Archive for the ‘baseball’ Category

1972 Dynasty League Playoffs Divisional Round Minnesota at Milwaukee

Posted: October 3, 2024 by datechguy in baseball, dynasty baseball, gaming, online gaming
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Minnesota Twins 87-75 13 GB 2nd AL Beta Division 3rd seed (1st Wildcard)

Offense: One Word Power. The Twins were 2nd only to the Yankess in HR with 148 as a team and six players with double digit dingers. Their offense begins with Nate Colbert whose 35 HR and 118 RBI’s were by far both career bests. He was ably supported by Richie Hebner ( .288 25HR 85 RBI 101 Runs scored) and Bobby Darwin (.262 24 HR 68 RBI). Young Bobby Grich despite a .233 avg and a .304 OBP managed to hit 28 doubles and score 85 runs. Bob Watson led the team in hitting at .310 and managed 18 Homers of his own. Al Oliver and Catcher Ray Fossie rounded out the double digit brigade.

Defense: The Twins didn’t skimp on defense 3rd in the AL and 5th overall Ray Fossie led a Catching staff that threw out over 50% of those trying to run. The infield of Colbert (1b), Grich (2b), Hebner (3B) and Metzer was one of the best in the game. Oliver and Darwin were solid in left and right while the Centerfield by Committee (Jim Northrup, Al Oliver, Angel Mangual and Bobby Darwin combined to throw out 26 runners and turn 7 double plays.

Pitching: While the twins were proficient in hitting home runs their 101 allowed was 3rd fewest in the AL. Furthermore they 8 blown saves in 39 chances was 4th best in the majors and 3rd best in the AL. The rotation has an ace starter with Steve Blass (22-11 2.82 ERA) and an ace closer in Sparky Lyle (1-2 20 SV in 24 chances 2.59 ERA) and four relivers with at least 26 appearances who have a WHIP below 1.20

Milwaukee Brewers 100-62 1st place AL Beta (2nd Seed)

Offense: Only California had fewer HR in the AL than Milwaukee’s 82 yet their .358 slugging percentage was 4th in the league and their .324 OBP was 3rd in the AL as was their .255 batting avg (5th in majors). Pete Rose was all over the AL leader boards 2nd in AVG, 2B, BB & OBP, 3rd in hits (199) & triples and 6th in OPS. #1 pick Doug Rader only hit 22 HR but 3 were grand slams, 8 were with Runners in Scoreing position and 5 with RISP & 2 outs. Ron Fairly only played 140 games but hit 19 HR drove in 83 and had a .341 OBP. In short there always seems to be someone on via hit or walk or in Ron Hunt’s case HBP and From Pete Rose (77 RBI) To Earl Williams (70 RBI 17 HR) there always seems to be someone to drive them in.

Defense:

Milwaukee was the top defense in the league committing only 81 errors in 6450 chances. Ken Berry and Gene Clines were perfect in the OF, Caesar Geronimo only committed 2 errors all season and Rose but one. The infield of Fairly, Hunt, Michaels and Raider were zipper tight. The only weakness was in throwing out baserunners as Earl Williams managed to get only 3 of 17 and Johnny Edwards 3 of 13

Pitching: With an avg against of .237 (1st in AL) and team ERA of 3.07 2nd in AL the Brewers were one of the top pitching staffs in the league. Furthermore they were one of the stingiest in giving up the long ball surrendering only 88 HR (2nd in AL 4th in MLB) the entire season) Last Years Cy Young winner Don Wilson won 20 as did Lefty Ken Holtzman while Ken Sanders who had be reacquired after being dealt away last year came back to save 20 as well. If there was one weakness it was bases on balls. The 517 free passes allowed was more than any team in the AL except for the Senators the chief culprits being Blue Moon Odem and Mike Torrez in that regard.

