|
Written by Bill
|
|
Thursday, 22 July 2010 09:00 |
|
The guest post today is a real treat from Jeff Polman. Jeff is a baseball history replayer and fictionalizer. He replayed the 1924 season last year at 1924 and You Are There!, and this year is tackling 1977 at Play That Funky Baseball. You can (and should) follow him on Twitter.
 The darkest days in baseball history may have been August to October of 1994, when the major leagues completely shut down and we were deprived of our first World Series since the famous John McGraw Hissy Fit 90 years earlier. For a box score-mad person like me, I could barely get out of bed for three months, and I still have many friends who stopped following the game altogether, until Sosa and McGwire performed their juicy tango four years later.
There was a cornucopia of amazing things going on when play stopped that August 11. Matt Williams of the Giants had 43 homers in 115 games. Jeff Bagwell had 39 dingers, 116 RBIs and was hitting .368, but had just injured his wrist. Tony Gwynn was flirting with .400 at .394. In the AL, Griffey had 40 homers, Frank Thomas 38 and Albert Belle 36. And then there were the Montreal Expos, with an amazing outfield of Alou, Grissom and Walker, and Pedro Martinez, Ken Hill, and John Wetteland on the pitching staff, leading the majors with a .649 winning percentage. The franchise would never recover.
Which must be why they invented Strat-O-Matic baseball. A few years ago I decided to alleviate my ’94 nightmare by playing out the rest of the season, beginning with the games of August 12, to see what might have happened. Any rained-out affairs unimportant to the standings were not made up. I also wiped clean all injuries, including Jeff Bagwell’s wrist, because I figured a) by the time the labor problems were worked out and the season resumed over the winter in Aruba, most of the ailments would have healed, and b) It was my replay, so screw the bad vibes.
Along with the final standings (click here and scroll down or click "Read More" below to see the standings) and a few assorted hitting stats, I’ve included a truncated wrap-up of the postseason. Note the entire sub-.500 AL West division, which was also the case when the real season stopped.
The final hitting stats were ridiculous. Unfortunately I wasn’t using triple slash numbers or .OPS yet, but you get the idea.
SWATTING NOTABLES:
Paul O’Neill, NYY (.361, 32, 127)
Albert Belle, CLE (.347, 54, 141)
Carlos Baerga, CLE (.314, 28, 114)
Frank Thomas, CHX (.353, 52, 145)
Ken Griffey Jr., SEA (.328, 55, 137)
Kirby Puckett, MIN (.316, 29, 156)
Cecil Fielder, DET (.261, 37, 120)
Kirk Gibson, DET (.273, 43, 120)
Mo Vaughn, BOS (.294, 39, 112)
Jose Canseco, TEX (.273, 38, 125)
Kevin Mitchell, CIN (.307, 51, 113)
Andres Galarraga, COL (.329, 42, 120)
Dante Bichette, COL (.311, 34, 119)
Tony Gwynn, SD (.400!, 16, 86)
Jeff Bagwell, HOU (.346, 49, 153)
Matt Williams, SF (.261, 64, 145)
Barry Bonds, SF (.307, 52, 129)
Fred McGriff, ATL (.311, 47, 132)
Mike Piazza, LA (.334, 34, 126)
Gary Sheffield, FLA (.256, 39, 111)
THE PLAYOFFS
AL DIVISION SERIES
INDIANS 6-10-0 at YANKEES 2-5-0
INDIANS 7-10-0, at YANKEES 0-3-0
At INDIANS 5-10-2, YANKEES 1-5-2
Major offensive meltdown by the Yanks. Martinez, Nagy and Morris throw three straight complete games against Key, Perez and Kamienicki (yeesh!)
At WHITE SOX 2-4-0, MARINERS 0-4-0
MARINERS 6-10-0, at WHITE SOX 5-13-2
WHITE SOX 9-13-0, at MARINERS 3-7-0
At MARINERS 5-12-1, WHITE SOX 4-9-3 (12 innings)
At WHITE SOX 4-7-0, MARINERS 3-9-0
Fabulous series, as the lowly Mariners give the Chisox a bitch of a time. Alvarez bests Randy Johnson in the opener, before Gossage saves game 2 and sends the tied series back to the Kingdome. Late heroics for the M’s win game 4, then Alvarez beats the Unit a second time in the finale despite a double and homer from Edgar Martinez.
NL DIVISION SERIES
At EXPOS 11-9-1, GIANTS 1-6-2
At EXPOS 11-14-2, GIANTS 2-3-0
EXPOS 6-8-0, at GIANTS 2-8-0
S.F. has no chance. Burkett and Swift get hammered in the Montreal openers, before Fassero and Wetteland finish them off at the Stick.
BRAVES 6-8-0, at ASTROS 3-8-2 (11 innings)
BRAVES 7-15-1, at ASTROS 6-9-1 (10 innings)
ASTROS 5-11-0, at BRAVES 2-5-2
ASTROS 3-9-1, at BRAVES 1-12-0
At ASTROS 4-10-1, BRAVES 2-8-1
Fabulous comeback by Houston, after dropping two brutal openers at home. Drabek tops Maddux in the finale, Caminiti providing a key single in the 3-run winning rally in the last of the 6th.
AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
INDIANS 6-10-0, at WHITE SOX 5-9-2
W-Martinez L-McCaskill SV-Mesa HRS: Amaro, Franco, Thomas GWRBI-Lofton
At WHITE SOX 10-13-1, INDIANS 4-8-1
W-Fernandez L-Nagy HRS: Baerga, Sorrento, Raines (grand-slam)
At INDIANS 4-10-0, WHITE SOX 3-10-1
W-Morris L-McDowell SV-Mesa GWRBI-Belle
WHITE SOX 3-7-0, at INDIANS 1-5-2
W-Alvarez L-Martinez SV-DeLeon HR: Thomas GWRBI-Thomas
At INDIANS 3-7-0, WHITE SOX 2-6-2
W-Clark L-Bere SV-Mesa GWRBI-Lofton
INDIANS 15-24-1, at WHITE SOX 4-12-0
W-Nagy L-Fernandez HRS: Belle, Lofton, Murray, Sorrento, L. Johnson GWRBI-Kirby
Battle of the Behemoths. After two tight pitching duels in the three games at the Jake, the Tribe says enough is enough and smack the Sox silly back at Comiskey. For the series, leadoff man Kenny Lofton is on base 18 out of 30 times.
NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
At EXPOS 5-5-0, ASTROS 3-6-1
W-Wetteland L-Veres HRS: Cordero, Grissom GWRBI-Grissom
ASTROS 7-14-1, at EXPOS 6-12-2 (13 innings)
W-Hudek L-Rojas HRS: Miller, Bass GWRBI-Bass
At ASTROS 6-10-1, EXPOS 1-3-0
W-Harnisch L-Fassero HRS: Bagwell, Cedeno GWRBI-Biggio
At ASTROS 4-6-1, EXPOS 3-5-3
W-Drabek L-Hill
At ASTROS 2-8-0, EXPOS 1-5-1
W-Swindell L-Henry SV-Jones GWRBI-Gonzalez
The Big Shocker. After a walkoff bomb by Grissom in the opener, nothing goes right for Montreal. Pedro blows a 4-0 1st inning lead in Game 2, followed by a 6-3 lead later on, before a Kevin Bass smack off Wetteland in extras decides it. Back in the Astrodome, the Expos can’t buy a hit for three days.
 WORLD SERIES
At ASTROS 5-12-0, INDIANS 1-2-0
W-Drabek L-Martinez HRS: Bagwell, Caminiti GWRBI-Bagwell
At ASTROS 11-18-1, INDIANS 4-7-0
W-Reynolds L-Nagy HRS: Bagwell, Finley GWRBI-Bass
At INDIANS 8-13-0, ASTROS 7-13-0 (10 innings)
W-Mesa L-Jones HRS: Bagwell, Servais, Thome GWRBI-Vizquel
Best game of the postseason, bar none. Astros go up 2-0, Indians jump ahead 3-2, Astros go up 4-3, then 5-3. It’s 6-4 Houston bottom of the 9th when Harnisch, Hudek and Jones walk four guys to tie the score. Sid Bream knocks in a run top of the 10th but a Sorrento single and doubles from Murray and Vizquel off Jones give the Tribe a thrilling walkoff.
At INDIANS 3-7-1, ASTROS 1-7-1
W-Martinez L-Drabek SV-Plunk HRS: Bagwell, Belle GWRBI-Belle
ASTROS 13-20-0, at INDIANS 9-16-2
W-Swindell L-Grimsley HRS: M. Ramirez-2, Pena, Sorrento, Amaro
At ASTROS 2-6-0, INDIANS 0-4-1
W-Reynolds L-Nagy HR: Bagwell GWRBI-Finley
Cleveland’s sketchy starting staff was no match for the blistering Houston bats, and like the Expos, the Indians found scoring in the Astrodome an insurmountable challenge.
Congrats to the 1994 World Champions in My Mind Houston Astros!!
AL EAST
| New York |
97 |
65 |
.599 |
— |
| Baltimore |
92 |
68 |
.575 |
4 |
| Detroit |
80 |
82 |
.494 |
17 |
| Boston |
75 |
86 |
.466 |
21.5 |
| Toronto |
74 |
88 |
.457 |
23 |
AL CENTRAL
| Chicago |
98 |
63 |
.609 |
— |
| Cleveland-wc |
95 |
67 |
.586 |
3.5 |
| Kansas City |
92 |
70 |
.568 |
6.5 |
| Minnesota |
71 |
91 |
.438 |
27.5 |
| Milwaukee |
69 |
93 |
.426 |
29.5 |
AL WEST
| Seattle |
76 |
84 |
.475 |
— |
| Texas |
74 |
88 |
.457 |
3 |
| California |
69 |
93 |
.426 |
8 |
| Oakland |
69 |
93 |
.426 |
8 |
NL EAST
| Montreal |
100 |
62 |
.617 |
— |
| Atlanta-wc |
92 |
70 |
.568 |
8 |
| Philadelphia |
85 |
76 |
.528 |
14.5 |
| New York |
81 |
79 |
.506 |
18 |
| Florida |
71 |
90 |
.441 |
28.5 |
NL CENTRAL
| Houston |
88 |
74 |
.543 |
— |
| Cincinnati |
85 |
76 |
.528 |
2.5 |
| Chicago |
74 |
86 |
.463 |
13 |
| St. Louis |
69 |
91 |
.431 |
18 |
| Pittsburgh |
64 |
96 |
.400 |
23 |
NL WEST
| San Francisco |
84 |
78 |
.519 |
— |
| Los Angeles |
83 |
79 |
.512 |
1 |
| Colorado |
77 |
85 |
.475 |
7 |
| San Diego |
76 |
86 |
.469 |
8 |
|
|
|
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 
W-Drabek L-Martinez HRS: Bagwell, Caminiti GWRBI-Bagwell