Category: TWIWBL Page 15 of 38

TWIWBL 46.2: Series XXXVIII Notes – September 11th (Day 3 of 4)

On August 28, 2023

#The Battle for the Final Spot

Albert Belle went deep twice t0 keep the New York Black Yankees hopes alive, driving in all 4 runs in a 4-2 victory over Cleveland. Rheal Cormier earned his first win as a member of the much maligned New York bullpen, and Goose Gossage ended the game for his 3rd save of the year.

NYY 4 (Cormier 1-0; Gossage 3 Sv) @ CLE 2 (Porter 4-5)
HRs: NYY – Belle 2 (19); CLE – Speaker (5).
Box Score

In the end, it didn’t matter: Birmingham’s Cupid Childs brought home Billy Southworth in the bottom of the 10th, beating Philadelphia 4-3 and securing the final playoff spot for the Black Barons. It was Childs’ 3rd RBI of the day, and he and Southworth had 2 hits each.

PHI 3 (Howry 3-8) @ BBB 4 (Gunderson 2-0; Malarkey 2 B Sv) [10 Innings]
HRs: PHI – Freeman (21); BBB – Mathews (26).
Box Score

With that, the playoff teams are set, with Birmingham sealing the final spot.

#Playoff Seeding

Baltimore’s 6-1 win over Kansas City settled the Cum Posey Division, with the Black Sox clinching first place (and the best record in baseball). Curt Blefary had 3 hits and Chick Stahl hit his 3rd homerun since being recalled a few weeks ago in support of a strong 5 innings from Connie Johnson.

A come from behind, walkoff victory for the New York Gothams finalized the standings in the Bill James Division. Wes Westrum‘s 2nd hit of the day brought in the winning run for New York with Brian Wilson getting the win despite allowing 3 hits and a run in his inning of work. With the win, Detroit will win the division and the House of David will finish in 3rd, with the Gothams safely through to the post-season in second place.

#Other Games

There has been very little encouraging about Miami’s pitching this year. But the Cuban Giants may have something in trade acquisition Freddie Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons allowed 1 run in 4 hits in a complete game victory over Homestead, improving his record to 3-1 while lowering his ERA to 1.57. Jim Thome hit a bomb just shy of 500 feet in the win, one of 3 hits on the day for him.

Continuing to make a strong argument for extended playing time next year, Roy Hartzell had 4 hits and 4 RBIs as San Francisco blew out Indianapolis, 11-3.

Gary Carter had 5 RBI on 3 hits, Álex Rodríguez had 4 hits including 3 doubles, and Larry Walker add 3 hits as Ottawa downed Houston, 8-5.

Frank Smith got a spot start for Chicago as the American Giants had nothing left to play for, and promptly delivered a 2-hit shutout in a 7-0 win over Brooklyn. Carlton Fisk hit his 14th homerun to seal the victory.

The House of David’s Elrod Hendricks went deep twice, giving him 41 on the year (and making him the 3rd batter to surpass the 40 homerun mark), but it wasn’t enough as Detroit won 4-2 behind a strong effort from Justin Verlander and Hank Greenberg‘s 31st longball of the season. Verlander reached double digits in wins at 10-4 and Mike Henneman picked up his 38th save despite giving up 3 hits in his inning of work.

TWIWBL 46.1: Series XXXVIII Notes – September 10th (Day 2 of 4)

By mknn

On August 25, 2023

In Featured Games, Game Recaps, TWIWBL

#The Battle for the Final Spot

Birmingham lowered their magic number to 1 with an 8-4 victory over Philadelphia. Cupid Childs broke out of a slump with 3 hits including his 5th homerun of the year and Sam Streeter improved to 7-6 with a strong 7 plus innings. The only bad news for the Black Barons concerned young Nate Colbert, who was forced to leave the game with a high ankle sprain that will keep him off the playoff roster as well.

