## Standings / Recap / Comments387
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Detroit Tigers 53 35 .602 - 379 296
Baltimore Orioles 50 38 .568 3 328 274
Boston Red Sox 47 39 .547 5 318 270
Cleveland Indians 46 41 .529 6½ 344 303
Milwaukee Brewers 41 46 .471 11½ 280 326
New York Yankees 31 54 .365 20½ 259 300
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
California Angels 54 38 .587 - 325 291
Oakland Athletics 49 42 .538 4½ 337 352
Minnesota Twins 44 43 .506 7½ 326 322
Chicago White Sox 41 49 .456 12 312 358
Texas Rangers 41 49 .456 12 251 294
Kansas City Royals 33 56 .371 19½ 314 387
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Chicago Cubs 52 38 .578 - 367 368
Pittsburgh Pirates 49 39 .557 2 296 248
St. Louis Cardinals 49 39 .557 2 362 327
Philadelphia Phillies 48 40 .545 3 347 330
Montreal Expos 38 49 .437 12½ 277 328
New York Mets 36 51 .414 14½ 300 360
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Houston Astros 52 40 .565 - 316 312
Atlanta Braves 49 42 .538 2½ 364 336
Los Angeles Dodgers 44 45 .494 6½ 307 319
San Diego Padres 43 46 .483 7½ 348 340
San Francisco Giants 41 52 .441 11½ 303 298
Cincinnati Reds 34 54 .386 16 339 360
And we're at the All-Star Break! There's only one division race that has all that much space in it, where the Angels have mostly been helped out by the mediocrity of the rest of the division to post a 4 1/2 game lead. Conversely, that NL East looks like it's going to be "fun" - for us ALL OF BASEBALL FANS if not for the fans of the teams competing, at least. Houston has been unable to distance themselves from the Braves due to a 12-11 month although it has to be said that they've played nothing but contending teams all of July. Post-break their first two series are against the suddenly-faded Dodgers and Padres, which will easily be the easiest opponents they have (although they're still West rivals so expect things to be closer). I personally am still rooting for the Orioles to go on an unlikely run but... it's unlikely and Detroit might legit be the best team in baseball.
MAJOR SHAKEUP IN THE BATTING RACE as we head to the break too! Well, not MAJOR but Minnesota 2B Daniel Gilmet (.337, 5, 30) went 13 for 28 this week to take the lead. He also officially made his first All-Star Game since 1965 so it's been a pretty great past seven days for the 34 year old. Alvin ROmero (.330, 1, 27) is still in the 2 spot which means that Tony Danza (.328, 1, 25) "slumped" his way all the way to 3rd with a 9-31 week (which is still good for a .290 average, hence "slumped" being in quotes). Danza will console himself with his own first trip to the Midsummer Classic. There was a double-header in there where it looked like Ernesto Garcia (.294, 33, 86) might have his HR lead if not his RBI lead challenged by young White Sox star and noted eyeshadow wearer Alice Cooper (.248, 26, 62) but Garcia quickly made it moot. Cooper does have the 2nd highest HR total in all of baseball. #3 in the AL (also #3 in the MLB) is old man Angelo Martinez (.235, 22, 55), doing what he can to keep the Minnesota Twins above water while they wait for Mike Brookes to return. The RBI race is identical to the HR race except that the 3-hole man is KC's RJ Dominguez (.243, 16, 61), who might be an AS Game scratch due to a lingering back injury. Romero continues to lap the field in steals with 35, followed by Ahnold (.199, 0, 12) with 24 and a TIE between teammates Tony Danza and Dave Corona (.264, 9, 21). Corona by the way appears to have missed out on the Game although I wouldn't call his staying at home a "snub" exactly.
Chad "Dog" Daugharty (12-4, 1.91) threw a shutout in the only game he pitched this week and now he's the only qualifier in the AL with a sub-2 ERA. He's followed by the O's Santos Rodriguez (10-5, 2.03), who earned a ticket to his own first AS appearance and went 2-0, 0.53 in the past seven days to boot. Just baaarely in 3rd now is fellow first-time AS Jose Martinez (11-6, 2.17), all of 2 points in front of the veteran Tigers man Jimmy Goddard (11-6, 2.19), who did, to be fair, punch his own AS ticket for the first time since 1967 (he finished 17-11, 2.32 that year). Michael Pesco (13-6, 2.65) leads all ALers in wins, followed by two 12-game guys: Daugharty and Edgar Molina (12-7, 2.66) of the Tigers. Molina did *not* make the All-Star roster, which yes, that is a snub. Molina also leads everyone in Ks with 156, 9 ahead of both Pesco and Pesco's Red Sox teammate Justin Kindberg (11-8, 2.90). I'd probably put Molina in over Kindberg but then Kindberg's got the past-season hardware, including 2 Cys, so I can somewhat understand. Willis Chavez (5-2, 1.73) crossed the 20 save mark already and he's well ahead of the Twins' Travis Livingston (1-2, 0.67) and the O's Montay Luiso (4-3, 2.47), who both have 15.
The NL batting race is now led by 12-time All-Star Kevin Dwyer (.319, 13, 50), who fought off injuries to hit .333 (10-30) for the week. He's ahead of the Reds' Alonzo Huanosta (.311, 1, 39), aka the only other +.300 hitter in the league, as the third place man, triple crown threat Antonio Lopez (.299, 19, 45) of the Cubs, is just barely below that mark. Jaden Weaver (.234, 22, 61) might wish that he's still an Astro with the way his team is playing but there's no denying the league-leading HR power (and league-leading RBI total as well). Two other NLers have 20 HRs: Cardinals 3B Mike Galeana (.222, 20, 57) and the very, very familiar face of Justin Stone (.255, 20, 59), who's got himself 452 ding-dongs at the "young" age of 32. The RBI race is slightly flip-flopped with Weaver leading Stone and Galeana in that order; Padres 2B / Wings frontman Paul McCartney (.274, 18, 56) is right there in terms of clutch. For steals, Cincinnati's Pedro Ortiz (.290, 1, 19) has been one heck of a table-setter for Weaver this year and leads the league with 26 base thefts, followed by Sean Gabel (.291, 1, 23) with 17 and Chris Ward (.301, 4, 14) with 16. Ward's a guy who was just looking like he was going to move to a backup role in Atlanta but was "saved" by the injury to their star RF Henry Riggs. He's definitely a guy who could catch up to Lopez if he played regularly.
