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Nashua
Nonames
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Personnel History The Nonames alternated between powerhouses and rebuilding, with 110 win seasons sitting next to sub-.500 seasons. In three of the last four seasons, the Nonames have been solid contenders for the title, but they, largely the offense, came unstuck at inopportune moments in the playoffs. A lot of this was a historical proclivity towards platoons that were exploited by good teams in short series, but a lot of it has been due to just dumb bad luck. With the 2004 version, the Nonames took no chances. Barry Zito and a first were dispatched for Barry Bonds, and the next year's first was dispatched for J.D.Drew. Additional picks were picked up to provide insurance in spare parts like Keith Ginter, Adam Melhuse, and Edgar Martinez, but after near misses, the Nonames came through. However, many of the 2004 players were at the twilights of their careers, and Nashua had no answer on how to mount a credible repeat bid. Nashua has generally drafted successfully, especially on offense, and then used the proceeds in trade. Draftees over the past few years have included Adrian Beltre, Eric Chavez, Lance Berkman, Adam Dunn, Trot Nixon, and Marcus Giles. The Nonames accumulated a number of draft picks for the 2006 draft and had a lot of rookies for signing, but disappointing seasons by a majority of the draft class left a number of holes, particularly in the rotation. |
2006 An unusual team that was supposedly was built offensively around Bonds, Ortiz, and youth; and defensively around Pedro Martinez, Jose Contreras, and more youth. With Bonds slumping to .228/.359/.493 and Pedro turning in a plagued 7-7, 4.49 season, it's unlikely the team would have amounted to much. However, Papi did hit a league leading 66 home runs, Jonathan Papelbon was a lights-out closer with a league leading 47 saves, and Nashua hung on for a playoff spot in the Miller Conference. There were a lot of little pieces that worked together well, and Nashua also was 2nd in the league in 1 run games. These little pieces did not work at all in the playoffs; Ortiz went 1-16 and Nashua lost all 4 playoff games against Division Champ Washington by 5 runs or more. 2005 It all came apart in 2005, largely due to injuries. Barry Bonds managed only 57 plate appearances, Curt Schilling won only 7 games, Al Leiter 5, and Melvin Mora returned to earth. Only David Ortiz carried on as a season-long threat, but even he dropped 9 HRs and 36 RBIs off his 2004 production. Pedro Martinez was the only solid starter, winning 17 and posting a 3.17 ERA, after that it was Jamey Wright (8 wins) and nobody else trusted with more than 21 starts. In early June, the Nonames were 33-26, following a 9 game winning streak, but afterwards, the wheels started to come off. It wasn't until the start of August until the Nonames went under .500 for good, but there was absolutely no hope from the very beginning that Nashua could repeat their 2004 World Series. 2004 It all came together for the Nonames in 2004, running up a record number of wins and runs and finally breaking through to a World Series. The team started off 19-3, had a 17 game winning streak in June, and another 17 game winning streak in August. Barry Bonds, David Ortiz, and Melvin Mora were in the top five in a lot of offensive categories, while Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, and Al Leiter didn't have to pitch all that well to rack up 20 win seasons. The only disappointment was closer Joe Nathan, but J.C.Romero and Tom Gordon picked up the slack. It all nearly came undone in the first round of the playoffs. Nashua found themselved down 2 games to none to a well pitched game by Brad Radke and a poorly pitched one by Pedro, and was down 3-1 later in the series. But Mike Lieberthal hit a walkoff home run in game 6, and Melvin Mora's 8th inning home run was the only run in game 7, allowing Nashua to advance. The other two playoff series weren't nearly as dramatic, as the Nonames won their first World Series. 2003 The Nonames had a lot of talent going into 2003 and managed to reorganize it into a strong team that won 107 games. David Ortiz was a steal at the end of the second round, enabling them to trade Jim Thome to fill holes in the bullpen and behind the plate, while Melvin Mora and Richard Hidalgo had super seasons after coming over in other trades. Nashua chased Antioch all season, catching them at the 110 and 138 game marks, but closed 7-9 over the last 16 games and finished second. That meant they drew Barry Bonds and the defending champion Sycamore Flatlanders in the first round. It wasn't pretty, as Nashua only managed 4 runs in 4 games, while the middle relief allowed 13 in only a few innings. 2002 Nashua scored an incredible 1066 runs, had arguably the league's two best starting pitchers (Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling), had another two pitchers combine on 36 wins, and still failed to grab the golden ring. Nashua relied heavily on platoons, with 14 players amassing 200 or more plate appearances. Jim Thome hit 47 homers and drove in 126 ... and started only 4 of 47 games against lefties. Only Nomar Garciaparra, Ryan Klesko (in right field) and Jeff Kent were 'everyday' players. Depending on how you look at it, that caused players like Eric Chavez and Adam Dunn to underutilize super years. The regular season wasn't too taxing, as Nashua beat Dresden by 31 games. The first round of the playoffs was a little harder. Nashua dispatched Hollywood in 5 games, although the series was a lot closer than that. But Sycamore pitching proved too tough in the Conference finals. Roy Halladay and A.J.Burnett pitched one run games in games two and three, and Burnett came back to beat Schilling in game seven, as Nashua platooned to no avail.< | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||