## Standings / Recap / Comments
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Detroit Tigers 71 45 .612 - 495 400
Baltimore Orioles 63 52 .548 7½ 413 367
Boston Red Sox 62 52 .544 8 411 350
Cleveland Indians 62 53 .539 8½ 469 411
New York Yankees 50 64 .439 20 370 384
Milwaukee Brewers 47 68 .409 23½ 357 439
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
California Angels 64 51 .557 - 399 405
Oakland Athletics 60 55 .522 4 422 445
Minnesota Twins 58 54 .518 4½ 426 402
Chicago White Sox 56 59 .487 8 409 440
Texas Rangers 52 63 .452 12 336 382
Kansas City Royals 42 71 .372 21 406 488
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Pittsburgh Pirates 64 50 .561 - 384 327
Chicago Cubs 65 51 .560 - 469 473
Philadelphia Phillies 63 51 .553 1 469 440
St. Louis Cardinals 59 54 .522 4½ 447 413
Montreal Expos 48 65 .425 15½ 379 451
New York Mets 47 65 .420 16 360 435
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Atlanta Braves 65 53 .551 - 467 428
Houston Astros 64 53 .547 ½ 425 403
San Diego Padres 56 58 .491 7 435 411
San Francisco Giants 56 62 .475 9 393 379
Los Angeles Dodgers 53 60 .469 9½ 375 424
Cincinnati Reds 48 66 .421 15 431 450
So we're in late August and if I'm being honest I'm not a huge fan of PARITY LEAGUE here. Only the AL East has an actually good-to-great team in it right now and even they've been stuck starting AAA guys in the outfield lately. The other 3 divisions have pennant races, which is nice I guess but they're pennant races between a lot of flawed teams. California and Oakland have both been outscored thie season but... do I really think the Twins are going to put it together when their cleanup man in Mike Brookes is hitting under .200 and always getting hurt? I guess to be fair to the Angels they did play the Tigers this week (and lost the series to them)... but they also got swept by the Indians, who are an also-ran in the East. Get it together, guys!
And hey, at least there's a good team over there. The NL East is a mess - the Pirates can't score, the Phillies can't stop giving up runs, and... the Cubs are even worse than that and are only in the mix because they're 24-15 in one run games. There's even the Cardinals, who are still only as far out as the A's are from the Angels so they deserve mention, I guess. On the other hand, they also went 1-5 and don't even have the excuse of playing winning teams: they dropped a series vs San Diego and then just got swept by the Giants. And in the West it's a battle of two teams who just plain look incomplete. Atlanta's been to the dance 2 of the last 3 years so you'd think they have the inside track but I mean they aren't exactly the kings of run prevention themselves. Houston... just desperately misses Jaden Weaver and all the pieces they got back for him are not cutting it.
OK so how about them statistical races then????
The AL still boasts 5 whole full-time players who are hitting .300! That's a thing. Anyway, Daniel Gilmet (.323, 7, 40) maintains a grip on the batting lead with rookie Tony Danza (.317, 2, 28) right behind him. Both guys have lost a *little* bit of ground but Danza's hit .291 and .297 the past two months so I wouldn't exactly say he's cooled off. The 3rd place guy is still Tigers speed demon Alvin Romero (.309, 4, 36), who's been battling back spasms all month and is hitting just .221 in August to date. The HR race is pretty much what it was 2 weeks ago, the Indians' Ernesto Garcia (.294, 43, 116) leading the White Sox' Alice Cooper (.253, 34, 80) with Twinkies veteran 1B Angelo Martinez (.238, 28, 74) not far behind. Man, if Garcia wasn't in the league we'd all be talking about the great start to Cooper's career. RBIs are Garcia, Cooper, and then, still, the Royals' RJ Dominguez (.249, 18, 75), and steals are looking about the same, too, with Romero way out ahead of KC's Dave Corona (.253, 11, 28) with 39 steals to 26. Somehow Arnold Schwarzenegger (.188, 0, 12) is still 3rd despite now having been down in AAA for 3 weeks. Tony Danza's right up there on him although KC has stopped using him quite as much (only 5 attempts in August) due to his horrific judgment (dude has 23 caughts on the year).
