A to Z League Labor Day Update: South Division

It's Labor Day in the A to Z League and the 22 clubs all have just 35 games remaining on their regular-season schedules. Clear leaders have emerged in two of the divisions with a month left to play. Two others remain close. This week we'll look at each.  Today: the South Division.

Goldendale has been leading the South for quite a while, and has been ahead by as much as 13 games. That lead has been reduced to nine games, as the G's were swept by Coast-leading Aberdeen while going 2-5 this week. After a win over Quincy on Sunday they've won only two of their last eight. Meanwhile second-place Pasco Swept Hoquiam this week and has won six in a row and eight of their last 11 to move within nine games of the front runners. That's still a big hill to climb in a little over a month of play, but they gained four this week.

GOLDENDALE: 80-53, leading the division

Goose Gossage

Goldendale's slide might have been in part because of the loss of two starting pitchers to injury. Bob Gibson missed three weeks beginning in early August. He returned to the rotation August 27 and has gone 1-1 in two starts since. Lefty Grove went on the injured list August 16 and was out for about 2 1/2 weeks. He returned this past Friday and started against Aberdeen, a game that Goldendale lost, but Grove was not in on the decision. Goose Gossage lost two games in that Aberdeen series, giving up two in the eighth Friday night and three in the ninth on Saturday, losing both games 6-5. The Goose is 6-7 and has 32 saves on the season, with an ERA of 3.52. He's blown only seven saves, so a major meltdown two nights in a row was unexpected.

Lou Gehrig continues to make a bid for the triple crown. He's leading the A to Z League in home runs with 47 and RBI with 112. The batting average may be a tough leg to get. Gehrig is batting .323, sixth in the league and 23 points behind the leader, Eddie Collins.

Goldendale has just begun a 12-game road trip. They play three more at Quincy this week, four at East-leading Moses Lake, and then four at Ephrata to close it out.

PASCO: 71-62, second in the division, 9 games back

Satchel Paige

Pasco has won six in a row and eight of 11 to gain some ground on Goldendale. Pitching, as always, has been key for the P's. They've given up two or fewer runs in four of those eight recent victories.

Their challenge is that two stalwart pitchers, Satchel Paige and Andy Pettitte, are on the injured list. Paige is expected back in another week or so, but Pettitte may be on the shelf for another three weeks, meaning he'll miss most of the rest of the season if that timeline holds. Billy Pierce and Herb Pennock are filling in. Pierce is 2-5 over eight starts during the season, while Pennock was hit hard in his first start of the year. Milt Pappas is also on the Pasco reserve roster, but the P's are still trying to trade him for Frank Robinson.

Pasco plays three more games at Forks this week before coming home for a four-game set against Coast-leading Aberdeen.

VANCOUVER: 65-68, third place, 15 games back

Pete Vuckovich

Vancouver is well out of the running, though they've been playing well of late, winning three in a row and six of their last eight. Pete Vuckovich was called up to join the rotation after Bob Veale went down with an injury. Vuckovich is 0-1 in three starts but has pitched reasonably well, allowing four earned runs on 13 hits in 21 innings for a 1.71 ERA. Veale is a week to 10 days away from returning, so Vuckovich will get two or three more starts, at least, to show what he can do.

Vancouver plays three more at Hoquiam this week and then returns to The Couve to play four against Forks.

KELSO: 59-74, fourth place, 21 games back

Jimmy Key

Kelso has been having a rough time, going just 7-21 over the last three weeks. One wouldn't expect that from a club with solid pitching, but while the K's have some gaudy names and the strikeouts that go with them, the results haven't been great overall, as they're tenth in the league for fewest runs allowed.

Clayton Kershaw (11-10, 3.12) and Sandy Koufax (12-14, 3.46) have been fine, though hardly as dominant as Kelso fans had hoped. Other starters such as Corey Kluber, Jerry Koosman, and Masaichi Kaneda have been tried, shelled, and sent down. In addition, Jimmy Key is on the injured list and will likely be out for at least three more weeks. Thus, Mike Krukow and Bob Knepper are getting a chance. Each has done OK in limited action so far.

The bigger challenge has been the K's offense, 20th in the league in runs scored. Team BA .228, OPS .656.

Kelso plays  three more at Aberdeen this week, then heads home for four against Quincy.

YAKIMA: 51-82, fifth place, 29 games back

Yaz

It's been a long season in Yakima. They might be playing their best ball of the season, bouncing along at about .500 for the last several weeks. In fact, their last three complete series have been 2-2 splits against Long Beach, Tumwater, and Snoqualmie.

Yakima is 19th in runs scored and 19th in runs allowed, which tells you what you need to know. Y and Z just don't provide enough big-time players. Curiously, even the big names are not doing so well.

At the plate, Carl Yastrzemski is batting just .257/14/63, and Robin Yount is .242/12/60. Ben Zobrist leads the club with 19 home runs, while Yaz's 63 ribbies are best on the team. From the hill, Cy Young has pitched reasonably well and sports a 3.56 ERA, but he's just 7-12. Barry Zito is 12-8 and 3.62.

Yakima plays three more this week at Aberdeen and then returns home for four games against Quincy.