HeyBattaBatta Baseball

[Radsmats]

One other rare pitching gem:
After three seasons, finally, a complete game. It's a loss, ironically, for Tom Seaver of Pittsburgh '93, when 3B Manny cranks a solo, walkoff homer with one out in the bottom of the ninth for the margin of victory in a 3-2 game. Seaver's line on the night: 8.1 IP, 8H, 3R, all earned, 1BB, 10 K. He lost to Greg Maddux (7 IP) with Mariano Rivera and Pedro Martinez in relief.

World Series
After losing the first three, MannyBeingManny fights back to make it a series, but it's too much BaBo, who wins in six games. The only game that's close is the first one, a second complete game loss of the season. Roger Clemens throws eight innings, six hits, two earned runs, one walk, 5 Ks. His only mistake was a fifth-inning, two-out, one-on HR to 1B Bonds. Clemens' heroics are not enough as the Pittsburgh Pedro goes seven strong, four hits, one run, one BB, 10 strikeouts. Mariano Rivera throws a two-inning save: 0H,0R, 0BB, 4K.

After two lopsided wins for the Pittsburgh Bonds, (Maddux over Maddux 9-1, Clemens over Toad Ramsey 7-2), Manny's side breaks through with a five-homer effort, 12-2. Lefty Grove over Tom Seaver.

Game 5 is bizarre. Bonds hits all four HR, and neither starter figures in the result (Pittsburgh Pedro v. Cleveland Clemens). For Pittsburgh, Ed Morris inherits two runners in the seventh, fails to record an out, and gives up three hits and a walk on just 19 pitches. Yup, that's an "L" in the record. For Cleveland, Walter Johnson picks up the W on 1.1 innings of relief work. Pedro 2000 goes 2 scoreless innings for the save. CF Manny goes 4-for-4 with a double and 6 RBI as player of the game.

It's all for nought in Game 6, when it's Greg Maddux over Greg Maddux. Bonds '93 score in all eight innings and jog out with a 19-3 decision and the title.

Statistical note:
After I muse that we might see a lot of 300-hit seasons, we don't get close. Bonds tops out at 240, then 211, and 210.
Next up: Mel Ott v. Jim "Thumper" Thome. Some fun, huh Bambi?

[Radsmats]

Almost forgot these:

Gold Gloves:
Manny takes the infield (2B, 3B, SS) and Bonds the rest.
Reliever:
Mo Rivera is the fireman of the year for Bonds, with a 2-3 record and 27 saves in 33 chances.

Cy Young & MVP
Pittsburgh Pedro takes the Cy Young and MVP awards with a ridiculous season, in which he led the league in starts (32), quality starts (15), QS% (.469), wins (14), ERA (4.04), IP (180.1), K (330), WHIP (1.34), BB/9 (2.6), K/9 (16.5) and WAR (6.4).

1B Bonds is runner-up, leading the league in hits (240), runs (192), HR (38), RBI (159), steals (20) and batter WAR (3.1)

[Radsmats]

Mel Ott came up as a big-hitting, no-fielding teenage outfielder for John McGraw's New York Giants, and was a mainstay for a very competitive team for many years, as they turned into Bill Terry's Giants.

Ott could throw, and eventually worked his way up to adequate in the field. After a while the Giants moved him to third, where a stationary fielder with a big arm can survive. Ott was briefly OK there defensively before age robbed him of what little range he had. One suspects he would have been most comfortable as a DH, if such a thing existed in the 1930s.

Jim Thome couldn't throw, but he came up as a 3B just the same. His best year at third, he had 270 assists, which is not close to the top 500 seasons of all time. It might be in the top 800. His second partial year, he had an .882 fielding percentage. For those who don't remember Thome at third but remember Bobby Bonilla there, that's 50 points below BoBo's worst year defensively at third.

Still, the Indians kept playing him, and he developed into a terrific power hitter. On a team with Julio Franco and Eddie Murray at first and DH (combined age measured in eons), Thumper's time was going to come, and it did in 1997, when after two full seasons of dreadful play at third, the Indians finally moved Thome to first, and he would spend the reason of his career as a stiff, awkward 1B, natural DH, and big-time home run hitter.

