Game 1 at home was a great pitchers battle between Douglas Nelson and Michael Elliott. Wes Clements homered off Elliott in the top of the 1st, but that was all the Sox could muster off the Dodger starter. Elliott allowed just the 1 run over 8 innings, but Nelson was also dealing, also allowing 1 run but over 7 innings.

Nothing but zeros through 11 when Omar Vizquel singled home Gerald Perry in the 12th and the Sox took game 1 2-1. Each team only had 9 baserunners each as the game lasted a quick 2:45 minutes.

9 innings weren't enough for game 2, does this portend for a 7 gamer as these 2 seemingly evenly matched teams can't seem to reach a conclusion in regulation time.

The Sox held a 1-0 into the 4th on an Ozzie Guillen double off Andy Araujo when Dave Clark singled in Brunasnky and Candy Maldonado followed with a 2 run home run off James Rogers to give us a 3-1 lead after 4 only to see the Sox tie things right back up in the 5th.

Once again our defense caused issues. Carter committed a 2-out error to put runners on 1st and 2nd and the Sox took advantage with a single by Gerald Perry and after a walk to Dwight Evans, Araujo hit Ken Landreaux on the left hand forcing in a run. Landreaux broke his hand on the play, sorry Ken.

Tied up in the bottom of the 7th, I decided to take a chance and try to look smart. With 1 out, Carter drew a walk with reliever Rick Moore at the plate. We used our bullpen for 5 innings yesterday and I was thinking I don't want to already go to our tired setup men, so instead of pinch hitting right away, I would send Carter to steal 2nd rather than sacrifice bunt with 1 already out.

Carter stole successfully and I thought......why not 3rd? Boom, next pitch and he's safely on 3rd with our pitcher up and 1 out. I have to use a pinch hitter in a 3-3 game in the 7th right? Moore can't hit, bring up a position player, right? I decided to swing away and Moore hit a fly ball deep enough to score Carter. I was so happy with myself. :)

So, 4-3 lead into the 9th, we bring is Steve Howe and it's over. Except he walked Ozzie Smith to open the 9th and Guillen followed with a double to make it 4-4 and no outs. A fly ball to right sent Guillen to 3rd and with the infield in, Howe got clean up man Perry to ground to short for the 2nd out and Evans struck out and after we went quietly in the 9th, we went to extras again.

Howe retired the Sox in order and after Randy Milligan walked pinch-hitting for Howe, Roberto Kelly took Bill Long deep to left for a walk-off 2 run home run and we will take the long flight to Boston tied at 1

Back in Boston, Fred Lynn wanted to put his stamp on the series and with 2 outs in the 1st, he blasted a solo home run to give us a 1-0 lead off Tom Hume and the Red Sox. After we scratched a run across in the 2nd, he did it again, this time to dead center and we were off to a 3-0 lead and Kevin Houston hadn't allowed more than 3 runs in 8 starts and hadn't allowed a baserunner through the 1st 2 innings.

But between the 3rd and 8th, the Red Sox hit 11 singles, 3 doubles and drew 6 walks off Houston and 2 relievers as the Sox ended up romping 13-4.

3 RBI for Lance Johnson, Dan Meier and Clements and Ozzie Smith, Ozzie Guillen and Omar Vizquel all scored 3 times. Kinda crazy the Sox have 3 of the best fielding SS of the 80's and 90's IRL and that Ozzie Smith has been a 1st baseman his whole career!

So, we need to bounce back tomorrow and Dennis Martinez has not been great for us. Landreaux is out for the year for them, Lance Johnson stepped up in game 3.

Game 4 brought us good and bad news. Our DH Randy Milligan struck first for us, hitting a 2 run homer off Rick Rhoden in the 2nd following an RBI single by Mike Stanley and we took a 3-1 lead in the 3rd.

