## 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 85 52 .620 - L1 628 453 .275 102 119 3.04 2.8 5.8 .983 48.2 43.5
Boston 77 59 .566 7½ W5 579 461 .270 93 67 3.18 3.0 5.5 .983 40.2 43.0
New York 73 64 .533 12 W3 615 655 .249 147 46 4.46 2.8 4.9 .980 -18.0 37.3
Cleveland 61 76 .445 24 W1 517 573 .250 112 59 3.92 3.5 5.2 .983 -7.8 33.3
Baltimore 54 78 .409 28½ L4 555 644 .251 111 72 4.44 3.8 5.1 .978 -32.9 40.7
Milwaukee 55 80 .407 29 L5 524 624 .257 87 82 4.18 3.5 4.8 .979 -40.6 31.8
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO%
Texas 78 57 .578 - W3 517 433 .260 79 78 2.92 3.3 5.3 .982 33.3 31.2
Chicago 78 58 .574 ½ L1 544 493 .255 104 84 3.30 3.6 4.9 .983 41.4 35.7
Oakland 69 66 .511 9 W1 529 547 .260 94 53 3.70 3.2 4.8 .980 0.7 37.6
California 67 64 .511 9 W1 558 533 .264 91 78 3.69 3.3 4.8 .982 28.6 39.4
Kansas City 60 76 .441 18½ L1 632 687 .256 99 75 4.69 3.5 4.8 .982 -18.0 27.5
Minnesota 54 81 .400 24 L3 526 621 .247 103 66 4.13 3.5 5.4 .976 -27.8 36.0
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%
Philadelphia 87 49 .640 - W1 630 472 .248 114 94 3.07 2.9 5.6 .981 21.9 53.7
St. Louis 76 60 .559 11 W1 574 571 .258 125 38 3.58 3.3 5.9 .979 -11.0 44.7
Pittsburgh 68 64 .515 17 W4 450 438 .235 69 33 3.07 2.7 5.9 .982 -8.0 42.1
New York 66 69 .489 20½ L1 489 542 .252 71 82 3.53 3.1 5.3 .981 4.7 46.8
Chicago 64 71 .474 22½ L6 512 522 .252 99 68 3.56 3.4 5.2 .983 31.8 43.8
Montreal 55 80 .407 31½ L1 541 634 .245 103 51 4.03 3.7 5.2 .977 -26.5 30.7
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO%
San Diego 75 60 .556 - W9 543 427 .259 81 67 2.84 3.3 5.5 .982 56.3 37.3
Houston 74 65 .532 3 W5 579 559 .256 114 61 3.51 3.7 5.9 .978 -7.7 30.7
Cincinnati 71 66 .518 5 L3 573 535 .254 111 55 3.65 3.1 5.9 .982 -7.2 28.6
Atlanta 71 67 .514 5½ W2 526 497 .251 102 48 3.22 3.2 5.9 .982 -13.9 38.2
San Francisco 55 80 .407 20 L2 466 565 .247 90 74 3.67 3.3 5.7 .979 -4.8 28.8
Los Angeles 53 84 .387 23 L4 408 529 .242 96 67 3.38 3.1 5.6 .979 16.9 33.7
Coming into Labor Day, two races are all but wrapped up but we've still got a lot of fire in the other two. Detroit and Philadelphia both seem just about destined for the World Series, not just the playoffs, but I shouldn't count my chickens before they're hatched there. And who knows? The Padres are playing the best ball out of anyone right now; if they keep up this torrid pace... well, I mean they'd probably pass Philly but there's no way they're going to end on a 30 game winning streak, right? Right? Meanwhile in the AL West, Texas and Chicago are having whatever they called a mid-off in the 1970s. It's exciting for the fans, I'm sure!
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Code:
Player AB R H BA HOMERUNS HR HITS H
Chris Seek, CAL 507 77 169 .333 E. Garcia, NYY 48 C. Seek, CAL 169
J. Ramone, DET 481 74 158 .328 A. Cooper, CHW 34 J. Ayala, DET 165
B. Springsteen, BOS 497 74 162 .326 A. Martinez, MIN 26 J. Johnson, CHW 162
A, Rivera, KC 487 61 157 .322 D. Chairez, BAL 23 B. Springsteen, BOS 162
J. Ayala, DET 512 70 165 .322 J. Ayala, DET 22 J. Ramone, DET 158
RBIs RBI STOLEN BASES SB DOUBLES 2B RUNS R
E. Garcia, NYY 112 A. Romero, DET 58 T. Danza, KC 42 D. Corona, KC 100
J. Ayala, DET 88 J. Glynn, BOS 35 J. Ramone, DET 37 A. Romero, DET 97
J. Ramone, DET 88 D. Corona, KC 28 A. Rivera, KC 37 E. Garcia, NYY 85
A. Cooper, CHW 87 B. Ramirez, TEX 28 A. Romero, DET 36 A. Cooper, CHW 83
A. Martinez, MIN 87 D. Hohman, DET 23 C. Seek, CAL 34 T. Danza, KC 83
Code:
Player IP ER ERA WINS W WINNING PCT Rec %
J. Goddard, DET 267,0 69 2.02 J. Goddard, DET 24 J. Goddard, DET 24-4 .857
V. Akright, OAK 232.0 66 2.56 E. Molina, DET 19 V. Akright, OAK 18-6 .750
B. Crystal, TEX 234.1 69 2.65 R. Coltrane, TEX 19 R. Coltrane, TEX 19-7 .731
R. Coltrane, TEX 252.2 77 2.74 M. Sanchez, BOS 19 C. Benavides, DET 16-6 .727
R. Reese, CHW 213.1 68 2.87 2 players 18 B. Osborne, BOS 16-7 .696
STRIKEOUTS K SAVES S OPPONENTS BA BA
E. Molina, DET 202 M. Post, CHW 31 R. Coltrane, TEX .231
J. Goddard, DET 178 T. Kihara, TEX 22 H. Rollins, KC .232
M. Sanchez, BOS 174 W. Chavez, OAK 20 R. Reese, CHW .234
J. Carpenter, NYY 163 J. Marceau, DET 19 S. Chu, CHW .246
M. Pesco, BOS 157 G. Covarrubias, NYY 14 E. Molina, DET .247
