NEW Summer of '69 league

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Paul Vebber
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NEW Summer of '69 league

Post by Paul Vebber »

With all the changes in the game I have restarted the Summer of ’69 league again as the Milwaukee Brewers (rather than Seattle Pilots). Here is my draft I picked 1st so I got the luxury of back to back picks after the first round:

1. Reggie Jackson RF
2. Burt Blyleven RSP
3. Don Gullett LSP
4. Earl Williams C
5. Mike Schmidt 3B
6. Tony Horton 1B
7. Sparky Lyle LCL
8. Doc Medich RSP
9. Ross Grimesly LSP
10. Cesar Cedeno CF
11. Steve Stone RSP
12. Rollie Fingers RRP
13. Dave Kingman DH
14. Rennie Stennett 2B
15. Bruce Kison RSP
16. Horatio Pina RRP
17. Don Baylor LF
18. Dan McGinn LRP
19. Mark Belanger SS
20. Mickey Rivers CF
21. Thurman Munson C
22. Dave Cash 2B
23. Gary Mathews LF
24. Paul Splittorff LSP
25. Cy Acosta RRP
26. Dave Conception SS
27. Garry Maddox CF
28. Tom Buskey RRP
29. Craig Skok LRP
30. Jerry Reuss LSP
31. Al Severinsen RRP
32. Enos Cabel 3B
33. Gene Garber RRP
34. Fred Sherman LRP
35. Sam Parrilla LF

From there to 50 I let the AI pick for me as is pretty much scrubs from that point on.

I'm using the 1-8 rating scale and will only do 1 for 1 trades, and limit to three free agent signings - but will also ty to "watch out for my starters" and not bury them after they have had significant major league exposure.

AWAY WE GO!

Note that i set this up as a 4 pitcher roation association and had to do it over agian - I tried to draft the same players bu a few were already picked this time
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DandricSturm
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

Post by DandricSturm »

Ah, the summer of '69.  I'll never forget that one.
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"The Guns, Thank God, The Guns..." - Rudyard Kipling
http://www.bluemax-ara-assoc.com/
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

Post by Paul Vebber »

WellAfter starting 12 games under 500 in april and haveing Reggie go down for 8 weeks with a serious leg injury, and then Cedano going down for 4 weeks, I had to manage more the usual proportion of games and got to 6 games under 500 - but a visit to division leading Kansis City right before teh All-star break and getting swept put me back to 9 games under 500 and 12 games behind the Royals. [:@]

36-45 and had ZERO players on the allstar team. That is not surprising considering the prium I ut on youth and potential in making my picks, particularly with pitching. But I was surprised how often my starters arejust getting SHELLED!

NONE of my starting pitchers have winning records - Blyleven is 5-9 with a 4.71 EA, Gullett is 5-6 with a 5.64, Medich is 6-7 with a 4.59, Ross Grimsley leads the staff in era at 3.72 but is only 5-7 and Bruce Kison is 5-9 with a 5.29.

Sparky has only 18 saves - 3 blown and 2 loses with a 4.19 era - Fingers and Horatio Pina have held the fort - Fingers is 6-2 with a 3.00 ERA nd 6 holds, Pina is 4-1 with a 3.45. The rest of teh bullpen is aproaching an average era of 6 [X(]

On offense MIckey Rivers has the best BA at .313, but no HRs and only 33 RBIs. Rennie Stennett is at .301 with 1 HR but only 24 RI. POwer is evenly distrbuted around the rest of the team, but Ks have been a REAL problem. Schmidt and Kingman each ave 14 HRs, and 38 and 40 RBI respectively.

earl Williams has 13 and 2 while Tony Horton has 13 and 41.

Despite mising 2 months, jackson has 10 and 32. He would be runing away with league honos if he had not missed all tht time. Hopefully he can make a BIG differece in the 2nd Half of the Season!

ON the front office side we are doing ery well fiscally with 22 of 87 million unspent.

SittingDuck
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

Post by SittingDuck »

lol - I love when great paper teams bonk out.

I finally made the post-season with a staff of Catfish, Tom Terrific, Cakes, and Lefty (Carlton).  Honestly, I got them all via either seriously high-value trades or, in the case of Seaver, via the ammy draft (Lord knows why he was left...[&:] so late).  Well, we finally went to the WS, but the O's ERA was third from last in the entire MLB!  Way to go, guys!

But they are young, you know?  I think I'll start my own thread on my league. 

Keep us up to date.
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Paul Vebber
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

Post by Paul Vebber »

Yes, pitching in particular is tough to gauge - the top pitchers come out the pool of 15 or 20 top pitchers, but it is rarely THE top guy. Hiting seems to more predictable - the top hitter will typically come from the top 5 or so .

Well I had to manage like 2/3 of the games in the 2nd half (mostly simming through the 5th and then taing the elm if I'm not winning handily)

THe Brewers (well technically still Pilots, but I started them in Milwaukee [;)]) went from 5th to 2nd by seasons end and from 9 games uder.500 at the All-star break to 6 games over (84-78) but still 18 games behind he 102-60 Kansas City Royals. The Royals swept the 95-67 Washington Senators, but ran into a buzz saw called the Big Red Machine getting swept after teh Reds had BIG sacre going up 3-0 in the National league pennant series but giving up 3 straight games to the 89-73 Phillies. THe reds battle back from a 3 run deficit in the 7th to ultimately win 12-8.

On the personnel front - Doc Medich and Don Gullett were the only winning starters on the staff, ending up 16-11 with a 4.33 ERA and 14-10 with a 4.81 respectiely. Blyleven also won 14 but lost 15 with a 4.3 ERA (go figure...). Kison was 10-14 with a 5.14 and Grimeley took up the rear with a pitiful 7-14 record but 4.35 ERA. Fingers and Pina were the bullpen keys Fingers 8-4 with a 4.24 and Pina 6-1 with a staff eading 3.68. Sparky ended up with 42 saves - 5 blown 4 of which became losses. THe staff gave up an incredible 758 runs - only 3 teams were worse - and our defense was not that bad.

One the offensive side our team speed made up for a lack of overall BA with Stenett stealing 55 bases, Cedano 49, Rivers 37 and Belanger 36. The rest of the team had over 50 more. Nobody managed a .300 BA on the season. Rivers had a slump and ended at 293, Horton 284 and Jackson 283. Stennett 278, Cedano 266 and Belanger 263. Kingman and Cash were teh other 2 over 250 with 254 and 252. The biggest disappointment ws Don Baylor who finaly rode the pine most of the 2nd half batting a Buck71...Only defensive sub Dave Concepcion was worse barely in three figures with 108.

Power wise, with alittle luck in a few years we could be a 900 run team. Jackson lead with 38 and 95 RBIs (remember he missed 2 FULL MONTHS...), and had the league leading on base and sluggin %. Mike schmidt and Tony Horton wer close only becasue of that with 35 and 9 and 32 and 95 respectively. DH Kingman and Earl Williams were the next tier down with 29 and 80 and 27 and 79. Cedano showed a bit more power than the other speedsters on the team with 13 and 53. Stennett and Rivers had a couple token home runs each and 52 and 63 RBIs.

And my approval rating was 100% ;)

In the 1970 draft we take Bernie Carbo to upgrade Don Baylor in Left, Ed Figueroa for the pitching staff and Gorman Thomas just because he was one of my favorite Brewers as a kid...[:'(] Mike Cosgrove and Jim Kremmel were my last picks.
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

Post by SittingDuck »

ROFL! Approval rating... 

Man, how aren't you winning all...the...time.

I've been working on a huge write-up of my league.  It is set as a book that picks up the 'present time' of 1966, bringing the reader up to snuff with the goings-on of the Orioles in the early sixties.  I've yet to get up to '66 and my first actual year of writing because I am setting the 'scene' up.  I love to write, so this has been more fun than playing, in a way.
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Paul Vebber
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

Post by Paul Vebber »

What a difference a year makes ;)

We had some so-so development - Pitchers matured a couple points, but the offense didn't do much Jackson degraded in contact to maintain his power, and several players lost a point of power. On baance we grew, but not as much as team of nearly all 8+ potential would have seemed.

It seems not to have made that much difference as we come to All-sar break firmly in hold of first place and leading the association with a 53-28 record. Our pitching staff has made an amazing turn around. Well we did have a casualty Grimsley and his 3.7M contract semed good money aafter bad aas he started 1-5 with a 6+ ERA so we traded him to San Fransico for Vida Blue and saved 3M in salerary. Blue went to AAA to deveop and we promoted Steve Stone up from long reliever. He did not disappoint and has gone 4-0 in 6 starts with a 1.55 ERA. Grimsely has improved a bit in the NL lowering his ERA to 3.66 but is only 2-4.

Bruce Kison has been our ace wins wise, leading the association with a 12-2 mark in 16 outings with a 3.23 ERA, though Bert Blyleven can lay claim to ERA honors with a 2.49, but lagging Kisons record at 10-4. Doc Meditch is not far behind with a 9-4 record and 3.29 ERA. Don Gulett is not bad as laggart with a hard uck 7-7 record and 3.73 ERA.

Sparky took a nose dive stat wise, (losing 3 poins - of stuff and 2 from velocity) but has had a lot more save chances this year and made the most of them with 22 saves in 24 attempts and only 1 loss. 16 complete games by the starters has kept the Spark man from contending for the league lead, but is still good enough for 8th.

Fingers has been solid if uninspiring with a 2.79 ERA but only 3 holds and 12 HRs in 18 appearancs (38.2 innings). Dan McGinn and Horatio Pina have been lights out in the late innings, NcGinn with a 2.95 ERA and only 3 HRs in 13 appearances (21.1 innings) leading to a 3-1 record, Pina with a 2.78 ERA only 2 HRs in 17 appearances (22.2 ininings) and a 2-1 record. Cy Acosta should be giving Rollie a un for his money as set=up man, but insead has struggled mightily with a staff dog of an ERA at 6.38. THe long ball has not ben his problem (2 in 18 innings of work (13 appearances) but alloning 21 hits and 16 Walks.

When we promoted Steve Stone to teh starting rotation we brought up Paul Splittorff as teh ne long reliver/spot starter and he has done OK with a 3.6 ERA in 4 appearances. Long relieve has been like the Maytag man with this staff... Kison, Blyleven and fingers all made the All-star team pitching staff, whie Reggie Jackson was starting CF.

Offensively we have broken 400runs in the first half of the season. We lost Thurman Munson for two months with a broken fibula on a play at the plate. But has been on a tear in the few weeks he's been back and currently batting 345, but with only 58 ABs to spell Williams.
Mickey Rivers at 301 and Tony Horton at 300 are leading the league in average, with Jackson not far behind at 295. With 18 homers and 71 RBIs Jackson has lost lost a step with power, but has come up even more clutch than last year. Dave Kingman has been our disapointment this year batting only 158 with 5 jacks and 13 RBIs in 103 ABs. Team power has sucked and I mean SUCKED with only 74 HRs for the team. Harmon Killibrew has 30 all by himself for Boston. Despite have 8 players with 6+ power and 5 with 8+ power, we only have 2 players with double digit bombs - Jackson with 18 and Williams with 12. Horton and schmidt only have 9 each and Cedano has 7. Carbo has been a bust with only 6 in 208 ABs and only 26 RBI).

Ou finances are not too bad a shape consiering we dn't have many scrubs and have spent 69.5 of our 87M.
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Paul Vebber
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

Post by Paul Vebber »

Well, when I am over 5 games ahead I sim most games, except for "key matchups" and impressive team speed together aggressive running brought us to an even 100 wins on the season and our first AL West title.

