1964 AL End Of August Report

Hello fans! August is over on the A.L. side of my 1964 replay. The Yanks came back to earth just a bit in the month, which is to say they stopped being superhuman, not that they aren't still winning with regularity. Here's the standings through August 31st, with August record in parentheses:

NYY  87-44  ---  (17-12)
BAL  78-55  10  (16-12)
CHI  75-60  14  (14-18)
DET  70-65  19  (18-11)
WAS  67-68  22  (15-12)
LAA  67-69  22.5  (16-12)
CLE  64-70  24.5  (13-15)
MIN  61-71  26.5  (17-11)
BOS  54-79  34  (10-19)
KCA  46-88  42.5  (7-21)

Leaders:

"Fear me, puny mortals!"

WINS: Chance-la 19-7, Ford-ny 18-8, Peters-chi 17-8, Wickersham-det 17-10

ERA (131 ip min.): Chance-la 1.66, Ford-ny 2.17, Peters-chi 2.20, Bunker-bal 2.46, Osteen-was 2.70

LOSSES: Pena-kc 8-17, 3 tied with 15 

IP: Chance-la 249, Kaat-min 229, Peters-chi 229, Horlen-chi 221.1

From out of nowhere, Arrigo Man!

K's: Chance-la 200, Arrigo-min 170, Lolich-det 167, Wilson-bos 164, Pena-kc 161 

SHO: Kaat-min 6, 4 tied with 5

SAVES: Kline-was 31, Radatz-bos 27, Hall-bal 24, Wilhelm-chi 24 McMahon-cle 23

CG: Chance-la 18, Kaat-min 18, Peters-chi 16

Eddie assumes his fielding stance.

ERRORS: Bressoud-bos 36, McAuliffe-det 35

BA (min. 354 ab):  B.Robinson-bal .310, Fl.Robinson-chi .308, Allison-min .297, Fregosi-la .297, Piersall-la .297

HR: Powell-bal 40, Killebrew-min 37, Mantilla-bos 31, Mantle-ny 29, Versalles-min 29, Wagner-cle 28

"Accept that I am a star or perish!"

RBI: B.Robinson-bal 104, Bowens-bal 103, Killebrew-min 91, Hansen-chi 88, Mantilla-bos 88, Maris-ny 88

RUNS: Versalles-min 93, Aparicio-bal 91, B.Robinson-bal 91, Tresh-ny 91, Hall-min 90

2B: Bressoud-bos 38, Davalillo-cle 33, B.Robinson-bal 33, Tresh-ny 32, Howard-ny 30

3B: Hinton-was 10, Oliva-min 10, Rollins-min 10

SB: Aparicio-bal 57, Davalillo-cle 23, Hinton-was 18

"BOGO!"

GIDP: Green-kc 23, Adair-bal 21, Skowron-chi 20, Yaz-bos 20

TEAM REPORTS:

Stottlmyre's medical staff meets over breakfast.

YANKEE DOODLES: Tom Tresh absolutely went off in August for the Yanks, nearly getting into the batting leaders. Let *that* sink in. He was still a dandy little player in '64, but this month he thought he was right there with Mantle and the rest. Meanwhile, Elston Howard, who was scorching hot in July and had taken over the AL batting lead, cooled off badly in August. Rookie phenom Mel Stottlemyre was shelved when he came down with pink eye and chicken pox, the usual childhood ailments. After a few weeks in bed with Mister Cuddle Bear, he is expected back for the final run-up to the inevitable World Series for the New Yawks. 

Brooks and Sam sent away for the brochure.

BIRD DOO: Brooks Robinson is having the season of his life, with Sam Bowens right behind him doing the same. They stand head and shoulders above the rest of the league in RBI, both having already surpassed the century mark. Brooksie also happens to lead the loop in batting average. "It's leg hits," he told reporters with a smirk. Boog Powell's bid for a 50-homer season was derailed when he choked on a plate of ribs and had to leave the line-up for a while, stalling him at 40 dingers. Kid chucker Wally Bunker has been in the league ERA leaders all year, but has only 8 wins to show for it, against 4 losses. He is the king of the no-decision. 

Animated skeletons vie to impress skipper Al Lopez and win jobs as scabs.

SOUTH SIDE HITS: Ron Hansen has emerged as a bonafide run producer, with 88 knocked in so far. Who knew? However, the Good Ship White Sox took on water when as many as 9--yes, 9--players were injured at the same time. In fact, backstop Cam Carreon and kid flyhawk Ken Berry both died and could not be revived. The rest of the team must carry on for the rest of the campaign without their services. This leaves the preposterous duo of J.C. Martin and Gerry McNertney to do the catching. "I got a hit once," bragged McNertney. "Liar!" said Martin, jealous at the very thought. 

...and starring Larry Sherry as The Beaver!

TIGER TALES: I have good news and bad news, Tiger fans. The bad news is, the bats turned to mush in August. The good news is, the pitching over-performed and the team got healthy. As a result, the club was able to forget the misery of July and win as many as 8 in a row during August. Fred Gladding, suddenly iffy, lost his closer spot to Larry Sherry, who notched his first 3 saves. Dave Wickersham went 5-1 in the month and soutpaw Mickey Lolich pitched brilliantly though his .500 record doesn't show it. When Ed Rakow and Denny McLain fell down a hole together, Phil Regan and Buckeye Joe Sparma stepped in to fill the gap. 

