[ayaghmour2]

Before starting, we do have a league opening to fill. Anyone looking to join in on the fun can take over the defending champion Cleveland Foresters. Lot's of really enviable talent there, including one of my personal favorites 24-year-old star shortstop George Dawson, former Cougar farmhand and 25-year-old ace Dean Astle, another top 10 arm Eddie Quinn, and superstars bats T.R. Goins, Max Morris, Leon Drake, Charlie Berry, and Dan Fowler.

Weekly Record: 2-4
Seasonal Record: 15-16 (4th, 7 GB)
Stars of the Week
Lou Kelly : 24 AB, 13 H, 1 HR, 8 RBI, .542 AVG, 1.551 OPS
Doc Love : 23 AB, 9 H, 1 HR, 4 RBI, .391 AVG, 1.003 OPS
John Kincaid : 26 AB, 8 H, 1 HR, 4 RBI, .308 AVG, .758 OPS

Weekly Schedule
5-13: Loss at Kings (3-7)
5-15: Loss at Kings (6-7): 10 innings
5-15: Loss at Kings (3-4)
5-17: Win vs Stars (6-8)
5-18: Win vs Stars (8-9)
5-19: Loss vs Stars (7-1)


Summary
Should I really be surprised we got swept by the Kings? It does suck, of course, but considering two of the games were determined by just one and one went to extras, it's pretty impressive for a road series against arguably the best team in the FABL by a wide margin. The off day in the middle was nice, and then we picked up two of three against the visiting Stars. The finale was really disappointing, as we let the Stars get five in the ninth, We also won the 9-8 game despite being outhit 20 to 13. Dick Leudtke should've been taken out after 8, as the Stars added 6 hits and 4 runs in the final frame. Still, Leudtke allowed 20 hits and 8 runs. He faced 45 batters and 44 of them put the ball in play (he walked Mike Mason to start the game).

Up ahead, the Baltimore Cannons come to town for three. They're struggling, 12-21 on the year and a game ahead of the Stars for last. We really need these wins here. We'll get to see both Bob Miller and Dale Dube who boast ERA's above 6.40. Miller's 7.52 is only slightly worse then Dick Lyons... At our home field, we should be able to pile on the runs off the Cannons staff. We may be stuck facing ace Dutch Leverett, who's 3-2 with a 3.44 ERA (131 ERA+), 1.22 WHIP, 20 walks, and 24 strikeouts in 55 innings on the season. Offensively, rookie Jim Mason is tearing the cover off the ball, slashing .377/.423/.507 (143 OPS+) with 2 homers and 19 RBI's. Abel Man is hitting .320/.367/.508 (127 OPS+) with 5 homers and 28 RBI's, the homers second in the CA. I'm hoping for a sweep and we need one in the worst way.

Following Baltimore is the Montreal Saints in the first year under a new GM. They're 15-17, but as usual, the offense has it's issues. They're 8th in average, OBP, slugging, OPS, WAR, wOBA, runs, hits, extra base hits, and base running. That's not to say they don't have good bats, as they have 23-year-old budding star Pablo Reyes who's the best defensive outfielder and potentially fastest FABL player. He's even hitting a strong .319/.358/.431 (113 OPS+) with 2 homers, 5 steals, and 14 RBI's. Rookie catcher Tom Bird is hitting an impressive .342/.490/.430 (151 OPS+) while on a 106 walk pace. Hank Barnett is off to a slow start, as his OPS+ has dropped below 100. George Thomas has allowed three runs in his last three starts, and the former 7th Overall Pick has started to turn things around. We'll likely face him in the opener, and he's 5-2 with a 3.58 ERA (122 ERA+), 1.25 WHIP, 15 walks, and 18 strikeouts. I'm not too worried about the rest of the rotation, and I think we might be able to get two of three here.

We do finish the week hosting the previously mentioned Saints. Brooklyn ranks top 3 in all offensive categories but extra base hits and are 14-5 in May. We might get lucky and face Ken Carpenter in the opener, who's got a 5.89 ERA (78 ERA+), 1.66 WHIP, 20 walks, and 25 strikeouts. Of course, the lineup is extremely scary too, as Al Wheeler and Frank Vance joined Dan, Harry, and Fred Barrell, Doug Lightbody, John Langille, and Jake Shadoan. I'll cover them a bit more next week since most of the series will be next week.

