MAY MONTH IN REVIEW - Stouts Mired In Mediocrity. Await Return of Injured Players

May is in the books, and the Stouts find themselves mired in a season long slump.  Following up on a disappointing April which saw them go 12-15, May saw no improvement whatsoever.  The team lost seven of the ten series in the month, including getting swept by two of the worst teams in the entire MBL.  It all added up to a 13-16 month where no improvement in the standings was made.  Thankfully, the other teams in the Continental Division are also struggling.  So despite what can only be describes as a less than stellar start, Baltimore finds themselves in the thick of the playoff race with a 25-31 overall record, only three games back of division leading Milwaukee.

Continental Division	W	L	PCT	GB
Milwaukee Phantoms	28	28	.500	-
Toronto Redcoats	27	29	.482	1
Baltimore Stouts	25	31	.446	3
Minnesota Millers	20	36	.357	8

Series By Series
After opening the month winning two of three at home against Seattle, the team began inter-league play against the Classic League's Metro Division.  The Stouts followed that up by taking two of three against the New York Rippers as inter-league action began against the CL's Metro Division.  A 4-2 start to the month seemed promising.  The record after the Rippers series was one game below .500 at 16-17.  And that's when the wheels fell off.

The team then traveled to New York to take on the Bombers, who were five games under .500 at the time.  After being swept in Old Yankee Stadium, the Stouts managed to take two of three in Ebbets Field against Brooklyn.  The next three series though were brutal to Baltimore as they dropped nine of their next 12 games before getting a series sweep on the road in Oakland.  Cincinnati took two of three to close out the month.  A month that started with promise ended in disaster.

Pitching
The pitching for the Stouts continues to be a problem.  The only starter with a respectable ERA is Kirk Rueter, and his number rose from 2.96 to 3.87 in the month of May.  A trade was made towards the end of the month to strengthen the rotation.  Out were Kevin Appier, who failed to win a single game in a Stouts uniform, and Shawn Estes.  Into the fold come Chan Ho Park and Jon Lieber.  Initial returns are promising.  Lieber has split a pair of decisions but pitched well in both contests.  Park tossed a complete game in his only appearance.  The key to the 2000 season may very well be how those two perform at the top of the Stouts rotation.

The much maligned bullpen has actually rounded into form somewhat.  Of course, it would have been hard to be as bad as they were during the season's first month.  Closer Armando Benitez collected eight saves, although in his last appearance against the Red Stockings he had his first hiccup as a Stout, giving up a game-winning three run homer in the bottom of the 9th.  Antonio Osuna won four games out of the pen to push his season record to 6-0.  Felix Rodriguez was brought in to help in the setup role, but his performance has been mixed.  He's blown two saves and has a 4.34 ERA with the team.  The group as a whole blew six more saves to push the league leading total to 14.  The team has also lost 16 one-run games.

Hitting
Offensively, the Stouts have come back down to earth, although they still are among the league leaders in most hitting categories.  The team went from averaging 6.8 runs per game in April down to 5.9 through the month of May.  So they basically scored almost two runs less per game in the month.

Todd Helton continues to pace the team, as well as the league, in hitting.  He ended the month with a .416 batting average with 15 homers.  Garret Anderson also excelled, pushing his season average to .350 while knocking in 49 runs.  Prior to his injury, SS Ricky Gutierrez was a pleasant surprise.  He's hitting .288 with a .402 OBP to go with his stellar defense.  OF Eric Owens was forced into action because of injuries, and he responded by pushing his stolen base number into double-digits with 11.

Four hitters ended the month on the disabled list.  Catcher Ivan Rodriguez is still out.  He expects to be back the second week of June.  Joining him were second baseman Fernando Vina and RF Larry Walker.  They too are expected back in early June.  SS Gutierrez closed the month by injuring himself.  He will likely return toward the end of June.  Albert Belle never actually made it to the disabled list, but a pair of injuries limited him to just 42 at-bats.

Comings and Goings
A quick review of the players who either joined or left the Stouts during the month, as well as who was injured and missed time during the month.

Coming:  Brian Schneider, Chris Clapinsky, Tom Evans, Chan Ho Park, Jon Lieber, Dave Magadan

Going:  Gary Bennett, Donnie Sadler, Brian Schneider, Kevin Appier, Shawn Estes, Eduardo Perez

Injured:  Ivan Rodriguez (DL), Albert Belle, Larry Walker (DL), Bryan Rekar, Fernando Vina (DL), Ricky Gutierrez (DL)