## Standings / Recap / Comments
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Baltimore Orioles 32 21 .604 - 185 152
Detroit Tigers 32 21 .604 - 210 156
Milwaukee Brewers 27 24 .529 4 181 182
Boston Red Sox 26 24 .520 4½ 188 152
Cleveland Indians 26 25 .510 5 196 173
New York Yankees 15 38 .283 17 138 192
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Minnesota Twins 30 21 .588 - 191 176
California Angels 32 24 .571 ½ 198 174
Oakland Athletics 29 24 .547 2 204 219
Chicago White Sox 25 29 .463 6½ 164 198
Texas Rangers 25 30 .455 7 159 174
Kansas City Royals 18 36 .333 13½ 174 240
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Pittsburgh Pirates 36 19 .655 - 187 127
Chicago Cubs 32 22 .593 3½ 212 204
St. Louis Cardinals 31 25 .554 5½ 233 196
Philadelphia Phillies 28 28 .500 8½ 220 227
New York Mets 23 33 .411 13½ 197 235
Montreal Expos 21 34 .382 15 164 206
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Houston Astros 34 23 .596 - 182 182
Los Angeles Dodgers 31 26 .544 3 198 200
Atlanta Braves 30 26 .536 3½ 211 202
San Francisco Giants 27 36 .429 10 203 197
San Diego Padres 24 33 .421 10 209 231
Cincinnati Reds 22 34 .393 11½ 221 230
The Orioles and Tigers have played themselves into a tie... but what is this? Milwaukee in 3rd, in late June? Who is driving??? Bear is driving!? NO THIS CANNOT BE. I'm just waiting for them to drop off but the Brew Crew are 12-5 for the month, 4 regulars are hitting .300+ for the month - CF Ross Poynor (.290, 4, 21 and .344), RF Jun Kim (.280, 4, 19 and .328), LF/1B Jacquot Mazzucato (.333, 8, 22 and .378 with 6 dingers), and newly called up Sergio Sicre (.324, 0, 1, all of that in June), and 3 starting pitchers have ERAs below 1.50 - Omar Jiminez (3-0, 0.39, all of that in June), Danny Plaunt (7-3, 2.16, 1.24 in June), and Cris Olivares (5-5, 2.87 and 1.38). It's... well, it's enough to vault ahead of the Red Sox for now, isn't it?
Taking a look at the old statistical races... Tigers CF Alvin Romero (.338, 1, 16) has cooled off this month, hitting only .266 in June, but right now it's still good enough to lead the AL. He's followed by the usual suspects, Royals OF Tony Danza (.332, 0, 11) and Twins 2B Daniel Gilmet (.325, 3, 17). Ernesto Garcia (.267, 17, 48) is still easily the leader in HRs and RBIs but at least is no longer a Triple Crown threat; the guys right after him are White Sox 1B Alice Cooper (.241, 13, 39) and, newly cracking the top 3, Twins 1B Angelo Martinez (.234, 12, 33), who's still got a few knives left in the old drawer at 36. Royals LF RJ Dominguez (.247, 11, 38) rounds out the top 3 in RBIs. Romero and Sox OF Arnold Schwarzennegger (.218, 0, 10) remain deadlocked, now at 17 steals apiece, with two more guys tied for 3rd in that category - the aforementioned Tony Danza and Red Sox OF Tom Brown (.285, 5, 25), trying to will his team back into the pennant race through pure speed.
As noted in the notes below, Michael Pesco (10-3, 2.46) became the first man in either league to amass 10 Ws this week and now holds a 2-win lead over 3 guys - Texas' Chad Daugharty (9-2, 2.08), the Tigers' Jimmy Goddard (8-4, 2.04), and his teammate Edgar Molina (8-4, 2.34). We still have 3 guys with sub-2 ERAs in the league, including 2 guys who are ahead of the all-time ERA record: Baltimore's Santos Rodriguez (6-3, 1.54) and the A's Lee Barnard (7-2, 1.59) are ahead of the pace with young Cleveland ace Jose Martinez (7-4, 1.93) just off of it. Edgar Molina's got 97 Ks now, just ahead of Boston's Justin Kindberg (5-6, 2.88) and Oakland's Roberto Ortiz (4-3, 3.91), who both have 94. Speaking of the A's, Oakland has been relying on their stopper Willis Chavez (2-1, 2.61, 14 Sv) at a record-setting saves level themselves, followed by the Twins' Travis Livingston (1-2, 0.71, 12 Sv) as the only 2 guys in the AL in double digits.
In the NL, the batting race seems kind of similar to the real-life AL's in 1968 (when Yaz led everyone with a .301 average): Mets RF Barry Cooper (.310, 1, 17) has the best average but it's not, like, amazing or anything. He's just ahead of the Reds' Alonzo Huanosta (.308, 0, 21), the AL batting titlist in 1970, and the Cubs' 1B Antonio Lopez (.302, 10, 24). RF Jaden Weaver (.263, 15, 44) isn't super happy with the losing but he seems dead set on showing the Astros that they shouldn't have traded him to the Reds - he leads all NLers with 15 HRs. 3 more guys have 13 apiece: the Braves' 1B Dante Chairez (.242, 13, 31), San Diego's 2B Paul McCartney (.239, 13, 35), and Cubs SS/RF Jeremy Taylor (.240, 13, 37). Those 3 are, as has been the case in the AL for so much of the year, also the top 3 in RBIs. It's like teams bat their best power hitters cleanup or something. The overall league leader in steals is Reds 2B Pedro Ortiz (.271, 1, 11) with 20, with injured Braves OF Chris Ward (.280, 2, 7) still in 2nd at 11 and just ahead of the only other 2 senior circuit baserunners with 10+ steals, Houston's Big George Foreman (.284, 3, 17) and Chicago's Sean Gabel (.288, 1, 18) with an even 10 apiece.
