Climbing The Ladder: Life as a Minor League Manager - Page 5

Vezna31 · 08-26-2010, 01:36 PM

It might be too little, too late, but we had our best month in August, going 15-14. Surprisingly though, we have fallen 3 more games behind 5th place Walnut Grove and a whopping 49 games behind 1st place Port La Belle, which has eclipsed the 100 win mark.

Team batting sits 9th in the league with a .249 average. Stan Johnstone leads the team with a .274 average, 20 HRs, and 65 RBI.

Pitching continues to be the team's weakness, 10th in the league with a 4.83 ERA. Eric Lord leads the team with 9 wins and a 2.79 ERA.

If only I could capitalize on August's decent run and not finish last. I'm wondering if I'll ever get promoted. So much for my goal of making the majors by 1986.

Vezna31 · 08-26-2010, 11:57 PM

Another terrible losing season is in the books. We did make up a couple games on 5th place in the last week going 3-4 in September, but fell short by 1 game to finish in last place again with a record of 55-85. I was given another 1 out 100 score, my 4th in a row. It looks like I have not had much success so far in my journey with a career managerial record of 374-470, a .443 winning percentage.

Team batting ended at 9th in the league with a .248 average. Stan Johnstone lead the team with a .274 average, 20 HRs, and 65 RBI.

Team pitching ended up 10th in the league with a 4.75 ERA. The bullpen really let me down with a 5.03 ERA, worst in the league.

The big news is the hiring of new coaches. I was able to sign a couple of top-notch coaches who I think will help me get out of the basement. Pitching coach Matt Ryan has 17 years of experience and is rated Excellent for pitchers as well as Outstanding for how he handles rookies and veterans.

My new revised goal is to be in the big leagues for the 1989 season.

Vinny P. · 08-27-2010, 12:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vezna31

Another terrible losing season is in the books. We did make up a couple games on 5th place in the last week going 3-4 in September, but fell short by 1 game to finish in last place again with a record of 55-85. I was given another 1 out 100 score, my 4th in a row. It looks like I have not had much success so far in my journey with a career managerial record of 374-470, a .443 winning percentage.

Team batting ended at 9th in the league with a .248 average. Stan Johnstone lead the team with a .274 average, 20 HRs, and 65 RBI.

Team pitching ended up 10th in the league with a 4.75 ERA. The bullpen really let me down with a 5.03 ERA, worst in the league.

The big news is the hiring of new coaches. I was able to sign a couple of top-notch coaches who I think will help me get out of the basement. Pitching coach Matt Ryan has 17 years of experience and is rated Excellent for pitchers as well as Outstanding for how he handles rookies and veterans.

My new revised goal is to be in the big leagues for the 1989 season.

Big leagues in 1989? From AA at the end of 1986, with a terrible record? Sorry, but that's probably wishful thinking.

I am in my fourth year as a minor league manager. Started out in Rookie league. Went to Low-A. Single-A. Skipped AA (was promoted during the playoffs! and won it as the manager. Givena 100/100 score for both Low-A and AA in the same year! lol.)

Now, I am in my second year of AAA, with an incredible record of 98-42, last season, 78-33 this year so far. Combined total of 176-75.

You only have two seasons to work with now, trying to get up there from AA after the 1987 season. Which means you better do incredible in '87, and go practically undefeated in AAA in 1988. Probably should win the championship in both leagues as well.

Vezna31 · 08-27-2010, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vinny P.

Big leagues in 1989? From AA at the end of 1986, with a terrible record? Sorry, but that's probably wishful thinking.

I am in my fourth year as a minor league manager. Started out in Rookie league. Went to Low-A. Single-A. Skipped AA (was promoted during the playoffs! and won it as the manager. Givena 100/100 score for both Low-A and AA in the same year! lol.)

Now, I am in my second year of AAA, with an incredible record of 98-42, last season, 78-33 this year so far. Combined total of 176-75.

You only have two seasons to work with now, trying to get up there from AA after the 1987 season. Which means you better do incredible in '87, and go practically undefeated in AAA in 1988. Probably should win the championship in both leagues as well.

