Week 7 Recap

This past week was something. Every team played a doubleheader on Friday (Memorial Day), we had a player pass away unexpectedly (Hal Carlson), we saw two future Hall-of-Famers make their final ML appearance (Pete Alexander and Dave Bancroft), and another future Hall-of-Famer (Rogers Hornsby) broke his ankle and is going to miss three months. This upcoming week is a transition week as the NL western teams move east, while the AL east coast teams travel to visit their brethren in the great Midwest.

We've reached the end of May 1930, and most teams have passed the 40 games played mark or are close to it, so we have moved past that "it's still early" way of looking at things. There are a lot of games left to play, things are moving along rather quickly, and I am looking forward to where this might take me.

Pinky and Bubbles Hargrave

In the American League, Washington (Replay: 30-12, Actual: 27-15) is +3 games to their record, while the A's (R: 25-17, A: 28-14) are -3. Given that Washington has played 30 home games already, way more than anybody else, and we can see that the A's are 3-10 versus Washington, I am certain that this is a pennant race that is going to tighten up. New York (R: 21-19, A: 22-18) are only at a -1, and while Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig sit atop almost every offensive leaderboard, their inconsistent pitching is going to be a problem if they can't get it straightened out. Detroit (R: 22-21, A: 18-25) is +4 to their record, but much of this came from thrashing their AL west compatriots early - they didn't fare as well against the east teams. They will have a chance to rectify that over the next few weeks.

St. Louis (R: 18-23, A: 17-24) and Chicago (R: 17-22, A: 16-23) are both +1 to their record. St. Louis is second in the AL in ERA, which is needed because they have several hitters hitting well below their expected average. The White Sox are on their third shortstop and their fourth catcher already, but they put up occasional bouts of offense and good pitching. Boston (R: 17-23, A: 13-28) is +4, but are just outclassed in the east. They recently played the Yankees tough. Cleveland (R: 15-27, A: 24-18) is -9 to their record, but is probably a better team than the three teams they are immediately behind. Their offense has started to awake recently, Ed Morgan has eleven homeruns, but is going to have a hard time replicating his 136 RBI's if he continues to bat leadoff.

In the National League, Brooklyn (Replay: 30-12, Actual: 26-15) is +4. They crushed the western NL teams the first time they played, and have gone 11-0 versus the Phillies. Brooklyn features a solid pitching rotation and has eight regulars and semi-regulars hitting .379 or better. I suspect this will level out at some point, but for now, they are running away with the NL. St. Louis (R: 23-19, A: 23-19) is +0, New York: (R: 22-19, A: 19-22) is +3, and Chicago (R: 23-20, A: 24-19) is -1, and all are bunched directly behind Brooklyn. All three teams have periods where they are unbeatable, and then they have periods where they seemingly can't get out of their own way. The Cardinals got off to a strong offensive start, but have leveled off. Bill Terry is hitting a ton for the Giants, but Mel Ott has been pretty quiet so far. Hack Wilson, after being largely MIA for the first two weeks of the season, has turned it up a notch or two since. Inconsistent pitching plagues all three teams, especially when their potent offenses goes dormant.

Cincinnati (R: 20-21, A: 18-23) is +2 and has displayed a strong offense so far, but their pitching is lacking. Pittsburgh (R: 16-23, A: 20-19) is -4, and got off to a bad start due to long-term injuries to key players but has played better recently. Pie Traynor is back, Lloyd Waner will be back in another month, and their pitching appears to have settled down a little as well. Boston (R: 13-25, A: 18-20) is -5, has offensive woes. Wally Berger hit three homeruns in the Sunday doubleheader just played to get up to ten for the year, but he has only 21 RBI's. Philadelphia (R: 9-26, A: 12-23) is -3, has bad starting pitching and worse relief, and Chuck Klein and Lefty O'Doul can only do so much offensively.

Overall, other than Cleveland being a -9, all teams are relatively close to where they actually were at on the same date in 1930.

As for AL leaders, Al Simmons is leading the AL in hitting (.408), just ahead of Earle Combs (.404) and Lou Gehrig (.403). Simmons hit streak was finally snapped at 23 games. Babe Ruth still leads in homeruns (16), ahead of Gehrig (15) and Ed Morgan (11). Ruth's batting average has dropped because of a recent slump but he still gets his walks and leads in runs scored (55), ahead of teammate Combs (49). Charlie Gehringer leads in hits (64), but there are four other right behind with hit totals in the 60's. Bill Regan still leads in doubles (17), ahead of Mickey Cochrane (15) and Joe Cronin (15). Lefty Grove leads in wins (8-2), and is third in ERA (1.86), behind Mel Harder (1.69) and Ad Liska (1.83)

In the NL, Bill Terry is leading in hitting (.454), ahead of Chuck Klein (.415) and Frankie Frisch (.400). Terry also leads in hits (70), Just ahead of Brooklyn's twin terrors, Johnny Frederick (69) and Del Bissonette (68). Hack Wilson leads in homeruns, ahead of Gabby Hartnett (10) and Wally Berger (10). Wilson also leads in RBI's (49), ahead of Bissonette (47) and Chick Hafey (46). Hafey still leads in doubles (17), ahead of Hack Wilson (16) and Jimmie Wilson (15). Frisch leads in runs scored (49), ahead of Frederick (46) and Babe Herman (42). Jesse Haines is 7-0 with the league-best ERA (1.61), ahead of Brooklyn hurlers Dazzy Vance (1.65) and Jumbo Elliott (2.25).

As far as replay totals go, the stolen base success rates for both leagues are now over the 50% mark, and the total attempts is close to where it should be. I still need to bring up sacrifice hit totals in both leagues - it seems like I am overdoing it already, but so many attempts fail that I am not making much of a dent. My saves totals are well in line, and my complete game numbers still need some work but are OK. My AL shut-out numbers are going to be through the roof, but there isn’t much I can do about that.