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Syd Thrift · 06-08-2007, 11:54 PM

Summer Gets Under Way

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National League Standings
Team			W  L  PCT  GB	Pyt.Rec	Diff Home  Away	 Hm+/- XInn 1Run  Strk  Last10
Saint Louis Cardinals	38 23 .623  -	39-22	-1   20-13 18-10 +5	1-8  8-6  L2	6-4
Cincinnati Reds		38 24 .613  .5	34-28	+4   20-12 18-12 +6	8-1 14-7  L2	5-5
Boston Beaneaters	37 24 .607 1.0	34-27	+3   20-13 17-11 +4	6-3 13-8  W2	7-3
New York Giants		32 29 .525 6.0	36-25	-4   16-15 16-14 +1	4-3  8-11 W5	6-4
Pittsburgh Pirates	32 29 .525 6.0	39-22	-7   19-12 13-17 +1	1-5  4-9  W2	4-6
Philadelphia Phillies	23 38 .377 15.0	23-38	+0    9-18 14-20 -4	4-2  8-12 W2	4-6
Brooklyn Superbas	23 39 .371 15.5	23-39	+0   10-17 13-22 -4	3-4  8-10 L2	5-5
Chicago Colts		22 39 .361 16.0	18-43	+4   12-19 10-20 -9	2-3  9-9  L5	3-7

American League Standings
Team			W  L  PCT  GB	Pyt.Rec	Diff Home  Away	 Hm+/- XInn 1Run  Strk	Last10
Baltimore Orioles	43 21 .672 -	43-21	+0   21-10 22-11 +12	5-2 12-6  W2	6-4
Louisville Colonels	41 23 .641  2.0	36-28	+5   17-13 24-10  +9	4-3 10-6  L2	6-4
Washington Nationals	39 26 .600  4.5	38-27	+1   22-11 17-15  +6	2-5 14-4  L1	8-2
Philadelphia Athletics	34 30 .531  9.0	34-30	+0   19-16 15-14  -1	5-5  9-10 W1	5-5
Boston Red Stockings	32 33 .492 11.5	33-32	-1   12-17 20-16  +3	3-4  8-12 W1	5-5
Chicago White Stockings	26 40 .394 18.0	29-37	-3   13-20 13-20  -7	1-2  9-11 W1	4-6
Cleveland Blues		20 41 .328 21.5	21-40	-1    8-27 12-14 -15	2-2  5-11 L1	3-7
Detroit Tigers		22 43 .338 21.5	25-40	-3    8-23 14-20  -9	1-0  2-9  L1	3-7

National Sports A 3-Team Race

We recently put forth the opinion that the team that is in the lead on the 4th of July will win the pennant. Last year that turned out to be true as both the Boston Beaneaters and the Washington Senators ran away with things fairly early. This year, however, looks to be a neck and race, at least on the National side of the ledger. The St. Louis Cardinals are riding the superb pitching of Trevor Munzie (10-3, 2.56 ERA) and Mike "Saint" Hebert (11-4, 1.94) to the top spot in the league, but close behind are the Peoples' Ballclub of Cincinnati with their potent offensive attack spearheaded by SS Drake Gates (.294, 48 runs, 31 steals), CF Ed Scalf (.296 with 23 steals), and C Tyler Lenard (.325, 22 BBs in 169 at-bats). To make things crazier, just one game behind are the defending champion Boston Beaneaters, who are getting a typically awesome season from Erik Pritchitt on the mound (13-5, 2.29 ERA) and 2B Lonzo Amill in the field (.316, 52 runs, 34 SB, 4:1 K/w ratio). Who will be on the top of the list come the end of September? We aren't going to pretend that we know.

Old Guard Leads American

There are many unsettling reports coming out of Baltimore but so far nothing on the field is stopping them from winning ballgames. We have heard that Ban Johnson is planning on moving the team to New York next season, and also that manager John McGraw is planning something very sinister indeed. We've even heard, in fact, that McGraw has already signed a contract to manage the Giants of New York. We don't take a lot of stock in these rumors, though, not when Snoopy Haddon (16-3, 1.66 ERA) is putting up such gaudy numbers or Mike Hartigan (.344, 57 R, 49 RBI, 27 steals, 46:8 K/W) is carrying the team along in such a fashion as he is. Not that the Colonels of Louisville are out of it. Johnny Gruelle, who jumped from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Colonels in the offseason, has been just plain lights-out (14-1, 1.82), but the team features 5 regulars who are hitting over .300 and 2 more who are above .290. It's no wonder that the team as a whole is hitting .294 even as the league average has dipped to .268.

