Your Expansion Seattle Mariners!!!

[BoilerRocketScientist]

This has been the most devastating season that I have ever experienced. I'm sure someone else out there can commiserate with me on this. Anyone?

[BoilerRocketScientist]

09/30/1983 - A groan went up from the Seattle crowd when the scoreboard updated with the Angels' victory over the Rangers as they knew their beloved Mariners had just been eliminated. Down 4-2, the Angels rallied for 2 runs in the 7th to tie the game and then scored the winning run in the 9th to win and clinch the AL West crown, ending Seattle's 2-year hold on the title. Seattle would have ceded the title anyways as they went down 3-2 to the White Sox leaving the bases loaded to end the game in the bottom of the 9th. This has been a disappointing season for Seattle as they had started off so strong. There will be some big discussions now on how to bounce back for next year.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

SEPTEMBER (11-15): The month started out well enough as an 8-4 start put us into first place with a 1-game lead over California. It was all downhill after that as we went 3-11 over the rest of the month and ended with a 5-game losing streak. Our loss on the last day of September our loss eliminated us from the AL West race giving the crown to the California Angels, ending our 2-year hold on the MLB crown. Paul Molitor led the offense hitting .316 for the month and Greg Walker led the in adding 5 more HR’s to his team leading total of 38. The starting pitching let the team down during the stretch drive as their ERA’s were atrocious. Burt Hooton (5.89), Mike Witt (6.14), and Don Gullet (6.59) led the way. On the other hand, Neal Heaton (obtained in an earlier trade with Baltimore) went 4-2 with a 2.91 in his 6 starts this month.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Here's the standings at the end of September. Only the AL East title remains in doubt with 2 games remaining. Boston has 2 games against Cleveland while Detroit will face Milwaukee to end the season.

It's looking like Harold Baines (DET) will fall short in his Triple Crown bid. California's Greg Brock returned from the DL and re-took the HR lead and Clint Hurdle (KC) has a 4-point lead for the batting crown. Hurdle's on the DL for the rest of the season so we'll see if Baines can get hot to overtake Hurdle. In the NL, New York's Kent Hrbek has a stranglehold on the HR and RBI lead but he's well behind Wade Boggs (PIT) for the batting crown by 29 points.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

10/01/1983 - Unfortunately, I don't have the sarcasm font to use for the title. The day after we get eliminated from the playoffs due to primarily bad pitching our starter Floyd Bannister pitches a 3-hit gem of a shutout while striking out 11 helping Seattle to a 1-0 win. Frakking frakker!

[BoilerRocketScientist]

10/02/1983 - It's the last day of the season and the only playoff spot remaining is the AL East where Boston leads Detroit by 1 game with only today remaining. Detroit (96-65) is at home where they'll face Milwaukee (79-82). The expected starters are Rich Gale (14-13, 3.23) for Milwaukee and Dave Stewart (11-7, 3.27). Detroit and Milwaukee have split their series 6 games apiece. Meanwhile, Boston (97-64) will host Cleveland (77-84). Pitching for the Indians is Danny Cox (15-8, 2.68) while Chris Welsh (14-9, 4.05) will start for the Red Sox. Boston owns the season series 9-3.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

10/02/1983 - Detroit benefited from 2 HR and 4 RBI's from Harold Baines as they defeated Milwaukee 6-2 and forced a 1-game playoff against Boston for the AL East crown. The tie was enabled when Boston lost to Cleveland 4-3 in 12 innings.

The playoff will feature a marquee matchup of starters at Fenway Park. Detroit will send Dave Rozema (22-11, 2.90) against Fernando Valenzuela (19-9, 2.71). Rozema leads the AL in wins and is 4th in ERA while Valenzuela is second in ERA while he leads the majors with 267 K's in 268 innings.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

10/02/1983 - Despite a furious finish, Detroit's Harold Baines has fallen just short of capturing the American League Triple Crown. Baines finished his last 2 games hitting 5/8 with 4 HR's and 7 RBI's and raised his average from .322 to .325 but it wasn't quite enough to catch up to Clint Hurdle's .326 average. Baines lost the title by 0.0005 points .3259 to .3254. Baines' 4 HR's were enough to take the HR crown from California's Greg Brock who finished with 42 HR's while his 7 RBI's earned him the RBI title in both leagues with 158 runs knocked in. Baines commented that he wasn't worried about the crown and that he was only trying to help win the AL East title.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

10/02/1983 - Steve Garvey, welcome to the club -- the 2000-hit club.

The Montreal second baseman gained membership in that elite group in a 8-7 victory over the New York Mets at Shea Stadium.

2 hits in 6 at-bats today enabled the Expos star to reach the milestone.

Garvey has a lifetime .301 batting average and .336 on-base percentage in his 1797-game career with 2000 hits and 207 home runs.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

10/03/1983 - Detroit's Alan Trammell's big, 3-run blast over the Green Monster in left field provided Detroit the cushion they needed to defeat Boston and take the AL East crown in a 1-game playoff. Trammell went 3/4 with a double, homer, and 3 RBI's to lead Detroit. Dave Rozema pitched 7.1 giving up 2 runs on 9 hits to earn the win raising his record to 23-11. Fernando Valenzuela (19-10) gave up 3 runs in 8 innings to take the loss for Boston.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

The draft pool was announced today. Here's the top 10 rated pitchers and position players.

