Alltime Allstar League begins operation - Page 25

Eugene Church · 06-06-2006, 12:52 AM

ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION

Wednesday, April 9, 1903

BASEBALL WRITERS PICK CLEVELAND IN THE AL, NY GIANTS IN NL

The Baseball Writers of America have made their picks for the 1903 Alltime Allstar Association pennant chase. On paper it will be the Cleveland Indians in the American League and the New York Giants in the National League race. The BWA also selected the Giants to win the World Series.

National League

1. New York Giants
2. Boston Braves
3. Pittsburgh Pirates
4. Brooklyn Dodgers
5. St. Louis Cardinals
6. Chicago Cubs
7. Cincinnati Reds
8. Philadelphia Phillies

Manager John McGraw of New York was bitterly disappointed in not winning the World Series against the Philadephia Athletics. He again has vowed his club will be back in the Fall Classic and this time will win it. His club roster pretty much stayed intact. He added two righthanded pitchers to the roster: Sal Maglie and Larry Jansen. Joe McGinnity and Rube Marquard were farmed out to the minors. The Giants ran away with the league title, winning it by 11 games over the Braves. Mel Ott (.321/31/111), Martin Dihigo (.304/35/97), Willie Mays (.256/18/89) and Barry Bonds (.296/23/66) return to lead the offense and Carl Hubbell (22-6 2.30), Christy Mathewson (19-4 3.72) and Jeff Tesreau (10-3 3.51) are back on the hill.

The Boston Braves challenged the Giants around midseason in 1902, but fizzled out in the stretch drive. Bobby Cox likes his ballclub and made no roster changes this year. Warren Spahn (13-8 3.24), Tom Glavine (12-9 4.14) and Greg Maddux (12-12 3.89) will anchor one of the best staffs in the league. Cox has the artillery to go with the pitching with Eddie Mathews (.254/40/93), Chipper Jones (.313/31/106), Buck Leonard (.283/31/105) and Pete Hill (.292/21/68) supplying the firepower. Three other teams will battle the Braves for second place.

Picked third in the race are the Pittsburgh Pirates. They trailed the Giants by 15 games at season's end. Skipper Danny Murtaugh likes his club's hitting, but needs to add some home run power and a couple more starters to move up in the standings . His solution was to add a hardhitting outfielder, Brian Giles, in an attempt to energize the Pirates run production. Giles will platoon with Ralph Kiner in left field. Murtaugh will use two lefties, Bob Veale and John Candelaria as spot starters this year to go along with Deacon Phillippe (18-10 3.23), Vic Willis (14-12 3.89), Ray Kremer (13-12 3.83) and Sam Leever (11-13 4.04). The Bucs' hit brigade is a potent bunch: Sadaharu Oh (.302/44/133), Roberto Clemente (.302/15/115), Arky Vaughan (.311/7/81) and Honus Wagner (.292/16/77).

The Brooklyn Dodgers made a belated run at the Giants last year, but like the Braves, slumped toward the end of the year and finished fourth, 16 games out of first place. The BWA perused the Bums and placed them in the fourth spot in the preview. Hitting carried the team last year as the pitching was dismal. For Skipper Tommy Lasorda to climb up in the standings, Dazzy Vance (8-13 3.80) will have to regain his 1901 season form. He is also hoping for improvement in Sandy Koufax (13-14 3.94) and Don Newcombe (13-14 3.87). Zach Wheat (.321/17/112), Cristobel Torriente (.342/18/93), Duke Snider (.276/29/91) and Gil Hodges (.257/23/78) are the Dodgers' top hitters. Carl Furillo, a fine hitting outfielder has made the squad this Spring, but it looks like pine time on the bench. The Dodgers are top heavy with an abundance of good hitting outfielders. Brooklyn could finish anywhere from second to sixth this season.

At the top of the preseason second division are the St. Louis Cardinals of Manager Tony Larussa. They were the best team in the second half of the AAA season in 1902, but they went into the tank late and ended up deadlocked with the Cubs for fifth place in the standings, 18 games out. Larussa's Redbirds will go with the status quo as far as roster. Satchel Paige (12-4 2.94) and Harry Brecheen (10-6 2.91) were the pitching standouts. St. Louis will call upon Mort Cooper (11-13 4.02), Matt Morris (2-2 4.26), Larry Jackson (12-10 4.38) and Dizzy Dean (8-12 4.83) for the other starting slots. Larussa is blessed with a strong hitting attack paced by Stan Musial (.298/31/104), Rogers Hornsby (.319/23/100), the NL's top hitter, Frankie Frisch (.352/7/65) and Chick Hafey (.337/11/62).

The number six team in the Baseball Writers preseason poll is the Chicago Cubs. Charlie Grimm is the manager of the club and he stayed with the same basic roster with only a few changes. Pitchers Charlie Root and Bob Rush were plucked from the minors as well as first baseman, Bill Buckner, a replacement for the injured Mark Grace, who will miss most of the season. Root and Rush will share the fifth starter slots. The Chicubs' starting rotation consists of Mordecai Brown (15-10 3.93), Larry French (14-12 3.73), Ed Reubach (12-10 3.81) and Ferguson Jenkins (11-13 4.05). The Bruins' main run producers are last year's Golden Bat Award trophy winner, Turkey Stearnes (.343/37/122) and Ernie Banks (.266/19/92).

Sparky Anderson's key to Cincinnati moving up in the NL standings this year hinges on his pitching. He hopes two newcomers, Red Lucas and Bob Ewing, both righthanders will kickstart his mound staff and his holdovers with take it to the next level. His only effective starters last season were Gary Nolan (14-9 3.91), Pete Donahue (11-5 3.82) and Jose Rijo (10-11 3.58). Lucas will get a chance to start, while Ewing will work long relief. Offensively for the Reds, look for Tony Perez (.260/30/108), Ted Kluszewski (.321/26/87) and Frank Robinson (.272/26/86) to again be at the forefront.

The Philadelphia Phillies finished in the NL basement last year and are picked to pull up the rear again. Danny Ozark's club was helpless at the plate and hopeless on the mound in 1902. Only Chuck Klein (.301/27/100) and Biz Mackey (.328/16/68) had good years. Mike Schmidt (.215/30/83) hit homers and nothing else. The Phils have made wholesale changes with rookies Don Hurst at first base and Pinky Whitney back for another try at second base. Promising outfielder, Sherry Magee, looks like the real thing, but initially will have trouble moving into the lineup. Bobby Abreu (.249/15/55) and Lefty O'Doul (.325/14/64) will have first shot at the outfield spots along with Klein. On the hill Jiro Noguchi (14-7 4.01), Akiro Bessho (6-2 3.54) and Curt Shilling (11-11 3.89) will provide three starters. The Phils can climb as high fifth, if the rookies come through for them and Pete Alexander (12-11 4.08) and Robin Roberts (5-12 6.49) pitch like they did two years ago.

See the Baseball Writers of American Preseason Poll for the American League tomorrow.

Eugene Church · 06-06-2006, 06:04 PM

ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION

Wednesday, April 9, 1903

BASEBALL WRITERS PICK CLEVELAND IN THE AL, NY GIANTS IN NL

The Baseball Writers of America have made their picks for the 1903 Alltime Allstar Association pennant chase. On paper it will be the Cleveland Indians in the American League and the New York Giants in the National League race. The BWA also selected the Giants to win the World Series.

American League

1. Cleveland Indians
2. Boston Red Sox
3. New York Yankees
4. Philadelphia Athletics
5. St. Louis Browns
6. Chicago White Sox
7. Detroit Tigers
8. Washington Senators

The Cleveland Indians had a fine 1902 season and just came up 3 games short. Steve O'Neill had them in first place late in the season, but they couldn't keep up the rapid rise of the Philadelphia A's near the end of the year. The Tribe has the best mound corps in the AAA and it just might have gotten better with the addition of Johnny Allen, Sam McDowell and Sonny Siebert. These three rookies will join the mix of Herb Score (20-7 2.89), Bob Feller (13-8 2.75), Addie Joss (14-11 3.10), Early Wynn (13-12 3.81) and Bob Lemon (8-5 3.47). The Indians have to do it with pitching. Hitting is not their forte. They are next to last in this category. They have to battle for every win they get. Larry Doby (.271-20-85), Tris Speaker (.301-5-59), Rocky Colavito (.284-12-34 in just 52 games) and Boojum Wilson (.301-11-41 in 100 games) provide what little offense they have. O'Neill is excited about the new season and thinks his ballclub is ready to move up a notch into first place.

Boston had a good year last year and was in contention going into the last two weeks, but couldn't keep up with the Athletics. The Red Sox did a belly flop right at the end of the season and finished 8 games behind. But Joe McCarthy is ready and rarin' to go this year. He has the hitters. He just needs a couple more pitchers. He thinks he has them this year. New on the staff are Frank Sullivan, Bill Monbouquette and Tom Burgmeier. Sullivan and Monbouquette will be used in long relief and occasional starts, while Burgmeier will draw late inning chores along with Dick Radatz. McCarthy also thinks that Smokey Joe Wood (7-9 4.97) and Cy Young (5-14 5.24) will step it up this year and finally be the pitchers that everyone thinks they can be. Both have struggled in their first two seasons. Boston has the batters, just about the best in baseball. Ted Williams (.304-34-137) was the most potent and productive hitter in the AAA last season. And he had plenty of help from Oscar Charleston (.325-31-101), David Ortiz (.277-29-104) and Nomar Garciaparra (.302-18-81). It wouldn't take much for the Bosox to soar to the top this year.

In 1901 the New York Yankees were the most awesome team in the Alltime Allstar Association, but in 1902 they wallowed around in the second division for most of the season, then put finally put it into gear and closed well, but too late. The Bronx Bombers of Casey Stengel ended up fourth, 9 games out. They outscored everybody in the Alltime Allstar Association, but their pitching just didn't keep up their end of the bargain. Stengel, the old Professor, had made wholesale changes to right his ship. Spud Chandler, Waite Hoyt and Victor Starffin are gone and Bob Shawkey, Eddie Lopat and Bob Turley are in. Shawkey and Lopat will be used as spot starters and Turley will be in long relief and a sometimes starter. They will join forces with starters Lefty Gomez (15-10 3.18), Herb Pennock (10-8 3.08), Whitey Ford (8-8 3.30) and Vic Raschi (6-4 3.43) and relievers Goose Gossage (7-5 3.59) and Mariano Rivera (6-7 3.24). Stengel is all smiles when you mention hitting. Babe Ruth (.317-43-121) won his second straight Golden Bat Award and has his sights set on beating out Sadaharu Oh to get the home record back in the AL. Lou Gehrig hit a subpar .276, but delivered 37 homers and 119 RBIs. Joe DiMaggio (.274-19-74) and Derek Jeter (.302-14-61) has good seasons. New York hopes to have Joe Gordon (.283-14-60) in the lineup the whole season. He missed 51 games due to injury. Many think he is a very important ingredient for the Yanks' success. 1903 just might be New York's year to shine again.

Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics had a splendid year. They took it all, culminating with a 5-games-to-2 decision over the heavily-favored New York Giants in the 1902 World Series. Mack and everybody else were thinking the A's would be back in 1903, but fate intervened. Golden Arm winner, Lefty Grove (20-6 3.16), ruined his achilles tendon in an exhibition game and will be gone for the entire season. That is a devastating loss. Without him it might be tough to finish fourth in the American League. However, Mack has called up three fine rookie pitchers and he still thinks his club will be able to compete. Ken Holtzman and Tim Hudson are slated to be spot starters and Barry Zito will be used in long relief and an occasional start. The A's can still call on some fine starters like Ed Plank (15-9 3.81), Rube Waddell (14-13 3.19), Ed Rommel (9-3 4.41) and Dennis Eckersley (10-9 3.73). In the bullpen they still have Rollie Fingers (3-6 2.98) and Bobby Shantz (12-5 3.87). Philadelphia also still have some fine hitters, too. They finished second to the Boston Braves with 181 home runs. They hit for average, too. The A's .270 was the second best in the AL, trailing only the Tigers' .271 average. Mack has added rookie outfielder, Bing Miller. He is not long on power, but hits for high average. He will have a tough time breaking into the starting outfield, but will come in handy as a backup and pinchhitter. Jimmie Foxx (.290-38-108) heads a rock solid lineup along with Al Simmons (.305-19-84), John Henry Lloyd (.288-23-80), Shigeo Nagashima (.288-15-84), Mickey Cochrane (.299-8-55) and Alejandro Oms (.359-9-31 in only 70 games). Don't give up on Philadelphia just yet. They could surprise.

Manager Earl Weaver revamped his St. Louis Browns last year and went for home run power. They did a good job there, but fell way short in holding the opposition down. Still they surprised a lot of people with a fifth place finish and 13 games out of first place. With a decent pitching staff, they could have contended in the AL. The Browns belted 151 homers with seven players having 10 or more. Josh Gibson (.285-37-95) was the team leader, followed by Eddie Murray (.271-26-81), Ken Williams (.269-20-75), Vern Stephens (.287-15-57), George Sisler (.302-14-65), Cal Ripken (.264-12-44 in 102 games) and Doug DeCinces (.236-10-34 in 63 games). Weaver is hoping two rookies might add a few more longballs to the team's stats. Outfielder Wally Judnich and catcher/outfielder, B. J. Surhoff. He has already pencilled in Judnich as the starting centerfielder. To help with his pitching, the St. Louis skipper signed two relievers, Eddie Watt and Bill Hall. These two will be used primarily in middle relief. Weaver thinks it is time for Negro League star, John Donaldson (7-4 5.49) to finally strut his stuff. Same thing for Jim Palmer (11-12 4.44) and Dennis Martinez (6-8 4.16). Most of all, he wants Mike Cuellar (5-5 4.30) to revert to the way he performed in 1901, when he was 15-12 with an impressive 3.15 ERA. A little improvement could go a long way. The Browns could sneak into the first division this season.

Good pitching can only take you so far. That is the case of the Chicago White Sox. They are number two behind the Cleveland Indians in ERA (3.77 to 3.56) and dead last in batting average (.256). The Chisox's farm system is in the same condition as the parent club. Al Lopez promoted three fine rookie pitchers and he will try to duplicate the Indians' success with the same formula...good pitching and minimal hitting. Doc White, Jack McDowell and Alex Fernandez will make their AAA debuts this season. White will step in as a spot starter right away, but the other two will be waiting in the wings for their chance. Initially they will be middle relievers and occasional starters. Billy Pierce (12-6 2.52), who topped the AL in ERA, Ed Walsh (12-12 2.75) and Wilbur Wood (13-13 3.53) will be the workhorses of the Chicago hill corps. Rookie third baseman Bill Melton and outfielder Johnny Mostil will try to inject some offense in the pathetic Pale Hose attack. Joe Jackson (.353-7-78) and Frank Thomas (.244-26-95) are just about the only threats they have. Melton and Mostil will start right away. But sixth looks like where the Sox will be in 1903.

The Detroit Tigers can hit for average and power and score runs, but so can the opposition. They finished the year in last place last year, 17 games behind Philadelphia. Detroit's pitching is dismal and there is nowhere to go to get it. Their farm system has hitters, but no pitchers. Manager Hughie Jennings will see if two minor leaguers can do the job for him. Starting pitcher Mickey Lolich (1-3 7.40 in 1901) and relief specialist Willie Hernandez have been added to the roster. Lolich will split starts with Jim Bunning, while Hernandez will be Detroit's closer. As expected the Tigers will go with the same potent lineup again this season. Hank Greenberg (.272-29-114), Charlie Gehringer (.302-23-110) and Ty Cobb (.363-11-76) are ready to go on the offensive again. Late season lineup insertions, Vic Wertz (.297-8-45 in just 50 games) and Al Kaline (.287-5-22 in 35 starts) will get the chance to be everyday starters from the beginning of the season. Two years ago, Detroit got a little pitching and finished third to the Yankees and the White Sox in a strong run for the title. They still have the hitting. All they need is some more pitching to climb up in the league standings. They could rise as high fifth place this season.

The Washington Senators finished seventh the last two years and are destined for last place this season, if the Baseball Writers of American have anything to do with it. Washington is woefully weak when it come to hitting home runs...59 in 1901 and 85 in 1902. So this season Manager Clark Griffith scoured the minor leagues and came up with nothing but longball hitters. He said if you are going to finish last or near the bottom, you should go down swinging. He has brought in a trio of power hitters, Roy Sievers, Bob Allison and Jim Lemon, and will give them ample opportunity to display their power prowess. The Nats have plenty of hitters that get on base a lot, but none with any home run power. Cecil Travis (.334-7-67), Heinie Manush (.340-5-52 in 76 games), Goose Goslin (.288-11-90) and Rod Carew (.292-2-52) will now have someone to power them in. In addition, power hitter par excellence, Harmon Killebrew (.114/2/7) will be the regular third baseman this season. Manush will be fulltime this year and will not platoon. Brian Harper, a good-hit, no-field catcher has been added to the roster, too. Griffith may have found two jewels in pitchers Eddie Guardado and Al Worthington. Both are relievers. Guardado will be the fireman and Worthington will be long reliever, setup and occasional closer. The Senators have three fine starters in Dutch Leonard (14-9 3.45), Camilo Pascual (14-11 3.62) and Walter Johnson (12-8 3.60). If the newcomers come through, Washington could rise up near the first division.

Eugene Church · 06-10-2006, 08:35 PM

Please note a fourth number in the batter's stats. I thought the guys that score runs deserve some note in the writeups, too.
(BA-HR-RBI-Runs)

ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION

Saturday, May 10, 1903

AMERICAN LEAGUE

A'S LOSE TWO TOP ACES FOR SEASON...GROVE AND WADDELL

The defending American League and World Series champions are still reeling from the crushing news that another of their top pitchers will miss the entire season. Rube Waddell (2-1 2.81) suffered a torn bicep in his pitching arm on April 27 and will have to wait until next year for baseball. Manager Connie Mack's top pitcher, Lefty Grove, went out in the exhibition season with a ruptured achilles tendon. Philadelphia just got more bad news...Ed Rommel (5-0 1.85)...their #1 guy so far this year, will be out several weeks with a stained back. Still the Athletics have not fallen apart. In the first month of the season they went 16-14 and are in fourth place, 3.5 games behind the front running St. Louis Browns, Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers.

The Browns (21-12) have blossomed and surged to the top on the strength of some very fine pitching. They are one game ahead of the second place Pale Hose. Mike Cuellar (6-0 1.37) has been truly outstanding and looks like he has regained his 1901 form. Overall the staff's ERA is a splendid 3.07, by far the best in the American League. Jim Palmer (4-2 3.48) and Mike Mussina (4-2 4.19) are doing well, along with rookie reliever, Bill Hall (1-0 3.74 ), who has appeared in 21 games with 8 saves in the early going. Gregg Olson (0-0 0.00) has 3 saves to give St. Louis some real fine relief effort. It looks like another rookie reliever, Eddie Watt (2-0 3.18), may contribute to the cause, too. Steady Hoyt Wilhelm (1-3 3.02) has pitched well, but his record doesn't show it in wins, yet. If the Brownies continues to get strong pitching like this, they will contend for the title. Manager Earl Weaver's hitters have done the job so far. Ken Williams (.345-8-21-23), George Sisler (.331-0-9-16), rookie outfielder Wally Judnich (.268-0-14-18) and Eddie Murray (.252-9-23-16) have delivered enough runs to win. Cleanup hitter, Josh Gibson (.234-4-17-12) hasn't hit for average, but has driven in some runs.

Al Lopez's Chicago White Sox (19-12) are doing it with strong pitching and timely hitting. The team 3.58 ERA is second to St. Louis with outstanding mound work by Ed Walsh (5-0 2.47), Billy Pierce (4-1 2.53), Wilbur Wood (4-1 2.05) and rookie Doc White (2-3 3.77). Bobby Thigpen (1-1 1.71) has been superb with 10 saves and 20 appearances. In the hitting department, Joe Jackson (.297-1-15-15), outfield newcomer, Johnny Mostil (.292-2-10-18), Eddie Collins (.281-1-10-26) and Kazuhiro Yamauchi (.274-1-15-14) have done the most damage. Slugger Frank Thomas (.233-3-16-11) has missed half of the games so far with an injury, but has pushed across some runs, when he was in the lineup.

Last year's seventh place club has gotten some good pitching this year and looks like they might be in contention again. Manager Hughie Jennings has them in third place, only 3 games behind St. Louis. The Detroit Tigers' (16-13) mound staff have compiled a solid 3.60 ERA, led by Hal Newhouser (4-1 2.09), Mickey Lolich (4-0 3.34) and Tommy Bridges (3-2 3.83). And the Tigers are hitting the ball, too. Charlie Gehringer (.339-8-29-22) is leading the league in just about everything and Hank Greenberg (.352-1-20-15) is not too far behind. Harvey Kuenn (.339-2-11-9) has fine numbers, despite being platooned at shortstop. Ty Cobb (.286-0-8-24) is getting on base, stealing bases and scoring runs.

The Philadelphia A's (16-14) have hung tough in fourth place in the standings, despite the loss of most of their starters. They are making up for a lack of pitching by scoring runs. The Athletics are hitting .270, tops in the AL. They have also outscored everyone in the Alltime Allstar Association. But the pitchers are giving up the most runs in the AAA with a 4.44 ERA. And there doesn't look like any help is on the horizon. Rookies Tim Hudson (0-1 5.06) and Barry Zito (0-0 6.14) have floundered thus far this season. So have Bobby Shantz (0-1 5.49), rookie Ken Holtzman (1-3 7.67) and Dennis Eckersley (0-4 5.49). Rommel (5-0 1.85) has been super and will be back in the rotation soon. Ed Plank (4-2 4.36) and relief specialist, Rollie Fingers (2-0 2.89), have been effective. The top hitters are Alejandro Oms (.316-3-20-20), Jimmie Foxx (.322-5-17-18), Shigeo Nagashima (.263-3-20-17), Mickey Cochrane (.272-4-17-15), Danny Murphy (.275-0-16-9) and Al Simmons (.266-1-16-16). Philadelphia will be right back in the race, if they can get the pitchers to do a better job.

The New York Yankees (15-15) are in the fifth spot and are hanging close, but have not been playing well. They still hit home runs, but are only batting .238, next-to-last in both leagues. Their old standbys, Babe Ruth (.308-8-18-19), Lou Gehrig (.283-4-14-24) and Joe Gordon (.270-8-27-18) have delivered, but few others have contributed very much. Pitching-wise Vic Raschi (4-1 3.32), Whitey Ford (3-2 2.44) and Herb Pennock (2-1 2.77) have stood out as starters, while Mariano Rivera (0-0 1.32) has been strong in the bullpen.

Manager Steve O'Neill's Cleveland Indians (14-16), picked to win the AL flag this year by the baseball prognosticators, has not been able to put it all together as of yet. The Tribe is in sixth place 5.5 games out. Pitching has been good with Herb Score (4-2 2.57), Addie Joss (4-1 3.19), Bob Feller (2-4 3.42) and Bob Lemon (0-1 3.24) in starting roles and Doug Jones (1-1 2.30) in relief. Early Wynn (3-1 4.50) and newcomer Johnny Allen (0-4 5.46) have struggled. Look for rookies Sam McDowell (0-0 1.50) and Sonny Siebert (0-0 3.68) to get some starts soon. Batting-wise the Indians are holding their own with a .256 team average. Nap Lajoie (.316-5-17-21), Willie Wells (.287-4-19-22), Larry Doby (.274-3-23-19) and Rocky Colavito (.250-5-18-11) being the most productive. Another effective starter would put Cleveland back in the thick of the race.

It has also been a dismal season for the club voted to finish second in the league, the Boston Red Sox (13-16). The Bosox are floundering in seventh position, 6 games out of first place. One of the best hitting clubs last year, they simply have not found the range this year and the pitching is atrocious. Only Rookie of the Year, David Ortiz (.279-5-19-15) has hit well. Ted Williams (.255-5-15-16) and Oscar Charleston (.250-4-11-19) have faltered at bat in the first month of the year. Mound leaders are Pedro Martinez (3-2 3.14), George Ruth (3-3 4.06) and Roger Clemens (2-4 3.83), although the latter two hurlers have not been as solid as last season. The Red Sox hitters have always been slow starters in the league's first two years. If they begin to hit like they did last year and a starter or two steps it up, all will be well for Joe McCarthy and the Beantown Boys.

The Washington Senators (7-23) were in the basement last year and they are still there. Everybody on Skipper Clark Griffith's club is having subpar seasons except for a few bright spots. Heinie Manush (.308-1-15-11) and rookie catcher Brian Harper (.288-3-11-6) have hit well and pitchers Walter Johnson (3-3 2.44), Brad Radke (1-2 2.74) and rookie reliever, Al Worthington (0-1 1.42) have put up some fine numbers. It is going to be another long, long season year for the Capitol City bunch.

