Here Comes The Paragon Baseball League!

[luckymann]

Lots of to-ing and fro-ing with the pitching setups, as I am making note of each month. One of those is Zack Greinke into the LA rotation, which reaps immediate reward with this masterpiece.

[luckymann]

Plenty still up in the air as we enter the stretch run in the PBL's 1963 season. The Beacons' 6-game advantage in the North remains the widest, and nothing is set in stone heading into September.

We're certainly seeing the effect of the pitcher-dominant 1967 LTMs on the stats this year.

Here's a few other things we're seeing:

• Sandy Koufax into the rotation at Seattle.
• Chris Sale into the rotation at Atlanta.
• Vida Blue into the rotation at Connecticut, CC Sabathia now closer.
• Jamie Moyer into the rotation at Florida.
• Grant “Home Run” Johnson hits his 1st PBL home run.
• Dave Stieb into the rotation at New Orleans.
• Jorge Posada has more HR this season than the previous two combined.
• Juan Marichal into the rotation at Carolina.
• Joe Cronin now with 11 HR v 8 in 1961-2 combined.
• Curt Schilling back into the rotation at Washington.
• Luis Tiant the closer again at Atlanta.
• Gerrit Cole into the rotation at New Jersey.

Monthly Award Winners

Northwest League

• Batter – Ted Williams (Connecticut): 419 / 6 HR / 14 RBI
• Pitcher – Don Sutton (Las Vegas): 5-1 / 2.57 / 38 K / 49 IP

Southeast League

• Batter – Lou Gehrig (Kansas City): 280 / 8 HR / 23 RBI
• Pitcher – Nap Rucker (Carolina): 5-0 / 1.19 / 35 K / 53 IP

Weekly Award Winners

• 5th: Ted Williams (Connecticut) / Lou Gehrig (Kansas City)
• 12th: Paul Waner (Portland) / Nap Lajoie (Indianapolis)
• 19th: Honus Wagner (New Jersey) / Pud Galvin (Florida)
• 26th: Bill Terry (Connecticut) / Mickey Cochrane (Indianapolis)

Top 20s






Standings & Leaders

[luckymann]

Teddy BG is the first to 100 HR.




Here's how the leaderboard shapes up behind him:

[luckymann]

Mad Dog gets his 20th in style. He is only the third pitcher after Addie Joss (23 in 1961) and Robin Roberts (20 last season) to make this mark.

[luckymann]

Speaking of Mr Joss...

[luckymann]

Unquestionably the most epic PBL game yet. (Sammy Sosa might not feel that way after going 0-for-10 with 7 strikeouts...)

Kind of puts this sparkling effort in the shade...

[luckymann]

The PBL's first managerial casualty.

[luckymann]

Another first, this time Eck with 100 saves.




And the leaderboard.

[luckymann]

A big win for the Arrows - their 6th straight just when that is needed - and a big game for one of their best, who is having another fine season.

[luckymann]

My fears that some of these olde tyme pitchers were going to be overmatched in this league have, for the most part, been proved entirely baseless. At 43-36 / 3.48, Hoss is certainly doing OK so far.

[luckymann]

A full recap at the end of the regular season. Suffice to say Boston has clinched the North and a fadeout by Seattle has left Las Vegas with a MN of 1. The East and South remain in play.

Awards for the month went to:

Monthly Award Winners

Northwest League

• Batter – Ed Delahanty (Boston): 377 / 1 HR / 24 RBI
• Pitcher – Felix Hernandez (Boston): 6-0 / 1.74 / 50 K / 51.2 IP

Southeast League

• Batter – Nap Lajoie (Indianapolis): 295 / 5 HR / 27 RBI
• Pitcher – Christy Mathewson (Virginia): 5-0 / 1.81 / 20 K / 49.2 IP

Weekly Award Winners

• 2nd: Yogi Berra (Boston) / Al Spalding (Virginia)
• 9th: Fernando Valenzuela (Portland) / Pete Rose (Washington)
• 16th: Roberto Alomar (New York) / Ken Boyer (New Orleans)
• 23rd: Ted Williams (Connecticut) / Lou Gehrig (Kansas City)
• 30th: Ed Delahanty (Boston) / Nap Lajoie (Indianapolis)

A few milestones reached:

• 100 HR – Ted Williams (Connecticut); Johnny Mize (New Orleans)
• 100 Saves – Dennis Eckersley (Kansas City)

Some happenings from around the league:

• David Ortiz (New Orleans) hits 1st PBL home run.
• Curt Simmons into the rotation at Washington.
• Hilton Smith into the rotation at Portland.
• Dazzy Vance into the rotation at Washington.
• Adam Wainwright into the rotation at Las Vegas.
• Brooks Robinson hits his first PBL HR.

