It's time for Dodger Baseball! ('82-'94 Complete)--OOTP 17-23 Alt History

PilotMan · 03-12-2017, 11:01 PM

It's time for Dodgers Baseball!!

The strike shortened season of 1981 saw Lasorda come screaming out of the dugout as the Dodgers would finish as World Series Champions against the Yankees. It was all about Fernandomaina, the kid from Mexico who would ignite fans from all over and go on to win the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year. I was 6 years old, and the Dodgers would be my team forever more.

So this is going to be an alternate reality, LA Dodgers AAR, dynasty. I'll be slow playing and watching every game, as if it was taking place in real life. Any changes will be AI initiated, I won't control anything.

I'm a fan. Invested. Rooting for the boys in blue. Let's go Dodgers!

PilotMan · 03-12-2017, 11:02 PM

So it's the fall of 1983. Let me get you up to speed with where we are since 1981.

In 1982, we won the West with a record of 105-57. It was a great year.

Lead once again by Valenzuela, he would go on to claim his second Cy Young putting together another fantastic season with these numbers: 18-10, 266IP, 191H, 77BB/245K and a 2.20ERA. The rest of the staff was able to stay mostly healthy with Jerry Reuss finishing 3^rd in Cy Young voting: 21-5, 263.1IP, 243H, 55BB/148K and a 2.60 ERA. Steve Howe ended up as the Rolaids Relief Pitcher of the Year with 43 saves and only 2 blown. His ERA was 1.34 in 80.1 IP. As if that wasn't enough, the runner up to that award was Dave Stewart. Stewart was almost as unhittable. He pitched 83.2 IP with 7 saves against 1 blown. He had 78 K's and a 2.04 ERA. With all that pitching you'd think that hitting was unnecessary.

The rotation the rest of the year after Valenzuela and Reuss, was Bob Welch (15-11, 3.63), Burt Hooton (16-12, 3.52) and Rick Reuschel (10-6, 4.95). In the bullpen, the other inning eaters were Tom Niedenfeuer (56IP/35K, 3.21) and Terry Forster (40.1IP/33K, 1.79ERA).

During the year the biggest let down was the early season ending injury of rookie Steve Sax. Sax tore his labrum in mid April and wouldn't return until September. The team opted to go with fellow rookie Tack Wilson to fill his slot, and he would play half the year putting up decent numbers until the team felt like they needed an upgrade. A mid July trade that sent Dave Goltz and RJ Reynolds to the White Sox would bring Tony Bernazard to the team. The final verdict on the trade with mixed and many didn't feel like the Bernazard deal really benefited the team, but there was happiness that the trade didn't cost more. The only other deal of any significance was when the team grew frustrated with Steve Yeager as a right handed option behind the plate, released him, then sent Ron Roenicke and prospect Mariano Duncan to the Giants for Bob Brenly.

The offense was dominated by Perdro Guerrero and his .312 avg, .521 slg, and 24 HR. But the team did have plenty of hitting up and down the lineup:

1B – Garvey – started all 162 games (.303, 21HR, and 89RBI)
2B - Wilson - (.262/3/36, 13SB) and Bernazard (.258/5/23, 6SB)
3B – Cey – lead the team in HR and RBI (.278/29/116)
SS – Russell – NL Gold Glove Winner (.250/2/53, 10SB)
LF – Baker - (.289/17/76)
CF – Landreaux – Only 20/20 on team (.264/23/79, 36SB)
RF – Guerrero - (.314/24/93)
C – Scioscia - (.280/9/68, .375OBP)

The team dumped the Expos in the NLCS to advance to the World Series against the Tigers. The Dodgers were heavily favored against the Tigers and won the first 2 at home, then lost game 3 in Detroit. Game 4 was within an out of winning, when the Tigers came back and stung them for the win. That gave way to 2 more losses and a 4-2 crash out ending in mass disappointment.

PilotMan · 03-12-2017, 11:04 PM

During the year the team got Steve Garvey to resign for 2 years at half of what he had been making. Smart move for the team. I think Garvey sold himself short.

Valenzuela gets a 6-year/4.8M extension. The team avoids any early arbitration and he is signed through 1988.

Key losses in free agency were Derrel Thomas, Ray Burris, Terry Forster, Rick Monday, Bill Russell, and Rick Reuschel.

Ken Landreaux would be traded in January for Doc Medich (12-14, 3.54, 244.1IP, in 1982) and cash. The team is thinking about Medich as a #5 starter. Seems like a stiff price to pay, but maybe not.

The first five draft picks for the team at the end of the season were:

1^st round – Kurt Stillwell (SS)
2^nd – Joe Klink (RP)
3^rd – Casey Candaele (2B)
4^th – Billie Merrifield (3B)
5^th – Reggie Montgomery (LF)

The team drafted way at the back, but there's not a lot to get excited about there.

In February, the first big free agency signing for the team is consummated. The team is able to sign Floyd Bannister away from the Mariners to a 4yr/3.9M contract. Bannister adds to the southpaws of Valenzuela and Reuss, and was an All-Star the previous year with a record of 15-14, throwing 248 innings with a 3.38 ERA. That's a big improvement over Reuchel and Medich.

Just before the start of the year, Jerry Reuss gets a 2yr extension worth 1.6M.

In May, Burt Hooton gets his extension. His is worth a very affordable 632k over 2 years.

PilotMan · 03-12-2017, 11:07 PM

In 1983 the team started off looking good. Except that the Giants and Astros were also looking good. In fact, for the majority of the season all three teams had winning percentages over .600.

The rotation started the year the same as last year with Bannister replacing Reuchel and Hooton dropping down to the #5 spot. Lasorda also promoted Neidenfeuer to the primary set up man behind Howe, with Stewart being pushed down.

The lineup though looks quite a bit different this year. The familiar faces of Bill Russell, Ron Cey and Ken Landreaux are not there. Instead, Pedro Guerrero has been moved to the hot corner to start at 3^rd. That made room for second year man, Mike Marshall who hit 9HR in part time duty off the bench last year.

Starting at center is rookie Franklin Stubbs. Stubbs was in AA San Antonio for most of '82, where he hit .303, had 26 HR and knocked in 101. That would be enough for the AA MVP Award. He finished the year at AAA with another 5HR in 19 games.

With no Bill Russell, Tack Wilson was slated as the opening day shortstop.

Second base was a little crowded with Sax being back and healthy, leaving Bernazard to sit on the bench.

There was a big surprise behind the plate, with Mike Scioscia losing his starting job to the right handed Bob Brenly. Scioscia is the better defender, but Brenly shows more pop in his bat.

Part way through the season Wilson lost his job at SS even though he was putting up the same numbers he did last year, Lasorda felt like he needed to experiment by moving Tony Bernazard to short. It was a disaster defensively, with him committing 20 errors in 21 games.

Over at first base, Steve Garvey just couldn't get his OBP or his power going and with Greg Brock (.319, 22, 59) tearing it up at AAA, the team felt like it was time to give the kid a shot. So he is another new face replacing the old guard that won in '81.

Even with the team performing well, the team started making moves in the middle of July. There were three big trades that impacted the lineup going forward. Here's the breakdown and what happened and why:

The first move was a big one. The team shipped new starter Floyd Bannister (9-6, 2.98, 130IP) along with 24 yr old prospect Orel Hershiser (3-3, 27G and 2 S in AAA) to the Royals in exchange for Roy Smalley (.282, 15HR, 39RBI) . The Dodgers had unsuccessfully pursued Smalley in the off season and his acquisition means that SS will be manned by a 2-time All Star and 1982 Silver Slugger at SS in the AL. Smalley is also under contract for 6 years.

The second trade came the next day. With Smalley manning short, Tack Wilson (.262, 3, 36) became a pawn. He was shipped to the Giants and coming back to the Dodgers is relief pitcher Greg Minton. Minton (2-2, 1S, 36IP, 3.75) was the closer for the Giants in '82, and did well, but lost his job to Al Holland in the off season. Also coming to LA, for the second time, is SS prospect Mariano Duncan, who has been everywhere from rookie ball to AAA.

The third and last trade before the deadline saw the end of a starting job for Dusty Baker. His productivity had been weak for an outfielder, if you think about '82 as being passable. He just wasn't cutting it. Out the door is RP Ted Power (10g, 13.2IP, 0.66ERA), who couldn't break into a regular spot in the bullpen. Once again, SS prospect Mariano Duncan is on the road. Both are heading to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for LF slugger Ron Kittle (.235, 11, 35). Kittle isn't much of defensive drop off from Baker, and he doesn't get on base nearly enough, but he does hit for power more than Baker.

This entire season has been a roll for this Dodger team. They've lead the league in pitching, runs scored and homeruns for most of the year and they were the first team to clinch a division. Our current record is 100-50. It's been a win 2 lose 1 kind of season. There are 12 games left in 1983, the team is primed to finish with a better record than in 1982 and again looks to be the favorite to win the Series. So hopes are seriously high that the moves that we've made are going to be enough to win it, and not choke in the Series like we did last year.

PilotMan · 03-12-2017, 11:09 PM

It's September 20^th, 1983

Here are your Los Angeles Dodgers (expanded roster edition)!

Pitching Staff

Starters

Fernando Valenzuela (18-10, 265IP, 2.24)
Bob Welch (17-8, 224.1, 3.09)
Jerry Reuss (13-6, 206, 3.28)
Burt Hooton (16-10, 178, 3.39)
Alejandro Pena (4-3, 98, 2.48)

Bullpen

Steve Howe ( 72IP, 1.63ERA, 33S)
Tom Neidenfeuer ( 66, 1.50, 8)
Greg Minton (52.1, 3.61, 3)
Dave Stewart (41.2, 3.61, 2)
Joe Beckwith (3, 6.00, 0)
John Franco (4, 6.75, 0)
Ricky Wright (0)
Doc Medich (38.1, 4.93, 0)
Michael Gentle (0)

Position Players

Catchers
Bob Brenly (133G 473AB, .243, 14, 51)
Mike Scioscia (43G, 82AB, .232, 2, 15)

Brenly has been steady behind the plate, and Scioscia isn't happy about not getting a shot.

First Base
Sid Bream (6G, 6AB, .000, 0, 1)
Greg Brock (67G, 219AB, .196, 10, 37)
Steve Garvey (134, 371, .267, 8, 42)

Bream is really tearing up AAA. Brock just isn't hitting well at all, and Garvey might work his way back to a starting job before long. Garvey will have 1 more year left on his contract.

Second Base
Tony Bernazard (129G, 261AB, .241, 4, 21)
Alex Tavares (4, 2, .500, 0, 1)

Steve Sax is rehabbing in AAA and should return shortly. I'd expect Bernazard to return to the bench when he does.

Third Base
Ron Cey (81, 89, .213, 2, 10)
Pedro Guerrero (145, 582, .320, 35, 90)

Guerrero has been a defensive liability all year, but he's in the race for MVP with a dominant year at the plate. He is in the last year of his deal as is Cey. This could be a problem if nothing is done.

Shortstop
Dave Anderson (14, 13, .231, 0, 2)
Larry Fobbs (5, 4, .500, 0, 2)
Roy Smalley (111, 414, .278, 22, 78)

Anderson has put together a couple of good years in AAA, but he is behind Smalley now and he has a long term deal.

Left Field
Dusty Baker (128, 386, .244, 9, 39)
Ron Kittle (48, 178, .253, 9, 26)

Baker will be a free agent after the season, and at 34 he isn't getting any younger.

Center Field
Franklin Stubbs (146, 563, .249, 27, 90)

Stubbs is likely to finish second in RoY voting and he's been a dangerous hitter for the team all year long. At this point, this is his position to lose for the future.

Right Field
Mike Marshall (143, 551, .310, 25, 87)
Tony Scott (5, 11, .182, 0, 1)

Marshall has rewarded the faithful in the front office with a tremendous season so far.

Top Prospects
Sid Bream (.295 20 69) in AAA
Sid Fernandez (14-7, 3.54) in AAA
John Franco (12-4, 4.47) in AAA
Ken Howell (15-7, 4.56) in AAA
Dave Anderson ( .280 2 37) in AAA

Personally, I really hate to see Hersheiser gone. He was always a favorite. At least we don't have to see him in the same division. First base is really backed up and the team has to decide whether or not Bream or Brock is worthy to succeed Garvey. There's some deep pitching there with Fernandez and Franco. Can the team keep them and find a home for them?

Young Drachma · 03-13-2017, 10:00 AM

Always a good time of year for a new OOTP dynasty, especially a replay.

PilotMan · 03-13-2017, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

Always a good time of year for a new OOTP dynasty, especially a replay.

Thanks, yeah, it's hard to put down right now.

---

So here we go.

9/20 8-3 L to the Astros
Mike Marshall leaves the game with an injury, yet to be determined. The Astros come back late and beat up on Greg Minton after Welch got ruffed up. The Marshall injury has me worried. Minton took the loss, Baker homered.

9/21 5-4 L to the Astros
For the second game in a row, the Astros light hitting, no-name, eight in the order batting, first basemen hit a grand slam. Then Burt Hooton left the game with an injury. Kittle and Smalley went deep back to back, then Dusty added a 2 run shot in the 9^th. Kittle came up next and flied out to deep left. No word yet on Marshall's injury. Also, news is out that Sax injured a finger during his rehab stint. He's back on the DL and done until the playoffs, again.

9/23 9-1W over Atlanta
The team goes on a hit parade early. Kittle hits a 3 run shot in the first. Guerrerro hits his 36^th in the 9^th. Pedro's 40^th error at third keeps Fernando from getting the shutout, but he throws his 12^th CG of the year. He is in the race for Cy Young again, but Atlee Hammaker is lights out this year.

The Dodgers released the medical on Hooton. He's done for the rest of this year and most of next with a ruptured UCL. That's bad news for sure, but the playoffs are looming and Hooton wouldn't have been a starter there. At the press conference today, Lasorda said that he would expect Pena to move up and Doc Medich to take over in the rotation for the rest of the short year. Still no news on Mike Marshall. Dusty Baker has been playing RF in his absence.

9/24 9-2 W over Atlanta
Kittle goes deep for the third straight game and Ron Cey hits his 3^rd, a PH homer off the bench. Jerry Reuss goes 7 for his 14^th win.

The medical report on Mike Marshall is out now and if you had bad thoughts, they came true. A torn labrum in his shoulder will keep him down for the rest of the season, but he'll be fine for opening day. Sucks to lose the second best offensive weapon on the team heading into the playoffs. Dusty better get his act together. The team has called up Tony Brewer (.299/22/111) from AAA to take Marshall's roster spot. This is Brewer's first shot at the big leagues, but he's a 2-time PCL All-Star. Scouts aren't high on him however. He could be the standard 4A player and he's nearly 26.

PilotMan · 03-14-2017, 11:24 AM

9/25 6-4 W over the Braves
We batted around in the first and put 5 on the board. Guerrero with his 41^st error. Welch goes 8 for his 18^th win. Howe gets his 34^th save.

9/26 2-1 L against the Reds
Pena goes the distance, gets PoG, but the offense can't pick him up. Smalley hits number 24. Guerrero with 2 more errors, now has 43. Are they really going to stick with him?

9/27 6-4 W over the Reds
The Dodgers hit 4 homeruns, Baker (12), Stubbs (28), Brenly (15), Kittle (13). Doc Medich pitches into the 8^th, and Minton looks bad in relief once again. Howe closes out for his 35^th.

9/28 5-4 L to the Padres
Fell behind early, but another Kittle would homer and tied it up. Valenzuela gave it right back in the bottom of the 8^th. Dusty would get us within striking distance with a 2-run homer, but Kittle would strike out to end it.

9/29 9-7 W over the Padres
This was a crazy game. We claw back from down 4-1 to make it a 1 run game. But Neidenfuer lets 5 baserunners on and gets really roughed up for the first time this year. Head into the top of the 9^th down 7-3 and the rally begins. Topped off by a Sid Bream, pinch hit, Grand Slam. The first homerun of his career, and the first hit of his career. Not a bad way to start Sid! John Franco gets his first career win. Howe shuts them down for his 36^th save.

Steve Garvey got back into the lineup as Greg Brock is sitting for a few with some knee soreness. That doesn't bode well for longevity when you're only 26. LA will finish the year off with a 3 game homestand against the Giants, who we have a losing record against, next. We just need 1 more win to better the record from 1982.

9/30 4-1 W over the Giants
We pick up win number 106. Roy Smalley goes deep 2 times and knocked in 3, he's got 26 now. Bob Welch goes 7 strong for his 19^th win and Howe gets 6 outs (4K's) for his 37^th save.

10/1 9-2 L to the Giants
Pena was ineffective today, walking 5 and giving up 7 hits. No real bright spots. There was a Dave Stewart sighting, as he pitched 2 scoreless.

10/2 3-1 W over the Giants
Doc Medich dominated allowing 4 hits and a run over 8 and a third. Roy Smalley went deep again for his 27^th and Howe cleaned up the last 2 outs for his 38^th save.

So the 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers are the NL West Champions with a 107-55 record. That is tops in baseball once again. A damn fine year for a fan, and once again, very high hopes for the playoffs.

PilotMan · 03-14-2017, 12:00 PM

1983 Playoff Preview

The ALCS matchup will be the Detroit Tigers (99-63) taking on the Minnesota Twins (89-73).

The Tigers are the defending World Series Champions and had to fight off both the Yankees and Blue Jays down to the final couple days to get in. All three teams won over 95 games. The Tigers are very well rounded 2^nd in avg, runs, home runs, runs against, and starter ERA. They are dangerous offensively, lead by Kirk Gibson (.283/35/98) and Lance Parrish (.256/30/108). They were able to replace Jack Morris with the addition of John Denny (19-13, 3.33) and Len Barker (19-8, 2.98) without losing a beat.

The Twins started the youth movement last year, and really kept it going through 1983. They are 5^th in avg, and home runs, 6^th in runs, while being 4^th in runs against and starters ERA. While playing in a weaker division they still couldn't clinch until the last week beating back the A's at the end. Offensively, they are lead by Gary Gaetti (.305/31/108) and Kent Hrbek (.286/32/105). The pitching staff is lead by Eric Show (acquired last year in a trade) (19-9, 3.68) and Frank Viola (15-11, 4.44).

The NLCS matchup will be the Los Angeles Dodgers (107-55) taking on the Montreal Expos (97-65) in a rematch of the 1982 NLCS.

The Expos built an incredible powerhouse on paper. The team is stacked, top to bottom, they are first in runs scored, avg, obp, 2^nd in HR's, 4^th in runs against and 3^rd in starters ERA. The lineup is deep, lead by Andre Dawson ( .322/28/94) and Gary Carter (.300/20/75), but they also claim such names Tim Raines (.327/6/73) and Lou Whitaker (.248/7/67). The pitching staff has 4 top level starters: John Candelaria (14-10, 2.50) is the ace. He pitched 2 no-hitters in 1983, one of them a perfect game. Steve Rogers (17-12, 3.88), Charlie Lea (14-12, 3.49) and Bob Knepper (17-7, 3.34). Bill Gullickson (13-7, 3.22), who won 20 last year, can't even break into the rotation in the playoffs. The team had invested over 6 mil in Larry Christenson, assuming he'd start, but he only pitched 21 games in relief. It's an embarrassment of riches.

LA, well, we're pretty good too. 2^nd in runs scored, 4^th in avg, 1^st in home runs, 2^nd in runs against, 1^st in starter and bullpen ERA. Guerrero finished with .318/36/93, while the rookie Stubbs hit .246/28/96. Valenzuela and Welch each won 19 with Valenzuela having a 2.27 ERA and 3.06 for Welch. The bullpen is the separating point though. All Steve Howe (1.62), Tom Neidenfuer (1.86) and Dave Stewart (1.54) had sub 2 ERA's.

The Tigers took 8 of 12 from the Twins. The Dodgers took 9 of 12 from the Expos. Those numbers suggest a rematch of the 1982 Series.

The final power rankings were:
Dodgers 1^st
Tigers 2^nd
Expos 4^th
Twins 8^th

The playoff roster only has a couple of surprises on it for the NLCS. Greg Brock is out and Sid Bream is in. Lasorda says to look for Garvey to be starting against the Expos. The Dodgers only have 1 LHP in the bullpen, and that's Howe. That might be a problem matchup wise.

Both Brock and potentially Sax could be back for the Series opener, if we can get that far.

PilotMan · 03-14-2017, 12:26 PM

Grading the 1983 Dodger trades

Floyd Bannister and Orel Hershiser to the Royals for Roy Smalley – B-

While Smalley added a ton of pop and finally shored up the defense at short, the loss of both an ace type pitcher and the top organization pitching prospect in return was short sighted. Smalley is 30, and although he has a long contract, his age will work against him. Smalley would have a better year for the Dodgers than Bannister and Hershiser would have for the Royals. Bannister had an ERA of 5.85 with a 3-8 record, while Orel posted a 9.00 ERA in 27 innings of work.

Tack Wilson to the Giants for Greg Minton and Mariano Duncan – B

Wilson could have been productive, but Minton was a known quantity of quality. Getting Duncan was a bonus. Wilson played well for the Giants, and Minton had a 6.05 ERA for LA, but the trade was tipped in the favor for LA overall because of Duncan and how they used him later on.

Ted Power and Mariano Duncan to the White Sox for Ron Kittle – B+

Minton made Power obsolete and Duncan was a freebie from the Giants while Kittle was a top prospect for the Sox in '82 and had already hit 32 HR in a season and a half. Being young, and a better fielder he easily displaced and improved on the production that the team was getting in LF. Kittle would finish with 25 HR combined and 72 RBI, while Power had a 6.50 ERA in light work. Duncan still looks like a solid prospect. Across all levels, he batted .315, with 74 RBI and 46 SB in the minors.

All in all, the trades really benefited the team. The pitching staff didn't suffer the losses, this year anyway, and the addition of Smalley and Kittle made the lineup very difficult to face top to bottom.

PilotMan · 03-14-2017, 06:01 PM

NLCS Game 1
10/5
Valenzuela v. Candelaria
4-0 L to the Expos
Valenzuela would struggle all game long. The Expos were able to bash out 13 hits over 8 innings and he would walk 4 more. Candelaria threw 7 shut out innings and the bullpen did the rest. Garvey had a 2 hit game, but that was it on offense.
Expos lead 1-0

Game 2
10/6
Welch v. Rogers
5-2 W over the Expos
This would be a reverse of game 1. LA knocked 12 hits off of Rogers in 6 innings, and 13 total. Only 1 would be for extra bases. Guerrero is in a hitting slump and made his second error of the post season. Smalley and Bernazard had 3 hits each. Welch went 7 strong for the win and Howe got the final 6 outs.
Series tied 1-1

Game 3
10/8
Reuss v. Lea
4-2 L to the Expos
Ok, this isn't funny right now. The team couldn't find much offense against Lea in this one. Guerrero had two hits and tied up the game at one point, only to see Gary Carter blast one off of Reuss that ended up being the difference in the game. Jeff Reardon came in and got the last 4 outs. The LA offense is faltering and now backs are against the wall.
Expos lead 2-1

Game 4
10/9
Valenzuela v. Knepper
3-0 W over the Expos
A great pitching dual. The Dodgers have a lot of right handed bats, but they have struggled with talented lefties all year long. Dusty Baker got us started with a homer in the 2^nd, and knocked in 2. Kittle had 3 hits. Valenzuela threw 7 shut out innings, and then Lasorda went to Howe for the last 6 outs. He struggled a little, throwing over 40 pitches, but he got the job done. Now it's down to 1.
Series tied 2-2

Game 5
10/11
Welch v. Candelaria
5-3 L to the Expos
Fucking hell.
Gary Carter started the game off with a first inning homer, that Steve Garvey was able to answer in the bottom of the inning. We would add a second on a Roy Smalley dinger in the 2^nd and all was looking good, except that we couldn't buy a hit. The Expos struck for 1 in the 4^th to tie it, then the 6^th inning came. Terry Francona, who had 1 HR all year long, hit a two run shot, followed by a Ken Phelps solo shot. Smalley would answer with another solo shot in the bottom of the inning to pull one back, and in the 9^th we'd threaten. We'd put runners on second and third with two out and Ron Cey pinch hitting. It was likely Cey's last at bat in a Dodger uniform and he grounded out to second to end it. The Candy Man shut us down for too long. Another talented lefty that the team couldn't figure out. Steve Sax was back for this game, but he went 0-4 and was a non-factor. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

Fuck.

Welch got nailed for 10 hits, 5 runs in 5.2 and served up 3 homers. We just couldn't match the firepower. All year long, we did, not this year. The Candy Man, John Candelaria, is the NLCS MVP.

The World Series is set. The Tigers did their part. They took care of the Twins in 4 and will face the Expos in what should be a great matchup.

Up next for the Dodgers is Free Agency. The team has a lot of money to spend, but will they?

PilotMan · 03-14-2017, 06:04 PM

I forgot to add that Welch left the game in the 6th inning with a shoulder issue. In a press conference the next day the issue is going to keep him out 4 months. He should be back for opening day, but he's also a potential free agent. What effect will this have on his ability to get paid, from LA, or anyone else?

PilotMan · 03-14-2017, 08:28 PM

The Detroit Tigers are the 1983 World Series Champions!

The Tigers took the series 4-2. Lance Parrish hit .375 and hit 3 home runs to take MVP honors. With the exception of game 2, when the Tigers won 10-2, each game was very close with the Tigers coming out just ahead in the end. That's back to back for the Tigers heading into 1984.

Post Season Awards
AL Gold Glove Winners

P Dave Stieb TOR
C Milt May BAL
1B Eddie Murray BAL
2B Randy Ready MIL
3B Buddy Bell TEX
SS Tony Phillips OAK
LF Rickey Henderson OAK
CF Lloyd Moseby TOR
RF Gorman Thomas TOR

NL Gold Glove Winners

P Allen Ripley CHI
C Ozzie Virgil PHI
1B Ray Knight HOU
2B Johnny Ray PIT
3B Luis Salazar SD
SS Dickie Thon HOU
LF Dale Murphy ATL
CF Eddie Milner CIN
RF Tony Gwynn SD

AL Rolaids Reliever of the Year
Goose Gossage NY (9-4, 1.55, 35/38 S , 63.2IP)

NL Rolaids Reliever of the Year
Steve Howe LAD (10-1, 1.62, 38/42 S, 77.2IP)

Niedenfuer finished 3^rd in voting.

AL Silver Sluggers

C Rich Gedman BOS
1B Willie Upshaw TOR
2B Marty Barrett BOS
3B Gary Gaetti MIN
SS Cal Ripken BAL
LF Ricky Henderson OAK
CF Dwayne Murphy MIL
RF Kirk Gibson DET
DH Greg Walker CHI

NL Silver Sluggers

P Rick Rhoden PIT
C Gary Carter MON
1B Andy Van Slyke STL
2B Johnny Ray PIT
3B Pedro Guerrero LAD
SS Dickie Thon HOU
LF Dale Murphy ATL
CF Andre Dawson MON
RF Tony Gwynn SD

AL Rookie of the Year

Greg Walker CHI (.282/31/93)

NL Rookie of the Year

Kevin McReynolds SD (.284/34/105)

Franklin Stubbs finished 2^nd on ROY voting.

Manager of the Year

Sparky Anderson DET
Tom Lasorda LAD

This feels like a gut punch that Lasorda wins Manger of the Year for the second year in a row, and we have nothing to show for it.

AL Cy Young Award

Dave Righetti NYY (20-3, 212.1IP 185K 2.08)

NL Cy Young Award

Atlee Hammaker SF (21-6, 269IP, 230K, 1.74)

Hammaker won the NL Pitching Triple Crown. Valenzuela was 2^nd in voting. Candelaria 3^rd.

AL MVP Award

Willie Upshaw TOR (.357, 233H, 42 2B, 6 3B, 44 HR, 165 RBI, 136 R)

Upshaw won the Triple Crown in the AL with his incredible, amazing, offensive blistering of AL pitching. Ripken was 2^nd, Trammell 3^rd.

NL MVP Award

Atlee Hammaker SF

Deserved. That was a big season, no question. Pedro Guerrero was 2^nd in voting. Andre Dawson 3^rd.

PilotMan · 03-15-2017, 09:53 PM

The Dodgers have made their first trade of the offseason. It's not terribly important except....

LA sends last years #1 pick Kurt Stillwell (.276/0/22 19SB between Rookie and A) along with P Mike Jones (8-5 4.93 100.1IP in AAA) who is a modest prospect who was a Class A Pitcher of the Year one year ago to the Phillies for infielder Tim Flannery (.268/0/11) and enough cash to offset about 1/4^th of his salary. Flannery was a starter for the Padres a year ago, and the word is he thinks he should be in the mix for LA. Except that at best, he's behind a whole bunch of other players. Not sure how or why on this one.

Dodgers Free Agency

From a fans perspective this is a scary offseason with Pedro Guerrero becoming a free agent. He stands as the probably the biggest name hitting free agency this year, and by finishing 2^nd for the MVP, he made up a large portion of the offense for the team. I really don't want to see him go.

Bob Welch is a staff ace. He may not be the #1 here, but he is good enough to be one somewhere else. Again, as important as he was last year, I really don't want to see him go. After that...

It's Dusty Baker. Baker had a few good games, and added a lot down the stretch, but his 1.4 WAR is probably replaceable and at 34 that number isn't going up anytime soon. There's not a lot of depth behind him however.

And then there's Ron Cey, a guy who went from hitting 29 HR's and had a 4.9 WAR in 1982 to losing his job and only 99 AB in 1983. The Penguin was our last out of 1983, and he's probably gone, but what happens if Guerrero goes? He could easily be a starter again.

Last is Doc Medich. A guy we gave up Ken Landreaux to get and who was going to be the #5 starter initially, but ended up being a long guy out of the bullpen until late in the season. Medich will be 35 in the spring, and he's put some good years in and is fairly reliable for innings. As deep as our staff is though, I just don't see a situation where he comes back again.

PilotMan · 03-15-2017, 09:56 PM

Hot Stove Notes

Bob Welch is gone to the KC Royals for 6 years/6.93M.

LA finds their replacement for Welch a few days later by signing John Denny away from the Tigers. He won the World Series last year, opted out of his 3yr deal there for more money. He signs for us for 6yrs/6M. So cheaper than Welch. He's a little older, but he is a bonafide ace pitcher.

The end of November the Dodgers consummated another trade, this time with the Padres. Here is the skinny: LA sends C Bob Brenly (.252/15/55) to the Padres for utility man Jim Pankovits (.313/6/34 in AAA) and P Kelly Downs (0-5, 3.46, 83.1IP). Downs was the #21 prospect in baseball in the spring of 1983 and at 23 he looks like a top line starter down the road. Depending on Scioscia, this looks like it has potential. Pankovits just adds gravy.

LA keeps spending. This time they've brought in an All-Star, Silver Slugger, and 3-time Gold Glove winner Dwayne Murphy. Murphy is 28 and hit 41 homers last year for the Brewers. He'll take over in CF and right now, Stubbs is getting pushed to LF. No comment from Kittle yet.

The next day Pedro Guerrero signs for the Phillies. He gets a 6yr/8.66M contract. At least he won't be around to commit 42 errors at third anymore. Still, that's a lot of offense to lose.

LA continues to commit to pitching. Prodigal son, Rich Rhoden is returning to the team, and coming off of a great year too. Rhoden went 21-13 last year with a 3.37 ERA in 272.1 IP. His deal is 3yrs/2.65M. That seems like a steal for another top level ace, who is only 30.

Now, let's get some more offense!

I'm watching free agency and all I can think is “fuck these Canadian teams.” How much talent is enough?!?!?!

Dang. LA is going with the full court press in pitching. Another pitcher is coming to LA. This time it's LHP Frank Tanana. Tanana (13-16, 3.65, 239IP) pitched for the Cardinals last year. His deal is 4yrs/3.1M with the 4^th year a player option year. Tanana is a 3-time All Star.

