Meet The Villains (of Las Vegas, that is)

Major League Baseball met on April 1, 2000 with a brand new expansion team, the Las Vegas Villains. But owners of the Villians were not given a lot to work with. A slim pickings roster with 14 hitters and 11 pitchers was hobbled together in time for opening day, bringing together a very young group of wannabe superstars. Some will surely become just that. Others might take a long time to develop (and no one knows what they'll become). A few in the remainder are MLB draft rejects who probably won't last two seasons before washing out.

The team does have a very nice hitter's park, thanks to Donald Trump, who agreed to fund the building project in total as long as it was given the name Trump Field. The open, natural grass park has a capacity of 57,480 with excellent comfort and sight lines, with good infield quality, short infield grass and excellent visability and a small foul ground. With dimensions of 320 345 400 350 335 the park is comparable to Colorado as far as home run potential.

Owner Jonathan Sanders is going to have his work cut out for him. While he's working with a $2 million payroll, his young players are sure to cost him a fortune down the road, and he's obviously going to have to build through free agency if he wants to have any chance of success down the road. However he's hoping early on to make enough extra cash to hold over toward those financially lean years. Regardless, no one expects his Villains to make any real impact on the AL West this year. Or over the next five for that matter.

Roster

Code:

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HITTERS                                    PITCHERS
RF  Vladimir Solano      65  100          1 Seth Kalbfell        86  100
DH  Davin Lande          65  82            2 Tod Henderson        73  100
2B  Timmy Thill          85  100          3 Matthew Bellairs    64  100
SS  Tony Hall            90  100
1B  Michael Simard        65  71              Alan Terrence        69  90
LF  Greg McMaster        63  68              Marc Ruhl            71  71
3B  Jack Thompson        65  72          Cl Chris Gluzmanov      68  99
CF  Leif Vertex          61  61          Se Logan Wallace        79  80
C  Terry Traxler        63  64          Sh Lyonell Weissman    72  83
                                          Mi James Quinn          67  85
B1  Daniel Jiminez        61  75          Lo Santos Ramirez      62  88
B2  Gary Wierdsma        59  67          Alt Daniel Difazio      48  100
B3  Fernando Castrilli    59  59
B4  Jeff Benton          52  70
B5  Tom Straub            63  63

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The team's lineup is quite weak, with the exceptions of Timmy Thill and Tony Hall who had been benchwarming on major league teams despite their talent. As for pitching, with only three players having starting endurance, we're going to be depending on Alan Terrance and Marc Ruhl to show at least some kind of endurance improvements, or our three starters are going to see A LOT OF INNINGS playing on short rest.

April 2000

1: @ Tampa Bay
We opened our tenure as a major league team by losing 7-0 to the Devil Rays on their turf. But we were locked in a pitcher's duel until the fifth inning when they scored for the first time. And the game didn't get out of hand until the seventh and eighth when they scored five runs on weak reserve pitchers Weissman and Quinn. We had five hits.

2: @ Tampa Bay
We lost tonight 6-0 on Devil Ray turf. This time they led from the start, and Henderson only lasted five innings (giving up six earned runs). Timmy Thill had two hits in four at bats, but didn't have the run support to do anything with the bases he did get.

3: @ Tampa Bay
Tonight we scored our first and only run of the season, losing to the Devil Rays 7-1. Vladimir Solano scored the lone run for us in the first inning. By the time the D-Rays were done with THEIR end of the first, we were down 5-1, in the hole for good. Bellairs lasted seven innings, longer than his two predecessors, but he didn't have any run support, so there was no way for him to dig out of that first inning hole.

Following the Tampa Bay stand, I could tell we needed some serious sluggers. So I went free agent hunting, though on a budget, and came out with a pair of new bats to support our pitchers:

Kenneth Lowell (30, LF) 86/86
Kenneth last played for Houston (the team that drafted him originally) in 1999, when he batted .291 with 21 homers and 25 doubles! He's also a spectacular fielder, which should give us a bit more of a chance when our opponents are batting. We got him for four years at $5.8 million per season, with a one year player option worth $5.75 million. He also has a no-trade clause.

Oscar Mendes (30, RF) 75/75
Oscar's starting to age, but last year for Houston he hit .278 while using his superior speed to steal bases 60 times in 71 attempts. He's just the kind of offensive force we need to succeed in this league. After a long talk with his agent, I got him to join us for two years at $4.6 million, with a one year player option worth $4.2 million. He also demanded a no-trade clause.

But the free agent market's remarkably thin at this point, so there was little else to check out. I'll keep an eye on our options as the month progresses.

