Bickering and fighting has taken over the Libyan Generals' clubhouse and rookie GM Herb DeSpain doesn't seem to know what to do about it. "Are they fighting because we are losing? Because we have some bad attitudes in the clubhouse? Because we are shuffling guys up and down too much?" DeSpain exclaimed. "I'm not sure what's going on. These are veteran guys but most of them are not use to being leaders. As fringe players in the BBA they are all followers."
Whatever the cause the results are obvious. The Generals are losing a lot. After finishing June 10-17 Libyan holds the worst record in the entire UMEBA. A team that experts projected to win 80 games is now be lucky to win 60 and DeSpain is not happy about it. "We were not suppose to be this bad out of the gate." he explained. "We thought we had a good core and we just kept adding to it." Outside of just a couple of exceptions the pitching has been terrible. A collective ERA over six in June with eight different players getting starts seems like the team is reaching. "Maybe we need to pick five or six guys and just stick with them," said pitching coach Sayyar Mahdi. One of the few bright spots has been closer James Braddock. Braddock had a couple of bad outings in April that sent his ERA over 20 but has since pitched 18 consecutive scoreless innings and for the second month in a row he has been named the Generals POM. "It's a shame he's not a starter," said DeSpain.
At the plate the Generals are not quite as bad as they are on the mound. 1B Manuel Hernandez led the team in June with a 1.107 OPS thanks to his eight homers and 11 walks. Hernandez platoons at first and only starts against righties knocked in 18 runs for the month, second to Carlos Alonso's 19. "The guy struggling right now is Andy McKinney," said hitting coach Hafiz Saadi. "We brought him in here to hit in the middle of the lineup and now we can't justify him even starting."
Libyan Generals Hitter of the Month(JUNE2043)
.290/.397/.710, 2 2B, 8 HR, 18 RBI, 13 RS, 11 BB
Libyan Generals Pitcher of the Month(JUNE2043)
1-0-4 saves, 0.00 ERA, 6.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 HA, 0 HRA, 7 K, current 18 inning scoreless streak