Davis Provides Offense for Surging Outlaws, Mussina Has 5-Win Month
July is a month sure to go in the record books for Eric Davis. The Deadwood outfielder was named EL Player-of-the-Month after batting an unearthly .488 with 32 runs, 10 HRs, 25 RBIs and 47 runs created. The production of the Davis is the main reason why the Deadwood Outlaws are picking up games on the stagnating Edmonton Oil Kings. Right now, they are only 4 games behind first place in the McCoy Division. "All I know is that I have to come up big every game down the stretch," says Davis. "And I've been meeting my expectations, but I never thought my numbers were like this."
The DL Player-of-the-Month honours went to Washington secondbaseman Mariano Duncan, who was the main catatyst in the team's gush in offense. In July, Duncan batted .370 and racked up 24 runs, 4 HRs and 25 RBIs.
Mike Mussina was the star pitcher of July in the Enterprise League. Mussina was the only pitcher in the PVBL to get 5 wins. His record for July is 5-0 over 6 starts. During that span, the Macon Whoopie pitcher had a 2.10 ERA and amassed 25 strikeouts in 40 innings pitched. All of his starts were quality starts. Commented Mussina on his 5 wins, "I never felt like July was my month. I'm surprised by my achievement as much as anyone else."
The DL Pitcher-of-the-Month was a close contest. Shawn Estes and Jamey Wright both had a 4-win July, but the honours went to Sacramento starter Alan Benes. Benes went 4-0 with a 1.43 ERA and struck out 21 in 37 2/3 IP. All of his 5 starts were quality starts. Of note, pitcher Joey Hamilton gave up only 4 runs in his 5 starts (totalling 38 innings), but the Springfield Atoms offense couldn't get behind him--4 of his starts were no decisions and his other one was a loss. (Let me do the math for you: that amounts to an ERA of 0.94.)
