Mel Ott has been named A to Z League player of the week for the week ending August 7. Ott batted .414 (12-for-29) with four homers, two triples, a double, and 13 RBI. He scored nine runs as well. Ott's OPS for the week was a cool 1.433. Other contenders for the recognition included: Frank Thomas, who hit .450 and had three homers and eight RBI; and Jackie Robinson, who batted .440 (11-25) with two homers, a triple, two doubles, and six runs scored. Three pitchers each went 2-0 for the week and posted identical ERAs of 1.59--that's three earned runs in 17 innings. Roger Clemens allowed just five hits and struck out 10, Mike Mussina allowed 11 hits and fanned 13, and Mickey Lolich allowed eight hits and whiffed 16.
Mel Ott
Some highlights for the week:
August 1
Aberdeen scored four in the top of the ninth on three hits, two walks, and an error and came from behind to beat Long Beach 6-3. Ocean Shores knocked out Bob Friend in the second and led all the way in an 8-5 win over Forks. Andruw Jones drove in four runs with a three-run homer and a single and Fergie Jenkins won his eleventh as Jefferson County topped Hoquiam 8-6. Miguel Cabrera, Oscar Charleston, and Roy Campanella each drove in two runs and Clemens pitched eight solid innings in Cashmere's 7-3 win at Quincy. John Donaldson, Joe DiMaggio, and Doug DeCinces homered and Don Drysdale took a shutout into the ninth as Davenport held on to beat North Bend 6-3. Mussina pitched eight solid innings and Moses Lake beat Ephrata 4-3. Ted Williams went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a homer and scored three times as Wenatchee thumped Vancouver 8-5. Barry Zito pitched a two-hitter and Rudy York hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth as Yakima out-dueled Goldendale and Lefty Grove 3-1. Johnny Pesky had a triple, double, and drove in four runs and Pasco whipped Kelso 7-2. Christobal Torriente hit a pinch three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth and Tumwater beat Bainbridge Island 5-3. Renton scored a run in the first and Robin Roberts made it stand up, pitching a six-hitter to beat Snoqualmie and Warren Spahn 1-0.
August 2
Lolich pitched eight solid innings in his first start of the year and Buck Leonard and Ernie Lombardi went deep as Long Beach thumped Aberdeen 7-3. Ocean Shores scored two in the bottom of the eighth on a pinch triple by Sadaharu Oh and a sacrifice fly by Lefty O'Doul and beat Forks 5-3. Tom Haller hit two home runs and drove in four, and Billy Herman and Ron Hansen had three hits each as Hoquiam whipped Jefferson County 9-2. Cabrera and Joe Cronin went deep and Cashmere and Steve Carlton beat Quincy 7-2. Martin Dihigo hit two home runs and drove in three as Davenport edged North Bend 4-3. Dale Murphy hit a two-run homer to cap Moses Lake's five-run eighth and the M's topped Ephrata 10-7. Lou Whitaker went 3-for-4 with a home run and Ernie Whitt also homered as Wenatchee outscored Vancouver 8-4. Goldendale scored five in the top of the ninth, four on a grand slam by Goose Goslin, and beat Yakima 7-3. Kelso rapped a dozen hits, led by three from Al Kaline, and beat Pasco 8-4. Tumwater piled up 18 hits, getting three each from Tom Tresh and Jim Thome, and out-slugged Bainbridge Island 10-7. Nolan Ryan allowed just one run on five hits in eight innings and fanned 11, and Jackie Robinson went 4-for-4 with a homer as Renton beat Snoqualmie 3-1.
August 3
Ott hit a grand slam in the top of the seventh and Ocean Shores came from behind to beat Aberdeen 6-5. Willie Foster, Keith Foulke, and Rollie Fingers checked Jefferson County on five hits and Forks prevailed 4-2. Roy Halladay pitched a two-hitter and knocked in four runs with a pair of bases-loaded singles and Hoquiam topped Long Beach 7-2. David Cone pitched a four-hitter and struck out eight and Cashmere blanked Bainbridge Island 6-0. Dihigo pitched seven solid innings and went 2-for-3, scored twice, and knocked in a run in Davenport's 4-2 win over Moses Lake. Ephrata scored three in the eighth, the go-ahead runs scoring on a single by Jim Edmonds, and beat Quincy 5-3. Yakima scored five in the top of the 12th, breaking the tie on a three-run double by Ryan Zimmerman, and the Z's outlasted Wenatchee 11-6. Tom Glavine allowed just one run on three hits in seven innings and Goldendale topped Pasco 7-4. Greg Vaughn hit a two-run homer in the top of the eighth and Vancouver came from behind to beat Kelso 6-5. Phil Niekro pitched a five-hitter and Mike Napoli homered as North Bend blanked Snoqualmie 4-0. Steve Rogers pitched a four-hitter while Renton pounded out 14 in an 8-1 win over Tumwater.
August 4
Ott drove in five runs with a homer and a double and Ocean Shores out-slugged Aberdeen 10-7. Forks scored two in the bottom of the ninth, Todd Frazier scored the game-winner on a single by Jimmie Foxx, and beat Jefferson County 6-5. Harry Heilmann went 4-for-4 with a homer, double, four runs, and four RBI, and Hoquiam scored six in the bottom of the eighth to win a wild one from Long Beach 13-8. Cool Papa Bell, Yogi Berra, and Jeff Bagwell homered and Bainbridge Island beat Cashmere 4-1. Pedro Martinez allowed no earned runs on three hits and struck out nine in eight innings, and Eddie Murray and Rabbit Maranville homered as Moses Lake edged Davenport 2-1. Ephrata scored two in the bottom of the ninth with the help of an error by Del Unser on Luke Easter's single and beat Quincy 4-3. Paul Waner tripled to score Willie Wilson with the winning run in the bottom of the tenth as Wenatchee beat Yakima 4-3. Gary Gaetti hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth and Goldendale beat Pasco 4-2. Arky Vaughan hit a grand slam in the top of the eighth and Vancouver rolled to a 10-2 win at Kelso. Duke Snider drove in five runs, hitting a grand slam that capped Snoqualmie's five-run fifth in a 6-3 win at North Bend. Thomas went 3-for-4 with a pair of homers and three RBI and Tumwater beat Renton 7-4.
