[jksander]

MAY 7, 1963 . . . We’re 16-14 heading into this series, with the Naturals sitting at 15-15, so both teams are still fighting to compete. Jose Guzman (5-3, 4.41 ERA, 87.2 IP, 29 K’s, 1.70 WHIP) took the mound for us, facing Ivan Garcia (4-5, 4.78 ERA, 79.0 IP, 29 K’s, 1.66 WHIP). We loaded the bases in the top of the first, scoring a run as Holmes hit into a fielder’s choice. In the top of the fifth we broke the game open -- with Logan Holmes at the plate, bases loaded and two outs, a wild pitch brought Jonathan Gonzalez home, and then Holmes singled, driving Cantimori and Diaz in to score. We went into the bottom of the inning leading 4-0, and we scored another in the top of the sixth thanks to an error at first! With the bases loaded, they hit Holmes with a pitch to score a run, Fernandez drove in another with a single, Colon walked in a run, and the rout was on! Jose Castro hit into a double play but another run scored in the process, giving us a nine run lead heading into the stretch. Guzman blew the shutout in the bottom of the seventh, two runs scoring for the Naturals off a single by center fielder Ramon Rivera, but we added a run in the top of the eighth and held them scoreless from there to win this one 10-2.

Guzman now holds a 6-3 record and a solid 4.19 ERA, getting though today’s complete game with seven hits, four strikeouts and just one walk, to go with two earned runs. We outhit them 10-7, led by Holmes who had a hit, a sac-fly, scored a run and batted in five, and by Jonathan Gonzalez, who hit four times and scored four runs on the ground.
 
We’ve signed a few contract extensions for players on the team this year. First, Victor Santos, age 32, has signed a four year deal worth $3,550 over the life of the contract, to keep his power bat here in Havana. He had signed a free agent deal this spring worth $168, but will earn $800 next year, $850 in 1965, $900 in 1966 and a player option for $1,000 in 1967. Our closer, Edward Aguirre, who signed a deal to play here for just shy of $500 this season, has agreed to play for $850 in 1964 and $950 in 1965 -- he’d wanted to stay long term, but I’m not going to rush to lock in a bullpen arm long term and risk an injury, though we’ll be open to discussions if he can keep pitching at the level he has this season. We also inked a deal that keeps 25-year-old shortstop Fernando Esquivel here long term. He’s hitting .286 with two RBIs off the bench this year, and was our 15th round pick in the league draft back in January -- but he has rapidly developed as a defensive player, and I wanted to lock him up as a franchise player while we work on developing him some power with his bat. He is earning $406 this year, but signed a nine year deal that starts at $550 for next year, with a lifetime value of $6,050 (and with a player opt out after year three).

We still have a number of veteran players whose contracts will expire at the end of the season, but we’ll maintain some flexibility by waiting until the end of the season to work on further extensions. As it stands we’ve still got $2,000 or so in budget space left if we want to keep next year’s salaries on the level of this year’s team, with about $6,000 in cash keeping our club liquid.

OOC: Incidentally, I have also raised the roster limit on the reserve rosters to 25 for now, with the amateur draft coming up on June 1. Eventually I want to try and add some kind of minor league system rather than the reserve roster system, but I don’t want to futz around with that until after the first season is complete -- the roster limit of 18 for the “active” roster will remain the same.

MAY 8, 1963 . . . Roberto Diaz (3-5, 5.27 ERA, 54.2 IP, 30 K’s, 1.79 WHIP) started tonight against Juan Cerda (5-5, 6.78 ERA, 69.0 IP, 30 K’s, 1.74 WHIP) in game two against Nuevitas. Just a week remains until the trade deadline, so everyone is shoring up their rosters and making sure they’re ready for the heart of the season. Victor Santos drove in our first run of the day with a single in to right in the top of the first, and Juan Flores drove in a second with a double, opening the flood gates. Antonio Fernandez batted in a pair with a single, and we went into the bottom of the inning leading 4-0. We loaded the bases in the second inning and added another pair, and by the middle of the third it was a 9-0 rout in progress. The Naturals were no match for Diaz, who didn’t give up back to back hits until the bottom of the sixth, and they still didn’t score on him. We went into the stretch leading 11-0, and he held on to his shutout as we beat them by the same margin.

Roberto Diaz is now 4-5 on the season with a 4.52 ERA, allowing just eight hits with four strikeouts and two walks in the 11-run shutout while hitting three times and driving in a pair of runs. We outslugged them 17-8, with Victor Santos dominating with three hits, a walk, two runs and four RBIs, reaching 20 runs batted in this season. We now have five players (Victor Diaz, Victor Santos, Antonio Fernandez, Jose Colon and Logan Holmes) with 20 or more RBIs, and Samuel Brisset has 19!

MAY 9, 1963 . . . Ludovic Peltier (5-4, 4.32 ERA, 75.0 IP, 40 K’s, 1.55 WHIP) started in our final game against the Naturals on their field, facing Kevin Chauvet (6-4, 4.34 ERA, 85.0 IP, 57 K’s, 1.48 WHIP). We loaded the bases in the top of the third, but couldn’t get anyone in to break the scoreless stalemate. Peltier, meanwhile, was perfect until two outs in the bottom of the third when he gave up a hit down the right field line for a double, giving them their first baserunner. And the next one batted a single, giving them runners on the corners. Still, he pitched confidently and they came out of the situation with their first two stranded runners. The game stayed nailbitingly close from there, with both pitchers trying to prove their mettle from the mound by completely flummoxing all batters. We loaded the bases in the sixth inning for the second time of the night and again were unable to score! In the bottom of the sixth the Naturals finally broke through, an RBI single giving them a 1-0 advantage. In the top of the ninth, two outs, no one on, we brought Jose Alcaraz in to pinch-hit for Peltier and he got hit by a pitch, taking first. But Jonathan Gonzalez batted out to the left fielder and we lost this one in a heartbreaker, 1-0.

Peltier fell to 5-5, but only allowed five hits, three walks and struck out five batters, improving his ERA to 4.01. We outhit them 6-5, led by Jose Colon with two hits. Crazy that we won the first two games by a combined score of 21-2 and then lost the third 1-0.

We got a trade offer from the Isla Saorna Islanders from the Dominican League, asking for 3B Juan Alcaraz off our bench in exchange for 28-year-old closer Manny Hernandez. We got them to sweeten the deal with $500 cash, and I jumped on the offer, as I think they’ve been misusing Hernandez, who has all the makings of a great spot starter or back of the rotation man. Hernandez is only on a one year deal worth around $300 this season, but we’ll be looking to resign him long term, as he has excellent stuff and movement, with above average control to go with a plus-level slider, curve and sinker. If his average fastball can improve, he’ll be unstoppable. So far this year he’s gone 4-2 with a save, a 5.08 ERA, 24 K’s and a 1.83 WHIP through 44.1 innings.

Next up: a three game series at home against Manzanillo’s Cattlemen, a day off, and then two series in a row against Guantanamo and Cienfuegos. We’ll then play Pinar del Rio for the first time on the road, along with a three-game set against Santa Clara before wrapping up the month of May back here in Havana. We’re only two games behind Cienfuegos right now, holding an 18-15 record, so there’s plenty of room for this upcoming stretch to help put us in control of the division ... or fall into irrelevance.