Recreating My Dad's Childhood: Chicago White Sox 1970-

[fuzzy_patters]

Bart doesn't look like he's quite ready yet, but I'll keep an eye on him!

[fuzzy_patters]

4/24-4/26/70 @ Cleveland

4/24 Indians 2 White Sox 0
Sam McDowell out-dueled Joe Horlen by pitching a 4-hit shutout.

4/25 Rained-out (Double-header 4/26)

4/26 Game 1- Indians 6 White Sox 5
We were ahead 3-2 in the sixth, but Gerry Janeski had an awful sixth in which he allowed 4 earned runs. Ed Herrmann hit a pinch-hit, 2-run home run in the eighth, but it wasn't enough.

4/26 Game 2- White Sox 8 Indians 0
Rich Hinton pitched a three-hit shutout, and Ossie Blanco, was 3-5 with 1 HR and 5 RBI.

Record: 6-12

[The Game]

Originally Posted by fuzzy_patters

Bart doesn't look like he's quite ready yet, but I'll keep an eye on him!

Attachment 674637

He's among my all time favorite Sox.

[fuzzy_patters]

4/27/1970 Off Day Monday

For the second week in a row, we have Monday off. That doesn't mean that there wasn't some news, though. I received a message that Bobby Knoop's recovery is unclear for his day-to-day injury that was originally three days. With Rich McKinney hitting .420 with 3 home runs through his first 13 games at AAA Tuscon, I think I'm going to put Knoop on the disabled list and give McKinney a shot at the majors, and I'm going to try him out as our starting second baseman. Bart Shirley has been tearing the cover off of the ball, hitting .429 through his first 25 plate appearances, and he will be plan B. I'll start with McKinney, though, because his glove is slightly better at second base.

I also have my first American League player of the week! Ossie Blanco won the award for hitting .324 with 4 home runs this week. The National League winner was Expos RF Rusty Staub, who hit .364 with 6 (!) home runs this week.

The top 5 teams are:
1. Baltimore Orioles
2. Minnesota Twins
3. California Angels
4. New York Yankees
5. Philadelphia Phillies

We moved up to 21st.

Next up: the vaunted Baltimore Orioles!

[fuzzy_patters]

4/28-4/30/70 vs Baltimore

4/28 Baltimore 3 White Sox 2
It looked like it was Tommy John's day. He was winning 2-1 in the ninth thanks to his own RBI single. Then Paul Blair took him deep for a 2-run homer in the ninth to beat us.

4/29 White Sox 4 Orioles 2
Joe Horlen allowed just 2 earned runs in 8.2 IP while striking out 6 and allowing only 1 walk. Rich McKiney gave us the lead with an RBI double in the 7th.

4/30 White Sox 6 Orioles 5
Neither Ken Frailing nor Wilbur Wood pitched very well, but Rich McKinney was the hero once again when his sac fly to CF Paul Blair scored Steven Houck to give us a 6-5 lead in the 8th. Boog Powell was 5-for-5 with a homer and 4 singles for the Orioles,

We somehow managed to win the series against Baltimore.

Record: 8-13

[fuzzy_patters]

April Wrap-up, 1970

The AL hitter of the month was Boston CF Reggie Smith, who hit .321 with 6 homers this month.

The NL hitter of the month was Montreal 3B Bob Bailey, who hit .361 with 6 homers.

The AL pitcher of the month was Cleveland's Sam McDowell, who was 4-1 with a 1.28 ERA with 48 strikeouts.

The NL pitcher of the month was Cincinnati's Gary Nolan, who was 5-0 with a 2.98 and 34 K's.

The AL rookie of the month was New York SP Steve Kline, who was 3-1 with a 2.12 ERA.

The NL rookie of the month was San Francisco SP Jim Willoughby, who was 2-2 with a 2.50.

Here is how my team looks right now.



Here is the pitching staff.



Here are the hitters.

[fuzzy_patters]

Our April Team Stats



Looking at where we stand after one month, it's clear that we need to pitch better. It's also clear that I'll need to keep an eye on some of the Appleton players because they might need to be playing at a higher level. Look at Johnson and Talley's stats so far.

Also, the RFs were truncated on the previous post.

[fuzzy_patters]

5/1/-5/3/70 vs Detroit

5/1/70 White Sox 5 Tigers 2
Steven Houck and Rich McKinney homered, and Gerry Janeski went the distance allowing 6 hits and 2 earned runs to score.

In between games comes news that Washington Senators manager Ted Williams has blasted the media over bad press.

