Embedded Files
Circuit Clouts
August 1, 1995
August 1, 1995
East W L GB Last R RA
Brooklyn 58 50 - 17-7 4 9
Keystone 58 50 - 9-15 1 18
Boston 56 52 2 6-14 6 12
Manhattan 55 53 3 12-12 14 16
Toronto 53 55 5 14-10 10 17
Havana 51 57 7 10-14 3 7
Washington 47 61 11 10-14 16 11
Montreal 45 63 13 9-15 15 13
Florida 45 63 13 15-9 17 8
West W L GB L10 R RA
Los Angeles 67 41 - 13-11 12 1
Cleveland 66 42 1 15-9 11 2
Detroit 65 43 2 16-8 2 6
Chicago 60 48 7 15-9 7 3
St. Louis 58 50 9 14-10 9 5
Atlanta 56 52 11 10-14 5 4
Minneapolis 50 58 17 12-12 13 15
Denver 47 61 20 8-16 8 14
Seattle 35 63 22 7-17 18 10
TOP STORIES
TOP STORIES
Barons Get a Taste of 1st
Cleveland moved into 1st on July 16 and shared a least a piece of 1st until July 29. The B's were 8-2 July 16-26 and got a hot month from Jim Edmonds (.387-4-22, 1.065).
Matt Williams drove in 27 runs in Brooklyn's 24 games, giving him 108 RBIs for the season and keeping him on pace to smash the single-season RBI record.
Havana's Rafael Palmeiro jumped to the head of the MVP race (at least by bWAR), with 11 homers and a .701 slugging percentage in July.
INJURIES
(Min 4 wk; bold=this sim)
INJURIES
(Min 4 wk; bold=this sim)
ATL SS Jose Valentin (5 mo)
MAN 2B Damion Easley (2 mo)
MAN 2B Mickey Morandini (8 wk)
MAN SS Barry Larkin (4 wk)
MPS RF Mike Aldrete (2 mo)
MON Cliff Floyd (2 mo)
STL SP Roger Salkeld (season)
SEA RP Mariano Rivera (3 mo)
SEA 2B Glenn Hubbard (8 wk)
WAS CF Kenny Lofton (7 mo)
WAS SP Frank Viola (7 wk)
MILESTONES
MILESTONES
June 2 - LA Don Robinson
2500 strikeouts (#24 all-time)
June 5 - DET Tony Fernandez
2000 hits (#56)
June 6 - KEY John Shelby
2000 hits (#57)
June 7 - KEY John Shelby
400 stolen bases (#32)
June 18 - CHI Alan Trammell
3000 hits (#5)
June 20 - CLE Rich Gedman
2000 hits (#58)
June 22 - BOS Bret Saberhagen
2000 strikeouts (#43)
July 1 - SEA Alvin Davis
1000 runs (#63)
July 4 - BOS Kal Daniels
500 stolen bases (#22)
July 4 - CHI Lou Whitaker
1000 RBIs (#53)
Superbas Surge
Brooklyn Overtakes 3 Teams in a Week
On July 9, the day Brooklyn lifted the Founder's Cup tournament with a 9-2 win over St. Louis, the Superbas sat in fourth place, six games back. On the 24th they overtook Boston, on the 25th they passed Manhattan, and on the 31st they joined Keystone atop the East Division. A 17-7 July surge took a fringe team and put them in the center of the playoff hunt heading into the season's final 60 days.
Along with the usual offensive powerhouses (Ken Griffey Jr and Matt Williams), GM Tim Widholm got a huge contribution from 2B Geronimo Pena, who hit .358-4-18, 1.033 and led the club with 26 runs created. Pena had 12 multi-hit games during the month, including a 4-for-5, 3-RBI performance against Chicago on the 16th.
The Bas got some big assists. The Keystone Starlings, aka first-half darlings, had a forgettable month in July, going 9-15, including sweeps by Cleveland, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles. And the Boston Federals were an even more abysmal 6-14, including a 2-7 Founder's Cup and a combined 25-10 loss in a doubleheader at Havana on the 18th.
But in a weak division, the team that gets hot at the right time is likely to prevail. And for the moment at least, that team is the Brooklyn Superbas.
