The Denver Brewers of the W.P. Kinsella League

[BirdWatcher]

Brewers right fielder Josh Schaeffer started the season under the weather a bit (pink eye, actually) and then when he did return to the lineup he got off to a slow start in his first several games.
Well, he's heated up since and earned the MGL Player of the Week honors for the week just ended.



And as always, Schaeffer keeps doing what he does best, which is getting on base as in addition to his 13 hits in 10 games played he has also walked 10 times.

[BirdWatcher]

Rodrigo "RodRod" Rodriguez, the Brewers starting third baseman, who was off to a tremendous start this season (third in the MGL in batting average, leading the team in HR's, and even playing pretty decent defense), is now headed to the Injured List having suffered a strained PCL in yesterday's loss against Oklahoma City.


The Brewers have added 25-year old Jake DiCesare to the 40-man roster and promoted him from AAA Chester to take RodRod's spot on the roster. DiCesare will likely platoon with Nick Ward at third base. Ward is a tremendous fielder but has little to no bat while DiCesare is a slight improvement over RodRod defensively and while not the hitter RodRod is, certainly has more offensive potential than Ward.


Still, RodRod's potent bat will be missed in the lineup.

[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 5-2 (week), 12-7, 4th place, 2 gb (season)

April 24-26, at San Francisco: 11-9, 1-10, 10-2.

April 27-29, versus Oklahoma City: 4-6, 10-1, 13-0.

April 30, at Brooklyn: 9-5.

Is offense up around the WPK this season? Sure it is, especially with far many more homers being hit than just a season ago, when they were a rarity.
Still, this is a bit ridiculous: with three weeks of the season completed and 19 games played, the Brewers have a team batting average of .349.
.349!
Now San Antonio is hitting .299 as a unit and Portland is hitting .294. But the league batting average in the SJL is a reasonable .267 and in the MGL a more robust .284.
Still, the Brewers, as a team, are hitting just a tic under .350.
That's insane. Small sample size sure, but not that small anymore.

And yet we are only 12-7, which is probably not a great sign given that our BABIP numbers are bound to crash back to mortal again soon.

So without going into great detail, this is what week 3 looked like.
The Brewers scored four 10th inning runs in game 1 against San Francisco to break a 7-7 tie and held on for the win. Ben Flynn (2-1, 2.35) is off to a great start and pitched an effective 2 2/3rds for the win. Tim Shore got his first save of the season.
The Brewers were blown out in game 2 as veteran Cheol-han Lee (0-2, 12.51) continues his struggles. Lee was allowed to go the distance, giving up 10 runs (9 earned) on 14 hits over 8 innings. The hope was that if the future Hall of Famer was given a chance to just keep pitching he might eventually wake up and remember who he is. It didn't happen in this game and indications are that he will be spending some time in the bullpen to get his head straight.
With Lee's demotion to the 'pen, 24-year old John Weaver (2-0, 1.50) gets a chance in the rotation. And in game 3 against the Velocity, he once again shines, lasting 6 1/3rd, giving up 2 runs on 5 hits and inducing 12 ground ball outs. Bobby Erbakan's 5 for 6 game didn't hurt either.


The Brewers then returned home to Denver to host the red-hot Oklahoma City Diamond Kings. The Diamond Kings came into the series tied for 1st place with Baltimore at 11-4 and largely on the strength of a talented and deep starting rotation. And in game 1 that showed as ace Dan Knauff outdueled Matt Helm. Eric Marino (0-1, 4.15) took the loss for the Brewers, pitching the final 2 inning and giving up a pair of runs.
But after that it was all Denver. The Brewers offense gave Sadahige Kawasaki (2-2, 2.51) plenty of run support in game 2 but he didn't really need it, going the distance while giving up just 1 run on 7 hits. Josh Schaeffer went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles (4), 3 runs scored and 3 RBI.
And in game 3 it was Steve Green (2-0, 3.48) who got far more support than he needed. Green got the complete game shutout, giving up just 4 hits while striking out 9 and walking 2. And the Brewers plated 13 runs. Jake DiCesare got his first big league start and in his very first big league at-bat, he hit a 3-run HR. He ended the game with a 3 for 5, 3 run, 4 RBI line. Andrew Kennedy went 4 for 5 and hit his 1st homer of the season.