Review of the National League tomorrow.

See League Reports, Stats and Standings here:

http://aaa.allsimbaseball.com/index....tpage&Itemid=1

Eugene Church · 06-11-2006, 06:06 PM

ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION

Saturday, May 10, 1903

NATIONAL LEAGUE

GIANTS TAKE THE NL LEAD...PIRATES, CARDS, CUBS, PHILS...CLOSE BEHIND

After the first month of play, the New York Giants (18-11) are back in their customary spot right at the top of the National League standings. Manager John McGraw's Polo Grounders are one game up on second place Pittsburgh. Pitching is the prime reason. The 3.11 team ERA is second to the Pirates' amazingly low 2.55, but still good enough to be in first place. New York is not hitting like they usually do...only .247 as a team...but it has been sufficient up to this point in the season. Rookie Sal Maglie (4-0 4.00), Jeff Tesreau (4-2 3.16), Carl Hubbell (3-2 2.77) and Christy Mathewson (3-3 1.78) have been quite impressive as starters. Robb Nen (2-1 3.95) has been doing the job in relief with 6 saves and lots of help from Johnny Antonelli (0-0 2.38). Mel Ott (.382-7-22-22) is off to a great start with the bat. Martin Dihigo (.262-6-16-20), Barry Bonds (.245-8-15-20) and Freddie Lindstrom (.278-1-13-12) have also help out in the offensive category.

After stumbling badly in 1902, it looks like the Pirates are back in the race this year. Pittsburgh (18-13) is in second place and staying right on the Giants' tail, trailing by only one game. Manager Danny Murtaugh's mound corps has been superb. Bob Veale (4-1 1.07), Sam Leever (5-1 1.70), Deacon Phillippe (3-3 3.12) and Ray Kremer (3-3 3.67) have been tough to beat this year. Relief specialist Roy Face (1-0 1.17) has done his job to perfection, too. Their team batting average is way down this year, hitting only .254, Sadaharu Oh (.230-5-20-18), Honus Wagner (.246-4-16-15), Roberto Clemente (.256-3-16-15), Pie Traynor (.311-1-12-21) and rookie outfielder Brian Giles (.273-4-16-12) have done their job with timely hits.

Tony Larussa's St. Louis Cardinals (17-13) are in the third position, just 1.5 games out. Their .284 team batting average is far and away the best in both leagues. Four .300 hitters are leading the way: Stan Musial (.367-6-25-23), Rogers Hornsby (.351-4-16-22), Johnny Mize (.327-6-25-22) and Walker Cooper (.333-2-13-8). Coupled with good pitching, the Redbirds are off to their best start in the three years the league has been going. Dizzy Dean (3-0 3.13), John Tudor (2-0 1.50), Satchell Paige (4-2 4.10), Harry Brecheen (2-3 2.23) and Larry Jackson (3-3 4.67) have been the ringleaders.

Jolly Cholly Charlie Grimm has a big smile on his face as his club sits in fourth place, just two games off the pace. The Chicago Cubs (16-13) have a strong set of starting pitchers in Mordecai Brown (4-1 2.61), Ed Reulbach (3-1 3.38), Charlie Root (2-0 1.90) and Ferguson Jenkins (3-3 3.05). In the bullpen Bruce Sutter (1-2 2.76) has done well as the finisher with six saves. On the batting side of the ledger, Ernie Banks (.275-7-22-16), Billy Williams (.284-5-17-13), Cool Papa Bell (.312-3-13-16) and Tetsuharu Kawakami (.283-2-14-13) have delivered the runs. Manager Grimm is waiting for last year's NL Golden Bat Award winner, Turkey Stearnes (.225-3-8-18) and Bill Dahlen (.215-3-11-14) to come alive and get into the swing of things.

The fifth place Philadelphia Phillies (18-15) are off and running this season with a sparkling 3.36 ERA. Pitching is the name of the game for Manager Danny Ozark. Heading the Phils' rotation are Akiro Bessho (4-1 1.99), Chris Short (2-0 1.47), Curt Schilling (2-4 3.35), Pete Alexander (3-2 3.75), Jiro Noguchi (3-4 3.56) and Steve Carlton (1-0 3.48). In the bullpen rookie Turk Farrell (1-1 1.71) has been amazing with 7 saves and Larry Christensen (0-0 1.08) has made 8 strong outings and has one save. However, it has been tough for Philadelphia to score runs. Only Lefty O'Doul (.341-1-12-15) has hit for any kind of average. Overall the Phils are hitting only .239, third worst in the Alltime Allstar Association. Rookie first baseman Don Hurst (.254-7-22-16) has been a plus this year and surprised many with his power display. Chuck Klein's (.217-9-25-18) average is abysmal for him, but he comes through with men on base and has slammed the longball on a regular basis. He is tied with Eddie Murray of the Browns for the AAA home run lead with 9.

The sixth place Brooklyn Dodgers (13-17) under Skipper Tommy Lasorda are having a rough season. They need pitching and hitting. Only Sandy Koufax (4-1 1.44) has been effective and he has put up some terrific stats. His only loss was a well-pitched 4-3 loss to Moe Brown and the Cubs. He couldn't hold a 3-2 lead in the last frame. No regular is batting above .300 a month into the season. Cristobel Torriente (.295-3-15-12), Duke Snider (.246-8-13-15), Gil Hodges (.243-5-15-13) and Yasumitsu Toyota (.263-5-8-10) have been the best the Bums have had to offer at the plate...and all are having subpar seasons. A career .315 hitter, dependable Zach Wheat is only hitting .246 with no homers thus far.

Because of their great pitching, the Boston Braves (11-19) were expected to rival the best teams in the league. But not yet. Last year's runnerups have sunk into the depths of the second division. Manager Bobby Cox has seen his team's ERA balloon to an outrageous 5.62. His only starter under 4.50 is Greg Maddux (3-3 3.22). All the rest of the rotation have been miserable. But the Braves batters have done their job with a solid .269 BA and 28 home runs. Pete Hill (.353-8-24-26) is at the top of almost all hitting categories and Joe Torre (.341-2-9-8), Chipper Jones (.303-2-15-14), Tommy Holmes (.317-0-12-9) and Rafael Furcal (.304-2-12-16) have added to the run production, too. Although down in batting average, Buck Leonard (.226-7-22-19) and Eddie Mathews (.198-5-15-17) still deliver the longballs and the RBIs.

And the Cincinnati Reds (10-20) are still down in the cellar. One of the reasons is a pathetic .228 team batting average. No one on Sparky Anderson's club is having a good year. Pete Rose (.276-1-1-10) and Frank Robinson (.274-7-14-11) are the only regulars having a decent season. The pitchers have fared much better. Gary Nolan (2-4 1.85) has been brilliant. Pete Donahue (3-3 4.30), Jose Rijo (0-5 3.80) and Jim Maloney (2-4 3.98) have made quality outings, but have all of them have poor records because of the anemic run support. In relief roles Kenny Raffensberger (1-0 3.66) and Dolph Luque (1-1 2.25) have been effective.

Eugene Church · 06-17-2006, 08:14 PM

ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION

Tuesday, June 10, 1903

AMERICAN LEAGUE

BRONX BOMBERS BOLT FROM FIFTH TO FIRST IN AMERICAN LEAGUE

The mighty New York Yankees (38-25) flexed their muscles and and went on a rampage in the last month in the AL. The Yanks rung up a sparkling 23-10 mark and jumped to the top spot in the league, 4 games ahead of everybody. Manager Casey Stengel's crew has really come together with good pitching and power hitting. New York leads the AAA with 82 homers, paced by Babe Ruth (.283-17-42-48), the AL leader, and Joe Gordon (.242-12-47-39), tops in RBIs. Other solid contributors to the Yanks' attack are Lou Gehrig (.310-8-35-50), Joe DiMaggio (.288-6-23-32), Derek Jeter (.270-8-23-37), and Yogi Berra (.298-5-17-13). Roger Maris (.239-7-22-10) and Mickey Mantle (.216-6-10-18) have chipped in with longballs, too. The Bombers' team BA rose from a paltry .238 to a respectable .251 during the period. The team improved from 3.96 to 3.49 ERA, too. On the mound, it has been Vic Raschi (8-3 2.53), Herb Pennock (7-2 2.40) and Whitey Ford (6-5 2.79) standing tall. Relief ace, Mariano Rivera (2-0 0.76) has been impossible to score on this year. He has 5 saves.

The second place Chicago White Sox (34-29) dipped below .500 the last month, compiling a 15-17 record. The threesome of Billy Pierce (9-1 1.92), Ed Walsh (8-4 3.20) and Wilbur Wood (7-4 2.31) have been outstanding in the starting slots. Same thing for Bobby Thigpen (2-2 1.76) in relief. He leads the American League with 11 saves, tied with Todd Worrell of the Cardinals for the best in both leagues. Rookie starter Doc White (3-5 3.13) has also excelled. Joe Jackson (.321-5-38-35), Frank Thomas (.224-14-45-31) and Eddie Collins (.299-4-15-52) continue to be the main run producers. Jackson has the best batting average in the league, Thomas is second in RBIs and Collins is number one in runs scored. But they also have gotten help this season from rookie center fielder, Johnny Mostil (.291-3-23-35), and Kazuhiro Yamauchi (.289-4-32-28). The big weakness the Pale Hose has is in the middle relief corps. They really need some help there with everyone 5.50 and over in ERA.

The Cleveland Indians (33-29) also had a fine month, going 19-13 and rising up from sixth to third in the standings, tied with the Philadelphia A's 4.5 games behind the Yanks. However, the Tribe had to do it with pitching. In the last month the club ERA dropped from a fine 3.57 down to a brilliant 3.12, best in the AL and the Alltime Allstar Association. Starters Addie Joss (8-2 2.12), Bob Feller (7-5 2.38), Herb Score (6-6 2.32), Bob Lemon (3-3 3.62) and Early Wynn (5-3 4.81) have been tough to beat with any kind of run support. Reliever Doug Jones (2-0 2.42) has been strong in the bullpen with 5 saves. Cleanup hitter, Larry Doby (.266-9-45-37) has been the heart and soul of the offense, aided by Willie Wells (.310-7-31-33), Nap Lajoie (.292-7-25-36) and Tris Speaker (.277-4-20-36).

When Manager Connie Mack lost his two aces, Lefty Grove and Rube Waddell for the season with arm injuries, you didn't think it could get any worse. It did. Reliever Rollie Fingers sustained a career ending injury and has been forced to retire. But the defending World Champs, the Philadelphia Athletics (33-29), have sucked it up and continue to hang in the race with a 17-15 record last month and are tied for the third spot. Hitting is the name of the game in Philly. Only the NY Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals have outscored them. The A's are hitting .270, the best by far in the American League. The Chisox are a very distant second with a .255 average. Everywhere you look in the Mack's lineup from top to bottom, you find a good, solid hitter: Jimmie Foxx (.301-10-36-37), Danny Murphy (.296-4-33-22), Alejandro Oms (.291-4-36-41), Frank Baker (.290-8-26-36), Mickey Cochrane (.277-4-26-22), Al Simmons (.263-3-33-39), John Henry Lloyd (.255-7-28-34) and Shigeo Nagashima (.248-4-36-31). Pitching is another story. Philadelphia's team ERA is a whopping 4.46, last in the AL and next last in the AAA. Except for Ed Rommel (6-1 3.22), Ed Plank (7-4 3.63) and Catfish Hunter (5-2 3.64), Mack doesn't have much to call in to the mound, although rookies Barry Zito (2-1 4.06), Tim Hudson 92-4 3.43) and Darold Knowles (1-0 0.00) show some promise. Knowles was called up to replace Fingers as the closer.

Earl Weaver's bunch of St. Louis Browns (35-31) have certainly cooled off after a great first month of the season, falling to 14-19 in the league's second month of play. They have slipped from first to fifth, also trailing by 4.5 games. The Browns have fizzled at the plate and saw their average drop from .250 to .240. However, the pitchers are still doing great with a very strong 3.22 ERA, second to Cleveland's 3.12 mark. Mike Cuellar (7-3 2.61) has been awesome and looks like he has the stuff that won him 15 games in 1901. Hoyt Wilhelm (3-6 2.28) has been superb, even when he loses because of poor run support. Dennis Martinez (6-4 3.13) has been solid so far this season. Only Mike Mussina (5-6 4.42) has been disappointing as a starter. In the bullpen Eddie Watt (3-1 2.89) and Gregg Olson (0-0 0.00) have delivered. Olson has 3 saves and has not allowed a run in 15 innings this year. Ken Williams (.309-10-33-40) and George Sisler (.300-2-19-34) are having good years at bat, while the RBI and HR guys, Eddie Murray (.242-11-38-28) and Josh Gibson (.221-11-31-26) have not hit for average, they have supplied some power and runs production.

Joe McCarthy's Bosox have been terrible at bat this year and are lucky to be only 6.5 games behind the frontrunning Yanks. The Boston Red Sox (31-31) have turned it around in the pitching department and gone 18-15 in the last thirty days. In the starting rotation, George Ruth (6-6 3.21) has been very impressive and has the most complete games and quality starts in the AL. Bad run support has cost him several wins. Roger Clemens (5-6 3.69), Pedro Martinez (5-5 3.84) and Smokey Joe Wood (3-3 3.37) all have suffered from the poor Red Sox run output this year. too. None of last year's potent hitters have produced this season. Nomar Garciaparra (.275-7-31-32), Oscar Charleston (.269-9-25-40), Ted Williams (.258-10-31-33) and David Ortiz (.217-6-37-23) are not replicating last season's outstanding performances. If they can get going with the bats, Boston could move up and quickly contend.

The Detroit Tigers (27-36) tailed off considerably in the batting department and doubly so in the pitching department during the last month. They finished up with the worst record in both leagues for the period, 11-23. The Tigers' team batting average fell from .264 to .254 and the team ERA tumbled from 3.60 to 4.16 and Hughie Jennings' club dropped from third place in the AL standings to a dismal seventh, 11 games behind. Two Detroit players are having very good seasons, Charlie Gehringer (.315-10-42-43) and Hank Greenberg (.321-10-45-31) with some help from Harvey Kuenn (.308-3-16-27) and Ty Cobb (.284-6-24-49), but little else. On the hill only Virgil Trucks (7-3 3.55) and Hal Newhouser (6-4 3.50) have been effective.

The Washington Senators (20-41) experimented with adding nothing but home run hitters to their arsenal for the first six weeks of the season and it failed miserably. Roy Sievers, Jim Lemon and Bob Allison are all back in the minors with not one single fourbagger between them and a combined .167 batting average. Manager Clark Griffith recalled Kirby Puckett, Tony Oliva and Gary Gaetti to replace them. So far...so good...Puckett and Oliva are each hitting .364 in 15 games. Heinie Manush (.305-3-30-25) and Rod Carew (.303-1-29-22) are performing well, but are not getting much help from the rest of the team. Walter Johnson (6-3 3.01), Camilo Pascual (5-7 3.86) and Jim Kaat (5-6 4.16) have been the Senators only dependable hurlers. Washington ran up a poor 13-18 over the last month, but that was much better than the first month of the year.

See League Reports, Standings and Leaderboards here:

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Eugene Church · 06-20-2006, 02:22 AM

ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION

Tuesday, June 10, 1903

NATIONAL LEAGUE

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS SHOOT TO THE TOP IN THE NL

When you are hitting .283 as a team and 20 points better than the number two team and you combine that with a pretty good team ERA of 3.79, you are going to win a lot of ballgames. That is exactly what Tony Larussa's St. Louis Redbirds did over the last 30 days. They won 21 games and lost only 12 and climbed up from third to first in the National League.

St. Louis (38-25) is now leading the second place New York Giants by 2.5 games. Pacing the Cardinals hit parade are Stan "the Man" Musial (.354-15-47-39), Frankie Frisch (.335-4-31-49), Walker Cooper (.324-6-27-24), Rogers Hornsby (.309-11-37-41), Johnny Mize (.286-11-35-42), Chick Hafey (.280-8-30-35) and Joe Medwick (.260-8-37-32). And delivering the mail has been Satchel Paige (8-2 3.69), John Tudor (7-1 3.60), Dizzy Dean (6-2 3.67), Matt Morris (4-0 3.25), Bob Gibson (1-1 2.12) and Harry Brecheen (5-7 3.64). The best in the bullpen has been Todd Worrell (1-2 4.35) with 11 saves. He is deadlocked with the White Sox's Bobby Thigpen for the AAA lead.

Manager John McGraw's men couldn't keep up with St. Louis and the New York Giants (35-27) fell to the number two spot in the standings, 2.5 games out. They got some very bad news: NY lost one of its aces, Christy Mathewson, for 4-5 weeks with an arm injury. Nontheless, the Polo Grounders recorded a respectable 17-16 mark in the last month. McGraw's mound staff is the best in the National League with a 3.18 ERA, which is second to Cleveland's 3.12, tops overall in the AAA. Mathewson (5-4 2.37), Jeff Tesreau (7-3 2.92), Carl Hubbell (6-6 3.29), Juan Marichal (4-5 3.04) and rookie Sal Maglie (4-4 3.67) make up a fine mound rotation. Robb Nen (4-2 3.33) has stoodout in relief with some assistance by Johnny Antonelli (2-1 2.49). Pitcher Hooks Wiltse will fill in for Mathewson. He was purchased from a minor league team in Triple A. The Giants' hitting is quite a bit off this season, hitting only .255 compared to last year dynamic .281 batting average. Only Mel Ott (.308-8-38-35), Freddie Lindstrom (.301-4-31-31) and Barry Bonds (.276-14-37-40) are having good seasons thus far.

The third place Pittsburgh Pirates (35-28) scored fewer runs and gave up more during the last month, but they still held their own with a 17-15 record. The Bucs trail the NL-leading Cardinals by 3 games. Pitching (3.40 ERA) is still their strong point with starters Sam Leever (8-4 2.88), Deacon Phillippe (7-3 3.16), Bob Veale (5-3 2.69) and John Candelaria (4-3 3.56). Roy Face (6-3 2.80) has been outstanding in the relief corps with 7 saves. Last year the Pirates hit a lofty .280, but not this year. They are hitting only .254 this season. Sadaharu Oh (.258-18-51-45) is not hitting for average, but is potent with run production and homers. He and NY's Babe Ruth lead the AAA with 18 apiece. Roberto Clemente (.299-6-40-30) has punched out a solid set of stats. Manager Danny Murtaugh will have to do without Honus Wagner (.251-8-31-30). He hurt his arm and will miss about 3 weeks. Glenn Wright (.186-3-10-4) was called up from Triple A to fill in for Wagner.

Checking in at the fourth slot in the NL standings are the Chicago Cubs (33-30) of Charlie Grimm, who finished 17-17 during the past month and dipped 5 games out. The Chicubs are blessed with some fine hitters. That is what they do best. Tetsuharu Kawakami (.328-5-32-42), Cool Papa Bell (.303-6-24-40), Billy Williams (.284-10-34-35), Turkey Stearnes (.275-15-45-45) and Ernie Banks (.241-13-39-30) are the team's top batters. On the mound, starters Moe Brown (7-4 3.58), Ferguson Jenkins (6-4 3.43) and Ed Reulbach (6-4 3.95) have led the way with relief specialist Bruce Sutter (3-4 3.71) having a good season so far with 8 saves. Hippo Vaughn (3-1 3.28) has looked good since being put into the starting rotation.

The fifth place Philadelphia Phillies' (34-32) hitting finally came around, mainly in the form of Richie Ashburn, who has hit a startling .402 since being put into the starting lineup in the last month. Lefty O'Doul (.358-5-39-33) and old dependable, Chuck Klein (.275-18-53-37) have starred with the bats this year. This trio helped the Phils go 16-17 for the month. On the hill, Pete Alexander (7-5 3.52), Ahiro Bessho (6-5 3.08), Curt Schilling (.5-5 3.09) and Jiro Noguchi (6-7 3.81) are Manager Danny Ozark's top hurlers. Chris Short (3-1 2.92) and Steve Carlton (2-1 3.24) recently have been very effective since being used in the starting rotation as spot starters. Rookie relief specialist, Turk Farrell (2-1 1.53) has been astounding and chalked up 9 saves.

The Boston Braves (28-33) had a fine month and went 17-14. Yet they still find themselves in the sixth spot in the National League race, 9 games behind the Cards. Boston's strong point going into the season was pitching, but it has just not been able to do the job for Manager Bobby Cox. However, his hitters perked it up a bit and are now hitting .263 as a club. Pete Hill (.349-14-45-51) is having a career year. Tommy Holmes (.333-2-28-26), Rafael Furcal (.310-6-26-39) and Buck Leonard (.243-14-45-39) have excelled as well. In the pitching department only Greg Maddux (7-4 3.58), Tom Glavine (6-4 3.96) and Phil Niekro (3-0 2.96) have been productive.

Manager Tommy Lasorda's Brooklyn Dodgers (26-35) continue to have hitting problems. As a team they are still struggling with a .246 BA and are ranked near the bottom of the AAA. The Bums continued to slide and sunk to seventh place, 11.5 games out. Southpaw Sandy Koufax (10-2 1.79) has been absolutely marvelous this year. He is one of Brooklyn's very few bright marks. Reliever Eric Gagne (3-1 3.29) also has looked good with 4 saves. Recent inserts into the starting lineup, Adrian Beltre (.352-4-18-16) and Pee Wee Reese (.343-1-5-7) both have started off like gangbusters and Zach Wheat is slowly coming around. His average has risen up to .285 with 3 home runs, 22 RBIs and 20 runs scored. But that is about it for the Dodgers.

And the Cincinnati Reds (22-40) are still in the basement, finishing off the month with a dismal 12-20 record. They hit a little bit better and pitched a little bit better, but not enough to lift them out of the cellar. Sparky Anderson has not had much to smile about this season. His team has compiled the next to the worst batting average in the AAA. Only the AL's Browns are worst than Cincy. The Reds are hitting only .244 as a unit. Ted Kluszewski (.245-12-32-33) and Johnny Bench (/242-11-31-18) have been his best run producers. Hill standouts include Pete Donahue (6-6 3.62) and spot starters/relievers like Kenny Raffensberger (3-1 3.28) and Dolph Luque (3-3 3.02).

See League Reports, Standings and Stats here:

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Eugene Church · 06-20-2006, 02:24 AM

I am going to take about a week off.

Will continue this report next Monday.

Eugene Church · 07-01-2006, 03:28 PM

ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION

Thursday, July 10, 1903

AMERICAN LEAGUE

BOSOX ON A ROLL...TIED FOR FIRST WITH NY YANKEES

The Boston Red Sox (52-41) have been redhot the last month, running up a fine 21-10 record and are now tied with the New York Yankees for the top spot in the American League standings. Skipper Joe McCarthy has moved Bobby Doerr (.337-12-38-30 in 56 games), Johnny Pesky (.309-0-17-26 in 52 games)and Carl Yastrzemski (.278-6-26-26 in 48 games) into the lineups and the team has been the best team in the Alltime Allstar Association. Also aiding the club's rise has been Ted Williams (.283-15-53-56), Nomar Garciaparra (.281-8-44-49) and Oscar Charleston (.252-15-44-57). On the hill Pedro Martinez (8-6 3.17), George Ruth (10-8 3.41) and Roger Clemens (10-7 3.38) and **** Radatz (6-4 3.43 9 saves) have stood out. Rookie Luis Tiant (3-0 2.00) has been brilliant in four starts since being called up from the minors. A good blend of solid pitching and hitting has help the Boston surge.

Casey Stengel's New York Yanks (52-41) did not fare as well as the Red Sox in the last month, finishing up with a poor 14-17 mark. Yet they are still tied for first. However last month they led by 4 games. The Bronx Bombers tailed off in both pitching and hitting. They are living and dying by the longball. They are on pace to shatter the AAA record of 182, set by the Boston Braves last year. So far, the Yankees have hit 130 this year. If they continue to hit them at this rate they will total 215, led by Babe Ruth (.269-26-60-64), Lou Gehrig (.309-14-54-73), Joe DiMaggio (.292-14-44-51), Derek Jeter (.266-12-32-56), Joe Gordon (.221-15-58-47) and Mickey Mantle (.222-15-26-32). In hitting for average NY is next to last in the AL at .248. On the mound they are doing better at 3.59, third behind Cleveland's 3.19 ERA and St. Louis' 3.42 ERA. Three starters are having very fine seasons: Herb Pennock (11-3 3.57), Vic Raschi (10-5 3.17) and Whitey Ford (9-7 3.03). In the bullpen Mariano Rivera (4-1 1.18) has been sensational with 6 saves. For the Yankees to win this year, they need to perk up their batting averages just a bit and get some help from Lefty Gomez (6-9 4.80), who is having a subpar season this year. Another solid starter would help greatly, too.