The series with the East leading Washington Senators 91wins) got off to a rocky start as Chuck Dobson shuts down the Brew Crew with a 1 hitter through 8 inning, finally tiring and giving up a run on 2 hits in the bottom of the ninth, but wining 3-1 victory over Blyleven who gave up only 1 run on 7 hits, but had to leave after 6 with 115 pitches thrown.

Things went from bad to worse as Don Gullet gets touched up for 5 in the top of the first on 58 pitches and eft in teh 2nd with 1 out and two on after his 73rd pitch [X(] and Tommy John goes the distance for a 5 hit shut-out. John did not hit 73 pitches until the middle of the 7th...the 10-0 fiasco had even die hard Brewer fans streaming for the exits after the 5 run 5th, wishing for a "10 run rule".

It looked like the 3rd game was going the way of the first two as Doc Meith gave up a run and let the bases get loaded with nobody out in the first inning, but a K and DP got him out of the jam cheap. A pitchers duel ensued between Medich and Roger Nelson who went the distance in the losing effort, until the 6th when the Brewcrew scored 3, but Meditch gave the lead back in the bottom of the inning. Medith stayed in and was rewarded by a 3 run 8th. The Spark man came on to close out the 6-4 Brewer win.

Bruce Kison took the mound in game 3 against Tony Cloninger and Washington again gets a run in the first inning. The two pitchers battled until the 4th when Cloninger started to fade giving up 1 in the 4th, 5th, 2 in the 6th and hits the showers. Kison enjoys a 5-1 lead and Pina gets 4 Ks in the last 2 inning to put an exclamation point on the statement game tying the series at 2.

Blyleven takes the mound for game 5 and the Brewers smell the chance to take control of the series and get two home games to win 1. Blyleven makes up for his game one jitters (he s 19 after all...[:'(]) His teammates give him a nice cushion early with a run in the first, 2 more in the 4th and 2 more in the 5th. Blyleven hurls a no-hitter through 5 until a 2 run 3 hit 6th. At 5-2 the Brewers Manager is thinking Pina or the ninth, but wanting their young co-ace to get the complete game they get him 2 more in the top of the ninth and Bly strikes out the side in the bottom of the ninth to get the complete game win 7-2.

The series returns to Miller park (built a few decades early, but I love it a great park!) with a chance to get a World Series bid, and for Don Gullett a chance to redeem himself after the worst performance of his young career (also only 19!). The team helps out their young future star with a 4 spot in the first on a grandslam by Dave Kingman. That seemed to take the wind out of the Senators sails and Gullett goes 8 shutout innings until relieved by McGinn for the ninth with his pitch count over 100, and the Brewers go to their first World Series on the 4-0 win, the Granny by Kingman being the only scoring in the game.

So an interesting team goes to the Series, dominant over the season, I has not been in standard Pure sim fashion. With two co-aces in Blyleveen and Kison both with 18 wins and 7 losses (I managed each of their last 5 outings and managed to get them each only 1 win, 1 loss and 3 no decisions each...[8|] Then we had co #3's in Medich and Gullet each of them with 14 wins and 10 loses (Gullet) and 11 (Medich). Our 5th starter was Stone who came up when Grimsely was traded and struggled for run support going 8-3 in 21 starts. Grimsely ended the season 11-16. In the pen, Sparky had 2 saves on the season with 7 blown saves but only 3 losses. Fingers held the fort ending the season 10-6 with a 3.8 ERA and 57 strikeouts.

Offensively, we were not stars hitting for average, with Tony Horton the closest to 300 with a 293. The anchorman was Mike Schmidt with a 209. Every starting offensive player got at least 100 Abs. Jackson lead the team in power, with 39 HRs and 134 RBI, Williams and Horton was a ways behind with 29 and 84 and 24 and 113 respectively. But Williams did it in only 457 ABS compared to 656 for Horton. Kingman and Carbo had 17 and 51 and 16 and 70 respectively. Despite batting only 209, Mike Schmidt had 14 Hrs and 62 RBI in 552 ABs.

This odd team, with limited Power, and Average (nobody in the top ten of HRs, BA, or slugging %, but team speed was AMAZING with 4 players in the top 20, and the number 1 by a HUGE margin – Cedeno with 81, Paul Blair was next with 56 and Mickey Rivers third with 49 and Rennie Stennett 7 th with 39 and Belanger 16th with 31. As a Tem we lead the association with 263 SB. Next highest was 146. With so many runners in scoring position, even with limited individual BA, as a team we were 5th, but 15th in HRs but first in RBIs with 799.

We go into the World Series against last years Champs the Cincinnati Reds.

Game one is a classic pitchers duel between Bob Gibson and Burt Blyleven and the score stays knotted at 0 until the 6th. Mike Hegan is robbed of a Home run by Jackson as Blyleven very nearly gives up a jack on his 2nd pitch. Worse, Hegan suffers a moderate Quadriceps injury, yet soldiers on (injuries in the post season seem to stil be a problem). Our Gun and Run offense runs into a buzz saw as Rivers is gunned down in the bottom of the first. Both pitchers allow men to reach in the 2nd, but nothing serious. The Reds have some speed themselves, but a hit and run turns into a DP when Hegan strikes out in the 3rd. Blyleven dodges another bullet as Jackson brings in another that “would be a Home Run in most parks” by Denis Menke… Stennett reaches in the bottom fo the third and he trys to steal and is gunned down like Rivers. Bly survives a2 on 1 out jam in he 5th, and in the Bottom it looks like the Brewers will get the lead with 1st and third and 1 out themselves when Stennett flies to center 324 feet out. Frank Robinson doesn’t thin so and throws a rope all the way in on one hop as Schmidt comes to the plate like Bart Starr heading for the goal line. Both players go head over heels over each other and Fergusson hold the glove with the snowcone ball high for the ump to see and he rings up Schmidt who storms to the dugout, incredulous anyone could take that hit and hold onto the ball. Gibson struggles in the 6th as he gives up a leadoff walk to Cedano, who is JUST fast enough to steal 2nd. Rivers then singles and the Brew Crew has 1ist and third with no outs. Horton is allowed to swing away and hits a high fly to left, mid way out. Cedeno tests Paul Blair’s arm but Blair cant get a handle on it and has to go to the cutoff man. 1-0 Milwaukee with only 1 out and Jackson strolls to the plate. But Gibson gets him to ground into a double play to end the inning. Bly gets into a jam in the 8th giving up a single and a walk. Dens Menke flys out weakly to to Jackson in right, and then Lee May comes through with an RBI single to tie the game. But Bly sill has some stuff left and gets Fran Robinson to fly our to Left and George the Boomer Scott to line to Belanger. Gibson still strong after 113 pitches gives up a single to Belanger who then steals 2nd. Stennet grounds out to the SS and the reds walk Cedeno and hopes for an inning ending DP by Rivers, but he strikes out! Tony Horton then takes the 2nd pitch deep in the gap in right center scoring the two runners giving the Brew crew a 3-1 lead. That was it for Gibson as Danny Murphy comes in to intentionally walk Jackson and then get Williams to fly out. Sparky comes in for the ninth and gives up a lead off double to Ferguson. Felix Millen pinch hits for Dick Green but flies out to Right weakly. Spark then Ks Paul Blair bringing Jerry Moses up to Pinch ht for Gail Hopkins and flies out to end a game that seemed like a whole Series in itself, and it was only Game 1.

Game 2 in comparison was an anticlimax as Don Gullett took the mound fresh off a confidence building performance in the ALCS. But he could not match Blys steely nerve, and gets hammered for 6 runs in the rist2 innings on a 2 run jack by Lee May. Gary Peters look like he was going to give up something big when the Brew crew loads the bases with one out. Tony Horton steps to the plate and looks like he might have hit a Grand Salami, but Frank Robinson times his leap perfectly to steal a HR, he not only makes the catch 393 feet away, but comes down and makes a perfect throw to the cutoff man who guns down the pokey Don Baylor to end the inning. Instead of a 4-2 lead the Brewers retake the field still down 2-0. Gullett appears to be shaken and gives up a lead of walk of Jonny Callison, and a double to Joe Ferguson. Callison then scores on Ben Oglivies single and Ferguson scores on liner over Belangers head by Dick Green. 4-0 Reds. Gullet ges Paul Blair to ground out, but then walks Denis Menke. Frank Robinson steps to the plate looking like he could use the struggling 19 year old pitcher as a toothpick, but grounds out to 1st, Menke narrowly avoiding the DP. Lee May then doubles over the head of Cedeno, playing up hoping for a chance to gun down a Reds runner as Robinson had done, but May hits a ROCKET and even Cedenos can get him touch the end of his glove to it as it goes to the wall scoring 2 more. 6-0 reds. The Brew Crew get a few, but 2 more in the 6th send Gullett who settled down nicely for the 3rd – 5th sends him to the shower, and Cy Acostais given a chance. Cy ho struggled through out the season giving up the long ball, not once but BACK TO BACK – a 3 run shot by Robinson and a solo shot by May. Series tied 1-1.

The Series moves to Ohio as Jim Hardin takes the mound against Doc Medich. The Brew Crew looks to get back at the reds for the drubbing in Miler Park with a 3 run top of the first on 4 his and a walk, but the Reds battle right back with 2 of there own on a Lee May round tripper. Doc gets in trouble in the bottom of the third loading the bases on a walk to Jim Hardin (walking the pitcher – the ultimate pitching faux pas) and singles to Paul Blair and Gail Hopkins. Frank Robinson looks like a fire snorting bull at home plate but gets under the 2nd pitch and lifts it to Jackson well shy of the track. Hardin, even slower than Don Baylor, holds as Jackson’s cannon zips it in on a rope. Lee May then sends a 2-2 pitch firmly to center, and Cedeno seses his chance. From 333 ft out Cedeno rears back and like Robinson had done hits the cutoff man and Hardin, trying a wide slide rather than a Schmidt- like flying elbow smash, doesn’t even touch the plate. The Brew Crew goes down in order in the 4th ad Medich gives up a solo shot in the bottom to Menke to tie the game. Milwaukee gets the lead back in the 6th on a monster 44w ft moonshot by Williams, But Menke gets his 2nd Homer in the 6t and after a triple by Felix Millan and two 2 out walks to Blair and Hopkins, Frank Robinson clears ‘em with a double to give the Reds a 7-4 lead that would be unchallenged until the bottom of the ninth when Stennett and Kingman single, but Cedeno flys out to shallow Left. Rivers then flys out deep enough for Rivers to scamper to third. Tony Horton send a foul ball near the foul pole, narrowly missing a game tying homer, but then grounds out weakly to SS to end the game Reds take the lead back in the Series up 2-1.

Game 4 sends Bruce Kison to the mound against Doyle Alexander. Te game goes quickly until Kison gets into uncharacteristic trouble giving up 3 singles to Boomer Scott, Menke and Ferguson. Dick Green then administers the coup d’grace with a 3 run homer Cedeno can only flail his arm futilely. Kison gets out of the inning with another hit, but then gives up another run in the 3rd on a Fergusn double. The Brew Crew gets one back in the 4th when Rivers scores on a Williams sac fly. But Alexander continues to mow down Brewers giving up only 3 hits. Kison settles down until the 7th when he gives up a 1 out walk to Robinson and a triple to George Scott scoring Robinson. Menke then doubles to score Scott and making it look lie the Big Red machine was on its way to defend its Championship. Despite being don 7-1 the Brew Crew made some noise in the 9th when Jackson lead of with a walk, Williams singled and goes to 2nd on the throw to try to get Jackson at third. Schmidt singles to score Jackson and it looked like a miracle might be possible. But Belanger very nearly grounds into a DP. Stennett then struck out and Carbo took one to the track, but not nearly out. Reds have a 3-1 lead and we can’t take much more of this. The Gun 'n Run don't work if you can't load the guns. [8|] We decide to let things go and continue tomorrow.

