[Ben E Lou]

AUGUST 2000

THIS MONTH’S RECORD: 14-13
OVERALL RECORD AT MONTH-END: 66-67
CURRENT STANDING: Fourth place, 18 games behind the division-leading Mets.

INJURIES DURING MONTH:
None. RF Mejia returned from injury, but he’s lost his spot to “Superfly” Sylvain.

MAJOR LEAGUE PERFORMANCES OF NOTE/LINEUP CHANGES/ROTATION CHANGES:
The rotation still looking solid all around. Jimmy Cobbs had a fantastic month, going 3-0 with a 1.03 ERA. The AI left Joshua Dinger in for three innings when he was getting shelled. He gave up 15 runs in that appearance, very frustrating considering he only gave up one run from June 12th to August 15th—over 2 months. His stats now won’t reflect how effective he’s been overall.

Offensively speak, 3B Schuster is still having a very good year (.308-23-82). Superfly Sylvain got his first major league homer, and is hitting .240. He’ll stick at age 22.

SEASON-TO-DATE TEAM STATISTICAL LEADERS
AVG: 1B Romero--.313
HR: 3B Schuster—23
RBI: 3B Schuster—82
SB: CF Dyke—39
SP ERA: Cobbs—2.61
RP ERA: Holley—3.45
SAVES: Dinger—19
SP K’s: Shultis--190

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Monday 8/7/2000 :
Tyler Poulson has gained more power!
Alan Dye has learned reading pitchers better, his stealing ability raises to B ...

Monday 8/21/2000 :
Benito Gutierrez increased his bat control, resulting in more contact!
Benito Gutierrez has improved his plate disclipine!

Monday 8/28/2000 :
Tobias Hachiro seems to have lost some bat speed, resulting in less contact...

1B Poulson was already on the radar screen as a prospect. Additional power is a nice plus! 2B Alan “The Hammer” Dye now has the potential to be a bona-fide all-around threat. With current starter Rodney Campbell in the final year of his contract, “The Hammer” is set to take over in ’01. Gutierrez is now a 3-star prospect (avg/avg/avg). Hachiro lost power last month. He’s a candidate for getting cut soon.

AAA NOTES—Note: I’m reporting month-by-month on 3 ½ star and up players, and any others who are performing extremely well.
SP Willie “The Fireball” Prahl is 12-8 with a 4.14. His ratings are still 6/6/4..

SP Hipolito Dominguez had a rough welcome to AAA. In five starts, he’s 2-3 with a 10.52 ERA, having given up 30 ER in 25 2/3 innings.

2B Alan “The Hammer” Dye is up to .315, with ratings still at 5/4/5. He’s starting to show some power—his slugging pct is up to .462.

LF Jacobo Sousa is hitting .310, slugging .415 and is rated 4/4/4.

LF Sidney “Tumbleweed” Sutton is batting .259 and slugging .443, and his ratings are at 4/6/8.

RF Heasley is hitting .257, and his ratings sit at 4/3/3.

AA NOTES:
C Walter McDonald hit .295 with a .767 OPS in his first month at AA

A NOTES:
SP Chad Alejo had a good month. He is up to 9-9, 4.30.
SP William Bent had an excellent month. He is now 7-3, 2.72. Scout says I could try him at AA, but he may not be ready. I’m going to call him up.
SP Jim Decker continues to impress. He’s now 9-2 with a 2.36 ERA. I call him up as well, despite no scout recommendation to do so.
SP/RP Dean Sipe struggled this month. He’s now 4-6, 4.40
1B/3B Cruz Muniz is now dominating Class “A” pitching. He’s hitting .329 with a .927 OPS. I call him up, again with no scout rec.
1B Tyler Poulson is hitting .322 with a .793 OPS.
SS Robert Pauli is now hitting .279 with a .713 OPS.

KEY E-MAILS:
I received no e-mails of note.

PERSONAL DIARY ENTRIES:
None.

TRADES
None.

MONTHLY AWARDS
Pitchers Of The Month: Antonio Rosas, CWS (3-1,0.82) and Richard Rubalcaba (3-0, 0.25)
Batters Of The Month: LF Hernan Gomez, CWS (.406, 28RBI) and Luis Ruano (.343, 33 RBI)

TEAM NEWS

Tuesday 8/1/2000:
Jimmy Cobbs pitches a 5-hit shutout against Los Angeles!!

Friday 8/11/2000:
Benny Conde slams 2 homers against Philadelphia.
Benny Conde drives in 5 runs against Philadelphia.

Wednesday 8/16/2000:
Anthony Schuster slams 2 homers against Florida.

Tuesday 8/22/2000 :
James Shultis strikes out 11 against Houston.

Thursday 8/31/2000 :
Jimmy Cobbs strikes out 11 against Montreal.

IMPORTANT LEAGUE NEWS
Jose Cabello is making a run at the Triple Crown! He's hitting hitting .338 with 42 homers and 101 RBI's. He leads the leave is homers, is tied for the lead in RBI, and is only 3 percentage points off the lead for the batting title.

MY SEPTEMBER CALL-UPS OF NOTE
None. Just a few vets.