Fernando Apolonio (12-5, 1.63) just baaaaarely maintained his pace to break the all-time ERA record (1.65) this week. Will he make it? He's trailed by a suprising Frank Evans (8-5, 2.00) of the Expos, who by the way will *not* be their lone All-Star - that honor goes to SS Hudson Watts - and the DJ Cheeves (12-4, 2.14) of the Pirates. Tony Rivera (15-7, 2.18) pitched his way out of the ERA race, at least temporarily, with an 0-2, 5.28 week. I'd say he could use the rest but he'll be the AS Game starter for the NL. 3 men in the NL have 12 victories: Apolonio, Cheeves, and Cheeves' Pirates teammate Santos Arango (12-10, 2.58), who, maaan has gotten a lot of decisions this year. The Phillies' Roger Quintana (9-6, 2.59) has 6 no-decisions so far, otherwise he'd probably be up there too; as it stands he leads the NL in Ks with 143 of them, with Arango a mile behind at 120 and Ernesto "Wild Thing" Carrillo (5-10, 4.21) and Cardinals underachiever Raul Mendoza (5-9, 3.85) tied with 114 apiece. The NL leader in saves is, still surprisingly to me, the Cubs' Jesse Kelly (7-1, 2.35) with 17 of them. Kelly went from being kind of awful (8-7, 4.90) as a left-handed pitcher in Yankee Stadium last year to being the ace of Chicago's staff in spite of playing half his games in Wrigley Field (he in fact is 5-0, 1.91 with 9 saves at home). Paz Lemus (6-3, 2.39) is right behind him with 16 saves, followed by Alec Cosby (4-4, 2.61) still in this hunt with 15 of them (although adding to that total would mean the Dodgers would have to get back to winning games again).
## Major Transactions
July 18: The Tigers release OF Adam Dittmar (.146, 4, 24). Dittmar did hit .263/15/72 last year and just turned 30 yesterday but he's always kind of been a hit-or-miss low average guy and it really looks to me like the bottom has dropped out of his swing. Bye, Adam; hope you find work elsewhere.
July 20: The A's send OF Elijah Wright (.246, 1, 5), SS Donald Fagen (.237, 0, 7), and minor league P Ronnie van Zant (8-3, 3.01 in AAA Iowa) to the Rangers, receiving 3B David Salinas (.202, 1, 11) and SS Tyler Knight (.231, 3, 14). Is this a white flag trade for the Rangers? Salinas has been pretty bad this year and Knight, a 3-time Gold Glove Award winner himself, hasn't been super-fantastic himself. They get 3 under-25 guys to fill out the roster for the future. From the A's perspective, Salinas can hopefully return to his old hitting form and spell the equally struggling Chase Jones (.191, 5, 24) for them at third whereas Tyler Knight will start at 2nd base, where he won the Gold Gloves.
July 20: To make room for the new guys, the A's anounce the retirement of 1B Jon Skelton (.228, 2, 9). Skelton "only" made the All-Star Game 4 times in his career but somehow managed to stick around as a regular until he was 41 and in this league until he was 43. He's old enough that he made the move from Brooklyn to LA with the Dodgers, although he wound up playing the most games in his career with the other LA team, the expansion Angels.
## News
July 17: Two explosions, believed to be caused by American mines that had washed away after having been laid in North Vietnam's ports, damaged the American destroyer USS Warrington beyond repair. The damage made the Warrington the only American warship to be lost in the Vietnam War.
July 17: Speaking of being lost, Yankees CF Ryan Johnston (.258, 7, 19), who'd been one of the few guys hitting his weight in the Bronx outfield, found that he tore his labrum on the 14th and will be out until somewhere around Opening Day of next year. Johnston, an All-Star in 1967, had moved on from the Cubs after they opted to use him in center for most of the year.
July 17: Some younger guys winning PotW awards here! In the AL it's Tigers' racecar driver slash first baseman Niki Lauda (.317, 9, 30), who's quickly made himself an indispensable member of this lineup. He went 12 for 23 (.523 average) this past week with 3 HRs and 9 RBIs to edge Ernesto Garcia for the award. This is Lauda's first PotW award and in fact his first major-league hardware; he was also the IL/AA MVP last season after going .314/17/61 in just 95 games with Toledo.
July 17: I mentioned this guy in passing in the DINGERS race but Cardinals 3B Mike Galeana (.219, 19, 51) went 10 for 22 (.455) with 5 HRs and 9 RBIs to vault himself into the NL homer race and also get his average well over .200 on the year. Galeana also has 54 walks in 269 at-bats so he's no slouch when it comes to getting on base either (a .347 OBP). This is already Galeana's 2nd PotW award in his 2nd season; he also was the Silver Slugger at 3rd last year and the NLCS MVP.
July 18: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat surprises the world with an announcement that he has asked the USSR to withdraw all of their military advisors and other personnel. Sadat concluded that the presence of the Soviets had hindered his ability to run the country. More than 20,000 Soviets left the country after Sadat's order.
