[Bub13]

July 14-16 @ TEXAS
Despite our last series, I still expect little from this one. At 54-39, the Rangers haven't run away with the division, but they have a narrow four-game lead over Houston and another one over Seattle. Hitting has finally come around, to 6th in runs despite sitting 10th in average (at .278 they're three points and three positions behind us). Four regulars are batting over .300 and three of them have over 20 HR. Pitching is 2nd overall despite still having five pitchers on the DL. Bill Butts has the worst ERA among the starters at 5.13, which may be the best fifth-place number in the AL, tbh. They've taken two of three in each of our three series this year.

HAW pitchers: RH Josh Irvin (2-8, 7.58) / RH Andy Burke (2-2, 4.81) / LH Matt Waugh (12-2, 2.71)
TEX pitchers: RH Sean Reed (6-6, 4.55) / LH Bill Butts (7-8, 5.13) / LH Bobby Daniel (11-4, 2.97)

#94: LOSS 1-8 ... oh, Irvin, you scamp. Back to the farm with you...2.1 shutout IP in Sitzler's relief debut, at least
#95: WIN 7-3 ... Burke gives up 10 hits but rides a 5-run 5th to a win...Medici's 3-run HR is the key hit, and Royer knocks 3 hits
#96: LOSS 1-7 ... more woes for Waugh, getting pulled in the 6th...another HR for Medici, but only six other hits tonight

Four series with Texas, four 1-2 results.... After a 10-0 beginning to the year, Waugh's last five starts have amounted to three losses, 28 innings, and 23 earned runs.... Back to .500 and 8 games behind the Rangers. With 66 games left, of course we're not out of it; but this long run of subpar play shows no sign of abating.... New AAA pitcher Trevor Kaufmann lasts just one out in his first game before leaving with an injury. He's out for 8 months.... Irvin earns a quick trip back to California, and Biff Skiff makes his return. God knows what awaits.... ELSEWHERE: 29 hits away from 3000 for Giants 3B Juan Garcia. He's slumped a bit and is batting a career low .298.... Twelve straight wins for LA and their $1B bullpen. They should have the division wrapped up by Labor Day.... Chicago takes 2 out of 3 from Detroit, now has a three game lead in the Central.... Cincy's Cris Frias must be a thrill to watch: in 120 IP he's fanned 171 batters, but also walked 116.


July 17-19 @ CLEVELAND
They've been stuck at the bottom of the league table for most of the year, but something has changed of late as they're 13-2 this month. Only 14th in scoring despite better hitting (7th in average), mostly due to low OBP and OPS. But the 2-4 slots in the lineup are crushing it: Marcus Stokes at .348, Manny Ayala .344, and best of all is Matthew Hill at .364/30/82. Pitching is 15th, but the rotation ERA is league-worst. Youngsters Dudley Mele and Tyler Malinich have gotten better during the season after horrible starts, while Sam Tedder has not. But vet Ryan Ratliff just looks cooked, postively Skiffian this season. Of course these guys have gotten hot just in time for us to come to town.

HAW pitchers: RH Danny Carbajal (4-2, 3.61) / RH Mike Pearse (6-6, 4.04) / RH Biff "I'm Back" Skiff (0-4, 9.97)
CLE pitchers: RH Dudley Mele (7-4, 4.97) / RH Sam Tedder (2-9, 8.60) / RH Tyler Malinich (0-4, 5.92)

#97: WIN 4-1 ... another solid outing for Carbs, allowing 2 H over 7 IP...2 RBI for Ulkini, who then gets hurt
#98: WIN 11-10 ... 4-0 lead, then 5-3, 9-7, and a run for each team in the 9th...2 HR by Royer, and Gase hits his 1st career blast
#99: WIN 8-7 ... another messy win but I'll take it...HR for Medici, and also Kelley of all people...5 ER in 5 IP from Skiff, lowering (!) his ERA

