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.)
