[DD Martin]

July Week 3 (July 17-22) 1934

After that great pitching duel on Monday between Brooklyn's Ken Carpenter and our own Dean Astle, our attention shifted gears as the Montreal Saints came to town. After a terrific 11-1 start to the season the Saints had settle into the 500 club that many had predicted. But some things were happening in Montreal and for the 2nd time in the season they fired their manager. James Gentry (64) had been with the Saints organization since 1924 being a minor league manager. When the club fired Joe Ward in May, then turned the reigns over to Gentry. Now after the shack up in Chicago with Dick Pozza out, Montreal pounced on hiring the very successful manager to take over the reigns for their team. Gentry was very quietly and without fanfare shown the door going 27-31.

(Side note - Joe "The Hoosier Hustler" Ward has taken over the reigns of the GWL Hollywood Heroes. He replaces John Poltorak (61) who went 33-43 in his first season in Tinsletown.)

Pozza has agreed to a massive new contract for 5 years at $28,954 per season. The deal blows the contract extension signed by Forester skipper Jim Wilson out of the water. Wilson had agreed to a record 5 year extension at $10,000 per season, but the deal Pozza has now signed might be the signaling of a new era in manager contracts. Of course with big money come big expectations.

So the team Pozza inherits has been making some moves to bring in some offense to Montreal which has the toughest park in the CA to hit in. The Saints are currently sitting 6th in runs scored 4.51 rpg, but they had been 8th for a long period so the bats are starting to produce more. The pitching has 3rd most of the season with their starters ERA at 4.05 and the bullpen sitting at 3.05 (2nd). The offense is even up to 4th on the home run list with 45 lead by Hank Barnett and Jim Wilson's 7 each.

So far this season Cleveland leads the season series 7-3

Pitching Matchups Montreal Saints vs Cleveland Foresters
Chick Wirtz 6-5 3.53 vs Eddie Quinn 11-6 3.41
George Thomas 7-9 3.93 vs Roger Perry 11-5 2.33
Barney Holland 2-0 2.41 vs Walter Murphy 11-2 2.70
Rich Fisher 0-0 0.00 vs Ben Turner 4-3 4.74

Game #84 - Montreal Saints 0 vs Cleveland Foresters 1 (11)
In a low-scoring tilt between the Cleveland Foresters and the Montreal Saints, Eddie Quinn was the difference-maker. The Cleveland right-hander spearheaded the 1-0 win. The Foresters have an impressive 58-26 record.

The Foresters procured the win, in large part because of third baseman Jake Moore. In the bottom of the 11th, he produced the game-winning run-scoring single.

"I like our moxie," said Foresters manager Jim Wilson. Was he talking about RF Pidgeon?

WP - Frank Phillips 6-4 4.15
LP - Howie Snyder 7-4 3.38
HR - None
Notable - Eddie Quinn 10.2IP 10H 0R 3K 2-4 at bat, Jake Moore 1-4 BB and GW RBI. Montreal Chick Wirtz 9.2IP 5H 0R 2BB 1K

Game #85 - Montreal Saints 7 vs Cleveland Foresters 5
The inspired effort of Cleveland first baseman Max Morris was not enough to prevent a loss, 7-5, to the Montreal Saints. Morris went 2 for 5 with a home run. He scored 2 times and drove in 2. Montreal starter George Thomas was credited with the win after throwing 151 pitches over 8.2 innings. His record now stands at 8-9. The win puts Montreal at 42-42 this season.

Montreal needed the clutch hitting of Bob Worley to notch the win. The right fielder hammered a solo home run in the top of the eighth inning to put the Saints on top, 5-4. For the game, Worley had 1 home run and 1 single in 5 at-bats.

WP - George Thomas 8-9 3.94 (8.2IP 11H 5R 4ER 2BB 4K)
LP - Roger Perry 11-6 2.51 (8IP 11H 5R 5ER 1B 4K)
HR - (Cl) Max Morris 15th, (Mon) Bob Worley 4th
Notable - Max Morris 2-5 HR 2R 2RBI, TR Goins 3-5 R RBI, Leon Drake 2-4 DB 1R

Game #86 - Montreal Saints 1 vs Cleveland Foresters 11
The Cleveland Foresters coasted to a win over the Montreal Saints, 11-1. Max Morris had a good day at the plate for Cleveland. He was 3 for 5 with a home run and 2 singles. He scored 2 runs and drove in 4. The win puts Cleveland at 59-27 this season.

In the first inning, Morris had a 2-run home run for Cleveland. It was his 16th home run of the season and put the Foresters on top, 3-0. "The name of the game is scoring runs," Morris said. "We did a good job of that today."

WP - Walter Murphy 12-2 2.59 (9IP 10H 1R 1ER 3BB 2K)
LP - Barney Holland 2-1 2.41 (6.1IP 10H 8R 7ER 2BB 3K)
HR - (Cl) Max Morris 16th, Leon Drake 13th
Notable - Max Morris 3-5 HR 4RBI 2R, Brooks Meeks 3-5 2R 3RBI, Leon Drake 3-5 HR 2R 2RBI

Game #87 - Montreal Saints 6 vs Cleveland Foresters 7
The outcome was not decided until the very end at Forester Stadium.
Foresters shortstop George Dawson put his stamp on his team's 7-6 win over the Montreal Saints. Dawson was 4 for 5 with 3 doubles. He drove in 2 runs for Cleveland in the contest. Cleveland raised its record to 60-27 with the win.

