, as is the custom in Aibonito, Puerto Rico. But we ain't in Aibonito anymore, and Josh Beckett is the Wicked Witch of the Midwest. He alternates balls and strikes his first four pitches, which sounds more promising than it actually is. A two-strike count, a .312 OBP, and a man that threw nearly 300 innings with a sub-2.00 ERA over the course of 2006 usually intersect at one point. You can guess where this is going.

But instead of striking out, Ramon Vazquez fouls off a pitch or two, takes a ball out of the zone, and then another. A walk -- the sirloin steak of baseball. Done right, it's a fine treat. But one burnt to a crisp, or watching four pitches bounce to the backstop after leaving the hand of Seth McClung, this universe's Vic Zambrano -- what is that? Who cares? I can burn a steak!!

But this was a well-done walk, even if I do prefer my steaks medium-rare. It's a brief moment of satisfaction. A sunrise.

But things aren't that bleak in Pale Hose land, at least not yet. We get some more to cheer about. Adam Kennedy lines a single over first, putting runners on the corners. Then, for the hell of it, he takes off for second on the first pitch to #3 hitter and Proven Deity Magglio Ordonez. Beckett offers a first pitch breaking ball. Maggs lets it pass, and it's steal number one for Adam F. Kennedy. Second and third, no one out. Got to score, right?

Sure. "Buddha" Ordonez rips a hard shot to the left side. Joe Crede makes a hell of a stop, but all it really does is get his uniform dirty, and Ordonez is on base for the sixth time in a row. Frank Thomas steps in and steps up, notching his sixth ribbie of the year with a base hit over second, and we've gotten two runners home. It could be more, but Raul Gonzalez just misses on a hanging curveball, hitting a long fly that ends up as nothing more than exercise for Corey Patterson. Those two runners could be more, but Jeremy Reed raps a hard shot right at keystone man Ben Broussard, who makes a deft pivot and then lumbers over to the bag to receive Angel Berroa's toss back. Reed's a step slow, and the inning's over just like that. It could have been more.

It wasn't. But we won our first game yesterday, Mark Buehrle's on the mound, and we're up a couple of runs. Who cares about the hypothetical? Brief moments of satisfaction. This is as good a chance we'll get to win two in a row, maybe all season.

seth70liz76 · 06-02-2005, 09:23 AM

It is like (forgive OOTP Gods) like listening to a game on radio, albeit with longer than usual commercial breaks. The ebb and flow--swings in emotion and momentium, all can be felt here. Sunrise, Sunset pt 1 was one of the best descriptions of what the game can be like--and it had nothing to do with baseball! Things are at peace, rest and then suddenly--you're soaked and have no idea what to do. If that's not baseball, I don't know what is.

ifspuds · 06-02-2005, 01:55 PM

Seth just hit on what's so great (for me) about this thread. The writing may not always be about baseball, there may be a hundred tangents and three posts about a single game, but it's *always* enjoyable. You've got an inimitable way with words, Mr. Pale Hose. Kudos.

CTSoxFan · 06-02-2005, 06:09 PM

Ive just finished reading/skimming season 1 and all of season 2 that has been put up so far and I am amazed by your writing. It inspired me to start my own dynasty, "Down By The Bay". The team is one you can really fall in love with, you make the players lovable even though most are losers. Jeremy Reed is a player I have come to root for since his first big clutch home run and everytime he fails it makes me sad, but then I begin to hope he can do better later, same with Jon Rauch. You take real life players and make them feel almost fictional, by adding a "fake" aspect to their lives in this universe through nicknames, etc. The ups and downs of this dynasty is what makes reading it so enjoyable. Keep up the good work Craig!

cknox0723 · 06-03-2005, 09:11 AM

i am lucky guy, to be getting all these kind words, both from people who i knew were reading and people i did not. keep it up and someone will end up in my signature soon.

thanks, fellas. and not that anyone needs me to tell them this, but make sure to spread the love to some dynasties about teams that'll win more than 50 games.

cknox0723 · 06-03-2005, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cknox

But we won our first game yesterday, Mark Buehrle's on the mound, and we're up a couple of runs. (...) This is as good a chance we'll get to win two in a row, maybe all season.

Buehrle does nothing to change my mind about our chances with a one-two-three first, bringing to mind Mr. Hulten's second-favorite word, businesslike.

We don't hit in the top of the second and Buehrle puts a couple guys on, but who cares? The score doesn't change, and that's all that matters!

