Post by The Vermont Bombers on Dec 5, 2013 22:12:21 GMT -5
Last year was a good inaugural season for the Senators. While they finished 23 games behind the first place New York Yankees, they also finished above .500 at 81-73 and drafted future cornerstone First/Third Baseman Harmon Killebrew and extremely talented and promising Outfielder Lee Maye. In addition to this, they had a 20 game winner, the Reliever of the Year and saw the core of their future outfield and potentially their long-term solution behind the plate all put up seasons that gave both Management and their fan base reasons to be optimistic. Everyone expected the team to take another step forward when the 1954 season began.
The off-season was a quiet one for Washington, as General Manager Adam Costa re-signed 14 game winner Spec Shea and then sat back to wait and see how the off-season played out. That all changed on April 1st when Washington announced the trade of 19 game winner Bob Porterfield to Brooklyn for 27-year-old right handed Starter Don Newcombe. He didn’t stop there. Twenty-two days later he traded 23-year-old pitching prospect Dean Stone to the New York Giants for veteran outfielder Monte Irvin and sent 24 year old Shortstop prospect Luke Luttrell to Detroit for veteran outfielder Bob Cerv. Slightly less than a month later, Washington sent veteran Relief Pitcher Sandy Consuegra, 23-year-old left handed pitching prospect Bunky Stweart and 23 year old Relief prospect Raul Sanchez to the St. Louis Cardinals for third baseman Ray Jablonski and Double A first baseman Jim McManus. Many wondered why he had chosen to send away so much young talent when the team was on the cusp of competing.
“We had a good season last year,” He explained. “The problem was that while we had a lot to be happy about, that there was still a lot left to do in order to make us competitive in the long term. I was and still am very happy with the continuing emergence of Chuck Stobbs as a potential future ace, it was fun to watch him develop his talents and his confidence. The forty-four Save season that we got out of Sonny (Closer Sonny Dixon) was outstanding and he very deservingly won the Relief Pitcher of the Year award for it. Starters Walt Masterson and Spec Shea, played a huge part in our success and we were thrilled to enjoy the progress that had been shown by Catcher Les Peden and our young outfielders Jim Busby and Jackie Jansen. We sent three players to the All-Star Game, including the heart of this team, Mickey Vernon. In spite of all of that, this team was a long way from being where it needed to be order to compete far into the future.”
Thus far the Senators have not had a good year. They got off to a very slow start as they finished May with a record of 22-30, finding themselves 14 games behind the American League leading New York Yankees. It is now the end of June and the Senators find themselves with a record of 37-40, 16 games behind the Yankees.
Despite continued strong play by Chuck Stobbs (9-6, 2.91), Spec Shea (9-6, 2.86) and Mickey Vernon (.291, 2 HR, 42 RBI) and the solid play of RF Monte Irvin (.307, 10 HR, 47 RBI) since his acquisition from the Giants, the rest of the team has seemingly been stuck in neutral. The biggest problems have been a punchless infield and an inconsistent bullpen.
Last year’s ace Closer, Sonny Dixon, has thus far been distressingly mortal. While he is currently 5th in the AL in saves, his ERA has ballooned compared to last year. It currently sits at 4.30, which is a far cry from last season’s 2.27. This is largely the result of his ERA on the road. For some reason, Dixon seems to lose himself as soon as he steps out of the friendly confines of Griffith Park and that is clearly shown by his 5.06 ERA on the road. He still has a victory and eight saves on the road, he’s just having one of those seasons that can be described with the phrase “not just bad, but also unlucky”. May was especially hard on him, as he pitched to an ERA 7.50 after posting a solid 3.48 in March and April. He seemed to get it together in June, when he had a spectacular ERA of 2.70.
“I’ve been fighting myself.” Dixon explained. “I’ve been ok at home, although certainly not great. When things don’t go my way there, my teammates always seem to come up with the right play at the right time to save the team, and me from myself. On the road I haven’t given them the chance to do that. I’ve just been flat out terrible. All I can do is keep battling and trust that my skill will overcome my troubles in the end. Skip and my teammates have been very supportive so far and that’s been a big help.”
Veteran First Baseman Mickey Vernon agreed.