Jack Clark homered in the 4th to make it 4-1, but Clements answered back with a 2-run double in the bottom half and it was 4-3 Dodgers. Kelly made it 2 home runs in 2 games in Boston in the 5th and it remained 5-3 until the 8th when we added 4 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks to break open the game and we went on to win 11-5

The bad news is, Dave Clark fractured his knee cap scoring in the 8th and he is gone for at least 4 months. Short term, we are going to have to win 2 out of 3 without him. Long term, he's a Gold Glove outfielder with 30 HR power and 30 steal speed at the age of 25. Hope our surgeon is a gold glove.

The key game 5 matchup was a rematch of the game 1 pitching duel between Nelson and Elliott and things weren't much different. The key difference is this didn't go extra innings.

With 2 outs is the 2nd, Carter singled in Maldonado to make it 1-0 Dodgers. With 2 outs in the 3rd, Maldonado hit his 2nd home run of the series with Brunansky on and the Dodgers had a 3-0 lead.

Which was 2 more than Elliott needed. He shut out the Dodgers on 96 pitches allowing 8 baserunners total, only 1 of whom reached 2nd base, Ozzie Smith in the 5th inning. Other than that, the Dodgers went 90 feet max, then back to the dugout.

So we go back to Cali 27 outs away from (another) World Series win

It was Rogers vs Araujo in game 6 back in LA and that man Fred Lynn got things off in the 1st with an RBI double to put us on top 1-0. We doubled the lead in the 3rd with a Tom Brunansky home run but things are never that easy.

Araujo grooved a fastball to Dwight Evans in the 4th with 2 men on and the script was flipped, 3-2 Sox. Due to the injury to Clark, Lynn has played center with Randy Milligan in left and Milligan tied things up with a single in the bottom half to tie the game at 3.

....and then it rained in Los Angeles. For 90 minutes.....enter the bullpens.

In the bottom of the 6th as Tom Henke started his 2nd inning for Boston, Jack Clark legged out a triple with Brunansky on 1st. Maldonado followed that with a single and we took a 5-3 lead into the 7th.

Rick Moore got the Sox 1-2-3 in the 7th. James Meilland got them 1-2-3 in the 8th and after a 2 out walk to Evans, Steve Howe got Speier to fly out to left and the Dodgers won the World Series 4 games to 2.

In my 19 years, this is my 6th World Series win and 4th in 5 years between the Angels and Dodgers.

I am a little stunned that Maldonado won the MVP. He was very good, 9-19 with 2 hr's and 6 rbi. But Elliott went 1-0 in 17 innings allowing just 1 run and 12 baserunners total.

But now to the offseason.

It may seem counterproductive, but I am going to let 28 year old Candy Maldonado walk. Yes, he won the Gold Glove 2 years ago, but he led the league in errors this year. Yes, he hit 34 HR's 2 years ago, but that dipped to 16 this year. He has still yet to walk more than 49 times or strikeout less than 130 times in a season. But he did just win the World Series MVP, so why?

He is aslking for 9 years and $3.5 million a year and that woulld make him the 4th highest player in the league. He's not even the 4th best 3rd baseman. So, thanks for all you've done for us. Glad you could make the parade. Best of luck.

So now we have a hole at 3b, but I have $10 million to play with. Our budget is massive and we already have a top-5 payroll. So I peruse the leagues top 3rd basemen and see what I can come with.

I spy with my little eye 30 year old Von Hayes in Toronto. He has 5 years left at $2.1 million a year, but that's a bargain to me. His 162 game avgs are:

.282/.361/.414 39 doubles 13 home runs 68 RBI 105 runs 79 walks 47 steals. And he is a 10-10 fielder........at first base. But Jack Clark has 2 years left and he's not going anywhere, so Hayes will play 3rd, where he is a 6-10 fielder for 2 years.

I dealt some good stuff, 28 year old Paul Assenmacher, 29 year old Bill Gullickson and our top prospect, Ruben Sierra. As of now, the Jays have Sierra listed as their DH, Assenmacher their 4th starter and Gullickson their setup man, all larger roles than they would have had with us.