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Code:
Player AB R H BA HOMERUNS HR HITS H
R. Risla, STL 501 66 157 .313 J. Weaver, CIN 34 C. Palacios, SD 159
G. Foreman, HOU 466 79 144 .309 J. Stone, LAD 27 R. Disla, STL 157
G. Harrison, SF 509 58 157 .308 A. Juantorena, PHI 27 G. Harrison, SF 157
J. Stone, LAD 415 66 128 .308 M. Galeana, STL 27 P. McCartney, SD 147
B. Cooper. NYM 458 49 151 .308 L, Martinez, STL 25 G. Foreman, HOU 144
RBIs RBI STOLEN BASES SB DOUBLES 2B RUNS R
J, Weaver, CIN 105 J. Berry, SF 38 C. Palacios, SD 41 A. Juantorena, PHI 108
A. Juantorena, PHI 95 A. Juantorena, PHI 33 RJ Dominguez, CIN 36 R. Dominguez, CIN 89
RJ Dominguez, CIN 87 P. McGraw, SD 26 B. McAdoo, SF 35 J. Waltenbery, HOU 87
M. Galeana, STL 80 V. Luna, NYM 20 M. Schurke, CHC 30 P. Ortiz, CIN 86
G. Foreman, HOU 79 S. Burwell, STL 19 A.Juantorena, PHI 29 T. Shannon, PHI 81
Code:
Player IP ER ERA WINS W WINNING PCT Rec %
V. Bachler, PHI 154.2 25 1.45 R. Starkey, PHI 20 V. Bachler, PHI 15-3 .833
J. Battaglia, PIT 260.0 59 2.04 T. Rivera, HOU 18 C. Olivares, PHI 14-4 .778
C. Rose, ATL 219.1 53 2.17 D. Henley, SD 17 D. Henley, SD 17-6 .739
T. Rivera, HOU 257.0 64 2.24 R. Quintana, STL 17 R. Atkinson, HOU 13-5 .722
D. Henley, SD 216.0 55 2.29 S. Waiters, CIN 16 C. Rose, ATL 13-5 .722
STRIKEOUTS K SAVES S OPPONENTS BA BA
R. Quintana, STL 186 D. Parchamn, SD 26 V. Bachler, PHI .224
R. Mendoza, STL 180 G. Saus, NYM 22 R. Salinas, LAD .237
T. Rivera, HOU 173 B. Yates, CIN 21 M. Weinberg, CHC .247
G. House, ATL 167 T. Grohs, PHI 19 T. Rivera, HOU .249
J. Battaglia, PIT 163 T. Livingston, STL 19 J. Mullett, NYM .256
## Major Transactions
August 30: The Cardinals purchased RP Jesus de la Cruz (4-1, 2.73) from the White Sox for $10,000. De la Cruz was mostly a victim of numbers when he was sent down last month but has not exactly covered himself in glory in the minors since (2-0, 5.73 although too beee faaaaair 18 Ks in 22 IP). He should still fit in well on a Cardinals team that's been struggling in the bullpen for years.
August 30: The Cubs acquire minor league OF Alan Rickman (.240, 9, 34 in AAA Tucson) from the A's for a PTBNL at 1B (.201, 14, 37). Rickman at this point has to be considered a bust although he'll likely get a shot at playing time with his new team when rosters expand in a couple days. The PTBNL isn't really a prospect but he is only 23 so if he can fix the strikeout issues (94 in 289 AAA at-bats) he could be a middle of the order guy.... although the fact that the AI GM sent him right on down to A Burlington tells me that maybe that won't be happening.
August 30: The Reds traded minor league CL Pete Lopez (2-9, 4.14, 14 Sv) to the White Sox for minor league RP Aaron Gebhardt (6-4, 2.96, 8 Sv). It's a move of two guys who weren't going anywhere in their respective organizations. Gebhardt is younger and is having the better season, at least cosmetically. Lopez seems like he has an issue with dingers at AAA Indianapolis (11 in 77.1 IP) but that might not be an issue at Comiskey. We'll likely find out in the next month.
September 1: The Cardinals purchased C Ramiro Gonzalez (.220, 3, 10) and minor league RP Will Wright (3-5, 7.17 in AAA Tucson) for $25,000. The Cards right now are in deeeeeesperate need of a #2 catcher with Lance Hall (.147, 1, 8) having proven completely incapable of hitting at the major league level. Wright is... well, he may be on his last legs but he's St. Louis' problem now.
September 2: The Netherlands' men's team wins the world field hockey championship 4-2 on penalty shots over India. India had initially taken a 2-0 lead in the first half but the Dutch came back to tie it in the 2nd.
September 2: Bicyclist Felice Gimondi of Italy wins the UCI World Championship, taking advantage of a battle between Belgian riders Freddy Maartens and Eddy Meckz in the final stage.
September 2: JRR Tolkien, the writer of such works as "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" and "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" (kidding! Obviously you all know what the man wrote), dies in England at the age of 81. My first thought was "huh, I thought he was older" but on recollection this seems exactly right. Good job, me!