July 18: Phillies' 2B Victor Serna (.182, 4, 18) is demanding a spot in the lineup (not a trade, at least not yet). This is a guy who was an MVP candidate as recently as 2 years ago (.224/37/107 in 1970) but he was bad last year (.200/22/71) and lost his starting job this year. He's still only 31 and I'm hopeful he can get it back (although not thaaat hopeful; his career is as a guy who strikes out way too much and that big HR output seemed like a one-year wonder type of deal). What I am going to do for now is send him down to AAA Eugene to see if he can find his stroke. Amazingly, he accepted the demotion. This also gives me the leeway to move utility man Nate Rowe (.256, 8, 35) to 2nd base and call up speedster / literal track star Alberto Juantorena (.264/12/42 with 27 SB at AAA Eugene).
July 18: Echoing real life somewhat - the Padres' Steve Arlin IRL threw a no-hitter into the 9th before it was broken up by a single to Denny Doyle - the A's Carlos Torres (1-2, 3.00) had a no-no going into the 9th when pinch-hitter Sergio Sicre (.286, 1, 6) singled with 1 out in the 9th. Just a couple pitches later, CF Ross Poynor (.252, 7, 28) broke up the shutout by blasting his 7th HR of the season. The A's still won this one handily, 5-2. This was the second game of a double-header in Milwaukee County Stadium; the Brewers also dropped the first game and are now 2-16 for the month of July.
July 19: In the Battle of Mirbat, nine British Special Air Service troops led by Captain Mike Kealy successfully repel an invasion by 250 guerrillas seeking to overthrow the government of Oman... well, according to their own reports, at least. 38 bodies of the attacking PFLOAG guerrillas were recovered, although the SAS said that somehow they killed more than 200 of them.
July 19: The Salvarodan military send troops and armor into the University of El Salvador and arrest more than 800 students and members of the faculty. The university will be closed for 2 years. Universities and dictatorships: historically not a good mix.
July 19: A six month old baby was killed by a bomb planted by the Provisional IRA in Strabane, Northern Ireland.
July 19: Dodgers OF Ray Costa (.216, 8, 39) has been fighting back stiffness for the past week or so and now it looks like there's no end to his miseries in sight. I've largely kept him out of the lineup while he was recuperating because, well, he hasn't been that good (I guess his clutch hitting is still holding together) and I'd prefer to only use him at 100%. So... he'll just keep sitting it out and hopefully he'll get better soon.
July 19: Angels OF Chris Tyree (.289, 2, 26), a guy who flashes All-Star potential at times but just can't stay healthy, tore his meniscus in his knee making a diving catch in the outfield today and will miss the remainder of the season. The silver lining to this dark cloud is that the Halos won today 4-2 at Fenway Park against a surging Red Sox team and are now 3 1/2 games up on the rest of the division. I guess the second half of the season will be Minzengo Pinda's (.250, 0, 2) chance to show what he can do.
July 19: Tigers SP Jimmy Goddard (10-6, 2.12) tied his career high of 4 shutouts today with a 7-0 romp over the White Sox at Tigers Stadium. Goddard, who's somehow only made the All-Star Game once (back in 1967; he was 17-11. 2.32) has a pitching arsenal rather uniquely suited for his home park: though never a wizard at getting guys to swing and miss at his stuff (I guess TBF he's a little above average with a lifetime 5.9 K/9 rate), Goddard never throws the ball over large parts of the plate and as such prevents homeruns even in the bandbox that is his home park (fun trivia time: the term "bandbox" was originally used to describe the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, I think more because of its unique shape than its proclivity for HRs to occur there) (well, it's fun to me!). This year he's allowed just 6 HRs in 178 IP, which is among the league leaders, and stat nerds tell me that his 5.5 "WAR" (HUH GOOD GOD WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING amirite???) leads the AL. A slightly less stat nerdy stat is that he leads the AL in quality starts with 19 and is 2nd in ERA.
July 20: Sun Pinghua of the Peoples' Republic of China arrives in Tokyo to meet with Japanese Foreign Minister Masayoshi Ohira, renewing Sino-Japanese relations for the first time since the Second World War.
July 20: 15 year old Lynne Cox sets a new record for swimming the English Channel, becoming the first person to make the crossing from England to France in less than 10 hours, at 9 minutes 57 seconds. This record will be broken later this year by Richard Hart, whose record Cox will go on to break herself in following years.
July 20: Friedrick Flick died at the age of 89. Flick was a German billionaire who was convicted of war crimes by the Nuremburg tribunal for using slave labor during World War II.
July 20: Giants 1B Justin Richens (.247, 4, 20), who was expected to provide the team with some clutch hitting, especially after they traded away their #3 hitter Barry Cooper, tore a muscle in his back and will be out for the season. As Richens is 40 years old and on his 5th team in 4 years (he was released out of spring training by the Reds before he appeared in an at-bat for them and signed with the Giants right after the strike ended), this may also be the end of his career. Richens made the All-Star Game 10 times and just collected his 2,500th hit on the 29th of June.
July 20: White Sox C Mike Perez (.164, 1, 8) got demoted from starting recently and, well, he's complaining that he wants to start again. You can see from the basic slashes why he's not. Perez did recover from a disastrous .165 season in 1970 to hit .234/18/58 last season but he's not even hitting for power this year so probably all that's going to happen here is if he gets mad enough to demand a trade, I'll just "trade" him into the ether.
July 20: WELP I guess I know who plays DH next year at least... Tigers 1B/2B Danny Villegas (.296, 7, 24) sprained his knee sliding into 2nd base on a play today in today's 5-2 win over the Rangers and will be out for 2 months. He'd only recently returned from a fractured hand; in fact, with this, his comeback amounts to 3 games. He should be back just in time for a couple weeks at the end of the year and then the postseason, assuming the Tigers continue their hot pace.
