[Syd Thrift]

Going every 2 weeks feels about right. I have a book at home called The Baseball Timeline that has little daily notes like this. I'm adding in things that the Timeline might not include like major injuries and, when they happen, players complaining about playing time or demanding to be traded. Like with the yearly reports, they help my ADHD brain organize its thoughts on this and I hope that they help my faithful 2 readers grok the ebb and flow of the season in general. Also, I've tossed in some actual real-life news stories that at least for me make this feel more like it's actually, like, 1970 and stuff. You can almost see the bellbottoms when you close your eyes!

I plan to also have a monthly dump, probably just of the game-generated league summaries. What I'm doing right now allows me only takes a little bit longer per game-day whereas stuff I did in the past where I tried to find a story every couple weeks or month per team slowed things to a halt when frankly I'm doing this dynasty as an excuse to play OOTP too much to be healthy.

Major Transactions
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April 9: The Orioles purchased C Robert Keith from the Dodgers for cash. This move may be straining the definition of "major". Keith didn't make the Dodgers roster and was waiting for his DFA period to run out so that he could be assigned to the minor leagues. He's roster filler, nothing more.

April 20: The Montreal Expos purchase CF Anton Mendoza from the Giants for $2,500. Mendoza is a 5th OF type who didn't make the Giants' roster out of spring training. He's still only 25 and probably isn't any worse than Expos' incumbent Jeff Byce (.231, 0, 2) so he'll immediately come in and share time in center.

News
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April 7: To basically nobody's surprise whatsoever, Ryan Colvin announced he'll retire at the end of the season. I'm not convinced he'll even finish the season on a major league roster.

April 10: Paul McCartney announced he is leaving the Beatles. The Yankees lose 5 points from their STUFF. (just kidding! I ain't about that this save)

April 12: The Orioles' David Torres lasted all of 3 batters in 1970 before going down with biceps tendinitis. He's out indefinitely and placed on the 60-day DL (note: I know he's due back in 2 months but tendinitis doesn't seem like the kind of injury where you'd really know a guy would be back in a given timeframe). With a double-header coming up next weekend against the Yankees, the O's will in fact need a 5th starter, so I'm calling up prospect TJ Ziegler to fill that role.

April 12: Josh Matthews of the Cleveland Indians pitches a no-hitter against the Yankees. It's the 31st in major league history and the first of 1970. Last year there were two of them, both against the Seattle Pilots in September, so you could say this was the first real one since 1968. Matthews didn't have amazing stuff, striking out only 2 hitters (he walked 6) but did a great job of delivering the baseball to his fielders all game long.

April 13: An oxygen tank in the Apollo 13 spacecraft explodes, forcing the crew to abort the mission and return in four days.

April 13: Bryan Milton, the backup RF for KC who had to start this week because Carlos Guzman was hurt, won the first AL Player of the week of the season by going 12-22 with 3 RBIs.

April 13: 2B Pedro Ortiz of Cincinnati blistered the ball to the tune of a .625 average (20-32) with 1 HR, 6 RBIs, and 6 runs to take home the NL PotW.

April 13: Also, the very first power rankings came out. The top 5:

1. LA Dodgers
2. Detroit Tigers
3. Philadelphia Phillies
4. Boston Red Sox
5. Cincinnati Reds

The Mets are 8th and the Twins are all the way back at 12th.

April 13: Justin Richens, now playing for the Houston Astros, hit the 400th HR of his career, a line drive to right field that just cleared the fence in the spacious Astrodome. It's also the 1st HR of his Houston career.

April 15: Michael Pesco tied his own team record with 12 strikeouts in a 6-2 thrashing of the New York Yankees. Pesco has hit this mark 7 times. The Red Sox improve to 6-1 while the struggling Yankees, hitting just .197 to open the season, fall to 1-6.

April 16: Atlanta Braves 3B Vicente Luna suffered a setback with the fractured hand he suffered in spring training. He will undergo surgery on it and will be out until the All-Star Break.

April 17: The Apollo 13 landing capsule successfully touches down in the Pacific Ocean following their aborted mission.

April 17: San Diego Padres CF Zachary Hadley slipped a disc in his back trying to gun a runner down at home and will miss the next month. Hadley was off to a decent start, hitting .289 with 6 runs in his first 11 games after leading the league in Ks the year before. The Pads will call up CF Tyler Mitchell, a 9th round pick in 1968 who was hitting .300 at AAA Salt Lake City, to take his place.

April 19: Phillies CF Joel Schaben, recently acquired from the Cardinals, will miss the next 5 weeks with a fractured finger (the third of those injuries I think I've seen lately? COMON OOTP BE MORE ORIGINAL). Prospect Mark O'Connor, who hit .289 last year at AAA Eugene, was raking in the same place so far this year and so the Phillies will give him extended time to show his stuff. Malachai Barron is also there as a proven quantity but he's a proven meh player.

April 19: Atlanta has been dealing with Franklin Martinez being out of the lineup with a strained abdominal muscle. He's already the 2nd string 3B and was pressed into starting with the injury to Vicente Luna. Now that injury has been downgraded to the never-great "unknown". 27 year old Mike Medford, who himself did pretty well in limited time last year, has been playing the majority of the time at the position and will continue to do so for the forseeable future.

April 20: The NL Player of the Week is none other than Giants LF Barry "The Ritz" Cooper (.436, 3, 6). The hard-working 26 year old had 13 hits in 26 at-bats including 2 HRs.

April 20: In the AL, Kansas City CF David Corona (.462, 2, 6) took home PotW honors after hitting 9-18 with 2 HRs and 5 RBIs. This is his first-ever weekly honor.

April 20: New power rankings! Here are the top 5:

1. Boston Red Sox (8-2)
2. New York Mets (8-3)
3. Cincinnati Reds (11-4)
4. Detroit Tigers (7-3)
5. Chicago Cubs (6-3)

For last year's division winners, the Minnesota Twins are 12th (5-5), the Cleveland Indians are 15th (4-5), and the Atlanta Braves are 16th (5-7).