All is travelling nicely early on as we win six of our first eight but then we lose Rick Rhoden for a minimum IL stint to a bout of plantar fascitis. We move Larry McWilliams into the rotation and call up Rod Scurry for his MLB debut. He ends up staying with us as Lou Marone gets up to his usual nonsense and we banish him hopefully for the last time to AAA.
Led by a red-hot Gorman Thomas – who wins the April hitting prize – and some good pitching, and despite Al Oliver getting off to a very slow start, we look to be cruising but then go cold with a 4-game losing streak to sit at 12-8 after 20 games.
We do send Lou Marone to Lincoln via the WW when Rhoden returns and keep Rod Scurry up with us, as Al Oliver finds his swing and we go on a nice little 14-1 run including 10 straight wins.
We play well for the remainder but a really positive first sectional ends on a slightly sour note as Wally Backman goes down with a back injury and will need an IL stint, with Frank Taveras summoned to replace him. Still, at 30-14 and 2 ½ games clear on top of the divison, we’ve little to complain about for the moment.
Extensions are signed with John Tudor (1/450), Ken Oberkfell (6/2700, very amenable), Larry McWilliams (1/375), Craig Reynolds (1/345), Ed Ott (1/295) and Tony Armas (3+1/2770).
Most interestingly, Dave Knigman is still unsigned and we add him to AAA Lincoln on a minors deal with the view of hopefully extending him cheap and using him next year when the two CC slots free up. We sit straight down with him, explain our plan and he is amenable to it so we sign him on a very friendly 4/800 deal, along with fellow Lincolnites Frank Taveras (1/280) and Bruce Kison (1+1/310).
Getting Kong back and seeing Rick Langford at AAA makes me feel much better about that trade, the results in its immediate aftermath notwithstanding of course. Beating them three of four at Wrigley in our first meeting of the season in late May doesn’t hurt, either.
An incredibly even set of standings to this point, with just one club more than ten games out.
Monthly Award Winners
April
American League
Batter – Dwight Evans (Red Sox): 359 / 6 HR / 17 RBI
Pitcher – Craig Swan (Twins): 3-0 / 1.64 / 18 K / 33 IP
Rookie – Bud Black (A’s): 2-0 / 0.00 / 14 K / 23 IP
National League
Batter – Gorman Thomas (Pirates): 302 / 7 HR / 16 RBI
Pitcher – Tug McGraw (Dodgers): 3-1 / 2.18 / 6 SV / 14 K / 20.2 IP
Rookie – Atlee Hammaker (Mets): 2-1 / 2.96 / 17 K / 27.1 IP
May
American League
Batter – Reggie Smith (Red Sox): 356 / 8 HR / 30 RBI
Pitcher – Bob Stoddard (Red Sox): 2-1 / 1.29 / 8 SV / 8 K / 21 IP
Rookie – Bob Stoddard
National League
Batter – Jason Thompson (Pirates): 380 / 7 HR / 16 RBI
Pitcher – Ron Guidry (Pirates): 5-0 / 0.99 / 37 K / 45.2 IP
Rookie – Tom Gorman (Expos): 5-2 / 3.47 / 4 SV / 14 K / 23.1 IP
News and Leaders
Milestones and Observations of Note
250 Wins: Steve Carlton
200 Wins: Gary Nolan
Veteran pitcher Gaylord Perry, now with the Yanks, will miss a full year after tearing his UCL and, in his age-40 season, one has to wonder if he makes it back. At the other end of his career, White Sox rookie Mike Witt also goes down with a season-ending injury and will miss part of ’82 as well after he blows out his elbow. Nasty stuff.
Mets young gun Leon Durham is forced to miss 6 weeks with a strained oblique and they also lose pitcher Rudy May for the season to an RC tear. The Expos will have to make do without budding superstar Andre Dawson for six weeks courtesy of a forearm strain.
A rough start sees the Astros drop their first 8 games until we generously put them out of their misery. The Padres also drop nine of their first ten.
We get two no-nos down in AAA—both buy a guy named Larry – Corr from El Paso and Kiser from Kinston – and both against Jacksonville.