The Current Standings:
There is a strong two-team race shaping up in the
SJL West between two of the three Texas-based teams in the division, the reigning SJL champs San Antonio and the team that won the SJL pennant in 1978, the El Paso Dawgs. San Antonio has at times been without the services of their two superstar middle infielders, the often injured (Wrecked) all-world shortstop Bud Lindsay (who was out for six weeks with a hip strain) and John Mussaw (who suffered a separated shoulder in late June that sidelined him for 3 weeks), but still have a potent offense with leftfielder John Freeman (.317/.441/.560) leading the league in home runs with 24, and lead-off man and fine center fielder Zach McClelland hitting .310/.374/.427 with 19 doubles, 11 triples, and 42 stolen bases. Young left-handed starting pitcher Michael Noland got off to a terrific start this season but has experienced some set-backs recently and is now 8-9 with a 4.21 ERA. The Keys recently acquired veteran left-handed starter, and former Brewer, Erik Sloan from St. Louis to shore up their very average rotation.
Much different story in El Paso, where an under-powered offense is counterbalanced by a strong pitching staff and the best defense in the league. The danger is that the mostly veteran rotation is led by two very injury prone starters in Dan Bottom and Vincent Medina (who also plays first base and leads the team in homers with 14 and RBI with 67).
The rest of the SJL West is so weak that even after having suffered through a 15-game losing streak to start the month (technically the first loss came in June) the Seattle Alligators somehow still end July in 3rd place.
The
SJL East is led by the Pittsburgh Roadrunners and while part of the story is the pitching of their two veterans at the top of the rotation- Eric Johnson (15-2, 3.44), the former Brewer who had his first 20-win season last year, and the ultra-durable 28-year old Tony Rangel (12-5, 3.59)- and the play of their young almost sure SJL Rookie of the Year first baseman Nick Johnson (.382/.443/.471), who leads the league in batting average and is 3rd in WAR among position players- this is where we finally report on the spectacular break-through season the 26-year old right fielder Matt Van der Heyden is having.
Well, here, see for yourself:
At this fairly advanced stage of the season, Van der Heyden is on pace to set WPK records in runs scored, runs batted in, walks (breaking his own record in this one), and possibly WAR. Not that he wasn't already one of the best players in the league, but this year he is the best baseball player in the WPK universe and particularly with the injuries to Lindsay and Mussaw, he is hands down the most likely player to be named SJL MVP.
Washington is somehow managing to stay in contention in spite of a rather mediocre offense and a poor pitching staff. Top starter Art Ferrante is having a fine season- 11-9, 3.57- but the 31 year old righty always seems to be walking a tightrope with the frigid lake of career ending injury waiting below to envelope him should he lose his balance. And they do have one of the finest closers in the game in Jeff Chaffee (though he's also reportedly a bit of a selfish jerk). Basically they are over-achieving and it isn't likely to continue the entire season. But don't count on Philly or Columbus as this division will probably tighten up down the stretch. (No surprise that Jacksonville, who got off to a hot start, have fallen towards the bottom of the standings, where they belong.)
In the
MGL West, San Francisco remains strong but have been overtaken by our Brewers. (More about Denver below.) This looks like a 2-team race and the Velocity should make it interesting down the stretch with a number of good young hitters, including arguably the best overall catcher in the game in Andrew Litteral (L.A.'s Jason Ott would certainly argue this point) and a deep rotation led by veterans Mike Stagner, Dan Knauff, and Jim Anast but with talented 26-year old Jon Harrington at the top of the pile, currently with a 12-7 record and a 2.96 ERA.
The
MGL East should be a dogfight but the real question is whether the eventual division winner will even have a winning record. Brooklyn's veteran first baseman Danny Salvador continues to belt home runs (22) and remains a feared hitter, Montreal has gotten a great season from their 27-year old first baseman Chase Moeller (.351/.404/.563) though he has been showing some signs of regressing as the season progresses, Oklahoma City is under-achieving a bit but in spite of having some very talented players (second baseman Justin Banks, right fielder Jaime Benjamin, in particular) their offense shrinks to nearly nothing after the top three slots in the lineup and their pitching is mediocre at best. And really mediocre at best should be the slogan for the MGL East. It should at least make for an interesting pennant race, if you enjoy battles for the the right to claim to be the least bad of an unpromising bunch. (Hard to say what happened to Detroit this year, but I keep expecting them to come to life soon. Hasn't happened yet.)
Brewers Banter:
The Denver Brewers had a strong month of July, including putting together a 10-game winning streak mid-month, to take over first place, overtaking the San Francisco Velocity just a few days after the All-Star break.
These three certainly helped:
Sadahige Kawasaki's primary competition in his quest to win a third straight MGL Pitcher of the Year award might be teammate
Jim Atwell (11-7, 3.10). Although
Atwell's basic numbers don't look that impressive, he leads the MGL among pitchers in WAR (5.2), K/BB (4.3), FIP (2.73), and is 2nd in WHIP (1.14) and K/9 (7.3). The biggest change in
Atwell's game this season is his much improved control, as he is third in BB/9 at 1.7, just behind teammate
Kawasaki (1.6) and Chris Justice (1.5), who recently was traded away by Brooklyn to Milwaukee in the SJL.
Antonio Acuna once again is in competition with Detroit's John Hemmah for the MGL MVP, or so it would seem at this point of the season.
Acuna has already exceeded his home run total from his MVP 1979 season, has stolen 25 bases while being caught trying only 3 times, is on pace for 30 doubles and 38 home runs with 148 RBI while walking more times than he strikes out and scoring 127 runs.
And young left-handed starting pitcher
Austin Bond started Spring Training this year as a borderline prospect not likely to make the Opening Day roster. But he quickly got the attention of the scouting and coaching staffs who saw him blossoming into a legitimate back-of-the-rotation arm with maybe even mid-rotation potential. He has not disappointed, and even hurled an impressive 6-hit shutout of Portland early in the month while ending the month with a complete game victory over Brooklyn in which he allowed just 1 run on 4 hits. He's durable and a hard-working sparkplug of a player and he's becoming a favorite of management quickly. As the lone left-hander in the rotation the kid has earned a role in the rotation for the foreseeable future.