Grouchy Bub strikes again. We really needed this sweep, and we move into a third place tie with Seattle.... Skiff doesn't impress in his return, but frankly it's been a low bar for him this year.... Injuries, man: dtd dings for Ulkini (3 weeks) and Pearse (1 week), and DL stints for Hed (2-3 weeks) and now Sitzler (five weeks). Add these to the 25 minor leaguers also out of action.... OF Stephen Eason comes up for his first stint this year, replacing Hed, and RP Brad Cahill gets his first MLB summons to replace Sitzler.... ELSEWHERE: White Sox SS Chris "Friable" Rock suffers his annual injury and will miss a month. Rock was batting .320 and playing solid defense, so he'll be missed. But they had to expect this.... Six games separate the top four teams in the AL West, and 9 games the top 5 in the NL East. With about two months remaining only LA has a seemingly insurmountable lead, at 15 games over Portland.... Hot teams: Boston, closing to 6 behind Tampa; St Louis, 2 behind New Orleans; and Minnesota, way back of CHI/DET but closing in on the fight for the second AL wild card.


July 21-23 vs TAMPA BAY
60-39 and six games ahead of the Red Sox. Third in runs and ninth in pitching, and a nice round +99 run differential. The usual suspects are all there at the top of the lineup--Orlando Navarro, Jorge Arriola, Edgar Aranceta, and Jose Taveras--all producing tons of offense. And former Isles star SS Rich Stoneback has held his creaky 36-year old body together so far, producing 11 HR and solid defense. The rotation looks a little wobbly but the bullpen has been top five, with Ken Zeolla (31 saves) closing and Bubba Fairweather and Jeff Ward as solid setup men. We'll also probably see our former big guy Kyle Johnson, whom we just traded and who also registered a win in his one appearance here. They're looking good to rack up their fourth consecutive 90-win season, and possibly their first triple digit season since 2031.

HAW pitchers: RH Andy Burke (3-2, 4.54) / LH Matt Waugh (12-3, 2.87) / RH Danny Carbajal (5-2, 3.38)
TBR pitchers: RH Greg Drake (7-5, 5.94) / RH Roberto Melo (6-3, 5.65) / RH Mat Caldwell (6-13, 5.40)

#100: WIN 9-7 ... we hold on after an early 8-2 lead...HR for Royer and Medici...dtd injury for Covington
#101: WIN 9-7 ... 3 guys rack up 8 hits: 4 for Lynn, 2 each for Medici and Kolb...7 walks too tho...Waugh gets smoked, pulled in 2nd inning
#102: WIN 12-4 ... offensive explosion! 12 runs, 15 hits, 10 walks...4 hits for Kolb, Lynn and Matson with 3 each

Well that came out of nowhere. None of the pitchers showed up (outside of Carbs), but a bunch of hits, 7 HR, and a gazillion walks gave us the sweep... After startinng the year 10-0 with a 1.69 ERA, Waugh's last 6 starts have amounted to: 2-3, 29.2 IP, 38 H, 29 ER, 35 K, 15 BB. Oh brother.... 8 guys out with injury right now. Two--Pearse and Covington--will be back in two days with dtd tweaks. Hed and Ulkini will take 2-3 weeks; everyone else is done.... One of our top pitching prospects, Steve Shinnick, in AA, is out for four months. Hopefully he won't lose any steam, as he's another guy I was counting on to see in camp.... ELSEWHERE: We're solidly into the "Trade prospects for mediocre relievers! Stat!" Silly Season. Three of them in this stetch, including first place Washington acquiring 37-year old David Salguero from California. Sags has pitched terribly all year and has already announced his retirement, so what gives.... Tampa traded several quality prospects to Arizona for Mat Campbell (see game 102 above), just in time for us to take him to the woodshed. Welcome to the AL, Mat!


July 24-26 vs OAKLAND
Hitting has not come around, at 15th in runs; but 6th in home runs thanks largely to Ryan Walton (45) and Felix Reyes (29). Pitching ranks 12th, and the rotation--while not great--has held up despite having three top starters on long-term DL. Another former Isles star is still going here, 39-year old 2B Mike Hunter, batting .295 and looking at yet another season of 40 doubles. With 625 career doubles, he's 14th all-time and closing in on Joe Mauer and Albert Pujols, just ahead of him. They've played better this month, 12-9, and have passed California to get out of last place.

