[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 5-1
Seasonal Record: 10-15 (8th, 6.5 GB)
Stars of the Week
John Lawson : 27 AB, 10 H, 1 HR, 6 RBI, .370 AVG, .948 OPS
Doc Love : 23 AB, 10 H, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .435 AVG, 1.043 OPS
Milt Fritz : 2 Wins, 17.0 IP, 6 BB, 5 K, 0.53 ERA

Schedule
5-10: Win at Saints (6-4)
5-11: Win at Saints (3-0)
5-12: Loss at Cannons (6-9)
5-13: Win at Cannons (3-0)
5-14: Win at Foresters (9-3)
5-15: Win at Foresters (5-1)

Recap
This was supposed to be the "Ignore the awful week, Billy Hunter is here!" post, but instead, my stupid team decided to go 5-1 and Milt Fritz continued his dominant start to the season. Not only is he dominant, we actually won both games against the Saints and Foresters, and we actually beat Astle and Drouillard! The Cannons managed to take one game, and of course, it was the one Pug pitched. But, before diving into this crazy week, me must mourn yet again. Poor, poor, poor Tommy Wilcox. Yet again, his arm decided to explode. In just his fourth AAA start of the season, he tore his rotator cuff, and will miss 13 more months. His elbow was already gone, and now the shoulder. I really hope he retires and becomes our pitching coach, but poor poor Tommy cannot catch a break...

Enough sadness, enough mourning. This stupid team went 5-1! Yes, we're still stuck in last, but who cares! We doubles our win total! And we now have the CA batting leader! Doc Love is showing he's still got it at 30, starting the week with a 5-hit outing that sparked a 10-for-23 week. He always hits well in big stadiums (like Montreal) and is slashing .384/.404/.547 (145 OPS+) with 4 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers, and 15 RBI's in his first 89 plate appearances. It was an outstanding offensive week for us, with Ray Ford continue his torrid stretch. He was 8-for-20 with 4 doubles, a triple, 4 runs, and 4 RBI's. Ford has been outstanding this year, slashing a remarkable .341/.414/.557 (151 OPS+) with 9 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers, 13 RBI's, and double the walks (8) then strikeouts (4). This is the Ford I've been waiting for! John Lawson had his first good week, 10-for-27 with 2 doubles, a homer, and six driven in. Even Mike Taylor got in the fun, 8-for-20 with a double, 5 RBI's, and 2 runs scored. When he was on the bench, Pinkham picked up the slack, 1-for-5 with a solo shot. Even the center fielder platoon worked, with Yates and Wilson combining to go 9-for-25 with 4 RBI's, 3 runs, and 3 walks.

So let's talk Milt Fritz. He gets Montreal and Cleveland and goes 17 innings with 13 hits, 6 walks, 5 strikeouts, and just a single earned run. He won both games to improve to 3-2 on the season, but the true beauty comes from the ERA; 1.39 (314 ERA+). Only the other Chicago's Jack Beach (1.31) has a lower ERA while Fritz has a nice cushion over Philly's Walt Wells (2.05) in the CA. What's craziest is besides Beach, Fritz's ERA is less then half of any other FA qualifier. Frtiz has been in a league of his own to start the season, and high highs like this are exactly what you expect from dice roll starters. Ahead of him, Dave Rankin is starting to heat up, and he tossed a 5-hit, 3 walk, 4 strikeout shutout of the Cannons as he outdueled Gus Goulding in a 3-0 win. Rankin's back to an above average ERA+ (106) and he's breezed past his dreadful start to the season. Even Lyons and Morse pitched well, a pair of 7 inning wins. Lyons allowed 9 hits, 2 runs, and a walk with 3 strikeouts while Morse allowed 8 hits with 4 runs (3 earned), 3 walks, and a strikeout. Unfortunately, things have been awful for Pug. His 5 starts have been far from good, 36 hits, 24 runs, 18 walks, and 18 strikeouts in 31 innings pitched. I am in need of a roster spot, so unfortunately Pug will replace the injured Wilcox in the Blues rotation.

Looking Ahead
Usually I like to start this section with who we're playing with next, but there's something more important to look ahead at. For the finale of what could be a sweep of the first place Foresters, batting sixth and playing short will be none other then 22-year-old Billy Hunter. Injuries slowed his climb a bit, but the 14th pick of the 1932 draft and current #9 prospect in all of baseball is set to make his FABL debut. I could go on and on about how good Hunter is, but my scouts last sentence is enough "Hunter profiles as a potential elite shortstop on a contending team." Hunter had a rough stint in AAA last year, but the former Cincinnati HS Tiger hit an impressive .301/.337/.434 (138 OPS+) in his 89 PA's to start the year. No homers, but he doubled 7 times, tripled twice, and drove in five. He was 0-for-5 in steal attempts, but if that's his only flaw I'm okay with that. I still remember that 1932 draft. We were actually good, so know chance to nab Lefty Allen, and after he was nabbed fourth I kept hoping and hoping that Hunter would fall. Sure enough, I ended up with my #1 hitter and I could not be happier with how he's developed. This really signals the turning of a corner for us, and it should only get better for Cougar fans.

