[Ben E Lou]

MAY 2000

THIS MONTH’S RECORD: 16-12
OVERALL RECORD AT MONTH-END: 25-29
CURRENT STANDING: Fourth place. 7½ games behind the division-leading Mets.

MAJOR LEAGUE PERFORMANCES OF NOTE/LINEUP CHANGES/ROTATION CHANGES:
Oops. I forgot to insert Dinger into the closer slot, and he only got one appearance. (1.0IP, 2K, SV). The front four of the rotation have all settled in now. (3.20, 4.39, 3.51, 3.70 ERA’s.) Figueroa is still struggling (2-6, 5.93).

We’ve risen to #20 in team homers, with Schuster and Fuensanta having 10 each. On the whole, the hitting has improved. RF Mejia (.233) is the only regular hitting under .240. Dyke and Puente have 27 SB’s between the two of them at the top of the order, but their OBP’s stink (both are under .300). 1B Romero has cooled off, and is down to .313. The problem has been left-handed pitching. He’s only hit .212 with a .515 OPS against lefties. Conde has hit .368 in 19 at bats vs. lefties up to now, so I’m going to a strict platoon situation at 1B.


PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Monday 5/8/2000 :

Steve Fulmer plate discipline seems to have faded...

Monday 5/15/2000 :

Chad Alejo has worked out more, his duration raises to C ...

Monday 5/22/2000 :

Gregory Priolo seems to have lost some bat speed, resulting in less contact...Jacobo Sousa has gained more power!

Monday 5/29/2000 :

James Shultis has worked out more, his duration raises to B ...Douglas Diez seems to have improved his pure stuff! Cruz Muñiz increased his bat control, resulting in more contact!

Sousa’s power increase crowds an already crowded outfield prospect picture. He’s now up to 3 ½ stars, and is hitting .316 in AAA. Diez is now a 4 ½ star guy, with a 2.96 ERA in AAA, and 4/3/7 ratings. Muniz increasing his contact to average could be BIG news. He’s now Avg/Brl/Avg, and up to 3 ½ stars. The decreases are all insignificant players.

AAA NOTES
2B Alan “The Hammer” Dye is down to .303, and still 4/4/5. CF Michael “Superfly” Sylvain is hitting .272, and is up to 5/4/4. The scouting report says he’s probably ready right now to test his mettle in the majors. Major league starting CF Joseph Dyke only has a .276 OBP in the #2 slot, and Superfly looks just as fast as Dyke (Both are B,B). I’ll give Superfly one more month to develop at AAA, and call him up July 1st if all is still going well. RF Heasley has proven himself ready for AAA. He’s hit .273 this month.

AA NOTES:
Hipolitor “The Terminator” Dominguez has dropped his ERA to 3.82, from 5.28 at the end of April.

A NOTES:
Unheralded 22-year-old 3B William Polly is down to .280. Nothing to see here.

INJURIES:
Again, none this month.

KEY E-MAILS:
I received no e-mails for note besides guys looking for extensions. I’m not talking contracts during the season. We’ll do these at the end of the regular season.

PERSONAL DIARY ENTRIES:
Blaney and I have been dating for four months now. I decide to pop the question. She doesn’t want to marry me yet.

TRADES
None.

MONTHLY AWARDS
Pitchers Of The Month: Ciro Esparza, TB (2-0, 0.93) and Michael Federico, COL (3-0, 1.29)
Batters Of The Month: 3B Phillip Dileo, ANA (.374, 9, 33) and legendary RF Jose Cabello, MIL (.398, 7, 20). (Cabello may be on his way to his best all-around season yet. He’s hitting .372 with 18 HR’s and 49 RBI)

TEAM NEWS

Friday 5/5/2000 :
Rodney Campbell hits a 468-foot homerun!!
Jimmy Cobbs strikes out 12 against Florida.

Thursday 5/11/2000 :
Eduardo Fuensanta crushes 2 homers against Arizona.
Eduardo Fuensanta has 5 RBI against Arizona.

Tuesday 5/16/2000 :
Jimmy Cobbs strikes out 12 against Pittsburgh.

Thursday 5/18/2000 :
Rodney Campbell has 4 hits against Pittsburgh.
Anthony Schuster slams 2 homers against Pittsburgh.

Sunday 5/21/2000 :
Theodore Barrett hits a 455-foot homerun!!

Monday 5/22/2000 :
Anthony Schuster was named Player of the Week!
He batted .478 in 23 AB, with 5 HR and 11 RBI.

Tuesday 5/23/2000 :
Roberto Medina pitches a 2-hit shutout against Philadelphia!!

Monday 5/29/2000 :
Roberto Medina was named Player of the Week!
He won 2 games, with one shutout, pitched 16.1 innings
with an ERA of 0.00, fanning 8.

IMPORTANT LEAGUE NEWS
Boston’s SS Bill Curley got his 2,000th hit this month.