Week
3 is in the books and the month of April is completed. This past week saw
adjustments at the top of the standings in both leagues, it saw a slew of
homeruns (and three grand slams), and the Ty Cobb versus Joe Jackson battle for
AL batting supremacy is well underway. One of the things a re-player gets to
look forward to in a replay is having those great players have great seasons.
Every at-bat for these two is must-see baseball and I can well imagine the
sense of excitement the fans in the stands must have felt when these greats strode
to the plate.
St. Louis Browns
Cleveland
ended the week atop of the AL standings as Philadelphia only had an OK kind of
week, while the Naps pounded Detroit and won their last three games of the week
to take a 1.0 game lead. Chicago is sitting in second, a half-game ahead of the
A's, and they are currently working on their own five-game winning streak.
Philadelphia was never going to lead end-to-end; they do have the best pitching
in the AL, but they have struggled to put together a consistent offense so far.
Detroit stumbled out of the gate, roared back to draw within a half-game of
first, only to then end the week with three losses at home to Cleveland. With
Cobb and Crawford finally hitting their groove the Tigers are going to be competitive all season.
St. Louis (AL) Manager
Bobby Wallace
In
the NL it was New York that got off to a fast start, but then they ended the
week by losing two games, only see Pittsburgh jump past them into first place.
The Pirates lost on Sunday so both teams now both have 10-3 records. The Giants
are hitting .330 as a team, but surprisingly it is their pitching that has
struggled. Manager John McGraw will settle that out, but Pittsburgh is no
slouch and will be there as well. Philadelphia has a strong offense (team .310
batting average) and should be able to hang around, but beneath these three
teams, there has been a lot of shuffling up and down in the standings so far.
The
offenses in both leagues have been on fire so far. ERA's for both leagues are up
by about three-quarters of a run per game so far, I have had several
double-digit games including some games where both teams reached double-digit runs
scored. There were three grand slams this past week plus there were a total of
eight three-run homeruns as well - not sure where any of this came from, but
they just kept coming. Joe Jackson (.521, 38 hits, 21 runs scored, 20 RBI's,
and 14 doubles) plus Nap Lajoie (.437, 22 RBI's) have powered the Naps to the
top of the AL while Ty Cobb (.441, 19 RBI's) to drive the Tigers forward. Cobb
has seven stolen bases but also has seven caughts.
The
Giants are hitting .330 as a team which means they are pounding the ball up and
down the lineup. Of the eight non-pitchers in the starting lineup, only one of which is
hitting less than .300 is Larry Doyle (.291). Once the schedule settles down
and then pitching rotation settles in they will be in good shape. Pittsburgh is
on a roll, but I don't think they will be able to keep it up.
There have been a ton of player ejections so far. The AL is averaging a HBP per game so far and tempers are obviously running hot. That number is projecting well ahead of the actual HBP number, so while I do expect this to level off, it's just another reminder that you never know what is going to happen next. Overall, the replay is going well. Of course, it's still early and there are lots of games remaining - the east coast teams haven't played any of their midwestern brethren yet in either league - but we move into May tomorrow so we keep moving along.
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