1996 All-Star Break
June 22nd 1996 - Moscow are the story of the season so far, with Sofia nowhere near living up to expectations.
Code:
WL North Sea EL Baltic
W L GB W L GB
Glasgow 39 36 - Berlin 43 32 -
Paris 39 36 - Helsinki 40 35 3
Dublin 37 38 2 Oslo 38 37 5
London 37 38 2 Copenhagen 36 39 7
Brussels 32 43 7 Hamburg 33 42 10
Amsterdam 30 45 9 Stockholm 32 43 11
WL Meditteranean EL Black Sea
W L GB W L GB
Barcelona 47 28 - Moscow 48 27 -
Milan 43 32 4 Athens 41 34 7
Vienna 38 37 9 Warsaw 39 36 9
Zurich 38 37 9 Prague 36 39 12
Lisbon 35 40 12 Sofia 36 39 12
Madrid 35 40 12 Budapest 28 47 20
Notes -
Sofia were last in the Black Sea division at the end of April (soon to be replaced by Budapest after a 6-23 May). Their pitching has let them down badly and
Paulus Penning is spending most games on the bench for his $6M per year.
Vienna and Madrid played a 19 inning game in May.
Amsterdam fired their manager after a 23-36 start.
Barcelona had a 19-3 run in May/June to put them well and truly on top of their division.
Moscow finished 16 games under .500 in 1995. They had a 22-7 record in May to pull clear of their division rivals. Their pitching has been the thing that has propelled them to such a good start.
Berlin won 20 games in May to move to the top of the Baltic division.
Prague are 4-14 so far in June.
Player Notes -
Stefan Fingerlos (Barcelona) is threatening to break all sorts of records. He has won both WL Hitter of the Month awards and is currently at .401/25/84. He his hitting 37 points higher, has 5 more homers and 21 more RBIs than anyone else in the league. His best game was a 3/3 day with 2 homers and 8 RBI in a 13-3 win against Brussels.
Gustaf Bashe (Helsinki) has emulated
Fingerlos by winning both monthly hitting awards so far and he is second in the league with his .364 average.
The Pitcher of the Month awards have been awarded to
Bohdan Leibovic (Lisbon),
Mark Dumbreck (Barcelona),
Bernt Muelengracht (Moscow) and
Shurik Chanyshev (Berlin).
Glasgow's
Jamie Corsie hit for the cycle on April 12th in his team's 11 inning 4-3 win over Lisbon. He later had a 22 game hitting streak.
Arnold Schiff (London) threw a one-hitter against Vienna on April 22nd. The same team were one-hit by
Jake Malloch (Glasgow) who didn't walk anybody and struck out 11 in a 4-0 win on May 11th.
Schiff also threw a two-hitter against Milan on May 13th. Glasgow has a second one-hitter on the season with
Ferdynand Jaruzelski quelling Lisbon on May 17th.
Marcos Gutierrez (Warsaw) struck out 14 Athens hitters in a 3-0 win on June 1st.
Lucas Souter (Amsterdam) had 7 RBI in his team's 11-5 win over Madrid.
Marcal Assis (Sofia) also had a 7 RBI day, but his team lost 12-10 to Copenhagen.
Significant Injuries -
Pasqualino Terragni (Lisbon) was injured in the first week of the season and is only just back in the rotation.
Richard Fabre (Vienna) won't be available for France in the upcoming European Championships because of a cheek injury. He is going to be out for a year after being hit in the face by a pitch he fouled off.
Last season's WL Pitcher of the Year,
Marquise Briatore (Milan), injured his knee in May and won't be back until the middle of July. His record this season was 4-3 with a 3.25 ERA.
Bernt Meulengracht (Moscow) had his fantastic start to the season cut short by a bicep injury. He was 7-0 with a 2.39 ERA in late May when it happened. He will not be available for Denmark in the Euros.
Foppe Valckenburgh (Budapest) is having his worst season ever (.239/4/21), so he will be hoping that his 5 weeks off due to a knee injury will kick start his season.