4: vs. NY Yankees
Well, the Yankees drubbed us, as expected. But what few expected was that we'd put up legitimate numbers (oh if only we hadn't been hosting the Yanks!) Nearly 10,000 fans showed up to watch New York beat us 20-7. The problem was we didn't score our first run until they already had eight. But it was nice to see our guys do some scoring. Kalbfell lasted 5.1 innings (but gave up 12 runs, so we finally had to pull him even though I wanted him to get the chance to dig out of the hole). Anyway, nothing spectacular, but the fans weren't expecting a win against the Evil Empire anyway. We'll give it a better go tomorrow night.

5: vs. NY Yankees
The Yankees beat us 12-3 tonight, as we again failed to score until it was already too late. Our pitchers are getting killed out there; Henderson lasted just over five innings but had given up 10 earned runs so he did little to help anything.

I got a call from Jason Clayton's agent tonight after the Yankees game. The 39-year-old is a fan favorite wherever he goes, but no one seems to want to take him off the block, despite having gone 30-14 over the last two seasons. I want him bad, he's still rated 93 overall, so his skills have lost little to age. And he could provide some veteran leadership to this team. He says he'd like to play for a more competitive team than us, but he agreed to a two year contract worth $5.9 million a season. He told me he could get here in time for tomorrow's game against the Yanks at 1:05. So I told him he'd be starting. We'll see if he can do any better than our motley three have.

6: vs. NY Yankees
Tonight we held the Yankees back enough that they only beat us 5-1 as we fell to 0-6 on the season. 13,400 fans who are obviously masochists watched as Clayton pitched seven innings and gave up five earned runs. But they all went suitably nuts when (in the third inning) Timmy Thill scored his fourth run of the year, bringing his average up to .320 after six games and 25 at bats.

7: vs. Detroit
Detroit beat us tonight 10-5 on our field in front of 11,000 fans (I guess the bulk of last night's fans were there to get Yankees autographs). Thill fans got a thrill when he hit a homer in the fifth inning to bat in two runs, but other than that there wasn't too much excitement.

After a week, we're off to an 0-7 start, which is to be expected considering the rag-tag bunch of players we started with. I made another free agent signing tonight after the Detroit game, getting 34 year old 1B Stu Knight (who hit .270 with 17 homers and 68 RBI last year for Houston) to sign a four year deal worth $3.3 million per season. We got him to ignore his original request for a no trade clause by offering him a one year $3.3M player option instead.

We also needed a quality third baseman, so I made a deal with Kansas City that sends them Davin Lande (RF) Daniel Difazio (RP) Vladimir Solano (RF) and Terry Traxler (C) to them for Bruce Calagiovanni (30, 87/87) who has hit .304 so far for KC, with two homers (which gives him a .609 slugging average). Now our biggest hole is at catcher and center field. Hopefully we can find a pair next week to fill those spots, at least temporarily.

8: vs. Detroit
**** we came close tonight in a real slugger's match! Up 4-0 in the first inning, we then let Detroit score six consecutive runs in the second and third before hitting three in of our own to take the lead back 7-6. By the end of the sixth we led 10-7, but when you give up a run in the eighth and then FIVE in the ninth you're usually screwed. Hall and Calagiovanni each got a homer, while Thill and Lowell each added two runs of their own. It just wasn't enough. Tod Henderson lasted 6.1 innings and 116 pitches before we pulled him, and his ERA took a beating. If we had depth in the bullpen it might help, but he's got to work on not letting them score so many runs on him every time! Tonight he gave up eight earned runs, as his ERA crashed to 12.71. Ouch.

9: vs. Detroit
Matthew Belairs pitched tonight, and we lost 12-0. He pitched 5.2 innings despite giving up ELEVEN EARNED RUNS (his ERA is now 12.79) and as a team we got outhit 19-3. It might be time for some blockbuster trades to shake this team up and get that elusive first win. Right now we're 0-9 and fading fast.

10: vs. Boston
WHOAH! We shocked the Red Sox by getting our first win in slugger style! The Sox led 1-0 at the start of the first, but after solid hitting in the second third and fourth, we found ourselves up 9-1! They came back, of course. They outscored us 11-1 in the next three innings, so at the end of the seventh they led 12-10. But our relievers held them off down the stretch. Early in the eighth, Michael Simard singled through the hole scoring a run, and then a few minutes later Timmy Thill singled to left, scoring the tying run! Then in the ninth inning, Kenneth Lowell singled through the right side, taking first. Then Tony Hall reached first on a throwing error by the first baseman, and Lowell managed to get to third! Bruce Calagiovanni WALKED, loading the bases, and then (as Stu Knight filed out to center) Kenneth Lowell tagged up and reached home, winning the game! The 23,431 fans in attendance went completely nuts (I still can't believe how quickly our attendance has improved despite our 1-9 record ... guess it's the great selection of beer, and the fact that all the drunk guys can then buy a prostitute after the game, eh?) Chris Gluzmanov, our closer, got the win, as the SIXTH PITCHER TO PLAY! The crazy thing? He only threw FIVE PITCHES.

