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June 9th -17th
On the Road in Philadelphia and Montreal
On the surface a couple of 4-game series that we could fare well in. Until the start of last week we were 4-2 against Phily but now the season series stands at 4-4. Against Montreal we are 5-1 so far this season. Overall on the road we have been really good going 18-6 so we hope that we can bounce back during these games before going to Baltimore. When we head out to Baltimore we should have C TR Goins back.
Cleveland Foresters 32-16 @ Philadelphia Sailors 25-24
June 9th-12th
4-Game Series in Philadelphia
Season Series tied 4-4
The Sailors are really limited offensively as far as power goes. They are last in the CA in home runs and 5th in runs scored with 230. On offense they are led by 2B Jack Cleaves who is hitting 356 which is about 50 points higher than in the last 2 seasons, but his power is down so far this year. The previous 2 seasons he has hit 26 home runs but this year so far he has been limited to just 1 and 12 RBI's. While the batting average is great this team needs run producers and right now he isn't producing many in the #5 spot in the order.
On the pitching side they have given up 250 runs (4th) in the CA and their starters ERA is 4.73 (7th).
Pitching Matchups Cleveland Foresters vs Philadelphia Sailors
Walter Murphy 5-1 2.67 vs George Johnson 5-3 3.80
Roger Perry 6-2 2.07 vs William Jones 3-2 3.50
Walter Murphy 6-1 2.49 vs Russ Reel 4-4 4.78
Eddie Quinn 6-4 3.29 vs Doc Newell 4-5 4.95
Oscar Morse 6-3 4.05
Game #49 - Cleveland Foresters 4 @ Philadelphia Sailors 1
SP Walter Murphy cruised in this one giving up just 4 hits and 1 run. Max Morris hit his 10th home run of the season in the 4th.
WP - Walter Murphy 6-1 2.49 (9IP 4H 1R 1ER 1BB 1K)
LP - George Johnson 5-4 4.70 (9IP 8H 4R 4ER 4BB 5K)
HR - (Cl) Max Morris 10th
Notable - Dan Fowler 2-4 DB, R Walter Murphy 1-3 2RBI
Game #50 - Cleveland Foresters 4 @ Philadelphia Sailors 5
Max Morris went 3-5 with a double and 3 RBI's but it wasn't enough to bail the Foresters out in this one as they drop another close game. Sailors CF Dan Merchant hit his 1st home run of the season a 2-run shot to aid the Sailors to another win.
WP - William Jones 4-2 2.98 (7.2IP 6H 2R 0ER 2BB 4K)
LP - Roger Perry 6-3 2.24 (6.1IP 10H 5R 3ER 2BB 1K)
S - Hal Upton 4th 0.55
Notable - Morris 3-5 DB 3RBI
Game #51 - Cleveland Foresters 3 @ Philadelphia Sailors 9
Walter Murphy has been going great, but he wasn't able to come back on short rest with Dean Astle still fighting a flu bug (aka I screwed up). Also the mounting error problem lead to 7 unearned runs for the Sailors. The only good news (sarcasm) was 3B John Turner was helped off the field and pulling a muscle getting a hit (figures).
WP - Russ Reel 5-4 4.50 (8IP 13H 3R 2ER 0BB 3K)
LP - Walter Murphy 6-2 2.44 (5IP 8H 8R 1ER 2BB 1K)
Notable - Max Morris 3-5 2 DB 2RBI
Turner's injury will likely cost him the rest of the season.
Game #52 - Cleveland Foresters 0 @ Philadelphia Sailors 7
The Foresters are no-hit!
Sailor SP Doc Newell no hit the Foresters today. Newell went 9 the distance with 5 walks and 7 strikeouts. For the Foresters the month of June has been very difficult so far and this just kind of epitomizes their recent struggles against the Sailors and in general.
WP - Doc Newell 5-5 4.41 (9IP 0H 0R 5BB 7K)
LP - Eddie Quinn 6-5 3.63 (6.2IP 11H 6R 6ER 3BB 1K)
Notable - Not a damn thing!
Summary - So closes a very frustrating trip to the so-called City of Brotherly Love. The Sailors took 3 out of 4 and our current fall from the lofty top perch of the CA is now 2 full games behind Brooklyn. The Sailors did a fancy switch and replace Merritt in that last game with Doc Newell. There was nothing about Newell this season that screamed I'm about to throw a no-no against us, but that is exactly what he did.
Not a lot of things are going right at the moment. The club is sort of in a stagnant state right now and for the first time in his young managerial career Jim Wilson is having to deal with some adversity. The team is now 500 since TR Goins injury going 12-12, but good news is coming soon about Goins as he will join us in Baltimore next week.
The issue was Johnny Turner was coming to a head as he was down to just hitting 222 on the season and his defense was not making up for his short comings with the bat. The torn abdominal muscle will keep him out at least 3 months so unless we are desperate at the end of the season, he will not return this season or maybe even ever. Jake Moore will take back over his former spot at 3B and while he will hit better than Turner, Jake has lost a couple of steps and his defense and range at 3rd leave a lot to be desired. For now we will have to press on, but we are on the lookout and are negotiating with several free agents and making calls.
Cleveland Foresters 33-19 @ Montreal Saints 25-27
4-game series June 13th-16th
Season Series - Cleveland leads 5-1
Probably not a place where a team that was just no-hit would want to venture too. Montreal's Parc Cartier is one of if not the toughest ballparks to hit in the entire FABL. Couple that with the Saints top end pitching staff and that doesn't spell for a lot of confidence.
The Saints are the worst offense in the CA and the FABL as a whole. They have managed just 205 runs this season (3.94 rpg). Montreal came out fast this year going 11-1, then fell to 14-11 and fired their manager. Now since the firing they are 11-16 and falling off the pace in the CA by double digits. Not the end of the season but there are a lot of rumors swirling in Montreal about trades and the lack of offense.
