Marichal dealin’ in 1966

Just how good is Juan Marichal performing in my 1966 NL replay?

Well, he just hurled a 4-hit shutout against the Cardinals on June 29th, 1966 and his league leading Hits/9 IP actually went UP to 3.7.

It was Marichal’s eighth shutout of the year, also leading the NL.  His (I’m sounding like a broken record here) league-leading ERA lowered to 1.30.  Juan’s 13 strikeouts against St. Louis helped him surpass Sandy Koufax for the lead (148 to 145). 

Marichal’s win was his 14^th and he lags behind only rookie Don Sutton who only recently suffered his first loss at 15-1.  The two of them will most likely be battling for the starting role in the July 12^th All Star Game along with Koufax.

Speaking of shutouts, it’s been an offensive drought in the past few days.  In the last 13 games spanning three days, there have been eight shutouts (see above).  I was telling my buddy Chuck (who is currently replaying the 1964 season) about this and he says, “Umbach?” 

Apparently, Arnold Umbach made 24 career appearances and four starts in his career.  He’s a C(B*) in 1966 and made the most out that C on June 28th. 

With just three games left in the month of June, I am coming up to another milestone.  You can probably expect an update soon.  I’ll be posting All Star ballots as I start July games.  As a teaser, above are the current standings (sorry, Cardinals fans!)