[jamus23]

What Do 100 Wins Buy You?
11/1/2076
Al Vincent
Staff Writer

Apparently, another postseason disappointment. Denver set a franchise record by winning 102 games this season, good for the best record in the American League. All it got them was a first round playoff loss to 90 win Knoxville in 6 games. Knoxville, of course, went on to beat 96 win Miami in the ALCS, and 103 win San Jose in the World Series. Meanwhile, the Denver sluggers were getting to practice those powerful swings on the golf course a little earlier than they would like. As usual, there was no shortage of home runs hit by Denver this season: Ellis Bolling blasted 56, John Dear ripped 48, Mark Bakke belted 42, Lee Chappel clobbered 34, Alexis Vazquez continued his development by hitting 26, Samuel Mendosa mashed 25, and utility man Joseph Swayze smashed 21. When the team wasn’t blasting baseballs into the stratosphere, their base runners were burning up the basepaths: Mendosa and shortstop Antonio Sequeiros stole 55 and 51, respectively, while Asbel Fuentez, Bakke, and Tomas Sato stole 46, 42, and 40. But neither the home runs and steals, nor the solid pitching contributions from Timo Soto, who won 20 games, Arden Hawthorn, who won 15, and reliever Ramon Gomez, who notched 13 wins, were enough to change the playoff fortunes of Denver.

“You run into some hot bats and some hot pitchers, and there just isn’t much you can do, no matter how well you play. Hell, we outscored them by a couple of runs, but they just got those timely hits and some good breaks and they came away with more wins than we did,” manager John Wilkerson snapped to reporters.






Anyone Up For Some Golf?
11/2/2077
Al Vincent
Staff Writer

In what has rapidly become an annual tradition, Denver cruised to a playoff spot, winning the division with 92 wins, only to fall to Washington in the first round of the playoffs in seven games. The team slugged their way to the postseason, having 4 players reach 30 home runs, and another 2 hit more than 20, then largely fell flat on their faces in the playoffs. Washington, like Knoxville a year ago, used their victory over Denver as a springboard to a World Series title.

Veteran DH John Dear, now 37 years old, knows that his time is running out to win a World Series (Though, given that he was awarded the American League Silver Slugger Award for 2077, he may have more time than he thinks): “I’ve had a great career. I’ve won a lot of awards. I’ve hit a bunch of homers. But I’m still missing one thing. A championship. When I agreed to stay in Denver, I did so because I wanted to deliver a championship to this town. These fans, they deserve it so much. But I haven’t been able to deliver that championship. It eats at me every single day...”

Starting pitcher Arden Hawthorn, who after having another solid season and winning 19 games has arguably become Denver’s ace, said that the losses were especially frustrating because Dear wasn’t the only player getting up there in years: “Dear and Retzlaff are the old men, of course, but Mendosa isn’t much younger, and Bakke, Fort, Soto, and I are all getting into our mid-30s. How much time do we have left?”

GM John Mounts has begun to be criticized for a seeming lack of action after a relatively quiet season on the trade and free agent front,. Many fans are wondering if he’s asleep at the wheel. Surely, they believe, there are one or two key moves to be made that could push this team over the top. Unconcerned, Mounts just said: “Remember, nothing we do is done in a vacuum. We aren’t the only team looking to make deals. So is every other team out there, which means that sometimes, deals are hard to get accomplished. Don't think that a seeming lack of action means that I'm not trying, or that I don't care that we haven't won a World Series yet. I care very much, and I am constantly trying to find ways to improve this team and get them over that hump.”