## Standings / Recap / Comments
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO%
Detroit 29 14 .674 - L1 209 147 .301 36 34 3.03 3.2 5.8 .980 40.0
New York 25 19 .568 4˝ W2 201 214 .255 46 12 4.45 2.6 4.5 .982 35.0
Boston 21 18 .538 6 L1 185 127 .281 32 13 3.11 2.8 5.5 .980 45.7
Baltimore 13 24 .351 13 W1 144 166 .249 31 14 3.89 3.8 4.9 .972 44.4
Milwaukee 14 27 .341 14 L2 181 246 .266 30 34 5.34 4.0 5.0 .978 43.2
Cleveland 13 30 .302 16 L2 153 220 .247 40 17 4.69 3.4 5.4 .980 28.1
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO%
Chicago 25 14 .641 - W3 167 140 .265 30 19 3.27 3.6 4.7 .981 42.3
California 24 16 .600 1˝ W2 188 169 .268 32 33 3.92 3.5 4.7 .981 46.7
Texas 24 16 .600 1˝ L2 163 138 .264 28 18 3.02 3.9 5.0 .981 36.1
Oakland 24 20 .545 3˝ W1 175 161 .271 29 19 3.30 2.8 4.9 .976 45.5
Kansas City 23 23 .500 5˝ W1 232 238 .261 31 21 4.78 3.6 4.5 .985 28.9
Minnesota 13 27 .325 12˝ L7 155 187 .244 41 19 4.29 3.7 5.7 .977 30.0
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO%
St. Louis 24 16 .600 - L3 162 154 .245 35 15 3.61 2.9 5.6 .982 50.0
Chicago 25 20 .556 1˝ W1 189 182 .262 41 22 3.77 3.5 4.6 .986 47.2
New York 22 18 .550 2 L2 146 151 .265 14 28 3.58 3.2 4.8 .985 43.5
Pittsburgh 21 17 .553 2 W1 137 119 .242 17 4 2.96 2.9 5.7 .983 38.1
Philadelphia 23 20 .535 2˝ W1 206 179 .255 31 27 3.62 2.9 5.1 .977 41.4
Montreal 14 24 .368 9 L1 169 210 .258 31 20 4.58 3.6 5.3 .978 34.3
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA RTO%
San Francisco 26 23 .531 - W1 196 194 .251 43 35 3.54 3.0 5.1 .982 21.9
Los Angeles 23 23 .500 1˝ W2 148 155 .248 43 12 2.86 2.9 5.4 .977 25.9
Atlanta 20 23 .465 3 W6 179 161 .270 35 14 3.50 3.0 5.9 .981 33.3
Houston 22 25 .468 3 L1 186 214 .246 50 16 3.94 3.8 5.4 .969 26.5
Cincinnati 20 24 .455 3˝ L1 196 193 .254 39 22 4.12 2.7 6.2 .978 23.7
San Diego 20 27 .426 5 L1 168 170 .247 22 16 3.16 3.4 5.3 .975 42.9
What a difference a year makes! Last year it was the AL West that was the Parity Division and evne the Tigers if memory serves took a little while to launch. THis year there are 4 .600 teams in the American and 4 horrible teams (sorry Baltimore) while in the NL literally nobody is 10 games behind the leaders yet. Montreal will get there shortly as they're the only legit bad team out there but still!
So... I used to put out the power rankings but frankly they tend to just be a list of teams in order of standings and the really interesting bits are the guys who moved up and down. So in that respect:
Yuppies: California moved up from 9th to 3rd with a 4-1 week against the White Sox and the Brewers. They get a makeup game tomorrow against the Brew Crew so expect them to fly even higher!... until they travel to Boston and New York next week. Also making a 6-spot jump where the Atlanta Braves, moving from 17th to 11th with a 5-0 week against the two NL division leaders. Pretty good! Kansas City gets my #3 Yuppies of the Week with a 19th to 14th move off of a 6-1 week that started with a Monday game against the A's, a 4-game sweep of the Red Sox, and then a doubleheader split to make up Saturday's rainout against the Red Sox.
Hippies: Bearing in mind that you can only be so dirty until you're in last, nobody had double-minus weeks this week so I guess my unward goes to the Minnesota Twins, who flopped to an 0-5 record against the Royals and Orioles. I'd say they get some relief next week vs the Brewers but a. they're also bad and b. their weekend opponents are the Tigers. I guess the NL hippies are the Cincinnati Reds, who fell from 16th to 18th. That magical year looks like it's not going to happen, guys! They actually went 3-2 this week against the Astros and Cubs but I guess BNN thought they should have done better. Maybe they will against... the Cardinals and Pirates. Good luck with that!
## Major Transactions
May 22: The Expos purchased RP Hector Giron (1-0, 1.15) from the Orioles for $10,000. Giron has been with the O's since 1968 so it's sad to see him go but his chances of being a major player on the next good Orioles team is pretty low. Montreal, meanwhile, needs pitching badly; in fact, Giron even started upt until 1971 so he might do some of that again.
May 22: The Braves traded minor league C Latimer Roy (.242, 4, 10 at AAA Richmond) to the Astros for C Dan Rigdon (.132, 0, 1). Rigdon lost his starting job to Jonathan Hyde (.204, 1, 5) and hasn't taken it well. He'll get a new chance in Atlanta now; this also allows them to send Christopher Guest (.167, 0, 0) down to AAA to get more playing time. Roy is organizational filler, nothing more.