PHI 4 (Carlton 8-13) @ BBB 8 (Streeter 7-6)
HRs: PHI – Davis 19, Judge 7; BBB – Nieman (16), Childs (5).
Box Score

Mike Schmidt had 3 hits and Babe Ruth hit his 47th longball of the season as the Black Yankees did what they could, beating Cleveland 7-2 to keep their hopes alive. Waite Hoyt picked up his 11th win of the year.

These two results mean that any combination of wins by Birmingham or losses by the Black Yankees will end New York’s season, but for now, hope prevails.

NYY 7 (Hoyt 11-6) @ CLE 2 (Gastright 1-1)
HRs: NYY – Ruth (47); CLE – Trosky (2).
Box Score

#Playoff Seeding

Boog Powell had 5 hits and drove in 4 runs and Lou Brock added 4 hits as Kansas City gave up a 7 run lead, but prevailed in 11 innings over Baltimore. The loss for the Black Sox kept Chicago’s hopes of overtaking them for the lead in the Cum Posey Division alive. The American Giants responded by riding a strong start from Ben Sheets to a 3-1 win over Brooklyn. Joe Jackson hit his 30th homerun of the year to give Chicago the lead, and to pull them within 2 games of Baltimore.

Portland and the New York Gothams combined for 21 runs and 33 hits as the Sea Dogs used 9 runs from the 6th inning on to stage a come from behind 12-9 win. For Portland, Joe Mauer and Buddy Bell had 3 hits each and–who else–Gavvy Cravath delivered a key homerun to give them the lead. For the Gothams, Will Clark had 4 hits and drove in 3 and George Van Haltren, Benny Kauff, and Buster Posey added 3 hits each in the losing effort.

#Other Games

Lefty Grove ran out of steam, missing out on a shutout in his final game of the season. Still, his 8 innings was more than good enough, earning him the victory in the 8-1 triumph over Indianapolis. Grove improved to 14-7 on the year, and finished with a league-leading 207 strikeouts. The Sea Lions’ Rickey Henderson had 3 hits (2 of which were triples, tying the league record) and Jimmie Foxx added 3 hits and 3 RBI’s.

Harry Stovey went deep twice, doubling his total for the year and Roy Oswalt was strong in his final start of the year, finishing at 14-8 as the Colt 45’s thrashed Ottawa, 10-2. Pete Hill had 4 hits and Jim Wynn 3 in the blowout win.

Bill Doak and 3 relievers combined to shutout Los Angeles over 12 innings in a 1-0 victory for Memphis over the Angels. Doak and Tim Wakefield allowed 8 hits over 10 plus innings, and Lance Broadway and Jonathan Papelbon finished it out, with Broadway picking up his 1st WBL career victory and Papelbon his 18th save. Gerrit Cole pitched excellently, allowing 5 hits and whiffing 9 over 8 innings, but finishes the year at 16-9. Sammy Sosa delivered the only RBI of the game in the top of the 12th.

TWIWBL 46.0: Series XXXVIII Notes – September 9th (Day 1 of 4)

By mknn

On August 24, 2023

In Featured Games, Game Recaps, TWIWBL

We’re doing it a bit differently for the final series of the season–TWIWBL will come out each day, focusing on three things:

The battle between the Birmingham Black Sox and the New York Black Yankees for the final playoff spot.
Other games between playoff contenders that might determine final seedings for the postseason.
Any other games or performances of note.

#The Battle for the Final Spot

Philadelphia exploded for 6 runs in the 5th, then held on for dear life to defeat Birmingham, 8-5 for the Black Barons 4th consecutive loss (and the Stars’ first win in 11 games). Scott Rolen, Bobby Abreu, and Aaron Judge delivered RBI singles, then Buck Freeman put the icing on top with his 20th homerun of the year, a 3 run shot to put Philadelphia ahead, 7-0. Bob Nieman and Adrián González went deep late to make it close, but it wasn’t enough.

