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Eugene Church · 09-21-2009, 06:13 PM

The Islandian Times

Tuesday, June 25, 2005

5-Team Battle In TU West, DC Redbirds Lead at Halfway Mark
In the BNN Preseason Poll it was supposed to be just a two-team race in the Tycobbian Union West, but it has turned into a five-team tussle. At the season's halfway mark Denton City has a three-game lead over number two Bayview.

The Vikings were favored to be on top in the poll, but so far the Redbirds have prevailed. Bay St. Clair has done better than expected and in third place, trailing by just four games. Kenwood, rated worst in the division, has proven the experts wrong and is a surprising fourth in the standings, just five games off the pace. The Arlon Champions are fifth, only six games behind. It has been a tough year for three teams that were picked to finish higher. Instead of three, four and five, La Claire is last, Rolling Hills sixth and Chicopee seventh.

Ford Whiteman is in charge of Denton City (43-30) and over the past four years the club has improved from seventh, to third, second and now the top spot in the TU West. This season the Redbirds have used their bats to surpass the vaunted Bayview Vikings. Denton City has smashed 89 homers (1st), hit .282 (2nd) and scored 370 times (3rd). The Redbirds have also compiled a 3.79 ERA (3rd) to go with their strong offense.

The Redbirds boast a fearsome line-up consisting of All-Star CF Paul Coniglio (.322/19 HR/61 RBI/54 R/12 SB), LF Danny Nash (.382/12 HR/50 RBI), 1B Rod MacCormack (.325/13 HR/45 RBI/52 R/10 SB), RF Lavon Gooch (.315/14 HR/42 RBI/44 R/12 SB) and 3B Jay Petit (.294/13 HR/45 RBI/46 R).

Denton City's pitching corps was its main strength at the beginning of the season, but most of his starting rotation have struggled with off-years. Whiteman could use a couple more starters, but thus far he has gotten by with All-Star Gino Carmazzo (11-3 3.35), some solid middle relievers and Bubba Lear (4-3 3.28), his closer. Lear has chalked up 11 saves in his 34 appearances.

The Bayview Vikings (40-33) are in the same boat as Denton City. Manager Walter Johanssen has had to depend on his hitters this season. His mound staff has fizzled and flopped with a sky-high 4.42 ERA (8th). 20-game winning Jerry Harrison has slipped to 7-9 and seen his ERA soar to 4.81. Johanssen's number three starter Georgie Fambreau is 8-5, but with a dreadful 5.05 ERA. Of his big three only Frank Wells (9-5 3.62) has been effective. However, there is one positive addition to the rotation this year. Rookie closer Josh Glover has excelled and even made the All-Star team with a 4-3 record, impressive 2.17 ERA and 13 saves in 36 games.

Fortunately the Bayview batters have saved the season with a monstrous .285 average (1st), 399 runs (1st) and 76 home runs (2nd). The Viking batting order is imposing with three All-Stars: All-Star 2B Alan Hansen (.397/2 HR/44 RBI/57 R/20 SB), All-Star CF Wayne Latham (.343/13 HR/42 RBI/48 R/17 SB) and C Hank Bethel (.281/12 HR/42 RBI). Add five more solid hitters and opposing teams have a lot more than they can handle: LF Karl Yashin (.278/14 HR/41 RBI), 3B James Scott (.293/9 HR/39 RBI), RF Phil Kanaan (.282/6 HR/42 RBI/46 R/15 SB), 1B Chancey Quibedeaux (.272/8 HR/39 RBI/46 R) and SS Shorty Richards (.280/6 HR/35 RBI/43 R).

The TU West regular season title will go to the team that comes up with better pitching over the final half of the year. Denton City is going with the same pitchers, while Bayview has chosen to bring in three rookies to solve the pitching woes. The Redbirds skipper Ford Whiteman has dropped two veteran starters from the rotation and inserted three freshmen as spot starters. The Viks manager Walter Johanssen will use one rookie as a spot starter and the other two in long relief. It doesn't appear that any of the other clubs in the division can challenge the top two teams. They simply don't have the offense to compete with them.

Guy Rondre and the Bay St. Clair Buccaneers (39-34) have beaten the oddmakers this season thus far by rising up to the third spot in the standings after being slotted for sixth place in the preseason BNN poll. The Bucs are hanging around just four games back of the first place Redbirds and just a game behind the second place Vikings.