May 23: The Brewers claimed RP Jon Douglas (0-1, 6.28) off of waivers from the Dodgers. Douglas was not good last year, with 9 losses, 10 blown saves in 28 opportunities, and a 4.33 ERA in the Astrodome, and was even worse this year so far so it's clear why the Dodgers dangled him like this. It's also clear why the Brewers, with a bullpen ERA of 6.13, claimed him.
May 25: The Braves purchase OF Frank Menner (.300, 1, 1) from the Pirates for $10,000. Menner was barely playing for the Bucs but the Braves are having problems in centerfield so he'll probably play a fair amount more on the new team. The 30 year old Menner waves goodby to the only organization he's ever known, having been drafted in the 5th round in 1965 by the team.
May 26: The Indians claimed OF Ben "Rock" Aldridge (.219, 1, 3) off of waivers from the Astros. Let's keep it a buck: Aldridge is not very good. However, neither are the Indians and with Richard Berman (.282, 1, 10) out for the next month with a severe hip strain, they were looking at starting similarly AAAA-ish outfielder Corey Harpst (.260, 3, 4) at the position.
The Padres purchased CF Ian Everett (.250, 0, 3) from the White Sox for $10,000. Everett was the White Sox' starter last year but hit just .209 with 2 HRs and 26 RBIs. The Pads are not getting great production of of Ed O'Neill (.226, 1, 7) and with his backup Elijah Johnson frankly looking like a shadow of his former self when he plays out there, Everett should be able to spell O'Neill more or even allow San Diego to send the 27 year old down to try and rediscover his swing. For the White Sox, selling Everett frees up a roster spot for Dave Concepcion (.230, 3, 17 at AAA Iowa). Concepcion isn't exactly lighting the world on fire in AAA himself but he fields well and unlike Everett he's a right-handed bat so he can do a proper platoon with Mohamed Abdelaziz (.198, 1, 11).
## News
May 21: Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos launches the "Masagana 99" program to increase the nation's rice production after a severe shortage. The word means "bountiful" in Tagalog and the 99 refers to the number of sacks of rice targeted to be delivered per hectare of land. The program will be successful in at least that respect with rice production more than doubling and the nation becoming self-sufficient in 3 years; however, the sudden abundance of rice also left thousands of poor farmers in debt. Sadly, Wikipedia doesn't say what this did for Marcos' wife's shoe collection.
May 21: The "Harmony Bridge" is opened between the nations of Malaysia and Thailand.
May 21: An 8 year old child is abducted in Italy and then, newsworthily, he is returned 2 weeks later after a ransom of approximately $500,000 US (300 million lira) is paid.
May 21: I guess Cannes is still going on because they screen a movie called "La Grande Bouffe" by Marco Ferreri and it nearly incites a riot.
May 21: Noel Fielding, the British comedian and actor, is born in Westminster, London.
May 21: White Sox 1B Alice Cooper (.339, 13, 32) had himself quite the week and it got him the weekly award. He went 12-29 (.414) with *6* homeruns, 8 RBIs, and 7 runs scored. He just won this award two weeks ago, mister greedy gramus, and so I will not shoot another card for him, but he won it!
May 21: Now the NL guy, this guy hasn't won it in a while. Astros 1B Joshua Waltenbery (.294, 10, 22), known to Mets fans for years as "Superman", hit .478 (11-23) with "only" 4 HRs, 5 RBIs, and 5 runs. This is the 32 year old's 15th PotW but his first all year; he did win it twice last seaon. The 1963 Rookie of the Year also has made 9 All-Star Games; although he missed last year, so far it's looking like that was a blip and not a trend.
May 21: Hey, here's a fun SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK... the top 5 active leaders in saves:
1. Montay Luiso, BAL: 296
2. Geoff Saus, NYM: 212
3. Matt Brock, MIN: 211
4. John Winn, ATL: 191
5. Jesse Kelly, CHC: 175
Interesting that all 5 guys still closing (well, Winn would be but he's hors d'combat for the year). Luiso incidentally is 54 behind the all-time leader Bill Cory, who had 350 in a career spanning 1946-1964. He made the Hall in his first year of eligibility in 1970 because, sure, why not, I guess. The only non-active top 10 guy I've actually seen is Jesse Marshall, who finsihed with 209 (6th) in a 12 year career from 1958-1969, mostly with the A's. He spent 1969 with the Padres and Dodgers, was largely ineffective with LA (4-4, 4.44, 6 Sv) and was released. Do I remember him, you ask? Not really.
May 21: I surely have PTSD from this happening ALL THE TIME last year but the Yankees and Indians played an absolute slog of a game today. It ended 2-1 in the 15th with a solo HR by 3B Tommy Weiss (.324, 6, 19) but before then... ugh. Like, nowadays if you leave a guy out there when he can't get Ks, he'll give up hits at a .310 or so clip. In the early 70s it can be more like .280 if guys aren't hitting for power. That seems like a little thing but trust me, it is not. Gene Lueders (4-2, 2.92) got the W for the Yankees by throwing 14 innings and 172 pitches - yeah, he was dead tired but why remove him when he's not giving up anything? - and Ed Lagos (1-1, 5.12) came on in the bottom of the 15th for his 5th save. Reliever Elias Sanchez (1-2, 4.64) took the unfortunate loss; the HR was one of 3 hits he allowed over 3 innings.
