Dude hit a lot of home runs. You make him sound like a slow version of Willie Keeler.

Dude hit a viscious single. All i'm saying.

Game 136: Orange County scores four times in the first off Willie Blair, but the Spectres battle back, drawing eight walks off Chopper pitchers and capitalizing with timely hits. Tony Phillips drives home four runs himself and the potential closer troika of Nen, Wickman, and Aguilera throws three scoreless innings to preserve an 8-6 victory.

Game 137: Montreal scores once in the seventh and once in the eighth, tying the score each time, but each time the Choppers respond with a run in the bottom half of the innings to take the lead. Montreal can't do it again in the ninth and loses, 7-6.

Game 138: Ken Griffey Jr.'s seventh home run isn't quite enough. Robb Nen allows a Jeff Bagwell homer in the eighth that ties the score; Eddie Guardado allows a double and single to the first two batters in the ninth to give Orange County a 5-4 win.



Once again we fly home to Montreal from the west coast to face a west coast team, Frisco.

Game 139: Alex Fernandez dominates the 69ers and the Spectres get home runs from Brady Anderson and Jay Buhner in a 9-1 victory.

Game 140: Eddie Guardado and Bob Wickman each suffers a four-run inning; Frisco evens the series with a no-doubt 13-5 win.

Game 141: Perhaps fittingly in this disaster of a season, the Spectres lose a series to San Francisco, dropping an 8-6 decision in the finale as the 69ers collect 16 hits and get 3.1 scoreless innings from their bullpen.

We head to Cincinnati to face the Stingers.

Game 142: Ken Caminiti drives home three runs and Chuck Finley shuts down the Stingers for eight innings as the Spectres break their skid with a 4-2 win.

Game 143: Tony Phillips and Ken Griffey Jr. hit home runs to back Alex Fernandez and Bob Wickman tosses two blank frames for his second save of the season as Montreal downs the Stingers, 7-3.

Game 144: The strong Cincy bullpen throws three scoreless innings to protect a lead as the Stingers prevent a Montreal sweep with a 4-2 win. "Mr. RBI Single", Jay Buhner, strands six runners.

Houston comes to Montreal next, one of only two non-divisional foes we face before finishing the season with divisional play.

Game 145: John VanderWal has four hits for Houston, and the Lone Stars get scoreless innings from five different relievers as they take the opener, 8-3. Ken Caminiti's two-run homer is the highlight for Montreal.

Game 146: Montreal catches Kevin Appier on a wild day; he walks five; Chuck Finley strikes out eight and wins his 15th game, 9-5.

Game 147: Alex Fernandez departs in the third, having surrendered seven hits and four runs; the bullpen is savaged, and Houston blows out the Spectres, 14-3. Brady Anderson hits two homers for Montreal.

If that isn't bad enough, we head to St. Louis next.

Game 148: Montreal's admittedly thin hopes for a .500 season are officially over, as St. Louis deals them their 82nd loss, 5-1 at Busch Stadium. Eddie Taubensee's solo home run is the only run the Spectres can muster off Andy Ashby, who wins his 13th game.

Game 149: The Blue Storm's Mike Moore is on his game, Bob Wickman has another blowup, and the Spectres drop another one, 8-2.

Game 150: The Blue Storm take pity on us, starting Ashby again. Ken Caminiti drives home three; Chuck Finley strikes out 12; Montreal salvages the finale 5-3.

We host Pittsburgh next as the final stretch of divisional play begins.

Game 151: The Incredible Disappearing Offense show continues as Pittsburgh's Hideo Nomo strikes out 10 in a complete game three-hit shutout. Pittsburgh scores four and drops Alex Fernandez to 14-14.

Game 152: Scott Erickson is brilliant (7.2 IP, 5 H, 0 BB), Jay Buhner touches usual Cy Young candidate (against us, anyway) Sid Fernandez for a three-run homer, and the Spectres win 5-2.