Bay St. Clair gets by on the strength of two quality starters in All-Star Denny Coulon (10-7 2.67) and Duncan McFalls (9-3 3.90). They give Rondre a chance to win every series they play. The Bucs bullpen is also in good hands with All-Star closer Norm Gross (3-1 2.39), who has piled up 15 saves in 30 appearances. But overall Rondre's pitchers sport a so-so 3.95 ERA (6th).

Run support is hard to come by. The Buccaneers are batting .259 (4th) and are rated fifth and sixth in homers (59) and runs (307). All-Star 3B Ed Albrecht (.297/9 HR/37 RBI/37 R), rookie 1B Gerry Fields (.310/16 HR/48 RBI/43 R) and LF Stan Denton (.294/2 HR/28 RBI/38 R) are Rondre's few run producers.

The perennial cellar-dwelling also-ran Kenwood Wildcats (38-35) have dumbfounded the experts with their play this season. Forecast to finish last, Manager Aaron Hankins has them in fourth place, only five games back. The Wildcats attack can score runs. They are batting only .257 (6th) and are last in long balls (53), but have racked up 157 doubles (1st) and 382 runs (2nd). Kenwood is the only team that might have a chance at the playoffs other than Denton City and Bayview. The Wildcats can rival them on the scoreboard. Kenwood also is second with a 3.68 ERA, certainly another plus in the pennant chase. The Wildcats should end up at least third in the TU West.

Hankins has some very capable players in All-Star LF Aydan Winthrop (.302/17 HR/59 RBI/50 R), rookie 1B Russ Honor (.249/10 HR/54 RBI/44 R), 2B Xavier Rocha (.282/4 HR/35 RBI/43 R) and rookie CF Dayton Walker, who is hitting a very lofty .383 in 48 starts this year. Hankins has just installed him full-time in center. On the hill Kenwood has a good group of starters in Johnny McBee (8-5 3.06), Pedro Acosta (6-4 2.92), Kris Angelico (6-1 3.33) and Antonio Garafalo (8-7 3.99).

The Arlon Champions (37-36) under the leadership of Gary Louis are in the fifth spot in the standings and still in the chase for the postseason as they trail Denton City by just six games at the All-Star interlude. The Champs are sparked by pitchers Connie Gavagan (8-3 2.88) and Kurt DeHaan (7-6 3.07). The Arlon staff has registered a 3.86 ERA (4th). Batting-wise they don't hit for a high average, only .256 (7th), but they can score runs. The Champions are third in dingers with 73 and fourth with 359 runs.

Louis' line-up is led by CF Steve Barnett (.323/10 HR/43 RBI/43 R), rookie LF Rocco Belasario (.283/13 HR/42 RBI/53 R/18 SB), LF Matt Merrill (.260/12 HR/46 RBI/42 R) and 1B Jay Dunbar (.255/11 HR/42 RBI/49 R).

Rolling Hills Manager Matty Christianson was optimistic going into the 2005 season thinking his Reds were on the uptake, but it hasn't panned out that way. His club is 10 games out and in sixth place. Baseball analysts selected them fourth in the preseason poll. Rolling Hills (33-40) is just a little less than average in most respects with a 3.95 ERA (5th), .259 BA (4th-tied) with 58 homers (6th) and 310 runs scored (5th).

Christianson has steady starters in Roger Davidson (8-10 3.17), Logan Atwell (4-5 3.00), Peter Brenneman (4-4 2.89) and Keith Greenwood (7-10 3.86), but not much in middle relief. Rolling Hills has an adequate closer in Shane Hooper (3-1 3.24), who has delivered 12 saves and been in 35 games. The Reds just don't render enough run support. Christianson's best batters are RF Theron Latigo (.266/14 HR/36 RBI/45 R) and LF Willie Mays Nixon (.264/13 HR/35 RBI) with some help lately from rookie CF Bob Havilland (.313/6 HR/24 RBI/17 R), who has started just 29 games. Rolling Hills just doesn't have the offense to compete with the big boys in the TU West.