3 men in the NL now have 9 wins and thus the best chance to be the first 10 game winners: the Dodgers' Fernando Apolonio (9-3, 1.05), who's also lapping the field in ERA, the Pirates' DJ Cheeves (9-2, 1.95), and Tony Rivera (9-4, 2.20) of the Houston Astros. Well behind Apolonio but still doing pretty darn well if you ask me in the ERA race are Cheeves' Pittsburgh teammate Santos Arango (8-6, 1.92) and, improbably, young Mets know-it-all John Ratzenberger (4-5, 1.94). Cheeves is the 4th and last guy in the league with an ERA under 2, which is still a lot of guys. Speaking of counting milestones, the Cardinals' Roger Quintana (6-5, 2.54) became the first guy in either league to reach 100 Ks this week; he's at that number exactly and that's waay out in front of Santos Arango with 82 and the Mets' Ernesto Carrillo (2-8, 4.50), who might be in danger of moving off this list just by getting demoted to the bullpen if he can't cut down on those walks. We do have 3 guys with double digit saves in the senior circuit now: in spite of his blown save tonight, Alec Cosby (2-2, 1.67, 12 Sv) still edges out the Pirates' Paz Lemus (3-1, 0.50, 11 Sv) and the Astros' Jon Douglas (2-1, 1.35, 10 Sv).
## Major Transactions
June 12: The Astros traded minor league RF Josh Huckaby (.261, 4, 20 at AAA Oklahoma City) to the Expos for minor league 2B Zachary Taylor (.292, 7, 19). This is pretty much a depth move for both teams, with Taylor probably more likely to see major league PT than Taylor. Then again, Montreal is bad and Huckaby does have a lot of speed...
June 14: The Expos traded C Roberto Carranco (.260, 6, 12) to the Phillies for currently minor league C Sam Rahn (.070, 0, 3 in the major leagues this year). The Expos got a new starter from the Rule V draft this year and Carranco has been vocally unhappy about the reduced playing time. He's traded with fellow disgruntled backstop Rahn, who was the Phillies' starter in both 1970 and 1971 before a horrific start led the team to panic-move him down to AAA. Now he can restart in Montreal.
June 15: The Braves traded RP Roger Evans (0-0, 2.38) and RP Steve Hollopeter (2-1, 5.62) to the Phillies for RP Josh Willie (0-1, 1.35) and minor league 1B Mitchell Lile (.308, 5, 28 in AAA, name is not set in stone). The centerpiece here was swapping LOOGYs in Evans and Willie. Hollopeter looks all right with the walks and strikeouts (17 K, 8 BB in 16 IP) but he's a flyball guy who has a really bad problem with the longball (25 allowed in 94.2 IP combined the last 2 years), which makes him below replacement level in Atlanta. The Braves get a 22 year old minor league 1B to sweeten the pot; he's blocked by Dante Chairez but hitting is hitting.
June 16: The Giants traded P Dan Ballard (0-3, 4.11) to the Cardinals for minor league P Oscar Amador (0-4, 3.86 in AAA Tulsa). Ballard's been OK with serving in the bullpen in SF but he's got a long history of starting - the man is a 150 game winner - and the Cards have been a bit thin there. Amador in return is not the greatest prospect in the world - I mean, technically he isn't one given that he's already 25 - but he did get a cup of coffee with the White Sox last year and could maybe turn into something. The Giants are 4-10 for the month of June following an 11-19 May; whatever thoughts they had early in the season of being a surprise contender are pretty much gone now.
## News
June 12: The city of North Charleston, South Carolina, made up of predominately African-American areas that had been kept outside of the city limits of predominately white Charleston, was formally incorporated, 14 months after a referendum had passed with a majority of voters approving a separate city. North Charleston still exists today and is the 3rd largest city in the state.
June 12: American Airlines Flight 96 made an emergency landing after an improperly closed cargo door was blown off at 12,500 feet shortly after the DC-10 took off from Detroit on a flight to Buffalo. Captain Bryce McCormick struggled with failing flight controls but still successfully landed the jet with 67 passengers on board. In a similar incident 2 years later on Turkish Airlines Flight 981, all 340 souls will be lost when the cargo door falls off.
June 12: Let's have some lighter news! Well, a successful landing is good news. ANYWAY. I was expecting... who was it, Justin Kindberg? to win the AL PotW after he gave up 1 run in 16 innings last week but he also went I think 0-1 in that time. Instead the award went to 23 year old rookie Omar Jiminez (2-0, 0.60) of the Brewers, who gave up 1 run in 15 innings himself, striking out 14 in the process. Jiminez had 2 late-season starts (after a combined 25-2 record in the minors - wow!) last year so it's still just 4 total and as you can imagine this was his first ever Player of the Week.
June 12: In amidst all the turmoil in Cincinnati, Jaden Weaver (.269, 13, 40) is starting to come around as a hitter and he picked up his first Player of the Week this season. Weaver went 9-21 (.429) with 4 HRs, 5 runs, and 6 RBIs. He also struck out just once; for such a big power guy, Weaver's got some surprising bat control. This is Weaver's 4th PotW and first since April 12th of last year.
June 13: Captain Nikolay Grigoryevich Petrov, a GRU secret agent stationed in Indonesia, defected to the US by surrendering to the American naval attache in Jakarta. Petrov had stolen $900 (I would assume the equivalent in rubles but still) from his supervisor and panicked. He provided a lot of intel to the US and later, against the advice of the CIA, returned to the USSR in the late 70s and was never heard from again.
June 13: Red Sox SP Mike Pesco (9-3, 2.68) came into today's game vs. the Royals with a shot at being the first 10-game winner in baseball and he was even cruising fairly well through 6, allowing just 2 runs in a 2-2 tie at the time. Then Kansas City's young and up and coming lineup got to him to the tune of 5 runs (he was charged with 4 of them) as the Royals wound up cruising to an 8-2 victory. Reclamation project Andy Lagunas (3-2, 1.86) allowed 2 unearned runs in 7 innings for the Royals and RJ Dominguez (.260, 10, 37) belted a bases-clearing double in the 7th to put an exclamation point on the inning.
