SoM NNL Replay: half way team review Hilldale Daisies

Here's a quick summary how the Hilldales did in the first two weeks or so of my NNL Replay, in similar format as for the Chicago Giants and the Lincoln Giants.

Hilldale Daisies

How the season went so far

With a two game sweep of their ECL rivals, the Grays, the Hilldales move up to an 8-6 record and tie the lead in the ECL with the Lincoln Giants.

It was quite a bit of a comeback to get there. They started the season 0-3, being swept by the Lincoln Giants in the first three game series of the season. A 2-1 series win vs Kansas City and a two game series split against the Grays brought them to 3-5, but taking three out of four against the Chicago Giants balanced the season opening sweep, and the two game sweep of the Grays brought them above .500 for the first time this season. 

In total, the season series vs the ECL co-leads from Chicago stands at 3-4, and the intra-league series against the Grays at 3-1. Against the NNL, they are up 2-1 against the Monarchs, but have yet to play any other inter-league games.

Individual performances

Strong hitting results make up for mediocre pitching so far.

Seven players have played in all 14 games so far (Bingo de Moss is the only odd man out with 13 games played). Biz Mackey leads the pack with .414/.453/.621, two homers and 12 RBI. Wells has hit .373/.449/.610 with 3 homers and 12 RBIs, and Pete Hill and Cristobal Torriente (with a rather disappointing .220/..281/.322) are the only regulars with a batting average below .300.

With a team ERA of 5.05 the Hilldales are kind of middle of the road for this environment. Their starting rotation has ten complete games so far, with Rube Currie (1-0, one save) finishing the rest. Number three starter Eggie Hensley (2-0) has the best ERA with 2.42 over 26 innings so far, followed by Slim Jones (2-1) with an ERA of 3.27 over 16 innings (three starts). 

Fielding looks great so far, with only 7 errors in 14 games and five everyday players (Mackey, Black, Pennington, Hill and Torriente) with spotless records so far.

What's next

The Hilldales will next catch up on inter-league with games against St. Louis and back-to-back home and away series against Chicago, with two games against their league rivals from New York in between. We will see whether they can keep up with the Lincoln Giants who are also facing several series against NNL opponents.

Trading / acquisition needs

No major gaps so far - there is a stable 8 man starting lineup, a stable 5 man rotation and a reliever. As long as none of these starters get seriously injured, the Hilldales could just go on playing (similar to the Lincoln Giants).

SoM NNL Replay, HOM@HIL game 2: 0-6

In a nice pitchers duel (complete games on both sides!), the Hilldale Daisies take game two to sweep the Grays in this series and stay in the really tight ECL race.

For the visitors, Williams pitches into and out of trouble in the second, the first few innings remain scoreless on both sides. In the bottom of the fourth, Hensley helps his own cause with an RBI single to get the Daisies ahead 2-0 with only one out. However, Williams gets out of the inning by turning a nice 1-6-3 double play on a Blackwell grounder to his backhand side.

For the rest of the game, Hensley keeps putting 0s on the score board, but Tom Williams leaves a couple of pitches to Pennington and Taylor over the plate for homers in the 5th and 7th for a total of six earned runs.

7/14/16 Homestead Grays at Hilldale Daisies

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Homestead Grays	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Hilldale Daisies	0	0	0	2	3	0	1	0	x	6	13	0

Homestead Grays Hitters AB R H RBI BB SO P Lloyd  4 0 1 0 0 0 C Smith  3 0 0 0 1 1 T Carr  4 0 1 0 0 0 J Gibson  4 0 0 0 0 0 V Harris  3 0 2 0 1 0 A Radcliff  4 0 0 0 0 1 B Baro  3 0 0 0 0 0 B Monroe  2 0 0 0 1 1 T Williams  2 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 29 0 4 0 3 3 Sac- T Williams (1) Pitchers IP H R ER BB SO HR T Williams (L)  8.0 13 6 6 3 4 2