5/2/70 White Sox 1 Tigers 0
Rich Hinton shutout the Tigers through 7 before being relieved for pinch-hitter Ed Herrmann, who was intenionally walked to allow Luis Aparicio to have the game-winning RBI on a ground out, which scored Rich McKinney, who had tripled. Wilbur Wood closed it out by pitching a scoreless final two frames.

5/3/70 Tigers 5 White Sox 4
Tommy John pitched well enough to take a 4-2 lead into the 9th, but Willie Horton took him deep, so I pulled him for Wilbur Wood. Wood allowed a hit and a walk before a Rich McKinney error loaded the bases. Then Wayne Redmond had a 2-run single to beat us and end our winning streak at 4.

Record 10-14

[fuzzy_patters]

Another Monday off-day

The American League player of the week is Oakland shortstop Bert Campaneris, who hit 3 homers this week. The National League's was RF Jim Wynn, who hit .435 with 4 homers and 11 RBI.

The top five teams in are:
1. Baltimore Orioles
2. Philadelphia Phillies
3. New York Yankees
4. Montreal Expos
5. California Angels

We are up to 18th.

[fuzzy_patters]

5/5-5/6/70 vs Cleveland

5/5 Indians 3 White Sox 2 (11)
Jerry allowed 4 hits and two runs in the 11th to break a 1-1 tie. Ken Berry homered in the bottom half, but we weren't able to get another run to tie it back up.

5/6 Indians 5 White Sox 1
We only managed 6 hits and 1 run off of Dean Chance. Gerry Janeski struggled a bit for us. He allowed 4 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts.

Record: 10-16

[fuzzy_patters]

5/8-5/10/70 (DH on 5/10) @ Baltimore

5/8/70 White Sox 1 Orioles 0

Duane Josephson singled in Luis Aparicio in the first, and that was all we scored. Fortunately, that was all we needed. Tommy John pitched a shutout allowing 5 hits and 1 walk with 5 strikeouts.

5/9/70 Baltimore 4 White Sox 0
We were only able to manage three hits against the combined efforts of Jim Hardin, Eddie Watt, and Dick Hall. For us, Ken Frailing gave up 4 runs in 5.1 IP, but we actually had quality relief pitching for once from Jerry Crider, Denny O'Toole, and Wilbur Wood.

5/10/70 Game 1- Baltimore 6 White Sox 5
Joe Horlen had a 5-2 lead in the fifth, but he allowed 3 runs in the fifth to tie it. Then in the seventh Merv Rettemund tripled, and Boog Powell scored him on a sac fly to beat us. Other than that, Baltimore didn't do much more after the fifth, so Horlen was at least able to finish it.

5/10/70 Game 2- Baltimore 6 White Sox 1
Rich Hinton pitched 8, but it was an ugly 8. He gave up 6 runs on 11 hits and 2 walks.

This series was a catastrophe.

Record: 11-19

[fuzzy_patters]

5/11-5/13/70 @ Detroit

We had a Monday game for the first time in awhile.

The American League Player of the week was Boston shortstop Rico Petrocelli, who was 8/24 with 3 HR and 9 RBI. The NL's player of the week was St Louis CF Jose Cruz, who hit .571 with 3 HR and 7 RBI.

The top 5 teams in the power ratings were
1. Baltimore
2. Philadelphia
3. California
4. New York Yankees
5. Los Angeles

We fell to 23rd with only the Royals beneath us.

5/11/70 White Sox 3 Tigers 2 (10)
Ed Herrmann got the start behind the plate and was 3 for 4. Buddy Bradford pinch-hit for Wilbur Wood in the tenth, walked, and scored the winning run on a wild pitch after a Luis Aparicio single had brought him to third. Jerry Crider pitched the bottom of the tenth to close it out.

Between games, I received word that Bobby Knoop was ready to be activated, so I sent him to Tuscon for rehab. I'm hoping that he gets hot down there and comes up ready to contribute.

5/12/70 White Sox 13 Tigers 6
It was a wild one. Tommy John was pitching on short rest because of the double-header against Baltimore last Sunday. He gave us six strong innings, and we took a 6-2 lead into the seventh. Then Jerry Crider and Wilbur Wood proceeded to blow it. Then we errupted for 7 runs in the ninth. Bill Melton and Ed Herrmann both homered in the ninth. Herrmann's great bat and lack of ability to control the running game have put me in a difficult spot.

5/13/70 Tigers 6 White Sox 5
While trying to figure out the catching situation, I decided to give Duane Josephson a shot since Ed Herrmann had been playing so well. Josephson was the only player in our lineup to not get a hit. He was 0 for 5. I'm officially going back to Herrmann as the starting catcher. Frailing was really bad and allowed 5 runs in 4.1 IP, although he did have an RBI double as a hitter.

