[Bub13]

July was a make-or-break month, and we responded by winning 16 games. Good. Now we need to consolidate those gains in this 28-game month and put ourselves securely into the wildcard picture, rather than hanging around on the edge of it. (I think the division is out of play, unless something disastrous happens to the Rangers.) We have an even home-road split this month; one oddity about our record is that we only went over .500 at home late in July. (Our road record is a nice 32-23.) No planned changes to the lineup or roster: as usual I'll respond to hot and cold streaks, without worrying about who "should" be starting.

August 1-2 @ CALIFORNIA
Wrapping up this series. We won game one to finish July.

HAW pitchers: LH Matt Waugh (14-4, 2.83) / RH Jose Rivera (8-12, 4.05)
CAL pitchers: RH Nate Elder (3-7, 3.33) / LH Shaun Ostrander (8-5, 3.35)

#107: WIN 5-3 ... Gamboa and Medici homer, and Chase Thompson doubles home a run in his return to MLB...Waugh goes 8, fanning 10 and yielding just 5 hits
#108: WIN 6-3 ... down early, we score three late, capped by Medici's 2-run shot in the 9th...Rivera pitches well across 7.1 IP, and Kearns earns his 20th save

Nice to close out a sweep, and push the Angels to seven games behind us. We're 8 behind Texas, and 3 up in the wildcard #2 spot.... The less said about the "production" from our catcher spot, the better: three guys have combined for -1 WAR, a .195 average, and just 9 HR.... 62 home runs for AA megastar Beau Collins, and 119 hits vs 112 strikeouts.... ELSEWHERE: rough month of July for Mets ace Conor MacLeod, going winless in five starts and sporting a negative WAR. But he woke up to toss a 13-K two-hitter against Pittsburgh to start off August.... Portland has won 7 straight to bring their record to 62-46. Like us, they're probably out of the division race--ten games behind the Dodgers. But they're back in the wildcard hunt, chasing down Philadephia and New Orleans.... Brewers basher Ricky Ayala becomes the first to 40 HR, and now leads the AL race by six.... At 44, Lance Powell has no ratings left at catcher, none at all. Yet he's made four starts there for the A's and has a rare stat: a 0.000 defensive efficiency rating.


August 4-6 vs SEATTLE
At 49-59 they're four games ahead of Oakland in the "race to the bottom" AL West sweepstakes. These guys hit home runs (3rd), steal bases (4th), and score runs (7th). That's it. Paul Stough's return from the DL has juiced the power output, and the 2-3-4 slots of Rogelio Pena/Ger van Mourik/Stough have combined for 73 home runs. Too many other guys, however, seem content to live out their days as low-contact hitters, not really adding anything to the offense except their bright, white smiles. Pitching has not been good, and the pen remains a tire fire. Vince Push scouts as a Cy Young candidate, but in his third year in MLB he has yet to get his ERA under five. How long can they keep waiting for him? The best pitchers have been veteran newbies Mike Bader (from us) and Zion Robinson (from NOZ), with holdover Danny Diaz showing occasional bright flashes. Once #2 starter Ron Rivera returns from injury, there's a decent rotation here. But I'll say it again: spend some money! You can't win with 3-4 good hitters, 2-3 starting pitchers, and a clown show everywhere else. Unfortunately most of their prospects worth talking about are 2-3 years away, at least. (Excepting 1B Jay Giese, a true 1B/DH type, who should be in the bigs now, but isn't.) It all adds up to a team still looking for its first winning season this decade.

