Overall

So much offense. Like … so much.

But only 2 pitchers had ERAs under 5.00. OK, 3 if you count Billy Koch‘s 3 innings. So that’s the issue.

But 7 players hit over 30 homeruns (and Rusty Staub 29), 6 full time (or nearly so) players had OPS’ over .850, and the peaks–Gary Carter, Roberto Alomar, Larry Walker, all 3 of whom both drove in and scored over 100 runs–were shockingly high.

So the question for Ottawa is relatively simple: how does a franchise maintain the offensive performance and get something approaching league average pitching.

What Went Right

Virtually everything related to the offense. We can take this by position.

Gary Carter was the 2nd best catcher in baseball.

Roberto Alomar was the best 2B in baseball.

Álex Rodríguez hit 46 homeruns as a 22 year old SS.

Tim Raines stole 115 bases and scored 119 runs.

Carlos Beltrán hit 35 homeruns, posted an .865 OPS, and went 42-3 in steals.

Larry Walker hit 54 homeruns with a .998 OPS and 126 RBIs.

And that doesn’t even mention the Rick Monday conundrum: Monday slashed 272/364/604 and just relentlessly demanded more and more playing time, most at DH. There is really no space for Monday in Ottawa, but how do you ignore that level of performance?

In 100 PAs, Josh Donaldson was similar: a 269/366/718 slash line, but somewhat blocked.

And then we have the pitching. Um … yeah.

Roy Halladay is quite good, and his 15-9 record and 1.26 WHIP are more reflective of his performance than his 5.17 ERA.

Bill Smith was every bit as good as Halladay while missing some time through injury, finishing with a 10-3 record and a stellar 3.77 ERA.

Tom Henke had a bumpy return from injury, but overall established himself as the closer for the team.

And that’s about it. Johnny Podgajny ate up innings and BJ Ryan was reasonably effective from the pen.

ALL STARS

Roberto Alomar
Álex Rodríguez
Larry Walker

MAJOR AWARDS

Roberto Alomar, NL All-Rounder Award; NL 2B Silver Slugger
Larry Walker, NL RF Silver Slugger

RECOGNITIONS

Gary Carter, Mel Trench Award 3rd Place; All NL 2nd Team; NL 25 & Under Team
Josh Donaldson, NL All Rookie 2nd Team
Rick Monday, All NL 3rd Team; NL 25 & Under Team
Álex Rodríguez, All NL 3rd Team
Rusty Staub, NL 23 & Under Team; NL 21 & Under Team
Sam Thompson, NL All Rookie 2nd Team
Larry Walker, All NL 2nd Team; NL 25 & Under Team; NL 23 & Under Team

ORGANIZATIONAL AWARDS

Roberto Alomar, MVP
Roy Halladay, Pitcher of the Year
Roberto Alomar, Heart & Soul
Gary Carter, Fan Favorite

Billy Koch, Minor League Pitcher of the Year
John Olerud, Minor League Player of the Year

What Went Wrong

The Mounties used twenty-four pitchers. Twenty-four. And while there were injuries a plenty (only Halladay had more than 30 starts, only Podgajny more than 20), there were also an overwhelming number of poor performances. Some of the lowlights:

Randy Johnson continues to struggle, posting an ERA over 8 in just over 100 innings. Johnson’s stuff is electric, but something has to shift or Ottawa needs to give up on him.

Atlee Hammaker was pummeled, allowing 40 homeruns in 89 innings. Read that again. That made Hammaker one of six Ottawa hurlers who averaged giving up at least 4 homeruns per 9 innings. Five pitchers averaged over 5 walks per 9. Max Scherzer did both.

I could go on, but it just hurts so much.

You may have noticed that 1B and 3B weren’t mentioned in the what went right review. Rusty Staub and Adrían Beltré weren’t bad, but they also were below league average for sure.

Roy Sievers and Bob Watson were bad, with each of them unable to get close to .700 OPSs.

Transactions

March

OF Ken Griffey, Jr & 4th Round Pick to POR for IF Adrián Beltré, OF Denard Span, P Atlee Hammaker, P Pedro Ramos, & 2nd Round Pick.

Portland looks to have won this on pure talent, but you have to remember this also allowed Carlos Beltrán to be the everyday CF, and Beltrán was excellent.

July

The Mounties stood pat at the All Star Break, as much for a lack of partners than a lack of desire.

August

The Mounties wanted to do something here, but their valuable pieces are too young–this nucleus holds promise, but may need to be broken up in the quest for pitching.

Positional Overview

C

No idea if Gary Carter can keep doing this, but what a treat The Kid was this year. Look for Emil Gross to return as his backup.

Milt May holds some long-term promise (but of course, it should be remembered that, at 21, is only 1 year younger than Carter and Gross).

1B

The Mounties have a lot of talent here, and its not clear what the right move is. It’s tempting to move Larry Walker here and deal with the surplus in the OF. In the meantime, look for John Olerud to be given every opportunity to seize this role in Spring Training.

But John Mayberry, Rusty Staub, Bob Watson, and Tino Martinez all have their supporters, and are likely to be useful WBL players at some point, either here or elsewhere.

2B

Very few people had Roberto Alomar supplanting Eddie Collins as the best 2B in the WBL, but that happened. Especially with that development, look for Tim Raines‘ occasional forays into the infield to become more and more rare.

Jimmy Dykes and Joey Cora each hold some promise in the system.

SS

Nobody is wishing Ottawa kept Freddy Parent now … Álex Rodríguez is not very far from being the best SS in the league: 46 homers at 22 will do that.

The system is pretty barren after that, with Henry Easterday and Dick Bartell offering some defensive options, but little else.

3B

Adrian Beltré has some detractors, but he’ll be here for a while, although Josh Donaldson is giving him some competition. Larry Parrish and Art Devlin are the most likely options if needed while Kyle Seager will push for playing time at some point.

It’s assumed that, eventually, Rodríguez will shift here, but that’s a problem for a future day.

LF/RF

Tim Raines in left and Larry Walker in right feel very set, although Walker’s continued injury struggles are worrisome (and part of why the move to 1B could be attractive).

