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The Islandian Times
March 3, 2004
Crystal Lake Crushers Face Another Long Season In RU South
Last year the Crystal Lake Crushers (65-89) languished in last place and trailed the RU South champ St. John by 24 games. The previous season the Crushers (72-82) were seventh, 13 games behind Valka, which won the division crown.
Crystal Lake's manager Herman "Baby" George, the legendary home run hitter of the industrial league, has taken drastic measures by totally revamping his roster. George has four new pitchers and five new position players. A total of nine newcomers.
George told BNN, "Everybody on this roster will get a chance to show his stuff. Hopefully I'll end up with 8 good regulars and a few good arms on the mound. This year has got to be better than last year."
The baseball experts were not impressed with the changes and have projected the Crushers to finish in the cellar again. The general consensus is that Crystal Lake has very few players who could start on other teams except for pitchers Duhon and Orantes.
Best Pitchers: LHP Al Duhon (10-7 3.35), Bill Ehrhardt (11-17 3.98), Antoine Strawzer (7-6 3.22) and closer Pablo Orantes (8-4 2.81) with 16 saves in 71 appearances
Top Hitters: LF Ben Butler (.242/30 HR/94 RBI) and 1B Johnny James (.281 BA/23 HR/83 RBI)
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