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The month of May was kind to us as we posted a record of 18-10 for a .643 winning percentage. If we continue playing .600+ winning baseball the remainder of the way (tall order) I like our chances of making the playoffs. The formula for winning devised in the offseason (pitching first, offense 2nd) has paid off to this point. Our pitching staff is currently ranked first in the IL (and therefore the entire BLB) in team ERA at 2.75. We’ve been able to get it done on the front-end (Starters ERA 2.76) and the backend (Bullpen ERA 2.72).
Our offense continues to struggle a bit at times to score runs and especially struggles without starting 3B Juan Coera who was lost for essentially the entire month of May with an arm injury. He wasn’t really producing that well while he was healthy, but he has a positive impact on everything we do offensively, mainly by limiting the exposure of some of our bench guys (Joe Lukies, Sammy Gaines). He’ll be back halfway through June and it can’t happen soon enough.
Current Porter Standings<table border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="20%"><tr><th>Team</th> <th>W</th> <th>L</th> <th>PCT</th> <th>GB</th></tr>
<tr><td>PHI</td><td>35</td><td>23</td><td>.603</td><td>-</td><td></tr><tr><td>BAL</td><td>33</td><td>25</td><td>.569</td><td>2.0</td><td></tr><tr><td>CAL</td><td>32</td><td>26</td><td>.552</td><td>3.0</td><td></tr><tr><td>BAT</td><td>23</td><td>35</td><td>.423</td><td>12.0</td><td></tr></table>
We’ve had several standout performances to date, but we want to highlight a few (just for the month of May):
Greg Josey - So far, so good this year. Josey was a real question mark coming into the year after a terrible 1987. In May he put up a line of .330 | .421 | .433 with 11 RBI and 11 R. He still isn’t quite slugging at the level we would like to see (1 HR for the month), but just the fact that he has returned to being a productive member of our lineup will work for us
Jim Newlin - He didn’t quite match the numbers he put up in the first month of the season, but his May was good enough (.290 | .372 | .477 ; 4 HR | 23 RBI | 15 R). Josey and Newlin were the two most disappointing Freedom players last year so the fact that both have had two solid months makes us feel good about a “permanent” resurgence for both
Tim Nathan - Nathan has had a few shaky outings so far this year, but when you look back at his stats after the fact they often sneak up on you. He’s “sneaky good”, putting up a stat line for May of:
<table border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="10%">
<tr><th>W</th> <th>L</th> <th>ERA</th> <th>IP</th> <th>HA</th> <th>R</th> <th>ER</th> <th>HR</th> <th>BB</th> <th>K</th> <th>WHIP</th> </tr><tr><td>4</td><td>2</td><td>2.30</td><td>43.0</td><td>30</td><td>11</td><td>11</td><td>0</td><td>12</td><td>31</td><td>.98</td></tr></table>
Joe Alveraz - I think he’s underrated. There are so many good closers in the league that I think Alveraz often gets overlooked. I know I’m guilty of it. For the month of may Avleraz had 7 saves in 7 tries. For the year he has given up earned runs in exactly 1 appearance (27 total appearances). The other 26 appearances have been spotless. He’s about as consistent as you can be at that position. Still hurts that it took Raul Carillo to bring him to town. It hurts even more every time Carillo shows up and dominates our lineup, which happens every time.
Micro Brews
-SP Doug Little (AAA) He was spotlighted in the first addition of this series and he remains there this month as well. He is posting great numbers at AAA this year. For the month of May:
<table border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="10%">
<tr><th>W</th> <th>L</th> <th>ERA</th> <th>IP</th> <th>HA</th> <th>R</th> <th>ER</th> <th>HR</th> <th>BB</th> <th>K</th> <th>WHIP</th> <th>K/BB</th> <th>K/9</th></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>0</td><td>1.15</td><td>47.0</td><td>25</td><td>8</td><td>6</td><td>2</td><td>13</td><td>49</td><td>.81</td><td>3.77</td><td>9.38</td></tr></table>
- SS Ollie MacGruder - A Ball - MacGruder was a player we viewed as a steal from the 1987 draft, picking him up late in the 6th round. He put together a fine May and is quietly putting himself on upper management’s radar screen. For the month he posted a stat line of: <table border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="10%">
<tr><th>BA</th> <th>OBP</th> <th>SLG</th> <th>OPS</th> <th>H</th> <th>2B</th> <th>3B</th> <th>HR</th> <th>R</th> <th>RBI</th> <th>BB</th> <th>K</th></tr><tr><td>.288</td><td>.359</td><td>.481</td><td>.840</td><td>30</td><td>8</td><td>0</td><td>4</td><td>13</td><td>19</td><td> 12</td><td>14</td></tr></table>
These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty!!
