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05-07-2024, 10:15 AM
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#281 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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June 4-10, 1973
## 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 37 18 .673 - W4 285 188 .299 49 48 3.11 3.4 5.7 .983 28.9 43.2 New York 32 24 .571 5½ L1 260 270 .250 63 15 4.37 2.6 4.7 .981 2.9 38.0 Boston 26 26 .500 9½ L3 236 189 .276 47 25 3.40 3.0 5.8 .980 26.7 46.5 Baltimore 21 29 .420 13½ W3 196 213 .247 44 20 3.62 3.6 5.1 .974 8.4 40.0 Milwaukee 21 33 .389 15½ W4 237 289 .266 41 41 4.80 3.8 5.1 .979 -8.2 34.7 Cleveland 21 35 .375 16½ W4 207 260 .245 51 20 4.33 3.3 5.5 .981 10.0 36.4 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Texas 34 18 .654 - W6 225 168 .270 38 22 2.86 3.6 5.2 .983 28.5 40.9 Chicago 30 22 .577 4 L4 210 191 .258 36 30 3.27 3.7 4.9 .982 27.7 42.9 California 29 24 .547 5½ L4 233 245 .258 42 40 4.02 3.4 5.0 .978 17.8 38.5 Kansas City 29 30 .492 8½ W1 291 308 .261 40 26 4.68 3.7 4.5 .983 7.7 26.8 Oakland 26 31 .456 10½ L4 211 239 .263 36 25 3.81 2.9 4.9 .978 7.5 38.6 Minnesota 18 34 .346 16 L3 199 230 .243 47 24 4.03 3.6 5.4 .978 9.3 28.2 LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Chicago 35 23 .603 - W7 244 216 .263 53 29 3.45 3.4 4.7 .986 43.2 45.2 St. Louis 33 21 .611 - W2 229 203 .254 56 17 3.50 2.9 5.6 .982 17.2 47.2 Philadelphia 30 25 .545 3½ W2 262 232 .250 37 37 3.73 3.1 5.0 .977 16.9 39.5 Pittsburgh 27 24 .529 4½ L2 179 173 .239 21 6 3.18 2.9 5.8 .982 12.6 37.9 New York 26 25 .510 5½ W3 186 213 .261 20 36 3.76 3.2 4.9 .982 15.3 48.3 Montreal 19 31 .380 12 L1 219 258 .254 39 24 4.25 3.5 5.4 .976 7.0 34.2 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Houston 31 29 .517 - W2 253 265 .254 61 24 3.89 3.8 5.7 .973 7.9 29.8 San Francisco 31 30 .508 ½ W1 236 246 .254 50 40 3.49 3.1 5.2 .980 10.7 33.3 San Diego 27 32 .458 3½ L2 231 209 .253 31 21 3.17 3.4 5.1 .976 39.4 44.9 Cincinnati 25 31 .446 4 L3 233 233 .251 46 25 3.92 2.8 6.0 .979 -0.0 23.8 Los Angeles 26 32 .448 4 L7 199 223 .254 59 16 3.38 3.1 5.4 .978 38.7 34.1 Atlanta 25 32 .439 4½ L2 221 221 .257 39 17 3.55 3.0 5.9 .982 9.1 30.3 The AL has started to separate the wheat from the chaff in a big waywhereas the NL... well, it's still working on that. Blame it on the lack of a DH I guess? I'm looking down the league and seeing that maybe I need to invest more in defense with Milwaukee because... hahah, wow. I think ZR tends to be based on Defensive Efficiency and so therefore in an environment where DE is higher than it is now, everything comes out positive... except for the Brewers (and the Reds at 0 even). Otherwise, though! I got nothin'. The Yuppies of the Week have to be the Cardinals, who jumped 7 sppots in the power rankings from 11th to 4th thanks to a 6-1 week against would-be West contenders San Diego and Atlanta. Or maybe it's the Mets, up from 17th to 9th - ordinally a bigger climb! - thanks to surviving a 2-game sweep in Cincinnati to sweep the Dodgers at home. I'm giving it to the Cards because of WINNING. Cleveland also gets... something, leaping up to 18th from 23rd in sort of a dead-cat-bounce week where they split a double-header vs the also-awful Twins and then, somehow, engineered a weekend 4-game sweep over the actually-good White Sox. San Diego is the clear dirty hippie this week, going from nearly top 5 - 6th! - to 16th in power rankings. To be fair - TOOO BEEEE FAAAAAIIIR - they did have to face two of the best teams in the NL East this week in the Cardinals and Phillies, but to be completely unfair - they finished 1-5 against those guys and are now not close to .500. Minnesota "only" fell 3 places because yoou can't drop further than 24th but after that aforementioned double-header vs Cleveland they got swept by lowly Baltimore so I wouldn't say they're doing great either. That's it for now! Tune in next week, Thrift Champions! ## Major Transactions June 6: The Cardinals traded RP Billy Munoz (3-0, 3.18) to the Rangers for minor league RP Ted "The Nuge" Nugent (2-1, 4.18 at AAA Spokane) and a 2B to be named later (.245, 1, 3 at AA Pittsfield). And I mean "to be named later" because this guy is currently a 21 year old who's looking good enough in AA that he might get a shot with the big league team soon. He doesn't grade out as a shortstop, unfortunately, but Texas is really really low on SS prospects at all. June 7: The Yankees purchased CL John "The Assassin" Booth (3-1, 1.42, 7 Sv) from the Giants for $15,000. San Francisco is leading the NL West but man they are not hot on the status of the current team, I guess. Booth is a lefty so should fit right in with New York's plans but his K rate has been dipping haaaaard. June 7: The Padres traded minor league SS Barry Bailey (.322, 5, 27 in AAA Hawaii) to the Cardinals for IF Buddy Miles (.214, 2, 16). Bailey looks like the best answer yet for the Cards at shortstop while the Padres will value Miles' versatility as they feel they already have their shortstop in Joe Wicker (.255, 2, 11). A REAL WIN WIN I guess we'll see... June 7: The Braves traded P Santos Rodriguez (5-8, 3.57) to the Yankees for minor league P Rush Limbaugh (3-7, 5.03 at AAA Syracuse), SS Vladimir Matorin (.143, 0, 3), and minor league RF Ace Frehley (.225, 0, 6). Both Limbaugh and Frehley are top 100 prospects so this costs the Yankees a pretty penny. On the other hand, Rodriguez led the AL in ERA last year and was putting things back together after a rough start to his season. I think this trade does signal that the Braves are pushing more for the future than for this season after having won the NL West in each of the last 2 seasons. June 9: The Padres organization purchased minor league P Jerry Washington (0-0, 13.50 in AA) and minor league OF Bobby Corley (.190, 0, 4 in AAA OKC). THis was really a deal with Hawaii, who I guess had a semi-affiliate relationship with the Pads this year, but hey, here we go. Both of these guys were on Cleveland's 40 man roster, although I am not seeing Washington being there for the new team. June 9: Cleveland trades CL Jake Duckett (0-2, 2.28, 3 Sv) to the Royals for minor league RP Giorgio Cavazzano (4-6, 4.34 at AAA Omaha). Duckett was one of the last kind of good players left on this Indians team but at the same time was one of the last guys making any money. He'll go off to the Royals, who could definitely use a stopper, and they get back Cavazzano, who was a good enough prospect that he played a little in the major league club at the start of the year (he was bad though, a 13.50 ERA in 8 IP). June 9: The Astros traded minor league SS Rob Reiner (.214, 2, 4 at AAA Denver) to the Cardinals for LF John Rohrbough (.360, 0, 0). The Cards continue to collect shortstops in the hopes they can turn one of them into something. Reiner is at this point a non-prospect who had a cup of coffee in 1971 and who is known for being a meathead. Rohrbough is blocked in St. Louis and kiiind of in Houston as well except that starter Jesse Lockhart (.267, 1, 11) is looking kind of average the last few years. June 10: The Angels traded minor league CF Russ Deuser (.244, 6, 22 in AAA SLC) to the Padress for minor league P Mark Golden (6-2, 3.95 at AAA Hawaii). Both of these players are blocked in their current organizations and both walk into positions of relative need so hey. I guess the Angels are less needy of pitching but you can always use some of that. ## News June 4: Wikipedia says that a US patent for the first ATM, the Docutel, was issued today, but I am skeptical. At the very least this was merely the first patent issued in the United States. June 4: Murry Wilson, the father of 3 of the Beach Boys and their first manager, died today of a heart attack. The three Wilson sons had fired Murry back in 1964 but he controlled their publishing company, Sea of Tunes, before selling it in 1969. He also tried his hand at producing a sound-alike group called the Sunrays after his sons fired him and recording an album called "The Many Moods of Murry Wilson" in 1967, which is in that horrible and thankfully no longer extant genre called "easy listening". June 4: Reds OF/1B Alonzo Huanosta (.273, 5, 23), trying to re-establish himself as one of the feared hitters in the league, was diagnosed with a broken kneecap after he was taken off the field following a slide on the 1st of June. He'll be out for the rest of the season. The normally healthy Huanosta hadn't played in fewer than 100 games in a season since 1966. MC Gainey (.204, 2, 8), who had a cup of coffee last year following a .307/18/64 campaign in Indianapolis, has not gotten off to a great start in Indy this year but he's what the Reds have at first base so in he goes. June 4: On the same day we also got a diagnosis for Reds' RF Fred Grandy (.217, 0, 2). It's not as bad but it's a strained hamstring that's not expected to clear up for an entire month. Since Grandy's been struggling in this pinch-hitting role and his biggest asset right now is some decent defense, I'm going to DL him as well. June 4: Onto some better news: Angels 1B Chris Seek (.363, 8, 31), who I'd just got done mentioning because he's 3rd in the AL in hitting, also won the Player of the Week award by going 12-30 (.400) with 2 HRs and 9 RBIs for the Halos. It was a big week for him and the 2nd time he's ever won the award, the first being back in 1969 when he was still with the Giants. June 4: In the NL, Dodgers 1B Justin Stone (.333, 9, 23) has been quietly gaining ground on the rest of the league following missing all of April with an injury. Well, not so quietly I guess, as he went 12-24 (figure it out!) with 4 HRs and 11 RBIs. Stone, of course, is a bona fide Hall of Fame talent and has *23* Player of the Week awards, albeit none since the week ending September 19, 1971. He's also won the Player of the Month 22 times and the league MVP 6 times. Like I said, he's had a pretty good career. He's 26 HRs away from 500, which he could quite easily reach this season, missing month or no missing month. June 4: SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK: The top 5 guys in career, lifetime (i.e. not just current players) shutouts: 1. Jose Lugo (230-147, 3.08), BOS/CLE/WAS: 40. Lugo retired after an injury-ravaged 1961 season and was inducted into the Hall in 1967. 2. Jeff Borden (239-149, 2.83), BRO/LAD: 39. Borden's a guy I bring up every year when players try and fail to break his 1.62 single-season ERA record he set in 1956; he had 6 shutouts that year. I also got to use him when I took over the league in '69 but sadly he was simply too wrecked by then to reliably count on and he retired at season's end. 3. Tracy Mosher (181-120, 2.93), NYY: 39. I didn't notice Tracy had tied with Borden in this stat, wow. He's yet to get a shutty this year, and he was so bad to start that he was briefly relegated to the bullpen, although he never made an appearance in relief (he's 5-6, 5.40 and even that's with 2 ER in his last 18 IP). His next shutout, should he get it, ties him for the all-time mark. And he's still only 34 so if he can turn things around he has a shot, albeit a small one, at 50. 4. Andy Ring (170-132, 3.18), LAD/CAL: 34. Ring is also currently playing, although like Mosher he's off to a less than great start (3-4, 4.08). Unlike Mosher he's been really good the last 2 seasons, with 5 shutouts apiece in '71 and '72 - the Big A helped, no doubt - to get him into this conversation. He's also a year younger than Mosher. Maybe he'll be on top once all's said and done, who knows? 5. Lazaro Hernandez (226-194, 3.47), PIT: 33. Hernandez was Pittsburgh's ace from 1948 to 1964 and was inducted into the Hall just this year. He's the Pirates' all-time leader in wins and strikeouts although with this team's big three I could see at least one of them passing him (DJ "Old Money" Cheeves is 124-126, 3.38, Jeremy Battaglia is 91-80, 2.70, and Santos Arango is 145-102, 2.90). At second glance maybe his Pirates wins record is safe for now. June 4: When you're on a 7 game losing streak, just ride on the back of... Carlos Torres (4-7, 4.48)? It seems like a less than great plan but it worked for the A's today. Torres threw a 3-hitter against the Brewers - okay, FINE, it was the Brewers - en route to a 6-0 victory. "I just put the ball where I wanted to put it today," said the 34 year old lefty. CF David Mesa (.281, 0, 12) broke the game open in the 3rd with an RBI triple, his first 3-bagger all season. June 5: Known Canadian delivers an editorial on his radio show called "The Americans" that becomes popular in North America, so popular that two different versions reach the Top 40 after background music is added. The tenor of this editorial is not, as is often reported, an angry response to anti-Vietnam War protests, but a statement that the US steps in a lot when other countries face economic crises or natural disasters but when the same happens to the US it tends to brave things alone. June 5: The Soviet satellite Kosmos 562 is successfully launched into low Earth orbit at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. June 5: Filipe Duarte, a Portguese film and TV actor, is born today. June 5: Iiiiiiiiits draft day! I saw the notes in BB-Ref's transactions that it was happening on the 5th and thought I'd forgotten to move it up to match (which, Tuesday is a weird day to conduct the draft, isn't it?) but I guess I did! Also, this is the Seahawkiest draft EVER. I guess also a Montreal Canadiens draft... 1. Milwaukee: 18 yo CF Penn Gillette 2. Cincinnati: 19 yo 1B (2nd overall???) Lawrence Krauss (wow, big scientific skepticism draft I guess) 3. NY Mets: 17 year old SS Bill Gates 4. NY Yankees, 18 year old CF Dave Schultz (known as the guy who beat up John Stossel when Stossel was all like oooo wrestling is fake in the 80s) 5. Montreal Expos, 21 year old RF William Katt aka the Greatest American Hero 6. Chicago White Sox, 17 year old SS Floyd "FORMER MARINER WOOOOO" Bannister 7. Kansas City, 18 year old CF Jay "Bright Lights, Big City" McInerney 8. San Francisco, 21 year old CF Robin Williams 9. San Diego, 21 year old RF Walter "Easy Rawlins" Mosley (a detective fiction novelist) 10. Minnesota, 18 year old WR/RF Steve Largent 11. St. Louis, 21 year old wrestling annnouncer/SS Jim "JR" Ross (who's actually from California, not the South) 12. Texas, 21 year old hockeyist/LF Guy Lafleur 13. Oakland, 22 year old singist/RF Luther Vandross 14. California, 21 year old 2B/GOATED GOAT Pete Carroll 15. Los Angeles, 21 year old bassist/2B Bootsy Collins 16. Houston, 22 year old hockeyizer/CF Larry Robinson 17. Baltimore, 21 year old actor/2B Chris Cooper 18. Atlanta, 22 year old fashion guy/3B Tommy Hilfiger (who knew this guy is an actual person? A lot of people I guess) 19. Chicago Cubs, 18 year old director/1B Ang Lee 20. Cleveland, 21 year old politician/CF Lee Hsien Loong 21. Boston, 19 year old inventor of the blue LED/3B Shuji Nakamura 22. Philadelphia, 21 year old director/SS Mamoru Oshii 23. Pittsburgh, 18 year old wrestler/LF Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart 24. Detroit, 22 year old Disney guy / 2B Bob Iger Also, it's a very non-pitchery first round. I think this is pretty normal for this save; nobody seems to draft first-round pitchers unless I step in and choose something other than the scouting director recommendation. Oh well! The talent's still out there, I'm sure. June 5: Sometimes you've got to take matters into your own hands. Jimmy Goddard (10-1, 1.89) had a no-decision in his last outing and it was looking like it could be the case tonight, too, but in spite of getting next to no support for 8 innings, the Tigers ace threw an 8-hit shutout against the Angels and the Detroit fanbase listening on the radio got to breathe a big sigh of relief when their team erupted for 4 runs in the 9th to win 5-0. The victory makes Goddard, who led the AL in games starts and innings pitched last year, baseball's first 10-game winner. DH Danny Villegas (.222, 1, 4) was the big bat tonight, hitting the solo HR in the 2nd off of Angels starter Carlos Figueroa (3-4, 4.03) that for a while was looking like it was going to be the only run in the game. Then in the 9th he kicked off the scoring with an RBI single; he'd eventually come around to score himself. In spite of being a full-time DH now and being limited to just 17 games thanks to a hip strain that left him out for 6 weeks, Villegas is still nursing a sprained knee. "I guess at my age, these things are just gonna happen," said Villegas. "As long as I can hit through them, why worry about it?" June 5: Houston's Joshua Waltenbery (.314, 12, 33) finished 3rd in the MVP race during the Miracle Mets season of 1969 but has been kind of mediocre in the 3 years since. In spite of being traded to the biggest park on the planet, the Astrodome in Houston, "Superman" sure seems like he's found that power stroke that got him a 36 HR, 100 RBI season that year. Tonight he ended a game with the Phillies with a 3-run shot over the left field wall at the 'Dome in the bottom of the 11th. That HR tied him for the team lead with CF George Foreman (.286, 12, 40) and for 2nd in the NL overall behind former Astro Jaden Weaver (.238, 13, 44), now with the Reds. The win also evens up Houston's record for the first time this year since they started the season 4-4; now they're 28-28 and breathing down the necks of the struggling San Francisco Giants at 29-28. June 6: West German President Gustav Heinemann signs a treaty with East Germany in spite of a challenge by the state of Bavaria as to the constitutionality of said treaty. The nation's Constitutional Court rejects the challenge and the treaty will take effect on June 21. June 6: The very first Polski Fiat 126p is constructed from Italian parts. This Polish edition of the popular Italian car will be produced until 1993, with the original Italian product being mass-produced until 2000, one of the longest-produced cars in automotive history. June 6: Jimmy Clitheroe, an English entertainer and host of the long-running BBC Radio program "The Clitheroe Kid", commits suicide shortly after his mother's death by an overdose of sleeping pills. His long-running show had also been canceled in September of 1972 and, as a person who'd made a living off of being 4'2" and able to pass for an 11 year old boy, entering his late middle ages (he was 51 when he passed away) probably did not look great to his prospects of future work. June 6: Mets IF Danny Pellot (.242, 1, 1) wants to start. I feel like he should know better? I guess another way of putting this is, he's 38 and doesn't want to be a backup on a mediocre team, so, like, fix the mediocrity or the lack of starting or his standing on it. He's a former 5 time All-Star and still a fan favorite so cutting him comes with a cost. Man... I feel like I already had a succession thingerino set up at 2nd between the struggling Bill Heyen (.229, 0, 5) and Bora Dugic (.275, 1, 3) but screw it, I'll put Pellot out there for now. Let's see what he can do and maybe we'll get like some kind of trade value from him or something like that. June 6: He was left stranded to end the game but Royals OF Tony "The Boss" Danza (.343, 5, 21) belted a 9th inning double, amazingly his 26th of the season. KC went down to the Red Sox on a 6-hit shutout by Justin "Ironworker" Kindberg (7-4, 2.27) but you know what? The doubles are the story here, as far as I'm concerned. Danza's now on pace for *77*, which would easily break the real-life all-time record by Earl Webb (who? what even are the 30s?) with 63, and, needless to say, would also break the REAL LIFE all-time record held by Senators/Twins Hall of Famer Fernando Rocha, who hit 49 all the way back in 1947 (a year he went .317, 22, 91 and I don't know how he didn't win the MVP but hey). In a year where all the spotlight is once again on Ernesto Garcia and his own record-breaking exploits, I wanted to make sure this one doesn't get swept aside. Incidentally the doubles leader for the AL last year for the entire season was Jon Hernandez, who had 31 of them. June 6: Shuffling up the lineup sure seems to have paid dividends for the Angels today... or, at least, their powerful 3/4 combo of 1B Chris Seek (.386, 4, 18) and 2B Rodrigo Juarez (.299, 11, 38) activated. The duo went a combined 6-10 with *8* RBIs to send the Detroit Tigers down 10-0. And oh yeah, David Camacho (3-2, 4.57) also pitched a gem, showing my confidence in him was not misplaced (I had to choose between Camacho and Al Gore in terms of who to dump into the bullpen as we moved to a 4-man rotation - see below). The win breaks a 4-game losing streak for California and allows them to look right back at the AL West race again. Detroit meanwhile suffered from a rare poor game by one of their Big Three as SP Bruce Rubio (3-4, 3.58) was knocked out of the box in the 3rd after having allowed 6 runs on 7 hits in 2+ innings pitched. June 7: Astronauts Pete Conrad and Joseph Kerwin successfully free Skylab 2's one remaining solar panel which had been stuck closed since the station was damaged on its May 14 launch. Now they can microwave some burritos! June 7: The Tigers' Edgar Molina (10-5, 3.32) was looking at a potentially rough time of getting win #10, having to face off against 1967 Cy Young Award winner Andy Ring (3-5, 4.72) but it wound up being just about the easiest victory of his career. Molina allowed just 3 hits in a complete game shutout and his Angels opponent was knocked out in the 4th; the Tigers won in a laugher, 12-0. DH Danny Villegas (.211, 2, 8) hit a grand salami in the 8th off of reliever Mark Seitz (3-1, 2.57) with Detroit already up by 8 but hey, a dinger's a dinger, right? He wound up leading a balanced attack with 4 RBIs. CF Alvin Romeo (.323, 2, 28) was 3-6 with a triple, 3 runs, and 2 RBIs. June 8: Major B. Coxson, a drug kingpin in Philadelphia and a former candidate for mayor of Camden, New Jersey, is shot and killed alohng with his daughter in an as-yet-unsolved shooting. His son and girlfriend will survive. June 8: The owner of the San Diego Padres (in real life!) announces that as part of his sale, the team will be moved to Washington, DC, which has been without baseball ever since 1971. June 8: Goring's wife dies at 80. Whoop de do! I guess I'm pointing this out in large part just to note that we're still only around a generation out from World War II. June 8: Giants CF Danny "The Phantom" Seligman (.268, 1, 11) just cannot stay healthy to save his life. The 1971 NL batting champion is now going to be out for the next month with a... strained rib cage muscle. OKAY. In his stead, Danish jazz bassist Mads Vindig (.314, 2, 14 at AAA Phoenix) has been tearing up the high minors - do I smell TCR??? - and will step in. June 8: And now it's time to move on to the FINAL positional rankings - right field! I kind of liked this exercise as a way to bide the time / showcase players before All-Star voting gets under way so yeah... let's go! 10. Jun Kim, MIL (.255, 1, 15). Kim's off to a kind of rocky start, although injuries haven't helped. What's not shown in the statline here is the defense and leadership he brings to this young and pretty bad team. 9. Tom Brown, BOS (.274, 4, 28). A little surprised to see Brown ranked so low but hey, he's starting to get on in years I guess (he's 34) and he was never quite an MVP candidate in his prime. He's also a guy who's probably better suited to left, where he played before the Bosox traded Jun Kim away, but now they've got Bruce Springsteen over there. 8. Chris Ward, ATL (.304, 4, 21). Ward is manning the position that Henry Riggs had a lock on for a decade and a half but time waits for no man and now Riggsy is in left for this team. Ward is considerably faster than Riggs but that speed doesn't translate into range so well. He's also had a weird dearth of gap power so far (only 2 doubles and 0 triples) which should increase his stock even more. 7. Tommy Pron, OAK (.322, 3, 22). Yet another product of the Cleveland fire sale, Pron, the 1968 AL batting champ, is still quite the hitter. I'm noticing a trend so far of putting guys who kind of aren't all that great range-wise into right; this is a thing OOTP is not a fan of. 6. Phil Hartman, NYY (.237, 6, 25). Speaking of... Hartman fields in right like a caveman, an unfrozen caveman lawyer if you will, and will surely move to left as he gets older. Still, even with the low average this year he walks a tooooon and turns a lot of those Ernesto Garcia bombs into 2 or 3 run shots. 5. Matt Williams, STL (.261, 8, 20). If you're wondering how the Cardinals are having an unlikely run so far this year, Williams is part of the answer. A former Chicago Cubs guy who basically had his career resurrected with the expansion Expos, the Cards traded for him this offseason and he's been great, especially in terms of secondary-average stuff: a .362 OBP, 19 extra-base hits. The man's 34 so he probably doesn't have a lot of years like this one left but hey, enjoy it while it lasts! 4. Brandon Anderson, CLE (.287. 7, 23). A rare bit of good news coming out of Cleveland here, as Anderson, who the Indians acquired in the Nelson Vargas trade, has turned out to be a legitimately good player in his own right. He did finish 2nd in the NL in intentional walks last year! I think that was from hitting 8th a lot. He's not going to hit 8th again any time soon. 3. Jaden Weaver, CIN (.238, 13, 44). Weaver is at least doing his part to punish the Astros for their trading him to the Reds. Unfortunately the Reds haven't been able ot get things done around him in the past year plus. At 25-28 they do look closer to being there in '73, especially given the state of the NL West, but you know, you do have to win games... 2. Jeremy Taylor, CHC (.299, 7, 18). The transition from shortstop has been pretty successful for Taylor, at least when he stays healthy. He's out for another 2-3 weeks with an ankle sprain that's caused him to miss pretty much all of May. The Cubs seem to be doing OK without him but of couuurse they can use the 1972 NL MVP's bat. 1. Dave "Cookie Monster" Corona (.293, 4, 23). I really feel like the Cookie Monster, not the Boss Tony Danza, is the real jewel of the Royals outfield. Corona won't hit .330 like Danza could but he'll hit for decent power and get on base a toooon. So far this year he has that disease Danza had last year with the steals: after leading the league in thefts in 1971 with 52 and going 40/50 last year, Corona's just 8/16 this year. KC likes to hit and run a lot I guess (Danza, who had 34 steals with a league-leading 30 CSes last season, has only attempted 4 so far this year... and whiffed on 3 of them). June 8: Angels, what happened? Brewers - Brewers! - starter King Decker (2-1, 2.96), who the Brew Crew recently purchased from the A's system, threw a 5-hit shutout, but that's not even the half of it. Milwaukee destroyed the Angels 15-0 today. Gary Bruno (8-3, 2.20), the Angels putative ace with 6 complete games in 11 starts this year, couldn't even get through 6 today, allowing 7 runs in that time. It was frankly a well balanced attack too so I can't point to any one person. I guess LF Steve Winwood (.283, 7, 22) did the most with a 3-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI effort. The big loss actually puts the 29-22 Angels as now having allowed more runs (235) than they've scored (231). Milwaukee is still bad but the big victory means they're 6th in the AL in runs scored - middle of the pack! These guys were on pace to score the fewest runs ever at one point last year. June 9: Spanish Navy Admira Luis Carrero Blanco becomes Prime Minister of Spain under dictator Francisco Franco, who, sorry to Chevy Chase, not dead. He won't hold the post long, being assassinated by Basque separatists in November. June 9: Secretariat wins the Belmont Stakes. We have a triple crown winner in horse racing! It's the first since 1948 (and Man O' War I think? Nope, Citation). We're about to go through a string from this year to 1978 where there are 3 Triple Crowns in 6 years. June 9: The Giro d'Italia cycling event, run between Verviers in Belgium and Trieste in Italy, is won by Eddy Mercx of Belgium, who's a big enough name that I thought he was a race car driver (I think maybe I had him mixed up with Jacky Ickx?). June 9: FC Bayern Munich wins the Bundesliga easily 2ith a 25-4-5 record. #2 is 1. FC Koln at 16-11-7. June 9: Janice Marie Young, a 15 year old runaway, is killed when she is pushed in front of a moving truck. Her body will not be identified until 2015 and confirmed by testing the DNA of a sibling. I do have to say, as annoying as the "missing white girl" stories were in the early 2000s, I'll take putting up a little too much press coverage over this whole deal where it seems like all kinds of teenaged girls just went missing throughout the 60s and 70s... June 9: Pittsburgh PH Mike Grigg (.182, 0, 3) has confirmed he'll retire at the end of the season. Right now, I'm not at all sure he'll make it that far. Grigg was a minor league guy who got cups of coffee in the early 60s with the Mets and then, thanks to expansion, found a new role as a 4th outfielder and pinch-hitter with Minnesota for the last 4 years before moving on to Pittsburgh this season. Since he spent soooo much time in the minors, he's got only 408 major league hits in spite of a .286 career average. June 9: The San Francisco Giants (30-30) fell to .500 with a giant thud today, getting absolutely blown out by the Montreal Expos in Montreal, 13-2. Sam Williams (4-7, 3.97) was the starter and didn't get out of the 5th and then the Expos brought in 6 unearned runs in the 6th inning off of long reliever Oscar Amador (0-0, 0.00), making his major league debut. 2B and former #1 overall pick Hudson Watts (.254, 3, 13) had a beast of a game, going 2-5 with a double, a HR, 3 runs scored, and 4 RBIs in this one. The Giants couldn't even get much going offensively as the old man Mike Johnson (3-1, 4.39) picked up the victory and his first complete game on the season. This actually also puts San Francisco at 232 runs scored vs 243 allowed. Nevertheless, if Houston can't beat Pittsburgh today they'll still finish in 1st in the NL West... for now. June 9: And the Astros took down the Pirates 3-1 in a very un-Astros game in the Astrodome to take the division lead! Roberto Ortiz (5-2. 3.09), the former AL strikeouts leader, went 7 strong innings and then closer Adam Eastin (0-1, 4.07) shut the door for his 7th save of the season. 3B Pete Little (.299, 6, 28) singled in the 4th and broke open a 0-0 deadlock when he scored off of Pirates ace Jeremy Battaglia (5-6, 1.86), who has had a very... Piratesy start to his season. Houston has also failed to outscore their opponents (249-263) but hey, they do have a winning record at least! June 10: Explorer 49 is launched to orbit the moon. This will be the last probe we launch to orbit the moon until 1994. June 10: William Inge, the author of the play "Splendor In The Grass", commits suicide. June 10: Erich von Manstein, the Nazi German field marshal and convicted war criminal who developed the blitzkrieg system, dies at 85. June 10: Some good news and bad news for the Phillies today: on the good side, 2B Nate Rowe (.185, 0, 13), who's been out since mid-May with a sprained wrist, was cleared to play. On the bad side, 3B Mike Brookes (.296, 1, 13) suffered a setback in his return from a strained PCL and is going to be out for the rest of the month. June 10: Dodgers PH Greg Cowan (.094, 0, 1) is mad about not playing more. He's also 3-32 to open the year. I get why guys do this - they're mad about their performance too - but all this does is make me want to chuck them out the door. Which, maybe it's time.... it is. He gone! Good luck finding a new team, Greg. June 10: Indians P Robert Rivera (6-5, 3.93) is stuck on a bad, bad team but today he came 4 outs away from making history as he carried a no-hitter into the 8th against the White Sox. In fact, it was C Barry Melnick (.333, 0, 0), making his major league debut, who broke up the no-no with 2 outs. "That's the way the old cookie crumbles," said a mildly disappointed Rivera after the game. He still managed to pitch a complete game 2-hit shutout - DH Jeff Nation (.238, 8, 32) added another in the 9th. The win also puts Cleveland, some how some way, in a position where they might only be tied for last in the AL East today should the Brewers lose in Anaheim. June 10: But speaking of the Brew Crew... Milwaukee completes an unlikely road sweep of the Angels today with a 6-0 shutout by Tom Bertan (4-5, 4.58). I don't know that I'd necessarily call Bertan a former ace, exactly, but he did go 20-9, 3.69 in 1970 before having a Jose Lima-esque (who?) blow-up season in 1971 (2-10, 7.51). He's mostly in between now, which is to say he hasn't exactly been great but hey, this was Bertain's first shutout in 3 years so that's nice. The win puts the Brewers all the way up to 21-33; still a mile behind the Tigers but hey, good for them I guess. The Angels meanwhile are just 29-24 and and now 5 full games behind the Rangers, pending their own game today. ## Teams in Review June 5: The St. Louis Cardinals (27-20, - GB) were doing OK before they got swept at home by the surging Houston Astros. That last loss was their 20th and so here we are. I feel like these guys are playing way over their heads, though: they're only 11th in Major League Baseball in ERA and are 4th worst in the NL in runs scored - some of the latter is due to not playing as many games as some of their opponents but at that, they're 2nd worst in BA (.248) and 10th in OBP (.315). The Mets were due for a fall and they fell; what can we do to keep the same from happening to the Cards? Rotation: I guess first and foremost, we should drop to a 4 man rotation. The back 3 of the current 5 man is nothing special but the 1 and 2 are pretty great and we should be maximizing their starts. It looks to me like that makes 23 year old Tom Waits (4-3, 4.70) the easy choice for the odd man out. Bullpen: Waits will move into the bullpen as the long reliever / spot starter and that in turn means sending Georg Bednorz (0-0, 0.00), who juuuust got called up long enough to pitch in 2 whole games, back down to AAA. Otherwise, I think everything is... fine. Billy Munoz (3-0, 3.18) is still pretty up and down but I'm way more OK with that from a setup man / middle reliever than as a stopper, and meanwhile Travis Livingston (3--1, 1.90, 8 Sv) has if anything shown we could probably use him more than we have / than the Twins used him last season. Infield: I feel like maaaaybe 3B Mike Galeana (.212, 3, 22) has started to get his power going; after having just 1 HR heading into the final week of May, he hit his first 2 last week. It just... doesn't feel like enough and I want to push him a bit. I don't see any straight-up 3B in the high minors though. What I do see is 25 year old (so sorry, this is your real name) 2B Victor Rodriguez (.329, 2, 16) mashing at AAA Tulsa so I'm going to try and figure out a way to use him a lot at 2nd and have Tom Depew (.280, 2, 7) fill in at 3rd during that time. Depew is inexperienced at the hot corner but he's got the arm for it so why not? Meanwhile at shortstop I really, really want to end this Buddy Miles (.214, 2, 16) experiment but... how? I put him there because the Cards are very very short on SS talent, hoping he wouldn't be absolutely terrible as a fielder while putting up 3rd base-y numbers at the plate. Half of that came true... he's been bad at short but not overwhelmingly so, but he's also hit like a shortstop. The other options are 27 year old Angelo Serrano (.270, 0, 2), who came back in the Brian Wilcox to Oakland trade last year and who's never looked like a starter (also don't let the .270 average in 37 at-bats fool you; man is a career .188 hitter), and 28 year old minor leaguer Jason Williams (.320, 0, 5 in Tulsa), who did have 118 at-bats for the club last year. So... clearly, Miles is going down with Williams coming up and that leaves Serrano as the starter... until I can find someone else, somewhere. Outfield: With CF Sonny Burwell (.252, 2, 7) still out for another month I really need an actual backup for Jim James (.233, 2, 4) and... man, the CF situation at Tulas is dire, with neither the former prospect Jah Lloyd (.173, 0, 6) nor the former Rule V pick by the Reds Gaudi Rodriguez (.189, 4, 10) doing much of anything. I guess I'll call up Rodriguez on account of his being more of the starter down there and also, at 27, his being pretty much the complete product, whatever that may mean. In fact, I'm just going to straight-up platoon him out there to start; yeah, he hasn't been swinging the stick but James is OBPing .246, which is kind of bad, and Rodriguez did hit .257 in full-time play in Tulsa last year. June 6: The New York Yankees (31-20, 2 1/2 GB) have really come back from their rough 69-86 season last year. Being the best team money can buy will do that. It hasn't been enough to better the Tigers though, at least not yet. Contrary to the Yankees' position in the recent past it looks to me like this team is built on offense - 3rd in the AL in runs, 1st in HRs (of course) but the pitching staff has been iffy at best. Rotation: For the literal current time being, Manny Carbajal (3-4, 3,69) is hurt - as in, he just got hurt yesterday and his diagnosis is still pending - so both Tracy Mosher (5-6, 5.40) and Henning Mankell (2-1, 7.32) are in the starting rotation for the time being. The minor league AI manager insists that Rush Limbaugh (3-6, 4.46) is ready but the stats sure don't seem to back that up. For now I'll leave Mankell where he is but that could change once we know what's going on with Carbajal, as the bullpen's too big as it is. Bullpen: Well, I mean, it's 4 men right now but that's with Mankell in the rotation. It was running at 5 men large and that's just plain too big for the AL circa 1973. My first thought would be to just send Mankell down but Ed Lagos (2-1, 7.25) is off to a really bad start - so ba he lost the closer role - and I'm not a fan of his K rate even for the era (just 9 Ks in 22.1 IPs after 23 in 54.2 last year). I'll just play it where it lays I guess... Infield: I wouldn't say that trading C John Lennon was a mistake, exactly, inaas much as it was part of the asking price for Ernesto Garcia (.291, 22, 45). Catcher is not a position of strength right now. Khalil Tabb (.207, 1, 11), who relinquished the job to Lennon last year, has looked like he's still stuck in 1972 and Josh Paige (.138, 0, 2) has been even worse. What I think I'll do here is call up 27 year old Justin Inkster (.333, 1, 6 at AAA Syracuse), who is not even close to a prospect but looks like he could be a decent-ish hitter, and play him until I cna find something better in the long term. 36 year old 2B TJ Pritchett (.224, 2, 18) looks like he's maybe gotten washed up this year, which happens. I'm calling up Jaak Joala (.324, 3, 10 at AAA Syracuse) to play 2nd. Joala if you'll recall played a lot down the stretch in relief of 3B Tommy Weiss (.303, 7, 26) but couldn't edge the veteran out for the starting job. He's definitely a 3rd baseman more than a 2nd baseman, as he's not really great on the pivot and his plus-plus arm will pretty much go to waste there but he figures to hit better than .224 with no power. Outfield: I finally cut bait on CF Marc Ash (.130, 1, 6) and we're back to using Micah MacMillan (.195, 1, 5) out there again. The Yankees are also reeeeeeally thin here and just buying someone seems like it should be a good option. They also have Jeff Murphy (.333, 0, 1), who isn't anything great either and is 29 but what the heck, MacMillan is a lefty and hasn't hit over .200 since 1971; it's time we platooned for the sake of platooning. June 6: In spite of their recent/current 4-game losing streak, the California Angels (28-20, 2 GB) are happy to be in the AL West conversation. It looks like they've pretty well turned the hitting around, so that instead of being towards the back of the pack it's 5th, and the secondary stats indicate that this is about a league average offense. The pitching on the other hand hasn't quite caught up yet. Rotation: LA based teams RUN THE 5 MAN ROTATION. No... that's not a hard and fast rule haha. The Angels aren't getting great performance out of their #1 Andy Ring (3-4, 4.03) but dropping to a 4 man means they can drop Al Gore (3-5, 5.13) out of it. David "Macho" Camacho (2-2, 5.33) has arguably been worse but as the youngster of the group Gore is also the most vulnerable. Bullpen: For right now I'll go with the 5 man bullpen but I might not need it, especially now that we have the longtime Orioles stopper Montay Luiso (0-1, 2.25, 7 Sv) on the roster. The rest of the bullpen looks pretty solid so it might have been Gore getting send down to AAA if I'd decided to go with an 8 man pitching staff. Infield: At catcher, Shaun Dennehy (.194, 1, 11) and Mauricio Alvarez (.088, 0, 0) are stinking up the joint and it's just time to try Tsui Hark (.323, 7, 21 at AAA SLC), bad rep with the glove or no. Expect opponents to run... but then, expect catcher to not be a complete black hole. Marc Aaronson (.200, 1, 12) looked good enough in spring training that he pushed the incumbent Travis Corley aside so hard that I cut him loose (which, to be fair, Corley's hitting .202 in AAA right now so it's not like we're missing much). And now he's forgotten how to hit. I'm going to push out Aaronson in favor of Ivan Hernandez (.182, 0, 4), who lacks that prospecty spark but did hit .300 with 19 HRs in 240 at-bats with Toledo last year so, you know, he might be a better hitter and stuff. Actually speaking of raking in AAA, Jean-Pierre Raffarin (.299, 6, 28 at SLC) was and so I'm sending little-used 7th(!) outfielder Brad Wagner (.273, 1, 2) down and calling him up to platoon out there... kind of. Raffarin is also now the team's best backup middle infielder so he'll also take Aaron's place in spelling Ivan Perez (.193, 1, 6) at shortstop. Perez is not a hitter and at 29 will never be one. Man, for a team that's middle of the pack in batting, the Angels have a lot of straight-up holes... Outfield: I'm not at all happy with Chris Tyree's (.237, 0, 5) lack of production in right field either but hey, at least he's hitting over .200 I guess. I'm still going ot try to work Jared Ferrell (.303, 4, 23) in a bit harder out there; between left and right he'll now be playing most of the time against right-handed pitching. June 10: The Chicago White Sox (30-20, 2 1/2 GB) have been doing well, especially considering where they were last year, but hey, it's as good a time as any to check in following a 4-2 loss to lowly Cleveland. They're not scoring runs super well (9th, 208) but are great with pitching (4th in starter ERA, 2nd in bullpen ERA, 5th in the MLB overall) and defense (2nd in ZR in the AL with a +18, also 2nd with fewest errors at 34). I don't expect to change a looot here... Rotation: I do think it's time to transition to the old 4 man as summer comes upon us. This is a SERIOUS team and this is SERIOUS business. So Valeriy Borzov (4-2, 3.65) is the odd man out. He'll stick around in long relief and I'm sure he'll be back in at some point knowing how injuries go. Bullpen: The bullpen is doing just fine, as noted earlier. The closes to not-fine you can get is middle reliever Gavin Yates (0-1, 3.98) but if he's as bad as it gets, it's good sailing. Infield: So here's a spot where we do need to make a change. Rene Arnoux (.140, 1, 3) looked like he was good to go as a defense-first option last year but he just flat out hasn't hit in the major leagues this year. It's time to send him all the way down to the minor leagues. Which... man, the catcher situation is bad on this team. I put out a flier for an older replacement but in the meantime I'm going to dig all the way down to AA to call up engineering student Bruce Melnick (.293, 6, 27 at AA Knoxville). He's not really a prospect but he is 23 so hey, maybe he turned it around this year. And if not, he can just become an astronaut or something. 2B Yukio Hatoyama (.241, 0, 14) has been very mech as a hitter so I'm going to be a lot more aggressive in using Chance Hopka (.314, 0, 3), last year's starter and a far better fielder as well. He also carried a .217 average last season in 383 at-bats so I'm more hoping that a platoon will yield fruit than anything else. Outfield: Center is also a mess right now but I'm going to keep going with the platoon of Mohamed Abdelaziz (.190, 1, 15) and Dave Concepcion (.278, 0, 2) for now. Abdelaziz only hit .241 last year but like in 1972 terms that was OK and I'd be kind of happy with that even in '97. We are not getting that though. Concepcion doesn't look like much of a guy, period, by his recent minor league track record. I'm not sure why he's here except that he fills a need. When RF Josh Wade (.263, 4, 25) hits even in the .280s it's not really enough production from a corner OF spot. When he's hitting in the .260s... nah. He does seem to have more power than he did in years past but it's still like 10 HR pop at best. His backup Carl Weathers (.167, 0, 0) hasn't hit at all though so I'm reticent to just replace him at this point. I'm also kind of unhappy with what Jeff Nation's (.239, 8, 32) doing at DH but I guess at least he's got some pop and some clutch hitting in the middle of the order. With all these other switch-arounds and with nobody like blowing up the high minors I guess I'm gonna have to stick with him.
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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June 11-17, 1973
## Standings / Recap / Comments3
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 37 23 .617 - L5 307 218 .294 52 55 3.32 3.2 5.8 .983 31.1 43.1 New York 34 29 .540 4½ L2 287 307 .248 69 15 4.48 2.7 4.7 .981 4.8 37.3 Boston 29 29 .500 7 L1 254 206 .274 51 29 3.36 3.0 5.9 .980 29.6 43.8 Baltimore 26 30 .464 9 W3 228 235 .251 49 26 3.59 3.7 5.2 .975 9.9 42.6 Cleveland 24 38 .387 14 W2 231 293 .245 56 21 4.40 3.4 5.6 .980 7.0 34.7 Milwaukee 23 37 .383 14 L4 253 324 .264 42 43 4.81 3.8 5.0 .978 -12.8 33.3 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Texas 35 22 .614 - L4 243 186 .267 41 24 2.89 3.6 5.0 .983 29.4 41.2 Chicago 35 22 .614 - W5 249 203 .261 46 32 3.18 3.6 4.8 .983 33.6 44.0 California 32 28 .533 4½ W2 261 272 .259 47 48 3.97 3.5 5.0 .979 21.8 41.5 Oakland 31 32 .492 7 W1 237 257 .267 39 27 3.71 3.0 4.8 .979 10.7 38.0 Kansas City 32 34 .485 7½ L2 328 346 .260 46 28 4.73 3.8 4.5 .982 9.7 29.0 Minnesota 22 36 .379 13½ W4 225 256 .247 57 28 3.93 3.5 5.3 .976 6.0 26.7 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 36 24 .600 - L2 251 224 .253 60 17 3.50 3.0 5.7 .983 21.7 47.5 Philadelphia 35 26 .574 1½ L1 294 253 .249 43 43 3.70 3.1 5.2 .978 20.4 45.2 Chicago 35 30 .538 3½ L7 255 249 .257 56 30 3.61 3.3 4.6 .986 41.1 44.0 New York 30 27 .526 4½ W1 208 225 .261 25 40 3.58 3.2 5.1 .982 14.6 44.4 Pittsburgh 28 30 .483 7 L4 195 205 .237 24 10 3.25 2.8 5.9 .980 11.7 36.7 Montreal 21 35 .375 13 W1 236 289 .253 41 26 4.30 3.5 5.3 .976 2.6 32.6 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Houston 36 30 .545 - W2 280 277 .257 67 27 3.70 3.9 5.8 .975 11.3 31.2 San Diego 32 33 .492 3½ L1 256 222 .254 34 24 3.07 3.3 5.0 .978 44.1 42.6 Atlanta 31 33 .484 4 W4 252 232 .256 47 20 3.28 3.0 5.9 .982 7.6 33.3 Cincinnati 30 33 .476 4½ W4 261 259 .253 51 27 3.76 2.9 6.0 .978 -1.2 27.1 San Francisco 32 35 .478 4½ W1 251 270 .250 52 43 3.53 3.1 5.2 .980 13.1 33.3 Los Angeles 27 37 .422 8 L1 223 257 .254 67 18 3.54 3.2 5.3 .977 37.7 33.3 In the NL, the Cubs are getting 1B Antonio Lopez (.254, 3, 13) and RF Jeremy Taylor (.299, 7, 18) soon, as in probably next week for both... and that can't come quickly enough because they are really starting to fall apart without those two big bats in the lineup (plus, as of this writing 2B Juan Perez (.295, 13, 37) is out with an as-yet-undiagnosed injury). Thanks to that, the East is now a 2-team race wit the power-hitting Cardinals just edging out the speedy Phillies. And in the West, it's nice to see that a team is establishing themselves above .500, even if it is the Astros. San Diego, speaking of, juuuust missed joining the Over .500 Club today as they lost to the Mets. Your Yuppies of the Week are those Chicago White Sox, moving all the way up from 8th in the power rankings to 1st with a perfect 5-0 week against the Tigers and Brewers. Oakland is also worthy of some yuppie love, as they went from 4th worst to 14th with a 5-1 week vs AL East contenders New York and Boston, a week that hopefully gets their ship righted. They still have a loooot of ground to cover though. The Cubbies are the dirty hippies; that 7 game losing streak all happened this week, getting swept by both the Astros and the Braves. They managed to score more than 3 runs just one time in all that (a 5-4 loss to the Astros on Sunday). And a look at the ol' league leaders... The Angels' 1B Chris Seek (.365, 10, 43) has really put things together this year. Remember when he was a slap hitter who couldn't stay in the lineup with the Giants due to a severe lack of power? I don't know how real that 10 HR power is but it's more than twice his previous career high. Anyway, he's leading the AL in batting too, thanks to a 12-28 week that just might get him PotW. Texas' 3B Bobby Ramirez (.347, 5, 22), the guy the Angels traded away to get Seek, is 2nd. Maaan, that's a rare deal there. Right behind him at 3rd is Detroit RF Frankie Faison (.346, 4, 29). A little surprising to see a top 3 without Tony Danza (.325, 7, 32) or Bruce Springsteen (.338, 6, 29) but I'm sure we'll see them soon. Of course Ernesto Garcia (.275, 25, 54) is way out ahead in both HRs and RBIs, although he's slipped to "only" being on pace to hit 64 dingers this year. Alice Cooper (.2323, 17, 46) is a mile behind, at least in HRs, although I guess he and Angelo Martinez (.258, 16, 47) of the Twins are catching up in ribbies. Alvin Romero (.307, 2, 29) has twice as many steals as the next guy, Boston's Jon "The Astronaut" Glynn (.268, 5, 20), who honestly isn't so bad himself: Romero's got 30, Glynn 15. Rounding out the top 3 are Milwaukee's Fernando Ceballos (.265, 1, 14), who combines blazing speed with a lack of ability to get on base (his OBP is actually lower than his BA right now), and Bobby Ramirez, who, as noted, has a lot of chances. Rich Reese (8-2, 1.82) continues to lead the league in ERA and at this point it's probably just repetitive in that "hey, did you know that Jimmy Graham used to play basketball???" way to remind everyone that he was a reliever last year. He's 42 points ahead of Tigers ace Jimmy Goddard (11-1, 2.20), who also has the best winning percentage in baseball, and Oakland's Vince Akright (11-3, 2.41), who's really come around this year to be that top staff guy the A's were hoping for when they acquired him from (then) Washington. Akright and Goddard lead in wins with Edgar Molina (10-7, 3.78) right behind them in spite of some gopher issues (see one of the game recaps below!). Molina also became the first guy to hit the century mark in strikeouts this year with 100 even now in 135.2 IP. Strikeouts are down across the league. Michael Pesco (7-9, 2.91) has been having a hard-luck year but is still 2nd with 88 Ks in 136 IP, and his teammate Marco Sanchez (7-9, 3.51) is 3rd with 83 in 125.1. White Sox stopper Malcolm Post (1-0, 1.97) has seen a liiitle less use the last couple weeks but he's pretty close to his historical averages and also he leads the AL with 11 saves and 10 shutdowns. There's a 3-way tie for 2nd between KC's Jorge Cervantez (0-4, 2.34), Oakland's Willis Chavez (3-4, 2.28), and Texas' Kojiro Nakamura (1-2, 4.03) with 8 apiece - Cervantez also is tied with post in shutdowns thus far. In the NATIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE the batting race has now been taken over by an old familiar face, Cardinals LF Rafael Disla (.336, 6, 36), who hit .452 a week ago and .333 this week to ride right into this thing. George Harrison (.329, 9, 43), just about the only guy on the Giants who can hit, is right behind him, and somehow in 3rd is 3B Mike Morrison (.322, 2, 20) of Atlanta, who missed most of last season with an injury and who was relegated to a backup role behind Marco Perez in Baltimore before that. Even if he can't keep this up, nice comeback season! The NL HR guy isn't quiiiite as exciting as Garcia but hey, still an old standby: Dodgers 1B Justin Stone (.351, 17, 35), who would be the batting guy if he qualified, too: those 17 dingers come in just 42 games so far. He's out ahead of Reds RF Jaden Weaver (.246, 15, 49) and the GRILLER George Foreman (.306, 13, 43), who's leading a powerful Astros attack this year. Weaver, Foreman, and Harrison are 1-2-3 in RBIs. Jon Berry (.311, 7, 22) of the Giants is the only other guy besides Alvin Romero with more than 20 steals so far; he has 22. He's followed by master-of-everything, Phillies LF Alberto Juantorena (.296, 10, 37) with 15, and Cardinals' CF Sonny Burwell (.252, 2, 7), who has 12 of them, good for 3rd in spite of being out of action with an injury since May 22. Jeremy Battaglia (5-7, 1.73) is one of two guys in the NL with a sub-2.00 ERA; the other is knuckleballer Colin Rose (4-2, 1.99), who transitioned into the rotation earlier this year for the Braves. Atlanta, somehow, also has the #3 starter in Frank Evans (7-3, 2.18). Richard Starkey (11-4, 2.80), aka Ringo Starr, leads the NL in wins thanks to being able to pitch in front of that powerful Phillies' lineup; 4 guys are about a mile behind him with 8 wins. Jeff Graton (2-9, 4.33) of the Expos leads the league in losses so far and I mean Montreal is bad but how long will they go with him? The striker outers of the league are Battaglia with 92 in 135.1 IP and the Astros' Tony Rivera (7-5, 3.21) with 92 in 115.0. That's a kind of high ERA for a #1 starter who plays half his games in the Astrodome but who am I to judge? George House (8-5, 3.20) has been the steadiest pitcher in a surprising Braves rotation this year; he's also 3rd in the NL in Ks with 88 in 115.1. Geoff Saus (5-5, 4.21) has had a rough time of it recently but still leads the NL in both saves (14) and shutdowns (18). Behind him is Padres closer Darius Parchman (2-2, 0.88) with 14 and the Cubs' Jesse Kelly (5-2, 1.82) with 10. Kelly also has 15 shutdowns of his own and I must mention Paz Lemus (7-1, 1.67), whose save totals are down (only 8) because of the Pirates' failure to score runs but he's still 3rd in shutdowns with 14 of them. ## Major Transactions June 11: The White Sox signed C Robert Keith (.238, 2, 15 with AAA Rochester in 1972) to a contract. Yeah, it's kind of a minor league-ish sort of a deal but the 34 year old Keith has started in the past, brings in a scintillating .203 lifetime average in the major leagues, and with Rene Arnoux (.140, 1, 3) just flat-out not hitting in the majors, the time had come to make a change. Keith, who came up through the Sox system and played for them until he was traded to LA in 1967, does have himself a gun for an arm even at his old, ancient, old age of oldness. June 12: The Reds traded C Oliver Williams (.214, 4, 14) and a SP to be named later (7-5, 2.93 in AAA Indianapolis) to the Padres for SP Rodrigo Aguilar (5-6, 4.61). Aguilar is a finesse guy so maybe isn't the greatest fit for the poor-fielding Cincinnati; however, he's a starter, he won 18 games last year, and he fills a position of need for relatively cheap. Oliver Williams helps bolster a kind of weak catching corps in San Diego this year and the pitcher is 23 and looks like a future back-of-the-rotation guy. June 12: The Indians traded RP Elias Sanchez (1-2, 3.86, 2 Sv) to the Yankees for RP Alfredo Contreras (2-0, 4.96). Let's face it, Contreras has been bad this year but Sanchez is 35 and very unlikely to still be active when Cleveland is good again. Come to think of it, it seems unlikely for the 30-year old Contreras to be there either but hey, not everyone you acquire can be 21 years old. June 15: The Cardinals purchased RP Phil Bowman (0-1, 3.24, 3 Sv) from the Orioles for $15,000. Hey, the O's are clearly in a rebuild and while Bowman's not exactly old, why not get some cash for him, right? Meanwhile he should help boster a shaky Cardinals staff. June 15: The Indians traded P Rocky Richard (2-2, 3.59) to the Tigers for minor league OF Joshua Birley (.179, 0, 0) and P Alex Madrigal (2-2, 5.73, 4 Sv). Richard was in Cleveland's rotation but he'll be a middle-innings guy in Detroit. Coming back to them... Birley hasn't hit at all in AAA this year but he was a 4th/5th OFer for the World Series champs last year and given the Tribe's poor OF situation, he'll very likely come right back up. The 33 year old Madrigal lost like 6 miles off of his fastball over the offseason and is probably done but hey, a team like Cleveland is a good place to find out for sure. June 15: The Reds traded 3B Bobby Kralcevic (.272, 3, 22) to the Angels for a P to be named later (9-3, 2.06 in AA El Paso) and another P to be named later (6-2, 3.65 in AA El Paso). The Reds were hoping to bounce back into contention this year but it hasn't really happened and Bobby K has been a pretty, pretty bad clubhouse guy. In exchange, these two guys are the Angels' #13 and #17 prospects overall so they're not getting a maaassive haul back for him. You never know with pitching though! ## News June 11: Libya's leader Moammar Khadafy announces the nationalization of Nelson Bunker Hunt's oil company, giving Libya full control of the Sareer oilfield that had once been owned by British Petroleum. The taking HORRIFICALLY transforms Bunker Hunt from the wealthiest man in the world to a MERE multimillionaire overnight. June 11: Diplocardia meansi, a big ass earthworm so big it gets its own whole species, is discovered in Polk County, Arkansas. June 11: Sean Kenny, an Irish theater designer, dies of a brain hemorrhage. He designed, among other things, the sets for Oliver! and something called Lock Up Your Daughters. June 11: Wooow, believe it or not a CLEVELAND INDIAN has won Player of the Week this week. I guess they aren't 2023 A's level of trash, to be fair (what is this science fiction???). Anyway, P Robert Rivera (6-5, 3.93) pitched in two games, completing them both and allowing just 1 unearned run all week to win the award, also a rare one for pitchers. In doing so, he pulled his record above .500 and his ERA under 4. Good work! This was the 33 year old Rivera's 2nd ever PotW, the first coming when he was still in San Francisco in 1968 (for the week ending April 28). June 11: The NL PotW is an old familiar face: C John Stuart (.303, 10, 28) of the Cardinals. Stuart is quietly putting together a superstar season and this week was... less quiet. He went 9-19 (.474) with 4 HRs, 6 runs, and 6 RBIs. Imagine if this guy wasn't a catcher and so didn't have to sit as much! Man. Somehow, this 5-time All-Star and 6-time NL Silver Slugger has only won PotW one other time in his career, the other time being his first-ever ML awar for the week ending May 8, 1966. June 11: SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK is the single-season K/W record. Exciting! Well, maybe... 5. Zachary Schenker, LAD, 1960, 236 Ks (in 241.2 IP) to 23 BB. 4. Angelo Ramos (hey! current player!), MIN, 1968, 179 K (in 230.1 IP), 28 BB 3. Francisco Galtan, CHC, 1957, 235 K (in 245.1), 34 BB 2. Schenker, LAD, 1961, 215 (in 223.2), 30 BB 1. Schenker, LAD, 1959, 252 (in 272.1), 35 BB Schenker was... pretty good although he got hurt in 1963 at the age of 34 and his career more or less ended on the spot. He still finished with a 192-140 record and a 3.05 ERA that only looks sort of ordinary now. Trust me, for the 50s it was still good. He was a 10-time All-Star, a 2-time Cy Young winner and, yes, he was inducted into the Hall back in 1970, his first year of eligibility. Call him the Sandy Koufax (who?) of this save... June 11: Good thing this is a bad year for Minnesota... I noticed they had that rain-delayed double-header last week so barely played until the weekend so I checked to see how they were making up those games... well. They're playing the Brewers today for a 3-gamer and get Thursday off. That is the last day off they will have until the All-Star Break. 3 1/2 weeks straight worth of games. Good luck! I mean, you're bad this year so... mediocre luck! June 12: Six people are killed and 33 injured when a terrorist car bomb explodes in the Northern Irish town of Colerain. All of the dead are retired Protestants and, as you might have guessed, the bomb was planted by the PIRA. A second time bomb explodes five minutes after the first onhe but causes no injuries. June 12: Italy's Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti and his cabinet announce their resignations following the dissolution of their coalition. June 12: Marlon Brando punches celebrity photographer Ron Galella after the pararazzo stalked Brando and talk show host Dick Cavett to a restaurant. Galella's jaw was broken and he had five teeth knocked out; there is no news as to how Brando's hand fared, and I think that's what we really care about. June 12: Alyson Annan, a women's field hockey player for the Australian Olympic Team, is born today. She'll led her team to 2 gold medals in 1996 and 2000 and will win six world championships between 1993 and 1999. June 12: The Orioles actually managed to score some runs today and you can thank CF Frank Beard (.301, 7, 26). Not only did Beard go 4-4 in the O's 8-7 win over the Royals, he tied the Baltimore/St. Louis Browns record with 3 doubles in the game and even added a solo HR in the 6th inning. Granted, now, KC is not exactly known for high quality pitching and defense, but this was still a feat! There are a whole slew of Orioles to have hit 3 two-baggers in a game but Beard is the first in almost a decade: the last guy to do it was 3B Mike McBride in 1964 (.247, 24, 57), who weirdly (to me I guess) only had 17 doubles that whole season, which was also his last year as a major league starter (he retired in 1966 with just over 1,000 hits and a fond memory for a few older Orioles fans). June 12: Pirates SP Santos Arangos (7-4, 2.86) pitched one heck of a game but, as has plagued his team this year, a complete lack of offense still gave him the L. Arango carried a 2-2 tie into extra innings and even pitched into the bottom of the 12th before a throwing error by RF Brian Jackson (.230, 3. 22) on a play at third base on Braves 3B Mike Morrison (.328, 2, 19) with 2 outs led to the game-winning run. Atlanta escaped with a 3-2 win and the Pirates at 27-26 are now very close to dropping to .500. They are dead last in the NL (and baseball) in runs scored with 181 and best in runs allowed with 185. June 12: Meanwhile, in Shea Stadium, the Giants hit a new season low and the Mets' Julio Snadoval (3-4, 3.64) narrowly missed making history. Sandoval took a no-hitter into the 9th inning, allowing his first hit with 2 outs (LF Jon Berry (.333, 7, 22)) was the spoiler). He then gave up a double to new call-up CF Mats Vindig (.333, 0, 0), intentionally walked George Harrison (.329, 9, 41), and then induced RF Frank Meneses (.188, 8, 26) to ground out weakly to end the game. The Mets, needless to say, won 5-0. This would have been the firstt no-no in Mets' history. They've never been no-hit so there's that! I didn't figure this would be a no-hitter year but we've had a couple of close calls already... June 13: The Soviet submarine K-56 collides with a research vessel, the Academician Berg, and 27 people die (I think on the sub) when a container of chlorine gas fills a compartment. Which, hey, tragic and all but maybe don't traffic in chemical warfare, 1970s era Soviets... June 13: Richard Nixon, the grandfather of conservatism as he is, orders a 60 day price freeze for all groceries and gasoline to be increased to no more than the price they were as of June 8. Prices will not be allowed to rise again until August 13. June 13: The USC Trojans win the College World Series over the ASU Sun Devils in Omaha, Nebraska, by a score of 4-3. No casualties are reported. June 13: Viriato da Cruz, a poet and the author of the manifesto of the Poeples' Movement for the Liberation of Angola, dies in exile in China at 55. The MPLA weirdly never recognized da Cruz' writing of their unifying document even after they wrested control of the country from Portugal in 1975. June 13: Red Sox C Jeremy Dolak (.192, 0, 9) will miss the next month with a strained oblique muscle. It's been a rough year for Dolak but evne rougher for his backup Sid Bartoszek (.160, 4, 7). Both of these guys are well over 30 so proooobably Boston needs to start looking around for a new backstop. Alan Thicke (.164, 4, 17 in AAA Louisville) was suposed to be that guy but you can see how he's doing, so instead 30 year old organizational soldier Andy Hanson (.288, 3, 7 in AAA Louisville) will get the call up instead. June 13: The only thing more obnoxious than Indians SP Kevin Freeman's (7-3, 2.99) classic lack of support is his complaining about his lack of support. Today he juuuust about had another Freeman day but happily we were spared the postgame tirade because after he threw *12* innings of 1-run ball his team fiiiiinally crossed the finish line in the bottom of the 12th for a 2-1 win over Texas and Robbie Coltrane (8-3, 3.26). "I'm still not happy I had to wear out my arm so much," said a never entirely gruntled Freeman following the game. "I might have to miss my next start." He scattered 11 hits in his 12 innings, threw 181(!) pitches, and still had enough stuff to strike guys out in the final frame. June 13: So, like, remember 2 weeks ago when the Dodgers were looking pretty OK and maybe even contending for the NL West division title? Welp... following today's 2-1 loss in Philadelphia, they've now lost 10 games in a row and are now firmly mired in last place, 6 games behind the division-leading Astros. Today they got a good outing from starter Andres Castillo (6-4, 2.99) but failed to put up much of a fight offensively, going down 2-1. Philadelphia starter Vince Bachler (1-1, 3.32) looked like he was going to take a shutout in this one. He faltered in the 8th but the Hippie himself, Tom Grohs (2-4, 2.89) slammed the door shut with 2 outs in the 8th to pick up his 8th save on the season. The peripheral numbers do not tell an exciting tale for this team going forward: LA is 3rd worst in runs scored thanks to a league-worst .312 OBP, and in spite of playing in Dodger Stadium they're only 7th in the league in runs allowed, leading the NL in starter ERA (3.10) but, thanks to some horrific meltdowns this month by closer Alec Cosby (2-6, 4.20, 4 Sv) and setup man Rich Wilson (0-1, 6,53), they are dead last in reliever ERA (5.31). June 14: Connecticut becomes the first state to recognize Martin Luther King's birthday as a state holiday as Governor Thomas Meskill signs a bill that passed the state House by a vote of 124-17 and the Senate unanimously. How do you vote against this, even in 1973? The law sets aside the second Sunday in January, which isn't normally a workday for state employees anyway, as the date. June 14: Amin al-Hafez announces his resignation as Prime Minister of Lebanon after just seven weeks in office. He goes in under fire for not putting enough Sunni Muslims in office and several members of his cabinet have already resigned in protest. He'll remain in the role until a Sunni politician, Takieddin el-Solih, is able to form a new government. June 14: Man, the Red Sox get hit with bad injury news for the 2nd time in 2 days. Now it's 4th OF Goodwill Zwelithini (.270, 2, 2), who'd done a solid job filling in at CF for Jon Glynn (.255, 5, 20) earlier in the year, who's going to be out until the All-Star Break with a fractured wrist. Boston (27-27) has been scuffling all year long in spite of outscoring their opponents 241-194 so far this year. June 14: You run on Royals RF Dave Corona (.290, 4, 25) at your own risk. Corona isn't the world's greatest outfielder in terms of range - it's hard to believe KC was trying him in center as recently as last year - but what he lacks in a smooth first step, he more than makes up for with an arm. Tonight it was on display in the bottom of the 11th, as Orioles RF Sergio Viera de Mello (.250, 2, 16) belted one into the right-center gap at Memorial Stadium with his team down 4-3 and looking for an easy tie. He motored through 2nd and Corona nailed him at third to put out any chance of a Baltimore rally. Corona already has 7 baserunner kills in right this year. The record, because previous versions of OOTP got weird with outfield assists, is somewhere in the 20s so he won't reach it. Still, this man has got a cannon. June 14: Somehow there were two famous Rowan Atkinsons born within about a decade of each other in England... the one who just shut out the Cubs 5-0 is the future Archbishop of Canterbury (4=2, 3.83), not Mr. Bean. This Atkinson has been treated with kid gloves by the Astros; tonight was not only hit first ever shuttie, it was his first complete game aas well. He struck out 8 - he's been averaging 7.4/9 so far in the majors, walked 4, and allowed only 4 hits. The win also wraps up a sweep for the suddenly pretty good Astros (34-29), who are sitting a full 3 1/2 games up on the Giants and Padres now in the NL West. They're also the only team in the division with a winning record. June 15: Leaders from the Comoro Islands sign the "Common Declaration on the Access of the Comoros to Independence" in Paris. With the exception of one Island, Mayotte, the former French colony located off the coast of Africa will officially become independent in 1975. June 15: The Soviets successful launch an uncrewed Soyuz spacecraft into orbit today; they will bring it back to Earth 2 days later, designating it as Kosmos 573 to disguise its purpose. The craft will not be docked to the orbiting Salyut space station but the results give the USSR reason to clear the launch of Soyuz 12 on September 27. June 15: With the return of Justin Lawson (.261, 1, 6) from the DL, there was only one move the Pirates could make and that was to release 39 year old pinch hitter and former Twins pennant race hero Mike Grigg (.176, 0, 3). Grigg hadn't really hit since 1971 so it was probably past time; in fact, I'm pretty sure he announced he was retiring this year anyway. Welp... now the retirement gets to start early. June 15: A pitching duel? At the Launching Pad? Against the Cubs? With Chicago's two big power threats out of the lineup, it's more likely than you think. The Braves' George House (8-5, 3.20) pitched a 5-hitter and 2B Kevin Dwyer (.277, 6, 29) broke a 1-0 game open in the 8th with a 2 run HR to send Atlanta's fans home happy with a 3-0 win. Gordon "Sting" Summer (4-2, 2.65) took the tough loss but gave his team 7.1 strong innings with really just the one big mistake. House has been the epitome of hot and cold this year: in spite of that high-ish ERA (well, given the next stat anyway), this is already shutout number 6 for him this year. The record, as we'll remember since it was set last year, was Tony Rivera's 9. Will this be a double-digit ShO year for House? June 15: The Dodgers' losing streak reaches 11 as they drop one 5-2 to the lowly Montreal Expos. Old man Mike Johnston (4-1, 4.20) found some magic tonight, striking out 7 in 7.1 IP before giving the game over to the relief staff in the 8th. Offensively, SS George Yarbor's (.245, 1, 15) first triple on the season, off LA starter Ken Hansen (2-6, 4.52), brought in what wound up being the game-winning run in the bottom of the 6th. The last Dodgers' win was against these same Expos way back on the 2nd. Since then, they've been swept by the Cubs, Mets, and Phillies. They are now 10 games under .500 at 26-36. This year wasn't supposed to go like this! Or wait, maybe it was: a quick glance at the preseason predictions put LA at 74 wins. June 16: Benjamin Britten's opera "Death In Venice" is performed for the first time at Snape Maltings in England near Aldeburgh. This will wind up being Britten's final opera, as he will die of a heart attack in 3 years. June 16: Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev arrives in the US at Andrews Air Force Base, where he is greeted by US Secretary of State William Roggers. He is then flown by helicopter to Camp David, the US Presidential retreat in Maryland. June 16: Tigers' pitcher Edgar Molina (10-7, 3.78) gets the Ks but maaaan this guy is an all-or-nothing hurler. Today he seemed like he completely shut down the Twins through 8, riding through a 2-run game with less than 100 pitches thrown... and then he fell apart in the 9th, allowing a grand slam HR to C Brad Reed (.232, 3, 14) and then a 2-run shot to CF Ronnie Hellstrom (.286, 6, 20). All this wasted a pretty solid Tigers' hitting night themselves as they lost 8-7. I'll blame Tigers Stadium a little bit, although Molina has led the AL in HRs allowed each of the last 2 seasons and is now on pace to give up 49 ding-dongs. He also allowed solo shots to PH Ernie Griffin (.208, 5, 10) and SS Justin Ramey (.187, 6, 17). The Tigers are now all of the sudden on a 4-game losing streak and Molina himself is 1-3 in his last 3 starts, having allowed 21 runs in those 3 losses. He has an ERA of 6.52 for the month despite 23 Ks in 29 IP. June 16: OF Tony Danza (.332, 7, 32) had only 2 hits in 5 at-bats today in the Royals' 10-4 win over the Indians but boy oh boy did he make them count. "The Boss" hit both of those balls out of the park, a 3-run shot and a grand salami, and in doing so set the Royals' new record for single-game RBI with 7. "Heeey I just hit the ball, you know," said a distracted Danza following the game. "Oh no, what now? Angela!" The old record of 6 was set by 2B James Ellroy (.282, 2, 33) on May 22 of this year. Previously the high had been 5, a mark set by seven Royals. June 16: The Dodgers finally got off the schneid after 10 straight losses and all it took was a near-complete performance by the entire team. Offensively, LA took advantage of Montreal Expos starter Erik Schnipke (0-5, 5.97), knocking him out of the box in the 5th inning, and on their side of things they relied on debutant Mahfuzur Rahman Khan (1-0, 0.00), a budding cinematographer out of Bangladesh who also gave up just 1 unearned run over 7.2 IP for the 6-3 win. I say "near complete" because Alec Cosby (2-6, 4.60) took over for Rahman Khan in the 8th and then allowed a 2 run HR to slap-hitting IF Danny Waters (.250, 1, 2), also making his 1973 debut tonight, in the 9th. June 17: The submersible Johnson Sea Link research vessel becomes entangled in the wreckage of the destroyer USS Fred T. Berry, which itself had been scuttled to create an artificial reef off the coast of Key West, Florida. The submarine is finally brought to the surface but not before two of the four men aboard had succumbed to carbon dioxide poisoning. June 17: Bahamasair begins operations as the official airline of the Bahamanian government. It's still around! June 17: Several European soccer leagues stage their finals today: APOEL FC wins the Cypriot Cup (that's for Cypus) 1-0 over Pzoporikos Larnaca FC, Olympic Lionnais beats FC Nantes 2-1 in the Coup de France (I'll let you guess that one), Olympiacos FC beats PAOK FC 1-0 in the Greek Cup, Legia Warszawa takes down Polonia Bytorm 4-2 on penalty kicks after regulation ended in a -0- tie in the Polish Cup, and Sporting CP beats Vitoria FC 3-2 in the Taca de Portugal. June 17: Also, speaking of a racecar driver too old to debut in baseball, Denny Hulme wins the Swedish Grand Prix. June 17: Hey, it's too early to panic but what's going on with the Tigers? They dropped today's game to the Twins 3-1, completing a sweep at home at the hands of last-place Minnesota, and now they've lost 5 in a row. Power rankings are gonna look baaaad... Bruce Rubio (4-5, 3.22) basically just had one bad inning, the 2nd, but it was enough as his team just plain could not score runs. Twinkies CF Ronnie Hellstrom (.285, 6, 22) had both of his RBIs in that inning with a 2-run single, and their starter, rookie Svetislav Pesic (5-5, 3.09) was never truly great but seemed to wriggle out of one jam after another all game long. Detroit's still 3 1/2 games up on the Yankees (pending their game today) so like I said, it's no time to panic, but man, that's crazy. June 17: In case you're worried about the Evil Empire catching up, though, don't, because the Yankees dropped a double-header to the Angels in Anaheim, 5-3, and 6-1. Gary "We Don't Talk About" Bruno (9-4, 2.53) and Al "The Inconvenient Truth" Gore (4-5, 4.56) both had strong outings and California also benefitted from a 5-7, 6 RBI day (over 2 games) by 1B Chris Seek (.374, 5, 25). June 17: Speaking of getting doubled up... the NL's defending champion Pirates fall to 2 games under .500 as they get tossed by the Reds, 2-1 and 6-3. Pittsburgh, as the scores would suggest, had all kinds of trouble scoring runs, as they've had all season long. They blew a great outing by Jeremy Battaglia (5-7, 1.73) by only being able to score one time; when he finally faltered in the 9th it felt like it was inevitable. In Game 2, the Reds put up 4 runs in the 1st on the back of a double by LF RJ Dominguez (.311, 10, 40) and then never looked back (incidentally, Dominguez was injured a couple innings later on a base hit and has the fateful diagnosis: pending). June 17: Things were looking dire for the Giants as of the top of the 8th inning: after having lost their previous 5 games, they were on the verge of being swept by the Phillies at Veteran's Stadium, down 4-0 to former Brewers ace Danny Plaunt (4-6, 4.19). Give the 'Jints some credit though: they rallied for 4, knocking Plaunt out of the box in the process, and wound up winning it in the 10th on a 2B Bob McAdoo (.272, 4, 19) homerun off of Tom "The Hippie" Grohs (2-5, 3.72). Scott Lammers (.214, 5, 11) added a pinch-hit, bases-clearing double later in the inning to seal the deal at 7-4. "It's just good to put one in the win column again," said Charlie Bechtel (3-1, 2.30), the winning pitcher tonight and a man who by his own moral code only appears when a woman speaks to another woman in a movie about a topic other than another man. "And by the way, The Exorcist. Yeah, it surprised me too. Honestly, it's a low bar." June 17: It is fruuuustrating for Dodgers fans this season. They always think they've got a shot at the division and I guess to be fair TOOO BEEEE FAAAAAAAAAAIR the NL West looks pretty weak this year. Anyway though they were leading 6-1 through 7 and decided to pull their ace Fernando Apolonio (8-5, 2.29) because he was looking like he was faltering. Hey, no problem: middle reliever Mario Juarez (2-2, 3.25) threw a 1-2-3 8th... and then he gave up a walk and 2 singles to open the 9th, causing LA to call in Alec Cosby (2-6, 4.55), who, as the ERA might suggest, has been volatile this year to say the least. Well... today Cosby pitched to one guy, landed hard on his ankle on a sac fly by 2B Hudson Watts (.266, 3, 14) to center, and left the game in favor of Rich Wilson (0-2, 7.43). Wilson, you guessed it, blew it. He gave up a single to RF Paul Kahl (.281, 4, 24) that loaded the bases back up and then allowed the big old GRAND SALAMI to LF Willie Ortega (.247, 11, 40). And yes, he stayed in in the 10th and allowed the game-winner. Dodgers lose, 7-6. "I'm just trying to take it all in stride," said Dodgers 1B Justin Stone (.351, 17, 35), who went 3-4 with 4 RBI in his own right, after the game. "It's not my job to tell the pitchers what to do. But boy, if it was..." ## Teams in Review June 15: The Detroit Tigers (37-20, - GB) are actually *not* the last 20-loss team - the Rangers still haven't gotten their review - but they're the clear early AL World Series contender. In spite of an injury to DH Danny Villegas (.209, 3, 12) that led to a slow start from him, the offense is cooking and the pitching, led by their own Big 3, has been doing the job as well. I don't anticipate doing much here... Rotation: The weakest link in the 4 man rotation is Chris Benavides (6-3, 3.74), the AL leader in losses last season. He's not exactly weak and with the replacements doing even worse in relief (those would be Juan Merino (1-0, 6.11) and Chris McGranahan (0-3, 4.71)), there's no reason at all to rotate Benavides out. Bullpen: This is overall probably the biggest spot of weakness for this team. They've got two guys in closer Jim Marceau (3-1, 1.16, 5 Sv) and Todd Thiesen (0-0, 2.25, 2 Sv) who are doing well and 3 guys who are... not, with setup man / former closer Alex Madrigal (2-2, 5.73, 4 Sv) being the other one. Madrigal's velo has gone waaaaaaaaaay down this year, from the mid to high 90s to the high 80s. I guess that shoulder inflammation really did him in. Will he accept a minors assignment? He will! I'll call up Alex Ruiz (6-4, 3.92, 7 Sv in AAA Toledo) in his place. Ruiz has been used a looot in high leverage situations in the minors this year but he was very solid as a middle inning, not super high leverage guy last year. Infield: 1B Nikki Lauda (.288, 10, 32) has surely earned the right to start full-time; he was formerly platooning with AAAA vet Tim Suman (.231, 1, 6). Yeah, that'll go into effect immediately. Lauda's even gone 10-39 vs LHPs this year so he shouldn't die against them... SS Rob Curran (.263, 1, 13) is doing fine but man, I feel bad for Matt Mullen (.277, 1, 9), whose bat seems to have returned after having gone missing for 2 years. Maybe he's worth more as trade fodder. He's a really good defender, not that Curran is any slouch. Anyway, Curran's going to keep the starting job but I'll mix Mullen in as I see if I can't get something for him... bullpen help, maybe? Outfield: LF looks messy but I realize that it's because Alejandro Cortez (.319, 4, 11) is still out with a sprained ankle. For now it's Danny Hohman (.276, 2, 25) and Tom Berenger (.245, 2, 6), neither of which look like world-beaters. It's fine. Not everyone in this lineup needs to be super-fantastic. DH Danny Villegas (.209, 3, 12) still only has 91 at-bats and he's finally started to hit for power over the last couple weeks so there's no need to move him down from cleanup, much less try someone else out here at the moment. He is 36 and he's never been a really high motor guy so it's always possible the end is coming but, like, not yet. June 16: And hey, with the Texas Rangers (35-20, = GB), we are done with the first round of reviews! Texas has been surprisingly good this year... well, I think I had them pegged as a contender last year but it didn't work out, but they've knocked the dust off and the offense has improved from possibly record-breakingly bad to roughly league average (7th in run scored!), which has been more than enough to bolster a league-best pitching staff (1st in runs allowed, starters' ERA, and bullpen ERA). I don't... expect I'll do much here but we'll see. Rotation: The rotation's riding high. I could swap out 26 year old Robert "Rat" McHugh (6-5, 3.93), who's only kind of average in his rookie season but he's their 4th starter and that feels like change for the sake of change. Bullpen: The bullpen as a whole has been good although the current closer, maybe not so much. Kojiro Nakazawa (1-2, 4.43, 8 Sv) was the guy there up until today at least. I think he's better than the ERA would suggest but he has melted down 4 times in 17 appearances. Instead, I'll switch him out with his fellow Japan native and former California Angel Tanzan Kihara (0-1, 1.59, 7 Sv), who somehow only has only played in one game with this team since arriving via trade on the 20th. The live of a middle reliever on Texas I guess... Infield: The "hey I want this story" part of me really wants to give Raul Bueno (..353, 0, 5) a bigger role but... where? Roberto Hernandez (.286, 6, 36) has been pretty darn good at third base and Jimmy "Olsen" Washington (.301, 10, 37) has quietly been one of the top DHes in the league. I guess I'm still going to push Bueno in a little more aggressively at those positions, as well as LF (currently manned by Josh Damon (.264, 5, 24)) and see what happens. Outfield: I really need to make a decision on Norm Hodge (.239, 1, 9) and by "make a decision" I need to figure out how to replace him. He bounced back from an awful 1972 (.206, 2, 20) to be... roughly replacement level. He still has a sub .300 OBP which is not exactly optimal for a leadoff guy. On the other hand, even at 31 he saves a loooot of runs in the outfield. So far his ZR is +3.0, which is on pace to be pretty close to the +13.1 he put up his final season in Cal (granted, it's waaay off of the 5 +20 seasons). I've been spelling him with Bill Iverson (.212, 0, 7) but Iverson hasn't really done any better at the plate and he's not even close to the fielding wizard. Neither is Devin Bucciarelli (.269, 4, 18 in AAA Spokane) but at least "Booch" can hit a bit, so I'll send Iverson down and call him up to exist in a platoon.
