California Angels 1970

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The next night we faced 22 year old John Patton making his big league debut for the Padres. We fell behind 2-0 in the 1st behind a 2-run home run by Chipper Jones. King led off the 2nd grounding to 2nd and we trailed 2-0 through 3 when Erstad hit a 2-out 2 run single to tie the game at 2.

With 1 out in the 5th, King went the other way with a 2-1 fastball and legged out a double to take his streak to 51 games, 5 games to tie.

He followed that up with a 2-out single in the 7th to give us a 3-2 lead. That left it to the bullpen to wrap it up.......sigh....

With 2 outs Mark Whiten tied it up with a solo home run off Jeff Shaw and we blew another lead.

The game went on and on and on until the 13th when Chris James singled off Pedro Hernandez to give us the 4-3 win.

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King took his 51 game hitting streak to the plate against Alex Fernandez of the Pirates in Pittsburgh.

We don't have a deep prospect pool and our #1 prospect is AAA catcher Joe Berube, ranked #21 in baseball. The issue is we have Israel Frias there leading the majors in home runs and is just 27 years old. We lost our backup catcher Henry Blanco to a short term injury and while we had another catcher under contact at AAA, we added Berube to the club.

Leading off the 2nd, King grounded a 1-1 fastball to short to make the 1st out.

Down 3-0 in the 4th with runners on 2nd and 3rd, King lined a single to right to score Baerga and his streak is now at 52....I can't believe it's got this far.

We dropped the game 5-3 but are still up a game in the east.

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To try to take this streak to 53 games, King faced Matt Morris in Pittsburgh. Berroa made it 2-0 with a 2 run homer in the 1st to give us a 2-0 lead. King then followed with a strikeout in his 1st chance to extend the streak

WIth 2 outs in the 3rd, King gently tapped back to Morris to make him 0-2.

He came up with 2 outs again in the 6th as we trailed 3-2 and flew out to the track in center.

He had 1 more chance in the top of the 9th trailing 3-2. He faced Mike Henneman, who we traded in the spring. So it would be fitting for him to end the streak.

Not making this up......1st pitch 390 foot bomb to left to tie it up at 3.

Unfortunately, Rafael Novoa surrendered a walk-off home run to Mike Marshall and we lost 4-3.

53 games down. 3 to tie

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We gave him a day off in San Francisco as we won 9-5 despite Gary Sheffield hitting his 9th and 10th HR to tie Frias.

So as he tried to extend his streak to 54 games, he faced star Jose Rijo. King was 8 for 25 off Rijo in his career prior to the game and in his 1st at bat in the 1st with 2 outs and Baerga on 1st, he popped out to Kevin Young at 3B to end the inning.

Trailing 1-0 in the 4th, King grounded weakly back to Rijo to make him 0-for-2.

The game got away from us by the time King came up again in the 7, trailing 9-0. Rijo quickly dispatched of King on 3 pitches, and once again King would be down to 1 more chance.

In the 9th, Rijo had got 125 pitches and we trailed 9-1, so I was hoping he would bring in a bullpen arm, but he sent Rijo back out. With a 1-0 count, he lined a double to left and he had extended his streak to 54 games.

2 to tie

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The last game of the road trip in San Francisco has us face top pitcher Carl Randle. Can King extend this streak to 55 and take it back to Florida with a chance to tie the record? 5-11 in his career off Randle makes it seem a little more than possible.

Jeff King??

In the 1st and 2 outs, he bounced out to 3rd baseman Kevin Young to end the inning.

With the game scoreless in the 4th and Mike Bordick on 1st, King lined a shot down the line in right on an 0-2 pitch to score Bordick, give us a 1-0 lead and take his streak....

.....to 55 games!

Stop me if you've heard this before....we were up 3-1 in the 9th with 2 outs and gave up 3 runs to lose 4-3.

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I am tired of blowing leads. We are good enough to compete if we don't lose games in the 8th and 9th. We have 1 big trade chip and that's Joe Berube, recently promoted from AAA. He won't be good enough to beat out Frias, so I decided to strike while I get a good offer, so we pulled the trigger.

We sent Berube and pitcher Jeff Shaw to the Blue Jays to acquire 26 year old closer Tim Cain and catcher Mike Metheny. Cain is in his 3rd year and has a career record of 6-6 with 61 saves in 100 games. He has a 3.69 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and "has leader written all over him"

Now we fly back to Florida and face the Phillies to see if King can tie Joe DiMaggio.

LOL

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I can't imagine how much press there would be in 1996 in Miami to see Jeff King try to tie Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak. Former Marlin Al Leiter will stand on the and in the way of history.

Leiter was our 1st expansion pick and was awful for us. He came with a career ERA of 3.80 and had the worst year of his career with an ERA of 4.93. We traded him for Dave Otto, who has been poor for us as well until this year.