PHI 8 (Collins 9-12; Howry 25 Sv) @ BBB 5 (Baker 7-6)
HRs: PHI – Freeman (20); BBB – Nieman (15), González (10).
Box Score

The Black Yankees were unable to take advantage, however, as a pinch hit homerun from Tris Speaker gave the Spiders a lead they preserved with solid relief efforts from Stan Bahnsen and Cory Gearrin, including Terry Adams picking up his 37th save. This one hurt, as New York scored 4 in the opening inning, and held a 6-4 lead before Speaker’s shot.

NYY 7 (Citarella 4-8, 6 B Sv) @ CLE 8 (Bahnsen 1-0; Adams 37 Sv; Gearrin 14 H)
HRs: NYY – Belle 16; Gehrig 26; CLE – Stahl (26), Speaker (4).
Box Score

#Playoff Seeding

The New York Gothams sealed their wild card spot with a walk-off, 4-3 victory over Portland. Buster Posey delivered the run scoring single in the bottom of the 9th. Jimmy Sheckard (who led off the game with his 20th homerun), Pinky Higgins, and Brian Dozier each had 2 hits for New York. The game also marked Christy Mathewson‘s final start of the regular season–despite a solid 5 plus innings, Mathewson was not around for the decision, leaving him on 17 wins for the season.

Detroit scored 10 runs in the 7th and 8th inning on their way to an 11-6 victory over the House of David. Ty Cobb extended his lead in the batting average race with a 4 hit day, Ed Bailey and Olmedo Sáenz added 3 hits each, and Cecil Fielder hit the first homerun of his career and drove in 4 in the route.

#Other Games

San Francisco eked out a win in 10 innings over Indianapolis, who wasted a strong 7 innings from Dolf Luque (4 hits, only 1 unearned run). Despite giving up 2 runs in the bottom of the 10th, Rod Beck picked up his 33rd save. The Sea Lions’ Rickey Henderson stole his 96th base, keeping the chase for 100 alive.

Jimmy Wynn hit his 19th homerun of the year, a walk-off blast into the Crawford Boxes as Houston edged Ottawa, 2-1. But the real story of the game was the two starting pitchers, each of whom are coming back from injury. For Houston, Bones Ely pitched 7 shutout innings, allowing only 3 hits while Ottawa saw the long anticipated return of Roy Halladay, who allowed only 4 hits and 0 runs in 6 innings. Neither were around for the decision, with the win going to Jay Howell while Sean O’Sullivan took the loss for the Mounties.

Baltimore went back-to-back-to-back in the 3rd inning with homeruns from Bryce Harper, Frank Robinson, and Curt Blefary in their victory over Kansas City. No real impact on the playoff race, but notable nonetheless.

So we end the day with Baltimore’s magic number down to 1 to clinch the Cum Posey Division and Birmingham’s down to 2 for the final playoff spot.

TWIWBL 45.4: Series XXXVII Notes – Marvin Miller Divison

By mknn

On August 23, 2023

In TWIWBL

#Birmingham Black Barons

The Black Barons recalled P John Malarkey, 1B Nate Colbert, and OFs Andy Pafko and Curt Flood to help in their final playoff push.

#Brooklyn Royal Giants

Lefty Fernando Valenzuela, IF Dickie Thon, and OF Raúl Mondesi were all recalled as Brooklyn chases the final wildcard spot.

3 hits from John Briggs, including his 6th homer of the year weren’t enough as the Royal Giants fell to Memphis, 9-3. The loss officially eliminated Brooklyn from post-season contention, ending a nice late-season surge.

#Miami Cuban Giants

The Cuban Giants went back-to-back twice in a win over Ottawa. First, Yasiel Puig and José Canseco did it in the 8th inning, giving Miami a come from behind lead, then Canseco and Jim Thome did it in the 9th to put the game on ice. Dontrelle Willis, Sandy Consuegra, and Ramón Martínez didn’t allow a run in relief in the 10-4 victory.

