The Denver Brewers of the W.P. Kinsella League

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:




In a match-up on Saturday of two SJL teams working hard to stay in the first division and challenge for the pennant, the Milwaukee Cadets gained a narrow victory over the El Paso Dawgs with much of the credit going to the Cadets 28-year old center fielder Sun-mi Yin. Yin has mostly been known for his glove and his speed over the course of his two and a half year career, having won the SJL Gold Glove award for right field the past two seasons, in spite of an underwhelming throwing arm. This year, with the season ending injury to regular center fielder Omar Trujillo (ruptured UCL) and the acquisition of right fielder Chris Hoover from Detroit in the off-season, Yin has been moved into the middle of the outfield with unfortunate results defensively. (After seasons of +11.3 and +15.6 Zone Ratings in right the past two years, his ZR in center this year is -6.0.) But he's really been hitting of late, including a 5 for 5 performance in this game. Milwaukee ends the week in 5th place, 7 games out, while El Paso is just ahead of them in 4th at 5 1/2 games off the pace.

MGL:




The Oklahoma City Diamond Kings are not going away in the MGL and one reason is the top three of their starting rotation led by staff ace Dan Knauff. Knauff, with the help from closer extraordinaire Ben Bakeman, got the Diamond Kings a narrow victory over the slumping Portland Wild Things, who find themselves slipping down the standings.
Oklahoma City ends the week in 3rd place, 5 1/2 games behind Denver and just a game behind L.A.

[BirdWatcher]

This week Brad Tesh, of the Columbus Whalers, became the 6th member of the WPK 300 home run club.




Tesh, at age 32 looked like a very strong candidate for the WPK Hall of Fame in Dubuque, Iowa, and now at 34 he looks like his career has possibly run out of gas. Having moved from center field to left field he remains a plus defender and while he's lost a step or two in terms of pure speed he is a terrific base stealer and runner. At the plate Tesh is still a player with a good eye and approach and with above average power but he just doesn't possess the bat-to-ball skills needed anymore to get a lot of playing time.




Having won the SJL MVP award in 1968, having been named an All-Star 7 times, owning two championship rings, and with a career WAR of 77.6, he remains a possible HOF candidate. In fact, the player he is most similar to in WPK history is Jesus Hernandez (887 score with Bill James similarity tool, a bit shy of the truly similar range), and Hernandez looks like a strong Hall candidate. Also in the top 10: Antonio Sosa (861), Jason Janes (854), Cody Kane (835), Jesus Casiano (795), and Jamison Bash (794)- all players with at least some chance of enshrinement. But unlike Hernandez and Casiano, who remain productive starters, and especially the 31-year old Kane, who is a superstar still, Tesh's career has dwindled down to include minor bench roles in the bigs interspersed with minor league stints. (Jason Janes is somewhere in-between, still a starter, but no longer a star.)

But this week, in a rare start for the first place Whalers (only his 5th game started this season), Tesh finally got #300, putting him in elite company. And even if this is the last great achievement of his WPK career, it will have been an impressive career nevertheless.
(He is 67 hits shy of the 2000 hit club, so he could still get there in the end. And it should be noted that he is the only member of the 300-300 club as he has stolen 358 bases in his career. Among 300 homer guys, the only other player anywhere close is Jesus Hernandez, with 90 career stolen bases.)

[BirdWatcher]

In a 20-7 drubbing over the Baltimore Lords yesterday, the Los Angeles Spinners saw a few notable performances from their hitters as 25-year old center fielder Juan Bado hit for the cycle (the second in the WPK this season) and their 28-year old back-up catcher Greg Foster (who would be a starter on most teams, teams who don't have superstar Jason Ott playing for them) collected 6 hits to become just the third player in MGL history with that many hits in a game (the others: Ruben Souffront in 1975 and Jeremy Brigatti in 1971- it has also been done twice in the SJL: Jason Janes in 1970 and Ricky Sanches in 1968).

With the Denver Brewers suffering a 1-run loss on the day, the win pushed the Spinners to within 2 1/2 games of first place in the MGL.