Its win or go home time…game 5 will match Blyleven and Gibson again. EPIC!
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

Post by SittingDuck »

Well?
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Paul Vebber
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

Post by Paul Vebber »

OK the Brew Crew has its back against the wall, and Bly has to duel Gibson to keep us alive. It starts out well enough with a single by Cedeno and walk to Rivers, both of whom advance on a sac fly by Horton. Jackson gets a key RISP hit, scoring the runners from 2nd and third giing the Brew Crew a 2-0 lead. By the wheels come off early when Schmidt makes an error to let Blair on, and then Johnny Callison singles and Frank Robinson waks to load the bases. Up to the plate comes Lee May who battles through 11 pitches before sending one into low orbit 422 feet away – 4-2 Reds and the Cinninati crowd starts to smell blood in the water. Character check for Bly who gives up a single to George Scott before he finally gets an fly out from Menke. Jerry Moses strikes out and Dick Green pops to first, but is a 44 pitch 1t inning and Milwaukee hopes hang on a thread. Gibson returns to the mound and allows a single to Belanger. Stennett comes to the plate and Belanger steals 2nd on a Ball. He then sees an opening and steals third. No Guts no Glory says the Brewer skipper, dancing with the Gun and Run what brought him. Stennett responds with a single the brings the Brewers within one. Stennett then steals both 2nd and then 3rd, rattling Gibson, but Bly is unable to get a fly ball to score him and grounds out. Cedeno pops out on an infield fly, and finally Mickey Rivers Ks to end the Brewers hopes of tying the game. Bly seems energized the base stealing exhibition and Ks Gibson on three pitches, and then does the same to Blair. Callison singles, and Frank Robinson gives one a ride, but Rivers takes it on he warning track in Left. The Brewers go down in order in the third, and Bly gets in serious trouble again in the bottom of the inning giving up a single to May and Double to Scott. Bly sacks up and Ks Menke and gets Moses to pop to the SS, but the walks Dick Green to load the bases. But luckily that brings Gibson to the plate and Gibson stays alive for 7 pitches this time but goes down swinging to get Bly out of the jam. Schmidt gets a lead off single in the 4th but that is all the Brew crew can muster, with Gibson returning the K favor on Bly to end the inning. Bly with 98 pitches out of his cannon arm takes the mound for the 4th and Milwaukee fans shake their heads as Blair snaps a lead off single. But he gets 3 quick outs on 5 pitches to get out of the inning.

The 5th starts with a single by Cedeno, who steals 2nd and then scores on a triple by Mickey Rivers. Rivers then scores on a ground out by Horton. Jackson then crushes one 434ft to give the Brew Crew a 5-4 lead, and the Cincy fans start to grumble. The Brew Crew skipper sends Bly out for the 5th and is not disappointed as Blygets two Ks and long fly ball to get out of the ining on 10 pitches. The 6th sees Belanger fly out and Stennett reach on a single and then swipes 2nd, but Carbo pinch hitting for Bly struck out and Cedeno popped out. Fingers comes on in the 6th and gets through the inning and the 7th without much trouble. Milwaukee comes to bat in the 8th Schmidt takes the first pitch deep to increase the lead to 6-4. Fingers then reaches on an error by center fielder Blair making it to 2nd on the botched high fly. Cedeno singles sending him to third and Mickey rivers scores him on a single of his own. Horton then adds to the single train scoring Cedeno doubling up te Reds 8-4. Jackson would send one to the wall in right, but not quite deep enough to end the inning and Gibson’s outing. Fingers has been cruising, dealing two innings in just 16 pitches, and returns for the 8th dispatching the Reds in just 12 more pitches. The Brew Crew adds a 9th ninth the 9th and get a much needed rest and return home to try to stay alive one more time.

Don Gullett is greeted with some mixed emotions as he takes the mound in game 6 against Gary Peters. He is immediately tested when Mike Schmidt makes a 1 out error allowing Menke to reach. He then makes a SECOND error allowing Lee May to reach as well. Frank Robinson the draws a walk – probably the best result given his past heroics, and George Scott BOOMS one deep to Center 328ft away. It looks deep enough for the somewhat pokey Menke to score but Cedeno grabs the ball and rifles it in and the relay just gets Menke at the plate to end the inning. The 2nd is uneventful as is the top of the 3rd, but Cedeno singles to lead of the bottom 3rd and steals 2nd. Baylor grounds out but sends him to third and Mike Schmidt makes up for his two errors with an RBI single to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead. Jackson then sends one 334 feet but a few feet short of the wall and ends the inning.

He fourth goes in order and then Gullett’s Adventures continue as he gives up lead off single to Mike Hegan, and a Double to Blair and then a singe to Menke scoring Hegan to tie the game. Lee may then sends ne 280 feet to shallow center but Blairs blazing speed aims to test Cedeno yet again. Its no contest as Cedeno cuts him down throwning a bullet right to glove of Munson who fends off Blair like a Matador. Gullett rides his roller coaster of emotion and channels it to K Frank Robinson to end the inning. The Brew Crew senses Gullett may be done, but grits theie teeth and pours it on. Belanger has a 358 ft HR stolen by a spectacular catch by Robinson, but Menke makes an error allowing Dave Cash to reach. He steals 2nd, but Cincy walks Cedano hoping for an inning ending P, but the on again off again Don Baylor singles to load the bases. Mike Schmidt has the chance to REALLY redeem himself, but strikes out on 3 pitches. Jackson then comes to the plate and draws a walk that brings in Cash. Te flood gates then open as Horton Doubles scoring Cedeno and Baylor, but Jackson holds at 3rd. That is all for Peters and Jack Aker takes over, and wants nothing of Dave Kingman with an intentional walk to load the bases but get the force in play. Munson then Draws a walk scoring Jackson and then walks Belanger scoring Horton. Incredibly Dave Cash then walks and Kingman and Aker is sent to the showers after facing four batters and walking them all. Cedeno strikes out, but the carnage adds up to 6 Milwaukee runs and a sudden 7-1 lead. The rest of the game sees no more than one base runner reach in any inning and young Vida Blue takes over for Gullett in the 8th and seals the deal, incredibly tying the series at 3-3.

Game 7 pits Doc Medich against Jim Hardin and the Doc allows a house call as Callison follows a Blair K with a 404 ft jack. Lee May lines out to Schmidt, but Robinson singles. George Scott tries to get the Cardinals off to a big start but his bid hangs into the wind and falls well short ending the inning. Doc strikes out 2 around a fly out and looks to be settling into a good rhythm. He gets some further encouragement from Reggie and Earl Williams who go deep back to back to give him a 2-1 lead. Medich runs into trouble in the third as the Reds try to return the favor, Mike Hegan draws a walk and after Blair pops out, Callison singles, bring May up with two on and 1 out. May grounds out leaving cashing in to Robinson. Robinson smacks a hard liner that looks like extra bases, but Cedeno makes a spectacular diving catch robbing Robinson and ending the inning. The bottom of the 4th sees starts with Jackson grounding out and Earl William walking. Schmidt singles but Carbo strikes out, then Belanger singles to load the bases for Stennett. Stennett makes a bid for the Granny, but comes up a few feet short. Things advance quickly to the bottom of the sixth when Williams gives Medich an insurance run and the Reds start looking panicky – can this Brew Crew many of whom can’t even drink a beer come back from being down 3-1 to beat last years champs???

The Reds make some noise in the 7th as Felix Millan tries to bunt for a hit, but he is called out on controversial call that brings reds Skip Sparky Anderson out to argue the call, getting ejected in the process. It would prove to be critical call as Joe Ferguson would then walk. Dick Green would then fly out and Mike Hegan would single, deep enough that it would have scored Millan. Blair then grounded out, but if they end up losing by 1, Reds fans will be gathering with torches wanting that Ump, Ken Burkhart. In the botton of the Inning Mark Belanger singled to left bringing Rennie Stennett to the plate. Belanger made a couple moves and the Reds pitched out. The throw was high and it looked like he was safe. Second base Umpire and first African American Umpire Emmett Ashford appeared to be blocked from getting a good view but called Stennett out. Burkett reaffirmed the out as the Milwaukee skipper now charged out of the dugout to argue a call. He kicked dirt and picked up second base and threw it into the outfield before walking to join Anderson in the clubhouse. That too proved to be a big call as Stennett tripled on the next pitch, which would have scored Belanger (and was nearly an inside the park hoe run. Well at lest the controversy was now even, and Horaio Pina came in the 8th and gave up a wo out singe, but no damage. Some say they saw Anderson lurking inside the tunnel to the clubhouse sending signals to the dugout. Others said it was the Milwaukee skipper. The bottom of the 8th saw reds reliever Clay Carroll get into trouble after Horton and Jackson both get on, but Williams grounded into a double play and Schmidt struck out to end the inning. Sparky Lyle came out with the 3-1 lead for the 9th and gave up a lead off single to Felix Millan giving the Rds on last gasp of hope with the tying run at the plate Ferguson. He battled lyle a bit but struck out on7 pitches. Jerry Moses had his chance next but Lyle caught him looking for out two. This brought Reds hero Mike Hegan to the plate and he took the 2nd pitch and crushed it, it rose steeply though, but caught some wind, back, back, back went Rivers to the wall and…made a shor buny hop to grab it just infront of the wall at 383ft. Hegas bid to tie the game was about a alf a foot shy of sending the game to extra innings. The Reds looked on in disbelief as Rivers sprinted in to mob Lyle and his teammates.

The Brew Crew had done the impossible and dethroned the Big Red machine!


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Paul Vebber
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

Post by Paul Vebber »

We proceed to the off season and the draft – we let 2 players go so we only take 2 players in the draft. We take 19 year old lefty reliever Tippy Martinez with one pick. Also 19 year old righty Don Demola. Our pen is VERY rich, both in the Majors and Down on the farm.

AS we finish spring training we see how our young guns have faired. Well the PSPN only ranks us 10th in the Power rankings and we are third from the bottom in salary at 71.7M. The Padres are the big spenders with 88.9.

We have tremendous value for our money.

Well, development in the off season has been interesting, Our near goat Cy Acosta gained a point of control and velocity bringing him to 9-8-8. Belanger gained a point of eye, but lost one of arm, Vida Blue jumped 2 points in all three pitching stats to a 9-6-8. Bly gained a point of control to make him our seeming ace at 10-9-10. Bernie Carbo lost 2 points of power, but is still a 9-7-10. Dave Cash gained 1 in contact but lost 1 power to go to 9-1-6. Dave Conception may get traded losing a point of both eye and power to drop to 7-1-5. at least he will probably get sent down. Danny Frisella also developed quickly in the minors matching Blue’s improvement, now 9-8-7 himself. Gullett added a point of stuff and control .

Tony Horton dropped 1 in power and Jackson did as well, but gained in both contact and eye. Horton is now 8-7-6 and Jackson 9-9-9. Kingman may do more work at 1st gaining a point of contact and hands no a 6-8-6. Kison added both stuff and control to rise to 9-7-8. Thurman Munson added a point across the board to rise to a 8-6-7. Jerry Reuss made 2 point strides in velocity and control to rise to 8-7-8, and Rennie stennet added 2 points of contact and a point each of eye and power to rise to 10-3-3.

We sim through April to see where we stand, and its not that good, but not that bad – in tied for 2nd with a 15-12 record behind 18-9 KC in a dead heat with the White Sox. Bly is 4-1 with a 2.65 ERA, Kison 4-2 with a 3.70 , Gullet 3-0 with astellar 1.31, Medich and Blue are 2-3 with a 3.66 and 2.29. McGinn has a loss out of the pen and Sparky has 2, his two blown saves in 7 opportuniteis.

