[Ben E Lou]

MAY 2002

THIS MONTH’S RECORD: 15-12
OVERALL RECORD AT MONTH-END: 28-27
CURRENT STANDING: Second place. One-half game behind division-leading Mets.

KEY INJURIES:
BUMMER! I got 3B Schuster back, then two weeks later lost 1B Lamb for 6 weeks to a broken hand! Grrrrr. It looks like he’ll be out until early July.

MAJOR LEAGUE PERFORMANCES OF NOTE/LINEUP CHANGES/ROTATION CHANGES:
CL Dinger had one really bad outing, giving up five runs and blowing a save, and his ERA has ballooned to 4.35, but he’s been very effective overall, saving 14 of 16. Dean Sipe has been decent in his first month in the bigs, going 1-2 with a 4.44 ERA in 4 starts. The rest of the rotation has ERA’s ranging from 3.56 to 4.48. We’re still in the middle of the pack (3.98 and 16th) in team ERA.

The bats are waking up! We’re 5th in all of baseball in batting average (.264) and homers (66). Rookie catcher Walter McDonald had a big power month, hitting 11 homers and slugging .698 in May. Youngsters Sylvain and Dye at the top of the order are giving pitchers fits. They’ve combined for 35 SB’s to date, and 72 runs. Dye is 5th in the NL in batting average (.338).

SEASON-TO-DATE TEAM STATISTICAL LEADERS
AVG: 2B Dye--.338
HR: C McDonald--12
RBI: C McDonald--33
SB: CF Sylvain--18
SP ERA: Figueroa—3.56
RP ERA: Boykins—2.84
SAVES: Dinger—14
SP K’s: Figueroa--59

PLAYER DEVELOPMENT:

Monday 5/14/2002:
Stephen Dills has lost some momentum, his range at CF drops to E ...

Monday 5/21/2002:
Danny Robinson's pitches have more bite now, the movement has improved!
Danny Robinson is hitting his spots better, his command improved!

Monday 5/28/2002:
Eugene Lamb plate discipline seems to have faded...

24-year-old Robinson, who has toiled in the minors since ’96, is a guy I signed for the minimum in hopes he’d develop. He’s 5-3 with a 2.36 ERA in AA this year, and is now a 3 ½-star prospect. Nice!
b]AAA NOTES[/b] —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 Hipolito Dominguez—3-1, 1.82 (7/6/6), 5 stars. Well, he struggled mightily in the bigs, but he’s been dominant in AAA.
MR Lucas Fernandez—0-0, 0.57, (7/8/5), 4 stars
RF Bryan Heasley--.928 OPS, (6/3/4), 4 stars

AA NOTES:
SP William Bent—4-4, 3.90 ERA, (3/2/5), 4 stars
MR Carlos Villar—0-1, 5.82 ERA, (2/5/4), 4 stars
1B Danny Anderson--.796 OPS, (3/2/7), 4 stars. He’s said to be ready for AAA. I call him up.
SS Robert Pauli--.792 OPS, (3/3/4), 4 stars

A NOTES:
SP Greg Benedict—5-3, 2.69 ERA, (1/2/4), 4 stars
1B Tyler Poulson--.733 OPS, (2/2/3), 3.5 stars
CF Joseph Gillenwater--.743 OPS (2/3/3), 5 stars

PERSONAL DIARY ENTRIES:
None.

TRADES
None.

MONTHLY AWARDS
Pitchers Of The Month: Timothy Rainbolt, TOR (2-1, 0.61) and Kim Thomas, ARI (3-1, 1.19)
Batters Of The Month: LF Silvio Freire, DET (.311, 29 RBI) and 2B Ronald Demuth, MON (.354, 10, 26)

TEAM NEWS

Wednesday 5/2/2002 :
Eddie Lopez has 4 hits against New York (N).
Eddie Lopez crushes 2 homers against New York (N).

Tuesday 5/8/2002 :
Walter Mcdonald crushes 2 homers against Colorado.

Monday 5/14/2002 :
Walter Mcdonald was named Player of the Week!
He batted .364 in 22 AB, with 4 HR and 6 RBI.

Wednesday 5/16/2002 :
Walter Mcdonald hits a 451-foot homerun!!

Friday 5/18/2002 :
Alan Dye has 4 hits against New York (N).

Monday 5/21/2002 :
Walter Mcdonald slams 2 homers against Pittsburgh.
Walter Mcdonald scores 4 runs against Pittsburgh.

Saturday 5/26/2002 :
Alan Dye has 4 hits against Philadelphia.

Monday 5/28/2002 :
Walter Mcdonald hits a 454-foot homerun!!
Walter Mcdonald hits 2 homers against Montreal.

Tuesday 5/29/2002 :
Ruben Rodriguez has 4 hits against Montreal.

IMPORTANT LEAGUE NEWS
None.