Baltimore's Santos Rodriguez (11-7, 1.99) juuuust slides in under the 2 ERA mark to continue to lead the AL; it had climbed all the way to 2.17 at one point but the 23 year old phenom has allowed just 2 earned runs over his last 3 starts (encompassing 24 innings). Boston's Marco Sanchez (10-10, 2.20) will not see his ERA change for the next month since he's on the DL with a strained oblique, so Jose Martinez (15-7, 2.35) will just have to pitch better if he wants to succeed him. Sanchez got knocked out of the box last week, allowing 8 runs in 2.2 IP, that saw his ERA rise 40 points. It takes a long time to build up a record like that and one bad game to lose it. Win-wise, Michael Pesco (18-8, 2.49) is doing what he can to carry the Red Sox - he's also 6th in ERA - and leads Edgar Molina (16-8, 2.88) and Santos Rodriguez' teammate George Dapson (15-7, 3.24) and Martinez in W. Molina's the K man with 188, juuuuust barely ahead of Pesco with 186. Pesco is coming off of an 8 K performance against the K-able Rangers; Molina on the other hand managed "only" 5 in his last outing on the 17th (he's scheduled to start tomorrow vs the A's). Willis Chavez (5-2, 2.28, 23 Sv) is still the leader in saves and if anything that lead will widen with the Tigers' Jim Marceau (4-5, 3.65, 21 Sv) now demoted to setup with the return of Alex Madrigal (1-1, 5.73, 3 Sv) from injury. Montay Luiso (5-5, 2.73, 20 Sv) is quietly having another Montay Luiso season.
The NL batting race is not nearly as close, with the Braves' Kevin Dwyer (.319, 14, 60) easily leading Pirates' RF Justin Lawson (.303, 14, 69) and Houston's George Foreman (.299, 10, 49). Alonzo Huanosta (.298, 3, 51) was in there but he went 2-15 this week. Huanosta's Reds teammate Jaden Weaver (.238, 28, 76) is carrying his team with the league lead in HRs and RBIs - desptie that the Reds are still in last in the NL West - with Dodgers veteran Justin Stone (.262, 26, 71) sitting at #2 and #3 in those categories. Paul McCartney (.285, 234, 74) is tied for 3rd in dingers with Atlanta's Dante Chairez (.241, 24, 53) and is the #2 man in rib-eyes. Chairez has had 4 HRs in the last 2 weeks to get into the race. Steals-wise, the leader is still Cincy's Pedro Ortiz (.274, 1, 26), who looked like he was going to give Romero an overall run for his money but has hit just .171 with a .217 OBP this month so he hasn't gotten a lot of opportunities. Atlanta's Chris Ward (.286, 8, 24) is healthy again and has 22 steals for a distant second, and good old Big George Foreman's got 19 for 3rd, although now that he's hitting 3rd for the 'Stros he also might not see a lot more opportunities.
Fernando Apolonio (13-8, 1.88) is no longer even close to breaking Jeff Borden's single season ERA record but hey, he still has that sub-2.00 ERA so that's nice. It's no surprise that the Pirates' Jeremy Battaglia (11-14, 2.04) is 2nd; he's won 5 out of his last 6 games and - gasp - the Bucs have even scored runs for him in the past two (4 and 6 runs). 24 year old Frank Evans (9-7, 2.33) is #3 here and will probably be on this list as the Expos' ace for years to come. Tony Rivera (19-8, 2.44) got blown up the start before last, allowing 5 runs to the Expos, or he'd be in the top 3; as it stands, he only leads the major leagues in victories. DJ Cheeves (16-6, 2.58) is the 2nd of 3 Pirates starters to get mentioned here, with his teammate Santos Arango (15-12, 2.66) and the Phillies' Ringo Starr (15-8, 2.90) tied for 3rd in wins. Roger Quintana (11-8, 2.65) has been a little hard done by himself to not be among the leaders in the first to categories but he does hold the K lead right now with 172, leading Arango with 150 and the Dodgers' vet Rogelio Salinas (11-6, 3.81) with 146. The Cubs' Jesse Kelly (7-4, 2.70, 21 Sv) has gotten lit up a bit recently with weekly ERAs of 7.36 and 7.94 but still leads the NL in saves, juuuust ahead of Alec Cosby (4-4, 2.24, 20 Sv) and the Pirates' Paz Lemus (6-3, 2.14, 20 Sv).