Pitchers

1. Dwight Gooden, SP
2. Jeff Calhoun, MR
3. Roger Clemens, SP
4. Wes Gardner, MR
5. Joe Hesketh, SP
6. Ken Howell, MR
7. Roger Mason, MR
8. Bret Saberhagen, SP
9. Jeff Robinson, SP
10. Jose Rijo, SP

Position Players

1. Alvin Davis, 1B
2. Mike Pagliarulo, 3B
3. Larry Sheets, RF
4. Danny Tartabull, SS
5. Mickey Tettleton, C
6. Chris Brown, 3B
7. Ivan Calderon, LF
8. Eric Davis, CF
9. Mark Salas, C
10. Mark Bailey, C

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Well, we basically gave away the AL West this year. We started out on fire and built an 8-game lead by the end of May only to fritter it all in June. We fell as far back as 6.5 games by the end of August. A furious early September rally erased the deficit and we even posted a 1-game lead only to go cold ending the season 4 games behind California. Sigh, there's always next year.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

The ALCS will feature the California Angels (89-73) against the Detroit Tigers (98-65). California earned their way into the playoffs by being able to hold off Seattle for the AL West crown despite being seriously undermanned in their starting rotation. California currently has 5 starting pitchers on the DL - Larry McWilliams (torn elbow tendon), Craig Swan (strained forearm), Gary Wheelock (torn meniscus), Dennis Eckersley (radial nerve compression), and Rick Reuschel (bone chips in elbow). On the other side, Detroit comes into the playoffs with the best record in the majors but they had to go an extra game against Boston to win the AL East.

California's offense is led by Greg Brock whose .301/.379/.618 with 42 HR's & 124 RBI's performance was MVP bound until he landed on the DL in early August for 6 weeks with a sports hernia. On the other side we have the presumptive MVP in Harold Baines who was 1 point in batting average from taking the triple crown. Baines hit .324/.382/.619 with 44 HR's and 159 RBI's.

The projected pitching matchups are favored towards Detroit who have a serious Cy Young candidate in Dave Rozema.

Game 1: CAL @ DET, Wayne Garland (9-13, 4.13) vs. Dennis Leonard (10-14, 4.10)
Game 2: CAL @ DET, Dan Schatzeder (7-8, 4.56) vs. Dave Rozema (23-11, 2.89)
Game 3: DET @ CAL, Nino Espinosa (9-4, 2.69) vs. Dennis Martinez (12-15, 4.89)

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Detroit Tigers

[BoilerRocketScientist]

California Angels

[BoilerRocketScientist]

The NLCS will feature the Cincinnat Reds (87-75) against the New York Mets (96-66) in a rematch of last years NLCS. The Reds earned the NL West crown by 5 games over Houston while the Mets bested the Cardinals by 6 games in the East.

The Reds were tops in the NL in homers having four starters with over 20 homers - Johnny Bench (37), George Foster (26), Bernie Carbo (22), and Dan Driessen (22). The New York Mets have the top offense in the NL leading in runs scored and batting average (.282) while being only behind the Reds in HR's. THe Mets are led by MVP candidate Kent Hrbek who had a phenomenal season hitting .329/.401/.601 with 46 HR's and 153 RBI's. He's part of a 1-2 punch with catcher Dan Graham who hit .295/.335/.541 with 38 HR's and 132 RBI's.

The projected pitching matchups for the first 3 games are below.

Game 1: CIN @ NYM, Doug Rau (13-14, 3.86) vs. LaMarr Hoyt (15-10, 4.09)
Game 2: CIN @ NYM, Tom Hume (18-12, 3.35) vs. Jack O'Connor (12-12, 3.62)
Game 3: NYM @ CIN, Pascual Perez (18-10, 4.19) vs. Pat Zachary (13-10, 4.44)

[BoilerRocketScientist]

Cincinnati Reds

[BoilerRocketScientist]

New York Mets

[BoilerRocketScientist]

The California Angels took a 1-0 lead in the series by defeating the Detroit Tigers 2-1. Detroit started the scoring with a run in the first inning but California added runs in the second and third inning. The Angels scored their 2 runs on 5 hits off of Tigers starter Dennis Leonard (0-1) who earned the loss in 7.1 innings. California starter Wayne Garland (1-0) scattered 7 hits and 4 walks over 8 innings to earn the win. Tom Niedenfuer who earned 43 saves during the regular season pitched the 9th inning for the save.

[BoilerRocketScientist]

The Cincinnati Reds jumped all over Mets starter LaMarr Hoyt (0-1) for 6 runs in 4.2 innings en route to a 9-2 pasting over New York to take a 1-0 lead in the NLCS. The Reds were led by George Foster who went 3/5 with a homer and 3 RBI’s. Foster was aided by Dan Driessen who had a double, a homer and 2 RBI’s. Reds starter Doug Rau (1-0) went the distance giving up 2 runs on 5 hits to earn the win. The Mets were down 9-0 before the managed a pair of runs in the bottom of the 7th including a solo homer from Kent Hrbek.