MONDAY SEPTEMBER 19, 1927
KINGS STILL ALIVE, BUT BARELY
I said we needed to go 4-1 last week to keep our title hopes alive. Well, as has been the case all year our bullpen let us down again and we had to settle for 3 wins. We are 77-68 and a game and a half back of Philadelphia.
Code:
Philadelphia 77 65 .542 -
Toronto 77 66 .538 0.5
Cleveland 76 67 .531 1.5
BROOKLYN 77 68 .531 1.5
New York 73 68 .515 3.5
Baltimore 70 74 .486 8.0
e-Chicago 65 79 .451 13.0
e-Montreal 58 86 .403 20.0
We started the sim like we were on a mission, blasting Toronto 24-7 Monday before going to Chicago and hammering the Cougars 8-1 Tuesday. On Wednesday we rallied with 6 runs in the top of the 8th to tie the Cougars at 7 only to see reliever Al Colby give up a run in the bottom of the 8th to make us an 8-7 loser.
We rebounded the next day to tame the Cougars 14-2 behind a 5-hit, 5-rbi performance from young outfielder Ab Thomas (.344,4,92) and as we arrived in Philadelphia for our final game of the week we were just a half game behind the front-running Sailors. We fell behind 4-0 but rallied with 3 runs in the 8th and another one in the top of the ninth to tie the game only to see Topsy Moran, making his return from injury, give up the game winning run with 2 out in the bottom of the ninth.
That 5-4 loss is the opener of a 4 game set with the Sailors. We have 3 remaining in Philadelphia Monday to Wednesday this week and then go to Cleveland for 3 before ending our season with 1 game at home on Sunday against Montreal. Philadelphia, Cleveland and Toronto will all still have 3 or 4 games remaining after we are done our schedule so I am thinking we can do nothing less than sweep both the Sailors and Foresters to have a shot at the pennant. Even with a sweep of those 6 games might not be enough as Philadelphia has 7 other games remaining including 3 each with basement dwellers Montreal and Chicago.
I am not giving up hope but realistically we are going to fall short again as another late July-early August swoon does us in.
Here is our month by month record:
Code:
APRIL 12 6 .667
MAY 18 13 .581
JUNE 14 11 .560
JULY 13 16 .448
AUG 11 16 .407
SEPT 9 6 .600
The bullpen has been the problem as we are just 16-19 in 1 run games and 0-6 in contests that needed extra-innings. Looking at the stats we should have won the pennant. We have scored the most runs while allowing the fewest in the Continental Association. Bullpen era, where we are 5th, is the only pitching or defense category we don't rank in the top half of the league and we are number one in virtually every offensive category.
Our team is young with only shortstop Lloyd Carter, at 31 years of age, older then 28 among our everyday players. The pitching staff has some old guys in Mose Smith, Cal Williams, Del Plummer and Al Colby but also some good young arms in Leon Campbell, Bill Dengler, Topsy Moran and Harvey Rodgers so I am real hessitant to make dramatic changes but it is clear our bullpen needs help. The numbers for our relievers aren't overly bad, we just seem to give up runs at the most inopprotune times and it costs us.
Maybe if we had Plummer and Moran the entire season things might be different but it is really looking like the Kings are going to fall just short once again. If that happens the big question for me in the off-season is how do I react?
Injuries have hurt us both years, especially to pitchers but our trainer has a great reputation. The only category he is below average in is prevent arm injuries (no kidding) but he is legendary and outstanding is most recovery aspects. This is one area I might look to make a change. The question is do I sacrifice all of the other benefits my trainer gives us for a guy who can keep my pitchers healthy. I think I have more position player depth than pitching depth so I am going to seriously investigate this in the off-season. And it is not just pitchers with arm troubles, when we lost Lightbody last year it was due to a throwing injury from the outfield.
I don't think I can move any of our young core for bullpen help and I have significantly depleted our prospect depth the last couple of seasons with trades for pitching help aleady so I am not sure if there is much left that I would be willing to move. I don't think I should panic as I believe this group still is positioned to compete for the next half decade with very little changes needed. But, we are quickly learning the difference between compete and win is significant.