News and Notes as of July 30, 1980
Wisconsin fans have been shouting “Milwickee!” recently, when their beloved team has acquired the services of future Hall of Famer, Bernie Wickersham. Although, he’s 35 years old, “Wick” has helped the Brewers overtake Baltimore in a very tight American League East race.
In their six meetings this month, the Brew Crew pounded the Orioles with 45 runs on the scoreboard, while limiting Baltimore offense (2nd most runs scored in the league) to just 27, allowing them to take but one of the games (5-1).
Detroit & Cleveland is still within the range of the division as they’re only 2.5 & 4 games out respectively. The Tigers would have to work doubly harder after learning that their outfielder, Jerry Everton is out for the season. Cleveland, on the other hand, has been balanced until now, still waiting for them to break out.
Chicago White Sox went 8-2 in their last 10 and have erected a 5-game lead over Texas Rangers, who went down hard this half after going 1-9 in their last 10 outings.
Oakland, then again, has the worst 1-run games this season. They’re 9-20. Not to mention their Pythagorean record is at -9.
Over in the National League, the mighty Cardinals only have a six-game lead over the Chicago Cubs. Same as Oakland, St. Louis is -9 based on their Pythagorean record. Arthur Adams’ (.351) Triple Crown hope has been shattered for now by New York Mets’ young catcher Michael Butler (.363)
Los Angeles Dodgers has dominated the National League. Enough said.
Bullets around the league
Monday 7/30/1980: Los Angeles' Whitham wins Player of the Week award
Thursday 7/26/1980: Mike Heath out for 6 weeks
Thursday 7/26/1980: Detroit's Everton out for the season
Wednesday 7/25/1980: Lawrence Matzke fires 2-hitter against Cincinnati
Monday 7/23/1980: Cincinnati's Cuffy wins Player of the Week award
Saturday 7/21/1980: Harry Hinze ropes 2000th career hit
Friday, March 21, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Just before the deadline…
We saw a trio of trades happen in front of our eyes. We’ll break down each trade, dissecting & analyzing every bit of its detail.
First, division rivals Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers come to an agreement, details are as follows:
Braves get:
CL Amando Landeros
Dodgers get:
OF Aaron Snyder
P Edgar Hogan
We don’t know what the Braves’ assessment in getting a middle reliever/closer type of guy during their rebuilding phase. Not to mention Landeros has $6M left for two years, helping their bitter division rival free up some cash for them to sign key free agents.
Atlanta
LA
Second, Atlanta seems not finished in making big waves this deadline by adding struggling veteran, Pat Ditty (0-6, 7.68 ERA), to their staff. Boston Red Sox has vowed religiously to re-tool this season after trailing 12 games as of mid-July.
Braves get:
P Pat Ditty
P Earl Vangilder
Red Sox get:
P Frank Joubert
P Luther Riggins
P Quinn Lacy
P Joel Feingold
3B Mark Baum
The Braves are really looking to shore up their pitching staff with the addition of Landeros & Ditty. Maybe they’re setting up the pieces to lure free agents to Georgia. Boston got a steal in Baum who’s just 22 years old and has already shown he belongs in the majors.
Atlanta Boston
Third, the Brew Crew is adding a slugger to their lineup. Thank to Boston, Bernie Wickersham will wear Milwaukee uniform from this day forward.
Red Sox get:
Angel Castenada
Ted Torgersen
Joel Marquez
Brewers get:
Bernie Wickersham
Boston escaped the Wickersham sweepstake after failing to re-sign him earlier on. Wick’s head is on the chopping block not for long as they agreed to a deal with their division rival Milwaukee Brewers. Trailing just a half game over the Baltimore Orioles, this exchange might put them over the top.
Boston
Milwaukee
First, division rivals Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers come to an agreement, details are as follows:
Braves get:
CL Amando Landeros
Dodgers get:
OF Aaron Snyder
P Edgar Hogan
We don’t know what the Braves’ assessment in getting a middle reliever/closer type of guy during their rebuilding phase. Not to mention Landeros has $6M left for two years, helping their bitter division rival free up some cash for them to sign key free agents.
