Unstoppable Detroit Wins 15 Straight
Late Heroics and Dominant Pitching
15th Win Most Miraculous of All
DETROIT (Aug. 1) -- The Detroit Griffins used a madly dominant pitching staff, timely hitting, and an uncanny penchant for comeback rallies to rattle off 15 consecutive wins in late July.  The streak was the longest winning streak in the UL in several seasons and landed the Griffins in first place by a three-game margin over Washington, which seemed well-positioned for a pennant run 12 days ago with a two-game lead and a trade for slugger Harmon Killebrew and reliever Ray Narleski. 

Detroit's streak began on July 17, when the Griffins edged Boston 3-2 at Fenway to end a three-game skid.  Five of the 15 wins came against Boston, widening the margin between the two club that were--until two weeks ago--battling for second place behind Washington.

Any win streak of 15 games is impressive, but Detroit's is extraordinary.  Nine of the 15 wins came on the road, Detroit allowed two or fewer runs in 11 games, and nine games were comebacks in the late innings, including four in extra innings (see chart, left).  Leadoff man Cesar Tovar has provided more than his fair share of heroics during the purple patch.  The normally light-hitting Venezuelan center fielder hit a game winning double in the 9th on July 22, a game-winning single in the 13th on July 25, and a game-winning 3-run homer in the 14th on July 29.  The latter victory was impressive because Boston's Bert Blyleven pitched seven shutout innings, Detroit tied game 1-1 in the 9th on a Dick Allen homer, and won it in the 14th on Tovar's dong.

But if any single game signaled that the Griffins are a team of destiny this season, it was the July 31 tilt at Arroyo Seco.   The Outlaws' Chuck Dobson threw eight shutout innings, and took a 1-0 lead to the ninth on Felix Mantilla's second inning homer.  Detroit tied it up in the top of the ninth on a passed ball, but Los Angeles rallied in the bottom of the ninth.  Billy Grabarkewitz and Mike Epstein singled, and the next batter, Frank Robinson singled to shallow right.  Grabs, representing the winning run, had a green light rounding third, but was gunned down at the plate by a perfect throw by right fielder Reggie Jackson.  Fast forward to the top of the 11th, when Ken Tatum fanned Reggie Jackson, Frank Howard, and Bobby Bonds back-to-back.  Except Bonds' third strike sailed over the glove of new Outlaw Tim McCarver, allowing Bonds to reach base and keep the inning alive.  The next two batters, Vern Fuller and Carl Warwick, both singled, scoring the go-ahead run.  Bob Gibson pitched a perfect inning, including two strikeouts, to put the game away.

Reed's Read
by Glen Reed
ATLANTA (Aug. 1) -- In a league of changing continents, game platforms, and so much else, it is sometimes hard to know where a guy's team stands at any given time. Like a money manager who tells you their process works better when there's a well-defined trend to the market, so too does my UL management style hold up better when there's consistency across seasons.

But as any critical reader will tell the investor and the UL manager, change is the only constant. First, there's the transition to OOTP X itself, which seems to have turned the league on its head. Then there are the floating talent ratings--a guy could be 5/5/6 one sim and 7/6/8 the next. Why? I have no idea, and therein lies the rub. So what's a guy to do when he doesn't know what to do? I opted for greater flexibility (read: draft picks) and less reliance on oldsters. Or said differently, I had a number of 35-year olds on my team with no chance of winning this season, and no real way to evaluate if my guys really were as bad as their recent performance.

It seemed reasonable then to prune oldsters where possible and try to get maximum value now, in the event that they really did turn out to be as bad as they seemed in the new game. If I'm wrong and they return to their previous level, then I still got some approximation of their value in trade. This is true of Maris, Killer, and Narleski. Hunt was the toughest case, trading one of my favorite players (after all, didn't I dream of playing second base for the Giants, as Hunt did?) and a top talent at a premium position to a division rival. That necessitated extracting maximum value. The jury will likely remain out on this one until we see if Gamble grows into his ratings. 7/7/7 makes him comparable to a young Reggie Smith, whom I once made a big trade for. Finally, it was a difficult call to trade Gogolewski--which the game rates as the #2 P spect and I value for his huge movement and fact that his talent sums to greater than 20--when my team is underachieving and I'd supposedly put the emphasis on youth and picks. But with the trade of Hunt looming and the opportunity to land a lefty power-poking middle IF I'd traded for once before (with Brooklyn), I was gonna do whatever it took to land McAuliffe. Now watch me finish last!!!!!