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Week 2 Summary

Week 2 is in the books and after the offensive explosion of Week 1, it is fair to say the pitchers started to reassert themselves in Week 2. Both league ERA's dropped by over half a run and the league batting averages dipped as well. This was to be expected of course, but it is always interesting to see how the pull of statistics to normal comes into play.

The usual suspects in the AL have already drifted toward the top of the standings. Boston is scoring just under eight runs a game and hasn't won or lost any games by only one run as of yet. Cleveland has played strong so far as well, and New York has played well also although they ran into to a bit of a buzz saw when facing the Red Sox offense. Philadelphia and Chicago have played like .500 teams - some good, some bad. Detroit's pitching has really suffered so far, but they'll come around. St. Louis lost their first six games but won their next five. Washington is going to have a long season.

Bob Dillinger
In the NL St. Louis got off to a fast start and sit in first place at the moment, but New York and Pittsburgh have played well also and are right on their tails. Boston and Philadelphia have been up and down and their .500 record reflects that. Cincinnati and Chicago are struggling as expected, but what was not expected was to see Brooklyn struggling as they have. They are last in the NL in hitting and next-to-last in Team ERA as they have really just haven’t clicked as a team yet. Of course, they had two series against the red-hot New York Giants and the Phillies were able to take advantage of Brooklyn's temporary malaise as well. I suspect the Brooklynites will turn it around shortly.

Andy Pafko
George Kell (.435), Birdie Tebbetts (.419), Vic Wertz (.404), and Luke Appling (.400) are the only AL regulars hitting over .400 at this point. Kell has a hit in every game so far. Bob Dillinger and Ferris Fain each have 22 hits, and Kell and Phil Rizzuto both have 20. The Red Sox have five players in the top seven of runs scored, with Ted Williams (15), Vern Stephens (15), and Johnny Pesky (14) at the top. Bobby Doerr, with his pair of six RBI games, leads with 18 RBI's, ahead of teammates Williams and Stephens, both with 16. Hank Majeski has eight doubles, and Stephens leads with five homeruns, ahead of three others with four. Ellis Kinder and Eddie Lopat are both off to 3-0 starts in the pitching department.

Harry Brecheen
Phil Cavarretta (.404) and Ralph Kiner (.400) are the last in the NL over .400, and there are several others right behind them. Cavaretta and Richie Ashburn each have 21 hits, just ahead of Granny Hamner and Kiner, both with 20. Red Schoendienst, Sid Gordon and Kiner are tied for the lead with 13 runs scored. Hank Sauer, Eddie Bockman, and Bobby Thomson all have 16 RBI's. Eddie Waitkus has six doubles, with a ton of players right behind him. Andy Pafko, Johnny Mize and Sauer lead the homerun parade with six. Harry Brecheen and Warren Spahn are both off to 3-0 starts.

My homerun totals are still ahead of the curve, albeit less so than last week. Walks are rounding around to normal, although strikeouts are unusually high yet. I need to keep the foot on the pedal with regards to sacrifice hits and steal, and AL saves totals can be brought about with a few good weeks. Overall, I would say so far, so good. Most importantly, Brooklyn will get things going shortly. Many of the teams have started their first rounds of early season cuts, and new players are getting ready to make their debuts coming up. Several teams have trades occurring shortly as well.


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