After playing this 1984 season of Statis Pro for a few years now, you develop attachments and animosity for certain teams. The Cardinals are a team I've grown to dislike. In real life, the Cardinals are probably my second favorite team next to my Baltimore Orioles. Both of my parents are from St. Louis and their hometown pride has rubbed off on me over the years.
But in Statis Pro, I've grown to loathe them.
I think this is because they're winning too much. They are way out in front of the NL East at this point and I can't quite figure out why. There is no doubt they have one of the best bullpens in the league, but a lot of their other players are hitting or pitching way above their intended outcomes. This might normalize over time, but we're a third of the way done and they've shown no sign of coming back to earth.
Today's game was another example of their good luck in Statis Pro. Danny Cox was reduced to a 2-5 rating when he drew an "81" for the "stuff" category, meaning he was at a distinct disadvantage against his opponent, Hall of Famer Steve Carlton.
It didn't matter.
It was a scoreless game when Willie McGee took Carlton deep in the fourth for just his second homer of the year. The Phillies took the lead in the top of the seventh, finally doing damage to Cox with back to back RBI singles by Von Hayes and Tim Corcoran. But in the bottom of the seventh David Green and Tom Herr each recorded a single with one out. Carlton then got tossed for arguing strikes with the umpire, which led to Kevin Gross coming into the game. He walked two straight batters, which plated Green to tie the game. That brought up Bruce Sutter, who had come in for relief in the top half of the inning to get Mike Schmidt out with two runners on. I didn't want to waste Sutter for just one out in the game, so I let him hit. Gross whiffed him, but threw the pitch wild, allowing Herr to score and Sutter to take first on the error. After yet another run plated on a Lonnie Smith walk, Gross got yanked without recording an out in favor of Al Holland, who got Terry Pendleton to line out into a double play.
Jeff Lahti came on in the top of the ninth and loaded the bases with no outs. Just as it looked like the Phillies would grab a come from behind win, Lahti got three straight pop outs from Corcoran, John Wockenfuss, and Mike Schmidt. Sutter notched his sixth win on the season for his inning and a third of work.
Winning Pitcher - Bruce Sutter
Losing Pitcher - Steve Carlton
Save - Jeff Lahti
Player of the Game - Sutter, 1 1/3, W, K
Hall of Famers in the Game - Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Bruce Sutter
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