## Standings / Recap / Comments
AMERICAN LEAGUE
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO%
Detroit 32 17 .653 - L1 243 175 .297 42 43 3.24 3.4 5.7 .982 25.3 44.2
New York 31 19 .620 1½ W8 235 231 .256 54 13 4.20 2.7 4.6 .982 6.3 38.3
Boston 25 21 .543 5½ W3 218 152 .281 41 18 3.08 2.8 5.8 .980 26.3 45.9
Baltimore 17 27 .386 12½ W1 176 192 .250 40 15 3.80 3.7 5.0 .971 10.9 43.8
Milwaukee 17 31 .354 14½ L1 200 270 .265 32 39 5.04 3.9 5.1 .977 -5.4 37.2
Cleveland 16 34 .320 16½ W1 185 250 .243 46 18 4.67 3.4 5.4 .981 6.6 31.6
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO%
Chicago 28 17 .622 - W1 189 165 .262 34 23 3.33 3.5 4.8 .982 24.9 39.4
Texas 28 18 .609 ½ L1 188 155 .263 29 18 2.97 3.7 5.3 .983 24.7 38.5
California 28 19 .596 1 L3 221 203 .262 39 39 3.72 3.5 5.0 .977 19.5 40.0
Kansas City 25 28 .472 7 L1 252 278 .259 32 25 4.69 3.7 4.4 .983 11.8 30.6
Oakland 24 27 .471 7 L7 191 202 .264 31 20 3.59 3.0 5.0 .977 4.4 39.5
Minnesota 17 30 .362 12 W1 189 214 .245 45 20 4.13 3.6 5.6 .977 7.0 28.6
NATIONAL LEAGUE
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO%
St. Louis 27 20 .574 - L3 193 184 .248 45 16 3.64 2.9 5.9 .981 14.4 50.0
Chicago 29 23 .558 ½ W1 216 205 .259 46 27 3.66 3.4 4.5 .986 41.7 43.9
Philadelphia 27 22 .551 1 W1 239 207 .256 32 31 3.76 2.9 5.1 .976 14.1 41.9
Pittsburgh 24 21 .533 2 L2 154 149 .238 19 5 3.08 3.0 5.9 .981 15.9 36.0
New York 23 23 .500 3½ L3 163 188 .261 17 32 3.72 3.2 4.8 .982 16.4 48.1
Montreal 15 29 .341 10½ W1 190 244 .255 34 22 4.56 3.7 5.3 .975 5.8 36.1
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO%
San Francisco 29 26 .527 - L1 217 215 .253 46 36 3.45 3.0 5.1 .981 8.1 28.9
Houston 27 27 .500 1½ W3 229 241 .252 58 22 3.93 3.6 5.5 .972 4.6 27.5
Los Angeles 26 26 .500 1½ L1 182 190 .253 49 16 3.16 3.0 5.4 .978 36.1 29.0
San Diego 26 27 .491 2 W6 212 185 .256 27 19 3.07 3.3 5.2 .977 38.5 41.5
Atlanta 23 27 .460 3½ L1 201 187 .262 38 15 3.45 2.9 5.9 .981 8.5 32.3
Cincinnati 23 28 .451 4 W2 214 215 .252 40 24 3.93 2.9 5.9 .978 2.8 24.4
PARITY LEAGUE at least in the NL this year. The AL, I guess TOO BEE FAAIIIR does have some legit good (and some legit bad) treams in it. The NL really only has one bad team and right now the "best" in that has a record of a whopping .574 right now. I don't expect that to continue but... I don't really expect the top team to be St. Louis either. Chicago? Maybe, if they can weather the huge storm they're in right now, missing the middle of their lineup right now. Philly's got the offense and Pittsburgh's got the pitching. The Mets have the hopes and dreams of New York fans to shatter.
Hey, so zone rating is supposed to have a zero baseline, right? Heh... this is just how the game compiles it for lower-BABIP leagues I think. Three teams in the NL have a rating of 35+ and only one team is negative.
The clearcut YUPPIES OF BASEBALL are the San Diego Padres, who moved all the way from 19th to 6th this week. Going 6-0 will do that, even if 1 of those series was against the Expos (and the other was against the Mets, where I think the bloom is finally off the rose but still... someone had to do it). Also in that mix are the Red Sox, moving from 16th (which seems waaaay to low) to 8th with... this one's weird: a win over the Royals to end that 3 game series, getting *swept* by the Angels, and then sweeping the A's over the weekend. I guess it's, like, recalibration or something. I think some love should go into the Yankees, too, who "only" moved up 3 places but they were 3 important places, from 4th to 1st (yeah, they're currently ranked ahead of the 32-17 Tigers) with series sweeps of the A's and the Angels (remember them)?
It shouldn't surprise you to see the A's at the top of the Dirty Hippies list this week, as they dropped from 8th to 19th in power rankings this week. As noted above, they did play 2 really good teams this week but they stunk against both and now they're 3 games below .500 in a very competitive division. Pittsburgh also gets some negative love here, falling from 7th to a below-average 13th by getting blown out 13-4 by the Astros on Monday, recovering somewhat to win 2 out of 3 at home against the Braves, and then losing 2 of 3 against the Reds. I think all three of those teams are better than their records suggest but then, the Pirates, especially in their current form, might legit be a .500 team. I feel like the other lowkey negative "love" is the Expos, who fell only 4 places but those 4 places put them behind Milwaukee and Cleveland and into the MLB cellar. They were swept by the Padres (as above) and then avoided a sweep at the hands of the Dodgers only by blowing up for 7 runs in the 13th inning of the last game.
ON TO THE LEAGUE LEADERS...
The current/new(?) AL batting leader is Red Sox LF Bruce Springsteen (.373, 5, 25). He's having a magical 2nd full season. The Joker, Jose Ayala (.368, 11, 35), the Tigers' 3B BUT YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT, is in full-on Joker Mode right now, hitting .364 (8-22) this week after a .455 week last week (10-22). The Angels' Chris Seek (.363, 8, 31) is also hitting out of his mind right now; league be warned that he's hitting .375 in 13 games for the Halos.