The Philadelphia Athletics (49-42) are still hanging tough, despite devastating mound losses this season. They completed the month at 16-13 and have moved up to third place, just 2 games out from the leaders. Their AL-leading .261 BA has kept them in the race thus far. Alejandro Oms (.292-10-57-53), Jimmie Foxx (.284-16-51-55), Al Simmons (.270-3-42-51), Shigeo Nagashima (.257-8-55-41), Frank Baker (.266-12-37-47) and Danny Murphy (.271-6-42-37) have been the offensive force. Connie Mack's top hurlers have been Ed Rommel (11-2 3.18), Ed Plank (10-7 3.78) and Catfish Hunter (7-5 3.15). Rookies Tim Hudson (5-4 4.02) and Barry Zito (3-3 3.97) have shown well at times. Poor relief work has been costly for the A's as no one has stepped up to fill the void of Rollie Fingers, who was lost for the year. If Hudson and Zito jell and come on strong, look out Boston and New York. The Athletics could be back. Boy, could they use Lefty Grove and Rube Waddell, both lost for the season.

The Cleveland Indians (48-45) are holding their own pretty much with a 16-17 record over the past 30 days. Steve O'Neill's Tribe is in fourth place and trail by only 4 games. Strong pitching is the Indians' strength. Addie Joss (11-5 2.31), Herb Score (9-8 2.23), Bob Feller (8-8 3.34), Bob Lemon (6-5 3.56) and Early Wynn (9-6 4.05) just might be the best starting rotation in the AAA. Toss in a topnotch closer like Doug Jones (3-2 1.99) with 7 saves and you've can compete with the best. They could dominate, if they had the hitters. Cleveland leads both leagues with a very fine 3.18 ERA, but is hitting only .253 with average power. O'Neill's top batters are Willie Wells (.303-9-47-49), Nap Lajoie (.300-11-44-55), Larry Doby (.259-15-63-54), Tris Speaker (.278-7-37-49) and Rocky Colavito (.226-13-50-37).

Earl Weaver's St. Louis Browns (48-49) just can't buy a hit. They are last in the Alltime Allstar Association, hitting only .239 as a team. Over the last month they have not done well, but are still in fifth place, only 6 games out. Fortunately the Browns have some good pitching. Mike Cuellar (9-4 2.81) and Dennis Martinez (7-5 3.23) head the staff with help at times from Jim Palmer (9-8 3.90) and Mike Mussina (7-8 4.19). Hoyt Wilhelm (5-10 2.95) deserves to have a much better record. Gregg Olson (2-3 1.48) has been stingy in the bullpen and has collected 4 saves. George Sisler (.311-4-30-49) and Ken Williams (.287-13-46-49) are Weaver best batters. Eddie Murray (.245-14-44-50) and Josh Gibson (.219-17-51-41) deliver the longball, but don't hit up to their potential. Recently rookie Ken Singleton (.278-3-17-10) has hit well as regular in left field, but Weaver has indicated he may move rookie Wally Judnich (.256-9-34-35) back into the lineup to get more defense. The Browns are hoping Doug DeCinces (.287-2-23-20) will boost the attack. He has been on the DL for the last five weeks and due to return soon.

The second hottest club in the American League over the last month has been the Detroit Tigers (45-48). Skipper Hughie Jennings team authored an 18-13 mark during the period and climbed up to sixth place in the standings, only 7 games behind. Only pitchers Virgil Trucks (9-4 4.11) and Hal Newhouser (8-7 4.05) can be depended on a regular basis. The Tigers are next-to-last in the AL with a 4.27 ERA, just ahead of the A's 4.28 ERA. But Jennings can count on some good hitters like Charlie Gehringer (.325-11-66-61), Hank Greenberg (.301-15-67-55), Ty Cobb (.282-6-32-71) and Harvey Kuenn (.297-6-30-44) to make up for the lack of pitching. Outfielder Harry Heilmann (.336-0-13-13), benched for most of the year, is back in the lineup and has ignited the team's offense.

The Chicago White Sox (44-49) have fallen on hard times and tumbled down to seventh place after getting off to a fine start in the first month of the year. The Pale Hose had the worst mark in the league in the last 30 days, running up a dismal 10-20 record and are now trailing by 8 games. They are hitting only .249, sixth in the AL, and not pitching very well either. The team ERA has ballooned to 3.87 this season. Manager Al Lopez has three outstanding hurlers in Billy Pierce (10-4 2.61), Wilbur Wood (10-7 2.80) and Ed Walsh (12-6 3.15), but absolutely no one after them. The rest of the staff is collectively over 5.00 in ERA. In the bullpen Bobby Thigpen (3-3 1.88) has been great with 13 saves. Lopez's only batting standout is Joe Jackson (.312-7-50-52). Eddie Collins (.277-2-25-65) and rookie center fielder Johnny Mostil (.276-5-32-45) have had respectable seasons. Powerman Frank Thomas (.208-18-59-45) can deliver home runs, but has been pathetic average-wise. It looks like the Chisox are going to remain near the bottom this season.

And last of all, we come to the Washington Senators (34-57), just about the worst team in both leagues. They are still in the basement, but did play better last month, finishing with a not-so-bad 14-16 record...at least for the Senators. They are now 17 games out of first and going nowhere. Adding Kirby Puckett (.286-1-7-7) and Tony Oliva (.312-5-16-16) in the lineup picked things up a bit for Manager Clark Griffith. But the team just doesn't have the home run hitters to compete. Washington has hit the scant sum of 38 homers this season. That is 39 less that the next lowest total. Rookie catcher Brian Harper (.277-6-31-23) is tops with just 6 roundtrippers. By contrast, the Yankees have hit 130 home runs. Griffith needs about five more players like Rod Carew (.299-3-44-41), Heinie Manush (.298-5-39-44) and Cecil Travis (.291-1-29-41). Then they might be able to manufacture enough runs to generate a few more wins. On the hill Washington is not much better, Walter Johnson (10-5 3.19), Jim Kaat (10-6 3.52) and Camilo Pascual (7-9 3.76) have done a good job. But they could use a lot of help from the rest of the pitching corps.

See EC's Dream Leagues Website here for Standings and League Reports:

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Eugene Church · 07-01-2006, 04:09 PM

ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION

Thursday, July 10, 1903

NATIONAL LEAGUE

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS INCREASE LEAD IN NL OVER NY GIANTS AND PIRATES...PHILS AND BRAVES ON THE RISE

Tony Larussa's St. Louis Cardinals (56-37) continued to play sparkling baseball with outstanding hitting and some good solid pitching. They parlayed it into an 18-12 record for the month and increased their lead from 2.5 games to 4 games in the National League over the Giants. Their team BA of .275 is far and away the best best in both leagues, the Phillies are a distant second at .265. The torrid Redbird attack is topped by Stan Musial (.320-20-64-53), Rogers Hornsby (.299-16-53-58), Ducky Medwick (.294-11-59-46), Johnny Mize (.278-15-49-55), Walker Cooper (.299-10-39-36) and Frankie Frisch (.303-8-41-68). Outstanding pitchers are John Tudor (11-2 2.90), Satchell Paige (11-4 3.31), rookie Matt Morris (8-1 2.92) and Dizzy Dean (7-2 3.99). The Cards only weakness is in the bullpen. Todd Worrell (1-3 5.06) has 11 saves, but has seen his ERA jump out of sight in the last month.

The New York Giants (52-41) had a good month at 17-14, but still lost ground to St. Louis. John McGraw's Polo Grounders are in second place and 4 games out. They had a good month, despite going down in both BA and ERA. Pitching-wise they had the best ERA in the league last month with a fine 3.18, but dropped to second this month with a 3.41 behind Philadelphia's 3.31 ERA. They really miss ace Christy Mathewson, who may come off the injured list in a week or so. McGraw is biting at the bit to get him back. Jeff Tesreau (11-4 2.57) has continued to excel on the mound. Johnny Antonelli (4-2 2.96) has been put back into the starting rotation and looks strong. Juan Marichal (7-8 3.00) should have a better W-L mark, but has not gotten good run support. New York is really suffering as their other ace, Carl Hubbell (7-9 3.54) just hasn't been the dominating pitcher of the last two years. McGraw really need him to get it in gear for the stretch run. Rookies starter Sal Maglie (7-5 3.69) has done well, along with other first year pitchers, Art Nehf (1-0 1.26) and Hooks Wiltse (1-0 2.35). Both have recently been called up and have looked good in the early going. Freddie Fitzsimmons (1-1 2.29) has been sensational in a couple of spot starts and may be headed for a spot in the regular rotation. Relief specialist Robb Nen (4-2 4.85) has has 10 saves, but has blown 4 this year. McGraw may be losing patience with him. Hitting-wise, Mel Ott (.293-14-60-52), Barry Bonds (.268-20-47-62) and Freddie Lindstrom (.277-9-45-44) have carried the offensive load. Willie Mays (.231-17-41-33), Martin Dihigo (.242-13-35-53) and Bill Terry (.254-1-38-26) are having off years and need to turn it around for the Giants to challenge the Cardinals.

Danny Ozark has the Philadelphia Phillies (52-45) playing like they did in 1901. His Phils chalked up an 18-13 mark last month and are now resting in third place 6 games behind the Cards. They are hitting .265, second best in the National League. Philadelphia's pitching corps' ERA is 3.31, tops in the league and second best in the Alltime Allstar Association after Cleveland's 3.19 ERA. The team's only weakness is power. The Phils have hit only 75 home runs and are last in the NL. The pitchers are led by Pete Alexander (10-6 3.18), Jiro Noguchi (10-9 3.94), Curt Schilling (8-8 2.65) and Akiro Bessho (8-8 3.27). Spot starters Rick Wise (5-2 2.35) and Chris Short (3-3 3.14) have been very good, too. In the bullpen, Philadelphia has the best in the league and maybe the best in the AAA, Turk Farrell (2-2 2.25). In 42 appearances he has 12 saves and has not blown one game. Hitting-wise Richie Ashburn (.390-0-18-44 in 57 starts) and Lefty O'Doul (.352-9-61-50) have been fantastic. Cleanup man Chuck Klein (.260-22-71-53) has done just that and ranks second to Chicago's Turkey Stearnes in RBIs, trailing him 73 to 71. Other solid contributors are Don Hurst (.241-15-56-45), Larry Bowa (.291-0-26-48), Pinky Whitney (.286-6-39-30) and Bob Boone (.322-0-19-16).

The Boston Braves (46-45) check in at the fourth spot in the standings and registered an 18-12 mark over the past 30 days. They are tied with Pittsburgh. Good solid hitting, balanced with good starting pitching, got Bobby Cox's crew there. Warren Spahn (10-6 3.73), Tom Glavine (10-6 3.95), Greg Maddux (9-8 2.71) and Phil Niekro (6-2 2.74) form a fine nucleus on the hill. Cox just needs a dependable closer and middle relief. Boston's attack is paced by Pete Hill (.313-21-62-72), Buck Leonard (.263-20-68-61), Tommy Holmes (.325-3-39-45), Chipper Jones (.272-13-54-43), Rafael Furcal (.280-6-35-53) and Joe Torre (.283-4-27-28).

The Pittsburgh Pirates (47-46) of Danny Murtaugh have been near the top of the league for part of the year, but have slowly drifted downward. A 12-18 record in the last month didn't help matters much. Currently the Bucs are in a tie for fourth with the Braves, 9 games in back of St. Louis. Murtaugh has three quality starters in Sam Leever (12-6 2.81), Deacon Phillippe (9-7 3.01) and John Candelaria (8-4 3.23) and the Pirates are solid in the bullpen with Roy Face (6-4 3.11), who has 9 saves. Putting runs on the scoreboard and one more starter is all Pittsburgh needs to move back in contention. So far this year they have struggled at bat, hitting only .249 as a team. That's a far cry from the .267 and .280 team BA in the last two seasons. They are next to last in home runs, too. Sadaharu Oh (.256-25-65-64) and Roberto Clemente (.282-10-54-40), Pie Traynor (.275-2-31-49) and Honus Wagner (.273-9-39-40) are the Bucs' best batters.

After a slow start the Brooklyn Dodgers (45-48) put together a solid 19-12 month and edged upward into sixth place, 11 games out. Manager Tommy Lasorda's hitters have been the club's strong point. Cristobel Torriente (.294-17-40-57), Zach Wheat (.287-4-38-35), Gil Hodges (.279-16-47-57) and Yasumitsu Toyota (.273-13-41-35) have been the main ones with some help of late from Pee Wee Reese (.307-2-18-19) and Adrian Beltre (.306-7-37-37). On the mound Sandy Koufax (14-4 1.77) has been without peer in the AAA and appears headed for a Golden Arm Award. Lasorda's only other effective starting pitchers have been Don Newcombe (8-8 3.70) and Don Drysdale (4-2 3.33). Drysdale just been put in the rotation and has had several fine outings. Eric Gagne (4-2 3.50) has been sufficient as the closer with 8 saves.

The seventh place Chicago Cubs (42-51) had the worst record of any club in the last month with a 9-21 mark. They have fallen 14 games back of St. Louis. The culprit is 4.42 ERA, worst in the AAA. Charlie Grimm only has one hurler under a 4.00 ERA, that is the dependable Mordecai Brown with a 3.34 ERA and a 9-8 record. The Chicubs score enough runs and rank third in the Alltime Allstar Association with 100 homers, but give up more homers than any team in both leagues. Chicago pitchers have yielded 105 home runs this season. The Bruins have a potent lineup with Turkey Stearnes (.282-25-73-67), Tetsuharu Kawakami (.308-7-53-52), Cool Papa Bell (.304-7-31-64) and Ernie Banks (.239-18-52-44).

The doormat of the AAA is the Cincinnati Reds (32-59). Skipper Sparky Anderson's ballclub compiled a pathetic 10-19 record for the month and now have sunk 23 games behind, bad enough for last place. Not much to say about the Reds. Ted Kluszewski (.271-18-45-49) is have a pretty fair year with the bat and Pete Donahue (9-9 3.16) and Dolph Luque (6-4 3.32) have done a fine job on the mound, but that's about it.

See EC's Dream Leagues Website here for Standings and League Reports:

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Eugene Church · 07-05-2006, 11:28 PM

ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION

Sunday, August 10, 1903

AMERICAN LEAGUE

AL RACE TIGHTENS...RED SOX UP BY 2 GAMES OVER A'S AND 2.5 AHEAD OF NY YANKS AND INDIANS

It is crunch time in the pennant race and the teams and the players, who step it up a notch will be the winner. The Boston Red Sox (68-55) cooled off a little, but still managed a 16-14 mark during the last 30 days to move ahead of the Yankees into sole possession of first place in the American League. A good mix of pitching and hitting is doing the job for the Joe McCarthy's Bosox. Bobby Doerr (.325-13-52-44), Johnny Pesky (.310-0-26-41) and the right field tandem of Carl Yastrzemski (.285-8-34-38) and Ellis Burks (.281-7-25-23) continue to perform well and have played vital roles in their resurgence the last two months. Mainstays Ted Williams (.278-23-79-74), Nomar Garciaparra (.270-11-58-66) and Oscar Charleston (.257-22-58-77) are having solid seasons. Top hurlers are George Ruth (13-10 3.24), Pedro Martinez (10-7 3.24) and Roger Clemems (12-10 3.82). Di ck Radatz (9-4 2.79) leads the bullpen corps with 9 saves. The key to Boston's season probably hinges on fourth and fifth starters, Smokey Joe Wood (7-7 3.91) and Luis Tiant (4-4 3.43).

The Philadelphia Athletics (65-56) climbed ahead of the New York Yankees into second place with a 16-14 month. The A's are two games out of first and a half game ahead of the third place Yanks and Cleveland Indians. Connie Mack's club continue to hit well and got some fine pitching during the period. Leading the Athletics' hit parade are Jimmie Foxx (.292-21-71-72), Alejandro Oms (.279-12-66-63), Al Simmons (.272-6-58-65), John Henry Lloyd (.272-18-57-72), Frank Baker (.264-14-49-62) and Shigeo Nagashima (.268-9-70-53). Two pitchers are carrying the team, Ed Rommel (15-4 2.90) and Ed Plank (15-8 3.49). How the season goes will be determined by the 3,4 and 5 starters, Catfish Hunter (7-7 3.22) and rookies Tim Hudson (7-7 4.18) and Barry Zito (4-8 3.61).

The New York Yankees (65-57) floundered over the period and fell out of the top spot in the AL. The Bronx Bombers finished the month with a 13-16 record and dipped to a third place tie with the Cleveland Indians, 2.5 games behind. Hitting homers at a record-setting pace, all eight regulars have 10 or more fourbaggers. All together they have crushed 162 out of the park. The Alltime Allstar Association standard was set last year by the Boston Braves of the National League with 182. The Yanks hold the AL mark with 162, set last season. The NY power brigade is led by Babe Ruth (.266-31-76-79), Mickey Mantle (.213-22-40-42), Lou Gehrig (.290-17-68-92), Joe DiMaggio (.295-17-58-71), Joe Gordon (.228-17-80-61), Derek Jeter (.267-15-38-74), Graig Nettles (.191-14-29-30) and Yogi Berra (.299-11-40-26). On the mound, the starter standouts have been Herb Pennock (14-5 3.29), Vic Raschi (12-7 3.40) and Whitey Ford (11-9 2.74) and Mariano Rivera (7-2 1.57) with 8 saves in the bullpen. Manager Casey Stengel is still waiting for Lefty Gomez (8-12 4.30) to straighten out and pitched like he did the last two years. He totaled 16 and 15 victories and a 2.97 ERA in 1901 and 1902. Casey needs a fifth starter to contend, too. He is hoping Ed Lopat might be the man.

Skipper Steve O'Neill piloted the Cleveland Indians (65-57) to the second best mark in the AL last month. Their 17-12 record was topped only by the Washington Senators, who shocked the league with a magnificent 20-12 mark. This productive month pushed the Tribe up into a third place deadlock with New York, only trailing by 2.5 games. Stout arms are still Cleveland's best attribute. Addie Joss (16-5 2.27), Herb Score (13-9 2.20), Early Wynn (11-8 4.37), Bob Feller (10-10 3.54) and Bob Lemon (8-7 4.22) are as good as they get in AAA pitching circles. Fireman Doug Jones (7-2 2.18) has also stood out with 10 saves. The Indians hit just enough to get by. Their stats leaders are Willie Wells (.310-16-75-70), Nap Lajoie (.301-12-53-77), Tris Speaker (.281-10-51-63), Larry Doby (.260-20-81-73) and Rocky Colavito (.239-17-60-41). Sonny Siebert (1-1 2.93) may get the call soon to get a few starts. However, hitting will be the vital element in Cleveland late season title charge.

The Chicago White Sox (60-62) had a good month and rose up to fifth place with a 16-13 record and now stand 7.5 games behind the league leader. The Pale Hose good pitching returned. That was the primary reason for the upward movement. Their 3.64 is second to Cleveland's 3.36 ERA. However the White Sox suffered a huge loss, when the American League's best RBI man, Frank Thomas (248-22-81-62) broke his foot and could miss the rest of the regular season. He could possibly be back for the postseason. Zeke Bonura (.280-0-4-4) was purchased from New Orleans to replace him. Top hill producers for Manager Al Lopez are Ed Walsh (16-8 2.89), Billy Pierce (14-4 2.70) and Wilbur Wood (12-9 3.09). Rookie Doc White (5-13 3.74) has pitched much better than his W-L ledger would indicate. Still Lopez needs one more starter. He is hoping Mark Buehrle (3-4 3.70) will be his fifth starter. He rejoined the club around the allstar break. Shoeless Joe Jackson (.318-7-65-70) is having another outstanding season. Louis Santop (.317-12-48-38), since taking over as the number one catcher fulltime, looks like the real thing. Eddie Collins (.265-3-35-77) and rookie Johnny Mostil (.265-6-39-62) still are contributing with their excellent defense and some offense.

Earl Weaver's St. Louis Browns (58-65) have fallen on hard times and continued to spiral downward with a 10-16 mark during the last 30 days. They trail the Bosox by 10 games now and in the sixth spot. Top quality pitching by Jim Palmer (12-8 3.82), Mike Cuellar (10-9 3.47), Mike Mussina (10-9 3.74), Dennis Martinez (8-9 3.89) and tough luck Hoyt Wilhelm (6-13 3.16). The Brownies best hitters have been George Sisler (.304-4-43-67) and Ken Williams (.278-10-62-62). Rookie outfielder Johnny Mostil (.274-10-39-47) is enjoying a good freshman season, while vets Josh Gibson (.225-20-65-61) and Ed Murray (.243-17-59-60) deliver the longballs, but haven't hit consistently. Weaver has given up on this year and will work some newcomers in as starters go give them a look and a chance to make the starting rotation.

The Detroit Tigers (54-68) played miserably in July, going 9-20 for the month. to tumble to seventh place and 13.5 games out. Their team hitting fell off and so did the pitching. In fact, the team ERA increased to 4.34, the worst in the Alltime Alllstar Association. Starting pitchers Hal Newhouser (12-9 3.90) and Virgil "Fire" Trucks (9-7 4.08) have done well at time. Recalled from the minors at midseason, lefty relief specialist, John Hiller (7-2 3.57), has tacked up 2 saves. Regulars Charlie Gehringer (.295-13-79-70), Hank Greenberg (.282-19-82-66), Harvey Kuenn (.297-7-40-58), Ty Cobb (.297-6-39-89) and Rudy York (.241-15 71-56) have produced most of the Tigs' offense. Harry Heilmann (.332-1-22-20), benched for most of the season, now is making up for lost time.

And can you believe it, the Washington Senators compiled the best mark in both leagues this last month, sporting a splendid 20-12 record. Nonetheless, they are still 14 games out and in the cellar in the American League, but now only a half game out of seventh. They did it with pitching as the mound staff lowered the Team ERA from 4.15 to 3.85 during the period. Walter Johnson (13-7 2.84), Jim Kaat (12-7 3.20) and Camilo Pascual (11-11 3.98) dominated the AL. Recalled recently from the Chattanooga Lookouts, Firpo Marberry (6-1 3.76) has also been sensational. Rod Carew (.302-4-56-58), Heinie Manush (.296-5-47-56) and Cecil Travis (.287-1-39-55) have been the most productive batters for Manager Clark Griffith.

See League Reports, Stats and Standing on EC's Dream Leagues website:

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National League will be posted tomorrow.

Eugene Church · 07-07-2006, 08:13 PM

ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION

Sunday, August 10, 1903

NATIONAL LEAGUE

REDBIRDS STILL RULE THE NL ROOST BY 4.5 GAMES OVER NY GIANTS

The St. Louis Cardinals (71-51) continued to play well, although they did taper off a bit with a 15-14 record last month. It was still enough to increase their National League margin to 4.5 games over the second place New York Giants. Tony Larussa's Cards are heads and shoulders above other clubs in batting with a .273 team average. St. Louis has a solid lineup with Stan Musial (.324-23-91-67), Rogers Hornsby (.308-25-80-84), Joe Medwick (.287-14-76-54), Frankie Frisch (.301-10-52-93), Johnny Mize (.268-21-68-72), Walker Cooper (.287-12-47-46) and Chick Hafey (.283-15-55-68). The Redbirds have even hit 133 homers to boot. They are tied for first place in that category with the Braves. Combined with the fine pitching of Satchel Paige (14-5 3.29), John Tudor (14-4 3.70) and Matt Morris (10-1 2.96), the Redbirds are the team to beat. All they really need is a good finisher. Larussa has just started to use Bob Gibson to close and he has done a fine job. Gibson could be the final element needed to win the pennant.

The second place New York Giants (67-56) are clinging close to the Cardinals. They topped out at 15-15 last month and are now 4.5 games behind them. Manager John McGraw is having to depend almost totally on pitching and powerball. New York is second best with a 3.41 ERA...the Phils are number one in that category at 3.36. Rookie Sal Maglie (12-6 3.51) has prospered without run support, but Carl Hubbell (10-12 3.20), Juan Marichal (8-9 3.10) and Christy Mathewson (8-6 2.46) have suffered. Home runs are the only thing keeping the New Yorkers in the race. Barry Bonds (.274-32-67-84), Willie Mays (.250-24-59-52) and Mel Ott (.288-19-78-69) have hit enough to keep them in the first division. McGraw is hoping lefty Johnny Antonelli (4-3 2.98) is the answer to his late relief problems. It looks like the Giants are the only team with a chance to catch St. Louis. Getting Christy Mathewson back after a month's absence will really help.

