[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 3-5
Seasonal Record: 38-41 (6th, 15.5 GB)
Stars of the Week
Doc Love : 36 AB, 12 H, 2 HR, 4 RBI, .333 AVG, .896 OPS
Tom Taylor : 39 AB, 12 H, 1 HR, 4 RBI, .308 AVG, .761 OPS
John Kincaid : 37 AB, 13 H, 0 HR, 3 RBI, .351 AVG, .730 OPS

Weekly Schedule
7-2: Loss at Sailors (5-7)
7-3: Loss at Foresters (1-2)
7-4: Loss at Foresters (1-6)
7-5: Loss at Foresters (2-3)
7-6: Win vs Wolves (11-13)
7-6: Win vs Wolves (4-7)
7-7: Win at Sailors (7-1)
7-8: Loss at Sailors (0-2)

Recap
Umm, can it get any worse? At this point, not so sure. The All-Star break could not have come soon enough as getting swept by the Foresters and dropping five in a week is just another nail in the coffin. We ended up with just three All-Stars, the two I voted plus Mike Taylor. Tom is a fully time All-Star, but the former Kings Wilcox and Mike Taylor are two-time. Looking at our two new acquisitions, Joe Masters had a rough week, hitting just .229/.282/.286 (43 OPS+) with 6 RBI's. Rankin picked up two losses, but one wasn't too bad. He pitched the 8th, allowing 8 hits and 2 runs with a walk and strikeout in 8 innings.

I think I might try out a four man rotation. Johnny Walker won't be needed this week, so he'll head down to AAA and Bill Ashbaugh can come back from the DL. If we have a lot of games, I still have pen guys I can slide in like Lowman or even one of McSherry or Grossman could make a start. We have a double header on the 21st, so we definitely have to use a spot starter then.

And poor Tommy Wilcox... Seven day lineups kind of screwed him up because I had him starting the 3rd and then the 7th (short rest because of double header). He pitched valiantly in a 2-1 14 inning loss. He managed to throw almost 200 pitches in 13.1 innings. He allowed just 8 hits, 2 runs, and 3 walks with 4 strikeouts before a Moxie Pidgeon sac-fly ended the game. He then had to pitch on three days rest against the Wolves. He mustered up just 4 innings and 72 pitches before leaving in the win. Regardless, he only allowed 13 total hits, 3 runs, 3 walks, and 6 strikeouts in 17.1 innings in four days. I really hope they give him the All Star game off...

But, since we are at the half way point, let's do a midseason review:

Let's start with the offense. That's been what's good. We don't lead in any category, but we're back up to top 4 in all categories as our baserunning is up to 4th. We've scored 430 runs with 372 runs allowed, so based on the always taunting Pythagorean, we sit 38-41 when we should be 45-34... Not great, but not 300 games out of first place. Just eight and a half. Still tough, but not impossible. We've hit .287/.343/.417 as a team with 54 homers and 35 steals. On the pitching side, it's been much worse. The pen is strong and we don't walk anyone, but the exciting thing is how things are trending up. Our ERA both overall and for starters are back up to 4th (just like runs scored) and the defense is vastly improving. Our zone rating is back up to third and efficiency to 5th after spending most of the year in 8th. We do have a few really bad categories, with hits (6th), average (6th), BABIP (7th), and strikeouts (5th) all in the bottom half.

So, has any individual been that good this year?

Well...

We've just been painstakingly average...

Every hitter in our lineup has an OPS+ between 90 and 110. This accounts for Love, both Taylors, Kincaid, Kelly, Hinzman, Armstrong, Bryant, and Ashbaugh. What I think is crazy is that Kincaid, Mike Taylor, Kelly, and Ashbaugh are all simultaneously having their worst offensive seasons. And Tom Taylor basically is too. In order, their previous OPS+ lows are 110, 119, 106, 125. Tom Taylor's pervious low was 97, but that was his injury ridden 1930. The next low was 121. This year, they're at 104, 100, 91, 96, and 104 compared to their career averages of 118, 150, 126, 129, and 143.

So basically my five best hitters all decided that this was the perfect season for them to all not show up...