## Major Transactions
August 15: The Red Sox trade PH/OF Sam Marks (.277, 1, 5) to the Angels for minor league OF Andy Dulin (.296, 7, 21 at AAA SLC). Hey, it's a white flag trade but from Boston's standpoint Marks seems like a career pinch-hitter and Dulin can at least play the field a bit. California gets a much-needed bat off the bench.
August 17: The Angels trade RP Gavin Yates (2-1, 2.95) to the White Sox for two minor leaguers. I won't mention them by NAME because both are likely to have that changed but they're two pretty decent CF prospects. This is one of these "huh?" moves that happens in this save because the teams in question are in a different position than they were IRL. In actual 1972 the Angels finished 75-80 and were not even close to contending for the AL West title (the White Sox at least were awful - not mediocre as they are in the game, granted, but the kind of team to make a lateral move like this).
August 18: The Brewers claims minor league RP Pablo Garcia (1-0, 0.89 at AA Shreveport) from the Angels. Garcia's the guy Cal DFA'd to make room for Marks. He is a 28 year old who last pitched in the big leagues in 1970. He does have a nice ERA in AA but his peripherals - 17 walks, 19 Ks in 30.1 IP - suggest that's based on smoke and mirrors. Welp, Milwaukee has the space on their 40-man roster...
August 18: Kansas City claims SP Chris Regan (7-9, 3.43) off waivers from Texas. This guy on the other hand is kind of good and, lost season or no, KC is in desperate need of pitching of any kind. Regan was 66-46 over 4 seasons from 1966-69 with Cleveland but had battled injuries and ineffectiveness the last 2 years. He did do a pretty OK job of it with Texas, though. It was just a numbers game for them and there is the point that Arlington Stadium is a preeeeetty good pitchers' park this season. As a control guy, the Royals hope he can help cool down the rest of the staff.
August 18: The Orioles trade SS Charles Bradley (.308, 2, 12) to the Cubs for OF Jason Workman (.264, 9, 30). This was IRL kind of a big trade to happen in mid-August - it was Elrod Hendricks for Tommy Davis, the latter of whom didn't play much in '72 (injuries?) but was a starter for a good O's team the very next year. Here the Cubs are moving Workman, who is still a good player but lost his job because Chance Cooper (.224, 6, 19) has really needed to start in the majors for the past couple years now. This season the guy finally convinced everyone with 27 HRs in AAA in the first half. In Bradley they get back a guy who fields well and also can hit, which Jon Timonen (.139, 1, 7) has been awful at even by John Timonen standards. Bradley is only 23, which on the one hand means he's still a prospect; on the other hand, it means he's unproven. Right now, unproven is better than "proven to be the worst hitter in MLB history".
## News
August 14: In the worst aviation accident in Germany to date, all 156 people on board an Ilyushin Il-62 of East German airline Interflug are killed when the aircraft crashes near Konigs Wursterham.
August 14: The AL Player of the Week is a vet and yet a newcomer to the junior circuit. A's 1B Alex Canales (.269, 7, 44) went 11 for 27 (.407) with 2 HRs and 11 RBIs(!) in 7 games to take home the award. Like so many guys this year, it's easy to underrate Canales, who's hit "only" .261 since arriving in Oakland but as the stats show he's kind of good at it. Dude's got more walks than strikeouts (38-36) and sure, the power isn't quite what you want out of a first baseman but on the other hand Canales is a 3-time Gold Glove winner at first who keeps getting moved off to other positions to try and take advantage of his athleticism; even with just 65 games at first base this year, he's got a great chance at a 4th. Canales has never actually won the PotW before.
August 14: I guess the NL dislikes the Astros as much as I do because they awarded the Player of the Week award to the guy who knocked Houston out of first place in the NL West yesterday. P Moises Melendez (10-7, 2.49) did in fairness throw 2 shutouts, leading his team to a 2-0 record with 12 Ks in 18 innings. His start before that on the 2nd, he allowed 1 run in 13 innings, so that means the 24 year old has a 0.29 ERA for the month of August. As pitchers rarely win this award, this is in fact Melendez' first. He did win Rookie of the Month for August of last year; I guess August is his month.
August 15: On the 25th anniversary of its independence, India introduces the six digit "PIN Code" for mail delivery, essentially the Indian version of the ZIP code. Huge news story, I know. Honestly the fact of India's 25th anniversary as an independent state is the interesting part here.
