Shake Up on Duke Street

At 23-33 and a miserable 13 games out of first place in the Harry Caray "It Could Be" division, the Duke Street Kings have admitted it's time for a change. Most ATB changes (outside the famous Chips pre-season fire sale) end up being a few tweaks to the rotation or minor changes to the lineup, but Jeff Burns, owner and operator of the Kings, wants none of it.

The phrase, "The buck. Stops. Here.", was found on an inter-office memo to the Kings executive hierarchy, outlining Burns required changes:

• #1 Starter Mort Cooper and his 4.75 ERA are out of the rotation, and will be relagated to mop-up duty until he can get his head back in the game.
• The rotation moves to a 4-man: Ted Lyons (4.22 ERA), Bobby Shantz (3.61 ERA), Rich Harden (4.38 ERA), and Dolf Luque (4.91 ERA)
• 9th hitter Oyster Burns (.307 AVG, .361 OBP) is now batting lead-off
• George Sisler, who is killing the ball (.341 / .397 / .544) , moves from the top of the order to the 5-hole
• DH Reggie Jackson rides the pine versus lefties in favor of Mike Stanley
• Ditto with Chipper Jones at third base versus righties, benched in favor of Heinie Zimmerman
• Finally, the bullpen has been decimated: Steve Howe, Latroy Hawkins, John Wetteland, Hank Robinson, and Brendan Donnely have all been given their outright release.