Hilldale Daisies

Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO
C Blackwell	4	0	3	0	1	0
W Wells	4	1	2	0	1	0
B Mackey	5	1	1	0	0	1
S Pennington	4	1	1	3	0	1
C Taylor	3	2	2	1	1	0
B DeMoss	4	1	1	0	0	0
C Torriente	4	0	1	1	0	1
P Hill	4	0	1	0	0	0
E Hensley	3	0	1	1	0	1
Totals	35	6	13	6	3	4

2B- B Mackey (1)
HR- S Pennington (1), C Taylor (1)
Sac- E Hensley (1)
SB- C Torriente (1)

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
E Hensley (W)	9.0	4	0	0	3	3	0

SoM NNL replay: half way team review Chicago American Giants

In the same format as for the NY Lincoln Giants, here is a brief look at where we are after about a third of the Strat-o-Matic Negro League replay with the NNL leading...

Chicago American Giants

How the season went so far

Chicago opened the series with a 2-1 series win against their League rivals from Kansas City and a split 2-game series against St. Louis. They continued to inch towards a very close lead in the NNL with a 1-2 series loss against the current ECL leaders, the Lincoln Giants, and another 2-1 series win vs. St. Louis. 

A two-game series split vs their NY namesakes gives them a 2-3 season total against the ECL leader. They have still to face the Daisies and Grays from the ECL for the first time later in the season.

Within the NNL, they are currently on top of KC 2-1 and of St. Louis 3-2.

Individual performances

Playing in a huge ballpark, the Giants roster emphasizes defense. This does reflect in the lower team averages for offensive stats (just .250/.285/.374, i.e. far behind the ECL leading Lincoln Giants).

Turkey Stearn (.373/.383/.661) is a worthy leadoff hitter, but behind him batting averages quickly fall below .300 with Wild Bill Wright (.250/.267/.364 in nine appearances) closes to the team average.

Given the dimensions of their home ballpark, it is no surprise that homeruns happen at a lower clip (less than one per game, i.e. less than half the Lincoln Giants' ratio) and that more than half of these come from Stearn (4) and Serell (3).

Other big name players sport rather disappointing batting results so far (we'll see whether some regression towards a better mean is in the books for the rest of the season), like Bruce Petway (.196/.260/.217), Martin Dihigo (.172/.226/.310) and Jose Mendez with a disappointing 5 hits (and, at least, 5 walks and 5 stolen bases) for an anemic .114/.204/.136.

Overall defense does prove to be good, with a total of only 19 errors so far and several players (Stearn, Serrell, Dandridge, Wright, Perkins) with nine more more games and only one or no error.

Starters Foster (2-0 in three starts) and Cooper (3-0 in two starts and a relief appearance) provide a solid core of the starting rotation, and a team ERA of 4.75 is not too bad in this high-scoring environment.

Verdell Mathis leads the bullpen with 8.1 innings pitched in 6 relief appearances and a mixed record of 1-1, a save and a team-worst ERA of 9.72.

The worst luck (or run support) award goes to Smokey Joe Williams, who has the second most innings (23.2) in three starts and one appearance out of the pen, with a remarkable 3.80 ERA but a 1-2 record so far. 

He opened the season with a complete game shutout victory over the Monarchs (against Satchel Paige himself). But after that, most of his runs allowed, and one loss, came out of two games where he conceded five runs each, but his team mates only managed a total of 2 resp. 6 runs (for the no-result).

What's next

The Giants will next host the Kansas City Monarchs for a four game series. After that, the Grays and the Daisies will visit Chicago to represent the ECL. If current standings reflect the teams' overall quality, it should be possible for the Giants to maintain their lead in the NNL - we will see whether the first third of the season was a fluke or an indication of true strength.

Trading / acquisition needs

It would obviously help the Giants to increase their offensive power. 

A strong batter who can play first base to take some pressure off Dihigo, and a 3B/SS to help or replace Dandridge at 5th and free Mendez to focus more on pitching would help.

On the other hand, two positions are possibly overstaffed: second base with the very successful Serrell who relegated Hughes to the role of bench player and occasional pinch hitter, and the outfield where White and Lyons are hardly getting any at bats.