Pitching Matchups Cleveland vs Montreal
Dean Astle 6-3 3.45 vs Skinny Foster 1-1 1.80
Roger Perry 6-3 2.24 vs Chick Wirtz 4-2 3.47
Walter Murphy 6-2 2.44 vs George Thomas 4-7 4.06
Ben Turner 4-2 4.87 vs Milt Fritz 5-5 5.12
Game #53 - Cleveland Foresters 5 @ Montreal Saints 3
After being no-hit in Phily the Foresters manage 14 hits including 4 extra base hits in beating the Saints. Dean Astle who seems to have recovered from the flu picked up his 7th win after his recent 2 poor outings. Maybe the break did him some good, or maybe it was just a poor offense against him.
WP - Dean Astle 7-3 3.41 (9IP 7H 3R 3ER 1BB 5K)
LP - Skinny Foster 1-2 3.27 (7IP 13H 5R 5ER 5BB 6K)
HR - (Cl) Max Morris 11th
Notable - George Dawson 4-5 DB, TP 1R 1RBI, Ralph Joiner 3-5 DB 1R 1RBI, Max Morris 2-5 HR 2R 2RBI, SB
Game #54 - Cleveland Foresters 2 @ Montreal Saints 4
Vic Crawford hit a double in the first that drove in 2 runs as the Saints score 4 runs in the first 2 innings against Roger Perry and cruised to a victory behind Chick Wirtz.
WP - Chick Wirtz 5-2 3.33 (8.1IP 9H 2R 2ER 2BB 6K)
LP - Roger Perry 6-4 2.47 (7IP 12H 4R 4ER 1BB 3K)
S - Howie Snyder 5th 2.52
Notable - Jake Moore 2-4 DB 1R 1RBI, Leon Drake 1-4 TP R
Game #55 - Cleveland Foresters 5 @ Montreal Saints 3
SP Walter Murphy just keeps plugging along and winning for the Foresters. He had been thought of as the other SP acquired in the spring (behind Eddie Quinn) but so far he has emerged with Roger Perry as the staff star. Dan Fowler hit a home run in the 9th to break open a close game.
WP - Walter Murphy 7-2 2.51 (8.2IP 10H 3R 3ER 2BB 4K)
LP - George Thomas 4-8 4.15 (9IP 9H 5R 5ER 2BB 1K)
S - Frank Phillips 7th 4.24
HR - (Cl) Dan Fowler 10th
Game #56 - Cleveland Foresters 4 @ Montreal Saints 5
Bottom of the 8th as the Foresters led 4-3, SS Tony White became the hero for Montreal with a 2-run single that put the Saints up 5-4. While there was speculation that Milt Fritz was on the move, he pitched what might be his last game in a Saints.
WP - Howie Snider 6-2 2.33
LP - Ben Turner 4-3 4.74 (7.1IP 5H 5R 3ER 5BB 3K)
HR - (Cl) Moxie Pidgeon 12th
Notable - Moxie Pidgeon 4-4 HR, 2DB 3RBI 1R, Ralph Joiner 0-5 2R
Comments - That was a bad way to lose that last game. Frank Phillips couldn't bail Ben Turner out of his walks and it cost the team a much needed win. The split in Montreal was at least better than the 1-3 in Philadelphia, but that marked the end of our 28 games without our all-star C TR Goins. We end the stretch 14-14 but it feels a lot worse than it was because of the poor play we have had in June (6-10).
With Johnny Turner's injury I neglected to mention that we purchased the contract of veteran 2B/3B Vince Frazier from Cincinnati to back up Jake Moore. Unfortunately Frazier's defense is not much better (if at all) than Jake Moore's. We really have a glaring weakness at 3B in our organization so that will only intensify our desire to make a deal. In the meantime we have begun discussions with a couple of minor league free agents who might get a chance to come up and be a late inning defensive replacement.
Team Shakeup - So the obvious move is the activation of C TR Goins and getting him right back in the lineup. No rehab assignment for him. Making room for Goins will be Herman Rachford who will go back down to AAA Cincinnati after going 1-11 in very limited action in backing up Jim Kyle.
Next I decided that our top flight pinch hitter acquired from Montreal Al Wilson was struggling too much this season in his limited role. So he was optioned to Cincinnati to get some playing time and maybe get his bat going once again. He was hitting just 184 in 38 at-bats with 1 RBI. Coming up was a familiar face in PH/Utility guy Ray Cochran who was as usual crushing the ball at Cincinnati hitting 365 with 2 homers and 30 RBI's. Wilson was a left hander and Cochran is a righty so we have tweaked things a bit.
SP Heinie Bretz was pitching well in Cincinnati in our program to re-strengthen his arm after being off all of last season. Bretz was 5-0 at Cincinnati with a 2.22 ERA so we decided to bring him up and pitch a game in the rotation next week in Baltimore. To make room, I looked at several options like DFA RP Jim Cavender but in the end Cavender continues to prove he has 9 lives. So instead to keep getting him regular work we sent down SP Ben Turner who had struggled some with command in going 4-3 with a 4.74 ERA. Who knows if Bretz pitches well maybe he either stays in the rotation in here or is dangled as a trade chip.
Trading News - Well there is nothing close here in Cleveland to a deal despite numerous calls to other FABL GM's. But our current lack of movement hasn't stopped other trade rumors. Nothing has happened yet, but it does look like the Chicago Cougars are burning up the phone lines and making a lot of calls. Also busy appears to be Montreal's GM as well. Where will it all fall? Hard to say, it could be just conversation but I feel like something is brewing and it might be big.
Next - Goins returns, do the Forester re-claim their form prior to his injury?
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