September 2: Tigers SP Edgar Molina (19-16, 3.71) set the new record for HRs allowed in a real slugfest at Tigers Stadium. Molina himself got knocked out of the box in the 4th after having allowed 3 ding-dongs to C John Lennon (.237, 10, 51), 3B Tony Aguillon (.311, 3, 17), and LF Richard Berman (.270, 6, 37). He left with his team in a 5-3 deficit. The Tigers rallied to take a 7-5 lead in the bottom of the 6th thanks to a 2-run double by LF Tom Berenger (.234, 3, 13) only for MR Alex Ruiz (0-1, 2.81) to melt down with 3 runs allowed in 1.1 innings, including another HR allowed to PH George W Bush (.183, 5, 17) and his first loss of the season.
Probably no worries for the Tigers in the long run but hey, we've got that record out of the way at least. Molina's now got 48 runs and 50+ seems like an inevitability.
## News
August 27: The ruins of the US Navy ironclad gunboat the USS Monitor are found more than 110 years after the vessel had sunk of the coast of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina. The gunboat, one of the first of its type, defeated the Confederate vessel the Virginia in a now-famous battle which is now known as "Monitor vs Merrimack" (the Virginia had been built from the hull of the old US ship the Merrimack). The Monitor sank in a storm 10 months later with the loss of 16 of its crew.
August 27: All 42 people on board an Aerocondor Colombia plane are killed when it crashes into a mountain three minutes after taking off of Bogota on a flight to Cartagena.
August 27: The Barringer Trophy, awarded for the longest "soaring" distance (a distinction that must be important) flight from any type of launching method other than airplane tow, is regained by its previous holder Wallace Scott II after a flight from Odessa, Texas to Kearneyy Nebraska that covers 639 miles. Yeah, I don't get it...
August 27: The National Hockey League announces that it will expand to 16 teams and 4 divisions for the 1974-75 season. Well... that's what Wikipedia News says. ACKSHUALLY it went from 16 to 18. The 2 new teams are the Washington Capitals (still around!) and the Kansas City Scouts (who relocated to Colorado in 1976 to become the Rockies and then again to New Jersey in 1982 where they now exist as the Devils).
August 27: Some somewhat good news on the watching-the-kids front: Orioles 2B Kurt Russell (.302, 3, 33), who'd been taken out of a game on the 25th, will miss 2 weeks with a strained back. It's good news because it could have been longer!
August 27: The AL Player of the Week Award goes to, as it rarely does, a pitcher. Cleveland's Lee Evans (6-4, 2.74) went 2-0 with a complete game shutout and a 7-inning 2-run, 0-earned effort to take the honors. The 26 year old spend the first third of the year in AAA Oklahoma City but more than anything else that record looks small because he's had a full 7 no-decisions in 17 ML starts this year, which is kind of crazy for the era. It's not surprising that this is his first Major League award, although he won the Eastern League Player of the Week twice en route to winning that level's version of the Cy Young Award in 1970 (he went 13-2, 2.12 with 14 CGs in 16 starts - not letting the bullpen mess that up! - before getting called up to AAA Denver).
August 27: I saw the NL guy coming, trust me! I was like "wow, Mike Galeana (.258, 27, 78) really shot up the HR list this week" and... I was right. Galeana, the Cardinals' 3rd baseman, took home PotW by hitting 9-21 with *5* HRs and 8 RBIs and *23.1* runs created per game in 5 games this week. This is now Galeana's 2nd PotW this year already, which raises the question: how did this guy miss the All-Star Game? I guess TBF he got into a prolonged slump in May (.186 with just 2 HRs in 86 ABs) and didn't look so hot in April either (.254 with just 1 HR in 67 at-bats). I remember thinking "ugggh is this the 3rd baseman who's going to die this year?". Well... I was wrong about that and now he's a dark horse MVP candidate.
August 27: SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK... the one the game churned out (lowest single-season FIP) is too stat-nerdy for me so instead I'm going to post the all-time record that's about to get shattered: most HRs in a season.
T-4. Norogumioda Miamota, CHW 1957: 39 HR in 260 IP (14-15, 3.63)
T-4. Eric Cartee, 2Tm 1959: 39 HR in 230 IP (13-13, 3.99) - also not the only time this man will show up!
T-4. Joe Hagan, CIN 1971: 39 HR in 249.2 IP (9-17, 3.85)
3. Nate Herod, WAS 1961: 40 HR in 261.1 IP (16-13, 3.47)
2. Edgar Molina, DET 1973: 45 HR (and counting) in 271.1 IP (19-15, 3.51)
1. Eric Cartee, BAL 1961: 46 HR in 1961 (7-19. 5.89)
Cartee's expansion year was the only truly bad season on this list. Also to be fair TOOO BEEEE FAAAAAAAIR to Molina he's already pitched more innings than any of these other guys. Cartee by the way is only 9th all-time in HRs allowed since, as you can see, he was too awful to keep pitching regularly after 1961. The all-time guy just retired in 1971: Josh Young, who finished 185-171 in a career that began in 1957 with the Reds. He led the league in dingers twice but "only" allowed 38 and 33 in those years.
August 27: As Detroit's designated long man / spot starter, Chris McGranahan (4-5, 2.82) doesn't get a lot of chances to shine but he does come through when it counts. Today he threw a 10-hit shutout featuring 3 double plays to lift his team to an easy 9-0 victory against the last place Twins. "I just try to keep the ball low and let the defense do the talking", said the 35 year old following the game. McGranahan struck out 2; his K rate in fact of 3.1 per 9 innings is the lowest it's been since his 1958 rookie year when he struck out only 11 guys in 38.1 relief innings. When you make the hitters hit grounders right to fielders, that's acceptable, I guess?
