MLB Update: 6/28

History of Baseball: 1928
World Series Champions: New York Yankees (101-53, .656 WPCT).
     Before the 1928 season, Rogers Hornsby changed teams for the second time in two years.  The New York Giants sent him to the Boston Braves, who had finished just seventh in the eight team National League in 1927, ahead of only the Philadelphia Phillies.  As it turned out, 1928 would be another of those "changing of the guard" years, with Walter Johnson, arguably the greatest pitcher of all time, retiring before the 1928 season with a career record of 411-279 and an ERA of 2.17.  Ty Cobb, on of baseball's greatest hitters, retired in 1928 after 24 major league seasons.  His .366 career batting average stands as a record to this day, and he is second all time in hits (4191), triples (297), and runs (2246), and fourth in doubles (723) and stolen bases (892).  Into Johnson's place would step Carl Hubbell, who  debuted on July 26th and would pitch 16 years for the Giants before entering the Hall of Fame.  A second Hall of Famer, Chuck Klein, debuted four days later with the Phillies.  Hall of Fame catcher Bill Dickey also debuted on August 15th to play his first of 17 seasons.  Brothers Paul (debuted 1926) and Llyod (1927) began to get a footing as bona fide major league stars.  Jimmie Foxx played in his first full season, while Charlie Gehringer continued his ascent towards stardom.  The stars of the 1930's were aligning.
       The Yankees, on the strength of a record nine Hall of Famers on their team, won the American League with a 101-53 record, but just barely edged the Athletics, who went 98-55.  The National League was close as well, as the Cardinals (95-59) scratched out a pennant over the Giants (93-61).  In their only season with Rogers Hornsby, the Boston Braves managed just a 50-103 record and a seventh place finish.  New York and St. Louis met in the World Series, and for the second straight season, the Yankees swept the Series four games to none. It was the first time in baseball history that the same team had swept two straight World Series.  New York would repeat the feat twice more, but no other club would ever do it. The Yankees outscored the Cardinals 27-10 on the strength of huge performances from Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.  The Bambino and the Iron Horse combined to bat .593 (16-27) with four doubles, seven home runs, 13 RBI, and 14 runs scored in the four game series.  Only eleven times throughout the entire series did either Ruth or Gehrig make an out, while they combined to get on base 23 times.  Ruth hit three home runs and batted .625 (10-16), while Gehrig hit four home runs and batted .545 (6-11).  With all that offense, Waite Hoyt's excellent pitching (2-0, 1.50 ERA) was enough to give the Yankees the sweep.
     In the American League, 25 year old catcher Mickey Cochrane took home the League Award, batting .293 with ten home runs and 92 runs scored for the second place Athletics.  The Cardinals took home the National League Award, batting .325 with 31 home runs, 136 RBI, and 121 runs scored to lead the Cardinals to the World Series.  The batting champion that year was the Braves' Rogers Hornsby, who hit .387 with 21 home runs and 94 RBI.  Goose Goslin was the AL batting champion at .379, knocking 17 home runs and driving in 102.  Lou Gehrig put up another huge season, batting .374 with 27 home runs and 142 RBI.  Babe Ruth continued his home run barrage, hitting 54 while batting .323 with 142 RBI and 163 runs scored.  The 163 runs remain to this day the ninth highest total of all time.  Cardinals hitters Heinie Manush (13 HR, 108 RBI, .378 AVG) and Chick Hafey (27 HR, 111 RBI, .337 AVG) also put up big years.  From the mound, Hall of Famer Dazzy Vance put up the second best season of his career, going 22-10 with a league leading 2.09 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP.  He was also the first pitcher to record 200 strikeouts since he himself struck out 221 in 1925.  The last time a pitcher not named Dazzy Vance had struck out 200 in a season was Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1917.  The Giants' Larry Benton and the Pirates' Burleigh Grimes each won 25 games, while Washington's Garland Braxton led baseball with a 1.01 WHIP.  He had been 13-11 with a 2.51 ERA.  41 year old Grover Cleveland Alexander pitched his final dominant season, finishing 16-9 with a 3.36 ERA for the Cardinals.  

News
Pirates traded Jason Grilli (0-2, 4.87 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, 11 SV, age 37) to the Angels for Ernesto Frieri (0-3, 6.39 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 11 SV, age 28).
The Wilmington Blue Rocks, the High Class A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals, have been no-hit for two straight games by the Lynchburg Hillcats, an affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.
Brewers were the first team to 50 wins.

Game Scores
Cubs (34-44) beat the Nationals (41-38) 7-2.
Yankees (41-37) beat the Red Sox (36-44) 6-0.
Braves (41-38) beat the Phillies (36-43) 4-2.
Rays (33-49) beat the Orioles (42-37) 5-2 and Orioles beat the Rays 4-1.
Cardinals (44-37) beat the Dodgers (45-37) 3-1.
Brewers (50-32) beat the Rockies (35-45) 3-2.
Astros (35-46) beat the Tigers (43-33) 4-3.
Top Scorer: A's beat the Marlins 9-5.

Standings
AL East: Blue Jays (45-37, .549 WPCT).  AL Central: Tigers (43-33, .566).  AL West: A's (49-30, .620).
NL East: Nationals/Braves (41-38, .519).  NL Central: Brewers (50-32, .610).  NL West: Giants (46-34, .575).
AL Wild Cards: Angles (44-34, .564) and Orioles (42-37, .532).  NL Wild Cards: Dodgers (45-37, .549) and Cardinals (44-37, .543).
Bottom Team: Rays (33-49, .402).  Longest W Streak: Brewers and Reds, 3 games.  Longest L Streak: Twins, 4 games

League Leaders
Offensive: AVG: Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies), .351 (93-265).  Home runs: Jose Abreu (White Sox), Nelson Cruz (Orioles), and Edwin Encarnacion (Blue Jays), 25.  RBI: Nelson Cruz, 66.  Stolen bases: Dee Gordon (Dodgers), 40.
Pitching: Wins: Masahiro Tanaka (Yankees), 11.  K's: David Price (Rays), 144.  ERA: Johnny Cueto (Reds), 1.88 (124.1 IP, 26 ER).  Saves: Francisco Rodriguez (Brewers), 26.

Top Performers
Offensive: Jose Abreu (White Sox): 2-3, 2 home runs (25), 2 RBI, 2 runs, walk, AVG up .004 from .276 to .280, hitting streak to 12 games (18-49, .367 AVG).
Pitching: Nick Tepesch (Rangers): Win (3-3), 7.1 shutout innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, 5 K's (29), ERA drop: 0.73 runs from 4.38 to 3.65.
Worst Pitching Performance: Matt Shoemaker (Angels): Loss (5-2), 4 innings, 8 earned runs, 11 hits, 1 walk, 2 K's (53), ERA jump: 1.08 runs from 3.42 to 4.50.

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Teams followed in this update: Washington Nationals, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers
If your team is not included, please leave a comment.
HR: home runs.  RBI: runs batted in.  AVG: batting average.  SB: stolen bases.  ERA: earned run average. WHIP: walks/hits per innings pitched.  K's: strikeouts. WPCT: winning percentage
Zack Silverman