## Standings / Recap / Comments
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Detroit Tigers 36 23 .610 - 245 178
Baltimore Orioles 33 26 .559 3 209 187
Boston Red Sox 30 27 .526 5 207 171
Milwaukee Brewers 30 28 .517 5½ 204 217
Cleveland Indians 28 29 .491 7 216 203
New York Yankees 17 40 .298 18 157 208
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
California Angels 37 26 .587 - 221 196
Minnesota Twins 34 24 .586 ½ 220 205
Oakland Athletics 32 28 .533 3½ 224 242
Chicago White Sox 28 32 .467 7½ 197 217
Texas Rangers 28 33 .459 8 174 191
Kansas City Royals 21 38 .356 14 199 258
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Pittsburgh Pirates 38 22 .633 - 203 144
Chicago Cubs 35 25 .583 3 231 225
St. Louis Cardinals 35 26 .574 3½ 258 209
Philadelphia Phillies 31 29 .517 7 245 238
New York Mets 25 37 .403 14 212 263
Montreal Expos 23 38 .377 15½ 179 230
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Houston Astros 39 25 .609 - 206 198
Atlanta Braves 33 28 .541 4½ 229 217
Los Angeles Dodgers 33 30 .524 5½ 215 228
San Francisco Giants 30 39 .435 11½ 225 217
San Diego Padres 26 36 .419 12 226 249
Cincinnati Reds 25 38 .397 13½ 233 244
A look at the standings tells me that the biggest news out there is the AL East race opening up. It was tied going into the weekend but then the Tigers swept the Orioles in 3 games. I keep saying this but it's been a fun ride so far for Baltimore and even if they finish with like 85 wins and well off the pace, it will have been a successful year. Detroit on the other hand is looking awfully good. The Red Sox are starting to get back into play... maybe. In the West, you've got the Angels doing surprisingly well - I figured the division would be close, and it has been, but both Cal and Minnesota are legitimately good teams so far this year. The A's are sort of in there, although that negative FUN differential makes me think otherwise...
The NL races, well, it's also too early to say stuff is done but the Astros are the most complete team in the West and that's something that both the Braves - who lack good frontline pitching - and the Dodgers - who were supposed to be in a rebuilding year - have to deal with. The Pirates are pretty flawed offensively but the defense is just so, so good that it might not matter, especiallyy given that the 2nd place Cubs have the exact opposite issues. The Cards aren't super far out either and I feel like a big part of why they're underperforing is weirdly poor performance from decent players.
The AL batting race continues pretty much as it has all season: Royals OF Tony Danza (.340, 0, 14) is just holding off Detroit speedster Alvin Romero (.332, 1, 21) and Twins 2B Daniel Gilmet (.320, 4, 19). Ernesto Garcia (.278, 19, 53) leads the other two Triple Crown categories but there's one new guy in this mix in HRs at least - Chicago 1B/OF Alice Cooper (.245, 15, 41) is there as always but look at this! He's now tied with 36 year old Twins 1b Angelo Martinez (.235, 15, 40). Royals' slugger RJ Dominguez (.251, 12, 42) is still 2nd in ribbies thanks in part to Danza table-setting for him but a 2 HR month so far has dropped him to 4th in the league in that category. In steals, Romero has jumped way up on the 2nd place guy, White Sox CF Arnold Schwarzennegger (.211, 0, 10) with 22 steals to 17, with Red Sox'... cleanup hitter? RF Tom Brown (.293, 5, 28) on here and trying to will his team back into contention.
