I chatted with Brian Cavanaugh from the Bridesburg Boys and Girls Club Summer League over Facebook this morning. We talked about a few things but Brian mentioned the impending coming of Irene. Brian lives in Philadelphia and from the looks of it, Philly will be getting it hard.
I just wanted to take the time to send my best wishes to everyone back East… Brian, Dom in New York, those in Lancaster, everybody.
Hold tight and hang on to those dice!
C- Victor Martinez: .272, 35 2B 0 3B 22 HR, 74 RBI 85 runs
1B Prince Fielder: .271, 42 2B 0 3B 55 HR, 152 RBI 122 runs
2B Chase Utley: .304, 46 2B 4 3B 25 HR, 91 RBI 97 runs
3B Miguel Cabrera: .326, 50 2B 2 3B 37 HR, 133 RBI 101 runs
SS Hanley Ramirez: .305, 40 2B 3 3B 29 HR 61 SB, 91 RBI 120 runs
OF Magglio Ordonez: .339, 55 2B 2 3B 20 HR, 110 RBI 112 runs
OF Adam Dunn: .256, 23 2B 5 3B 48 HR, 122 RBI 87 runs
OF Ichiro Suzuki: .357, 242 H, 24 2B 5 3B 4 HR 35 SB, 83 RBI, 115 runs
RHP Adam Wainwright: 17-6, 3.31 ERA, 28 GS, 198′ IP, 147 H, 68 BB, 124 SO
LHP Mark Buehrle: 19-7, 3.31 ERA, 30 GS, 201 IP, 153 H, 62 BB, 115 SO
ROY Ryan Braun: .304, 22 2B 10 3B 35 HR, 103 RBI 86 runs
Fireman Lee Gardner: 38 SV, 4-5, 2.22 ERA, 54 G, 65 IP, 37 H, 13 BB, 48 SO
MVP Prince Fielder
CY Mark Buehrle
MGR Tedd Mallasch, Don Smith, & Todd Ventresca
Congrats & hats off to all!!!
The date was December 9, 2007- 13 months ago the last time the 1959 Phillies won a ball game in my 1959 replay. The date in the replay was 5/24/59 and after the Braves scored 1 run in the 11 th inning, Wally Post singling home Ed Bouchee to give the Phils a 5-4 extra inning victory.
Former or was it future Celtic Gene Conley (3-0) went all 11 innings for the now memorable and long ago win besting Lew Burdette (5-2). This gave the Phils an 11-26 record in the replay- no great shakes certainly but it was to get even worse.
The Phils were to go 13 months without another triumph. Admittedly I wasn’t rolling as often as other dynamic replayers do but the Phillies did manage to drop 12 straight games before former NY Giant Reuben (D) Gomez stepped up and pitched a 9 inning shutout to beat Jim Brosnan and the St. Louis Cards 6-0. Gomez got his first win on the season to go to 1-5. He came into the game with a nifty 8.00 ERA! This pushed the Phils ledger all the way up to 12-38 or a nifty .240 winning percentage.
Oh by the way the date on the ’59 calendar is 6/7/59. The date in the real world is 1/17/09- thus this victory was 13 plus months in the making.
Certainly some record of dubious distinction.
Let’s see if they can go for the sweep in game 2 of the doubleheader- scheduled to be played sometime soon.
-Cluke
Editor’s note: Cluke sent me his 1959 replay stats through May so I did a quick and dirty job of converting them to html and put them up on our site. You can see them here.
Yikes, F Robbie with 21 homeruns!!
-tbz
Backed into a corner the Chicago Champions traded Vernon Wells to the Upperdeckers in exchange for Felipe L
opez. Ever since I first got into the Illowa APBA League nearly 35 years ago, secondbase has always seemed to be a problem spot. We started off with Rennie Stennett, went to Jorge Orta, Bobby Randall, Johnny Ray, Bump Wills, Ron Oester, Quilvio Veras, & Josh Barfield. We also had Joe Morgan & Lou Whitaker, both at the end of their careers. The only quality secondsacker in the history of the club has been steroid-meister Bret Boone.
When I drafted Josh Barfield, Howie Kendrick had just been taken, I didn’t want to miss out on Barfield and get stuck with either Ian Kinsler or Dan Uggla. I remember having a discussion with a writer for Baseball America, while at the Arizona Fall League. He told me, “Kinsler’d be a utility infielder and Uggla couldn’t field well enough to handle the keystone spot in the majors”. Then I ran into a bartender at Hi-Tops in Pittsburgh who showed me a picture of the guy she was sleeping with, passed out in her apartment, it was Dan Uggla. So I drafted Josh, which is kind of how I ended up having to trade the now healthy outfielder Vernon Wells for the scrappy, at best, Felipe Lopez. Did I tell you I’d traded Lance Berkman to get Wells? Good thing we’ve got Justin Morneau at firstbase.
In fact the Chicago Champions are pretty much set every place, other than secondbase, with Morneau at 1B, SS Jimmy Rollins, ARod at third, Victor Martinez behind the plate, and an outfield of Carlos Lee, Grady Sizemore, & B.J. Upton. Our rotation is so loaded with quality arms that we may trade a couple, Tim Lincecum, Mark Buehrle, Josh Beckett, Matt Cain, Greg Maddux, A.J. Burnett, & Brett Myers. Burnett & Myers might be dealt along with backup catcher Miguel Olivo to the Northside Hitmen for catcher Ryan Doumit, who’ll fill in nicely for injured Martinez behind the plate, reliever Jon Rauch, and SS Edgar Renteria. Rauch would join Matt Capps & Jose Valverde, along with a couple of rookies, in the pen.
Without any viable secondbase candidates in the rookie draft, the Champs were forced to trade for Lopez, while the Upperdeckers were more than eager to add Wells to a lineup that already features batting champs Chipper Jones & Joe Mauer, not to mention Carlos Quentin.
We are currently in first place, trying to reach the 100 win plateau for the first time in franchise history, along with our tenth championship (haven’t won in over 10 years). These trades will not take place until after the season is over, as there is no in-season trading.
