seawolf17

Angels. Completely done with the Red Sox; I want to see them and the Yankees finish fourth and fifth in the AL East in 2010.

"We just wanted to honor Mariano's incredible achievement," Wilpon said in a statement. "We were honored that he had the opportunity to reach the milestone here at Citi Field, and we thought it would be nice to pay tribute to him. We look forward to more collaborations with the Yankees; we're introducing Teixeira's 'Teixas' BBQ and CC's 'Hungry Man' Hamburgers to the Excelsior level, which we're renaming Steinbrenner Concourse next April."

The Dodgers had Rod Booker at second, a defensive replacement (HA!) for Juan Samuel; and Dave Valle, usually a catcher, at first, who they double-switched into the game into the ninth (replacing Bill Doran at first). Looks like the "importing historical rookies" feature makes everyone who was a rookie the following season (in this case, 1992) eligible for the June 15 draft. I've been playing most of the games, and there's definitely an upgrade in the game-management aspect from v6 to v8.

Mostly managing, yes. Just won a game with this tenth inning: Bottom of the 10th: Pitching for Los Angeles, Jay Howell. M. Sasser lined out to center. K. Elster grounded out to shortstop. T. Benzinger, pinch hitting for D. Cone, reached on error by first baseman. G. Young reached on error by second baseman, Benzinger to second. D. Magadan reached on error by first baseman, Benzinger to third, Young to second. H. Johnson walked, Benzinger scores, Young to third, Magadan to second. Game Over... New York defeats Los Angeles, 1 to 0 Yes, David Cone pitched ten scoreless innings, and yes, that went (with two outs) error-error-error-bases loaded walk. Bet that's never actually happened before. Haven't gotten to the draft yet, but I believe I checked the option to include "actual" rookies. We'll see if it does that.

A little playing, a little simulating, and suddenly it's May 5, 1991, and the Mets are off to a 19-5 start, despite weird splits across the roster. * Craig Biggio played himself out of a job; he hit .176 over 68 ABs before I sent him back down to AAA and let Mackey catch every day; Mackey is 6-for-22 on the season. Dave Liddell was called up to back up Sasser. (Keith Miller, dealt to Houston in the Biggio trade, leads the majors with 15 doubles.) Biggio has 7 hits in three games in Tidewater, though, so I'm assuming I'll bring him back up in a little while. * HoJo and Dave Magadan are carrying the offense. HoJo is only hitting .240, but has 8 HR and 26 RBI, both of which lead the team by far. (Kevin McReynolds has 3 home runs, and Magadan is second with 15 RBI.) Magadan, though, leads the majors with 20 walks and a .472 OBP. * It's been all about the rotation: Gooden (3-1, 2.88) Cone (3-1, 1.87) Viola (3-0, 3.18) Harnisch (2-0, 2.17) - fighting a back injury right now that caused him to miss his last start Fernandez (1-1, 3.46) - 4 for 7 at the plate with a home run No major roster moves to report. Claimed 28-year-old Jamie Moyer off waivers, which sent Anthony Young back to AAA, but when I realized that I really didn't need to carry 11 pitchers, I dealt him for minor leaguer Andy Ashby, who was tearing up AAA for the Phillies, and called up Chris Donnels so I had an extra bat. Not a runaway by any means, though; the Cardinals (16-9) and Expos (15-10) are right on our heels.

Credit Kevin James for wearing the hat backward; he's okay.

I was going to start at 1993, but it really started to go south earlier, so I wanted to see if I could stem the tide. And I turned off the "use real development" option or whatever it was called -- that was an option when you started the league. The 25-man roster, three games into the 1991 season: Rotation: Gooden, Cone, Viola, Harnisch, Fernandez Bullpen: Innis, A Pena, Plesac, Whitehurst, A Young, Franco (closer) C: Biggio & Sasser 1B: Magadan (with Todd Benzinger on the bench) 2B: Teufel 3B: Jefferies SS: HoJo (with Elster on the bench) OF: McReynolds, Gerald Young, and a platoon of Daryl Boston and the aging Hubie Brooks in right. Backups are Willie Wilson and the ageless Jim Rice. Not exactly world-beaters, but serviceable.

I've been a big fan of Out of the Park Baseball ever since Front Page Sports was no longer supported when Windows XP came around. I've been playing OOTP6 for a few years, and even though they're up to OOTP10, I never upgraded. However, they just released Version 8 for free (http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/ootp8/index.php), so I figured it was worth starting over. I just picked up the Mets after the 1990 season, before it all started to go to hell. The AI was a little trade-happy in the offseason; guys were flying all over the league. I made two deals; the major one was moving Vince Coleman, Keith Miller, and a few other guys to Houston for Craig Biggio (my current catcher, with plans to move him to second as soon as Hundley is ready), Pete Harnisch (a few years before he became an actual Met), and outfielder Gerald Young (replaces Coleman at the top of the lineup). A little lopsided, yes, but the offer actually came from Houston to start (they wanted Coleman). The other deal moved Charlie O'Brien to Oakland for Willie Wilson, who's 35 and past his prime, but will serve as a nice fourth outfielder. I signed Todd Benzinger and Dan Plesac, and lured Jim Rice out of retirement to strike out off the bench in a big spot. I had signed him to a minor league deal, but then Mark Carreon got hurt on Opening Day for the season, so Jim's up until he looks his age. A four-run ninth inning on Opening Day and a 13-2 win on Opening Day II (remember that?), and my slightly retooled 1991 Mets are off to a nice start. Pressure's on this year, but we certainly have the horses to win, despite Tim Teufel playing second base every day and some questions both defensively and in the bullpen.

I'd bet your Klapisch line is closest to what we'd actually see. Something along those lines.

Shouldn't the thread title be "Phillies Fan Raises Moron, Gets On Today Show Anyway"?

As long as someone remembered to bring the cake in.

Never heard of him. You made him up.

Probably a mix of everyone above. I'd be thrilled at the run -- how can you not enjoy a 22-game winning streak? -- but furious at both the Mets for giving up on the season over the last few weeks and at myself for... well, giving up on the season over the last few weeks.

Listening to WFAN as I head down Rte 8 to Bridgeport, and Josh Thole's mom - right behind the dugout, with his dad and two ofhis old coaches - almost drowned out Wayne and Howie when he got that hit. Sounded like she was the only fan in the park. Kinda brought a tear to my eye, actually.

The 1999 is Jorge Toca?

Oh, and I've always enjoyed guys with funky pitching motions, especially sidewinding guys like Quisenberry and Tekulve. (Guys like Terry Leach, Jeff Innis, and Chad Bradford would be in that group, except for the Mets connection.)

Well, since I started this, I should probably contribute. Besides Helton: Darrell Porter (I wore big glasses as a kid too) Jim Rice (I discovered that we share a birthday when I was a kid, and he's been a favorite ever since) Ryne Sandberg Ozzie Smith Dave Righetti (before I learned my dislike of the Yankees) Craig Biggio (coached at my baseball camp as a kid) Currently: Helton, Ryan Freel & Juan Encarnacion (I guess Encarnacion is technically retired now due to his injury)

Todd Helton is definitely on my all-time favorite non-Mets team. (New thread, anyone?) I drafted him first in the first fantasy baseball league I ever played in, many years ago, and he was on my team until last season.