Worst to First - The Sequel

[NYY #23]

With our season on the line we sent out Matt Clement tonight. Clement didn't disappoint and pitched a complete game while allowing just 1 run. This was Clement's first complete game since the 1999 season, and it couldn't have come at a better time.

Alfonso Soriano connected on a two run home run today, while Juan Gonzalez and D T Cromer each hit solo home runs.

The Diamondbacks will now head to the World Series where we'll take on that other underdog team, the Seattle Mariners. It'll be a battle of the 89-73 Diamondbacks vs. the 86-76 Mariners.

[NYY #23]

Game 1 wasn't pretty, but I suppose that is what happens when two fairly evenly matched teams face off in the World Series, neither of whom could really be considered the best in their league. Three teams had better records in each league than the World Series teams.

The Mariners have been playing the entire postseason without their ace, Chris Carpenter, who has been on the disabled list. They were starting Joe Grahe (11-11, 3.53) tonight to oppose Tim Hudson (15-10, 3.25).

The Diamondbacks got on the board first in the bottom of the first scoring a pair of runs, and finally pulled ahead for good in the bottom of the sixth. Tim Hudson stuck around long enough to pick up the win, going eight innings and allowing 4 runs. Blaine Neal pitched a scoreless ninth for his 4th save of the postseason. He's going to be due for a huge raise in arbitration after picking up 45 saves this year with a 2.69 ERA.

Bobby Crosby drove in a pair of runs tonight. Mike Ryan, Ivan Rodriguez, and Juan Gonzalez also drove in runs. I do have to give credit to Gonzalez, he at least is coming up big in the postseason, as he has done throughout his career. He finished tonight hitting .388 with 5 home runs and 11 RBI in the playoffs. This is his fifth playoff appearance in his career, and he's never hit less than .328 in any of his postseason appearances.

[NYY #23]

Barry Zito pitched well enough to pick up the win tonight, going 7 innings and allowing just 1 run, but he left the game with Arizona trailing 1-0 and picked up the loss. Jerrod Riggan did more damage though, allowing 2 runs in the final two innings.

We couldn't get to Mariner's starter Chris Haney until the eighth inning, and even then we could only score two runs on solo home runs by Ivan Rodriguez and Alfonso Soriano.

Soriano was 4-5 tonight. With the Mariners 3-2 win the series is now tied up at 1 as we hit the road to Seattle.

[NYY #23]

Matt Clement and Greg Jones combined on the six hitter tonight with Clement picking up the win.

D T Cromer got the scoring started with an RBI double in the first, and later connected on a solo home run. Coco Crisp, Mike Ryan, Ivan Rodriguez, and Bill Mueller drove in the other runs of the game.

The Diamondbacks take the 2-1 series lead after the 6-1 win.

[NYY #23]

There is nothing more frustrating than blowing a 3-0 lead with 12 outs remaining in the game to end up losing 4-3 to even up the series.

Jose Lima go the start for Arizona tonight and went 7 innings allowing 2 runs. Jerrod Riggan allowed a run without retiring a batter, and Chad Cordero pitched an inning and allowed a run, earning the loss.

Ivan Rodriguez hit a two run homer for Arizona, and Mike Lowell doubled in our only other run.

[NYY #23]

Win or lose we would be heading back to Arizona for Game 6, but I really would feel better heading back knowing we needed to win just 1 of the final 2 games.

Tim Hudson picked up the win tonight, despite a sub-par outing where he allowed 5 runs in 7 innings. Our offense deserves most of the credit tonight though, putting up 10 runs to get the win.

Mike Ryan was 2-5 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI that came on a two run homer. D T Cromer, Mike Lowell, and Bobby Crosby each drove in 2 runs tonight, while Ivan Rodriguez and Bill Mueller drove in a run.

After an off day tomorrow we head back home to try and close out the series.

[NYY #23]

This really was a long and crazy game, and I don't even know where to begin with our recap. You really could break this game down into three parts. Part one was innings 1-5 where the Diamondbacks build a 9-2 lead. Part two was our implosion where we allowed 7 runs in the 7th, 8th, and 9th. Then finally part three was the 1-0 pitchers duel that took place from the 10th through the 16th.

