Worst to First - The Sequel

[NYY #23]

We needed a big game from Larry Dierker tonight, and he delivered with 8 2/3 innings of 1 run ball while striking out 6 to pick up the win.

We scraped together three runs in the sixth inning, our only runs of the game. George Scott sacrificed home Mickey Rivers for the first run, while Bobby Murcer and Thurman Munson also singled home runs.

With the 3-1 win we've now tied up the series and we're going back to Cali.

The Astros scored 4 runs in the bottom of the ninth in their 7-6 comeback win to even up the NLCS as both series will go the full five innings.

[NYY #23]

Our offense got on the board first in the deciding game 5 with Mickey Rivers starting the rally, and Bobby Murcer and Carlos May driving in runs.

With Dennis Bennett on the mound our strategy tonight was to hold on to the 3-0 lead, as our bats went silent after our early scoring. Luckily Bennett was up to the task tonight, holding the Angels to 1 unearned run on 9 hits in 8 innings to pick up the win.

34 year old Lindy McDaniel came in to pick up his second save of the series, but not before he made things uncomfortable for Yankee fans. Giving up a two out home run to Willie Kirkland before loading the bases before inducing a weak pop-up to end the game.

It was too close for comfort, but we'll head to the World Series to take on the Philadelphia Phillies who knocked off the Astros 3-2.

We'll face off against old friend Denny Lemaster who found himself in Philadelphia with a 20-7 season and 2.92 ERA.

[NYY #23]

Denny McLain got the ball for Game 1, and through the first three innings he was fantastic, striking out four while allowing no base runners. Unfortunately McLain left the game with shoulder soreness after the third inning, so we lost him for the game, and later we found out the entire series.

It was a big blow to the Yankees, and our chances. Jim McAndrew was on the mound for the Phillies, and pitched 8 shutout innings. But our bullpen did it's job today, for the most part. Tom Griffin pitched 4 scoreless innings, Alan Foster pitched 3 scoreless innings, and Lindy McDaniel pitched 2 scoreless innings.

That took us to the 13th inning of the World Series opener with a score of 0-0. Tug McGraw came on to pitch the 13th and quickly retired the first two batters. A single, an error by John Donaldson, and two walks allowed the first and only Phillie run of the game.

It would truly be disappointing to lose a World Series game in 13 innings at home 1-0.

Mickey Rivers led off the bottom of the 13th with a hit by pitch, followed by a flyout by Thurman Munson. Lou Piniella reached on an error, with Bobby Murcer singling home the tieing run.

With one out and runners on first and second George Scott singled to shallow right field as Lou Piniella rounded third and headed home for the winning run…..only to be thrown out at the plate.

Carlos May was next up and walked on five pitches to load the bases, bringing up John Donaldson. With two outs he had the opportunity to make up for his error in the top half of the inning.

Four pitches later Bobby Murcer was forced home, and Donaldson was the hero without having to lift his bat off his shoulders.

What a game, and what a way to end the game. I'm real happy with the 2-1 win, but I don't know how much more drama I can take.

One final thought - five Yankee pitchers combined for a 13 inning five hitter.

[NYY #23]

Tommy John got the start tonight for Game 2, and for the second straight game our starting pitcher left the game without allowing a base runner to injury.

The Phillies scored an unearned run in the third, but George Scott homered in the bottom of the third to tie the game.

Clay Kirby pitched six innings in relief for the win, giving up just the 1 unearned run. Alan Foster pitched a scoreless two innings for the save.

George Scott was 4-4 tonight, adding a double and scoring 3 of our 4 runs. The 4-1 win puts us up 2-0 for the series, and hopefully we can keep it up.

So far this series our pitching staff has combined for 22 innings, giving up just 11 hits and 2 unearned runs.

[NYY #23]

The Bronx Bombers lived up to our name tonight, hitting 3 home runs in a 5-3 win over the Phillies.

Bobby Cox connected for a two run shot, and Bobby Murcer connected for two home runs as we beat the Phillies for the third straight game.

Dennis Bennett pitched seven innings for the win, while Alan Foster pitched two scoreless for the save.

We now sit one win away from winning the World Series.