July 20: This is why that ERA record is so hard... Dodgers starter Fernando Apolonio (12-5, 1.63) pitched a fine game, a 5-hitter against the Mets. However, since he also allowed 2 earned runs (LA won 5-2), that means his ERA actually tipped slightly towards the side of not breaking hte record: it was 1.61 going into the game. I personally am not super-optimistic he's going to keep up this pace; although he's definitely a control artist and his stuff was good enough to win 18 games last year, he does not miss bats very well even for the era (4.9/9) so he has to rely on his defense to make plays. Thus far they've done so to the tune of a .185 OBA (off of a .207 BABIP for you stat nerds).
July 21: Two car bombs explode in Belfast, Northern Ireland within minutes of each other, killing nine and injuring 130 in an event that became known as "Bloody Friday". The IRA claimed responsibility; the terror attacks were considered retaliation for "Bloody Sunday" in January in which British soldiers opened fire on a protest in Derry and killed 26 unarmed civilians. Britain will launch a new offensive against the PIRA tomorrow.
July 21: A malfunctioning signa al El Cuervo de Sevilla leads to a head-on collision in Spain and their worst railroad disaster ever. At 7:36AM an express train crashes head-on into a local passenger train heading in the opposite direction, killing 76 and injuring another 130.
July 21: The 44 year old King of Bhutan, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, does while on a visit to Kenya.
July 21: Catherine Ndereba, a Kenyan marathon runner who won the world championships in 2003 and 2007, is born today in Gatunganga.
July 21: Juuuust when he was starting to look like a major league player, the Mets will be without the use of 3B Mark Hamill (.258, 3, 28) until September after he badly strained his hamstring running the bases in today's 4-2 win over the Giants. Hamill, 23, had recently won his job back from free agent signing Mike Medford () and was hitting .364 with 12 RBIs through the month of July when this happened. Longtime - well, fine, 2+ year - backup infielder Lorenzo Ortega (.167, 0, 2) should see a lot more PT with this unfortunate occurrence; the organizational cupboard is pretty bare at the hot corner.
Meanwhile, a spate of injuries will cause the Giants to shuffle their lineups and call up 20 year old top prospect / future NBA star Bob McAdoo (.261, 4, 19) to play second base. Can the 6'9" tower play the position? The scouts sure think so, and the Giants believe in him enough that they're moving the 25 year old Rodrigo Juarez (.231, 16, 45) off the spot and over to first base to accommodate him.
July 22: The Soviet space probe Venera 8 lands on the planet Venus at 1:29PM Moscow time (10:29AM GMT). WIth an improved cooling system and structure, the satellite transmitted data back to Earth for almost an hour before temperatures of nearly 500 degrees Fahrenheit and an atmospheric pressure of 90 bars shut it down. The Venera 7 probe had previously been the first man-made object to land on Venus but tipped over and sent only limited data.
July 22: Vice President Spiro Agnew was officially nominated as Richard Nixon's candidate for the election, quieting speculation that he would be replaced by a more moderate candidate. Agnew was considered by some to be a good candidate for the 1976 Presidential election himself but certain "nattering nabobs of negativity" felt otherwise...
July 22: Taiwanese President Chiang Kai-Shek falls into a coma a few days after what will prove to be his final public appearance. The 84 year old leader, who first took over China in 1925 and who still insists that he is their leader in spite of the presence of Mao Zedong, will linger on until 1975.
July 22: IRL Reds pitcher Wayne Simpson was offered a bribe to throw today's game vs the Pirates; however, Simpson instead reported the attempt, made by an anonymous caller, and pitched the game anyway, a 6-3 win for the Reds.
July 22: Chi Chi, the London Zoo's giant panda, dies today. In human news, however, Keyshawn Johnson, later to become a NFL wide receiver for the NY Jets, was born.
July 22: 36 year old Henry Riggs (.255, 12, 38) will miss significant time with a strained hamstring; in fact, doctors think he'll be out until at least September. The Braves will... make do in his absence. In a sense they had 5 guys who could reasonably start in the outfield so it's not a total loss, although Riggs' power will be hard to make up for.
July 22: Meanwhile in Atlanta, knuckleballing P Colin Rose (7-8, 3.89) had been out with an elbow strain since the 14th and now that injury has been downgraded to "unknown" so I'm going to DL him and call up Richmond's closer / known Canadian Bobby Orr (6-3, 2.43, 10 Sv in AAA) in his place.
July 22: I swear I just reported that this guy wanted to start... White Sox C Mike Perez (.164, 1, 8) is now demanding a trade. The man is hitting .164, he's 34 years old, and has hit under .200 in 2 of the last 3 years (including this one). He's also whiffing a loooooot for the era - 33 Ks in 110 at-bats - which tells me that the stick ain't coming back. Perez will get his "wish" inasmuch as I've released him effective immediately. This may also spell the end of his major league career, we'll see. In the true White Sox spirit of "next man up", Frenchman René Arnoux (.192, 2, 21), a 5th round pick in last year's draft, will come up in his place. He's so slow on the basepaths, you wouldn't even think of what his offseason hobby is: Formula racecare driving.
July 22: In "what are you thinking, schedulers?" news, the Angels and Yankees are playing a double-header today after playing one yesterday. They'll also play tomorrow, so that's 5 games in 3 days prior to the All-Star Break.
July 23: The Earth Resources Technology Satellite, ERS-1, is launched from California's Vandenburg Air Force Base at 11:08 in the morning. The satellite will be placed in orbit at 567 miles that will carry it over every part of the glove over a period of 18 days and transmit photographs at a resolution of 80 meters. This satellite, which I swear is not a spy satellite, promise, will be operational until January 6, 1978.
July 23: Marlon Wayans of the Wayans brothers and that movie about the white girls was born today.
July 23: Expos LF Ruberto Yebra (.184, 0, 2), frustrated over his lack of playing time, has requested a trade. My issue is, he's got decent speed but fielding-wise he's a first baseman and that's really about it - he has kind of bad range even for a left fielder - and as a hitter he hits like a CF. It's just not a good combination. I'm going to just release him and let him catch on somewhere else.