Ernesto Garcia (.297, 22, 45) is back to hitting dingers again. Beware, the rest of the league. He's of course leading in the slugger categories. Chicago's Alice Cooper (.344, 13, 35) and the Twins' Angelo Martinez (.251, 13, 40) are tied for 2nd in HRs, with Martinez and Ayala sitting behind Garcia in ribbies. Hey, Angelo is only 5 behind; HRs or no, maybe he'll pass the Yankees slugging machine. Steals is Tigers' CF Alvin Romero's (.320, 2, 26) bag, with 22 of them. He's followed by Milwaukee's CF Fernando Ceballos (.254, 1, 12), making the most of a new shot at starting with 12 thefts, and Texas' 3B Bobby Ramirez (.358, 4, 16), who you normally think of as a batting guy but hey, he's got 10 steals this year too (and he had 32 and 27 his first 2 years in the league with Cleveland, so I'm just blind I guess).
Right now, in spite of the DH OR BECAUSE OF IT no in spite of it, 2 AL pitchers are ahead of the Jeff Borden pace for ERA: the White Sox' Rich Reese (6-2, 1.54) and California's Gary "We Don't Talk About" Bruno (8-2, 1.57). The Tigers' Jimmy Goddard (9-1, 2.06) rounds out the top 3... and is also one of 2 guys stuck on 9 wins right now with his teammate Edgar Molina (9-5, 3.59). 3 guys have 3 wins. Molina leads everyone with 78 Ks in 110.1 innings, followed by Boston's Michael Pesco (6-6, 3.30), with 67 in 105 and Pesco's teammate Marco Sanchez with 62 in 96. Lots of teammates in these pitching. Malcolm Post (1-0, 2.22) has 9 saves to lead the AL; several guys have 7.
For the NL... the hitting leaders aren't nearly as high-flying so far. San Francisco's Jon Berry (.340, 7, 21) has flashed onto the season to lead the league so far. He's followed by a real bottleneck that's several steps behind him: Philly's Alberto Juantorena (.318, 8, 30), Dale Earnhardt (.316, 11, 30), Rafael Disla (.316, 5, 26), and the Mets' Kjell Isaakson (.315, 1, 18). Doesn't look like we're going to see a run at .400 this year, at least not in this league.
George Foreman (.295, 12, 39) has 3 HRs in the last 2 weeks, which only gets him into a tie with the Reds' Jaden Weaver (.243, 12, 41), who's been slumping really badly lately, with a .222 and .160 average this week and last. Tied for 3rd and riiiight behind those two are Dale Earnhardt and Houston's Joshua "Superman" Waltenbery (.306, 11, 30), who's having his best season since the Miracle Mets run of 1969. Weaver and Foreman are also 1 and 2 in RBIs, followed by Weaver's teammate RJ Dominguez (.282, 6, 33). Steals-wise, Jon Berry's got 18 of them. It looks like steals race this year will be between him and Alvin Romero. Sonny Burwell (.252, 2, 7) is next with 12 with Juantorena the only other guy in the NL with double-digit steals with 11.
Atlanta's Colin Rose (3-2, 1.48) has only recently gotten a starting job and the knuckleballer is now leading the league and ahead of the Borden pace. The Cubs' Mike Larsen (5-4, 1.80) and the Padres' Don Henley (.7-1, 1.84) are next; Fernando Apolonio (8-3, 2.03) has fallen all the way out of contention with 7 earned runs allowed in his last 2 starts (18 IP). Apolonio has the fact that he's tied for the wins lead with the Phillies' Richard Starkey (8-4, 3.35) to console him, at least: several guys have 7. Tony Rivera (6-5, 3.27), Houston's ace who'd gotten off to a slow start this year, now leads in Ks with 72 in 93.2 innings, followed by the leader the last time we checked, George House (6-5, 3.73) with 69 in 89.1 (and a solid 12 in his last 18, including a 9 K shutout this week), and Starkey with 66 in 104.2. Saves-wise, Geoff Saus (3-4, 4.06, 12 saves) has been knocked around a bit lately but he still holds a commanding saves lead over the Padres' Darius Parchman (1-2, 0.36, 9 Sv) the only other man in baseball with more than 8.
## Major Transactions
May 31: The Brewers purchased P King Decker (0-1, 4.63) from the A's. Decker started his first game of the season on the 29th and was nominally not too bad: 6 IP, 4 runs but only 2 earned - but the A's are pretty well done with the idea of him as a member of a contending team. Off he goes to Milwaukee, who will try and shape him up.
June 2: The Orioles traded CL Montay Luiso (0-1, 2.25, 7 Sv) to the Angels for 2B Kurt Russell (.318, 0, 2). Okay, so this one was not this kind of a blockbuster in real life but hey, the Orioles are in a bad situation, Luiso is 35, and it was high time they got something out of him. That something is Russell, who is awfully good but finds almost as much out of a position in Baltimore as he was in California (who even sent him down this year with the acquisition of Rodrigo Juarez (.294, 10, 34 with CAL)). I'll figure something out, I'm sure.
## News
May 28: The Salyut space station, which had been damaged soon after being launched into orbit by the USSR on April 3, falls out of orbit after 56 days and burns up in the Earth's atmosphere. I'm pretty sure nobody was on board but, you know, never trust the Soviets...
May 28: The Indy 500, which has already had a death of a driver in qualifications (Art Pollard, a 46 year old who finished in the top 10 in USAC races 30 times, winning twice), is aborted due to a major accident at the start of the race. Driver David "Salt" Walther is critically injured and the first few rows of the grandstand nearest the starting line had numerous spectators suffering burns from a fireball from the accident. The race will pick up again on Wednesday, I'd like to say without further issues but I would be lying...