Record: 13-20

[fuzzy_patters]

5/15-5/17/70 (DH on 5/17) vs Kansas City

Ed Herrmann started the season hitting fourth in the lineup before losing his spot due to defense. I moved him back into the lineup for this series but hit him third with Melton hitting cleanup.

5/15 Royals 6 White Sox 0
We had a chance to score down 2-0 in the sixth, but Doug Bird struck Ken Berry out with the bases loaded. Jim Rooker started for Kansas City and was hurt earlier in the fourth, and four Royals pitchers combined to shut us out. Horlen fell to 1-6 on the year by allowing 4 earned runs in 7 innings. Kansas City was 3-for4 stealing bases against Ed Herrmann.

5/16 White Sox 13 Royals 8
We fell behind 8-1 after 5 with Gerry Janeski allowing all 8 runs. Then we scored 3 in the sixth, 4 in the seventh, and 5 in the eighth. The big blow was a 3-run home run by Ed Herrmann that broke an 8-8 tie.

5/17 Game 1- White Sox 8 Royals 4
Carlos May was 3 for 3 with 3 singles and 2 walks to pace the offense. Tommy John picked up a fortunate win despite his 4 runs allowed on 12 hits in 6.1 IP.

5/17 Game 2- Royals 4 White Sox 3
We threatened in the ninth getting a runner to third, but back to back groundouts by pinch-hitter Gail Hopkins and shortstop Luis Aparicio ended it.

Gail Hopkins is 0-for-17 for the season, and may have to be sent down to Tuscon before the next series. I have no faith in him. Somebody else will have to be my primary left-handed pinch-hitter.

Record: 15-22

[fuzzy_patters]

5/18-5/20/70 vs California

This week, we have the American League player of the week for the second time, and it's catcher Ed Herrmann. He hit .480 this week with 2 homers and 10 RBI. The National League winner was San Francisco 1B Willie McCovey, who hit 2 homers with 10 hits in 25 at bats to go along with 12 RBI.

The top 5 teams in the power rankings are
1. Baltimore Orioles
2. Chicago Cubs
3. New York Yankees
4. Boston Red Sox
5. Houston Astros

We have moved up to 21st.

5/18 Angels 3 White Sox 2
Tom Bradley shut us out through 7. We finally tacked on a pair in the 8th, but it wasn't enough. Ken Frailing allowed 3 first inning runs but settled in to shut the Angels out after that.

Between games I demoted Gail Hopkins (0-for-19) to Tuscon and promoted Bob Spence (.310/.423/.483 at Tuscon) to replace him.

5/19 Angels 8 White Sox 2
Joe Horlen is really struggling. I pinch-hit for him after he allowed 6 runs in 4 innings. He is now 1-7 with a 4.87 ERA. Ken Berry had 2 hits with one being a double, and Ed Herrmann homered.

5/20 Angels 9 White Sox 7
We lost a wild one. Gerry Janeski allowed 6 ER in 3 IP before I took him out. Then we came back and got two runs on a double by Ossie Blanco in the fourth and picked up two more in the fifth. Then the Angels a run each in the seventh and eight to put us before 9-4. After scratching across a run in the eighth, we cut the lead to 9-7 in a ninth inning that featured a Bill Meton homer. It all ended when Rich McKinney flied out with runners on second and third to end it.

Rich McKinney has been a mixed bag. The 23-year old is hitting .192 with a .220 OBP, but he also has had a couple of game-winning RBI. He has a .977 fielding percentage with a +.9 zone rating in his 22 starts at second base, which is decent, but he has also cost us two games with late errors. On his rehab stint at Tuscon, Bobby Knoop is hitting .207 after hitting .192 before his injury. My third option at second base, Bart Shirley, is hitting .328 but has only had 28 at bats and was a .198 hitter the last time he was in the majors, which was two years ago with the Dodgers. At 30 years old, it is doubtful that Shirley has suddenly learned to hit, and the fact that he is hitting .455 when he puts the ball in play suggests that his .328 average is largely luck rather than skill. Second base is a mess right now.