The Brewers finished the week in Brooklyn against the Aces, generally considered the pre-season favorites to win the MGL. The Aces starter, Chris Justice, an 18-game winner in 1976, is off to a horrible start and that didn't change in this one. The Brewers roughed him up to the tune of 6 runs on 10 hits over 4 innings and he drops to 0-4 with a 5.61 ERA. Sekien Hamasaki (3-0, 4.44) got the win, allowing 4 runs 2 earned on 5 hits over 5 innings pitched. (It was a soggy day in Brooklyn and the game was delayed for 63 minutes, shortening Hamasaki's day.) Rich White was the star on offensive, going 4 for 5 with 2 runs scored, 3 RBI, and hitting his 6th double and 2nd HR of the year.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:




Let's give some love to 27-year old rookie starting pitcher Joe Harmon of San Antonio. After being selected in the 6th round of the 1968 draft, this durable and likable, but not tremendously talented, has methodically worked his way up through the San Antonio farm system, with little fanfare, never finding himself listed on any top prospects lists.
But here he is, getting his first chance at the bigs, and he has a 2-2 record with an impressive 2.27 ERA in a good hitting season. And on the last day of April he hurled a gem against the power-hitting Boston Berserkers, shutting them out on just 2-hits in a complete game victory, striking out 8 while walking 3. This might be his one moment in the sun, but he has earned it.

Around the league: The month of April concludes with the Washington Night Train on top of the SJL standings at 15-4. The reigning champs, Columbus, are 8-2 in their last 10 and climb to 2nd with a 10-7 record. San Antonio and Jacksonville follow at 11-8. Houston and Seattle pull up the rear at 5-13 each.

MGL:



I had to resist the urge to pick another Jaime Schardein (3-0, 2.00) gem for the MGL GOTW.
Instead we will look at the surprising Baltimore Lords led by the rejuvenated Chris Tobin. At age 30 and having finally escaped Portland, the power hitting shortstop has slugged 8 homers and has 20 RBI and he hit 2 of those homers in Friday's 4-3 win over Charlotte. Baltimore's offense and bullpen are the keys to their early lead in the MGL and their 31 home runs are second only to the Phoenix Speed Devils (who are perennially the HR leaders but also sport an horrific team ERA of 7.84).

Around the league: As mentioned above, Baltimore leads the MGL heading into May with a 14-5 record. Oklahoma City is next at 13-6, followed by both the Portland Wild Things and the Denver Brewers at 12-7.

[BirdWatcher]

This is what happens when you get off to a 5-14 start with a team that only has one winning season in their history- and that nearly a decade ago: heads will roll.




Owner Paul Nelson, who is pretty generous in opening the purse strings and has generally been patient, but places great import on winning, had seen enough.

Out go both the GM and manager and no word yet on who will fill those positions. But one thing is certain, they will have to show some positive results and soon.

[BirdWatcher]

Geoff Connell of the Chicago Fire isn't the most popular guy around the league, or in his own clubhouse, as he's considered a selfish guy who has too high an opinion of himself. But his high self-regard at least matched his on-field performance this past month, as he is off to a fine start to the 1977 season. If nothing else, Connell is a real innings eater and he has thrown 4 complete games thus far, winning each of them.



Veteran closer Brian Burke of Baltimore has anchored a tremendous bullpen that has been key to the Lords great start. It earned him the MGL Pitcher of the Month honors for April.

[BirdWatcher]

It's not the first time that Philly's superstar second baseman Xiao-mei Mah has been named the SJL Batter of the Month (actually, it's the 4th time) and it likely won't be the last. At age 30, the smart and hard working pride of Taiwan is one of the best in the business.