Unless they turn it around soon, the seventh-place Chicopee Braves (32-41) and skipper Harry Fleetfoot are going to have to endure a fifth season of never making the postseason. At the mid-year mark the Braves are 11 games back. Fleetfoot has revamped his pitching corps with four newcomers, all of whom will be starters and spot starters. Thus far this season Chicopee has compiled a mediocre 4.23 ERA (7th). On the offensive side of the ledger sheet the Braves have a .260 BA (3rd) with 63 home runs (4th), but have scored only 305 runs (7th). Fleetfoot could certainly stand some improvement here, too.

Chicopee only has one proven starter in Johnny Falcon (8-6 3.68). Wayne Blackwell (8-2 3.57) has been effective in long relief and will now get a chance at starting. The best Fleetfoot can summon up in the hitting department are 2B Ben McClendon (.339/5 HR/32 RBI), 3B Wild Deer Etchimin (.300/8 HR/40 RBI) and 1B Big Charlie Hansa (.267/12 HR/34 RBI). The outlook is not good for the Braves. It may be tough to hold on to seventh place.

Rip Calkin in La Claire (31-42) has always had decent pitching, but always fell way short in offense. Last year the Lynx led the TU West with a 3.16 ERA and wound up third in the standings. On that basis they were chosen third in the BNN preseason balloting - but it hasn't worked out that way - Calkin's crew is situated way back in the basement, 12 games behind in the race. Blame it on too much overall offense in the league this season. La Claire is still on top in ERA, but it has climbed up to 3.61 because of the influx of talented hitters this year. The only problem is the Lynx didn't get any of the them. La Claire is batting only .250 (8th), hit only 54 roundtrippers (7th) and scored only 297 times (8th). Not good when the .264 is the league average.

Calkin still has a solid core of hurlers in Andy Murray (6-7 2.98), Nikon Danos (6-3 3.24), Munoto Kishata (5-9 3.79) and Jim Melanakos (7-11 3.92). But what a difference a year makes - Melanakos was a 23-game winner and Kishata won 18 games. It's not likely they will come close to that this season.

Batting-wise La Claire has an outstanding All-Star CF in Lucky Collins (.335/10 HR/48 RBI/53 R), but he doesn't get much support. Rookie LF Zeppy Deshotel (.286/12 HR/48 R) and first-year RF Benny Gibbs (.307/5 HR/20 R/43) have helped some, but more is needed for the Lynx to contend with the top teams in the division.