A “quick hit” look at goings on around the league in the second month:
- On 05/07/88, Windy City SP Raul Carillo produced the league’s 16th, 15+ strikeout game at the expense of the vaunted Virginia offense by sitting down 16 Colonials on strikes. He achieved the feat in only 7.1 IP. It was his first 15+ K game of his career.
- We had our second No-Hitter of the young season. Denver’s Romano Gonzalez held the Maine Guides off the hit sheet on 05/21/88. That’s the 3rd time in the franchise history the Guides have been the victim of a No-Hitter. Factor in Gil O’Moore’s gem from ’85 and the Guides have been involved in 23.5% of the leagues No-Hitters.
- What is it about hitting streaks and Pawtucket? Patriot Victor Gonzalez had a 24 game hit streak finally snapped on 05/15/88 with an 0 for 4 night at Denver. The last two 20+ game hitting streaks have both belonged to Patriots. This Gonzalez kid (he's 23) is going to be terrorizing opposing pitchers for a long time.
-Dallas Snappers SS Joe Molenza agreed to a 5 yr/$55.5mil contract extension. The 27 year old accepted the deal despite the shaky financial situation present in Big D
-Windy City took care of their young stud SP Raul Carillo (he deserves a bonus for being the most mentioned player in this edition) signing the young RHer to a 7 year/$56.7mil deal.
Broken Taps
A quick look at significant injuries sustained during the second month:
-This first one is a bit self serving, but he is an important part of the Freedom lineup. Juan Coera was lost for 5 weeks on 05/11 with an injured throwing shoulder. Our offense goes (well as much as the offense ever goes) when he is in the lineup and struggles when he’s missing.
- Wilmington lost SP Jerome Middlebrooks for 7-8 weeks with bone chips in his elbow on 05/13
-Young budding star (and former #1 ranked prospect) Hector Carbajal was lost on the last day of the month to a high ankle sprain. The Slammers will be without Carbajal for 3-4 weeks
-The source of many controversial conversations, Everardo Gremades will have to sit for 4 weeks after suffering an oblique strain on 05/31. Gremades currently leads the BLB in BA at .376
LINK
The month of May was kind to us as we posted a record of 18-10 for a .643 winning percentage. If we continue playing .600+ winning baseball the remainder of the way (tall order) I like our chances of making the playoffs. The formula for winning devised in the offseason (pitching first, offense 2nd) has paid off to this point. Our pitching staff is currently ranked first in the IL (and therefore the entire BLB) in team ERA at 2.75. We’ve been able to get it done on the front-end (Starters ERA 2.76) and the backend (Bullpen ERA 2.72).
Our offense continues to struggle a bit at times to score runs and especially struggles without starting 3B Juan Coera who was lost for essentially the entire month of May with an arm injury. He wasn’t really producing that well while he was healthy, but he has a positive impact on everything we do offensively, mainly by limiting the exposure of some of our bench guys (Joe Lukies, Sammy Gaines). He’ll be back halfway through June and it can’t happen soon enough.
Current Porter Standings<table border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="20%"><tr><th>Team</th> <th>W</th> <th>L</th> <th>PCT</th> <th>GB</th></tr>
<tr><td>PHI</td><td>35</td><td>23</td><td>.603</td><td>-</td><td></tr><tr><td>BAL</td><td>33</td><td>25</td><td>.569</td><td>2.0</td><td></tr><tr><td>CAL</td><td>32</td><td>26</td><td>.552</td><td>3.0</td><td></tr><tr><td>BAT</td><td>23</td><td>35</td><td>.423</td><td>12.0</td><td></tr></table>
We’ve had several standout performances to date, but we want to highlight a few (just for the month of May):
Greg Josey - So far, so good this year. Josey was a real question mark coming into the year after a terrible 1987. In May he put up a line of .330 | .421 | .433 with 11 RBI and 11 R. He still isn’t quite slugging at the level we would like to see (1 HR for the month), but just the fact that he has returned to being a productive member of our lineup will work for us
Jim Newlin - He didn’t quite match the numbers he put up in the first month of the season, but his May was good enough (.290 | .372 | .477 ; 4 HR | 23 RBI | 15 R). Josey and Newlin were the two most disappointing Freedom players last year so the fact that both have had two solid months makes us feel good about a “permanent” resurgence for both
Tim Nathan - Nathan has had a few shaky outings so far this year, but when you look back at his stats after the fact they often sneak up on you. He’s “sneaky good”, putting up a stat line for May of:
<table border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="10%">
<tr><th>W</th> <th>L</th> <th>ERA</th> <th>IP</th> <th>HA</th> <th>R</th> <th>ER</th> <th>HR</th> <th>BB</th> <th>K</th> <th>WHIP</th> </tr><tr><td>4</td><td>2</td><td>2.30</td><td>43.0</td><td>30</td><td>11</td><td>11</td><td>0</td><td>12</td><td>31</td><td>.98</td></tr></table>
Joe Alveraz - I think he’s underrated. There are so many good closers in the league that I think Alveraz often gets overlooked. I know I’m guilty of it. For the month of may Avleraz had 7 saves in 7 tries. For the year he has given up earned runs in exactly 1 appearance (27 total appearances). The other 26 appearances have been spotless. He’s about as consistent as you can be at that position. Still hurts that it took Raul Carillo to bring him to town. It hurts even more every time Carillo shows up and dominates our lineup, which happens every time.
