| Team | W/L | Pct | GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wandering House of David | 18-13 | .581 | — |
| Houston Colt .45’s | 17-14 | .548 | 1 |
| Kansas City Monarchs | 16-15 | .516 | 2 |
| Birmingham Black Barons | 10-20 | .333 | 7.5 |
| Indianapolis ABC’s | 10-20 | .333 | 7.5 |
Birmingham Black Barons
Lefty Gomez had struck out 12 against Brooklyn, but left before Birmingham’s comeback that culminated in a 6-5 win over the defending champs.
Bruce Chen is back off the disabled list, with Slim Embrey optioned to make room. Embrey has the stuff to succeed in the WBL, but not the control: until that’s fixed, he’ll stick at AAA.
With Rube Melton injured, Bill Phyle has been named the 5th starter. Phyle was a perfectly serviceable back-end arm over 89 innings last year.
Melton and utility super-sub Jess Barbour have both begun rehab assignments.
Folk hero JP Arencibia — 19 homeruns in 195 trips for the Black Barons last year, on a .220 average — is back in the organization after testing the free-agent market, reporting to AAA Atlanta.
Houston Colt .45’s
Craig Biggio hit 2 solo homeruns in a 9-5 win over Homestead, one in the 6th and one in the 8th, and added a walk, a stolen base and 3 runs scored. Roger Clemens got the win and Tug McGraw his 4th save.
Jim Wynn is out 2 to 3 weeks. Harry Stovey comes up from San Antonio as Houston is forced to cover for 2 starting OFers on the DL.
Indianapolis ABC’s
Eppa Rixey moves into the rotation and Dolf Luque slides to the bullpen — the kind of shuffle Indianapolis makes without much ceremony. Rixey has walked one batter in 17.2 relief innings; Luque’s 4 starts produced 5 homeruns in 19 innings. Behind Padrón and Johnny Cueto, the ABC’s treat the rotation spots as unclaimed until somebody proves otherwise. So far this season, only Doc White has done so.
Ed Swartwood is back off the disabled list, and Pete Rose — who had been holding the corner-outfield reserve seat — accepted an assignment to Indianapolis.
Kansas City Monarchs
Smokey Joe Wood threw 8 shutout innings at Ottawa for a game score of 85, the best start in the WBL this week, and Lee Smith finished a combined 4-hitter. The only run of the game was Stan Musial‘s 2-out solo homerun in the 1st. Wood improved to 3-0 with a 0.69 WHIP.
Boog Powell hit 2 homeruns and drove in 5 in a 9-3 win at Wrigley Field against the House of David. Albert Pujols then hit 2 of his own, but Kansas City lost that one 10-8 after leading 8-4 into the 7th, when Mike Kume gave up 4 runs without recording an out. Kume, who seemed to do it with mirrors last season, was doing fine this year until this pretty disastrous outing.
A. Rube Foster lasted one inning on Saturday, giving up 7 runs on 7 hits, and came out with a hamstring injury that will cost him about a week. Sam Mongin has been recalled from St. Louis as middle-infield cover; he was hitting .296 at AAA.
Earl Hamilton, already on the disabled list, ruptured something in his elbow during a rehab outing and is out about 13 months — a 21-year-old left-hander the Monarchs think a good deal of, and now a 2003 question.
Kansas City is set to give Frankie Frisch more time at 2B, given Kolten Wong‘s struggles. Struggle might be generous: Wong is hitting around .130 on the season.
Wandering House of David
John Beckwith is back off the DL, with Dave Malarcher heading to AAA. With Mark McGwire showing signs of life at DH, look for Beckwith to see more time behind the plate, where he is no worse than others playing there for the House of David.