[NYY #23]

With a 5-4 win the Yankees broke out the brooms and swept the Phillies to win the World Series. While there was some dramatic moments I felt good about our chances all game, and for whatever reason I felt like we were destined to win.

George Scott continued his hot postseason, going 3-5 and driving in the go ahead run with a double. Scott has hit .341 for the postseason. Lou Piniella (.344), Thurman Munson (.351), Mickey Rivers (.310), Bobby Murcer (.361), and Bobby Cox (.333) also had big postseasons.

Larry Dierker pitched seven innings to pick up the win. Lindy McDaniel and Ken Sanders combined to pitch a hitless eighth inning, and Steve Carlton picked up the save with a scoreless ninth.

We lost two starting pitchers during the series, and played the entire series without Rick Monday, but as always it feels good to win the World Series.

[NYY #23]

With our World Series win over the Philadelphia Phillies I've now won my 14th World Series with my 14th team, and am now just one win away from the halfway point of the challenge. It's been a long journey so far, and I'm sure the second part of the journey will be just as long.

The next part is the not so fun part, going from a team capable of winning the World Series to a last place team and starting all over again. Maybe this one feels a little harder because I'm getting into the era of players from my youth, and just won a World Series with my favorite team.

But we'll carry on, with our next stop Milwaukee, taking over the Milwaukee Brewers who finished 51-111 in their first season in Milwaukee after their first season as the Seattle Pilots where they went 58-104.

If there is anything worse than taking on a 51-111 team, it's that their expected record was 49-113. Oh, and our best pitcher, Jerry Reuss, tore his labrum after 30 starts and a 2.97 ERA. Things should be fun in Milwaukee.

But we'll get into the Brewers soon, but for now a look at my five years in New York 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)
1970 - New York Yankees 97-65 (.599) - GB (Defeated California Angels 3-2 in LCS and Philadelphia Phillies 4-0 in World Series, Season Score - 113)

[NYY #23]

There isn't a lot to like about a team that finished last in runs scored (531) and second to last in runs allowed (836).

The Brewers are one year removed from being the expansion Seattle Pilots, and it shows. There isn't a lot to like long term. 21 year old Jerry Reuss was our first round pick two years ago, and showed signs of improving last year before going down with an injury.

Jeff Burroughs was our number one pick last year, although he hit just .205 in his rookie season.

We don't have many other keepers, outside of 22 year old Gene Garber in the bullpen, who struggled last year with a 5.72 ERA.

So we'll be looking to make some moves and get back some value for whoever we can deal.

I'm not too excited about any of my coaching staff, except my trainer. My scouting director also needs to go, although he's just got one year left on his contract, and I don't have a better option right now.

We're also losing money, starting the year $1 million in the hole, and one of four team's operating in the red. But not to worry, we are losing more than any other team in the league.

So it's good that we've got the top pick in the draft, but I'm not too confident we can sign them. Stay tuned for more fun in Milwaukee.

[NYY #23]

Going into the draft picking first means that I could select who I felt the best player available was. I felt that the player who would help us the most was Jon Matlock, although he had some steep bonus demands.

Could we find enough money in our seat cushions to make the difference? I don't know yet, but I'm willing to roll the dice. Nothing against Cecil Fielder or Dave Kingman, but I'm not drafting a first baseman with the top pick so we'll roll the dice and hope we can sign Matlock.

We drafted another hurler, Mike Caldwell with the first pick in the second round. Catcher Frank Estada was picked in the third round and will become our starting catcher if we can come to terms. That doesn't say much about his ability though. Pitcher Steve Luebber was picked in the fourth round, with shortstop Ray Busse our final pick.

-----------------------------

Within days we were able to come to terms with all of our draft picks. We were able to save a little money with our second and third round draft picks, and we were able to sign Jon Matlock with a $361,000 signing bonus and guaranteed 3 year $204,000 contract. Now the fun begins.

[NYY #23]

I tried quite hard to make a deal, any deal, this offseason. Big deals, small deals, salary dumps, but I couldn't complete any deal that made sense. So we open the year with the team we ended the year with, and will add our draft picks.

We still are a very bad team.

