Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Dandy Dozen - Rich Clarke

Rich Clarke
Sioux Falls
Dakota
Age: 36B/T: R/R
Born: Washington, DC
Position(s): 3B/1B/COF/DH
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The Resume: Rick Clarke has been in the league since it's inception. In those 12 seasons, he's never failed to hit 30 HRs or drive in 100 runs. His career line includes a .300 batting average, 503 HR's, 1383 runs scored, and 1643 RBIs. He's a 6-time SS silver slugger, a 2-time gold glove 3B, and a 7-time All-star (including an All-Star MVP in season 11). Only 5 players have made more all-star teams; only 4 have won more Silver Sluggers; and only 3 have won more Gold Gloves.

He holds Baltimore Dead Homies (formerly WIC) franchise records for career: GP, AB, H, 2B, and RBI. League-wide, he's 3rd all-time in career RBI, and holds career records for games played, hits, and at bats.

His teams have made the playoffs in 10 of his 12 seasons (1, 2, 3, 5, 7 with Wichita, 8-9 with Mexico City, and 10-12 with Richmond). He recently signed with Sioux Falls hoping to raise this number. For his career, he's hit .283 with 29 HR's, 70 runs scored, and 80 RBI's in the playoffs (427 ABs). Interestingly, he's 5-5 on playoff SB attempts despite just a 61-137 career regular season stealing history.

In his 10 playoff trips, his teams have gone 12-10 in playoff series. In season 7, his Shocker squad lost a wild-card round game. He forced a trade to Mexico City during season 8. After losing the World Series to Richmond as a Bandejo in season 9, Clarke left via free agency and joined Richmond. The 'Feds reached the World Series (the 3rd of Clarke's career) only to lose Sioux Falls. Two season later, again a free agent, the ultra-competitive Clarke has joined the Dakota in a last-ditch attempt to add a World Series ring to his achievements.

The Rest of the Story: Clarke's up-bringing and identity have always been shrouded in mystery. He lists Washington, D.C. as his home-town but no local high school claims him as an alumnus. The Wichita Shocker scout that discovered and signed him, mysteriously disappeared mid-way through season 2. He was later found dead along the Mexican border though the Bandejo organization acknowledges no involvement.

Various internet reports have speculated that Richard A. Clarke is his father. Clarke himself has never called himself a Jr., but does insist that his middle name is Anonymous. The elder Clarke is a long-time government official, whose past roles include chief-counter-terroism adviser on the National Security Council under Bill Clinton.

When WCM reporter Scoop Raisin approached the younger Clarke about his lineage, he woke up two days later. The following day, he quit as his job as a WCM columnist "to pursue other interests." He never did explain the lump on his forehead.

Monday, July 27, 2009

NKOtB (kindof) Part Deux: Memphis Drillers


What Happened?: This woebegone franchise may have finally started to turn around. After 11 consecutive 4th place finishes, new owner threester combined managerial talents with the freefall of former contenders San Juan and Nashville to finish 2nd with a franchise-record 80 wins last season.

The team has been in Austin since a brief one-season stay in Mephis as the Shores under temporary ownership. While the Austin market is growing, threester has become increasingly concerned with his young players penchant for late nights on the University of Texas campus. Moreover, the move to Memphis is a direct attack on division rival Nashville's stranglehold on the Tennessee market.

The Fallout: Threester's well-documented Abba love-affair continues with the move to Memphis, allegedly the inspiration of lesser-known Abba hit, Summer Night City, which topped the charts in Ireland, Finland, and Sweden. WCM has learned that Threester is moving to Memphis is hopes of re-connecting with Frida Lyngstad, alledgely a frequent visitor to Memphis' famous Corky's BBQ.

Nashville owner drennantom is rumored to be officially protesting the move to the league office on the grounds that it violates his territorial rights. In all liklihood, he's more worried about losing Graceland as an inspiration to his team.