#Portland Sea Dogs

Joseíto Muñoz was activated from the DL, with both Atlee Hammaker and Ray Fontenot being sent to AAA. Muñoz takes Mike Cuellar‘s spot in the rotation, and Jerry Blevins was recalled from AAA.

Muñoz was shut down immediately, and will miss time well into next season with elbow surgery. Hammaker was recalled to the active roster.

#San Francisco Sea Lions

With the San Jose Bees season winding down, the Sea Lions made a flurry of moves for the final week or so of the season, promoting Ps Red Ehret, Tommy Bridges and Dennis Eckersley, and IFs Don Money, Keith Ginter and Denny Hocking and activating C Mickey Cochrane from the DL.

Lefty Grove, James Shields, Ron Robinson, and Rod Beck combined on a 2-0 shutout victory for San Francisco. The victory went to Shields, with Robinson picking up his 18th hold and Beck his 31st save.

TWIWBL 45.3: Series XXXVII Notes – Effa Manley Division

By mknn

On August 22, 2023

In TWIWBL

#Cleveland Spiders

Pat Malone tied for the league lead in victories, allowing 1 run in 8 innings as the Spiders topped the Sea Lions 3-1. Malone now stands at 17-8 with Terry Adams picking up his 36th save. Trailing 1-0 in the 8th, Cleveland used Ron Blomberg‘s 43rd homerun of the year to tie the game and Hal Trosky‘s first career shot in the 9th to take the lead.

The Spiders were the first team in the WBL to clinch their division behind a sparkling complete game effort from Bill Steen, who improved to 13-3 and lowered his ERA to 2.93 in the 2-1 victory. Johnny Bates, who had 3 hits on the day, hit a solo homerun in the top of the 9th to seal the victory over San Francisco.

#Homestead Grays

Two solo shots from Andy Van Slyke weren’t enough as the Grays lost 9-6 to the Black Sox. Babe Adams talked his way into a start at DH and promptly went 3-for-4, making an argument for some more playing time when not on the mound for Homestead.

This came out of nowhere: Homestead powered out 19 hits and 15 runs in a 15-3 thrashing of Baltimore. Davey Johnson had 4 hits and little used backup catcher Rick Ferrell had 3 doubles as both he and Kevin Young drove in 3 runs. Adams, energized by his big day at the plate, threw 7 strong innings, improving to 2-3 on the year.

#Indianapolis ABC’s

Willie Mitchell, Clay Carroll, and Rob Dibble combined on a 4-hit shutout (Dibble allowed 2 in the 9th) as the ABC’s topped Philadelphia, 2-0. Mitchell improved to 9-5 and Dibble picked up his 30th save.

With Jake Stenzel sidelined for a few games, Indianapolis sent Chris Hammond to AAA and recalled Bo Diaz to help behind the plate.

#New York Black Yankees

New York got some bad news, as Red Ruffing–14-9 with a respectable 4.05 ERA on the year–will miss about 8 months with damage to his rotator cuff. Youngster Whitey Ford, who had a good year at AAA, was recalled to take Ruffing’s spot.

#Philadelphia Stars

The nightmare of Pete Alexander‘s initial season is over, as the promising-yet-underperforming pitcher will be shut down with an injured right shoulder. Brad Kilby–the closer at AAA all season–was recalled.

J.M. Ward had easily his best day at the plate, going 4-for-4 with his first homerun, but it wasn’t enough as the Stars lost 10-6 to Indianapolis. The game also cost the Stars the services of Roger Peckinpaugh for the rest of the season: quite a shame, as Peckinpaugh was slashing 328/347/493 and making an argument for the starting position next year. Gene DeMontreville was recalled for the final few games.

TWIWBL 45.2: Series XXXVII Notes – Cum Posey Division

By mknn

On August 21, 2023

In TWIWBL

#Houston Colt 45’s

Andrés Galarraga was shut down for the rest of the season with a back injury with Jim O’Rourke rejoining Houston for their final series of the season.

#Kansas City Monarchs

Jim Bottomley, Devin Mesoraco and Merv Rettenmund were all recalled for the final week of the season.

