NL
East:
St.
Louis Cardinals- The
Cards have broken away from the pack in the NL East.
For the month of June, they were 20-8 putting them at 49-29 and 8 games
over the second place team. While
there are no superstars among the hitters, there is quality up and down the
lineup. They lead the league in
hitting with a .286 batting average. Leadoff
man Lou Brock is hitting at a .366 clip with 20 steals.
1B Keith Hernandez is batting .316 with 51 rbis.
Cleanup hitter George Hendrick leads the team with 13 homers and 59 rbis.
With
a respectable 3.72 ERA the St. Louis pitching staff is doing its job of
keeping opposing runs at a minimum. At
the heart of the staff is NL All-Star starter Pete Vukovich who is having a Cy
Young season. Pete is 12-2 with a
1.90 ERA. Silvio Martinez is 8-3
with a 3.95 ERA. Mark
“Country” Littell is dependable as a closer with 13 saves and a 2.55 ERA.
St.
Louis has shown a lot of heart over the last few weeks and that was shown in
their series with Philadelphia at the end of June.
The Cards came back from a 12-1 deficit to win 13-12 in Game 1.
In Game 2, down 5-0, they came back to win 7-5.
They won the next two games to sweep the Phils.
Chicago
Cubs- With the demise of the teams around them, the Cubbies have
slowly but surely risen to second place by winning the games that count.
They are 39-35 and 8 games out of first place.
Ironically, they have the worst pitching in the league (4.95 ERA).
What makes this more ironic is that their staff includes some of the best
arms in the league. Rick Reuschel
is 11-6 with a 2.46 ERA (he is 2nd in the league in wins and 5th
in ERA). Lynn McGlothen has a 3.44
ERA to go with his 9-6 record (5th in wins). Dennis Lamp (3.64, 7-3) and Bruce Sutter (3.48, 16 saves) are
also having solid seasons. One can
only surmise that the Cubs’ staff ERA is being counteracted by pitchers like
Ken Holtzman (9.01), Willie Hernandez (8.25) and Mike Krukow (6.89).
LF Dave Kingman
is making his presence known. He is
3rd in the league in homers with 26 and 4th in rbis with
66. He is not a one-dimensional
player… he is also hitting .306. Leadoff
shortstop Ivan DeJesus is batting .319 with 19 steals.
Pittsburgh
Pirates- At
40-36, the Pittsburgh Pirates reside in third place in the NL East only a notch
below the second place Cubs. Often
noted for their power, they actually lead the NL in steals with 96. 1B Willie Stargell, who is noted for being the team leader,
also leads with his bat (.298, 26 HR (5th in league), 65 rbi).
Despite a slow start, RF Dave Parker is having a solid season (.321, 16
HR, 61 runs, 57 rbi). Speedster CF Omar Moreno leads the league with 43 steals.
John
Candelaria (6-3, 3.46 ERA), Bruce Kison (6-5, 3.09), and Bert Blyleven (4-5,
3.44) anchor a solid staff while stopper Kent Tekulve (3-1, 12 saves, 2.37 ERA)
gets the job done in the ninth.
The
Pirates just completed a trade in which they pick up 3B Bill Madlock and RP Oral
Roberts from SF.
Philadelphia
Phillies- With
batting champion Pete Rose (.400, 28 doubles [1st in league], .477
OBP [1st], 65 runs [3rd]) and home run king Mike Schmidt
(28 HR, 81 rbi [1st], 67 runs [2nd]), the Phils have no
lack of offense. In addition to
those superstars, CF Garry Maddox is hitting .305.
Pitching
is not what it could be, though. The
Phillies were depending on Carlton to have a banner year and so far he has been
mediocre at best (6-5, 4.44 ERA, 82 K). The
two pleasant surprises have been Nino Espinosa (8-3, 4.18) and Dick
Ruthven (7-4, 4.06). As setup man,
Ron Reed has been phenomenal (5-2, 1.84).
New
York Mets- As
of July 1, the Mets are .500. Unfortunately,
they are cursed with being in the competitive NL East and they languish in fifth
place. There is no doubt that the
one powerhouse that produces day in and day out for this team is RF Joel
Youngblood (.355 [3rd in league], 66 rbis [4th], 26
doubles [3rd], .413 OBP [3rd]).
Lee Mazzilli is
hitting at a .304 clip with 56 runs.
Tom
Hausman has had a great first half season (8-2, 2.79).
Craig Swan (6-5, 3.28) has also been a solid starter. However, Skip Lockwood (1-3, 6.84) has failed miserably out
of pen.
Montreal
Expos- The
Expos pose the most intriguing puzzle to the NL East race.
They have the best arms in the league (NL best 3.54 ERA).
They can field one of best defenses in the division.
On paper, their offense should be very potent with names like Dawson,
Carter, Parrish and Cromartie. However,
offense is indeed key to their problem as they are last in runs scored with 294
(league average 370). Their #1 and
#2 hitters are hitting .179 and .214 respectively.
As a team they are hitting .248 (11th in the league).
Despite hitting .258, CF Ellis Valentine leads the team with 14 homers
and 48 rbis.
Without
a question, the Expos’ strength lies in its bullpen.
Rudy May (4-0, 1.27), Woodie Fryman (1.37), David Palmer (3.29) and Elias
Sosa (1.42, 13 saves) do their best to keep the games close.
Starter Steve Rogers (6-6, 2.42) has been a hard luck starting pitcher as
has been Bill Lee (5-6, 3.30).