After leaving Florida Leiter had the best year of his career (of course) in a free agency year and signed a 7 year $28 million deal out of it. And I am sure he doesn't like me.

With runners on 1st and 2nd and 1 out in the 1st, King popped out to Alan Trammell for the 2nd out.

With the game tied at 1 in the 3rd with 2 on and no outs, King went fishing on a curve ball to strikeout to make him 0-for-2. Frias followed with a 3-run homer to give us the 3-1 lead as we went to the 5th.

Leiter got the 1st two outs in the 5th to bring up King. On a 2-2 pitch he popped out to center and he was 0-for-3.

We led 4-2 in the 7th when King had his last chance with 2 outs and Erstad on 3rd. On a 1-0 pitch, King rolled out to short. He was 0-4 going into the 8th.

We scored 3 more in the 8th, but the inning ended with King in the on deck circle and we won the game 7-3.

His streak ended at 55 games.

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I forgot that DiMaggio would have been alive and living in Florida in 1996......I bet this would have been CRAZY....ESPN would have Buster Olney living with Jeff King.

An odd twist of fate took place that greatly contributed to the streak ending. Michael Jackson was due to face us in game #56, not Al Leiter. But we had a rainout and instead of Jackson, we got Leiter. Would King had a hit off Jackson? We will never know.

But in game 2 of the double header, King went 1 for 5......so it's just a what if

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A review after 30 games finds us 18-12 and 1/2 game clear of the Expos, 1 ahead of the Mets, 3 ahead of the Braves and 5 up on the Phillies. We are 3rd in runs and 2nd in runs allowed, so it's a balanced effort.

King's hitting streak has propelled him to 2nd in hitting with a .381/.417/.627 with 6 HR's and 22 RBI. We lead the league in average with a .303 average, seems like replacing the hitting coach is working

C-Frias-.317/.330/.663 11HR 21 RBI
1B-King-see above
2B-Bordick-.266/.286/.330
SS-Guillen-.318/.339/.400
3B-Baerga-.365/.404/.468 3 HR 14 RBI
LF-Varnell-..343/.384/.438 10 2B
CF-Erstad-.352/.410/.416
RF-Berroa-.259/.314/.384 7 2B 4 HR 18 RBI

Tarasco-50 AB-.286/.386/.490 2 HR 4 2B 8 RBI 4-8 as a pinch hitter
Halter-52 AB-.365/.382/.596 2 HR 6 2B 11 RBI 6-9 as a pinch hitter

All our starters have 6 starts, so we are healthy in the bullpen

Barnes 0-0 1.83 ERA 1.27 WHIP 39 innings 39 strikeout. Bullpen blew 4 wins
Meadows 3-1 2.14 ERA 1.32 WHIP 1.3 WAR
Cunnane 2-1 2.55 ERA 1.25 WHIP 42 innings 30 hits allowed. Bullpen blew 2 wins
Mettler 2-1 3.79 ERA 1.49 WHIP
Otto 2-1 3.89 ERA 1.46 WHIP

George 2-0 0.00 ERA in 9 games 11 IP 1.00 WHIP
Gray 2-1 with 1 save 1.80 ERA in 8 games 10 IP 0.5 WHIP
Novoa 1-2 with 1 save 1.17 ERA in 9 games
Cain (mainly with Toronto) 0-1 with 7 saves 1.86 ERA .83 WHIP

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Somehow, nobody signed Fred Lynn.

So I had to sign Lynn to a minor league deal. I don't care that he's 44 and can only play LF and my LF is hitting .343 and only 26.

I think I have to trade my 26 year so I can play, perhaps, the best player since Willie Mays. I have him in AAA for a few games, but I think I may have to do it even though Varnell doesn't garner much interest despite his production

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We just had a 3 game series in Colorado where the scores looked like volleyball scores

10-13
10-8
25-8

Frias 5-13 1HR 5 RBI
King 9-16 3 2B 8 RBI
Halter 5-11 5 runs
Baerga 12-16 2 HR 8 RBI 9 runs
Guillen 5-14
Varnell 9-15 4 2B 4 RBI
Erstad 7-15 8 runs
Berroa 6-18 2 HR 9 RBI

We bashed the hell out of the ball. They didn't walk us around the bases, we only drew 9 walks in those games, we just crushed their pitching

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We now lead the NL in hitting and pitching.

Baerga has a 15 game hit streak
Erstad has a 17 game hit streak
Varnell has a 10 game hit streak
After his 55 game streak ended, King has started a new one, 5 in a row

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Originally Posted by sharknut

A review after 30 games finds us 18-12 and 1/2 game clear of the Expos, 1 ahead of the Mets, 3 ahead of the Braves and 5 up on the Phillies. We are 3rd in runs and 2nd in runs allowed, so it's a balanced effort.

What an awful 30 game run.

