Ruben "Streak" Souffront and the Denver Brewers

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers then begin their 4-game series versus Brooklyn with a pair of wins to extend their winning streak to 3 games.
In game 1, Daniel Torres and reliever Eric Singer combine to shut-out the Aces. Torres works 7 innings of 3-hit ball, striking out 4 and walking 2 and Singer is near perfect in 2 innings, earning his 4th save of the season.
Then, in game 2, Harry Lyerly is once again sharp and improves to 7-2 with a 2.93 ERA. Lyerly gives up 1 run (on a solo HR, natch) in 7 innings pitched, giving up 6 hits, striking out just 3 batters but also only walking a pair. He is lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 7th with the score tied 1-1, but the Brewers rally for a pair of runs in that inning to take the lead and eventually give Lyerly the well-deserved win. The bullpen is once again sharp and they preserve the victory with Miguel Solis earning his 3rd save of the season.

[BirdWatcher]

The kid is at it again down at AA Nashville.
Still needs to make some improvement in his patience at the plate if he is going to have the contact skills needed to play at the big league level, but boy is he cleaning up in the minors.
Hopefully in a few years time he will be putting up these sorts of numbers in a Brewers uniform.

[BirdWatcher]

After the Brewers get a doubleheader split versus Brooklyn to take that series 3 games to 1, they head to L.A. to take n the Spinners in a 4-game series.
In game 1 they get key contributions, again, from youngsters Andrew Kennedy and Kevin Curtis.
Kennedy (.341/.370/.495, 0.7 WAR) and Curtis (.260/.369/.356, 1.1 WAR) continue to shine while their positional counterparts, Bobby Erbakan (.220/.289/.289, 0.0 WAR) and Carlos Rivera (.160/.222/.220, -0.4 WAR) are struggling mightily this season.
Erbakan remains a very gifted fielder and the team is confident that the young man will eventually find his hitting stroke again. But in the meantime, Kennedy has earned more playing time and Erbakan will be getting to know the bench and a pinch-hitting role more intimately. Rivera, on the other hand, at the age of 30 and in spite of his considerable defensive skills as a catcher, is likely on his way out if the Brewers can find a way to cut ties with him that isn't too costly. Curtis has earned the starting job and provides just as much defensive value as the veteran Rivera and the Brewers have more decent catchers on the way up the organizational ladder.

[BirdWatcher]

And, in fact, the Brewers do find a way to unload Rivera as they trade him to Jacksonville for veteran lefthanded reliever Josh Morrow.
Morrow provides the bullpen with another solid lefty, which is important playing in a park that favors lefthanded hitters and with a starting staff that is mostly righthanded. Morrow will give up HR's and walks but he also strikes out batters at a high rate and should be effective enough in middle to long relief with the occasionally LOOGY appearance.
Recently the team had sent the struggling Josh McEwen down to AAA and brought up 22-year old Sam Pruiett. To make room for Morrow, Pruiett was sent back to AAA. Meanwhile, Joey Townsend was brought back up from AAA to serve as Curtis' back-up at catcher.

(Edit: I probably should have mentioned that part of the equation here was that although Morrow costs more this season than Rivera, he is a free agent at the end of the season, and with the Brewers having a plethora of good young relievers nearly ready to join the big league club, likely Morrow is just a loaner for the rest of this season. Rivera was due a healthy raise for next season, and the club is glad to have freed itself from that obligation.)

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers get the victory in game 2 in L.A. as they get a much better start from Steve Alonso, facing his old team, then the box score would seem to indicate. Alonso was solid for 8 innings but left in the 9th after having loaded up the bases. Unfortunately, new Brewer Josh Morrow, who came on to put out the fire, gave up a grand slam HR to the first batter he would face in a Brewers uniform to make the game seem much closer than it really was before pretty easily getting the 3 outs required to end things.

