[Elendil]

Originally Posted by Purple Cowboy

Poor Panners... it would be heartbreaking to see them go under. Perhaps a crazed Russian billionaire could take them over and dump buckets of cash at the club?

Heh, heh... I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet. For now, I'm letting them sink or swim. It would be a very tough decision to get rid of one of the original amateur ABL teams.


May-June 2013

As of June 9, there were some surprises in both divisions. The Peninsula Oilers had a surprise lead in the Seward Division, owning the best record in the league at 24-13. How were they doing it? Well, they were getting outstanding performances from two veteran pitchers. Mike Rancourt was 7-1 with a 2.30 ERA, while Bryan Kendall was 6-2 with a 2.74 ERA. Veteran outfielder Dave Bonnar, the former outfield partner of Tom Robbins on the Glacier Pilots, was having the best year of his career so far, with a .394 batting average and .477 OBP!

The Oilers also didn't shed too many tears over Chugiak's injury problems. The Jets lost top starter Ryan Dye for an entire calendar year due to a ruptured disc in his back that would require disc replacement surgery and extensive rehabilitation. Their best hitter, Phil Botfield, was also out for a few weeks with back trouble. Chugiak stood 2.5 games behind the Oilers at 20-14.

In the Denali Division, the slugging Mat-Su Miners held a slim lead over their rivals with a record standing at 21-14. The Yukoners were just behind them at 21-16, with Juneau, North Pole, and Sitka bunched just behind. Fairbanks had the worst record in the league (11-23), no surprises there.

This season was shaping up to be a hitters' year. So far the league average was .269, while league BABIP stood at a rather high .292. There were several explanations for the offensive trend of the past two years. Perhaps the most important was the recent influx of talent from the Lower 48, which had been concentrated among position players. Another was that recent draft classes had been light on defense, and many of the hitting stars of the league were really not very good defensively. Some of the veteran players had deteriorated a little defensively over time. On the other hand, catchers were apparently stronger than ever, as league runners thrown out percentage was standing at 37.5%.

One of the saddest stories of the league's history happened this month. Walt MacKay, a native of Soldotna, came up to the Whitehorse Yukoners in late May and threw a shutout in his first career start on May 27, blanking the Goldpanners on six hits. His next start was four days later in Kenai. He struggled through four innings, giving up four runs, and he must have been over-pitching in an attempt to get his team back on track. At any rate, he had to come out of the game after feeling a burning sensation near the top of the shoulder. It turned out that MacKay had ruptured a bicep tendon. For all intents and purposes, his career was done.

Still just 21 years old, MacKay put a brave face on it. Now he could go back to college, finish a degree, and get a "real job" that paid the bills. But whatever baseball dreams he may have had after his Alaskan League debut were finished forever.