There are options: Wee Willie Keeler is turning heads throughout the system; Rusty Staub, while slow, isn’t too slow for the outfield yet; and Sam Thompson has done nothing but hit when given the opportunity.

And that’s ignoring Ryan Klesko, Jackie Jensen, Terry Puhl, Jason Heyward, Warren Cormartie …

CF

Giving Carlos Beltrán the fulltime job was a great decision in hindsight. But it does nothing to help Ottawa figure out what to do with Rick Monday, who will be taking as many reps in RF as possible during Spring Training.

Others can play the position, but the only dedicated CF worth noting in the system is 20 year old Denard Span.

DH

Rick Monday, we guess?

SP

Health is such a cruel mistress.

In a perfect world, Ottawa would go with Roy Halladay and Bill Smith; Old Hoss Radbourn would step up, becoming more than an innings eater; Bill Smith or Bob Moose or Bob Brown or Gary Peters or Dupee Shaw or Max Scherzer or, well, anyone, would step up; and, most fantastically, the immense talent of Randy Johnson would show up, like, at all.

It could be a bizarre Spring.

RP

There is reason for optimism, as the closing trio of Tom Henke, BJ Ryan, and Billy Koch could be quite good.

Beyond those three, look for the fallout of the starting competition to end up here. Greg Holland, Rick Camp, and Mark Eichhorn all have potential to help, but may be a bit far from the WBL at this point.

Draft Outlook

DRAFT PICKS

1st Round: 1
2nd Round: 2
3rd Round: 1
4th Round: 0
5th Round: 1

Look for … how many picks do they have? 4? … four pitchers to be selected.

I do believe in defense mattering over time, as such, we’re using an 800 IP minimum for the GG awards. For each position, we’re listing the top 3 in each league, AL followed by NL.

We have our standard defensive stats here, with the leaders in bold and the worst performers in italics. Range Factor (RF) measures the number of plays made per game–the higher the better. Zone Rating (ZR) attempts to credit players for plays other fielders missed and ding them for plays other fielders made–the higher the better, and it has the benefit of being comparative across the position. Defensive Efficiency (dEff) measures the rate at which an individual fielder contributes to outs being made on balls put into play, with any score over 1.000 being a net positive impact. Finally, Fielding Percentage (fPct) reflects the percentage of times a chance was handled without a mistake–if someone made no errors, their fPct would be 1.000.

Of these, Range Factor is the most susceptible to the impact of the pitching staff and the ballpark, although none of these defensive ratings are perfect.

Outfielders also have Assists (A), more romantically referred to as Outfield Kills are runners eliminated on the bases and Arm Runs (AR), which measures the net runs gained on an outfielder’s throws, including runner advancements.

Finally, catchers, who are really their own thing, also have RTO% (the percentage of runners thrown out trying to steal, abbreviated as RT), PB (passed balls), Framing Runs (the number of runs gained by the catcher’s positioning), and cERx, which reflects the ERA while the catcher was behind the plate compared to the overall staff ERA. A cERx below 1 means the catcher was better than the rest of the staff, above 1, worse.

#C

So, what is a catcher’s primary duty? Helping their staff, controlling the running game, and then, a somewhat distant third, making their own defensive plays.

The choice in the AL is pretty obvious, in the NL, I think it comes down to how much do you weigh Posey’s ability to frame pitches, and his ~150 more innings played than Hendricks.

#1B

Again, one choice is pretty clear–the NL this time.

In the AL, it’s much closer, but Greenberg makes some plays that Hrbek just doesn’t.

#2B

These are two relatively easy choices. And, there is a question of what’s going on in the AL, where almost everyone has a negative ZR.

#SS

In the NL, it’s another clear choice: while Smith and Crawford both make the sensational plays, Smith makes all the plays.

The AL is much, much closer and there’s really not much to choose from between Parent and Vaughan. As such, we’ll go with the player who stayed on the field more.

#3B

The hot corner is a challenge: everyone makes 2, 2 1/2 plays a game, so RF is less useful, although Beltré’s 2.6 does stand out, as does Longoria’s more limited mobility. But it means fPct–as a proxy for errors–and dEff rise in importance. In the AL, while it’s not by a mile, I think Bell is the clear choice while in the AL, it ends up being between Cey and Rolen, with the final edge going to The Penguin.

#LF

The AR numbers reflect just how hard it is to prevent runners from advancing on flyballs, and makes Jim Wynn‘s 3.7 mark there all the more remarkable. Unfortunately, the rest of Wynn’s numbers leave him out of the finalists entirely.

The NL is an easy choice, and one that gives us a repeat winner in Roy White. Over in the Al, it’s harder, but Bates makes more plays and has a far better arm than Henderson, despite how much ground the Sea Lions’ speedster covers.

#CF

Assists can be misleading: Detroit’s Chili Davis gunned down 14 runners and Kansas City’s Willie McGee 11, but they, overall, just weren’t effective enough out there to warrant their inclusion. Remember, the weaker the arm, the more often it gets run on, the more chances for assists you may get.

Look, Willie Mays is a great defensive CF. But Willie Davis, simply, had a better year out there. In the AL, you can only unseat Paul Blair if you give massive weight to Speaker’s additional 3 assists. But given how close they are in AR, it’s hard to rationalize that. So Blair it is once again, our 2nd repeat winner.

#RF

The NL is insanely close. Musial makes more spectacular plays than Clemente, Clemente makes marginally more plays overall and has that cannon for an arm, although Musial limits baserunners more effectively. It’s a coin flip, but today we’ll go with Clemente’s additional 150 innings as the difference maker.

In the AL, it’s clearly one of the players who didn’t make a single miscue, and although Betts has the edge in a few metrics, Suzuki has over 300 more innings–1200 innings without an error, but with great range, is incredible.

#P

We’re using 140 innings as the cutoff for the pitchers. Additionally, we have access to number of Framing Runs the pitcher benefitted from, as well as the SB numbers against them. Errors tend to be so low from pitchers, that fPct is no longer a really useful metric.

Sample size, of course, wrecks havoc with pitcher’s defensive stats. Still, we have what we have.