The game was still up for grabs in the bottom of the ninth. With no one out, Dawson hit a fastball from Howie Snyder for a run-scoring single. The Foresters, in dramatic fashion, had a walk-off win. "There's nothing like the buzz of a walk-off win," Dawson said.

WP - Ben Turner 5-3 (9IP 11H 6R 6ER 4BB 1K)
LP - Howie Snyder 7-5 3.49
HR - (Cl) Moxie Pidgeon 16th, Charlie Barry 1st (Mon) Mickey Dowell 1st, Bob Worley 6th, Bobby Sprague 1st

Comments from the GM - A nice series win (3-1) against the Saints. At least the controversary has died down from the All-Star stuff with Dick Pozza. I did find it kind of interesting that before the opening game of the series, I saw our owner Elmer Marshall shaking hands with Pozza. How Marshall even knows Pozza is beyond me.

Max Morris has had a fine season for anyone other than Max Morris. At 39 he might be showing some signs of slowing down, but he is still hitting 323 this season with a CA leading 71 RBI's. He has 16 homer runs which puts him in the top 3 in the CA. He still for my money is the best run producing hitter in my mind. Will he get to 30 this season? My money is on Morris but he will have to pick up the pace a bit. He sits at 658 career home runs and could have a shot at 700 if he comes back next season and remains healthy.

In September we might go to a 6-man rotation if I feel we have things in control. The one thing we need to avoid is any significant injuries. I have talked to Jim Wilson about not over extending any of the starters so he has said he will watch that a little more (ie: I put in a 130 pitch count cap and might reduce it to 120 in August.)

New York Stars 44-45 vs Cleveland Foresters 60-27
4-game series July 21st-23rd with a DH on Monday 23rd)
Season Series - Cleveland leads 8-2

Pitching so far has been the real rough part for the Stars this season as the starters rank 7th in the CA with a 4.54 ERA. The bullpen is a bit better at 3.87 (5th). They are plus 7 in run differential with the offense scoring 456 runs (4th) 5.12 rpg. 3B John Lawson (334/392/496 10-73) and 2B Pete Layton (329/390/519 10-61) continue to lead the offense but are now at ages 31 and 34. 35 year old 1B Dave Trowbridge is also having a fine season (355/411/476 7-41).

Pitching Matchups New York vs Cleveland (first 2 games only)
Gene Stevens 8-3 3.63 vs Dean Astle 10-4 3.09
Harry Carter 2-3 5.20 vs Eddie Quinn 11-6 3.18

(First 2 games of the series will be noted in today's report)

Game #88 - New York Stars 2 vs Cleveland Foresters 3
In a low-scoring tilt between the Cleveland Foresters and the New York Stars, Dean Astle was the difference-maker. The Cleveland left-hander spearheaded the 3-2 win. Astle went 9 innings to notch the win. He scattered 6 hits, walked 3, and struck out 1. His record improves to 11-4. With the victory, the Foresters upped their record to 61-27.

Had Dan Fowler not delivered a key base hit in the bottom of the seventh, the outcome might have been different. Instead, with two down and the bases loaded, Fowler hit a run-scoring single. That made the score 3-2, in favor of the Foresters. "Throwing strikes was the main thing," Astle said.

WP - Dean Astle 11-4 3.03 (9IP 6H 2R 2ER 3BB 1K)
LP - Tom Fitzgerald 2-6 5.09
HR - (NY) Dave Trowbridge 5th

Game #89 - New York Stars 10 vs Cleveland Foresters 7
New York and Cleveland took Mother Nature's best shot and still managed to complete their ballgame. There was a rain delay of 55 minutes in the 6th inning.

The New York Stars defeated the Cleveland Foresters, 10-7. Doing his part was first baseman Max Morris, who went 3 for 5 with 2 home runs. He scored 3 times and drove in 4. The winner was Jack Carr in relief. His record improves to 3-1. Bert Henggeler took the loss. Boyd Harper notched his 9th save in 13 chances.

New York needed the clutch hitting of Dave Trowbridge to notch the win. The first baseman hammered a grand slam home run in the top of the ninth inning to put the Stars on top, 10-7. For the game, Trowbridge had 1 home run and 1 single in 4 at-bats.

WP - Jack Carr 3-1 2.35
LP - Bert Henggeler 5-2 4.55
S - Fireman Harper 9th 4.25
HR - (Cl) Max Morris (2) 17th and 18th (NY) Dave Trowbridge 7th, Owen Murdoch (2) 7th and 8th
Notable - Eddie Quinn (6IP 3H 2R 2ER 3BB 3K), Max Morris 3-5 2HR, 4RBI 3R, TR Goins 2-5 2R RBI

Comments - Morris hits 4 home runs this week but is edge out of the CA player of the week by Doc Love who hit 5. Still a great week for Max and he now has 75 RBI's on the season which is 2 ahead of John Lawson of New York. Morris has also moved into 2nd place in the CA with 18 home runs on the season behind Chicago's Tom Taylor who has hit 20 so far.

I really believe rain cost us this last game as Eddie Quinn was cruising through 6 innings but after almost an hour Jim Wilson (and I agreed) that we should not send him back out. Unfortunately Bert Henggeler had one of those games that blows up a RP's ERA. So the bullpen cost us this one and once again I am left scratching my head with our pen. The guys that have pitched the least have pitched the best so far this year, but I don't think I would change the order there. I will be taking a serious look at Coleman and Bloom down at Cincinnati this coming week.