Game 153: Montreal gets two home runs, one from Brady Anderson and one from Ken Griffey Jr. (his ninth), but both are solo shots and the offense is otherwise ineffective; Pittsburgh wins 6-2.

Game 154: Two more homers, but another game in which all the runs score on long hits. Alex Fernandez pitches acceptably but drops below .500 as the Melons take the series with a 4-3 win.

Our last home series of the season is against Philadelphia.

Game 155: This is a close game until Scott Erickson tires in the seventh, and Bob Wickman doesn't help matters much. In the end, Philly wins 12-5. Montreal took an early lead on the strength of Tony Phillips' 20th homer and Ken Griffey Jr.'s 10th.

Game 156: Joey Cora and Kirby Puckett commit consecutive errors in the third; Montreal's Eddie Murray follows with a three-run homer. Later, less likely run producer Greg Gagne drives home the winning run with an eighth-inning double. Rick Aguilera allows a leadoff single but closes out a 6-5 win for his 38th save (not bad for a team with 69 wins total). The game ends with Ken Caminiti at 97 RBI and Murray at 98.

Game 157: Randy Velarde has four hits and Alex Fernandez strikes out nine batters as the Spectres pull within a game of Philadelphia for third place with an 8-4 win. Jay Buhner hits his 43rd home run; Ken Caminiti and Eddie Murray each end the game with 99 RBI for the season.

Game 158: Scott Erickson pitches eight scoreless innings and the Spectres hand Steve Sparks his 20th loss of the season in a 7-0 shutout decision. Eddie Murray drives home two runs, giving him 101 for the year. Tony Phillips hits his 21st homer.

Montreal will close the season at Shea, facing the NL East champion Cosmos.

Game 159: Chuck Finley pitches eight shutout innings and drives home his first two runs of the season as the Spectres take the opener at Shea, 13-2. Montreal scores 11 of those runs in the second inning, 10 of them unearned.

Game 160: Eddie Murray has four hits, including two home runs and a double, driving home five runs, as the Spectres beat the Cosmos 7-5. Alex Fernandez benefits from the outburst and finishes the season at 16-15. Ken Caminiti drives home his 100th run, the third Spectre to do so.

Game 161: Randy Velarde and Ricky Gutierrez drive in three runs each, and Scott Erickson turns in another good outing, as the Spectres win 9-2. Erickson finishes the season with a 12-16 record.

Game 162: Chuck Finley is outpitched by Tim Belcher in the season finale. Greg Gagne's third home run accounts for all Montreal's scoring, and they drop the game 5-1, finishing a very disappointing campaign at 74-88.

very disappointing season, kermit

get your **** together or else

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1995 in review:

The loss of Ken Griffey Jr. for half the season essentially gutted the team's offense. Montreal finished 20th in the league with 792 runs despite 185 homers (fifth in the league) and an above-average OPS of .771 (10th in the league). A lack of speed (23 steals as a team) didn't help.

The pitching was hardly blameless as the team's 5.32 ERA was nearly 1/3 of a run higher than league average and ranked 17th in the league.



PITCHING

Chuck Finley had one of his best seasons in a Spectre uniform (17-14, 4.28 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, .238/.328/.378). He walked too many (124 in 255 innings) but also struck out 236.

Alex Fernandez (16-15, 4.61, 1.40, .276/.331/.400) was the only pitcher on the staff with a complete game (throwing four, two of them shutouts) but was also shelled frequently.. nowhere near as dominant as he was in '94. Still, with a better offense behind him he may have won 20 games.

Scott Erickson (12-16, 5.63, 1.63, .300/.362/.450) certainly didn't pitch well but began to show some signs of turning things around at the end. He was victimized by his defense more than any of the other pitchers, allowing 10 unearned runs.

Dave Burba (4-7, 7.10, 1.91, .300/.398/.482) and Willie Blair (3-12, 7.20, 1.92, .322/.400/.499) were both huge disappointments at the bottom of the rotation. They surrendered 33 homers between them in 239 innings (compare to Finley's 23 HR in 255 innings). They also walked 147 batters in that time. Horrible.

