Opening Day bodes ill as we lose Leroy Matlock for a month to a rotator cuff strain, and it is a generally unimpressive first week as our pitchers get battered about and our power void continues with just three home runs – and none from Leiber, Gibson or Foxx – in the first ten games. Vaughan, in particular, is looking ordinary hitting barely over 100. It isn’t until the 15th game of the season that our big three break their collective drought, with both Josh and XX going deep against Brooky.
We also lose Ken O’Dea to a min stint on the IL, but as is usually the case we manage to turn things around as a 5-game win streak puts us above 500 for the first time. But our pitching continues to really struggle with our Starter ERA ballooning to an NL-worst 4.50. and those homers just won’t come. Even in a 15-7 win against the Jints, our 15 hits include just two doubles and a triple. I have no idea what’s going on here. But I sure as heck don’t like it.
Despite all of this, we start grinding out the wins as the pitching slowly shows signs of coming around. It ain’t pretty, but is mostly effective and better than the alternative. We continue to improve as May winds down and end it with - all things considered - a really impressive 21-9 mark. With our somewhat less remarkable 6-7 April, that puts us 3 GB the red-hot Phillies at 27-16.
We might not be sending out many souvenirs, but we are hitting - leading the NL with a 291 BA. Gibson wins the monthly award for his stellar 411 / 4 HR / 16 RBI effort. Our pitching has settled right down, too, and rookie Max Lanier has been super impressive with an ERA of 0.40 over 22.1 IP. With our good D working its magic things look OK. Watch out if that power returns.
It’s not just our big bats grown minuscule – Lou Gehrig has two homers to his name so far this season. In fact, it has generally been a very subdued start to the 1939 campaign in every regard.
Awards, news and leaders. Ted Trent, Lefty Gomez and Red Ruffing each get career win number 200.
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