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SENATORS VICTORIOUS
KINGS OF CAPITOL
HILL EKE OUT NARROW WIN
OVER FEARSOME
FOURSOME
SKIPPER JOINS
ITCHIE IN HSL
PANTHEON OF QUAD
WINNERS
CHIEFS-REDBIRDS WAGER STILL VIABLE
Brothers:
In a Hot Stove League campaign for the ages, Skipper’s Senators
outlasted fierce competition from the field to finish the 2004 campaign on
top of the leaderboard, completing Skipper’s quest to join Itchie in the
select company of four-time HSL winners. To cap off an illustrious season
that will forever be known in HSL annals as The Great Race of Aught
Four, Skipper’s bold charges used a final-weekend flurry to vault past
the tenacious Tigers, the rabid Redbirds and the
cap-besieged Wahoos and Skipjacks and into 1st place in the
HSL standings at season’s end. Not unlike the real-life 2004 Houston
Astros, the cream-like Senators rose to the top when it counted, at
the end, which was their first Sunday night visit to the top of the
standings the entire 2004 season.
It was a fantastic finish to a great season, which saw an unprecedented
five teams enter the final week of the season with a realistic chance at
finishing on top. At the start of Week 26, the Wahoos paced the
field with 9473.0 points, a cushion of 60 points over the 2nd-place
Senators and 66 points over the 3rd-place Redbirds, with the
Tigers close behind at 9396.0 and the Skipjacks within catching
distance at 9347.5. Never before, and probably never again, will five
teams enter the final week of the season with only 125.5 points separating
1st from 5th. It is also highly unlikely that we will ever again see four
teams entering the final two days of the season with a legitimate chance
of winning it all, or a race in which the 1st place team on Saturday
morning ended up as the 4th place team on Sunday night, as was the fate of
the Hanover Wahoos.
Congratulations one and all on a great season, and plaudits to everyone
for competing so aggressively from Start to Finish in the 2004 campaign.
It was great to look at the transaction wire each Monday morning and see
that even the teams that were situated in the Southern end of the Lower
Division were drafting free agents, promoting and demoting, and making
moves to try to better themselves in the standings, even where the best
that could be hoped for was to climb a single rung up the ladder. It’s all
about the competition, and not where we end up. Well, okay, it’s obviously
better to end up in 1st than in 11th, but the journey’s the thing, not the
destination.
Now that there’s not a dry eye in the house, let me snap you all back
to reality with the final standings and the Week 26 point totals:
FINAL STANDINGS FOR THE 2004
SEASON
|
1. |
Senators |
9804.5 |
|
2. |
Redbirds |
9723.0 |
|
3. |
Tigers |
9682.5 |
|
4. |
Wahoos |
9677.0 |
|
5. |
Skipjacks |
9625.5 |
|
6. |
Reds |
9337.0 |
|
7. |
Chiefs |
8748.5 |
|
8. |
Bombers |
8747.5 |
|
9. |
Irates |
8679.5 |
|
10. |
Blues |
8611.5 |
|
11. |
Cubs* |
8538.0 |
|
12. |
Tribe |
6176.5 |
WEEK 26 POINT TOTALS
|
1. |
Blues |
448.5 |
|
2. |
Senators |
391.5 |
|
3. |
Reds |
351.5 |
|
4. |
Bombers |
323.0 |
|
5. |
Redbirds |
316.0 |
|
6. |
Chiefs |
313.5 |
|
7. |
Tigers |
286.5 |
|
8. |
Skipjacks |
278.0 |
|
9. |
Irates |
247.5 |
|
10. |
Tribe |
209.5 |
|
11. |
Cubs* |
206.5 |
|
12. |
Wahoos |
204.0 |
(Hmmm, Skipper thought to himself as he drove south on Highway
71 through inner-city Kansas City and eyed the Emanuel Cleaver II
Boulevard exit, I wonder if this would be a good spot to pull off and
refuel?, as his Jeep Liberty sputtered on fumes. However, seeing as
how he was not wearing his protective go-go boots for footwear, he thought
better of it and successfully chanced it to the first suburban exit.)
