You know what's really nice about a good start? Besides the obvious. You can go 17-11 in a month and still feel good about a .607 winning percentage being your 'worst' of the season. End of June, and we're still 54-24, 12 games up on Oakland, 13.5 over Texas. Angels, Astros, and Mariners after that. Our hitting kept rolling on, as we scored 153 runs (5.5/game); but we gave up 139 (5.0/game). We had a rough start to the month, 3-5, until we swept the Angels. We also had a good run in interleague play, going 6-3 against the Central division's top three teams.
Series records for the month:
BOS 0-1 / TOR 1-2 / SEA 2-2 / LAA 3-0 / TEX 2-2 / MTL 2-1 / CIN 2-1 / PIT 2-1 / LAA 3-1
Six regulars hit over .300 this month, led by Dunklee at .386, Collins at .361, and Drayton at .356. Hebert would make seven, but was injured on the 8th. We clouted 46 home runs, with Drayton and McArthur hitting 10 each. McArthur had a fun stat line, with those 10 HR being his only XBH. Austin Collins gets special notice for a 37-game hitting streak, which ended on the 21st. Dunklee put together his own 21-game streak, ending on the 12th.
Injuries also starting biting us this month. Hebert went out for nearly a month, so I called up last year's #1 Adam Groff to get his first shot in the bigs. He hit a HR on his first at bat, and then got hurt the next day, with a month-long day-to-day injury. I played him for a few games, watched him struggle, then sent him back down to the farm. Eddie Aguilera gets the next shot, then suffers his own dtd injury late in the month. With Miranda playing well, I'll keep Aguilera up until Hebert comes back in early July. Groff will stay in KC and hopefully not suffer any further injury.
Well, this sounds familiar: pitching was not our strong suit this month. Unlike last year, tho, at least this time we get a few good performances. Clark and Anderson lead the way, and Bobby Little finally comes around as probably the best of the starters. Brock and Wunderlich: meh. Unfortunately, the bullpen finally cracks some, especially with a fairly crappy month from closer Yates. Ixcoy's horribleness earns him a trip to KC mid-month. We call up Evan Larkins, who was lights-out in KC (0.49 ERA in 31 IP), but he doesn't see any action for us yet. Alex Lopez is definitely earning his expensive (3.2M per) keep, only giving up his first run of the season.
Around the league...
Miami went crazy this month, 21-8, and moved from 3 games under .500 to a share of first place in the AL East. They're a game ahead of the Blue Jays. No other changes on the leaderboards, at the top at least. Colorado's leadership changes didn't take, as they've slumped to the worst record in the league, at 29-49....Twins 3B Paul Foster is AL player of the month (.356, 15 HR), while Philly 1B Nate Rogers (.365, 9 HR) gets the NL nod. Bill Casas (Oakland, 4-1, 1.27 ERA) and Mike Gardner (Padres, 5-1, 2.01 ERA) get the pitching honors....Our Austin Collins leads the AL hit parade at .365, and Pittsburgh's 21-year-old super stud Danny Diaz went .400/.440/.718, leading the NL in hitting (.384) and home runs (25). Dunklee leads the AL in HR (23), RBI (76), and OPS (1.125). Highest WAR too, so he could be working on an MVP season....Milestone watch: Angels 2B Macario Fiel reaches 1500 career RBI. He's 37, 2022 AL MVP with Texas, has 518 HR, over 2300 hits, and 79 WAR. He could be the first Brazilian to make the HoF one day. And Cleveland LF Chase Strumpf gets his 2500th hit. He's had a pretty nondescript career, mostly with Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. 60 WAR, 230 HR, firmly into the Hall of Pretty Good one day.
Next up: June Amateur Draft Report