Not only does Bob Rush make a lot of plays, he keeps runners from stealing, and while Jack Taylor makes more spectacular plays, Rush’s ZR is more than good enough to take the award home. In the AL, Johnson and Blyleven are neck-and-neck, but we’ll go with Blyleven, who has a slight edge in most categories.

#The Gold Gloves

There are a surprising number of teams with 2 Gold Glove winners–Baltimore, Portland, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and the House of David.

But the overall number of finalists may be more interesting, as it should give some indications as to the higher tier defensive units in the league. Here’s how that stacks up:

6. Cleveland
5. Philadelphia
4. House of David, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Portland
3. Baltimore, Detroit, New York Gothams, San Francisco
2. Birmingham, Brooklyn, Memphis, Miami, New York Black Yankees, Ottawa
1. Chicago, Homestead, Los Angeles

We have a half-dozen A-Tier performances, but no really clear demarcation between those and the lower ranks, and then another half-dozen C-Tier performers struggling to prove they deserve their place in the league.

And, oh yeah, a couple superlative players and a few true duds.

Balance?

#S Tier

These top 2 are clear, as is the likelihood that 3B isn’t Albert Pujols‘ final position.

Obviously, you would rather build around Pujols given his age, but Ron Cey really did have a season for the ages, a key cog in Brooklyn’s championship team.

#A Tier

I don’t know what to do with any of these guys.

Evan Longoria is the biggest surprise here, moving from a struggle to find playing time to a legit power threat for a playoff team. Richie Hebner has the highest OPS, but played under 100 games, so he may even belong in the B Tier. And where is the line? There’s roughly a 50 point gap in OPS in this group, but are you really going to argue that Mike Schmidt isn’t an A Tier player?

Yah, me neither.

Jimmie Foxx played more at 3B than 1B, although perhaps he shifts across the diamond as time goes by.

#B Tier

All solid performers, each with a significant weakness: Dick Allen and Andy Van Slyke are weak defensively (that’s not quite fair to Van Slyke, who looks excellent in the OF, just not at the hot corner) and Eddie Mathews‘ inability to make contact works against his immense power.

#C Tier

Perhaps Adrían Beltré‘s defense should move him up (and perhaps Ron Santo‘s should move him down), but I’m good with this for now. Sal Bando isn’t a fulltime player, but his offense sure makes that argument. It’s hard to see a world where Beltré and Wade Boggs don’t improve, and at 21 Santo should, as well.

#D Tier

This may be a little unfair to Buddy Bell, who is fantastic with the glove and improved as the season went on.

This may be a little unfair to Chris Sabo: that’s a lot of offense to relegate to the D Tier.

#F Tier

Doug Rader was in the MVP conversation last year, now he truly belongs here. Ouch. George Brett, on the other hand, overcame a miserable start to the season, and seems very likely to move dramatically up this list.

#Rookies

Jimmie Foxx (A Tier) and Chris Sabo (D Tier).

#Fielding Notes

We have our standard defensive stats here, with the leaders in bold and the worst performers in italics. Range Factor (RF) measures the number of plays made per game–the higher the better. Zone Rating (ZR) attempts to credit players for plays other fielders missed and ding them for plays other fielders made–the higher the better, and it has the benefit of being comparative across the position. Defensive Efficiency (dEff) measures the rate at which an individual fielder contributes to outs being made on balls put into play, with any score over 1.000 being a net positive impact. Finally, Fielding Percentage (fPct) reflects the percentage of times a chance was handled without a mistake–if someone made no errors, their fPct would be 1.000.

Of these, Range Factor is the most susceptible to the impact of the pitching staff and the ballpark, although none of these defensive ratings are perfect.

We’re going to do this position by position, mixing the leagues, with the candidates listed alphabetically. 600 IP minimum, unless otherwise noted.

Last year, only 1 set of awards were given; this year, with the creation of the NL, there will be 2 at each position.

Some of the positions have their own things, but a note about some of the standard fielding statistics. Range Factor measures the number of plays made per game–the higher the better. Zone Rating attempts to credit players for plays other fielders missed and ding them for plays other fielders made–the higher the better, and it has the benefit of being comparative across the position. Defensive Efficiency measures the rate at which an individual fielder contributes to outs being made on balls put into play, with any score over 1.000 being a net positive impact.

Of these, Range Factor is the most susceptible to the impact of the pitching staff and the ballpark, although none of these defensive ratings are perfect.

#C

Catcher’s stats are just all over the place.

It’s hard to take cERA and FRM all that seriously when they fall so far outside the bounds of the rest of the information at our disposal–although, to be fair, cERA is clearly tied to the quality of the staff and, as such, perhaps is best viewed as a net difference from the overall team ERA. Perhaps I’ll look at that for the actual awards.

Regardless, it feels like, if you look at a catcher’s primary job of making plays and keeping the opposition running game under control, Carter in the NL and Pudge in the AL are the frontrunners. The argument against each, if there is one, would have to focus on their league-leading (in the wrong way) PB numbers.

But this one doesn’t really feel close at this point.

Last year’s winner, Cleveland’s Louis Santop, has struggled so much offensively this year that his playing time has really dropped him out of contention, although his defensive performance remains top-notch.

#1B

The 2 best defensive 1Bs in the league–Kansas City’s Boog Powell and Indianapolis’ Joey Votto–are both in the NL. So the competition there is clear, as is, ultimately, the current frontrunner in Powell. Votto’s edge in the digital measures–ZR and Efficiency–may make this a more challenging choice at the end of the year.

In the AL, it’s far more confusing, but it feels like the discussion is between Detroit’s Hank Greenberg and the Black Yankees’ Don Mattingly. Mattingly hasn’t played a ton, so perhaps Greenberg edges him? Portland’s Kent Hrbek could probably edge into the discussion as well.

Will Clark of the New York Gothams, who won it last year, has been fine, but falls just short of contention.

#2B

Five 2B had only 3 errors, but 2 of them–Brooklyn’s Jackie Robinson and Boston’s DJ LeMahieu–have under 700 innings at the position. LeMahieu is the leader in Defensive Efficiency, so he made the list, but Robinson did not.

Ryne Sandberg and Napoleon Lajoie have had fine years at 2B, but Philadelphia’s Chase Utley has been fairly spectacular, leading the world in Zone Rating with excellent numbers across the board.

