Ruben "Streak" Souffront and the Denver Brewers

[BirdWatcher]

Today is the day when we get a glimpse into the possible WPK future as teams claim the rights to this year's eligible amateur players in the annual draft.

As was widely predicted, the first player chosen overall, by the woeful El Paso Dawgs, was 21-year old shortstop Rich White out of Madison College.

The first pitcher chosen, with the 4th pick overall by the Charlotte Sting, was lefthanded starter Bryce Turner out of New York College. Turner, who profiles with durability issues, suffered a turn UCL in April and many think the Sting were unwise to take a chance on him. This may have been a wasted pick.

The Brewers were thrilled when shortstop Kevin Flieder was still available at the bottom of the first round (pick #19 overall). Flieder profiles as a glove-first shortstop but has potentially at least an average hit tool and with his great baseball smarts the team hopes he might develop even more than currently projected. Although current Brewers starting shortstop Chad Brown is only 24 his current contract expires at the end of the 1972 season and the Brewers farm system is very short on prospects at this position. Flieder was identified as the best prospect available but the fact that he is a shortstop helped make the decision to draft him a no-brainer.

In the second round the Brewers drafted another collegiate shortstop, Garrett Farrar. Farrar is a well-rounded player with decent, if unspectacular, tools who profiles with a potentially above average hit tool, solidly above-average defense and speed, and an advanced approach on the base paths. Although he was primarily a shortstop at Worcester College, the Brewers have already shifted him to second base which is thought to be a better fit for his skill set.

[BirdWatcher]

With their 3rd round pick the Brewers selected 21-year old relief pitcher Randy Bradshaw out of Oklahoma City College.
The Brewers are taking a chance that Bradshaw is a late-bloomer and will develop a bit more in the next few years, as he his two pitch mix includes a pretty well developed sinker and a relatively raw slider that projects as possibly a superior offering in the future. Like many very tall pitchers (Bradshaw is 6' 8") he will likely continue to struggle with control issues but he is likely to be well above average in avoiding giving up the long ball and could eventually have very good stuff.
There are some concerns about his apparent lack of baseball smarts but if his raw skills materialize he could be a decent big league middle reliever with a possible ceiling of earning a set-up role.

The 4th round saw the Brewers take another middle infielder, Tim Leinen, an 18-year old out of Goldwater High School in Phoenix, Arizona. (Side note: Barry Goldwater is my namesake.) Leinen appears to have a decent hit tool but with below average power. Although he will likely be a slap hitter (who hits the ball on the ground a good deal of the time) he does profile as having a very good eye at the plate and should be able to get on base and not strike out terribly often. Given that he has good speed and is a superior base runner, he can take advantage of those opportunities. As a defender, he shouldn't hurt his team but he won't likely win any gold gloves. Perhaps best of all, in the eyes of Brewers leadership, is that he is young and exhibits a great work ethic so there is both time and potential for him to grow into more than immediately meets the eye.

Firstbaseman Brad McManus, chosen in the 5th round, comes out of Brooklyn College with uninspiring numbers. McManus has good HR power potential and should draw an above average number of walks but his overall hit tool is likely sub-par. He should be a solid defender at first. And in spite of being extremely slow, when he does get a chance he can steal a base as he has great technique and he is a solid base runner. McManus is a hard worker and that could elevate him above his very average tools, but likely McManus' ceiling is that of a back-up in the big leagues.

Sixth round draft pick Cliff Bona fits a type that the Brewers are known to take a chance on. He is a young (18 years old) toolsy player who is raw and may never develop the needed hit tool to be a useful major leaguer. He has great speed and base running savvy, along with great range in the outfield and a very strong arm. He might....might....develop above average contact and a strong ability to avoid being struck out. But he is unlikely to ever draw many walks and almost surely will never develop power, likely remaining a singles hitter almost solely. Will it be enough to ever let him put on the Brewers purple? Only time will tell.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers return home to take on the struggling Wild Things for 4 games.
The Wild Things continue to struggle as Denver sweeps them.

Game 1 featured a nice start by rookie Steve Green. Green improved to 5-2 with a 3.18 ERA by pitching 7 1/3rd innings, giving up 2 runs on only 3 hits, striking out 7 and walking 2. Andrew Kennedy (.326/.354/.468) paced the offense with a 3 for 5, 3 RBI, 1 double (5) day hitting in the 3 hole.

Game 2 saw veteran lefty Daniel Torres continue his fine season. Torres, in spite of allowing 9 hits and 3 walks in 5 1/3rd innings pitched, gave up just 2 runs as the Brewers won 4-2. Torres improves to a team best 6-1 with a 2.05 ERA with the victory. Bobby Erbakan (.244/.302/.395) led off the bottom of the 1st with his 4th HR of the season. Ruben Souffront (.289/.314/.433), getting a bit more playing time especially due to Pat Rondeau's continued offensive struggles, went 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored and hit his 4th double of the season. Souffront also picked up his 5th stolen base of 1971 (to go with 2 times caught stealing.) Andrew Kennedy continues to be the team's most consistently good hitter as he went 2 for 3 in the game as well.

