SHL: Scattered Hits From the Dog Days of Summer

Every week since the Seamheads Historical League launched I’ve written reports about the American Midwest and Expansion Three divisions, alternating as I go.  This week I’m supposed to write about the American Midwest, but the Cleveland Indians recently busted out a six-pack of “Little Big Horn” on the rest of the division and are currently sitting on a 15-game lead with only 44 tilts to go.  Since July 29, they’re 14-2, are winning by an average score of 7-3, have scored fewer than five runs only three times, and have held the opposition to three runs or less eight times.  Meanwhile the rest of the division sits below .500.  The White Sox are just 37-51 since their 16-6 April, the Orioles are 23-40 since June, and the Tigers are 13-26 since July.

The Expansion Three race is much tighter with the Blue Jays and D’Rocks within two games of each other, and the third-place Mariners creeping to within five games of first place, thanks to Ken Phelps’ smoking hot bat, which has produced 17 homers and an .824 slugging percentage over his last 39 games.  But I wrote about them last week and not much has changed.

So this week I’m going to wander around the league and see what kinds of odds and ends I can find.

“Here He Comes, Look at That, Look at That”: Giants slugger Willie Mays has a 23-game hitting streak going into tonight’s games against the Braves and Angels, and if he records a hit off Warren Spahn in the first contest, he’ll tie Joe Morgan for the second longest streak in the SHL this season behind Nap Lajoie’s 29-game gem from earlier this year.  Mays has two official at-bats against Spahn so far this season and is 0-for-2.  He batted .285 and slugged .563 with 12 homers in 158 career at-bats against Spahn in his brilliant career.  Mays is batting .341 with eight homers and 25 RBIs since July 1.

Nothing to Spit at: Speaking of streaks (and Indians), Gaylord Perry has two active streaks that are impressive in their own right, especially considering how poorly he began the season.  Perry has a seven-game winning streak dating back to mid-June and an 11-game undefeated streak that dates all the way back to mid-May.  His last loss came on May 16 in an 18-3 pounding at the hands of the A’s, which dropped him to 0-2 with an 8.22 ERA.  Since then, however, he’s 10-0 with a 3.62 ERA and only a no-decision on June 13 against the Mariners has kept him from building an 11-game winning streak.

Even if he wins his next start, he’ll still only be tied with Walter Johnson atop the winning streak list and will need to win his next two to claim the top spot for himself.  He still has his work cut out for him if he wants to claim the undefeated streak for himself, though.  Johnson hasn’t lost a game since May 26 and has a 15-game undefeated streak that began on May 31.

How do You Spell Relief: In the SHL we spell it J-O-N-E-S.  Sticking with the streaks theme, Indians closer Doug Jones has recorded 17 straight saves since blowing one to the A’s on May 15.  After going 9-for-12 in save situations to start the year, Jones is a perfect 17-for-17 in saves with a win and six no-decisions in his last 24 appearances.  He’s also reduced his ERA on the year from 4.60 to 2.90 over that span and ranks third in overall saves with 26.

Tony! Toni! Tone!: Well, not exactly, but close enough.  Tony Gwynn, Lou Gehrig, and Tony Oliva are in a three-way battle for the hitting crown, which isn’t surprising considering they have 12 batting titles between them.  Gwynn, with eight titles under his belt, is in the lead with a .374 average and it doesn’t look like he’s going to relinquish his spot anytime soon—he’s batting .412 in August, .402 since June 1, and .399 since May 1.

Gehrig, who won a batting title in 1934, is almost as hot as Gwynn, batting .401 since July 1 and .384 since June 1 to boost his average to .368.  Oliva, a three-time batting champ, has cooled off since jumping out to an early lead with a .390 AVG through May.  Since June 1, the Twins star is batting “only” .351 and currently sits in third at .367.

Rarified Air:  In a league loaded with sluggers the likes of Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, Reggie Jackson, Willie Stargell, etc., etc., etc., it’s a little surprising to see D’Rocks outfielder Luis Gonzalez pacing the SHL in slugging at .647.  It would be easy to credit his success to Coors Field where he’s hitting .353/.403/.688 with 16 homers in 51 games, but Gonzo has had great success on the road as well, batting .338/.382/.599 with 23 extra-base hits in 42 games. He’s slugging .727 so far in August, with a .741 road mark, but has a .509 SLG vs. the next five pitching staffs he’ll be facing through the end of the month.

Good Evening, Mr. Phelps: With 32 home runs, Seattle’s Ken Phelps is pacing the SHL in circuit clouts and holds a one-homer lead over Stargell and D’Rocks third baseman Troy Glaus.  After blasting 14 homers in his first 244 at-bats (one very 17.4 AB), Phelps has launched 17 in his last 119 at-bats, averaging a jog around the bases every seven at-bats since July 1.  Phelps never hit more than 27 homers in any of his 11 major league seasons, but that’s because he averaged only 395 at-bats per 162 games.  He couldn’t hit lefties worth a damn (.202/.329/.370 in 165 games) and he was a below average first baseman, so he became a DH that was only effective against right-handed pitchers.

