Brando and I went to the lovely town of Colona to both play Papa Bunch and son on Saturday. In both series, our team got off to a good start but ended up on a losing note. We ended up losing 3-6 to Marcus and 4-5 to Mike.
That puts us at 61-83 and deeper in the basement, I’m sure.
Some highlights:
In three straight games against the Bombers, Troy Tulowitzski went 9 for 13 with 5 rbis and 7 runs scored on three homeruns.
Ryan Zimmerman had 3+ rbis in four separate games including Game 8 against the Bombers when he hit two homeruns and drove in five. For the 18 games, he drove in 20.
Some lowlights:
Albert Pujols hit .222 with 0 homers with 1 rbi in 14 games and 45 at-bats.
In three straights starts, Manny Parra gave up a total of 39 runs and 21 walks.
We have Molly Putts and the Beanos left. We only need to two wins to avoid a 100-loss season. Unless Albert picks it up, I’m only fairly certain we can do this. Limit are good though if by good you mean I can pitch Manny Parra.
Tom Glavine had a pretty unexciting start in the Illowa APBA League. Winning just two games in his first years, I’m not sure anyone paid much attention to him. After a ten-win season in his third season in 1990, his trade value was as high it would ever get so it seemed. So Chicago Champion management traded him for an aging Kirk Gibson to the Twin City Thunderchickens. After that he never looked back.
After a mediocre 7-9 season, Glavine put together a string of 12 seasons of double digit wins (after a season of injuries in 2004, he won 10 or more for three more years). That first year in 1996, he showed his talent winning 17 with a 2.96 ERA and struck out 219. Glavine was a workhorse. For 14 out of 15 years, he threw at least 210 innings for Twin City explaining why he’s in the top ten in so many pitching categories.
Glavine’s best season was arguably 1999. That was the year everything just came together for the Twin City Thunderchickens. Glavine’s amazing performance was almost overshadowed by teammate Mark McGwire’s record breaking 70 homeruns but that year, he simply couldn’t lose. With a record of 21-7 and a 3.23, he showed why Thunderchicken management had already deemed him “untradeable”. By the end of the year, Glavine had not only helped the team to their first 100 win season under their current manager’s reign but also brought home a league championship.
After 19 years with the team, Tom Glavine retired a Thunderchicken in 2009. He will forever epitomize what it means to be part of that team.
The Thunderchickens got the best pitching in a series in recent memory. We still lost six out of nine. John Lackey and Scott Olsen both pitched shutouts for two of our wins. In Game 2, Jeff Niemann gave up three runs to the Bamm Beanos in the second inning but he and Mark Hendrickson kept them scoreless for the rest of the game. We lost that frustrating game 3-2. Manny Parra advanced from a D to a B in Game 9 but again we lost 3-2.
But the ultimate was Game 8. Tommy Hanson pitched the best game of his young career. For 10 innings, he kept the Beanos scoreless allowing just three hits. It wasn’t till the 11th when Matt Kemp came up with a runner on base did he give up the fourth hit that made a difference… a two-run game-winning homerun.
As good as our starters were, our bullpen was just as good. Hendrickson, Jesse Carlson and Chris Perez (Jose Mijares, our A*, was out for the series) did not allow a run in 10 innings and only gave up three hits.
Nice job, pitching staff. I wish the offense could catch up with you.
Speaking of pathetic offense…
In Game 3, Casey McGehee got a hit, a pinch hit game winning homerun. It was his first hit of the season. Casey had 21 hitless at-bats before his heroic homerun. He’s now 1 for 28.
Geovany Soto probably had the best offensive game of any T-Chick against the Beanos. In Game 7, he drove in four runs on a double and a homerun. He was due. Coming into the series, he just had one hit. He is now 3 for 41 with a .073 batting average.
The Thunderchickens held their own for the March weekend going .500. The sad part for us was that we hadn’t gotten around to playing the Champions yet. A week later, we played them over Skype and fell to them 1-5. For the weekend, we were 13-17.
Our highlights:
Jason Varitek is fourth on the team in rbis and only two behind team leader Albert Pujols with 12. The kicker is that Tek only played 22 games and didn’t start all of them.