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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June 18 - 24, 1973
## Standings / Recap / Comments3
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 41 27 .603 - W3 339 245 .288 57 63 3.30 3.3 5.8 .983 34.3 43.4 New York 38 32 .543 4 L3 322 332 .249 78 16 4.36 2.6 4.9 .982 4.1 36.9 Boston 34 32 .515 6 W2 290 238 .274 55 32 3.42 3.0 5.8 .980 34.1 42.3 Baltimore 27 35 .435 11 L2 249 277 .249 54 27 3.92 3.8 5.1 .976 6.3 43.1 Milwaukee 28 40 .412 13 W3 290 350 .265 48 48 4.58 3.6 5.0 .979 -14.4 31.6 Cleveland 27 42 .391 14½ L3 255 326 .247 62 25 4.43 3.5 5.5 .981 6.2 31.6 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Chicago 41 24 .631 - W3 292 239 .263 57 36 3.27 3.6 4.9 .981 31.1 38.6 Texas 39 25 .609 1½ W1 269 209 .264 46 26 2.94 3.5 5.0 .984 36.6 41.4 California 34 34 .500 8½ L1 301 306 .261 52 54 3.99 3.4 4.9 .980 24.0 42.9 Oakland 35 36 .493 9 L3 278 293 .265 47 32 3.78 3.1 5.0 .980 12.9 36.8 Kansas City 35 38 .479 10 L1 350 371 .258 50 31 4.56 3.8 4.7 .982 11.2 29.7 Minnesota 26 40 .394 15½ W1 253 302 .247 63 34 4.08 3.4 5.2 .976 7.0 28.3 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 41 26 .612 - L1 283 251 .254 69 19 3.45 2.8 5.8 .983 19.2 47.8 Philadelphia 40 27 .597 1 L1 324 263 .250 51 46 3.51 3.0 5.2 .978 21.7 43.5 Chicago 39 33 .542 4½ W1 280 267 .258 57 34 3.51 3.3 4.7 .986 38.1 40.7 New York 32 32 .500 7½ L1 213 246 .252 28 41 3.45 3.4 5.0 .982 16.8 47.6 Pittsburgh 32 34 .485 8½ W1 206 219 .239 26 13 3.05 2.7 6.0 .982 17.7 41.7 Montreal 22 41 .349 17 W1 257 323 .250 45 29 4.22 3.4 5.2 .977 5.3 35.6 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Houston 41 32 .562 - W4 312 297 .258 71 28 3.63 3.7 5.7 .977 10.8 29.6 Cincinnati 35 35 .500 4½ L2 283 273 .248 57 30 3.58 2.9 5.8 .979 2.9 30.2 San Diego 36 36 .500 4½ W2 282 242 .255 39 31 2.97 3.3 5.2 .978 42.7 43.6 Atlanta 35 37 .486 5½ L2 273 255 .255 54 20 3.22 3.0 6.0 .982 4.3 31.1 Los Angeles 31 41 .431 9½ W2 240 274 .247 71 21 3.29 3.1 5.3 .977 38.0 34.8 San Francisco 32 42 .432 9½ L7 265 308 .249 53 46 3.65 3.0 5.4 .981 11.8 32.7 The White Sox by the way are the #1 ranked team in baseball, which, I guess you'd expect given the fact that they also have the best record. The yuppies of the week, though, are the Red Sox, who moved from 15th to 7th in the power rankings with, quite frankly, a kind of easy week against the Brewers and Orioles, which they only finished 5-3... but I guess the 5 wins were good wins?... and the White Sox' North Side rivals the Cubs, who blasted up the rankings from 16th to 8th. The Cubs' won-lost record is also not snappy last week - just 4-3 - but they at least beat the 1st place Cards in 2 of 3 games and split with the defending NL champ Pirates. Nobody came close to falling as hard as the Orioles did this past week, going from 10th (how?) all the way to 20th thanks to a 1-5 week against two teams - the Yankees and those Red Sox - a contending team really could have used to gain ground against. The O's are obviously not contenders but man, that would have been nice! A brief aside here: yeah, this is sort of my youth (the author wasn't born yet but the 70s and 80s are pretty similar in a low of ways) but this feels like it's getting right into my wheelhouse as a baseball fan. There's a really nice mix of speed and power, of great defense, boneheaded errors, great relief pitching but also lots and lots of great starters who can complete games... look, I'm not saying today's game is, like, worse, and ever since they enforced the pitch clock I find it very watchable, but this is the game I grew up with and the variety, it's fun. ## Major Transactions ## News June 18: The Washington Summit between President Nixon and Societ Communist Party First Secretary Leonid Brezhnev begins at the White House, and a state dinner takes place in the evening. The meal: Soviet borscht with mayonnaise (not really). June 18: Operation End Sweep, the clearing of sea mines by the US that had been placed in the harbors of North Vietnam, resumes after a joint communique had been signed by the two sides in Paris. Minesweeping had been suspended on April 15 after the US had accused North Vietnam of failing to abide by the January 18 peace accords. June 18: Gordie Howe, who'd played in the NHL for more than 30 years before stepping down in 1971 to accept a front office position with the Detroit Red Wings, signs on to play for the Western Hockey Association's Houston Aeros. The Aeros also sign his 2 sons, Mark and Marty Howe, who, both under 20 years of age, are ineligible for the NHL draft. June 18: Actress June Depardieu, also the daughter of Gerard Depardieu, is born in Paris. June 18: Fredrak Fraske, a German-born US Army veteran, dies today. He's the last surviving participant in the American Indian Wars. Fraske enlisted in 1894 at the age of 21 and served for 3 years preparing for a confrontation at Fort D.A. Russell, near Cheyenne, Wyoming, that never occurred. Fraske was interviewed later on the subject and said that he was glad to have never fired a shot against Native Americans and did not feel any ill will towards them. He went on to work as a building painter in Chicago for 40 years, retiring only because union rules said that nobody over 65 could be employed at that job, and then worked for another 23 years as a security guard for the Salerno-McGowan biscuit company, only retiring at 88. June 18: 18 year old PHENOM CF Penn Gillette, the first overall pick, agreed to terms with Milwaukee and joins their rookie complex. Hooray Penn Gillette, even though you have to play for the Brewers! June 18: As expected from that ol' review of last week's hitting leaders, Angels 1B Chris Seek (.365, 10, 43) is indeed the AL Player of the Week. Seek has completely turned around his game: for his career he still has just 22 HRs in 532 games and 1,560 at-bats but 10 of them are this season. It was crazy enough that he opened with 5 in 130 at-bats in Texas but after getting traded to the Big A he's gotten 5 more so, no signs of stopping. He just won PotW on the 4th so this is 2 in 3 weeks; I'd say he's got a great shot at Batter of the Month. June 18: In the NL it's a rare (well, 2nd time in 2 weeks since Robert Rivera got it in the AL last week) pitcher PotW. The Mets' Julio Sandoval (4-4, 3.28) did all his good pitching for the year last week, going 2-0 with 2 shutouts, allowing just 6 hits in 18 innings, walking 5 and striking out 12. This was Sandoval's first-ever Player of the Week award although he's also in the past won the Pitcher of the Month for April 1969 and even finished 2nd in Cy Young Award voting that year (the first year I took over the league; he went 18-7, 2.69 and has been chasing that glory ever since). June 18: SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK covers the top rookie starting pitchers by innings pitched. These guys don't get highlighted much so heeeeeeey! 5. CIN Vincent "Sad Face" "that dude from Ghost" Schiavelli (5-4, 2.98), 66.1 IP 4. CIN Tracey Larazabal (1-6, 4.54) 69.1 IP but currently in AAA Indianapolis 3. MIN Svetislav Pesic (5-5, 3.09), 70.0 IP 2. STL Tom Waits (5-4, 4.56), 75.0 IP and currently in AAA Tulsa 1. MIN Ergot Newman (3-7, 3.61), 87.1 IP Interesting that 4 of the 5 guys are from two of the teams, right? Right? June 18: Is this the new low for the Tigers? Detroit loses 4-3 to the Indians for their 7th loss in a row. It was a 1-1 tie through 7 before 3B Joe Theismann (.207, 0, 2) broke the game open with a bases-clearing, 2-RBI double in the top of the 8th. The Tigers then pulled starter Chris Benavides (6-3, 3.54), who'd done well to get out of jams but clearly didn't have his best stuff tonight, in favor of closer Jim Marceau (3-2, 1.85, 5 Sv), who gave up a 2-out double to LF Josh Birley (.235, 0, 4) that tied the game and then a single to 3B Tony Aguillon (.263, 0, 5) that brought Birley home for the game-winner. This is now Detroit's 7th straight loss. Also, the Indians have won 3 in a row to at least climb into a tie for last in the AL East depending on what Milwaukee does today (they host the Red Sox). June 18: Oakland and KC played an insane back and forth game today, filled with clutch hits. The Royals led 2-0 through 7 but then the A's got to starter Henry Rollins (8-2, 2.98), who allowed two of his 5 walks tonight to the first 3 batters he faced and, after a bases-clearing double by DH Casey Satterfield (.283, 9, 39) tied the game, they had to send in their bullpen ace, recently acquired Jake Duckett (2-2, 3.63). Duckett did shut the A's down but it was close. Then the Royals erupted for 3 in the bottom of the inning off of setup man Ben Lamar (2-1, 4.38), who was very wild tonight with 3 walks in his lone inning of play. C Mike Perez (.201, 8, 23) and 2B James Ellroy (.293, 2, 40) both doubled in that inning; in fact, Ellroy's hit came with the bases loaded and brought all 3 runners in. So... up 5-2, the Royals went back to Duckett... who allowed 4 runs to give Oakland their first lead of the night at 6-5. Credit RF Tommy Pron (.322, 3, 26) with the big hit there, another double that brought in 2 of the runs. This set the stage for Willis Chavez (3-5, 2.25) to enter the game and steal a win in Royals Stadium, right? Yeah, not so much. 1B Alonzo Rivera (.315, 0, 28), staying in for some lefty-on-lefty action, singled past 2B Izzy Gaytan (.235, 1, 11) to lead off. Next, Mike Perez also laid down a beautiful bunt, so beautiful in fact that A's C Texas Josh Lewis (.278, 4, 22) had to rush his throw to first - that throw went wide and the Royals immediately had runners on 2nd and 3rd. CF Allen Scurry (.212, 1, 7) was then intentionally walked to set up the force-out at home, which they even got with the next hitter: 3B Ryan Newton (.204, 0, 5), who'd previously entered the game as a pinch-hitter, grounded out 4-2. Then Dave Corona came up and engineered a long, 9 pitch at-bat that finally ended... in a bases loaded walk! The next man, James Ellroy, had already been a Athletic killer tonight and he came through one last time with a single in the left-side hole to win it. "The fans don't always like it when we do this," admitted Dave Corona, who walked twice in this game, afterwards. "But they do appreciate it." Duckett, by the way, "earned" the vultured victory, his 2nd in Royal blue in 6 games. June 18: The knock on Phillies' SP Billy Ording (9-3, 3.80) is that he lacks good stamina. Well, that and he's not the fastest pitcher in the world. Today he hoped to prove some of his doubters wrong by working 128 pitches in a complete game shutout of the Mets. He didn't technically neeeeed to do it, since his team scored 10 runs in the game, but you know how it goes: a starter's doing well and has a chance to get that shuttie, you leave them in. "That ties my record," said Ording following the game. Ording did indeed throw his 2nd shutout of the year, which matches what the man with a career 57-51 record did in 1970 and 1972. "Mark my words, I'm gonna break it." The W also puts Ording all alone in 2nd place in the NL in victories, behind teammate Richard Starkey (11-4, 2.80). June 18: Even with 1B Antonio Lopez (.259, 3, 13) back, the Cubs prove unable to put together runs and it costs them their 8th straight loss in a 12 inning debacle against the Pirates. Lopez did get 2 hits - both singles - in his first game back in more than a month (he was sidelined with a broken hand) but even against Pirates spot starter Danny Perez (1-5, 5.03) it wasn't enough, as they could only score twice in regulation and then it stayed that way until a tired Jesse Kelly (5-3, 1.88) allowed 2 men to reach on singles and then allowed a base hit to 2B Henry Villar (.261, 0, 11) to lose it. Somehow the Cubs are 4th in the NL in scoring but man, I really really do not see it right now. June 19: The Rocky Horror Picture Show premieres at the Royal Court Theatre in London for the first of what will become 2,690 stage performances and a 1975 film. June 19: The Brewers' King Decker (3-1, 2.76) is not exactly the picture of SP talent but I guess when you play the Red Sox, sometimes you don't have to be. In the opening game of a midweek doubleheader, Decker shut down Boston on 6 hits for a 2-0 win and his 2nd shutout of the season in 4 starts with his new club. Okay, maybe he is the picture of SP talent. On the other hand, he is a known Canadian. June 19: This is why Jimmy Goddard (12-1, 2.12) is an ace. Staring down a 7 game losing streak, took the game into his own hands, shutting the Indians down for 1 run on 5 hits and perservering until his teammates blew open a 2-1 lead into an 8-1 win. Goddard, who's now 4th in the AL in strikeouts (78) through sheer force of will, tied a season high with 7 of them in this game. I will grant you, Cleveland is not exactly a powerhouse but at this point a win's a win. June 19: Speaking of players I would not call "good", Yankees CF Micah MacMillan (.254, 1, 9) is... one of them. He hit just .193 last year and is only on the Yanks' roster right now because my attempts to fill the position with Marc Ash (.130, 1, 6 before being sent down to AAA Syracuse) failed miserably. Well... today MacMillan tied a Yankees record with 5 hits, raising his average this year from .194 to .254 all at once. Like, I'll give this to the 28 year old: when he hits below the Timonen Line, it's not because he isn't trying hard enough. June 19: Hey, when you're on an 8 game losing streak, what better way to stop it than to face a team that can't hit? That's what the Cubs did today when they won both sides of a midweek double-header, 3-2 and 6-1, against the struggling Pirates. In the first game, Gordon "Sting" Summer (5-2, 2.48) managed to give up just 1 run over 7.2 innings in spite of constantly having to pitch out of james (he left in the 8th with 13 hits and 4 walks allowed); the go-ahead runs came in from LF Mike Schurke (.290, 2, 12) off of Pittsburgh's DJ "Old Money" Cheeves (4-9, 3.91). In Game 2, Chicago's bats finally erupted in the 8th with 4 runs off of reliever Brian "We don't talk about" Bruno (0-1, 7.94), pitching in relief of freshly called up Viktor Yanukyovych (0-1, 2.57), who made his MLB debut tonight. The last time the Cubs scored as many as 6 runs was on the 9th of this month. Pittsburgh meanwhile falls to 1-6 in their last 7, which also came over the last 5 days so they were gassed already. That explains the pitching staff; the hitting is just not there. The 1972 NL pennant winners currently sit at 29-32 at 5th in the division, 8 games out of 1st and 2 1/2 away from 4th. They're dead last in baseball in runs scored (201), average (.242), and steals (just 10). This team looks like it got old in a big, big hurry. June 19: In Philadelphia, Vince "Eligible" Bachler (2-1, 2.35) did Eligible Bachler things today, by which I mean he somehow shut out the Mets with his array of smoke and mirrors, 2-0. He never quite looked overpowering tonight but he kept getting out of runners-on-base situations, thanks in part to 2 double plays by his infield. C Nikolai Volkoff (.233, 3, 20) hit what turned out to be the game-winning solo HR off of ohn Mash (6-3, 3.29) in the 2nd and Bachler himself drove in the other run with a 4th inning single (2B Nate Rowe (.204, 1, 19) scored on the play). Bachler started the year in AAA so this was only his 4th start and 1st complete game and shutout. He did have 3 shutolas last year. June 19: Strikeouts are down throughout the league but nobody tell San Diego's Tim Anderlik (5-7, 3.18). The veteran right-hander set a personal best with 11 Ks in a 4-0 shutout victory over the Astros. Anderlik, who's not exactly a whiff specialist, is averaging 5.7 of them per 9 innings this year (59 in 93.1 IP), which is above the league average of 5.3 as well as his personal 5.3. "I'm better than people think," protested Anderlik after the game. He does have 6 complete games this year, 1 off from his career high he set in 1970 when he went 15-9, 3.09. This was also his 2nd shutout, which already matches his career best. June 20: Former Argentine President Juan Peron, who'd been pushed out in a miltary coup and forced into exile in 1955, returns to his old country, accompanied by his wife Isabel (Evita, if you've ever seen the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, died of cancer while he was originally in office) and current Argentinian President Hector Campona. Peron's plane is forced to land at an Argentinian Air Force base instead of the public airport which was reportedly swamped by as many as 3.5 million people awaiting his return. June 20: This deserves a separate story... camoflaged snipers from the right wing of Peronism (Campora is a member of the left-wing Peronist faction and he'd just come into power on May 25) open fire on a crowd gathering to hear Peron speak. Targetting left-wingers, they murder at least 13 and there are reportedly 365 people injured during what is now known as the Ezeiza Massacre. June 20: Chino Moreno, best known as the primary vocalist and primarily lyricsts of the Deftones, is born in Sacramento today. June 20: Bad, bad, bad news for the Tigers' Danny Villegas (.230, 3, 13)... that whole move to DH thing, which was supposed to help him play more, has not worked out that way and today the worst possible news came back from the leg injury he suffered on the 17 while running the bases. Turns out, he tore his ACL and will be out for the rest of the season. His 3 runs and 13 RBI are the lowest totals since his two second-half call-ups in '62 and '63, when he played a total of 64 at-bats mostly as a pinch-hitter. It's not outlandish that this could be the end of Villegas', who just turned 36 on the 10th, career; if so, he'll have finished with 187 HRs and 541 RBIs, all for Detroit. For now, the injury does open up the logjam a bit; Jose "Joker" Ayala (.329, 12, 38) now gets to DH full time while potential Gold Glove candidate Joe Theismann (.250, 0, 3) gets a shot at starting full time. June 20: Man oh man it is definitely not 1972 anymore. The Brewers, who spent a big chunk of last season looking like they were going to set a new record in futility for runs scored (they did wind up with the lowest BA in American League history with a .221 but their 478 runs scored didn't quite crack the top 3 worst ever), blew up Red Sox ace Michael Pesco (7-10, 3.33), knocking him out in the 4th and cruising to a 12-4 win. LF Steve Winwood (.273, 10, 30), who, when he isn't playing, fronts the band Traffic, set a new Brewers' record with 7 RBIs with a 3-4, 2 HR night. "I'm just here when they call on me," said Winwood after the game. "Come and see me. I'm the same boy I used to be." We would beg to differ: while Winwood cracked 24 HRs in 285 at-bats in short season A ball in 1970, he's never quite showed this kind of power in the higher minors, let alone the major leagues. June 21: The US Supreme Court issues a landmark decision in Miller v California that sets a three-prong standard for whether or not material is obscene and therefore not protected by the First Amendment. It announces a standard that has "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value" in a 5-4 decision, what will now be known as the "Miller test". June 21: The US Hockey Hall of Fame is opened in Eveleth, Minnesota to honor American ice hockey not enshrined in the regular Hockey Hall of Fame. At this time, only two Americans born outside of Canada are members of the latter. You will not have heard of any of them. The USHHOF inducts 24 people, including the two guys who are already in the normal one, one of whom is named "Hobey". June 21: Frank Leahy, a college football coach for Boston College and Notre Dame, dies at 64. He went 107-13-9 (9 ties!) during his time as a coach, to this day the second best record in NCAA history behind fellow Fighting Irishman Knute Rockne. Leahy was only 64 when he passed but hadn't coached a game in 20 years. He spent his final years working as an executive for a vendince machine company before dying of congestive heart failure. June 21: The hits just keep on coming at the Cubs... now 2B Juan "The Cat" Perez (.295, 13, 37), who had to come out of the first game of the double-header on Sunday after a throw from 2nd, learned that he tore his rotator cuff on the play and will miss the rest of the season. Perez had been holding down the fort while 1B Antonio Lopez (.259, 3, 14) and RF Jeremy Taylor (.299, 7, 18) were out. Now that Lopez is back and Taylor is due to come back around the beginning of next week, the Cubbies find yet another hole that needs filling. June 21: All good things come to an end and for the Chicago White Sox I mean their 8 game winning streak, which was snapped in Comiskey Park by the A's, 6-2. Rich Reese (8-3, 2.27) pitched his worst game of the season by far, allowing all 6 of Oakland's runs before leaving in the 6th after having given up two walks and a 3-run homerun to SS Brian Wilcox (.266, 4, 18). On Oakland's side of the ledger, Carlos Torres (5-9, 4.64) pitched 8 really solid innings before getting lit up a bit in the 9th; however, Willis Chavez (3-5, 2.20) was able to go in there and indice C Robert Keith (.111, 0, 0) to hit into a bases-loaded, game-ending 3-2-3 double play. The good news for Chicago is, this 8 game spurt leaves them 1/2 a game up on the Rangers in first place in the AL West with a record of 38-23. Texas, who didn't play today, is one game back in the win column at 37-23. For what it's worth, these two teams have only played twice so far, a midweek series back in April that Chicago swept, 6-3 and 2-1. They play... oh wow. They play a *6* game, 4 day series in Texas starting on July 2 that includes 2 straight double-headers on the 3rd and the 4th. That won't be for *all* the marbles but man, it'll sure be fore a lot of them... June 21: Cardinals 3B Mike Galeana (.214, 7, 32) has had a rough time of it this year but he's been showing some signs of turning it around. Case in point: a 2 HR night tonight, with the biggest bang coming in the bottom of the 15th inning with a man on and his team 3-2. Montreal's Hector Giron (0-1, 2.35) delivered him a meatball right out over the heart of the plate and Galeana crushed it to send the approximately 17 fans remaining home happy (okay, wait, this was in Busch so maybe most of them were there) with the 4-3 win. Phil Bowman (1-2, 3.04) never really looked comfortable out there, walking 3 and allowing 4 hits, but still managed to sock away 4 innings of 1-run ball to earn the victory. "I've been spending some extra time in the cage before games trying to find my power stroke," Galeana said after the game. "I think I found it." The stats agree: 4 of his 7 HRs have come in 18 June games, and if he's still only hitting .211 for the month, well, Mike Galeana has never been a high average hitter. June 21: And as one streak ends another... well, it didn't begin today but the Reds now are on a 7 gamer themselves. They took down the Giants 6-4 and in the process reached .500 for the first time this year since April 7, when they also beat these Giants to even their record at 1-1. Times got a little tough in the interim, with them dropping as low as 11-20 at one point, but so far in June they're 12-6 and once again look like they might just be the darlings of the West. Today they scored 5 times off of Giants starter Sam Williams (4-9, 4.64) in the 5th, KOing him in the process, and that's generally enough vs San Francisco. RF Jaden Weaver's (.251, 17, 57) grand salami is what finally chased Williams. Bullet Bill Vanover (9-3. 2.53) was... fiiiine with 4 runs allowed over 8 innings before turning it over to stopper Brian Yates (5-2, 1.27), who threw a scoreless 9th for his 7th save in as many chances. San Francisco, meanwhile, who waved the white flag with a couple of key trades in spite of a 15-9 April, are now just 4-14 for the month and are in danger of falling behind last-place Los Angeles if this continues. June 21: I might have overdone the Stuff ratings for Atlanta's Colin "Knucksie" Rose (5-2, 1.81). He had himself quite a game tonight: not only did he shut out the Dodgers 4-0 on 5 hits with 6 Ks, the 29 year old right-hander slugged his first-ever major league homerun, the 2nd of back-to-back jacks off of newly called-up starter Mahfuzur Rahman Khan (1-1, 0.00) (all 4 runs charged to Rahman Khan are unearned thanks to 3 LA errors in the game). "Yep, I throw the knuckleball," said Rose after the game. "Not the spitter at all. The knuckler." June 22: Nixon and visiting Soviet premier Brezhnev signs the Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War. Later in the day, they fly together on the Air Force One jet plane from Andrews Air Force Base to the El Toro Marine Station in California, and then are driven together to the "Western White House", Nixon's private vacation home at San Clemente. June 22: The UN Security Council votes unanimously in favor of UNSC Resolution 335 to recommend that the General Assembly admits both West and East Germany, simultaneously, as voting members. June 22: The Skylab 2 mission astronauts return to Earth after having spent four weeks as the first Americans on an orbiting space station. Sorry, brief mention in "House of Leaves": no revolts happened. June 22: Mark Felt resigns as Deputy Director of the FBI, having taken over the job the day after the death of J. Edgar Hoover. You'll recall that Felt has been secretly informing Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward about the details of the Watergate scandal investigation, known only to the public by the code name "Deep Throat". This secret will only be revealed in 2005. June 22: Every time I think these Pirates have sunk as low as they can sink on offense, they figure out new ways to sink even lower. Tonight, Josh Mullett (5-4, 3.08), the Astros' castoff best known for allowing just enough runs to still win games, at least for a while, shut the Bucs out on 3 hits but, get this, 8 walks and 5 strikeouts. Mullett does work low in the zone but even at that he only got 1 double play today. No, he just avoided the top 4 bats in the order, who got 6 of the bases on balls, and got outs from everyone else. Santos Arango (7-6, 2.94), who already had kind of a tough-loss campaign in 1972 (20-15 in spite of a 2.63) ERA, got the loss because he allowed a solo HR to 1B Jim Davis (.241, 7, 12) in the 2nd inning. "I'm not gonna lie," said Arango following this one, "I'm frustrated. The fans are frustrated. We're all frustrated." The loss dips Pittsburgh to 31-33. The last time they scored more than 3 runs in a game was a week ago: last Friday's 8-6 loss to the Reds. In fact, they've scored more than 3 runs a total of 3 times this month. June 22: Just as struggling teams seem to find new ways to lose, red-hot teams find new ways to win. The Reds, for instance, saw 28 year old swingman Graham Panarello (5-2, 2.46), who was 8-9, 4.58 for the Reds last year, win a 1-0 shutout against the best pitcher in the National League in Fernando Apolonio (8-6, 2.21). It didn't hurt that Apolonio's team is the Dodgers but hey, he more than got the job done. The Reds got their only run in the 5th when 2B Pedro Ortiz (.253, 4, 30) doubled in CF Manny Trillo (.204, 1, 11). That's 8 straight for Cincy, their first taste at being over .500 all year, and it puts them 2 games behind 1st place Houston with the Astros' game pending. June 23: The winner of East Germany's gliding championship, Ude Elke, escapes across the fortified border to West Germany by, you guessed it, piloting his glider off a hill at Neustadt-Glewe (okay, you didn't guess that part). Feel like they probably should have seen that coming... June 23: The first votes are cast in the 1973 Ethiopian general election, which will continue until July 7. These will be the final elections under imperial rule. June 23: Borussia Monchengladbach (lots of umlauts in there too) beat 1. FC Koln to win West Germany's soccer playoffs. The first place finisher in the regular season, Bayern Munich, had been eliminated in the quarterfinals, setting the stage for the overly-longed named team to win. June 23: 36 year old Chris Wilson (0-0, 3.09, 1 Sv), apparently not happy with merely being the 2nd guy out of the bullpen with the Cubs, wants to be in the rotation. He did start 16 games last year with Oakland. Against my better judgment, I think I will replace 5th starter Max Weinberg (3-3, 2.64 but underwater in the Ks and BBs) with him, at least for now. I'm probably switching to a 4 man rotation sooner or later... June 23: The Tigers have gotten to a point, it seems, where the only way they can win is by putting Jimmy Goddard (13-1, 1.99) on the mound. The Tigers righty threw his 3rd shutout today to stop the Yankees short, 2-0. John Carpenter (10-7. 3.86) dueled him for the full 9 and came up just short. RF Frankie Faison (.339, 4, 32) drove in backup C Joel Moise (.238, 2, 16) to bring home the winning run in the 3rd but truth be told, Detroit wasn't exactly churning out offense tonight themselves. Goddard looks well on pace to besting his career highs of 18 wins, 11 complete games, and 5 shutouts, all of which he set last year. June 23: Okay, so granted, it was against the Dodgers, but Reds SP Vincent Schiavelli (6-4, 2.63) threw a real gem today with a 3-hitter with 10 Ks to knock off LA in Dodger Stadium, 3-0. "All my pitches were working today," Schiavelli said, sadly, after the game. LF RJ Dominguez (.317, 10, 42) went 3-4 with an RBI single in the 1st to bring home 2B Pedro Ortiz (.252, 4, 30) in the top of the 1st for what turned out to be the only run Schiavelli needed. This was Schiavelli's first-ever major league 10 K game and shutout, which is to be expected given that it's just his 10th career ML start. He also struck out 10 batters last year against Reading while playing for AA Trois Rivieres. June 23: His team might be falling apart around him but Dodgers starter Andres Castillo (8-4, 2.93) is having a good year against the grain and today the 36 year old notched his 200th career win, doing just enough to bring his team a W at home, 4-3. Castillo went 7.1 innings, allowing 3 runs, 2 of them earned, on 7 hits. His fastball, once a mid to high 90s beast, sat in the high 80s tonight but had some nice rotation and that with his always-devastating change got him 8 Ks this evening. "It's a nice milestone," said Castillo after the game, "but I'm not done yet." Alec Cosby (2-6, 4.11, 6 Sv) relived him in the 8th and and, what seems like a rarity nowadays, was scoreless the rest of the way for the save. 2B Danny Fager (.281, 6, 16) got the clutch hit of the night with a 2-run single that tied the game at 2 in the 5th. He's been sitting a lot recently because of a sprained wrist (in fact, even now Ben Toscano (.176, 1, 4) too tired to play and also bad, the game refuses to start him and makes me manually add him into games) but when he plays, he's the same Danny Fager he's always been. June 24: A fire kills 32 and injures 14 at the UpStairs Lound, a gay bar in New Orleans. Most of the persons killed are trapped inside the building by bars across the three front windows. The blaze will be determined to be caused by arson, no evidence is ever uncovered that it's a hate crime, with the person considered the most likely suspect a gay man who'd been recently made to leave the bar earlier. It will stay the worst attack on a gay bar until the Pulse Night Club shooting in 2016. June 24: Leonid Brezhnev issues a 47 minute speech to the American public on television, the first Soviet leader to address the US. His speech had been pre-recorded earlier in the afternoon and then broadcast that evening at 6pm in each US time zone on a rolling basis. Among other things, he says that "Mankind has outgrown the rigid 'cold war' armor which it was once forced to wear." That 'rigid cold war armor' will nevertheless continue being worn for another 17 years. June 24: G Raymond Rettew, an American biologist who pioneered the mass production of penicillin during World War II and prevented tens of thousands of wounded US troops from becoming fatally infected, died today. June 24: All Star Game voting update! Below are the current standings for the American League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jun. 24th , 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 665,241 votes. CATCHER 1. Josh Lewis, Oakland Athletics: 417,484 2. Frank Abagnale, Baltimore Orioles: 378,289 3. John Lennon, Cleveland Indians: 265,294 FIRST BASE 1. Alice Cooper, Chicago White Sox: 665,241 2. Angelo Martinez, Minnesota Twins: 456,733 3. Mike Miller, Boston Red Sox: 439,240 SECOND BASE 1. Geoffrey Rush, Texas Rangers: 390,225 2. Bill Murray, Baltimore Orioles: 383,738 3. Rodrigo Juarez, California Angels: 371,646 THIRD BASE 1. Tom Weiss, New York Yankees: 484,202 2. Jose Ayala, Detroit Tigers: 467,977 3. Bobby Ramirez, Texas Rangers: 436,754 SHORTSTOP 1. John Johnson, Chicago White Sox: 432,892 2. Oniji Handa, Boston Red Sox: 346,245 3. Rob Curran, Detroit Tigers: 342,815 LEFT FIELD 1. Tony Danza, Kansas City Royals: 565,693 2. Bruce Springsteen, Boston Red Sox: 491,520 3. Jared Ferrell, California Angels: 306,892 CENTER FIELD 1. Alvin Romero, Detroit Tigers: 482,795 2. Ronnie Hellström, Minnesota Twins: 340,165 3. Frank Beard, Baltimore Orioles: 308,388 RIGHT FIELD 1. Tommy Pron, Oakland Athletics: 425,733 2. Dave Corona, Kansas City Royals: 414,223 3. Frankie Faison, Detroit Tigers: 376,345 DESIGNATED HITTER 1. Ernesto Garcia, New York Yankees: 609,011 2. Joey Ramone, Detroit Tigers: 521,587 3. Jeff Nation, Chicago White Sox: 317,069 STARTING PITCHER 1. Justin Kindberg, Boston Red Sox: 238,888 2. Jimmy Goddard, Detroit Tigers: 237,285 3. Michael Pesco, Boston Red Sox: 211,707 4. Rich Reese, Chicago White Sox: 210,961 5. Chad Daugharty, Texas Rangers: 209,651 RELIEVER 1. Montay Luiso, California Angels: 287,007 2. Malcolm Post, Chicago White Sox: 236,228 3. Jim Marceau, Detroit Tigers: 219,930 4. Willis Chavez, Oakland Athletics: 213,757 5. Jake Duckett, Kansas City Royals: 185,786 In 267 career games, Cooper has put up a .279 average, collected 35 doubles, 5 triples, and 84 home runs, driven in 198 runs, and scored 174 times. Below are the current standings for the National League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jun. 24th , 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 550,854 votes. CATCHER 1. Jason Bushon, New York Mets: 550,854 2. John Stuart, St. Louis Cardinals: 470,941 3. Doug Connally, Pittsburgh Pirates: 375,134 FIRST BASE 1. Justin Stone, Los Angeles Dodgers: 549,247 2. Joshua Waltenbery, Houston Astros: 515,203 3. Lorenzo Martinez, St. Louis Cardinals: 430,853 SECOND BASE 1. Juan Perez, Chicago Cubs: 522,866 2. Paul McCartney, San Diego Padres: 499,064 3. Kevin Dwyer, Atlanta Braves: 461,871 THIRD BASE 1. Dale Earnhardt, San Diego Padres: 456,210 2. George Harrison, San Francisco Giants: 407,591 3. Pete Little, Houston Astros: 395,220 SHORTSTOP 1. Tony Shannon, Philadelphia Phillies: 447,239 2. Ronney Yitzhaki, Los Angeles Dodgers: 299,063 3. Joe Wicker, San Diego Padres: 290,767 LEFT FIELD 1. Alberto Juantorena, Philadelphia Phillies: 488,604 2. R.J. Domínguez, Cincinnati Reds: 465,988 3. Henry Riggs, Atlanta Braves: 447,928 CENTER FIELD 1. George Foreman, Houston Astros: 525,325 2. Greg Lake, Philadelphia Phillies: 337,669 3. Mike Schurke, Chicago Cubs: 289,438 RIGHT FIELD 1. Matt Williams, St. Louis Cardinals: 449,183 2. Jaden Weaver, Cincinnati Reds: 394,088 3. Paul Kahl, Montreal Expos: 380,200 STARTING PITCHER 1. Tony Rivera, Houston Astros: 147,631 2. Fernando Apolonio, Los Angeles Dodgers: 147,414 3. Jeremy Battaglia, Pittsburgh Pirates: 135,393 4. Danny Plaunt, Philadelphia Phillies: 134,120 5. George House, Atlanta Braves: 124,953 RELIEVER 1. Geoff Saus, New York Mets: 176,915 2. Brian Bruno, Pittsburgh Pirates: 162,747 3. Pete Lynn, Cincinnati Reds: 153,308 4. Paz Lemus, Pittsburgh Pirates: 148,426 5. Alec Cosby, Los Angeles Dodgers: 140,033 Bushon has played in 768 games with a .251 career batting average and 670 hits. He has also scored 336 runs and driven in 344 runs with 75 home runs. Jason Bushon is not my first choice for AS votes leader but Justin Stone did miss the first month of the year, I guess... still, what about Alberto Juantorena? George Foreman? Dale Earnhardt Jr.? Paul McCartney? NL voters, what do you have against the youth??? June 23: One advantage of not scoring any runs is, when you do win, it's exciting, I guess... the Pirates were locked in a scoreless tie through 6 but got a single run off of Mets starter John Sandoval (4-5, 3.12) on a sacrifice fly by backup 2B Arturo Martinez (.263, 0, 1). Even though the Bucs were putting out long man Danny Perez (2-5, 4.41) because Andy Lagunas (2-3, 3.82) is out indefinitely with a mild abdominal strain, they still managed to blank New York through 8. Then the 9th came and a clearly tiring Perez gave up a walk to 1B Jim "Garfield" Davis (.233, 7, 13), and, one out later, a single to 3B Vicente Luna (.277, 2, 21), who moved up to 2nd on the throw to 3rd. Perez intentionally walked the next man and left it to stopper Paz Lemus (7-1, 1.51) to get the final two outs. Bubba Wilson (.263, 1, 4) came in to pinch-hit just needing to hit the ball out of the infield to tie this one. He struck out on 4 pitches. Then John W Henry (.304, 0, 6) stepped in for the pitcher and on an 0-1 pitch hit a line drive into right... which was right at RF Brian Jackson (.234, 3, 23), who squeezed it to win the game. ## Teams in Review June 22: Hey, it's time for 40-loss reviews! We'll start with the Cleveland Indians (27-40, 12 GB), who were projected to be bad and have been bad. That said, they've actually been very good this month (13-7) after a 4-17 April made it look like they'd be the second coming of those late 60s A's teams or something. Like any rebuilding team should be, they're pretty much equally bad offensively (10th in runs) as defensively (9th in runs allowed). The one thing they do well - ironically since they traded away Ernesto Garcia - is hit dingers; they're 2nd in the AL with 61 of them. Rotation: Everything is pretty bad but nobody is like "ERA of a jet plane" level of bad. I'm considering removing Lee Evans (0-3, 4.95) because his K/W ratio is south of where it should be (25 BBs, 18 Ks) but he was explosive in 8 starts in AAA OKC before he got the call-up (5-1, 1.13, 59 Ks in 63.2 IP) and was... fine last year with Texas (3-5, 3.88 although also a backwards K/BB) so I think I'm going to leave the 25 year old Olympic hurdler in. Bullpen: Miguel Chavez (2-5, 6.85) though... this guy led the Royals in wins last year with a 13-9, 4.17 mark. What happened? I mean, part of that, you can answer for yourself with the ERA: he kept the high-octane Royals in games but he's kind of not that great of a pitcher. This year he's actually had some decent stuff with 32 Ks in 46 IP (6.3/9, well above the league average of 5.3) but his control has been pretty bad both in terms of missing the plate altogether (23 BBs) and missing over the plate (9 HRs allowed). I don't want to cut him just yet but he is a prime, prime candidate for a 2nd half release. Otherwise, no literal moves right now but that's mainly because I've already taken care of Alex Madrigal (2-2, 6.48), whose Cleveland career lasted all of 3 IP before he accepted being sent down to Oklahoma City to try and... find that fastball of his. Infield: I have really, really tried to make 1B George Bush (.182, 4, 15) work. Hell, in a universal "me" sense, I tried to make him work in Washington/Texas too. However, after a very promising 1971 (.281, 13, 40 with 24 doubles in 253 ABs) he stunk last year (.172, 4, 15) and has been just as bad this year. He's going back down to AAA, where hopefully he'll hit better in OKC than he did in Spokane (.175, 6, 13) and he'll be able to resurrect that career. He's 27 so I'm not optimistic. Oh well. His dad is the head of the CIA so maybe he still has a career in politics or something. In his place I'll call up career minor leaguer Lorenzo Escobedo (.237, 11, 33). He seems pretty well made for the DH position and likes to hit dingers. That also means Nick Hodzic (.275, 8, 26), who's kind of a success story, I guess, is playing first full-time now. At short, Mitt Romney (.211, 3, 19) isn't hitting and is not as good of a fielder as the sure-handed German Ybarra (.213, 0, 5), who also made the All-Star Game in 1971. Ybarra hit .180 last year, which is why he's on Cleveland now. Man... I came in thinking I was going to just let the Romneybot keep his job but no, I think Ybarra deserves another chance. Normally I wouldn't flip-flop like this but they're the same age and yeah, if Ybarra can hit at all, which, granted, he's barely doing, he's the better situation. Outfield: I don't have a lot to do here. How did RF Brandon Anderson (.304, 10, 32) ever find his way out of Philly, though? Okay, he was injury prone BUT... he's looking an awful lot like he's going to be Cleveland's All-Star representative, he's a legit middle of the order hitter, and he provides Gold Glove quality defense in right (he could even play center should the need arise). That Nelson Vargas (.263, 0, 6) trade is already looking bad, although I guess to be fair to Vargas, he got hurt at the end of spring training and has only gotten into 10 games so far. June 22: The Milwaukee Brewers (26-40, 12 1/2 GB) technically got to 40 losses before Cleveland but hey I didn't notice. SUE ME. In their 5th year of existence, where two of the 4 expansion teams are nearing .500 city, Milwaukee is not there yet. Weirdly, where last year their offense was all kinds of bad, this year they're 4th in the AL in runs but only Kansas City is worse at allowing runs. A big, big part of that is a league-worst -28.3 ZR (one of I think 3 teams in the negative), a dead-last defensive efficiency, and the 4th most errors in the junior circuit. So, yeah... the fielding sucks. Rotation: Given how bad the defense has been, in fact, I feel reticent to let guys go. Marius Gaddi's (4-7, 4.54) peripherals look pretty okay - 64 Ks vs 27 BBs in 85.1 IP. He doesn't have that 1st starter type stamina in spite of being the 27 win guy from 1970 (27-5, 2.31 that year) but when you give him like 6-7 innings, he's OK, or at least he would be if the team played D behind him. Tom Bertan (5-6, 5.10) is in a similar state, although he does allow too many HRs. Also also those guys were my 1 and 2 starters going into the season and I don't want to replace either. Bullpen: I'm like "do we neeeeed 5 relievers?" but then I see this team ERA. Caused by bad D or no, the team lets a lot of guys get on base and that just expends the bullpen. One move I will make here is that Willie Garcia (1-0, 5.79), who's somehow out of options in spite of being 25 and not all that good, is going to get sent down even if that means going the DFA route. Instead, the new guy is the Brewers' 1st round pick in 1970, one Luther Vandross (5-2, 2.55 in AAA Evanston). The R&B man and backup singer struck out 78 men in 84.1 IP; he looks ready to me. For now I'll start him in long relief but I'm sure if he keeps that up he'll find his way into the rotation if not "here and now" then soon. Infield: Awesomely, 1B/DH Kozue Nakamura (.301, 1, 13) seems to have remembered how to hit after forgetting how last year (.174, 2, 13, although he did rake to the tune of .320, 1, 10 at AAA Evanston). That means that both him and Sergio Sicre (.279, 2, 27) get to play daily now. I'm slightly amazed, too, that Sicre isn't a complete disaster with the glove at first given the overall badness of this team on D and his reputation. I feel like a big part of why the defense was so very bad was that SS Guido Temudo (.108, 0, 2) was out for most of the first part of the season. And now he's not hitting, even by Temudo terms. Welp... he stays in the lineup. I've been spelling him a lot with Anatoly Karpov (.323, 4, 17), who's definitely got the bat and the range but his arm screams "second base" as much as his mind screams "chess grandmaster". Looking a little closer I think I'll also use him heavily at 2nd, currently the domain of former Yankees prospect Wing-fung Yi (.256, 6, 21), who's got that kind of secondary average that the author adores but has an iffy arm even for 2nd. Outfield: Honestly, this team doesn't really add up to horrible defense... Steve Winwood (.274, 10, 33) is decidedly below average in left and I guess the worst fielder I'm continuing to use out there but the man hits. He looks like a future middle of the order guy if not a current middle of the order guy. You live with a guy who thinks he's playing cricket in the field if he can do that. CF Fernando Ceballos (.259, 1, 14) still has a higher average than OBP, 189 at-bats into the season. I don't dare pull him out of there with the team defense as bad as it is but also I've been hitting him leadoff and that needs to stop. Speaking of guys I'm not about to bench, RF Jun Kim (.267, 2, 22) seems to have lost his power stroke this year. It was never like super fantastic but where you can kind of squint and see how a 13-15 HR guy could hit leadoff for you if he provides leadership and clutchosity, the same can't be said for a 7-10 HR guy, who he might not even be now. He'll drop in the order; this also allows Winwood to push up and see if he can make a run at 100 rib-eyes. June 23: When these start to come, they come in HOT. Or cold... now I've got the Montreal Expos (21-40, 17 GB), who are, of course, very bad. How else would the Expos be? They've got some interesting parts but let's face it, they're still long ways away on both side. I guess you could say that the 4th-worst offense is ahead of the league-worst defense. They also have a negative ZR and I think unlike the Brewers not a lot of ways to easily improve that without killing the O... but hey, we'll see. Rotation: This team is also 3rd worst in Ks and, in stats I shouldn't look at but hey, 70s guys must have had a sense of this if not the actual numbers, dead last in FIP. 33 year old Jeff Graton (2-10, 4.11) is first on my list of organizational soldiers who have seen better days. All those losses... I mean, he hasn't been *that* bad but do I want a 25 game loser? Nah. He's in the bullpen now. I've replaced him with the FAR YOUNGER (read: 32 year old) Hector Giron (1-1, 1.74, 1 Sv), who's pitched a lot between here and Baltimore. Prior to 1972 he was a member of the O's rotation, too, so why not? Otherwise, Erik Schnipke (0-5, 5.32) has been bad so far but the next step for the 30 year old is a DFA so I'm going to keep him in there for a little bit longer. Richard Dean Anderson (1-5, 5.40), on the other hand, has just not been able to mash together somewhat iffy stuff with bailing wire and duct tape... oh right, he's a Rule V pick. He's just not cutting it. I'm going to "offer him back to the Dodgers" by which I mean I'm releasing him. In his place: 28 year old career minor leaguer Matt Shaver (7-3, 2.27 in AAA Peninsula) because why not? Why, though? He's got 94 Ks in 103 AAA IPs, that's why. Bullpen: I'm noticing this pitching staff is not only bad but also kind of old. It's not good! The top man in the bullpen, the DANGER ZONE Kenny Loggins (2-3, 2.56, 8 Sv) is gonna get used and used and used though. Daniel Roche (2-2, 2.92) has an underwater K/BB ratio but somehow he's getting results so the 35 year old stays... for now. I'm just waiting for him to get blown up so I can justify the cut in favor of someone younger, for example MY DAD (2-1, 3.68 at AAA Peninsula), who has 40 Ks in 44 AAA IPs himself after a rough start to the year in the majors (0-3, 6.75) that earned him a trip downwards. Infield: We actually have a pretty solid catcher position and something of a logjam, as both Norman Engelman (.254, 4, 12) and Omar Villegas (.243, 2, 11) look like at-least-average catchers. Villegas is 5 years younger but Engelman has been here longer so for now the former will remain the starter. Maybe we'll re-evaluate in the second half. There's not hitting well and then there's whatever Harry Turtledove (.169, 2, 7) has done this past month. I'm sending him down immediately to see if he can get his swing back. The man hit .362 in 35 AAA games and .331 last year in the minors, so like double what he's done in the bigs so far. That also means handing Willie Morales (.257, 5, 19) his old job back. He really looks like nothing special but... Turtledove was supposed to be the replacement. Top prospect Phil Collins (.324, 1, 11) being out for another month suuuuuucks. He was the 3rd baseman and now we're down to starting Adam Owens (.186, 0, 5) again. Owens looked baaad last year (.201, 3, 40 in 388 ABs) and has done nothing to show he's anything but a below-replacement-level guy so far. One thing I'll start doing, I guess out of desperation more than anything else, is mix in Danny Waters (.333, 1, 2) and Brian Hunter (.256, 1, 5) in. Waters is a failed Mets prospect and Hunger is 33 so I expect little but hey, it's only another month, right? Outfield: All three of the guys are good enough, I'd say. There's nothing great - I mean, Willie Ortega (.247, 11, 44) is somehow 4th in the NL in RBIs, so that's nice - but for once nothing's terrible enough to warrant replacement. June 23: Yep, hot and heavy! The Los Angeles Dodgers (29-40, 9 GB) have played more games than the Expos so they aren't really quiiiite as bad but... they're not good either. The division is technically still within their reach! It would take a lot of things turning around though. This team has an atrocious offense (10th in scoring) and a bullpen (dead last in NL ERA, 5.57) that is weighing down a league-best rotation (2.90). Alec Cosby (2-6, 4.32, 5 Sv) has been unbelievably bad lately. That should change ust on its own but... what to do here? Rotation: The Doogers go 5 wide in their rotation. That is the Dodger way. Currently they've got 4 established guys and Mahfuzur Rahman Khan (1-1, 0.00), who's been excellent in 2 starts. The only real guy I'd even begin to look at replacing here is Ken Hansen (3-6, 4.12), who's been merely below average-ish instead of excellent. As a back of the rotation guy though that's fine and also he was not back-of-the-rotation quality his last 2 seasons in Cal (12-11, 3.10 and 14-16, 2.46). Bullpen: Here I do feel the need to change things up... for one, we're trying to go with 4 guys and that is not really working so I'm going to send down SS Tommy Martin (.114, 0, 1 in 88 ABs) to also see if he can find his hitting stroke, and calling up 22 year old Ken Kutaragi (2-3, 2.52 at AAA Albuquerque), who's been doing... okay in the high minors. We do not rebuild! But we look at guys. I'm going to demote Rich Wilson (0-2, 7.12) to Just A Guy in the bullpen instead of being Cosby's right hand man; I'm reticent to just cut the 35 year old loose after he was so, so effective for us the past two seasons. Also, his K/W ratio is fine (16-10) and maybe he's just been unlucky to allow 4 HRs in 24 IP so far. Infield: I've already put 25 year old Gary McCord (.277, 1, 11) in front of 28 year old Jason Davis (.247, 2, 16). Davis was the incumbent but McCord is a way better fielder and Davis hit .195 last year so it's not like I'm pulling a major bat out of the lineup. The game keeps deciding to use Ben Toscano (.180, 1, 4) over Danny Fager (.282, 6, 14) at 2nd because Fager has a sprained wrist. Hopefully he'll be past it in a couple days. I think it's clear that even with the bum wrist, Fager is miles better than Toscano but the game disagrees and I will 100% forget to manually replace Fager much of the time. 3B Robin Gibb (.261, 9, 24) has cooled waaaaaaaay off from a hot May (he's hitting .215 in June with just 6 RBIs after a .323 May) and I think it's obvious that he can't handle batting 3rd in the order. Like, nobody else on this team hits though, outside of Justin Stone (.359, 17, 35) and Stone is the cleanup guy. This seems like a terrible idea in the waiting but utility man Ronney Yitzakhi (.286, 7, 19) is 3rd on the team in hitting behind Stone and CF/leadoff man Ross Poynor (.289, 5, 17, although "only" .273, 4, 12 with LA) so I'll try him out there. Outfield: RF Ray Costa (.253, 5, 15) isn't hitting .208 at least (that's what he hit last year) but the 20 HR power he showed in 1971 seems to be gone. We're left with a really meh guy out there. I'm going to get Omar Vergara (.283, 2, 9) a lot more involved vs RHPs to try and jump-start this offense and sorry, Ray, but a lot of that action will come at your expense. I also recently recalled 31 year old Sam Headen (.289, 1, 9 at AAA Albuquerque) from the minors and I think I'll work him in, too. June 23: The Minnesota Twins (25-40, 16 GB) hit the 40 loss mark with a massive thud, getting absolutely pounded by the Angels 17-1 at home in the first game of a double-header. You may ask yourself: how do you handle call-ups and such in between double-headers? Well, I just do. In spite of the score, the thing that's been killing the Twins this year is a complete lack of offense: they're dead last in the AL in average (.247), on-base percentage (.309), and 2nd worst in overall runs scored (250). Not saying the pitching is great but it's still mostly average (although after today's debacle I will surely be making some replacements just to restock the bullpen). Rotation: I wouldn't exactly say that Pete Eason (1-2, 4.12) has "earned" a shot at the rotation; it's been more than Ricky Rosas (4-7, 4.59) has earned a spot in the bullpen. So... that being said, yeah, I'm gonna make a move here immediately. Remember Santiago Serrano (10-5, 2.49 in AAA Tacoma)? No? Well, he was pretty OK in the second half with Minnesota last year and just barely missed the cut out of spring training. The 27 year old will be slotted in to start the 2nd game immediately. Otherwise... Bill Lucas (4-6, 4.93) was kind of supposed to be the guy to become the new rock of this rotation and he's been anything but, especially in Game One today. What are you going to do? The back half looks better. Bullpen: Paul Boerger (1-0, 6.86) is the man being sent down. It's a liiiiiitle unfair as 7 of his 16 earned runs came in the first game today when he had to mop up for Bill Lucas after Lucas got knocked out in the 3rd. His peripherals even look OK (17 Ks, 5 BB in 21 IP) but hey, needs must. Walt Gurganus (0-0, 2.93) wasn't super great in relief himself tonight but hey, he's been getting results I guess, so he'll stick. Infield: Man, Ric Flair (.193, 1, 9) has just not been hitting at all. I'm sorry, new manager Frank Quilici, but... can we keep at this? In spite of an iffy arm he's clearly the better defender between him and incumbent Brad Reed (.222, 3, 14) and Reed isn't exactly hitting anymore either. I think what I'm going to do is send Flair back down to Tacoma to try and find his swing and call up in his place our new top catching prospect Avery Brooks (.298, 1, 3 in AAA Tacoma). Brooks started the year in AA Orlando, hence the small numbers, but he's been looking good at the plate and if nothing else might intimidate players into not stealing on him. Second base is a problem. Man, it's too bad Aloha Dan Gilmet (.273, 4, 19) is too injury prone to use out there but he's also now looking like he's no longer an adequate fielder anyway. So it's down to former starting SS Marty Mendel (.258, 0, 6), who I'm currently giving the nod over former Pirates guy Pietro Palmarocchi (.210, 2, 12), who's a better defender and gets on base more... but is also hitting .210 with an OPS barely above 600. I'm sure he's not happy about this but he can join Brad Reed in the Unhappy Club. I also have a guy in AAA who's looking good who I might call up in the 2nd half. At third base, options or otherwise, this was Darrel Bump's (.234, 5, 19) job to win and he did not win it. I think he has to be DFA'ed. Matt Highfield (.289, 1, 11) has been doing OK in replacement of him but given how bad this team is I'm going to call up Jeff Milligan (.292, 11, 32 in AAA Tacoma) and let him skip the line. I like that power! He's already 25 and spent the last 2 years in AA but hey, maybe he's a late bloomer. We'll find out over the next 90 games or so. SS Justin Ramey (.195, 6, 18) could be done - he is 34 - but we'll keep using him for a bit longer, especially with all the other turmoil in the infield. Outfield: LF Jeff Franks (.267, 3, 23) is Always a candidate to move back down to 3rd base if needed. As a left fielder he's not rally the greatest hitter in the world but hey, he's not awful so for now we'll just keep slotting him in. At some point I'd like to get Gilles Villeneuve (.286, 4, 11) more playing time and with RF Jose Villasenor (.267, 3, 9) seemingly back to normal after a rough 1972 (.208, 3, 24 in 384 at-bats) that PT may come from Franks in the second half. June 23: Sooo many reviews this week... the San Francisco Giants (32-40, 7 1/2 GB) are up next / last this week. Hey, they're still a game and a half up on the Dodgers! They play 2 vs the Astros today so they might fall into a tie for last. Yeah... they are 4-16 for the month. It's bad! So bad that now even their peripherals look like those of a bad team: 2nd most runs allowed (although that's maybe due to playing 72 games already - they're 10th in starter ERA (3.83) and 3rd in bullpen (2.70)) and 8th in runs scored (which, if the other is bumped up, so is this so they're legit bad). They're leading the league in steals though (46)! This feels like a team that wants to break down and rebuild but hasn't quite done so yet. Rotation: I think just for the sake of making moves I'm going to flip-flop the current #5 man Sam Williams (4-9, 4.64) and long man Oscar Amador (0-0, 0.00). Amador is younger and while Williams was a regular part of the rotation last year he was only 10-13, 3.64, which, for 1972 and Candlestick is pretty mediocre. Otherwise, Obe Olthof (4-8, 4.19) hasn't been great but is still 28 and the K/W ratio is decent (61 Ks, 24 BB in 101 IP) so I'll let him in there. Mike Stuckey (7-6, 4.62) is the other danger point but I'm not going to pull the Opening Day starter out of the lineup, at least not yet. Bullpen: Trading the Assassin John Booth (0-0, 6.75, 1 Sv with his new team) wasn't fun but he was probably past his sell date anyway and hey, now The Test Charlie Bechtel (3-2, 3.38, 3 Sv) gets to try his luck as the team's stopper. Honestly, as the summary indicated, the bullpen has been the strength of the team. No further changes! Infield: C Stellan Starsgaard (.333, 0, 3) is the bigger prospect and has played better than Mugur Isarescu (.207, 3, 10) so I think I'll move him into full-time play. There's a natural platoon situation there with Isarescu a lefty batter and I'm sure I'll use the Romanian economist-in-training a lot defensively. I've been starting Phil Lynott (.230, 0, 3) at 1st even with Justin Richens (.209, 2, 21) now back. Like, Richens just doesn't look like he has much left... I think I'm going to drop him back into the lineup though so he can prove it and I'll re-evaluate in the 2nd half of the season. The theoretical power he could still bring to the middle of the lineup is too big to pass up. Outfield: CF Mads Vindig (.293, 0, 2) is playing well enough that I might have to find a place for him in this lineup once Danny "The Phantom" Seligman (.268, 1, 11) is back from his latest injury. Probably one of them will play right because oh boy are Frank Meneses (.207, 8, 28) and Scott Lammers (.193, 5, 11) looking cooked.
