California Angels 1970

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In out last meeting of the season, the Astros sent 10-8 Bob Shirley and his 3.06 ERA against our 10-13 Willie Hernandez and his 3.15 ERA and neither team could garner a hit of either through 3 innings.

Barry Larkin led off the 4th with a ringing double and Jim Presley sent him to 3rd with a blooper to center. Hernandez then unleashed a wild pitch and it was 1-0 Astros. Willie Darkis then singled to center scoring Presley and it was 2-0. Greg Vaughn doubles Darkis to 3rd and 2 sac flys made it 4-0 after 3 1/2.

We got our 1st hit with a 468 foot bomb to center by Brunansky, his 17th to make it 4-1 and Fred Lynn followed that with a 395 foot shot to right, his 18th, and it was 4-2.

With 2 outs in the 5th, Larkin hit his 19th home run to left to give the Astros a 5-2 lead but we got that run back in the bottom half with a pinch hit double and it was 5-3.

It was quiet all the way until the bottom of the 9th when Astro right fielder Dann Howitt dropped a Dave Clark fly ball and we got the tying run to the plate, but Mike Stanley hit into a 5-4-3 double play and when Carter grounded out to short, the Astros had won 5-3 and the west was tied. We were both 88-59 and it comes down to 15 games.

Still waiting on the diagnosis on Araujo.

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After beating the Braves 4-3, Araujo was diagnosed with a torn flexor and is out for 12 months. As a UFA to be, that will be a crushing blow for him personally. He was a 21-game winner with a league leading 2.37 ERA as a 25 year old his 1st year that I was running the Dodgers. He was 13-6 with a 3.07 last year but fell to a 4.02 ERA this year, but I guess his elbow wasn't great all year.

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We went 3-3 over the next 6 but the Astros dropped 4 of 6 so we have a 1 game lead with 9 to play. As we lost an important piece in Araujo, the Astros lost closer David Miller for the season as well.

The Pirates are up 8 games and the Orioles are up by 9, so they will be in the post-season. The White Sox and A's are still tied up as they have been for about 4 weeks now.

As far as injuries in the league in general, there have been many star players hurt this year:

6 time All Star Gary Redus-6 month concussion
4 time All Star John Candelaria 11 month elbow
4 time All Star Andre Dawson 4 month broken hand
22 year old Jose Canseco 2 month shoulder
22 year old John Smoltz 6 month bone spur
2 time All Star George Bell 7 months achilles
Aforementioned Andy Araujo 12 month shoulder
4 time All Star Glenn Davis 4 months elbow
6 time All Star Rickey Henderson 6 month ACL
25 year old Kal Daniels 8 month ACL
23 year old Ed Correa 12 month UCL
Rookie Brian McRae 8 month broken kneecap
22 year old Jack McDowell 10 month UCL
24 yea old Kevin Tapani 13 month rotator cuff

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We took 2 out of 3 against the Padres, including a 20-3 win, but the Astros kept pace and the lead is still 1 with 6 to go.

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Houston beat the Braves in a day game to get to 1/2 game back when we looked to have a good pitching matchup with the Giants Al Leiter going up against Kevin Houston. Nope.

The Giants put up 4 runs in the 2nd on 2 walks, a hit-by-pitch and 5 singles. Death by a 100 paper cuts. In the bottom of the 3rd down 4-0, I decided to pinch hit for Houston hoping to get back in the and put my trust in the bullpen. Roberto Kelly doubled in pinch hitter Ivan DeJesus and it was 4-1. Von Hayes followed that up with his 12th home run and it was 4-3 after 3.

I brought in Richard Dunn and that was a mistake. I should have gone with one of my middle guys but instead I went with the 40-man roster call up and he promptly gave up 3 runs, 1 on a Palmiero single and 2 on a Sheffield double.

In the 5th, Leiter lost home plate as he walked 3 Dodgers and they all scored and it was 7-7 after a 2-run, 2 out single by Carter.

We brought in Gary Lucas who got the 1st 2 outs before allowing 2 singles before another Sheffield double scored 2 more and we were down again, 9-7. Dave Clark hit his 21st home run in the bottom half and it was 9-8 going into the 8th.

Lucas gave that run right back as Randy Bush went deep to make it 10-8 and that was it. We lose and the NL West is tied with 5 games to go

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Once again the Astros won before we took the field, so we had to win to stay tied for first. It was a battle of lefties as 15-9 Michael Elliott faced 14-15 Joe Magrane and the Giants pushed across a single run in the first on a Greg Brock single and when Gary Sheffield hit a sac fly in the 3rd, we trailed 2-0.