August 27: The Giants dropped a road game to the Phillies 3-2 for their 10th straight loss, and as it's the first game of the series, there's not an early end in sight. AJ Robinson (3-3, 3.02) came on in relief in the 8th to face Phillies' superstar and Cuban sprinter Alberto Juantorena (.299, 27, 93) and gave up a HR in a 2-2 game to lose it. Cris Olivares (14-3, 2.71) meanwhile wound up outdueling the Giants' pitching staff with a complete game.
The Giants have a less-than-fine combination of poor run scoring (450 runs, 10th in the NL) and an abysmal pitching staff (548 runs allowed, 2nd worst in the senior circuit) which all adds up to them still, somehow, mostly because the Dodgers have their own huge issues, being only 5th in the NL West with a 53-76 record. If this keeps up, that cellar could be well within reach...
August 27: In an absolutely insane game made all the wilder by the fact that it happened in the Astrodome, the visiting St. Louis Cardinals jumped out for 8 runs in the 1st inning off of Astros' starter Mike Birdwell (0-0, 43.20), making his 1973 debut, but lost that lead in the 2nd as his teammates chased Cardinals' starter Vincent Schiavelli (2-2, 6.44) for 7 in the 2nd and 9 total... and then the hits just kept on coming like it was Casey Kasem's Weekend Top 40. The Cards tied it at 9 in the 4th when Jessee Lockhart (.232, 1, 14), pinch-running for LF Rafael Disla (.315, 11, 60) after the latter was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, scored from first base on a single. Then the Astros retook the lead in the bottom of the 5th and in fact from then on scored at least a run in every inning from then on until the score stood at 17-10.
Somehow 3 players managed to golf balls over the deep Astrodome fences: the Cards' Parker Sweeney (.295, 10, 22) with a 3-run blast in the first and the Astros' CF George Foreman (.308, 19, 76) and 2B Jordan Green (.300, 11, 51). Houston combined for 22 hits in 41 at-bats - yes, that's a single-game BA over .500 - that included 3-hit games from Green, Foreman, 3B Pete Little (.282, 8, 53), 1b Joshua Waltenbery (.288, 19, 59), and recently signed LF Jason Workman (.223, 10, 35/ .235, 0, 4 with Houston). I don't really have single-game team records but this was... something.
August 28: A 7.1 magnitude earthquake strikes the Mexican states of Veracruz and Puebla and because this is the early 1970s it kills at least 539 people. The hardest hit areas were the city of Orizaba in Veracruz, where a 12-story apartment building collapsed and killed over 100, and the town of Ciudad Serdan in Pueblla.
August 28: The Delhi Agreement between India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh is signed by those nations to provide for the voluntary repatriation of persons held in each nation who wished to return home, including the former Bengali East Pakistan (which is now Bangladesh) bureaucrats and officers who had been interned in West Pakistan (now just plain old Pakistan) and Urdu language speakers in Bangladesh who wished to relocate to Pakistan, and several thousand Pakistan prisoners of war held in India.
August 28: American commercial diver Paul J. Havlena dies when a malfunction in his breathing equipment leads to a pressure imbalance in his diving helmet which in turn leads to a pneumothorax from a pulmonary barotrauma. Nope, not in!
August 28: "Joe Diamond", an infamous mobster, dies today... of cancer.
August 28: Jimmy Goddard (23-4, 2.01) barely got any support tonight. In 1973, Jimmy Goddard doesn't need much support. He threw a 1-hitter vs the Twins - sure, the Twins, but it's still good! - for a 1-0 squeaker in Tigers Stadium. Minnesota was never all that close to scoring and they only avoided no-hit imfamy thanks to a single by SS Justin Ramey (.190, 9, 30) in the 3rd (so Goddard to be fair also wasn't trying to preserve a no-no late). Detroit got the only run they needed in this one off of an RBI single by 1B Nikki Lauda (.244, 16, 54), who drove in 3B Joe Theismann (.272, 3, 27), who was hitting up in the order thanks to facing a lefty tonight, Santiago Serrano (6-4, 3.13), who himself threw a 6-hitter.
This was Goddard's 8th shutout of the year, which now puts him in place to possibly tie or set a new record in that category. The record OF COURSE is 9, set by Justin Kindberg in 1970 (23-13, 2.43 that year) and Tony Rivera last year (23-13, 2.57). 8 already ties him at 3rd all-time with 6 other guys, only one of whom set their mark before I took over the league in 1969.
August 28: It has really, really not been A's SP Lee "Batty" Barnard's (11-9, 4.41) season. His stamina has gone way down (I think) but more than anything else what's killed him this year is that his slider and forkball have gotten up in the zone as he's gotten tired this year and that's led to 35 homeruns allowed (his previous high was 21). Tonight at least he avoided the longball and that earned him a rare 1-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Barnard yielded only 4 hits and, even though he was clearly tiring towards the end, he struck out 7 including the final batter LF Bruce Springsteen (.323, 8, 58).
The shutout was Barnard's 2nd of the year in just 4 complete games. I'd say the A's still have a fighting chance in the AL West but I'd probably be lying about that: they did keep pace with the Angels for 3rd but they're 8 1/2 games out and so would need a collapse by both the White Sox and Rangers for that to happen.
August 28: Now in a situation where every win is precious, the Astros add injury to insult in a 3-1 loss to the Cardinals at home. Tony Rivera (18-7, 2.24) comes out and engages in a pitching duel with St. Louis starter Roger Quintana (17-9, 2.38) before leaving with back stiffness in the 5th. Houston even takes a 1-0 lead in the 6th thanks to a sacrifice fly by RF Justin Jensen (.258, 18, 63) but the fact that the 'Stros had to go to the bullpen so early proves costly, as reliever Chris Wilson (1-1, 3.31), purchased from the Cubs last month, gets touched for 3 runs in 2/3rds of an inning with LF Jesse Lockhart (.236, 1, 16) delivering the game-winning 2-run single.