May 28: Cubs' CF Alex Vallejo (.373, 4, 9) was diagnosed with knee tendinitis today, which on the one hand isn't soooo bad - it doesn't affect his hitting at all - but on the other hand is kind of terrible because it's going to hugely impact his running. I'm going to move Chance Cooper (.235, 4, 17) into center for the duration of the injury... or at least until Jeremy Taylor (.299, 7, 18) is back in a couple weeks, then I'll re-evaluate.
May 28: Hey, it's not his first trip to the rodeo but it's the first trip this year for Tony "The Boss" Danza (.329, 5, 19), who went 10-24 (.417) with 2 HRs and 4 RBIs to take home his 2nd ever Player of the Week. Danza's other award came at around this time last year: the week ending May 14, 1972. He also, of course, led the AL in hitting and on-base percentage last year and finished 3rd in the MVP race, among other things.
May 28: Meanwhile, 3B/OF Dale Earnhardt (.338, 11, 29) is starting to have one of those years where people need to stand up and take notice. The 24 year old race car driver went 13 for 22 this week for a .591 average with 2 HRs and 4 RBIs himself. This is the first time Earnhardt has won any hardware of any kind, at least in baseball. I looked it up but nope, he will not be entering the NASCAR Winston Cup until 1975. He's already on his second marriage, though. I have no idea why his club is listed as the "Washington Nat'l Lea."
May 28: SID THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK really it's OOTP's but STILL. Top 5 pitchers in opponents' BA... is this a measure of unhittability or Ks or luck or all of the above?
1. Rich Reese, CHW (5-2, 1.59): .187
2. Howard Rollins, KC (6-1, 3.36): .196
3. Ken Hansen, LAD (2-3, 3.28): .201
4. Roberto Ortiz, ATL/HOU (3-2, 3.06): .201
5. Tony Rivera, HOU (6-4, 3.36): .203
Houston's got 2 guys in the top 5. Their pitching can't possibly be as bad as it's bene so far, right?
May 28: Padres SP Cesar Barreras (5-4, 2.82) is having the kind of "season to remember" that nobody but his family will remember in 20 years but STILL. Today he threw his first shutout in 10 tries but also went 3-5 at the plate with a run scored in the 9-0 win over the Expos. Barreras is hitting .500/1/4 in 30 at-bats this year, raising his career BA to a very respectable .265. "You know, I'm more than just a hitter," he said after the game. "I pitch too."
May 29: Princess Anne, the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, announces her engagement to Olympic equestrian champion Mark Phillips. Very forward-thinking of England circa 1973, I see, allowing equestrian marriage.
May 29: Los Angeles becomes the largest city in the US to elect an African-American mayor as city councilman Tom Bradley defeats Sam Yorty, who'd been the mayor for the past 12 years. It's weird to even think of this but LA at the time has the rep as a white conservative city - check out "LA Confidential" and "Chinatown" for some of this - and Bradley's election signaled a sea change in the city's politics. He will serve in this office for 20 years.
May 29: Huang Zhen becomes the first diplomatic representative to the US from the Peoples' Republic of China. He will present his credentials to President Nixon tomorrow, who will expunge 18 minutes of them from the public record.
May 29: Cubs RF Jeremy Taylor (.299, 7, 18), who won the NL MVP last year and led in HRs (35) and RBIs (100), suffered a setback in his rehab of a sprained ankle and will miss the next month. Taylor, who's been out since the 4th, was expected to come back within a week or two.
May 29: Orioles SP TJ Ziegler (2-7, 3.31) has had some hard, hard luck this year but he got a first today for him: a cheap win. Ziegler could barely get into the 7th inning today, allowing 6 runs on 9 hits, but his team blew apart the Royals in KC Stadium to win 13-6. CF Frank Beard (.281, 4, 17) went 3-5 with a 2-run 7th inning homer off of long reliever Joe Hagan (3-4, 6.29) that put this game out of reach; he had 3 runs and 3 RBIs on the night. 2B Bill Murray (.327, 6, 16) and 1B Dante Chairez (.282, 7, 19) also drove in 3 guys apiece, with Chairez adding his 7th HR of the season off of starter Chris Regan (4-5, 5.51) in the first inning.
Even with this big win the O's are 2nd-worst in the AL in runs scored with 161 (Cleveland has 158).
May 30: The Indianapolis 500 runs 2 days late. I'd love to say there was no further tragedy (see the Sunday recap) but I would be lying. David "Swede" Savage is injured on a fiery crash after losing control of his car. A member of the pit crew steps out onto the track and is run over by a truck racing to the scene of the crash. This man, Armando Teran, is killed. Savage is rushed the hospital but will succumb to his injuries on July 2. The winner of this race, such that it is, is Gordon Johncock, who wins the trophy and goes to visit Savage in the hospital shortly after accepting the trophy. Only 35,000 fans attend due to weather and the fact that it had already been delayed twice.
May 30: Sheik Mohammed Ali Othman, one of the members of North Yemen's ruling executive council of the Yemen Arab Republic is assassinated by a group of infiltrators from the neighboring People's Republic of Yemen. The YAE is North Yemen; the PRY is South.
May 30: Local elections are held in Norhtern Ireland, with results decided for the first time by proportional representation, using the single transferable vote system. Erskine Childers, a Protestant and native of Great Britain, is elected as President of the state.
May 30: All-Star voting begins today. I'm going to see if maybe I'll remember to manually name the AS teams this year; I'm all for weird selections but weird long relievers? Not really.
May 30: Is Royals LF Tony Danza (.339, 5, 21) the Ernesto Garcia of doubles? He's sure hitting them this year. In today's 3-1 loss to the Orioles, he hit is 22nd of the season already. 22! Last year's AL doubles leader had 31 to put that into some perspective. To put it into more perspective Danza's on pace for 79; the real life record is 67 by Earl Webb (who?) in 1931 and nobody in real life has hit more than 60 since 1936 (Freddie Freeman (who?) and Todd Helton (who?) hit 59 each in 2023 and 2000, respectively).