[BirdWatcher]

Having won 4 in a row, the Brewers get another excellent start from Harry Lyerly but fail to give him even one run and they lose 1-0 in the final game of the series in L.A.
Lyerly falls to 7-3 in the loss while seeing his ERA improve to 2.80. Although he only strikes out 5 batters- and is now striking out 1 full batter fewer per 9 innings pitched than in his rookie season- he also only walked 2 while not allowing only 3 hits, all singles. (Although his K/9 is down from 1969, so are his BB/9 and HR/9, and his FIP is an impressive 2.56 with a FIP- of 69.)

[BirdWatcher]

The WPK witnesses the first No-Hitter of 1970, as young Charlotte Sting righthander, Mike (don't call me John) Hiatt, who is expected to have a good future in the league as a front of the rotation starter, would have had a perfect game today against the L.A. Spinners if not for an 8th inning walk. He struck out 9 batters while walking just the one in the 2-0 victory.
This is the 10th no-hitter in WPK history.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers take 2 of 3 from the Aces in Brooklyn.
In the first game the Brewers were humiliated 13-4 as Abel Pennington continued his roller-coaster ride of a season, allowing 12 runs (7 earned) on 13 hits and 2 walks in just 4 innings pitched to fall to 4-4 (3.98 ERA) on the season.
In spite of another sub-par performance from big money "ace" Cheol-han Lee (7IP, 5 runs allowed, all earned, 8 hits, 4 K, 1 BB) in game 2, the Brewers managed to rally in the 7th inning to tie the game up at 5 apiece and then go-ahead in the 12th thanks to an Antonio Puente HR. Miguel Solis pitched a perfect bottom frame of the 12th to earn his 4th save of the season (1.66 ERA).
In the final game of the series Puente would double up his fun with 2 HR's, which now gives him 14 for the season and puts him on pace for a career-high 37. (We can only hope.)
The Brewers also once again got a great performance from 5th starter Will Smart, who although allowing 5 hits and 3 walks over 5 innings pitched, did not allow a run and improves to 3-1 with an 0.57 ERA. Granted, he got into big trouble in the 6th when he loaded up the bases by walking 3 straight batters, but Miguel Solis came in and cleaned up the mess for him and Steve Alonso even pitched a decent 2 innings to wrap up the 6-0 victory.

At this stage of the season, as we head into the last full week of June, the Brewers are in third place in the MGL, 3 games behind Phoenix and a 1/2 game behind San Francisco.

[BirdWatcher]

No-hitters do tend to come in three's in the WPK, and today saw the second of the 1970 no-no's.
The ever-popular Danny Estrada of the Philadelphia Mud Hens no-hit the San Antonio Keys in another narrow 2-0 victory. Estrada, like Hiatt before him, was just one base on balls shy of the perfect game.

[BirdWatcher]

And just when he is getting hot Antonio Puente suffers a fractured cheek bone (HBP) and is expected to be out for 6 weeks.
With Puente going to the DL it does mean that Ruben Souffront gets brought up from AAA to rejoin the team, having of course put up impressive numbers down at Chester (.396/.442/.586). The team hopes that he has re-found his hitting stroke as they will need all the offense they can get in Puente's absence.
(Meanwhile, the Brewers took game 1 of a 3-game series in Charlotte behind solid pitching from Daniel Torres (4-2, 2.48) and with some help from yet another HR off the bat of Puente- his 15th of the season. They then dropped the second game 5-3 when Harry Lyerly did not have his best stuff (8 IP, 5 R, 10 H, 5 K, 4 BB, but no HR's allowed) and he dropped to 7-4 with a 3.03 ERA for the 1970 season.)

[BirdWatcher]

A double whammy of bad news today for the Los Angeles Spinners, already having a tough year as they sit next to last in the MGL, who find out they will be without the services of their superstar leftfielder Travis Johnson for approximately a month and veteran starting pitcher Ron Weyer for the remainder of the season.

In other news, the Brewers are shutout by young Jalen Cotton in their first game without Antonio Puente in the center of the lineup. The Brewers waste a solid start from Captain Abel Pennington (4-5, 3.83) who went 8 innings, allowing 2 runs on only 4 hits with 3 K and 1 BB.