Even in a year when the long ball is ascendant, Devin Schwisow's 11 in just 82 plate appearances is a pretty eye-popping number. Too bad his team is horrible and that his reputation for laziness and fragility have led the Phoenix front office to put him on the trading block. But at least he can brag that he was the best batter in the MGL in the month of April 1977.

[BirdWatcher]

As highlighted earlier, after years of toiling in minor league obscurity 27-year old starting pitcher Joe Harmon is having his moment in the sun. Count us among those happy for the young man.



With Brewers starting center fielder Joe McPhillips having started the season on the IL, 4th outfielder Val Guzman was given the task of filling big shoes. While Guzman is not the fielder in the middle of the field that McPhillips is, he acquitted himself quite well both in the field and at the plate. In fact, the biggest surprise was the strong on-base skills he displayed, walking 10 times in 72 plate appearances with an OBP of .431. With McPhillips return Val won't be getting as many starts but he has certainly solidified his position as the 4th man in the outfield scheme and may have started to build a case for himself as the future left fielder to eventually replace the aging Andrew Kennedy. Val may not have one standout tool (though he is extremely fast) but his all-around game is strong and he is considered one of the best leaders and hardest workers on the club. The former 1st round pick has almost certainly earned himself the opportunity for a larger role going forward.

[stevem810]

I'll take prospect Heyden for any of my teams. ;-)
Maybe give us an occasional update on him, if he develops.

[BirdWatcher]

Originally Posted by stevem810

I'll take prospect Heyden for any of my teams. ;-)
Maybe give us an occasional update on him, if he develops.

Yeah, he should be a good one.
But I'm pretty thrilled with the prospect (pun only slightly intended) of having Atwell in my rotation soon. He's off to a great start at AAA and it might be hard to wait until September to bring him up.

[BirdWatcher]

With the Brewers returning home to face the bedraggled Detroit Falcons it was decided to give Cheol-han Lee another start to see if he could right himself.
He didn't, really, or at least not much, but with plenty of help from his offense and a few timely defensive gems, he did finally manage to get a win- the 200th of his career.


He joins Jake Harris as the only other 200 game winner in WPK history thus far. (Jesse Hartong, the 34-year old righty for the Baltimore Lords is the next closest to this mark at 181 career wins.) And likely he will be joining Harris again in the WPK Hall of Fame in Dubuque, Iowa sometime in the next decade as well after they both have hung up the spikes.

The big question in the Brewers front office though is how many more victories they can get out of their former ace, who at age 36 looks like a shell of his former self.

[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 6-0 (week), 18-7, 1st place (tie w/Baltimore), MGL (season)

May 1-2, at Brooklyn: 1-0, 4-2.

May 3-5, versus Detroit: 13-7, 7-0, 7-6.

May 7, versus Baltimore: 5-1.

And the Brewers end the fourth week of the 1977 season on a 9-game winning streak and having tied the Baltimore Lords for first place in the MGL.
They got the week started with another excellent performance from 24-year old righty John Weaver (3-0, 1.04), who was matched up against 2-time MGL Pitcher of the Year Aaron McNally and while McNally held the Brewers to just 3 hits over his 6 innings pitched (it is rare for McNally to pulled so early from a game), Weaver lasted 8 innings and held the Aces to just a single hit and a pair of walks. Had the score not been so close and had Weaver not already thrown 115 pitches, he likely would have been given the chance to close out the shutout, but instead Tim Shore came in and pitched a flawless 9th for his 2nd save. Joe McPhillips scored the lone run of the game after leading off the 7th inning with his 4th double of the season.

Team captain Matty Helm (1-0, 1.52) was again sharp in the final game of the series, lasting 6 2/3rds, giving up just 1 run on 2 hits. Ben Flynn pitched the final inning and a third for his 2nd save. Andrew Kennedy went 2 for 4 with 3 RBI (18), and hit his 7th double.