August 15: Deep Purple plays live in Osaka, Japan.
August 15: Ben Affleck is born today in Berkeley, California.
August 16: King Hassan of Morocco survives an assassination attempt when his Boeing 727 was fired upon by rebels within the Moroccan Air Force. The King escapes injury but the pilot of the plane is only able to land after falsely stating that he had been killed. While this was taking place, the royal palace is bombed by others in the plot. As it comes to pass, the attempt was carried out by Morocco's Defense Minister Mohammed Oufkir, who had conspired with others in the Moroccan armed forces to stage a coup d'etat and set up a republic. Oufkir will die on the 17th, officially by suicide but rumors abound that Hassan himself kills him.
August 16: Twins backup IF Pietro Palmarocchi (.253, 2, 11) is... mad. Mad enough that he wants to be traded. This is unfortunate because he's been pretty useful but at the same time I don't see any way to give him more PT given that he's backing up Daniel Gilmet (.327, 7, 40), who, you know, is only leading the league in hitting right now. He has to accept that this wouldn't happen until the offseason so I'll just stick him on the block and see what we can do come October.
August 16: Indians slugging 1B Ernesto Garcia (.288, 40, 109) belted his 40th HR on the year, a grand salami off of Angels rookie Parker Leonard (1-2, 3.67) that lifted his team to a 5-0 victory in Los Angeles. Garcia isn't on pace to break his own record of 65 HRs that he set last year (well, he tied it with the Cardinals' Lorenzo Martinez, who hit his 65 in the expansion season of 1962), plus the season figures to be a few games shorter, but he could always go on a tear, you never know. He had 13 of them in July with "only" 5 so far this month; he's also got 258 of them in his career, currently the 27th highest total of all time and 1 behind White Sox legend Pat Soler. He's just 28 years old this year so suffice it to say, there will be a lot more where this came from.
August 16: For one game at least, 40 year old Tom Owens (3-1, 0.43) was able to turn back time. The career 154 game winner was signed by the Mets earlier this month after the Cubs released him in April. The Mets then stuck him in the rotation because, well, back in the day he won games that way... and now he's pitched 2 shutouts in 2 tries. "The change was working for me today," an understated Owens said after the game. Since the Astros seem intent on deep-sixing their season - they've now lost 5 in a row - the Braves maintain a 1 1/2 game lead in the NL West in spite of a .544 record.
August 17: It's Indonesia's independence day an to celebrate, President Suharto announces changes in the spellig of the Indonesian language in Djakarta, beginning with the change of the name of the capital to Jakarta. Big, big news. Look. It's literally the only news item of the day.
August 17: Rangers new debutant Robert McHugh (1-0, 1.00) makes a real splash, setting a "Texas Rangers" record with 11 strikeouts in a 3-1 win over the Red Sox. I put "Rangers" in quotes because two members of this franchise have recorded more Ks than that in a game, including Lee Evans last season, but for the actual physical team that lives in Texas, no fan has seen their guys do more. I should note that McHugh did play 9 games and 27.1 innings for the Cardinals last year so this isn't a tooootally new debut. Maybe that should have been in quotes too!
August 18: Houston narrowly avoids a series sweep at the hands of the Expos and a 6-game losing streak with a 3-2 win in Montreal. Ernie Alvarez (11-6, 3.08) went 7 solid innings before giving the ball to the setup man Adam Eastin (2-0, 1.88, 4 Sv) but man, this team is having some issues scoring run. Today they made some big changes to the lineup, dropping 2B Jordan Green (.255, 9, 40) off the leadoff spot and into the cleanup position and starting OF Jose Lopez (.212, 3, 10) in the 1 hole. Lopez was the Astros' starting CF last year but between bad fielding at that position and just getting hurt, he'd lost his job. That said, I took a look at the lineup and was like "why is Antonio Fagundes (.243, 2, 6) starting in front of this guy?".
August 19: NBC runs the TV show "Midnight Special" for the first time at 1AM. This show, a rock concert series, proves to be immediately successful and runs through 1981.
August 19: Bennet Hanna of Peach Springs, Arizona is killed when he backs his car too far on Hualapi Hilltop at the Grand Canyon. The car falls 500 feet to its death. 2 months ago we were talking about Bloody Sunday... now this.