Record: 15-25

[fuzzy_patters]

5/22-5/24/70 vs Oakland (DH on 5/24)

Before game one, I took a quick look at the waiver wire. Cubs reliever Juan Pizzaro was there. He was interesting. In 57 appearances, 4 of which were starts, for Oakland, Boston, and Cleveland he had a 3.35 ERA last year. He hasn't been nearly as good for the Cubs this year. Through his first 9 appearance (14 IP) he has a 6.43 ERA, but part of that is due to a .391 BABIP. The scouting profile shows a pitcher on the downside of his career with slightly better than average stuff due to having four pitches highlighted by an average fastball and screwball, poor movement on his pitches, slightly below average control. My pitching staff could really use the help, but after much debate, I decided to pass on his $25,300 salary at 33 years old. I was tempted, though.

Then I shopped a few players around for a second baseman. There are some interesting players that I could get for back-up catcher Duane Josephson. The only one who both hits and fields farely well is Yankees second baseman Horace Clark, but his $43,000 salary is really high. The other players are all either limited hitters, which I already have, or limited fielders, which would be bad when my top two pitchers, Tommy John and Joe Horlen, both give up a lot of groundballs with very few strikeouts. I'm going to sit tight with what I have for now.

5/22/70 White Sox 8 A's 4
Aparicio was 5 for 5 with a double and a homer, but it was Bob Spence's pinch-hit RBI single that broke a 4-4 tie. That's one more hit than Gail Hopkins had in a month-and-a-half in that role.

5/23/70 A's 6 White Sox 0
Ken Frailing was pretty good and only allowed 2 earned runs in 5 innings pitched, but he had to leave early due to a minor back injury that will leave him day-to-day for about a week. Chuck Dobson was better. He pitched a 3-hit shutout for Oakland.

I don't have very good options to replace Frailing, and Pizarro is no longer on the waiver wire. I'll probably just let Frailing pitch during his next start and hope he doesn't exacerbate the injury. My medical staff tells me that it should only have a minor impact on his throwing. It will be his running that will be more severely affected.

5/24/70 Game 1- A's 4 White Sox 2
I gave Duane Josephson the start because the pitchers have been better with him behind the plate, and because I was hoping that would help Horlen get out of his slump. It seemed to work. Horlen pitched 7 innings allowing 7 hits and 3 earned runs with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts. Unfortunately, we only managed to scratch across 2 runs against Vida Blue without Ed Herrmann's bat in the lineup.

5/24/70 Game 2- White Sox 9 Orioles 6
Rich McKinney was 3-for-4 with a homer and a double, and an Ed Herrmann homer broke a 6-6 tie in the bottom of the 8th. Floyd Weaver picked up his first win after allowing Oakland's Felipe Alou to tie it in the top of the eighth with a pinch-hit, RBI single.

Record: 17-27

[fuzzy_patters]

5/25-5/27/70 @ Kansas City

All-Star voting started on 5/25. I decided to wait to submit a ballot until more games have been played.

The American League player of the week was Oakland RF Reggie Jackson, who hit .379 with 4 homers last week.

The NL's player of the week was Dodgers CF Willie Davis, who was 16-for-25 for the week.

The top 5 teams in the power rankings were
1. Baltimore Orioles
2. Pittsburgh Pirates
3. New York Yankees
4. California Angels
5. Minnesota Twins

We fell back to 23rd. Only the Washington Senators were lower.

5/25 Royals 4 White Sox 3
With pinch-runner Tommy McCraw on third base, Ken Berry ended our ninth-inning threat with a ground-out. Carlos May and Bill Melton each had 2 hits, but Gerry Janeski allowed 4 earned runs in 7 innings pitched to shoulder his fifth loss.

5/26 White Sox 6 Royals 2
Tommy John gave us six strong innings of two-run ball to earn the win. Ed Herrmann and Bill Melton both homered. The 3-7 hitters (Herrmann, Melton, Blanco, Houck, and Berry) all had 2 hits each.

5/27 White Sox 7 Royals 4
I let an injured Ken Frailing start, and it was a roller coaster. He walked the first three batters of the game. Then he induced a 1-2-3 double play and another groundout to escape the first unscathed. He didn't allow a hit until the fourth. Then, the Royals tagged him for four. After a three-up-three down fifth, he allowed the first two runners in the sixth to reach, so I relieved him. Floyd Weaver and Denny O'Toole shut the Royals out the rest of the way. Bill Melton was 3-for-4, scored twice, and drove in two to lead the offense.

Elsewhere, Pittsburgh 3B Richie Hebner was not only 5-for-5 but also hit for the cycle against the Cubs. He singled in the first, tripled in the third, doubled in the fifth, singled in the seventh, and homered in the eighth.

Record: 19-28

[fuzzy_patters]

5/29-5/31/70 @ Boston

5/29 Red Sox 8 White Sox 6
Boston's Rico Petrocelli hit two homers against Joe Horlen, who continues to struggle.

