This is my team and I'll run it how I want to!!!

[Ragin Cajun]

Bill Singer got the start for the AL, going three innings and giving up only one hit. Quintana saw one-third an inning of relief, finishing up the 7th inning, getting out the only batter he would face. Ryan didn't get off the bench.

McCraw got the start in center field, going 0-2 with one walk and one RBI.

7/22
Remember that guy Mike Easler that we've traded for twice this year? Seem's they've dubbed him the "Hit Man" down in Garland. Today he was named the AA Player of the Week hitting at a .500 clip with 2 home runs, 8 RBIs and 6 runs scored.

7/28
Rudy May was struggling earlier in the season. Today he blanked the Twins 4-0 while allowing only 3 hits and striking out ten. This month, he is a perfect 5-0 in five starts giving up only four runs in those five outings. This improves his record on the season to 9-6 and drops his ERA to 2.77.

7/31
We did not receive a single call today at the trading deadline. Sitting in first place, we're not looking to make many, if any, moves. In our game this afternoon, Nolan Ryan blew past the White Sox with a two-hitter and we won 1-0 in a squeaker. Ryan struck out 12 while walking only 3. He's now 17-7 on the season in 25 starts.

8/1
Month end awards were handed out early this morning. Rudy May completely dominated this month, 5-0 with a 0.89 ERA (yes, you read that correctly). 40.2 innings of work...over 8 innings per start was great news for the bullpen to get some rest.

Mike Easler wrapped up his first full month in double A winning Batter of the Month honors, batting .328 with 5 HR and 22 RBI. He showed a good eye, taking 10 walks and had a .377 OBP. For the season he is at .277 with 13 homers and 60 RBI.

I meet with Ellie and we decide again on only one roster transaction. We promote Keith Hernandez from A-Garland to AA-Manton.

[Ragin Cajun]

We start the month nine and a half games up in the division. I'm liking the way things are heading. Elston Howard really has the team playing well and we've avoided any major injuries as well.

8/5
Mike Easler continues his tear with Garland, winning another Player of the Week honor hitting .467 with 14 hits 3 homers and 11 RBI this past week. I'm thinking he's playing for a call up come September. I make the call to send him to AA, pairing him back up with Keith Hernandez.

8/19
Not a whole lot of happenings the last two weeks. The Royals have kept pace with us although at 81-42 we've added another game to our lead, now up by 10 and a half. All our pitchers have now reached double digit wins and none have double digit losses. This is a great thing. Ryan paces the team with 18 wins, then Singer with 16, Tanana with 14, May with 11 and Richard with 10. Quintana has 35 saves on the season, with a miniscule 1.18 ERA. What a great year for the rookie.

[Ragin Cajun]

With an eye to the playoffs, we have an 11.5 game lead and our magic number is 18 over the Kansas City Royals. They are the only team with a realistic shot at us. Over in the East, the Red Sox are 71-62 with a 3 game lead over the Brewers. Baltimore is only 4 back and the Yankees are 8 out. All four teams have a legitimate shot at the division. In the National League, Pittsburgh is five and a half up on the Cardinals with a magic number of 25. The Cubs are on the fringe, eleven games back. The Braves lead the West at 77-58, along with the Reds and the Giants. L.A. is 8.5 back and the Astros are 10 back.

Quintana needs just one more save to reach 40 on the season. Ryan is two wins away from what would be his second straight 20-win season. Singer also has 18 wins and is shooting for his second straight 20-win campaign.

Tommy McCraw leads the club with 13 Homers, that's pretty dismal. He also paces the club with 73 RBI. Rivers and Bochte are over 60 RBI while Brett and Ken Griffey are within four of the 60 RBI mark.

With September call-ups, we basically empty out the minor leagues. We pull shortstop Orlando Ramirez up from Spokane along with his teammates Bill Stoneman, Andy Hassler, Dave Sells, Tom Egan-a catcher, and Don Kirkwood. From AA-Manton we get Bob Oliver and Keith Hernandez as well as Mike Easler. Hassler and Stoneman will be long relief and spot starters to rest the pen, especially if we get to set up our rotation. Hernandez might see some good playing time down the stretch. He might just be ready for next year as our starter. Easler will have a tough time breaking into the outfield right now though.

George Foster has become eligible for free agency. We want to wrap him up. He wants a three year deal totalling $3.093 million. I meet that, and then offer a fourth year with a mutual option. Now it's waiting to see if he takes that deal or not. Tom Egan, just called up from Spokane is a great defensive catcher. He'd be a solid backup that won't cost a lot of money. He is seeking a three year deal worth $88,400 per year. I offer $78k per year, let's see if he's hungry enough for that.

9/7
Tom Egan signs his deal. I have to believe this will make Charlie Sands expendable. He's a nice guy but actually a worse stick than Egan and nowhere near the defensive player. Sands is arbitration eligible after the season. I think we'll release him when the season is done. I won't tell him now though, he's hit over .400 in spot duty for us this year. Well over his expected numbers but.... well. Foster, on the other hand, wasn't keen about the fourth year in his deal. We rework the numbers, to meet his three year demand and resubmit it to his agent.

We opened the month with back to back losses to Oakland before winning the final game of the series and then the opening game against the White Sox. For the month, we are 3-3 and have a big two game series with the Royals next week. We've opened up a twelve game advantage with a magic number of 12.