I am dictating this edition of From the Bullpen as I head south
on Tuesday toward Springfield, Missouri, for a late afternoon deposition
of a medical expert in my hepatitis C mass tort litigation, and so you
will excuse me if my thoughts bounce around a bit as I perceive my
environment around me during the trip. Before I tune my radio in to the
Dodgers-Cardinals playoff game, let me share with you now the team
pitching and hitting standings for the 2004 season:
TEAM BATTING
| 1. |
Tigers |
6103.0 |
| 2. |
Reds |
6071.0 |
| 3. |
Senators |
6049.0 |
| 4. |
Skipjacks |
6026.0 |
| 5. |
Wahoos |
6004.0 |
| 6. |
Blues |
5957.0 |
| 7. |
Redbirds |
5909.0 |
| 8. |
Irates |
5718.0 |
| 9. |
Bombers |
5533.0 |
| 10. |
Chiefs |
5490.0 |
| 11. |
Cubs* |
5004.0 |
| 12. |
Tribe |
4427.0 |
TEAM PITCHING
| 1. |
Redbirds |
3814.0 |
| 2. |
Senators |
3756.0 |
| 3. |
Wahoos |
3673.0 |
| 4. |
Skipjacks |
3600.0 |
| 5. |
Tigers |
3580.0 |
| 6. |
Cubs* |
3535.0 |
| 7. |
Reds |
3266.0 |
| 8. |
Chiefs |
3259.0 |
| 9. |
Bombers |
3215.0 |
| 10. |
Irates |
2962.0 |
| 11. |
Blues |
2655.0 |
| 12. |
Tribe |
1750.0 |
INFIELD CHATTER
| ♦ |
Big Guy made the interesting
observation that his Tigers led the circuit in hitting points
with 6103.0 points, even though Big Guy drafted 12th and picked
pitchers (RJ, Gagne, Kevin Brown) in the first three rounds of the
Draft. The lesson to be learned? Draft pitching first, because hitters
are fungible.
|
| ♦ |
But try telling that to Shamu. Sir
Charles also went pitching, pitching, pitching in Rounds 1, 2 and 3
(Pedro, Hudson and Mussina), finished a distant 11th in hitting, and
finished 11th in the overall standings. My advice: Draft better
pitchers.
|
| ♦ |
U-Bob may want to reanalyze his
drafting strategy next season. Mr. “Hitting is Everything, Pitching is
Nothing” drafted hitters in each of the first five rounds, but
finished dead last in hitting (by 777 points) to go with his dead-last
pitching. Something needs a bit of tweaking here.
|
| ♦ |
Big Guy’s Tiger hitters knocked out a
probable record 2021 collective hits, and had a team batting average
of .297. That’s right, I said a team batting average of .297. I don’t
have the statistics to prove it, but I would imagine that this is an
all-time HSL record. At the other end of the spectrum, the Tribe
posted a team batting average of .266, which is way bad, but probably
not a league record. The other ten teams had collective batting
averages ranging from the Irates’ .273 to the Skipjacks’
and Chiefs’ .289, which would seem to be the usual range.
|
| ♦ |
The Skipjacks belted out a total
of 322 home runs, losing even more to homer caps than the Wahoos,
who had a total of 321 dingers. The Jax also capped out on RBIs
with 1096, and had 137 more RBIs than runs, meaning that they in
effect lost 137 points to the RBI cap. Guess you guys didn’t see this
coming, eh?
|
| ♦ |
The Wahoos led the league in
free passes with 875, well above the allowable limit. (We know, we
know, Possum. It’s not fair, it’s not logical, it’s not right. But
like the expanding bald spot on the back of Itchie’s head, it’s
there. Deal with it.)
|
| ♦ |
The Blues led the league with
192 stolen bases, followed by the Chiefs with 189. The Blues
and Chiefs finished 10th and 7th, respectively. You do the
math. Speed kills in this league.
|
| ♦ |
Even though the Tigers blew the
pack away with their .297 batting average, and even though Itchie’s
Jax were suffocated by the homer and RBI caps, the Jax
still led the league in hitting points per game with 3.8, well ahead
of the Redbirds with 3.6 PPG, and inexplicably, the Blues
with 3.6. Maybe somebody should have told McBlunder that his hitters
were doing this well, so he could have gotten them a few more at-bats.
