[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 4-2
Seasonal Record: 66-46 (1st, 2.5 GA)
Stars of the Week
Billy Hunter : 24 AB, 9 H, 1 HR, 5 RBI, .375 AVG, .983 OPS
Harry Mead : 22 AB, 9 H, 0 HR, 5 RBI, .409 AVG, 1.045 OPS
Hank Barnett : 24 AB, 7 H, 0 HR, 1 RBI, .292 AVG, .954 OPS

Schedule
8-9: Win at Cannons (4-3)
8-10: Loss at Cannons (2-5)
8-11: Win at Cannons (6-3)
8-12: Loss at Cannons (3-4)
8-13: Win at Wolves (7-4)
8-13: Win at Wolves (7-5)

Recap
Hey guys, check it out! A winning week! I forgot what those are like...

The road treated us kindly, as we picked up our first winning week since June, and it came against the two teams we are fighting for first with. As expected, the Cannons were tough, but we managed to split a series in which both teams picked up 4-3 wins. The Stars helped us a lot this week, taking down the Wolves before we came to town, and then they split the double header with the Cannons. Since we swept the Wolves, we pushed them to third, a game behind the Cannons who are 2.5 behind us. At about the midpoint in August, we are now back to 20 games above .500, and I'm hoping we can hang onto this lead the rest of the way home. It will be a tough task, but we have the talent to do it, and I hope we are finally done playing like a last place team.

For the first time all season, Leo Mitchell does not lead the CA in batting average, as a 6-for-25 week dropped him to .371 on the season. That is two points behind Marion Boismenu for the FABL lead, but there is plenty of time left for Mitchell to surpass him. A triple crown seems impossible at this point, as while he's just a single RBI away from Chuck Adams, he's also 4 home runs behind him. Despite this, Mitchell still seems to be the front runner for the Whitney, as his .897 OPS is the best in the league, and he's slashing .371/.407/.490 (156 OPS+), while leading the CA in both OPS+ and WRC+ (162). Mitchel has added 21 doubles, 11 triples, and 71 RBIs while being worth almost 4 wins above replacement, and he leads the league in slugging, hits (169), total bases (223), and WPA (3.54). Despite his struggles this week, however, we had a ton of production elsewhere, with Billy Hunter continuing his red hot pace. The former 1st Rounder went 9-for-24 with 2 doubles, a homer, 4 runs, and 5 RBIs. Harry Mead performed well too, 9-for-22 with 3 doubles, a triple, and 5 RBIs. Hank Barnett was 7-for-24 with 5 doubles, a triple, 4 runs, and an RBI. Dick Walker walked just 4 times, but was 6-for-23 with 3 triples and 6 runs scored. His 76 runs are best in the CA, and 168 walk pace would still top Alvin Turner's 1892 where he walked 165 times. Don Lee made 5 starts as we faced a bunch of lefties, and the young center fielder went 6-for-21 with 2 doubles, a triple, 2 runs, 2 walks, and 3 RBIs. It was nice seeing the offense perform well most of the week, so the next step is doing it frequently as we did in the first half of the season. We faced two really good pitching staffs, so I was very impressed with the production.

Harry Parker's struggles continue, as he's now lost 7 of his last 8 decisions, with just one no decision sandwiched in the middle. He lost again to the Cannons, charged with 11 hits, 4 runs, and 3 walks with 4 strikeouts in just 6 innings. His pitching hasn't been overly awful, with just one start where he allowed more then 4 runs, but during this stretch his ERA jumped from 1.89 to 2.51 (138 ERA+), and he's now an even 10-10 in 23 starts. In 183 innings, he does have an impressive 1.05 WHIP with 38 walks and a CA high 92 strikeouts. He's been worth almost 5 wins above replacement, and 4 of his 7 homers have came in his last two starts against the Cannons. Art White has also seen his struggles continue, as he went 8 with 6 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), 2 walks, and a strikeout. This start was a bit unlucky, as he didn't allow many base runners, but White has allowed 36 earned runs in his last 58.2 innings pitched. White hasn't quite been the ace we expected when we acquired him, as through 41 starts as a Cougar he's 23-12 with a 3.19 ERA (106 ERA+), 1.26 WHIP, 80 walks, and 56 strikeouts. Sure, the record is nice, but he's allowed a ton of runs and his K/9 rate has plummeted. Discounting his first full season as a starter (1.8), White has never had a sub 2 K/9, and this year it's all the way down to 1.2. Eventually, we'll have a rotation logjam with Pete Papenfus, Donnie Jones, Johnnie Jones, Duke Bybee, and Joe Brown all set to return home, so White may be on his way out to help replenish the farm.

