Archive for May, 2025

And in the Alpha Division of the 1973 National League…

Posted: May 23, 2025 by datechguy in Dynasty, dynasty baseball, gaming, online gaming
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Write-up of the AL Alpha here:

Now let’s look at the NL Alpha Division

TeamWinsLossesPercentageGBWCGB
Cincinnati Reds (Cin City)8635.711—–+27
Atlanta Braves (Bravos)6656.54120 1/2+6 1/2
St Louis Cardinals5468.44332 1/2– 5 1/2
New York Mets (Daytraders)4973.40237 1/2-10 1/2
Philadelphia Phillies 4777.37940 1/213 1/2

Cincinnati Reds (Cin City):

Last season the Reds despite a powerful team squeaked into the final wild card spot only to be swept by Pittsburgh. This season they have built a juggernaught that is steamrolling everything in sight and anything they didn’t have they traded for. This Reds team that has been so active in the trade market that they should be called the day traders. Cincy leads the NL in slugging and despite playing most games without a DL has a slugging avg 2nd to only Baltimore in the AL. The are also 3rd in the majors in ERA and that combination has given them an insurmountable lead both in their division and best record in the majors. They’re led by Willie Stargel (acquired from the Daytraders) with 24 HR for the team (31 over all) Ken Singleton (acquired from Cleveland) hitting .331 for them (.314 over all) Bill Sudakis (acquired from the Yankees along with Thurman Munson for Johnny Bench) with 16 HR (24 over all). Ironically Joe Morgan one of the few stars who has been here all year is having an off year but still leads the league in walks and SB’s.

On the Mound Randy Jones (8-2 2.38) Mel Stottlemyre (acquired from Cleveland) 6-2 (14-7 overall) Sonny Siebert (7-2) Jack Billingham (acquired from Montreal) 12-8 (13-12 overall) and Don Gullet (10-7) have all bee adequate but it’s the bullpen that has shined with the ever young Don McMahon (acquired from St Louis) at 4-0 1 save 0.96 ERA, Dick Barney 10-0 1.76 ERA and Pedro Borbon 11-7 2.33 ERA with 16 saves (but 7 blown ones) that have really done the job. Add to that a .985 fielding percentage (3rd in NL) and you have a team that’s almost impossible to beat.

The one danger to the team is a short series and a hot pitcher or a spate of injuries. The question is who will they bench to save for the playoffs? The irony almost nobody on the team is among the league leaders because so many have come from elsewhere and don’t quality. Only Stargell who was traded early competes 2nd in doubles and 3rd in HR & RBI.

Atlanta Braves (Bravos) Atlanta won the beta last year but like the reds were stunned last year by the Daytraders (Mets) who would go on the win the Pennant. This year Atlanta is defying the odds of a division winner and have built a strong team with Caesar Cedeno making a strong case for MVP being in the top 10 in almost every offensive category and Dusty Baker who has 9 triples to go along with 14 HR and 22 doubles.

One the mound Ferguson Jenkins has already matched his 17 wins from last season. Tom Hilgendorf has gone 10-3 out of the pen while Rollie Fingers has managed 13 saves with only two blown ones.

The big danger for Atlanta has been fielding their 106 errors and .976 fielding percentage is the worst in the majors. Don Money (acquired from Montreal) has hit .271 while making 13 errors at short which isn’t bad. The question is can Jenkins, Catfish Hunter (11-7) and the pen and Jenkins overcome those extra gift outs?

St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis has some serious strengths Matty Alou is hitting .290, Lee May has slugged 25 HR and managed 7 triples Bob Gibson has 164 k’s and 2.50 ERA along with Ken Brett 3.16 ERA can beat any team but on the down side Jim Bibby despite a respectable 3.64 ERA is only 3-10 while Tom Hall out of the bullpen is having the worst season of his career with an ERA a full 2 runs over his lifetime stats (5.10 vs 3.16) and alas May’s 25 HR is more than the rest of the team combined (17).

