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August represented a bit of a rebound for the Freedom after a simply awful July (10-16) as we managed to post a 15-12 record for the most recent month. Not great, but definitely a turn for the better. We were 6-7 through the first half of August and 9-5 for the back half. It really seems like we might have gotten this thing back on track after an extended period of lackluster performances. This team still makes me nervous, because there was no real reason for the slump to begin with. We didn’t suffer any catastrophic injuries and we made what we felt was a good pickup in Windley at the deadline. We simply forgot how to play winning baseball for about a month and a half. Hopefully that’s behind us and we can move on to a strong September.
A couple of player highlights from the month of August:
1B Joe Seagarra - It took him FOREVER to get going (we never got frustrated with him because he came with an instruction manual and we were aware this might happen, plus even if he’s not hitting he still gets on base at a decent clip), but once he did he has not looked back. He was by far our most productive hitter and that’s saying something considering we had 5 total batters post an OPS of .800+. Seagarra’s tally at the end of the month? .378 | .470 | .663 | 1.133 | 8 2B | 6 HR | 22 RBI | 12 R | 15/16 BB/K ratio
3B Juan Coera - He missed a significant portion of the first half of the season, so it’s nice to have him back in the lineup on a consistent basis. He was a bit rusty when he first came back and it took him a bit to get going, but we were hoping for a strong finish from him and he delivered the first part of that in August. .339 | .417 | .459 | .876 | 16 RBI | 23 R | 15/11 BB/K ratio
SP Tim Nathan - Nathan got on a bit of a run at the end of the month that has not stopped yet. His overall numbers weren’t that impressive for the month, but with the way everyone else pitched he was definitely the best thing we had going. He produced a stat line of 2-3 | 2.77 ERA | 0.95 WHIP | 39.0 IP. He doesn’t strike anyone out, but he gets batters offbalance and gets the job done. He finished out the month with an 8 inning, 1 hit, 0 run effort @ Los Alamos and followed that up with a CG, 3 hit, 1 ER effort against Virginia. Good stuff.
Micro Brews
SP Doug Miles - This guy will be here soon (we think). He’s been mentioned in this section a couple of times this season and now he thinks he’s ready for the bigs. Maybe a September callup, we haven’t decided. For August he was 3-3 | 2.35 ERA | 1.00 WHIP | 51 K | 14 BB | 46.0 IP, for a K/9 of 10.0. Seeing a WHIP of 1.00 is a good sign because right now the only thing we are waiting on is his control.
2B Joe Lukies - He’s not thrilled about being in the minors, but right now we just don't have room for him (until September callups that is). Still, he was a true pro in AAA this year, showing up every day and playing some good ball. For August: .338 | .360 | .469 | .830 | 10 2B | 1 HR | 24 RBI | 16 R. He was a key contributor that helped the Liberty make it the AAA playoffs.
These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty!!
A “quick hit” look at goings on around the league in the fifth month:
- CAL SP Joe Toapanta came within 1 BB of a perfect game on 08/19, having to settle for “just” a No-Hitter against Los Lunas. He registered 6 K’s in the effort. That was California’s 1st No-Hitter since Sixto Berru threw the first No-Hitter in league history on 09/29/1978.
- Pawtucket hit man Adam Nickell had a 21 game hit streak snapped on 08/13. It was the third 20+ game hitting streak in Nickell’s career.
- Syracuse All-Star C Teagan Cannell had a 22 game hit streak going up until an 0-4 effort against the Storm. That's just one more nugget for Cannell as he is having one of the best offensive year's in the league this season.
- Baltimore 1st sacker Pat Washington hit for the cycle on 08/23 against Wilmington. It was the second time in as many seasons that the slugger has accomplished the feat.
- Guides SP Teagan Corrigan notched his 25th career shutout, a league high water mark. Corrigan dominated Hartford with a 6 hit, 9 K performance on 08/31 to reach the milestone.
-Have’s and Have Nots - No-Hitters:
With:
California - 2 ( Berru and Toapanta)
Carolina - 1 (Issam Ghaniy)
Denver - 1 (Romano Gonzalez)
Hyuandai - 2 (Tommy Drewery and Erasmo Rubancava (PG))
Indianaoplis - 1 (Bill Fyson)
Los Lunas - 1 (Alonzo Gugierrez)
Maine - 1 (Gil O’Moore)
Pawtucket - 1 (Joe Ponte (PG))
Pittsburgh - 1 (Tommy Lang)
Syracuse - 1 (Joe Soto)
Virginia -1 (Eric Cafferty)
Washington - 3 (Joe Santoyo, Joe Chavarraga and Charlie O’Rogan)
Windy City - 2 (Dunmore Theodore (PG) and Jim Fletcher)
Without:
Baltimore
Batavia
Dallas
Davenport
Hartford
Los Alamos
Mississippi
Morgantown
Philadelphia
Sin City
Wilmington
- Eddie O’Fallon collected his 1,000th career RBI on 08/12
Broken Taps
- The Whalers’ bullpen took a significant hit on 08/02 when RP Ted Jackson was lost for the remainder of the year with a torn labrum
- The Clowns lost veteran OF Subaru Hiraki for the month with a high ankle sprain suffered while making a play in the outfield on 08/02
- Batavia lost their CF Roy Gilbert to a sprained elbow on 08/03. He was expected to miss 3-4 weeks with the injury. Gilbert is having by far the best season of his career, posting an OPS of almost 100 points higher than any previous season.