In the bottom half, Fred Lynn singled in Roberto Kelly to cut the lead in half and the score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the 6th. With 2 outs, Mike Stanley and Jeff Carter singled and I brought Randy Milligan off the bench to hit for Elliott. Milligan has been a .300 pinch hitter and he lined his 16th pinch hit of the season to center to score Stanley it we were tied at 2.

With 1 out in the 8th, Stanley once again singled and Magrane balked pinch runner Lee Graham to 2nd. After a Carter ground out, I sent up pinch hitter Ellis Valentine who got his 15th pinch hit, a single to left to send Graham home to give us the 3-2 lead.

Steve Howe picked up his 29th save as James Melliand got his 13th win out of the bullpen and with 4 games to go, we are still tied.

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The Astros keep winning and the pressure keeps building as we keep having to win just to keep pace.

Dennis Martinez took to the mound for our last home game of the season and when Dave Clark doubled in 2 runs in the bottom of the 3rd, we led 2-0.

The scored remained 2-0 until the 8th when Martinez was exhausted after a one-out single by Greg Brock. Rather than go to our setup guy, I went right for our closer Steve Howe who walked Dave Elder and then Rafael Palmeiro doubled to make it 2-1. Gary Sheffield then turned around a 98 MPH fastball and 420 feet later, we were trailed 4-2 and the stadium went silent.

If possible, it got more silent when Mo Vaughn took Howe deep 3 pitches later to make it 5-2 and we were on the ropes. With 2 outs in the bottom half, Dave Clark hit a 2-run homer off Oil Can Boyd and it was 5-4, and man that Vaughn home run looked massive.

I brought in Mike Morgan in the 9th, but he didn't help. Cecil Fielder hit a 2-run home run to make it 7-4 Giants and that was how it ended.

We are now 1 game back and we have to fly across the country for 3 in Atlanta while the Astros are home against the Giants. We need help to win the division.

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We jumped all over Roger McDowell in the 1st. Jack Clark singled in Roberto Kelly and then Dave Clark took McDowell deep and it was 4-0 before the top of the 1st was over.

Travis Fryman homered off Willie Hernandez to make it 4-1 in the 3rd, but Fred Lynn hit a 3-run homer off McDowell in the bottom half and our lead was 7-1.

Fryman hit a 2 run single in the 7th, but Kelly added a 2-run home run and we went on beat the Braves 10-7 and after the Giants beat the Astros 5-2, we are tied with 2 games left

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Kevin Houston took to the mound against Clay Daniel and after a Spike Owen double and Pat Tabler single, we were behind 2-0 after 2. Von Hayes cut the lead in half with a double in the 3rd, 2-1 Braves.

Gene Larkin singled in a run in the 3rd and a wild pitch in the 4th found us down 4-1. Jack Clark slugged a 2-run home run in the 6th to get us back to 4-3. Hayes then hit a sac fly in the 7th to tie it up.

In the 8th Tom Brunansky doubled in Dave Clark to give us the lead and Jeff Carter hit a sac fly and we led 6-4 going into the 9th.

In comes our closer Steve Howe:

Mike Cole-walk
Pat Tabler-single
Harold Baines-single
Kevin Bass--------walk off Grand Slam

The Astros win and we are 1 back.

......we are devastated.

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We put the ball in the hands of Michael Elliott and he was fantastic. He allowed just 2 hits over 8 innings and not only that, he homered in the 5th to give us a 1-0 lead. Fred Lynn added an RBI single and we led 2-0 going into the 9th as we found out that Houston lost. A win and we have a 1 game playoff.

After Steve Howe blew the game last night, I wasn't about to pull Elliott after allowing just 2 hits and throwing 85 pitches. Pitch number 86 was launched over the wall by Harold Baines made it 2-1.......but I am sticking with Elliott.

After a walk to Kevin Bass and single by Mike Brown, I finally brought in James Meilland who struck out Spike Owen, but Gene Larkin singled in Bass to tie things up at 2. Ken Oberkfell then ended our season with a walk off single.

I truly can't believe we missed the playoffs, what an epic failure.

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I recevied my lowest game score in 20 years of managing, shameful that we didn't win the division. Although the Astros taking out the Pirates in 5 and then the Orioles in 5 makes it about 1% less painful. So Houston wins their first World Series ever as the 80's come to an end.

I won the World Series with the Angels in 1981, 1984 and 1985 and then the Dodgers in 1987 and 1988. But I sure ended the decade with a whimper, didn't I?