HAW pitchers: RH Biff Skiff (0-4, 9.87) / RH Mike Pearse (6-6, 4.08) / RH Andy Burke (4-2, 4.62)
OAK pitchers: RH Oscar Escobedo (2-1, 4.55) / RH Jason Petty (2-9, 5.94) / RH Jaden Bartholomew (8-9, 5.80)

#103: LOSS 4-6 ... a 4-1 lead goes away quickly...surprise, another bad outing from Skiff...3-run HR from Medici, on fire this week
#104: WIN 3-1 ... finally, pitching!...8 hits and 7 walks tonight...6 IP of 2-hit ball from Pearse on his return
#105: WIN 13-9 ... 3-run HR from Groff and Covington, and 15 total hits...nobody pitches well, however, from either team

Who needs pitching, right? I think the rotation plays rock-paper-scissors every five days to see who's going to be the one guy to pitch well.... First time in a while we're outhitting some really mediocre pitching: we went from 12th in runs a week ago to tied for sixth.... We've crept up to seven (seven!) games over .500 and three games behind Texas, one behind Houston.... Potentially bad news is closer Jordan Ruiz and his pending injury diagnosis.... A few weeks ago we offered minor league deals to two pitchers to help fill in some AAA and AA injuries. Both tuned us down, their agents "insulted" by said minor league offers. Well, both ended up signing tiny deals for European clubs. Get new agents, guys.... ELSEWHERE: A 2-8 run has dropped the Mets to 9 games out, proving that losing your top three hitters to long-term injury is definitely NOT a winning strategy.... a 5-game losing streak for Cleveland and a 7-game slide for Montreal has them at matching 39-66 records.... 72 wins has the Chisox on top of everybody, but LA just reached the 70-win plateau as well. And the glorious AL West? The only division without a 60-win team.... 20 hits away from 3K for Juan Garcia, back up to a .302 average. In his 16-year career he's only ever not hit .300 three times, and each of those seasons he batted .299. He's also never won a batting crown.


July 27-29 vs HOUSTON
Part of a three-team phalanx making a charge on the Rangers: 2 games back at 57-48, we're another game back, Seattle a game behind us. Hitting is leaving the building, now 11th in runs and 16th in average. Pitching, however, is keeping the ship afloat: 4th overall, and the league's best bullpen. Jose Renteria is pretty much the lone offensive star, at .306/33/79, and Kevin Mazurowski rebounded from a terrible June to get back to .273/20/70. One worry for the future here is that there's very little offensive talent in the system, and the youngish guys on the big clubs play solid defense--the team is 1st in efficiency and ZR--but don't hit much. Some promising pitchers are brewing up, however.

HAW pitchers: LH Matt Waugh (12-3, 3.23) / RH Danny Carbajal (6-2, 3.51) / RH Mike Bader (4-6, 5.57)
HOU pitchers: LH Chris Salmela (3-5, 5.17) / RH Ron Mills (7-4, 4.85) / RH Chris James (5-12, 7.27)

#106: WIN 6-0 ... Waugh is back, fanning 10 yielding just 3 hits...but the big story is Medici going 4-for-4 with 3 HR, tying the team record
#107: WIN 3-2 ... strong game from Carbs, but Kearns gets the win because we wait to score all 3 runs in the 9th
#108: WIN 8-1 ... Matson homers, Medici raps 3 more hits...7.2 IP of shutout ball by Bader on his return from the DL