Despite hitting .217, Troy Tulowitzki is tied with Albert Pujols in team homeruns with six.
Our pitchers are striking batters out. We’re doing it at a pace close to 7 per nine innings (6.91). That’s over a strikeout better than last year. Big guys in that category so far are: Mark Hendrickson (11 Ks in 11 IP), Chris Perez (15 Ks in 10 1/3 innings), Homer Bailey (20 Ks in 25 innings) and K leader John Lackey (29 Ks in 38 innings).
Speaking of Lackey, he’s off to an unlucky start. He’s striking out batters and has a decent ERA of 4.26. Unfortunately, he’s also 0-4 for the season.
And while we’re talking about slow starts, anyone want Casey McGehee? He is still looking for his first hit in 21 at-bats. Rookie of the Year Geovony Soto looks even worse. He started the season in a 0 for 32 slump until he pounded a double in his last at-bat of March. Ouch.
Three rookie pitchers look real good so far. Bullpen ace Jose Mijares has yet to allow a run in nine innings and has collected five saves and one win. Jeff Niemann is 1-1 with a 2.32 ERA in 31 IP. Our #1 pick Tommy Hanson won his first two games of the year. He’s 2-1 with a nice 3.30 ERA.
The final series of the year for the Twin Cities Thunderchickens was a bittersweet one. We had to say farewell to a good friend. It was Tom Glavine’s last series in the Illowa APBA League. Fortunately, he gave us a good show to watch.
In three appearances against the Bombers, he was 1-0 with one save and didn’t allow a run in eight innings pitched. He got his save in game 3 when we were up 4-3 and I’d exhausted my bullpen. In comes Tom Glavine and he cuts down the Bombers 1-2-3 with two strikeouts. Nicely done!
The next game, Glavine comes in game in the top of the 11th inning. He once again keeps the Bombers scoreless thanks to a double play. He helps himself by striking out Brendan Harris. An rbi single by Jacoby Ellsbury in the bottom of the inning secures the win for TG.
Glavine got the nod in game 162 in favor of perhaps better pitchers. It was a good call as Glavine is on his game. He only allows four hits and two unearned runs in six innings. We eventually win the game 4-2. If only I could give Glavine the win.
Obviously, this was not going to be a great year for Glavine being his swan song. His DW and limited innings just didn’t allow it. But let me say this. In 24 games and 16 starts, he didn’t do half bad. His 4.93 ERA was below the team average and better than starters like John Lackey, Manny Parra and Dustin McGowan. And he did manage a respectable 6-7 record.
Not many Illowa managers can say they’ve had one player on their team for 19 years. I’ve teased Tedd endlessly for practically handing me Glavine just before the 1991 IAL season. To his credit, Tedd has taken it well. But after a few years with the team when I knew exactly who I had gotten, I made a pact with Mr Glavine that he would never be traded and would retire a Thunderchicken. Such is my gratitude for getting one over on Mr Champion.
To put it mildly, Glavine has serviced the Thunderchickens well. He’s given me 235 wins. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll be a first-time IAL Hall of Famer.