May 30: So I'll admit, this one made me rage a bit... the Pirates and Braves played a 1-0 pitchers' duel... in _14_ innings! I'm soooo glad these are rare now. Jeremy Battaglia (4-5, 1.87) and Colin "Knucksie" Rose (3-2, 1.48) both went all the way because... why not? They were still getting outs, after all. Rose even set the Braves' record for Ks in a game with 13 in 13.2 IP, and he was still racking up Ks in the 12th inning (and also threw 207 pitches AHAHAHA). This drudge FINALLY ended when LF Jerry Sherk (.247, 4, 16) walked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 14th. Atlanta was, I guess, playing without their top hitter Henry Riggs (.279, 7, 17), who is nursing a sore elbow and so I've been pulling him against some lefties. After a game like tonight, maybe I shouldn't...
May 31: Indian Airlines Flight 440 crashes, killing 48 of the 65 passengers on board as the Boeing 737 approaches Delhi's Palam Airport. As it makes its descent the aircraft collides with high tension wires 4 miles from its destination. Among the dead is India's Minister of Iron and Steel Mines, Mohan Kumaramangalam.
May 31: Let's take a look at the top 10 center fielders in baseball according to the Baseball News Network:
10. Bobby Kaplan, CLE (.278, 4, 20). Hey, it's cool to see the terribad Indians have one guy somewhere in the top 10. Kaplan's a roughly league-average hiter who won his first Gold Glove last season, a trophy he might get some more of given that Norm Hodge (.254, 0, 8) is really starting to look problematic with the bat the past 2+ seasons.
9. Curtis Hope (.167, 1, 8) / Kjell Isaakson, NYM (.308, 1, 18). Admittedly I haven't done this in the past but Hope has clearly lost the starting gig to Isaakson, who has, as you can see, been hitting a looot better. Isaakson's also pretty young at 25 and isn't quite th fielder that Hope is so the grizzled 27 year old veteran will surely hang around for a bit longer.
8. Ronnie Hellstrom, MIN (.274, 5, 15). Like Kaplan, Hellstrom is a bright light on a very bad team. He's also the 3rd best CF in the AL according to these rankings and I'm not sure who else the Twins would appoint as their All-Star representative, so I might expect to see him in the Midsummer Classic.
7. Jon Glynn, BOS (.269, 4, 16). Glynn's been hurt a bit this year but his backups, particularly OF/DH Brian Johnson (.261, 2, 14) have stepped up well. It's also nice to see him hitting well this year after struggling through injuries last season (he hit .229/6/22 in 393 at-bats).
6. Sonny Burwell, STL (.252, 2, 7). I... don't really get this one if I'm being honest. Burwell was an All-Star in 1971 with the Reds and hit .299 with 64 runs scored in 432 at-bats for that division champion. Since then though he's been shuffled off to St. Louis, where he's hit .251, 6, 23 over 95 games and 319 at-bats and it's not like he's got an amazing glove or anything. He does have really good speed: 12 steals in 14 tries so far this year.
5. Danny "The Phantom" Seligman (.280, 1, 10). I on the other hand am glad to see Danny the Phantom up this high, as he's kind of a personal favorite. He gets hurt a lot, as guys who slam into walls for a living are wont to do, but when healthy he's a real force. He led the NL in batting in 1971 with a .333 average; he also stole 30 bases that year. So far in 1973 he's been hurt a bit more (only 24 games to date and the Giants have played almost a third of their season) but has hit well and played excellent defense when he's been in there.
4. Alex Vallejo, CHC (.369, 4, 11). Speaking of oft-injured guys (and Valledjo will be #2 of 3 in quick succession here), Vallejo when healthy is a top 20 player in this league. He is just never, ever healthy. Someone should get the memo and make him a RF/DH but a. that's gonna happen in the National League and b. I can understand why you want to play a guy with his obvious skills in the field.
3. Bryant Tarala, PHI (.300, 4, 7). Center fielders just looooooove to get hurt in this league I guess. Tarala's only recently returned from a sprained ankle that caused him to miss the last week and a half; already this season he's also had to deal with a fractured rib and a sore hamstring as well. When he's ready to go he's a Gold Glover and a good leadoff man with deceptive pop.
2. Alvin Romero, DET (.323, 2, 24). Probably my favorite player in this save, Romero is a speed demon. He's already at 20/25 steals, on pace to tie his own record, set in 1970, of 72 thefts. He's also already 13th all-time in the category in spite of only turning 27 this year (with 208 career stolen bases, he's 6 away from Fernando Rocha, who has 214, and just 14 away from cracking the top 10).
1. Big George Foreman, HOU (.296, 10, 34). Foreman doesn't so much patrol center field in the Astrodome as he intimidates it. He's quickly turning into one of the top pure hitters in the game as well, leading the league in doubles last year and appearing to add a whole chunk of power this season (he had a perfectly respectable 19 HRs last year but looks like a lock to pass that). All of this and he's boxing's heavyweight champion, too, winning the victory with a stunning 2nd round TKO against Smokin' Joe Frazier (not a MLBer).
May 31: It took 11 innings but Angels CF Carlos Hernandez's (.289, 6, 28) hitting streak reached 20 games, the longest streak all season long (Red Sox OF Bruce Springsteen (.374, 4, 23) had an 18-gamer earlier). Hernandez reached on a single off of tiring Red Sox P Dave Bly (0-1, 2.30), who was into his 4th inning on the night. The very next batter, PH Brad Wagner (.300, 1, 2) then blasted a 2 run HR that gave the Angels a 4-2 lead they would not relinquish. "I'm very fortunate to play with a guy like Carlos," said winning pitcher Andy O'Connor (6-1, 2.45), who pitched the final 2 innings.
May 31: In a game defined by walks, the A's take a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the 9th against New York thanks to *8* walks by Yankees starter Manny Carbajal (3-3, 3.68), only for closer Willis Chavez (2-4, 2.70) to lose the game as he issues 3 straight walks, the last 2 with the bases loaded.
