Scott Fennessy’s 1903 replay: Boston continues to dominate in AL race

As the dog days of August arrive the Red Sox continue to lead the AL with the Indians striving to stay in range. However other teams have come into play as the inevitable shakeup due to underperforming teams has begun to level out.

Pitching continues to be solid as there is currently only one .300 hitter, although unlike my 1905 replay the league average is a bit stronger.

Boston Red Sox (58-28)

This is a team that started out struggling on offense, and while they could use a little bit more from Jimmy Collins in the three spot, and the bottom of the order, especially George LaChance they have started to come around. Unless a complete collapse by the pitching staff occurs they will be heading to the World Series in a couple of months. Boston recently hit 4 triples in a game in a 5-4 loss to New York.

Despite hitting only .271 Hobe Ferris leads the AL in homers with 11. John Freeman had been off to a very slow start, but is now among the leaders in most categories. He is currently hitting .273 with 8 triples and 8 homers. He recently had a big day against the Yankees (their whipping post for July) he went 5 for 5 with 5 RBI, scored 4 runs and had 2 homers while becoming the first player to hit for the cycle.

Pat Dougherty continues to be steady in the leadoff spot with a .282 average and 29 stolen bases.

As to be expected the Bo Sox staff has been a very dominating trio to date and have kept them with a comfortable lead all season. Cy Young (19-2 2.00 ERA) had a two hitter in a tough loss vs. the White Sox. He also had a two hit victory against the Yankees.

Tom Hughes (17-11 2.87 ERA) had a one hitter against the tough Indians lineup and followed that up with a two hitter against the Yankees and in his next time against the Yankees threw a three hitter.

Bill Dinneen became the first 20 game winner in the AL (20-8 2.69 ERA) and had a 3 hitter against the Browns and followed that up with his first career no hitter against the Tigers.

Cleveland Indians (49-35)

The Indians continue to play well, but seem to come up short in head to head battles with the Red Sox. The lineup is slowly coming around, really needs more help from Bill Bradley who has become to come alive lately, but is hitting just .220 so far. They have had some tough games lately, beating the A’s in 12 innings 3-2, and a tough series against the Browns that should have been easy but they had to work hard just to come out of it with a 2-2 split.

Harry Bay leads the AL in steals with 35, and the triple threat in the heart of the order of Elmer Flick (.274 21 SB), Napoleon Lajoie (.279 4 HR 55 RBI) who had a 4 for 4 day against the Senators and Charlie Hickman (.277 8 HR 59 RBI) went 4 for 5 with 2 doubles and 2 stolen bases against the Browns, then hit a game winning homer in the 10th inning to beat them again the next day have played well this year.

Earl Moore has been the ace of the staff this year and had another solid month. He was perfect through 5 in a 3-2 victory over the Senators, He also had a two hitter in route to a 2-0 win over the A’s in Philadelphia. He also leads the AL in ERA at 1.94 and is second in strikeouts with 156.

New York Yankees (41-40)

The Bronx Bombers are much higher in the standings than expected but they get a lot out of a pretty bad roster.

Norman “The Tabasco Kid” Elberfeld is currently the only real threat with Jimmy Williams struggling badly. Willie Keeler is currently 7th in steals with 25. Alfonzo “Lefty” Davis is hitting .421 off the bench. John Ganzel whom I will always associate with his “Terrible Tuesday” card from 1901 surprised me by being 4th in the AL with 23 doubles, but is only hitting .217. Hence his rather insulting nickname “Popup John”. I guess it’s better than “Whiff”. He did however go 3 for 3 with 3 doubles in a rare victory over the Red Sox.

Ambrose Puttmann is the team’s best pitcher at 16-11. He is 7TH in wins and 10TH in strikeouts. John Chesbro 3 hit the Browns 3-1 a couple of starts ago.

Detroit Tigers (40-41)

Detroit has really looked good for a fairly long stretch now and is starting to close on New York. Jimmy Barrett (.275 25 steals) and Billy Lush (.275 8 triples 25 SB) quietly slipping onto several of the leaderboards and most notably the batting title which has opened the door for Sam Crawford to do what he does best, punish pitchers with runners on base. Sam is still under par for batting average at .264 but now has 6 HR and his 65 RBI is tied for the AL lead.

The early season slump has hurt the pitchers chances for the top hurler award but Bill Donovan and George Mullin have ERA’s below 3.00 and are throwing particularly well. Donovan no hit the Red Sox and followed that up with 3 hitters against the Senators and Yankees. Mullin had a 3 hitter of his own against the White Sox.

Jimmy Barrett went 4-4 against the A’s at the start of the month, and Billy Lush did the same against the White Sox in the game following Mullin’s 3 hitter.

Philadelphia A’s (43-44)

The league’s most disappointing team continues to struggle at the .500 mark. Jasper Davis is an MVP candidate in the top two spots in almost every offensive category while providing gold glove defense at first. In a league with only one .300 hitter he is hitting .291 with 7 HR; his 65 RBI is tied for the league lead, and has a .799 OPS. Oh and he has 32 stolen bases.

Ralph Seybold has really had a solid month and is now hitting .287 with a .789 OPS that got a great bump due to his 8 game multi extra base hit streak.

The pitching has been very inconsistent, but has come around of very late. Rube Waddell (17-13 2.93 ERA) is leading the AL with 212 strikeouts, and will have the league record by end of the year. Eddie Plank (17-13 2.93 ERA) has been equally solid although not quite as overpowering.

St. Louis Browns (37-44)

Not a lot to say about this bunch. Every hitter is underperforming and they are only out of the cellar due to some really good pitching. John Sudhoff (14-13 2.54 ERA) has been outstanding and tossed a 3 hitter in 2-0 win vs the Senators. John Powell is 14-12 with a 3.19 ERA. Despite being a DW Harry Morgan has a 0.95 ERA in 14 appearances this year.

Chicago White Sox (36-46)

While I was not expecting a lot from this crew they continue to play poorly. Fielder Jones has been tolerable with a .257 average, And Guy White (16-11 2.47ERA) recently 3 hit the Red Sox and saw Frank Isbell go 4-4 with two steals. Thankfully Ed Green has been an MVP candidate hitting .310 with 7 triples, 4 HR and 21 stolen bases.

Washington Senators (31-55)

DC has yet another terrible season going. Catcher Lew Drill does have 10 triples, and Wyatt Lee is 11-18 with a 3.38 ERA and is in the top ten in strikeouts with almost no support. Ed Dunkle has recently moved into the rotation and has a 3.25 ERA.

Photo by Bain News Service [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons