Weekly Top Five: May 11-May 17

The first round of interleague play wrapped up this week, and the Munson League won more games by the slimmest of margins. Strangely, the strong Lasorda Division went 22-26 against the weak Martin Division.

  Tommy Lasorda 22 vs. 26 Billy Martin
  Tony La Russa 23 vs. 25 Sparky Anderson
      Bobby Cox 26 vs. 22 Earl Weaver
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Clemente League 71 vs. 73 Munson League

Scott Andrews

Some strong performances failed to crack my Top Five. Scott Andrews hits for the cycle and wins Player of the Week. South Carolina snaps Jeffrey Coffman's hitting streak: at 24 games, the streak ties four others for fourth longest all time. Young Texas shortstop Jun'ichi Ogura goes 5-for-5 against Carolina. San Diego's Mario Vázquez gets a hit in his 20th straight game.

#5: Jesters and Outlaws Tangle

Byron Bryant

May 12: Jersey 5, Nottinghamshire 13. The Outlaws rank last in the Clemente in home runs but first in runs scored. Tonight they score 13 runs despite hitting only one extra base hit. How do they do it? They hit 14 singles and draw 11 walks. Their one extra-base hit comes in a nine-run sixth: Byron Bryant, the one true slugger on the team, hits a grand slam.

Leslie Whitney

Leslie Whitney exemplifies the Nottinghamshire hitting approach: he goes 2-for-3 with two walks, scoring twice and driving in two. On the season, Whitney has been arguably the most valuable player in baseball: he has hit only two home runs, but he gets on at a .517 clip.

May 13: Jersey 7, Nottinghamshire 6. In the second inning, Jester Mike Pittman hits a solo home run and Bill Parker hits a grand slam.

May 14: Jersey 5, Nottinghamshire 4. Jersey takes a lead, 4-3, into the bottom of the eighth. Victor Welsh singles, moves to second on a sac bunt, moves to third on a ground out, and scores on a Whitney single.

Hunter Wine

The game goes into extra innings. Hunter Wine doubles. (Wine, by the way, is having a tremendous season: his 3-for-5 day raises his average to an even .400.) With two outs, Bill Flynn grounds to third base, but rookie Scotty Frank muffs the play, Wine comes home to score, and the Jesters take two of three from the Outlaws.

#4: Games of the Weak

The two worst teams in the ABL play a surprisingly close and exciting series.

May 11: Jacksonville 4, Texas 3. The Jacks get off to a fast start: in the first inning, Don Beasley hits a three-run home run. The Gunners come back, with Nick Parks and Ryan Taylor hitting solo home runs. In the seventh, Cal Godleman walks and scores on an Eduardo Liñares double.

May 12: Jacksonville 5, Texas 3. Gunner Eric Williams ties the game, 3-3, with a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth. In the 10th, Marvin Bowman hits a two-run home run to win the game for the Jacks—it also gives them the series win. In the battle of the worst teams in basball, Texas comes out on bottom.

May 13: Jacksonville 0, Texas 2. The Gunners salvage the last game of the series. Jorge Cruz (1-3) and three relievers combine to shut out the Jacks on four hits.

#3: Shelton Slugs Away

Anthony
Shelton

Anthony Shelton can hit the ball a long way. His problem has always been hitting the ball in the first place. In 2013, Shelton batted .216 while hitting 20 home runs in 310 at-bats. Last season, he batted .221 with 31 home runs. Or take his career isolated power* of .252: Shelton ranks 14th, just behind stars Mike Bergeron and Jesús Cruz.

*Isolated power = slugging percentage - batting average. It's a handy way to measure a player's contributions via extra-base hits.

But this season Shelton has taken these tendencies to new extremes. He ends this week below the Mendoza line, batting .192, but his 13 home runs are second most in baseball.

Shelton has a pair of huge games in the middle of this week. On the 13th, he hits a first-inning grand slam and a solo home run in the seventh. On the 15th, he again hits two home runs: he also hits a double, scores three times, and drives in three. Shelton wins Player of the Week.

#2: Hard-Fought Hornets and Berserkers Series

Chris Wine

May 11: Minnesota 1, Eureka 2. Chris Wine, April's Pitcher of the Month, allows only one run in eight innings of work, but he gets little support from Minnesota bats. The game goes into extra innings, tied 1-1. In the bottom of the 10th with two outs, Mike Bergeron gets hit by a pitch, then steals second. Ronnie Wells lines the ball down the left-field line, and Bergeron races home with the winning run.

May 12: Minnesota 3, Eureka 0. Franklin Cox (5-1) pitches eight shutout innings, allowing only five singles and walking none. Mike Miller matches him for 6 1/3 innings, but once he leaves, the Berserkers rally to score three runs. Cox now has a 2.02 ERA on the season, and he and Wine lead the Clemente League's top-ranked starting rotation.

May 13: Minnesota 4, Eureka 5. The two teams once again go to extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th, a single and two walks load the bases for Michael Brown. He hits a fly ball to deep center field, and Eureka once again wins in extra innings.

#1: Everhart and Owens Twirl Dueling Gems

May 16: Jersey 0, Georgia 1. In the best pitchers' duel of the season thus far, the Jesters and Grays combine for only five hits and a single run.

Tom Owens

Both starters go the distance. Tom Owens, 21, takes a perfect game into the seventh inning. After getting Ed Hill to fly out, he walks Jake McGee. The no-hitter falls, too, when Tommy McCauley bloops a single into short right field. Two batters later, Juan Marín singles in McGee for the game's only run. Despite allowing only one walk and three singles, Owens gets his fifth loss of the season. Oddly, he accomplishes this without striking out a single batter.

Pat Everhart

Pat Everhart (4-1) walks a batter in the third and takes a no-hitter into the sixth. Jack Johnson leads off the inning with a bunt single. Everhart allows one further hit in the eighth: Mike Pittman lines a solid single to center. All three baserunners are erased on double plays, and Everhart faces the minimum 27 batters. He strikes out eight.

It's the second straight two-hit shutout performance for Everhart. In his previous start, against So Cal on May 10, he strikes out nine and allows only two hits over 8 1/3 innings.