That's a relatively long-winded way of saying defense is going to ugly in this one. Neither man runs. Ott maxed out as adequate in the field and is twice the fielder Thome even dreamed of being. Runs will not be in short supply. The preseason prediction has Ott winning this one by about 10-15 games.

I tune up the defense a little for everybody just to keep the games from all being decided on passed balls and unearned runs. I can't in good conscience tweak this one that much.

[Radsmats]

April went much as expected. Many HR, many errors. Big scores. A shutout! Clayton Kershaw did the honors for Thome '02, seven hits, no walks and thirteen Ks over eight innings. Pedro 2000 mopped up with a 1-2-3 ninth in a 19-0 squeaker. A month in and Kershaw is the favorite for the Cy Young Award, leading both teams in ERA. NY Roger Clemens is on pace for 12 wins; Cleveland Clemens is on pace for 17 losses.

The Ott-balls lead 16 games to 12. RF Ott is on pace for 69 HR, with a batch of guys from both teams tied on a 52-HR pace.

LF Mel Ott had a three-HR game in a 16-13 loss. He went three for six with four RBI, a walk and two strikeouts, homering off of Greg Maddux, Walter Johnson, and Jim Palmer. Set aside the fact that they played in different eras, hitting HR off three pitchers of that quality is a career for most guys. That's 1,040 major league wins. I like to think that somewhere in the RAM of my computer, a retired LF Ott is on his front porch with a lemonade, boring his grandkids silly with the re-telling ...

[Radsmats]

So I mostly go a half-inning at a time, but with a game on the line, I often go at-bat by at-bat in the late innings. There is some weird stuff going on, because I'm playing at the limits of the game's ability to produce a "simulation." It's really not designed to handle 18 clones with extreme skill sets, from two different eras.

The Thome '02s got off to a good start in May and were two games back. In a pitchers' duel (3-3 in the tenth), RF Ott walks. SS Ott flies to left-center ... deep but not the warning track. Ott, taking advantage of Thome's seal-flipper arm, advances to second. A slow runner. On a fly to left. I thought the throw was never going to land.

But Ott fails to score. In the top of the 11th, CF Ott beats out an infield single ... behind the pitcher, Toad Ramsey. It's like slo-mo as Ott, "speed" 30, grinds down the baseline while Ramsey wanders over and stands around, waiting to retrieve the ball and shot-put it to first. Safe!

Miracle of miracles, the next Ott grounds into a double play (they are very, very rare in this matchup). Thome is playing him as a dead-pull hitter, and when Ramsey fields a one-hopper, SS Thome is standing almost on the bag for the 1-6-3 double play. It's not close at first.

But then the game decides Ott somehow hits another IF single, this one that dies in the hole between pitcher and second. 2B Thome (speed 25) "charges" the ball. Waits. Picks it up. All the time, Ott (still speed 30) is "racing" down the line. Thome throws. The ball has to travel about half an inch across my screen. it does so, a pixel at a time, as the animation of Ott crawls toward the bag. It's more a "whimper-whimper" than a "bang - bang" play. Safe!

Thome wins it in the bottom of the inning on a walk and a line-drive HR to left. The home run animation takes less time than the throw to first. I'm cracking up. This is entertainment!

The game's somewhat eccentric handling of my oddball pitching staffs gives a start to Cleveland's Lee Smith. It does not go well. Their Toad Ramsey is on pace for 20 wins. Next best, the NY Lefty Grove and both Kershaws, tied at 11.

After two months, the Otts have nine steals in 10 attempts. CF Ott is on pace for a .394/63 HR season and has not made an error. 2B Thome has 22 errors in 55 games. In related news, Rawlings is NOT putting out a Jim Thome Signature Series infielders glove; no word if Vermont Castings is working on an iron model.

The Thomes eventually takes a three-game lead in the standings. A late run gives the Otts a one-game lead by the end of the month.

It's anybody's game ... play ball!

[Radsmats]

June was a good month for the Thumpers, with Thome '02 putting up a 14-11 record, finishing the month with a two-game lead at 82-80.

This is station-to-station baseball at its finest. Guys get on then stand around waiting for something to happen. Runners typically advance the same number of bases as the hitter. Because everybody can hit a homer on both teams, scores are high. There are a lot of 8-10 run innings. Twelve stolen base attempts so far, all by the Ottballs.

