We start the month with a few wins almost solely derived from good pitching as our offence continues to misfire more often than not. But then Smith goes down with a shoulder injury and that renders us even more impotent with bat in hand, especially with Easterly and Bigbee still sidelined. Marcell’s form in particular has been in a tailspin since the early part of the season, but it has been a down year for all of our bats as we seem destined for our first season in a long while without a 300 hitter.
We go on to lose 7 of our next 10 and the division tightens up once again.
Bigbee finally comes back just as Carey picks up a niggle, so we dodge a bit of a bullet there and can try to nurse Max through it.
But we cannot turn it around at the plate and when Easterly makes his long-awaited return and Smith comes back, I decide to rejig the whole lineup to see if that sparks them into action (you can see the new version in the team home page, below.
Our August from hell ends with an 11-13 record and bullpen lynchpin Louis Drucke out for the remainder of the regular season at least with elbow problems. Fan-effing-tastic.
I'll let the stats speak for themselves. And they speak volumes. The pitchers do all they can but simply aren't being given enough runs to protect.
A month left to play and, in both divisions, everything left to play for.
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