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.

In out last meeting of the season, the Astros sent 10-8 Bob Shirley and his 3.06 ERA against our 10-13 Willie Hernandez and his 3.15 ERA and neither team could garner a hit of either through 3 innings.

Barry Larkin led off the 4th with a ringing double and Jim Presley sent him to 3rd with a blooper to center. Hernandez then unleashed a wild pitch and it was 1-0 Astros. Willie Darkis then singled to center scoring Presley and it was 2-0. Greg Vaughn doubles Darkis to 3rd and 2 sac flys made it 4-0 after 3 1/2.

We got our 1st hit with a 468 foot bomb to center by Brunansky, his 17th to make it 4-1 and Fred Lynn followed that with a 395 foot shot to right, his 18th, and it was 4-2.

With 2 outs in the 5th, Larkin hit his 19th home run to left to give the Astros a 5-2 lead but we got that run back in the bottom half with a pinch hit double and it was 5-3.

It was quiet all the way until the bottom of the 9th when Astro right fielder Dann Howitt dropped a Dave Clark fly ball and we got the tying run to the plate, but Mike Stanley hit into a 5-4-3 double play and when Carter grounded out to short, the Astros had won 5-3 and the west was tied. We were both 88-59 and it comes down to 15 games.

Still waiting on the diagnosis on Araujo.

After beating the Braves 4-3, Araujo was diagnosed with a torn flexor and is out for 12 months. As a UFA to be, that will be a crushing blow for him personally. He was a 21-game winner with a league leading 2.37 ERA as a 25 year old his 1st year that I was running the Dodgers. He was 13-6 with a 3.07 last year but fell to a 4.02 ERA this year, but I guess his elbow wasn't great all year.

We went 3-3 over the next 6 but the Astros dropped 4 of 6 so we have a 1 game lead with 9 to play. As we lost an important piece in Araujo, the Astros lost closer David Miller for the season as well.

The Pirates are up 8 games and the Orioles are up by 9, so they will be in the post-season. The White Sox and A's are still tied up as they have been for about 4 weeks now.

As far as injuries in the league in general, there have been many star players hurt this year:

6 time All Star Gary Redus-6 month concussion
4 time All Star John Candelaria 11 month elbow
4 time All Star Andre Dawson 4 month broken hand
22 year old Jose Canseco 2 month shoulder
22 year old John Smoltz 6 month bone spur
2 time All Star George Bell 7 months achilles
Aforementioned Andy Araujo 12 month shoulder
4 time All Star Glenn Davis 4 months elbow
6 time All Star Rickey Henderson 6 month ACL
25 year old Kal Daniels 8 month ACL
23 year old Ed Correa 12 month UCL
Rookie Brian McRae 8 month broken kneecap
22 year old Jack McDowell 10 month UCL
24 yea old Kevin Tapani 13 month rotator cuff

We took 2 out of 3 against the Padres, including a 20-3 win, but the Astros kept pace and the lead is still 1 with 6 to go.

Houston beat the Braves in a day game to get to 1/2 game back when we looked to have a good pitching matchup with the Giants Al Leiter going up against Kevin Houston. Nope.

The Giants put up 4 runs in the 2nd on 2 walks, a hit-by-pitch and 5 singles. Death by a 100 paper cuts. In the bottom of the 3rd down 4-0, I decided to pinch hit for Houston hoping to get back in the and put my trust in the bullpen. Roberto Kelly doubled in pinch hitter Ivan DeJesus and it was 4-1. Von Hayes followed that up with his 12th home run and it was 4-3 after 3.

I brought in Richard Dunn and that was a mistake. I should have gone with one of my middle guys but instead I went with the 40-man roster call up and he promptly gave up 3 runs, 1 on a Palmiero single and 2 on a Sheffield double.

In the 5th, Leiter lost home plate as he walked 3 Dodgers and they all scored and it was 7-7 after a 2-run, 2 out single by Carter.

