[Bub13]

With the All-Star break, we'll have just 25 games this month. Only 8 at home, and except for a homestand from 7/24-26, we'll be on the road from the 7th through the rest of the month. And with the trade deadline looming, we'll obviously consider buffing any spots that aren't looking good over these weeks.

July 1-2 vs CLEVELAND
Finishing up this series with two games.

HAW pitchers: RH Tim Ciotta (4-4, 5.04) / RH Dennis Perry (6-4, 5.06)
CLE pitchers: RH Ryan Ratliff (4-7, 6.59) / RH George Millard (8-6, 4.25)

#83: WIN 8-7 ... we score all our runs early then hold on for dear life...3-run HR from Groff and Whittington...Ciotta gets hammered again
#84: WIN 4-2 ... Goodloe goes 4-for-5, including the GW 2-run HR in the 10th...Perry finally has a good game, yielding just 1 run over 6 IP

Sweep! Even a sweep of a last-place team still merits an exclamation point.... International free agents are out, and everyone wants a sh*t-ton of money. We do make one offer, but that will max us out.... The prospects report was also just revised, and we're still number one. We now have ten players in the top 100, including seven pitchers. Recent draft picks Andy Burke (#69, nice) and Travis Harris (#81) make their debuts, and two other 2051 pitching picks are in the top 150.... ELSEWHERE: Atlanta's won 8 out of 10 and has opened up a 10.5 game lead over Washington. Pittsburgh has the same lead over Montreal.... Detroit's Luis Rodela was AL player of the month for June, and leads all MLB with 34 HR.... Yankees pitcher Joe Erkel won the AL Cy Young award last year with a 5.5 WAR season. This year two pitchers (MacLeod, 6.5; Frias 5.9) have already passed that.... Miami's David Von Eschen had his 27-game hitting streak ended.


July 3-5 vs CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Hanging on behind the hot Tigers, at 44-39 and 4.5 games out. Offense ranks 8th in runs, despite losing star SS Chris Rock and decent 2B/DH Tim Ost for the season. CF Zeke de la Rosa has cooled after his hot start, but is still swinging a .316/24/65 bat. At 34, rookie 2B Ninsei Sato has 20 HR, and RF Andy Barenberg is batting .283 with 16 HR. Pitching is 13th in runs allowed, probably better than could be expected given that two starters and two relievers (including closer Burton Dick) are on the DL. Starter Luke Weaver is having another quietly effective year (he's average nearly 5 WAR a season over the past five), and sophomore Ivan Moreno has been better than advertised. Manager Taylor Black has been around since '46, and hasn't moved the needle much one way or the other. Budget and stuff: 19th in payroll and budget. Owner Andy Johnston is more interested in profit, but if he would just build a winning team the ASTRONOMICAL fan base would see him raking in untold trillions or even gazillions.

HAW pitchers: RH Mike Pearse (9-1, 3.33) / LH Eric Jones (8-8, 3.95) / RH Shamar Jackson (11-2, 3.57)
CHW pitchers: RH Emmanuel Vasquez (3-3, 4.56) / RH Luke Weaver (10-3, 3.42) / RH Danny Ruiz (3-9, 7.62)

#85: WIN 3-0 ... a 3-hit, 11-K effort from Pearse...3 hits from Matson, including 2 solo HR
#86: WIN 6-5 ... 13 singles and Cappuccilli's walk-off HR in the 10th are the story...that, and Jones' injury after facing one batter
#87: WIN 8-1 ... lots of runs, on just 10 hits...Dunklee homers, average is up to .270...4 hits yielded by Jackson

We are just killing July. Long road trip coming tho, let's see what that brings.... Injury to Jones is just a week-long dtd thing; with the all-star break coming, he won't miss a start. No other injuries right now.... Three teams have made trade offers: "we'll accept a couple of good, young players for this washed-up old man, okay?".... I had to sign one international free agent: catcher Santiago Delgado joins the system. If he hits his marks he'll be a high-contact doubles hitter, won't strike out but won't hit many out, can't run, above average receiver. Good intangibles, so that gives him a fighting chance to make it, but with 16 year olds you just never know.... ELSEWHERE: Baltimore and California reached 30 wins. I'm really hoping for a 50-win team this year.... Montreal 3B Antonio Maestas leads MLB with 141 strikeouts. He led everyone with 230 last year. He's on pace with 266 this year, while earning 1.3 WAR. He's no Jordan Cruz (who would get 3-4 WAR most years because of his defense), but at least he's not Baltimore's Nick Mullens, who's whiffed 131 times in 276 AB, while hitting .178.


July 7-9 @ MILWAUKEE
Five straight years of over-.500 records is in jeopardy, at 41-43. Offense is 11th, pitchings is 12th. They are 6th in home runs, with six regulars in double figures. LF Neil Cockrell (.299/22/41) and CF Oscar Espinosa (.302/19/39) have been the offensive stars. The rotation is sputtering: only Jeffrey Foley has an ERA below 5. Maybe having five pitchers on the DL has hurt them. Manager SG Che is in his sixth year, and is still riding high on winning Manager of the Year in his rookie campaign in '46. Money and stuff: budget is 18th, payroll is 9th. Finally! A team that is spending money, even if it's not really paying off right now.

