The Denver Brewers of the W.P. Kinsella League

[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 5-1 (week), 43-20, 1st place, MGL (season)

June 12-13, at Portland: 2-6, 12-3.

June 15-17, versus Phoenix: 11-4, 12-1, 10-6.

June 18, versus Los Angeles: 4-2.

The Brewers started the week with a loss to Portland in the middle game of their three-game series at Riverfront Stadium. Erik Sloan (0-1, 8.50) continues to struggle since returning from the IL, and gave up 4 runs on 7 hits (including 2 HR's) over 6 innings pitched. Joe McPhillips hit his 7th homer of the season and Bobby Erbakan went 2 for 4 in the loss.
But Denver bounces back in the rubber match to take the series against the Wild Things. Easily. And largely because of the recently hot Joe McPhillips who went 4 for 5 with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI, including hitting his 2nd triple of the season. Cheol-han Lee (3-4, 8.04) got a rare start and while he wasn't the old dominant Cheol, he wasn't horrible, giving up 3 runs on 10 hits over 8 innings pitched.

Coming home to face the last place Phoenix Speed Devils, with their abysmal pitching (and related horrible fielding) would seem to be a recipe for success. And indeed it turned out exactly that way.
In game 1 the Brewers got a nice game from leadoff hitter Josh Schaeffer who went 3 for 4 with 3 runs scored and an RBI, hitting 2 doubles to get to 12 on the season. Sekien Hamasaki (8-0, 3.27) stayed undefeated, lasting 8 innings while giving up 4 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits.
Game 2, more of the same. with Brett Taranto going 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI and hit his 3rd triple and 6th HR to lead the offense. Joe McPhillips went 4 for 5. Josh Schaeffer was 3 for 4 again, and this time hit his 6th homer of the season. And Jon Williams contributed a pinch-hit 8th inning homer, his 4th bomb of the season. Not that Matty Helm (4-2, 3.72) and the bullpen really needed all of that offense. Helm worked 7 1/3rd, giving up just 1 run on 7 hits.
The final game of the series was a bit closer but the Brewers bats kept booming (then again, what bats don't boom against the woeful Speed Devils' pitching staff) and they won by scoring 6 runs in the final 2 innings combined. Brett Taranto (3 for 4, 4 runs scored) and Bobby Erbakan (3 for 3, 2 runs, 3 RBI, hit his 10th HR and 18th double) led the way on offense. Steve Green (7-1, 4.18) was the beneficiary of all of the offense, in spite of giving up 6 runs on 10 hits over 7 1/3rd.

The week ends with the Brewers hosting the surging (and now 2nd place) L.A. Spinners.
And in game 1 the Brewers get a win behind staff ace Sadahige Kawasaki (8-5, 1.87), who got a complete game victory, allowing 2 runs on 8 hits. Another great game for 1974 MGL MVP Joe McPhillips who went 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored, 2 RBI and hit his 8th homer of the season. He also stole 2 bases (consecutively- second then third) to get to 10 for the season (with just 1 CS).
With the win the Brewers stretch their lead over L.A. to 4 1/2 to end the week.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:



The Game of the Week in the SJL was a tale of two teams heading in opposite directions. The Washington Night Train got off to a great start in 1977 and led the league for most of the first two months of the season, but things are falling apart now. (Remember the earlier story about players being fed up with the controlling approach of long-time manager Larry Hart? Perhaps a factor?) The Boston Berserkers, on the other hand, are red-hot and rising and now trail only the mighty Columbus Whalers in the SJL, and only by a single game at that. Washington's anemic offense is probably the biggest factor in their decline (they are 11th in the league in runs scored, OBP, batting WAR, and near the bottom in most every other category as well). Friday's tight loss against Boston was indicative- a great start from staff ace Art Ferrante who got almost no run support as the Berserkers completed a sweep of Washington.