We brought in Gary Lucas who got the 1st 2 outs before allowing 2 singles before another Sheffield double scored 2 more and we were down again, 9-7. Dave Clark hit his 21st home run in the bottom half and it was 9-8 going into the 8th.

Lucas gave that run right back as Randy Bush went deep to make it 10-8 and that was it. We lose and the NL West is tied with 5 games to go

Once again the Astros won before we took the field, so we had to win to stay tied for first. It was a battle of lefties as 15-9 Michael Elliott faced 14-15 Joe Magrane and the Giants pushed across a single run in the first on a Greg Brock single and when Gary Sheffield hit a sac fly in the 3rd, we trailed 2-0.

In the bottom half, Fred Lynn singled in Roberto Kelly to cut the lead in half and the score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the 6th. With 2 outs, Mike Stanley and Jeff Carter singled and I brought Randy Milligan off the bench to hit for Elliott. Milligan has been a .300 pinch hitter and he lined his 16th pinch hit of the season to center to score Stanley it we were tied at 2.

With 1 out in the 8th, Stanley once again singled and Magrane balked pinch runner Lee Graham to 2nd. After a Carter ground out, I sent up pinch hitter Ellis Valentine who got his 15th pinch hit, a single to left to send Graham home to give us the 3-2 lead.

Steve Howe picked up his 29th save as James Melliand got his 13th win out of the bullpen and with 4 games to go, we are still tied.

The Astros keep winning and the pressure keeps building as we keep having to win just to keep pace.

Dennis Martinez took to the mound for our last home game of the season and when Dave Clark doubled in 2 runs in the bottom of the 3rd, we led 2-0.

The scored remained 2-0 until the 8th when Martinez was exhausted after a one-out single by Greg Brock. Rather than go to our setup guy, I went right for our closer Steve Howe who walked Dave Elder and then Rafael Palmeiro doubled to make it 2-1. Gary Sheffield then turned around a 98 MPH fastball and 420 feet later, we were trailed 4-2 and the stadium went silent.

If possible, it got more silent when Mo Vaughn took Howe deep 3 pitches later to make it 5-2 and we were on the ropes. With 2 outs in the bottom half, Dave Clark hit a 2-run homer off Oil Can Boyd and it was 5-4, and man that Vaughn home run looked massive.

I brought in Mike Morgan in the 9th, but he didn't help. Cecil Fielder hit a 2-run home run to make it 7-4 Giants and that was how it ended.

We are now 1 game back and we have to fly across the country for 3 in Atlanta while the Astros are home against the Giants. We need help to win the division.

We jumped all over Roger McDowell in the 1st. Jack Clark singled in Roberto Kelly and then Dave Clark took McDowell deep and it was 4-0 before the top of the 1st was over.

Travis Fryman homered off Willie Hernandez to make it 4-1 in the 3rd, but Fred Lynn hit a 3-run homer off McDowell in the bottom half and our lead was 7-1.

Fryman hit a 2 run single in the 7th, but Kelly added a 2-run home run and we went on beat the Braves 10-7 and after the Giants beat the Astros 5-2, we are tied with 2 games left

Kevin Houston took to the mound against Clay Daniel and after a Spike Owen double and Pat Tabler single, we were behind 2-0 after 2. Von Hayes cut the lead in half with a double in the 3rd, 2-1 Braves.

Gene Larkin singled in a run in the 3rd and a wild pitch in the 4th found us down 4-1. Jack Clark slugged a 2-run home run in the 6th to get us back to 4-3. Hayes then hit a sac fly in the 7th to tie it up.

In the 8th Tom Brunansky doubled in Dave Clark to give us the lead and Jeff Carter hit a sac fly and we led 6-4 going into the 9th.

In comes our closer Steve Howe:

Mike Cole-walk
Pat Tabler-single
Harold Baines-single
Kevin Bass--------walk off Grand Slam

The Astros win and we are 1 back.

......we are devastated.