Batters
Most of the offense has been really impressive this season. If it wasn't for the pure fielding brilliance of Harry Barrell, a Cougar would lead the CA in batting average, homers, RBI's, OPS, and batting WAR. Technically, John Kincaid's 20 game hit streak should be #1, but somehow Harry Barrell's 19 game one is now. It's weird because in my monthly screenshot it shows Kincaid first, but he's not in top three anymore. Granted, Harry is currently at 19 and is hitting .401 so he should be able to leap Kincaid anyway. No one had as good of a week as Player of the Week Lou Kelly, who went 13-for-24 with 3 doubles, 2 triples, a homer, and 8 RBI's. Kelly is finally playing like the former MVP he is, slashing an astronomical .440/.486/.616 (179 OPS+) with 3 homers and 26 RBI's in 140 trips to the plate. He's even his walks and strikeouts at 12, but his defense out in right has been really poor to start the season. Crazy enough, this wouldn't necessarily be his best year, as he hit .355/.423/.637 (183 OPS+) with 40 homers, 119 RBI's, and an impressive 8.5 WAR in 1932. Fellow second year Cougar Doc Love also put together a strong week, going 9-for-23 with 4 RBI's and his CA leading 6th homer on the season. He's on pace to each 30 on the season, but his 32 RBI's are also a league best.

I am, however, beyond worried about Joe Masters and Mike Taylor. The former Chief is hitting a miniscule .203/.240/.364 (52 OPS+), albeit, with three homers, eight doubles, and 17 RBI's, but Masters has only managed 12 singles on the season and is stuck in a dreadful slump. Same goes for former King Mike Taylor who's .204/.306/.306 (56 OPS+) line is only a little bit better. Taylor has not been an extra base machine like Masters, but he's still been able to draw his share of walks. If we want to be taken seriously, these two stars better turn things around. Another struggling performer is Pete Asher, who will be getting a little bad news today. He's hitting just .264/.310/.340 (66 OPS+) to start the season, although he's matched his homer total from the last two years with a grand slam off Lou Martino in the crazy every ball is in play game against the Stars. Even with that, Asher is hitting just .264/.310/.340 (66 OPS+) and his defense hasn't been great. This means it's platoon time, as I'm bringing 25-year-old Ollie Page up from AAA to split the shortstop job with Asher. Page ranks 5th in our system and 32nd in the FABL, and while he hasn't hit much in 20 games down in Milwaukee, he's got one of the best gloves in the game. This marks the end of Slim Bloom's time on the active roster, as he'll be waived and DFA'd. I'd like to hold onto him, as Bloom is one of the few lifetime Cougars in the organization and he's been with the team since 1923. Asher will get more starts against righties and Page against lefties, but at least this first week they'll alternate starts.

Pitchers
With the addition of Wayne Robinson, Hank Spencer will head down to AAA to start more frequently and he'd enter the four spot in the rotation. Dick Sexton and George Johnson (who I just noticed had a batters faced limit and has unintentionally been used as the FABL's first opener) will pick up a start if needed. I've mentioned the pitching struggles, but no one has fallen as hard as Dick Lyons. Since opening day, he's allowed 10 or more hits in every start except one, 9 in 5 innings against the Foresters. In 8 starts he has an awful 7.08 ERA (66 ERA+) and 2.15 WHIP with 9 walks and 12 strikeouts. Dick Leudtke hasn't faired much better, 3-4 with a 6.39 ERA (73 ERA+), 1.70 WHIP, 15 walks, and 10 strikeouts as he continues his downward trend. Of course, there is a very big bright spot at the front of the rotation in Dave Rankin, who's pitching like the starter I thought I acquired last season. The 29-year-old has started 9 of our 31 games and gone 5-3 with a Tommy Wilcox-esque line: 2.99 ERA (155 ERA+), 1.26 WHIP, 27 walks, and 32 strikeouts. I'm hoping that with adding an actual #4 in Wayne Robinson (he could probably be a 3 or a fringe 2) should really take some stress off the rotation. Leudtke and Lyons can get more rest and Robinson is much better then what we've been throwing out there. He made an abbreviated start against the Eagles this week, going 4.1 with 6 hits, 4 runs (2 earned), 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. He's fully rested and ready to start the opener.

Minor League Report
SS Freddie Bennett (B San Jose Cougars): Fresh off a promotion from LaCrosse, one of my personal favorite prospects Freddie Bennett responded to the increased competition with a Player of the Week award. Bennett went 12-for-24 with a pair of homers and 8 RBI's in his first 7 games out of C ball. A very rare type of player, Bennett is an elite defender, excellent baserunner, and excellent power hitter, but for some reason, scouts don't think much of him and he ranks outside the top 400 FABL prospects. Still, this is a guy who had a 20/20/100 season last year and is off to a sparkling start this year.

RF Dick Earl (C La Crosse Lions): A level below Bennett, we had another Player of the Week in 21-year-old outfielder Dick Earl. Earl went 14-for-27 with 2 homers and 10 RBI's as he continues to tear the cover off the ball down in La Crosse. Earl is hitting .431/.512/.794 (207 OPS+) with 8 homers and 36 EBI's in his first 25 games. Unfortunately for Earl, we have a force start outfielder at every level above him with not much wiggle room. Of course, if he keeps hitting like this, it'll be impossible for him to stay down in La Crosse, and I'll likely move Elias Canady (who hasn't hit too great in San Jose) back down.