The Brewers then returned home to take on the last place Detroit Falcons and as was reported earlier, Cheol-han Lee (1-2, 11.44) got the start in the first game of the series and finally earned his 200th career victory. Rookie outfielder Val Guzman had another terrific game, going 4 for 5 with 3 runs scored and 2 RBI, hitting his first triple of the season and stealing his 7th base.
In the middle game of the series, Sadahige Kawasaki (3-2, 1.96) was masterful, hurling a complete game, 5-hit shutout, striking out 9 while walking 2. Third baseman Jake DiCesare continues the fine start of his big league career as he went 4 for 5 with 2 runs scored and hit his first 2 doubles of the season while also continuing to play excellent defense at the hot corner.


(Note: Sadahige has now emerged as a Fan Favorite.)

If there is a story in the Brewers bullpen thus far in the 1977 season it is the emergence, at long last, of Ben Flynn (3-1, 1.56). In the back-and-forth rubber match of the series, Flynn came in to bail out starter Steve Green (6.1 IP, 6 ER, 10 HA) and pitched a strong and scoreless 2 2/3rds innings while also collecting a single in his lone at-bat and eventually scoring what would prove to be the game-winning run on a double by Josh Schaeffer. Rich White hit his 3rd homer of the year in the game.

After a day off on Friday, the Brewers greeted the surprising first place Baltimore Lords to finish the week. And behind a strong performance from Sekien Hamasaki (4-0, 3.86) they get the win in game 1 and pull into tie for first place with the Lords. Hamasaki worked 6 1/3rd, giving up 1 run on just 3 hits. Ben Flynn continues to impress, working the final 2 1/3rds for his 3rd save. Andrew Kennedy (.383/.410/.543) continues his strong start to 1977 with a 2 for 4, 2 RBI (23), 1 double (10) game.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:



After a slow start, the two years running reigning WPK champs, the Columbus Whalers, are starting to heat up and finish the first week of May in 2nd place in the SJL at 16-7, two games behind the 19-6 Washington Night Train. Like the Denver Brewers, they went 6-0 this past week, with the narrowest victory being their 2-1 win over San Antonio on Tuesday. The great Jake Harris worked 7 strong innings for his 1st win of 1977 in this one and fan favorite Kazuhiro Miyamoto pitched the final 2 innings for his 4th save. Like Cheol-han Lee, the future HOF'er Harris now has to rely on his guile and great movement with very little stuff left to his pitches but unlike Cheol-han he is still mostly managing to get it done at age 38.


MJL:




It is worth noting that the MGL thus far in 1977 has seen an average of 5.2 runs per game while the SJL a slightly lower 4.7 per game. And Saturday's 20-11 Charlotte win over Phoenix was pretty indicative of how things have gone in the MGL this season. Oh, and the team ERA for the Phoenix Speed Devils? 8.93. Yes, that isn't a typo. The Speed Devils are allowing nearly 9 earned runs per 9 innings as a team. (MGL league ERA is 4.42, so even in a high offensive year, this Phoenix team is crazy bad at keeping the other club from scoring.)
On the other hand, Charlotte's 25-year old center fielder Jose Gutierrez is enjoying the offensive surge in the MGL and is off to a great start, projected to have a 9 WAR season. Not many years ago it looked like Gutierrez, a great leader at a young age, was on the path to challenge Joe McPhillips for best center fielder in the game for some time but after winning the Rookie of the Year award in 1974 with a 6.2 WAR season he has been somewhat disappointing since. While he doesn't possess the range that McPhillips has in center (not to mention having a much weaker arm), he is in the midst of a bounce-back season at the plate in 1977 (while McPhillips underachieves offensively.)

[BirdWatcher]

At the suggestion (offline) of WPK superfan Palaaemon, I will be supplementing the Games of the Week feature with a weekly player spotlight feature as well to further expand coverage of the WPK beyond the Denver Brewers and add some texture to the WPK universe reporting.




