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THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Tuesday, September 18, 2029
2029 Tycobbian East Final Recap
Tucks Reign Supreme Again In TU East
It's becoming almost routine for the Tuckanarra Blue Jays in the Tycobbian East division... for the fifth time in the last seven seasons the Tucks reigned supreme as they won in easy fashion by 9 games... East Point was the only contender and that lasted only until midseason... the Panthers were just a game off the pace at the All-Star break, but they dropped back in the pack in the second half and ended up 9 games behind and tied for second place with Hillsboro... no other team was in sight... last year Tuckanarra was 102-52 and won the pennant going away by 15 games.
Carlton "Lefty" Stevens' club didn't break the 100 mark this year, but he still had a very good one... the Tuckanarra Blue Jays (90-64) have a fine, all-around team with a .271 BA (5th), 732 runs (2nd) and a 3.10 team ERA (3rd)... at 31 All-Star 1B Lynn Starr (.335/27/126) keeps getting better with age... All-Star SS Jed Turchin (.308/12/90) lent a lot of support, too... along with fine 2B Eddie Darby (.287/10/63)... on the mound Stevens has five quality starters in Sam Tate (19-11/3.04), Philip Marston (16-11/3.60), Jamie Gustafson (16-15/2.72), Quinn Starr (14-8/3.11) and Croc Wedgedale (11-6/2.65)... and Matt Stevens (10-4/2.00/14 saves) is an impressive closer... the Blue Jays will be in the thick of things in the Pro Cup playoffs - a team to be watched.
The East Point Panthers (81-73) faded in the second half and fell back into a tie with Hillsboro... skipper Karol Zodoka has some good pitching with All-Star Frank Blair (21-16/2.52) and Dixie Brooks (17-15/2.86) as well as an All-Star closer Jack Bolden (6-3/1.88/14 saves)... but his Panthers failed miserably at the plate with a pathetic .240 average (31st) and didn't score well (19th), but did have some punch with 126 homers (10th)... CF Kenko Aoki didn't hit for average, but did go deep 25 times... he finished with 92 RBIs, but batted just .227... 2B Tetsu Tanaka had 18 home runs, 80 RBIs and hit .263... 3B Jug Slavin totaled 18 roundtrippers, 64 runs batted in with a .271 BA... LF Wally Wright led the team with a .309 mark, 7 homers and 49 RBIs.
With a new manager, Andy Jefferson, the Hillsboro Blazers (81-73) were just 6 games out and in the third spot in the standings at the halfway point, but they were just an average club the rest of the season and they finished 9 games back, deadlocked with East Point... the Blazers had a standout staff that compiled a 3.02 team ERA, which topped the TU... Gregg Hughes (19-12/2.14) was the IPA leader in ERA... Marty Anderson (12-7/2.85) was very effective, too... closer Duke Mahoney (4-6/2.15/17) was solid in the bullpen... except for decent power, the offense didn't do too much with a .251 BA (25th) and ranked 31st with 585 runs... the Blazers did hit 119 home runs (14th)... All-Star C Brian Hatcher (.287/12/43), 3B Bobby Denton (.319/15/69), 1B Larry Guichard (.271/13/61), LF Paul Green (.245/27/62), 2B Jason DiMucci (.272/6/70) and Biggy Washington (.216/18/58) supplied what little offense the team had.
Manager Cochise Chandler had good hitting and anemic pitching in Midway (75-79) as his Wolves wound up in fourth place, 15 games out... the Wolves batted .270 (6th), ranked 11th with 670 runs and knocked 116 out of the park (15th)... pitching was another story with an atrocious 4.31 ERA (32nd), last in the entire TU... Midway's top bats were 1B Jake Welsh (.296/23/82), All-Star 3B Rusty Graves (.306/15/70) and RF Eduardo Villanueva (.304/9/53)... Bobby Dorignac (16-19/3.81) was the Wolves only decent pitcher.
Frank Kiffin piloted the Ozarka Naturals (73-81) to a fifth-place finish in his rookie year, up from a dismal eighth last season... the Nats trailed first place Tuckanarra by 17... the rise in the standings was primarily because of improvement on the mound... Ozarka had four very capable arms with Denny Mills (16-15/3.10), Marty Lane (13-13/3.17), Stan Carey (14-10/2.85) and rookie reliever Brady Bell (7-6/1.79/16 saves)... batting leaders were All-Star SS James Couch (.308/13/67), RF Byron Glenn (.284/24/86), 3B Nick Rembert (.288/11/79) and 1B George Jenkins (.323/10/51)... the Naturals hit for a .265 average (10th), but ranked 20th in scoring with 617 runs and posted a 3.53 team ERA (12th).
It was not a pleasant season for Deroche "Lips" Leon and the South Fork Stallions (70-84), who spiraled downward from 3rd place to 6th place this year, winding up 20 games out in the pennant race... lack of offense (.243/28th) and average pitching (3.62/15th) did them in... they ranked 27th in scoring with 596 runs... All-Star pitcher Ozz Gatsby (21-12/2.45) had a great season and Richie Raeburn (15-17/3.24) was effective... C Mel Danley (.264/20/76), LF Pat Giles (.234/21/62) and CF Shelby Glasscock (.230/18/73) were the main run producers.
Coming in seventh this season were the High Mesa Cowboys (66-88)... manager Rolf Kellgren brought them in 24 games out of first as the Cowpokes suffered down in the second division for the third successive year... the only thing High Mesa did was hit homers... they walloped 142 roundtrippers to tie for 4th, hit just .233 (32nd) and ranked 30th with only 589 runs... on the hill the Cowboys staff chalked up an inferior 3.91 ERA (27th)... Roger Hart (17-15/2.98) was solid and steady... and Fonzie Winkler (15-17/3.29) pitched well, too... RF Bill Andrews (.220/3/95) was the biggest run producer with help from 3B Freddy Franks (.277/19/52) and 36-year-old aging superstar 1B Jack Elliott (.245/18/69).
The Red Bluff Red Sox (61-93) ran their second division streak to 8 seasons... the Red Sox were 29 games behind... with mediocre hitting (.243 (29th), scoring (594 runs-29th) and pitching (4.13-30th)... and not much power either with 114 homers (17th)... skipper Jim Schubert only had one solid starter and that was Tony Defazio (16-14/2.82) and a few credible batters in All-Star RF Corbett Brooks (.254/31/95), 1B Leander Burks (.247/22/85) and CF Billy Barton (.281/5/33).
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