July 23: The All-Star rosters have been announced! I'll forgo the final vote totals in favor of these:
Half of the season has been played and now it's time for the All-Star game! It's a game where the fans will get to see their favorite players compete on the same field together, a game where the players themselves become fans and all of baseball comes together to celebrate one of the great traditions of the game -- the Major League Baseball All-Star game. The American League and the National League will come together today to decide the title of the best league for this season.
Here are the talented stars on the American League roster:
SP Chad Daugharty (TEX) - 12-4, 1.91 ERA, 155.2 IP, 1.14 WHIP, 5.0 K/9, 2.9 WAR
SP Jimmy Goddard (DET) - 10-6, 2.12 ERA, 178.0 IP, 1.11 WHIP, 5.6 K/9, 4.7 WAR
SP Justin Kindberg (BOS) - 11-8, 2.90 ERA, 177.0 IP, 1.16 WHIP, 7.5 K/9, 4.4 WAR
SP Jose Martinez (CLE) - 11-6, 2.17 ERA, 141.0 IP, 0.99 WHIP, 9.1 K/9, 4.9 WAR
SP Michael Pesco (BOS) - 13-6, 2.65 ERA, 170.0 IP, 1.06 WHIP, 7.8 K/9, 4.9 WAR
SP Danny Plaunt (MIL) - 9-4, 2.52 ERA, 128.1 IP, 1.24 WHIP, 4.9 K/9, 2.3 WAR
SP Santos Rodriguez (BAL) - 9-5, 2.09 ERA, 138.0 IP, 0.98 WHIP, 5.0 K/9, 4.2 WAR
SP Marco Sanchez (BOS)* - 8-8, 2.26 ERA, 159.1 IP, 0.99 WHIP, 7.1 K/9, 4.5 WAR
CL Willis Chavez (OAK) - 5-2, 20 SV, 1.73 ERA, 57.1 IP, 1.22 WHIP, 5.7 K/9, 1.3 WAR
CL Montay Luiso (BAL) - 4-3, 14 SV, 2.53 ERA, 46.1 IP, 1.08 WHIP, 8.0 K/9, 1.8 WAR
CL Malcolm Post (CHW)* - 5-2, 11 SV, 1.18 ERA, 45.2 IP, 1.18 WHIP, 7.3 K/9, 1.5 WAR
C Frank Abagnale (BAL) - .317/.379/.448, 230 AB, 5 HR, 1 SB, 153 wRC+, 3.3 WAR
C Sid Bartoszek (BOS) - .282/.370/.444, 117 AB, 4 HR, 151 wRC+, 1.6 WAR
C Josh Lewis (OAK)* - .265/.320/.407, 275 AB, 9 HR, 3 SB, 127 wRC+, 2.2 WAR
1B Alice Cooper (CHW) - .246/.366/.525, 297 AB, 25 HR, 4 SB, 178 wRC+, 3.6 WAR
1B Ernesto Garcia (CLE)* - .298/.362/.659, 305 AB, 32 HR, 208 wRC+, 4.6 WAR
1B Niki Lauda (DET) - .317/.415/.563, 167 AB, 11 HR, 204 wRC+, 2.9 WAR
1B Angelo Martinez (MIN) - .235/.317/.495, 319 AB, 22 HR, 150 wRC+, 2.2 WAR
2B Daniel Gilmet (MIN) - .339/.390/.467, 289 AB, 5 HR, 7 SB, 162 wRC+, 2.9 WAR
2B Joey Ramone (DET)* - .304/.373/.495, 194 AB, 5 HR, 163 wRC+, 3.5 WAR
3B Brian Maccioli (CHW) - .279/.349/.439, 305 AB, 10 HR, 146 wRC+, 3.5 WAR
3B Tom Weiss (NYY)* - .264/.343/.442, 292 AB, 13 HR, 146 wRC+, 1.9 WAR
SS Rob Curran (DET) - .276/.390/.425, 174 AB, 4 HR, 5 SB, 146 wRC+, 2.9 WAR
SS Michael Luna (TEX) - .273/.344/.391, 253 AB, 5 HR, 1 SB, 129 wRC+, 2.7 WAR
SS Justin Ramey (MIN)* - .235/.338/.336, 277 AB, 6 HR, 4 SB, 105 wRC+, 2.4 WAR
SS Richard Simmons (CAL) - .238/.344/.383, 269 AB, 8 HR, 6 SB, 126 wRC+, 3.5 WAR
LF Edwin Manchego (KC) - .294/.364/.569, 204 AB, 14 HR, 3 SB, 186 wRC+, 2.5 WAR
LF Bruce Springsteen (BOS) - .308/.374/.495, 214 AB, 6 HR, 2 SB, 165 wRC+, 2.6 WAR
CF Alvin Romero (DET)* - .325/.401/.401, 332 AB, 1 HR, 34 SB, 147 wRC+, 4.3 WAR
RF Tom Brown (BOS)* - .287/.327/.450, 327 AB, 8 HR, 14 SB, 139 wRC+, 3.4 WAR
RF Tony Danza (KC) - .332/.420/.462, 286 AB, 1 HR, 17 SB, 173 wRC+, 2.5 WAR
RF R.J. Domínguez (KC)* - .244/.347/.462, 303 AB, 16 HR, 1 SB, 148 wRC+, 3.8 WAR (Injured)
RF Phil Hartman (NYY) - .288/.391/.406, 278 AB, 6 HR, 156 wRC+, 2.8 WAR
RF Nelson Vargas (CLE) - .287/.350/.391, 289 AB, 7 HR, 7 SB, 132 wRC+, 2.2 WAR