- Davenport OF Steve Bing was lost for 5 weeks on 08/12 with a flare up of his plantar fascia
- Also suffering from plantar fascitis on the same day was Yoritoki Maeda who will miss 4-5 weeks due the foot injury
- The Clowns’ rotation took a blow on 08/14 when SP Akira Abe was lost for a month with a shoulder strain.
- Los Lunas just can’t catch a break with trade acquisition Ellis Shinamius. Lost initially shortly after being brought over from Dallas (he has appeared in only 7 games since the trade), Shinamius suffered a setback on 08/16 which will have him out for an additional 3 weeks.
- Highly regarded young 3B Hector Hernandez of the Guides was lost for 4-5 weeks with a broken thumb on 08/18. The injury could be just enough to cost him the DL Refreshing New Brew Award
- Wilton Harcourt suffered a torn hamstring on 08/20 which will see him miss a month of action. The injury occurred a day after Harcourt and the Baltimore organization came to terms on a 2 year contract extension for a total of $22.6mil. Baltimore is banking on Harcourt to be able to reproduce the success he has had so far in ’88, albeit at ages 37 and 38 through the contract term
- The Clowns lost another member of their starting rotation on 08/28 when SP George Neilly was lost for 3 months with a ruptured finger tendon. Oh snap! Wait, with a torn finger tendon he probably can’t.
- Denver lost the services of OF Orlin Montero for most of the rest of the year with a knee injury. The injury occurred in the 08/31 game @ DAL. You can probably blame the Snappers’ playing surface condition as earlier season reports had ownership skimping on upkeep and maintenance due to early season financial concerns
LINK
August represented a bit of a rebound for the Freedom after a simply awful July (10-16) as we managed to post a 15-12 record for the most recent month. Not great, but definitely a turn for the better. We were 6-7 through the first half of August and 9-5 for the back half. It really seems like we might have gotten this thing back on track after an extended period of lackluster performances. This team still makes me nervous, because there was no real reason for the slump to begin with. We didn’t suffer any catastrophic injuries and we made what we felt was a good pickup in Windley at the deadline. We simply forgot how to play winning baseball for about a month and a half. Hopefully that’s behind us and we can move on to a strong September.
A couple of player highlights from the month of August:
1B Joe Seagarra - It took him FOREVER to get going (we never got frustrated with him because he came with an instruction manual and we were aware this might happen, plus even if he’s not hitting he still gets on base at a decent clip), but once he did he has not looked back. He was by far our most productive hitter and that’s saying something considering we had 5 total batters post an OPS of .800+. Seagarra’s tally at the end of the month? .378 | .470 | .663 | 1.133 | 8 2B | 6 HR | 22 RBI | 12 R | 15/16 BB/K ratio
3B Juan Coera - He missed a significant portion of the first half of the season, so it’s nice to have him back in the lineup on a consistent basis. He was a bit rusty when he first came back and it took him a bit to get going, but we were hoping for a strong finish from him and he delivered the first part of that in August. .339 | .417 | .459 | .876 | 16 RBI | 23 R | 15/11 BB/K ratio
SP Tim Nathan - Nathan got on a bit of a run at the end of the month that has not stopped yet. His overall numbers weren’t that impressive for the month, but with the way everyone else pitched he was definitely the best thing we had going. He produced a stat line of 2-3 | 2.77 ERA | 0.95 WHIP | 39.0 IP. He doesn’t strike anyone out, but he gets batters offbalance and gets the job done. He finished out the month with an 8 inning, 1 hit, 0 run effort @ Los Alamos and followed that up with a CG, 3 hit, 1 ER effort against Virginia. Good stuff.
Micro Brews
SP Doug Miles - This guy will be here soon (we think). He’s been mentioned in this section a couple of times this season and now he thinks he’s ready for the bigs. Maybe a September callup, we haven’t decided. For August he was 3-3 | 2.35 ERA | 1.00 WHIP | 51 K | 14 BB | 46.0 IP, for a K/9 of 10.0. Seeing a WHIP of 1.00 is a good sign because right now the only thing we are waiting on is his control.