MGL:



Earlier in the week we saw a match-up of two of the most surprising MGL teams early in the 1977 season- the Oklahoma City Diamond Kings and the high-scoring Baltimore Lords. In this game Oklahoma City prevailed as they get a walk-off win sparked by a professional at-bat from veteran captain (and former Brewer scouting discovery and minor league star) Jordan Gallardo, who worked a 7-pitch 1-out walk and one out and two singles later scored the winning run. Baltimore's excellent closer Brian Burke suffers the loss while the Diamond Kings closer Ben Bakeman, emerging as perhaps the most dominant closer in the MGL, gets the win.

[BirdWatcher]

Cody Kane, the Portland Wild Things veteran left-fielder and team captain, became the 10th player in WPK history to get to the 2000 career hit level when he went 2 for 3 in Saturday's loss to Oklahoma City.



Kane is one of the more under-rated players in the WPK. This is partly due to the fact that he has largely played on non-contending team, although he was an important part of the surprising 1972 WPK championship Charlotte Sting club. You will find few greater and more revered leaders than Cody Kane. He combines all of the best personality characteristics you look for in a player and a role model.

As a hitter Kane remains one of the finest in the game, having led the league in batting average last season at the age of 30 and off to a great start again this season. Admittedly, he is not a quality fielder although he possesses a very strong arm. And he's slow. But few players with his lack of foot speed provide as much quality and smarts on the base paths.
The very slightly built star is considered fragile and did miss the entire 1971 season due to a serious case of post-concussion syndrome which rumor has it led him to evaluate whether to continue his career or not. But for the past few seasons his injuries have been relatively few and not serious. Given his current career trajectory it certainly seems as though he could finish up with at least 2,500 hits and possibly even 400 homers and will likely be at least a borderline HOF candidate (though he remains a long-shot for actual induction.)

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers manager decided to rest his veteran second baseman Bobby Erbakan in Saturday's series opener against L.A. as the Brewers are entering a long stretch without a day off.
And when it looked like Bobby's timing was off a bit in his first three at-bats in Sunday's game there were rumblings among the fans and in the press box that perhaps the manager had made an error and that you just don't sit a guy in the middle of an historic hitting streak.

And when Bobby came up in the 8th inning against the fire-balling sidearm right-hander Yu-bao Tong many assumed they were seeing the end of the streak. Not so fast, Bobby said. After fouling off the first pitch he hit a sharp grounder that just sneaked past the Spinners shortstop Jeremy Jones and into center field for a single. Streak alive!




Combined with Erik Sloan's 3-hit shutout it was a great day to be a Brewers fan on a Sunday afternoon in Centennial Stadium.

[BirdWatcher]

Anyone following the Brewers this past week won't be surprised that Joe McPhillips was named the MGL Player of the Week.



In Sunday's 3-0 victory over L.A. he hit his 9th homer of the season.

[BirdWatcher]

It's an exciting time to be a Brewers fan and a Bobby Erbakan fan!

[BirdWatcher]

As we all know, all good things must come to an end eventually.
And on Tuesday, in San Francisco, the Brewers saw two streaks come to an end: their 7-game winning streak, and Bobby Erbakan's 45-game hitting streak.



In Bobby's defense, San Francisco's Bank of the West Ballpark is a tough place to hit and the stress of the streak was likely starting to build up on him. It seemed to show not only at the plate in this game but also when he botched what appeared to be a routine ground-ball out off the bat of the Velocity lead-off hitter in the bottom of the 8th inning.

Having exceeded the previous longest consecutive game hitting streak in WPK history by 11 games, the feeling around the league is Erbakan's record will likely not be challenged for a very long time, if ever.

[BirdWatcher]

The Los Angeles Spinners 37-year old first baseman Nate Bennett has become the first player in WPK history to hit 400 career home runs.
And the way he's going, provided his lack of fielding ability doesn't curtail his playing time significantly, 500 certainly seems well within reach before his career is over.

[BirdWatcher]

It's hard to say what counts as bad news for the Phoenix Speed Devils pitching staff given their historic levels of ineptness.

