MLB Update: 6/7

History of Baseball: 1924
World Series Champions: Washington Senators (92-62, .597 WPCT).
     In the first two days of the new season, three future Hall of Famers made their debuts.  The A's' Al Simmons, who would bat .334 for his career, and the Giants' Freddie Lindstrom, who would be famous for other reasons, both debuted on Opening Day (April 15th).  The following day, Earle Combs, a future member of Murderers' Row, debuted with the Yankees.  Two more future Hall of Famers, the Red Sox' Red Ruffing (May 31st) and the Tigers' Charlie Gehringer (September 22nd) would join the league before the season ended.  Three notable deaths also occurred in 1924, starting with Fleet Walker, the first African American to play major league baseball (in 1884) on May 11th, followed by Candy Cummings, the man credited with inventing the curveball, five days later.  Lastly, Frank Chance, the Hall of Fame first baseman from the notable 1910 poem "Baseball's Sad Lexicon" (aka Tinker to Evers to Chance), passed away on September 15th.  Back on the playing field, three notable historical events occurred during the 1924 season.  On June 26th, Jesse Barnes (Braves) and Virgil Barnes (Giants) became the first pair of brothers to square off as a pitching matchup.  Virgil's Giants won the game 8-1.  On September 16th, The Cardinals' Jim Bottomley set a major league record (since tied but not broken) by driving in 12 runs in a game against the Brooklyn Robins.  Four days later, the Cubs' Grover Cleveland Alexander became the eleventh member of the 300 win club and the first new entry since Walter Johnson in 1920.  The Negro Leagues held their first World Series, with the Kansas City Monarchs topping the Philadelphia Hilldale Giants five games to four.
       Both leagues saw close races towards the end of the 1924 season.  The surprise Washington Senator barely outpaced the New York Yankees in the AL, finishing 92-62, just two games ahead of the formidable New York team (89-63).  In the NL, the Giants (93-60) squeaked out a pennant by a game and a half over the Brooklyn Robins (92-62).  It was the Giants' fourth straight trip to the World Series, something that had not been done before that point.  18 year old rookie Freddie Lindstrom, mentioned earlier in this segment, became the youngest player to play in the postseason, but bad luck marred his legacy.   The Senators and Giants battled it out and eventually reached Game Seven with the series tied 3-3.  The Giants were winning 3-1 when an eighth inning, routine ground ball was hit to Lindstrom at third base.  The ball took a bad hop off a pebble and bounced over Lindstrom's head, allowing Washington to tie the game at three apiece.  Later, in the twelfth inning, a similar ground ball was hit to Lindstrom at third base, and it again took a bad hop and bounced over his head to give Washington a walk-off, 4-3 victory in both the game and the Series.  It is the only World Series win in Washington, D.C. history.  It was Goose Goslin and Bucky Harris that paced the Washington offense in the Series, combining to bat .338 with five home runs, fourteen RBI, and nine runs scored over the seven game series.  Tom Zachary earned two of the Senators' four wins on the mound, with Walter Johnson and George Mogridge earning the other two.
       The League Award expanded to both leagues in 1924, meaning an MVP would be named in both the American and National Leagues.  By going 23-7 with a 2.72 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP during the Senators first and only World Series run, Walter Johnson became one of the first two pitchers in history to win the MVP equivalent.  Brooklyn hurler Dazzy Vance matched Johnson in that honor, going 28-6 with a 2.16 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP to earn the NL's League Award.  Offensively, the Cardinals' Rogers Hornsby set a 20th century record by batting .424, topping Nap Lajoie's 1901 mark of .421.  Hornsby also added 25 home runs and 121 runs scored to go along with the incredibly high average.  The next highest batting average was all the way down at .378, as Babe Ruth knocked 46 home runs, drove in 121, and scored 143 runs with that average.   Brooklyn's Zack Wheat teamed up with Vance to help the Dodgers almost reach the World Series by batting .375 with 14 home runs.  The Giants' George Kelly led the majors with 136 RBI as he batted .324 with 21 home runs.   League Award winners Dazzy Vance and Walter Johnson were numbers one and two in the wins, ERA, and strikeout columns, giving them both Triple Crown Awards.  The Senators' Firpo Mayberry set a new major league record with 15 saves while going 11-12 with a 3.23 ERA.  

News
Legendary All Star third baseman and former Manager of the Year Don Zimmer passed away at the age of 83.
The Houston Astros took San Diego high school pitcher Brady Aiken first overall in the 2014 Draft, followed by the Marlins taking Texas high school fireballer Tyler Kolek, whose fastball touches 102, second overall.  The White Sox took NC State pitcher Carlos Rodon third.  At number 18, the Nationals took injured UNLV pitcher Erick Fedde.
Braves closer Craig Kimbrel set a new Braves record with his 155th career save.  He just turned 26.
The Giants became the first team to 40 wins, while the Rockies lost their eighth straight game.

Game Scores
Nationals (31-28) beat the Padres (27-34) 6-0.
Tigers (32-25) beat the Red Sox (27-33) 6-2.
Yankees (31-29) beat the Royals (29-32) 4-2.
Phillies (25-34) beat the Reds (27-32) 8-0.
Dodgers (32-30) beat the Rockies (28-32) 7-2.
Rays (24-38) beat the Mariners (31-29) 4-0.
Cubs (24-34) beat the Marlins (32-29) 5-3 (13 innings).
Top Scorer: Pirates beat the Brewers 15-5.

Standings
AL East: Blue Jays (38-24, .613 WPCT).  AL Central: Tigers (32-25, .561).  AL West: A's (38-23, .623).
NL East: Braves (32-27, .542).  NL Central: Brewers (36-26, .581).  NL West: Giants (40-21, .656).
AL Wild Cards: Angels (32-28, .533) and Yankees/Mariners (31-29, .517).  NL Wild Cards: Nationals (31-28, .525) and Marlins (32-29, .525).
Bottom Team: Rays (24-38, .387).  Longest W Streak: Blue Jays, 6 games.  Longest L Streak: Rockies, 8 games.

League Leaders
Offensive: AVG: Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies), .359 (71-198).  Home runs: Nelson Cruz (Orioles), 21.  RBI: Nelson Cruz, 55.  Stolen bases: Dee Gordon (Dodgers), 36.
Pitching: Wins: Mark Buehrle (Blue Jays), 10.  K's: David Price (Rays) and Stephen Strasburg (Nationals), 101.  ERA: Tim Hudson (Giants), 1.75 (77.1 IP, 15 ER).  Saves: Sergio Romo (Giants), 19.

Top Performers
Offensive: Dee Gordon (Dodgers): 3-4, 2 triples, 3 RBI, 2 runs, walk, stolen base (36), AVG up .008 from .279 to .287, hitting streak to 2 games (5-8, .625 AVG).
Pitching: Tanner Roark (Nationals): Win (4-4), 8 shutout innings, 3 hits, no walks, 11 K's (61), ERA drop: 0.34 runs from 3.25 to 2.91.
Worst Pitching Performance: Andre Rienzo (White Sox): Loss (4-3), 3.2 innings, 7 earned runs, 9 hits, 1 walk, 2 K's (38), ERA jump: 0.99 runs from 4.26 to 5.25.

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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 email 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