Storylines abound in my 1966 NL replay

I shared a few highlights of my 1966 NL replay with Chuck Lucas, Scott Fennessy and Jim Saska over email recently.  Chuck, who has done his share of replays, had a simple but rather poignant observation.

He replied, “Once the season starts to have story lines it becomes easier and easier to pick it up every couple of days.”

Chuck is totally correct.  When the season is just starting, the cards are just pieces of paper that represent players (in my case) from a long time ago.  Now that my replay is now halfway through May, storylines have developed for each team even independent of the actual season.  Team rivalries, leaderboard races, stat anomalies, you name it.

Here are a few so far in my 1966 NL replay as of May 18th…

1.  Los Angeles Dodgers   23-10

For the bulk of the season, LA was simply unbeatable due to their tough pitching (2.22 team ERA). Led by wins leader Don Sutton (8-0) and ERA and strikeout leader (1.41 and 72) Sandy Koufax, they finally are in double digits in losses now at 23-10.  Just think how they would be doing if they could hit when Claude Osteen was on the mound.  Osteen is now 1-7 despite being 9th in the league with a 2.67 ERA.

2. San Francisco Giants 20-13

In the last week, the Giants have decided to make their move.  They have won their last six games including two against LA.  The loss of Orlando Cepeda to the Cardinals hasn’t hurt SF and in fact, the player they got in return, Ray Sadecki has paid dividends.  He beat the Dodgers in the last series.

Through that stretch, Willie Mays (1-1-4-6) has just established the lead in homeruns with nine and is tied for league lead in rbis with 24.  Juan Marichal (1.72 ERA) holds the most impressive record so far.  He has given up just 3.4 hits per 9 IP.  He also is the only pitcher with three shutouts.

3.  Pittsburgh Pirates 17-13

So far, the Pirates have played the bridesmaid just never quite making the move to take on the Dodgers.  The big story in the Pirates lineup has been Bob Bailey (1-4-6, 22-7) who still leads the NL in batting average (.390), slugging (.680), and on-base % (.460).  He suffered a few ohfer games and his average dipped below .400 and now he’s benched.

Willie Stargell (1-1-6-6) is batting .330 with 19 rbis.  Imagine what he could do if he hit a few homeruns.  He has hit only three so far.

4. Atlanta Braves 19-16

The Braves have Hank Aaron in right field who is now tied with Mays in runs scored with 26.  Joe Torre is tied with Mays in rbis with 24.  The under sung hero is Felipe Alou.  Alou (1-0-0-0, 15-7) is leading the league in doubles (14), triples (7) and is fourth in homers with six.  He also tops the NL in hits with 48.

The Braves have a heckuva bullpen. Clay Carroll is 6-0 with a 0.42 ERA.  He’s usually followed up by Billy O’Dell who 2-1 with five saves and 2.81 ERA.  The problem?  Pitchers like Wade Blasingame who is usually tops in highest ERA with a towering 8.45 ERA.

5.  Cincinnati Reds 15-14

The Reds are doing well as of late.  You can thank Pete Rose who is batting .330 with a second best 12 doubles.

Starter Jim Maloney (AX) is doing his part with a 4-0 record and a 1.67 ERA only bested by Koufax.  Sammy Ellis has had one of the worst ERAs in the league all season (7.47) but did win his last game versus the hapless Mets.

6.  Philadelphia Phillies 14-14

The Phils check in right at .500.  When I look up the daily lineup for Philadelphia, I always wonder, “when will Dick Allen play?”  I know he got in nearly 600 plate appearances for the team but so far, he has only started 12 games.  His card is quite tasty at 1-1-0-0-0-7 so come on, Gene Mauch!

Jim Bunning is among leaders in wins, strikeouts and ERA (6-1, 2.42, 61).  He just won a pitcher’s duel against Bob Gibson when the Phils traveled to St. Louis.

7.  Houston Astros 14-18

Swan song pitcher Robin Roberts (DZ) is pitching a whole lot better than he should be doing at 2.82 with a 4-3 record.  Turk Farrell didn’t give up a walk until his last start.

Sonny Jackson is among the hits leaders (46) and Jimmy Wynn ranks among rbi leaders (22).  Joe Morgan is pulling away from Ron Santo in the race for the most walks.

8.  New York Mets 10-15

Five games ago, the Mets were 10-10 and they were lookin’ pretty amazin’.  Since then, they lost five games and they are in danger of sinking below the Cubs.

The real story of the Mets is they are actually playing games.  For a while there, they just didn’t get any games played.  Now, they have caught up a bit.  My guess is that April 1966 was a rainy one in New York.

Tug McGraw is no longer the ERA leader.  He gave up three ER in 5 IP in his last start bringing him down a few notches to third place with a 1.71 mark.  Not bad for a DW, though.  Kranepool is fourth in the league with a .337 batting average.  Again, not bad for a 1-0-0-7.

9.  Chicago Cubs 11-17

The Cubs were the impetus for this replay; I wanted to see if they could avoid 100 losses.  So far, it’s looking good.  They are on track to go 64-98.

It would really help if the starting pitching would step up.  They currently have three of the ten worst ERAs in the league (Bill Hands’ 8.65, Ernie Broglio’s 6.40 and Bill Faul’s 5.33). The guilt can be evenly distributed.  An interesting stat:  Despite the Cubs’ 17 losses, only Broglio (1-3) has more than two losses.  Give Ellsworth, a DZ, a little credit, he is 2-2 with a nice 3.64 ERA.

I’ve been enjoying Don Kessinger’s .327 batting average a lot.  Ernie Banks is hitting well at .329.  Trade pickup Adolfo Phillips is tied for the lead in steals with 12.

Ron Santo (with his fun 26-14) has been an all-around productive player.  His good defense (3B-5) is an asset.  He’s 8th in the league with a .330 batting average.  That 26-14 helps him with his .445 OBP (3rd best) and 21 BB (2nd best).  Billy Williams has had a slow spring but he is almost out of his slump.  At .207, he is 10th on the worst batting average in the league and on his way off that list.

10.  St. Louis Cardinals 8-21

I’m no Cardinals fan and I certainly don’t want them to overcome the Cubs.  However, I don’t understand their performance so far in the replay.  The acquistion of Cepeda was supposed to help their dire firstbase situation.  So far, he has hit .174 in six games for the Cardinals (after hitting .340 for the Giants).

The Cardinals do have some good hitters.  Brock is third in the league in hitting (.342) and tied with Phillips in steals.  3B Charley Smith ranks up there with 18 rbis.  When he plays, talkative Tim McCarver hits well at .298 with five triples.

Julian Javier was a baffler in the early season leading the league in homers.  He had five in the month of April.  Since then, he hasn’t gone yard.

Perhaps one reason for the Cardinals’ performance is Alex Johnson.  He has the NL’s worst batting average among qualifiers at .125.  Coincidentally, the Cardinals have stopped starting him a week or two ago so he not their problem any more.

Bob Gibson (AX) has some nice stats.  His 42 Ks rank up in the top ten and he his second behind Marichal in hits per 9 IP with 4.9.  However, it has translated into a mediocre 4-3 record which I guess is pretty good considering he has half the team’s wins.

Larry Jaster is just 1-1 but he has enough innings to qualify for NL’s fifth best 1.98 ERA.