Let's be clear though that Sam Jones 6.48 ERA was second best in the rotation after Ruben Torres' 6.35. And Sam is one of the team co-captains.
But while you wouldn't say that any pitcher could ever be happy to suffer a torn labrum which will sideline them for nearly a year, one has to suspect that on some level there is a sense of relief for Jones not to be an active part of this train wreck of a staff and train wreck of a team for the rest of this season.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers 29-year old captain, Matt Helm, has long been considered a high injury risk and indeed since joining the club in a trade with Charlotte in July of 1971 he has had a series of injuries. But almost always they have been minor, nagging aches and pains of the day-to-day variety. His longest absence from the rotation was in May of 1975 when he was struggling with a strained oblique muscle that kept him out for two weeks.



But in his most recent start on Thursday against San Francisco he was forced to leave after facing just 5 batters, 3 of whom collected hits off of him, and it was revealed yesterday that he has been diagnosed with shoulder inflammation and will likely need to sit out at least 6 weeks to recover. In some ways, it certainly was feared it could be worse. Still, it's tough to be without one of the team's two left-handed starters for that long in the middle of the season.

Cheol-han Lee, who has been making some progress in rehabilitating his season lately, gets moved back into the rotation in Helm's absence. (There was some speculation if this was the moment that #1 prospect Jim Atwell got his first taste of the bigs, but the decision was made to hold off a bit and let him get a bit more AAA experience before making that move.)

[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 5-2 (week), 48-22, 1st place, MGL (season)

June 19-20, versus Los Angeles: 3-0, 8-3.

June 21-23, at San Francisco: 2-7, 2-1, 5-3.

June 24-25, versus Oklahoma City: 6-9, 8-5.

The Brewers started the week by concluding a 3-game sweep of arch-rival L.A.
In the second game of the series on Sunday, the Brewers finally got the kind of start out of veteran lefty Erik Sloan we all know he is capable of. Sloan (1-1, 5.67) hurled a 3-hit shutout for the victory. Jake DiCesare paced the offense with a 2 for 4, 2 RBI game and hit his 3rd homer of the season. Joe McPhillips belted his 9th round tripper in the game.




In the final game of the series, Sekien Hamsaki (9-0, 3.12) won his league best 9th game and remained undefeated for the season. Hamasaki worked 7 innings, giving up 3 runs (but only 1 earned) on 5 hits, striking out 8 and walking 3. The Brewers hit 3 home runs off veteran great Jaime Schardein: Rich White hit his 5th of the season, Brett Taranto his 7th, and Joe McPhillips his 10th.

The Brewers headed to the Bay Area next to take on the San Francisco Velocity. In the first game of the series, they took a loss and saw Bobby Erbakan's 45-game hitting streak come to an end. John Weaver (3-4, 4.07) took the loss, giving up 6 runs on 7 hits over 5 2/3rds innings. Brett Taranto, who has really found his power stroke of late, hit his 8th homer of the season in the loss and RodRod, recently returned from the IL and a rehab stint, went 2 for 4.
In game 2, the Brewers bounced back behind a solid 6 innings from starter Cheol-han Lee and a great performance by three relievers. Cheol-han (4-4, 7.25) gave up just 1 run on 5 hits. Tim Shore pitched the last inning and a third for his 12th save. Andrew Kennedy went 2 for 3 and hit his 2nd homer of the season.
The Brewers won the rubber match in spite of starter Matt Helm having to exit having only recorded 2 outs. Ben Flynn pitched an heroic 4 2/3rds, tossing 64 pitches, striking out 8 batters and giving up just 1 run on 5 hits. Walter Hackler (2-0, 2.81), the next man out of the 'pen, got credit for the win. With the bullpen exhausted, starter Steve Green came in to get the final 4 outs and was credited with the save, the first of his big league career. Then again, it was also the first time in his WPK career that he entered a game in relief. Rich White went 3 for 5 with 2 RBI in the win and Bobby Erbakan hit his 20th double of 1977.

