Pennant Races Coming Down To The... Longish Strand of Metal Used In One of those Edison Contraptions
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National League Standings
Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10
Boston Beaneaters 69 45 .605 - 61-53 8 35-20 34-25 5-4 22-11 21 W2 5-5
Cincinnati Reds 64 51 .557 5.5 63-52 1 36-23 28-28 4-2 15-14 W1 6-4
Saint Louis Cardinals 60 54 .526 9.0 58-56 2 29-26 31-28 4-6 22-14 L1 4-6
Pittsburgh Pirates 58 55 .513 10.5 62-51 -4 35-20 23-35 5-8 16-16 L1 5-5
Philadelphia Phillies 56 58 .491 13.0 59-55 -3 35-24 21-34 7-5 20-26 L1 6-4
New York Giants 56 59 .487 13.5 65-50 -9 36-24 20-35 2-5 11-26 W6 6-4
Chicago Colts 52 61 .460 16.5 47-66 5 28-30 24-31 5-5 16-14 L1 6-4
Brooklyn Superbas 41 73 .360 28.0 43-71 -2 20-35 21-38 6-3 19-20 L6 2-8
American League Standings
Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10
Washington Nationals 76 37 .673 - 77-36 -1 37-21 39-16 4-6 14-14 19 W5 6-4
Boston Red Stockings 70 46 .603 7.5 70-46 0 32-25 38-21 6-6 19-13 W2 5-5
Louisville Colonels 63 51 .553 13.5 59-55 4 35-21 28-30 10-5 22-12 W2 8-2
Philadelphia Athletics 58 54 .518 17.5 58-54 0 29-28 29-26 4-4 10-12 W1 5-5
Baltimore Orioles 58 56 .509 18.5 62-52 -4 29-28 29-28 6-9 14-16 L2 5-5
Chicago White Stockings 51 64 .443 26.0 51-64 0 24-33 27-31 3-7 19-20 L1 4-6
Cleveland Blues 40 73 .354 36.0 41-72 -1 22-34 18-39 7-4 12-16 L3 5-5
Detroit Tigers 40 75 .348 37.0 41-74 -1 23-35 17-40 4-3 16-23 L2 2-8
The Beaneaters continue to give the rest of the National chance after chance to get back into things, but although nobody appears to want the '01 pennant all that much the Bostons want it the most. Despite a very average lineup that is just 5th in the real league in batting average and runs scored, Boston soared to the top behind a ferocious pitching staff that ranks #1 in runs per nine innings. At the very least, Erik Pritchitt (20-11, 1.90 ERA) and Scott Hight (19-11, 3.11 ERA) will end the season with 20 victories apiece and the back of the rotation stands an outside chance of achieving that as well: neither Jeremy McKinney (14-11, 3.05) nor rookie Alan O'Heron (15-13, 3.27) are mathematically eliminated from this honor.
The Americans are also demonstrating that good pitching defeats just about anything. Despite losing the heart of their batting order in 1B Matt Barlow (.336 BA, 70 R, 53 RBI) to an ankle injury, the Nationals of Washington have continued to hang on to the top spot thanks to outstanding performances by John Putnam (20-5, 1.91 ERA) Brian Pike (18-8, 1.45) and stellar mop-up duties by Marvin Jones (0.59 ERA in 30.2 relief innings).
MVP Watch
Below are some of the top contenders for the NL and AL Most Valuable Player awards:
Norm "Big Napoleon" Aston, 3B (.359. 83, 78) The Giants will never truly be a bad team so long as they have the Big Napoleon at the third sack. This man isn't just big in comparison to the former French dictator; at 6'2", he towers over everybody.
Lonzo Amill, 2B, Beaneaters (.295, 70, 51) Amill's 49 steals rate 2nd in all of baseball to teammate Will Munger's 53 and if you ask us Lonzo looks much, much better capturing them. It can now be said that Amill has as many different ways of achieving hits as he has picante sauces in his kitchen.
Dave Bulwer, 2B, Cardinals (.297, 46, 36) If this is the Year of the Rookie, this should also be the Era of the Second Sacker. Bulwer got hurt and missed about a month, which probably takes him out of MVP contention but you never know.
Drake Gates, 2B/SS, Reds (.315, 77, 75) A tough (.216) August dropped Gates into the ranks of the mortals, but don't be fooled: he's still a stud. The two-time Gold Glover switched to the other side of the diamond recently to accomodate the hot bat and hotter glove of Dan "Homestead" Wayland. He's as gracious as he is awesome.
Rick Harpham, 1B, Blues (.315, 52, 55) A rare bright spot on a subdued Blues club, Harpham is enjoying a fantastic rookie campaign. Will he still be this good when it's Cleveland's turn to contend?
Mike "Flash" Hartigan, CF, Giants (.332, 96, 44) Hartigan is so fast that he once blew out the gaslight in his room and was in his bed before it got dark. That's not as much of a feat as it sounds, as he mis-blew and had to get back up again to blow it out a second time.
