The Pastime Baseball League

[EMSoccerCoach]

August 2, 2018

Oklahoma City's Stottlemyre Done for Year
Oklahoma City Scorprions reliever Mel Stottlemyre had to leave the Scorpions matchup yesterday against Charlotte with shoulder pain and has been diagnosed with a torn labrum, an injury that will end his season.

So far this year Stottlemyre has delivered 1 save. In 28 relief appearances he has 14 strikeouts in 52 innings with a 3.98 ERA and 4 wins and 1 loss.

The fourth place Scorpions can ill afford to lose a pitcher, as their staff ranks 9th out of 10 in the Southern League. That and a complete lack of clutch hitting (the team is 4th in OPS but 9th in runs scored) have stung the Scorpions this season.

[EMSoccerCoach]

August 5, 2018

3-Homer Hat Trick for Hrbek In the Indianapolis Engines' 10-3 win over Chicago, Kent Hrbek was in a home run mode. He tortured the Hitmen, cracking out three home runs and going 3-4 with 3 RBIs and scoring 3 runs. "When you're hot, you're hot," said a grinning Hrbek in the postgame press conference. "I got some good pitches to hit and got a good swing going today. I cannot believe it happened. I was like, 'I don't know what I'm doing.' It was one of the better days in my baseball career. I was on cloud nine out there and I was enjoying it." Hrbek hit a solo-shot off Joe Bush in the 2nd, hit a solo-shot off Bush in the 4th, flied out in the 5th and hit a third solo shot off Bush in the 8th. Hrbek is the 20th player in PBL history to hit 3 home runs in the game. This season Hrbek is batting .233 with 11 home runs.

[EMSoccerCoach]

August 13, 2018

Larry Doyle Sidelined for 6 Weeks

When the Charlotte Cougars traded Bob Rush to Wichita at the trade deadline for second baseman Larry Doyle, the Cougars thought they had picked up a cog that would carry them home to a division crown.

Now Doyle is out, perhaps for the season, after separating his shoulder diving for a foul popup in today's game against the Los Angeles Idols.

So far this season Doyle has gotten 137 hits in 412 at-bats for a .333 batting average with 3 home runs. His stats include 51 RBIs and 59 runs scored. He has played in 104 games.

The injury means Bill Madlock (.282-8-42) will return to full-time duty.

[EMSoccerCoach]

August 19, 2018

Shawkey Pitches Gem against Milwaukee
It has been six years since Bob Shawkey hurled the game of his life, a no-hitter against the Chicago Hitmen. Now, as Shawkey tries to help his Sacramento Stingers hold off the Hitmen in their annual division race, he found much of what he served up that day.

It was a smooth and solid performance by Bob Shawkey of the Sacramento Stingers against Milwaukee today. He crafted a fine 4-hitter in blanking them 3-0 and chalked up 9 strikeouts and no walks along the way.

Shawkey improved to 9-5 with a 2.79 ERA. The Stingers lead the Hitmen by 2 games in the Northern League West.

[EMSoccerCoach]

August 21, 2018

Idols place Cobb on DL
"Sore." That's how Ty Cobb described his situation to BNN after he breaking a finger sliding into a base during today's game against Las Vegas.

"Basically, they said we're in a spot where I can rest it. I could play if I needed to," Cobb said.

The Idols lead the Arizona Sandmen by 10 games in the Southern League West.

On the season, Cobb is batting .326 with 4 home runs and 56 RBIs. He has played in 111 games.

[EMSoccerCoach]

August 24, 2018

Peavy Sharp, Whitewashes Riders

Jake Peavy's tremendous season continues.

Everything clicked on the hill today for the Charlotte Cougars ace as he hurled his club to a 7-0 shutout win over the Boston Riders, limiting them to 2 hits while recording 5 strikeouts and yielding 2 walks. He overpowered some batters with his fastball and buckled knees with his sharp breaking pitches.

"He was brilliant," Boston's Adam Dunn said. "He might be the best in the game right now."