Danny Murtaugh's Pittsburgh Pirates (63-59) stayed in the race with a 16-13 mark and slipped into third place, just ahead of the Braves and the Phils, but 8 games out of first. It is not likely they can close that much ground in the last month of the season. The Bucs hitters have let the team down this year, batting only .251. They are next-to-last in home runs with 98. But the pitchers have done a good job, third in the NL with a 3.69 ERA. Sam Leever (15-9 3.55), John Candelaria (12-6 3.54) and Deacon Phillippe (10-9 3.33) have done well in starting roles and Roy Face (9-6 2.69) has been outstanding in relief with 14 saves, tops in both leagues and tied with the White Sox's Bobby Thigpen. Only hitters of note are Manny Sanguillen (.322-5-31-33), Sadaharu Oh (.260-30-83-79), Honus Wagner (.278-10-50-56) and Roberto Clemente (.271-13-67-51). If the hitters step it up, Pittsburgh could challenge New York for the runnerup spot in the National League. St. Louis looks hard to beat this year.

The Boston Braves (63-60) remained in fourth place in the standings on the basis of a 17-15 record in the last month. They are tied with the Philadelphia Phillies, who slipped from third place, 8.5 games in back of St. Louis. It was the Braves' pitching that stood out as well as their hitting. They are third in with a .260 BA and tied with the Cardinals for the home run lead with 133. Greg Maddux (13-10 2.50), Warren Spahn (13-9 3.52), Phil Niekro (9-4 2.85) and Tom Glavine (12-10 4.1) are Bobby Cox's dependable starters. His best hitter has been Pete Hill (.331-31-83-95), who is having a career year and is line for post season awards. Buck Leonard (.270-28-94-81), Chipper Jones (.279-22-77-59) and Tommy Holmes (.323-4-46-57) have also been the productive for him. Cox has a very sound ballclub and could nudge up close to the Giants and contend for the second spot in the league.

The Philadelphia Phillies (63-60) didn't have a good month and fell from third place with an 11-15 record. The Phils are now in a fourth place tied with Boston, 8.5 games out. Danny Ozark's club is still pitching and hitting well. They are still number one with a 3.36 ERA and second with a .264 BA, but they are dead last in the National League with 91 homers. Philadelphia has a solid pitching staff, paced by starters Pete Alexander (13-8 3.30), Curt Schilling (11-9 2.47), Ahiro Bessho (10-10 3.29), Jiro Noguchi (11-12 4.12) and Rick Wise (6-2 2.81). In the bullpen, relief ace Turk Farrell (2-5 2.77) has had a marvelous rookie season with 13 saves. Richie Ashburn (.358-0-27-52) has revitalized the club and won back the center field position, that he lost last year. He and Lefty O'Doul (.353-10-76-62) are running 1-2 for the NL batting title. Chuck Klein (.260-25-83-64) is still hitting homers and driving in runs from the cleanup spot. Rookie first baseman Don Hurst (.244-17-68-57) has been a plus, too. The poor July probably cost the Phillies any chance to contend for the league championship. It looks like fifth is the best they will be able to do.

As hot as the Brooklyn Dodgers (56-66) were in June, they were just as cold in July. The Bums had the best record (19-12) in the National League one month and then the worst (8-18) the next. They are now tied for sixth with the Chicago Cubs and trail St. Louis by 15 games. Sandy Koufax (15-7 2.14) has been outstanding, bordering on brilliant this year. Only he and Don Newcombe (11-10 3.22) have been reliable pitchers for Manager Tommy Lasorda. In relief Eric Gagne (6-3 2.88) had stood out with 10 saves. On the offensive side, no one is having a real good season. Most of them are having average years. The best in Lasorda's lineup are Zach Wheat (.300-6-53-48), Adrian Beltre (.295-15-54-52) and Cristobel Torriente (.286-18-48-60). Brooklyn will have to wait until next year or later. Sixth may be the best they can do this season.

Tied with the Dodgers for the sixth spot in the NL standings are the Chicago Cubs (56-66), who were 14-15 last month and are now 15 games behind the leader. The Bruins are last with a 4.12 ERA and third in home runs with 126. Turkey Stearnes (.285-32-92-83) is again putting up some great numbers and could be in line for his second consecutive Golden Bat honors. Helping him out with the offense are Tetsuharu Kawakami (.303-9-63-61), Cool Papa Bell (.302-11-40-87) and Ernie Banks (.238-22-65-55). Bill Dahlen (.281-14-53-53) has been quite productive since reclaiming his shortstop position. Sixth place looks like the best the Chicubs will do this year.

Just like the cellar-dwellers in the American League, the Washington, the Cincinnati Reds (50-71) stunned the National League with the best record. However, the Redlegs are still solidly in last place, 20.5 games in the rear of the top club, St. Louis. In July, Cincy did it with timely hitting and timely pitching. Ted Kluszewski (.278-25-70-54) and Pete Rose (.292-3-38-53) have been Sparky Anderson's top performers with the bat. On the mound, Pete Donahue (12-11 2.88) has had a remarkable year with 3 shutouts and 16 complete games. Other quality performers have been Dolph Luque (9-6 3.78), Kenny Raffensberger (7-6 3.76) and Jim Maloney (9-11 3.77). Looks like the basement again for the Redlegs.

See League Reports, Stats and Standing on EC's Dream Leagues website:

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Eugene Church · 07-11-2006, 11:39 AM

I just finished the 1903 season.

Season wrap up on the way.

World Series will begin soon.

Eugene Church · 07-12-2006, 09:59 PM

ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION

Monday, September 8, 1903

AMERICAN LEAGUE

RED SOX PULL AWAY IN LAST MONTH...WIN AL CROWN BY 6 GAMES OVER A'S

It was a great season for the American League champions, the Boston Red Sox (90-64 .255 BA 3.70 ERA), who started off slowly for the first two months, but then put it into high gear and won going away. In the last month of the year the Bosox finished 22-9 and won the title by 6 games over Philadelphia. In July, Manager Joe McCarthy put Bobby Doerr (.304-16-64-64-56), Johnny Pesky (.308-0-38-59) and platooned Carl Yastrzemski (.301-12-45-46) and Ellis Burks (.278-10-34-30) into the lineups and away they went. Together with a solid bunch of regulars like Ted Williams (.290-34-110-99), David Ortiz (.242-27-107-82), Nomar Garciaparra (.276-13-76-83) and Oscar Charleston (.247-26-70-96) they brought the AL title to Boston. Solid pitching from starters George Ruth (17-11 3.14), Roger Clemens (16-10 3.58) and Pedro Martinez (14-9 3.40) and relief ace, Dick Radatz (10-4 2.89 14 svs) also helped pave the way.

The second place Philadelphia Athletics (84-70 .266 BA 3.99 ERA) of Connie Mack lost three star hurlers at the beginning of the season and had some huge holes to fill. But they did and made it a good race. No one really expected them to finish in the first division. The A's rung up a 19-14 mark over the last month, but could not catch the streaking Red Sox. A well-balanced attack was their strong point, led by Jimmie Foxx (.281-26-89-90), Shigeo Nagashima (.281-15-93-72), Al Simmons (.285-9-79-85), Alejandro Oms (.288-16-82-84) and John Henry Lloyd (.271-21-70-90). On the hill, Ed Rommel (17-6 3.17) surprised with a very fine season. As expected Ed Plank (18-9 3.20) was outstanding and Jim "Catfish" Hunter (12-9 3.44) and rookie Tim Hutson (11-8 4.27) were very good at times. Philadelphia just did not have the pitching to stay with the Red Sox.

It was another disappointing year for the third place New York Yankees (83-71 .244 BA 3.71) under Manager Casey Stengel as they finished 7 games out, despite an 18-14 record the last month. The pitchers did their part. Whitey Ford (17-9 2.48), Herb Pennock (16-8 3.25) and Vic Raschi 914-9 3.39) were as good a threesome as there were in the league. And the home run hitters more than did their job with a AAA alltime record of 201 homers. Babe Ruth (.262-40-94-98) again led the AL with 40 and got plenty of help from Joe DiMaggio (.300-21-74-88), Lou Gehrig (.275-23-86-108), Joe Gordon (.228-20-96-76), Mickey Mantle 9.229-27-55-58) and Derek Jeter (.268-18-57-90) in the power department. But Stengel never did find effective starters in the #4 and #5 slots. Lefty Gomez slumped to a 10-15 mark and ballooned to a 4.49 ERA. And the .244 team BA was a killer, too. Not enough people on base when the longballs were hit.

The preseason pick, the Cleveland Indians (80-74 .258 BA 3.44 ERA), came in fourth, 10 games out of first. The Tribe only went 15-17 over the last 30 days. Manager Steve O'Neill just couldn't come up with the hitting to match his excellent mound corps. Addie Joss (18-9 2.23) and Herb Score (16-11 2.38) were two of the best in baseball. Bob Feller (14-10 3.10) has a solid season, too. Early Wynn (13-13 4.65) and Bob Lemon (10-7 4.03) has their good moments as well. In the bullpen, Doug Jones (3-7 3.00) was fairly dependable with 14 saves. Cleveland's downfall came with the bat. O'Neill's only reliable hitters were Larry Doby (.278-28-112-90) and Willie Wells (.310-20-92-95), who both had truly fine years, and Nap Lajoie (.297-12-62-93) and Tris Speaker (.292-14-63-83) had good seasons. A couple of more good hitters and the Indians could have made a race out of it.

The St. Louis Browns (75-79 .242 BA 3.62 ERA) were expected to finish fifth in the title chase and that is where they finished, 15 games out. They culminated the year with a good 17-14 month. Earl Weaver's club suffered in the hitting department. The Browns were last in the American League at .242. Only the AL batting champ, George Sisler (.313-7-53-90) and Ken Williams (.283-25-91-81) delivered with any kind of consistency. Josh Gibson (.232-29-88-65) and Eddie Murray (.235-22-75-70) hit one out occasionally, but little else. Weaver's starting pitchers did quite well, considering the lack of run support. His starting five put some good numbers on the ledger sheet. Mike Cuellar (13-12 3.48), Jim Palmer (13-11 3.94), Dennis Martinez (12-10 3.70), Mike Mussina (10-11 3.86) and Hoyt Wilhelm (8-15 3.21) all deserved to win more games than they did, especially Wilhelm.

Not a whole lot was expected from the Al Lopez's Chicago White Sox (73-81 .250 BA 3.79 ERA) and they came through as expected and ended up in the number six spot in the standings, trailing the Bosox by 17 games. During the last month of the season, the Pale Hose put us a 13-19 record. The Chisox's trio of starters, Ed Walsh (19-10 3.27), Billy Pierce (16-7 2.70) and Wilbur Wood (14-13 3.34) can match just about anybody, but the White Sox have little else. In the bullpen, Bobby Thigpen's (5-12 3.38) numbers look good with 17 saves, but not when you see his won-lost mark. Limp bats abound in Chicago. Louis Santop (.305-18-61-53) was the best, but played in only 105 games. Lopez also lost his slugging cleanup hitter and RBI guy, Frank Thomas (.248-22-81-62), the last third of the season due to injury. He might have led the AL in RBIs with a full season. Shoeless Joe Jackson (.288-9-72-81) suffered an offseason. The only rookies that contributed were center fielder Johnny Mostil (.278-8-55-77) and pitcher Doc White (7-16 3.80), who pitched better than his record would indicate.

It was another dismal season for the Detroit Tigers (67-87 .254 BA 4.19 ERA) with another seventh place finish under Hughie Jennings, 23 games out of first place. The Tigers topped off a bad year with a bad final month at 13-19. Top stick performers for Detroit were Ty Cobb (.301-7-47-109), Hank Greenberg (.273-23-100-82), Charlie Gehringer (.281-14-96-78) and Rudy York (.252-24-93-76). On the hill Hal Newhouser (15-12 3.78) did a yeoman's job.

After two seventh place finishes, the Washington Senators (64-90 .253 BA 3.98 ERA) finally hit rock bottom. The Nats finished last for the season and last for the month with a 10-21 mark. Manager Clark Griffith only had a few things to brag about, mainly on the pitching side. Walter Johnson (14-10 3.23) and Jim Kaat (12-7 3.28) stood out, while Camilo Pascual (12-14 3.92) was a tough customer on occasion. Only two midseason additions, Tony Oliva (.287-12-47-45) and slugger Harmon Killebrew (.229-17-42-38) were productive batters. The Senators need an infusion of new ballplayers next year. The current roster just can't compete in the American League.

See League Reports, Stats and Standing on EC's Dream Leagues website:

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glenn · 07-12-2006, 11:34 PM

I'm certainly glad I stumbled upon this! Very nice concept, and very nice job. I just spent a few hours going through 25 pages of posts, and checked out your website. Was very nice to follow along over the first few years, and I'll definitely be back to follow along.

Eugene Church · 07-13-2006, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glenn

I'm certainly glad I stumbled upon this! Very nice concept, and very nice job. I just spent a few hours going through 25 pages of posts, and checked out your website. Was very nice to follow along over the first few years, and I'll definitely be back to follow along.

Thanks for the nice words.

Great to have you as a regular.

Eugene Church · 07-13-2006, 12:50 AM

National League Final Regular Season summary coming Thursday.

Then it's the World Series beginning Friday.

Church OOTP · 07-13-2006, 01:06 AM

This is really great - keep it up!

Eugene Church · 07-13-2006, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Church OOTP

This is really great - keep it up!

Thanks for the good words.

Eugene Church · 07-13-2006, 04:47 PM

ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION

Monday, September 8, 1903

NATIONAL LEAGUE

CARDINALS BREEZE TO NATIONAL LEAGUE PENNANT BY 6 GAMES OVER BUCS

Because of poor pitching, the St. Louis Cardinals (88-66 .275 BA 3.73 ERA) had been slotted for a fifth place finish by the Baseball Writers of American in the preseason poll. However, they didn't pay any attention to that and took over first place in June and never gave it up. The Redbirds completed the last month with a 17-15 mark and were never challenged. The only team in hailing distance was the Giants and they wilted in August with a pathetic 12-21 record and fell 9 games off the pace at season's end. Tony Larussa's club hit everything in sight, 11 points higher than the #2 team, the Phils. What a lineup. Stan Musial (.341-30-117-94) scorched NL hurlers the entire year and finished the season with a 30-game hitting streak still intact. The NL and AAA record is 31 by Pie Traynor in 1901. Stan the Man was backed up by plethora of productive players: Rogers Hornsby (.311-28-95-108), Johnny Mize (.270-27-97-88), Joe Medwick (.286-15-87-68), Frankie Frisch (.304-11-64-116), Chick Hafey (.288-21-69-82) and Walker Cooper (.285-16-64-55). And the Cards had some good pitching to go with it, too. Satchel Paige (19-6 3.26), Matt Morris (13-2 2.76) and John Tudor (16-7 4.05) were Larussa's best with some good outings by Dizzy Dean (11-7 3.85). St. Louis' only weakness was the relief corps. Larussa never found anybody he could depend on in the bullpen. But I guess he didn't need it, did he?

Manager Danny Murtaugh brought the Pittsburgh Pirates (82-72 .254 BA 3.57 ERA) in at the runnerup spot, 6 games behind the winners. A bad June cost the Bucs a chance to contend with St. Louis. They went 15-16 the last month of the year. Murtaugh depended on his starting mound corps of Sam Leever (20-10 3.15), John Candelaria (16-7 3.17) and Deacon Phillippe (13-12 3.67) and his reliable righthander, Roy Face (9-8 2.90 17 saves) in the bullpen. Longball threat Sadaharu Oh (.268-39-110-102) continued to pound the ball. Second year man Koji Yamamoto (.331-16-49-49) may have won the center field slot with a fine second half of the season. Manny Sanguillen (.302-5-46-44) looks like he has taken over as the number one backstop. Roberto Clemente (.265-15-84-68) had a decent season and delivered RBIs when they were needed. The Pirates need to have their top players hit the way they did in the league's first two seasons to move up next year. Too many of them had down years this season.

Heads will probably roll at the Polo Grounds. This was supposed to be the year of the New York Giants (79-75 .248 BA 3.54 ERA). John McGraw expected them to win it all. The BWA thought they would win it all. They didn't...and looked badly doing it...even though they tied for third with the Phillies, 9 games in the rear of St. Louis. The Giants only trailed by 4 games going into the last month, but went belly up with a dismal 12-21 record. McGraw had decent pitching, but not much hitting. Only the hapless Cincinnati Reds hit worse. Only Mel Ott (.276-28-97-88) had a good season. Yet he was the best average they had at only .276. Everybody else was way down. Bill Terry (.243-5-59-42), Willie Mays (.261-26-68-65), Martin Dihigo (.251-18-53-82) and Barry Bonds (.248-35-76-95). And the pitchers weren't much better. Rookie Sal Maglie (13-9 3.62) was the best. Carl Hubbell (10-15 3.53) was not the King Carl of old. Christy Mathewson (11-9 2.34) was outstanding, but didn't get much run support. He also missed 10 starts due to injury. Jeff Tesreau (13-12 3.66) started off great at 11-3, but then faded to 2-9 in the second half of the season. All in all, not a good year in New York.

As bad as it was in New York, it was that good for the Philadelphia Phillies (79-75 .264 BA 3.49 ERA). Previewed to finish last again, they rose from the ashes and had a rebirth. They wrapped up the year with a 16-15 mark and deadlocked New York for third place, 9 games out of first. Skipper Danny Ozark's crew was second to the Redbirds in batting and the National League's best in ERA. The rock solid pitching rotation was led by Pete Alexander (15-10 3.28), Ahiro Bessho (14-11 3.25), Jiro Noguchi (13-13 4.13), Curt Schilling (12-13 3.06) and Rick Wise (8-4 2.81). Ozark had a sensational relief specialist, too. Rookie Turk Farrell (3-6 2.86) appeared in 66 games and had 18 saves, both tied for the league's best with the Cubs' Bruce Sutter. On the batting side of the tally sheet, Lefty O'Doul (.348-13-93-81) won the NL batting crown and had a fine season. Chuck Klein (.281-32-108-82) was still cracking homers and driving in runs. Three other gift packages did exceedingly well: 2B Pinky Whitney (.293-9-56-52), rookie 1B Don Hurst (.247-23-92-70) and the revitalized CF Richie Ashburn (.329-1-34-70) all contributed to the Phils resurgence. New 3B Scott Rolen (.232-14-46-48) didn't hit much for average, but showed power potential and the ability to deliver with men on base. The future looks good for the City of Brotherly Love.

Jolly Cholly Grimm's Chicago Cubs (77-77 .255 BA 3.95 ERA) never did recover from a horrible June (9-21), but did close out the season in style with a sparkling 21-11 mark in August and September. This moved them up to fifth place, 11 games off the pace. RF Turkey Stearnes (.284-45-118-109) had another marvelous season and set a new AAA standard for home runs in a season with 45, breaking Sadaharu Oh's 1902 mark of 44. He also topped the NL with 118 RBIs and finished second with Boston's Pete Hill in runs scored with 109. Cool Papa Bell (.287-14-51-107), Tetsuharu Kawakami (.301-13-84-75) and Ernie Banks (.244-29-82-71) chipped in some good offense, too. Bill Dahlen (.285-15-59-67) was solid at shortstop. On the hill, Moe Brown (16-11 2.97) stood out for the third straight year. Ed Reulbach (14-10 3.66) has his best season. Larry French (10-6 3.81) and Fergie Jenkins (12-14 4.03) helped carry the load as well. In the bullpen Bruce Sutter (6-7 3.21) tied Philly's Turk Farrell for the league lead with 66 appearances and 18 saves. Maybe next year the Chicubs can get out of their rut and move up into the first division.

This was to be the Boston Braves' (75-79 .253 BA 3.88 ERA) year. Bobby Cox had the pitching, he had the hitting and he had the votes of the baseball writers, who rated them to battle the Giants for the NL championship. But games are won on the diamonds, not in the newspapers. The Braves started off poorly, kicked it up in midseason and then fizzled at the end. They finished the last month at 12-19 and slipped to sixth, 13 games behind. Cox's starting rotation was still solid, but the hitters didn't fulfill their part of the bargain. The team batting average fell from .262 and 182 homers in 1902 to .253 and 159 homers this year. Warren Spahn (16-12 3.30), Greg Maddux (16-13 3.00), Phil Niekro (10-7 3.08) and Tommy Glavine (14-13 3.86) lost a few they shouldn't have, if the support had been what it was last year. No reliable relievers also compounded the problem. In spite of the drop in offensive output, several players enjoyed good to excellent seasons. Pete Hill (.304-35-96-109), Buck Leonard (.254-31-107-94), Tommy Holmes (.328-8-60-72) and Chipper Jones (.267-27-88-76) were club leaders.

The Brooklyn Dodgers (72-82 .253 BA 3.82 ERA) were really looking forward to this season. The sportswriters had predicted them to finish fourth, but said it could be anywhere from second to sixth, depending on Dazzy Vance's arm. Well Dazzy recorded his worst season so far...4-24 with a 4.24 ERA...and the Dodgers ended up seventh. Manager Tommy Lasorda didn't get any pitching or any hitting this year and the Bums plunged in the standings. Brooklyn fans had little to cheer about except for Sandy Koufax (20-8 2.16), who had a career year. Even if Vance had approached his 1901 won-lost mark of 19-and-6, the Dodgers would still have had a bad season. One other positive was Eric Gagne (8-3 2.51), who proved himself to be a capable closer with 63 games and 11 saves. None of the Dodgers potent hitters produced. Zach Wheat (.318-8-67-62), Adrian Beltre (.284-20-76-66) and Cristobel Torriente (.288-21-66-76) were the best of the lot.

And finally we come to poor old suffering Sparky Anderson's Cincinnati Reds (64-90 .240 BA 4.00 ERA), who were expected to finish last for the third straight year and sadly they lived up to those expectations. The Reds played 14-19 ball the last month of the season and ended up 24 games out. Only bright spots were the starting rotation, who deserved a better fate. Dolph Luque (13-7 4.05), Pete Donahue (13-16 3.06), Jim Maloney (11-13 3.61) and Kenny Raffensberger (11-9 3.49) usually kept them in the ballgame, but the batters couldn't win it for them. Pete Rose (.276-3-47-65) and Ted Kluszewski (.255-31-86-77) topped the hitters. Frank Robinson (.248-22-58-56) and Johnny Bench (.206-25-60-40) provided a few homers, but not many hits. Rookie Paul O'Neill (.260-15-43-39) put up some pretty good numbers in his 76 starts. Not a very impressive season for Cincy. But "hope always springs eternal " they say. I guess the Redlegs will just have to wait until next year...or maybe the next...or maybe the next.

See League Reports, Stats and Standings here:

http://aaa.allsimbaseball.com/index....tpage&Itemid=1

Eugene Church · 07-13-2006, 08:41 PM

ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION

Tuesday, September 9, 1903

1903 AAA WORLD SERIES SET TO START TOMORROW IN BOSTON...RUTH HURLS FOR BOSOX...TUDOR FOR REDBIRDS...ITS A BEST-OF-NINE SERIES...ST. LOUIS FAVORED

It will be two southpaws on the mound to kick off the 1903 Alltime Allstar Association's World Series. Manager Joe McCarthy of the Boston Red Sox will send George Ruth to the mound in the opening game, while Skipper Tony Larussa of the St. Louis Cardinals will counter with John Tudor. Ruth chalked up a fine 17-11 record this season with a 3.14 ERA. He made 30 starts, completed 24 of them and hurled 4 shutouts. Tudor registered a 16-7 mark in 26 starting assignments. He tossed 14 complete games and had two shutouts. Stats show that both clubs have more trouble with lefties than righthanders. Boston is 56-35 (.615) against righties and 34-29 (.540) against portsiders. The Cards compiled a 66-44 mark (.600) against righthanders and only a 22-22 record (.500) against lefthanders. The Bosox only have one other lefty, reliever Tom Burgmeier (3-3 4.97). St. Louis has Harry "the Cat" Brecheen (11-14 3.54), a starter during the regular season. Boston has 5 lefthanded batters in the lineup, while the Cardinals only have two.

Homestanding Boston will host the first two games of the series this Wednesday and Thursday. The two clubs are evenly matched, but the BWA has picked the National League Redbirds to take the American League Red Sox in a tight series. St. Louis is given the edge because of their hitting. The experts rate both team's starting pitching about equal, but give Boston the edge in the bullpen.