Friday, July 17, 2009

NKOtB (kindof): Oklahoma City Fire Hawks


What happened? Five years of the Fire Hawks in Sante Fe have yet to produce a team that's lost fewer than 102 games. With attendance declining each year, team owner reigny sought lease concessions and a stadium upgrade from the city. When Sante Fe Mayor David Cross laughed reigny out of city hall, he appealed to a higher authority, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson met with reigny, the result was similarly comical. Richardson, a huge Arizona Isotopes of Albuquerque fan it seems, was unaware that there was a franchise in Sante Fe. He was floored that there was a 2nd franchise in the state and immediately refused reigny. When later informed that the Isotopes had left the state years ago, Richardson was heartbroken. He's now formally stated an interest in bringing another franchise back to New Mexico. Also, he'd like to not be elected president again.

Upon returning to the team offices, reigny was notified that the city had formally filed papers to alter the team's lease as was allowed under the contract. Apparently, the falling attendance had also led to a decrease in the number of part-time workers at the stadium. When the number dropped below a lease covenant with the city, Sante Fe was able to unilaterally force the team to triple it's rent payment.

reigny quickly canceled the team's lease and looked for other accommodations.


The Fallout:
Oklahoma City, still stinging from the one-and-done season the Salt Lake City Salty Sardines had in season 10, hastily offered a new lease. The Fire Hawks decided to keep the team name intact as vast stores of Fire Hawk merchandise remain unsold. But at least the state of Oklahoma now has a "major league" franchise.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Dandy Dozen - Willis Gordon

Willis Gordon
Houston
gamblers
Age: 37B/T: S/R
Born: Oakland, CA
Position(s): P (ClA)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


The Resume - One of the game's all-time best closers, Gordon has been pitching in the big leagues for 12 seasons. He's saved 391 (of 449, 87.1%) career games. His career save percentage is good for 3rd all-time. His 711 career appearances are 3rd in league history. He holds the career saves records for both San Juan, including 3 of the franchises top 5 all time, and Fresno (then LA), including 4 of the top 5 all-time performances as well as holding Houston's single-season saves record. Gordon's career ERA of 3.49 is solid.

His best season came in season 11 for Houston, where he signed a 4 year, $27.6 million contract. His first year saw him save 39 of 42 games, win 3, and post an un-heard of 1.22 ERA.

The Rest of the Story - Gordon group up in Oakland but developed a hard-partying lifestyle while spending much of his youth in LA. After arriving on the scene for the Los Angeles Banditos, Gordon was the toast of the town while saving 145 games in 4 seasons. But the cocaine, the ladies, and the late night caught up to him. In season 5 he allowed 17 runs and 37 hits in 29 innings before the Bandidtos shipped him to San Juan. The hard times continued with the Crownrificos, where he logged a 5.97 ERA in the 2nd half of Season 5 and a 5.63 ERA for season 6 while be subjected to the most brutal workload of his career, 100 innings and 76 appearances.

Just when he was about to hit rock bottom, San Juan promoted AAA pitching coach Shooter Ray to the major leagues and handed him the bullpen. Shooter was a prep star himself in rural Indiana. Despite an abusive home-life, he carried his high tiny Hickory High baseball team to the state finals in Indianapolis. There, he was torched for 11 runs on 15 hits in just 3 innings by the big-city boys. Shooter was never the same, becoming a fall-down drunk. San Juan owner wang35 found him on the streets of San Juan begging for change and recognized him from beat up copy of Baseball America that featured an 18-year old Shooter with a picture of his HS sweethart, Jennifer Aniston. Wang kept the BA around for the picture of Aniston, who he insists to this day that "he discovered before she was big." Wang hired on Shooter; Shooter cleaned up his life; and then Shooter cleaned up Gordon.