Jay Hoskinson, 1B, Colonels (.300, 60, 57) This lifelong wearer of the military pinstripes is nothing if not consistent: his .301 career average and .377 on-base percentage are almost exactly in line with this year's totals. When you match 1890s numbers in a low-offense environment like 1901, that makes you an MVP candidate.
Johnston "The Kidd" Long, CF, Pirates (.322, 98, 48) Injuries to fellow Pirates youngsters Jon "Captain Two-Percent" Choate and George Theodore have caused Pittsburgh writers to focus their attention on Long, who has truly responded. Rather than wilt in the August heat, he hit .422 en route to earning Player of the Month honors.
Tommy McCarthy, SS, Red Sox (.352, 85, 53) As good as McCarthy is, he's still extremely young - he won't turn 25 until this October. He already knows the cold sting of losing from his 1900 rookie season with the Spiders and doesn't plan on going back to the cellar ever again.
Ernie Merwin, CF, Beaneaters (.312, 80, 46) When you have two hitters as fierce as Amill and Merwin on your roster, you can afford to set aside some of the other positions on your defense for pure glovemen. Merwin's 41 steals from the #3 slot are as much as anything else a sign of how much the Beaneaters like to run off the high-calorie Boston clubhouse spread.
Dolan Packard, 3B, Orioles (.350, 76. 54) Packard never stops hitting, no matter what the situation. The most amazing thing about his batting average this year might be that it's 21 points below his career mark of .371.
Best Pitcher Scoop
And here are the top guys for the Best Pitcher Award in each league:
Ed Cloutier, White Sox (17-10, 3.01) How often do you trade away the best pitcher in baseball history but still have an argument that you came out ahead? Obviously the frequency can't be higher than once due to there only being one best pitcher in baseball history, but still. It's rare.
Kenneth Cudlip, Pirates (16-10, 2.38) He gets overlooked due to the amazing rookie campaigns elsewhere in the game, but if Cudlip gets really hot this month, he could be the first ROY/POY since Joshua Williams in the league's inaugural year. On the other hand, he could be tiring out: he's been just 4-8 since July 1 after starting the year 12-2.
Keith Gages, Red Sox (20-9, 2.46) Success story or proof positive of the inferiority of the junior circuit? Gages had posted a winning record just 3 times in his 9-year career in the National before kangarooing to the Red Stockings before the season began. He's a sure bet to set career highs in strikeouts (111 so far; his record is 129) and his ERA is nearly a full run better than his previous low.
Johnny Gruelle, Cardinals (20-9, 2.21) The creator of the beloved "Raggedy Ann and Andy" dolls is also the creator of the beloved "Zoomedy Fastball and Outie" assortment of pitches. A guy with just 2 pitches in his arsenal shouldn't be this good, but should and are are two different things.
Bill "Snoopy" Haddon, Orioles (22-10, 1.89) Snoopy has been the bright spot on an Orioles team that seems equally willing to fight with the umpires as to actually try to win ballgames. Haddon simply hasn't given opposing umps any reason to issue called balls against him: he has just 37 walks in 285.2 innings pitched.
Scott "Undertall" Hight (19-11, 3.11) Hight may not have the low ERAs of some of the other guys on this list but he has learned how to win and if anything that's more important. Just two years ago Hight had spent time in the minors trying to work out the difference between his changeup and his circle change.
Jesse MacLagan, Red Sox (19-13, 2.80) Baseball's winningest pitcher has struggled a little since the trade that moved him from the Chisox to the Bosox (5-4, 4.16) but anybody who throws as fast as MacLagan throws and whose team needs him to win as badly as Boston does is a good bet to have an outstanding month of September.
Brian "Heavy" Pike, Nationals (18-8, 1.45) Pike lives up to his name as much with his pitch assortment as with his girth: he has given up exactly 1 home run in the last 2 seasons combined. His fast ball sinks so precipitously that when hitters aren't missing it entirely they're beating it right into the ground.
Erik "The Rebel" Pritchitt, Beaneaters (20-10, 1.90 ERA) The ace of the best team in baseball, Pritchitt hasn't had an ERA of over 2 in the 20th century. Okay, fine, the 20th century just started this year. But this is true even if you take the uneducated man's viewpoint that it started in 1900.
John "Losing Pitcher" Putnam, Nationals (20-5, 1.91 ERA) Putnam is nicknamed "Losing Pitcher" for being the man who ended the Nationals' 18-game winning streak earlier this year and yet he has the chance of being the 2nd player in league history to win 20+ games and lose fewer than 10 (Rawhide MacLagan accomplished the feat with an amazing 34-9 record in '97). It's like 10,000 lobster forks when all you need is a salad fork.
Tom Willbanks, Reds (18-10, 2.45) Call it the Year of the Rookie. Willbanks appeared in a grand total of 2 major league games prior to '01 but has already supplanted Joshua Williams as the Peoples' Ace.
Jerry "Magoo" Watson, Phillies (18-12, 2.26) To win this many games for a team as offensively challenged as the Phillies, you have to be good. He's been flat-out overpowering at home in the Baker Bowl, posting an 11-4 record with an ERA of 2.00. By comparison, teammate Martin Cheney has allowed 2.87 earned runs per 9 innings on the road - but 5.22 at home.