A couple of top guys got a bit lit up this week pitching wise so the top of the ERA board looks a little different. Rangers ace Chad Daugharty (10-2, 1.76) suddenly looks like a good Cy Young candidate if I'm being honest. His career high is 17 wins and now he only needs 8 in the last 3 months more to break that. A's man Batty Barnard (7-4, 1.91) is right behind him, with Orioles' 23 year old Santos Rodriguez (6-4, 1.92) giving up 5 runs in 6 innings this week to fall to 3rd. Michael Pesco (11-3, 2.38) is just off the ERA pace but he's the wins man, followed by Daugharty and two Tigers - Jimmy Goddard (9-4, 2.06) and Edgar Molina (9-4, 2.26) with 9 Ws apiece. Justin Kindberg (6-7, 2.71) got absolutely ABUSED today by the idiot manager there with 14.1 IP and over 200 pitches thrown today but hey, he's got 113 Ks to lead the league now until his arm blows out. Molina is right in back of him with 108 and now Pesco has 104 to tie him up with wild man for the A's Roberto Ortiz (5-3, 3.67), who also has 71 walks in 108 innings this year. Speaking of Athletics, the A's Willis Chavez (2-1, 2.36, 15 Sv) still leads the AL in saves, followed by Minnesota's Travis Livingston (1-2, 0.59, 12 Sv) and Detroit's Jim Marceau (1-3, 3.27, 11 Sv).
Man, that NL batting "race" looks dire... Mets OF Barry Cooper (.304, 1, 18) leads with an average just barely over .300, followed closely by the Reds' Alonzo Huanosta (.303, 0, 23) and Cubs 1B Antonio Lopez (.300, 12, 29), who's starting to heat up a bit. Right now the HR race is tied at the top between Cubs SS Jeremy Taylor (.238, 15, 39) and the Reds' Jaden Weaver (.261, 15, 44), with Dante Chairez (.252, 14, 33) belting a couple of dingers to be right behind them. Weaver's also the RBI man so far - nice work given Cincinnati's issues this year - with Dodgers 1B Justin Stone (.251, 12, 41) and Taylor right behind him. And yeah, to nobody's surprise, Reds 2B Pedro Ortiz (.275, 1, 11) has 20 steals, which is almost double the next guys - the Cubs' Sean Gabel (.287, 1, 19) and injured Braves OF Chris Ward (.280, 2, 7) with 11 apiece. Maybe Ward will catch up once he's back - he's out for another week.
Dodgers LHP Fernando Apolonio (9-4, 1.31) carried a 5.40 ERA this week but he's still well on pace to best Jeff Borden's 1.62 single-season record. There's one other guy in the NL with a sub-2 ERA: the Astros' Tony Rivera (11-4, 1.98). Santos Arango (8-7, 2.10) is 3rd with an ERA ever so slightly lower than his Pirates' teammates. Rivera's pitching in front of that lineup combines for a league-leading 11 Ws with 4 guys - teammate Ernie Alvarez (9-2, 2.48), Apolonio, the Braves' Felix Carranza (9-5, 2.89), and the Pirates' DJ Cheeves (9-3, 2.14) all deadlocked with 9 wins apiece. The Cards' Roger Quintana (6-5, 2.54) didn't play this week - St. Louis had some rainouts and only played 5 games including a doubleheader today - and so remains at 100 Ks, which is still a chunk better than the NL's own wild man Ernesto Carrillo (3-8, 4.33) of the Mets and Santos Arango with 83. In the saves race, Alec Cosby (3-2, 2.56, 13 Sv) has had a horrible month (2-2, 5.68) that includes a 7.71 ERA this week and an 18(!) ERA last, still has lucky number 13 to lead the next 3 guys - Houston's Jon Douglas (2-1, 1.20, 11 Sv), the Bucs' Paz Lemus (4-1, 0.45, 11 Sv), and the Cardinals' Billy Munoz (2-5, 3.57, 11 Sv).
## Major Transactions
June 19: The Reds released Josh Mullett (1-4, 6.79). I don't normally list releases but here was a guy who was 12-7, 1.90 back in 1968 - a performance that earned him an All-Star berth - and ever since then I've been in awe and wonder how he could do what he does - which is to say, walk a lot of guys, not strike out all that many, and still somehow win 15 games a year - ever since. He went 46-34 for the Astros between 1970 and 1972 before he was traded to Cincinnati in the Jaden Weaver trade. Welp... the chickens, they finally came home to roost. Mullett fell out of the rotation with a 1-4, 5.10 record in 6 starts, then gave up 15 earned runs in 9.1 relief innings and that was just plain too much.