HAW pitchers: RH Josh Irvin (8-9, 4.22) / LH Daniel Croft (9-9, 4.58) / LH John Loeb (11-4, 3.01)
SEA pitchers: RH Vince Push (8-10, 5.49) / RH Daniel Newell (1-7, 5.64) / RH Danny Diaz (7-6, 4.16)

#109: WIN 4-1 ... Collins hits his 10th, and we somehow scrape out 4 runs from just 7 hits...Irvin: 5 hits, 6 K, 1 BB, in 8 IP
#110: WIN 6-4 ... a 5-0 lead gets tight as Croft gives up 4 in the 7th...Pederson adds an insurance solo HR in the bottom half and we hold on
#111: WIN 6-4 ... finally we reach double figures in hits...Hagemann's pinch GRAND SLAM in the 7th is the winner, and we round things out with ten singles

Well that's nice. A six-game winning streak has us 8 up on California, and 7 behind Texas. Tied for the top wildcard spot with Milwaukee, three games ahead of Tampa Bay.... Two games here were closer than they should have been thanks to leaving in the starter for too long. Will have to chat up Chris Kenney about that.... JJ Simmons is 18 hits away from 2000 and would become the second player to reach that total in his Islander career, after the magnificent Adam Groff. He's also one away from 300 career steals.... ELSEWHERE: "Laugh at the name, but not at the game." Boston's Ty Knott (real name) is not even 23 and is already a superstar. Last year, his first full-time season, he finished third in the batting race at .338, and led the AL in runs, hits, and doubles. This year he leads that category, as well as most triples and is closing in on 7 WAR. And he's not even fully grown yet. Given the Red Sox' 16th-placed offense, he's cleary a one-man show in town. Get him some help, guys!...


August 7-9 @ MIAMI
A hot team for a couple of months has cooled off to start this month, at 1-4. Their lead over Tampa Bay has shrunk to 6 games, and 8 over Boston. But fear not! They still possess the 6th-best offense and the 3rd-best pitching in the AL. Toshi Shimabukuro (.319/29/82) and Chris Bierly (.321/17.60) pace the offense, but having SS Mario Rivera and CF Nelson Trevino out for two and eight weeks, respectively, has soured the attack somewhat. They did make a few deadline pickups, grabbing 1B Marcus Dotson from the Yankees, and two relievers to help shore up a 14th-ranked bullpen. They also called up top pitching prospect Doug Billings and slotted him into middle relief; he should be in the rotation next year. I'm not sure they have quite the hitting depth to take on a Texas or a Detroit, but this is a solid team that could ride hot pitching into a playoff series win anyway. They've missed the playoffs three years running, after making the Series in '51 and winning 101 games the following year. So this is more of a fast-track retooling than a major rebuild; they should be able to hold off all comers in the East and get their post-season shot again.

HAW pitchers: LH Matt Waugh (15-4, 2.81) / RH Jose Rivera (9-12, 4.03) / RH Josh Irvin (9-9, 4.05)
MIA pitchers: RH Dwaine Webb (9-8, 3.89) / LH Victor Nunez (13-3, 3.79) / RH Dylan Tate (debut)

#112: WIN 6-0 ... five-hitter for Waugh, in 8.2 IP, fanning 10...only 9 hits, but Bennetsen knocks a bases-loaded triple, and Medici adds two RBI singles
#113: LOSS 2-3 ... Rivera is stout, fanning 12, but a pair of timely doubles undo him...Lynn and Gamboa get two hits each
#114: WIN 9-3 ... big nights: Tipping goes 4-for-4 with a HR and 3 RBI, while Calderin gets 2 hits and 5 RBI...Irvin leaves in the first with back spasms

No complaints here, although we had a prime chance for a third straight sweep.... Irvin's injury is just dtd, and he shouldn't miss his next start.... Six players now in double figures in home runs, although no one has reached 20 yet.... Former top pitching prospect Manny Tirado, now 27, tore his rotator cuff and is done for nearly a calendar year. What could have been: he's never pitched a full season in his seven years in our system (20 starts in '52 is his high), and now probably won't be back with us next year. So long, Manny.... ELSEWHERE: So yeah, Philly keeps winning despite awful pitching and nagging injuries to top hitters (3 games out of first), and Richmond has been solid all year to keep their lead in the NL East. But don't sleep on the Nationals, winners of nine straight: they're 63-51 and just six games out. They're still in fourth in the wildcard race, but a month ago no one would have picked them to even be at this level.... Pitching has fully taken over in the NL again: the top hitter is batting .309 and five pitchers have ERA under 2.50.... Hey kids, got money to spend? Well don't spend it on big contracts in this league. The top two earners in MLB are Atlanta pitcher Jose Gutierrez ($45M) and Brooklyn SS Ben Grossman ($39). Gutierrez hasn't pitched all year (and made just two starts last year), and Grossman has missed over two months already.


