Happy Birthday, Mr. Bench!

TWISP Notes #69

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TWISP Notes
November 17, 2018

• Braves third baseman Bob Horner returned from the 30-day disabled list after spending nine years out of action, from July 17th to August 16th, after he was hit by a line drive and suffered two fractured fingers on his glove hand. In his first game back, Horner went 1-for-4 with a double, and handled two chances cleanly at third.

• Orioles skipper Earl Weaver became the third SP78 manager this season to be suspended, after he bumped third base umpire Don Denkinger during an argument August 13th at Memorial Stadium, and was ejected for ‘conduct detrimental to the game of baseball’. He will serve the suspension August 18th, when the Orioles play the Angels at Anaheim Stadium.

• After having just one player attempt to steal a base over the first two months of the season (Rick Bosetti, who was caught stealing by Bosox catcher Carlton Fisk on May 22nd), the run-happy Blue Jays have now had 13 players—all ‘D’ or ‘E’ runners—make steal attempts through August. Only four have been successful, and their current SB/CS ratio stands at 6/34.

• In comparison, Bake McBride of the Phillies is 33-1 in stolen base attempts through August 17th.

• After batting .370 in July, Giants catcher Mike Sadek—subbing for an injured Marc Hill—is mired in a 1-for-20 August slump.

• The Tigers defeated the Indians 10-1 in the fifth and final Mango Memorial Game, played on September 5, 2018 at site AZ18 in Peoria, Arizona. The date will now be retired from further SP78 play.

• Recent Brewers AAA call-up Mark Bomback made his first appearance with the squad on August 17th, starting on the mound against the Blue Jays and earning his first major league victory in an 8-1 Milwaukee win. The Brewers winning streak now stands at three games, after they’d lost six straight, and moved them back to four games behind the first place Yankees in the AL East.

• If all goes according to schedule, SP78 game #1,600 will be played on August 18th at the Kingdome in Seattle, between the Yankees and the host Mariners; the game will feature NY ace Ron Guidry going for his 17th win. The milestone total includes games that have been called or postponed due to inclement weather, but does not include exhibition contests or the SP78 All-Star Game.

• KC third baseman George Brett, recently returned from the disabled list, went 8-for-10 with five doubles over his last two games, earning him back-to-back Yesterday’s MVP recognition in the American League.

• Season statistics for every NL and AL player and team are now current through August 17th, with the NL slate of games for August 18th scheduled to begin soon. This is the first time in SP78 history that all stats have been completely finalized up to the current date of the season.

SP78 Fans! August 21st is McDonald’s Junior Jays Day at Toronto!

 

LA’s Smith First to Reach 100 RBI

With his 41st home run of the season, a two-run shot off Phillies right-hander Jim Lonborg in the third inning of an August 17th game at Veterans Stadium, Dodgers slugger Reggie Smith became the first player in either league to collect one hundred RBI during the SP78 season. It was the second time Smith has achieved that coveted plateau in his career; he last reached the mark in 1974, hitting an even 100 as a member of the Cardinals. He’s also the SP78 single-game record holder for runs batted in, having collected ten in the first game of a doubleheader against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on July 16th.

No other National League player is even close to one hundred (George Foster of the Reds is in second place with 86), and with a league-leading 41 home runs and a robust .366 average, Smith is a serious contender for the Triple Crown award, with just under a month and a half remaining in the season. It would be the first Triple Crown in the major leagues since Boston outfielder Carl Yastrzemski won the award in 1967, and the first in the National League since Joe Medwick turned the trick for the Cardinals forty years earlier, in 1937.

What makes this particular RBI milestone even more amazing is that Smith has missed three weeks of the season due to injury; if he stays healthy, he’ll still have a whopping 42 games remaining in the LA schedule to add to his total. At his current pace of one RBI per game, he’d finish the 1978 campaign with 142 (and at one HR hit every 2.4 games, he’d break Roger Maris’ home run record of 61 by one). The question now is, will he remain healthy?

Said Smith in the locker room after the game in Philadelphia, “Oh yeah…I’m done with all this injury crap.”

July AL Award Winners Announced!

And now it’s time for the American League award winners for July, coming on the heels of current AL stats recently being finalized through the end of that month. Check out the complete list below; for a more detailed look at prior recipients, a description of each award, and photos of the trophies and plaques awarded, check the ‘SP78 Awards’ section of the Statistics dropdown link on the main menu above.

Plus-.500 July Gives Jays Something to Celebrate

It’s been a long season for the second-year Toronto Blue Jays, who’ve struggled for wins after opening the SP78 campaign with a promising 4-1 won-lost record. Currently, however, they’re a woeful 43-60, the second-worst record in the American League, and good for last place in the AL East. And with no hope of capturing a division crown, the Jays of ’78 can only play out the string, acting as possible spoilers to the Tigers, Brewers, and Yankees and looking ahead to 1979. With nothing to boast overall but Bob Bailor’s current .308 average and John Mayberry’s 16 home runs, the Blue Jays can at least be proud of their hard work in July, which netted them not only their first winning month of the season, at 15-13, but the first of their short existence as well.

Leading the way in July was third baseman Roy Howell, who batted .355 with 38 hits, outfielder Bailor, who went 36-for-107 and hit .336, and utility player Doug Ault, who banged four home runs in just 13 games, good for 11 RBI. And though starting pitchers Tom Underwood and Jim Clancy both went 1-4 for the month, Jesse Jefferson surprised everyone with a 4-1 mark and a 2.87 earned run average, while spot starter Jerry Garvin finished the month with three wins, three complete games, and a 2.48 ERA. In the bullpen, closer Victor Cruz continues to impress, saving four games and leading the team with a 1.13 ERA; middle reliever Joe Coleman was also a surprise, going 2-0 with an ERA of 1.59 in seven games. And kudos should also go to Rick Bosetti, who with a base stealing rating of D stole Toronto’s only base of the month, and just the fifth for the team this season.

To take a look at the Blue Jays team page for results and statistics through July, click here. The boxes for league leaders, team rankings, and award totals have been left blank; these numbers will now be added to each AL team throughout the coming weeks, and award winners for July will be posted soon.