And these are the gifted players for the National League:
SP Fernando Apolonio (LAD) - 12-5, 1.63 ERA, 149.0 IP, 0.91 WHIP, 4.8 K/9, 3.7 WAR
SP Jeremy Battaglia (PIT) - 6-13, 2.35 ERA, 188.0 IP, 0.97 WHIP, 4.5 K/9, 4.9 WAR
SP D.J. Cheeves (PIT) - 12-4, 2.14 ERA, 172.2 IP, 1.07 WHIP, 5.2 K/9, 2.9 WAR
SP George House (ATL) - 8-7, 3.77 ERA, 141.0 IP, 1.18 WHIP, 6.4 K/9, 2.8 WAR
SP Tony Rivera (HOU)* - 15-6, 2.10 ERA, 189.0 IP, 1.03 WHIP, 5.1 K/9, 4.4 WAR
SP Steve Waiters (CIN) - 6-8, 2.95 ERA, 131.0 IP, 1.24 WHIP, 7.1 K/9, 2.9 WAR
RP Jake Cari (ATL) - 4-2, 1.68 ERA, 48.1 IP, 1.10 WHIP, 5.8 K/9, 0.6 WAR
CL Geoff Saus (NYM) - 5-3, 11 SV, 2.73 ERA, 59.1 IP, 0.88 WHIP, 7.6 K/9, 0.0 WAR
CL John Winn (ATL)* - 1-6, 11 SV, 2.29 ERA, 51.0 IP, 1.06 WHIP, 8.8 K/9, 1.2 WAR
C Jason Bushon (NYM)* - .269/.359/.438, 242 AB, 8 HR, 2 SB, 150 wRC+, 3.1 WAR
C Greg Darrow (CHC) - .253/.307/.344, 241 AB, 3 HR, 93 wRC+, 2.5 WAR
C John Stuart (STL) - .265/.344/.450, 189 AB, 8 HR, 138 wRC+, 1.8 WAR
1B Rodrigo Juarez (SF) - .229/.290/.435, 292 AB, 16 HR, 2 SB, 124 wRC+, 2.6 WAR
1B Antonio Lopez (CHC)* - .297/.391/.506, 330 AB, 19 HR, 1 SB, 170 wRC+, 3.9 WAR
1B Justin Stone (LAD) - .252/.348/.518, 326 AB, 20 HR, 6 SB, 168 wRC+, 3.5 WAR
2B Kevin Dwyer (ATL)* - .320/.395/.502, 309 AB, 13 HR, 179 wRC+, 5.1 WAR (Injured)
2B Paul McCartney (SD) - .274/.345/.476, 332 AB, 17 HR, 5 SB, 156 wRC+, 4.4 WAR
2B Pedro Ortiz (CIN) - .294/.365/.367, 343 AB, 1 HR, 26 SB, 129 wRC+, 3.5 WAR
2B Juan Perez (CHC) - .279/.344/.502, 215 AB, 13 HR, 1 SB, 162 wRC+, 2.8 WAR
3B Mike Galeana (STL) - .221/.349/.456, 285 AB, 20 HR, 1 SB, 147 wRC+, 3.2 WAR
3B Robin Gibb (LAD) - .275/.315/.408, 309 AB, 8 HR, 2 SB, 119 wRC+, 2.1 WAR
3B Pete Little (HOU)* - .282/.351/.370, 308 AB, 5 HR, 3 SB, 125 wRC+, 2.8 WAR
SS Tony Shannon (PHI) - .295/.402/.418, 220 AB, 3 HR, 10 SB, 142 wRC+, 2.1 WAR
SS Jeremy Taylor (CHC)* - .246/.310/.464, 321 AB, 17 HR, 8 SB, 139 wRC+, 2.3 WAR
SS Hudson Watts (MON) - .265/.360/.388, 219 AB, 5 HR, 2 SB, 128 wRC+, 2.6 WAR
LF Rafael Disla (STL)* - .288/.363/.455, 323 AB, 12 HR, 1 SB, 156 wRC+, 2.6 WAR
LF Alonzo Huanosta (CIN) - .312/.372/.373, 314 AB, 1 HR, 6 SB, 133 wRC+, 2.7 WAR
LF Justin Lawson (PIT) - .277/.348/.442, 321 AB, 11 HR, 1 SB, 143 wRC+, 3.2 WAR
CF George Foreman (HOU) - .285/.378/.417, 326 AB, 8 HR, 14 SB, 146 wRC+, 3.3 WAR
CF Bryant Tarala (PHI) - .233/.342/.436, 275 AB, 12 HR, 8 SB, 141 wRC+, 3.5 WAR
CF Alex Vallejo (CHC)* - .364/.419/.514, 173 AB, 4 HR, 6 SB, 179 wRC+, 3.5 WAR
RF Barry Cooper (NYM) - .300/.335/.416, 317 AB, 5 HR, 14 SB, 134 wRC+, 3.5 WAR
RF Brian Jackson (PIT) - .267/.324/.387, 344 AB, 6 HR, 6 SB, 123 wRC+, 3.1 WAR
RF Jaden Weaver (CIN)* - .233/.312/.483, 317 AB, 22 HR, 1 SB, 143 wRC+, 2.4 WAR
WHAT EVEN IS WAR I DON'T GET IT
July 23: I think Braves SP George House (9-7, 3.54) has mostly just been unlucky this year; his peripherals, which include 6.6 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9, don't look like a below-average pitcher at all. Well... today he looked decidedly above average, tossing a 4-hitter against the contending Cardinals to lead his team to a 2-0 win. I should note here that the fans also agree with me, as House is heading to his 3rd All-Star Game in 4 years (he missed in 1970 because he missed the entire season with an injury).