This week we will look at El Paso Dawg's ace Dan Bottom, who is off to a 5-0 start in 1977 with a 1.99 ERA. The left-handed ground-ball specialist was the third player chosen overall in the 1969 draft out of Winston Academy High School in Louisville, Mississippi. Bottom won the 1974 SJL Pitcher of the Year award in 1974 while leading the league in ERA at 2.12 and putting up an 11-4 record with a Dawgs team that finished 6 games below .500 and in 6th place. After he saw his numbers slip a bit in 1975, he helped lead the Dawgs to their first winning season since 1965 last year by winning 18 games.



The biggest question mark always hanging over the 26-year old hurlers head (other than the sense that he isn't a good team player and tends to be quite selfish) is the perception that he is fragile and it is only a matter of time before he suffers a serious injury. But while he has suffered from a series of rather minor ailments over the years, he thus far has avoided any serious injuries to his pitching arm. For the El Paso Dawgs, who have won 9 of their last 10 and currently sit in 3rd place in the SJL, to hope to finally climb to the mountaintop and claim an SJL pennant, his continued good health will be key.

[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 5-2 (week), 23-9, 1st place, MGL (season)

May 8-9, versus Baltimore: 5-9, 4-3.

May 10-12, at Charlotte: 7-6, 7-6, 3-1.

May 13-14, versus Portland: 2-5, 2-0.

Well, it was inevitable that John Weaver (3-1, 2.53) couldn't keep up his dominance season long and it was in the second game against the Baltimore Lords that things fell apart a bit. But really it was just one poor inning- the 5-run 4th- that doomed him. Bobby Erbakan hit his 4th homer in this one and Val Guzman his 1st (and also his 5th double.)
But the Brewers get the win in the rubber match to move back into a first place tie with the Lords. Another fine start from Sadahige Kawasaki (4-2, 2.05), who works 7 innings giving up 2 runs on 7 hits. Tim Shore gets his 3rd save. Brett Taranto leads the offense with a 2 for 4 day, hitting his 4th double and 1st triple of 1977.

Tuesday's game was rained out in Charlotte, setting up a double-header that the Brewers won both ends of in interesting fashion, and with identical final scores.
Trailing 6-1 going into the 9th in the first game they slugged 3 homers in the inning to get the 7-6 lead which they did not relinquish. Josh Schaeffer got it started with a 2-out 3-run bomb. Val Guzman, next up, made it back-to-back jacks. And finally Joe McPhillips hit a 2-run shot to give the Brewers the lead, Joe's first long ball of the season. Ben Flynn (4-1, 2.31) didn't have his best outing of the season, but he did get the win, hit a single, and scored a run. Tim Shore got save number 4.
The nightcap was a back-and-forth affair that went into extras tied at 6-6. Bobby Erbakan's 10th inning solo homer (his 5th HR of the season) was the difference maker. Jake DiCesare was the POTG though, as the rookie third baseman went 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored, 4 RBI, hitting his 3rd double and 2nd home run. Tim Shore (2-1, 4.66) worked 2 innings, blowing the save in the 9th but holding on for the win in the 10th.

The Brewers then returned home to take on the 5th place (tied with L.A.) Portland Wild Things. Portland's strength this season has been their pitching as they come into the series with the best starting pitching and bullpen ERA's and second in the league in runs allowed (behind Denver.) And sure enough they did cool off the Brewers bats in the first 2 games of the series as Denver could only manage 2 runs each game.
In the first game that led to a loss as John Weaver (3-2, 2.82) suffered his second loss of the week, working 6 1/3rd, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits. Ben Flynn allowed 2 runs in his 2 innings pitched at the end of the game.
But in game 2, with Sadahige Kawasaki (5-2, 1.76) continuing his dominance, working 8 innings of scoreless 4-hit ball (7 K, 2 BB), and getting a 9th-inning assist from Eric Marino and Tim Shore, who wriggled out of a jam to earn his 5th save, the Brewers get the shutout victory. Brett Taranto collected 2 of the 5 hits for the Brewers.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:




It's not often that Boston's 28-year old starting pitcher Oscar Reyes finds himself talked about in the same sentence as the reigning SJL Pitcher of the Year Jim Norris of the mighty Columbus Whalers. And even less often in the context of him outdoing Norris. But in Boston's 2-1 win over Columbus on Saturday, Norris may have earned POTG honors, but it was Reyes who got the win with 7 3-hit, 1-run innings of work. Boston ends the week just 1 game behind the 2nd place Whalers.
The Washington Night Train, at 22-9, lead the SJL, with a 3 1/2 game lead over Columbus. El Paso (17-14) is in 4th place, 5 games back.


