May 13, 1984 - Sunday Fun Day

Game #419 - Texas Rangers, 6 @ Chicago White Sox, 9

By the end of the fourth inning, the White Sox were leading 7-1.  Harold Baines had homered and Vance Law had a clutch, 2-RBI single as starter Danny Darwin was chased from the game early.  The Rangers had a nice four run rally in the fifth, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Pale Hose.

Winning Pitcher - Bert Roberge
Losing Pitcher - Danny Darwin
Player of the Game - Roberge, 2 1/3IP in relief one hit, zero runs

Game #420 - Toronto Blue Jays, 13 @ Cleveland Indians, 4

For the second game in a row, Toronto scored double digits against Cleveland.  Indians starter Neal Heaton deserved better, as the Tribe committed four errors in the game, including two by Brook Jacoby and his E6 fielding rating.  Every Blue Jays starter had at least one hit and one run, as did the two of the three replacements later in the game.  Only Tony Fernandez came up short at the plate.  Slacker.

Winning Pitcher - Doyle Alexander
Losing Pitcher - Neal Heaton
Player of the Game - Alexander, 7IP, 2R's (0 earned) - this is his fifth time winning this honor, which I believe leads Statis Pro right now...

Friend Requests - San Diego Padres Analysis

Hello!

I'm doing something new on the blog - I want to create a label for "friend requests".  In the past some of you have asked for stats, input to set a lineup for a future game, etc.  I love that - hearing back from the internet void about an obscure baseball simulation game is good incentive to stay on top of the blog.  So, if you ever want more info on how I'm playing the game, or you want to pick a batting order for your favorite team, I'm down for trying it!  Just leave a comment in a post and I'll try my best.

Joey recently asked for me to share how one of his favorite all-time teams, the '84 Padres, are doing this season.  Despite Garvey's thumbs up here, I haven't had a lot of success with them.  Over 32 games they're just 12-20.  And if I'm being honest, they're one of the least interesting teams to manage.  Outside of benching Graig Nettles against lefties (where you at Luis Salazar fans!?!?), the lineup almost never changes.  Here's how the offense is doing:

C     Terry Kennedy      1HR, 9RBI   .250/.299/.320/.619
1B    Steve Garvey        2HR, 13RBI  .220/.267/.293/.559
2B    Alan Wiggins        3HR, 22SB   .285/.343/.423/.766
3B    Graig Nettles        6HR, 14RBI   .260/.348/.494/.842
SS    Gary Templeton    0HR, 7RBI    .237/.294/.263/.557
LF    Camelo Martinez   3HR, 19RBI  .276/.364/.448/.812
CF   Kevin McReynolds  2HR, 13RBI .310/.333/.419/.752
RF    Tony Gwynn           2HR, 12RBI  .353/.395/.419/.814

32 games is still a small sample size, but Steve Garvey is stone cold right now on offense.  Kennedy and Templeton are hardly better.  Nettles and Wiggins are over their heads and due to come back down to earth, though Wiggins' speed is playing great.

Here's the pitching:

Ed Whitson            3-4   3.97   20k
Eric Show              1-4   6.45   23k
Mark Thurmond     3-2   4.37   13k
Andy Hawkins        1-3   4.29   28k
Tim Lollar               1-2   5.29   28k

Goose Gossage       1-2   3.38   2sv
Craig Lefferts          0-0   0.57    4sv
Dave Dravecky       0-1   3.57    11k

The starting pitching has not lived up to their true talent level.  If the Padres are to turn around and finish first in the NL West like they did in the real 1984 they'll have to be better.  I think that will happen.  But the Astros are going to be hard to catch - they have excellent pitching and a more dynamic offense.  Time will tell!

May 13, 1984 - The Insane Seasons of Joe Morgan and Mike Young

Game #418 - Oakland A's, 4 @ Baltimore Orioles, 7

When you play an entire season of Statis Pro, you have to figure there will be statistical outliers.  After 162 games the law of averages should kick in and players should, more or less, reproduce similar stat lines as their real 1984 seasons.  But at this point, when teams have only played 30 games or so, it is reasonable to assume some will be performing well under their abilities and some well above.  I don't know that there are two other players so far above their actual 1984 talent level as Joe Morgan of the A's and Mike Young of the Orioles.

Morgan is of course a Hall of Fame caliber player and one of the best second basemen of all time.  But 1984 was his last season, and he never had any season that resembles his current .460 average and .568/.793/1.361 OPS.  That's over 111 plate appearances.  Similarly, Young is walloping a .400 average with a .486/.661/1.146 OPS in 138 plate appearances.  Naturally, Morgan went 3-5 in this game and Young 3-4 with a double.  They continue to refuse to come back to earth.