Another out-of-nowhere series. The Astros aren't hitting much these days, and we really took advantage. Great starts by all three pitchers, and a nice welcome back to Bader from injury.... His return means Skiff goes back to AAA, after just a disastrous run of starts for him this year.... Medici's big game ties the team record, set by Josh Frederick in '52 and tied by Dante Padilla in '49. He's now reached 40 HR on the season.... We have 15 pitchers on the DL across our system as of this writing. Not ideal.... ELSEWHERE: Miami is shoring up their depth for a run at the post-season, acquiring old-but-still solid (and former Isle) 2B Mike Hunter from Oakland and read-for-primetime pitching prospect Dylan Tate from Boston. In the first deal, they also swapped big-swinging and near-identical prospects for some reason, adding 1B Jeff White and moving OF Jorge Ledesma. Currently they're just outside a wildcard slot, so they're rolling the dice on a hot August.... We're on a 9-1 run, but Texas swept California to add a game to their lead, now three games.... RUN TO 3K WATCH: Giants 3B Juan Garcia now has 2850 hits, just 15 away.


July 31 vs CALIFORNIA
The month ends with the first of three against the last place Angels. They were hanging on through May, just three games under .500 and still within range in the up-for-grabs West; but a mediocre June and now a 7-20 July ended any hopes they had of making a late run. That, and a 17th-ranked offense, still waning despite a resurgent William Swanson (.321 with 34 HR). Pitching sits 11th, and faces some questions now with the regressions of young pros Nate Elder and Aaron Moore. At least Seth O'Neill has started living up to his top-of-the-rotation promise. There isn't a lot of depth in the prospect tank, but LF Chris Burns is having a solid rookie season (.270/12/44) and when he's fully cooked he'll be a major mid-lineup bat. Fellow OF kids Tim Cyr and Adam Richardson could join him to form a solid outfield crew at least, even if the infield cupboard looks a little barren.

HAW pitcher: RH Mike Pearse (7-6, 3.96)
CAL pitcher: RH Seth O'Neill (10-7, 3.96)

#109: WIN 3-2 ... Gase goes 3-for-3, Venters 2 hits, 2 RBI, and a solo HR...8 K in 6.1 IP from Pearse

Nice way to finish the month, and on a six-game win streak.... Joe Lynn broke his own team record with his 49th steal on the season, and now has 176 for his career, in third behind the still-active-but-slowing Groff (265) and Simmons (247). On the flip side, he's also broken his team record for times caught stealing, at 24 this season.... We reached 60 wins after this game, a mark we hit around late June last year.... ELSEWHERE: A pile of trades greets the end of the month, but few make any waves at all. Richmond acquires OF Phil Cronce from Miami for a couple of prospects; only of interest because Cronce has hit .300 with 73 HR over 2+ seasons with the Marlins, something my scouts say he shouldn't be capable of. (And wasn't Miami making moves to get INTO the playoffs? Odd one here.).... Richmond is just two games behind Washington in the NL East, and top-to-bottom there is only separated by 11 games, the tightest total spread of any division.... A middling stretch from Detroit has them at "only" 69-40, but six games behind Chicago and in third place overall, as LA went 20-8 this month to finish 72-37.

......

TL;DR Version: A 13-3 run here is more like it! (And 19-9 for the month, our best one of '54!) That brings us to 60-49 on the season, three games behind the Rangers and two up on Houston. One bit of news that escaped attention: we agreed on a major contract extension with Jules Medici, at 8 years and $173M. He's ours through 2060, at an escalating rate that averages out to just under $20M per season: an absolute bargain if you ask me. After '60 he has an opt out, but if he stays, he'll play two more seasons at $25.9M per with us. This deal eats up his final two years of arbitration, but seeing as the estimates for him we got were about the same as what we signed him for (16M and 18M estimate versus 17.9M and 18.9M reality), you can only guess what his salary ask would have been after that. (Hint: in excess of $30M per season is my guess.)

Finally, with the trade deadline here, we look around a bit but make no moves. I skulked about for a possible solid offensive 2B option on the market, but the two guys I looked at were too pricey: Mets all-star Alfonso Torres and Cards vet (and former Isle!) Manny Rangel. Both teams wanted Matt Waugh as a starting point. LOL good luck with your failing seasons, fellow GMs. So, no deals and now we dance with what we brung. A solid August will keep us right in the playoff hunt, and possibly the division race too. A bad month means...we gut Santa Barbara and get some more MLB looks at a host of prospects in September.