The Chiefs split the 4 games with Pittsburgh, and then lost first two of the series in St. Louis, which guarantees a sub-.500 month. There is one more game in St. Louis before we finally return to Chicago and Detroit visits for a 3 game series. And then another 3 game series with St. Louis next week also in Chicago.
7/22 @ Pittsburgh, W, 4-1
7/23 @ Pittsburgh, L, 6-7
7/24 @ Pittsburgh, W, 10-5
7/25 @ Pittsburgh, L, 3-4
7/26 off
7/27 @ St. Louis, L, 5-6
7/28 @ St. Louis, L, 0-9
Top Performances:
* Bennie Griffith: .583/.615/1.000, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 4 R
* Len Jones: .440/.500/.720, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 6 R
* Bob Martin: .423/.464/.538, 4 RBI
* Ron Coles: 1-0, 1.23 ERA
We will start tracking the Federal Association batting race more closely as it's turning out to be a good one (and, of course, Len Jones is involved). For the month of July,
Rip Curry (.467/.513/.626),
Freddie Jones (.400/.496/.571), and
Len Jones (.398/.441/.602) have been the Fed's top three batters, with Curry perhaps having the inside lane for the Batter of the Month award.
Code:
Federal Association Batting Race
Rip Curry (PHI)......389
Freddie Jones (STL)..380
Len Jones (CHI)......380
We are certainly missing
Jim Hampton--who is likely still two weeks away from returning from his broken finger.
Les Woodward and
Dave Shaffer have not been the answer in left.
Ron Rattigan is deserving of more playing time, and so against right-handers,
Cliff Moss will play left and Rattigan will play right. The intention is for Moss not to face any left-handers.
And speaking of injured fingers,
Mose Christopher tore a ligament in this thumb and will miss the next three weeks. Christopher is an interesting player. He was a waiver claim from the Gothams last winter. He has handled second base well defensively, and he can certainly hit home runs. But hitting home runs is seemingly all he can do offensively. Despite his team leading 13 home runs, Christopher has contributed -4.3 batting runs (BatR). I don't want to expose
Jack Brown, Anders Adriansen, or
Jim Thompson by giving them more playing time, so I'm going to call up one of the young second basemen from Fort Wayne:
Elmer Hutchins (.446/.493/.615) or
Red Moore (.291/.356/.392). Our scouts think the Moore is the more likely long term answer, but Hutchins is swinging the bat really well, and it's been hard to find enough at bats for the both of them. So it's likely that Hutchins will be called up.
We'll need a 5th starter this week, and so
Larry Brown will get another chance to showcase his stuff. Though it's only 10 innings of relief, Brown has been the pitcher who has been throwing the ball the best in July.