The Brewers then returned to Centennial Stadium in the Mile High City to take on the Oklahoma City Diamond Kings, who have once again returned to 2nd place behind Denver in the MGL, with L.A. slumping recently. And the Diamond Kings took another step closer to the Brewers in game 1 as they got to Sadahige Kawasaki (8-6, 2.17) and the bullpen for a relatively easy win. Kawasaki gave up 5 runs on 12 hits over 7 innings in the loss. Brett Taranto went 3 for 5 and hit his 9th homer of the season and Bobby Erbakan was 2 for 5 with 3 RBI and hit homer #11.
The Brewers took game 2 on Saturday afternoon with rookie Val Guzman helping to lead the way by going 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and 2 RBI and hitting his 4th HR of the season. Bobby Erbakan also went 2 for 4 and hit his 21st double and 12th HR. Erik Sloan (2-1, 5.14) got another win, allowing 5 runs (3 earned) on 8 hits over 8 innings, recording 9 K's and walking just 1 batter. Cory Degano, having been recalled recently from AAA Chester as the Brewers cycle in some fresh arms, pitched the 9th for his 1st big league save.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:



The Houston Cavaliers are a good case study in how to turn an expansion club into a competitive team in just a few seasons. Now granted there is still a lot of season left and Houston could finish at the bottom of the SJL when all is said and done, but after having lost 103 games in their inaugural season of 1975 and improving to 76-86 last year, the Cavaliers find themselves in 6th place and just 5 games out of first place as we approach July of the 1977 season. While this week's SJL Game of the Week wasn't exactly a typical Houston win, it is indicative of several of the factors that have made them competitive this year. First, as a team that plays their home games in a very good pitching park, they have put together a fine defense, particularly up the middle, which has helped their young pitching staff to good success, led by a pair of left-handed starters, 26-year old Sandy Morales (10-4, 2.82) and 25-year old Ryan Lamb (9-3, 2.67.) Former Brewer Sam Pruiett (15 saves, 1.83) anchors the 2nd best bullpen in the league. The team is 5th in the SJL in runs allowed and 2nd in zone rating. Of the 5 members of the starting rotation, 2 were signed as minor league free agents and 1 was picked up in the rule 5 draft. The bullpen includes their 2nd round draft pick from the 1975 draft, Morgan Esker, who looks like a future dominant closer.
In contrast to their mostly young pitching staff, the Cavaliers have brought together a veteran crew of position players, including taking a chance on some former stars whose careers were stalled (Rigby Muckenfuss and Shawn Hanl), a few 30-year-olds with extensive big league histories with little glory (left fielder Chris Shipton and catcher Orlando Sandoval), a great field, poor hitting shortstop (Dylan DeWitt), an underrated former 1st round draft pick chosen in the expansion draft (Doug Helmick), and finally, having picked up all of these budget players, one high-priced superstar free agent in Lazaro Lowndes.
Now this doesn't all add up to a great team, but it certainly does add up to a team you can't take lightly or look past. And while their minor league system ranks in the middle of the pack, they have three prospects in the top 40, including two good-looking position players at 14 and 16. Attendance is up nearly 20% and revenue per game is up over 50%. It is not a bad start for a third year club and the future potentially looks bright.





MGL:



The Los Angeles Spinners had climbed their way back into contention in the past few weeks but find themselves once again behind Oklahoma City in third place and slipping a bit. Getting shutout by 28-year old Baltimore right-handed starter Jose Pena didn't help. Pena, who last pitched in the big leagues in 1974 for Philadelphia (2 games in relief, 1 1/3rd IP), Pena got his first big league start after 12 relief appearances this season. And he made the best of it, hurling the complete game 1-hit shutout, striking out 7 and walking 4.

[BirdWatcher]

Let's stay with the Houston Cavaliers and take a closer look at their starting left fielder Doug Helmick, who has emerged as one of the biggest stars on the team and their clean-up hitter.