The loss drops the free-falling Astros to 69-65 and 11-15 for the month of August. They're now just 1/2 a game up on the Braves for 4th in the West. Needless to say, they've got their work cut out for them, even before taking into account the Rivera injury...
August 29: The British submarine Pisces III sinks in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland. Somehow the two crewmembers are saved after being trapped for 76 hours in 1,375 foot deep water.
August 29: All 17 passengers are killed in the crash of a Lockheed C-141 Starlifter as it crashes as it approaches the Torrejon Air Base near Madrid with the wives and chiildren of USAF personnel. One crewmember of the 8 on board survives.
August 29: Tom Six, NOT Tom Mix, is born in Alkmaar in the Netherlands. This is not the cowboy, this is the guy who did Human Centipede.
August 29: You'd think from looking at the linescore that allowing 5 runs in 6.1 innings against the Twins, a team whose offense this season has consisted of 1B Angelo Martinez (.263, 26, 87) meant that Edgar Molina (19-16) allowed his record-tying 46th homer of the year. But no, you would be mistaken. Molina was wild with 6 walks in that span but he missed out, not up. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the results were largely the same as if he'd done the latter, as they wound up losing this one 7-5.
August 29: The Giants' losing streak hits 12 as they drop a close one to the Phillies, 3-2. SF starter Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1-3, 3.63) looked fine through 5 but lost his gas in the 6th. Stopper Charlie "The Test" Bechtel (6-4, 2.74) came in almost immediately in that inning but the damage had already been done and the Phightin' Phils were using their own ace and drumsman Richard "Ringo Star" Starkey (19-10, 2.42) so there was not much scoring to be had.
I wouldn't say the Giants were doing great before this streak but they've gone from maybe being able to string a few wins together and get into the NL West mix to fighting with their fellow Californians, the Dodgers, to stay out of last place.
August 30: Chad's President Fancrois Tombalbaye announces his policy of Authenticite, the Africanization of personal names and plae names to replace those given when the country was under French colonial rule. The policy is similar to the one already passed by Congo in 1971. The leader changes his own name to N'Gardta Tombalbaye and the capital, Fort Lamy, is renamed N'Djamena.
August 30: The Chinese Communist Party re-elects itself into leadership of the country.
August 30: Convicted murderer Mequiades Suxo Quispe is executed in Bolivia, the last legal execution to take place in this country.
August 30: Michael Dunn (real name Gary Neil Miller), a little person best known for his recurring role on The Wild Wild West as the villain Dr. Loveless, dies of heart failure while in London during the filming of the movie "The Abdication".
August 30: Jean Senac, an Algerian author and poet who had a long-running relationship with Albert Camus that ended in acrimony when Senac felt that the author of "The Stranger" wasn't supporting the Algerian independence movement, is murdered in a crime that as of 2024 has still not been solved.
August 30: Looks like Montreal, with their 4-0 loss to the Dodgers, were officially eliminated from the playoffs yesterday. They're sitting at 78 losses and Philadephia won their 85th game so they have zero chance of catching up.
August 30: And the inter-divisional games are at hand! Important series that start today include:
MIN @ TEX
MON @ PHI
NYM @ STL
HOU @ LA
No big head-to-head matchups this week (at least so far; I didn't peek ahead to Friday) but some good v bad series with pennant implications...
August 30: Talk about the rich getting richer! The Tigers chose to employ a spot starter today and used young Australian politician Simon Crean (1-0, 3.60). Truth be told, Crean had looked kind of bad in relief so far, to the point that it's still iffy if he makes the postseason roster. Today though the man completely dominated the Cleveland Indians, throwing a 3-hit shutout and striking out 12 men en route to an easy 8-0 win.
"I can just get all my gormlies ironed out when I start yaknow?" said Crean after the game. Going into this one he had allowed more walks (8) than strikeouts (7) in 11 relief innings, mainly as a lefty relief specialist.
August 30: Vince "The Eligible" Bachler (15-3, 1.45) didn't have his best stuff today or anything close to good control but he scrapped his way through the Expos' lineup and earned his 15th win and 5th shutout of the year; his team won 4-0. Bachler walked 6 men in this game and was pretty gassed at the end but, look, we go for shutouts in this save. He's going to finish the month 7-0, 0.75 and if those aren't Pitcher of the Month numbers I'll eat my hat (disclaimer: I am not wearing a hat).
August 31: The Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda publishes a letter condemning writer Aleksandr Solzenitsyn and nuclear physicist Andrei Sakharov. Solzenitsyn's grand opus, "The Gulag Archepilago", which is also hyper-critical of the USSR, had recently been published, and Sakharov, who thought of himself as the Oppenheimer of Russia, had become a widely known dissident within the state (he will eventually be exiled to Gorky in Nizhny Novgorod in 1980).
August 31: John Ford, the director known for films such as "The Grapes of Wrath" and "The Quiet Man", dies at 79.
August 31: Continuing the "big series" story for the weekend, we've got these beginning today:
CAL @ CHW
CIN @ SD (!)
ATL @ SF
Yeah, the Padres hosting the Reds is the big one. This one's a 3-game series and will be the 2nd-to-last time these two teams meet (the Padres will travel to Cincinnati from September 24-26, the final week of the season). Cincinnati leads the season series so far, 7 games to 5.
August 31: Bubba Touchton (1-0, 8.85) was once a pretty good relief pitcher, right? I mean, even going into last year he was... okay, he was pretty bad with the Red Sox (1-3, 4.55) before they waived him and the Brewers picked him up. His time in Milwaukee is and now was astoundingly, horrifically bad: 24 games, 26.1 IP, 31 earned runs, and a 10.59 ERA. I think I kept using him because it wasn't humanly possible for him to actually be this terrible - also, he was pretty good in the first half in AAA Evanston (3-2, 3.10 in 24 games including 3 starts). But no. If he figures it out - and this could easily be it given that he's 30 - it'll be with another team.
