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The Home Stand Continues - Can the Foresters get it in gear?
The countdown for Max Morris and his career hit number 3000 is fast approaching. He enters the week 11 hits away from becoming the 10th player in FABL history of cracking the magical number.
We enter the week with a 25-31 record and still firmly in 7th place in the CA.
The week ahead
We have a 4-game series (Monday-Thursday) against the Brooklyn Kings (26-31) and then we follow with a 4-game set against the New York Stars (27-29). So two teams that are directly ahead of us in the standings and both teams that aren't playing up to their potential. Seems to be the story in the CA as we aren't playing up to our potential either.
Brooklyn Series Pitching Match-ups
Brooklyn Kings vs Cleveland Foresters
Johnny Jacob 7-5 3.49 Ben Turner 4-6 3.81
Tom Barrell 3-8 3.86 Karl Johnson 4-5 4.91
Mike Murphy 6-5 4.43 Carl Bragg 1-1 2.08
Lyman Weigel 5-3 3.31 Roger Perry 7-4 3.05
Monday June 12th, 1933
Brooklyn Kings 3
Cleveland Foresters 7
Things were not looking good for the Foresters through the 7th inning stretch as they trailed the Kings 3-1. After the stretch, Max Morris hit a home run to cut the deficit to 3-2. In the 8th the Foresters offense finally awoke from its slumber to erupt for 5 runs in the inning highlighted by Moxie Pidgeon's GW double that made the score 4-3.
WP - Ben Turner 5-6 3.68 LP - Johnny Jacob 7-6 3.82
HR - (CL) Max Morris 11th
Tuesday June 13th, 1933
Brooklyn Kings 2
Cleveland Foresters 5
The Foresters launched 11 hits, 3 doubles and even stole 3 bases against SP Tom Barrell in winning their 2nd in a row. The ups and downs of Karl Johnson continue but today was an UP as he went 9 innings giving up 8 hits (7 singles and a homer) and 2 runs. CF Jim Gentry's 5th inning 2-run homer was the only real mistake that Johnson made.
WP - Karl Johnson 5-5 4.62 LP - Tom Barrell 3-9 3.86
HR - (Brk) Jim Gentry 1st
Wednesday June 14th, 1933
Brooklyn Kings 4
Cleveland Foresters 5
SP Carl Bragg is definitely making a case for him to keep a spot in the rotation when Dean Astle return in July. Bragg went 7 innings, scattering 8 hits and gave up 2 earned runs. 2B Brooks Meeks 2-run single in the bottom of the 6th gave the Foresters a secure 5-1 lead.
WP - Carl Bragg 2-1 2.22 LP - Mike Murphy 6-6 4.39 S - Ben Henggeler 1 2.25
HR - none
Thursday June 15th, 1933
Brooklyn Kings 3
Cleveland Foresters 11
The Foresters sweep the 4-game series against the Kings at the City Dump Ballpark. SP Roger Perry was 2 for 3 with a double and drove in run as he notched his 8th win of the season. Offensive stars for the Foresters were 2B Brooks Meeks and RF Moxie Pidgeon both collecting 3 hits. The Foresters have won 4 straight and are now 6-2 on their 19-game home stand. With the sweep the Foresters (29-31) have moved past the stumbling Kings and into a 3-way tie with the Sailors and Stars for 4th.
WP - Roger Perry 8-4 3.10 LP - Lyman Weigel 5-4 4.04
HR - None
Next the New York Stars 29-31 come to town to take on the Foresters 29-31.
New York Stars vs Cleveland Foresters
Friday June 16th - Monday June 19th
@ the Cleveland City Dump Ballpark
New York Stars Series Pitching Matchups (Friday-Sunday games)
New York Stars vs Cleveland Foresters
Dick Richards 4-5 5.94 Ed Wood 5-7 3.76
Lou Martino 2-3 2.51 Ben Turner 5-6 3.68
Charlie Steadman 5-5 3.30 Karl Johnson 5-5 4.62
Friday June 16th, 1933
New York Stars 0
Cleveland Foresters 7
The Foresters routed the Stars to move into a tie for 3rd place with their 5th straight win. 1B Max Morris led the Foresters with 3 hits including 2 home runs (13) and drove in 4 RBI's (40). Morris is now 2 hits short of the magical 3000 number. SP Ed Wood was brilliant in pitching a 5-hit shutout to pick up his 6th win of the season.
WP - Ed Wood 6-7 3.44 LP - Dick Richards 4-6 5.74
HR - Max Morris 12th and 13th
Saturday June 17th, 1933
New York Stars 4
Cleveland Foresters 5
The Foresters 6th straight win evened their season record at 31-31, in a 3rd place tie with the Baltimore Cannons. Max Morris become the 10th man in FABL history with his 2nd hit of the night in the 5th inning. The single was Morris's 3000 career hit as the records and milestones keep falling to the legend. The hit raised Morris average on the season to a season high 289.
WP - Ben Turner 6-6 3.62 LP - Bennie Conover 4-3 2.45
HR - (NY) Pete Layton 6th
Sunday June 18th, 1933
New York Stars 2
Cleveland Foresters 3 (10)
Break up the Foresters as they won their 7th straight game. This one took 10 innings to finish off. In the bottom of the 9th the Foresters went in trailing 2-1 but a leadoff walk to 3B Johnny Turner and a single by RF Moxie Pidgeon moved Turner to 3rd. SP Charlie Steadman then balked in Turner. Unfortunately with a runner on 2nd and no one out, the Foresters couldn't end the game there.
In the 10th C Jim Kyle singled and was sacrificed to 2nd by the outgoing Art Wells. SS George Dawson grounded out to 3rd for the 2nd out moving Kyle to 3rd who then came around and scored on 3B Jake Moore's walk off RBI single. Both SP's went the distance in this game.
WP - Karl Johnson 6-5 4.33 LP - Charlie Steadman 5-6 3.25
HR - (CL) Leon Drake 2nd
Summary - With that the Foresters are won 7 straight game and have moved from 7th to sole position of 3rd place in the CA. They have picked up 5 games on this home stand and now are back to within 9 games of the lead in the CA. With 9-2 record on the home stand we are finally over 500 again, hopefully for good.
Moves - Despite the winning streak, we continue to tinker with the major league roster. First off the waiver claim we had for 1B/IF Steve O'Bannon was accepted but then we never moved him onto the roster so he was released. We have reached out to Steve to see if he would like to sign a minor league deal.
We picked back up the contract of 2B Bob Baker and added him to the major league roster. Baker at one time was the starting 2B for the Foresters last appearing in 120 games in the 1931 season. He was hitting 315 at AAA Cincinnati and with the departure of both (Traded) Russ Franklin and the DFA of Art Wells opened the door. Wells was just not very effective in the very few appearances he made. He was just 2-16 in the 8 games he appeared in.
After hitting just 231, 3B Johnny Turner was optioned to AAA and SS Joe Dougherty was brought up to be the backup to George Dawson. Dougherty was hitting 225 so he is maybe a step above Wells. We thought about bringing back up SS Pat Schurling, but decided we wanted him to continue to play everyday at AAA.
Perhaps the biggest move was when we called up C Ben Richardson for the first time. To make room we optioned occasional RP and C Al Howell down to AAA. Howell was just not hitting this season sitting at 223 after last season 304. He will move into the rotation in Cincinnati and play part time C. The call up of Richardson is perhaps the dawning of the Ben Richardson era. He and Jim Kyle will share time behind the plate.
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