We have the first two days of the month off. How will this break treat us? Rested or rusty? As we return to action, we sit 3 games behind the Reds, 2 behind the Giants, and 3 ahead of the slumping Orphans.
I’m keen to keep the majority of our playing group for the foreseeable future, and have gradually been locking them down over the course of the season so far. During the break, I sign Charlie Dexter to a $660 contract for 1902. More, perhaps, than he is worth on stats alone (Wagner, for instance, is on $750). But his flexibility means he is one of our most integral players.
I needn’t have worried about rustiness, as we come out firing on all cylinders and win eight of our next ten games. We take sole possession of the lead for the first time on 08/15. A week after that, we’re five games clear, mainly by dint of the Jints dropping 7 straight (and counting) and the Reds going 3-7 for their past 10.
We are still up by the same margin going into our last series of the month, a homestand with Chicago. Maybe the lads start getting ahead of themselves, maybe the Orphans make one big push to try and get back in contention, maybe
baseball happens. I don’t know. Whatever the case, we play terribly, drop all three games, and virtually reattach ourselves to the peloton.
Not an ideal end to an otherwise spectacular month.
Hot- Honus Wagner: 21-game hit streak.
- Us as a team: 16-7 for the month, even with that last-ditch horror show.
Not- Honus Wagner: after his hit streak, Dutchie cools right off to finish with a 301 BA for the month, low by his lofty standards, and his 8 RBI show just how little he has contributed.
- Our bats v LHP: 11-15 for the season.
- Socks Seybold: not cold, exactly, but after his hot early spurt he certainly hasn’t quite provided the pop we were after with just 2 dingers in his 143 AB for us.
Around the Leagues- The Orioles have put their foot down and now lead the White Sox by 4 games. Zaza Harvey has been sensational and is riding a hit streak of 36 games into September. Unfortunately for him it is snapped at that number on the 1st of Sep.
- Giants ace Christy Mathewson becomes the first hurler to reach 20 wins. But the Jints also lose Bob Wicker for the season to a torn UCL.
- Buck Freeman of Boston wallops 6 homers in a six-game stretch.
Awards- 08/05 POTW: AL – Nap Lajoie (Philadelphia) 538 / 2 HR / 7 RBI; NL – Joe Kelley (Brooklyn) 464 / 8 RBI.
- 08/12 POTW: AL – Bill Reidy (Milwaukee) 2-0 / 0.00 / 4 K / 18 IP; NL – Al Orth (Philadelphia) 2-0 / 0.00 / 4 K / 18 IP.
- 08/19 POTW: AL – Tommy Corcoran (Baltimore) 545 / 3 RBI; NL – John Dobbs (Philadelphia) 545 / 1 HR / 9 RBI.
- 08/26 POTW: AL – Buck Freeman (Boston) 516 / 6 HR / 14 RBI; NL – Emmet Heidrick (St. Louis) 394 / 3 RBI.
- AL Batter of the Month: Nap Lajoie (Philadelphia) 491 / 1 HR / 18 RBI.
- NL Batter of the Month: Ed Delahanty (Boston) 388 / 4 HR / 21 RBI.
- AL Pitcher of the Month: Jack Harper (Baltimore) 5-1 / 1.02 / 22 K / 53 IP.
- NL Pitcher of the Month: Bill Dineen (Boston) 6-0 / 2.14 / 30 K / 63 IP.
- AL Rookie of the Month: Watty Lee (Baltimore) 5-1 / 2.79 / 24 K / 61.1 IP.
- NL Rookie of the Month: Happy Townsend (New York) 4-2 / 2.55 / 26 K / 53 IP.