The AL is more confusing, as the best fielders–Miller Huggins and DJ LeMahieu–have yet to hit 800 innings in the field. But there really aren’t a lot of other contenders: Eddie Collins, who won it last year, has amassed a ton of time at 2B, and hence is among the leaders in the counting stats, but his other numbers are surprisingly bad.

#SS

It feels like the choices here are pretty clear: Ozzie Smith in the NL and Freddy Parent in the AL. Smith should be uncontroversial, but Parent is subject to some discussion, as he is getting less and less playing time for the American Giants. If it’s not Parent, it is probably Arky Vaughan or Robin Yount, with the question being whether Yount’s surer hands outweigh Vaughan’s greater range.

George Davis, who won it last year, logged just under 50 games with Detroit before being sent to AAA and suffering a significant injury.

#3B

Portland’s Buddy Bell has probably been the best 3B in the WBL this season, so he should take the award in the AL. In the NL, it currently comes down to Scott Rolen and Ron Cey, whose numbers are pretty indistinguishable at this point, perhaps with a slight edge to Cey.

#LF

For the OF, DP is replaced by Outfield Kills, and we introduce ARM, a measurement of how many runs have resulted from runners taking extra bases on balls hit to the that fielder. Note that positive ARM ratings are relatively rare: runners do tag up.

It feels like Roy White has a shot at being the first repeat winner as he has once again proven incredibly dependable in LF for Brooklyn, while adding more Kills and excellent supporting numbers.

In the AL, It feels like it’s the range of Rickey Henderson against the overall dependability of Johnny Bates–who actually makes more plays the Rickey, but some of that is down to staff effects.

Have to call out the nutty ARM rating for Jim Wynn, which is as flukish as fluke can be.

#CF

Not a lot to pick from in the AL, which increases Paul Blair‘s chance at a repeat selection. It probably comes down to Blair’s overall excellence against the spectacular highlight reel nature of Chili Davis‘ year: Davis hasn’t made all the plays, but has thrown out 13 runners. Mike Trout is in the conversation, but Blair edges him across the board, and is the likely frontrunner.

In the NL, things are much deeper, and we run into the question of how to weigh playing time. Willie Mays has similar numbers to Willie Davis, but over 200 more innings in the field, which I think is enough to give him the edge. Some mention should be made of the steady Curtis Granderson and the surprising 10 kills from Kansas City’s Willie McGee.

#RF

This is very close in both leagues.

In the NL, you could make an argument for all 3 of the contenders: Brooklyn’s Beals Becker has been steady across the board; Stan Musial covers a huge amount of ground for Kansas City and has a higher ARM than Becker; and Roberto Clemente makes the most plays and has the most Kills. I think it’s Clemente or Musial, with Musial slightly in front, maybe?

Over in the AL, it’s between Mookie Betts and Ichiro Suzuki, neither of whom have made an error in RF this season. Betts has been slightly better with the glove, Suzuki slightly better with the arm. Perhaps Suzuki, partially because he has played more innings in RF than anyone.

Last year’s winner, Johnny Callison, has done well this season, but is just out of the conversation. Mention should be made of Ottawa’s Larry Walker as well: Walker doesn’t cover a ton of ground, but has only made a single error in RF this season.

#P

125 IP minimum.

A few additional stat for hurlers, including the number of steal attempts and the % thrown out as well as the number of runs gained through their catcher’s ability to frame strikes. Obviously, both of these are highly dependent on the quality of backstop, but they also do impact the evaluation of the pitcher.

We’ve also taking out E and DP as stats, as odd as that may seem, as there is just not enough variance to really make much of them.

Who knows? Small sample sizes are rough, although it is nice to see last year’s winner, Jack Taylor, make a return appearance.

Taylor makes a lot of plays, and is very hard to run on, both of which count for quite a bit. I think an argument could be made for Pud Galvin, as well as for Taylor’s teammate, Bob Rush, but I would expect a fair bit of this to change over the final month of the season.

#Brooklyn Royal Giants

Smokey Joe Williams fanned 10 and improved to 10-9 on the year as Brooklyn held on to an early lead, topping Homestead, 5-4.

Beals Becker hit out 2 and Don Drysedale won his 15th game of the year as the Royal Giants topped Philadelphia, 8-4.

#Homestead Grays

Newly promoted Ricardo Rincón heads to the injured list with a sore elbow, with the Grays recalling Moose Haas.

#Ottawa Mounties

Bryn Smith was named to the Mounties’ rotation, a status likely to be a bit fluid, especially pending Bill Smith‘s return from a rehab assignment, perhaps as soon as later this week.

Adrían Beltré hit 2 out of the park as Ottawa came from behind to win over Kansas City, 10-7. Gary Carter did the same, driving in 4 on his 2 blasts as Ottawa trounced Kansas City, 15-5.

Ottawa pounded 7 homeruns, led by 2 each from Carter and Roberto Alomar (with Alomar’s second being a walkoff shot), and beat Indianapolis in a see-saw, 15-14 game.

Dave Gregg will miss a couple weeks with a sprained elbow, with the Mounties recalling Al Orth to take his place.

Alomar did it again, hitting 2 out in another victory over the ABC’s, this one by a count of 10-8. Perhaps more importantly for the Mounties, Randy Johnson put in a solid start, allowing only 1 run in 5 innings. If the big lefty could harness some of his potential, it would be a massive lift for Ottawa’s beleaguered staff.

#Brooklyn Royal Giants

Looking to cement their bullpen for the stretch run, the Royal Giants sent the struggling Dutch Leonard to AAA in exchange for Jim Bunning.

While all three players will continue to see a lot of time there, it looks like recently acquired Vern Stephens will see the bulk of the time at SS, with Germany Smith slipping below Ray Dandridge in the pecking order.

Stephens has been quite strong for Brooklyn, and he helped Don Drysedale continue his recent resurgence with 2 dingers in a 10-2 victory over Kansas City. Drysedale improved to 10-4, and John Briggs, Beals Becker, Mike Piazza, and Jackie Robinson also went deep for Brooklyn.

