The Bucs Start Here - A Pirates Do-Over

[luckymann]

I watched the highlights of this game and discovered this play happened with bases loaded in the 9th with us up 4-2, ending the game and getting us out of an almighty jam.

[luckymann]

My concerns re depth are tested almost immediately as we lose Dihigo to an intercostal strain for a fortnight, then a sprained ankle sidelines Wright for a week.

Then Leiber goes down for the season.

Unbelievable.

We have had such a great run with injuries, I can’t say we weren’t due. But it leaves us with a much weaker lineup for the long season ahead and little recourse to address it.

We were fortunate enough to have signed veteran OF Goose Goslin on an MiLB deal, and he gets the call-up to platoon at LF with Doc Cramer, at least to begin with.

It is almost entirely thanks to Jimmie Foxx – as you can see from that earlier post – and Josh Gibson that we manage to stay afloat in this early choppiness. Both hit over 400 in the first dozen games, with 8 HR and 25 RBI between them.

With the exception of Brown, our pitching struggles to put good performances together with any consistency. Derringer has another ineffective start to the season, while Ruffing and Lee both have good days and bad in equal amounts.

Dihigo is back by this time, vastly improving our overall balance and, after a true test by fire of 27 straight games without an off day, we sit at 17-10 and in a three-way tie for first, quite astonishing given everything that has gone on and a testament to the work ethic and grit of the group despite playing far from their best. This is best exemplified by our 5-1 extra-innings record over this period.

Make that 6-1, when in our first game after the break, Duke Derringer gets his first win of the season with an 11-inning complete game victory at Boston.

But the rest of the month remains choppy in what is, all up, a hectic, frantic, manic start to our 1938 campaign, by the end of which we sit at 25-17 and just a half-game behind the Bees and Jints.





The early injury seems to have left Martin Dihigo a bit underdone and both he and Ray Dandridge have really struggled for consistency in the early going. Other than that, all is fine now that Duke Derringer seems to have righted the ship.





The Yanks look monstrous and have already put a little gap between them and the pack. The Tigers have had a terrible start to the season.




Awards, news and leaders. Monte "Mr Murder" Irvin's first month in the bigs is a memorable one: he wins the Batter and Rookie awards in the NL after hitting 354 with 10 HR. Piece of cake, really!






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[luckymann]

Another one of those weird choices of recap - picking Pinky Whitney as the focus over Elbie Fletcher, despite the latter knocking in a club-tying record 7 runs to Whitney's 2. Still, good to see the Cards finally getting it together so far this season after a horror run. The same can't be said for the 15-28 Phillies, I'm afraid.

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by luckymann

I watched the highlights of this game and discovered this play happened with bases loaded in the 9th with us up 4-2, ending the game and getting us out of an almighty jam.

Where was the ball hit?

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Brad K

Where was the ball hit?

Shallow CF.

Wild Bill Wright made a shoestring catch, all of the runners were way off base. out at 2nd, out at 1st, game over!

[Brad K]

Stupid baserunning

[luckymann]

A strong start to June comes at an incredibly heavy price as we lose Josh Gibson for the season with a broken kneecap.

This game really can be a woman of questionable morals sometimes, can’t it.

Mike Tresh gets the call-up to make his debut in the bigs with Ken O’Dea given the chance to prove himself up to this level.

This almost seems to have a galvanizing effect on the group initially, but maybe that was the shock talking as we come back to earth fairly quickly. It becomes clear over this period that generating enough offence is going to be our biggest obstacle, as you’d expect when you’ve had 40-50 homers ripped out of your lineup. We lose five in a row and score just seven runs all up over that stretch. Dihigo is having the worst season of his career, as his BA drops below 200.

It is tough going indeed. But four straight strong wins to wrap up the month (with a 15-12 mark) will hopefully give us some momentum as we approach the halfway point of the season.





As you can see from those metrics, everything is working surprisingly well - even more so when you take all of the upheaval into account. Best of all in my eyes, aside from Foxx on the upside and Dihigo on the down, it is a very evenly-distributed performance with the bat. Whether we can maintain this for the remainder will play a huge part in how this season turns out in the end. We need more from Young and Goslin, and for O'Dea and Cramer to hold their form. We need other power sources than Foxx, who has hit exactly 1/3 of our homers.




