[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 3-2
Seasonal Record: 12-14 (7th, 4 GB)
Stars of the Week
Henry Watson : 19 AB, 9 H, 1 HR, 5 RBI, .474 AVG, 1.342 OPS
Gene Case : 21 AB, 8 H, 1 HR, 5 RBI, .381 AVG, 1.099 OPS
Pug White : 1 Win, 2 Saves, 5.2 IP, 2 BB, 2 K, 3.18 ERA

Schedule
5-1: Win at Wolves (6-5)
5-2: Loss at Wolves (3-4): 13 innings
5-3: Win at Kings (3-1)
5-4: Loss at Kings (4-5)
5-5: Win at Kings (9-5)

Recap
I guess it took longer then expected, as after 23 games Jack Gibson is back to being hurt. I really want to blame the extra games, as he would have been off Monday or Tuesday. Part of it's on me, I should have benched him and not taken him out of the lineup, so he pinch hit and then got hurt the next day instead of starting on full rest. On a 50-homer pace, Gibson had a .310/.326/.632 (159 OPS+) line to go with, posting a 169 WRC+, 1.4 WAR, and 15 runs scored and driven in. Replacing him is going to be impossible, and for hopefully just three weeks I'll rotate between George McKee, Buddy Byrd, and Pete Meany. Byrd and Meany will fill in at the Keystone, while McKee and his cannon will go to the hot corner, shifting Cal Randall to second. On the plus side, our defense will still be elite, but I'm sure we'll lose plenty more one-run games because of the Gibson sized hole in the middle of the lineup. Meany has the best bat, and even though it's a tiny 22 PA sample, his .429/.455/.571 (183 OPS+) batting line is technically better then Gibson's. Believe me, I thought he was solid, and he's ranked just outside the top-100 the past few sims, but it's crazy that this early I'm already okay throwing him in the lineup. A high contact hitter, he's got a great eye and he doesn't strike out, and I feel comfortable hitting him second ahead of Case, Watson, and now Dutch Miller.

Both our losses this week were one run games, so yeah we're back to being the same old Cougars. For one reason or another, we just can't be both a good team and good at winning one run games, as our run differential is good enough for second as our real record is bad enough for 7th. With how we hit, we're actually kind of lucky we won three of our games, but potential Whitney candidate Henry Watson continued his excellent start. He's not slugging homers like he usually does, but he hit #3 this week, going 12-for-26 with 2 triples, a walk, steal, 5 RBIs, and 7 runs scored. He got support from Gene Case, who was 8-for-26 with a triple, homer, 3 runs, 4 walks, and 5 RBIs. Dode's 78 WRC+ was the only other above 75 for guys with more then 10 PAs, leaving plenty of room for improvement.

Dick Champ things to have figured things out, as even though he didn't win his start (though the team did), he's now allowed a single run in two of his last three starts. This one was most impressive, as he held the Kings to 4 hits, a run, and a walk with 3 strikeouts in 6 innings. He had the best start, but I loved seeing Ken Stone go 128 pitches in our 9-5 win over the Kings. The 23-year-old has gotten as high as 137, and has yet to throw less then 100 in a start. That's big for us, especially since most of the time Don Griffin pitches after him. Off days aside, I'm going to try to keep them together, as in most Stone starts the pen stays rested. Here he worked through 7.1 innings, allowing 11 hits, 5 runs (4 earned), and 3 walks with 5 strikeouts. Improving to 3-1, he's now match his previous high of 5 starts from 1961. His emergence has been big for us early, and I'm just salivating at the thought of how good he can be.

