[ifspuds]

Time Warp has been on hiatus for several months, but Christmas brought a new sim and the hope of more to come in the new year ahead. Nostalgia brought me back to this thread and my favorite OOTP team of all time...

Through With Fooling Around: Pirates Run Roughshod Over NL West
by Langford Thomason

The Pirates have found themselves in an unfamiliar position for much of the 1971 season: looking up in the standings at the New York Mets, a young and hungry squad of upstarts that manager Nick Pursell has molded into a tightly-knit unit. As the All-Star break hit, the pride of Pittsburgh found themselves a game back and facing nothing but west coast teams when the festivities came to a close. Despite a 2-game sweep at the hands of those young Mets to start the month of July, the Pirates went into the break hot, sweeping four from the Cubs and three from the Reds, longtime nemeses both, then took two of three from the Braves to end the season's first half. Still, they were a game behind and some wondered if this team of aging veterans had the legs for a second-half sprint. The Pirates put those questions to rest in a hurry.

The San Diego Padres were the first victims, a three-game sweep at Three Rivers by a combined score of 21-7. The Dodgers and Giants then visited, and went home without a victory. The Pirates followed those same three teams back to the west coast, where they whipped them all again, with only a 6-3 loss to the Dodgers marring what was otherwise a perfect second half of the month. In fact, had it not been for an epic and uncharacteristic meltdown by Lynn Willmon against Atlanta on July 10th, the Pirates would have taken an unheard of 24-game win streak into that contest with the Dodgers. As it was, they won 26 games and lost just 3 in what might be the greatest month ever put together by a Pirates squad. What did it earn them? A 72-35 record and a 7.5 game lead over the Cubs -- who are playing .600 ball -- and 10 games over the Mets, who have to be wondering what whirlwind hit them.

Cap Marcrum, who won July Batter of the Month honors on the strength of a .385 average with 6 homers and 19 RBI, shook his head after the most recent contest, a classic 8-1 gem anchored by the resurgent Levi Sellers. "We're playing better ball than I've seen in a long time," said Marcrum. "Book's smacking the ball all over the field, Levi and George (Adkison) have lightning in their arms, nearly everybody's getting into the act." Ben Trome, who picked up his 2000th career hit during the hot streak, added, "The season's far from over. We've got the top half of the West next month, but it sure takes a load off, knowing that we've got a cushion to play with."

The Pirates have one more game at San Francisco before they fly off to Montreal for three with the Expos before returning home to host the Phillies, Cubs, Cardinals and Astros. That three game set against the Astros will end the homestand and send the Pirates off to face the top three teams in the NL West on the road, a road trip that could very well determine the fate of the division race in both halves of the senior circuit.