1996 PLAYER / PITCHER OF THE WEEK #22

NAME	TEAM	AVG	SLG	G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	K	W	IW	SB	CS	HBP
BAGWELL,Jeff	FFS AL	.550	1.250	6	20	11	2	0	4	6	10	1	7	0	0	0	0

NAME	CLUB	G	W	L	S	ERA	IP	R	ER	H	K	BB	IBB	WP	BK	HB	HR
WELLS,Bob	POR AL	2	2	0	0	0.00	13	0	0	10	7	1	0	0	0	0	0

NAME	TEAM	AVG	SLG	G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	K	W	IW	SB	CS	HBP
RAMIREZ,Manny	VAL NL	.296	.741	6	27	8	0	0	4	5	10	6	0	0	0	0	0

NAME	CLUB	G	W	L	S	ERA	IP	R	ER	H	K	BB	IBB	WP	BK	HB	HR
TAPANI,Kevin	CIN NL	2	2	0	0	2.40	15	4	4	12	15	3	0	1	0	0	1

Cincinnati Outlaws @ Blarney Drive Bandits
Series Summary:	Outlaws pummel the Bandits 5-1. Visitors blank Homers in game 1, Kile tossed a 1-hitter in game 4, and Cincinnati bats were hot in 2 of the other 4 games.

2Stockton Wings @ Steel City Sluggers
Series Summary:	Steel City has its way with Stockton after dropping the opening game 9-4, winning the rest by scores of 11-2, 9-6, 12-0, 6-3, and 10-2.