09-21-2009, 06:13 PM	#1216
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,956	The Islandian Times Tuesday, June 25, 2005 5-Team Battle In TU West, DC Redbirds Lead at Halfway Mark In the BNN Preseason Poll it was supposed to be just a two-team race in the Tycobbian Union West, but it has turned into a five-team tussle. At the season's halfway mark Denton City has a three-game lead over number two Bayview. The Vikings were favored to be on top in the poll, but so far the Redbirds have prevailed. Bay St. Clair has done better than expected and in third place, trailing by just four games. Kenwood, rated worst in the division, has proven the experts wrong and is a surprising fourth in the standings, just five games off the pace. The Arlon Champions are fifth, only six games behind. It has been a tough year for three teams that were picked to finish higher. Instead of three, four and five, La Claire is last, Rolling Hills sixth and Chicopee seventh. Ford Whiteman is in charge of Denton City (43-30) and over the past four years the club has improved from seventh, to third, second and now the top spot in the TU West. This season the Redbirds have used their bats to surpass the vaunted Bayview Vikings. Denton City has smashed 89 homers (1st), hit .282 (2nd) and scored 370 times (3rd). The Redbirds have also compiled a 3.79 ERA (3rd) to go with their strong offense. The Redbirds boast a fearsome line-up consisting of All-Star CF Paul Coniglio (.322/19 HR/61 RBI/54 R/12 SB), LF Danny Nash (.382/12 HR/50 RBI), 1B Rod MacCormack (.325/13 HR/45 RBI/52 R/10 SB), RF Lavon Gooch (.315/14 HR/42 RBI/44 R/12 SB) and 3B Jay Petit (.294/13 HR/45 RBI/46 R). Denton City's pitching corps was its main strength at the beginning of the season, but most of his starting rotation have struggled with off-years. Whiteman could use a couple more starters, but thus far he has gotten by with All-Star Gino Carmazzo (11-3 3.35), some solid middle relievers and Bubba Lear (4-3 3.28), his closer. Lear has chalked up 11 saves in his 34 appearances. The Bayview Vikings (40-33) are in the same boat as Denton City. Manager Walter Johanssen has had to depend on his hitters this season. His mound staff has fizzled and flopped with a sky-high 4.42 ERA (8th). 20-game winning Jerry Harrison has slipped to 7-9 and seen his ERA soar to 4.81. Johanssen's number three starter Georgie Fambreau is 8-5, but with a dreadful 5.05 ERA. Of his big three only Frank Wells (9-5 3.62) has been effective. However, there is one positive addition to the rotation this year. Rookie closer Josh Glover has excelled and even made the All-Star team with a 4-3 record, impressive 2.17 ERA and 13 saves in 36 games. Fortunately the Bayview batters have saved the season with a monstrous .285 average (1st), 399 runs (1st) and 76 home runs (2nd). The Viking batting order is imposing with three All-Stars: All-Star 2B Alan Hansen (.397/2 HR/44 RBI/57 R/20 SB), All-Star CF Wayne Latham (.343/13 HR/42 RBI/48 R/17 SB) and C Hank Bethel (.281/12 HR/42 RBI). Add five more solid hitters and opposing teams have a lot more than they can handle: LF Karl Yashin (.278/14 HR/41 RBI), 3B James Scott (.293/9 HR/39 RBI), RF Phil Kanaan (.282/6 HR/42 RBI/46 R/15 SB), 1B Chancey Quibedeaux (.272/8 HR/39 RBI/46 R) and SS Shorty Richards (.280/6 HR/35 RBI/43 R). The TU West regular season title will go to the team that comes up with better pitching over the final half of the year. Denton City is going with the same pitchers, while Bayview has chosen to bring in three rookies to solve the pitching woes. The Redbirds skipper Ford Whiteman has dropped two veteran starters from the rotation and inserted three freshmen as spot starters. The Viks manager Walter Johanssen will use one rookie as a spot starter and the other two in long relief. It doesn't appear that any of the other clubs in the division can challenge the top two teams. They simply don't have the offense to compete with them. Guy Rondre and the Bay St. Clair Buccaneers (39-34) have beaten the oddmakers this season thus far by rising up to the third spot in the standings after being slotted for sixth place in the preseason BNN poll. The Bucs are hanging around just four games back of the first place Redbirds and just a game behind the second place Vikings. Bay St. Clair gets by on the strength of two quality starters in All-Star Denny Coulon (10-7 2.67) and Duncan McFalls (9-3 3.90). They give Rondre a chance to win every series they play. The Bucs bullpen is also in good hands with All-Star closer Norm Gross (3-1 2.39), who has piled up 15 saves in 30 appearances. But overall Rondre's pitchers sport a so-so 3.95 ERA (6th). Run support is hard to come by. The Buccaneers are batting .259 (4th) and are rated fifth and sixth in homers (59) and runs (307). All-Star 3B Ed Albrecht (.297/9 HR/37 RBI/37 R), rookie 1B Gerry Fields (.310/16 HR/48 RBI/43 R) and LF Stan Denton (.294/2 HR/28 RBI/38 R) are Rondre's few run producers. The perennial cellar-dwelling also-ran Kenwood Wildcats (38-35) have dumbfounded the experts with their play this season. Forecast to finish last, Manager Aaron Hankins has them in fourth place, only