May 21: Man, I guess it's Deadball Monday. The Phillies and Pirates combined for a total of 7 hits, with Philadelphia's Richard Starkey (7-3, 2.99) just barely outdueling Jeremy Battaglia (3-4, 2.28) for the 1-0 win. The lone run came on an RBI double by C Nikolai Volkoff (.242, 2, 18) in the 2nd so hey, at least we didn't got 15 innings this time! Starkey had 6 shutouts last year; this is his first for 1973. Battaglia, I guess I should point out, did walk 7 guys and was removed for Sparky Lemus (4-1, 1.00, 6 Sv) in the 8th, but even there the Phillies only left 7 guys on base so it's not like he was pitching his way out of jams repeatedly.
May 22: The Royal Air Force's Undersecretary of Defense, Lord Lambton, resigns amidst a "call girl" scandal in which he was caught in a photograph with the prostitute, but insists even now that "there has been no security risk and no blackmail". I guess I'm not sure why the photograph (which was taken by the prostitute's husband) was taken then?
May 22: White House press secretary Ronald Ziegler delivers a statement from the President regarding the ongoing Watergate scandal, stating that the President did on occasion order wiretapping of telephones in order to discover the source of leaks of confidential information (I guess to be fair TOOO BEEEE FAAAAAIR the biggest scandal of this administration was... well, it was Spiro Agnew, but #2 was the Pentagon Papers). However, he denied any involvement of the installation of listening devices in the Democratic Party offices at the Watergate Hotel.
May 22: Royals 2B James Ellroy (.287, 2, 21) set a new team record with 6 RBIs in a 14-6 shellacking of the Twins. Ellroy's big bop was a bases-loaded triple in the 2nd (his 2nd) but he also had an RBI double in the 4th and a 2-run single in the 7th. Yeah, he was a HR away from the cycle on top of all that. "It looked like justice," said Ellroy after the game. "That's what the Twins got. Justice."
The previous team record, 5 RBI, was set by C Mike Perez (.191, 5, 16) earlier this year on the 24th in a 17-10 win over the Brewers. Yeah, these Royals have been known to score a few. KC's still only 19-22 because of that 2nd-worst 5.00 ERA but the fact that they're close to .500 at all is saying something.
May 22: In news that might be worse for the player than for the team, Cardinals CF Sonny Burwell (.252, 2, 7) is going to miss the next month and a half with a rotator cuff strain he suffered in today's 5-4 win over the Expos. Burwell, who acquired from the Reds last May to shore up the position, had been struggling this year and, well, the incumbent Jim James (.400, 0, 2) is still around. He'll get this time to show what he can do and then we'll figure out what to do with Burwell based on that. The Cardinals are 24-13 and sitting on top of the NL East.
May 22: I just noticed this now but earlier in the season Braves RF Henry Riggs (.312, 7, 17) broke the league RBI record. Here's the current top 10, which has another spot in it that's going to get surpassed this year:
1. Riggs (1954-present): 1,578
2. Fernando Rocha (1946-68): 1,571
3. David Decker (1951-71): 1,522
4. Angelo Martinez (1957-present): 1,429
5. Justin Richens (1954-present): 1,410
6. Matt Clayton (1950-66): 1,384
7. Justin Stone (1961-present): 1,379
8. Ty Stover (1955-72): 1,302
9. Bob Mitchell (1948-68): 1,267
10. Ryan Colvin: (1950-70): 1,259
Lorenzo Martinez is currently 12th with 1,243; he'll be cracking the top 10 this month or next as well. The only other active guy in the top 25, and I should say "active" in quotes, is Stephen Clark in 23rd with 1,031. Clark is currently playing for the Taiyo Whales in the Redacted League, where I guess to be fair he did lead the league in doubles in 1972. He's 35 and I'd be surprised if he came back to the States and got another starting job.
May 23: Liverpool defeats Borussia Monchengladbach 3-2 on aggregate to win the UEFA Cup. The first game was played at Liverpool where the English team won 3-0 and Borussia was only able to win 2-0 at their own home match.
May 23: Jean Paul Sartre publishes the first regular issue of the daily newspaper Libération, which apparently is still being published to this day.
May 23: The final paintings of Pablo Picasso, who died on April 8 of this year, are put on exhibit for the first time in a show at the Palace of the Popes in the French city of Avignon.
May 23: Yankees SS Akiho Fujimoto (.267, 0, 7) has a sore elbow which is technically a day to day injury but there's no way I'm playing a guy who's already a little iffy as a fielder with a moderate throwing injuryso he'll go to the DL.