It's a fairly similar story with the staff. As Derringer was having a really poor time of it and both Brown and Ruffing struggled for consistency, it was Bill Lee who stood tall. His 2.76 ERA currently leads the NL. Derringer seems to have come around now, while Ruffing needs to be better - that 1.59 WHIP won't be tolerated for much longer, as we have a host of young guys I am itching to test out at this level. Despite Matlock not quite being up to his lofty standards of the past couple years, the pen has once again been fantastic.




The Yankees look on track to break a bunch of (our) records, with 51 wins already and just 19 losses. Barring anything unforeseen, I'm ready to call the AL a done deal right now. We, despite our struggles, remain well and truly in the mix.




Awards, news and leaders. Hank Greenberg already has 23 homers and may well challenge Lou Gehrig's season high of 58 if he keeps going, or perhaps at least become just the 4th player to hit 50 if not. Kiki Cuyler reaches 2500 career hits, Mel Ott and our own Jimmie Foxx both 2000. The ongoing parallels between the fantastic careers of Master Melvin and XX are quite uncanny.






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[luckymann]

We get five in again, with the Yanks setting a new record of nine.




Our own Jimmie Foxx wins the HR Derby, while Vito Tamulis of the A's claims a rare MVP double as a pitcher on the losing side as the NL wins the main event 2-1.

[luckymann]

With 7 walks issued, there have been far prettier no-hitters before it and there will be plenty better to come, but Red Ruffing gives us our first since Rube Vickers all the way back in 1916 and just the franchise's third ever (Nick Altrock in '06 was the first). A nice way to go into the ASB.

[luckymann]

I'll happily admit I never saw this coming for Willis. His ratings were good but not great when he joined the league and have never exceeded 60 since, but he has just gone and done his job season-in and season-out, and is still doing so at age-41.

Truly remarkable that he now becomes just the third player in MLB history after Walter Johnson and Dick Redding to reach 350 wins. That 3.38 lifetime ERA ain't too shabby, either.

[luckymann]

A win in the first game of the month gives us our longest streak for the year at 5, but then we lose Leroy Matlock for a fortnight to a finger blister. Young Max Lanier, one of our brightest pitching prospects, gets the call-up to make his MLB debut.

Ruffing’s no-no and then the ASB seems to rejuvenate the group as we string together some strong wins behind excellent pitching, allowing just 3 runs in 5 games. Still, we’re not exactly wearing out the scoreboard attendants ourselves, with just 20 on our side of the ledger over the same stretch. The undeniable slippage of age-35 Paul Waner becoming a real worry. He’s currently slashing 267 (career low)/309/351, which tells you in one line how little he is contributing or even getting on base.

I do still have my FA ticket for the year up my sleeve, and start scouring the list for some pop. Sadly, however, that cupboard is pretty bare and I make a mental note to never again use both my trades in the fashion I have done this year. I do grab outfielder Red Worthington off the WW from the Browns and send Goslin – who has done little – off to AAA, but am really on the hunt for another IF, with Jurges also struggling to contribute.

In an effort to increase our run-scoring, I shuffle the lineup around, with Dandridge moving to the top of the order and Wild Bill to five. It takes a while for them to acclimatise, but we do eventually start seeing it pay off. Doc Cramer, who has been so good for us in a backup role and who will be first in the queue to supplant Big Poison if he doesn’t turn things around post-haste, has 7 RBI in a big 11-0 win against the Dodgers that gives us the outright division lead.

From there, it all kind of just meshes for a wee while as we start playing our best baseball of the year behind one of the most consistent spells of outstanding pitching this franchise has seen (see below). But the offence is still unfortunately more miss than hit and we plateau again toward the end of the month, which we finish with a solid enough record of 18-10 and a game ahead of the Bees.





As these next two screenshot clearly show, we are still a tale of two halves. For the 28 games we play in July, we score just 130 runs but concede a minuscule 61 - a smidge over 2 RPG allowed. Of our starters, Lee's 2.32 ERA is the highest; among our relievers, only Tinning registers an ERA above 1 for the sectional. Just unbelievable. Almost as unbelievable is the fact none of them wins the monthly award, with Dizzy Dean also having a lights-out month for the Cards.

All of which is great, but the concern is that we know this is almost certainly unsustainable and so if our bats don't heat up and stay hot we are up against it. Both Dihigo and Paul Waner have finally been showing some life of late, and Wright and Dandridge have been fantastic. But Jimmie Foxx has cooled right off and we need him belting it plenty to keep us in the hunt.