June 20: The Padres traded SS Andy Johnston (.182, 1, 2) to the Cardinals for minor league SS Joe Wicker (.244, 4, 16 at AAA Tulsa) and minor league P Carlos Garcia (0-1, 4.97 at AAA Tulsa). The Pads are in semi-desperate need of a guy who can actually play the position at shortstop, as the pitching staff is getting sick and tired of the daily butchery Armando Troncoso (.318, 0, 3) provides. This is otherwise kind of a "here, take our scrubs and we'll give you our scrubs back" move. Wicker did spend some time as a backup middle infielder for the Cardinals last year and although he's not going to get any better at age 27 he can be at least an average-field, no hit guy. Garcia... doesn't look like much.
June 20: The Brewers traded OF Antonio Arredondo (.136, 0, 1) to the A's for OF Steve Winwood (.150, 1, 2). Even though Arredondo hasn't hit much in the small amount he's played, he's 29 and is a known quantity whereas Winwood, a 13th round pick in 1970, is at best an unknown and at worst a AAAA player. The Brewers, hot month or no, are in a better position to test Winwood (and a worse position to just use Arredondo as the 5th outfielder that he is) than the A's. Arredondo is also a known trouble-maker but again, a team that is at least sort of in the running for a division can quiet that down, maybe...
## News
June 19: The Supreme Court of the US, days after elements of the Committee to Re-Elect the President were caught breaking in to the DNC headquarters at the Watergate office complex, rule 8-0 in United States v US District Court that the American government did not have the ability to spy, without a warrant, on private citizens within the United States.
June 19: I guess this was SCOTUS "hand down the judgment" day because they also upheld baseball's antitrust exemption in Flood v. Kuhn. I can't even remember who I made the "Curt Flood" in this game but I guess it's a moot point since this version decided to play through.
June 19: A couple of bad injuries came out today. First, for the Braves SP Julio Sandoval (8-4, 2.99), the most effective starter on the roster this year, is going to miss the next 3 weeks with elbow inflammation. Jake Cari (0-2, 2.02 in an earlier stint) has been recalled to take his place. Worse for the Pirates, not to mention the league because this could be all she wrote, is their longtime 1B Albilio Valdivia (.245, 1, 6) is going to miss the rest of the year with a fractured knee. If this is it - and Valdivia is, after all, 40 - he'll finish his career with 1,802 hits, a .321 average, 165 HRs and 775 RBIs. He's only a 4-time All-Star so that plus the lack of counting stats (sorry, 1960s) probably keeps him out of the Hall but of course he'll be in the Pirates' Hall.
June 19: Does the game just give out booby prizes sometimes? I don't think so but I'm finding it hard to explain the AL PotW award to Yankees CF Micah MacMillan (.189, 2, 15), who maybe started to turn around an awful year this week by hitting 8-20 with a HR, 5 RBIs, and 5 runs scored. Like, I know the stars are kind of all slumping but really? This should keep the former 1967 first round pick in a starting job for a bit longer, at least. This is the 27 year old's first ever Player of the Week too, and for a 5-year starter his grey ink is reeeeally sparse (he's only ever finished in the top 10 in 3 categories, all in 1969).
June 19: In the NL the league chose to hand the award to towering pitcher / NBA superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (5-6, 2.88), who won both of his starts and gave up just 1 run over 16.1 innings (a 0.55 ERA) with 6 Ks and 10 hits allowed. This is the first time the master of the skyhook has won this award, too, so that's neat (and to be fair, this is after all KAJ's rookie year).
June 20: From 11:30am to 1:00pm, on their first day back at the White House after the Watergate break-in, President Nixon and Chief of Staff Haldeman meet at the Oval Office. The conversation was taped because Nixon was Nixon but this is the conversation that had 18 1/2 minutes mysteriously erased from it when it was subpoena'ed.
June 20: The Tallahatchie Bridge, memorialized in Billy Gentry's 1967 song "Ode to Billie Joe", collapsed after being burned in a fire that was later attributed to vandalism. The bridge, which has since been rebuilt, was also referenced in civil rights protest music as Emmett Till was beaten to death and dumped into the Tallahatchie River.