Whew. The rotation is sure going to look different in 1984. LA has penned another starter. This time it's RHP Milt Wilcox. Wilcox (13-14, 3.37, 254IP) pitched for the Twins last season and has been hit and miss over his career. His deal is 2yrs/1.22M and has to provide more insurance and depth the way that the Medich trade last year did.

1983 Top Five Draft Picks for the Dodgers

OF Doug Jennings (Sup 1^st)
3B Chuck Jackson (Sub 1^st)
1B Brad Pounders (3^rd)
P Joel Lono (4^th)
P Luis M de los Santos (5^th)

Woohoo.

Well now, this is interesting. Local boy Dwight Evans is coming back home. Big news today as the Dodgers got a deal too good to pass up. Evans (.271/30/96) brings a lot of pop, that our lineup was still missing from Guerrero's absence. The deal is 2yrs/2.16M, and even at 32, he's an Iron Man that will show up to play every day. As of right now it looks like both Stubbs and Kittle are out of the starting lineup. Evans is also a defensive stud, with a cannon for an arm. He pushes Marshall out of right over to left. It's a logjam now, but the team is still weak at 3B/SS (depending on where Smalley plays.)

The front office is busy, no question. Here's the low down on the latest trade:

The Dodgers get 2B Willie Randolph (.278/4/56), a 4-time All Star and Silver Slugger winner from the Mariners. They give up LHP Sid Fernandez (14-8, 3.53 at AAA, and Top PCL Pitcher and PCL MVP), IF Casey Candaele, a 1982 3^rd round pick, OF Stu Pederson (.269/9/52 combined minors), C Tony Merulla (.265/1/5 combined minors) and OF Reggie Montgomery (.273/8/64), a 5^th round pick in 1982, W.T.F. The top pitching prospect in the organization, along with 2 high level picks from a year ago, AND 2 other players. Holy crap. Now we have a major crowd at 2^nd base. I don't understand this deal at all.

The most recent signing for the Dodgers is Bobby Grich. Grich (.240/6/17) gets a 2yr/2.08M deal, with the second year being at the team option. He gets some good performance bonuses if he plays. He is a 5-time Gold Glove winner at 2^nd, 6-time All Star, and 2-time Silver Slugger, but...he rode the bench for the Angels last year and he's a primary second basemen. He'll be 35 by April. He's got a chance to win the job at third, but that's about it.

At least the team is spending money. I mean, damn, they are really putting it down. The newest arrival is veteran first basemen, Andre Thornton (.314/2/21). Thornton was actually voted in as an All Star last year, even though he wasn't the starter at first for the Pirates. He was coming off of a 31 hr, 130 RBI season in Cleveland before that. Even though he's 34, he's still got some skills. His deal is 2yrs/1.52M with the second year being a team option.

Another new outfielder. This time it's Ruppert Jones, who can't seem to get out of the NL West, having played for SD, ATL and HOU, the last couple years got a 3yr/1.51M contract. Jones (.248/6/21) , is a good defensive outfielder, and he's got an above average eye, and power. No idea how he'll get any playing time, but he's here now.

Other offseason signings include:

C Buck Martinez (.255/8/27)
SS UL Washington (.280/4/46)
P Dennis Eckersley (18-12, 263.2IP, 140K, 4.20)
OF George Foster (.296/13/83)
SS Gary Templeton (.279/5/47 21SB)
RP Rudy May (2-2, 15 S, 38.2IP, 1.63)

1984 Opening Day Roster

Starting Pitching

Fernando Valenzuela (19-11, 2.27)
Rick Rhoden (21-13, 3.37)
Frank Tanana (13-16, 3.65)
Alejandro Pena ( 4-5, 2.94)
Milt Wilcox (13-14, 3.47)

Bullpen

LR John Denny (19-13, 3.33)
LR Jerry Reuss (14-6, 3.27)
MR Dave Stewart (2-0, 2 S, 1.54)

SU Dennis Eckersley (18-12, 4.20)
SU Steve Howe (10-1, 38S, 1.62)

CL Tom Niedenfeuer (7-3, 8S, 1.86)

Catchers
Mike Scioscia (.227/2/17)
Buck Martinez (.255/8/27)

Looks like a Martinez will back up Scioscia, and possibly set up a platoon situation similar to what he had in Toronto.

First Base
Bobby Grich (.240/6/17)
Andre Thornton (.314/2/21)

Grich is going to start at first. Thornton could be, but for some reason he isn't. Garvey was designated for assignment, possibly getting released. Brock was optioned to AAA.

Second Base
Willie Randolph (.278/4/56)

It's all Randolph, no Sax, no Bernazard, both of them were optioned to AAA.

Third Base
Roy Smalley (.280/27/83)
Scotti Madison (.287/12/74 at AAA)

Smalley will improve our defense at third no question. Madision can play infield and catcher.

Shortstop
Garry Templeton (.279/5/47)
UL Washington (.280/4/46)

We're losing production here that we had last year. However, Templeton is quick, and he's a great fielder. We're going to save runs here.

Left Field
Mike Marshall (.310/25/87)
George Foster (.295/13/83)

Marshall is starting. One can only hope that his level of production is going to be close to what he did last year. Foster provides a nice option if he's hurt.

Center Field
Dwayne Murphy (.279/41/104)
Ruppert Jones (.248/6/21)

Murphy takes over. Jones can play all the outfield positions, he hits with power and isn't bad defensively. Probably an upgrade over Baker.

Right Field
Dwight Evans (.271/30/96)

Evans is backed up by Jones too.

So this is the new Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team for 1984. They look quite good on paper again. The newspaper has up picked to win the West again, with the best record in the National. So the expectation has to be a title. The team more than doubled the payroll for this year. There are All Stars at nearly every position. The rotation and bullpen are strong and deep.

So where are last years guys?

Garvey, Minton were both designated and taken off the 40-man. I'm guessing they both get claimed. Kittle, Stubbs, Sax, Bernazard, Bream, Brock, Brewer, Franco were all optioned to AAA. That AAA team is talented. Going to be a lot of unhappy players in the Dodgers organization. This team is built to win right now. If it doesn't happen this year the wheels might fall off.

Dusty Baker signed on with Boston and was moved to first base. Ron Cey is in Toronto. Doc Medich is in St Louis.

Play Ball!

PilotMan · 03-15-2017, 10:00 PM

FYI

Sid Fernandez is now the #4 prospect in MLB and the top LA prospect is ranked #91, Scotti Madison. There's not much left in the farm system.

CraigSca · 03-15-2017, 10:33 PM

Fun read. Looking forward to more.

tucking fypo · 03-16-2017, 08:37 PM

Great stuff here. Hate to give up Hershiser and Sid but a solid rotation and lineup for 1984. Time to get the title back to LA.

PilotMan · 03-17-2017, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CraigSca

Fun read. Looking forward to more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tucking fypo

Great stuff here. Hate to give up Hershiser and Sid but a solid rotation and lineup for 1984. Time to get the title back to LA.

Thanks guys.

---

Opening Day 1-0 Win over St Louis
Valenzuela puts together a really nice outing, but the improved defense made the difference. Evans threw out 2 from right, Scioscia threw out a baserunner. LA only had 3 hits the entire game and it was a single from Valenzuela that knocked in the winning run. Neidenfuer made it close, but picked up the save.

The team truly has moved on from 1981 now. It was likely to happen that Garvey would get claimed and now he has as he moves to Cincinnati to play for the Reds. He will be missed.

4/5 4-0 L to the Cardinals
Danny Cox absolutely shut us down over 8 innings allowing only 2 hits. It was a David Green 3-run bomb off Rhoden in the 4^th that was the difference.

4/6 13-0 W over the Pirates
After 1 run in 18 innings, we finally got off the schneid. Dewey broke it all open with his first in the first. After that, he was followed by the pitcher of all people, Alejandro Pena, hitting a 2-run shot, in his first at bat of the year. Murphy and Marshall would also get their firsts. Pena dominated over 8.1, and Eck finished.

Rudy May, whom the team signed for over 400k to a 1 year deal, found no home on the roster. He signed, waited for designation, refused to go to the minors, and was released 10 days later. Sign me up for that job.

4/7 4-1 W over the Pirates
A Ruppert Jones, pinch hit, 2-run double broke a tie in the 6^th. Tanana went 6 and the team scattered 10 hits. We were helped by 3 Pirate errors. Niedenfuer got his 2^nd save.

4/8 3-2 L to the Pirates
Both Valenzuela and DeLeon went deep into this game. Ellis Valentine hit a pinch hit, 2-run double, to put the Pirates up. Then in the 9^th, with Valentine in RF, known for his strong throwing arm, he threw out Smalley at the plate and that would be the run short that would keep us from tying it up.

4/9 5-4 W over the Cubs
Wilcox went 7 good innings, then wore down in the 8^th. Niedenfuer got the last 4 outs to hold on and get his 3^rd save. Marshall hit a 2-run homer.

With Greg Minton not getting picked up on waivers, he was released from the team.

4/11 3-1 W over the Cubs
Rhoden dominated allowing 1 hit through 8. He got into a bit of trouble in the 9^th, but Niedenfuer bailed him out for his 4^th save. The offense still isn't on track. We're getting by on pitching right now. Dwayne Murphy's only hit is his homerun from 5 days ago.

4/13 5-3 L to the Giants
The team ran into a buzzsaw named Atlee Hammaker. He shut us out through 8 innings. Scioscia started the 9^th off with a single, then with two out, and down to the last strike, pinch hitter, Andre Thornton drilled a pitch deep to left to tie it up. The Giants would rally off of Howe in the 10^th and we couldn't keep up.

4/14 4-0 W over the Giants
Dwayne Murphy finally got his second hit of the year. Alejandro Pena has now gone the first 16.1 innings of the year without allowing a run. Dewey hit #2 and Grich hit his first to power the offense. The team on the whole is batting near the Mendoza line. It's a miracle that we're 6-3.

PilotMan · 03-19-2017, 12:20 AM

4/15 5-3 W over the Giants
Bobby Grich went 3-4 with 3 RBI's and Evans hit a 2-run homer (3) to power the offense and give Frank Tanana (2-0) enough to knock off the Giants. Niedenfuer struck out 3 of the last 6 to claim his 5^th save.

4/16 6-5 W over the Astros
Mike Marshall went 4-5 with 2 RBI's and Templeton went 3-4 and scored twice. Rhoden (2-1) was cruising until Dale Murphy hit a 3-run homer to get the 'Stros back in it. Niedenfuer allowed a run in the 9^th, but buckled down for his 6^th save in 6 chances.

4/17 6-0 W over the Astros
Templeton went 2-5 with 2 RBI and Randolph went 2-4 with 2 RBI while Milt Wilcox (2-0) threw 8 1/3 shut out innings before getting the hook and Steve Howe finished. Team starters now have a 2.00 ERA and are really still carrying this team.

4/18 9-1 W over the Astros
Valenzuela (2-1) didn't allow a hit until the 5^th and pitched 8 innings, with Eck on mop up duty. Evans (4) hit a 2-run homer in the 6^th, and Murphy (2), who seems to be coming alive a little, drilled a 3-run bomb and knocked in 5. Nolan Ryan (0-3) did us a favor by walking 8 in 4 innings.

4/19 4-3 W over the Padres
The streak continues, that's 6 in a row. Dwight Evans went 3-5 and Pena went 8, but left after 8 with the game tied. Bottom of the 10^th it was Bobby Grich who sent all the fans home with a walk off homerun, his 2^nd off of Jimmy Key (0-1).

4/20 1-0 L to the Padres
Tough one to lose. Tanana went almost 8 without allowing a run. It was Steve Howe (0-2) who gave up the run in the ninth after Gwynn lead off with a triple. Dwight Evans got 2 hits to lead the Dodgers.

4/21 4-1 L to the Padres
I don't think we lost 1 series to the Padres all year last year, but we drop the first of this year thanks to another steady diet of left handed pitching. Ken Daley (1-1) did a number on us, followed by Jimmy Key and Gary Lucas and LA had no answers. Scioscia had 2 hits and caught 2 stealing, while Rhoden (2-2) struggled through 7 allowing 10 hits and 3 walks.

4/22 3-0 L to the Padres
The offense is not working right now. Milt Wilcox (2-1) had a good outing and it was wasted as he allowed 2 over 7. Juan Eichelberger (1-2) walked 6 and they missed those chances too. The best highlight was a Milt Wilcox double and Dwayne Murphy walking 3 times.

4/23 5-2 L to the Astros
This wasn't the same Ryan we beat up on before. He had a no hitter into the 7^th before Murphy hit a solo shot, his 3^rd. That was all the offense worth mentioning. Valenzuela (2-2) allowed 5 in 6.2. Denny saw his first innings of the year.

4/24 9-5 W (10) over the Astros
This game had it all. Pena started, got into trouble in the 2^nd inning and LA fell behind 2-0 early. Dwayne Murphy's 3-run homer (4) in the 4^th got us back in it. Pena pitched 6 good innings, and George Foster (on for an injured Grich) hit his first for another run, but a single barrage against Eck in the 7^th cost us the lead. LA would tie it up in the 9^th and in the tenth, with the bases loaded Mike Marshall would send them home with a grand slam, his 3^rd of the year off of Mike LaCoss. Niedenfuer (2-0) pitched 2 scoreless for the win. Bobby Grich left the game with a mild hamstring strain. He's not on the DL.

4/25 4-1 L to the Astros
Another series loss for this team. Jack Morris (3-1) pitched 8 strong, striking out 7. Tom Candiotti got his first save. Frank Tanana would pitch alright, but not good enough. Bobby Grich, nursing the hamstring injury, got 2 hits. George Foster left with a sore knee.

Rudy May was signed to a 1-year deal, but … idk, it's just one of those things. He's still not been designated yet. He must have dirt on the GM.

4/26 4-3 W over the Padres
Tim Flannery has only been on the active roster for a few days, but starting at third today, he hit 2 triples and knocked in a run to spear the team to victory. Rhoden (3-2) went 8, even if it was uneven. Niedenfeur picked up the save, his 7^th, but Kevin McReynolds took him to the fence with a runner on for the last out.

And to no one's surprise, Rudy May is released...again. Lol.

4/27 5-3 W over the Padres
Wilcox (3-1) did what a 5^th starter needed to do and put the team in the position to win the game. The team beat up on Juan Eichelberger. He allowed 9 hits and 5 walks in less than 6 innings. Marshall hit his 4^th, a two-run shot in the first and the team never looked back. Steve Howe came on and got his first save of 1984.

4/28 4-0 W over the Padres
Now we're at 3 in a row. Valenzuela (3-2) recovered from his last 2 shaky outings, goes the distance, gets his first shutout of the year, and strikes out 9. The player of the game though, was Willie Randolph. Randolph lead off, went 4-4, with 2 runs and 2 RBI's. One of those hits was a 2-run shot in the 5^th, his first. Evans hit his 6^th, a solo shot in the 4^th.

Mike Scott throws a no-hitter for the Mets over the Philies.

4/29 11-5 W over the Padres
A sweep and with that win, we've nearly erased the effects of that losing streak. Dwight Evans continues his April Assault. He went 3-4, with 2 homers and 5 rbi's. He's got 8 homeruns now. Templeton and Smalley both had 3 hits each. Both teams combined for 25 hits. Pena (3-0) went 6 for the win.

4/30 7-2 W over the Giants
Frank Tanana (3-1) was a one man wrecking crew. He went struck out 8 over 8 AND lead the hit parade going 2-4 with a double and 3 rbi's. Templeton went 3-4. The Giants used 6 pitchers in a losing effort.

PilotMan · 03-19-2017, 12:21 AM

April Roundup

Expectations are high and the Dodgers started off strong by finishing on a 5 game win streak for a record of 17-8. We have a 3.5 game lead over the Braves. Only 6.5 games separate first and last. LA has the second best record in MLB behind the Blue Jays, whose record stands at 18-6.

Dwight Evans won NL batter of the month for April. He batted .310 and leads the NL with 8 home runs and 21 RBI's.

The team is only hitting .245, good for 5^th in the NL, but they lead in OBP. The Dodgers are first in runs scored, homeruns, and walks. As far as pitching goes, we are 3^rd in ERA and tied for 2^nd in runs allowed. Defensively, the team is 6^th in efficiency. The improvements on defense have been obvious in the games.

Remarkably, the team can't seem to struggle at home where their record is only 9-8, but they are an undefeated 8-0 on the road.

The front office made a couple of roster moves to start the new month. First, and in a bit of a shocker, Mike Marshall (.250/4/18) is optioned to AAA. Franklin Stubbs (.370/4/13 in Albuquerque) is recalled to take his place. George Foster is going to take over in left for Marshall and Stubbs, along with Ruppert Jones will backup all three outfield positions.

Second, Buck Martinez (0-11 in 4 games) was designated and placed on waivers. He's likely to be released. Taking his place is prospect Scotti Madison (.310/2/12 in AAA).

Last is some confidence in Dennis Eckersley. He was only on a 1 year deal, but was just signed to a 2-year extension. Year 2, or 1986, will be his option, so it really only keeps him for an additional year.

PilotMan · 03-19-2017, 01:19 PM

5/1 3-1 W over the Giants
Rhoden (4-2) cleaned up his act for this one, pitching 8, allowing 4 hits with 5 k's. Niedenfuer pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 8^th save in 8 chances. Willie Randolph and Dwight Evans provided the offense with two hits each. Randolph knocked in 2 with a double in the 5^th.

5/2 4-1 L to the Giants
Our first road loss of the year comes in May. I guess that's alright. Atlee Hammaker (2-2) just owns this team right now. He struck out 8. George Foster hit cleanup and grounded into 2 double plays. He's hitting .161 right now. Not sure getting rid of Marshall for him was the right move. Rob Deer hit a triple and home run and knocked in all 4 runs for the Giants. Wilcox (3-2) took the loss.

5/4 8-4 W over the Pirates
The offense bailed out a sub par pitching performance by Fernando Valenzuela. Roy Smalley hit a solo shot in the 3^rd (2) and lead the offense going 2-3 with 3 rbi's. Eck (1-0) came on in relief and pitched 2 scoreless. With the Dodgers still down by a run in the 9^th and two out Don Robinson (0-4) walked 3 straight batters, then faced Dwayne Murphy who was only hitting .196. Murphy hit a grand slam, his 5^th , into the centerfield seats. Howe came on and left in the 9^th with an injury. Stewart finished.

Lasorda announced that Howe is on the DL with shoulder tendinitis. He expects to be out for 2 weeks. John Franco was called up from AAA to take his roster spot.

5/5 4-2 (10) W over the Pirates
A see saw affair where the Pirates went up in the 8^th when Johnny Ray his a homer off of Eck, in a tied game. Guante (0-2) came on in the 9^th to close it out, but walked 2. Smalley moved them over, then Ruppert Jones his a sac fly that scored Evans. In the 10^th, Scioscia walked to lead off against Guante, then Randolph would score him later. It could've gotten broken wide open though. Niedenfuer (3-0) got the win and John Denny finished for his first save.

5/6 8-7 W over the Pirates
By all rights, this should have been a loss. Rick Rhoden was the victim of 2 errors in the 8^th that ultimately ended up loading the bases, while LA was still up by 1. He then allowed a Chris Chambliss grand slam with 2 out and 2 strikes. That put the Pirates up 7-4. John Denny (1-0) came on for the last out of the 8^th. The 9^th saw hits by UL Washington, Sid Bream, Scotti Madison, along with 3 walks. Rod Scurry got in trouble, but it was Tom Henke (1-1) who failed to keep it close. Niedenfuer pitched another scoreless 9^th for his 9^th save.

Buck Martinez wasn't claimed, and is back on the roster again. Madison was optioned.

5/7 3-2 L to the Cardinals
Tanana (3-2) pitched good, but Lasorda left him in too long. The Cards scored all their runs in the 8^th. LA loaded the bases in the 9^th with Evans at the plate, but he struck out to end it. Evans lead the team going 3-4 and hit his 9^th home run of the year.

5/8 5-2 (10) W over the Cardinals
LA hit only 1 extra base hit in this one. The other 16 hits were all singles. Wilcox started, went 7, but it was Eckersley (2-0) who got the win. Sid Bream's single in the 10^th to knock in 2 put LA in front for good. Randolph had 3 hits to lead the team. Niedenfeur struck out the side in the 10^th for his 10^th save.

5/9 14-7 W over the Cubs
The teams combined for 6 errors, 28 hits, 21 runs. Jody Davis, the Cubs catcher, hit 2 home runs. Every Dodger got a hit, except for Bobby Grich. Roy Smalley and Willie Randolph had 3 hits each. Even Valenzuela (4-2) had 2 doubles. Franklin Stubbs hit a pinch hit homer for his first of the year.

5/10 7-2 W over the Cubs
LA strikes for 6 runs in the top of the 9^th facing Lee Smith. Pena went into the 7^th, but Eckersley (3-0) picked up the win. Bobby Grich, went 2-4, and cleared the bases with a double in the 9^th.

5/11 1-0 W over the Mets
Rhoden and Gooden (5-3) went toe to toe for the entire game. It would only be a single by Willie Randolph, knocking in Buck Martinez. Eckersley (4-0) threw 2 pitches to get one out in the 8^th and got the win. Tom Niedenfeur pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 11^th save.

5/12 4-2 W over the Mets
Frank Tanana (4-2) allowed 3 hits in 8 innings, but two of those hits were home runs. Franklin Stubbs hit his second HR, while Roy Smalley hit his 3^rd. Murphy had 2 rbis. Niedenfeuer picked up his 12^th save.

5/13 6-5 W over the Mets
The wins just keep rolling along. Milt Wilcox (4-2) picked up the player of the game, going 8 and striking out 7. George Foster lead the offense going 2-3, with 2 rbi's. John Denny came on in the 9^th to pick up his second save.

5/14 4-1 W over the Phillies
Valenzuela (5-2) allowed 2 hits over 8 innings and struck out 6. George Foster his his second home run of the year, and Tom Niedenfuer closed out for his 13^th save. We see Pedro Guerrero for the first time since leaving LA. He goes 1-4 with a strikeout. It doesn't get anymore text book for a win, than good pitching and a good enough offense. The Dodgers record in May is pushed to 11-2.

5/15 4-2 W over the Phillies
Alejandro Pena (4-0) held the Phillies to 4 hits and a walk while striking out 8 in 8 innings to get the player of the game. George Foster went 2-4 and Evans picked up 2 more NL leading rbi's. Niedenfuer, who has been getting a lot of work, struggled a little, but held on to get his 14^th save. Guerrero went 2-4 with a triple off of Niedenfuer.

PilotMan · 03-21-2017, 12:11 PM

5/16 5-3 W over the Phillies
Rhoden (5-2) struggled walking 5 and allowing 7 hits through 6, but the bullpen held things down striking out 6 in the last 3 innings. Sid Bream pinch hit for Rhoden in the 6^th and broke up the no-hitter. Three batters later Dwight Evans hit a grand slam, his 10^th of the year. That's all the offense LA would need. Dave Stewart closed for his first save.

5/18 7-4 W over the Expos
LA took a 7-1 lead into the 9^th. Niedenfuer had to come on to stop the bleeding. He picked up his 15^th save. Tanana (5-2) pitched into the 8^th before giving way. Gary Templeton lead the offense. He went 2-3 with a couple of rbi's. LA has won 10 in a row.

5/19 11-9 L (13) to the Expos
Crazy game. Five lead changes, 7 home runs. Dave Stewart (0-1) served up a home run to Gary Carter in the 12^th and a grand slam to Tim Raines in the 13^th. Even then LA mounted a come back with Mike Scioscia's first dinger, but it was too late. Scioscia had 4 hits, Bobby Grich had 4 rbi's and his 3^rd HR of the year. Niedenfuer had his first blown save of the year.

5/20 7-1 W over the Expos
Alejandro Pena (5-0) struck out 9 over 8 in another dominating performance. Stubbs hit his 3^rd in the first, Dwayne Murphy his 6^th in the 6^th and George Foster hit his 3^rd in the 7^th. Bill Gullickson (5-4) took the loss.

5/22 14-3 W over the Phillies
The LA defense kept the Phils to a fg to keep up the good start to the year. Rick Rhoden improved to 6-2, only throwing 69 pitches over 6. George Foster had a breakout game going 3-3 with his 4^th HR and 4 RBI's. Every starter had at least 1 hit. Dwayne Murphy hit his 7^th. This team has started so well, that it's nearing the end of May, and Jerry Reuss, who was relegated to the bullpen, finally saw his first inning of 1984.

5/23 2-1 L to the Phillies
Kevin Gross (4-0) won the dual with Frank Tanana (5-3) as both pitchers had good games. LA had opportunities, but failed, while the Phils did more with less. Willie Randolph went 2-4.

5/24 6-2 W over the Phillies
Valenzuela (6-2) struck out 9, but gave up 9 hits in 6 innings of work, along with 2 home runs. Scioscia hit #2, Grich #4, and Foster hit #5. LA scored in each of the first 5 innings and would not look back. Randolph went 2-4 and scored twice. Guerrero made his 8^th error, which doesn't see so bad right now.

5/25 7-3 W over the Mets
Dwayne Murphy has been steadily getting hotter. He's gotten his avg up to .264 and is now among the league leaders in RBI's. He went 2-3, and hit his 8^th HR of the year, with 2 walks to lead the team. Alejandro Pena (6-0) struck out 8 and Niedenfuer got the last 4 outs for his 16^th save.

5/26 6-4 W over the Mets
Dwight Evans went 3-4 to keep his hot start going. Wilcox (5-2) only got 68 pitches in. His day was inturruped by a 64 min rain delay. John Denny, Steve Howe bridged the gap, and Dennis Eckersley got his first save of the year.

5/27 5-1 L to the Mets
Doc Gooden (6-5) shut us down, while Rhoden (6-3) took the loss in a rough outing. Buck Martinez had 2 of the team's 4 hits.

5/28 5-1 L to the Expos
Back to back losses for the first time since April 23^rd. The double team of Dawson and Carter sunk the Dodgers on this day. Frank Tanana (5-4) wasn't on his “A” game and the offense didn't bail him out. LA fell behind early and couldn't get on track. Dave Rozema pitched the rare, 3 inning save to close it out.

5/29 3-2 W over the Expos
This battle between these teams is still hot. Valenzuela (7-2) pitched 8. Niedenfeur came on for his 17^th save, although he did let the tying run get to 3^rd with 1 out. The offense was powered by a couple of Dwayne Murphy sac flies. He leads the NL in RBI's now.

5/30 2-1 L to the Expos
Another series loss to the team we're most likely to play again in the playoffs. John Candelaria (5-2) just rolled, striking out 11. LA didn't even get on the board until Foster hit his 6^th in the 9^th off of Reardon. Pena (6-1) took the loss.

PilotMan · 03-21-2017, 03:11 PM

May Roundup

There's very little to complain about in a month when your favorite team goes 20-7. The Dodgers continued their April push and turned things up a bit. The team currently sits with a 37-15 record, and it 9 games ahead of second place, Houston Astros.

The NL West isn't has tough as it was last season, which should make the timeline to clinch easier. Even if the team plays .500 ball the rest of the year they'll finish with 92 wins. If the Astros continue to play at their same rate of .540 they will only have 87 wins. So the lead there is substantial.

Burt Hooton is still a month away from returning and other than that the team is healthy.

LA is first in runs scored and obp, but 7^th in avg, with a team avg of .255. LA is 3^rd in HR's. In addition to first in runs, they are also first in runs against, and first in starter ERA. The bullpen has dropped off from last year, ranking 6^th, but the biggest improvement has been on defense where they are ranked #2.

There haven't been any major transactions lately and no major lineup moves.

Every single starter from 1-5 has a sub 3 ERA and a winning record. Dave Stewart and John Denny have been struggling in the bullpen, but they've still barely been used. Niedenfuer's 27 innings of work lead the team and so does his 1.00 ERA.

Willie Randolph has had a much better year than anyone anticipated. Between his defense and his ability to draw walks and get on base, he's near the top in WAR. Steve Garvey, leads the NL in hits with 73 and is batting .329. Maybe letting him walk wasn't that great of an idea just yet.

Speaking of OBP, the team has 4 players in the top 5 in BB. They are Murphy, Randolph, Evans, and Grich. All new faces, and clearly part of the offseason talent acquisition process.

John Candelaria and Alejandro Pena are the early season front runners for NL Cy Young.

PilotMan · 03-24-2017, 08:18 PM

6/1 6-1 L to the Astros
It might be easy to blame Rhoden (6-4) for not getting the QS here, but it's really the offense that couldn't get anything going. The bullpen combination of Stewart and Denny combined to give up another 3 runs as their struggles continued. Dwight Evans picked up a couple hits, but that's about all worth mentioning. Dwayne Murphy left the game in the first after some discomfort in the field.

6/2 5-4 (10) W over the Astros
Frank Tanana served up 2 home runs and the team was down in the 9^th when Bobby Grich tied the game with his 5^th home run off of Frank DiPino (2-3). He then came up on the bottom of the 10^th with the bases loaded and an error by Ray Knight let the winning run score. Niedenfuer (4-0) got the win.

6/3 8-3 W over the Astros
LA scored 6 runs in the first 3 innings off of Don Sutton (3-4) and never looked back. Valenzuela (8-2) went 8 and Gary Templeton went 3-5 with 3 RBI's and his first HR of the year.

Sigh of relief on Dwayne Murphy. What initially looked more serious turned out to be an oblique strain and he's only going to miss a couple of weeks. He's on the DL. Expect Stubbs to continue to start in center field.

6/4 4-3 L to the Reds
The Reds are full of ex-Dodgers. Steve Garvey knocked a 2 run double to put the Reds in front over LA. We also saw former prospect Dave Anderson and vet Juan Beniquez. In the 8^th, LA got the bases loaded with 3 walks with 2 out, only to have Roy Smalley strike out. Alejandro Pena (6-2) took the loss.

6/5 3-2 W over the Reds
Garvey almost did us in again getting both rbi's on a single in the 3^rd. The game stayed tied until the bottom of the ninth when newly recalled Mike Marshall sent the fans home with a walk off home run, his 5^th. Smalley (4^th) and Grich (6^th) also homered as all three runs were solo shots. Niedenfuer (5-0) won again.

6/6 7-3 W over the Reds
Gary Templeton went 3-3 and Mike Marshall hit #6 and Rick Rhoden (7-4) went 8 for the win. Eric Davis hit 2 HR's for the Reds. We finally kept Garvey hitless. Howe pitched a scoreless 9^th.

6/7 5-3 L to the Braves
Craig McMurtry (4-4) allowed 2 hits through 8 and shut us down. Templeton picked up a couple rbi's but that's all we got. Tanana (5-5) struggled through 7.

6/8 7-2 W over the Braves
Willie Randolph and Dwight Evans provided firepower with their 2^nd and 11^th home runs respectively, but it was the 8^th inning grand slam by Mike Scioscia (3^rd) that broke the game open. Fernando Valenzuela (9-2) went the distance, striking out 6.

6/9 3-1 W over the Braves
Pascual Perez took a no-hitter into the 6^th and allowed 2 over 8. He turned the ball over to Bob Shirley and the wheels fell off. He walked Evans and Stubbs, then Mike Marshall walked us off again with his 7^th home run. Pena pitched hard through 8, but Neidenfuer got another win to push his record to 6-0.

6/10 4-3 (11) W over the Braves
For the second game in a row LA was shut down by a starter and the second time we got it back off the bullpen. Again it was Bob Shirley who let in 3 in the ninth to send it to extras. Then, the first batter that Jose Rijo (2-3) faced was Willie Randolph and with one swing, he sent them home. His 3^rd of the year. Neidenfuer again, pitched 2 scoreless and claimed another win. His record is 7-0.