August 19: The first episode of the second incarnation of "The Price Is Right" is taped at CBS Television City, to be aired on September 4. I don't know for a fact that the yodeler is a part of this episode but man that thing feels 1972.
August 19: A's SS Matt Evenson (.274, 2, 12) has been on the DL since May with torn ankle ligaments. With Jon Reid (.228, 3, 11) doing... OK in the field, I'm going to send him down to AAA for a week to tune up before plopping him back in the lineup. The A's are struggling this month, only 7-9 and only still 3 games back because the Angels have been struggling just as hard (also 7-9 in August).
August 19: Mets SP Roy Holm (2-2, 3.40) is maybe the most frustrating pitcher in the game. Part of that frustration is the fact that when he's on, the 36 year old looks like one of the best pitchers in the game. Such was the case tonight when he held the Reds to 1 run on 6 hits and tied the Mets record with 13 strikeouts. The one run came on the other thing he allows a lot of - homeruns. RF Jaden Weaver (.238, 28, 76), who is in fairness the top power man in the National League, prevented the shutout with a solo shot in the 6th. Scouts keep saying that Holm would be the whole enchilada if he'd only settle down. It's probably about time to just accept that he is who he is.
August 20: The Church of the First Born of the Fullness of Times has a conflict that goes violent when the leader Joel LeBaron is tricked into coming into the Mexican town of Ensenada and then is shot to death. The shooting is ordered by Joel's brother Evril, who had founded the Church of the Lamb of God after being kicked out of this church. Another brother, Verlan, takes over leadership. Evril will continue to order reprisals against members of his former church until he is captured and convicted of murder; he will die in prison in 1981.
August 20: Wattstax, a concert at the LA Coliseum, attracts 100,000 black citizens who pay $1 each to watch a variety of acts including the Bar-Kays, the Staple Singers, and Isaac Hayes.
August 20: Unrelated to anything, really, but we're in the DOG DAYS of August and I just noticed that the Astros' Tony Rivera (18-8, 2.49) was the #1 overall pick in the 1963 draft. It's basically been 10 years so... now's a good a time as any, right? How has that draft class fared? Let's look at the top... several. Also I looked at the wrong year so... um. 1963!
1. DET - SP Jason Gilmer (8-11, 3.59). I mean, he's an Astro too, right? Um. Still not sure what I did. Anyway, Gilmer flashed early with the Tigers, going 16-9, 3.14 in 1965 en route to his single AS appearance, but then was just... under the radar since. He's not bad by any means but that career 89-86 record looks about right.
2. STL - SP Jimmy Goddard (13-9, 2.46). Goddard and Gilmer were teammates for a bit. Goddard is now the ace of that staff, going 19-8, 2.46 last year and making his 2nd AS game this year.
3. BAL - CF Bryant Tarala (PHI) (.235, 12, 30). Tarala's been a solid defensive player (2 GGs in CF) and a 7 time All-Star who was traded to Philadelphia from Baltimore in 1970. His biggest issue has been staying on the field; he's broken 142 games just twice in his career so far.
4. SF - SP Mike Stuckey (8-12, 2.57). Stuckey honestly is also one of the best pitchers in the game, although he has gotten zero support from his Giants teammates and so is "only" 84-82 to date. This year is a real microcosm: he's got that sub-3 ERA and a losing record. He also is a perennial All-Star snub; the only year he made it is '68, when he also led the league with a 1.83 ERA (and an 18-5 record because OOTP doesn't know how to do pitching in the 60s).
5. CLE - 3B Mike Morruison (.300, 0, 1) is out for the year with a torn abdominal muscle he suffered in June. He had a run as the starting 3B for the Cardinals for several years, making 2 AS games, but was moved last year to Milwaukee when St. Louis decided that they'd rather work with the power-hitting Mike Galeana there instead. He probably would have played a good deal with BAL this year given how often the regular Marco Perez gets hurt.
6. CHC - OF Ben Aldridge (.083, 0, 0) - Aldridge might be the first guy in this top 10 to have his career end. It's not over yet but being a AAAA outfielder for the expansion Expos is about as close to over as it gets. Aldridge was drafted out of high school and just never quite looked like a superstar. His high water mark was probably 1967, when he hit .286/13/60 at single-A Lodi and was named the #21 prospect in baseball at one point that year.
