[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, June 22, 2021

2021 Ruthlandian East Mid-Season Recap

Elegants Back On Top In RU East, Rattlers And Muskies Close
Last year the Eastshore Elegants lost out to the Beechwood Bobcats in the Ruthlandian East, but not this year. The Elegants are back on top, while the Bobcats have sunk to the bottom of the pile. But Eastshore has plenty of competition from second place Sugar Valley and third place Belle Plaine. The Rattlers are clinging close, just one game behind and the Musketeers are only two games back. Marston and Wynnamac are tied for the fourth spot in the standings, but 9 games off the pace.

Killer Brewster has his Eastshore Elegants humming again with fine pitching (3.02/2st) and good hitting (.268/6th)... Melvin Key (10-4 2.80), Danny Siegfried (9-7 2.65) and rookie Bobby Matthews (7-4 2.31) top the starting rotation and RF Stan Cuccinello (.273/11 HR), All-Star 2B Gerry Garner (.300/13 HR) and CF Larry Lowe (.296/5 HR) lead the offense... experts forecast that Eastshore will prevail over hard-hitting Sugar Valley... Belle Plaine will probably fade back in the second half.

The Sugar Valley Rattlers are really cookin' under the leadership of long-time skipper Gibby Bobkins... the Rattler attack relies on power... they are currently number one in the RU with 91 homers... Bobkins is getting some fine pitching from his starters, too... despite playing in a bandbox, the rotation has chalked up a fine 3.48 ERA (10th), paced by Benny McConnell (14-4 2.49)... if Sugar Valley continues to thrive on the mound, they could challenge Eastshore for the pennant... sparking the bats are All-Star CF Randall Hawson (.260/25 HR), SS Jack Sanderson (.299/11 HR) and 2B Glenn Christian (.309/8 HR)... all-time great C Hal Stevenson (.258/12 HR) still has plenty of punch in his bat at age 37.

The Belle Plaine Musketeers have wallowed in the depths of the division for the last six years, but not this season with new manager Dave Torregrossa at the helm... the Muskies have won almost as many games at mid-year as they did last year... they won only 56 times in 2020 and have already notched 41 victories this season... much better pitching is responsible for the sudden rise... starter Frankie Walsh (9-8 3.39) and All-Star closer Fabian Moreau (7-2) have led the way... Moreau has 18 saves and a brilliant 1.29 ERA... Belle Plaine has better-than-average hitting with a .258 BA (12th)... All-Star SS Slick Hammill (.324/11 HR) is the top stick, but has had some help from LF Jim Beauregard (.259/12 HR) and All-Star C Derek Roman (.283/4 HR).

The Marston Nine, managed by Johnny Walters, and Matt Donnelly's Wynnamac Sundowners are tied for fourth place... neither club has the wherewithal to contend this season in the RU East... Marston's strength lies in its mound corps, which put up a 3.32 Team ERA (7th)... Walters has two very capable starters in Anson Thomas (9-9 2.38) and Ronnie Flynn (8-4 2.97)... Marston's hitting is sufficient with a .259 BA (9th), led by superstud All-Star CF Russ Woodward (.332/19 HR) and 1B Mel Hawkins (.268/8 HR)... a vital cog in the Nine's success is missing this season... 5-time gold glove SS Danny Church has played only 18 games this season due to injury... the slick fielder is a career .275 hitter and has scored over 1400 runs, batted in over 1000 runs, collected almost 2800 hits and 1600 walks and played in almost 3000 games... He may have to call it a career at age 41... a 20-year vet Church will be back in the line-up in a week or two and will try play out the rest of year... he has indicated this will be his final year no matter what... Church started off well this season and has hit .328 in limited action.

Wynnamac challenged winner Beechwood and runner-up Eastshore last season, winding up third, just 3 games behind them... but not so this year... Donnelly's pitching has improved dramatically from 3.63 to 3.31 (6th), but the bats have fallen off to oblivion with a poor .244 BA (26th), dropping over 21 points... long-time ace Jerry Meeks (6-10 2.66) and Jimmy Nichols (6-6 3.45) are the Sundowners top twirlers... Jim Horton (6-1) leads a fine group of relievers with a 0.93 ERA... 1B Pete Simmons (.305/6 HR) has to carry all of the offense.

The Elnora All-Stars are sixth and 11 games out... Skipper Sam Malone just has a mediocre team with a .243 BA (27th) and a 4.01 ERA (26th)... second-year pitcher Hal Wilkerson (10-7 2.90) has been the one standout on the hill, while at-bat it's been veteran star C Leon Carter (.302/11 HR) and second-year RF Travis Glass (.332/14 HR).

It's bewildering what has befallen the Beechwood Bobcats... no one would have thought Bret George's bunch would drop so far so soon after winning the pennant last year... they are in seventh place and trail by 12 games... Beechwood just can't hit this year... advanced age may be taking its toll... superb CF Vic Valenti, a .330 lifetime hitter, is batting only .256 this year... all of its key players from last season are off 40-50 points... as a team the Bobcats have dramatically dipped from .265 last year to a pathetic .230 this year... they rank near the bottom in all offensive categories... however, the pitchers are still quite capable... Billy Ray (7-8 3.18), Marty Panko (5-8 3.69), Stephen Ladd (8-7 3.07) and closer Jeff Lyons (3-5 1.78) are not the problem... the team would still be a winner, if it could score runs... George hasn't give up on the season yet... He is hoping the bats will be revived in the second half and the team can at least salvage the year with a first division finish.

Perennial also-ran Cold Creek is deep in the basement again this year, 14 games out of first place... skipper Trip Holmes doesn't have much to cheer about... the Catamounts have fair pitching, but little in the way of offense... Lou Hillman (6-6 3.58) is the best arm, while 1B Doug Connor (.301/6 HR) is the best bat... the word around Cold Creek is that Holmes, a tremendous player and fan favorite in his playing days, will not be back next year.