## Standings / Recap / Comments
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Detroit Tigers 74 48 .607 - 513 413
Cleveland Indians 67 54 .554 6½ 502 430
Boston Red Sox 65 54 .546 7½ 425 365
Baltimore Orioles 66 55 .545 7½ 430 385
New York Yankees 53 68 .438 20½ 398 413
Milwaukee Brewers 50 71 .413 23½ 380 459
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
California Angels 66 55 .545 - 415 429
Oakland Athletics 63 58 .521 3 434 460
Minnesota Twins 60 58 .508 4½ 448 431
Chicago White Sox 59 61 .492 6½ 428 459
Texas Rangers 53 68 .438 13 348 405
Kansas City Royals 47 73 .392 18½ 439 511
Code:
LEAGUE STANDINGS EAST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Philadelphia Phillies 68 52 .567 - 496 450
Pittsburgh Pirates 68 52 .567 - 403 337
Chicago Cubs 68 54 .557 1 493 496
St. Louis Cardinals 61 59 .508 7 465 444
Montreal Expos 51 69 .425 17 403 478
New York Mets 50 68 .424 17 388 457
LEAGUE STANDINGS WEST
Team W L WPct GB R RA
Houston Astros 67 56 .545 - 450 432
Atlanta Braves 67 57 .540 ½ 483 457
San Diego Padres 61 60 .504 5 467 429
San Francisco Giants 59 64 .480 8 413 400
Los Angeles Dodgers 55 65 .458 10½ 387 446
Cincinnati Reds 51 70 .421 15 449 471
We've got one week to go before Labor Day and man, 3 of the divisions have real races going. Granted, that seems to mostly be because those teams are mediocre - maybe the NL East is the exception - but hey, races are races, right? The Tigers are the only truly good team in the league this year, it seems, although they too would not win 100 games if we played 162 this year (thanks to the strike and in spite of all the make-up games, we'll hit around 154-155 per team I think). I admit to getting a little PO'ed when the Angels can't pull things together but the fact is that they're a young team and a lot of the youngsters just aren't hitting. It doesn't help that they're now being way, way outscored by their opponents. The A's are basically in the same boat with the Twins even underachieving a bit to be where they are. One big series for them combined with a sweep by the Angels and they're right back in there.
The NL East is an interesting one that's come down to 3 teams, two of which score well but give up too many runs and the other of whom is great at preventing runs but bad at scoring them. Of those 3 I have to once again discount the Cubs and their league-worst runs allowed but I guess to be fair they are still very, very much in there. The Cards are 7-19 for the month and just lost 3 out of 4 to the Padres so I think they're done. In the West, neither the Astros (12-13 in August) nor the Braves (14-14) seem to want it very much, which has opened the door for the expansion Padres (14-12) to be on the outskirts of it. Their pitching is better than either Houston's or Atlanta's, so there's that.
## Major Transactions
August 27: The Cardinals trade RF Casey Satterfield (,270, 18, 56) to the A's for CF Jah Lloyd (.256, 3, 24) and minor league P Vince Rothacher (6-15, 4.82 in AA Birmingham). This is as clear a white-flag trade as there is to have (and hey IRL the Cards traded Matty Alou so I'm not stretching this super far); the A's gain a power bat in the middle of the lineup and the Cardinals gain... okay, Lloyd was decent enough as a CF when David Mesa was out but he's probably not starting corner OF material. The Cards are likely not done tearing things down... and on the up side, it does clear the team of one guy who really shouldn't be playing anything but LF or 1B.
## News
August 21: The Copernicus satellite is launched into orbit. Carrying an 80cm UV telescope and spectrometers, the Copernicus satellite will transmit data until 1979 and provide detailed information about the stars at which it is aimed. The day before the launch - so yesterday - an astronomer with NASA discovered that an error had been made in some of the calculations for the focus in the mirrors and so, that getting fixed, they didn't come out all blurry and stuff.
August 21: SPEAKING OF BLURRY, the AL Player of the Week was second year man Joey Ramone (.310, 8, 42), the Tigers' 2B who's legit playing himself into the batting race. He went 14 for 29 last week (.483) with 2 HRs and 7 RBIs in 6 games (which, the whole league as slowed down now PHEW). This is Ramone's very first POTW; he also made the All-Star Game this year.
