OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - The Bucs Start Here - A Pirates Do-Over

luckymann · 11-11-2023, 08:32 PM

Get your reading glasses and grab a drink, then find a comfy chair to sit in - this could take a while...

Our four-game homestand with the Cards right at the beginning of August looms as a pivotal one but it proves inconclusive as we take the first two to make in six straight but drop the others, then go 26 innings without scoring a run against the Mets and eventually lose six on the trot.

We finally get Al Oliver back from injury and send Rick Miller to AAA, but that doesn’t seem to help initially as we continue our moonwalk back into a dogfight with three straight losses at Houston in which we score just 3 runs all told. Thankfully the Cards hit a rough patch as well at this point and make no further inroads on our lead.

Not even the hitherto untouchable John Candelaria can turn things around for us as we lose 3 more at San Fran to put us at an abysmal 2-13 over our last 15, scoring just 34 total runs and being shut out five times over that period. I’ve not seen anything like it in my tenure at this club but it highlights all the limitations we knew were always there but had somehow managed to overcome until this run.

We lose Sangy for another minimum IL stint just when this is the last thing we need, with Ron Brand back up to replace him and he’ll be able to stay for the remainder as the roster expands.

If we do hold on then the Cards only have themselves to blame for not taking more advantage of our horror stretch, as our lead remains 3½ games with 40 to play and they should be ahead of us or at least closer than that, everything considered.

We get a few wins to at least temporarily stem the tide but then lose Dave Parker for a fortnight to a hamstring strain and I’m starting to think the universe has it in for us this season.

While the boys are giving it a red-hot go and win successive walkoffs against the Jints, you can tell they are almost out of gas and when we lose bunch more in a clump (including 4 straight to the Expos), now both the Cards and Mets are nipping at our heels, 3 and 4 games back respectively, and it is the Mets who look more likely than the blundering Cardinals. Our offence has completely gone missing – our home run power, in particular – and our pitching is too inconsistent to cover for it. Other than that, we’re OK. Ha, if 11-23 since August 1 can be thought of as “OK”, that is.

Four wins on the trot against Philly just let us get our legs back underneath us. Sangy returns and then Cobra later the same week—no rehab luxury this time around, straight back into the fray for both, especially with one straight run of 17 games on the horizon—it is all hands on deck now. Of the 22 games left at this juncture, we have six against each of our closest pursuers. It will be a race to the death—we’ll have to earn this division title, that’s for sure.

We use up plenty of juice with two tight wins from three at home to the Expos, with Scoop Oliver and Cobra Parker doing almost all the heavy lifting, and it shows when we are flat and lose two from two at home to the Mets. We also lose Sangy for the rest of the regular season to a calf strain.

We head off for a fortnight-long road trip that will almost certainly decide our season.

It begins poorly as we drop two in Philly, cutting our lead to 3½ when we head to the Big Apple for four with the Mets, now tied with the Cards.

We win the first two of those but the Mets hold their nerve and claw back the last two, the second of them on just the third blown Save of the season for Gossage. He proceeds to blow another one in a series at the Cubs in a crazy 9-6 10-inning loss, a series in which we drop 2 of 3 games.

So much has happened, and yet in the end it seems to have been mere prelude to the final denouement of this twisting tale. Of our 8 remaining games, 6 are against the Cards—who still trail us by 3 ½ games and are one ahead of the Mets. Three in St. Louis and then, after we host the Cubs for two, three more in Pittsburgh to finish the season off.

The series in the Loo starts dreadfully for us as they thump us 10-3 in the opener, with Rhoden’s struggles at this level on full show. Worse than that, we lose Lee Lacy (and Bernie Carbo, although he’s done little for us) to injury but it looks like he’ll be able to play through it.

Things get even more complicated the next game when we lose it 4-1 and now it is Hebner injured. Unlike Lacy, an oblique strain means he is done for the entire season. We call up Bill Almon, his first appearance at this level. We do manage to salvage the third game as Candy man pitches a 6-0 gem for his 21st win of the year. He might need to give us a couple more yet.

We finally get an off-day, on which the Cards lose and the Mets win. Five to play, we lead NY by 2 and St. Louis by 3. By now, ours is the only show in town.