In season 7 Gordon's ERA was back to 2.60 and he saved 42. Shooter was promoted to pitching coach and has remained there for 6 seasons. Gordon has tapped his sponsor and former coach to introduce him at the Hall of Fame ceremony.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Dandy Dozen - Rico Lecuona

Rico Lecuona
Baltimore
Dead Homies
Age: 28B/T: S/R
Born: Ceiba Del Agua, CU
Position(s): P (SP1)
View Hardball Dynasty Profile


The Resume:
Twenty eight year-old Rico Lecuona was signed out of Ceiba Del Agua, Cuba in Season 4 for $18.9M, a hefty price. He's been with the franchise (Wichita and now Baltimore) ever since. After just 3 minor league starts, Rico reached the big leagues and debuted a respectable 4-4 with a 4.31 ERA in Season 4 as a 20 year-old. He didn't really establish himself as a star until season 8, when he went 19-7 with a 3.21 ERA on his way to the first of his 3 Cy Young awards. He's made the All-star team 6 times, and recently reached his first World Series. Lecuona has a lot left to accomplish as he's got many years ahead of him. The Dead Homies have him signed through season 17, so he's not expected to go anywhere. He's never hit the DL, and has thrown over 230 innings in each of the past 5 seasons. He's also 6-2 in 13 career post-season starts.

The Rest of the Story: Lecuona actually defected from Cuba while playing in a tournament in Mexico. The Cuban team was scheduled to go to a Jonas Brothers show in Mexico City on an off day. However, the Jonas Brothers unexpectedly canceled the show due to the swine flu, ruining Lecuona's escape plans. His creative agent however, was able to sneak him out of a hospital after Lecuona feigned a severe cough, causing his coaches to rush him to the emergency room. Baltimore is certainly not thankful for the Jonas Brothers, but they may have a soft spot in their heart for pigs.

The Dandy Dozen

In order to put a little Second City History in order, I've decided to finally start publishing information on the Second City's unofficial Hall of Fame. Many of you have nominated players and I'll continue to listen. For now though, I'd like to start our little Hall of Fame, with a dozen initial inductees. For the time being, I will include any player with a sufficient resume. Inductees need not be retired, but given that this is a career achievement award, they should have built a bit of history. I'll count down the 12 initial inductees, then the debates can begin. For the most part, I'm using awards as the starting point, but other factors will be considered going forward.

Bulldog Sweep!

After 6 consecutive NL East titles, and 3 trips to the NLCS in 6 years, mike1184 and the Burlington Bulldgos finally won the ultimate prize, sweeping the 6th seeded Baltimore Dead Homies and mr_orange in the World Series. The Burlington pitching came up big, holding Baltimore to 11 total runs in the 4 games. By contrast, the Dead Homies had been held under 4 runs only 4 times in their other 15 playoff contents this season.

The series started out with an exciting game that saw Baltimore starter Rico Lecuona tire, walking the first two hitters in the 9th while holding a 3-run lead. Lecuona had allowed only 1 hit and 1 walk up to that point. Closer Wolf McGuire was called in to save the day after Lecuona allowed a run-scoring double. After a walk to load the bases, the wolf-man was touched for a walk-off grand slam by Orlando Guillen.

Game two was another barn-burner with a 10th inning game-winner that followed a costly error by P Jonathan Cone. The demoralized Dead Homies put up a solid fight in their return home, but were no match for the vaunted Burlington pitching staff as Edgardo Merced threw a gem. The sweep was complete after Burlington jumped to a 4-run lead with Iago Scott on the mound and finished off the Homies 7-3.

The win capped a meteoric rise for series MVP Orlando Guillen. Guillen was signed out of the Dominican Republic in season 10 and jumped straight to AA. After clubbing 63 HR's at AAA, he became the Bulldog's 3B and managed 39 HR's while finishing 4th in the NL Rookie of the Year voting and winning both the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards.