June 20: SPEAKING of no no no that's just not right... Tigers SP Chris McGranahan (4-2, 2.98) was pulled out of last night's game with an elbow strain and will miss the next 6 weeks as a result. McGranahan, 34, was kind of iffy as a long reliever and spot starter for the Tigers last year after they acquired him from Milwaukee in June but was off to a nice start this year. The lanky righty uses his long arms to get leverage but doesn't get the strikeouts or for that matter the groundouts you'd expect from a guy his size. Still... he was doing pretty good and now the Tigers will have to make do without him. 25 year old Juan Merino (2-0, 1.65), who was the team's 4th starter last year and who's game screamed "4th starter" (12-12, 3.86), will take over.
June 20: Cardinals C John Stuart (.288, 6, 22), who's been out since June 9 with a concussion, now has no timeline for a return. Previously, trainers thought he'd be on schedule to return some time this week but the 4-time All Star is complaining of headaches. The Cards will put him on the DL and for now continue to work with 24 year old Australian Jonathan Hyde (.190, 0, 0) behind the plate.
June 21: The world record for highest altitude in a helicopter - 40, 815 feet - was set by Jean Boulet in an Aerospatiale SA-315 Lama. This sounds incredibly dangerous to me, as you kind of have that big old issue with stalling that high in thin air due to the way helicopters work and also helicopters are notoriously hard to pull out of stalls. I am not a pilot though.
June 21: In what might turn into one of those season-altering games, the Brewers, 13-5 to date on the month, got absolutely pasted by the White Sox 14-3 in their home park. Starter Victor Marin (3-7, 4.85) got chased in the 2nd and the bullpen just kept setting their own fires. 3B Brian Maccioli (.286, 6, 26) went 4-5 with 2 runs and 2 RBIs and finally had a game where he looked like a legit #3 man for them this year. CF Ian Everett (.224, 2, 14) was the clear hitter of the game with a 3-6, 3-run, 4-RBI output that included the Chisox' lone homerun of the game, a 3-run blast that was the final nail in the coffin for Marin. Obe Olthof (5-6, 4.06) pitched 8 strong innings for the White Sox, then kind of fell apart in the 9th but of course by that time the game was out of reach.
June 22: MCI (Microwave Communications, Inc.) which would eventually fight AT&T's monopoly on US telephone service and emerge victorious in the 80s, went public, offering 40% of its shares for sale at ten dollars per share. The offering sold out immediately and pegged MCI's valuation at $120M.
June 22: The 1 millionth Ford Thunderbird was produced, rolling off an assembly line in Los Angeles (which, side note, TIL that LA once had an auto manufacturing industry). The car was first produced in 1955.
June 23: US President Richard Nixon and his Chief of Staff HR Haldeman had three conversations where the President directed that the FBI be told to stop further investigation of the Watergate burglary. All Oval Office conversations were recorded by a voice-activated system and when the transcript of this particular tape was released 2 years later, it led to Nixon's resignation within the week.
June 23: The Omnibus Education Bill, providing for the first time diret federal aid to public and private colleges and universities, was signed into law by President Nixon. Of particular long-lasting importance is Title IX of the new law, which advised that "no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance". This led directly to the huge growth in women's college sports, as schools had to provide athletic programs for women as well as for men if they wanted to receive federal funding for those programs. As federal school funding expanded, so too did opportunities for girls at the primary and secondary school levels.
June 23: Hurricane Agnes was downgraded to a tropical storm after reaching Florida on June 19. Combined with existing storm systems in the northeastern US it still produced record-breaking rainfalls and floods. Ultimately, 118 people died and 370,000 were left homeless (also there are a loooot of rainouts right now and this explains why). Five states - New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Florida - were declared disaster areas.
June 23: Zinedine Zidane, the French footballer best known for headbutting a dude and then flopping in the World Cup, was born today.
June 23: Red Sox C Jeremy Dolak (.220, 0, 10) has been suffering from a sore back and largely staying out of the lineup since June 17 (in fact, that was the last time he played). His condition has just been upgraded to "unknown" and so I'm gonna drop him on the 21 day DL. 25 year old Canadian Alan "Growing Pains" Thicke (.213, 10, 37) has been called up to take his place. Gotta like that power, gotta not like that .213 average...
