Bandit Post, Vol 1.2, 1997

[aaronweiner]

A stellar 6-3 sim for Birmingham puts them in some unusual territory. Birmingham is in first place for the first time since the 1995 season, and while the Bandits were a playoff team last year, being in first place is especially sweet given the mass exoduses from the pitching staff and the early-season struggles offensively.

"Now, all we have to do is hold onto it for another 145 games," said center fielder John Wright, current Frick League Player of the Week. "How hard can that be?"

Birmingham has to feel a bit fortunate during this run. They've been outscored 69-79 on the season with a Pythagorean record of +3 - a lot through seventeen games. However, if you eliminate their two largest losses, a 14-1 pasting by Des Moines and an 8-0 shellacking from Austin, their record makes sense: their run differential changes to 68-57.

"We're not blowing teams out, and we're doing what we didn't do at the beginning of last year: winning the close ones," said manager Lou Brown. "We were losing a lot of these games last year and we're pretty happy about what's happened so far."

One major difference in the Birmingham game plan is handing James Randolph the closer job and Dilla Yancey the setup role before the season. Randolph is 1-0 with five saves and has not surrendered an earned run this season, while Yancey is 3-0 with an ERA of 2.84 and one save in 10 appearances this season. This means that between the two of them, they've either earned or saved nine of the ten Birmingham wins this year.

"Heck yes, Dilla and Jimmy are our MVPs right now," said Brown. "We've been getting a lot from the rotation and we're pretty thrilled that Brett Favre's hitting the heck out of the ball, but without Dilla and Jimmy we'd be in the deep stuff right now."

The good news for these two stalwart relievers? Help is on the way, in the form of Gunga Oogolagunga, grabbed off the waiver wire. Oogolagunga had a 3.90 ERA last season with Las Vegas and a 4.59 ERA between Vegas and New Orleans in 1995. So, while the righty might be somewhat overpaid, he's certainly an upgrade over Porter Capps, the Rule 5 draftee released to make room for the righty.

All of this news, along with some resurgence from Birmingham's solid offense, means that the Bandits are managing to weather Damian Bedgood's arm injury without missing a beat so far. It will be exciting to see whether Birmingham can keep it together long enough for their superb #2 starter to return from the disabled list. If they do, Birmingham could find the playoffs for the second consecutive season.