06-06-2006, 12:52 AM	#481
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION Wednesday, April 9, 1903 *BASEBALL WRITERS PICK CLEVELAND IN THE AL, NY GIANTS IN NL* The Baseball Writers of America have made their picks for the 1903 Alltime Allstar Association pennant chase. On paper it will be the Cleveland Indians in the American League and the New York Giants in the National League race. The BWA also selected the Giants to win the World Series. National League 1. New York Giants 2. Boston Braves 3. Pittsburgh Pirates 4. Brooklyn Dodgers 5. St. Louis Cardinals 6. Chicago Cubs 7. Cincinnati Reds 8. Philadelphia Phillies Manager John McGraw of New York was bitterly disappointed in not winning the World Series against the Philadephia Athletics. He again has vowed his club will be back in the Fall Classic and this time will win it. His club roster pretty much stayed intact. He added two righthanded pitchers to the roster: Sal Maglie and Larry Jansen. Joe McGinnity and Rube Marquard were farmed out to the minors. The Giants ran away with the league title, winning it by 11 games over the Braves. Mel Ott (.321/31/111), Martin Dihigo (.304/35/97), Willie Mays (.256/18/89) and Barry Bonds (.296/23/66) return to lead the offense and Carl Hubbell (22-6 2.30), Christy Mathewson (19-4 3.72) and Jeff Tesreau (10-3 3.51) are back on the hill. The Boston Braves challenged the Giants around midseason in 1902, but fizzled out in the stretch drive. Bobby Cox likes his ballclub and made no roster changes this year. Warren Spahn (13-8 3.24), Tom Glavine (12-9 4.14) and Greg Maddux (12-12 3.89) will anchor one of the best staffs in the league. Cox has the artillery to go with the pitching with Eddie Mathews (.254/40/93), Chipper Jones (.313/31/106), Buck Leonard (.283/31/105) and Pete Hill (.292/21/68) supplying the firepower. Three other teams will battle the Braves for second place. Picked third in the race are the Pittsburgh Pirates. They trailed the Giants by 15 games at season's end. Skipper Danny Murtaugh likes his club's hitting, but needs to add some home run power and a couple more starters to move up in the standings . His solution was to add a hardhitting outfielder, Brian Giles, in an attempt to energize the Pirates run production. Giles will platoon with Ralph Kiner in left field. Murtaugh will use two lefties, Bob Veale and John Candelaria as spot starters this year to go along with Deacon Phillippe (18-10 3.23), Vic Willis (14-12 3.89), Ray Kremer (13-12 3.83) and Sam Leever (11-13 4.04). The Bucs' hit brigade is a potent bunch: Sadaharu Oh (.302/44/133), Roberto Clemente (.302/15/115), Arky Vaughan (.311/7/81) and Honus Wagner (.292/16/77). The Brooklyn Dodgers made a belated run at the Giants last year, but like the Braves, slumped toward the end of the year and finished fourth, 16 games out of first place. The BWA perused the Bums and placed them in the fourth spot in the preview. Hitting carried the team last year as the pitching was dismal. For Skipper Tommy Lasorda to climb up in the standings, Dazzy Vance (8-13 3.80) will have to regain his 1901 season form. He is also hoping for improvement in Sandy Koufax (13-14 3.94) and Don Newcombe (13-14 3.87). Zach Wheat (.321/17/112), Cristobel Torriente (.342/18/93), Duke Snider (.276/29/91) and Gil Hodges (.257/23/78) are the Dodgers' top hitters. Carl Furillo, a fine hitting outfielder has made the squad this Spring, but it looks like pine time on the bench. The Dodgers are top heavy with an abundance of good hitting outfielders. Brooklyn could finish anywhere from second to sixth this season. At the top of the preseason second division are the St. Louis Cardinals of Manager Tony Larussa. They were the best team in the second half of the AAA season in 1902, but they went into the tank late and ended up deadlocked with the Cubs for fifth place in the standings, 18 games out. Larussa's Redbirds will go with the status quo as far as roster. Satchel Paige (12-4 2.94) and Harry Brecheen (10-6 2.91) were the pitching standouts. St. Louis will call upon Mort Cooper (11-13 4.02), Matt Morris (2-2 4.26), Larry Jackson (12-10 4.38) and Dizzy Dean (8-12 4.83) for the other starting slots. Larussa is blessed with a strong hitting attack paced by Stan Musial (.298/31/104), Rogers Hornsby (.319/23/100), the NL's top hitter, Frankie Frisch (.352/7/65) and Chick Hafey (.337/11/62). The number six team in the Baseball Writers preseason poll is the Chicago Cubs. Charlie Grimm is the manager of the club and he stayed with the same basic roster with only a few changes. Pitchers Charlie Root and Bob Rush were plucked from the minors as well as first baseman, Bill Buckner, a replacement for the injured Mark Grace, who will miss most of the season. Root and Rush will share the fifth starter slots. The Chicubs' starting rotation consists of Mordecai Brown (15-10 3.93), Larry French (14-12 3.73), Ed Reubach (12-10 3.81) and Ferguson Jenkins (11-13 4.05). The Bruins' main run producers are last year's Golden Bat Award trophy winner, Turkey Stearnes (.343/37/122) and Ernie Banks (.266/19/92). Sparky Anderson's key to Cincinnati moving up in the NL standings this year hinges on his pitching. He hopes two newcomers, Red Lucas and Bob Ewing, both righthanders will kickstart his mound staff and his holdovers with take it to the next level. His only effective starters last season were Gary Nolan (14-9 3.91), Pete Donahue (11-5 3.82) and Jose Rijo (10-11 3.58). Lucas will get a chance to start, while Ewing will work long relief. Offensively for the Reds, look for Tony Perez (.260/30/108), Ted Kluszewski (.321/26/87) and Frank Robinson (.272/26/86) to again be at the forefront. The Philadelphia Phillies finished in the NL basement last year and are picked to pull up the rear again. Danny Ozark's club was helpless at the plate and hopeless on the mound in 1902. Only Chuck Klein (.301/27/100) and Biz Mackey (.328/16/68) had good years. Mike Schmidt (.215/30/83) hit homers and nothing else. The Phils have made wholesale changes with rookies Don Hurst at first base and Pinky Whitney back for another try at second base. Promising outfielder, Sherry Magee, looks like the real thing, but initially will have trouble moving into the lineup. Bobby Abreu (.249/15/55) and Lefty O'Doul (.325/14/64) will have first shot at the outfield spots along with Klein. On the hill Jiro Noguchi (14-7 4.01), Akiro Bessho (6-2 3.54) and Curt Shilling (11-11 3.89) will provide three starters. The Phils can climb as high fifth, if the rookies come through for them and Pete Alexander (12-11 4.08) and Robin Roberts (5-12 6.49) pitch like they did two years ago. See the Baseball Writers of American Preseason Poll for the American League tomorrow. Last edited by Eugene Church; 07-01-2006 at 01:57 PM.

06-06-2006, 06:04 PM	#482
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION Wednesday, April 9, 1903 BASEBALL WRITERS PICK CLEVELAND IN THE AL, NY GIANTS IN NL The Baseball Writers of America have made their picks for the 1903 Alltime Allstar Association pennant chase. On paper it will be the Cleveland Indians in the American League and the New York Giants in the National League race. The BWA also selected the Giants to win the World Series. American League 1. Cleveland Indians 2. Boston Red Sox 3. New York Yankees 4. Philadelphia Athletics 5. St. Louis Browns 6. Chicago White Sox 7. Detroit Tigers 8. Washington Senators The Cleveland Indians had a fine 1902 season and just came up 3 games short. Steve O'Neill had them in first place late in the season, but they couldn't keep up the rapid rise of the Philadelphia A's near the end of the year. The Tribe has the best mound corps in the AAA and it just might have gotten better with the addition of Johnny Allen, Sam McDowell and Sonny Siebert. These three rookies will join the mix of Herb Score (20-7 2.89), Bob Feller (13-8 2.75), Addie Joss (14-11 3.10), Early Wynn (13-12 3.81) and Bob Lemon (8-5 3.47). The Indians have to do it with pitching. Hitting is not their forte. They are next to last in this category. They have to battle for every win they get. Larry Doby (.271-20-85), Tris Speaker (.301-5-59), Rocky Colavito (.284-12-34 in just 52 games) and Boojum Wilson (.301-11-41 in 100 games) provide what little offense they have. O'Neill is excited about the new season and thinks his ballclub is ready to move up a notch into first place. Boston had a good year last year and was in contention going into the last two weeks, but couldn't keep up with the Athletics. The Red Sox did a belly flop right at the end of the season and finished 8 games behind. But Joe McCarthy is ready and rarin' to go this year. He has the hitters. He just needs a couple more pitchers. He thinks he has them this year. New on the staff are Frank Sullivan, Bill Monbouquette and Tom Burgmeier. Sullivan and Monbouquette will be used in long relief and occasional starts, while Burgmeier will draw late inning chores along with Dick Radatz. McCarthy also thinks that Smokey Joe Wood (7-9 4.97) and Cy Young (5-14 5.24) will step it up this year and finally be the pitchers that everyone thinks they can be. Both have struggled in their first two seasons. Boston has the batters, just about the best in baseball. Ted Williams (.304-34-137) was the most potent and productive hitter in the AAA last season. And he had plenty of help from Oscar Charleston (.325-31-101), David Ortiz (.277-29-104) and Nomar Garciaparra (.302-18-81). It wouldn't take much for the Bosox to soar to the top this year. In 1901 the New York Yankees were the most awesome team in the Alltime Allstar Association, but in 1902 they wallowed around in the second division for most of the season, then put finally put it into gear and closed well, but too late. The Bronx Bombers of Casey Stengel ended up fourth, 9 games out. They outscored everybody in the Alltime Allstar Association, but their pitching just didn't keep up their end of the bargain. Stengel, the old Professor, had made wholesale changes to right his ship. Spud Chandler, Waite Hoyt and Victor Starffin are gone and Bob Shawkey, Eddie Lopat and Bob Turley are in. Shawkey and Lopat will be used as spot starters and Turley will be in long relief and a sometimes starter. They will join forces with starters Lefty Gomez (15-10 3.18), Herb Pennock (10-8 3.08), Whitey Ford (8-8 3.30) and Vic Raschi (6-4 3.43) and relievers Goose Gossage (7-5 3.59) and Mariano Rivera (6-7 3.24). Stengel is all smiles when you mention hitting. Babe Ruth (.317-43-121) won his second straight Golden Bat Award and has his sights set on beating out Sadaharu Oh to get the home record back in the AL. Lou Gehrig hit a subpar .276, but delivered 37 homers and 119 RBIs. Joe DiMaggio (.274-19-74) and Derek Jeter (.302-14-61) has good seasons. New York hopes to have Joe Gordon (.283-14-60) in the lineup the whole season. He missed 51 games due to injury. Many think he is a very important ingredient for the Yanks' success. 1903 just might be New York's year to shine again. Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics had a splendid year. They took it all, culminating with a 5-games-to-2 decision over the heavily-favored New York Giants in the 1902 World Series. Mack and everybody else were thinking the A's would be back in 1903, but fate intervened. Golden Arm winner, Lefty Grove (20-6 3.16), ruined his achilles tendon in an exhibition game and will be gone for the entire season. That is a devastating loss. Without him it might be tough to finish fourth in the American League. However, Mack has called up three fine rookie pitchers and he still thinks his club will be able to compete. Ken Holtzman and Tim Hudson are slated to be spot starters and Barry Zito will be used in long relief and an occasional start. The A's can still call on some fine starters like Ed Plank (15-9 3.81), Rube Waddell (14-13 3.19), Ed Rommel (9-3 4.41) and Dennis Eckersley (10-9 3.73). In the bullpen they still have Rollie Fingers (3-6 2.98) and Bobby Shantz (12-5 3.87). Philadelphia also still have some fine hitters, too. They finished second to the Boston Braves with 181 home runs. They hit for average, too. The A's .270 was the second best in the AL, trailing only the Tigers' .271 average. Mack has added rookie outfielder, Bing Miller. He is not long on power, but hits for high average. He will have a tough time breaking into the starting outfield, but will come in handy as a backup and pinchhitter. Jimmie Foxx (.290-38-108) heads a rock solid lineup along with Al Simmons (.305-19-84), John Henry Lloyd (.288-23-80), Shigeo Nagashima (.288-15-84), Mickey Cochrane (.299-8-55) and Alejandro Oms (.359-9-31 in only 70 games). Don't give up on Philadelphia just yet. They could surprise. Manager Earl Weaver revamped his St. Louis Browns last year and went for home run power. They did a good job there, but fell way short in holding the opposition down. Still they surprised a lot of people with a fifth place finish and 13 games out of first place. With a decent pitching staff, they could have contended in the AL. The Browns belted 151 homers with seven players having 10 or more. Josh Gibson (.285-37-95) was the team leader, followed by Eddie Murray (.271-26-81), Ken Williams (.269-20-75), Vern Stephens (.287-15-57), George Sisler (.302-14-65), Cal Ripken (.264-12-44 in 102 games) and Doug DeCinces (.236-10-34 in 63 games). Weaver is hoping two rookies might add a few more longballs to the team's stats. Outfielder Wally Judnich and catcher/outfielder, B. J. Surhoff. He has already pencilled in Judnich as the starting centerfielder. To help with his pitching, the St. Louis skipper signed two relievers, Eddie Watt and Bill Hall. These two will be used primarily in middle relief. Weaver thinks it is time for Negro League star, John Donaldson (7-4 5.49) to finally strut his stuff. Same thing for Jim Palmer (11-12 4.44) and Dennis Martinez (6-8 4.16). Most of all, he wants Mike Cuellar (5-5 4.30) to revert to the way he performed in 1901, when he was 15-12 with an impressive 3.15 ERA. A little improvement could go a long way. The Browns could sneak into the first division this season. Good pitching can only take you so far. That is the case of the Chicago White Sox. They are number two behind the Cleveland Indians in ERA (3.77 to 3.56) and dead last in batting average (.256). The Chisox's farm system is in the same condition as the parent club. Al Lopez promoted three fine rookie pitchers and he will try to duplicate the Indians' success with the same formula...good pitching and minimal hitting. Doc White, Jack McDowell and Alex Fernandez will make their AAA debuts this season. White will step in as a spot starter right away, but the other two will be waiting in the wings for their chance. Initially they will be middle relievers and occasional starters. Billy Pierce (12-6 2.52), who topped the AL in ERA, Ed Walsh (12-12 2.75) and Wilbur Wood (13-13 3.53) will be the workhorses of the Chicago hill corps. Rookie third baseman Bill Melton and outfielder Johnny Mostil will try to inject some offense in the pathetic Pale Hose attack. Joe Jackson (.353-7-78) and Frank Thomas (.244-26-95) are just about the only threats they have. Melton and Mostil will start right away. But sixth looks like where the Sox will be in 1903. The Detroit Tigers can hit for average and power and score runs, but so can the opposition. They finished the year in last place last year, 17 games behind Philadelphia. Detroit's pitching is dismal and there is nowhere to go to get it. Their farm system has hitters, but no pitchers. Manager Hughie Jennings will see if two minor leaguers can do the job for him. Starting pitcher Mickey Lolich (1-3 7.40 in 1901) and relief specialist Willie Hernandez have been added to the roster. Lolich will split starts with Jim Bunning, while Hernandez will be Detroit's closer. As expected the Tigers will go with the same potent lineup again this season. Hank Greenberg (.272-29-114), Charlie Gehringer (.302-23-110) and Ty Cobb (.363-11-76) are ready to go on the offensive again. Late season lineup insertions, Vic Wertz (.297-8-45 in just 50 games) and Al Kaline (.287-5-22 in 35 starts) will get the chance to be everyday starters from the beginning of the season. Two years ago, Detroit got a little pitching and finished third to the Yankees and the White Sox in a strong run for the title. They still have the hitting. All they need is some more pitching to climb up in the league standings. They could rise as high fifth place this season. The Washington Senators finished seventh the last two years and are destined for last place this season, if the Baseball Writers of American have anything to do with it. Washington is woefully weak when it come to hitting home runs...59 in 1901 and 85 in 1902. So this season Manager Clark Griffith scoured the minor leagues and came up with nothing but longball hitters. He said if you are going to finish last or near the bottom, you should go down swinging. He has brought in a trio of power hitters, Roy Sievers, Bob Allison and Jim Lemon, and will give them ample opportunity to display their power prowess. The Nats have plenty of hitters that get on base a lot, but none with any home run power. Cecil Travis (.334-7-67), Heinie Manush (.340-5-52 in 76 games), Goose Goslin (.288-11-90) and Rod Carew (.292-2-52) will now have someone to power them in. In addition, power hitter par excellence, Harmon Killebrew (.114/2/7) will be the regular third baseman this season. Manush will be fulltime this year and will not platoon. Brian Harper, a good-hit, no-field catcher has been added to the roster, too. Griffith may have found two jewels in pitchers Eddie Guardado and Al Worthington. Both are relievers. Guardado will be the fireman and Worthington will be long reliever, setup and occasional closer. The Senators have three fine starters in Dutch Leonard (14-9 3.45), Camilo Pascual (14-11 3.62) and Walter Johnson (12-8 3.60). If the newcomers come through, Washington could rise up near the first division. Last edited by Eugene Church; 01-02-2026 at 05:29 PM.

06-10-2006, 08:35 PM	#483
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	Please note a fourth number in the batter's stats. I thought the guys that score runs deserve some note in the writeups, too. (BA-HR-RBI-Runs) ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION Saturday, May 10, 1903 AMERICAN LEAGUE *A'S LOSE TWO TOP ACES FOR SEASON...GROVE AND WADDELL* The defending American League and World Series champions are still reeling from the crushing news that another of their top pitchers will miss the entire season. Rube Waddell (2-1 2.81) suffered a torn bicep in his pitching arm on April 27 and will have to wait until next year for baseball. Manager Connie Mack's top pitcher, Lefty Grove, went out in the exhibition season with a ruptured achilles tendon. Philadelphia just got more bad news...Ed Rommel (5-0 1.85)...their #1 guy so far this year, will be out several weeks with a stained back. Still the Athletics have not fallen apart. In the first month of the season they went 16-14 and are in fourth place, 3.5 games behind the front running St. Louis Browns, Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers. The Browns (21-12) have blossomed and surged to the top on the strength of some very fine pitching. They are one game ahead of the second place Pale Hose. Mike Cuellar (6-0 1.37) has been truly outstanding and looks like he has regained his 1901 form. Overall the staff's ERA is a splendid 3.07, by far the best in the American League. Jim Palmer (4-2 3.48) and Mike Mussina (4-2 4.19) are doing well, along with rookie reliever, Bill Hall (1-0 3.74 ), who has appeared in 21 games with 8 saves in the early going. Gregg Olson (0-0 0.00) has 3 saves to give St. Louis some real fine relief effort. It looks like another rookie reliever, Eddie Watt (2-0 3.18), may contribute to the cause, too. Steady Hoyt Wilhelm (1-3 3.02) has pitched well, but his record doesn't show it in wins, yet. If the Brownies continues to get strong pitching like this, they will contend for the title. Manager Earl Weaver's hitters have done the job so far. Ken Williams (.345-8-21-23), George Sisler (.331-0-9-16), rookie outfielder Wally Judnich (.268-0-14-18) and Eddie Murray (.252-9-23-16) have delivered enough runs to win. Cleanup hitter, Josh Gibson (.234-4-17-12) hasn't hit for average, but has driven in some runs. Al Lopez's Chicago White Sox (19-12) are doing it with strong pitching and timely hitting. The team 3.58 ERA is second to St. Louis with outstanding mound work by Ed Walsh (5-0 2.47), Billy Pierce (4-1 2.53), Wilbur Wood (4-1 2.05) and rookie Doc White (2-3 3.77). Bobby Thigpen (1-1 1.71) has been superb with 10 saves and 20 appearances. In the hitting department, Joe Jackson (.297-1-15-15), outfield newcomer, Johnny Mostil (.292-2-10-18), Eddie Collins (.281-1-10-26) and Kazuhiro Yamauchi (.274-1-15-14) have done the most damage. Slugger Frank Thomas (.233-3-16-11) has missed half of the games so far with an injury, but has pushed across some runs, when he was in the lineup. Last year's seventh place club has gotten some good pitching this year and looks like they might be in contention again. Manager Hughie Jennings has them in third place, only 3 games behind St. Louis. The Detroit Tigers' (16-13) mound staff have compiled a solid 3.60 ERA, led by Hal Newhouser (4-1 2.09), Mickey Lolich (4-0 3.34) and Tommy Bridges (3-2 3.83). And the Tigers are hitting the ball, too. Charlie Gehringer (.339-8-29-22) is leading the league in just about everything and Hank Greenberg (.352-1-20-15) is not too far behind. Harvey Kuenn (.339-2-11-9) has fine numbers, despite being platooned at shortstop. Ty Cobb (.286-0-8-24) is getting on base, stealing bases and scoring runs. The Philadelphia A's (16-14) have hung tough in fourth place in the standings, despite the loss of most of their starters. They are making up for a lack of pitching by scoring runs. The Athletics are hitting .270, tops in the AL. They have also outscored everyone in the Alltime Allstar Association. But the pitchers are giving up the most runs in the AAA with a 4.44 ERA. And there doesn't look like any help is on the horizon. Rookies Tim Hudson (0-1 5.06) and Barry Zito (0-0 6.14) have floundered thus far this season. So have Bobby Shantz (0-1 5.49), rookie Ken Holtzman (1-3 7.67) and Dennis Eckersley (0-4 5.49). Rommel (5-0 1.85) has been super and will be back in the rotation soon. Ed Plank (4-2 4.36) and relief specialist, Rollie Fingers (2-0 2.89), have been effective. The top hitters are Alejandro Oms (.316-3-20-20), Jimmie Foxx (.322-5-17-18), Shigeo Nagashima (.263-3-20-17), Mickey Cochrane (.272-4-17-15), Danny Murphy (.275-0-16-9) and Al Simmons (.266-1-16-16). Philadelphia will be right back in the race, if they can get the pitchers to do a better job. The New York Yankees (15-15) are in the fifth spot and are hanging close, but have not been playing well. They still hit home runs, but are only batting .238, next-to-last in both leagues. Their old standbys, Babe Ruth (.308-8-18-19), Lou Gehrig (.283-4-14-24) and Joe Gordon (.270-8-27-18) have delivered, but few others have contributed very much. Pitching-wise Vic Raschi (4-1 3.32), Whitey Ford (3-2 2.44) and Herb Pennock (2-1 2.77) have stood out as starters, while Mariano Rivera (0-0 1.32) has been strong in the bullpen. Manager Steve O'Neill's Cleveland Indians (14-16), picked to win the AL flag this year by the baseball prognosticators, has not been able to put it all together as of yet. The Tribe is in sixth place 5.5 games out. Pitching has been good with Herb Score (4-2 2.57), Addie Joss (4-1 3.19), Bob Feller (2-4 3.42) and Bob Lemon (0-1 3.24) in starting roles and Doug Jones (1-1 2.30) in relief. Early Wynn (3-1 4.50) and newcomer Johnny Allen (0-4 5.46) have struggled. Look for rookies Sam McDowell (0-0 1.50) and Sonny Siebert (0-0 3.68) to get some starts soon. Batting-wise the Indians are holding their own with a .256 team average. Nap Lajoie (.316-5-17-21), Willie Wells (.287-4-19-22), Larry Doby (.274-3-23-19) and Rocky Colavito (.250-5-18-11) being the most productive. Another effective starter would put Cleveland back in the thick of the race. It has also been a dismal season for the club voted to finish second in the league, the Boston Red Sox (13-16). The Bosox are floundering in seventh position, 6 games out of first place. One of the best hitting clubs last year, they simply have not found the range this year and the pitching is atrocious. Only Rookie of the Year, David Ortiz (.279-5-19-15) has hit well. Ted Williams (.255-5-15-16) and Oscar Charleston (.250-4-11-19) have faltered at bat in the first month of the year. Mound leaders are Pedro Martinez (3-2 3.14), George Ruth (3-3 4.06) and Roger Clemens (2-4 3.83), although the latter two hurlers have not been as solid as last season. The Red Sox hitters have always been slow starters in the league's first two years. If they begin to hit like they did last year and a starter or two steps it up, all will be well for Joe McCarthy and the Beantown Boys. The Washington Senators (7-23) were in the basement last year and they are still there. Everybody on Skipper Clark Griffith's club is having subpar seasons except for a few bright spots. Heinie Manush (.308-1-15-11) and rookie catcher Brian Harper (.288-3-11-6) have hit well and pitchers Walter Johnson (3-3 2.44), Brad Radke (1-2 2.74) and rookie reliever, Al Worthington (0-1 1.42) have put up some fine numbers. It is going to be another long, long season year for the Capitol City bunch. Review of the National League tomorrow. See League Reports, Stats and Standings here: http://aaa.allsimbaseball.com/index....tpage&Itemid=1 Last edited by Eugene Church; 06-17-2006 at 05:15 PM.