The Cubs flog Jerry Reuss, who has been unusually inconsistent all year, 8-1 in the first of our two games with them. The Mets and Cards both win. Then Joe Coleman earns us a split in the second game, with the Mets also winning to stay just one behind us but the Cards making it very tough for themselves with a loss. They can now only hope for a tiebreaker and will need to beat us 3-of-3 in the big showdown to get it. You’d have to think the Mets are in the box seat, although they have to travel to Philly for their final three games and have very little margin for error: our Magic Number sits at 3.

Jim Bibby picks the perfect time to notch just his 5th win of the year in the opener, eliminating the Cards in the process. With a Mets win, that makes our MN 2.

We know that means a win could clinch it for us and, with our young ace on the mound, feel confident we can at least do our part. Candy Man does indeed give us a good one, allowing just 2 runs over 9, but it takes a run in each of the 9th and 10th – the latter a walkoff RBI single by Scoop Oliver – to get us the win.

Still, it isn’t enough, as the Mets win and it all comes down to the final day.

Almost unbelievably, we once again face young gun Francisco Barrios, who no-hit us in the corresponding game a year ago (thankfully with nothing on the line).

We get him this time. Jerry Reuss pulls it together and the bats give him some run support – including a 1st-inning slam by Rennie Stennett – as we take it 6-2 to get home by 2 games after the Mets drop theirs.

Thus ends easily the most traumatic stretch run for us I can remember, although there were a came up short in that I’m sure hurt more at the time.

Unbelievable that we get it done given we go a combined 22-39 in August and September.

Clearly, our main guys have been off their best by some margin this year, with Parker's 5 home runs of particular note, compared to 28 a year ago.

The Candy Man mixes it with love to make the world taste good.

The Tigers and Reds do it easily, and for a while it looks like we are going to get another titanic tussle in the AL West. But Chicago put their foot down and then hang on to repeat as divisional champs. Three losses right at the death make it look closer than it ever was.

Batting titles to George Brett and Lamar Johnson (just pipping Ken Griffey), the first for each. Reggie Jackson's 33 HR and George Foster's 117 RBI lead the MLB this year. The MVP ballots should both be super close.

Frank Tanana leads either league with 24 Wins, and he also finishes tied with Bob Knepper for the low ERA (2.15) and as runner-up in the AL strikeout race to Nolan Ryan's MLB-leading 279. Dave LaRoche and Rich Gossage tie for the high Saves mark with 39.

Final Top 20s and Leaders

Monthly Award Winners

August

American League

Batter – Rico Carty (Brewers): 373 / 8 HR / 21 RBI
Pitcher – Frank Tanana (Tigers): 6-0 / 1.15 / 40 K / 47 IP
Rookie – Moose Haas (Rangers): 6-0 / 1.17 / 25 K / 46.1 IP

National League

Batter – George Foster (Reds): 344 / 6 HR / 24 RBI
Pitcher – Ken Kravec (Astros): 6-0 / 1.40 / 28 K / 51.1 IP
Rookie – Ken Kravec

September

American League

Batter – Reggie Smith (Red Sox): 347 / 6 HR / 22 RBI
Pitcher – Bob Knepper (Angels): 6-0 / 1.33 / 32 K / 54.1 IP
Rookie – Bob Knepper

National League

Batter – Lamar Johnson (Mets): 368 / 9 HR / 24 RBI
Pitcher – John Candelaria (Pirates): 5-0 / 1.35 / 27 K / 40 IP
Rookie – Tommy Boggs (Dodgers): 4-0 / 2.33 / 19 K / 46.1 IP

Milestones and Observations of Note

2500 Hits: Willie Davis
2000 Hits: Boog Powell
The Padres lose Larry Dierker for the remainder to a torn meniscus, while St. Louis reliever Buddy Schulz goes down with elbow trouble and is done for the year, followed in quick succession by gun Catcher Ted Simmons. Gotta love being a Cards fan in this timeline…
For anyone else, an 18-9 / 3.17 season would be a triumph. For Sandy Koufax, however, it is the first sign of slippage from the mountaintop. Will he be back next year?He is signed thru '78 and is currently on 326 career Wins. I'd love to see him get to 350 and sneak in to the all-time Top 5 but I think it is a longshot.