Despite this the Cardinals have the 2nd best ERA in the majors (3.26) and WHIP (1.22) however their save percentage is barely over 50% 18 saves 17 blown saves and are near the bottom of the majors in on base percentage (.304). Still they’ve also caught 20 of 25 people trying to steal so you never know which Cardinals team will be there.

Put simply the well managed Cards are close enough to make a run for that final wild card spot but will their front office decide that they’d rather sell and retool or make a run? We’ll find out.

New York Mets (Daytraders)

Last year’s pennant winners started strong but began to fade and have begun to trade assets. Willie Stargell has been dealt to Cincinnati. Tom Seaver to LA with rookie Davey Lopes coming back along with Vida Blue currently leading the NL in ERA (who LA got from the Giants) while retaining Phil Niekro and Jim Perry who they hope will return to his winning ways from his days in Cleveland.

The biggest disappointment has been Lefty Steve Carlton who ERA has only gone up slightly from last season (3.30 vs 3.14) but has put up a 5-12 record. Ron Bloomberg has respectable numbers (.291 12 HR 34 RBI). but their .238 avg is 2nd to last in the NL. Furthermore only Atlanta is doing worse in the field (.979) and their On Base percentage is less than .300 (.299)

In short the Daytraders are rebuilding and it’s only a question of what assets they will trade and which they will keep. With the trade deadline coming we will soon find out.

Philadelphia Phillies:

Philly has one of the most feared lineups in the league. Bill Robinson has 28 HR and 98 RBI’s Rookie Mike Schmidt despite a .176 avg has hit 18 HR and 2nd year man Greg Luzinski has 14 HR with a much better batting avg .248. Philly is 4th in the NL in runs scored , Home Runs, 3rd in the NL in doubles. No lead is safe against them and no hurler wants to face this lineup.

Unfortunately for them their 4.50 ERA is 2nd worst in the majors. Their 1.51 WHIP is the worst in the majors and their bullpen has blown more saves (26) then they’ve converted (22). Combine this with their Ace Fritz Peterson having one of his worst seasons (4.09 ERA) with batters hitting .375 with the bases loaded.

Put simply Philly isn’t going anywhere this season but with the worst record in the NL they’ll be able to keep all their power and Schmidt and Luzinski will only get better. If they can acquire anything resembling decent pitching they will be a force to be reckoned with for years.

Just Because We Lied to You About What You Saw With Your Own Eyes on Joe Biden Doesn’t Mean You Should Believe Your Own Eyes on South Africa Says MSM

Posted: May 21, 2025 by datechguy in Always look at the bright side of Trump, media, politics
Tags: , , , ,

Donald Trump decided to present the president of South Africa, with the entire press corps in the room the evidence of the danger to white farmers in South Africa:

This was actually confirmed as as issue by a SA official at the Oval Office today, but hey are you going to believe your own eyes or CNN?

Trump played the video in front of the guy. Every single network was there, and yet every single network denied what they say.

The irony? All of this took place 24 hours after the Biden health story where the media talked about how they missed a story right in front of their eyes.

Why anyone trusts them is beyond me, but I suspect is bubble reinforcement because once people decide they were wrong they have to see themselves in the light of truth, and that’s just too much for most leftist’s these days.

Meanwhile In the Dynasty 1973 League AL Alpha Division…

Posted: May 18, 2025 by datechguy in Dynasty, dynasty baseball, gaming, online gaming
Tags: ,

One of the nice things about the blog being a business was that when I wrote about the various Dynasty leagues it gave me deductions.

Well the deductions are now gone but the leagues continue. With about 50 games left to our 1973 season here is where we stand by division today the AL Alpha:

Al Alpha Division.