Peavy improved to 18 and 7 with a 2.88 ERA. He has struck out 173 batters in 212.1 innings. The Cougars are tied with Louisville, a game back of Philadelphia for the division lead in the Northern League East.

[EMSoccerCoach]

August 27, 2018

Erik Bedard Done For Season

What was supposed to be a feel-good story has turned disastrous for Erik Bedard.

The lefty signed a four-year deal this offseason to return to New Orleans, where he spent three seasons before being dealt away at the deadline in 2014.

But in April, Bedard went down with shoulder soreness. He missed nearly two months. He returned, but was never at his peak, and his season has been erratic at best, with him going 8-9 with a 5.14 ERA.

That's how his season will end, as Bedard has been diagnosed with a torn elbow ligament.

"This hasn't gone how I pictured it, obviously," he said. "I've underachieved. The team [4th place, 17 games out] has underachieved. All I can do is work to be ready to contribute next season to get the Knights back where we're supposed to be."

[EMSoccerCoach]

September 1, 2018

Northern League Standings
East	W	L	PCT	GB
Philadelphia Ringers	75	60	.556	-
Charlotte Cougars	74	61	.548	1.0
Louisville Racers	74	61	.548	1.0
Boston Riders	69	66	.511	6.0
New York Heroes	57	78	.422	18.0
West	W	L	PCT	GB
Sacramento Stingers	69	66	.511	-
Chicago Hitmen	68	67	.504	1.0
Indianapolis Engines	62	73	.459	7.0
Wichita Brigade	61	74	.452	8.0
Milwaukee Bangers	57	78	.422	12.0

Southern League Standings
East	W	L	PCT	GB
St. Louis Tides	80	55	.593	-
Alabama Airmen	71	64	.526	9.0
Memphis Strummers	67	68	.496	13.0
New Orleans Knights	61	74	.452	19.0
Orlando Orcas	60	75	.444	20.0
West	W	L	PCT	GB
Los Angeles Idols	82	53	.607	-
Arizona Sandmen	74	61	.548	8.0
San Antonio Sheriffs	71	64	.526	11.0
Oklahoma City Scorpions	65	70	.481	17.0
Las Vegas Bosses	53	82	.393	29.0

League Leaders AVG J. Jackson - LOU .347 2 M. McCormick OKC .344 3 T. Speaker STL .342 4 E. Collins WIC .333 4 2 more tied with .333	League Leaders HR D. Brouthers - LA 35 2 W. Stargell MEM 34 3 R. Connor CHI 33 3 P. Hines CHA 33 5 D. Murphy NO 29	League Leaders RBI D. Murphy - NO 108 2 D. Snider STL 107 3 D. Brouthers LA 99 4 R. Sievers LA 98 5 J. Lefebvre LOU 97
League Leaders W 2 tied with 19 1 J. Peavy CHA 19 1 E. Walsh PHI 19 3 L. Day IND 17 3 4 more tied with 17	League Leaders ERA M. LaCoss - ARI 2.40 2 H. Coveleski ARI 2.68 3 J. Peavy CHA 2.94 4 B. Ojeda LA 3.23 5 C. Falkenberg SA 3.26	League Leaders K C. Marmol - PHI 212 2 B. Sheets CHA 205 3 T. Lincecum MEM 188 4 J. Peavy CHA 176 5 R. Waddell WIC 174

[EMSoccerCoach]

September 1, 2018

PLAYERS OF THE MONTH

Hines Claims NL Batter of the Month Award
Saturday, September 1st, 2018: Paul Hines battered Northern League pitchers all August and wound up taking home the Batter of the Month Award.

"I've been around Pastime Baseball League long enough to know you really have to work hard day in and day out to be able to put up this kind of consistency," the 33-year-old Hines told reporters. "I put in a lot of work, even on the days I may not take the field and it's always nice when everything comes together for me like it did this last month."