Long Beach Titans @ Hampton Huskies
Series Preview:	The Long Beach Titans (27-96) and Hampton Huskies (64-59) trudge their way towards the finish line in one case looking for a merciful end to the season and in the other feebly trying to make up ground on the Santa Rosa Beach Bums who are a very distant 13 games ahead of them for the wildcard spot in the NL.
Game #1:	Sager vs Hershiser This one was more like a basketball game with big momentum swings than a baseball game. Hampton catcher Mike Stanley put the Huskies on the board first with a single down the left-field line that scored Eric Young and Jim Eisenreich and make it 2-0 after the first inning. Stanley would wind up getting four hits on the day – all of them singles. Hampton extended its lead to 4-0 after two with RBI singles by starting pitcher Orel Hershiser and Eric Young. Titans’ left fielder Jon Nunnally ended any dreams Hershiser may have had at a shutout when he golfed the veteran righty’s offering over the right-field wall in the top of the 4th with two guys on base. The homer was Nunnally’s 4th of the season and narrowed the game to 4-3. Too close for comfort thought the Huskies and responded with three runs of their own in the 5th with BJ Surhoff coming through with a two-RBI double and Craig Paquette bringing in the other with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead 7-3. Long Beach starter AJ Sager didn’t make it out of the inning and was hauled off after allowing seven runs on 11 hits in just 4.1 innings. He was not fooling anyone on this day walking three and not striking out a batter. Hershiser was pitching pretty well though so the Hampton dugout was optimistic about the way things were shaping up. Unfortunately, Joe Oliver had other ideas and things shaped up to be as flat as a pancake when he launched a mammoth drive (complete with tusks and hair all over the place) with two men on to make it 7-6. And that was it for Hershiser who had at that point probably had his best day in his life at the plate going 3/3 with an RBI. He struck out six with only one allowed but the two homers included in the five hits he gave up were his undoing. Sporting a one-run lead Hampton closer (that’s Loser with a silent C) TJ Mathews crapped the bed giving up two hits and a walk to load the bases and then gave up the bases-loaded walk to that terrifying destroyer of all things baseball – Doug Strange – to tie the game and send it into extra innings. So, of course, a pretty exciting game overall was decided in the bottom of the 12th with that ever-so-exciting play … the sacrifice fly. Brian McRae’s flyball with Mike Stanley on 3rd base was deep enough so that Nunally’s limp throwing arm had no chance of cutting down the Huskies’ catcher before he trotted home with the winning run and gave Hampton an 8-7 win. Notables – Nunnally and Oliver each drove in three runs on homers for the Titans while for Hampton there were no home runs but Stanley had four hits and Hershiser had three.
Game #2:	One of the weirder line scores you will see: Long Beach 000 000 011 2 – 1 – 2 Hampton 020 003 01x 6- 8 – 2 Wade Boggs spoiled Chan Ho Park’s return after a long hiatus in the minors by smacking a triple over Brian McRae’s head in the 8th inning to give the Long Beach Titans their only hit of the day in a 6-2 Hampton win. Park’s one-hitter came with 15 strikeouts and four walks allowed with Boggs scoring when Jeff King hit into a double play. Long Beach’s other run came in the 9th when Joe Voigt scored on Craig Paquette’s bad throw to 1st base that rolled into right-field. With the win, Park’s record improved to a mediocre 2-5. Eric Young and BJ Surhoff each had three hits for Hampton with Tony Clark clubbing his 12th homer off Mike Williams in the 6th. Williams (4-16) gave up five runs on six hits while walking and striking out three.
Game #3:	Alan Benes just can’t catch a fricking break. Benes limited the Huskies strong offense to just six hits and a couple of walks over seven innings but the offense didn’t give him much support as the Titans fell for the third straight game 3-2. Hampton came out of the gate strong with Henry Rodriguez delivering a two-out double that gave the Huskies a 2-0 lead in the opening frame, but from then on hits and runs were hard to come by against the Titans’ righty. The Titans tied it up with two runs in the 6th off Hampton starter Tim Van Egmond thanks to Husky-killer Doug Strange who lofted a pitch into the cheap seats for his 4th homer of the season. With the score knotted 2-2, Tony Clark cranked his second homer of the series with the bases empty to provide the Huskies with the tie-breaking and winning run. TJ Mathews didn’t screw up this time around and pitched a perfect 9th to earn his 20th save and help improve Van Egmond’s record to 3-2. There’s no avoiding mentioning it … Benes fell to a horrific 0-15 on the season.
Game #4:	This game looked like it was over, then it wasn’t, then it was over again, then it wasn’t again and then it was. Life’s like that. In what wound up being a high-scoring game, it was all goose eggs with both pitchers well in control until the bottom of the 3rd when Mike Stanley drove in a pair of runs with a single off Willian Van Landingham. Jeff King connected on a pitch from Matt Reubel in the 4th and came within a foot of tying it up but had to settle for an RBI double when the ball smacked high off the right-field wall to make it 2-1 Hampton. The 5th inning saw the start of the Juan Samuel Show. Reubel ran into some trouble in the 5th and wound up loading the bases to bring Samuel to the plate and he delivered a no-doubter grand slam to dead center which gave Long Beach a 5-2 lead. Reubel did survive to the end of the inning but that was it for him after having allowed all five runs on seven hits and four walks – only one K – and Samuel’s 14th homer of the year. The Huskies tied things up in their half of the inning on an RBI single by Stanley – he apparently has given up trying to do anything except hit singles, but he is hitting a lot of them so I guess that is OK – and a two-RBI single by the surging BJ Surhoff who had almost been written off by the team after the first half of the season. Kevin Young gave Hampton the lead with a line-drive single to center that scored Eric Young in the 6th and it stayed 6-5 Hampton up until the 8th. In the 8th, the Huskies exploded (or possibly it was Titans’ pitchers Paul Wagner and Ramon Garcia that exploded) for seven runs to make it 13-5. The Titans came back with a run at the Huskies lead in the top of the 9th but unfortunately the Hampton skipper pulled out the league rulebook that stopped Juan Samuel for hitting for everyone else in the Long Beach lineup so the Titans had to be content with scoring just four runs including Sameul’s second homer of the game and 15th of the season. Final score – 13-9 Hampton with Samuel getting three runs, three hits including two home runs and driving in 7 runs while Eric Young had four of Hampton’s 19 hits in the game with Mickey Tettleton’s pinch-hit double in the 8th being the only one that was for extra bases. Ironically, Amaury Telemaco who was the only pitcher that did well for Long Beach (1 unearned run in 2-1/3 innings) who got tagged with the loss to drop to 2-4.
Game #5:	A close game turned into a rout as the Hampton Huskies scored eight runs from the 6th to 8th innings to take the fifth straight 12-4. Dennis Martinez started the game for Long Beach in somewhat less than stellar fashion giving up a single to Eric Young and Brian McRae and then walking Henry Rodriguez and then giving up a two-run double to Mickey Tettleton. Rodriguez was nailed at 3rd base after taking too big a turn … c’mon man has you seen the guy … he needs the space. But then Jeromy Burnitz came up and crushed a ball over the right-field wall to make it 4-0. Long Beach catcher Joe Oliver wasn’t fooled by Tom Gordon’s hanging curve and bopped it out of the park in the 4th with Wade Boggs on board to make it close at 4-2. For Oliver, it was his 12th homer of the season and 2nd of the series. The Titans scraped together a run in each of the 7th and 8th innings but it wasn’t near enough. Hampton scored three in the 6th (Craig Paquette 3-run homer and #8 on the year off Brian Bohanon), one in the 7th (Burnitz RBI single) and four in the 8th (RBI pinch-hit double by Jim Eisenreich, RBI singles by Eric Young and Brian McRae, and an RBI double by Henry Rodriguez). Martinez (2-9) took the loss for Long Beach after giving up five runs on seven hits in 5.2 innings. He struck out three and didn’t walk a batter. Tom Gordon improved to 9-12 with eight pretty good innings in which he allowed four runs on seven hits and a walk. He fanned seven.
Game #6:	Hampton scored four times in the 2nd inning and hung on to complete the sweep with a 7-4 win over the Long Beach Titans. BJ Surhoff (7) and Craig Paquette (9) homered for Hampton with Paquette driving in three and Mickey Tettleton chipping in with two hits and a two-run double in the win. Juan Samuel continued to rake for Long Beach getting two doubles and a triple and scoring twice from the leadoff spot. AJ Sager (5-13) continued to have all sorts of problems starting for the Titans. He gave up six runs on eight hits in just 4.2 innings in this one. Orel Hershiser didn’t get any more base hits in this game but did get the W to improve to 14-10 with a so-so performance in which he gave up four runs on five hits with 3 strikeouts.
Series Summary:	Hampton gets a sweep of Long Beach which unfortunately extended their losing streak to 15 games. Juan Samuel gets a huge high five in a couple of standout performances for the Titans while for Hampton praise goes to Eric Young who in four games he played had 12 hits. Oh yeah – Chan Ho Park’s 15 K 1-hitter was not bad either.