May 23: A's 3B Chase Jones (.289, 1, 5), who was all kinds of terrible last year (.199, 11, 39), has recently gotten the chane to start at third again thanks to some even worse defensive play by corner infielder Alex Canales (.298, 5, 22, but 11 errors in 29 games at 3rd for an .875 FA), seems like he's been a new man this year and today he even cracked a solo HR in the bottom of the 10th inning to win the game 7-6 over the division rival Texas Rangers. CL Kojiro Nakazawa (1-2, 3.94) blew a 6-4 lead in the 9th and then allowed this blast to lose it. "I'm not the kind of guy to make excuses about myself," said Jones following the game, "but I was playing with something I'm not feeling this year". (note: he was not playing injured last year; this is just post-hoc rationalization)
May 24: Earl Jellicoe resigns over a prostitution scandal that is somehow a different prostitution scandal than the last one. The British House of Lords, 1973, and hoes: name a more iconic trio.
May 24: Ephraim Katzir is sworn into office as the new President of Israel.
May 24: An Indian Army brigade of 700 troops ends a 3-day revolt of 300 paramilitary police in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The members of the Provincial Armed Constabulary had caused uprisings in the cities of Gorakhpur and Jahangirabad earlier this week. I have no data on this outside of the Wikipedia entry but that name sure sounds like they're a... monarchist group?
May 24: US Congressman William O Mills commits suicide with a shotgun round to the chest after being implicated in the Watergate scandal. Mills (R-MD) failed to disclose that he'd received $25,000 from CREEP (the Committee to Re-Elect the President... again, HOW President Nixon JUST HOW). Before killing himself he called a local radio station and played a recording denying he had done anything improper. And probably the shotgun just fired itself...
May 24: So, continuing the Top 10s... left field is going to be a weird position as it's basically, you know, whoever's playing there right now. Still... there are good players there and not-good ones.
10. Rafael Disla, STL (.329, 5, 26). I was a little surprised to see this man this far back but I guess it's about right. He's also the #4 guy in the NL and, if these placings were the same this time last year, he'd be #2 so this might just be his first year out of the All-Star Game. Disla's made 3 of the last 4.
9. Jared Ferrell, CAL (.297, 3, 21). On the other hand, here I feel like the game knows a little bit more than I do, as Ferrell to me is a 27 year old platoon OFer who's just now starting to look like he might be good enough for full-time play. Then again, this is the position rating as a whole and... they also have Willie Vargas (.303, 1, 14) here, in fact Vargas is the starter here right now, so yeah, OK I guess.
8. Pedro Castrejon, CHW (.211, 0, 4). This one's puuuure ratings, as Castrejon is one of two LFs to come over from the Mexican League this year. He's already 35 so don't expect a long career but hey, he could be pretty good for a couple years.
7. Jeff Franks, MIN (.290, 2, 10). Franks came up as a fill-in at 3rd for Mike Brookes, who's now off to Philadelphia, but Franks doesn't play 3rd all that well so he's stuck around in left instead. He's got a .301 average now in 4+ seasons with decent power so, Twins downturn or no, he was due to start for them sooner or later.
6. Aitor de la Rosa, NYY (.324, 6, 22). The other Mexican Leaguer, de la Rosa is 3 years younger than Castrejon and thus far has definitely cashed in on the hype. Hitting behind Ernesto Garcia all season and thus getting just the pickings from when the superstar doesn't jack one over the right field wall at Yankee Stadium, he's still managed to rack up 22 RBIs (on pace for 89) and has already been walked intentionally (4) as he did all last year at Yucatan. I guess the Mexican League doesn't believe in free passes.
5. RJ Dominguez, CIN (.297, 6, 27). Another year, another monster power hitter added to the Reds lineup. They keep this up, they could really and truly be the Big Red Machine in this universe as well as real life. Like de la Rosa, Dominguez has had to generate his clutchosity hitting behind a stud in Jaden Weaver. I guess you could say that Weaver's been a bit nicer about it, "only" getting 11 HRs and 39 RBIs to date. Enough about Weaver! Dominguez was the odd man out in KC so the Reds shipped him off for Alonzo Rivera and Joe Hagan. Both of those guys are working out well for the Royals so I guess this is a wash but hey, good trades help both teams.
4. Bruce Springsteen, BOS (.378, 4, 21). Man oh man are the Brewers going to regret shipping him off. I gues Jun Kim is providing veteran leadership for them and the pitching pieces they sent to Boston are back-of-the-rotation guys at best, but Springsteen looks like he'll be a multi-time All-Star and at age 23 is currently in a virtual tie for 1st in hitting in the AL at .378.
3. Tony Danza, KC (.317, 5, 18). Speaking of batting titles, Danza won last year and seems to have added power this season: he hit 7 HRs all of last year and already has 5. He's also moved down to 3rd afte hitting leadoff most of last year, which is going to increase the RBI opportunities of course. And now he's the #1 LF in the American League according to the Baseball News Network.
2. Henry Riggs, ATL (.312, 7, 17). The old soldier moved off of right field, finally, but as far as the hitting goes he's as deadly as ever. He had to sit out a big chunk of the year so far with inflammation in his right knee, missing 8 games entirely and appearing as a pinch-hitter in 8 more, but now he's there and everyone else in the league is... square. Except for...
1. Alberto Juantorena, PHI (.343, 7, 22). This man has been a one-man wrecking crew since his call-up last July. He's got gaudy enough primary stats but that doesn't even tell the whole tale: he's also getting on base at a .464 clip, which makes the old school writers complain that he's not making the most of RBI opportunities but the younger wags understand that in actuality he's making even more ops for the guys below him. Plus he's 9/14 in steals. Plus he's doing a great job of fielding in left (4.6 ZR), so good that he might be a rare Gold Glove winner who plays regularly at the position (I generally give the award to the top 2 CFs and then the assist leader unless there's someone who absolutely demands otherwise).
May 24: Even the Launching Pad yields pitcher's delights sometimes. Such was the case today as Atlanta's Santos Rodriguez (5-6, 3.40) shut the Giants out 2-0 to win a duel against Mike Stuckey (5-4, 4.59). Rodriguez had gotten off to a tough start with 2-4, 5.49 April but he's 3-2, 1.35 with 3 complete games and 2 shutties now in May. "I like to let my actions speak louder than my words", said Rodriguez after the game. Stuckey, who's also been struggling following a solid 1972 (well, at least in terms of ERA: 12-13, 2.37), allowed no walks and also struck out nobody while surrendering 7 hits. San Francisco (24-22) is reeling now, having lost 4 in a row to division rivals Atlanta and Houston.
May 25: The Skylab 2 space mission is launched to repair damage to the recently launched Skylab space station. Using a vehicle and equipment from the cancelled Apollo 18 mission, this marks the first crewed space mission for the US since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.
May 25: Hector Jose Campora is inaugurated as President of Argentina, ending a period of military rule which had been in place since 1966. The inauguration ceremony degenerates into a battle between police and Peronist militants (i.e. supporters of former dictator Juan Peron) and 4 people are killed. Campora's term will last under 2 months and I'm sure I'll be reporting on the demise so stay tuned, Thriftlon fans!
May 25: US Secretary of Defense Elliot Richardson becomes the new Attorney General after the forced resignation of Richard Kleindienst. Bill Clements replaces Richardson at his old position. Richardson will wind up coming back for the Ford Presidency and will become one of two men to hold 4 cabinet positions in his lifetime (he was formerly the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1970-73 and will be Ford's Secretary of Commerce for his final year in office after spending 2 years as the US ambassador to the United Kingdom). I will say that bringing back Richardson was a gutsy move, as this is the guy who chose to resign rather than fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, which is the event that led to Nixon finally resigning.
May 25: Claude Levi-Strauss (no relation that I'm aware of to the pants) is elected to the Academie Francaise in place of Henry de Montherlant. The author personally remembers Levi-Strauss as a mid-century "modernist" philosopher (actually, was he a pomo? Now I don't know and I reeeeeeeally don't feel like reading any of his work right now) who was assigned reading as part of his honors English courses in college.
May 25: The Hireling by Alan Bridges and Scarecrow by Jerry Schatzberg co-win the Grand Prix at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival. This verdict is considered controversial (disclaimer: the author has seen neither of these films) and the president of the jury, a little-known actress named Ingrid Bergman, was accused of favoritism for the American productions.
May 25: Comedian Demetri Martin is born in New York City. I like Demetri Martin. He's like a nerdy version of Mitch Hedberg.
May 25: Man, this Tigers team is soooooo good this year. Their #4 starter Chris Benavides (4-2, 3.61) just had a no-hitter going through 6 and wound up throwing a 4-hit shutout of the A's for a 2-0 win over their ace Vince Akright (8-3, 2.32). 1B Niki Lauda (.299, 9, 23) brought in all the game's runs with a 2-run HR in the bottom of the 3rd and Benavides struck out 8 men in this one. "It is good to get victory ven ve do not score die runs, jah?" said Lauda after the game. Even with the 2-run performance, in which to be fair the Tigers did get 10 hits off of Akright, the team is 1st in all of baseball with a .302 average, which would also be far and away an AL record if it stands (the current record is the 1947 Washington Senators, who hit .284 in 1947 en route to an 82-72 finish. Fernando Rocha (.317, 22, 91), who retired in 1968 and will be voted into the Hall on the first ballot this January, was their leading hitter).
May 25: Leave it to Giants ace Josh Matthews (4-3, 2.64) to break his team out of a losing run. To be fair TOOO BEEEE FAAAAAIR the Jints also came up with enough runs but Matthews made it clear they didn't need to today, scattering 7 hits in an 8-0 shutout victory at home against the Expos. Matthews had also gone all the way in the Giants' last win, a 2-1 victory over Houston, but hadn't pitched since then as he needed to rest after having thrown 148 pitches in that game. Today he threw just 88 and was 1 walk away from throwing a Maddux (who?). "I was getting everything in for strikes," said Matthews after the game. "Credit where it's due, the Bank Manager (catcher Mugur Isarescu (.234, 2, 7)) might have pulled a couple of balls back into the zone tonight." San Francisco is now 25-22 and, with the Dodgers losing 3-2 to the Mets today to fall to 21-23, are 2 1/2 game up in the standings.
May 26: Syria completes 2 days of parliamentary elections for the first time in almost 10 years. The ruling Ba'ath Party and its allies win roughly 70% of the vote.
May 26: The Cod War ESCALATES as the Icelandic Coast Guard boat Aegir fires shells at the British fish trawler Everton, poking at least two holes in it but not injuring any of their 21 man crew.
May 26: Two days after the failed munity of the Hellenic Navy, the Greek destroyer departs from NATO manuevers and drops anchor off the coast of Fiumincino, where the commander, other officers, part of the crew receive political asylum in Italy.