TeamWinsLossesPercentageGBWCGB
Baltimore Orioles7048.593—–+12
Kansas City Royals6949.5851+11
Cleveland Indians5857.50410 1/2+ 1 1/2
California Angels5167.43219-8 1/2
New York Yankees4768.40921 1/211

Baltimore Orioles:

The Orioles have been in a dogfight for 1st place with Kansas City from week one and have traded the spot at the top all season. Amos Otis in his 3rd season with the O’s has managed a career season his 24 HR is equal to his entire total since 1969 Add to that a .303 avg 5 triples 83 RBI’s and a .997 fielding percentage and he has been a team leader but he’s not along in power. The Birds lead the majors in home runs by a LOT (157 vs 129) six other Orioles are in double digits in Homers and three others Gene Tenace (22) Davey Johnson (24) and Doug Raider leading the team with 25 are in the 20 plus club with plenty games to play. They also lead the league in triple with young Al Bumbry adding 13 along with 6 homers 10 steals (in 12 tries) and 71 runs scored topped only by Otis’ 92.

The team has been even more impressive on the left side of the infield Rader has only 8 errors in over 1000 innings and 3rd and even more incredibly Roger Metzger has only 4 errors and a fielding percentage of .994 in 1013 innings at shortstop.

That’s important because other than Bob Locker (19 saves in 20 chances) Baltimore’s rotation Dave Roberts, Andy Messersmith , rookie Jim Slanton (acquired for a 5th round pick last season from Milwaukee) ,Steve Renko with Juan Marichal have been good but not world beaters.

Alas while the left side of the infield has been zipper tight Davey Johnson’s 24 HR and 80 RBI’s are offset by 20 errors at second, almost as much as the rest of the infield combined which is why the pitching.

Item of interest: The Orioles are 10 games over .500 on the road and 12 games over .500 at home so if they hold onto the division lead or not, they’ll spell trouble for whoever they face but they have faltered in close games with a record of only 9-19 in one run games.

Kansas City:

The 1972 Royals GM saw doom before him and made a lot of trades to build up draft capital for this year and while he is no longer with the club it has paid off handsomely for the team

Kansas City has allowed the fewest runs in an AL boosted by the new DH rule while leading the AL in batting and being 2nd in Doubles. They are constantly putting the ball in play striking out only 602 times in the league 3rd in the majors and fewer than every NL team (where the pitchers are still hitting) except for St. Louis. Meanwhile their 3.46 ERA leads the AL and is led by their star Bert Blyleven who after a workhorse season with 335 innings and a 12-21 record for a bad club is now 18-8 with a career low ERA (2.49), WHIP (1.03) and a big drop in HR’s allowed giving up only 8 so far this season. Amazingly no other starter has over 9 wins and two relievers (Bob Reynolds 8-2 and Eddie Watt 8-3) are both threatening the number. At the plate veteran Frank Robinson has been key, his 23 HR & 78 RBI are big but the fact that he’s hitting .346 with runners in scoring position and two outs and .500 with the bases loaded means he’s getting the big hit when needed. Bobby Murcer an MVP candidate for the world champion yanks while productive: (.274 13 HR 65 RBI) is having his worst season since 1970 at the plate with avg, slugging and OBP all below his career averages untill there are runners in scoring position. Seven of his HR and 53 of his RBI are with runners in scoring position and with RISP and two outs he’s hitting .302

Amazingly this team has won without stars. Dick Allen had contributed 12 HR and 44 RBI before injury put him down and he was packaged in a deal with pitcher Joe Decker to Atlanta for Norm Cash and Mike Cuellar who have both been a disappointment since their arrival in the bullpen Ramon Martinez has saved 14 but blown 4 with an ERA over five and opponents hitting .302 against him yet the team still manages to win and stay right in the fight.

Items of Interest. The royals love the night life a full 14 games over .500 at night and particularly love left handed pitching 24-13 vs lefty starters they have also been strong in one run games 18-13 and have absolutely dominated AL teams going 47-26 vs the AL while only playing .500 ball vs the NL but the big difference is at home. KC is 41-14 at home but 28-35 on the road meaning, if nothing changes winning this division is VITAL for their playoff run.