The BAD News
We lost TWO PITCHERS in this game. Jason Clayton will miss the next SIX WEEKS due to a ruptured cervical disc, and Jason Bellairs dislocated his hip and will ALSO miss SIX WEEKS. That puts us in dire straits pitching-wise.

EMERGENCY PITCHER SIGNINGS
Matthew Vlahakis (23, 69/72) Reliever - $400,000, 1 year
Edmund Fennessee (21, 67/82) Reliever - $400,000, 1 year
Colin Smith (22, 58/74) Reliever - $600,000, 1 year
Seth Barnes (23, 58/80) Reliever - $500,000, 1 year

That should tide us over as far as relievers. There are no free agent starters, so that problem likely won't be solved until the draft, as we have nobody anyone wants trade-wise.

11: vs. Boston
The Red Sox got revenge tonight, beating us 13-7. But it was closer than you'd think. We were tied 6-6 up until the top of the seventh when Boston scored two. They added five more in the eighth to seal it, as our last run in the ninth did little to bridge the gap. Kalbfell pitched 6.2 innings but gave up eight earned runs as we fell to 1-10 on the young season. 27,682 fans watched, hoping we'd pull another stunner against the Sox. When we didn't, most of the 4,000 new "fans" probably were too disappointed to want to come back. But who knows ... maybe we should change our names to the Las Vegas Sado-Masochists ... that'd sure make the headlines!

12: vs. Boston
We actually WON THIS SERIES 2-1 thanks to a 5-4 victory against Boston here at home in front of 26,779 screaming fans! We led 3-1 after the fourth, but let them whittle away at the lead until they took the lead 4-3 in the top of the seventh. But Bruce Caligiovanni (who has proven to be a key lynchpin in our lineup since his trade from Kansas City just a week ago) homered over the left field fence in the eighth, batting in TWO runs to give us the lead and the win! Tod Henderson improved to 1-2 in his fourth start in twelve days, pitching eight innings to put this one away! If he can hold it together, this guy's going to go places in this league ... we've just got to get over this hump. But a 2-0 start's a helluva lot better than that 0-9 record we had a few days ago, that's for damned sure.

Key fact you may not have known: The AL West is a struggling league at this point, and we're still in the thick of things! Though we're 2-10, we're only 4.5 games out of first (Oakland's 6-5) and with Texas (3-8) and Anaheim (3-8) just a game and a half ahead of us, a few good games could put us back on the path to a more modest season.

13: vs. White Sox
I took a risk and started Seth Kalbfell on short rest. Right now though we've only got two good starters, the rest are relievers. And I'm not comfortable starting relievers every three games. So Kalbfell came in and pitched 6.2 innings, and gave up six runs. And that was all Chicago needed to beat us 6-3. Kalbfell dropped to 0-5, and I guess I'll have to start relievers until we can get our other starters back. No more super-short rest.

14: vs. White Sox
Due to the pitching shortage, Alan Terrence had to start tonight despite his 33% endurance. So it was a shock to everyone when we pulled off a 9-7 win over the Sox! Terrence did a good job in his 4.1 innings (at least comparably, that is) giving up only five earned runs. We took him out with the score tied 5-5 ... by the end of the fifth it was 6-5 in their favor. In the seventh inning both teams scored a run, making it 7-6 Chicago. But we had a great ninth inning: Tony Hall doubled to start, then Stu Knight hit an infield single to the pitcher and made it to first (while Hall ran to third). They walked Calagiovanni intentionally loading the bases. Rokuemon Kamimoto threw a wild pitch then, and Hall made it home, tying the score 7-7! Then, becoming the hero of the night, Kenneth Lowell singled to left field batting in Knight and Calagiovanni! So we pulled the two-run win out of our hat and improved to 3-11!

15: vs. White Sox
Tonight we made SportsCenter with a blowout 23-3 rout of the White Sox, as we improved to 4-11! Tod Henderson pitched his fifth start this month, lasting 7.2 innings with only two runs given up, which gave him the win as he improved to 2-2! Knight and Lowell each had TWO homers, while Lowell led the team with four runs scored and Hall and Knight led in RBIs (with six and five each!) I can't explain HOW we dominated like this ... all I do know is we were up 9-0 before they scored in the fourth twice. It was then 23-2 before they scored a desperation final run in the ninth before it was all over.

With this win we moved into fourth place in the AL West, half a game up on Anaheim. We're currently hitting .290 (1st AL West, 4th AL) but our ERA is 9.00 (dead last in the majors). It's the fact that our park's a hitter's paradise working against our young inexperienced pitching staff.