Season Series

Opening day at Milwaukee April

The season didn’t start well for Minnesota as their 3 game series in Milwaukee was the start of a 5 game losing streak to open the year. The teams traded runs in the 1st of game one but in the 5th Don Wilson Singled with two outs as did Caesar Geronimo when Earl Williams produced a pinch hit double to score them both.. Each team would add a pair late a two run Triple by Rose and two solo shots from Grinch and Watson for the Twins but Wilson would double up Blass 6-3. In game 2 Ken Holtzman was even stinger giving up only an RBI double in the 7th while Ron Fairly and Doug Rader would both launch solo shots and a Ken Berry double and a pass ball would make up the rest of the 4-1 win. In the finale Mike Torrez would establish a pattern for the season by getting a 2 run lead and losing it late. Both he and Dick Woodson would go 9 but the game would be decided in the bottom of the 11th when Rose led the inning off with a double and winning pitcher Blue Moon Odem singled him in.

Series 2 May at Minnesota

The short two game series started with Don Wilson shutting out the twins on four hits. The Brew crew took a 1-0 lead in the 4th on a Geronimo double and broke it open with 5 in the 7th on their way to the 7-0 win. In Game two Milwaukee starter Al Downing gave up 10 hits but only one run as the twins went 1-6 with runners in scoring position. Meanwhile Milwaukee went 4-8 with Pete Rose, Ron Fairly, Ken Berry and Gene Michael all driving in runs for a 4-1 win

Series 3 June at Milwaukee

Another short series this time in Milwaukee but the same result. Blue Moon Odem only gave up a single run over six and Jerry Bell scattered two walks and a pair of hits for the final 2 to get the save, meanwhile four different Brewers drove in runs off Marty Patten & Dave Goltz for the 5-1 victory. In game two Al Downing gave up one more hit (11) and one more run (12) than his previous start thanks to RBI’s by Hebner and Mangual but an Al Oliver error led to the Brewers first run in the 2nd and doubles by Fairly, Rose and Williams off of Blass in the 3rd led to 4 more runs accounting for the 5-1 final.

Series 4 at Minnesota August

The final series began with Ken Holtzman and Stan Bahnsen locked in an epic battle Milwaukee scored three (1 in the 1st 2 in the 3rd) and the Twins tied it. The Brewers would score single runs in the 5th, 6th and 7th and the Twins answered in the 7th and 8th but could not push in one last run to save the day. In game two the regular Mike Torrez pattern repeated. He was staked to a 5-0 run lead after 3 but the twins kept nibbling back with solo shots from Fosse & Watson and a Nate Colbert double. In the 9th Odem came in with a man on 3rd and the tying run at the plate. Williams allowed one via a passed ball but after walking the tying run he managed to secure the 2nd of his 3 saves with a swinging strikeout of Colbert. Game three wasn’t as close as Milwaukee managed 8 runs off of three different Twins Pitchers while Downing earned his 3rd win vs the Twins giving up only a solo shot to John Boccabella in the 5th and 3 in the 9th when he was already up 8-1 for a 8-4 final.

Season Series 10-0 Milwaukee

Milwaukee is a stronger team on both Defense and Pitching but not by all that much. The real difference here is power. The Twins have a lot of it and live by the long ball, Milwaukee lives by pitching double, triples and the hit and run. Only the 57-105 Cubs (0-10 vs Atlanta) joined the Twins in being out in a season series of 10 games or more against an opponent so there is no team more due than the Twins for a win against Milwaukee and having gone 13-4 in their last 17 to go from iffy wild card to 3rd seed now would be the time to do it. If their long ball can break threw the Brew crew’s rotation then an upset could be in order but it’s hard to see how they will manage to win 3 of 5 against a team they couldn’t win 1 of 10 against. I see them breaking the shutout but I can’t see them managing 3 of 5.

Brewers in 4.

Dynasty Baseball 1972 League AL Red Sox at Yankees

Posted: October 2, 2024 by datechguy in baseball, dynasty baseball, gaming, online gaming
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These Writeups are about the 2nd Round of the AL Playoffs. All Series are five games.

Red Sox vs Yankees

RedSox

The Boston RedSox Offensive / Defensive/ Pitching evaluation was done in the Wild card round and Can be found in full here. Fast Summery Strong offense led by Yaz and Fisk, Tied for Top defense in MLB, Pitching, one ace (Nolan) and the rest average with no real closer.