In 27 games, Hines hit .354 with 7 home runs, 22 RBIs and scored 20 runs.

In 132 games this season Hines is batting .314 with 174 hits and 33 home runs. He has scored 77 runs and driven in 96.

Dan Brouthers Winner in August
Saturday, September 1st, 2018: Seasoned by several years of professional experience, 32-year-old Dan Brouthers put together a solid offensive month for Los Angeles and was crowned August's top batter in the Southern League.

He batted .417 with 12 home runs, 26 RBIs and 28 runs scored.

This year Brouthers is batting .333 with 35 home runs and 99 RBIs. In 135 games he has scored 111 times.

Charlotte Starter Selected Best Pitcher
Saturday, September 1st, 2018: Despite the number of years he's been in the league, Jake Peavy still gets excited when he puts together a quality stretch like he had in August. The 30-year-old starter for Charlotte was named Northern League Pitcher of the Month earlier today.

He collected 6 wins and no losses with 30 strikeouts in his 6 starts, putting up a fine 2.32 ERA in 50.1 innings of work.

His record this year is 19-7 in 28 starts and Peavy has a 2.94 ERA.

St. Louis Starter Wins August's Pitcher Award
Saturday, September 1st, 2018: Veteran Ralph Branca put together quite a successful stretch in August for the St. Louis Tides, earning himself the Southern League Pitcher of the Month award.

Branca racked up a 5-1 record in 6 starts, posting a 1.14 ERA over 47.1 innings and striking out 32.

For the year Branca has compiled a 16-12 record with a 3.95 ERA.

Northern League Names Rookie of Month Saturday, September 1st, 2018: Al Kaline's eyes seem to light up whenever he sees the baseball. The young Boston center fielder has been hitting everything in sight for the better part of a month. In August he was voted the Rookie of the Month Award. During the month he hit .252 with 4 doubles, 2 triples and 8 home runs. Kaline also scored 15 times and drove in 21 runs. Kaline is hitting .253 in 2018 with 45 RBIs and 11 home runs.

SL Selects Rookie Star of the Month Saturday, September 1st, 2018: Wally Backman earned August's Rookie of the Month honors in the Southern League for last month's performance. The boyish New Orleans third baseman might be wet behind the ears, but he's proving that he has what it takes to play at this level. Backman hit .378 with no home runs, 12 RBIs and 12 runs scored this past month on his way to winning the award. This year Backman has hit at a .274 clip with 106 hits, no home runs, 41 RBIs and 57 runs scored.

[EMSoccerCoach]

September 2, 2018

PENNANT RACES

Though the Southern League divisions look to be set, barring collapse, we enter the 10th September in PBL history with some great battles in the Northern League.

In the East, the only team out of it is the team that won the division for the first six seasons of the PBL's existence: the New York Heroes. Philadelphia leads Charlotte and defending champion (and two-time division winner) Louisville by a game, while Boston trails by only 6 and has gone 31-22 since July 1.

In the West, the annual war between the Sacramento Stingers and the Chicago Hitmen is on again, with the Stingers up by a single game. They meet only one more time this season, a three-game set in Sacramento from the 14th to the 16th.

I won't do 30 days of day-by-day, but I will start the breakdown with that series. So up next, we sim the next two weeks to get to the final two-week (plus) stretch drive en route to completing the first decade of the Pastime Baseball League.

[kenyan_cheena]

Congrats, EM. This thread is the 5th largest in the Dynasty Reports forum and is at #17 in views. That's a great acheivement, considering all the threads that have appeared here over the years.

Well done!

[EMSoccerCoach]

Originally Posted by kenyan_cheena

Congrats, EM. This thread is the 5th largest in the Dynasty Reports forum and is at #17 in views. That's a great acheivement, considering all the threads that have appeared here over the years.

Well done!

Thanks, KC. It's been a fun ride. So many great players left to break in to the league, too. Funny to see who's falling by the wayside and who's reaching expectations.