We put the ball in the hands of Michael Elliott and he was fantastic. He allowed just 2 hits over 8 innings and not only that, he homered in the 5th to give us a 1-0 lead. Fred Lynn added an RBI single and we led 2-0 going into the 9th as we found out that Houston lost. A win and we have a 1 game playoff.

After Steve Howe blew the game last night, I wasn't about to pull Elliott after allowing just 2 hits and throwing 85 pitches. Pitch number 86 was launched over the wall by Harold Baines made it 2-1.......but I am sticking with Elliott.

After a walk to Kevin Bass and single by Mike Brown, I finally brought in James Meilland who struck out Spike Owen, but Gene Larkin singled in Bass to tie things up at 2. Ken Oberkfell then ended our season with a walk off single.

I truly can't believe we missed the playoffs, what an epic failure.

I recevied my lowest game score in 20 years of managing, shameful that we didn't win the division. Although the Astros taking out the Pirates in 5 and then the Orioles in 5 makes it about 1% less painful. So Houston wins their first World Series ever as the 80's come to an end.

I won the World Series with the Angels in 1981, 1984 and 1985 and then the Dodgers in 1987 and 1988. But I sure ended the decade with a whimper, didn't I?

Before we move along to the draft, here are some highlights of the post season awards:

Our James Meilland won his 2nd straight Reliever of the Year award as our primary setup man. He won 13 games and saved 14 more with a 1.59 ERA and 1.01 WHIP. I will be moving him to the closer role this year and drop Steve Howe to the setup role.
Both of our Clarks won the Silver Slugger; Jack at 1B and Dave in center.

Reggie Sanders won NL ROY going .286/.341/.434 with 43 doubles and 40 steals. John Olerud won AL ROY going .371/.470/.531 with 35 doubles, 15 home runs and 80 RBI.

23-year old Pete Harnisch won the AL Cy Young 1 year after a torn rotator cuff. He went 19-10 with a 2.87 ERA/1.14 WHIP and 184 strikeouts. Roger Clemens won his 2nd Cy Young with the Padres going 17-13 with a 2.32 ERA/1.06 WHIP and 241 strikeouts.

Gregg Jefferies won the AL MVP as Eric Davis was 2nd and the guy that got my vote, Barry Bonds was 3rd. Who would you have voted for blindly:

.304/.403/.565 38 HR 31 doubles 124 RBI 116 runs 50 steals
.310/.394/.579 40 HR 31 doubles 125 RBI 107 runs 32 steals
.358/.420/.478 9 HR 35 doubles 87 RBI 106 runs 42 steals

Allen Sigler won his 2nd NL MVP as he hit .304/.413/.524 36 HR 100 RBI 96 runs. I voted for Larry Walker who went .309/.378/.513 24 HR 88 RBI 85 runs 35 steals.

We are allowing the following guys to leave via free agency:

Pitchers
Will McEnaney
Jeff Hanslovan
Gary Lucas
Andy Araujo

Batters
Lee Graham
Dan Graham

I re-signed Ernie Riles as a 5th infielder then signed Rick Leach to back up the outfield positions along with Ellis Valentine. I signed Sid Fernandez to a very cheap deal to be my 5th starter. The 27 year old has gone 91-100 for the Cubs and the move to a bigger ballpark in LA won't hurt his career 3.57 ERA. He has averaged 4 BB per 9 innings, so that needs to improve, but has averaged 200 strikeouts a season. We also signed 32 year old Ray Fontenot who I managed for 7 seasons for our bullpen/swingman for rotation.

Jeff Carter had a great rookie year for us as a 23 year old in 1987. He hit .293/.375/.402 with 38 XBH and 79 steals. In 1988 he dipped to .247/.320/.333 with 35 XBH and 51 steals and last year he put up .251/.339/309 with just 20 XBH and 35 steals. He is also an average fielder so I decided we need to improve at second base.

