July started with bad news -- SS Warren will miss the next six weeks with an injury. I called up SS Phipps to fill his spot.
The Expos started the month hot with wins in 4 of 4 versus the Cubs and 3 of 3 versus the Cardinals. CL Bedingfield, 2B Draxler, and LF Derringer all made the National League All-Star team.
The Expos continued their winning ways after the all star break with wins in 3 of 3 versus the Mets, 2 of 3 versus the Giants, 1 of 3 versus the Dodgers, 2 of 3 versus the Reds, 2 of 3 versus the Braves, and 2 of 2 versus the Yankees. Toward the end of the month I received notice that my top draft pick this year, CF Sean Rose, will miss the rest of the season with a ruptured achillies.
For the month, the Expos played to an incredible 19-5 record. This pushed them into a first place tie in the NL East with the Phillies and a 2.5 game lead for the first wild card spot. SP Diplan was named the NL Pitcher of the Month.
Here is how my batters performed for the month:
CF Polovina finally showed why I traded for him as he had the best month of my batters and led the team with 8 HR. 1B Flores was a close second in wRC. 2B Draxler, LF Derringer, and 1B Garza also had good months.
And here's the pitchers:
A big part of the better overall record this month can be attributed to the best my rotation has performed all year so far. SP Caballero (2.93 ERA, 3.19 FIP), SP Diplan (1.56 ERA, 3.60 FIP), SP Killough (3.64 ERA, 3.86 FIP), SP Britland (2.90 ERA, 4.09 FIP), and SP Womble (2.57 ERA, 4.36 FIP) all had good or great months depending on if you prefer ERA or FIP.
In the bullpen, RP Sandborn, RP Takara, RP Sianez, CL Bedingfield (10 SV), and RP Mosqueda all had strong months. RP Crose was incredibly unlucky and RP Blake struggled mightily.
Next we will look at the Expos' midseason prospect rankings update...