A flat old start by the group, not helped by an early injury to Roberto Clemente. Little goes right the first couple of weeks in a pretty clumsy and incompetent opening to the campaign and I’d hate to see our record without Pops Stargell’s stellar play. It’s a new year but the same old BP dramas with Dave Giusti on just about my last nerve and close to making Lincoln his home for a while, with Grant Jackson as roommate.
Arriba’s return from the IL ushers in a calmer, more consistent period where we get things back on track but our pitching remains all over the shop, both the rotation and the pen, leaving us susceptible to wild form swings and obviously hindering us un the standings.
Then Woody Fryman throws his no-no, just to keep us guessing. That said, he and Joe Coleman aren’t the problem. Yet again they are out pitching the two guys above them in Ellis and Singer, as was the case last year, to the extent that our overall SP metrics hold up OK even though the odd stop-start schedule through this opening stanza means they get fewer starts. Let’s hope that has the side-benefit of having them well-rested when the dog days are upon us.
The key point through all of this is that we haven’t shot ourselves in the foot or anything and when – other than the loss of Davey Johnson for a minimum IL stint – the rest of May is relatively smooth sailing as Ellis finds his groove (winning the monthly award, in fact) and we run together some (occasionally scratchy) wins, we actually lead the Mets by 2 ˝ as we head into June. Perhaps more importantly, the early turbulence and tribulations should once again have swept away any cobwebs of complacency.
The thing I like most about this list is how little Roberto Clemente has contributed, which hopefully means we have another gear or two in us.
Hernandez has been fantastic and his importance is reinforced when the BP blows a massive lead in his absence. His return, thankfully, is imminent. Coleman continues to excel, along with Fryman. While Dock has turned it around, Singer and Roberts continue to underperform. The latter of these wants slightly north of $200k per for a long-term deal and I'm frankly not sold on that idea just yet, so we'll let him go to arb this time and see what's what after that.
The 15-36 Orioles are the big surprise. The Twins come out red-hot, winning 16 of their first 20 games before cooling off a bit. All four races still pretty tight, with ours the biggest lead.
Monthly Award Winners
April
American League
- Batter – Tony Oliva (Twins): 400 / 3 HR / 16 RBI
- Pitcher – Nolan Ryan (Angels): 3-1 / 1.64 / 40 K / 38.1 IP
- Rookie – Bill Bonham (Twins): 3-1 / 2.60 / 17 K / 34.2 IP
National League
- Batter – Billy Williams (Reds): 333 / 8 HR / 17 RBI
- Pitcher – Tom Seaver (Mets): 4-0 / 1.69 / 30 K / 37.1 IP
- Rookie – Jim Barr (Giants): 4-1 / 1.67 / 11 K / 37.2 IP
May
American League
- Batter – Roy White (Yankees): 414 / 5 HR / 12 RBI
- Pitcher – Vida Blue (A’s): 4-0 / 1.12 / 47 K / 48 IP
- Rookie – Bruce Kison (Senators): 4-1 / 1.63 / 28 K / 38.2 IP
National League
- Batter – Willie Horton (Phillies): 366 / 7 HR / 24 RBI
- Pitcher – Dock Ellis (Pirates): 5-0 / 1.71 / 27 K / 42 IP
- Rookie – Jim Barr (Giants): 5-0 / 2.83 / 24 K / 47.2 IP
News and Leaders
Milestones and Observations of Note
- Poor old Steve Renko - after his 2-25 horror show last year he has started this season 0-7!
- Camilo Pascual, still in the game and currently with the Tigers, suffers a medial ligament rupture that will keep him out of the game for a year. At 37, that might be a death knell for Patata, we’ll see.
- The Cards lose OF Don Money for 5 months to a broken kneecap, while Johnny Bench will miss the best part of 2 months due to a fractured thumb.
- Doubly bad news for the Astros, as rotator cuff trouble spells Astros gun rookie JR Richard for 4-5 months. Because he only played minimally IRL in ’71, he gets no protection from his Legacy Status. Teammate Joe Niekro, on the other hand, does—and it saves him a few months after he goes down with a partial UCL tear that will see him out for the maximum 90 days.
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