July was another good, though not great month for the Expos.
The Expos won 1 of 3 versus the Braves, 1 of 3 versus the Nationals, 2 of 3 versus the Cubs, and swept the Reds in three games. Four Expos made the NL All Star squad: RP Mosqueda, CL Burdi, 1B Franco, and RF Kirilloff.
At this point, 2B Massey was ready to rejoin the major league squad and to make space, I traded 3B Enright to Seattle for LF Trayce Thompson. Thompson is a veteran with great intangibles and immediately give my clubhouse a nice boost. The addition of Thompson resulted in demoting CF Reese to AAA.
After the all star game the Expos won 2 of 4 versus the Phillies, 2 of 3 versus the Padres, 1 of 3 versus the Diamondbacks, and 2 of 3 versus the Cardinals. Before this last series, I placed RF Kirilloff on the DL for two weeks with an injury. I promoted CF/RF Lawrence.
This adds up to a record of 14-11 for the month. The Expos are six games back of the Mets in the NL East and have a 3.5 game lead for the first NL Wild Card spot.
Below are the batting performances:
C Dillard had an outstanding month to get back on track after a somewhat slow start. RF Kirilloff, 1B Franco, and 3B Mendoza also impressed during the month. LF Bossiere and CF Williams also deserve an honorable mention.
And the pitchers:
In the rotation, McCormick had a great 1.96 ERA in 23 IP. SP Kaprielian (2.41 ERA) and SP Montes De Oca (3.23 ERA) also pitched well.
In the bullpen, CL Burdi, RP Mosqueda, and RP Rosales all posted sub 3.00 ERAs. Otherwise the bullpen had a lot of bad luck with worse than average ERAs and better than average FIPs.
Next up is a mid-season update on my top prospects...