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11-11-2023, 08:32 PM	#2432
luckymann Hall Of Famer Join Date: Nov 2019 Posts: 12,753	The View from the Gangplank: end of regular season, 1976 Get your reading glasses and grab a drink, then find a comfy chair to sit in - this could take a while... Our four-game homestand with the Cards right at the beginning of August looms as a pivotal one but it proves inconclusive as we take the first two to make in six straight but drop the others, then go 26 innings without scoring a run against the Mets and eventually lose six on the trot. We finally get Al Oliver back from injury and send Rick Miller to AAA, but that doesn’t seem to help initially as we continue our moonwalk back into a dogfight with three straight losses at Houston in which we score just 3 runs all told. Thankfully the Cards hit a rough patch as well at this point and make no further inroads on our lead. Not even the hitherto untouchable John Candelaria can turn things around for us as we lose 3 more at San Fran to put us at an abysmal 2-13 over our last 15, scoring just 34 total runs and being shut out five times over that period. I’ve not seen anything like it in my tenure at this club but it highlights all the limitations we knew were always there but had somehow managed to overcome until this run. We lose Sangy for another minimum IL stint just when this is the last thing we need, with Ron Brand back up to replace him and he’ll be able to stay for the remainder as the roster expands. If we do hold on then the Cards only have themselves to blame for not taking more advantage of our horror stretch, as our lead remains 3½ games with 40 to play and they should be ahead of us or at least closer than that, everything considered. We get a few wins to at least temporarily stem the tide but then lose Dave Parker for a fortnight to a hamstring strain and I’m starting to think the universe has it in for us this season. While the boys are giving it a red-hot go and win successive walkoffs against the Jints, you can tell they are almost out of gas and when we lose bunch more in a clump (including 4 straight to the Expos), now both the Cards and Mets are nipping at our heels, 3 and 4 games back respectively, and it is the Mets who look more likely than the blundering Cardinals. Our offence has completely gone missing – our home run power, in particular – and our pitching is too inconsistent to cover for it. Other than that, we’re OK. Ha, if 11-23 since August 1 can be thought of as “OK”, that is. Four wins on the trot against Philly just let us get our legs back underneath us. Sangy returns and then Cobra later the same week—no rehab luxury this time around, straight back into the fray for both, especially with one straight run of 17 games on the horizon—it is all hands on deck now. Of the 22 games left at this juncture, we have six against each of our closest pursuers. It will be a race to the death—we’ll have to earn this division title, that’s for sure. We use up plenty of juice with two tight wins from three at home to the Expos, with Scoop Oliver and Cobra Parker doing almost all the heavy lifting, and it shows when we are flat and lose two from two at home to the Mets. We also lose Sangy for the rest of the regular season to a calf strain. We head off for a fortnight-long road trip that will almost certainly decide our season. It begins poorly as we drop two in Philly, cutting our lead to 3½ when we head to the Big Apple for four with the Mets, now tied with the Cards. We win the first two of those but the Mets hold their nerve and claw back the last two, the second of them on just the third blown Save of the season for Gossage. He proceeds to blow another one in a series at the Cubs in a crazy 9-6 10-inning loss, a series in which we drop 2 of 3 games. So much has happened, and yet in the end it seems to have been mere prelude to the final denouement of this twisting tale. Of our 8 remaining games, 6 are against the Cards—who still trail us by 3 ½ games and are one ahead of the Mets. Three in St. Louis and then, after we host the Cubs for two, three more in Pittsburgh to finish the season off. The series in the Loo starts dreadfully for us as they thump us 10-3 in the opener, with Rhoden’s struggles at this level on full show. Worse than that, we lose Lee Lacy (and Bernie Carbo, although he’s done little for us) to injury but it looks like he’ll be able to play through it. Things get even more complicated the next game when we lose it 4-1 and now it is Hebner injured. Unlike Lacy, an oblique strain means he is done for the entire season. We call up Bill Almon, his first appearance at