Stats:
RF Ott leads with 46 extra-base hits: 31 HR, 13 doubles and two triples. Nothing particularly exciting on the pitchers' side, although the Otts are racking up some strikeouts, with so many available, nobody gets workhorse innings to really pad their stats. A 15-14 season with an ERA under 6.00 will likely win the Cy Young.

Digression:

Factoring into the general oddity here is the Polo Grounds, where Mel Ott '32 plays his home games. With foul poles right around 250 feet from home plate and center field some 505 feet away, it's one of the most uneven parks in MLB history. It's also a triples hitter's dream. A ball rolling into the right-center gap was an invitation to take an extra base. So the sim is doing a good job reflecting just how slow these two are, with RF Ott and LF Thome tied in triples at the halfway point with ... two. Ott's real-life career high was 10, and from the time he turned 30, his season totals were 2, 3, 0, 0, 2, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0. It's doubtful that MLB would allow such a goofy park were one proposed today.

Attached is a postcard view and the game's rendition of the Polo Grounds. That is an infield defense that would make even the best pitcher quake in his spikes.

Bonus points for knowing the obscure Foreigner lyric in the title ...

[Radsmats]

Unbelievable. Even THIS staff is getting tested to its limits. I've attached a snapshot of the Thome '02 pitching staff, after getting lit up for a week by the Ottballs.

This is one day after Toad Ramsey gave Thome five strong innings in a losing effort. Goose Gossage gave up six runs in 2/3 of an inning, then Pedro Martinez another four without registering an out. Christy Mathewson and Roger Clemens mopped up the 17-8 loss.

Having dropped 32-5 and 38-15 games in order before Ramsey's start, the Thumpers needed six good innings from Greg Maddux, who has been averaging less than three. They got four-plus, then Old Hoss Radbourn came in with 2.1 essential shutout innings. Warren Spahn got through the eighth OK, then gave up three-run and solo homers on back-to-back pitches in the ninth. After the briefest of Mariano Rivera cameos (one pitch, one HBP, one-bench clearing brawl), Walter Johnson came in to close out the 15-9 win.

It staved off utter disaster, but it gives a sense of just what a load pitching to an all-star, all-clone lineup is. Thome and Ott are feasting on righties, especially righty flyball pitchers. Anything they can pull in the air is gone down the line. It's not hard to see why Ott's career home-road HR split is 323-188.

Given the state of the Thumpers' pitching, it should be no surprise that the Ottballs had a big month, 18 wins, 11 losses, and enjoy a five-game lead, the largest of the year for either team.

The Polo Grounds are a ton of fun to "watch" a game in btw. Anything in the power alleys or CF is fair game for an outfielder. (Ott hit a 495-foot double to the flagpole in center one game). He slid in safely. Thanks to @silvam14 for the mod!

[Radsmats]

Holy simoleons but did Jim Thome have himself a month, putting up a 19-9 record to slingshot from five games back to five games ahead at the start of the pennant race. The player of the month card is below, but there's this:
One of the bench Thomes got into 10 games. 41 AB, 18 hits of which six were homers. Nine RBI, 14 runs, a .439/.549/.878 slash line, which earned him a 185 OPS+ ... and a -0.1 Wins Above Replacement. Which begs the question: Who da heck is the replacement?

In the Things Go Well When Things Are Going Well category, among the sights witnessed this month: Jim Thome speed 25 hit an inside-the-park home run. It was (naturally) in the Polo Grounds. He drove a ball over CF Mel Ott's head. Ott tried to jump and catch it but missed, which slowed him down even more. Then the ball went into the notch in straightaway center and Ott took a bad angle, first running to the base of the wall to the right of the notch, then having to skirt around the corner to get to the ball. The Polo Grounds renders too large for a full-screen view on my PC, and I was thinking "If it was anybody but Thome running, that would be an inside-the-parker." Scroll down and lo and behold. It wasn't particularly close at home.

Pedro 2000 was about as good on the mound, with 7 appearances, 3 starts, a 4-0 record, 1.00 WHIP in 25 innings and a 4.9 K/BB ratio. The Ottballs have turned their Pedro into a setup / closer, after Mariano Rivera suddenly stopped working (opponents with a .750 BABIP in the last two months). Pedro has been occasionally dominant, but has two saves and two blown saves and only thrown 11 innings.