Bob Gibson finally got his first WBL victory, and what a performance it was: a complete game, 7 strikeout shutout of the Gothams. Ted Simmons had 3 hits and scored twice in support of Gibson, whose record improved to 1-6.

#Ottawa Mounties

Rick Monday and Bob Watson were recalled from AAA.

4 hits from Carlos Beltrán and 2 from Watson–giving him 5 in his first 6 WBL at bats–led the Mounties to a 5-2 win over Miami. Bob Moose got the win and Ryan Dempster picked up his 14th save–both of them have a good shot at key roles with Ottawa next season.

Watson’s debut, during which he went 7-14, was cut short with an oblique injury, prompting Ottawa to recall Roy Halladay, ostensibly for a single start to mark his return from significant injury.

TWIWBL 45.1: Series XXXVII Notes – Bill James Division

By mknn

On August 18, 2023

In TWIWBL

#Detroit Wolverines

Gene Conley just keeps rolling: in what might be his last start before the playoffs, Conley improved to 12-6 with a complete game 4 hit shutout of Birmingham. Tony Phillips and Bob Bailey went deep back-to-back in the 6th inning to break up a shutout to fuel the victory.

#New York Gothams

IF Brian Dozier and P Sad Sam Jones were recalled from AAA.

Four hits and 3 RBIs from Pinky Higgins led the way as the Gothams triumphed over Kansas City, 8-6. Benny Kauff added 3 hits and Eugenio Suárez drove in 2 as Don Sutton improved to 4-4 and Brian Wilson picked up his 29th save. With the win, New York clinched a playoff spot, although their seeding is still up for grabs.

#Wandering House of David

2 homeruns from George Stone led the House of David over Houston, 5-2. Bob Rush threw almost 6 scoreless, improving his record to 15-6 and Bruce Sutter picked up his 25th save.

TWIWBL 45.0: Series XXXVII Notes

By mknn

On August 17, 2023

In TWIWBL

September 9th

Pennant Race

And then there were two …

Only one division has been won–the surprise Cleveland Spiders win the Effa Manley Division–but only one postseason spot remains undecided.

That comes down to the Cinderella Birmingham Black Barons and the disappointing New York Black Yankees. Birmingham’s magic number is 3–meaning any combination of 3 wins by the Black Barons or losses by the Black Yankees will seal their improbable run to the playoffs.

The exact order of finish is up in the air, but here are your nine playoff contenders (numbers in bold & italics are that team’s magic number):

Team	Pct	Division	Notes
Baltimore Black Sox	.587	Cum Posey	Clinched playoff; 2
Detroit Wolverines	.567	Bill James	Clinched playoff; 4
Chicago American Giants	.567	Cum Posey	Clinched playoff
Cleveland Spiders	.560	Effa Manley	Clinched division
New York Gothams	.560	Bill James	Clinched playoff
Portland Sea Dogs	.553	Marvin Miller	Clinched playoff; 3
Wandering House of David	.553	Bill James	1 to clinch playoff
Birmingham Black Barons	.540	Marvin Miller	3 to clinch playoff
New York Black Yankees	.527	Effa Manley

The Black Yankees visit Cleveland to end the season. The Spiders will be focused on getting their roster ready for the post season, so that may open the door for New York. But Birmingham hosts the worst team in the WBL, the Philadelphia Stars, so it seems like that would make them the safe bet to progress.

Portland visits the New York Gothams and the House of David hosts Detroit in other playoff preview matchups.

Performance

Four more games, so these are very close to final numbers.

Batters

With the Black Yankees possibly missing the playoffs, the noise for Ron Blomberg‘s MVP campaign just gets louder.

Remember when it looked like Pete Browning would swoop in from injury and win the batting crown? Yeah, Ty Cobb had something to say about that.

Omitted below are Josh Gibson of the Homestead Grays and Alejandro Oms of the Miami Cuban Giants (tied for 2nd in the league in triples with 12) and Tim Raines of the Ottawa Mounties (2nd in steals with 91).