The first game of the Sunday double-header went into the 10th inning tied at 3-3. It ended in the bottom of the 11th when Antonio Puente (.262/.351/.554) banged an opposite field homer (12) for the walk-off victory. Will Smart gave the Brewers a solid 5 1/3rd in the start, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits. Liann-wei Hua got the victory in relief and improves to 1-1 with a 1.38 ERA. Jamison Bash (.295/.372/.630) also homered in the game, his 16th (2nd best in the MGL) as he was 2 for 3 with 2 RBI.

The night-cap was another close one as the Brewers prevailed 3-2 to get the series sweep. Cheol-han Lee worked 8 innings, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits (4 K, 0 BB) and improves to 3-4 with a 3.36 ERA. Miguel Solis worked a perfect 9th for his 6th save with a 1.69 ERA. Andrew Kennedy (.338/.365/.470), surprise surprise, went 3 for 3 with 1 walk in the game. Ryan Rodgers (.302/.368/.396), the reigning MGL batting champ, who has been slumping of late, went 4 for 4 with 1 walk.

With the series sweep the Brewers move to within 5 games of league leader Phoenix while remaining in 3rd place, 2 1/2 games behind the second place San Francisco Velocity.

[BirdWatcher]

With just over 50 games in the books it might be a good time to look at some team trends thus far.

Surprises:
The Brewers are 3rd in the league in runs scored and that is a bit better than was forecast for this team, but even more surprisingly the Brewers are 3rd in the league in HR's. They are 4th in stolen bases, which for us is a very low ranking, but this is at least partly driven by the sparse playing time for Ruben Souffront and Pat Rondeau, two of our speediest players. Rondeau, in particular, even when he does play rarely gets on base so he has had little opportunity to even try to steal bases (he has 1 steal.)
The Brewers have at times in the past been a better road team then home team but this year their road winning percentage is a mediocre .427 while we are winning at a healthy .679 clip at home.
It is also a bit surprising that the team is 7th in OBP as this is usually an area of strength. This is likely due to some early season struggles by Ryan Rodgers, who has a healthy .368 OBP but has led the league in this category the past 2 years with OBP's of .431 and .479. Also, Tanner Yurek, normally one of the leaders in the team in this category, is having an atrocious year at the plate and while he is still drawing walks at a pretty good clip, with a batting average of .216 his OBP is just .317.

Perhaps the biggest area of concern is that the team defensive efficiency ranks 8th out of 10 in the league. It is hard to explain this, though a few possible contributors to this are that third baseman Jamison Bash does not have the range that Jared Stephenson did, though Bash is not terrible by any means. Also, second baseman Tanner Yurek is not only struggling at the plate but continues to show decline defensively as well, though he still remains at least average if not slightly above average defensively.

The Expected:
As expected and as usual, the Brewers have allowed the fewest runs against in the league. While the starting pitching staff had some early season difficulties, they are now 2nd in the league in ERA while the bullpen remains the best in the league with a minuscule ERA of 1.68.
Also as usual, the Brewers have a much better record against right-handed starters than left-handers.
It is also unsurprising that the Brewers pitching staff leads the MGL in strikeouts while placing pretty much middle of the pack in walks allowed.

Who's Hot:
Andrew Kennedy leads the team in batting average at .338, has a very decent OBP in spite of not being a guy who takes a lot of walks, is 3rd in RBI on the team and has played very solidly in both leftfield and at firstbase.
Chad Brown is having a solid season at the plate as he is hitting .309. He also leads the team in stolen bases at 9 while only being caught trying once. He is tied with Kennedy for 4th on the team in WAR at 1.3. While he is no longer looking like a gold glove shortstop, he remains well above average defensively in spite of being somewhat error prone (12 errors.)
Daniel Torres, at age 36, is 3rd in the league in ERA (2.09) after leading the league in that category in 1970. He is 7th in the league in rWAR.
Veteran thirdbaseman Jamison Bash has been tremendous at the plate in his first season in a Brewers uniform, with a slash line of .295/.372/.630 with 8 doubles, 16 HR's and 35 RBI. This puts him on pace for 25 doubles, 51 HR's, and 111 RBI.

Note: both Daniel Torres and Jamison Bash can be free agents at the end of the season and both have signaled their desire to remain Brewers but thus far there are no indications that negotiations are underway.

Who's Not:
Pat Rondeau is off to by far the worst start of his WPK career as he is hitting just .200/.208/.280. He remains a very gifted defensive outfielder and has premium speed but with this complete lack of offense he is seeing little playing time.
Tanner Yurek, who had one of his finer seasons in 1970, is showing significant decline at age 30, both at the plate and in the field. Yurek is hitting just .216/.317/.320 and has a zone rating at second of -0.9.
Captain Abel Pennington, at age 29, is having one of his poorer seasons as a member of the Brewers starting rotation. Pennington is 1-2 with a 4.11 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP. His BABIP is pretty consistent with his career norm, and even a bit better than in 1970, so there is little indication of bad luck playing a role.