On offense Carbo and Cedeno are our hot bats both wth 3 HRS and 15 RBIs, and batting 365 and 321 respectively. Horton also has 3 jacks and 15 RBI but is bating only 175. Jackson is struggling to find his power bating 267 but only 2 HRs and 15 RBIs (a popular number…)Williams has 5 dingers and 12 RBIs battin 290. Rennie is batting 343, but no laong balls and only 8 RBIs.

I will have to start managing more to get us safely in first and a decent lead by the end of May.
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

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After a so-so April we take control of managing in May and have the best month I've ever had going 25-3 including stating teh month with a 15 game win streak that included an incredible 4 walk off come-back wins - 2 in extra innings!

Even so we were ended May only 6 games ahead of the White Sox. Being more than 5 game ahead I ent to simming weeks in June and we went 'only' 16-10 extending our lead to 10 games. Two losses in July before the All-Star Break and two Pale Hose wins and we are 8 games ahead. With all that we have NO OFFENSIVE PLAYERS on the All-Star team - But Bly, Kison and Gullett al made the pitching staff.

We are 3rd in Runs scored with 358 and first in runs against with only 248.

The Offense has reamined surprisingly even, though we have Cedeno on the 60-day DL and have Garry Mathews in Center - A power upgrade but defensive hit. The increases in Contact and Eye have seen BA go up this year with 4 over 3 bills right now - Carbo leading at 319, Baylor at 314, Maddox 308 and Williams at 303. BA then drops to Belanger at 277 and Rivers at 276 and stennett at 275 Everyone else is below 250. Power wise Jackson has been a severe disappointment AGAIN with only 15 and 52 so far. Horton is right there with 13 and 51, Williams with 11 and 33 and Schmidt with 10 and 32. Williams has his on only 185 ABs Baylor is close at 9 and 29. Our strategy of getig all the offensive layers in the mix with lots of defensive subs and pinch hitting and running, our Gun and Run philosophy working wel, especially when Horton is our most expensive player at 3.3M and only 5 other players are over 2M. The other great thing right now is we arein GREAT financial situation with our highest paid offensive player Horton at 3.3M. I sign everybody for 5 years and still have 3 left on the major leagues except Carbo who we have for 4.

On the mound Bly has matured as our unisputed ace with a 10-2 recod and 2.64 ERA, as one would expect from a 10-9-10 (EN 9) guy. Kison and Gullett are co-2s at 9-3 and 9-2 with 2.60 and 2.78 ERAs. Blue and Medich has been nip and tuck rounding out the bottom of the rotation with an 8-6 and 9-5 record but 2.34 and 3.42 EAs - Blue being the victim of some tough luck with poor run support. Medich is only 1 off the league lead in CGs with 7 (behind Stottlemeyer's 8). After shopping Acosta with a tepid esponse, we kept him on his strong spring trining performace and have not been disapointed - his ERA is down to 3.52 and ony 1 HR in 15 IP, with half his 6 ERs coming in a single bad 1/3 inning against East leading Detroit 9including the HR - a two runner, followed by a walk and a double before i took him out).

Sparky got off to a rough start with only 7 saves in 10 attempts in April with 2 of the blown saves being walk off loses. He righted the ship in the may run, including an amazing 7 saves in 10 days - 5 on 5 striaght nights none of which made him throw over 10 pitches. He had 11 saves in May and 13 Ks. FIngers has been up and down - with all the CGs there has been little set-up call, most of his 36 innings have come in the amazing number of extra inings games we have had (11) 2 of which he lost, giving him his 3-3 record despite a 3.00 ERA. Dan McGinn, our lefty in the pen, with 20 IP has been our other siginificant ull pen presence but has a 5-2 record despite lagged with a 4.05 ERA.

SO with an 8 gme lead we go back to simming weeks, and hope Cedeno comes back early from his torn Quad...



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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

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Funny how a super team can be sooo hot, then come crashing to earth.  Just when I think I have assembled a team that can't be beaten (because it looks so stellar on paper), then comes the 2-8 bursts of reality.  And before you know it, you are slugging it out in late September for the pennant, sweating out some of your opponent's charges in some managed games.

Great stuff. 
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

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Well, with the Boston Massacre II over we assuage our bruised and bloodied ride by kicking ass in some PURESIM!! We end the season 107-55 and have the undisputed Pitcher of the Year with league leading marks of 22-4 and 2.33 ERA. TO be expected of 10-9-10 Blyleven right...? Except it was Don Gullett (10-7-9)! Demonstrating that game stats get you in the runing for "league leader" but not necesarily mean "better game stats do not = better performance stats. Here are the top 10 wins leaders and game stats:

name - W-L - S-V-C - ERA
Don Gullett - 22-4 - 10-7-9 - 2.33
Bill Singer - 21-10 - 10-8-9 - 2.37
Joe Coleman - 19-9 - 10-8-9 - 3.45
Clay Kirby - 19-10 - 10-9-8 - 2.87
Phil Niekro - 19-9 - 10-8-9 - 2.87
Fritz Peterson - 18-8 - 9-7-10 - 2.63
Burt Blyleven - 18-7 - 10-9-10 - 2.52
Bruce Kison - 18-6 - 9-7-8 - 3.18
Jerry Koosman - 18-10 - 10-8-9 - 2.66
Vida Blue 17-12 - 9-6-8 - 3.44

Doc Meditch was 14th overall with a 17-11 with a 3.7.

Blyleven was tied with Singer with 5 shutouts and 1 behind association leader Tom Seaver in Complete games at 14. Gullett lead the association in run support with 146, Bly was 2nd with 145 and kison 5th with 132

Sparky lead the majors wih 56 Saves but also 8 blown saves - most in the top 10 Closers.

Offensively, we had nobody in the top 20 of BA - in fact our best ended up being Beanger with a 265 - 50th! Jackson was 18th in HR with 30 - Hammering Hank and Willie Stargell lead with 52 each. All that Base stealling ad Jacson 7th in RBI with 104. Aaron lead this category too with 126. Tony Horton was 14th ith 96. Reggie was also 7th in Runs scored. THough we did not dominate base stealing as we had last season (mostly due to Cedeno missing 2 months) Paul Blair of Cincy lead with 61 (CS 9), mickey Rivers was 4th with 42 (CS 4) and Cedeno 5th with 41 (CS 2 missing two months [X(]). Stennett was 9th with 36 (CS 7). Reggie was our best in sluggin% in 31st w/ 463 and 26th in OPS (820).


So we go to the ALCS against 88-7 Baltimore. game 1 is a classic pitchers duel between Bly and Fergie Jenkins. Bly blinks first giving up a HR to Tommy Harper in the 2nd, but in the bottom of the inning Fergie gets in trouble walking Dave Cash and tne giing up a base hit to Belanger. The spedy Csh gets to Third running on a 3-2 pitch. Rennie Stennett comes up and smacks one as Jenkins is distracted by Belanger - loking to pitch out to hold him at 1st. Cash scores on Stennett's single. Cedeno battled in a 10 pitch AB but grounds out. Bly gets in a 2 on 1 out jam in the 4th, but gets teh DP to get out of the inning. The 5th saw some small ball go awry f teh Brew Crew as Belanger tries to bunt to get on in the face of Jenkins retiring 12 straight Brewers. He was called out oon a controversial call teh brough the Breers manager out of the Dugout. After Stennet gets on, and caled out on a very close play at second, The Brewer manager comes out of the dug out, produces a large hni and cleans his glasses, then reurns to the dugout with a waarning from the head umpire. Rivers leaves no doubt about getting into scoring position in the bottom 6th with a double that he might have stretched into triple if not given teh stop sign - the Brewers not wanting to risk a third close play, particularly with te history between the Brewers skipper and umpire Ken Burkhart. After advacing to third on Tony Hortons ground out, Reggie Jackson hit one almost exactly the same to the first base side of of the 2nd baseman allowing Rivers to score what would be the game winner. Sparky came on in the 9th to get teh save and Jenkins suffers teh 8 inning complete game loss.

game 2 pits Kison against Joe Coleman. Kison Gies up the long ball in the firt to Rico Carty, after Mickey Rivers robbed Rod Carew of one with a great leap at the wall. The micues seemed to steel Kison. The Brew Crew get started in the 2nd with a lead off double by Mr. October, advancing to third on a single by Earl Williams. With first and third and Dave Cash at the plate, the Hit and Run is on and Cash slaps a sngle over the SS to score Jackson. They try it again with Belanger and e fails, leading to teh strike emout, throw em out DP. Kison strolls trough to the 5th when a lead off walk and single with the O's trying the hit and run gets first and third with nobody out. They try the hit and run again and they are bitten by the strike em out - throw'em out, very nearly suffering a triple play as Duane Josephson very nearly gets caught between hoe and third when he slips. Rod carew flies out to end the inning. In the bottom 5th Cash Ks and Belanger tres teh bunt again and this time makes it. The Brewers skipper claps toward the umpire from the dugout steps. Burkhart glares back and the Brewers Skipper retreats back. TRying teh hit and run again aginst this gold glove Oriole infield, Belanger gets to 2nd n what wold have been a DP grounder to the 3rd baseman. Cedeno then singles and Belanger scoes to make it 2-1 Brew Crew. Kison retires the Os yet a again and in the botom of the inning the wheels start to come off for the O's with a pair of singles to Horton and Jackson, and the a walk to Williams loads the bses with no outs. Bernie Carbo gets 2 in with a double. Bud Harrelson saves a run on a great defensive play at third peventing Carbo from scoring and Cash getting extra bases! Instead its a gorund out that scores te 3rd un of the inning. After Belanger battles through an 11 pitch AB only to ground out, unable to advance Carbo, Stennett flies out to end the inning ith a 5-1 Brewers lead. Kison gets 3 up 3 down yet again. In the bottom 7th after cedeno pops out, Rivers walks and steals second. Gary Maddox singles scoring rivers and Earl Weaver takes the ball from Coleman, Dan Osinski taking over. He Ks carbo, but Dave Cash smacks a double to score Jackson. Belanger walks to load the bases, but Stennett Ks to limit the damage to an 8-1 lead. Kison goes the distance for a 1 run 4 hit complete game.

