Last Place Update - July 26

Hey everybody! Hope your summer has gone well. Mine has been great, except for one thing that must be noted here shortly. Since my last post, I had the privilege of performing with the Phantom Regiment Alumni Corps a couple of weeks ago. I got to perform with people ranging from the founding members from 1956, to people I looked up to when I first got involved in the drum and bugle corps activity, to people I marched with long ago, to members of the 1996 and 2008 DCI champion corps, to recent ageouts. It was a great experience. SUTA!!!!

Now to the exception.

My 33-66 Atlanta Braves are Kings of the Cellar right now. They are 2-8 since the All-Star break, losers of the their last five. At least the 1899 Cleveland Spiders' record is safe for another year. The 1962 New York Mets were 25-74 after 99 games, so the Braves are 8 games ahead of their pace.

The 37-61 Minnesota Twins are 4.5 games back. The Twins have done a little winning, going 5-5 in their last ten games. Also standing outside the cellar door are the 38-60 Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who are 5.5 games back. They are 4-6 in their last ten games, losers of their last three.

Today's honorable mention goes to the 58-41 San Francisco Giants. The NL West leaders are 2-8 in their last ten games, losing their last two. That's what bad relief pitching gets you. Before the All-Star break, they enjoyed  a 7-2 record dating back to June 30. Will Frisco improve or implode?

Today my Braves play the Twins for a battle of mediocrity. Atlanta leads the series 10-9, which includes the 1991 World Series. The Braves have a five game winning streak against Minnesota dating back to June 12, 2010. They first met in the World Series, when the Twins won 4 games to 3. They went to extra innings five times, three of those in the World Series, including Game 7. Their last extra innings game was in 2013, when Atlanta won 5-4.

Will Atlanta take the beer in the Cellar? Will the Twins take this series and break my Braves' win streak against them? Will the Devil Rays surprise everybody and kick down the Cellar door?

Bring on the games!

Have a great day!!!

Catching Up

Hope your summer is going well. You'd figure with school being out, there would be more time to write a blog entry or two, but that's not the case. Here are some comments.

• Congrats to the 10-72 Philadelphia 76ers. They are the 2016 NBA Kings of the Cellar and missed tying their NBA record of futility from 1973 by one game.
• Speaking of the 76ers, they're set to draft LSU's Ben Simmons with the first pick in the NBA Draft. Will picking Simmons add to the streak of good first picks?
• Congrats to the NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers. It's a major accomplishment to win a championship and an even bigger one to win one over a Golden State Warrior team that won 73 games.
• The 23-48 Minnesota Twins are today's MLB Kings of the Cellar. My 24-47 Atlanta Braves are a game back, because the Twins are on a 3 game winning streak.
• Today's honorable mention goes to the 31-39 Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who are on a 7 game losing streak. They edged the 43-30 Washington Nationals for the mention, who are on a 5 game losing streak.
• Now on to some writing news: I added a prologue to The Curse. It fits with how the story works and improves the way it starts.
• My final beta reader is almost done with Second Chance. I hope to have it published this summer.
• Once Second Chance is done, the next book to be published has the working title Justice. According to my ideal reader, this is the best story I've written so far. This is the first book in a series. I already started a sequel and even set up a story that could take place just before the sequel. This pre-sequel story takes place in a fictional town in Louisiana.
• Speaking of stories started but not finished, there are at least two. My November 2014 NaNoWriMo effort, Return To Origin, is still unfinished. That's what I've been working on this month. This is the first story I've written that has a cover completed before the first draft. The other first draft started but not finished is the sequel to The Curse.
• Finally and most importantly, thank you all for your support and thanks to those who bought my books!! You are greatly appreciated!!!
  
  Have a great day!!!

Last Place Update and Did the '62 Mets Win On This Day?

Before we get started, congrats to Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, for pitching his first ever no-hitter against the Colorado Rockies, an 8-0 win. Kershaw struck out 15 batters and is now 7-2.

On the flip side, the 28-45 Tampa Bay Devil Rays are this week's Kings of the Cellar. After going 4-1 in recent games, the Rays have lost two in a row. The 31-44 Arizona Diamondbacks trail the Devil Rays by two games. Arizona is 3-7 in their last ten games, but are 2-2 in their last four. At this point, none of these teams are a threat to the 1962 New York Mets' record of futility. After 73 games, the Mets were 20-53.

This week's honorable mention goes to the 43-29 San Francisco Giants. They are 2-8 in their last ten games, losing five straight.

Now for some trivia...