Let's start with part 3 first, because that was the most improbable. We got big contributions from two guys who barely made the postseason roster. Kurt Ainsworth was 7-4 this year with a 5.52 ERA, and Jason Marquis was 2-4 with a 5.68 ERA.

Tonight they combined for six shutout innings where they allowed just 1 hit, and 2 walks, while combining for 7 strikeouts.

I don't want to say we had to win this game, because technically we didn't, but with an already shaky bullpen I really didn't want to play Game 7 after 16 innings.

So once again our rally started with a D T Cromer single that left me wondering who exactly is this guy? Bill Mueller walked, Alfonso Soriano singled, and Bobby Crosby walked on 5 pitches as Arizona walked off 10-9 winners, and World Series Champions!

Juan Gonzalez was 4-8 on the night with 3 RBI and 1 run scored. Ivan Rodriguez picked up 3 hits and drove in a pair of runs. Mike Ryan was 2-5 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored before being replaced in a double switch.

Every starter got a hit tonight and the teams combined to use 39 players in the game. This was definitely an interesting way to win the World Series.

[NYY #23]

6 years later it's time to say goodbye to Arizona, my 21st team, as we really enter the home stretch with just 9 teams remaining. Taking control of an expansion team again was fun, and we got to respectable pretty quickly, although we did win the World Series with an 89 win team, which admittedly had some holes.

There wasn't much trading with the Diamondbacks, but I do feel like I backed myself into a corner going the free agent route too soon and building an average team in year 2, forcing myself to fill holes through free agency, and not really using the draft to our advantage. And the drafting that we did do wasn't all that great.

But we got the job done regardless, so a final look at my time in Arizona -

Arizona Diamondbacks - Expansion
1998 - Arizona Diamondbacks 58-104 (.358) 44 GB (Season Score - 1)
1999 - Arizona Diamondbacks 83-79 (.512) 18 GB (Season Score - 62)
2000 - Arizona Diamondbacks 89-73 (.549) 11 GB (Lose to St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 in Wild Card, Season Score - 70)
2001 - Arizona Diamondbacks 78-84 (.481) 22 GB (Season Score - 1)
2002 - Arizona Diamondbacks 88-74 (.543) 3 GB (Season Score - 68)
2003 - Arizona Diamondbacks 89-73 (.549) -GB (Defeated Chicago Cubs 3-1 in Wild Card, Defeated St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 in LCS, Defeated Seattle Mariners 4-2 in World Series, Season Score - 97)

[NYY #23]

The Marlins have the 27th highest budget, with the 15th highest payroll, are losing about $5 million per year, and are about $30 million in the hole. (29.3 to be exact)

Our highest paid player, Jason Giambi ended the season on the DL after adding 0 WAR last year. Our next highest paid player is 35 year old free agent to be Butch Henry, our ace who went 15-11 with a 3.71 ERA last year.

We've got an aging roster, 10 potential free agents, and already plenty of holes to fill. So be warned Marlins fans, it could get worse before it gets better.

The Marlins have been to the playoffs 5 times in their history, but have never won a World Championship. Let's see if we can change their fortunes.

[NYY #23]

The Marlins drafted fourth in the amateur draft and selected CF Curtis Granderson with our top pick. The Marlins also had the 31st pick in the draft, and we selected RF Alex Rios. We had to take signability into account, and I already wish there was a starting pitcher available who we could have taken.

In the supplemental round we selected 3B Dallas McPherson and 1B Casey Kotchman.

The second round saw the Marlins drafting reliever Chad Qualls with relievers Sean Burnett, Justin Huisman, Mike Johnston, and 1B Andy Dominique rounding out the draft.

With four Type A free agents and one Type B free agent I decide to offer arbitration to all five players (SP Butch Henry, MR Kelvim Escobar, 1B Mo Vaughn, 3B Mark Loretta, and 3B Neifi Perez). I'd really be happy if all decline arbitration so we can get the extra picks.

[NYY #23]

The Marlins finished with a better than expected 10-13 record in April. We definitely have problems with our rotation, and not a lot of choices to fill those spots. We've got some high salaries that are untradeable as well.

[NYY #23]

The Marlins are where we belong, sitting in last place in the NL East. I'd really like to add a starting pitcher, but I haven't been able to swing a trade, and there are no free agents out there that we can afford.