Randy Milligan has been our 4th outfielder since I arrived and if he played full time he would probably be a 3 WAR player or so and is very cheap at 27 years old. When I shopped him around specifically looking for a second baseman and a smile came on my face:

31 year old Julio Franco was offered and I snapped him up right away. He is a solid player but looked like he was going to be a superstar. A 3 time all-star, he had a 5.4 WAR as a 21 year old, a 4.8 WAR as a 22 year old and had a 4.9 WAR after 97 games as a 23 year old when he suffered a skull fracture trying to break up a double play and was out for 8 months. Since then, he hasn't made an All-Star team, but has been solid.

For his career, his 162 game average is .279/.361/.397 14 HR 23 doubles 70 RBI 91 runs 22 steals and is a plus fielder. I am going to plug him in at second on the field and in the lineup between Roberto Kelly and Fred Lynn.

In the rule 5 draft, Al Martin was available, a top 100 prospect and I have room to put him on the roster as a 6th outfielder and see what happens with him. We signed 34-year old Kelvin Moore to backup Dave Clark in center.

Here were our '89 final stats

Kelly .277/.326/.391 18 doubles 11 triples 11 home runs 34 steals 62 rbi 85 runs
Hayes .249/.337/.363 29 doubles 2 triples 12 home runs 41 steals 71 rbi 100 runs
Lynn .290/.392/.471 23 doubles 4 triples 21 home runs 83 rbi 88 runs
J Clark .252/.363/.465 31 doubles 4 triples 28 home runs 101 rbi 93 runs
D Clark .296/.370/.485 26 doubles 23 home runs 101 rbi 79 runs
Brunansky .258/.324/.390 18 doubles 18 home runs 31 steals 81 rbi 75 runs
Stanley .271/.341/.349 22 doubles 5 home runs 63 rbi
Carter .251/.339/.309 35 steals 73 runs

Houston 16-7 3.42 ERA 1.37 WHIP
Martinez 15-8 3.35 ERA 1.33 WHIP
Elliott 15-10 3.86 ERA 1.28 WHIP
Hernandez 11-15 3.43 ERA 1.22 WHIP
Araujo 12-6 4.02 ERA 1.31 WHIP

Meilland 13-5 14 saves 1.59 ERA 1.06 WHIP
Howe 4-5 29 saves 3.07 ERA 1.44 WHIP

Here was the 1990 draft

Padres-Chipper Jones
Yankees-Pedro Martinez (LOL)
Red Sox-Mike Piazza
Royals-Jim Thome
Brewers-Rusty Greer
Cubs-Ivan Rodridguez
Mariners-Carl Everett
Expos-Ray Durham
Rangers-Mike Mussina

I've decided to go with this batting order to start the year:

Franco
Hayes
Dave Clark
Jack Clark
Lynn
Brunansky
Kelly
Stanley

Lynn has batted 3rd for me in all 6 years I've managed him, but as he hits 38 years of age and Dave Clark hits his prime at 27, I think flipping them is just common sense. I am not sure if 1/2/7 spots are in the right spot, but Franco/Kelly/Hayes will be the 3 who will fill those spots.

Al Martin will be the 6th OF as we have to keep him all year as a rule 5 guy. Ellis Valentine will back up the corners and Kelvin Moore will back up Clark in center and be the defensive replacement for Lynn as I try to get him more rest. Jeff Carter and Ernie Riles will back up the 4 IF positions and 23 year old Adam Brown has earned the backup catcher spot. I claimed him on waivers a few years ago when the sim did something stupid. He doesn't have a ton of potential and we have 22 year old Brian Deak at AAA who I think will be the starter in a year or 2.

Our rotation will be

Kevin Houston
Michael Elliott
Dennis Martinez
Willie Hernandez
Sid Fernandez

Steve Bedrosian, Ray Fontenot, Rick Moore, Mike Morgan and Steve Howe will set up James Melliand.

We have to win this year.