Same for the third. Shortstop Vazquez, up for the second time, leads off with a base hit, but then falls down trying to beat a sneaky pickoff throw by Josh Beckett. Adam Kennedy follows with his second hit. We then make two outs in a row. Oops. Way to go, guys.

Mark Buehrle erases that painful little memory with a perfect bottom half, but two of his outs were tallied against the pitcher Beckett and an outfielder who hits about as well as his pitcher, Alex Escobar. That's unfair to a man who hit .346 for AAA Buffalo last year, but he's still not very good, so screw 'im anyway. Looking at just who he was facing, I should be thinking, "Who the hell cares?" Instead, my head's in the clouds.

With that being the case, wouldn't it be a real pity if it started raining?

CTSoxFan · 06-03-2005, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cknox0723

i am lucky guy, to be getting all these kind words, both from people who i knew were reading and people i did not. keep it up and someone will end up in my signature soon.

thanks, fellas. and not that anyone needs me to tell them this, but make sure to spread the love to some dynasties about teams that'll win more than 50 games.

Thats the thing, you make reading about a team that barely wins a lot more fun than one that loses, thats why you have so many fans.

cknox0723 · 06-04-2005, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CTSoxFan

Thats the thing, you make reading about a team that barely wins a lot more fun than one that loses, thats why you have so many fans.

actually, i'd bet it's at least half due to the fact that all this losing is a boost to the ego of anyone who reads this thread!

canadiancreed · 06-04-2005, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cknox0723

actually, i'd bet it's at least half due to the fact that all this losing is a boost to the ego of anyone who reads this thread!

exactly. No matter hwo bad your team is doing, or how you wish you could give a collective ass-kicking, there's always a team that's worse, the Pale Hose

cknox0723 · 06-05-2005, 12:17 AM

Neither literal nor metaphorical rain comes in the top of the fourth inning -- the former because it's a clear forty degree day, and the latter because by rule, we're not allowed to score a negative amount of runs. We give it a shot, though, stranding Jeremy Reed at second after a one-out walk and stolen base.

That ain't great, but it gets worse as Mark Buehrle looks like a completely different pitcher in the bottom of the inning. Shannon Stewart leads off with a single. I sense something ominous when Buehrle smacks Angel Berroa in the small of the back with an errant slider. Sure enough, Mark Bellhorn fouls off a bunch of pitches and then, like Thor, takes a mighty swing of a club and unleashes a fierce, unmistakable hell with a loud sound. Single to center -- now the lead's down to one, there's two men on, and still no one out.

What the hell is Mark Buehrle going to do now?

"Nothing and one to the third baseman Crede, who flew out in the second. Berroa at second, Bellhorn at first, each with slight leads. They'll stay put as Buehrle comes to the set, holds there for a moment, and now kicks and fires towards home plate. Fastball up in the zone, swung on and hit a long ways to left-center...back is Gonzalez...still going back, at the track, at the wall, he leaps, but that ball is ten rows into the seats! A three-run home run for Joe Crede, his third of the year, and the Tribe jump out on top, 4-2."

Well, that'll clear the bases, at least. Were this a century ago, Buehrle would be known as "The $50 Million Dollar Turkey" or "Ol' Four-Run." It's almost unfortunate that it's 2007, and he is still "The Buehrle One." But perhaps because of that, he gives us two more strong innings after finally escaping the fourth. I suppose he's "businesslike", with the emphasis on the second part of the word.

And we are still the very unbusinesslike Pale Hose. Our bats go silent over the middle innings. Buehrle walks to start the fifth, Angel Berroa muffs a bouncer off the bat of Ramon Vazquez, and we get two on. Perfect chance for a rally, right?

2B Adam Kennedy:
Strikes out looking.

RF Magglio Ordonez:
Flies out to short left-center.

1B Frank Thomas:
Flies out to short left field.

No matter how poor a team you can find...there is always the Pale Hose. A double play kills a sixth-inning rally, and we get an encore in the seventh. Poor timing, poor talent, or something else?

How much of it is the memory of those three innings where we were beating the guy with that line, damn it, and then having Joe Crede step in and change all that with one cut? The same guy who posted a titanic .274 OBP over 392 at-bats last season steers us straight into an iceberg. We may have trouble scoring runs, but two could have been enough. Thanks to Joe Crede, it wasn't.

