[mikev]

Still On Top


The 2020 GUBA season has just about reached the half way point, and the Crusaders are quite happy with their position. At 49-29 they lead the MBBA Pacific, 4 games ahead of Las Vegas in what is increasingly becoming a 2 team race. Since starting the season 14-8 in April, the Crusaders have played .600 ball (35-21) in the face of numerous injuries. And the injury bug is slowing down. Robinson Leyva has returned to the lineup, and Alfonso Inigio and Ricardo Soto are set to rejoin the team this week. Jeff Bradford is also set to rejoin the team next month or at the beginning of August, bringing the team to almost full strength. Barring future injuries, only Luigi Kennelly will remain on the DL.

After an amazing start to the season, Crawford Tetreault was roughed up in his last 2 starts, allowing 6 runs in 5 2/3 innings in a 7-1 loss to New York on the 28th after 6 shutout inings against Chicago on the 23rd The game on the 29th likely marked the last game in a Monarchs uniform for a while for Francisco Perez, who alternates between being extremely effective and terrible in his outings, resulting in a 6.80 ERA and 1.99 WHIP in 43 1/3 innings so far in 2020. His spot is likely to be given to Olaf Kuhnt, who is pitching well at AAA Oakland (2.94 ERA and 1.31 WHIP in 33 2/3 innings) and who pitched well in a brief call-up last year (2.33 ERA, 1.03 WHIP in 19 1/3 innings).

4 starters on the Monarchs staff now have ERAs below 3.20 . Luigi Kennelly (admittedly only 8 starts) leads at 1.73, then comes Tetreault at 2.42, GARICA at 2.51 and Belchyor Gramachoto at 3.19. Unfortunately, the success of the rotation is not mirrored in the bullpen, where only Angel Sandoval and Lewis Kramer have ERAs below 3.00. Closer Sandoval went through a very rough patch in early June, however he is 1-1 with 30 saves in 2020, with a 2.36 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in 42 innings over that span. Despite a 4.71 K/9 and 9 hits/9 on the season, the Mexican has only blown 3 saves in 2020.

Last year, in 339 at bats, Carlos Mora had 6 homeruns and 39 RBI while posting an OPS of .794. So far in 2020, Higashi has 2 homeruns, 24 RBI and an OPS of .823. He hit only .324 in June, however he had 14 XBH, a monthly high for the year. He's been a huge catalyst to the offense so far.

The Monarchs head to the All-Star break with a lot of confidence, and look forward to a strong second half to the season.