July 9 1990 Red Hot Division Battles Summer’s here and baseball fans are dreaming for pennants for their favorite teams, and it certainly looks positive at least for now, for the Boston Red Sox, Oakland Athletics, the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets Toronto Blue Jays, or the Chicago. But, please don’t count out the other 19 teams – especially our hometown favorites. The Oakland A’s have the best record in the majors – there are 26 teams July 9, 1990 – by staff at baseball historian - Internet Newspaper – Monday’s News by the first Internet Baseball Historian Home Runs flying, but pitching still dominates the game! Standings as of Monday – Two Days before the All Star Game AL East Division Boston 46-35… Toronto 47-38 – 1 GB … Cleve 40-42 – 6.5 GB… Detroit 41-44 – 7 GB… Baltimore 37-45 - 9 .5 GB… Milwaukee 36-44 – 9.5 GB… New York Y 30-50 – 15.5 GB AL West Division 51-31 Oakland … Chicago WS 48-30 – 1GB … Seattle 43-41 – 9 GB … Calif 41-43 – 11 GB… Minnesota 40-43 – 11.5 GB… Texas 39-44 – 12.5 GB… Kansas City 36-45 – 14.4 GB NL East Pittsburgh 49-32… NY Mets 47-31 – ½ GB… Montreal 47-37 – 3 GB… Phil 39-41 – 9 GB… Chic Cubs 36-49 – 14.5 GB… St. Louis 35-48 – 15 GB NL West Cincinnati 50-29… San Fran 44-39 – 8 GB… LA Dodgers 39-43 – 11.5 GB… San Diego 37-43 – 13.5 GB… Atlanta 33-47 – 17.5 GB … Houston 33-50 – 20 GB Following is as of July 9 1990 The Pittsburgh Pirates are 6-0 with 5 saves in the last 13 games. The Pirates don’t have any starters on the 1990 All Star team, nor do the New York Mets, and yet they’re 1st and 2nd in the NL East. Mets pitcher Frank Viola won his NL leading 13th game yesterday (13-3 2.70 ERA) as NY wins 6 of last 7 games. Doug Drabek moved to 9-4 with a 3.26 ERA by notching a win for Pirates over Dodgers. Pittsburgh won for the 7th time in 9 games. Pirates left-fielder Barry Bonds is on pace for a 30-homer, 30-steal season. Bonds has15 home runs and 24 stolen bases and it’s only the All Star break. ========================================== Montreal is only 3 games out of first so don’t count them out! They have one of the best outfields in the majors – Tim Raines lf, Marquis Grissom cf and Larry Walker in rf. Cincinnati pitcher Jack Armstrong was selected to start for the NL in the All Star Game by NL manager Roger Craig “because he was the freshest guy.” Jack Armstrong is 11-3 for ’90. The fans voted Reds third baseman Chris Sabo as the starter for the All Star Game. He had 1,399,604 votes to #2 Matt Williams of San Fran 812,543. The Reds have the lowest earned run average in the NL – 3.03 ERA =============================== Outfielder Lenny Dykstra of the Phillies was voted by fans into the All Star Game. RF Andre Dawson and LF Kevin Mitchell are the other outfielders. Shortstop Ozzie Smith beat out Barry Larkin by numbers of 1,337,815 to 1,258,595 – that's very close. Both are future Hall of Fame Players. ============================================================ San Francisco Giants took both games from the Chicago Cubs in yesterday’s Sunday doubleheader, 5-3 and 10-4 before 45,669 in SF. Cubbies manager Don Zimmer was tossed out of the first game for arguing a third strike by umpire Jim Quick. Zimmer said later, “He said (the umpire that is) out of the corner of his eye he saw me throw my tobacco at him. I couldn’t throw a baseball that far. I’ve got a dead arm. I threw my tobacco into the ground and he throws me out of the game.” ============================ Giants first baseman Will Clark beat out Cubs first baseman Mark Grace for the starting All Star role. Both players are having a slow start this year. Will Clark is hitting .280 and Mark Grace .270. Both players have career batting averages over .300. Giants’ catcher Gary Carter, 36-years-old and an 11-time All Star player, underwent knee surgery last May 29 1989 and has returned to the lineup. Gary Carter was a star catcher for years with Montreal. He’s now with SF where Terry Kennedy is the team’s main catcher. Carter, though, has been red hot lately. In the last 18 games, he’s torching opposing pitchers. Carter had 7 straight hits and has 22 hits in last 55 at bats, including 5 homers and 13 RBIs. ============================================ Padres catcher Benito Santiago beat out Mike Scioscia of Dodgers for starter in All Star Game. Cubs’ second baseman Ryne Sandberg will start All Star Game. The Red Sox, Reds and Pirates all have team batting averages of .273, and, Boston has a least one double in its last 29 games – We don’t know – is that a new record??? The Oakland A’s have the best ERA in the American League – a really fine 3.09 ERA. The Red Sox have the lowest earned run average in the East Division – 3.79 ERA. Sunday’s game – Athletics slugging right-fielder Jose Canseco stopped a 3-for-33 slump to lead Oakland to a 8-3 victory over the Indians. The win coupled with a White Sox loss moved the A’s back into first place. Canseco lined a homer, a triple and a single and pitcher Dave Stewart (11-7) notched 4 KKKKs in 7 innings.======================The White Sox loss to Baltimore moved Chicago back to one game out of first. Baltimore Orioles leadoff man Mike Devereaux hit a line drive double to left-center to score 2 teammates in the top 11th in Comiskey Park in ChicTown. And, television replays of the game showed Devereau making a sliding backwards catch of a hard drive by Sox Lance Johnson for the 2nd out of the 3rd inning. Where you there??? 29,821 were. Reliever Mark Williamson halted White Sox bats thru the 8th, 9th and 10th innings. Williamson yielded just one hit, no runs, 2 Ks in 3 innings and was credited with the win. Mark is 5-1 with a stingy 1.49 ERA – all in relief. Closer Greg Olson registered his 17 save of ’90. Olson has a 4-3 record and a miserly 1.22 ERA. Sox closer Bobby Thigpen was the losing pitcher. Thigpen has 27 saves and has a 4-3 record, 1.93 ERA and was selected for the All-Star Game. ===================================================== Detroit knocked out Royals starter Mike Davis en-route to a 10-4 win on Sunday. Normally a reliever Mark Davis was making his first start in three years and was tagged for 4 runs, only 3 earned in 3.1 innings. Davis was called into the starting role to stem a KC poor season. And – the Tigers started Lance McCullers, also a reliever who was making his first start since 1986 – that’s 4 seasons. McCullers matched Davis and lasted just 3.1 innings. Lance gave up 3 runs, 2 of them unearned. Mark Davis walked 6 and McCullers walked 5. Errors and walks will do in the best of throwers. ================== Cleveland Indians catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. will be the American League’s starting All Star catcher. Sandy beat out Chicago’s Carlton Fisk by #s of 1,043,116 to 939,392. Alomar is one of the nicest players in baseball. ============== Oakland’s Mark McGwire was voted to the All Star Game and beat out Detroit’s Cecil Fielder by about 52,000 – that’s close. Steve Sax, New York Yankees second baseman and 3rd baseman Wade Boggs of Boston along with Cal Ripen Jr. will anchor the rest of the AL All Star infield. Outfielders will be Jose Canseco of A’s, Mariners Ken Griffey Jr. and A's Rickey Henderson will start. Royals Bo Jackson was 4th and Twins Kirby Puckett 5th . both had over 1,000,000 votes Bo Jackson was voted the AL Player of the Week for Hitting. Bo Jackson blasted 4 homers, two of which traveled over 400 feet. ======================================== White Sox shortstop Ozzie Guillen was chosen as a reserve for the All-Star Game. The Seattle Mariners defeated Toronto 6-3 Sunday before 49,816 in Canada. Mariners Matt Young pitched a complete game, allowing 3 hits, 3 runs 4 walks and 7 strikeouts. Matt Young is 3-9 for ’90 with a 4.23 ERA. Teammate Henry Cotto hit a 2 run home run and Blue Jays Junior Felix homered. It was Cotto’s 3 of season and Felix’s 11th. ======================= The Milwaukee Brewers were losing 7-1 and then scored 13 runs in the 5th inning and went on to trounce the Los Angeles Angels 20-7. Brewers second baseman Jim Gantner was 3-for-5 with 5 RBIs and left-fielder Darryl Hamilton had 6 RBIs and lined his first grand slam homer with a 3-for-5 day. Angels second baseman Johnny Ray went 3-for-5 and over the last 6 games is 16-for-31 Wow! ====================== ========================= That’s the baseball news by Baseball Historian |