Here are the Top 20s by WAR to this point:





What the Yanks are doing both individually and collectively this season is just outrageous. They are now on pace for 117 wins, lead the Al by 23 1/2 games and have a +233 run diff thru 96 games! Lefty Gomez is on pace for 34 wins himself. Ridiculous.




Awards, news and leaders. Hank Greenberg has just slowed a bit but is still projected to hit 52 HR. He has 32 at the time of writing.






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[luckymann]

Big days at the opposite ends of the pitching-hitting continuum for Cincy's Cy Blanton and Sam Chapman of the A's.

[luckymann]

The starters keep throwing rocks in the early part of the month, shutting out the Bees twice in a three-game road sweep to kick it off and stretch our lead to four games. That becomes seven quickly enough, as our pitchers just weaken ever so much but our bats finally come alive. A hell of a lot of grit being shown by the group to find ways of winning.

I decide to call up Ken Chase for a look-see and, in the process of waiving Neck Stanley, we lose him to the Cubs. At 33 and with us having a backlog of pitching prospects, I am not in the least bit perturbed by this, although he has been a fantastic player in his five seasons at our club, going 5-0 / 3.15 in 134 IP over that span and we wish him well – except, of course, when he faces us.

A couple days later, Ruffing fractures his tibia running out a double and is unlikely to return this year. Johnny Lanning is the next young arm to get his chance to show us what he’s got, with Jim Tobin moving into the spin. We also get news that whatever hopes we had of Hank Leiber making a reappearance this season would come to nought as he suffers a setback that would prolong his absence by at least three further months. We take the opportunity to sit down with him and try to nut out a deal as I would like to keep him here. Our pitch is a 4+1 / $96500 deal, which he later accepts.

The second half of the month is a bit of a struggle. The lads have been playing their hearts out but have only got so much to give and I honestly don’t know how much there is left in the tank. And yet they keep finding new reserves from someplace deep inside and our lead edges up bit by bit until, as we close August with huge 15-3 win over the Jints to give us a 16-11 record for the sectional, we have cleared out by eight games.

This is quite a group we’ve got.

The power void continues as we hit just 14 homers in August's 27 games. Foxx hits five of those but has been in some dirty form for the most part. Meanwhile, the pitchers are just withering a bit. We just need them to hang tight for 30 more games. Then hopefully between four and seven more after that.

A relatively ordinary month by the Yanks (15-13) reins in their projected wins to a measly 109, while Hammerin' Hank goes a bit quiet in the second half and now is on 51 HR pace.

Standings, awards, news and leaders.

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[luckymann]

A nice milestone for one of our Wilkes-Barre boys today with NeLer Ray Sheppard belting his 300th career AAA home run. He also had one glorious one in the majors for Cincy in 1930. He's kind of our equivalent of Crash Davis...

[luckymann]

Little to report here as it all goes smoothly on both sides of the league for the Yanks and ourselves. A very sedate end to one of the most bizarre baseball seasons I have experienced.





We finish with four of our starters hitting 300 or better on the year, but it takes a blast from WBW in the final game to give us two players with double-figure homers, a category in which we finish 6th in the NL. Brown (who finishes top three across the TC spectrum) and Derringer both win 20 and our pitching in general is magnificent all season, and will be further enhanced in the WS by Ruffing's return in the final week. Our D is its usual reliable self, with a final ZR of +35.5.best in the division.





The Yanks do cool off a bit to finish with 107 wins, a new AL record but not enough to knock off our MLB mark of 110 from a few seasons back.




Here are the final Top 20s by WAR, awards, news and leaders. Hank Greenberg labours to 51 HR, becoming just the fourth player to make it to the half-century. His 134 RBI also easily leads the league, as does his 9.4 bWAR and he's a virtual lock for his first Wagner-Lajoie. White Sox rookie Taffy Wright hits 357 to win the AL batting title, while Brooklyn's Cecil Travis takes out the NL with 340. Lefty Gomez ends up winning 29, while Bob Feller leads the league in strikeouts with 274 (to go with his 235 walks). Satchel Paige (11.4) edges out Dizzy Dean (10.5) for the most pWAR. Buddy Myer also registers his 2000th career hit late in the season, and Lou Gehrig finishes 1938 needing just 16 dingers to pass The Babe.








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[luckymann]

New York Yankees (107-47) v Pittsburgh Pirates (93-61)
Best-of-seven, Pirates with the home-field advantage.

