May Day Review
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National League Standings
Team W L PCT GB Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak
Pittsburgh Pirates 7 0 1.000 - 4-0 3-0 0-0 1-0 131 W7
Cincinnati Reds 5 3 .625 2.5 4-3 1-0 0-0 0-0 W1
New York Giants 5 3 .625 2.5 0-1 5-2 0-1 1-0 L2
Boston Beaneaters 5 5 .500 3.5 3-0 2-5 1-1 4-2 W1
Saint Louis Cardinals 4 4 .500 3.5 3-4 1-0 1-0 0-2 W2
Philadelphia Phillies 4 6 .400 4.5 4-3 0-3 1-1 2-3 L1
Chicago Colts 2 5 .286 5.0 0-3 2-2 0-0 0-0 L4
Brooklyn Superbas 1 7 .125 6.5 0-1 1-6 0-0 0-1 L1
American League Standings
Team W L PCT GB Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak
New York Highlanders 11 4 .733 - 3-2 8-2 0-1 1-2 124 L1
Cleveland Blues 8 6 .571 2.5 3-2 5-4 1-2 3-2 L1
Washington Nationals 8 6 .571 2.5 6-3 2-3 0-0 0-3 L1
Louisville Colonels 7 6 .538 3.0 5-5 2-1 0-1 1-1 W1
Boston Red Stockings 7 8 .467 4.0 2-2 5-6 2-0 2-2 W2
Detroit Tigers 6 7 .462 4.0 5-4 1-3 2-2 6-3 W1
Philadelphia Athletics 5 8 .385 5.0 2-2 3-6 1-0 2-3 W1
Chicago White Stockings 3 10 .231 7.0 2-7 1-3 0-0 1-0 L2
News From Around The League
Boston Beaneaters:
Steven Corliss is off to a fantastic start, hitting .343 and leading the team in runs scored. "I'm just seeing the ball better, I guess," he told the Thriftlon Reports. "Why are you guys bugging me about this?" Having hit just .249 last season, the 25-year old is trying to make the transition from hacker to slugger.
Boston Red Stockings: The rest of the team may not be able to push the ball out of the infield, but
"Flyboy" Billy Mitchell is hitting so well that the American League bestowed its Player of the Month award upon him. Mitchell hit .409 last month with 10 runs and 11 RBIs. He was especially potent from the 7th inning on, batting .435 during that time. The remainder of the team is batting just .230 (114 for 496).
Brooklyn Superbas: The Superbas are not off to a good start at all. However, the one exception (as always seems to be the case with this club) is SP
Jonathan Gaines. On April 29, Gaines five-hit the defending champion Cincinnati Reds en route to a 4-2 victory, the only one earned by the team this season. "I'm just happy to get the opportunity to start", he told us when asked about the direction of the team. One wonders how long he'll retain this sunny disposition.
Chicago Colts: Martínez Bajana at first refused to leave April 8's Saint Louis-Chicago game after he suffered a fractured elbow while throwing a pitch. But his manager convinced him not to be foolish. "I'm a competitor," the feisty Chicago reliever said. "I'll play through just about anything." Given time to reflect on the situation, he knew it was in his best interest to get immediate treatment. The injury is expected to keep Bajana out of action for 7 months. Bajana was 6-8 with a 3.89 ERA last season and was fighting for a spot in the Colts' rotation at the time of the injury.
Chicago White Stockings: If one wants to know why the White Stockings are currently in the cellar, one need look no further than the pitching staff. Of the five men in the rotation and reliever Matt Nutt, only SP
Larry MacCaa has an ERA of under 3. He has nothing to show for his work, as he's 0-2, but that is hardly uncharted territory for him: his career record includes 130 losses against just 87 victories.
Cincinnati Reds: Big Bill Copeland has not given up an earned run in 2 starts so far this season. As you'd might expect, he is 2-0. Though his opposition - the Chicago Colts and the Brooklyn Superbas - are not exactly strong contenders, it is a good sign.
Cleveland Blues: Could this be the year a Cleveland team makes it out of the second division? So far, two starters -
Bill Hawkins and
Sean Nickerson are 3-0 and the team ERA is a tiny 2.51, good for 2nd in the league. Both highlighted pitchers are crafty veterans who get their opponents out with guile and trickery. The Blues will take success any way they can get it.
Detroit Tigers: The loss of
Chris Langdon over the offseason was sure to hit the Tigers hard, but who knew it would be the hitting that was most affected rather than the pitching staff that he was a part of? So far, the club is dead last in the AL in hitting and runs scored and were recently shut out twice in the same week. "Chris was so smart, we kind of relied on him to change the signs around," said OF Henry "Fire" Hosler. "It's been kind of rough having to figure out how to do that on our own."
Louisville Colonels: Despite all the talk during spring training of Jesse "Rawhide" MacLagan's new pitch and vastly improved effectiveness, it was the reigning Pitch of the Year award winner
Johnny Gruelle that was named the best hurler of the month by the AL. Gruelle won 3 games and lost 1 with a 1.22 ERA in April and thus far has allowed the fewest baserunners per 9 innings in the league.
New York Giants: With veteran Dante Bommarito taking the lion's share of the at-bats in center field, rumors abound that
Ray Pearl is on the outs with manager John McGraw. "I ain't sayin' nothin' to you people" was all we could get in response from the man some call "The Little Napoleon." So far, Pearl has just 6 at-bats and no hits in 2 games.
New York Highlanders: Who is responsible for the hot start of the Highlanders? We have to point to manager/catcher
Von Craufurd. He's been making all the right moves as the skipper, but we have to say that it's easy to look good when you have a backstop who's hitting .333 with 7 two-base hits in 48 at-bats.
Philadelphia Phillies: George Darbyshire let his bat do the talking in April and the National League heard him loud and clear. He made plenty of noise as he put together a sparkling .417 batting average and this offensive outburst is the prime reason he was honored as the hottest hitter of the month. Darbyshire's month-to-remember saw him accumulate 15 hits, no home runs, 6 RBI, 5 runs, 5 walks, along with a .488 on-base percentage.
Philadelphia Athletics: The ball hasn't quite bounced the way the A's would like but they do have to be impressed by the play of young keystoner
George Marshall. Marshall was brought in from the Giants and there were doubts that he'd ever live up to his massive potential. Well, so far he is getting there. He's hitting .364 with a team-high 4 steals in the A's first 13 games. Additionally, he's committed just 2 errors to date and holds a solid .974 fielding average.
Pittsburgh Pirates: The National League scribes have announced April's Pitcher of the Month and have given the award to Kenneth Cudlip of Pittsburgh. He was one tough cookie on the mound last month and has the numbers to prove it: 2-0 record, 0.00 ERA, 2 GS, 18 IP, 9 HA, 1 BB, 9 K, .141 OBA.
St. Louis Cardinals: Thanks to Dave Bulwer taking a lot of extra time this spring training to learn how to play third base,
Paul Woolcock was able to stay in the lineup this year and has really responded. He's at .382 right now, hitting leadoff for a resurgent Cardinals squad that's 2nd in the NL in hitting.
Washington Senators: He missed the second half of last season with a torn muscle in his arm, so the Nationals were concerned that he wouldn't be back to normal.
Brian "Heavy" Pike, however, has made the front office forget he was ever hurt at all. To date he has completed and won all three of his starts, has a 2.05 ERA, and has struck out more than twice as many batters as he's walked (14 to 6).