“It’s really simple. Sonny is the same guy we had last year. That talented arm and head are still there. Things just haven’t gone his way so far. There’s still no one else I want out there with the game on the line. He’ll get it together. In the meantime, we all have to do what we can to help pick him up when he’s stumbling. It’s what good teams do and we have to be better at it. I have absolute faith in the boys. We’ll get it done.”
It hasn’t just been Dixon who has been off and it would be very unfair to blame the woes of the team entirely on him. Veteran Starting Pitcher Walt Masterson went 13-19 with an ERA of 3.54 in 38 starts last season. While he did lose more games than he won, he also pitched nearly 300 innings, struck out 170 and tossed 13 complete games. Through May, Masterson had a 2-9 record with an ERA of 4.70. He, like Dixon, posted a strong first six weeks of the season. In March and April he put up an ERA of 3.09 in 55.1 innings pitched while striking out 29. Unfortunately for Masterson, that led to a 1-5 record.
May was not his friend. In fact, if months could be super villains, it would have been his “Lex Luthor” (or more appropriately, Bizarro). Masterson made six starts, posting a record of 1-4. Much like March and April, the wins refused to materialize. Unlike those two months, Masterson was his own worst enemy by posting an ERA of 6.80 due to giving up 33 runs, 32 of them earned. His innings dropped from 55.1 to 42.1 and his strikeouts fell precipitously from 29 to 16. No one has been more disappointed about this than Masterson has.
“I’ve stunk.” He said. “There is no one to blame for my record but me. There’s been no “bad luck”, which to me is just an excuse for being lousy and egotistical anyway, I’ve just been lousy. I need to change that. This team needs to be able to rely on me again for quality innings. I pitched almost 300 innings last year. At the rate that this year has gone, I’ll be lucky if I complete 200 and that’s unacceptable. The guys and the fans need and deserve better than that of me.”
In spite of this, neither the front office nor the players in Washington were worried. It takes time after trades are made for teams to gel and as any baseball fan knows, the Baseball Gods are often pernicious and fickle beings. Just ask Don Newcombe. He came over from Brooklyn as the return piece in the Bob Porterfield trade. Porterfield has continued his strong pitching in Brooklyn. Newcombe on the other hand has thus far put up a record of 8-9 with an ERA of 4.53. Newcombe’s biggest issue has been consistency.
Take, for example, Newcombe’s start against the Yankees on May 10th. Newcombe weaved a masterful start together that day, pitching a complete game; one hit shut out where he struck out three. In his next start against Detroit he struck out seven in 9.2 innings, but also surrendered four runs, three of them earned, in a 4-3 game where he took the loss. His next time out against Boston on May 21st was a disaster. He only lasted 5 innings, surrendered 9 hits and eight runs; seven of them earned and struck out four in the 9-5 loss. Over that course he had given up 11 earned runs in 23.2 innings. His next time out, Newcombe pitched seven innings of four hit ball, striking out seven and earning the “Player of the Game” award against Baltimore.
Discussing these issues barely touches on the bullpen, which has seen good performances out of three of its five relievers. It’s hard to know what rookie relief pitcher Dick Hyde will do as 2.1 innings is not any sort of accurate indicator of future performance. Once one gets passed the pitching woes, it is also fair to point out that the offense has been suspect, if not outright absent in some respects. While First Baseman Mickey Vernon continues to have a strong season and the outfield tandem of Irvin, Busby and Jensen continues to put up solid numbers, Washington has gotten nothing out of Second Baseman Wayne Terwilliger, Third Baseman Eddie Yost of Shortstop Pete Runnels. All three have been dreadful thus far. Still, GM and Manager Adam Costa isn’t worried.
“Without getting too technical, players have streaks where they play either well above or well below their abilities. We always want the hot streaks and when we get them, they’re fantastic and fun to watch. Unfortunately, when a player is cold, those streaks can often last for a lot longer. Cold streaks have a way of getting into a player’s head, at which point he can fall further into his slump because he’s pressing and trying too hard. There’s no way to snap a player out of such a situation. He just has to fight through it. May has been a tough month for a lot of our guys. I’m confident that we’ll snap out of it though. We’ll get hot again and when we do, you’ll see us start to pile up the wins again.”