6/11 9-4 W over the Giants
Atlee Hammaker looked like he had our number again, but a couple errors and we chipped away at him and got him out in the 6^th. LA broke it open in the 7^th off of the bullpen. Ron Kittle got his first at bats of 1984 as Stubbs was optioned. He went 2-5, Scioscia went 3-5 and Evans 3-3. Eckersley moved his record to 5-0.

6/12 6-2 W over the Giants
Tanana (6-5) served up 2 home runs and LA fell behind, yet again. He settled down though and struck out 12 in a complete game finish. The offense was all pretty much a Buck Martinez, bases loaded, triple. Willie Randolph went 3-4 with 2 RBI's to help.

6/13 3-0 W over the Giants
Fernanado Valenzuela (10-2) goes the distance for the shutout. He struck out the side in the 9^th. Bobby Grich hit his 7^th.

6/14 2-0 W over the Astros
Alejandro Pena (7-2) faced the minimum 27 batters allowing 1 hit and 1 error on Gary Templeton. Two double plays kept it to the minimum. He struck out 7. Dwight Evans hit his 12^th home run. This pitching just keeps on pushing the team forward.

6/15 4-1 L to the Astros
Ruppert Jones finally hit his first home run and added 2 hits, but that was all the team could muster. Milt Wilcox (5-3) took the loss, even though he went 7 good innings. Ed Whitson (4-0) took us out and ended our streak.

JonInMiddleGA · 03-24-2017, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Niedenfuer (5-0) won again.

In some dynasty, at some point, with some game or another ... I had Niedenfuer go something crazy like 19-0 in relief one season.

You just need him to pick up the pace a little

PilotMan · 03-27-2017, 11:33 PM

6/16 6-2 W over the Astros
Nolan Ryan (7-7) really struggles against our picky offense. Three walks in a row, gave way to Ruppert Jones, who hit his 2^nd home run of the year, this one cleared the bases and opened the game up for LA. Rhoden (8-4) pitched well, going 8. Dwayne Murphy made his return from his injury and went 1-3 with a run and an rbi.

6/17 4-2 W over the Astros
Sid Bream went 3-4 on a rest day for Bobby Grich, and Dwight Evans hit his13th homerun. Frank Tanana (7-5) was player of the game though, as he pitched 8, allowed 3 hits and struck out 5. Niedenfeur pitched a quiet 9^th for his 18^th save. LA wins it's 50^th game of the year. From this point on. If LA only wins half of it's games and the 2^nd place Reds continue at their current pace, LA will win the West by 14 games. It's June 17.

Not a good day for ex-Dodgers. Both Dave Anderson and Doc Medich are declared lost for the rest of the year.

6/19 11-2 L to the Reds
Things were rolling right along with a 1-0 lead in the 6^th. Then the Reds got a HR from Eddie Milner, then in the 8^th they just plain went nuts with 8 runs off of Pena (7-3) and Howe.

6/20 12-1 W over the Reds
A little payback for yesterday. Three big performances in this one. First was Valenzuela (11-2) going 8 and striking out 9. Next was Mike Marshall, hitting 2 HR's, his 8^th and 9^th. Last was Scioscia, going 3-5 and knocking 3. By the top of the 4^th it was 10-0. Willie Randolph scored 4 times and he barely gets a mention.

6/21 5-4 (13) W over the Reds
Game was tied 3-3 after 9. Rhoden and Liebrandt both went deep. Randolph (3-5) and Evans (2-4, 2 RBI's) again carried the bulk of the offense. Bobby Grich hit a 2-run double in the 13^th, and Eckersley gave one back, but still nailed it down for the win. He's run his record to 6-0. That makes him and Neidenfuer a combined 13-0.

Ron Kittle is just tearing up AAA. He's got 22 HR's in 53 games and is hitting .347. That's enough that George Foster and his .236 avg and 6 HR's was put on waivers and taken off the 40-man. Kittle got promoted in his place.

6/22 6-0 W over the Reds
Milt Wilcox (6-3) pitched into the 9^th, but didn't get the shutout. Dwayne Murphy went 4-5 and Bobby Grich had 3 rbi's.

6/23 4-3 L to the Braves
Both pitchers struggled early, then settle down. Tanana (7-6) got into trouble in the 7^th and Dave Stewart couldn't keep the door closed and allowed the go ahead run. LA left 9 runners on base and threatened. Dwayne Murphy hit a 3-run HR in the 1^st inning. His 9^th.

6/24 6-1 W over the Braves
A pair of two run home runs from Dewey (14, 15) and a solo shot from Stubbs (4) powered LA to another win. Even without all the offense Pena (8-3) was in control all game. He goes the distance, while striking out 8. Willie Randolph had another 3-5 day.

Bunch of roster moves. George Foster went unclaimed and he's back on the roster with both Kittle and Marshall going back down. Burt Hooton is finally starting his rehab assignment after his UCL repair.

6/25 8-7 L to the Padres
This was not the typical game. LA blew a 5 run lead when it was over. Valenzuela gave up 10 hits and 5 runs over 7. The team had 3 errors. Niedenfuer (7-1) blew his second save of the year and took his first loss. He ended up leaving the game in the 9^th with a foot problem that didn't look serious. Dewey cracked his 16^th and the bottom 4 batters, Grich, Templeton, Smalley and Valenzuela all had 2 hit games.

6/26 9-0 L to the Padres
Errors cost the team again as SD put up 5 in the first 3 innings. Rhoden (8-5) didn't pitch poorly, but he wasn't helped either. Grich went 3-4 and the team left 9 on. First back to back losses since 5/31-6/1.

6/27 5-0 W over the Padres
Milt Wilcox (7-3) played the role of stopper today with a 2-hit shutout of the Padres. The team cracked off 10 hits off of Ken Daley. Dwayne Murphy hit a monster 450 ft HR, his 10^th. Foster (7) and Dwight Evans (17) also smashed big flies.

Somehow, Charlie Hough (9-7), threw a no-hitter against the Indians, WALKING NONE! That knuckleball was totally rocking.

6/28 4-3 L to the Cubs
Another less than stellar Frank Tanana (7-7) outing. He allowed 4 in 7 innings. Lee Smith struck out the side in the bottom of the 9^th to get his 10^th save. Little used utility man, Tim Flannery, provided the offense, going 3-4, with a double and 2 runs scored.

6/29 7-2 W over the Cubs
Alejandro Pena (9-3) had all his pitches working this day. He struck out 13 Cubs, and at one point, struck out 7 in a row. He was supported by a trio of homeruns. Dwight Evans (18) and George Foster (8) went back to back in the second and Bobby Grich (8) hit his in the 5^th.

6/30 8-5 L to the Cubs
Errors cost LA 3 unearned runs in this one. All middle infield errors, which has been rare this year. Valenzuela (11-3) didn't have a good outing. Murphy hit number 11 in the 6^th and Stubbs hit number 5 in the 9^th. Evans came up as the tying run in the bottom of the 9^th, but grounded out to end it. Mike Scioscia was hurt in a collision at second.

PilotMan · 03-27-2017, 11:33 PM

June Recap

How can a 19-10 month be underwhelming? No idea. It was a great month for the Dodgers. They sit with the best record in baseball at 56-25 as the break approaches. Another 50 wins will equal last year's total. LA is a full 15 games up on the Reds and Padres. The magic number is 67. It's not even the break yet. It should be just a matter of time before the pennant is ours. Yet LA only has the lead on the best record by 2 games. Montreal is in full control in the East.

LA released a statement on Scioscia. He's going to be out until August at least with a back issue. That's not great. He's not been a big offensive producer, but his defense has been good and he gets on base. This will push Buck Martinez into the starting role. He's also good defensively, but he's lost a step and isn't much of an offensive threat.

From last year to this year, the biggest change has been on defense. LA has the #1 defensive team in baseball. It shows. Many of the games that we've lost have been because of defensive issues in that game. Randolph and Templeton have been outstanding and a massive improvement.

Offensively, the team is slightly behind last year's team. They are 2^nd in runs scored, 5^th in avg, but first in obp and hr's. The pitching staff is similar. With them being first in runs against, and starter ERA. While the bullpen is a lowly 4^h. Not nearly as good at that 1^st last year.

Still, this is a good team.

Willie Randolph has to go to the AS game. He's been nothing short of a stud. Dwight Evans has been the bullwark of offense in most games and Dwayne Murphy is slowly recovering from that poor start.

The starters have been carrying this team mostly. Tanana may be losing favor with Lasorda, and Wilcox might be getting a bump. Tanana is the only starter with an ERA above 3. Pena is a legit Cy Young candidate at this point and Neidenfuer has a shot as the fireman award.

Team health will be key as we turn the season toward the homestretch. It looks like the pennant is ours to lose, but there are 5 other good teams in the league that can easily take us out. We've seen it each of the last couple years.

Balldog · 03-28-2017, 06:35 AM

This is great! Will be interesting to see Hersheiser turns out as a Royal.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

PilotMan · 03-30-2017, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Balldog

This is great! Will be interesting to see Hersheiser turns out as a Royal.

Thank you!

If any of you are curious to the backstory and game story of any players I'll be happy to drop that info in the dynasty.

---

7/1 7-2 W over the Cubs
Rick Rhoden (9-5) had to spread out 8 hits and only went 6 innings, but he got enough support from the offense to get the W. LA put up 5 runs in the 5^th inning and of the 12 hits the team got none were for extra bases. So this was all singles and walks. Tim Flannery got a rare start at 2B, lead off, and went 3-5.

7/2 5-3 W over the Cubs
It was a see-saw affair today. Milt Wilcox (8-3) went 7 and got the player of the game, striking out 7. He did serve up a couple of gopher balls, but Niedenfeur came on and got the final 6 outs with only 13 pitches. Twelve of them were strikes. Stubbs, played in CF and went 2-3, with a pair of rbi's.

7/3 6-2 W over the Pirates
Great outing from Tanana (8-7). He went 8, allowed 4 hits and struck out 5. George Foster got us going right with a 2-run shot in the first, his 9^th of the year. Eckersley allowed the bases loaded in the 9^th, but coaxed a popout from Gary Maddox to end it.

7/4 3-1 L to the Pirates
A young, 21-year old Juan Guzman (1-1) got his first career win, in his third pro start against LA today. He went 6, striking out 5. Tom Henke and Don Robinson finished for the Pirates. The bad news of the day, the scary news, is that Alejandro Pena left the game in the 2^nd inning. Jerry Reuss (0-1), who only had 3 innings of work on the year up to this point, came on and nearly went 4.

Alejandro Pena is suffering some back stiffness. He will be out a couple weeks, and he's on the 15-day DL. Not great, but better than a long term injury that would hurt our championship hopes and dreams anyway. John Franco is called up to take his roster spot and Eckersley has been bumped to the rotation.

Shocking roster move today. No idea what the GM is thinking on this one. Gary Templeton has been placed on waivers and taken off the 40-man. Clearly it's a move to dump him. He's hitting .255, with a .285 obp. He's only made 9 errors at short, and has stolen 13 bases. It's unclear, but it's looking like some mix of UL Washington, Roy Smalley, with Grich sliding between first and third, and some amount of Stubbs at first. It's a strange move, but the team is deep enough to handle it. Sid Bream was recalled and took Templeton's roster spot.

7/5 3-1 L to the Cardinals
Valenzuela (11-4) takes the loss, going the distance. Danny Cox (9-6) shut us down and Willie McGee now has a 27 game hitting streak. The speedy Cards stole 4 bases and manufactured runs off of us. LA did put the tying run on in the 9^th, but couldn't execute. LA left 8 runners on. Tim Flannery was today's short stop and lead off hitter.

7/6 3-0 W over the Cardinals
Rick Rhoden (10-5) was just what this team needed. Not only did he stop Willie McGee's 27-game hit streak, if not for a Dave Winfield single in the 4^th, he would have thrown a perfect game against the Cardinals! LA has still only hit 1 team home run in July. A couple hits by top prospect, Scotti Madison in helped the team today. UL Washington was today's short stop.

7/7 6-4 (12) W over the Cardinals
The Dodgers picked up a win for my birthday! It was tough though. Dwayne Murphy got us on the board right away with a 2-run shot, his 12^th. Milt Wilcox left the game in the 2^nd with back trouble and things would start downhill. Reuss and Denny kept a no-hitter intact until the 6^th, but then things started to unravel. Denny got in trouble, Franco couldn't shut the door, and eventually it was Howe that let them tie it up. LA would run through the entire bullpen and end up with Frank Tanana (9-7) in the game. Dewey sent us home with a massive, 2-run blast in the 12^th inning. His 19^th of the year.

Tests on Wilcox came back negative and he's expected to be back in the rotation with no time lost. Good news again for the stellar rotation.

7/8 8-6 (10) W over the Cardinals
Eckersley got the start and didn't pitch great. He allowed 6 in 6 and a couple dingers. He left with the game in doubt. Dwayne Murphy, apparently pissed he didn't make the all-star team tied it up in the bottom of the 8^th, then sent us home in the bottom of the 10^th, both were two run shots. He's got 14 homers now. Stubbs (6) and Evans (20) also homered. Niedenfeur got the win, he's 8-1.

All Star Teams have been announced. Here is the list of Dodgers, and former Dodgers who made this year's team:

Bob Welch – KC- 9-6, 3.33 ERA, 3 AS
Alejandro Pena – LA – 9-3, 1.73 ERA, 1 AS
Fernando Valenzuela – LA – 11-4, 2.77 ERA, 4 AS
Steve Howe – LA – 0-2, 3.86 ERA, 3 AS
Tom Niedenfeuer – LA – 8-1, 19S, 1.02 ERA, 2 AS
Bob Brenley – SD - .276, 17 HR, 1 AS
Steve Garvey – CIN - .330, 5 HR, 10 AS
Willie Randolph – LA - .331, 3 HR, 5 AS
Pedro Guerrero – PHI - .324, 13 HR, 4 AS
Dwight Evans – LA - .280, 20 HR, 5 AS

LA is well represented this year. Pena won't get to play, but he should be happy for his first one. Brenley looks like he would have been one to keep. Neither Pankovits or Downs have added much yet. Garvey is having a great year.

All Star Game
NL defeated the AL 13-10

At one point the AL lead the game 10-2. It was the middle of the 6^th and they had a 99% probability that they were going to win it. Then the march back began. The NL scored 8 runs in the bottom of the 6^th to tie the game. The big hit was an Andre Dawson 3-run homer off the bench. Eddie Murray had 2 dingers and 4 ribbies to pick up the player of the game. Dodger players didn't have very good games. Valenzuela gave up 2 in his inning, Howe gave up 3, Nidenfeuer got the win (because of course he did) in his scoreless inning. Randolph was 0-3, Evans was 0-3, Garvey was 1-2, Brenley was 1-3.

7/12 5-3 W over the Cubs
Rhoden went 7 and struck out 9, but it was the 2-run homer in the bottom of the 7^th, to Carmelo Martinez that cost him the W. There's a reason the Cubs are in last place. In the 9^th a walk, balk, and wild pitch from Rick Lysander put a runner on third with none out, and ultimately an error lead LA to capitalize. Willie Randolph was on base 4 out of 5 plate appearances. Dwayne Murphy went 3-5.

7/13 4-3 (12) W over the Cubs
There's so much to say in this one from Andre Thornton having to play catcher for 3 innings and going 2-3 with the go ahead RBI in the 12^th, to tying it up in the top of the 9^th off of Lee Smith to send it to extras. Tim Flannery was the real hero here. His hit in the 9^th tied it up, then he had another critical hit later on. Or was it Dwight Evans who's the real hero? He made a throw from deep right and nailed a runner at the plate in the bottom of the 11^th. So it was the bench and bullpen that won this game. Franco, Howe (1-2), and Niedenfeur (21^st save) pitched 6 shut out innings following the Milt Wilcox start.

7/14 3-0 W over the Cubs
Another series win for the Dodgers. Frank Tanana (10-7) pitched brilliantly. He went 8.2 innings before Lasorda lifted him for Dave Stewart who got the final out for his 2^nd save. All 3 of LA's runs came in the 2^nd inning off of 2 Chicago errors. Both George Foster and Bobby Grich went 2-4 in this one.

7/15 6-4 L to the Cubs
Willie Randolph drove the team again with a double and a triple, scoring twice, but Valenzuela (11-5) couldn't keep the Cubs off the bases. Jerry Reuss struggled through the last 2 innings.

PilotMan · 04-07-2017, 01:50 PM

It's become clear that Gary Templeton was causing problems in the clubhouse. There's really no other explanation for his departure. Yes, you read that right, Gary Templeton, who signed a 3-year deal in the offseason and had started at short for most of the first half of the year has been released after we went unclaimed on waivers.

7/16 5-1 W over the Pirates
Eckersley got his second start of the year and was much better this time out. He went 7 innings and struck out 6 to run his record to 7-0. John Franco pitched the final 2 frames without allowing a baserunner. His best outing of the year. Jose DeLeon (9-6) left the game with an injury in the 3^rd.

7/17 5-0 W over the Pirates
Rhoden allowed 3 hits over 8 innings and would have gone the distance except that Lasorda wanted Niedenfeur to get some work, so he finished it up. Evans went 3-4 with 2 rbi's to lead the way. Another game where LA failed to hit a dinger.

7/18 6-4 W over the Pirates
Milt Wilcox (9-3) got some good run support, but it all came in the 6^th inning. Until then, LA had been held in check. Evans got on base all 4 plate appearances, then had 2 rbi's, but it was Roy Smalley, who has had an off year compared to 1983, who hit his 5^th homer of the year. The three-run shot put LA ahead for good. Niedenfeur pitched 2 innings for his 22^nd save.

The first Dodger trade of any significance in mid summer is here. I say any significance, because it's not that important. LA traded away Ruppert Jones (.188/2/13) is gone to the A's along with some cash. LA is getting the A's starting SS Tony Phillips (.268/4/40). Phillips is young and still developing and is probably the better option in the infield than Flannery. He could also take over for UL Washington. Also, big news for LA, is that Pena was activated from the DL and he's back in the rotation. Franco was sent down.

7/19 7-2 W over the Cardinals
Alejandro Pena (10-3) makes his first start and takes a no-hitter into the 7^th inning. He goes the distance and takes home player of the game. UL Washington, apparently making a claim for first team play, went 2-5 with 3 rbi's. Willie Randolph left the game in the second inning. Uh-oh.

Burt Hooton has come back from his rehab work in Albuquerque. He pitched over 8 shutout innings in a good performance. Dave Stewart, two years removed from a runner up showing for fireman of the year was placed on waivers and designated. That makes me sad.

Mike Scioscia's injury isn't healing right either. He's going to be out for another month.

Reports are that Willie Randolph's injury isn't serious, but he's going to miss a month. That's mid-August for a return. Mike Marshall was recalled. Lasorda mentioned that he would be moving Grich to cover 2B, while Stubbs takes over first. Tony Phillips is going to replace UL Washington at short too.

7/20 4-2 W over the Cardinals
Another 5 game win streak for us. Valenzuela (12-5) went 8 for the win and Niedenfeur picked up his 23^rd save in 25 chances. Phillips made his first start and went 1-3 with a walk and a steal. Evans, Grich and Murphy each got 2 hits.

7/21 10-5 W over the Cardinals
LA smacked 3 home runs, and the bullpen nearly let the Cards get back into this one. Bobby Grich went 4-5 with his 9^th HR and 5 rbi's in this one. Evans went 3-4. That's 6 in a row.

7/22 4-3 (12) L to the Cardinals
So much for that streak. Danny Cox was getting the best of Rick Rhoden until Dwayne Murphy (16) and Bobby Grich (10) went back to back. Rhoden pitched into the 9^th when he got into trouble and Burt Hooton came on and bailed him out. In extras neither team could do much until LA missed a bases loaded chance in the top of the 11^th. Eckersley (7-1) took the loss allowing 3 hits and a walk getting 0 outs to finish.

Dave Stewart is gone to the Mets off of waivers. Not.A.Fan.

7/23 4-3 W over the Braves
Pascual Perez had one over on LA for most of the game. First it was a fightback to tie it in the 6^th, then the never dangerous anymore, had 7 total hits in the last 2 years, 800 year old John Mayberry who hit his first homer in years to put Atlanta up again. Thankfully, Grich got it right back in the bottom of the 7^th to keep it tied. Pena had to spread 11 hits through 8.1, then gave way to Niedenfuer (9-1). Bottom of the inning Mike Marshall walked us off on the second pitch from Bob Shirley (2-7). His 10^th of the year.

7/25 7-4 L to the Braves
The Braves are one of the worst teams in baseball, yet here they are taking us down. Valenzuela (12-6) had the worst outing of the season. He only went 3 innings, but got tagged for 7 runs in the meantime. Eck, Reuss, and Denny kept ATL down from there while we scratched back, but it wasn't enough. Grich was 2-4 with an RBI.

7/26 4-2 W over the Braves
Wilcox (10-3) spread out 10 hits in his 7+ innings of work, while Niedenfeur got the last 5 outs for his 24^th save of the year. Roy Smalley went 3-4 and knocked in 2 runs in the first to put the Dodgers on the board first.

7/27 4-2 L to the Reds
A Dave Parker 2-run HR in the 6^th off of Rhoden (11-6) was the difference maker in this one. The Reds Jack Morris (12-6) shut down LA, except for the Murphy HR in the 2^nd that gave LA an early lead. His 17^th of the year. Rhoden went 8 in the loss.

7/28 7-2 W over the Reds
Mike Marshall went 2-4, with 4 RBI's and a three-run homer in the first. His 11^th of the year. A Roy Smalley (6) solo shot started the scoring festivities early. Frank Tanana (12-7) pitched into the 8^th and although he wasn't dominant, he did strike out 9. He also went 3-3 at the plate knocking in a run.

7/29 13-1 W over the Reds
Alejandro Pena (11-3) pitched into the 8^th and allowed 1 run to get the win. LA put up 4 in the first couple innings and just ran away. Tony Phillips went 3-4 and scored 4 times, while Dewey Evans went 4-4, with 5 RBI's and he hit his 22^nd HR. Sid Bream hit a pinch hit, 2-run homer in the 8^th, with the game already decided, his first.

In former Dodger news at the deadline, a pair of former Dodgers were involved in a trade from KC to SF. It looks like KC just dumped salary as they ditch Floyd Bannister and send over 1/3 of his salary in cash to the Giants. In return, SS Tack Wilson, former starter at short and his .247/1/10 line head to KC along with throw in Jeff Kunkel. Kunkel is a low-grade prospect, even if he's only 22. This is a steal of a deal for SF. Hell, as a fan, I'd have gladly send UL Washington back to KC to get Bannister and some cash back.

7/30 9-2 L to the Padres
Ugly, terrible baseball. Valenzuela (12-7) with another less than stellar outing, 2 errors by Tony Phillips, the bullpen was wholly ineffective, allowing 5 runs in the last 2 innings of work. All around, it was a poor game. Roy Smalley went deep for #7.

7-31 5-3 W over the Padres
Milt Wilcox (11-3) put in a workman like performance going 6.2, allowing 9 hits and striking out 4, while only allowing 2 runs. Niedenfeur pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 25^th save. A sac fly in the first from Milt Wilcox got LA on the board. Tony Phillips followed with a single for another run. In the second Bobby Grich hit a solo shot, his 12^th and LA took a 3-0 lead. Both Grich and Phillips ended the game 3-5.

PilotMan · 04-07-2017, 01:51 PM

July Roundup

For the month of July the Dodgers continued to look like the most dominant team in baseball. They put up a 20-7 record for the month, even though they had to deal with injuries to two starters, one of them an All Star. The team currently stands with a record of 76-32 and is miles and miles in front of the Reds, who are in second place, 20.5 games back. In fact, the gap from 1-2 is 3.5 games more than the gap between 2-6.

The team made no major moves at the trade deadline after they acquired Tony Phillips to play shortstop. Phillips is a Gold Glove winner at short, and he gets on base a lot. Another in a long line of patient, high OBP batters that this team has. July also saw the loss of Dave Stewart for free. He clearly had worth, whether it was to the Dodgers, or someone else. Losing him like that was dumb.

Former Major Leaguers, Ron Kittle and Steve Sax are demolishing AAA hitting. They will certainly be coming back in a month for who knows how long.

Overall, the team still leads the league in runs scored, obp, runs against, starter's ERA, and defensive efficiency. They are 4^th in the NL in AVG, and the bullpen is 3^rd in ERA. Even though it seems like the bullpen gets tagged a lot, they are still putting up good numbers. A lot of that is because Niedenfeur has more innings 3 guys combined.

Alejandro Pena is still the cream of the crop and in contention for the Cy Young. Roy Smalley is clearly having a big down year from last year. His defense is solid, but his bat has been close to a liability. He's hitting over 30 points lower and isn't close to the 27 homers he his last year.

Both Bobby Grich and Dwayne Murphy got hot in July. Murphy his .303, with 6 homers and Grich his .360 with 4. That really helped as Dwight Evans cooled from his June numbers.

Fernando Valenzuela had a terrible month going 1-4 with a 4.78 ERA. That's got to get better if we're going to compete in the post-season.

This team is still considered the best in the league, but not by much. Even with a .704 winning percentage and the gaudy record, the Montreal Expos are only 1 game behind. John Candelaria is the other front runner for the Cy Young, and is also in the running for the triple crown. Check out this Expos lineup:

Raines/LF
Dawson /RF
Yount/SS
Wallach/3B
Carter/C
Whitaker/2B
Hendrick/1B
LeFlore/CF

Ouch.

The other Canadian team is the best in the AL. The Blue Jays are a game up on the Yankees in the East. They also have a very formidable lineup and pitching staff. The weakest team of the leaders is the Twins in the West. They look to take that pennant again, even if they wouldn't be close to any of the other leaders if they were in another division.

The Yankees rotation is the best in the AL. Check out this 5 man setup:

Blyleven
Andujar
Beattie
Soto
Krukow

When Mario Soto is your #4 guy, you've got enough depth to go a long, long, long way. Ron Guidry can't even make the rotation and he's stuck in the bullpen. Dave Righetti, who won the Cy Young as a starter last year, has transitioned to the bullpen as the closer. Also, they've figured out how to keep Keith Hernandez on the field by using Mattingly as the DH.

The magic number for the Dodgers stands at 35. At the current rate, they'll be the first team to clinch a playoff spot. August will require more of the same as we saw in July.

Let's go Dodgers!

Young Drachma · 04-07-2017, 04:16 PM

Still going strong, that Kittle deal was a steal.

PilotMan · 04-16-2017, 11:52 PM

8/1 11-0 W over the Padres
Rick Rhoden (12-6) went the distance and got the shutout today. He also got tons of run support along the way. The 4^th inning saw a pair of 2-run homers. The first by Marshall (12) and the second by Grich (13). That would be enough, but they weren't done. Sid Bream went 3-5 and Buck Martinez 2-3 with a pair of ribbies.

8/3 9-3 W over the Reds
The Dodgers knocked 14 hits while Pena (12-3) pitched into the 8^th. Foster went 4-5 with 4 RBI's, while both Evans and Stubbs both went 3-5. Evans hit his 23^rd HR in the 9^th inning.

8/4 3-2 L to the Reds
Valenzuela took the loss to move to 12-8, going the distance. He didn't pitch poorly, although he did allow 11 base runners over the 8 innings. Jeff Russell (8-6) held us to 3 hits over 7 shut out innings. In the 9^th LA finally got on board when George Foster cracked a 0-2 fastball (10) over the right field fence with a runner on to bring us within 1. Former Dodger cast off turned Reds closer and All Star came on to nail it down and get his 16^th save.

8/5 4-2 L to the Reds
Another game where the Reds jumped out and rode starting pitching to the win. Wilcox (11-4) went 7 in the loss. LA got within 2 in the 9^th and loaded the bases with 1 out only to meet Power again, and again, get shut down.

8/6 5-4 W over the Braves
Rhoden (13-6) took a no-hitter into the 5^th, and the Dodgers staked him to a 5-0 lead, then in the 6^th the wheels fell off as he got tagged for 4 runs. He managed to hold it together, then struck out the side in the 7^th. Niedenfuer pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 26^th save. Buck Martinez had 2 rbi's.

8/7 2-1 L to the Braves
And now LA has lost 3 of the last 4. Tanana (12-8) pitched well in the losing effort. He went the distance and only threw 101 pitches. Too bad the offense couldn't get anything going at all. LA left 11 guys on and left runners in scoring position 5 times. Stubbs went 3-3 batting cleanup.

8/8 5-1 W over the Braves
Bobby Grich went 3-4 with a bases loaded triple to power LA to the win. Pena (13-3) continued his Cy Young push going the distance. Even 4 errors and an unearned run couldn't slow him down. Pascual Perez has been the bane of LA in the past. Only Stubbs and his 8^th homer of the year could break him down. As soon as Perez left, LA broke it open.

8/9 8-3 W over the Braves
Buck Martinez has been an offensive albatross for LA. Scioscia has started his rehab in AAA, so he'll be back sooner than later. Martinez today, though, he lit it up going 3-5, hitting his first dinger of the year and knocking in 4. Dwayne Murphy hit #18. Valenzuela (13-8) worked hard going 8 in one of his better performances recently.

8/10 7-2 W over the Giants
It was home run day in San Francisco. Roy Smalley got us started with a solo shot in the first, his 8^th. George Foster cracked #11 in the 2^nd to put LA up 2-0. The bottom of the second saw the first career home run for Chris Brown. In the 6^th, Stubbs hit a 2-run shot, his 9^th, and with a 2 run lead, and 2 runners on, pinch hitter, Mike Marshall smoked his 13^th of the year to put the game out of reach. Milt Wilcox (12-4) allowed only 3 hits over 8 innings to get the win.

8/11 6-3 L to the Giants
Rhoden (13-7) had a little problem with the gopher ball in this one. He served up 2 early on, and a total 6 extra base hits in his 4 innings of work. The offense didn't amount to much either.

Willie Randolph's return has been delayed a couple weeks as his knees haven't been recovering the way they should be.

8/12 2-1 L to the Giants
Another 2 game losing streak on the books. This time we ran into our old friend Floyd Bannister (11-7). Tanana (12-9) pitched one of his better games of the year, except for that 2 run homer to Chris Brown, now the second of his young career. Bobby Grich hit #14 in the first to put LA up early. They left runners in scoring enough times that it should be troubling.

8/13 5-0 W over the Mets
This was billed as another former LA matchup, as Dave Stewart was getting the start. However, he got hurt on his 3^rd pitch and left the game. Mike Scioscia returns from his rehab assignment and takes his place back in the lineup. Alejandro Pena (14-3) was sensational. He allowed 2 hits over 8 innings and struck out 10. The game was tied at 0 until the 8^th when Dwight Evans knocked in a couple then Mike Marshall cracked a 3-run homer, his 14^th of the year to blow it open.

8/14 18-4 W over the Mets
Hard to believe this was Valenzuela/Gooden. Doc has crawled into the Cy Young race, but he had nothing against LA today. Stubbs put us on the board with a solo shot (10) in the second. In the third, things just went nuts. Marshall smacked a 2-run shot (15). Later, Roy Smalley was walked for Valenzuela, who then hit his first career dinger, still off of Gooden, who threw 90 pitches in 3 innings. It was over, but LA wasn't. They put up a 5 spot in the 4^th too. Valenzuela (14-8) pitched 8 innings, struck out 7, went 3-4 with 5 RBI's in the game. Now that's a player of the game line. This game got so out of hand that Bobby Bonilla took the mound to close it out.

8/15 3-2 L to the Mets
Darling and Wilcox went toe to toe. No team had a hit until Tony Phillips hit a solo shot (5) in the 5^th. Wilcox took a perfect into the 6^th, but NY tied it up. They took the lead in the 7^th and Wilcox (12-5) left despite striking out 10. All in all the Mets struck out 15 times in this one. LA could only muster 3 more hits the entire game in the losing effort, and Scioscia had 2 of those.

