[jksander]

April 29, 1916: Lefty starter Dickey Kerr made his first start as a big leaguer, just a week after the trade that sent him here from the Cubs over in the National League, and he wasn’t perfect ... Paddy Baumann hit an RBI single for New York in the first, and they added on with a Hugh High RBI single in the fourth to go up 2-0. But Stuffy McInniss hit a homer for us leading off in the bottom of the fourth, his first dinger of the season, to get us on the board. Though Kerr gave up two more runs in the top of the fifth -- an RBI triple for Wally Pipp and an RBI single for Paddy Bauman, we roared back in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single for Charlie Pick and a two-run double by Amos Strunk that tied us up at 4-4! I wish our manager had pulled him at that point, but Kerr stayed out for the sixth and gave up two more RBI singles, to Frank Gilhooley and Wally Pipp, forcing us to go to Jack Nabors with one out and Gilhooley on third, trailing 6-4. He got us out of the inning without further damage, and an RBI single for Mike Mowrey drove Nap Lajoie in after his leadoff triple, keeping us in the game trailing 6-5 heading into the top of the seventh. Nabors was excellent, getting us through the top of the eighth with the deficit just at one run, and in the bottom of the eighth Johnny Bassler hit a single that, coupled with an E7 error, allowed both Nap Lajoie and Sam Crane to score, putting us into the lead 7-6! Nabors pitched the ninth and kept it that way, and we were able to get out of the game with our fourth win in a row, 7-6! Nabors earned that win the hard way, pitching 3.2 innings from behind with three hits, no walks, no strikeouts, no runs ... his ERA has now improved to 7.62 through 13 innings, making up for a rough start by Kerr, who allowed 12 hits, four walks and six earned runs in his 5.1 innings, giving the youngster a 10.12 ERA. We outhit them 16-15 in a real fireworks display, led by Nap Lajoie who was 4-4 with two runs scored, while Mike Mowrey added three hits and an RBI.

Pedro Dibut was named Rookie of the Month in the AL, with a 2-2 record and 2.43 ERA, striking out four in 29.2 innings.

May 1, 1916: We ended the month of April having won four in a row, seven of our last ten, to go into May with an 8-8 record which was well above where anyone expected our rag-tag bunch to be even this early in the season. We started this afternoon’s game against the Yankees with an RBI triple for Wally Schang in the bottom of the first to take an early lead, but the Yankees equalized it in the top of the fourth with an RBI double by Frank Gilhooley. Bullet Joe Bush lasted until early in the seventh inning, and Jing Johnson got two critical outs in the inning to keep the score tied up 1-1. We brought out Bill Morrisette to take over in the eighth, and New York broke the stalemate with a run scored off a sac-fly by Wally Pipp to give them a 2-1 lead. This time we got ourselves the equalizer in the bottom of the inning, Schang batting in another run with a groundball single, and Morrisette got us into the bottom of the ninth still knotted up with a chance to win this one. Charlie Pick led off with a flyball double, stole third base, and then scored off a walk-off single by Buck Thrasher, who picked up his first pinch-hit in four tries to win the game for us 3-2! There’s something special about this streak right now, and we’re just doing everything we can to keep the momentum and the positivity in our clubhouse. Morrisette improved to 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA, pitching two innings with three hits and the earned run. Bush still hasn’t managed to get a win this year, but he pitched 6.1 innings with just four hits, three walks and a run, striking out two. Walks are his issue ... he has 22 hits and 23 walks against him, which has led to a 1.65 WHIP and has forced him to throw more pitches early than he’d like. If he can get those bullets to fly more on target, he’ll go deeper into games and the wins will come. We outhit New York 14-7, Connie Mack looking absolutely livid at moments in this one. McCarthy and Mowrey combined for five hits to nowhere, but Wally Schang remained on point all game, hitting twice for two RBIs, while McInnis added two hits and a run.

We, with five straight, and the St. Louis Browns with six in a row are the two hottest teams in all of baseball right now, while Boston, having lost eight in a row, is now the coldest ... they’re now just 7-11 with a game and a half lead over Cleveland as they fight to avoid last place, and they’ve gone 3-5 in one run games, making them also by far the league’s unluckiest team.

May 2, 1916: Rookie of the month Pedro Dibut pitched today, and after a sac-fly by McInnis in the bottom of the first drove home Schang for a run, he was pitching with the lead deep into this game. Strunk hit an RBI single in the third to add on, but from there the defenses were fully in control. In the top of the eighth, with a runner on first and one out, Bill Morrisette took over, getting us out of the inning without any damage, and he shut them down in the top of the ninth to cement our sixth win in a row, a 2-0 shutout! Dibut got the win, improving to 3-2 with a 1.95 ERA, allowing just four hits and a walk while striking out seven! Morrisette, meanwhile, earned his third save of the year with a hit and two walks, improving his ERA to 1.74. We managed to outhit them 6-5 in this duel, led by Amos Strunk with two hits and an RBI, while McInniss added a hit and an RBI, Walsh and Schang scoring our two runs on the ground.

May 3, 1916: So far Connie Mack’s return to Philly wearing Yankees gear has not gone well for him, and we came into this game with all the momentum. Amos Strunk grounded out in the bottom of the third to drive home Jimmy Walsh for a 1-0 lead, but New York answered in the top of the fifth, Frank Baker scoring off a passed ball to tie the score. Wally Schang batted home Charlie Pick with a single in the bottom of the eighth to get us the lead back, amd Jim Nabors (who took over in the top of the eighth) pitched another clean inning as we shut them down in the top of the ninth, completing the most unlikely of sweeps with a 2-1 victory! Nabors got his second win of the year, improving to 2-0 out of the pen with a 6.60 ERA, allowing three hits and a walk but not letting anyone score. Houck, who lasted seven innings with five hits, five walks, three strikeouts and an earned run, now has a 2.65 ERA through 34 innings. Incredibly, New York outhit us 8-2 and we comitted two errors but we STILL came out of this one with the win, led by Wally Schang, who put us on his shoulders with two hits and a run batted in. Schang, with a .344 average, two doubles, six triples and 11 RBIs, has already put together 1.2 wins above replacement through his first 18 games, despite being a very inefficient defensive catcher. We’ll take his bat any day!

Seven wins in a row, and we’re going to play Washington (9-10) for four games in our next series, the team that started this streak in the first place. Our 11-8 Athletics are now tied for third place, but only half a game back of St. Louis and Chicago, who are both tied at 12-8 for first in what is now a very wide-open American League race.