Other than a late-season surge that saw the second- and third-place teams swap positions, there had not been much drama in the 2024 Pacific League pennant race - the Hawks went essentially wire-to-wire to run away from the PL pack, and the top three had been more or less decided by the 100-game mark. With the daunting task of upending the Hawks as a "reward", the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters Tigers (75-60-8) and the Chiba Lotte Marines (71-66-6) meet as ES CON Field in Hokkaido. The Fighters will enter the Series as heavy favorites, with both home-field advantage and an 18-6 record of regular-season dominance over the Marines . . .
2024 NPB Central League Climax Series, First Stage
The runners-up in a fairly competitive Central League pennant race meet in the first-round of the postseason, looking to earn the right to move on and face the pennant-winning Yomiuri Giants in the Final Stage. The Hanshin Tigers (74-63-6) and the Yokohama DeNA BayStars (71-69-3) essentially split their regular-season series, with Hanshin winning thirteen of the twenty-four meetings, but now the season was on the line in a three-game series to be played at historic Koshien Stadium just west of Osaka.
1919 NL - Games of Thursday, 5 June
Reds 11, Cardinals 5: St. Louis fell apart with a one-run lead and one out to go, as Cincinnati scored seven times in the 9th inning to earn a win that was a lot more complicated than the score would have you believe. The clubs exchanged early runs, and the score was tied at two runs apiece through five. In the top of the 6th, the Reds edged in front when Larry Kopf walked with two outs and then scored when Cards starter Bill Doak uncorked three straight wild pitches. In the home half of the frame, St. Louis got a little bit of help from the Reds defense - Doc Lavan led off with a base hit, and Verne Clemons' grounder then clanged off the glove of Kopf at shortstop. After a sacrifice and a pop out, Jack Smith ripped a line drive over the outfielders and spun around to third base for a two-run triple. He then scored when Milt Stock followed with a single to left, and STL led 5-3. Doak gave up another run in the 8th when Heinie Groh tripled with one away and scored on Kopf's single with two outs. The score was still 5-4 for the Cardinals when Doak toed the rubber to start the top of the 9th, and he promptly dispatched the first two hitters of the inning. Unfortunately for St. Louis, however, he left the game five batters later having not recorded the game's final out; four singles and a muffed fly ball by Cliff Heathcote scored three runs and put CIN in front before Doak (2-4) trundled head-down from the mound. Bill Sherdel replaced him and gave up a two-run double to Kopf (five RBI) and a triple to Jimmy Smith; before the inning was over, seven runs had scored, and Dolf Luque (6-0) pitched a scoreless inning of relief in the bottom of the 9th to finish off a third straight win at Robison Field for the visiting Reds. [box]
1919 NL - Games of Wednesday, 4 June
Robins 7, Braves 6: Five Boston errors - four from the left side of their infield - led to five unearned Brooklyn runs that were the difference as Boston wasted a fifteen-hit attack. The game was tied at two in the 4th when the Boston defense began to fail them; Lena Blackburne's first error of the day helped turn a two-run Robins inning into a four-run one, and gave Brooklyn a 5-2 lead. Boston, however, knocked four straight hits after two men were out in the bottom of the inning with Ray Powell (3-for-5, three RBI) doubling in two runs and Red Smith singling him home to tie the score again. Powell tripled in the 6th and scored on Smith's sacrifice fly, but Rabbit Maranville made two errors in the top of the 7th to allow Brooklyn to get that run back immediately. In the top of the 8th, Lew Malone stroked a three-base hit with two outs and then Blackburne fumbled Ernie Krueger's ground ball allowing Malone to skip home with the go-ahead tally. Leon Cadore (3-3), on in relief of an ineffective Rube Marquard, set the side down in order in the 8th and allowed just a one-out single in the 9th before putting the game away with two routine ground outs. Dana Fillingim (2-3) went the distance for Boston despite being ill-served by the supporting play behind him. [box]
1919 NL - Games of Tuesday, 3 June
Phillies 10, Giants 9: With a strong breeze blowing over the fence at Brush Stadium, Philadelphia and New York combined for five home runs (a pair by Gavy Cravath), thirty-three hits and nineteen runs, yet the matter was not decided until the Phillies pushed across a tie-breaking run in the top of the 10th. The visitors took a 4-0 lead in the early going, after Cravath homered to lead off the 2nd and reached on an error that elongated a three-run 3rd. But the Giants scored five times in the home 3rd, capped by Benny Kauff's two-out, three-run home run (1), and then scored three more in the 6th on homers by Ross Youngs (1) and Lew McCarty (3) to take an 8-5 lead. This swing lasted less than a half-inning, however, as Philadelphia plated three in the 7th after beginning the inning with three straight singles and then cleaning the plate with Ed Sicking's two-run base hit. A walk, stolen base and throwing error, and Irish Meusel's single gave PHI the lead by a run in the top of the 8th but they could not hold this securely in the Giants' final inning. With one out, Hal Chase singled, took second on McCarty's passed ball, and third on Kauff's one-base hit. Down to their final out, Heinie Zimmerman came through with the base knock that scored Chase with the tying run and the already-extended game moved on to extra innings. Possum Whitted led off the Phillies 10th with a base hit, stole second and took third on a groundout for the second out of the inning. Doug Baird singled up the middle to score Whitted and the Phils were faced with defending a one-run lead again as NY came up in the bottom of the 10th. Milt Watson came on as the third Philadelphia hurler of the day and gave up a leadoff single to McCarty. Two outs later, George Burns was standing on first, but he swiped second base and went to third when Hick Cady flung the ball over shortstop Sicking's head. With the score-knotting run ninety feet away, Ross Youngs could only loft the ball into the glove of Cy Williams in center field for the final out. Irish Meusel had a big day with five hits in six trips, and Cravath and Kauff each had three RBI. [box]
1919 NL - Games of Monday, 2 June
Pirates 6, Cubs 4: Pittsburgh scored four times in the top of the 9th inning to tie the game, then twice in the 12th to cap an improbable road win at Weeghman Park. The Pirates had been completely confounded for eight innings by the deliveries of Phil Douglas, collecting only five hits and seeing eighteen of twenty hitters return to the bench empty-handed at one stretch, and found themselves trailing by four runs headed into the 9th as a result of two-RBI afternoons from Charlie Deal and Bob O'Farrell. Three of the first five Pirates singled against Douglas, but he got two groundouts to leave the visitors down to their last out and still trailing by two runs. Carson Bigbee doubled to put the tying runs into scoring position, and Douglas was relieved by Paul Carter, but Zeb Terry walked and Casey Stengel laced the game-tying base hit before Carter could finally retire the side. The bats were largely silent then until the 12th, when Stengel singled with one out and Tony Boeckel tripled him home before scoring on Deal's two-out fielding error at third base. Hal Carlson finished off four scoreless innings of relief with a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning and the Chicago crowd filed out of the ballpark in a state of shock at the sudden turn of events. [box]
1919 NL Players of the Week - 1 June
The Batter and Pitcher of the Week in the National League during the week of 26 May - 1 June are (boldface denotes a League-leading total) . . .
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