[BirdWatcher]

When your team is sputtering and struggling just to get hits, let alone score runs, it is imperative that you get some key contributions from unexpected places.
In today's game that came in the form of a huge 2-out, 2-run single off the bat great-field, little-hit infielder Oscar Vargas.
The Brewers also saw 5th starter Will Smart once again pitch his heart out, working 7 2/3rds, allowing zero runs on just 4 hits while striking out 5 and walking 2. Smart improves to 4-1 with a miniscule 0.46 ERA.

[BirdWatcher]

In what many consider a very odd trade indeed, the Denver Brewers today sent starting pitcher Steve Alonso to Los Angeles for veteran RF/1B Mark Compton. This same trade, though with a few other players included, was also made by these two teams back on 06/13/1966, except in reverse.
Many wonder why the Brewers would trade for the aging Compton at a stage in his career where he is a defensive liability (other than his still very strong arm) and struggles to hit .200. And although Alonso is pitching very poorly in 1970, at 33 he still has potential to bounce back.
Others though point to fiscal considerations, as Alonso is signed through 1973 at a rate of $250,000 per year while Compton is only signed through 1971, making $232,000, and most importantly has a vesting option for next season which only kicks in if he accumulates 550 plate appearances. Rumors are that the Brewers did have to retain a portion of Alonso's salary (reportedly 30%) but the sense is that with their desire to bring along some of the their promising young starting pitchers (Steve Green and Adam Getchell, in particular) that this trade-off was well worth it and that it might have just gotten more difficult to unload Alonso's salary in time, especially given his diminished role on the team.

And in the short term, Compton does provide a power lefthanded bat, which the team desperately needs especially while Antonio Puente is on the D.L. and is still very good at drawing walks. He will likely get playing time at both firstbase and rightfield as Bobby Erbakan (.218/.281/.282) and Ruben Souffront (.213/.263/.283) are having disastrous years at the plate.

Some insiders say that what this trade really means is that the Brewers, as we enter July, are essentially conceding that they will not be returning to the post-season this year. Although there is plenty of season left, the Phoenix Speed Devils, who have just defeated the Brewers in the first 2 games of a 3-game series, are now 22 games over .500 in first place while the Brewers have fallen to 4th place, 8 1/2 games out and only 5 games over .500. Those same insiders speculate that this trade may just be the first in a series of trades before the deadline at the end of the month as they team looks forwards towards 1971 and beyond. It is rumored that with an excess of outfield talent and the continued progression of top prospect Joe McPhillips (who was just named AA Player of the Month for June, his second such honor this season), Ruben Souffront, in spite of it being well known that he is a favorite of the G.M., may be out of a Brewers uniform before long.

[BirdWatcher]

So stepping back a bit as the 1970 season enters July and the Brewers keep dropping in the standings.
While the Brewers remain quite good overall in run suppression (2nd in the MGL in fewest runs allowed currently), with the pitching being mostly good and the defense nearly as solid as ever, run creation is a real challenge.
It is clear to me that the offense needs better balance. One factor is that we play our home games in a park that heavily favors left-handed hitter and is not very friendly to right-handers. Now granted our superstar right-handed batter, Ryan Rodgers, is having a great season and leads the league in both batting average and OBP. But three other key right-handed hitters- Ruben Souffront, Bobby Erbakan, and Jared Stephenson are having abysmal seasons at the plate. And with Antonio Puente having taken a pitch in the face lately and suffered a fractured jaw- out for 6 weeks- our main source of left-handed power is gone from the lineup. Left-handed hitter Tanner Yurek is having another solid season as is switch-hitter Chad Brown. And a few other left-handers- Pat Rondeau and Andrew Kennedy- continue to hit well but are basically contact hitters with good gap power but very little over the fence power. Point being, the Brewers do a pretty good job of getting runners on base (some fine OBP's too in Rodgers, Yurek, Puente when he was still playing, Rondeau, and even catcher Kevin Curtis, in spite of a recent slump) but invariably hitters like Souffront, Erbakan, and Stephenson leave them stranded- or worse, hit into inning-ending double plays. (One of the ironies with Souffront- in spite of his world-class speed he has always hit into a ton of gidp's.)
So the changes I perceive the Brewers need for better balance: more left-handed hitters and more power hitters to balance out the power/speed equation on the team.
And with Souffront's struggles this year, we don't even have the advantage we used to have in the speed game. We are still 2nd in the league in stolen bases, but have also been getting caught trying a good deal of the time, as well as having runners thrown out trying to advance on hits pretty frequently of late.

The big question is, what to do about it?
Some of the answer might come from the minor leagues. For instance, top prospect Joe McPhillips is a left-handed hitter who is starting to show real power potential. Another left-handed hitting prospect who seems to be developing quite well is rightfielder Josh Schaeffer, though at this stage his power potential looks average at best. But with Ryan Rodgers and Antonio Puente pretty firmly entrenched in the Brewers outfield, and Pat Rondeau and Andrew Kennedy both providing great value off the bench (Kennedy also getting plenty of time at firstbase), where do we find room for these young bats?
It pains me to say this, but the most obvious answer seems to be- we trade Ruben Souffront.
Now granted with the numbers he has put up this year we might not get much value for him at this time. Still, his overall ratings are quite solid, he is young, still under team control for one more season, and relatively cheap. Plus, we could likely package one of our decent AAA prospects who are basically major league ready right now but don't have a place on the roster- firstbaseman Steve Hobza or thirdbaseman Jose Careaga- or both, and might get some decent value in the deal.

Looking ahead a few years, it is easy to picture an outfield with Ryan Rodgers in left (where he is currently thriving), Joe McPhillips in center, where he has great defensive skills and should provide a plus bat and plus speed, and Antonio Puente moving over to right, where is already highly rated and his defensive skills should flourish. Then with some combination of Rondeau/Kennedy/Schaeffer we would have a nice mix of speed/power/defense heavily slanted, admittedly, towards left-handed bats.

The hope is that Bobby Erbakan, with his great defensive value and good speed and the projection of being a well above average batter, will bounce back soon and be our firstbaseman for the foreseeable future. Less clear is the future of thirdbaseman Jared Stephenson. But he does provide a bit of power on a team that has little and is a very fine defensive player so for now he stays.

The bullpen is very good and we have quite a few promising prospects near major league ready. No problem there, one would hope.
And with Steve Green nearly ready to join the starting rotation and being projected as a likely #2 starter, and Harry Lyerly continuing to show that he belongs, the rotation should be in good hands. (High priced free agent signing Cheol-han Lee has been a bit disappointing so far, but he is actually at the top or near the top of several categories in the league leader boards, including having the best FIP, so he's probably been a bit unlucky and should be a solid acquisition still.) Adam Getchell looks like he might be a solid #5 guy or long reliever and Abel Pennington remains a valuable middle-to-back-end guy.

I sincerely doubt we can catch Phoenix this year with their powerful lineup and improved pitching and defense. But with a few tweaks- and assuming that our best prospects- McPhillips and Green in particular- are able to make the leap from the high minors to the big league club successfully- the future should still look pretty bright.

Upshot being- don't be too surprised if the Ruben "Streak" Souffront and the Denver Brewers thread becomes a tale of a failed relationship.
It might in the future be more appropriately entitled Harry Lyerly and the Denver Brewers or even Joe McPhillips and the Denver Brewers.

[BirdWatcher]

It's been a frustrating season so far for 23-year old firstbaseman Bobby Erbakan, but he was able to celebrate a bit today when he hit a massive solo walk-off HR to lead off the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Brewers a 2-1 victory over Phoenix in the final game of the 3-game series in Denver.
The Brewers narrowly avoid the sweep with some fine pitching by starter Cheol-han Lee (although he was uncharacteristically wild, walking 5 batters) and veteran reliever Eric Singer who earned the victory to improve to 5-3 (2.27.)

