[DD Martin]

The Dog Days have Arrived
July 30th-August 5th

Game #98 - Cleveland Foresters 5 @ Chicago Cougars 7
The Chicago Cougars topped the Cleveland Foresters, 7-5 and swept this 3-game series in the Windy City, with shortstop Woody Armstrong playing a big role. Armstrong was 2 for 3 with 2 singles and a walk. He drove in 3 runs and scored once for the Cougars in the win. Dick Lyons picked up the win, improving his season record to 8-6. He struck out 6 in 6.2 innings. The Foresters, now 65-33, have lost 4 straight.

Armstrong had a clutch at-bat in the bottom of the sixth for the Cougars. Coming up with the bases loaded and Chicago trailing 2-1, he hit a 2-run single.

WP - Dick Lyons 8-6 3.89 (6.2IP 7H 5R 2ER 2BB 6K)
LP - Dean Astle 12-5 3.06 (7IP 11H 7R 6ER 2BB 1K)
HR - None
Notable - No extra base his for the team. Dawson, Pidgeon and Drake all get 2 hits in the 1-2-3 spots in the order. The rest of the team was 1-19 with Max Morris getting the only hit.

Summary - Ugh that was an ugly series where the bats just didn't show and neither did the pitching for that matter. Jim Wilson doesn't even let the team shower and just loads them on the bus to get out of town and head back home.

Toronto Wolves 43-56 (7th place) vs Cleveland Foresters 65-33 (1st place)
August 1st-3rd 3-game series
Season Series - Cleveland leads 8-4

The Wolves come to town with their manager Bob Warren (54) who can't feel too comfortable with all the changes going on in managing this season. Warren's who is in his 6th season, had his best season in Toronto in his first when the team went 69-85. Since then it has been pretty dark north of the border. The Wolves were playing better baseball in June when they 15-14, but reverted back to the recent ways with a 12-17 July. Right now their pitching is the worst in the CA with the starters at 4.77 and the bullpen at a disastrous 6.51 for a team total of 5.00. The offense has not been able to make up the difference as they are 7th in the league in scoring.

There are some bright spots though coming along that should be on the 1935 roster at some point next season. Joe Hancock is the #12 prospect in all baseball and is only 21. LHSP Buddy Long (19) is the #29 prospect to help the pitching staff. CF Levi Redding (23) who they got from the Foresters has been at Class A hitting 325 and is likely ready to be promoted. So there is some solid hope for the future, but they will have a high pick again in the draft this season and they need to hit on their picks.

Pitching Matchups - Toronto vs Cleveland
Bernie Johnson 11-9 4.23 vs Eddie Quinn 11-6 3.51
Bill Anderson 9-13 4.12 vs Roger Perry 12-6 2.68
Birdie Smith 7-10 vs Walter Murphy 12-4 2.93

Game #99 - Toronto Wolves 2 vs Cleveland Foresters 5
Cleveland got a strong outing from Eddie Quinn as the Foresters defeated the Toronto Wolves, 5-2, at Forester Stadium. Quinn went 9 innings to notch the win. He scattered 7 hits, walked 3, and struck out 5. His record improves to 12-6. The Wolves, now 43-57, have lost 6 straight.

George Dawson hit a run-scoring double off Bernie Johnson in the bottom of the seventh, which put the Foresters in front, 3-2. In addition to the double, Dawson had 1 single, while going 2 for 4. "We'll relax tonight and get back after it tomorrow," Quinn said after the game.

WP - Eddie Quinn 12-6 3.43 (9IP 7H 2R 2ER 3BB 5K)
LP - Bernie Johnson 11-10 4.30 (8IP 12H 5R 5ER 1BB 1K)
HR - (Tor) Al Nance 4th
Notable - Max Morris 4-4 TP, 1 RBI 1R, Eddie Quinn 2-2 2DB 2R, George Dawson 2-4 DB 2RBI 1R

Game #100 - Toronto Wolves 4 vs Cleveland Foresters 16
Behind the hitting of Max Morris, the Cleveland Foresters stopped the Toronto Wolves, 10-4. Morris was 4 for 4 with 2 home runs, a double, and a walk, while scoring 3 times and driving in 4 for the Foresters. The losing skid has reached 7 games for Toronto.

With Cleveland leading 6-3 in the bottom of the fourth, Morris hit a curveball from Bill Anderson for a 3-run home run. It was his 21st home run of the season and put the Foresters ahead, 9-3. Morris who has gone 8 for his last 8 with a double, triple, 2 home runs 5RBI's and 4 runs along with a walk, told a Cleveland P-I reporter that he was "satisfied" with the win.

WP - Roger Perry 13-6 2.80 (6.1IP 4H 4R 4ER 6BB 3K)
LP - Bill Anderson 9-14 4.47 (3.0IP 10H 9R 9ER 3BB 1K)
HR - (Tor) Frank Huddleston 13th, (Cl) Max Morris 2 20th and 21st, Moxie Pidgeon 17th
Notable - Pidgeon 2-4 HR BB 2RBI 2R, Max Morris 4-4, DB, 2HR BB 3R 4RBI, Ralph Joiner 2-4 2RBI's

Game #101 - Toronto Wolves 2 vs Cleveland Foresters 17
The Cleveland Foresters beat the Toronto Wolves, 17-2, at Forester Stadium. Cleveland catcher T.R. Goins had an outstanding performance. He was 3 for 4 with a home run, a double, and 2 walks. He scored 4 runs and drove in 4. The losses continue to mount for Toronto, which has now dropped 8 in a row.