August 5
Derek Jeter went 3-for-5 with two triples, a double, and four RBI in Jefferson County's 7-3 win at Forks. Hoquiam snapped a tie on Todd Helton's three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh and held on to beat Long Beach 5-3. Cabrera hit a pair of homers and drove in three runs to lead Cashmere to a 4-2 win over Bainbridge Island. Greg Maddux pitched a three-hitter and Joe Morgan homered off Sean Doolittle in the top of the ninth to give Moses Lake a 1-0 win over Davenport. Quincy erupted for 13 hits, four by Chase Utley and three each by Ichiro and Omar Infante, and defeated Ephrata 10-1. Cy Young spun a five-hitter and Yakima beat Wenatchee 5-0. Jim Palmer pitched seven solid innings and Vada Pinson and Tony Phillips homered as Pasco beat Goldendale 5-2. The game was marred by a brawl in the third inning which resulted in several ejections and injuries. Hal Newhouser allowed just one run on four hits over eight innings, and he drove in two runs with a single and a groundout as North Bend topped Snoqualmie 4-1. Tumwater got 14 hits, including homers by Thome and Robby Thompson, who had three RBI each, and the T's beat Renton 10-5.
August 6
Pete Alexander became the first A to Z League pitcher to win 13 games, tossing a seven-hitter and scoring and driving in a run, and Aberdeen beat Ocean Shores 7-3. Foxx hit a one-out homer in the bottom of the tenth and Forks edged Jefferson County 5-4. Long Beach led Hoquiam 6-0 after two, the H's battled back and tied it in the seventh, but the L's won it 7-6 when Kenny Lofton scored on a passed ball by Gabby Hartnett in the top of the tenth. Clemens pitched a one-hitter, allowing just a single by Berra in the first inning, and Cashmere beat Bainbridge Island 3-0. Mussina pitched a six-hitter and Moses Lake beat Davenport 2-0. Dan Uggla hit a grand slam to cap Quincy's five-run rally in the top of the ninth, and the Quirks held on to beat Ephrata 7-4. Adam Wainwright pitched eight solid innings and Matt Wieters hit a three-run homer as Wenatchee bested Yakima 8-3. Lefty Grove allowed just one run on five hits in seven innings, and Charlie Gehringer hit a two-run homer as Goldendale topped Pasco 4-1. Ian Kinsler hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the first and Kelso led all the way behind Clayton Kershaw in a 5-2 win over Vancouver. Tris Speaker went 3-for-4 with a homer and scored three runs as Snoqualmie scored five in the first two innings, then withstood a North Bend comeback to win 7-6.
August 7
Moises Alou and Bob Allison both went 3-for-4, each with a homer, two runs, and two RBI, and Aberdeen powered past Cashmere 6-3. Larry Doby and Dihigo both drove in three runs and Davenport topped Forks 9-5. Rogers Hornsby drove in three runs; he homered in the third, and his two-run double in the seventh snapped a tie and Hoquiam beat Ephrata 5-3. Randy Johnson and Juan Marichal had a good pitchers duel, but neither was around for the decision. Edgar Martinez hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the 12th to give Moses Lake a 2-1 win over Jefferson County. Lolich pitched a three-hitter and struck out 10 and Long Beach blanked Quincy 2-0. Tony Oliva drove in three runs and O'Doul hit a two-run homer in the fifth as Ocean Shores topped Yakima 9-6. David Wright homered and drove in three as Wenatchee edged Bainbridge Island 5-4. Hank Gowdy scored the winning run in the bottom of the 12th after a wild pitch on a strikeout as Goldendale prevailed over North Bend 4-3. Sam Rice scored on a double by Tim Raines in the bottom of the tenth and Renton snuck past Kelso 3-2. Mike Piazza led off the eighth with a triple and scored what proved to be the winning run on an error by Lee Smith and Pasco beat Snoqualmie 4-3. Luis Tiant, Sr. pitched a six-hitter and allowed no earned runs in Tumwater's 6-2 win over Vancouver.
Injuries
Gary Nolan, in his first outing after a month on the injured list, left his August 2 start with a blister on his pinky and will miss two or three turns in the North Bend rotation. The club called up Joe Niekro to fill in. Roy Oswalt left his August 4 start with a sore elbow and will miss a couple of weeks. Russ Ortiz was called up to fill that slot in the rotation. Goldendale lost two pitchers during its August 5 game. Bob Gibson broke his leg in the second inning of his start August 7 and will be out for about three weeks. The pitcher who relieved him, Dave Giusti, hit the next batter, Andy Pafko, with a pitch and the benches emptied. Giusti and Pafko were ejected after the brawl, during which reliever Gene Garber injured his fist; he'll be out a couple of weeks. Dwight Gooden and Burleigh Grimes were called up to fill in. Ephrata's Kelvim Escobar was injured in the ninth inning of their August 5 game. A sore elbow will keep him on the shelf for about three weeks. Don Elston was called up to join the E's bullpen.