5/30 Red Sox 8 White Sox 2
Gerry Janeski was knocked out of the game trailing 7-0 after only recording two outs. That was pretty much the game.

Before game 3, we learned that Ed Herrmann is third in catcher voting for the All-Star game.

5/31 White Sox 7 Red Sox 0
Tommy John did what aces are supposed to do and ended the losing streak at two. He dominated the Red Sox by pitching a 5-hit shutout with 3 strikeout and just 1 walk.

Record: 20-30

[fuzzy_patters]

Knoop recalled

After the last game of May 31st, I was reminded that Bobby Knoop's rehabilitation time had expired. With McKinney playing well lately, I decided to send struggling reliever Jerry Crider to Tuscon to make room for Knoop. Crider was probably my best relief pitcher in spring training and in April, and he was my worst in May. He had logged the second most innings pitched out of the bullpen, but his rapidly increasing ERA along with his poor scouting report (40/40/45) suggested that his playing time should be decreased. Maybe he can get things figured out at Tucson.

[fuzzy_patters]

May Wrap-up

June 1 was not only the first day of a new month, but it was also a Monday. This means that weekly and monthly awards would be coming out on the same day.

The American League player of the week was Milwaukee RF Greg Goosen. Goosen hit .385 with 3 HR and 6 RBI for the week.

The National League player of the week was also a RF, Pittsburgh's Roberto Clemente. Clemente hit .577 for the week with 1 HR and 6 RBI.

The AL's best hitter for the month was Washington's LF, Frank Howard. Howard hit .320 in May with 11 HR, 20 RBI, and 21 R.



The NL's hitter of the month was Montreal 3B Bob Bailey, who hit .333 with 12 HR, 30 RBI, and 24 R in 29 games played.

In the AL, the top pitcher was Baltimore's Jim Hardin. Hardin had a perfect 6-0 record for the month was a 1.49 ERA while striking out 30 in 42.1 IP.

The NL pitcher of the month was Cardinal's star Bob Gibson, who was 5-0 with a 1.68 ERA with 37 strikeouts in 50 innings.

For the second month in a row, the AL's top rookie was Yankees pitcher Steve Kline, who was 5-1 with a 2.27 ERA this month.

The NL's top rookie was Cardinal's CF Jose Cruz, who hit .355 with 9 2B, 2 3B, and 5 HR this month.

The weekly power ratings has this top 5:
1. Baltimore Orioles
2. Minnesota Twins
3. Pittsburgh Pirates
4. Los Angeles Dodger
5. Philadelphia Phillies

We have climbed up to 20th.

Here is where we stand right now.



The team stats look like this.



Here are our offensive individual stats.






Here are our pitchers.



Clearly, pitching is our weak spot heading into June.

[fuzzy_patters]

6/2-6/4/70 @ Washington

Having played 2 months of the season, I decided that it would be a good time to check and see if any prospects seemed like a bad fit for their level. I found a few that I'm going to promote to a level that might be more of a challenge for them. Among other moves, here are two that will be moving that are on my top prospects list.

LF Joseph Talley- Our number 3 prospect in the organization is hitting .343 through his first 99 PA at AA Mobile. I just called him up to AA, but AAA Tucson is short on hitters anyway because of injuries. Let's see how he does in the desert.

1B Lamar Johnson- Our fourth best prospect is hitting .361 with 7 homers in Appleton. He can replace Talley in the middle of the Mobile lineup.

SP Rich Gossage- With AA Mobile short on pitching due to injury, and our number 1 prospect 5-3 with a 2.50 ERA for class-A Duluth, I want to see how he does in AA.


6/2/70 Senators 3 White Sox 2
It looked like Ken Frailing was going to be in for a long day. He gave up a triple to lead-off hitter Ed Stroud and allowed him to score with a wild pitch. Then he settled in and only allowed one more earned run before leaving the game with a minor elbow injury in the fifth. Unfortunately, we weren't able to score more than two runs against Dick Bosman.

6/3/70 White Sox 7 Senators 1
Joe Horlen gave us 9 strong innnings of 4-hit ball, and Bill Melton and Ed Herrmann each slugged their ninth home runs.

6/4/70 Senators 4 White Sox 2
I knew that scoring against Joe Coleman would be difficult, so I pinch-hit for Gerry Janeski in the fourth inning when we were down 3-1. Unfortunately, pinch-hitting for the pitcher over the last 6 innings of the game didn't add much offense. Coleman was too good, and Mike Epstein hit his 12th homer for Washington, which puts him in second place behind teammate Frank Howard.

Record: 21-32