Worst to First - The Sequel

[NYY #23]

With a home run in the fourth inning Sammy Sosa tied the single season home run record with 68 home runs in his first year as a Rockie, and set a new record with 173 RBI. It definitely helps following Derek Jeter, who with a 'bad month' finished with a .398 batting average, but Jeter did set a record with 248 hits in a season.

The Rockies did clinch the Wild Card with a 92-70 record, and will be taking on the 91-71 Cubs in the first round of the playoffs.

I'm just happy that we made the playoffs, because anything can happen once you get there. I don't think we'll win, but the Rockies are ready to challenge conventional logic that pitching wins championships. Let's see if we can slug our way to a championship.

[NYY #23]

Our pitching wasn't lined up how I would have wanted it to be, so Carlos Perez got the Game 1 start taking on Chad Ogea of the Cubs. Perez lasted 7 1/3 innings and allowed 3 runs in a good start. Even more surprising our bullpen pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings to shut the door on the Cubs.

Curtis Goodwin was ejected in the first inning for arguing balls and strikes, and his replacement, Ruben Rivera was 3-3 for the night.

Derek Jeter and Sammy Sosa hit back to back home runs in the third inning which accounted for our only runs of the game. The Rockies now lead the Cubs by 1 game.

[NYY #23]

There is only one pitcher I really trust on the Rockies, 23 game winner Bill Pulsipher. Tonight he was fantastic pitching 8 1/3 shutout innings to pick up the win while striking out 11. I wish I could say I saw something special in Pulsipher when I drafted him in the first round, but I didn't. He was just a starting pitcher with stamina who would be thrown into the mix. Let's not forget that I liked Robert Person, who is toiling in the minors for the Reds better than him though, but he has developed really nicely.

Derek Jeter, Sammy Sosa, Charles Johnson, and Craig Grebeck each picked up a pair of hits. Johnson hit a solo home run, while Sosa connected on a 2 run shot, his second of the series.

The Rockies now lead the Cubs 2-0.

[NYY #23]

All of our runs came in the form of home runs tonight, with Charles Johnson hitting a solo home run and Sammy Sosa hitting a 3 run home run, his third of the series.

Unfortunately our pitching couldn't do their job tonight. Hideo Nomo allowed 3 runs in 6 2/3 innings, while Don Heikel got one out while allowing one run, Jeff Robinson allowed 1 run in 1 2/3 innings, and Mark Dewey did his job retiring the only batter he faced.

In reality our pitching staff allowed an average of 5.2 runs per game this year, so they performed about as well as they have all year. It was our offense, which averaged 5.8 runs per game that didn't do their job tonight..

[Trebro]

Couple of things I thought of, sorry if it's answered somewhere in the older parts of this thread:

1) Do you have full minors set up for this?
2) How much of the team's actions do you manage yourself day to day?
3) Do you change anything once the team gets into the playoffs in terms of control?

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by panelpatter

Couple of things I thought of, sorry if it's answered somewhere in the older parts of this thread:

1) Do you have full minors set up for this?
2) How much of the team's actions do you manage yourself day to day?
3) Do you change anything once the team gets into the playoffs in terms of control?

No problem, glad to answer.

1) Right now I'm working with reserve rosters only. When doing historical I've found that the players drafted are pretty close to major league ready, so it doesn't add much. I think once I get to present day I'm going to be adding minors though.
2) I try to stick to GM only activities and stay away from the day to day activities and give my manager control of that. The most that I'll do is set strategy, force start at a certain position, etc.
3) For the most part nothing changes once I get into the playoffs. I will watch the game one at-bat at a time, but I try really hard not to interfere. It's rare, but every once in a while the rotation needs an adjustment, but it's probably been less than a handful of times since I've started.

[NYY #23]

Carlos Perez picked up his second win of the series after going 8 strong innings allowing just 2 runs to send the Rockies to the NLCS.

Chipper Jones hit a 2 run home run today, with Craig Grebeck hitting a 3 run shot. Derek Jeter and Charles Johnson drove home the games other runs.

[NYY #23]

Even though we lost game 1 to the Giants tonight I came into the series thinking we've got a chance. We won the season series 7-6 against the Giants, and the Giants don't have a dominant pitching staff. The Giants were actually a pretty lucky team this year with a 89-73 record (+7 difference). So things aren't totally hopeless.

Back to tonight's game, Bill Pulsipher pitched 8 innings allowing just 2 runs and left the game with a 3-2 lead. But our achillies heal was and is our bullpen. Mark Dewey came into the game in the ninth and retired just one batter before allowing a walk off single to Mark Sweeney, driving in a pair of runs in our 4-3 loss.

All of the Rockies' runs came via the long ball. Charles Johnson hit a 2 run homer, while Chipper Jones hit a solo shot.