Burlington celebrated with colorado bulldogs for everyone. The little-known drink is becoming popular with Burlington fans. It's made by combining the ingredients for a white-russian (vodka, kahula, and cream) with a splash of coke.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Damn Gophers

Brian Jung won 21 games in the regular season. He's a 2-time all-star; he's thrown 228+ innings each of the past 3 seasons; he has a career era of 3.57; and he's won 90 games at age 26. For all of these reasons, dyuen's faith in him to start 3 games in the NLCS, including the decisive game 7, was a no-brainer.

But, Jung didn't make it out of the first inning of game 7. In fact, he didn't retire a single batter. After allowing line singles to the first two hitters, Jose Cordero and Magglio Lee hit back-to-back homers. dyuen trudged to the mound and yanked the shell-shocked 26-year old hurler. It was all down-hill from there as Burlington put up 7 in the first and 4 more in the second on their way to a 16-1 Game 7 victory in Mexico City.

A closer look reveals a startling trend with Jung. In the past three regular seasons he's thrown about 230 innings and allowed 22, 18, and 21 home runs in the entire season. However, in the past three post-seasons, 19 home runs in just 69 innings. For his career, he's allowed 24 HR's in 90.2 post-season innings. Clearly, for some reason, October is the month for gophers for Brian Jung. Perhaps he can hire Bill Murray to help him with his problem.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

AL MVP Race

A new feature here at Windy City Musings are the award previews. Don't forget to vote for the MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year in each league.

This year's AL MVP race might be more intriguing than it first seems. The gaudy numbers of Antonio Chapman will be hard to overlook, but a couple of other players have made a strong case.



Chapman, the season 11 MVP and a 4-time All-star, continues to tear apart the league. His 81 HRs this season trails only the 82 he hit last year in Second City history. His 195 RBI's easily led the league. Critics will point out that despite his Herculean contributions, the Riders missed the playoffs. Moreover, he plays a low-value defensive position in first base. Still, 81 HR's is difficult to pass over even in a hitter-friendly park.



Brett Davis played a near gold-glove caliber third base while hitting .333 with 53 HR's and 25 SB's. He knocked in 142 runs and scored the same amount. He and Chapman lead the next generation of AL stars. It's difficult to fault his game. Davis is only 26 and has made the All-star game every season he's been in the big leagues.



Tony Baez played just 130 games, but he made the most of his time, hitting .353 with 30 HR's and 130 runs scored. Most impressively, his 85 steals in 89 attempts is a jaw-dropper. He was about average as a second baseman, but only playing 130 games might keep him from winning.



Kelvim Roa hit .347 with 40 HR's, 144 RBI, and stole 20 bases. Still he was the 2nd best player on a non-playoff team, so hard to call him a contender here.



22-year old Cody Hall was EXCELLENT for Richmond, blasting 47HR's, scoring 134 runs, driving in another 121, stealing 34 bases and playing a solid CF (with a bit of time in RF and at SS). His .296 average pales in comparison to the other contenders, but his position and 5-tool performance makes him worth consideration.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

First Round Series Fun Facts

Fun Facts from the first 2 games of the playoffs.

1 - For the first time ever, all 4 series are 2-0.
2 - The winning team in all 4 NL games scored exactly 6 runs.
3 - Wild Card teams are 2-6, with only 100 win Baltimore winning.
4 - Jeromy Cooper and two relievers combined to shut out Richmond in game 1.
5 - After allowing a single to the 2nd hitter of the game, Moose Gates allowed only a walk and a hit batter in the following 6 innings, finishing with 7 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, and 10 K's for Cheyenne in game 1. Fergie Reagan finished the shutout.
6 - Paul Rhodes was perfect through 7.2 before tiring in a complete game 6-2 victory in game one for Sioux Falls.
7 - AL Representatives include the top 4 in the league in ERA, 4 of the top 5 in runs scored, and the top 4 in fielding %. Only Scranton and Richmond are in all 3 categories.
8 - In the NL, only 1 of the top 4 scoring teams reached the post-season (Mexico City). Meanwhile, the top 3 and 6 of the top 8 pitching teams (ERA) made the post-season.