[PilotMan]

July Recap


July was a good month. After the disaster that was June, the team held steady and stayed close in the title hunt. The team's record was 16-9, bringing the overall record to 59-44. That has us in 2^nd place in the West right now, 2 games behind the Reds. Yeah. The Reds. The Astros sit another 1.5 behind us, and after a rough month.


LA has a good team. When I'm looking down the team rankings, LA is pretty much 3^rd on offense, in just about every category, and 7^th in steals. In pitching, we still have the #1 rotation, but the bullpen is the worst I've seen, mired down in 9^th place. The rest of our rankings keep us right about #4, a little better here, a little worse there. Team defense has dropped, all the way to the average ranking of #6. You can thank Doug DeCinces and his short stop skills for that.


Fernando Valenzuela was the top pitcher for July. His record of 3-1 could have been better, but his ERA of 2.02 and WHIP of 1.15 was his best since April. Just going to throw the entire bullpen under the bus this month. Don Robinson is an easy target, but even John Franco posted a +5 ERA.


Ron Kittle, was the best hitter. He bashed the ball, as I mentioned before he was traded. After him, the best hitter was Tony Phillips and he only played half the month and his .269/.345/.423 slash line isn't really impressing anyone. Ray Knight has come crashing down from his hot start. His line in July was .169/.258/.312. No good and this guy isn't competing for playing time anymore with DeCinces out the door.


We need Rickey back, and Rickey should be coming back sooner, rather than later, but I really don't want to jinx it. We also need Inky to find that swing that he had earlier. He's been lost since he came back.


Here's a look at the rest of the league:


Starting in the West, the Reds had a helluva month and hold a 2 game lead. They have 5 guys in the starting lineup with over 20 HR's. LA resides in 2^nd, with the Astros 3.5 back and hanging in there are the Padres at 7 games back. The Giants are the worst team in the NL and are 24 games back with a .359 winning percentage.


Over in the East, it's no long all about the Expos. The Expos have fallen back to Earth and are no mortal. They are in 5^th place, 12 games below .500 and 15 games back. They're not done, but it's not looking good. In the East right now, it's the Mets in control. They are a tight 2.5 games ahead of the surprising Phillies. Both teams are good, and either of them could be tough to face.


In the AL East, the Blue Jays are still dominant. With a .657 winning percentage they are the best team in baseball and they have hit more homers than any other team in baseball. Every batter in their starting lineup, save Ryne Sandberg (go figure) has over 10 HR's. They are healthy and the bullpen is strong enough to carry a so-so pitching staff. The East also has the worst team in baseball since the '62 Mets. The '87 Brewers are historically bad. With a 29-73 record, they're actually on pace to go 46-116. The Mets record is safe...for now, but keep an eye on it.


The AL West is similar to last season, where 3 teams are posting over .600 winning percentages. The M's are out front right now, but only 1.5 in front of the White Sox, and 3.5 in front of the Angels. The Twins have just been decimated. The team was once young, and talented, is now just young. Their 34-70 record is good for 2^nd worst in baseball. That's completely unexpected for a team that boasts, Hrbek, Puckett, Dave Parker, Viola, Blyleven, Stieb, Show, and Lea. Every single starter has an ERA between 5 and 10.50. Yeah. 10.50 for Charlie Lea.


August is our make or break month. Once again, we are in it, but gonna have to pull off some magic to get to the playoffs again.