June 13: Meanwhile in Texas, Chad "Dog" Daugherty (8-2, 2.08) threw a 7-hitter to beat the Brewers 4-0 and put him 1 victory behind Pesco in the race. Daugherty wasn't at 100%, having just thrown 141 pitches in a 1-0 win against the Yankees on the 8th, but he was good enough. "I just try to take what I can," said Daugherty after the game, describing his pitching style. "Some call it nibbling, I call it taking off small pieces at a time." Daugharty is a 2-time All-Star but, in spite of going 33-22 over the last 2 seasons, hasn't reached the Midsummer Classic since 1969. That may change this season, although he hasn't appeared in the top 5 in voting for starters yet.
June 13: This might not be the year for the Chicago Cubs (30-19, 2nd NL East, 2 GB) but it's not for the lack of trying. They'd been bridesmaids in '69 and '70 before falling to 77-85 last year and so far it's looking like they've got that old... second place mojo back (sorry fake players!). Tonight they pulled one out against the Pads in exciting fashion. Stopper Jesse Kelly (4-0, 2.02, 6 Sv), coming off of a tortured campaign with the Yankees last year (8-7, 4.90 ERA, 12 Sv), blew his 3rd save in the 9th by allowing a solo HR to RF Ray Herring (.270, 3, 8) but stayed in for another 2 innings, allowing no further damage, and eventually got the vultured victory when CF Sammy Hagar (.316, 0, 2) made his 2nd RBI of the year the game-winner in the bottom of the 11th when he drove home Greg Darrow (.217, 1, 14), who himself had pinch-walked for tonight's starting C John Kohut (.233, 0, 4) at the top of the inning. Robbie Vaughn (1-2, 4.82) took the L for San Diego, who falls to 23-29 on the year.
"I feel like my future life might be defined as being in the shadow of another person," said Hagar following the game. "I'm just happy that here I can be my own man."
June 13: Dodgers SP Rogelio Salinas (5-4, 4.52) has had extreme issues with homeruns this year (16 allowed so far in 73.1 IP) and today... it came to bite him in a whole new way. Salinas threw a one-hitter, walked one man, and faced just one guy over the minimum... and OK, I made it sound like he lost the game, which he didn't. But that 1 hit was indeed a HR to Casey Satterfield (.250, 10, 27) and it meant that he was merely able to rack up a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. "Hey, I don't like the dongs anymore than anyone else," said Salinas following the game. "If anyone's got an idea on how to avoid them, I'm all ears." The Dodgers are expecting a deluge of mail.
June 14: DDT, a widely used and well-known pesticide, was banned in the US by order of EPA director William D. Ruckelshaus, with all use to cease by the end of 1972. The wrestling move, controversially, remained free to use.
June 14: Japan Airlines Flight 471 crashed while attempting to land at New Delhi, killing 82 of the 87 souls on board (one crew member and 4 passengers survived) and an additional 4 on the ground. The cause of the incident remains disputed, with Japanese investigators pointing to a possible false flight path signal and their Indian counterparts blaming pilot error, specifically the captain ignoring instrument indications and not having sight of the runway (the first officer was flying the approach to New Delhi).
June 14: Pirates 3B Roberto Prieto (.068, 0, 1) announced his retirement today. Prieto, a 3-time All-Star and 2-time World Series champion (1960 and 1966), had been a mainstay in the Bucs lineup since they acquired him from Cincinnati in 1965. The 39 year old Prieto, who has 1,290 hits and 154 homeruns in his career, won't be a Hall of Famer but will for sure be a member of the Pirates' Hall of Fame.
June 15: Dougal Robertson, his wife, 3 children, and a family friend were sailing on their yacht "Lucette" when the boat was attacked and capsized by... orcas. Yes, orcas. Killer whales. The six of them spent 38 days adrift in the Pacific Oceaen, first on an inflatable life raft and then a dinghy. Robertson wrote about the experience in a book called "Survive the Savage Sea", which, come on man, there are better titles to come up with. "Black and White and DEAD All Over", maybe, or "Blackfish".
June 15: Ulrike Meinhof, the second half of the Baader-Meinhof gang (you'll recall the Baader half was arrested earlier) was arrested in a teacher's apartment in Langenhagen, West Germany along with her partner in crime, Gerhard Muller.
June 15: Cathay Pacfic Flight 7002 crashes shortly after takeoff from Bangkok bound to Hong Kong, killing all 81 people on board. The crash was traced to the explosion of a bomb on the plane 22 minutes after the Convair CV-880 had taken off. A former police lieutenant in Thailand who had purchased $270,000 worth of flight insurance on his girlfriend and daughter before the departure, would be indicted for premeditated murder but the charges were eventually dismissed. This man sued the insurance companies and eventually received about $180k of the payout. It was reported that "airline staff and relatives [had considered] hiring a hitman to kill him".
June 15: Real life baseballer Andy Pettitte was born today in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
June 15: Pirates hurler Jeremy Battaglia (5-6. 2.18) has had some horrifically bad run support behind him this year - 1.9 runs scored per start so far - and tonight it was looking like yet another all-effort, no-results night for him as he battled Giants starter Mike Stuckey (4-8, 2.96) to a scoreless tie through 8 1/2 innings. Then the seas just baaaarely parted enough - RF Brian Jackson (.278, 3, 14) socked his 4th triple of the season to lead off the bottom of the 9th and then cleanup man LF Justin Lawson (.266, 8, 27) drove him in to win it. "The game was getting long," said Lawson following it, "and I just wanted to get it over with." The win puts the Pirates at 33-18, the best record in baseball and 2 games up on the Cubs in the NL East.
In the nightcap, by the way, Pirates' starter DJ Cheeves (9-2, 1.95) was the second man to try for 10 wins and like the first, he wasn't up to the task, allowing a season-high 5 runs in 6.1 innings in a 6-0 loss to San Francisco. I guess to be fair to him, he had to be better than perfect since Josh Matthews (7-4, 2.21) threw an 8-hit shutout to pick up the W. Pittsbugh does have issues scoring runs...
June 16: The FCC issued its "Open Skies" decision, clearing the way for private companies to operate their own ground systems for use of orbiting communications satellites, so long as they obtained FCC approval and complied with FCC rules, which included offering their transmissions to a wide range of customers. The decision opened the door for the first cable networks (um, sounds like satellite networks but what do I know? I guess the first cable companies got their programming delivered to them via satellite) to offer their own programming to paying customers.
