Deadlines for Period 5 in 1951 and Period 6 in 2000 is August 13^th. Only 1 series to play in 2000 so this should be a breeze!

The Millennium Falcons posted the League’s best mark in period 5. The Falcons gained 5 games on the front running Buffalo Meat to move within 3 games of the Aaron Division lead. Fallsburg also drew 2 games closer to only 6 back.

Troy lengthened their Clemente lead by one game to 8 ahead of New York. Miami saw Zaca’s move within 1 game of them in the Mays Division by picking up 5 games in the standings to jump over Gotham City into 2^nd. Gotham sits 2 back

The Mantle remains the craziest race of all with Mudville picking up 6 full games on Berne and taking a 3 game lead. McGraw is 5 back. The summer should start the fun part of the schedule, as all the headbanging will begin!

If the season ended today the playoff matchups would be:

Stay tuned.

Co - Player of the Period honors this time to Bobby Abreu of White Plains and Vladimir Guerrero of Miami. Abreu hit .484, slugged .969 with a .547 OB% and 34 Runs Created. Vlad hit .405, scored 22 runs with 11 homers and 31 runs batted in and a .881 slugging % and 1.343 OPS with 34 runs created. Nomar Garciaparra’s batting average has shrunk to .426. Life imitates art – Barry Bonds hit 9 more homers.

In the pitching department – co winners again – Randy Johnson of New York went 5-0 to a 1.97 ERA in his 5 starts with 76 strikeouts and Pedro Martinez of Gotham City went 3-1 with a 0.80 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 47 innings. Billy Koch of Commack had a win and 7 saves with a 0.00 ERA in his 8 appearances.

It got very interesting.

1. Rainier won 24 times in 28 games to take over the lead by 3 games over Andrew’s and Buffalo.
2. North Country won 19 times to move to within 3 of Disney, while Troy lurks 5 back.

North Country and Disney play 14 games this month with North Country’s other 14 games being against last place Albany, while Disney takes on Commack, still only 9 back. Life is interesting in the Eastern Division.

But not more interesting than the Northern Division. All three contenders are pitted against the 2^nd division this month, but, looming ahead are the final two series where both Andrew’s and Buffalo play Rainier 14 times. It will come down to the last pitch.

Player of the series goes to Gil Hodges of Troy. The big first baseman hit 14 homers in 102 ABs and knocked in 38 runs while creating 39 runs. Honorable mention goes to both Jackie Robinson of New York and Ted Williams of Mudville who racked up 34 and 33 runs created. (Personal nominee – New York second string catcher Gus Niarhos who hit .321 and walked 40 times in 28 games posting a .545 OB%!!!!)

The big hurler of the period was Murry Dickson of Rainier. Dickson was 7-0 for the Rowdies with a 2.14 ERA to just edge out Ken Raffensberger of North Country who was 6-1 with a 1.21.

3 series missing from the last period in 2000. Let’s be all caught up for next newsletter. Remember that 1967 is on the horizon!

I hope your summer is going well!

Jim Pertierra