[Ben E Lou]

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2004

THIS MONTH’S RECORD: 12-17
OVERALL RECORD AT MONTH-END: 85-77
CURRENT STANDING: Tied for 2nd. 2 games behind Division Champion Mets 3 games out of Wildcard.

MAJOR INJURIES:
Baumer pulls his bicep tendon on 9/24. At the time we were 2 games out of first. He missed the final week-and-a-half of the regular season. We were 5-3 after he went out.

TEAM NEWS FROM THIS MONTH

Wednesday 9/1/2004 :
Ronald Feely has 4 hits against Atlanta.
Ronald Feely slams 2 homers against Atlanta.
Ronald Feely drives in 5 runs against Atlanta.
Ronald Feely scores 4 runs against Atlanta.

Saturday 9/11/2004:
Tyrone Sweeney sets a new season Team-Record for Stolen Bases with 56!

Friday 9/17/2004:
Matthew Erwin crushes 2 homers against Pittsburgh.

Friday 9/24/2004:
Ronald Feely hits 2 homers against San Francisco.

Wednesday 9/29/2004:
Tyrone Sweeney sets a new season NL-Record for Stolen Bases with 60!

Thursday 9/30/2004:
John Swensen has 4 hits against Colorado.

Thursday 10/1/200 :
Ronald Feely was named National League-Batter of the Month!
He batted .289 in 97 AB, with 10 homers and 24 RBI.

Sunday 10/3/2004:
Matthew Erwin has 4 hits against Philadelphia.

MAJOR LEAGUE PERFORMANCES OF NOTE/LINEUP CHANGES/ROTATION CHANGES:
Gregorio Cruz stunk it up this month (11.72 ERA), and was replaced in the rotation for his final 2 starts by Billy Hague, who was 1-0 in 2 starts. Adams had a very rough month (1-4,7.53), as did Stickles (2-4,7.33). Fernanded (3-0,2.91) was the only starter to fare well this month.

The offense had a strong final month, but couldn’t overcome the bad pitching. We ended up first in the league in runs with 759, and first in homers with 215. Camacho had a good month (.919OPS), as did Erwin (12HR,.989OPS), and Feely was player of the month with his 24 RBI’s.

YEAR-END TEAM STATISTICAL LEADERS
AVG: CF Wuest—.276
HR: SS Erwin--36
RBI: RF Feely—111
SB: 2B Sweeney—60
SP ERA: Baumer—3.05
RP ERA: Steele—3.36
SAVES: Marmolejo--35
SP K’s: Adams--195

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Monday 9/6/2004:
Porfirio Leyva's control seems to have taken a bump...

Monday 9/13/2004:
George Palafox plate discipline seems to have faded...

Monday 9/20/2004:
Dion Martinez seems to have improved his pure stuff!
Lloyd Schulman seems to have lost some bat speed, resulting in less contact...

Monday 9/27/2004:
Winfred Dunaway increased his bat control, resulting in more contact!
Antonio Latta has worked out more, his duration raises to C ...

Monday 10/4/2004:
Max Conde seems to have improved his pure stuff!
Max Conde's pitches have more bite now, the movement has improved!
Dean Linke seems to have lost some of his feel for his stuff...
Dean Linke has lost some movement on his pitches...
Dean Linke has lost some lower body strength, his duration drops to D ...

Conde becomes a 3.5 star prospect…

NEW PERSONAL DIARY ENTRIES:
None.

MONTHLY AWARDS
American League-Pitcher of the Month:
Arthur Jan (OAK)!
He had a record of 3-1 in 6 games started, with an ERA of 0.79 and 1 shutouts.
American League-Batter of the Month:
Luis Szymanski (DET)!
He batted .304 in 92 AB, with 8 homers and 22 RBI.
National League-Pitcher of the Month:
Avery Twiggs (MIL)!
He had a record of 2-0 in 6 games started, with an ERA of 0.46.
National League-Batter of the Month:
Ronald Feely (MON)!
He batted .289 in 97 AB, with 10 homers and 24 RBI.

OTHER LEAGUE NEWS OF INTEREST
Ronald Demuth, who we traded away in the deal that brought us CF Wuest and SS Pardo, hit 54 homers and drove in 131 runs this season for Toronto.
Atlanta still hasn’t come around. They went 72-90 this year. The AI traded “Superfly” Sylvain to Tampa Bay for three decent-or-better prospects. This looks like a smart trade for Atlanta, as Sylvain was in the last year of his contract.