We start June in middling fashion, dropping six of our first 10 and getting shelled in a few of them as our pitchers regress to the mean. It doesn’t much harm us in the standings at first glance, as we actually pull into a ½ game lead, but what it does is let teams such as St. Louis – who go on another mini-tear at the very same time – and Chicago and Brooklyn bunch up just behind us and Cincy, who are playing even worse than we are.
This leaves us at 30-20 thru our first 50 games.
We finally win back-to-back games for the first time in the month, stringing four in a row and looking like we might make a wee run for it. But then we drop three straight to the Cards and suddenly it’s all very tight indeed.
(Pointless observation alert: we score 7 runs in each of the four games we win and 2 runs in each of the three we lose. You’re welcome...)
An excellent road sweep at the Orphans and a two-game split at Cincy puts our record for June at 13-11 and leaves us with a 39-25 record, four games to the good of the Reds with the Cards, Orphans and Superbas lined up behind them, all well within reach.
I feel the target on our back.
Hot- Jack Chesbro: pitches 18 Quality Starts in a row before a loss near the end of the month to the Cardinals. His excellent form continues right up until his last start of the month, when he takes an 8-2 battering from the Reds.
- Fred Clarke: after a slowish start, Cap’s quality shines through as he gives us the solidity we are looking for in the 2-slot. I make a wise investment in locking him down for three more years at $3k apiece.
- Ossee Schreckengost: 400 BA / 7.8 RC27 / 157 OPS+ (second only to Steinfeldt) for the month—and to think I was going to trade him...
- Harry Steinfeldt: 319 BA / 16 RBI / 404 wOBA / 159 OPS+ - just keeps getting better.
Not- Our rotation: while I knew their early form was unsustainable, the dropoff in performance for June is a worry, Phillippe in particular (4.76 ERA).
- Honus Wagner: same goes, as Dutchie cools off considerably with a 295 BA and just 9 ribbies.
Around the Leagues- The Reds go 8-15, but the rest of the NL contenders have a fairly similar month. The Cards are the best of us, going 16-11.
- The AL is slightly more strung-out than the NL, but still well and truly up for grabs. The A’s hold a 2-game advantage over the White Sox, with the Browns 2 again back of them. The last-placed Tigers are 10 off the pace.
- Cincy’s Noodles Hahn, the A’s Chick Fraser, and Jack Powell of the Cards each hurl a one-hitter over the course of the month.
- The Athletics post an 8-spot in the top 9th to pick a game right out of the O’s pocket, with the final score 14-9.
Awards- 06/02 POTW: AL – Buck Freeman (Boston) 500 / 0 HR / 13 RBI; NL – Jesse Tannehill (Brooklyn) 2-0 / 0.00 / 11 K / 18 IP.
- 06/09 POTW: AL – Jack Harper (Baltimore) 2-0 / 0.00 / 9 K / 18 IP; NL – Elmer Flick (Philadelphia) 500 / 1 HR / 4 RBI.
- 06/16 POTW: AL – Ginger Beaumont (Philadelphia) 444 / 1 HR / 11 RBI; NL – Bobby Wallace (St. Louis) 500 / 5 RBI.
- 06/23 POTW: AL – Hugh Duffy (Chicago) 818 / 4 RBI; NL – Kitty Bransfield (Boston) 500 / 3 RBI.
- 06/30 POTW: AL – Nap Lajoie (Philadelphia) 565 / 0 HR / 12 RBI; NL – Joe Kelley (Brooklyn) 500 / 0 HR / 4 RBI.
- AL Batter of the Month: Nap Lajoie (Philadelphia) 377 / 0 HR / 24 RBI.
- NL Batter of the Month: Bobby Wallace (St. Louis) 402 / 0 HR / 11 RBI.
- AL Pitcher of the Month: Clark Griffith (Boston) 6-1 / 1.46 / 14 K / 67.2 IP.
- NL Pitcher of the Month: Jesse Tannehill (Brooklyn) 7-1 / 1.34 / 34 K / 74 IP.
- AL Rookie of the Month: George Mullin (Detroit) 3-4 / 3.43 / 20 K / 63 IP.
- NL Rookie of the Month: Fred Glade (New York) 5-2 / 3.28 / 27 K / 68.2 IP.
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