Atlanta
LASecond, Atlanta seems not finished in making big waves this deadline by adding struggling veteran, Pat Ditty (0-6, 7.68 ERA), to their staff. Boston Red Sox has vowed religiously to re-tool this season after trailing 12 games as of mid-July.
Braves get:
P Pat Ditty
P Earl Vangilder
Red Sox get:
P Frank Joubert
P Luther Riggins
P Quinn Lacy
P Joel Feingold
3B Mark Baum
The Braves are really looking to shore up their pitching staff with the addition of Landeros & Ditty. Maybe they’re setting up the pieces to lure free agents to Georgia. Boston got a steal in Baum who’s just 22 years old and has already shown he belongs in the majors.
Atlanta
BostonThird, the Brew Crew is adding a slugger to their lineup. Thank to Boston, Bernie Wickersham will wear Milwaukee uniform from this day forward.
Red Sox get:
Angel Castenada
Ted Torgersen
Joel Marquez
Brewers get:
Bernie Wickersham
Boston escaped the Wickersham sweepstake after failing to re-sign him earlier on. Wick’s head is on the chopping block not for long as they agreed to a deal with their division rival Milwaukee Brewers. Trailing just a half game over the Baltimore Orioles, this exchange might put them over the top.
Boston
Milwaukee
Two Weeks Notice (First half of July 1980)
News and Notes as of July 16, 1980
With two months left into the season, the National League teams are starting to separate themselves from contender to pretenders.
Los Angeles Dodgers now have a very comfortable 20 game lead over Cincinnati even though their two top offensive guys are on the DL (Dino Dinardo and Manny Kreitenberg).
Great pitching has propelled Hollywood’s team to the top. Unfortunately, it would also be costly since their ace, Perry Whitham, is a key free agent who’s asking for a $1.5 M raise. If the deal takes place that would leave them with just over $10 M to work with when they have two soon-to-be free agents in Shane Eddy and Dave Ricelli.
St. Louis Cardinals, on the other hand, only has 7.5 games lead with Chicago Cubs and they have shown, along with Montreal Expos that they’re not giving up easy. The 2nd best pitching staff in the Majors, only behind LA, has a better-than-average offense to boost. Arthur Adams, vying for the NL Triple Crown, leads the Red Birds lineup.
On the other side, the American League is quite the opposite.
Baltimore Orioles only has a half-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers in the AL East and two other teams are within striking distance. The Orioles is leaning on their offense, led by Joe Nolette, who’s also competing for the AL Triple Crown. With a few spots in their pitching staff, the O’s have kept their lead even there’s a lot of critics.
AL West has the same story. Chicago White Sox just lead a half game over Texas Rangers with three teams still on the verge of contending for the division. The White Sox has a pretty balanced roster but with key injuries to their staff, it will be a rocky road ahead.
Bullets around the League
Monday 7/16/1980: Player of the Week honors go to Merwin and Darna
Wednesday 7/11/1980: Boston's Lee out for the season
Monday 7/9/1980: Chicago (N)'s Ambriz wins Player of the Week award along with Seattle’s Steve Bookhardt
Wednesday 7/4/1980: Gabe Knocke pitches 1-hit shutout against New York (N)
Tuesday 7/3/1980: Maurice Mills out for 5 weeks
Monday 7/2/1980: Player of the Week honors go to Nolette and Hinton
With two months left into the season, the National League teams are starting to separate themselves from contender to pretenders.
Los Angeles Dodgers now have a very comfortable 20 game lead over Cincinnati even though their two top offensive guys are on the DL (Dino Dinardo and Manny Kreitenberg).
Great pitching has propelled Hollywood’s team to the top. Unfortunately, it would also be costly since their ace, Perry Whitham, is a key free agent who’s asking for a $1.5 M raise. If the deal takes place that would leave them with just over $10 M to work with when they have two soon-to-be free agents in Shane Eddy and Dave Ricelli.