[EMSoccerCoach]

It's strange coming to the 10th season, wrapping up a decade and seeing the top early teams - New Orleans, New York and Wichita - not within sniffing distance of a title this year.

The best story might be Boston, which has Jim Palmer, Steve Carlton and Tommy John all eligible for free agency after the season. They have a month to make up 6 games and overcome 3 teams.

[EMSoccerCoach]

September 14, 2018

Northern League Standings
East	W	L	PCT	GB
Philadelphia Ringers	83	63	.568	-
Charlotte Cougars	79	67	.541	4.0
Louisville Racers	76	70	.521	7.0
Boston Riders	74	72	.507	9.0
New York Heroes	64	82	.438	19.0
West	W	L	PCT	GB
Sacramento Stingers	72	74	.493	-
Chicago Hitmen	71	75	.486	1.0
Wichita Brigade	69	77	.473	3.0
Indianapolis Engines	67	79	.459	5.0
Milwaukee Bangers	61	85	.418	11.0

Southern League Standings
East	W	L	PCT	GB
St. Louis Tides	88	58	.603	-
Alabama Airmen	76	70	.521	12.0
Memphis Strummers	75	71	.514	13.0
New Orleans Knights	68	78	.466	20.0
Orlando Orcas	64	82	.438	24.0
West	W	L	PCT	GB
Los Angeles Idols	90	56	.616	-
Arizona Sandmen	79	67	.541	11.0
San Antonio Sheriffs	77	69	.527	13.0
Oklahoma City Scorpions	67	79	.459	23.0
Las Vegas Bosses	60	86	.411	30.0

It's blown open in the Southern League, where St. Louis and Los Angeles seem to have clinched things up, leading by double digits with 16 games remaining.

The Northern League has opened up a bit in the East at least, where the Philadelphia Ringers opened the month 8-3, starting with taking 2 out of 3 from Charlotte in Philadelphia. Boston swept Louisville to kick off the month, and took 2 of 3 from Charlotte in Boston, but dropped 5 of 6 against non-division opponents to negate their possible gain. The Racers' 2-9 start to September has virtually assured a new champion. Despite their own struggles, Charlotte has the best shot not only by virtue of being the closest, at 4 games back, but they host Philadelphia for six games over the final three weeks, including this coming weekend.

The West is fascinating. Always the PBL's tightest division, this time every team has now fallen below .500. Sacramento and Chicago are engaged in their annual duel, which starts its stretch drive when the two clash this weekend in Sacramento. But the sleeper here is Wichita, which actually had gotten within a game of Sacramento before being swept last weekend. The Brigade are done with the Stingers and Hitmen, which means they need to turn it on against other teams and hope.

[PhillieFever]

Can it be!!!! Can it be!!!! Will the Philadelphia Ringers shock the world and win a division title?

[EMSoccerCoach]

Originally Posted by PhillieFever

Can it be!!!! Can it be!!!! Will the Philadelphia Ringers shock the world and win a division title?

It's funny...I remember back in the 2015 season when I posted that the Milwaukee Bangers had traded Ed Walsh, who struggled in his first season and a half after being the #1 pick, to Charlotte that you said they would regret giving up on him. A year later, Philadelphia traded Andre Dawson to Charlotte to get Walsh.

He sits here 20-8 for your Ringers squad with a 3.60 ERA, and may very well win Outstanding Pitcher. His main competition, Jake Peavy (20-8, 3.03) faces Philly in Game One of this weekend's series against Charlotte. Walsh misses the series.

Monte Irvin leads with 22 homers and is hitting .302, but he's out for a couple of weeks with a shoulder strain. But the duo ripping it up right are John McGraw (.571 in his last 5) and Cal Ripken (.641, 3 HRs in his last 8).

[EMSoccerCoach]

September 14, 2018

NORTHERN LEAGUE EAST

Philadelphia 4, Charlotte 1: Bill Byrd (17-8) threw 7 innings of 1-run ball and the Ringers got two-run homers from Lou Whitaker (3) and Jason Thompson (14) to beat Charlotte and ace Jake Peavy (20-8).

