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Eugene Church · 01-02-2012, 09:38 PM

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Tuesday, September 18, 2029

2029 Ruthlandian North Final Recap

Valmara Wins 4th RU North In A Row
For the fourth consecutive season and ninth time overall, the Valmara Vipers (89-65) won the Ruthlandian North. Manager Jet Kazmarek has a solid ballclub with fine pitching and hitting... They cruised through the division this year, sparked by pitchers Carroll Cain (21-12), Teddy Lem (19-12/2.90), Chris Phillips (18-10/2.82) and Clem Carmouche (16-16/3.17)... top hitters were CF Teddy Szymanski (.292/21/87), rookie 3B Amos Gallagher (.296/11/60), LF Sonny Oliver (.272/16/79) and All-Star C Floyd Randolph (.264/23/87)... No one really challenged the Vipers this season... they led the division the entire season.

First-year skipper Rusty Denicola turned it around for the Kilkenny Cats (82-72), who climbed up from seventh place last year to the runner-up spot this year... Superb pitching did it... the Cats staff posted a brilliant 2.67 team ERA, tops in the IPA... weak hitting (.236/30th) hampered Kilkenny in its battle with Valmara... Dave Whitaker (21-15/2.39), Christy Lane (16-13/2.61), James Crockett (15-13/2.75) and Dean Harris (16-16/2.62) were a most formidable rotation... Denicola really had no hitting threats to speak of... vet 1B Garris Aiken (.273/22/61) and RF Dan Jackson (.275/17/60) were just fair batters.

The third-place LaGrange Sports (80-74) fought Valmara tooth-and-nail last year, losing out by just 2 games, but this year they couldn't stay with them, winding up 9 games off the pace... manager Quincy Peterson had two strong starters in Alex Gillepie (20-14/2.73) and Ryan Janssen (19-12/2.39) and an impressive closer in Walt Thurber (9-2/1.76/13 saves), but little besides them... at the plate the Sports were less than average with the likes of CF Russell Watkins (.282/25/72), 1B Chris Charbonnier (.296/24/75) and RF Augie Marshall (.255/23/73).

This year IPA Hall-of-Fame shortstop Don Nichols took the reins of the Far Mountain Redhawks (77-77) from longtime skipper Alex Groveland and managed a break-even season, ending up in the fourth spot in the RU North, 12 games off the pace... the Redhawks had a good mound corps with starters Jakob Wagner (18-16/2.78) and Jeff Cooper (16-15/3.00) and bullpen ace Hans Becker (8-5/3.09), but the offense was seriously lacking, ranking next-to-last in the RU... you know your team is in trouble when your top hitters, RF Roy Driskoll (.261/12/70) and CF Donnie Lee David (.263/6/47) batted in the low .260s and the club's home-run leader C John Armstrong (.259) had only 13 roundtrippers.

After 11 straight seasons in the first division, Manny Mickens' Ancona Red Elephants (75-79) were down for the second successive year and finished in fifth place, 14 games behind pennant-winning Valmara... Razzy Angelis (17-13/3.48) and Vince Arndt (16-13/4.20) were the best on a mediocre staff... vets All-Star SS Todd Nasso (.258/27/83) and 1B Alekos Kotas (.258/21/68) showed a little power, but didn't hit much for average... new free agent from Tuckanarra 3B Koora Nawajuk (.253/12/80) did not pan out well and put up disappointing stats.

The Taranto Tars (74-80) have spent much of the last decade in the second division... Tommaso Lazzorda called it a career this year and brought Denny Radke in as manager... the Tars got a little improvement on the hill, yet still came in sixth, trailing by 15 games... of the starters only Tazio Domiano (16-11/3.36) excelled... reliever/spot starter Laz Tomassini (10-5/2.91/13 saves) did well, too... All-Star Johnny Sakelaris (15-21/3.34), Rod Bailey (15-18/3.58) and Paulie Pieroni (12-20/3.69) pitched pretty well, but suffered badly from poor run support... 2B Greg Murphy (.295/10/55) had the top average on the club, while 1B Val Lupoli (.229/21/75) and LF Nicky Cannon (.270/18/45) supplied what little power the Tars had.

The seventh-place Glasco Athletics (67-87) have only made the first division once in its last 15 seasons... that was in 2022, 7 years ago... the long-suffering A's last RU North flag came decades ago in 2002... new manager Barry McCord didn't fair any better than his predessessors as he guided Glasco to another near-the-bottom finish, 22 games out of first... however, progress was made this year as the pitching corps greatly improved, especially in the bullpen... starters Rusty Carlyle (13-20/3.28) and Sam Gilmore (7-10/3.16) were effective, but their records didn't show it... C Eddy Martin (.318/26/82) and CF Shane Murphy (.289/18/72) were Glasco's best bets at the plate.

Rick Fargnoli is still the skipper for the Ranford Bulls (66-88), who tumbled from third place in 2028 to the RU North cellar this year... the Bulls don't score well and they don't have much pitching... only Angelo Coppolo (15-17/3.02) is a standout pitcher... Ranford's top bats belonged to SS Terry Kerr (.294/16/71), 1B Elton Graff (.279/12/81), C Kyle Hunt (.286/4/74) and LF Percy Whitehead (.317/6/64).