Sugar Land Skeeters @ Santa Rosa Beach Bums
Series Preview:	The Bums welcome back the Sugarland Skeeters to the Emerald Coast for a six-game set.
Game #1:	The Skeeters start the series with Freeman (0-2) to face Bums Appier (15-8). Bums Caminiti leadoff the 2nd with a double and scored on a couple of ground outs. In the 4th Bums Thomas drew a walk and Caminiti connected, 3-0. Skeeters tie it up in the 5th on a series of four singles. In the 8th Bums, White reached on a 2-base error and after Thomas drew a walk Caminiti struck again with a run-scoring single, 4-3. With 2-out Gagne added an insurance RBI single. Sugar Land 3 7 1 LP: Nelson 2b: Alou; 3b: Thome. Santa Rosa Beach 5 7 0 WP: Crabtree 2b:Caminiti; HR: Caminiti; S: James.
Game #2:	The Skeeters call on Gubicza (8-14) to face Bums Smoltz (15-3). Bums MacFarlane leadoff the 2nd with a dinger, 1-0. In the 3rd, Bums Alomar and Caminiti banged back-to-back singles and Huddler produced an RBI grounder. In the 7th Smoltz singled, White walked. Both advanced on a ground out and pitch runner Brumfield scored on another grounder, 3-0. Huddler than hit an infield single for another run. Sugar Land 0 3 0 LP: Gubizca 2b: Alou 2. Santa Rosa Beach 7 9 0 WP: Smoltz HR: MacFarlane; IBB: Caminiti.
Game #3:	Skeeters go with Aldred (8-10) to attempt to turn the series around against Bums Finley (10-8). In the 1st Bums, White and Thomas singled and Huddler hit an RBI grounder, followed by a MacFarlane 2-run 2-out RBI double 2-0. Bums Finley filled the bases in the 5th and then walkedGriffey for a run, but K’ed Thome, 2-1. In the bottom held Huddler reached on an error advanced on a passed ball and scored on a MacFarlane single. Bums White added an insurance run in the 6th with a single. In the 7th Skeeters pitch hitter, Bautista went deep, 4-2. Sugar Land 2 7 1 LP: Aldred 2b: Alou, Mosquera; HR: Bautista; SH: Aldred. Santa Rosa Beach 4 7 0 WP: Finley 2b: MacFarlane; HBP: Brumfield; SH: Finley.
Game #4:	Skeeters try to stop the skid by calling on Alvarez (9-8) and the Bums are going with Boskie (5-7). Skeeters start fast. Merced, Griffey, and Thome singled in the top of the 1st to fill the bases. Then Boskie walked Bell and surrendered a bases-clearing double to Spiers. Just like that 4-0. To start off the 2nd Alvarez and Biggio singled and Griffey banged an RBI single, 5-0. Bums Hudler got one back in the bottom half with a leadoff dinger. Skeeters Thome made it a 5-run lead in the 4th with an RBI single, but Gagne banged a 2-out shot in the bottom half to keep the game within reach, 6-2. Skeeter starts off the 5th with a double, single and RBI single by Zaun and with 2-out Merced hit a 3-run homer to put it virtually out of reach, 10-2. Sugar Land 15 21 0 WP: Alvarez; 2b: Bell, Spiers; HR: Merced. Santa Rosa Beach 5 8 0 LP: Boskie; 2b: White; HR: Hudler, Gagne.
Game #5:	Skeeters send Jones (8-14) to stop the Bums, who call on Appier (15-8) after a short rest. In the 1st, Bums Alomar drew a walk, Thomas reached via error and Caminiti knocked one in with a double. MacFarlane made it back-to-back with a 2-run double, 3-0. In the next at-bat Alou leadoff with a home run, 3-1. In the bottom half Gagne started the inning with a triple and was singled home by Appier. White followed with a double and Appier then scored on a wild pitch. In the 5th Skeeters, Simms made the game reachable again with a solo shot, 5-2. Bums take that back in the 6th as Gage doubled, advanced on a sacrifice and scored on Alomar’s single. Sugar Land 2 5 1 LP: Jones; 2b: Mosquera; HR: Alou, Sims; Sb: Biggio. Santa Rosa Beach 6 14 0 WP: Appier 2b: White, Caminiti, MacFarlane, Gagne; 3b: Gagne; SH: Appier.
Game #6:	Skeeter looks to be the spoiler with Freeman (0-2) against Bums Rosado (10-3). Bums Sanders doubled and scored on an Alomar single in the 1st. Rosado helped his own cause in the 2nd with a 2-out RBI single, 2-0. In the 6th Bums White singled, advanced on a wild pitch, advanced again on an infield grounder and scored on a Myers single, 3-0. In the 8th a Bums pass ball by Myers allowed Bell to score, 3-1. Sugar Land 1 2 0 LP: Freeman 2b: Merced, Griffey; HBP Mosquera. Santa Rosa Beach 3 10 0 WP: Rosado 2b: Sanders, White; H: Villone, Fetters, Montgomery, Castillo; S: James.
Series Summary:	Bums pitching manages to hold down the Skeeters hitting and walk away with five wins.