Ron Blomberg (CLE). 337/412/648. 43 HR, 107 R.
Ty Cobb (DET). 349/389/558. 187 H.
Eddie Collins (CAG). 312/408/512. 6.4 WAR.
Mike Fiore (CAG). 240/405/390. 109 BB.
Hank Greenberg (DET). 317/374/591. 45 2B.
Rickey Henderson (SFS). 269/394/357. 95 SB.
Joe Jackson (CAG). 330/412/579. 107 R.
Reggie Jackson (SFS). 319/426/591.
Willie Mays (NYG). 326/389/523. 183 H.
Stan Musial (KCM). 328/393/574. 49 2B.
Doug Rader (LAA). 336/395/539. 183 H, 133 RBI.
Babe Ruth (NYY). 312/428/658. 46 HR, 132 RBI, 122 R, 106 BB, 7.8 WAR.
Louis Santop (CLE). 299/329/457. 14 3B.

Some milestones possible in the final series:

Musial needs one double to reach 50; Elrod Hendricks (HOD) needs two homeruns to join Ruth and Blomberg in the 40+ club; Rick Reichardt and Mike Trout (Homestead and the Los Angeles Angels, respectively) sit at 98 RBIs; six players have between 96 and 99 runs scored; and Frank Thomas (CAG) needs one walk to reach triple digits.

Pitchers

Starters

It’s unclear if Cleveland’s Pat Malone or the Gothams’ Christy Mathewson will get another start in the regular season: if they do, they’ll be aiming to become the WBL’s first 18 game winners.

Gerrit Cole (LAA). 16-9, 4.33.
Lefty Grove (SFS). 13-7, 3.55. 199 K.
Ron Guidry (NYY). 8-12, 4.35. 188 K.
Pat Malone (CLE). 17-8, 3.84. 5.0 WAR.
Christy Mathewson (NYG). 17-8, 3.51. 205 IP.
Stubby Overmire (HOU/MEM). 9-7, 3.31.
Alejandro Peña (BBB). 12-9, 3.86. 3.52 FIP.
Andy Pettitte (KCM/BBB). 15-5, 3.20.
Eddie Plank (SFS). 12-7, 3.87. 3.47 FIP.
Charlie Root (SFS/DET). 10-6, 3.53. 1.06 WHIP.
Jack Taylor (HOD). 15-9, 3.38. 1.14 WHIP.
Cy Young (CLE). 11-10, 4.36. 204 IP, 5.0 WAR.

Overmire needs a few more innings to finish the year qualifying for the ERA title. Cleveland’s Stan Coveleski and Detroit’s Hal Newhouser are the other starters with ERAs under 4.00 who could qualify with 1 more start, although in Newhouser’s case, it would take a complete game. Detroit’s Gene Conley (3.28) and Cleveland’s Bill Steen (a potentially league-leading 2.93) will miss the cutoff, although each are likely to see starts in the postseason.

Relievers

Check out the trio from the New York Gothams bullpen.

Terry Adams (CLE). 2-6, 2.76. 36 Sv, 1 H.
Clay Carroll (IND). 2-6, 4.14. 3 Sv, 11 H. 64 G.
Mike Henneman (DET). 2-7, 4.70. 37 Sv.
Sean Marshall (BAL). 5-0, 1.79. 2 Sv, 8 H, 0.98 WHIP.
AJ Minter (CAG). 1-0, 2.72. 29 Sv. 2.90 FIP.
Buddy Napier (DET). 101, 2.75. 2 Sv, 8 H, 0.97 WHIP.
Mike Norris (NYG). 4-4, 1.52. 8 Sv, 15 H.
Ron Reed (PHI/CLE). 0-6, 4.56. 3 Sv, 17 H. 64 G.
Carson Smith (NYG). 2-0, 1.77. 1 Sv, 10 H.
Brian Wilson (NYG). 1-0, 1.96. 29 Sv, 1 H. 2.63 FIP.

