[ayaghmour2]

August 7th, 1933
Chicago Cougars (72-37): 9
Toronto Wolves (38-71): 2

W: Jim Crawford (9-6)
L: Buddy Adams (5-17)

This is more like it! The offense came back with vengeance and we evened the series with a 9-2 win. A huge game for the random superstar Slim Bloom was 3-for-4 and he homered, scored three times, drove in four, and was even hit by a pitch. Tom Taylor was 4-for-5 with a double, run, and RBI. Off the bench, Ed Calvert was 2-for-2 with a triple and run scored. John Kincaid was 2-for-5 with a triple and two runs scored. I actually let Bill Ashbaugh start this one in right (second time this year) and he was 1-for-2 with a walk, run, and triple. I would have loved for him to more time up there (we were winning 8-2...), but considering Calvert pinch hit for him, I guess it was fine. Arnold Bower was 2-for-4 with a walk, run, and 2 RBI's.

August 8th, 1933
Chicago Cougars (73-37): 5
Toronto Wolves (38-72): 2

W: Tommy Wilcox (16-8)
L: Eddie Quinn (8-17)

That's six in a row. Not wins, but, complete games in a row for Tommy Wilcox in a streak that includes one that went 13 innings. He didn't have to do that in the finale, but he allowed just 2 runs (1 earned), 9 hits, and 2 walks with 2 strikeouts. Tom Taylor was 3-for-4 with a homer, triple, 2 runs, and 2 RBI's. John Kincaid was 2-for-4 with a run scored and driven in. Cy Bryant was 2-for-4 with a double and 2 RBI's. Slim Bloom was 1-for-3 with a double and run scored.

August 10th, 1933
Baltimore Canons (47-64): 2
Chicago Cougars (74-37): 3

W: Dick Lyons (14-6)
L: Bob Miller (10-16)

After a day that brought us back to the states, we got some nice home cooking before a four game series with the Cannons to end the week. This one was a little too close, and we had to walk it off to win. Cy Bryant was just 1-for-4 in the game, but his single in the ninth was the game winner. He drove in Bobby Sprague who was 3-for-4 with a double, steal, and run scored. Mike Taylor was 2-for-4 with a solo homer, his 15th and second best in the league. Dick Lyons had an excellent start, allowing 10 hits and 2 runs (1 earned) with a walk and four strikeouts in a complete game victory.

August 11th, 1933
Baltimore Canons (47-65): 2
Chicago Cougars (75-37): 6

W: Dick Leudtke (15-5)
L: Ken Carpenter (11-13)

I like how the other team keeps scoring two runs. I can get to used to this. A strong start from Dick Leudtke. He allowed 11 hits and 2 runs with 6 strikeouts in another complete game victory. Bobby Sprague was 3-for-4 with a double, run, and RBI. Russ Combs was 2-for-4 with a triple and run scored. Mike Taylor was 1-for-3 with a triple, run, and RBI. Phil Vaughan was 1-for-3 with a walk, two runs, and his 10th homer of the year. Arnold Bower was 3-for-4. Cy Bryant was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI's.

August 12th, 1933
Baltimore Canons (47-66): 1
Chicago Cougars (76-37): 6

W: Max Wilder (9-8)
L: Rabbit Day (15-9)

One is better then two! We managed to score off one of the best pitchers in the game and held the Baltimore offense to a single run. Max Wilder pitched really well, 8 strong innings with 7 hits, 3 walks, an unearned run, and 2 strikeouts. John Kincaid was 2-for-4 with a steal, RBI, and two runs scored. Forrest Sylvester was 2-for-4 with a double, run, and RBI. Slim Bloom was 2-for-4 with a double and 2 RBI's. Cy Bryant was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored. Mike Taylor was 2-for-4 with a run scored.

August 12th, 1933
Baltimore Canons (47-66): 1
Chicago Cougars (76-37): 8

W: Tommy Wilcox (17-8)
L: Doc Stanton (0-2)

A perfect week capped off with a perfect win. We piled on 11 hits and 8 runs in the first six innings on fledgling lefty Doc Stanton while Tommy Wilcox did what he does best. 7 hits, a run, and 4 strikeouts in another complete game victory. Tom Taylor erupted, 2-for-3 with 2 homers, 2 walks, 3 runs, and 4 RBI's. Mike Taylor was 2-for-4 with a homer, hit by pitch, and 3 RBI's. Russ Combs was 2-for-4 with a walk, run, and RBI. Cy Bryant was 1-for-2 with a double, run, and 2 RBI's.