June 23: 37 year old Expos 1B Armando Munoz (.237, 3, 11) unsurprisingly wants to start and has gone so far as to demand a trade. I don't know that a trade is on its way but hey, maybe. In the meantime it looks like he's already splitting time at first with Willie Morales (.258, 7, 15), who hit 27 HRs and drove in 89 guys last year for Montreal and as also 9 years younger. It looks to me like Morales might just have to stay mad.
June 24: Helen Reddy's song "I Am Woman" entered the Billboard Top 100 at 99 but will drop back out after three weeks. In September it will re-enter at 87 and then gradually climb up the charts, hiting #1 on December 9.
June 24: Skyjacker Martin Joseph McNally hijacked American Airlines Flight 119 as it flew from St. Louis to Tulsa. He received just over $500k in ransom money and parachutes at St. Louis but the plane was rammed... by a car? that crashed through an airport fence (unfortunately there's no actual Wikipedia article and all I can tell is that this was a third party trying to save the day). He moved to another plane but got discombobulated I guess and when he tried to parachute out on the flight, he lost the suitcase holding the ransom money as it was swept away by the jetstream. Now without any cash, he reached the ground (via parachute I guess) and will be arrested near Detroit on the 28th.
June 24: Hey! Giants CF Danny Seligman (.243, 2, 7) is back from his latest injury! It looks like he'd been suffering from a stiff back that lingered on and on. He seems to be 100% now which is pretty decent given that his backup Chae-hwi Park (.216, 7, 15) has been unable to hit for average (although he does have pretty good power - maybe he'll stay up for a bit longer).
June 24: A key weekend series between the Tigers and Orioles is not starting out well for Baltimore. Is this the beginning of the end for their pennant hopes? In game 1, they just plain couldn't generate any offense against starting pitcher Jimmy Goddard (9-4, 2.06), who yielded to Nate Khoury (1-0, 3.52) and then stopper Jim Marceau (1-3, 3.38, 10 Sv) for the save in a 5-2 loss. Alvin Romero (.332, 1, 18) went 2 for 4 in that game and looks like he might be hitting again (he's still "only" batting .271 for the month). The nightcap is where it got really ugly. Up 2-1 going into the 9th, the O's had their ace Montay Luiso (3-2, 3.21, 9 Sv) on the mound and... well, Luiso just lost it. He wound up being charged with 6 runs in the inning, which more that doubled his runs allowed output all season (going into the game he had a 1.35 ERA and had allowed just 4 runs). It didn't help that Hector Giron (2-2, 3.75) allowed a 3 run HR after replacing Luiso. The pair of victories now puts Detroit 2 games up in the AL East.
June 24: Rangers SP Chad Daugharty (10-2, 1.76) became the 3rd and most unlikely member of the 10 Win Club today by pitching 8.1 innings of a 2-0 shutout of the White Sox in Arlington. Daugharty, a 27 year old whose previous high in victories was 17 in 1970 (17-8, 2.44), started to fall apart a bit in the 9th and, I mean, the man has already completed 8 games in (now) 14 starts with 4 shutouts so I felt like it was fine to bring in a closer, in this case Ron Shepherd (1-2, 4.11, 3 Sv), who got the final two batters out to retire the side. Texas, in spite of their 4-9, no-runs April are now 28-32 on the season and 11-8 for the month.
June 24: At 28, Astros SP Tony Rivera (11-4, 1.98) is having a career year and he just took over the MLB wins lead with a sterling 1-0 shutout of the last-place Reds. Rivera scattered 7 hits and struck out 6 for the win. This, coupled with his 3-hit, 1-run game on the 20th, could just be enough to win him the Player of the Week, an award he's never won before.
June 25: A 19 member team of Croatian Revolutionary Brotherhood separatists fought a battle with the Yugoslavian Army in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Out of this group, 15 would be killed in action, another 3 will be captured and executed in July, and the lone survivor will be caught and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
June 25: All-Star voting update!
Below are the current standings for the American League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jun. 25th , 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 563,080 votes.