"But it wouldn't be make-believe if you believed in me la la la..."

WASHING-TOON:  Just when it seemed safe to make fun of the Senators again...they keep getting back up like a monster in a cheap horror flick. I mean, c'mon, they traded their best hitter, Moose Skowron, to Chicago for freaking Frank Kreutzer. Also, when even I was shamed at my over-use of sore-armed Tom Cheney and sent him off to Crocodile Springs to rest for the remainder of August, one would think they would fade with ass clowns like Dave Stenhouse and Alan "Cokehead" Koch starting games. But, no. With their top hitter for average being oft-injured backstop Mike Brumley at .248, they came back from 4 games under .500 at month's start, to go back over the break-even mark before falling a smidge short at the end, despite a winning month. How are they doing it? That old black magic is as good an explanation as I have, and I played the games. 

He likes Wall Of Voodoo

HOLY WRIT: The Angels have gone 34-24 since July 1st and actually moved into the first division for a day before falling a half game behind the redonkulous Senators again. Dean Chance seems a shoo-in for the AL Cy Young award. The Halos' 2.67 team ERA is a third of a run ahead of any other team. Too bad they suck at hitting, having scored 50 fewer runs than the next wimpiest team. Ancient Joe Adock (23 HR) is their only real power hitter, though Jim Fregosi has an unexpected 20 blasts. When Jim had to sit out a couple of games, the Angels turned to versatile Tom Satriano at shortstop and it didn't turn out well. Lead-footed late bloomer Felix Torres went on a late August homer binge to get his total up to 12. He was interviewed on the Mexican radio but no comprende, what does he say?

He's 3-12 with a million strikeouts! Whee!

TRIBE WAMPUM:  Stupid Cleveland, if they could just once catch a baseball, or throw it, without comical mishap, they might go somewhere. But no, they lead the league with a whopping 161 errors. Add to that the fact that as Daddy Wags goes, so goes the offense. Leon Wagner has 28 HR and 81 ribbies, but the rest of the line-up is a hodgepodge. Gone are the halcyon days of July, when Woodie Held swallowed TNT and hit everything he saw out of the park. He has turned back into a pumpkin. They can't find a middle infielder who can hit Twiggy's weight, let alone his own. On the mound, they have a stable of young power arms, but the results aren't there yet. And the bullpen is superannuated Don McMahon and a bunch of dolts with C's on their caps. "Watch and learn, kids," chuckles Don.

They've been called up to The Show.

MINNY HA HA'S: Okayyyy, HERE's the Twins team we've been waiting to see! The usual home run barrage continued unabated, but the big news is, the pitching did much better in August. Jim Kaat tossed five (!) complete games and increased his win total to 15 while shaving half a run off his ERA. Camilo Pascual found the win column a few times, too, and Gerry Arrigo fanned everybody he could find, to surge into second place in the league in K's with 170 K's in 170 innings. The bullpen still isn't all that reliable, though, placing last in the league in saves, despite mid-season additions. Tony Oliva, a season-long disappointment in terms of batting average, finally woke up and improved his batting mark to .265. Whee. With rosters expanded in September, the Twins now call up everyone who isn't nailed down or dead from their Moldview Unsightly Stains farm club, giving them 40 faces to choose from each day from here on in. 

Therrrrre's Johnny!

BOSTON BEANINGS:  The crew of sedated lap dogs the Red Sox call a pitching staff continues to get shelled at every opportunity, leading to a sorry total of an even 700 runs against so far. Moreover, the hitting went quiet for almost the entire month. Dick Stuart, despite a respectable .280 average, has but 18 HR. Frank Malzone was discovered to be asleep at third base, and except for Yaz and upstart retread Felix Mantilla, the will to win just isn't there. The Carmine Hose don't even have their one claim to fame left anymore, having been surpassed by the Yankees in double plays turned. (See "Malzone, slumber")  Skipper Johnny Pesky is rumored to be on the hot seat, and has, in fact, burst into flames. 

He can't bear to look.

MULE SHIT: The A's staggered through a month in which they won just 7 games and sank ever further into the far reaches of last place. Between them, chuckers Pena, Segui and Drabowsky have taken it on the chops for the "L" 47 times. The A's have been even more generous to opposing batters than the Red Sox, having given up 703 tallies to date. In August, Jim Gentile refused to set down his lemonade and get busy. He swatted just one lonesome HR and knocked in a paltry 5. "I'm resting," he opined. Dick Green did what he could, and Ray, er, Ed Charles surpassed the 20 HR plateau, but it was all wasted effort. Nonetheless, both players insist that they see World Series play in their futures. Stop sniffing glue, fellas. In a last ditch effort, the ballclub called up a bunch of schmoes en masse from their Whiskey River farm team, including personal pet Larry Stahl, who is 2-for-3 with a grand slam in an earlier cup of coffee with the big club. 

Come back in a few days for the NL report. Things have really tightened up!