Streaks

Not a lot going on here, other than Mike Trout‘s 33 game streak of reaching base.

Series XXXVII Results

Series XXVII Sweeps

Wandering House of David over Houston Colt 45’s
Indianapolis ABC’s over Philadelphia

Taking 3 out of 4 in Series XXXVII

Detroit over Birmingham
Memphis over Brooklyn
Portland over Chicago

Series Splits in Series XXXVII

Los Angeles @ New York Black Yankees
New York Gothams @ Kansas City Monarchs
Baltimore @ Homestead
Miami @ Ottawa Mounties
Cleveland @ San Francisco Sea Lions

TWIWBL 44.4: Series XXXVI Notes – Marvin Miller Division

By mknn

On August 11, 2023

In TWIWBL

#Birmingham Black Barons

4 hits from Curtis Granderson and Eddie Mathews‘ 24th homer of the year weren’t enough as the Black Barons fell to Houston, 4-3.

In the series finale, Bob Nieman, Hank Aaron, and Jim Pagliaroni had 3 hits and Nieman, Pagliaroni, and Adrián González all went deep as the Black Barons beat Houston, 10-6.

OF Ray Powell retired from AA.

#Miami Cuban Giants

Trying to pick which arm to demote to make room for Freddie Fitzsimmons‘ return from the DL is a bit rough for Miami: virtually everyone is struggling. But the final choice was Braden Looper–declared closer only a few weeks ago, but sporting a 7.31 ERA since then.

The challenge for the Cuban Giants as the season winds down is to spread around enough innings and plate appearances to get some more information on the quality of talent on their roster. It may be bleak.

Fitzsimmons, however: not bleak. The recent acquisition made his first start for Miami and turned in a complete game, 3 hit shutout of the House of David. The Cuban Giants pounded out 5 homeruns, with Smoky Burgess launching the first 2 of his career and Ryan Braun, Robin Yount, and also launching longballs.

Yasiel Puig is hitting over .500 with Miami. 3 more hits, including his first 2 homeruns for the Cuban Giants weren’t enough in an 8-6 loss to the House of David.

#Portland Sea Dogs

Pascual Pérez has returned to the rotation, meaning both Wade Miller and Jerry Koosman look to finish the year out of the bullpen for the Sea Dogs.

#San Francisco Sea Lions

As the AA season closed, 3B Ken Caminiti and OF Coco Crisp announced their retirement.

TWIWBL 44.3: Series XXXVI Notes – Effa Manley Division

By mknn

On August 10, 2023

In TWIWBL

#Cleveland Spiders

It was a series of great starting pitching for the Spiders as they cruise towards the postseason.

Bill Steen was fantastic, twirling a 4-hit shutout (with 2 of those coming in the 9th) in a 6-0 win over Philadelphia. Steen struck out 9 and improved his record to 12-3 while lowering his ERA to 3.06. Steen doesn’t qualify for the ERA title, but may get enough innings over the final weeks of the season to sneak into the running despite his time on the DL earlier in the season. Sammy Strang, Jake Stahl, and Louis Santop had 2 hits each for Cleveland, with Strang driving in 2.

Pat Malone wasn’t great, but he was good enough to earn his 16th victory in a 7-4 victory. Ron Blomberg had 4 hits, including his 41st homerun, and Tris Speaker and Jake Stahl also went deep, with Terry Adams picking up his 35th save.

Mel Harder was magnificent, tossing a complete game 3-hit shutout to improve his record to 6-2 on the season in a 6-0 win over the Stars. Speaker had 3 hits and John Ellis drove in 2.

#Homestead Grays

With the AA season winding down, Ps Rip Sewell and Roy Face and OF Ducky Holmes all announced their retirement.

#New York Black Yankees

40 year old P Elon Hogsett announced his retirement from AA.

#Philadelphia Stars

36 year old C Kelly Stinnett retired from AA.