Game 3 pits Gullet against Tom Hall, who give up 2 in the top of the first on a lead off single, a ground out moving Cedeno to 2nd and scoring him on a double by Stennett. Jackson grounds out sending Stennett to third. Tony Horton then makes Willie Horton look terrible on a short hop that goes right over his glove scoring Stennett. Kingman ground out to end the inning. Neither side can get anything going as both sdes try to run aggressively and the defensive responds with great plays. with 2 gone in the top of the fifth Don Baylor doubles and Stennett singles him in giving the Brewers a 3-0 lead seeming on their way to a commanding 3-0 lead. But the O's were not done, they come up in the bottom of 5th fifth Gullett makes an error on an easy tip back to the mound but can' find the handle. Willie Horton goes to 2nd on Rico carty's single, and Bob Christian singles but Horton is thrown out at the plate by a great throw by Baylor. With 2nd and third and one out Len Boehmer pops out and it loks like Gullett may get out of the inning. Rod Crew battles for 10 pitches and singles to score Carty and Christian to make it 3-2. The Os take teh lead in the 6th when Bob Oliver homers to start the inning and Fingers comes in to relive Gullett who has gne over 100 pitches. Fingers gies up a single to Harrelson and after 2 outs Carty singels and with 2 on 2 out, Bob Christian singels to score Harrelson. The Brewers come back with 2 singels in the top of the 7th and Munson scores on rare error by Rod Crew. BUt after cedeno grounds out, the Brewers try the hit and run again and Baylor Ks and Cedeno is thrown out. But the game is tied. Milwaukee takes teh lead again as Mr October belts one out of yard - 5-4 Brew Crew. The Brewer lead looks like it is going to be extended after Belanger's single in the top of the ninth is followed by a double by Cash and the Brewers have second and third with 1 out. But Rivers ks and Baylor crans the first pitch he sees and it goes back, back to the track and Bob Oliver makes a great play to save extra bses off the wall to end the inning and keep two runs from scoring. The OS repeat teh stuation on Sparky in the bottom 9th with Carty Doubling and Christian singling. BOehmer ten grounds into a DP, but the tying run scores from third. Carew gives it a ride to try to win it, but at 354' it cmes up short. Rennie stennett doubles for the Brewers to lead off teh 10th, but Jackson' s long fly is only enough to get him to third. Horton pop out, and Carbo grounds out to end the inning. Sparky, only 10 pitches in, likelwise gives up the lead off doube to Duane Josephson. Jim Campanis tries to sac bunt, but fails and Josephson is out at third. GRiffen strikes out and Harper does as well. Musters a two out ingle in the top of the 11th, but Maddox grounds out. stennett makes a crucial error to start the bottm 11th allowing Willie Horton to reach. Cy Acosta comes in for Lyle and Horton steals 2nd on him. He advances to third on Carty's ground out but Christian blasts it over the dran in outfied for a double the scores the winning run. The Os are not down yet! down 2-1.

But the rest will ahve to wait for tomorrow night!
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

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Game 4 of the ALCS sees Doc Medich against Jim Barr. Milwaukee works a leadoff walk to Cedeno around to score, but Loads the bases after a lead off K and walks in one run and gives up 2 more on a Tommy Harper single. A Dave Cash Single is converted on a triple by Stenett draw teh Brew Crew within 1. It stays that way until the Brew Crew threatens in the top 5th with a Belanger single, but he is thrown out stealing. It aggressive baserunning cost the Brew crew a run as Stennet follows his triple with a doule that woud have scored Belanger. Neither Cedeno nor Rivers can the hit with RISP... As usually happens when you give up an opportunity as Rod Carew walks and Willie Horton singles. Rico Carty takes Medich deep, but wel short of the fence. Bob Christian makes no doubt his slam with a 431' 3 run HR giving the Os the 6-2 lead. The BRew Crew is unfazed and come back in the top of teh 6th with a Tony Horton jack scoring Reggie Jackson who had singled. Suddenly its a 6-4 os lead. Bernie Carbo doubles an gets to third on a Dave Cash fly out, but is stranded 90ft away by Belanger. The Milwauee skipper leaves Medich in, but very nearly pays dearly as he walks Bob Oliver after Bob Harrelson flies out. Rod Crew singles and there are first and thid with 1 out. Wilie Horton hits one deep to Jackson, and Oliver tries to tag at third, Jackson throws a one ho strike from 338' out to gun down Olier and end the inning. Stennett tries to bunt for a hit but is thron out on a close play. Cedeno doubles and Rivers hits a liner that skips under Willie Hortons glove and alows cedeno to score easily. Rivers ends at 2nd and is stranded there. 6-5 O's. In the bottom fo eh 7th Medich comes out one more time, and after getting two outs gives up a walk and single and Cy acosta comes in and Ks Duane Josephson. No its Barr's turn to get into trouble Wlaking Earl Williams and Garry Maddox pinch runs for him. Maddox steals second and Bernie Carob doubles to score tht tying run! That is all the Brew Crew can muster and Os get something going in the botom of the inning off acosta with a pair of singles sandwiching a Hit and run attempt by Carew that at least avoids the DP. Carty lines out to Stennett at 3rd to end the threat. The 9th goes against Cy Acosta and it looked like the Os might salvage a woalk off win after a 1 out Double by Jim Campanis and a walk to Duane Kuiper after Harper pops out. Bud harrelson than has a 15 pitch marathon AB but grouds wekly back to Acosta. The bottom of teh 10th starts with a Carbo k, but then Dave Csh triples to gie teh Brew Crew a decent chance at a lead. Dave Conception gets a pinch hit appearance and gounds to ifirst alloing the go ahead run to score. that is all the Brewers can do, but Sparky has been warming and comes in to try to shut things down and go up 3-1. He gives up a single but gets a k and two ground outs to end eh game and Milwaukee dodges a bullet in exta innings. The o's seem deflated, but have one more home game...

game 5 Reprises Blyleven v Jenkins and Bly is staked to a quick 3 run lead as Cedeno and Rivers double back to back and after Hoton gounds out Mr. October crans one to right 3-0 Brewers. That lead holds up until the bottom of the 4th as Byleven struggles, but desn't give up a run, getting out of a 2 on no outs jam in the 2nd and agian in the 3rd, giving up back to back singles both times but getting a pair of Ks and weak outs after. Jenkind is having no cake walk either giving up a walk to Cash and single to Belanger before Stennett Ks to get out of the inning. Bly is not so lucky in the bottom 4th as gives up a 1 out double to Harper and single by Josephson. A Harrelson fly allows the run to score as Jackson has to make a running catch. 3-1 Brewers. After a 1-2-3 top of teh fifth Bly gets in trouble yet agan with the 4th lead off hit in 5 innings. We look to pitch out, but Carew los to hit and run, avoiding a DP as Horton grounds out. And error by Belanger alows Carty to reach and Chrisian sngles to score Horton. after Boehmer Ks, Harper singles to load the bases. Bly then walks in the tying run before striking out Harrelson. But the damamge is down. Jenkins can't find teh strike zone in the 6th as he walks two after a lead off double by Jackson and pop out by Williams, but gets Belanger to ground into a DP with the Bases crammed to get out of a bases loaded 1 out jam. Bly has a 1-2-3 6th but Jenkins gets in trouble yet again and is hooked after a walk and single with 1 out. Ron Willis comes on to get out of teh inning. Bly gets another 1-2-3- inning but a 14 pitch marathon by Boehmer sends him well over 110 pitches. Willis gives up a double to Cash in the 8th but strands him. Bly says he feels strong and comes back for the 8th and gets out of it on 9 pitches. Stennett works a 1 out alk in the top of the ninth and steals second bu makes a base running mistake tagging on cedeo's fly ball, ending the inning with an out at third. "Why'd you send me" he asks with his hands, and the third base coach looks accusingly at the Milwaukee skipper, who claps his hands and calls for Sparky. Make 'em play when they are getting tired he yells, and indeed Stenne was not out by much. Sparky looks a bit tired and after a K to Doug Griffen, he givs up back to back singles. With 1st and 3rd 1 out Lyle gets Carty to pop to Bleanger, but Bob Christian gets wood on one, singling in carewand a woalk off vicory for Weaver and hs crew. The series goes back to Milwaukee with renewed hope for the Os.

Game 6 pits Kison against Joe Coleman and once again the Brew Crew gets a run in the first on a walk, a single sending Cedeno to third and a Hoton sac fly. The O's get it right back in the 2nd without a hit as Jackson makes a rare muff on a fly ball he misjudges that carries over his head, allowing christian to end up at 2nd. Two sac flies then score him. Milwaukee threatens again in the 3rd as Cedeno draws a lead off walk and steals 2nd. He scores on a triple by Rivers, who then scores on a Horton sac fly, 3-1 Milwaukee! Kison turns around and give it right back when Bob Christian takes him deep with 1 on after Carty has one caught 384 feet out in center. Kison starting to get clobbered! He then gets out of a 1st an third 1 out jam to calm the agitated Brewers Skip, battling a fresh game tied 3-3. Coleman wastes no time giving the lead back, and lucky o be down only one after giving up a singel to Carbo, striking out Cash and the walking Belanger. Stennett and cedeno single back to back to score carbo and give the Brewers back the lead! 4-3. After a harmless 5th, the O's get going in the 6th with 2 outs on a walk to Christian and Boehmer and then a single to harper loads the bases. A nother singel by Josephson scores Christian and ties the game. But Coleman can't hold a lead to save his life (which would be in jeopardy if this were Baltimore. Belanger walked and stole 2nd, Stennett singles moving Belanger to third and then Cedeno wlks to load the bases with nobody out. Rivers pops to the Catcher. and then Cloeman walks in the go ahead run. He then Ks Jackson in very un-Mr. October-like fashion, and gets Wiliams to fly out to Center. The Os get two on with 2 outs in the 7th, but Christian poops it up to end the ining. Casey Cox comes in for Coleman in the 7th and gets a 1-2-3 inning. Fingers come in to pitch the 8th and gets into 2 out 2 on jam but gets out f it uneentfuly. Cox then wlks Sennet to open the botom 8th, who steals 2nd. Rivers singles afer Cedeno Ks. Tony Horton then doubles to score Stennett. Jacksn is given the free pass and then Williams singels to score Rivers.7-4 Milwauee. but they are not down yet! Ron Hebel come in for Cox and Carbo grounds out, allowing Horton to score. Dave Cah then singles bringin in Jackson making it suddenly a 9-4 Brewer lead, and the smiles are aparent in the Milwaukee dug out as teh fans feel back to back Fall Classic appearances are imminent! Fingers dispatches the Os in order to send teh Brewers to their 2nd straight WS to face the Houston Astros.

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Paul Vebber
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

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Well, found out that if you get ahead of yourself and go to the next season, you lose teh game logs for the post season? I can get to te box scores but the option to "view gamelog" that was tere during te season appears to be gone....

Well, coverage of the WS wil be abreviated...unfortunate becasue this was one of the most exciting and frustrating series I've had (I will lave it to the end whether the ultimae outcoe was excitment or frustration...[:'(]

game 1 saw Blue Moon Odom go against Blyleven, Bly gave up a run in the first and it looked like that might be the difference in the game. Blue Moon finally gave up the tying run in the 8th. Bly pitched shut out ball for ELEVEN innings before geting into trouble in the second extra frame giving the Stros a 3-1 lead. But the Brew Crew gets to Mike Paul for 2 of its own. It stays 3-3 until the 15th when Jim Ray gets in trouble and Bob Priddy llows the winning run to score. 4-3 Brewers in 15.

Game 2 saw Jim Bunnubg take the hill against Bruce Kison. Once agin the first inning is busy as Stennett makes an error to let a runer on and Orlando Cepeda cranks a 2 run shot to give the astros a 2-0 lead. Cedeno gets on and steals 2nd and scores on a pair of sac fly by Rivers and Horton. That hit by Cedeno will be the only one on the day for the Brew crew and Kisn will go he distance in a losing effort. Mike Paul saves the game for Bunning in the ninth to tie the series.

Game three pits Gullett against Pat Dobson. The Brewers get 2 in the first and 1 in the 2nd to give Gullett a 3-0 lead - Gulet getting an RBI on a sac fly himself. Gullett gies up a HR to Ed Herman and Mike un in the fourth and 6th and Houston has several other scoring opportunities. Skip Lockwood comes in in te 8th and gives up 2 to give Milwaukee a 5-2 lead Lyle closes it out to give the Brew Crew the 2-1 lead.

Doc Medich takes the mound in game 4 battling Bob Forsch. Forsch gives up a run in the first, 2 in the 3rd and a 4th in the th, but Medich falters in the 6th giving 2 back McGinn comes on in relief and Fingers in the 8th after the Brew Crew extend the lead to 5-2. earl William is the man with 3 HRs and 4 RBI. Fingers dets into a jam and gives up 2 cutting the lead to 5-4. Lyle comes in for the bottom o the 9th and gives up the long ball to Johny Briggs to tie the game. Mr. October works his majic in the 10 singling in the winning run in the 10th. Lyle stays on to get the win 6-5. Milwaukee up 3-1.