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The broad consensus here – one that even I am forced to admit has plenty of merit and basis in fact – is that this Series is merely ceremonial, with us having reached the moment when the inexorable realities of baseball and finance have converged to facilitate a simple handing-over from the reigning to the rightful.

With both Pennants having been locked down for some time now, I have had plenty of opportunity to formulate a plan of forestalling this occurrence. And yet, when it comes to a strategy for how we can beat this Yankees unit, especially without Josh Gibson and Hank Leiber, I have come up empty.

But, you know what, I’m OK with that.

The way I see it, there is absolutely no need for us to go out there and try to beat them, for in the end this will as likely as not result in us beating ourselves instead. A much better strategy in my eyes is to go out there and play the way we play, and just take it from there and see how things go.

There’s no doubt in my mind that pretty much everything will need to fall our way for us to even push them. Which means we have to try and make this our first goal. We need to take every chance we get, keep advancing runners, play the tightest D we can and make our mistakes on as small a scale as possible.

From there, particularly in a short series, anything can happen.

At worst, even if we end up getting swept, what this group has achieved this season in light of the adversity faced has been monumental. Our official mantra for the remainder is Expect the Unexpected. Unofficially, it is Let’s Make Weird S**t Happen.

We've decided to go with O'Dea and Padgett as our catchers - meaning Tresh unfortunately misses out - because I want to carry ten pitchers. Ruffing will work from the pen, at least to begin with.

[luckymann]

After an astonishing regular season that sees them out-Yankee the Yankees with a 90-36 record, our Barons make quick work of Brownsville to lock down their 7th Championship in a series that was far tighter than it might look.

[luckymann]

Game 1 in Pittsburgh - October 6th, 1938

Paul Derringer (21-13, 3.22) v Satchel Paige (26-18, 3.18)

No preludes here, I’m just gonna get straight into it.

They waste no time doing the same, scoring one on two hits in the top 1st, then add a second in the 4th on a DiMaggio solo shot.

After a slow start, our bats come alive in the next with O’Dea putting us on the board via an RBI single. Duke bunts the two runners into scoring position with just one out and a crisp hit by Dandridge plates them both to put us in front. Danny then swipes second and moves to third on a WP but is doubled up by an amazing throw from RF by Henrich.

The 3-2 line holds until the 9th and I bring in Matlock to try lock it down. He gives us a clean inning and the sort of start we needed.


Pirates 3, Yankees 2

Game 2 in Pittsburgh - October 7th, 1938

Ray Brown (22-12, 2.88) v Lefty Grove (10-3, 2.93)

Pirates lead series 1-0

This time it is us with the early run, driven in by a Foxx SF, and then we get three more as we load the bases and Red Worthington clears them with a two-out double.

We go further ahead in the 3rd when Foxx leads off with a trip and Dihigo plates him with another sac fly. The next frame sees us with a real chance to blow it open as we load them up again with none out. One scores on a Wright groundout but that’s all we can manage.

With Jim Willis in for Grove to start the 6th, we threaten again but don’t score. We do, however, add another one in the next as Worthington’s night to remember continues with an RBI single.

Brown is magnificent, never remotely in trouble as he hurls a 4-hitter and suddenly this series has gone just ever so slightly off script.


Pirates 7, Yankees 0

Game 3 in New York - October 9th, 1938

Lefty Gomez (29-8, 2.88) v Bill Lee (18-11, 3.35)

Pirates lead series 2-0

We know our greatest weapon now is pressure, and apply some early as we score one on a Paul Waner single before making an out. This time, however, they hit straight back with a run in the home half.

We edge ahead again in the 3rd on a two-out hit by Foxx and just avoid giving it straight back as Little P nails Gordon at home with a bullet. We can’t repeat the dose in the next, however, as Lee’s late-season struggles persist and they tag him for a pair to leapfrog us at 3-2. A leadoff jack to DiMaggio in the next and I send Ruffing in to see if he can stem the tide.

He can, but these moody bats of ours have gone quiet, with Dihigo yet to register a hit in the series. And with Gomez working his magic, they put us away with a barrage of hits and 4 runs in the 8th and it finishes a fairly comprehensive 8-2.