One bit of potential good news for the Brewers is that they have a better run differential than the 1st place Speed Devils, who are exceeding their pythagorean win expectation by +4 while the Brewers are underachieving by the same measure -2. The second place Velocity do have a slightly better run differential than the Brewers and are under-achieving -1.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers head out on the road again after a short home-stand. They start in Oklahoma City against the 9th place Diamond Kings for three games. The Brewers take two of three.

In game 1, Harry Lyerly suffers another defeat, allowing 6 runs, albeit only 3 of them earned, on 8 hits allowed, striking out 6 while walking none. Lyerly allows 2 big homeruns, the first coming with 2 outs in the 3rd inning after secondbaseman Tanner Yurek muffed what should have been the out number 3. Lyerly falls to 5-4 with a 3.29 ERA. The Brewers lose 6-2. On the plus side, Andrew Kennedy (.346/.372/.481) continues to rake at the plate, going 3 for 5 in the game and hitting his 6th double of the season. Ryan Rodgers (.311/.375/.403) also stays hot, picking up 3 singles in 4 at-bats. Catcher Kevin Curtis (.184/.283/.288) hit his 2nd homerun of the season in the game, officially going 1 for 2 as he also picked up a pair of walks.

Game 2 saw the Brewers pick off an extremely narrow victory, winning 2-1, thanks to a rare moment of 1971 heroics at the plate for Pat Rondeau, who came in to pinch-hit for Kevin Curtis in the top of the 9th with 2 on and 1 out and hit a single up the middle to score the tie-breaking run. Rookie starter Steve Green was solid for 7 innings, giving up 1 run on 7 hits, but did not figure in the decision. (His ERA drops to 3.00.) Liann-wei Hua gets the victory, improving to 2-1 with a 1.29 ERA. Miguel Solis works the 9th for his 7th save (1.64 ERA.)

After allowing the Diamond Kings to score single runs in the 1st and 2nd innings, Daniel Torres settled into a groove and held them scoreless for the next 5 innings before giving way to closer Miguel Solis. The Brewers score 4 runs in the 3rd inning to take the lead and add 2 more in the 9th for good measure, as they win the rubber match, 6-2. Torres improves to 7-1 on the season with a 2.09 ERA after allowing just the 2 runs on 7 hits (4 K, 2 BB) in his 7 innings pitched. Miguel Solis is not only perfect in the last 2 innings, but in fact he strikes out all 6 batters he faces to earn his 8th save and drop his ERA to 1.54. Gold Glove catcher Kevin Curtis (.198/.296/.313) has a nice game at the plate, going 2 for 3 with a pair of doubles (9) and a walk. Jamison Bash (.295/.373/.628) contributed a 2 for 4 game, driving in 3 runs, including the pair in the 9th with his 17th homerun of the 1971 season. Ruben Souffront (.278/.301/.417), continuing to see a bit more playing time, also chipped in as he went 2 for 5 with 2 RBI and hit his 5th double of the season.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers head to the motor city for what was slated as a 5-game series, with 2, that's right, 2 doubleheaders. (As it turned out, the second double-header became a single game when the night-cap was rained out.)

The Brewers enter the series leading the 4th place Falcons by 3 1/2 games. By the end of the series the Falcons are 7 1/2 games behind the Brewers who move into a tie with 2nd place San Francisco.

The opening game of the Friday doubleheader goes to Denver 6-3. Pat Rondeau (.236/.243/.311) has by far this best game of the season at the plate, going 4 for 5 and scoring 3 runs from the lead-off slot. Andrew Kennedy (.339/.364/.464) contributes a 2 for 4 game from the 2-hole. Will Smart pitches 6 1/3rd, giving up 3 runs on 7 hits and gets the victory, improving to 3-0 with a 2.52 ERA. Eric Singer pitches the last 2 innings for his 3rd save and lowers his ERA to 1.23.

The Brewers get a shutout victory in the night-cap, winning 2-0 behind Cheol-han Lee, who tosses his best game of the season, getting the complete game 2-hit shutout. He strikes out 5 and doesn't walk a single batter. Bobby Erbakan (.232/.288/.387) hits his 5th homer of the year in the 5th inning and that would prove to be gravy as the Brewers 2nd inning run would have sufficed with the way Lee was dealing. Lee improves to 4-4 with a 3.03 ERA.

The Brewers win Saturday's game 6-3. Adam Getchell gets just his 4th start of the season and works 6 innings, giving up 3 runs on 8 hits. But he also drives in a run with a double in the 4th inning and earns the victory, improving to 1-1 with a 3.51 ERA. Chad Brown (.308/.343/.374), having a fine season at the plate, hits a rare homerun, his 2nd of the season and goes 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored. Eric Singer gets his 4th save of the season (1.19 ERA.)