Yeah, you are right. But I wrote this story about a month ago and I don't want to re-write anything. I like looking back and reading (and posting) my stories as they were.

Vezna31 · 08-27-2010, 01:52 AM

Missed this post in the timelime:

The 1985 season was capped with 2 inductees into the Hall of Fame.

Willie McCovey - .272/.378/.522, 2,105 H, 505 HR, 1,484 RBI, 1,296 BB
Mickey Lolich - 217-193, 3.48 ERA, 195 CG, 41 SO, 2,864 K

I feel the election of Lolich is a little weak. I would have held out unless he had 250 wins.

Vinny P. · 08-27-2010, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vezna31

Yeah, you are right. But I wrote this story about a month ago and I don't want to re-write anything. I like looking back and reading (and posting) my stories as they were.

AAh. That's right! You said that already! My bad. Carry on.

Vezna31 · 08-27-2010, 03:27 PM

The AL East had a new winner this year, as the Milwaukee Brewers took the top spot by winning a 1 game playoff against the Detroit Tigers. The Brewers finished with a 91-72 record.

In the West, once again, it was the Minnesota Twins taking the division by 4 games over the Texas Rangers with a record of 93-69.

In the NL East, the St Louis Cardinals rose to power fending off the Philadelphia Phillies by a 5 game margin and finishing with a record of 98-64.

In the NL West, The San Francisco Giants returned to the top by a 7 game margin with the best record in baseball of 103-59 over the Los Angesles Dodgers.

In the ALCS, the Twins turned it on and swept the Brewers 4-0. In the NLCS, the Giants needed 5 games to send the Cardinals home for the offseason.

The World Series pitted the Giants against the Twins. Game 1 was highlighted by the 3 runs scored by the Giants in the bottom of the 7th inning to come from behind to win 7-5 to take a 1-0 lead in the series.

In Game 2, The Giants Teddy Higuera dominated all day, scattering 9 hits and winning 6-0 to go up 2-0 in the series.

In Game 3, the Twins came back and tied the game in the bottom of the 9th by scoring 2 runs, but the Giants had the baseball gods on their side and scored a run in the top of the 10th and held on to win 5-4 to go 3-0 in the series.

In Game 4, the game remained scoreless until the top of the 7th when the Giants busted out with 4 runs. Giants starter Ron Darling held them scoreless until 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, when Cal Ripken slammed a solo shot. That prompted the SF manager to bring in Closer Dave Smith who fanned the last batter to earn the save and win the game 4-1 completing the series sweep for the Giants. Teddy Higuera was the overwhelming pick for the playoff MVP as he went 3-0 with a 0.72 ERA, pitching 25 innings and surrendering only 2 runs while striking out 25.

League award winners were as follows:

AL MVP - Nick Esasky (SEA) - .305/.378/.623, 44 HR, 126 RBI
AL Cy Young - Mike Krukow (TEX) - 23-8, 3.00 ERA, 297.1 IP, 191 K
AL ROY - Mark McGwire (TEX) - .297/.389/.579, 45 HR, 126 RBI

NL MVP - Don Mattingly (SFN) - .363/.416/.600, 34 HR, 129 RBI
NL Cy Young - Bryn Smith (SLN) - 21-4, 2.16 ERA, 296.0 IP, 167 K
NL ROY - Rafael Palmeiro (PHI) - .314/.359/.614, 34 HR, 84 RBI

The Phillies had another great season finishing 2nd behind the Cardinals. The pitching staff was ranked 5th with a 3.95 ERA. The staff was led by David Cone (15-6, 2.86 ERA), Frank Viola (16-14, 3.53 ERA), and Rick Sutcliffe (12-7, 3.87 ERA). The Phillies offense was 4th in the league with a .275 AVG. They were led by rookie Raphael Palmeiro (.314, 34 HR, 84 RBI), George Bell (.305, 37 HR, 127 RBI), Rich Gedman (.297, 20 HR, 87 RBI), and Joe Carter (.271, 22 HR, 82 RBI). The team has a good core of young and talented players to keep them at or near the top for some years to come.

