Outlaws on Crime Spree
L.A. Wins 11 of 12, Climb to 2nd
LOS ANGELES (Sept. 1) -- Peter Vays fretted in early June that his season was lost.  His Outlaws had dropped 10 of 13 games and had dropped to a distance 7th place in the league.  Fast forward a couple months and the Outlaws are the hottest team in baseball, winning 11 of 12 to overtake the slumping St. Louis Maroons for the West Division lead.  The Outlaws were 22-7 in August, led by the efficient bat of Gary Thomasson, who drove in 24 runs with just 22 hits and a .216 average, and the circuit's hottest rotation, and we're not even talking about two-time defending Cy Young winner Larry Dierker.  No, it's L.A.'s #2 and #3 starters--Fritz Peterson and Phil Niekro--who have been unbeatable of late: both are undefeated in their last nine starts and the two combined for a 9-0 mark in August.  Peterson (16-5, 2.20) finds himself in the chase for two legs of the Triple Crown (ERA and wins).

The Outlaws were 12-3 on the road in August, including sweeps at Denver, Brooklyn, and Cleveland, and won home series against fellow contenders Atlanta, San Francisco, and St. Louis.  L.A. pitchers have held the opposition to two runs or fewer in five of their last six games, and have pitched three shutouts in their last eight.

For one of the most successful teams in recent years, Los Angeles has surprisingly made only one postseason appearance in their history: the 1968 World Series, which they lost to Manhattan in six games.  They take a seven-game West Division lead into the season's last 19 games, making them mathematically a surer lock for the postseason than even Montréal, who lead the East by just five games and fourth place Detroit by just six.  And their last 15 games are against losing teams.  But Vays has been here before.  The Outlaws have had many near-misses in their history, and they won't be caught counting any chickens before they hatch.

Move Over Mick, Here Comes Cha-Cha
Cepeda Cranks #600
CLEVELAND (Sept. 1) -- The 600-homer club is becoming awfully crowded.  When Mickey Mantle became the first ULer to hit the milestone in July 1972, he was the club's lone member for nearly three years.  Suddenly within the last two months, he has two new companions.  First Denver's Frank Robinson hit his 600th homer on June 23, and then on Aug. 25 Cleveland's Orlando Cepeda hit the milestone.  The historic homer came in the fifth inning of an 8-2 win at Atlanta, off Toppers righthander Tom Timmermann.

Cepeda has played his entire career with the Boston Federals.  He was their 2nd overall pick in 1958 and hit 594 homers in 17 1/2 seasons.  That he was six homers shy of the landmark 600 when he was traded on Aug. 1 made the deal doubly painful for Boston fans, invoking painful memories of 1958, when the original Boston UL franchise, the Barons, packed up and headed west, lured by the cavernous Municipal Stadium and a baseball-starved market.  First Cleveland stole their franchise, now they steal their franchise man.

The the Barons, the summer of '75 marks a major turning point.  For years the Barons were one of the league's top pitching teams but one of its weakest lineups.  One glance at the league's home run leaders tells the story; two of the top three home run hitters are now in Barons brown (Cepeda and Kingman).  But Cleveland also traded away two high draft picks and their young ace, J.R. Richard, to acquire the big bats.

Cepeda, 37, is locked in with the Barons' through 1976.  He will earn $10.35 million next year, and all eyes are on the all-time home run record.  Mantle retired with 634 home runs, and Cepeda is easily within striking distance within the next year.  Cha Cha has averaged 37 homers a year the last five seasons, and that includes his injury-shortened 1970 season.  He had 29 homers this year, and is on pace to hit 33, which would be his 13th 30-homer season, which must be some kind of record (the research department is off this week).  If he gets 12 RBIs in the next three weeks, he will notch his 10th 100-RBI season.  Maybe Mantle or Aaron has done that, but probably not many more.