May 26: Zaid Rifai is selected by King Hussein of Jordan to be the new prime minister as part of a policy to work further to rid the country of Palestinian guerrillas. Rifai, who survived an assossination attempt by Black September in 1970, replaces Ahmad Al Lawzi, who had resigned for health reasons.
May 26: "That's Life!", a BBC magazine TV show, is broadcast for the first time. This show will run for 21 years, ending in June of 1994, and its programming leads to several changes in laws and practice, including the introduction of compulsory seat belts for children and the installing of safe surfaces in children's playgrounds (previously English playground equipment had been made of sharpened knives, prompting an episode called "You Can't Even Slide Down These Things").
May 26: Argentina's new president Hector Campora announces hte pardon for all political prisoners in the nation, including members of the Montorenos terrorist group. At the Villa Devoto jail, guards fired on a crowds demanding the liberation of said prisoners; 2 protestors were killed.
May 26: A US Secret Service agent was killed when a helicopter patrolling the waters around President Nixon's vacation home in the Bahamas crashed into the ocean. Sadly, Nixon was not on board.
May 26: Lee "Batty" Barnard (3-4, 3.54) has been really up and down, this year and in his career. Today was an "up": he threw an 8-hit shutout with no walks and 8 strikeouts against the mighty, mighty Detroit Tigers with a 5-0 win broke Detroit's 4-game winning streak. Barnard outdueled Edgar Molina (8-4, 3.13), who kept things close until getting lit up a bit in the 8th for 3 runs, 2 of them off of a 2-RBI single by 2B Jon Reid (.219, 1, 11). Oakland evens up the series with a shot at winning it... tomorrow, if the weather holds up (note: it will not hold up but the game will be made up on Monday).
May 26: The Astros, who've won 4 of their last 5 games, got one heck of a start from the reigning Cy Young champ Tony Rivera (6-4, 3.36), who threw a 4-hit shutout, striking out 8 Pirates and just baaarely squeezing out Jeremy Battaglia (3-5, 2.17) for a 1-0 win. Rivera drove in the only run in the game with an RBI single in the 2nd. "I think I'm finally in midseason form," said Rivera, who is 4-1, 2.47 for the month after a 2-3, 4.46 April. Speaking of midseason form, the Astros moved into a tie with the Dodgers at 22-24, at least pending LA's game vs the Mets (the Doogers are 21-23).
May 26: Speaking of NL West teams starting to put things together, the Braves (19-23) won their 5th straight and 7th out of their last 8 with a Very Special George House (5-5, 4,15) shutout for an 8-0 win against the St. Louis Cardinals. House threw just 85 pitches, walked none, allowed three hits, and struck out three. "Who the BLEEP is Greg Maddux?" he said after the game. "Call this a Merle Haggard. I don't know why, just call it that. Better than naming it after your stupid fantasy pitchers. You think you're Kerouac or something? Because you're not."
May 26: Not really much to say about the game but the Dodgers did win 4-3 over the Mets to move to 22-23 and stay in sole possession of 2nd place in the NL West. Rogelio Salinas (5-5, 2.37) went 7, got enough run support for once, and Alec Cosby (2-6, 3.86) righted the ship for his first save since May 2 (4th overall).
May 27: As part of the new civilian regime in Argentina, the Argentine Congress repeals an anti-Communist law that had been decreed in 1967.
May 27: By virtue of the non-retroactivity of Soviet copyright laws, all works published before this date are considered to be in the public domain. I'm not going to pretend I understand copyright law, let alone Soviet Union copyright law.
May 27: Herman Barnett, an American surgeon and former aviator with the Tuskegee Airmen, is killed in a plane crash at 47.
May 27: St Louis Cardinals RP Dan Schoner (0-0, 0.00), who's been really struggling to stay on the field the past few years, is possibly going to see his season end at 5 games and 5.1 IP as he's out at least 3 months with elbow inflammation. Schoner arrived in St. Louis on June 11 of 1971 but between a torn rotator cuff he suffered 11 days later that kept him out until late last year, a strained abdominam muscle that caused him to miss the first month of the season, and now this injury, he has pitched a grand total of 23 games and 35.1 IP for this club.
May 27: The news on LF Henry Riggs (.306, 7, 17) is muuuch better: he's got a sore elbow that will possibly lay him up for the next couple weeks, although given that he's playing in left and this should only affect his throwing, the Braves might live with it. Riggs, 37, is the all-time MLB leader in HRs with 552, all of them with this club, and still leads the team in that category this year.
May 27: I guess there was a big old wave of... rain in American League cities because only 3 games are happening today and one of them - Red Sox/Royals - was rained out yesterday and is playing a double-header today to make it up.
May 27: I wrote in the team review of the Cubs down below right before their game with the Reds that if CF Alex Vallejo got hurt again they'd be sunk... well, guess what happened? Vallejo got injured running the bases. It's not diagnosed yet so we'll see how bad it is but it's next to impossible for this guy to stay in the lineup, it seems. Ryan Clements (.429, 2, 2) will take over out there for now.