On Sunday, the Brewers once again score 6 runs, this time in support of Harry Lyerly, who allows 2 runs on 6 hits in 7 innings pitched. Lyerly strikes out 7 and walks just 1, though he does allow a 7th inning solo HR, which gives him a league leading 15 HRA. Still, he picks up the win as the Brewers prevail 6-2, and Lyerly improves to 6-4 with a 3.24 ERA. Bobby Erbakan (.240/.290/.407), perhaps starting to show some of his latent power potential, hit another solo shot, giving up 6 HR's for the season now. Chad Brown (.312/.346/.382) stays hot with a 2 for 4 day and he hits his 4th double of the season.

As mentioned above, the scheduled second game for Sunday was postponed due to bad weather.

With the 4-game series sweep the Brewers have now won 6 straight and 10 of their last 11 games.

Up next is a 3-game series in San Francisco against the Velocity, with whom the Brewers now share 2nd place.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers travel west to San Francisco to take on the 2nd place Velocity for 3 games. The Brewers enter the series on a 6-game winning streak and end the series with a 9-game winning streak.

Game 1 sees rookie hurler Steve Green pitch another fine game, allowing 3 runs on just 4 hits while striking out 8 and walking 2 over 8 innings pitched. Bobby Erbakan (.247/.299/.416) went 2 for 4 from the lead-off slot and hit his 6th double of the season as the Brewers won 5-3. Green improves to 6-2 with a 3.04 ERA and Miguel Solis works the 9th for his 10th save (1.49 ERA).

The Brewers cruise to a 7-0 victory in game 2 behind Daniel Torres, who continues to have a tremendous season at age 36. Torres works 7 scoreless innings, allowing just 4 hits with 6 strikeouts and 3 walks and improves to 8-1 with a 1.92 ERA. The suddenly hot Bobby Erbakan (.258/.308/.421) goes 3 for 5 with 2 RBI in the game and Jamison Bash (.301/.381/.607) pitches in with a 2 for 4, 2 runs scored, 1 RBI game.

Game 3 was tight until late but when the Brewers scored 3 runs in the final 2 innings they ended up with a rather easy looking 5-1 victory for the series sweep. Cheol-han Lee got the start and the win for the visiting Brewers. Lee worked 7 innings, gave up 1 run on 6 hits, and improves to 5-4 with a 2.91 ERA. Chad Brown (.308/.339/.384) paced the offense with a 2 for 4, 2 runs scored, 2 RBI game and hit his 3rd triple of the season. Catcher Kevin Curtis (.204/.316/.313), known more for his defense than his bat, had a nice game at the dish, going 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored and hitting his 10th double of 1971.

With the series sweep the Brewers move ahead of San Francisco and into 2nd place, 3 1/2 games behind the first place Phoenix Speed Devils.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers return home having won 9 games on the road. After playing 4 games against the 6th place Detroit Falcons, the winning streak is now at 13 games.

Harry Lyerly got plenty of run support in the first game of the series and didn't need most of it as he gave up just 2 runs in the complete game victory, allowing 9 hits while striking out 6 and walking 1. Jamison Bash (.310/.388/.610) was 3 for 4 with 3 RBI against his former teammates. Bobby Erbakan (.255/.304/.430) hit HR #7 for the season and scored 3 runs in the 9-2 victory. Harry Lyerly improves to 7-4 with a 3.12 ERA.

Rookie Steve Green one-upped Lyerly in the second game- getting a complete game victory while allowing just 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 8 and walking 1. Green improves to 7-2 with a 2.83 ERA. Antonio Puente (.255/.353/.520) went 2 for 4 in the game with 3 runs scored and 3 RBI while hitting his 13th HR. Kevin Curtis (.201/.317/.325) hit his 3rd HR.

In the Sunday doubleheader, the Brewers kept their streak alive with a narrow 2-1 win. Daniel Torres hurled another gem, working 7 innings while giving up 1 run on 3 hits with 8 K's and 5 BB's. Torres didn't factor in the decision though as it required a bottom of the 9th inning Bobby Erbakan (.270/.319/.466) walk-off solo HR to decide the game. Miguel Solis got the win by pitching 2 scoreless innings- he is now 3-1 with a 1.34 ERA.

The night cap was another easier victory for the Brewers as they prevailed 5-1. The team Captain, Abel Pennington, had his finest start of the season thus far, working 7 innings while allowing 1 run on 3 hits with 5 strikeouts and not a single walk. Pat Rondeau (.243/.256/.357) hit a 3rd inning lead-off triple but was stranded at third. So his next at-bat he must have figured that he couldn't leave anything to chance and instead of banging a line drive off the left-center fence as he had in the 3rd, he was able to elevate the ball a bit more and drive it over the leftfield fence for his 2nd homer of the season. That made the game 2-0 in favor of the home team. The Falcons scored a single run in the top of the 6th to make the game incredibly tight, but Denver plated 3 in the bottom of the 8th on Antonio Puente's (.257/.358/.529) 14th HR of the season. Pennington improves to 2-2 with a 3.64 ERA.