With two out in the bottom of the second, Moxie Pidgeon barreled up a changeup from Birdie Smith. The result was a 3-run home run, putting the Foresters in front, 5-0.

"We're in a funk and we need to shake ourselves out of it," said Toronto manager Bob Warren.

WP - Walter Murphy 13-4 2.89 (8.1IP 6H 2R 2ER 2BB 5K)
LP - Birdie Smith 7-11 5.21 (2.1IP 7H 11R 10ER 6BB 0K)
HR - (Tor) Billy Eastep 8th, (Cl) Leon Drake 14th, TR Goins 8th, Moxie Pidgeon 18th
Notable - Moxie Pidgeon 3-4 TP, HR, 5RBI 3R BB, TR Goins 3-4 DB 4R 4 RBI 2BB, George Dawson 1-3 3BB 3R, Leon Drake 2-4 HR 2RBI 2R BB

Comments - We beat up a pretty bad team that is on quite a losing streak right now. It's great to get the wins but we can't get too happy about it. We are officially at the 2/3 of the way through the season with a record of 68-33 with a 7 game lead. 53 games remain between us and the CA title. While I don't like to project, I am going to do it anyway. If we play 500 and go 27-26 the rest of the way, it would gives us 95 wins on the season and easily be the best record in the history of the Foresters. It would also mean that Brooklyn would have to go 34-19 (642) to tie us with 95 wins. So while that is great to have a lead, our work is definitely not finished as that Kings team could easily do that mark over the last 1/3 of the season.

Heading into the game played today Max Morris's last 10 plate appearances had him reaching base each time. He was 8-8 with a walk and a HBP over that period. He hit a sacrifice fly in his first at-bat driving in a run. He walked in his 2nd at-bat in the 2nd inning to make it 11-11 getting on base. He followed that up with a single in the 3rd to make it 9-9 (12-12) before finally grounding out to end the 4th inning. He ended his day in the 6th getting on with another single to go 2-3 with a walk on the day.

Now we have Chicago who took swept 3 game from us in Chicago last week coming to town. They might not have much of a shot left this year but they are enjoying making our lives hell this past week.

Chicago Cougars 49-53 (6th Place) vs Cleveland Foresters 68-33
3-game series in Cleveland at the Dump
Season Series - Cleveland leads 10-5

Pitching Matchups Chicago vs Cleveland
Art Black 0-0 5.14 vs Ben Turner 6-4 4.77
Dick Lyons 8-6 3.89 vs Dean Astle 12-5 3.06
George Johnson 7-8 5.11 vs Eddie Quinn 12-6 3.43 (tentative for Monday)

Game #102 - Chicago Cougars 7 vs Cleveland Foresters 6 (10)
It took 10 innings but the Cougars won their 4th straight against the Foresters. With left fielder Doc Love leading the charge, the Chicago Cougars defeated the Cleveland Foresters, 7-6, at Forester Stadium. Love, who is tied for 4th in the CA in triples with 10, went 3 for 4 with a triple, a double, and a walk, while scoring 2 times and driving in 2. Chicago reliever Chick Meehan was the winner. His record is now 4-2. Frank Phillips took the loss. Chicago's record now stands at 50-53, placing them 5th in the Continental Association.

It could have been a different outcome for Chicago, had it not been for Cy Bryant, the 28-year old center fielder . Bryant contributed a run-scoring single in the top of the tenth inning to put Chicago up, 7-6.

"The game of baseball will test you," said Hank Leitzke, the Chicago skipper. "This one tested us." Leitzke has to be taking pride in seeing his new team beat his old team 4 straight since he came on the scene.

WP - Chick Meehan 4-2 4.70
LP - Frank Phillips 7-5 4.34
HR - None
Notable - Moxie Pidgon 3-4 BB 2RBI, Brooks Meeks 3-5 DB 3R 2RBI

Game #103 - Chicago Cougars 0 vs Cleveland Foresters 7
The strong arm of Dean Astle dealt a lot of misery to the Cougars. He tossed a complete-game shutout to spark the Cleveland Foresters to a 7-0 win. In today's contest at Forester Stadium, Astle limited Chicago to 2 hits and had 5 strikeouts and no walks.

Astle has posted a 13-5 record for the year with a 2.92 ERA. Teams are hitting .248 against him and he has rung up 72 strikeouts in 191.1 innings.

WP - Dean Astle 13-5 2.92 (9IP 2H 0R 0BB 5K)
LP - Art Black 0-1 5.25 (5IP 8H 7R 3ER 3BB 1K)
HR - Dan Fowler 14th, Moxie Pidgeon 19th
Notable - Max Morris 2-4 R, Dan Fowler 2-3 HR, BB 2R 2RBI, Ralph Joiner 2-3 BB, 2RBI, R

Comments - So we end the week 4-2 and build our lead up to 8 games over Brooklyn. This is by far my best season in Cleveland and I just keep expecting the curse to come into play here.

It was nice to get a win over the Cougars today and Dean Astle pitched a gem giving up just 2 hits and no walks.

So my only real complaint this season is that for whatever reason this team makes way too many errors. So far we have committed 135 which is worst in the CA and tied with the Washington Eagles for worst in the FABL. The strange thing is even with all those errors we are leading the CA in defense efficiency at .692 and 3rd in Zone rating at 14.8. I just think were we would be without all the unearned runs we have given up this season on all those errors.

Moxie Pidgeon won the CA player of the week award for his performance last week. Pidgeon went 11-21 for a 524 batting average with 3 home runs and 11 RBI's For the season the RF is hitting 310 with 19 home runs (3rd in the CA) and 70 RBI's