August 31: White Sox stopper Malcolm Post (7-2, 1.74) came on in relief to pitch to one man, pinch-hitter Sam Marks (.244,0, 5) with his team up 3-2 over the Angels, a man on 3rd, and 2 outs. He struck out Marks on 3 pitches to earn his 30th save. Doesn't sound like a big number to you? Well, 90s fans (what?), this is already the 8th highest single-season total of all time and is now just 4 saves behind the ALL TIME RECORD of 34 set by Geoff Saus in 1971 (Saus was 11-12, 2.91 that year).
"They pay me to get outsh and I get them," said the very Dutch Post following the game. "What? That is how I shpeak. I shpeak 14 languagesh shtop making fun of me."
August 31: The Pirates seem to go to extras in EVERY FREAKING GAME and today it was no different. They did send the fans home happy, some would say ecstatic, with a doubleheader sweep of the Cubs but both games went 10. In game one, DJ "Old Money" Cheeves (10-13, 3.35) received his normal lack of support but still managed to outduel the youngster Gordon "Sting" Summer (8-9, 2.52) because of a 2-run ding-dong that C Doug Connally (.249, 8, 39) belted in the bottom of the 10th to win it.
Game 2 was... man. The Pirates actually scored runs for once, taking a 4-2 lead over Cubs starter Mike Larsen (12-10, 2.66) and then extending it to 6-2. Enter ace Paz Lemus (11-4, 2.31, 17 Sv), who came in... and blew his 5th save of the season with a rare meltdown in the 9th that included a grand slam HR by 1B Antonio Lopez (.262, 14, 59) that even gave the Cubbies a brief 7-6 lead. Unbelievably, SS Henry Villar (.263, 2, 28), not exactly the portrait of power, hit a solo HR off of Chicago's stopper Jesse Kelly (7-6, 3.24, 16 Sv) to make that man pick up his 6th blown save. Fast forward to the bottom of the tenth: with 2B Tyler Webster (.211, 5, 23) on at first, backup C Timothy Higgins (.205, 0, 1) dropped a seeing-eye single into right with Webster advancing to third. 3B Alex Flores (.254, 5, 33) struck out looking, which brought up CF Justin Hearl (.215, 2, 22). Hearl laid down a beautiful suicide squeeze bunt that Webster just plain outran for the game-winning run. Great ending!
The Pirates are going nowhere this year with a 66-64 record (18 1/2 GB pending Philadelphia's game today) but they're 16-8 in extras, the most in baseball (Houston's 2nd with a 15-8 record and nobody else has more than 12).
August 31: It is Blown Save Night in the National League... on top of a game I didn't cover where both the Cards' Travis Livingston (8-4, 1.54) and the Mets' Geoff Saus (11-9, 3.71) blew saves for their teams (Livingston wound up picking up the vultured victory), the Reds took a 3-1 lead over the Padres at San Diego Stadium, only for their own ace Brian Yates (9-6, 1.71) to allow a single to tie the game and then was present on the mound when his catcher Veit Bieler (.190, 1, 9) let a ball go past him for what wound up being the game-losing run in a 4-3 loss. This one was notable for Pads' stopper Darius Parchman (2-4, 0.93) pitching a clean 9th for his 25th save.
That win also puts the Padres a full 3 games up so if you're rooting for expansion chicanery, root some more!
September 1: It's Pennant Month!!! Also roster expansion day.
September 1: 35 people are killed in an arson fire at the Hotel Halnia in Copenhagen, Denmark.
September 1: George Foreman defends his title for the first time, knocking out Puerto Rican challenger Jose Roman two minutes into the first round. Can this man be stopped? He went 1-3 yesterday with 2 walks and a run scored, too. Talk about a heavy workload!!! I do see that he's tired today which seems appropriate.
September 1: PIRA Chief of Staff Seamus Twomey is arrested by Irish police. He'll be convicted a month later on various charges but will eventually be freed by a PIRA raid on October 31.
September 1: JD Fortune, the lead singer for the band INXS, is born in Missisauge, Ontario.
September 1: On the other side of the ol' ledger, Arthur V. Watkins, the Republican Senator who led the 1954 censure of Joe McCarthy, dies today at 86.
September 1: Twins LF Jeff Franks (.283, 8, 55) was having a pretty decent season, setting career highs in a lot of categories - not HRs (he hit 14 last year) but just about everything else. Sadly, his season ended yesterday as the leg injury that brought him out of the game turned out to be a torn quad muscle. He should be back next year at least and the man's still only 27; perhaps he'll be a part of the next good Twins team.
September 1: And it's awards time! Let's get started with the NL Rookie of the Month: it was new call-up LF Harry Turtledove (.266, 8, 34) for the Expos. When this man wasn't writing really bad historical fiction, he was blasting away like he brought an M-16 to a Civil War battle. Turtledove hit .365 this month with 10 doubles, 6 HRs, and 26 RBIs in 23 games (22 starts). Turtledove had earlier been called up in late May but was sent down for more work after hitting .217 and .150 in May and June. He's been everything Montreal hoped he'd be since the call-up though... well, other than a good writer.
September 1: The AL ROTM was Native American activist and SP Elijah Harper (5-1, 1.71). As if the Angels needed yet another good starter, Harper went 4-1, 1.80 last month following a late-July call-up with 21 Ks and 13 walks in 45 IP, including 4 complete games in 5 starts. Like Turtledove, Harper was called up (recalled in Turtledove's case) too late to really contend for Rookie of the Year, but watch out 1974.