With their 13 consecutive victories the Brewers now trail the 1st place Phoenix Speed Devils by 2 1/2 games. They now not only lead the league in fewest runs allowed but they are also first in team ERA (2.54), starters ERA (2.86) and bullpen ERA (1.40), as well as strikeouts. And while that is not unusual for this club, their status as the top run scoring team in the league is. In addition to being the top run scoring team in the MGL, they are 1st in slugging percentage, extra base hits, and OPS, as well as the best offensive at avoiding being struck out by the opposition. They are 3rd in batting average, OBP, hits, and perhaps most surprisingly, HR's.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers next face the Brooklyn Aces, who come into the 3-game series on a 6-game winning streak. So something will have to give, as the Brewers have a 13-game streak of their own on the line.

And, in game 1, the Aces winning streak comes to an end and the Brewers are now at 14 straight wins. It wasn't even close as the Brewers got an 8-0 victory behind Cheol-han Lee. Lee went the distance, allowing just 6 hits while striking out 5 and walking 3. He improves to 6-4 with a 2.67 ERA. Andrew Kennedy (.321/.353/.437) went 2 for 5 with 2 RBI (25) and hit his 7th double of the season.

Game 2 was much like game 1. The Brewers got a complete game shutout from reigning MGL Pitcher of the Year Harry Lyerly and they won 6-0. Lyerly pitched probably his best game of the 1971 season thus far, allowing just 3 hits while striking out 11 and walking 2. He improves to 8-4 with a 2.86 ERA. The Brewers got a big game from back-up infielder Danny Roman (.256/.348/.385) as he went 2 for 3 with 3 runs scored, 3 RBI, 1 walk, and hit his 2nd HR of the season. Andrew Kennedy (.325/.356/.443) stays hot, going 2 for 4 and hitting his 8th double.

But all good things must come to an end sometime. The Brewers winning streak stopped at 15. The Brewers nearly extended the streak when they came back from being down 3-0 in the 8th inning to tie the score in the bottom of the 8th, thanks to an error by the opposing firstbaseman which put Danny Roman on base, a double by Andrew Kennedy, a two-run scoring double by Tanner Yurek, and a single by Ryan Rodgers to score Yurek with the game-tying run. Then Miguel Solis came in to keep the game tied and give the Brewers a chance for a walk-off in the bottom of the 9th. Except Solis was not up to the task on this particular day. He did not record an out, allowing 3 runs on 3 hits, including a 2-run HR and Liann-wei Hua allowed another run before getting the requisite 3 outs in the inning as the Brewers ended up losing 7-3 and saw the long winning streak come to an end. Solis fell to 3-4 with a 2.01 ERA.

It is a bittersweet thing, seeing that winning streak achievement pop up, because it means the streak, as wonderful as it was, is over.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers, having seen their 15-game winning streak come to an end, hope to start another good run against the 3rd place San Francisco Velocity.
And sure enough, June continues to be a good month for the Brewers as they sweep the Velocity at Brewers Field.

Game 1 was not easy as the Brewers saw the Velocity come back from being down 4-0 early to take a 5-4 lead with a 5-run 5th inning against Denver starter Daniel Torres. Torres ended up working 6 innings, giving up those 5 runs on 7 hits and did not figure in the decision. He saw his still excellent ERA rise to 2.22. The Brewers scored twice in the bottom of the 7th when Pat Rondeau reached first on an error, was moved to second when Tanner Yurek walked, stole 3rd and scored when the Velocity catcher threw the ball into leftfield, tying the game. Yurek went to third on a Ryan Rodgers ground-out. Jamison Bash was walked intentionally. Then Antonio Puente hit a sac fly to score Yurek with the go-ahead run. The Brewers bullpen, the best in the business, held the narrow lead. David Brown got the win, improving to 2-1 with a 1.76 ERA. Miguel Solis got his 12th save (1.91 ERA.)

It was another 1-run victory for the Brewers in game 2. Adam Getchell started but only lasted 4 2/3rds, allowing 3 runs on 8 hits. Will Smart worked 2 innings to get the victory and improves to 4-0 (2.33 ERA.) Eric Singer got the save, his 5th, and sports a fine 1.05 ERA.

The final game of the series saw the Brewers return to domination, as they won 8-1 behind Cheol-han Lee. It was another complete game victory for the veteran Lee, who allowed just 5 hits while striking out 6 and walking 1. Lee improves to 7-4 with a 2.54 ERA. Bobby Erbakan (.267/.316/.461) sparked the Brewers from the lead-off slot, going 2 for 4 with 2 runs and 2 RBI and hit his 9th HR of the season. Chad Brown (.314/.345/.390) continues to have a fine season at the plate and was 3 for 4 in the game, hitting his 4th triple. Defensive specialist/utility infielder Oscar Vargas (.217/.285/.313) was 2 for 4 with 2 RBI, hitting his 2nd HR of the year.