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Before we move along to the draft, here are some highlights of the post season awards:

Our James Meilland won his 2nd straight Reliever of the Year award as our primary setup man. He won 13 games and saved 14 more with a 1.59 ERA and 1.01 WHIP. I will be moving him to the closer role this year and drop Steve Howe to the setup role.
Both of our Clarks won the Silver Slugger; Jack at 1B and Dave in center.

Reggie Sanders won NL ROY going .286/.341/.434 with 43 doubles and 40 steals. John Olerud won AL ROY going .371/.470/.531 with 35 doubles, 15 home runs and 80 RBI.

23-year old Pete Harnisch won the AL Cy Young 1 year after a torn rotator cuff. He went 19-10 with a 2.87 ERA/1.14 WHIP and 184 strikeouts. Roger Clemens won his 2nd Cy Young with the Padres going 17-13 with a 2.32 ERA/1.06 WHIP and 241 strikeouts.

Gregg Jefferies won the AL MVP as Eric Davis was 2nd and the guy that got my vote, Barry Bonds was 3rd. Who would you have voted for blindly:

.304/.403/.565 38 HR 31 doubles 124 RBI 116 runs 50 steals
.310/.394/.579 40 HR 31 doubles 125 RBI 107 runs 32 steals
.358/.420/.478 9 HR 35 doubles 87 RBI 106 runs 42 steals

Allen Sigler won his 2nd NL MVP as he hit .304/.413/.524 36 HR 100 RBI 96 runs. I voted for Larry Walker who went .309/.378/.513 24 HR 88 RBI 85 runs 35 steals.

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We are allowing the following guys to leave via free agency:

Pitchers
Will McEnaney
Jeff Hanslovan
Gary Lucas
Andy Araujo

Batters
Lee Graham
Dan Graham

I re-signed Ernie Riles as a 5th infielder then signed Rick Leach to back up the outfield positions along with Ellis Valentine. I signed Sid Fernandez to a very cheap deal to be my 5th starter. The 27 year old has gone 91-100 for the Cubs and the move to a bigger ballpark in LA won't hurt his career 3.57 ERA. He has averaged 4 BB per 9 innings, so that needs to improve, but has averaged 200 strikeouts a season. We also signed 32 year old Ray Fontenot who I managed for 7 seasons for our bullpen/swingman for rotation.

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Jeff Carter had a great rookie year for us as a 23 year old in 1987. He hit .293/.375/.402 with 38 XBH and 79 steals. In 1988 he dipped to .247/.320/.333 with 35 XBH and 51 steals and last year he put up .251/.339/309 with just 20 XBH and 35 steals. He is also an average fielder so I decided we need to improve at second base.

Randy Milligan has been our 4th outfielder since I arrived and if he played full time he would probably be a 3 WAR player or so and is very cheap at 27 years old. When I shopped him around specifically looking for a second baseman and a smile came on my face:

31 year old Julio Franco was offered and I snapped him up right away. He is a solid player but looked like he was going to be a superstar. A 3 time all-star, he had a 5.4 WAR as a 21 year old, a 4.8 WAR as a 22 year old and had a 4.9 WAR after 97 games as a 23 year old when he suffered a skull fracture trying to break up a double play and was out for 8 months. Since then, he hasn't made an All-Star team, but has been solid.

For his career, his 162 game average is .279/.361/.397 14 HR 23 doubles 70 RBI 91 runs 22 steals and is a plus fielder. I am going to plug him in at second on the field and in the lineup between Roberto Kelly and Fred Lynn.

In the rule 5 draft, Al Martin was available, a top 100 prospect and I have room to put him on the roster as a 6th outfielder and see what happens with him. We signed 34-year old Kelvin Moore to backup Dave Clark in center.

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Here were our '89 final stats

Kelly .277/.326/.391 18 doubles 11 triples 11 home runs 34 steals 62 rbi 85 runs
Hayes .249/.337/.363 29 doubles 2 triples 12 home runs 41 steals 71 rbi 100 runs
Lynn .290/.392/.471 23 doubles 4 triples 21 home runs 83 rbi 88 runs
J Clark .252/.363/.465 31 doubles 4 triples 28 home runs 101 rbi 93 runs
D Clark .296/.370/.485 26 doubles 23 home runs 101 rbi 79 runs
Brunansky .258/.324/.390 18 doubles 18 home runs 31 steals 81 rbi 75 runs
Stanley .271/.341/.349 22 doubles 5 home runs 63 rbi
Carter .251/.339/.309 35 steals 73 runs