Yankees 8, Pirates 2

Game 4 in New York - October 10th, 1938

Satchel Paige (0-1, 3.38) v Paul Derringer (1-0, 2.25)

Pirates lead series 2-1

They just look a different side at home and that first win has put plenty of wind in their sails as they get to Duke early with a 1st-inning 2-spot. Another in the 3rd puts them further in control as we go back to looking like we’ll be lucky to score a run.

We do, however, in the next as Dihigo finally gets in the hit column and then Don Padgett, in for a struggling Ken O’Dea, gets the biggest hit of his short career as he dispatches a hanger by Satch into the RF seats for a 3-run tater that puts us ahead.

That lead lasts precisely one out as Henrich makes it 4-4 with a solo homer, but again this amazing group bounces back as Foxx doubles Vaughan all the way home from first with two out.

However, they are just pummelling Derringer and get it back level in the home half, then chase him with three more to make it 8-5. This is a war we will never win and sure enough they just don’t stop hitting, adding another run in the 7th to get out by four.

We erase that one in the next on a run-scoring single by Padgett, which ends Satchel’s game, and then put the tying runs on base with one out in the 9th, but still it ends 9-6 and the series is all tied up again.


Yankees 9, Pirates 6

Game 5 in New York - October 11th, 1938

Lefty Grove (0-1, 10.80) v Ray Brown (1-0, 0.00)

Series tied 2-2

Padgett keeps his spot for this game after his fine effort yesterday and Dihigo just has to start contributing if we are to have any real hope here.

Once again they come at us from the off as Gordon gives them the lead in the 1st with a solo shot, then they put the foot down in the 4th with four more as we can do little to stop the freight train and offer next to nothing at the plate.

I lift Brown in the 6th for a PH to no avail and Grove goes all nine to shut us out on 4 hits and send us back home on the brink.


Yankees 5, Pirates 0

Game 6 in Pittsburgh - October 13th, 1938

Red Ruffing (0-0, 0.00) v Lefty Gomez (1-0, 2.00)

Yankees lead series 3-2

Desperate times and all that, as I opt for Ruffing to try and keep our season alive—no enviable task, indeed. He’ll only be able to go maybe 5 at most after his relief appearance in Game 3. O’Dea returns.

DiMaggio, who has just carved us up in this series, gets us again in the 1st with a run-scoring double and Gehrig then singles him in. Joltin’ Joe’s third homer of the series makes it 3-0 in the 3rd, then O’Dea’s dirty series reaches its nadir as he drops a straight pop-up and they take full advantage with another one as things properly go off the rails. On top of all this, we are yet to get a hit.

Ruffing gives us his five and I switch him out and, while we get off the shutout in the 8th on Dihigo’s second hit of the series, we go down very quietly as that script in the end gets followed pretty closely. Remarkably, this is the first World Series we have lost since the Browns beat us in 1922, but – despite giving our all – beaten we are, and fairly handily so in the end.


Yankees 4, Pirates 1

NEW YORK WINS SERIES 4-2

SERIES MVP: Joe DiMaggio (New York)

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[luckymann]

A few skippers sent packing, with Bill Pounds (Red Sox), Otis Clymer (Cubs) and Hank Schreiber (Reds) all now out of work, as is Indians GM Tony Steele.

We have one real decision to make, namely whether to re-up on Little Poison or Red Worthington. In the end, I go with the former and lock him down on a 2/$22k deal.

We tender for both of our arb-eligible players, Ken O’Dea and Bud Tinning. All of our other FA including Red Ruffing, who is seeking a bigger and longer contract than we’d ever consider, are let go. We’ll look at how Ruffing is feeling once he hits the FA market, as it is almost guaranteed we’ll be using our ticket on a pitcher.

The list of retirees features Kiki Cuyler, Travis Jackson, Hack Wilson, Topper Rigney, Eric Erickson, Bill McCall, Sam Streeter, Specs Toporcer, Max Bishop, George Scales and Lefty O’Doul.

[luckymann]

AL 1938 HISTORY INDEX

NL 1938 HISTORY INDEX

AWARDS HISTORY


No surprise when Hank Greenberg wins his first AL Wagner-Lajoie unanimously, while Mel Ott wins in the NL for the third time.

Satchel Paige wins his sixth Johnson-Waddell Medal in the AL, while Ray Brown's win in the NL over Dizzy Dean is somewhat unexpected.

RoYs to Joe Gordon and Mort Cooper, with Leroy Matlock making it three straight NL relief awards and Red Lucas also winning for the third time.


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