Some promising early form as we get an 18-1 hatchet job done on the Dodgers including – wait for it – 5 home runs! Glad to – hopefully – see the end of that nonsense.
We lose Dihigo for a month to a back injury, which kind of forces my hand with a move I’d been contemplating at any rate and I do the following trade:
TRADE 1 OF 2 (06/15/39)
P Max Macon traded to St. Louis (AL) for IF Jimmy Brown and P Alex Carrasquel.
With Martin looking like he’s losing a step and Billy Jurges unlikely to be re-signed, I’ve wanted to shore up our IF stocks for a while now, and this trade accomplishes that. He’s under TC until 1942 as well. Even if he is coming to the end of his run, Marty is a fantastic guy to have around given his versatility and he’s actually been back pitching BP and has expressed a desire to go back to playing two-way. So we’ll be seeing what sort of money he’s looking for to re-up, as he is also out of contract this year. If his demands are reasonable we’ll be looking to have him stay a Bucco for a few more seasons.
For now, Danny will move around to 3B and Jimmy and Pep will platoon at 2B.
The very next day, we play one of the wildest games I can remember – a 12-inning 14-13 slugfest that we win walkoff on a single by Little P – and then score 4 in the 9th the game after that to snatch another one. The next day, with the Phillies in town, we end their 10-game win streak with a strong 11-4 win. We beat them again the following day to make it six straight, but lose Wyatt for a min IL stint with a sore elbow in the process. Another win in the final game of the series narrows their lead to one.
We eventually run that string of wins to 12 (as our AAA Barons also put together 14 in a row and counting) before losing an epic 12-10 game in 12 innings to the Dodgers, the first game in ten we’ve lost to them this year.
Towards the end of the month, we nut out a 1-year / $11k extension for Martin Dihigo, extend Pep Young another season for 10K, claim Bobo Newsom on waivers from the Cubs and lose Bud Tinning via the same means to Cincy.
We close out an excellent sectional with a 19-6 record.
Some outstanding months among our hitters - most notably Arky Vaughan (whose 419 / 2 HR / 25 RBI performance wins him the monthly batting award), Josh Gibson and Bill Wright, with only Hank Leiber and Paul Waner underperforming. Sadly for the latter of these, the time has come and Bob Elliott will now be playing as our everyday RF. Big P still has three more seasons after the one in progress under contract to us and, as a Marquee, cannot be moved on. So he'll have to get used to being played more sparingly unless he can rediscover the form that has been slowly but surely deserting him over recent years.
On the other hand, June was a bit of a struggle for our rotation, with only Ray Brown holding his form. Duke Derringer just doesn't seem to like the first half of the season, so we hope he can do his usual trick and turn things around from here because he has been poor to this point. The BP has been solid if a little less consistent than we'd like.
The A's are keeping the Yankees honest in the AL, while the Phillies continue to hold sway - albeit narrowly - in the senior circuit. Even though we're yet to reach the midpoint, it does seem like the two races will involve these four teams.
Awards, news and leaders. Ted Williams has wasted no time in showing what a force he is set to be in this league, winning the hitting and rookie awards for June. Ray Brown earns career win number 200, Red Lucas career save number 100.
S+ HOME
REPORTS HOME
PIRATES HOME