Deadlines for Period 4 in 1951 and Period 5 in 2000 are July 24^th. Remember that period 4 in 1951 starts the intradivisional games. All series until the end of the season are 7 games in length. Period 5 in 2000 is a split affair. You play one 5 game series (home/road) outside your division and one 7 game series (home and road) within your division. The home stretch has now begun in both leagues.

Mudville had a 17-3 month and gained nothing on Berne who also went 17-3. McGraw had the next best record in the league (16-4) along with New York and actually lost another length to Berne. Buffalo solidified its lead in the Aaron as only Tarpin Ridge gained any ground on the Meat.

Troy and Miami maintained their leads in the Clemente and the Mays divisions with ease.

As the divisional schedule will soon open, things are going to get very interesting very quickly. Both the Mays and the Mantle Divisions are still up for grabs while Troy and Buffalo sit on comfortable leads in their divisions. New York has had the best record in the league over the past 40 games and has gained 2 games on Troy. The Hays are tough! As in the past 21 years, things can change very quickly so look for news in this space.

If the season ended today this would be the seeding the playoffs:

1. Troy 2) Berne 3) Miami 4) Buffalo

5. Mudville 6) New York 7) Commack 8) McGraw

Stay tuned.

Nothing that happened in period 3 did anything to put some air between the number one and number 2 in each division. Indeed the races are closer than ever. Miami and Gotham City are tied for first in the Mays with Zaca’s lurking 1 game back. Fallsburg and Buffalo are all knotted up in the Aaron while Troy’s lead in the Clemente is 2.5 and Berne in the Mantle has a 3 game lead. Keys to the series are the missing White Plains series. Tim has been experiencing computer problems and his 2 matchups (Troy & New York) are not reported.

Player of the Period honors this time to Jason Giambi or McGraw. Giambi hit .366, scored 23 run (in 20 games) with 8 homers and 17 runs batted in and a .746 slugging % and 1.246 OPS with 27 runs created. Nomar Garciaparra’s batting average has shrunk to .439. Life imitates art – Barry Bonds has hit 32 homers in 80 games thus reinforcing the Alber time/space theorem first explored in 1981. Also enjoying a prosperous period 4 was Chris Stynes of Mudville who drove in 25 runs while hitting .405

In the pitching department – co winners this time – Al Leiter of Berne went 5-0 to a 1.97 ERA in his 5 starts and Pedro Martinez of Gotham City went 3-0 with 1 walk and 31 strikeouts in 27 innings. Danny Graves of Berne nailed down the leftovers getting 8 saves in 9 appearances.

Update on favorite stat: Chris Arnold of Buffalo hit 8 batters. Someone must have said something bad about Meat.

Now it gets very interesting.

1. Buffalo and McGraw are tied for the Northern Division lead with Andrew’s Team 3 back and Rainier 5 behind.
2. Disney holds a 5 game lead over Troy, North Country, Mudville AND Commack while New York is 8 back and Albany 10. Remember the old Mickey Mouse Club? Anything Can Happen Day!

Commack had the best record in the league by far, winning 23 of 30 games to put themselves back in the race. Troy, which had been red hot, went ice cold winning only 9 times.

The Northern Division didn’t move as much as it shifted with Don Maxwell’s Andrew’s Team going 20-10 (along with Buffalo) to move in on and catch McGraw.

Check out the homerun leaders in 1951. We have gotten so used to the long ball era that the league leader hitting 17 in 70 games seems trite. On the other hand, the results are pretty right on. But to see that there are 4 men tied for the lead with Ralph Kiner and Duke Snider just lurking in the background, makes it pretty exciting.

Player of the Period was Ralph Kiner of McGraw. Mr. Power/Patience hit .382 with 8 homers, 38 runs, 25 rbi’s, 43 RC’s and a .1.198 OPS for the 30 games. Wally Westlake of Richmond put on a power display launching 12 in the 30 games. Ruthian! Johnny Pesky of North Country hit .394 to pace all the hitters in average.

The big hurler of the period was Randy Gumpert of Mudville. Gumpert went 5-0 (an every start was a quality start) pitching to a 2.47 ERA in 47 innings, walking only 4. Honorable mentions to Ned Garver of Commack (5-1, 1.69), Warren Spahn of Mudville (6-2, 2.67) and Eddie Lopat (5-0) of Andrew’s Team.

Tim has his computer problems resolved and so it is full speed ahead into the fun part of the season. Thanks for everyone’s help and cooperation!

Have a good summer.

Jim Pertierra