[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 2-4 (week), 62-37, 1st place, MGL (season)

July 24-25, versus San Francisco: 4-7, 3-4.

July 26-28, at Oklahoma City: 7-5, 2-3, 8-7.

July 30, versus Brooklyn: 1-9.

The last full week of July is not a good one for the Brewers. Although most games on the week are close, with two of them taking 11 innings for resolution, things do not go their way very often this week.

In the second game of three against San Francisco, the Brewers fight back from a 3-0 deficit in the middle of the 8th to take the game to extra innings tied at 3-3, but then see things fall apart for reliever Ben Flynn (5-3, 3.42) in the top of the 11th. In his first game since returning from AAA Chester, Casey Bromwell (replacing Joe McPhillips, who was sent to the IL, on the roster) went 3 for 5 and hit the big home run that gave the Brewers the tie in the bottom of the 9th. Sadly, the team could not get the win after his heroics.
And in the rubber match the Brewers fall again in spite of another 9th inning rally that sees them climb back to within one run, but no closer. Brett Taranto's 12th homer of the season got them to two 9th inning runs. RodRod also homered in the game, his 5th. Steve Green (8-5, 5.06) took the loss, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits over 7 2/3rds innings.

The Brewers then headed to Oklahoma City to take on the Diamond Kings and got a win in a see-saw game 1 when they plated 4 runs in the last 3 innings and then managed to hold on when the home club rallied in the bottom of the frame. Cheol-han Lee (5-5, 6.98) actually pitched pretty well, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits over his 6 2/3rds innings pitched and was awarded the win. Ben Flynn got the save, his 7th in 7 tries. Joe Willemse went 3 for 4 in the win and Val Guzman hit his 9th homer, driving in 3 runs in the game.

In the middle game of the series, the Brewers scored a run in the top of the 9th to get to a tie and then took it to extra innings before falling to Oklahoma City in the bottom of the 11th. Reliever Cory Degano (0-2, 5.68), just recalled from AAA Chester, took the loss. It was another frustrating game for Sadahige Kawasaki, who pitched well enough to win- giving up just 2 runs on 6 hits over 7 2/3rds innings- but once again didn't get run support. Bobby Erbakan went 3 for 5 in the loss and hit a pair of doubles to get to 30 on the season.

The Brewers did manage to win the rubber match to get the road series win though when they gave starter Erik Sloan (6-3, 3.77) a 7-run lead before he had thrown a single pitch, and then narrowly hung on to win in spite of ineffective pitching and an error prone defense (including 2 errors by third baseman RodRod in the Diamond Kings 3-run 4th inning. On the other hand, RodRod did also go 2 for 4 with 2 RBI and hit his 12th double of the season. Brett Taranto was also 2 for 4 and hit his 20th double. Tim Shore got the final two outs to secure the victory and earn his 17th save (to go with a 1.59 ERA.)

After a travel day off the Brewers returned to Centennial Stadium to take on the Brooklyn Aces and their left-handed strikeout-machine of a starter Joel Travino. It did not end well. Although Travino, who is on pace to shatter the previous single season K mark in the WPK (he is on pace for 303 K's, the previous best- by Jaime Schardein in 1968- was 261), only struck out 5 Brewers batters, he also only gave up 1 run on 2 hits over 6 innings pitched. And although Sekien Hamasaki (11-3, 3.60) through 6 innings, he failed to get a single out in the 7th, while allowing 4 runs to end the game with 6 runs (4 earned) allowed on 8 hits. It only got worse once the Brewers bullpen joined the fray. Brett Taranto went 2 for 3 in the game and Bobby Erbakan hit double number 31 for the season, but that was about it for highlights for the home club.

