16-12 (88-39 1st Place AL East)
You'd think being 50 games over .500 would bring a feeling of peace and happiness over your ball club. Not this team. Multiple complaints about
OF Greg Murphy, including Hanleth Otano's statement that being around Murphy was affecting his play, caused us to have to make a decision, after the trade deadline. We sent Murphy to AAA just to get him out of Boston, and call up OF prospect Kevin Griffith. Griffith was hitting .313 17-44 at Pawtucket this year in 62 games. How did he do in August? Stay tuned!
Pitching Recap--
Start with the good.
Taijuan Walker was great in August, going 4-0 with a 2.05 ERA. He leads the AL in Wins, ERA, Complete Games and shutouts currently. He gave up 37 hits and nine walks in 44 innings, striking out 30.
Poor
Parker Mushinski. He definitely hasn't been great the last couple of months, going 0-2 with a 5.14 ERA. He gave up 42 hits and 17 walks in 35 innings, striking out 31. He has gone more than two months since his last win and is winless in his last 14 starts.
Rionel Raudes had a rough month. He put up an 0-2 mark with a 7.71 ERA and went 7/10 in save chances He appeared in 11 games, covering 9 1/3 innings. He gave up 15 hits, but posted a perfect 12/0 K:BB ratio.
Batting Recap--
Remember how I mentioned calling up
Kevin Griffith? Well, all he did was win the AL Rookie of the Month award in August, hitting .362/.424/.603 with three homeruns and 11 RBI in 17 games. His first big league start was one he won't soon forget. He went 3-3 with a pair of homeruns, four RBI, a double and two walks. He's become the new starting CF against lefties this year and could potentially take over as the every day starter next season.
My MVP
Austin Shenton had a fantastic month, hitting a whopping .358/.436/.567 with 11 doubles a homer and nine RBI. He also posted a basically even K:BB ratio, striking out nine times, while walking eight.
Vitalino Collina was the power source for us this month as he had another monster month, hitting .302/.368/.635 with eight homeruns and 17 RBI.
Minor League Recap
AAA Pawtucket 70-68 (5th place 12 GB)
AA Portland 67-67 (4th place 26 GB)
A Salem 49-91 (4th place 37 GB)
A Greenville 81-56 (1st place)
SA Lowell 23-49 (4th place 24 GB)
Boston DSL 23-49 (10th place 26 GB)
Boston GCL 25-35 (3rd place 14 GB)
Key Performers--
Pawtucket
OF Wilson Rea (4.5/5.0) .219 5-31
OF Jose Miranda (1.0/4.0) .229 6-34
Portland
2B Sergio Velazquez (2.5/4.5) .265 14-40
1B Ismael Beltre (1.0/4.0) .314 34-104
SS Weitze Maas (1.0/4.0) .268 10-50
3B Taheji Suzuki (1.0/4.0) .261 8-40
C Jorge Ramos (1.0/5.0) .246 14-57
Salem
OF Joel Thomas (1.0/3.5) .249 7-50
SS Dylan Powers (1.0/3.0) .222 9-49
SP Kevin Martin (1.0/3.0) 3-8 4.57
Greenville
C Hector Silva (1.0/4.0) .316 51-124
Other
OF Antonio Beccera (1.0/4.0) .236 0-17 (Boston DSL)
OF Ronnie Norman (1.0/4.5) .246 7-18
OF Stan Murdoch (1.0/3.5) .295 9-33
League Notes
8/24--St. Louis agrees to a 4/$40 contract extension with SP Dioscar Romero (9-12 2.99/34-48 4.15)