Even with low expectations my first full season with the Tarps was a disappointing one. My hope was that we'd at least flirt with the .500 mark and, at least in April, we did.
A bad, but not disastrous, 11-18 May was followed by a couple of months of okay baseball but the Tarpons really wilted in the heat of August when they went 8-20.
The blame for Tampa's struggles this season rests squarely on the shoulders of the pitching staff. Tarpons pitchers did post better than average BB and K numbers, but when they were hit they were hit very, very hard. In fact, they allowed a league-worst 207 HR's this year.
John Bernard (18-14, 4.24, 224 K's) was the club's best starter. Converted reliever Leonard Cannon proved to be more durable than expected, hurling over 200 innings, and pitched better than his 7-14 record indicates. These will probably be the only members of the rotation Tarps fans want to see return in 1961.
On the offensive side, superstar OF Emilio Mateo was still very productive but had a down year by his standards. Especially worrisome was a huge jump in strikeouts.
Backstop duo of Cunningham and Isobel was very productive, combining for 19 HR and 112 RBI.
Youngsters Jose Ayala and Ernest Rickman look like they'll be a good tandem at the top of the order for a while. Both are a nuisance to opposing pitchers, Rickman put up a solid .393 OBP and Ayala walked 71 times with 22 strikeouts.
Going to be a tough job building this team into a winner, but with those two and prospects like 3B Marcos Espinoza and future SS Ricardo Gomez I've at least got a group of young players I'll enjoy following the next few seasons.
Tough Times for Tampa
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scottdogg73
offlineMemberPosted 1 month ago #
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