With just one day left in the month, the Brewers end the week leading L.A. by just a half a game and are in very real danger of entering August in 2nd place in the MGL.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:



The middle of the pack in the SJL remains very competitive, with only a 3 1/2 game difference between 4th place El Paso (54-47) and 8th place Washington (50-50). And with Columbus leading the league by 5 games as we enter August, it isn't as though plenty of teams couldn't still get into contention with the top 3 (Columbus, Jacksonville, Boston). There were also several tightly contested contests between teams in this middle range of the SJL this week, but we will focus on the Tuesday game between the then 5th place El Paso Dawgs and the 6th place Pittsburgh Roadrunners. Pittsburgh prevailed in this one and they have won 8 of their last 10. Although they remain in 6th place at this time they look like a team on the move upwards. One big reason is their 27-year old right fielder Bill Winchester, who is emerging as one of the superstars of the league, and clubbed his 19th homer of the season in this one. Also contributing is former Brewer Justin Bismark. Bismark, who was the Brewers first round draft pick in 1966 (16th overall), has had an up-and-down career, with a fine season in 1975 for Jacksonville, but great struggles in 1976. He is bouncing back this year as the Pittsburgh closer, having saved 17 games (though with 5 blown saves as well.)




MGL:



While it might be a stretch to call the Wednesday evening game between the last place Phoenix Speed Devils and the 3rd place Brooklyn Aces the game of the week, it is no stretch to call it the most shocking result of the week. Phoenix sent 29-year old Marty O'Brien to the mound, with his 2-4 record and 7.36 ERA against two-time Pitcher of the Year and Triple Crown ace Aaron McNally in Brooklyn. So a result of 4-0 doesn't seem out of line, EXCEPT that it was Phoenix with the 4 and Brooklyn with the zilch. Once again McNally deserved better as his 7-5 record does not accurately reflect his dominance this season. As for O'Brien, well, every dog has his day I guess. Granted, he only got through 6 2/3rds and needed help from the bullpen to preserve the shutout (especially former Brewer Steve LaCoste, who worked a fine 1 and a third innings.) And he walked 5 batters while giving up 4 hits and striking out 6. Not a masterpiece maybe, but certainly the best start of O'Brien's season thus far.



While Phoenix remains the worst team in the game, they have actually been playing better of late, having won 7 of their last 10. Their historically bad pitching staff, while still historically bad, has managed to bring the team ERA down to 7.01, which, if you have been following along here you will know is actually an improvement from earlier in the season.

[BirdWatcher]

It feels like we have neglected 27-year old Jacksonville left-handed ace Juan Maldonado for too long here.
Let's remedy that now.



Maldonado was discovered by the Jacksonville crack scouting staff in the Dominican Republic when he was only 16 years old (in 1966) and got his first start for the team late in the 1971 season. He didn't pitch much in 1972 at the age of 22 but when he did he was quite good. And by 1974 he was the clear ace of the staff, leading the league in wins with 20, in strikeouts with 179, and in K/9 at 6.8. While his win-loss records in the two full seasons since have been less impressive, this has not been driven by any significant drop in the quality of his game, and this year he has already equaled his highest season win total since that 1974 20-win campaign.



Maldonado is a fan favorite as one of those team-first guys who seems to play for the love of the game, not the paycheck. There are concerns about his durability though he has managed to avoid any serious arm issues since he suffered a fractured elbow back in 1966. He does seem to deal with a series of small, nagging injuries, primarily having a propensity for back troubles.

Oddly, Maldonado has only been selected to 2 All-Star games in spite of his popularity among Wolf Pack fans. His national recognition is not great, and that is perhaps explained by his quiet, under-the-radar approach to the game. But given his consistent quality as a starting pitcher he certainly deserves more acclaim then he has received.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:




In his 7th full season as a member of the Milwaukee Cadets, 29-year old first baseman Josh Schultz is having a breakout season. Not that he wasn't already a very fine player- he has after all averaged 5.0 WAR per 162 games in his career. But this year he is already at 4.9 as we enter August and he leads the league in home runs with 26 and RBI with 92. He is also 7th in batting average (.332), 4th in OBP (.417), 3rd in Slugging (.588), 4th in WAR, etc.,etc.