June 16: A rockfall inside of a mile long railway tunnel near Soissons, France led to the collision and derailment of two passenger trains, killing 107 people. At 8:50PM six carloads of passengers were travelling from Paris to Laon and, after entering the tunnel, ran into a pile of rock and concrete. Minutes later, as survivors lay in the wreckage, a second train came into the tunnel from the opposite direction with its own three carloads of passengers and collided with the rubble and the first train. An additional 90 people were injured but survived.
June 16: Brewers 2B James Hong (.167, 0, 2) has been making me rue calling him up and displacing Dwayne Fraser (.252, 3, 15) so quickly - prior to today he'd been in a 2-31 slump since the call-up. Well, today he started to make me a believer with 4 hits in 5 at-bats, an RBI, and a steal in an easy 7-0 win over the Royals at County Stadium.
June 16: Braves SP George House (7-4, 4.12) has been having a rough time of it this year but today he pitched a real beauty, allowing just 3 hits and striking out 10 in a 1-0 shutout of the lowly Montreal Expos. In fact, this game was in doubt right up to the bottom of the 9th, when "Cranklin" Martinez (.286, 3, 8), in to pinch-hit for House, hit a bases-loaded single to send the Atlanta fans home happy. I'm not sure if 10 Ks is a career high for him or not; I know that of the several games he's got in his career highlights, he's never hit 10. On the other hand, he does average 6.8 K/9 this year and 6.6 on his career so he's got to have hit double digits before, right?
In the nightcap - why is it that when I find something good to write about in the first game of a double-header, there's always something worth noting in game 2??? - The Hammer, RF Henry Riggs (.269, 6, 19) finally broke out of his homerun drought with a solo shot in the 4th inning off of Expos starter DJ Fletcher (5-6, 3.68). The Braves went on to win and sweep today's games with a score of 7-4. Riggs last dialed 8 (for long distance!) over a month ago, on May 14. Scouts insist that the 36 year old just had a bad run but we're worried - is this the end for the all-time HR leader? Riggs is sitting at 529 of them right now. I guess he did literally just win the MVP last year so maybe it's not time to worry yet.
June 16: Speaking of troubled starters doing well, the Reds' Joe Hagan (4-6, 4.26), a 20-game winner in 1970 before falling to 9-17, 3.86 last season, threw a 3-hit shutout and didn't even need to face the Expos to do it. His victim was the New York Mets lineup. Hagan picked up his 1st shutout and 3rd complete game of the season in the 7-0 victory. RF Jaden Weaver (.265, 14, 42) hit a homerun and collected 2 RBIs for his team, who also just Tom Bertan (2-3, 5.10) yesterday after the fellow former 20 game winner (also in 1970) couldn't turn it around after suffering through one of the worst dropoffs in major league history (he went 2-10, 7.51 last season and spent the last couple months on the DL with a "he can't pitch so I'm not going to keep him on the roster" injury).
June 16: Man, another shutout today! (there was a 17-2 game in there too) This time Vince "The Eligible" Bachler (5-3, 2.67) outdueled the Astros' Tony Rivera (9-4, 2.20) to a 1-0 win for his Phillies, who themselves get back to .500 at 27-27 with the win. It was, like that Braves-Expos game, also knotted up going into the 9th but this time the visiting Phillies scratched out the winning run on a single by leadoff hitter and RF Bobby Corley (.228, 2, 6). The loss denied Rivera his 10th victory, making him the 3rd straight pitcher to whiff on the attempt at double digit wins.
June 17: At around 2:30 in the morning, five men were arrested at the Democratic National Committee headquarters on the sixth floor of the Watergate Office Building in Washington, DC but city police. Three police officers, one in uniform and two in plainclothes, arrived after being called by security guard / HERO Frank Wills (no relation to the Seattle Mariners reliever to my knowledge). You can guess what this kicks off. I'll give you a hint: it's in the name of the building.
June 17: Nine firefighters were killed in a fire at the Hotel Vendome in Boston. This was the worst firefighting tragedy in Boston history. The Vendome was a luxury hotel that was built in 1871 so was more than 100 years old at the time of the fire. The building was having renovations being performed on it and as such was largely empty this afternoon. The fire had begun at approximately 2:35PM and an alarm was called at 2:44PM. A total of sixteen engine companies, five ladder companies, two aerial towers, and a heavy rescue company responded. Althoug the fire was largely under control by 4:30PM, at 5:28PM, without warning, all five floors of a 40x45 foot section at the souteast corner of the building collapsed, burying Ladder 15 and 17 fighters beneath a two-story pile of debris. Following the fire the Vendome was successfully renovated and still stands to this day.
June 17: As the city mourned the sudden loss of those nine men, Michael Pesco (10-3, 2.46) was successful in his second try to become the major league's first 10-game winner, as he outlasted Chris Messina (4-6, 2.69) and the White Sox to win 2-0. It was a "walk between raindrops" kind of day for Pesco, who allowed 10 hits and allowed the bases to be loaded on 3 hits in the 9th before shutting things down by striking out Brian Maccioli (.277, 6, 24) and Josh Wade (.271, 0, 5) to end the game. "I guess it's a shutout but I didn't pitch well," said a weirdly dejected Pesco after the game. "I have my own standards I hold myself to and I didn't reach them." The win also puts the Red Sox up to 26-23 and 6-3 since their all-hands meeting a couple weeks ago.
June 17: Don't look now but the Yankees are on a STREAK! The team, which is still flirting with record-setting badness (15-38, last AL East), swept today's double-header against the equally punchless Texas Rangers (now 25-30), 6-4 and 3-2 in 12 innings. That second game... man, it was a Rangers/Yankees game if ever I've seen one: the score was tied at 2-2 by the 5th and then neither team could generate any offense at all until PH Nick Hodzic (.167, 1, 1), who I'm almost certainly about to demote back to AAA, hit his first HR and got his first RBI with a solo shot in the bottom of the 12th. "We've just got to start grinding," middle reliever Ed Lagos (2-1, 2.08), who picked up the win tonight with 2 innings of shutout ball, said after the game. "Don't look at the record. Just grind."
