SJL:
The Game of the Week in the SJL was a tale of two teams heading in opposite directions. The Washington Night Train got off to a great start in 1977 and led the league for most of the first two months of the season, but things are falling apart now. (Remember the earlier story about players being fed up with the controlling approach of long-time manager Larry Hart? Perhaps a factor?) The Boston Berserkers, on the other hand, are red-hot and rising and now trail only the mighty Columbus Whalers in the SJL, and only by a single game at that. Washington's anemic offense is probably the biggest factor in their decline (they are 11th in the league in runs scored, OBP, batting WAR, and near the bottom in most every other category as well). Friday's tight loss against Boston was indicative- a great start from staff ace Art Ferrante who got almost no run support as the Berserkers completed a sweep of Washington.
MGL:
Earlier in the week we saw a match-up of two of the most surprising MGL teams early in the 1977 season- the Oklahoma City Diamond Kings and the high-scoring Baltimore Lords. In this game Oklahoma City prevailed as they get a walk-off win sparked by a professional at-bat from veteran captain (and former Brewer scouting discovery and minor league star) Jordan Gallardo, who worked a 7-pitch 1-out walk and one out and two singles later scored the winning run. Baltimore's excellent closer Brian Burke suffers the loss while the Diamond Kings closer Ben Bakeman, emerging as perhaps the most dominant closer in the MGL, gets the win.