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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June 25 - July 1, 1973
## Standings / Recap / Comments3
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 47 30 .610 - W2 381 273 .288 63 74 3.27 3.1 5.9 .984 39.0 44.1 New York 42 36 .538 5½ L1 353 362 .249 84 18 4.29 2.7 4.9 .982 4.8 38.6 Boston 39 33 .542 5½ W4 314 253 .274 60 35 3.33 3.0 5.9 .980 36.7 40.4 Baltimore 29 41 .414 14½ L2 279 328 .247 64 28 4.13 4.0 5.0 .976 1.1 41.7 Cleveland 31 46 .403 16 W1 280 349 .247 69 27 4.29 3.5 5.5 .981 7.9 31.7 Milwaukee 30 45 .400 16 L5 308 373 .260 49 51 4.46 3.5 4.8 .979 -14.3 30.2 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Texas 45 27 .625 - W1 300 227 .265 50 33 2.83 3.4 5.1 .985 40.6 41.4 Chicago 45 28 .616 ½ L2 333 274 .265 67 38 3.33 3.6 5.0 .981 27.4 35.5 California 38 37 .507 8½ W2 338 340 .264 62 58 4.03 3.4 4.9 .980 25.1 40.7 Kansas City 39 42 .481 10½ L1 387 413 .257 57 36 4.59 3.7 4.7 .982 9.2 30.7 Oakland 38 41 .481 10½ W2 312 334 .263 51 36 3.81 3.0 5.0 .981 12.1 36.5 Minnesota 28 45 .384 17½ L2 273 332 .244 66 36 4.11 3.4 5.2 .976 4.4 28.8 LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Philadelphia 48 28 .632 - W3 379 291 .253 61 60 3.39 3.0 5.1 .979 25.2 42.9 St. Louis 42 33 .560 5½ L3 311 303 .255 75 21 3.56 3.2 5.7 .982 16.2 43.1 Chicago 42 39 .519 8½ L3 318 309 .255 65 41 3.56 3.3 4.8 .985 36.6 41.0 New York 37 36 .507 9½ W3 247 282 .251 33 43 3.42 3.3 5.0 .981 18.1 40.4 Pittsburgh 38 37 .507 9½ W2 249 245 .237 31 14 3.01 2.7 6.0 .982 15.9 41.0 Montreal 26 47 .356 20½ L2 291 371 .246 56 31 4.23 3.6 5.1 .977 3.4 35.4 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Houston 43 37 .537 - L2 334 326 .255 74 36 3.58 3.7 5.9 .977 9.2 30.5 Cincinnati 41 37 .526 1 W4 320 304 .247 63 34 3.61 3.0 5.7 .979 4.5 28.6 San Diego 40 38 .513 2 W2 304 258 .252 45 32 2.94 3.4 5.2 .979 43.9 42.9 Atlanta 40 40 .500 3 W2 309 274 .252 59 23 3.13 3.1 6.1 .982 5.1 31.4 San Francisco 35 46 .432 8½ L2 285 334 .246 58 48 3.60 3.2 5.5 .979 8.4 31.7 Los Angeles 33 47 .412 10 L5 262 312 .246 76 27 3.43 3.2 5.3 .977 35.7 34.7 That said, THE Yuppies this week are... the Pirates? Yeah, I'm surprised myself. Pitt moved from 14th to 7th in the power rankings this week with a 6-3 record. 7 of those games were against the Expos so let's not go crazy but hey, they do play balanced schedules in this era. Right behind them, jumping 6 places on the charts, are the Mets, who I mean still do look king of out of that race what with the Phillies doing what they're doing but hey, they went 5-4 against those Phillies (they lost 2 out of 3) and the Cubs. Your LUSER HIPPIES are the Cardinals, who had every chance to gain ground on Philadelphia but absolutely couldn't, going 1-8, including 2 got-swepts at the hands of the City of Brotherly love to fall 5 1/2 back in the standings and move from 3rd in the power rankings to 14th. The Cubs - man, lots of NL East teams on this list - also faltered with a 3-6 record that including losing 2 out of 3 to the crappy, crappy Expos. Also, lots of teams played 9 games last week which is crazy. And a look at the ol' sartistics... Angels 1B Chris Seek (.357, 5, 33) still leads the AL in batting thanks to a .339 June and a .320 week. I don't know what he saw in AL pitching but ever since getting traded out of San Francisco last year he's really gone from kind of meh to a superstar. Rangers 3B Bobby Ramirez (.321, 1, 14) is second but maybe falling behind after "only" hitting .287 last month. We've got some new blood for the 3rd spot: Red Sox CF Brian Joynson (.338, 3, 25) juuuuust edged out his teammate LF Bruce Springsteen (.337, 6, 36) with a .446 (37-83) June. If it wasn't for Pedro Castrejon's (.311, 9, 26) rampage on the league (see below), he'd have won Batter of the Month for sure, right? Ernesto Garcia (.262, 31, 63) still holds a commanding lead in the HR race, although he's "down" to being on pace for 64 HRs now, well off his record-setting 1972. He hit 12 last month, a season high (although only 1 double - talk about all or nothing). Chicago's Alice Cooper (.318, 22, 61) is 2nd and catching up with Twins' veteran Angelo Martinez (.257, 18, 53) rounding out the top 3. Cooper's caught riiiight up to Garcia in RBIs and Joey Ramone (.330, 6, 57), the #3 hitter on the best team in the AL East, is 3rd now. Speaking of them Tigers, Alvin Romero (.306, 2, 35) is lapping the field with 41 steals - 20/21 in June! - and is on pace for 86(!). Waaaaay back in 2nd is the Astronaut, Boston CF John Glynn (.275, 6, 24), who has a perfectly respectable 19, followed by Mr. Deal A Meal himself Angels SS Richard Simmons (.244, 2, 19) with 14. Simmons is also beginning to hit a bit which is nice to see. Detroit's Jimmy Goddard (15-1, 1.88) seems like he could miss the rest of the season and still win the Cy Young... well, maybe not but he's got a big, big lead, and he's also the only qualifying pitcher with a sub-2.00 ERA. Chicago's Rich Reese (9-3, 2.21) leads a surprising staff and is 2nd overall, followed by - speaking of surprising choices - Boston's Brian Osborne (8-2, 2.38), who is posting an ERA more than a run lower than last year's 3.65. Goddard is a full 3 wins ahead of the Yankees' John Carpenter (12-7, 3.87) and Goddard's teammat Edgar Molina (12-8, 3.73), both of whom seem to be benefitting from some good run support. Molina does lead everyone in Ks with 114; Goddard and Boston's Marco Sanchez (10-9, 3.67) have 101 and Michael "Dozens" Pesco (9-10, 3.14) has an even 100 to date. I can't go without mentioning some closers, right? Malcolm Post (2-2, 2.47) got touched a little this week but still leads all ALers in both saves (15) and shutdowns (14). Miles behind him is Oakland's Willis Chavez (4-6, 2.45) with 11 saves and then KC's Jorge Cervantez (0-4, 2.83) and Texas's Tanzan Kihara (1-1, 2.91) with 9 apiece. Cervantez and Chavez also have 12 shuterino downerinos. In the NL... Atlanta's 3B Mike Morrison (.339, 3, 27) has been slowed down by hand soreness over the past week but just baaaaaarely hangs onto the NL batting title lead over the Cards' LF Rafael Disla (.337, 6, 40). Morrison did hit .354 last month but only started 22 of Atlanta's 31 games. Disla meanwhile hit .369 in doing what he could to keep his team in the NL East race (not much power though but heeeey this is the batting title not the power title am I right?). Not far behind himself is Giants' 3B George Harrison (.326, 10, 48), who himself hit .373 last month to get into the picture. Justin Stone (.344, 19, 39) has only played in 56 games so far but still leads all NL people in ding-dongs, followed closely by veteran sluggers Justin Weaver (.246, 18, 59) and the estimable Henry Riggs (.312, 16, 39). Stone (see below) did win hardware for this past month for what he did; sadly, nobody else on his team can hit. Weaver has the most RBIs in the NL, followed by Houston's George Foreman (.317, 13, 53), who is also playing some fine center field, and Cincy's RJ Dominguez (.318, 13, 52). Alberto Juantorena (.319, 15, 51) is riiiiiight behind in all 3 of these categories too. The Giants' Jon Berry (.292, 8, 24) has 26 steals to lead the senior circuit but here at least he's got some competition with Juantorena getting 22 and Cincy leadoff man Pedro Ortiz (.251, 4, 31) in 3rd with 13. There are two sub-2 ERA guys in the NL: Jeremy Battaglia (7-7, 1.74) and Braves knuckleballer Colin Rose (6-3, 1.88), who started the year in the bullpen but kiknd of forced Atlanta's hand. His teammate and former Expos ace Frank Evans (8-4, 2.13) rounds out that top 3. Richard Starkey (13-4, 2.66) was the Pitcher of the Month in June and isn't quite in the top 5 in ERA but he does lead in wins, followed by Bullet Bill Vanover (11-3, 2.62) and St. Louis' Roger Quintana (10-5, 2.22). Battaglia, in spite of that record, also has the most Ks in the NL with 108; Houston's Tony Rivera (9-5, 2.77) is right behind with 107 (and was 3-0, 1.60 with 35 Ks in 39.1 IP last month) and Atlanta's George House (9-7. 3.28) is also right up there with 105. The Mets' Geoff Saus (6-5, 3.32) is the clear save artist of the NL and seems to have recovered from a bad May (2-4, 5.23) with a decent June (3-1, 3.28). San Diego's Darius Parchman (2-2, 0.72) has been a nice little surprise for the Super Padres and has 13 saves, and then you've got yourself a 3-way tie with 12 saves between the Hippie Tom Grohs (2-5, 3.57), St. Louis' Travis Livingston (4-3, 1.83), and Cincinnati's Brian Yates (5-2, 1.26). Saus also has the lockdown on shutdowns with 23 of them already. Jesse Kelly (5-3, 2.05, 11 Sv) was juuuust out of the save convo but he's tied with Yates with 18 shutdowns himself. Lots of bullpen heroics in this league. ## Major Transactions Looks like there's none to come for a while... ## News June 25: Former White House laywer John Dean begins his testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee. Granted immunity from prosecution, Dean implicated President Nixon in accusations of obstruction of justice. After some opening remarks, Dean begins his testimony by reading aloud a 245-page statement "in a clipped monotone" over six hours. June 25: The popular Latin American comic strip Mafalda is retired after 9 years by its Argentine creator Joaquin Salvador Lavado Tejon, who wrote under the pseudonym Quino, who says he did so because he didn't want to repeat stories (HI CHARLES SCHULZ) but in later years he'll admit it's because of changing political tides in South America along with a fear of getting shot. June 25: The sinking of the Indian Ship "Saudi" kills 40 of the 98 passengers and crew on board. The passenger ship capsizes in the Indian Ocean off the African nation of Somalia after a huge wave caused her cargo (she was also carrying a bunch of freight) to shift. The UUS Navy destroyer USS Jonas Ingram was in the vicinity... because America and recovers 48 of the survivors plus 9 bodies. June 25: Erskine Childers takes office as the Fourth President of Ireland. He will die after just a year in office. June 25: This is not the first-ever PotW to be awarded to a full-time DH - that was Ernesto Garcia - but the A's Casey Satterfield (.299, 12, 46) is the second! Satterfield proved you don't have ot play in the field to be a big deal this week by clobbering 15 hits in 31 at-bats with 3 HRs and 10 RBI. The former Cardinal also scored 7 times in 8 games. Satterfield was an All-Star in 1971 but has won the PotW just one other time in his career, the week ending July 6, 1969. June 25: In the NL, Satterfield's former teammate 3B Mike Galeana (.225, 10, 37) had a real zero-to-hero week this past week, going 10-25 (.400) with 6 HRs, 11 RBIs, and 6 runs scored in 6 games. I was worried that Galeana might have caught the third baseman disease that struck several players last year but nope, just looks like he hadn't had a hot streak yet. This is Galeana's 3rd PotW: he also won for the week ending September 27, 1970, when he was a late-season call-up, and also the week ending July 16, 1972, when he punctuated his first-ever trip to the All-Star Game by winning the award the week prior to it. June 25: It's time for SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK! Which might be the only NEATO STAT OF THE (period) soon given the fact that TNT lost the NBA and might not have the greatest sports show ever made anymore. Anyway... this week's listing is dumb and boring (career sacrifice hits leaders? BLEAH) so I'll just go to the record books myself... here's one we haven't looked at before! Career hits! Nobody has 3,000 but one certain man is getting very, very close: 5. Matt Clayton, 2,663: Clayton played for the Browns and Orioles from 1950-1966. A career .299 hitter he somehow managed to avoid ever winning a batting title, although he did lead the AL in hits in '54 and '55. He was just inducted into the Hall of Fame last season in his 2nd attempt (somehow he came up juuuuust short in 1972). 4. David Decker, 2,672: Decker is a guy who was still playing when I took the league over so this is fun, although my memory of him was purely as a formerly great first baseman who was kind of playing out the string with the Phillies (who he played most of his career for) and then the A's and Senators. Decker played from 1951 to 1971 and finished with a .291 average, also in spite of never winning a batting title. I'm sure he'll be a Hall of Famer, maybe not his first year of eligibility but soon thereafter. 3. Emmanuel Costa, 2,704: Cost might have had the best shot out of any of these guys of hitting 3k as he started his career in 1947. On the other hand... no, not at all. He was a catcher. 2700 hits for a catcher is still, frankly, amazing. Costa played his entire career with the Dodgers, travelling with them to LA in 1958. He made *17* trips to the All-Star Game, which has to be the record. The game gave him the nickname "Smug", which, looking at his career, I'd be smug too... 2. Fernando Rocha, 2,916: Rocha was juuuuust short of the mark but as it stood the man played until he was 46 years of age, even though he was a pnch-hitter his final 3 years. Rocha probably lost a year or two to the fact that the league debuted in 1946 as well. He *did* for once lead the league in hitting twice. He only retired in 1968 so I think this is the first year he'll be eligible for the Hall. 1. Henry "The Hamer" Riggs, 2,918. Hey! The Hammer just tied Rocha's record on the 22nd and then passed it on the 23rd, and I didn't see it. The game should reeeeeeeeally have news articles about breaking career records; maybe turn them off if the record is below a certain threshold (say, 1,000 hits in this case) to keep that news story from popping up 75257912 times in the first 5 years of a save, but still... this was huge! I modeled the Hammer off of Hank Aaron, of course, and I may have un-injured him a couple times over the years (look it's my game!), but I brought in comps for Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays (sort of for Mays) and neither of them really did anything whereas Riggs is now the all-time leader in not only hits but also homeruns (558), total bases (5,089), and RBIs (1594). With his career winding down I fully expect Justin Stone or Lorenzo Martinez to pass him in HRs and RBIs but... it's been a grand career. Top 5 active guys by the way... 1. Riggs 2. Justin Richens, 2,548 3. Angelo Martinez, 2,461 4, Justin Stone, 2,212 (all the way down to 18th overall though!) 5. Kevin Dwyer, 2,115 June 25: Man, we are in late June "no rest in sight" mode... in spite of all the double-headers yesterday I see 12 games today and with one double-header (Pittsburgh @ Montreal, which, at this point hearing that Montreal is being screwed by the schedule should not be news) that means that only 2 teams actually have the day off. Even if you're running a 4-man rotation, at this point in the season, you're running a 5 man... June 25: The Rangers eked out a win over the A's at home, winning 5-4 on a single in the bottom of the 9th by PH JR Cook (.286, 0, 1). Yeah, Cook's first career RBI was a GWRBI. That is not the story. The story here is that the W improves the Rangers' home record to 26-4. 26-4! Amazing. That also means they're playing like the Brewers on the road: 14-21, but oh boy does this team give their fans what they want at Arlington Stadium. June 25: When things are going bad, play the Expos. That's the cure. It sure worked for the Pirates today: even though they were dead last in runs scored going into today's double-header, they outscored the Expos by a combined score of 17-3 to sweep it. Game 1 was out of reach by the 3rd inning when SP Jeremy Battaglia (7-7, 1.58 but also .140, 0, 3) hit an RBI single to put his team up 6-0. Battaglia also went all the way in spite of allowing 12 hits. Game 2 also was decided in the 3rd, this time thanks to a bases-loaded walk by C Milos Nemeth (.175, 1, 8), who also tied the Pirates' team record for most bases on balls in a game with 4, and then an RBI single by backup SS Arturo Martinez (.310, 0, 4). This put the Pirates in the lead to stay at 3-0, although the Expos closed the gap to 3-2 before a 4-run 7th off of starter Erik Schnipke (0-6, 5.54) and LOOGY Richard Pulido (1-1, 4.71) blew it open for good. Martinez had another big RBI single in that inning. The Pirates are now not even dead last in baseball in runs scored - that honor now belongs to the Mets, as the Pirates have 223 runs to New York's 213, albeit in 4 more games played. This also evens the defending champs' record up at 34-34. They have one game remaining vs Montreal and then a midweek series vs the Cards before they play the Expos again over the weekend so this could be a big opportunity for them. June 25: The Mets, meanwhile, got the W tonight but sure didn't show any signs that they're going to leap back in front of Pittsburgh in the runs race. They took 15 innings to take out the Cubs at home, 3-2, more or less wasting good outings by SP Trevon Dean (2-7, 3.87), who pitched 8 innings of 2-run ball, or vaunted stopper Geoff Saus (6-5, 3.63), who seems to be recovered from the run of bad outings he had in May and early June and threw 6 shutout innings. CF Kjel Isaakson (.281, 2, 23) fiiiinally got the game-winner with a 2-out RBI double to bring home 2B Bora Dugic (.279, 1, 7) and send the remaining fans home... I wouldn't say happy, necessarily, but mollified at least. June 25: Is it too early for important series? If not, the NL East has a 3-game, beginning-of-the-week match between the Cardinals and Phillies at Veteran's Stadium. In the first game, Philadelphia jumped out to a 5-0 lead and then hung on as both bullpens blew up for an 8-4 win. PH Mark O'Connor (.184, 2, 7) socked a 3-run homerun off of RP Phil Bowman (1-2, 3.86) to push the game back out of reach after the Cards got it to 5-3 with yet another HR by Mike Galeana (.229, 11, 40) - his 7th in his last 7 games. The series concludes with a double-header tomorrow. Like I said, the games are coming in hot and heavy now. June 25: Speaking of bad offenses (going back a couple stories), when the Dodgers don't have 1B Justin Stone (.351, 17, 35), who sat out today because he was tired, they don't score runs. Today was an extreme example of that as Future Villains Band frontman Stephen Tyler (5-6, 3.03) shut them out on 4 hits for a 3-0 Padres win. Tyler said after the game that he didn't have his best stuff but apparently he did not need it. He still struck out 6 and allowed just 1 walk and the Dodgers barely threatened the entire game. San Diego on the other hand got all the runs they needed when CF Ed O'Neill (.232, 3, 18) scored on a fielder's choice by RF "Dr." Phil McGraw (.283, 1, 20) in the bottom of the 1st. This was Tyler's first shuttie of the year; he had 5 of them last year even though he has arguably pitched better this season (15-14, 3.55 last year in a more depressed offensive environment and I only say "arguably" because last year Tyler had 12 CGs in 31 starts vs. just 2 in 15 so far this year) (oh right and also he was the 1972 Rookie of the Year whereas this year he's just a guy). June 26: In the USSR, the explosion of Kosmos-3M rocket kills nine people at the Piesetek Cosmodrome. This disaster will not be revealed to the West until 1989. This one is kind of tame, too, compared to one that will happen at the same place in 1980... June 26: Albania's leader Enver Hoxha announces that his nation will move further from the "degenerated bourgeois culture" popular in North America and Western Europe. He cites "the spread of certain vulgar, alien tastes in music and art" which is "contrary to socialist ethics and the positive traditions of our people", and notes "degenerate importations such as long hair, extravagant dress, screaming jungle music, coarse language, shameless behavior, and so on". June 26: Noted American psychoanalyst and also hardcore white supremacist Henry Garrett dies today. June 26: Ernest Truex, an American stage, film, and television actor who didn't really get his start on silver screen until after talkies were invented, dies today at 83. He played a variety of "milquetoast charaacters in the 30s, including a movie called "The Warrior's Husband" where he played a character named Sapiens in a story set in ancient Greece where gender roles were reversed and he had to use his "male wiles" to break down society from within. He also had a supporting role in the classic Howard Hawks comedy "His Girl Friday". His acting career lasted long enough to see him play several roles on television in the 50s and 60s, including the main role in the "Kick the Can" episode of the original Rod Serling version of The Twilight Zone. June 26: Braves rookie 1B Peter Frampton (.326, 1, 11), who was pretty busy this year making everyone forget Dante Chairez, is going to miss the next month and a half with... a hamstring strain? Really? This keeps you out until August? Jon Hernandez (.230, 4, 18), the walk-happy former catcher the Braves brought back for Chairez over the offseason, will go back to playing there while Frampton is out, well, him and longtime Astros pinch-hitting specialist Nate Ringstad (.214, 3, 12). June 26: A crowd of 8,767 at the Big A were treated to a football game in late June: the Kansas City Chiefs (Royals) blew up the California (Los Angeles) Rams (Angels) by the score of 18-11. This one was ugly almost from the start: the Halos drew first blood with a 2-run homerun by 2B Rodrigo Juarez (.307, 14, 50) but then the Royals started scorihng, like, every inning, making it 4-2 after 3, 7-2 after 4, and 13-3 after 5. Juan Correra (7-7, 4.31) was the pitcher of record for KC; he gave up 6 earned runs (7 total) in 6.2 IP but that still managed to be a better runs/inning ratio than any Angels pitcher tonight. 2B James Ellroy (.303, 4, 47) had a monster day today, tying the Royals' record for hits in a game with 5 with a 5-6, 4 run, 6 RBI, 2 HR day. DH Edwin Manchego (.223, 13, 46) appears to have broken out of a season-long slump with a 2 HR game himself. For California, DH Paul Stewart (.255, 4, 23) was great in the losing effort, going 3-4 with 3 runs and 4 RBIs. The two teams combined for 34 hits and 8 HRs. June 26: And there's one big boy in the NL West... and it sure isn't the Cardinals. The Phillies swept today's double-header and the series vs St. Louis, 13-5 and 6-3. Game 1 was a big old blowout that featured the Phightin' Phils score 3 times in the first and then never let up. LF Alberto Juantorena (.317, 15, 48) went 3-5 with his 15th HR on the year, 3 runs, and 2 RBIs. Game 2 looked a lot closer in the box score but the Cards' pitching really let them down again, giving up 12 walks. Amir Sudler (1-1, 4.50) made a spot start and allowed 8 in 6+ and then Phil Bowman (1-2, 4.55) and Nick Escabar (1-0, 0.55) issued 2 apiece. Ringo Starr (13-4, 2.78) went 8 for the win and Tom Grohs (2-5, 3.62) pitched a scoreless 9th for an easy 3-run save, his 10th. The Phillies (43-27) came into the series a game behind St. Louis (41-29); they are now 2 games up and now lead the season series 5 games to 3. They play each other right back again this coming weekend following a midweek series for both (Philadelphia has 3 games in 2 days against the Mets, St. Louis has a 2-gamer vs Pittsburgh). Both of these teams are in a loooong stretch: St. Louis is playing 26 games with no rest days between June 15 and July 9; Philadelphis got last Thursday off but are playing 2 double-headers in 2 days and will wind up playing 29 games without a day off until they get the Thursday before the All-Star Break, July 19th. June 26: One day after his teammates allowed 17 runs in 2 days to this team, journeyman RHP Matt Shaver (1-0, 0.00) threw a 2-hit shutout to get his bullpen rested and cruise to a 4-0 win. This was the 28 year old's first ever major league shutout in 16 career starts and for that matter only his 2nd complete game. Shaver walked 5 and struck out 5 but he worked his high-80s sinker down in the zone for lots of groundouts. June 27: Democratic rule in Uruguay is suspended as President Juan Maria Bordaberry closes Parliament and imposes direct rule by a junta of military generals. Ah, the Cold War. June 27: John Dean continues to testify before the Senate, revealing that Nixon has an "enemies list" of 29 people. Included on that list: Paul Newman(?). The purpose of the list was using "the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies". June 27: Arthur P Jacobs, who produced the Planet of the Apes series of films as well as "Goodbye, Mister Chips", dies suddenly of a heart atteck at age 51. June 27: Detroit's starting pitching has been touched a bit this year but they had a double-header today against the Brewers and, well... shutting them out in both halves of a double-header will surely help. In Game 1, Jimmy Goddard (14-1, 1.87) was lights-out like he's been all year, striking out 10 and allowing only 5 hits and 2 walks. He's currently on pace for 32 victories, which would easily eclipse the league record of 27. Game 2 was more of a nail-biter, or would have been had Milwaukee ever looked like they were going to threaten to score, as spot starter Chris McGranahan (1-3, 3.59) won 1-0 and just baaaarely missed out on a Tewksbury in the process, getting his only strikeout of the game against the final batter, 1B Sergio Sicre (.270, 2, 29). "I was trying to give himn something to hit," said a HEAVILY DEJECTED McGranahan after the game, "but he just wanted to swing and miss I guess." This was McGranahan's 3 start of the season in this role; he started 8 games last year as a spot starter / long man too. Detroit as a team is now 3rd in both starter ERA (3.26) and bullpen ERA (3.38) and 7th in the majors overall in that stat. June 27: The A's are now on a big of a losing streak. They lost the opener of a quick midweek 2 game series vs the Royals 4-3 for their 6th straight loss. Lee "Batty" Barnard (3-7, 4.68) had one of those "technically a quality start" games with 3 earned runs (4 total) in 6 innings and that was just enough for the A's to lose this one. CF Prince Charles (.224, 8, 29) of the Royals continued to show weird amounts of power with a 2-run HR in the top of the 4th that put Kansas City up 3-2 at the time, and then SS Mike Dawson (.187, 0, 11) singled in what wound up being the winning run in the 6th. Oakland is now also in 5th in the AL West, only a game and a half out of 3rd but 12 off the division pace as the White Sox and Rangers are running away with this one. June 28: Elections are held for the new 78 member Northern Ireland Assembly, replacing the bicameral Sormont. The creation of the assembly will lead to the firsat power-sharing in Northern Ireland between unionists (who want to remain in the UK) and nationalists (who want to become part of a reuinited Ireland). June 28: Algerian terrorist Mohamed Boudia, a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is assassinated by the Mossad (Israel's intelligence agency) in Paris. Boudia's car is detonated as he sits down and starts it. June 28: Galina Peneva Ivanova, a Bulgarian pop singer who goes by the name "Gloria", is born in Ruse, Bulgaria. June 28: Maaan these games are coming hard and fast now... it's a *Thursday* and there are 14 games scheduled today: every team plus two double-headers. On the plus side, we're nearing the true halfway point of the season and it's the full 162 this year; no weirdo strike (although that jam-packed summer of 1972 situation seems like it's going to be on repeat). June 28: Tigers SP Edgar Molina (12-8, 3.73) has been really hot and cold this year but when he's hot, he's hot. Tonight he outdueled former Cy Young Award winner Marius Gaddi (4-8, 4.49) 4-0 in Tigers Stadium for a victory over the last-place Brewers. Gaddi in truth hasn't been as bad as his record and ERA might tell you; he's got a K/W ratio of better than 2-1 (68-29) and just keeps getting victimized by a bad defense giving up a lot of hits. The D is maybe improved but he allowed 9 of them today. But wait up, this write-up was about Molina. In spite of that high 3.73 ERA (well, it's still got an ERA+ of 110 because we suddenly got a lot more runs this year), Molina's now completed 9 of his 21 starts and his 6 Ks put him well out in front of the strikeout race with 114 on the year (Boston's Michael Pesco (9-10, 3.14) is 2nd with an even 100). More important for him, his control, which was seriously lacking in his last 2 outings when he get knocked out of the box in the 4th vs Cleveland and then surrendered 6 walks in 8.1 IP last game, was on point tonight: he allowed just one walk along with 4 hits. Tonight marked his 3rd shutout on the year too. June 29: Chilean Army Lieutenant Colonel Robert Souper attempts a coup against the government of Salvador Allende but fails. Souper learned that he would be relieved of his command for his part in a conspiracy exposed yesterday and so attempted it shortly before 9AM. 6 civilians and a palace guard will die and 22 wounded before government troops put down the rebellion. Souper will be detained and later released after another successful coup is launched against Allende this September. June 29: The US Senate passes the Case-Church Amendment that prohibits any further US military activity in Indochina (so North and South Vietnam, Laos, and Camboia) without advance Congressional approval. The bill had previously passed in the House 325-86 on June 26. Nixon will veto this measure but will compromise, allowing the bombing of Cambodia to continue until August 15 rather than halt immediatley. June 29: In Madrid, Athletic Bilbao wins Spain's national championship for football, defeating CD Castellon 2-0 win the Copa del Generalisimo (because Francisco Franco is... not dead). June 30: After more than 117 days of drifting at sea on a life raft, Britons Maurice and Maralyn Bauley are rescued by the South Korean fishing boat Weolmi 306. On March 4, the Baileys had been forced to evacuate their yacht when it sank in the Pacfic Ocean after being damaged by a whale. June 30: A very long solar eclipse is seen over most of Africa today, lasting 7 minutes and 4 seconds and the longest since 1955. In fact, there were only 7 solar eclipses during the entire 2nd millenium longer than 7 minutes and the next one won't happen until 2150. June 30: Iraq's Defense Minister Saadoun Ghaidan is shot to death along with two other officers after being invited to a banquet by the nation's Director of Public Security, Nazem Kazzar. June 30: Aeroflot Flight 512 crashes into a building after taking off from the Amman International Airport in Jordan, killing seven people in the building and 2 in the flight crew. Somehow the 78 passengers on board as well as 5 of the crew members survived. June 30: The 60th Tour de France begins... in the Netherlands. June 30: Chan Ho Park, who will go on to play real-life Major League baseball from 1992-2010, is born today. June 30: Also born today and much less likely to one day be a player in this league: Robert Bales, the US Army sniper who murdered 16 Afghani civilians in the Kandahar Massacre in 2012. June 30: The Pirates have been showing up in these "highlights" a lot... today the Expos' Erik Schnipke (1-6, 4.72), the former closer who hasn't taken super well to starting this year, threw a 4-hit shutout for his first win of the season where his team only scored 1 run themselves. C Norman Engelman (.237, 4, 13) got the lone RBI in this 1-0 win with a bases loaded walk off of Santos Arango (7-8, 2.85), who was himself really good tonight. Just, you know, not good enough to overcome his team. Pittsburgh falls to 13-18 for the month and 36-37 overall with the worst batting average in all of baseball at .237. July 1: It's July! And with it... July 1: The DEA is created within the US Department of Justice to enforce the Controlled Substances Act, merging the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement. So, an origin that isn't really a "first", if you will. July 1: Richard Nixon signs the Case-Church Amendment (see above). July 1: The British Library is established for the purposes of stealing books from other countries the way they have long done with previous artifacts. July 1: Loyola Marymount University is established in Westchester, California with the merger of the all-male Loyola University and the all-female Marymoynt California University. This had been announced on February 9. Always confusing to me as a Chicago resident because we also have a Loyola University in the city; they even made it to the NCAA men's basketball Sweet 16 a few years ago. July 1: Yooooour June 1973 AL Batter of the Month is... the White Sox' LF Pedro Castrejon (.302, 7, 23), who's back in action from an inury and now looking like a potential "rookie" of the year candidate. The 35 year old Mexican League vet hit .337 in June with a .483 OBP, 6 of his 7 HRs, 16 RBIs, and 22 runs scored as the cleanup hitter for the AL West leading Chicago club. Castrejon was the MVP for the Mexican League last year with a .324/33/78 campaign with the Cordoba Cafeteros but this is the first hardware he's picked up in the bigs to date. July 1: Castrejon's also the AL Rookie of the Month. Shocking how that works! July 1: The AL Pitcher of the Month was Jimmy Goddard (14-1, 1.87), who is having a first half that, if you could award a Cy based on a half-season, he'd have it in the bag already. Goddard went 5-0 with a 1.94 ERA in 55.2 IP, also registering 37 Ks, finishing 4 of his 7 starts, and adding 3 shutouts. Somehow this was his first PotM for 1973; he did win it for April of 1972 previously. July 1: The NL Rookie of the Month was a pitcher himself, young bishop-in-training and not Mr. Bean Rowan Atkinson (7-2, 3.31). When you have the Houston Astros' awesome lineup hitting behind you, you only need to be pretty good to rack up wins and Atkinson was better than pretty good. He went 5-1, 2.76 and whiffed 38 batters in 49 innings over 6 starts, including 2 CGs and one shutout. He also allowed just 1 HR all month after yielding 5 in 42.2 innings in April. The 23 year old was on the All-Star Prospects team in 1972 but otherwise this is his very first, if not last, award. July 1: The NL Pitcher of the Month - yeah, there was someone even better than Atkinson - is a familiar name: Ringo Starr (13-4, 2.78). The Phillies lefty/drummer/yellow submariner went 5-0 with a 1.43 ERA in 5 starts and 44 innings pitched - yeah, that's 4 complete games. He's not really a strikeout king but still had an excellent 25-10 K/W ratio last month for his NL West leading Phighting Phillies. He was 2nd in RoY Voting in 1971, was on that aforementioned All-Star Prospects team in 1970, and now adds a "legit" award to his hardware rack. July 1: I guess there shouldn't be any surprise who the NL Batter of the Month for June is: the Dodgers' Justin Stone (.346, 17, 35), who was a one-man wrecking crew for his team after returning from injury. Stone hit .380 with 10 HRs, 18 RBIs, 22 runs scored, a .790 SLG, and, as a sign of how much he is feared in this league, 5 intentional walks. Stone, who is just 18 HRs away from becoming the 2nd 500-HR hitter in league history (behind Atlanta's Henry Riggs), is a 6-time MVP and 11-time All-Star who also, by the way, has won this award... 23 times(!), most recently for May of 1972. July 1: Welcome to the big leagues, Larry Holmes (0-1, 1.93). The big, mean-mugged Orioles right-hander got knocked out of the box in the 5th inning in today's 10-1 drubbing at the hands of the Tigers... allowing 1 earned run? 7 overall though; the O's defense fell apart that inning with errors by fellow debutant SS Mario Segura (.250, 0, 0) and 1B Dante Chairez (.241, 13, 32). You can see that where he might lack an overpowering fastball, man oh man do you not want to get that guy mad... Chris McGranahan (2-3, 2.96) had yet another solid spot start for the Detroit victory, going all the way, striking out 6, allowing 5 hits and walking 1, although truth be told he didn't have to do as much as he did. July 1: Although the youngster's got a reputation for selling out for the right price, the Pirates' Viktor Yanukyovich (1-1, 0.95) did exactly what the Bucs needed him to do today, spot-starting in Game 2 of a double-header and throwing a 5-hit shutout to beat the Expos 2-0. This was his 2nd-ever major league start and first-ever complete game, so it must have been nice. "I will sell it like I will sell Crimea in 40 years", he said gleefully following the game. The Pirates actually swept the doubledy-do in true OOTP fashion, winning the first game 9-6 but taking 12 innings to do so. A 2-run double by C Doug Connally (.276, 4, 27) gave them an early 6-0 lead that they held onto until DJ Cheeves (5-10, 3.99), apparently not able to know what to do with a lead, fell apart in the 8th. Okay, fine, you know, enter bullpen ace Paz Lemus (8-1, 1.68, 10 Sv)... except that Lemus, with the bases loaded and nobody out and Pittsburgh still up 6-1, gave up a fielder's choice that brought home a run, walked a man, and then gave up a huge grand salami to OF Rory Gallagher (.250, 2, 10) to tie it up. This being the Pirates, they of course failed to score after that until Doug Connally got back up again in the 12th to face a tiring Ernesto Hernandez (2-3, 3.71) with 2 men on. He belted a pitch out of the park to send Pirates fans home... mollified. Pittsburgh has been really disappointing on offense, even in Pittsburgh terms, but there just doesn't look like there's a lot I can do about it aside from hope and pray that the likes of OF Justin Lawson (.269, 1, 12) and 1B David Salinas (.265, 1, 19) will remember how to hit again. They are literally 23rd out of 24 teams in runs scored, dead last in batting average, and aside from drawing walks they do basically zero things you need an offense to do. And it suuuuucks because the pitching is as good as ever (I guess Cheeves himself aside). The good news is, they're still 38-37. The bad news is, .500 ain't even close to cutting it in a very good NL East division. ## Teams in Review June 29: Hey, I think we've more or less moved past the "bad team" part of these 40-loss reviews because the Oakland A's (35-40, 12 GB) aren't really all that bad. I mean hey, they won the division 2 years ago and finished a game out last year - granted, that one game out also came with a 78-77 record. Anyway, they seem kind of average this year, with neither a particularly exciting offense or defense, although I guess the offense is hiden a bit by their home park. They're also waaay out of the pennant race unless they get on a hot streak immediately. Rotation: I think that just for the remainder of the first half or unless they get completely clobbered I'm going to push this to a 4-man rotation. That's going to push old man Carlos Torres (5-10, 4.71) to long relief; frankly, the 35 year old is on really thin ice and could get cut outright. I'm not a supe rfan of how Lee Barnard (3-7, 4.68) has pitched either; he's long been a control guy who needs to nibble to get wins but this year he's been reeeeeeally bad with losing control over the heart of the plate. He's got 24 HRs already; he keeps this up and he'll be also go into relief in the 2nd half. Bullpen: Willis Chavez (3-6, 2.84, 10 Sv) heads a kind of volatile bullpen, but I'm not sure how much I can really do. Neither Ben Lamar (2-1, 4.30) nor Doug Ellis (1-2, 3.76) have been as good as they were last year and as a result what was supposed to be an A's strength is now a weakness. Again, though, what am I going to do here? Philip Trapasso (2-1, 1.98) has excelled in the LOOGY role enough that he's already taking a bigger role so there's that... Infield: Probably more out of hopes and dreams than established numbers I'm going to mix 1B Ray Hawkinson (.244, 2, 13) in a little harder at first base. Alex Canales (.270, 8, 34) has been... fine but also not really what you need from a first baseman offensively speaking. Maybe Hawkinson will recapture that magic that got him to hit .379 in 179 at-bats in 1970, who knows? After a couple good-average years, Israel Gaytan (.234, 1, 12) has done exactly what I'd feared he'd do and why we brought in other guys to play the middle infield. When he hits .290 you can put up with the... nothing else. When it's .234, it's another matter. Jon Reid (.244, 3, 18) isn't exactly a world-beater at second himself but he is at least a better defender (in fact is having a much better year). I'll just leave things as-is but man, we might be moving in a different direction soon. I feel like 3B Chase Jones (.223, 2, 14) was doing better at one point, right? Yeah... he hit .326 in May. Now he's at .190 for June and just looks like he's overmatched again. We... do have a prospectish type who's doing well in the minors, Bobby Scott (.253, 11, 18). I don't love that lack of clutch hitting or the poor defense but beggars can't be choosers and he can slot in as a platoon partner with Jones. I also have 27 year old Jeremy Webb (.115, 0, 1). who scouts insist is good but man, dude's 27, isn't hitting this year, and is a career .174 hitter with 0 HRs in 148 at-bats. I'm gonna pass. Outfield: The odd man out with the addition of Scott was Antonio Valencia (.163, 0, 2), who's somehow out of options... I guess he is 27, even with his zero real experience. Anyway, no maaassive loss; this just means that mister Peace Train, Cat Stevens (.274, 1, 5) will get more appearances in the outfield. June 30: And speaking of mediocre... the Kansas City Royals (38-40, 10 1/2 GB) are kind of happy to be average-ish right now. Well... they're really anything but "average": first in the league in runs scored, dead last in runs allowed. This is a team entirely built on monster hitting, although weirdly, in spite of the presence of Tony Danza (.303, 7, 37) they're only 8th in BA (.258). They're #1 because of OBP (.344, 1st) and speed (36 steals, only 5th, but also +2.5 baserunning, which is 2nd). Rotation: The rotation's been bad enough that I've already kind of cleaned house already. The only real struggler left is veteran Chris Regan (5-10, 5.06) and I'm not ready to pull the plug on him yet as he's kind of the veteran leader of the pitching staff. Bullpen: Things are pretty good for a team ranked so low to be honest. Jake Duckett (2-2, 3.35, 4 Sv) took over the closer role in place of Jorge Cervantez (0-4, 1.96, 9 Sv) due to experience but they could flip back easily. Yeah, no need to touch anything here. Infield: Man the catching has been baaaaaaaad... well, the hitting at catcher anyway. Like, I'd love to switch out the 33 year old former Giants man Chris Campbell (.137, 0, 3), let alone the starter Mike Perez (.184, 8, 23), but with who? There are 3 guys in AAA who all have lots of catching experience and they're all hitting underneath the Timonen Line. How is this even possible? I guess I'm going to stick with Perez, at least has power... and ugh, I'll swap out Campbell in favor of last year's backup Jonathan Escobar (.196, 2, 15 at AAA Omaha). Escobar didn't keep this job because he hit .144/2/18 last season. I'm not optimistic. Speaking of not hitting, shortstop has also been an issue but again I'm not sure what to do. Mike Dawson (.188, 0, 11) can hit better than this, I just know he can. Even a reversion to last year's .233/7/37 slashes seems optimistic at this point. Uwe Kleimann (.183, 0, 9) has had every opportunity to outhit Dawson but hasn't. Nate Sita (.224, 8, 24 in AAA Omaha) is another option but yeah, I don't know, doesn't seem like a great one either. I see now how this team is only 8th in BA. Outfield: CF Prince Charles (.221, 8, 29) has honestly been doing better than I ever expected he'd do: he's a plus fielder on a team that tried to use Dave Corona in center last year, he has surprising pop, and while he is admittedly very hot and cold as a hitter he seems like he's starting to walk a bit more too. Much as I'd like to replace him with someone with more upside... there kind of isn't anyone. I'm concerned about RF Dave Corona (.266, 5, 29)... the power doesn't seem to so much be there anymore and although he's really getting the job done as a leadoff man with a .397 OBP and 11 steals (although those are in 23 attempts, so not suuuuper great), I've kind of expected more from him, a lot more. DH Edwin Manchego (.215, 13, 46) is not hitting and right now it's looking like my decision to stick with him and trade away RJ Dominguez (.312, 11, 47) to the Reds was the wrong one. Still, he's the best power hitter on the team by a longshot so... he stays too. July 1: Hey... I guess I missed one last "bad" team after all: the Baltimore Orioles (29-40, 13 1/2 GB) have been riding what was looking at first like a strong wave but now is clearly a mediocre one that has now turned back to bad. That made no sense. Anyway, the pitching is... fine but the hitting is not. What SHALL we do? Rotation: To be honest, we're playing the 2nd game of a double-header here and I just need more bodies. So... Jorge Martinez (2-2, 5.27) has been not great but he's still getting the cut in favor of... recently turned pro boxer Larry Holmes (1-3, 3.29 at AAA Rochester). Will he ever fight Houston's George Foreman? We may never know! I don't think he's got a lot of legs as a pitcher; mostly he's a warm body at this point. He'll get the start tonight though. In the long term, Rob Reiner (2-4, 4.06 in 1972) literally just got off the 60-day DL yesterday after missing more than 9 months with a stretched elbow ligament. He'll be back eventually but no way he's ready yet. Bullpen: I very recently called up Fijian politician and left-hander Sitiveni Rabuka (4-2, 4.31 in AAA Rochester) but otherwise we'll probably just leave this bullpen as-is. It is muuuuuuch less solid now that Montay Luiso is gone but then, that's what you should expect with a bad team. Infield: We have gone a maaajor log-jam at second base. It's not a totally *bad* thing since we can really play both guys. The question is: where? Kurt Russell (.271, 0, 11) is clearly the better defender - possibly a Gold Glover at the position - so he probably plays in the field but man, Bill Murray (.289, 8, 23) is a heck of a hitter so we've got to find a way to get him into the lineup somehow. I've been using him at DH, filling in for Russell at 2nd, and at DH for now. At 3rd, Marco Perez (.236, 3, 20) seems to be a touch worse than his fall-off offensively the last 2 years and then on top of that he's no longer quite the superstar Brooks Robinson (who?) type on D anymore. His days sure seem to be numbered, although the man's still only 28 so he could get it back I guess. Bill Murray has a substandard arm so he's not going to be a long-term option there, probably... although I might change my mind about that in the second half. SS Jon "Lucky Number" Blevins (.214, 1, 12) has taken that final fall from mediocre to bad on offense, just in time for the team to have traded away his replacement. UGH. He's also currently injured, a minor bump he suffered in the first game. I'm also very unimpressed by his backup Jay Merry (.237, 0, 4) and... yeah, screw it, we're going to go with the 4th option at short this year, 25 year old Mario Segura (.261, 2, 18). He's not a great fielder at all - Kurt Russell could probably fill in just as well - but he seems to be able to hit and that's more than I can say about any of these other guys. Outfield: Left field is yet another problem position, with "Not Fat" Ralph May (.200, 3, 9) not hitting and Henry Molloy (.394, 0, 4) off to a nice start but not anyone's idea of a future star. Screw it times two: Molloy starts. CF Frank Beard (.281, 12, 33) has been the opposite of an issue, so much so that I'm dropping him down in the order from 1st to 3rd where he can form a 1-2 punch with 1B Dante Chairez (.245, 13, 32). In right... TJ Corron (.299, 3, 18) just got hurt yesterday and while his diagnosis is pending I guess I'm using Jason Workman (.227, 8, 23) out there. Frankly, Workman is soooooo close to getting cut outright; since joining the O's he's triple-slashed 235/257/388, basically doing nothing but hitting dingers, and that OBP is not Earl Weavery at all. He keeps getting chances because he was after all the NL MVP 3 years ago. Man, he seems like he's fallen HARD. July 1: Aaaand we're back to mediocre! The Atlanta Braves (38-40, 4 1/2 GB) have had a weird road to average, at least for them: in spite of their offensive reputation, they're 3rd in the NL in runs allowed now and only 6th in runs scored. Like, they're legit only average. The bullpen sans John Winn (out for the year with elbow ligament surgery) has been blowing leads so they're also underperforming. They could definitely come back in a pretty weak NL West. Rotation: The 4 guys currently in the rotation look fine to me. The worst of them is the guy starting today, Felix Carranza (5-9, 4.22) and like a low 4s ERA in the Launching Pad is still kind of good, right? Yeah, no changes here where none are needed. Bullpen: The BP though has been rough. Ron Shepherd (1-3, 4.99, 4 Sv) has given up sooo many runs this year but the peripherals look fine. His co-closer Ernesto "Wild Thing" Carrillo (2-3, 2.79, 5 Sv) has better looking numbers but is still the wild control guy he was with the Mets so I don't know how much to expect. I'd love for some solid veteran influence further down in the 'pen but that would have been John Winn and we just don't have it. I'll stick with these boys for now I guess. Infield: Happilly, C Gianluigi Farinelli (.265, 0, 11) has recovered from that sub-.200 BA season last year and he provides the Braves with their first legit catcher in... years. Good news! I remember 1B Jon Hernandez (.230, 4, 19) just kind of vaguely disappointing throughout his time in Baltimore... now he's doing the same in Atlanta. He was really supposed to team up with Nate Ringstad (.193, 3, 12) to put together a good platoon but... well, you can see the numbers, and it ain't 1972 anymore. I do think it's time to make a change here with 2B David Oddsson (.246, 12, 30) at least having the power of a first baseman in the minors so I'll call him up. Yeah, it means Ringstad's days are possibly numbered. Maybe he'll excel in a straight-up pinch-hitter role like he filled for the Astros for so many years. We acquired John Timonen (.148, 0, 3) hoping his defense would outweight his famously bad bat. Well... even in Timonen terms, he's been soooo bad the last year plus: he hit .136 for the Cubbies last year and was only hitting .139 for them when he was traded to the South. Yeah... Pedro Almodovar (.250, 0, 14) is starting now. He's not even a slouch defensively. Speaking of vets whose days are possibly numbered... Outfield: LF Henry Riggs (.312, 15, 37) can still hit but he's reached the stage in his career when the DH role seems built especially for him. Too bad he's in the NL. He's gotten banged up a bit which hurts his counting stats and now I'm pulling him for tough lefties because when he can't hit, he's not worth a lot. I mean, he hits though. Hooow is this team doing anything on defense (a: they're 10th in ZR with -10.4, so the answer is "they are not")? RF Chris Ward (.283, 5, 25) is also a decided minus out there and he along with Riggs really make Frank Menner (.215, 7, 21) work. Long-term, Ward's got to move to left (although then what happens with Riggs?). ROCK STAR slash RF Ace Frehley (.281, 2, 7) just got promoted to AAA the week before last; I've love to use him but this is a man with barely 200 at-bats above A-ball and I don't want to just throw him onto a team willy-nilly, especially if he's not going to start.
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07-07-2024, 10:23 AM
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Minors (Double A)
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
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Links?
Hey, I'm just now jumping on this ship and wondered if you've created a website for this league?
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07-10-2024, 10:16 AM
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Hall Of Famer
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07-10-2024, 11:03 AM
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Minors (Double A)
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Location: Atlanta, Georgia
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Great project! |
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07-13-2024, 09:39 AM
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Thanks!