Becker and Robinson each went deep twice as Brooklyn defeated Ottawa, 8-7.

#Homestead Grays

Brickyard Kennedy continues to ride the AAA shuttle, heading down as the Grays need a starter in the form of Bob Knepper, who will make his WBL debut. Knepper wasn’t great, but he did get the win as Willie Stargell hit 2 out and the Grays pounded the House of David, 13-4.

Stargell hit another 2, the second a walk-off job in the bottom of the 11th as the Grays again topped the House of David, 8-7.

Bartolo Colón‘s great start to his WBL career was derailed momentarily, with the young righty headed to the DL for about a week. Homestead recalled lefty Gary Lucas in the interim.

#New York Gothams

Vean Gregg was returned to AAA with Rube Waddell being recalled from a rehab assignment.

The revolving door at 3B continues, as the Gothams brought Jim Ray Hart up from AAA, giving up for the time being on Ryan Zimmerman.

Don Buford went deep twice, but the Gothams bullpen–the strength of the club–collapsed entirely in an 8-6 loss to the Stars.

Will Clark went deep twice, but the Gothams fell to Birmingham, 7-6 in a close contest. Willie Mays hit his 37th of the season as well.

#Ottawa Mounties

Bill Smith will miss about a week, earning himself a trip to the DL with the Mounties recalling Danny Cox.

Larry Walker came out of a slump in a big way, going 4-for-4 with 2 homeruns, 4 runs scored, and 3 RBI’s to give him 100 on the year. Roberto Alomar also had 4 hits and Gary Carter, Adrián Beltré, and Carlos Beltrán each went deep as well.

Clark Griffith was sent to AAA in exchange for Randy Johnson, who will get a spot start after some effective time at in the minors.

#Philadelphia Stars

Steve Carlton threw the second no-hitter in WBL history as the Stars topped the Gothams, 5-0. Carlton, who improved his record to 10-9, only walked 1 while fanning 8 in the dominant performance. Rico Carty hit a grand slam in support of Lefty.

Aaron Judge hit a walkoff grand slam, leading the Stars to an 8-6 win over the Gothams.

John Burkett was sent to AAA with young Pete Alexander recalled after a long term injury.

HOME PAGE | ROSTER | POSITIONAL STRENGTH | LEADERS

Odd how much optimism can be generated by a team whose record isn’t very good.

THE OFFENSE

It’s all good here, end to end. When the only offensive black hole is your backup catcher, your offense is doing OK. Ten–TEN–Mounties are in double digit homeruns, from Tim Raines at 14 to Larry Walker‘s 38.

#What’s Going Right

Gary Carter and Larry Walker are among the best in the league at their positions, with Walker leading the team in HR and RBI.

Roberto Alomar has blossomed, and leas the team in H with an OPS in the .950s, which is incredibly strong for a middle infielder. His partner at SS, Álex Rodríguez, has finally begun to deliver on his promise, validating Ottawa’s decision to retain him last season.

The rest of the lineup is solid, with everyone delivering OPS’ between .800 and .850. It’s a fairly consistent model–mediocre BAs, a decent OBP, and a ton of power. Tim Raines–2nd in the WBL in SB by 1 at 68–is the exception to the model, but his value remains clear.

Special mention has to be made of Rick Monday. Not really thought of as a significant prospect, Monday has flourished, slashing 302/385/755 closing in on 200 PAs. A CF by trade, Monday’s future is uncertain as his current performance clearly exceeds a role as Carlos Beltrán‘s backup, but with Walker in RF and Raines in LF, it’s not clear where he can move to.

#What’s Not Going Right

Brad Ausmus has already announced his retirement at the end of the season. He’s being kept around for his, um, veteran leadership at this point.

I mean … that’s about it. Bob Watson struggled and was sent to AAA, and Mike Dorgan is back to being a useful utility player instead of a world-beater.

It’s been a good year at the plate in Ottawa so far. However …

THE PITCHING

Yoikes. Yoikes, yoikes, and yoikes.

#What’s Going Right

Roy Halladay continues to tantalize, showing flashes of ace-ish potential. Halladay sits at 10-6 with an ERA under 5.00, and has yet to put it all together for an extended length of time, but the potential is there.

Bill Smith has pitched excellently when healthy, sitting at 8-2 with a 3.225 ERA.

Atlee Hammaker struggled initially, but has pitched very well out of the bullpen, far better than his 6+ ERA would indicate.

Old Hoss Radbourn continues to oscillate between excellence and … other things. At worst, he’s a solid innings eater.

#What’s Not Going Right

Nobody else has succeeded as a starter, and the back 3 spots in the rotation have essentially been a revolving door, a situation that has surely been hurt by Bob Brown, Bob Moose, and Gary Peters all being on the DL for extended lengths of time (Moose and Peters are out well into next year). The whole staff has been mediocre at best, but there are some lowlights …

Randy Johnson is … perhaps the most frustrating bundle of talent in the WBL? Johnson has been sent to the minors after struggling mightily, but the Mounties hope he returns soon. Ish.

Tom Henke came back from a long term injury to provide an ERA over 7.00 in the closer role.

Jesse Crain, who looked promising initially, is on the verge of being sent back down as his ERA has ballooned over 7.00.

THE FARM SYSTEM

TOP PROSPECTS | MINOR LEAGUE SYSTEM

There might be help here, but there isn’t much high end talent. As an example, Otto Briggs, Warren Cromartie, Willie Upshaw, Leon Roberts, and Denard Span could all see time, but all are in A ball. Wee Willie Keeler is closer, and perhaps likely to make an impact.

But the Mounties need arms … and there’s just not a ton there. Dan Haren, Mark Eichhorn, Max Scherzer, and Billy Koch all have live arms, but are all at A ball.

WHAT’S NEEDED

The bottom of the lineup to step forward, and the pitching overall to improve a shade across the board.

Storylines to Watch

Key Questions from Spring Training

• Can the staff both deliver and stay healthy? No.
• Who is the bullpen? Who the hell knows.
• How the young talent sorts itself out. This one is working out OK. Walker, Carter, Raines, Staub, and Rodríguez are all 23 or younger.

FEATURED SERIES

The Mounties host Homestead for 3 to start the week.