06-11-2006, 06:06 PM	#484
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION Saturday, May 10, 1903 NATIONAL LEAGUE *GIANTS TAKE THE NL LEAD...PIRATES, CARDS, CUBS, PHILS...CLOSE BEHIND* After the first month of play, the New York Giants (18-11) are back in their customary spot right at the top of the National League standings. Manager John McGraw's Polo Grounders are one game up on second place Pittsburgh. Pitching is the prime reason. The 3.11 team ERA is second to the Pirates' amazingly low 2.55, but still good enough to be in first place. New York is not hitting like they usually do...only .247 as a team...but it has been sufficient up to this point in the season. Rookie Sal Maglie (4-0 4.00), Jeff Tesreau (4-2 3.16), Carl Hubbell (3-2 2.77) and Christy Mathewson (3-3 1.78) have been quite impressive as starters. Robb Nen (2-1 3.95) has been doing the job in relief with 6 saves and lots of help from Johnny Antonelli (0-0 2.38). Mel Ott (.382-7-22-22) is off to a great start with the bat. Martin Dihigo (.262-6-16-20), Barry Bonds (.245-8-15-20) and Freddie Lindstrom (.278-1-13-12) have also help out in the offensive category. After stumbling badly in 1902, it looks like the Pirates are back in the race this year. Pittsburgh (18-13) is in second place and staying right on the Giants' tail, trailing by only one game. Manager Danny Murtaugh's mound corps has been superb. Bob Veale (4-1 1.07), Sam Leever (5-1 1.70), Deacon Phillippe (3-3 3.12) and Ray Kremer (3-3 3.67) have been tough to beat this year. Relief specialist Roy Face (1-0 1.17) has done his job to perfection, too. Their team batting average is way down this year, hitting only .254, Sadaharu Oh (.230-5-20-18), Honus Wagner (.246-4-16-15), Roberto Clemente (.256-3-16-15), Pie Traynor (.311-1-12-21) and rookie outfielder Brian Giles (.273-4-16-12) have done their job with timely hits. Tony Larussa's St. Louis Cardinals (17-13) are in the third position, just 1.5 games out. Their .284 team batting average is far and away the best in both leagues. Four .300 hitters are leading the way: Stan Musial (.367-6-25-23), Rogers Hornsby (.351-4-16-22), Johnny Mize (.327-6-25-22) and Walker Cooper (.333-2-13-8). Coupled with good pitching, the Redbirds are off to their best start in the three years the league has been going. Dizzy Dean (3-0 3.13), John Tudor (2-0 1.50), Satchell Paige (4-2 4.10), Harry Brecheen (2-3 2.23) and Larry Jackson (3-3 4.67) have been the ringleaders. Jolly Cholly Charlie Grimm has a big smile on his face as his club sits in fourth place, just two games off the pace. The Chicago Cubs (16-13) have a strong set of starting pitchers in Mordecai Brown (4-1 2.61), Ed Reulbach (3-1 3.38), Charlie Root (2-0 1.90) and Ferguson Jenkins (3-3 3.05). In the bullpen Bruce Sutter (1-2 2.76) has done well as the finisher with six saves. On the batting side of the ledger, Ernie Banks (.275-7-22-16), Billy Williams (.284-5-17-13), Cool Papa Bell (.312-3-13-16) and Tetsuharu Kawakami (.283-2-14-13) have delivered the runs. Manager Grimm is waiting for last year's NL Golden Bat Award winner, Turkey Stearnes (.225-3-8-18) and Bill Dahlen (.215-3-11-14) to come alive and get into the swing of things. The fifth place Philadelphia Phillies (18-15) are off and running this season with a sparkling 3.36 ERA. Pitching is the name of the game for Manager Danny Ozark. Heading the Phils' rotation are Akiro Bessho (4-1 1.99), Chris Short (2-0 1.47), Curt Schilling (2-4 3.35), Pete Alexander (3-2 3.75), Jiro Noguchi (3-4 3.56) and Steve Carlton (1-0 3.48). In the bullpen rookie Turk Farrell (1-1 1.71) has been amazing with 7 saves and Larry Christensen (0-0 1.08) has made 8 strong outings and has one save. However, it has been tough for Philadelphia to score runs. Only Lefty O'Doul (.341-1-12-15) has hit for any kind of average. Overall the Phils are hitting only .239, third worst in the Alltime Allstar Association. Rookie first baseman Don Hurst (.254-7-22-16) has been a plus this year and surprised many with his power display. Chuck Klein's (.217-9-25-18) average is abysmal for him, but he comes through with men on base and has slammed the longball on a regular basis. He is tied with Eddie Murray of the Browns for the AAA home run lead with 9. The sixth place Brooklyn Dodgers (13-17) under Skipper Tommy Lasorda are having a rough season. They need pitching and hitting. Only Sandy Koufax (4-1 1.44) has been effective and he has put up some terrific stats. His only loss was a well-pitched 4-3 loss to Moe Brown and the Cubs. He couldn't hold a 3-2 lead in the last frame. No regular is batting above .300 a month into the season. Cristobel Torriente (.295-3-15-12), Duke Snider (.246-8-13-15), Gil Hodges (.243-5-15-13) and Yasumitsu Toyota (.263-5-8-10) have been the best the Bums have had to offer at the plate...and all are having subpar seasons. A career .315 hitter, dependable Zach Wheat is only hitting .246 with no homers thus far. Because of their great pitching, the Boston Braves (11-19) were expected to rival the best teams in the league. But not yet. Last year's runnerups have sunk into the depths of the second division. Manager Bobby Cox has seen his team's ERA balloon to an outrageous 5.62. His only starter under 4.50 is Greg Maddux (3-3 3.22). All the rest of the rotation have been miserable. But the Braves batters have done their job with a solid .269 BA and 28 home runs. Pete Hill (.353-8-24-26) is at the top of almost all hitting categories and Joe Torre (.341-2-9-8), Chipper Jones (.303-2-15-14), Tommy Holmes (.317-0-12-9) and Rafael Furcal (.304-2-12-16) have added to the run production, too. Although down in batting average, Buck Leonard (.226-7-22-19) and Eddie Mathews (.198-5-15-17) still deliver the longballs and the RBIs. And the Cincinnati Reds (10-20) are still down in the cellar. One of the reasons is a pathetic .228 team batting average. No one on Sparky Anderson's club is having a good year. Pete Rose (.276-1-1-10) and Frank Robinson (.274-7-14-11) are the only regulars having a decent season. The pitchers have fared much better. Gary Nolan (2-4 1.85) has been brilliant. Pete Donahue (3-3 4.30), Jose Rijo (0-5 3.80) and Jim Maloney (2-4 3.98) have made quality outings, but have all of them have poor records because of the anemic run support. In relief roles Kenny Raffensberger (1-0 3.66) and Dolph Luque (1-1 2.25) have been effective. Last edited by Eugene Church; 06-11-2006 at 06:28 PM.

06-17-2006, 08:14 PM	#485
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION Tuesday, June 10, 1903 AMERICAN LEAGUE *BRONX BOMBERS BOLT FROM FIFTH TO FIRST IN AMERICAN LEAGUE* The mighty New York Yankees (38-25) flexed their muscles and and went on a rampage in the last month in the AL. The Yanks rung up a sparkling 23-10 mark and jumped to the top spot in the league, 4 games ahead of everybody. Manager Casey Stengel's crew has really come together with good pitching and power hitting. New York leads the AAA with 82 homers, paced by Babe Ruth (.283-17-42-48), the AL leader, and Joe Gordon (.242-12-47-39), tops in RBIs. Other solid contributors to the Yanks' attack are Lou Gehrig (.310-8-35-50), Joe DiMaggio (.288-6-23-32), Derek Jeter (.270-8-23-37), and Yogi Berra (.298-5-17-13). Roger Maris (.239-7-22-10) and Mickey Mantle (.216-6-10-18) have chipped in with longballs, too. The Bombers' team BA rose from a paltry .238 to a respectable .251 during the period. The team improved from 3.96 to 3.49 ERA, too. On the mound, it has been Vic Raschi (8-3 2.53), Herb Pennock (7-2 2.40) and Whitey Ford (6-5 2.79) standing tall. Relief ace, Mariano Rivera (2-0 0.76) has been impossible to score on this year. He has 5 saves. The second place Chicago White Sox (34-29) dipped below .500 the last month, compiling a 15-17 record. The threesome of Billy Pierce (9-1 1.92), Ed Walsh (8-4 3.20) and Wilbur Wood (7-4 2.31) have been outstanding in the starting slots. Same thing for Bobby Thigpen (2-2 1.76) in relief. He leads the American League with 11 saves, tied with Todd Worrell of the Cardinals for the best in both leagues. Rookie starter Doc White (3-5 3.13) has also excelled. Joe Jackson (.321-5-38-35), Frank Thomas (.224-14-45-31) and Eddie Collins (.299-4-15-52) continue to be the main run producers. Jackson has the best batting average in the league, Thomas is second in RBIs and Collins is number one in runs scored. But they also have gotten help this season from rookie center fielder, Johnny Mostil (.291-3-23-35), and Kazuhiro Yamauchi (.289-4-32-28). The big weakness the Pale Hose has is in the middle relief corps. They really need some help there with everyone 5.50 and over in ERA. The Cleveland Indians (33-29) also had a fine month, going 19-13 and rising up from sixth to third in the standings, tied with the Philadelphia A's 4.5 games behind the Yanks. However, the Tribe had to do it with pitching. In the last month the club ERA dropped from a fine 3.57 down to a brilliant 3.12, best in the AL and the Alltime Allstar Association. Starters Addie Joss (8-2 2.12), Bob Feller (7-5 2.38), Herb Score (6-6 2.32), Bob Lemon (3-3 3.62) and Early Wynn (5-3 4.81) have been tough to beat with any kind of run support. Reliever Doug Jones (2-0 2.42) has been strong in the bullpen with 5 saves. Cleanup hitter, Larry Doby (.266-9-45-37) has been the heart and soul of the offense, aided by Willie Wells (.310-7-31-33), Nap Lajoie (.292-7-25-36) and Tris Speaker (.277-4-20-36). When Manager Connie Mack lost his two aces, Lefty Grove and Rube Waddell for the season with arm injuries, you didn't think it could get any worse. It did. Reliever Rollie Fingers sustained a career ending injury and has been forced to retire. But the defending World Champs, the Philadelphia Athletics (33-29), have sucked it up and continue to hang in the race with a 17-15 record last month and are tied for the third spot. Hitting is the name of the game in Philly. Only the NY Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals have outscored them. The A's are hitting .270, the best by far in the American League. The Chisox are a very distant second with a .255 average. Everywhere you look in the Mack's lineup from top to bottom, you find a good, solid hitter: Jimmie Foxx (.301-10-36-37), Danny Murphy (.296-4-33-22), Alejandro Oms (.291-4-36-41), Frank Baker (.290-8-26-36), Mickey Cochrane (.277-4-26-22), Al Simmons (.263-3-33-39), John Henry Lloyd (.255-7-28-34) and Shigeo Nagashima (.248-4-36-31). Pitching is another story. Philadelphia's team ERA is a whopping 4.46, last in the AL and next last in the AAA. Except for Ed Rommel (6-1 3.22), Ed Plank (7-4 3.63) and Catfish Hunter (5-2 3.64), Mack doesn't have much to call in to the mound, although rookies Barry Zito (2-1 4.06), Tim Hudson 92-4 3.43) and Darold Knowles (1-0 0.00) show some promise. Knowles was called up to replace Fingers as the closer. Earl Weaver's bunch of St. Louis Browns (35-31) have certainly cooled off after a great first month of the season, falling to 14-19 in the league's second month of play. They have slipped from first to fifth, also trailing by 4.5 games. The Browns have fizzled at the plate and saw their average drop from .250 to .240. However, the pitchers are still doing great with a very strong 3.22 ERA, second to Cleveland's 3.12 mark. Mike Cuellar (7-3 2.61) has been awesome and looks like he has the stuff that won him 15 games in 1901. Hoyt Wilhelm (3-6 2.28) has been superb, even when he loses because of poor run support. Dennis Martinez (6-4 3.13) has been solid so far this season. Only Mike Mussina (5-6 4.42) has been disappointing as a starter. In the bullpen Eddie Watt (3-1 2.89) and Gregg Olson (0-0 0.00) have delivered. Olson has 3 saves and has not allowed a run in 15 innings this year. Ken Williams (.309-10-33-40) and George Sisler (.300-2-19-34) are having good years at bat, while the RBI and HR guys, Eddie Murray (.242-11-38-28) and Josh Gibson (.221-11-31-26) have not hit for average, they have supplied some power and runs production. Joe McCarthy's Bosox have been terrible at bat this year and are lucky to be only 6.5 games behind the frontrunning Yanks. The Boston Red Sox (31-31) have turned it around in the pitching department and gone 18-15 in the last thirty days. In the starting rotation, George Ruth (6-6 3.21) has been very impressive and has the most complete games and quality starts in the AL. Bad run support has cost him several wins. Roger Clemens (5-6 3.69), Pedro Martinez (5-5 3.84) and Smokey Joe Wood (3-3 3.37) all have suffered from the poor Red Sox run output this year. too. None of last year's potent hitters have produced this season. Nomar Garciaparra (.275-7-31-32), Oscar Charleston (.269-9-25-40), Ted Williams (.258-10-31-33) and David Ortiz (.217-6-37-23) are not replicating last season's outstanding performances. If they can get going with the bats, Boston could move up and quickly contend. The Detroit Tigers (27-36) tailed off considerably in the batting department and doubly so in the pitching department during the last month. They finished up with the worst record in both leagues for the period, 11-23. The Tigers' team batting average fell from .264 to .254 and the team ERA tumbled from 3.60 to 4.16 and Hughie Jennings' club dropped from third place in the AL standings to a dismal seventh, 11 games behind. Two Detroit players are having very good seasons, Charlie Gehringer (.315-10-42-43) and Hank Greenberg (.321-10-45-31) with some help from Harvey Kuenn (.308-3-16-27) and Ty Cobb (.284-6-24-49), but little else. On the hill only Virgil Trucks (7-3 3.55) and Hal Newhouser (6-4 3.50) have been effective. The Washington Senators (20-41) experimented with adding nothing but home run hitters to their arsenal for the first six weeks of the season and it failed miserably. Roy Sievers, Jim Lemon and Bob Allison are all back in the minors with not one single fourbagger between them and a combined .167 batting average. Manager Clark Griffith recalled Kirby Puckett, Tony Oliva and Gary Gaetti to replace them. So far...so good...Puckett and Oliva are each hitting .364 in 15 games. Heinie Manush (.305-3-30-25) and Rod Carew (.303-1-29-22) are performing well, but are not getting much help from the rest of the team. Walter Johnson (6-3 3.01), Camilo Pascual (5-7 3.86) and Jim Kaat (5-6 4.16) have been the Senators only dependable hurlers. Washington ran up a poor 13-18 over the last month, but that was much better than the first month of the year. See League Reports, Standings and Leaderboards here: http://aaa.allsimbaseball.com/index....tpage&Itemid=1 Last edited by Eugene Church; 06-20-2006 at 02:23 AM.

06-20-2006, 02:22 AM	#486
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION Tuesday, June 10, 1903 NATIONAL LEAGUE *ST. LOUIS CARDINALS SHOOT TO THE TOP IN THE NL* When you are hitting .283 as a team and 20 points better than the number two team and you combine that with a pretty good team ERA of 3.79, you are going to win a lot of ballgames. That is exactly what Tony Larussa's St. Louis Redbirds did over the last 30 days. They won 21 games and lost only 12 and climbed up from third to first in the National League. St. Louis (38-25) is now leading the second place New York Giants by 2.5 games. Pacing the Cardinals hit parade are Stan "the Man" Musial (.354-15-47-39), Frankie Frisch (.335-4-31-49), Walker Cooper (.324-6-27-24), Rogers Hornsby (.309-11-37-41), Johnny Mize (.286-11-35-42), Chick Hafey (.280-8-30-35) and Joe Medwick (.260-8-37-32). And delivering the mail has been Satchel Paige (8-2 3.69), John Tudor (7-1 3.60), Dizzy Dean (6-2 3.67), Matt Morris (4-0 3.25), Bob Gibson (1-1 2.12) and Harry Brecheen (5-7 3.64). The best in the bullpen has been Todd Worrell (1-2 4.35) with 11 saves. He is deadlocked with the White Sox's Bobby Thigpen for the AAA lead. Manager John McGraw's men couldn't keep up with St. Louis and the New York Giants (35-27) fell to the number two spot in the standings, 2.5 games out. They got some very bad news: NY lost one of its aces, Christy Mathewson, for 4-5 weeks with an arm injury. Nontheless, the Polo Grounders recorded a respectable 17-16 mark in the last month. McGraw's mound staff is the best in the National League with a 3.18 ERA, which is second to Cleveland's 3.12, tops overall in the AAA. Mathewson (5-4 2.37), Jeff Tesreau (7-3 2.92), Carl Hubbell (6-6 3.29), Juan Marichal (4-5 3.04) and rookie Sal Maglie (4-4 3.67) make up a fine mound rotation. Robb Nen (4-2 3.33) has stoodout in relief with some assistance by Johnny Antonelli (2-1 2.49). Pitcher Hooks Wiltse will fill in for Mathewson. He was purchased from a minor league team in Triple A. The Giants' hitting is quite a bit off this season, hitting only .255 compared to last year dynamic .281 batting average. Only Mel Ott (.308-8-38-35), Freddie Lindstrom (.301-4-31-31) and Barry Bonds (.276-14-37-40) are having good seasons thus far. The third place Pittsburgh Pirates (35-28) scored fewer runs and gave up more during the last month, but they still held their own with a 17-15 record. The Bucs trail the NL-leading Cardinals by 3 games. Pitching (3.40 ERA) is still their strong point with starters Sam Leever (8-4 2.88), Deacon Phillippe (7-3 3.16), Bob Veale (5-3 2.69) and John Candelaria (4-3 3.56). Roy Face (6-3 2.80) has been outstanding in the relief corps with 7 saves. Last year the Pirates hit a lofty .280, but not this year. They are hitting only .254 this season. Sadaharu Oh (.258-18-51-45) is not hitting for average, but is potent with run production and homers. He and NY's Babe Ruth lead the AAA with 18 apiece. Roberto Clemente (.299-6-40-30) has punched out a solid set of stats. Manager Danny Murtaugh will have to do without Honus Wagner (.251-8-31-30). He hurt his arm and will miss about 3 weeks. Glenn Wright (.186-3-10-4) was called up from Triple A to fill in for Wagner. Checking in at the fourth slot in the NL standings are the Chicago Cubs (33-30) of Charlie Grimm, who finished 17-17 during the past month and dipped 5 games out. The Chicubs are blessed with some fine hitters. That is what they do best. Tetsuharu Kawakami (.328-5-32-42), Cool Papa Bell (.303-6-24-40), Billy Williams (.284-10-34-35), Turkey Stearnes (.275-15-45-45) and Ernie Banks (.241-13-39-30) are the team's top batters. On the mound, starters Moe Brown (7-4 3.58), Ferguson Jenkins (6-4 3.43) and Ed Reulbach (6-4 3.95) have led the way with relief specialist Bruce Sutter (3-4 3.71) having a good season so far with 8 saves. Hippo Vaughn (3-1 3.28) has looked good since being put into the starting rotation. The fifth place Philadelphia Phillies' (34-32) hitting finally came around, mainly in the form of Richie Ashburn, who has hit a startling .402 since being put into the starting lineup in the last month. Lefty O'Doul (.358-5-39-33) and old dependable, Chuck Klein (.275-18-53-37) have starred with the bats this year. This trio helped the Phils go 16-17 for the month. On the hill, Pete Alexander (7-5 3.52), Ahiro Bessho (6-5 3.08), Curt Schilling (.5-5 3.09) and Jiro Noguchi (6-7 3.81) are Manager Danny Ozark's top hurlers. Chris Short (3-1 2.92) and Steve Carlton (2-1 3.24) recently have been very effective since being used in the starting rotation as spot starters. Rookie relief specialist, Turk Farrell (2-1 1.53) has been astounding and chalked up 9 saves. The Boston Braves (28-33) had a fine month and went 17-14. Yet they still find themselves in the sixth spot in the National League race, 9 games behind the Cards. Boston's strong point going into the season was pitching, but it has just not been able to do the job for Manager Bobby Cox. However, his hitters perked it up a bit and are now hitting .263 as a club. Pete Hill (.349-14-45-51) is having a career year. Tommy Holmes (.333-2-28-26), Rafael Furcal (.310-6-26-39) and Buck Leonard (.243-14-45-39) have excelled as well. In the pitching department only Greg Maddux (7-4 3.58), Tom Glavine (6-4 3.96) and Phil Niekro (3-0 2.96) have been productive. Manager Tommy Lasorda's Brooklyn Dodgers (26-35) continue to have hitting problems. As a team they are still struggling with a .246 BA and are ranked near the bottom of the AAA. The Bums continued to slide and sunk to seventh place, 11.5 games out. Southpaw Sandy Koufax (10-2 1.79) has been absolutely marvelous this year. He is one of Brooklyn's very few bright marks. Reliever Eric Gagne (3-1 3.29) also has looked good with 4 saves. Recent inserts into the starting lineup, Adrian Beltre (.352-4-18-16) and Pee Wee Reese (.343-1-5-7) both have started off like gangbusters and Zach Wheat is slowly coming around. His average has risen up to .285 with 3 home runs, 22 RBIs and 20 runs scored. But that is about it for the Dodgers. And the Cincinnati Reds (22-40) are still in the basement, finishing off the month with a dismal 12-20 record. They hit a little bit better and pitched a little bit better, but not enough to lift them out of the cellar. Sparky Anderson has not had much to smile about this season. His team has compiled the next to the worst batting average in the AAA. Only the AL's Browns are worst than Cincy. The Reds are hitting only .244 as a unit. Ted Kluszewski (.245-12-32-33) and Johnny Bench (/242-11-31-18) have been his best run producers. Hill standouts include Pete Donahue (6-6 3.62) and spot starters/relievers like Kenny Raffensberger (3-1 3.28) and Dolph Luque (3-3 3.02). See League Reports, Standings and Stats here: http://aaa.allsimbaseball.com/index....tpage&Itemid=1

06-20-2006, 02:24 AM	#487
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	I am going to take about a week off. Will continue this report next Monday.