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07-13-2024, 09:40 AM
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#289 | |
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July 2-10, 1973
## Standings / Recap / Comments3
I didn't really do a July 4th update per se but as the saying goes, the team who is in first place the Sunday after Independence Day will win the division, right? Anyway I don't think the standings have appreciably changed since the 4th: it's still Detroit, Texas, Philadelphia, and Houston, and only one of those races is at all close (I guess St. Louis/Philly is still kind of tight). 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 53 31 .631 - W5 409 290 .284 69 75 3.19 3.0 5.8 .983 40.4 45.3 Boston 45 36 .55 6½ W2 370 285 .277 65 41 3.31 3.1 5.8 .980 33.4 37.5 New York 46 41 .529 8½ L1 378 414 .248 88 21 4.41 2.7 4.9 .981 -4.1 35.4 Baltimore 33 45 .423 17 L2 327 382 .253 70 33 4.27 4.1 5.0 .976 -1.6 38.8 Cleveland 35 50 .412 18½ W2 306 369 .246 74 29 4.11 3.4 5.4 .981 9.9 30.2 Milwaukee 32 51 .386 20½ L3 332 406 .258 51 57 4.39 3.5 4.8 .978 -12.7 33.3 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Texas 53 29 .646 - W3 336 246 .265 53 44 2.71 3.3 5.1 .984 43.0 38.5 Chicago 47 36 .566 6½ L2 362 323 .260 74 46 3.50 3.5 5.0 .981 25.7 34.2 Oakland 43 43 .500 12 W2 362 370 .266 59 40 3.89 3.0 5.0 .980 5.2 34.8 California 40 42 .488 13 L2 354 371 .262 63 62 4.09 3.3 4.9 .980 23.8 40.3 Kansas City 43 45 .489 13 L3 424 436 .258 65 38 4.49 3.6 4.8 .983 11.8 32.9 Minnesota 30 51 .370 22½ W1 302 370 .245 69 40 4.11 3.5 5.2 .977 2.8 33.3 LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Philadelphia 51 32 .614 - W1 403 315 .249 66 66 3.37 3.1 5.2 .980 26.9 45.3 St. Louis 48 35 .578 3 L2 348 335 .256 81 25 3.51 3.3 5.8 .981 17.0 44.4 Chicago 47 40 .540 6 W4 349 328 .258 66 44 3.49 3.3 4.8 .985 38.7 40.3 New York 38 42 .475 11½ L5 266 312 .250 35 47 3.43 3.3 5.1 .980 17.1 41.0 Pittsburgh 38 44 .463 12½ L7 267 272 .235 34 16 3.08 2.7 6.0 .982 10.9 37.0 Montreal 32 49 .395 18 W3 325 388 .250 63 34 3.98 3.6 5.1 .978 3.0 35.8 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Houston 48 41 .539 - L3 365 355 .251 79 39 3.52 3.6 5.9 .976 10.4 30.2 Cincinnati 45 40 .529 1 L1 349 328 .248 67 35 3.53 3.0 5.7 .980 5.9 27.4 Atlanta 45 43 .511 2½ W3 339 302 .251 61 26 3.10 3.1 6.0 .982 2.4 28.6 San Diego 42 43 .494 4 L4 324 288 .252 48 36 3.01 3.4 5.2 .979 42.6 38.5 San Francisco 38 50 .432 9½ W2 312 369 .244 66 52 3.65 3.2 5.5 .979 7.4 30.3 Los Angeles 37 50 .425 10 W4 276 331 .246 79 34 3.34 3.2 5.4 .978 32.8 37.0 The DIRTY HIPPIES are pretty expected, I think: the Pirates, who finished 22nd(!) in the rankings after being in the top 10 (7th) this time a week ago. Looking completely lost on offense and going 0-7 will do that to you, especially when 3 of those games are against last-place Los Angeles. They scored 3 or fewer runs in 4 of those 7 games, scored 4 once, and 5 twice. Somehow LA has scored fewer runs than they have this year but that can't last. The only other real hippie this week was San Diego, who dropped from 8th to 15th with a 2-5 week that even looked like it was going to be OK at first: they finished a long series at Houston with a 6-2 loss, then traveled to LA and won 2 out of 3 against those punchless Dodgers... then hosted the Cubs, who were very mean guests to them (see above). These guys have the 2nd best ERA in the NL but I think they're still a few players away on offense and being without Dale Earnhardt (.293, 14, 43) until August is not going to help. ## Major Transactions July 6: Woo hoo! An actual trade! No, I didn't forget. The Angels trade minor league CF Anatoly Karpov (.312, 11, 51 at AA El Paso), their #3 prospect and #49 overall, and CL Larry "Gator" Rivers (7-3, 3.20, 11 Sv at AAA SLC) to the Giants for SP Moises Melendez (7-6, 2.71). Melendez, a 3 year vet even though he's only 25, was set to be a franchise cornerstone for the struggling Giants for years to come but this is a pretty good haul coming back. Karpov is projected to be ready for a September call-up and Rivers already has had a cup of coffee in the major leagues earlier this year. July 7: The Pirates purchase 2B Israel Gaytan (.220, 1, 12) from the A's for $10,000. Gaytan has struggled this year and largely lost his starting job but a. he's still only 25 and b. he's hit around .290 the past couple years. He'll be their new starting second sacker amidst the struggles of Tyler Webster (.219, 2, 14). July 8: The Astros purchase RP Chris Wilson (0-0, 2.73, 2 Sv) from the Cubs for $10,000. Wilson seems like he's lost a few miles off his fastball, which is to be expected at age 37, but he's still been pretty effective for the Cubbies and Houston does need some bullpen help. For the Cubs, this move allows them to call up Walter Kwok (9-6, 2.98), who's been mowing down hitters at AAA Wichita (127 Ks in 130 IP). ## News July 2: Match Game '73, the first and most successful revival of the NBC game show, debuts on CBS. Gene Rayburn is still your host and they open up from two celebrity panelists to six, starting with Richard Dawson and Vicki Lawrence among others but not, weirdly enough, Charles Nelson Reilly. It will become the highest rated daytime TV show in the US. July 2: Betty Grable dies of lung cancer at 56. July 2: Swede Savage, who was badly injured in a crash at the Indy 500 back in May, dies today of his injuries. July 2: In a loooong week, KC's 2B James Ellroy (.318, 5, 48) is the king. Ellroy went 14-24 (.583) with 3 HRs and 8 RBIs to take the award home. As if KC needed even more young hitting this year, Ellroy, a 17th round pick in the 1971 draft, has blown up this year. He won the California League PotW for the week ending 7/18/1973 but this is the 25 year old's first major league hardware. July 2: Padres SP/singist Steven Tyler (6-6, 2.80) tossed 2 shutouts in 2 games to pick up the NL Player of the Week. Tyler, in typical "pitch to contact" fashion, struck out 11 and walked 3 in 18 IP last week; he's averaging just 2.8 walks per 9 IP this year (38 in 122 IP). Tyler was the 1972 NL Rookie of the Year and also won the Rookie of the Month awards twice last season; however, this is his very first non-rookie award. July 2: SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK! We are talking complete game records this week, so... 5 guys from the 40s and 50s. 5. Carlos Moreno, CHW 1954 (17-13, 2.82), 23 CG. This was Moreno's rookie year, although he was a late bloomer at 27. Moreno won 2 Cy Youngs and went 151-135 in a pretty short career. 6. Joe Barlett, PIT 1947 (17-17, 3.58), 23 CG. Bartlett came into the league late, at age 26 in '46. His best year was '48 (still to come) but was out of the league before his 35th birthday; injuries were the culprit. 7. Jose Vasquez, CLE, 1947 (13-19, 2.93), 25 CG. Vasquez was forced to work a loooo this year; overall, he only went 106-97 but that's a little underrating who he was in his 20s, as he was just 12-17 from age 31 onward. 8. Alex Valencia, CLE 1946 (23-9, 2.53), 26 CG. Somehow not a Cy Young worthy year but hey... another guy who came into the league late and missed a couple years, Valencia was also gone from the league before his 33rd birthday. He wound up 104-81 in his MLB time. 9. Bartlett, PIT 1948 (23-9, 2.72), 26 CG. I'd consider HOFing this guy but man... that 120-92 record is scant even for a guy who might have missed, I don't know, 5 years to the war. July 2: This scheduling... did they just refuse to play in September? "Only" 11 games scheduled today but the Rangers and White Sox have a _6_ game series ahead of them this week, and not even the entire week! Two straight mid-week double-headers, and then both teams have another double-header on Sunday. Man! This could decide the AL West, unless both teams get so tired out that they just die from here on out... July 2: Detroit's Edgar Molina (13-8, 3.59) has got a long, long road ahead of him if he wants to challenge his teammate Jimmy Goddard (15-1, 1.88) for the Cy this year. Today he might have gotten a step closer with a 5-hit, 1-run complete game against the Indians and a 5-1 win. Molina struck out 10 and never looked really threatened today. He carried the shutout into the 9th, in fact, before 1B Nick Hodzik (.255, 9, 27) ruined his day with a leadoff solo HR. He also struck out 10, increasing his strikeout lead to 23 (124 in 165.2 IP; Goddardd is still 2nd with 101). July 2: The Reds won today 6-2 but it wasn't enough for PH Matt Wilson (.163, 0, 0) to keep his job. Following a second straight .143 month, Wilson hit into a double play today to kill a rally and this was enough. Wilson, a .275 career hitter in spite of playing in the low-offense 60s, looked like he'd lost it last year with a .200/.293/.235 season following a .353/.450/.510 1971. Cincy was hoping maybe he'd split the difference; instead, it turned out that '72 was better than what they were going to get. His career is now almost certainly over with at age 37. July 2: In what might be a prime case of winning the battle to lose the war, the Cardinals juuuuuust avoid getting swept in a 4-game series vs the Phillies by tying the game up in the 9th and then winning it in the 10th. Had the Phillies won, this would have also been their 7th victory over the once-contending Cards in the past week. RF Matt Williams (.279, 11, 29) belted a leadoff triple in the 9th that chased starter Danny Plaunt (5-6, 3.80) with the score still 3-1, Philadelphia. Then closer Tom Grohs (2-6, 3.96) stepped in, promptly wild-pitched Williams in, and then blew the save by allowing an RBI single to CF Jimmy James (.258, 4, 25). He did get out of the inning without further damage but then allowed a leadoff double to LF Rafael Disla (.338, 6, 40) and the game-winning RBI single to 1B Lorenzo Martinez (.256, 13, 40) to end this one. St. Louis now comes out of their malaise 4 1/2 games behind Philadelphia and with a seasonal record of 4-8 against their rivals. They won't play them again until September 19, a 3-game midweek series at Veterans Stadium. What they do have to do is play a 4-game series at home vs Pittsburgh starting with a double-header tomorrow; they've played 2 straight extra-innings games and had to burn closer Travis Livingston (5-3, 1.79) tonight so it might be rough. July 3: The US Army and Navy dismiss all charges that had been brought against seven former American POWs for court-martial. Those men - 5 Army and 2 Marines had been charged with collaboration with the enemy; however, further review noted that in addition to a lack of real evidence, the servicemen had spent an average of five years in confinement in Vietnam. This decision comes seven days after the suicide of an eighth person so accused. July 3: David Bowie retires his Ziggy Stardust persona in front of a (according to Wikipedia at least) shocked crowd at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, England. July 3: American stage and TV actor Patrick Wilson, best known for... The Full Monty, I guess, is born today in Norfolk, Virginia. July 3: Hey, it's the halfway point... I guess, so here are YOUR top 10 prospects: With the mid-season mark upon us, now is a great time to update the pre-season BNN Top 100 Prospect list with what we have learned to this point. This year, 22 year-old RF Tom Petty of the Texas Rangers is the #1 prospect overall. Here is the top 10: 1. RF Tom Petty, 22, Texas Rangers (.288, 7, 23 at AAA Spokane) 2. 3B Phil Collins, 23, Montreal Expos (.324, 1, 6 in the majors) 3. CF Penn Gillette, 18, Milwaukee Brewers (.271, 0, 2 at A Danville and dude literally just got drafted) 4. CF Manny Trillo, 22, Cincinnati Reds (.219, 1, 11 in the majors) 5. 3B Tommy Hilfiger, 22, Atlanta Braves (no professional record) 6. 3B Edgar Martinez, 21, California Angels (.293, 6, 33 at A Quad Cities and sadly not his real name) 7. LHP Rush Limbaugh, 22, Atlanta Braves (3-7, 5.03 at AAA Syracuse and sadly his real name) 8. RHP Rodrigo Torres, 16, Los Angeles Dodgers (no professional record and not his actual name) 9. LHP Yiannis "Yanni" Chryssomallis, 18, Milwaukee Brewers (3-6, 4.55 in rookie ball in 1972 - no record in '73) 10. RF Walter Mosley, 21, San Diego Padres (no professional record, also just drafted) The upside of being an awful expansion team? 2 top 10 guys for the Brewers. July 3: Rough day for contending NL West teams, as first up Padres 3B Dale Earnhardt (.293, 14, 43), who injured himself diving for a catch yesterday, found he'll miss the next month with a strained hamstring, which will also make him ineligible for the All-Star Game in 3 weeks. "Ah shucks," said the 24 year old, among other things we cannot publish. July 3: Reds PH/1B Ramon Puig (.244, 1, 5) wasn't nearly as integral a part of his team as Earnhardt was but he was still expected to platoon with MC "Swamp Thing" Gainey (.270, 4, 10) at first base in relief of the also-injured Alonzo Huanosta (.273, 5, 23 but out for the season with a broken kneecap). Instead, the 35 year old Puig will himself hit the IR with a fractured tibia that will keep him out until mid-August at least. July 3: Apropos to little - his team, the Milwaukee Brewers, got swept in a double-header to the Orioles - but CF Fernando Ceballos (.255, 1, 18) now has 216 at-bats on the season and a higher average than an on-base percentage (.251). He has 6 sac flies so far and just 1 walk. I'd say amazing but not in a good way... just wow. July 3: The White Sox managed to do the thing only 6 other teams have done all year: beat the Rangers in Arlington Stadium. With a 5-3 victory in Game 2 of their double-header, the Rangers fell to 33-7 at home and to within 2 games of Chicago for first place in the West. Spot starter Damian Seja (1-0, 3.46) pitched 7 quality innings for the victory and Malcolm Post (2-2, 2.36) wrapped things up for his 16th save. 1B Jeff Nation (.262, 13, 55), filling in for a resting Alice Cooper (.316, 22, 62), went 2-4 with a homerun and 4 RBIs to more or less win this one by himself. July 3: I noted on Monday that the Cards had a rough time ahead of them this week. Well, how about sweeping the double-header vs the Pirates? It took them yet another extra-inning game, a 6-5 victory in the 13th inning of Game 1 when they finally induced a dead-tired Paz Lemus (8-2, 1.71) to issue a game-ending, bases-loaded walk to C Lance Hall (.197, 1, 8 but also a .372 OBP) but they did it. Game 2 was also close into the 7th when LF Parker Sweeney (.273, 3, 6) belted a 3-run HR off of Danny Perez (2-7, 4.41) to put St. Louis ahead 6-3, which was also the final score. Phil Bowman (2-1, 3.75) delivered a complete game spot start right when the Cards needed it the most. Maybe he should be in the rotation? Wait, nope, he's a 2-pitch guy; that would not work out at all. The Cards' road gets a liiiiittle bit easier from here: they do play the next 5 games straight but a. no double-headers at least, and b. they actually get a day off on Monday the 9th, which is in turn their last day off until the All-Star Break but hey, we're all working hard right now... July 3: Meanwhile, in Atlanta, the Launching Pad hosted... a classic 60s style pitching duel. The Braves' Frank Evans (8-5, 2.05) pitched a 4-hitter, making just one mistake all game - a solo HR to the Astros' CF George Foreman (.318, 14, 54) - but that was one mistake too many, as Houston's Ernie Alvarez (10-8, 3.44) allowed only 2 hits and zero runs for a 1-0 victory. Houston remains a game up on the Reds with this while the Braves continue to have weird issues scoring runs this year. For Alvarez, this was his 3rd shutout of the year; he had 4 all of last season. July 3: The Mets' Trevon Dean (3-7, 3.80) has had a pretty solid comeback year this year that's been tamped down by some really bad luck and poor run support. Today, even though his team spotted him 6 runs, he took matters into his own hands, throwing his first shutout since 1970 (when he was still with the Braves) and striking out 10 Expos for his 3rd win of the year. In spite of K rates being down this year, Dean's actually got his highest rate (5.5/9) since 1966, when he was a long reliever and spot starter in Atlanta's first year in their new home. "I'm a Cy Young man," said the 31-year old Dean, who, in spite of thinking highly of himself has never even been to an All-Star Game, after the match. July 4: IT'S INDEPENDENCE DAY Y'ALL GO AMERICA July 4: Camilla Shand marries for the first time to British Army Major Andrew Parker Bowles. She will eventually divorce this man and go on to marry future King of England and current Royals CF Prince Charles (.221, 8, 30) in 2005. July 4: Don Powell, the drummer of the pop group Slade, is critically injured in a car crash that his 20 year old girlfriend is killed in. July 4: GACKT is born in Okinawa. This is not his real name. July 4: As one of those "yep, this is the 70s and that was a long time ago" pieces of news, Helen Ogston, best known for interrupting British Prime Minister David Lloyd George at a 1908 meeting in the Royal Albert Hall and then holding off the stewards of the event with a whip, dies today at 91. The attitudes of English authorities towards suffragettes, it should be noted, was kind of insane: in her statement, Ogston noted (truthfully) that her people were commonly beaten up for fighting for the right to vote and that even at this event a man had "put the lighted end of his cigar on [her] wrist; another struck [her] in the chest". July 4: Hey I guess this is Independence Day and a national holiday so the fact that there are million games (actually 17) on a Wednesday isn't that weird, I guess. Soooo many games going on right now though... July 4: The Pirates take anooooooother step back today, dropping a hearbreaker 1-0 to the Cardinals and Mario Garcia (8-6, 3.98), who also whiffed 10 batters for the first time since September 17, 1972. Garcia's been scuffling a bit this year but the Pirates are the anti-scuffle. Santos Arango (7-9, 2.75) gave up an RBI single to 2B Tom Depew (.268, 6, 21) in the 2nd and then his team could do zero things. The "good" news? This was loss #40 for the Bucs. I'm not sure there's much to do to make this team better offensively but I do feel like maybe it's time to make it younger at least. July 5: Gregoire Kaylkbanda, the first President of Rwanda, is overthrown 11 years after the nation had become independent, in a coude'atate led by his Minister of Defense. July 5: In what is surely the biggest news of the baseball season, the Isle of Man begins to issue its own postage stamps. The league's resident Manxer, Dodgers 3B Robin Gibb (.259, 9, 25), was unavailable for comment. July 5: In Rhodesia, 292 students and staff from the remote St. Albert's Mission are kidnapped. I'm very confused about what happened: it looks like most of them escaped but 46 students and 32 adults are taken into Mozambique, at the time still a Portugese colony. July 5: Roisin Murphy, an Irish singer and songwriter, is born in Arklow in County Wicklow. July 5: With both teams playing with pretty empty bullpens, the Red Sox deal a HAMMER BLOW to the Yankees with a 3-0 win at Yankee Stadium. Red Sox hurler Marco Sanchez (11-9, 3.46) improved to 2nd in the AL in Ks with 108 with a 5-hit, 7 strikeout effort and got 2 clutch outs after loading the bases on a hit, a walk (his only walk of the game), and his own error. 3B Edwin Madriles (.206, 3, 5) hit a solo HR in the 2nd for what turned out to be the only run Sanchez would need, although CF Jon Glynn (.301, 6, 29) and RF Tom Brown (.298, 10, 47) also added RBI singles. The win keeps breaks Boston ahead of NY in the standings at 42-35 and 5 1/2 back compared to the Yankees' record of 44-39 and 6 1/2 behind division leading Detroit. The Red Sox also closed out this massive 5-game series by winning 3 out of 5; both of their losses came on a July 4 double-header yesterday. These two teams play next the week after the All-Star Break in a 4-game series starting July 30 at Fenway Park. July 5: In the West, meanwhile, Texas continues their insane record at home with a 2-0 win over the White Sox that also means they crushed their rivals in a _6 game_ series, going 5-1. Robby Coltrane (11-4, 2.82), the 23 year old pitcher with a kooky accent who was acquired from Cleveland in May, scattered 2 hits, struck out 5, and walked nobody in cruising to the win. "Aye, 'twas a better night than ere I knew", said Coltrane after the game, or at least that's what we think he said. The win improves Texas' home record to 36-7(!) and moves them to 4 1/2 games up on the White Sox, who were leading the division as of Sunday. July 5: His team around him may be bad but Dodgers SP Fernando Apolonio (10-7, 2.29) proved that he's still among the NL's best today, shutting out the Padres 3-0 on 5 hits, one walk, and 9 strikeouts. This is the 3rd ShO for Apolonio, who led the league in ERA last year (20-10, 1.85) and for a while looked like he might even break one-time teammate Jeff Borden's ERA record (from 1956, when h went 24-9, 1.62). He's well off that pace this year and is currently in a virtual tie with the Phillies' Roger Quintana (10-5, 2.29) for 5th in the league in that category. "I just do what's needed", said the 32 year old Apolonio after the game, who, rumors have it, is not very gruntled with his team's record (34-50, dead last in the NL West) and has reportedly asked for a trade. July 6: The Flemish Cultural Community adopts an official flag and anthem and sets July 6 as an annual holiday. The anthem, "De Vlaamse Leeuw", was written by Hippoliet Van Peene in 1847 and is not, sadly, about their "vlaamse vrites", which we Americans call French Fries. July 6: "Live and Let Die" is released in British cinema after premiering in the US on June 27, with the spy played by 45 year old Roger Moore. Also, in my mind, this is the best of all the Bond theme songs. See? Wings did something good after all... July 6: Joe E. Brown,, comic actor best known for his work in the 30s and 40s but also his role in 1959's "Some Like It Hot" where, as Osgood Fielding III, he says "well, nobody's perfect", dies today from complications of arteriosclerosis at his home in Brentwood, California, 3 weeks short of his 82nd birthday. He got a star on the Walk of Fame back in 1960. July 6: The Red Sox are stuck in a really tough position where they've got to kind of play lights-out for the next 2 months. Today, Michael "Dozens" Pesco (11-10, 2.93) overcame his usual (for this season at least) poor run support by hurling a 3-hitter against the powerful Chicago White Sox, earning his team a 6-0 win at Comiskey Park. Pesco, who passed his teammate Marco Sanchez for 2nd in the AL strikeout race (110-108) with a 7 K performance, used some iffy control (3 walks) in his favor, constantly keeping the Chisox guessing. On the batting side, SS Oniji Handa (.264, 6, 31) continued a nice hot streak with a 2-4 game that included a 2-RBI single in the 5th that helped chase Chicago's starting pitcher Mick Fleetwood (7-7, 3.38) from the game. July 6: As overpowering as Texas has been at home... man, they are just not good on the road. Today they were shut down by, of all people, Milwaukee's Jordan Irons (4-5, 3.24), the 28 year old former Angels prospect, getting only 6 hits and not getting across the plate until the 9th inning in a too-little, too-late 3-1 loss. Brewers LF Steve Winwood (.273, 11, 42) launched a solo HR in this one, which dropped the Rangers to 15-22 away from Arlington Stadium. July 7: President Nixon sends a letter to US Senator Sam Ervin, the chairman of the Watergate investigation committee, stating that he "shall not testify before the committee or permit access to Presidential papers". He will agree to meet in another 5 dayto discuss things with Ervin so as to avoid a "fundamental constitutional confrontation between the Congress and the Presidency". July 7: Ugandan dictator Idi Amin orders the detention of 112 Peace Corps volunteers from the US after their chartered East Africa Airlines flight stops at the Entebbe International Airport near Kamala for refueling. He tells his cabinet that the volunteers, mostly kids in their late teens and early 20s, "could be mercentaries trying to enter Rwanda" (whose government had recently been overthrown). Fortunately, for now, the hostages will be released in 2 days. July 7: The Ethiopian generan election is held, with Akily Habte-Wold continuing as prime minister. July 7: Billie Jean King beats Chris Evert in straight sets, 6-0 and 7-5, to win the women's singles title at the All-England Tennis Championship at Wimbledon. In booooooring men's tennis news, Jan Kodes of Czechoslovakia beat Alex Metreveli of the Soviet Union, 6-1, 9-8, and 6-3. July 7: Veronica Lake, the American actress known for her femme fatale roles in film noirs with Alan Ladd in the 1940s (for example, "This Gun For Hire", 1942), dies of acute hepatitis and acute kidney injury, the result of cirrhosis brought on by decades of drinking, at age 50. July 7: Mercurial Cleveland SP Kevin Freeman (7-7, 3.48) had a post-game locker room meltdown today and it's hard to blame him. He was really solid through 8 innings before tiring in the 9th but his opponent... well, I'm not sure you could say that Andy "Lizard" Ring (8-7, 3.58) pitched *well* but he did get the job done, throwing a 3-hitter that was only not a shutout thanks to a 9th inning solo HR by C John Lennon (.233, 9, 32). That would have been enough to make Freeman mad but... Ring allowed *9* walks in this game, 1 off the Angels record (which has been reached 5 times, the last in 1968). "I COULD HAVE GOTTEN A HIT TODAY" shouted an angry Ring from inside the locker room, where reporters were not allowed. "I WOULD HAVE FLATTENED THEM!" . This seems... unlikely, as before the DH rule was instituted this year, Freeman held a lifetime BA of .138. Nobody had the heart or the courage to bring this up though. July 7: The Yankees are only 5-5 in their last 10, albeit now with a 2-game winning streak.... their last 10 games have come since last Sunday. They were left to call up SP Noah Cooper (1-0, 0.00) for a one-game spot start today thanks to 3 double-headers this week. Man, the league does noooot like New York, I guess. They have gotten to play 5 of those games against Cleveland and Minnesota, at least (they're 3-2 against them). July 8: Takieddin el-Solh is appointed as the new Prime Minister of Lebanon by President Suleiman Frangieh. July 8: Monza claims 3 lives, as motorcyclists Renzo Colombini, Renato Galtruccio, and Carlo Chiono are killed in the Campiano Italiano Juniores race. July 8: Gene L Coon, an American TV producer best known for "Star Trek", dies of lung cancer at age 49. I'm in that part of my own life where I see "wow, 49, so young". July 8: Speaking of "wow, so young", Braves RF Henry Riggs (.323, 16, 41), also the all-time leader in HRs with 561, will miss the next month and a half with a hamstring strain, a move that will also mean he'll miss the All-Star Game for the second straight year. Incidentally it's also a huge blow to the Braves, who were really relying on his still-excellent power bat in the cleanup spot. July 8: All-Star voting update! Below are the current standings for the American League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jul. 8th , 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 1,064,867 votes. CATCHER 1. Josh Lewis, Oakland Athletics: 703,623 2. Frank Abagnale, Baltimore Orioles: 657,178 3. John Lennon, Cleveland Indians: 412,893 FIRST BASE 1. Alice Cooper, Chicago White Sox: 1,064,867 2. Angelo Martinez, Minnesota Twins: 749,944 3. Chris Seek, California Angels: 735,862 SECOND BASE 1. Geoffrey Rush, Texas Rangers: 666,351 2. Rodrigo Juarez, California Angels: 651,761 3. Bill Murray, Baltimore Orioles: 627,685 THIRD BASE 1. Tom Weiss, New York Yankees: 802,655 2. Jose Ayala, Detroit Tigers: 774,428 3. Bobby Ramirez, Texas Rangers: 739,967 SHORTSTOP 1. John Johnson, Chicago White Sox: 732,992 2. Oniji Handa, Boston Red Sox: 592,855 3. Rob Curran, Detroit Tigers: 582,767 LEFT FIELD 1. Tony Danza, Kansas City Royals: 888,254 2. Bruce Springsteen, Boston Red Sox: 777,668 3. Pedro Castrejon, Chicago White Sox: 559,962 CENTER FIELD 1. Alvin Romero, Detroit Tigers: 801,121 2. Ronnie Hellström, Minnesota Twins: 577,636 3. Frank Beard, Baltimore Orioles: 555,566 RIGHT FIELD 1. Tommy Pron, Oakland Athletics: 711,583 2. Dave Corona, Kansas City Royals: 677,891 3. Brandon Anderson, Cleveland Indians: 649,721 DESIGNATED HITTER 1. Ernesto Garcia, New York Yankees: 956,329 2. Joey Ramone, Detroit Tigers: 842,643 3. Brian Johnson, Boston Red Sox: 563,950 STARTING PITCHER 1. Jimmy Goddard, Detroit Tigers: 405,906 2. Justin Kindberg, Boston Red Sox: 393,328 3. Michael Pesco, Boston Red Sox: 355,113 4. Rich Reese, Chicago White Sox: 349,385 5. Chad Daugharty, Texas Rangers: 348,775 RELIEVER 1. Montay Luiso, California Angels: 444,977 2. Malcolm Post, Chicago White Sox: 394,059 3. Willis Chavez, Oakland Athletics: 353,502 4. Jim Marceau, Detroit Tigers: 346,726 5. Nate Kemp, Texas Rangers: 316,043 In his 282-game career Cooper is batting .277 with 35 doubles, 5 triples, 86 home runs and 205 RBIs. He has stolen 8 bases and scored 181 times. Kind of surprising to see that Ernesto Garcia is only #2 in the voting race but hey, he'll be the starting DH and that's all that matters, right? Second base is a real light position this year; not that Geoffrey Rush (.306, 5, 29) is bad or anything but he's a first-year starter. The #2 guy Rodrigo Juarez's (.297, 14, 51) vote has been held down by being in the NL at the beginning of the year - guess the fans are writing him in - so he might surpass Rush soon. Bill Murray (.288, 8, 25) is having a really strong season... as the Orioles DH. Below are the current standings for the National League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jul. 8th , 1973) for the All-Star Game, which will be played on Tue. Jul. 24th , 1973. The top vote getter at this point is Justin Stone with 920,597 votes. CATCHER 1. Jason Bushon, New York Mets: 877,447 2. John Stuart, St. Louis Cardinals: 780,581 3. Doug Connally, Pittsburgh Pirates: 648,060 FIRST BASE 1. Justin Stone, Los Angeles Dodgers: 920,597 2. Joshua Waltenbery, Houston Astros: 849,664 3. Lorenzo Martinez, St. Louis Cardinals: 703,233 SECOND BASE 1. Juan Perez, Chicago Cubs: 856,123 2. Paul McCartney, San Diego Padres: 825,588 3. Kevin Dwyer, Atlanta Braves: 720,517 THIRD BASE 1. Dale Earnhardt, San Diego Padres: 756,118 2. George Harrison, San Francisco Giants: 682,911 3. Pete Little, Houston Astros: 655,883 SHORTSTOP 1. Tony Shannon, Philadelphia Phillies: 722,247 2. Joe Wicker, San Diego Padres: 496,044 3. Ronney Yitzhaki, Los Angeles Dodgers: 480,652 LEFT FIELD 1. Alberto Juantorena, Philadelphia Phillies: 829,009 2. R.J. Domínguez, Cincinnati Reds: 789,064 3. Henry Riggs, Atlanta Braves: 786,791 CENTER FIELD 1. George Foreman, Houston Astros: 875,989 2. Greg Lake, Philadelphia Phillies: 593,853 3. Mike Schurke, Chicago Cubs: 491,867 RIGHT FIELD 1. Matt Williams, St. Louis Cardinals: 747,429 2. Paul Kahl, Montreal Expos: 659,105 3. Jaden Weaver, Cincinnati Reds: 657,479 STARTING PITCHER 1. Tony Rivera, Houston Astros: 235,984 2. Fernando Apolonio, Los Angeles Dodgers: 216,340 3. Danny Plaunt, Philadelphia Phillies: 213,279 4. Jeremy Battaglia, Pittsburgh Pirates: 202,538 5. George House, Atlanta Braves: 192,923 RELIEVER 1. Geoff Saus, New York Mets: 272,376 2. Brian Bruno, Pittsburgh Pirates: 249,023 3. Pete Lynn, Cincinnati Reds: 235,479 4. Paz Lemus, Pittsburgh Pirates: 234,447 5. Alec Cosby, Los Angeles Dodgers: 225,294 As far as career numbers, Stone has compiled a .321 batting average and collected 2226 hits, 485 home runs and 1413 RBIs. There's soooome weirdness here too, as Greg Lake (.299, 9, 45) is more of a utility OFer with Bryant Tarala (.269, 8, 15) the actual starter in CF when he's healthy (which, if you know Tarala, is sort of rare). Matt Williams (.274, 11, 30) is nursing a sprained ankle; he looks juuuust on pace to play in the Midsummer Classic but if he doesn't it'd be kind of neat to see Paul Kahl (.293, 6, 30) start for the Expos after washing out of the league in 1971. All the pitching voting is waaaay split compared to the AL; Tony Rivera (11-5, 2.50) isn't necessarily having the "All-Star starting pitcher" type season but he's doing well enough I guess, and the fans I guess don't want to see Ringo Starr (14-4, 2.57) in there at all since he hasn't even cracked the top 5. July 8: You wouldn't know it from the raw numbers but Brewers SP Marius Gaddi (4-10, 4.29) is having an OK bounceback year. Sure, the ERA is the highest of his career. Today was a good example of what he's capable of: he went 7 innings of 6-hit ball, allowing just 1 unearned run to the Rangers. Unfortunately, that wound up being the single run scored by either team in this contest, as Texas spot starter Nate Kemp (4-1, 1.98) pitched a 4-hitter of his own. "Look, I'm gonna level with you," said Kemp following the game. "I should be starting. I started in college, I started in the minors, I'm made to start. Start me and good things happen." The Rangers have a pretty packed rotation and honestly Kemp is fortunate to start because his team has already had ot play 11 games this month including 3 double-headers this week. July 8: Another day, another grueling 1-0 loss for the Pirates, this time to the LA Dodgers, who do have a league-best starters' ERA (2.99); it's dragged down by a league-worst bullpen (5.05) but when you never see the bullpen, that doesn't mean much. Today it was Ken Hansen (5-8, 4.08) who showed up, scattering 8 hits and 2 walks over 9 innings and striking out 8 to edge Santos Arango (7-10, 2.67), who isn't showing any signs of getting fed up but... I sure would be if I were in his shoes. Hansen, in spite of inducing 10 groundouts, didn't even get a double play today. Instead he counted on the Pirates to strand all 10 baserunners. This was Hansen's 2nd shutout this year; he had 6 of them in 15 complete games last season. ## Teams in Review July 5: The Chicago Cubs (43-40, 8 GB) are... are they supposed to be here? It's really hard to say. They've finished 2nd or 3rd in 4 of the last 4 seasons (3rd the last 2) but aside from finishing 1 game back in 1970 your "lovable losers" have never really been that close. This year, they're winning more than they're losing, which is good, but they are baaaarely within shouting distance of the Phillies. I think the game plan has to be to try and compete for now and take another look in the 2nd half. Rotation: The pitching staff is... in a position. While the bullpen has been really solid and bailing them out, the starters have been less than fantastic. I'm thinking strongly of demoting veteran Scott Coffey (6-5, 5.49) because I can't really just start him at home (3-1, 4.98 - not great but it's Wrigley) and sit him on the road (3-4, 6.00, only 3 QS in 8 starts). For now though Jason Sanders (7-6, 3.76) is nursing a sore back so there's not much I can do. Also, Javy Obregon (7-6, 4.59) continues to be roughly replacement level as the Cuban defector seems to have always been. Extremely reluctantly, I guess I'm making no changes here. Bullpen: The 'pen on the other hand is 2nd in the NL in ERA (2.50) and isn't really having any issues. When Jesse Kelly (5-3, 1.98, 12 Sv) isn't shutting down the late innings, the other 3-4 guys are doing their job. No changes here either. Infield: 1B Antonio Lopez (.269, 4, 24) hasn't recovered well from a broken hand so far. I'm not about to replace him - before this season, dude was a perennial MVP candidate - but I've got my eyes out now I guess. I will swap him and "SS" Jeremy Taylor (.246, 10. 27) between 3rd and 4th, as Taylor a. is hitting for power at least but b. seems like he's going with the all-or-nothing swing that's more befitting cleanup than 3rd. Aurelio Rodriguez (.244, 2, 14) seems like a much better fit for a utility role than the full-time 2B position he's stuck in right now but with Juan Perez (.295, 13, 37) now out for the season with a torn rotator cuff (yikes) I don't see how I've got any other choice here. One option I guess I've got is minor leauger Jon Cooley (.265, 1, 5), who is a better fielder than "Chi Chi" (in this universe anyway), which in turn allows Rodriguez to be more of a jack of all trades... if that works. Neither player has, like, any power, even for a middle infielder. I'm also not at all fond of moving Jeremy Taylor back to shortstop this year. He got moved out to RF for a reason: he's just not that great at short and I don't want it to impact his hitting. Well... with Charles Bradley (.216, 3, 4 at AAA Wichita) not even hitting in the minor leagues, I don't see a better option right now. If this can somehow get this team back into contention, great; if not, the 2nd half of the year might see Bradley getting called back up, stick or no stick. Outfield: Alex Vallejo (.333, 4, 11) is currently out with a strained back but when he's healthy he'll get into the lineup... but for now, man... I'm going to stick Ryan Clements (.326, 5, 11) in center because he's the only guy who can play the position well. That sticks Chance Cooper (.223, 8, 30) in right for now and probably on the bench once Vallejo gets back, at least for as long as Vallejo can play. Cooper for the year is just 6-40 against lefties with a single extra-base hit (a double) so maybe going forward he stops playing against southpaws entirely. July 5: For the Pittsburgh Pirates (38-40, 10 GB) on the other hand I think it's pretty clear by now that they're going nowhere. Which is... sad since even with the underwater record they've got the best pitching in baseball. They also have the 2nd worst offense thanks to a league-low .236 average, 32 HRs, and 16 steals. Something's gotta give, right? I don't think there's a lot in terms of youth to try out but hey, we might try... Rotation: Danny Perez (2-7, 4.41) has been pretty bad this year and from a larger perspective I am - yes! - going to switch out to a 5-man rotation to save the Big 3 from further abuse. That means Viktor Yanukyovych (1-1, 0.95) and Rick Springfield (7-3, 1.81 at AAA Charleston) move into the rotation. Both guys are pretty young; imagine adding a 4th big starter to this rotation... Bullpen: Brian Bruno (2-1, 6.04) has been terrible this year but he's got a history of being a decent middle relief / spot starter for this team so I'm not willing to cut him just yet. I will slot him in long relief. Will Paz Lemus (8-2, 1.71, 10 Sv) play even more with the youngsters in the rotation now? I guess we'll see (answer: probably). Infield: I wanted C Miklos Nemeth (.188, 1, 8) to start working on taking over for Doug Connally (.271, 4, 28) but he just hasn't hit and what's more, Connally's looking like his poor 1972 (.223, 9, 56 in 394 at-bats) was just a blip, so I'm going to call up 25 year old Timothy Higgins (.222, 11, 34 at AAA Charleston), who's got a lot of power, which he'll utilize mostly off the bench for the team because Connally's starting full-time down the stretch. 1B David Salinas (.259, 1, 19) seems to have chosen exactly the wrong time to stop hitting. The 37 year old has never been any kind of a power man and needs to carry a high average to contribute, but he's done that well in the past, as the .292 career average suggests. He's hitting just .237 for Pittsburgh so far this year. I have "California" Josh Lewis (.209, 2, 9) there to spell him but I have zero confidence here. Albilio Valdivia (.400, 0, 1) is back from the DL in 2 weeks but he's 41 and has a grand total of 108 at-bats since 1971. Everywhere is bad for this team, man... MI Tyler Webster (.219, 2, 14) is awful this year, his backup Luke Dunnahoe (.228, 2, 9) hasn't exactly blown anyone away either, and the main guy I could replace them with is a 24 year old who does nothing but draw walks. He does have speed that the major league roster lacks... ugh. It's a bad situation, I don't see anything good from it, but I'm going to send down 24 year old 3B Hank Williams Jr. (.198, 1, 6) in favor of... the deep-voice of John Noble (.207, 4, 19 at AAA Charleston). Here's hoping you can, like, hit or something! Outfield: LF Justin Lawson (.260, 1, 12) has been a cleanup hitter for this team in the past... but where did the power go? He's hit as many as 24 HRs and driven in 98 men (in 1971) but thanks in part to a a hamstring strain he's got just a single HR in 31 games. The other issue I've got is that defensive lineman Jerry Sherk (.239, 9, 36) can also basically only play that position and is the only guy on the team with power so I think it's ust a numbers game for Lawson at this point. RF Brian Jackson (.248, 3, 25) has also been slumping but in his case I just don't see how I can take the 29 year old out of the lineup (well, he's sitting with a quad strain right now, but when healthy). Man, this OF situation is bad. July 6: The San Diego Padres (42-40, 3 1/2 GB) on the other hand are in an... interesting position. They aren't really ready to contend I don't think and yet, here they are. Remember how the Pirates are #2 in the league in runs allowed? San Diego is #1, thanks to an electric bullpen and a frontline that is... good enough, I guess. The hitting on paper at least seems like it should be carrying this team but it kind of hasn't been, just 8th in the NL in runs scored with a pretty pedestrian .252 average and the 3rd lowest HRs in the league at 47. Rotation: I think I'm going to move to the 4 man rotation with this unexpected run. That means pulling AAAA guy Ruben Estrada (2-2, 3.12) out of the rotation and into long relief. I'll surely mix guys around after the All-Star Break, as right now Eagles frontman Don Henley (10-4, 2.05) is clearly the cream of the crop, but right now the gammes are just plain coming too quickly to mess around. Bullpen: Speaking of unexpected, Darius Parchman (2-2, 0.72, 13 Sv) has been a complete boon. He was fine last year (4-9, 2.62, 23 Sv), if a little prone to losses, but he's been unstoppable this year somehow. In fact, pretty much everyone has done well save lefty specialist Dan Pineau (0-1, 4.43), and it always seems like that's a position where one bad outing makes a guy look way worse than he really is so I'm leaving everything alone. Infield: Oliver Williams (.220, 5, 20) is handling the primary backstop duties over Michael DeBose (.178, 0, 7) thanks to experience, defense, and, frankly, the fact that DeBose has been pretty bad this year. I'm not suuuper happy with this position in general; let's chalk it up to an expansion position. Outfield: LF Junior Cannon (.205, 5, 24) has been really bad ever since he came over to San Diego late last year (.139, 1, 5) and frankly he wasn't any good in Cincy last year either (.225, 5, 17). My problem is, nobody else is even close to being able to play out there on this team. I guess I'll try out Ian Everett (.279, 0, 5) on account of even though he's a no-power guy who's best suited in CF, the bar that Cannon has set is really, really low. I'd call someone, anyone up but there's just plain nobody in the minor leagues right now save maaaaybe Russ Deuser (.221, 1, 8), who I guess plays a mean corner OF, but this is a guy who can't even break .250 in the minor leauges. Likewise, Ray Herring (.180, 2, 17) is kind of only sticking around because... well, he was great for San Diego last year (.304, 11, 38 in 359 at-bats) so I'm hoping that comes back, but also the lack of anybody else who can play out there. Incidentally he's lost the starting job to "Doctor" Phil McGraw (.288, 2, 21), who doesn't exactly have the power for RF but... I am not caring about this overly much. July 7: When it rains it pours... the California Angels (39-40, 11 GB) are pretty well out of the race but hey, you know, they are the defending AL West champs so maybe it's not quite time ot accept this. They just look pretty average across the board to be honest, not really great, not really terrible, so I'm at a loss as to how to actually improve them but I guess we'll see what tinkering I can do. Rotation: I'd put these guys into a 4 man at some point but with things set the way they are and even with new guy Moises "Duck" Melendez (7-6, 2.71) recently acquired from the Giants, I'm dropping back to a 5 man "Los Angeles" style rotation with Andy O'Connor (6-1, 3.88) taking up the mantle as the new starter. This will leave the bullpen a *little* thin, but... Bullpen: ...now the bullpen has longtime Orioles ace Montay Luiso (0-2, 2.82, 7 Sv) in it so they should be fine. No other changes to make I don't think. Infield: Maaaan, catcher is in a bad spot right now. Shaun Dennehy (.200, 1, 11) is starting pretty much because he has to. The backuo Mauricio Alvarez (.094, 0, 0) has completely forgotten how to hit and both the guys in AAA are below the Timonen Line. Oh right, Tsui Hark (.194, 2, 7) is also here; I keep waiting for him to hit but it's not seeming to happen. I am going to just release Alvarez outright for now and... we'll try and figure something out, I guess. 3B Bobby Kralcevic (.241, 4, 29) has been awwwwwful since flipping leagues (.155, 1, 7 with Cal) but at this point I've just got to keep handing him the reins at the hot corner and hope he'll figure out AL pitching. If he can't, Marc Aaronson (.333, 8, 37 at AAA SLC) already came up for a couple weeks this year and could be a second half option. Outfield: It's... fine. No changes will happen. July 7: The New York Yankees (44-40, 8 GB) are next up, barely treading water in this tough division. So far the pitching has really deep-sixed the chances of what's actually a pretty strong offense that's built around 3 run homeruns (2nd in OBP with .339, 1st in HRs with 87). Of course the HR tallies begin and end with DH Ernesto Garcia (.258, 32, 66), who's as all-or-nothing as he's ever been. Can we do... anything to right the rest of this ship? Seriously they are 2nd worst in the AL in runs allowed, 3rd worst in starters' ERA (4.39), and 2nd worst in bullpen ERA (4.71). Rotation: Right now I just feel like the pieces in place have been unexpectedly bad, but have to get better. Santos Rodriguez (8-12. 4.53) literally led the AL in ERA last year; why is he 3-4, 6.34 with the Yankees after they acquired him from the Braves last month? He's not even allowing a million HRs, a fate that sometimes befalls pitchers in Yankee Stadium. He's allowing a .330 opponents' average in spite of 6.7 K/9, which screams "BABIP" to me except that it's 1973 and I'm not supposed to know about that yet. Let's just say "ba(bip)d luck". Manny Carbajal (3-5, 4.17) also posted a sub-3 ERA last year (11-16, 2.63) but got blown up yesterday in his first game back in a month to raise his 1973 ERA over 4. These guys have to get better. Bullpen: Likewise, the dual closer setup of Gabriel Covarrubias (4-1, 2.70, 8 Sv) and former Giants ace John "The Assassin" Booth (4-1, 2.11, 8 Sv combined) should get things done going forward and counter poor play earlier in the season. I'll leave things as-is. Infield: I experiemented with Justin Inkster (.135, 0, 4) at catcher but wow, he is not cutting it so I'm back to Khalil Tabb (.212, 1, 15). I'm not going to say the Ernesto Garcia trade was anything but a major steal but man, we could really use John Lennon now... IF TJ Pritchett (.218, 2, 18) looks like he might have gotten the old "ya done" hit that happens to guys in their mid-30s a lot - I was about to say "in this game" but let's face it, in real life too. He's more or less already dropped the 2B job to Jonathan Banks (.290, 1, 13) and the time may be near to have to release him. Outfield: Speaking of guys who are on the outs... Ryan Johnston (.168, 6, 19) did OK as a backup OF last year but he is noooot hitting at all now and just refused a minor league assignment so he goooone. Instead, I'll call up Armin "Quark" Shimerman (.319, 10, 34 at AAA Syracuse), who's the latest in a pretty colorful line of good Yankees OFers who've come up the past few years. Let's hope he doesn't fall apart like so many of them have! July 8: I think this is the last one of these for the week? The Houston Astros (48-40, 1 game ahead) are doing pretty well, albeit in a weird, anti-Astros way: in spite of the home stadium they're 2nd in the NL in runs scored and 3rd worst in runs allowed. How? 78 errors (dead last) is a big part of that. Wow. Let's see what we can do... Rotation: At a glance, everyone in the (5 man) rotation is fine. In the interests of moving down to a 4 man dealio... man, who'd I get rid of? Rowan Atkinson (7-2, 3.20) has more than done his job in 10 starts, as has Allen Bailey (5-5, 2.44). Roberto Ortiz (5-6, 3.79) has an option year left but he's one of the most experienced starters on this staff and I moved him out of relief specifically to bolster things. Ugh. I hate to do it but I guess Bailey is the odd man out. Bullpen: Even though I don't think I'm going to make wholesale changes here, this is a real pain point outside of CL Adam Eastin (2-1, 2.80, 10 Sv). Hopefull the brand new Chris Wilson (0-0, 2.73 with CHC) will help, although the man's 14/11 K/W ratio does not inspire joy. I should cut Caleb McDonald (2-2, 6.75) but he's been... solid for this team (10-14, 3.83 last year, 16-10, 4.07 in 1971) and I can't bring myself to do it just yet. Infield: Hey, changing horses in midstream and all that but catcher has been pretty bad for the Astros this year. Jonathan Hyde (.185, 4, 17) is at least a good defender. I'm calling up minor leaguer Latimer Roy (.315, 3, 12 at AAA Denver) and having him play a lot against RHPs. Good luck! Dusty Hill (.289, 3, 20) has bbeen an ooookay shortstop but I'm really not liking all those errors. He has 10 of them for a .959 fielding average. There is absolutely nothing on farm, to the extent that I just signed a couple of minor league free agents to possibly call up later and have as better options than the 35 year old Elijah Patton (.286, 0, 5), who's looking like a 35 year old trying to still play shortstop. Outfield: I'm not a massive fan of CF George Foreman (.306, 14, 55) having committed 7 errors himself so far but it's not like I'm going to pull him from the lineup and he's clearly the most qualified CF on the team. So, a lot of words to say "no changes".
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07-27-2024, 10:15 AM
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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July 9-15, 1973
## Standings / Recap / Comments3
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 58 33 .637 - L1 428 306 .281 71 79 3.08 2.9 5.8 .983 42.5 44.4 Boston 48 40 .545 8½ L3 399 311 .276 69 48 3.32 3.0 5.8 .981 38.9 37.3 New York 51 43 .543 8½ W4 401 437 .247 91 28 4.30 2.7 5.0 .981 -4.9 33.7 Cleveland 38 54 .413 20½ L4 332 395 .247 83 29 4.09 3.4 5.4 .981 9.1 28.8 Milwaukee 37 53 .411 20½ W1 363 428 .259 55 64 4.27 3.4 4.9 .979 -13.9 32.9 Baltimore 34 51 .400 21 L1 349 421 .251 73 35 4.39 3.9 5.0 .977 -6.1 39.1 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Texas 57 32 .640 - W3 358 263 .263 57 47 2.68 3.2 5.1 .984 43.9 35.7 Chicago 52 38 .578 5½ W1 393 344 .261 81 50 3.46 3.5 5.2 .982 30.8 35.1 California 44 45 .494 13 W1 387 391 .263 66 66 3.99 3.3 4.7 .981 30.1 40.9 Oakland 45 47 .489 13½ L1 379 399 .265 63 40 3.97 3.1 4.9 .980 3.4 33.8 Kansas City 43 52 .453 17 L10 443 475 .255 70 47 4.57 3.7 4.7 .983 9.0 31.9 Minnesota 35 54 .393 22 W4 332 394 .245 74 46 3.97 3.4 5.2 .977 1.4 33.8 LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Philadelphia 56 34 .622 - W1 432 336 .250 72 70 3.33 3.1 5.3 .981 30.5 45.5 St. Louis 51 38 .573 4½ L1 362 351 .253 82 27 3.41 3.2 5.8 .980 15.4 42.3 Chicago 49 43 .533 8 W1 360 343 .257 70 48 3.47 3.3 4.9 .986 41.4 40.3 Pittsburgh 41 47 .466 14 L1 289 291 .232 39 22 3.08 2.7 5.9 .982 11.2 36.2 New York 40 47 .460 14½ L1 288 352 .247 37 54 3.52 3.4 5.1 .981 15.8 45.5 Montreal 35 53 .398 20 W1 352 420 .246 70 36 4.00 3.6 5.2 .977 -4.9 34.4 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Houston 52 44 .542 - L1 400 386 .254 84 40 3.52 3.7 6.0 .977 8.7 31.9 Cincinnati 49 43 .533 1 W1 385 352 .251 71 38 3.52 3.0 5.7 .980 8.2 25.3 Atlanta 48 47 .505 3½ L1 361 325 .248 65 29 3.06 3.1 6.0 .982 4.1 31.1 San Diego 46 45 .505 3½ W1 351 314 .251 52 38 3.03 3.4 5.4 .979 43.9 36.8 San Francisco 41 52 .441 9½ W1 332 377 .246 69 53 3.54 3.2 5.5 .980 8.7 30.6 Los Angeles 39 54 .419 11½ L1 279 344 .241 80 38 3.26 3.1 5.4 .979 35.1 35.6 We've got a Yuppie Tie between the White Sox, who rebounded well from a tough week the week before to go 5-2 vs the Yankees and Orioles (they won both series), and the Yankees, who recovered from that 2-1 series loss to the Chisox in Comiskey Park to sweep the Royals at home in a 4-game series themselves. Both of those teams are 2nd in their divisions and both will need some help to move up. The White Sox are technically closer but are now without unexpected power thread Pedro Castrejon (.295, 10, 29) and have been relying on DH Jeff Nation (.270, 17, 65) to hit cleanup now. And honestly, Nation is looking pretty good, although his career high in HRs is 21 (in his rookie year of 1970 with the Royals) so he might be playing a bit over his head right now. The Yankees seem set with their lineup but their pitching staff has huuuugely let them down this year, having allowed the 2nd most runs in all of baseball. Improved performance from Santos Rodriguez (4-5, 6.41 with his new team) and Manny Carbajal (3-6, 4.62) would help but at this point they've got to not just equal the division-leading Tigers, they need to seriously outplay them. The dirty hippies are obviously the Royals, who are on a 10-game skid that has sent them from dark horse AL West contenders (maybe that was always a pipe dream) to "contenders" to catch the Twins in the cellar. They are now 4-11 for the month, which I guess means that they opened it kind of strong. At this point, they're the answer to the question "just who in the league has a worse pitching staff than the Yankees?" with 475 runs allowed and an MLB-worst 4.57 ERA. They do have the top offense in the league. Lately that's gotten them a lot of 6-5 losses like the one they suffered today in Yankee Stadium. And they've got a 3-game series at Detroit next week so it doesn't get any easier for them... I was thinking about saving the league leaders for next week but I'll probably be breaking down the AS rosters so... I'll do it now instead. In the AL, CAL 1B Chris Seek (.341, 10, 53) is juuuust holding onto the batting race lead ahead of Boston's 1B/OF Brian Johnson (.339, 3, 35) and LF Bruce Springsteen (.333, 6, 41). Seek's also "only" hitting .332 with the Angels since coming over from Texas earlier in the year so the trend-line is not in his favor. Also, of course, Johnson and Springsteen have the air of desperation about them whereas Seek is more or less getting his hits for fun at this point. The HR race is of course stil led by Yankees DH Ernesto Garcia (.252, 32, 69), although he's had a real power outage this month - just 1 HR and 6 RBI since July 1 - and that's allowed shock rocker Alice Cooper (.305, 25, 67) to scooch in to contend for both this and the RBI lead. The Twins' 37 year old slugger Angelo Martinez (.271, 20, 63) is currently the only other ALer with 20+ HRs. For RBIs, it's Garcia and Cooper up top followed by a tie between Cooper's White Sox teammate Jeff Nation (see above!) and the A's Casey Satterfield (.293, 16, 65). Alvin Romero (.293, 3, 36) is of course the steals man with 43, well ahead of the Astronaut Jon Glynn (.283, 7, 34) with 29, and in 3rd there is once again a tie between Texas' 3B Bobby Ramirez (.324, 6, 30, also 5th in batting) and California's Richard Simmons (.239, 2, 21) with 17. Simmons spent some time in the minors but is back in the bigs and starting again. The AL pitching story is of course dominated by Detroit's Jimmy Goddard (18-1, 1.75), who's way aout ahead of both the ERA and wins races; in fact, he's the only qualifying ALer with a sub-2.00 ERA. Boston's Brian Osbourne (10-2, 2.38) is kind of playing out of his mind for 2nd with Texas' Billy Crystal (14-7, 2.48) in 3rd. Crystal's also 3rd in victories which means that Goddard's teammate Edgar Molina (15-9, 3.59) is in "place" in that category. Sadly, Goddard isn't really a K guy so it's unlikely that he'll win the triple crown. That's Edgar Molina's category - with 14 of them he's 21 ahead of Boston's Michael Pesco (11-11, 3.28) and 22 ahead of fellow Bostonian Marco Sanchez (12-10, 3.45), both of whom are having hard-luck seasons in spite of all the Ks. Malcolm Post (5-2, 2.01) has been just about the only reliever in the junior circuit to have been good all season long with no real hiccups and so it's appropriate that he leads everyone in saves (17) and shutdowns (18). Texas' Tanzan Kihara (1-2, 2.86) is #2 with 14 saves, 7 each in Texas and California; he's been ripped apart kind of hard with the Rangers though, yielding a 4.72 ERA with 3 HRs allowed in 13.1 IP. Jim Marceau (3-4, 2.23) is tied for 3rd with 12 saves and in 2nd with 15 shutdowns and his tie-partner is Oakland's Willis Chavez (5-8, 2.91) who's also 3rd in ****downs (13). Lots of losses for a reliever though, wow. In the NL Justin Stone (.323, 20, 42) now has the at-bats to qualify for the batting title and so he's looking like a triple crown threat himself. He's in a bit of cold streak though so Rafael Disla (.321, 8, 46) and Mike Morrison (.321, 3, 27) are right in there behind him. Cincinnati's Jaden Weaver (.244, 22, 70) has played all year and so still holds the HR lead over Stone as well as the RBI lead over... everyone, Stone is pretty far back actually. Alberto Juantorena (.310, 18, 63) is 3rd and is himself a hot streak away from a Triple Crown run; he's also 2nd in RBIs, with the Reds' RJ Dominguez (.306, 14, 61) in 3rd. Jon Berry (.275, 8, 25) is about the only thing the Giants have to root for right now and is leading the NL in steals with 29, just ahead of Juantorena with 25 (quadruple crown?). Waaaaay back behind him in Cincinnati leadoff hitter and 2B Pedro Ortiz (.246, 4, 35). There's no single guy dominating the NL pitching leaderboards, which, great! There are two guys with ERAs under 2: Pirates ace Jeremy Battaglia (8-8, 1.81) and knuckleballer Colin Rose (8-3, 1.91), the latter of whom is looking like a bit of a Cy Young contender now himself after starting the year in the bullpen for Atlanta. Roger Quintana (11-6, 2.19) leapfrogged into 3rd ahead of LA's Fernando Apolonio (10-8, 2.21) thanks to an 11-inning, 1-run performance at San Diego yesterday. Richard Starkey's (15-4, 2.49) got the old win lead still; you can say it's because of run support but Ringo's pitching pretty well too. Nobody has won more games over the past 3 years than Tony Rivera (13-5, 2.37) so it's fitting that he's in 2nd now, with 3rd a 3-way tie between Quintana, George House (11-8, 3.17), and San Diego's Don Henley (11-5, 2.23). House is also just barely winning the K race right now with 127 to Rivera's 126; Quintana is right behind both with 124. The Mets have fallen apart this year but that's not the fault of Geoff Saus (7-6, 3.12), who leads the NL in saves (17) and shutdowns (24). I mean, I guess he hasn't been lights-out like he has in the past but come on man. Darius Parchman (2-3, 1.25) is moving on in behind him in saves although his 16 shutdowns doesn't even crack the league's top 5. Tom Grohs (2-6, 3.13) is a little up-and-down himself but hey, 13 saves is 13 saves and he is tied with Paz Lemus (9-3, 1.85, 10 Sv) for 4th in shutdowns himself. #2 for shutdowns is, like the last time we looked at this, a tie between Chicago's Jesse Kelly (6-3, 2.38, 12 Sv) and Cincy's Brian Yates (6-2, 1.21, 12 Sv). ## Major Transactions July 9: The Orioles claim RP Michael Williams (0-0, 4.05) off waivers from the Yankees. Baltimore's bullpen has been just plain awful since they traded off Montay Luiso (0-2, 2.82, 7 Sv) and while Williams hasn't been amazing this year, he did have 69 Ks in 73.2 IP at AAA Syracuse last year (where he went 4-4, 1.10 with 19 Sv) and really was a victim of a numbers game for the Bronx Bombers. He'll get immediately slotted in as the team's new stopper to replace the struggling Akihisha Mera (1-7, 6.10, 5 Sv). July 10: The Expos purchased CF Allen Scurry (.224, 1, 8) from the Royals for $7,500. Scurry has been pretty well kicked into a 5th/6th OF role with the defensive emergence of Prince Charles (.212, 8, 31) but the Expos could stand to take a longer look at him with their own guy Anton Mendoza (.272, 3, 29) OBPing .293 this year and prospect Arsene Wegner (.250, 5, 29 at AAA Peninsula) not exactly looking like a world-beater in the minors. July 11: The Rangers purchased CF Curtis Hope (.190, 1, 9) from the Mets. For the Rangers, Norm Hodge (.258, 2, 18) is certainly hitting better than last year (.206, 2, 20) but his glove isn't *quite* what it was in his heyday and that .258 is a very empty .258. Hope was the Mets' starter from 1968-1972 but lost his job this year after slashing .211/7/46 last season. He's still only 27 so hopefully the bad hitting was a blip. For the Mets, they're slip-sliding away, newcomer Kjell Isaakson (.260, 2, 24) has a lock on the CF job now, and hey, free money. ## News July 9: The ested Tower, opens outside the city of Liberec in Czechoslovakia. It looks... funky and has a big old transmission antenna on it. July 9: PURELY COINCIDENTALLY I'M SURE the US and Czechoslovakia agree to establish diplomatic relations for the first time since the country fell under the Iron Curtain following World War II. US Secretary of State William Rogers and Czechoslovakian Foreign Minister Bohuslav Chnoupek sign the agreement to open consulates in each others' nations during Rogers' visit to Prague. Jusly 9: British serial killer Patrick Mackay - yes, apparently even Britain has serial killers in the 70s - commits the first of 13 murders to which he will eventually confess, stabbing a woman on a train as it passes near Catford in the greater London area. July 9: Also PURELY COINCIDENTALLY it's a bloody, bloody day in baseball. First up, Giants 1B Justin Richens (.225, 3, 25) was diagnosed with a broken bone in his elbow, which will take him out for the season and possibly end his career. Should this be the end, Richens will have finished with 10 All-Star appearances, 2,560 hits (currently 6th all-time), a lifetime .295 average, 430 HRs (6th), and 1,417 RBIs (5th). Yeah, those are not eye-popping numbers thanks to the 60s but he's a clear Hall of Famer. His best year was probably 1957, when, as a Tiger, he finished 2nd in MVP voting (to C Mario Moreno (.375, 13, 75)), just missing a Triple Crown with a .353 average (2nd to Moreno), 34 HRs, and 105 RBIs (both of which led the league). I guess voters decided that Moreno's defense was a bigger deal... July 9: Also out for the season is White Sox slugger LF Pedro Castrejon (.295, 10, 29), just signed this offseason out of the Mexican League He suffered a torn flexor tendon. As he's 35, I guess it's not out of the question that these 49 games will be all we'll see out of this man as well. 22 year old rookie Peabo Bryson (.212, 0, 0, but .260, 4, 12 at AAA Iowa) will try and fill that man's shoes. July 9: Royals DH Edwin Manchego (.227, 17, 60) had been having a pretty rough year prior to last week. He's still an all-or-nothing guy but last week he was "all" with a .435 average (10-23) with 4 HRs and 13 RBIs to earn the AL Player of the Week. This is his first-ever MLB PotY, although he did win it twice in the minor leagues. I'm going to guess this won't be enough for him to make his 2nd trip to the All-Star Game but hey I guess we'll see, right? Also, second straight week that a Royal wins PotW. There's something in that... Missouri River water? July 9: Meanwhile, in New York, Mets RF Barry "The Ritz" Cooper (.296, 2, 29) has maybe been a bit too much the opposite of Manchego in terms of hitting: he's just a straight up singles hitter with zero power - but last week he, too, was the best man in his league with a 12-24 output (.500 of course). He... didn't really do a lot else, with just 1 HR, 2 RBIs, and 4 runs, but we can chalk that up to his teammates not coming through. The 3-time All-Star and lifetime .306 hitter has picked up this award one other time, the week ending April 19, 1970. July 9: SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK is a real 70s/80s job: the top 5 strikeout men during the daytime: 5. Edgar Molina, DET (14-8, 3.71), 49 4. Ricky Rosas, MIN (4-7, 4.90), 52 3. John Carpenter, NYY (12-8, 3.87), 54 2. Obe Olthof, SF (4-11, 4.37), 57 1. Michael Pesco, BOS (11-10, 2.93), 59. Olthof is up there mainly because 12 of his 18 starts to date have come during the day, although unlike most pitches he's also clearly pitched better before dark. He's 3-6, 4.30 in day games vs 1-5, 4.54 at night with 5.8 Ks/9 when the lights are off and 5.2/9 when they're on. All 4 of his complete games have come during the day as well. Could this be the key to unlocking his potential? Outside of trading him to the Cubs, I would say "no" and also "I ain't got time for that kind of micro". July 9: Texas is visiting Detroit early this week and Game One was one for the ages... Rangers starter Robby "Hagrid" Coltrane (9-3, 2.00) made one mistake all night but it was the game-deciding mistake, a solo HR to 2B Joey Ramone (.323, 7, 60). Detroit was meanwhile starting Jimmy Goddard (17-1, 1.81), who now has a Smokey Joe Wood type record. "I've got to figure these guys out now," said Goddard following the game, "because we might be playing them again in October." Goddard has already tied last year's shutout mark of 5 and is, inconceivably, on pace to break the all-time record set by Houston's Tony Rivera last season (9). July 9: Phillies CF Bryant Tarala (.267, 9, 16) has got a well-earned reputation for giving it all up on the field. Sometimes this isn't a good thing: the 10-year veteran hasn't played more than 125 games in a season since 1968. There are good sides to this to, for example today when he led his team to a 1-0 win over the Braves with an 8th inning INSIDE THE PARK HOMERUN off of Felix Carranza (6-10, 3.74). Carranza for his part gave up 8 hits but did a pretty good job of keeping the Phillies from capitalizing overall. For Philadelphia, Vince "The Eligible" Bachler (6-1, 1.91) continued his nice run after getting called up from AAA Eugene at the beginning of June: the 26 year old now has 7 quality starts and 2 shutouts in 8 major league starts. July 10: The Bahamas are granted independence by the United Kingdom, become a nation with Sir Lynden Pindling (hmm) as their first Prime Minister. The Caribbean archipelago remains within the Commonwealth. July 10: Treasure hunter Mel Fisher announces that he and his team of explorers have located the remains of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which had sunk in a hurricane in 1622. The worth of the treasure is estimated at more than $600M. July 10: John Paul Getty III is kidnapped from the Piazza Farnese in Rome and held for $17M in ransom. Getty, 16 year old grandson of the wealthiest man in the world, refuses to pay the ransom at first until... a newspaper receives the teenager's ear in the mail. He eventually sends them a ransom of $3.2M and Getty will be freed on December 15. July 10: In Prague, Olga Hepnarova drives a rented truck into a crowd of people and kills 8. The manuever was done intentionally and, in the words of what was supposed to be a suicide note, "TO PAY BACK [her] HATERS". She is captured, sentenced to death, and hanged in 1975. July 10: Oleksander Yanukyovych, the Ukrainian multi-millionaire and son of current MLBer Viktor Yanukyovych (1-1, 2.16 with Pittsburgh) is born in Donetsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. July 10: Wallace "Bud" Smith, 49, the former world lightweight boxing champion from 1955-56 and an Olympian in 1948, is murdered when he tries to stop a man beating up a woman in Cincinnati. The man pulls a gun and shoots Smith in the head. Smith defeated Jimmy Carter (not that Jimmy Carter) to win the lightweight title in a 15 round split decision on June 29, 1955, defended it successfully one time in a rematch against Peanuts (not his actual nickname), and then lost it to Joe Brown in another 15 round split decision. He lost to Brown via TKO in a rematch and then, like a lot of lower-weight fighter, dropped off after that and retired a year later. July 10: The Red Sox' already dim pennant hopes took a big hit today as 1B/cleanup hitter Mike Miller (.286, 10, 43) was diagnosed with an intercostal strain that will keep him out until mid-August. This does coincide with the return of 2B Brian Long (.214, 0, 2) from his own long-term injury - he just came back on the 7th after having been out since the 17th of April with a dislocated shoulder - but that's a big bat to have to replace in the lineup. July 10: The Oakland A's CF David "Aperture Science" Mesa (.258, 1, 20) will also miss the next 5ish weeks with shoulder inflammation, which at least in this case is probably worse news for Mesa than it is for the A's. Cat Stevens (.296, 2, 8), the 1972 NW League MVP who's flashed in the pros so far, will take over up the middle in his stead; Mesa will just have to hope he doesn't get Wally Pipp'ed here. July 10: You wouldn't know it from the wins and losses but Dodgers pitcher Rogelio Salinas (8-10, 2.38) has really upped his game this year. Following 4 straight years of giving up 30+ HRs, including a league-high 36 last year, the 30 year old lefty has cut those down to manageable levels (14 in 136.1 IP, 0.9/9) and as a result he's that much more effective. Today he shut out the Cardinals on 3 hits, walking 2 and striking out 5. There was a prime moment in the 8th where a Salinas of the past surely would have come unraveled: RF Ryan Ashbaker (.329, 0, 18) walked with out out, followed by a single by 2B Tom Depew (.261, 6, 22) that turned into a 2nd-and-3rd situation when the throw in from LA RF Ray Costa (.250, 6, 20) was late and slow. With PH Parker Sweeney (.236, 3, 6) up, Salinas got him to hit in the air... to short center, too short for Ashbaker to try to score. The pitcher (Roger Quintana (10-6, 2.28, who himself was throwing a 6-hitter)) was up next and so ended the rally. Dodgers win, 2-0. July 11: A fire breaks out in a lavatory on Varig Flight 820 near Paris, causing a crash while attempting to make an emergency landing in an onionn field 2.5 miles short of Orly Airport. Among the dead are the president of the Senate of Brazil, an Olympic sailor, and a well-known Brazilian sports journalist. July 11: The Battle of the Sexes match is set up as 1973 Wimbledon champion Billie Jean King accepts a challenge from 1939 Wimbledon men's champion Bobby Riggs for an unprecedented "winner take all" $100,000 prize (circa $670,000 today). Riggs, a self-described "male chauvinist" (yeah, there was a time when this wasn't a pejorative), had said earlier that it was fair that men got paid more than women because he, in his 50s at the time, could beat even the best women in the world. July 11: American actor Robert Ryan, best known for playing villains and cops in movies and on television, dies at age 63. July 11: Padres RF Ray Herring (.176, 2, 17), who is hitting as well as that line would imply, came into my office and told me he wants to start. Well, I wanted you to play better, Ray; we can't always get what we want. Herring did, to be fair, hit .304/11/38 last year in part-time play so I was counting on him. I guuuueeeess Ed O'Neill (.233, 3, 18) hasn't been hitting super great himself so I think I will for once accede to demands and stick Herring in more of a half-time role in right. If he doesn't hit, you must... DFA. July 11: The White Sox have a big (6 game) deficit to make up to the Rangers and are now without their cleanup hitter so if they're going to catch up to Texas they'll need more performances like tonight's masterpiece by SP Rich Reese (11-4, 2.64). Reese threw a 1-hitter, struck out 9 and walked just 2 in an 8-0 romp over the Yankees at Comiskey Park tonight. The 28 year old Reese had never quite clicked as a prospect in Minnesota but following a minor league trade in 1971 and very solid year in relief last season (5-1, 1.99) his new team decided to switch him back into the rotation. Thatt has worked out quite well to say the least: Reese has worked to strike out a few less people in exchange for making them hit his 12-to-6 curveball and excellent forkball even more. A HR by DH Jeff Nation (.264, 15, 61) in the 5th sure didn't hurt although truth be told the White Sox had already scored all the runs they'd needed in the 3rd thanks to a 2-RBI single by SS Josh Johnson (.317, 4, 37). July 11: The Mets broke their 7 game losing streak tonight but man oh man did it look dicey for a while. They carried a 7-3 lead into the 7th but an error by SS Chris Adams (.333, 0, 1), making his 1973 debut after suffering torn ankle ligaments in spring training, followed by a HR by former Met Joshua "Superman" Waltenbery (.304, 16, 47) put the Houston Astros ahead 8-7. They'd extend that lead to 9-7 (and boy oh boy was I second-guessing myself, leaving stopper Geoff Saus (7-6, 3.16) in the bullpen until the 9th because I didn't want to overuse him - instead Roy Holm (4-2, 1.95) just about ruined the game) with a HR by SS Dusty Hill (.281, 4, 22). Then (speaking of second guessing) the Astros elected to try and push Chris Wilson (0-0, 2.94) for a 3-inning save - starter Ernie Alvarez (10-9, 3.66) had been knocked out of the box in the 3rd and so the Astros' bullpen was looking light. That did not do the trick, as Wilson allowed a walk to Adams and a single by Barry "The Ritz" Cooper (.297, 2, 29) and a belated switch to stopper Adam Eastin (3-2, 2.84, 10 Sv). It should be noted that Eastin was tired but, you know, needs must. Well... Eastin got 1B Jim "Garfield" Davis (.231, 9, 19) to foul out to catcher but then C Jason Bushon (.293, 5, 36) belted a game-tying, 2-RBI double to right field. As Bushon got to 3rd on the play, the proper move here was to walk 3B Vicente Luna (.274, 4, 27) in order to face lefty but poorly hitting lefty Ethan Keesee (.195, 1, 16). Keesee hit the ball out of the infield and while Houston CF George Foreman (.301, 14, 56) chased it down, it was way too deep to make a play. BOOM, Mets win, 10-9! It's always good to see the Astros (now 50-42) lose but I swear I'm not weighing the scales down! The bullpen blew up on its own. July 11: Fernando Apolonio (10-8, 2.21) threw a 6-hitter and struck out 7 but in classic Dodgers fashion, the one run he gave up wound up being a run too many as his teammates let him down, 1-0. The Cardinals' Raul Mendoza (9-5, 2.89) threw the shutout himself with 5 hits allowed, 5 Ks, 2 walks, and a clutch, inning-ending double play in the 8th inning. "We'll get them next time," said the laconic Apolonio following the game. His team is 11th in the NL in runs scored, ahead of only the Pirates, and as such is in the NL West cellar in spite of having the best starters' ERA (2.92) in the majors. July 12: A major flire breaks out and destroys the entire sixth floor of the National Personnel Records Center in Overland, Missouri. The fire destroys almost all (80%) of the records from the VA for US Army personnel who served between 1912 and 1960 and 75% of the USAF records stored on that floor. None of the records had had copies made or had been microfilmed. July 12: University of Maryland basketball coach Lefty Driesell and two other men save the lives of 10 children in a fire in several beachfront townhouses in Bethany Beach, Delaware. Coach Driesell's involvement will go unnoticed until the Washington Star-News reports it on the 20th. July 12: President Nixon is admitted to the Bethesda Naval Hospital after being diagnosed with viral pneumontia. Spoiler alert: he lives! Sorry! July 12: One person who did not live today is Lon Chaney Jr., the son of horror film staple Lon Chaney and a pretty big name in horror films himself. He died today of heart failure due to arteriosclerosis. July 13: It's Friday! The thirteenth! July 13: Hector Jose Campora resigns as President of Argentina to allow Juan Peron to return to power. Raul Lastiri, the President of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies, will step in as interim president until elections can be held on September 23 and will eventually be succeeded by Peron after he's elected on October 11. July 13: Alexander Butterfield, head of the FAA, and HR Haldeman reveal that almost all of Nixon's White House conversations had been recorded, the first indication to investigators of the Watergate scandal of this previously unknown source of evidence. While John Dean had earlier voiced an opinion that he thought all the conversations were taped, no witness had yet confirmed this until Butterfield, interviewed today by Donald Sanders, one of the Watergate Committee's attorneys, answered, "I was wondering if someone would ask that. There is tape in the Oval Office." July 13: The self titled debut studio album by the British rock band Queen is released simultaneously in the US by Elektra Records and in the UK by EMI Records. I hear they're pretty good... July 13: James Carpenter (13-8, 3.60), normally a pretty good control guy, had one of those games where nobody, neither his catcher nor the Kansas City Royals, knew where the ball was going. He threw a 6-hitter, which itself looks more hittable than it was with a rough 9th (he wound up throwing 153 pitches), with 8 Ks and 6 walks en route to a 3-0 win for his Yankees. "It was kind of scary tonight," admitted Carpenter following the game. This was his 2nd shutout and 10th complete game on the season, and the Ks moved him up to 115, 5th in the American League. July 13: There was a point this year where White Sox RF Josh Wade (.298, 7, 35) was having an off season. Well, today he went 3-4 vs the hapless Orioles to sit just under .300 and also extend his hitting streak to a career-high 20 games. This is in fact tied for the 2nd longest streak in the majors this year: only California's CF Carlos Hernandez (.295, 6, 40) has a longer one (21 games from May 8 to June 3) with Cardinals C John Stuart (.286, 10, 32) also hitting in 20 straight (May 26 to June 22). Wade is slashing 391/409/484 on the month; yes, he's a singles guy but it's a lot of singles. July 14: Peter Revson wins the 1973 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, a race that is marred for a huge pile-up in the first lap that causes eleven cars to retire, including Brabham driver Andrea de Adamich, who suffers a broken ankle that winds up being a career-ending inury. Revson is apparently known for popularizing the now-common practice of spraying the podium with champagne to celebrate his victories, earning him, at the time, the nickname "Champagne Peter". July 14: In an otherwise pretty boring game, Braves 1B Jon Hernandez (.218, 4, 21) tied the National League record for the most walks in an extra-inning game with 5. That's a massive caveat, as St. Louis' Lorenzo Martinez walked 6 times on May 11, 1965 in regulation. The other huge caveat is that while the Braves did win 5-2 over the Expos, it took them 14 innings to get there because without Henry Riggs this team has zero power whatsoever. Ironically, the game was won on a HR, this time by C Gianluigi Farinelli (.257, 2, 20), who was hitless on the night heading into that at-bat. Hernandez was on base for it, too; not sure if that counts as irony or not. The last man to walk 5 times in a game in the NL in extras was Chris Granneman of the Dodgers on June 18, 1960. The one other time it's been done was in 1948. The Braves, even with Riggs in the lineup for most of the year, are sitting at 9th in the NL in HRs with 65 (18th overall) in spite of playing their home games, as this one was played, at the Launching Pad. Their hitters just have not been able to get the ball over the short porches there - only 33 of those HRs have been at home. July 14: Just another Dodgers game at Dodgers Stadium... although this time at least the home town fans went home "happy". The Cubs fought - "fought" - LA for 10 innings, losing 1-0. Ken Hansen (6-8, 3.77) pitched his 3rd shutout of the year and struck out 11 - his first 10 K game since September of last year - while Max Weinberg (5-5, 2.70) did well himself but tired in the 10th with a base hit to C Gary McCord (.262, 1, 14), a bunt by Hansen, an intentional walk to CF Ross Poynor (.258, 4, 13), and then a single into right by SS Ronnie Yitzakhi (.265, 9, 24) that won it. The last-place Dodgers are still dead last in baseball in runs scored (279) and 2nd-worst in average (.242; the Pirates are hitting .232 on the year). July 15: The Soviet city of Alma-Ata (now Almaty) in what is now Kazakhstan is narrowly saved from destruction by a landslide when a massive torrent of mud is blocked by a dam that had just been built the year before. Persons above the Medeo Dam were killed when the mudslide, from the Tuluk-Su glacier, sent 225,000 cubic meters of water into the valley below. Alma-Ata, incidentally, is one of those cities nobody in the West has heard of but which is gigantic, with a 2020s population of more than 2 million people. July 15: The nation of Bangladesh amends its constitution so that it can pursue prosecution of war crimes arising from its fight for indepenedence. July 15: Clarence White, an American bluegrass guitar player for the Byrds and pioneer of country rock, is killed in Palmdale, California when a drunk driver hits him as he's loading equipment into his car after performing in a concert. July 15: Let's take a look at the penultimate voting totals for the All-Star Game. Below are the current standings for the American League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jul. 15th , 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 1,281,240 votes. CATCHER 1. Josh Lewis, Oakland Athletics: 868,444 2. Frank Abagnale, Baltimore Orioles: 815,326 3. John Lennon, Cleveland Indians: 500,484 FIRST BASE 1. Alice Cooper, Chicago White Sox: 1,281,240 2. Angelo Martinez, Minnesota Twins: 916,833 3. Chris Seek, California Angels: 912,441 SECOND BASE 1. Geoffrey Rush, Texas Rangers: 828,881 2. Rodrigo Juarez, California Angels: 810,813 3. Bill Murray, Baltimore Orioles: 757,724 THIRD BASE 1. Tom Weiss, New York Yankees: 990,885 2. Jose Ayala, Detroit Tigers: 954,570 3. Bobby Ramirez, Texas Rangers: 915,477 SHORTSTOP 1. John Johnson, Chicago White Sox: 906,756 2. Oniji Handa, Boston Red Sox: 747,529 3. Rob Curran, Detroit Tigers: 727,485 LEFT FIELD 1. Tony Danza, Kansas City Royals: 1,067,864 2. Bruce Springsteen, Boston Red Sox: 942,395 3. Pedro Castrejon, Chicago White Sox: 719,246 CENTER FIELD 1. Alvin Romero, Detroit Tigers: 979,091 2. Ronnie Hellström, Minnesota Twins: 713,878 3. Frank Beard, Baltimore Orioles: 695,888 RIGHT FIELD 1. Tommy Pron, Oakland Athletics: 877,092 2. Dave Corona, Kansas City Royals: 830,388 3. Brandon Anderson, Cleveland Indians: 815,418 DESIGNATED HITTER 1. Ernesto Garcia, New York Yankees: 1,138,010 2. Joey Ramone, Detroit Tigers: 1,016,908 3. Brian Johnson, Boston Red Sox: 712,016 STARTING PITCHER 1. Jimmy Goddard, Detroit Tigers: 499,206 2. Justin Kindberg, Boston Red Sox: 471,901 3. Michael Pesco, Boston Red Sox: 437,578 4. Rich Reese, Chicago White Sox: 425,765 5. Marco Sanchez, Boston Red Sox: 423,490 RELIEVER 1. Montay Luiso, California Angels: 520,179 2. Malcolm Post, Chicago White Sox: 481,833 3. Willis Chavez, Oakland Athletics: 415,657 4. Jim Marceau, Detroit Tigers: 407,980 5. Nate Kemp, Texas Rangers: 399,532 Cooper boasts a lifetime batting average of .278 with 280 hits, 89 homers, 188 runs scored and 210 RBIs. Not a lot of movement from last week, of course. It looks like Texas Josh Lewis (.290, 5, 29) has wrapped up the catcher job pretty much by default. Tommy Pron (.320, 5, 40) in right is an... interesting choice; his RBI totals are a little low for a #3 hitter but he seems to have his hitting stroke back. I personally would still go with "Cookie Monster" Dave Corona (.269, 8, 33) even though his raw numbers aren't flashy. Jimmy Goddard (18-1, 1.75) should have about a zillion more votes at SP than the next guy; at least he's on pace to be the starter. And in the NL: Below are the current standings for the National League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jul. 15th , 1973) for the All-Star Game, which will be played on Tue. Jul. 24th , 1973. The top vote getter at this point is Justin Stone with 1,121,301 votes. CATCHER 1. Jason Bushon, New York Mets: 1,064,975 2. John Stuart, St. Louis Cardinals: 963,615 3. Doug Connally, Pittsburgh Pirates: 802,711 FIRST BASE 1. Justin Stone, Los Angeles Dodgers: 1,121,301 2. Joshua Waltenbery, Houston Astros: 1,055,593 3. Lorenzo Martinez, St. Louis Cardinals: 866,651 SECOND BASE 1. Juan Perez, Chicago Cubs: 1,037,259 2. Paul McCartney, San Diego Padres: 997,835 3. Kevin Dwyer, Atlanta Braves: 853,641 THIRD BASE 1. Dale Earnhardt, San Diego Padres: 928,446 2. George Harrison, San Francisco Giants: 840,972 3. Pete Little, Houston Astros: 805,077 SHORTSTOP 1. Tony Shannon, Philadelphia Phillies: 877,474 2. Joe Wicker, San Diego Padres: 596,546 3. Ronney Yitzhaki, Los Angeles Dodgers: 588,387 LEFT FIELD 1. Alberto Juantorena, Philadelphia Phillies: 1,011,869 2. Henry Riggs, Atlanta Braves: 981,798 3. R.J. Domínguez, Cincinnati Reds: 977,624 CENTER FIELD 1. George Foreman, Houston Astros: 1,058,077 2. Greg Lake, Philadelphia Phillies: 733,945 3. Mike Schurke, Chicago Cubs: 610,213 RIGHT FIELD 1. Matt Williams, St. Louis Cardinals: 910,527 2. Paul Kahl, Montreal Expos: 817,506 3. Jaden Weaver, Cincinnati Reds: 817,478 STARTING PITCHER 1. Tony Rivera, Houston Astros: 275,486 2. Danny Plaunt, Philadelphia Phillies: 254,777 3. Fernando Apolonio, Los Angeles Dodgers: 245,806 4. Jeremy Battaglia, Pittsburgh Pirates: 228,348 5. George House, Atlanta Braves: 226,932 RELIEVER 1. Geoff Saus, New York Mets: 321,778 2. Brian Bruno, Pittsburgh Pirates: 288,784 3. Paz Lemus, Pittsburgh Pirates: 275,542 4. Pete Lynn, Cincinnati Reds: 274,759 5. Alec Cosby, Los Angeles Dodgers: 261,237 In 1809 career games Stone is hitting at a .321 pace with 2230 hits with 360 doubles, 76 triples and 485 homers while scoring 1353 runs and racking up 1413 RBIs. He logged 840 walks and owns a .396 on-base percentage. Stone (.328, 20, 42) has cooled off a bit the past couple weeks (.250, 3, 7 in July) and set up a showdown for "Superman" Waltenbery (.297, 16, 47) for who's gonna start at first. Both guys will surely be on the team though. Juan Perez (.295, 13, 37) still leading all second baseman is... weird given that he's out possibly for the season with a torn rotator cuff. Paul McCartney (.293, 11, 48), then, is almost a lock to start but it'd be cool if he had a nice final week to make it official. On the flip side for the Pads, I'm not sure Dale Earnhardt (.293, 14, 43) quite deserves it over George Harrison (.318, 11, 51) at third, especially given that Harrison is pretty much the only bright light in the Giants' lineup right now. Dale is also going to miss the AS Game so I guess it's a moot point. Matt Williams (.274, 11, 30) on the other hand I think will be healthy just in time for the game; he's been on the bench since July 3rd with a sprained ankkle. July 15: Woooow it's a Sunday and we DON'T have any double-headers today. What gives, schedule gods???? July 15: Texas looks like they're for real. This was a real make-or-break week for the AL West contenders; they've risen to where they are with a gaudy 36-7 record at home but have looked very vulnerable on the road. Well... following a 3 game series vs Detroit, which they did drop 2 games to 1, though they were competitive in all of them, the Rangers just completed a 3-1 series with over the Red Sox at Fenway Park with a 3-0 shutout by 2nd year man Billy Crystal (14-7, 2.48). Crystal allowed 4 hits and a walk and struck out 5 to put his team (at least for now) 6 games up on the White Sox. On Boston's side, they really needed this series and now they've basically got to hope for a Tigers collapse, as pending Detroit's game today they are a full 9 games back. On top of that, they're without 1B Mike Miller (.286, 10, 43) for the next month. Brian Johnson (.339, 3, 35) has been filling in well but obviously he's not going to provide the middle-of-the-order power that Miller does when healthy. Right now their best power guy is RF Tom Brown (.285, 10, 52), who's more of a 15-20 HR guy at best. July 15: Hey, remember when the Royals were looking like one of the next big teams? I guess they can still get there but in the midst of a giant stretch against AL East teams, they've managed to lose every single one of them going back to July 6: 10 games in all now. Today they fought back from a 5-3 deficit to chase Yankees SP Manny Carbajal (3-6, 4.62) only to have normally solid RP Dylan Mincher (2-1, 2.50) give up a game-winning single to 1B Pete Jennings (.271, 4, 28). I guess the Royals were never truly in the race to begin with but this slide coupled with the Rangers' rise means they are now 17 games out. Wait 'till next year, KC fans. July 15: In San Diego we had a game we just haven't had many of the past couple years in the NL: a good old fashioned barn-burner. The Cardinals knocked starter Steven Tyler (7-6, 3.29) out of the box in the 4th, posting a 6-0 lead, but then a whole bunch of errors allowed the Padres to score 5 in the bottom of that inning and then, after the Cards got 3 more in the 6th, to even take the lead once Raul Mendoza (9-5, 2.92) was KO'd himself (only giving up 2 earned runs in 5+ IP) and lefty specialist Cody Foy (1-1, 5.68) proved to be too wild. With the score now 10-9 for the home team the Padres' bullpen - Roy Moore (2-2, 2.00) and stopper Darius Parchman (2-3, 1.25, 15 Sv) slammed the door shut. 2B Paul McCartney (.299, 12, 51) went 3-4 with a double, a HR, and 3 RBIs in this game for the winners. The "24" year old 3-year vet is already staring down his 3rd All-Star appearance next week. 2B Tom Depew (.288, 6, 26) also had a multi-hit, 3-RBI effort for St. Louis, who fell to 4 GB the NL East leading Phillies pending their game today. July 15: I'm torn on reporting this because it came against the Pirates but... Giants SP Obe Olthof (5-11, 4.08) is a known Dutchman but sticks around in this league because he (generally) keeps the ball down. Tonight the ball was not only staying down, it was missing all kinds of bats, too, as the 28 year old posted his first 10 K game since he was a Yankee (in 1970) and threw a 5-hitter to take down Pittsburgh 3-0. 3B George Harrison (.320, 12, 53) was once again San Francisco's hitting star with a 2-4, 2 RBI night including a ding-dong off of DJ "Old Money" Cheeves (5-11, 4.03) in the 3rd. ## Teams in Review Ain't none this week... somehow!
