All Star Break

Manny Ortez won the HR derby over George Sheppard.  Sheppard must have been tired out in an epic 2nd round battle with Conn Barbarian. Conn hit 34 homers in 4 minutes, but Sheppard hit 38.  Those were the two top single round totals for the day.

The Superior League scored 6 runs in the 8th inning to top the Major League in the All Star game. The first 5 Superior League hitters reached base against Cesar Cordero and Doug Freeman, normally two of the best closers in the business. Jimmy Flannery, the game’s MVP, put the game out of reach with a 3 run homer.

At the break here are the top teams:

SL East
Lou 57-39
Mia 53-43*
Bal 48-49

Central
Cle 56-42
Tol 53-43*
Chi 51-44

West
Mars 51-46
Pho 50-47
Tex 50-47
Lv 46-53

ML East
NYC 64-34
Fla 53-42*
Tor 50-46

Central
Stl 60-35
Ala 52-43
Den 44-52

West
Hol 57-39
Por 55-43
BA 54-43

*wild card leaders

Alex Duran (.344) and Troy Wyckoff (.326) are the batting leaders.

HR; Burgos (34), Kim (31)

WAR; Duran (5.9), Cole Werner (5.0)

Werner also has 26 homers and is leading Louisville to their best season since the Rob Block days.  He is the front runner for MVP. In the Major League, Simon Burgos might edge Duran since he’s playing for one of the two best teams, and again leading baseball in homers and RBI (91). Squirrel Nutkin Jr. is also a strong candidate.

With 71 steals, Angel Garcia has more than the next two combined. He also leads with 76 runs scored.

Tonka leads with a 2.48 ERA, just ahead of Blackwood (2.49). Fozzy Wacha and Johnny Anderson have 11 wins, and Carson Olsen and CC Salbacca have 163 strikeouts. Hamburg leads with 4.4 WAR, and Louisville’s Roberto Osuna leads with 31 saves.

Among rookies, Bernard Richter has 10 wins and a 3.28 ERA. Kim has 31 homers and 77 RBI for Las Vegas. Miami’s Jerry McDonald has 24 homers and 28 steals. Florida’s Don Glenn is hitting .295 with 21 homers, 66 RBI. Trevor Wood of Mars has 16 homers, 55 RBI, and +16 fielding runs. Chicago’s Jeremiah Bowman leads rookies with a .311 average and .376 OBP.

Arceneaux homers in 6 straight

Devin Arceneaux was having a slow start by his own lofty standards, but has now hit 7 homers in his past 6 games to give him 20 on the season.  With homers in 6 straight games he has set a new OOTP record. Previously 7 players had homered in 5 straight.

The major league record is 8, set by Dale Long and tied by Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey Jr.  Arceneaux, a proponent of the ‘strum’ theory of hitting once used by Lewis Solo Jr. and Shockwave, claims that Griffey’s swing also incorporated the strum.

Records are not readily available for the longest streak in Microleague or APBA, but it is believed that noone in our league has homered in 8 straight games.  Most Microleague records of this sort are lost to history, but we can confirm that Conan never homered in more than 4 straight games in 1994-95, when he hit 127 homers in back to back seasons.  His son Conn was one of those who homered in 5 straight, accomplishing the feat last season.

From the seasons accessible during the APBA era, 4 players homered in 6 straight games.  They are Ryan Ballard (2006), Richie Jefferson and Joey Renseller (2008), and Elvis Lambo (2013).

Combined No-Hitter in Denver

Denver's Ben Gadsden and Troy Lewis combined to throw a no-hitter, beating the Charlotte Hawks 1-0 in Denver.

The only run of the game in the bottom of the third, when Michael Stewart singled home Adam Harris off Felix Cabrera.  Gadsden walked two in the 2nd, and 2 more in the 5th to put himself into jams, but was able to pitch out of them.  He found no trouble after the 5th, retiring the last 11 batters faced.

"In the 8th, I was feeling a bit tired, but looking up at the scoreboard I knew I had a chance to do something special, so I resolved to give it all I had."  Aside from early control issues, Gadsden had a lot of bite on his sinker, and got 12 groundball outs to 6 flyball outs.  He did not have a big day for swings and misses, but in the 8th he struck out pinch hitter Cordell Younger and leadoff hitter Luis Garcia to end the inning.

"I knew I was tired, but I was prepared after a short rest to go back out there and complete it.  How many times do people throw no-hitters?  Some pitchers never get to do it, I may never have this chance again.  I was ready to give it all I had, and no way was I going to let the manager take me out, this was my ball game.  As our half of the 8th inning came to a close, Todd (Allen) saw me getting up and told me to sit back down.  I could not believe it!  I was about to jump up and fight for the ball when I felt a big hand on my shoulder.  It was the big jawa." (Troy Lewis, at 6'2 and a muscular 215 pounds, is not typical of his species.)  "I couldn't have gotten up no matter how hard I tried.  He just said "Son, don't you worry.  I got this." I did as I was told, we all respect the big jawa, but I was on edge as he went out to face the Hawks."

In the 9th, Lewis struck out Manuel Lugo and induced weak grounders to second base by Fausto Thibodeaux and Leo Hamilton. Just 10 pitches.  Gadsden raced out to the mound to join Lewis and catcher Cal Mathis in celebration.

"It was not an easy decision", said manager Allen. "He had pitched further into the game than he's used to, but beyond that I didn't have any margin for error.  It was a one run game. I would have liked to give Ben the chance for a no-hitter, but two things were more important to me, winning the game and protecting his long term health."

The game was the first official combined no-hitter in regular season history.  In 1992, Louisville's Ernie Klawitter and Aaron Pass combined for 9 2/3 no-hit innings against Orlando, though the game ended as a 14 inning one hitter. In that same season Las Vegas's Kyle Spencer and Kunta Kinte combined for a no-hitter (Spencer throwing the first 7 innings) in a pre-season game.