So bad that my owner says I can do whatever I want because he doesn't expect anything. At least I should be able to meet his expectations.

[NYY #23]

It's only April 25th, and we are only 15 games into the season, but I'm going to enjoy our current first place standing while it lasts.

Our pitching has been great so far though, holding opponents to the second fewest runs in the American League. We've somehow managed to score 56 runs too.

We did just lose our best hitter, center fielder Ken Berry in the 14th inning of our 2-1 win. That left Jon Matlock playing center field for an inning, so things are going to come crashing down, although I do feel pretty good about our pitching.

[NYY #23]

Fear not, all is right with the planet. The Brewers went 7-19 in May and are just a game and a half out of last place.

We're now getting outscored 172-142. Now we are getting closer to what I expected.

[NYY #23]

We started the month by shipping off 30 year old outfielder Ken Berry and 37 year old first baseman to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for 24 year old catcher Ed Herrmann and minor league shortstop Rich Hacker and minor league first baseman John Sanders.

While this was a salary dump, I do like Ed Herrmann. He's young, good defensively, and may just have some potential. He was hitting just .200, after hitting .184 last year, but in his first month he's hitting .291. I don't want to make too big a deal out of 26 games though, but I've been pleased so far.

We've moved up to third place on the strength of our pitching.

I plan on paying close attention to the trade market, because if I can ship off any of our veterans to get anything of value I will.

[NYY #23]

Right before the deadline we made a deal with the Braves, sending a pair of relievers, 32 year old Jim Donohue and 40 year old Ray Semproch along with 32 year old right fielder Doug Clemens, and getting back 27 year old minor league reliever Marcelino Lopez and minor league centerfielder Tom Silverio.

Unfortunately that was the only deal that we were able to make. We suffered through a series of injuries during July, with Mike Caldwell hurting the most. We lost one of our two All-Stars for the rest of the year. Caldwell was 9-2 with a 1.90 ERA this year. Second baseman Ed Spiezio was our other All-Star, but we couldn't manage to give him away.

For the month we finished 12-17.

[NYY #23]

The Brewers continue to limp along as I look forward to the end of the season. For the month we went 9-19, which was our second worst month of the year.

Hopefully we can pick up an impact bat during the draft, but our offense is absolutely terrible.

[NYY #23]

Year 1 with the Brewers was done, and despite having absolutely no offense we made some pretty good improvements during our first year, winning 15 more games.

We'll be bring aboard a new pitching coach, and hitting coach. Both of their contracts ran out, and we won't be bring either back.

Next stop, the draft. I've said it before, but our top target is a big bat.

Milwaukee Brewers - 51-111 (.315) 48 GB
1971 - Milwaukee Brewers 64-98 (.395) 23 GB (Season Score - 3)

[NYY #23]

We headed into the draft with offense our top priority, and picking third in the draft. With our first round pick we selected left fielder Al Bumbry. He wasn't quite the bat I was looking for, but I felt he was the best available. Rounding out the draft we selected:

1B - Enos Cabell
3B - Dave Roberts
MR - Steve Lawson
2B - Lute Barnes
CF - Ike Blessitt

It was heavy on offense, and we should be able to sign everyone. It should make our team better, but we've still got a ways to go.

[NYY #23]

Over the past couple of years the dominance has shifted from the AL West to the AL East, as the Yankees and Orioles moved in front of the Twins and Angels for best record in the league.

So of course that means the Brewers will move to the American League East in 1972, making our task harder.

We started out with a 7-13 record in April, off to a shaky start. Once again our owner doesn't really care what we do.

Al Bumbry has gotten off to a fast start, winning the Rookie of the Month after hitting .351 with 9 runs, and 6 RBI.

[ShagVT]

Do you have some setting that makes all of your draft picks basically major league ready, or is that just a function of the age you're playing? I haven't done much with historic leagues.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by ShagVT

Do you have some setting that makes all of your draft picks basically major league ready, or is that just a function of the age you're playing? I haven't done much with historic leagues.

This is just a function of the default historical settings, since players are in the draft the year before they made their major league debut. That's definitely one of the things that makes this easier, and one of the things that I wish I changed by using the Spritze database where players come in as 18 year olds.