St. Louis Cardinals, on the other hand, only has 7.5 games lead with Chicago Cubs and they have shown, along with Montreal Expos that they’re not giving up easy. The 2nd best pitching staff in the Majors, only behind LA, has a better-than-average offense to boost. Arthur Adams, vying for the NL Triple Crown, leads the Red Birds lineup.
On the other side, the American League is quite the opposite.
Baltimore Orioles only has a half-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers in the AL East and two other teams are within striking distance. The Orioles is leaning on their offense, led by Joe Nolette, who’s also competing for the AL Triple Crown. With a few spots in their pitching staff, the O’s have kept their lead even there’s a lot of critics.
AL West has the same story. Chicago White Sox just lead a half game over Texas Rangers with three teams still on the verge of contending for the division. The White Sox has a pretty balanced roster but with key injuries to their staff, it will be a rocky road ahead.
Bullets around the League
Monday 7/16/1980: Player of the Week honors go to Merwin and Darna
Wednesday 7/11/1980: Boston's Lee out for the season
Monday 7/9/1980: Chicago (N)'s Ambriz wins Player of the Week award along with Seattle’s Steve Bookhardt
Wednesday 7/4/1980: Gabe Knocke pitches 1-hit shutout against New York (N)
Tuesday 7/3/1980: Maurice Mills out for 5 weeks
Monday 7/2/1980: Player of the Week honors go to Nolette and Hinton
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Clear the runway for LA
LOS ANGELES, Ca. -- If Los Angeles’ blues can't make the playoffs this year; it would only be a miracle. The Dodgers are simply too talented and too deep not to make it to October.
Possibly no other team has a crystal clear path to the playoffs than the up-and-coming NL West division leader. They have built a 17.5 game lead (highest lead in all four divisions) which put out any serious threat by San Diego Padres, Houston Astros & Cincinnati Reds.
Los Angeles’ staff is firm, led by sturdy chap John Stepson, who has stepped up his game since the 1977 season. The bullpen has at least two doable closer alternatives – Amando Landeros has been light's out this season, and Brian Scala has already saved 21 games.
Despite the Dodgers’ history, which includes 17 straight seasons without a post-season berth, star third baseman Jim Langer concurred that they should be the exorbitant darling in the NL West. "I believe that's a reasonable testimony. We lost Bill (Donayre) but we brought a lot to the table, too,'' Langer said.
Langer refers to Perry Whitham and Brian Scala, two major reasons they’re having a great season.
Whitham, who has won 9 games and sport a 2.90 ERA, contributes to the number 1 ranked pitching team (1st in ERA with 2.83 & 1st in Runs Allowed). If it holds, they have a good chance on taking down the Cards dynasty. This season, they have won 5 of their 6 meetings.
“Don’t forget Montreal is in the picture,” added LA manager Thomas Collaco. “We don’t mind which team we will play if ever we reach the playoffs.”
Come on, you can mark it down now.
Possibly no other team has a crystal clear path to the playoffs than the up-and-coming NL West division leader. They have built a 17.5 game lead (highest lead in all four divisions) which put out any serious threat by San Diego Padres, Houston Astros & Cincinnati Reds.
Los Angeles’ staff is firm, led by sturdy chap John Stepson, who has stepped up his game since the 1977 season. The bullpen has at least two doable closer alternatives – Amando Landeros has been light's out this season, and Brian Scala has already saved 21 games.
Despite the Dodgers’ history, which includes 17 straight seasons without a post-season berth, star third baseman Jim Langer concurred that they should be the exorbitant darling in the NL West. "I believe that's a reasonable testimony. We lost Bill (Donayre) but we brought a lot to the table, too,'' Langer said.
Langer refers to Perry Whitham and Brian Scala, two major reasons they’re having a great season.
Whitham, who has won 9 games and sport a 2.90 ERA, contributes to the number 1 ranked pitching team (1st in ERA with 2.83 & 1st in Runs Allowed). If it holds, they have a good chance on taking down the Cards dynasty. This season, they have won 5 of their 6 meetings.
“Don’t forget Montreal is in the picture,” added LA manager Thomas Collaco. “We don’t mind which team we will play if ever we reach the playoffs.”
Come on, you can mark it down now.
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