Interesting trend in the 1st series of the season; pitchers are averaging about 7 strikeouts a game, up over 1 strikeout a game and runs are down across the league to about 6 runs per game.

Runs were down and strikeouts were up, but nothing drastic. I think it was just the best pitchers going, should have thought of that.

After April, we are tied for 1st with the Padres at 16-9, the 2nd best record in the league. The Red Sox won the World Series 2 years ago, had the 4th worst record in baseball last year and this year they are 18-7 with the best record in the game.
The AL has hit over 100 more home runs so far, they have 20 players with at least 6 home runs and the NL has......1, Kevin Bass.

We haven't been that good, we are 4th in runs and 6th in pitching to go with being 12 in zone rating. Jack Clark is just hitting .220 and Brunansky just .180 so far, though Clark is 2nd in the NL in RBI's with 18. Franco has hit well and Hayes is hitting better than last year. Fred Lynn was off to a red-hot start but I had to put him on the DL with a minor 10-14 day injury.

James Meilland has been the best reliever in baseball the last 2 years. In 57 games 2 years ago, he allowed a total of 8 runs for an ERA of 0.99. In 62 games last year, he allowed a total of 14 runs for an ERA of 1.59. In the first 9 games this year, he allowed 1 run while getting 8 saves and 1 win.

Here were his next 4 games:

1/3 inning 3 hits 3 runs walk off home run loss
1 inning 3 hits 1 walk 2 runs blown save
1 inning 3 hits 1 walk 4 runs walk off grand slam loss
0 innings 4 hits 4 runs loss

In 10 days he allowed more runs than he did in the entirety of 1988 or 1989.

I am glad I hung on to 2b Jeff Carter after signing Julio Franco. He's a 3 WAR 2b, but most of that is due to his speed, he hasn't developed as I thought he would after a 4.5 WAR season as a 23 year old. I dealt him along with a pretty good pitching prospect for 34 year old reliever Jospeh Jantin. He is going to be a free agent after this year and he lost his job as the closer in Atlanta, but I am going to give him a go for us. He averaged 35 saves the last 2 year and I need to stabilize the bullpen

We were just 15-13 in May and we find ourselves in a tight race:

Dodgers 31-22
Padres 29-24
Astros 28-24
Reds 28-24
Giants 27-25
Braves 26-26

We are now 1st in runs but still 7th in pitching, we need to improve our pitching by the end of the year. We have 3 pitchers in the top 50 prospects but none above AA. I may move one to see if we can get an upgrade at the deadline.

The best thing I did was sign Ellis Valentine. With Tom Brunansky still under .200, Valentine has basically ripped away the RF job. He's gone .333/.377/.583 with 5 HR/7 2B/4 3B 19 RBI in just 120 AB. Bruno has 2 years and $6 million owed after this year, that contract ain't looking good. We signed Valentine to a 2-year extension as a reward.

My starters don't have enough stamina. I have 3 guys who really can't go past 7 innings, so we need a strong bullpen. Sid Fernandez got off to a bad start allowing 8 runs in 1 inning in his first start with us, but he has won his last 3 starts and leads the NL in strikeouts per 9 innings, but he only averages 5 2/3 innings per start.

We signed Bedrosian to an extension and got Michael Elliott to sign much cheaper than he should have gotten in the offseason.

A quick post about Ken Oberkfell. He's a career .300 hitter with a .370 OBP, but at age 35, he has been injured more than any player in my sim or in real life. He has been on the DL TWENTY times in 14 years. In addition to the 155 weeks he has been on the DL, he has had 57 injuries that were less than 1 week in length.

I can't think of anyone IRL who has been hurt as much.