## Teams in Review
July 19: 1972 has just been a 2 steps forward, 2 steps back kind of season for the
Cleveland Indians (42-40, 4th AL East, 7 GB). It does seem clear at least that these guys won't lose 90 games again but they still feel like they're vaguely underachieving. They score runs as well as anyone in the AL - 2nd (6th overall) but a roughly league average pitching staff has held them back. I think I have a couuuuuuple ideas on how to improve but they feel like probably only incremental improvements. One general place to improve is defense: the Tribe are dead last in the major leagues in defensive efficiency (.717) and are also 12th in the AL in zone rating (-19.4).
Rotation: This might not exactly be a "win now" move but I'm going to switch down to a 5 man rotation for the time being and let the starters breathe a little bit more. The top 2 guys - Robert Rivera (7-5, 2.42) and Jose Martinez (11-6, 2.32) - have been pretty great, which in and of itself tells me I should ride them harder, but I think Dylan Hamilton (5-11, 3.97) may be showing signs of overuse and Rivera just had to leave a game early with an abdominal strain (fortunately it wasn't serious) so I'm going to take things down a notch.
Bullpen: Elias Sanchez (0-2, 4.76) has been pretty bad and isn't really doing anything to tell me he should stick around. He's been a mainstay in this bullpen the past 2 years though so I'm reluctant to cut him loose just yet. Still, putting a 34 year old as your long man isn't really ideal. For now, he's not really blocking anyone in the minor leagues so he'll get more chances to get things right.
Infield: Last year it was Jonathan House who fell apart hitting-wise at catcher, this year it's Joe Wolfe (.164, 1, 6). Ray Varner (.253, 2, 14) is a lefty so it's not ideal to use him too much vs LHPs but I'll make him into the full-time guy now, I guess. Both guys are roughly equal defensively; Varner has the flashier arm, although he's only thrown out 10 of 38 baserunners, and Wolfe has a better rep for handling pitchers.
I don't particularly like what Luis Oropeza (.207, 6, 16) is doing at 2nd either with the bat or with the glove but with TJ Pritchett (.266, 6, 19) now out for the season I feel stuck... which is why I'm going to call up Iranian poli sci grad student / outspoken critic of the Shah / second baseman Sadegh Zibakalam (.339, 5, 32 at A Reno) to see what he can do. He hit only .212 in 33 AAA at-bats so I'm probably rushing him but what the heck, if he can handle possible incarceration by the Shah, he can handle big league pitching. Also, he is a far, far better fielder than Oropeza, who was fixing to be one of the worst defensive 2B in the AL had he kept starting there.
3B Bobby Ramirez (.219, 10, 33), the 1971 AL Rookie of the Year, has frustratingly failed to hit after leading the league in hitting last year. BA is like that I guess. I've already gone back to a platoon between him and the old guy out there, Roberto Hernandez (.333, 0, 7). Ramirez has responded to this poorly, hitting a season-low .182 for the month.
At shortstop, and speaking of former batting champions, John Johnson (.203, 1, 12) has gone from a high-average, top of the lineup guy to someone who can barely break .200, and he's hitting an empty .203 at that (.225 OBP, .248 SLG). As such, it's time for Mitt Romney (.238, 1, 10) to step in. The Romneybot hasn't ever shown he can hit anything like what Johnson did in 1969 and 1970 (.350 and .340 averages) but Johnson hasn't really shown that he can do that in the past 2 years either.
Outfield: The outfield isn't exactly great but outside of noticing that CF Bobby Kaplan (.257, 3, 16) had recovered from back issues that had kept him out of the lineup for the past week, there are no changes to be made here.
July 21: As they limp into 40 losses, you've got to ask if the
Philadelphia Phillies (45-40, 4th NL East, 4 1/2 GB) are really contending this year. They sure looked the part in June at 17-9 but a 9-10 July seems more in line with the rest of the season. The offense is decent if not fantastic and the pitching is only average, with the starters decidedly less so (3.74 starters' ERA, 3rd word in the NL). Defensively they are 2nd worst in the circuit with a -12.4 ZR so that's definitely a place that could be improved.
Rotation: The giant albatross here is Marius Gaddi (6-10, 4.62), who wasn't really hot last year either (16-20, 3.47). He's still only 29 but the question needs to be asked: did he get pushed too hard the last 2 years? I've been a bit more liberal with the hook on him this year; the former 27 game winner is averaging barely over 7 IP per start with only 4 complete games in 20 outings. I'm not sure it's helped all that much though. There are games where Gaddi just doesn't seem to have it. Another guy who's been struggling a bit is former White Sox prospect Tim Natalie (6-8, 4.21); although I think his peripherals are fine I want to make a change and so I'm going to send him down to Eugene in favor of Navy engineer / semi-prospect Manley "Sonny" Carter (8-12, 2.84). Carter has grander ambitions than baseball - he reportedly wants to be an astronaut - but he looked like a decent enough pitch-to-contact guy in the minors so let's see what he can do.
Bullpen: The bullpen as a whole is doing pretty well. Only the lefty specialist Roger Evans (2-0, 4.24) has an ERA over 4 and I'm not going to swap him out. If anything the gameplan is probably to go to them more and more often come late July and August.
Infield: I feel like we've hit critical mass with 3B Alex Becerra (.168, 7, 17). He's just plain not hitting this year. Hey, he hasn't been completely atrocious in the field but... .168 in what is now 137 at-bats. You just can't stick with that. Instead, Matt Highfield (.393, 0, 4), a non-prospect who was called up to spell Becerra, will get a lot more at-bats now. There's still an ongoing question as to who is their cleanup guy but, like, that's not a question you answer by dropping a guy who clearly can't play anymore into the role. And hey, maybe Becerra figures things out on the bench, I guess. Cris Ramos (.250, 2, 16) should be back off the DL after the All-Star Break as well, so there's that.