While Schultz is painfully slow, he is actually a solid defender at first and even won a Gold Glove award back in 1974. The 1971 SJL Rookie of the Year, he is also a 5-time All-Star. And while there are a few players who at this point might be ahead of him in the race for the league MVP- last year's winner, Bud Lindsay, Pittsburgh's Bill Winchester, and Philly's great Taiwanese second baseman Xiao-mei Mah- he is certainly putting himself in the discussion with his great season thus far.

MGL:




Matt Kinney, the 26-year old left fielder for the Baltimore Lords, is getting his first chance to play regularly at the big league level this season. And he looks to be taking full advantage of the opportunity, earning the Batter of the Month award for the MGL in the month of July. While Kinney doesn't profile as a superstar caliber player it is hard to spot any obvious weaknesses in his game. He is a good all-around hitter with some pop, he possesses tremendous speed and savvy on the base paths, and he's a fine corner outfielder with a strong arm. And even with not a great deal of experience in the WPK, Kinney is helping to provide strong leadership in the Lords clubhouse.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:




Jamar Clay, the 24-year old closer for the Columbus Whalers, is the anti-Jamel McNeil. Not in terms of talent. Clay is a very fine closer- one of the best in the game currently. And McNeil, well, he's obviously the gold standard by which all WPK relievers are measured. But where McNeil is universally despised, even in his own clubhouse, Clay is revered, even at his young age. Jamar Clay is the player most parents want their kids to look up to as a role-model. He is everything good about the game. And after a tremendous month of July he is also the SJL Pitcher of the Month.

MGL:




Mike Hiatt is best known in the WPK as the only pitcher thus far to throw 2 No-Hitters in his career, with the second one even being one just 3 Perfect Games in WPK history. While he has had some fine seasons (he went 18-11 with a 2.88 ERA in 1974 while pitching for Charlotte), he has never been an All-Star and hasn't won any major awards in his career, though he does have one championship ring. But he has three times been named Pitcher of the Month and this past month was the third. In his first full season as a member of the Brooklyn Aces, he is on pace to have one of his finest seasons.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:




With Pittsburgh right fielder Bill Winchester emerging as one of the best players in the league and an MVP candidate and with the entrance of 5-tool superstar in the making Matt Van der Heyden in center fielder, the Roadrunners talented third outfielder, 24-year old rookie Larry Leshane doesn't get much attention. Well, that changed yesterday when he was named the SJL Rookie of the Month for his fine performance in July. Now if only Pittsburgh had some starting pitching.

MGL:




Shortstop Ren-qing Leong, who the Detroit Falcons signed as a free agent out of Taiwan in the off-season, has won the MGL Rookie of the Month honors for the second month in a row.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:



As you can see, the SJL is quite competitive overall, especially when you look at run differential totals, with at least 5 teams being legitimately in contention for the pennant. As always, of course, the road to glory goes through Columbus and until someone can prove otherwise they are the class of the league. But it looks like they might really get pushed by several contenders this season.


MGL:



Same as it ever was. The Brooklyn Aces continue to under-perform, even while hanging in there in contention. The Brewers are at the top but being pushed mightily by the L.A. Spinners. The Phoenix Speed Devils are abysmal. While both Baltimore and Oklahoma City look like they could still make a late season push into contention. (Can San Francisco, with their extreme pitcher's park, continue to out-perform their pythagorean wins expectation, or are they in for a drop down into the second division soon?)

[BirdWatcher]

With the Denver Brewers currently reeling a bit, the Los Angeles Spinners have taken over first place in the MGL.

But this is going to hurt a bit down the stretch:

[BirdWatcher]

On a day when the Brewers finally looked like a winning team again, blanking Baltimore 7-0 behind Sadahige Kawasaki, they also got bad news when it was revealed that left-handed set-up man Jason Gottula, who they were counting on having back for the stretch run, has suffered a set-back in his recovery from a torn back muscle and needs to go under the knife, meaning he won't be back until next Spring.



This makes the earlier trade to get lefty Victor Colon and set-up man Evan Perez- a right-hander who is also tough on left-handed hitters- all that more important. It is unlikely at this stage of the season that a better replacement for Gottula will be found and the minor league system is devoid of talented left-handed relievers. Gottula is signed through 1979 so the team will hope he can return healthy and still effective next season.

