As we enter the month of July of the 1982 WPK season, let's take a look at the current standings:
As you can see, the SJL West remains a two team race between San Antonio and El Paso with everyone else well below .500 and, as we approach the mid-way point of the season, essentially out of the running. El Paso has certainly got a boost from off-season free agent signing Jose Gutierrez. Gutierrez (.346/.408/.517) is not only the team captain but is on pace for the best season of his already fine career and looks to be a legitimate SJL MVP candidate. They also have had great success with their veteran, deep, but unheralded starting pitching rotation, though they do have some injury danger, especially for the oft-injured (Wrecked) 31-year old 1974 SJL Pitcher of the Year Dan Bottom, who is currently day-to-day with a sore back.
San Antonio continues to have the most feared lineup, probably in all of the WPK. With four batters in the middle of their lineup all among the top six in home runs in the SJL and three of those four hitting over .300 (the exception being future Hall-of-Fame and 4-time league MVP Bud Lindsay, who is hitting .291/.340/.510, is considered wrecked physically, but remains a defensive force, is the team captain, and is on pace for an 8 WAR season), this team just rakes. While their pitching staff is not as dominant it is more than competent though the defense behind them is mostly merely competent (in spite of Gold Glovers up the middle of the infield in Lindsay at short and SJL MVP frontrunner John Mussaw at second base).
Over in the SJL East, the Washington Night Train continue to stretch out a lead as their primary contenders fade away a bit towards mid-season, particularly the under-achieving reigning division champs (2 years running), the Pittsburgh Roadrunners. A player to watch for on the Night Train is 22-year old right-handed starting pitcher Dusty Swarthout, who is 10-1 with a 2.46 ERA at this stage of the season. Swarthout already has a nasty changeup, slider combination in his 5-pitch repertoire and should his screwball develop to its potential, he looks like a dominant ace in the future. Washington is getting great production from a pair of young South Korean players- left fielder Myon-ki Choi and second baseman Ki-moon Kym- and veteran first baseman Luis Gonzales continues to be one of the more consistent power-hitters in the league at age 35 (more below).
Looking at the MGL East, this is looking like it has the potential to be the hardest fought race in the WPK, with no standout teams but several teams jostling for position at the top of the standings.
And in the MGL West, the Denver Brewers, after an odd month which saw them red-hot at the beginning, slumping a bit in the middle, and again quite hot at the end, retain first place over the reigning champs, Portland, and the early leaders San Francisco.
Let's spotlight the top performers this month, starting with the SJL's top pitcher:
In a long and consistent career Jose Casillas has largely been overshadowed by more spectacular aces and has never won a Pitcher of the Year award and has only been a All-Star twice. All of which is odd for a man who is a fan favorite and is now 4th all time in career wins. But with Washington once again a strong team this may be the year that Casillas will finally get more recognition and some end of season hardware.
The SJL's top batter this past month:
We talked about him a bit above, but you can see a theme here that might indicate why Washington is doing as well as they are.
The top pitcher in June in the MGL:
Joe Shetler is not only one of the finest starting pitchers in the league, he is also a real fan favorite!
And finally, the top hitter in the MGL for June:
Yeah, Denver's
Brett Taranto isn't just flirting with hitting .400 this season, he's making it look like child's play. Surely he has to come back to earth sometime, right? But thus far, every time it looks like that might happen he heats right back up again. Currently he is carrying a 17-game hitting streak into July.