Vezna31 · 08-28-2010, 10:18 PM

Huge news this offseason when it was announced by the Phillies that 37 year old All-Star third basemen Mike Schmidt was traded to the New York Yankees for 33 year old reliever Larry Andersen.

Schmidt has played in 2099 games with a .266 batting average. Among his 1954 hits are 475 home runs. He also has scored 1359 runs, stolen 184 bases and driven in 1342 runs.

Vezna31 · 08-28-2010, 10:20 PM

The Houston Astros have finalized a deal with the Philadelphia Phillies for the services of 35-year-old reliever Rich Gossage. In exchange, the Phillies will receive 27-year-old a minor league center fielder.

On his career ledger Gossage has a 88-108 mark, 801 appearances, 343 saves and a 3.30 ERA. He has 1151 strikeouts in 1376.2 innings pitched.

Vezna31 · 08-28-2010, 10:32 PM

There were 3 inductees into the Hall of Fame this year. This year's class was led by Pete Rose. Joining Rose were pitchers Tom Seaver and Ferguson Jenkins.

Career stats for the players were as follows:

Pete Rose - .307/.376/.425, 3,447 H, 619 2B, 116 3B, 1,044 RBI, 1,195 BB
Tom Seaver - 250-185, 2.90 ERA, 3,215 K, 213 CG, 49 SO
Ferguson Jenkins - 278-192, 3.22 ERA, 3,059 K, 274 CG, 48 SO

Vezna31 · 08-31-2010, 11:50 PM

A new season is here and the management has informed me that he wants me to play .500 ball. The big question is if that is even possible. The roster has not not changed much. There are no superstars to develop, so I am relying on the outstanding coaches hired at the end of last year to really help me turn this team around.

Vezna31 · 08-31-2010, 11:51 PM

This was a nice surprise. After being out of contention almost immediately over the last 4 season, we finally got off to a good start, going 9-7 in April and 2nd place only 1 game behind 1st place Saint James.

Team batting was strong with a .284 average, 3rd best in the league, led by RF Brian Livingston at .333, R Barbosa at .324, and Denny Benson at .311.

Team pitching also did well with a 3.72 ERA, good for 4th in the league. The bullpen, usually our weakness, was exceptional with a 2.49 ERA. Three of the four relievers have sub-2.00 ERAs. Eric Lord leads the starters with a 3.09 ERA.

It is too early to say yet, but I would love to give all the credit to the good start to the great hitting and pitching coaches I signed, but first let's see if it continues.

Vezna31 · 09-04-2010, 07:31 PM

So, the good start was completely squandered. I honestly think I experienced the worst period of baseball this month than any other time in my managerial career. We went a pathetic 9-20 for the month, but that is actually nothing. We had a 13 game losing streak in the middle of the month and were 1-16 over that horrendous period. It is utterly amazing that I am only 8 games behind 1st place Port La Belle and still in 4th place.

Team batting dropped to 8th in the league, falling to .254. SS Kurt Stillwell leads the team in batting at .362, the only player over .300. He also leads with 4 HRs.

Team pitching also dropped to 8th in the league at 4.33 ERA. As good as the bullpen was in April, it was the complete opposite in May, dropping to worst in the league with a 4.81 ERA. Everton Fosset leads the team with wins and a 3.11 ERA.

So, even though we had a terrible month, if I could avoid dropping into last place, I think I can get promoted.

Vezna31 · 09-10-2010, 02:20 AM

June wasn't a terrible month. Going 11-14 for the month, we are 10 games behind 1st place Port La Belle. The good news is that we are still in 5th place, 16 games ahead of last place Walnut Grove. They have a terrible 13-57 record for a .186 winning percentage. That is a pace to lose 100 games in a 140 game season.

Team batting improved a little to .250, but was still 9th in the league. OF Denny Benson led the team with a .279 average and RBI with 28, while Sergio Chavez led the team in HRs with 8.

Team pitching also improved to 7th in the league with a 4.29 ERA. The bullpen is still struggling with a 4.84 ERA. Leading the team is David Spicer with 5 wins, 3.03 ERA and 87 Ks.