How do you get up the drive to dust yourself off from that and start a rally? We flail away some more in the last three innings, even after Beckett departs in favor of Fausto Carmona, and the score doesn't change in the slightest all the way up to Yorvit Torrealba, who makes out number twenty-seven by hitting a long fly ball that doesn't have the legs to end up anywhere but in the grasp of Alex Escobar. Once again, I'm left wondering, "What the hell am I going to do now?"

Of course I don't have an answer for that. But life would be boring if we had all the answers. We may have lost this one, but Buehrle could have gotten knocked out in the third, or we could have scored our two runs in the ninth, when it was apparent that any hope would have been transparent. Instead, we got to see a three-inning long sunrise before the sun set yet again on our chances at victory. But, as Hootie & the Blowfish once sang, tomorrow is another day, and I don't believe in time.

CHW 2 CLE 4

WP: J. Beckett (1-1) - 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K
LP: M. Buehrle (0-2) - 6 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 3 K
S: F. Carmona (1)

Appallingly Above-Average: You might note that Angel Berroa doubled and was also hit by a pitch, leading to one of the four fourth-inning runs, and think he's a dirt-streaked, hard-nosed ballplayer. But Berroa also committed a fifth-inning error with a man on and none out. A good team would have turned that into a run or two -- we didn't. This man also walked all of 19 times last season in 505 at-bats. I'd rather have The Hacktastic One, who's still batting 1.000 -- a perfect one for one.

CTSoxFan · 06-05-2005, 12:45 AM

Tough loss, Buehrle is off to a rough start.

But I guess he is just a slow starter...last season he went 0-2 in his first two starts as well. But his third start is when he started to look really good, and shut out the Orioles for 7 innings. Hopefully he can do as well in his third start this season, because I love The Buehrle One

cknox0723 · 06-05-2005, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CTSoxFan

Tough loss, Buehrle is off to a rough start.

But I guess he is just a slow starter...last season he went 0-2 in his first two starts as well. But his third start is when he started to look really good, and shut out the Orioles for 7 innings. Hopefully he can do as well in his third start this season, because I love The Buehrle One

excellent post, CT. the thought crossed my mind as well; i am not sure whether it would mean anything either way if he is, in fact, a slow starter. i am 100% confident that he will be on "the next good pale hose team", so i guess that'll just be another perspective to look at our championship-winning season.

whenever that comes.

cknox0723 · 06-05-2005, 09:56 PM

game vii - chw (1-5) @ cle (2-4) - "turning the corner"

last year went a little like this...: a 10-5 WIN behind a helluva start from...esteban loaiza.

this year should be a little like...: j. garland (0-1, 10.50) vs. c. bartosh (0-0, 2.57)

Take a look at this series of numbers and tell me what comes next:

Code:

3.55
5.56
4.94
4.84
2.09
1.64

If you are analyzing baseball and come across those numbers under the 'ERA' column, most folks would say that displayed in those numbers is a man that has "turned a corner." That's the phrase, isn't it? "Turned a corner." He's on the verge of becoming an ace, wouldn't you say that?

But think about it a second. Where in life can you actually turn a corner? You use the phrase when talking about driving a car -- but that ignores the fact that you can just turn around. Hell, almost all roads are interconnected anyway! You don't turn a corner when making a left onto Spring Valley Road; you're just veering slightly off your original path.

Why should that change when applied to baseball analysis? Jon Garland is of course the man detailed above by six numbers, the man who supposedly turned the corner in the last two months of 2006. But in reality, he was just veering slightly off his original path, that of a mediocre pitcher.

Code:

MONTH		IP	H/IP	BB/IP	K/IP	ERA
April		33	1.03	0.61	0.42	3.55
May		34	1.21	0.74	0.71	5.56
June		31	1.29	0.48	0.71	4.94
July		22.1	1.12	0.45	0.90	4.84
August		38.2	0.62	0.31	0.54	2.09
September	38.1	0.76	0.34	0.44	1.64

While Jon Garland's three-year contract is probably going to be a dud, he was never going to be even half the pitcher that his opponent Cliff Bartosh is, whether Jon Moo has turned a mythical corner or not. Though now that I think about it -- Bartosh won 20 last year, Garland won nine. That's almost half, isn't it?

Maybe that's a good sign.