[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 4-4 (week), 67-41, 2nd place, 1 gb L.A., MGL (season)

July 31-August 1, versus Brooklyn: 2-1, 4-5.

August 2-4, at Detroit: 1-3, 2-3, 4-1.

August 5-6, at Baltimore: 1-7, gm.1, 9-8, gm. 2, 7-0

As you can see, during this week when the Brewers got great pitching they didn't get much offense, and when they were scoring runs the pitching was poor. Until the last day of the week, when they finally put it all together again.

On the last day of July the Brewers got a narrow win over Brooklyn in the middle game of that series behind Steve Green, who gave up just 1 run on 6 hits over 7 innings, though he was denied a victory. Evan Perez (1-0, 0.00) pitched the final 2 innings for his first win as a Brewer. Jon Williams went 3 for 4 in the win.

The Brewers then dropped the home series on the first day of August when Brooklyn broke a 4-4 tie when speedster Tommie Signor hit a one-out triple and scored on a suicide squeeze bunt off the bat of pinch-hitter Tim Terry. Sadahige Kawasaki got the start and worked 6 2/3rds, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits. Closer Tim Shore (4-2, 1.84) took the loss. Brett Taranto went 3 for 4 in the loss and hit his 13th homer of the season.

Things didn't get better as the Brewers traveled to Detroit for a 3-game set. The pitching was fine, but the bats went silent.
In game 1, the recently recalled from AAA John Weaver (3-5, 4.04) gave them 6 solid innings, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits while striking out 7, but took the loss. Even though the Brewers collected 11 hits in the game (outhitting the Falcons by 1), they could only plate one run. Little used defensive specialist Nick Ward, continuing to hit well beyond his perceived abilities, went 2 for 3 in the loss and picked up his 2nd stolen base.
Game 2, more of the same. The Brewers did manage a pair of runs in the 2nd inning, but lost 3-2. Erik Sloan pitched well enough for a win, giving up 2 runs on 9 hits over 6 2/3rds. But reliever Walter Hackler (3-1, 3.00) took the loss when he allowed an 8th inning run that proved the game winner. Backup catcher Kirk Patnode went 2 for 3 and drove in a run in the loss, in which the Brewers only collected 5 hits.

The Brewers avoided a sweep by scoring 3 9th inning runs in the final game to break a 1-1 tie and then holding on in the bottom of the frame. The big hit, a 2-run pinch-hit homer by reliever Ben Flynn (probably the best power hitter on the club), who also then earned the save, his 8th. Sekien Hamasaki pitched a good game, lasting 7 1/3rd, giving up just 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 7 and walking 1. Reliver Victor Colon (1-0, 0.00) blew the save chance but earned the win, his first with Denver. RodRod, having a great year at the plate when healthy, went 3 for 4, hitting his 13th double and 3rd triple of the season. Another good game for 4th outfielder Jon Williams, who went 2 for 4 and hit his 7th double.