Projected Starters

Homestead’s starter listed first.

Francisco Liriano (6-7, 5.24) @ Roy Halladay (10-6, 4.60)
Doug Drabek (4-5, 4.89) @ Bill Smith (8-2, 3.25)
Cliff Lee (5-2, 6.00) @ Johnny Podgagny (3-3, 4.61)

If the starters take their spots as planned, this may be the rare chance for the Mounties to rely on their mound work. If that happens, I think they take 2 out of 3.

Before this series began, the Mounties named Atlee Hammaker to the 5th spot in their rotation, although it’s not clear when his turn will come around.

Game One

Turns out Atlee Hammaker‘s turn is immediately available, with Roy Halladay not quite recovered from his prior outing. He’ll face Homestead’s Francisco Liriano, who has pitched very well of late, in this one.

The legend of Josh Gibson just continues … Homestead’s offensive juggernaut took Hammaker deep in the first with Judy Johnson on to give the Grays an early 2-0 lead. Tim Raines started the game for Ottawa with a solo shot, halving the deficit and then Larry Walker launched his 39th of the year, tying the game at 2.

Hammaker allows 2 baserunners in the 2nd, but he got out of it, having gotten 5 of the 6 outs in the game so far via the strikeout. Liriano is faring worse: Adrián Beltré launched a solo shot in the 2nd, and the Mounties scored another on a hit from Sam Thompson.

But Gibson and Rick Reichardt launched back to back shots in the 3rd, tying the game once again until, in the 4th, Willie Stargell hit his 29th, giving the Grays a 5-4 lead. That was it for Hammaker–4 innings and 7 K’s, but also 4 homeruns allowed.

Bryn Smith allowed a hit to Johnson, and then Gibson did it once again–his 3rd homerun of the game, launched to deep center.

Liriano made it into the 6th, but hits from Thompson and Mike Dorgan chased him.

Gibson had a chance to become the first player in WBL history to hit 4 out in a game, but had to settle for a double off the CF wall.

But there was one more twist in the game: with 2 runners on in the bottom of the 9th, Ottawa turned to Rick Monday who continued his shocking campaign with a 3-run shot off Michael Jackson to tie the game at 7. That was followed by Dorgan’s 2nd homer of the game, and Ottawa had seized the lead, which they doubled on a an RBI double from Beltrán.

So, the top of the 9th was set, with Ottawa’s closer Tom Henke destined to face Gibson. Homestead is hard to close out: Andy Van Slyke led off the inning with a homerun. Johnson may have shown his youth, getting thrown out at send trying to stretch a single into a double–an especially poor choice, given Gibson being the next batter.

Henke was very careful, and while it won’t go down as an intentional walk, it was as close as can be. Henke wrapped 2 strikeouts around a hit batsman, closing out the game for a surprising win for Ottawa.

Gibson was clearly magnificent, but Johnson and Stargell added 3 hits each, while Mike Epstein whiffed 5 times for the Grays. 11 homeruns in the game highlighted the challenge both teams have with their staffs.

HOM 8 (Jackson 1-5, 5 B Sv; Kemmerer 2 H) @ OTT 9 (Crain 1-2; Henke 9 Sv)
HRs: HOM – Gibson 3 (29), Reichardt (26), Stargell (20), Van Slyke (12); OTT – Raines (15), Walker (39), Beltré (24), Monday (22), Dorgan (2).
Box Score

Game Two

Game 2 will see Roy Halladay face off against Homestead’s Doug Drabek.

These teams cannot stop hitting the ball out of the park. Homestead’s Mike Epstein and Rick Reichardt went back-to-back in the top of the first.

Drabek had to leave the game in the 3rd with back tightness, bringing in newly promoted Bartolo Colón for his WBL debut. Colón gave up a seeing-eye 2 run single to Gary Carter that tied the game at 3, but Owen Wilson launched his 2nd of the year to put the Grays back on top, 5-3.

Both bullpens locked in at that point: Colón was followed by Rick Ownbey and Ricardo Rincón, turning the ball over to closer Josh Lindblom for the bottom of the 9th. But this Ottawa team is tough: Carter greeted Lindblom with his 35th homer of the year, making it a 1 run game.

Rusty Staub managed a bloop hit, and was replaced at first by Tim Raines, representing the tying run. Raines stole 2nd (his 70th of the year, giving him, at least for the moment, the league lead) and moved to 3rd on a groundout from Carlos Beltrán. A single from Adrián Beltré tied the game, and off to extra innings we went.

Andy Van Slyke walked, stole second, and move to 3rd on a single form Judy Johnson. Josh Gibson was plunked by Clark Griffith to load the bases. Griffith walked in a run, but that was it, and Homestead stuck with Lindblom for the bottom of the 10th. Despite an error in the frame, Lindblom closed out the game.

HOM 6 (Lindblom 5-3, 3 B Sv; Ownbey 5 H; Rincón 2 H) @ OTT 5 (Gregg 0-3)
HRs: HOM – Reichardt (27), Epstein (27), Wilson (2); OTT – Carter (35).
Box Score

After the game, Homestead moved Drabek to the DL, recalling Brickyard Kennedy from AAA.

Game Three

So, 2 one-run games and an even split.

The rubber match would see Homestead’s Cliff Lee take on Ottawa’s Bill Smith–which should be a fairly significant edge for the Mounties.

And yet … Andy Van Slyke led the game off with homer against Smith for an early 1-0 lead for the Grays. In the 4th, a double from Honus Wagner, a homer from Napoleon Lajoie, and RBI singles from Josh Gibson and Rick Reichardt made it 6-0 and chased Smith.

The Mounties finally got on the board when Tim Raines stole home (!) for his 72nd swipe of the season.

But Lee was dealing until he was forced from the game in the 7th through injury. At that point, he had a -1 lead, having surrendered only 2 hits. Ray Brown replaced Lee and gave up 2 runs, but the Grays were still up, 7-3 heading into the final 2 frames.

In the bottom of the 9th, Sam Thompson knocked in 2, closing the game to 7-5. The Mounties sent up Rick Monday as a pinch-hitter–could the legend grow? Temporarily, at least! Monday greeted Michael Jackson with a double, making it a 1-run game, 7-6.