So we're 23 games away from our first upset ... possibly. There have been some major swings and while Thome '02 is in the driver's seat, Ott '32 certainly has the power to make it interesting down the stretch ...

[Radsmats]

The Ottballs got off to a hot start in September, winning three in a row to close the gap to two, then losing one and winning two, losing one and winning two, able to catch the Thumpers but not take a lead in the standings until September 13. They promptly give it back on the 14th.

10 Games to Go
So we’re tied 76 games apiece. Clayton Kershaw (10-7, 6.45 ERA) for the Otts, v. Pedro Martinez (9-7, 8.65 ERA) for the Thomes. Platoon advantage Ottballs.

Both starters exit in the fifth after a barrage of homers by Ott. Walter Johnson comes on for Cleveland and gives up a solo shot. 7-1 Otts.
In the bottom half, Thome loads the bases. That’s all for Kershaw. Old Hoss Radbourn in, and promptly walks in a run on a full count. A passed ball scores one, then another full count. Thome lofts a three-run shot to right. 7-6 Otts.

In the sixth, Johnson manages two outs on two solo HRs and Cy Young is on for the Thumpers. In the home half, it’s two on, two out for Thome, who plants one 435 feet away in right-center. Goodbye Old Hoss, welcome Steve Carlton. Thome adds a solo shot. 10-9 Thumpers.

Ott leads off the eighth with another solo homer, then a two-out, three-blast. Mariano Rivera in to pitch for NY: Thome gets two on, but a strikeout and a diving catch by Ott in left-center leaves them there (first diving outfield catch animation I've seen this season). 13-10 Otts.

Nothing for Ott off of Ed Morris in the top of the ninth. Pedro Martinez takes the mound for New York. A single and RBI triple on four pitches. Otts lead 13-11, man on third, no outs. Nobody up in the pen. It’s Pedro’s game. Strikeout. Thome’s 14th of the game. I’m tired of his walking-back-to-the-bench animation. Bases loaded walk. Tying run on base. Full count. Walk. Bases loaded, one out. Pedro’s thrown 21 pitches. Strikeout on a 1-2 count. There’s that animation again. Full count. Thome looks at strike three. At least the running-out-of-the-dugout animation is new. 16 Ks. The Ottballs win, 13-11 final.

Carlton records the win, 5-8. Pedro with save 18 in 21 tries. Young falls to 4-6. Otts up by one game.

Nine to play:
Action switches to the Polo Grounds: Clayton Kershaw, 11-11, 5.64 ERA for the Thumpers vs. Toad Ramsey, 6-7, 7.73 ERA for the Ottballs. Advantage Thumpers in what should be a pitchers duel.

Nothing through five. Three hits each.

In the bottom of the sixth, Ott scores on two singles and an error. 1-0 Otts.

Thome responds in the top of the seventh. With two out and two on, a double and a two-run single score three. In the home half, with two out, Ott puts together a rally, chasing Kershaw for Steve Carlton. In seven pitches, Lefty gives up a three-run and a solo homer. Tom Seaver on to stop the bleeding. 6-3 Otts.

Eighth: Pedro Martinez is in for the Ottballs. Two runs on a single, 2 HPB, two walks, three Ks. In the home half, the Thumpers’ Mariano Rivera dodges two-on, no-out trouble. 6-5 Otts.

Ninth: K, HR, BB, HR for Thome. Buh-bye Pedro, Hello Rocket Roger Clemens, who gives up another run. 9-6 lead for the Thumpers in the middle of the ninth.

Rivera back out for Cleveland in the bottom of the ninth. Single, double, K, K. Tying run at the plate. RBI single to right. First & third. Single to center. Tying run moves to third. Four-pitch walk. Bases loaded. Five-pitch walk forces in the tying run. A full-count walk scores the winning run. U.G.L.Y. (you ain't got no alibi! You ugly, you ugly).

10-9 Otts, final. Carlton and Martinez each with a blown save, Rivera drops to 0-7, Clemens moves to 8-9.

Otts up by two with eight left.

[Radsmats]

Saturday, Sept. 17 Rainout. Not sure who that helps, honestly.

Sunday doubleheader, though!