Stars of the Week
Tom Taylor : 24 AB, 13 H, 3 HR, 9 RBI, .542 AVG, 1.702 OPS
Slim Bloom : 14 AB, 7 H, 1 HR, 6 RBI, .500 AVG, 1.390 OPS
Mike Taylor : 20 AB, 7 H, 2 HR, 6 RBI, .350 AVG, 1.114 OPS

Injury Report
RP Pete Sposito (AAA Milwaukee Blues): elbow inflammation (one week)
C Cecil Kimball (AAA Milwaukee Blues): intercostal strain (5 days)
SP Pete Carey (AA Mobile Commodores): activated from the DL
SP El Long (B San Jose Cougars): shoulder inflammation (4 weeks)
CF Ernie Carson (C La Crosse Lions): hamstring strain (3 weeks)

Weekly Summary
Lots of tough to talk about this week. Thankfully, all good. Of course, we have to start with player of the week Tom Taylor! A guy who always seems to heat up late, I'm hoping this is the start of things to come for the Canadian Club. He was 13-for-24 (.542) with 3 homers and 9 RBI's. He has improved his season .309/.356/.462 (119 OPS+) line, but it would be the worst of his three seasons in Chicago. It's interesting though, he's really cut down his strikeouts and is on pace for seven less then last year and a lot less then when he struck out the most in the CA in 1931. He's on pace to reach 20 homers and steals for the fourth time in his career and he's really developed into more of a speed then power guy. He'll still hit the homers, but he hit 29 and 30 his first two years which still weren't near the 44 and 38 in '28 and '29. I wish I could see monthly batting splits for a career, but I know Taylor has done well either in August or September the past two seasons.

Oh yeah. And the Cougars hit home runs now! We rank 2nd in the CA (62) and if it wasn't for the absurdities Rankin Kellogg (35) and Max Morris (25) both Mike and Tom Taylor would be within four homers of the FABL lead. Mike would lead in the CA with Tom right behind him. We also just got our third member of the team to reach 10 homers, Phil Vaughan, who's done it in just 163 trips to the plate. There's still a lot of baseball left to be played and we already have more double digit homer guys then usual.

Let's take a look at the Cougars of past. Obviously, way back when home runs would not happen very often. However, the Cougars all time leader for home runs should not be Bill Ashbaugh (110) who hasn't even made his 4,000 FABL plate appearance. Guess who is second? Well, the leader in most other categories, John Dibblee (85). He did it in 13,260 plate appearances across 25 seasons. Third? Tom Taylor (73) who's only been a Cougar for three years. The top 10 includes interesting throwback names like Art Panko (51, 4,794 PA) and Vince York (32, 2,121 PA) and neither was much of a power hitter. Mike Taylor, who's been a Cougar for a little over a year (7/25/1932) needs just four homers to reach the 10 spot.

Looking more recent, in 1932 three players hit 10 or more homers for us. They were Tom Taylor (30), Bill Ashbaugh (13), and Mike Taylor (10), with Taylor hitting all ten of those after the trade. We scored 903 runs as a team, but with just 87 homers. That was good for fourth, about average, but considering how homer friendly our park is, not too impressive. Again in 1931 we had three players, Tom Taylor (29), Vince York (11), and Bill Ashbaugh (11). We scored 809 runs, won the Continental Association, and won a World Series. And we did it with 66 homers. That's it. We've almost passed that now. 1930 had three (the magic number?), Bill Ashbaugh (16), Vince York (15), and Fred Barrell (10). We finished 4th in the league (our pitching was terrible...) and scored 964 runs. We hit just 68. 1929, the first year of this dynasty report, we were terrible. We were 62-92 and just Bill Ashbaugh (23) hit more then 6. Without him, we hit just 44 homers. From 1929-1931 we ranked in the bottom half of the CA despite having the easiest stadium to hit homers at. Brooklyn is the only other CA team to have an overall HR rating above 1 (and both LHB and RHB above 1).