Amazingly, he has 1814 hits when he wasn't injured, he would be a lock for 3000 hits if he wasn't so injury prone

We had a nice 16-10 record in June and as we hit the halfway point, we are 47-32 and in 1st place but several teams are in striking distance

Dodgers 47-32
Giants 44-35
Reds 43-37
Astros 42-38

The Phillies are 2 up on Montreal, 3 ahead of Pittsburgh and 5 1/2 ahead of the Mets. The Red Sox have fallen back to earth after their red-hot start and are tied for 1st with the Blue Jays. Out west, the A's and Mariners are tied for 1st with the Twins 1 game back. Hopefully we have some races this year.

Referring back to Oberkfell and his injury history, Rickey Henderson is unfortunately catching up as the 31 year old has been on the DL 12 times since he entered the league.

Statistically, Larry Walker and Gary Sheffield are going head-to-head for MVP in the NL and in the AL, it could be any of a dozen players. 8 players are within 2 home runs of each other and the leading hitter is only .340, but Eric Davis of the A's leads the way now.

Yet another month of 16-10 and our lead is now 6. Feels good. The Phillies and Expos are tied for 1st, so that could be fun to watch. The Jays lost their last 9 of the month and so the Sox are now up by 5 in the AL East. In the West, the Twins have opened up a 3 1/2 game lead on the A's.

Ken Griffey Jr has a chance at the AL Triple Crown as he leads in home runs and RBI's and is 5th in batting. In the NL, Larry Walker leads in batting and is in the top 5 in home runs and RBI's and Roger Clemens is on pace to win the pitching Triple Crown in the NL.

We are now 1st in pitching and 2nd in runs scored, so we are rounding into shape and are healthy.

Thanks to 2 rainouts, we now have to play from August 7th until September 12th without a single day off. 37 days in a row, 22 on the road. We then have 1 day off and then a 10 day road trip.

Dennis Martinez started to struggle and in the most recent scouting report, his skills dropped across the board. Mike Morgan had been a really good long reliever so we gave him a go as the 5th starter and so far he has gone 2-2 with a sub 3 ERA, so hopefully we stabilized that 5th spot. We didn't make any deals at the deadline, I couldn't add a really good piece without giving up something I didn't want.

Hensley Meulens has become a really good prospect at AAA Albuquerque. The 23 year old started at AA San Antonio where he hit .312 with 7 home runs in 33 games earning his promotion. So far in AAA, he has hit .311/.410/,541 with 14 home runs in 72 games. He is also an A level fielding 1st baseman. Jack Clark will be a 35 year old UFA after the season, and I think we are going to let him go after 8 years in LA. I can use the millions I won't pay Clark to add a top starter, where I feel the need is greater next season. We got Sid Fernandez cheap last year, but he wants at least 5 years and almost $10 million and I don't trust him that much despite him being pretty good so far. He just can't go much past 6 innings

The busy schedule bit us in the ass in August as we finished 13-16. We started the run of games healthy, but within a week Roberto Kelly picked up a 2-week day-to-day muscle injury. We have Earnie Riles as a great utility man, but when Julio Franco was injured and out "for a week", I didn't have another middle infielder other than Riles, so I put Franco on the DL knowing he would likely be healthy before he comes off the DL. But in the past I had been burned by not putting guys on the DL, so I called up Cecil Espy to back up while Franco was out. This time, Franco only missed 7 games due to injury, which meant we played 8 games while Franco was healthy and in those 8 games we only averaged 2 1/2 runs a game going 2-6.

We also lost Steve Howe for the last 2 weeks of the month, but now we are 100% heathy going into September. The rest of the top of the NL West struggled as well, so we are still 6 games up over the Giants as the Astros have totally faded.

In the NL East, the Expos lead both the Mets and Phillies by 2 1/2, so hopefully that's a good race. The AL East is a carbon copy of the NL East with the Red Sox holding a 2 1/2 game lead over 2 teams, the Yankees and Blue Jays and out West, the Twins have opened up 6 games over the A's.