Eight games to go:

Thome ’02 HAS to win at least one to keep his fading hopes alive. The Thumpers have Cy Young Award favorite Toad Ramsey (14-4, 5.01 ERA) v. Ed Morris (5-6, 5.13 ERA) for the Ottballs. Morris replaced Pedro Martinez when he went to the bullpen, and has been pretty steady. He’s tailor-made for this role. Lefty, throws a lot of innings & a lot of groundballs. But advantage Thumpers.

Through four, the teams each scratch out a run. 1-1.

In the fifth, Thome’s third hit of the inning is a three-run blast to left. Legit legs on that one … 445 feet. Ott gets one back on two hits and a walk. 4-2 Thumpers.

A leadoff HR in the sixth and Ed Morris is done. Tom Seaver in for the Ottballs to try to keep it close. Single, homer. OK, close-ish. 7-2 Thumpers.

Top 7: An RBI double ends Seaver’s outing. Lefty Grove in for mop-up duty. A great snag by Ott at third saves his blushes with two men in scoring position on a shot down the line. Saved two runs there. Will it count? Bottom of the inning, and Toad Ramsey’s back out with 116 pitches thrown. An inning too far? Two singles and a K and Toad is over. For the Thumpers, Ed Morris on in relief gives up the RBI single. 8-3 Thumpers.
Top 8: Walk, homer. In the ninth, Morris goes 1-2-3. 10-3 is your final. Ramsey goes to 15-4, Morris 5-7. A fine relief line for the Cleveland Morris: 2.1 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 4 Ks.

Can the Thumpers sweep the doubleheader? The Ottballs are going with Greg Maddux (5-5, 8.30 ERA). Look for a middle-innings appearance from Steve Carlton, who’s been good this month in relief. Otherwise, their bullpen is hurting. Pedro 2000 is on fumes, Rivera and Waddell are semi-tired and John Franco’s got the ice-crystal icon going.

The Thumpers are starting Christy Mathewson (0-3, 9.09 ERA), giving up on Roger Clemens for now). Advantage Ottballs.

First: Two runs on three hits, BB, HBP. Thome leaves the bases loaded against Maddux. Could have been much worse. 2-0 Thumpers

Second: Thome loads the bases twice against Maddux, scoring three more on 4 hits and an error. Walter Johnson in for Ott. Bottom of the inning, Ott scratches out a couple of runs, then hits a three-run, inside-the-park HR to right center. Walter Johnson in for the Thumpers, too. 5-5.

Bottom third: A pair of two-on, two-out singles score one. 6-5 Otts.

Fourth: Thome’s turn for a two-out RBI single. Ott gets a one-out double, then Johnson throws two K’s. 6-6.

Fifth: Thome plates a run on two singles, a passed ball and a long, long sac fly to center. Enter Steve Carlton. K. "The Big Train" starts the home half of the inning in relief with a K for the Thumpers, then a 10-pitch AB ends with a homer. Single, and Walter Johnson's train has left the station. Cy Young in to mop up. 7-7.

Sixth: Just a solo homer in the top half. Walk and a homer in the bottom. 8-9 Ottballs.

Seventh: Carlton gets a groundout, so he’s got seven outs – six by K – and given up a homer. Cue Steve Carlton for the Thumpers. He goes BB, HR, K. 8-11 Ottballs.

Eighth: Mariano Rivera on, looking for the two-inning save. Two on, two-out K. Just a walk for the home side. Still 8-11.

Ninth: Mo is hurting for New York: too tired to find the "out" pitch. Single, fielder’s choice, single, all on two-strike counts. He’s done after 30 pitches. Here’s Roger Clemens in a rare closer’s role … one for two in save chances on the year. Two on, one away. Thome chases garbage away on the 2-2 count, then looks at strike three on an 0-2. 11-8 is your final. Carlton improves to 6-8, Young falls to 4-7. Rivera’s 10 hold of the season, Clemens' second save.

The Otts lead by two with six to play after the Sunday split.

[Radsmats]

Six to play:

Greg Maddux, 5-6, 9.00 ERA for the Thumpers vs. Clayton Kershaw, 10-7, 6.49 ERA for the Ottballs. Maddux needs to pitch like, well, Greg Maddux of the Cubs and Braves for the Thumpers to avoid falling three behind with five to go.

First: Maddux survives a leadoff double. Thome goes single, dinger. 2-0 Thumpers.