Despite our top two starters losing, the other four managed to pick up some wins. Billy Riley picked up his first win as a Cougar, picking up a complete game victory with 8 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, and 4 strikeouts. Mike Murphy turned things around a bit, going 7 with 9 hits, 4 runs (2 earned), 2 walks, and a strikeout. Rusty Petrick had a rough start, but still won, going 8 with 9 hits, 5 runs, 6 walks, and a strikeout. Dick Lyons picked up win #235 with 7 innings, 6 hits, 3 runs, a walk, and 2 strikeouts. The pen was impressive, with Ben Curtin tossing 5 shutout innings and Merritt Thomas adding two more. Thomas did walk 3, while Curtin had 3 walks, strikeouts, and hits. Curtin also saved a pair of games while Thomas picked up his second of the season. A pair of waiver claims, both have looked very good in the late innings despite being in the late 30s. We didn't pitch all that well, as rotation arm allowed at least 3 runs, but this week it didn't hurt us too much. The Cannons score a lot of runs, and we didn't allow any games to get out of hand, but we did bend a bit against the Wolves.

Looking Ahead
Two more against the Wolves to start the week, but after piling on 6 runs against both Bernie Johnson (13-9, 2.90, 40) and Chick Wirtz (8-8, 2.18, 26), it seems like the hard part is out of the way. Despite that, all the Wolves starters are reliable pitchers, and we'll have to deal with Bob Walls (12-7, 3.66, 51) and Jimmy Gibbs (9-7, 3.43, 52) on four days rest. Gibbs actually shut us out on the first of August, while Walls has allowed 2 runs in each of his last two starts against us, so I won't take anything for granted. The Wolves are in a rough spot after struggling to score much against the Stars, but Juan Pomales (.273, 2, 50, 7) won Player of the Week and has been red hot in August and he's finally managed to bring his WRC+ on the season above 100. If the Wolves are going to want to pass us (and now the Cannons), they'll need more from the talented two-way player, although Pomales has mainly played outfield this season.

Next stop is four in Cleveland with the Foresters, have the best record (8-6) against us this season, and the only team other then the Cannons (10-9) to have a winning record against us. Believe it or not, the Foresters had a worse July then us, going 8-22 to drop out of the first division race. Now at 46-64, they are a game above the Saints for last, but still on pace to top their 55-99 record from last year. They now rank last in runs scored and second to last in runs allowed, as a lot of their earlier successes have started to dry up. Ducky Davis (6-5, 3.27, 47) has still been good, even if he has cooled down a bit. Johnny Slaney (10-9, 4.43, 69), however, has really fallen apart while Ben Turner (7-14, 4.54, 37) has yet to turn things around. At the plate, Lou Balk (.294, 7, 46) has hit well, but he's been out since the 27th and Brooks Meeks (.275, 8, 52, 6) has seen his season line drop to exactly league average. Jim Adams Jr. (.280, 1, 36, 5) has hit well, but his defense at short as left a lot to be desired. These games are crucial for us, and a series win can do a lot to help us on our quest for the pennant.

Last stop of the week is Philly for the first half of a four game series. We play a double header on Sunday, and I'm sure they'll give us some trouble. They are still in the pennant race, sitting 6 games out at 59-51. A big reason for that has been their corner infield duo of Frank Covarrubias and Marion Boismenu (.373, 3, 53, 4). Boismenu being a factor isn't that crazy, he hit .318/.346/.422 (130 OPS+) last season, but Covarrubias has came out of nowhere. Somehow the soon-to-be 33-year-old has been worth 5.6 WAR, and after just one above average season since debuting in 1937, Covarrubias has hit .344/.379/.458 (129 OPS+) with 34 doubles, 7 triples, a homer, 3 steals, and 36 RBIs. His 144 WRC+ is stellar and his defense has been well above average, giving the Sailors a legit weapons. His emergence was a surprise, as they acquired him in the offseason for journeyman shortstop Harry Woodruff, but besides that duo, just Joseph Mills (.265, 8, 45) remains as an above average hitter, and I imagine the Sailors won't be tied for second in runs for much longer. The pitching looks a bit different this time around, as they've brought up highly touted righty Win Lewis (0-2, 3.29, 17). Currently ranked 4th in the system and 37th in the league, the 23-year-old has looked good in his first 4 starts, and he could develop into a top of the rotation arm. A pitching boost is needed, as Doc Newell (8-12, 2.98, 74) has been the only dependable Sailor starter, but he's 36 and might not be effective for much longer. With a bunch of games in the week for them, I'm not sure how their rotation will shake out, but if we can avoid No-Hit Newell, I really like our chances in winning the series.