Jackson walked Raines … and gave up a walk-off, 3 run shot to Roberto Alomar, as Ottawa once again rode their offense to a win, both for the game and the series.

HOM 7 (Jackson 1-6, 6 B Sv) @ OTT 9 (Smith, Bry 1-1)
HRs: HOM – Van Slyke (13), Lajoie (8); OTT – Alomar (22).
Box Score

In many ways, this is who Ottawa is: can they hold on by their fingernails on the mound until they find a way to score more runs than you. They hit 7 homers in the 5 games, and Tim Raines swiped 5 bases.

Some recognition does need to go to Josh Gibson, who finished the 3 game series with 3 homers, 7 RBI’s and 6 hits in 10 ABs.

HOME PAGE | ROSTER | POSITIONAL STRENGTH | LEADERS

The Stars clearly need to keep adding talent: the gap between the leaders of the team–Aaron Judge, Charles “Bullet Joe” Rogan, Hardie Henderson–and the end of the roster is just too great. But it’s a start.

THE OFFENSE

Philadelphia’s problem, simply, is its offense. They don’t hit for average, they don’t get on base, and they don’t hit for power. Not sure what else there is … they do run the bases decently.

#What’s Going Right

Aaron Judge, an extra part in the Bill Dickey/Mike Schmidt trade, has absolutely exploded on the scene, with an OPS just under 1.00 and leading the team in HR and RBI.

Charles “Bullet Joe” Rogan is far better offensively than anticipated, sporting the 2nd highest OPS on the team and leading the Stars in SLG at .615 and BA at .295. Rogan is playing all over the place, but seeing most of his time in the OF.

Scott Rolen leads the team in WAR with an OPS around .950.

At 37, Rico Carty is still useful. He can’t move, can’t field much, but he can hit, even with occasional power.

#What’s Not Going Right

Everything else?

C continues to be a black hole, with Mike Scioscia slightly more effective than Butch Wynegar and Sherm Lollar.

Willie Davis, a leader on the team last year, is slashing 233/290/373 this season, which is quite a plummet.

Ted Kluszewski has a little power, but little else: a SLG barely over .400 just won’t cut it.

But Kluszewski’s OPS is over 100 points higher than Jimmy Rollins, who has essentially lost the job to Art Fletcher.

While Rogan is doing unprecedented things as a 2-way player, JM Ward is not, to the point the team has decided they have better options at DH when he’s on the mound.

THE PITCHING

And now the good news.

#What’s Going Right

The starting pitching is strong, led by Hardie Henderson, who is 10-6 with a 3.05 ERA at the break.

Rogan and JM Ward don’t have great records (5-8 for Rogan, 4-4 for Ward), but they’ve got fantastic peripherals led by Ward’s 1.05 WHIP.

Behind them, Steve Carlton has been solid enough.

Fred Cambria, Ted Kennedy, and Brad Kilby have been fantastic getting the ball to Bob Howry. That trio has 7 saves and 21 holds, and Howry has a 0.82 WHIP and a dozen saves.

#What’s Not Going Right

The back end of the rotation is still a bit rough. Ray Collins is in the 5th spot now, but neither he nor Robin Roberts nor Larry Jackson have really seized the opportunity.

THE FARM SYSTEM

TOP PROSPECTS | MINOR LEAGUE SYSTEM

There is hope for the future here. I mean, prospects flame out and all that, but there is hope.

Bill Gatewood is the highest ranked prospect, and probably the best arm in the system, but Jack Kralick, Jack Easton, LaTroy Hawkins, and perhaps even Scott Garrelts and Luke Weaver all have some upside.

Bill Dickey is likely to be recalled at the all star break and Harmon Killebrew and Bobby Abreu will probably see time with the Stars this year as well. Behind them, it does thin out a little, but Richie Ashburn, Andrew Payne, and Prince Fielder all have significant value.

WHAT’S NEEDED

The offense to become league average or better, preferably led by some of the prospects stepping forward. And, of course, the pitching to not regress.

Storylines to Watch

Key Questions from Spring Training

• What does the bullpen look like? Fairly well answered, as most teams would welcome the combined performance of Kennedy, Cambria, Kilby, and Howry.
• How does the OF resolve, and most importantly how much of Aaron Judge‘s debut performance was a mirage? The latter first: very little, evidently. This remains a question, but not as anticipated–the Stars never anticipated CF being an open question, but with Willie Davis’ loss of form, it is.
• Can the flashes of talent on the IF shown last year from Juan Samuel and Roger Peckinpaugh deliver over a full season? Yoikes. No, no they cannot; in fact, neither is in the WBL and SS continues to be a bit of a mess.

FEATURED SERIES

Philadelphia opens the second half of the season with 3 games at Ottawa.

Projected Starters

Philadelphia’s starter listed first.

Steve Carlton (7-9, 5.62) @ Old Hoss Radbourn (9-6, 6.13)
Charles Rogan (5-8, 4.46) @ Roy Halladay (8-6, 4.92)
Ray Collins (2-4, 5.08) @ Bill Smith (6-2, 3.57)

Game One

Both teams are in an odd spot where their #1 starter is not their best, with the opening game matching Steve Carlton against Old Hoss Radbourn.

The much-maligned Willie Davis led the game off with a solo shot to right, giving the Stars a 1-0 lead. Tim Raines matched him, leading off the bottom of the frame with his 12th homer of the year to tie the game. Rusty Staub took Carlton deep with a runner on in the 2nd, but Carlton induced an inning-ending double play from Roberto Alomar to limit the damage.

After Davis doubled in the 3rd, Aaron Judge went deep to tie the game, then, in the 5th Davis (who has been stung by the criticism, it must be said) homered again.

Larry Walker tied it up with a 2-out double in the bottom of the 5th, but the Stars broke the deadlock immediately, as Judge tripled and Rico Carty chased Radbourn from the game with an RBI double.

Carlton got the first out in the 7th, but his relief, Ted Kennedy, was greeted with a solo shot from Adrián Beltré to once again tie the contest. Kennedy–helped by Art Fletcher gunning down Raines at home and the just-recalled Bill Dickey throwing out Alomar on a steal attempt–got out of the inning without further damage.

