So, the title gets that out of the way. I played the games themselves a couple of weeks ago by now--it was another NL win in 5 games, like every World Series since I started playing. I'm willing to consider that kind of an odd coincidence, though.
The Cardinals won the first two in St. Louis, 4-0 and 3-1. The Yankees won game 3 in New York 6-3 but then dropped the next two 2-1 and 9-8. The last game ended with the Yankees falling just short--Oscar Charleston singled representing the tying run but then was thrown out trying to steal second and Elmer Miller popped out to end it. Charleston's steal, which might otherwise be eye-popping, was driven by the Yankees' terrible propensity for grounding into double plays during the series. Claude Hendrix went 2-0 with an ERA of 0.50, added the game-winning RBI in Game 1, and won the Series MVP award.
The Yankees' offense more or less didn't show up in the Series, at least to the extent they did in the regular season. St. Louis out hit and out slugged them, though the Yankees did get 3 home runs to the Cardinals' 1.
While Bill Terry made the most of his World Series experience by hitting a pinch-hit home run in Game 5 in his only Series at-bat, Del Pratt had the highest OPS of the regulars at 1.154. Charleston was also above 1.000, and Heilmann and Hornsby were both above .960. On the other hand, while Baker was a disappointment hitting .216 and Gilhooley a problem going 3 for 21, Peckinpaugh was a catastrophe, going zero for 20. Peckinpaugh's -0.21 Win Probability Added was only the 3rd worst on the team, though, with Santop bottoming out at -0.31 just behind Gilhooley's -0.29. On the pitching side, Jesse Barnes' had a disastrous stint in Game 5, allowing 4 runs in 0.2 innings in a very high-leverage situation.
So what now? The Fall Barnstorming Tour is making its way west, with today's games taking place in Cheyenne and Salt Lake City. Each team, including the Yankees and Cardinals, has 4 players on the tour. Charleston got hurt early and had to be replaced by Wally Pipp, but Oscar should be fine well before the season starts. Rommel is doing his usual thing of pitching 3-4 good innings and then getting shelled. Russell hasn't been pitching much, and Dobie Moore is doing fine. But I did pull a major trade today, sending Heinie Zimmerman to the White Sox along with a couple of pitchers who will never amount to much in exchange for Eddie Collins. If things vaguely follow history, Zimmerman's best days are behind him while Collins has a few more MVP-caliber years ahead and should be productive for another 5 or so years. I feel a bit bad since Zimmerman was a fan (and personal) favorite who I've gushed over in this very blog. But business is business, I suppose.
More admin stuff in the next post, I think, including my current thoughts about minor leagues.
