Worst to First - The Sequel

[NYY #23]

I entered the month feeling like contenders, and after an 11-18 month I feel much differently about our chances. We've fallen seven games off the pace set by the Indians, and now sit in fifth place.

We lost a lot of close games, and we lost them in frustrating fashion, but we still lost those games. Rick Monday spent a couple of weeks on the disabled list during the month, and our financial situation makes trading difficult, at best.

So I've decided to begin the Clay Kirby era in the Bronx, calling up the 21 year old to see if he can help our rotation.

[NYY #23]

I woke on July 30th having lost 14 of the 25 games in the month and seeing the Yankees fall further behind. With a bleak financial outlook I decided that it was time to start doing some selling in an effort to shed payroll. Maybe that goes against trying to win a World Series as soon as possible, but maybe this was something I should have already done.

We saved $156,000 with a deal with the Phillies, sending Denny Lemaster, Dick Drott, Charlie Lau, George Banks, and Bill Melton and getting back 3B Bobby Cox and SP Tom Griffin.

This was primarily a salary dump, but Griffin is 21 years old and 9-7 with a 3.40 this year. He'll step into the rotation with Clay Kirby and we'll save a lot of money, even if this is a very unpopular deal.

Thurman Munson won the AL Rookie of the Month after hitting .323 with 4 home runs and 15 RBI. It was an encouraging sign, since his backup was just traded away.

[NYY #23]

It's always nice when you throw in the towel, dump salary, and go 18-7 for the month. Yes, August was our best month of the year, and maybe we're seeing a little addition by subtraction, as Tom Griffin (2-1, 2.45) and Clay Kirby (3-1, 2.90) have helped our rotation.

I don't think we'll be able to make up the 9 game gap, but I think we are well positioned for next year.

[NYY #23]

We couldn't keep the hot pace of August going into September, and finished with a 14-14 month, along with a pair of wins in October to finish in third place, once again above .500 and with my best record with the Yankees, 85-77.

I don't feel too bad about the team though, despite the salary dump at the trading deadline we ended up finishing strong. We aren't a perfect team, but I feel like we've got a team that can compete, and the young players will be back and better next year.

I'm hoping to head into the draft and improving our situation at second base. We'll see what is available though, and go with the best available player we can afford.

Year 4 is now in the books with the Yankees:

New York Yankees - 64-98 (.395) 35 GB
1966 - New York Yankees 77-85 (.475) 27 GB (Season Score - 3)
1967 - New York Yankees 83-79 (.512) 20 GB (Season Score - 28)
1968 - New York Yankees 78-84 (.481) 23 GB (Season Score - 1)
1969 - New York Yankees 85-77 (.525) 10 GB (Season Score - 36)

[NYY #23]

Drafting 15th in the amateur draft, I decided to go with speed over power, drafting centerfielder Mickey Rivers over right fielder Don Baylor. I didn't get that second baseman I wanted, or even the third baseman I wanted, but I didn't want to overdraft someone who wasn't worthy.

Starting pitcher Steve Kline was picked in the second round, although I do realize he likely doesn't have the stamina to stick in the rotation. Second baseman Rich McKinney was our third round pick, followed by Tim Foli, and shortstop Ed Crosby. Center fielder Jorge Roque was our final pick of the draft.

We should be able to sign everyone based on our bonus pool available.

Heading into the offseason we took care of business and extended scout Sean Whitaker, who I've been happy with.

I should also point out that Thurman Munson was named American League Rookie of the Year after hitting .304 with 10 home runs and 59 RBI. I'm hoping year 5 is our year.

[NYY #23]

It was a quiet offseason, as we signed our draft picks, and that was about it. But as we head into the 1970 season we'll both try and capture the American League East, and knock off the defending World Series Champion Minnesota Twins, who have won three of the last four World Series.

Our owner has low expectations, wanting us to only play .500 ball. I feel like we're better than that though, and only have a couple of weaknesses. In fact I think we should win the East, but it's a long year and we'll see how that turns out.

