OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - FABL - Cleveland Foresters Mediocrity at its worst

DD Martin · 03-13-2020, 04:58 PM

The last week of June 1930

The Foresters head into the week with a loss in the first of a 4-games series with the Montreal Saints. Both teams are 33-33 currently tied for 4th place in the CA. After these 3 with the Saints, then we welcome a Baltimore team that has given us fits this year having won 6 of the 9 games played. Getting them here at home and winning the series would really go a long way towards us staying in the upper division this season.

Our attendance is off this year even though we are certainly in a better spot now than when we ended the year last season. We are off 16.4% from last season and while some of it is the economic issues of the time, some of it is we are lacking name recognition players like we had in the past. I believe that our stars like Pidgeon and Perret are over with the fans, and we are starting to see some traction on C Josh Fry and even 3B Jake Moore who looks like he finally has laid claim without question to the job. Two players in the fans eyes that are just a notch below those 4 guys might not be long for the organization. 1B George Simpson and SP Jack Mast are both not likely to be back next year and there is some question if they will be here at the end of this year.

Before the games are played this last week of June, Simpson is hitting 300 on the season but just has 1 homer and only 13 RBI's. Now to be fair he is splitting most of time with Luke Nixon who is hitting 290 with 1-14. So our 1B are hitting around 295 on the season with 2 homers and 27 RBI's. That is just not good enough. I know that the pitching on this team is what is making us a non-contender, but we have some prospects on the way up that will be here soon to hopefully remedy that. The SS and 1B positions have been a revolving door of mediocrity save for Russ Combs hitting (SS), but his fielding was dreadful. We continue to try and address the SS position in the draft, but we have no one near ready to be a big power hitting 1B. Joe Smith and Ron McDougle at Cincinnati are both fine hitters that can also play a bit in the corner OF, but neither are the 20-30 HR guy we want at that position. But both of those guys can hit, and probably hit 330 up here in the big leagues so their time is nearing.

As far as Jack Mast, he is what he has always been since we picked him off waivers. A few bright spots, some solid innings and then the rest are of the serious clunker variety.

Game 67 - Montreal Saints (33-33) 3 vs Cleveland Foresters (33-33) 4
Franklin's clutch Double in 6th sets up Forester Victory

George Barker went 6 innings and gave up 3 runs and pitched a solid game and Jack Gunderson went the last 3 innings and picked up the win. Bobby Allen hit his homer to give the home team the cushion they needed.

WP - Jack Gunderson 3-4 4.20 LP - Charlie Stedman 5-6 4.20
Season Record 34-33

Game 68 - Montreal Saints (33-34) 6 vs Cleveland Foresters (34-33) 7 10 innings.
Allen's bomb wins it in the 10th

After a questionable decision to leave SP Jack Thompson in the game entering the 9th inning, the veteran gave up 2 runs to see the game head into extra's. Manager Hank Leitzke decided to let Thompson ride into the 10 and Bobby Allen saved both Thompson and Leitze a lot of heat with his heroic game ending homer run (5), his 2nd in 2 days against the Saints.

WP - Jack Thompson 7-8 5.15 LP - Gil Kern 0-1 9.00
Season Record 35-33

Game 69 - Montreal Saints (33-35) 2 vs Cleveland Foresters (35-33) 4
Late runs in 7th and 8th support Mast in Forester Win

Today we saw the brilliant Jack Mast on the mound and he pitched a 2-hit and gave up just a home run Lee Griffin for the Saints 2 runs. The Foresters put together enough hits in the 6th (1 run) and 7th (3 runs) to pull out the victory and the series.

WP - Jack Mast 5-1 4.37 LP - Jack Barnet 6-6 6.34
Season Record 36-33

GM Thoughts - Just when I think Jack Mast is done he throws another gem. If he could just find some consistency he could be a solid mid-rotation guy year in and year out. We are just a game behind the Cannons who are coming to town and 2 behind the 2nd place Cougars. It's hard to think about, but if we were to win or even sweep this series we would be likely in 2nd place. The odds are long though as I really think Baltimore if they can ever put it all together for a solid stretch would rise up the rankings and might give the Sailors a few fits before the end of the season.

Game 70 - Baltimore Cannons (37-32) 10 vs Cleveland Foresters (36-33) 14
Typical Slugfest between Cannons and Foresters see's Cleveland come out on top and move into a 3rd place tie.

The fans saw an exciting game as both SP gave up 9 earned runs, but errors on both sides helped the cause. Gray only gave up 5 earned runs while Ham gave up 4 for Baltimore. Lou Kelly who loves to hit homers against the Foresters did so again (17th on the season and seems like half are against us), but hot hitting Bobby Allen hit his 6th of the year for Cleveland. SS Jim Payne made 2 errors (20 on the season) but tried to make up for it with his 1st homerun of the year.