Player movement will have us starting July with some quality players. I'm looking forward to taking advantage of it as much as I can before they are moved again.

Vezna31 · 09-11-2010, 05:11 AM

The top 10 picks in the rookie draft were as follows:

1) SP Erik Hanson - NYM
2) SP Greg Harris - PIT
3) SP Brian Holman - CAL
4) SP Ken Hill - CHA
5) SP John Smoltz - HOU
6) SP Ramon Martinez - BAL
7) SP Randy Johnson - CIN
8) SP Rick Reed - OAK
9) SP Jeff Robinson - BOS
10) RF Ron Jones - SDN

Some other notables were:

14) 1B Mark Grace - MON
18) 2B Roberto Alomar - CLE
21) 3B Ken Caminiti - DET
40) SS Gary Sheffield - SF

The Phillies had a very weak draft. Their picks were: LF Greg Briley (24th), MR Israel Sanchez (68th), MR Oswaldo Peraza (95th), MR Gordon Dillard (122nd). There won't be much talent flowing to me from this draft, that is for certain.

Vezna31 · 09-11-2010, 01:21 PM

The month of July was a good month. Things seemed to come together more. We went 16-13 for the month, one of the few months over .500 win percentage since taking over this team. We lifted up to 4th place and we are only 3 games behind the 2 teams that are tied for 2nd place.

Team batting stayed roughly the same at 9th in the league with a .249 average. Leading the offensive categories are 1B Jim Eppard with a .310 average and newcomer CF Lee Graham batted .344. Sergio Chavez continues to lead in HRs with 9 and C Steve Lake leads in RBI with 30.

Team pitching is the main reason for the improvement as we improved to a staff ERA of 4.01, 5th in the league. Bullpen ERA improved to 4.15, although still ranked 10th in the league. Luis Salinas leads the team with 7 wins and a 3.11 ERA. MR Pedro Ontiveros has been excellent in the Closer role, pitching 45 innings, saving 14 games with an ERA of only 1.97.

Need to keep up his pace and I can see a promotion in my future if we do!

Vezna31 · 09-18-2010, 09:57 PM

Damn...this is really frustrating. Just when I felt like I am about to make up some ground, the team implodes. We had a crap month going 10-18 in August, and we are in 5th place, only 1 game behind 4th place Lexington.

Team batting fell to 10th in the league with an average of .244. Jim Eppard leads the team with a .290 average. Pepe DeLeon leads in HRs with 13, but is hitting a weak .220.

Team pitching was 7th in the league with a 4.15 ERA. The starters continued to improve with a 4.05 ERA which was 5th in the league. The relievers were only 10th. Ryan Kirkpatrick and Luis Salinas were tied for the team lead in wins with 9, but Salinas had the better ERA, 3.39 vs Kirkpatrick's 3.97. Closer Pedro Ontiveros is having a very good season with 22 Saves and a 2.61 ERA.

So, I think it is really on the line here for my promotion. I think I can get it finishing 4th. I have 13 games left to make up 1 game on Lexington.

Vezna31 · 09-19-2010, 02:23 PM

Major choke to end the season. We went 3-10 and I finished 1 game behind Lexington to stay in 5th place with a 58-82 record. Even worse, I was given another 1 out of 100 score for the 5th straight season, which means probably no promotion. Looks like I am going to miss my goal of being in the majors by 1989.

Team batting remained 10th in the league with a .244 average. Jim Eppard dropped to a .273 average. DeLeon ended with 16 HRs and C Steve Lake led the team with 51 RBI.

Team Pitching was 7th in the league. We had 2 new starters for the last 2 weeks. Michael Harding went 0-3 with a 9.49 ERA and Ryan Maloney went 0-3 with a 6.91 ERA. This was an obvious fail in making up ground.

So, another season ends with what seems to be a lifetime as manager of this team. My lifetime managerial record is now 432-552. All that is left is to root for the big club as the Phillies are in 1st place.

