Aloha Ka Punahou 2006.14
Hawai'i finishes August 17-11, third straight winning month
Tropics have slight lead in wildcard race, 1 behind Vancouver Mounties
Carl "Daffy" MacNeill hits .263 with 4 rbis in August
Despite losing 6 out of its last 10 August games, the Hawai'i Tropics finished the
month 17-11, tying its June record for best month and an improvement on
July's 15-10.
Finding itself in the midst of a tight playoff race, Hawai'i lost two 2-game series
against both Baltimore and Greenville. Losing to both JLA teams made the wildcard
race that much closer.
Yet sandwiched between the series against the Monarchs and the Moonshiners
was a three-game series v Madison: Hawai'i won 2 of 3 and finished 2-3
against the Wolves for the month with scores of 4-5, 1-3, 3-7, 5-2, 7-1.
"In other words, we competed against them," manager Al Chavez said. "We didn't
turn over and die." In all Hawai'i finished 3-4 during the regular season against the
perennial JLC division winner.
August Batters:
Niguel Halime, acquired 7/11, got his act together and led Hawai'i with 19 rbis
while batting .333 and smacking 4 homers. He also had a .404 OBP. His Hawai'i July
marks were .205 and no home runs. Halime played a decent right field and his gun of an
arm led to 4 assists in 27 games, two or three of those in the last couple weeks.
The return of Rf Pat Clark from the DL will probably force Halime into a platoon-like situation
in RF and cause him to fill in for Liao Kuan in LF. Halime's best ratings are at LF and Hoot
wonders if he should not play Halime there full time.
Liao Kuan, meanwhile, despite a dreadful last sim (2-32 with 0 rbis), managed to come
away with an overall August average of .273, a team-high 6 home runs, and tied with
DJ (Dwayne Johnson) for second with 15 rbis.
DJ, meanwhile, led the team with 17 walks and tied Pedro Berrios with 9 doubles. DJ hit
only two home runs, his lowest totals after monthly marks of 9, 5, 6, and 6. Hopefully
the Wave will break out for another big power month in September. He hit .278 and was
second with 19 runs scored.
SS Yami-kan (Yamaguchi Kanzaburo) was 4th in rbis with 14, mostly from the lead off
spot. He walked 11 times and batted .319.
CF Jeff Stanley, besides having two walk off game-winning hits, led the team with 20 runs
scored and patrolled center field as proficiently as expected, with a range of 6.0 and no
errors in 26 games and 52 put outs. Also, with a gun of an arm, it would interesting to play
Stanley in his native RF and put Santos, O'Toole, or Hughes in center.
2b Felicetti and 3b Jowers tied Stanley with 11 rbis, hitting .255 (.352 OBP) and .310
(.384) respectively. They also turned a ton of double plays.
C Berrios hit .348 with 12 rbis in 69 at bats. Reyes hit .333 (13-39) before being injured.
Sadaharu Oh, Jr had a .404 OBP to go along with 9 rbis in 41 at bats. He walked 10 times.
SS Benton Bobke has begun starting against lefties and hit .279 and drove in 9 in 43 at bats.
Bobke also had a critical error playing 3rd-base (a position I would never have put him at),
which led to an unearned run and a loss. Reminiscent of Tillman's error at 2b in April, if Hawai'i
fails to reach the playoffs by 2 games, I will shoot the AI.
And, yes, Daffy MacNeill hit .263 for the month, including a 2-3 day with 2 rbis in the game
against Madison in which he struck out a season-high 14 batters. But that leads to pitching
performances.