Week 19 Summary

Week 19 is in the books and the 1901 replay marches on. Three teams still haven’t reached the 100 games-played mark, all three in the NL, although that will be rectified shortly. It is only a 140 game season, so the end is drawing nigh. I was curious - there were 59 games played in Week 17, 43 in both Weeks 18 and 19 (although Week 18 was another doubleheader extravaganza), and there will be 53 games played in the upcoming Week 20.

Ed Delahanty

Pittsburgh continues to hold onto first place in the NL, although Brooklyn has cut their lead down to only three games. The Pirates always get good pitching, but their hitters are listless sometimes. Both Philadelphia and Brooklyn swing hot and cold - Brooklyn is hot now, Philadelphia is not. Boston has clawed their way past New York again, and below them, Chicago and St. Louis are both looking to move up in the standings with a late-season rush (if they can stay healthy). Cincinnati has provided some pain to the teams at the top of the standings lately, so while they aren’t very good they aren't taking things lightly as the season winds down.

In the AL, Chicago has a  comfortable lead over Detroit and Boston and all three teams continue to just pound the teams below them in the standings. Baltimore still has injury issues but still continues to hang onto fourth place, which may be more of a testament to the struggles of the teams below them. Philadelphia is the best of the rest, but the injury bug hit them this week, so the final four teams may be a little spread out right now, but I still wouldn’t be surprised if one of them put on a mini-surge toward the end here.

Lave Cross

Speaking of the Philadelphia Athletics, Nap Lajoie's exploits at the plate have been documented here on an almost weekly basis. For much of the first quarter of the season the A's had three hitters batting over .400 and another two hitting in the .380's. They still lead the AL in hitting, but just not at the pace they were hitting and scoring back in April and May. During that time they were very competitive because they could pretty much bludgeon anyone they met into submission. The fact that they didn't have much pitching was overshadowed,  but as soon as their hitting cooled off (as you knew it would) their AL worst pitching got exposed and they nose-dived down the standings.

Vic Willis

Of their hitters, Lajoie is in a class by himself. Third baseman Lave Cross has served as Lajoie's second all season though. Lajoie leads the AL in hitting (.429), Cross is second (.372). Lajoie leads the AL in runs (90), Cross is fifth (75). Lajoie leads the AL in RBI's (115), Cross is seventh (75). Lajoie leads in hits (177), Cross is third (155). Lajoie is second in doubles (39), Cross is third (27). Cross is tied for third in triples (13), and Lajoie is tied for the lead in homeruns (13). Lajoie is second in multi-hit games (52), Cross is fifth (43).

Lajoie is currently injured but will be back in a week. Cross, unfortunately for Connie Mack and the Athletics fans, is out for the remainder of the season with a knee ligament injury. They might be able to hold on to fifth place, but they are going to have to work for it.