The Brewers then traveled further east to Baltimore for a 4-game series against the Lords, starting with a Friday afternoon double-header.
In game 1, forced once again to start Cheol-han Lee in the midst of a grueling stretch of games without a break, and of course that didn't go well. Lee (5-6, 7.24) gave up 7 runs on 8 hits over 6 innings. Cheol-han is the highest paid player in the game, is under contract through 1980, and appears to have completely lost his mojo. Oddly, he's in a very good mood currently. I mean, why not, right? Recently promoted reliever Tim Reinecke, getting his first taste of the big leagues, pitched a strong 2 innings, but the damage was already done at that point. Little Joe Willemse, getting the start at shortstop for the slumping Rich White, was a bright spot, going 3 for 4 with a run scored in the game and hitting his 4th triple of the season.
It was a battle and they almost lost it in the bottom of the 9th but the Brewers managed to hold on in the night-cap to salvage a double-header split. Steve Green (9-5, 5.00) got a win he really didn't deserve, giving up 6 runs on 9 hits over 7 innings pitched. Tim Shore gave up 2 runs in the 9th but barely held on to get his 18th save. The hitting hero? Well, naturally, it was light-hitting utility infielder Joe Willemse again. Little Joe just went 3 for 5 with 3 runs scored, 2 RBI, and hit his 1st homer of the season, just the 5th of his big league career. When you're hot you're hot. Although he didn't pitch well, Steve Green did contribute with the bat, going 2 for 3 with 2 RBI, both of his hits being doubles to give him 3 on the season.
And after barely avoiding dropping both ends of a grueling double-header, the Brewers seemed rejuvenated on Saturday afternoon as they put together the best win they've achieved in awhile. Sadahige Kawasaki (12-7, 2.60) hurled a shutout, allowing just 4 hits, all harmless singles. The bats were booming as they collected 17 hits and plated 7 runs, with (you guessed it) Joe Willemse again leading the way. Getting his third start in three games (this time at second base with Bobby Erbakan playing first to give Brett Taranto a well-deserved breather), little Joe just had a 4 for 5, 2 run, 1 RBI game, hitting his 4th double of the season. Bobby went 2 for 5 and clubbed his 19th homer of the year. Josh Schaeffer, continuing his tremendous season, was 3 for 6 and threw out a runner at 3rd base for his 8th assist of the year. Zacarias Martell went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI and hit his 7th homer.



Although the Brewers now find themselves in 2nd place behind the surging L.A. Spinners, if they can start playing like they did in this last game of the week consistently again things might work out fine.

Rumor has it also that the team is currently in negotiations to get both starting catcher Zacarias Martell and utility infielder Joe Willemse signed to extensions to avoid arbitration in the off-season.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:




In the ever shifting middle of the pack of the SJL, our game of the week, from Thursday afternoon, featured a team heading in the wrong direction- the Milwaukee Cadets- and a team trying to make a move up the pack- the San Antonio Keys. In this one it was the Keys' 29-year old staff #1, Ramon Garduno who led his team to an easy win. Garduno is a journeyman starter who entered professional baseball as a 10th round draft pick by Philadelphia in the 1966 draft. His best big league season, prior to this one, was when he went 10-13 with a 4.40 ERA for Detroit in 1973. For reasons not entirely clear, Garduno has emerged as one of the winning-est pitchers in the league in 1977, currently sitting at 15-5 with a 3.85 ERA. And it doesn't appear that undue luck has had a large influence in his success as his BABIP against is above his career average at .310, his FIP is 3.66 and his FIP- 82. The biggest factor is probably that in spite of very poor movement he thus far hasn't been abnormally prone to giving up the long ball this season. Now, whether the Keys can rise all the way to the top of the SJL with a guy like Garduno as their #1 starter is questionable but for now they are at least trying to make that league's pennant race even more interesting and crowded.

MGL:

Okay, we are going to cheat a bit and show you the Series of the Week instead of the Game of the Week in the MGL. Not that it was pretty. But I guess this is what you get when you pit the bashing Baltimore Lords against the slugging Phoenix Speed Devils at cozy, homer-friendly Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Look at what happened:





That's right, no game in which either team scored fewer than 10 runs, a combined total runs of 74- 38 for the home club and 36 for the visitors. Phoenix clubbed 14 homers in the series to Baltimore's 10. Both teams even saw starting pitchers, ones not known for their hitting prowess, swat home runs. Yikes. Phoenix' team ERA now sits at 7.18 while Baltimore's is a less gaudy, but second worst in the league, 4.66. Two of Phoenix' homers in the series came off the bat of first baseman Devin Schwisow, who has hit one more since, and now sits at 41 on the season to put him on pace for 62 for the season, which would easily shatter the previous single-season record of 50 (held by Jamison Bash and Eric Brakeall.)
As the season continues we will begin to follow that more closely.

[BirdWatcher]

Former Brewer, now a member of the El Paso Dawgs, Jonathan Koch was named the SJL Player of the Week for this past week. And this is just the latest honor in a terrific season for the diminutive second baseman, who was also named to his second All-Star game earlier this season.