West Keeps Getting Better
Divison Boasts Four Best Records
The West Division is home to six of the eight best teams, and all four of the best four teams, and they keep getting better. Other than Brooklyn's 17-7, the three hottest teams in the circuit in July were Detroit (16-8), Cleveland (15-9), and Chicago (15-9). The Colts at 60-48 own a .556 winning percentage. In the six-team playoff era (since 1984), that figure was good enough to land in the playoffs 94 percent of the time. Yet this year, the Colts are in fourth place, five games out of the playoff zone. Plop them into the East Division, and they would be in first place with a two-game cushion.
Polar Bears' New Ace
Injured Fighting Reporter!
Beat Reporter Holloway Responds “Homie don’t play that!”
By Sean “Don’t Mess with the Media” Holloway, UL Junior Beat Reporter
In a first for the UL, the league’s most prominent beat reporter called a press conference in Conference Room S at UL HQ to discuss a terrifying incident that happened on July 8th.
Beat reporter Sean Holloway was attacked by newly acquired TOR ace John Smoltz, reportedly over a syndicated story that appeared in a local Toronto paper. The story called into question Smoltz’s dedication and training regimen (or lack thereof), and, as Holloway explained in his piece, could be why Smoltz has never hit the heights UL observers expected. With the presser about to start, let’s listen to what Holloway has to say about the incident that left Smoltz with a fractured foot, relegating him to the DL for three weeks.
According to Holloway, Smoltz, who was seated at the table on the dais for post-game comments, began to become irritated at what he perceived was Holloway’s unfounded insistence that he needed to work harder. Holloway claimed that he wasn’t questioning Smoltz’s overall work ethic, but he did think Smoltz could benefit from more intensive workouts to get to that next level.
After bantering back and forth for a few minutes, Smoltz, now clearly angry, rose from the table and began walking to the open microphone from where Holloway was asking questions. As the situation deteriorated, Smoltz could be heard yelling “You are out of order!” Holloway, not backing down, screamed back “You’re out of order! You’re out of order! Your whole training regimen is out of order!”
As chaos descended onto the conference room, someone dressed in a very poor fox costume and carrying a police baton suddenly started running toward Holloway from the back of the room. Before the cheap looking fox could reach Holloway, though, another man in a very dapper and realistic looking fox costume screamed “He’s mine!” and took off like a missile to intercept the fake-looking fox.
With everyone looking at the foxes, no one saw Smoltz launch himself off the dais in an effort to land a kick to Holloway’s face. Unfortunately, Smoltz may have proven Holloway’s point, as he came nowhere close to clearing the rows of chairs between him and where Holloway was standing, instead landing on several chairs and seated reporters, breaking his foot in the process.
By now, the scene at the press conference where Holloway was attacked was utter insanity. Medical personnel had placed Smoltz, who was clearly in pain, on a stretcher and both the medics and Smoltz were escorted out the back door. The foxes were engaged in a sword-like battle, each with his own police baton, and Holloway was being escorted out another emergency exit by security (man, these conference rooms are well-equipped!). As the dapper looking fox began to give the cheap costume-wearing fox a beatdown, he could be heard yelling “Shane! Come back!”
Wow. That is a lot to digest. Smoltz injures himself attacking a beat reporter. Apparently there is a copycat wearing a poor example of a fox costume who is after Beat Reporter Holloway. And that darn fox is still on the loose as well and also after Beat Reporter Holloway. And this story was written by Junior Beat Reporter Sean Holloway, who covered a story about Beat Reporter Sean Holloway, the latter of whom often writes about DET GM Sean Holloway. This is going to be a crazy rest of the season for sure.
The only question this junior beat reporter has is “Who is the man in the cheap looking fox costume?”