George Hendrick hit a 2-run shot in the 8th: 7-5 Stars. But it was never going to be that easy: Gary Carter sent a Brad Kilby pitch over the wall in left with Walker on, tying us up once again.

It ended with a walkoff dinger, of course: Alomar taking Pedro Feliciano deep in the bottom of the 9th.

Davis and Judge had 3 hits for the Stars.

PHI 7 (Feliciano 0-1; Kennedy 6 BSv; Kilby 2 BSv) @ OTT 9 (Ryan 2-2)
HRs: PHI – Davis 2 (8), Judge (27), Hendrick (9); OTT – Raines (12), Staub (15), Carter (32), Alomar (19).
Box Score

Game Two

The Stars gave Hardie Henderson the start in game 2; he would face the Mounties’ Roy Halladay.

Gary Carter hit his 33rd of the year in the bottom of the first, putting the Mounties up, 2-0, and an RBI double from Álex Rodríguez made it 3-0 in the 2nd, and then the miracle of Rick Monday continued: his 21st homer of the year increased the lead to 4-0.

Jimmy Rollins‘ 1st homer of the year made it 4-1.

Henderson was chased from the game in the 5th by a 2-run shot from Roberto Alomar and an RBI double from Rusty Staub. He was relieved by Robin Roberts who gave up an RBI single to Monday before getting out of the inning with Ottawa ahead, 8-1.

There was some more: homers by Ted Kluszewski and Adrian Beltré, some other stuff. But the outcome was never in doubt, as the Mounties rolled, 14-3.

Monday had 4 hits and 4 RBIs.

PHI 3 (Henderson 10-7) @ OTT 14 (Halladay 9-6)
HRs: PHI – Rollins (1), Kluszewski (12); OTT – Carter (33), Monday (21), Alomar (20), Beltré (23).
Box Score

Game Three

Trying to salvage a game, the Stars would send out J.M. Ward to face Ottawa’s Bill Smith. Ward was recently removed from being used as DH when he pitched: we’ll see if being able to focus solely on his mound duties changes anything for Philadelphia.

The game was scoreless through 5, with Smith allowing 3 hits and Ward only 1. Rusty Staub broke the deadlock in the bottom of the 7th, touching Ward for a 2-run homerun.

Aaron Judge hit his 28th in the top of the 9th, ending Smith’s shutout bid, but, after a single by Ted Kluszewski, Ottawa’s closer, Tom Henke, was able to retire Rico Carty on a popout to center.

Ward was once again a hard luck loser, pitching 7 strong innings.

PHI 1 (Ward 4-5) @ OTT 3 (Smith 7-2; Henke 7 Sv)
HRs: PHI – Judge (28); PHI – Staub (16).
Box Score

Not good. Not only were the Stars swept, they were outscored 26-11. Still, for Philadelphia, it’s all about next year, so there will be bruises in the process.

#Brooklyn Royal Giants

In a move long clamored for by the fans, the Royal Giants have replaced Sandy Koufax with Fernando Valenzuela in their rotation.

Roy White hit two out and Smokey Joe Williams did just enough to even his record at 7-7 as the Royal Giants topped Philadelphia, 11-5.

Mike Piazza hit 2 homeruns, edging towards 30 on the season, and White, Germany Smith, and Jackie Robinson also went yard, backing a strong outing from Frank Knauss, who improved to 8-4 in the 9-4 win over the Stars.

#Homestead Grays

The Grays have sent Carlos Zambrano to AAA, hopefully to get a bit more consistent work, and recalled Ricardo Rincón to give them a lefty from the bullpen.

Rey Sánchez has also been sent down, with teenager Judy Johnson being recalled into the utility IF role.

Roberto Clemente hit for the cycle in a 13-3 thrashing of Brooklyn, the first player in the WBL to do so this year.

#New York Gothams

Joe Adcock went deep twice and Benny Kauff delivered a key pinch hit homer as the Gothams beat Homestead, 9-5.

#Ottawa Mounties

The Mounties slugged 7 homeruns, going back-to-back and back-to-back-to-back in a 10-1 drubbing of Houston. Gary Carter had 2, and Rick Monday, Sam Thompson, Adrián Beltré, Roberto Alomar, and Álex Rodríguez each reached the seats as well. Old Hoss Radbourn improved to 9-5, allowing only 3 hits and 1 run in 8+ innings of work for Ottawa.

Bob Moose will miss the better part of a year with a torn labrum, just as the Mounties’ rotation looked like it was rounding into shape. Bryn Smith was recalled from AAA.

Carter hit another 2 homeruns (that’s 28 on the season) and Ottawa rolled over Kansas City, 10-0. Johnny Podgajny threw 8+ innings of 4-hit ball, improving his record to 2-1.

Thompson went yard twice in a 6-2 win over the Monarchs, backing an excellent effort from Bill Smith, who improved to 6-2 on the season.

#Brooklyn Royal Giants

While the Royal Giants wait for Jackie Robinson‘s return, they swap out a couple of bench pieces, sending Frank Isbell to AAA in exchange for Matty Alou, a move facilitated by Germany Smith‘s slight uptick in offensive output (from miserable to merely below average). When Robinson was recalled from his brief rehab assignment, Art Griggs was sent to AAA.

#Homestead Grays

Daniel Hudson was sent to AAA as Doug Drabek was recalled from his rehab assignment, and slotted directly into the 3rd spot of the rotation.

#New York Gothams

Willie Mays hit 2 out, leading the Gothams to a 7-4 win over Brooklyn. Larry Doyle did the same (1 a 503 ft. bomb) in a 4-2 win over the Royal Giants.

#Ottawa Mounties

Bill Smith will spend a stint on the DL, with the Mounties recalling Chris Bosio for a look at the big league level.

Dave Gregg will miss about a month with a sore shoulder, with the Mounties recalling Jesse Crain from AA for a look in their bullpen.

Adrián Beltré went deep twice as Ottawa topped Philadelphia 10-8 in extra innings.

#Philadelphia Stars

With Bob Howry heading to the DL for about a week, the Stars recalled Pedro Feliciano from AAA.