[PilotMan]

July Roundup


For the month of July the Dodgers continued to look like the most dominant team in baseball. They put up a 20-7 record for the month, even though they had to deal with injuries to two starters, one of them an All Star. The team currently stands with a record of 76-32 and is miles and miles in front of the Reds, who are in second place, 20.5 games back. In fact, the gap from 1-2 is 3.5 games more than the gap between 2-6.


The team made no major moves at the trade deadline after they acquired Tony Phillips to play shortstop. Phillips is a Gold Glove winner at short, and he gets on base a lot. Another in a long line of patient, high OBP batters that this team has. July also saw the loss of Dave Stewart for free. He clearly had worth, whether it was to the Dodgers, or someone else. Losing him like that was dumb.


Former Major Leaguers, Ron Kittle and Steve Sax are demolishing AAA hitting. They will certainly be coming back in a month for who knows how long.


Overall, the team still leads the league in runs scored, obp, runs against, starter's ERA, and defensive efficiency. They are 4^th in the NL in AVG, and the bullpen is 3^rd in ERA. Even though it seems like the bullpen gets tagged a lot, they are still putting up good numbers. A lot of that is because Niedenfeur has more innings 3 guys combined.


Alejandro Pena is still the cream of the crop and in contention for the Cy Young. Roy Smalley is clearly having a big down year from last year. His defense is solid, but his bat has been close to a liability. He's hitting over 30 points lower and isn't close to the 27 homers he his last year.


Both Bobby Grich and Dwayne Murphy got hot in July. Murphy his .303, with 6 homers and Grich his .360 with 4. That really helped as Dwight Evans cooled from his June numbers.


Fernando Valenzuela had a terrible month going 1-4 with a 4.78 ERA. That's got to get better if we're going to compete in the post-season.


This team is still considered the best in the league, but not by much. Even with a .704 winning percentage and the gaudy record, the Montreal Expos are only 1 game behind. John Candelaria is the other front runner for the Cy Young, and is also in the running for the triple crown. Check out this Expos lineup:


Raines/LF
Dawson /RF
Yount/SS
Wallach/3B
Carter/C
Whitaker/2B
Hendrick/1B
LeFlore/CF


Ouch.


The other Canadian team is the best in the AL. The Blue Jays are a game up on the Yankees in the East. They also have a very formidable lineup and pitching staff. The weakest team of the leaders is the Twins in the West. They look to take that pennant again, even if they wouldn't be close to any of the other leaders if they were in another division.


The Yankees rotation is the best in the AL. Check out this 5 man setup:


Blyleven
Andujar
Beattie
Soto
Krukow


When Mario Soto is your #4 guy, you've got enough depth to go a long, long, long way. Ron Guidry can't even make the rotation and he's stuck in the bullpen. Dave Righetti, who won the Cy Young as a starter last year, has transitioned to the bullpen as the closer. Also, they've figured out how to keep Keith Hernandez on the field by using Mattingly as the DH.


The magic number for the Dodgers stands at 35. At the current rate, they'll be the first team to clinch a playoff spot. August will require more of the same as we saw in July.


Let's go Dodgers!