Second: Maddux gives up an RBI single and forces in two runs on bases-loaded walks before allowing a sac fly and a three-run jack. Warren Spahn in with nobody on and one out. 7-2 Otts.

Fifth: Thome threatens with two on, one out but fails to cash in. Kershaw Kruising. Still 7-2.
Sixth: Spahn is staying out of trouble but at 79 pitches gives way to Lefty Grove for the final out. Bottom of the inning, Thome reaches on an error and singles. Exit Kershaw, enter Rube Waddell. K, full-count K, K. Still 7-2.
Seventh: Three walks, two strikeouts and Thome flies harmlessly to right.
Top eighth, Ott hits a solo shot. 8-2 Otts.
Top ninth, Ott adds a two-out dinger. 9-2 Otts, and that’s your final score. Kershaw improves to 11-7, Waddell with a well-earned, four-inning save, his third. Maddux falls to 5-7.
Otts lead by three.

Five to play:

Otts roll out Toad Ramsey, 6-7, 7.53 ERA vs. Pedro Martinez, 9-7, 8.76 ERA. Along with everything else, the Ottballs rotation has lined up perfectly down the stretch.

Top of the first, Ott has a run and the bases loaded with one out, on a couple of walks and a couple of singles. Pedro remembers how to pitch just in time: K, K. Thome strands two on his K. 1-0 Otts.

Third: Thome strands two on consecutive Ks.

Fourth: Ott small-balls another pair of runs, helped by a grievous error by CF Thome. How exactly do you catch a can of corn, anyways? Bottom of the inning and Ramsey issues three walks, two strikeouts and a double. Two in, runners on second and third. Here comes Old Hoss Radbourn. Four-pitch walk. Then a quick 1-2 count and Thome stri … wait! Hits a two-run single to center! Another walk to load the bases, another 1-2 count and THIS TIME Thome strikes out. But 4-3 Thumpers, their first lead in what feels like a week.

Fifth: Three walks, two Ks, and Thome flies out with the bases loaded. Still 4-3

Sixth: Exit Pedro, who did his job for Thome '02. Enter Steve Carlton. 1-2-3 innings all around.

Seventh: Leadoff dinger by Ott. Roger Clemens takes the mound for the Ottballs. Two walks, a passed ball, sac fly and a hit batsman. One run for the Thomes before he strikes out with two men on base. 5-4 Thumpers

Eighth: Roger Clemens gives the Thumpers a scoreless inning. Tom Seaver gives up two solo gopherballs for the Ottballs.7-4 Thumpers

Ninth: Enter Sandman, as Mo Rivera takes the mound for Cleveland. One-two, strike you very out. Final: 7-4 Thome ’02. Carlton vultures the win, improving to 9-7 with blown save 5 in six tries, including three this month. For the Thumpers, Clemens gets his third hold, Mariano save number 21. Clemens drops to 8-10 for the Otts.

Ottballs lead by two, with one more in Cleveland, a travel day, then the final three at the Polo Grounds.

[Radsmats]

Four to Go:

Cleveland gets Clayton Kershaw (11-11, 5.58 ERA) vs. Ed Morris (5-7, 5.30 ERA), starting on two day’s rest for the Ottballs after starting the front half of Sunday’s doubleheader. Advantage Cleveland.

Third: Both sides get a couple of men on. Thome cashes in with a single to center. 1-0 Thumpers.

Fourth: Morris gets Thome on strikes to start the inning, then gives way after 54 pitches to Cy Young. Ball one, home run. 2-0 Thumpers.

Fifth: Another run for Thome on a double with two on, then K, K, shot to the warning track and Young escapes. 3-0 Thumpers.

Sixth: One-out dinger for Thome and Young is out, Goose Gossage in. The Goose hasn’t pitched in 32 days. K, HR, BB, popup. 5-0 Thumpers

Seventh: Kershaw enters having thrown 91 pitches and 11 strikeouts. K, K, BB, 1B, K. Gossage puts two on, strikes out three in a row. Still 5-0.