Vezna31 · 09-21-2010, 02:54 AM

Game 1 of the NLCS was played in Philadelphia. It pitted the Phillies 19-game winner Frank Viola against 21-game winner Teddy Higuera. The Giants got on the board in the 3rd Inning, scoring a run. The Phillies came back with 2 in the bottom of the 4th with a 2 run shot by George Bell. The phillies put another 2 runs on the board in the bottom of the 8th on a 2-run shot by Paul O'Neil. The Giants got one run back in the 9th, but that was all they could get as Tim Burke got his 1st save of the series in a 4-2 Phillies victory.

Vezna31 · 09-24-2010, 10:49 PM

Game 2 of the Giants-Phillies series pitted the Giants' Nolan Ryan (19-14, 3.77 ERA) against the Phillies Brett Saberhagen (19-8, 3.05 ERA).

What was expected to be a great pitcher's duel left the hometown Phillies fans disappointed. The Giants tallied a run in the 1st inning and had built up a 5-0 lead by the 6th inning. The Phillies finally got a run in the bottom of the 6th. They were only able to get 6 hits off of Ryan. Ryan did, however, walk 7 batters, but the Phillies could not capitalize as they lost 5-1.

With the series tied at 1-1, it would now move to San Francisco for the next 3 games.

08-26-2010, 01:36 PM	#81
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	August 1986 - An Improvement It might be too little, too late, but we had our best month in August, going 15-14. Surprisingly though, we have fallen 3 more games behind 5th place Walnut Grove and a whopping 49 games behind 1st place Port La Belle, which has eclipsed the 100 win mark. Team batting sits 9th in the league with a .249 average. Stan Johnstone leads the team with a .274 average, 20 HRs, and 65 RBI. Pitching continues to be the team's weakness, 10th in the league with a 4.83 ERA. Eric Lord leads the team with 9 wins and a 2.79 ERA. If only I could capitalize on August's decent run and not finish last. I'm wondering if I'll ever get promoted. So much for my goal of making the majors by 1986. __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.

08-26-2010, 11:57 PM	#82
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	Sept 1986 - End of Season Another terrible losing season is in the books. We did make up a couple games on 5th place in the last week going 3-4 in September, but fell short by 1 game to finish in last place again with a record of 55-85. I was given another 1 out 100 score, my 4th in a row. It looks like I have not had much success so far in my journey with a career managerial record of 374-470, a .443 winning percentage. Team batting ended at 9th in the league with a .248 average. Stan Johnstone lead the team with a .274 average, 20 HRs, and 65 RBI. Team pitching ended up 10th in the league with a 4.75 ERA. The bullpen really let me down with a 5.03 ERA, worst in the league. The big news is the hiring of new coaches. I was able to sign a couple of top-notch coaches who I think will help me get out of the basement. Pitching coach Matt Ryan has 17 years of experience and is rated Excellent for pitchers as well as Outstanding for how he handles rookies and veterans. My new revised goal is to be in the big leagues for the 1989 season. __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.

08-27-2010, 01:52 AM	#85
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	1985 HOF Inductees Missed this post in the timelime: The 1985 season was capped with 2 inductees into the Hall of Fame. Willie McCovey - .272/.378/.522, 2,105 H, 505 HR, 1,484 RBI, 1,296 BB Mickey Lolich - 217-193, 3.48 ERA, 195 CG, 41 SO, 2,864 K I feel the election of Lolich is a little weak. I would have held out unless he had 250 wins. __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.