CATCHER
1. Josh Lewis, Oakland Athletics: 390,329
2. Frank Abagnale, Baltimore Orioles: 362,630
3. Andres Gamez, Texas Rangers: 287,064
FIRST BASE
1. Ernesto Garcia, Cleveland Indians: 558,491
2. Mike Miller, Boston Red Sox: 446,142
3. Alice Cooper, Chicago White Sox: 435,974
SECOND BASE
1. Joey Ramone, Detroit Tigers: 400,193
2. Daniel Gilmet, Minnesota Twins: 370,850
3. Israel Gaytan, Oakland Athletics: 345,729
THIRD BASE
1. Tom Weiss, New York Yankees: 538,979
2. Mike Brookes, Minnesota Twins: 440,320
3. Marco Perez, Baltimore Orioles: 428,828
SHORTSTOP
1. Justin Ramey, Minnesota Twins: 397,250
2. Richard Simmons, California Angels: 330,952
3. Michael Luna, Texas Rangers: 313,553
LEFT FIELD
1. R.J. Domínguez, Kansas City Royals: 563,080
2. Lou Morgenstern, California Angels: 347,207
3. Bruce Springsteen, Boston Red Sox: 323,908
CENTER FIELD
1. Alvin Romero, Detroit Tigers: 553,752
2. Dave Corona, Kansas City Royals: 514,968
3. Ross Poynor, Milwaukee Brewers: 288,534
RIGHT FIELD
1. Tom Brown, Boston Red Sox: 443,731
2. Chris Tyree, California Angels: 412,757
3. Tony Danza, Kansas City Royals: 380,598
STARTING PITCHER
1. Justin Kindberg, Boston Red Sox: 263,740
2. Marco Sanchez, Boston Red Sox: 248,697
3. Jimmy Goddard, Detroit Tigers: 245,169
4. Michael Pesco, Boston Red Sox: 236,550
5. Jose Martinez, Cleveland Indians: 230,644
RELIEVER
1. Montay Luiso, Baltimore Orioles: 313,147
2. Malcolm Post, Chicago White Sox: 292,663
3. Sandy Hinojosa, Boston Red Sox: 292,580
4. Phil Bowman, Baltimore Orioles: 254,978
5. Travis Livingston, Minnesota Twins: 249,812
In his career, Domínguez is batting .265 with a total of 50 home runs.
Below are the current standings for the National League All-Star Fan voting (as of Sun. Jun. 25th , 1972) for the All-Star Game, which will be played on Tue. Jul. 25th , 1972. The top vote getter at this point is Jaden Weaver with 544,105 votes.
CATCHER
1. Jason Bushon, New York Mets: 492,234
2. John Stuart, St. Louis Cardinals: 446,194
3. Armando Flores, Atlanta Braves: 338,325
FIRST BASE
1. Antonio Lopez, Chicago Cubs: 536,796
2. Justin Stone, Los Angeles Dodgers: 536,204
3. Joshua Waltenbery, New York Mets: 482,149
SECOND BASE
1. Kevin Dwyer, Atlanta Braves: 539,316
2. Paul McCartney, San Diego Padres: 466,837
3. Pedro Ortiz, Cincinnati Reds: 395,579
THIRD BASE
1. Mike Galeana, St. Louis Cardinals: 359,370
2. Pete Little, Houston Astros: 350,673
3. Sean Gabel, Chicago Cubs: 346,421
SHORTSTOP
1. Tony Shannon, Philadelphia Phillies: 446,244
2. Jeremy Taylor, Chicago Cubs: 427,585
3. Akiho Fujimoto, San Francisco Giants: 368,430
LEFT FIELD
1. Rafael Disla, St. Louis Cardinals: 421,137
2. Justin Lawson, Pittsburgh Pirates: 388,914
3. Alonzo Huanosta, Cincinnati Reds: 383,832
CENTER FIELD
1. Alex Vallejo, Chicago Cubs: 504,924
2. George Foreman, Houston Astros: 435,141
3. Bryant Tarala, Philadelphia Phillies: 410,442
RIGHT FIELD
1. Jaden Weaver, Cincinnati Reds: 544,105
2. Henry Riggs, Atlanta Braves: 419,464
3. Casey Satterfield, St. Louis Cardinals: 399,097
STARTING PITCHER
1. Tony Rivera, Houston Astros: 192,219
2. George House, Atlanta Braves: 181,247
3. Santos Arango, Pittsburgh Pirates: 173,023
4. Steve Waiters, Cincinnati Reds: 167,971
5. Ben Feldhusen, San Diego Padres: 144,061
RELIEVER
1. John Winn, Atlanta Braves: 251,027
2. Geoff Saus, New York Mets: 203,492
3. Pete Lynn, Cincinnati Reds: 193,824
4. Charlie Bechtel, San Francisco Giants: 172,168
5. Paz Lemus, Pittsburgh Pirates: 152,975
His numbers show Weaver is carrying a .264 lifetime batting average with 224 home runs and 619 RBIs.
