Things are still tight when we head to the comfy confines for four at the Cubs in mid-June, fresh from back-to-back extra inning home losses to the Dodgers. Ellis, having yet another underwhelming season, gets absolutley bombed in the opener but then – despite losing first Foli (for just a few days) and then Woodward (for a minimum IL stint), forcing us to call up Gene Alley – we win the next three.
By this stage the Phils have a good roll going, 9 straight wins and counting when they pay us a visit for our final series in June just one ahead of them in the standings. The opening game sees Jim Bibby drop his first decision of the season after 10 Wins and we split the other two to put us equal at 46-30 entering July, with the Cubs 3 GB.
We reach the midpoint at 48-33 but then, in a scratchy stretch, go 8-7 to reach the All-Star break at 56-40 and under some pressure as the Phillies are making a run for it and we are, so far at least, only just managing to keep up with them. Not helping matters is the fact that we can’t seem to keep any of our backup IFs on the park, with short-term injuries to both Woody Woodward, who hadn’t even made it back to us after his last IL stint, and his replacement Gene Alley, who suffers a finger fracture that will all but end his season. We are forced to call up ineligible Jerry Buchek, who we’ll run as a CC player and release at season’s end.
We remain inconsistent and injury-prone thru end-July, as Hebner is hurt just in time for a series against the Phillies. Thankfully it’s not serious, but they smash us in the two games he does miss while awaiting the diagnosis and beat us again with him in the lineup for good measure.
A really challenging middle section ends in almost appropriate fashion with Roberto Clemente injured again and set to miss at least 6 weeks. We are now 8 GB of Philly and if not done then close enough to.
It's funny, despite all the talk about this being a rebuild phase I can't help feeling disappointed about where we're at because for a while there it looked like we were going to make a good run at it.
Moderate underperformance from guys like Hendrick and Cash is as least partway offset by unexpected outperformance from both Foli and Bevacqua. But we still aren't scoring enough runs - especially with our pitching not quite as consistent as a couple years back.
No idea what's happened to Doc Ellis - maybe he hasn't been able to hook up with his dealer in this timeline or something. Whatever the reason, he's been poor.
It’s weird how in this timeline the Red Sox and Yankees seem to have swapped roles. The Yanks look to be running away with the AL East but then have a shocking 2-8 run that sees their 10-game lead quickly halved—a most IRL Red Sox way of going about things. Even Bucky Dent is a Red Sock in this universe! They do turn things around late in July with the help of the slumping Brewers, but they look the least comfortable of the four leaders.
News, Leaders and Top 20s
Monthly Award Winners
June
American League
- Batter – Bill Madlock (Brewers): 400 / 4 HR / 18 RBI
- Pitcher – Bert Blyleven (Twins): 4-1 / 1.98 / 34 K / 50 IP
- Rookie – Verne Ruhle (Yankees): 3-2 / 3.76 / 23 K / 40.2 IP
National League
- Batter – Joe Morgan (Reds): 489 / 6 HR / 21 RBI
- Pitcher – Dick Ruthven (Cardinals): 5-0 / 1.42 / 28 K / 44.1 IP
- Rookie – Tom Underwood (Dodgers): 3-2 / 2.49 / 41 K / 47 IP
July
American League
- Batter – Cesar Tovar (Twins): 417 / 2 HR / 12 RBI
- Pitcher – Jim O’ Toole (Angels): 5-0 / 1.47 / 28 K / 43 IP
- Rookie – Bill Castro (Twins): 1-2 / 0.69 / 7 SV / 14 K / 26 IP
National League
- Batter – Graig Nettles (Reds): 370 / 4 HR / 26 RBI
- Pitcher – Dave Goltz (Reds): 5-0 / 1.50 / 24 K / 48 IP
- Rookie – Dale Murray (Reds): 2-0 / 1.15 / 7 SV / 9 K / 15.2 IP
Milestones and Observations of Note
- 2500 Hits: Brooks Robinson
- A broken elbow bone shuts down Red Sox 2B Ted Sizemore for the rest of the season, while Braves Closer Mike Marshall will also miss the remainder thanks to a torn back muscle and San Diego pitcher Pete Broberg is done for ’74 as well courtesy of a shoulder impingement.
- Here are the notable trades from the Deadline period:
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