2B Joe Lukies - He’s not thrilled about being in the minors, but right now we just don't have room for him (until September callups that is). Still, he was a true pro in AAA this year, showing up every day and playing some good ball. For August: .338 | .360 | .469 | .830 | 10 2B | 1 HR | 24 RBI | 16 R. He was a key contributor that helped the Liberty make it the AAA playoffs.
These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty!!
A “quick hit” look at goings on around the league in the fifth month:
- CAL SP Joe Toapanta came within 1 BB of a perfect game on 08/19, having to settle for “just” a No-Hitter against Los Lunas. He registered 6 K’s in the effort. That was California’s 1st No-Hitter since Sixto Berru threw the first No-Hitter in league history on 09/29/1978.
- Pawtucket hit man Adam Nickell had a 21 game hit streak snapped on 08/13. It was the third 20+ game hitting streak in Nickell’s career.
- Syracuse All-Star C Teagan Cannell had a 22 game hit streak going up until an 0-4 effort against the Storm. That's just one more nugget for Cannell as he is having one of the best offensive year's in the league this season.
- Baltimore 1st sacker Pat Washington hit for the cycle on 08/23 against Wilmington. It was the second time in as many seasons that the slugger has accomplished the feat.
- Guides SP Teagan Corrigan notched his 25th career shutout, a league high water mark. Corrigan dominated Hartford with a 6 hit, 9 K performance on 08/31 to reach the milestone.
-Have’s and Have Nots - No-Hitters:
With:
California - 2 ( Berru and Toapanta)
Carolina - 1 (Issam Ghaniy)
Denver - 1 (Romano Gonzalez)
Hyuandai - 2 (Tommy Drewery and Erasmo Rubancava (PG))
Indianaoplis - 1 (Bill Fyson)
Los Lunas - 1 (Alonzo Gugierrez)
Maine - 1 (Gil O’Moore)
Pawtucket - 1 (Joe Ponte (PG))
Pittsburgh - 1 (Tommy Lang)
Syracuse - 1 (Joe Soto)
Virginia -1 (Eric Cafferty)
Washington - 3 (Joe Santoyo, Joe Chavarraga and Charlie O’Rogan)
Windy City - 2 (Dunmore Theodore (PG) and Jim Fletcher)
Without:
Baltimore
Batavia
Dallas
Davenport
Hartford
Los Alamos
Mississippi
Morgantown
Philadelphia
Sin City
Wilmington
- Eddie O’Fallon collected his 1,000th career RBI on 08/12
Broken Taps
- The Whalers’ bullpen took a significant hit on 08/02 when RP Ted Jackson was lost for the remainder of the year with a torn labrum
- The Clowns lost veteran OF Subaru Hiraki for the month with a high ankle sprain suffered while making a play in the outfield on 08/02
- Batavia lost their CF Roy Gilbert to a sprained elbow on 08/03. He was expected to miss 3-4 weeks with the injury. Gilbert is having by far the best season of his career, posting an OPS of almost 100 points higher than any previous season.
- Davenport OF Steve Bing was lost for 5 weeks on 08/12 with a flare up of his plantar fascia
- Also suffering from plantar fascitis on the same day was Yoritoki Maeda who will miss 4-5 weeks due the foot injury
- The Clowns’ rotation took a blow on 08/14 when SP Akira Abe was lost for a month with a shoulder strain.
- Los Lunas just can’t catch a break with trade acquisition Ellis Shinamius. Lost initially shortly after being brought over from Dallas (he has appeared in only 7 games since the trade), Shinamius suffered a setback on 08/16 which will have him out for an additional 3 weeks.
- Highly regarded young 3B Hector Hernandez of the Guides was lost for 4-5 weeks with a broken thumb on 08/18. The injury could be just enough to cost him the DL Refreshing New Brew Award
- Wilton Harcourt suffered a torn hamstring on 08/20 which will see him miss a month of action. The injury occurred a day after Harcourt and the Baltimore organization came to terms on a 2 year contract extension for a total of $22.6mil. Baltimore is banking on Harcourt to be able to reproduce the success he has had so far in ’88, albeit at ages 37 and 38 through the contract term
- The Clowns lost another member of their starting rotation on 08/28 when SP George Neilly was lost for 3 months with a ruptured finger tendon. Oh snap! Wait, with a torn finger tendon he probably can’t.
- Denver lost the services of OF Orlin Montero for most of the rest of the year with a knee injury. The injury occurred in the 08/31 game @ DAL. You can probably blame the Snappers’ playing surface condition as earlier season reports had ownership skimping on upkeep and maintenance due to early season financial concerns
LINK
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