News From Around The League

Baltimore: We've found it hard to quote manager John McGraw without hearing some sort of reference to "cur dogs" so we'll ignore the larger issues at hand in favor of more mundane issues. Four days ago, CF Lynch Passager (.337, 33 R, 27 RBI) could barely get out of bed and has since been placed on the disabled list with spasms of the back. "He might come back to find he has no team around him, ho ho ho" said OF Mike Hartigan. We assume this is slang of some sort and has something to do with the way the team is beginning to pull away from the league.

Boston (N): The Beaneaters' defense has been problematic so far this year. On the one hand, they're 3rd from the bottom in errors with 166. The only two teams that are worse are cellar-dwellers Brooklyn and Chicago. On the other hand, they lead the league in double plays with 57. Emblematic of this display is 3B Roderick Glass, who leads all NL 3rd baseman in both categories (32 and 12, respectively). "Fact is, he's a very good gloveman", said manager Jeremy Neary of Glass. "He just doesn't always keep his head in the game." Although the pitching staff sports a sub-3.00 ERA (2.91), the team's 108 unearned runs make them the most generous of all the teams in the NL with a winning record.

Boston (A): The Bosox, who finished in the running last year in the American League but who have been unable to even win more games than they have lost so far this year, looked to shake things up a bit by trading their best hitter, LF Dan DeBose, to the Louisville Colonels for 1B Jay Hoskinson. Hoskinson, 33, is the Colonels' all-time leader in every significant statistical category, but this spring training he suffered a broken foot, which forced the team to find a replacement for him. That man, Rick Harpham, has played exceptionally well (.318, 37 R, 30 RBI), and just as importantly the Colonels have gotten off to a huge start. Hoskinson isn't particularly happy that he got dumped just as the club's luck turned around but is philosophical about the whole thing. "The Red Sox aren't this bad," he told us. "Once the bats start doing their thing, we'll be able to show [Colonels GM Fred Clarke] what's what."

Brooklyn: General Manger Bad Billy Barnie insists that manager Ned Hanlon's job is secure. "It's a young team," he said. "I won't lie - I am disappointed that they're still in the second division - but I think they're on their way upward." Language such as this is unheard of in Brooklyn, where for the better part of a decade we've heard little but talk of how the Superbas are more of a vaudeville troupe that plays baseball than a baseball team that likes to act. We believe that the first step in solving one's problems is recognizing them.

Chicago (N): There is a ray of hope in the Windy City, however slight. 1B Bob McGary was plucked from the Detroit Tigers organization, where he was hitting an amazing .452. The ultimate minor-league hitter, McGary was given an opportunity to start for Detroit last season but flubbed it by hitting just .198 in 102 at-bats. So far for the Colts he's hitting .444. Although he's a career .320 hitter in the minor leagues, the only other real chance he was given in the big league was in 1897 for the Pirates, when he hit .325 in 206 at-bats. That was the year the Pirates made the disastrous decision to try Mark Lucott at third.

Chicago (A): Word that a train navigated the trip from New York to Chicago in just under 16 hours failed to impress White Stockings manager Terry Lucott. "Sure, I suppose that's fast," he said. "Fast enough to bat leadoff for us? Not hardly." The Chicago AL entrant is to date 2nd in the league in steals with 71. Three players - 1B Branson Sellars (.269, 28 SB), 2B Frank Raines (.275, 11), and CF Roy MacCodrum (.298, 13) are in double figures.

Cincinnati: 2B Tim Gates, who lost his starting job last season thanks to a woeful .233 average, has won it back. Originally the position was to be filled by [b]James Engelhart, who jumped from the Cleveland Blues, but he hit an empty .260 in the first few months of the season and prompted the move. "I'm always happy to help the Peoples' Cause," said the 36-year-old Gates, who has been the regular second sacker for the Reds since 1895. "Perhaps these old bones can't run as fast as some of the young'uns do, but I know ways of keeping the kids off my lawn if you know what I mean." Amazingly, Gates has committed just 1 error in 102 chances at 2B this season.