The Senators went 15-10 in June. It's only one month. Is it the signal of better things down the stretch, or did Washington just get it together "just enough" to say afloat ? At three games below .500, they still have a lot of hard work ahead of them. If they can not only maintain their momentum from June, but improve on it, they might just sneak their way back into contention. While it's probably not realistic to expect them to catch New York, an improvement on their 1953 season is certainly not too much to expect, even if it looks like one heck of a long shot.
Only time will tell.
The off-season was a quiet one for Washington, as General Manager Adam Costa re-signed 14 game winner Spec Shea and then sat back to wait and see how the off-season played out. That all changed on April 1st when Washington announced the trade of 19 game winner Bob Porterfield to Brooklyn for 27-year-old right handed Starter Don Newcombe. He didn’t stop there. Twenty-two days later he traded 23-year-old pitching prospect Dean Stone to the New York Giants for veteran outfielder Monte Irvin and sent 24 year old Shortstop prospect Luke Luttrell to Detroit for veteran outfielder Bob Cerv. Slightly less than a month later, Washington sent veteran Relief Pitcher Sandy Consuegra, 23-year-old left handed pitching prospect Bunky Stweart and 23 year old Relief prospect Raul Sanchez to the St. Louis Cardinals for third baseman Ray Jablonski and Double A first baseman Jim McManus. Many wondered why he had chosen to send away so much young talent when the team was on the cusp of competing.
“We had a good season last year,” He explained. “The problem was that while we had a lot to be happy about, that there was still a lot left to do in order to make us competitive in the long term. I was and still am very happy with the continuing emergence of Chuck Stobbs as a potential future ace, it was fun to watch him develop his talents and his confidence. The forty-four Save season that we got out of Sonny (Closer Sonny Dixon) was outstanding and he very deservingly won the Relief Pitcher of the Year award for it. Starters Walt Masterson and Spec Shea, played a huge part in our success and we were thrilled to enjoy the progress that had been shown by Catcher Les Peden and our young outfielders Jim Busby and Jackie Jansen. We sent three players to the All-Star Game, including the heart of this team, Mickey Vernon. In spite of all of that, this team was a long way from being where it needed to be order to compete far into the future.”
Thus far the Senators have not had a good year. They got off to a very slow start as they finished May with a record of 22-30, finding themselves 14 games behind the American League leading New York Yankees. It is now the end of June and the Senators find themselves with a record of 37-40, 16 games behind the Yankees.
Despite continued strong play by Chuck Stobbs (9-6, 2.91), Spec Shea (9-6, 2.86) and Mickey Vernon (.291, 2 HR, 42 RBI) and the solid play of RF Monte Irvin (.307, 10 HR, 47 RBI) since his acquisition from the Giants, the rest of the team has seemingly been stuck in neutral. The biggest problems have been a punchless infield and an inconsistent bullpen.
Last year’s ace Closer, Sonny Dixon, has thus far been distressingly mortal. While he is currently 5th in the AL in saves, his ERA has ballooned compared to last year. It currently sits at 4.30, which is a far cry from last season’s 2.27. This is largely the result of his ERA on the road. For some reason, Dixon seems to lose himself as soon as he steps out of the friendly confines of Griffith Park and that is clearly shown by his 5.06 ERA on the road. He still has a victory and eight saves on the road, he’s just having one of those seasons that can be described with the phrase “not just bad, but also unlucky”. May was especially hard on him, as he pitched to an ERA 7.50 after posting a solid 3.48 in March and April. He seemed to get it together in June, when he had a spectacular ERA of 2.70.
“I’ve been fighting myself.” Dixon explained. “I’ve been ok at home, although certainly not great. When things don’t go my way there, my teammates always seem to come up with the right play at the right time to save the team, and me from myself. On the road I haven’t given them the chance to do that. I’ve just been flat out terrible. All I can do is keep battling and trust that my skill will overcome my troubles in the end. Skip and my teammates have been very supportive so far and that’s been a big help.”
Veteran First Baseman Mickey Vernon agreed.
“It’s really simple. Sonny is the same guy we had last year. That talented arm and head are still there. Things just haven’t gone his way so far. There’s still no one else I want out there with the game on the line. He’ll get it together. In the meantime, we all have to do what we can to help pick him up when he’s stumbling. It’s what good teams do and we have to be better at it. I have absolute faith in the boys. We’ll get it done.”