A's 3B Chase Jones (.267, 1, 5) tied the Oakland record for walks in a game with 4 of them. He was also the last Athletic to do the feat on June 27, 1971. He's not exactly a walks merchant like Mike Brookes or the Yankees' Phil Hartman but he does pretty well for himself, especially when he's hitting decently well as he is this year and as he was in '71.
May 31: White Sox LF Pedro Castrejon (.240, 1, 7) was one of three marquee free agents signed out of the Mexican League this year, and the Chisox hired him for one reason: to bring his league-leading HR power to Comiskey Park (.324, 33, 78 last year). A combination of a slump and a rotator cuff strain that put him on the DL for more than a month kept it from happening but he *finally* hit his 1st HR of the season, a 2-run knock off of Detroit Tigers' RP Juan Merino (1-0, 5.93) in the 7th inning. And as it turned out, the Sox kind of needed it, as this gave them a 6-1 lead that turned into a 7-4 game with runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out in the top of the 9th. Luckily for Chicago, their stopper Malcolm Post (1-0, 2.35, 8 Sv), who'd already allowed 3 hits tonight, induced OF Frankie Faison (.351, 3, 22) to line into a game-ending double play.
Man... hypertextuality is *such* a thing... I am sooooo tempted to add extra notes for everyone, from the fact that Merino was the odd man out when Detroit chose to use a 4 man rotation to start the year and has taken poorly to relief use, to the fact that he was in the game because Bruce Rubio (3-3, 2.90), normally a good control guy, had given up 6 walks in 6 innings, also to the fact that Faison had just helped get his team back in the game by hitting a run-scoring double that chased starter Mick Fleetwood (5-3, 3.48) in the 8th. And now I've said a lot of it. My point is, there are like 20 stories in every game.
June 1: General Georgios Popadopolous, who had served as Prime Minister of Greece since shortly after leading the overthrow of the government in 1967, declares that the monarchy has been dissolved and he is the new president of a republic.
June 1: British Honduras is renamed Belize in anticipation of its eventual independence from the United Kingdom, which won't happen until 1981.
June 1: Heidi Klum, German actress and model, is born in West Germany.
June 1: Father Joseph Andre, a Belgian Roman Catholic priest who rescued numerous Jewish children during the Nazi occupation of his country, dies today at 65.
June 1: Also passing on today is Mary Kornma (born Mary Evans), who was the leading female character during the silent portion of the "Our Gang" serial. She appeared in those from 1923-26 with a couple of guest appearances in the late 30s, as well as a teenaged version of "Our Gang" called "The Boy Friends" along with Mickey Rooney.
June 1: Reds SP Vincent Schiavelli (3-3, 3.27), who you might remember as the subway ghost in the movie "Ghost" (what are we talking about?), is also young pitcher and, if May was any indicator, a pretty good one. He made his first major league start of the year on the 3rd of May - his first career start, in fact (he appeared in 10 games in relief last season), and... put up the above numbers, also striking out 26 vs 16 walks in 44 innings of work. Hey, it's not a lot but it's good for a rookie.
June 1: The AL Rookie of the Month is also a hurler: Svetislav Pesic (4-3, 3.23), who shuffled from long relief to the rotation and went 3-1 with a 2.08 ERA in 30.1 innings over 6 games. He started 3 of those, completing 2. The peripherals... were only OK, 12 Ks and 11 walks, but those will come, right? Pesic is just 23 years of age and hails from Yugoslavia.
June 1: The NL Pitcher of the Month was also a pretty young guy: the Padres' Don Henley (7-1, 1.84). Henley really put it into overdrive in May, going 5-0 with a 1.04 ERA, completing 4 of 6 starts and also getting a shutout. He posted a nice 35-10 K/W ratio in 52 IP and all 6 of his starts were of the quality variety. This is the first major award Henley has won; he informed us he will be putting it into a brand new trophy cabinet he calls the "Hotel California".
June 1: The AL Pitcher of the Month, meanwhile, was a grizzled old man, at least compared to these first three guys. 28 year old Edgar Molina (9-4, 3.04) went 6-1 with a 2.88 ERA and 47 Ks in 59.1 IP, good for a 7/1 K/9 rate (trust me, that's really good for a starter - the leaguewide rate is 5.3). He did walk 26 guys but I mean a high-90s heater will do that to you sometimes. Molina has won this award one other time in his career: July of 1969. I don't of course have the splits for that month anymore (I guess, since I started this dynasty in that season, you could go dig through these recaps and find them?) but he went 18-13, 3.12 on the season that year.
June 1: I'm not surprised at the NL Hitter of the Month and you shouldn't be either. 3B/OF Dale Earnhardt (.331, 11, 30) carried the Padres on his back last month, hitting .358 with 6 HRs (13 extra-base hits total) and 19 RBIs in 27 games. He also walked 18 times, posting an on-base percentage of .466. Like, I know he won't keep it up but those are bona fide MVP numbers right there. Earnhardt just formally won a starting job this year so of course he hasn't had any previous hardware... well, other than that Player of the Week he just won.
June 1: And speaking of guys who capped off a Player of the Week award (well, he won 2 of them this month), 1B Alice Cooper (.343, 13, 35) went 35-91 (.385) with 12 HRs, 26 RBIs, and 26 more walks to put up a .521 on-base percentage. Did I say Earnhardt was putting up MVP numbers? I meant Cooper is. And yes, that's even with Ernesto Garcia out there (who by the way is at .295, 19, 42, which, hey, it's nice but he's also not playing the field this year).
June 2: 15 people die when the supertanker Esso Brussels is struc by the container ship Sea Witch in New York Harbor.
June 2: Carlos Acosta, the Cuban ballet dancer, is born in Havana.
June 2: US Army Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Lee Hawkins, the deputy chief of the US miltary advisory group to the Iranian Armed Forces under the Shah, is shot to death by terrorists while in Tehran. Three years later, reports will come out that nine terrorists convicted of killing him are executed; their affiliation remains controversial to this day, with a US report released in 2008 stating that the assassins were members of a Marxist group called the Peoples' Muhajedin of Iran while contemporary reports stated that it was done by an offshoot.