Eighth: Kershaw has thrown 110 pitches. Pitch 112 is short of a homer by inches. It’s time for John Franco and his fascist slider for Thome '02. Three pitches, two grounders. Gossage in again for the Otts. His longest outing since the day he got lost looking for his favorite hot dog vendor in Central Park. K, HR, BB. Christy Mathewson finally in. 6-0 Thumpers

Ninth: Franco back out. Why don’t they use this guy more? Triple, K, double, double. Oh yeah, that’s why. Roger Clemens closes it out. Morris pitched OK but lost to fall to 5-8 on the season. Kershaw was dominant and goes to 12-11.

A travel day, then three in New York. A series sweep by either and they win the season. Two wins by Ott and he is the champ. Two wins by Thome and we’re going to a playoff.

Three to Go:

Toad Ramsey (15-4, 4.98 ERA) for Thome ’02 vs. Greg Maddux (5-5, 8.48 ERA)

Top of the first: Thome gets two on, no out, and only a 1-6-3 double play keeps this to one run. Knuckleballer Ramsey has no control and doesn’t make it out of the first. Cy Young comes in with a bases loaded jam and with two strikes gives up a monster double to center. That’s a home run in pretty much any other park. Eight runs on five hits. 8-1 Otts.

Second: Two more for Ott on the dreaded BB, HR. 10-1 Otts.

Third: Thome returns the BB, HR favor. Ott gets another solo shot, and after a two-out error, Young makes way for Goose Gossage, which is pretty much running up the surrender flag.

Despite having an 11-run lead, Maddux doesn’t survive the fifth, so it’s Toad Ramsey (15-5) with the loss and Toad Ramsey (7-7) with the win in relief. 22-11 is your final, and the Thumpers need to win both the remaining games to stay alive.

Two to Go:
Lefty Steve Carlton (6-8, 7.56 ERA) gets the start for the Ottballs vs. Greg Maddux (5-7, 9.55 ERA) for the Thumpers. The game says edge Cleveland. I’m not so sure.

Two quiet innings, then Thome opens the scoring on a single and four walks. “Hold my beer,” says Maddux (too much of which, honestly, might explain a great deal this season). He gives up three runs on two singles and two doubles. 3-2 Otts.

Fourth: Thome with the one-out grand slam, and it’s time for Lefty Grove out of the Ottball bullpen. He gives up the classic BB, HR. Maddux breaks tradition with a single, HR combo, and here comes Christy Mathewson for the Thumpers. Just the solo home run for him. 8-6 Thumpers. Scoring might not be done in this one.

Fifth: Ott opens the bottom of the fifth with a double, then hits one onto the right-center roof of the Polo Grounds. Here’s Pedro Martinez for the Thumpers. Mathewson is gone for a quiet lie-down in the nappy-time room. 8-8 after five.

Sixth: Pedro gets a fly out, then Ott reaches on an error, then a HPB and Pedro’s done. Steve Carlton’s in to put out the fire. Still 8-8.

Seventh: Roger Clemens is in for the Otts. Bases loaded, one away, but Thome can’t take advantage. Still 8-8

Eighth: Clemens sets down the Thumpers. As does Mariano Rivera vs the Ottballs in the bottom of the inning. 8-8 into the ninth.

Ninth: The closer, Pedro 2000 Martinez on for the Ottballs. Three up, three down, Two Ks. In the bottom of the ninth, a leadoff double for Ott, who advances to third on a routine fly to left against Thome’s T-Rex wing out there. Thome’s lack of range then lets a catchable ball drop in CF and it’s all over, 9-8. The Otts win the pennant!

Tough luck for Rivera (0-8) on the day. Even mediocre defense would have had him with two outs and a runner still on second. Martinez improves to 4-5.
Cleveland won the final game, 14-6, to finish 80 and 82. There’s always next sim.

World Series and award winners next. Pictured is the trajectory of Ott's magnificent home run. It landed on the roof of the second deck. Statisticians estimate it traveled somewhere between a light year and a parsec.

[Radsmats]

But I digress ...

This is a little timeout to discuss Toad Ramsey. I had no clue who he was when I was first in a deadball online league (OOTPV? X? ... many years ago), but he wound up being my ace that year. So when I was looking for a lefty starter with a rubber arm to pad out a pitching staff this time, I jumped on him.

You should too, if you ever get a chance to pick him up as a sleeper pick in a draft. According to Wikipedia, he is sometimes credited as the inventor of the knuckleball, but given that he had an odd grip due to a stiff finger due to a bricklaying accident, it's likely his motion was more Three-Finger Brown than Wilbur Wood. Certainly the baseball card Wikipedia has on file for him doesn't show a traditional knuckleball grip.

