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Back on June 26, in the dingy Comiskey Park visitors' clubhouse, Scott Fletcher hung his head in disappointment. The face of the franchise from 1983-1991, the slugging shortstop had just returned to the Big Apple after a year in Cleveland. Along with Phil Bradley, Fletcher had rejoined the Dingy Hose as GM Eric Holthaus retools the storied franchise. Manhattan has made eight trades since Opening Day, including sending Eric Davis to Chicago. On this night, however, Manhattan had just endured a three-game sweep at the hands of the Chicago Colts. Eric Davis,  recently traded by Manhttan, had homered off Ed Whitson, recently acquired by Manhattan, making the whole retooling enterprise look misguided. The Sox were 4-5 since getting the band back together, and it seemed as if their goal of catching rival Washington and moving into the playoff positions might be out of reach.

Since that night, however, Manhattan had compiled a 20-7 record, the best in the league in the span, and has not only overtaken the Monuments, but climbed within one game of the second-place Toronto Polar Bears. Leading the charge is hard-hitting left fielder and former HR and RBI champion, Jose Canseco, who hit .380-10-21, 1.197 in July and is having a career year (.348-32-73, 1.110). The other star is much more unlikely: journeyman 33-year-old righthander Frank Pastore. A stalwart presence in the Detroit rotation for a decade, Pastore was released by Toronto after an abysmal 5.95 season in 1990, and it looked like his future lay in the Triple-A International League. Since joining the ManSox in 1991, however, Pastore has posted a 21-12 record and 3.90 ERA, in one of the most pitcher-unfriendly home parks in the league. In June, he went a step further, winning Pitcher of the Month honors with a 4-0 record and 2.04 ERA in 5 starts.

Canseco and Pastore are just the sixth pair of teammates in the last 20 years to win Batter and Pitcher of the Month concurrently. All five previous BOM-POM double teammates have helped lead their teams into the playoffs, including Ellis Burks and Dwight Gooden, who ironically, are the two biggest names on the Injured List on the team directly in the sights of the fast-rising Gray Sox. Also on the list: Steve Garvey and Don Sutton, who were BOM-POMs in 1974, Eric Holthaus' first playoff season, in his fourth year at the helm. Since then, Manhattan has made the playoffs 13 times in 18 seasons, as the longest playoff drought has been two years (1982-83 and 1990-91).

Batter & Pitcher of the Month
JUL 92 - MAN - Canseco/Pastore
JUN 91 - TOR* - Burks/Gooden
MAY 90 - BOS* - Daulton/Clemens
AUG 83 - DET* - Horner/Moose
JUN 80 - DEN* - Grieve/Dierker
SEP 74 - MAN* - Garvey/Sutton

*Team qualified for playoffs

The Boston Federals have returned to the top four in offense and are on pace to hit the most home runs since 1981. The Feds' attack is led by this year's #2 draft pick Mike Piazza and two-time MVP Barry Bonds, who are 1-2 in the league in RBIs, and Sammy Sosa, who hit his 27th homer on July 31 to pull ahead of Bonds, who hasn't homered since July 16. Boston also ranks 2nd in OBP and 3rd in stolen bases. #2 hitter Chuck Knoblauch leads the club with a .389 OBP and CF Otis Nixon leads with 32 stolen bases.

As usual with Fenway Park at the home stomping grounds, pitching is an issue—Boston has finished in the bottom half in pitching  9 of the last 11 seasons.  However,  sophomore righthander Pat Hentgen is emerging as an elite-level starter. Hentgen is 10-6, 2.88 in 22 starts and pitched a one-hit, 15-K shutout on July 19 that ranks as the league's top pitching performance so far this season. The gem came amidst a streak of nine straight quality starts. Another young starter, rookie Scott Kamieniecki, the 50th pick in the 1991 draft, has shown flashes of greatness with three-hit and four-hit shutout in his first eight starts.