June 2: It hasn't been the best year for Giants SP Olbe Olthof (4-5, 4.29) - it hasn't been a good last 3 years, really - but tonight he got everything in order and shut out a top-notch Phillies offense, 3-0. "The Flying Dutchman", a native of Amsterdam, struck out 7, allowing only 4 hits with 2 walks. "Yes, it was a gezellig day for me," Olthof said after the game. "Like the old days down at the gracht." With the last sentence, spit flew all over this reporter's notepad, rendering him unable to collect more quotes.
June 3: Russia's supersonic aircraft crashes at the Paris airshow in front of 250,000 spectators including designer Alexei Tupelov. All six an board the craft are killed as well as 8 more on the ground when debris destroys 15 houses in a nearby French village. Another 60 on the ground are severely injured. The airplane made a steep climb shortly after takeoff, and when the engines failed at 2,000 feet the plan went into a steep dive. The crew's attempts to pull it up overstressed the airframe and the plane broke up in the sky.
June 3: Israel and Syria repatriate several prisoners of war, with Syria releasing 3 Israeli Air Force pilots in exchange for 47 Syrian and 10 Lebanese POWs.
June 3: The Bulgarian "Cup of the Soviet Army" tournament is played in Sofia, with CSKA Sofia (the athletic arm of the Bulgarian Army) defeating Beroe Stara Zagora, 2-1.
June 3: Astros 1B/OF Nick Miller (.275, 4, 13) is unhappy in his part-time / pinch-hitter type role. I guess after 2 years of mid-300 at-bat levels, he wants to play more. I don't really see it; I think if the team keeps winning that will probably be a salve but if not, I'll stick him on the trading block and try to remember to ship him off somewhere where he can play more.
June 3: The first round of All-Star voting is in!
Below are the current standings for the American League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jun. 3rd , 1973) for the All-Star Game, which will be played on Tue. Jul. 24th , 1973. The top vote getter at this point is Alice Cooper with 91,996 votes.
CATCHER
1. Josh Lewis, Oakland Athletics: 55,787
2. Frank Abagnale, Baltimore Orioles: 49,707
3. John Lennon, Cleveland Indians: 32,185
FIRST BASE
1. Alice Cooper, Chicago White Sox: 91,996
2. Angelo Martinez, Minnesota Twins: 63,095
3. Mike Miller, Boston Red Sox: 58,723
SECOND BASE
1. Bill Murray, Baltimore Orioles: 51,176
2. Rodrigo Juarez, California Angels: 48,533
3. Geoffrey Rush, Texas Rangers: 45,839
THIRD BASE
1. Tom Weiss, New York Yankees: 63,703
2. Jose Ayala, Detroit Tigers: 60,420
3. Bobby Ramirez, Texas Rangers: 56,225
SHORTSTOP
1. John Johnson, Chicago White Sox: 55,925
2. Rob Curran, Detroit Tigers: 43,846
3. Oniji Handa, Boston Red Sox: 43,460
LEFT FIELD
1. Tony Danza, Kansas City Royals: 75,882
2. Bruce Springsteen, Boston Red Sox: 64,829
3. Jeff Franks, Minnesota Twins: 38,292
CENTER FIELD
1. Alvin Romero, Detroit Tigers: 65,902
2. Ronnie Hellström, Minnesota Twins: 41,439
3. Jon Glynn, Boston Red Sox: 37,770
RIGHT FIELD
1. Tommy Pron, Oakland Athletics: 57,765
2. Dave Corona, Kansas City Royals: 57,151
3. Tom Brown, Boston Red Sox: 47,442
DESIGNATED HITTER
1. Ernesto Garcia, New York Yankees: 85,080
2. Joey Ramone, Detroit Tigers: 68,778
3. Jeff Nation, Chicago White Sox: 44,820
STARTING PITCHER
1. Jimmy Goddard, Detroit Tigers: 32,914
2. Marco Sanchez, Boston Red Sox: 32,436
3. Justin Kindberg, Boston Red Sox: 31,894
4. Michael Pesco, Boston Red Sox: 30,075
5. Chad Daugharty, Texas Rangers: 29,603
RELIEVER
1. Montay Luiso, California Angels: 45,182
2. Jake Duckett, Cleveland Indians: 33,015
3. Malcolm Post, Chicago White Sox: 31,447
4. Willis Chavez, Oakland Athletics: 30,151
5. Jim Marceau, Detroit Tigers: 27,768
In his career, Cooper is batting .278 with 237 hits, 30 doubles, 5 triples and 77 home runs.
Also, note that Joey Ramone is listed in DH; that will change with Danny Villegas now bad for the Tigers.
Below are the current standings for the National League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jun. 3rd , 1973) for the All-Star Game, which will be played on Tue. Jul. 24th , 1973. The top vote getter at this point is Jason Bushon with 69,553 votes.