[NYY #23]

Our hot start was cut short by a double dose of injury news, losing both Lou Piniella and Rick Monday on the same day which made it difficult to replace our number two and three hitters in the lineup.

But we managed to limp along and finish with 11 wins and 11 losses for the month. Not quite where we wanted to be, but given our problems I'm happy with where we are right now. We've scored the 10th amount of runs in the league, and our starters have the 10th worst ERA.

Our bullpen has been great though, and it's still early. I'm hoping with the return of Monday and Piniella along with some improved pitching from our starters will leave us in a much better position heading into June.

[ShagVT]

You have 11 wins and Foster has 11 saves ... that's pretty impressive in its own right. The batting averages in your lineup are definitely something to shield the children's eyes from however.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by ShagVT

You have 11 wins and Foster has 11 saves ... that's pretty impressive in its own right. The batting averages in your lineup are definitely something to shield the children's eyes from however.

That's funny, I didn't even notice that about Foster. He's been pretty impressive so far, and definitely impressive for a fourth rounder. It's been pretty cool to watch him transform into a decent closer. I actually never heard of him before this, but he had a fairly uneventful career as a mostly starter with one pretty decent year. I think he missed his calling as a reliever.

Yeah, with three guys below or close to the Mendoza line it is pretty ugly. At least Munson better turn it around, or it's going to be a long year.

[NYY #23]

The Yankees closed the month winning 6 of our final 7 games to improve to 18-13 for the month and moved into first place taking a two game lead over the Detroit Tigers.

Our offense has picked up this month with the return of Monday and Piniella helping, but Batter of the Month Bobby Murcer led the team with a .402 average and hit 5 home runs while driving in 26.

Both Clay Kirby and Tom Griffin improved in the back of the rotation as things are beginning to stabilize.

In a painful reminder, Denny Lemaster was 5-0 with a 2.11 ERA this month to win the NL Pitcher of the Month. He's 14-5 with an ERA under 4.00 since we shipped him to the Phillies.

[NYY #23]

A hot month has the Yankees up by 4 games over the Indians. After going 17-8 I'm feeling pretty good about the Yankees, despite a couple of obvious problems. It would be nice to shore up the back of our rotation, and see an improvement at third base.

Our budget deficit makes it hard to improve though as we can't take on any salary. I'll be attempting to swing a deal though to plug those holes in July though.

[NYY #23]

On the field the Yankees started off the month with a 9-3 record and opened up a 5 1/2 game lead over the second place Indians.

I sat down with my manager and instructed him to start Bobby Cox at third base. That seems to have solved our third base problem, at least temporarily. We also had a talk about using Mickey Rivers in centerfield, and Rick Monday in right field, hoping that will improve our defense.

I've been spending a lot of time trying to add another starting pitcher though, up to this point unsuccessfully. We'll continue to monitor the sellers though, and see what happens.

In the meantime, Denny McLain (12-4, 2.31), Alan Foster (4-5, 22 SV, 3.03), Thurman Munson (.315/.367/.431, 7 HR, 38 RBI), and Bobby Murcer (.308/.378/.509, 11 HR, 63 RBI) were all selected to represent the American League in the All-Star Game.

[NYY #23]

I don't want to get too overconfident by our first place status, and have really been trying to improve our starting rotation. Today I made a deal with our enemy, the Boston Red Sox to hopefully improve the back end of our rotation.

The Red Sox were rebuilding, and reluctantly willing to trade 27 year old Tommy John, who is 7-5 with a 3.25 ERA this season.

Going back to Boston is 21 year old right fielder Bill Russell, 23 year old second baseman Rich McKinney, 19 year old second baseman Tim Foli, and 28 year old Phil Gagliano. I included $2884 in cash to make the deal budget neutral for the Red Sox, who like us are losing money.

John will become our number 3 starter, allowing us to move everyone back in the rotation. I'm hoping this allows us to

[NYY #23]

Rick Monday .358 for the month with 8 home runs, 25 RBI, and 25 runs scored to capture the Batter of the Month Award. He helped lead our offense to an 18-9 month as we extended our lead to 6 games over Cleveland.