...but the Reds just traded a good but not great package for 23 year old Greg Swindell who led the AL in wins as a rookie and again last year. He also averaged over eight innings a start and has averaged 200 strikeouts a year. Ridiculous trade, total game changer

As far as the seasonal awards go:

AL MVP
Wade Boggs .358/.417/.508 14 HR 52 doubles
I voted for Barry Bonds .290/.391/.547 34 HR 33 doubles 118 RBI

NL MVP
Larry Walker .338/.409/.610 1.108 OPS 10.8 WAR 39 HR 38 doubles 107 RBI 200 hits 37 steals. Dave Clark prevented him from winning the Triple Crown with his 127 RBI

AL Cy Young
Richard Simmons Det 16-8 2.58 ERA 1.12 WHIP 5.4 WAR
I voted for Greg Swindell 20-11 3.19 ERA 1.24 WHIP 180 K 5.1 WAR

NL Cy Young
Frank Tanana 20-13 2.87 ERA .96 WHIP 202 K 5.4 WAR

AL ROY
Orlando Merced .312/.374/.417 32 doubles 63 RBI 80 runs 14 steals

NL ROY
Albert Belle .319/.385/.545 33 doubles 18 HR 73 RBI

In the draft, there were dozens of players who were really good hitters IRL and very few pitchers. In addition, about 2 rounds deep virtually everyone was already at a AA skill level, even 17 year olds. Not sure why, but it's been creeping that way more and more every year.

Mets-Frank Thomas
Mariners-Jeff Bagwell
Royals-Mike Piazza (unsigned)
White Sox-Carlos Delgado
Cubs-Jim Thome (unsigned)
Mariners-Tim Salmon
Expos-Reggie Sanders
Braves-Brian Giles
Giants-Mo Vaughn

Also drafted in the 1st round were Jeff Kent, John Olerud, Ivan Rodriguez (unsigned),
Ryan Klesko, Andy Benes, JT Snow, Tino Martinez, Darryl Kile and Robin Ventura.

With the last pick I selected 17-year old Sterling Hitchcock who has 10-10 potential stuff and is starting off in A. He could start in AA, but I don't want a 17 year old in AA.

Fred Lynn has been the best player since Ive started this sim. He was drafted by the Expos after I was in California for 3 years in 1973. He played there his 1st 7 years until we signed him away in 1980 where I managed him for the 1st 7 of his 8 years there. As soon I could, I signed him in LA until he turns 41 and he is still a star.

Entering his 37 year old season, he is hitting .322/.402/.558 with 425 HR and 1606 RBI. He has also walked more than he has struck out and is a plus fielder. He has led the league in:

Average-2 times
Home runs-2 times
RBI's-2 times
OBP-1 time
Slugging-6 times
OPS-7 times
Hits-2 times
Runs-4 times
Doubles-2 times
WAR-2 times

He is a 14 time All-star, 3 time MVP and a 9 time Silver Slugger. Amazing as it may sound, he's even better in the playoffs

He is been in 12 playoff series and won 10 of them being the Series MVP 5 times winning 4 World Series titles. He is hitting .354/.396/.657 with 21 HR and 67 RBI in 67 games. His 162 game average would be 51 HR 46 doubles 162 RBI and a 10 WAR.

If he isn't a 100% 1st ballot Hall of Famer, it wlll be a shame

We made a few additions to the periphery of the club other than the Hayes signing. We signed 33 year old right handed reliever Sandy Wihtol to a 1 yr $360,000 contract. He was a career 5th starter until last year when he was a decent bullpen arm for the Yankees.

We added 34 year old left handed reliever Gary Lucas to a 1 year $260,000 contract. He's been a 5th-6th reliever for a few good teams and it's our turn this year. We signed 34 year old back up catcher Dan Graham to a 1 year $310,000 deal. 2 of our top prospects are catchers at AAA and my plan is to promote the one who is playing best.

The only other deal we made was to deal our 6th outfielder Franklin Stubbs to the A's for utility man Ernie Riles. He's been a starter for 4 years and he will push Jeff Carter at 2nd base and back up all over the infield.