August 10-12 @ OAKLAND
Yet another monthly divisional matchup. Opening 2-6 in August has put them in last in the division, two games behind the equally-slumpy Mariners. Offense ranks 17th, pitching 13th, with a -110 run differential. They haven't listened to my advice from the last time we played and put in their raft of kids to give them some no-pressure experience, outside of putting Jose Luna in right field. (Luna, 22, projects as a solid contact/doubles hitter with some power, nice speed, and an iffy glove despite good range and arm.) What we're also watching is if 44-year-old Lance Powell can reach 610 career home runs to move him into 9th place past Sammy Sosa. (Or even match/surpass Jim Thome, at 612.) Powell sits at 605 currently. Some interesting news is that with the pending free agency/retirement departures of Powell, P Jim Schwartz, SS Noah Johnson, and 1B Justin Sandy, their bank account will have some $85M to play around with this fall. (And it'll be over $100M if 3B Ryan Walton declines his player option.) But will they spend any of it?

HAW pitchers: LH Daniel Croft (10-9, 4.57) / LH John Loeb (12-4, 3.08) / LH Matt Waugh (16-4, 2.67)
OAK pitchers: RH Jaden Bartholomew (7-5, 4.92) / RH Jeff Robinson (4-1, 3.46) / RH Josh Foggie (3-3, 2.88)

#115: WIN 7-0 ... seven-hit CG for Croft, fanning three with zero walks...Pederson is suspended for 3 after punching out RP Pat Fortier...he also hit a HR and produced 4 RBI
#116: LOSS 3-5 ... a pair of HR from Alex Esquilin provides all their runs...only 7 hits tonight, still not hitting much even in wins
#117: WIN 14-2 ... okay, quit complaining: 17 hits, 3 HR...Matson, Tipping, and Hagemann all with 3 hits, and each with a HR...Waugh fans 12 in 7 IP, gives up just 5 hits

Okay, some nice offense in that third game, garnering us two of the three Players of the Day.... Pederson sitting gives Hagemann a little time to shine, which he does with 4 hits and a HR in his first two starts.... Jordan Ruiz comes off his rehab stint (4 G, 5.1 IP, 0 runs), and Yoshi Watanabe (6.08 ERA) heads back to AAA.... Speaking of AAA, pitcher Will McGee gets hurt again. He's only made 7 starts due to several back injuries, poor guy. At 24, he's not done yet; but I'd like him to make a run at a rotation spot next spring, and you have to start questioning his durability at this point.... ELSEWHERE: With just 41 wins San Diego is doing its best to secure the #1 overall draft pick. Why worry now, you say? Because there's a geniune could-be superstar at the top of the scouting pile right now, in catcher Jayden Beachum. Guy looks like a legit triple crown threat one day, and could be ready for the bigs in a year or so. Number two isn't a bad consolation prize: OF Nick Whipp, another all-around hitting stud who may only struggle with strikeouts early in his career.... KC was the surprise hot team in the AL for a while, but a fall off since mid-July has sent them to third in the Central, 11 games out of first, and now 6 games out of the wildcard chase.... 109 RBI for Milwaukee's Ricky Ayala, closing in on his career high of 118, from last season.