Hunter will get his share of elite shortstops, and after facing personal favorite George Dawson, we'll head home for three with Harry Barrell's Brooklyn Kings. Harry is nursing a DTD injury, so he may not play, but hopefully Billy can get his first career homer off Tom Barrell or Mike Murphy. It may be tough, Tom is 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA (175 ERA+), 1.31 WHIP, 8 walks, and 26 strikeouts while Murphy is an unlucky 2-4 despite his 2.74 ERA (164 ERA+), 1.11 WHIP, 7 walks, and 9 strikeouts. Of course, there's no "easy" pitcher in that rotation; Art White and Joe Shaffner boast ERA+'s of 129 and 148 while sharing the CA win lead at four. The Kings offense is a little down, but they're leading the CA in homers and steals. Bill May and Fred Barrell have struggled, but brother Dan took home Player of the Week and is slashing .362/.447/.500 (139 OPS+) with 2 homers and 12 RBI's. And of course, since they lead the league in homers, it only makes sense that Al Wheeler's six are best in the CA as well. He's on track for a third consecutive 30+ homer and 100+ RBI season. Brooklyn sits a half game behind the Foresters, so they'll be rooting for us before we welcome them to town.

After that it's two with the Saints who will be looking for some revenge. We swept the now 13-14 Saints in Montreal, so maybe I should be worried that we're playing in Chicago. The rotation has really been beat up, as the Stars piled on 9 against DeYoung to raise his ERA above 4. His 4.07 ERA (111 ERA+) is almost two full runs better then any other member of their rotation, and the only one below 6.00. Rookie Jay Haskins has really been hit hard. Somehow he's 2-1, but his 8.41 ERA (54 ERA+) and 1.84 WHIP paint a much uglier pitcher and the 19-to-6 strikeout to walk ratio gives me nightmares of Art Black's crippling control issues. Of course, the reason Haskins is 2-1 is because of the Saints offense. They don't hit homers because of their park, but they rank one or two in average, OBP, OPS, wOBA, WAR, runs, hits, and walks. The only real "weakness" in the lineup right now is Red Moore, but once he turns things around it's going to be really hard to pitch to Montreal.

A lot of two game series this year, and we'll have a Sunday-Monday series with the Cannons. They were the only team to top us last week, and are now 13-15 and ahead of the struggling Sailors (12-15) who looked like a pennant contender. After a strong 4 start debut, top 10 prospect John Edwards has had some issues in his 7 starts this year. He's 4-3, but with a 5.20 ERA (84 ERA+) and 1.83 WHIP. He's shot himself in the foot with the walks, 40 compared to 24 strikeouts. Those are strong strikeout numbers, just like the rest of the rotation. The Cannons have the weirdest pitching staff by far, 1st in strikeouts, defensive efficiency, BABIP, and opponent average while second in pen ERA and hits allowed. Somehow, this is paired with 7th in team ERA, starter's ERA, homers allowed, and walks. They look like a three true outcomes staff and the strong middle infield of King and Car makes things real easy when the ball is on the ground. The offense has a mix of over and underachievers that turn the overall output to just average. Former Cougar farmhand Joe Rainbow seems to have found his groove, slashing .350/.430/.438 (125 OPS+) with a homer and 14 RBI's in his first 93 plate appearances of the season. Abel Man has hit well as well, .313/.387/.495 (127 OPS+) with 3 homers, 4 steals, and 9 driven in.

Minor League Report
RHP Harry Parker (Mobile Commodores): After an 11 hit, 7 run, and just 6 inning start, Harry Parker decided he had to do something special. This time it was a 3-hit, 1 walk, 3 strikeout shutout in a tight 2-0 win over the Nashville Chieftains. The complete game machine now has 27 in 40 minor league starts as he continues to baffle hitters multiple times through the order. What I liked most about this one was it took just 99 pitches for him to comb through the opposing order. The overall season numbers are just average for Parker, but my scout thinks he's big league ready and could fill into the five spot of the rotation immediately. Since he's not Rule-5 eligible this offseason (unlike almost 80% of my prospects), the towering 6'6'' righty may be past up by pitchers for the first time in his career. It took him less then 30 starts to reach AA, but he may have about that many starts left before he finds himself in Chicago. With him in the Mobile rotation, Stumpy Beaman, Cy Sullivan, Joe Foote, and Karl Wallace are all eligible to be selected in the offseason. That doesn't even include Elias Canady, Freddie Bennett, and Ducky Jordan, all guys I need/want to protect. We're sitting at 35 of 40 spots, so that means I'd have to cut three current 40 man players to fit Parker into the mix, but if he keeps throwing shutouts I might have to bite the bullet and watch him befuddle FABL players. And now that Billy Hunter is in the majors, Parker takes the title of my favorite minor leaguer. Although Peter the Heater is definitely a close second. Wo doesn't love triple digits!