Game 5 Reprised Bly vs Odom and Bly got the advantage early on Munson's two run jack and Stennett's driving in Jackson. 3-0 Milwauke and teh Houston fans stat to get restless. But Bly gets into trouble in the 4th when Jimmy Winn doubles with 2 on to cut the lead to 3-2. Odom looks like he will give them righ back in the top 5th, but Skip Lockwood comes in to get out of it. Bly then gets into trouble and gives up a 3 run dinger to Mike Lum and the Houston fans hold their breath. Bly stays in keping velocity on his fast ball in teh mid 90s, and stauches teh beeding there, but the Brewer bats are stymied by Lockwood, then Priddy and finally Paul coming up short in a 5-3 loss that sends the series back to Milwaukee.

Game 6 repeats teh Kison - Bunning mach up and Houston jumps on Kison and keeps after him right from the get go. Johnny Brigs gets a three run fence topper in te top of teh first, but Regie matces him. Kison then is mickled and imed to death in the 2nd givng up 4 more 7-3 Astros before he knows it. Milwaukee gets one back in the 3rd, but Kison gives it back in the 4th. The Brewers chip away with 1 in the 5th to make it 8-5, but Kison gives up a second 3 run jack in the 6th. His velocity stays up and at this point at 11-5 he comes back out for teh 7th. He gets in trouble again and Stone comes in to replace him. 1 of the inherited runners scores KIson loks at 12 earned runs charged to him on he day. Milwauke contiues chiping with a run in its third consequetie inning but still is down 12-7. stone falters int e top of the nith giving up the third 3 run jack of the day and the Brewers are embarassed in front of the home crowd 15-7 forcing ti all down to one game.

Game 7 Pitcher of the year Don Gullett against 14-6 2.97 ERA Pat Dobson. The first 3 and half are a steler pitching display, but Dobson blinks first giving up a three run round tripper to Earl Williams. Sandy Alomar gets one back on a double in the 5th after a walk, but gulett is in top form giving up only 4 hits in 7 innings, Fingers and Lyle come in for teh 8th and ninth and an inurance run in the 8th by Rivers makes the final game a bit of an anti-climax as the Astros fall not with a bang, but wimper.

TWO STRAIGHT SERIES WINS FOR the Brew crew!!!!

With 2 years left on our initial stabe of player, we let 4 scrubs contracts expire and cut one with 1 year left. Schmidt has not develped as we'd hoped at 3rd so our first pick is 3B prospect Butch Hobson. We take pitchers Doug Blair and Jamie Easterly to add longevity to a minor league bullpen that we wil likely have to raid for postin players if we can't meet the demands of our positin players. We sign Jeff Burroughs to have an onest RF behind Jackson. and MIke Caldwell as a Lefty spot starter and long reliever to replace stone who has not panned out in lack of use.

Ratings changes were better than expected with Baylor adding a point of contact and Power, Bleanger 1 power, Blue adds 1 stuff and 2 velocity. Blyleven loses a bit of gas. New acquisition buroughs adds 1 contact, and new acquisition Caldwell adds 1 to each pitching stat. carbo adds 1 power, as does Cash and cedeno adds 1 contact and 2 eye. Conception adds 1 power and 1 Eye, and Fingers adds one velocity. Horton adds a contact and a power, Jackson loses 1 eye, but Kingman adds 1 to each batting stat! Lyle and McGinn lose a veocity, Maddox adds a contact. Medich adds a control, rivers adss a power but loses an eye and Schmidt adds a contact and a power. GOrman Thomas adds a contact and Williams adds botha contact and an eye.

We are rnaked first in the power rankins and 18th of 3 in salery. though strangely a lot of teams last year left a LOT of mney on the table - like 25-35M this year it looks like they spent it all! We only have 5M extra this year but are looking at a major house cleaning in 2 years.

SO we have two more years on the "gravy train, and then our management and scouting abiity will be out to the test with nearly our entire team being up for FA after their initial 5 year stints. We will likely extend a few after this season before teh stat adjustments are made, and afew more next year with a year to go on thier contracts.

But we will likely lose several key pieces and will hae to trade some of our bevy of pitching prospects.

Off to the land of Brats and Cheese for a long weekend to see my sister and niece and the folks!
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

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1972 we matched out 107-55 record from last year. We had no position players make the all star game Fingers and Lyle made it on the bullpen staff. Jackson lead our offense with 35 HR and 98 RBIs followd by Schmidt and Williams both with 25 and 64. Kingman had 20 and 51 and Horton 18 and 79. We traded Garry Mathews for Bobby Grich to help our struggling infield. Grich hd 11 and 63. Jeff Burroughs lost 10 eeks with a severe leg injury but still had 11 and 35. Cedeno had 9 and 62 and 70 steals.

For hitting, Stennett lead the team with 322 BA and 370 OBP - also 34 SB. Kingman was next with 285 and 365. Jackson hit 275 with a 359 OBP, then Williams with 267 and 348 and Grich wih 265 and 346. Burroughs was sorely missed with his 264 and 338. Those likely to be traded include Rivers with his 236 and 283 and Belanger with a 221 and 284. Both onlyhad 2 HRS and 32 nd 30 RBI respectively. Next year being the last year of everyones contracts we have to be very selective of who we offer extensions too, with a good crop of up and comers in the minors LIke Butch Hobson, Dave Cash, Garry Maddox, Dave Conception and Gorman Thomas.

THe honors on the pitching staf continues to roate as this year its Kison who gets to the 20 win plateau at 20-5 with a 2.3 ERA. Bly had control problems down the stretch - likely nursing a host of minor injuries he was too focused ot remeber to tell the pitching coach about. He did manage a no-hitter! 11 losses csme on some shotoutings and the poorest run support on the staff. His 3.33 ERA teh 2nd worst behind 15-11 Medich at 3.8. Gullett was not heped at all by the Bullpen. at 17-6 he had WAY more no decisins than his 2.63 ERA deserved. Blue also had a lack of both run support and bulen help with his 13-8 record. Rollie got a lot of tht love Gullett and Blue lost with an amazing 12-2 record for a set up man. He had only 1 blown save and a 1.7 ERA. The rest of teh Bullpen only totaled 110 innings Pina and Acost combinging for 86 of them and a 4-3 and 4-5 WL and 3.00 and 3.93 ERA respectiely. McGinn had no record and a terrible 5.5 ERA on 26 IP. Stone, our long reliever only pitched 9 inings and went 2-1 with a 2.45. Spark Man lead the association for teh 2nd straight year with 53 saves and a 2-3 record with 5 blown saes (3 of which came in April) and a phenomenal 1.64 ERA.


So we get to the ALCS againt 86-76 Washington and our go in the tank.

The first game sees Bly give up a bases clearing triple to Gary Matthews who was duling in the minors and we traded for Grich then another run to get into a 4-0 deficeit right out of the gate. He gives up a solo homer to Norn Cash in the third before we finally get on the board in the 5th but Belanger leaves the bases loaded ith a 1 out DP. Bly gives up a 6th run in the 6th and is run for McGin. We make a run in the 7th on Horton grand slam, leave 13 stranded in a woulda coulda shoulda game.

Game 2 was scoreless until Gullett surrendered 3 in the 6th. Our trade of Gary Matthews haunts us a bit as he gets a key RBI in the 8th after we had gotten a run in the 7th and 8th to draw to within 1 run. We only had 6 hits with kingman getting 3 of them and Grich 2. Belanger got the 6th and nobody else got on base. Tommy John went 8 strong and Hamiton got the save. Gullett ony went 6 and Cy Acosta finished off the stinging loss.


Game 3 pit Kison against Tony Cloninger and Kison continues the first inning BP giving up 2 in the 1st. We get one back in the 2nd and third to tie. BUt Kison gives up a tater to Norm cash in the 5th and that would be it a third straight loss and a devestating 3-0 deficeit.

Game 4 saw Medich against Dave Roberts and this time we get 3 in the first to get the quick lead. ut medich gies 2 right back. Mike schmidt, who stuggled in teh series batting only 208 in the series got them when he could cash in with 4 RBIS on 2 dingers netting 4 RBI. 2 more rus in the 6th gave us comfortable 8-2 cushion. BUt Medich was not going to make this an easy win giving 4 runs back in the botom of the 6th. His pitch count was only in the 80s and his fastball lively so we let him ride and he got through the 7th and 8th with no further trouble. Sparky came in to save the first win 8-6. One day at a time....


Game five saw Bly against chuck Dobson once again and Who else but Mr. October ges the 1st inning jack with Rivers on to give Bly a big 2 run cushon. Bly spreads out 7 hits over 8 innings and never really breaks a sweat. Belanger pokes an insurance run home in the form of Bernie carbo to give Sparky another 2 run cushion 2 Ks and weak groundball give the Brew Crew hope as they board teh plane o head back to Beer city. One day ata time down 3-2.


Game six. Milwaukee is a town on fire. The parking lots between I-94 and the river is one huge Weber Kettle with more Leinies, Special Ex and PBR flowing than water in that scummy ditch and the entire contents of the old stockyards ground to Brats. Don Gullett, last years Pitcher of the year, but suffering this year from some incredible pitch counts early and no bullpen help seems to be almos Zombie like walking out to the mound after the intros and just staring at the Washington dugout. The first frame a half goes quickly as Gullett seems almost in a trance working quickly placing pitch after pitch right in Munson's glove. TOmmy John gives up a sngle to Jackson in the 2nd, and dave Kingman misses a round tipper by about 1 foot as he bangs one off the center field fence for a double. John walks the bases loaded in the 6th - 2 coming with 2 outs as the Milwaukee fans deafening jeers obviously affect John who dropped his hat twice wiping his brow dealing to Munson. The Crowd erupts when munson's single scores Baylor and gives the Brewers a 2-0 lead that, with Gullet giving up 2 hits and 2 walks through 6 is pitching the game of his life when the team needs it most. John keeps the Senators in it until the bottom of the 8th when he giveup a 2 run homer to Don Baylor and a run scoring double for Bobby Grich. Bernie Brewer makes a somersulting dive into his Beer Mug as the delerious Milwaukee fans start chanting "SE-VEN SE-VEN SE-VEN" and start to swing brooms with half andles and "break out he "delayed sweep" signs.
Gullet goes the distance for a 4 hit shutout with 10 Ks.

The 3-0 deficit is gone. Its all down to just one game. The crowd knows it got to John and they let Tony Cloninger know he is the next to be in their crosshairs. Bruce Kison hopes he can pitch half the game Gullett did...