PilotMan · 04-19-2017, 08:35 AM

8/17 6-3 L to the Phillies
Rhoden (13-8) got the start, walked 5 and struck out 8, but he was all over the place. LA's offense was all home runs again. Stubbs tied up the game in the 2^nd with #11, but the Phillies took the lead for good on a Steve Balboni 3-run shot. Dwayne Murphy would pull a couple back with his 19^th in the 5^th, but that was about it. Evans, Stubbs and Murphy had all but 1 of the hits in the game.

8/18 6-3 W over the Phillies
Pena (15-3) went 8 and struck out 11 in the victory. LA put up a 5 spot in the first and didn't look back. He was helped by George Foster's 12^th HR in the 3^rd. Dwayne Murphy went 3-4. Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 27^th save.

8/19 3-1 L to the Phillies
Marty Bystrom (12-8) struck out 9 and allowed 2 hits in 6 2/3 innings of work. Valenzuela (14-9) took the loss and didn't show his best stuff, but you have to believe that another game of no run support is taking it's toll on the team. Mike Marshall left the game with an injury on a defensive play.

Report on Marshall is that he suffered a back strain on a diving catch. He's gone to the DL. Ron Kittle and his 39 homers in 100 games and 398 at bats is back in the majors in his place.

8/20 10-4 W over the Expos
Milt Wilcox (13-5) got the win allowing 4 in 7 innings of work. LA provided all the offense he would need, and the offense that Valenzuela wished he could've had. LA chiped away at Steve Rogers and by the end of the fifth had put up all 10 runs. They drew 6 walks in that time, and Dwayne Murphy hit his 20^th of the year in the 4^th. Kittle scored twice even if he failed to get a hit. This was the 4^th time in 7 games that we've beaten the Expos this year. It could be just as meaningless as last year. These teams will meet in the playoffs.

8/21 10-7 L to the Expos
No pitching, or at least poor pitching today. The offense ruled the day. Expos put up 3 in the first, LA answered when Dewey hit a 2-run shot, #24. LA was up 7-4 at one point, then the Expos put up 6 in the 5^th on a combination of hits and errors. Tanana only went 4, but it was Jerry Reuss (0-2) that took the loss.

8/22 2-1 (12) W over the Expos
For all the lack of pitching yesterday today it was all about Rhoden, Knepper and the bullpens. Willie Randolph made his return to the LA lineup, and even though the AAA season is winding down, maybe he should have done a rehab stint. He went 0-5 today. LA loaded the bases with 2 out thanks to a Burt Hooton (1-0) single. That brought up UL Washington who poked a single into right to send the fans home happy.

8/23 7-2 W over the Phillies
Pena pushes his record to 16-3 and the Dodgers stop the Phils 5 game win streak. Pena goes 8 allowing an an earned and unearned run. Dewey hits #25, Randolph goes 2-5 with 3 RBI's in a much better performance and the seriously under performing Roy Smalley went 3-4 and scored 3 times.

8/24 6-2 W over the Phillies
Valenzuela (15-9) went the distance and pitched one of his best games of the year. He allowed no hits into the 5^th, allowed 3 the whole game, 2 were for extra bases. LA put up 5 in the first thanks to a 3-run homer by Grich (15) and Scioscia (5) going back to back. Willie Randolph does appear to be back 2-3, with a walk.

8/26 6-5 L to the Phillies
Wilcox (13-6) was victimized by a terrible error on Scioscia that lead to a 4 run first for the Phils. The team managed 12 hits in this one, and scored 4 runs in the top of the 9^th to bring Evans to the plate as the tying run. He dribbled out to the pitcher to end it.

8/27 4-3 W over the Phillies
Rhoden made it another 8 innings in a strong start, striking out 7. A Roy Smalley 2-run homer (9) in the 7^th tied it up. LA had plenty of chances, but they left 9 on base. Philly scored 3, and left 0 on base. Niedenfeur pitched a scoreless 9^th with 2 strikeouts for his 28^th save.

8/28 5-3 W over the Mets
We get to see Dave Stewart for the second time, and this time he hangs. He leaves the game in the 5^th with a 3-0 lead thanks to a Gary Redus (3) 3-run shot off of Tanana (13-9). Except for that Tanana was great. LA chipped 1 back in the 5^th and 7^th, and then in the 8^th, down 3-2, Mike Scioscia hit a bases loaded double off of Jessie Orosco that gave LA the lead. Niedenfeur pitched 2 innings for the save, his 29^th.

8/29 6-1 L to the Mets
Doc Gooden (15-10) struck out 9 and had his way with LA. Pena (16-4) allowed 12 hits and 15 baserunners in 6.2, in the losing effort. Every batter in the Met lineup got at least 1 hit. The shocking fact looking in to this Dynasty so far is that of the Sax brothers, Dave is still getting regular playing time, while Steve is stuck in AAA behind Willie Randolph. Dave has more MLB at bats, even if his avg is near the Mendoza line. A bonus thought, Kittle was averaging a HR every 9.5 AB or so in AAA, he's had nearly 50 in the majors this year and is still looking for his first.

8/31 1-0 L to the Expos
The #1 offense downed the #1 pitching staff and defense thanks to pitching. Of course, Montreal has the #2 staff in the league too. Scott Sanderson (15-4) allowed 3 hits in 6.2 innings of work. The closest LA came was a runner on second with 2 out in the 9^th. Reardon went 8 outs for his 38^th save. Valenzuela (15-10) throws a complete game and strikes out 7 in the loss. Wasted effort there.

PilotMan · 04-19-2017, 08:35 AM

August 1984 Recap

The team fell off in August. The injuries to Randolph, Scioscia and Marshall appeared to cut into the output of the team as our record in the month was 15-12. On the season now the team is 91-44. The Reds have actually gained ground on LA and sit a mere 18.5 games out. The magic number to clinch is 11.

Not only have the Reds caught up, but even with a .674 winning percentage, the Expos have overtaken them for the best record in baseball. The magic number for the Expos is only 6. They'll be the first team to clinch from the looks of it.

The Twins are solidifying their lead and are now 8.5 in front of the Royals. While the only real race in the AL is between the Blue Jays and Yankees. Both teams are separated by 1 game and both have the 3^rd and 4^th best records in baseball right now. Either team can take it right now. The Blue Jays have more home games and a slightly easier schedule. The teams play each other 7 times in the last month.

The acquisition of Tony Phillips is looking like a bad move right now. Since he came over from the A's he's committed 14 errors at short in 38 games and a slash line of .195/.247/.240 in the lead off spot.

As far as the team goes, the offense is starting to fall down in the rankings. Currently #2 in runs scored and OBP. They are #3 in HR's and #5 in team batting. Don't even think about steals. They don't happen. Having said all that, they are now #1 in all pitching categories from runs allowed, to ERA, both starter and bullpen and #1 in defensive efficiency. This was supposed to be the year, but they may have to do it against superior opponents in both the NL and AL, which is a weird thought considering they're on pace for one of the best records in franchise history.

September means call ups and roster expansion. The front office recalled many familiar names, and it seems like they thought there was a big need at middle infielder. Here are the guys who are joining the big league club and their minor league lines:

Jim Pankovits – SS - .305/4/36
Scotti Madison – 3B - .295/6/54
Tony Bernazard – 2B - .289/2/54
Steve Sax – 2B - .347/1/51
Tony Brewer – CF - .334/13/70
Ricky Wright – RP – 3-2, 1 S, 2.79
Kelly Downs – SP – 16-6, 4.75
John Franco – RP – 4-0, 22 S, 0.90

It looks as if Mike Marshall might be able to return in a week or so, barring any set backs. The rest of the team is in fine health.

There are no excuses now. This team needs to close out strong and send a message that they aren't going out without a title.

Let's go Dodgers!

PilotMan · 04-23-2017, 01:45 AM

9/1 8-2 L to the Expos
Picking up right where we left off. LA played sloppy. Rhoden (14-9) wasn't effective, and the team committed 3 errors that lead to 3 unearned runs. Willie Randolph was again, the only bright spot, getting nearly half the team hits and all the RBI's, hitting his 3^rd dinger of the year. Kelly Downs made his season debut and Ricky Wright made his ML debut, both pitched scoreless innings. This is the first 3 game losing streak of the year.

9/2 2-1 L to the Expos
Not good. A 3 game sweep by the Expos and our longest losing streak of the year. The Expos also won the season series 7-5. Milt Wilcox (13-7) went the distance and pitched great for the most part. Except for a HR allowed by Dawson he was on point. John Candelaria (18-2) should be the Cy Young, and probably the MVP. He allowed 3 hits, struck out 6 for the win. Ron Kittle finally hit his first.

9/3 4-2 L to the Padres
Oh man, LA now has a 5 game losing streak. Another wasted Pena start. Bob Ojeda is having a great year, but has only been getting 2 runs of support per game. He would've had the same here, had it not been for a 2-run homer by Luis Salazar off of Niedenfeur (9-2) in the 9^th that was difference in the game. Pena had pitched well, but it was his bat that tied the game up. He hit his second homer of the year in the loss. Tony Phillips left the game after a collision on a defensive play.

The news is bad. In addition to the 5 game losing streak the MRI on Phillips came back and showed a partially torn labrum. That will do him in for the rest of the year. UL Washington will resume the starting role at short. Greg Brock was called up.

9/4 8-2 (12) L to the Padres
This is really going south. Frank Tanana went 9 and gave up 2 homers, one to Dodger killer Luis Salazar. Again. Greg Brock hit his first homer of the year and Scioscia went 3-6. The game was tied 2-2 into extras and it was the unspectacular pitching of Steve How and his allowing 5 baserunners without getting an out, along with 2 errors in the 12^th that broke the game open. Fernando will be back on the mound to play stopper tomorrow.

It appears that Lasorda is going in a different direction at short. The shortage of offense had caused him to move Benazard back to short (ugh) against righties and Smally against lefties. There are enough big bats in this lineup that this shouldn't be happening.

9/5 6-1 W over the Braves
A WIN! Woohoo! Valenzuela (16-10) pitched a great game. Eight strikeouts in 8 innings of work and only 4 hits allowed. Ron Kittle provided all the offense. He hit a 2-run shot in the 1st and a 3-run shot in the 3^rd. Roy Smalley added his 10^th homer in the 6^th.

9/6 4-3 (10) W over the Braves
It's going to take a long winning streak to undo some of the damage that's been done. Rhoden went 8 and got the PoG award. LA drew 7 walks off of a very distracted Pascual Perez. Mike Scioscia gave LA a lead in the 2^nd with his 6^th homer of the year, but the Braves clawed back. Tony Brewer won the game with his first career ML hit, and that plated Roy Smalley from second. John Franco (2-0) got the win.

9/7 5-2 W over the Reds
Milt Wilcox (14-7) pitched beautifully, striking out 9 and shutting the Reds down except for a Nick Esasky 2-run homer (22) in the first. Dwayne Murphy got one back in the second with his 21^st of the year. Jack Morris shut us down though and it took a Scioscia double in the 7^th and a big single by Roy Smalley tied everything up. Wilcox kept plugging away and went the distance. In the 9^th it was a Sid Bream pinch hit single, then an intentional walk of Scioscia to get to UL Washington, but instead it was Ron Kittle (Mike Marshall is back and got the start). Kittle promptly deposited the ball in the left field pavilion (4) for the walk off win. On the negative side Dwight Evans has gone completely cold. He's hitting .143 with no extra base hits for September and hasn't hit a homer is 2 weeks.

The Expos have clinched the East and now sit 4.5 games ahead of the Dodgers for home field.

9/8 13-3 W over the Reds
Alejandro Pena (17-4) struck out 11 and pitched into the 9^th before he ran out of steam. Reds pitchers walked 8 Dodgers and gave up 3 home runs. LA put up 6 spot in the 8^th inning, but this game was over before then. Buck Martinez went 3-4 with a HR (2) and 5 RBI's. Mike Marshall (16) and Willie Randolph (5) each hit home runs.

9/9 5-4 W over the Reds
Tanana struck out 7 en route to his 14^th win. Dwayne Murphy his a solo shot in the 2^nd inning and went 3-4 with 3 RBI's. Sid Bream got a rare start at first and went 2-3 leading off with the other 2 RBI's. Burt Hooton pitched the 9^th for his first save of the year.

LA wins their 5^th in a row and the magic number is 1.

9/11 7-6 W over the Padres
The DODGERS WIN THE WEST! That's 4 in a row for LA. Good pitching was hard to find. Greg Brock lead off the game (yes, somehow, Greg Brock batted lead off today, don't ask) with his 3^rd hit of the year, it also happened to be his 2^nd homer. That was nothing, at the end of 1, it was 4-3 SD. In the 4^th Grich hit his 16^th homer of the year and put LA up for the 3^rd time, and he would add 4 RBI's in the game. LA drew another 7 walks off of the Padre pitching, but Valenzuela (17-10) walked 4 of his own. Niedenfuer pitched the last 2 innings. A Tony Gwynn triple would allow the Padres to climb within 1, with the tying run on third, but McReynolds would ground out to end it. That's the 30^th save for our closer. He's still only blown 2 all year. How's this for a bad pitching line: 3.2 IP, 8 H, 7R/ER, 5 BB, 1 K, 2 HR, 101 Pitches, 53 strikes. That's how Dave Dravecky (12-12) fared. We should be thankful that we've made it all year without a line that bad.

9/12 5-1 W over the Padres
LA pushes the win streak to 7 games. Willie Randolph went 3-3 with 2 walks, 2 runs and an rbi. He is just the key in the #2 spot in the lineup. LA put up 4 in the 4^th thanks to a Bobby Grich 3-run shot. It was his 17^th on the year. Rick Rhoden (15-9) allowed 3 hits and pitched into the 9^th. Hooton finished the game. While we've won 7 in a row, the Expos have won 8 in a row and are 5 ahead of LA for home field.

9/13 7-2 W over the Reds
LA banged out 16 hits and 7 starters had 2 hits or more (Randolph had 3 because of course he did). Alejandro Pena ran his record to 18-4 and lowered his ERA to 1.87 by going 8.1 and allowing 1 run. LA scored in each of the first 5 innings. They were helped by Dewey finally hitting his first home run in 3 fucking weeks. Good god. That was his 26^th. Dwayne Murphy hit his 23^rd in the 5^th and Stubbs hit #12 in the 8^th.

The Expos have now opened up a 29 game lead on 2^nd place St Louis. The Cubs are languishing in last 51 games back. The Twins have their magic number down to 5. The Blue Jays and Yankees are still only separated by 1 game.

9/15 2-1 L to the Reds
LA put runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with no outs in the 9^th and couldn't cash in. So the win streak comes an end, but it was close. They had plenty of chances. They drew another 8 walks off of Cincy pitching. Wilcox (14-8) took the loss, but only allowed 2 in 7 innings. Ted Power made us look silly in the 9^th when we had him in trouble. Should've won.

PilotMan · 04-24-2017, 10:01 PM

9/16 6-2 W over the Reds
Valenzuela (18-10) owned the Reds today. With the exception of one inning, he completely dominated them, with 11 K's in the game. The offense actually gave him some support today too, every player except Valenzuela got a hit today. Lasorda has opted to go with Tony Bernazard back at short and not UL Washington, which can't make Washington happy. Either way, Bernazard went 4-3 leading off. Bobby Grich piled on in the 7^th with a 2 run shot, his 18^th of the year.

9/17 12-9 W over the Braves
Sloppy defense and good hitting put the hurt on pitching today. Neither Rhoden or Jeff Robinson lasted 5 innings and both allowed a total of 8 UN-earned runs. LA put up 5 in the first, 4 on a Mike Scioscia grand slam, his 7^th dinger. Bobby Grich hit #19 in the 3^rd, and after 3 LA lead 7-2. Another pinch hit homer from Ron Kittle (5) in the 5^th gave LA another one. The Braves fought back with 4 in the 4^th and 3 more in the 7^th and took the lead 9-8 off of Kelly Downs. Scioscia got 2 more ribbies and LA retook the lead in the 7^th and he finished with 6 on his 3-5 day. Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 31^st save. John Franco threw 5 pitches and got the win (3-0).

9/18 4-3 (12) W over the Braves
Down 3-2 in the 9^th with 2 out and the tying run on third, Mike Marshall hit a difficult ball to third. He charged toward third and just beat out the throw by Brook Jacoby that tied the game. Marshall had 3 hits on the day to lead the team. They almost gave it back in the bottom though as Atlanta put the winning run on third with 0 outs. Steve Howe worked his way out of trouble with a strikeout and a couple of weak ground balls. In the 12^th a Franklin Stubbs triple scored Dwight Evans and that was the difference. Hooton pitched 2 and got the win, moving his record to 2-0.

9/19 4-2 L to the Astros
The Astrodome isn't the place where balls fly out normally. Even the acquisition of Dale Murphy in the offseason hasn't helped this team, who only had 91 team homers coming in. Even having Alejandro Pena, in a potentially Cy Young Award winning season didn't matter, and today you didn't even need to be a power hitter. The never dangerous Rudy Law lead hit his 10 career homer in the third, followed by Brian Downing (still playing catcher) and his 15^th on the year. LA closed with a couple in the 8^th, but Houston hung on and then added a cherry when the never dangerous, Steve Jeltz hit his first career homer off of Jerry Reuss. Pena took the loss and dropped to 18-5.

The Twins won their 11^th straight and clinched the AL West. They look truly dangerous for the first time all year. They are closing in on the .600 winning percentage. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays are up 1 on the Yankees, but both teams are struggling with 3-7 records in their last 10 games. The magic number is 10, and the Blue Jays have the slight advantage. The Expos just won game number 108. The second place Pirates are now 30.5 games back, Cubs 51.5 back. Expos lead LA by 6 games with 10 to play. Twins are only down 2.5 for home field in the AL. Another insane stat about this Expos team. The top 4 NL leaders in WAR are all Expos. All of them.

9/20 3-1 W over the Astros
Wilcox (15-8) went 8 solid innings and threw less than 100 pitches to get there. Dwight Evans hit #27, only his second homer of September. His slump is still hurting, but he went 3-4 with 2 rbi's in this one. Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 32^nd save. We are closing in on the franchise record for wins for the third straight year, but will certainly go into the playoffs as the underdog. Damn.

9/21 4-2 W over the Giants
Fernando picked up win #19. He pitched 8 good innings, and really cut the Giants down after allowing 2 in the first. Dwight Evans went 3-4 again and scored 3 runs, perhaps he's starting to break out again? This LA team is so deep off the bench right now. They had a string of pinch hitters that went like this: Kittle, Marhsall, Sax, and Brewer. Earlier they had Stubbs, Bream, and Madison. There's just something about being able to bring multiple guys in a row off the bench who can go deep. It really adds to the late game possibilites. A strong wind blowing in from left helped Valenzuela today. No less than 3 right handed batters took balls to the fence off of him. Niedenfuer pitched another 9^th for his 33^rd save.

9/22 4-3 W over the Giants
Rhoden recovered from his poor outing last time to go 8 tonight, while only allowing 3 hits on 89 pitches. In the 9^th Steve Howe made us reach for the Rolaids though. The Giants got the winning run to the plate before Howe finally go the strikeout to seal it. It was his 2^nd save on the year. Willie Randolph got us on the board in the first with his 6^th homer of the year, and in the 5^th Sid Bream added his 2^nd shot. Bream was getting the rare start at first in this one. Floyd Banniser went down for the Giants. He struck out 7 over 6, but 4 walks, 2 homers and a high pitch count did him in. He's 14-8 now on the year combined (KC and SF).

The Blue Jays lead is down to ½ game with 8 to play. Money is starting to go toward NY to win the division. LA has cut the Expos lead to 4 with 7 to play.

9/23 8-1 W over the Giants
This is win number 106 for the boys in blue. Tanana went 7 shut out innings and struck out 8 to run his record to 15-9. UL Washington, Willie Randolph and Dwight Evans all had 3 hits. Evans hit number 28 and had 4 RBI's. This game really should have been a bigger blowout. LA had 12 hits and had to set some kind of record for walks. As a team the Dodgers drew 13 walks from Giants pitching. That's 25 baserunners. They left 15 runners on in the game.

9/24 8-6 L to the Astros
This was not the start that Cy Young hopeful Alejandro Pena was hoping for. Pena (18-6) loses for the second time in a row, sees his NL leading ERA climb above 2 for the first time in a long time, strikes out 7, but can't get out of the 6^th inning. LA would have won if John Franco and Dennis Eckersley could have figured out how to pitch to Bill Doran, who went 3-5 with 2 home runs. Scioscia hit #8, but it was Willie Randolph (making that Sid Fernandez deal look not awful) again, who had it going on for LA. Randolph went 4-4 with a walk. Bernazard reminded us why he lost the starting shortstop job, when he committed 2 errors in an inning.

The Yankees pull into the lead in the East on a 3-1, 17 inning marathon that saw Ron Guidry pitch 5 scoreless innings of relief against the O's. The Bjays fell to the Red Sox. The Expos have clinched home field. They hold a 5 game lead with 5 to play and the tie breaker.

9/25 10-7 W over the Astros
The Astros batted around in the first and put up a 5-0 lead right off the bat. Lasorda stuck with Wilcox (16-8) though and while he settled down, he still had to scatter 12 hits in 6 innings of work. Not his best day. Luckily the offense had a nice answer for the Astros. LA got 3 back in the 3^rd and then they took the lead in the 6^th on a Tony Bernazard dinger. His first of the year. LA would add 2 in the 7^th, thanks to Dwight Evans and number 29, and another pair in the 8^th to pull away. Evans, Grich, Marshall and Randolph all had 3 hits, that was 75% of the offense on the day.

The Blue Jays are back in front by a game, but the race is still looking to come down to the last day. The Dodgers have now tied the club record for wins with 107. That equals our 1983 record. The Expos are up to 111.

9/26 6-3 W over the Astros
Fernando went looking for his 20^th win, and got it. Despite giving one up in the first he settled down, going 7, striking out 9 and walking 4. The Dodgers did commit 3 errors, 2 by Bernazard....again. Niedenfeur came on to close it out, but would leave in short order. Hooton finished for his 2^nd save. Bobby Grich went 2-3 and hit his 20^th homer of the season that put LA up 6-1. Valenzuela went 2-2 and raised his avg to .241 on the year. This win sets the LA Dodger record for wins in a season. There are 4 to play.

Niedenfeur has an injured abdominal muscle which is going to keep him out for a while, but the timeline is unclear at this point. Lasorda has ruled him out for the remainder of the season at least. The Yankees are still down a half and have 4 to play. They suffered a huge blow though as Mattingly is lost for the rest of the year with an Achilles injury. He'll be back for 1985 though.

LA moves Niedenfeur to the 15 day DL. So it looks like he's going to miss the entire NLDS. That's a blow. He's been just dominant all year, and Howe hasn't been. No one else has been.

9/28 3-2 W over the Giants
The final homestand of the regular season starts against the Giants. We see Floyd Bannister, who finally pitches a great game against us as he threw 8 shut out innings. Rick Rhoden matched up well going 7 and striking out 8, but gave up 2 runs and left with a solid lead. Al Holland, one of the best closers in the game in 1984 with 44 saves came into the game to face Randolph, Evans and Grich. That would be all he would face too. Randolph lead off with a single to bring Evans up. He went opposite field and went right over the first baseman putting runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with nobody out. Bobby Grich came up and he put the ball over the left field fence, 381 feet, for his 21^st homer and in walk off style.

9/29 10-1 W over the Giants
The final game of the year for Pena saw him back in form. He came within an out of a shut out and struck out 7 to put him over 200 for the year, and didnt' walk any. His 19 wins are a career high. In the game he threw 99 pitches, 72 for strikes. That's no-hitter level accuracy. The order of the runs doesn't matter, LA hit 4 homers, 2 of them by Mike Marshall, who finished 4-5, 3 runs and 3 rbi's. He's got 18 homers in just over 300 at bats. Greg Brock hit #3 and Roy Smalley hit #11. It was the kind of game that we'll need to have against Montreal.

September 29^th will go down as the day the AL East race was decided. The Yankees had a double header against the Tigers and the Blue Jays were on the road against the Brewers. NY fell in both games, 6-2 and 7-3 in front of all the home fans at Yankee Stadium while the Blue Jays got it done on the road winning 7-5. Toronto has won the East and won 100 games.

9/30 4-0 W over the Giants
LA goes out just the opposite of last year with 5 wins in a row. Milt Wilcox (17-8) was brilliant. He took a no-hitter into the 6^th inning and for some reason was yanked with 1 out in the 9^th for Steve Howe. Howe needed a big throw from Dwayne Murphy at the plate to preserve the shut out. Scioscia and Evans had 2 hits, and Kittle knocked in 2 rbi's while pinch hitting.

And with that. Poof. The regular season ended.

Balldog · 04-24-2017, 10:32 PM

Dodgers and Expos...should be a good one!

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PilotMan · 04-27-2017, 09:11 AM

1984 Playoffs Preview

LA blasted through September with a 20-7 record. A fantastic recovery for the team from August. Even with the losing streak and the big drop in offense for a while, the last part of the month they really made up for it.

In the AL, the defending champs are out. This year the top team in the AL was the Blue Jays. Toronto was the last team to clinch a division beating the Yankees at the wire. They've been contenders, but suffered behind the Tigers recently. The Jays rank 3^rd or 4^th in most offensive categories in the AL, including stolen bases. Their pitching is also very good, 2^nd in runs against and starters ERA, while having the best bullpen. Mike Schmidt was the big offseason acquisition on offense, and while he didn't have an MVP type year he still lead the team in HR and RBI. Tony Fernandez lead in WAR. Mostly due to his 24 steals and insane defensive skills. He still had a slash line of .313/.371/.420, but is going to miss the series rehabbing from a broken wrist. Right behind him were Mike Schmidt (.237/.341/.454, and 31 HR and 110 RBI) and George Bell (.309/.343/.542) and 24 HR and 87 RBI. The Blue Jays pitching staff is anchored by 25 game winner Dave Stieb. Steib (3.23 ERA) benefited from 4.58 runs of support per game and had 25/36 Quality Starts. His 25-8 record was the best in baseball. The #2 pitcher is Luis Leal who went 18-6 with a 3.92 ERA. Leal got 4.88 runs of support and had 20/32 QS.

They will face the Twins, who are making a return to the ALCS. They've been able to keep the youth movement strong and growing. The Twins finished the year very strong going 37-20 to run away with the division. While they have the worst record among playoff teams they do have some good qualities. They were 2^nd in the AL in AVG. OBS, H, and HR. They were #1 in runs scored, and last in stolen bases. The pitching staff isn't quite on the same playing field, but they were 4^th in team ERA and runs allowed. They were 5^th in others and 8^th on defense. The top offensive player was Kent Hrbek. Hrbek has quickly become one of the best players in the Major Leagues with over 30 homers for 3 years, and and has missed only 1 game in the same time frame. He's all of 24 years old. His numbers are .323/.398/.529 along with 33 HR and 124 RBIs. Not to be out done Gary Gaetti (.272/.320/.472, 26/93) and Tim Teufel (.294/.366/.466, 21/77). The pitching staff is anchored by another 24 year old, Frank Viola. Viola went 21-7 on the year with a 2.63 ERA. Viola also got 5.06 runs of support per game and had a QS in 23/34 starts. He's got a good chance at the AL Cy Young Award. The #2 in Minnesota is Jerry Koosman (15-10, 3.70 ERA, 3.74 RS, 22/35 QS) who signed a 1-year deal from the Astros and picked up his 200^th win with the Twins. His 240.2 innings were the most for him since 1980. The Twins also have a uniquely deep bullpen featuring 4 pitchers who at one time or another have been closers. They are Goose Gossage, Gene Garber, Kent Tekulve, and southpaw Gary Lavelle. At 33, Gossage is the youngster of that group.

In the NL we have a rematch of the same 2 teams for the third year in a row. With the series split at 1-1 this is the rubber match. This will be the 4^th year in a row where it's either the Dodgers or Expos in the World Series.

The Expos are a powerhouse of a team as I've mentioned earlier. They are the #1 offensive team in all of baseball with the #1 record. The team is the #2 pitching staff and #3 defense. As I've mentioned before, the Expos have 4 of the top 5 NL leaders in WAR, and the top 3. They are SS Robin Yount (.312/.367/.503, 23/108) Gary Carter (.299/.360/.530, 32/111) and Tim Wallach (.288/.340/.472, 22/92) and that doesn't include the #5 guy, and probably league MVP, Andre Dawson (.290/.320/.540, 40/131 and 23 SB). Their lineup has 4 guys who have won a Silver Slugger, and all of them have been to an All-Star game at one point or another in their careers. It's a ridiculous, embarrassment of riches to say the least. If that wasn't bad enough, the pitching staff isn't bad either. John Candelaria isn't the top in WAR, but he should be the Cy Young winner (20-2, 1.93 ERA, 4.06 RS, 32/35 QS). Backing him up is Bob Knepper (22-6, 2.61 ERA, 4.71 RS, 27/34 RS) and Scott Sanderson (17-5, 2.65 ERA, 4.17 RS, 25/35 QS). The bullpen is anchored by Jeff Reardon (90 IP, 2.90 ERA, 74K, and 47 S). They also were able to grab Bob Stanley who blew his elbow out at the end of 1983 and spent the entire year rehabbing. He still pitched 19 games with a 2.25 ERA, then signed a 3-year extension. It just doesn't seem fair.

LA comes in #2 in batting and #1 in pitching and defense. The Dodgers won a career high in games. Our top 3 in WAR were Willie Randolph (.335/.430/.416, 6/46), Dwight Evans (.291/.383/.493, 29/108) and Dwayne Murphy (.278/.361/.435, 23/88). Top pitching was Alejandro Pena (19-6, 2.01 ERA, 4.64 RS, 30/33 QS), Fernando Valenzuela (20-10, 2.75 ERA, 4.74 RS, 26/34 QS) and Rick Rhoden (16-9, 2.99 ERA, 3.49 RS, 27/35 QS). The bullpen will be missing Niedenfeur for a week though. The team will be able to add him, but he's going to miss the first few games. Steve Howe has moved into the closer spot and he's been strong, but not completely reliable all year. Burt Hooton will back him up.

I'll say it now, even with 111 wins, our boys do not match up with the Expos well at all. We were the favorites last year, I hope we can return the favor. There are no 2 better teams in baseball though. However, I can't feel good about this. The Dodgers just didn't have the good numbers against lefties this year and Montreal comes at us with two of the best. Montreal just killed lefties (31-9) and Valenzuela was 1-1 in 3 starts with a 2.86 ERA.

The final Power Rankings were:

1^st Dodgers
2^nd Expos
4^th Blue Jays
5^th Twins

Here we go!

PilotMan · 04-27-2017, 09:58 AM

Game 1
10/2
Valenzuela v. Knepper
4-0 W over the Expos
Fernando pitches his best to start the year going the distance and getting the shutout. He wasn't overpowering, with only 4 strikeouts, but he forced a lot of groundouts and let the defense do the work. LA got on the board in the first when a Willie Randolph double scored Franklin Stubbs from first. In the third, Willie Randolph walked, then Mike Marshall hit a 401ft shot into the power alley in left to put us up 3-0. Bobby Grich added his own, a 390ft opposite field solo shot in the 7^th to finish the scoring.

