SWOON IN JUNE

Years ago, the New York Giants would jump out to an early lead in the standings, when it was only 8 teams in the league and in June, die, losing the lead and eventually the pennant. They were known to swoon in June, as the media said. This year, we have a new swooner, the Miami Marlins! As of this writing, they are 33-35 and 7 games out. Not time to panic but when the All-Star break hits, that multi0-million dollar payroll better start producing.

For the month of June as of the 21^st, they are 4-13, having entered the month 29-22! The old adage is that the team in first place at the All-Star break usually wins the pennant.

Only 2 players are hitting over .300, and neither is a regular starter. Last year’s batting champ, Jose Reyes is batting only .274! Ramirez a paltry .259! None of the starting pitchers have a winning record, and with that the relievers have nothing to relieve. With the money shelled out for pitching and hitting over the winter, Ozzie Guillien better have some answers, as the hitting coach is already under fire.

Knuckling under

Not since way back in 1907 when Lew ‘Hicks’ Moren, the inventor of the knuckle ball, have we seen anything like it for surprises. R.A. Dickey has been the talk of the majors, with his knuckleball and 11-1 record, making a serious bid for the Cy Young award. He has pitched 2 one-hitters and an argument can be made that it was a no-hitter. But R. A. is not the first to be cited for his pitch, there were others with great notoriety who popularized the pitch. Around the same time as Moren, Eddie Cicotte was developing the his own knuckler, and so an argument can be made that he, the White Sox pitcher, and not Moren on the Phillies invented the pitch.

Tomorrow: THE KNUCKLERS

That’s all I wrote, folks!