Good thing I did because our other utility man, 36-year old Ivan DeJesus advised he will retire after this year, so Riles was a good pick up

1989 begins

Very good start to the season. We opened up in Cincinnati for a 3 game series against who should be our top rival again in the west and our pitching was first rate. We swept the Reds 5-1, 4-0 and 5-3. We have shown some power, some speed and good defense.

The better news is that it seems that Dave Clark hasn't lost any speed or defense due to his fractured kneecap last year. Time will tell the long term effects, but at least there was no immediate loss of skill.

We had a good April. We went 17-8 and are 1 game behind the Astros. The Reds are really struggling at 8-15 despite being healthy. We are healthy as well, but as expected Dave Clark is struggling a bit coming back from a fractured kneecap.

The other divisions are close so far, all three have 4-5 teams within 3 games. The shocking team are the defending AL Westchampion Minnesota. They are 5-17 and 9 games back. They are last in hitting and next to last in pitching

Von Hayes only hit .230 in his 1st month with us and Roberto Kelly and Jeff Carter are hitting below .230, so we have room to improve.

Lynn .286/.396/.440 4 HR 17 RBI
Jack Clark .303/.393/.596 6 HR 22 RBI
Mike Stanley .310/.388/.408 9 RBI

I neglected to mention we've had 2 no-hitters already this season.

Joe Hesketh no-hit the Expos and Frank Tanana did the same to the Astros for the Phillies. We've had 28 no-hitters since 1970, and nobody has thrown more than 1 and no team has had more than 2 thrown against them,

In his 17th year, Tanana is up to 255 wins and 2791 strikeouts. He has a career WHIP of under 1.2 and has a 3-1 K-BB ratio, a 1st ballot HOF'er lock

May was not our month. We were just 14-13 and we find ourselves 2 games behind the Astros. Our pitching has let us down, we are just 9th in pitching while still leading the league in runs. Our defense has been fine, we are just giving up too many runs.

We lost Ivan DeJesus for 3 weeks with a broken hand and then our closer Steve Howe went down with bicep tendonitis for 6 weeks. The only brightside of our staff has been Melliand. He has followed up his Reliever of the Year season by going 5-1 with 4 saves so far with a 2.01 ERA.

I had mentioned how disappointing the Twins were in April going 5-17. They ran off 11 straight wins in May and are now 24-27 after a 19-10 May. They are still 7 behind the A's, who have a 4 game lead on the Angels. The Orioles are 3 up on Cleveland and the Pirates are 3 games up on the Phillies.

We had a better June going 17-11 and we still sit 2 behind the Astros. The Pirates are still up 3 on the Phillies in the East, but in the AL, things really changed. The White Sox had a great month and are now tied with the A's while the Tigers did the same and passed 4 teams and are tied with the Orioles. The Red Sox have gone losing to us in the World Series to the 2nd worst record in baseball at 31-49 and 18 games out.

A weird statistical split is going on as the NL only has 1 player on pace for 100 RBI and the AL has a dozen, but 8 of the top 10 scoring teams are in the AL and the bottom 7 are all in the NL. Can't tell you if it's great pitching or bad hitting, but it's really strange.

John Olerud has come into the game a fully formed superstar at age 20 in Oakland. So far he is at .400/.486/.613 on pace for 21 HR and 80 RBI.

We started July 7-2 and we head to the All-Star game tied for 1st. Jack Clark was named starting 1b and Fred Lynn is a reserve while relievers Steve Howe and James Melliand were named to the staff.

We are 1st in runs but still just 9th in runs allowed. We are just a handful of runs away from 5th, but we need to tighten things up. Starters are 7th and relievers are 8th.

Roberto Kelly .289/.345/.401 7 HR 34 RBI 49 runs 12 steals
Von Hayes .263/.345/.388 7 HR 17 doubles 38 RBI 54 runs 19 steals
Fred Lynn .273/.379/.461 14 HR 51 RBI 55 runs
Jack Clark .278/.385/.484 14 HR 18 doubles 57 RBI 54 runs
Dave Clark .280/.347/.433 11 HR 66 RBI 46 runs
Tom Brunansky .274/.338/.412 11 HR 48 RBI 44 runs 16 steals
Mike Stanley .282/.347/.382 40 RBI
Jeff Carter .256/.324/.308 48 runs 20 steals

Willie Hernandez 6-8 3.02 ERA 1.24 WHIP 125 ERA+
Kevin Houston 9-4 3.20 ERA 1.31 WHIP 118 ERA+
Dennis Martinez 9-5 3.42 ERA 1.37 WHIP 110 ERA+
Michael Elliott 9-3 3.67 ERA 1.22 WHIP 103 ERA+
Andy Araujo 8-5 4.49 ERA 1.37 WHIP 84 ERA+

Steve Howe 13 saves 1.49 ERA 256 ERA+
James Milliand 7-2 10 saves 1.33 ERA 1.01 WHIP 284 ERA+

July ended up with us flipping the script on Houston. We went 17-9 and went from 2 1/2 back to 2 1/2 games in front. Our pitching has gone from 9th to 6th and we are still hitting well, Dave Clark and Jack Clark are 1-2 in RBI.

Fred Lynn did get hurt on the 27th, a day to day injury for 1-2 weeks. I gave him 2 days off and played him once where he re-injured the hamstring on the 30th, the day before the trade deadline. I wasn't going to make any deals, but I decided to DL Lynn even though his status is just "unknown" and I dealt for a former player of mine in California, Ellis Valentine.

He has had such an odd career. By the age of 24 in Atlanta, he had 3 good seasons with an average OPS+ of 125 but then the Braves added another outfielder and he was the 4th guy for 5 years despite putting up numbers that showed he should start somewhere. I signed him when he was 31 and he promptly hit .299/.359/.490 with 25 HR and 118 RBI. He had another good year the next year when I dealt him to Toronto where he went right back to the bench. He was hitting .304 off the bench for the Expos so I dealt a minor leaguer for him and will play him off and on until Lynn comes back.

The Phillies and Pirates and now tied at first in the NL East with the Cards 5 back, so hopefully that will be a good race. The Orioles are 2 1/2 up on the Tigers while last years AL East winning Red Sox are 40-66. In the West, the White Sox are 5 1/2 up on both the Twins and A's.

We weren't great in August going 15-12 and we are tied going into September. It was a very good thing I traded for Valentine as 1 day after the deadline, we lost Dave Clark for 2 weeks and he chipped in 8 RBI in August.

The A's have won 12 in a row to tie the White Sox in the AL West while the Orioles are up 9 in the AL East and the Pirates have a 7 game lead over the Phils.

We started September 8-4 and have a 2 game lead as we open our last 2 games against the Astros.

In the bottom of the 2nd, reserve catcher Dan Graham hit his 7th home run in just 130 at bats to give us a 1-0 lead off their ace Scott Garrelts. In the top of the 3rd, the Astros loaded the bases with 1 out when Andy Araujo walked Willie Darkis and injured his elbow and had to be pulled and we brought in Rick Moore to face Mike MacFarlane who greeted him with an infield single to give the Astros a 3-1 lead. Moore then walked Chris Clark and Larry Martin added a sac fly and it was 4-1 after 2 1/2.

MacFarlane hit his 20th home run of the season off Jeffrey Hanslovan to make it 5-1 Astros after 5. In the bottom of the 6th, Dave Clark and Tom Brunansky drew walks off Garrelts, and that was the end of his day. Jeff Carter singled off Danny Cox to make it 5-2, but a double play snuffed out that threat.

Cox lost home plate in the 7th walking Brunansky with the bases loaded to make it 5-3 Astros, his 3rd walk of the inning. Jeff Carter then unloaded the bases with a triple and suddenly it was 6-5 Dodgers.

James Meiland gave up singles to Larry Martin and Dan Howitt and with Greg Vaughn at the plate, surrendered the lead as Vaughn cracked a double and it was 7-6 Astros.

And that was how it ended, so our lead is down to 1.