Sunday, July 18, 2021

Alt-1917: All-Star Break

 It's July 9, 1917. The Yankees followed their 15-12 April and 17-11 May with an 18-10 June!  And followed that up with a 2-5 July so far. It's a 94-win pace for the whole year and nothing to sneeze at, but it leaves them 5 games behind Boston right now, and they had been tied for first relatively recently. So that's a bit frustrating. Plus a few games got away from us including one where Babe Ruth hit a 9th-inning 3-run home run to take the lead (which won it) and another where we couldn't hold a 7-0 first-inning lead. 

Still, we sit at the All-Star Break first in most of the batting categories that matter. Our pitching stats are mediocre, though. And while Dick Redding was Rookie of the Month in June, his last three starts have been disasters and I've sent him back to the reserves at least for now. 

As noted, it's the All-Star break, and we're getting ready for the inaugural game at Philadelphia's Shibe Park in just a couple of game days. Five Yankees made the team, all finishing first in "voting": Pipp, Baker, Peckinpaugh, Charleston, and Pennock. Charleston pulled ahead of Speaker at the last voting update, though to be honest Charleston has been in a pretty bad slide (as has Speaker, actually).  The Browns, Packers, and Peppers lack any representatives on the team. The National League All-Stars include former Yankee Ernie Krueger, who we traded for Chief Bender last year. So it goes. All 10 National League teams are represented on the team. If it goes with the fan vote, it'll be Cooper vs. Leonard as the starters. I'm going to let the AI play it out.

Post-break we go on a 9-game road swing through St. Louis, Chicago, and Newark. We're 13-13 aggregate against those clubs, which are 119-122 otherwise, so we really should hope to do better in these upcoming series. We're 5-5 against the Red Sox, so have plenty of games left to try to regain the lead if it's to be done. 

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