June starts in epic fashion as we beat the Mets 8-7 in a 6-hour, 19-inning classic. Good for the spectators, but it leaves our squad a bit of a wreck in the middle of a long run of games without a break. A walkoff loss at Montreal the next day almost feels like a blessing.
We kick away to a handy little break but lose Sangy in mid-June for 5 weeks to a forearm strain. Gary Alexander (PIT 1978), who has leapfrogged Ed Ott in our Depth Chart, gets his first callup to the bigs.
That throws us for a bit of a spin and, while we recover quickly and maintain our healthy break atop the NL East, I can’t help feel we’re a bit of a paper tiger made to look far better than we are by our division-rivals, none of whom has a winning record to this point. Nor are they miles behind us, mind you, so I guess we’ll see if I am right as the stretch run unfolds.
The Phils quickly make some inroads by sweeping us 3-from-3 at home, making us 0-5 against them so far this season, and when we lose Scoop Oliver for a month with a foot fracture we are suddenly looking very vulnerable. We are fortunate to have Bernie Carbo (PIT 1980 IRL) down at AAA and he gets the call-up. Then Sangy returns, with the hitherto impressive Gary Alexander staying with us and Ron Brand off to Lincoln. All the same, the All-Star Break is a handy opportunity just to take stock, catch our breath and regroup.
We do just that, starting positively when play returns and stretching our advantage back out to 8 games.
At the same time, the Cards keep coming along quietly and then make a bit of a move in the final part of this sectional, winning 7 on the trot to keep alive their hopes of catching us.
Ourselves and the Cards have plenty of games left against each other, and this thing is far from over as we enter the stretch run.
Tim Foli having an excellent year, Scoop Oliver an altogether forgettable one.
Candy Man just
killing it, but is alone among our SP on that front. Rick Rhoden in particular (the 1-hitter he throws v the Mets just a couple of days prior to posting notwithstanding) is still struggling to find his footing in the bigs.
An excellent middle section gives the Tigers the inside running on the AL East, while the White Sox waste a handy lead with an 11-18 July that tightens the AL West right back up once more, with three of the clubs from last year’s epic dogfight featuring with the A’s standing in for the Halos.
News, Leaders and Top 20s
Monthly Award Winners
June
American League
- Batter – Joe Rudi (Royals): 362 / 5 HR / 22 RBI
- Pitcher – Jim Kaat (Twins): 5-0 / 0.51 / 9 K / 35.1 IP
- Rookie – Len Barker (Tigers): 4-0 / 2.21 / 31 K / 40.2 IP
National League
- Batter – Jason Thompson (Cubs): 355 / 4 HR / 22 RBI
- Pitcher – John Candelaria (Pirates): 5-0 / 1.32 / 24 K / 47.2 IP
- Rookie – Mark Fidrych (Astros): 4-1 / 1.52 / 20 K / 47.1 IP
July
American League
- Batter – Gene Tenace (Red Sox): 357 / 6 HR / 15 RBI
- Pitcher – Bob Knepper (Angels): 5-0 / 1.25 / 33 K / 50.1 IP
- Rookie – Bob Knepper
National League
- Batter – Mike Schmidt (Phillies): 380 / 4 HR / 22 RBI
- Pitcher – Les Cain (Reds): 4-0 / 1.69 / 30 K / 48 IP
- Rookie – Ken Kravec (Astros): 3-0 / 2.49 / 22 K / 47 IP
Milestones and Observations of Note
- As IRL, The Bird is The Word in this timeline, with him at 12-5 / 2.11 at the time of posting.
- Just noticed Billy Bucks is at the Mets now – will this timeline flip the IRL on its head and have him there for ’86? Currently only signed thru 1978, but one can only hope.
- The Rangers lose reliever Jerry Augustine for a year at least to an elbow blowout, while SP Joe Horlen of Detroit also has his season cut short by problems in the same region.
- With the looming Expansion Draft, we sit pat but there are a few Deadline trades of note:
S+ HOME
REPORTS HOME
PIRATES HOME