East	W	L	PCT	GB
Philadelphia Ringers	84	63	.571	-
Charlotte Cougars	79	68	.537	5.0

NORTHERN LEAGUE WEST

Sacramento 7, Chicago 1: Bob Veale (11-14) shook off what's been a disappointing season to muster some of his recent-years brilliance, allowing one run over 7 2/3 innings as the Stingers got to Chicago's Rudy May (5-6), led by homers from Ryne Sandberg (6), Roy White (10) and Fred Lynn (14).

Wichita 7, Milwaukee 4: Despite four errors, Wichita tops the Bangers to stay three games back, helped by a paid of homers from Tank Carr (26, 27).

West	W	L	PCT	GB
Sacramento Stingers	73	74	.497	-
Chicago Hitmen	71	76	.483	2.0
Wichita Brigade	70	77	.476	3.0

[kenyan_cheena]

Those NL West standings are bizarre. Gonna be interesting to see how many wins the divisional winner ends up with.

[EMSoccerCoach]

September 15, 2018

NORTHERN LEAGUE EAST

Philadelphia 6, Charlotte 2: Carlos Marmol (16-11) went 7 1/3 strong innings and got help from Carl Furillo, who had three hits - including his 14th homer of the season - and drove in three as the Ringers knocked around Robin Roberts (3-6).

East	W	L	PCT	GB
Philadelphia Ringers	85	63	.574	-
Charlotte Cougars	79	69	.534	6.0

NORTHERN LEAGUE WEST

Sacramento 1, Chicago 0: The Hitmen start Atlee Hammaker, who comes in 8-11 with an ERA over 6.50. All Hammaker did was throw 8 innings, allowing 1 unearned run. Only problem was Rube Marquard (14-11) threw a complete game 2-hit shutout to give the Stingers some breathing room.

Milwaukee 6, Wichita 3: Harry Stovey and George Stovall each homer off Frank Killen in the third and the Bangers get 7 1/3 strong innings from Smokey Joe Williams (15-14).

West	W	L	PCT	GB
Sacramento Stingers	74	74	.500	-
Chicago Hitmen	71	77	.480	3.0
Wichita Brigade	70	78	.473	4.0

[EMSoccerCoach]

September 16, 2018

NORTHERN LEAGUE EAST

Philadelphia 4, Charlotte 2: Down 2-0 and with Ben Sheets cruising along, the Ringers figured to be content taking two of three on the road and keeping their 5 game lead. Instead, a 5th inning Billy Hamilton RBI single cut it to 2-1, and a Jack Lapp 2-run single in the 8th put Philadelphia up while four relievers hurled 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Bill Doak (6-7) as the Ringers swept Charlotte in Charlotte and opened their division lead to 7 games. We'll stop covering this race for now and pick it up if Charlotte gets within 5.

East	W	L	PCT	GB
Philadelphia Ringers	86	63	.577	-
Charlotte Cougars	79	70	.531	7.0

NORTHERN LEAGUE WEST

Sacramento 4, Chicago 1: For those of you keeping score at home, that's 2 runs on 13 hits in the 3-game set for Chicago, which was shut down by Sacramento here, this time by Bob Shawkey (11-7). Rich Gedman hit a 2-run homer, his 2nd, in a 3-run third and the Stingers rolled the rest of the way.

Milwaukee 12, Wichita 8: Not even a 7-run 2nd inning was enough for Wichita, which ill afford a loss like this. Blowing an 8-2 lead, Wichita let Milwaukee pound its way back into this game on the strength of five homers, from Chick Stahl, Frank Isbell, Charlie Bennett, Joe Tinker and Tank Carr.

West	W	L	PCT	GB
Sacramento Stingers	75	74	.503	-
Chicago Hitmen	71	78	.477	4.0
Wichita Brigade	70	79	.470	5.0