League Leaders
League Leaders
Batting Average
Wil Cordero KEY .363
Will Clark MPS .349
Ivan Calderon CLE .340
Carlos Baerga KEY .340
+Eric Davis LA .334
Raffy Palmeiro HAV .334
Tony Gwynn ATL .333
+Jerry Browne MAN .326
+Julio Franco MAN .326
+Benny Santiago TOR .324
RBIs
Matt Williams BRO 108
Jeff Bagwell KEY 101
Barry Bonds STL 100
Ken Griffey Jr BRO 95
Raffy Palmeiro HAV 92
Ryan Klesko DET 91
Wil Cordero KEY 90
Jim Edmonds CLE 89
Tim Salmon KEY 85
+Sammy Sosa BOS 85
Infield Zone Rating
Rey Sanchez STL 18.3
Robin Yount CLE 13.5
+Benji Gil SEA 12.7
+Bret Barberie MON 12.5
Alan Trammell CHI 11.6
Home Runs
Raffy Palmeiro HAV 37
Jeff Bagwell KEY 35
Barry Bonds STL 34
Eric Karros TOR 32
Tim Salmon KEY 31
Matt Williams BRO 31
Ryan Klesko DET 29
+Sammy Sosa BOS 26
Wil Cordero KEY 25
+Raul Mondesi TOR 25
+Mike Piazza BOS 25
bWAR
Raffy Palmeiro HAV 6.4
Barry Bonds STL 5.9
Albert Belle CHI 5.4
Eric Davis LA 5.3
+Ken Griffey Jr BRO 5.1
Jeff Bagwell KEY 4.9
Matt Williams BRO 4.8
Tim Salmon KEY 4.8
Rich Gedman CLE 4.7
+Jim Edmonds CLE 4.6
Outfield Zone Rating
Ken Griffey Jr BRO 14.7
Stan Javier LA 12.5
Rondell White ATL 12.0
Michael Tucker ATL 10.8
+Shane Mack TOR 10.2
Earned Run Average
Floyd Youmans LA 2.12
Shane Reynolds HAV 2.80
Pedro Martinez ATL 2.90
Randy Tomlin CLE 2.99
Erik Hanson MAN 3.03
+Mike Mussina FLO 3.20
Steve Cooke CHI 3.21
Kelly Downs HAV 3.30
+Rheal Cormier LA 3.38
Angel Miranda STL 3.40
Strikeouts
Pedro Martinez ATL 156
Hideo Nomo DEN 136
Floyd Youmans LA 135
Steve Cooke CHI 133
Mike Mussina FLO 129
Erik Hanson CHI 124
+Fern Valenzuela ATL 121
+Dwight Gooden ATL 119
Donovan Osborne STL 119
+Don Robinson LA 116
Wins
Floyd Youmans LA 13
Alex Fernandez DET 12
+Mike Mussina FLO 12
Don Robinson LA 12
Ismael Valdez CLE 12
Erik Hanson MAN 11
Donovan Osborne STL 11
+Rudy Saenez BRO 11
W Vanlandingham KEY 11
pWAR
Pedro Martinez ATL 4.5
Floyd Youmans LA 4.2
Bruce Ruffin SEA 4.0
+Mike Mussina FLO 3.8
Erik Hanson MAN 3.6
Kelly Downs HAV 3.5
Bret Saberhagen BOS 3.5
+Fern Valenzuela ATL 3.5
Dwight Gooden ATL 3.4
+Don Robinson LA 3.2
Awards
Awards
Batter of the Month
APR Matt Williams BRO
MAY Barry Bonds STL
JUN Eric Davis LA
JUL John Olerud CHI
AUG
SEP
Pitcher of the Month
APR Hideo Nomo DEN
MAY Erik Hanson CHI
JUN Randy Tomlin CLE
JUL Mike Mussina FLO
AUG
SEP
Rookie of the Month
APR Hideo Nomo DEN
MAY Roger Salkeld STL
JUN Troy Percival BOS
JUL Danny Bautista SEA
AUG
SEP
Player of the Week
4/10 Matt Williams BRO
4/17 Ryan Klesko DET
4/24 Wil Cordero KEY
5/1 Jerry Browne MAN
5/8 Frank Thomas LA
5/15 Raffy Palmeiro HAV
5/22 Reg Jefferson STL
5/29 John Shelby KEY
6/5 Hal Morris DEN
6/12 Carlos Baerga KEY
6/19 Wil Cordero KEY
6/26 Albert Belle CHI
7/3 Bill Spiers DEN
7/10 Albert Belle CHI
7/17 Ryne Sandberg WAS
7/24 Larry Walker DET
7/31 John Olerud CHI
West Division
West Division
East Division
East Division
The Outlaws are 10-8 without the services of CF Eric Davis and they briefly fell out of 1st before rattling off five straight wins to close the month.
24 of Matt Williams' record-pace 108 RBIs have come on just 14 plate appearances. Those would be when he has come to the plate with the bases loaded. Matty is batting an unfathomable .692 (9-14) with a 2.181 OPS in those situations, with 3 HR, 2 2B.
