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Old 07-13-2009, 11:00 PM   #1120
Eugene Church
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The Islandian Times

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Ruthlandian Union South 2004 Final Standings

Sunbirds Hold Off Diamonds For RU South Crown
The Claxton Diamonds (87-67) made a valiant charge, but came up 3 games short in their quest to take the Tycobbian Union South flag away from the Belair Beach Sunbirds (90-64).

Marty Pedroza's Sunbirds are class of the division with the best batting average (.266) and the best ERA (2.96). His mound staff has been superb with no weak links at all. Belair Beach has nine pitchers that can get batters out, led by starters Tiny Lindgren (19-11 2.67), Ray Watson (17-10 2.71), Slim Mosley (18-8 3.01), Terry Christian (15-13 3.09) and Jed Mitchell (11-5 3.47). Pedroza's closer Johnny Spears (6-10 2.45) has registered 25 saves and worked 72 games. Mitchell, the spot starter and long reliever, has also chalked up 7 saves.

Offensively, Belair Beach is spearheaded by its wonderful 1B Phil Gravelli (.356/35 HR/120 RBI/94) and the free-swinging LF Nicky Swift (.249/26 HR/76 RBI/96 R). Pedroza added in 3B Mike Janocko at mid-year and he gave their offense quite a lift with 14 homers and 52 RBIs, while compiling a .297 batting average.

Nobody really wanted to win the RU South as only Belair Beach and Claxton played .500 ball the last three weeks of the season. Valka and San Dimas killed their chances by their poor play in the closing weeks.

Stacy Engel, the Old Perfesser, got the Claxton crew to cranking in the second half of the year. He told BNN, "We came close, but this is baseball, not horseshoes. Close don't cut it. But what the hey, we made the playoffs and still can win the whole shebang."

The Diamonds are right on par with the Sunbirds rotation with a brilliant 3.05 team ERA (2nd). Claxton's Teddy Kuznetsov (21-8 2.43), Doug Torvik (18-12 2.98), Sal Tallis (17-12 3.08) and Tetsunori Nakashima (16-12 3.55) can match the talented Sunbird twirlers. Toss in closer Tom Dahl (5-4 2.07) with 14 saves and 59 relief assignments and you've got as strong a staff as anyone.

The Diamonds run into problems matching Belair Beach with the bats. Claxton is hitting only .250 as a team. Engel doesn't have the hitters Pedroza possesses. LF Dixie Baker (.252/25 HR/77 RBI/86 R) is his only deep threat. Rookie Jackie Faust (.295/17 HR/58 RBI/104 R) has done very well from the lead-off spot. Engel said it is very likely he will drop in the order in the playoffs to get more opportunities with runners on base. Claxton top hitter average-wise is 2B Bobby Ritter (.312/13 HR/69 RBI/74 R).

Valka (82-72), the early leader, had a good month, then a bad month, going through the season that way. ending up in third place, 8 games off the pace. Manager Jaan Kurus said, "We had rotating hot-and-cold spells throughout the season. You can do that and expect to win the pennant." The Blackhawks had good pitching with a 3.36 team ERA (3rd), but only hit .255 with only 72 home runs (8th). Kurus told BNN, "You can't win if you don't hit and we simply don't hit. You're in trouble when your power guys hit 13 and 12 homers for the season. You can win with pitching and home runs. One without the other and you don't win."

The Blackhawks sport a good threesome in pitchers Daryl Vannoy (16-11 2.53), Bobby Karu (18-16 3.06) and Andrei Kokk (14-11 3.53). Valka also has a gifted closer in Tom Ruffin (8-8 1.96) with 26 saves and 66 game appearances. But Kurus' pitching can't stand up against Belair Beach and Claxton. And his hitting can't, either. The Blackhawks best batters are RF Jimmy Tremayne (.299/9 HR/68 RBI), CF Kyell Ibbotson (.296/7 HR/68 RBI) and SS Villem Kask (.282/1 59 RBI).

The San Dimas Rancheros (80-74) combined good pitching with home runs and ended up fourth in the RU South standings, 10 games back of Belair Beach. Skipper Paco Banderas said, "We just didn't quite have enough good pitching and didn't go deep quite often enough."

The Rancheros batted .250 with 138 roundtrippers (1st), powered by RF Goose Garlin (.269/36 HR/96 RBI), 1B Johnny Carducci (.275/34 HR/88 RBI/100 R), 3B Domingo Rios (.257/19 HR/76 RBI/89 R), rookie CF Dennis Jones (.316/7 HR/67 RBI/86 R/58 SB), LF Loyd Chance (.260/14 HR/63 RBI) in 108 games and C John Wesley Ewing (.257/11 HR/84 RBI).

San Dimas had a steady and consistent rotation that sparkled at times with the likes of Bill Sharp (20-12 3.85), Keith Callahan (16-14 2.89), Zippy Hodge (11-9 3.17), Shane Rymer (12-11 3.18) and Lowell Wall (13-11 3.75). One vital element missing in the Rancheros equation was a strong closer. Wayne Mallard (2-7 3.76) was only adequate with 15 saves in 59 relief assignments.

Coming in fifth in the RU South were the preseason favorite and defending division champion, the very disappointing St. John Crusaders (70-84). After a terrible first half, Dickie Billings' ball club actually turned it around in the second half and played well with a fine 43-32 mark. Still St. John finished the season hitting only .251 with 93 homers (7th) and a 3.88 team ERA (6th).

The Crusaders only bright spots were pitchers Sterling Eccles (17-12 3.49) and Zach Simon (17-14 3.68). As far as hitting there were no bright spots except for Wayne Slaughter (.302/2 HR/37 RBI/50 R) in 82 games, CF Marty Sedlin (.292/6 HR/33 RBI/37 R) in 81 games and LF Gerry Carmody (.329/1 28 RBI) in 38 games. All of them became regulars in the second half of the season. The best regulars, 1B Frankie Faber (.260/19 HR/81), RF Kenny Hatcher (.258/21 HR/65 RBI) and SS Jerry Pontros (.260/12 HR/73 RBI), came nowhere near their 2003 stats.

Grand City (64-90), Waleska (61-93) and Crystal Lake (60-94) all had lousy seasons, ranking with the worst teams in the IPA. Basically, they all suffered dearly from a lack of scoring, with all of them batting under .250. None of them had much pitching, either. No hitting plus no pitching usually equals a poor and pathetic season.

The Grand City Cybercats were led by pitcher Shane Hall, who was 17-17 with a good 3.13 ERA. Longballers 2B Tony Borcellino (.250/29 HR/102 RBI) and RF Teddy Giacone (.251/30 HR/84 RBI) didn't hit much for average, but they did drive in runs.

The Waleska Westerners were another very downtrodden team. They were picked to finish third by the BNN preseason poll. Only two veterans Smokey Joe Carter and LF Big Hoss Burkhalter put up good seasons. Carter was 16-15 with a 3.08 ERA and Burkhalter did himself proud with 30 roundtrippers, 100 RBIs and a .277 batting average.

Crystal Lake Manager Herman "Baby" George had another terrible season in the IPA and ended up in the cellar again, but he did find him several good players to begin 2005. At the All-Star Game George began platooning almost everybody he could and got some good results from 3B Nelson Tolliver (.312/10 HR/32 RBI) in 78 games, RF Derren Prince (.302/4 HR/19 RBI) in 42 games and CF Geoff Hunter (.299/6 HR/26 RBI) in 66 games.

The only productive regular was LF Ben Butler, who walloped 30 homers and drove in 90 runs, while hitting just .244 for average.

Last edited by Eugene Church; 07-30-2009 at 04:29 PM.
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