Alive.
Yes, in case you were wondering, and I know it’s been a while since I updated you on this, but my imaginary team is still alive.
Have you been wondering? I guess this whole exercise has been a way to test my long-held assumption that total isolation, total solitude, is intrinsic to my online Strat-O-Matic compulsions, that none of it matters to anyone but me. And if something matters only to me, does it matter? That’s the question with any solitary compulsion, I guess, including another of my solitary compulsions in play here, writing. If something doesn’t live except for you, when you go, it goes.
But anyway, for me, and maybe for you if you’re kindly taking the time to read this, with just 18 games left in the season, the Worcester Birds (whose saga starts here) sit one game out of first place in their division. I spent the last several days traveling with my family, so I haven’t passed along game notes in a while, but since the last time I posted the team has gone 17 and 10. Mark Fidrych has been up and down, able to record just one win in those 27 games, and he now is an extreme longshot to win 20 games, as he currently has 16 wins with a maximum of just 4 starts left in the season. He has to run the table. I’m hoping that with my original goal of getting him 20 wins evaporating, I’ll be able to get him to another imaginary milestone he never had in real life: pitching in the postseason. I want to imagine him in a game that matters. I want him and the rest of the team to keep going and going. To stay alive.
Arguably the most prominent player on the team in its recent tenacious 27-game stretch has been Lyman Bostock. In that stretch, he’s hit .325 with 18 runs scored and 22 RBI. More important than those numbers to my imaginings is that his production has led to wins, as Lyman Bostock was singled out by me as a star of the game in 6 out of the team’s 17 wins in that stretch, which brought him into a tie for the team lead for the season (see “star of the game” leader list below).
Lyman Bostock is rising up a leader list. Lyman Bostock is keeping us alive.
***
Star of the game, team leader list, through game 141:
- Lyman Bostock: 13
- Joe Morgan: 13
- Eric Soderholm: 13
- Mark Fidrych: 12
- Thurman Munson: 11
- Bill Campbell: 11
- Kent Tekulve: 9
- Ken Singleton (acquired misdseason): 7
- Larry Bowa: 7
- Cesar Geronimo: 6
***
Worcester Birds game notes (with stars of victories in bold):
Worcester Birds game notes (with stars of winning games in bold):
- G118: W 4-3
- Morgan leads with 2 hits (1 HR), and Burke adds 2 hits, including the key hit in a 2-run game-winning 9th inning rally.
- G119: W 8-7
- Burke scores 2 runs, including the game-winner; Bowa with 2 hits and 2 RBI
- G120: L 7-4 (10)
- Soderholm’s 2-homer game is wasted; Campbell shelled.
- G121: W 3-2
- Fidrych allows just 1 earned run in 7.2 innings but gets a no-decision; Bostock wins it in 9th with a 2-run double.
- G122: L 21-1
- Schueler knocked out early, and Soto has to eat 6 horrendous innings (15 hits, 12 runs)
- G123: W 4-1
- Lee (1 run in 7) and Geronimo (3 doubles) lead the way.
- G124: L 12-8
- Dave Johnson gets hammered.
- G125: W 8-1
- Tiant (complete game) and Bostock (homer) lead an easy win.
- G126: W 9-8
- Bostock and Singleton provide firepower throughout to help a shaky Fidrych escape with a no-decision, and Soderholm adds a 2-run go-ahead homer in the 8th.
- G127: W 2-1
- Bostock has his 5th straight multi-hit game, including a gamewinning double in the bottom of the ninth, and Schueler (no decision) allows only 1 run in 8 innings.
- G128: L 5-2 (10)
- Offense can’t take advantage of a decent start by bargain-basement pitcher Soto.
- G129: W 8-4
- Bostock goes 4 for 4, and Campbell pitches 3.2 scoreless for the save.
- G130: L 8-7
- Two homers by Singleton are wasted as Tiant struggles.
- G131: W 4-1 (Fidrych 16-6)
- Fidrych (1 run in 6 innings) is helped to win number 16 by Boisclair (3 hits).
- G132: L 9-8 (11)
- Offense battles back from a Schueler-dug hole only to lose on a home run by Jim Rice in the 11th.
- G133: W 5-3
- New acquisition Doug Capilla notches the win with 6 solid innings, and Soderholm lends his support with a homer.
- G134: W 9-4
- Bostock (4 hits) and Kranepool (grand slam) make a winner of new acquisition Paul Moskau.
- G135: W 4-1 (10)
- Morgan does it all (homer, steal) and Soto allows just 1 run in 9 innings.
- G136: L 5-1
- Fidrych is yanked too early (5.1 innings, 1 run), and Campbell and Lee hand over a tie game in the 9th.
- G137: W 5-4
- Soderholm homers, and Lee contributes 2.2 crucial scoreless innings in relief.
- G138: W 12-3
- Capilla notches his second win in 2 starts, and Kranepool raps out 3 hits.
- G139: W 7-6 (10)
- Tekulve gains his 12th win with 3.2 scoreless innings, buoyed by Soderholm (double and a homer), Bostock (3 hits), and the unsettling speed of Rodney Scott, who scores the winner in the 10th on a passed ball.
- G140: L 6-2
- Soto so-so.
- G141: L 10-1 (Fidrych 16-7)
- With a first-place tie in the division at stake, Fidrych turns in his worst effort of the season, allowing 13 hits and 9 runs in 4 innings. He now has, barring injury, 4 starts left and needs to win them all to get to 20 wins.
- G142: W 7-6
- Campbell hurls 5 scoreless, 1-hit innings in relief, and league leader in OPS Singleton laces 3 hits.
- G143: L 10-0
- So much for Doug Capilla curing the starting rotation woes.
- G144: W 3-2
- Soderholm drives in 2, including the game-winner with a solo homer in the 8th; Tekulve notches his 13th win with 2.2 scoreless innings in relief.
***
Standings
Cardboard Gods 
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