[ayaghmour2]

Probably our worst week in a while, we not only dropped all four games to fall to a three way tie for fourth, but lost Milt Fritz for the next two weeks with a sore elbow. Sure, it makes our roster cuts a little easier, but it sucks seeing Fritz so quickly injured after his torn rotator cuff. Still with an off chance to win 300 games, he enters the season with 178 and has won 12 or more with us in each of his five seasons as a Cougar. And to make matters worse, Billy Hunter still isn't healthy, so it looks like he won't be healthy for Opening Day tomorrow. Since we don't play games until Friday, the one day sim tomorrow could end with a healthy Hunter, but it looks like he won't be ready to break camp with the team.

We didn't hit much this Spring, but the pitching was superb. With a few more innings, Joe Brown would have led the league in ERA, going 2-1 with 5 saves, a 0.50 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 3 walks, and 9 strikeouts in a team high 18 innings. Eddie Quinn showed no signs of rust, 1-1 with a 1.65 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 6 walks, and 4 strikeouts. Jim Lonardo was even better, 2-1 with a 1.69 ERA, 0.69 WHIP, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. Harry Parker's first three starts were dominant, 12 innings with 7 hits, a run, and 5 strikeouts, but he ended up allowing 8 hits and 7 runs against the Stars to ruin his Spring. Peter the Heater was on point and looks to be ready to heat up the FABL, a 2.20 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 6 walks, and 15 strikeouts to his credit. A lot of relievers did really well, including Pug Bryan, who's 6 scoreless innings and Fritz's injury look to have opened a spot for him. Ray McNeil, Harl Haines, and Al Jones all had sub 2 ERAs, while Ben Curtin had 7 shutout innings.

Other then the 1-for-3 Chris Smith, Skipper Schneider was the only Cougar to hit above .300. He slashed .320/.382/.380 with 2 runs scored and driven in. Cliff Moss turned things around towards the end of the week, and finished with a decent .286/.324/.302 line. No homers yet, but he's saving those for the regular season! John Lawson, Carlos Montes, and Harry Mead all hit below .250, with Leo Mitchell hitting that exact mark. They were all at least over .200, which 10 Cougars with 10 or more PAs failed to do. I think they are all saving their hits for the regular season too! Still, Spring games matter very little, and this has done nothing to temper my expectations of an exciting pennant race. Tomorrow I'll announce the Opening Day roster and we'll get a look at the in-game predictions. Jiggs McGee agrees with me that the Cougars will take home the CA title, but Dan Barrell thinks it'll got to Cincinnati. My guess is in game will go Toronto, giving us the three teams likely to lead the pack, and likely end up beating the Miners in the championship!