In the NATIONAL... baseball league the PotW is a guy who's been in and out of the Expos' doghouse (and admittedly my own doghouse): pitcher turned OF Paul Kahl (.241, 6, 26). Given a new lease on life at least for the season, Kahl went 12-19 last week with 4 runs scored, raising his BA from a terrible .215 to an "I guess I have to accept this" .241. This is also the 28 year old Kahl's first such award. He was also an All-Star in 1968 and, before I decided I did not want 2 way players, a 3-time Silver Slugger at pitcher (with a career 95 ERA+ so let's not go crazy here).
August 21: The Cardinals may be falling out of the NL East race but don't blame it on NL K leader Roger Quintana (12-8, 2.54), who single-handedly willed his team to a win in Dodger Stadium with a 1-0 win over Luis Castillo (5-10, 3.89). That the Cards couldn't get to Castillo, who's been sporting a near-4 ERA this year, is an issue that can be set aside for another day because Quintana struck out 9 batters and scattered 4 hits in a nice and easy shutout where the Dodgers never looked particularly threatening. "I had the smoke tonight," said Quintana. "It was so smokey and beautiful, like when you set things on fire."
August 22: On a hot August afternoon in Brooklyn, three men rob a branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank and their string of bad luck becomes the basis of the 1975 film "Dog Day Afternoon". John Wotjowicz and Salvatore Naturile find that most of the cash in the bank had gone out in an armored car that morning. They are then surprised by the police as they try to get away. They then hold the people in the bank hostage until the following morning, when Naturile is shot to death and Wotjowicz is arrested. The heist is at first reported as a means to pay for gender-affirming surgery for Wotjowicz' partner (which is also how it's depicted in the movie) but according to Arthur Bell, a reporter for the Village Voice who knew Wotjowicz, this was only a front for what was actually a well-planned Mafia operation that went horribly wrong.
August 23: The Prime Minister of Japan, Kakuei Tanaka, is approached by a man representing the US aircraft manufacturer Lockheed, Hiro Hayama. Hayama proposes that if Tanaka influences All Nippon Airways to choose his company, he would give Tanaka 500M yen (roughly $6M US). In October, All Nippon will announce that it has awarded the contract to Lockheed and in August of 1973 Tanaka will receive his first 100M yen. These kickbacks will come to light in 1976, after Tanaka is no longer the PM.
August 23: Cubs SP Jason Sanders (3-1, 1.45) was already not expected to return this season but that inflamed shoulder he just hasn't been able to pitch through got worse again and he's reportedly about to undergo surgery. Given the schedule now he doesn't look to be able to return until May of 1973 at the earliest.
August 24: Hot August Night, Neil Diamond's double platinym album, is recorded live at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles (better known nowadays, I guess, as the inspiration for the Russell Brand movie "Get Him To The Greek").
August 24: The lone NL game is a real pitchers' duel between the established ace Steve Waiters (9-10, 2.59) of the Reds and newcomer Richard "the Dad" Craven (0-4, 2.72) of the Expos. As you can probably glean from the records, Waiters emerged victorious but it took his Cincinnatians 10 innings to finally crack open Craven, who struck out 9 tonight. When asked if he was disappointed in the loss, Craven said "I guuuuueeeeess."
August 25: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange. On its opening day, prices close at $33 a share. Although the value of the stock drops 77% over its first two years, an invesment of $1,000 in 1972 would grow to $870,000 by 2008.
August 25: Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison, who is a lot older than I thought he was, I guess, is born today.
August 25: Is it too little, too late? Probably. But the Indians have at least turned around a very, very bad first half of the month, as a 6-4 win over the Angels tonight in 10 innings gives them their 10th straight win. C Ray Varner (.240, 4, 21) hit a leadoff single in the 10th and then came around to score the winning run on a CF Bobby Kaplan single (.282, 4, 29) off of Halos P Luis Flores (2-4, 4.47) to win it for Jake Duckett (10-2, 2.75). The win still only puts Cleveland at 15-10 for the month but fans are already beginning to rename their hometown "Believeland" just in case.
August 26: The 1972 Summer Olympics open in Munich, Germany. I knew we were missing a major news story this year... well, let's hope they go off without a hitch.
August 26: Japanese mountaineer Naomi Uemura makes the first solo ascent of Mount McKinley (now Denali) in Alaska.
