Game 34 - Heading Home

May 25, 1911
Philadelphia 12, Cleveland 6

And with that, the A's atone for their six-game losing streak with six straight wins. Cleveland really didn't put up much of a fight (though to be fair their best players sat out the last three games); Philadelphia outscored them 39-11 over four games for the sweep.

This also puts an end to the grueling month-long road trip. They've gone 14-8, which is impressive considering the dire six-game stretch against Chicago and Detroit. They left Philadelphia back in April as a 5-7 team in sixth place, and now they're in sole possession of second place*, so this trip tested their mettle and showed that they really were a legitimate team. Connie Mack's belief that the team's slow start was nothing to worry about (in fact he expected it even before the season) may well prove accurate.

They're back home for the next 22 games, and will certainly be looking to make up ground on their Western rivals. Here are the standings as of today:

Team Name                 G    W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
Detroit Tigers           38   29    9    0  .763     -   228  170
PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS   34   19   15    0  .559   8.0   217  165
Chicago White Sox        33   17   15    1  .531   9.0   177  135
Boston Red Sox           34   18   16    0  .529   9.0   170  143
New York Highlanders     33   17   16    0  .515   9.5   131  154
Cleveland Naps           39   16   22    1  .421  13.0   180  203
Washington Senators      34   12   22    0  .353  15.0   126  204
St. Louis Browns         37   12   25    0  .324  16.5   146  201

* While jumping from sixth to second is undoubtedly a good thing, they're actually farther back in the standings thanks to the continued dominance of the Tigers; they lost 1.5 games on Detroit since April 28th.