Both us and the Keystones sit at 77-37 with double digit leads (10 them, 15 us) on the next best team in our league. The Keystones are still pissed about getting swept by the Stars this year, and they've taken it out on the entire Fed. Rankin Kellogg is one of five lefties in their lineup and he surpassed 300 homers this season. Both him and Bobby Barrell are hitting over .370 and all four of their top hitters hit above .300. The top three of their rotation is strong, but all three would sit behind Max Wilder in our rotation. Former Cougar Bill Ross is their four, but he's 36 and while still effective, not the pitcher he was. As a whole though, they truly are the class of the Fed. They rank top four in every main category except base running, where they are 5th (and that's not all that major...). They just finished July 22-6 which was even better then our 19-9.

Interesting enough, we are terrible base runners 7th in the CA with just a +9.1. We do have a league best 63 steals, but I'm guessing it's all the caught stealing that are hurting us. We've been caught the most (by a lot), but we still have the 2nd best percentage. Not sure how this stat is calculated, but it's a little interesting.

There was definitely more I planned on writing, but after viewing a few of the absurd gold glove finalists, I got completely sidetracked and whatever was origionally planned has now been forgotten.

Minor League Report

CF Roy Moore (AA Mobile Commodores): He's only 20, but Roy Moore has been working his way up the system. First, he hit .377/.401/.442 (120 OPS+) with 3 homers, 8 steals, and 22 RBI's in just 50 games before a promotion to Lincoln. He did well there too, hitting .291/.342/.366 (92 OPS+) with a homer, steal, and 16 RBI's in 42 games. I was hesitant to move him up again, but with Rich Langton coming off the DL and how well he was hitting, I couldn't keep him in San Jose, he was ready for Lincoln. I have important prospects in all three outfield spots and couldn't move someone down, so someone had to go up. I gambled with Moore. Even though he was the youngest, he's also in year two and the others (Johnny Waters and Lou Roach) were drafted this offseason. Moore seemed ready for the challenge, and he slashed .480/.536/.720 (229 OPS+) with a homer and 5 RBI's. It was an excellent start for Moore who also looked really good out in center. Speed is a big part of his game, as he's an excellent base runner, base stealer, and his outfield range is impressive. Power is a question for him, as he is on the short side (5'7'') and he hit just four homers last year with five this year. Still, we have a lot of outfield prospects so he's going to have to find a way to standout. He ranks 23rd in our system and 172nd in the league.

LF Dave Haight (C La Crosse Lions): It's been a rough year for most of our C ball prospects, but Dave Haight is just hanging on. The 13th Round pick is hitting .306/.337/.414 (97 OPS+) with 3 homers, 8 steals, and 26 RBI's. He also grabbed a Player of the Week this week, going 11-for-19 with a homer and 2 RBI's. The 19-year-old does an excellent job hitting the ball the other way and he has a very strong and well developed hit tool. He's really athletic, but not all that fast. He handles left well and he's got a huge influence on the other guys in the clubhouse. He was an excellent hitter in high school and I don't expect that to change. He's young and overmatched now, but I think he's starting to get the hang of things.

Few notes after: I was going to mention how valuable Dick Lyons is and how I forget about him (yikes...) and how good he really is. I was going to do a little piece on him, but at least it will give me something to write for the next report. It's the last sim of the week, so I'll have a ton of time to get everything together. Another has to do with our farm system. Thanks to the #100 prospect in the game (Ernie Carson), we have the most top 100 prospects in baseball. Washington has 11, the only other with double digits. As you might expect, they have the absolute best system. I have no idea how many "points" are available, but they have 271 and the second place Kings have 154. We're 10th with 100, but some guys may graduate from now till the end of the season. Only one of our top 15 guys is playing above A ball, and he's hurt. Not sure we'll sneak into the top eight like I thought, but 7th place Boston is at 107 and they're #1 guy is in the rotation. The Keystones and Saints are at 104 and . The Keystones seem set, and I don't think the Saints top guy Pablo Reyes will get enough service.