CATCHER
1. Jason Bushon, New York Mets: 69,553
2. John Stuart, St. Louis Cardinals: 55,019
3. Greg Darrow, Chicago Cubs: 40,133
FIRST BASE
1. Joshua Waltenbery, Houston Astros: 68,594
2. Justin Stone, Los Angeles Dodgers: 60,208
3. Lorenzo Martinez, St. Louis Cardinals: 59,853
SECOND BASE
1. Juan Perez, Chicago Cubs: 68,541
2. Kevin Dwyer, Atlanta Braves: 66,424
3. Paul McCartney, San Diego Padres: 66,357
THIRD BASE
1. Dale Earnhardt, San Diego Padres: 62,059
2. Pete Little, Houston Astros: 51,960
3. George Harrison, San Francisco Giants: 46,861
SHORTSTOP
1. Tony Shannon, Philadelphia Phillies: 61,404
2. Ronney Yitzhaki, Los Angeles Dodgers: 38,096
3. Henry Villar, Pittsburgh Pirates: 36,833
LEFT FIELD
1. Alberto Juantorena, Philadelphia Phillies: 66,328
2. R.J. Domínguez, Cincinnati Reds: 60,802
3. Henry Riggs, Atlanta Braves: 55,672
CENTER FIELD
1. George Foreman, Houston Astros: 68,311
2. Greg Lake, Philadelphia Phillies: 41,946
3. Mike Schurke, Chicago Cubs: 34,806
RIGHT FIELD
1. Matt Williams, St. Louis Cardinals: 60,650
2. Jaden Weaver, Cincinnati Reds: 54,180
3. Jeremy Taylor, Chicago Cubs: 51,765
STARTING PITCHER
1. Fernando Apolonio, Los Angeles Dodgers: 21,534
2. Tony Rivera, Houston Astros: 20,275
3. D.J. Cheeves, Pittsburgh Pirates: 18,390
4. George House, Atlanta Braves: 17,984
5. Danny Plaunt, Philadelphia Phillies: 17,815
RELIEVER
1. Geoff Saus, New York Mets: 25,761
2. Brian Bruno, Pittsburgh Pirates: 22,402
3. Pete Lynn, Cincinnati Reds: 21,699
4. Paz Lemus, Pittsburgh Pirates: 19,541
5. Alec Cosby, Los Angeles Dodgers: 19,439
In his 753-game career Bushon is hitting .250 with 653 hits, 74 home runs, 330 runs scored and 335 RBIs.
The top vote-getter is... a catcher? Yeah, it's still early. Also, Brian Bruno having more votes than Paz Lemus is just... that man must have a large family. He's 0-1, 6.17 in 11.2 IP over 12 games this year. How.
June 3: Angels RF Carlos Hernandez (.283, 6, 28) had his major-league-high 21 game hitting streak snapped today at Yankee Stadium in a 5-1 loss to the Bronx Bombers. Hernandez, who's otherwise having the beginning of a career year for California, went 0-3 with a strikeout; such was the magic of Tracy Mosher (5-6, 5.40) today that he only left one man on base (the team as a whole only left 4).
The new current longest hitting streak belongs to the Motor City's 1B Nikki Lauda (.300, 9, 27) with 16 games as he may begin to transition into a part-time role with the return of Danny Villegas (.190, 0, 2 but in his career a per-162 line of .272, 27, 79). (ETA: nope! Lauda also went 0-4 tonight in the Tigers' 8-5 loss to the lowly Twins)
June 3: Cris Olivares (2-2, 3.28) is nobody's idea of a power pitcher but tonight the crafy right-hander befuddled the Giants with his curveball, striking out 9 and allowing just 4 men to reach base (3 hits and a walk) in the Phillies' 4-0 win. Olivares led the AL in losses last year with an 8-19 season in spite of a 3.46 ERA. I guess I should note here that he is striking out 5.9 batters per 9 innings, which is both above the league average and the highest mark of his still-young career.
## Teams in Review
May 28: The nature of these reviews is of course that you will pretty much always be doing so when a team is in a slump and that's the case here with a
Philadelphia Phillies (23-20, 3 GB) team that otherwise seems like they're doing pretty OK, all things considered. They've got one great offense and a pitching staff that... might be able to rely on the offense ot win games. Still, it's also the nature of this stuff that I'll like miss a guy with 50 errors until I do this, so...
Rotation: For no realy reson except that the front end isn't exactly spectacular, I'm going to move to a 5 man rotation for a bit. My immediate candidates for the 5 spot are 26 year old Cardinals veteran Vince "The Eligible" Bachler (6-4, 3.87 at AAA Eugene) and Mark "Devo" Mothersbaugh (7-2, 3.02 in AAA). My first thought was to call up Mothersbaugh but... man, Bachler does have a proven track record, albeit as a #3 starter type (with a career record of 32-32, 3.29), so failure to knock down minor leaguers or no, he gets the nod.
Bullpen: The bullpen has... not been great and I see at least one change I can/will make: I'm going to DFA Roger Evans (1-2, 4.85) in favor of recalling Jonas Youngblood(0-0, 0.00 at AAA Eugene), who's gotten a couple of long relief appearances in his rehab assignment. I'm not super impressed with his numbers but then, Evans is now 3-2, 5.53 in just about a full year with the team and that's not going to cut it.
Otherwise Robby Mournier (0-0, 6.39) could be washed at the age of 37 but 12 innings isn't enough to know that for sure.
Infield: Backup C Lee Citro (.161, 0, 1) is going from "okay starter but I wanted more potential" to "potential cut". He's not unhappy (yet) at least! I'll keep him there and hope he gets better, although he's never going to get steady PT here again.
1B Josh Coffey (.250, 1, 20) has failed to hit for like 200 games now (he was .261/14/79 last year). What do I do with him? For now I think the answer is, move him up to 2nd and drop 2B/SS Tony Shannon (.296, 3, 16), who himself is finally starting to hit, to 3rd. Look, this makes sense in 1973 terms. I'm also going to start using Alberto Juantorena (.320, 8, 27) at first, which should, if I know OOTP, get some extra PT in for the outfielders.
I would reeeeeally like more production out of third than what I'm getting from Cris Ramos (.190, 0, 6) and Marco Villafana (.229, 3, 8) while Mike Brookes (.296, 1, 13) is out. I'm just not seeing where I'd get that though. My top 3B prospect is out with a torn rotator cuff injury. I guess his understudy has been fine and it's not like I'm losing a lot by getting rid of the 35 year old Ramos, so... he's getting the release outright and we will welcome our new 3rd sacker, Lester Bangs (.286, 1, 10 at AAA). Bangs has already made a name for himself as a music critic; with all the rockstars in the game right now, why not?
Outfield: CF Bryant Tarala (.276, 4, 6) answers a lot of potential questions in the outfield now that he's healthy again. I'll keep my mouth shut and cross my fingers about that.
May 30: Following a hot start the
New York Mets (22-20, 3 GB) have looked... pretty much how I thought they'd look, which in the NL East still keeps them within striking distance of the top. They've got some really good pitching and defense but the hitting, particularly without Joshua Waltenbery (.303, 11, 27 with the Astros), has been as bad as anyone in the league.