Koch had some good years with the Brewers after having joined the team as a minor league throw-in in a multi-player deal with San Antonio in July of 1976. After having been a first-round (supplemental, #27) draft pick in the 1966 draft, the Keys sent him, along with veteran left-handed starting pitcher Ricky Diaz and catching prospect Kevin Curtis, who would also become a starter for the Brewers for several seasons, and former long-time Brewer super-sub Oscar Vargas for then aging super-star third baseman A.J. White and a number of minor leaguers who never really worked out.
Koch's best year in Denver was also his first full-season with the club- 1973- when he earned his first All-Star appearance, hit .301 with 18 homers and 108 RBI, and put up 3.6 WAR. He has almost equaled that WAR already this season and is on pace for a 5 WAR campaign.




The Brewers, of course, have Bobby Erbakan at second and he is on an MVP pace so it's not so much that they wish they had Koch back but they are awfully glad he is playing in the other league, where they wish him the best. If there was a Comeback Player of the Year award in the WPK, this guy would be a prime candidate this season.

[BirdWatcher]

Former Brewer great Ryan Rodgers became the 11th player in WPK history to collect 2,000 or more career hits when he went 2 for 4 in his team's loss to the Los Angeles Spinners yesterday.



The Brooklyn Aces right fielder is on pace for possibly his best season since his 7.5 WAR 1974 campaign with Denver. At age 38 he is unlikely to get to 3,000 hits in his career but given how well he continues to play 2,500 might not be completely out of reach.

[BirdWatcher]

Brewers record: 5-1 (week), 71-42, 2nd place, 1 gb L.A., MGL (season)

A nice bounce-back week for the Brewers but with L.A. still red-hot the team remains in 2nd place in the MGL.

August 7, at Baltimore: 4-3.

August 8-10, versus Charlotte: 2-5, 11-0, 6-5.

August 12-13, at Portland: 5-1, 5-3.

On Sunday the Brewers beat the Lords to take 3 of 4 in that series. A big 3-run 7th inning gave the Brewers the lead, which they barely hung onto as the Lords scored 2 9th inning runs. The big hit for the Brewers came off the bat of relief pitcher Ben Flynn, who came in to pinch-hit for starter John Weaver and hit a 2-out, 2-run homer. Weaver (4-5, 3.82) got credit for the win, allowing 1 run on just 1 hit over 6 innings. Although Flynn was the batting hero he also almost gave up the lead, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits in his 2 1/3rd, but closer Tim Shore came in to get the final 2 outs and collected his 19th save. Little Joe Willemse stays hot, going 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI in this one, and swiped his 4th bag (though he also got caught stealing for the 2nd time.)

The Brewers suffer their only loss on the week in the first game of 3 against the Charlotte Sting in Denver. In spite of a solid start from Erik Sloan (6-4, 3.70), who gave up 3 runs on 6 hits over 7 innings, the Brewers lose as they just couldn't get anything much started against Sting left-handed starter Chris Harpster (7-6, 4.46). Rich White went 2 for 4 in the loss and Brett Taranto hit his 14th homer of the season.

Bobby Erbakan (.375/.409/.635) helped ensure that game 2 was a bit different. Bobby was 4 for 5 with 3 runs scored and 4 RBI and hit a pair of homers to get to 21 on the season, which matches his career single-season best total in this category. Sekien Hamasaki (12-3, 3.30) got far more run support than he needed, as he blanked the Sting on 7 hits and no walks while striking out 8 in his 8 innings pitched. RodRod, Brett Taranto, and Joe Willemse (natch) all contributed 2 for 4 days, with RodRod and Taranto both driving in 2 runs apiece and Willemse scoring twice.