Round 1 vs Angels Game 1 at Anaheim Stadium Gary Nolan Vs Tom Bradley

Game 1 was a true pitchers duel with Redsox Ace Gary Nolan facing Tom Bradley of the 18 losses. The first run came from a leadoff Bill Plummer Solo shot in the 3rd giving the Angels a 1-0. The Red Sox took the lead in the 6th when with two outs light hitting Doug Griffin hit a shot into the Gap that Manny Mota couldn’t catch up to. He end up on 2nd and Yaz immediately drove him with a single to center Griffin beating the throw from Moralas which allowed Yaz to get to 2nd which didn’t matter much since Willie Davis walked putting runners on 1st and Second for Carlton Fisk to singled to center with Yaz motoring home to make it 2-1.

That is all that Bradley would give up the three hits in the 6th were fully half of Boston’s total as Bradly pitched a fine game, alas for the Halo Nolan did even better. Not only did the Angels not get near another run but no Angel got to the plate with a runner in scoring position for Nolan’s 9 innings of work

Red Sox 2 Angels 1 WP Nolan 1-0 LP Bradley 0-1 HR Plumber (1)

Game 2 at Fenway Park Woodie Fryman vs Rick Wise

For the 2nd game in a row California struck first via the longball. In the top of the 1st with two outs Jose Cardinal put a ball over the wall in Right center scoring Bobby Valentine giving the Angels a 2-0 lead. It would have been 3-0 except Wes Parker once again demonstrated his glove at first robbing Manny Mota of a double on a shot down the line.

The lead was cut to one in the bottom of the 2nd when after a pair of walks Doug Griffin singled in Rico Petrocelli but in the top of the 3rd the Angles got it back as Tommy McCraw tripled to center with one out and Bobby Valentine singled him in. Manny Mota followed with a single which could have led to a big inning but wise struck out Cardinal and Morales lined to 3rd to kill the rally. The Sox Answered back again as Fisk put a two out fastball over the monster and the lead was back to 3-2.

In the 5th the Red Sox pitcher Rick Wise helped his own cause by legging out a slow roller that Bobby Valentine couldn’t get to first in time. This would prove critical as with two outs Ollie Brown put one in the gap scoring him all the way from first and the game was tied.

And tied it would stay both teams would threaten in the 8th without success and in the 9th after reaching on an error Dave Conception tried to make it to 3rd when Leroy Stanton hitting for Fryman singled to center but Vada Pinson who had just moved to center threw a strike to Rico Petrocelli for the 2nd out and Wise put out the fire. Angel closer Clay Carroll retired the Sox in order in the 9th and we went to Extras.

Wise would remain in until the top of the 11th when he came out after retiring the first 2. and Joe Horlen came in and promptly grooved a ball to Bill Plumber for his 2nd round tripper of the series.

With victory in their grasp and their playoff hopes on the line they left Carroll in for a 3rd inning which proved costly. He would walk lead off man Vada Pinson who would move to 2nd on a grounder to 3rd and would easily score on a double to left center tying the game. Davis would get to 3rd with two outs when Jack Aker came in and coaxed a pinch hit ground out from Norm Miller and we went to the 12th

After a leadoff single Al Severinsen retired California in order in the top of the inning. Aker would be saved from trouble by a great diving stop by Tommy McGraw keeping Wes Parker from a sure double but his luck would run out when Ollie Brown who only had 2 Homeruns all season for his worst slugging year in his career made Red Sox fans forget this by lifting a ball just over the wall to send the Redsox to a meeting with their longtime rivals from New York.

