[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record:4-2
Seasonal Record: 54-56 (6th, 17.5 GB)
Stars of the Week
Doc Love : 22 AB, 10 H, 1 HR, 6 RBI, .455 AVG, 1.136 OPS
Tom Taylor : 25 AB, 9 H, 2 HR, 6 RBI, .360 AVG, 1.069 OPS
Joe Masters : 24 AB, 7 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, .292 AVG, .787 OPS

Weekly Schedule
8-6: Win at Foresters (5-4)
8-8: Win vs Sailors (1-6)
8-9: Loss vs Sailors (3-0)
8-10: Win vs Sailors (4-6)
8-11: Win vs Wolves (5-8)
8-12: Loss vs Wolves (8-3)

Summary
A 4-2 week? Those never happen anymore! We took another series against the Foresters (71-38) with a 5-4 win and then took two of three from the Sailors (56-53). We split the first two with the Wolves (46-63) and have a chance to win the series tomorrow. We then get two off days before heading to Brooklyn for four with the Kings (65-43). They're 5 and a half back of the Foresters, but we've actually played them well so far. I'm not sure we'll play them well this series, but depending on how the series go it could sink or propel Brooklyn.

The bats weren't great this week, but add another big week from Doc Love. It bumped him up to third in the CA with a .340 batting average. He continues to rake, batting .455/.500/.636 with a homer and six driven in. He's up to 17 and 67 on the season. He ranks first on our team in average, second in homers, and third in RBI's. Tom Taylor upped his home run count to 24, two ahead of Max Morris for the CA lead. He was 9-for-25 with 2 homers, 6 RBI's, and a stolen base. He hasn't hit great this year, just .276/.328/.483 (101 OPS+), but with 24 homers, 14 steals, and 80 RBI's which would be a 34, 20, 112 pace. After being just slightly below average in his first 40 or so games in center field, he's back up to a +5 zone rating and 1.049 efficiency in 69 starts. His efficiency is best in the league and he sits juts 0.6 back in zone rating, but Frank Lightbody has almost double the innings.

I did a little shortstop experiment as all mine suck, with Woody Armstrong and Clyde Hinzman getting two starts and Slim Bloom and Arnold Bower getting a start a piece. Armstrong took advantage, going 3-for-7 with a walk and RBI while Bloom was 1-for-4 with a triple. Hinzman and Bower combined to go 0-for-10, but I still plan on rotating all four. With just five games this week, Armstrong will get two starts and the rest just one. I've also experimented with John Kincaid at second, but it's gone terrible. He's got a -4.1 zone rating and .881 efficiency in 227.1 innings, pretty poor numbers so far. Before this season, Kincaid has almost exclusively played third, but I've been trying him out here with Masters now at third. Eventually the goal is for Masters to go to first, Kincaid back to third, and Kelly out to right, moving Tom Taylor back to center. With a little more time in the Spring Training out in center, I think Taylor can be an above average defender out there.

On the mound, Dave Rankin had a really strong outing in a 6-1 win over the Sailors. He tossed a complete game with 10 hits, one run, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts. This was much better then his last start, also against the Sailors, where he allowed 9 hits, 8 runs, and 3 walks with just 1 strikeout in 5.2 innings pitched. He hasn't been great in his eight starts with us, but he's 3-4 with a respectable 4.43 ERA (104 ERA+), 1.52 WHIP, 16 walks, and 26 strikeouts. Dick Leudtke continued his strong run, but he was tagged with a loss in the 3-0 shutout. He went all nine allowing 7 hits and 3 runs with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts in his third straight complete game with 3 or less runs allowed. He's combined for a 1.67 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 6 walks, and 8 strikeouts. He's a strikeout away from evening back his walks and strikeouts and his ERA creeped down to 4.53 (101 ERA+).

We don't need a fifth starter this week, so Art Black will head down to AAA. His three starts didn't go too well, going 1-1 with a 5.59 ERA (82 ERA+) and 2.17 WHIP. What was most concerning was the 15 walks compared to 6 strikeouts. He does walk a lot of hitters, 53 to 24 in AAA, but he also allowed the same amount of homers (2) in his 18 AAA starts. I'm bringing up 34-year-old journeyman Pete Walker who has been in the Cougars organization since 1925. From 1929-1934 he was in Milwaukee, and has totaled 528.1 innings pitch there. He has a 4.45 ERA (102 ERA+), 1.33 WHIP, 175 walks, and 448 strikeouts. This year has gone well for him, 7-4 with 9 saves, a 3.03 ERA (145 ERA+), 1.32 WHIP, 16 walks, and 23 strikeouts in 71.1 innings pitched. A former 7th Round Pick by Brooklyn way back in 1921, it took Walker 2,138.2 innings of high school, college, and minor league ball before finally making a big league roster.

Minor League Report
On the 6th in Mobile, right fielder Johnny Waters had a big 5-for-5 game in a 12-5 win over Knoxville. The 22-year-old switch hitter is having a strong year with the Commodores, slashing .333/.358/.464 (117 OPS+) with a homer and 75 RBI's. Despite being a 15th Round Pick in 1932, he's hit at each level on his way up and may end up getting a late season call up to Milwaukee. I wish he had a little more power, as it is really his only weakness at the plate, as Waters has an amazing hit tool and he almost never strikes out. He won't walk, just 16 in 380 trips to the plate, but he has just 8 strikeouts and only 22 all of last season. Of course, he does have a glaring flaw, his awful defense, but that's a worry for another day. Knoxville did have a little revenge, destroying us 22-0 the day after, and they now have a 7 game lead over us for first. Both Ed Grubb and Ed Willson knocked five hits of their own as both Bobby Love and Cy Plummer were absolutely destroyed. Plummer just got the call to AA and allowed 6 hits, 7 runs, and a walk with just one out recorded. Waters was also named Player of the Week, going 15-for-33 with nine knocked in.

We had another big game down in La Cross, crushing the Marshalltown Kings 23-7. Switch hitting first basemen Cuno Myer was 5-for-7 with 2 doubles and 4 RBI's while catcher Harry Mead was a perfect 5-for-5 with 2 homers and 6 RBI's. A 22nd Round Pick in 1932, Myer was one of the few players I didn't select via list in the auto portion of the draft. He didn't play much last season, but he's slashing .351/.401/.490 (113 OPS+) with 3 homers and 31 RBI's in just over 200 at bats. Mead is now ranked in the top 50, sitting at 48th in the league and 6th in our system. The Harvey native hasn't quite found his bat yet, but his .322/.378/.438 (95 OPS+) line is respectable as his defensive skills are immense. He's got an excellent eye, a little pop, and a decent hit tool, but his bat still needs a little more polishing if he wants to be a top catcher in the big leagues. His glove will be enough to get him there, but I want him to be the next Mike Taylor not Claude Ramsey.

Amateur Report
We may have uncovered the next ace of the staff! That would be 18-year-old righty Ace Harman! A Philadelphia native, Harman moved to California and attended Los Angeles HS. A six pitch pitcher, Harman finished his senior season 10-2 with a 1.63 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 28 walks, and 139 strikeouts in 126.2 innings pitched. He's committed to Grange College and may not sign out of high school, but he's got a ton of upside and I can't imagine whoever takes him would let him go to college without a fight. He sits in the mid 80s with his cutter and fastball, and all four of his offspeed pitches should be major league caliber. He's got excellent control and strong movement, all which play well for his future. Ace McSherry never developed into an Ace (although no one really expected that), but it would be awesome to see Harman live up to his name.