[NYY #23]

Last night's goat, Mark Dewey, again entered the game in the ninth inning, this time with a tied game. He allowed just 1 walk in two scoreless innings. Jeff Robinson also pitched a scoreless inning in relief. 3 scoreless innings from the bullpen - wow.

We won the game in the 11th in an unusual way. Sammy Sosa walked, moved to second on a balk, moved to third on a ground ball, and came in to score on a wild pitch. It wasn't pretty, but it did tie up the series 1-1.

The Rockies didn't hit any home runs tonight too, Sammy Sosa doubled home a pair of runs, and Charles Johnson hit a sacrifice fly. It really was a bizarre game.

[NYY #23]

Carlos Perez was the hero in the Wild Card series, but tonight he didn't have his best stuff allowing 6 runs in 7 innings. Jeff Robinson and Jason Dickson each allowed a pair of runs out of the bullpen.

The Rockies tried to mount an improbable comeback in the ninth inning scoring 6 runs to cut the Giants lead to 10-9, but we came up short. Well, to be fair, the Giants tried to give the game away with 4 errors and 2 wild pitches in the ninth, but we still lost.

[NYY #23]

Today's game was for fan's of offense as we combined for 29 runs, 36 hits, and 2 errors. 12 different pitchers appeared in today's game. But the Rockies 19-10 win evens up the series.

Bill Pulsipher was disappointing today allowing 7 runs in 3 innings.

Sammy Sosa hit 3 home runs today, going 4-5 with 4 RBI and 5 runs scored. Kevin Maas homered and went 4-5 with 4 RBI and 4 runs scored. Darren Lewis also added 4 hits and drove in 3 runs. In fact, every Rockie starter but the pitcher's spot in the line-up picked up at least one hit, and every Rockie starter except the pitcher's spot and Derek Jeter drove in a run.

Playoff baseball at Coors Field at it's finest.

[NYY #23]

The Rockies won the game 9-2 behind a steady start by Matt Beech who allowed 2 runs in 7 2/3 innings. Every starter got at least 1 hit tonight, including Matt Beech who was 2-3 with 2 RBI. The Rockies didn't hit any home runs tonight, but now lead the Giants 3-2 in the series.

[NYY #23]

With the wind blowing in 14 miles per hour today's game was about as much of a pitcher's duel as allowed with these two teams.

Hideo Nomo pitched 8 innings allowing 3 runs to pick up the win, outpitching Ismael Valdez, who was a victim of shoddy Giants' defense, which committed 4 errors.

Believe it or not, the Rockies are heading to the World Series.

[NYY #23]

Before we get into the Game 1 recap, a funny thing happened on the way to the World Series (other than the Rockies being a part of it). In the American League the Blue Jays were the best team in baseball with a 104-58 record. The second best team in baseball was the Texas Rangers, who finished with a 97-65 record.

But the 85-77 Oakland A's snuck into the playoffs with a hot September, and the Twins collapse. It's not always the best team that wins, sometimes it's the hottest, and the A's knocked off both the Blue Jays (3-2) and the Rangers (4-2). They lost their season series to both teams this year, but they'll be our opponent in the World Series. While I'm not looking forward to playing a hot team, they are the easiest potential opponent for us.




Bill Pulsipher put us in an early hole after giving up 4 runs in 5 innings, and we trailed the A's 4-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth.

Chipper Jones and Mike Blowers hit solo home runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the deficit to 4-3.

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth Kevin Maas, Ruben Rivera, Curtis Goodwin, Chipper Jones, and Derek Jeter hit consecutive singles to score 3 runs and the Rockies won 6-4.

[NYY #23]

Carlos Perez had a great Wild Card series, terrible League Championship, but got his World Series off to a great start pitching 7 1/3 innings while striking out 13 and allowing just 2 runs to pick up the win.

With just 5 runs and 15 hits combined this was not a typical Coors Field game. Derek Jeter and Curtis Goodwin each picked up 3 hits.

[NYY #23]

The Rockies got 8 of our 9 runs off home runs tonight on a pair of grand slams. The first was hit by Chipper Jones in the 3rd inning, and the second was hit by Sammy Sosa in the seventh.

Hideo Nomo picked up the win after going 7 innings, giving up 4 earned runs.

The Rockies are now just 1 win away from winning the World Series.

[NYY #23]

Up 3 games to none in the World Series I really wanted to finish off the A's today. I don't really trust our pitching too much, so every extra game we play has the potential to be an adventure.

Bill Pulsipher picked up the win today going 8 innings and allowing 3 runs, but none of them were earned.

Sammy Sosa homered and drove in 3 runs today as the Rockies win the game 5-3, and the series 4-0.

I'll be back to wrap up my unexpected exit from Colorado.

[mirrf]

Glad you won, but hate to see you beat the A's.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by mirrf

Glad you won, but hate to see you beat the A's.

Thank you!

[illeracula]

Congrats. That was a nice quick stay in the Rockies... Let me guess the first move you do with your next team is to trade for Jeter?