But that game wil have to wait for tomorrow. I'm too drained [>:]





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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

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Game 7 ALCS - Kison vs Cloninger fora trip to the fall Classic for the 3rd straight time for the Brew crew. Kison gets in trouble in the 2nd giving up two singels and a sac fly to fall behind 1-0. Schmidt comes close to answering with a man on, but flies out 368' away. Kison gives up a double to lead off the 3rd for Reggie smith, but with one out he makes a baserunning error on a fy ball to right and Reggie Jackson gus him down. As often happens when you screw up, the opponent gets a surge, and the crowd comes to life. Just as they got to Tomy John a lead off walk brings the chants of "Strike zone? Strike Zone?" as fans feign searching for lost items. this leads to Jackson following Horton with a free pass and two on withno outs. Williams poped out , but Burroughs geting ahead in the count get the fans on Cloninger again and he walks Burroughs - 15 pitches in the ining and the bases loaded! Cloninger gets a visit from the catcher and 3rd baseman and gets Schmidt to fly out, but deep enough to scre Horton and tie the game. Belanger tries to increase teh margin, but Cloninger gets out of the jam a fly ball right to the same spot Schmidt hit to. Int he fifth Cloninger ges in trouble again with a 1 out double to Cedeno and a two out walk to Horton, but jackson gts a little to far under a rocket to right and it hangs up dropping to teh right fielder at the 360 mark. Kison gets in trouble for one of the few times giving up a lead off walk and then a 1 out walk before strking out Norm Cash and getting Bill Sudakis to ground out to get out of the jam. Again, a spoiled opportunity for one side becomes an invitation to the other. in the Bottom of the 7th, Belanger flies out to deep Center to lead off on a pitch he wished he turned have turned on a bit sooner and gotten over the right field fence. Stennett then walks and then is thrown out on a steal attempt. Its close but the tag was made on the hip before the foot got to the bag. Cedeno doubles - which would have given the Brewers the lead, but agressiveness go them here and the Brewers Skip snaps Rennie on the but with his towell as he takes a seat on the bench with a "I thought you had that" grin. Rivers singles to score the lightning fast Cedeo and gives teh Brewers their first lead of the game leading to brandishing of "delayed sweep" signs and half handled brooms. TOny Horton then comes to the plate and snas a Cloninger fast ball that didn't rise for a 2 run jack and a 4-1 Brewer lead. The crowd really lays into Cloninger now and his day is indeed done. Bill Travers gets out of the rest of the inning. And Kison comes out for the 8th wih 90 pitches out of his arm, but still feeling good. He strikes out Tomy Helms, but gives up back to back singles to Rusty Staub and Clete Boyer. Brewer skip has confidence in him, but has him pitch around the dangerous Reggie Smith with strike out prone norm cash on deck. Smith walks and cash gives one a ride, but ison placed it well and it was to far in on the Cash's hands and its a high out, not deep enough to score Staub. Bill sudakis guesses right on a Kison curve ball and loops it into the gap for a double that scores two and brings he senators within a run. It was a good pitch and Kison shakes his head as the Brewers skip comes out and asks him for to face just one more batter in teh struggling Jack Hiatt. He gets it done and a ground out ends what could have been a devestating inning. Sparky warms int he pen and Kison gets congrats on hat all o Milwaukee hopes is a "good enough" performance. The Brew Crew gets a insurance run in the ninth on a Renie Stennett souble after a Belanger texas leaguer. Dave Lemanczyk comes in for Travers and gets out of the rest of the inning. The Milwaukee crowd comes to its feet as Lyle comes out of Bullpen. Pinch hitter Pepe Mangual steps to teh plate and doubles just over the head of Horton at first. Another Pinch hiter, wes parker steps to teh plate and balzes one past Belanger to give the Senators first and third with no outs and the crowd stars to quiet and murmer rather than cheer. When Tommy Helms then walks to load teh bases groans rise up as teh few washington fans wave their rally capsgrab a few weakly held brooms and toss thenm into the bullpen. BUt Sparky gets a pep talk from the cacher and infield and a few claps of support from the Brewers skipper. Rusty staub, after fouling off teh first 2 gets wood on one but right at te third baseman who looks Mangual back to third and guns it to Horton for teh first out. Clete Boyer then anticipates spakies breaking ball and hauls one out to left but its not deep and Rivers takes hauls it in on the run and guns it in stride oward home and the nimple Mangual scampers back to third. Two outs! The crowd is back in it now, pointing skyward to thank the Almighty for impending delieverece from Doom! BUt Aparky now has to face the Best Batter in the league Reggie Smith. Sparky has not been a mystery, throwing his breaking ball for a first pitch strike, which Smith, like several before him is waitng for, but even knowing its coming, it falls off teh table so fast that even Smith can't get under it and grouns it meekly to the Horton wh holds it high as he taps the bag and is mobbed by his teammates! It certainly was a red-headed, left handed stepson of a win - but WIN it was and the Brewers will have thier improbably chance at a THREEPEAT!!!
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

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The world series 1972!

And the Brewers start out like they did in the ALCS. Blyleven and Lolitch battle each other until the 5th inning when the Pirates hit up By for a three spot, they add another in the 7th and send Bly packing and Acosta gives up two more in he 8th. The Brewer bats are stymied in a 6 it shutout.

game 2 saw Dock Ellis against Gullett and Gullett gived up the long ball in the first inning. He battles Ellis for 5 more innings until the Pirates get two more in the 7th. Jeff burroughs trys to get things going with a dinger to lead off the 8th, but that was it - the brew Crew dug themseves into a 2-0 hole. And the next three games they lose the DH!

Bruce Kison will get the chance to pitch and hit against Grant Jackson. Both teams pt up 2 spots in the 3rd and the Brewers take the lead in the 4th, but Kison gets run in the 6th giving up 4 in the 6th, giving up a to out bases cearing triple to Bobby valentine. Digging out of a SECOND 3-0 deficit seems a fading hope down 6-3. enter Mr. October in the top 8th against Vince Colbert - 6-4 thanks to Jackson 9th post season round tripper to lead off the ininng. Fingers comes in to hopefully limit the lead to 2 and dispenses Tony Oliva, Deron Johnson and Carlton Fisk in order. Marcel Lachemann comes in to do what he did 38 times in the regular season and blown only 4 times. He gets off to a abysmal start WALKING Fingers, folowed by back to back singles by Cedeno and Baylor. MIke Schmidt fans, bringing Reggie to the plate for the second time in consequetive innings. Bases loaded, reggie watches a fast ball catch the outside corner and then thinks breaking ball and waits on the next pitch , puling the trigger and cranking it right where he put the tater last inning. GRAND SLAM 8-6 Milwaukee. the crowd goes wild while Jim Nash warms afer Lachemann is sent packing. Sparky takes the hill and his first pitch is CRUSHED by Dan Ford, but Cedeno tracks it and makes a perfect jup to steal extra bases right at the 385 ft mark. Ken McMulen Ks and Gary Carter sends one not nearly as deep to Cedeno ho maks the catch a step or two in front of the trac to secure a CRUCIAL victory preventing the 3-0 hole.

Game 4 rolls out Doc Medich against Pete Broberg. after a scoreless first, Jackson gets things going with a single, Williams then walked bringing the struggling Schmidt to the plat. Mike shoots one into center, but not that deep, Jackson runs through the stop sign trying to get a big inning going, but Wayne Comer guns him down at the plate. The other runners advance and Belanger walks. Stennett poops to the SS bringing Medich to the plate. We consider pinch hitting for him and bringing Blue in, but our bulpen has strugled and we fel confident we will get other chances against Broberg, who desn't seem to have his best stuff. Medich Ks ensing the threat. As usual when you make a mistake in a big game, it comes back around and sure if Medich looks to have taken his ugly fanning to heart. He ffers up a lead off walk to Oliva and then a single to Deron Johnson. THen a 4 pitch walk to Fisk to load em up. Wayne Comer snaps off an infield fly for out 1 and Bobby valentine scortches one past Belanger - but too hard as it gets to Rivers in no time and only 1 run can score. Pete Brobeg then flies out to midle lef, but Rivers once again cranks it in on a rope to Wilims and Johnson retreats to third. Darrel Thomas then gives on a ride, but it hangs up in left and Rivers two hands it to get out of the potential diaster trailing 1-0. In the top 3rd Cedeno reaches on a loper to left, and then steals 2nd. Rivers Ks and Horton grounds to 3rd alowing the fleetfooted cedeno to get to third. THis brings Jackson wh so far single handedly took over game 3. He comes through again with a firm liner into RF scoring cedeno and tying the game 1-1. Williams tries to keep it going witha single moving Reggie to Third, but Schmidt reverts to form and Ks with RISP for about the 100th time in the post-season. Brooks Robinson and TOny Oliva try to make some Pirate noise in teh bottom of the inning, but a Ron Fairly fly, Deron Jonson fanning and Fisk snapping off weak ground out gets him out of the jam. Each team gets its chances, but can't convert asn stenet ad Cedeno get stranded in the 4th, and Comer and Valentine can't get moved by Broberg, Thomas or Brooksy. The 5th through 7th see little happen, but Vince Colbert gets in a bad jam in the 8th with a leadof walk to Williams, A rare Schmidt single (no RBI chance - that exlains it...). Pirates bring the infield in and stenett makes them pay with soft bloop barely making it to the outfied, but scoring Williams to give teh Brewers the 1 run lead! Kingman Ks and Cedeno walks to reload the bases, but Rivers gets way under a high heater and the 3B takes it in foul gound. but Milwaukee has the lead and pittsbugh has stugled at teh plate with only half the hits the brew crw has (6). Fingers come out in the 8th and walks Oliva, but Johnson and Fisk fly out, and then Comer Ks to end the inning. 3 outs from tying the series! Jim Nash retires Milwaukee in order and sparky comes out to secure the 2-1 win. Dan Ford walks to open thins, but it loks like Ken Mcmullen might double him off, but Ford goes hard into second upending Stennett and preventing the DP. A decent fly to center by Derrel Thomas and a hot grounder from Brooks Robinson to Schmidt ends the game and we have a 2 out of 3 series left, and home field advantage for Milwaukee!

game 5 brings Blyleven back out against Lolitch. Both pitchers shine until the 5th - Lolitch with a no hitter going, and Bly had only given up 3 scatered hits until Wayne Comer jacks one to lead off the 5th giving the pirates the lead in this must win game for them, losing to go to Milwaukee for the rest of the series. Lolitch loses the no-no in the 7th, but Milwauke can't convert. We try to change things up sending Blue in for Bly in the 6th and it seems to work for 2 innings. We bring Horatio Pina in for 8th and that proves a mistake as Thomas singles, Robinson fans, but Ron Fairly singles nd then Tony Oliva walks to load the bases. Pina then walks in the 2nd Pirates run before a fly ball ball scores another. The pirates lead 3-0 a seemingly insurmountable lead the way Lolitch is pitching... But he ha pitched himself out and Lachemann comes in for the top of the ninth. Baylor takes advantage on the first pitch, putting the brew crew on the board. Schmidt tries follow up but just not enough on it and it is casught about 340feet out. That brings Jackson to the plate. He went to school on Baylors jack and does the same thing, cranking a moon shot wel over 400ft to cut the lead to 1! BUt Horton can only muster a weak grounder and Munson fans to give the Pirates teh 3-2 lead. Needing back to back ins is not as bad as FOUR, so Milwaukee fans take the "we've been in touger spots" tack and fear nothing as they light the Webers sunday night and start geting their livers in shape for monday nights game 6.