CTSoxFan · 06-05-2005, 10:06 PM

Garland definitely turned the corner this year in real-life, so maybe he can do it for your Pale Hose. I was glad you resigned him, the nickname of Moo makes him worth having on the team, he could be a solid third or fourth starter behind Buerhle and Scarborough on the "next good pale hose team"

cknox0723 · 06-06-2005, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cknox

While Jon Garland's three-year contract is probably going to be a dud, he was never going to be even half the pitcher that his opponent Cliff Bartosh is, whether Jon Moo has turned a mythical corner or not. Though now that I think about it -- Bartosh won 20 last year, Garland won nine. That's almost half, isn't it?

Maybe that's a good sign.

Maybe it is a good sign, but if that is the case, it's obscured by fog. As you might expect, we are thrashed by a score of seven to one in this ballgame, managing just three hits off of Cliff Bartosh, who goes the distance, striking out eleven and not allowing a single free pass to first.

Sounds like we took one to the chin, right?

Maybe not so much. One of our three hits was a solo home run by Magglio Ordonez, hit with two outs...in the top of the first. That run was the difference between our club and theirs over the first three and a half innings. Jon Garland didn't give up a run until the fourth, and even then, three consecutive hits only led to two Cleveland runs. The Cleveland bats didn't really start roaring until the sixth frame. Until then, it was a two-one game.

There's a lesson to be learned there -- there are positives and negatives in every game, and we need not read into them as much as we frequently do. Though where the hell to go beyond that -- and there is somewhere to go, because all those singular games added up to 69 wins in 2006 -- I have no idea. I guess we're heading there.

CHW 1 CLE 7

WP: C. Bartosh (1-0) - CG, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 11 K
LP: J. Garland (0-2) - 6 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 4 BB, 4 K

Hmm... Jon Garland's pitched six innings in each of his first two starts, allowing eight hits, seven runs, and four walks in each start. I can't complain. He can't possibly pitch worse in his third start of the season.

Hmmm, Part II... Rule 5 pick Marcos Carvajal finished off the game with two decent enough innings. Most encouraging, beyond the obvious zero in the 'runs allowed' column, is that the live-armed 22 year old northpaw flung the white pill 27 times, only 10 of which were out of the strike zone. I'd say that at this rate, he's got a good shot to be 32 in ten years.

cknox0723 · 06-07-2005, 12:40 PM

well, we have reached our first off day after seven straight ballgames. are there any lessons we can learn as we travel into the bronx?

no. it's only seven games, after all. but even if we lose the next three, we will finally, triumphantly head home -- for twelve divisional games, in the order of det, cle, kc, and min. so even if we are dead in the water, we won't know until the month's end.

seeing as we have this off-day, i considered skipping esteban loaiza's turn in the rotation and pitching jorge depaula for the forthcoming first game against the empire. however, what the hell's the point of that? why have loaiza in the rotation if you're just going to skip him over? in addition, following the normal rotation will allow mark buehrle to start our home opener. maybe it will convince jestor to make the trip from wisconsin.

so loaiza, our nominal number three starter, will take on his new york counterpart in tyler clippard, a youngster whose virtues i've sung before. likely esteban will continue to practice "the art of suck", but maybe we'll be surprised.

there are also a few surprises early on in this universe. colorado holds the best record of all 30 teams with a 6-1 mark, spurred on by a .339 team batting average and the universe's leader in home runs with 5, left fielder brad hawpe. at 27 years old, the lanky 6'3" southpaw from fort worth is probably poised to see a major spike in his career high slugging percentage of .492, set last year in his sophomore season. but his true value will be found in the most fickle of fates, batting average. since hawpe is not too inclined to take a free pass, his value is limited if his .263 career batting average is indicative of his true talent level. since he is "only" hitting .333 at the moment despite those five home runs and that 1042 slugging percentage, i would guess that hawpe is, in fact, a .260 hitter. colorado will certainly hawpe that is not the case.

unbelievably, toronto has also turned in a nice start, winning their first two over tampa bay behind a bevy of runs batted in from vernon wells. the jays then lost a pair of close ones before heading back home...and winning three straight over the pitching-rich orioles. the center fielder wells has 17 rbi (11 in those first two games of the season), orlando hudson is hitting .387 with five doubles, and dave ****ing berg, who had a .276 on-base percentage in 400-some at-bats last season, is hitting .318.

of course it won't last. but roy halladay is a brilliant pitcher, definitely an ace, and why not ride the lightning while you can and worry about the apocalypse later?