August 26: Speaking of firsts, the first person to sail around the world by himself, Sir Francis Chichester, died today at 65. The cause of death was cancer. BORING
August 26: Brewers SP Danny Plaunt (12-6, 2.78) earned his way into the record books today, sort of, with a 6 hit shutout of the White Sox at Milwaukee County Stadium. Plaunt threw a "Maddux", which of course 1972 people cared about so little they didn't have a name for it, but still. He struck out 0, threw 98 pitches, and actually very, very nearly had himself a full Tewksbury as his lone strikeout came against 1B Alice Cooper (.253, 34, 81) came in the 9th inning. "I'm just happy we could get the win," said Plaunt after the game.
This has nothing to do with the Maddux but both Milwaukee runs came on solo HRs by 3B Francisco Martinez (.235, 4, 14), who is not exactly known for his power. The multi-dinger game gives him 13 for his major league career, which is now up to 1,210 at-bats.
August 26: Cleveland's losing streak finally ends at 10 with a 3-1 loss at California. The win streak was not exactly against the doormats of the league: following a loss to Detroit on the 13th, they swept California, Oakland, and Minnesota at home before dropping the 2nd of 2 games vs CAL on the road.
August 27: A dist storm in Kern County, CA leads to two separate multiple-vehicle collisions, resulting in 7 deaths and 96 injuries. (96!!!) The big one was on I-5, in which 84 people were injured in one of those limited-visibility situation where people keep crashing into the stopped cars in front of them. 4 of those injured died in this one.
August 2: President Nixon and his wife Pat host 400 Hollywood celebrities at the "western White House" in San Clemene, CA. None of the attendees were injured or died in the dust storm (which I'm pretty sure was in a completely different part of CA anyway).
## Teams in Review
August 21: The
Los Angeles Dodgers (53-60, 5th NL West, 9 GB) had an interesting run this year but even with the Braves and Astros hovering around mediocrity, it's over. They've just fallen behind the Giants and are now only in front of the Reds in the division. That's where a 16-29 record since July 1 will get you. Offensively, they're one of the 5 teams in the circuit who don't score runs and the pitching has lately only been average. This is not a good combination!
Rotation: John Buday (2-2, 7.08) had a 3.01 ERA in AAA this year, which earned him a shot in the majors... and since coming up he's allowed 18 walks in 20.1 innings. Nope! You're headed back down (maybe you'll come back in 10ish days)! I'll call up Mario Juarez (6-6, 2.15), a 27 year old who threw 52 innings for this team last year, in his place.
Bullpen: I'm gonna need to carve out a 5th bullpen position, which necessitated the forced retirement below. This will be recalling LHP Aidan Williams (5-5, 4.99), who was pretty bad in his last stint with this team but this is a guy who once led the AL in ERA (the Angels in '69) and as recently as last year was 13-14, 3.16. I'll use him as a lefty specialist for now, which also means demoting Derek Massey (0-1, 6.92), who's been as awful as those numbers suggest, into long relief.
Infield: Yeah... it's time. Bye, Billy Tristan (.196, 0, 3). He couldn't cut it as a pinch-hitter this year but hey, dude's 42. He finished his career with 2,135 hits, an even .300 batting average, 4 All-Star appearances, and... just not a lot to make you think he's a HOFer, frankly. Definitely he's a Dodgers Hall of Famer. He led the league in hits exactly one time and as a top 2nd baseman he was always clearly behind someone else, either Giants' star Jeff Beckwith or, more recently, the Braves' Kevin Landry.
C Jason Davis (.193, 1, 21) has been bad at the plate and has thrown out only 27% of baserunners. The backups are also going nowhere and I'm not fond of the guys in the minors so he'll keep his job, but man...
Outfield: RF Ray Costa (.213, 9, 45) has also been teeeerrible but like Davis the backup options don't look any better. Also, Costa is a lot younger than I thought he was - only 26. The guys in the minor league pipe are there but all look like they're in the low minors so... let's give him the rest of the year to see if he can get back towards that 20 HR power that made him look like a neat idea last year.
August 26: I'm a little surprised that the
Chicago White Sox (57-60, 4th AL West, 7 GB) aren't worse; then again, they do have a couple of reeeeeally nice front-line pieces (namely 1B/OF Alice Cooper (.256, 34, 81)). It's definitely well past time to look at the youths though, although I'll probably stay conservative with cutdowns since roster expansion happens in 5 days. On the flip side, this team is teeeeechnically still in the AL West race with California unable to separate itself from the pack, but realistically no.