With the series sweep the Brewers are now 23-4 for the month of June with 3 games remaining in the month. Unfortunately, the Phoenix Speed Devils continue to play well also and have reached 50 wins for the season (50-21, .704), are 20-8 in June after having gone 20-8 in May, and the Brewers trail them by 2 games in the MGL.

[BirdWatcher]

June was a great month for the Brewers but it unfortunately ended on a down note as they traveled to Los Angeles and were swept in 3 games by the Spinners.

In game 1, Harry Lyerly, having tossed his best game of the season in his previous start, was not very sharp and allowed 5 runs on 8 hits in 6 2/3rds innings pitched, striking out 4 while walking 1. The big hits against Lyerly were a pair of 2-run HR's off the bat of the Brewers' long-time nemesis, Rigby Muckenfuss. The Brewers took him off the hook for the loss when the scored a run (on Andrew Kennedy's 11th double of the season) in the 7th to tie the game at 5-5. But the Spinners would plate a run in the bottom of the 8th against Miguel Solis to take a 6-5 lead which they did not relinquish. Harry Lyerly sees his ERA rise to 3.09 and Solis drops to a 3-5 win-loss record with an ERA of 2.08. Bobby Erbakan (.272/.319/.477) stays hot with a 2 for 4 game and hits his 10th HR of the season and Jamison Bash (.292/.379/.576) hit HR # 18.

And then the Brewers bats went silent.
In the second game of the series, they were held to 1 run on 5 hits and lost 3-1. Rookie Steve Green gave up the 3 L.A. runs while allowing 6 hits over 7 innings pitched. Green falls to 7-3 with a 2.96 ERA. Pat Rondeau (.250/.266/.360) collected 3 of the Brewers hits, including hitting his 3rd triple of the season and he also stole 2 bases (4 SB, 0 CS).

The final game of the month saw the Brewers drop a tough 3-2 game in 10 innings. Daniel Torres only lasted 4 1/3rd innings in the start, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits and 4 walks and Liann-wei Hua suffered the loss, dropping to 2-2 with a 2.00 ERA. Jamison Bash (.291/.375/.578) and Bobby Erbakan (.272/.318/.485) once again provided the biggest share of the offense for Denver, Bash hitting his 19th HR of the season and Erbakan his 11th.

Having been swept in this series, the Brewers end the month of June with an impressive 23-7 record for the month but Phoenix goes 22-8 in June and holds onto first place, 4 1/2 games ahead of the Brewers.

[BirdWatcher]

Brewers ace Cheol-han Lee was a big part of what went right for the Brewers in the month of June and he was rewarded for his performance by being named the MGL's Pitcher of the Month.

[BirdWatcher]

AAA Chester Big Stick leftfielder Paul Mackins had a tremendous month of June and was named the Player of the Month in his league.

Mackins is one of many talented outfielders in the Brewers organization and is trying to gain notice and build a case for a promotion to the big league club sometime this season. Nobody can fault his effort as he has shown himself to be a hard worker. Whether he has enough talent to hold down a regular big league spot is still up for debate. But he is toolsy, with plus speed, above average range in the outfield, decent contact skills, and an above average approach to strike zone recognition.

Likely Mackins ceiling is that of a 4th outfielder at the big league level. The fact that he is a solid defensive infielder as well, though with a weak arm, could enhance his chances to forge some kind of WPK career. He has very little power though and this could hold him back, especially as his skills play best at leftfield and firstbase, where power is expected. Mackins floor is probably that of a talented AAAA player who is given occasional cups-of-coffee at the WPK level.

[BirdWatcher]

Another young Brewers outfield prospect, Ramon Lopez, also won Player of the Month honors as a member of the AA Nashville Red Wings.

Lopez, at age 22, is considered a real sparkplug in the clubhouse, as he provides maximum effort all the time. This may have led to him spending much of the 1970 season on the DL (torn ankle ligaments) but he has returned strong in 1971 and is making a good case for promotion.

Lopez has game-changing speed which doesn't seem to have yet been diminished by the two leg injuries he has suffered thus far in his professional career. He also is a plus defender with a rifle-like arm in the outfield. As a hitter, though, Lopez profiles as mainly average, although he does have a good eye at the plate and a knack for getting on base, with gives him the opportunities to showcase his elite speed.

Should he continue to progress and avoid any further serious leg injuries, Lopez' ceiling should be a career as an average outfielder in the WPK. His floor is likely that of a 4th or 5th outfielder who comes into games late for defensive purposes or as a pinch-runner.