June 17: Phillies SP Marius Gaddi (5-7, 5.17) seems like he's turning into the true Denny McClain of this league, having really fallen off hard since his record-setting 27 win season in 1970. Well, today at least he turned things around as he threw a 3-hit shutout against the NL West leading Houston Astros, winning 6-0, striking out 4, and walking just one. Walks have been an issue for him so far - 3.8/9 which is well up from 2.8 last year and 2.1 in his big 1970 - so this was especially nice to see. Still like to see this guy start striking out guys again but hey, a shutout is a shutout.
June 18: In the worst air disaster in Britain to date (and well as the worst air accident - as in, not caused by a terrorist incident - in Britain to this day), all 118 people aboard British European Airways Flight 548 were killed when the Trident jetliner crashed shortly after takeoff from London Heathrow Airport. Although there's no evidence of sabotage, there was apparently an extremely heated argument between the pilot and co-pilot before this crash, which may have contributed to a poor cockpit atmosphere; however, it seems that the ultimate cause was a fairly well documented issue with the model of the plane itself that had led to several crashes previously.
June 18: Airline pilots launched a worldwide 24 hour strike to protest hijacking (the above argument was in reference to the pilot demanding that they still fly, apparently), but only three US carriers were grounded and one of those resumed flights at midmorning.
June 18: I wish these had the brief little statline I use but here's the latest All-Star voting standings:
Below are the current standings for the American League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jun. 18th , 1972) for the All-Star Game, which will be played on Tue. Jul. 25th , 1972. The top vote getter at this point is R.J. Domínguez with 394,567 votes.
CATCHER
1. Josh Lewis, Oakland Athletics: 262,424
2. Frank Abagnale, Baltimore Orioles: 236,222
3. Khalil Tabb, New York Yankees: 192,099
FIRST BASE
1. Ernesto Garcia, Cleveland Indians: 390,412
2. Mike Miller, Boston Red Sox: 309,931
3. Alice Cooper, Chicago White Sox: 301,981
SECOND BASE
1. Joey Ramone, Detroit Tigers: 280,168
2. Daniel Gilmet, Minnesota Twins: 252,221
3. Israel Gaytan, Oakland Athletics: 235,755
THIRD BASE
1. Tom Weiss, New York Yankees: 370,287
2. Mike Brookes, Minnesota Twins: 309,764
3. Marco Perez, Baltimore Orioles: 296,787
SHORTSTOP
1. Justin Ramey, Minnesota Twins: 269,531
2. Richard Simmons, California Angels: 225,173
3. Michael Luna, Texas Rangers: 205,248
LEFT FIELD
1. R.J. Domínguez, Kansas City Royals: 394,567
2. Lou Morgenstern, California Angels: 238,389
3. Bruce Springsteen, Boston Red Sox: 213,896
CENTER FIELD
1. Alvin Romero, Detroit Tigers: 384,495
2. Dave Corona, Kansas City Royals: 355,565
3. Carlos Hernandez, California Angels: 185,934
RIGHT FIELD
1. Tom Brown, Boston Red Sox: 300,110
2. Chris Tyree, California Angels: 286,228
3. Tony Danza, Kansas City Royals: 260,673
STARTING PITCHER
1. Justin Kindberg, Boston Red Sox: 185,172
2. Jimmy Goddard, Detroit Tigers: 177,610
3. Marco Sanchez, Boston Red Sox: 175,585
4. Michael Pesco, Boston Red Sox: 169,244
5. Jose Martinez, Cleveland Indians: 163,314
RELIEVER
1. Montay Luiso, Baltimore Orioles: 228,619
2. Sandy Hinojosa, Boston Red Sox: 225,880
3. Malcolm Post, Chicago White Sox: 215,416
4. Phil Bowman, Baltimore Orioles: 188,643
5. Travis Livingston, Minnesota Twins: 181,834
Over his career Domínguez has batted .264 and collected 264 hits, 50 home runs and 163 RBIs.
Below are the current standings for the National League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jun. 18th , 1972) for the All-Star Game, which will be played on Tue. Jul. 25th , 1972. The top vote getter at this point is Kevin Dwyer with 374,851 votes.
CATCHER
1. Jason Bushon, New York Mets: 338,537
2. John Stuart, St. Louis Cardinals: 305,407
3. Armando Flores, Atlanta Braves: 234,207
FIRST BASE
1. Justin Stone, Los Angeles Dodgers: 372,079
2. Antonio Lopez, Chicago Cubs: 365,908
3. Lorenzo Martinez, St. Louis Cardinals: 340,472
SECOND BASE
1. Kevin Dwyer, Atlanta Braves: 374,851
2. Paul McCartney, San Diego Padres: 321,388
3. Pedro Ortiz, Cincinnati Reds: 270,579
THIRD BASE
1. Mike Galeana, St. Louis Cardinals: 248,551
2. Vicente Luna, Atlanta Braves: 232,316
3. Pete Little, Houston Astros: 226,679
SHORTSTOP
1. Tony Shannon, Philadelphia Phillies: 303,349
2. Jeremy Taylor, Chicago Cubs: 296,687
3. Akiho Fujimoto, San Francisco Giants: 248,650
LEFT FIELD
1. Rafael Disla, St. Louis Cardinals: 288,292
2. Alonzo Huanosta, Cincinnati Reds: 266,968
3. Justin Lawson, Pittsburgh Pirates: 260,973
CENTER FIELD
1. Alex Vallejo, Chicago Cubs: 354,203
2. George Foreman, Houston Astros: 299,776
3. Bryant Tarala, Philadelphia Phillies: 272,650
RIGHT FIELD
1. Jaden Weaver, Cincinnati Reds: 369,939
2. Henry Riggs, Atlanta Braves: 295,717
3. Casey Satterfield, St. Louis Cardinals: 271,254
STARTING PITCHER
1. Tony Rivera, Houston Astros: 136,205
2. George House, Atlanta Braves: 125,027
3. Santos Arango, Pittsburgh Pirates: 122,085
4. Steve Waiters, Cincinnati Reds: 117,108
5. Ben Feldhusen, San Diego Padres: 102,222
RELIEVER
1. John Winn, Atlanta Braves: 175,170
2. Geoff Saus, New York Mets: 142,499
3. Pete Lynn, Cincinnati Reds: 136,223
4. Charlie Bechtel, San Francisco Giants: 121,074
5. Paz Lemus, Pittsburgh Pirates: 107,719
Dwyer's career batting average is .315. In 1592 games, he has gotten 1933 hits, 204 home runs, 826 RBIs and scored 900 runs.