Boston leads Milwaukee by four; Pittsburgh still leads St. Louis by 3.5. San Francisco has fallen one off the pace in the NL West, but Atlanta and Cincinnati are still tied up.

9/8
Foster wastes no time signing on the dotted line and he's an Angel for three more years. I'm watching the gate down the stretch, hoping to see a peak as we close out. Right now we are averaging 26,441 per game compared to 22,832 last year. Our total payroll for this season is over $9.1 million, but down from $10.7 last year. We've already exceeded our merchandising total of last year and are nearing 1.9 million fans for this season. We've got an outside shot at the two million mark. I'd like to see some sellouts before the playoffs though.

9/13
Nolan Ryan recorded his 20th win of the season today as we blanked the White Sox 7-0. He allowed only 2 hits with 5 walks and 9 strikeouts. He is now 20-11 with a 3.17 ERA.

9/16
We are only four games away from clinching the West. We also only need four more wins to hit 100 for the year. Boston is 3 up on the Brewers; Pittsburgh is now only 2.5 up on the Cards and the Reds have overtaken the Braves and now have a 2 game lead. The Giants are falling off the pace, now 4.5 back. Singer is still looking for his 19th win; Tanana has gotten to 17. He's got an outside shot at 20. We also got work that Andy Hassler was named the Outstanding Pitcher of the Year for AAA this season. He went 9-5 with a 2.02 ERA. Since the callup two weeks ago, he is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA for the Angels.

9/17
We lose today, our third loss in a row. The Royals won, their third straight. Our lead is down to 9.5, into single digits. Our magic number stays at four.

9/18
We beat Texas, 9-2 today. The Royals won their fourth straight. The lead stays at 9.5 and our countdown is now at three games. Cincy's lead is now only one over the Braves.

9/19
We are off today, but the Royals win yet again. That's five in a row now. The lead is nine games; still three away from clinching. Braves are within a half game.

9/20
We take out Minnesota 5-4 with RBIs from George Brett and Mickey Rivers in the top of the ninth to come from behind. Brett scored on a passed ball if you can believe it. KC won again for six straight but our number is down to 2. The Sox have their number down to 9 games. The Reds are at 10 games as are the Pirates. Some close races going on.

9/21
A loss to the Twins today hurt, but then the Royals lost so our number falls to one game! The Sox are down to 7 games and the Braves and Pirates are down to 9 games. The Braves hold a slim half game lead over the Reds while the Cards are lurking 2.5 back of Pittsburgh.

9/22
We end the week with a 3-2 win over the Twins as Bill Singer finally gets his 19th win of the season. Unfortunately, the win took place in Minneapolis, but we celebrated on their pitcher's mound as we clinched the AL West pennant for the 1974 season. We trailed 2-0 heading into the 8th inning. Dave Goltz was on the hill as the starter for the Twins tonight. Dave Chalk led off the inning and in a 1-2 hole, he was hit by the pitch. Billy North laid down a sacrifice bunt and then beat the throw to first with great hustle. Chalk moved over the second. Brett came up with no outs and lined a single to center field, loading the bases. Mickey Rivers hit a fly ball to left field. It was deep enough to allow Chalk to tag up and score our first run of the game. McCraw would then hit a 2-2 pitch for a single through the left side of the infield. North didn't stop and came home standing up. Brett made it to second base safely. That would be the last of our offense in the eighth, as we tied up the game on some small ball, 2-2. Singer retired all three batters in the bottom half of the inning on nine pitches. Goltz was still in for the ninth. Rodriguez, our catcher flied out for the first out of the inning. Bobby Valentine worked a full count and then walked. Valentine would then steal second on the first pitch to George Foster, who would then lace a groundball up the middle. Valentine, with his speed, would round third to score the go ahead run for us. It would also turn out to be the winning run. Singer would leave the game with the lead. Quintana came in and allowed a single to Harmon Killebrew but got three outs and the save.

The Braves open their lead up to 1.5 games. The other three divisions are all at 7 games for their magic numbers.


10/2
The regular season ended today. In the AL, we finished at 102-60 and 9 games up on the Royals. Boston would win the East with an 89-73 mark, three games in front of the Brewers and eight up on the Orioles. Over in the NL, the Pirates would extend their lead to six games and win the East with a 96-66 mark. They will face the Braves who won by one game over both the Reds and the surging Giants.

Back on the 25th, Frank Tanana won his 19th game of the year with a solid five hitter over the Royals. He would allow only 1 walk and strike out four. Nolan Ryan was named the AL Pitcher of the Month for this month, going 4-2 with a 1.61 ERA down the stretch. He finished the year with a 22-12 mark and a 3.07 ERA. He also struck out 319 batters in 287.1 innings of work.

Jorge Orta would win the AL batting crown with a .334 average. Bruce Bochte finished in the top five for us, batting .309 for the season. Rod Carew led the AL in hits with 215. George Brett finished with 40 doubles, second best in the AL behind his former teammate Royal Hal McRae who had 42. Mickey Rivers lashed out 14 triples to lead the league, the only batter with double digits here. Oscar Gamble was the home run champion wth 35 home runs. Reggie Jackson, whom we tried to get earlier this year finished second with 33. Jackson would also pace the AL in RBI with 109. Lee May of the Twins was the only other batter with 100 RBI, finishing with 107. Rivers would also lead the AL in stolen bases, finishing with 64. Billy North would finish fifth with 40.