The biggest difference between real Phelps and virtual Phelps is his ability to hit southpaws in the simulation (.299/.419/.667, 8 homers in 87 at-bats) and his glove work (.996 FLD% in 104 games).  But the simulation doesn’t know how badly Phelps struggled against lefties in reality and uses generic stat splits, so it can be excused for turning Phelps into a virtual monster.

Double Trouble: Cleveland sluggers Joe Jackson and Nap Lajoie are tied atop the leader board with 37 doubles and are projected to finish with 52 each, which would put them in rare company.  Only twice in baseball history have teammates rapped out 50 doubles in a season—Alex Rodriguez (54) and Edgar Martinez (52) did it for the 1996 Mariners, and Todd Helton (59) and Jeff Cirillo (53) performed the feat for the 2000 Rockies.

The Deadball Era Called and Wants Its Arm Back: Though the SHL is filled with Deadball Era hurlers, a handful of whom have taken up residence among the ERA leaders, the league’s top hurler is Greg Maddux, who excelled in an era dominated by offense and expanding ERAs.  Maddux’s 2.01 mark is almost a third-of-a-run better than runner-up Jesse Tannehill’s 2.32, and he’s making a mockery of the so-called Quality Start, recording 20 in his first 22 trips to the mound (he’d have 21 if not for a 58-minute rain delay that shortened his April 29 start to 4 2/3 innings).

He has yet to allow more than three earned runs in a start, and has 15 starts in which he’s allowed two runs or less.  He ranks first in baserunners per 9 innings, and is second in VORP, H/9 IP, BB/9 IP, and WHIP.  Yet, for all his success, he’s on pace to go only 18-10, which puts him far out of the running for the league lead in wins or winning percentage.  That’s because in his seven losses, the Braves have scored less than two runs per game on average, and have lost four games by one run and the other three by two.

Lesson Learned: Cubs ace Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown surrendered a two-out, two-run homer to Carlos Delgado in the bottom of the ninth to lose to the Blue Jays 2-1 on April 19 to drop the Cubs to 8-6 on the year.  Brown went from a four-hit shutout on only 103 pitches to a heartbreaking loss in the blink of an eye, but he hasn’t blinked since.  He’s 12-7 with a 3.43 ERA since the loss, but that’s not the impressive part; that he hasn’t allowed another home run in his last 170 1/3 innings is.  Brown has faced 708 batters since April 19 without allowing a home run and is averaging 0.04 HR/ 9 IP.

Pirates hurler Babe Adams has allowed only one homer all year and is working on a homerless streak of 496 batters; Teammate Jesse Tannehill has surrendered only two homers, but not to the last 618 batters he’s faced; and White Sox hurler Ed Walsh faced 782 consecutive batters without allowing a home run between the time Joe Morgan took him deep on April 14 and the eighth-inning grand slam he surrendered to Harmon Killebrew on August 7.

Johnson & Johnson: Randy Johnson holds the top two spots in strikeouts, with the Mariners version holding a slim 197-190 lead over the D’Rocks version.  Meanwhile, the Mariners version of the “Big Unit” is also pacing the SHL in strikeouts per nine innings at 10.72 (the D’Rocks version is third at 9.31), while the D’Rocks version is pacing the league in K/BB at 5.28 (the Mariners version is nowhere to be found at 2.16).  If projections hold true, however, D’Rocks Johnson will edge Mariners Johnson 260-259 in whiffs.

Glove Me Tender, Glove Me True: Dodgers outfielder Zack Wheat has played 110 games in left field and has yet to commit an error.  Here’s a list of players with the most games at each position who haven’t committed an error yet this season:

P: Bob Wickman (55)

C: Ernie Lombardi (28)

1B: Jimmie Foxx (43)

2B: Jeff Kent (47)

3B: Adrian Beltre (52)

SS: Luke Appling (53)

LF: Zack Wheat (110)

CF: Al Simmons (101)

RF: Al Kaline (98)

Would You Like Hash Browns With That?: With all due respect to my buddy Matt Dahlgren, his grandfather Babe has been the worst fielder in the SHL so far (among regulars), making 34 errors in only 49 games at third base to lead the All-Skillet team in defensive futility.  In Babe’s defense, he played only 48 games at third base in his actual career and OOTP is notorious for torturing players without defensive ratings at a specific position.

Here’s the rest of the All-Skillet team:

P: Johan Santana (NYM)—6 errors in 21 games; .684

C: Mickey Tettleton—18 errors and 12 passed balls in 105 games; .966

1B: Rafael Palmeiro—13 errors in 88 games; .982

2B: Rod Carew (LAA)—15 errors in 37 games; .903

3B: Babe Dahlgren—34 errors in 49 games; .776

LF: Rusty Staub—13 errors in 79 games; .914

CF: Frank Robinson (CIN)—10 errors in 49 games; .914

RF: Manny Ramirez (CLE)—18 errors in 68 games; .836