Game 2
Rhoden v. Candelaria
3-2 L to the Expos
Rhoden went toe to toe with the Candy Man. Lou Whitaker put the Expos on the board first in the 2^nd inning with a 411ft solo shot to left-center. LA would get it's first hit in the 5^th and then another in the 6^th. Jim Fanning then surprised everyone when after 92 pitches thrown, and 2 hits allowed he went to the bull pen for David Palmer. In the bottom of the 6^th Gary Carter tucked a deep flyball into the left field corner to add another run for the Expos. They added another on an error in the 8^th to make it 3-0. Reardon had come on in the 8^th to close it out. The 9^th started with a Randolph walk, then Mike Marshall flied out to left. Evans knocked a single to put 2 on with 1 out. Dwayne Murphy flew out to bring up pinch hitting, Sid Bream, who walked to load the bases. Mike Scioscia then sent a ball back up the middle to score Randolph. With Evans heading home Sid Bream tried for third and the throw home was cut off and Bream was cut down at third to end the game. A critical error for LA. Never make the third out at third base. Any number of pinch hitters could have tied the game up, but instead we get a day off, then head home with a 1-1 tie.

PilotMan · 04-27-2017, 05:57 PM

Game 3
10/5
Pena v. Sanderson
6-3 L to the Expos
This was not the Alejandro Pena that we paid to see. The Expos just brute forced this game to their will. That's about the best way that I can put it. LA opened scoring in the second inning on Dwayne Murphy rushed home on a Pena single. The top of the third would start poorly. Back to back singles by Sanderson and Raines, followed by Hawk hitting a 3-run, 379ft shot into the bullpen in left. But LA would answer right back in the bottom. Randolph singled, Evans walked, then Bobby Grich hit a deep double to left that tied it up. It looked like it would be on. But Montreal answered right back again. Singles by LeFlore, Raines. Yount would plate LeFlore. Wallach would plate Raines and they jumped right back. The Expos added a 6^th in the 7^th off of Franco. All in all the Expos had 17 hits. Pena allowed 12 of them over 6 innings and 5 runs. Again Jim Fanning went to his pen early and it paid off as LA had no fight back in them on this night. Montreal takes a 2-1 lead.

Game 4
10/6
Wilcox v. Gullickson
6-2 W over the Expos
The 'Spos started off right where game 3 ended. Raines lead off with a double then later tagged on a Wallach flyout. That early run put the bad thoughts in my head. Our boys would have our backs though. In the bottom of the first UL Washington walked, then scored when Dwight Evans sent the first pitch 400ft into the left field pavillion. We scored again in the 2^nd when Mike Scioscia cracked a 383ft opposite field homer to left. We tacked on 2 more in the 3^rd when Bobby Grich singled home both Randolph and Marshall to put us up 5-1. Milt Wilcox took over and got some solid defense. Twice getting Gary Carter to ground into double plays to end an inning. LA would put the 6^th run on the board in the 5^th when Mike Marshall, who had singled and moved to third on a Evans double, scored on a wild pitch by Gullickson. Montreal threatened in the 9^th and Lasorda brought Tanana in to finish them off. He allowed 1, but then got Tim Raines looking on strikes to end it. Series is tied 2-2.

PilotMan · 04-27-2017, 06:03 PM

Peek into the ALCS:
Game 1 to the Blue Jays 3-1 Reuchel defeated Viola. Schmidt homered for the Jays.
Game 2 to the Blue Jays 4-3 (11) Leal overcame Koosman. Teufel homered for the Twins. Twins scored twice in the 9^th to send it to extras.
Game 3 to the Twins 5-4 (10) Hough threw 149 pitches, struck out 11 and outlasted Stieb. Both pitchers pitched into the 9^th inning. Barfield homered for the Blue Jays, while Ken Griffey Sr and Gary Ward homered for the Twins.

PilotMan · 04-27-2017, 06:51 PM

ALCS
Game 4
Twins down the Blue Jays 4-3. Eric Show went 8, despite allowing homers to Upshaw and Schmidt, the Twins get it done and stay in it. Tied 2-2.

Game 6
10/9
Rhoden v. Candelaria
6-5 W over the Expos
You couldn't write this one better. I'm gonna let you have it just as it happened. Top of the 2^nd LA starts the scoring off LA loads the bases and Roy Smalley works a walk off of the Candy Man to force the run in. He then strikes out Rhoden and Stubbs to close the inning. Bottom of the 2^nd though, Montreal comes back fast. A Lou Whitaker double scores Wallach and Carter. Two ground outs later Whitaker comes in and it's 3-1. Top 3, Willie Randolph starts off with a single, two outs and a 2-2 pitch to Dwayne Murphy who had 1 hit all series, pulled a pitch 406 ft into the right field seats and it was tied up at 3. In the 5^th Ron LeFlore lead off with a double, then Little reached on a error by Grich. LeFlore scored on a Raines fielders choice. Robin Yount then tripled home Raines before being stranded and Montreal went up 5-3. My heart started to fall. In the 6^th Dave Rozema came in, as we had worked the pitch count up on Candelaria. Roy Smalley worked a walk and took second on a sac. Stubbs singled and Smalley came home to cut the lead. In the 8^th Reardon came on, we'd seen him go 2 innings before. That's how it stayed heading into the 9^th inning. The crowd was chanting, Reardon and his 47 regular season saves, but nobody wanted to think about his 5 blown saves. He got Franklin Stubbs to ground out on the first pitch and there was 1 away. Willie Randolph came up next. Reardon got Randolph to ground out on a 2-2 pitch and we were down to the last out. The champagne was being wheeled into the locker room, and the caps were getting ready to come out. Mike Marshall was our last hope. First pitch, ball. Second pitch, ball. Third pitch, called strike. Then a sharp shot to left, just over the short stop and there was 1 on, but there were still 2 outs. Dewey is up next. He's carried this team for parts of this season and is the best bat in the lineup. First pitch, called strike. Second pitch, fouled off. Down 0-2. 2 Out. This is it. BOOM! Deep fly to right field. It's high and it's long! GONE! The ball goes 420ft and LA jumps out 6-5. Steve Howe came on got the first out, before allowing a single to Hendrick. Vance Law pinch hitting. Everyone knowing about his last at bat. How forces the 6-4-3 double play to end the game. We live for another day, and we've seen the last of Candelaria. It's all tied up at 3, coming down to game 7.

PilotMan · 04-27-2017, 09:02 PM

ALCS
Game 5: Blue Jays win 5-4 to take a 3-2 lead. A 5-run 5^th for the Jays and a Phil Garner homer was all they would need. Luis Leal topped Viola again. The Twins scored 3 in the bottom of the 9^th, but came up just short. Except for game 1, every ALCS game has been a 1 run game.

Game 7
10/10
Pena v. Sanderson
6-5 W over the Expos
HOLY SHIT! This game caps a series for the ages for Dodger fans! I fully came into this game thinking that Pena couldn't possibly get roughed up two games in a row, and boy was I wrong. He was touched for another 10 hits in 6 innings. That means he allowed 22 hits and 9 runs in 12 innings. He barely allowed 7 per 9 for the season. This game lived up to everything that the last one did. Hearts were pounding, tears were flowing as this game looked to be over. LA drew first blood again in the first inning when Mike Marshall singled home UL Washington from 2^nd. Montreal answered right back in the bottom of the inning when Raines scored on a Yount double play. Top of the 2^nd and LA fought on again. This time it was Mike Scioscia again with another opposite field homer of 392ft to put LA up 2-1. Pena kept em off the board until the 4^th. Gary Carter singled, then a George Hendrick triple scored him. Ron LeFlore was intentionally walked for Sanderson who made them pay with a hard liner to right that scored Hendrick. Raines then singled another run home before the inning would end. 4-2 Montreal.
Top 6 LA gets one back. Randolph leads off with a walk followed by a Marshall single. An Evans single scored Randolph and it looked like we were heading for a big inning. Scioscia was hit by a pitch to load them up before Smalley struck out swinging. 4-3 Montreal. That's how it would stay until late. In the bottom of the 8^th , with Tanana on the mound, we just needed to keep it close. Instead George Hendrick took a 2-0 pitch into the left field bleachers and put the Expos up 5-3. Tanana struck out the side but the damage was done. Hearts sank. Hendrick had gone 4-4 with a triple and a homer and would probably be the series MVP because of it. That was it. Reardon was coming on again and there's no way we were coming back on the road. Top of the 9^th, down 2. Best closer in baseball against the bottom of the lineup. Scioscia lead off with a single. Smalley flew out to left, 1 out. Ron Kittle pinch hit and slapped a 1-2 pitch into left to put runners on first and second. The go ahead run was at the plate. UL Washington kept the hit parade going with an unlikely 1-1, line drive into right. Scioscia scored and we're only down 1 with 1 out. Randolph came up next and Reardon was in trouble. He had him down 0-2 and then walked him on 4 straight to load the bases again. Marshall was up next, worked an 8 pitch at bat then knocked a hard ball threw the drawn in infield. That scored Kittle from third and we were tied. I flew up out of my chair. Evans came up next. He hit a fly ball to left and it was deep enough that Washington was able to get home to put us into the lead. The crowd was stunned. That's 2 games in a row where we beat up Reardon in the 9^th. Murphy flew out to end it, and Steve Howe came on for the 9^th. Howe got Harrah to ground out, then Raines (again, always Raines, he's like the devil out there) singled. He didn't steal and Dawson came up. Howe got Hawk to hit a hard grounder to short, and the 6-4-3 double play was on. Grich squeezed it for the out and all that Champagne and those new shirts and baseball caps that said EXPOS 1984 NLCS CHAMPS got boxed up and sent to Ethiopia. Mike Scioscia hit .360 with 2 homers, and kept Raines partially in check. He was the NLCS MVP. Fuck Yeah.

We'll be facing the Blue Jays, because we love traveling to Canada. Dave Stieb allowed 2 hits over 7 innings and struck out 8 in a 4-1 win over the Twins. That's another heartbreaking ALCS loss for the Twins. Mike Schmidt was the MVP.

PilotMan · 04-27-2017, 11:13 PM

1984 World Series Preview

Now that we've overcome our status as the underdogs in the NLCS we are now the heavy favorite in the World Series. Not only do we have the home field advantage, we come in knowing that we just knocked off the best team that baseball has seen in decades. Not only did we win, we won twice, on the road. We defeated a team of killers and awared winners. A team that probably has the Cy Young and MVP winners on it. We have to be feeling good, but will it be too much?

The Blue Jays took care of the Twins in a hotly contested, tight series. Normally NL teams struggle on the road because they typically don't have the big bat that can fill in at DH. That shouldn't be a concern for us. You can expect a balance of Stubbs, Foster and Kittle, a group that combined for 29 homers on the year, to handle that job. We could also see Andre Thornton getting some playing time on the road too. He was sorely underused, but he did hit .305 in a mostly pinch hitting role.

That's a two way street, because we're also going to be facing the Blue Jays at home without the DH. The Blue Jays DH is none other than the Penguin, Ron Cey. Cey hit 19 homers and had 78 RBI's, but his -1.3 WAR was one of the worst in the league. Dangerous to face, but also not without his weaknesses like his .635 OPS and 138 K's.

The Blue Jays lineup is a strange mix of young and old. In the starting lineup they've got Fernandez (22), Barfield (24), Moseby (24), and Upshaw (27) on the young side. The old duffers are Lacy (36), Schmidt (35), Cey (36), Garner (35), and Dempsey (35). You'd have to think that time isn't on their side. The Rotation is the same with Stieb (27), Leal (27), Thurmond (28), and Reuschel (35). Their closer is 41- year old Ron Reed who didn't have the greatest ALCS.

Of the 9 Blue Jay starters 6 of them reached double digits in homers. George Bell, who hit .309 and 24 homers has found himself on the bench. He could play at DH, but it's been Barfield who took his place on the field. For defensive reasons in all likelihood. Barfield is one helluva defender. I don't see why Bobby Cox is keeping Cey at DH, rather than go with Bell who is more dangerous.

Neidenfeur is back for the series. We lucked out that we didn't need him more in the NLCS, but it's great to have him back in the pen. John Franco loses his roster spot. That leaves Hooton and Howe as the set up men.

Stieb just pitched game 6 so we're not going to see him for a couple games. That might be a good start for us. As for our rotation, we're right where we want to be. Fernando will start game 1 in LA.

PilotMan · 04-28-2017, 11:41 AM

1984 World Series

Game 1
10/12
Valenzuela v. Reuschel
7-2 L to the Blue Jays
Oh fuck, it wasn't supposed to start like this. The Blue Jays opened up scoring when Jessie Barfield went deep to left in the 2^nd inning. Lee Lacy hit a 2-run shot in the 3^rd and it just got worse from there. Rick Reuschel went 8 innings and allowed 6 hits along the way. Valenzuela couldn't make it out of the 5^th inning. He had 4 walks and 0 strikeouts. Just not himself on this day. In fact, the Blue Jays played more like we did than we did. Marshall and Evans each went 2-4, but no one can really be happy about the way that this one has started. Toronto leads 1-0.

Game 2
10/13
Wilcox v. Leal
4-1 L to the Blue Jays
What the hell is happening? Is it a letdown from the NLCS? Is it just that the AL is that much better than the NL? Is it bad luck? Cause it feels like bad luck. Toronto picked right up where they left off. Moseby lead off with a walk, second on a ground out, steals third, home on an Upshaw single. They keep chipping away. Tony Fernandez, the least dangerous power hitter, who had 2 homers on the year, hit one 421ft to right field. They score in the 5^th on a single, steal, groundout, wild pitch. Bad luck? Sid Bream gets one back for us with his own 376ft solo homer to right, but that's all we can manage. The Blue Jays tack another on in the 9^th with a walk and 2 singles. Leal and the rest of the Blue Jay bullpen had no problems with us. Marshall and Randolph had a couple hits. Murphy is hitting .139 in the postseason and that's higher than both UL Washington and Roy Smalley. 2-0 Toronto. Heading to Canada, where we won our last game.

PilotMan · 04-28-2017, 03:28 PM

Game 3
10/15
Pena v. Stieb
5-3 L to the Blue Jays
That just about seals it for us Dodger fans. This one looked like we were going to steal it and look to even it up tomorrow, but it didn't happen. We got a run in the first when Randolph scored on a Scioscia double. Randolph added another run in the third when we came home on a wild pitch. We took a 3-0 lead in the 6^th when Stubbs scored on a sac fly. Pena was holding the Jays silent and it felt like we had this one. It looked like so many other games we've had before. Bottom six, Lee Lacy tripled and then Willie Upsaw destroyed a ball 440ft into deep right-center. That closed the gap to 1. Pena still pitched in the 8^th, as we clung to that lead. Lacy lead off with a single, Upshaw walked then Jessie Barfield took a 1-1 pitch out of the park and that was the nail. Three more runs, and that was the final score. There's no more magic to go around. 3-0 Toronto.

Game 4
10/16
Rhoden v. Reuschel
3-0 L to the Blue Jays
What a crushing series. Reuschel had it over on us again. There were no big innings. Rhoden pitched well enough, but Toronto scored in the first and the third on singles, then again in the 4^th when Mike Schmidt sent one out. The next batter was Ron Cey. Rhoden hit him and Cey charged the mound. Both were ejected. Denny came on and kept the Blue Jays from scoring the rest of the way. LA was beaten. There was no answer, like the games before, there was no magic and no fight back. Randolph did his part, with 2 hits, but nobody else did anything worthwhile.

Next year? Long way to come to get this far and go home with nothing.

Balldog · 04-29-2017, 12:45 AM

Damn. Tough way to end the season!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

tucking fypo · 04-30-2017, 09:38 PM

Hate that for the Big Blue!!

By the way, excellent dynasty. Like the brief write-ups on games and other important events.

03-14-2017, 12:26 PM	#10
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	Grading the 1983 Dodger trades Floyd Bannister and Orel Hershiser to the Royals for Roy Smalley – B- While Smalley added a ton of pop and finally shored up the defense at short, the loss of both an ace type pitcher and the top organization pitching prospect in return was short sighted. Smalley is 30, and although he has a long contract, his age will work against him. Smalley would have a better year for the Dodgers than Bannister and Hershiser would have for the Royals. Bannister had an ERA of 5.85 with a 3-8 record, while Orel posted a 9.00 ERA in 27 innings of work. Tack Wilson to the Giants for Greg Minton and Mariano Duncan – B Wilson could have been productive, but Minton was a known quantity of quality. Getting Duncan was a bonus. Wilson played well for the Giants, and Minton had a 6.05 ERA for LA, but the trade was tipped in the favor for LA overall because of Duncan and how they used him later on. Ted Power and Mariano Duncan to the White Sox for Ron Kittle – B+ Minton made Power obsolete and Duncan was a freebie from the Giants while Kittle was a top prospect for the Sox in '82 and had already hit 32 HR in a season and a half. Being young, and a better fielder he easily displaced and improved on the production that the team was getting in LF. Kittle would finish with 25 HR combined and 72 RBI, while Power had a 6.50 ERA in light work. Duncan still looks like a solid prospect. Across all levels, he batted .315, with 74 RBI and 46 SB in the minors. All in all, the trades really benefited the team. The pitching staff didn't suffer the losses, this year anyway, and the addition of Smalley and Kittle made the lineup very difficult to face top to bottom. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-14-2017, 08:28 PM	#13
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	The Detroit Tigers are the 1983 World Series Champions! The Tigers took the series 4-2. Lance Parrish hit .375 and hit 3 home runs to take MVP honors. With the exception of game 2, when the Tigers won 10-2, each game was very close with the Tigers coming out just ahead in the end. That's back to back for the Tigers heading into 1984. Post Season Awards AL Gold Glove Winners P Dave Stieb TOR C Milt May BAL 1B Eddie Murray BAL 2B Randy Ready MIL 3B Buddy Bell TEX SS Tony Phillips OAK LF Rickey Henderson OAK CF Lloyd Moseby TOR RF Gorman Thomas TOR NL Gold Glove Winners P Allen Ripley CHI C Ozzie Virgil PHI 1B Ray Knight HOU 2B Johnny Ray PIT 3B Luis Salazar SD SS Dickie Thon HOU LF Dale Murphy ATL CF Eddie Milner CIN RF Tony Gwynn SD AL Rolaids Reliever of the Year Goose Gossage NY (9-4, 1.55, 35/38 S , 63.2IP) NL Rolaids Reliever of the Year Steve Howe LAD (10-1, 1.62, 38/42 S, 77.2IP) Niedenfuer finished 3^rd in voting. AL Silver Sluggers C Rich Gedman BOS 1B Willie Upshaw TOR 2B Marty Barrett BOS 3B Gary Gaetti MIN SS Cal Ripken BAL LF Ricky Henderson OAK CF Dwayne Murphy MIL RF Kirk Gibson DET DH Greg Walker CHI NL Silver Sluggers P Rick Rhoden PIT C Gary Carter MON 1B Andy Van Slyke STL 2B Johnny Ray PIT 3B Pedro Guerrero LAD SS Dickie Thon HOU LF Dale Murphy ATL CF Andre Dawson MON RF Tony Gwynn SD AL Rookie of the Year Greg Walker CHI (.282/31/93) NL Rookie of the Year Kevin McReynolds SD (.284/34/105) Franklin Stubbs finished 2^nd on ROY voting. Manager of the Year Sparky Anderson DET Tom Lasorda LAD This feels like a gut punch that Lasorda wins Manger of the Year for the second year in a row, and we have nothing to show for it. AL Cy Young Award Dave Righetti NYY (20-3, 212.1IP 185K 2.08) NL Cy Young Award Atlee Hammaker SF (21-6, 269IP, 230K, 1.74) Hammaker won the NL Pitching Triple Crown. Valenzuela was 2^nd in voting. Candelaria 3^rd. AL MVP Award Willie Upshaw TOR (.357, 233H, 42 2B, 6 3B, 44 HR, 165 RBI, 136 R) Upshaw won the Triple Crown in the AL with his incredible, amazing, offensive blistering of AL pitching. Ripken was 2^nd, Trammell 3^rd. NL MVP Award Atlee Hammaker SF Deserved. That was a big season, no question. Pedro Guerrero was 2^nd in voting. Andre Dawson 3^rd. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-15-2017, 09:56 PM	#15
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	Hot Stove Notes Bob Welch is gone to the KC Royals for 6 years/6.93M. LA finds their replacement for Welch a few days later by signing John Denny away from the Tigers. He won the World Series last year, opted out of his 3yr deal there for more money. He signs for us for 6yrs/6M. So cheaper than Welch. He's a little older, but he is a bonafide ace pitcher. The end of November the Dodgers consummated another trade, this time with the Padres. Here is the skinny: LA sends C Bob Brenly (.252/15/55) to the Padres for utility man Jim Pankovits (.313/6/34 in AAA) and P Kelly Downs (0-5, 3.46, 83.1IP). Downs was the #21 prospect in baseball in the spring of 1983 and at 23 he looks like a top line starter down the road. Depending on Scioscia, this looks like it has potential. Pankovits just adds gravy. LA keeps spending. This time they've brought in an All-Star, Silver Slugger, and 3-time Gold Glove winner Dwayne Murphy. Murphy is 28 and hit 41 homers last year for the Brewers. He'll take over in CF and right now, Stubbs is getting pushed to LF. No comment from Kittle yet. The next day Pedro Guerrero signs for the Phillies. He gets a 6yr/8.66M contract. At least he won't be around to commit 42 errors at third anymore. Still, that's a lot of offense to lose. LA continues to commit to pitching. Prodigal son, Rich Rhoden is returning to the team, and coming off of a great year too. Rhoden went 21-13 last year with a 3.37 ERA in 272.1 IP. His deal is 3yrs/2.65M. That seems like a steal for another top level ace, who is only 30. Now, let's get some more offense! I'm watching free agency and all I can think is “fuck these Canadian teams.” How much talent is enough?!?!?! Dang. LA is going with the full court press in pitching. Another pitcher is coming to LA. This time it's LHP Frank Tanana. Tanana (13-16, 3.65, 239IP) pitched for the Cardinals last year. His deal is 4yrs/3.1M with the 4^th year a player option year. Tanana is a 3-time All Star. Whew. The rotation is sure going to look different in 1984. LA has penned another starter. This time it's RHP Milt Wilcox. Wilcox (13-14, 3.37, 254IP) pitched for the Twins last season and has been hit and miss over his career. His deal is 2yrs/1.22M and has to provide more insurance and depth the way that the Medich trade last year did. 1983 Top Five Draft Picks for the Dodgers OF Doug Jennings (Sup 1^st) 3B Chuck Jackson (Sub 1^st) 1B Brad Pounders (3^rd) P Joel Lono (4^th) P Luis M de los Santos (5^th) Woohoo. Well now, this is interesting. Local boy Dwight Evans is coming back home. Big news today as the Dodgers got a deal too good to pass up. Evans (.271/30/96) brings a lot of pop, that our lineup was still missing from Guerrero's absence. The deal is 2yrs/2.16M, and even at 32, he's an Iron Man that will show up to play every day. As of right now it looks like both Stubbs and Kittle are out of the starting lineup. Evans is also a defensive stud, with a cannon for an arm. He pushes Marshall out of right over to left. It's a logjam now, but the team is still weak at 3B/SS (depending on where Smalley plays.) The front office is busy, no question. Here's the low down on the latest trade: The Dodgers get 2B Willie Randolph (.278/4/56), a 4-time All Star and Silver Slugger winner from the Mariners. They give up LHP Sid Fernandez (14-8, 3.53 at AAA, and Top PCL Pitcher and PCL MVP), IF Casey Candaele, a 1982 3^rd round pick, OF Stu Pederson (.269/9/52 combined minors), C Tony Merulla (.265/1/5 combined minors) and OF Reggie Montgomery (.273/8/64), a 5^th round pick in 1982, W.T.F. The top pitching prospect in the organization, along with 2 high level picks from a year ago, AND 2 other players. Holy crap. Now we have a major crowd at 2^nd base. I don't understand this deal at all. The most recent signing for the Dodgers is Bobby Grich. Grich (.240/6/17) gets a 2yr/2.08M deal, with the second year being at the team option. He gets some good performance bonuses if he plays. He is a 5-time Gold Glove winner at 2^nd, 6-time All Star, and 2-time Silver Slugger, but...he rode the bench for the Angels last year and he's a primary second basemen. He'll be 35 by April. He's got a chance to win the job at third, but that's about it. At least the team is spending money. I mean, damn, they are really putting it down. The newest arrival is veteran first basemen, Andre Thornton (.314/2/21). Thornton was actually voted in as an All Star last year, even though he wasn't the starter at first for the Pirates. He was coming off of a 31 hr, 130 RBI season in Cleveland before that. Even though he's 34, he's still got some skills. His deal is 2yrs/1.52M with the second year being a team option. Another new outfielder. This time it's Ruppert Jones, who can't seem to get out of the NL West, having played for SD, ATL and HOU, the last couple years got a 3yr/1.51M contract. Jones (.248/6/21) , is a good defensive outfielder, and he's got an above average eye, and power. No idea how he'll get any playing time, but he's here now. Other offseason signings include: C Buck Martinez (.255/8/27) SS UL Washington (.280/4/46) P Dennis Eckersley (18-12, 263.2IP, 140K, 4.20) OF George Foster (.296/13/83) SS Gary Templeton (.279/5/47 21SB) RP Rudy May (2-2, 15 S, 38.2IP, 1.63) 1984 Opening Day Roster Starting Pitching Fernando Valenzuela (19-11, 2.27) Rick Rhoden (21-13, 3.37) Frank Tanana (13-16, 3.65) Alejandro Pena ( 4-5, 2.94) Milt Wilcox (13-14, 3.47) Bullpen LR John Denny (19-13, 3.33) LR Jerry Reuss (14-6, 3.27) MR Dave Stewart (2-0, 2 S, 1.54) SU Dennis Eckersley (18-12, 4.20) SU Steve Howe (10-1, 38S, 1.62) CL Tom Niedenfeuer (7-3, 8S, 1.86) Catchers Mike Scioscia (.227/2/17) Buck Martinez (.255/8/27) Looks like a Martinez will back up Scioscia, and possibly set up a platoon situation similar to what he had in Toronto. First Base Bobby Grich (.240/6/17) Andre Thornton (.314/2/21) Grich is going to start at first. Thornton could be, but for some reason he isn't. Garvey was designated for assignment, possibly getting released. Brock was optioned to AAA. Second Base Willie Randolph (.278/4/56) It's all Randolph, no Sax, no Bernazard, both of them were optioned to AAA. Third Base Roy Smalley (.280/27/83) Scotti Madison (.287/12/74 at AAA) Smalley will improve our defense at third no question. Madision can play infield and catcher. Shortstop Garry Templeton (.279/5/47) UL Washington (.280/4/46) We're losing production here that we had last year. However, Templeton is quick, and he's a great fielder. We're going to save runs here. Left Field Mike Marshall (.310/25/87) George Foster (.295/13/83) Marshall is starting. One can only hope that his level of production is going to be close to what he did last year. Foster provides a nice option if he's hurt. Center Field Dwayne Murphy (.279/41/104) Ruppert Jones (.248/6/21) Murphy takes over. Jones can play all the outfield positions, he hits with power and isn't bad defensively. Probably an upgrade over Baker. Right Field Dwight Evans (.271/30/96) Evans is backed up by Jones too. So this is the new Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team for 1984. They look quite good on paper again. The newspaper has up picked to win the West again, with the best record in the National. So the expectation has to be a title. The team more than doubled the payroll for this year. There are All Stars at nearly every position. The rotation and bullpen are strong and deep. So where are last years guys? Garvey, Minton were both designated and taken off the 40-man. I'm guessing they both get claimed. Kittle, Stubbs, Sax, Bernazard, Bream, Brock, Brewer, Franco were all optioned to AAA. That AAA team is talented. Going to be a lot of unhappy players in the Dodgers organization. This team is built to win right now. If it doesn't happen this year the wheels might fall off. Dusty Baker signed on with Boston and was moved to first base. Ron Cey is in Toronto. Doc Medich is in St Louis. Play Ball! __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-15-2017, 10:00 PM	#16
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	FYI Sid Fernandez is now the #4 prospect in MLB and the top LA prospect is ranked #91, Scotti Madison. There's not much left in the farm system. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-15-2017, 10:33 PM	#17
CraigSca Pro Starter Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Not Delaware - hurray!	Fun read. Looking forward to more. __________________ She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah! She loves you, yeah! how do you know? how do you know?

