Week Results
Record: 5-0
2-0 vs Cleveland
1-0 vs Detroit
2-0 vs St. Louis
Total Record: 16-11 .593
1st Place
AL East
Mantle Performance Overview
Mantle had a spectacular week. He hit
.500/.615/.950 with a
1.565 OPS. Beautiful! He blasted
3 HRs and had
11 RBIs. He had two 5 RBI games. He hit 2 HRs in the first game in Cleveland. It was already his 2nd 2 HR game of the season. He was named the AL Player of the Week for the 1st time in his career. His first HR hit in Cleveland was memorable. I'm sure this had a lot to do with the camera view I used, but it really looked like he obliterated the ball. It was a rocket that went 508 ft to left-center field in Cleveland Stadium. The center fielder, Larry Doby, barely moved and just turned slightly watching it go. I was surprised the exit velocity was only listed as 96.9. Whomever caught that one in the stands, probably couldn't use their hand the next day or so. Was this the week Mantle takes Joe D.'s crown? Yankee fans are skeptical but intrigued.
I am surprised that he's hitting so many home runs already. He's on pace to hit 51 this season. He only hit 23 in reality. I suspect he'll go on a fairly long HR drought to bring this in line.
Team Performance Overview
You go undefeated during the week, you have a pretty good week. The team seemed to enjoy playing away from home. They looked like the team I expected to see when I view their real profile on Baseball Reference. All phases of the game were strong.
Vic Raschi and
Allie Reynolds made two starts each and solved their early control issues.
Eddie Lopat finally pitched well and earned his first win ending a 5 start losing streak to open his season.
Gene Woodling went .
500/.560/.500 with a
1.060 OPS. He may have won Player of the Week if not for Mantle's great week.
League Notes
Nellie Fox's hit streak continues. He's hit in a record
40 straight games now. I mistakenly said in my previous post that the record had been 29 games. It was actually 39 games. 29 seemed low to me, and, well, it was. Fox, though, broke the record this week and became the first player to hit in 40 straight games.
Jackie Robinson was the
NL Player of the Week. The Dodger 2nd baseman had 9 hits in 18 ABs, 2 HRs, 7 RBIs, and 7 runs scores. It was the 9th time he's won the award.
Up Next
Only 3 games planned for the final full week of May. The team concludes its first Western Tour with 2 games against the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday and Wednesday. They, then, head back east to Boston and battle the Red Sox over a 2-game bridge series that begins Saturday, skips Sunday, and concludes the following Monday. Can they keep this hot-streak going? Will they keep Nellie Fox from getting a hit? Are the primal screams of anguish heard from the Bronx last week turning into the sounds of playoff tickets being printed?