Cleveland: Desperate for some sort of positive change, manager McGrath Adger has turned the Blues rotation upside-down. Gone to the minors is Brian Gilbert, the 23-year-old who has shown little else to date other than being young (1-7, 5.79 ERA this year), and [b]Auliffe Oulton (2-11, 5.25) has been banished to the bullpen. In their places are Harry Herapeth, who has oft been tried as a starter but who has never shown the required endurance for the position, 20-year-old Kathel Semson, and Colts cast-off Bobby Ralph (1-5, 6.62 but 11-5 and 3.09 for them last year). Given that they're allowing over 7 runs a game, it's not likely the Blues are going to get any worse.

Detroit: It wasn't the greatest month of his career, but given the way his 1902 has gone, CF Dave Wilson has to be happy with his June. He hit .259 for the month with 16 steals, doubling his theft total and raising his seasonal average from .227 to .240. "He's starting to see the ball better," said Brian Mertz of the career .274 hitter. There have been rumors that Wilson is not happy with the play of his teammates and has let that affect his own game. He's only 24 years old and a known hothead so we wouldn't necessarily put that past him.

Louisville: As good as Johnny Gruelle has been for the Colonels, one has to also wonder what's going on with the man who was supposed to be the team's ace this season, Jerry "Magoo" Watson. The lifetime major league leader in strikeouts escaped the sinking ship of the Philadelphia Phillies to join Louisville this season but thus far has managed just 6 wins in 15 decisions. Luck is said to be a factor, given that Watson sports an ERA under 3 and is a respectable 5th in the AL in Ks with 71 (and 3rd in K/W rate). Good players do not, however, blame luck for their woes and we expect a resurgence from the man with the golden glasses.

New York: P Cullen Crewe narrowly missed becoming the 2nd player this century to pitch a no-hitter on the 29th of June vs. the Chicago Colts. With 2 outs in the 9th inning he worked 2B Bob Parker to a 1-2 count, only to see him slam a hot ground ball down the 3rd base line for a double. The subsequent batter Gabriele Mollica also got a hit but RF Rick Douglas threw Parker out at home to end the game. "So close and yet so far," said a dejected Crewe after the game. "At least the hit that did it was a solid one, I guess." Crewe stands at 7 wins and 8 losses on the year with an ERA of 2.76.

Philadelphia (N): It hasn't been the greatest of years for the Phillies, but two members of the 1900 rotation that helped them win the pennant have returned and are adding a veneer of respectability to the ballclub. David Pininferino won his 200th game across the town with the Athletics and is generally a .500 pitcher so far (7-8, 3.32 ERA). He won 20 games in each of the past 2 seasons. Jimmy Baker was the '00 Phillies' relief ace, saving 19 games in 138.1 innings then. Now that that role has fallen into disfavor, he's proven to be the team's 2nd best starter behind Pininferino (4-8, 3.02).

Philadelphia (A): The Athletics remain the lone brand new AL club to establish itself as a quality team. They can credit part of their good fortune to the Washington Nationals, who traded the tricky right-hander Garrison Lindsley to them before this season for 3B Bailey Hamilton (and also to prevent the National League from taking him). So far, Lindsley is 11 and 5 with an ERA of 2.56. They have also been quite fortuitous with their kangaroo players. 2B George Marshall (.303, 15 steals) and RF Doonan Elmes (.285) have shown that they're just as good in the new league as they were in the old.

Pittsburgh: You know you're having a good season when you hit .300 with a .435 OBP for a month and that takes you off the pace you started at. Such is the case with CF Johnston Long, who is now just 69 hits away from being the 5th leading Pirate of all time in that category. By the time his career ends, he's very likely to be at the top of that and several other lists. The only person who might push him out is LF John Choate, who is still rehabilitating a badly damaged ankle.

St. Louis: Gianfranco Amoccaci came to the big leagues with his own entourage. We're not sure why, but the 27-year-old with the 7-8 career record has a legion of female fans who sit behind the third base dugout every game he pitches and swoons for 9 innings. The "Love Hunter", as his name loosely translates, is not what we would call the most attractive man in the world but he appears to have something not quite explainable that can best be described as charisma. It's worth mentioning that so far this year Amocacci's fastball has been dazzling the hitters as much as his eyes dazzle the females: he's 4-2 with a 2.32 ERA in 50.2 innings pitched.

Washington: The Nationals' chances were dealt a heavy blow last week when staff ace Brian Pike (9-7, 2.16) tore his bicep. Suffice it to say that he won't be back for the rest of this season if at all. His string of 8 consecutive years with at least 19 victories will end. In the short term, he'll be replaced by Ken Wilson, who won 32 games in the minors last year, but it's very likely that the Nationals will be looking for a longer-term solution.

