NALB - July 2005

K. Fields
2006-10-22T18:33:48-04:00
Baseball

The NALB is now through the month of July. Brooklyn got off to a great start in the month, winning its first six games. After extending their success in July to 18-4, the Knights hit a three game losing streak. They still finished with a very good 20-7 record for the month and 76-32 overall. More importantly, they extended their first place lead over the Dayton Grizzlies (55-53) from 12 games to 21 games. Barring a monumental collapse in August and September, it looks like the Knights are well on their way to winning another division title. Las Vegas (54-54) stayed in third place and St. Rock (42-66) had another disappointing month, keeping them in last place. Cornfield (56-52) maintained their place on top of their division. In League 2, Stade (65-43) is still the team to beat. The Phoenix Rattlers (51-57) lead the weakest division in the NALB.

Jeff Castino, the Knights' cleanup hitter was a consensus choice for the League 1 Player of the Week on July 25. He had a .536 batting average on 15 hits in 28 at bats and powered 4 home runs, scored 12 runs, and drove in 9 runs. Unfortunately, the streaky Castino went ice cold for the last week of the month with only 1 hit in 15 at bats. Fortunately, several other Brooklyn players had hot months. Dick Moran was back to the form that made him one of the most dangerous hitters back in April. He hit .336 in July and blasted 10 home runs and 33 RBI. Dan Kelley was named the League 1 Batter of the Month. He hit an impressive .323 and rapped 5 doubles and 10 home runs. All month long, Kelley was a vital cog in the Knights attack with 31 RBI and 22 scored. Fred Millard was named July's Pitcher of the Month. The 29 year old tossed 39 innings of quality baseball, going 5-0 with a 3.23 ERA. He sat down 33 batters on strikes.