Cleveland Indians

The Indians are a mystery. The team is playing .500 ball, but has scored 50 runs more than their foes. They are 3rd in the majors and 2nd in the AL in Home runs (127) but have only one player Sal Bando (22) with over twenty HR although I dare say George Mitterwald (18) and Tony Perez (17) will get there soon. If you look at the top 10 in the majors in any category the only Indian you will find is Pitcher Jon Matlack with his 15 wins and 175 strikeouts and Bob Moose who has given up a mere 0.34 HR per nine innings tying Blyleven. The Indians don’t have speed they have stolen one base in 4 tries as a TEAM. Nor will they dominate you on the mound other than Matlack (15-9 3.07 ERA) and Mel Stottlemyre (8-5 3.25 ERA) but they have been in the wild card race the entire season and currently have risen to the 2nd wild card. They are capable of beating any team, particularly at home (32-23) but are within .500 against every division in the league

Any team that takes them lightly is likely to be burned.

Item of interest. Right now there are three teams chasing them for either a wild card spot or a better wildcard spot, Minnesota and Washington and Boston. They are 4-2 vs Washington 4-3 vs Boston and almost .500 vs Minnesota ( 4-5 ). That bodes well for making the playoffs. If they do make the playoffs their opponent of choice is Baltimore who they have a winning record against.

Kansas City and Milwaukee have owned them in the AL and LA, the Reds and Pirates have owned them in the NL. Against the right opponent they will be trouble.

California Angles

The Angles have gone 7-3 in the last 10 Jose Cardenal has managed 139 hits and 28 Doubles both top 10 in the majors and 5th in the AL leading the team and Clay Carroll with 16 saves and the DH rule has been good for Orlando Cepeda giving him the chance to hit 19 Home Runs and Manny Mota hitting .330 in part time play. On the Mound Jim Rooker is 10-6 with a 2.90 ERA and Tommy John has managed a 9-8 record with an ERA a run over last season. If California gets a lead Clay Carroll has for the 3rd year straight proved is capable of keeping it with 16 saves in 18 chances despite a 3.12 ERA more than double last of last season

The bad news has been the rest of the starting pitching. Clay Kirby who went 15-13 with a 3.15 ERA in 1971 and 18-12 with a 3. 33 last season has had the worst season of his life currently 1-14 with a 5.64 ERA and 26 home runs given up so far this season. Steve Arlin has been almost as bad with a 2-12 record with a 4.38 ERA and 19 HR given up in 100 innings making the 2nd straight year that his stock has dropped (19-7 as a rookie in 71 with the Daytraders and 9-13 with Philly last year).

With a slugging percentage at the bottom of the AL it’s unlikely that their current surge will be enough to allow them to make up the 8 1/2 games they need to catch Boston for the final spot while passing both the Twins and Senators.

New York Yankees

Like most World Series champs the Yankees are in a rebuilding year which included big trades with Cincinnati which sent Thurman Munson and Johnny Mayberry to the Reds for Johnny Bench Jim Longborg and Bill Buckner but thanks to Rennie Stennett (.291 14 HR 59 RBI) and Reggie Smith (.290 13 HR 59 RBI) a respectable season from Oscar Gamble ( .278 12 HR 63 RBI) and good seasons from Wilbur Wood 14-12 3.97 and Rookie Doc Medich 10-12 3.78 without a supporting cast combined with the trades the Yanks have managed middle of the road stats on offense enough to be a danger to any team that plays them.

Alas the same can’t be said for the pitching staff overall. Their 4.50 ERA is dead last in the AL partially from playing in the HR friendly Polo Grounds which boosts power stats fierce for pull hitters but mostly from an inability to throw strikes 2nd to last in strikeouts in the majors and 3rd in the AL in walks adds up to a 1.49 team WHIP worst in the AL and only slightly better than Philly’s 1.52, Their 15 saves in 22 chances is horrible for a bullpen.

The biggest disappointment of the season has to be Cesar Geronimo. While he’s been perfect in the field with six assists and no errors in over 900 innings in the OF primarily in center he’s only managed to hit .197 with an OBP of .255 both 90 points behind the previous season in Milwaukee and while the short fences down the line have boosted his HR total to 3 from last years 2 he’s down 6 triples despite the very deep cavernous center field for balls to roll.

The Yanks might play spoiler for teams that don’t pay them proper respect and don’t get them into extra innings because that’s the only category where they have a winning record (5-3).