Rotation: The rotation has already undergone the youth movement, with the only +30 guy in there being the staff "ace" (at least of the rotation), Chris Messina (10-9, 3.29). Other than proabably moving out to like a 6 man rotation and giving everyone pleeeenty of rest, I forsee no changes at this time.
Bullpen: Likewise, the only guy in the 'pen who isn't performing well is Mick Fleetwood (6-12, 3.89) and that's pretty much all because he had a bad run as a starter this year. He has one whole game in long relief.
Infield: The whole infield, I guess save catcher, is young, so that's nice. SS Chris Morgan (.210, 0, 15) hasn't been producing but his backup Jim Fiederlein (.217, 0, 7) hasn't either, is 5 years older (at 29), and is a career .187 hitter. I think I'll just stay with Morgan. Also there really isn't anyone in the minors that makes me want to try them out. Carlos Filipe Ximines Belo (.170, 0, 6) already had a 21 game trial this year and isn't exactly blowing up the minors right now (actually I guess .236/2/27) is somewhat average for AAA this year but yuuuuck).
Outfield: Minor league OF Patrick Tambay (.249, 6, 47 in AA Knoxville) doesn't look like he's ready for AAA, let alone the major leagues, but it's not like the Chisox have anyone else doing well in LF.
Likewise, OF Josh Wade (.264, 3, 27) is nothing special at all except that in this horrible season that .264 average would be tied for the team lead with 3B and 3-hole hitter Brian Maccioli (.264, 13, 51)... so yeah, he should clear 300 ABs this year at least (he's got 242 so far).
August 26th: It's been a real up and down season for the
San Diego Padres (59-60, 3rd NL West, 6 GB), which, you know, great for an expansion team and all that. They went 17-10 in June and are 12-12 so far in August. How much do I want to change? As bad as the Braves and Astros have been there really does feel like they've got an outside, outside chance at the division title so... why not?
Rotation: I can't believe I'm doing this but I'm going to drop the rotation down to 4 men for I think the first time this season to accommodate the last-gasp effort to get that division T. Cesar Barreras (7-6, 2.86) is the odd man out because I don't trust his extreme lack of stuff (55 Ks in 145 IP) and Ben Feldhusen (3-10, 3.63) is back from missing over a month with should tendinitis. He's gotten into 18 starts now, which is already his 2nd highest total since 1967 (he had 24 last year). The comeback is real!
Bullpen: The odd man out here is Pat Fix (1-1, 5.62), who just could not put it together in 8 games with the team this year. He's 30 so I guess there's a chance he'll still have a career somewhere but I kind of doubt it. The rest of the bullpen has been playing waaaay over their heads. I'll probably save that story until the offsaeson.
Infield: This is usually about the time I sort everyone out and stop doing the "every X games" setting for regulars... but man, 1B Carlos Palacios (.258, 7, 38) has been... fine, I guess for 1972 but the semi-platoon arrangement he's worked out with UT Dale Earnhardt (.260, 9, 32) is just plain working. Earnhardt's also taking time in 3rd, LF, and RF, all of which work for me.
Which, honestly, 39 year old Kevin Landry (.212, 8, 32) really isn't getting it done but yeah, to the extent that this is a playoff run, this arrangement is what got them here so it's got to continue. And hey, he did hit .277 last year, so he could rebound, right?
Joe Wicker (.315, 1, 13) has just kind of fallen into being the starting SS now. That's why we traded for him in June and that's why he's still in there. Yeah, looking at it, the only reason he's got only 89 ABs with the team is that he got hurt. He's healthy now and he'll play every day.
Outfield: I'm not, like, suuuuuper fond of LF Greg Cowan (.215, 9, 34) in the lineup but I also feel like replacing him is a 1973 conversation. He's played his way into it and he's got the 2nd best power on the team behind 2B Paul McCartney (.277, 24, 75).
And Ray Herring (.261, 5, 24) frankly only looks "meh" as a RF because all stats in 1972 are "meh". He's fine. In Cleveland he was a guy who couldn't field at all in center but the Pads don't use him there. In right he's fine.