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Week 4 Summary

Week 4 is complete and if anything the pennant races, while it's still early, have continued to stay tight. Multiple teams in both leagues are within shouting distance of the top and none of the teams are giving any quarter. In the AL, homeruns, batting averages and ERA's continued to level off, but in the NL all three took a small jump this week. Regardless, this replay has been funtastic from the first pitch and there is certainly more fun to follow.

Before Sunday's games, there were five NL teams that started the day with fourteen wins, and all five are looki
Luke Appling
ng back at their shoulder at the sixth place Brooklyn Dodgers who have started gathering steam. St. Louis currently sits on top with their good combination of starting, relieving, hitting, and defense. New York has good pitching and plenty of power, and they have used them both to good avail so far. Boston has shown good potential, but just lost first baseman Earl Torgeson for the rest of the year and if Johnny Sain can't start pitching better they are going to struggle. Philadelphia is a young team and plays like it as they play well sometimes, but sometimes not. Pittsburgh has spent much of the last two weeks in first place, but holes in their lineup seem to be a limiting factor. Brooklyn is now second in the NL in hitting and first in runs scored, and if they ever get their pitching straightened out they will be making a charge to the top. Rumors say the Brooklyn front office is considering promoting a young Don Newcombe up to the big club to help out with the rotation. Chicago and Cincinnati play hard and can surprise an opponent, but the other teams are just too strong for either of these two to really get back into the pennant race.

The Boston Red Sox are trying to run away with the AL pennant but several teams are right on their heels. The Red Sox lead in hitting and are second in ERA and if the Red Sox pitching holds up they will be tough to top. Cleveland is just a game out, and while they lead the AL in homeruns they now have some rotation concerns now that Bob Lemon is out for the next three weeks. The Yankees are now second in hitting and while they no longer have the worst pitching in the AL, their team ERA is still over 5.00. Philadelphia has been a steady force, with enough pitching, hitting, and defense to be a threat. Chicago and St. Louis are not good teams, but they have both been rather tenacious so far as their offenses have overcome their lack of pitching to at least get them close to .500. Detroit's pitching is finally starting to come around and they have been on fire offensively recently. If the Tigers can ever put both together they will certainly move up to the top half of the league. Washington just doesn’t have enough of anything to be anything more than an annoyance.

Bill Wight
George Kell (.426) is still leading the AL in hitting, but Luke Appling (.402) has joined him in the .400 club. Right behind these two is another Detroiter, Vic Wertz (.396). Ted Williams (28) leads in runs scored, ahead of three at 23 and two more at 22. Vern Stephens (28) leads in RBI's over Bobby Doerr (28) and Tommy Henrich (24). Kell (44) also leads in hits, just ahead of Bob Dillinger (43) and Wertz (40). Hank Majeski (10) still leads in doubles, with a large contingent bunched right behind him. Stephens (8) leads in homeruns, with Larry Doby (7) right behind. Four other AL players have six homeruns, and another four have five. Ellis Kinder and Bill Wight are both 4-0 to start the season with three others right behind them with four wins and six others with three wins.

Rd Schoendienst
Red Schoendienst (.390) is back in the regular lineup for St. Louis and still leads the NL in hitting, ahead of Jackie Robinson (.368) and Ralph Kiner (.356). Pee Wee Reese and Kiner both have 26 runs scored, with Duke Snider (23) helping to lead the potent Brooklyn offense. Kiner had a good week and now has 28 RBI's, leading Hank Sauer and Bobby Thomson, both with 26. Robinson (39) leads in hits over Kiner (36) and Harry Walker (35). Philadelphia teammates Del Ennis and Eddie Waitkus both have nine doubles, ahead of three others with eight, four with seven, and five with six. Sauer (9) didn’t hit a homerun this past week, but still leads Andy Pafko (8) and Pittsburgh teammates Eddie Bockman and Kiner, both with seven. Warren Spahn and Harry Brecheen are still both 5-0, and Sheldon Jones (5-2) just missed getting his sixth win this past week.


Overall things are going well. Sacrifice hits and stolen bases are just going to be a bear, although deploying this as an offensive strategy might help to align my other numbers. My AL complete games are too high, but that can be managed. AL walks are down, NL walks are up, and strikeouts are through the roof for both leagues. I am intentionally walking batters, although I don’t have a target number to shoot for, so I am just trying to pick my moments.


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