Details, details. Four different teams, the Senators, Tigers,
Reds and Wahoos, all averaged 3.5 PPG. Of these four
teams, three finished in the top four. It’s not how many points per
game your players are averaging, it’s how you manage them, obviously.
On the pitching side of the equation, the well-balanced Redbirds
led the league in ERA (3.44), had enough but not too many saves (78),
and led the league in Q1 outings (191).
|
| ♦ |
The Wahoos led the league in
pitching winning percentage at .601 with a 101 and 67 record,
converting an obscenely high percentage of their 107 Q6 starts. While
Starter Wins Blown By Other Teams’ Relievers is usually a
fervent source of whine material for Possum, he’s been mysteriously
silent on this subject this season. Perhaps because my own Senators
matched his team ERA precisely at 3.54 and had 18 more Q6 starts, but
managed 8 fewer wins and 19 more losses than the Wahoos staff,
with a sub-par .520 winning percentage for the Senators
pitching staff.
|
| ♦ |
And then you have the Chiefs,
who posted an incredible 104 and 79 pitching record with only
102 Q6 starts, with a pitching staff that sported a stinky 4.42
collective ERA. Despite this largesse in the pitching win department,
the Chiefs could manage only a sub-par 7.1 PPG for its staff.
|
| ♦ |
Not to be left unmentioned, the
Tribe staff and its 4.60 team ERA and 8 (not a misprint) team
saves and 1750 total points, was lapped by six other pitching staffs,
each of which scored a total of more than 3500 points, or more than
double the Tribe staff’s total.
|
10/6/04 (Kansas City)
FOR THE RECORD
For anyone who desires to see an update of our historical summary of
final finishes, click on the HSL Winner’s Circle link. Maybe I really do
have too much time on my hands, but after last night’s Twins-Yankees Game
1 was over, I was bored silly in my hotel room in Kansas City and decided
to spend some time poring over the numbers. For the record:
| 1. |
Senators |
The Senators 1st-place finish in
2004 was –– and I realize that you all know this –– the fourth
title in the proud history of this franchise, and the 2004 pennant
will now fly proudly with my pennants from 1990, 1997 and 2001. This
was the eleventh money finish for the Senators in twenty years
of HSL competition, and the twelfth Upper Division finish in this same
span. As Dizzy Dean once told a baseball writer, “Them’s not lies,
them’s scoops.”
|
| 2. |
Redbirds |
In the Bridesmaid Revisited
Department, the Redbirds’ 2nd-place finish was their fourth
time as runner-up, and their fourth money finish and eighth Upper
Division finish in twelve years of play. The Chirpers’ jump from 8th
place in 2003 to 2nd place in 2004 was the second biggest leap in the
league. Well done, Jim Ed.
|
| 3. |
Tigers |
The Tigers’ 3rd-place finish was
their seventh time in the money in twenty years of competition, and
their eleventh UD finish. Their nine-place jump from dead last to
third makes Big Guy the HSL Manager of the Year favorite for
2004, in my opinion.
|
| 4. |
Wahoos |
Possum’s squad just missed out on their
tenth money finish in twenty years of play, but remarkably, the proud
Possum franchise has now finished in the Upper Division an incredible
sixteen times in twenty years. Fantastic job of competing this year,
Possum. Next year, bone up on those point caps before Draft
Day.
|
| 5. |
Skipjacks |
In spite of their failed bid for a
fifth title and a seventh money finish in seventeen years of
competition, the Jax managed a respectable 5th-place finish and
an impressive eleventh UD berth in seventeen years in the league. Like
the Sooners after Barry Switzer stepped down, the legendary “Itchie
Magic” finally petered out. That said, great season, Bone. For someone
who thought his team sucked on Draft Day (along with the rest of us)
you done yourself proud.
