[ayaghmour2]

Weekly Record: 1-6
Seasonal Record: 77-73 (2nd, 23.5 GB)

Schedule
9-8: Loss vs Kings (11-1)
9-9: Loss vs Kings (11-1)
9-10: Loss at Sailors (2-0)
9-11: Loss at Sailors (11-3)
9-12: Loss at Stars (2-3): 10 innings
9-13: Win at Stars (5-0)
9-14: Loss at Stars (2-3)

Recap
I don't know what's worse. The fact that we went 1-6 against the teams that aren't the Seattle Kings who we are stuck with the next two weeks.

BUT THE FACT THAT WE STILL HAVE A BETTER RECORD THEN THE STUPID DIVISION LEADER OF THE STUPID CONTINENTAL EAST

I mean, we're not even trying that hard anymore!!!

Ugh...

Well, somehow our outstanding pitching staff allowed 11 runs three times in a four day stretch, and that included a start by the usually unstoppable Bill Bartlett. Despite his god-level status, sometimes he's mortal, and to start the week he allowed Failing to get out of the fourth, he allowed 9 hits, 7 runs, and 3 walks, striking out just 1, raising his ERA almost 40 points.

It didn't stay raised long, as five days later, guess what he did? Finally got that fourth shutout! Most in FABL, he spun a 8-hit shutout with a walk and 3 strikeouts, dropping his ERA right back down to 2.10 (187 ERA+). Now within four innings of qualifying, he's worth 4.0 WAR with a 12-5 record, 3.08 FIP (78 FIP-), and 1.07 WHIP. What's most impressive, however, is his breakdown of starts. This season he has three starts with 7 or more runs. This 16.2 inning sample accounts for 21 of his 37 earned runs, 57% of them, leading to a disturbing 11.67 ERA. Now the rest of his starts? 141.2 innings of a 1.02 ERA. Yes. 1.02 ERA in basically 90% of his innings pitched this season. That's. Just. Insane. I mean, he's a top-5 pitcher I guess it makes sense. But. Like. INSANE!!!

That also, of course, describes how I feel about this week, but hey there were some solid things that happened too. Cleo Harris had a nice return to the lineup, 5-for-22 with a triple, a homer, and 6 walks. Now worth 4.3 WAR in 134 games, he's got 11 homers, 57 RBIs, 52 runs, and 53 walks, and a .250/.332/.360 (91 OPS+) line that looks pretty good when it comes with his patently elite defense. Otherwise, we didn't get much hitting aside from a few homers and a lot of walks. Aside form Harris, John Babb was our only above average hitter, 6-for-23 with 2 runs, 3 walks, 4 RBIs, his 26 double, and his 19th homer. I think he has twenty in the bag, and he's hit nearly twice as many homers as anyone else. Harris and Babel both hit their 11th homer this week, while Charlie Sanders was already there, and somehow we've got the 4th most in the CA. It certainly doesn't feel like it, especially after such an awful week, but despite all my complaints the offense is really close to being great. Just a superstar away...

We get one more player of the week, as Fuzzy Cronin will return from the IL. Cronin will reclaim center from Mike Van den Huevel, who started 12 of his first 13 FABL games. Now 26, the rookie went 9-for-39, and hit his first FABL homer in our second 11-1 loss to the Mavericks. The defense was not very good (-2.2, .924), even if it is a really small sample, so at least the staff will be happy to have Fuzzy's defense back. One of the quickest players in the league, he dropped out of the CA's top three for stolen bases, but his 31 steals are one off 3rd. The .236/.297/.300 (65 OPS+) triple slash has been real tough to swallow, but I would still expect to see him patrolling center for us in 1976.

Looking Ahead
I really hate that we lost all the easy games this week, as basically half of our remaining games our against the Seattle Kings. Like everyone but I guess the Sailors, the Kings have had no trouble beating us, and in Seattle you can pretty much give us losses each time out. Thankfully, that would still be 77-76, but I just hate that now a .500 record is not a lock. Even 3-4 puts us at 79, meaning three wins in two weeks, and that's something that if we failed we'd deserve our .500 or worse fate. Lucky for us, they're running a strict six man, so we get Rule-5 castoff Charlie Martin (0-0, 5.06, 2; 7-8, 4.70, 65), who made his first 21 stats with the Millers. 23 will come against us on Monday, and if we can't bash his brain in then we will not win a game this series. We finish off with Allen winners Moe Lowery (20-8, 2.73, 171) and Swede Hawkins (13-9, 3.71, 137) and unless we can also bash in Lowery's brain, I think he's winning the '75 Allen.