June 25: Detroit gets to the Orioles's bullpen for the second straight day as they sweep the 3-game tilt in Baltimore. All tied up 6-6 going into the 9th, the Tigers this time got to O's setup man Phil Bowman (2-1, 2.42) for 3 runs and a football score 9-6 win (I mean hey, sure, it's a football score you might see in the 1970s at least). Nate Khoury (2-0, 3.31) got his 2nd win in as many days by being the pitcher of record in this one as their starter Juan Merino (2-0, 2.97) went from hero to zero, twirling a shutout through 5 and then giving up a 6 run 6th. C Gianluigi Farinelli (.187, 3, 13) went 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs and struggling, about-to-get-cut OF Adam Dittmar (.162, 3, 22) delivered the 2-run double in the 9th that broke the deadlock. "I try to live as cleanly as I trim my beautiful beard," said the red-headed Dittmar. "This is where it pays off, in the clutch."
## Teams in Review
June 23: Hey, it's the 24th and final team to get a look this year! The
Pittsburgh Pirates (37-20, 1st NL East) have been pretty great overall so far. Sure, they aren't scoring runs at all (11th in the NL, 17th overall), but who needs offense when you've got all this pitching? No major league team has a better ERA and what's more, they're also #1 in defensive efficiency (#1 in all of baseball in this one) and zone rating and are #2 in the NL in fewest errors. Pretty good...
Rotation: The highest - the HIGHEST - ERA in the rotation right now belongs to the #4 man Danny Perez (7-0, 2.28). As often happens with a team with a great defense behind it, all of the starters are kind of similarly excellent. No changes!
Bullpen: Paz Lemus (3-1, 0.49, 11 Sv) is a beast and in some ways has only begun to exert his influence on this team, given how awesome the rotation has been so far. I guess if you get deeper into the 'pen, you see the only signs of weakness (like Brian Bruno (2-3, 5.06), although he's also struck out 21 guys in 26.2 innings so even he's probably just unlucky) but that's picking some bad nits.
Infield: C Doug Connally (.222, 3, 17) is starting to hit the way we expected him to (.271 for the month), which is great because I didn't really want to replace him with youngster Brent Spiner (.206, 0, 3) given the team's contending status. Spiner might be the guy eventually but he's not there yet and at 22 he doesn't have to be.
Now that Albilio Valdivia (.245, 1, 6) is out for the year, there's a real question as to who plays 1B vs LHP now. Jack Holman (.271, 3, 17) has always shown himself to be a platoon guy who can't hit lefties to save his life and their main backup/pinch-hitter, Ian "H3H3" Swerdlove (.329, 12, 38 in AAA Charlotte) is also a lefty. For now we're using Padres reject Eli Ware (.267, 0, 4) but this does feel like a position that needs to get rectified at some point this year.
Speaking of Ware, he's also the backup for the struggling Alex Flores (.207, 2, 14). Flores will at least draw a walk (.320 OBP) but man... he hit .271 last year in about the same number of at-bats and that's kind of what we were expecting. Ware is the backup but I can't bring myself to replace him. As is the case in OOTP and in real life, there are a few meh guys sitting in AAA right now who could conceivably play the position but nobody's such an awesome standout that it warrants replacing a struggling starter with one of them.
Outfield: CF Michio Kakyu (.190, 1, 16) had pushed himself into the CF conversation after a good half-season last year (.281, 5, 17 in 221 ABs) but he's been pretty meh this year and his defense is also not all that it's cracked up to be so I'm going to go back to using Justin Hearl (.226, 0, 3) a lot more. They do create a natural platoon with Hearl as the lefty so I'll run with that for now.