cknox0723 · 06-08-2005, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cknox0723

...the universe's leader in home runs with 5, left fielder brad hawpe. colorado will certainly hawpe that is not the case.

well, i thought it was funny.

this next post is free of terrible puns...so just smile and nod. and smile some more, for it's straight out of left field.

cknox0723 · 06-08-2005, 10:05 AM

life has a way of kicking you when you're down -- to rub salt in the wound, maybe. but it's also a reminder that you're human, that you're alive.

we may be 1-6, but we're not dead in the water yet. it takes a phone call from the dodgers to remind us of that. what the hell could they possibly want from us?

scarborough mediocre, maybe, who still sports a tidy 7.94 earned run average despite going seven and getting the win in his second start down at charlotte? or could they want the new wild thing, ray butner, or perhaps relief ace joe roa, since they're in need of bullpen help?

nope. they want ryan sweeney, the pentultimate in toolsy outfielders. he's a 22 year old with that picturesque left-handed swing -- and on-base percentages of .264, .319, and .286 the last three years. in a-ball. a .308 batting average in his first 26 at-bats this year, 5 runs scored -- and 8 hits, all singles. 6 strikeouts and one walk. if this is a budding ken griffey -- hell, if this is a budding raul gonzalez! -- he is growing like a potato, underground, where i can't see the progress.

he is now nicknamed "potato", if you're curious.

they also want starting pitching prospect brandon mccarthy, a big right-hander who looks like a giraffe. but there is no such thing as a pitching prospect -- particularly one who is 23 years old and still in single-a. he may have 34 wins over three-plus years at that level, but he had a 6.08 earned run average in a short trial at double-a last year.

what the hell do they want with these guys? more importantly, why would they give us anything for them? let alone...well, you'll see. assuming this isn't all a dream.

Vris · 06-08-2005, 11:46 AM

Uh oh. Big trade coming up for the Pale Hose. Who, I ask you? Who?

CTSoxFan · 06-08-2005, 05:04 PM

Your driving me crazy with these cliffhangers lol. Who is coming to the Pale House?!?!

06-02-2005, 02:51 AM	#401
cknox0723 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2003 Location: NJ Posts: 1,957	sunrise, sunset pt. ii Brief moments. Life doesn't allow for much more than that. If it did, the sunrise would be perpetual. We get one of those moments right away in this sixth game of the season. Ramon Vazquez leads off, as is the custom in Aibonito, Puerto Rico. But we ain't in Aibonito anymore, and Josh Beckett is the Wicked Witch of the Midwest. He alternates balls and strikes his first four pitches, which sounds more promising than it actually is. A two-strike count, a .312 OBP, and a man that threw nearly 300 innings with a sub-2.00 ERA over the course of 2006 usually intersect at one point. You can guess where this is going. But instead of striking out, Ramon Vazquez fouls off a pitch or two, takes a ball out of the zone, and then another. A walk -- the sirloin steak of baseball. Done right, it's a fine treat. But one burnt to a crisp, or watching four pitches bounce to the backstop after leaving the hand of Seth McClung, this universe's Vic Zambrano -- what is that? Who cares? I can burn a steak!! But this was a well-done walk, even if I do prefer my steaks medium-rare. It's a brief moment of satisfaction. A sunrise. But things aren't that bleak in Pale Hose land, at least not yet. We get some more to cheer about. Adam Kennedy lines a single over first, putting runners on the corners. Then, for the hell of it, he takes off for second on the first pitch to #3 hitter and Proven Deity Magglio Ordonez. Beckett offers a first pitch breaking ball. Maggs lets it pass, and it's steal number one for Adam F. Kennedy. Second and third, no one out. Got to score, right? Sure. "Buddha" Ordonez rips a hard shot to the left side. Joe Crede makes a hell of a stop, but all it really does is get his uniform dirty, and Ordonez is on base for the sixth time in a row. Frank Thomas steps in and steps up, notching his sixth ribbie of the year with a base hit over second, and we've gotten two runners home. It could be more, but Raul Gonzalez just misses on a hanging curveball, hitting a long fly that ends up as nothing more than exercise for Corey Patterson. Those two runners could be more, but Jeremy Reed raps a hard shot right at keystone man Ben Broussard, who makes a deft pivot and then lumbers over to the bag to receive Angel Berroa's toss back. Reed's a step slow, and the inning's over just like that. It could have been more. It wasn't. But we won our first game yesterday, Mark Buehrle's on the mound, and we're up a couple of runs. Who cares about the hypothetical? Brief moments of satisfaction. This is as good a chance we'll get to win two in a row, maybe all season.