Granted, this is a little unfair to Tom Taylor. The other four are doing bad, but at least he's producing. He's hitting .276/.326/.500 with 19 homers, 11 steals, and 63 RBI's. That's a really strong statline for the Canadian Club who has a comfortable 5 homer lead in the CA with a one RBI deficit between him and John Lawson. Him and Doc Love have really been the lone bright spots, but even Love is hitting just .315/.356/.487 (109 OPS+) with 9 homers and 38 RBI's. I just need one guy (fingers crossed it's Masters or Kelly) to explode.

I already mentioned Tommy Wilcox, the ultimate pitching God. Somehow, he's even better this year even though literally every player on the roster has done worse this season then last. The 6'4'' righty is still on track to lose 20 games, but his 7-10 record does not do his performance justice. He has a 2.95 ERA (155 ERA+), 1.19 WHIP, 34 walks, and 59 strikeouts in 149.1 innings pitched. He's started two more games then anyone else in the rotation and he's probably thrown 800 more pitches. But it does not matter. This kid just goes all out. Well, ever since 1932... I just love how (as expected) my "WHY DOES THIS GUY SUCK SO MUCH" has changed to "WHY IS THIS GUY SOOOOOOO AMAZING!" as it seems he just finds new ways to surprise me. Dick Lyons has done well too, 5-4 with a 4.08 ERA (112 ERA+), 1.53 WHIP, 31 walks, and 35 strikeouts in 114.2 innings pitched. His fellow Dick Leudtke has fully reverted to 1929 Gothams Leudtke who was dominated in relief. His record is almost identical to Wilcox at 7-9, but I'm sure you can tell that his 5.24 ERA (87 ERA+), 1.58 WHIP, 48 walks, and 43 strikeouts look much different. I haven't had to endure a season like this in awhile. Leudtke has never walked more hitters then he struck out. Even in 1929 in 8 starts in AAA he had equal, but not more. Even his standalone starts in 1924 and 1926 had more strikeouts then walks. He averages a full strikeout more per nine then walk. And now he's just walking everyone.

So what's happened this year?

Well, it's been a mix of things (no particular order):

1. None of our hitters are overperforming. And none of them are even "average" for themselves. The only hitter on the team who's OPS+ (even the bench players) is above his career average is Cy Bryant. That's because his 100 is greater then his 99 career average.
2. More bad luck. We're 8-17 (.320) in one run games. We're 1-3 (.250) in extra innings. Our actual record is 7 games worse then our expected record.
3. Cleveland is better then good. Even like, really good. The pitching is amazing. The offense is amazing. Not quite 1933 Chicago Cougar levels, but they also don't play in a hitting palace like Chicago. They hit a ton of homers, they don't let you score, they are 10-2 against us and have swept us three times this year. I think we were swept three times total in the past three seasons. Let alone against one team...
4. Brooklyn is way better then expected (my expectations). It's fun looking at the second place team and seeing their #1 and #2 arms are your former top 2 draft picks. I was hoping Brooklyn would wait till we got a ring before Barrell and Murphy broke out... I keep telling myself it's okay because I have Wilcox. Brooklyn's offense is elite as well. They rank first in all three triple slashes, WAR, wOBA, runs, hits, and extra base hits. That's really all you can ask for. And the pitching, especially top 3, is really impressive.
5. Probably the biggest reason, myself. I messed with perfection. I thought after a 2-0 WS lead that I would have a second ring. Then everything fell apart and I panicked. And I continued to panic. I'll probably panic trade again. Every time I say I won't, I end up doing it, so I'm going to say that I will.

Oh yeah, and to add insult to injury:
Jim Crawford: 2-0, 1.50 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 CG

Finally, manager Dick Pozza was relieved of his duties. I had little to no expectation of extending him (final year of his contract), but Pozza won 90+ games in three straight years including a World Series win and loss. But, I don't like how he handles certain things and he doesn't like Tommy Wilcox. Now, at 38-41 and 15.5 games out, there's nothing left to do this season. I offered one manager a one year contract. If he signs, it'll be a trial run. If not, the recently extended bench coach Hank Sims will take over. He was our manager 1927-1929 and was moved to bench coach when Pozza was brought in. The guys love him and he's as conventional as it gets. If Sims gets the job, AAA manager Herbert Styles is the likely replacement for Sims. He was a big league bench coach from 1925-1927 on the south side, but has spent the last six seasons in Milwaukee. He's won two titles (30, 32). At 44-26, the Blues have a four game lead in the Century League.

Can a manager change make up 16 games?

Nah, but 15 and a half?

Easy money!

Can't wait till 1935...