06-08-2007, 11:54 PM	#122 (permalink)
Syd Thrift Banned Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 3,113	7/1/1902 Summer Gets Under Way Code: National League Standings Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away Hm+/- XInn 1Run Strk Last10 Saint Louis Cardinals 38 23 .623 - 39-22 -1 20-13 18-10 +5 1-8 8-6 L2 6-4 Cincinnati Reds 38 24 .613 .5 34-28 +4 20-12 18-12 +6 8-1 14-7 L2 5-5 Boston Beaneaters 37 24 .607 1.0 34-27 +3 20-13 17-11 +4 6-3 13-8 W2 7-3 New York Giants 32 29 .525 6.0 36-25 -4 16-15 16-14 +1 4-3 8-11 W5 6-4 Pittsburgh Pirates 32 29 .525 6.0 39-22 -7 19-12 13-17 +1 1-5 4-9 W2 4-6 Philadelphia Phillies 23 38 .377 15.0 23-38 +0 9-18 14-20 -4 4-2 8-12 W2 4-6 Brooklyn Superbas 23 39 .371 15.5 23-39 +0 10-17 13-22 -4 3-4 8-10 L2 5-5 Chicago Colts 22 39 .361 16.0 18-43 +4 12-19 10-20 -9 2-3 9-9 L5 3-7 American League Standings Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away Hm+/- XInn 1Run Strk Last10 Baltimore Orioles 43 21 .672 - 43-21 +0 21-10 22-11 +12 5-2 12-6 W2 6-4 Louisville Colonels 41 23 .641 2.0 36-28 +5 17-13 24-10 +9 4-3 10-6 L2 6-4 Washington Nationals 39 26 .600 4.5 38-27 +1 22-11 17-15 +6 2-5 14-4 L1 8-2 Philadelphia Athletics 34 30 .531 9.0 34-30 +0 19-16 15-14 -1 5-5 9-10 W1 5-5 Boston Red Stockings 32 33 .492 11.5 33-32 -1 12-17 20-16 +3 3-4 8-12 W1 5-5 Chicago White Stockings 26 40 .394 18.0 29-37 -3 13-20 13-20 -7 1-2 9-11 W1 4-6 Cleveland Blues 20 41 .328 21.5 21-40 -1 8-27 12-14 -15 2-2 5-11 L1 3-7 Detroit Tigers 22 43 .338 21.5 25-40 -3 8-23 14-20 -9 1-0 2-9 L1 3-7 National Sports A 3-Team Race We recently put forth the opinion that the team that is in the lead on the 4th of July will win the pennant. Last year that turned out to be true as both the Boston Beaneaters and the Washington Senators ran away with things fairly early. This year, however, looks to be a neck and race, at least on the National side of the ledger. The St. Louis Cardinals are riding the superb pitching of Trevor Munzie (10-3, 2.56 ERA) and Mike "Saint" Hebert (11-4, 1.94) to the top spot in the league, but close behind are the Peoples' Ballclub of Cincinnati with their potent offensive attack spearheaded by SS Drake Gates (.294, 48 runs, 31 steals), CF Ed Scalf (.296 with 23 steals), and C Tyler Lenard (.325, 22 BBs in 169 at-bats). To make things crazier, just one game behind are the defending champion Boston Beaneaters, who are getting a typically awesome season from Erik Pritchitt on the mound (13-5, 2.29 ERA) and 2B Lonzo Amill in the field (.316, 52 runs, 34 SB, 4:1 K/w ratio). Who will be on the top of the list come the end of September? We aren't going to pretend that we know. Old Guard Leads American There are many unsettling reports coming out of Baltimore but so far nothing on the field is stopping them from winning ballgames. We have heard that Ban Johnson is planning on moving the team to New York next season, and also that manager John McGraw is planning something very sinister indeed. We've even heard, in fact, that McGraw has already signed a contract to manage the Giants of New York. We don't take a lot of stock in these rumors, though, not when Snoopy Haddon (16-3, 1.66 ERA) is putting up such gaudy numbers or Mike Hartigan (.344, 57 R, 49 RBI, 27 steals, 46:8 K/W) is carrying the team along in such a fashion as he is. Not that the Colonels of Louisville are out of it. Johnny Gruelle, who jumped from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Colonels in the offseason, has been just plain lights-out (14-1, 1.82), but the team features 5 regulars who are hitting over .300 and 2 more who are above .290. It's no wonder that the team as a whole is hitting .294 even as the league average has dipped to .268. News From Around The League Baltimore: We've found it hard to quote manager John McGraw without hearing some sort of reference to "cur dogs" so we'll ignore the larger issues at hand in favor of more mundane issues. Four days ago, CF Lynch Passager (.337, 33 R, 27 RBI) could barely get out of bed and has since been placed on the disabled list with spasms of the back. "He might come back to find he has no team around him, ho ho ho" said OF Mike Hartigan. We assume this is slang of some sort and has something to do with the way the team is beginning to pull away from the league. Boston (N): The Beaneaters' defense has been problematic so far this year. On the one hand, they're 3rd from the bottom in errors with 166. The only two teams that are