06-02-2005, 09:23 AM	#402
seth70liz76 All Star Starter Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 1,634	It is like (forgive OOTP Gods) like listening to a game on radio, albeit with longer than usual commercial breaks. The ebb and flow--swings in emotion and momentium, all can be felt here. Sunrise, Sunset pt 1 was one of the best descriptions of what the game can be like--and it had nothing to do with baseball! Things are at peace, rest and then suddenly--you're soaked and have no idea what to do. If that's not baseball, I don't know what is. __________________ It was a mistake to come back.

06-02-2005, 01:55 PM	#403
ifspuds Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 2,117	Seth just hit on what's so great (for me) about this thread. The writing may not always be about baseball, there may be a hundred tangents and three posts about a single game, but it's always enjoyable. You've got an inimitable way with words, Mr. Pale Hose. Kudos. __________________ Jeff Watson Former dynasty writer and online league player, now mostly retired

06-02-2005, 06:09 PM	#404
CTSoxFan Major Leagues Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 493	Ive just finished reading/skimming season 1 and all of season 2 that has been put up so far and I am amazed by your writing. It inspired me to start my own dynasty, "Down By The Bay". The team is one you can really fall in love with, you make the players lovable even though most are losers. Jeremy Reed is a player I have come to root for since his first big clutch home run and everytime he fails it makes me sad, but then I begin to hope he can do better later, same with Jon Rauch. You take real life players and make them feel almost fictional, by adding a "fake" aspect to their lives in this universe through nicknames, etc. The ups and downs of this dynasty is what makes reading it so enjoyable. Keep up the good work Craig! __________________

06-05-2005, 12:17 AM	#410
cknox0723 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2003 Location: NJ Posts: 1,957	sunrise, sunset pt. iv Neither literal nor metaphorical rain comes in the top of the fourth inning -- the former because it's a clear forty degree day, and the latter because by rule, we're not allowed to score a negative amount of runs. We give it a shot, though, stranding Jeremy Reed at second after a one-out walk and stolen base. That ain't great, but it gets worse as Mark Buehrle looks like a completely different pitcher in the bottom of the inning. Shannon Stewart leads off with a single. I sense something ominous when Buehrle smacks Angel Berroa in the small of the back with an errant slider. Sure enough, Mark Bellhorn fouls off a bunch of pitches and then, like Thor, takes a mighty swing of a club and unleashes a fierce, unmistakable hell with a loud sound. Single to center -- now the lead's down to one, there's two men on, and still no one out. What the hell is Mark Buehrle going to do now? "Nothing and one to the third baseman Crede, who flew out in the second. Berroa at second, Bellhorn at first, each with slight leads. They'll stay put as Buehrle comes to the set, holds there for a moment, and now kicks and fires towards home plate. Fastball up in the zone, swung on and hit a long ways to left-center...back is Gonzalez...still going back, at the track, at the wall, he leaps, but that ball is ten rows into the seats! A three-run home run for Joe Crede, his third of the year, and the Tribe jump out on top, 4-2." Well, that'll clear the bases, at least. Were this a century ago, Buehrle would be known as "The $50 Million Dollar Turkey" or "Ol' Four-Run." It's almost unfortunate that it's 2007, and he is still "The Buehrle One." But perhaps because of that, he gives us two more strong innings after finally escaping the fourth. I suppose he's "businesslike", with the emphasis on the second part of the word. And we are still the very unbusinesslike Pale Hose. Our bats go silent over the middle innings. Buehrle walks to start the fifth, Angel Berroa muffs a bouncer off the bat of Ramon Vazquez, and we get two on. Perfect chance for a rally, right? 2B Adam Kennedy: Strikes out looking. RF Magglio Ordonez: Flies out to short left-center. 1B Frank Thomas: Flies out to short left field. No matter how poor a team you can find...there is always the Pale Hose. A double play kills a sixth-inning rally, and we get an encore in the seventh. Poor timing, poor talent, or something else? How much of it is the memory of those three innings where we were beating the guy with that line, damn it, and then having Joe Crede step in and change all that with one cut? The same guy who posted a titanic .274 OBP over 392 at-bats last season steers us straight into an iceberg. We may have trouble scoring runs, but two could have been enough. Thanks to Joe Crede, it wasn't. How do you get up the drive to dust yourself off from that and start a rally? We flail away some more in the last three innings, even after Beckett departs in favor of Fausto Carmona, and the score doesn't change in the slightest all the way up to Yorvit Torrealba, who makes out number twenty-seven by hitting a long fly ball that doesn't have the legs to end up anywhere but in the grasp of Alex Escobar. Once again, I'm left wondering, "What the hell am I going to do now?" Of course I don't have an answer for that. But life would be boring if we had all the answers. We may have lost this one, but Buehrle could have gotten knocked out in the third, or we could have scored our two runs in the ninth, when it was apparent that any hope would have been transparent. Instead, we got to see a three-inning long sunrise before the sun set yet again on our chances at victory. But, as Hootie & the Blowfish once sang, tomorrow is another day, and I don't believe in time. CHW 2 CLE 4 WP: J. Beckett (1-1) - 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 4 K LP: M. Buehrle (0-2) - 6 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 3 K S: F. Carmona (1) Appallingly Above-Average: You might note that Angel Berroa doubled and was also hit by a pitch, leading to one of the four fourth-inning runs, and think he's a dirt-streaked, hard-nosed ballplayer. But Berroa also committed a fifth-inning error with a man on and none out. A good team would have turned that into a run or two -- we didn't. This man also walked all of 19 times last season in 505 at-bats. I'd rather have The Hacktastic One, who's still batting 1.000 -- a perfect one for one.