Winnipeg Goldeyes @ Michigan Mauraders
Series Preview:	1st place Winnipeg rolls into Michigan for 6 games.
Game #1:	Kenny Lofton hits a homer and gets a stolen base. Kenny also has 3 hits. Torres wins his 4th game. Jim Edmonds hits his 18th homer for Michigan. Winnipeg 5 Michigan 3
Game #2:	Justin Thompson leads the Goldeyes to victory. He wins his 7th game of the year. Javy Lopez hits a grand slam. Lofton has 4 hits. Palmeiro and Castilla hit homers for Michigan. Winnipeg 10 Michigan 4
Game #3:	Nagy throws a complete game to lead Michigan to victory. Palmeiro hits his 28th homer. Javy Lopez hits another homer for Winnipeg. Michigan 5 Winnipeg 1
Game #4:	Andy Benes tosses 7 innings of one-run ball en route to a victory for the Goldeyes. Robin Ventura hits 2 homers. Kenny Lofton with 2 stolen bases. For Michigan, Palmeiro and Edmonds hit homers. Winnipeg 10 Michigan 5
Game #5:	Schilling gets hurt early for Winnipeg, but Groom does a good job out of the pen. Mark McGwire hits a grand slam. Javy Lopez hits another homer, his 13th. Brady Anderson hits his 33rd homer for the Mauraders. Winnipeg 9 Michigan 4
Game #6:	Michigan scores 3 in the 8th to come back to win the game. Brady Anderson has 3 RBI’s. Radke wins his 12th for Michigan. Michigan 8 Winnipeg 6
Series Summary:	Winnipeg gets a lot of hitting and wins 4 of 6 from Michigan.

