1 July 2062
Boise, Idaho
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by Stubby Bardenwerper
Where the hell did the Spuds' June come from and why has it been hidden away?! Posting a 20-8 record was so clean GM Ben Teague started looking at a WC spot just 3.5 games away. Who to praise for the turnaround? Take your pick. No, really, it was the offense. The team scored 6.4 runs/game which makes it difficult to lose very often...even if you allow 4.9.
SPUDS OF THE MONTH - JUNE
Pitcher
SP Mahad 'Furball' Einan
5 G, 5 GS, 5-0, 32.0 IP, 1.97 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 7.0 K/9, 1.7 BB/9
And after an ugly month here comes the stellar version of CL Mario Santos converting 9 of 10 saves, and posting a 1-0 record, on a 0.73 ERA. You can see why it's such a constant mental tug-of-war with him and setup man Brian Groves. But the month of June was all about the rotation. Juan Guzmán went 4-1 in 6 starts with an ERA of 1.90 and 1.24 WHIP. 'Scary' bin Khairy had a good stretch of 6 starts going 3-1 on an ERA of 2.58 and 1.20 WHIP. But Einan was stellar in the Spuds breakout month flexing a 4.1 K/BB.
Batter
3B Bill Kuhn
25 G, 115 PA, 4 2B, 1 3B, 8 HR, 34 RBI, .385/.470/.698
Somebody pissed off the Spuds' offense. Specifically, the heart of the Spuds lineup. Three players had 20 or more RBI for the month including DH Pedro Hozven with 23 on 9 doubles and 6 HR while slashing .327/.380/.591. And, yep, C Tadanobu Otani stayed hot driving in 20 runs on 3 doubles and 4 HR. LF Tsutomu Yamauchi just missed the cut driving in 18 runs with 10 doubles and 3 HR. We'd be remiss to not recognize 1B Tracy 'Jigga' Allison swiping 24 bags in the month with a .405 OBP. But Kuhn stole the show. 34 RBI in the month? Are you kidding me?
June: SP Mahad Einan, 3B Bill Kuhn
May: P Brian Groves, DH Pedro Hozven
April: P Buddhapalita Kankipati, 3B Bill Kuhn