[Ben E Lou]

JUNE 2001

THIS MONTH’S RECORD: 11-17
OVERALL RECORD AT MONTH-END: 34-48
CURRENT STANDING: Fourth place. 19 games behind the division-leading Mets.

INJURIES DURING MONTH:
No major injuries

MAJOR LEAGUE PERFORMANCES OF NOTE/LINEUP CHANGES/ROTATION CHANGES:
SP Medina is really struggling. He has a 5.63 ERA. He may get replaced in the rotation soon. Dinger has 19 saves and a 1.39 ERA. He finally blew a save after converting his first 18 opportunities.

Offensively, we’ve been anemic. The first base platoon that performed so well last year is stinkin’ it up this year. Romero is at .227 with 6 homers and 24 RBI’s, and Conde is at .181 with 1 homer and 4 RBI. What’s worse is that there is no alternative at AAA right now. No one else is standing out as performing really badly, but no one is tearing it up offensively either.

MID-SEASON TEAM STATISTICAL LEADERS
AVG: RF Mejia--.288
HR: SS Fuensanta--17
RBI: SS Fuensanta--51
SB: CF Sylvain--.242
SP ERA: Figueroa—3.52
RP ERA: Dinger—1.39
SAVES: Dinger—19
SP K’s: Shultis—104

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Monday 6/5/2001 :
Dean Sipe seems to have improved his pure stuff!
Dean Sipe is hitting his spots better, his command improved!
Brian Cassady increased his bat control, resulting in more contact!

Monday 6/12/2001 :
Samuel Charneco has lost some momentum, his stealing ability drops to E ...
Eddie Lopez plate discipline seems to have faded...

Monday 6/19/2001 :
Bobby Day seems to have improved his pure stuff!
Bobby Day's pitches have more bite now, the movement has improved!
Bobby Day is hitting his spots better, his command improved!

Monday 6/26/2001 :
Eduardo Fuensanta has lost some power...
Gregory Priolo increased his bat control, resulting in more contact!
Lucas Valverde is hitting his spots better, his command improved!

Sipe, a fifth-round draft choice, has improved to the point of being a five-star prospect now, #33 in all of baseball! Nice…Fuensanta’s power decrease to “Good” is a little concerning at age 34. Fortunately he’s in the last year of his contract.

AAA NOTES —Note: I’ve decided to report month-by-month on 3 ½ star and up players at all classifications, and any others who are performing extremely well.
SP Hiplotio “The Terminator” Dominguez—1-1, 4.25 6/6/6
MR Douglas Diez—3-0, 3.12, 7/3/8
C Walter McDonald--.936 OPS. 4/6/8. One more increase in contact or power, and I’ll promote him.
2B Allen “The Hammer” Dye--.889 OPS. 6/4/6 ratings. Methinks it is now “Hammer Time.” (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)
LF/CF Jacobo Sousa--.772 OPS. 4/4/4.
LF/RF Sidney “Tumbleweed” Sutton--.842OPS, 4/6/8
RF Bryan Heasley--.853OPS, 5/3/4.

AA NOTES:
SP William Bent—9-4, 2.96, 2/2/6
SP Dean Sipe—6-2, 1.55, 3/6/6.
3B/1B Cruz Muniz--.766 OPS, 2/4/3

A NOTES:
SP Jim Decker—1-3, 4.41, 0/2/4
1B Danny Anderson--.757 OPS, 2/2/6
1B Tyler Poulson--.765 OPS, 2/2/3
SS Robert Pauli--.788 OPS, 2/3/3

PERSONAL DIARY ENTRIES:
None.

TRADES
Well, since I’m calling up Allen “The Hammer” Dye to play 2B, starter Rodney Campbell is expendable. I could REALLY use a first baseman, so I trade Campbell along with 1B Romero. Kansas City accepts the two of them for a VERY good player, 1B Eugene Lamb (6/8/7). Lamb looks to be entering his prime in his 5th season in the bigs at age 29. He’s hitting .271 with 18 homers and 46 RBI’s this season. He has “C” defensive range, and a .999 fielding pct.. He’s arbitration eligible, but I go ahead and give him a three-year extension for $4.65M per year. Welcome aboard, Eugene!

Our new batting order:

1. CF Sylvain (6/4/5)
2. 2B Dye (6/4/6)
3. 3B Schuster (6/6/6)
4. 1B Lamb (6/8/7)
5. SS Fuensanta (6/8/5)
6. C Barrett (6/6/7)
7. LF Mcfarland (6/5/5)
8. RF Mejia (6/3/5)

MONTHLY AWARDS
Pitchers Of The Month: John Guest, MIN (4-1, 1.57) and Pedro Diaz, MON (4-0, 1.17)
Batters Of The Month: C Jared Barrows, ANA (.337, 11 HR, 23 RBI) and Elmer Connors, STL (.337, 9 HR and 24 RBI)

TEAM NEWS

Monday 6/5/2001 :

Willie Prahl fans 11 batters against Florida.


Thursday 6/8/2001 :

Joseph Dyke has 4 hits against Chicago (N).
Joseph Dyke scores 5 runs against Chicago (N).


Saturday 6/17/2001 :

Eduardo Fuensanta hits 2 homers against Milwaukee.


Thursday 6/22/2001 :

Anthony Schuster has 4 hits against Colorado.


Friday 6/30/2001 :

James Shultis strikes out 11 against Florida.

IMPORTANT LEAGUE NEWS
None.