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July 16-22, 1973: ALL STAR BREAK TIME
## Standings / Recap / Comments3
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 62 35 .639 - L2 445 317 .279 73 86 3.01 2.9 5.8 .983 46.7 45.3 Boston 54 42 .562 7½ L1 431 333 .275 73 50 3.27 3.0 5.7 .981 38.6 37.1 New York 53 48 .525 11 L3 440 481 .247 99 32 4.39 2.8 5.0 .981 -5.0 35.8 Milwaukee 41 55 .427 20½ W1 396 453 .261 60 69 4.24 3.5 4.9 .979 -16.5 30.4 Baltimore 37 55 .402 22½ L2 378 444 .251 79 40 4.30 3.9 5.1 .977 -7.8 42.1 Cleveland 40 58 .408 22½ L3 346 410 .246 84 32 3.98 3.4 5.3 .981 9.5 31.1 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Texas 60 35 .632 - W2 373 289 .259 60 54 2.75 3.2 5.1 .983 42.1 32.5 Chicago 56 42 .571 5½ W3 429 385 .259 89 54 3.57 3.5 5.1 .982 34.4 36.9 Oakland 50 48 .510 11½ W5 396 411 .263 64 42 3.82 3.0 4.9 .981 9.2 37.0 California 47 49 .490 13½ W2 408 422 .264 70 68 3.97 3.4 4.8 .980 29.4 39.2 Kansas City 44 57 .436 19 L1 464 499 .254 73 50 4.55 3.6 4.8 .983 9.3 31.7 Minnesota 38 58 .396 22½ W1 362 424 .243 79 48 3.97 3.3 5.1 .978 4.4 33.3 LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Philadelphia 59 38 .608 - L2 458 360 .246 80 72 3.31 3.0 5.3 .981 32.9 49.2 St. Louis 55 41 .573 3½ L1 399 381 .257 86 29 3.47 3.1 5.8 .980 12.7 41.1 Chicago 52 46 .531 7½ W2 378 361 .257 74 53 3.42 3.3 5.0 .986 43.2 41.3 Pittsburgh 45 50 .474 13 L2 307 304 .233 42 25 2.99 2.7 6.0 .983 12.0 35.3 New York 41 52 .441 16 L2 298 382 .246 40 54 3.61 3.4 5.1 .979 16.7 47.1 Montreal 37 58 .389 21 L3 381 456 .246 74 39 4.06 3.6 5.1 .977 -10.3 32.8 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Houston 56 46 .549 - W2 426 405 .255 92 43 3.46 3.6 5.9 .977 9.0 33.3 Cincinnati 54 45 .545 ½ W3 422 377 .255 76 40 3.52 2.9 5.7 .981 11.8 28.1 Atlanta 53 49 .520 3 W2 388 346 .247 72 29 3.03 3.0 6.0 .982 4.9 32.8 San Diego 50 48 .510 4 W2 369 324 .251 55 39 2.91 3.4 5.4 .979 43.6 38.7 San Francisco 43 56 .434 11½ L2 352 412 .247 73 53 3.64 3.2 5.5 .980 3.7 28.8 Los Angeles 42 58 .420 13 W1 302 372 .242 82 43 3.26 3.1 5.4 .979 34.8 36.1 The Oakland A's just beat out the Astros (yes! Apparently most of their division slippage came in prior weeks) and Reds to be your Yuppies of the Week, moving up from 14th to 9th in the power rankings. Oaktown lost just one game this week; granted, they were playing the lowly Orioles and Indians. Still, 5-1 is mi-tee-fine and it puts them just above .500 now. This franchise has never been .500 for 3 years in a row, not here, not in Kansas City, not in Philadelphia. On the other hand, the Dirty Hippies are the Yankees, who fell all the way from 5th to an unexciting 13th by dropping series to the Twins(!) and the White Sox, both in Yankee Stadium. They really, really needed those to go the other way in order to stay in the AL East race and now it looks just about over for them. The Cubs and Giants also fell 4 spots and I'll be honest, I think the Cubs are only beginning to fall. Star RF Alex Vallejo just got hurt agaaaain for them and SS Jeremy Taylor may be laid up for a bit with a strained back that pulled him out of the game today. The Giants are just bad and frankly I'm surprised they're not in the NL cellar already. ## Major Transactions July 16: The Cardinals traded P Amir Sudler (1-1, 4.23) to the Rangers for minor league P Garrett Elser (2-4, 3.24 at AAA Spokane). Sudler's been crazy wild this year - 25 walks in 27.1 IP - and a change of scenery seems like a good idea for the 27 year old. In return, the Cards get back a guy with a pretty limited ceiling in Elser but who is less likely to walk the team out of games. The Cards have the 3rd worst bullpen in the NL (3.79 ERA) so yeah. they could use the help... July 18: The Royals purchased RP Josh Willie (1-1, 4.03) from the Braves for $5,000. The Royals are reeeeling at the moment and one more relief arm can't hurt. Atlanta themselves look like an also ran so hey, why not raid AAA to see if there's anything else that's good down there, right? ## News July 16: FAA Administrator and former White House aide Alexander Butterfield reveals/confirms the bombshell evidence Dean released last week that President Nixon had secretly recorded potentially incriminating conversations. Republican counsel Fred Thompson, later a US Senator, star of "Law and Order", and boring Presidential candidate, posed the question, "Mr. Butterfield, are you aware of the installation of any listening deviceas in the Oval Office of the President?" and the surprise answer is "I was aware of listening devices, yes, sir." July 16: Known Canadian Alex Trebek makes his US television debut as the host of a short-lived game show on NBC called "The Wizard of Odds". He had previously hosted the CBC game show "Strategy" for several months in 1969. He'll go on to host several shows but I think we can all agree that this was his high water mark. July 16: One guy goes down, another one steps up. The AL Player of the Week is Chicago White Sox DH Jeff Nation (.270, 17, 65), who walloped 11 hits including 4 HRs in 23 at-bats with 9 RBIs, slipping into the cleanup spot with the injury to Pedro Castrejon (.295, 10, 29). Nation has also insinuated himself into the HR and RBI race, where if he keeps it up, those will both be his first top-10 finishes in those categories. The 1970 Rookie of the Year, Nation was acquired by the White Sox that October and... I'll be honest, he's kind of struggled since then, slowly moving down the defensive spectrum to the point that he's now played just 4 games in the field (all at first base). Still, the 27 year old is called on only to hit now and he's done a job of it. This was his 3rd PotW award but his first since 1971. July 16: The NL Player of the Week has missed a bunch of time with injury this year and even now he's trying to fit into a crowded outfield in Philadelphia. I'm talking aobut former Angels and Indians star RF Nelson Vargas (.351, 1, 13), who went 10-17 (.588) with 5 runs and 5 RBIs this week to get the award in spite of starting only 4 games (he pinch-hit in a 5th). Vargas, a 2-time All-Star, has surprisingly only won the PotW one other time: the week ending September 25 of last year. July 16: SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK is at least more normal. The all-time shutouts leaders: 5. Lazaro Hernandez, PIT: 33 (226-194, 3.47). Hernandez was inducted into the Hall this past year. He was pretty good. 4. Andy "Lizard" Ring, LAD/CAL: 35 (175-136). Andy Ring is currently toiling with the Angels, where he's 8-8, 3.66 with one shutout. I guess he's got a shot at the record and he did get a combined 10 of them over the last 2 years so I can't even definitively say that the 1967 Cy Young Award winner's best years are behind him... T2. Tracy Mosher, NYY: 39 (184-122, 2.93). I'm a bit more comfortable saying that Mosher's best years are in the past. He led the league in ShOs 4 times in his career but struggled so badly to open this year (currently 8-8, 4.69) that the Yankees stuck him into long relief. He's still only 34 so if he gets back on that horse, he could do a lot. T2. Jeff Borden, BRK/LAD: 39 (239-149, 2.83). Borden is pretty much the best pitcher in the history of this save, although the last chunk of his career was marred by constant injury so he stopped well short of 300 Ws. Mosher's next shuttie passes Borden, which, I don't know, feels kind of sad. 1. Jose Lugo, BOS/CLE/WAS: 40 (230-147, 3.08). I guess you could make a caase for Lugo being the true GOAT; he has a higher ERA but he also pitched mainly in the longball-happy 50s, retiring in 1961. He also was an original player, although his first season was at age 23 so he probably only lost a year or two. Still, he made the Hall of Fame in 1967 and you can't take that away from him! July 16: The White Sox' Josh Wade (.293, 7, 35) went 0-4 tonight in his team's 4-2 win over the Red Sox and ended the major league's longest hitting streak of 1973 at 22 games. Nobody else went further than 20 this year. In fact, the last 30+ game streak was by Bobby Ramirez, then with Cleveland, now with Texas, who had a 31-gamer that ended on the last day of August, 1971. July 16: Tigers SP Chris Benavides (11-4, 3.37) had a nominally off year last year, leading the AL in losses (14-19, 3.02) but that was mostly due to a lack of support. He's really proving it this year, where with the Tigers he's rattled off 4 shutouts already, including today's 4-hitter against the slip-sliding Royals. Benavides was barely troubled until the 8th, when a base hit to 1B Christopher Durang (.319, 3, 6) followed by a hit batsman on SS Mike Dawson (.190, 0, 13) (which I assure you was not intentional) put a runner into scoring position with nobody out. He then proceeded to whiff PH Ryan Newton (.225, 0, 5) and get the Cookie Monster Dave Corona (.270, 8, 33) and 2B James Ellroy (.287, 6, 52) out to end the threat. Benavides, 31, had 6 shutouts in 1970 (18-14, 2.61) so he's still got some room to go with regards to setting a new personal record. The Tigers for their part seem pretty committed to not sending him out late into games unless he's chasing that zero - he also only has only the 4 CGs to date. In spite of the workhorse innings he put up with the Twins in his 20s, he seems best suited as a 7 inning guy. July 17: King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan is deposed by his cousin, General Mohammed Daoud Khan while Zahir Shah is in Italy undergoing eye surgery. Daoud Khan declares the establishment of a republic with himself as president and an end to monarchy. He had previously been prime minister from 1953-63 and this coup was nearly bloodless. That said.. don't count on free elections any time soon, Afghans! July 17: Speaking of voting, though, Guyana holds votes for its 53 seat National Assembly. The Peoples' National Congress party, led by Prime Minister Forbes Burnham, increases its majority with 37 of the seats. July 17: Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you. Texas had a 36-7 home record heading into their matchup today against the Milwaukee Brewers and... the Brew Crew ate the bear, routing the Rangers 13-1. 2B Wing-fung Yi (.259, 7, 33) finished 3-4 with 3 runs scored and was just a homerun away from hitting for the cycle. The Brewers in fact managed to score all these runs without a single dinger, which must be some kind of a record or something. July 18: The Northern Ireland Constitution Act of 1973 receives royal assent and goes into effect, abolishing the suspended Parliament of Northern Ireland and making provisions for a devolved administration consisting of an Executive chosen by the new Northern Ireland Assembly. July 18: The White House tape recording system is turned off permanently, two days after its existince had been publicly revealed in the US Senate Watergate hearings. July 18: A bus crash kills 43(!) people in France when the vehicle misses a sharp turn on a steep road and falls 65 feet into the Romanche river.. The victims were returning to Belgium from a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of La Salette. July 18: Jack Hawkins, an English actor known for playing military men, dies of throat cancer at age 62. He was also married to Jessica Tandy for several years in the 1930s. July 18: Tigers OF Alejandro Cortes (.217, 7, 17), who'd been struggling to make a mini-comeback following 2 straight bad years in Minnesota, is going to be missing the next month plus with a strained oblique muscle. This is probably worse news for Cortes than it is for Detroit, if we're being honest. July 18: Meanwhile, Red Sox CF Goodwill Zwelithini (.270, 2, 2), who was expected to return any day now from a fractured wrist he suffered back in June, suffered a setback and it now looks iffy that he'll return this season at all. This one impacts Boston's depth a bit; Jon Glynn (.282, 7, 34) has been doing well in the CF role but with Brian Johnson (.341, 3, 36) hobbled as of late with a sprained knee and playing first base all the time anyway, they really could use a solid backup there. July 18: Edgar Molina (16-9, 3.48) and the Tigers stop the Royals 5-1 and extend their losing streak to 13 games. It's an unlucky number! Molina went all the way, allowing 5 hits, walking 2, and striking out 4 in this one. The Royals got their lone run in the top of the 1st after 1B Alonzo Rivera (.320, 3, 44) hit a 2-out single to drive in RF Dave Corona (.274, 8, 33) and so KC even led this one for an inning. Then the Tigers responded with 3 in the bottom of the 2nd thanks to a 3-run HR by banjo hitter LF Danny Hohman (.290, 3, 33) and that was all she wrote. The loss, combined with a Twins win, puts the Royals only 3 games up from the cellar of the AL West at 43-55. July 18: As a little interlude, the game gave me a note as I was saving about a Rookie of the Year from 1962 who must have washed out of the league before I started. Let's... take a look at the ROYs since I took the save over in 1969 and see how they're doing now: 1969 AL: RF Chris Contreras, DET (.340, 2, 30). Contreras had a banner year as a 24 year old OFer for a Detroit team that wound up being a major player in the league. Unfortunately he didn't keep up with his team and the Tigers found better options. He was released out of spring training this year and signed with the Yankees organization, where he's currently hitting .242/5/17 for their AAA team in Syracuse. 1969 NL: 1B Junior Cannon, CIN (.354, 25, 63). I'm really not sure what happened to Cannon if I'm being honest. Maybe part of the question is, was he ever that good in the first place? Maybe he wasn't a high-average hitter, as he's never come close to that .354 average since, but he also hit 53 HRs in his first 2 seasons with Cincinnati and that's gone by the wayside as well. Now in San Diego, he's barely hanging onto a left field job, hitting .207/5/25 and looking perhaps washed up at the ripe old age of 29. 1970 AL: 3B Jeff Nation, KC (.292, 21, 84). Nation has had a heck of a bat but his defense at 3rd base was suspect from the beginning. The Royals shipped him off in October of 1970 for "California" Josh Lewis (now with the Pirates) and prospect Josh Coldiron (now in the Padres' organization). He's been a slugging corner infielder since and this year, with the new DH rule, the Chisox have been able to keep the 27 year old in the lineup every day and take advantage of his clutch hitting (he's .268/17/66 and is among the league leaders in RBIs). 1970 NL: SP Jose Zarate, CHC (11-3, 1.96). This is I guess a cautionary tale about why you don't put too much stock into a good half-season by a pitcher. Zarate was electric in the 2nd half of 1970, it's true. He was bad in '71 (3-6, 5.25) but after being sent down to the minors he did well in Tacoma again (5-4, 2.11). However, the Cubs elected to look elsewhere and he was even moved to the bullpen with the rotation being completely full. This year he did get back into the big leagues as a relief pitcher but was really, really bad - 0-2, 8.38, 5 HRs allowed in 9.2 IP - and as of this writing is back in AAA Wichita. 1971 AL: 3B Bobby Ramirez, CLE (.344, 15, 67). While Ramirez hasn't quite gotten to the league-leading average he had his rookieseason, he's hit well between Cleveland, California, and Texas in the season and a half since. This year he's a top-5 hitter for average - .325/6/31 - and also has 53 walks against 302 at-bats for a .423 batting average. This man's a shoo-in for the All-Star Game. 1971 NL: 2B Paul McCartney, SD (.289, 26, 87). Hey, finally an NLer who hasn't disappointed. Paul, now "24", is still the power-hitting backbone of the Padres lineup. Not much to say here, except that he's hitting .299/12/51 this year and is headed to his 3rd All-Star Game in another week. 1972 AL: OF Tony Danza, KC (.338, 7, 50). The biggest weakness in Danza's game last year was his stealing: he stole 34 bases but got caught *30* times. This year the Royals have kept his foot nailed to the bag, as he's only attempted 6 steals all year (and has continued his poor success rate, having been successful on 3). But enough about that! Danza's still hitting for average - .380/8/43 - and provides a real spark in the middle of that Royals order. 1972 NL: P Steven Tyler, SD (15-14, 3.55). Tyler's followed up a solid if not outstanding rookie year with another good, middle-rotation sophomore year: 7-6, 3.29 so far. He hasn't been asked to finish games as much as last year (12 CGs vs only 3 so far in 19 starts) but that's just the Padres having a really good bullpen and no real need to stretch the 24 year old that much. CF "Doctor" Phil McGraw (.295, 2, 29) has an outside chance to make it 3 San Diego ROYs in 3 years if he gets on fire in the second half of this season. July 18: We knew we were going to get dingers from the Philadelphia third baseman this year... but did we? With Mike Brookes (.268, 1, 16) resting tonight (and also suffering a power outage this year when he's been healthy), Marco Villafana (.264, 12, 34) stepped in with a multi-HR game and helped lead the Phillies to a 6-4 win against the surging Cincinnati Reds. Villafana now has 12 HRs in only 159 at-bats, prompting two questions: 1. where is this power coming from (the 27 year old, who by the way was a member of the expansion Seattle Pilots, has played pro ball since he was 19 and has never hit more than 12 in a season)?, and 2. what do the Phillies do to keep his bat in the lineup? It's a nice problem to have for a very good team. July 18: Look, I report waaaay too much on the Pirates for them being a mediocre also-ran. Well... today they blew apart the Dodgers 9-0 in a game that might be a precursor to better things to come. Okay, probably not. But 9 runs! They haven't scored 9 runs since July 1. They KO'd Luis Castillo (9-8. 3.50) in the 4th; only 4 of those runs were earned because the Dodgers also melted down early in the field with errors by SS Ronnie Yitzakhi (.266, 9, 24) and 2B Danny Fager (.267, 6, 18). RF Justin Lawson (.247, 3, 21), once a mainstay in the middle of this lineup, belted a 3-run HR in the 2nd. And oh yeah, Santos Arango (9-10, 2.44) threw a 5-hitter, although here it was against the Dodgers so it doesn't really count. July 19: The Panamanian supply vessel Nordic Service collides with the Finnish Ship Finn Trader off Great Yarmouth in the United Kingdom. None of these names make any sense to me but 2 Panamanians die. It seems bad! Also it's the only news story of the day, I guess... July 19: If there is news though, it's that we're heading into the final weekend series before the All-Star Break. Let's go! July 19: In an otherwise kind of dry game, the Brewers nipped the Rangers in 10 with late-inning HRs by 2B Wing-fun Yi (.260, 8, 34) and LF Steve Winwood (.293, 13, 51). The dinger by the lead singer for the band Traffic was potentially memorable because it puts him on pace to break the Brewers' ALL TIME single season HR record of 19 which was set by Jarred Ferrell in 1971 (.287, 19, 49 in 279 at-bats that year). This one would be, you know, more fun since Winwood is an actual starter on this team and not a platoon marvel. He's already 5th all-time in RBIs, which is a good way of reminding oneself of how awful this offense has been in the recent past (DH/1B Kozue Nakamura (.283, 1, 21), who just suffered a potentially season-ending injury tonight, holds the all-time record with 65 in that same 1971 when he went .313/4/65). July 20: Japan Air Lines Flight 404 is hijacked by five terrorists, one member of the Japanese Red Army and four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine after it takes off from Amsterdam, bound for Anchorage, Alaska. One of the PLFP members is killed when his hand grenade explodes during the initial hijacking. The survivors force the plane to fly to multiple destinations before landing in Libya at Benghazi, where they release the passengers and crew 89 hours later and then blow up the plane. July 20: Speaking of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi announces his resignation as leader of Libya. Fear not, Libya fans; he'll reverse his decision in a couple of days when his cabinet announces they'll also quit if he does. July 20: Bruce Lee dies! He's only 32 years old and his death comes just a month after his blockbuster movie "Enter the Dragon" was released in the US. The cause of death is probably an allergic reaction to a painkiller but maybe, just maybe he was actually killed by a kung-fu move known as the Vibrating Palm. July 20: Sculptor/photographer Robert Smithson, 35, dies along with the pilot when his small plane crashes near Amarillo, Texas. Bad day to die, I'd say. I mean, no day is a good day to die... July 20: Mere days after trading away his backup, the Mets get some bad news about CF Kjell Isaakson (.248, 3, 26): the injury that took him out of the game on the 16th is a torn UCL that will put him away until spring training. Lindsey Buckingham (.340, 2, 5) had been filling in his place and that should probably continue; in the "every problem is an opportunity" news, this also allows them to call up 1972 3rd round pick OF Dean Shek (.225, 7, 22 in AAA Tidewater), who shows a good eye and let's just say a professor-like approach to the plate and in the field. July 20: Tigers ace Jimmy Goddard (19-1, 1.67) practically needed to throw a Maddux (who?) today and he... well, he just baaaarely missed one. Still, he outdueled Rangers starter Billy Crystal (14-8, 2.41) in a battle between the two first place teams in the AL, 1-0. Goddard finished with only 87 pitches thrown and didn't allow a walk until he surrendered ball four to 3B Bobby Ramirez (.326, 6, 33) with one out in the 9th inning after PH JR Cook (.167, 0, 1) doubled. Goddard was able to settle down from there, inducing RF Philippe Toussaint (.282, 6, 35) to hit into a 3-6 fielder's choice and DH Jimmy Washington (.269m 13, 49) to ground out U-4 to end the game. Detroit leads the season series over Texas 6-4 with what I believe are the final two games of the season series coming up this weekend... yep, that's all she wrote. Texas could sweep the final two games and put them even, an interesting omen for the playoffs! July 20: Meanwhile in Kansas City the Royals' losing streak reaches 14 games as they blow a 5-4 lead to the Brewers late. They even got to closer Jake Duckett (3-3, 3.18, 6 Sv), who gave up a 2-run double to PH Sincere Littleton (1.000, 0, 2), making his 1973 debut. The loss ruined a good game by C Mike Perez (.181, 10, 30), who broke into double figures in HRs with 2 of them today. July 21: Mossad, the Israeli equivalent of the CIA, assassinates a Moroccan waiter named Ahmed Bouchiki in a case of mistaken identity. They thought he was Ali Hassan Salameh, a leader of the Munich Olympics massacre who'd been given shelter in Norway. Six Mossad agents are arrested in the aftermath of this, which becomes known as the "Lillehammer Affair" after the Norwegian city it takes place in, and forces Israeli prime minister Golda Meir to suspend their activities to seek out and, um, take care of the agents of the Munich disaster. The Israeli government never accepts responsibility for the murder of Bouchiki but 23 years later, in 1996, it will pay an unspecified amount of money to his family. July 21: France resumes atmospheric nuclear bomb tests in Mururoa Atoll over the protests of Australia and New Zealand with the explosion of an atomic bomb at 9 in the morning local time. July 21: The Mars 4 planetary orbiter is launched from the Soviet Union with a goal of orbiting Mars in February 1974. Later this month two of its onboard navigational computers will fail while attempting to perfrom a course correction and as a result the unmanned spacecraft will only be able to perform a fly-by mission for six minutes. July 21: The Angels have been pretty well making do without RF Josh Teague (.264, 1, 8), who's been out since the beginning of the month thanks to lingering concussion symptoms. It looks like he's not going to come back on schedule, as doctors now say he's got another month plus before he'll be ready to return. July 21: In other AL West outfielder news, Mohamed Abdelaziz (.220, 2, 28) looks like he's going to miss the year with... shoulder inflammation(?). Must be something strong causing that. I'm not going to pretend that Abdelaziz was anything great at this point in his young career but nevertheless that's 2/3rds of the White Sox projected starting outfield out for the season now. This does allow them to call up 24 year old non-prospect Alan "The Project" Parsons (.238, 6, 30 at AAA Iowa) so... hey? Speaking of which, the game apparently all by itself produced a guy named Big Billy Gilland. I'm pretty sure that wasn't me, as he was a 10th round pick, probably will never see the major leagues, and I don't think that's a famous person. Also, "Big Billy" is his "actual" name; his nickname is "Slappy". I want this guy to make it now so much. July 21: The Royals had one of those two weeks of pent-up frustration games, blowing out the Brewers 11-2 at Royals Stadium to break their 14 game losing streak. Both LF Tony Danza (.311, 8, 46) and SS Uwe Kliemann (.209, 0, 9) had 3-hit games, with James Ellroy (.289, 6, 56) topping them all with a 4-hit, 4 RBI effort in this one. "It was good to get one back," said RF Dave "Cookie Monster" Corona (.278, 9, 35), who was 3-5 himself. "Now let's win 14 in a row!" July 21: Texas squeaks past Detroit 6-5 to to even the series up at a game apiece and set the season series to 6-5 in favor of Detroit. Tigers starter Bruce Rubio (6-9, 3.57) got knocked out in the 6th as the Tigers brought in their stopper Jim Marceau (3-4, 2.38, 13 Sv) early to put out a fire; he did not and instead the Rangers took a 6-3 lead in that inning. Detroit did make it close with a run apiece in the 8th and 9th but in the end Tanzan Kihara (1-2, 3.19, 16 Sv) was juuuust good enough to close the door to end this one. July 22: Another day, another plane crash: Pan Am Flight 816 crashes into the Pacific Ocean after takeoff from Tahiti, killing 78 out of 79 souls on board. The sole survivor, a Canadian citizen, said they heard a loud cracking sound, assumed the brace position, went unconscious at some point, and woke up in the water. July 22: Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright is born in Rhinebeck, New York. July 22: Pirates RP Brian Bruno (2-1, 5.40) is in the "asking nicely" stage of not wanting to be in the bullpen. The problem with moving him into the rotation is threefold: we already have five guys in there, Bruno's 31 and unlikely to be part of the next good Pirates team, and he's been kind of bad this year, bad enough that he's already in long relief right now. I'll be watching this closely but with a mind of cutting him if he gets too unhappy instead of giving in to his wishes. July 22: The All Star rosters have been announced! Nothing is for certain about the 1973 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. It might be dominated by top-notch pitching performances. Or it could turn into a home run derby. Who knows? Pitch by pitch, inning by inning, the game could feature a little of both -- six strikeouts in a row by a nasty southpaw -- or a 3-homer day for some superstar slugger -- plus great catches, thrills, chills and spills -- all the great and the unexpected things that can happen in a baseball game. This year, the American League will be represented by these All-Star performers: SP Vince Akright (OAK) - 13-4, 2.46 ERA, 172.0 IP, 1.22 WHIP, 5.2 K/9, 3.2 WAR SP Billy Crystal (TEX) - 14-8, 2.41 ERA, 175.2 IP, 1.20 WHIP, 4.5 K/9, 3.3 WAR SP Jimmy Goddard (DET)* - 19-1, 1.67 ERA, 194.1 IP, 1.11 WHIP, 5.6 K/9, 5.3 WAR SP Justin Kindberg (BOS) - 11-9, 3.12 ERA, 170.1 IP, 1.09 WHIP, 5.8 K/9, 3.5 WAR SP Michael Pesco (BOS) - 12-11, 3.12 ERA, 190.1 IP, 1.28 WHIP, 5.9 K/9, 3.4 WAR SP Svetislav Pesic (MIN) - 9-7, 3.06 ERA, 117.2 IP, 1.27 WHIP, 4.1 K/9, 1.8 WAR RP Nate Kemp (TEX) - 4-1, 2.11 ERA, 59.2 IP, 1.01 WHIP, 5.1 K/9, 1.5 WAR CL Montay Luiso (CAL)* - 1-2, 7 SV, 2.60 ERA, 45.0 IP, 1.13 WHIP, 5.4 K/9, 0.4 WAR CL Malcolm Post (CHW) - 5-2, 19 SV, 1.93 ERA, 56.0 IP, 1.20 WHIP, 4.2 K/9, 1.5 WAR C Frank Abagnale (BAL) - .265/.302/.428, 313 AB, 10 HR, 111 wRC+, 3.7 WAR C Josh Lewis (OAK)* - .289/.351/.408, 304 AB, 5 HR, 1 SB, 117 wRC+, 2.9 WAR C Sam Rahn (MIL) - .277/.377/.375, 184 AB, 3 HR, 1 SB, 120 wRC+, 2.2 WAR 1B Alice Cooper (CHW)* - .304/.422/.621, 322 AB, 28 HR, 1 SB, 189 wRC+, 5.2 WAR 1B Nick Hodzic (CLE) - .251/.368/.409, 291 AB, 12 HR, 130 wRC+, 1.6 WAR 1B Chris Seek (CAL) - .342/.375/.511, 360 AB, 10 HR, 1 SB, 155 wRC+, 3.5 WAR 2B Rodrigo Juarez (CAL) - .281/.366/.461, 317 AB, 15 HR, 3 SB, 135 wRC+, 2.7 WAR 2B Joey Ramone (DET) - .328/.371/.477, 348 AB, 7 HR, 1 SB, 142 wRC+, 2.9 WAR 2B Geoffrey Rush (TEX)* - .298/.347/.466, 292 AB, 5 HR, 3 SB, 135 wRC+, 4.2 WAR 3B Jose Ayala (DET) - .332/.362/.520, 358 AB, 16 HR, 5 SB, 151 wRC+, 3.4 WAR 3B Pat Jones (MIL) - .319/.353/.475, 263 AB, 7 HR, 14 SB, 139 wRC+, 1.7 WAR 3B Bobby Ramirez (TEX) - .328/.424/.449, 314 AB, 6 HR, 20 SB, 157 wRC+, 4.2 WAR 3B Tom Weiss (NYY)* - .274/.412/.465, 329 AB, 12 HR, 161 wRC+, 4.4 WAR SS John Johnson (CHW)* - .320/.339/.431, 369 AB, 5 HR, 8 SB, 122 wRC+, 4.2 WAR LF Tony Danza (KC)* - .311/.411/.504, 351 AB, 8 HR, 3 SB, 164 wRC+, 3.6 WAR LF Adam Groves (NYY) - .302/.408/.502, 215 AB, 9 HR, 12 SB, 167 wRC+, 3.3 WAR LF Bruce Springsteen (BOS) - .331/.393/.473, 353 AB, 6 HR, 1 SB, 148 wRC+, 3.1 WAR CF Frank Beard (BAL) - .288/.379/.538, 299 AB, 17 HR, 13 SB, 166 wRC+, 2.2 WAR CF Brian Johnson (BOS) - .339/.386/.480, 304 AB, 3 HR, 1 SB, 150 wRC+, 2.6 WAR CF Alvin Romero (DET)* - .292/.341/.430, 377 AB, 3 HR, 45 SB, 120 wRC+, 4.3 WAR RF Brandon Anderson (CLE) - .306/.362/.483, 360 AB, 15 HR, 4 SB, 145 wRC+, 4.5 WAR RF Tommy Pron (OAK)* - .314/.421/.436, 264 AB, 5 HR, 146 wRC+, 1.7 WAR RF Philippe Toussaint (TEX) - .283/.375/.456, 283 AB, 6 HR, 1 SB, 137 wRC+, 3.3 WAR DH Ernesto Garcia (NYY)* - .256/.317/.562, 386 AB, 34 HR, 1 SB, 142 wRC+, 2.2 WAR Um, you don't need to "name" a starting relief pitcher, OOTP. Anyway, I hate the need to include a middle reliever on the team, especially in 1973, but what can you do, right? At a glance everything looks good... only one shortstop so the Red Sox' Oniji Handa, who's having a decent comeback year, got snubbed. Nick Hodzik is a really really iffy choice - I figured "okay, he's Cleveland's only rep" but nope, they have Brandon Anderson too. While the National League best will include these stars: SP Fernando Apolonio (LAD) - 11-9, 2.23 ERA, 169.2 IP, 1.07 WHIP, 5.3 K/9, 5.5 WAR SP Santos Arango (PIT) - 9-10, 2.44 ERA, 177.1 IP, 1.12 WHIP, 6.0 K/9, 5.2 WAR SP Jeremy Battaglia (PIT) - 9-8, 1.78 ERA, 192.1 IP, 1.09 WHIP, 5.8 K/9, 4.7 WAR SP Don Henley (SD) - 12-5, 2.24 ERA, 144.1 IP, 1.18 WHIP, 5.9 K/9, 3.2 WAR SP Danny Plaunt (PHI) - 5-7, 4.10 ERA, 149.1 IP, 1.35 WHIP, 5.2 K/9, 3.1 WAR SP Roger Quintana (STL) - 12-6, 2.10 ERA, 175.2 IP, 1.02 WHIP, 6.7 K/9, 4.3 WAR SP Tony Rivera (HOU)* - 14-5, 2.30 ERA, 176.1 IP, 1.10 WHIP, 6.7 K/9, 5.1 WAR SP Colin Rose (ATL) - 9-3, 1.91 ERA, 150.2 IP, 1.13 WHIP, 6.6 K/9, 3.7 WAR SP Richard Starkey (PHI) - 15-5, 2.43 ERA, 185.0 IP, 1.22 WHIP, 5.3 K/9, 4.5 WAR RP Brian Bruno (PIT) - 2-1, 5.40 ERA, 31.2 IP, 1.48 WHIP, 4.8 K/9, -0.1 WAR CL Paz Lemus (PIT) - 9-3, 12 SV, 1.79 ERA, 65.1 IP, 0.92 WHIP, 6.2 K/9, 1.8 WAR CL Geoff Saus (NYM)* - 7-7, 17 SV, 3.21 ERA, 70.0 IP, 1.29 WHIP, 5.9 K/9, 2.4 WAR C Jason Bushon (NYM)* - .295/.374/.428, 271 AB, 5 HR, 13 SB, 134 wRC+, 5.1 WAR C Doug Connally (PIT) - .267/.372/.404, 240 AB, 5 HR, 122 wRC+, 2.7 WAR C Greg Darrow (CHC) - .273/.304/.387, 300 AB, 6 HR, 91 wRC+, 2.9 WAR C John Stuart (STL) - .288/.351/.428, 299 AB, 10 HR, 1 SB, 123 wRC+, 3.2 WAR 1B Lorenzo Martinez (STL) - .258/.379/.410, 322 AB, 15 HR, 130 wRC+, 2.2 WAR 1B Justin Stone (LAD)* - .320/.377/.605, 281 AB, 21 HR, 9 SB, 174 wRC+, 2.7 WAR 1B Joshua Waltenbery (HOU) - .292/.390/.497, 332 AB, 16 HR, 9 SB, 162 wRC+, 3.2 WAR 2B Jordan Green (HOU) - .295/.356/.399, 278 AB, 6 HR, 119 wRC+, 2.6 WAR 2B Paul McCartney (SD) - .287/.355/.455, 356 AB, 12 HR, 1 SB, 130 wRC+, 4.2 WAR 2B Juan Perez (CHC)* - .295/.370/.504, 224 AB, 13 HR, 7 SB, 153 wRC+, 3.0 WAR (Injured) 2B Hudson Watts (MON) - .282/.371/.427, 255 AB, 5 HR, 11 SB, 129 wRC+, 2.8 WAR 3B Dale Earnhardt (SD)* - .293/.407/.520, 246 AB, 14 HR, 6 SB, 157 wRC+, 3.8 WAR (Injured) 3B George Harrison (SF) - .323/.370/.503, 372 AB, 12 HR, 146 wRC+, 3.5 WAR 3B Pete Little (HOU) - .280/.362/.414, 343 AB, 8 HR, 1 SB, 130 wRC+, 2.4 WAR SS Tony Shannon (PHI)* - .262/.347/.423, 324 AB, 5 HR, 13 SB, 123 wRC+, 1.5 WAR (Injured) LF Rafael Disla (STL) - .329/.388/.467, 347 AB, 8 HR, 1 SB, 151 wRC+, 2.7 WAR LF R.J. Domínguez (CIN) - .311/.399/.554, 341 AB, 15 HR, 1 SB, 173 wRC+, 3.5 WAR LF Alberto Juantorena (PHI)* - .305/.395/.544, 338 AB, 18 HR, 25 SB, 164 wRC+, 5.1 WAR CF George Foreman (HOU)* - .301/.396/.507, 339 AB, 15 HR, 7 SB, 163 wRC+, 4.2 WAR CF Bryant Tarala (PHI) - .253/.379/.412, 233 AB, 11 HR, 14 SB, 133 wRC+, 2.9 WAR RF Justin Jensen (HOU) - .276/.375/.446, 294 AB, 13 HR, 137 wRC+, 1.9 WAR RF Greg Lake (PHI) - .298/.353/.531, 245 AB, 11 HR, 5 SB, 153 wRC+, 2.6 WAR RF Jaden Weaver (CIN) - .251/.349/.506, 334 AB, 23 HR, 2 SB, 138 wRC+, 1.6 WAR RF Matt Williams (STL)* - .278/.374/.500, 234 AB, 11 HR, 4 SB, 155 wRC+, 2.8 WAR Over here... Tony Rivera starting does make sense. I'm surprised that the VOTERS overlooked wins and losses to name Santos Arango and Jeremy Battaglia to the roster but then again I think like half the NL starting rotation is on this team. Justin Stone completes his run here as the NL starting 1B in spite of missing a good month with an injury: it helps that he's been en fuego when heealthy. Tony Shannon is listed as injured but juuuuust got healthy today; not sure how that works out (and again the league does that thing where they only name one SS - what gives?). Greg Lake is not currently starting for the Phillies but he's got himself an All-Star nod. He deserves it though. That's more than I can say for recent malcontent Brian Bruno. Don't let the hat get to your head, man. July 22: Vince Akright (14-1, 2.34) has been having a kind of 2nd-place Cy Young year but somehow the 1969 leader in shutouts hadn't thrown any this year. That is until today when he stymied Cleveland with a 5-hitter en route to a 3-0 win. He did throw a loooot of pitches in this game but if anything got stronger late, striking out 2 batters in the 9th. "I work hard," said Akright following the game. "People say they play hard but I don't even know what play means." Kevin Freeman (9-8, 3.45), Akright's former teammate in Washington, was on the losing end; this seems to be his role in life, to be the losing pitcher when the opponent is dominating. July 22: In the last Rangers-Tigers game of the year... at least until the ALCS, Texas' Robbie Coltrane (14-5, 2.53) outlasts Edgar Molina (16-10, 3.47) in a pitchers' duel to win 3-1. Coltrane is 12-3, 1.86 since being traded from Cleveland for Kevin Freeman (see above!) and 1B George W Bush (.230, 6, 18 in AAA); he's reall emerged as an ace for this team. He led the league in lowest walk rate with the Indians last year - 1.7/9 and he continued to showcase that pinpoint control today, walking just one man as he went the distance. Molina wasn't exactly a scrub today himself with 7 Ks to push him to a league-leading 151; however, he did not do himself any favors with 3 solo HRs. He's actually already given up 33 of those. His personal record is 36 and at this point I'd be surprised if he didn't break the all-time low in that mark of 46. The season series, by the way, ends up tied 6-6. It's gonna be a good league championship! July 22: Dodgers 1B Justin Stone (.330, 22, 48) punctuates a great first half and lifts his team out of the doldrums for a 13-4 shellacking of the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Los Angeles, who's just 18-33 since June 1, knocked Cardinals ace Roger Quintana (12-7, 2.46) out of the box in the 4th and scored the most runs they've scored all season long. Stone, for his part, went 4-4 with 4 runs, 3 RBIs, and a solo HR in the 2nd inning to lead off all of the scoring today. This great game puts Stone at 1st place in the batting race (also, he qualifies now!), percentage points ahead of today's opponent LF Rafael Disla (.328, 8, 51), who was merely 1 for 4 on the night. ## Teams in Review July 16: I don't think we had one of these all last week... the Boston Red Sox (48-40, 8 1/2 GB) are hanging on by a hair in the AL East. The offense has frankly been better than expected although the loss of Mike Miller (.286, 10, 43) to an intercostal strain for the next month won't help. They've got the look of an 85-90 win team to me and they've got a 95+ win team ahead of them so outside of not throwing in the towel I'm not sure how much we can do... Rotation: You could argue that the Big 3 of Marco Sanchez (12-10, 3.45), Michael Pesco (11-11, 3.28), and Justin Kindberg (11-9, 3.05) are underachieving a little bit bit only in their own lofty terms. This is still a top-3 (in the AL at least) rotation. No changes. Bullpen: Dave Bly (1-3, 5.45, 8 Sv) has been terrible pretty much since the beginning of June and it's time to switch things up. The next best thing I see is Tom Brumfield (1-0, 3.09), who is barely above water with his K/W ratio (14 Ks, 13 BB in 32 IP) but he did close for AAA Louisville in 1971 (1-7, 3.57, 10 Sv) so... experience I guess. My other move will be to DFA lefty specialist Byron Pratt (0-3, 4.33) and call up the 24 year old Alex Izquierdo (8-6. 2.51 in AAA Louisville). Izzy struck out 115 batters in 154 innings in the first half and frankly looks like a better fit right now than Pratt, who's been with the team for a while, it's true... Infield: C Jeremy Dolak (.192, 0, 9) should be back by the end of the week to create a mid-off between him and Sid Bartoszek (.221, 5, 16). Frankly, I think Bart has done the better job this year so he'll probably keep the job. Neither guy is super fantastic at this point but the "prospect", already-26-year-old Alan Thicke (.178, 1, 2) is hitting even worse in AAA than he was in the majors (.154, 7, 25 in Louisville) so at best he's a guy to try when the division race is over. I'm not huuuuge on Brian Johnson (.339, 5, 35) playing first right now with the lack of power but beggars can't be choosers I guess and it's hard to argue with the batting average (currently 2nd in the AL). I'll have to figure out where to put him but fortunately I won't need to make that decision for another month. 2B Brian Long (.175, 0, 2) is not hitting at all after missing most of the first half with a dislocated shoulder, but it's waaaay too early to bail on the 31 year old 4-time All-Star. Also the guy I'd replace him with is Bert "Be Home" Blyleven (.224, 1, 12), who isn't exactly a world-beater himself hitting-wise. Outfield: With the infield as iffy as it is, the outfield is paaaaacked. There are 3 clear starters and even at DH you've got Mario Fernandez (.354, 1, 12) hitting out of his mind in a part-time role. Like I said, we'll have to figure out how to make things work once Mike Miller is back, but also like I said, we won't have to worry about that for quite a while. July 18: Following a doubleheader sweep at the hands of the aforementioned Red Sox, it's time to take a look at the Chicago White Sox (53-40, 5 1/2 GB). They're still within striking distance of the AL West but they are really, really going to have to bear down if they want it. A quick glance at their team stats says this is a good but not great team that's probably overachieving a bit. Still, you know, it only takes one good year for those flags to fly... Rotation: The Sox are sitting in a 4-man rotation and I dont' see any real reason to pull out of that. I'll also, I'm sure, regroup it after the All-Star Break, as supposed #1 starter Chris Messina (6-11, 4.26) has if anything been the worst of the group so far, but otherwise these are probably the 4 guys who are going to pitch through the 2nd half. Bullpen: The one shining spot on this team, it seems, is the 1st-ranked bullpen, led by stopper Malcolm Post (5-2, 1.98, 18 Sv). Post has been a bit more pitch-to-contact than he's been in the past (only 26 Ks in 54.2 IP, 4.3/9) but there's no denying the effectiveness and if anything we should start leaning on him haaaard over the 2nd half. I'm not about to make other changes here at this time. Infield: Catcher has been a mess but there is absolutely nothing here to save the White Sox so I guess I'm just going to stick with things as they are. That means career backup Chris Flores (.176, 0, 7) probably starts throughout the 2nd half. Robert Keith (.200, 1, 2) recently got called up but he's out with a calf strain so for the time being we've got 3 catchers on the roster, the #3 man being Rene Arnoux (.135, 1, 5), who was supposed to be the new guy but, well, you can see that batting average for yourself... I think Chance Hopka (.268, 0, 11) the former starting SS for the '65 and '67 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, has earned the starting job at 2nd over Yukio Hatoyama (.259, 2, 23) on the basis of hitting a liiiittle bit better but most of all his glove: he's a good shortstop so that means he's an excellent second sacker. IF Chris "Captain" Morgan (.206, 0, 20 last year) is going to enter a crowded infield; in fact, as it stands, he comes at the cost of releasing 31 year old Kellen Owen (.224, 2, 5). Mostly Morgan's going to be deep depth as the release of Owen allos me to mix in prospect Carlos Filipe Ximines Belo (.346, 1, 4) a bit harder at 3rd base, wher Brian Maccioli (.244, 6, 29) has been a slick fielder but a pretty mediocre bat. Outfield: There's plenty of people in center but nobody's really looking like a great starter at the moment. Mohammed Abdelaziz (.217, 2, 28) is currently platooning with Dave Concepcion (.213, 1, 9) but as you can see, that's not really doing a lot in terms of production. Down on the farm you've got <unnamed guy> as well (.226, 3, 23) but as a AAA player who's OBPing .283 I'm not super confident he's going to work out either. The team did spend a 2nd round pick on a centerfielder but that guy's going to be several years away. July 20: With the division still very much in sight, it's time ot take a look-see at the St. Louis Cardinals (53-40, 4 1/2 GB). They've been playing this good-offense, meh-pitching route for a few years now. I'm not sure how much we can do about it but hey, it's THEIR TIME I got nothin'. Rotation: The back half of the rotation both have over-4 ERAs: Steve Tidwell (5-6, 4.12) and Mario Garcia (8-8, 4.25). I think this team is too good overall to make a move here so I think we just have to live with the mediocrity. Ted Nugent (6-2, 1.98 at Tulsa), recently acquired in the trade of RP Billy Munoz (3-0, 2.87) has been blowing up AAA so it's a really close thing... but no, can't risk it. Bullpen: Travis Livingston (6-3, 1.53, 12 Sv) has been huuuuge and definitely I'm going to have to use him like Paz Lemus or Montay Luiso in the second half. The rest of the bullpen is kind of meh but again, right now the devil you know is better than the devil you don't. Infield: I'm not exactly impressed by SS Barry Bailey (.217, 2, 9) and he'll continue to work with Jun-ho Baek (.127, 2, 6) to try and provide something close to replacement level at the position. Shortstop's been a problem ever since they shipped Brian Wilcox (.250, 5, 25) off to Oakland last year but now is not the time to think of what could have been, okay!? Outfield: RF Matt Williams (.274, 11, 30) returns from his sprained ankle tomorrow and really that right now is the only real sore spot in the lienup - and not even that sore, as Ryan Ashbaker (.312, 1, 21) has been great as a 4th OF this year. He lacks that corner OF power so there's no question that it's Williams' job but, you know, nice problem to have and all that.
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July 22-29: THE ALL STAR GAME WOOP DE DOO
## Standings / Recap / Comments
AMERICAN LEAGUE LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Code:
0 Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Detroit 65 36 .644 - W2 464 327 .278 77 89 2.97 2.8 5.8 .983 46.3 47.0 Boston 55 46 .545 10 L3 444 361 .273 78 51 3.38 3.0 5.6 .981 38.7 37.3 New York 57 49 .538 10½ L1 466 495 .251 104 34 4.31 2.8 5.0 .981 -1.1 36.5 Cleveland 45 60 .429 22 W5 387 435 .249 87 36 3.94 3.5 5.2 .982 6.7 29.9 Milwaukee 42 59 .416 23 W1 410 479 .259 65 69 4.27 3.5 5.0 .979 -15.8 32.0 Baltimore 39 59 .398 24½ L4 400 476 .253 82 45 4.35 4.0 5.1 .977 -10.3 40.7 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Texas 62 39 .614 - L3 386 311 .258 61 58 2.81 3.2 5.1 .983 44.4 32.1 Chicago 59 44 .573 4 W2 446 400 .259 89 57 3.53 3.6 5.1 .982 37.0 36.3 Oakland 54 50 .519 9½ W3 418 426 .261 72 43 3.70 3.0 4.9 .980 10.1 37.2 California 49 53 .480 13½ L2 446 447 .264 75 69 3.97 3.4 4.8 .981 30.0 38.5 Kansas City 48 59 .449 17 W2 491 533 .254 78 55 4.54 3.6 4.7 .982 8.4 31.7 Minnesota 40 61 .396 22 L2 377 445 .242 81 50 3.96 3.4 5.2 .977 2.4 33.3 LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Philadelphia 63 40 .612 - L1 493 382 .248 91 78 3.32 3.1 5.3 .981 32.9 47.6 St. Louis 59 43 .578 3½ W2 419 402 .257 94 31 3.42 3.1 5.8 .980 14.3 41.8 Chicago 53 50 .515 10 L2 393 387 .257 77 57 3.48 3.3 5.0 .986 42.1 40.6 Pittsburgh 49 51 .490 12½ W1 333 325 .235 47 27 3.03 2.7 5.9 .983 12.3 35.1 New York 44 54 .449 16½ W3 317 389 .247 43 60 3.50 3.3 5.1 .980 21.3 47.1 Montreal 37 63 .370 24½ L8 390 483 .244 76 40 4.13 3.7 5.1 .977 -10.3 30.8 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Cincinnati 58 47 .552 - W2 445 408 .254 82 40 3.59 3.0 5.7 .982 11.9 29.8 Houston 57 49 .538 1½ L3 447 423 .254 94 43 3.47 3.6 5.9 .977 10.2 32.9 Atlanta 56 51 .523 3 W2 410 366 .248 76 30 3.06 3.0 6.0 .982 7.2 33.8 San Diego 52 52 .500 5½ L2 400 346 .252 62 41 2.95 3.4 5.4 .980 45.4 37.7 San Francisco 46 58 .442 11½ L1 367 430 .246 75 57 3.60 3.3 5.4 .980 -0.2 27.1 Los Angeles 44 60 .423 13½ W1 316 389 .243 85 49 3.25 3.1 5.4 .979 34.7 34.4 I haven't recapped the league leaders in a bit so here goes! In the AL it's still a neck-and-neck race with Angels 1B Chris Seek (.336, 11, 58) juuuust ekeing out Red Sox LF Bruce Springsteen (.334, 7, 44) and Tigers 3B Jose "Joker" Ayala (.332, 17, 61) waiting right there himself. Seek was a very pedestrian 7-27 this week to let the other guys back in. For HRs, Yankees DH/1B Ernesto Garcia (.251, 36, 85) had gotten back on the dinger track the week before the break with a 3 HR 9 RBI stretch but hit just .158 with 1 HR this past week. That still has him well ahead of White Sox 1B Alice Cooper (.298, 27, 74) but as before it's tightening. The veteran Twins star Angelo Martinez (.267, 21, 70) is 3rd and pretty much the only highlight of that lineup at this point. RBIs are situated in the same order with Tigers 2B Joey Ramone (.326, 7, 70) tied with Martinez for 3rd. And of couuurse his teammate CF Alvin Romero (.290, 3, 37) still leads the AL in steals with 45, with Boston's CF Jon Glynn (.261, 7, 40) a distant 2nd with 30 and Rangers 3B Bobby "Ghost Runner" Ramirez (.326, 7, 36) in 3rd. Jimmy Goddard (19-1, 1.70) had his ERA actually go up this week in spite of only allowing 2 ER in 6.1 IP but he's still #1 and still has a ghost of a chance of breaking Jeff Borden's all-time ERA record of 1.63. Oakland's Vince Akright (15-4, 2.29) is a pretty distant 2nd and Texas phenom Billy Crystal (14-9, 2.40) rounds out the top 3. Win-wise, Goddard's got 2 days left to get win #20 before August; of course he's in 1st. The 2nd place guy is his teammate Edgar Molina (16-11, 3.51), who seems like a near-lock to break a record of his own, although not a good one: he gave up 3 HRs in his last outing to put him at 36 on the season. The all-time record is 46. Akright by the way is 3rd in Ws. Molina is still an excellent pitcher of course and his leading the league in strikeouts (158) is a big sign of that. Boston's pair of striker-outers, Michael Pesco (13-12, 3.08, 133 Ks) and Marco Sanchez (14-10, 3.38, 129 Ks) are 2 and 3 and juuuust ahead of the Yankees' John Carpenter (15-8,m 3.42, 128). Finally with saves you've got your Malcolm Post (5-2, 1.72, 24 Sv) just finishing games like clockwork followed by Oakland's Willis Chavez (7-9, 2.43, 16 Sv), who's also got a toooon of decisions, yikes, and Texas' Tanzan Kihara (1-2, 3.18, 16 Sv). Dodgers 1B Justin Stone (.331, 24, 50) is in a virtual tie in the batting race with his old rival Cards LF Rafael Disla (.331, 8, 51). Once upon a time those guys were traded for each other. In 3rd is San Diegan guitarist (well, he's English but he plays for the Padres) George Harrison (.322, 13, 56). The NL HR race is much more normal-looking with Reds RF Jaden Weaver (.258, 27, 82) still holding off Stone, though it kind of seems like a matter of time before Stone takes that top spot. Phillies LF Alberto Juantorena (.298, 20, 69) is the other guy in the senior circuit with 20+ HRs. RBIs are close to the same, with Weaver in first, his teammate LF RJ Dominguez (.299, 16, 70) in 2nd, and Juantorena in 3rd. I guess RBIs are the one category Stone can't get at this year. Don't worry; he's also the single-season all-time leader in that category (in 1964 he went .371/58/169). Nobody is as flashy as Romero in the NL; instead it's San Francisco LF Jon Berry (.262, 8, 26) leading everyone with 30 steals, followed by 30/30 thread Juantorena with 28 and... Dodgers 2B Danny Fager(?) (.265, 7, 22) with 16. Fager's not necessarily my idea of a speedster but I guess he did swipe 29 bases in 1968 so hey... Two players still have sub-2.00 ERAs in the NL: Jeremy Battaglia (10-9, 1.81), with an absolutely brutal record for a guy who gives up that few runs, and Atlanta's Colin "Knucksie" Rose (10-3, 1.89), who's finally developed into the knuckleballing ace the Braves were hoping he'd become. In 3rd is young Don Henley (14-5, 2.12) who is airing is "dirty laundry" with the Padres that makes no sense look it's a song okay. The Astros' Tony Rivera (16-5, 2.25) is 4th but also #1 in wins as the defending Cy Young award winner tries to keep his team afloat. Philadelphia lefty Ringo Starr (15-6, 2.46) was in the top spot but he's had 2 losses and a no-decision in his last 3 outings to fall to 2nd, and hey, Don Henley's in 3rd here too. WIth Ks, Roger Quintana (13-7, 2.37, 138 Ks) is juuuust ahead of Rivera (136), who's got an outside chance at the Triple Crown this year. Battaglia (133) and Atlanta's George House (11-10, 3.44, 133 Ks) are tied at 3rd. The Mets' Geoff Saus (7-7, 3.59, 18 Sv) leads in saves in spite of his team's floundering (and his own mortality this year), followed closely by San Diego's Darius Parchman (2-4, 1.25, 17 Sv) and Cincinnati's Brian Yates (8-2, 1.29), both of whom look significantly less stoppable. ## Major Transactions July 27: The Reds traded P Vincent Schiavelli (9-7, 3.52) and minor league SS Scott Dorman (.182, 3, 24 at AAA Indianapolis) to the Cardinals for minor league 3B Nick Weber (.231, 18, 55 for AAA Tulsa) and a catcher to possibly be named later (.230, 2, 3 at AAA Tulsa and is just a touch under 25). Schiavelli is a pretty price to pay for Weber, who washed out of Houston's system, but the Reds do need a 3B and Schiavelli, who will later be best known for being that one homeless ghost in "Ghost", had been sent down to make room for other guys so he wasn't in Cincy's immediate plans. Dorman's not hitting at all in AAA and so may not be the replacement the Cards would like for Barry Bailey (.243, 3, 11), who's starting to hit but is not at all a MLB quality SS. ## News July 23: Ozark Air Lines Flight 809 crashes near Normandy, Missouri, killing 38 out of 44 souls on board. July 23: President Nixon refuses to turn over the presidential tape recordings to the Senate Watergate committee or the special prosecutor. In a letter to the committee chairman Sam Ervin, Nixon writes "I have consider your request that I permit your committee to have access to tapes of my private conversations with a number of my closest aides. I... shall not do so." Gee, Tricky Dick, if you don't have anything to hide, why aren't you cooperating??? July 23: NOMAH is born in Whittier, California. July 23: Scottish singer Fran Healey is born in Stafford, in... Staffordshire. July 23: Eddie Rickenbackeer, the US Army World War I flying ace who later built Eastern Airlines into a major airliner, dies today at 82. July 23: The AL Player of the Week - I forget if we get one for the All-Star week but I guess we'll see - is Red Sox DH/OF Mario Fernandez (.368, 2, 29), who went 12-28 (.429) with a HR and 8 RBIs. Man, this team is making it harder and harder for 1B Mike Miller (.286, 10, 43), who's still out for another 3 weeks with his intercostal strain. OF Robert "Sgt. Slaughter" Remus (.279, 0, 5) is also performing pretty well as a top-of-the-order guy. I mean, Miller will get his starting job back but who goes to the bench? Anyway, this is the 26 year old Fernandez' first major league PotW, although he won the minor league version for the MLB Reserves all the way back in 1968. July 23: The NL guy is a player you maaaaybe expected if you are masochistic enough to actually read all these recaps: Dodgers 1B Justin Stone (.330, 22, 48). Stone went 9-22 (.409) with 2 HRs, 6 runs, and 6 RBIs. He slugged .773, which I'm told is pretty good. It's only making the last-place Dodgers mediocre instead of truly bad but hey, you do what you can. Stone's also about to play in his 13th All-Star Game and needless to say, he's won PotW a few times before: 24 times in all, including June 4 of this year. July 23: SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK is the single-season shutouts record. I don't see it getting surpassed but hey, you never know: T-3. Joe Bartlett, PIT 1948 (23-9, 2.72), 8. Man, Bartlett is 100% one of those guys who did some of his best work before we had the MLB. His debut year was 1946 (first year of this save) at 27 and he was already worth 17-15, 3.39. He also, unfortunately, crapped out after a decent age-33 season in 1952 (15-15, 3.42) so he finished with a 120-92 record that would make it reeeeeally hard to justify a HOF slot. He was definitely one of the early greats of this league though. T-3. Chad Daugharty, TEX 1972 (18-10, 2.37), 8. So yeah, everyone else is from the last 4 seasons, hence my "you never know" comment. We know who the Dog is. T-3. Steve Waiters, CIN 1970 (25-6, 2.47), 8. Also a massive, massive year for Waiters, which of course he hasn't lived up to since because how could you? T-1. Justin Kindberg, BOS 1970 (23-13, 2.43), 9. Kindberg also had 8 shutouts in 1971 in that mooooonster year he had (27-6, 2.06) and has 3 so far this year so it's not like completely out of the question that he reaches, I don't know, 8 again. T-1. Tony Rivera, HOU 1972 (23-13, 2.57), 9. Rivera for that matter haas 4 so far. You'd need a huuuuge 2nd half from either guy but it could happen! Rivera also narrowly missed shutout #5 last night vs the Mets. July 23: The Prospects Game was a kind of a zzzzzzz-ful affair with the NL Future Stars scoring early and winning 4-1. LF Chris Cooper (.297, 11, 25 for AAA Indianapolis (CIN)) hit an RBI double off of P Job Cohen (4-7, 5.02 at AAA Tucson (OAK)) to initiate scoring and SS John Deacon (.333, 1, 9 with A Decatur (SF)) drove in 2 more in the 4th. For the AL Stars, the lone run was driven in by a classic PTNBL and apparently they ran out of pitchingbecause young auteur John Landis (5-1, 3.69 at AAA Evanston (MIL)) was left in for the final 4 innings, which TBF he did pitch scorelessly. July 24: A police officer in Dallas, Texas, shoots and kills a 12 year old boy, Santos Rodriguez, after the boy was handcuffed and sitting in a police car. The officer, one Darrell Cain, will be indicted for murder, convicted, and will eventually serve 30 months of a five year sentence. July 24: The Cardinals wake up to the 2nd half with the reality of no RF Matt Williams (.282, 11, 32). Williams, who's missed quite a few games already, will now be out for maybe 2 months with a torn hamstring. Williams was acquired from Montreal last November in exchange for prospect RF Rory Gallagher (.280, 2, 13 with his new team). For now, Ryan Ashbaker (.299, 1, 21) will take his place in the lineup although of course there's no replacing that power. July 24: Aaaand surprise, surprise, Alex Vallejo (.322, 4, 15) will also be out until mid-September with a strained PCL. So far Vallejo's played in just 41 games; while he's hit really well when healthy, man, he's not healthy very often. He's a Gold Glove quality RF but maybe it's time to ship him off to the American League and make him into a DH... July 24: The All-Star Game is held at Jarry Park in Montreal. It is... another pitching duel, as the NL All_Stars emerge victorious 2-0. 3B Pete Little (.277, 8, 47) played the entire game and hit a 3rd inning HR off of Svetislav Pesic for all the runs the NL needed and also to win himself the MVP. I'd worry more about usage but meh, it's the All-Star Game... July 25: The paramilitary group Patria y Libertad assassinates Chilean President Salvador Allende's Navy adviser ARturo Araya Peeters. This group is funded by the CIA because of course they are, and a member of this organization may or may not have carried out the 1986 assassination of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme. July 25: The Soviet Mars 5 space probe launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome. It will reach the planet Mars on February 12, 1974. July 25: Louis St Laurent, the 12th Prime Minister of Canada from 1948 to 1957, dies at age 91. July 26: The US uses its veto power in the United Nations Security Council after the UNSC members vote 13-2 for a resolution that owuld have censured Israel for its failure to withdraw from the West Bank, a move that will certainly have no repercussions in the future. July 26: Candidates in the UK's teeny tiny Liberal Party wins 2 by-elections over the Conservative and Labour parties to increase its presence in the House of Commons from six MPs to 8. July 26: The Bangladeshi national team plays its first-ever soccer match, drawing Thailand 2-2 at the Merdeka Cup tournament in Malaysia. July 26: Kate Beckinsale, the English actress and model best known for her work in the Underworld series, is born in London. She'll get her first screen credit a year later. July 26: Albert Einstein's oldest son, Hans Albert Einstein, dies at age 69. July 26: Woooow... Jose Zuazua, who we last saw being just kind of awful in 1971 (2-2, 7.16), suffered a setback in his recovery from ulnar nerve entrapment - in 1970s terms, a sore arm - and won't be back until 1974 if, I'm being honest, at all. Zuazua missed all of 1972 sith a ruptured UCL and then, while making his comeback in spring training this year, suffered that nerve injury. July 26: In a move that's probably more about being frustrated with the lack of contending, RP Elias Sanchez (1-3, 3.67) demanded that he be a member of the starting rotation. Um. Sanchez has started exactly 0 games in his 13 year career. I'm going to ignore him for now. July 26: We've got gaaaaaaames today - 20 in all, which means 16 of the 24 teams are playing double-headers. I'd hate this if I was a baseball fan in 1973 - weekday doubleheaders for most teams? - but hey, let's get this season GOING. July 26: I don't usually cover releases but hey, when it's a marquee player... the Orioles' OF has been "crowded" in the sense of having a whole lot of 45/80 players and, well, Jason Workman (.221, 10, 31) has just not been at even that level since he came over from Chicago last August. Sunk cost or whatever but at some point you just have to cut bait and at 36 Workman just seems unlikely to regain his MVP form at this point. His Orioles career finishes with him at a 230/18/53 mark in 114 games and a .250 OBP. Yikes! Will someone else pick him up? At this point I don't know... I mean, I'm sure not stepping in to sign him as any major-league team but the minor league GMs are free to pick him up. July 26: Astros P Tony Rivera (16-5, 2.25) went 8 solid innings - not that he needed to tonight - and his team scored 12 runs behind him, 9 off of Dodgers ace Fernando Apolonio (11-10, 2.40) to give the... well, putative All-Star Game starter (the AI decided to rest him on account of his having pitched on Sunday) his 10th consecutive win. "This was a team win," said Rivera following the game. "The guys did everything they needed to do and all I had to do was put the ball over the plate." Speaking of the guys doing everything, SS Masanori Hattori (.239, 3, 26) had himself a game for the record books. The shortstop-hitting shortstop went 3-4 with a 3 run HR in the 7th and 2 doubles that, all told, drove in a total of 8 runs. That ties the NL record and is the first time since 1964 (Justin Stone, who played in this game!) (and who was .371/58/169 that season good lord I'm not making that up) that a player has driven in so many guys. The all-time record for either league is 9, set by 2 ALers: 1B Mario Buelna in 1955 (.234, 25, 86 that year) and 3B Tiptoe Tommy Weiss in 1968 (.254, 8, 55). Both guys did the duty for the Yankees so one could say this ties the all-time non-evil empire record. July 27: Operation End Sweep, the US clearing of mines from the harbors of North Vietnam, comes to an official end after being started on February 6. The minesweepers will depart the next day to sail back to the Philippines. July 27: Mimi Wong, a Singaporean bar hostess and the first woman to receive the death sentence in that country since its independence, is hanged shortly after dawn for the crime of murdering the wife of her lover with the help of her ex-husband, who is also hanged this morning. There is a weirdly long write-up on her life in Wikipedia. July 28: The Summer Jam at Watkins Glen is no Woodstock but this rock festival featuring The Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers, and The Band, still attracts 600,000 fans... which I guess is more than Woodstock because it's a record for the time. What do I know? July 28: Skylab 3 is launched from the Kennedy Space Center to conduct various medical and scientific experiments. July 28: Voters in the Philippines endorse the continuation of martial law after two days of a national referendum. Weirdly enough for an event in which the people are claimed to have voted to restrict their own civil rights, there is some controversy, with many of the claimed 35,000 citizens' assemblies never having met and those that did meet voted by a show of hands. Nevertheless, "Yes" carried the day with more than 90% of the vote and you can't argue with results, am I right??? July 28: A jet airplane touches down at the Marambio Air Station on the Antarctic Peninsula. The Patagonia, a Fokker F28, is the first jet-engine aircraft to land on this continent. July 29: Voters in Greece abolish the monarchy in a nationwide vote that takes places 4 weeks after Giorgios Papadapolous declares himself president, overthrowing King Constantine II. The vote - "vote"? - is more than 78% in favor of creating the Helenic Republic. July 29: The Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis, Minnesota goes through an elaborate early-morning procedure to transport its assets two and a half blocks. The move of five billion dollars in currency, coins, and seccurity takes place between 2AM and 6:30AM after city police seal off the 12 block area around the old and new buildings, with 76 policemen, US Secret Service agents, and US Federal Reserve Bank security guards patrolling the area. July 29: The Dutch Grand Prix is won by Jackie Stewart in yet another race marred by tragedy, as British driver Roger Williamson is killed during the race in an accident witnessed live on European television. This one is especially brutal, as Williamson flips his car and although he isn't seriously injured in the accident, he is trapped underneath the wreckage as his car begins to burn. The track marshals are not equipped or trained to assist him and it takes another driver, David Purley, abandoning his own race to attempt to pull Williamson out. Sadly, this attempt proves futile, with Williamson dying of asphyxiation. Following the event and in a "okay, why didn't this happen 20 years earlier" sense, fire-resistant clothing is mandated for all track marshals to wear so that they would be able to assist in the case of a fire. July 29: Henri Charriere, an ex-con and author of the memoir "Papillon" which talls of his incarceration in and escape from a penal colony in French Guiana, dies of throat cancer. Although Charriere insisted during his lifetime that the book was largely true, modern researchers believe that much of it came from the stories of other inmates rather than the author's own experiences. July 29: Cubss SP Jason Sanders, a 16 game winner in 1971 (16-11. 3.45) will end the year on the disabled list for the second straight season aas he was diagnosed with a season-ending elbow injury today. Replacing him in the Cubs' rotation is 23 year old film auteur and Chicagophile John Hughes (10-8, 3.74), who also sported a 98/52 K/W ratio in AAA Wichita in the first half of the season. July 29: I'm a little sad to see that Brewers RP Victor Marin (2-1, 3.38) has demanded a trade. He wanted to start and to gbe fair to him he actually has been a pretty decent starter in the past but I didn't and now he's too mad about that and all the losing to stick around. I'll ship him off if a trade is called for. July 29: The schedule creators haaaaaate Cleveland for some reason. I'mn seeing them now playing their 3rd double-header in 4 games. Needless to say, this pitching staff is spent and I'm down to absolute chicanery to fill the two starting slots today. Two rookies will make their debut on the mound for the tribe - footballist Claudio Rainieri (9-9, 2.98 at AAA OKC) and Joey's brother Johnny Ramone (7-7, 3.64). As often seems to be the case in OOTPland, it's Cleveland who powers through this one, scoring a combined 17 runs to sweep the double-header and the weekend series against the Red Sox, 11-2 and 6-2 (they also won 4-2 on Saturday). Rainieri pitched into the 8th in the first game and benefitted from Red Sox starter Brian Osborne (11-4, 2.98) suffering a rare meltdown; he was helped by a 2-4, 3 RBI game by LF Richard Berman (.270, 3, 21). In the second, a battle of spot starters, Boston's guy Dwight "Murdoch" Schultz (1-2, 4.12) once again got knocked out early and left Johnny Ramone to get the W in a single-game appearance before being sent back down (I said I was down to absolute chicanery!). July 29: Cardinals 3B Mike Galeana (.233, 17, 54) was having an off month after slugging 9 HRs in June. Today, in a double-header vs the rival Cubs at Wrigley Field, he made up for it in a biiiig way, going a combined 5-9 with 3 HRs and 7 RBIs in a 9-6, 5-3 sweep. Galeana slugged 2 of his dingers in the first game, including the game-winning 3-run HR off of RP Javy Obregon (8-8, 4.89) in the 8th. In Game 2 he only managed the 1 solo shot off of SP Max Weinberg (5-7, 3.05) but it wasn't for lack of trying, as he finished the night 3-4. Galeana's still only slashing .228/336/413 for July, which goes to show where he was before today... July 29: There's been some back and forth the last couple days but with the Astros losing 7-5 to the Braves today and the Reds sweeping the Padres 6-5 (11) and 3-2 there's a new leader in the NL West! The Reds are riding a 37-20 record since June 1 to get to this place, where they're now a full game and a half up on Houston (they entered the day tied). They did it, too, having to spot-start for both games today: setup man Pete Lynn (2-3, 3.33) went 7 innings and relinquished the first game to the bullpen, where ace closer Sonny Yates (8-2, 1.29, 16 Sv) pitched 3 innings to earn the W, and then Hector Frenandez (1-1, 2.67) made his first start of the year a good one with 7 innings of 1-run ball himself. The Reds have some important games on their plate coming up, starting with a 4-game series against the Braves following a much-needed day off tomorrow, and then a 5-gamer at home against Houston that runs from Friday to Monday and includes yet another double-header (they're already playing one on Tuesday). Houston still has one game to go in their series vs Atlanta but then they get to play the cellar-dwelling Dodgers for their midweek series. Cincy and Houston have only played each other 8 times so far - they're 4-4 - so they've got 2 more series to go in September after this one. Both teams also look to be playing most of August against the NL East so things could get really interesting... ## Teams in Review July 27: We've hit our first 60-loss team, the Cleveland Indians (40-60, 24 GB). As bad/possibly the worst teams in the league go, I guess these guys aren't terrible... they've taken the "no hitting" route to where they are, where the pitching is actually middle of the pack (5th in runs allowed, 7th in starters' ERA (3.98), 9th in bullpen ERA (4.14)). Bad hitting is an opportunity, though, right? And hey, it's the second half now. Rotation: I do a once-over to reset the rotations after the All-Star Break so I've already called up William Hernandez (8-8, 3.46 at AAA OKC), who had a K rate of 7.2/9 in the minors. He'll be the new #5 man. Last year's improbable 22 game winner, Jose Martinez (1-5, 3.93) is closer to coming back than being out but still has another 3 weeks to go. That'll be nice. Looking through things... ah right, I sent Lee Evans (1-4, 3.51) down because he hadn't been able to get the Tribe through his starts. The ERA was fine, although the 45/39 K/W ratio tells me he wasn't actually that good, but that 1-4 record was through 12 starts (and no CGs). Bullpen: Yeah, it's a mess right now but again, this is a 60 loss team. Giorgio Cavazzano (1-1, 7.71) has actually been a decent 3.38 with his new team after having allowed 12 earned runs in just 8 IP for the Royals earlier. I also have newly called up Masami Kuwashima (1-1, 0.39) in to open the 2nd half. He had more Ks (25) than first-half IP (23.1) for Oklahoma City but also threw a loooot of walks (13) and was only up there for around a month since getting the call-up from AA San Antonio. Is he being rushed? Probably. Infield: Cleveland hoped that a change of scenery for 2B Mauricio Mendez (.231, 7, 27) would get him back to hitting but he's been even worse than last year (.227, 8, 29) and it's time to try something different... like maybe Sadegh Zibakalam (.245, 9, 36). He'd been pretty good for this team last year, even, but the Indians wanted to go with the proven bat of Mendez. Now they're both in there and for now I'll run a platoon, I guess. Tyler Knight (.252, 6, 25) is a 3 time Gold Glover at 2B but as a 3rd baseman and at 31 he isn't really cutting it. If anything he's hitting better than I thought he would. That's still not great. The roster's also full so for now he'll mostly keep the position. CI Nick Hodzic (.252, 12, 37) has mostly been playing 1B this year and he'll start taking some time there now. Outfield: OF is probably the strength of the team. They've got their All-Star rep in RF, Brandon Anderson (.300, 15, 47) and the other two starters are at least average. No changes here! July 27: The Montreal Expos (37-60, 23 GB) own the worst record in the majors and stand a great chance to pick up the #1 pick in the draft. Too bad this is baseball! They do have two previous 1st round picks on the major league club so that's nice! Honestly, this team is years, not months, away and so... we'll see if we can figure anything out, I guess? Rotation: I called SP Jose Agudo (8-8, 3.63 at AAA Peninsula) up after having a... average? first half. He did get a lot of Ks - 127 in 158.1 IP - so you know maybe he'll have like suddenly figured everything out at 28 or something. Press F to doubt. Richard "MY DAD" Craven (3-2, 3.60) was arguably even better after being sent down but I've already given him 5 starts this year. That said, he's sure to get back up soon. Bullpen: I just saw lefty Pat Gee (3-1, 1.74 at Peninsula) has 42 Ks in 46.2 first-half innings... and so I think it's time we cut loose 35 year old Daniel Roche (3-3, 3.20). Yes, he's arguably the most effective reliever outside of the DANGER ZONE (3-5, 2.81, 10 Sv) but he also has stopped striking guys out, is hanging out in low-leverage situations, and I can try younger players out there. One thing I will do here is DFA him in hopes that someone will pick him up... hey look at that, he was claimed! How weird! Infield: Honestly, with Phil Collins (.324, 1, 6) now returned from the fractured finger that had kept him out for half of June and all of July, the infield is pretty well set now. It's also where this team has both their former 1st rounders, 2B Hudson Watts (.281, 5, 24) being the other, so... we'll stand pat. Outfield: 1B/OF Harry Turtledove (.322, 9, 36 at Peninsula) responded from his early-season demotion - he hit just .169 in 22 games to start the year - by blowing up AAA so I'm bringing him back in the second half. He can take over fro cleanup hitter Willie Ortega (.238, 18, 60), who, okay, sure, has the power and the clutch hitting but he swings at eeeeeeeverything and has a .254 OBP so he's actually kind of bad. Given that Turtledove is a lefty, actually, I'll platoon those guys for now. July 29: Moooore bad teams!!! Now the Minnesota Twins (40-60, 22 1/2) are up. How they quickly fell off is a big story in and of itself but something to save for the offseason. For now it's just about figuring out where to go in the second half. The pitching has been more or less league average and the offense is worst in the AL... Rotation: It's not anything great here but we've got 3 youngsters in there at least. Bill Lucas (6-10, 4.74) is not young and not very good but he's a good veteran anchor for the rotation. Rich Whetzel (3-12, 3.42) is the other vet out there; I might start thinking about dropping him into the bullpen if he gets over, say, 15 losses. He's been fine but hey, no reason to destroy his confidence, right? Bullpen: Other than the guys up top the 'pen has been... okay. Ricky Rosas (4-8, 4.92, 5 Sv) is pretty much who he is and that sucks but Matt Brock (6-6, 4.10, 5 Sv) has an 11.74 ERA this month so I'm not swapping them back out. Since there's not really anyone beating down the door in AAA I'll leave this as-is and just live with the lumps. Infield: I really wanted to make moves at catcher but at the end of the day I guess it's Brad Reed's (.201, 3, 14) job to lose for another year. Ric Flair (.188, 1, 9) is honestly not a lot worse than Reed, although that's mostly due to Reed just not being good... okay, screw it, I think I'll keep waffling and give the NATURE BOY the job back for the second half. What could go wrong? We're already dead last. 2B Pietro Palmarrochi (.194, 2, 13) followed up a kind of promising 1972 (.263, 3, 16 in 118 at-bats) with an atrocious '73. He's going straight from starting to DFA (I doubt anyone wants him but I'll take a look...). Coming up in his place is Italian left-winger and political maven Massimo D'Alema (.319, 4, 28 at AAA Tacoma), who earned himself the promotion with a nice first half. At third, I'll reverse course for the second half and name Matt Highfield (.293, 1, 15) over our own (now former I guess) prospect Jeff Milligan (.190, 1, 9). Highfield hit well in Philadelphia last year too (.303, 1, 28 in 274 at-bats) and maybe we should have done this from the outset. Look... Milligan's a whole year youngerand he's been our guy, right? Also he hit. 292/11/32 in Tacoma before getting this call-up. ANYWAY, Highfield has the job, probably for the rest of the year. This feels like backsliding but I've given SS Justin Ramey (.188, 9, 25) all year long to hit and he just plain hasn't. Marty Mendel (.253, 0, 9) is 5 years younger, although still 29 so not really a guy I'm going to be interested in long-term, and has hit OK. He's also really bad at fielding the shortstop position. Ramey will still find a lot of time backing up the middle infield so hey he could still turn that bat around. Outfield: There aren't really places to improve in the outfield mainly because I've already done the upgrading: 24 year old Ronnie Hellstrom (.280, 8, 38) has been manning CF all year, RF Gilles Villeneuve (.305, 4, 30) has been hitting RF over Jose Villasenor (.271, 6, 18) on account of his being younger and Villasenor having been awful last year (.208, 3, 24 in 384 at-bats), and LF Jeff Franks (.265, 6, 38) has simply played his way into the lineup. Aloha Dan Gilmet (.267, 6, 25) is due back some time in mid-August, which probably pushes the brand new guy Jan Fischer (.207, 0, 4) to the bench but for now we roll with these boys. July 29: Hey hey hey more badness! Now it's time for the Los Angeles Dodgers (43-60, 14 GZB). Going into the season there was a case that could have been made that this team was at least a darkhorse contender. But no... how about the worst offense in all of baseball (yes, worse than the Pirates)? How about the worst bullpen ERA (4.89) in the NL? Yeah... there should be a lot of spots to improve... Rotation: Maybe I won't make many moves on the pitching staff. The rotation haas been as solid as ever and as solid as you'd expect given that Fernando Apolonio (11-10, 2.40) is leading the way. There are some interesting pieces in the minor leagues... and yeah, this team is out of contention so even though in this case Andres Castillo (9-8, 3.50) looks just as good as he did 2 years ago when he won 15 games for this team (15-12, 3.02), he's 36 and I want to take a look at... 26 year old lefty Chris Falls (6-3, 3.16), who's a finesse guy but finesse should play in Dodger Stadium. Bullpen: Castillo will be the designated lefty specialist as I continue to just work with the bullpen as it stands. I'm in a quandary here that the two guys who are underperforming, Alec Cosby (3-6, 4.91) and Rich Wilson (0-2, 5.58) were the backbone of this bullpen last year. Wilson in particular looks like his knuckle curve is no longer the swing-and-miss pitch that it used to be and he is 35 but man, he was sooo good last year (4-4, 2.88, 6 Sv as the setup man). I am going with a bullpen-by-committee setup with no timeline to name a closer. It could eventually be Castillo, who knows? Oh yeah also the odd man out was LHP Aidan Williams (0-0, 5.87) who unlike Cosby and Wilson was not very good last year and now can either relieve in the minors or look for a new job, his choice. Infield: 2B Danny Fager (.266, 7, 22) is badly miscast in the 3 hole but I'm not sure what else I can do here. You need someone to hit at that spot and my earlier choice 3B Robin Gibb (.257, 10, 34) hit .231 in June and .238 this month. The only thing I know for sure is he needs to be somewhere high in the lineup as he's kind of one of those "do a little bit of everything" guys you see at 2B so much (also, it doesn't hurt that he's a fantaaastic fielder). I kind of want to find a place for IF Gustavo Reyna (.327, 1, 7) but I want to give Gibb opportunities at 3rd more and at shortstop, which is already not a great position for him, I've called up Dutch cyclist Hennie Kuiper (.289, 9, 36 at AA Waterbury). I guess I'll try and make that a "by committee" position; I don't think Reyna will be able to stick there at all but hey, what is going to happen, this team loses more? Also it's one of several spots where I'm choosing to mix in UT Ronnie Yitzhaki (.273, 9, 26). Outfield: LF Lou Morgenstern (.236, 11, 38), 33, would be a prime candidate for replacement if we had anyone to replace him. He's bounced back... okay from a bad year with Cal last season (.228, 11, 60 in 504 at-bats) but that is noooot production you want from a corner outfielder. He's not even the worst corner guy though. On further review, Yitzakhi's going to fill in here hard, I think. CF Ross Poynor (.269, 5, 18) also left his bat in Milwaukee, slashing only 256/330/326 since donning Dodger blue. Guess what we don't have? Anybody else who looks like a major league center fielder. JD Heil (.209, 3, 6), his backup, has an OBP of .220 right now but I guess he can at least field well. Nope, not on this team in this state! I'll call up French highwire daredevil Philippe Petit (.292, 2, 15) to play out there in the second half. He absolutely does not look like a future centerfielder; even in the minors he's only started 4 games at the position all year between AA and AAA. It's about trying out the kids now! And in right, Ray Costa (.238, 6, 20) has kiiiind of rebounded from a bad 1972 (.208, 10, 50) but also kind of not. 2 years ago he hit 20 HRs. Where is that power? A guy who doesn't have much power but who has climbed 2 levels this year already is George R.R. Martin (.292, 2, 9 in 30 games at AAA Albuquerque) and I see no reason not to fast-track the 24 year old, who is so young he hasn't even started to promise to finish his series of novels. These guys do have a natural platoon situation with Martin being a lefty so I'll run that until/unless one of them proves I should do otherwise.