September 1: The NL Pitcher of the Month was, I guess, kind of obvious in retrospect: Philadelphia's Vince "The Eligible" Bachler (15-3, 1.45), who was a perfect 7-0 with a teeny tiny 0.75 ERA. That entailed 3 shutouts (4 CGs total) in 7 starts; he also struck out 47 and walked 20 in 60.1 IP. That 7.0 ERA/9 is, trust me, really good for the era. In fact, it would be 2nd in all of baseball if Bachler could keep it up all season. One thing he has kept up all season is the winning: that .833 winning percentage is 2nd only to Detroit's Jimmy Goddard (23-4, 2.01).
This is Bachler's first time earning Pitcher of the Month awards. He was also Rookie of the Month for September 1971 (he was 14-15, 3.44 with St. Louis that season) and wound up finishing 3rd in NL ROY voting.
September 1: Speaking of Goddard... no, just kidding. The AL Pitcher of the Month was a well-known face, just not Goddard this time around. Instead, the Ironworker Justin Kindberg (16-11, 2.91), himself a 2-time Cy Young Award winner, tok home PotM with a 5-1, 2.29 August. Kindberg's more of a finesse guy than a striker-outer but still had 39 Ks in 63 IP with just 17 walks (2.4/9) and only 2 HRs allowed all month long. He completed 4 of his 8 starts, spun 2 shutouts, and even managed to eke this one out in spite of a kind of bad August 30 appearancec where he allowed 5 of the 17 runs he allowed all month vs the Brewers (he had a no-decision in that game).
This was Kindberg's 3rd Pitcher of the Month. I wanted to look up Goddard because unlike sportswriters the game doesn't really get tired of guys winning awards over and over and... he went 4-2, 2.65 with 2 shutouts and 41 Ks in 51 IP. So okay, objectively, yeah, I'd hand it to Kindberg. Obviously the Cy is Goddard's to lose this year.
September 1: In a REPEAT man, Harry Turtledove was also the NL Batter of the Month! Not bad, Harry! He single-handedly turned what was kind of a liability for Montreal into a young asset going forward. Willie Ortega (.236, 20, 71) hit dingers previously but maaaan I don't care what season it is, I ain't countenancing a .251 OBP. I guess Dave Kingman existed (who?) in this era so I should be more forgiving, I guess... anyway, given that this is Turtledove's first year in the bigs at all, this is also his first hardware. He was a kind of unheralded 4th round pick out of college but did win the Eastern League Batter of the Month for May of last season; he wound up hitting .302 at that level before being promoted midseason to AAA Peninsula.
September 1: And in the American BASEBALL LEAGUE, 26 year old 1B Nick Hodzic (.278, 18, 61) made Cleveland fans forget about Ernesto Garcia with an amazing month: 35 hits in 98 at-bats for a .357 average, 5 HRs, and 21 RBIs in 29 games. I wasn't so sure about his All-Star Game nod but boy did he prove he desereved it with this month. I guess he was on the roster too long with the Yankees last year to be considered a rookie? He played in 22 games last year mainly as a pinch-hitter and backup 1B with only 5 hits in 34 at-bats so I don't know if he's a rookie or not... no, he is. The game just decided Elijah Harper was better.
Anwyay as you'd expect his awards deck isn't super-full yet: he's got this one now to ad to his PotW award for the week ending August 19 and the AS Game selection. He's an older rookie at 26 but he's already at a pretty good level so...
September 1: The Padres extend their winning streak to 8 games with a Padres-esque 4-1 win over the Reds at San Diego Stadium. Tim Anderlik (11-12, 3.32) went a solid 7 innings and then gave way to his bullpen, Roy Moore (2-3, 2.34) and Darius Parchman (2-4, 0.91, 26 Sv) in a game where Cincinnati only got 2 hits the entire contest (I still had to pull Anderlik because he was visibly tiring). On the offensive side of things, San Diego was helped by a 2-4, 2 RBI performance by SS Joe Wicker (.265, 6, 44) and a 3-4 night by CF "Doctor" Phil McGraw (.308, 3, 44).
The important win puts the Reds 4 games back and, with an Astros victory today, sticks them in 3rd place in the division now.
September 2: Some TOPSY TURVY action at the top of the AL West standings to end the week! The White Sox drop a pitchers' duel 3-1 to the spoilerating Angels; Andy Ring (14-9, 3.09), who could be the most underrated pitcher in the league, throws a 7-hitter for his 13th complete game of the year and outplays young scientist Steven Chu (15-10, 3.61). When Rangers SP Robert "Rat" McHugh (15-12, 3.34) throws a 7-hit complete game of his own vs the Twinkies for a 4-1 win, it's enough to put Texas half a game up going into Labor Day.
September 2: Ringo Starr (20-10, 2.34) becomes the second man in the major leagues to win 20 games this year with an easy peasy lemon-squeezy 8-0 win over the Expos. Starkey gives up 3 hits and walks nobody for his 19th complete game (stamina!) and 3rd shutout on the year. Offensively everyone got into the action... literally. 8 RBIs, 1 for every member of the lineup save the pitcher. SS Tony Shannon (.278, 7, 49) and 3B Marco Villafana (.242, 13, 38) did have 2 runs scored. Following the game (and before the Cards' game), Philadelphia has an 11 1/2 game lead over St. Louis... this race is OVA well technically not yet but they've got a magic number of 16 now.
The Cards, incidentally, won a barn-burner at home, 10-7 so it's ACKSHUALLY only an 11 game lead. Still... Philadelphia would have to absolutely fall apart for this to happen.