06-03-2005, 09:11 AM	#405
cknox0723 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2003 Location: NJ Posts: 1,957	i am lucky guy, to be getting all these kind words, both from people who i knew were reading and people i did not. keep it up and someone will end up in my signature soon. thanks, fellas. and not that anyone needs me to tell them this, but make sure to spread the love to some dynasties about teams that'll win more than 50 games.

06-05-2005, 12:45 AM	#411
CTSoxFan Major Leagues Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 493	Tough loss, Buehrle is off to a rough start. But I guess he is just a slow starter...last season he went 0-2 in his first two starts as well. But his third start is when he started to look really good, and shut out the Orioles for 7 innings. Hopefully he can do as well in his third start this season, because I love The Buehrle One __________________

06-05-2005, 09:56 PM	#413
cknox0723 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2003 Location: NJ Posts: 1,957	turning the corner game vii - chw (1-5) @ cle (2-4) - "turning the corner" last year went a little like this...: a 10-5 WIN behind a helluva start from...esteban loaiza. this year should be a little like...: j. garland (0-1, 10.50) vs. c. bartosh (0-0, 2.57) Take a look at this series of numbers and tell me what comes next: Code: 3.55 5.56 4.94 4.84 2.09 1.64 If you are analyzing baseball and come across those numbers under the 'ERA' column, most folks would say that displayed in those numbers is a man that has "turned a corner." That's the phrase, isn't it? "Turned a corner." He's on the verge of becoming an ace, wouldn't you say that? But think about it a second. Where in life can you actually turn a corner? You use the phrase when talking about driving a car -- but that ignores the fact that you can just turn around. Hell, almost all roads are interconnected anyway! You don't turn a corner when making a left onto Spring Valley Road; you're just veering slightly off your original path. Why should that change when applied to baseball analysis? Jon Garland is of course the man detailed above by six numbers, the man who supposedly turned the corner in the last two months of 2006. But in reality, he was just veering slightly off his original path, that of a mediocre pitcher. Code: MONTH IP H/IP BB/IP K/IP ERA April 33 1.03 0.61 0.42 3.55 May 34 1.21 0.74 0.71 5.56 June 31 1.29 0.48 0.71 4.94 July 22.1 1.12 0.45 0.90 4.84 August 38.2 0.62 0.31 0.54 2.09 September 38.1 0.76 0.34 0.44 1.64 While Jon Garland's three-year contract is probably going to be a dud, he was never going to be even half the pitcher that his opponent Cliff Bartosh is, whether Jon Moo has turned a mythical corner or not. Though now that I think about it -- Bartosh won 20 last year, Garland won nine. That's almost half, isn't it? Maybe that's a good sign.