MGL:




Before the season started, the Brooklyn Aces and Los Angeles Spinners were the teams expected to contend with Denver for the MGL title. And while L.A. has played pretty well, Brooklyn is off to a poor start. And Thursday's 3-1 loss to L.A. in Brooklyn was pretty indicative of what ails the Aces- a lack of offensive production. You have to feel for Aaron McNally, who took the loss in this one and is win-less in 1977 in spite of remaining one of the most talented arms in the game. His 37-year old counterpart for L.A., Jason Wilson, just keeps marching on with his under-appreciated career (180-128, 3.09, 58.5 WAR) and is off to a tremendous 5-1 start.

[BirdWatcher]

How do you explain the start Jacksonville veteran catcher Bryan Wojtach is off to at the plate this season? The man with a career slash line of .238/.318/.390 is hitting .382/.462/.854. And while Wojtach has shown some power in his career, two times hitting more than 20 homers in a season, his 12 thus far this season is leading the SJL and is just one behind prolific slugger Devin Schwisow in all of the WPK.




Don't get me wrong- Wojtach has had some fine years and is a two-time All-Star and fan favorite, but he's never had an offensive stretch like this one. The 5th round draft pick in 1968 out of Glendale College is a solid defender and even when, as seems inevitable, his batting returns to more Wojtach-like levels, he will remain one of the better players at his position in the league.
And hey, maybe he can keep this up for awhile. Given that we don't have to play against him in the regular season, I for one hope he does.

[BirdWatcher]

It was announced today that the Denver Brewers reached agreement with closer Tim Shore on a 1-year extension which will keep him in the Brewers bullpen for next season at the same pay rate he currently earns.



Rumors are that there was little negotiation at all as the two parties were almost in lockstep agreement from the start as to what was fair and preferable.

Brewers fans were reportedly quite pleased, although admittedly fan support was already pretty much off the charts.

[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 5-1 (week), 28-10, 1st place, MGL (season)

May 15, versus Portland: 4-7.

May 16-18, at Phoenix: 5-3, 5-3, 9-3.

May 20-21, at Los Angeles: 5-4, 5-3.

The Brewers drop the rubber match against the Wild Things in Sunday afternoon's game. With a fatigued starting rotation, Cheol-han Lee (1-3, 10.48) and his early season woes continue. Lee gives up 7 runs on 14 hits over 7 2/3rds innings. Backup catcher Kirk Patnode had a 3 for 4 game in the loss.

The Brewers then headed out on a 2-series road trip starting with three games in Phoenix against the last place Speed Devils. Steve Green (3-0, 4.18) gave the visitors 7 strong innings in game 1 for the victory. Green allowed 2 runs on 6 hits while striking out 9 batters and walking just 1. With Bobby Erbakan out of action after suffering an intercostal strain a few days earlier, Brad Sherman took advantage of a rare start and went 3 for 5 in the game hitting his 1st HR of the season. Jon Williams and Joe McPhillips each hit their 2nd homers of the season in the victory.
Much of the same in game 2 though starter Sekien Hamasaki was denied a victory after pitching 6 2/3rds, giving up 3 runs on 7 hits. Walter Hackler (1-0, 3.38) got the win and Tim Shore earned his 6th save of the season. Andrew Kennedy went 2 for 5 and hit his 11th double.
Matty Helm, the Brewers fearless leader for many seasons now, rarely goes the distance in a start but he did in his game 3 victory against Phoenix. Helm (2-0, 2.56) threw 108 pitches over his 9 innings of work, allowing 3 runs on 9 hits. He was given good run support, led by rookie left fielder Val Guzman, who went 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored and hit a pair of triples in the game. Joe McPhillips, starting to heat up at the plate of late, hit his 3rd homer of 1977 and Brett Taranto hit his 1st.