Today in 1962, the New York Mets scored three runs in the first inning and never trailed against the Milwaukee Braves, getting one of their few wins in their worst ever season, 6-5. Future Padres and Giants manager, Roger Craig, pitched a complete game for the Mets and struck out five. Eddie Matthews of the Braves, and Joe Christopher and Gene Woodling of the Mets each hit a homerun.

Today in 1988, David Cone pitched a complete game two-hitter helping the New York Mets defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-0. Cone struck out seven and batted 1-4. Darryl Strawberry and Kevin McReynolds hit a homerun.

Today in 1992, a top of the first inning leadoff homerun by Greg Briley was all the Seattle Mariners needed to beat the Minnesota Twins 1-0. This was Briley's only hit of the game. WP Dave Fleming struck out six batters. Chili Davis and Kent Hrbek got the only hits for the Twins.

Today in 2004, Julio Franco and Eli Marrero each hit a two run homer and elevated the Atlanta Braves to an easy 4-0 win over the Cleveland Indians. In seven innings, WP Paul Byrd struck out seven and John Smoltz got the save.


As we count down to July's Camp NaNoWriMo, the choice of which story to write is getting easier. It also appears that July's Camp NaNoWriMo is called JuNoWriMo. If I had to choose which story to write now, it would be Return To Origin. I started it just after finishing the first draft of The Curse in 2011.

It seems I may have to use Amazon's Cover Creator once again for Second Chance. I was hoping to enlist someone's help, but that's not going to happen. Hence, the plan is to keep the cover design simple until it can be replaced with a better one.

I wrote a few drafts of the blurb to Second Chance. Although it's not ready, here's the best version so far:

Gus Harrison is a 46 year old city worker who lives in the past. He obsesses over the good old days of his youth, but there is a dark side. In 1987, the love of his life, Penny Neal, was murdered. His best friend, Dub Druber, died in 2000. Not a day goes by that Gus wishes he could go back in time and save their lives.

One fateful day, as his life falls apart, Gus gets his chance. He gets sent back to 1987 and is young once again. Can Gus change history and save the people he loves?

If things go as anticipated, Second Chance will be published as early as July or August.

Have a great day!!!

Last Place Update

Welcome to this week's Last Place Update. The new magic number is 6. The 48-99 Houston Astros did a little winning, but still lead the 58-88 Chicago Cubs by 10.5 games.  The Astros need six losses to clinch an outright repeat as Kings of the Cellar. The Cubs lead the 58-87 Colorado Rockies by half a game. The AL worst Minnesota Twins are  60-87.

   This week's honorable mention goes to the 78-68 Tampa Bay Devil Rays. They are 3-7 in their last ten games, losing five of their last six games.

   Since the last update, the Astros went 4-3, the Cubs went 4-2, both respectable numbers. However, the Rockies went 2-4 and the Twins went 2-5.

   Last year's Astros were 50-97 after 147 games.

  Will Houston clinch a repeat this week? Will the Cubs continue their winning ways and let Colorado be Houston's runners-up? Will Minnesota make a move on both teams?

  Stay tuned. Have a great day!!!

Last Place Update

September 29, 2011 – This is the final Last Place Update for the Major League Baseball season.  As stated in the previous update, the 56-106 Houston Astros are MLB’s Worst Champions.  They are the only team to have more than 100 losses this season.  The 63-99 Minnesota Twins are in second and the 67-95 Seattle Mariners are in third.

The honorable mention was supposed to go to Minnesota, but they lost that, too, because their collapse didn’t cost them playoff spots.  Instead, honorable mentions go out to the 90-72 Boston Red Sox and the 89-73 Atlanta Braves for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.  The Braves went 12-21 since August 23, losing their last five games. The Red Sox went 7-20 in September.  Both teams missed the playoffs by losing the last game of the season.  At least the Astros went 9-16 in September and 14-20 since August 23.

Houston’s 2011 record was a game behind the 2010 champion Pittsburgh Pirates record of 57-105.  It’s the worst finish since 2005, when the Kansas City Royals also went 56-106.

The Last Place Updates are a tongue-in-cheek look at the worst teams, but it's also a fact that it takes a special kind of athlete to earn the privilege of wearing a professional sports uniform, whether it's for a season or a long Hall of Fame career.  Only a tiny percent of people are good enough to wear the uniform of a professional sports team whether it's a world champion team or even the cellar dwellers.  Hats off to all the MLB teams for a good 2011 season!!

Congrats to the St. Louis Cardinals and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for doing what Boston and Atlanta couldn’t do.  Good luck to all the teams in the playoffs.

Note: The Last Place Updates for the NFL’s Kings of the Cellar begin next week.