The tiny bit of good news here is that the Cubbies won, picking up 13 hits in a nice, offense-y 7-4 win over the Reds. Josh Coffey (5-4, 6.25) got the win with a 7-inning, 4 ER performance that's not enough to keep him in the rotation in my book (also see below) and Jesse Kelly (5-1, 1.26) picked up his 7th save.
May 27: I would not say that Frank Evans (4-2, 1.68) had overwhelming stuff today. He had enough to shut the Cardinals out at Busch, 6-0 though, and he did it by relying on his split-finger fastball to induce 4 double plays in the game. "We had our opportunites," said 1B Lorenzo Martinez (.247, 8, 24) who himself went 0-1 with 3 walks, "but we just couldn't do anything with them." Evans walked 4, struck out just 2, and allowed 7 hits. His opponent Tom Waits (4-2, 4.36) also walked 4 and gave up 7 hits (in 7 innings) but fell victim to a 3-run HR by new CF Frank Menner (.500, 1, 3 with Atlanta, .382, 2, 4 overall).
## Teams in Review
May 22: I really don't know what direction to take with the
San Francisco Giants (24-20, - GB). They're playing over their head in all senses: they're .545 and sitting in 1st in their division, they were expected to be in the NL West cellar, and they're currently being outscored. Do we need to make big changes or do we just accept this as a better than expected rebuilding year? They're 4th in the NL in scoring but I think that's mostly because of how many games they've played; their other stats - 7th in BA (.251), 9th in OBP (.317), heeey 2nd in HRs (40) and 1st in steals (31) indicate that they're average at best and the pitching is also very middle of the pack.
Rotation: Obe Olthof (2-5, 5.40) has been struggling hard but a. it's not the 8 ERA type struggling that gets you kicked out and b. his peripherals still look pretty OK. Otherwise, the other big offender in this 5 man rotation is Mike Stuckey (5-3, 4.91). This all combined for me to think they shouldn't drop to a 4 man at this point but maybe in another month.
Bullpen: I also don't forsee changes here but because I've already done some stuff out of necessity earlier in the year. Right now I'm most concerned about the Assassin, John Booth (3-0, 1.42, 6 Sv). He's still putting up the numbers but he's struck out 4 guys in 25.1 IP. I guess he did keep up this performance last year with a bad K rate but it's getting worse than "bad"...
Infield: I called up Cs Mugur Isarescu (.250, 2, 6) and Stellan Starsgaard (.355, 0, 1) to keep Iggy Pop (.159, 1, 5) from playing tired. Instead, Pop has continued to not hit and now the new kids are doing better. I think it's time to send Pop down to AAA to see if he can refind that stroke... that hit .218 last year but did hit .277 in 1971.
It's sad and all but it looks like Justin Richens (.214, 2, 18) is done as a productive first baseman. I see that our organization just sent 1968 12th round pick but still 23 year old Phil Lynott (.327, 4, 17 at AA Amarillo) so I think I'll promote him an extra level and let him take the majority of at-bats at the position.
2B Bob McAdoo (.260, 3, 12) has been slumping lately and doesn't walk (.279 OBP, yuck!) but he's a good fielder and he's young so I'm not putting him anywhere.
Outfield: Having too many outfielders is a good problem to have. For now, Frank Meneses (.216, 6, 21) has good power and is our cleanup man but he's still fighting it out with Scott Lammers (.250, 4, 7), who is looking pretty OK after 2 years away from his original team. Jimmy Walker (.224, 3, 6) should be in this mix but he's just not. I'm going to send him down in favor of Elijah Joyner (.311, 2, 12), who lacks Walker's power but I think fits better as a pinch-hitter and lefty bat off the bench (which I mean doesn't fit Walker at all since he's a right-handed batter).
May 26: The
Oakland A's (23-20, 3 1/2 GB) have fallen off pretty hard after a hot April - they're 8-15 for the month in spite of the 15-5 first month. Unlike last year, the AL West doesn't appear to be a patsy division and so this leads them in 4th and a lot of games to make up. It's still early though, hey! The pitching I think isn't quite what they wanted it to be, although they're still 5th in the AL in runs allowed, and sure, the offense could be better too (it's 7th). It just adds up to a pretty middling team I think. It's also not helping that they're currently playing the Tigers.
Rotation: We're in a 5 man rotation now but you get that classic issue of 5 man rotations: why take starts away from your #1 and give them to your worst guy? That worst guy at the mement is Doug Ellis (0-1, 6.16), who's failed to get past the 6th inning in any of his 3 starts to date. I don't think King Decker (0-0, 6.35) has looked particularly great this year in the majors but in AAA Tucson he was... only 2-3 but with a 1.80 ERA and a solid 40 Ks in 60 IP. I'm going to go ahead and drop him in there. Otherwise, much as I'd like to try someone else other than 34 year old journeyman Carlos Torres (3-6, 4.56 and I mean this is a guy with a career 41-53 record and a 3.75 ERA that's kind of bad when you consider the era), there's no way to do so without cutting someone and I'm not ready to do that just yet.
Bullpen: Other than pushing Ellis back in here, which, the guy's 0-1, 3.12 with a .226 OBA so far in relief so the badness there was all being overmatched as a starter, I think I'll stick with things as-is. I am scared by lefty specialist Philip Trapasso's (1-1, 0.00) 12 walks in 14 IP but he's otherwise getting results so I'll just cross my fingers.