June 18: In amidst a Detroit rally that led to a grand slam by Niki Lauda (.271, 4, 13) and an 8-4 win for the Tigers, the Angels had disaster occur as RF and #3 hitter Chris Tyree (.294, 2, 24) came up lame fielding a single and throwing the ball into the infield. He was immediately removed, examined by trainers, and diagnosed with a rotator cuff strain in his throwing arm. He's been immediately placed on the DL. Let's hope prospects Jaco Pastorius (.260, 1, 7) and Minzengo Pinda (.375, 0, 0) can take up the slack while he's out, because it's looking like he might be gone for the next month. The Angels, with the loss, fall half a game behind the Twins in the AL West.
June 18: SS/RF Jeremy Taylor (.240, 13, 37) reminded everyone why he's 2nd in the league in All-Star voting at short - and maybe should be first - today as he belted a 3-run homerun in the bottom of the 9th off of Dodgers stopper Alec Cosby (2-2, 1.67, 12 Sv) to win the game for his Cubbies 5-4. The loss was Cosby's 3rd blown save but also only his 3rd meltdown all year (against 14 shutdowns - blame bullpen usage in the 70s for that blown save ratio). The Cubs remain 3 1/2 games behind the hot-as-a-hot-pocket Pittsburgh Pirates with the win as Taylor for now is in a big old tie for 2nd in NL HRs. They're also 10 games over .500 for the first time since 1970.
## Teams in Review
June 13: I've been expecting the 20-loss plateau from the
Houston Astros (32-20, 1st, NL West) for a while now, but they've kind of stopped losing since a 7-7 April: 27-13 since that point, including 8-3 so far in June. It's a little smoke and mirrors, as they have the 3rd worst offense in the NL (15th overall) but then again they do a. play in the Astrodome, which curbs offense, and b. are #2 in runs allowed (8th in the MLB in ERA). I guess they're just back to what they were last year!
Rotation: 3 1/2 games up on the Braves, I just don't see any reason to change up a good thing. Caleb McDonald (4-7, 4.89) has had a rough time of it and wasn't that good last year either in spite of a 16-10 record (4.07 ERA and more walks than Ks) so he's definitely someone to look at, but why mess with something that's working?
Bullpen: I think I will drop the 'pen down to 4 men even with a 4 man rotation. Freddy Mangual (2-0, 7.00) is the odd man out; with Adam Eastin (0-0, 1.29, 2 Sv) due back in less than a week from his DL stint with a sore elbow, I'll probably have to make a further decision soon. It's just... as-is, guys aren't really being used enough. Alex Ochoa (0-1, 4.38) is probably in line to get sent down but he's also got 12 Ks in 12.1 innings so far (see? Not enough usage) so maybe things do change.
Infield: C Dan Rigdon (.199, 1, 8) has been awful but he's also one year removed from his first All-Star appearance. He was a pretty decent hitter last year... and he's thrown out 51.5% of base-stealers, so it's not really time to give Nate Williams (.211, 0, 2) significant time just yet. I guess I will put him in the regular rotation vs RHPs but that's mainly becauase he's a switch-hitter and Rigdon is a righty and that's a way to ensure that Rigdon continues to play 100% of the time against lefties.
1B/OF Justin Jensen (.211, 2, 17) meanwhile has been a complete disappointment at first base. That was a duuuumb trade, let's face it. He did hit 42 HRs in 1970 but he missed all of last year and, whatever you might think of now-Reds RF Jaden Weaver's (.266, 13, 40) attitude, there were no asterisks attached to his production. That said, what to do here? I've been using Nate Ringstad (.315, 3, 11) as a first baseman vs LHPs a bunch with Jensen in right but, with all due respect to Nate, he's been a great pinch-hitter but not a regular position player the past several years, and he's 36 himself. What I will do is just... end that, allow Jensen to get his stroke back against lefties while playing first, and let Bobby Beaulieu (.130, 2, 9) more opportunities to hit.
I'm not a fan of 2B Jordan Green (.241, 3, 20) on defense but I guess this is the bed Houston's made, and his backup Jon Sherron (.167, 0, 3) looks like he'd be a disaster if I put him in there.
3B Pete Little (.283, 2, 18) is a guy I want to call slumping but by RC/27 he's actually outproducing last year even taking the lower offensive environment into account. That's what upping your batting average by 53 points will do I guess. I'd still love to see the HRs return (Little ha 16 last year) but it's not enough to complain about.
SS Masanori Hattori (.242, 4, 8) is, like Green, awful defensively but he should have a bat that can carry him. At least, it's carried the team to the best record in the NL West so far, and I'm not going to replace him with 34 year old Elijah Patton (.235, 1, 4). What I will do is call up 33 year old Alejandro Chairez (.293, 3, 26 in AAA OKC), who was baaad last year bit hit about as well as he's hitting in the minors this year in the major leagues in 1970, and let him be Hattori's caddy. We definitely need something better here in the long term.
Outfield: As noted, Bobby Beaulieu is going to get more time out there. He's been sooo bad I know but he was very solid, even above average for a corner outfielder last season (.266, 8, 44 in 83 games with a .361 OBP). Let's just hope he learns how to adapt his swing to the Astrodome; so far this year he's been cutting and missing way too often (33 Ks in 100 at-bats).
June 14: Like the Astros above, the
Detroit Tigers (29-20, 2nd AL East, 1 GB) are doing pretty well, all things considered. Yes, the O's are somehow doing even better but the Tigers were supposed to do well this year and they pretty much are. If anything, in spite of the adversity the hitting has faced so far, it's still leading the way - they lead the league in runs scored (7th overall) and are 3rd in ERA (4th overall). The advanced stats seem to indicate that maybe the offense has gotten a little lucky with the sequencing but we don't care about them advanced stats!
