Southern from the NL Central is trying to keep pace with the other division leaders, despite losing 4 of 6 at home to Hereford. Both the Gunslingers and the Hi-Toms from Grayson have not provided much competition in the Central division due to weaker pitching staffs that rank last in the NL. Utah has not seemed to live to their pre-season potential with a promising staff and strong offense that ranks 2nd in hitting, led by Speaker (.346) Sisler (.303) and Vosmik (.300). But they are putting on a run to reduce the Immortals lead to single digit games. The Pioneers have also a better record on the road than at home, so with some better home cooking they may make it a race in the second half. Southern's pitching, best in the NL, has been anchored by Shanghai castoff Ferdie Schupp (14-5) and fellow lefty Reb Russell (11-4). 

What is PROPs?

        It is a new statistic, Production per Opportunity, that measures clutch hitting. Read all about the new statistic HERE, and post your comments on the Wire. A third page has been added to all stats pages, and lists LOB, RAB and PROP statistics, check them out for your team!

        Willie McCovey has been a main cog along with Mike Pizza in season 5 for the Connecticut Yankees to keep them in contention in the tough AL East.         McCovey just hit .361, with a .489 OBA, 7 runs and 8 RBI in the home-and-home series raking Huntington pitchers. On the season he is hitting .334, with 21 HR and 77 RBI. Maybe more importantly he has a PROP score of 31.3 to rank third in the league. PROP, or Production per Opportunity, in a nutshell measures what percentage of runners on base are driven in by a hitter as compared to those he leaves on base due to an out. Those with a score over 30 are excellent clutch hitters with runners on, those below 20 are essentially choking. It seems to be a telling statistic, not only for teams, but for individual players. More . . .