03-12-2017, 11:02 PM	#2
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	So it's the fall of 1983. Let me get you up to speed with where we are since 1981. In 1982, we won the West with a record of 105-57. It was a great year. Lead once again by Valenzuela, he would go on to claim his second Cy Young putting together another fantastic season with these numbers: 18-10, 266IP, 191H, 77BB/245K and a 2.20ERA. The rest of the staff was able to stay mostly healthy with Jerry Reuss finishing 3^rd in Cy Young voting: 21-5, 263.1IP, 243H, 55BB/148K and a 2.60 ERA. Steve Howe ended up as the Rolaids Relief Pitcher of the Year with 43 saves and only 2 blown. His ERA was 1.34 in 80.1 IP. As if that wasn't enough, the runner up to that award was Dave Stewart. Stewart was almost as unhittable. He pitched 83.2 IP with 7 saves against 1 blown. He had 78 K's and a 2.04 ERA. With all that pitching you'd think that hitting was unnecessary. The rotation the rest of the year after Valenzuela and Reuss, was Bob Welch (15-11, 3.63), Burt Hooton (16-12, 3.52) and Rick Reuschel (10-6, 4.95). In the bullpen, the other inning eaters were Tom Niedenfeuer (56IP/35K, 3.21) and Terry Forster (40.1IP/33K, 1.79ERA). During the year the biggest let down was the early season ending injury of rookie Steve Sax. Sax tore his labrum in mid April and wouldn't return until September. The team opted to go with fellow rookie Tack Wilson to fill his slot, and he would play half the year putting up decent numbers until the team felt like they needed an upgrade. A mid July trade that sent Dave Goltz and RJ Reynolds to the White Sox would bring Tony Bernazard to the team. The final verdict on the trade with mixed and many didn't feel like the Bernazard deal really benefited the team, but there was happiness that the trade didn't cost more. The only other deal of any significance was when the team grew frustrated with Steve Yeager as a right handed option behind the plate, released him, then sent Ron Roenicke and prospect Mariano Duncan to the Giants for Bob Brenly. The offense was dominated by Perdro Guerrero and his .312 avg, .521 slg, and 24 HR. But the team did have plenty of hitting up and down the lineup: 1B – Garvey – started all 162 games (.303, 21HR, and 89RBI) 2B - Wilson - (.262/3/36, 13SB) and Bernazard (.258/5/23, 6SB) 3B – Cey – lead the team in HR and RBI (.278/29/116) SS – Russell – NL Gold Glove Winner (.250/2/53, 10SB) LF – Baker - (.289/17/76) CF – Landreaux – Only 20/20 on team (.264/23/79, 36SB) RF – Guerrero - (.314/24/93) C – Scioscia - (.280/9/68, .375OBP) The team dumped the Expos in the NLCS to advance to the World Series against the Tigers. The Dodgers were heavily favored against the Tigers and won the first 2 at home, then lost game 3 in Detroit. Game 4 was within an out of winning, when the Tigers came back and stung them for the win. That gave way to 2 more losses and a 4-2 crash out ending in mass disappointment. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-12-2017, 11:04 PM	#3
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	During the year the team got Steve Garvey to resign for 2 years at half of what he had been making. Smart move for the team. I think Garvey sold himself short. Valenzuela gets a 6-year/4.8M extension. The team avoids any early arbitration and he is signed through 1988. Key losses in free agency were Derrel Thomas, Ray Burris, Terry Forster, Rick Monday, Bill Russell, and Rick Reuschel. Ken Landreaux would be traded in January for Doc Medich (12-14, 3.54, 244.1IP, in 1982) and cash. The team is thinking about Medich as a #5 starter. Seems like a stiff price to pay, but maybe not. The first five draft picks for the team at the end of the season were: 1^st round – Kurt Stillwell (SS) 2^nd – Joe Klink (RP) 3^rd – Casey Candaele (2B) 4^th – Billie Merrifield (3B) 5^th – Reggie Montgomery (LF) The team drafted way at the back, but there's not a lot to get excited about there. In February, the first big free agency signing for the team is consummated. The team is able to sign Floyd Bannister away from the Mariners to a 4yr/3.9M contract. Bannister adds to the southpaws of Valenzuela and Reuss, and was an All-Star the previous year with a record of 15-14, throwing 248 innings with a 3.38 ERA. That's a big improvement over Reuchel and Medich. Just before the start of the year, Jerry Reuss gets a 2yr extension worth 1.6M. In May, Burt Hooton gets his extension. His is worth a very affordable 632k over 2 years. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-12-2017, 11:07 PM	#4
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	In 1983 the team started off looking good. Except that the Giants and Astros were also looking good. In fact, for the majority of the season all three teams had winning percentages over .600. The rotation started the year the same as last year with Bannister replacing Reuchel and Hooton dropping down to the #5 spot. Lasorda also promoted Neidenfeuer to the primary set up man behind Howe, with Stewart being pushed down. The lineup though looks quite a bit different this year. The familiar faces of Bill Russell, Ron Cey and Ken Landreaux are not there. Instead, Pedro Guerrero has been moved to the hot corner to start at 3^rd. That made room for second year man, Mike Marshall who hit 9HR in part time duty off the bench last year. Starting at center is rookie Franklin Stubbs. Stubbs was in AA San Antonio for most of '82, where he hit .303, had 26 HR and knocked in 101. That would be enough for the AA MVP Award. He finished the year at AAA with another 5HR in 19 games. With no Bill Russell, Tack Wilson was slated as the opening day shortstop. Second base was a little crowded with Sax being back and healthy, leaving Bernazard to sit on the bench. There was a big surprise behind the plate, with Mike Scioscia losing his starting job to the right handed Bob Brenly. Scioscia is the better defender, but Brenly shows more pop in his bat. Part way through the season Wilson lost his job at SS even though he was putting up the same numbers he did last year, Lasorda felt like he needed to experiment by moving Tony Bernazard to short. It was a disaster defensively, with him committing 20 errors in 21 games. Over at first base, Steve Garvey just couldn't get his OBP or his power going and with Greg Brock (.319, 22, 59) tearing it up at AAA, the team felt like it was time to give the kid a shot. So he is another new face replacing the old guard that won in '81. Even with the team performing well, the team started making moves in the middle of July. There were three big trades that impacted the lineup going forward. Here's the breakdown and what happened and why: The first move was a big one. The team shipped new starter Floyd Bannister (9-6, 2.98, 130IP) along with 24 yr old prospect Orel Hershiser (3-3, 27G and 2 S in AAA) to the Royals in exchange for Roy Smalley (.282, 15HR, 39RBI) . The Dodgers had unsuccessfully pursued Smalley in the off season and his acquisition means that SS will be manned by a 2-time All Star and 1982 Silver Slugger at SS in the AL. Smalley is also under contract for 6 years. The second trade came the next day. With Smalley manning short, Tack Wilson (.262, 3, 36) became a pawn. He was shipped to the Giants and coming back to the Dodgers is relief pitcher Greg Minton. Minton (2-2, 1S, 36IP, 3.75) was the closer for the Giants in '82, and did well, but lost his job to Al Holland in the off season. Also coming to LA, for the second time, is SS prospect Mariano Duncan, who has been everywhere from rookie ball to AAA. The third and last trade before the deadline saw the end of a starting job for Dusty Baker. His productivity had been weak for an outfielder, if you think about '82 as being passable. He just wasn't cutting it. Out the door is RP Ted Power (10g, 13.2IP, 0.66ERA), who couldn't break into a regular spot in the bullpen. Once again, SS prospect Mariano Duncan is on the road. Both are heading to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for LF slugger Ron Kittle (.235, 11, 35). Kittle isn't much of defensive drop off from Baker, and he doesn't get on base nearly enough, but he does hit for power more than Baker. This entire season has been a roll for this Dodger team. They've lead the league in pitching, runs scored and homeruns for most of the year and they were the first team to clinch a division. Our current record is 100-50. It's been a win 2 lose 1 kind of season. There are 12 games left in 1983, the team is primed to finish with a better record than in 1982 and again looks to be the favorite to win the Series. So hopes are seriously high that the moves that we've made are going to be enough to win it, and not choke in the Series like we did last year. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-12-2017, 11:09 PM	#5
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	It's September 20^th, 1983 Here are your Los Angeles Dodgers (expanded roster edition)! Pitching Staff Starters Fernando Valenzuela (18-10, 265IP, 2.24) Bob Welch (17-8, 224.1, 3.09) Jerry Reuss (13-6, 206, 3.28) Burt Hooton (16-10, 178, 3.39) Alejandro Pena (4-3, 98, 2.48) Bullpen Steve Howe ( 72IP, 1.63ERA, 33S) Tom Neidenfeuer ( 66, 1.50, 8) Greg Minton (52.1, 3.61, 3) Dave Stewart (41.2, 3.61, 2) Joe Beckwith (3, 6.00, 0) John Franco (4, 6.75, 0) Ricky Wright (0) Doc Medich (38.1, 4.93, 0) Michael Gentle (0) Position Players Catchers Bob Brenly (133G 473AB, .243, 14, 51) Mike Scioscia (43G, 82AB, .232, 2, 15) Brenly has been steady behind the plate, and Scioscia isn't happy about not getting a shot. First Base Sid Bream (6G, 6AB, .000, 0, 1) Greg Brock (67G, 219AB, .196, 10, 37) Steve Garvey (134, 371, .267, 8, 42) Bream is really tearing up AAA. Brock just isn't hitting well at all, and Garvey might work his way back to a starting job before long. Garvey will have 1 more year left on his contract. Second Base Tony Bernazard (129G, 261AB, .241, 4, 21) Alex Tavares (4, 2, .500, 0, 1) Steve Sax is rehabbing in AAA and should return shortly. I'd expect Bernazard to return to the bench when he does. Third Base Ron Cey (81, 89, .213, 2, 10) Pedro Guerrero (145, 582, .320, 35, 90) Guerrero has been a defensive liability all year, but he's in the race for MVP with a dominant year at the plate. He is in the last year of his deal as is Cey. This could be a problem if nothing is done. Shortstop Dave Anderson (14, 13, .231, 0, 2) Larry Fobbs (5, 4, .500, 0, 2) Roy Smalley (111, 414, .278, 22, 78) Anderson has put together a couple of good years in AAA, but he is behind Smalley now and he has a long term deal. Left Field Dusty Baker (128, 386, .244, 9, 39) Ron Kittle (48, 178, .253, 9, 26) Baker will be a free agent after the season, and at 34 he isn't getting any younger. Center Field Franklin Stubbs (146, 563, .249, 27, 90) Stubbs is likely to finish second in RoY voting and he's been a dangerous hitter for the team all year long. At this point, this is his position to lose for the future. Right Field Mike Marshall (143, 551, .310, 25, 87) Tony Scott (5, 11, .182, 0, 1) Marshall has rewarded the faithful in the front office with a tremendous season so far. Top Prospects Sid Bream (.295 20 69) in AAA Sid Fernandez (14-7, 3.54) in AAA John Franco (12-4, 4.47) in AAA Ken Howell (15-7, 4.56) in AAA Dave Anderson ( .280 2 37) in AAA Personally, I really hate to see Hersheiser gone. He was always a favorite. At least we don't have to see him in the same division. First base is really backed up and the team has to decide whether or not Bream or Brock is worthy to succeed Garvey. There's some deep pitching there with Fernandez and Franco. Can the team keep them and find a home for them? __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-13-2017, 10:00 AM	#6
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Always a good time of year for a new OOTP dynasty, especially a replay. __________________ Current dynasty: OOTP25 Blitz: RTS meets Moneyball / Women's Basketball Alternate History \| OOTP Mod: Managerial Strategy Files \| GM Excel Competitive Balance Tax/Revenue Sharing Calc \| FBCB Mods on Github Last edited by Young Drachma : 03-13-2017 at 10:00 AM.

03-14-2017, 11:24 AM	#8
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	9/25 6-4 W over the Braves We batted around in the first and put 5 on the board. Guerrero with his 41^st error. Welch goes 8 for his 18^th win. Howe gets his 34^th save. 9/26 2-1 L against the Reds Pena goes the distance, gets PoG, but the offense can't pick him up. Smalley hits number 24. Guerrero with 2 more errors, now has 43. Are they really going to stick with him? 9/27 6-4 W over the Reds The Dodgers hit 4 homeruns, Baker (12), Stubbs (28), Brenly (15), Kittle (13). Doc Medich pitches into the 8^th, and Minton looks bad in relief once again. Howe closes out for his 35^th. 9/28 5-4 L to the Padres Fell behind early, but another Kittle would homer and tied it up. Valenzuela gave it right back in the bottom of the 8^th. Dusty would get us within striking distance with a 2-run homer, but Kittle would strike out to end it. 9/29 9-7 W over the Padres This was a crazy game. We claw back from down 4-1 to make it a 1 run game. But Neidenfuer lets 5 baserunners on and gets really roughed up for the first time this year. Head into the top of the 9^th down 7-3 and the rally begins. Topped off by a Sid Bream, pinch hit, Grand Slam. The first homerun of his career, and the first hit of his career. Not a bad way to start Sid! John Franco gets his first career win. Howe shuts them down for his 36^th save. Steve Garvey got back into the lineup as Greg Brock is sitting for a few with some knee soreness. That doesn't bode well for longevity when you're only 26. LA will finish the year off with a 3 game homestand against the Giants, who we have a losing record against, next. We just need 1 more win to better the record from 1982. 9/30 4-1 W over the Giants We pick up win number 106. Roy Smalley goes deep 2 times and knocked in 3, he's got 26 now. Bob Welch goes 7 strong for his 19^th win and Howe gets 6 outs (4K's) for his 37^th save. 10/1 9-2 L to the Giants Pena was ineffective today, walking 5 and giving up 7 hits. No real bright spots. There was a Dave Stewart sighting, as he pitched 2 scoreless. 10/2 3-1 W over the Giants Doc Medich dominated allowing 4 hits and a run over 8 and a third. Roy Smalley went deep again for his 27^th and Howe cleaned up the last 2 outs for his 38^th save. So the 1983 Los Angeles Dodgers are the NL West Champions with a 107-55 record. That is tops in baseball once again. A damn fine year for a fan, and once again, very high hopes for the playoffs. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-14-2017, 12:00 PM	#9
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	1983 Playoff Preview The ALCS matchup will be the Detroit Tigers (99-63) taking on the Minnesota Twins (89-73). The Tigers are the defending World Series Champions and had to fight off both the Yankees and Blue Jays down to the final couple days to get in. All three teams won over 95 games. The Tigers are very well rounded 2^nd in avg, runs, home runs, runs against, and starter ERA. They are dangerous offensively, lead by Kirk Gibson (.283/35/98) and Lance Parrish (.256/30/108). They were able to replace Jack Morris with the addition of John Denny (19-13, 3.33) and Len Barker (19-8, 2.98) without losing a beat. The Twins started the youth movement last year, and really kept it going through 1983. They are 5^th in avg, and home runs, 6^th in runs, while being 4^th in runs against and starters ERA. While playing in a weaker division they still couldn't clinch until the last week beating back the A's at the end. Offensively, they are lead by Gary Gaetti (.305/31/108) and Kent Hrbek (.286/32/105). The pitching staff is lead by Eric Show (acquired last year in a trade) (19-9, 3.68) and Frank Viola (15-11, 4.44). The NLCS matchup will be the Los Angeles Dodgers (107-55) taking on the Montreal Expos (97-65) in a rematch of the 1982 NLCS. The Expos built an incredible powerhouse on paper. The team is stacked, top to bottom, they are first in runs scored, avg, obp, 2^nd in HR's, 4^th in runs against and 3^rd in starters ERA. The lineup is deep, lead by Andre Dawson ( .322/28/94) and Gary Carter (.300/20/75), but they also claim such names Tim Raines (.327/6/73) and Lou Whitaker (.248/7/67). The pitching staff has 4 top level starters: John Candelaria (14-10, 2.50) is the ace. He pitched 2 no-hitters in 1983, one of them a perfect game. Steve Rogers (17-12, 3.88), Charlie Lea (14-12, 3.49) and Bob Knepper (17-7, 3.34). Bill Gullickson (13-7, 3.22), who won 20 last year, can't even break into the rotation in the playoffs. The team had invested over 6 mil in Larry Christenson, assuming he'd start, but he only pitched 21 games in relief. It's an embarrassment of riches. LA, well, we're pretty good too. 2^nd in runs scored, 4^th in avg, 1^st in home runs, 2^nd in runs against, 1^st in starter and bullpen ERA. Guerrero finished with .318/36/93, while the rookie Stubbs hit .246/28/96. Valenzuela and Welch each won 19 with Valenzuela having a 2.27 ERA and 3.06 for Welch. The bullpen is the separating point though. All Steve Howe (1.62), Tom Neidenfuer (1.86) and Dave Stewart (1.54) had sub 2 ERA's. The Tigers took 8 of 12 from the Twins. The Dodgers took 9 of 12 from the Expos. Those numbers suggest a rematch of the 1982 Series. The final power rankings were: Dodgers 1^st Tigers 2^nd Expos 4^th Twins 8^th The playoff roster only has a couple of surprises on it for the NLCS. Greg Brock is out and Sid Bream is in. Lasorda says to look for Garvey to be starting against the Expos. The Dodgers only have 1 LHP in the bullpen, and that's Howe. That might be a problem matchup wise. Both Brock and potentially Sax could be back for the Series opener, if we can get that far. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-14-2017, 06:01 PM	#11
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	NLCS Game 1 10/5 Valenzuela v. Candelaria 4-0 L to the Expos Valenzuela would struggle all game long. The Expos were able to bash out 13 hits over 8 innings and he would walk 4 more. Candelaria threw 7 shut out innings and the bullpen did the rest. Garvey had a 2 hit game, but that was it on offense. Expos lead 1-0 Game 2 10/6 Welch v. Rogers 5-2 W over the Expos This would be a reverse of game 1. LA knocked 12 hits off of Rogers in 6 innings, and 13 total. Only 1 would be for extra bases. Guerrero is in a hitting slump and made his second error of the post season. Smalley and Bernazard had 3 hits each. Welch went 7 strong for the win and Howe got the final 6 outs. Series tied 1-1 Game 3 10/8 Reuss v. Lea 4-2 L to the Expos Ok, this isn't funny right now. The team couldn't find much offense against Lea in this one. Guerrero had two hits and tied up the game at one point, only to see Gary Carter blast one off of Reuss that ended up being the difference in the game. Jeff Reardon came in and got the last 4 outs. The LA offense is faltering and now backs are against the wall. Expos lead 2-1 Game 4 10/9 Valenzuela v. Knepper 3-0 W over the Expos A great pitching dual. The Dodgers have a lot of right handed bats, but they have struggled with talented lefties all year long. Dusty Baker got us started with a homer in the 2^nd, and knocked in 2. Kittle had 3 hits. Valenzuela threw 7 shut out innings, and then Lasorda went to Howe for the last 6 outs. He struggled a little, throwing over 40 pitches, but he got the job done. Now it's down to 1. Series tied 2-2 Game 5 10/11 Welch v. Candelaria 5-3 L to the Expos Fucking hell. Gary Carter started the game off with a first inning homer, that Steve Garvey was able to answer in the bottom of the inning. We would add a second on a Roy Smalley dinger in the 2^nd and all was looking good, except that we couldn't buy a hit. The Expos struck for 1 in the 4^th to tie it, then the 6^th inning came. Terry Francona, who had 1 HR all year long, hit a two run shot, followed by a Ken Phelps solo shot. Smalley would answer with another solo shot in the bottom of the inning to pull one back, and in the 9^th we'd threaten. We'd put runners on second and third with two out and Ron Cey pinch hitting. It was likely Cey's last at bat in a Dodger uniform and he grounded out to second to end it. The Candy Man shut us down for too long. Another talented lefty that the team couldn't figure out. Steve Sax was back for this game, but he went 0-4 and was a non-factor. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! Fuck. Welch got nailed for 10 hits, 5 runs in 5.2 and served up 3 homers. We just couldn't match the firepower. All year long, we did, not this year. The Candy Man, John Candelaria, is the NLCS MVP. The World Series is set. The Tigers did their part. They took care of the Twins in 4 and will face the Expos in what should be a great matchup. Up next for the Dodgers is Free Agency. The team has a lot of money to spend, but will they? __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-14-2017, 06:04 PM	#12
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	I forgot to add that Welch left the game in the 6th inning with a shoulder issue. In a press conference the next day the issue is going to keep him out 4 months. He should be back for opening day, but he's also a potential free agent. What effect will this have on his ability to get paid, from LA, or anyone else? __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-15-2017, 09:53 PM	#14
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	The Dodgers have made their first trade of the offseason. It's not terribly important except.... LA sends last years #1 pick Kurt Stillwell (.276/0/22 19SB between Rookie and A) along with P Mike Jones (8-5 4.93 100.1IP in AAA) who is a modest prospect who was a Class A Pitcher of the Year one year ago to the Phillies for infielder Tim Flannery (.268/0/11) and enough cash to offset about 1/4^th of his salary. Flannery was a starter for the Padres a year ago, and the word is he thinks he should be in the mix for LA. Except that at best, he's behind a whole bunch of other players. Not sure how or why on this one. Dodgers Free Agency From a fans perspective this is a scary offseason with Pedro Guerrero becoming a free agent. He stands as the probably the biggest name hitting free agency this year, and by finishing 2^nd for the MVP, he made up a large portion of the offense for the team. I really don't want to see him go. Bob Welch is a staff ace. He may not be the #1 here, but he is good enough to be one somewhere else. Again, as important as he was last year, I really don't want to see him go. After that... It's Dusty Baker. Baker had a few good games, and added a lot down the stretch, but his 1.4 WAR is probably replaceable and at 34 that number isn't going up anytime soon. There's not a lot of depth behind him however. And then there's Ron Cey, a guy who went from hitting 29 HR's and had a 4.9 WAR in 1982 to losing his job and only 99 AB in 1983. The Penguin was our last out of 1983, and he's probably gone, but what happens if Guerrero goes? He could easily be a starter again. Last is Doc Medich. A guy we gave up Ken Landreaux to get and who was going to be the #5 starter initially, but ended up being a long guy out of the bullpen until late in the season. Medich will be 35 in the spring, and he's put some good years in and is fairly reliable for innings. As deep as our staff is though, I just don't see a situation where he comes back again. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-16-2017, 08:37 PM	#18
tucking fypo H.S. Freshman Team Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Pistol City	Great stuff here. Hate to give up Hershiser and Sid but a solid rotation and lineup for 1984. Time to get the title back to LA.

