[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 3-2
Seasonal Record: 84-70 (2nd, 19 GB)
Stars of the Week
Freddie Jones : 6 AB, 4 H, 2 HR, 4 RBI, .667 AVG, 2.500 OPS
Ray Ford : 10 AB, 5 H, 2 HR, 3 RBI, .500 AVG, 1.600 OPS
Leo Mitchell : 19 AB, 7 H, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .368 AVG, .850 OPS

Schedule
9-22: Win vs Saints (6-8)
9-23: Win vs Stars (2-3)
9-24: Win vs Kings (5-11)
9-26: Loss at Stars (5-6)
9-27: Loss at Stars (4-17)

Recap
We finished the season just like how we played most of the season, winning at home and losing on the road. 84-70 was the second best record in the Continental Association, and we managed to stay within 20 (19, to be exact) of the first place Stars. Finishing so far out makes me feel far less bad about our expected 91-63 record, which would have still been 10 games behind the powerhouse Stars. If we were in the Fed, however, that would match the first place Gothams record, and make me worry far too much about what could have happened. Instead, what happened is we were thoroughly out played by a far superior team, and I'd do what I can to make sure that does not happen again.

I want to focus more on the overall season output, but there were a few things to note about the week. Danny Goff Jr. bested his father's team, but he did allow 8 hits, 5 runs, and 2 walks with 4 strikeouts in a complete game win. Goff finished his Cougar portion of the season 2-0 with a 1.90 ERA (178 ERA+), 0.97 WHIP, 9 walks, and 11 strikeouts in 23.2 innings pitched. He also hit an unbalanced .308/.550/.308 (151 OPS+) with 6 walks and an RBI. Errors cost Donnie Jones a shutout to end his season, a pair of unearned runs with 4 hits, 6 walks, and 5 strikeouts in a complete game victory. Harry Parker picked up a win, but allowed 15 hits in just 8 innings, finishing his season 21-10. Solly Skidmore made a start, going 2-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBIs, the first homer of his big league career. Freddie Jones added two more homers in the last week, 4-for-6 with a double, 2 walks, 5 runs, and 4 RBIs. Leo Mitchell ended the season off right, 7-for-19 with a double, 2 walks, 2 runs, and an RBI. Jocko Pollard got his first big league hit, a pinch hit solo homer. I'm already ready to work the phones in search of upgrades, and even with the uncertainty of callups, I'm ready to improve our squad.

On the surface, we did really well as a team, hitting and pitching well in the aggregate, but it just wasn't good enough. 27-25 in the last two months is unacceptable. We were 38-39 on the road and 19-26 in one run games, both of which really hurt us. I'm glad the one run games finally improved, but winning them next year will be far more important. Our offense was very good, ranked top 2 in average (.274), OBP (.333), slugging (.378), OPS (.711), WAR (35.9), wOBA (.323), runs scored (692), hits (1,482), homers (91), steals (61), and baserunning (+38.8). The only two categories we weren't were walks (4th, 481) and strikeouts (8th, 538). And all this happened with the swift decline of our best hitter last year, John Lawson. Lawson went from a 6+ WAR player with a .315/.368/.515 (146 OPS+) triple slash all the way down to a sub replacement player who hit just .274/.314/.353 (92 OPS+). That really hurt our pennant chances, but him and Cliff Moss (.232, 10, 47) were the only below average hitters in the lineup. Freddie Jones came back to life, especially in the second half, finishing the year with a .333/.430/.479 (161 OPS+) line in just 256 PAs. We also witnessed the coming out party of Harry Mead, who was one of the most valuable players in the year. He was just shy of 6 WAR as a catcher, hitting an elite .287/.352/.456 (132 OPS+) with 30 doubles, 16 homers, and 81 RBIs with a strong 47-to-10 walk-to-strikeout ratio. Him, Leo Mitchell (.318, 14, 72), Clark Car (.291, 3, 37, 8), Rich Langton (.294, 5, 32, 6), Carlos Montes (.268, 9, 55, 13), Ray Ford (.289, 10, 40), Dick Walker (.269, 4, 40, 11), and Skipper Schneider (.291, 4, 67, 8) make up a really strong lineup, and most of them will be back next season. Even if we lose some of them to the military or trades, Bunny Hufford (.280, 5), Solly Skidmore (.250, 1, 3), and Danny Goff Jr. (.308, 1; 2-0, 1.90, 11) all held their own, and guys like Orlin Yates (.236, 5, 1), Ollie Page (.182, 1, 3), and Ossie Grogan (.000, 1) who spent most of their time in AAA could fill in in a pinch. There's always the wild card of Billy Hunter (.298, 12, 1) who's played 140 games in three seasons after 146 in 1939, who shows flashes of greatness. If I can't grab a third basemen, he's likely to start there, but I can't count on getting a full season of him.

The pitching didn't have as many top 2 ranks, but we did hold one of the top two spots for ERA (2.98), rotation ERA (2.92), runs allowed (565), BABIP (.254), walks (400), defensive efficiency (.722), and zone rating (+45.6). Our front five is as good as it gets, but not quite on the Stars level as we can't really counter Riley without Papenfus. Donnie Jones did admirably to replace Peter the Heater, as the rookie made 29 starts in a dominant year. Jones went 15-13 with a 2.48 ERA (137 ERA+), 1.15 WHIP, 92 walks, and 122 strikeouts in 243.1 innings pitched. He was easily the best of our group, but vets Harry Parker (21-10, 2.92, 105) and Jim Lonardo (17-12, 2.94, 47) are two of the most reliable pitchers in the game. Joe Brown (15-14, 3.17, 82) was doing great before a four game losing streak spoiled his season, but him and Dick Lyons (6-8, 3.06, 15) were both still above average pitchers. Our pen wasn't good, as Hooks Camp (0-1, 5.25, 15) had a tough rookie year, but Pug Bryan (2-3, 1, 2.22, 1.40) finally looked good and Ben Curtin (4-4, 6, 3.04, 11) isn't the worst closer out there. We got good innings from the youngsters Goff and Johnnie Jones (0-3, 3.28, 12), who both should get more innings next year. They'll compete with Lyons for the 5th spot in the rotation, but I may end up making an add if I can't get a bat I like.