In the bullpen, there were two solid performers: Rick Aguilera (0-2, 39/43, 3.42, 0.89, .211/.243/.314) who returned to glory as the team's closer and struck out 49 batters while walking only six; and Scott Sanders (5-1, 1/2, 3.45, 1.10, .219/.275/.370) who gave up a few too many homers (13 in 107 innings) but was otherwise dependable.

Others were not so lucky. Bob Wickman (5-6, 2/4, 5.89, 1.67, .311/.376/.421) and Robb Nen (5-2, 0/4, 5.05, 1.61, .284/.357/.415) had been much better in '94, and rookie Eddie Guardado (7-7, 1/1, 7.87, 1.87, .309/.390/.519) was a near disaster with 131 hits allowed in 100.2 innings.

Tony Fossas (0-2, 0/2, 3.82, 1.33, .246/.317/.354) pitched well enough before being traded late in the season to Boston.



HITTING

C - Once again, the Spectres used a platoon of Ron Karkovice (.237/.324/.423) and Eddie Taubensee (.304/.380/.494). They combined for 23 home runs and 90 RBI.. not bad. They also struck out 174 times. Not so good.

1B - Eddie Murray, in his final season as a Spectre, was nothing short of amazing (.378/.422/.594), leading the team with 202 hits and collecting 27 homers with 31 doubles, driving home 107. He finished the season on a 14-game hitting streak and also had a 15-game streak earlier, longest on the team.

2B - A mixture of players used here, primarily Bret Boone (.244/.319/.354) who was disappointing but did rank third on the team with 34 doubles. Tony Phillips (.250/.355/.392) also played some here, and was also disappointing. Phillips did draw 101 walks and score 107 runs.

SS - Greg Gagne (.280/.334/.368) had a decent year playing part-time while Randy Velarde (.272/.357/.368) offered marginally more production in his time. Ricky Gutierrez hit .441 in 34 at bats during September.

3B - Ken Caminiti (.305/.388/.518) arrives, hitting 46 doubles and 27 homers, scoring 103 and driving home 101. He struck out 101 times but ranked second on the team with 85 walks.

OF - Ken Griffey Jr. (.232/.355/.405) missed the first half with a broken wrist and didn't fully recover. In 55 games he had only 12 extra base hits (10 of them homers) and scored far more (36) than he drove in (23).

Jay Buhner (.250/.339/.518) took over as primary producer, clubbing 43 home runs and driving home 122. He struck out 157 times and drew 73 walks.

Brady Anderson (.273/.365/.447) had a quintuple double with 41 doubles, 12 triples, 15 homers, 12 HBP, and 21 steals. He led the team with 115 runs scored.

BENCH - Edgardo Alfonzo (.269/.291/.411) showed little patience but a little bit of pop while a group of nondescript AAA prospects offered little to nothing.



FIELDING - With a .988 fielding percentage, the Spectres finished tied for eighth in the league, above the league average of .985. Which is surprising given the number of slugs playing out of position (Phillips, Alfonzo, etc.)

With the ninth pick of the 1996 draft, the Spectres select -handed pitcher Omar Daal. He should provide some quality innings from the pen this season and could be a starter eventually.



In the second round, Montreal selects another -handed pitcher, Mike Remlinger. He's not expected to contribute much this season but projects as a possible y out of the pen.

In the third round, Montreal is again tempted by a pitcher, but instead takes y-hitting infielder/outfielder Willie Greene. Greene is projected to compete for some playing time at shortstop with Greg Gagne, Randy Velarde, and Ricky Gutierrez. Greene is not an accomplished fielder but does provide some power. He could also fill in at third base if Ken Caminiti regresses or in the outfield if Ken Griffey Jr. is still feeling the aftereffects of his broken wrist.

I think it was a fine season, and I'm ecstatic with the results.

Keep on doin what yer doin, frog!!