A dispiritingly dispirited sectional from our group, plagued by inconsistency and incompetence and key players going missing just when we need them to stand up and be counted. As you can probably tell, I'm pretty frustrated by the whole situation and it might be back to the drawing board with a few of these guys who simply aren't giving us what we need.
One can easily send oneself around the twist overanalysing those metrics. The key for me is that we are 7th in runs scored, despite being top 3 across the slash. Have we been unlucky with regard to sequencing? Or all flash and no cash? No idea. All I know is that at one point we were 13 games over 500 and now we are 1. In my book, that speaks volumes to poor application.
Hard to be too critical of Stargell given his overall performance, but we sure could have done with him not tanking in the first three weeks of July. We are dead last in the NL in BB, but 3rd in OBP. Not sure how that works or what it says. Still need more from Bailey, although at least his BA now starts with a 2.
Take Fryman (who wins his first 9 decisions) and Lemaster (who pitches B2B 1-hitters) out and this has been our problem area. Bunning has been a massive disappointment even given our fairly modest expectations, while Hands is a dead man walking. He's just not a winner and I will be actively shopping him around in the offseason for an eligible replacement. That CC slot can be much better utilised than on him. The BP has been up and down with Gibbon a rock once again but Jackson and Giusti struggling.
I don't remember seeing an NL race as competitive as this one is shaping up, although the Cards have hit some great form and made a bit of a run for it. Dare to dream, St. Louis fans? A bit early for all that just yet. For us, 6 GB means all is not lost. That said, the club doesn't seem to have that winning feeling about it again this year.
The Yanks look to be making a strong move in the AL with a 19-11 June that includes a 16-game win streak, only to completely flub the handoff with a 12-18 July. It's between Bawston and Bawlmer now.
News, Leaders and Top 20s
Monthly Award Winners
June
American League
- Batter – Mickey Mantle (Yankees): 264 / 6 HR / 18 RBI
- Pitcher – Bob Shaw (Tigers): 6-0 / 1.13 / 32 K / 47.2 IP
- Rookie – Dock Ellis (Senators): 2-1 / 2.03 / 27 K / 44.1 IP
National League
- Batter – Johnny Callison (Phillies): 355 / 6 HR / 17 RBI
- Pitcher – Dave McNally (Cardinals): 5-0 / 1.46 / 32 K / 49.1 IP
- Rookie – Steve Shea (Cardinals): 2-1 / 1.17 / 4 SV / 9 K / 23 IP
July
American League
- Batter – Tony Conigliaro (Angels): 374 / 8 HR / 22 RBI
- Pitcher – Mike Cuellar (Orioles): 6-0 / 1.84 / 35 K / 53.2 IP
- Rookie – Dock Ellis (Senators): 3-0 / 1.69 / 28 K / 42.2 IP
National League
- Batter – Joe Morgan (Reds): 374 / 3 HR / 19 RBI
- Pitcher – Bob Gibson (Cardinals): 5-0 / 2.01 / 49 K / 49.1 IP
- Rookie – Tom Murphy (Reds): 3-1 / 3.00 / 14 K / 33 IP
Milestones and Observations of Note
- Don Drysdale earns his 200th career Win.
- Dick Allen is currently on the podium across the three TC stat cats.
- The Red Sox lose pitcher Fritz Peterson for the remainder to a shoulder injury, while a ruptured finger tendon makes it highly unlikely we’ll see O’s young gun Jim Palmer (13-4 / 1.20 to this point) back in action this season.
- A spot of elbow trouble will keep Houston’s Larry Dierker on ice for about 6 weeks, while the Giants lose 2B Horace Clarke for the rest of the year after he suffers a broken bone in his elbow.
- The Tigers’ horror 1968 goes from bad to worse as they lose gun catcher Bill Freehan for the year to a wrist fracture.
- Camilo Pascual is still kicking around in a relief capacity, and is traded by the White Sox to the Cards for fellow pitcher Dick Joyce. St. Louis also acquires catcher Dave Duncan and RP Ron Kline in a separate trade with the same club a few days later for OF Buddy Bradford. Here are some other Deadline trades of note:
S+ HOME
REPORTS HOME
PIRATES HOME