Despite the handy enough 17-10 record, July is not one of our better months as our shaky lower-rotation pitching gets borderline seismic. Only Derringer posts a sub-4 ERA sectional as even Bill Foster – in the middle of a career-best campaign – gets the wobbles in the second half of the month and only this splendid offence of ours keeps the ship bobbing along on top of the waves. Even they, however, are showing their first signs this season of a slowdown, although Vaughan’s outstandin year continues with the monthly batting award and a power surge sees Dihigo mash 7 taters for the sectional to almost double his season total.
At 70-31 and well in control of the NL (not to mention with a +200 run diff), this may sound like needless nit-picking. But our big lead has a lot to do with the underwhelming performance of our rivals and I doubt we’ll be given a similarly cushy ride come playoff time, especially with the Yankees now appearing to hit good form and within reach of the A's, who are proving themselves a formidable side after a long lean period. The flipside of Foster's success this season is that it all but guarantees it will be his last with us, so a mini-rebuild might be in order, especially with some of our other players moving toward their mid-30s. So it would be nice to lock down one more title before that.
Here are the top 20s by WAR to this point.
And the awards, news and leaders.
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