Infield: C Texas Josh Lewis (.284, 1, 14) just feels like a guy I'm going to want to eventually move out from behind the plate. Catchers just have to miss too many games, you know? For now, his backup is the defensively minded Ramiro Gonzalez (.231, 0, 3) and even with 25 year old Jose Gomez (.317, 4, 22) finally looking like he's coming into the potential that the 2nd round pick from 1969 suggests, not only is he not trained anywhere else (first? left?), we'd need to open up that space with a trade.
Alex Canales (.296, 4, 22) has already been moved back to first out of necessity: we tried him out at 3rd but in 29 games he committed 11 errors for an .875 fielding average, numbers Butch Hobson (who?) would think were poor. This does move Ray Hawkinson (.239, 0, 8) into a backup role, which I guess sucks for him but also though he's had 241 at-bats over the last 2 seasons and hasn't even cracked .250, so that .369/7/33 performance in 1971 is looking more and more like a fluke.,
I haaaaate to do this but he leaves me with no choice! Israel Gaytan (.206, 0, 8) is off to a baaad start, he was always an offense-first guy, and the team already had other people in here who can play the position, namely Jon Reid (.206, 1, 8). Reid I guess is kind of a similar profile to Gaytan except that he was a subpar SS instead of a 2B so the hope is he can be... par. Gaytan should still play a decent amount given that Reid also backs up gloveman SS Brian Wilcox (.315, 2, 9), who is not going to hit like this all season long.
Again, I'm not going to report on every single position but I'm happy to note that the early returns on 3B Chase Jones (.271, 1, 5) are in and... maybe last year was just a bad version of a fluke? I'm still waiting on that 31 HR power he flashed in 1971 but at this point I'd just take good-enough hitting and a good glove (which, ones did win the GG in 1971).
Outfield: I feel like Zach Hadley (.261, 3, 10) is the bumblebee of the A's. Nobody knows why he has a starting job, and he shouldn't... but he does. He did lead the NL in steals in 1969 and 1970 with the Padres so that could be some of it.
CF Sammy Hagar (.115, 1, 2) can neither drive 55 nor, apparently, hit .200 so I'm going to send him down to back up the 8 in favor of defensive marvel / singer / songwriter of music including "The First Cut is the Deepest" (yes, really!) and "Wild World" Cat Stevens (.234, 2, 12 at AAA Tucson). David Mesa (.280, 0, 8) has been properly scrappy but Stevens should be a good man to bring in against some lefties while also helping the team out as a pinch-runner and backup outfielder.
May 27: The
Chicago Cubs (24-20, 2 1/2 GB) are just struggling to survive right now with both 1B Antonio Lopez (.254, 3, 13) and RF Jeremy Taylor (.287, 7, 18) both out until at least mid-June. The lineup is, let's face it, a mess, although I'm not sure how much I can do about it. The pitching... okay, maybe there's more that can be done there.
Rotation: Scott Coffey (4-4, 6.40) had something of a "prove it" game in his last outing on the 23rd and he allowed 5 runs on 11 hits in 6 IP to the Expos. This is not proving it. He was scheduled to start today but I think I'm going to go ahead and pull him out of the rotation... well, because people are all tired, I'm going to start him one last time in place of Javy Obregon (3-4, 5.56) and then pushing him into long relief. Obregon hasn't exactly ruled the league himself so hey, maybe if Coffey throws a shutout or something things will change. At the same time, we're moving to a 5 man rotation as nobody on this team looks particularly acey.
Bullpen: Jesse Kelly (5-1, 1.35, 6 Sv) is basically the ace of this staff and I'll keep leaning on the 35 year old as much as I can. Otherwise, we've got 3 mid-30s right-handers who come in whenever they're needed and are not tired. There's honest not a great deal to distinguish those guys, except that they're all fairly effective (I mean, not so much Suk-min Moon (0-0, 5.52) this year but at that he's got the best K/W ratio out of anyone).
infield: I've been trying to employ a platoon of veteran pinch-hitter Steve Casio (.161, 1, 3) and newcomer Ben Yetman (.000, 0, 0) but Casio is flat-out not hitting. I mean, adding Yetman has been really recent. I'm sticking with this but Casio could be out the door once Taylor and especially Lopez get back.
The trade of John Timonen opens up short for Charles Bradley (.160, 1, 5), although he hasn't exactly played like a top 10 shortstop so far. Aurelio Rodriguez (.312, 1, 5) is doing supersub work but even by Cubs standards he doesn't have the range, hands, or arm for the position. So... should I need to replace Bradley, it would be 28 year old last-man-on-the-roster Bill Daniels (.176, 0, 0) who'd be taking up that mantle.
Outfield: Hey, at least Alex Vallejo (.361, 4, 7) is healthy (for now)! This team would straight up crumble if he got hurt again (as it is, he's only played in 20 games this year due to several injuries).
OF Chance Cooper (.236, 4, 15) is doing what he can in relief of Taylor in right but he really needs to get on the ball hitting-wise. He does have a .388 on-base percentage and he followed up a terrible April (.172, 1, 6) with a good, solid May (.302, 3, 9) although... where are the dingers? You were called up to ding, Chance. Now go forth and ding!