Boston 5 California 4 WP Severinsen 1-0 LP Aker (0-1) HR Plumber (2), Cardenal (1), Fisk (1), Brown (1)

New York Yankees 111-51 1st Place AL Alpha Division (#1 seed)

Offense: Whoever said “You can’t go home again” apparently never saw this Yankee team whose offense was completely invigorated by their return to the Polo Grounds as Yankees lead the majors in every offensive category except walks (2nd in AL 5th in majors) Stolen bases (3rd in AL 7th in majors) and at bats (1st in AL 2nd in Majors). The top three slugging percentages in the American league belonged to Bobby Murcer (.591+065 over 1971), young John Mayberry (.550 +.291 over 1971) and Reggie Smith (.528 +007 over 1971) Murcer’s HR total went from 23 to 36 Mayberry’s from 5 (in 104 games) to 35 (in 162) and Smith from 20 (in 162 games) to 30 (in 160). Oddly the move didn’t figure in Murcer’s numbers has he hit 10 more homers and slugged a full .197 points higher on the road (.488 vs .685) meanwhile Roberto Clemente hit .290 and drove in 90 while Ron Santo who was floundering in Cincy (.162 0 HR 6 RBI in 29 games) before being dealt to NY soared (.326 13 HR 75 RBI). Put simply they’ve been an offensive monster.

Defense: With so much offense you likely don’t need much defense but the Yanks were above slightly above average. Both Thurman Munson and Ed Kirkpatrick threw out more runners than they allowed to steal. Ron Santo took the 3B job from Bill Melton and ran with it defensively. Horace Clark proved just as good as Doug Griffin who was dealt to Boston early in the season. Clemente only threw out 4 but almost nobody tried to take an extra base against him however Reggie’s Smith’s 9 errors in the outfield were rather high and both Steve Kline and Terry Forster where adventures on the mound if the ball was hit to them.

Pitching: If the Yankees offense wasn’t enough their pitching staff managed the top ERA in the AL (2.96 3rd overall) and the 2nd lowest Avg against in the AL as well (.239) Meanwhile their bullpen saved 45 of 57 however their 116 HR allowed were the 3rd most in the AL & majors but given the dimensions of the Polo Grounds not a huge surprise. Mike Paul & Bob Moose were tied for 2nd in the AL for ERA (2.42) Terry Forester led the AL with 34 saves and Steve Kline and Bob Moose were top 8 in the majors for not giving up walks. Put simply with 3 20 Game winners (Wilbur Wood, Moose and Steve Kline) all of who had over 200 innings they are a force to be reckoned with.

Series one Yankees at Boston April:

Game one was a back and forth affair with six lead changes till it was even at 9 after 9 but in the bottom of the 10th Vada Pinson singled to start the 10th followed by a Triple from Wes Parker to win the game. In Game 2 Roberto Clemente doubled in one run and John Mayberry homered for 2 more in the 6th and Celerino Sanchez tripled in two runs more. Both Fisk and Yaz drove in runs in the 8th but it wasn’t enough and Forester picked up the save for 6-4 Yankees win. A two run shot by Parker and an RBI double by Yaz gave the Redsox a 4-0 lead but Bobby Murcer hit a solo shot in the 8th and the Yanks managed 5 in the 9th including a Reggie Smith homerun giving Yankees a lead that Forester would hold.

Series Two June in NY

The Redsox simply pounded the yanks with a solo shot by Davis a two run shot by Yaz and a three run shot by Rico Petrocelli. Rick Wise threw a complete game giving up 4 which was more than good enough to secure a 9-4 win. In game two after an early exchange of runs the Yanks took the lead with a 3 run 7th with a bases loaded fielders choice plus and a 2 run single giving Wilbur Wood a win and 3rd save for Forster in game 2 and his 4th save in game 3 with a Reggie Smith solo shot and a three run shot by John Mayberry giving Mike Paul the win

Series 3 Aug in Boston:

The Yanks went 8-18 with runners in scoring position allowing them to build a 6-3 lead for which was enough to hold off a 2 run rally in the 9th. In game 2 three Redsox pitchers combined to shut out the Yanks which meant that RBI doubles from Fisk and Griffin and a single from Petrocelli were more than enough to win. In the 3rd game the game remained even at 3 in the ninth but in the end Rick Wise could not hold off a rally with runs scored on a passed ball and a single from Gene Tenace.