August 14-16 @ HOUSTON
We continue our tour through the division with the 53-64 Astros, 21 games out and in 4th place. Offense ranks 13th, pitching 12th, and a -41 run differential. 1B Jose Renteria is the clear offensive MVP, at .308/33/88. No one else is even close. This is a franchise in need of a shake-up, with little player depth and not much bubbling up from the farm. MLB says they have $21M to spend on free agents, but with arbitrations coming that may go down by $5-7M. And they aren't ridding themselves of any aging contracts. If it were me, I'd leave the pitching alone (unless you can nab a cheap-ish RP or two), but I'd definitely take that 20 mil or so and grab a couple of guys who can get on base. Power here is fine--they sit 10th in the AL currently--but they need higher contact and OBP rates, just to give the power guys some runners to drive home. As for pitching, losing young and new star Winton Jones for the season doesn't help, but they're not going anywhere anyway, so the hope is that his bicep injury is not a sign of problems to come. His injury has given youngster Felipe Torres his first real shot (after 16 previous relief appearances) in the rotation; he looks to become a really nice control pitcher, with enough stuff to not be labeled a junkballer.

HAW pitchers: RH Jose Rivera (9-13, 4.01) / RH Josh Irvin (9-9, 4.04) / LH Daniel Croft (11-9, 4.31)
HOU pitchers: RH Robbie Camp (10-10, 3.77) / RH Chris James (7-12, 6.29) / LH Felipe Torres (2-1, 4.82)

#118: WIN 9-2 ... Tipping and Bennetsen (GRAND SLAM) go deep, and Rivera finally notches his 10th win, giving up 0 ER thanks to two errors...a trio of guys with 3 hits each
#119: WIN 9-3 ... 4 HR, including 2 from Medici...15 hits tonight, somehow...3 for Simmons and Hagemann, 2 each for three others...Irvin solid through 8 IP
#120: WIN 11-5 ... a 7-run 5th salts away this one...Bennetsen homers for the third straight game...Ruiz tosses 3 in his first game back, gives up 1 run, fans 3

Very nice, including lots of offense in every game! Where has that been all year.... This is what happens when five batters have those little flames next to their names. We're up to 4th in runs scored now, 3rd in OBP.... Texas matches us, so we're still 7 games out of first; but we're now 2 games up on Milwaukee in the wildcard race, 4 on Tampa Bay.... AAA Santa Barbara and Short A Poughkeepsie lead their divisions, and A Eureka is a game out of first.... ELSEWHERE: Great stuff in the NL East, with Richmond on a 9-game winning streak and Philadelphia on a six-game run. The Eagles lead the division by 3.... 50 steals for Texas' Emilio Mares, his third straight season at that mark. He reached 86 last year, but is not likely to repeat that. Philly's Dustin De Groot leads the NL with 44.... Cincy and New Orleans are now tied in the Central, while LA has re-established order and has an 11-game gap over Portland.... Detroit's Pat Townsand has ridden a hot August to a Player of the Week nod, and is now 2nd in HR and RBI, 3rd in batter WAR. The defending AL MVP has also seen his average rise by 15 points, up to .310 on the season.

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TL;DR Version: A very tasty 12-2 start to the month, helped along surely by having only one series against a winning team (Miami). We've probably give Texas a little bit of a scare, but at still 7 games out of first we're not likely to make up more unless half their team goes on the DL and/or drops dead. Five batters are officially "hot" right now, including Jose Calderin who hasn't been a regular starter for a couple of months now, but clearly needs to get more AB. With the offense kicking in of late we're now 4th in runs scored, 6th in AVG, and 3rd in OBP. And we're on top of the wildcard race! Okay, only by two games over Milwaukee, and two more over Tampa Bay, so we've got to keep winning. And the latest on AA slugger Beau 70 HR in 114 games. The team has played 118 games, and with 22 remaining the race is on to see if he can reach 80. His ceiling still looks pretty mediocre to me, and he's hitting so many out because his power has fully developed to a big league level. But I don't see him succeeding in the bigs unless his other attributes take some leaps in the next year. At 21, he's still got time...or maybe he'll just become an all-time minor leaguer.