Ken Griffey Jr appears on his way to leading the AL in HR's and RBI's, but he is now 15 points behind Jody Reed in hitting, so unless things change, no Triple Crown for him. In the NL, Larry Walker still leads the league by 20 points, but Matt Williams had a great August and and now has 15 more RBI as he knocked in 35 in August. Fred Lynn had a great month as well and now has 30 homers and 88 RBI, 3rd in the NL in both. Clemens still leads the NL in wins and strikeouts, but our Michael Elliott is a mere .02 ahead in ERA and Greg Maddox leads the AL with 19 wins for the Royals.

First time for everything, we got no-hit!

Ronald Goode came into the game 6-6 with a 4.04 ERA, but left with some history as he didn't allow a hit while striking out 4 and walking 2. We broke up a no-hitter in the 9th earlier this year, but this time we went quietly.

77-61 now and our lead is down to 4. Starting to worry a bit.

I was right to worry. We've gone 6-9, which is not very nice. We are now tied with the Giants with 9 games to play and 6 of those games are against the Giants. We stopped hitting, only scoring 21 runs in the 9 losses while smashing out 50 runs in our 5 wins.

The Giants took 2 out of 3 against us in LA to go up 1 game, but we took 2 of 3 in Houston as the Giants lost 2 of 3 in San Diego so we are tied again with 3 games to go. We travel to San Francisco for a showdown for the division.

The Expos have clinched the NL East while the Red Sox are 2 games ahead of the Jays and they play each other in Toronto while the Twins have a 2 game lead on the A's.

It was 14-13 Jose Rijo for the Giants and 14-11 Sid Fernandez going for us in game 1 of the final series and it was a 1-1 pitchers duel in the 5th when Julio Franco hit a grand slam, his 17th of the season to open the game up for us and we went on to win 10-2 as we got to within 1 game of the division. Fred Lynn also cracked his 35th home run of the year as he continued his red-hot 2nd half.

In game 2, Rafael Palmiero homered off Kevin Houston in the bottom of the 1st to give the Giants an early 2-0 lead. It was 3-0 Giants in the 4th when Giant starter Joe Margrane had to leave the game with a blister. The Giant bullpen kept it 3-0 until the 6th when Lynn homered off Doug Jones and then Ellis Valentine tied it with a 2 run double.

In the 8th, Gary Sheffield hit a home run off Ray Fontenot and the Giants were 3 outs away from tying the division, but just like earlier, the Giants lost a pitcher to injury. Edward Hale came into close but with 1 out and Fred Lynn up, Hale was replaced by Billy Presley with a sore shoulder and Lynn greeted Presley with a. 2-run homer to give us a 5-4 lead and suddenly we were 3 outs away from the division.

We went closer Joseph Janton in to close it out, but a walk and 2 singles later, we were heading into extras, a 2-out pinch hit single by Carlos Alvarez tying it up. In the bottom of the 11th, Steve Bedrosian walked 2 men and with 2 outs, Franco committed a throwing error to allow Dave Martinez to score and the season came down to 1 game.

Our ace Kevin Houston was up against Bob Welch and both were pitching well, it was a 1-1 game after 5. In the 6th, Jack Clark cracked his 23rd home run of the season with Fred Lynn on to give us a 3-1 lead. Dave Clark made it 4-1 in the 8th with a single and after Valentine doubled in 2 more, we had a 6-1 lead with 6 outs to go.

We sent Willie Hernandez out in the 8th and Steve Buchele greeted him with a solo homer to get the Giants to 6-2. After a 2-out single to Mo Vaughn, Martinez hit a 2-run homer and suddenly we had a 6-4 game.

Back went Janton to close it out and on the 1st pitch, pinch hitter Jim O'Dell made it 6-5. Janton got the next 2 outs before allowing a single to Greg Brock and then a game-tying double to Pat Bailey and we blew another 9th inning lead, to extra innings we go.

Fortunately, we jumped on Bob Sykes in the 10th as Valentine tripled in Dave Clark and Mike Stanley singled in Valentine and after Ray Fontenot got the Giants in order and we took the game and the division.

On to the Expos