Worst to First - The Sequel

[NYY #23]

This was a really long offseason. For some reason I've now got AAA games popping up in the offseason that I can't get rid of since I don't have any minor leagues anymore. So that means a slow day by day advance until I get to April. I thought I cleared up the problem before importing to 13, but its back and I can no longer fix it. So we'll see what happens next offseason, but if it continues the Indians will be my last team with this save file. But we'll see what happens, but the next team may require a roster reset a few years in the future. Stay tuned, but either way I fully intend to go through the remaining teams that I haven't won a World Series with yet, one way or another. I'm just hoping that I don't lose almost 50 years of history, but we'll see.

Now, on to the season where the Indians started off April a perfect 8-0. It's early, but you can't get any better than that at this point.

We did receive some bad news regarding Alan Benes, who had a setback and will be out another 5-6 months, so it looks like this season is lost as well. So much for the Benes brothers.

[ShagVT]

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to submit a bug report and saved game zip and see if Markus can do anything about it?

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by ShagVT

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to submit a bug report and saved game zip and see if Markus can do anything about it?

That's a good suggestion, and can't hurt anything.

[NYY #23]

After a perfect April the Indians went 15-17 in May and now are a 1/2 game behind the White Sox and tied with Philadelphia.

The Indians lost both Jimmy Williams and Johnny Damon to injury.

I was doing a little clean-up and noticed that Mickey McDermott had retired with a 214-208 career record and a 4.15 ERA.

I also noticed that there are several players approaching some major milestones this year:

3000 Hits:
Matty Alou (41) - Boston Red Sox - needs 7
Dan Brouthers (40) - Brooklyn Dodgers - needs 26
Kal Daniels (44) - New York Giants - needs 72
Gregg Jeffries (38) - Washington Senators - needs 155

300 Wins:
Eric Bedard (41) - Philadelphia Athletics - needs 11
Harry Salisbury (40) - Chicago Cubs - needs 13

Meanwhile, Ewell Blackwell of the Chicago Cubs won his 250th career game.

[scott1964]

Would be nice to see Brouthers hit 3000, he fell shy in my league.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by scott1964

Would be nice to see Brouthers hit 3000, he fell shy in my league.

He should get there, barring anything unexpected.

[NYY #23]

The Indians finished the month with a .500 record, but slid into first place, now leading the White Sox by a half game and the Tigers by a game.

Nothing like battling my past two teams for first place. Really the entire American League is bunched pretty tightly though.

If only our pitching could get going I'd feel a lot better.

An update on the major milestones:

3000 Hits:
Matty Alou (41) - Boston Red Sox - needs 7
Dan Brouthers (40) - Brooklyn Dodgers - needs 12
Kal Daniels (44) - New York Giants - needs 59
Gregg Jeffries (38) - Washington Senators - needs 141

300 Wins:
Eric Bedard (41) - Philadelphia Athletics - needs 11
Harry Salisbury (40) - Chicago Cubs - needs 12

[NYY #23]

The Indians had a losing record this month and now sit a game and a half back. We're scoring a lot of runs, but giving up a lot of runs as well. Last year our pitching carried us, this year it's our offense. It would be nice if we could find a middle ground.

Jack Clark picked up a Batter of the Month Award after hitting .357 with 13 home runs, 28 RBI, and 31 runs scored.

Don Gullett, Frankie Pytlak, Jimmy Williams, Jhonny Peralta, and Jack Clark were selected to the All-Star team.

William Van Landingham of the Braves pitched a no-hitter this month, winning 3-1 against the Reds.

Dan Brouthers of the Dodgers picked up career hit number 3000 this month, while Mark McGwire of the Braves picked up hit number 2000.

An update on the major milestones:

3000 Hits:
Matty Alou (41) - Boston Red Sox - needs 7
Kal Daniels (44) - New York Giants - needs 55
Gregg Jeffries (38) - Washington Senators - needs 132

300 Wins:
Eric Bedard (41) - Philadelphia Athletics - needs 11
Harry Salisbury (40) - Chicago Cubs - needs 11

[NYY #23]

Despite a winning month the Indians have now fallen four games behind the Athletics. We have our final four games of the season against Philly, but hopefully it doesn't come to that.

Dory Dean of the Pirates won his 250th career game at the age of 34.

An update on the major milestones:

3000 Hits:
Matty Alou (41) - Boston Red Sox - needs 5
Kal Daniels (44) - New York Giants - needs 42
Gregg Jeffries (38) - Washington Senators - needs 126

300 Wins:
Harry Salisbury (40) - Chicago Cubs - needs 6
Eric Bedard (41) - Philadelphia Athletics - needs 11

[NYY #23]

The Indians went 12-14 in September and October, and finished four games back in fourth place. I really thought we'd have a better season than we did, but we ended up regressing. My only solace is that our pythagorean record was 84-70, so we should have won the American League. Should have doesn't really count though.

Andy Benes did have a good September, going 5-0 with a 0.40 ERA and he won the Pitcher of the Month Award. If he pitched like that all year we'd be in a much better position.

Butch Huskey won the Rookie of the Month after hitting .328 with 3 home runs and 12 RBI.