1982 saw the arrival of Rob Taylor managing the Chicago Stockyards taking over for (now sadly departed) Dale Smith. Dennis Jennings grabbed first placed for the second time in three years but it was the second place Chicago Champions behind Tedd Mallasch who won the IAL championship in 1982. They had the homerun leader in IAL MVP Mike Schmidt (41) and the batting champ in Mike Hargrove (.318). In addtion, Jim Rice (28 HR, 109 rbi) lent a hand. Cardinal hurler Steve Carlton won the Cy Young and for good reason. He hit the trifecta leading the IAL in wins (24), ERA (1.69), and strikeouts (266). Carlton’s 1.69 ERA remains the second lowest all-time to this day. Record performances in 1982 (and rank all-time):
Steve Carlton
Northeast Cardinals
1.69 ERA
2nd
Steve Carlton
Northeast Cardinals
24 W
3rd
Cecil Cooper
Chicago Stockyards
61 2B
4th
Tim Raines
Davenport Fire
104 SB
5th
Dick Drago
Northside Hitmen
104 G
1st
Fernando Valenzuela
Northeast Cardinals
8 Sho
2nd
My Steve McCatty Story After my Geneseo Athletics placed last in 1981, the league, in its infinite wisdom, passed a rule, which allowed a team that placed last two years in a row to pick any player in the MLB in lieu of any player on their team. We called it the “Loser’s Pick”. This was a retroactive rule and my team qualified for this new rule. I could have ANY player not already on an IAL team. The field was open! I could pick any superstar, any proven player, anyone with lots of potential. A franchise player to build a team around. So who did I pick? Steve McCatty. Granted, he was an A starter that year. I had Bob Knepper already. He was also an A and I was so focused on what it would be like to have a one-two punch like that. One can’t fault my fellow managers in the IAL. One by one they tried to convince me that maybe “Cat” wasn’t the pick for me. Maybe a middle infielder or a proven big bopper who would be around for years to come. But I wouldn’t listen and Steve McCatty became an Athletic. What happened? Well, McCatty actually had a great year for me in 1982. He went 16-8 with a 2.11 ERA. His 2.11 ERA remains 9th all-time on the single season list. We didn’t make the playoffs though finishing 6th with a 77-84 record. But I betcha we had the best dang ERA in the league (actually 3.50 ranked 5th). McCatty declined after his initial season. He was a CZ the next season and a DW the one after that. I think that was all the IAL could take of the “Cat”.
With Molly Putts Marauders on the schedule for December and both Don and I having busy holiday schedules, John was nice enough to pinch-manage Molly Putts today. We took over a table at the local coffee shop for four hours and got the series done.
The Molly Putts took six of nine games from us Thunderchickens. We’d be complaining ‘cept we feel pretty lucky. They took the first five games and we managed to win three of the last four.
Our first win was Game Six and was pretty sweet. Hendrickson a D plain versus Volquez a A with a W. Well, we capitalized on that W with 10 walks for the game and demoted Volquez twice. The score was 14-8 and Hendrickson got the win.
The series ended with Joe Crede hitting a pinch hit walkoff solo homer giving us the win 6-5. That was only the beginning of interesting and odd things about that game:
There were TWO pinch hit homeruns by us (Eric Hinske hit a three run shot in the 5th).
Manny Parra was taken out after 5 innings with a perfect game going (manager enforcing strict pitch count, I’m sure).
Reliever Jesse Carlson gave up 4 earned runs… and got the win.
Hinske was our big bopper for the series. He hit 4 homers with 10 rbis. Mark Hendrickson didn’t exactly pitch well (he pitched terrible… 18 earned runs in 23 2/3 innings) but thanks to incredible run support, he got 2 of the 3 wins for us.
Congrats to Don and Molly Putts for the 6-3 series and thanks to John for helping us out!!
Drafted by the Twin City Thunderchickens in 1988, Mark McGwire hit 54 homeruns (a rookie record) and drove in 166 runs in addition to hitting .314 and scoring 122 runs.
In 1999 everything seemed to go right, McGwire had a monster year, he entered the last game of the season tied with Rafael Palmeiro for the IAL single season record of homeruns with 69, Mark hit #70 in his last at bat. In addition, he had career highs in runs (138), rbis (174), and walks (152). The Twin City Thunderchickens were spirited away to victory, with a 2nd place finish, and an IAL World Championship.
It would seem difficult to repeat the excitement of 1999’s homerun race, but McGwire didn’t disappoint in 2000. Once again, he entered game 162 tied with the record he had set the year prior. And once again, dramatics prevailed as he waited until his very last at-bat of the season to break his own record. That record stands today. McGwire also banged out 159 rbis to go with his 71 homeruns.
In 2002, McGwire hit a homerun in his last at-bat of his career.
Mark McGwire finished with 591 career homeruns, second all-time. At the time of his induction he was 6th in RBIs with 1,436, fourth in walks with 1,162, and was third in slugging percentage.
twin city thunderchickens | Thomas Nelshoppen October 30, 2011 | 
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