California Quakes @ Mexico City Chihuahuas
Series Summary:	California Quakes sweep the Mexico City Chihuahuas.

Harper Woods Expos @ Flossmoor Flying Squirrels
Series Summary:	Flossmoor takes four of six from Harper Woods.

Castle Rock Hounds @ Corktown Bootleggers
Series Summary:	Corktown wins the first 5 and was starting to rethink selling. However, loses a close game 6 and now stands 7 games out of the division.

Portland Mavericks @ New Hampshire Nighthawks
Series Preview:	Two rebuilding teams face off in New Hampshire.
Series Summary:	Mavericks take 5 of 6 from the struggling Nighthawks.

Detroit Stars @ DeWitt Tigers

Series Summary:

Dewitt Tigers and Detroit Stars split a very even series.

Gm 1 DeWitt 7-5
Gm 2 Detroit 8-6
Gm 3 Detroit 5-0
Gm 4 DeWitt 4-2
Gm 5 DeWitt 5-2
Gm 6 Detroit 8-6

Chicago Demolition @ Fort Worth Panthers
Series Summary:	Panthers win first 5 then Chicago wins in a blowout in game 6.

Valdosta Bombers @ Manhattan Gas Hornets
Series Preview:	If Valdosta didn’t hit so many homers, they might not win so many games – but then they wouldn’t be Bombers, would they – plus their pitching is pretty decent. Oh, well, they didn’t win them all…
Game #1:	VAL 2-5-1 LP Dave Burba (13-8) MGH 3-6-0 WP Rick Krivda (4-6) S Bob Patterson HR – Eric Karros (21), one of many this week. Mike Blowers hits the wall and goes down for 10 days.
Game #2:	VAL 14-20-0 WP Jaime Moyer (9-3) MGH 1-6-3 LP Allan Watson (9-11) HRs: VAL – Steve Finely (27), Manny Ramirez 3 (20-22), Matt Mieske (11), Jack Flaherty (5) Ramirez gets NINE (9) RBIs, 1 homer was Grand Slam. MGH – Tino Martinez (16) We actually won the 4th inning 1-0, the only inning the Bombers didn’t score – oh, except the 9th.
Game #3:	VAL 4-11-0 WP Jack McDowell (8-6) S Billy Wagner (2) MGH 1-7-1 LP Carlos Reyes (4-9) HRs: Eric Karros 2 (22, 23)
Game #4:	VAL 3-6-1 WP Pat Hentgen (15-9) S Robb Nen (26) MGH1-5-1 LP Sterling Hitchcock (8-7) HRs: Steve Finley (28), Manny Ramirez (23), Matt Mieske (12)
Game #5:	VAL 4-9-0 WP John Franco (6-1) S Billy Wagner (3) MGH 2-6-0 LP Alvin Morman (2-4) HRs: VAL Steve Finley (29), Matt Mieske (13) – Finley’s in the top of the 9th to break a 2-2 tie! MGH – Lenny Harris (4)
Game #6:	VAL 3-9-0 LP Dave Burba (13-9) MGH 5-8-0 WP Terry Mulholland (9-6) S Bob Patterson (20) no homers – but Lenny Harris gets 4 RBIs including a 3 run double in the 6th!
Series Summary:	With the exception of game 2 – the other 5 were all close contests, but Valdosta leaves town with a 4-2 series win.