Oh, and since joining us here in Vegas, Bruce Calagiovanni has batted .471 (16 for 34) with a double, four homers and 12 RBIs. He's only struck out five times, and is slugging .853!He was oly hitting .333 for KC, and has never hit more than 20 homers in a season! I think he'll easily break that -- I mean, he IS in ninth place in the majors in homers this season (6).

Our surprise pitching success has been closer Chris Gluzmanov! He's played in three games and has a 2-0 record 0.00 ERA and .125 OBA in 2.1 innings! Considering he's rated 68 with a peak potential of 99, this 18-year-old rook could prove to be a key in our playoff hopes a few years from now.

16: @ Dodgers
This was a close one. LA took a 3-0 lead early in the game, but a four run sixth inning gave us a 4-3 lead that we held until the ninth inning. We added a pair of runs in the final inning, making it 6-3. But the Dodgers' David Talbot homered over the center field fence for three RBIs to tie the score, and then we stupidly walked David Lawernce (no that's no typo) which gave them the 7-6 win (how many times do you have to tell these guys, don't walk someone with the bases loaded?) Alan Terrence started tonight and lasted five innings despite his weak endurance, giving up only three earned runs. It was our closer, Gluzmanov, who got the loss, as he gave up FOUR RUNS in his 0.1 innings, dropping his ERA from 0.00 to 13.50. We hit no homers tonight, but left fielder Kenneth Lowell did have one hit in four at bats that gave him three RBIs. Right fielder Oscar Mendes gave us three hits (out of five at bats) batting in one run.

17: vs. Detroit
We're back at home for two games against Detroit. Edmund Fennessee (endurance of 32%) had his first major league appearance today, starting for us and pitching five innings for the WIN, giving up only one earned run! We wound up beating the Tigers impressively, 16-1, and after Fennessee exited, no one else on either side scored a run! I'll admit, I was quite impressed by his performance, though I essentially consider him a spot starter (I doubt we'll be starting him very often until his endurance improves). Either way, 26,418 fans watched as Timmy Thill hit 3 of 5, scoring a run and batting in FIVE. And Kenneth Lowell got two hits that yeilded a homer -- he scored three runs and batted in four!

18: vs. Detroit
We beat Detroit 7-6 tonight, improving to 6-12 on the young season! The win for us came in the bottom of the eighth, as first baseman Stu Knight homered over the left field fence for 2 RBIs! Seth Kalbfell pitched seven innings and gave up six earned runs so while he didn't get a loss, he also didn't get the win (setup reliever Logan Wallace, who pitched an inning with no earned runs, did). Chris Gluzmanov got his second save of the season as we held them off (he pitched a full inning and gave up no runs, so his ERA improves to 9.82. Stu Knight and Bruce Calagiovanni each homered, while Kenneth Lowell (2 of 3 with a walk) scored three runs, proving to be a prime offensive player!

We're now just a game and a half behind Seattle (6-9) and two games back of Oakland (7-9) in the weak AL West! But a tough stretch lies ahead. We're 0-4 on the road, and we've got 10 road games in a row coming up. We won't be back at home until May 2.

19: @ Baltimore
The Orioles stomped us 15-3 tonight; the closest we came to them was at the top of the fourth when we trailed only 8-3. From there it was just a bloodbath. Tod Henderson pitched five innings but gave up 11 hits and 10 earned runs (he threw 104 pitches in just five innings!) Stu Knight did get a homer in the fourth, and had scored another run in the second. And Bruce Calagiovanni got one hit in three attempts, but managed to score our only other run.

20: @ Baltimore
We lost 8-5 tonight, falling to 6-14 as Alan Terrance pitched 5.1 innings giving up three earned runs. We led 5-0 at the top of the third, but never scored again, allowing them to score five runs (for a 6-5 lead) in the bottom of the sixth. Stu Knight homered again tonight, but that third inning was about the only bright spot in the night.

21: @ Baltimore
We lost the third game of the series 9-8, squandering an 8-3 lead by giving up SIX RUNS in the last two innings. Edmund Fennessee pitched his second start, going five innings with only three earned runs. Gluzmanov came in during the eighth to try and hold off the Orioles for a long save, but in 1.1 innings, he gave up three UNEARNED runs. Long reliever James Quinn came in during the ninth and gave up three runs (two earned) to take the loss on HIS shoulders.

We got the 22nd off after 21 consecutive baseball games. We hold a 6-15 record, and have fallen to last in the AL West, though we're still only three games back of Seattle (7-10). Should be interesting to see which team dominates when the AL West teams start playing each other!

Lookin Good Chip