7. BOS - CF Ben Menke (.149, 4, 18 at AAA Tacoma). Umm... nope, that would be Menke who's the closest. Wow, he is not a major league player, like, at all right now. He did get a 4 year run from 1965 to 1968 with the Red Sox and White Sox as the starter and somehow made 2 All-Star Games in spite of never posting averages over .226 (in fact, the 2 ASes came when he hit .226 and .224) and then led the league in Ks twice with 155 and 143... and he hit a *total* of 11 HRs those 2 years (he did hit 31 combined in the other 2 years).
8. CIN - OF Greg Cowan (.222, 9, 34). Cowan's had a rough year but is coming off of a 162-at-bat campaign in last year with San Diego when he went .290/9/29 so the Pads are back to trying him out a bit again. He's... fine, pretty much a career 4th OFer at this point.
9. MIN RP Bob Wagner (retired). Wagner suffered a torn UCL in his rookie season of 1964 and was forced to retire. He looked like he could have been something; he was on 3 top 20 prospect lists before the CEI.
10. MIL (now ATL) - 1B Jeremy Holden (.229, 0, 1). Holden is still only 26 but he seems like he's pretty much become a pinch-hitter in the majors now unless the Braves trade him or something. He does a career .301 average... in just 462 major league at-bats with 92 starts and 203 games. Right now he's a pinch-hitter in AAA Richmond.
Rivera was the 1st overall in 1965. I am dumb. OH WELL this was still fun, right?
## Teams in Review
August 15: I could have sworn I got these guys already, but I did not. The
Texas Rangers (49-60, 5th AL West, 13 1/2 GB) were supposed to contend this year but obviously that never happened, thanks in large part to an offense that looked for a while like it was going to set records for futility. By the way, they're all the way up to 3 runs per game, well off the pace of the 1967 Senators (hey, the same team!) who scored 2.7 per game. I think I've more or less gone to youth just as a result of trying to make something work this year but hey, we'll see. Maybe this team has not yet truly begun to be awful! They are 3rd in the AL in runs allowed so there is plenty of room for... disprovement.
Rotation: So the first opportunity I see is that the veteran Kevin Freeman (7-14, 3.31) has been fine but why keep "fine" in the rotation when you can look at kids? I'll DFA 31 year old reliever Jim Kenner (2-3, 3.64) to make room for the new guy... former Cardinals prospect Robert McHugh (15-9, 3.45 at AAA Denver). McHugh has struck out more than a guy per inning this year in the minors but carries a not-so-hot 3.45 ERA thanks to 25 HRs allowed in 200.2 innings. Let's see how he does in Texas' big old stadium.
While I'm at it, 31 year old Chris Regan (7-9, 3.43), who the Rangers acquired as a throw-in in the Tommy Pron trade (which, they traded Pron back so...) has done nothing this year and isn't really guy we care about if he gets picked up off of waivers anyway. He had a really good run with Cleveland from 1966-68 - 41 wins, 36 losses, and led the league in games started all 3 years - but he just hasn't looked all that great, and we've got some more minor leaguers to try. Like how abut 23 year old southpaw Bernd Eichinger (8-1, 2.74 at AAA Denver)? All he's done is climb 2 levels and now 3 and do some lights-out pitching in 11 AAA starts this year, right? He also is a bit of a screenplay writer, I am told.
Bullpen: Freeman and Nate Kemp (2-4, 3.76) are demoted to the bullpen with these moves. Ron Shepherd (4-3, 3.78, 5 Sv) has also not really fit well as a lefty co-closer but meh, what am I going to do? Immediately promote Freeman into that role? Nah.
Infield: 1B George Bush (.170, 4, 14) has been terrible in the majors, it's true, but he also hit 14 HRs in 52 games in Denver and his dad is the head of the CIA so we're a little scared to bench him. Anyway, the best guy on the list to replace him is 3B Dennis Green (.202, 6, 15) and he's already stationed at third. IF Geoffrey Rush (.328, 4, 21) seems like another guy who deserves a shot soon; however, the 22 year old 7th overall pick in last year's draft has played all of 34 games in AAA so I'll resist the urge and maybe call him up for September, depending.
Outfield: I am sooo close to benching CF Norm Hodge (.191, 2, 18); Gold Glove fielder or no, it's hard to justify keeping a guy in the lineup when he's OPS+ing under 600. Still... I'll give him at least to the end of the month to find his stroke.