Gullett - Ellis Brewer fans hope teh Gullett of game 6 of the LCS shows up...and for the first few inings he does. But Elis has his stuf on too, until the bottom of the 3rd when e walks Stenett to lead of the inning. Cedeno flies out to right, but then Rivers and Horon hit back to back singels scoring Stennett to give the Milwaukee the 1 - 0 lead. ellis gets in trouble again in the 5th with another lead off walk to Belaner this time. But he gets a poor jump and is thrown out stealing 2nd. A shame because Stennett doubles on a ball that easily would have scored Belanger. Ellis than makes a rare wild pitch sending stennett to third. Cedeno then flies to Left, not very deep, but with stennetts speed the Brewers challenge Johnson's weak arm! But the ball was just not deep enough and a Johnson throws a perfect one hopper and Fisk blocks the plate perfectly stoning stennett who alomost looked like bounced off Fisk and fel ack up the third base line! The pirates make some noise in the 5th with Oliva singling and Johnson walking with two outs, but Gullet gets Ron Fairly for his 6th K on the day. The pitching dominates until the botomof the 7th when Tim Foli Makes an error on a routine ground ba from Williams. Burroughs then gets one by Valentine. Schmidt of course fanned He is like .0000003 with RISP [8|] but Belanger walks to load the bases! Stennet can't get it done this time with a pop to short, But Cedeno smakes a scortcher to the gap scoring Williams and Burroughs. Belanger holds at third for Rivers, who mirrors Cedeno with what looked like an instant replay, scoring Rivers and Cedeno giving the Brew crew the 5-0 Lead!! Ellis takes to the showers. Gullett retires Valentine, Thomas and McMullen in order. willims singles it he top 9th but Dave leonard in for Ellis strikes out Jackson and Schmidt ([:@] ). The Brewers Skipper lets Gullet go for his second game 6 shutout - but closes his eyes as Oliva Singles and Johnson sends one 370 ft to left, caught by rivers on a dead run boucing of the wal and doing a somersault before coming upt with the ball snowconed in his glove. Fairly singles adn Foli singels to load the bases, bring the dangerous Gary Carter to the plate!. Gullet thos a perfect breaking ball that looked for minute like a mistake over the plate, but the bottom dropped out of it and it became an easy DP ball to Stennett to end the game and give Gullett an AMAZING second game six shutout!!!

I have to take break before game 7 this friggen game is NERVE WRAKING AS HELL!!!!! It will be pitcher of the Year Kison against teh 'crafty left hander" Grat "Buck" Jackson...


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Paul Vebber
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RE: NEW Summer of '69 league

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Game 7 of the 1972 World series. Bruce Kison vs Grant "Buck" Jackson for all the marbles! can the Brew Crew consumate an improbable 3-peat? Kison comes out of the blocks, isuing a two out walk to Fisk, but a great defensive play by Schmidt retires Oliva. The Brewers get a lead off walk by Cedeno and a single by Baylor to bring the crowd into the game early, but a pop foul by Schmidt (hey, he hit it...) A popup by Jackson and K by Horton ended the first. Two quick outs in the 2nd, a single to Alex Johnson doesn't faze Kison who then fans Bill White. The bottom of the 2nd sees a Munson single sandwiched between Ground outs, and a long fly by Booby Grich, but it is an easy play for Oliva in left. The third sees Ken McMullen get a two out double, and he is pushed around by Catlton Fisk single to give the Bucs a 1 run lead. Oliva give one a 300+ ft ride, but Regie has plenty of room to track it down. Jackson makes short work of the Brew Crew in the bottom 3rd, starting with a 16 pitch marathon at bat by cedeno who finally sends towering fly to the deepest art of the park caught by Deron Johnson a step in fron the 385 mark in center. Baylor and Schmidt go after their first pitches and generate a foul popup and weak grounder to the pitcher. A third of teh game down, and a fragile seeming 1 run lead for Pittsburgh.

A leadoff walk gave rise to uneasy murmurs in the Milwaukee crowd, but two quick outs settle them down. Another walk returns them, but Kison gets Foli to try to golf one and its easily snagged by Cedeno. THe Brewers get after the Bucs lefty with a leadof singel by Reggie, followed by walks to Horton and Buroughs. The crowd gets to its feet and makes some noie for Munson, but he lines to the SS who very nearly doubles off Horton who thought that ball might get by him and got caught leaning toward third having taken a good leadoff from 2nd. Jackson the gets a HUGE K of Belanger and then Grich grounds out to 2nd to sit teh fans back down and silence the crowd. How many times does the old saw get proven, that blown opportunites beget successful ones!!! THomas, who made a great play to strand 3 Brewers, leads of with a single, an Ken McMullen does likewise. Carlton Fisk comes up, du for something and sure enough he cranks a double down the line in right that looked like it was trailing foul, scoring both Thomas and McMullen. 3-0 Pitsburgh. Still nobody out. Kison digs deep and gets Oliva to fly out, then, like Jackson the ining before a KEY 1 out K of Deron Johnson, and then Brooks Robinson flys out to center. BUt unlike Jackson, Kison gave up 2 runs. The bottom of the inning sees another maraton by Cedeno -14 this time before popping to 2B, the Baylor fans and Schmidt grounds to short. Luckily for Milwaukee, Jackson ends the inning with nearly 100 pitches. Kison gives up a 1 out walk and a two out single but gets out of the inning, but he is also about done, with 105 pitches. Jackson comes out for the bottom of the 6th and mows down Jackson Horton and Burroughs. Things are looking grim for the Home Team 2 thirds of the way through[:@].

THe Brewers Skipper sends Kison back out in the top of the seventh on a short leash and gets Fisk to go after the first pitch grounding to 3B. His speed is off the fastball, but the curve is working and Oliva can't get under it either and grounds to 2nd. A walk to Deron Johnson gives Brooks Robinson a chance to add two to the lead, but he lines to Grich who makes a HIGH vertical lead to snag it to end the inning. Jackson comes out after the stretch, and looks like he might go the distance as he gets Munson and Beanger to both GRound out on his first offerings to each, but Bobby Grich, after the great play to tend the top of the inning takes him deep in the left field corner and Oliva can't get there. Surprisingly 112 piches was it for Jackson and Vince Clbert comes in. THey try to pitch around Cedeno and walk him, but then a wild pitch by Colbert sends Grich and Cedeno to 2nd and 3rd. Berni Carbo comes in to PH for Baylor and the intuition pays off sith a Long double over the head of the CF to suddenly make the daunting 3 run lead a single run. BUt who comes to the plate, but Mike schmidt. The Brewers manager first thinks to bring in another PH, but the bench coach disuades him "TRust me on this...He's Due!". A chuckle and "if he were any more due he'd gie friggen BIRTH" chuckled the Mlwaukee skip and sat back down. Well, damn if the bench coach wasn't right and Schmidt got what seemed like is first hit with RISP in he whole postseason! Carbo moteors around to score and fans celebrate a new game! 3-3. Rolllie Fingers comes out for teh 8th in typical fashion and gies up a 1 out wlk to Bill White and Boby valentie PRs for him. Tm Foli then snaps one under belangers reaching glove and Valentine holds at 2nd. A Derel Tomas ground ball to 3rd is teh 2nd out, but lets the speedy valentine get 90 feet away from retaking the lead. But McMullen lines out right to Belanger to end the inning. Colbert pitches well, but the Milwuakee bats have been deprived too long this game and the law of averages takes over. After Horton Walks, Burroughs steps to the plate and sends a screamer to Left - Oliva goes back after it and leaps up onto the fence bt its too high and goes over for a two run homer. 5-3 Brewers and the crowd really gets after Colbert who is ulled for Jim Nash. He rises to he challenge, getting Munson to fly out and a crucial 1 out k of Belanger. Then Bobby Grich grouds out to end the inning but the crowd is back int the game in a big way with the brew Crew up 5-3!

Top of the ninth and out from the pen trots the Spark man! THe comentator mentions that Sparky has not blown a to run advantage in the post season. WHY did he do that...JINX [:-][X(] Fisk steps to the plate and launches a towering blast, but its way to high and is harmlessly colected by Jackson. But Oliva gets one past Belanger and then Deron Johnson Doubles to move him to third. 1st nd 3d one out Brooks Robinson steps in. He loops a liner into Left Center and Oliva scores to cut the Brewer lead to 1. Alex Johnson then gets all of one toward left, back, back, back Carbo tracks it and glances down at the wall back up at teh ball and times his leap perfectly! He steals 3 runs from Johnson!!! The crowd responds with thunderous applause as Johnson and Robinson both stand pat . BUt the celebration is premature as Sparky hangs one and Ron Fairly strokes it smartly into the ga in deep right. Deron Johson ties the game and now there is 2nd and third with 2 out. And it looks like the brew Crew may need to come up with otom of the ninth heroics to match the Bucs! Sparky gets Foli to fly out but has blown the save and now the Brew crew needs some walk off heroics!!!! Jim Nash stays stays out fo r the bottom of the ninth with extra innings looking likely. He gives up a 1 out single to Carbo, Schmidt flys out, making Oliva runa a ways to get there. That brings Mr. October o the plate and he jump on the first pitch! It looks strong off te bat, but rises like a 3 wood and then plops down barely 300 ft out in right. Not this time for Reggie and we go to teh 10th. Vida Blue comes out to start teh new game and gives up LOOONG flies to Dan Ford ad Ken McMullen, whose rope might well have gone out had it gotten more air under it but it went 370 ft apearing to never get more than about 6 ft off the ground. Fisk then grounds out to bring the Brew Crew back to the plate. Kingman had come in to spell Horton at 1st and he walks. Then Burroughs singles seding Kingman to 2nd. But Munson starts looking like Schmidt with RISP and lines out to the SS, then Belanger grounds into a DP to end the promising inning and quiet the now shellshocked crowd. They get more shell shock as Blue takes the mound and tries to sneak a fast ball right down the pipe past Oliva. Tony read Blues mind and turned on it sending to back to center - Cedeno chases, but pulls up at teh warning track to watch it pass over teh fence giving THe Pirates the 6-5 lead. Blue knows he screwed up, but gets his wits about him and Deron johnson sends one right to Cedeno, and then gets Brooksy to ground to SS. He the fans Alex Johnson, but still returns to the dugout hanging his head for giving up such a critical HR.

In the bottom of the 11th, Marcel Lachemann replaces Nash. Grich waits atiantly and gets his pitch and a leadoff single. Blue up at teh dugout rail pumps his first. Hope is short lives as Grich tries to take 2nd but is gunned down on a close playby a superb throw by Fisk. THe loss of teh baserunner haunts the Milwaukee manager watches Cedeno crank one for a double. "You gota dance with who brung ya" the bench coach quips "But how come she's gotta break out with zits for the dance" the Manager retorts... A solid crack interupts the sophistry as Carbo blisters one past the 2B but too fast to let Cedeno get past 3rd. TO the plate marches Schmidt. He launches one deep! No, not that far, but plenty deep to send Cedeno! TIE GAME!! 6-6. And Jackson is up! He battles, but a superb high heater can't be met and the swing and miss ends the inning. Blue is back out for the top 12 and mows down the bucs in order. Lachemann Ges Kingman to fly out, but them walks Burroughs. That is it for lachemann as Ed Sprague coms out. He gives up a quick sngel to Munson, but gets Belanger to fly out to right, not dep enough to try to advance Burroughs. Mid season acquisition (in trade for Gerry Matthews) Bobby Grich, steps in. Brought as utility infielder replacement ( even had a couple appearances behid he plate!) for the struggling Dave Cash who was sent down midseason battling only 208 against lefties and 5 errors! Matthews nearly bit he Brewers back in the ALCS, but overal is year was luckluster at best for a layer of his caliber. Well Grich digs in and fights off a few beofre stroking a floater over 3rd, deep enough to send Buroughs! The throw is off line and behind hima nd the BREWERS WIN!!!!

Three consequetive World series wins seems "too easy" but let me tell you this has been ANYTHING but easy and i got realy ucky probably TWO handfuls of times for this outcome to turn this way. A Wlkoff double to end game 7 in the 12th - does it get any closer than that! and the stories this year have really made the pending boodletting really tough! Before we end the season, we try to lock up a few key members we can get for cheap. the firt is Fingers who only wan an extra 400K a season for a 3yr ext. and Sparky only wans a lile over 300K more, so we lock him up unil he is 32. As usualy happens all our starters want like 3M$ more. we have to lock up jackson and he only wants 1.5M$ more. A BARGAIN compared to the money grubbing pitchers. This is going to get UUUGLY next year. but we have one more season paying 84M$ for about 140M$ worth of players...

Oh and my Approval rating is 100/100 [:'(]
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