worse are cellar-dwellers Brooklyn and Chicago. On the other hand, they lead the league in double plays with 57. Emblematic of this display is 3B Roderick Glass, who leads all NL 3rd baseman in both categories (32 and 12, respectively). "Fact is, he's a very good gloveman", said manager Jeremy Neary of Glass. "He just doesn't always keep his head in the game." Although the pitching staff sports a sub-3.00 ERA (2.91), the team's 108 unearned runs make them the most generous of all the teams in the NL with a winning record. Boston (A): The Bosox, who finished in the running last year in the American League but who have been unable to even win more games than they have lost so far this year, looked to shake things up a bit by trading their best hitter, LF Dan DeBose, to the Louisville Colonels for 1B Jay Hoskinson. Hoskinson, 33, is the Colonels' all-time leader in every significant statistical category, but this spring training he suffered a broken foot, which forced the team to find a replacement for him. That man, Rick Harpham, has played exceptionally well (.318, 37 R, 30 RBI), and just as importantly the Colonels have gotten off to a huge start. Hoskinson isn't particularly happy that he got dumped just as the club's luck turned around but is philosophical about the whole thing. "The Red Sox aren't this bad," he told us. "Once the bats start doing their thing, we'll be able to show [Colonels GM Fred Clarke] what's what." Brooklyn: General Manger Bad Billy Barnie insists that manager Ned Hanlon's job is secure. "It's a young team," he said. "I won't lie - I am disappointed that they're still in the second division - but I think they're on their way upward." Language such as this is unheard of in Brooklyn, where for the better part of a decade we've heard little but talk of how the Superbas are more of a vaudeville troupe that plays baseball than a baseball team that likes to act. We believe that the first step in solving one's problems is recognizing them. Chicago (N): There is a ray of hope in the Windy City, however slight. 1B Bob McGary was plucked from the Detroit Tigers organization, where he was hitting an amazing .452. The ultimate minor-league hitter, McGary was given an opportunity to start for Detroit last season but flubbed it by hitting just .198 in 102 at-bats. So far for the Colts he's hitting .444. Although he's a career .320 hitter in the minor leagues, the only other real chance he was given in the big league was in 1897 for the Pirates, when he hit .325 in 206 at-bats. That was the year the Pirates made the disastrous decision to try Mark Lucott at third. Chicago (A): Word that a train navigated the trip from New York to Chicago in just under 16 hours failed to impress White Stockings manager Terry Lucott. "Sure, I suppose that's fast," he said. "Fast enough to bat leadoff for us? Not hardly." The Chicago AL entrant is to date 2nd in the league in steals with 71. Three players - 1B Branson Sellars (.269, 28 SB), 2B Frank Raines (.275, 11), and CF Roy MacCodrum (.298, 13) are in double figures. Cincinnati: 2B Tim Gates, who lost his starting job last season thanks to a woeful .233 average, has won it back. Originally the position was to be filled by [b]James Engelhart, who jumped from the Cleveland Blues, but he hit an empty .260 in the first few months of the season and prompted the move. "I'm always happy to help the Peoples' Cause," said the 36-year-old Gates, who has been the regular second sacker for the Reds since 1895. "Perhaps these old bones can't run as fast as some of the young'uns do, but I know ways of keeping the kids off my lawn if you know what I mean." Amazingly, Gates has committed just 1 error in 102 chances at 2B this season. Cleveland: Desperate for some sort of positive change, manager McGrath Adger has turned the Blues rotation upside-down. Gone to the minors is Brian Gilbert, the 23-year-old who has shown little else to date other than being young (1-7, 5.79 ERA this year), and [b]Auliffe Oulton (2-11, 5.25) has been banished to the bullpen. In their places are Harry Herapeth, who has oft been tried as a starter but who has never shown the required endurance for the position, 20-year-old Kathel Semson, and Colts cast-off Bobby Ralph (1-5, 6.62 but 11-5 and 3.09 for them last year). Given that they're allowing over 7 runs a game, it's not likely the Blues are going to get any worse. Detroit: It wasn't the greatest month of his career, but given the way his 