01-02-2012, 09:38 PM	#2912
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,875	*THE ISLANDIAN TIMES* Tuesday, September 18, 2029 2029 Ruthlandian North Final Recap Valmara Wins 4th RU North In A Row For the fourth consecutive season and ninth time overall, the Valmara Vipers (89-65) won the Ruthlandian North. Manager Jet Kazmarek has a solid ballclub with fine pitching and hitting... They cruised through the division this year, sparked by pitchers Carroll Cain (21-12), Teddy Lem (19-12/2.90), Chris Phillips (18-10/2.82) and Clem Carmouche (16-16/3.17)... top hitters were CF Teddy Szymanski (.292/21/87), rookie 3B Amos Gallagher (.296/11/60), LF Sonny Oliver (.272/16/79) and All-Star C Floyd Randolph (.264/23/87)... No one really challenged the Vipers this season... they led the division the entire season. First-year skipper Rusty Denicola turned it around for the Kilkenny Cats (82-72), who climbed up from seventh place last year to the runner-up spot this year... Superb pitching did it... the Cats staff posted a brilliant 2.67 team ERA, tops in the IPA... weak hitting (.236/30th) hampered Kilkenny in its battle with Valmara... Dave Whitaker (21-15/2.39), Christy Lane (16-13/2.61), James Crockett (15-13/2.75) and Dean Harris (16-16/2.62) were a most formidable rotation... Denicola really had no hitting threats to speak of... vet 1B Garris Aiken (.273/22/61) and RF Dan Jackson (.275/17/60) were just fair batters. The third-place LaGrange Sports (80-74) fought Valmara tooth-and-nail last year, losing out by just 2 games, but this year they couldn't stay with them, winding up 9 games off the pace... manager Quincy Peterson had two strong starters in Alex Gillepie (20-14/2.73) and Ryan Janssen (19-12/2.39) and an impressive closer in Walt Thurber (9-2/1.76/13 saves), but little besides them... at the plate the Sports were less than average with the likes of CF Russell Watkins (.282/25/72), 1B Chris Charbonnier (.296/24/75) and RF Augie Marshall (.255/23/73). This year IPA Hall-of-Fame shortstop Don Nichols took the reins of the Far Mountain Redhawks (77-77) from longtime skipper Alex Groveland and managed a break-even season, ending up in the fourth spot in the RU North, 12 games off the pace... the Redhawks had a good mound corps with starters Jakob Wagner (18-16/2.78) and Jeff Cooper (16-15/3.00) and bullpen ace Hans Becker (8-5/3.09), but the offense was seriously lacking, ranking next-to-last in the RU... you know your team is in trouble when your top hitters, RF Roy Driskoll (.261/12/70) and CF Donnie Lee David (.263/6/47) batted in the low .260s and the club's home-run leader C John Armstrong (.259) had only 13 roundtrippers. After 11 straight seasons in the first division, Manny Mickens' Ancona Red Elephants (75-79) were down for the second successive year and finished in fifth place, 14 games behind pennant-winning Valmara... Razzy Angelis (17-13/3.48) and Vince Arndt (16-13/4.20) were the best on a mediocre staff... vets All-Star SS Todd Nasso (.258/27/83) and 1B Alekos Kotas (.258/21/68) showed a little power, but didn't hit much for average... new free agent from Tuckanarra 3B Koora Nawajuk (.253/12/80) did not pan out well and put up disappointing stats. The Taranto Tars (74-80) have spent much of the last decade in the second division... Tommaso Lazzorda called it a career this year and brought Denny Radke in as manager... the Tars got a little improvement on the hill, yet still came in sixth, trailing by 15 games... of the starters only Tazio Domiano (16-11/3.36) excelled... reliever/spot starter Laz Tomassini (10-5/2.91/13 saves) did well, too... All-Star Johnny Sakelaris (15-21/3.34), Rod Bailey (15-18/3.58) and Paulie Pieroni (12-20/3.69) pitched pretty well, but suffered badly from poor run support... 2B Greg Murphy (.295/10/55) had the top average on the club, while 1B Val Lupoli (.229/21/75) and LF Nicky Cannon (.270/18/45) supplied what little power the Tars had. The seventh-place Glasco Athletics (67-87) have only made the first division once in its last 15 seasons... that was in 2022, 7 years ago... the long-suffering A's last RU North flag came decades ago in 2002... new manager Barry McCord didn't fair any better than his predessessors as he guided Glasco to another near-the-bottom finish, 22 games out of first... however, progress was made this year as the pitching corps greatly improved, especially in the bullpen... starters Rusty Carlyle (13-20/3.28) and Sam Gilmore (7-10/3.16) were effective, but their records didn't show it... C Eddy Martin (.318/26/82) and CF Shane Murphy (.289/18/72) were Glasco's best bets at the plate. Rick Fargnoli is still the skipper for the Ranford Bulls (66-88), who tumbled from third place in 2028 to the RU North cellar this year... the Bulls don't score well and they don't have much pitching... only Angelo Coppolo (15-17/3.02) is a standout pitcher... Ranford's top bats belonged to SS Terry Kerr (.294/16/71), 1B Elton Graff (.279/12/81), C Kyle Hunt (.286/4/74) and LF Percy Whitehead (.317/6/64). Last edited by Eugene Church; 01-04-2012 at 08:40 PM.