It hasn’t just been Dixon who has been off and it would be very unfair to blame the woes of the team entirely on him. Veteran Starting Pitcher Walt Masterson went 13-19 with an ERA of 3.54 in 38 starts last season. While he did lose more games than he won, he also pitched nearly 300 innings, struck out 170 and tossed 13 complete games. Through May, Masterson had a 2-9 record with an ERA of 4.70. He, like Dixon, posted a strong first six weeks of the season. In March and April he put up an ERA of 3.09 in 55.1 innings pitched while striking out 29. Unfortunately for Masterson, that led to a 1-5 record.
May was not his friend. In fact, if months could be super villains, it would have been his “Lex Luthor” (or more appropriately, Bizarro). Masterson made six starts, posting a record of 1-4. Much like March and April, the wins refused to materialize. Unlike those two months, Masterson was his own worst enemy by posting an ERA of 6.80 due to giving up 33 runs, 32 of them earned. His innings dropped from 55.1 to 42.1 and his strikeouts fell precipitously from 29 to 16. No one has been more disappointed about this than Masterson has.
“I’ve stunk.” He said. “There is no one to blame for my record but me. There’s been no “bad luck”, which to me is just an excuse for being lousy and egotistical anyway, I’ve just been lousy. I need to change that. This team needs to be able to rely on me again for quality innings. I pitched almost 300 innings last year. At the rate that this year has gone, I’ll be lucky if I complete 200 and that’s unacceptable. The guys and the fans need and deserve better than that of me.”
In spite of this, neither the front office nor the players in Washington were worried. It takes time after trades are made for teams to gel and as any baseball fan knows, the Baseball Gods are often pernicious and fickle beings. Just ask Don Newcombe. He came over from Brooklyn as the return piece in the Bob Porterfield trade. Porterfield has continued his strong pitching in Brooklyn. Newcombe on the other hand has thus far put up a record of 8-9 with an ERA of 4.53. Newcombe’s biggest issue has been consistency.
Take, for example, Newcombe’s start against the Yankees on May 10th. Newcombe weaved a masterful start together that day, pitching a complete game; one hit shut out where he struck out three. In his next start against Detroit he struck out seven in 9.2 innings, but also surrendered four runs, three of them earned, in a 4-3 game where he took the loss. His next time out against Boston on May 21st was a disaster. He only lasted 5 innings, surrendered 9 hits and eight runs; seven of them earned and struck out four in the 9-5 loss. Over that course he had given up 11 earned runs in 23.2 innings. His next time out, Newcombe pitched seven innings of four hit ball, striking out seven and earning the “Player of the Game” award against Baltimore.
Discussing these issues barely touches on the bullpen, which has seen good performances out of three of its five relievers. It’s hard to know what rookie relief pitcher Dick Hyde will do as 2.1 innings is not any sort of accurate indicator of future performance. Once one gets passed the pitching woes, it is also fair to point out that the offense has been suspect, if not outright absent in some respects. While First Baseman Mickey Vernon continues to have a strong season and the outfield tandem of Irvin, Busby and Jensen continues to put up solid numbers, Washington has gotten nothing out of Second Baseman Wayne Terwilliger, Third Baseman Eddie Yost of Shortstop Pete Runnels. All three have been dreadful thus far. Still, GM and Manager Adam Costa isn’t worried.
“Without getting too technical, players have streaks where they play either well above or well below their abilities. We always want the hot streaks and when we get them, they’re fantastic and fun to watch. Unfortunately, when a player is cold, those streaks can often last for a lot longer. Cold streaks have a way of getting into a player’s head, at which point he can fall further into his slump because he’s pressing and trying too hard. There’s no way to snap a player out of such a situation. He just has to fight through it. May has been a tough month for a lot of our guys. I’m confident that we’ll snap out of it though. We’ll get hot again and when we do, you’ll see us start to pile up the wins again.”
The Senators went 15-10 in June. It's only one month. Is it the signal of better things down the stretch, or did Washington just get it together "just enough" to say afloat ? At three games below .500, they still have a lot of hard work ahead of them. If they can not only maintain their momentum from June, but improve on it, they might just sneak their way back into contention. While it's probably not realistic to expect them to catch New York, an improvement on their 1953 season is certainly not too much to expect, even if it looks like one heck of a long shot.
Only time will tell.