03-19-2017, 12:20 AM	#20
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	4/15 5-3 W over the Giants Bobby Grich went 3-4 with 3 RBI's and Evans hit a 2-run homer (3) to power the offense and give Frank Tanana (2-0) enough to knock off the Giants. Niedenfuer struck out 3 of the last 6 to claim his 5^th save. 4/16 6-5 W over the Astros Mike Marshall went 4-5 with 2 RBI's and Templeton went 3-4 and scored twice. Rhoden (2-1) was cruising until Dale Murphy hit a 3-run homer to get the 'Stros back in it. Niedenfuer allowed a run in the 9^th, but buckled down for his 6^th save in 6 chances. 4/17 6-0 W over the Astros Templeton went 2-5 with 2 RBI and Randolph went 2-4 with 2 RBI while Milt Wilcox (2-0) threw 8 1/3 shut out innings before getting the hook and Steve Howe finished. Team starters now have a 2.00 ERA and are really still carrying this team. 4/18 9-1 W over the Astros Valenzuela (2-1) didn't allow a hit until the 5^th and pitched 8 innings, with Eck on mop up duty. Evans (4) hit a 2-run homer in the 6^th, and Murphy (2), who seems to be coming alive a little, drilled a 3-run bomb and knocked in 5. Nolan Ryan (0-3) did us a favor by walking 8 in 4 innings. 4/19 4-3 W over the Padres The streak continues, that's 6 in a row. Dwight Evans went 3-5 and Pena went 8, but left after 8 with the game tied. Bottom of the 10^th it was Bobby Grich who sent all the fans home with a walk off homerun, his 2^nd off of Jimmy Key (0-1). 4/20 1-0 L to the Padres Tough one to lose. Tanana went almost 8 without allowing a run. It was Steve Howe (0-2) who gave up the run in the ninth after Gwynn lead off with a triple. Dwight Evans got 2 hits to lead the Dodgers. 4/21 4-1 L to the Padres I don't think we lost 1 series to the Padres all year last year, but we drop the first of this year thanks to another steady diet of left handed pitching. Ken Daley (1-1) did a number on us, followed by Jimmy Key and Gary Lucas and LA had no answers. Scioscia had 2 hits and caught 2 stealing, while Rhoden (2-2) struggled through 7 allowing 10 hits and 3 walks. 4/22 3-0 L to the Padres The offense is not working right now. Milt Wilcox (2-1) had a good outing and it was wasted as he allowed 2 over 7. Juan Eichelberger (1-2) walked 6 and they missed those chances too. The best highlight was a Milt Wilcox double and Dwayne Murphy walking 3 times. 4/23 5-2 L to the Astros This wasn't the same Ryan we beat up on before. He had a no hitter into the 7^th before Murphy hit a solo shot, his 3^rd. That was all the offense worth mentioning. Valenzuela (2-2) allowed 5 in 6.2. Denny saw his first innings of the year. 4/24 9-5 W (10) over the Astros This game had it all. Pena started, got into trouble in the 2^nd inning and LA fell behind 2-0 early. Dwayne Murphy's 3-run homer (4) in the 4^th got us back in it. Pena pitched 6 good innings, and George Foster (on for an injured Grich) hit his first for another run, but a single barrage against Eck in the 7^th cost us the lead. LA would tie it up in the 9^th and in the tenth, with the bases loaded Mike Marshall would send them home with a grand slam, his 3^rd of the year off of Mike LaCoss. Niedenfuer (2-0) pitched 2 scoreless for the win. Bobby Grich left the game with a mild hamstring strain. He's not on the DL. 4/25 4-1 L to the Astros Another series loss for this team. Jack Morris (3-1) pitched 8 strong, striking out 7. Tom Candiotti got his first save. Frank Tanana would pitch alright, but not good enough. Bobby Grich, nursing the hamstring injury, got 2 hits. George Foster left with a sore knee. Rudy May was signed to a 1-year deal, but … idk, it's just one of those things. He's still not been designated yet. He must have dirt on the GM. 4/26 4-3 W over the Padres Tim Flannery has only been on the active roster for a few days, but starting at third today, he hit 2 triples and knocked in a run to spear the team to victory. Rhoden (3-2) went 8, even if it was uneven. Niedenfeur picked up the save, his 7^th, but Kevin McReynolds took him to the fence with a runner on for the last out. And to no one's surprise, Rudy May is released...again. Lol. 4/27 5-3 W over the Padres Wilcox (3-1) did what a 5^th starter needed to do and put the team in the position to win the game. The team beat up on Juan Eichelberger. He allowed 9 hits and 5 walks in less than 6 innings. Marshall hit his 4^th, a two-run shot in the first and the team never looked back. Steve Howe came on and got his first save of 1984. 4/28 4-0 W over the Padres Now we're at 3 in a row. Valenzuela (3-2) recovered from his last 2 shaky outings, goes the distance, gets his first shutout of the year, and strikes out 9. The player of the game though, was Willie Randolph. Randolph lead off, went 4-4, with 2 runs and 2 RBI's. One of those hits was a 2-run shot in the 5^th, his first. Evans hit his 6^th, a solo shot in the 4^th. Mike Scott throws a no-hitter for the Mets over the Philies. 4/29 11-5 W over the Padres A sweep and with that win, we've nearly erased the effects of that losing streak. Dwight Evans continues his April Assault. He went 3-4, with 2 homers and 5 rbi's. He's got 8 homeruns now. Templeton and Smalley both had 3 hits each. Both teams combined for 25 hits. Pena (3-0) went 6 for the win. 4/30 7-2 W over the Giants Frank Tanana (3-1) was a one man wrecking crew. He went struck out 8 over 8 AND lead the hit parade going 2-4 with a double and 3 rbi's. Templeton went 3-4. The Giants used 6 pitchers in a losing effort. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-19-2017, 12:21 AM	#21
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	April Roundup Expectations are high and the Dodgers started off strong by finishing on a 5 game win streak for a record of 17-8. We have a 3.5 game lead over the Braves. Only 6.5 games separate first and last. LA has the second best record in MLB behind the Blue Jays, whose record stands at 18-6. Dwight Evans won NL batter of the month for April. He batted .310 and leads the NL with 8 home runs and 21 RBI's. The team is only hitting .245, good for 5^th in the NL, but they lead in OBP. The Dodgers are first in runs scored, homeruns, and walks. As far as pitching goes, we are 3^rd in ERA and tied for 2^nd in runs allowed. Defensively, the team is 6^th in efficiency. The improvements on defense have been obvious in the games. Remarkably, the team can't seem to struggle at home where their record is only 9-8, but they are an undefeated 8-0 on the road. The front office made a couple of roster moves to start the new month. First, and in a bit of a shocker, Mike Marshall (.250/4/18) is optioned to AAA. Franklin Stubbs (.370/4/13 in Albuquerque) is recalled to take his place. George Foster is going to take over in left for Marshall and Stubbs, along with Ruppert Jones will backup all three outfield positions. Second, Buck Martinez (0-11 in 4 games) was designated and placed on waivers. He's likely to be released. Taking his place is prospect Scotti Madison (.310/2/12 in AAA). Last is some confidence in Dennis Eckersley. He was only on a 1 year deal, but was just signed to a 2-year extension. Year 2, or 1986, will be his option, so it really only keeps him for an additional year. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-19-2017, 01:19 PM	#22
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	5/1 3-1 W over the Giants Rhoden (4-2) cleaned up his act for this one, pitching 8, allowing 4 hits with 5 k's. Niedenfuer pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 8^th save in 8 chances. Willie Randolph and Dwight Evans provided the offense with two hits each. Randolph knocked in 2 with a double in the 5^th. 5/2 4-1 L to the Giants Our first road loss of the year comes in May. I guess that's alright. Atlee Hammaker (2-2) just owns this team right now. He struck out 8. George Foster hit cleanup and grounded into 2 double plays. He's hitting .161 right now. Not sure getting rid of Marshall for him was the right move. Rob Deer hit a triple and home run and knocked in all 4 runs for the Giants. Wilcox (3-2) took the loss. 5/4 8-4 W over the Pirates The offense bailed out a sub par pitching performance by Fernando Valenzuela. Roy Smalley hit a solo shot in the 3^rd (2) and lead the offense going 2-3 with 3 rbi's. Eck (1-0) came on in relief and pitched 2 scoreless. With the Dodgers still down by a run in the 9^th and two out Don Robinson (0-4) walked 3 straight batters, then faced Dwayne Murphy who was only hitting .196. Murphy hit a grand slam, his 5^th , into the centerfield seats. Howe came on and left in the 9^th with an injury. Stewart finished. Lasorda announced that Howe is on the DL with shoulder tendinitis. He expects to be out for 2 weeks. John Franco was called up from AAA to take his roster spot. 5/5 4-2 (10) W over the Pirates A see saw affair where the Pirates went up in the 8^th when Johnny Ray his a homer off of Eck, in a tied game. Guante (0-2) came on in the 9^th to close it out, but walked 2. Smalley moved them over, then Ruppert Jones his a sac fly that scored Evans. In the 10^th, Scioscia walked to lead off against Guante, then Randolph would score him later. It could've gotten broken wide open though. Niedenfuer (3-0) got the win and John Denny finished for his first save. 5/6 8-7 W over the Pirates By all rights, this should have been a loss. Rick Rhoden was the victim of 2 errors in the 8^th that ultimately ended up loading the bases, while LA was still up by 1. He then allowed a Chris Chambliss grand slam with 2 out and 2 strikes. That put the Pirates up 7-4. John Denny (1-0) came on for the last out of the 8^th. The 9^th saw hits by UL Washington, Sid Bream, Scotti Madison, along with 3 walks. Rod Scurry got in trouble, but it was Tom Henke (1-1) who failed to keep it close. Niedenfuer pitched another scoreless 9^th for his 9^th save. Buck Martinez wasn't claimed, and is back on the roster again. Madison was optioned. 5/7 3-2 L to the Cardinals Tanana (3-2) pitched good, but Lasorda left him in too long. The Cards scored all their runs in the 8^th. LA loaded the bases in the 9^th with Evans at the plate, but he struck out to end it. Evans lead the team going 3-4 and hit his 9^th home run of the year. 5/8 5-2 (10) W over the Cardinals LA hit only 1 extra base hit in this one. The other 16 hits were all singles. Wilcox started, went 7, but it was Eckersley (2-0) who got the win. Sid Bream's single in the 10^th to knock in 2 put LA in front for good. Randolph had 3 hits to lead the team. Niedenfeur struck out the side in the 10^th for his 10^th save. 5/9 14-7 W over the Cubs The teams combined for 6 errors, 28 hits, 21 runs. Jody Davis, the Cubs catcher, hit 2 home runs. Every Dodger got a hit, except for Bobby Grich. Roy Smalley and Willie Randolph had 3 hits each. Even Valenzuela (4-2) had 2 doubles. Franklin Stubbs hit a pinch hit homer for his first of the year. 5/10 7-2 W over the Cubs LA strikes for 6 runs in the top of the 9^th facing Lee Smith. Pena went into the 7^th, but Eckersley (3-0) picked up the win. Bobby Grich, went 2-4, and cleared the bases with a double in the 9^th. 5/11 1-0 W over the Mets Rhoden and Gooden (5-3) went toe to toe for the entire game. It would only be a single by Willie Randolph, knocking in Buck Martinez. Eckersley (4-0) threw 2 pitches to get one out in the 8^th and got the win. Tom Niedenfeur pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 11^th save. 5/12 4-2 W over the Mets Frank Tanana (4-2) allowed 3 hits in 8 innings, but two of those hits were home runs. Franklin Stubbs hit his second HR, while Roy Smalley hit his 3^rd. Murphy had 2 rbis. Niedenfeuer picked up his 12^th save. 5/13 6-5 W over the Mets The wins just keep rolling along. Milt Wilcox (4-2) picked up the player of the game, going 8 and striking out 7. George Foster lead the offense going 2-3, with 2 rbi's. John Denny came on in the 9^th to pick up his second save. 5/14 4-1 W over the Phillies Valenzuela (5-2) allowed 2 hits over 8 innings and struck out 6. George Foster his his second home run of the year, and Tom Niedenfuer closed out for his 13^th save. We see Pedro Guerrero for the first time since leaving LA. He goes 1-4 with a strikeout. It doesn't get anymore text book for a win, than good pitching and a good enough offense. The Dodgers record in May is pushed to 11-2. 5/15 4-2 W over the Phillies Alejandro Pena (4-0) held the Phillies to 4 hits and a walk while striking out 8 in 8 innings to get the player of the game. George Foster went 2-4 and Evans picked up 2 more NL leading rbi's. Niedenfuer, who has been getting a lot of work, struggled a little, but held on to get his 14^th save. Guerrero went 2-4 with a triple off of Niedenfuer. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-21-2017, 12:11 PM	#23
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	5/16 5-3 W over the Phillies Rhoden (5-2) struggled walking 5 and allowing 7 hits through 6, but the bullpen held things down striking out 6 in the last 3 innings. Sid Bream pinch hit for Rhoden in the 6^th and broke up the no-hitter. Three batters later Dwight Evans hit a grand slam, his 10^th of the year. That's all the offense LA would need. Dave Stewart closed for his first save. 5/18 7-4 W over the Expos LA took a 7-1 lead into the 9^th. Niedenfuer had to come on to stop the bleeding. He picked up his 15^th save. Tanana (5-2) pitched into the 8^th before giving way. Gary Templeton lead the offense. He went 2-3 with a couple of rbi's. LA has won 10 in a row. 5/19 11-9 L (13) to the Expos Crazy game. Five lead changes, 7 home runs. Dave Stewart (0-1) served up a home run to Gary Carter in the 12^th and a grand slam to Tim Raines in the 13^th. Even then LA mounted a come back with Mike Scioscia's first dinger, but it was too late. Scioscia had 4 hits, Bobby Grich had 4 rbi's and his 3^rd HR of the year. Niedenfuer had his first blown save of the year. 5/20 7-1 W over the Expos Alejandro Pena (5-0) struck out 9 over 8 in another dominating performance. Stubbs hit his 3^rd in the first, Dwayne Murphy his 6^th in the 6^th and George Foster hit his 3^rd in the 7^th. Bill Gullickson (5-4) took the loss. 5/22 14-3 W over the Phillies The LA defense kept the Phils to a fg to keep up the good start to the year. Rick Rhoden improved to 6-2, only throwing 69 pitches over 6. George Foster had a breakout game going 3-3 with his 4^th HR and 4 RBI's. Every starter had at least 1 hit. Dwayne Murphy hit his 7^th. This team has started so well, that it's nearing the end of May, and Jerry Reuss, who was relegated to the bullpen, finally saw his first inning of 1984. 5/23 2-1 L to the Phillies Kevin Gross (4-0) won the dual with Frank Tanana (5-3) as both pitchers had good games. LA had opportunities, but failed, while the Phils did more with less. Willie Randolph went 2-4. 5/24 6-2 W over the Phillies Valenzuela (6-2) struck out 9, but gave up 9 hits in 6 innings of work, along with 2 home runs. Scioscia hit #2, Grich #4, and Foster hit #5. LA scored in each of the first 5 innings and would not look back. Randolph went 2-4 and scored twice. Guerrero made his 8^th error, which doesn't see so bad right now. 5/25 7-3 W over the Mets Dwayne Murphy has been steadily getting hotter. He's gotten his avg up to .264 and is now among the league leaders in RBI's. He went 2-3, and hit his 8^th HR of the year, with 2 walks to lead the team. Alejandro Pena (6-0) struck out 8 and Niedenfuer got the last 4 outs for his 16^th save. 5/26 6-4 W over the Mets Dwight Evans went 3-4 to keep his hot start going. Wilcox (5-2) only got 68 pitches in. His day was inturruped by a 64 min rain delay. John Denny, Steve Howe bridged the gap, and Dennis Eckersley got his first save of the year. 5/27 5-1 L to the Mets Doc Gooden (6-5) shut us down, while Rhoden (6-3) took the loss in a rough outing. Buck Martinez had 2 of the team's 4 hits. 5/28 5-1 L to the Expos Back to back losses for the first time since April 23^rd. The double team of Dawson and Carter sunk the Dodgers on this day. Frank Tanana (5-4) wasn't on his “A” game and the offense didn't bail him out. LA fell behind early and couldn't get on track. Dave Rozema pitched the rare, 3 inning save to close it out. 5/29 3-2 W over the Expos This battle between these teams is still hot. Valenzuela (7-2) pitched 8. Niedenfeur came on for his 17^th save, although he did let the tying run get to 3^rd with 1 out. The offense was powered by a couple of Dwayne Murphy sac flies. He leads the NL in RBI's now. 5/30 2-1 L to the Expos Another series loss to the team we're most likely to play again in the playoffs. John Candelaria (5-2) just rolled, striking out 11. LA didn't even get on the board until Foster hit his 6^th in the 9^th off of Reardon. Pena (6-1) took the loss. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-21-2017, 03:11 PM	#24
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	May Roundup There's very little to complain about in a month when your favorite team goes 20-7. The Dodgers continued their April push and turned things up a bit. The team currently sits with a 37-15 record, and it 9 games ahead of second place, Houston Astros. The NL West isn't has tough as it was last season, which should make the timeline to clinch easier. Even if the team plays .500 ball the rest of the year they'll finish with 92 wins. If the Astros continue to play at their same rate of .540 they will only have 87 wins. So the lead there is substantial. Burt Hooton is still a month away from returning and other than that the team is healthy. LA is first in runs scored and obp, but 7^th in avg, with a team avg of .255. LA is 3^rd in HR's. In addition to first in runs, they are also first in runs against, and first in starter ERA. The bullpen has dropped off from last year, ranking 6^th, but the biggest improvement has been on defense where they are ranked #2. There haven't been any major transactions lately and no major lineup moves. Every single starter from 1-5 has a sub 3 ERA and a winning record. Dave Stewart and John Denny have been struggling in the bullpen, but they've still barely been used. Niedenfuer's 27 innings of work lead the team and so does his 1.00 ERA. Willie Randolph has had a much better year than anyone anticipated. Between his defense and his ability to draw walks and get on base, he's near the top in WAR. Steve Garvey, leads the NL in hits with 73 and is batting .329. Maybe letting him walk wasn't that great of an idea just yet. Speaking of OBP, the team has 4 players in the top 5 in BB. They are Murphy, Randolph, Evans, and Grich. All new faces, and clearly part of the offseason talent acquisition process. John Candelaria and Alejandro Pena are the early season front runners for NL Cy Young. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-24-2017, 08:18 PM	#25
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	6/1 6-1 L to the Astros It might be easy to blame Rhoden (6-4) for not getting the QS here, but it's really the offense that couldn't get anything going. The bullpen combination of Stewart and Denny combined to give up another 3 runs as their struggles continued. Dwight Evans picked up a couple hits, but that's about all worth mentioning. Dwayne Murphy left the game in the first after some discomfort in the field. 6/2 5-4 (10) W over the Astros Frank Tanana served up 2 home runs and the team was down in the 9^th when Bobby Grich tied the game with his 5^th home run off of Frank DiPino (2-3). He then came up on the bottom of the 10^th with the bases loaded and an error by Ray Knight let the winning run score. Niedenfuer (4-0) got the win. 6/3 8-3 W over the Astros LA scored 6 runs in the first 3 innings off of Don Sutton (3-4) and never looked back. Valenzuela (8-2) went 8 and Gary Templeton went 3-5 with 3 RBI's and his first HR of the year. Sigh of relief on Dwayne Murphy. What initially looked more serious turned out to be an oblique strain and he's only going to miss a couple of weeks. He's on the DL. Expect Stubbs to continue to start in center field. 6/4 4-3 L to the Reds The Reds are full of ex-Dodgers. Steve Garvey knocked a 2 run double to put the Reds in front over LA. We also saw former prospect Dave Anderson and vet Juan Beniquez. In the 8^th, LA got the bases loaded with 3 walks with 2 out, only to have Roy Smalley strike out. Alejandro Pena (6-2) took the loss. 6/5 3-2 W over the Reds Garvey almost did us in again getting both rbi's on a single in the 3^rd. The game stayed tied until the bottom of the ninth when newly recalled Mike Marshall sent the fans home with a walk off home run, his 5^th. Smalley (4^th) and Grich (6^th) also homered as all three runs were solo shots. Niedenfuer (5-0) won again. 6/6 7-3 W over the Reds Gary Templeton went 3-3 and Mike Marshall hit #6 and Rick Rhoden (7-4) went 8 for the win. Eric Davis hit 2 HR's for the Reds. We finally kept Garvey hitless. Howe pitched a scoreless 9^th. 6/7 5-3 L to the Braves Craig McMurtry (4-4) allowed 2 hits through 8 and shut us down. Templeton picked up a couple rbi's but that's all we got. Tanana (5-5) struggled through 7. 6/8 7-2 W over the Braves Willie Randolph and Dwight Evans provided firepower with their 2^nd and 11^th home runs respectively, but it was the 8^th inning grand slam by Mike Scioscia (3^rd) that broke the game open. Fernando Valenzuela (9-2) went the distance, striking out 6. 6/9 3-1 W over the Braves Pascual Perez took a no-hitter into the 6^th and allowed 2 over 8. He turned the ball over to Bob Shirley and the wheels fell off. He walked Evans and Stubbs, then Mike Marshall walked us off again with his 7^th home run. Pena pitched hard through 8, but Neidenfuer got another win to push his record to 6-0. 6/10 4-3 (11) W over the Braves For the second game in a row LA was shut down by a starter and the second time we got it back off the bullpen. Again it was Bob Shirley who let in 3 in the ninth to send it to extras. Then, the first batter that Jose Rijo (2-3) faced was Willie Randolph and with one swing, he sent them home. His 3^rd of the year. Neidenfuer again, pitched 2 scoreless and claimed another win. His record is 7-0. 6/11 9-4 W over the Giants Atlee Hammaker looked like he had our number again, but a couple errors and we chipped away at him and got him out in the 6^th. LA broke it open in the 7^th off of the bullpen. Ron Kittle got his first at bats of 1984 as Stubbs was optioned. He went 2-5, Scioscia went 3-5 and Evans 3-3. Eckersley moved his record to 5-0. 6/12 6-2 W over the Giants Tanana (6-5) served up 2 home runs and LA fell behind, yet again. He settled down though and struck out 12 in a complete game finish. The offense was all pretty much a Buck Martinez, bases loaded, triple. Willie Randolph went 3-4 with 2 RBI's to help. 6/13 3-0 W over the Giants Fernanado Valenzuela (10-2) goes the distance for the shutout. He struck out the side in the 9^th. Bobby Grich hit his 7^th. 6/14 2-0 W over the Astros Alejandro Pena (7-2) faced the minimum 27 batters allowing 1 hit and 1 error on Gary Templeton. Two double plays kept it to the minimum. He struck out 7. Dwight Evans hit his 12^th home run. This pitching just keeps on pushing the team forward. 6/15 4-1 L to the Astros Ruppert Jones finally hit his first home run and added 2 hits, but that was all the team could muster. Milt Wilcox (5-3) took the loss, even though he went 7 good innings. Ed Whitson (4-0) took us out and ended our streak. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-27-2017, 11:33 PM	#27
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	6/16 6-2 W over the Astros Nolan Ryan (7-7) really struggles against our picky offense. Three walks in a row, gave way to Ruppert Jones, who hit his 2^nd home run of the year, this one cleared the bases and opened the game up for LA. Rhoden (8-4) pitched well, going 8. Dwayne Murphy made his return from his injury and went 1-3 with a run and an rbi. 6/17 4-2 W over the Astros Sid Bream went 3-4 on a rest day for Bobby Grich, and Dwight Evans hit his13th homerun. Frank Tanana (7-5) was player of the game though, as he pitched 8, allowed 3 hits and struck out 5. Niedenfeur pitched a quiet 9^th for his 18^th save. LA wins it's 50^th game of the year. From this point on. If LA only wins half of it's games and the 2^nd place Reds continue at their current pace, LA will win the West by 14 games. It's June 17. Not a good day for ex-Dodgers. Both Dave Anderson and Doc Medich are declared lost for the rest of the year. 6/19 11-2 L to the Reds Things were rolling right along with a 1-0 lead in the 6^th. Then the Reds got a HR from Eddie Milner, then in the 8^th they just plain went nuts with 8 runs off of Pena (7-3) and Howe. 6/20 12-1 W over the Reds A little payback for yesterday. Three big performances in this one. First was Valenzuela (11-2) going 8 and striking out 9. Next was Mike Marshall, hitting 2 HR's, his 8^th and 9^th. Last was Scioscia, going 3-5 and knocking 3. By the top of the 4^th it was 10-0. Willie Randolph scored 4 times and he barely gets a mention. 6/21 5-4 (13) W over the Reds Game was tied 3-3 after 9. Rhoden and Liebrandt both went deep. Randolph (3-5) and Evans (2-4, 2 RBI's) again carried the bulk of the offense. Bobby Grich hit a 2-run double in the 13^th, and Eckersley gave one back, but still nailed it down for the win. He's run his record to 6-0. That makes him and Neidenfuer a combined 13-0. Ron Kittle is just tearing up AAA. He's got 22 HR's in 53 games and is hitting .347. That's enough that George Foster and his .236 avg and 6 HR's was put on waivers and taken off the 40-man. Kittle got promoted in his place. 6/22 6-0 W over the Reds Milt Wilcox (6-3) pitched into the 9^th, but didn't get the shutout. Dwayne Murphy went 4-5 and Bobby Grich had 3 rbi's. 6/23 4-3 L to the Braves Both pitchers struggled early, then settle down. Tanana (7-6) got into trouble in the 7^th and Dave Stewart couldn't keep the door closed and allowed the go ahead run. LA left 9 runners on base and threatened. Dwayne Murphy hit a 3-run HR in the 1^st inning. His 9^th. 6/24 6-1 W over the Braves A pair of two run home runs from Dewey (14, 15) and a solo shot from Stubbs (4) powered LA to another win. Even without all the offense Pena (8-3) was in control all game. He goes the distance, while striking out 8. Willie Randolph had another 3-5 day. Bunch of roster moves. George Foster went unclaimed and he's back on the roster with both Kittle and Marshall going back down. Burt Hooton is finally starting his rehab assignment after his UCL repair. 6/25 8-7 L to the Padres This was not the typical game. LA blew a 5 run lead when it was over. Valenzuela gave up 10 hits and 5 runs over 7. The team had 3 errors. Niedenfuer (7-1) blew his second save of the year and took his first loss. He ended up leaving the game in the 9^th with a foot problem that didn't look serious. Dewey cracked his 16^th and the bottom 4 batters, Grich, Templeton, Smalley and Valenzuela all had 2 hit games. 6/26 9-0 L to the Padres Errors cost the team again as SD put up 5 in the first 3 innings. Rhoden (8-5) didn't pitch poorly, but he wasn't helped either. Grich went 3-4 and the team left 9 on. First back to back losses since 5/31-6/1. 6/27 5-0 W over the Padres Milt Wilcox (7-3) played the role of stopper today with a 2-hit shutout of the Padres. The team cracked off 10 hits off of Ken Daley. Dwayne Murphy hit a monster 450 ft HR, his 10^th. Foster (7) and Dwight Evans (17) also smashed big flies. Somehow, Charlie Hough (9-7), threw a no-hitter against the Indians, WALKING NONE! That knuckleball was totally rocking. 6/28 4-3 L to the Cubs Another less than stellar Frank Tanana (7-7) outing. He allowed 4 in 7 innings. Lee Smith struck out the side in the bottom of the 9^th to get his 10^th save. Little used utility man, Tim Flannery, provided the offense, going 3-4, with a double and 2 runs scored. 6/29 7-2 W over the Cubs Alejandro Pena (9-3) had all his pitches working this day. He struck out 13 Cubs, and at one point, struck out 7 in a row. He was supported by a trio of homeruns. Dwight Evans (18) and George Foster (8) went back to back in the second and Bobby Grich (8) hit his in the 5^th. 6/30 8-5 L to the Cubs Errors cost LA 3 unearned runs in this one. All middle infield errors, which has been rare this year. Valenzuela (11-3) didn't have a good outing. Murphy hit number 11 in the 6^th and Stubbs hit number 5 in the 9^th. Evans came up as the tying run in the bottom of the 9^th, but grounded out to end it. Mike Scioscia was hurt in a collision at second. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

03-28-2017, 06:35 AM	#29
Balldog Pro Rookie Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Macomb, MI	It's time for Dodgers Baseball! -- OOTP 17 Alt History This is great! Will be interesting to see Hersheiser turns out as a Royal. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Last edited by Balldog : 03-28-2017 at 06:36 AM.

04-07-2017, 01:50 PM	#31
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	It's become clear that Gary Templeton was causing problems in the clubhouse. There's really no other explanation for his departure. Yes, you read that right, Gary Templeton, who signed a 3-year deal in the offseason and had started at short for most of the first half of the year has been released after we went unclaimed on waivers. 7/16 5-1 W over the Pirates Eckersley got his second start of the year and was much better this time out. He went 7 innings and struck out 6 to run his record to 7-0. John Franco pitched the final 2 frames without allowing a baserunner. His best outing of the year. Jose DeLeon (9-6) left the game with an injury in the 3^rd. 7/17 5-0 W over the Pirates Rhoden allowed 3 hits over 8 innings and would have gone the distance except that Lasorda wanted Niedenfeur to get some work, so he finished it up. Evans went 3-4 with 2 rbi's to lead the way. Another game where LA failed to hit a dinger. 7/18 6-4 W over the Pirates Milt Wilcox (9-3) got some good run support, but it all came in the 6^th inning. Until then, LA had been held in check. Evans got on base all 4 plate appearances, then had 2 rbi's, but it was Roy Smalley, who has had an off year compared to 1983, who hit his 5^th homer of the year. The three-run shot put LA ahead for good. Niedenfeur pitched 2 innings for his 22^nd save. The first Dodger trade of any significance in mid summer is here. I say any significance, because it's not that important. LA traded away Ruppert Jones (.188/2/13) is gone to the A's along with some cash. LA is getting the A's starting SS Tony Phillips (.268/4/40). Phillips is young and still developing and is probably the better option in the infield than Flannery. He could also take over for UL Washington. Also, big news for LA, is that Pena was activated from the DL and he's back in the rotation. Franco was sent down. 7/19 7-2 W over the Cardinals Alejandro Pena (10-3) makes his first start and takes a no-hitter into the 7^th inning. He goes the distance and takes home player of the game. UL Washington, apparently making a claim for first team play, went 2-5 with 3 rbi's. Willie Randolph left the game in the second inning. Uh-oh. Burt Hooton has come back from his rehab work in Albuquerque. He pitched over 8 shutout innings in a good performance. Dave Stewart, two years removed from a runner up showing for fireman of the year was placed on waivers and designated. That makes me sad. Mike Scioscia's injury isn't healing right either. He's going to be out for another month. Reports are that Willie Randolph's injury isn't serious, but he's going to miss a month. That's mid-August for a return. Mike Marshall was recalled. Lasorda mentioned that he would be moving Grich to cover 2B, while Stubbs takes over first. Tony Phillips is going to replace UL Washington at short too. 7/20 4-2 W over the Cardinals Another 5 game win streak for us. Valenzuela (12-5) went 8 for the win and Niedenfeur picked up his 23^rd save in 25 chances. Phillips made his first start and went 1-3 with a walk and a steal. Evans, Grich and Murphy each got 2 hits. 7/21 10-5 W over the Cardinals LA smacked 3 home runs, and the bullpen nearly let the Cards get back into this one. Bobby Grich went 4-5 with his 9^th HR and 5 rbi's in this one. Evans went 3-4. That's 6 in a row. 7/22 4-3 (12) L to the Cardinals So much for that streak. Danny Cox was getting the best of Rick Rhoden until Dwayne Murphy (16) and Bobby Grich (10) went back to back. Rhoden pitched into the 9^th when he got into trouble and Burt Hooton came on and bailed him out. In extras neither team could do much until LA missed a bases loaded chance in the top of the 11^th. Eckersley (7-1) took the loss allowing 3 hits and a walk getting 0 outs to finish. Dave Stewart is gone to the Mets off of waivers. Not.A.Fan. 7/23 4-3 W over the Braves Pascual Perez had one over on LA for most of the game. First it was a fightback to tie it in the 6^th, then the never dangerous anymore, had 7 total hits in the last 2 years, 800 year old John Mayberry who hit his first homer in years to put Atlanta up again. Thankfully, Grich got it right back in the bottom of the 7^th to keep it tied. Pena had to spread 11 hits through 8.1, then gave way to Niedenfuer (9-1). Bottom of the inning Mike Marshall walked us off on the second pitch from Bob Shirley (2-7). His 10^th of the year. 7/25 7-4 L to the Braves The Braves are one of the worst teams in baseball, yet here they are taking us down. Valenzuela (12-6) had the worst outing of the season. He only went 3 innings, but got tagged for 7 runs in the meantime. Eck, Reuss, and Denny kept ATL down from there while we scratched back, but it wasn't enough. Grich was 2-4 with an RBI. 7/26 4-2 W over the Braves Wilcox (10-3) spread out 10 hits in his 7+ innings of work, while Niedenfeur got the last 5 outs for his 24^th save of the year. Roy Smalley went 3-4 and knocked in 2 runs in the first to put the Dodgers on the board first. 7/27 4-2 L to the Reds A Dave Parker 2-run HR in the 6^th off of Rhoden (11-6) was the difference maker in this one. The Reds Jack Morris (12-6) shut down LA, except for the Murphy HR in the 2^nd that gave LA an early lead. His 17^th of the year. Rhoden went 8 in the loss. 7/28 7-2 W over the Reds Mike Marshall went 2-4, with 4 RBI's and a three-run homer in the first. His 11^th of the year. A Roy Smalley (6) solo shot started the scoring festivities early. Frank Tanana (12-7) pitched into the 8^th and although he wasn't dominant, he did strike out 9. He also went 3-3 at the plate knocking in a run. 7/29 13-1 W over the Reds Alejandro Pena (11-3) pitched into the 8^th and allowed 1 run to get the win. LA put up 4 in the first couple innings and just ran away. Tony Phillips went 3-4 and scored 4 times, while Dewey Evans went 4-4, with 5 RBI's and he hit his 22^nd HR. Sid Bream hit a pinch hit, 2-run homer in the 8^th, with the game already decided, his first. In former Dodger news at the deadline, a pair of former Dodgers were involved in a trade from KC to SF. It looks like KC just dumped salary as they ditch Floyd Bannister and send over 1/3 of his salary in cash to the Giants. In return, SS Tack Wilson, former starter at short and his .247/1/10 line head to KC along with throw in Jeff Kunkel. Kunkel is a low-grade prospect, even if he's only 22. This is a steal of a deal for SF. Hell, as a fan, I'd have gladly send UL Washington back to KC to get Bannister and some cash back. 7/30 9-2 L to the Padres Ugly, terrible baseball. Valenzuela (12-7) with another less than stellar outing, 2 errors by Tony Phillips, the bullpen was wholly ineffective, allowing 5 runs in the last 2 innings of work. All around, it was a poor game. Roy Smalley went deep for #7. 7-31 5-3 W over the Padres Milt Wilcox (11-3) put in a workman like performance going 6.2, allowing 9 hits and striking out 4, while only allowing 2 runs. Niedenfeur pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 25^th save. A sac fly in the first from Milt Wilcox got LA on the board. Tony Phillips followed with a single for another run. In the second Bobby Grich hit a solo shot, his 12^th and LA took a 3-0 lead. Both Grich and Phillips ended the game 3-5. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

04-07-2017, 01:51 PM	#32
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	July Roundup For the month of July the Dodgers continued to look like the most dominant team in baseball. They put up a 20-7 record for the month, even though they had to deal with injuries to two starters, one of them an All Star. The team currently stands with a record of 76-32 and is miles and miles in front of the Reds, who are in second place, 20.5 games back. In fact, the gap from 1-2 is 3.5 games more than the gap between 2-6. The team made no major moves at the trade deadline after they acquired Tony Phillips to play shortstop. Phillips is a Gold Glove winner at short, and he gets on base a lot. Another in a long line of patient, high OBP batters that this team has. July also saw the loss of Dave Stewart for free. He clearly had worth, whether it was to the Dodgers, or someone else. Losing him like that was dumb. Former Major Leaguers, Ron Kittle and Steve Sax are demolishing AAA hitting. They will certainly be coming back in a month for who knows how long. Overall, the team still leads the league in runs scored, obp, runs against, starter's ERA, and defensive efficiency. They are 4^th in the NL in AVG, and the bullpen is 3^rd in ERA. Even though it seems like the bullpen gets tagged a lot, they are still putting up good numbers. A lot of that is because Niedenfeur has more innings 3 guys combined. Alejandro Pena is still the cream of the crop and in contention for the Cy Young. Roy Smalley is clearly having a big down year from last year. His defense is solid, but his bat has been close to a liability. He's hitting over 30 points lower and isn't close to the 27 homers he his last year. Both Bobby Grich and Dwayne Murphy got hot in July. Murphy his .303, with 6 homers and Grich his .360 with 4. That really helped as Dwight Evans cooled from his June numbers. Fernando Valenzuela had a terrible month going 1-4 with a 4.78 ERA. That's got to get better if we're going to compete in the post-season. This team is still considered the best in the league, but not by much. Even with a .704 winning percentage and the gaudy record, the Montreal Expos are only 1 game behind. John Candelaria is the other front runner for the Cy Young, and is also in the running for the triple crown. Check out this Expos lineup: Raines/LF Dawson /RF Yount/SS Wallach/3B Carter/C Whitaker/2B Hendrick/1B LeFlore/CF Ouch. The other Canadian team is the best in the AL. The Blue Jays are a game up on the Yankees in the East. They also have a very formidable lineup and pitching staff. The weakest team of the leaders is the Twins in the West. They look to take that pennant again, even if they wouldn't be close to any of the other leaders if they were in another division. The Yankees rotation is the best in the AL. Check out this 5 man setup: Blyleven Andujar Beattie Soto Krukow When Mario Soto is your #4 guy, you've got enough depth to go a long, long, long way. Ron Guidry can't even make the rotation and he's stuck in the bullpen. Dave Righetti, who won the Cy Young as a starter last year, has transitioned to the bullpen as the closer. Also, they've figured out how to keep Keith Hernandez on the field by using Mattingly as the DH. The magic number for the Dodgers stands at 35. At the current rate, they'll be the first team to clinch a playoff spot. August will require more of the same as we saw in July. Let's go Dodgers! __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

04-07-2017, 04:16 PM	#33
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	Still going strong, that Kittle deal was a steal. __________________ Current dynasty: OOTP25 Blitz: RTS meets Moneyball / Women's Basketball Alternate History \| OOTP Mod: Managerial Strategy Files \| GM Excel Competitive Balance Tax/Revenue Sharing Calc \| FBCB Mods on Github

04-16-2017, 11:52 PM	#34
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	8/1 11-0 W over the Padres Rick Rhoden (12-6) went the distance and got the shutout today. He also got tons of run support along the way. The 4^th inning saw a pair of 2-run homers. The first by Marshall (12) and the second by Grich (13). That would be enough, but they weren't done. Sid Bream went 3-5 and Buck Martinez 2-3 with a pair of ribbies. 8/3 9-3 W over the Reds The Dodgers knocked 14 hits while Pena (12-3) pitched into the 8^th. Foster went 4-5 with 4 RBI's, while both Evans and Stubbs both went 3-5. Evans hit his 23^rd HR in the 9^th inning. 8/4 3-2 L to the Reds Valenzuela took the loss to move to 12-8, going the distance. He didn't pitch poorly, although he did allow 11 base runners over the 8 innings. Jeff Russell (8-6) held us to 3 hits over 7 shut out innings. In the 9^th LA finally got on board when George Foster cracked a 0-2 fastball (10) over the right field fence with a runner on to bring us within 1. Former Dodger cast off turned Reds closer and All Star came on to nail it down and get his 16^th save. 8/5 4-2 L to the Reds Another game where the Reds jumped out and rode starting pitching to the win. Wilcox (11-4) went 7 in the loss. LA got within 2 in the 9^th and loaded the bases with 1 out only to meet Power again, and again, get shut down. 8/6 5-4 W over the Braves Rhoden (13-6) took a no-hitter into the 5^th, and the Dodgers staked him to a 5-0 lead, then in the 6^th the wheels fell off as he got tagged for 4 runs. He managed to hold it together, then struck out the side in the 7^th. Niedenfuer pitched a scoreless 9^th for his 26^th save. Buck Martinez had 2 rbi's. 8/7 2-1 L to the Braves And now LA has lost 3 of the last 4. Tanana (12-8) pitched well in the losing effort. He went the distance and only threw 101 pitches. Too bad the offense couldn't get anything going at all. LA left 11 guys on and left runners in scoring position 5 times. Stubbs went 3-3 batting cleanup. 8/8 5-1 W over the Braves Bobby Grich went 3-4 with a bases loaded triple to power LA to the win. Pena (13-3) continued his Cy Young push going the distance. Even 4 errors and an unearned run couldn't slow him down. Pascual Perez has been the bane of LA in the past. Only Stubbs and his 8^th homer of the year could break him down. As soon as Perez left, LA broke it open. 8/9 8-3 W over the Braves Buck Martinez has been an offensive albatross for LA. Scioscia has started his rehab in AAA, so he'll be back sooner than later. Martinez today, though, he lit it up going 3-5, hitting his first dinger of the year and knocking in 4. Dwayne Murphy hit #18. Valenzuela (13-8) worked hard going 8 in one of his better performances recently. 8/10 7-2 W over the Giants It was home run day in San Francisco. Roy Smalley got us started with a solo shot in the first, his 8^th. George Foster cracked #11 in the 2^nd to put LA up 2-0. The bottom of the second saw the first career home run for Chris Brown. In the 6^th, Stubbs hit a 2-run shot, his 9^th, and with a 2 run lead, and 2 runners on, pinch hitter, Mike Marshall smoked his 13^th of the year to put the game out of reach. Milt Wilcox (12-4) allowed only 3 hits over 8 innings to get the win. 8/11 6-3 L to the Giants Rhoden (13-7) had a little problem with the gopher ball in this one. He served up 2 early on, and a total 6 extra base hits in his 4 innings of work. The offense didn't amount to much either. Willie Randolph's return has been delayed a couple weeks as his knees haven't been recovering the way they should be. 8/12 2-1 L to the Giants Another 2 game losing streak on the books. This time we ran into our old friend Floyd Bannister (11-7). Tanana (12-9) pitched one of his better games of the year, except for that 2 run homer to Chris Brown, now the second of his young career. Bobby Grich hit #14 in the first to put LA up early. They left runners in scoring enough times that it should be troubling. 8/13 5-0 W over the Mets This was billed as another former LA matchup, as Dave Stewart was getting the start. However, he got hurt on his 3^rd pitch and left the game. Mike Scioscia returns from his rehab assignment and takes his place back in the lineup. Alejandro Pena (14-3) was sensational. He allowed 2 hits over 8 innings and struck out 10. The game was tied at 0 until the 8^th when Dwight Evans knocked in a couple then Mike Marshall cracked a 3-run homer, his 14^th of the year to blow it open. 8/14 18-4 W over the Mets Hard to believe this was Valenzuela/Gooden. Doc has crawled into the Cy Young race, but he had nothing against LA today. Stubbs put us on the board with a solo shot (10) in the second. In the third, things just went nuts. Marshall smacked a 2-run shot (15). Later, Roy Smalley was walked for Valenzuela, who then hit his first career dinger, still off of Gooden, who threw 90 pitches in 3 innings. It was over, but LA wasn't. They put up a 5 spot in the 4^th too. Valenzuela (14-8) pitched 8 innings, struck out 7, went 3-4 with 5 RBI's in the game. Now that's a player of the game line. This game got so out of hand that Bobby Bonilla took the mound to close it out. 8/15 3-2 L to the Mets Darling and Wilcox went toe to toe. No team had a hit until Tony Phillips hit a solo shot (5) in the 5^th. Wilcox took a perfect into the 6^th, but NY tied it up. They took the lead in the 7^th and Wilcox (12-5) left despite striking out 10. All in all the Mets struck out 15 times in this one. LA could only muster 3 more hits the entire game in the losing effort, and Scioscia had 2 of those. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