WP - Eddie Gray 7-5 6.14 LP Buzz Ham 5-2 2.70
Season Record 37-33

Game 71 - Baltimore Cannons (37-33) 7 vs Cleveland Foresters (37-33) 5 10 innings
Cannons score 2 in the 10th aided by an error by Erv Smith

Once again an untimely error opened the flood gates for the opposition and cost the Foresters a win. RP Jack Gunderson was the tough luck loser in this one that once again dropped the Foresters out of a tied for 3rd.

WP - Paul Reed 2-6 5.93 LP - Jack Gunderson 3-5 4.11 S - Lee Douillard 7 4.15
Season Record 37-34

Game 72 - Baltimore Cannons (38-33) 11 vs Cleveland Foresters (37-34) 1
Carpenter Shuts Down Foresters in Rout!

There is a reason why SP Ken Carpenter has been a stalwart for the Cannons even in the lean times. He is just that good and today he was lights out. Carp needed just 104 pitches and gave up just 3 hits in the 1 run outing. Jack Thompson took the loss for the home side giving up 6 runs in 6 innings and rookie Felix Dent had his first rough outing in a spell giving up 5 runs.

WP - Ken Carpenter 11-6 3.15 LP Jack Thompson 7-9 5.32
Season Record 37-35

Game 73 - Baltimore Cannons (39-33) 11 vs Cleveland Foresters (37-35) 6
Kelly does it again, hits for cycle as Cannons race out of town with series Win.

Cleveland pitchers are going to have nightmares about Lou Kelly for years as the 4-5 and hit for the cycle today. 5 RBI's and 4 runs scored gives Kelly as season long line of 330 with 18 HR's and 75 RBI's. Cleveland Manager Hank Leitzke was quoted as saying "thank god Kelly is leaving town, he is a wrecking crew."

WP - Bob Miller 9-8 4.85 LP - Jack Mast 5-2 4.74
Season Record 37-36

GM Thoughts - Sigh, I really did try several times to get Kelly to play 1B for us. I can dream about what I could have offered to get him in Forester Green. And the Jack Mast story continues, brilliant to dud in days. Can't blame him though this pitching staff was put together to get us through a season and I knew it would be painful at times. So we go from a quick tie with the Cannons for 3rd to 3 games behind them, so we are back in 4th and just ahead of the Saints by a game. Tomorrow we end the month, hopefully it will be a good finish. The Stars are coming to town and it would be just our luck if they finally started playing like the team many of us thought they were.