|
| 6. |
Reds |
While Tricko’s charges stumbled to
their worst finish since 1998, they nevertheless managed to finish in
the Upper Division for the sixteenth time in seventeen years of
competition. Incredible. While the Reds’ drop from 1st to 6th
was somewhat precipitous, finishing in the top half of this group
ain’t bad. Look for a rebound in 2005.
|
| 7. |
Chiefs |
Although the Chiefs dropped two
spots from their 2003 5th-place finish, some adroit managing by
Screecher allowed the Chiefs to pass up several teams toward
the end of the season, and possibly saved his job. While Boss
Steinbrenner isn’t exactly thrilled at finishing 7th, it appears that
Screech’s job is secure for at least one more year. Go get ’em in ’05,
boys.
|
| 8. |
Bombers |
Mouse’s boys slipped a spot from their
7th-place finish in 2003 and their lone UD finish in 2002, but
it wasn’t for lack of trying on the part of Brother Mouse. With a
little bit of luck and one more year of managerial experience under
his belt, look for Mouse’s squad to slip through the “back door” in
’05 and surprise a few people.
|
| 9. |
Irates |
Although the Irates had great
promise in the early part of the season, at one point actually finding
themselves in 3rd place, as the wear and tear of the season went on
and as Underbelly ran out of players to contribute to the Irates’
cause, SloPay’s team fell back to 9th and equaled their 2003
placement. This was the Irates’ fifth 9th-place finish in
eighteen years of HSL competition, and their twelfth Lower Division
finish in the last thirteen years of play. Look for Captain Graybeard
to shake things up in his organization and make a move toward the UD
next season.
|
|
10. |
Blues |
Never has a team worked so hard to get
themselves into 10th place. For the bulk of the 2004 season, it looked
like to all the world as if Stretch’s boys would finish in the
penultimate position, but some scrappy and bold proactive measures in
the tail end of the campaign vaulted the Blues past the
Cubs* and into 10th place. Nothing like saving your best for the
last week of the season, eh, Stretch? Give yourself a pat on the back
for moving up one spot from last year.
|
|
11. |
Cubs* |
My only question here is: What
happened? Shamu picked a team on Draft Day that was the consensus No.
1, but it became apparent early on that they were nothing more than a
paper tiger. One theory is the five S hypothesis: Sammy Sosa
Sans Steroids Sucks. Beyond that, your guess is
as good as mine. But look at it this way, Shamu. Even though your
wheels came completely off at the end and even the Blues passed
you by, you still finished more than 2300 points ahead of the team
behind you. So at least you have that going for you.
|
| 12. |
Tribe |
Trainwreck. |
Just for giggles, here were my preseason predictions for 2004:
|
1. |
Chiefs |
|
2. |
Senators |
|
3. |
Reds |
|
4. |
Cubs* |
|
5. |
Skipjacks |
|
6. |
Tigers |
|
7. |
Wahoos |
|
8. |
Bombers |
|
9. |
Redbirds |
|
10. |
Tribe |
|
11. |
Blues |
|
12. |
Irates |
EPILOGUE
I will save for a future issue my “How Great I Art” recap of how
the Senators were built and managed to the title in 2004, to give
you all time to stock up on anti-nausea medication. I will also provide
you with individual player point totals and some other great tidbits of
fascinating information in the next issue. Enough said, for now.
Let me close this issue by congratulating everyone for another great
year of Hot Stove League competition, from start to finish. Draft Day was
the funnest day of the year, as usual, the Trip to San Diego and PETCO
Park was an all-timer, and the furious finish to the 2004 campaign was
historic and titillating, at least for the top five. Our second year of
scheduled guest writings for posting on the HSL website was an
unparalleled success, as each offering was insightful and funny, if not
always timely. Finally, the action on the HSL Message Board was spirited
and plentiful, even if dominated by Possum and his run-on paragraphs and
frequently inscrutable diatribes. To the man, I believe that we are all
richer, at least spiritually if not financially, for having competed in
this great league for one more season.
Do we really have to wait until March of next year to start it all over
again?
With great appreciation and admiration for all, I remain,
Very truly yours,
Skipper
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