Funny enough we'll feature two Allen winners and a 7-Time All-Star, so maybe I'm not giving us enough credit. Casuals will love then Lowery/Alford (14-12, 3.38, 112) duel on Tuesday, and Kings fans should enjoy a series win. I don't know how we'd stop one of Bob Glowacki (.260, 22, 51), Fred Tollefson (.285, 24, 86, 20), and Mike Griffith (.307, 18, 86, 7), let alone all three, and they also have prestigious slugger Hank Williams (.252, 12, 68) who's four away from tying Rod Shearer (.266, 507, 1,946, 122) for the fifth most in FABL history. The only guys in their lineup I wouldn't slot directly into out lineup is their middle infield, and even they have WRC+ of 99 and 108, just with the combined defensive ability of Cleo Harris. Or arguably less. I guess you can count on the out in the pitcher's spot, but with runner's on base it's a bunt, and knocking the starter out early doesn't help either. Chicagoan Billy Collins (6-2, 36, 1.63, 47) is the envy of pens everywhere, set to lead the Conti in saves in three of seasons, and Ray Eddy (6-1, 3, 1.69, 24) is a year younger and arguably the second best reliever in his first season out of the pen. Two other pen arms have at least 40 innings and ERA+ above 150, something we only have from Bill Jackson's 11.2 innings (2.31, 170). Without our no longer secret weapon, we could be left out to dry, but I'm confident in taking the opener and who knows what can happen after that.

We then have arguably our biggest series of the year, as if we win all four home games against the Wranglers, we will at least finish the season .500. Winning one in Seattle would then give us 82 wins, but it's far from a guarantee we even split. Probably the most inconsistent team, the former 90 win club switches off between sucky and elite. In May and August they sucked, in June and July they looked like they could run away with the East, and now September it's back to cellar dweller status. Lucky for us, we should miss Pete Rosenbaum (18-7, 2.41, 132), who's easily the standout in the rotation. Only swingman Jack Mead (9-11, 2.98, 74) has good stats and his ERA is definitely empty. We should be scoring a lot, but they can do the same. Another talented Chicagoan Nick Parker (.334, 25, 93, 6) has not only been a top hitter when healthy, but when dealing with a variety of minor injuries, and he's taken home each of the last two Batter's of the Month. Behind him Buck Stout (.294, 14, 85, 8) and John Miller (.315, 12, 88) can be lethal, and this might be the one week all season where I'm not confident in our pitching staff. As good as they are, they were awful last week, and these are two of the top three offenses we'll face this year. That's all they get now, and it will be quite interesting to see how they perform down the stretch.

Minor League Report
AAA Omaha Plainsmen: I feel vindicated leaving key contributors like Jay Richardson (.351, 18, 83) and Walt Wilson (15-7, 4.01, 122) down in AAA knowing that the Omaha Plainsmen will get a chance to redeem themselves after losing the Century League championship last season to the Denver Bruins. Likely to face our old AA affiliate, the Little Rock Governors, we're 2 games above them and they're 5 clear of Indianapolis, as they enter the final week of the season. An interesting mix of young players and veteran cast-offs, they still lost plenty of pieces, but Johnnie Allen's (.314, 3, 46, 4) return from the IL and Earl Wade's (.263, 2, 10) recall from AAA have been huge boosts, and the carousel of minor league free agents eventually got us to something looking like a solid team. Before the fast forward it was just a pennant, no playoffs, so instead of an tense week on Monday to determine it all, we're just playing for homefield, counting the days before having a chance to bring something to the organization. Injuries have tried getting in the way, but as long as Jay Richardson is in the lineup this team can win ballgames.

A Yakima Rams: We'll have at least two teams competing in the postseason this year, as even after sending a lot of talent up during the season, they cruised to their first division win since 1971. Set to face the Bakersfield Bears (88-46) next week, we could play for home field, but with us two games behind the chances of passing them our unlikely. We won't have a pitcher qualify for any team ERA award, as guys like Lyle Lessard (12-1, 1.33, 84), Bill Clark (9-3, 2.68, 76), Howie Kurtz (3-6, 3.81, 77), and Joe Austin (4-4, 2.74, 83) all moving up and through. Despite that, there's always been someone to pick up the slack, with the current front four of Bob Hays (10-1, 2.37, 91), Wally DeMent (3-0, 1.50, 33), Dixie Rodgers (6-5, 3.39, 104), and Pete Elder (4-2, 1.26, 54) all fit to start a playoff game. It's a nice group, including a top-20 prospect, two guys from our draft class, and a former top-500 prospect we inherited that probably still deserves a spot on the list. The offense took a few hits, most notably Carl Carroll (.282, 5, 22, 7), but Joe Williams (.258, 5, 29) has a 122 WRC+ at 18 and Rams have gotten consistent production from Joe Irwin (.332, 4, 45, 5) and Tony Rawlings (.302, 6, 46, 5). Sill, I think we'll be leaning heavily on our staff to claim the teams first title in the C-O-W's playoff era, as it's the clear strength of the team.