The
Boston Red Sox own all three spots in the
April Players of the Month categories, while the team sits in 1st place at the moment. The team's pitching ranks amongst the top 3 teams in several categories, while ranking 1st in bullpen ERA and 2nd in Starting Pitchers' ERA. The team will have to pick it up on the hitting side if they want to keep the
New York Yankees off their heels. While the team ranks 1st in home runs, the BoSox rank 7th in Batting Average (.242), 7th in On-Base Percentage (.311), and 6th in OPS (.681). 35 year-old veteran
Joe Cronin is having a horrid start with only 6 hits in 60 at-bats.
You thought the Red Sox pitching was good, the Yankees rank 1st in the following categories: Runs allowed (41), Starters ERA (2.05), FIP (3.05), Pitching WAR (2.7), plus their fielding has been great as well, ranking top in Defensive Efficiency (.755) and Zone Rating (+17.6). On the hitting end, LF
Charlie Keller is currently batting .369 with 1 HR & 10 RBI, plus 4 doubles, a triple, all adding up to a .955 OPS... while on the pitching end, the team has 3 starting pitchers under a 2.00 ERA in
Red Ruffing (1.14 ERA),
Tiny Bonham (1.69 ERA) &
Marius Russo (1.99 ERA).
The
Cleveland Indians find themselves tied in 2nd place, while 1B
Les Fleming has been a big surprise, batting .310 with 4 HR & 12 RBI, while slugging .517 and drawing 12 base on balls through 16 games of action this season.
The
Los Angeles Browns and the
Chicago White Sox sit in the middle of the pack at .500, and although the Sox have won 4 straight, their pitching has not been that good. The Browns'
Chet Laab has 4 HR & 19 RBI early on at the plate.
The
Philadelphia Athletics and
Washington Senators are expected to play bad, but the
Detroit Tigers after a 4-1 start, have lost 4 straight now and sit in 7th with a 7-11 record.
The
Brooklyn Dodgers'
Whit Wyatt (4-0, 0.76 ERA) and
Curt Davis (3-0, 1.60 ERA) have made a great 1-2 punch at the top of their rotation, while their four best hitters are 30+ year-old veterans in
Arky Vaughan,
Dixie Walker,
Joe Medwick &
Billy Herman -- all batting over .300 as they enter the month of May.
Both the
Cincinnati Reds and
St. Louis Cardinals sit in 2nd place, 1 1/2 games back of the Dodgers. The Reds have benefited off good, steady pitching and fielding, while the Cardinals has been the absolute best in the
National League. The Cards' rotation all have a ERA of 2.31 or lower, with
Max Lanier (2-2, 1,03 ERA) and
Lon Warneke (3-0, 1.69 ERA) leading the way.
The
Chicago Cubs have won 4 straight, and brought their record up to 9-8 for 4th place (2 games out). Three of those consecutive wins came against the
Boston Braves, and the Cubs will have tougher competition around the corner in upcoming series against Brooklyn, the Giants, and the Pirates.
Outside of pitchers
Hal Schumacher &
Carl Hubbell and slugger
Mel Ott, the rest of the
New York Giants need to step up, after a under-performing month of April. Giants fans expect more.
The
Philadelphia Phillies' LF
Danny Litwhiler picked up where he left off last season, as he leads the team in hitting (.349) and RBI (14), although he has no home runs yet (after hitting 18 in 1941)... In fact, the Phillies only have 2 HR this season as a team.
Two of the
N.L. April Players of the Months in hitter
Bob Elliott (PIT) and rookie
Nanny Fernandez have been the only shining points for their respective teams, the
Pittsburgh Pirates and
Boston Braves, this season,
