Sunday, January 28, 2007

Back underway: AL games


We're through our first series back and a day with some rainout make-up games. Teams have generally played 145 +/- 1 games, save a few teams who've been particularly unlucky with weather (yes, St. Louis Browns, I'm looking at you). The not-quite readable current standings are above.

Yankees-Red Sox: The Yanks took 2 of 3 from Boston, losing the last game played pre-crash but winning the next two. They managed to bury Joe Wood early in game 2, knocking him out after 4 innings. Joe Gordon had a good series, 5-13 with 2 HR and 4 RBI. Tris Speaker was even better, 6-12 in a losing cause. The Yankees followed this up with a shutout loss to Washington, but have a comfortable cushion as they head to Baltimore for a big series with the Birds. Boston visits Detroit.

Orioles-White Sox: Chicago dealt Baltimore's hopes a major blow, sweeping them at Memorial Stadium. The Sox' pitchers stifled the O's offense, which hasn't been helped by the loss of Frank Robinson and Merv Rettenmund to injury. The Orioles managed only 3 runs in the three games, not good even ignoring the White Sox' dead-ball offense scratching out 18... Joe Jackson was 5-12 for Chicago. Baltimore hosts the Yankees in a series they really must win (or better, sweep) to stay in the hunt. Chicago hosts the Browns.

Phil. Athletics-Tigers: Philadelphia effectively eliminated Detroit with a sweep. The Tigers did themselves no favors with 5 errors in game 1, though the 8 earned runs the A's scored were more than enough to compensate for the 1 run George Earnshaw allowed. Game 3 was shortened by rain in the 9th. Mickey Cochrane had a monster series, 9-13 with 6 RBI. Philadelphia travels to the District to take on the Nationals next.

Browns-Nationals: A see-saw series, as the Browns erupted for 19 runs in game 2, but Washington took the rest of the games. George Sisler was 7-10 with 6 RBI in the first two games before resting in game 3. His league-leading average is now .428, roughly 50 points ahead of his closest pursuer (Philadelphia's Al Simmons at .369). Washington also took their schedules make-up vs. the Yankees, Dutch Reuther cooling the New Yorker's bats with a shutout and evening his record at 11-11. Walter Johnson's win in game 3 was his 17th, leading the Nats.

Indians-Twins: Cleveland, dealt a setback by the computer crash, took two of three from Minnesota, and was only a blown Eric Plunk save from sweeping the Twinkies. Kenny Lofton was en fuego, 7-9 with 2 doubles, a triple, and a HR in two games. The aftormentioned blown save, on a bases-loaded Cardenas triple, salvaged a game for Minnesota where Jim Kaat struggled with his his control for 1 1/3 innings, walking 3 and eventually being ejected after hitting his second batsman. The Twins managed .500 for this period by beating Texas 2-1 in a makeup game, Tiant pitching brilliantly but Perranoski getting the win in relief. Cleveland travels to Seattle for a big series, Minnesota travels to Texas for more Ranger fun.

Mariners-Angels: Seattle is trying to make the best of their new lease on life, sweeping California 8-2, 7-1, 5-2. Carlos Guillen, of all people, paced Seattle with a 5-6 in the first two games before sitting out the third. Kaz Sasaki notched his 29th save in the finale, his 21st in a row. The Angels did not have much to celebrate. They go on to Kansas City.

Rangers-Oakland A's: Oakland's hitting woes continued, as they were restricted to 7 runs in the three games, 4 of them in one "eruption". Still, they managed to net a win out of it, 2-1 in the first game. There were no real performances of note. Oakland goes on to Toronto.

Blue Jays-Royals: Speaking of Toronto... The Blue Jays and Royals played a taut, exciting series with basically no importance to any of the races in any way. Still, good baseball is good baseball. All three games were 1-run affairs, with the first two going extra innings. Charlie Liebrandt pitched a 10-inning shutout in game 1, winning on an RBI single by George Brett. Toronto got revenge the next day, with Jim Clancy striking out 11 in 10 innings before giving way to Mark Eichhorn, who got the win in relief on a Jesse Barfield sacrifice fly in the 12th.
Kansas City took the third game, but succumbed to St. Louis in a makeup game the next day.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Clichéd Return...

(Frank Selee wakes up. He is startled to find himself laying on the sidewalk in Boston. Two bystanders look on with concern.)

FS: Oh, I must have taken a tumble.
Bystander 1: Indeed-- tripped on the uneven pavement. We thought you might be hurt, and with the big games coming up...
FS: Oh, I shouldn't discourage you, but our odds are slim, as far behind Pittsburgh as we are, with less than two weeks to play.
(The bystanders look at each other, confused.)

Bystander 2: Sir?
B1: Perhaps we should find a medic?
FS: I assure you, I'm fine.
B2: But the Beaneaters are in fine shape, just a half-game back, with roughly three weeks to go.
(FS is dismayed)
FS: We're not three and a half back? And the Yankees-- they're still atop the AL Classic Division? Cleveland has not yet buried everyone else in their division?

(B1 and B2 are back to looking concerned...)
B1: No sir, yes sir, and, um, no sir.
B2: Respectively.

(FS brushes himself off and stands up.)
FS: Then there's work to be done and a championship to be defended! See you at the game!

Monday, January 08, 2007

Do-over

Got the ol' computer back, lost the increment of the season I'd done on it. I think it amounts to ~20 games. :P

I think I'm going to start again from where I last backed it up and pretend this never happened. I believe the big winners turn out to be, embarrassingly, three of the teams I manage-- the Yankees get a big lead restored (which they frittered away last time), the Mariners get another crack at the Indians, and the Beaneaters come back to neck-and-neck with the Pirates. If something turns out differently from the way it was headed, I've got some thinking to do. But that's a problem for a later time...