[NYY #23]

The Marlins had a winning month last month going 14-13 and pulled within a 1/2 game of the Expos for fourth place. While our starting pitching is terrible, our bullpen is pitching very well.

Around the league one of my former players, Derek Jeter, picked up career hit number 2000. At 30 years old Jeter is having his worst season at the plate, hitting .300, bringing down his career batting average to .367.

[NYY #23]

The Marlins had another winning month going 14-12, but I do feel that we are going through the motions in year 1. There isn't much to report on, or much to do. The one thing that I do keep wondering is how teams get in such bad financial shape.

It seems like quite a few teams are in bad financial shape just looking at free agents still out there. 27 year old centerfielder Carlos Beltran, 32 year old Manny Ramirez, 29 year old 1B Richie Sexson, etc. 20 teams are projected to lose money. It always drives me nuts when financials get out of whack.

The Mets have a budget of $2 million. How does that happen? So after looking at that I've decided to assign fictional finances to the league to straighten things out. Just two teams are projected to lose money now.

I probably shouldn't have done that in the middle of a season, and I'm going to refrain from signing any free agents this year, even though I've got some money to do so now. But hopefully guys like Beltran get picked up.

Dan Reichert and Curtis Granderson were both selected to the All-Star team.

[NYY #23]

The Marlins had our third straight winning month, going 14-13. We aren't exactly having big months, but any winning month is a surprise.

Our bullpen continues to pitch real well, our starters terrible overall, although both Dan Reichert and Jon Leiber are pitching well. We are doing pretty well defensively as well, and ok scoring runs. I would still say that starting pitching is definitely at the top of our wish list though.

It appears that the top free agents have now signed on with teams now, so I'm relieved that so many good players are not just sitting there as free agents now.

[NYY #23]

Although the Marlins faltered a little bit in September and the first couple days in October, I still am pretty happy with our 75-87 record.

We won 3 more games than we did last year, which doesn't sound too impressive, but we also lost our number one starter, and didn't replace him. If we get a couple of decent starting pitchers we'll be in a lot better shape.

Florida Marlins 72-90 (.444) 20 GB
2004 - Florida Marlins 75-87 (.463) 19 GB (Season Score - 30)

[bwburke94]

I'm noticing the logopack you're using has circular logos for the Expos/Marlins/Devil Rays and non-circular logos for everyone else. Obviously the Expos are moving next season anyway, but since you're in control of the Marlins, shouldn't you try to be more consistent with logos?

[NYY #23]

With the Tampa Bay Devil Rays winning the World Series this year that means 3 of the last 4 expansion teams have now won the World Series. That just leaves the Marlins.

The Marlins have about $6 million to sign our draft picks, with 2 first round picks and 4 supplemental draft picks we'll have to be careful with who we draft, which will be even harder because our scouting director left, and we haven't signed another yet. Although that wasn't for a lack of trying.

With our first pick in the draft we selected SP Matt Cain, and with our second first round pick we selected SP Chien-Ming Wang. In the supplemental round we selected C Kelly Shoppach, SS Yuniesky Betancourt, 1B Ryan Shealy, and 2B Freddie Bynum.

In the second round we selected SP Joe Saunders, SP Chuck James, and SP Anthony Reyes. We rounded out the draft selecting MR Todd Coffey, MR Jason Bulger, MR Jeff Harris, and C Ryan Jorgensen.

We'll have our work cut out trying to sign so many players because our owner slashed our budget.

3B Dean Palmer, C Angel Encarnacion, C Mike Durant, and SP Orlando Hernandez all decided to retire.

[NYY #23]

Just a quick note on the offseason. We were unable to sign Ryan Shealy (Supplemental Pick), Anthony Reyes (Round 2), and Jeff Harris (Round 5). The only other move of note was to sign SP Freddy Garcia to a minor league contract. He was 11-16 with a 6.57 ERA last year, but we hope he has something left in his tank.

For the month the Marlins broke even going 12-12, and we are just 2 games out of first place.

[NYY #23]

The Marlins had a surprising month going 16-11 and have pulled within a game and a half of first place.

Matt Cain was our first big injury casualty, so we've called up Chien-Ming Wang to get an audition. So far he's 2-2 with a 2.96 ERA, so maybe he'll be able to help us out.