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July 30 - August 5, 1973 - the DOG DAYS
## 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 69 40 .633 - W3 509 366 .280 85 93 3.08 2.9 5.8 .983 48.9 47.8 Boston 60 49 .550 9 W1 485 391 .274 81 53 3.41 3.1 5.6 .981 44.6 40.0 New York 58 55 .513 13 L5 492 547 .251 112 36 4.50 2.7 4.9 .980 -7.9 36.4 Baltimore 45 61 .425 22½ L1 441 498 .254 90 50 4.19 3.9 5.1 .978 -11.1 40.0 Cleveland 48 64 .429 22½ W3 410 467 .248 89 40 3.97 3.5 5.3 .982 7.0 31.4 Milwaukee 46 63 .422 23 L3 444 514 .260 75 74 4.23 3.5 4.9 .980 -18.5 32.4 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Chicago 66 45 .595 - W2 476 423 .258 92 66 3.48 3.6 5.1 .983 41.0 36.7 Texas 64 45 .587 1 L2 415 342 .258 68 63 2.85 3.2 5.2 .982 44.0 32.9 Oakland 58 53 .523 8 L3 444 456 .261 75 44 3.73 3.0 5.0 .979 9.9 37.1 California 54 54 .500 10½ W5 480 465 .267 80 70 3.91 3.3 4.8 .981 30.7 39.2 Kansas City 50 63 .442 17 W1 526 562 .256 87 58 4.55 3.6 4.7 .982 7.3 30.2 Minnesota 41 67 .380 23½ L1 403 494 .242 86 55 4.15 3.4 5.2 .977 -1.7 31.7 LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Philadelphia 68 44 .607 - W3 533 404 .250 98 80 3.19 3.0 5.4 .981 35.5 52.9 St. Louis 65 46 .586 2½ W1 471 452 .260 104 33 3.43 3.2 5.8 .979 6.6 43.2 Chicago 55 56 .495 12½ L4 411 423 .253 83 58 3.54 3.4 5.0 .985 43.3 43.3 Pittsburgh 51 58 .468 15½ L3 348 366 .232 52 27 3.14 2.8 5.8 .982 10.8 39.7 New York 50 58 .463 16 L1 363 416 .251 47 66 3.37 3.2 5.2 .979 14.9 47.2 Montreal 43 66 .394 23½ W5 442 530 .244 85 41 4.14 3.7 5.1 .977 -11.2 33.3 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Houston 62 52 .544 - W1 477 452 .256 99 50 3.46 3.6 6.0 .977 5.5 32.0 Cincinnati 61 52 .540 ½ L1 481 444 .253 94 43 3.64 3.0 5.8 .981 7.3 29.7 San Diego 58 52 .527 2 W6 428 362 .254 68 44 2.92 3.4 5.4 .981 52.0 36.9 Atlanta 60 56 .517 3 L4 445 404 .249 82 33 3.14 3.1 6.0 .983 5.4 36.5 San Francisco 48 62 .436 12 W1 388 463 .248 79 63 3.68 3.3 5.5 .980 0.3 28.9 Los Angeles 46 65 .414 14½ L1 345 416 .244 89 51 3.29 3.0 5.4 .979 34.4 36.1 Otherwise, I went into the individual series in the logs below but man oh man this was a big weekend for both Wests. Chicago slipped in front of Texas with a big home series against the Rangers. Oakland I guess you could say is still sitting right t there too but a weekend series sweep to the Angels did not help their cause much. It's a little crazy how the Al West went from the AL Worst to... a pretty good, competitive division all in one year. And then of course the HATED Astros salvaged a 2-2 weekend series split with the Reds to maintain the tiniest of leads in the NL West, with San Diego right there and on a 6 game winning streak. San Diego in fact are the Yuppies of the Week, with a 9-place shift from 14th to 5th in the standings thanks to a perfect 6-0 week including sweeps of the Giants and Braves. Who had the Pads being the dark horse contender out of California on their bingo cards? Behind them are the Mets, who moved up 5 spots in spite of dropping 3 out of 4 to the Cards over the weekend (that's a maaaassive series that still has 2 games remaining) and the Expos, who had themselves a dead-cat-bounce 6-3 week that included a 2-2 split with the Cardinals and a sweep at home vs the fading Cubs. One thing I like about looking at the yuppies and hippies is that I'm usually just not replaying the actual standings. For instance, the clear hippies of the week are the Pirates, whose moribund offense - they scored 4 runs exactly once this whole week - led to a 2-7 record and a fall from 12th to 21st in the power rankings. Hard to believe this same exact team made the playoffs last year. Also falling hard were the Yankees, who had themselves a season-defining week vs the Red Sox and Tigers and went 1-6 to fall from 9th to 14th in the rankings, and those Cubbies, whose playoff chances seemed dim coming into the week and got a lot dimmer after 2 wins in 8 games. ## Major Transactions July 30: The White Sox claimed RP Daniel Roche (3-3, 3.20) off of waivers from the Expos. Roche is not young, which is why the Expos cut him, but he has a spot with Chicago as they chase the pennant. He'll swap in for 22 year old Sergio Alvarado (4-2, 3.26), who was nominally successful in the first half as a middle reliever but he walked 22 guys in 38.2 IP so a fall from grace was due. July 31: The A's purchased CF Andy Kaufman (.170, 2, 10) from the Astros for $15,000. You'd want more than money for a guy like this but hey, he wasn't going to be playing any time soon with Big George Foreman (.303, 17, 63) holding down center and so far Kaufman's looked like a guy who hits like an 8. For the A's, they have David Mesa coming back soon but need depth in center. July 31: The A's also purchased RF Brian Jackson (.258, 3, 27) from the Pirates for $25,000. Jackson, an All-Star in 1972, had pretty well played himself out of a job in Pittsburgh with that team going nowhere fast. Scouts think he can still hit for enough average to hold up a corner outfield slot. I'm a little skeptcical but he's bound to be better than Zackery Hadley (.233, 4, 19) has so far... ## News July 30: Following an 11 year court case, 20 million pounds sterling were paid out to the victims of Thalidomide. 11 years! July 30: Eighteen coal miners are killed at the coal mine near Stavely in the United Kingdom when the break mechanism on their elevator fails as they were descending underground. July 30: The strangled body of 20 year old Ronnie Wiebe is found beside an entrance ramp to the 405 Freeway, two days after the young man disappeared. He will later be identified as one of the victims of serial killer Randy Steven Kraft, aka the Freeway Killer. The 70s are pretty much the serial killer decade and 1973 seems like it's the year for it... July 30: The Phillies' crowded outfield is a liiiitle less crowded for now, as RF Nelson Vargas (.321, 1, 14) will now miss 5-6 weeks with a partially torn labrum. Vargas, a .296 career hitter, had been fighting Greg Lake (.300, 12, 53) for a job already and this... well, it looks less good for the man's future. July 30: The Al Player of the Week is a bit of a zero-to-hero story. Yankees RF Phil Hartman (.243, 10, 40) had hit .228 and .229 in May and June following a solid April and was staring down a third straight rough month. An All-Star representative in his 1972 rookie year, he didn't make it back this year and rumors were swirling that the impatient Yankees brass was already looking to replace him. Enter an 8-15 (.533) week with 2 HRs and 4 RBIs. It probably won't completely quiet those New York boo-birds but it'll help! This was also Hartman's first PotW. July 30: On the other hand, the NL PotW is a slugger who just had yet another sluggerific week. Cincinnati Reds RF Jaden Weaver (.258, 27, 82) went 7-21 (figure it out!) with 4 HRs and 6 RBIs, allowing him to close in on last year's 32 HR, 88 RBI season. Weaver, who came up with the Astros back in 1965, won his 5th Player of the Week and his first since June 12th of last year. Unlike Hartman he did make the AS Game this year; this was #7. July 30: SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK! We've been doing historical ones for a bit (and the one the game gave was all-time wins, which I think I've looked at recently) so... how about one from this year? Who are the lefty-killers in the league, i.e. the (qualified) players with the highest SLG? The answers may surprise you (probably not)! 5. 1B Alice Cooper, CHW (.297, 28, 74), .564... when you have a .586 SLG overall, even if you're a lefty, you're liable to be up amongst this leaderboard, right? 4. 3B Jose "Joker" Ayala, DET (.332, 17, 61), .569 3. RF Brandon Anderson, CLE (.305, 15, 51), .569... and just imagine if Cleveland hadn't gotten cheap this offseason. Maybe Anderson wouldn't have gotten a job then, who knows? 2. DH Jeff Nation, CHW (.265, 17, 69), .595 1. 2B Geoffrey Rush, TEX (.301, 7, 33), .818. Rush somehow only has 55 at-bats vs LHP this year. I don't know how that happened! I guess teams are already just not putting lefties in against the Rangers. In any case, I did notice that I was having Donald Fagen spelling him, which... not anymore. July 30: All good things must come to an end and so, too, ends Tigers SP Jimmy Goddard's (19-2, 1.85) 15 game winning streak. Goddard allowed homeruns to Orioles 2B Kurt Russell (.285, 3, 27) and C Frank Abagnale (.271, 11, 54) and Baltimore's pitching staff held the Tigers to 2 runs for a 5-2 upset. "Yeah, I'm bummed," said Goddard following the game. "Two mistakes. Two stupid mistakes." The last time - the only other time - Goddard recorded a loss this season was on April 29, when he got knocked out of the box in the 5th against the Royals, allowing 5 runs in 4.2 innings and at that time dropping his record to 4-1. July 30: Baseball... is a funny game sometimes. Heading into their weekend 4-game series, the A's were just 1 game above .500 at 51-50 and 12 1/2 games in back of the division leading Rangers. Welp... Oakland completed a 4-game sweep with a nail-biter of an 11-inning 3-2 to put them at 55-50 and 8 1/2 behind. "We're not out of it yet," said RF Tommy Pron (.309, 7, 47), who went a fairly uneventful 1-4 tonight but who is considered the leader of this Athletics lineup. "We just have to string together some more Ws like this one." July 31: Delta Air Lines Flight 723, with 89 souls on board including 83 passengers, strikes a sea wall to the right of the Logan Airport (Boston) runway. All but one passenger dies instantly; the one survivor is seriously injured and passes away several months later. July 31: Militant Unionist protestors disrupt the first sitting of the Northern Ireland Assembly. July 31: London's Tower Bridge is shut down by police after a stockbroker's clkerk flies an airplane twice between its towers, below a pedestrian walkway and 15 feet above traffic. After two hours of "buzzing" motor vehicles and high rise buildings in the area, the pilot Peter Martin, who had in the morning told his wife he intended to commit suicide, got what he wanted when he dived his plane into a forest near Keswick, Cumbria. July 31: Cubs SP Gordon "Sting" Summer (7-6, 2.69) had one of those games that Baseball Prospectus (who?) will be calling a career-ender in another 25 years or so. Summer threw an 11-inning, 11-hit, 8-walk shutout against the Phillies - a 1-0 win - in which he threw 189 pitches. Look. He had to get out of jam after jam after jam but he was still striking guys out in the 11th. Vince "The Eligible" Bachler (8-3, 1.91) pitched well for Philadelphia and got up to 140 pitches himself but finally allowed the only run of this game in the top of the 11th off of a single by Cubs 1B Antonio Lopez (.274, 8, 39). "Me arm feels like it's about to fall off," said Summer after the game. "That's me bass-playin' arm." August 1: Sheriff TJ Flournoy, um, reluctantly leads his deputies in closeing "Edna's Fashionable Ranch Boardinghouse" in La Grance, Texas, which had been a house of prostitution since 1844, before Texas was a part of the USA. The state governor had informed Flournoy that if he didn't do it, the Texas Rangers would. Flournoy speaks sto reporters on the matter, saying "it's been there all my life and all my daddy's life and never caused anybody any trouble. Every large city in Texas has things 1,000 times worse." This was the inspiration for the 1982 movie "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas", as well as the ZZ Top song "La Grange". The Caribbean Community and Common Market is inaugurated by the nations of Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. August 1: William E. Colby is confirmed as the new director of the CIA after promising not to use his powers within US borders. August 1: The US extends South Vietnam a loan of $50M for the purchase of industrial machinery. Something tells me they aren't getting that money back... August 1: Aaaaall riiiiight, new month means it's time for the ___ of the Month awards! Starting here with the NL Rookie of the month, it's the Dodgers' SP Mahfuzur Rahman Khan (3-3, 0.87), who was 2-0, 0.82 this month. The 24 year old cinematographer played in 6 games, starting 2 of them, with a complete game shutout and a 12/6 K/W ratio in 22 innings of work. As he was only called up in June, a ROY campaign seems a bit out of reach but he's off to a great start. August 1: The AL counterpart is another pitcher, Yankees SP Archie "Super" Manning (5-3, 2.95). Manning, another June call-up, followed a 1-3, 4.01 start with a 4-0, 2.23 record in July with 2 complete games in 5 starts, including 1 shutout, and a solid 11/5 K/W ratio - yeah just 5 walks in 24.2 IP. The Ks were also a bit low as Manning elected to pitch to contact but hey, this is a football-first guy who's come to baseball kind of as an afterthought; we'll take what we can get. August 1: The NL Pitcher of the Month is last year's Cy Young guy, Astros SP Tony Rivera (16-6, 2.34). He went 7-1 with a 1.48 ERA in ramping up his game to league-leading levels while the entire rest of his team fell apart (in non-Rivera starts Houston went 8-13 in July). This is the second time Rivera's won PotM, the other time being for July of last year. A harbinger of awards to come? August 1: The AL man is Texas' Robbie Coltrane (16-5, 2.48), who's been absolutely lights out since being traded to the Rangers. In July he was 7-1, 1.20 with 6 complete games in 8 starts and a sparkling 41/8 K/W ratio in 67.2 IP. Coltrane's already got 11 CGs in 24 starts on the season. This is actually Coltrane's 2nd award, as he won the AL Rookie of the Month for September of 1971. August 1: And the NL Batter of the Month: the Reds' RF Jaden Weaver (.258, 27, 82), who... hit .286 with 9 HRs and 23 RBIs. I mean, that's good and all, especially with the power, but it doesn't pop out at you? I guess a slightly deeper look shows a 182 OPS+ with a .383 OBP. Yeah, he's pretty good I guess. August 1: In the AL, Yankees LF Adam Groves (.313, 10, 38) came into the month fighting for at-bats in a crowded outfield and ended it with a trip to the All-Star Game and a lock on that left field job. Groves hit .391 with 3 HRs, 11 extra base hits overall, and 22 RBIs. He also collected an OBP of .480(!). This is Groves' first ever Batter of the Month. He did win the NL Silver Slugger back in 1968, his other All-Star season (he also finished 3rd in MVP voting with a .268/24/78 year with the Cubs which, trust me, was good for 1968). August 1: I know I don't give Mets SP Josh "Party in the Back" Mullett (8-7, 3.27) enough credit. When he was with the Astros he felt like a disaster waiting to happen and yet over a 4 year period from 1968-1972 he was 48-41 for them as a back of the rotation starter. Mullett's issue is twofold: he's finesse guy and groundball specialist who walks too many people. He led the NL in walks in 1969 with 145 of them vs just 97 Ks last year. You can see where this is headed, right? Tonight, Mullett, now with the Mets, threw a complete game shutout and 4-hitter where not only was he pretty dominant - 7 Ks! - he actually allowed no walks. An absolutely amazing performancce for this man! Looking back, too, following a completely disastrous start on the 13th against the Reds (3.2 IP, 6 R, 3 ER, and 9 BB) he's allowed just 3 bases on balls in 26 IP over 3 starts. Has this man suddenly mastered his control? I doubt it but we'll see! August 2: A flash fire kills 50 people at the Summerland amusement centre at Douglas on the Isle of Man. The "centre", which is definitely not a park, is a single, 4-story building that had 4,000 people inside attending a rock concert. An additional 80 are seriously injured; the structure will eventually be demolished in 1975 after never having re-opened. August 2: In a scandal completely unrelated to Watergate, Vice President Spiro Agnew is notified by a federal prosecutor in Baltimore that he is under investigation for bribery, conspiracy, and tax fraud arising from the receipt of "kickbacks" from persons who benefited from his help. In another 5 days - we'll probably cover it but you never know! - the Washington Post will break that he has been accused of federal crimes. August 2: The nine-day Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 1973 opens with prime ministers of 32 British Commonwealth nations, hosted at Ottawa by Pierre Trudeau. On the first full day of business the leaders vote 31-0 to ban atomic testing. On the 9th, they will vote unanimously in favor of black majority rule in Rhodesia. August 2: Indians SP Robert Rivera (10-11, 3.64) has pretty much had a career defined by hard luck. Today the 33 year old learned that he has the biscuit meniscus and will miss the remainder of the year with it. In spite of a career 3.09 ERA, Rivera, who played for the Giants before arriving in Cleveland before the 1972 season, has a career record of just 123-122 and led the NL in losses in 1970. Rivera... hurt himself tying his shoe. Just... wow. August 2: Dodgers RP Alec Cosby (3-6, 5.00), who was the best reliever in the NL and arguably all of baseball last season but has stuuuuuuunk this year, is mad and wants to start. He did originally come up through the minors as a starter. With the way this season is going, why not give him a shot? It's not like he's pushing anyone worthy off the rock (he replaces 26 year old Chris Falls (6-8, 3.16 at AAA Albuquerque)). He's probably still trade bait at season's end but hey, what if he finds his stuff again as a starter? August 2: You can probably figure it out from the statline but Braves SP Bob Geldof (1-0, 0.00) had himself a great debut. The former 1st round pick and #35 rated prospect in 1971 (he hasn't appeared at all on the top 100 the last 2 years in spite of going a combined 27-11 in AAA Richmond the last two years) throw a 3-hit shutout with just 1 walk and 6 strikeouts. The Ks in particular were a good sign as the Irishman had been held up largely because his stuff seemed to stop being able to miss bats the last couple years in the high minors (5.3 K/9 in '72, only 4.9 this year). He actually had to pitch every bit this well in this game vs the Reds because the Henry Riggs-less Braves continued to struggle to score runs. It was a scoreless tie heading into the 9th, in fact still scoreless with 2 outs when Reds SP Rodrigo Aguilar (9-11, 4.36) gave up a single to 3B Mike Morrison (.317, 3, 33) and then a game-ending 2-run HR to cleanup hitter 2B Kevin Dwyer (.271, 10, 53). The Cincy loss puts the Astros in a position to retake 1st in the NL West with a win today; the Braves, meanwhile are just half a game back, offensive issues or no. August 2: In Houston, the Astros got that W to retake the division lead but it took them 10 innings against a new-look Dodgers squad. Roberto Ortiz (5-7, 3.85) pitched 9 solid innings but got removed for a pinch-hitter to try and keep the game from going into extras, tied up 2-2. Fortunately for the Astros, even though Ken Hansen (7-9, 3.52) pitched a good game himself, LA's relief pitching is baaad this year and tonight it was 35 year old Rich Wilson (0-3, 5.40) who gave up the ghost with a game-ending bases-loaded walk to RF Justin Jensen (.269, 14, 51). August 3: Four residents are killed and 12 injured when the old Grand Central Hotel in New York City collapses. The hotel, opened in 1870, was at that time NYC's most elegant lodging and the largest hotel in the US but by the time of the collapse it had been turned into a residential apartment building called the University Hotel. The eight-story, 400 room building falls shortly after 5 in the afternoon. Most of the 308 persons registered get out in time but 16 fail to heed warnings to get out. August 3: Because it's the 70s... a 13 year old becomes the final victim of serial murderer Dean Corll. The boy had left his home on a bicycle and telephoned his parents to tell them he was staying at an all night party. Man... I hated that my parents' generation got soooo damn helicopter-ish (I mean, not mine because both had to work) but it seems like there were thousands of guys like this in this decade. August 3: Braves PH Nate Ringstad (.228, 4, 223) is I guess understandably frustrated at his own performance and wants a bigger role. Hey, it's a bit paradoxical but humans gonna human amirite??? I'm not going to touch his role for the moment; these Braves are contending for a spot but Ringstad just isn't playing like a guy I want to give significant at-bats to. August 3: A's CF David Mesa (.258, 1, 20), who I'd been counting on to come back next week, suffered a setback and will not be back until late August now. Oakland (58-50) is just baaaarely still in this race and they really could have used him; I guess all that being said, 25 year old prospect Cat Stevens (.278, 3, 12) has filled in pretty well in his stead. August 3: The schedule-makers have the Red Sox and O's going at it in a double-header for the 2nd time in a week. CRAZY. August 3: The White Sox and Rangers are playing a super-important weekend series here: the 1 and 2 spots in the division at good old Comiskey Park. This one opens with the two aces: Chad "Dog" Daugharty (10-13, 3.39) of the Rangers lining up against the Sox' Rich Reese (12-5, 2.78). Reese outduels Daugharty for a 5-1 win with 1B Alice Cooper (.294, 29, 77) continuing to look like the AL MVP with a 1-2, 2 RBI, 2 walk game that included the eventual game-winning RBI in the first. SS Josh Johnson (325, 5, 45) and RF Josh Wade (.298, 7, 42) both had 3-hit games against Daugharty, who never quite looked right. These guys will be playing 3 more times over the next 2 games - a single game tomorrow and then a Sunday doubleheader - and already... I did not notice this but Texas has FLOUNDERED recently and these two teams are all tied up! Yeah, wow... they went 2-4 last week and then have been just 1-4 so far this week, including a 0-3 start to August. The White Sox for their part are 8-2 since the All-Star Break. 7 of those games have come against the Twins and Royals (the Rangers meanwhile played the A's and Angels) but hey, you've still got to win those games... August 3: On the flip side of the AL West standings, we've got a good old-fashioned Battle of the Crap this weekend between the Royals and the Twins and boy oh boy did this one get crap-started. The Royals traveled to Minnesota and played just about the worst guests possible, winning a barn-burner 16-13. There were 5 HRs hit, including 3 off of Twins closer and loser Ricky Rosas (4-9, 5.23), who entered the game with a 13-10 lead and a man on base. LF Alonzo Rivera (.321, 4, 50) went 4-5 with 4 RBIs today for KC and for Minnesota's part 1B Alonzo Martinez (.269, 22, 74) went 4-5 himself with 3 ribbies. August 3: Man, it's a weekend of the West I guess. Well, "west" since the matchup we've got on the NL side is between the Astros and Reds at Riverfront. How is an Ohio team in the western division again? It's opening up with the Reds in a real hole, as a recent massive block of games has them putthing out two spot starters... game one went even worse than imagined, as Astros' ace Tony Rivera (17-6, 2.24) had a perfect game going into the 7th and still only faced 2 batters over the minimum for an easy 7-0 win to put Houston a game and a half up going into game 2. Game 2 was a rout the other way, with Bastien Maurice (2-0, 4.93) making a strong case for moving into the rotation full-time with a 10-K game for a 10-2 Reds win. Astros spot starter Caleb McDonald (2-4, 7.01) got KOed in the 3rd and effectively played his way off this team. Reds 1B MC Gainey (.293, 7, 27) went 2-5, slugging 2 HRs and driving in 5 men in this one. August 4: Argentina's Justicialist Party nominates former president Juan Peron and his wife Isabel as candidates for President and Vice President of the country in advance of their election scheduled for September 23. August 4: The Pekan Olahraga Nasional Games open in Djakarta, Indonesia. Begun in 1938, this week-long event happens in the country every 4 years to "coordinate existing sports associations including the Football Federation", whatever that means. August 4: Sam Katzman, a movie producer known for campy but economically successful films as well as being a name thrown around as a threat on the Columbia Studios lot ("if you don't shape up, we'll put you in a Katzman production") died today. He's the uncle of TV producer Leonard Katzman as well as the great-great uncle of Ethan Klein, half of the H3H3 Productions comedy podcast with his wife Hila (which is also a hilarious show and sure, I'm a bit of an H3H3 head). August 4: Game 3 of the big weekend Rangers-White Sox series comes down to Texas' Robbie Coltrane (16-5, 2.48) going up against Chicago's Chris Messina (8-12, 4.18). Obviously the 24 year old Coltrane looks like he's got the big advantage over Messina, a cagey veteran with a declining fastball. Unfortunately for White Sox fans, this one ended more or less as I'd feared. Messina (8-13, 4.19) was okay but not lights-out for 6.1 innings, leaving with a 3-1 deficit, and then for some reason Chicago's bullpen - which is normally pretty good - absolutely blew up in the 9th and turned this into a 9-1 laugher. Coltrane (17-5, 2.37) improved his Rangers record to 15-3, 1.78 and completed his 11th game in 20 outings for the team. The HEARTBREAKER RF Tom Petty (.389, 1. 6) went 3-4 with 3 RBIs, 2 of them coming on a 9th inning triple off of Jesus de la Cruz (4-1, 2.63 and that's even after allowing 4 runs in 0.1 IP tonight). We head into Sunday's game with the White Sox needing a win to tie the division back up. August 4: For the NL West showdown, we've got Astros' #2 man Ernie ALvarez (11-11, 3.36) going up against the Reds' ace, at least historically speaking, in Steve Waiters (11-9, 3.53). Waiters hasn't quite had the results he's gotten in the past but he's a 2 time 21 game winner and 5-time All-Star (although he missed the Midsummer Classic this year). Alvarez doesn't have that kind of pedigree but did turn in a solid 14-0, 3.04 performance last year. Against a tired Astros lineup (3 guys had mild fatigue going into this), Waiters (12-9, 3.37) looked like the Cy Young contender of old, striking out 10 in 8 innings before getting removed for a pinch-hitter in an easy 6-1 win (I pulled him because as it was, he'd thrown 127 pitches and the game wasn't close). Embattled CF Jake Leone (.164, 1, 5) chased 'Stros starter Jason Gilmer (11-12, 3.56) in the 5th with an RBI double - he went 2-3 tonight - and 1B MC Gainey belted (.294, 8, 29) his 8th HR of the season. The Reds are back up by half a game with the Braves due to play 2 today. August 4: The Braves had a chance to get right into this NL West race but they are an incomplete team right now with LF Henry Riggs (.323, 16, 41) and 3B Mike Morrison (.319, 3, 33) both out with injuries, and their opponents today, the San Diego Padres, aren't entirely out of this race themselves. So to some degree it wasn't a huge surprise that the Padres walked into Atlanta and completed a 6-4, 3-0 sweep. Game 1 took 10 for the Padres to win, with Ron Shepherd (2-7, 4.64) allowing the winning runs in his 3rd inning of work with a 1B Carlos Palacios (.311, 2, 46) triple being the huge catalyst. In Game 2, Cesar Barreras (9-12, 3.26) didn't even have his best stuff tonight, as his 5 walks and 2 Ks would suggest, but he coerced the Braves to hit into 2 double plays and a lot of "atom" balls for his 3rd shutout of the year. RF Phil McGraw (.299, 2, 34) incidentally set a Padres record for hits in the 2nd game with 5. Now suddenly the expansion Padres (57-52) are tied with the Braves (60-55) for 3rd in the division, only 2 1/2 games back. August 5: The USSR launches the Mars 6 probe from Baikonur Cosmodrome. The craft will reach Mars seven months later on March 12 of 1974, releasing a lander which will return data for 224 second before crashing on the surface. Much of the data transmitted will be unusable. We always talk about dumb mistakes in the US program; where's the talk of this one!? August 5: The Black September terrorist group throw a hand grenade into a crowded passenger lounge at the Athens airport, killing 3 and injuring 55. August 5: In Iceland, a group of Norse worshipers revive the tradition of the violent blood sacrifice to Thor known as the "blot". The ritual had been outlawed in the year 1000. August 5: Vander Broadway, an American female impersonator, high-wire performer, and trapeze artist, commits suicide by an overdose of painkillers. Broadway, popularly known as Barbette, had stopped performing in the 1930s and had since their retirement had served as the artistic director and aerialist trainer for a number of circuses, including Ringling Brothers and the Shrine Circus, and apparently had been suffering from chronic pain since the later stages of their career. August 5: Brewers SS Anatoly Karpov (.329, 4, 22), who was giving Milwaukee fans some hope with his chessmaster-level smarts and great play at shortstop, learned that he'll miss the next month and a half with a hamstring injury. The loss of Karpov means the team will go back to Guido Temudo (.125, 0, 3), who, hey, hit .278 in 13 games in AAA Evanston after looking like a complete disaster in the major leagues over the first half of the year when he wasn't nursing a big injury of his own (bone chips in his elbow, which caused Temudo to miss most of May and June). August 5: The Rangers and White Sox wrap up their series with a double-header. In Game 1, what looked like a Rangers advantage going in turns into crap as Billy Crystal (14-11, 2.44) is victimized by a bad error by CF Norm Hodge (.257, 5, 25) and eventually gets knocked out of the box in the 4th after allowing just 1 earned run (6 total runs though). 3B Carlos Filipe Ximines Belo (.360, 2, 9) goes 3-4 with a fateful 3rd inning RBI double. Game 2 is, as these things go, a battle of spot starters: Amir Sudler (1-2, 5.00), recently acquired by the Rangers from the Cardinals, goes up against Sergio Alvarado (5-2, 3.26), who's making his second start of the year. Alvarado (5-2, 3.35) does everything the Sox ask of him, going 7 innings for one of those "technically this is true" quality starts and the White Sox break through in the 6th for all 4 of the runs they'd score in the bottom of the 6th off of Sudler (1-3, 5.14). CF Alan Parsons (,333, 1, 9) slapped a 2 out single in that inning to bring home the game-winner. The sweep and 3-1 series win puts the Sox a game up on Texas now. Obviously there is a tooon of time left in this season, although these two only play one more time: a little 2-day, 3 game series on Labor Day (September 3) and the day after. That also means they've played each other 13 times already: Texas still leads the series 7-6. Texas is playing AL East teams for pretty much the entire rest of the month before hosting the Twins on the 30th, although they're avoiding Detroit in that time. Chicago on the other hand has 8 games vs the Tigers during that period... which, it looks like we're going on a full 3-week "East vs West" jaunt in this league. I have no idea if this is normal or not with regards to scheduling. August 5: The Cardinals lost the opener of their double-header vs the Mets 8-2 which is bad enough but... in the game, SS Barry Bailey (.246, 3, 12) committed his *20th* error in 42 games. Normally I'd wait for the 20-loss reviews to pull a guy for something like this but this is like the equivalent of hitting .125 in 80 at-bats, that is, it's untenable. Bailey was even hitting decently, at least for a shortstop, but there's just noooo way. I'll have to replace him with Angelo Serrano (.288, 0, 4), who is hitting this year at least. Last year he went 5-61 after arriving via trade with the A's so I'm not expecting much... well, other than not committing an error literally every other game. August 5: In Cincinnati, the Astros edge the Reds 4-3 to go back on top of the NL West. 23 year old archbishop (NOT Mr. Bean)(who?) Rowan Atkinson (11-4, 3.48) pitches 6+ and then the Houston bullpen with Jason Gilmer (3-6, 5.09) and Adam Eastin (4-4, 2.94, 13 Sv), the latter of whom was pitching his 3rd game in 4 days and so was deeeeead tired, wrapped it up. CF George Foreman (.303, 17, 67) did have to lead the game with a strained hamstring in the 6th but it's not reported to be serious - and even if it was, Foreman would probably just play through it. August 5: And in Atlanta, San Diego waraps up a sweep over the Braves with a 4-2 win behind ace/Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler (10-6, 2.90). Tyler went all the way, allowing 5 hits and giving up both HRs on solo shots by LF Chris Ward (.291, 9, 33) and RF Wolf Blitzer (.252, 5, 20). Atlanta has prooooblems on offense right now. 2B Paul McCartney (.285, 14, 57), coming off of a .194 July, had a 3-hit night in the winning effort. ## Teams in Review July 30: The Philadelphia Phillies (63-40, - GB) are doing pretty well but the Cards are riiiiight there - 3 games back - and somehow in spite of the record they're only 26-28 on the road. They've got to balance things out! I don't know. The Vet is kind of a neutral park. It's a liiitle bit of a HR park but not like hugely. ANYWAY, what do we do? Riding things out is probably enough but well, that's the point of these things... Rotation: The Phils have the 4th best rotation ERA (3.12) in the NL but the 2nd worst bullpen ERA (4.19). That's probably a place to improve. Yeah, the rotation's in great shape. I might move Billy Ording (10-7, 3.91) into the bullpen... at some point because he doesn't have a lot of stamina but as a 4th starter he's doing fine and, like, don't switch horses in midstream and all that. Bullpen: Here I'm moved to make changes just to have arms available after a brutal 6 games in 4 days stretch... down goes Paul Shaffer (7-4, 3.45 at AAA Eugene) after 1 whole game with minor league journeyman Pat Pierson (5-3, 1.65 at Eugene) in his place. Philadelphia bought him over the offseason; maybe the 27 year old with 19 major league games to his credit finally has things figured out? Otherwise the bullpen as it stands now, with the recent release of Robby Mournier (2-0, 6.47) at least, is all at the "mediocre but I'm reticent to swap them out with someone who could be outright bad" level pretty much. Infield: I've already swapped out 1B Josh Coffey (.264, 3, 41) for the most part with prospect Ed Begley Jr (.375, 2, 5 in 4 games; .327, 17, 55 at AAA Eugene in the first half) after Begley tore apart the PCL. Coffey has been... fine but not really hitting the way you want a first baseman to hit and so, veteran presence or no, he's already provided a nice kick to the lineup. 2B Nate Row (.221, 4, 39) is clearly not the same guy who hit .337 in 1971 but again, it seems like a bad idea to just bench him in favor of someone who might be even worse. Even worse than a .292 OBP though? Screw it, Bryant Gumbel (.300, 0, 40 at Euguene) is 4 years younger and has hit .300+ his past 2 years in the minors. Worst case scenario he'll hit as badly as Rowe and I'll go back to the vet in September. Meanwhile SS Tony Shannon (.263, 6, 39) is not looking like a guy who can his position at all but his bat carried him to his 3rd All-Star Game so he has to stay in somewhere. Gumbel can't play short at all and Rowe is liable to be just as bad as Shannon so there's no relief there. Nope, nothing to see here! Outfield: All 3 starters out there made the All-Star Game. Suffice it to say, we don't need to make changes out here. July 31: Speaking of good teams, it's the Texas Rangers (62-40, - GB)! This seems AHISTORICAL for them to be this good but hey, when the alternative is the White SUX, you do what you do. These Rangers, like their old Senators counterparts, still don't hit (10th in the AL in runs scored) but they've got the best pitching in the league by a longshot and it's bolstered by the best fielding. Still, it's always possible I've been overlooking something... Rotation: This rotation is just plain monstrous. The #1 guy Chad Daugharty (10-13, 3.26) could actually be the worst of the bunch; the other 3 guys are all 26 or younger and all are at 12+ wins and ERAs lower than 3.50. No changes here, obviously. Bullpen: The 'pen does feel a little... castoffy with both former Angel Tanzan Kihara (1-2, 3.18, 16 Sv) and MR Billy Munoz (4-1, 3.15, 4 Sv) filling large roles in here. If there's one thing we're missing, it's a lefty specialist but due to age and cast-offishness anybody I'd try to send down would need to clear waivers and I doubt any of these guys do that. Infield: C Andres Gamez (.196, 1, 10) has seen his hitting completely crater and even though he's only 25, the Rangers have another 25 year old who switch-hits. He's also not hitting but... Led Zepellin drummer John Bonham (.198, 1, 6) is about as good this year and maybe I can coax some more production here. And if Gamez starts hitting like he used to, I can always give the full-time job back to him. 1B Roberto Hernandez (.265, 10, 54) is a guy who's kind of spent the last 5 years losing his job to 3B Bobby Ramirez (.326, 7, 36) and that's, like, continued this year. At this point I'm sticking with Hernandez because the average-ish production he's giving (not really even average at this point, as he's got an Isolated Walks of .012) is better than cratering at the position so for now / through the end of the year I'm going to have to live with it. Ramirez meanwhile is rated low in that "I should find a new guy" area of overall ratings at 3rd but by the numbers he's pretty OK and I think this is just a matter of the game underrating his actual abilities (good but not fantastic arm, average range / hands, bad turning DPs but who cares about DPs at 3rd). I still might think strongly about pushing him over to 1st in the future, although man, talk about a guy who doesn't have the power for the position... I'm really not sold on SS Michael Luna (.235, 3, 27) but again at this point he's... fine and the Rangers aren't really in a position to take chances at a prime position like this. There are some interesting guys in the minor leagues but they'd be a step down from Luna defensively. Outfield: LF Josh Damon (.255, 6, 33) has had the entire first half to prove he's better than average and he just hasn't been. It's time to pave the way for the HEARTBREAKER, 22 year old Tom Petty (.298, 9, 33 at AAA Spokane), at least against righties. Hey, maybe a steady diet of lefties only will coax some production out of Damon... I'm not super sure that CF Norm Hodge (.253, 4, 23) is quite at the "death to flying things" level that he's been in throughout his career but he's still extremely good in the field and he's hitting for his best average since 1970. Curtis Hope (.213, 1, 11) is a good solid backup here, history of his own Gold Gloves or no. August 1: And we're back to bad teams! The Kansas City Royals (48-60, 17 1/2 GB) were doing well at one point before they went 9-19 last month including that long losing streak - 14 games so if you pretend that that didn't happen they were 9-5 last month. Anyway, this team loves to score runs although the lineup is top-heavy and they also love to allow them. Do we have stuff on the farm that's ready to go? I guess we'll see... Rotation: I called up Jason LaPointe (2-1, 3.28) for a one-game spot start and now he's refusing to be demoted. I don't like giving into TERRORISM but it's not like I'm displacing good players here. Down goes Edward James Olmos (1-6, 6.52), who's been better in KC (1-4, 4.57) than in St. Louis (0-2, 19.89) but still hasn't been, you know, good. There is a starter angle to this! It's that I'm also swapping in lefty specialist Brian Garaves (2-1, 3.81) and swapping out Josh Willie (2-2, 4.57) after 2 starts. Yeah, he's not very good. The remainder of this rotation is really bsad. I don't exactly have solid replacements in the minors but everybody deserves a chance! First and foremost Israel Rascon (2-7, 4.85) still has an option year left and more importantly has been wiiiild: 63 BBs in 94.2 IP. This gives us the opportunity to take a look at Michael "Dr. Sax" Brecker (4-11, 3.71 at AAA Omaha). Like I said, not exactly a solid replacement but the game likes his workhorseishness. Bullpen: The other 3 guys in the pen have all been really good to be honest - all 3 have sub-3 ERAs. That was enough changes! Infield: I'd love to find a replacement for C Mike Perez (.172, 10, 32), as the 35 year old is now doing basically nothing but hitting the occasional homerun, but the cupboard is barer than bare. Jonathan Escobar (.148, 0, 0) has followed up a .144/2/18 1972 with... this. I've extended an offer to Jeff Culliton, who was last seen last year in the Mexican League (he went .220/2/24 for Veracruz so don't expect too much) and has a reputation for being not the best locker room guy but he also has a career BA of .260, which sounds unbelievably high for this team. Unfortunately too KC has noooobody close to being ready in the minors: the top 3 catching prospects, none of whom are in the team's top 20, are in rookie or A ball. We're probably more likely to snag the eventual future guy in next year's draft... He won't be playing much 1B with 24 year old Christopher Durang (.324, 3, 8 in 71 at-bats) installed there full time but we've got another basketballer in this league and it's 24 year old forward Dave Cowens (.251, 17, 44), who will be taking DH time away from Edwin Manchego (.216, 18, 66), who has followed up a promising .276/27/77 season with... forgetting how to hit. I'd say he's been a rare "miss" but, like, catcher and shortstop on this team. Terrence Hicks (.324, 3, 23) has been DHing against LHPs lately, with 22 starts now, and he'll continue to do so for the forseeable future. Shortstop is the other ugggh position in the infield with Mike Dawson (.186, 0, 14) cratering after a pretty decent 1972 (.233, 7, 37) and Uwe Kleimann (.200, 0, 9) not looking like he's ready to carry the bag there. The only other high-level guy I've got is Nate Sita (.216, 14, 40 at AAA Omaha), who's hit for good power in the minors I guess but I'd prefer someone who can also hit over .200. Against my better judgment I'm going to extend an offer to the classic good-field, no-hit man of this save, John Timonen (.135, 0, 5 with 2 clubs) in the hopes that he can hit to... some level in Omaha. The 5 time Gold Glover can still pick it at age 30 but at his best he is a career .180 hitter so I'm not exactly optimistic. Outfield: I moved Alonzo Rivera (.320, 4, 48) into left to make room for Durang and now Dave Cowens. Rivera fields in left like a converted 1B, which is to say not well. You can't keep that bat out of the lineup though. Dave Corona (.277, 9, 36) is back from an injury in 3 days so I guess I'll have to do something. A nice problem to have? Corona used to play CF but he was never very good at it and I suspect he'd be an absolute disaster out there now. CF is the other spot where we're not getting a lot of production. Hey, it's the 3 most important defensive slots so I guess that's to be somewhat expected. I'm talking myself into using Corona in CF over Prince Charles (.206, 8, 32), not because I think it'll work for the future or even the present but like why not? The object of the game is to score more runs than your opponent and this is definitely a strategy. On the other hand, Corona made 112 starts in CF - 1004 innings - in 1972 and had a ZR of -11.3. In 1970 that was -35.6! Yeah... that will be a... bumpy ride. August 1: Man, when it comes to these things, they come all at once... the Milwaukee Brewers (43-60, 22 1/2 GB) actually split a double-header yesterday with the Tigers but I don't like doing these in the middle of those things so we're doing it TODAY instead. These guys are no longer in danger of setting futility records on offense - even with the DH this team is now 8th in the AL in runs scored, not dead last by a mile - but of course they're a long ways off from actually being, you know, good. They do have 2 guys in the OSA top 10 for the future! Both are teenagers. Anyway, it'll be a few years; in the meantime, what can we do? Rotation: Marius Gaddi (5-13, 4.36) did not in fact turn his career around in Milwaukee but I'm not going to pull him from the rotation until/unless he gets close to the 20 loss mark (and hell, maybe not even then - we need the starts out there). This looks mostly like a rotation where either I've already made second-half moves (like calling up Luther Vandross (5-2, 2.55 at AAA Evanston in the first half)) or, like, nobody's quiiite bad enough to dump. NO CHANGES Bullpen: I also here just made some changes, notably recalling Bubba Touchton (1-0, 9.90), who has been unbelievably terrible for the Brew Crew (1-2, 12.38 in 12 relief appearances) but has a history of being a decent setup guy / middle reliever with the Red Sox and Angels. I also know that 32 year old Victor Marin (2-1, 3.79) wants ot start - he did start 18 games last year but he was 4-14 - so he could be playing his way to a trade or something so we'll see there, I guess. For now though no further changes. Infield: C Sam Rahn (.267, 3, 28) made his first All-Star Game this year which is more about how bad catching is right now than anything else. I'm not seeing him as a long-term option, but given that the top guys are in short season A or the international complex, the 32 year old will probably spend some time as the starter. 1B Sergio Sicre (.266, 5, 37) got the entire first half to show what he could do in the majors and... he's a league averasge hitter as a 1B/DH type. Here I'm very constrained by the major league roster but hey Sincere Littleton (.243, 10, 39 in AAA Evanston) is another failed prospect who's never quite gotten a big major league chance so I'll start mixing him in at the position, especially against LHPs. We'll see! And if it's bad, hey, higher draft picks! Outfield: I've already scooched Peter Jenni (.303, 3, 15 in 38 games at AAA Evanston) in in front of Fernando Ceballos (.234, 2, 28), who as of this date still has a higher batting average than OBP (.231). Ceballos is the better fielder and of course has less of a chance to implode but where's the fun in that? Also Ceballos is awful, no offense. In RF Jun Kim (.240, 3, 29) is basically keeping this gig based on reputation and "veteran leadership". He is I guess still a top flight RF at 34 years of age so there's that too. I'm going to start mixing him out hard against LHPs, in part to counteract this crazy lefty-skewed lineup; former Cub Nelson Hernandez (.251, 2, 21) is the beneficiary at least until roster expansion comes along. August 3: Hey, the last 40-loss team! The Detroit Tigers (66-40, - GB) are preeeetty good and really look like they're about to wrap up the AL East; as of this writing and following the Bosox' double-header split in Baltimore, they're 7 1/2 games up. Both the pitching and the hitting are really great so I don't anticipate doing much but hey, I guess we'll see... Rotation: The rotation is pretty locked. If I wanted to get fancy I might think about moving Edgar Molina (17-11, 3.54) and his 37 HRs allowed down but meh, he was a 21 game winner last year - in fact he was 40-25 combined the previous 2 years - and even this year with the gopher issues he's been a functional game-winner. Bullpen: The 'pen I guess is only a little above average with a 5th-in-AL ERA of 3.44 (vs the starters' ERA of 2.99). I've already made the changes I think I was going to make though. Todd Theisen (0-2, 3.49) is back from the torn flexor tendon he suffered last July. 35 year old Chris McGranahan (3-4, 3.02) has basically made himself a career post-expansion from being a 5th starter / long reliever and he's chugging along in that role. 24 year old Simon Crean (0-0, 11.12) has looked... yikes as the team's lefty specialist so there's that I guess. I'm going to let him take his lumps; like, someone has to (right???) and also he was 7-5, 1.92 in AAA Toledo in the first half so it's not like he's got no pedigree here. Infield: C Armando Flores (.248, 5, 42) has been baaaaaad since coming from Atlanta - .196/5/26 in the AL. Bad enough to replace him with Joel Moise (.255, 2, 22)? I'm going to go with no. For one thing, man's thrown out 61.9% of base-stealers(!). I mean, that's the main thing. Flores has completely shut down opposing running games where Moise's arm is average at best (12 RTO, 30.8%). 1B Nikki Lauda (.254, 13, 42) has pretty well taken the 1B job but this is more about his backup / intended platoon mate, Tim Suman (.232, 2, 8). This guy has neeeever looked any good in the pros. I'll send him down because we have the roster space and he has options left but man, I think he's done. I'll call up Manny Duran (.297, 0, 3 in AAA Toledo), who missed the entire first half with a torn calf muscle he suffered in spring training but who also looked fine in a rehab assignment. Since both he and Lauda bat lefty, Lauda's now the full-time starter with Duran fitting in mainly as a pinch-hitting specialist, which is something the Tigers really badly needed. SS Matt Mullen (.296, 3, 14) has I think played himself back into a larger role. He'll be platooning with Rob Curran (.246, 2, 23), who took over the job last year. Mullen is right now a slightly better fielder, although both are plus defenders, and as you can see he's been hitting. Outfield: Outfield looks pretty great, all things told. The worst that can be said is that their 5th OF and backup CF Bob Irwin (.193, 1, 7) isn't very good and... that's not really saying much. 2 of their top 3 CF prospects are in AAA but neither one of them are hitting, and their #1 guy, Christopher Cross (.294, 4, 20 at A Anderson) is a long ways off. Which, this doesn't matter! The incumbent is Alvin Romero (.295, 3, 40) and I'm looking for someone to fill in for the like 15 games Romero misses a year. August 3: And back to bad teams again: the San Francisco Giants (47-60, 11 1/2 GB) have been playing for the future for most of the year now so it's possible I won't have much to do. I do see that the historically solid pitching staff has pretty well fell apart: 3rd worst in runs allowed with a 3.58 starters' ERA that's 9th in the league. Anyway, who knows? Maybe I'm missing something BIG. Rotation: With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (0-0, 3.72) finally back, if not pitching into games (he hasn't made it past the 5th in either of his 2 starts so far), the rotation itself looks pretty well set. I wouldn't call it great and I wouldn't say a lot of these guys have a rock-solid hold on jobs but for now and probably into September this looks fine. Well, not fine but... OK? Bullpen: Sam Williams (6-9, 4.54) is in the bullpen because he pitched his way out of the rotation; as a 10-game winner last year (10-13, 3.64) I'm not about to cut the 29 year old loose though. Wow, he's beeen bad in relief: 4 ER in 5 IP thanks to 4 HRs. Well, still. I will say that Jason Sears (0-1, 3.79) hasn't looked super fantastic with 18 walks allowed in 19 IP and so for the sake of trying new things out I'm calling up 23 year old future Hollywood hunk Don Johnson (6-6, 2.88), who was being used as a starter in AAA but I don't think has the stamina for it (as seen by his 9 no-decisions in 21 starts, not to mention the single complete game). Let's see how he shakes out in middle to long relief... Infield: 1B/OF Elijah Joyner (.133, 0, 3) has not been hitting at all in the major leauges in spite of a solid looking first half in Phoenix (.311, 2, 12). Also there is a guy in the minor leagues named Havok Anderson (.214, 1, 8 at AA Amarillo)... man, no, he looks completely overmatched in AAA, let alone the majors. How about... 1968 NL steals leader Ruberto Yebra (.282, 4, 25 at AAA Phoenix)? Yeah, somehow this guy's still around. He hit .184 with Montreal last year so I'm expecting nothing. Outfield: CF Danny "The Phantom" Seligman (.260, 1, 12) is a really great defensive CF with Gold Gloves in each of the past 3 years and he's a .260ish hitter. That's the sum total of his talents. The flip side of that is that he's got all of 6 extra-base hits in 181 at0bats and an OBP under .300 (.289). I think it's time to give this job away to 24 year old Panos Michaloplous (.321, 19, 59 in AAA Phoenix). He is definitely not a future CF but if his first half is any indication he's got the power to be a mainstay in the middle of a good team. I say that but then I noticed that Mads Vindig (.300, 3, 18), who's been playing in RF over the past month or so, is a plus defender in center. He'll move there with the Greek man going into right. This also means that somehow, some way OF Frank Meneses (.198, 13, 39) still has just enough utility to not get cut.