[BirdWatcher]

(Note: this is one of those outside of the WPK universe/deity viewpoint type of posts. I really need to find out a better way to message this and come up with a useful label to signal these. Oh, well, I'll think about that.)

So with OOTPXX on the horizon I am trying to move fairly rapidly (though maintaining my habit of playing out each and every game for my team) through the rest of the 1971 season so that I can export this save over to OOTPXX during the offseason. Partly because of that I haven't done a very good job of keeping up on this here and I will rectify that today and tomorrow. With a little less game-by-game detail than usually- not that I'm convinced anyone is likely reading those very carefully or will care.

On another big picture note, after struggling to figure out how to add ballparks from OOTP mods in the past, I revisited this in the past several days and suddenly what seemed so difficult to my non-tech mind before became very easy. I've been using ballpark names and details that were generated by the game at the creation of this fictional league along with MLB 3D stadium images for playing out the games, generally aligned with the location of the team (at least trying to stay within correct geographic region.) But I've decided to now move all of the teams in the WPK to new stadiums/parks prior to the 1972 season. (Much thanks to Silvam/Adion, eriqjaffe, and nielsoncp for their wonderful 3D parks which I have identified for my WPK teams.)
While this is an unrealistic and drastic step within the fictional universe of the WPK, I decided it was best to do this all at once, like ripping off a band-aid. And I am looking forward to moving ahead with parks that will become identified clearly and strongly with the teams in my league. I've also chosen parks in a way that preserves the general over-all current balance of park effects in the two sub-leagues of the WPK. Individual teams, on the other hand, might find that their new parks play quite a bit differently than their previous homes. My Denver Brewers, for instance, will be re-located to Centennial Stadium, which unlike the current Brewers Field, is more friendly to right-handed batters than left-handers. Given that I have built my team around strong left-handed hitters, this could create some challenge next season and will certainly influence future decisions.
Overall it appears that the ballpark changes might also balance out the two leagues as well. While currently the SJL is the more offensive minded league and the MGL (where the Brewers play) is a bit more pitching oriented, with the shifting ballpark factors the SJL will actually, on the whole, now have parks that are somewhat less offense friendly than the MGL.

The biggest change with all of this shifting of parks will be seen in attendance figures. As things currently stand, the Brewers play in the park with the greatest seating capacity, at 42,200, and this has given me something of an advantage in terms of revenue. The Brewers new park will be even bigger, with a capacity of 48,900, and while this is still good enough for 2nd biggest in the MGL (San Francisco's Bank of the West Ballpark will seat up to 52,800), there will be 2 parks in the SJL with over 50,000 seating capacity and the MGL league average will skyrocket from 24,600 to 42,840 (SJL will increase from 22,760 to 43,110). So the Brewers advantage won't completely disappear but it will be mitigated quite a bit. And overall WPK attendance should rise in the following years and revenue along with it.

Another thing that should be interesting to follow starting with the 1972 season is that although overall ballpark factors will not change much, there will be more discrepancy between parks, more parks that are extreme pitcher parks or extreme hitter parks. (The San Francisco Velocity, for instance, might struggle to score runs but pitchers will be very happy to step up on the mound there. The San Antonio Keys of the SJL, on the other hand, will be moving from a park that is pretty favorable to pitchers to one that should be among the best hitters parks in the league.)

Anyway, that is the future. But now back to 1971 in the WPK.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers start the month of July with 4 games at Brooklyn against the 7th place Aces.
The Brewers win the first game 7-2 behind captain Abel Pennington who improves to 3-2 with a 3.35 ERA. Jamison Bash hits two HR's to get to 21 on the season.
The Aces get a walk-off win in game 2. Felix Lopez, the leading hitter (.382) in the league, hit the game winning RBI single with 2 outs in the 9th, saddling Miguel Solis (3-6, 2.15) with the loss in the 4-3 game.
The Brewers bounce back with a big game 3, winning 14-0. Harry Lyerly pitched one of his best games of the season, allowing just 5 hits while striking out 10 and walking 6. He improves to 9-4 with a 2.86 ERA. The Brewers hit 4 HR's in the game, 2 of them coming off the bat of Tanner Yurek, who has struggled at the plate this season and saw his season HR total double in this game.
The Brewers took the series with a 5-2 win in the final game, Jamison Bash hitting 2 long balls (23) to drive the offense. Steve Green pitched 8 solid innings and improved to 8-3 with a 2.91 ERA.