07-01-2006, 03:28 PM	#488
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION Thursday, July 10, 1903 AMERICAN LEAGUE *BOSOX ON A ROLL...TIED FOR FIRST WITH NY YANKEES* The Boston Red Sox (52-41) have been redhot the last month, running up a fine 21-10 record and are now tied with the New York Yankees for the top spot in the American League standings. Skipper Joe McCarthy has moved Bobby Doerr (.337-12-38-30 in 56 games), Johnny Pesky (.309-0-17-26 in 52 games)and Carl Yastrzemski (.278-6-26-26 in 48 games) into the lineups and the team has been the best team in the Alltime Allstar Association. Also aiding the club's rise has been Ted Williams (.283-15-53-56), Nomar Garciaparra (.281-8-44-49) and Oscar Charleston (.252-15-44-57). On the hill Pedro Martinez (8-6 3.17), George Ruth (10-8 3.41) and Roger Clemens (10-7 3.38) and ** Radatz (6-4 3.43 9 saves) have stood out. Rookie Luis Tiant (3-0 2.00) has been brilliant in four starts since being called up from the minors. A good blend of solid pitching and hitting has help the Boston surge. Casey Stengel's New York Yanks (52-41) did not fare as well as the Red Sox in the last month, finishing up with a poor 14-17 mark. Yet they are still tied for first. However last month they led by 4 games. The Bronx Bombers tailed off in both pitching and hitting. They are living and dying by the longball. They are on pace to shatter the AAA record of 182, set by the Boston Braves last year. So far, the Yankees have hit 130 this year. If they continue to hit them at this rate they will total 215, led by Babe Ruth (.269-26-60-64), Lou Gehrig (.309-14-54-73), Joe DiMaggio (.292-14-44-51), Derek Jeter (.266-12-32-56), Joe Gordon (.221-15-58-47) and Mickey Mantle (.222-15-26-32). In hitting for average NY is next to last in the AL at .248. On the mound they are doing better at 3.59, third behind Cleveland's 3.19 ERA and St. Louis' 3.42 ERA. Three starters are having very fine seasons: Herb Pennock (11-3 3.57), Vic Raschi (10-5 3.17) and Whitey Ford (9-7 3.03). In the bullpen Mariano Rivera (4-1 1.18) has been sensational with 6 saves. For the Yankees to win this year, they need to perk up their batting averages just a bit and get some help from Lefty Gomez (6-9 4.80), who is having a subpar season this year. Another solid starter would help greatly, too. The Philadelphia Athletics (49-42) are still hanging tough, despite devastating mound losses this season. They completed the month at 16-13 and have moved up to third place, just 2 games out from the leaders. Their AL-leading .261 BA has kept them in the race thus far. Alejandro Oms (.292-10-57-53), Jimmie Foxx (.284-16-51-55), Al Simmons (.270-3-42-51), Shigeo Nagashima (.257-8-55-41), Frank Baker (.266-12-37-47) and Danny Murphy (.271-6-42-37) have been the offensive force. Connie Mack's top hurlers have been Ed Rommel (11-2 3.18), Ed Plank (10-7 3.78) and Catfish Hunter (7-5 3.15). Rookies Tim Hudson (5-4 4.02) and Barry Zito (3-3 3.97) have shown well at times. Poor relief work has been costly for the A's as no one has stepped up to fill the void of Rollie Fingers, who was lost for the year. If Hudson and Zito jell and come on strong, look out Boston and New York. The Athletics could be back. Boy, could they use Lefty Grove and Rube Waddell, both lost for the season. The Cleveland Indians (48-45) are holding their own pretty much with a 16-17 record over the past 30 days. Steve O'Neill's Tribe is in fourth place and trail by only 4 games. Strong pitching is the Indians' strength. Addie Joss (11-5 2.31), Herb Score (9-8 2.23), Bob Feller (8-8 3.34), Bob Lemon (6-5 3.56) and Early Wynn (9-6 4.05) just might be the best starting rotation in the AAA. Toss in a topnotch closer like Doug Jones (3-2 1.99) with 7 saves and you've can compete with the best. They could dominate, if they had the hitters. Cleveland leads both leagues with a very fine 3.18 ERA, but is hitting only .253 with average power. O'Neill's top batters are Willie Wells (.303-9-47-49), Nap Lajoie (.300-11-44-55), Larry Doby (.259-15-63-54), Tris Speaker (.278-7-37-49) and Rocky Colavito (.226-13-50-37). Earl Weaver's St. Louis Browns (48-49) just can't buy a hit. They are last in the Alltime Allstar Association, hitting only .239 as a team. Over the last month they have not done well, but are still in fifth place, only 6 games out. Fortunately the Browns have some good pitching. Mike Cuellar (9-4 2.81) and Dennis Martinez (7-5 3.23) head the staff with help at times from Jim Palmer (9-8 3.90) and Mike Mussina (7-8 4.19). Hoyt Wilhelm (5-10 2.95) deserves to have a much better record. Gregg Olson (2-3 1.48) has been stingy in the bullpen and has collected 4 saves. George Sisler (.311-4-30-49) and Ken Williams (.287-13-46-49) are Weaver best batters. Eddie Murray (.245-14-44-50) and Josh Gibson (.219-17-51-41) deliver the longball, but don't hit up to their potential. Recently rookie Ken Singleton (.278-3-17-10) has hit well as regular in left field, but Weaver has indicated he may move rookie Wally Judnich (.256-9-34-35) back into the lineup to get more defense. The Browns are hoping Doug DeCinces (.287-2-23-20) will boost the attack. He has been on the DL for the last five weeks and due to return soon. The second hottest club in the American League over the last month has been the Detroit Tigers (45-48). Skipper Hughie Jennings team authored an 18-13 mark during the period and climbed up to sixth place in the standings, only 7 games behind. Only pitchers Virgil Trucks (9-4 4.11) and Hal Newhouser (8-7 4.05) can be depended on a regular basis. The Tigers are next-to-last in the AL with a 4.27 ERA, just ahead of the A's 4.28 ERA. But Jennings can count on some good hitters like Charlie Gehringer (.325-11-66-61), Hank Greenberg (.301-15-67-55), Ty Cobb (.282-6-32-71) and Harvey Kuenn (.297-6-30-44) to make up for the lack of pitching. Outfielder Harry Heilmann (.336-0-13-13), benched for most of the year, is back in the lineup and has ignited the team's offense. The Chicago White Sox (44-49) have fallen on hard times and tumbled down to seventh place after getting off to a fine start in the first month of the year. The Pale Hose had the worst mark in the league in the last 30 days, running up a dismal 10-20 record and are now trailing by 8 games. They are hitting only .249, sixth in the AL, and not pitching very well either. The team ERA has ballooned to 3.87 this season. Manager Al Lopez has three outstanding hurlers in Billy Pierce (10-4 2.61), Wilbur Wood (10-7 2.80) and Ed Walsh (12-6 3.15), but absolutely no one after them. The rest of the staff is collectively over 5.00 in ERA. In the bullpen Bobby Thigpen (3-3 1.88) has been great with 13 saves. Lopez's only batting standout is Joe Jackson (.312-7-50-52). Eddie Collins (.277-2-25-65) and rookie center fielder Johnny Mostil (.276-5-32-45) have had respectable seasons. Powerman Frank Thomas (.208-18-59-45) can deliver home runs, but has been pathetic average-wise. It looks like the Chisox are going to remain near the bottom this season. And last of all, we come to the Washington Senators** (34-57), just about the worst team in both leagues. They are still in the basement, but did play better last month, finishing with a not-so-bad 14-16 record...at least for the Senators. They are now 17 games out of first and going nowhere. Adding Kirby Puckett (.286-1-7-7) and Tony Oliva (.312-5-16-16) in the lineup picked things up a bit for Manager Clark Griffith. But the team just doesn't have the home run hitters to compete. Washington has hit the scant sum of 38 homers this season. That is 39 less that the next lowest total. Rookie catcher Brian Harper (.277-6-31-23) is tops with just 6 roundtrippers. By contrast, the Yankees have hit 130 home runs. Griffith needs about five more players like Rod Carew (.299-3-44-41), Heinie Manush (.298-5-39-44) and Cecil Travis (.291-1-29-41). Then they might be able to manufacture enough runs to generate a few more wins. On the hill Washington is not much better, Walter Johnson (10-5 3.19), Jim Kaat (10-6 3.52) and Camilo Pascual (7-9 3.76) have done a good job. But they could use a lot of help from the rest of the pitching corps. See EC's Dream Leagues Website here for Standings and League Reports: http://aaa.allsimbaseball.com/index....tpage&Itemid=1 Last edited by Eugene Church; 07-02-2006 at 05:13 PM.

07-01-2006, 04:09 PM	#489
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION Thursday, July 10, 1903 NATIONAL LEAGUE ST. LOUIS CARDINALS INCREASE LEAD IN NL OVER NY GIANTS AND PIRATES...PHILS AND BRAVES ON THE RISE Tony Larussa's St. Louis Cardinals (56-37) continued to play sparkling baseball with outstanding hitting and some good solid pitching. They parlayed it into an 18-12 record for the month and increased their lead from 2.5 games to 4 games in the National League over the Giants. Their team BA of .275 is far and away the best best in both leagues, the Phillies are a distant second at .265. The torrid Redbird attack is topped by Stan Musial (.320-20-64-53), Rogers Hornsby (.299-16-53-58), Ducky Medwick (.294-11-59-46), Johnny Mize (.278-15-49-55), Walker Cooper (.299-10-39-36) and Frankie Frisch (.303-8-41-68). Outstanding pitchers are John Tudor (11-2 2.90), Satchell Paige (11-4 3.31), rookie Matt Morris (8-1 2.92) and Dizzy Dean (7-2 3.99). The Cards only weakness is in the bullpen. Todd Worrell (1-3 5.06) has 11 saves, but has seen his ERA jump out of sight in the last month. The New York Giants (52-41) had a good month at 17-14, but still lost ground to St. Louis. John McGraw's Polo Grounders are in second place and 4 games out. They had a good month, despite going down in both BA and ERA. Pitching-wise they had the best ERA in the league last month with a fine 3.18, but dropped to second this month with a 3.41 behind Philadelphia's 3.31 ERA. They really miss ace Christy Mathewson, who may come off the injured list in a week or so. McGraw is biting at the bit to get him back. Jeff Tesreau (11-4 2.57) has continued to excel on the mound. Johnny Antonelli (4-2 2.96) has been put back into the starting rotation and looks strong. Juan Marichal (7-8 3.00) should have a better W-L mark, but has not gotten good run support. New York is really suffering as their other ace, Carl Hubbell (7-9 3.54) just hasn't been the dominating pitcher of the last two years. McGraw really need him to get it in gear for the stretch run. Rookies starter Sal Maglie (7-5 3.69) has done well, along with other first year pitchers, Art Nehf (1-0 1.26) and Hooks Wiltse (1-0 2.35). Both have recently been called up and have looked good in the early going. Freddie Fitzsimmons (1-1 2.29) has been sensational in a couple of spot starts and may be headed for a spot in the regular rotation. Relief specialist Robb Nen (4-2 4.85) has has 10 saves, but has blown 4 this year. McGraw may be losing patience with him. Hitting-wise, Mel Ott (.293-14-60-52), Barry Bonds (.268-20-47-62) and Freddie Lindstrom (.277-9-45-44) have carried the offensive load. Willie Mays (.231-17-41-33), Martin Dihigo (.242-13-35-53) and Bill Terry (.254-1-38-26) are having off years and need to turn it around for the Giants to challenge the Cardinals. Danny Ozark has the Philadelphia Phillies (52-45) playing like they did in 1901. His Phils chalked up an 18-13 mark last month and are now resting in third place 6 games behind the Cards. They are hitting .265, second best in the National League. Philadelphia's pitching corps' ERA is 3.31, tops in the league and second best in the Alltime Allstar Association after Cleveland's 3.19 ERA. The team's only weakness is power. The Phils have hit only 75 home runs and are last in the NL. The pitchers are led by Pete Alexander (10-6 3.18), Jiro Noguchi (10-9 3.94), Curt Schilling (8-8 2.65) and Akiro Bessho (8-8 3.27). Spot starters Rick Wise (5-2 2.35) and Chris Short (3-3 3.14) have been very good, too. In the bullpen, Philadelphia has the best in the league and maybe the best in the AAA, Turk Farrell (2-2 2.25). In 42 appearances he has 12 saves and has not blown one game. Hitting-wise Richie Ashburn (.390-0-18-44 in 57 starts) and Lefty O'Doul (.352-9-61-50) have been fantastic. Cleanup man Chuck Klein (.260-22-71-53) has done just that and ranks second to Chicago's Turkey Stearnes in RBIs, trailing him 73 to 71. Other solid contributors are Don Hurst (.241-15-56-45), Larry Bowa (.291-0-26-48), Pinky Whitney (.286-6-39-30) and Bob Boone (.322-0-19-16). The Boston Braves (46-45) check in at the fourth spot in the standings and registered an 18-12 mark over the past 30 days. They are tied with Pittsburgh. Good solid hitting, balanced with good starting pitching, got Bobby Cox's crew there. Warren Spahn (10-6 3.73), Tom Glavine (10-6 3.95), Greg Maddux (9-8 2.71) and Phil Niekro (6-2 2.74) form a fine nucleus on the hill. Cox just needs a dependable closer and middle relief. Boston's attack is paced by Pete Hill (.313-21-62-72), Buck Leonard (.263-20-68-61), Tommy Holmes (.325-3-39-45), Chipper Jones (.272-13-54-43), Rafael Furcal (.280-6-35-53) and Joe Torre (.283-4-27-28). The Pittsburgh Pirates (47-46) of Danny Murtaugh have been near the top of the league for part of the year, but have slowly drifted downward. A 12-18 record in the last month didn't help matters much. Currently the Bucs are in a tie for fourth with the Braves, 9 games in back of St. Louis. Murtaugh has three quality starters in Sam Leever (12-6 2.81), Deacon Phillippe (9-7 3.01) and John Candelaria (8-4 3.23) and the Pirates are solid in the bullpen with Roy Face (6-4 3.11), who has 9 saves. Putting runs on the scoreboard and one more starter is all Pittsburgh needs to move back in contention. So far this year they have struggled at bat, hitting only .249 as a team. That's a far cry from the .267 and .280 team BA in the last two seasons. They are next to last in home runs, too. Sadaharu Oh (.256-25-65-64) and Roberto Clemente (.282-10-54-40), Pie Traynor (.275-2-31-49) and Honus Wagner (.273-9-39-40) are the Bucs' best batters. After a slow start the Brooklyn Dodgers (45-48) put together a solid 19-12 month and edged upward into sixth place, 11 games out. Manager Tommy Lasorda's hitters have been the club's strong point. Cristobel Torriente (.294-17-40-57), Zach Wheat (.287-4-38-35), Gil Hodges (.279-16-47-57) and Yasumitsu Toyota (.273-13-41-35) have been the main ones with some help of late from Pee Wee Reese (.307-2-18-19) and Adrian Beltre (.306-7-37-37). On the mound Sandy Koufax (14-4 1.77) has been without peer in the AAA and appears headed for a Golden Arm Award. Lasorda's only other effective starting pitchers have been Don Newcombe (8-8 3.70) and Don Drysdale (4-2 3.33). Drysdale just been put in the rotation and has had several fine outings. Eric Gagne (4-2 3.50) has been sufficient as the closer with 8 saves. The seventh place Chicago Cubs (42-51) had the worst record of any club in the last month with a 9-21 mark. They have fallen 14 games back of St. Louis. The culprit is 4.42 ERA, worst in the AAA. Charlie Grimm only has one hurler under a 4.00 ERA, that is the dependable Mordecai Brown with a 3.34 ERA and a 9-8 record. The Chicubs score enough runs and rank third in the Alltime Allstar Association with 100 homers, but give up more homers than any team in both leagues. Chicago pitchers have yielded 105 home runs this season. The Bruins have a potent lineup with Turkey Stearnes (.282-25-73-67), Tetsuharu Kawakami (.308-7-53-52), Cool Papa Bell (.304-7-31-64) and Ernie Banks (.239-18-52-44). The doormat of the AAA is the Cincinnati Reds (32-59). Skipper Sparky Anderson's ballclub compiled a pathetic 10-19 record for the month and now have sunk 23 games behind, bad enough for last place. Not much to say about the Reds. Ted Kluszewski (.271-18-45-49) is have a pretty fair year with the bat and Pete Donahue (9-9 3.16) and Dolph Luque (6-4 3.32) have done a fine job on the mound, but that's about it. See EC's Dream Leagues Website here for Standings and League Reports: http://aaa.allsimbaseball.com/index....tpage&Itemid=1 Last edited by Eugene Church; 07-05-2006 at 07:38 PM.

07-05-2006, 11:28 PM	#490
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION Sunday, August 10, 1903 AMERICAN LEAGUE *AL RACE TIGHTENS...RED SOX UP BY 2 GAMES OVER A'S AND 2.5 AHEAD OF NY YANKS AND INDIANS* It is crunch time in the pennant race and the teams and the players, who step it up a notch will be the winner. The Boston Red Sox (68-55) cooled off a little, but still managed a 16-14 mark during the last 30 days to move ahead of the Yankees into sole possession of first place in the American League. A good mix of pitching and hitting is doing the job for the Joe McCarthy's Bosox. Bobby Doerr (.325-13-52-44), Johnny Pesky (.310-0-26-41) and the right field tandem of Carl Yastrzemski (.285-8-34-38) and Ellis Burks (.281-7-25-23) continue to perform well and have played vital roles in their resurgence the last two months. Mainstays Ted Williams (.278-23-79-74), Nomar Garciaparra (.270-11-58-66) and Oscar Charleston (.257-22-58-77) are having solid seasons. Top hurlers are George Ruth (13-10 3.24), Pedro Martinez (10-7 3.24) and Roger Clemems (12-10 3.82). Di ck Radatz (9-4 2.79) leads the bullpen corps with 9 saves. The key to Boston's season probably hinges on fourth and fifth starters, Smokey Joe Wood (7-7 3.91) and Luis Tiant (4-4 3.43). The Philadelphia Athletics (65-56) climbed ahead of the New York Yankees into second place with a 16-14 month. The A's are two games out of first and a half game ahead of the third place Yanks and Cleveland Indians. Connie Mack's club continue to hit well and got some fine pitching during the period. Leading the Athletics' hit parade are Jimmie Foxx (.292-21-71-72), Alejandro Oms (.279-12-66-63), Al Simmons (.272-6-58-65), John Henry Lloyd (.272-18-57-72), Frank Baker (.264-14-49-62) and Shigeo Nagashima (.268-9-70-53). Two pitchers are carrying the team, Ed Rommel (15-4 2.90) and Ed Plank (15-8 3.49). How the season goes will be determined by the 3,4 and 5 starters, Catfish Hunter (7-7 3.22) and rookies Tim Hudson (7-7 4.18) and Barry Zito (4-8 3.61). The New York Yankees (65-57) floundered over the period and fell out of the top spot in the AL. The Bronx Bombers finished the month with a 13-16 record and dipped to a third place tie with the Cleveland Indians, 2.5 games behind. Hitting homers at a record-setting pace, all eight regulars have 10 or more fourbaggers. All together they have crushed 162 out of the park. The Alltime Allstar Association standard was set last year by the Boston Braves of the National League with 182. The Yanks hold the AL mark with 162, set last season. The NY power brigade is led by Babe Ruth (.266-31-76-79), Mickey Mantle (.213-22-40-42), Lou Gehrig (.290-17-68-92), Joe DiMaggio (.295-17-58-71), Joe Gordon (.228-17-80-61), Derek Jeter (.267-15-38-74), Graig Nettles (.191-14-29-30) and Yogi Berra (.299-11-40-26). On the mound, the starter standouts have been Herb Pennock (14-5 3.29), Vic Raschi (12-7 3.40) and Whitey Ford (11-9 2.74) and Mariano Rivera (7-2 1.57) with 8 saves in the bullpen. Manager Casey Stengel is still waiting for Lefty Gomez (8-12 4.30) to straighten out and pitched like he did the last two years. He totaled 16 and 15 victories and a 2.97 ERA in 1901 and 1902. Casey needs a fifth starter to contend, too. He is hoping Ed Lopat might be the man. Skipper Steve O'Neill piloted the Cleveland Indians (65-57) to the second best mark in the AL last month. Their 17-12 record was topped only by the Washington Senators, who shocked the league with a magnificent 20-12 mark. This productive month pushed the Tribe up into a third place deadlock with New York, only trailing by 2.5 games. Stout arms are still Cleveland's best attribute. Addie Joss (16-5 2.27), Herb Score (13-9 2.20), Early Wynn (11-8 4.37), Bob Feller (10-10 3.54) and Bob Lemon (8-7 4.22) are as good as they get in AAA pitching circles. Fireman Doug Jones (7-2 2.18) has also stood out with 10 saves. The Indians hit just enough to get by. Their stats leaders are Willie Wells (.310-16-75-70), Nap Lajoie (.301-12-53-77), Tris Speaker (.281-10-51-63), Larry Doby (.260-20-81-73) and Rocky Colavito (.239-17-60-41). Sonny Siebert (1-1 2.93) may get the call soon to get a few starts. However, hitting will be the vital element in Cleveland late season title charge. The Chicago White Sox (60-62) had a good month and rose up to fifth place with a 16-13 record and now stand 7.5 games behind the league leader. The Pale Hose good pitching returned. That was the primary reason for the upward movement. Their 3.64 is second to Cleveland's 3.36 ERA. However the White Sox suffered a huge loss, when the American League's best RBI man, Frank Thomas (248-22-81-62) broke his foot and could miss the rest of the regular season. He could possibly be back for the postseason. Zeke Bonura (.280-0-4-4) was purchased from New Orleans to replace him. Top hill producers for Manager Al Lopez are Ed Walsh (16-8 2.89), Billy Pierce (14-4 2.70) and Wilbur Wood (12-9 3.09). Rookie Doc White (5-13 3.74) has pitched much better than his W-L ledger would indicate. Still Lopez needs one more starter. He is hoping Mark Buehrle (3-4 3.70) will be his fifth starter. He rejoined the club around the allstar break. Shoeless Joe Jackson (.318-7-65-70) is having another outstanding season. Louis Santop (.317-12-48-38), since taking over as the number one catcher fulltime, looks like the real thing. Eddie Collins (.265-3-35-77) and rookie Johnny Mostil (.265-6-39-62) still are contributing with their excellent defense and some offense. Earl Weaver's St. Louis Browns (58-65) have fallen on hard times and continued to spiral downward with a 10-16 mark during the last 30 days. They trail the Bosox by 10 games now and in the sixth spot. Top quality pitching by Jim Palmer (12-8 3.82), Mike Cuellar (10-9 3.47), Mike Mussina (10-9 3.74), Dennis Martinez (8-9 3.89) and tough luck Hoyt Wilhelm (6-13 3.16). The Brownies best hitters have been George Sisler (.304-4-43-67) and Ken Williams (.278-10-62-62). Rookie outfielder Johnny Mostil (.274-10-39-47) is enjoying a good freshman season, while vets Josh Gibson (.225-20-65-61) and Ed Murray (.243-17-59-60) deliver the longballs, but haven't hit consistently. Weaver has given up on this year and will work some newcomers in as starters go give them a look and a chance to make the starting rotation. The Detroit Tigers (54-68) played miserably in July, going 9-20 for the month. to tumble to seventh place and 13.5 games out. Their team hitting fell off and so did the pitching. In fact, the team ERA increased to 4.34, the worst in the Alltime Alllstar Association. Starting pitchers Hal Newhouser (12-9 3.90) and Virgil "Fire" Trucks (9-7 4.08) have done well at time. Recalled from the minors at midseason, lefty relief specialist, John Hiller (7-2 3.57), has tacked up 2 saves. Regulars Charlie Gehringer (.295-13-79-70), Hank Greenberg (.282-19-82-66), Harvey Kuenn (.297-7-40-58), Ty Cobb (.297-6-39-89) and Rudy York (.241-15 71-56) have produced most of the Tigs' offense. Harry Heilmann (.332-1-22-20), benched for most of the season, now is making up for lost time. And can you believe it, the Washington Senators compiled the best mark in both leagues this last month, sporting a splendid 20-12 record. Nonetheless, they are still 14 games out and in the cellar in the American League, but now only a half game out of seventh. They did it with pitching as the mound staff lowered the Team ERA from 4.15 to 3.85 during the period. Walter Johnson (13-7 2.84), Jim Kaat (12-7 3.20) and Camilo Pascual (11-11 3.98) dominated the AL. Recalled recently from the Chattanooga Lookouts, Firpo Marberry (6-1 3.76) has also been sensational. Rod Carew (.302-4-56-58), Heinie Manush (.296-5-47-56) and Cecil Travis (.287-1-39-55) have been the most productive batters for Manager Clark Griffith. See League Reports, Stats and Standing on EC's Dream Leagues website: http://aaa.allsimbaseball.com/index....tpage&Itemid=1 National League will be posted tomorrow. Last edited by Eugene Church; 07-05-2006 at 11:32 PM.