How Bad Was Kamala? The Left Preferred Playing Weekend at Joey’s for a year to Her in the White House leading the party

Posted: May 16, 2025 by datechguy in election 2024, politics
Tags: , , , ,

There are two critical stories concerning the fitness of Joe Biden for the presidency that are both critical and being almost completely ignored.

The first is a question that some people like Dwayne Patterson are asking: Who was in charge during the Biden years?

I don’t frankly care if the Beltway media takes me seriously or not. I know what I know. I saw what I saw daily in Biden media appearances, seldom though they were. I heard what I heard. And I can safely say that after 30 years in this business, I have never experienced Beltway media as in the tank as they were. The Trump effect can be seen in trillions so far in foreign investments coming into the United States. The Trump effect also has caused a lot of reporters to throw objectivity out the window because they view Trump as an existential threat. 

My humble, but sincere advice for my friends in media, and I do have dozens of them that are friends, is it’s hard to take them seriously when they won’t admit their failings in coverage of the Biden regency. If you want to regain trust, go where the story goes, not where you want the story to go. And I’m telling you, the story is who was running the country the last four years, and why there was no accountability in government. Why did the 25th Amendment fail as a failsafe apparatus against an obviously incapacitated president? 

I suspect the answer is the government was for sale to the highest bidder and both the Biden family and members of the administration were able to run the Federal Government like Chicago, alternatively or concurrently people with agenda were able to advance them without all that pesky “explaining to voters” stuff.

However for my money while that first question is a critical one it’s the second question that I find most fascinating.

Why didn’t they just use to the 25th amendment at put Kamala Harris in the White House?

Any time after Jan 2023 she would have been eligible for two terms and if she became the first woman president the media would have had a collective organism. All the protection that was given to Biden would have been transferred to her and she would have had time to actually be ready to face Donald Trump, and would have had the power of incumbency and much more time to develop an actual team to run a campaign.

Yet they did not do this.

Why?

There are several possible things. Perhaps they were worried that Harris would want to actually be in charge, perhaps the Biden family threatened to talk about things, perhaps the people who were buying government wanted a freer hand to act, but all of these explanation don’t seem to fly as the media & party apparatus that was willing to prosecute Trump crossing multiple lines were unlikely not to be able to manipulate around such problems.

I think there is a more likely reason, one that nobody wants to admit that while I was writing this piece Ed Morrissey brought up ahead of me:

However, that wouldn’t be the real reason for that reluctance. The real reason is that Kamala Harris is every bit as incompetent as Joe Biden, only for reasons having nothing to do with dementia. [emphasis mine DTG] Harris could not be trusted with the presidency, as voters discovered in 2019 and again in 2024, when in both cycles she couldn’t even be trusted to handle the media, let alone the world. 

If the United States had had a competent Vice President, the Cabinet might have acted to replace a president whose aides and families had isolated for reasons of incompetence. Their lack of action in that crisis is unforgivably cowardly, but also a massive declaration of no confidence in Kamala Harris. And then they stood by while Harris attempted to win office anyway rather than publicly demand an open and democratic process to replace the party’s nominee, compounding their cowardice.

Or to put it simply if the final year of the Biden presidency was the first year of the Harris presidency the prospects for Democrats running for re-election and/or retaining power would be so bad that the actual results of 2024 would have been considered a best case scenario.

Much better to keep the lie up and hope that they could pass Biden off as functional, Democrat donors and media could be counted on playing along because the person who spilled the beans would be blamed for a Trump victory and NOBODY in the media/left would want to be the person responsible for Trump returning to the White House. And if the worst case scenario happened (as indeed it did) Harris could not only be considered separate Joe Biden’s failures but in a short campaign her incompetence could be hidden from the general public and panicked donors desperate to stop Trump would be so relieved that they would open up their wallets which indeed they did.

That is plausible and the most likely conclusion to me but think about that for a second.

If I’m right Kamala Harris is so incompetent that the Democrats and the media thought playing Weekend at Joeys with Biden was a safer option than having her in office running the show.

Simply amazing.

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