A-Rod is tied for the league lead with 9 first-pitch home runs. Ismael Valdez' 2-0 with 3 no-decisions in July represented a bit of a slump for the Barons' ace. His season record is 12-3, 3.61 and he has lost just one of his last 14 starts.
The Murmuring have seven players on pace for 20 homers—plus Mike Stanley, who is on pace for 19. Jeff Bagwell, Tim Salmon, and Wil Cordero are all in the top 3 in both HR and RBI... Cordero's .363 leads the batting race and he is hitting .400, 1.140 OPS in close/late situations.
The Flyin' Lions are keeping pace in a hotly contested West race, thanks to a 4-1 record against Atlanta and 3-1 against Cleveland in July. Ryan Klesko is continuing his breakout year, batting .305-29-91, 1.052 (4th in OPS).
Boston was 33-24 in the first two months and just 23-28 in the last two. Pitching has been the biggest issue. In July, Julian Tavarez and Bret Saberhagen were 7.48 and 7.26 in 5 starts, respectively. On the plus side, C Mike Piazza (.283-25-72, .869) is on pace for career highs in HR, RBI, and walks.
The Colts boast the league's third best pitching staff and second best rotation, led by lefty ace Steve Cooke (8-6, 3.21), who is 7th in ERA and 4th in strikeouts... 1B John Olerud won Batter of the Month for July with a .439-6-16, 1.279 OPS.
The Dingy Hose could not repeat their torrid 16-11 June, going 12-12 in July. But they are only one game out of the playoff zone, despite subpar hitting, pitching, and defense. C Darrin Fletcher (.320-15-62, .827) is having a breakout year and 3B David Bell (.319-6-50, .818) is a leading ROY candidate.
How are the Maroons' new players faring? It is a mixed bag. Former Outlaw 2B Julio Franco is hitting .331/.874 OPS in 76 games and former Flamingo CF Michael Tucker is batting .326/,806. On the slumpy side are former Colts hurler Donovan Osborne (5.85 in 7 GS) and former Pink Bird Chipper Jones (.246/.667)
Things look grim at the Wrench, but let us not forget that at this point a year ago, the P-Bears were in 4th place. They leveraged a 56-20 second half into a divisional pennant and eventual World Series crown. And shockingly, Toronto ranks just 10 in runs scored, so it seems there is some dormat potential there.
Last year's all-timey pitching staff continues to struggle, led by Darryl Kile (5.25) and Fernie Valenzuela (4.33), though Fernie had his best month of the season in July (2.82). Dwight Gooden is 2-0, 1.69 in his last two starts after going winless in his first three Topper starts.
Havana is enjoying the best home-field advantage in the league. The Leones are 31-20 at home and 20-37 on the road and are on pace for a +20 HFA, which would rank among the top four all-time. The club's placement in same time zone as its divisional opponents could play a factor. Rafael Palmeiro's 1.119 OPS would rank 6th all-time is he can maintain it.
1-2 hitters Will Clark (.349) and Chris James (.348) are batting at Granny Hamner level, yet the Foxes rank just 13th in runs scored. One culprit could be Chris Gomez, whose .159 average in close/last situations ranks him 115 of 116 qualified batters.
A mediocre UL starter two years ago and a studly Triple-A starter last year, Phil Leftwich has become the UL's top relief man in '95. His league-leading 25 saves and 1.60 ERA in 46 appearances give him a 2.2 WAR, best among non-starters.
The Teeners are finally getting some production from behind the plate. 28-year-old catcher Rick Wilkins is batting .284-13-40 with a .916 OPS after a torrid .960 OPS July that includes three homers in his last four games.
CF Carl Everett, in his first full season as a regular, leads the V's with 70 RBIs... The rotation ranks next-to-last, but the bullpen ranks 3rd, led by Jerry DiPoto's 1.12 ERA in 25 appearances.
RF Danny Bautista was July's Rookie of Month, batting .396-6-12, 1.063. His 21 home runs lead the club, and his .281 average is just two points behind Alvin Davis. Bautista leads all rookies with 21 HR and 194 TB.
Ace Mike Mussina was having a bit of an off year until the calendar flipped to July. On June 30, Moose was 7-8 with a 3.48 ERA. In July, he went 5-0, 2.25—much closer to his career ERA.
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