07-07-2006, 08:13 PM	#491
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION Sunday, August 10, 1903 NATIONAL LEAGUE *REDBIRDS STILL RULE THE NL ROOST BY 4.5 GAMES OVER NY GIANTS* The St. Louis Cardinals (71-51) continued to play well, although they did taper off a bit with a 15-14 record last month. It was still enough to increase their National League margin to 4.5 games over the second place New York Giants. Tony Larussa's Cards are heads and shoulders above other clubs in batting with a .273 team average. St. Louis has a solid lineup with Stan Musial (.324-23-91-67), Rogers Hornsby (.308-25-80-84), Joe Medwick (.287-14-76-54), Frankie Frisch (.301-10-52-93), Johnny Mize (.268-21-68-72), Walker Cooper (.287-12-47-46) and Chick Hafey (.283-15-55-68). The Redbirds have even hit 133 homers to boot. They are tied for first place in that category with the Braves. Combined with the fine pitching of Satchel Paige (14-5 3.29), John Tudor (14-4 3.70) and Matt Morris (10-1 2.96), the Redbirds are the team to beat. All they really need is a good finisher. Larussa has just started to use Bob Gibson to close and he has done a fine job. Gibson could be the final element needed to win the pennant. The second place New York Giants (67-56) are clinging close to the Cardinals. They topped out at 15-15 last month and are now 4.5 games behind them. Manager John McGraw is having to depend almost totally on pitching and powerball. New York is second best with a 3.41 ERA...the Phils are number one in that category at 3.36. Rookie Sal Maglie (12-6 3.51) has prospered without run support, but Carl Hubbell (10-12 3.20), Juan Marichal (8-9 3.10) and Christy Mathewson (8-6 2.46) have suffered. Home runs are the only thing keeping the New Yorkers in the race. Barry Bonds (.274-32-67-84), Willie Mays (.250-24-59-52) and Mel Ott (.288-19-78-69) have hit enough to keep them in the first division. McGraw is hoping lefty Johnny Antonelli (4-3 2.98) is the answer to his late relief problems. It looks like the Giants are the only team with a chance to catch St. Louis. Getting Christy Mathewson back after a month's absence will really help. Danny Murtaugh's Pittsburgh Pirates (63-59) stayed in the race with a 16-13 mark and slipped into third place, just ahead of the Braves and the Phils, but 8 games out of first. It is not likely they can close that much ground in the last month of the season. The Bucs hitters have let the team down this year, batting only .251. They are next-to-last in home runs with 98. But the pitchers have done a good job, third in the NL with a 3.69 ERA. Sam Leever (15-9 3.55), John Candelaria (12-6 3.54) and Deacon Phillippe (10-9 3.33) have done well in starting roles and Roy Face (9-6 2.69) has been outstanding in relief with 14 saves, tops in both leagues and tied with the White Sox's Bobby Thigpen. Only hitters of note are Manny Sanguillen (.322-5-31-33), Sadaharu Oh (.260-30-83-79), Honus Wagner (.278-10-50-56) and Roberto Clemente (.271-13-67-51). If the hitters step it up, Pittsburgh could challenge New York for the runnerup spot in the National League. St. Louis looks hard to beat this year. The Boston Braves (63-60) remained in fourth place in the standings on the basis of a 17-15 record in the last month. They are tied with the Philadelphia Phillies, who slipped from third place, 8.5 games in back of St. Louis. It was the Braves' pitching that stood out as well as their hitting. They are third in with a .260 BA and tied with the Cardinals for the home run lead with 133. Greg Maddux (13-10 2.50), Warren Spahn (13-9 3.52), Phil Niekro (9-4 2.85) and Tom Glavine (12-10 4.1) are Bobby Cox's dependable starters. His best hitter has been Pete Hill (.331-31-83-95), who is having a career year and is line for post season awards. Buck Leonard (.270-28-94-81), Chipper Jones (.279-22-77-59) and Tommy Holmes (.323-4-46-57) have also been the productive for him. Cox has a very sound ballclub and could nudge up close to the Giants and contend for the second spot in the league. The Philadelphia Phillies (63-60) didn't have a good month and fell from third place with an 11-15 record. The Phils are now in a fourth place tied with Boston, 8.5 games out. Danny Ozark's club is still pitching and hitting well. They are still number one with a 3.36 ERA and second with a .264 BA, but they are dead last in the National League with 91 homers. Philadelphia has a solid pitching staff, paced by starters Pete Alexander (13-8 3.30), Curt Schilling (11-9 2.47), Ahiro Bessho (10-10 3.29), Jiro Noguchi (11-12 4.12) and Rick Wise (6-2 2.81). In the bullpen, relief ace Turk Farrell (2-5 2.77) has had a marvelous rookie season with 13 saves. Richie Ashburn (.358-0-27-52) has revitalized the club and won back the center field position, that he lost last year. He and Lefty O'Doul (.353-10-76-62) are running 1-2 for the NL batting title. Chuck Klein (.260-25-83-64) is still hitting homers and driving in runs from the cleanup spot. Rookie first baseman Don Hurst (.244-17-68-57) has been a plus, too. The poor July probably cost the Phillies any chance to contend for the league championship. It looks like fifth is the best they will be able to do. As hot as the Brooklyn Dodgers (56-66) were in June, they were just as cold in July. The Bums had the best record (19-12) in the National League one month and then the worst (8-18) the next. They are now tied for sixth with the Chicago Cubs and trail St. Louis by 15 games. Sandy Koufax (15-7 2.14) has been outstanding, bordering on brilliant this year. Only he and Don Newcombe (11-10 3.22) have been reliable pitchers for Manager Tommy Lasorda. In relief Eric Gagne (6-3 2.88) had stood out with 10 saves. On the offensive side, no one is having a real good season. Most of them are having average years. The best in Lasorda's lineup are Zach Wheat (.300-6-53-48), Adrian Beltre (.295-15-54-52) and Cristobel Torriente (.286-18-48-60). Brooklyn will have to wait until next year or later. Sixth may be the best they can do this season. Tied with the Dodgers for the sixth spot in the NL standings are the Chicago Cubs (56-66), who were 14-15 last month and are now 15 games behind the leader. The Bruins are last with a 4.12 ERA and third in home runs with 126. Turkey Stearnes (.285-32-92-83) is again putting up some great numbers and could be in line for his second consecutive Golden Bat honors. Helping him out with the offense are Tetsuharu Kawakami (.303-9-63-61), Cool Papa Bell (.302-11-40-87) and Ernie Banks (.238-22-65-55). Bill Dahlen (.281-14-53-53) has been quite productive since reclaiming his shortstop position. Sixth place looks like the best the Chicubs will do this year. Just like the cellar-dwellers in the American League, the Washington, the Cincinnati Reds (50-71) stunned the National League with the best record. However, the Redlegs are still solidly in last place, 20.5 games in the rear of the top club, St. Louis. In July, Cincy did it with timely hitting and timely pitching. Ted Kluszewski (.278-25-70-54) and Pete Rose (.292-3-38-53) have been Sparky Anderson's top performers with the bat. On the mound, Pete Donahue (12-11 2.88) has had a remarkable year with 3 shutouts and 16 complete games. Other quality performers have been Dolph Luque (9-6 3.78), Kenny Raffensberger (7-6 3.76) and Jim Maloney (9-11 3.77). Looks like the basement again for the Redlegs. See League Reports, Stats and Standing on EC's Dream Leagues website: http://aaa.allsimbaseball.com/index....tpage&Itemid=1 Last edited by Eugene Church; 07-11-2006 at 11:41 AM.

07-11-2006, 11:39 AM	#492
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	I just finished the 1903 season. Season wrap up on the way. World Series will begin soon.

07-12-2006, 09:59 PM	#493
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION Monday, September 8, 1903 AMERICAN LEAGUE *RED SOX PULL AWAY IN LAST MONTH...WIN AL CROWN BY 6 GAMES OVER A'S* It was a great season for the American League champions, the Boston Red Sox (90-64 .255 BA 3.70 ERA), who started off slowly for the first two months, but then put it into high gear and won going away. In the last month of the year the Bosox finished 22-9 and won the title by 6 games over Philadelphia. In July, Manager Joe McCarthy put Bobby Doerr (.304-16-64-64-56), Johnny Pesky (.308-0-38-59) and platooned Carl Yastrzemski (.301-12-45-46) and Ellis Burks (.278-10-34-30) into the lineups and away they went. Together with a solid bunch of regulars like Ted Williams (.290-34-110-99), David Ortiz (.242-27-107-82), Nomar Garciaparra (.276-13-76-83) and Oscar Charleston (.247-26-70-96) they brought the AL title to Boston. Solid pitching from starters George Ruth (17-11 3.14), Roger Clemens (16-10 3.58) and Pedro Martinez (14-9 3.40) and relief ace, Dick Radatz (10-4 2.89 14 svs) also helped pave the way. The second place Philadelphia Athletics (84-70 .266 BA 3.99 ERA) of Connie Mack lost three star hurlers at the beginning of the season and had some huge holes to fill. But they did and made it a good race. No one really expected them to finish in the first division. The A's rung up a 19-14 mark over the last month, but could not catch the streaking Red Sox. A well-balanced attack was their strong point, led by Jimmie Foxx (.281-26-89-90), Shigeo Nagashima (.281-15-93-72), Al Simmons (.285-9-79-85), Alejandro Oms (.288-16-82-84) and John Henry Lloyd (.271-21-70-90). On the hill, Ed Rommel (17-6 3.17) surprised with a very fine season. As expected Ed Plank (18-9 3.20) was outstanding and Jim "Catfish" Hunter (12-9 3.44) and rookie Tim Hutson (11-8 4.27) were very good at times. Philadelphia just did not have the pitching to stay with the Red Sox. It was another disappointing year for the third place New York Yankees (83-71 .244 BA 3.71) under Manager Casey Stengel as they finished 7 games out, despite an 18-14 record the last month. The pitchers did their part. Whitey Ford (17-9 2.48), Herb Pennock (16-8 3.25) and Vic Raschi 914-9 3.39) were as good a threesome as there were in the league. And the home run hitters more than did their job with a AAA alltime record of 201 homers. Babe Ruth (.262-40-94-98) again led the AL with 40 and got plenty of help from Joe DiMaggio (.300-21-74-88), Lou Gehrig (.275-23-86-108), Joe Gordon (.228-20-96-76), Mickey Mantle 9.229-27-55-58) and Derek Jeter (.268-18-57-90) in the power department. But Stengel never did find effective starters in the #4 and #5 slots. Lefty Gomez slumped to a 10-15 mark and ballooned to a 4.49 ERA. And the .244 team BA was a killer, too. Not enough people on base when the longballs were hit. The preseason pick, the Cleveland Indians (80-74 .258 BA 3.44 ERA), came in fourth, 10 games out of first. The Tribe only went 15-17 over the last 30 days. Manager Steve O'Neill just couldn't come up with the hitting to match his excellent mound corps. Addie Joss (18-9 2.23) and Herb Score (16-11 2.38) were two of the best in baseball. Bob Feller (14-10 3.10) has a solid season, too. Early Wynn (13-13 4.65) and Bob Lemon (10-7 4.03) has their good moments as well. In the bullpen, Doug Jones (3-7 3.00) was fairly dependable with 14 saves. Cleveland's downfall came with the bat. O'Neill's only reliable hitters were Larry Doby (.278-28-112-90) and Willie Wells (.310-20-92-95), who both had truly fine years, and Nap Lajoie (.297-12-62-93) and Tris Speaker (.292-14-63-83) had good seasons. A couple of more good hitters and the Indians could have made a race out of it. The St. Louis Browns (75-79 .242 BA 3.62 ERA) were expected to finish fifth in the title chase and that is where they finished, 15 games out. They culminated the year with a good 17-14 month. Earl Weaver's club suffered in the hitting department. The Browns were last in the American League at .242. Only the AL batting champ, George Sisler (.313-7-53-90) and Ken Williams (.283-25-91-81) delivered with any kind of consistency. Josh Gibson (.232-29-88-65) and Eddie Murray (.235-22-75-70) hit one out occasionally, but little else. Weaver's starting pitchers did quite well, considering the lack of run support. His starting five put some good numbers on the ledger sheet. Mike Cuellar (13-12 3.48), Jim Palmer (13-11 3.94), Dennis Martinez (12-10 3.70), Mike Mussina (10-11 3.86) and Hoyt Wilhelm (8-15 3.21) all deserved to win more games than they did, especially Wilhelm. Not a whole lot was expected from the Al Lopez's Chicago White Sox (73-81 .250 BA 3.79 ERA) and they came through as expected and ended up in the number six spot in the standings, trailing the Bosox by 17 games. During the last month of the season, the Pale Hose put us a 13-19 record. The Chisox's trio of starters, Ed Walsh (19-10 3.27), Billy Pierce (16-7 2.70) and Wilbur Wood (14-13 3.34) can match just about anybody, but the White Sox have little else. In the bullpen, Bobby Thigpen's (5-12 3.38) numbers look good with 17 saves, but not when you see his won-lost mark. Limp bats abound in Chicago. Louis Santop (.305-18-61-53) was the best, but played in only 105 games. Lopez also lost his slugging cleanup hitter and RBI guy, Frank Thomas (.248-22-81-62), the last third of the season due to injury. He might have led the AL in RBIs with a full season. Shoeless Joe Jackson (.288-9-72-81) suffered an offseason. The only rookies that contributed were center fielder Johnny Mostil (.278-8-55-77) and pitcher Doc White (7-16 3.80), who pitched better than his record would indicate. It was another dismal season for the Detroit Tigers (67-87 .254 BA 4.19 ERA) with another seventh place finish under Hughie Jennings, 23 games out of first place. The Tigers topped off a bad year with a bad final month at 13-19. Top stick performers for Detroit were Ty Cobb (.301-7-47-109), Hank Greenberg (.273-23-100-82), Charlie Gehringer (.281-14-96-78) and Rudy York (.252-24-93-76). On the hill Hal Newhouser (15-12 3.78) did a yeoman's job. After two seventh place finishes, the Washington Senators (64-90 .253 BA 3.98 ERA) finally hit rock bottom. The Nats finished last for the season and last for the month with a 10-21 mark. Manager Clark Griffith only had a few things to brag about, mainly on the pitching side. Walter Johnson (14-10 3.23) and Jim Kaat (12-7 3.28) stood out, while Camilo Pascual (12-14 3.92) was a tough customer on occasion. Only two midseason additions, Tony Oliva (.287-12-47-45) and slugger Harmon Killebrew (.229-17-42-38) were productive batters. The Senators need an infusion of new ballplayers next year. The current roster just can't compete in the American League. See League Reports, Stats and Standing on EC's Dream Leagues website: http://aaa.allsimbaseball.com/index....tpage&Itemid=1 Last edited by Eugene Church; 07-12-2006 at 10:05 PM.

07-12-2006, 11:34 PM	#494
glenn Major Leagues Join Date: May 2006 Location: PA Posts: 407	I'm certainly glad I stumbled upon this! Very nice concept, and very nice job. I just spent a few hours going through 25 pages of posts, and checked out your website. Was very nice to follow along over the first few years, and I'll definitely be back to follow along.

07-13-2006, 12:50 AM	#496
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	National League Final Regular Season summary coming Thursday. Then it's the World Series beginning Friday. Last edited by Eugene Church; 07-13-2006 at 12:51 AM.

07-13-2006, 01:06 AM	#497
Church OOTP Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 273	This is really great - keep it up! __________________ Church's Bottom of the 9th YouTube channel devoted to OOTP Commish of the late, great iMLB Online League

07-13-2006, 04:47 PM	#499
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION Monday, September 8, 1903 NATIONAL LEAGUE *CARDINALS BREEZE TO NATIONAL LEAGUE PENNANT BY 6 GAMES OVER BUCS* Because of poor pitching, the St. Louis Cardinals (88-66 .275 BA 3.73 ERA) had been slotted for a fifth place finish by the Baseball Writers of American in the preseason poll. However, they didn't pay any attention to that and took over first place in June and never gave it up. The Redbirds completed the last month with a 17-15 mark and were never challenged. The only team in hailing distance was the Giants and they wilted in August with a pathetic 12-21 record and fell 9 games off the pace at season's end. Tony Larussa's club hit everything in sight, 11 points higher than the #2 team, the Phils. What a lineup. Stan Musial (.341-30-117-94) scorched NL hurlers the entire year and finished the season with a 30-game hitting streak still intact. The NL and AAA record is 31 by Pie Traynor in 1901. Stan the Man was backed up by plethora of productive players: Rogers Hornsby (.311-28-95-108), Johnny Mize (.270-27-97-88), Joe Medwick (.286-15-87-68), Frankie Frisch (.304-11-64-116), Chick Hafey (.288-21-69-82) and Walker Cooper (.285-16-64-55). And the Cards had some good pitching to go with it, too. Satchel Paige (19-6 3.26), Matt Morris (13-2 2.76) and John Tudor (16-7 4.05) were Larussa's best with some good outings by Dizzy Dean (11-7 3.85). St. Louis' only weakness was the relief corps. Larussa never found anybody he could depend on in the bullpen. But I guess he didn't need it, did he? Manager Danny Murtaugh brought the Pittsburgh Pirates (82-72 .254 BA 3.57 ERA) in at the runnerup spot, 6 games behind the winners. A bad June cost the Bucs a chance to contend with St. Louis. They went 15-16 the last month of the year. Murtaugh depended on his starting mound corps of Sam Leever (20-10 3.15), John Candelaria (16-7 3.17) and Deacon Phillippe (13-12 3.67) and his reliable righthander, Roy Face (9-8 2.90 17 saves) in the bullpen. Longball threat Sadaharu Oh (.268-39-110-102) continued to pound the ball. Second year man Koji Yamamoto (.331-16-49-49) may have won the center field slot with a fine second half of the season. Manny Sanguillen (.302-5-46-44) looks like he has taken over as the number one backstop. Roberto Clemente (.265-15-84-68) had a decent season and delivered RBIs when they were needed. The Pirates need to have their top players hit the way they did in the league's first two seasons to move up next year. Too many of them had down years this season. Heads will probably roll at the Polo Grounds. This was supposed to be the year of the New York Giants (79-75 .248 BA 3.54 ERA). John McGraw expected them to win it all. The BWA thought they would win it all. They didn't...and looked badly doing it...even though they tied for third with the Phillies, 9 games in the rear of St. Louis. The Giants only trailed by 4 games going into the last month, but went belly up with a dismal 12-21 record. McGraw had decent pitching, but not much hitting. Only the hapless Cincinnati Reds hit worse. Only Mel Ott (.276-28-97-88) had a good season. Yet he was the best average they had at only .276. Everybody else was way down. Bill Terry (.243-5-59-42), Willie Mays (.261-26-68-65), Martin Dihigo (.251-18-53-82) and Barry Bonds (.248-35-76-95). And the pitchers weren't much better. Rookie Sal Maglie (13-9 3.62) was the best. Carl Hubbell (10-15 3.53) was not the King Carl of old. Christy Mathewson (11-9 2.34) was outstanding, but didn't get much run support. He also missed 10 starts due to injury. Jeff Tesreau (13-12 3.66) started off great at 11-3, but then faded to 2-9 in the second half of the season. All in all, not a good year in New York. As bad as it was in New York, it was that good for the Philadelphia Phillies (79-75 .264 BA 3.49 ERA). Previewed to finish last again, they rose from the ashes and had a rebirth. They wrapped up the year with a 16-15 mark and deadlocked New York for third place, 9 games out of first. Skipper Danny Ozark's crew was second to the Redbirds in batting and the National League's best in ERA. The rock solid pitching rotation was led by Pete Alexander (15-10 3.28), Ahiro Bessho (14-11 3.25), Jiro Noguchi (13-13 4.13), Curt Schilling (12-13 3.06) and Rick Wise (8-4 2.81). Ozark had a sensational relief specialist, too. Rookie Turk Farrell (3-6 2.86) appeared in 66 games and had 18 saves, both tied for the league's best with the Cubs' Bruce Sutter. On the batting side of the tally sheet, Lefty O'Doul (.348-13-93-81) won the NL batting crown and had a fine season. Chuck Klein (.281-32-108-82) was still cracking homers and driving in runs. Three other gift packages did exceedingly well: 2B Pinky Whitney (.293-9-56-52), rookie 1B Don Hurst (.247-23-92-70) and the revitalized CF Richie Ashburn (.329-1-34-70) all contributed to the Phils resurgence. New 3B Scott Rolen (.232-14-46-48) didn't hit much for average, but showed power potential and the ability to deliver with men on base. The future looks good for the City of Brotherly Love. Jolly Cholly Grimm's Chicago Cubs (77-77 .255 BA 3.95 ERA) never did recover from a horrible June (9-21), but did close out the season in style with a sparkling 21-11 mark in August and September. This moved them up to fifth place, 11 games off the pace. RF Turkey Stearnes (.284-45-118-109) had another marvelous season and set a new AAA standard for home runs in a season with 45, breaking Sadaharu Oh's 1902 mark of 44. He also topped the NL with 118 RBIs and finished second with Boston's Pete Hill in runs scored with 109. Cool Papa Bell (.287-14-51-107), Tetsuharu Kawakami (.301-13-84-75) and Ernie Banks (.244-29-82-71) chipped in some good offense, too. Bill Dahlen (.285-15-59-67) was solid at shortstop. On the hill, Moe Brown (16-11 2.97) stood out for the third straight year. Ed Reulbach (14-10 3.66) has his best season. Larry French (10-6 3.81) and Fergie Jenkins (12-14 4.03) helped carry the load as well. In the bullpen Bruce Sutter (6-7 3.21) tied Philly's Turk Farrell for the league lead with 66 appearances and 18 saves. Maybe next year the Chicubs can get out of their rut and move up into the first division. This was to be the Boston Braves' (75-79 .253 BA 3.88 ERA) year. Bobby Cox had the pitching, he had the hitting and he had the votes of the baseball writers, who rated them to battle the Giants for the NL championship. But games are won on the diamonds, not in the newspapers. The Braves started off poorly, kicked it up in midseason and then fizzled at the end. They finished the last month at 12-19 and slipped to sixth, 13 games behind. Cox's starting rotation was still solid, but the hitters didn't fulfill their part of the bargain. The team batting average fell from .262 and 182 homers in 1902 to .253 and 159 homers this year. Warren Spahn (16-12 3.30), Greg Maddux (16-13 3.00), Phil Niekro (10-7 3.08) and Tommy Glavine (14-13 3.86) lost a few they shouldn't have, if the support had been what it was last year. No reliable relievers also compounded the problem. In spite of the drop in offensive output, several players enjoyed good to excellent seasons. Pete Hill (.304-35-96-109), Buck Leonard (.254-31-107-94), Tommy Holmes (.328-8-60-72) and Chipper Jones (.267-27-88-76) were club leaders. The Brooklyn Dodgers (72-82 .253 BA 3.82 ERA) were really looking forward to this season. The sportswriters had predicted them to finish fourth, but said it could be anywhere from second to sixth, depending on Dazzy Vance's arm. Well Dazzy recorded his worst season so far...4-24 with a 4.24 ERA...and the Dodgers ended up seventh. Manager Tommy Lasorda didn't get any pitching or any hitting this year and the Bums plunged in the standings. Brooklyn fans had little to cheer about except for Sandy Koufax (20-8 2.16), who had a career year. Even if Vance had approached his 1901 won-lost mark of 19-and-6, the Dodgers would still have had a bad season. One other positive was Eric Gagne (8-3 2.51), who proved himself to be a capable closer with 63 games and 11 saves. None of the Dodgers potent hitters produced. Zach Wheat (.318-8-67-62), Adrian Beltre (.284-20-76-66) and Cristobel Torriente (.288-21-66-76) were the best of the lot. And finally we come to poor old suffering Sparky Anderson's Cincinnati Reds (64-90 .240 BA 4.00 ERA), who were expected to finish last for the third straight year and sadly they lived up to those expectations. The Reds played 14-19 ball the last month of the season and ended up 24 games out. Only bright spots were the starting rotation, who deserved a better fate. Dolph Luque (13-7 4.05), Pete Donahue (13-16 3.06), Jim Maloney (11-13 3.61) and Kenny Raffensberger (11-9 3.49) usually kept them in the ballgame, but the batters couldn't win it for them. Pete Rose (.276-3-47-65) and Ted Kluszewski (.255-31-86-77) topped the hitters. Frank Robinson (.248-22-58-56) and Johnny Bench (.206-25-60-40) provided a few homers, but not many hits. Rookie Paul O'Neill (.260-15-43-39) put up some pretty good numbers in his 76 starts. Not a very impressive season for Cincy. But "hope always springs eternal " they say. I guess the Redlegs will just have to wait until next year...or maybe the next...or maybe the next. See League Reports, Stats and Standings here: http://aaa.allsimbaseball.com/index....tpage&Itemid=1 Last edited by Eugene Church; 07-14-2006 at 12:33 PM.

07-13-2006, 08:41 PM	#500
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,195	ALLTIME ALLSTAR ASSOCIATION Tuesday, September 9, 1903 *1903 AAA WORLD SERIES SET TO START TOMORROW IN BOSTON...RUTH HURLS FOR BOSOX...TUDOR FOR REDBIRDS...ITS A BEST-OF-NINE SERIES...ST. LOUIS FAVORED* It will be two southpaws on the mound to kick off the 1903 Alltime Allstar Association's World Series. Manager Joe McCarthy of the Boston Red Sox will send George Ruth to the mound in the opening game, while Skipper Tony Larussa of the St. Louis Cardinals will counter with John Tudor. Ruth chalked up a fine 17-11 record this season with a 3.14 ERA. He made 30 starts, completed 24 of them and hurled 4 shutouts. Tudor registered a 16-7 mark in 26 starting assignments. He tossed 14 complete games and had two shutouts. Stats show that both clubs have more trouble with lefties than righthanders. Boston is 56-35 (.615) against righties and 34-29 (.540) against portsiders. The Cards compiled a 66-44 mark (.600) against righthanders and only a 22-22 record (.500) against lefthanders. The Bosox only have one other lefty, reliever Tom Burgmeier (3-3 4.97). St. Louis has Harry "the Cat" Brecheen (11-14 3.54), a starter during the regular season. Boston has 5 lefthanded batters in the lineup, while the Cardinals only have two. Homestanding Boston will host the first two games of the series this Wednesday and Thursday. The two clubs are evenly matched, but the BWA has picked the National League Redbirds to take the American League Red Sox in a tight series. St. Louis is given the edge because of their hitting. The experts rate both team's starting pitching about equal, but give Boston the edge in the bullpen. Last edited by Eugene Church; 07-13-2006 at 11:54 PM.