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Scottsdale Cougars
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Personnel History The first iteration was the regime of Ron Lefebvre, who fielded decent teams but could never get into the playoggs. Then came the Shawn Dylla era, which got off to a terrible start in trading stalwarts Pedro Martinez and Troy Percival. Two 100 loss seasons ensued. Then came John Cooper, who suprised the league with a playoff berth and came within 1 game of getting to the World Series. 2002 was an off year with essentially the same personnel, and 2003, under Kory Klecker, showed an improvement that nearly netted a playoff spot. Finally, the team broke through in 2005 thanks to solid acquisitions of pitching talent. The Cougars built slowly through the draft. First round picks in 1999 (Weaver), 2000 (Mulder), 2001 (Sabathia), and 2003 (Willis), still form the basis of the pitching staff, though Mulder was finally dealt away in a not too successful deal. Joe Mauer fell into the Cougars' lap this year, and if history is a guide he should also be here a while. |
2006 A virtual copy of the previous year, winning the Division, having the best record in the Conference, and losing the second round playoff series to the hard charging Seoul FIghters. Despite the two win difference, this was certainly a better offensive team than the 2005 version, even if the pitching tailed off a bit. Rocco Baldelli came back and hit .360 with 24 homers in 358; Garrett Atkins blossomed into an MVP candidate; and Joe Mauer hit .350 and doubled his home run total. On the mound, Duke, Weaver, and Willis were all disappointments, but the staff hung tough on the exploits of Sabathia, Suppan, and Miguel Batista. Interestingly, the Cougars started out 1-10, but had sorted themselves out on the right side of .500 by May 2. By June 17, the Cougars were 19 over and went on autopilot. They went 51-52 the rest of the way, but 95 wins was enough for the home field advantage. A topsy turvy first round series against Bellingham went 7 games, and the Cougars prevailed when Scott Hatteberg homered to break a 1-1 tie in the middle innings of game 7. Once again, against Seoul in the Fehr Conference finals. Taking a 3-2 lead home in game 6, the pitching imploded, allowing 23 runs in two games and denying the Cougars a tri to the World Series. 2005 The Cougars were a mild surprise as the Division champs, winning 93 games in a weak division, but then surprised Camano Island in a four game sweep in the first round of the playoffs. The run ended quickly as they were dispatched in 5 games against the Seoul Fighters. The Cougars were all about pitching, as Dontrelle Willis led a staff which featured four pitchers with ERAs under 4, including first round pick Zach Duke. The offense featured a freak season from Tony Clark (30HR, O+S 1.001), and a farewell cameo from Raffy Palmeiro (.349/.433/.579) in 300 PA, but the only legitimate hitter was Joe Mauer. The Cougars were at .500 for the first two months of the season, ran off a 11-1 streak to get to the division lead 2 weeks later, and then treaded water until another hot streak in late August (including 4 wins over Jamaica) got them clear for their first division win. 2004 Like the previous year, the Cougars didn't do too much early but finished strong, nearly .500, and pushed into 4th place in the division. The problem was a mid-May to mid-June swoon which saw 7 wins in 30 games. Better play ensued, bringing the Cougars back to 3 under on July 21, but a white flag took out much of the meat of the bullpen. The Cougars then undertook 7 game losing streak and spent most of the rest of the season treading water. The Cougars had a sub average offensive team and an average pitching staff and essentially earned their 79-83 record. Magglio Ordonez, who had led the team for most of the previous half decade, was hurt and only got 209 at bats. As such, the team struggled for power and runs. The starting staff was rather steady: 81 quality starts was in the top half of the league. The back end with Trevor Hoffman and Chris Reitsma was also steady, but after Damaso Marte and Julian Tavarez were sent away in the white flag trade, what was in-between held the Cougars back. 2003 The Cougars weren't really a contender, but won 20 of their last 23 games to post their second most successful season in franchise history. The high water mark was getting to 3 1/2 games of the Portland Crush, but 2 of those 3 September losses were in a three game series at Portland. Carl Everett homered in the bottom of the 11th to win game one, and Portland rallied for 4 in the 9th to win game two. The offense wasn't all that good, as Magglio Ordonez was the only real offensive threat. Rather, the front four of the rotation (Suppan, Mulder, Sabathia, Dontrelle Willis) were the reason that the team was as good as it was. 2002 After a surprise playoff berth and first round win, the Spock Rockers sank by 23 games in 2002. There were big drop-offs at shortstop (Mark McLemore to Deivi Cruz) and third base (Jeff Conine to Bill Mueller), while just about everyone else in the lineup suffered small declines. Essentially, Magglio Ordonez was the only real offensive threat. Mark Mulder and C.C. Sabathia slumped from a combined 33-13 to 20-27, with ERAs more than a point higher. The Rockers were one game over .500 at the 40% mark of the season, but then lost 12 of their next 15 home games and were essentially done for the season. |
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