08-27-2010, 03:27 PM	#87
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	1986 MLB Recap The AL East had a new winner this year, as the Milwaukee Brewers took the top spot by winning a 1 game playoff against the Detroit Tigers. The Brewers finished with a 91-72 record. In the West, once again, it was the Minnesota Twins taking the division by 4 games over the Texas Rangers with a record of 93-69. In the NL East, the St Louis Cardinals rose to power fending off the Philadelphia Phillies by a 5 game margin and finishing with a record of 98-64. In the NL West, The San Francisco Giants returned to the top by a 7 game margin with the best record in baseball of 103-59 over the Los Angesles Dodgers. In the ALCS, the Twins turned it on and swept the Brewers 4-0. In the NLCS, the Giants needed 5 games to send the Cardinals home for the offseason. The World Series pitted the Giants against the Twins. Game 1 was highlighted by the 3 runs scored by the Giants in the bottom of the 7th inning to come from behind to win 7-5 to take a 1-0 lead in the series. In Game 2, The Giants Teddy Higuera dominated all day, scattering 9 hits and winning 6-0 to go up 2-0 in the series. In Game 3, the Twins came back and tied the game in the bottom of the 9th by scoring 2 runs, but the Giants had the baseball gods on their side and scored a run in the top of the 10th and held on to win 5-4 to go 3-0 in the series. In Game 4, the game remained scoreless until the top of the 7th when the Giants busted out with 4 runs. Giants starter Ron Darling held them scoreless until 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th, when Cal Ripken slammed a solo shot. That prompted the SF manager to bring in Closer Dave Smith who fanned the last batter to earn the save and win the game 4-1 completing the series sweep for the Giants. Teddy Higuera was the overwhelming pick for the playoff MVP as he went 3-0 with a 0.72 ERA, pitching 25 innings and surrendering only 2 runs while striking out 25. League award winners were as follows: AL MVP - Nick Esasky (SEA) - .305/.378/.623, 44 HR, 126 RBI AL Cy Young - Mike Krukow (TEX) - 23-8, 3.00 ERA, 297.1 IP, 191 K AL ROY - Mark McGwire (TEX) - .297/.389/.579, 45 HR, 126 RBI NL MVP - Don Mattingly (SFN) - .363/.416/.600, 34 HR, 129 RBI NL Cy Young - Bryn Smith (SLN) - 21-4, 2.16 ERA, 296.0 IP, 167 K NL ROY - Rafael Palmeiro (PHI) - .314/.359/.614, 34 HR, 84 RBI The Phillies had another great season finishing 2nd behind the Cardinals. The pitching staff was ranked 5th with a 3.95 ERA. The staff was led by David Cone (15-6, 2.86 ERA), Frank Viola (16-14, 3.53 ERA), and Rick Sutcliffe (12-7, 3.87 ERA). The Phillies offense was 4th in the league with a .275 AVG. They were led by rookie Raphael Palmeiro (.314, 34 HR, 84 RBI), George Bell (.305, 37 HR, 127 RBI), Rich Gedman (.297, 20 HR, 87 RBI), and Joe Carter (.271, 22 HR, 82 RBI). The team has a good core of young and talented players to keep them at or near the top for some years to come. __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes. Last edited by Vezna31; 08-27-2010 at 03:31 PM.

08-28-2010, 10:18 PM	#88
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	Dec 4 1986 - Mike Schmidt Traded! Huge news this offseason when it was announced by the Phillies that 37 year old All-Star third basemen Mike Schmidt was traded to the New York Yankees for 33 year old reliever Larry Andersen. Schmidt has played in 2099 games with a .266 batting average. Among his 1954 hits are 475 home runs. He also has scored 1359 runs, stolen 184 bases and driven in 1342 runs. __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.

08-28-2010, 10:20 PM	#89
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	Dec 26 1986 - Gossage Traded The Houston Astros have finalized a deal with the Philadelphia Phillies for the services of 35-year-old reliever Rich Gossage. In exchange, the Phillies will receive 27-year-old a minor league center fielder. On his career ledger Gossage has a 88-108 mark, 801 appearances, 343 saves and a 3.30 ERA. He has 1151 strikeouts in 1376.2 innings pitched. __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.

08-28-2010, 10:32 PM	#90
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	"Charlie Hustle" heads 1986 HOF inductees There were 3 inductees into the Hall of Fame this year. This year's class was led by Pete Rose. Joining Rose were pitchers Tom Seaver and Ferguson Jenkins. Career stats for the players were as follows: Pete Rose - .307/.376/.425, 3,447 H, 619 2B, 116 3B, 1,044 RBI, 1,195 BB Tom Seaver - 250-185, 2.90 ERA, 3,215 K, 213 CG, 49 SO Ferguson Jenkins - 278-192, 3.22 ERA, 3,059 K, 274 CG, 48 SO __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.

