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The final week of this wonderful GoodIV League season arrives, and unfortunately, the nail-biting pennant race finale did not really materialize (although a miracle could still manage to vault the Boomers to first, in theory). The only real race remaining is for 3rd place money, which is neck-and-neck between the Cities and the Mud Hens. What the MH's have gained in hitting the past two weeks has been offset by losses in pitching, and vice versa for the Cities. This final week will likely turn on the same category that has dictated success or failure all season: starting pitching. If you're into watching the races, the Cities have all their horses (Clemens, Mussina, and Nagy) scheduled to pitch twice this week, along with newly acquired mercenaries Burkett and Belcher. The Mud Hens' staff, which bombed out on them last week, still figures to get a good 7-8 starts this week, too, but they had better be quality starts, because they're fighting for every fraction of ERA and ratio as well.
My hope is that it comes down to the final day of the season, with the Cities needing a win from Roger Clemens against the Red Sox in Toronto. And I hope the game is won by the Blue Jays, 2-1, on a Clemens 1-hitter, the only hit being a 9th inning home run by Mo Vaughn. Now you've all got to be rooting for that to happen, right?
Moves. Oh, by the way, here were the moves received as of late night (I'm expecting a Mud Hens belated entry in the morning, but they won't get any of the guys already claimed):
Cities--waive Almanzar, claim Burkett; waive Wasdin, sign
Belcher ($5); waive Blowers,
sign Brede ($5); waive Catalonotto, sign Alicea ($5); waive
Walton.
Skids--waive Walker, Encarnacion, Florie; waive Serafini, claim
Hershiser; sign T.Nixon (F, $5).
Jay Jays--waive Guillen, claim Bellhorn; waive E. Martinez, sign
Valdez ($5); waive D. Jones, sign Smiley ($9).
Lippers--waive Steinbach, claim Girardi; waive Hansen, sign
D.Ortiz; waive Kamieniecki, sign Bere ($6).
Babies everywhere! I haven't got the official word yet, but our league is being deluged with new prospects right about now. My theory used to be that major life-changing events (weddings, babies) tend to lead to championships, but unless something's going on in the L. Rowe household that I don't know about, this year's baby entries seem to have canceled each other out. Forgive me if I've got this wrong, but I'm pretty sure the Kellers, Eggerts, and Gambales are all expecting (not expectorating), in the immediate future (if not past). Let us know when the rookies arrive, guys!
Skid Siting (sort of)! For all of you who have been moaning about hearing nothing from the League leader all season, here is his latest (only?) correspondence of substance, reprinted without permission from his e-mail Sunday night:
Hi David,
I'm back in Boston. Thanks for your message last week. It was helpful to know about Gonzalez, which I had no other way of knowing. By the way, I love the new web site (especially all that stuff about the wonderful Skids!! - let''s hope I can live up to it). I was all set to disagree with your Nomar article, ready to demonstrate how the Williams season was better, when you ended up there too. Oh well, I'm sure there'll be something I can disagree with sooner or later.
I went to the Mariners-Blue Jays game last Sunday in Seattle. Have you ever been to the KingDome? It sure makes you appreciate Fenway a LOT more. We had tickets in the third deck, you know higher than any pop fly can reach which means higher than the Fenway roof by a good measure. You could see and follow the game, but there wasn't much feeling of being AT a game. Nancy said she feltlike it was on TV. The dome doesn't do much for me either. Interestingly, all the Seattle people we talked to hate the stadium too. Good thing they're getting a new one. Everyone has pennant fever in Seattle which was kind of fun. All the stores have signs in their windows: "You gotta love these guys" with pictures of Griffey, Piniella Rodriguez etc. Buhner is a real crowd favorite, even though he's not he best player. He's kind of like how Dwight Evans was for us in the mid-80s. Even Nancy was quoting his slogan "Bad to the Bone," which flashes on the scoreboard when he's up. Everyone yells.
(Then he gave his moves, followed by:)
Thanks a lot (for the whole season too) - Larry
P.S. A-B-Sers???? How can that be??
And now, Next Year! After such an excruciating pennant race for many of us, and an otherwise highly enjoyable Rotisserie season for everyone, maybe you'd like a break, or maybe you're so hooked you can't get it out of your system. Well, either way, to get you excited about next April, here is a (partial) list of key players who will definitely or probably be available in the 1998 Draft. Because of circumstance and the convergence of the heavens, this will easily be our most top-heavy draft (especially for hitters) since the year the league was founded.
Definite (playing out their options):
Probable (based on salary):
That's about 15 players who should be worth at least $30 in a normal draft, and at least 4 who are proven $40+ guys. It tells you that (a) some of these guys will slip to surprisingly low prices and/or (b) there will be a heck of a lot of $1 players next year. Hint: that $5 keeper you're thinking of holding onto may not be worth it in this type of draft.
But, we've got a whole winter to contemplate rosters, strategies, budgets, and so forth. Plus, we have a serious uncertainty problem concerning both realignment and expansion, which I would like to try to resolve as soon as possible after the owners decide how they next plan to screw up the game. I haven't heard back on anyone hosting a World Series party, but that would be a good time to begin talking about this stuff.
Meanwhile, let's hope the Patriots make it interesting well into January, and that Rick Pitino can be the Bill Parcells of basketball, so we don't become too restless waiting for those first buds of Spring. Have a good one, and check back here, and at the Baseball Journal, often!
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Copyright 1997 David N. Townsend