Even with more work then the average team, the pen has continued to hold up. Pug White, Bob Allen, and Earle Turner all put up more then five innings for the week, with Allen's 3.00 ERA the highest. He went 6, as though he had 3 hits, no walks, and 6 strikeouts, two of those hits were solo home runs. Pug had the most innings of the bunch, recording 7.2 with 7 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. And it was Turner with the best overall numbers, as in 5.2 innings he allowed 4 hits, a run, and a walk with 7 strikeouts. This trio has been outstanding, as Pug's 2.51 ERA (154 ERA+) is the highest of the group. Even then, he has a 0.98 WHIP and 2.9 K/BB, and he's on pace to go 19-6 with 25 saves and 125 strikeouts in 178.2 innings. If he can manage anything close to that, it may be one of the best relief seasons in history, He's got more then twice as many innings then Turner, who is 11.1 innings has a pristine 1.59 ERA (243 ERA+) and 1.71 FIP (44 FIP-). A guy we were lucky to get off waivers last year, he's got 11 strikeouts to 3 walks, continuing to keep the ball on the ground and in the park. In short outings, he can really dominate with the sinker, and I love having another weapon out of the pen that we didn't have to pay anything for.

Looking Ahead
Off to start the week, but we still get seven games as we have a double header in Cleveland on Saturday. Because of that, Jack Gibson was replaced on the active roster by a pitcher, as last year's rotation member John Mitchell will come up from Milwaukee to start one of the games. 26 last month, he leads the Blues rotation, a perfect 4-0 in his four starts. Mitchell lasted 28.1 innings, sporting a sub-1 ERA and a WHIP. The WHIP is a bit higher, 0.99 to 0.95 (405 ERA+), and while the FIP isn't below 1, a 2.77 FIP (71 FIP-) is basically the Adrian Czerwinski (4-0, 1.30, 21) equivalent of the Century League. The start will be his 135th as a Cougar, but his time in Chicago will be just for the week. That's not to say he's not coming back, we'll need a sixth starter the week of the 27th and 10th, so he could get another three weeks later on. At lease while Gibson is hurt, we'll stick with ten pitchers, but I think we're one of the few teams that can survive with nine pitchers. Mitchell would be a weapon too, but I need him to figure out a third pitch, and that's not going to happen in the pen.

Before getting to Cleveland and the double header, we'll host the New York Imperials, who are loving the fact that their loss record will be surpassed. At 11-13, they're four games out just like that, though they've only scored 78 runs and they don't do much on the mound. Granted, they've got two young arms I really like, as Frankie Sawyer (1-1, 2.87, 26) and Bob Brown (1-3, 3.34, 24) are pretty exciting young pitchers. Both were acquired after the expansion draft, as Sawyer came over for former Cougar Joe Dorch (.269, 2) and Brown was the first pick of the Rule-5 draft. I'm a big Sawyer fan, even if his first FABL shutout was a 3-hitter in a 1-0 win over us, as the 24-year-old has a wicked fastball and slider that sits in the 96-98 range. He also has no glaring weakness, at least baseball wise, he's one of the dullest guys you'll meet, giving him a high ceiling with room for growth. Brown is a similar pitcher, relying on his fastball, though it paired with a really nice change. He does give up his share of hits, but the stuff can be overpowering and he seems to always be ahead in the count. He attacks and gets swings, but improvement on the overall command stands between him and stardom. Still, both these guys could be mid-rotation arms, and there's something to be excited about for their future.

Cleveland will be the tougher match, as at 17-11 they're tied with the Kings for first. Of course, we have better pythags then both of them, but what we don't have is a Czerwinski or Hank Williams (.340, 12, 24). Okay, a Don Griffin (2-0, 2.16, 15) is pretty great, but Czerwinski can do that for an entire game if he needs to. The rest of the rotation doesn't really scare me (though it turns out one of the guys should have), though 26-year-old Les Hanauer (3-0, 3.93, 28) has some of the best stuff in the game. His fastball/slider mix is simply elite, and the chance and splitter are legit wipeout pitches too. His weakness is when he gets hit, he's hit hard, and a lot of those balls end up in the air. Lucky for him, the Foresters score plenty of runs, so he hasn't lost a game yet. Sherry Doyal (.462, 1, 6, 1) being out is rough, but Tom Carr (.324, 1, 12, 7), Paul Williams (.357, 2, 18), John Low (.282, 1, 14), Stan Kleminski (.302, 1, 10, 4), and Earl Howe (.308, 3, 19) are all producing in his absence. We'll have our hands full, but I trust our guys, and think we can hold our own on the road.