An update on the major milestones:

3000 Hits:
Matty Alou (41) - Boston Red Sox - needs 5
Kal Daniels (45) - New York Giants - needs 29
Gregg Jeffries (39) - Washington Senators - needs 114

300 Wins:
Harry Salisbury (40) - Chicago Cubs - needs 5
Eric Bedard (41) - Philadelphia Athletics - needs 11

[NYY #23]

The Indians picked 13th in the amateur draft and with our first pick we selected starting pitcher Hank Aguirre. Starting pitcher Josh Towers was selected second, reliever Bob Patterson third, catcher Kid Baldwin fourth, and reliever Rolla Mapel fifth.

RF Lee Thomas (.277 career average) and reliever Jerry Spradlin (2-3, 2.44 ERA) both retired following the season.

Catcher Frankie Pytlak, shortstop Jhonny Peralta, and left fielder Turner Barber all won Gold Gloves.

Jack Clark won another Outstanding Hitter Award after hitting .309 with 29 home runs, 93 RBI, and 100 runs scored.

Cleveland Indians - 58-96 (.377) 37 GB
1948 - Cleveland Indians 86-67 (.562) - GB, Lost World Series 4-2 to Chicago Cubs (Season Score - 88)
1949 - Cleveland Indians 79-75 (.513) 4 1/2 GM (Season Score - 39)

[NYY #23]

We shipped off SP Duke Esper and reliever Luis Tiant to the New York Giants in exchange for 29 year old center fielder Matt Kemp, 36 year old first baseman Derrek Lee, and catcher Manny Sanguillen.

It was another slow offseason, being forced to move day to day once again.

[NYY #23]

The Indians started off the year 4-5, and our currently sitting in fifth place. The good news is that it's early, but the bad news is we aren't hitting or pitching too well.

Butch Huskey won the Rookie of the Month after hitting .328 with 3 home runs and 12 RBI.

With Kal Daniels retiring at the end of last year, here's an update on the major milestones:

3000 Hits:
Matty Alou (42) - Boston Red Sox - needs 4
Gregg Jeffries (39) - Washington Senators - needs 114

300 Wins:
Harry Salisbury (40) - Chicago Cubs - needs 4
Eric Bedard (42) - Philadelphia Athletics - needs 11

[NYY #23]

While the Indians had a winning month (11-10) we are still struggling quite a bit and sit 8 games out.

We lost Derrek Lee for four month to an injury.

Around the league Bob Veale of the Dodgers pitched a no-hitter in an 11-0 win over the Braves.

Denny Lyons of the Athletics picked up career hit number 2000, as did 35 year old Steve Ontiveros of the Giants.

An update on the major milestones:

3000 Hits:
Matty Alou (42) - Boston Red Sox - needs 4
Gregg Jeffries (39) - Washington Senators - needs 102

300 Wins:
Harry Salisbury (41) - Chicago Cubs - needs 4
Eric Bedard (42) - Philadelphia Athletics - needs 11

[ShagVT]

Your milestone guys don't seem to be making much progress toward their goals.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by ShagVT

Your milestone guys don't seem to be making much progress toward their goals.

Yeah, they definitely aren't making much progress at all, and seem to all have hit the wall. I was going to abandon the updates last night, but I had a little fun with it last night which I'll share shortly.

[NYY #23]

After a 9-18 month the Indians completely fell apart this month. We lost Don Gullett, Doug DeCinces, Jack Clark, and 3B Bon Jones to injury this month to join Derrek Lee on the disabled list. In short, if it could have gone wrong it probably did.

The one plus was Silvio Martinez winning the Pitcher of the Month Award after going 4-2 with a 1.84 ERA. Of course that's 44% of our wins for the month, so a little bit depressing. Jhonny Peralta hit for the cycle in a 15-10 loss.

Around the league one of my former players, Ron Gant, had 6 hits in a game.

An update on the major milestones:

3000 Hits:
Matty Alou (42) - Boston Red Sox - needs 4
Gregg Jeffries (39) - Washington Senators - needs 100

300 Wins:
Harry Salisbury (41) - Chicago Cubs - needs 4
Eric Bedard (42) - Philadelphia Athletics - needs 11
Jon Matlock (37) - Philadelphia Phillies - needs 18

[NYY #23]

It was a pointless trade, but I sent minor league middle reliever Greg Burke to the Boston Red Sox for Matty Alou. At least the Indians can run a promotion in this lost season while Matty Alou chases 3000.

July 1 - Game 1 - Matty Alou goes 1-2 with an RBI to move up to 2997 career hits. The Indians come back for an 11-10 win.

July 1 - Game 2 - Matty Alou goes 2-4 with another RBI to move up to 2999 career hits. Looks like all the guy needed was a chance, and the Indians are now 2-0 in the Matty Alou era with a 3-2 win in the second game of the doubleheader. We did lose Matt Kemp to injury though.

July 2 - Game 1 - Matty Alou singles in his first at-bat for career hit number 3000! He goes 1-4 for the game, and the Indians lost the game 7-0

Congratulations to Matty Alou! Following the game we rewarded him with an all-expense paid trip to Philadelphia, in exchange for 28 year old minor league center fielder Bryan Petersen.

[Painmantle]

That's just wrong!

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by Painmantle

That's just wrong!

That probably was wrong to do, but with our pathetic excuse for a season it was a nice little diversion.