The Singer Surge
Colts Bolt Ahead of the Pack
CHICAGO (Aug. 16) -- Colts ace Bill Singer channeled his 1970 Cy Young form in early August, tossing three shutouts in consecutive starts to help Chicago open up a wide lead in the tightly contested West Division.  Singer beat Dallas, Boston, and Manhattan on 4-, 7-, and 3-hit shutout, and struck out 15 Texans on Aug. 3.  The 27-year-old righthander vaulted to the league lead in ERA (1.94) and strikeouts (173), and has suddenly emerged as a Triple Crown threat.  His 14 wins is just one behind the league leader, Andy Messersmith of Washington.  Singer threw the first no-hitter in Colts history on July 8.  Sing Sing was 24-3 with a 1.67 ERA two years ago, when he broke the single-season ERA record and was the unanimous choice for the Cy Young Award.  Another hot Chicago pitcher has been fifth starter Dave Boswell, who is 5-0 with a 0.88 since July 17.  Chicago has won seven in a row and 10 of their last 12, including sweeps at Boston and against Manhattan.

Denver, Montreal Awarded Expansion Teams
NEW YORK (Aug. 1) -- Denver and Montreal will be the 13th and 14th United League ballclubs, officials announced today at league headquarters.  The two franchises will enter the league in 1974 under owners Timothy J. Smith and Glen Reed, who will relinquish control of St. Louis and Brooklyn, respectively.  The league's divisions will remain intact, with Denver joining the West and Montreal the East, but the playoffs expand to four teams with the addition of two league-wide wildcard teams.

The choice of expansion cities continues the league's tradition of opening new markets.  Denver will be the only UL city in the Mountain Time Zone,  and Montreal will be the first team in Canada.  The league will announced details on the format and rules of the expansion draft during the offseason, but the most likely scenario is a simple protected list format.

Return of the Colonels
In related news, four cities were chosen for International League franchises: Seattle, Memphis, Phoenix, and Louisville, with Seattle topping the list with 37 votes.  Cincinnati, Albuquerque, and Miami narrowly missed  out, and have been given assurances of future consideration.  Louisville's ownership group has already announced its intention to resurrect the Louisville Colonels name and logo.  The Colonels were a founding member of the UL in 1951 before moving to Atlanta in 1965.  Mark Allen, the original owner and one of the United League's founding fathers, was unavailable for comment, but is said to be pleased.

Eric Holthaus
The Sporting News Interview

TSN: You've been the most active club on the trade market.  What has been your guiding philosophy?
EH: Thanks for the question.  My guiding philosophy is always the fans.  They want to see a winner, and the fans always come first.  With the free agent market becoming increasingly richer the last few years, we've had to force most of our roster improvements to the trade deadline.  Now, that's a little riskier, but the fans can have my word that I won't make a move unless I think it improves our ballclub.  I'm out there to see a winner, just like they are.

TSN: In your second year at the helm of the Gray Sox, you have further sliced the payroll and seem to have the financial house in order.  But the club's winning percentage is still .463, exactly what it was a year ago.  When can Manhattan fans expect to see an improvement on the field?
EH: To win, we've got to get younger.  We've kept a strong veteran core that will provide some guidance to our younger kids, but at the same time positioned ourselves to take a few more chances on some of our younger talent.  To me, that's going to be a winning combination.  As you know, I've also been a strong supporter of the expanded playoff format.  That's going to be one of the tickets we'll have to punch to help us be a contender going forward.

TSN: Bob Anderson, Tom Seaver, and Phil Niekro are having horrible years.  What's behind that?  Do you expect to shake up the rotation by moving one or more of those starters?
EH: I had a long talk with Bob the other day, and you know, we took a chance on him last year by bringing him back to the club, and he's struggled, you're right.  So, we feel like it's probably best for both of us at this point if we don't pick up his option in the offseason.  He knows this and he's prepared to test free agency in the offseason.  We have a few young guys that have really produced for us... Kemer and Donny (before his injury), so we're going to continue in that direction.