Rotation: Yeah, not touching things here. The top 3 guys are pretty great and even #4 man Chris McGranahan (4-2, 3.05) has been well above average so far.
Bullpen: I think we need to follow everyone else here and drop down to a 4 man bullpen and an 8 man staff overall. I'm going to send down Alex Ruiz (0-0, 4.09) instead of long man Juan Merino (2-0, 1.69) on the basis that Merino has also been useful as a spot starter; any time the Tigers have to play a double-header, he's been rolling in there like a man who deserves a starter's job. And maybe he does... dude was 12-12 last year and has struck out 16 batters in 21.1 IP to date. For now, he'll just pitch some of the longer innings out of the bullpen.
Infield: I feel like I *should* be moving Gianluigi Farinelli (.167, 3, 11) out of the starting catcher slot but a. he's been a good hitter the past 2 seasons, and b. backup Trey Forgey (.250, 0, 4) has been very bad at stopping the run with only 14.3% of stealers being thrown out. I think if anything I'm going to just take the pressure off of Farinelli, name him the once-more full time starter, and if I make a decision here again, it'll be in like August.
Tim Suman (.233, 1, 7) has been a big disappointment filling in for Danny Villegas (.302, 6, 22) at first while the veteran recovers from a fractured hand. It suuucks because not only do we need to count on Villegas not being able to play a whole season, next season will see the DH in this league and that means that either Suman or young race car driver Niki Lauda (.321, 3, 9) will be playing the bulk of first (assuming we drop Villegas - who is a very solid defender at 2nd let alone 1st - to DH to try to keep him in the lineup). The numbers tell me it's time to drop to a straight platoon; I'd previously been using them both around 50/50.
I've got 1969 2nd round pick Joe Theismann (.342, 3, 9 at AAA Toledo) up to take some time away from Jose Ayala (.218, 6, 17) at 3B. "The Joker", as the fans call him, is still getting his power in but not only is the average not showing up this year but the 2-time Gold Glove (granted, at first base) is looking like a defensive minus at the position now. Theismann on the other hand is a potential Gold Glover himself, except actually at third, with a quarterback's cannon for an arm and a great pair of legs about which you hope nothing will ever happen to.
Calling up Theismann also led me to make yet another decision in the infield, this time pushing incumbent Matt Mullen (.200, 1, 10) to the bench in favor of 25 year old Rob Curran (.292, 3, 7), acquired from Washington in the David Salinas trade and reportedly unhappy because he believes he ought to be starting. Well, now he'll get that chance. He's not the defensive wizard that Mullen is but he's not at all bad at the position and of course he profiles as a plus on offense and therefore far better than Mullen, a man who at his best hit for an empty .268 in 1970 which he hasn't come close to since.
Outfield: I already made the biggest move out here in sending Guillermo Thompson (.185, 0, 5 combined) to Texas in exchange for minor league pitcher Richard Pulido (2-0, 3.18 combined in AAA). Still, though, as much as I think and hope he'll get on track, corner OFer Adam Dittmar (.149, 2, 19) has been completely unable to hit so far this year and the man has to hit the bench. Chris Contreras (.261, 3, 11) will take his place, with one of those guys in the infield maybe moving up into left once Villegas and 2B Joey Ramone (.299, 1, 12) return from the DL.
June 16: And hey, all the good teams coming in at once! Here I've got the
Baltimore Orioles (30-20, 1st AL East), who I do not for a second think will keep this up but hey, let's ride it while it lasts. They're 2nd in the AL in ERA (5th overall) and 7th in runs scored (17th overall) so it's your general story of good pitching making up for only OK hitting. As a whole, though, the peripherals for the hitting is not as bad as the runs scored suggests other than a general lack of power (28 HRs, t-8th in the AL and t-19th in MLB)... okay, and a general lack of speed (22 SB, t-9th). We're kind of stuck in a spot where I think a lot of the players really aren't super great but this is not at all the time to start switching guys who are producing out.
Rotation: The O's only recently moved out of a strict 5 man rotation and it shows in the very even distribution between the top 2 and bottom 2 guys - 11 starts vs 10 starts. That'll change a bit but in truth we've got ourselves a pretty deep rotation. The weakest link so far - and it's hardly even a weak link - is William Hart (5-3, 3.30), who's just a touch worse than average by ERA. He was also 13-7 with this team last year and is a pretty solid pitch-to-contact guy overall. No changes to be made, outside of that switch to the 4-man rotation that already happened.
Bullpen: The biggest "move" here is that Phil Bowman (2-0, 0.50) has been used two times since mid-May because of a lingering strained back. He's looking like he might be returning from that fully next week. In retrospect, we probably could have dropped him on the DL. Otherwise, I feel like the ace Montay Luiso (3-1, 1.40, 9 Sv) needs to be used even more and I'd flush someone else from the bullpen but the only guys with options left are Bowman and Luiso, who are also the two best throwers out of the 'pen.
Infield: C Frank Abagnale (.319, 3, 20) has been pretty much everything the Orioles could ask for out of a young catcher. OK, almost everything; he's only throwing out 25% of basestealers, but his backup David Delgado (.342, 0, 8) is just not a good defensive backstop, period, which is why Abagnale got the bigger opportunity in the first place.
The team's old catcher, 1B Jon Hernandez (.215, 4, 21) continues to inhabit that sphere in between hitting like a catcher and like a proper corner infielder. He doesn't really hit for enough power and his upside seems like a .260 average but he does draw walks and that is something Baltimore adores in a hitter. I've been using him in a platoon situation with OF/humanitarian Sergio Viera de Mello (.270, 1, 14) and that's... OK I guess. Love to find a bit more pop here.
3B Marco Perez (.244, 5, 19) is another guy who looks like he's very meh but is better than you'd think thanks to a goodly amount of walks. He's a 6-time All-Star and 4-time Gold Glover and I'm not doing anything with him except hoping he stays healthy so he can continue to stay in the lineup every day.