Houston 16-7 3.42 ERA 1.37 WHIP
Martinez 15-8 3.35 ERA 1.33 WHIP
Elliott 15-10 3.86 ERA 1.28 WHIP
Hernandez 11-15 3.43 ERA 1.22 WHIP
Araujo 12-6 4.02 ERA 1.31 WHIP

Meilland 13-5 14 saves 1.59 ERA 1.06 WHIP
Howe 4-5 29 saves 3.07 ERA 1.44 WHIP

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Here was the 1990 draft

Padres-Chipper Jones
Yankees-Pedro Martinez (LOL)
Red Sox-Mike Piazza
Royals-Jim Thome
Brewers-Rusty Greer
Cubs-Ivan Rodridguez
Mariners-Carl Everett
Expos-Ray Durham
Rangers-Mike Mussina

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I've decided to go with this batting order to start the year:

Franco
Hayes
Dave Clark
Jack Clark
Lynn
Brunansky
Kelly
Stanley

Lynn has batted 3rd for me in all 6 years I've managed him, but as he hits 38 years of age and Dave Clark hits his prime at 27, I think flipping them is just common sense. I am not sure if 1/2/7 spots are in the right spot, but Franco/Kelly/Hayes will be the 3 who will fill those spots.

Al Martin will be the 6th OF as we have to keep him all year as a rule 5 guy. Ellis Valentine will back up the corners and Kelvin Moore will back up Clark in center and be the defensive replacement for Lynn as I try to get him more rest. Jeff Carter and Ernie Riles will back up the 4 IF positions and 23 year old Adam Brown has earned the backup catcher spot. I claimed him on waivers a few years ago when the sim did something stupid. He doesn't have a ton of potential and we have 22 year old Brian Deak at AAA who I think will be the starter in a year or 2.

Our rotation will be

Kevin Houston
Michael Elliott
Dennis Martinez
Willie Hernandez
Sid Fernandez

Steve Bedrosian, Ray Fontenot, Rick Moore, Mike Morgan and Steve Howe will set up James Melliand.

We have to win this year.

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Interesting trend in the 1st series of the season; pitchers are averaging about 7 strikeouts a game, up over 1 strikeout a game and runs are down across the league to about 6 runs per game.

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Runs were down and strikeouts were up, but nothing drastic. I think it was just the best pitchers going, should have thought of that.

After April, we are tied for 1st with the Padres at 16-9, the 2nd best record in the league. The Red Sox won the World Series 2 years ago, had the 4th worst record in baseball last year and this year they are 18-7 with the best record in the game.
The AL has hit over 100 more home runs so far, they have 20 players with at least 6 home runs and the NL has......1, Kevin Bass.

We haven't been that good, we are 4th in runs and 6th in pitching to go with being 12 in zone rating. Jack Clark is just hitting .220 and Brunansky just .180 so far, though Clark is 2nd in the NL in RBI's with 18. Franco has hit well and Hayes is hitting better than last year. Fred Lynn was off to a red-hot start but I had to put him on the DL with a minor 10-14 day injury.

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Originally Posted by sharknut

Our James Meilland won his 2nd straight Reliever of the Year award as our primary setup man. He won 13 games and saved 14 more with a 1.59 ERA and 1.01 WHIP. I will be moving him to the closer role this year and drop Steve Howe to the setup role

James Meilland has been the best reliever in baseball the last 2 years. In 57 games 2 years ago, he allowed a total of 8 runs for an ERA of 0.99. In 62 games last year, he allowed a total of 14 runs for an ERA of 1.59. In the first 9 games this year, he allowed 1 run while getting 8 saves and 1 win.

Here were his next 4 games:

1/3 inning 3 hits 3 runs walk off home run loss
1 inning 3 hits 1 walk 2 runs blown save
1 inning 3 hits 1 walk 4 runs walk off grand slam loss
0 innings 4 hits 4 runs loss

In 10 days he allowed more runs than he did in the entirety of 1988 or 1989.

I am glad I hung on to 2b Jeff Carter after signing Julio Franco. He's a 3 WAR 2b, but most of that is due to his speed, he hasn't developed as I thought he would after a 4.5 WAR season as a 23 year old. I dealt him along with a pretty good pitching prospect for 34 year old reliever Jospeh Jantin. He is going to be a free agent after this year and he lost his job as the closer in Atlanta, but I am going to give him a go for us. He averaged 35 saves the last 2 year and I need to stabilize the bullpen