Erbakan had singled earlier in the game and also walked twice as he went 2 for 3. Brewers management hope this is a sign that the young man, who has the reputation of having solid hitting ability, is coming out of his season long slump.

[BirdWatcher]

After getting a fine start by lefty Daniel Torres in the 1st of a 3-game series in San Francisco against the Velocity but losing 4-2 as reliever Eric Singer was uncharacteristically ineffective, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits in his 1 inning pitched, the Brewers take the second game 5-4 behind Harry Lyerly.
The young flame-thrower struck out 10 while only walking 1 in 7 1/3rds inning pitched, though he did give up 4 earned runs on a pair of 2-run HR's allowed. Lyerly improves to 8-5 (3.09).
(The second HRA I consider my fault. He was sailing along but then gave up a one-out single in the bottom of the 8th and with a power-hitting lefthander at the plate I knew that I should pull him in favor of one of our solid lefty relievers. But I didn't. And sure enough the inevitable happened.)
Young backup OF/1B Andrew Kennedy continued his impressive season (.317/.347/.446) as he went 2 for 4 and once again hit a big 6th inning 2-out, 2-run HR, his 3rd longball of the season. Kennedy is not known as a power hitter, but has shown that on occasion he can hammer mistake pitches out of the park with the best of them.

[BirdWatcher]

While things aren't looking good for the reigning MGL Champion Brewers, they are perhaps even a little worse for the team that bested them in the 1969 WPK World Series.
The Columbus Whalers, after getting off to a good start like the Brewers, have now fallen to 6th place in the SJL, 7 games off the pace and just 3 games over .500.
The 2-time WPK Champs Jacksonville are back up top with the surprising Seattle Alligators on their tail.
In the MGL, Phoenix continues to play well and is the first team to 50 wins this season. The Charlotte Sting are just coming off a 10-game winning streak and have moved up from the cellar to fairly respectable 6th place with a .500 record. The El Paso Dawgs are in their accustomed position- last place- in the SJL. And the Detroit Falcons, in last in the MGL, have the worst record in the WPK thus far.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers start July playing a bit better, as they win 6 of their first 8 games in the month.
They are on a current 4-game winning streak as they went into Portland and swept a 4-game series against the Wild Things. The Brewers did so largely on the strength of very good pitching and some timely hitting.
In game 1, Abel Pennington worked a decent 6 1/3rd, giving up 3 runs on 9 hits and getting some great help from the bullpen to improve to 5-6 (3.68). Young Jaden Francis pitched a perfect 2 innings to earn his 2nd save of the season (2.51 ERA). A 3-run HR off the bat of Jared Stephenson- his 9th of the season- keyed a 4-run 1st inning for the Brewers and they would hold on to win 5-3.
In game 2, Cheol-han Lee allowed just 1 run on 6 hits in 8 innings pitched. He is now 6-3 with a 3.10 ERA. Miguel Solis worked the 9th to get his 6th save of the season (1.59 ERA). Ruben Souffront provided a big run scoring triple (2) in the 4th inning and a sacrifice fly in the top of the 8th to give the Brewers a little breathing room in the 4-1 victory.
Daniel Torres pitched a solid 7 1/3rd in game 3, striking out 8 while walking only 1 batter (rare control for Torres), giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 7 hits. Bobby Erbakan paced the offense by hitting 2 solo HR's, his 4th and 5th HR's for the year. Catcher Kevin Curtis also contributed a 2-run HR to the effort, his 3rd long ball of 1970. With the 5-3 victory, Torres improves to 5-2 with a 2.70 ERA. Miguel Solis struck out the side in a 1-2-3 9th for his 7th save, dropping his ERA down to 1.53.