After a travel day off on Thursday, the Brewers found themselves in L.A. at Avalon Park to take on long-time rival, the L.A. Spinners.
The Brewers drew first blood with a narrow victory behind Sadahige Kawasaki (6-2, 1.71). Kawasaki, matched up against 41-year old veteran Jaime Schardein, worked 6 2/3rds, giving up 4 runs (but only 1 earned) on just 4 hits. Ben Flynn worked the final inning and two thirds for his 5th save. Another big game from Joe McPhillips (.326/.377/.516), who went 3 for 4 with a run scored and two driven in and hit his 4th homer of the season. Bobby Erbakan returned to action and hit his team-leading 6th homer. And Josh Schaeffer hit his 4th homer.
Another win for the visitors in game 2, this time behind another strong Steve Green (4-0, 4.21) start. Green gave up 3 runs on 7 hits over 6 innings. Ben Flynn gave the team another strong 2 innings and Tim Shore worked the 9th for his 7th save. Bobby Erbakan went 2 for 4 and hit his 7th homer while extending his current hitting streak to 20 games.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:



The Columbus Whalers, the reigning back-to-back champs of the WPK, faced off this week with the hottest club in the SJL thus far in 1977, the Washington Night Train, a team with a pretty good winning history of their own. And on Tuesday the Whalers claimed a come-from-behind win in eleven innings when they got a big hit from an unexpected source, rookie back-up catcher Adam Wheeler. Wheeler went 2 for 4 in the game with his biggest hit being the 2-out walk-off double he hit in the 11th off reliever Jeff Chaffee. Fans of the Brewers might recall Wheeler's days as a minor leaguer in the Brewer system after being acquired in a trade with San Antonio prior to the 1973 season. Last season Wheeler had perhaps the finest offensive year for a catcher in the history of the Brewers organization when he put up 6 WAR, batting .347/.423/653 with 21 doubles, 31 homers, and 95 RBI at AA Nashville. But with a crowded field of prospects at catcher, and with his questionable defensive skills, he was let go as a minor league free agent in the off-season. The Whalers are happy to have him.



The other story of this game is 28-year old Washington starting pitcher Art Ferrante throwing 151 pitches over 10 innings. Ferrante was the 3rd overall pick in the 1967 draft (by Milwaukee), has a great reputation for leadership and baseball smarts, but is also seen by many around the league as having a very old arm and being an accident waiting to happen (Wrecked). He suffered a ruptured UCL in July of 1973 and it led to him missing 2 full seasons in addition to the remainder of that campaign. He came back to post a 5.6 WAR season last year but many see it as a serious mistake by long-time Night Train manager Larry Hart leaving him in this long, particularly in an early season game with the team rolling.




MGL:



The MGL game of the week was a Wednesday evening match-up between the surprising Baltimore Lords and the continuously disappointing Brooklyn Aces. But in this one the Aces did manage to hold on to a narrow 3-2 margin for the win. Former Brewer great Ryan Rodgers went 3 for 3 for the Aces in the win. But the real story as starting pitcher Joel Travino (2-3, 5.00), who went the distance for the win, giving up just 2 runs on 5 hits while striking out 11 batters. The 28-year old lefty is the best swing-and-miss pitcher in the game this year in spite of possessing just an above average fastball which generally doesn't even hit 90 on the radar gun. Travino does however have an elite curveball which he pairs with probably the best changeup in the game. While it hasn't led to a great deal of success this season it has given him a phenomenal 10.0 K/9. (His career K/9 is 9.8, but most of this has come out of the bullpen. This is the first year where he has been fully inserted into the starting rotation since his rookie year of 1972 when he pitched for El Paso and led the league in K/9 at 11.2 but also led the league in bases on balls allowed at 126.)