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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August 6 - 12, 1973
## 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 73 44 .624 - L2 543 396 .279 86 103 3.13 2.9 5.8 .983 47.9 46.3 Boston 62 54 .534 10½ L5 502 419 .270 82 58 3.42 3.0 5.5 .982 41.9 40.4 New York 61 59 .508 13½ W1 519 581 .250 122 36 4.51 2.7 4.9 .980 -12.6 36.3 Milwaukee 50 65 .435 22 W1 464 534 .260 78 76 4.16 3.5 4.8 .980 -21.2 32.7 Baltimore 47 67 .412 24½ L2 479 550 .254 95 55 4.36 3.9 5.1 .978 -18.7 39.6 Cleveland 49 69 .415 24½ L2 427 493 .247 93 43 4.01 3.5 5.3 .982 4.2 30.9 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Chicago 71 47 .602 - W2 503 444 .258 96 72 3.45 3.6 5.0 .983 40.8 36.4 Texas 67 48 .583 2½ W2 434 363 .258 68 65 2.86 3.2 5.2 .982 40.8 32.9 Oakland 62 55 .530 8½ L1 468 472 .260 81 46 3.67 3.1 4.9 .979 6.8 35.1 California 58 56 .509 11 W4 499 474 .266 84 71 3.78 3.3 4.8 .981 32.6 41.9 Kansas City 54 65 .454 17½ W2 555 583 .257 89 61 4.47 3.5 4.8 .982 5.4 29.4 Minnesota 45 70 .391 24½ L1 452 536 .247 89 60 4.18 3.5 5.4 .976 -12.9 32.3 LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Philadelphia 72 45 .615 - W4 547 418 .249 100 82 3.15 3.0 5.5 .981 33.4 54.1 St. Louis 68 50 .576 4½ L1 494 482 .257 107 34 3.47 3.3 5.9 .979 2.2 43.2 Chicago 58 59 .496 14 L1 437 442 .252 90 59 3.49 3.4 5.1 .984 40.5 44.3 Pittsburgh 54 60 .474 16½ W3 366 378 .235 54 27 3.08 2.8 5.8 .982 8.0 38.8 New York 54 61 .470 17 L2 388 438 .248 50 69 3.31 3.2 5.2 .980 17.2 48.6 Montreal 46 70 .397 25½ W1 471 557 .245 88 44 4.09 3.6 5.2 .976 -16.1 32.3 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Houston 65 55 .542 - W1 493 475 .253 103 52 3.47 3.6 5.9 .977 3.4 31.6 Cincinnati 64 55 .538 ½ W1 500 461 .252 96 44 3.61 3.0 5.8 .981 6.7 29.8 San Diego 63 54 .538 ½ L1 463 376 .257 69 49 2.87 3.3 5.4 .982 51.4 37.6 Atlanta 61 60 .504 4½ L4 459 425 .250 85 34 3.17 3.1 6.0 .983 1.1 36.5 San Francisco 52 64 .448 11 W2 413 489 .250 81 65 3.65 3.2 5.5 .979 -2.8 28.9 Los Angeles 47 71 .398 17 L3 354 444 .243 91 52 3.29 3.1 5.5 .980 29.2 32.4 Yuppies and Hippies of the Week seem to favor middle-of-the-road teams for the most part, like the Phillies swapped spots with the Tigers for 1st and 3rd in the power rankings but nobody cares, right? Anyway though somehow the Yuppies of the Week are the Pirates(!), who moved up 8 spots by... getting swept by the Astros? Okay, they did sweep the Braves after that but it's a 3-2 week, not exactly the most special of weeks. I guess everyone else around them fell apart; also, they were rated too low last week at 21 and needed an adjustment. They beat out Texas, who moved up from 8th to 4th with... a 3-3 week. Okay, so they were probably ranked too low too but they literally lost 2 of 3 to the Yankees and only righted the ship with a series win over the Indians. Maybe the dirty hippies will make more sense! The dirtiest of all dirty hippies is... a 3 way tie between Boston, Atlanta, and Cleveland. Boston fell all the way from 6th to 12th with a 2-5 week with their 2 wins against the Orioles (completing 5 game weekend series with them) and the Royals (they did drop that series 2 games to 1). Not a good showing from a team that has the tiniest window to make the playoffs this year. Atlanta entered the week looking like they could get into the NL West race and then blew a 3 game series vs the Pirates to drop them to 4 1/2 back. And then Cleveland... was ranked way too high in the first place at 15th last week and so even if they didn't go 1-5 (to be fair, that was at Chicago and Texas - actual good teams might have gone 1-5 against those guys), they'd probably have been due for an adjustment. Okay so how's about them league leaders? I feel like I'm telling the same story every week so why don't I just drop these into stats? AMERICAN LEAGUE Code:
Player AB R H BA HOMERUNS HR Chris Seek, CAL 436 71 147 .337 Ernesto Garcia, NYY 41 J. Ramone, DET 418 67 140 .335 Alice Cooper, CHW 29 B. Springsteen, BOS 431 59 140 .325 A. Martinez, MIN 22 Jose Ayala, DET 438 56 142 .324 Jeff Nation, CHW 20 A. Rivera, KC 429 49 139 .324 Jose Ayala, DET 19 RBIs RBI STOLEN BASES SB DOUBLES 2B RUNS R Ernesto Garcia, NYY 92 A.Romero, DET 50 Tony Danza, KC 39 Dave Corona, KC 86 Alice Cooper, CHW 79 Jon Glynn, BOS 32 J.Ramone, DET 33 A. Romero, DET 85 Jeff Nation, CHW 78 Bobby Ramirez, TEX 24 Chris Seek, CAL 32 T. Danza, KC 77 J. Ramone, DET 78 Dave Corona, KC 23 F. Faison, DET 31 Alice Cooper, CHW 73 A. Martinez, MIN 77 Danny Hohman, DET 20 B. Johnson, BOS 31 E.Garcia, NYY 71 Code:
Player IP ER ERA WINS W WINNING PCT Rec % J. Goddard, DET 227.2 53 2.10 J. Goddard, DET 20 J.Godddard, DET 20-2 .870 V. Akright, OAK 203.2 53 2.34 E. Molina, DET 18 V. Akright, OAK 16-4 .800 B. Crystal, TEX 202.1 57 2.54 R. Roltrane, TEX 17 R. Coltrane, TEX 15-4 .739 R. Coltrane, TEX 211.2 62 2.64 M. Sanchez, BOS 17 C. Benavides, DET 14-5 .737 H. Rollins, KC 179.1 56 2.81 V. Akright, OAK 16 R. Reese, CHW 14-5 .737 STRIKEOUTS K SAVES S OPPONENTS BA BA E. Molina, DET 179 Malcolm Post, CHW 27 H. Rollins, KC .197 M. Pesco, BOS 156 Willis Chavez, OAK 18 R. Reese, CHW .200 J. Goddard, DET 152 T. Kihara, TEX 17 R. Coltrane, TEX .212 M. Sanchez, BOS 149 J. Marceau, DET 15 C. Benavides, DET .221 J. Carpenter, NYY 141 G. Covarrubias, NYY 11 B. Crystal, TEX .237 Code:
Player AB R H BA HOMERUNS HR G. Harrison, SF 443 54 143 .323 Jaden Weaver, CIN 30 R. Disla, STL 428 58 137 .320 Justin Stone, LAD 27 M. Morrison, ATL 383 41 122 .319 A. Juantorena, PHI 24 J. Stone, LAD 352 60 112 .318 M. Galeana, STL 21 C. Palacios, SD 452 49 140 .310 L. Martinez, STL 21 RBIs RBI STOLEN BASES SB DOUBLES 2B RUNS R Jaden Weaver, CIN 91 John Berry, SF 32 C. Palacios, SD 36 A. Juantorena, PHI 95 A. Juantorena, PHI 81 A. Juantorena, PHI 28 B. McAdoo, SF 28 P. Ortiz, CIN 77 RJ Dominguez, CIN 77 D. Fager, LAD 17 RJ Dominguez, CIN 28 RJ Dominguez, CIN 74 G. Foreman, HOU 69 S. Burwell, STL 16 Sean Gabel, CHC 27 T. Shannon, PHI 72 M. Galeana, STL 68 V. Luna, NYM 16 G. Harrison, SD 26 J. Waltenbery, HOU 72 Code:
Player IP ER ERA WINS W WINNING PCT Rec % J.Battaglia, PIT 232.2 47 1.82 Tony Rivera, HOU 18 C. Olivares, PHI 11-3 .786 Tony Rivera, HOU 229.2 54 2.12 Don Henley, SD 16 G. Panarello, CIN 10-3 .769 Colin Rose, ATL 188.2 45 2.15 R. Starkey, PHI 16 Don Henley, SD 16-5 .762 Don Henley, SD 192.1 50 2.34 R. Quintana, STL 15 Tony Rivera, HOU 18-6 .750 F. Apolonio, LAD 198.1 43 2.45 S. Waiters, CIN 14 Colin Rose, ATL 11-4 .733 STRIKEOUTS K SAVES S OPPONENTS BA BA R. Quintana, STL 159 D. Parchaman, SD 19 Tony Rivera, HOU .207 Tony Rivera, HOU 156 G. Saus. NYM 19 R. Salinas, LAD .212 R. Mendoza, STL 152 B. Yates, CIN 17 M. Weinberg, CHC .214 G. House, ATL 151 T. Livingston, STL 16 C. Olivares, PHI .214 J. Battaglia, PIT 146 T. Grohs, PHI 15 R. Quintana, STL .222 ## Major Transactions August 6: The Orioles claimed RP Geoff Stephens (0-1, 3.91) off of waivers from the Reds. Hey, this is a "major" transaction. Stephens got into 15 games in the first half for Cincy and figures to play a lot more in the 2nd given the sorry state of this Orioles bullpen. August 6: The Royals claimed RP Hector Fernandez (1-2, 4.03) off of waivers from the Reds. Man, everyone's going after Cincinnati's castoffs. Fernandez played a bit more than Stephens - 25 games, 38 IP - and has solid periphals that don't add up to a 4+ ERA (24 Ks vs only 9 BBs). For lack of better options, he'll go straight into the Royals' rotation until I figure out something better. August 7: The Yankees acquire P Steve Tidwell (7-7, 4.15) from the Cardinals for a pitcher to be named later (12-7, 2.78 at AAA Syracuse) and $25,000. The Yankees continue to try to bolster a bad pitching staff and ship off a former 11th round pick who's kind of looking like he's going to turn into something... but hey, if you're the Yankees you WIN NOW. ## News August 6: A USAF B-52 bomber mistakenly bombs a Caambodian naval base, killing 137 Cambdian servicemen and their families and wounding 208. August 6: Skylab 3 astronaut Jack LOusma takes a 6 hour, 31 minute spacewalk, almost doubling the old record. He had only expected to spend 3 1/2 hours in deploying a sun shield but encountered difficulties in setting it up. The old record had just been set by Charles Conrad Jr. on Skylab 1 with a 3 hour, 23 minute walk. August 6: The Senate of Pakistan meets for the first time after a new constitution changed from a unicameral parliament to a bicameral one. August 6: Stevie Wonder and his friend John Harris are injured as their vehicle collides with a truck loaded with logs near Salisbury, North Carolina. Wonder will remain in a coma for 4 days; he was not driving the car. August 6: Fulgencio Batista, the guy Castro overthrew in Cuba in 1958, dies of a heart attack in Maribella, Spain. August 6: AL Player of the Week time! It's Tigers 2B Joey Ramone (.336, 9, 76). You've heard this guy's name called a bunch. He went 13-28 this week with 2 HRs and 6 RBIs. This is actually only his 2nd PotW which I guess isn't toooo strange considering he's also only in his 2nd season in the major leagues. On the other hand, he's 2nd in the league in average and 3rd in RBIs so he's kind of good... August 6: The NL Player of the Week is a total newcomer but you'll know him if you've got two ears and a heart. That's right, it's Montreal Expos 3B Phil Collins (.374, 6, 21). Collins came back from a broken finger this week to go 13-28 (.464) with 4 HRs and 13 RBIs. Take that, Joey Ramone! Collins, the 1st overall pick in the 1971 draft, has flown through the minors and is now Montreal's bona fide #3 hitter. This is also his very first, surely of many, Players of the Week awards. August 6: SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK is a dumb one but it's appropriately 1970s dumb so I'll allow it. The top 5... saves at night? t3. Jim Marceau, DET (4-4, 2.14, 14 Sv), 10 t3. Travis Livingston, STL (7-3, 1.39, 15 Sv), 10 t3. Willis Chavez, OAK (8-9, 3.02, 17 Sv), 10 2. Tanzan Kihara, CAL/TEX (1-2, 3.09, 16 Sv), 13 1. Malcolm Post, CHW (5-2, 1.60, 27 Sv), 20 WHO WILL WIN THIS COVETED RACE??? I mean, no surprise, probably the overall leader in saves, Malcolm Post. This is basically the "what player who does not play for the Cubs has the most saves" rankings. August 6: The White Sox are in a position where they want to pile up victories but they also have to give tired players a rest... so 1B Alice Cooper (.290, 29, 77) took the game off. Luckily for the White Sox, 2nd year scientist/starting pitcher Steven Chu (14-6, 3.70) was up to the challenge. Chu through an intellectual 3-hitter, striking out only 3 men and leaving his defense to do the dirty work, to pick up his 6th complete game and 14th win on the year; Chicago won 4-1. LF Peabo Bryson (.241, 3, 7), promoted into the 2-hole for this game, was a one-man wrecking crew with a 3-3, 2 run, 3 RBI game including a HR and a triple off of Indians starter Dylan Hamilton (8-12, 3.72). Remember when Cleveland did that challenge trade with the Red Sox for Justin "Ironworker" Kindberg (13-10, 2.89)? I digress. August 6: I think I might have said that the Reds and Astros concluded their series... well, they had one game left. Graham Panarello (10-2, 3.03) threw a 5-hit shutout and got the Nobletiger - bases loaded, no outs, no runs allowed - in the 9th to preserve the shutout and a Reds 4-0 win. Roberto Ortiz (5-8, 3.92) was wild and then tired and then even more wild, finally getting taken out in the 7th with 4 earned runs in 6.2 IP and 7 walks. RF Robert Hopkins (.283, 3, 14), filling in for the tired Jaden Weaver (.259, 29, 90), drove in 3 men, proving that there's something about right field in Cincy that creates RBIs. This was Panarello's 2nd shutout this season and the win puts the Reds back up by 1/2 a game. August 7: A boy by the name of Larry transmits a distress call from inside an overturned truck onto CB radio. The call sparks a search and rescue operation in New Mexico, only for this to be turn out to be a hoax. August 7: Zhores Medvedev has his Soviet citizenship revokes and is ordered to surrender his passport to the Soviet Embassy in London, where the Russian biologist exiled from the USSR is staying. Tomorrow TASS, the Communist news agency, will allege that he had been... spying, basically? August 7: Hermine Braunsteiner becomes the first convicted Nazi war criminal in the US to be extradited to West Germany. She is found after Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal had learned that she was living in New York City as Hermine Ryan. August 7: In an ugly game between the Twins and Orioles, Minnesota 1B Angelo Martinez (.265, 22, 76) achieved a rare milestone: Leading off the bottom of the 7th against spot starter Heiner Flessbeck (1-3, 3.88) and losing 8-6, Martinez belted a double. The crowd clapped and the umpires stopped the game because it was Martinez' 2,500th hit. He did come around to score and the Twins tied the game up that inning; sadly, Twins fans only left mildly happy as their bullpen blew it in the 11th to lose 12-9. Martinez, now a prototypical cleanup hitter and slugger but once a high-average hitter, still carries a career .291 average. The 11 time All Star is 8th all-time in hits, having moved past White Sox catcher Mario Moreno (2,452 career hits; retired in 1969) earlier in the season. He's also in the top 5 in homeruns (435, 5th) and RBIs (1,476, 4th). The Twins' dynasty may be pretty well done but Martinez is still kicking. August 7: I don't want to cover every day in the NL West race and I suuuure don't want to cover the Pirates when they're doing this, but... the Astros kick off their series in Pittsburgh in pretty much the most 1973 Piratesy way possible. Ace Tony Rivera (18-6, 2.13) gives up just 1 run to the beleaguered Bucs offense through 9 but their own ace Santos Arango (9-13, 2.67) is equal to the task. And so it holds, all the way to the top of the 11th when Arango finally allows a solo HR to 2B Jordan Green (.299, 9, 41) and hang on to win 2-1. This also, with the Reds' 7-3 loss to the Cubs, puts the Astros back in 1st place, but mostly this is about how awwwwful the Pirates are. They won't set records for badness - in fact, the Dodges have 4 fewer runs scored in 4 more games - but maaaan this is tough to watch. (make that 3 runs and 5 more games, as the Dodgers lost 12-1 today STILL THOUGH) August 8: Houston police learn of serial murderer Dean Corll for the first time as his accomplice, Elmer Wayne Henley, leads them to Corll's shallow grave and tells them he shot and killed the man. Police discover eight bodies at a boat storage yard, including those of three teenagers who had been reported missing. Henley, 17, and another acomplice, 18 years of age, will be indicted by a grand jury for murder 6 days later. August 8: South Korean politician Kim Dae-Jung, who had run against President Park Chung Hee in 1971, is kidnapped at gunpoint from the Hotel Grand Palace in Tokyo, Japan by the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. Yeah, man... I know we think of South Korea as one of the Tigers but that didn't really get under way until the 80s. At this point in time they were a fascist puppet state. Incidentally, although Kim is beaten up, he is released alive five days later. August 8: In absolutely terrible news for the 90s, Scott Sapp, lead singer of the band Creed, is born in Orlando, Florida. August 8: For the Reds, 35 year old Ramon Puig (.244, 1, 5), who was expected to contribute a lot this year as a pinch-hitter and backup 1st baseman, suffered a setback in his fractured leg injury and will be out until mid to late September now., The Reds, even with the loss of 1B/OF Alonzo Huanosta (.273, 5, 23) for the season in June, are doing pretty well with 25 year old rookie MC Gainey (.280, 8, 30) at the position so this is more bad news for Puig than it is for Cincinnati but hey, we report on the reports. August 8: The AL record for HRs in a game is "only" 3 and it's been set a looooot of times. 3 times this year in fact, including today by Yankees DH Ernesto Garcia (.256, 41, 92). In an 11-6 win over the Rangers, Garcia dialed 8 for long distance off of starter Robbie Coltrane (15-4, 2.10), long reliever Amir Sudler (1-3, 5.40) and middle reliever / mop up guy Billy Munoz (4-1, 3.08). "I am the straw that breaks the camel's back," crowed Garcia after the game. All of his HRs were solo shots but it seemed unfair to bring up the lack of clutch in a game where his team scored so much. Garcia is now on page to hit 57 HRs, which is a lot but would still be his lowest total since 1970, when he missed the 2nd half of the season and "only" had 33 taters. The other 2 3 HR games this year were both cracked by White Sox 1B Alice Cooper (.294, 29, 79), who is a. pretty good in his own right and b. 2nd in the AL in HRs. August 8: Speaking of 3-HR games, Tigers SP Edgar Molina (18-12, 3.66) gave up 3 longballs in 6 innings in a 5-1 loss to the A's at Tiger Stadium. That gives Molina 44 for the year; it's going to be a real race to see who between him and Garcia wind up with more on the stat sheet. Molina allowed ding-dongs to DH Casey Satterfield (.292, 18, 73), LF Tommy Pron (.305, 8, 53), and newly arrived RF Brian Jackson (.267, 5, 35 but .333, 2, 8 in 9 games with Oakland). This may be the only "good" race the Yankees have left, as even with 2 straight losses by the Tigers to these A's and a 3-game series win vs the Rangers, they are 13 games back in the standings. August 8: Is this what the "dog days" of August are supposed to look like? Two more bad offenses squared up against each other today and the results were... obvious. Moises "Duck" Melendez (10-8, 2.58) carried a no-hitter vs the Brewers into the 8th inning but his Angels were unable to put any runs across against rookie Luther Vandross (2-1, 3.62) so when he finally did get touched in the bottom of the 9th by an RBI single by LF Steve Winwood (.281, 15, 59) it was all the Brew Crew needed to win, 1-0. Vandross himself finished with a 6-hit shutout, including 2 walks and just 2 strikeouts. "Here and now," said Vandross following the game. "I promise to win faithfully." August 9: 23 people are killed and 12 injured when the bus they are on falls into a canal near the Egyptian town of Fayun. The driver was reportedly swerving to avoid hitting a donkey. August 9: The USSR launches its Marx 7 interplanetary probe with the goal of, you guessed it, landing on Mars. In March of 1974 the probe will reach the planet and release the lander but because of a retrorocket failure the lander will somehow manage to miss the planet and get no closer than 1300km. August 9: The "Nantua Pillar", a 135 fot high, 12,000 ton granite boulder that had hung for more than a century over the French town of Nantua, topples from the mountainside from where it rested, just over an hour after 3,500 residents had been evacuated. August 9: Europe's first Tandy electronics store - you may know them as an American as Radio Shack - opens in Belgium. August 9: Nikos Zachariadis, the leader of the Communist Party of Greece during the Greek Civil War from 1946-49, commits suicide in exile in Siberia. Zachariadis had led the country for a while but wound up losing control because Stalin had agreed that Greece would remain in the hands of the West and although Tito from Yugoslavia aided him for a while, he, too, was forced to withdraw after he broke with Stalin and needed to fend for himself. In the early 60s he managed to make his way from Siberia to Moscow, where he asked to be deported back to Greece to stand trial; it's unknown whether this request was actually heard or not but he was shortly thereafter waylaid by the Soviets and placed back in Siberia for the remainder of his life. Some of his followers claim he was executed; however, after the breakup of the USSR, internal documents confirmed it was a suicide. August 9: Angels closer Montay Luiso (1-2. 2.30, 10 Sv) has been used a liiittle more sparingly with his new team compared to the Orioles but in closing out the final 2 innings in today's 2-1 win over the Brewers he notched the 300th save of his career. 225 of those came with Baltimore, of course, but hey, he's 35 so he still at least theoretically has time to carve out some new records in sunny California. Luiso is 2nd all-time in saves, 50 behind a guy named Bill Cory, who played his whole career with the Dodgers from 1946-64, following them from Brooklyn to LA. He was inducted into the Hall in 1970. Cory's last big season came at 36 himself so hey, Luiso still has some ground to cover... August 10: The Skylab astronauts take a picture of a solar flare, the most detailed picture of one of these phenomena yet. August 10: The Israeli Air Force intercept Iraqi Airways Flight 006A shortly after it took off from Beirut, Lebanon and force it to land at a secret airfield, where it is held for eight hours. The act is criticized worldwide with even the US joining in the UN Security Council resolution on AUgust 15 condemning Israel. This is the first time in five years the US will side against its ally in the UN. August 10: Jean Hanson, a British biophysicist who discovered the "sliding filament theory" of muscle contraction, died of meningococcal septicemeia at 53. August 10: Lillian Roxon, a journalist best known for the first encyclopedia of rock music, Lillian Roxon's Rock Encyclopedia, dies of an asthma attack at only 41 years of age. August 11: Clive Campbell originates the hip hop music genre at a party he and his younger sister Cindy organized, the "back to School Jam" held in the Bronx in New York City. Campbell, a Jamaican born turntable artist who came to be known as DJ Kool Herc, uses the two-turntable approach used by other disco DJs too elongate the drum break. Cambpell also referred to the people dancing to his music as "break boys" and "break girls" and, later, "b-boys" and "b-girls". August 11: In Minsk, the Soviet Red Army anounces that seven former soldiers had been convicted in court martial proceedings of collaboration with Nazis in the Byelorussian SSR (now Belarus) during World War II. Four of these men were sentenced to death with the other 3 getting prison terms ranging from 10 to 15 years. August 11: THE COD WARS ERUPT as an Iceland Coast Guard vessel with a name I could copy and paste but I won't rammed the UK Royal Navy frigate HMS Andromeda more than 12 nautical miles from the Icelandic coast. 37593129751 people were killed on this day just kidding nothing happened. August 12: Jack Nicklaus wins his 3rd PGA Championship, his 12th major title of the four maor championships of golf. Nicklaus finishes 4 strokes ahead of Australia's Bruce Crampton. He's like the Tiger Woods of his day, you know? August 12: Larry G. Smith, an American Race car driver and 1972 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year, is killed in a crash at the Talladegha 500 race in Alabama. August 12: Hey, a not-insane Sunday! Only one double-header. Last year I'm pretty sure like every team just about played 30 games in August so it's nice to see some bullpens getting potentially rested... August 12: Maaan Edgar Molina (18-13, 3.63) is annoying sometimes. The Tigers pitcher threw a 5-hitter today and made basically one mistake the entire game long, but it was a big one: a 3-run homerun to the White Sox' DH Jeff Nation (.271, 20, 78) that plated Chicago's only 3 runs in the contest and led to a 3-1 loss. The dinger was Molina's 45th allowed on the year, which already has him firmly in 2nd place and, with a full month and a half left to play, just 1 off the all-time record set by Eric Cartee in 1961 (7-19, 5.89 that season). Cartee, as the statline indicates, was awful that year whereas Molina is still managing to carry a 3.63 ERA against a league average of 3.84. August 12: The Rangers are very much still in contention - 2 1/2 games behind the AL West leading White Sox as of today - but man, they are also the Pittsburgh Pirates of the junior circuit. Right now they lead the league in fewest runs allowed allowing with starters' ERA (2.88), defensive efficiency (.732), and zone rating (+35.3), but they're also 2nd worst in runs scored. Last year they looked like they might break records for offensive futility and even though they've revamped the lineup since then, it's still not great. Today at least they got 4 runs and only needed 1 because the very promising looking rookie Robert "Rat" McHugh (13-9, 3.40) threw his 4th shutout of the year, 3-hitting the Cleveland Indians for a 4-0 win. They did get a 2-RBI triple by 3B Bobby Ramirez (.320, 7, 41), who I moved up to leadoff today from his normal position of 3rd in the lineup to shake things up, but once again there were no HRs hit by this team, who is dead last in the AL in that category. If they do wind up getting past the White Sox, they're going to have to do more offensively. August 12: And hey, speaking of shutouts, the Astros and Ernie Alvarez (13-12, 3.36) delivered a big old "Chicago" to the Cubs today, 7-0. Alvarez has not exactly been consistent this year, as the 12 losses and kind of high ERA playing half his games at the Astrodome will attest to, but when he's on he's really hard to score on. Today he allowed 6 hits and 4 walks, inducing 12 ground-outs and somehow getting this done in spite of no double plays. His teammates 1B Joshua "Superman" Waltenbery (.287, 18, 55) went 2-5 with a couple runs, a couple RBIs, and his 18th HR on the night and leadoff man 3B Pete Little (.287, 8, 50) made up for his 19th error at the hot corner with a 3-5, 2 RBI night of his own. That win once more puts the Astros 1/2 a game up on the Reds although the Pads are playing two today against the crappy Expos. August 12: Unfortunately for the Pads, all they could was split their double-header and so as we end the week they're also 1/2 a game back. They started out well enough with Don Henley (16-5, 2.34) striking out 8 in 8 IP before giving way to closer Darius Parchman (2-4, 1.10) for his 19th save and a 2-1 win. However, in Game 2 Tim Anderlike (9-11. 3.21) had a rare poor outing and was removed for a pinch-hitter in the top of the 4th with the team down 5-0; San Diego rallied late but it wasn't enough, as Montreal's own budding ace Kenny "The DANGER ZONE" Loggins (4-5, 2.42) slammed the door shut in the 9th for his 12th save. That second game was actually San Diego's first loss all season vs the Expos. They're 8-1 against them which means they have one more series to go against team Montreal. ## Teams in Review August 10: Things have really taken a turn for the worst for the Pittsburgh Pirates (51-60, 16 1/2 GB). They were already dealing with .500-ness for 2 straight months after a pretty strong (16-11) May but now they're 1-8 to open August and I think it's probably time to admit that a playoff repeat ain't happening. Time to bring in the kids? Not gonna lie, this offense looks rough, like it's going to be a few years before we have the pieces again... Rotation: This team is still 2nd in the NL in runs allowed (probably makes that 2nd overall) and the starting rotation is pretty, pretty good. I did expand it to 5 men for the 2nd half and the back end has been less than stellar. I think Viktor Yanukyovich (1-5, 4.83) is playing like a guy who maybe needs more seasoning in the minors. Maybe he'll be a September call-up? This also allows me to recall Clyde Jones (10-10, 2.58 at AAA Charleston), who's had 3 late-season cups of coffee of his own the last 2 years. He also has 145 Ks in 177.2 AAA innings so if anything he probably should have gotten the call sooner. Oh well! Viktor "the Traitor" is a bigger prospect. Bullpen: This bullpen is still Sparky Lemus (9-4, 2.03, 13 Sv) plus whoever else happens to be around, so take that for what it is... I think it's time to cut ties with Andy Lagunas (3-4, 4.68). He had a good year with KC last season but at the end of the day the man's 32 and there's better use for middle to long relief than a 32 year old guy who's seen better days. In his place: 30 year old Carlos Ramirez (4-4, 2.94, 9 Sv at AAA Charleston), who, okay, isn't a spring chicken himself. He missed all of 1972 with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow after being a fairly regular member of the bullpen in '71 so... nice to have him back I guess? Brian Bruno's (2-1, 4.34) job is also tenuous but I feel like I need someone to handle long relief when one of the back-end rotation guys inevitably crap out. Infield: I feel like C Doug Connally (.236, 6, 32) was having a bounce-back season at one point but... yep, he hit .200 in July and so far is 0-for-August (18 at-bats total). At this point Timothy Higgins (.161, 0, 1) is already the #2 choice for a backup with Miklos Nemeth (.188, 1, 8) not cutting it in the bigs, there's a 3rd (4th?) PTBNL who looks nice down there but I don't trust that he's ready, and... okay, I'm going to give Connally the rest of the season to figure himself out. First base should be the easiest position to fill, right? The Bucs traded for David Salinas (.248, 1, 21), knowing we were going to be without Albilio Valdivia (.270, 0, 2) for the first half of the year but the 38 year old looks like he's finally showing his age (.231, 0, 17 with a .278 OBP with the Pirates) and... I can't believe I'm doing this but for the good of the team I'm going to drop the old man / team captain / farewell tour-ish Valdivia back into the starting slot. Every position, man... 2B Tyler Websster (.212, 4, 18) isn't cutting it but I don't have anything to replace him so I guess he'll have to continue to not cut it for the rest of the year. Believe me, if there was someone I'd use them. The best excuse for a replacement is John "Denethor" Noble (.208, 5, 27 in AAA) but he's not looking like a guy who's going to hit this year either (lots of walks though!). I sent Hank Williams Jr. (.198, 1, 6) down to work on his swing and... he hasn't really shown any signs of having corrected it in the minors (.222, 2, 17 in AAA). Still, I want to use him because he's young and has promise so down goes organization man Arturo Martinez (.254, 1, 9) and up he goes. He'll try and pass at 2nd as well, which might be a really bad idea. Frankly though incumbent 3B Alex Flores (.256, 5, 32) has been nothing special, even if he's better than last year. Outfield: LF Jerry Sherk (.231, 12, 49) is also in a slump because OF COURSE HE IS ON THIS TEAM. I can't really take him out though and at this point he's still got the most power on this ballclub. Find that swing, Jerry! CF Justin Hearl (.223, 1, 19) has ben baaad this year, so much so that I'm going to drop him into a half-time role with George Macchia (.245, 2, 9), who just is not fast enough to play center but he at least can hit, kind of... again, I'd love to call up guys but the big prospect Michio Kaku (.192, 1, 17) is now I think officially a bust and is hitting .193/4/23 in AAA. August 12: The fortunes of the New York Mets (54-60, 16 GB) seem pretty intertwined with the Pirates above; however, the Mets are 4 years off from their division title and shipped off the famed "Superman and Jimmy Olsen" middle of their lineup that got them that far in the miracle '69 season. Now they're just... blah, a bad offense paired with a pretty decent defense (although the pitching staff is dead last in Ks and according to the advanced stats the decent runs/ERA is propped up by play in the field). I think I've already called up most if not all of the enticing looking non-September guys but I guess we'll see... Rotation: Top to bottom the rotation is filled with pretty-good guys; like all 5 of them have ERAs between 3.04 and 3.48, and the 3.48 guy - newer add Noah Bando (1-3, 3.48) has 31 Ks in 33.2 IP since being recalled from AAA Tidewater. I don't think I'm going to make any changes in here. Maybe if someone begins to falter... Bullpen: This bullpen is still Geoff Saus (9-8, 3.36, 19 Sv) and whoever else we decide to put out there. If I really wanted to I could cut one of the vets but they're producing and the guys I'd replace them with - a PTBNL in AAA (7-13, 3.36) and John Ratzenberger (4-4, 4.19 in AAA), who was up to begin the season but got sent down for being not ready yet (2-3, 4.97) - aren't anything special. Infield: 1B John Fleischaker (.235, 4, 17) has been putting up meh production all year and "Garfield" Jim Davis (.228, 15, 32) has emerged as the team's new cleanup man so... I just don't need him anymore. Fleischaker has kind of always been the banner man for replacement-level production at 1st so I'm going to just send him on down in favor of spoken word man / self-styled "bluesologist" Gilbert Scott-Heron (.300, 7, 13), who only has 38 games of experience in AAA but hey, it was good experience. At age 38 it just looks to me like Danny Pellot (.175, 1, 10) has turned the wrong corner and while 3B Mark Hamill (.252, 7, 36 at AAA Tidewater) hasn't been anything great in terms of finding his stroke in the minors, the 24 year old is still a better choice to back up Vicente Luna (.264, 6, 36) and possibly/probably take over for him next season. Luna is now reeeeeally bad as a fielder but it's "range of a postage stamp" bad, not "fielding average below .900" bad so he'll keep the gig until probably September at least... One man who will NOT keep his gig is 32 year old Chris Adams (.154, 1, 3). Adams missed the first half of the season with torn ankle ligaments and never put it together. We've given him an entire month to try and he's just not. Also, Mark Spitz is 8 years younger and more of the "man of the future". I'm very much unsure what we do with Adams going forward but it's not like he's made this decision hard. Outfield: The outfield is the biggest strength of this team right now, with the 3 hole hitter Barry "The Ritz" Cooper (.302, 2. 39) possibly the weakest link. No changes!
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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August 13-19, 1973
## 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 76 47 .618 - W1 568 417 .277 91 108 3.11 2.9 5.8 .983 47.4 44.9 Boston 67 55 .549 8½ W2 524 430 .270 85 63 3.32 3.0 5.5 .983 41.5 41.5 New York 65 61 .516 12½ L1 551 608 .248 130 37 4.51 2.8 4.9 .980 -13.9 36.7 Milwaukee 53 68 .438 22 W1 480 550 .259 81 78 4.08 3.5 4.9 .980 -25.2 31.9 Cleveland 54 71 .432 23 W1 470 520 .252 100 50 3.96 3.5 5.2 .982 0.2 33.3 Baltimore 49 71 .408 25½ W2 493 575 .251 97 64 4.35 3.9 5.1 .978 -21.0 40.8 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Chicago 73 51 .589 - L2 513 457 .256 98 76 3.36 3.6 5.0 .984 38.6 36.8 Texas 71 50 .587 ½ W1 463 381 .259 70 69 2.85 3.3 5.3 .983 39.7 31.9 Oakland 64 59 .520 8½ L1 487 495 .260 85 49 3.66 3.1 4.8 .979 2.9 35.4 California 60 60 .500 11 L1 522 509 .264 89 74 3.82 3.3 4.8 .981 29.0 41.5 Kansas City 55 70 .440 18½ L2 572 619 .256 92 67 4.55 3.5 4.8 .983 -4.9 28.1 Minnesota 49 73 .402 23 L1 481 563 .247 97 64 4.13 3.5 5.4 .976 -19.3 32.3 LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Philadelphia 77 46 .626 - W3 576 441 .248 104 86 3.16 3.0 5.6 .981 31.2 53.8 St. Louis 70 54 .565 7½ W1 514 506 .256 110 34 3.46 3.2 5.9 .979 -1.8 43.9 Chicago 62 61 .504 15 W1 469 460 .254 95 65 3.44 3.3 5.1 .984 38.9 46.2 New York 58 63 .479 18 W2 419 469 .251 56 76 3.38 3.2 5.3 .980 12.0 46.9 Pittsburgh 59 61 .492 16½ W5 393 398 .234 57 29 3.06 2.7 5.9 .982 4.2 40.0 Montreal 48 74 .393 28½ W1 498 588 .247 97 50 4.13 3.7 5.2 .977 -20.2 31.1 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% San Diego 66 57 .537 - L1 493 401 .259 75 55 2.92 3.3 5.5 .982 50.5 36.0 Houston 67 59 .532 ½ L3 519 505 .253 107 56 3.49 3.6 6.0 .977 1.6 31.7 Cincinnati 66 59 .528 1 L2 523 488 .252 100 46 3.64 3.1 5.9 .981 0.3 29.4 Atlanta 64 63 .504 4 L1 492 462 .251 91 40 3.28 3.2 5.9 .983 -7.7 37.8 Los Angeles 50 74 .403 16½ L1 370 466 .243 91 60 3.32 3.1 5.6 .980 25.6 31.8 San Francisco 53 69 .434 12½ L3 432 514 .248 84 66 3.65 3.3 5.6 .979 -5.3 27.8 Boston and Pittsburgh had their dead-cat bounces this week to earn Yuppie of the Week honors. The Red Sox swept the A's and then won 2 out of 3 against Kansas City to finish 5-1 and vault from 12th to 6th this week. They still have zero chance, especially now that their ace Michael Pesco (13-15, 3.37) is out for the next month with a calf strain, but hey, it was a nice week and I guess the Tigers could conceivably fall part. Pittsburgh jumped from 13th to 7th with a 5-1 week of their own: winning 2 out of 3 vs the Reds and then sweeping the Giants over the weekend. Only one extra-inning game this week for them, too! I checked and they're actually only tied for 3rd in extra-inning games; it only feels like every game of their goes 25 innings and ends with a 2-1 loss (the extra-innings game this week was a doozy though: tied 5-5 after 9 and 6-5 in 17 UGH). There's a 3-way tie for Hippie of the Week between California, Houston(!), and San Francisco. Cal went 2-4 vs two of the top 3 teams in the East in the Yankees and Tigers, so it feels slightly unfair but I guess to be fair TOOO BEEE FAAAAIR this was never a 7th-ranked team and much more of a 13th ranked one. Houston actually fell all the way from 8th to 14th with a week that started decently enough with 2 wins out of 3 in St. Louis, although the 2 wins were both in extra innings. Then they hosted the Phillies at home in what they hope will be an NLCS preview... except that Astros fans hope it does NOT work out like this because the Phightin' Phillies swept them over 3 games. San Francisco is full-on cellar dwelling but somehow they were 16th after last week. Well, they're 22nd in power rankings now after losing a 3-game series to those Phillies and then getting swept by the stupid annoying Pirates. A quick look at the league leaders! AMERICAN LEAGUE Code:
Player AB R H BA HOMERUNS HR HITS H J. Ramone, DET 436 69 147 .337 E. Garcia, NYY 43 C. Seek, CAL 154 C. Seek, CAL 339 55 110 .324 A. Cooper, CHW 30 J. Johnson, CHW 150 B. Johnson, BOS 405 53 131 .323 A. Martinez, MIN 24 J. Ayala, DET 148 B. Springsteen, BOS 453 62 146 .322 J. Ayala, DET 20 J. Ramone, DET 147 A. Rivera, KC 451 50 145 .322 J. Nation, CHW 20 B. Springsteen, BOS 146 RBIs RBI STOLEN BASES SB DOUBLES 2B RUNS R E. Garcia, NYY 98 A. Romero, DET 53 T. Danza, KC 39 D. Corona, KC 89 A. Martinez, MIN 83 J. Glynn, BOS 34 J. Ramone, DET 34 A. Romero, DET 88 A. Cooper, CHW 80 D. Corona, KC 25 C. Seek, CAL 33 T. Danza, KC 78 J. Nation, CHW 80 B. Ramirez, TEX 24 A. Rivera, KC 32 E. Garcia, NYY 76 J. Ramone, DET 80 D. Hohman, DET 21 A. Romero, DET 32 A. Cooper, CHW 74 Code:
Player IP ER ERA WINS W WINNING PCT Rec % J. Goddard, DET 241.1 58 2.16 J. Goddard, DET 21 J. Goddard, DET 21-4 .840 V. Akright, OAK 212.1 56 2.37 E. Molina, DET 19 V. Akright, OAK 16-5 .762 B. Crystal, TEX 210.1 61 2.61 R. Coltrane, TEX 18 R. Coltrane, TEX 16-4 .750 R. Coltrane, TEX 229.2 68 2.66 J. Carpenter, NYY 17 B. Osbourne, BOS 15-5 .750 H. Rollins, KC 188.1 56 2.68 M.Sanchez, BOS 17 R. Reese, CHW 14-5 .737 STRIKEOUTS K SAVES S OPPONENTS BA BA E. Molina, DET 187 M. Post, CHW 29 R. Reese, CHW .199 J. Goddard, DET 160 W. Chavez, OAK 19 H. Rollins, KC .200 M. Pesco, BOS 157 T. Kihara, TEX 19 R. Coltrane, TEX .209 M. Sanchez, BOS 155 J. Marceau, DET 15 C. Benavides, DET .217 J. Carpenter, NYY 149 G. Covarrubias, NYY 12 J. Kindberg, BOS .225 Code:
Player AB R H BA HOMERUNS HR HITS H J. Stone, LAD 370 62 118 .319 J. Weaver, CIN 31 G. Harrison, SF 149 R. Disla, STL 455 62 145 .319 J. Stone, LAD 27 C. Palacios, SD 147 M. Morrison, ATL 383 41 122 .319 A. Juantorena, PHI 25 R. Disla, STL 145 G. Harrison, SF 470 55 149 .317 M. Galeana, STL 22 P. McCartney, SD 138 M. Schurke, CHC 398 59 124 .312 L. Martinez, STL 21 S. Gabel, CHC 135 RBIs RBI STOLEN BASES SB DOUBLES 2B RUNS R J. Weaver, CIN 95 J. Berry, SF 32 C. Palacios, SD 37 A. Juantorena, PHI 97 A. Juantorena, PHI 86 A. Juantorena, PHI 29 RJ Dominguez, CIN 33 P. Ortiz, CIN 82 RJ Dominguez, CIN 79 V. Luna, NYM 18 B. McAdoo, SF 32 RJ Dominguez, CIN 79 G. Foreman, HOU 73 P. McGraw, SD 18 M. Schurke, CHC 29 T. Shannon, PHI 75 M. Galeana, STL 70 J. Bushon, NYM 17 S. Gabel, CHC 27 J. Waltenbery, HOU 75 Code:
Player IP ER ERA WINS W WINNING PCT Rec % V. Bachler, PHI 129.2 24 1.67 T. Rivera, HOU 18 V. Bachler, PHI 12-3 .800 J. Battaglia, PIT 246.0 54 1.98 D. Henley, SD 16 C. Olivares, PHI 12-3 .800 T. Rivera, HOU 245.2 57 2.09 R. Quintana, STL 16 D. Henley, SD 16-5 .762 C. Rose, ATL 203.1 51 2.26 R. Starkey, PHI 16 T. Rivera, HOU 18-6 .750 R. Quintana, STL 237.0 61 2.32 S. Waiters, CIN 15 C. Rose, ATL 12-5 .706 STRIKEOUTS K SAVES S OPPONENTS BA BA R. Quintana, STL 172 D. Parchamn, SD 21 V. Bachler, PHI .172 T. Rivera, HOU 167 G. Saus, NYM 20 T. Rivera, HOU .210 R. Mendoza, STL 157 B. Yates, CIN 19 R. Salinas, LAD .212 J. Battaglia, PIT 155 T. Grohs, PHI 18 C.Olivares, PHI .217 G. House, ATL 152 T. Livingston, STL 17 R. Quintana, STL .220 ## Major Transactions August 13: The Expos purchased CF Jeff Murphy (.245, 3, 15) from the Yankees. It's not that I don't believe in Arsene Wegner (.271, 8, 41 at AAA Peninsula)... well, maybe it's that a little bit. Anyway, Murphy's already 30 so he's not the CFOTF but he can keep them from exposing Wegner if he's not there yet. For the Yanks, he'd fallen to 3rd string behind a resurgent Micah MacMillan (.268, 8, 24) and Dave Dornbush (.213, 0, 9) so was kind of useless. August 13: The Cubs purchased PH/OF/1B Raul Bueno (.284, 2, 14) from the Rangers. Is this a white flag deal for Texas? They aren't that far out of it. Bueno has hit for a good average but kind of isn't the guy you want playing regularly at 1st and the OF corners. Chicago, I don't know, can pretend they're still contending with this move and he provides them with "veteran leadership", whatever that means, whereas for Texas this opens up playing opportunities for OF Tom Petty (.298, 9, 33 at AAA Spokane). August 15: The Angels trade four players - SS Ivan Perez (.237, 1, 9), an IF TBNL (.305, 2, 12 in A Quad Cities), minor league P Al Gore (4-6, 4.45 in the majors this year), and minor league 3B Jean-Pierre Raffarin (.190, 1, 3 in his stint in the majors this year) for former All-Star 3B Mike Brookes (.227, 4, 28). Brookes got hurt this year and his power was hors d'combat even when healthy so in spite of chasing a pennant this looked like an offer the Phillies couldn't refuse. Gore and Raffarin have major league experience this year although maybe they aren't that good and the PTBNL is maybe the jewel of this deal, looking like he might be a future MLB starter at short. August 18: The Cubs claimed SP Rich Whetzel (3-14, 4.04). I tend not to copy waiver deals except when they're absolutely bizarre and this one... was (the real-life deal was the Twins exposing Jim Kaat and the Sox snapping him up). Whetzel has had a terrible record but his ERA and peripherals indicate he's still pretty OK, and with the White Sox shooting for the AL West title he'll drop straight into the rotation. For Minnesota... they get closer to a teardown, I guess? August 18: The A's traded 2B Jon Reid (.250, 4, 33) to the Yankee for a PTBNL. The PTBNL might not ever hit the majors - they're a 23 year old middle infield prospect - but this is more about getting a teeny tiny bit of value from a guy who's probably not part of the future for the A's. The Yankees... well, TJ Pritchett (.204, 3, 20) seems like he's done and I'll probably cut him. August 18: The Astros traded LF Jesse Lockhart (.238, 1, 14) to the Cardinals for minor league OF Kevin Barber (.234, 8, 25 in AAA Tulsa) and $10,000. It's been a disaster of a season for Lockhart, who was coming off of a very bad 1972 (.231, 8, 49) as it was so this was mostly about just getting him out of Dodge. He'll join a crowded Cardinals outfield, at least for the rest of the season. Barber is a 27 year old organizational soldier who, if he gets a cup of coffee in the majors, will only ever get that cup of coffee. ## News August 13: Aviaco Flight 118 crashes into an abandoned farmhouse in Montrove, Spain, killing all 85 people on board as well as one on the ground. The flight was attempting to land at the end of its flight from Madrid. August 13: Nixon's "Phase IV" of price control measures goes into effect, ending a price freeze that had been in effect as part of Phase III. Yep, this was a thing conservative Republicans did back then. August 13: Southern band Lynrd Skynrd releases their first album, 9 years after the formation of the band, called " (pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd)". August 13: There's not a lot going right for the last-place Twins this year but this week at least they had the best player of the league. CF Ronnie Hellstrom (.286, 9, 47) went 13-32 (.406) with 5 extra-base hits, 8 runs, and 8 RBIs to win the honor. Hellstrom, a goalkeeper in his native Sweden when he's not playing baseball, is playing his first full season and this was his 2nd PotW award, having one one for the week ending September 3rd of last year. August 13: The NL counterpart this week is a guy who had just 10 plate appearances but he really made them count. IF Danny "Mister Nice Guy" Waters (.321, 3, 9) played in 5 games with 2 starts and went 6-9 with a walk, a double, a triple, a HR, 3 runs, and 2 RBIs. I personally would have found someone, anyone else but OOTP's gotta OOTP I guess. This was the former Mets backup's first PotW award, as you'd probably guess. He did win the Northwest League Gold Glove back in 1968 so hey that's nice. August 13: SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE NIGHT is very 70s coded this week and yet pretty informative, maybe, I don't know. The top 5 ERAs at home: 5. Colin Rose, ATL (11-4, 2.15), 1.95 4. Josh Matthews, SF (9-11, 2.73), 1.79 3. Chad Daugharty, TEX (12-14, 3.13), 1.66 2. Jeremy Battaglia, PIT (12-10, 1.92), 1.48 1. Vince Bachler, PHI (10-3, 1.41), 1.68 So yeah, 3 guys in pitchers' parks (yes, Texas is a pitcher's park; don't ask me how), a knuckleballer, and... Vince Bachler. OKAY. August 13: He probably started his season a little too late to be in contention for Rookie of the Year honors but Brewers SP Luther Vandross (3-1, 2.85) really put on a show tonight, shut out out the White Sox for 10 innings on just 5 hits and emerging the winner when his teammate Nelson Hernandez (.244, 4, 24), pinch-hitting for C Sam Rahn (.242, 3, 28) in the bottom of the inning, walked with the bases loaded against Chicago starter Chris Messina (8-15, 3.96). "A lot of people say I have a velvet voice," said a triumphant Vandross following the game. "Well, let me introduce you to my velvet curveball." August 13: The Padres end Monday in a tie for first place! They made no doubt about it this day with a 12-4 rout of the Mets. CF Ed O'Neill (.250, 5, 31) went 3-5 with 3 RBIs from the leadoff slot to pace an attack that was happening up and down the lineup, with every position - yes, including starting pitcher Steven Tyler (11-7, 2.97 and also .182, 0, 4) getting a hit today. San Diego has gotten to this place by going 11-2 so far in the month, a stretch that includes a 4-game sweep of the Braves and a 2-game split at home vs Philadelphia. They're 10 games over .500 and technically I guess actually in first place with a sliiiightly better record at 64-54 than the Reds' 65-55. Those two teams will play each other in a weekend series at the very end of this month. August 14: Zhffikar Ali Bhutto is sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Pakistan as a new constitution takes effect. Unfortunately for him, he will eventually fall to a military coup and will then be executed. His daughter Benazir will also become a politician and, sadly, will also be assassinated. August 14: The US Federal Reserve Board raises its discount rate to 7 1/2 percent, the highest level up to that time. Five years earlier many major US banks had raised their prime lending rate to a record high of 9 1/2 percent. And now people freak when it's over 2... freaky. August 14: Paddy McGuinness, an English comedian and TV presenter with an unbelievably Irish name, is born in Farnworth, Lancaschire. Most amazingly, his real name is, in fact, Patrick Joseph McGuinness. August 14: This has been a disaaaaaaster of a season for Brewers SP Marius Gaddi (5-16, 4.07) and today was so indicative. Gaddi was pitching his half of a scoreless tie into the 9th but 140+ pitches in, he just couldn't keep it up as he gave up a bases-loaded infield single to SS (and former batting champion) John Johnson (.319, 5, 48) to give up the only run scored in this one to the White Sox. Chicago's man Mick Fleetwood (10-11, 3.84) also labored through 8 scoreless innings but unlike the Brewers, Chicago has a bona fide stopper in Malcolm Post (6-2, 1.51) and he shut the door for save number 28. "I just don't get it," said Gaddi after the game. "I feel like I'm doing everything I did 3 years ago (when he was 27-5, 2.31) but it's just not happening anymore." August 14: Vince "The Eligible" Bachler (11-3, 1.63) just appeared on my NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK for having one of the best home ERAs in baseball. The flip side of this was that heading into the game (I know, I checked!) he was only 4-1 with a 4.22 ERA. Well, you know, sometimes hard work is its own reward. Bachler shut down the Giants for 1 run on 5 hits through 9 innings and, even though he was losing a pitching duel to SF starter Mike Stuckey (10-10, 3.87) for most of the game, a 9th inning solo HR by RF Greg Lake (.290, 14, 63) tied it up and then the Phillies won it in the 10th off of another HR, this time by 2B Tony Shannon (.278, 7, 42) off of beleaguered reliever Mike Goltry (0-4, 6.91). Bachler was removed for a pinch-hitter that inning so didn't get the extra-innings CG but he did get the W. The Phillies as a team have now won 5 in a row and, coupled with the Cardinals' loss tonight to the evil Astros empire, they now sit 5 games up in the standings with 44 games left to play. August 15: The American bombing of Cambodia halts at 10:45 in the morning local time. The halt officially ends 12 years of American combat in Southeast Asia. During the six and a half months since the Vietnam ceasefilre that happened on January 28 of this year the US had dropped 240,000 tons of bombs on Cambodia (yikes!). The final mission was flown by two A-7 Corsairs. August 15: The US Department of Commerce announces that for the first time in over three years the balance of payments in the country was positive. Those were the days... August 15: US President Nixon delivers a nationally televised address in which he asks the American public to end its "continued backward-looking obsession with Watergate", because, like, this is what criminals do. He states that he had no prior knowledge of an attempt to cover up the scandal until March of this year and he pinky swears to that. He also states that he will not turn over the tape recordings of conversations because, like, that would cripple future Presidents by making them not be able to burgalize opponents' headquarters I mean "(inhibit) conversations between (future Presidents) and those they look to for advice", for example, burglars. August 15: The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Constellation departs "Yankee Station" in the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam. It is the last carrier to operate at the point where American aircraft carriers had operated since 1966. August 15: In TRULY IMPORTANT NEWS on this important news day, ITV broadcasts the first episode of the British sitcom "Man About the House", whose format will later be used in the US sitcom "Three's Company". They didn't have Mister Ferley though SUCK IT BRITISH LOSERS August 15: The members of the rock band "Sick Man of Europe" rename themselves "Cheap Trick". I like the old name better... August 15: Sometimes art imitates life and sometimes art imitates CRAP. CASE IN POINT, today Astros' ace Tony Rivera (18-6, 2.07) dueled Cards' big man Roger Quintana (15-8, 2.41) to a standstill for 9 innings and then the Houston bullpen outlasted St. Louis' to pick up a 3-2 win in 13 innings and win the 3-game series 2 games to 1. The sudden reversal in fortunes for Houstoh, who'd just dropped 2 of 3 in Chicago, means that they're now a full game and a half up on both the Reds and the Padres, both of whom lost tonight. I HATE IT August 16: An armed Libyan attempts to hijack a Middle East Airlines plane with 119 people aboard as it was flying over Cyprus on a flight from Benghazi, Libya to Beirut, Lebanon. The plane lands lands in Israel at Lod International Airport in Tel Aviv, where the hijacker holds a press conference and surrenders to the authorities. August 16: Vernon Rudolph, the American businessman who founded the Krispy Kreme doughnuts chain, dies at 58. I don't see a cause of death. I'm guessing diabeetus. August 17: IN REAL LIFE, Willie Mays hits his 660th and final homerun against the Cincinnati Reds. August 17: Paul Williams, the former lead singer for The Temptations, is found dead in his car, a gun near his body. His cause of death is ruled a suicide but there are some weird discrepancies, for example the fact that according to the coroner he had used his right hand to shoot himself on the left side of his head. August 17: There's not a lot the Yankees can do this year other than play spoilers so... why not play spoiler? John Carpenter (17-11, 3.69) really got things started off right in their 3-game series vs the Rangers, throwing a perfect game into the 7th (CF Norm Hodge (.257, 5, 30) broke it up with a leadoff base hit) and hanging on to shut out Texas 4-0. RF Phil Hartman (.253, 12, 52), recently moved down in the order to, um, take advantage of his power (yeah, that's it) belted his 12th HR of the year, a 3 run blast in the 4th of of Robert "Rat" McHugh (13-10, 3.40). August 17: Pirates SP Santos Arango (11-13, 2.63) pitched to a minor milestone today, earning his 150th career win in a 3-2 nailbiter against the Giants. Arango did his part with 8 solid innings of 7-hit, 2-run ball before giving way in the 9th to Pittsburgh's stopper Sparky Lemus (9-4, 2.01), who dutifully closed out the 9th for his 15th save on the year. It's been a very low-support year for Arango, who's a little used to the lack of runs for this team but this is as bad as it's gotten. "All I can do is pitch, you know" said Arango, who did "all he could do" well enough to finish 24-8, 2.50 in 1971 and earn a Cy Young for his efforts. He did make the All-Star Game this year after a stunning and weird omission last season (20-15, 2.63 so it's not like he wasn't worthy) so there's that at least. Arango carries a record of 150-112 with a teeny tiny 2.89 ERA, which, yes, that's low even for a guy who started to be a regular starter in 1965. August 18: Aeroflot Flight A13 crashes in the Soviet Union shortly after takeoff from Baku in modern-day Azerbaijan. 56 of the 64 passengers and crew are killed. August 18: Renowned goalkeeper for the English national team and Stoke City FC, Gordon Banks, announces his retirement from the sport just as the new season is about to start. He was described by the press as "the world's greatest goalkeeper" but had lost the sight in one eye back in October. August 18: Massive scandal in the Soap Box Derby world, as a 14 year old boy wins the event, only to have the win (along with a $7,500 scholarship to college) taken away when it is discovered that he'd placed an electromagnet in the bottom of the car. This allowed the car to be pulled forward when the metal starting gate fell, giving the little car a tiny but significant head start over his competition. August 18: Alice Stevenson, the oldest resident of the UK ever at 112, died today. Stevenson was born shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run in the American Civil War, although, being an English, she was probably never told about that. August 19: A three-month ban on the sale of beef goes into effect in Uruguay in South America as a measure to boost the country's exports of beef. August 19: George Papadapolous is sworn in as President of Greece following his June 1 overthrow of the monarchy. In just a few short years he will be the dad on Webster! August 19: Bruce Lee's martial arts film "Enter the Dragon" premiers in the United States 30 days after his death on July 20. It will become one of the most financially successful movies of all time, bringing back revenues of $400M with a budget of $850k. August 19: Maybe I was scarred from all the August games last year? Pretty regular slate of games today: only the one double-header and it's between Minnesota and Cleveland so pretty inconsequential.c ## Teams in Review August 14: The Atlanta Braves (61-60, 4 1/2) are frankly fortunate to be as close to contention as they are. The hitting, especially with OF Henry Riggs (.323, 16, 41) out (he's back tomorrow!) has been moribund - 7th in the league in runs doesn't tell the whole story as this is the freaking Launching Pad - and the pitching, while actually pretty solid, is never going to be enough to make up. We're in August of course so pretty much whatever changes we could have made, we've made already, but I guess we'll see! Rotation: All four of these guys are good and I'm not about to switch anything out until/unless we fall out of contention. The most vulnerable guy is Felix Carranza (9-11, 3.77), a 16 game winner for the team the last 2 seasons and still a roughly league-average pitcher this year. So NOPE. Bullpen: Pretty much the only guy really struggling in the bullpen right now is the left-handed half of the closer job, Ron Shepherd (2-7, 4.47, 8 Sv). I think I will slot him down to just general LOOGY work (such that there are LOOGYs in this league). Otherwise, it's even a little surprising how strong the bullpen is. Infield: I've already switched out 1B Jon Hernandez (.209, 5, 25) with young English rock star Peter Frampton (.305, 1, 11) and honestly I think sunk cost is the only reasohn I'm not cutting the 30 year old outright. Maybe that will happen tonight (probably I'll send down one of the young OFers with options remaining). But this is, weirdly enough, a position I think that's figured itself out without the review. 2B Kevin Dwyer (.263, 11, 56) is looking like a negative asset on this team at this point. I just can't switch out horses in midstream here - this is a guy who's led the league in hitting 2 of the last 3 seasons has never hit below .295 in his career - but he's performing like a league average hitter right now and a liability on defense. Vladimir Matorin (.264, 0, 10), acquired in the big trade of Santos Rodriguez (speaking of a guy who has NOT worked out for the new team) will start to spell him a little bit but even that's probably doing too much. Mostly I'm crossing my fingers and hoping Dwyer gets on a hot streak. I really should have seen it coming that the oft-injured 3B Mike Morrison (.335, 3, 33) would get hurt but hey you know sometimes you just don't have a 2nd guy. So... we're trotting out Bill Clinton (.231, 12, 35 at AAA Richmond). He's 6-16 to start the year, which is nice! This is... not great and I'm not using the 27 year old future President because I believe in him.We do have a guy in AAA, Bill Wallace (.265, 1, 11) but he is preeetty bad as a fielder and isn't showing the kind of bat to make up for that (he might wind up playing out there next year anyway, I guess we'll see). Outfield: I'm strongly tempted to move LF Chris Ward (.296, 9, 35) down in the order but I guess I'll hold off with Riggs on his way back. Speaking of, I really don't like putting both him and Riggs in the outfield but offensively I'm not seeing a lot of other options. Things would be easier if Wolf Blitzer (.256, 5, 21) was hitting like he did last year (.322/7/23 in 115 at-bats) but, well, he is not and so he'll be a 4th OFer soon. CF TC Boyle (.244, 2, 15) doesn't really look like a future All-Star or anything himself but hey, he's getting the job done at least. Frank Menner (.210, 9, 31) got a lot of time out there and... did not really do the job and also is a touch worse of a fielder so I think Boyle's got to be the man for the remainder of the year. August 15: The New York Yankees (62-60, 13 1/2 GB) are juuuuuust about out of this... but do the Yankees call it quits? NEVER. While there's still time to kick off the final year of old Yankee Stadium with a bang, we must do so! Or something! The pitching is reeeeeeeally bad, like I'm amazed we're over .500 bad. The pitching's been strong but as you can see it hasn't been enough. Rotation: I already sent down Santos Rodriguez (11-15, 4.68 overall but 6-7, 5.79 with NYY) who somehow still had an option left. Maybe I'll recall him in September? He literally led the AL in ERA last season; what happened? Otherwise Manny Carbajal (3-9, 5.97) has been just as bad and equally for reasons I can't explain. He's 30 though so ran out of options years ago so I'll have to leave him in. Likewise with the recently acquired Steve Tidwell (8-7, 4.30), who's allowed 8 runs in 11.1 innings with New York. This is soooo bad... Bullpen: I'm just at a point now where I've got to live with what we've got. The co-closers are fine, Tracy Mosher (11-8, 4.66) isn't but I'm not cutting the team's best known starter, and... yeah it's not a great squad. On paper it should be better. We'll go with that! Infield: I don't think TJ Pritchett (.206, 2, 18) has a lot left in the tank but desperate times call for desperate measures and that here means moving Jonathan Banks (.266, 1, 19) to short, where among other things he's the best defensive guy for the job, and giving Pritchett the job back for the remainder of the year. He can still draw walks! Outfield: Man, RF Phil Hartman (.250, 10, 47) has got a gun for an arm, as evidenced by the 16 baserunner kills already, but oh booooy do the stats not like his defense overall (-20.2 ZR!). I've been meaning to drop him in the lineup for a while since LF Adam Groves (.302, 11, 39) has just plain been better (although Hartman does draw lots of walks). Longterm I'm not really sure what to do with the UNFROZEN CAVEMAN LAWYER; I can't very well move him to DH because that's Ernesto Garcia's (.253, 41, 93) job and we've already got 2 good 1B where we really only need 1. I guess he can continue to make flashy throws while not catching anything... August 17: This just isn't the year for the Chicago Cubs (61-60, 14 GB), I guess. They've been treading water but the surprisingly improved pitching staff has unfortunately been canceled out by a surprisingly ineffective offense. Which, I just don't think you can prepare that hard for season-long slumps by 1B Antonio Lopez (.272, 12, 48) and SS/RF Jeremy Taylor (.242, 12, 36). If both of those guys hit like they normally do... well, 14 games would still be a lot to make up for. STILL. What are we going to do? Is it time to wave or half-wave the white flag? Rotation: The rotation has actually be kind of bad, 3rd worst in the NL (3.66) this year, in spite of the team being 5th overall in runs scored. That said, I've jettisoned most of the poor performers already; only Scott Coffee (10-7, 4.83) remains and he's also the voice of veteran Cubs leadership so I think any changes here, I've already made. Bullpen: In the 'pen I don't think Javy Obregon (8-9, 5.16) is going to do much but it's hard to dump him only a year removed from a 16-8, 3.90 season. So I guess long relief is where he stays. Otherwise, the bullpen has been really nice... so actually, being a guy who took a boat trip out of Castro's Cuba to get here, Obregon even at 33 has options left and I need the spot so... I am in fact sending him down to try and figure it out for the next couple weeks. Infield: I'm by no means impressed by Jon Cooley (.229, 2, 8) or utility man Aurelio "Chi Chi" Rodriguez (.223, 4, 20) but there really isn't much else to replace them with in this organization. Well... there is a PTBNL who was doing pretty well in AAA (.249, 7, 21 at Wichita) but he tore his labrum in July and won't be back until next year. So hey, spring training competition at least. Also of course this was Juan Perez' (.295, 13, 37) position but he's out for the remainder of the year himself. He is 35 so there's no guarantee he'll still be able to do this next year. Sean Gabel (.285, 3, 42) is a great fielder but has been basically a one-dimensional singles hitter his entire career. That's fine when you're hitting in the .320s as he did in '69 and '70 but when the old average is .285 it's kind of not good. Also the Cubbies have the #18 prospect in the league at the position in 23 year old actor Bill Nighy (.264, 7, 23 at AAA Wichita) so it seems high time to give the youngster a try. Superficially it would look like Gabel's the better hitter but Nighy, in addition to displaying what looks like future 15-20 HR pop, walks a ton where Gabel never does (Gabel has a .300 OBP so far, whereas Nighy's got a .376 in AAA this year). SS Jeremy Taylor (.242, 12, 32) missed time with injury and hasn't quite shown the league-leading HR power when he's been healthy. On the other hand... why did I ever switch him out into RF? He's nothing great as a defensive SS, sure, but when you hit like this you don't have to be. Anyway, he's staying put. Outfield: 1973 was the year we decided to finally give RF Chance Cooper (.223, 10, 40) a shot. He... has been okay, I guess - good fielder, draws a lot of walks, has some speed - but he's hitting poorly. I wish I had a right-handed hitting corner OF to platoon with him. I do not, so I made an offer to free agent Scott Lammers (.186, 5, 11 in his last stint in SF this year). His numbers do not look good but scouts insist he's got something left so hey, why not? He's still only 31.
