Aug 1

All Star came and went, Nails got an RBI, Palmer pitched a scoreless inning. Yawn.

As expected, the contenders finally caught and passed me. We aren’t playing poorly, about the same really. But you can’t stop the team(s) filled with perfects when they try to reach PeL again. 13-13 for July, 3rd in division, 11th overall.

Ventura slowly gaining ground as a first baseman, he’s up to 30 at the position. Outfielders all finished with positional training and settled in nicely. Team zone rating (including Ventura bumbling around at first) is +11.0, probably about as high as it will reach. Defeff, fairly meaningless, says we’re in a deadball park–which we are! Surprise!

Looks like a .500-.550 range season, we’re fairly immune to streakiness because of the park, but hardly wowing the fans with the offense. Nails might win a Glove in center, perhaps–but we expect nothing less, or he doesn’t play. +12.5 ZR, 1.000 pct, 1.104 eff 5 assists. He’s competing with Andruw Jones (won 9 times), tho, so probably not.

We’ve achieved everything we can defensively, I think. Ventura needs more time, but he’ll arrive at Keith Hernandez level (more) eventually.

Probably beginning next season we’ll start working some Sticks back into the lineup here and there and there. The pitchers are whining about run support, and they should be–it’s pretty miserable. Still a positive rdiff, though, so doesn’t look like their poor numbers are entirely due to the hitters.

Starters should be thriving in this environment, but they aren’t. Perhaps it’s time to overhaul the staff. Where did I put Dizzy Dean, he should enjoy pitching here? See who else I’ve not languishing in the reserves who might deserve a second look.