June 1888
Preston took charge of the league this month, losing one before winning 4 in a row. Burnley remain closely behind them, despite losses to Accrington and Bolton. Also in the hunt are West Bromwich, Bolton, Derby and Accrington.
Building on last month's performance, Robert Mills-Roberts has continued to carry Preston, adding 3 wins and lowering his ERA to 2.19 in the meanwhile. On the batting side, Scotsman Jimmy Ross got hot, hitting .421/.476/1.053 in 5 games this month. It looks like Preston is ready to win the first ever championship, with key games coming up against West Bromwich and Burnley.
For Burnley, hitting has been the key, with Doug Smith, Rob Griffin and Freddie Mobley hitting for a combined 16 hits, 6 2B, 2 HR and 6 RBI in the 5 games this month. On the pitching side, 26-year-old Londoner Peter Corkhill has been a solid enough replacement for Alexander Downs, who tore his meniscus in the 7th inning of the first game of the month and will lose the rest of the season. Corkhill has pitched to a 3.18 ERA, with him doing much better at home, allowing only 3 runs compared to 9 runs in away games. The Clarets will need to turn Turf Moor into a fortress if they want to get anything out of this season.
West Bromwich are pretty much a one-man-team. Luckily for them, that man is Nevin Mahoney. The Harrogate native could be the only player hotter than Jimmy Ross, hitting a nice .389/.476/.611 this month. Duff Hynds and Nate Werner also turned in great performances this month. On the pitching side, Bob Roberts has been less than effective, pitching to a 4.96 ERA this month. Can Roberts find his form again as Mahoney keeps hitting?
Other players worth noting this month are:
- Aston Villa's Zach Revell (.409/.458/.591)
- Everton's Rob Lee (.450/.500/.650)
- Accrington's Stewart Plunkett (.400/.455/1.000)
- Everton's Thomas Devine (2.86 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 9.6 K/BB)
- Bolton's Scott Dean (3.50 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 3.6 K/BB)
- Aston Villa's Jeffrey Lacy (5.00 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 2.3 K/BB)
Here's the "for fun" table so far:
Thanks for reading! In the next update we'll cover July's games as we enter the final stretch of the season.