Bill Force is expected to miss a month. Young Carl Fischer all of a sudden finds himself in the rotation.
Then we lose Grantham for 3 weeks to an ankle sprain. We also lose prospect Joe Heving down at Wilkes-Barre for 14 months. It’s like a game of Whack-a-Mole without the appropriate mallet.
Our ragtag bunch keeps applying itself admirably but the law of diminishing returns takes hold and soon enough the hits dry up and the losses start to come. We manage to score just once in three straight losses to the Giants – the first time we’ve lost more than two on the bounce – that gets them just a half-game back, and then overtake us.
When we eventually get Grantham back from the IL it seems to steady us as we string together six straight wins right at month-end to finish with a 16-11 sectional that leaves us at 45-26 overall.
I do some more shuffling of our lineup in advance of the new month: Suhr makes his debut in the bigs and will play 1B, with O’Doul moving to LF and Combs to CF, relegating Lloyd Waner – who has been struggling all year – to the bench. O’Farrell also takes over everyday duties at catcher, with Lerian’s 186 BA no longer tolerable.
Close enough to miraculous how our pitching has held up given all of the ins and outs. Still, you can tell it has taken its toll, especially on the pen who have been called upon time and again in pressure situations earlier than is good for them, or us. The imminent return of McCall and Force should at least relieve this to some degree.
That late flourish of wins sees us back on top narrowly over the Giants, with some gap to the rest already. The poor Indians have been monstered by injuries, losing Harder, Shaute, Averill, Lundy and Sewell, which has seen them slip back into mid-standings. The Yanks are looking strong and lead the division by a game from the surprising Senators, but there are still plenty within reach.
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