08-31-2010, 11:50 PM	#91
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	Opeing Day 1987 A new season is here and the management has informed me that he wants me to play .500 ball. The big question is if that is even possible. The roster has not not changed much. There are no superstars to develop, so I am relying on the outstanding coaches hired at the end of last year to really help me turn this team around. __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.

08-31-2010, 11:51 PM	#92
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	April 1987 - A Good Start This was a nice surprise. After being out of contention almost immediately over the last 4 season, we finally got off to a good start, going 9-7 in April and 2nd place only 1 game behind 1st place Saint James. Team batting was strong with a .284 average, 3rd best in the league, led by RF Brian Livingston at .333, R Barbosa at .324, and Denny Benson at .311. Team pitching also did well with a 3.72 ERA, good for 4th in the league. The bullpen, usually our weakness, was exceptional with a 2.49 ERA. Three of the four relievers have sub-2.00 ERAs. Eric Lord leads the starters with a 3.09 ERA. It is too early to say yet, but I would love to give all the credit to the good start to the great hitting and pitching coaches I signed, but first let's see if it continues. __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.

09-04-2010, 07:31 PM	#93
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	May 1987 - Seems like Old Times So, the good start was completely squandered. I honestly think I experienced the worst period of baseball this month than any other time in my managerial career. We went a pathetic 9-20 for the month, but that is actually nothing. We had a 13 game losing streak in the middle of the month and were 1-16 over that horrendous period. It is utterly amazing that I am only 8 games behind 1st place Port La Belle and still in 4th place. Team batting dropped to 8th in the league, falling to .254. SS Kurt Stillwell leads the team in batting at .362, the only player over .300. He also leads with 4 HRs. Team pitching also dropped to 8th in the league at 4.33 ERA. As good as the bullpen was in April, it was the complete opposite in May, dropping to worst in the league with a 4.81 ERA. Everton Fosset leads the team with wins and a 3.11 ERA. So, even though we had a terrible month, if I could avoid dropping into last place, I think I can get promoted. __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.

09-10-2010, 02:20 AM	#94
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	June 1987 - Maintaining Place June wasn't a terrible month. Going 11-14 for the month, we are 10 games behind 1st place Port La Belle. The good news is that we are still in 5th place, 16 games ahead of last place Walnut Grove. They have a terrible 13-57 record for a .186 winning percentage. That is a pace to lose 100 games in a 140 game season. Team batting improved a little to .250, but was still 9th in the league. OF Denny Benson led the team with a .279 average and RBI with 28, while Sergio Chavez led the team in HRs with 8. Team pitching also improved to 7th in the league with a 4.29 ERA. The bullpen is still struggling with a 4.84 ERA. Leading the team is David Spicer with 5 wins, 3.03 ERA and 87 Ks. Player movement will have us starting July with some quality players. I'm looking forward to taking advantage of it as much as I can before they are moved again. __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.

09-11-2010, 05:11 AM	#95
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	June 15 1987 - Rookie Draft The top 10 picks in the rookie draft were as follows: 1) SP Erik Hanson - NYM 2) SP Greg Harris - PIT 3) SP Brian Holman - CAL 4) SP Ken Hill - CHA 5) SP John Smoltz - HOU 6) SP Ramon Martinez - BAL 7) SP Randy Johnson - CIN 8) SP Rick Reed - OAK 9) SP Jeff Robinson - BOS 10) RF Ron Jones - SDN Some other notables were: 14) 1B Mark Grace - MON 18) 2B Roberto Alomar - CLE 21) 3B Ken Caminiti - DET 40) SS Gary Sheffield - SF The Phillies had a very weak draft. Their picks were: LF Greg Briley (24th), MR Israel Sanchez (68th), MR Oswaldo Peraza (95th), MR Gordon Dillard (122nd). There won't be much talent flowing to me from this draft, that is for certain. __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.