Rotation: So the first thing I'm seeing here is that 25 year old John Ratzenberger (2-3, 4.97) isn't doing so well in terms of repeating his 1972 success (11-12 but a 2.42 ERA). I think I want to drop down to a 4 man rotation for a bit and I think "Cliff Claven" is going to have to be the odd man out. It doesn't hurt that he was apparently annoying a lot of guys on the ML roster and anonymous sources say that the clubhouse appreciates him not being around anymore. This is still a rotation that's currently working with everyone's favorite replacement man Josh "Party In The Back" Mullett (3-2, 3.56) and reclamation project Trevon Dean (2-4, 3.23) so don't expect this to be the last you've seen (or, I guess more appropriately, heard) from him, pitching staff.
Bullpen: Geoff Saus (3-4, 3.67, 11 Sv) has kind of wilted under the pressure of constantly putting out fires recently so I'm going to quietly promote Larry Hilbert (1-1, 2.30) to more of a setup role than just a generic guy in the bullpen. Saus will still (probably) pitch a lot and in high leverage situations but now I'll try and turn to Hilbert a little bit more often.
Infield: 2B Bill Heyen (.225, 0, 5) has been bad for a year and a half now and... man, I can't go on with him for much longer. He's a much, much better defensive guy than who I'd use to replace him, flautist Bora Dugic (.286, 1, 3) but if he can't pick things up or even if the Mets continue to fall off, this change is a'coming. For that matter, Mark Spitz (.273, 1, 15) has been good at SS with Chris Allen (NR) out since spring training; maybe he'll just switch over to the keystone once Adams is finally ready to play (which looks like somewhere around the All-Star Break).
Somehow 37 year old 3B Vicente Luna (.283, 0, 13) is doing passably well at the position. The game thinks he's terrible because he has no range but 1973 sensibilities say he still has soft hands and a decent arm. And hey, he's hitting pretty well, although I'd love to see some of that 15 HR power he showed in Atlanta. Mark Hamill (.294, 4, 16 in Tidewater) looks like he's tearing it up in AAA and so could be back in the lineup if/when the team goes truly south.
Outfield: CF Curtis Hope (.172, 1, 8) is a guy I think I'm not going to give any more rope to though. He's also coming off of a bad year (.211/7/46 and a .294 OBP) and Kjell Isaakson (.310, 1, 18) sure looks like he can pass at the position. Off Hope goes to the bench with a platoon of Ethan Keesee (.328, 1, 8) and John W. Henry (.350, 0, 6) in left now.
June 3: The
Pittsburgh Pirates (24-20, 2 GB) just seem like they're in kind of a holding pattern right now. It's typical Pirates play - great pitching, bad offense - but unlike last year the offense just doesn't seem to be good enough to break through. They're actually dead last in the NL (well, the league since DH) in runs and first in runs allowed, and they're not the only team in the mid-40s in games played. They're also a little bit stuck by success, if that makes sense: I don't want to pull guys who are doing OK and who were prime members of the club last year.
Rotation: The top 3 in the rotation have been fine with 1972 15 game winner Danny Perez (1-4, 5.63)... not so much. I think here I will switch him out with Andy Lagunas (1-0, 3.00), who really doesn't strike me as a guy who should be in the rotation of a conetending pitching staff but on the otner hand, hey, he did win 40 games between 1969 and 1970.
Bullpen: With Perez going into long relief, like all of the bullpen outside of Paz Lemus (5-1, 1.36, 8 Sv) and lefty specialist Miguel Urbina (1-0, 3.60) have ERAs over 5. Man... I hate to do this because legit I like submariners but Kent Tekulve (2-0, 5.17) is the odd man out here I guess. I don't even know how the ERA is that bad; his BABIP is low, he's got a good K/W ratio, and he's not giving up a million HRs. Sequencing I guess but this team can't take chances! Coming up in his place is, at least another rock star: Rick Springfield (5-2, 1.66 in AAA Charleston), a 3rd round pick in 1970 who wants and wants Jesse's girl, whoever that is.
Infield: Mostly at catcher Doug Connally (.263, 1, 14) seems to be close to back enough that I want to limit Miklos Nemeth's (.194, 0, 2) at-bats vs lefties, which ironically means putting him into the lineup vs RHP on a semi-regular basis so that Connally won't be tired when a southpaw comes up (as happened yesterday when Nemeth had to face Reds star Steve Waiters (6-5, 3.52); he did go 1-3 but a. with 2 Ks and b. how much better would a healthy Connolly have been?).
So... 37 year old David Salinas (.247, 0, 10 with Pittsburgh) is not doing great and it just seems like the Pirates are constitutionally incapable of getting production out of first base. And I'm seeing nobody on the farm ready to go either so... I guess we'll have to hope and pray that Salinas, who's now firmly in the "vagabond" stage of his career, is not washed.
Outfield: LF Jerry Sherk (.242, 4, 17) seems to be about the only guy I've been able to find who can hit for power for this team and it's only a matter of time (well, literally unknown right now) before Justin Lawson (.261, 1, 6) comes back from a strained hamstring that has kept him out of action for more than a month now. Hmm... I guess this is the guy I can drop down to first; it ain't like Sherk's giving them anything special in the outfield.
CF Justin Hearl (.235, 1, 12) is the Pirates' incumbent and... they do have a lot of people who can play the "8" but there's not a lot that I would *want* to play there. George Macchia (.200, 1, 5) is a career .215 hitter, albeit in 85 career at-bats. Michio Kaku (.176, 2, 12 at Charleston) has been struggling in AAA and struggled in the majors last year. He might be too smart for his own good. Jon Baca (.256, 0, 7) hasn't won the AAA starting job from Kaku, which says something about his own talent level. I'll mix in Macchia a little more, I guess.
Not really a position but man, PH Mike Grigg (.188, 0, 3) looks like he's done. I don't want to dump him but if I want/need positional help at all, he's just not doing anything.