Micro Brews
-SP Doug Little (AAA) He was spotlighted in the first addition of this series and he remains there this month as well. He is posting great numbers at AAA this year. For the month of May:
<table border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="10%">
<tr><th>W</th> <th>L</th> <th>ERA</th> <th>IP</th> <th>HA</th> <th>R</th> <th>ER</th> <th>HR</th> <th>BB</th> <th>K</th> <th>WHIP</th> <th>K/BB</th> <th>K/9</th></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>0</td><td>1.15</td><td>47.0</td><td>25</td><td>8</td><td>6</td><td>2</td><td>13</td><td>49</td><td>.81</td><td>3.77</td><td>9.38</td></tr></table>
- SS Ollie MacGruder - A Ball - MacGruder was a player we viewed as a steal from the 1987 draft, picking him up late in the 6th round. He put together a fine May and is quietly putting himself on upper management’s radar screen. For the month he posted a stat line of: <table border="2" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="10%">
<tr><th>BA</th> <th>OBP</th> <th>SLG</th> <th>OPS</th> <th>H</th> <th>2B</th> <th>3B</th> <th>HR</th> <th>R</th> <th>RBI</th> <th>BB</th> <th>K</th></tr><tr><td>.288</td><td>.359</td><td>.481</td><td>.840</td><td>30</td><td>8</td><td>0</td><td>4</td><td>13</td><td>19</td><td> 12</td><td>14</td></tr></table>
These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty!!
A “quick hit” look at goings on around the league in the second month:
- On 05/07/88, Windy City SP Raul Carillo produced the league’s 16th, 15+ strikeout game at the expense of the vaunted Virginia offense by sitting down 16 Colonials on strikes. He achieved the feat in only 7.1 IP. It was his first 15+ K game of his career.
- We had our second No-Hitter of the young season. Denver’s Romano Gonzalez held the Maine Guides off the hit sheet on 05/21/88. That’s the 3rd time in the franchise history the Guides have been the victim of a No-Hitter. Factor in Gil O’Moore’s gem from ’85 and the Guides have been involved in 23.5% of the leagues No-Hitters.
- What is it about hitting streaks and Pawtucket? Patriot Victor Gonzalez had a 24 game hit streak finally snapped on 05/15/88 with an 0 for 4 night at Denver. The last two 20+ game hitting streaks have both belonged to Patriots. This Gonzalez kid (he's 23) is going to be terrorizing opposing pitchers for a long time.
-Dallas Snappers SS Joe Molenza agreed to a 5 yr/$55.5mil contract extension. The 27 year old accepted the deal despite the shaky financial situation present in Big D
-Windy City took care of their young stud SP Raul Carillo (he deserves a bonus for being the most mentioned player in this edition) signing the young RHer to a 7 year/$56.7mil deal.
Broken Taps
A quick look at significant injuries sustained during the second month:
-This first one is a bit self serving, but he is an important part of the Freedom lineup. Juan Coera was lost for 5 weeks on 05/11 with an injured throwing shoulder. Our offense goes (well as much as the offense ever goes) when he is in the lineup and struggles when he’s missing.
- Wilmington lost SP Jerome Middlebrooks for 7-8 weeks with bone chips in his elbow on 05/13
-Young budding star (and former #1 ranked prospect) Hector Carbajal was lost on the last day of the month to a high ankle sprain. The Slammers will be without Carbajal for 3-4 weeks
-The source of many controversial conversations, Everardo Gremades will have to sit for 4 weeks after suffering an oblique strain on 05/31. Gremades currently leads the BLB in BA at .376
LINK
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