Helmick was originally drafted in 1967 with the 11th overall pick of the draft out of Long Beach State by the Brooklyn Aces. He was rated 18th among prospects entering the 1968 season but over time in the minors saw his stock gradually fall. Although he had a really good 1971 season with the AAA Tampa Thieves, he ended up being stuck there for most of the next two seasons before finally getting called up to Brooklyn in September of 1973. Having been unimpressive in 139 plate appearances for the Aces in 1974 he found himself unprotected when the expansion draft came around in the off-season.
And sure enough Houston picked him in the 3rd round of the expansion draft. It was the change of scenery Helmick needed and although he led the SJL in strikeouts in 1975 with 121, he also clubbed 27 homers and drove in 98 while putting up 4.9 WAR. While he took a bit of step backwards in 1976 (it was a bad year for power hitters) he is off to a good start in 1977 and helping his team to compete heading into July. For a clean-up hitter he also has great speed and he is part of a tremendous defensive outfield. A little more than a month away from his 29th birthday, Helmick has a chance to remain a Cavalier long enough to see this expansion club reach the top of the pile in the SJL.

[BirdWatcher]

With the All-Star break just around the corner, the voting has ended and the final results have been tallied and this is how the voting looked in the SJL:






And the roster is as follows:




For future Hall-of-Famer Jake Harris this is the 11th All-Star selection. A good case could be made that the 38-year old made the cut based more upon reputation than actual merit this year. Three great veterans were named for the 7th time: San Antonio second baseman Jared Hancock, Seattle second baseman Mike Robinette, and Boston's 29-year old right fielder, Justin Vargas, a two-time league MVP.

The first-time All-Stars in the SJL are Houston starting pitcher Sandy Morales, Chicago closer and captain Jeff Ault (the lone Fire player selected, and a deserving choice), San Antonio closer Adam Vane, Seattle first baseman Fred Reinhardt, Milwaukee second baseman Rob Bello, and Washington third baseman Josh Connelly.

Columbus, San Antonio, and (surprisingly, for a last place team) Seattle each have four players represented to lead the league and the expansion Chicago Fire are the only team with just one representative on the squad.

[BirdWatcher]

And the final voting tallies for the All-Star game in the MGL:






And the official roster for the team:




This is the 13th All-Star selection for sure Hall-of-Famer Jamel McNeil. His L.A. Spinner teammate, the leading home run hitter in WPK history, Nate Bennett gets his 10th AS nod. The great Cody Kane of Portland is headed to his 8th All-Star game.
First timers include Portland staring pitcher Kyle Bidwell, San Francisco starter Danny Napier, Oklahoma City starter Parker Rayfield and third baseman Kevin Reed (hard to believe it is the first for the 30-year old two-time Gold Glover and fine hitter), Brooklyn's flame throwing starter Joel Travino, Denver's set-up man Ben Flynn, Baltimore's fine closer Brian Burke and power-hitting outfielder Chia-chi'ing Chou (the leading vote getter), L.A. catcher Jason Ott (sure to be the first of many for possibly the best catcher in the business) and shortstop Pat Mercado (same), Charlotte catcher Alex Riojas and their second baseman Tony Knighton, and Detroit outfielder Jaime Doyle (well, someone had to represent the woeful Falcons, and he doesn't totally suck.)

Denver lead the way with 7 selections, followed by L.A. at 5, with other contenders- Brooklyn, Oklahoma City, and Baltimore- sending 4 players. Detroit was the only team with just a lone representative.

As for Brewers selected: this is Bobby Erbakan's 4th All-Star game, Joe McPhillips 3rd, Sadahige Kawasaki, Brett Taranto, Rich White, and Josh Schaeffer's 2nd, and of course, Ben Flynn's 1st.

[BirdWatcher]

For the first time in WPK history the All-Star break festivities including a match-up of the best prospects in the Shoeless Joe League against the best prospects in the Moonlight Graham League in a Futures All-Star game.



It was a hotly contested match but the SJL, on the strength of a 5-run 8th inning, came out victorious.