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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August 20-26, 1973
## 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 80 50 .615 - W2 588 432 .273 96 114 3.06 2.9 5.8 .983 50.8 45.6 Boston 71 57 .555 8 W1 542 440 .269 88 65 3.25 3.0 5.5 .983 43.9 42.7 New York 70 62 .530 11 W4 591 630 .249 138 42 4.47 2.7 4.9 .981 -14.3 36.3 Cleveland 59 72 .450 21½ W1 496 537 .252 104 53 3.87 3.5 5.2 .982 -2.3 33.0 Milwaukee 54 73 .425 24½ L2 501 584 .258 84 82 4.17 3.5 4.9 .979 -31.3 32.8 Baltimore 53 73 .421 25 L1 528 603 .252 105 69 4.33 3.9 5.1 .978 -26.6 40.2 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Texas 73 55 .570 - L1 484 410 .257 72 75 2.89 3.3 5.3 .982 36.4 31.9 Chicago 74 56 .569 - L2 521 475 .254 99 77 3.33 3.6 4.9 .983 39.0 35.5 Oakland 66 63 .512 7½ L3 503 520 .259 88 51 3.66 3.1 4.8 .979 2.9 36.8 California 64 62 .508 8 L1 541 522 .265 89 77 3.74 3.3 4.8 .982 28.4 41.1 Kansas City 57 74 .435 17½ W1 606 664 .256 95 72 4.69 3.6 4.8 .982 -12.6 26.6 Minnesota 52 76 .406 21 W2 509 593 .247 103 65 4.14 3.5 5.4 .976 -22.0 34.0 LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% Philadelphia 82 47 .636 - W2 603 455 .248 111 87 3.11 2.9 5.6 .981 27.4 53.8 St. Louis 73 56 .566 9 W2 530 520 .256 118 36 3.42 3.2 6.0 .979 -5.5 44.0 New York 64 64 .500 17½ W4 458 495 .254 65 78 3.37 3.1 5.3 .981 10.0 47.2 Pittsburgh 63 63 .500 17½ L1 415 416 .234 62 31 3.05 2.7 5.9 .982 -0.6 40.5 Chicago 64 65 .496 18 W1 493 491 .254 96 68 3.52 3.3 5.2 .984 35.8 44.7 Montreal 51 77 .398 30½ L3 519 609 .246 99 50 4.08 3.7 5.2 .977 -21.4 29.1 Code:
Team W L Pct GB STR R RA AVG HR SB ERA BB/9 K/9 FA ZR RTO% San Diego 69 60 .535 - W3 512 421 .259 78 63 2.93 3.3 5.5 .982 52.2 37.4 Cincinnati 70 62 .530 ½ L2 560 509 .255 108 51 3.61 3.1 5.9 .982 -2.3 29.6 Houston 68 64 .515 2½ L1 534 536 .253 108 58 3.53 3.6 5.9 .977 -4.5 32.5 Atlanta 67 65 .508 3½ W1 506 477 .252 95 42 3.24 3.2 5.9 .982 -9.9 37.6 Los Angeles 52 78 .400 17½ L2 393 497 .243 95 62 3.38 3.1 5.6 .980 18.9 33.7 San Francisco 53 75 .414 15½ L9 448 545 .248 86 71 3.74 3.3 5.7 .979 -5.9 28.7 AMERICAN LEAGUE Code:
Player AB R H BA HOMERUNS HR HITS H Chris Seek, CAL 487 77 164 .337 E. Garcia, NYY 45 C. Seek, CAL 164 J. Ramone, DET 462 70 151 .327 A. Cooper, CHW 30 J. Ayala, DET 156 A. Rivera, KC 471 55 152 .323 A. Martinez, MIN 26 J. Johnson, CHW 154 B. Springsteen, BOS 470 65 151 .321 D. Chairez, BAL 21 A. Rivera, KC 152 J. Ayala, DET 486 65 156 .321 2 players 20 J. Ramone, DET 151 RBIs RBI STOLEN BASES SB DOUBLES 2B RUNS R E. Garcia, NYY 105 A. Romero, DET 56 T. Danza, KC 41 D. Corona, KC 98 A. Martinez, MIN 87 J. Glynn, BOS 35 J. Ramone, DET 35 A. Romero, DET 91 J. Ayala, DET 82 D. Corona, KC 26 A. Rivera, KC 35 T. Danza, KC 81 J. Nation, CHW 81 B. Ramirez, TEX 25 C. Seek, CAL 34 E. Garcia, NYY 81 2 players 80 D. Hohman, DET 22 A. Romero, DET 33 C. Seek, CAL 77 Code:
Player IP ER ERA WINS W WINNING PCT Rec % J. Goddard, DET 250.1 58 2.08 J. Goddard, DET 22 J. Goddard, DET 22-4 .846 V. Akright, OAK 220.1 57 2.33 E. Molina, DET 19 V. Akright, OAK 17-5 .773 B. Crystal, TEX 227.1 66 2.61 R. Coltrane, TEX 19 R. Coltrane, TEX 19-6 .760 R. Coltrane, TEX 246.1 73 2.67 J. Carpenter, NYY 18 C. Benavides, DET 15-6 .714 J. Kindberg, BOS 234.1 73 2.80 M.Sanchez, BOS 18 B. Osborne, BOS 15-6 .714 STRIKEOUTS K SAVES S OPPONENTS BA BA E. Molina, DET 197 M. Post, CHW 29 R. Reese, CHW .203 J. Goddard, DET 166 W. Chavez, OAK 20 H. Rollins, KC .204 M. Sanchez, BOS 161 T. Kihara, TEX 19 R. Coltrane, TEX .211 J. Carpenter, NYY 159 J. Marceau, DET 17 C. Benavides, DET .223 M. Pesco, BOS 157 G. Covarrubias, NYY 13 J. Goddard, DET .223 Code:
Player AB R H BA HOMERUNS HR HITS H J. Stone, LAD 393 65 124 .316 J. Weaver, CIN 32 C. Palacios, SD 154 R. Disla, STL 477 64 150 .316 J. Stone, LAD 27 G. Harrison, SF 152 G. Harrison, SF 488 57 152 .311 A. Juantorena, PHI 27 R. Disla, STL 150 B. Cooper, NYM 430 46 132 .307 M. Galeana, STL 27 P. McCartney, SD 142 C. Palacios, SC 502 52 154 .307 R. Dominguesz CIN 22 A. Juantorena, PHI 139 RBIs RBI STOLEN BASES SB DOUBLES 2B RUNS R J. Weaver, CIN 98 J. Berry, SF 35 C. Palacios, SD 38 A. Juantorena, PHI 102 A. Juantorena, PHI 93 A. Juantorena, PHI 30 RJ Dominguez, CIN 36 R. Dominguez, CIN 85 RJ Dominguez, CIN 86 P. McGraw, SD 23 B. McAdoo, SF 33 P. Ortiz, CIN 85 M. Galeana, STL 78 S. Burwell, STL 18 M. Schurke, CHC 30 T. Shannon, PHI 79 G. Foreman, HOU 74 D. Fager, LAD 18 2 players 27 J. Waltenbery, HOU 79 Code:
Player IP ER ERA WINS W WINNING PCT Rec % V. Bachler, PHI 145.2 25 1.54 T. Rivera, HOU 18 V. Bachler, PHI 14-3 .824 J. Battaglia, PIT 253.0 57 2.03 R. Starkey, PHI 18 C. Olivares, PHI 13-3 .812 C. Rose, ATL 212.1 51 2.16 D. Henley, SD 17 D. Henley, SD 17-6 .739 D. Henley, SD 208.1 52 2.25 R. Quintana, STL 16 C. Rose, ATL 13-5 .722 T. Rivera, HOU 252.1 64 2.28 S. Waiters, CIN 16 T. Rivera, HOU 18-7 .720 STRIKEOUTS K SAVES S OPPONENTS BA BA R. Quintana, STL 177 D. Parchamn, SD 23 V. Bachler, PHI .179 R. Mendoza, STL 171 G. Saus, NYM 22 T. Rivera, HOU .210 T. Rivera, HOU 169 B. Yates, CIN 21 R. Salinas, LAD .217 G. House, ATL 163 T. Grohs, PHI 19 C.Olivares, PHI .220 J. Battaglia, PIT 160 T. Livingston, STL 18 R. Quintana, STL .223 ## Major Transactions August 24: The Pirates claimed RF Chris Tyree (.256, 0, 17) off waivers from the Angels. Tyree was a 2nd overall pick back in 1965 but now at age 29 it's fair to say that he has not cashed in on all that potential. Well, hey... Pittsburgh has a big giant hole in right that Tyree could conceivably fill if he turns into that good-average speedy guy he was supposed to be... almost a decade ago now. ## News August 20: In the Kingdom of Laos, Army General Thao Ma leads 60 officers in an attempt to overthrow the government but is ultimately unseccessful. His troops briefly take the airport at Vientiane (the nation's capital) but are turned back and his plane is shot down as he attempts to land. He survives the crash but is put into a truck and executed by the government along with 11 other coup participants. August 20: A flash flood sweepts through the city of Irapuato in Mexico, killing more than 200 people. August 20: Nixon grabs and shoves his Press Secretary Ron Ziegler into a crowd of reporters after being angry at being followed. The incident is caught on film by a CBS News crew. Yeah, Tricky Dick, this will get the press off your back... August 20: Baseballist Todd Helton is born in Knoxville, Tennessee. August 20: Your American League Player of the Week is a new guy, Cleveland 1B Nick Hodzic (.268, 16, 55). He had some massive shoes to fill in replacing Ernesto Garcia and, let's be honest, he's not filling them, but he did have a nice week with 12 hits in 25 at bats (.480), 2 HRs, 5 RBIs, and 7 runs scored. This is a rare month for Hodzic, who just made the All-Star Game in July and now has his very first major-league PotW. He also made the Prospects game in 1972. August 20: The NL PotW is, on the other hand, a cagey veteran: Atlanta 2B Kevin Dwyer (.275, 12, 61). Teammate Henry Riggs returning from injury was the big story in the clubhouse but Dwyer's big week comes a close second: only playing in 4 games he went 10-17 (.588) with 3 extra-base hits including a HR, 5 runs, and 5 RBIs. The 34 year old 1972 batting champion missed the All-Star Game for the first time in his career and has been given more and more days off in the second half as the Braves try to figure something out. Maybe he's the guy to figure it out! Anyway, Dwyer's won PotW 10 times in all, the last time coming the week ending May 7 of last season. August 20: SYD THRIFT'S NEATO STAT OF THE WEEK! It's another kind of dumb one but man, this one is soooo 70s coded I just can't not do it. The top 5 guys at HRs in the first 3 innings. Who, pray tell, are the best at jumping on starters early? The answers may surprise you! Just kidding, they won't. 5. Alberto Juantorena, PHI (.302, 25, 86), 9 4. Alice Cooper, CHW (.280, 30, 80), 10 2t. Justin Stone, LAD (.319, 27, 58), 13 2t. RJ Dominguez, CIN (.292, 20, 79), 13 1. Ernesto Garcia, NYY (.253, 43, 98), 19 Yeah, it's just the league leaders in HRs. The one guy missing from this list is Reds RF Jaden Weaver (.261, 31, 95), who's got 9 of them. Um, that's tied for 5th, game. Anyway, he saves his big knocks for innings 4-6, when he has 14 of them along with a slash line of .270/.357/.610. He's... middle inning clutch! August 21: Major Hubert O'Neill, the coroner in the inquest on the "Bloody Sunday" massacre, accuses the British Army of "sheer unadulterated murder" after the coroner's jury returns an open verdict with no indictments recommended against anyone. I guess this is like the opposite of an American grand jury or something, although I guess too that if the US Army just like shot and killed 26 Americans on US soil then we'd figure out a way to not hold them accountable as well. August 21: Sergey Brin is born in the Soviet Union. Brin will go on to co-found Google with Larry Page. August 21: Speaking of prominent SOVIET RUSSIANS, future WBA champion heavyweight Nikolai Valuev is born in Leningrad. August 21: JOSH MULLETT (10-7, 3.13) of all people, just threw a no-hitter!!!! What!? Yeah, everyone's favorite "party in the back" master gave up exactly zero hits over 9 innings to the Dodgers in the 5-0 win by his Mets. True to form, Mullett only struck out 3 in this game and left it to his defense. "I work hard when I'm in the park but I have interests off the field if you know what I mean," he said after the game. "And tonight I will be exploring those interests." Mullett also only walked 1 batter and overall only faced 28 men, a simply dominant performance for a guy who is not exactly the picture of dominance. This was the first no-no in almost a year; Pittsburgh's DJ Cheeves threw the last one on September 16 of last year. This was also the lowest K count for a no-no since Josh Matthews threw only 2 in his no-no against the Yankees (he was playing for Cleveland at the time) on April 12, 1970. The all-time "record" for fewest no-no Ks, which I will guess is not going to be be broken, is 1, set by 2 guys in 1946 and 1953. August 21: Meanwhile in Philadelphia Richard Starkey (17-10, 2.48) had the quietest shutout of the season, completely swamped in the news by the Mullett no-no. Starkey gave up 7 whole hits in stopping the Padres cold for the 3-0 win and pushing his Phillies into an 8 1/2 game lead over the Cardinals, who lost today. "With peace and love... what was I saying again?" said Starkey following this game. The Phillies put up the only run they'd need in the 1st off of an RBI single by LF Alberto Juantorena (.301, 25, 87) but C Nikolai Volkoff's (.227, 4, 30) 4th inning RBI single is what really put the game away. August 22: US Secretary of State William Rogers resigns, as the President announces today. Is this mice fleeing a burning ship? He'll return to private practice on September 4. In the meantime, Nixon's national security adviser Henry Kissinger will be promoted to the role. August 22: The Chamber of Deputies in Chile vote 81-47 to condemn their president Salvador Allende for violation's of the constitution during his attempts to suppress nationwide strikes. They'd have gone ahead with impeachment but they're 4 votes shy of the 30 (out of 50) needed in the Senate. But hey, don't worry folks! He'll be out of office within the next 3 weeks! Hooray America! August 22: Kristen Wiig, who come on, you have to know, is born today in Canandaigua, New York. August 22: It looks like Expos 2B Hudson Watts' (.287, 5, 34) season is pretty much over, as a hamstring injury will put him out of the lineup for the next month plus. Watts, a former 1st overall pick (1970) hasn't quite been a super-duperstar but he was arguably the best hitter on this team this season, depending on how much you like walks (he holds a .380 OBP). "Mister Nice Guy" Danny Waters (.333, 3, 10) will get a chance over the last month to show if his backup sauce was for real this year. August 23: There's a big robbery in Stockholm, Sweden that becomes the first criminal event covered by live television. A hostage situation arises with the 2 robbers holed up in a bank demanding that another convicted criminal be released and they be presented with cash, a car, and a flight out of the country. The police are like "nah" and eventually break the siege with tear gase after five days. This incident becomes famous for the origin of the term "Stockholm syndrome" after the four hostages refuse to testify against their captors. August 23: A nationwide railway strike is called by the Associated Railway Unions in Canada. No poutine shall be transported over provincial lines for the next nine days. August 23: Contaminated mussels in Italy leads to an outbreak of... cholera(!) in Naples. By September 3 the illness will have spread to West Germany and yes this is 1973, not 1873. August 23: The Association of Tennis Professionals begin publish their weekly rankings of men's professional tennis players using a computerized system based on the players' finishes over the previous 52 weeks in tournaments (which in turn are ranked). The first rankings, which come in advance of the US Open, show Ilie Nastase of Romania (not in the league SADLY) on the top of a list of 186 players. August 24: King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan announces from his exile in Rome that he has abdicated the throne in order to become a loyal citizen of the new republic of his country. He had ben overthrown on July 17; the abdication makes the former crown prince Ahmad Shad Khan the head of the Barakzai dynasty. SPOILER ALERT: this dynasty won't get back into power, at least not from the son (who just died in 2024). August 24: Dave Chappelle is born in Washington, DC. What did the five fingers say to the face!? August 24: I'll know that this month unofficially ends when we get all the inter-division games back and... it ain't done yet! 12 series this weekend and all of them are East v West. August 24: Tigers SP Jimmy Goddard (22-4, 2.08) got support in the form of a run-scoring single by DH Jose Ayala (.320, 20, 79) in the first inning... and that was all he got. And yet, it was still enough to beat the White Sox tonight, as he dominated the AL West leaders with a 1-0, 2-hit shutout. Chris Messina (8-17, 3.67) took the very, very tough loss. This was Goddard's 7th shutout on the year and at this point it looks like he'd have to have a king-sized meltdown to not win the Cy Young. August 24: I HATE IT the Brewers pull out a 6-5 win (which itself I am indifferent to) but in the offing young 2B James Hong (.354, 6, 18) strains his oblique and will miss the next month as a result. UGH. WHY CAN'T WE HAVE NICE THINGS. I guess the silver lining to this cloud is that I get to call up Lionel Ritchie (.277, 13, 30 at AAA Evansville)... August 24: The Cubs at 63-64 don't have a lot to play for this year except for spoilers but they spoiled today. Astros ace Tony Rivera (18-7, 2.28) got touched for 3 in the 5th and then 4 more in the 7th, and on the flip side Chicago SP Gordon "Sting" Summers (8-8, 2.50) threw a 5-hitter for an easy 7-0 Cubs win in the Astrodome. "I just didn't have it tonight," said a dejected Rivera following the game. "Usually I can make guys miss my curveball but they sure weren't missing tonight." The shutout was Summers' 3rd in this season in just 20 starts (he started the year in AAA Witchita, where he was 3-2, 1.93 in 5 starts). Chicago and Houston have 2 more games to play in this series, and the Astros are now 3 games behind the division-leading Reds. August 25: Various bombs are sent in the mail from West London, with at least one exploding and causing the secretary who opened it to lose her hand. The British government will issue a worldwide alert the next day. August 25: The North American Soccer League (NASL) plays its championship game with a brand new team, the Philadelphia Atoms, beating the Dallas Tornado 2-0 before a crowd of 18,824 at Texas Stadium. Sadly for the fledgling league, the Atoms will eventually go into receivership in 1976, not play for 2 seasons, almost be relocated to San Antonio, and eventually be reborn as the Philadelphia Fury in 1978. August 25: The United States basketball team avenges their 51-50 loss in the 1972 Summer Olympics to the Soviet Union with a 75-67 victory in Moscow at the World University Games. August 25: And in even more sports news, a team from Tainan, Taiwan wins the Little League World Series with their superstar pitcher Huang Ching-huy throwing his 3rd consecutive no-hitter. Sign that kid up to a contract! No, I mean it. August 25: Giants RF Frank Meneses (.198, 13, 40) is complaining that he isn't starting. Like, I totally understand that he's mad and stuff but... he's been very close to getting cut and as it is this year is kind of a lifeline for him (he played just 14 games last year for the Red Sox before they released him and he'd been sitting on his couch more or less since San Francisco picked him up). I've been wavering as to whether or not to give him his final release and I think this seals it. Someone could pick him up I guess but in all probability he's going to end his MLB career with 999 hits, 191 HRs, 751 RBIs, and a .238 batting average. He was actually a pretty solid power hitter in his prime although the pitching-dominated 60s make it look less so. He's a 2-time All-Star who also has 2 championship rings from 1960 and 1962 with the Yankees, for whom he played most of his career. August 25: Edgar Molina (19-15, 3.51) didn't pitch a great game, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits in 7 innings in a 4-2 loss to the White Sox, but what he didn't do is give up a home run, thus keeping him just shy of the all-time record for HRs allowed. Molina's given up 45; the record is 46. Brand new White Sox starter Rich Whetzel (4-15, 3.93), acquired off of waivers from the moribund Twins (note: they did htis in real life to Jim Kaat, who was a way better pitcher at the time he was waived than Whetzel is now) evened his record up with the Chisox at 1-1 with a solid 6-hit complete game. August 26: Two days before he's scheduled to give a press conference to announce a challenge to Chad's dictator Francois Tombalbaye, Dr. Outel Bono is assassinated in Paris. The shooter is never found and nobody is ever arrested for the crime. August 26: The Ulster Volunteer Force terrorist organization places a time bomb outside of the St. Patrick's and St. Brigid's church, set so that it would explode just as Roman Catholic worshippers are leaving the service. The services run late and as a result when the bomb explodes most of the congregants are still in the building. Nevertheless, 50 people are still injured in the blast. August 26: The first Women's Equality Day is observed in the US to commemorate the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment that granted women the right to vote on this date in 1920. On the same day, the National Women's Hall of Fame inducts its first twenty members. August 26: South Vietnam holds national elections which turn out to be its final national elections ever, as voters choose from four lists of candidates for the 30 seats of the Senate of the Republic of Viet Nam. President Nguyen Van Thieu's ruling party, the Social Democratic Alliance, wins the majority. August 26: 200 bicycle riders depart from Sioux City, Iowa along with feature writers John Karras and Don Kaul of the Demoines Register to participate in "The Great Six-Day Bicycle Ride". This event will later be called Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa and today is the largest bike-touring event in the world. August 26: I guess we don't have to make up as many dates this year, as here we are in late August and we have "only" 2 Sunday double-headers. Granted, that's 2 more than you'd ever see at any point in time after like 1991 but hey, the 1970s... August 26: Both of those double-headers involved the AL West contenders and... I would not say the results looked great for that division. Texas was in Cleveland and Game One was good stuff for them: Robbie Coltrane (19-6, 2.67) outdueled youthful Indians starter Claudio Rainieri (3-1, 2.30) for a 2-0 victory. DH Jimmy Washington (.262, 16, 63) hit a solo HR and was responsible for both RBIs. In Chicago, the Tigers won a pitchers' duel of their own with Chris Benavides (15-6, 3.09) going 8 and yielding to CL Jim Marceau (4-6, 2.32), who picked up his 17th save in a 3-2 win. Rich Reese (14-7, 2.90) had a quality start for the White Sox but the converted reliever also faded in the 9th, getting relieved by Malcolm Post (6-2, 1.43). The win and the loss put the two teams into a tie going into their second games. Cleveland split their double-header vs Texas with a closely fought 3-2 win. Track star Lee Evans (6-4, 2.74), practically the granddaddy of the staff at age 26, threw 7 innings before giving way to the bullpen which has been kind of up and down for the Tribe this year (3.92 ERA, 7th in the AL) but they came through tonight, culminating in the 10th save for Bruno Kirby (1-2, 3.71). This wound up being kind of a big loss because the White Sox were never in their 2nd game, as Tigers starter Bruce Rubio (12-10, 3.35) threw a 6-hit shutout for a 5-0 win. CF Alvin Romero (.284, 5, 43), although not in the batting race this year, socked a solo HR in the 4th to give the Tigers their lead and DH Jose Ayala (.321, 20, 82) broke the back of the Chicago defense and SP Stephen Chu (15-9, 3.64) with a 2-run single in the 6th. You'll see this described above, of course, but this puts the Rangers and White Sox in a virtual tie in the West. It also puts both in a situation where it's kind of hard to see either getting past the Tigers in the ALCS. August 26: Everyone's counting out the Braves and I mean, they came into today just a game above .500 and with a very average hitting attack this year. Well... maybe we shouldn't? With 2 runners on and Pirates SP Clyde Jones (1-1, 3.18) trying to preserve a 2-0 shutout win, CF TC Boyle (.263, 3, 23) jacked his 3rd homerun on the season to win the game for the Braves and, pending results from the rest of the league, put them 3 1/2 back in the NL West. "Wish I coulda seen it through" said Braves SP George House (12-12, 3.61), their 3-time All-Star and former ace, who was removed for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 7th. "But hey whaddya know, my guys did their job in the end and that's all that matters." August 26: Meanwhile, ahead of the Braves in the West, you could say that Don Henley (17-6, 2.25) did everything he possibly could do to put the surging Padres on top of the division. Okay, I guess he didn't hit a homerun... but Henley carried a perfect game into the 9th inning - it was spoiled by a leadoff double by 2B Brian Hunter (.259, 1, 11) but he still only faced 28 batters, as he allowed a walk and then got a double play - en route to a 4-0 win over the Expos. San Diego finishes a sweep against the Expos, which righted the ship from a 3-game swept by the Phillies at the Vet earlier this week (look I know I said they were surging... they're 16-8 in August), and with the Reds' tough 2-1 loss at home to the Cardinals today they are now 1/2 game up. Will this be the first expansion team to break through? 1969 expansion team I mean. I think the first-first was the '69 Mets if we're counting that way... ## Teams in Review August 21: The California Angels (60-60, 10 1/2 GB) are around where they were last year, it's just, 3 other teams have surpassed them since and now it's looking like maybe it's time to pack it up. I think... not yet? but we'll see. Rotation: Given the park the play in I think being 6th in the AL in runs scored is kind of not so great. Still, by and large I've pushed the worst offenders - David Camacho (5-9, 5.46) and Carlos Figueroa (6-12, 4.98) - into the bullpen so I'm not sure there's much place to do further changes. At this point the worst rotational guy is Andy O'Connnor (8-3, 4.30) but the won-lost record tells me he's doing something right (right?) so I'll keep it as it is for now. There are a couple guys I'm interested in come September 1 though, which is only 10 days away now. Bullpen: Will Camacho and Figueroa be relegated to doing nothing in 10 days? Hard to say. The rest of the bullpen is pretty good, especially now that we've got historic ace Montay Luiso (2-2, 2.09, 11 Sv) in the fold. No changes here. Infield: Conversely, 5th in the Al in runs scored as a team playing in the Big A is pretty good... I juuuust acquired 3B Mike Brookes (.214, 4, 28) from the Phillies. Lowkey this team likes to play like they're in a large market. Anyway, Brookes has been baaaaad this year but we'll give him the last month to show he's got something left at least. That also pushes Bobby Kralcevic (.191, 1, 15 with CAL) to the bench, which, Bobby K on the bench is just a whiner so he might not be long for this team. I feel like SS Richard Simmons (.231, 3, 32) has hit juuuust well enough to stay in the lineup. He's hitting .213 with 2 whole extra base hits so he definitely needs plus defense to stay in here. Fortunately that is what he provides and they traded Ivan Perez away in the Brookes deal so it's just him from here on out. Outfield: LF Willie Vargas (.280, 11, 44) does a solid job in the leadoff slot but man he's been a bad defender for years now. I kind of *want* to look elsewhere but the Paingels just don't have a lot of other, better options. Also, Vargas is somehow still only 28 so in some simulations he might even improve from here on, who knows? Somehow RF Chris Tyree (.256, 0, 17) was a first round draft pick back in 1965 - the 2nd overall pick at that! He does just absolutely nothing to help a team win and I think it's time to DFA him in favor of corner OFer Brad Wagner (.303, 22, 60 in AAA Salt Lake City), who's even had an 11-game trial earlier in the year. At this point Wagner's doing too much to ignore... and Tyree sucks. August 21: Hey, speaking of teams ahead of the Angels this year... the Oakland A's (64-60, 8 1/2 GB) are even doing better than last year but the AL West doesn't suck this year so they mired in the middle. The defense and pitching is... okay (5th) and the scoring is vaguely not (8th) so... what do we do? Still probably not time to throw in the towel, although maybe they're closer now that they're 8-10 in August (they had a 20-9 July that made A's fans think that maybe they were ready to go). Rotation: The rotation has some big old holes but there is noooobody to fill it so it's staying as is. Like, hey, Lee "Batty" Barnard (10-9, 4.61) and expansion Pilots star Rick Shelton (10-10, 4.43) have been good in the past, right? Bullpen: The bullpen is also mostly staying the same although I'm running with a 4-man setup for now. I did demote Ben Lamar (2-2, 4.50), who's been kind of bad all year. Mostly the idea here is just going to be to put stopper Willis Chavez (8-10, 2.85, 19 Sv) in every close game situation possible... we'll see how that works out. Infield: CI Alex Canales (.263, 8, 42) literally just got back from a stint on the DL. I think I stuck him on in anticipation of a longer injury and then he was diagnosed with an injury that would have made him miss like 3 days so it wasn't needed. Canales is not exactly a great hitter for a 1B and I'm trying to give Bobby Scott (.290, 4, 21) an extended shot at 3rd so... he'll start for now but we'll probably check back in in 10ish days. 2B Alberto Sepulveda (.243, 9, 32 at AAA Tucson) did really nothing to indicate he was ready to take over 2B this year but the A's wanted to get rid of Jon Reid (.251, 5, 37) so... here he is in the pros! We'll figure out what to do about this position in the offseason I guess. Outfield: At this point we've got 3 solid OFers with Casey Satterfield (.285, 18, 76) at DH so things are looking up out here. The new guys is CF Cat Stevens (.273, 3, 12) but he could hit 50 points lower and still be a contributor with his incredible range in center. Please don't though! August 21: MAAAAN when it rains it pours when it comes to 60 Ls! The Cincinnati Reds (66-60, 1 1/2 GB) are in the position the Angels and A's thought they'd be this year... but this is definitely not a complete team right now. Cincy is as good as anyone in the NL at putting runs over the plate (2nd in runs scored) but are pretty bad for a contender in terms of giving them up (8th in allowed, including the 2nd worst starters' ERA at 3.91). Surely we can do... something? Rotation: We brought Rodrigo Aguilar (10-13, 4.77) to provide some consistency to the back of the order but the former 16 game winner has been baaaad with the Reds at 5-7, 4.91 and he's been even worse over his last 3 starts (1-2, 8.82) so screw it, I'm demoting him to the bullpen in favor of 22 year old Mohamed Morsi (10-10, 3.07 at AAA Indianapolis). The scouts aren't super high on him but he seems like he can give 5-6 good innings and right now that's all we want. Bullpen: I'm not sure whyyyyy I kept with Rick Rodriguez (0-2, 10.53) for as long as I did - 19.2 IP! 24 runs allowed! but that's done. Aguilar will go down and be our new lefty specialist with Bastien Maurice (2-0, 4.72) trying to figure things out in long relief now. At least the short relief section of this squad is good... Infield: I think C Leron Lee (.260, 3, 26) has deserved a shot at starting as much as possible. I'd been platooning him with Viet Bieler (.198, 1, 9), who will still get some at-bats vs lefties, but Lee is pretty good for a backstop. 2B Pedro Ortiz (.242, 5, 43) is having an awful year but he's the guy who's got us there in the past as a leadoff hitter and I'm really, really not seeing anyone ready to replace him. The closest is I guess minor leaguer Jose Hernandez (.224, 19, 39) but even if I wasn't scared off by that average I'd be horrified by his .128/202/233 split in 28 games with Texas last year (he is the guy who went 229/25/86 with the Senators their last year in Washington). Maaaaybe he'll get a September call-up? Third has been a mess since we got rid of Bobby K... and I'm going to go back to Erico Liserio (.242, 2, 16), I guess. Nick Weber (.200, 2, 7) has clearly been worse and both of them are 27. Hmm... all the while, Theodore Long (.315, 1, 15) has also been there all year, isn't hitting terribly, and defensively is about the equal of Liserio and Weber. Okay, so 3rd's going to be a complete mess all year. Long is also the utility guy so he won't be able to play there all the time but as much as possible... Outfield: CF Dennis bin Naim (.300, 1, 10) is hurt right now but otherwise we're pretty set in the outfield I think. This team is kind of a mess! August 21: Hey, EVERYBODY GETS A REVIEW! The Houston Astros (67-60, 1/2 GB) are also riiiight in this one but in a weird, non-Astrosy way. They have a pretty bad pitching staff, actually - 3rd most runs scored and that's playing in the Astrodome - and terribad defense - 2nd most errors in the NL - but it's propped up by a really good offense. Is this a team that deserves to win? NO BECAUSE THEY ARE THE ASTROS but beyond that what can we do here, if anything? Rotation: This feels soooo much like tempting fate but Roberto Ortiz (5-10, 4.56) has been really bad in the rotation this year, like you'd think he'd get a Nolan Ryan style bump from walking guys in an environment where walks don't matter as much but nope, he's picked up where he left off in badness in Atlanta last year. I'm going to demote him into the bullpen but we don't actually have a good pen guy so... up comes 26 year old Mike Birdwell (12-12, 2.37 for AAA Denver), who's been striking guys out like Ortiz (176 in 220 AAA IP) but without so many of the walks. It's looking like Ortiz will need to do one last spot start to make the fatigue sync up but still. Otherwise, Rowan Atkinson (11-5, 3.70) isn't great but I think he's good enough at this point. Bullpen: I've been giving Adam Eastin (5-5, 3.14, 14 Sv) an inning at a time and for the rest of the year I think he's got to just be the man now. Jason Gilmer (4-8, 5.22) was supposed to transition from starter to setup man and it just hasn't happened so I'll drop him down to lower-leverage innings. I'm not super confident that Eastin can handle like all of the high-leverage situations but he's what we've got. Infield: I think C Latimer Roy (.296, 0, 7) might deserve a bigger role but Jonathan Hyde (.204, 5, 27), poor hitting and all, is the clearly better plate-blocker who has what it takes to calm down the Astros' wild pitching staff as much as possible. The middle infield is in a...state right now with Masanori Hattori (.245, 4, 32) still awaiting diagnosis for a back injury he suffered yesterday and his backup Elijah Patton (.314, 0, 8) also suffering from a strainedback. Neither of those guys are actually very good defensively and so I'd turn to the decent-with-the-glove Jordan Green (.297, 10, 48) with Nolan Ryan (.239, 1, 11 in AAA Denver) at 2nd. It's not the finest fix but already I can see that this is probably the best defensive unit we'll have put together all year (which is to say it's basically average). Outfield: It's pretty well set. I signed Jason Workman (.212, 10, 32) after he was released by the Orioles earlier in the month because come on man the guy is a former MVP and 4-time All Star. He's 1-16 so far in Houston. GREAT. The guy he's spelling a bit, John Rohrbough (.261, 5, 23), is also taking this opportunity to have his worst month of the season (11-55 so far), right after we officially gave up on Jesse Lockhart (.235, 1, 14 but now St. Louis' problem). I am severely tempted to just put Workman into the lineup full-time and let him prove that he still has All-Star potential... and that is what I am going to do.
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
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August 27 - September 2, 1972 FINAL MONTH!
## 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 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 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 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 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 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.
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05-29-2025, 09:36 PM
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Sunday, September 30, 1973
American League
Code:
AL East W L Pct St GB HR R BA SB RA ERA HR9 BB9 K9 FP ZR RTO Detroit Tigers 100 62 .617 L2 - 116 741 .277 150 552 3.10 0.9 2.9 5.7 .981 42.4 41.2 New York Yankees 88 74 .543 W2 12 173 745 .250 55 754 4.23 0.8 2.8 5.0 .979 -37.5 36.2 Boston Red Sox 86 76 .531 W3 14 106 678 .268 81 591 3.36 0.7 3.1 5.6 .980 14.3 40.0 Cleveland Indians 76 86 .469 L1 24 129 635 .255 77 660 3.80 0.7 3.4 5.2 .982 -25.1 33.1 Baltimore Orioles 69 93 .426 W1 31 132 671 .250 86 786 4.39 0.7 3.7 5.3 .978 -63.0 37.6 Milwaukee Brewers 65 97 .401 L3 35 105 631 .257 98 750 4.22 0.7 3.6 4.9 .980 -68.3 32.1 Code:
AL East W L Pct St GB HR R BA SB RA ERA HR9 BB9 K9 FP ZR RTO Chicago White Sox 93 69 .574 L1 - 123 670 .261 99 600 3.33 0.6 3.5 5.0 .981 22.7 34.5 Texas Rangers 91 71 .562 L1 2 104 630 .260 96 547 3.05 0.6 3.2 5.4 .980 14.8 29.6 California Angels 83 79 .512 L1 10 119 701 .267 104 665 3.74 0.8 3.4 4.8 .982 5.4 38.1 Oakland Athletics 78 84 .481 W1 15 112 643 .262 70 700 3.96 0.9 3.3 4.6 .979 -22.6 35.7 Kansas City Royals 73 89 .451 W1 20 113 745 .259 87 806 4.63 0.9 3.4 4.9 .982 -42.5 27.9 Minnesota Twins 70 92 .432 W1 23 113 659 .253 79 738 4.07 0.8 3.4 5.3 .976 -45.2 35.5 Code:
NL East W L Pct St GB HR R BA SB RA ERA HR9 BB9 K9 FP ZR RTO Philadelphia Phillies 104 58 .642 L1 - 128 759 .253 111 570 3.04 0.6 2.8 5.7 .981 4.1 49.5 St. Louis Cardinals 87 75 .537 W1 17 144 663 .255 40 679 3.60 0.6 3.3 6.1 .978 -42.3 42.9 Pittsburgh Pirates 86 75 .534 W2 17½ 89 573 .242 42 542 3.06 0.5 2.7 5.9 .981 -31.5 40.7 Chicago Cubs 77 83 .481 W4 26 107 616 .253 84 615 3.53 0.8 3.4 5.2 .982 18.7 43.6 New York Mets 73 87 .456 L6 30 81 554 .248 93 631 3.48 0.8 3.1 5.4 .980 -14.3 45.8 Montreal Expos 68 94 .420 L2 36 126 655 .249 64 766 4.02 0.8 3.7 5.2 .975 -53.3 31.2 Code:
NL East W L Pct St GB HR R BA SB RA ERA HR9 BB9 K9 FP ZR RTO San Diego Padres 89 72 .553 W2 - 96 667 .263 85 523 2.89 0.6 3.3 5.5 .980 38.7 32.8 Atlanta Braves 83 78 .516 L1 6 114 618 .251 60 587 3.25 0.8 3.2 5.9 .981 -34.3 39.2 Houston Astros 83 79 .512 W1 6½ 126 673 .257 73 660 3.60 0.6 3.7 6.0 .979 -23.2 29.7 Cincinnati Reds 81 81 .500 W1 8½ 124 656 .248 68 648 3.67 0.7 3.1 5.8 .981 -44.2 27.1 San Francisco Giants 71 91 .438 L1 18½ 110 585 .253 93 666 3.60 0.7 3.3 5.7 .977 -22.0 29.3 Los Angeles Dodgers 66 95 .410 L2 23 109 502 .242 84 634 3.38 0.8 3.1 5.7 .978 1.3 32.1 In the AL, it's going to be the Tigers, who are the clear cream of the crop, going against the Chicago White Sox, who narrowly beat out the Rangers to take the West crown. The Sox were already going to be in a bit of a hole with this matchup but they're in an even bigger one now that the rock of their lineup, 1B Alice Cooper (.289, 40, 95), sprained his thumb in mid-September and will miss all of the playoffs (let's face it, that means the ALCS). The Tigers were not free from the injury bug themselves, having lost their ace / probable Cy Young Award winner Jimmy Goddard (24-4, 2.07) for the season on September 5 to a torn back muscle, but they did have more to lose. So, like, it's the Phillies' postseason to lose, right? They set a franchise record with 104 wins (the previous high: 92) and are mostly healthy going into the postseason. They're led by LF Alberto Juantorena (.311, 29, 113) and LHP/Beatle Ringo Starr (23-12, 2.44). The Padres are, well, just happy to be there, although they did lead all of baseball with a 2.89 ERA so they're no slouches. 2nd year man Don Henley (20-7, 2.36) is the ace of the staff with a youthful 1-2 punch of 3B Dale Earnhardt (.297, 21, 74) and 2B Paul McCartney (.301, 19, 85) providing most of the Pads' offense. So heeeeeeeeere we go!
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05-30-2025, 01:25 PM
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#299 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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NLCS Game 1
Some, um, accounting before we move forward with the playoffs... the final round of Players of the Month!
The AL Player of the Month was Texas Rangers RF Philippe Toussaint (.284, 14, 72). He hit a massive .381 with 37 hits, 7 HR, 25 RBIs, and 16 runs scored as he did everything he could - literally EVERYTHING - to keep his team in the AL West race. Unfortunately the entire rest of his team didn't do so much; the Rangers finished the year 15-14 in September and 28-31 from August 1 onwards. Toussaint made the All-Star Game for the first time this year but otherwise the 24 year old's only other award was the AL Batter of the Week for the week ending September 24. In the NL, the PotW went to a more successful endeavor: LF Alberto Juantorena (.311, 29, 113), who BLASTED the senior circuit to the tune of a .385 average (40-104), 10 doubles, 20 RBIs, 6 steals, and 20 runs scored. He's also the odds-on favorite for league MVP so it was... appropriate. This is Alberto's 2nd Batter of the Month in 2 years as a starter; he also reached the All-Star Game for the first time of what will surely be many going forward. We're back to also-rans for AL Pitcher of the Month. The Yankees' John Carpenter (23-13, 3.49) led a team that was frankly playing way over its head all year but especially in September (I guess it's more accurate that the 2nd place as of the end of August Red Sox fell apart but still). Carpenter went 5-1, 1.74 with 33 Ks in 46.2 IP, completing 3 of his 6 starts with 2 shutouts. Obviously it still wasn't enough but hey! Carpenter was the Rookie of the Month for the AL for August of 1972 and reached the Prospects Game in 1971. And we're also back to the Phillies for NL Pitcher of the Month: right-hander Chris Olivares (19-4, 2.84) maaaaybe has an outside chance at the Cy after a great 5-0, 2.92 month for the league leaders. Olivares started 5 times, completing 2 of them, and had 32 Ks in 40 IP, which, trust me, is a good ratio for 1973. This is Olivares' first hardware of any kind unless you count leading the AL in losses last year with 19. The AL Rookie of the Month was the Twins' RHP Svetislav Pesic (14-13, 3.23), who was 3-2 but with a very not 3-2 1.17 ERA. He made 6 starts, finishing 2 of them (hey, he's a rookie) but was victimized by his team scoring a combined 2 runs in his 2 losses (2-1 on September 24, when he threw 7 innings of 4-hit ball, and 4-1 on the 4th, when he had his worst start of the month but still got the quality start: 7 IP, 3 ER). Pesic was the Twins' representative at the All-Star Game this year and also won the Rookie of the Month award for May. He looks very, very #3 starter to me but he's 24 so I guess he could improve... In the NL, the Rookie of the Month was a second-half call-up, Pirates RHP Rick Springfield (9-3, 2.80). As if Pittsburgh needs more pitching! Springfield was 4-1, 1.57 for the month with 6 starts - none completed because this team has Paz Lemus - and a solid 30 Ks in 40 IPs. Now if only he could hit... Finally... the batting championships are a BIG DEAL in 1973, okay??? In the AL, the Angels' 1B Chris Seek (.333, 15, 91) held off all comers with a solid .325 (41-126) month of September. This was the 28 year old Seek's first real chance to finish among the league leaders this year - his previous high in starts was 100 - and he really took it. He'd been traded by the Rangers to the Angels back in May and the #2 guy was the man he was traded for, 3B Bobby "Ghost Runner" Ramirez (.324, 12, 61) in one of those rare moves that worked out well for both sides. The Royals' DH Alonzo Rivera (.322, 8, 79) and LF Tony Danza (.317, 10, 54) rounded out the top... 4 (I was going to include 3 but I like the Royals having 2 guys in there). In the NL, Cardinals LF Rafael Disla (.323, 14, 69) took home his 3rd batting title and first since 1969 in an otherwise also-ran season for St. Louis. Wait 'till next year! Speaking of lost seasons, the #2 guy was yet another former Beatle, Giants 3B George Harrison (.315, 17, 84), who was just about the only bright light on a rough San Francisco offense. In 3rd, it's none other than Alberto Juantorena, who juuuuust beat out Astros CF George Foreman (.310, 23, 94). NLCS! The Phillies host the Padres today to get it aaaaaaaall going. I like to do the old team by team breakdowns so... let's do this. Catcher: The Pads start Oliver Williams (.220, 6, 29), who... is a guy. He did make the All-Star Game back in 1970 when he hit .274/6/64 but that was waaay above his weight, given that he's a career .218 hitter. The Phillies boast 25 year old Nikolai Volkoff (.238, 5, 41), who drew 58 walks against 362 at-bats this year and threw out 48.6% of runners who tried to steal on him. Advantage: Phillies. First Base: Ed Begley Jr. (.326, 5, 27) took over in August for the incumbent Josh Coffey (.258, 3, 45) for Philadelphia and transformed a kind of minus position into a huge plus. The Padres ran out Carlos Palacios (.306, 3, 74) all year long and he was just a classic 3-hole hitter for them. Advantage: Padres, although it's closer than you might think. Second Base: This is Paul McCartney's (.301, 19, 85) domain in San Diego. You'd like to know where his power went to this year (last year he finished 3rd in the NL with 32 HRs) but even with the 19-dinger power he's the best 2B in the NL. The Phillies have been using the youngster Bryant Gumbel (.253, 0, 17) over the vet Nate Rowe (.216, 4, 45) and he'll probably keep the job in October. If nothing else, Gumbel has the tools to be a much better fielder (although wow, he had a -8.4 ZR in 50 games with the Phillies this year). Advantage: Padres. Third Base: Philadelphia had acquired Mike Brookes (.233, 5, 44) from the Twins this past offseason to shore up this position and provide them with a cleanup hitter. Well, Brookes' power stayed in Minnesota, I guess, and between that and injuries the actual team leader in innings at the position wound up being AAAA mainstay Marcos Villafana (.240, 14, 46). The Pads' 3B is one of their pillars, Dale Earnhardt (.297, 21, 74). Earnhardt missed 6 weeks in the middle of the season with a strained hamstring, which is why his numbers don't pop out. He's healthy now. Advantage: Padres. Shortstop: Joe Wicker (.256, 7, 51) is a glove-first shortstop who hit for a high enough average to justify him hitting 2nd for much of the year (although 81 Ks in 512 at-bats tells me that's probably not a great long-term solution). Tony Shannon (.280, 8, 61) is slightly haunted by his .330/14/76 1971 season, which stat nerds will tell you is also the year he led the league in on-base percentage with .424, but even as a .280 hitter, he's made the All-Star Game 3 times now. Advantage: Phillies. Left Field: Yeah, I mean this is clearly advantage: Phillies with strong MVP candidate Alberto Juantorena (.311, 29, 113) in there. Speaking of stat nerdery, Juantorena led the league in slugging this year (.573) and triples (14). That is some combination of power and speed. The Padres are running a platoon of Ian Everett (.274, 1, 18), acquired from the White Sox in late May, and Russ Deuser (.245, 6, 28) because their regular Junior Cannon (.215, 7, 36) broke his kneecap last week. I guess even with the 1970 version of Cannon (.279, 28, 99) it wouldn't be close and... that's not the Junior Cannon of 1973. Advantage: Phillies. Center Field: The Padres have a really strong contender in Dr. Phil McGraw (.323, 5, 54), who also stole 33 bases and covered a lot of ground in the spacious San Diego Stadium outfield in a pretty great rookie season. The Phillies counter with 8-time All Star Bryant Tarala (.239, 22, 50), who can do everything but make regular contact (108 Ks this year in 457 at-bats) and stay healthy (his 125 games played this year were his highest total since 1968). Still, when healthy he's a superstar, and he's healthy as of right now. Advantage: Phillies. Right Field: Philadelphia's got rookie Greg Lake (.294, 18, 90), who moonlights in a rock band in the offseason. He's got as good a chance as anyone of winning Rookie of the Year this year and finished the year as the team's cleanup man. The Pads' man is pretty good in Ed O'Neill (.253, 6, 43), although he'll never be as good as his days as the high school fullback. Advantage: Phillies. Bench: The biggest cog on the Padres' bench is pinch-hitter extraordinaire Jack Holman (.270, 2, 12), who really shined as a part-time player after looking pretty bleah for the Pirates and Brewers the previous 3 seasons. Otherwise their bench has a couple of veeeeeeeery old vets in 3B Kevin Landry (.272, 4, 34) and OF Elijah Johnson (.239, 0, 8), both of whom might be playing their final games in this series. Philadelphia has Coffey as their PH man, not to mention 4th OFer/"find a place for him PLEASE" guy John Belushi (.307, 1, 10), who missed most of the season following a promising .263/15/58 rookie campaign. Advantage: Phillies, I guess? #1 Starter: Richard Starkey (23-12, 2.44) led the NL in wins, games started (40), complete games (20), and innings pitched (312.0). 'Nuff said. The Pads' ace is a real rocker in his own right, Steven Tyler (17-10, 2.83), who did lead the league in shutouts. This should be a great Game 1. Advantage: Phillies, by a hair. #2 Starter: Speaking of rockers, how about the Padres' Don Henley (20-7, 2.36) for San Diego? Yeah, he's good. Good enough to make the All-Star Game. Probably good enough to be the #1 man here but Tyler's got a small edge in experience. The Phillies will go with Vince "The Eligible" Bachler (16-7, 1.91), who started the year in AAA Eugene in a pure numbers issue (he was 7-5, 2.91 with Philadelphia last year but just couldn't crack the rotation out of spring training) but not only got recalled but ended up leading the National League with a sub-2.00 ERA. Advantage: Phillies. #3 Starter: The Phillies' Chris Olivares (19-4, 2.84) had a gaudy won-lost record this year but that's not all smoke and mirrors, in spite of what his record the previous 2 seasons (17-34) might imply. On most other teams in this league he'd be the #1 or at least #2 man. Cesar Barreras (13-15, 3.57) is the Padres' #3 man. He set career highs in all major categories but is kind of the epitome of a league average pitcher. Advantage: Phillies. Bullpen: The Pads are anchored by 30-save man Darius Parchman (4-5, 0.79), who also managed to allow just 7 earned runs all year long. He also prevented 18 out of the 24 runners he inherited from scoring. The rest of their 'pen is... fine but Parchman is what you call a force multiplier. The Phillies have a much more proven commodity in their stopper in Tom Grohs (3-10, 3.04, 27 Sv), but what's "proven" is that he's just... good, not unstoppable. The Phillies' bullpen overall is a bit shakier than San Diego's. Advantage: Padres. So... I think the positional breakdown makes this look a liiiiiittle closer than it really is. We'll see! Game 1 is going to be cold and partly cloudy at 50 degrees. There's a strong wind blowing out to left today so hey, maybe we'll see some dingers. Let's play ball! Top First: Ed O'Neill gets things started off the right way with a grounder that just trickles past 2B Bryant Gumbel for a leadoff base hit. Joe Wicker grounds to short but the speedy O'Neill is in at 2nd too quickly for an attempt at a forceout there. 6-3. Dale Earnhardt drops a blooper in up the middle and O'Neill scores on the play! Ringo Starr gets his former bandmate Paul McCartney to ground out to 3rd, 5-3, with Earnhardt moving up to 2nd. Carlos Palacios also hits one up the middle for yet another RBI single! He advances to second on the Bryant Tarala throw home. Phil McGraw whiffs but the damage has been done. 2-0, Padres. Bottom 1st: Bryant Tarala grounds out weakly to 2nd. Tony Shannon draws a walk off of Steven Tyler. He's vulnerable to those, having issued 102 in 273.2 innings. Tyler gets Alberto Juantorena to 0-2 but then the superstar hits one past the first baseman and into right. Shannon takes 3rd but Juantorena is thrown out trying to stretch this one into a double. Baserunner kill by Ed O'Neill. He had 6 of those this year after garnering 9 the year before. It winds up being a really good kill too because on a 1-2 pitch to Greg Lake Tyler loses one in the dirt. It goes all the way to the backstop and Shannon scores! Lake hits the next pitch the other way into left but the wind doesn't carry it too far and Russ Deuser gets to it for the out. 2-1, Padres. Top 2nd: Russ Deuser hits one past 1B Ed Begley Jr. for a leadoff base hit. Oliver Williams lines one into right. That's out number one but man, Ringo's been getting kind of hard early on. With the runner at 1st and one out, Steven Tyler executes the sac bunt successfully to push Deuser to 2nd. And... wow, just wow. Yet another single up the middle scores a run! This RBI is by Ed O'Neill. Wicker flies out to center and for the first time this game Bryant Tarala is able to make a play on a ball for out number 3. 3-1 Padres. Bottom 2nd: Ed Begley battles Tyler and eventually comes away the winner with a 3-2 leadoff walk. That's Tyler's 2nd base on balls already. Nikolai Volkoff, hitting 6th today, makes a catchery play by bunting Begley into scoring position. Marco Villafana grounds to shortstop, 6-3. Tyler chooses to pitch to the #8 hitter Bryant Gumbel, who also grounds to short to retire the side. 3-1, Padres. Top 3rd: For the 3rd time in 3 innings, the Padres get a leadoff single. This one's by Dale Earnhardt, who's now 2-2 tonight. Ringo winds up walking McCartney to give us runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out. Carlos Palacios hits one deep into the hole at shortstop, which Tony Shannon is juuuust able to get to. He throws to first and gets Palacios out but the runners move up. Dr. Phil's next and as a lefty the equally lefty Starkey wants to face him. There's a nice battle but Starr finally gets Dr. Phil on a 2-2 breaking ball. That leaves LF Russ Deuser with a 2-out RBI opportunity... and let's just say he comes through! A 3 run HR to dead center and this game has been broken wide, wide open! 6-1! Starkey walks Williams. Tyler pops out to right field to finally end this one. 6-1, Padres. Bottom 3rd: If anyone can come back, it's the high-flying Phillies, but man do they have their work cut out for them. Ringo's gonna stay in to pitch... for now and he flies to left. Tarala hits a slow roller back to Steven Tyler, who can't scoop it up in time. Tarala's safe at first with the cheap infield hit. Tarala then steals 2nd on a 1-0 pitch. With a 3-1 count Tony Shannon finally puts a ball into play for the first time this game and decks one into center. It hits the wall, scoring Tarala, and when the dust has settled Big Tony's in with a double! 6-2! Juantorena follows RIGHT BACK UP with a 2-run homerun! 6-4! Maybe Tyler should have intentionally walked the Phillies star. Greg Lake is up next and beats out a ball that he tops horribly, so horribly that the catcher is the first one to get to it. It looks like a line drive in the box score! Ed Begley Jr. grounds out to SS Joe Wicker, who goes the short way to 2nd but that's only the 2nd out in the inning. No matter, as Volkoff grounds out 5-4 to end it. 6-4, Padres. Top 4th: Ed O'Neill tries to cheap his way about with a little dribbler in front of home plate of his own but C Nikolai Volkoff guns it to first in time for the out. Joe Wicker walks. That's already Ringo's 3rd of those. However, he gets a "pitcher's best friend" inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. 6-4, Padres. Bottom 4th: Villafana flies to deep center. Bryant Gumbel picks up the 3rd Phillies' infield hit in just over an inning on a ground ball to short. The Pads' defense is good, I swear! I'm not ready to pull Ringo just yet so he'll hit... he fouls off a couple bunt attempts and strikes out. That's actually Tyler's first K all game. Tarala shoots a single back up the middle that advances Gumbel to 3rd. Tony Shannon fights off an inside pitch and hits it to Paul McCartney at 2nd. Paul's only play is to 1st but that was out #3. 6-4, Padres. Top 5th: Starkey had his first blank inning last one. He's not starting this one well, as he issues his 4th walk to Paul McCartney. McCartney is 10-26 (.385) in his career vs Starkey so maybe that was a good choice. Or maybe Ringo is wild today. Palacios flies to right. McCartney gets caught stealing by Volkoff. Dr. Phil laces a 2-out single into right. Deuser flies to left to retire the side. 6-4, Padres. Bottom 5th: Juantorena hits a line drive into center that Phil McGraw cuts off in the gap... but no matter because by the time he gets the ball in, Juantorena is sitting at 2nd base with a leadoff double. Greg Lake grounds to 2nd with Juantorena taking 3rd. Begley gives the Padres a taste of their own medicine with an RBI single up the middle! 6-5 and I did not expect a high-scoring game today, I tell you what. Volkoff walks, the 3rd issued by Tyler. He's also up to 93 pitches, which in 1973 terms is not that many to be honest. Marco Villafana belts one into the gap in right-center! Begley Jr scores! Volkoff scores! Villafana slides into 3rd with a 2-RBI triple! It's not just a new game, it's a Phillies lead at 7-6! Gumbel grounds to 1st; Palacios looks the runner back before walking the ball to the bag himself for out number 2. Ringo has not exactly pitched well and it's the playoffs so what the heck, I'm bringing in PH Billy Ocean (.353, 0, 4), who translated a September call-up into a postseason roster spot. Ocean hit .300 in the regular season as a pinch-hitter and keeps up the clutch with a single up the middle. 8-6, Phillies! Bryant Tarala fouls out to 3rd and Steven Tyler is fiiiiiiinally out of this inning. 8-6, Phillies. Top 6th: On the mound in place of Starkey is Danny Plaunt (13-10, 3.62), the team's 4th starter for most of the season. Plaunt was also the Brewers' closer in 1970 and 71 before going back into the rotation for the last 2 years so he's no stranger to situations like this one. Williams grounds out to 2nd to lead it off. I think this is going to be all she wrote for Steven Tyler, too, and I'll use... Ian Everett, saving Dr. Jack for later, maybe. Everett strikes out. O'Neill also Ks and that, my friends, is the first 1-2-3 inning for the Padres all game. 8-6, Phillies. Bottom 6th: Ruben Estrada (4-4, 2.62) takes the mound in relief of Tyler. He's had some control issues this year (34 walks in 65.1 innings) that's kept him out of short relief and the rotation but it's hard to otherwise argue with the reults. Tony Shannon singles to left to lead it off. That brings up Juantorena, whose hot day continues with a single up the middle. He's 4-4 now. Greg Lake makes it 3 singles in 3 Estrada batters faced. The sacks are full of Phillies with nobody out, and I think it's time to try to rescue this one from getting too far out of hand. I'm going to go with the setup man Robbie Vaughn (4-2, 1.34), who was almost as unhittable as Darius Parchman in the regular season. He faces Ed Begley Jr... who belts a double off the center field wall! 2 runners score and Alberto gets into 3rd base! It's 10-6, Phillies! Volkoff looks at a 3-2 pitch that is called a strike for out #1. Villafana walks to reload the bases so Vaughn will have to pitch to Gumbel. Not only does he, but Gumbel hits into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. 10-6, Phillies. Top 7th: I was probably going to pinch-hit for Plaunt, who was due up next, but hey, now he gets to pitch an extra inning. Wicker beats out a grounder back to the pitcher for an infield single. Dale Earnhardt grounds out 6-4 but Bryant Gumbel looks to be hurt on the attempt to pivot to 1st and he'll have to come out of the game. Nate Rowe will come in for him. McCartney hits it to the new guy but Rowe turns it into a 6-4 force play at 2nd base. Palacios belts a double to right-center with 2 outs but Greg Lake gets it in juuuuust a little too quickly for McCartney to think about coming around to score. Normally you'd think about walking McGraw here but Deuser's been a monster today... well, Dr. Phil singles to right, scoring a man, so maybe we should have walked him anyway. 10-7! Deuser walks to load the bases for Williams. NOW it's time to bring in Dr. Jack Holman. He singles to right, bringing home the runner from 3rd, and then Dr. Phil follows him in! Now it's 10-9! What!? Clearly it's time, maybe even after time, for the stopper Tom "The Hippie" Grohs. The Padres counter with pinch-hitter Matt Gelinas (.250, 2, 8). Can anybody get an out? No! Gelinas slaps a base hit back through the box that scores the guys from both 2nd and 3rd (oh yeah, Dr. Jack moved up on the throw home), and the Padres lead again, 11-10! What is happening!? Ed O'Neill walks. It's not over yet because Joe Wicker lands a bases-clearing double to left! 13-10! Go crazy, Padres fans! Grohs fires wild of the catcher and Wicker gets to 3rd on a wild pitch. Earnhardt walks and man Grohs is not doing well. Can he settle down? Yes, the answer is yes, finally, as he strikes out Paul McCartney on a 1-2 pitch. The damage has been done though. 13-10, Padres. Bottom 7th: Two changes due to pinch-hitters: first, taking over at catcher is Peter Gabriel (.211, 2, 12), the young man with a musical background of his own. Then the new pitcher, given that it's only the 7th and I don't want to completely burn Darius Parchman in Game 1, is lefty specialist Dan Pineau (5-4, 3.84). Pineau's record is marred by a 4.59 jag in 5 games as a starter this year; as a reliever he was 2-2, 3.12. I'm pulling Grohs in favor of PH Josh Coffey (.258, 3, 45). He grounds out 6-3. Tarala knocks one off the left field wall for a double. There's another grounder by Tony Shannon to Joe Wicker at short, but this time Wicker makes a heads-up play to nail Tarala at third base! That wound up being a very, very clutch defensive play, as Juantorena gets his 5th hit of the day with a single up the middle. Lake pops out to 2nd and that ends it. 13-10, Padres. Top 8th: It's Omar Sanchez' (4-3, 4.04) turn on the mound today. Sanchez was the Phillies' closer in the mid to late 60s but has accepted the smaller role as Grohs has taken that gig over. This year was a rough one, with 2 of his worst months happening in August (1-0, 5.23) and September (0-0. 4.00). The peripherals still look good though, outside of 8 HRA in 62.1 IP. Palacios singles to right to lead things off. Dr. Phil hits it to Tony Shannon at short but not quite hard enough for the double play. It's still 6-4 and 1 out. Dr. Phil gets thrown out trying to steal. Deuser goes down quietly, 6-3, to end the inning. 13-10, Padres. Bottom 8th: Okay, it's Parchman time now. In spite of the sub-1.00 ERA, he did somehow manage to blow 6 saves in 36 chances so maybe the Phillies have a shot? Begley flies to left. Volkoff walks for the 2nd time today. That just makes the Marco Villafana grounder to short a double play. 13-10, Padres, and the Phillies are down to their final 3 outs. Top 9th: Hey, the Padres don't lead off with a single this time! Instead it's an error by SS Tony Shannon. Parchman elects not to bunt and flies out to left instead. O'Neill grounds into a 4-6-3 double play and we ova. 13-10 Padres. Bottom 9th: The last 4 frames have been scoreless! Will we see a 5th? Nate Rowe already came on in relief of Bryant Gumbel so he's a little forced to stay in; he grounds to 3rd, 5-3. Pinch-hitting for the pitcher is OF John Belushi. He flies out to right. Tarala flies to center and somehow the Padres have done it, taking game 1 from the Phillies at the Vet in the craziest way possible.
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05-31-2025, 11:26 AM
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#300 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 10,611
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ALCS Game 1
Just noticed that this is still in the old dynasties section. ANNOYING. I'll just have to move it on over to the new location. Anyway...
After that wiiiild NLCS Game One, let's just... be normal this game, okay? A position by position breakdown of the ALCS: Catcher: Chicago uses Chris Flores (.211, 0, 19), who is pretty much the epitome of the good-field, no-hit backstop. His backup, racecar driver Rene Arnoux (.149, 1, 7), is somehow even worse at the plate. For Detroit, Armando Flores (.228, 6, 41), the former starter in Atlanta, isn't, like, anything great but he doesn't have to be to be the better guy here. Advantage: Detroit First Base: Speaking of racecar guys, Detroit's Niki Lauda (.255, 20, 64) had a good, solid, if not spectacular sophomor season. The sky's the limit! Hope nothing happens to him! Normally the Sox would completely outclass him here but with Alice Cooper out, Jeff Nation (.274, 27, 109)... okay, he still outclasses him. Advantage: Chicago. Second Base: Chance Hopka (.267, 0, 29) is in his 2nd full year with Chicago and also the second year where they tried and failed to find someone better. He's a good fielder, so the complete lack of power isn't *terrible*. Detroit has All-Star and punk rocker Joey Ramone (.310, 11, 97), who also finished 4th in the AL with 42 doubles. Yeah. Advantage: Detroit. Third Base: 24-year-old Joe Theismann (.289, 5, 38) is good with the bat and a potential future Gold Glover out there. He's only league average as a hitter right now but... wait 5 years (and oh boy, I hope nothing bad happens to him in other sports!). For the Chisox, Brian Maccioli (.231, 8, 42) is in the prime of his career but took a big step back from a good 1972 (.252, 15, 63). He's a good to great fielder as well but I've got to go with the rising future star here, I think. Advantage: Detroit. Shortstop: After 2 years of being, frankly, kind of trash at the plate with Cleveland, Chicago's John Johnson (.315, 5, 61) used a change of scenery to get his game back together, finishing 2nd in the AL in hits (198), 6th in doubles (38), 10th in runs (89), and 7th in BA. Detroit's platoon of Rob Curran (.259, 2, 35) and Matt Mullen (.276, 5, 32) is... fine but not nearly at Johnson's level of output. Advantage: Chicago. Left Field: The Tigers are also employing a platoon here with the veteran Danny Hohman (.282, 5. 53) getting the at-bats vs RHPs and prospect Tom Berenger (.257, 4, 18) handling the job vs lefties. The White Sox have alighted on 22 year old Peabo Bryson (.236, 6, 19), who looks like he could be a guy once he learns to make better contact (70 strikeouts in 242 MLB at-bats this year). He does walk a lot so he's not, like, non-valuable. Advantage: Detroit, but it's kind of close. Center Field: Clearly the outfield is not how the Sox made the playoffs this year. Alan "The Project" Parsons (.267, 1, 20) is a sneaky good fit for a Chicago team (IRL he wrote the instrumental track that's been the Bulls' stadium intro for the past 35 years) but, you know, he lives up to his name. Right now he really doesn't do anything but hit singles and he doesn't hit a lot of them. Alvin Romero (.347, 5, 54) on the other hand is the premier leadoff hitter in the game, breaking his own MLB steals record this year with 80 and finishing 2nd in the AL in triples (15) and runs scored (116). Advantage: Detroit. Right Field: Detroit has another under-25-year-old starter in Frankie Faison (.304, 7, 83). This team's gonna be big for a loooooong time, I think. The Sox have Josh Wade (.291, 7, 66), who's a guy but he did have a career year this year. Both of them were pretty rough in the field. Advantage: Chicago if only for the extra experience. Designated Hitter: The Sox had to scramble all over the place to make something work and so they finished the year with 2B Yukio Hatoyama (.275, 4, 38) as the DH. He doesn't really have that middle-of-the-lineup power but hey, it's a new position and maybe you can live with a political guy who has good bat control. Detroit's got cleanup hitter Jose "Joker" Ayala (.310, 24, 98), who set a career high in RBIs at age 32, which is easy to do with those table-setters in front of him. Advantage: Detroit. Bench: Detroit's bench, outside of the platoon guys, is kind of nothing special. They do have Manny Duran (.333, 1, 9) as a pinch-hitter; Duran was expected to be in that position all year but got hurt in spring training. Otherwise, yeah, it's not a lot. Chicago's got a couple guys to fill in for Parsons late, a 3rd catcher, and 24 year old Patrick Tambay (.364, 2, 4), who played over his head after a midseason call-up (he hit .245/5/33 in 86 games at AAA Iowa in the first half). Advantage: Detroit by default I guess. #1 Starter: 29 year old Rich Reese (18-7, 2.68) was just another relief pitcher last year but turned it up a notch when asked to start. He did lead the league in walks with 135 and he doesn't really have the stuff to quite make up for all that. Still, a gameplan that revolves around putting the ball in play to the Chicago defense is a strong one. Even without Jimmy Goddard, the Tigers sport former Minnesota Twins ace Chris Benavides (20-7, 2.87), who'd be a Cy Young candidate if not for his teammate. Advantage: Tigers. #2 Starter: Bruce Rubio (14-13, 3.39) was a tick worse by the stats compared to last year but also didn't lead the league in HRs (see the #3 guy) so that was nice at least. He still allowed 26 dingers. Chicago's Chris Messina (13-19, 3.41) led the AL in losses, not a great look for a potential pennant-winner. He's one of those "how exactly do you do anything" guys but he gets results... kind of. Advantage: I want to call this a push but if I had to choose... Chicago, I guess. #3 Starter: Chicago's got youthful scientist Steven Chu (17-12, 3.62), who's really only the #3 man this year because of the fact that he has all of 59 starts to his name so far in his young career. Detroit's Edgar Molina (20-19, 4.02), oh yeah, co-led the AL in losses and what's more he set a brand new major league record - blew it out of the park, more like it - by allowing 53 homeruns this year. He did lead the league in strikeouts, so there's that. Advantage: Chicago. Bullpen: Jim Marceau (7-7, 2.42, 21 Sv) was a decently effective closer sitting in front of a good, if not, like, Padres level of lights-out bullpen. Chicago's pen is defined by Malcolm Post (8-2, 2.31, 35 Sv), who broke the single-season saves record set by Montay Luiso back in 1964 and equaled by Geoff Saus in '71. The guys behind him were OK with the caveat of course that Post takes all the high-leverage innings. Advantage: Chicago. OKAY let's get it on! It's cold (47 degrees) at Tiger Stadium, with the wind even blowing in from center field. After last night's 13-10 hitathon I will assume absolutely nothing, though. Top 1st: Josh Johnson flies to left to get things underway. Yukio Hatoyama hits a grounder right at 1B Niki Lauda for the unassisted putout. Josh Wade, maybe a little out of place as the #3 hitter, nevertheless drops one in just behind 3B Joe Theismann for a 2 out base hit. Jeff Nation extends the rally with a solid single into left. Brian Maccioli tries to go the other way with a 2-2 fastball but gets under it. RF Frankie Faison grabs it for out #3. 0-0. Bottom 1st: Alvin Romero leads off with a triple. Have I mentioned that he's my favorite player in this league? That's also his very first postseason extra-base hit (all 9 of his base hits in last year's ALCS and WS were singles). Frankie Faison hits it medium left field but with Romero's speed, that's a sacrifice fly. 1-0! Joey Ramone knocks a pitch into left for the "we would have gotten it anyway" base hit. Jose Ayala grounds into a 6-4-3 double play so there's no more damage done. 1-0, Tigers. Top 2nd: Peabo Bryson pops out to 3rd base. Chance Hopka hits one towards the middle that SS Rob Curran is able to get to in time to throw him out, 6-3. Alan Parson flies out to center and hey, a 1-2-3 inning. Those are possible! 1-0, Tigers. Bottom 2nd: Niki Lauda grounds back to Reese, 1-3. Joe Theismann hits one fairly hard but into the deepest part of the ballpark and CF Alan Parson catches up to it in time for the out. Danny Hohman strikes out swinging. 1-0, Tigers. Top 3rd: Chris Flores looks baaad, striking out on 3 pitches. Johnson pops out to first. Hatoyama hits one to 3rd; Theismann handles it for the 5-3 inning-ender. 1-0, Tigers. Bottom 3rd: Flores pops out to first base. The 9 hole hitter Rob Curran hits a grounder towards the first base line that 1B Jeff Nation gets to and walks to first himself. Romero flies to right. 1-0, Tigers. 13 straight batters retired for both sides now. Top 4th: Wade grounds out 4-3. Jeff Nation flies out to center. Maccioli pulls a 1-2 pitch right at 3B Joe Theismann for another 5-3 out. 1-0, Tigers. Bottom 4th: Frankie Faison hits a sharp groundball that takes a tricky hop that 1B Jeff Nation can't handle. He just straight up drops the ball for an error, Faison reaching 1st on the play. Joey Ramone hits a line drive about where Nation would have been had he not been required to hold the runner. The ball goes into right field, Faison takes 3rd easily... but pitcher Rich Reese takes the cutoff throw from RF Josh Wade and throws Ramone out as he tries to stretch it into a double! Reese chooses to pitch to Ayala with the lefty Lauda due up next. Ayala hits a ground ball with eyes for the hole between short and 3rd. It's a single and Faison scores easily. 2-0! Lauda proves that pitching around Ayala wouldn't have been a good idea anyway, as he belts a ball over the first base bag and all the way into the right field corner. The double puts runners on 2nd and 3rd. Theismann singles into left; the slowpoke Lauda's not going to push it but Ayala scores! 3-0, still only one out, and that one only came on a play on the bases. Danny Hohmann belts one into the gap for a double! Theismann gets home all the way from first but for the second time this inning a runner gets cut down trying for an extra base! Score it 8-3-5 as Hohman had himself a double but tried to do too much. Flores singles into left with the bases now empty. Reese is only at 65 pitches and I ain't pulling him yet. Someone FINALLY hits a ball for an out: Rob Curran flies to center to retire the side. 5-0, Tigers, and somehow it could have been a lot worse. Top 5th: How will Benavides handle the big lead? Well... this one starts off the same way, more or less, as the bottom of the 4th did: Peabo Bryson hits one towards Niki Lauda at first base and Lauda muffs it for the error, breaking up a long outs streak. Chance Hopka belts one into the gap for a double. Peabo Bryson holds up at 3rd - he's surprisingly slow for a younger guy - and it's looking like maybe the Sox will get a chance at making up some ground. Alan Parsons hits one right to 2B Joey Ramone, who looks back Bryson before throwing to Lauda for the 4-3 putout. Chris Flores also grounds to 2nd but he makes Ramone move enough that Bryson is able to score on the play. 5-1! Johnson strikes out on a 91 mph fastball. 5-1, Tigers. Bottom 5th: Romero hits a hot shot to first which this time Jeff Nation handles cleanly for a 3-1 putout. Faison hits a towering popup on the right side of the infield that Josh Johnson gets underneath for the P6. Joey Ramone grounds out 5-3. 5-1, Tigers. Top 6th: The Sox cracked Benavides last inning; can they do it again? Hatoyama gets it started off right with a single up the middle. Josh Wade walks on four pitches. That's Benavides' first walk all game. Nation hits a slow grounder to Joey Ramone, who scoops it up and gets the force at 2nd base but it's way too slow for a double play. Hatoyama moves up so we've got a man on 3rd, less than 2 out situation for Brian Maccioli. He hits one over to Niki Lauda at first. Lauda takes it to the bag and then sees an opportunity to throw out Nation at 2nd. The throw is not in time! Hatoyama scores on the play and it's 5-2 now! Peabo Bryson grounds out to Lauda 3U to retire the side. 5-2, Tigers. Bottom 6th: Look, this is 1973. Pitchers don't come out after 5, especially not aces of the staff. The Joker grounds out 5-3. Lauda also grounds out 5-3. Theismann gets jammed and grounds out 4-3 to retire the side. 5-2, Tigers. Top 7th: Okay, so Chris Benavides has gotten scored on in each of the last 2 innings. He's still only at 90 pitches though. Chance Hopka drills a 3-1 pitch into left for a leadoff single. Parsons hits a roller back to Benavides, which he picks up in time to get a force-out at 2nd but Hopka takes out SS Rob Curran before he can complete the twin killing. With 3 catchers on the roster, I'm gonna pinch-hit here with Patrick Tambay. Benavides loses one in the dirt for a wild pitch. He had 9 of those in the regular season this year. Tambay flies out the other way to left; it looked like an "oppo taco" (absolutely not) at first but I guess the wind must have held it up. John Johnson singles up the middle and scores Parsons from 2nd. 5-3 and it's within striking distance now! Hatoyama hits a grounder to 1st to retire the side. 5-3, Tigers. Bottom 7th: Coming in at catcher is Robert Keith (.180, 2, 11), a marginally better hitter than Rene Arnoux. Reese is up to 89 pitches and is starting to look a little worn out. Hohman flies to deep right. Flores hits what looked to me like a straight single to left but Bryson is a little slow in playing it and the wily Tigers catcher stretches the hit into a double. That brings up Rob Curran and with 3 lefties due up I'm going to go ahead and make a pitching change here. The new man is Sergio Alvarado (6-3, 3.08). In 30 games as a reliever he was 5-1 with a 1.53 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 35.1 IP. This is a man who wipes out lefties: they hit just .227 this year off of the 23 year old. Matt Mullen will come in in place of the lefty Curran to face him. He flies out to center for out #2. Romero hits one to deep center that CF Alan Parsons is juuuuust able to catch up with for out number 3. 5-3, Tigers. Top 8th: Mullen takes over at shortstop for Curran. I'm not really huge on the recent trend from Benavides so I'm going to bring in closer Jim Marceau to hopefully shut things down. The 32 year old did blow 9 saves in 30 chances and he's facing the heart of the White Sox' order so, um, yikes. Wade grounds out to 2nd. Nation goes down 5-3. Maccioli drops a 2-out single into center. Bryson has a 7 pitch at bat end in a walk. Hopka singles to right, scoring Maccioli. It's 5-4 now! Parsons flies out to center to retire the side. 5-4, Tigers. Bottom 8th: Alvarado threw just 5 pitches and we still have a lefty due up so he'll stay in for one more batter. Faison drills a 3-1 pitch up the middle for a base hit and so that'll be all she wrote for him. The new man is stopper extraordinaire / known Dutchman Malcolm "Stroopwaffel" Post. His K rate was way down this year from 7.0 to 4.9 but oldheads insist this was a choice. Joey Ramone, 2-3 so far today, faces him. Hey, maybe it was a choice; he induces Ramone to hit into a "pitcher's best friend" 6-4-3 double play. Okay, um. The Joker belts one over the left-center fence for the homerun to add some insurance! 6-4. Post allowed just 1 HR the entire regular season, in a 13-8 win vs Texas on September 3rd. That's also Ayala's 2nd career postseason ding-dong. Niki Lauda walks on 4 pitches. Theismann also walks. Is the Stroopwaffel rattled? Danny Hohman smashes one down the 3rd base line but Brian Maccioli at 3rd is positioned to take it for out #3. 6-4, Tigers. Top 9th: Pinch-hitting for Robert Keith is the lefty hitter Mohammed Abdelaziz (.220, 2, 28). He was one of the guys the Sox tried in center this year before they settled on Parsons and... he's fast, at least. He also had a .276 OBP this year. He swings and misses at a curveball that missed the plate for out #1. John Johnson knocks a grounder through the hole and into left field for a base hit. Hatoyama walks and the tying run is on base. Wade hits a ball into left and the fleet-footed Danny Hohman is just barely not able to get to it before it drops in for a hit. That said, it was such a close play that John Johnson has to stay at third. Bases loaded, 1 out. Jeff Nation flies to right; the ball isn't quite deep enough to risk a play and 1 run doesn't change things anyway. 2 down. Jim Marceau strikes out Brian Maccioli swinging for the final out. FINAL SCORE 6-4, Detroit. Leave it to Jim Marceau to make this one eventful, I guess. Also not sure I'd grant Chris Benavides the PotG here... This game got a lot closer than it looked like it was going to be early but the result is still the same.
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