this level. We do manage to salvage the third game as Candy man pitches a 6-0 gem for his 21st win of the year. He might need to give us a couple more yet. We finally get an off-day, on which the Cards lose and the Mets win. Five to play, we lead NY by 2 and St. Louis by 3. By now, ours is the only show in town. The Cubs flog Jerry Reuss, who has been unusually inconsistent all year, 8-1 in the first of our two games with them. The Mets and Cards both win. Then Joe Coleman earns us a split in the second game, with the Mets also winning to stay just one behind us but the Cards making it very tough for themselves with a loss. They can now only hope for a tiebreaker and will need to beat us 3-of-3 in the big showdown to get it. You’d have to think the Mets are in the box seat, although they have to travel to Philly for their final three games and have very little margin for error: our Magic Number sits at 3. Jim Bibby picks the perfect time to notch just his 5th win of the year in the opener, eliminating the Cards in the process. With a Mets win, that makes our MN 2. We know that means a win could clinch it for us and, with our young ace on the mound, feel confident we can at least do our part. Candy Man does indeed give us a good one, allowing just 2 runs over 9, but it takes a run in each of the 9th and 10th – the latter a walkoff RBI single by Scoop Oliver – to get us the win. Still, it isn’t enough, as the Mets win and it all comes down to the final day. Almost unbelievably, we once again face young gun Francisco Barrios, who no-hit us in the corresponding game a year ago (thankfully with nothing on the line). We get him this time. Jerry Reuss pulls it together and the bats give him some run support – including a 1st-inning slam by Rennie Stennett – as we take it 6-2 to get home by 2 games after the Mets drop theirs. Thus ends easily the most traumatic stretch run for us I can remember, although there were a came up short in that I’m sure hurt more at the time. Unbelievable that we get it done given we go a combined 22-39 in August and September. Clearly, our main guys have been off their best by some margin this year, with Parker's 5 home runs of particular note, compared to 28 a year ago. The Candy Man mixes it with love to make the world taste good. The Tigers and Reds do it easily, and for a while it looks like we are going to get another titanic tussle in the AL West. But Chicago put their foot down and then hang on to repeat as divisional champs. Three losses right at the death make it look closer than it ever was. Batting titles to George Brett and Lamar Johnson (just pipping Ken Griffey), the first for each. Reggie Jackson's 33 HR and George Foster's 117 RBI lead the MLB this year. The MVP ballots should both be super close. Frank Tanana leads either league with 24 Wins, and he also finishes tied with Bob Knepper for the low ERA (2.15) and as runner-up in the AL strikeout race to Nolan Ryan's MLB-leading 279. Dave LaRoche and Rich Gossage tie for the high Saves mark with 39. Final Top 20s and Leaders Monthly Award Winners August *American League* Batter – Rico Carty (Brewers): 373 / 8 HR / 21 RBI Pitcher – Frank Tanana (Tigers): 6-0 / 1.15 / 40 K / 47 IP Rookie – Moose Haas (Rangers): 6-0 / 1.17 / 25 K / 46.1 IP *National League* Batter – George Foster (Reds): 344 / 6 HR / 24 RBI Pitcher – Ken Kravec (Astros): 6-0 / 1.40 / 28 K / 51.1 IP Rookie – Ken Kravec September *American League* Batter – Reggie Smith (Red Sox): 347 / 6 HR / 22 RBI Pitcher – Bob Knepper (Angels): 6-0 / 1.33 / 32 K / 54.1 IP Rookie – Bob Knepper *National League* Batter – Lamar Johnson (Mets): 368 / 9 HR / 24 RBI Pitcher – John Candelaria (Pirates): 5-0 / 1.35 / 27 K / 40 IP Rookie – Tommy Boggs (Dodgers): 4-0 / 2.33 / 19 K / 46.1 IP Milestones and Observations of Note 2500 Hits: Willie Davis 2000 Hits: Boog Powell The Padres lose Larry Dierker for the remainder to a torn meniscus, while St. Louis reliever Buddy Schulz goes down with elbow trouble and is done for the year, followed in quick succession by gun Catcher Ted Simmons. Gotta love being a Cards fan in this timeline… For anyone else, an 18-9 / 3.17 season would be a triumph. For Sandy Koufax, however, it is the first sign of slippage from the mountaintop. Will he be back next year?He is signed thru '78 and is currently on 326 career Wins. I'd love to see him get to 350 and sneak in to the all-time Top 5 but I think it is a longshot. S+ HOME REPORTS HOME PIRATES HOME __________________ HISTORICAL DO-OVERS PIRATES A'S RED SOX DODGERS CUSTOM SAVES ECLIPSE LEAGUE MOON SHOT LEAGUE EVERYMAN LEAGUE GULF LEAGUE Last edited by luckymann; 11-11-2023 at 10:49 PM.