Tommy John hasn't been great so far, going 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA in 3 starts, but my manager used his acquisition to also move Tug McGraw into the rotation, where he's gone 2-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 3 starts.

Hopefully we'll be able to continue our hot play in August.

[NYY #23]

Our magic number is now 18 as we've opened up an 11 game lead over the Indians after going 22-8 during August.

I feel pretty good about our chances of clinching the American League East in September of year 5, and we'll see what happens in the LCS against either the Twins or the Angels. At this point there isn't much more we can do.

[NYY #23]

It took until the last day of September before we could finally clinch the division after a dreadful 10-16 month, which was the worst of the season.

We picked a bad time for everyone to get cold, and a bad time for Rick Monday to get injured for five weeks.

We've got just two more games against the Red Sox before the regular season ends. The Angels hold a slim one game lead over the Twins in the West, so we still don't know our opponent in the LCS, but at this point I'm just happy we made it into the postseason, where hopefully we'll play like we are capable of.

[NYY #23]

The Angels held off the Twins as we prepare to hit the road against the Angels. The Angels scored the third amount of runs in the American League with 744, while holding opponents to 577. Meanwhile we scored 739 runs while allowing 587.

We'll be playing without Rick Monday in the best of 5 series, while the Angels will be without are mostly healthy, with only backup shortstop Rick Renick out for the rest of the year.

[NYY #23]

With 21 game winner Denny McLain on the mound I felt pretty good heading into the game, but by the end of the second inning McLain was already chased from the game allowing 7 runs in 1 2/3 innings and we trailed 7-0.

It would get worse though, as the Angels scored 3 more unanswered runs in the fourth inning as we fell behind 10-0.

We'd score six meaningless runs before it was over, but we fell behind 1-0 in the 11-6 loss.

Today's goat was Denny McLain, who exited the game with a 37.82 ERA, and today's "hero" was Bobby Cox, who picked up 3 hits in 4 at-bats with an RBI.

In the NL the Phillies defeated the Astros 4-1 to take the first game of the NLCS.

[NYY #23]

While I'd like to think things couldn't get any worse after game 1, I knew that wasn't true. While we wouldn't repeat yesterday's blowout we would find a painful way to lose.

Bobby Murcer connected on a two run home run in the top of the first to give us a quick 2-0 lead.

Dennis Bennett allowed 2 runs over the first four innings, but unfortunately it does rain in Southern California and had to leave the game after an hour and 16 minute rain delay.

Our bullpen really did it's job tonight though, with Ken Sanders pitching 2 scoreless innings, Lindy McDaniel pitching a shutout inning, and Alan Foster not yielding an earned run in 3 innings.

Alan Foster's biggest mistake was on a groundball back to the mound in the bottom of the eleventh, which was followed by an error by Bobby Murcer on another groundball which led to a walkoff win by the Angels.

So we found a new way to lose in Game 2, and now need to win three in a row to advance to the World Series. At least we head back to New York for the next two games after a much needed day off.

The Astros suffered the same fate as us, falling behind 2 games to none after losing 8-4 to the Phillies.

[NYY #23]

We headed into Game 3 down 2 games to 0 in the best of 5 series, sending Denny McLain back to the mound in a must win game.

The big question would be which McLain showed up tonight, the 21 game winner in the regular season, or the one who couldn't last two innings in Game 1.

With a scoreless game heading into the bottom of the third Mickey Rivers tripled home Bobby Cox, then came home on a Thurman Munson single as we took an early 2-0 lead. Unfortunately our rally was cut short when Lou Piniella struck out looking, then was ejected from the game for arguing the call.

Rivers would again start another rally for us in the bottom of the fifth, this time with a double. For the night Rivers was 3-4 with an RBI, 2 runs scored, and swiped a pair of bases.

McLain was sharp through seven, allowing just a pair of runs, and Alan Foster pitched the final two innings for the save as we won 4-2.

We'll need to keep the streak going down 2-1 in the series.

The Astros also avoided elimination in the National League with a 3-1 over the Phillies.