04-19-2017, 08:35 AM	#35
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	8/17 6-3 L to the Phillies Rhoden (13-8) got the start, walked 5 and struck out 8, but he was all over the place. LA's offense was all home runs again. Stubbs tied up the game in the 2^nd with #11, but the Phillies took the lead for good on a Steve Balboni 3-run shot. Dwayne Murphy would pull a couple back with his 19^th in the 5^th, but that was about it. Evans, Stubbs and Murphy had all but 1 of the hits in the game. 8/18 6-3 W over the Phillies Pena (15-3) went 8 and struck out 11 in the victory. LA put up a 5 spot in the first and didn't look back. He was helped by George Foster's 12^th HR in the 3^rd. Dwayne Murphy went 3-4. Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 27^th save. 8/19 3-1 L to the Phillies Marty Bystrom (12-8) struck out 9 and allowed 2 hits in 6 2/3 innings of work. Valenzuela (14-9) took the loss and didn't show his best stuff, but you have to believe that another game of no run support is taking it's toll on the team. Mike Marshall left the game with an injury on a defensive play. Report on Marshall is that he suffered a back strain on a diving catch. He's gone to the DL. Ron Kittle and his 39 homers in 100 games and 398 at bats is back in the majors in his place. 8/20 10-4 W over the Expos Milt Wilcox (13-5) got the win allowing 4 in 7 innings of work. LA provided all the offense he would need, and the offense that Valenzuela wished he could've had. LA chiped away at Steve Rogers and by the end of the fifth had put up all 10 runs. They drew 6 walks in that time, and Dwayne Murphy hit his 20^th of the year in the 4^th. Kittle scored twice even if he failed to get a hit. This was the 4^th time in 7 games that we've beaten the Expos this year. It could be just as meaningless as last year. These teams will meet in the playoffs. 8/21 10-7 L to the Expos No pitching, or at least poor pitching today. The offense ruled the day. Expos put up 3 in the first, LA answered when Dewey hit a 2-run shot, #24. LA was up 7-4 at one point, then the Expos put up 6 in the 5^th on a combination of hits and errors. Tanana only went 4, but it was Jerry Reuss (0-2) that took the loss. 8/22 2-1 (12) W over the Expos For all the lack of pitching yesterday today it was all about Rhoden, Knepper and the bullpens. Willie Randolph made his return to the LA lineup, and even though the AAA season is winding down, maybe he should have done a rehab stint. He went 0-5 today. LA loaded the bases with 2 out thanks to a Burt Hooton (1-0) single. That brought up UL Washington who poked a single into right to send the fans home happy. 8/23 7-2 W over the Phillies Pena pushes his record to 16-3 and the Dodgers stop the Phils 5 game win streak. Pena goes 8 allowing an an earned and unearned run. Dewey hits #25, Randolph goes 2-5 with 3 RBI's in a much better performance and the seriously under performing Roy Smalley went 3-4 and scored 3 times. 8/24 6-2 W over the Phillies Valenzuela (15-9) went the distance and pitched one of his best games of the year. He allowed no hits into the 5^th, allowed 3 the whole game, 2 were for extra bases. LA put up 5 in the first thanks to a 3-run homer by Grich (15) and Scioscia (5) going back to back. Willie Randolph does appear to be back 2-3, with a walk. 8/26 6-5 L to the Phillies Wilcox (13-6) was victimized by a terrible error on Scioscia that lead to a 4 run first for the Phils. The team managed 12 hits in this one, and scored 4 runs in the top of the 9^th to bring Evans to the plate as the tying run. He dribbled out to the pitcher to end it. 8/27 4-3 W over the Phillies Rhoden made it another 8 innings in a strong start, striking out 7. A Roy Smalley 2-run homer (9) in the 7^th tied it up. LA had plenty of chances, but they left 9 on base. Philly scored 3, and left 0 on base. Niedenfeur pitched a scoreless 9^th with 2 strikeouts for his 28^th save. 8/28 5-3 W over the Mets We get to see Dave Stewart for the second time, and this time he hangs. He leaves the game in the 5^th with a 3-0 lead thanks to a Gary Redus (3) 3-run shot off of Tanana (13-9). Except for that Tanana was great. LA chipped 1 back in the 5^th and 7^th, and then in the 8^th, down 3-2, Mike Scioscia hit a bases loaded double off of Jessie Orosco that gave LA the lead. Niedenfeur pitched 2 innings for the save, his 29^th. 8/29 6-1 L to the Mets Doc Gooden (15-10) struck out 9 and had his way with LA. Pena (16-4) allowed 12 hits and 15 baserunners in 6.2, in the losing effort. Every batter in the Met lineup got at least 1 hit. The shocking fact looking in to this Dynasty so far is that of the Sax brothers, Dave is still getting regular playing time, while Steve is stuck in AAA behind Willie Randolph. Dave has more MLB at bats, even if his avg is near the Mendoza line. A bonus thought, Kittle was averaging a HR every 9.5 AB or so in AAA, he's had nearly 50 in the majors this year and is still looking for his first. 8/31 1-0 L to the Expos The #1 offense downed the #1 pitching staff and defense thanks to pitching. Of course, Montreal has the #2 staff in the league too. Scott Sanderson (15-4) allowed 3 hits in 6.2 innings of work. The closest LA came was a runner on second with 2 out in the 9^th. Reardon went 8 outs for his 38^th save. Valenzuela (15-10) throws a complete game and strikes out 7 in the loss. Wasted effort there. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

04-23-2017, 01:45 AM	#37
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	9/1 8-2 L to the Expos Picking up right where we left off. LA played sloppy. Rhoden (14-9) wasn't effective, and the team committed 3 errors that lead to 3 unearned runs. Willie Randolph was again, the only bright spot, getting nearly half the team hits and all the RBI's, hitting his 3^rd dinger of the year. Kelly Downs made his season debut and Ricky Wright made his ML debut, both pitched scoreless innings. This is the first 3 game losing streak of the year. 9/2 2-1 L to the Expos Not good. A 3 game sweep by the Expos and our longest losing streak of the year. The Expos also won the season series 7-5. Milt Wilcox (13-7) went the distance and pitched great for the most part. Except for a HR allowed by Dawson he was on point. John Candelaria (18-2) should be the Cy Young, and probably the MVP. He allowed 3 hits, struck out 6 for the win. Ron Kittle finally hit his first. 9/3 4-2 L to the Padres Oh man, LA now has a 5 game losing streak. Another wasted Pena start. Bob Ojeda is having a great year, but has only been getting 2 runs of support per game. He would've had the same here, had it not been for a 2-run homer by Luis Salazar off of Niedenfeur (9-2) in the 9^th that was difference in the game. Pena had pitched well, but it was his bat that tied the game up. He hit his second homer of the year in the loss. Tony Phillips left the game after a collision on a defensive play. The news is bad. In addition to the 5 game losing streak the MRI on Phillips came back and showed a partially torn labrum. That will do him in for the rest of the year. UL Washington will resume the starting role at short. Greg Brock was called up. 9/4 8-2 (12) L to the Padres This is really going south. Frank Tanana went 9 and gave up 2 homers, one to Dodger killer Luis Salazar. Again. Greg Brock hit his first homer of the year and Scioscia went 3-6. The game was tied 2-2 into extras and it was the unspectacular pitching of Steve How and his allowing 5 baserunners without getting an out, along with 2 errors in the 12^th that broke the game open. Fernando will be back on the mound to play stopper tomorrow. It appears that Lasorda is going in a different direction at short. The shortage of offense had caused him to move Benazard back to short (ugh) against righties and Smally against lefties. There are enough big bats in this lineup that this shouldn't be happening. 9/5 6-1 W over the Braves A WIN! Woohoo! Valenzuela (16-10) pitched a great game. Eight strikeouts in 8 innings of work and only 4 hits allowed. Ron Kittle provided all the offense. He hit a 2-run shot in the 1st and a 3-run shot in the 3^rd. Roy Smalley added his 10^th homer in the 6^th. 9/6 4-3 (10) W over the Braves It's going to take a long winning streak to undo some of the damage that's been done. Rhoden went 8 and got the PoG award. LA drew 7 walks off of a very distracted Pascual Perez. Mike Scioscia gave LA a lead in the 2^nd with his 6^th homer of the year, but the Braves clawed back. Tony Brewer won the game with his first career ML hit, and that plated Roy Smalley from second. John Franco (2-0) got the win. 9/7 5-2 W over the Reds Milt Wilcox (14-7) pitched beautifully, striking out 9 and shutting the Reds down except for a Nick Esasky 2-run homer (22) in the first. Dwayne Murphy got one back in the second with his 21^st of the year. Jack Morris shut us down though and it took a Scioscia double in the 7^th and a big single by Roy Smalley tied everything up. Wilcox kept plugging away and went the distance. In the 9^th it was a Sid Bream pinch hit single, then an intentional walk of Scioscia to get to UL Washington, but instead it was Ron Kittle (Mike Marshall is back and got the start). Kittle promptly deposited the ball in the left field pavilion (4) for the walk off win. On the negative side Dwight Evans has gone completely cold. He's hitting .143 with no extra base hits for September and hasn't hit a homer is 2 weeks. The Expos have clinched the East and now sit 4.5 games ahead of the Dodgers for home field. 9/8 13-3 W over the Reds Alejandro Pena (17-4) struck out 11 and pitched into the 9^th before he ran out of steam. Reds pitchers walked 8 Dodgers and gave up 3 home runs. LA put up 6 spot in the 8^th inning, but this game was over before then. Buck Martinez went 3-4 with a HR (2) and 5 RBI's. Mike Marshall (16) and Willie Randolph (5) each hit home runs. 9/9 5-4 W over the Reds Tanana struck out 7 en route to his 14^th win. Dwayne Murphy his a solo shot in the 2^nd inning and went 3-4 with 3 RBI's. Sid Bream got a rare start at first and went 2-3 leading off with the other 2 RBI's. Burt Hooton pitched the 9^th for his first save of the year. LA wins their 5^th in a row and the magic number is 1. 9/11 7-6 W over the Padres The DODGERS WIN THE WEST! That's 4 in a row for LA. Good pitching was hard to find. Greg Brock lead off the game (yes, somehow, Greg Brock batted lead off today, don't ask) with his 3^rd hit of the year, it also happened to be his 2^nd homer. That was nothing, at the end of 1, it was 4-3 SD. In the 4^th Grich hit his 16^th homer of the year and put LA up for the 3^rd time, and he would add 4 RBI's in the game. LA drew another 7 walks off of the Padre pitching, but Valenzuela (17-10) walked 4 of his own. Niedenfuer pitched the last 2 innings. A Tony Gwynn triple would allow the Padres to climb within 1, with the tying run on third, but McReynolds would ground out to end it. That's the 30^th save for our closer. He's still only blown 2 all year. How's this for a bad pitching line: 3.2 IP, 8 H, 7R/ER, 5 BB, 1 K, 2 HR, 101 Pitches, 53 strikes. That's how Dave Dravecky (12-12) fared. We should be thankful that we've made it all year without a line that bad. 9/12 5-1 W over the Padres LA pushes the win streak to 7 games. Willie Randolph went 3-3 with 2 walks, 2 runs and an rbi. He is just the key in the #2 spot in the lineup. LA put up 4 in the 4^th thanks to a Bobby Grich 3-run shot. It was his 17^th on the year. Rick Rhoden (15-9) allowed 3 hits and pitched into the 9^th. Hooton finished the game. While we've won 7 in a row, the Expos have won 8 in a row and are 5 ahead of LA for home field. 9/13 7-2 W over the Reds LA banged out 16 hits and 7 starters had 2 hits or more (Randolph had 3 because of course he did). Alejandro Pena ran his record to 18-4 and lowered his ERA to 1.87 by going 8.1 and allowing 1 run. LA scored in each of the first 5 innings. They were helped by Dewey finally hitting his first home run in 3 fucking weeks. Good god. That was his 26^th. Dwayne Murphy hit his 23^rd in the 5^th and Stubbs hit #12 in the 8^th. The Expos have now opened up a 29 game lead on 2^nd place St Louis. The Cubs are languishing in last 51 games back. The Twins have their magic number down to 5. The Blue Jays and Yankees are still only separated by 1 game. 9/15 2-1 L to the Reds LA put runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with no outs in the 9^th and couldn't cash in. So the win streak comes an end, but it was close. They had plenty of chances. They drew another 8 walks off of Cincy pitching. Wilcox (14-8) took the loss, but only allowed 2 in 7 innings. Ted Power made us look silly in the 9^th when we had him in trouble. Should've won. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

04-24-2017, 10:01 PM	#38
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	9/16 6-2 W over the Reds Valenzuela (18-10) owned the Reds today. With the exception of one inning, he completely dominated them, with 11 K's in the game. The offense actually gave him some support today too, every player except Valenzuela got a hit today. Lasorda has opted to go with Tony Bernazard back at short and not UL Washington, which can't make Washington happy. Either way, Bernazard went 4-3 leading off. Bobby Grich piled on in the 7^th with a 2 run shot, his 18^th of the year. 9/17 12-9 W over the Braves Sloppy defense and good hitting put the hurt on pitching today. Neither Rhoden or Jeff Robinson lasted 5 innings and both allowed a total of 8 UN-earned runs. LA put up 5 in the first, 4 on a Mike Scioscia grand slam, his 7^th dinger. Bobby Grich hit #19 in the 3^rd, and after 3 LA lead 7-2. Another pinch hit homer from Ron Kittle (5) in the 5^th gave LA another one. The Braves fought back with 4 in the 4^th and 3 more in the 7^th and took the lead 9-8 off of Kelly Downs. Scioscia got 2 more ribbies and LA retook the lead in the 7^th and he finished with 6 on his 3-5 day. Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 31^st save. John Franco threw 5 pitches and got the win (3-0). 9/18 4-3 (12) W over the Braves Down 3-2 in the 9^th with 2 out and the tying run on third, Mike Marshall hit a difficult ball to third. He charged toward third and just beat out the throw by Brook Jacoby that tied the game. Marshall had 3 hits on the day to lead the team. They almost gave it back in the bottom though as Atlanta put the winning run on third with 0 outs. Steve Howe worked his way out of trouble with a strikeout and a couple of weak ground balls. In the 12^th a Franklin Stubbs triple scored Dwight Evans and that was the difference. Hooton pitched 2 and got the win, moving his record to 2-0. 9/19 4-2 L to the Astros The Astrodome isn't the place where balls fly out normally. Even the acquisition of Dale Murphy in the offseason hasn't helped this team, who only had 91 team homers coming in. Even having Alejandro Pena, in a potentially Cy Young Award winning season didn't matter, and today you didn't even need to be a power hitter. The never dangerous Rudy Law lead hit his 10 career homer in the third, followed by Brian Downing (still playing catcher) and his 15^th on the year. LA closed with a couple in the 8^th, but Houston hung on and then added a cherry when the never dangerous, Steve Jeltz hit his first career homer off of Jerry Reuss. Pena took the loss and dropped to 18-5. The Twins won their 11^th straight and clinched the AL West. They look truly dangerous for the first time all year. They are closing in on the .600 winning percentage. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays are up 1 on the Yankees, but both teams are struggling with 3-7 records in their last 10 games. The magic number is 10, and the Blue Jays have the slight advantage. The Expos just won game number 108. The second place Pirates are now 30.5 games back, Cubs 51.5 back. Expos lead LA by 6 games with 10 to play. Twins are only down 2.5 for home field in the AL. Another insane stat about this Expos team. The top 4 NL leaders in WAR are all Expos. All of them. 9/20 3-1 W over the Astros Wilcox (15-8) went 8 solid innings and threw less than 100 pitches to get there. Dwight Evans hit #27, only his second homer of September. His slump is still hurting, but he went 3-4 with 2 rbi's in this one. Niedenfeur pitched the 9^th for his 32^nd save. We are closing in on the franchise record for wins for the third straight year, but will certainly go into the playoffs as the underdog. Damn. 9/21 4-2 W over the Giants Fernando picked up win #19. He pitched 8 good innings, and really cut the Giants down after allowing 2 in the first. Dwight Evans went 3-4 again and scored 3 runs, perhaps he's starting to break out again? This LA team is so deep off the bench right now. They had a string of pinch hitters that went like this: Kittle, Marhsall, Sax, and Brewer. Earlier they had Stubbs, Bream, and Madison. There's just something about being able to bring multiple guys in a row off the bench who can go deep. It really adds to the late game possibilites. A strong wind blowing in from left helped Valenzuela today. No less than 3 right handed batters took balls to the fence off of him. Niedenfuer pitched another 9^th for his 33^rd save. 9/22 4-3 W over the Giants Rhoden recovered from his poor outing last time to go 8 tonight, while only allowing 3 hits on 89 pitches. In the 9^th Steve Howe made us reach for the Rolaids though. The Giants got the winning run to the plate before Howe finally go the strikeout to seal it. It was his 2^nd save on the year. Willie Randolph got us on the board in the first with his 6^th homer of the year, and in the 5^th Sid Bream added his 2^nd shot. Bream was getting the rare start at first in this one. Floyd Banniser went down for the Giants. He struck out 7 over 6, but 4 walks, 2 homers and a high pitch count did him in. He's 14-8 now on the year combined (KC and SF). The Blue Jays lead is down to ½ game with 8 to play. Money is starting to go toward NY to win the division. LA has cut the Expos lead to 4 with 7 to play. 9/23 8-1 W over the Giants This is win number 106 for the boys in blue. Tanana went 7 shut out innings and struck out 8 to run his record to 15-9. UL Washington, Willie Randolph and Dwight Evans all had 3 hits. Evans hit number 28 and had 4 RBI's. This game really should have been a bigger blowout. LA had 12 hits and had to set some kind of record for walks. As a team the Dodgers drew 13 walks from Giants pitching. That's 25 baserunners. They left 15 runners on in the game. 9/24 8-6 L to the Astros This was not the start that Cy Young hopeful Alejandro Pena was hoping for. Pena (18-6) loses for the second time in a row, sees his NL leading ERA climb above 2 for the first time in a long time, strikes out 7, but can't get out of the 6^th inning. LA would have won if John Franco and Dennis Eckersley could have figured out how to pitch to Bill Doran, who went 3-5 with 2 home runs. Scioscia hit #8, but it was Willie Randolph (making that Sid Fernandez deal look not awful) again, who had it going on for LA. Randolph went 4-4 with a walk. Bernazard reminded us why he lost the starting shortstop job, when he committed 2 errors in an inning. The Yankees pull into the lead in the East on a 3-1, 17 inning marathon that saw Ron Guidry pitch 5 scoreless innings of relief against the O's. The Bjays fell to the Red Sox. The Expos have clinched home field. They hold a 5 game lead with 5 to play and the tie breaker. 9/25 10-7 W over the Astros The Astros batted around in the first and put up a 5-0 lead right off the bat. Lasorda stuck with Wilcox (16-8) though and while he settled down, he still had to scatter 12 hits in 6 innings of work. Not his best day. Luckily the offense had a nice answer for the Astros. LA got 3 back in the 3^rd and then they took the lead in the 6^th on a Tony Bernazard dinger. His first of the year. LA would add 2 in the 7^th, thanks to Dwight Evans and number 29, and another pair in the 8^th to pull away. Evans, Grich, Marshall and Randolph all had 3 hits, that was 75% of the offense on the day. The Blue Jays are back in front by a game, but the race is still looking to come down to the last day. The Dodgers have now tied the club record for wins with 107. That equals our 1983 record. The Expos are up to 111. 9/26 6-3 W over the Astros Fernando went looking for his 20^th win, and got it. Despite giving one up in the first he settled down, going 7, striking out 9 and walking 4. The Dodgers did commit 3 errors, 2 by Bernazard....again. Niedenfeur came on to close it out, but would leave in short order. Hooton finished for his 2^nd save. Bobby Grich went 2-3 and hit his 20^th homer of the season that put LA up 6-1. Valenzuela went 2-2 and raised his avg to .241 on the year. This win sets the LA Dodger record for wins in a season. There are 4 to play. Niedenfeur has an injured abdominal muscle which is going to keep him out for a while, but the timeline is unclear at this point. Lasorda has ruled him out for the remainder of the season at least. The Yankees are still down a half and have 4 to play. They suffered a huge blow though as Mattingly is lost for the rest of the year with an Achilles injury. He'll be back for 1985 though. LA moves Niedenfeur to the 15 day DL. So it looks like he's going to miss the entire NLDS. That's a blow. He's been just dominant all year, and Howe hasn't been. No one else has been. 9/28 3-2 W over the Giants The final homestand of the regular season starts against the Giants. We see Floyd Bannister, who finally pitches a great game against us as he threw 8 shut out innings. Rick Rhoden matched up well going 7 and striking out 8, but gave up 2 runs and left with a solid lead. Al Holland, one of the best closers in the game in 1984 with 44 saves came into the game to face Randolph, Evans and Grich. That would be all he would face too. Randolph lead off with a single to bring Evans up. He went opposite field and went right over the first baseman putting runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with nobody out. Bobby Grich came up and he put the ball over the left field fence, 381 feet, for his 21^st homer and in walk off style. 9/29 10-1 W over the Giants The final game of the year for Pena saw him back in form. He came within an out of a shut out and struck out 7 to put him over 200 for the year, and didnt' walk any. His 19 wins are a career high. In the game he threw 99 pitches, 72 for strikes. That's no-hitter level accuracy. The order of the runs doesn't matter, LA hit 4 homers, 2 of them by Mike Marshall, who finished 4-5, 3 runs and 3 rbi's. He's got 18 homers in just over 300 at bats. Greg Brock hit #3 and Roy Smalley hit #11. It was the kind of game that we'll need to have against Montreal. September 29^th will go down as the day the AL East race was decided. The Yankees had a double header against the Tigers and the Blue Jays were on the road against the Brewers. NY fell in both games, 6-2 and 7-3 in front of all the home fans at Yankee Stadium while the Blue Jays got it done on the road winning 7-5. Toronto has won the East and won 100 games. 9/30 4-0 W over the Giants LA goes out just the opposite of last year with 5 wins in a row. Milt Wilcox (17-8) was brilliant. He took a no-hitter into the 6^th inning and for some reason was yanked with 1 out in the 9^th for Steve Howe. Howe needed a big throw from Dwayne Murphy at the plate to preserve the shut out. Scioscia and Evans had 2 hits, and Kittle knocked in 2 rbi's while pinch hitting. And with that. Poof. The regular season ended. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

04-24-2017, 10:32 PM	#39
Balldog Pro Rookie Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Macomb, MI	Dodgers and Expos...should be a good one! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

04-27-2017, 09:11 AM	#40
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	1984 Playoffs Preview LA blasted through September with a 20-7 record. A fantastic recovery for the team from August. Even with the losing streak and the big drop in offense for a while, the last part of the month they really made up for it. In the AL, the defending champs are out. This year the top team in the AL was the Blue Jays. Toronto was the last team to clinch a division beating the Yankees at the wire. They've been contenders, but suffered behind the Tigers recently. The Jays rank 3^rd or 4^th in most offensive categories in the AL, including stolen bases. Their pitching is also very good, 2^nd in runs against and starters ERA, while having the best bullpen. Mike Schmidt was the big offseason acquisition on offense, and while he didn't have an MVP type year he still lead the team in HR and RBI. Tony Fernandez lead in WAR. Mostly due to his 24 steals and insane defensive skills. He still had a slash line of .313/.371/.420, but is going to miss the series rehabbing from a broken wrist. Right behind him were Mike Schmidt (.237/.341/.454, and 31 HR and 110 RBI) and George Bell (.309/.343/.542) and 24 HR and 87 RBI. The Blue Jays pitching staff is anchored by 25 game winner Dave Stieb. Steib (3.23 ERA) benefited from 4.58 runs of support per game and had 25/36 Quality Starts. His 25-8 record was the best in baseball. The #2 pitcher is Luis Leal who went 18-6 with a 3.92 ERA. Leal got 4.88 runs of support and had 20/32 QS. They will face the Twins, who are making a return to the ALCS. They've been able to keep the youth movement strong and growing. The Twins finished the year very strong going 37-20 to run away with the division. While they have the worst record among playoff teams they do have some good qualities. They were 2^nd in the AL in AVG. OBS, H, and HR. They were #1 in runs scored, and last in stolen bases. The pitching staff isn't quite on the same playing field, but they were 4^th in team ERA and runs allowed. They were 5^th in others and 8^th on defense. The top offensive player was Kent Hrbek. Hrbek has quickly become one of the best players in the Major Leagues with over 30 homers for 3 years, and and has missed only 1 game in the same time frame. He's all of 24 years old. His numbers are .323/.398/.529 along with 33 HR and 124 RBIs. Not to be out done Gary Gaetti (.272/.320/.472, 26/93) and Tim Teufel (.294/.366/.466, 21/77). The pitching staff is anchored by another 24 year old, Frank Viola. Viola went 21-7 on the year with a 2.63 ERA. Viola also got 5.06 runs of support per game and had a QS in 23/34 starts. He's got a good chance at the AL Cy Young Award. The #2 in Minnesota is Jerry Koosman (15-10, 3.70 ERA, 3.74 RS, 22/35 QS) who signed a 1-year deal from the Astros and picked up his 200^th win with the Twins. His 240.2 innings were the most for him since 1980. The Twins also have a uniquely deep bullpen featuring 4 pitchers who at one time or another have been closers. They are Goose Gossage, Gene Garber, Kent Tekulve, and southpaw Gary Lavelle. At 33, Gossage is the youngster of that group. In the NL we have a rematch of the same 2 teams for the third year in a row. With the series split at 1-1 this is the rubber match. This will be the 4^th year in a row where it's either the Dodgers or Expos in the World Series. The Expos are a powerhouse of a team as I've mentioned earlier. They are the #1 offensive team in all of baseball with the #1 record. The team is the #2 pitching staff and #3 defense. As I've mentioned before, the Expos have 4 of the top 5 NL leaders in WAR, and the top 3. They are SS Robin Yount (.312/.367/.503, 23/108) Gary Carter (.299/.360/.530, 32/111) and Tim Wallach (.288/.340/.472, 22/92) and that doesn't include the #5 guy, and probably league MVP, Andre Dawson (.290/.320/.540, 40/131 and 23 SB). Their lineup has 4 guys who have won a Silver Slugger, and all of them have been to an All-Star game at one point or another in their careers. It's a ridiculous, embarrassment of riches to say the least. If that wasn't bad enough, the pitching staff isn't bad either. John Candelaria isn't the top in WAR, but he should be the Cy Young winner (20-2, 1.93 ERA, 4.06 RS, 32/35 QS). Backing him up is Bob Knepper (22-6, 2.61 ERA, 4.71 RS, 27/34 RS) and Scott Sanderson (17-5, 2.65 ERA, 4.17 RS, 25/35 QS). The bullpen is anchored by Jeff Reardon (90 IP, 2.90 ERA, 74K, and 47 S). They also were able to grab Bob Stanley who blew his elbow out at the end of 1983 and spent the entire year rehabbing. He still pitched 19 games with a 2.25 ERA, then signed a 3-year extension. It just doesn't seem fair. LA comes in #2 in batting and #1 in pitching and defense. The Dodgers won a career high in games. Our top 3 in WAR were Willie Randolph (.335/.430/.416, 6/46), Dwight Evans (.291/.383/.493, 29/108) and Dwayne Murphy (.278/.361/.435, 23/88). Top pitching was Alejandro Pena (19-6, 2.01 ERA, 4.64 RS, 30/33 QS), Fernando Valenzuela (20-10, 2.75 ERA, 4.74 RS, 26/34 QS) and Rick Rhoden (16-9, 2.99 ERA, 3.49 RS, 27/35 QS). The bullpen will be missing Niedenfeur for a week though. The team will be able to add him, but he's going to miss the first few games. Steve Howe has moved into the closer spot and he's been strong, but not completely reliable all year. Burt Hooton will back him up. I'll say it now, even with 111 wins, our boys do not match up with the Expos well at all. We were the favorites last year, I hope we can return the favor. There are no 2 better teams in baseball though. However, I can't feel good about this. The Dodgers just didn't have the good numbers against lefties this year and Montreal comes at us with two of the best. Montreal just killed lefties (31-9) and Valenzuela was 1-1 in 3 starts with a 2.86 ERA. The final Power Rankings were: 1^st Dodgers 2^nd Expos 4^th Blue Jays 5^th Twins Here we go! __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

04-27-2017, 09:58 AM	#41
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	Game 1 10/2 Valenzuela v. Knepper 4-0 W over the Expos Fernando pitches his best to start the year going the distance and getting the shutout. He wasn't overpowering, with only 4 strikeouts, but he forced a lot of groundouts and let the defense do the work. LA got on the board in the first when a Willie Randolph double scored Franklin Stubbs from first. In the third, Willie Randolph walked, then Mike Marshall hit a 401ft shot into the power alley in left to put us up 3-0. Bobby Grich added his own, a 390ft opposite field solo shot in the 7^th to finish the scoring. Game 2 Rhoden v. Candelaria 3-2 L to the Expos Rhoden went toe to toe with the Candy Man. Lou Whitaker put the Expos on the board first in the 2^nd inning with a 411ft solo shot to left-center. LA would get it's first hit in the 5^th and then another in the 6^th. Jim Fanning then surprised everyone when after 92 pitches thrown, and 2 hits allowed he went to the bull pen for David Palmer. In the bottom of the 6^th Gary Carter tucked a deep flyball into the left field corner to add another run for the Expos. They added another on an error in the 8^th to make it 3-0. Reardon had come on in the 8^th to close it out. The 9^th started with a Randolph walk, then Mike Marshall flied out to left. Evans knocked a single to put 2 on with 1 out. Dwayne Murphy flew out to bring up pinch hitting, Sid Bream, who walked to load the bases. Mike Scioscia then sent a ball back up the middle to score Randolph. With Evans heading home Sid Bream tried for third and the throw home was cut off and Bream was cut down at third to end the game. A critical error for LA. Never make the third out at third base. Any number of pinch hitters could have tied the game up, but instead we get a day off, then head home with a 1-1 tie. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam

04-27-2017, 05:57 PM	#42
PilotMan Head Coach Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Seven miles up	Game 3 10/5 Pena v. Sanderson 6-3 L to the Expos This was not the Alejandro Pena that we paid to see. The Expos just brute forced this game to their will. That's about the best way that I can put it. LA opened scoring in the second inning on Dwayne Murphy rushed home on a Pena single. The top of the third would start poorly. Back to back singles by Sanderson and Raines, followed by Hawk hitting a 3-run, 379ft shot into the bullpen in left. But LA would answer right back in the bottom. Randolph singled, Evans walked, then Bobby Grich hit a deep double to left that tied it up. It looked like it would be on. But Montreal answered right back again. Singles by LeFlore, Raines. Yount would plate LeFlore. Wallach would plate Raines and they jumped right back. The Expos added a 6^th in the 7^th off of Franco. All in all the Expos had 17 hits. Pena allowed 12 of them over 6 innings and 5 runs. Again Jim Fanning went to his pen early and it paid off as LA had no fight back in them on this night. Montreal takes a 2-1 lead. Game 4 10/6 Wilcox v. Gullickson 6-2 W over the Expos The 'Spos started off right where game 3 ended. Raines lead off with a double then later tagged on a Wallach flyout. That early run put the bad thoughts in my head. Our boys would have our backs though. In the bottom of the first UL Washington walked, then scored when Dwight Evans sent the first pitch 400ft into the left field pavillion. We scored again in the 2^nd when Mike Scioscia cracked a 383ft opposite field homer to left. We tacked on 2 more in the 3^rd when Bobby Grich singled home both Randolph and Marshall to put us up 5-1. Milt Wilcox took over and got some solid defense. Twice getting Gary Carter to ground into double plays to end an inning. LA would put the 6^th run on the board in the 5^th when Mike Marshall, who had singled and moved to third on a Evans double, scored on a wild pitch by Gullickson. Montreal threatened in the 9^th and Lasorda brought Tanana in to finish them off. He allowed 1, but then got Tim Raines looking on strikes to end it. Series is tied 2-2. __________________ He's just like if Snow White was competitive, horny, and capable of beating the shit out of anyone that called her Pops. Like Steam? Join the FOFC Steam group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/FOFConSteam