It took 11 innings but the Brewers took the series when Zacarias Martell (.280/.372/.432) came up with the walk-off game winning single to score Casey Bromwell who had doubled to lead off the inning. Steve Green did not get credit for the win but he did have an impressive game, striking out 12 batters while walking none, giving up 4 runs on 7 hits over 8 2/3rds innings. He also went 2 for 4 at the plate. Tim Shore (5-2, 2.25) got the win in relief. Rich White (.291/.344/.427) was 3 for 5 in the game with 2 runs scored and an RBI and hit his 8th home run and 22nd double.
Bobby Erbakan (.378/.413/.637) was 3 for 5, hit his 32nd double and drove in 2 runs (89).

After a well-deserved day off on Thursday, the Brewers headed north-west to Portland to take on the Wild Things.
Game 1 saw another strong start from staff ace Sadahige Kawasaki. Kawasaki (13-7, 2.52) went the distance, giving up just 1 run on 6 hits. Zacarias Martell (.284/.373/.437) was the hitting hero, going 2 for 4 with 3 RBI and hitting his 17th double of the season. The only bad news for the Brewers in this one came when Rich White had to leave the game after being shaken up in a base-path collision. There is no word yet how long he will be out of action.

And the week ended with another victory over Portland with veteran lefty Erik Sloan (7-4, 3.61) getting credit for the win. Sloan gave up just 2 runs on 6 hits over 7 innings. Tim Shore pitched a flawless 9th, including striking out 2 batters and inducing a harmless fly out from the other, to earn his 20th save of the season. Bobby Erbakan (.379/.415/.638) continues his MVP-caliber season, going 3 for 4 with a run scored and a stolen base to give him 11 on the season. Val Guzman (.266/.380/.433) was 2 for 3 in the game, continued to show surprising on-base skills by drawing 2 more walks, and picked up his 20th stolen base of the season, which easily leads the team (Erbakan is 2nd.)

[BirdWatcher]

It was officially announced yesterday that Brewers shortstop Rich White will likely need to miss nearly a month of action due to a strained back. His back has been an issue for the excellent fielding 27-year old for some time and he missed over a month of play last season due to the same ailment and also missed that much time in 1972 as a minor leaguer for the same reason.



With White out it will likely fall to left-handed hitter Joe Willemse and right-handed hitter Nick Ward to platoon at short. Willemse provides the better bat and above average defense while Ward is a superb defender- possibly White's equal- but not much of a hitter.

Third baseman Jake DiCesare, who did well in an extended stint with the big league club earlier in the season, gets the call-up from AAA Chester to take White's place on the active roster.

[BirdWatcher]

In the midst of another strong season as the primary backup infielder for the Brewers at three positions, and with his value perhaps even a bit higher given the loss of starting shortstop Rich White to a back injury for much of the rest of the 1977 season, the Brewers announced they had reached agreement with little Joe Willemse on a contract for next season, avoiding the need for an arbitration hearing at the end of this season.



Willemse will get a healthy raise from the league minimum ($26,720) to 60K next season. The smart and slick-fielding player with the knack for getting the big clutch hit is expected to earn every penny.

[BirdWatcher]

SJL:



The El Paso Dawgs, who at this point in time have the worst overall winning percentage of any team in WPK history, not counting the two expansion clubs (Houston and Chicago), last year they finally rose from the depths of the SJL to become a contender and remarkably finished in 2nd place to the mighty Columbus Whalers. And here in mid-August of 1977 those scrappy Dawgs are once again hanging in there, in 4th place currently, 7 games behind the first place Whalers. And in Saturday's game against those same Whalers the Dawgs got a tremendous pitching performance from veteran left-handed starter Adam Buhman who out-pitched the 1976 SJL Pitcher of the Year Jim Norris as the Dawgs beat Columbus for the second straight day.




MGL:



Brooklyn's left-handed starting pitcher Joel Travino, who barely hits 90 on the radar gun but has a devastating change-up and elite curve ball, struck out 8 more batters in the Aces 8-6 win over first place L.A. last Tuesday night. A fairly routine day for Travino, who now sits at 213 K's for the season. The WPK single-season record for strikeouts by a pitcher is 261, accomplished by Jaime Schardein in 1968. (Schardein also has the second spot on this list with 249 in 1967.) Travino is one pace to shatter the record and projects to collect 303 K's this season.