TWISP Notes #67

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TWISP Notes
August 7, 2017

• National League statistics for July have been finalized, and are in the process of being uploaded to the SP78 site; the Mets are the most recent team to have their stats posted. Stats for the American League are still being calculated and waiting to be added to the site; the Orioles, Red Sox, and Angels are complete, while the White Sox are currently in-progress, with ten AL teams still on the docket to be completed.

• Catcher Johnny Oates made his first appearance of the season for the Dodgers on August 15th against the Phillies, after his recent call-up from AAA Albuquerque. He grounded out in a pinch-hitting appearance, then took over for Steve Yeager behind the plate, where in the next inning he threw out the first baserunner he faced, Larry Bowa, who was trying to steal second.

• The Brewers snapped their 6-game losing streak with a 6-3 win over the Blue Jays, in the second game of their Tuesday twinbill at County Stadium. Mike Caldwell will go for his 19th win of the season when he faces the Jays the following night.

• Tribe first baseman Andre Thornton hit his first grand slam of the SP78 season—and the first of his career—to help the Indians to a 9-4 win over the Twins at Municipal Stadium. The shot came off Minnesota reliever Darrell Jackson, and gave Cleveland a 9-0 lead after just two innings. For Thornton, it was his 22nd HR of the season.

• The Red Sox have won five games in a row, while the Astros have lost five in a row.

• In his second game after converting from shortstop to left field, Cardinals phenom Todd Benefiel went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored to help the resurgent Cards to a 6-4 win over the Astros. Benefiel is now batting an even .400 since his August 1st call-up from Springfield of the American Association.

• The White Sox set an SP78 record by committing six errors in their game against the Rangers at Arlington Stadium on August 15th. The errors—by Francisco Barrios, Eric Soderholm, Lamar Johnson, Claudell Washington, and two by Ralph Garr—led to four unearned runs, and helped Texas coast to a 10-1 win. The six gaffes broke the mark of 5 held by four other teams.

• The Mariners lost shortstop Craig Reynolds to injury on August 15th when he collided with left fielder Tom Paciorek during the eighth inning of a game against the Orioles at the Kingdome. Reynolds was placed on the 15-day disabled list the following day; with utility infielder Larry Milbourne available to cover short, the M’s bolstered their pitching staff by calling up Mike Parrott from the San Jose Missions of the Pacific Coast League.

• And an SP78 goodbye to Angels slugger and potential AL MVP Don Baylor, who passed away today at the age of 68.

Fans! Be sure to catch Baseball Night on C-SPAN when 16-game winner
Rick Waits and the Indians square off against Mark Fidrych and the Tigers
at Tiger Stadium in Detroit!

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Mets’ Zachry Stymies Padres With 1-Hit Gem

A Senior Citizens Day crowd was on hand at Shea Stadium on Wednesday afternoon to witness Pat Zachry pitch the 13th one-hitter in Mets history, a sparkling 4-0 shutout win over the Padres at a windswept Shea Stadium in New York. The victory improved Zachry’s season record to 14-9, and it was the first one-hit gem thrown by a Mets pitcher since former staff ace Tom Seaver blanked the Cubs 6-0 on April 17th of last year.

The only hit allowed by Zachry was a solid single by Gene Richards with two out in the sixth; Richards then stole second, but was left stranded when Ozzie Smith popped out to Zachry to end the frame. Beyond that, only two other Padres batters were able to reach base: lead-off hitter Richards opened the game with a walk, and pinch-hitter Derrel Thomas coaxed another walk from Zachry to lead off the eighth.

To read more about the game, and to find out why I included a photo of Mets pitcher Jerry Koosman on the recap page, click here.

Clark Scores Only Run As Giants Clip Expos 1-0

Roger Metzger’s two-out single to center in the top of the seventh sent Jack Clark home from second with the tie-breaking run, and John Montefusco shut down the Expos the rest of the way to collect his third shutout of the season, as the visiting Giants captured a close 1-0 game from the Expos at Montreal.

To read more about the game, and to check out some cool photos and make some cool comments, click here.

Dodgers End July With Best Record In Majors

The Los Angeles Dodgers wrapped up July with a 17-11 won-lost mark and a four-game winning streak, which not only put them two games ahead of the second-place Padres in the NL West, but gave them a 66-37 record for the season, which in turn was the best record of all 26 teams in the major leagues as the SP78 campaign headed into August. Surprisingly, this was accomplished without the full-time services of Triple Crown contender Reggie Smith, who was limited to just 18 games played after a shoulder injury knocked him out of action for two weeks during the second half of the month.

Helping the Dodgers cause were starting right-hander Burt Hooton, who went 4-0 in July with a 2.22 earned run average and twenty strikeouts, and bullpen ace Terry Forster, who collected five saves while limiting opposing batters to just five hits and one run over nine games, good for a 0.85 ERA. Also making an impact on the mound was rookie Bob Welch, who successfully converted from reliever to starter in July and went 3-1 with a 2.21 ERA in five starts.

At the plate, Smith led LA with a .408 average, eight home runs, and 23 RBI. Lopes’ 34 hits led the team, while Ron Cey was tops in the NL with eleven doubles. However, the most jaw-dropping stat again belongs to Smith, who has an SP78-leading seven 2-HR games this season, to go along with his 37 home runs and 90 runs batted in. The month also saw an old-timer’s game played between the ’62 Dodgers and ’62 Giants, a 7-inning contest won by LA 10-5 in front of a nostalgic crowd at Dodger Stadium.

To see the Dodgers stat page for July, click here. And remember, the boxes for league leaders, team rankings, and award totals have been purposely left blank; these figures will be added after all NL team statistics have been finalized, and July award winners have been picked.

 

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July Stats Up for Resurgent Reds

The Cincinnati Reds enjoyed their best month of the SP78 campaign in July, going 17-11 and finishing the month in fourth place in the NL West, 3½ games ahead of the fifth-place Astros, but no closer to the division-leading Dodgers than they were on June 30th, when they were 16½ games back. In head-to-head match-ups, the Reds went 10-2 against the Mets and Expos of the NL East, but sadly will face neither team in August; instead, they’ll meet up with the red-hot Padres and Pirates—who are a combined 10-2 against Cincinnati in SP78—a total of 13 times that month.

Individually, third baseman Pete Rose was tied for the National League lead in hits for July with 45, and his .378 average for the season ranks him among the NL batting leaders. Bullpen ace Doug Bair led relief pitchers with nine saves and 16 mound appearances, good for a 0.68 ERA for the month and a 1.35 mark for the year, while reliever Pedro Borbon went 3-0 in ten games (and this despite a 4.63 ERA over those ten games). On the negative side, catcher Johnny Bench had four passed balls in July—including three in one game—to bring his season total to nine, the most he’s had in one year since he fumbled that same amount back in 1970.

Also, the new stolen base/caught stealing stat box, which shows separate SB and CS totals for each player, is now available on all Reds stat pages (including July), as well as those for the Braves and Cubs. Click here to see all Cincinnati statistics for July, and when doing so keep in mind that some stats—such as league leaders, award winners, and team batting and pitching rankings—will not be available until all team stats for the month have been finalized.

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