five games back. The Wildcats attack can score runs. They are batting only .257 (6th) and are last in long balls (53), but have racked up 157 doubles (1st) and 382 runs (2nd). Kenwood is the only team that might have a chance at the playoffs other than Denton City and Bayview. The Wildcats can rival them on the scoreboard. Kenwood also is second with a 3.68 ERA, certainly another plus in the pennant chase. The Wildcats should end up at least third in the TU West. Hankins has some very capable players in All-Star LF Aydan Winthrop (.302/17 HR/59 RBI/50 R), rookie 1B Russ Honor (.249/10 HR/54 RBI/44 R), 2B Xavier Rocha (.282/4 HR/35 RBI/43 R) and rookie CF Dayton Walker, who is hitting a very lofty .383 in 48 starts this year. Hankins has just installed him full-time in center. On the hill Kenwood has a good group of starters in Johnny McBee (8-5 3.06), Pedro Acosta (6-4 2.92), Kris Angelico (6-1 3.33) and Antonio Garafalo (8-7 3.99). The Arlon Champions (37-36) under the leadership of Gary Louis are in the fifth spot in the standings and still in the chase for the postseason as they trail Denton City by just six games at the All-Star interlude. The Champs are sparked by pitchers Connie Gavagan (8-3 2.88) and Kurt DeHaan (7-6 3.07). The Arlon staff has registered a 3.86 ERA (4th). Batting-wise they don't hit for a high average, only .256 (7th), but they can score runs. The Champions are third in dingers with 73 and fourth with 359 runs. Louis' line-up is led by CF Steve Barnett (.323/10 HR/43 RBI/43 R), rookie LF Rocco Belasario (.283/13 HR/42 RBI/53 R/18 SB), LF Matt Merrill (.260/12 HR/46 RBI/42 R) and 1B Jay Dunbar (.255/11 HR/42 RBI/49 R). Rolling Hills Manager Matty Christianson was optimistic going into the 2005 season thinking his Reds were on the uptake, but it hasn't panned out that way. His club is 10 games out and in sixth place. Baseball analysts selected them fourth in the preseason poll. Rolling Hills (33-40) is just a little less than average in most respects with a 3.95 ERA (5th), .259 BA (4th-tied) with 58 homers (6th) and 310 runs scored (5th). Christianson has steady starters in Roger Davidson (8-10 3.17), Logan Atwell (4-5 3.00), Peter Brenneman (4-4 2.89) and Keith Greenwood (7-10 3.86), but not much in middle relief. Rolling Hills has an adequate closer in Shane Hooper (3-1 3.24), who has delivered 12 saves and been in 35 games. The Reds just don't render enough run support. Christianson's best batters are RF Theron Latigo (.266/14 HR/36 RBI/45 R) and LF Willie Mays Nixon (.264/13 HR/35 RBI) with some help lately from rookie CF Bob Havilland (.313/6 HR/24 RBI/17 R), who has started just 29 games. Rolling Hills just doesn't have the offense to compete with the big boys in the TU West. Unless they turn it around soon, the seventh-place Chicopee Braves (32-41) and skipper Harry Fleetfoot are going to have to endure a fifth season of never making the postseason. At the mid-year mark the Braves are 11 games back. Fleetfoot has revamped his pitching corps with four newcomers, all of whom will be starters and spot starters. Thus far this season Chicopee has compiled a mediocre 4.23 ERA (7th). On the offensive side of the ledger sheet the Braves have a .260 BA (3rd) with 63 home runs (4th), but have scored only 305 runs (7th). Fleetfoot could certainly stand some improvement here, too. Chicopee only has one proven starter in Johnny Falcon (8-6 3.68). Wayne Blackwell (8-2 3.57) has been effective in long relief and will now get a chance at starting. The best Fleetfoot can summon up in the hitting department are 2B Ben McClendon (.339/5 HR/32 RBI), 3B Wild Deer Etchimin (.300/8 HR/40 RBI) and 1B Big Charlie Hansa (.267/12 HR/34 RBI). The outlook is not good for the Braves. It may be tough to hold on to seventh place. Rip Calkin in La Claire (31-42) has always had decent pitching, but always fell way short in offense. Last year the Lynx led the TU West with a 3.16 ERA and wound up third in the standings. On that basis they were chosen third in the BNN preseason balloting - but it hasn't worked out that way - Calkin's crew is situated way back in the basement, 12 games behind in the race. Blame it on too much overall offense in the league this season. La Claire is still on top in ERA, but it has climbed up to 3.61 because of the influx of talented hitters this year. The only problem is the Lynx didn't get any of the them. La Claire is batting only .250 (8th), hit only 54 roundtrippers (7th) and scored only 297 times (8th). Not good when the .264 is the league average. Calkin still has a solid core of hurlers in Andy Murray (6-7 2.98), Nikon Danos (6-3 3.24), Munoto Kishata (5-9 3.79) and Jim Melanakos (7-11 3.92). But what a difference a year makes - Melanakos was a 23-game winner and Kishata won 18 games. It's not likely they will come close to that this season. Batting-wise La Claire has an outstanding All-Star CF in Lucky Collins (.335/10 HR/48 RBI/53 R), but he doesn't get much support. Rookie LF Zeppy Deshotel (.286/12 HR/48 R) and first-year RF Benny Gibbs (.307/5 HR/20 R/43) have helped some, but more is needed for the Lynx to contend with the top teams in the division.