We went 12-18 and are back at .500, 9 games out of 1st and 3 games back in the wild card.

We only scored 82 runs in the last 26 games and we fell from 3rd in runs to 10th. 10th in runs despite being 1st in average. We have 4 guys hitting over .300, but only 1 hitting over .300 with runners in scoring position.

No injuries, totally healthy but we just stopped hitting. And now we go for a 12 game road trip against 2 first place teams and the wild card leader.

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A better run up to the All-Star game finds us at 47-41 after going 17-11 in those 28 games. We are still 9 games out of 1st as the Mets are playing much better than I expected. However, we are just 1 back in the Wild Card and have every chance to make the playoffs.

But I made some moves that may not pay off. We signed Lynn to a AAA deal and he was decent there, but after scouting him earlier this year and finding no drop offs to his game, I decided to make a big deal and traded our LF Varnell for closer Tim Cain to open up left field for Lynn. Varnell is just 27 and is a .330 hitter, but he strikes out 150+ times a year and is an average fielder and Cain is 26 and had 41 saves in Toronto last year

After Lynn was promoted, a new scouting report came to my desk and he took a HUGE hit in quality since April. His B level ratings fell to C levels and since I promoted Lynn, he's hit .154/.267/.308 with 1 HR in 10 games and then announced his retirement after the season and THEN went on the DL for 2 weeks. Sigh

Fortunately, Cain has picked up 12 saves in the 21 games he's appeared for us, so the Varnell deal itself has helped our pitching, I've had to promote from AAA to play in LF with Lynn out.

King was named the starter at 1B for the All-Star game, which is quite an accomplishment as he was left exposed in the expansion draft when we came into the league. He's 3rd in average and RBI at .347 and 69 respectively. His best year in Oakland was a .262 average with 18 homers as a 24 year old but he has developed into a high average hitter with 30 HR and 100 RBI's.

I also dealt our #1 prospect, catcher Joe Berube, to the Reds for starter Chris Hammond. Berube is the #22 prospect but Frias is young and isn't going anywhere, so we traded for Chris Hammond, who was 8-3 with a 3.28 ERA. This is by far the best season for the 30 year old, and my assistant told me not to do it, but I ended up pulling the trigger. Hammond has gone 3-0 in his 4 starts with a 3.41 ERA, so I hope he can be a solid top end starter.

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A nifty 15-5 run of games right out of the All-Star break gets us to 6 1/2 back of the Mets now and we have a 2 1/2 game lead in the wild card. We allowed less than 3 runs a game during the stretch and we now lead baseball in fewest runs allowed.

I made a LOT of trades.

Traded reliever Jeff Grey for reliiever Bruce Arola, saving us $80,000
Traded AAA OF Mike Cole and C Henry Blanco to the Dodgers for top lefty reliever Stanley Zaltsman.
Traded reliever Charlie Leibrandt for OF/IF Bobby Bonilla
Traded reliever Bradley Mettler for reliever Danny Jackson saving us $65,000
Traded OF Chris James for reliever Mike Henneman saving us $70.000

And we traded for 3 time MVP, 9 time All-Star and 3 time Triple Crown Winner Mike Marshall. At age 36, he was hitting .350 with 9 HR's in 120 AB's in a part-time role for Pittsburgh because they are dumb, so I traded 26-year old OF Ernie Young, who will probably be a decent player for a Hall of Famer to be.

Erstad picked up an injury that has lasted a month, but not bad enough to go on the injured list, which prompted me to make the Bonilla trade as he can play center field. while Erstad is getting rest.

But the deadline is past and we are coming to the last 54 games of the season

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We had a really nice moment in the last game of our recent series in LA. Lynn has really struggled in his return to the majors at age 44 and just back from the DL, the Dodgers honored him for his amazing career. Lynn played 7 years for LA, 5 of them for me as we won 3 World Series' in Los Angeles. Before that, we won 3 World Series together in California for the Angels, so I was sad to see him having a bit of a Willie Mays type last season after a REALLY good season last year.

He was 0-3 in the last game he would play in L.A. when he hit a 3-run homer in the 8th inning in our win to send him off in style. A home run in his last AB in Los Angeles.

I legit choked up a bit when it happened, Lynn is a top-5 player all time.

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We were 4 1/2 back of the Mets at 66-48 when we hosted them for 4 games.

It looked like we were on our way to losing game 1 4-0 as we came to the plate in the 9th against closer Jeff Montgomery when with 1 out:

Frias-home run
Berroa-single
Bonilla-double
Halter-single (rbi)
Erstad-3 run walk off homer

And I thought we were off......instead the Mets won the next 3 games and we are now 6 1/2 back. We still have a 2 game lead in the wild card, but I think we blew a good chance to gain ground.

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We had a rough run of 12-14 and are now 4 1/2 back of the Expos who went 18-8 in those games. The only good news is that we have 8 games left with them starting with 4 at home this weekend.