Outfield: Assuming the super-prospect Alberto Juantorema (.264, 12, 42 at AAA Eugene) can stick, I have no questions in the outfield. You'd think with a team ZR so bad that the Phillies would be using a less than adequate guy in center but nope, that's former Orioles gloveman Bryant Tarala (.228, 12, 28), who won 2 Gold Gloves in his time in the AL and would surely have won more if it wasn't for the presence of Norm Hodge in that league.
July 22: The
Oakland A's (48-40, 2nd AL West, 4 1/2 GB) seem to finally be putting it together after a sluggish start. They've still got big problems with the pitching and defense; they're 3rd worst in the AL in spite of getting an MLB-high 567 strikeouts to date. That probably won't keep up since they've traded away their top K guy Roberto Ortiz (8-4, 3.77, 133 Ks in 141 IP on the year) but there is this kind of all-or-nothing sense from the pitching staff.
Rotation: I keep flip-flopping on this but for now I'm going to put Rick Shelton (3-4, 4.81) back in the rotation. He's been pretty meh as a starter (3-3, 4.53) but he's also their guy who's started 71 games for them over the past 2 years and they don't really have a lot of other options. I used 36 year old Chris Wilson (5-5, 3.46) in there for a stretch but he seems better set up for relief usage.
Bullpen: Going forward, this team really needs to be about just getting the starters to go into the 7th or 8th and giving it up to the bullpen, which has been pretty lights-out so far. The stats "only" say 4th in the AL with a 3.28 ERA but guys like Willis Chavez (5-1, 1.63, 20 Sv) would tell you differently...
Infield: 1B Ray Hawkinson (.216, 1, 6) just came back from a lat strain that had kept him out for a month and a half. He's probably not the guy who hit .369 in 51 games for the A's last year... but he's better than this, right? I can't change things right now. Alex Canales (.259, 2, 24 with Oakland) exists if Hawkinson can't or won't hit.
I've already made some big trades (well, they were ordained by real-life trades, but still) to replace both 2nd and shortstop... so welcome in Tyler Knight (.228, 3, 14) from Texas and Jon Reid (.220, 4, 20) from Atlanta. Of those two, I guess Reed is the most vulnerable to losing his new spot but he seems to have found his stroke since leaving the ATL (.256, 3, 8 in 78 ABs with the A's) and I am just not a fan of Israel Gaytan's (.284, 5, 38) defense. That man might play a lot at DH next year.
I also added David Salinas (.202, 1, 11) in the Tyler Knight trade and if anything he could fill a larger hole, as Chase Jones (.195, 7, 29) is following up a career year (31 dingers in '71!) with a complete dud year. However, Salinas is 36 and is really showing his age. 26 year old Jeremy Webb (.288, 6, 17 at AAA Iowa) is also mashing in the minor leagues but there is a limit as to how many guys at one position I can stick in the bigs.
Outfield: LF Adam Groves (.211, 7, 27) is hanging onto his job thanks to hitting .263 with almost half his overall RBIs - 12 - this month. We do have Jah Lloyd (.253, 2, 14) in case he starts to struggle again but Lloyd at this point feels more like a 4th outfielder kind of guy. I also reeeeally need to find a place for <redacted> (.278, 17, 69), a 22 year old who looks too good to pass up. But what if he sucks in the big leagues? Ugh, you can't make a decision like that with a contending team like this!
July 22: The
Minnesota Twins (44-40, 3rd AL West, 6 1/2 GB) are... not moving in the same direction; they're just 7-13 this month and 21-28 since June 1st. Being without the reigning MVP 3B Mike Brookes (.200, 7, 17) sure isn't helping, although Brookes hasn't been super-fantastic himself this year. I think this team is too old to think about throwing in the towel and relying on kids the rest of the way but man... this is a Ron Swanson dealio here because that means they are going to have to just half-ass being competitive instead of whole-assing waiting until next year.
Rotation: I feel like maybe I've been a bit too strongly tied to Rich Whetzel (6-8, 3.87). He was... fine as a 26 year old rookie last year and did post a winning record (8-5, 3.40, although 9 no-decisions in 22 starts) but, like, why am I that committed to him? Dude's barely struck out more batters than he's walked (57 to 53 in 109.1 IP) and... there's a guy in the minors in Santiago Serrano (12-3, 1.54 at AAA Tacoma) who is absolutely lighting it up. OK, I convinced myself... although schedules being what they are, Whetzel will get one final start today before he goes down.
Bullpen: I aaaaaaalmost cut Victor Ruiz (1-0, 5.83) to make room but... struggles or no, the man has 30 Ks in 29.1 IP. That has to be useful somehow.
Infield: Right now 37 year old Danny Pellot (.230, 1, 9) is the only man on the roster who can play 3rd base; I had to temporarily send down Fred Blades (.200, 7, 25 in AAA Tacoma) to make room for the bigger-for-one-day pitching staff. Pellot seems closer to the waiver wire himself than seriously starting. Mike Brookes is back in about 10 days.
Outfield: I don't know what's wrong with CF Jose Villasenor (.175, 3, 16), who literally just hit .306 a year ago, but even if he's like a .260 hitter in a slump he's clearly regressed in the outfield as well and so bringing in football guy - European football, the sport we True Americans call soccer - Ronnie Hellstrom (.304, 2, 3) seems like what we've got to do to save this pitching staff. Hellstrom has amazing range in the field, although he'll probably never hit .300 in a season the way Villasenor did. Jose, it should be noted, is still only 26 and I'm going to keep giving him a lot of chances to find that stroke against RHPs going forward.
To the above, RF Ernie Griffin (.200, 11, 30) has also not been hitting. He at least has that power though. I'm platooning him with Kyle Ship (.237, 2, 12) now because... I don't feel like I have a lot of other choices right now. Ship is a decent enough pinch-hitter but reeeeally doesn't have the power for a corner OF position.