Al Bumbry, pictured, had the best game.  He went 4-5 with a double, two runs scored, and a RBI.  Mike Boddicker spread nine hits and two walks over seven innings and Eddie Murray knocked a two run homer to help the Orioles win the game.

Winning Pitcher - Mike Boddicker
Losing Pticher - Mike Warren
Player of the Game - Al Bumbry
Hall of Famers in the Game - Rickey Henderson, Joe Morgan, Cal Ripken, Eddie Murray

Week in Review - May 6 through May 12

Another week is in the books - this one took close to ten months to complete.  I'll take it, you get the games in when you can!

Phenomenal Phive:

1.  Toronto Blue Jays, 25-7.  Everything continues to be clicking for the blue birds.  They're now ahead of the Tigers and don't look to be slowing down.  Good players like Rance Mulliniks and Dave Collins are playing above their talent level and Lloyd Moseby and George Bell keep raking.

2.  Houston Astros, 24-8.  The Astros are still in orbit, high above the rest of the NL West.  Platoons are working out, the starting pitching is solid, and the bullpen is near unhittable.

3.  St. Louis Cardinals, 24-10.  The red birds continue to hold the NL East on lock-down.

4.  Detroit Tigers, 22-9.  It's hard to believe with a record 13 games over .500 the Tigers are in second place, but them's the breaks.  Kirk Gibson in particular is leading the way.

5.  New York Yankees, 20-11.  Here's my nominee for "most likely to drop off."  Their starters are a bunch of 2-5's and 2-6's.  Mattingly is finally hitting well, though, and Dave Winfield continues to do his things.  Willie Randolph will be off the DL soon too.  Maybe they'll still be in the top five after all!

May 12, 1984 - Giants Falling Like Flies

Game #417 - Montreal Expos, 4 @ San Francisco Giants, 1

No team has been snake-bitten by the "Z" fast action card and injury chart than the Giants.  They just got Jeoffrey Leonard back from the DL, where Chili Davis, Manny Trillo, and Al Oliver still reside.  So I'm sure you see where this going.  They received TWO more injuries in this game!  First, Scot Thompson and Leonard collided.  Thompson will be gone for 20 games while Leonard will "only" miss six.  Then, Dan Gladden and Jack Clark crashed into each other too.  Gladden will be out for 30 games and Clark for 14!  Davis is close to moving off the DL, but it will matter little with all the other opening day starters still nursing their boo boos.

Bryn Smith had a good outing, going eight innings and spreading eight hits and three walks while striking out eight.  That's a lot of eights.  Terry Francona earned his first "player of the game" award by roping three doubles.  Montreal continues to climb up the standings while the Giants, well...check the pic.

Winning Pitcher - Bryn Smith
Losing Pitcher - Bill Laskey
Save - Greg Harris
Player of the Game - Francona
Hall of Famers in the Game - Gary Carter, Andre Dawson

May 12, 1984 - 'Merca

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone!  I hope you get to squeeze in a couple of games of Statis Pro...

Game #415 - New York Mets, 8 @ Los Angeles Dodgers, 0

My Dad was in town last week, so once again he was managing his favorite team, the Dodgers.  This started as a very close match, with neither team scoring a run through the first three innings.  But in the top of the fourth Jose Oquendo hit a bases loaded single to plate Hubie Brooks.  One inning later New York scored another run on an RBI hit from Keith Hernandez.  A solo homer by Mike Fitzgerald and a three run bomb by Darryl Strawberry in the next two innings made sure the game was well out of hand as my poor father shook his head while Walt Terrell went the distance for his first shutout of the season.

Winning Pitcher - Walt Terrell
Losing Pitcher - Orel Hershiser
Player of the Game - Terrell, CG SHO, 5H's, 3K's

Game #416 - Philadelphia Phillies, 3 @ San Diego Padres, 2

The Padres jumped out to an early lead against John Denny and the Phillies in the bottom of the first.  Carmelo Martinez roped a triple to plate Tony Gwynn and Alan Wiggins.  In the top of the third Von Hayes doubled home Ivan DeJesus to pull Philadelphia to within one.  In the top of the sixth Hayes did more damage, this time putting one into the outfield seats for two more runs.  In the bottom of the ninth Larry Andersen gave up a single to Steve Garvey.  Garvey went to second on a ground out, and then Martinez hit a single to Von Hayes and Garvey tried for home...but Hayes gunned him down!

Winning Pitcher - John Denny
Losing Pitcher - Ed Whitson
Save - Larry Andersen
Player of the Game - Von Hayes, 2-4, 2B, HR, 3RBI's, outfield assist
Hall of Famers in the Game - Mike Schmidt, Tony Gwynn, Goose Gossage