So was the tale of the Montreal Royals who swept through Deadwood like a
Viking raiding party. The booty, naturally, was the McCoy division title
which they seized Sunday with a nailbiting 10-inning victory. The Outlaws
avoided a sweep by beating them in the final game of the 4-game series.
The team returned home last night and the fans didn't fail to show their
appreciation of the Royals' success. The Royals won that game, 9-6 against
the Hartford Whalers.
"It's been a rocky road to success," said manager Gary Carter, who has been
with the team since 1998. "We know we're not going to put any more pressure
on ourselves now that we're in first place. Deadwood will be hot on our
tails every day from now on, but if we play with the same determination as
we have so far this season, I expect good things for this team."
* * *
EDMONTON HOME RUN KINGS: Last Monday, Montreal began a 4-game series
against the Edmonton Oil Kings. But the young Edmonton batters came into
Montreal with hot bats and literally massacred Montreal pitching. Edmonton
beat Montreal by scores of 8-2, 10-7 and 15-3. Cormier was the only pitcher
who was able to salvage a victory for the Royals, in a 9-5 win. The
Edmonton batters hit at least 2 home runs in every game. In the the series
clincher, A-Rod provided the power all by himself by smashing 2 over the
fence against the bewildered Mike Grace.
DEADWOOD OUT... SLUGGED: On the road, pitching woes continued for Montreal.
But somehow they managed to come out of Deadwood with 3 victories and a
1-game lead, thanks to the offense which scored an average of 10.5 runs per
game in the series. Santo Skinner managed 2 wins despite giving up 3 runs
in each of his two appearances. The Royals are now batting as a team a mere
1 point under .300, and are now third in the league in run production.
NO JUSTICE TO PITCHERS: The pitching did not come back to Montreal
unscathed. After the road trip, the team's ERA has inflated well over 4.00.
It hasn't been that high since 1997. Pete Harnisch has struggled; he has an
0-3 record since being traded. The ERAs of Mike Grace, Rheal Cormier and
Kirk Rueter are now well over 3.00. Jose Mesa continues to be Montreal's
most reliable pitcher with a 2.22 ERA in 24 innings pitched, but he has
only 5 saves on the year. "We just need to calm down," said Grace.
JOIN THE 300-CLUB: Current members are Rusty Greer (.392), Rondell White
(.355), Mike Lansing (.334), Alberto Castillo (.324), Art Maupin (.319) and
Otis Nixon (.301).
DL WATCH: Spider Monahan is undergoing rehabilitation and should be back in
the lineup next week. Unfortunately for Spider, Danny Tartabull has earned
a spot as well, having increased his batting average to .279. The
long-awaited return of Salomon Torres is approaching. He should be back in
the rotation by the end of the month. Which begs the question: who will
Torres replace?
JOSE'S DAYS ARE NUMBERED: Pitching coach Tim Burke has issued a warning to
Jose Fusselman: if he doesn't start showing signs of improvement by the
time Luis Andujar is fully healthy again, he will be demoted to the minors.
"He hasn't shown us what he's capable of, and right now I don't have a lot
of patience," said Burke.