September 2: The Padres complete a 3-game sweep over the Reds in San Diego with a 7-hit shutout by Steven Tyler (15-8, 2.70). Cincinnati put out their own ace Steve Waiters (16-11, 3.25) but he fell victim to taters by SS Joe Wicker (.267, 7, 45) and C Oliver Williams (.214, 5, 23) and wound up allowing 4 too many runs. The Reds, 2 games back going into this one, are now 5 back and just half a game ahead of the Braves, who swept the Giants in a double-header today. Tyler picked up his 6th shutout; he got 5 of them last year in his ROY campaign so it's a career high now.
Cincy's road doesn't get any easier, although at least the proverbial ball is in their hands: they travel to Houson and Atlanta next week. San Diego hosts Atlanta and then travels to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers next week with a great chance to start to put this season away.
September 2: The Astros do keep pace with a 7-1 win over the Dodgers. The future archbishop, not the comic actor Rowan Atkinson (13-5, 3.27) goes the full 9 for Houston, allowing 9 hits but striking out 7 in a highly... BABIPy day for both sides (the Dodgers struck out 5 and allowed 11) and RF Justin Jensen (.258, 19, 67) had a 3-5, 3 run, 3 RBI night including his 19th HR of the year. The win keeps the Stros 3 games behind the Pads with a 3-game series at home vs the Reds coming up.
## Teams in Review
August 29: I believe the
Los Angeles Dodgers are the very first 80-loss team. Congratulations? This has definitely not been their year. The bullpen has fallen apart (dead last in NL ERA, 4.60) which has deep-sixed a very good starting rotation (2nd, 3.10) and let's just say the offense hasn't helped much either (not even 400 runs yet, dead last in baseball although the "record" is I think 427 so they won't set a new one unless they have an absolutely horrific September). Basically the offense is Justin Stone and nothing else. Yeah, it's rough, and I think I've already committed to the youths so there may not be much happening...
Rotation: I pushed former ace stopper Alec Cosby (6-8, 4.50, 6 Sv) into the rotation because he was struggling really badly in relief and was getting mad. Well... he's been... fine as a starter (3-2, 3.82) which leads me to want to just leave him there for the rest of the year I guess. The other weak link in the rotation is Ken Hansen (7-13. 3.88), who just posted a 2.46 ERA for the other LA team last year (14-16 record though) so I'm not really super in on removing him either. The AAA Albuquerque Dukes have a decidedly average pitching staff now and not a lot to want to bring up when rosters expand... maybe Pistol Pete Maravich (9-9, 3.51), who did have a cup of coffee last year and the year before. He's also 26 and looks decided meh. Hope his basketball career goes better!
Bullpen: I'll probably expand the 'pen in September just to look at more guys. The bullpen right now really only has 2 guys who are performing decently: Mario Juarez (3-5, 2.96), who I'm really really thinking about dropping into the rotation, and Andres Castillo (9-9, 3.46), who was demoted out of it because he's 36 and I wanted to look at younger guys. Yeah... I'm going to go ahead and make no changes for now knowing full well that there will be some in 3 days.
Infield: I've been dropping all kinds of players into the 3 hole this year to hit in front of Stone... why not give Gary McCord (.297, 2, 31) a shot at it? He's catcher-slow and his average is pretty empty but it is an average.
I feel like 2B Danny Fager (.273, 7, 31) has somewhat lowkey been the 2nd best offensive player on this team and I'm going to stop spelling him for utility guy Ronny Yitzhaki (.244, 10, 33), partially because Yitzhaki isn't hitting super well but also because, you know, Fager should start every day. He'll also hit leadoff because, as a testament to his underration, he's I think 2nd in the NL in steals this year (only 18 of them but still).
3B Robin Gibb (.259, 11, 44) has been pretty meh this year and Gustavo Reyna (.318, 1, 8) has looked pretty good. Unfortunately both are right-handed batters so there's no easy platoon situation to resolve this. Reyna might be a league average shortstop with enough playing time though, at least that's what the scouts say. Heinie Kuiper (.260, 0, 10) meanwhile is a good fielder who hasn't hit the way I'd hoped he would (.289, 9, 36 in AA Waterbury in the first half) so... why not? Reyna will do some shortstopping and we can re-evaluate next year.
Outfield: LF Lou Morgenstern (.238, 11, 38) sure looks like his All-Star days are behind him and yet he's probably the 3rd best hitter on the team (maybe 4th if you really like batting average and therefore Gary McCord). I came in thinking I should drop him out but now I think that maybe the team needs him in the lineup to allow us to evaluate everyone else properly.
CF Philippe Petit (.238, 2, 2) hasn't done much and has also been kind of bad in the field. What was I thinking there? I'll probably recall him within the week but I'm sending him down in favor of 27 year old non-prospect Ben Ernst (.307, 2, 23 at AAA Albuquerque), who'd been up earlier in the year but was sent down. He was also last year's starter and kind of sucked but hey, maybe he's learned to hit for average. It could happen! I'll use JD Heil (.209, 3, 6) vs LHPs; Heil can't, you know, hit but like Ernst he's at least above average afield and won't cost the team runs out there.
I've curtailed Ronny Yitzakhi a lot because... although he can play all the positions except catcher (he's not rated at 1B but I'm not going to play him at first base) he's been hitting like a middle infielder. I'll drop him into right vs LHPs to platoon with Ross Poynor (.256, 5, 21), who's been kind of a huge disappointment but that's another story. I was using Sam Headen (.244, 0, 0) in that role but there's absolutely nothing about Headen that tells me he should get playing time unless he proves he can hit and... you can see that line (41 at-bats so far).
September 2: This is where I'd normally do a dive on the
Minnesota Twins (54-80) but I kind of just did a mini-look through at every team with roster expansion so... I won't. Also we're getting close to the end of the year and stuff.
September: Likewise the St. Louis Cardinals.