Despite that notoriety, he's not as well known as a lot of deadball pitchers, which is why I got him deep in my draft. And let's face it, "Toad" isn't as good a selling point as "Old Hoss" or "The Big Train." It's easy to read between the lines of his bio, as he feuded with teammates, had a short career and died at just 41. In between he was arrested for nonpayment of a bar bill.

As with any trick-pitch hurler, he can be wild and so at times inconsistent, but if he's your third starter, you've probably got a pretty good pitching staff.

[Radsmats]

A fairly humdrum World Series ... 4-1 to the Otts, only one game within three runs. One moment of accidental hilarity ... I don't really care that the animations are cartoonish. Nobody buys OOTP for the flash.

OK, if I'm honest, the one where there's a grounder to first and the first baseman picks the ball up less than a stride from the bag, but waits to throw it -- too late!! -- to the pitcher covering ticks me off. I mean, the runner's not halfway down the line and the guy with the ball has to take ONE STEP. C'mon. This is OOTP 21, not 1 or 2. Those things should be ironed out by now.

But this animation cracked me up. I was a second or so late on the print screen button, but the frame gives you the idea. Mel Ott hit a ball off the screen behind the flagpole in center field in the Polo Grounds ... 505 feet. Jim Thome, nobody's idea of a track star, eventually gets there and short-arms it in. But the game engine has it down as a double, so despite the fact the the 3D Thome hasn't even got the ball yet, Ott SLIDES into second with the ball at the wall, about 375 feet away. Then he stands up, discusses the odds on the third race at Hialeah, the hoo-hahs on the blonde in the front row behind the third base dugout, who owes who in the offseason pinochle game, and what the second baseman had for breakfast that makes his breath so bad, all before the desultory tag to make sure he's in contact with the bag.

Yeah no. Even Master Melvin is trying to stretch that into a triple. Slides? Please.

[Radsmats]

Really nice stats on this matchup. Both guys within a few pct. points here and there of actual achievements.

Award winners:
Gold Gloves split evenly ... 4-4.
Reliever of the year to Pedro Martinez of the Otts. I like this a lot, because the game decided to use Pedro as a closer. Although delving into the numbers, he won on the basis of saves (18 in 21), despite Thome hitting a robust .496 on balls in play. The 125 Ks in 61.1 innings didn't hurt, either.

Cy Young continues his unbroken streak of never being close to a Cy Young Award. That was a flat out tie between two Thumpers: Clayton Kershaw (12-11, 5.34 ERA) and Toad Ramsey (15-5, 5.42 ERA). The two Cys were a combined 7-9 with a 14.40 ERA.

MVP -- just ahead of the Thumpers' Toad -- was CF Mel Ott, who led the league in batting at .348 and was second in HR with 48. He also led the league in SLG, OPS, WAR, and the "speed" categories with four triples and four steals. Good choice.

So with that we'll say so long to Jim Thome and see ya later to Mel Ott, who moves on to face the winner of our next matchup, No. 5 Mickey Mantle v. NO. 12 seed Frank Thomas.

[Radsmats]

So I hit my first real snag in this project. OOTP is convinced Mickey Mantle is a mediocre center fielder. Defensive stats are hard, and I'm used to adjusting for that. How much to tweak Mantle is a judgement call, but he was clearly better than just OK in center.

The big problem is that the sim thinks Mantle was slow. Not Ott / Thome slow, but slow. On a zero-to-200 scale ... 29. Twenty nine! Not.

We know Mantle wasn't slow, in his prime, and that's what I'm trying to portray. He was one of the fastest players in the game. Slow, bad defensively Mantle loses 99 games a year to slow, bad defensively Frank Thomas. No surprise, but Frank was actually slow and bad defensively. So I'm tweaking and adjusting Mantle's numbers until they resemble the actual ball player. Mantle is one of the great power/speed guys in the history of the game, and I was looking forward to this matchup because it's a great old-player-skills-player (gets on base, hits homers) against a premier power / speed guy. I'mnot going to just accept the sim's evaluation and trot out a Mantle who runs like Jeff Bagwell.

So please, do not adjust your set. We are working at restoring normal service.