09-11-2010, 01:21 PM	#96
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	July 1987 - Gaining Some Ground The month of July was a good month. Things seemed to come together more. We went 16-13 for the month, one of the few months over .500 win percentage since taking over this team. We lifted up to 4th place and we are only 3 games behind the 2 teams that are tied for 2nd place. Team batting stayed roughly the same at 9th in the league with a .249 average. Leading the offensive categories are 1B Jim Eppard with a .310 average and newcomer CF Lee Graham batted .344. Sergio Chavez continues to lead in HRs with 9 and C Steve Lake leads in RBI with 30. Team pitching is the main reason for the improvement as we improved to a staff ERA of 4.01, 5th in the league. Bullpen ERA improved to 4.15, although still ranked 10th in the league. Luis Salinas leads the team with 7 wins and a 3.11 ERA. MR Pedro Ontiveros has been excellent in the Closer role, pitching 45 innings, saving 14 games with an ERA of only 1.97. Need to keep up his pace and I can see a promotion in my future if we do! __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.

09-18-2010, 09:57 PM	#97
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	Aug 1987 - Come On!! Damn...this is really frustrating. Just when I felt like I am about to make up some ground, the team implodes. We had a crap month going 10-18 in August, and we are in 5th place, only 1 game behind 4th place Lexington. Team batting fell to 10th in the league with an average of .244. Jim Eppard leads the team with a .290 average. Pepe DeLeon leads in HRs with 13, but is hitting a weak .220. Team pitching was 7th in the league with a 4.15 ERA. The starters continued to improve with a 4.05 ERA which was 5th in the league. The relievers were only 10th. Ryan Kirkpatrick and Luis Salinas were tied for the team lead in wins with 9, but Salinas had the better ERA, 3.39 vs Kirkpatrick's 3.97. Closer Pedro Ontiveros is having a very good season with 22 Saves and a 2.61 ERA. So, I think it is really on the line here for my promotion. I think I can get it finishing 4th. I have 13 games left to make up 1 game on Lexington. __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.

09-19-2010, 02:23 PM	#98
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	Sept 1987 - CHOKE!! Major choke to end the season. We went 3-10 and I finished 1 game behind Lexington to stay in 5th place with a 58-82 record. Even worse, I was given another 1 out of 100 score for the 5th straight season, which means probably no promotion. Looks like I am going to miss my goal of being in the majors by 1989. Team batting remained 10th in the league with a .244 average. Jim Eppard dropped to a .273 average. DeLeon ended with 16 HRs and C Steve Lake led the team with 51 RBI. Team Pitching was 7th in the league. We had 2 new starters for the last 2 weeks. Michael Harding went 0-3 with a 9.49 ERA and Ryan Maloney went 0-3 with a 6.91 ERA. This was an obvious fail in making up ground. So, another season ends with what seems to be a lifetime as manager of this team. My lifetime managerial record is now 432-552. All that is left is to root for the big club as the Phillies are in 1st place. __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.

09-21-2010, 02:54 AM	#99
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	NLCS - Phillies vs Giants Game 1 Game 1 of the NLCS was played in Philadelphia. It pitted the Phillies 19-game winner Frank Viola against 21-game winner Teddy Higuera. The Giants got on the board in the 3rd Inning, scoring a run. The Phillies came back with 2 in the bottom of the 4th with a 2 run shot by George Bell. The phillies put another 2 runs on the board in the bottom of the 8th on a 2-run shot by Paul O'Neil. The Giants got one run back in the 9th, but that was all they could get as Tim Burke got his 1st save of the series in a 4-2 Phillies victory. __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.

09-24-2010, 10:49 PM	#100
Vezna31 All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Wherever My VPN says Posts: 1,989	1987 NLCS - Game 2 Game 2 of the Giants-Phillies series pitted the Giants' Nolan Ryan (19-14, 3.77 ERA) against the Phillies Brett Saberhagen (19-8, 3.05 ERA). What was expected to be a great pitcher's duel left the hometown Phillies fans disappointed. The Giants tallied a run in the 1st inning and had built up a 5-0 lead by the 6th inning. The Phillies finally got a run in the bottom of the 6th. They were only able to get 6 hits off of Ryan. Ryan did, however, walk 7 batters, but the Phillies could not capitalize as they lost 5-1. With the series tied at 1-1, it would now move to San Francisco for the next 3 games. __________________ Owner/Operator - Vezna Financial Services - Accounting and taxes.