Series 4 Sept in NY

The Redsox won a costly victory in game one when he ended up out for 3 series after diving for a ball in left a bases loaded grounder and a Doug Griffin single drove in 2 and a single and flyout in the 9th gave two more runs to secure a 4-1 win for Gary Nolan. In game 2 the Yanks scored 10 including 5 in the first 2 innings and five more on 17 hits while Bob Moose surrendered only 2 runs on 4 hits while striking out 11. In game 3 again things went back and forth and the Yanks took a lead in the 5th on a Clemente single and handed the ball to Terry Forster who had saved 4 vs the Sox but the fifth time was the charm for Boston as he made a key error with two on to load the bases allowing Wes Parker to single in the tying and winning run for a 5-4 Red Sox win.

Season series Yanks 7-5

The Pick: The Red Sox are a good team with a lot of fine young players who will give the Yankees grief and they played the Yanks tough all season but with excellent pitching and overpowering offence I can’t see the Redsox pulling this one off. Yanks in 4.

October Indulgence Calendar. Pete Rose will Have to Wait Till November

Posted: October 1, 2024 by datechguy in baseball, catholic, catholic devotions
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This month’s indulgence calendar is now available for download. Pete Rose, the first player I drafted in my 1969 Dynasty League and who led my team to a world series that season and to a division title this season (1972) died yesterday so alas he will have to wait till next month to be included.

Remember if you have a family member or friend you want included on next month’s calendar simply leave the person’s name in comments and we’ll be happy to do so and also remember them in prayer on our weekly EWTN radio show Your Prayer Intentions.

indulgence calendar Oct 2024Download

Five Fast Thoughts Under the Fedora I didn’t know Popeye was Jewish, Doing the Jobs Americans Won’t Do Anymore, More Brady less Mayfield, Hillary & The Left Expecting Their Slaves to Work, Dodging History

Posted: September 30, 2024 by datechguy in baseball, election 2024, elections, Israel, middle east, nfl, politics, Sports, under the fedora, war
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Israel’s utter decimation of Hezbollah in Lebanon has confirmed that they have reached the “That’s All I Can Stands I Can’t Stands no More!” stage of existence. In the absence of US leadership Bibi and company has decided to act in their own best interest and take out the trash rather than sit back and appease western governments afraid of angry Arabs.

With Tanks now at the border of Lebanon and the entire command structure of Lebanon gone suddenly the Lebanese is suggesting they will enforce UN resolutions to restrain what’s left of Hezbollah but Israel seems to have decided to take the John Wayne approach from True Grit on rats deciding to kill them rather than let them be.

If I was Iran I’d be damn scared right now.

Speaking of Israel I don’t know what is more embarrassing to me as an American.

  1. That a few days after the Houti’s attacks a group of US warships without any response from us Israel took out their entire oil and fuel reserves at Al Hudaydah port in retaliation for a ballistic Missile strike they conducted against them while they were busy in the north.
  2. That Joe Biden the president when asked about this strike into Yemen strike said this:

This is the man who just over three months ago the entire news media INSISTED was sharp as a tack and anyone who said otherwise was speaking “disinformation”

If you want to understand the difference between a champion and a good player look no further than this exchange when Tom Brady was asked about comments made by the current Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield concerning how the players wanted him to bring “the joy back to Football” lessening the strees they had during the Brady years.

Brady answered thus:

In fairness to Mayfield he has not done bad in Tampa Bay leading them to one playoff win and having a good start this year. When he manages that first Super Bowl Ring then he can talk.

Let me tell you fans in New England are learning the stress of no Super Bowl Rings these days

Some People are shocked that Hillary Clinton is demanding the MSM attack Donald Trump more which given the level they have hit him so far doesn’t seem possible.

I’m not

She is simply claiming the right to treat her slaves as she wishes.

Finally the Chicago White Sox managed to avoid the worst kind of history winning 5 of their final six to finish 41-121 with a .253 winning percentage. While they did set the record for most losses in a season at 121 which beats the 1962 Mets 160 their 41 wins means their winning percentage is .253 as opposed to the Mets .250 meaning that the Mets remain in a class by themselves.

It’s an even bigger accomplishment when you figure that by taking two of three from the Tigers they forced them into the 6th seed in the playoffs when a single win would have given them home field advantage vs the Royals so they had something to play for.

As the Monty Python crew sings, always look at the bright side of life

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