1902 has gone, CF Dave Wilson has to be happy with his June. He hit .259 for the month with 16 steals, doubling his theft total and raising his seasonal average from .227 to .240. "He's starting to see the ball better," said Brian Mertz of the career .274 hitter. There have been rumors that Wilson is not happy with the play of his teammates and has let that affect his own game. He's only 24 years old and a known hothead so we wouldn't necessarily put that past him. Louisville: As good as Johnny Gruelle has been for the Colonels, one has to also wonder what's going on with the man who was supposed to be the team's ace this season, Jerry "Magoo" Watson. The lifetime major league leader in strikeouts escaped the sinking ship of the Philadelphia Phillies to join Louisville this season but thus far has managed just 6 wins in 15 decisions. Luck is said to be a factor, given that Watson sports an ERA under 3 and is a respectable 5th in the AL in Ks with 71 (and 3rd in K/W rate). Good players do not, however, blame luck for their woes and we expect a resurgence from the man with the golden glasses. New York: P Cullen Crewe narrowly missed becoming the 2nd player this century to pitch a no-hitter on the 29th of June vs. the Chicago Colts. With 2 outs in the 9th inning he worked 2B Bob Parker to a 1-2 count, only to see him slam a hot ground ball down the 3rd base line for a double. The subsequent batter Gabriele Mollica also got a hit but RF Rick Douglas threw Parker out at home to end the game. "So close and yet so far," said a dejected Crewe after the game. "At least the hit that did it was a solid one, I guess." Crewe stands at 7 wins and 8 losses on the year with an ERA of 2.76. Philadelphia (N): It hasn't been the greatest of years for the Phillies, but two members of the 1900 rotation that helped them win the pennant have returned and are adding a veneer of respectability to the ballclub. David Pininferino won his 200th game across the town with the Athletics and is generally a .500 pitcher so far (7-8, 3.32 ERA). He won 20 games in each of the past 2 seasons. Jimmy Baker was the '00 Phillies' relief ace, saving 19 games in 138.1 innings then. Now that that role has fallen into disfavor, he's proven to be the team's 2nd best starter behind Pininferino (4-8, 3.02). Philadelphia (A): The Athletics remain the lone brand new AL club to establish itself as a quality team. They can credit part of their good fortune to the Washington Nationals, who traded the tricky right-hander Garrison Lindsley to them before this season for 3B Bailey Hamilton (and also to prevent the National League from taking him). So far, Lindsley is 11 and 5 with an ERA of 2.56. They have also been quite fortuitous with their kangaroo players. 2B George Marshall (.303, 15 steals) and RF Doonan Elmes (.285) have shown that they're just as good in the new league as they were in the old. Pittsburgh: You know you're having a good season when you hit .300 with a .435 OBP for a month and that takes you off the pace you started at. Such is the case with CF Johnston Long, who is now just 69 hits away from being the 5th leading Pirate of all time in that category. By the time his career ends, he's very likely to be at the top of that and several other lists. The only person who might push him out is LF John Choate, who is still rehabilitating a badly damaged ankle. St. Louis: Gianfranco Amoccaci came to the big leagues with his own entourage. We're not sure why, but the 27-year-old with the 7-8 career record has a legion of female fans who sit behind the third base dugout every game he pitches and swoons for 9 innings. The "Love Hunter", as his name loosely translates, is not what we would call the most attractive man in the world but he appears to have something not quite explainable that can best be described as charisma. It's worth mentioning that so far this year Amocacci's fastball has been dazzling the hitters as much as his eyes dazzle the females: he's 4-2 with a 2.32 ERA in 50.2 innings pitched. Washington: The Nationals' chances were dealt a heavy blow last week when staff ace Brian Pike (9-7, 2.16) tore his bicep. Suffice it to say that he won't be back for the rest of this season if at all. His string of 8 consecutive years with at least 19 victories will end. In the short term, he'll be replaced by Ken Wilson, who won 32 games in the minors last year, but it's very likely that the Nationals will be looking for a longer-term solution.