The Brewers saved the best for last, as Harry Lyerly mowed down the Wild Things in game 4, carrying a no-hitter into the 7th inning, when he allowed back-to-back 1-out singles, the only 2 hits he would allow in the game, before working out of the jam to preserve a 1-0 lead. Lyerly gave way to the bullpen with 2 outs recorded in the 8th and David Brown and Eric Singer would combine to blank the Wild Things in the narrow 1-0 victory. Lyerly improves to 9-5 with a 2.89 ERA. While he struggled with control a bit in the game, walking 4 batters, he also struck out 9 in another tremendous performance for the young fire-balling righty. The Brewers lone run came on Andrew Kennedy's (.323/.353/.458) solo HR in the 7th, his 4th HR of the season. Kennedy continues to impress in his first full season in a Brewer's uniform.

The Brewers remain the 3rd place team in the MGL, but do gain a bit of ground as they now trail the 1st place Phoenix Speed Devils by 7 games and the 2nd place San Francisco Velocity by 3.

[BirdWatcher]

We are nearly at the All-Star break for the 1970 season and today the All-Star final voting and rosters were announced.
The Brewers Cheol-han Lee, in his first season with the club, was the top vote getter among MGL starting pitchers, and is going to his 5th straight All-Star game.
Ryan Rodgers is also voted in as a starter in leftfield. This is Rodgers fourth All-Star appearance and second in a Brewers uniform.

Harry Lyerly finishes third in the voting among starting pitchers and is named to his first All-Star game.
Miguel Solis, for the fifth year in a row and the fourth time as a Brewer is named to the squad as one of four relievers chosen for the MGL.
And finally, Tanner Yurek, who finished second in the voting at second base to 2-time MVP superstar Andy Wilson, is named as a reserve to his second straight All-Star game.

(Antonio Puente, on the D.L. with a fractured jaw, finished 3rd in the centerfield voting. And reliever Eric Singer finished 5th in the relief pitcher voting in the MGL but was not named to the squad.)

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers enter the All-Star break on a great run, having won 7 straight.
After the 4-game sweep of Portland, the Brewers traveled to Baltimore to take on the 4th place Lords for 3 games and got another sweep.
In game 1 they got great pitching from a pair of youngsters- Adam Getchell and Jaden Francis- when Will Smart had to leave early in the 4th inning due to a minor injury. The three pitchers combined for a shutout as the Brewers won 5-0. (Bobby Erbakan went 3 for 5 with a pair of doubles (7) to pace the offense from the leadoff slot.)
Abel Pennington pitched a solid 7 1/3rd in game 2, allowing 2 runs on just 3 hits while striking out 7 and walking 2 and the Brewers won 6-2. The Brewers scored all 6 runs in the first inning when they got to Lords' ace Jose Santos (7-6, 2.69) before he had a chance to settle into a groove. The Brewers had 4 hits in the inning but hit for the cycle as Ruben Souffront singled, Jared Stephenson doubled (5), Ryan Rodgers tripled (4), and Kevin Curtis homered (4).
In the final game before the All-Star break, young reliever Jaden Francis got a rare start (he was originally drafted as a starting pitcher, but while he has the stamina for the role he never developed the third pitch- in this case a change-up- to be effective as a starter), and did well enough to keep the game close and eventually the Brewers overcame an early 3-0 deficit to win 4-3. Francis did not get a decision in the game, working 5 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits. Miguel Solis earned the win (4-2, 1.48) while Eric Singer came on to get the save, his 6th (2.31 ERA.) While the Brewers only managed 4 hits they were efficient on offense, drew 6 walks, and combined 3 of the hits in the 3-run 6th inning, along with a sacrifice fly, a run scoring fielders choice, and all of it got started when Pat Rondeau reached on an error to lead off the inning. They would score the winning run in the 8th inning without the benefit of a hit. A pair of walks to open the frame followed by a ground out to first that moved the runners into scoring position, and, after Chad Brown was intentionally walked to load the bases, an Oscar Vargas sacrifice fly to deep right-center, were all it took. The exceptional bullpen took over from there and the streak stays alive.

While the Brewers don't gain a lot of ground, still trailing Phoenix by 6 1/2 and San Francisco by 2 games, they do at least stay in striking distance and put some distance between themselves and the teams immediately behind them in the standings. (Baltimore and Oklahoma City are tied for 4th place with .500 records, 12 1/2 games off the pace.)