03-13-2020, 04:58 PM	#47
DD Martin All Star Starter Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Seattle area Posts: 1,022	The last week of June 1930 The Foresters head into the week with a loss in the first of a 4-games series with the Montreal Saints. Both teams are 33-33 currently tied for 4th place in the CA. After these 3 with the Saints, then we welcome a Baltimore team that has given us fits this year having won 6 of the 9 games played. Getting them here at home and winning the series would really go a long way towards us staying in the upper division this season. Our attendance is off this year even though we are certainly in a better spot now than when we ended the year last season. We are off 16.4% from last season and while some of it is the economic issues of the time, some of it is we are lacking name recognition players like we had in the past. I believe that our stars like Pidgeon and Perret are over with the fans, and we are starting to see some traction on C Josh Fry and even 3B Jake Moore who looks like he finally has laid claim without question to the job. Two players in the fans eyes that are just a notch below those 4 guys might not be long for the organization. 1B George Simpson and SP Jack Mast are both not likely to be back next year and there is some question if they will be here at the end of this year. Before the games are played this last week of June, Simpson is hitting 300 on the season but just has 1 homer and only 13 RBI's. Now to be fair he is splitting most of time with Luke Nixon who is hitting 290 with 1-14. So our 1B are hitting around 295 on the season with 2 homers and 27 RBI's. That is just not good enough. I know that the pitching on this team is what is making us a non-contender, but we have some prospects on the way up that will be here soon to hopefully remedy that. The SS and 1B positions have been a revolving door of mediocrity save for Russ Combs hitting (SS), but his fielding was dreadful. We continue to try and address the SS position in the draft, but we have no one near ready to be a big power hitting 1B. Joe Smith and Ron McDougle at Cincinnati are both fine hitters that can also play a bit in the corner OF, but neither are the 20-30 HR guy we want at that position. But both of those guys can hit, and probably hit 330 up here in the big leagues so their time is nearing. As far as Jack Mast, he is what he has always been since we picked him off waivers. A few bright spots, some solid innings and then the rest are of the serious clunker variety. Game 67 - Montreal Saints (33-33) 3 vs Cleveland Foresters (33-33) 4 Franklin's clutch Double in 6th sets up Forester Victory George Barker went 6 innings and gave up 3 runs and pitched a solid game and Jack Gunderson went the last 3 innings and picked up the win. Bobby Allen hit his homer to give the home team the cushion they needed. WP - Jack Gunderson 3-4 4.20 LP - Charlie Stedman 5-6 4.20 Season Record 34-33 Game 68 - Montreal Saints (33-34) 6 vs Cleveland Foresters (34-33) 7 10 innings. Allen's bomb wins it in the 10th After a questionable decision to leave SP Jack Thompson in the game entering the 9th inning, the veteran gave up 2 runs to see the game head into extra's. Manager Hank Leitzke decided to let Thompson ride into the 10 and Bobby Allen saved both Thompson and Leitze a lot of heat with his heroic game ending homer run (5), his 2nd in 2 days against the Saints. WP - Jack Thompson 7-8 5.15 LP - Gil Kern 0-1 9.00 Season Record 35-33 Game 69 - Montreal Saints (33-35) 2 vs Cleveland Foresters (35-33) 4 Late runs in 7th and 8th support Mast in Forester Win Today we saw the brilliant Jack Mast on the mound and he pitched a 2-hit and gave up just a home run Lee Griffin for the Saints 2 runs. The Foresters put together enough hits in the 6th (1 run) and 7th (3 runs) to pull out the victory and the series. WP - Jack Mast 5-1 4.37 LP - Jack Barnet 6-6 6.34 Season Record 36-33 GM Thoughts - Just when I think Jack Mast is done he throws another gem. If he could just find some consistency he could be a solid mid-rotation guy year in and year out. We are just a game behind the Cannons who are coming to town and 2 behind the 2nd place Cougars. It's hard to think about, but if we were to win or even sweep this series we would be likely in 2nd place. The odds are long though as I really think Baltimore if they can ever put it all together for a solid stretch would rise up the rankings and might give the Sailors a few fits before the end of the season. Game 70 - Baltimore Cannons (37-32) 10 vs Cleveland Foresters (36-33) 14 Typical Slugfest between Cannons and Foresters see's Cleveland come out on top and move into a 3rd place tie. The fans saw an exciting game as both SP gave up 9 earned runs, but errors on both sides helped the cause. Gray only gave up 5 earned runs while Ham gave up 4 for Baltimore. Lou Kelly who loves to hit homers against the Foresters did so again (17th on the season and seems like half are against us), but hot hitting Bobby Allen hit his 6th of the year for Cleveland. SS Jim Payne made 2 errors (20 on the season) but tried to make up for it with his 1st homerun of the year. WP - Eddie Gray 7-5 6.14 LP Buzz Ham 5-2 2.70 Season Record 37-33 Game 71 - Baltimore Cannons (37-33) 7 vs Cleveland Foresters (37-33) 5 10 innings Cannons score 2 in the 10th aided by an error by Erv Smith Once again an untimely error opened the flood gates for the opposition and cost the Foresters a win. RP Jack Gunderson was the tough luck loser in this one that once again dropped the Foresters out of a tied for 3rd. WP - Paul Reed 2-6 5.93 LP - Jack Gunderson 3-5 4.11 S - Lee Douillard 7 4.15 Season Record 37-34 Game 72 - Baltimore Cannons (38-33) 11 vs Cleveland Foresters (37-34) 1 Carpenter Shuts Down Foresters in Rout! There is a reason why SP Ken Carpenter has been a stalwart for the Cannons even in the lean times. He is just that good and today he was lights out. Carp needed just 104 pitches and gave up just 3 hits in the 1 run outing. Jack Thompson took the loss for the home side giving up 6 runs in 6 innings and rookie Felix Dent had his first rough outing in a spell giving up 5 runs. WP - Ken Carpenter 11-6 3.15 LP Jack Thompson 7-9 5.32 Season Record 37-35 Game 73 - Baltimore Cannons (39-33) 11 vs Cleveland Foresters (37-35) 6 Kelly does it again, hits for cycle as Cannons race out of town with series Win. Cleveland pitchers are going to have nightmares about Lou Kelly for years as the 4-5 and hit for the cycle today. 5 RBI's and 4 runs scored gives Kelly as season long line of 330 with 18 HR's and 75 RBI's. Cleveland Manager Hank Leitzke was quoted as saying "thank god Kelly is leaving town, he is a wrecking crew." WP - Bob Miller 9-8 4.85 LP - Jack Mast 5-2 4.74 Season Record 37-36 GM Thoughts - Sigh, I really did try several times to get Kelly to play 1B for us. I can dream about what I could have offered to get him in Forester Green. And the Jack Mast story continues, brilliant to dud in days. Can't blame him though this pitching staff was put together to get us through a season and I knew it would be painful at times. So we go from a quick tie with the Cannons for 3rd to 3 games behind them, so we are back in 4th and just ahead of the Saints by a game. Tomorrow we end the month, hopefully it will be a good finish. The Stars are coming to town and it would be just our luck if they finally started playing like the team many of us thought they were.