06-05-2005, 10:06 PM	#414
CTSoxFan Major Leagues Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 493	Garland definitely turned the corner this year in real-life, so maybe he can do it for your Pale Hose. I was glad you resigned him, the nickname of Moo makes him worth having on the team, he could be a solid third or fourth starter behind Buerhle and Scarborough on the "next good pale hose team" __________________

06-07-2005, 12:40 PM	#416
cknox0723 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2003 Location: NJ Posts: 1,957	april 12th well, we have reached our first off day after seven straight ballgames. are there any lessons we can learn as we travel into the bronx? no. it's only seven games, after all. but even if we lose the next three, we will finally, triumphantly head home -- for twelve divisional games, in the order of det, cle, kc, and min. so even if we are dead in the water, we won't know until the month's end. seeing as we have this off-day, i considered skipping esteban loaiza's turn in the rotation and pitching jorge depaula for the forthcoming first game against the empire. however, what the hell's the point of that? why have loaiza in the rotation if you're just going to skip him over? in addition, following the normal rotation will allow mark buehrle to start our home opener. maybe it will convince jestor to make the trip from wisconsin. so loaiza, our nominal number three starter, will take on his new york counterpart in tyler clippard, a youngster whose virtues i've sung before. likely esteban will continue to practice "the art of suck", but maybe we'll be surprised. there are also a few surprises early on in this universe. colorado holds the best record of all 30 teams with a 6-1 mark, spurred on by a .339 team batting average and the universe's leader in home runs with 5, left fielder brad hawpe. at 27 years old, the lanky 6'3" southpaw from fort worth is probably poised to see a major spike in his career high slugging percentage of .492, set last year in his sophomore season. but his true value will be found in the most fickle of fates, batting average. since hawpe is not too inclined to take a free pass, his value is limited if his .263 career batting average is indicative of his true talent level. since he is "only" hitting .333 at the moment despite those five home runs and that 1042 slugging percentage, i would guess that hawpe is, in fact, a .260 hitter. colorado will certainly hawpe that is not the case. unbelievably, toronto has also turned in a nice start, winning their first two over tampa bay behind a bevy of runs batted in from vernon wells. the jays then lost a pair of close ones before heading back home...and winning three straight over the pitching-rich orioles. the center fielder wells has 17 rbi (11 in those first two games of the season), orlando hudson is hitting .387 with five doubles, and dave **ing berg, who had a .276 on-base percentage in 400-some at-bats last season, is hitting .318. of course it won't last. but roy halladay** is a brilliant pitcher, definitely an ace, and why not ride the lightning while you can and worry about the apocalypse later?

06-08-2005, 10:05 AM	#418
cknox0723 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2003 Location: NJ Posts: 1,957	well, well -- pt. i life has a way of kicking you when you're down -- to rub salt in the wound, maybe. but it's also a reminder that you're human, that you're alive. we may be 1-6, but we're not dead in the water yet. it takes a phone call from the dodgers to remind us of that. what the hell could they possibly want from us? scarborough mediocre, maybe, who still sports a tidy 7.94 earned run average despite going seven and getting the win in his second start down at charlotte? or could they want the new wild thing, ray butner, or perhaps relief ace joe roa, since they're in need of bullpen help? nope. they want ryan sweeney, the pentultimate in toolsy outfielders. he's a 22 year old with that picturesque left-handed swing -- and on-base percentages of .264, .319, and .286 the last three years. in a-ball. a .308 batting average in his first 26 at-bats this year, 5 runs scored -- and 8 hits, all singles. 6 strikeouts and one walk. if this is a budding ken griffey -- hell, if this is a budding raul gonzalez! -- he is growing like a potato, underground, where i can't see the progress. he is now nicknamed "potato", if you're curious. they also want starting pitching prospect brandon mccarthy, a big right-hander who looks like a giraffe. but there is no such thing as a pitching prospect -- particularly one who is 23 years old and still in single-a. he may have 34 wins over three-plus years at that level, but he had a 6.08 earned run average in a short trial at double-a last year. what the hell do they want with these guys? more importantly, why would they give us anything for them? let alone...well, you'll see. assuming this isn't all a dream.

06-08-2005, 11:46 AM	#419
Vris Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: somewhere where I don't know where I am Posts: 3,251	Uh oh. Big trade coming up for the Pale Hose. Who, I ask you? Who? __________________ None Blog it.

06-08-2005, 05:04 PM	#420
CTSoxFan Major Leagues Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 493	Your driving me crazy with these cliffhangers lol. Who is coming to the Pale House?!?! __________________