Next up was 4 games at home versus the 9th place Baltimore Lords.
The Lords handed the Brewers a 3-0 loss in the first game. Daniel Torres pitched well but suffered the loss and drops to 8-2 with a 2.24 ERA.
The Brewers bounce back with a 7-1 win behind ace Cheol-han Lee in the second game. Lee improved to 8-4 with 2.52 ERA. Jamison Bash hit HR #24. Chad Brown, having a fine season and hitting .305 at this point, was 4 for 5 with 2 doubles (6) and a triple (5) in the game. Ruben Souffront (.288) was 3 for 5 with 3 runs scored and hit his 6th double.
The Brewers dropped the first game of a Thursday doubleheader, 4-3. Harry Lyerly gave up 3 HR's in the game and took the loss, in spite of striking out 9 while allowing just 5 hits and a walk in 7 innings pitched. He drops to 9-5 with a 2.98 ERA.
The Brewers then get another fine start from the captain, Abel Pennington, in the nightcap and win 3-0. Pennington improved to 4-2 with a 2.90 ERA. Pat Rondeau, who has been showing life at the plate after a very poor start to the season, went 2 for 3 and hit his 3rd HR of the season, lifting his batting average to .275.
The Brewers split the 4-game series with Baltimore.

The Brewers then traveled to Phoenix to take on the first place Speed Devils for the last 4 games prior to the All-Star Break.
Denver drops the first game 3-0. Steve Green isn't at his sharpest, giving up the 3 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks in 6 1/3rd innings pitched. He falls to 8-4 with a 2.98 ERA. The Brewers manage only 5 singles and a walk in the game.
The Brewers get a big extra inning win in game 2 when light-hitting defensive specialist Oscar Vargas came up with a 2-run single in the top of the 12th to break a 5-5 tie. While not much of a hitter, Vargas has been building a reputation of getting key hits at the most important moments. Vargas also hit his 3rd HR of the season in the 11th inning but the Brewers could not hold that lead, requiring him to provide heroics one more time in the 12th. Jamison Bash hit HR #25 and Antonio Puente #17.
It once again required extra frames, but the Brewers took game 1 of the Sunday doubleheader, 6-3, when they scored 3 runs in the top of the 15th inning. It was an Antonio Puente 3-run HR, his 18th HR of the season, which was the game winner. Jamison Bash also homered in the game, his league-leading 26th.
Phoenix then salvaged a series split by winning the night-cap, 4-1. Cheol-han Lee took the loss and drops to 8-5 with a 2.59 ERA. Andrew Kennedy, still one of the best hitters on the team (.315), went 2 for 4 in the loss.

And that takes us to the All-Star break!

[BirdWatcher]

On July 3rd it was announced that the Brewers had reached agreement on a 2-year extension for veteran left-handed starting pitcher Daniel Torres. Torres, who led the MGL in ERA in 1970 and is off to another great start in 1971, is considered one of the team leaders and is the lone left-hander in the starting rotation. In spite of his advanced age (36), he remains a valuable member of the team and the Brewers are thrilled to have him returning next season. (The team has an option to buy-out his contract for the 1973 season, should he experience a sudden and drastic decline.)

[BirdWatcher]

Six Brewers players were named to the 1971 All-Star Game, with 3 of them- starting pitcher Cheol-han Lee, left-fielder Ryan Rodgers, and shortstop Chad Brown- having been voted in as starters.
For Lee this is his 6th All-Star appearance, his 2nd as a Brewer. Rodgers has now been on 5 All-Star rosters, this is his 3rd in a Brewer uniform. Chad Brown earns his 2nd All-Star appearance, his first start, at the age of 24.

Veteran starter Daniel Torres was also named to the team. This is his 2nd All-Star game selection, both as a Brewer. Reliever Eric Singer was also named to the team, his 2nd selection, but 1st as a Brewer. Veteran thirdbaseman Jamison Bash was named to his 5th All-Star team, 1st time as a Brewer.

[BirdWatcher]

The rest of the 1971 Brewers All-Stars:

[BirdWatcher]

With the season resuming (after the MGL prevailed in the AS game, 5-3, with no significant contributions by Brewers players), the Brewers take on the Oklahoma City Diamond Kings at home for a 3-game series.

The Brewers drop game 1, 3-2, when the Diamond Kings get a big hit in the top of the 8th- a 2-run HR- off the bat of their star rightfielder Cesar Grajeda to spoil a nice start by rookie Steve Green (7 1/3rd innings, 1 run, 4 hits, K K, 0 BB.) Miguel Solis takes the loss in relief, his second blown save, dropping to 3-7 with a 1.90 ERA. Antonio Puente (.250/.338/.496) went 2 for 4 and hit his 10th double of the season in the loss.

The Brewers bounce back with a 7-2 victory in game 2. Cheol-han Lee hurls a complete game gem, allowing 2 runs on just 5 hits (3K, 1BB) to improve to 9-5 with a 2.55 ERA. Andrew Kennedy (.320/.347/.438) was 3 for 5 in the game and hit his 15th double. Tanner Yurek hit his 6th HR of the season.

The Brewers get a gem from Harry Lyerly in the rubber match, and needed every bit of it as they barely win, 1-0. Lyerly hurls 8 1/3rd scoreless innings, allowing 6 hits while striking out 12 and walking just 1. He improves to 10-5 with a 2.80 ERA. The hot-hitting Chad Brown (.314/.342/.405), went 2 for 3 and drove in the lone run of the game.