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The busy schedule bit us in the ass in August as we finished 13-16. We started the run of games healthy, but within a week Roberto Kelly picked up a 2-week day-to-day muscle injury. We have Earnie Riles as a great utility man, but when Julio Franco was injured and out "for a week", I didn't have another middle infielder other than Riles, so I put Franco on the DL knowing he would likely be healthy before he comes off the DL. But in the past I had been burned by not putting guys on the DL, so I called up Cecil Espy to back up while Franco was out. This time, Franco only missed 7 games due to injury, which meant we played 8 games while Franco was healthy and in those 8 games we only averaged 2 1/2 runs a game going 2-6.
We also lost Steve Howe for the last 2 weeks of the month, but now we are 100% heathy going into September. The rest of the top of the NL West struggled as well, so we are still 6 games up over the Giants as the Astros have totally faded.
In the NL East, the Expos lead both the Mets and Phillies by 2 1/2, so hopefully that's a good race. The AL East is a carbon copy of the NL East with the Red Sox holding a 2 1/2 game lead over 2 teams, the Yankees and Blue Jays and out West, the Twins have opened up 6 games over the A's.
Ken Griffey Jr appears on his way to leading the AL in HR's and RBI's, but he is now 15 points behind Jody Reed in hitting, so unless things change, no Triple Crown for him. In the NL, Larry Walker still leads the league by 20 points, but Matt Williams had a great August and and now has 15 more RBI as he knocked in 35 in August. Fred Lynn had a great month as well and now has 30 homers and 88 RBI, 3rd in the NL in both. Clemens still leads the NL in wins and strikeouts, but our Michael Elliott is a mere .02 ahead in ERA and Greg Maddox leads the AL with 19 wins for the Royals.
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