We fell to 9th in hitting while still sitting 1st in pitching, once again scoring just about 3 runs a game over this stretch.

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We took 3 out of 4 at home against the Expos, but then gave all those games back immediately as the Amazin' Mets swept us. Still 4 games back with 16 to play, but we went to Montreal in the most important series of the season.

In the 1st game, Jimmy Meadows picked up his 18th win of the season 4-2 as 3 pitchers combined to allow just 5 hits. In the second game, the managers each used 20 players as Frias hit his 33rd HR of the year. It was a 3:55 minute classic and we were within 2 games.

in the 3rd game, we used 20 players again, but the Expos used 27 players in an 16 inning-4:28 minute game. We were sailing with a 4-0 lead in the 7th when the Expos exploded for 7 runs to put us behind the 8 ball, but Shane Halter hit a 2-run double in the 8th before Fred Lynn homered off Trevor Hoffman in the 9th to send the game to extras. Many, many extras. The Expos finally put 3 singles together in the bottom of the 16th and we fell 8-7 and 3 game back again. Mike Bordick homered and knocked in 4 in the final game against Montreal in a 13-4 cakewalk to bring us to 1 game back of Montreal with 12 game left.

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To start off our last 12, Berroa homered, doubled and knocked in 3 as we beat the Phillies 7-4 to stay 1 behind the Expos. Mike Marshall and King also homered to back Jon Barnes as he picked up his 16th win.

Frias hit his 34th homer and added his 1st triple of the year as we knocked around the Phils 9-4 to tie Montreal with 10 to go. Meadows got his 19th win of the season as he continues to be a great signing 2 years ago.

We then had an off day before a double-header against Houston to make up a rain out. We had 7 rain outs this year, way more than I ever had, but I guess being in Florida will do that. Montreal won during our off day, so we started the day 1/2 back.

Dave Otto pitched his best game as a Marlin giving up just 3 hits as Frias hit another home run knocking in 3 as we won 4-0 over the Astros. In the 2nd game, Frias crushed 2 more home runs, making it 4 in 3 games as we swept the Astros winning game 2 6-3. The Expos also won, so we were tied with 8 to go.

We lost the next game to Houston 6-2 as Greg Vaughn and Scott Brosius homered off Chris Hammond and Andujar Cedeno added a homer off Brian Mangino and the Expos now led us by 1 game.

Barnes was great in the last game against Houston not allowing a run through 7, but Randy Tomlin only allowed a single run, a single to Ozzie Guillen. But Guillen made an error in the 9th allowing the Astros to tie it up. Bur Berroa dramatically singled home King in the bottom half to give us the win and once again, the back and forth continued as we are tied after the Expos lose.

After an off day, Salomon Torres pitched the best game of his young career against us as we fell to Atlanta 4-3 in a game where we led 2-0 and 3-1. Meadows couldn't hold the lead as he tried to win his 20th game and Jeff Blauser gave the Braves the lead with a homer off Stanley Zaltsman in the 8th as Montreal won to knock us 1 back again.

After his shutout, Otto was injured in the 3rd inning for the year with a sore arm, so we had to lean on our bullpen for 6 innings. We led 1-0 in the 5th when the Braves put 4 on the board off Danny Jackson and Mignano as Blauser hit another homer. We trailed 5-3 in the 8th when Fred Lynn came off the bench to hit a pinch hit 3 run homer off Roger Clemens to give us the lead and we won 7-5 to tie the Expos again.

Our 3rd game against the Braves was another rain out but we went up 1/2 game as Montreal lost. We went to Houston with our destiny in our hands and starting pitcher Will Cunnane got us off to a good start with a 2-run double in the 2nd as we led early 5-2. It was 5-3 in the 6th when Jay Payton tied it with a homer and Cunnane was gone. Henneman and Jackson each gave up a run and we lost our lead as the Expos won.

In our next to last game, 3 pitchers combined to shut us out on 3 hits 2-0. Chris Hammond was good, but the game flew by in 2:20 but the Expos couldn't take advantage of our loss and we were still 1/2 back. We had 2 to play thanks to the rainout, but the Expos just have 1 left.

We put together 6 hits in the 1st inning against Montreal to score 4 times and Barnes was great again in a 6-1 win to keep us 1/2 back as the Expos won their finale against the Braves which meant it came down to our make up game against the Braves. Win or go home.

Meadows and Eric Broserma were dealing as it was 0-0 in the 6th when Carlos Baerga hit a 2 run homer to bring us 9 outs from a playoff. But Meadows was out of gas in the 7, and with 2 on I brought in Henneman who gave us 2 straight hits and it was 2-1 with the bases loaded and 2 outs. Mark Grudzielanek cleared the bases with a double down the line and we were suddenly down 4-2.

....and that's how it ended. We went home after game 162