[luckymann]

Nothing but pride left to play for, and Clark can be well proud of this effort.

[luckymann]

We do get some final day dramas after all.

With Atlanta leading KC by one game with one to play, the Firebirds lose to keep the Blues' dreams alive, leaving them needing a win against New Orleans. The Blues are two outs away from doing just that and forcing a tiebreaker when the Pirates tie the game at 4. The Blues take the lead again with a run in the top 12th, but can't close it out as RBI singles to Jud Wilson to tie it and then Ichiro to walk it off smash Blues fans' hearts to smithereens.




Ted Williams wins the NW batting title and belts 2 homers in the final game to tie Aaron Judge with a NW-leading 34, thereby securing the PBL's first Triple Crown. Nap Lajoie's 319 BA nets him the SE title, while Johnny Mize leads with 35 homers and finishes Top 3 in all TC categories.

Greg Maddux ties Addie Joss's season record of 23 wins.

King Felix again leads the K parade with 329, a new PBL record.

Clay Kershaw sets new season marks for ERA (1.74), WHIP (0.95), OBA (246) and pitcher WAR (11.99).

Tris Speaker's 8.95 WAR is a new high for position players.

Bill Donovan leads the league with 42 saves.

Mike Mussina's 23 losses are a new high... low? As are Washington's 107.


Final Top 20s





Final Leaders

[luckymann]

Las Vegas Lizards (86-82) v Boston Beacons (102-66)
Best of seven, Beacons with home-field advantage.

Game 1




Game 2




Game 3




Game 4




Game 5




Game 6




Game 7




Las Vegas wins series 4 games to 3
SERIES MVP: Dan Brouthers (LASV)

[luckymann]

Indianapolis Arrows (100-68) v Atlanta Firebirds (95-73)
Best of seven, Arrows with home-field advantage.


Game 1




Game 2




Game 3




Game 4




Indianapolis wins series 4 games to 0
SERIES MVP: Jake Beckley (INDI)

[luckymann]

Indianapolis Arrows (100-68) v Las Vegas Lizards (86-82)
Best of nine, Arrows with home-field advantage.

The Lizards come back from 3-2 down and win two in Boston to keep their title defence going but they face a dominant Indy side here, who look to have hit peak form just at the right time with that demolition of Atlanta. I think the Lizards are somewhat lucky to be here, really, and that the Arrows will make short work of them. Just too many weapons at their disposal, methinks. Indy in 6 or 7.

[luckymann]

SOSA LEADS LIZARDS TO GAME 1 VICTORY



WP: Jose Mendez (2-1)
LP: Satchel Paige (0-1)
SV: Bobby Mathews (2)

• LASV: Sammy Sosa 2-5 / 2B / 4 RBI. Jesse Burkett 2-5 / 2-run 2B. Cal Ripken jr 3-4. Willie Keeler 3-5 / RBI. Derek Jeter 2-4.
• INDI: Jake Beckley, Mookie Betts 3-5 / 2B / RBI. Adrian Beltre 2-4 / 2B.

PotG: Cal Ripken jr (LASV)

[luckymann]

LIZARDS WIN AGAIN BEHIND DIHIGO AS RIPKEN JR, SOSA CONTINUE HOT STREAK



WP: Martin Dihigo (1-0) 7 IP / 4 H / 2 ER / 2 K.
LP: Eustaquio Pedroso (1-1)
SV: Ron Guidry (1)

• LASV: Cal Ripken jr 3-4 / RBI. Sammy Sosa 2-run HR [2]. Jesse Burkett 3-5 / 3B / RBI. Rod Carew 2-4 / 2B. Dan Brouthers 2-5.
• INDI: Mookie Betts 3-4.

PotG: Cal Ripken jr (LASV)

[luckymann]

INDY GETS IN THE WIN COLUMN AS GOSLIN SHINES




WP: Bill Donovan (3-0)
LP: Ron Guidry (0-1)

• INDI: Goose Goslin 2-3 / HR [1] / 3 RBI.
• LASV: Dan Brouthers 3-4 / 2-run 3B. Jesse Burkett 2-4 / 2B / RBI. Cal Ripken jr solo HR [1].

PotG: Goose Goslin (INDI)

[luckymann]

ALL SQUARE AS BETTS LEADS ARROWS TO CUSHY WIN




WP: Kevin Appier (2-0) 8.1 IP / 7 H / 1 ER / 3 K.
LP: Carl Mays (1-2)

• INDI: Mookie Betts 3-4 / HR [4] / 4 RBI. Goose Goslin 2-4 / 2 RBI. Jake Beckley 2-5.
• LASV: Dan Brouthers 2B / solo HR [2].

PotG: Mookie Betts (INDI)