The lone Denver prospect in the game was starting pitcher Jim Atwell, the #1 ranked prospect in the WPK the past 2 seasons. Atwell pitched a flawless first inning for the MGL.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:



The Pittsburgh Roadrunners big power-hitting right fielder Bill Winchester, the 1973 SJL Rookie of the Year, has emerged as one of the biggest stars of the league. The 27-year old will not likely win any Gold Glove awards (though he does have a strong arm and has recorded 63 career outfield assists in 660 games, including throwing out 21 runners last season, but with a career Zone Rating of -80.3) but his bat is one the best in the business. This season is no exception and he was recently named to his 2nd All-Star squad and earned the June honors as SJL Batter of the Month.

MGL:



Veteran first baseman Danny Salvador provides the pop in the middle of the Brooklyn Aces lineup. The now 3-time All-Star has a bit of reputation for a poor work ethic but he always shows up well at the plate and led the league in walks three straight season as well as leading in WAR in 1975. The big question for Salvador as he approaches his 30's is a sense that he is injury prone. He has largely avoided serious injuries the past several seasons but the sense is that the somewhat slightly built first sacker might not age well.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:



It's hard not to get lost in the shuffle when you are part of the most celebrated starting rotation in the WPK, on the most celebrated team, and some of your teammates are future HOF'er Jake Harris and the 1976 SJL Pitcher of the year Jim Norris.
But if June was any indication, it might be time for 25-year old lefty Luis Ramirez to emerge from the shadows. Truth be told, the young man out of the Dominican Republic with the wicked fastball (that reaches triple digits) and devastating splitter (he also has an above average change-up to round out his repertoire) has emerged as the ace of the talented Whalers staff this season.

Given his age and reputation for durability, there should be plenty more accolades in the future for the loyal team-player. In addition to this honor Ramirez was also named to the All-Star team for the third time and this time as the starter for the SJL.

MGL:



While Luis Ramirez leads the SJL in strikeouts by a decent margin over Jacksonville's Juan Maldonado, Joel Travino of the Brooklyn Aces is in a category by himself, with 55 more K's then his nearest MGL competitor and 23 more than Ramirez. Travino is having a breakout season at the age of 28 in his second season in an Aces uniform. Interestingly, and unlike Ramirez, Travino is not a flame thrower. He generally tops out in the high 80's. But he has probably the best change-up in the game (off a plus, but not special fastball) and an elite curveball as well. His 10.6 K/9 helps him overcome his poor control (4.0 BB/9, which is the best of his career thus far). One would expect a man of 6'4" and 210 lbs to throw much harder, but perhaps that deceptive build is an advantage also. With great stamina and a reputation as having Iron Man type durability, it will be interesting to see what kinds of numbers Travino will put together going forward.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:



Hard-working 26-year old Houston rookie Sandy Morales continues his fine season and earns his 2nd Rookie of the Month honor. While Morales doesn't profile as an elite hurler, he does possess good control, pitches his home games in one of the best pitching parks in the league, and nobody outworks him. It is an open question whether he can keep this up, but he certainly has been an important part of the Cavaliers rise to respectability in just their third year of existence.

MGL:



It's been a bad decade plus for the Detroit Falcons. But for the second time this season they have a player earn Rookie of the Month honors, and it has been two different players. Perhaps things are beginning to head in the right direction for the beleaguered franchise. Granted, the 26-year old Ren-qing Leong was already an established professional star in Taiwan when the Falcons signed him as an international free agent in the off-season, but he is still young, possesses good gap and over-the-fence power and a patient approach at the plate, and can play three infield positions at least adequately if not better. (Although he is currently playing third for the Falcons, he is probably best suited to second base with plus range and elite pivot skills. His arm is a good enough for short or third, but not his best attribute defensively.)

[BirdWatcher]

I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise that the WPK's all-time leader in homers won the first ever All-Star weekend homerun derby.




(Okay, I'm going to admit that this didn't work for me. I couldn't get the hang of it and didn't find it much fun at all. I tried a bit in that first round- not really sure how Schwisow got 18- I don't think I did that- but then could only manage to get 1 for Connelly. So just let the AI complete this competition. Not trying to be overly negative of critical. I think it's great that the developers added this feature and I hope others love it. I just didn't. This might be the one and only HR derby in WPK history. We'll see.)