HAW pitchers: RH Tim Ciotta (5-4, 5.20) / RH Dennis Perry (6-4, 4.84) / RH Mike Pearse (10-1, 3.09)
MIL pitchers: RH Ryan Crawley (6-7, 5.32) / LH Daniel Becker (2-3, 5.14) / RH John De Jong (1-3, 5.06)

#88: WIN 7-4 ... Cappuccilli goes single, triple, HR, with 4 RBI...2 hits, 3 runs for Simmons
#89: WIN 11-0 ... we outhit them 15 to 3...3 hits each for Lynn and Daley, 2 hits and 3 BB for Groff...10 K complete game for Perry
#90: WIN 5-0 ... six doubles and a triple tonight...no shutout for Pearse (7.1 IP), but second straight start not allowing a run

Another sweep, and again no complaints from me. But: Frederick gets hurt sliding into second in the last game, and has a pending diagnosis. Uh-oh.... We go into the all-star break on a nine-game winning streak and a 62-28 record.... Closer Jon White wants to talk new contract too.... ELSEWHERE: Conor MacLeod does it again, striking out 21 Orioles in a 9-3 win.... California trades their ace, Jon Carlsen, to Cincinnati for 3B Joe Thompson (high-power, low-contact) and RP (but future SP?) Seth O'Neill. Decent trade for both: Cincy gets help for the stretch drive, and Cali actually gets some younger players that could help their rebuild. [Note: Carlsen was someone I considered making an offer for, but his intangibles aren't great, and he's only got two pitches. But is still successful.]

......

It's the All-Star break! First, there's the prospects game. We send four players: pitchers Henry Skiffington and Mike Bader, 1B Jules Medici, and OF Josh Hed. The game itself was not close, as the AL kids beat the NL 6-1. Our pitchers didn't play, and Medici went 0-for-3, Hed 1-for-2. Next is the main event, where we also place four guys: starters will be 3B Bob Goodloe and LF Cam Daley; we add relievers Yue-jiu Yi and Jon White. The Yankees also place four players. The game was close, with the AL winning 5-3 at Minnesota's Target Field. All our guys played, with Daley going 3-for-4 and Goodloe 1-for-2. Both pitchers tossed shutout innings. Boston's Victor Sanchez (2-for-4, GW HR) was the game MVP.

Before we get back to regular events, here's some news to be filed under NOT GOOD AT ALL. First, three of my top draft picks--all pitchers--are already down with major injuries. At least the one Travis Harris got was a hamstring, not an arm/shoulder one. Second, and more immediate to the cause: Josh Frederick suffered a broken fibula and is out for 2-3 months. Right now, I'm not sure if I'll make a trade or not. There aren't any great-looking OF on the block right now: at least, none with some power, contact, and defense combined. My feeling right now is to give bench guys Cappuccilli and Burrows some more AB and see what they can do, before looking harder outside the organization.

......

July 14-16 @ BOSTON
The mega road trip continues on the east coast in Fenway. Small losing records each month have combined for their current 40-50 mark, 13 games out of first. The 4th-ranked offense is, sadly, paired with league-worst pitching. Victor Sanchez (.303/24/58) is the recent All-Star MVP, leadoff batter Luis Sandoval is hitting .293, and they recently acquired former Isles backup catcher Dave McCollum (.288). DH Sean Kropp is pulling double duty, batting .269/12/29 and in the rotation at 6-3, 4.12. Manager Gustavo Nunez is in his second season, winning 84 games last year. Money and stuff: 11th budget, 14th payroll, and owner Matthew Zunker wants a championship team by next year. Probably...not gonna happen. We swept these guys at home back in April.

HAW pitchers: LH Eric Jones (8-8, 3.94) / RH Shamar Jackson (12-2, 3.41) / RH Mike Pearse (11-1, 2.90)
BOS pitchers: RH Zion Robinson (5-5, 4.75) / RH Danny Diaz (6-4, 5.15) / LH Jonathan Esquivel (2-5, 5.44)

#91: LOSS 4-8 ... Jones doesn't get out of the second inning...Whittington knocks a 3-run HR, but we manage only four other hits
#92: WIN 7-5 ... we crank out 8 doubles, driving in nearly all our runs...Jackson goes 7, wins his 13th
#93: WIN 6-1 ... 11 strikeouts by Pearse...3 hits, 2 RBI for Lynn, and 2 hits and RBI for Daley

The winning streak is over, but we still took two and maintain a 9-game lead over Oakland.... The new RF situation so far: Cappuccilli 4-for-10, newbie Stephen Eason 0-for-5. Early days yet.... By the way, I called up OF Stephen Eason for his first taste of the big time. I'm going to try rotating him, Cappuccilli, and Julius Burrows through RF until someboday says "I'm the guy!" Burrows, however, will probably play a bit less as he's the only one of the three truly fit to also play CF, where he backs up Lynn.... ELSEWHERE: Several more trades go through the works, none worth reporting. Teams seem to be hot for middle relievers right now.... Cincy loses ace Cris Frias for three weeks with a sore back. Chances are, tho, that he'll still be leading the NL in strikeouts when he returns (211 so far; 2nd place Jose Gutierrez has 175).... San Francisco is four games under .500 and likely going nowhere this year, but they're still in third in the NL West. Quite remarkable seeing as they just put their sixth SP on the DL, and 12th player overall. Their current rotation pitched a combined 61 MLB innings last year.

......

TL;DR Version: A lovely 10-1 stretch, including most of a nine-game winning streak. We're a crazy 64-29 overall. Frederick's injury stings, but hopefully we've got the horses to come close to his production. If not, we're still a couple weeks away from the trade deadline, and I've got assets I can deal. Frederick should be back for the playoffs. (Yeah, I'm thinking playoffs already.) Pitching has been pretty good of late, and we're back in 1st in runs against. The pen has been particularly solid, with YJ Yi earning an all-star berth on the back of a 2.80 ERA and 89 K in 64 IP. And finally, I'm not sure what I'll do with the disappointing Tim Ciotta and his 5.18 ERA...