The lucky days may have run out for SS Jon "Lucky Number" Blevins (.243, 2, 12). He's hitting about like he always has, although man, that .283 OBP is very un-Orioles like. The issue though is that in the past he's been the 2nd best shortstop in the AL and that just doesn't look like it's the case any longer. As such, 23 year old singer/SS Charles Bradley (.343, 0, 2) has been playing more and more in there. I'm not letting Bradley take over just yet but the way I run this team, I tend to pop guys in and out if we're facing a pitcher they have a record against, and Blevins... has a bad record against a lot of guys, let's just leave it at that.
Outfield: Matt Nugent (.228, 6, 18) in CF is exactly a guy I feel I can't just pull from the lineup with the team doing this well. I more or less expected him to be Bryant Tarala lite when I traded Tarala to the Phillies. He's been... maybe a bit too lite. He share's Tarala's speed and propensity to strike out but he doesn't have Tarala's range or ability to get on base with walks (relatively speaking; he did walk 67 times last year and this season, in spite of the low average, his .303 OBP is about league average). There is a guy waiting for that job in Frank Beard (.286, 0, 0), who I felt I had no choice but to call up after he went .378/11/32 in the AAA Rochester Red Wings' first 46 games. He's also a far better fielder than the "Nuge". OK, we were platooning but I'm just going to turn most of the reins over to Beard. Nugent will still play a bit and hey, if someone in the corners gets hurt or sucks, he can take over there.
June 16: In second place in the NL East, the
Chicago Cubs (31-20, 1 1/2 GB) are having a pretty good comeback year. Is it all that? They're top 3 in the NL in runs (and overall) but only 7th in runs allowed (and 12th overall), which I guess is pretty good for the Cubbies at Wrigley. I'm not sure it's a thing they can count on going forward but hey, they are where they are. I have IDEAS. Well, one idea.
Rotation: The problem with the Cubs running a 4 man rotation is that their top guys just aren't that good. Scott Coffey (5-4, 3.83) is kind of their ace, I guess? He's got only 55 Ks vs 42 walks but he's the #1 guy on the basis of he didn't implode last year a la Bill Lucas (4-5, 3.40). I'm calling up 26 year old rookie Alex Guizar (6-2, 2.51 at AAA) to be that guy. Gordon Summer (6-3, 2.71), who insists on being called "Sting", which sounds too much like a wrestler nickname to us, is also there should someone else in the rotation go down or get bad.
Bullpen: I'm kind of surprised that Jesse Kelly (4-0, 1.77, 6 Sv) has held up as well as he has; he was baaad with the Yankees last year (8-7, 4.90, 12 Sv). It's good, too, because last year's closer, now LOOGY/middle reliever Freddy Uscanga (1-2, 4.19, 2 Sv) has continued to struggle. Why is it so hard to find pitchers for this team (I know the answer: it's "homeruns")?
Infield: OK HERE IS MY BIG IDEA: moving Jeremy Taylor (.242, 12, 34) off of shortstop against LHPs. This is a team that has the best pure fielder of this generation in John Timonen (.000, 0, 0) but he's barely played and I don't want to remove Taylor from the lineup overall. Instead, I'm going to shoot Taylor out into right field, which is probably where he'll go in the longterm anyway, with 35 year old Jason Workman (.253, 6, 21), who seems like he's gone from a .310ish hitter to a low-average slugger the last couple years, turning into a platooner.
Outfield: I'm not saying I'm happy with CF Sammy Hagar (.250, 1, 3) but Alex Vallejo (.353, 2, 10) should be back in around 3 weeks and he's good enough for now. The only Van Hagar song I can think of is the one about driving 55 and that's not super applicable here.
June 17: The
Minnesota Twins (29-20, 2nd AL West, 1/2 GB) were going along pretty well, all things considered, but all the injuries caught up to them this month to the tune of a 6-8 record so far. Mike Brookes (.227, 3, 11) is still out and let's just also say that the former MVP is not being very MVPish so far. As a whole, this team is performing like a roughly league average team but the home/road splits (15-5 vs 14-15) indicate that maybe they'll improve as they play more games at the Met... or that the .750 record is unsustainable.
Rotation: We're still working with the 4 man rotation although Angelo Ramos (6-5, 4.58) doesn't look like he's going to be the ace of the staff anymore. He's 36 and in spite of 199 Ks last year he was off so this is not unexpected. Chris Benavides (7-6, 3.63) isn't exactly lighting things up either but I guess at this point a middle-of-the-road innings eater is the best they've got.
Bullpen: Travis Livingston (1-2, 0.74, 11 Sv) has been just plain awesome so far and the game plan going forward is going to be to lean on him haaaaaard. We still have a 5ish man bullen; 5ish because Mike Larsen (7-2, 2.05) has been nursing a finger blister recently and so Victor Ruiz (0-0, 10.80) is at least theoretically in the rotation right now (he's also perilously close to losing his job here altogether). Setup man Ricky Rosas (2-2, 4.02) has also been lit up a bit but maybe there the issue is just that he hasn't played enough; he also has 14 Ks in 15.1 IP.
Infield: I'm worried about Mike Brookes (.227, 3, 11) as much for the lack of power (those HRs are in 119 ABs) as much as anything but there's not a lot I can actually do about this. Danny Pellot (.241, 1, 8) has filled in for him, which is... fine but Pellot is pretty much exactly what a replacement-level infielder is supposed to be. Brookes, even at 33, should still have the bat (and the eye) to be the best 3rd baseman in the AL.
Outfield: I just noticed that Mike Grigg (.245, 2, 6) was "platooning" in the outfield by starting vs RHP. Oops! He's a righty himself and he's not a bad hitter but at age 38 he's got nooo range left so he's best suited as a pinch-hitter. Kyle Ship (.320, 0, 2) is a switch-hitter and clearly the guy I wanted to have in there.
In center Jose Villasenor (.158, 2, 6) is off to a horrible start but I'm not going to pull the plug at all - dude's 26, he hit .306 and made the All-Star just last year, and while the Twinkies do have a couple of interesting CF prospects they aren't really ready yet, and plus I'm not going to pull the trigger on a move like that until/unless Minnesota falls out of contention, which feels unlikely.