[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Tuesday, June 20, 2034

2034 IPA Mid-Season Standings

2-Team Race In RU North
It's a two-team race in the Ruthlandian North at mid-year with favorite Far Mountain (43-30) being challenged only by the Ranford Bulls (39-34)... the Redhawks boast a four-game edge at the All-Star break... the other six clubs are below the .500 mark and not likely to contend... the Kilkenny Cats (#2 pick) and LaGrange Sports (#3 pick) have flopped so far... the Sports are in the third spot, 9 games behind and the Cats way back at 15 games, tied for sixth.

Far Mountain's mound corps is carrying the club with an impressive 3.08 team ERA... top pitchers are Frankie Moreland (10-7/2.45), Jakob Wagner (9-6/2.44), Paul Zimmer (7-4/3.24) and Keith Griggs (10-6/3.82)... the Redhawks offense is not much on paper, but they do put runs on the scoreboard and rank 11th in scoring with a .262 BA (11th) and tied for 18th in homers with 62... main contributors are CF Ernie Schleicher (.338/8/28/36) and RF Jeffrey Karkinos (.333/11/30/27).

Ranford doesn't quite match up to the Redhawks stats with a 3.40 team ERA (6th) and a .260 BA (24th) and 54 homers (27th-tied)... they are 25th in scoring runs... the Bulls are paced All-Star hurler Jimmy Collins (12-3/3.38) and Rube Satcher (7-6/2.32)... Chad Cummings (7-10/2.91) has pitched well, but his record doesn't show it... top batters are 2B Sonny Statum (.300/4/27/44), 3B Alex Vanno (.287/13/36/45) and 1B Elton Graff (.282/6/38/29)... Ranford lost a good bat in LF Rickey Urbina (.321) for five weeks with a bad knee... he should be back in July.

Battle Royal In RU South
There's a battle royal going on in the Ruthlandian South with five teams tightly bunched and all eight still in the pennant hunt... at mid-season St. John (41-32) and Grand City (41-32) are tied for the top spot, followed very closely by Crystal Lake (40-33) and Belair Beach (40-33), deadlocked for third in the standings, only one game out... Waleska (37-36) is in fifth place and just 4 games behind the leaders... don't count out the other teams... San Dimas (35-38), Valka (34-39) and preseason pick Claxton (33-40) are just a short winning streak away from contention.

The St. John Crusaders have a potent attack despite losing their number-one RBI guy C Tony Brinkerhoff (.245/8/33) with a fractured thumb... Brinkerhoff is expected back in July... the Crusaders are sparked by All-Star 1B Johnny Zahn (.333), SS Hal Burton (.327), 3B Norm Murdoch (.285), CF Ted Price (.317), Gerry Sives (.299) and 2B Byron Johanssen (.297)... the Crusaders are hitting .283 (2nd) and have scored 368 runs (2nd)... they are pretty fair on the hill, too, with a 3.66 ERA (14th)... All-Star Jeremy Kirk (11-4/2.25) is the ace with help from Nelson Hawthorne (8-6/3.25) and Russell Larsen (8-5/3.51).

The only difference between St. John and the Grand City Cybercats is in the power department... the Cybercats have a wide edge over the Crusaders with 80 homers (3rd) to 40 (32nd)... otherwise they are quite similar... Grand City is batting .273 (7th), scored 365 runs (3rd) and has compiled a 3.77 team ERA (18th)... leading the way on offense are rookie RF Bull Durham (.286/16/44/44), All-Star 2B Teddy Grantham (.322/13/35/44), 3B Dave Sulligent (.333/3/34/24) and SS Tony Ptacek (.288/6/29/38)... on the mound the top arms have been All-Star Herb Stewart (12-5/2.87), Norm Dawson (10-3/2.95) and Jay Nebel (8-4/3.83)... the Cybercats got a big jolt when 2-time All-Star and Gold Glover CF Thomas Hall (.329/9/25/29) was injured in mid-May and will miss two months with a hernia.

The Crystal Lake Crushers are tied for third with the Belair Beach Sunbirds... they were chosen the second-best team in the preseason poll, outranked only by the Kilkenny Cats... they may now be the odds-on favorite to win the flag, since the Cats have slumped badly in the first half of the season... the Crushers are hitting .276 (5th), score decently with 317 runs (21st) and 57 roundtrippers (23rd-tied)... and possess a 3.45 team ERA (7th)... Denny Mills (11-6/2.65) and Arnie Cason (10-3/3.07) have been strong starters... but the bullpen has been horrendous with a 4.41 ERA (22nd)... top bats belong to 1B Big Sam Takota (.289/17/48/33), 2B Mackie Cummings (.317/10/41/42), RF Paul Dillon (.329/4/27/42) and All-Star C Stan Stanek (.301/8/39/30).

Belair Beach is another good ballclub in the RU South and picked fifth in the preseason poll... the Sunbirds are batting .267 (13th) with 355 runs (6th) and 62 home runs (18th-tied)... on the hill they do well with a 3.46 team ERA (10th)... the starting foursome are solid with Kerstan Mak (9-4/3.23), Todd Clyman (8-4/3.47), Joel Gregg (8-10/3.40) and Stefan Zeeman (6-8/2.86)... All-Star CF Bobby Meusel (.317/12/47/47) is the big man in the batting order, but has plenty of help from 3B Johnny Wofford (.293/6/40/35), RF Pat Webb (.305/8/33/36) and 2B Joey Harris (.276/6/33/46).

The Waleska Westerners had a poor April, but have been revived since with a 29-21 mark in the last six weeks... the Westerners have some punch with a .273 BA (6th), 364 runs (4th) and pretty fair power with 60 homers (20th-tied)... they are only average on the mound with a 3.76 team ERA (17th)... the loss of superstar LF Loco Dillinger (.340/7/32/30) for a month certainly didn't help, although rookie SS Roger Hobbs (.336/2/19/42) took up some of the slack... Hobbs is the son of IPA icon and Hall of Famer Roy Hobbs, the Waleska skipper... 1B Glenn Childress (.264/11/51/41) and RF Niles Gregory (.241/14/47/57) haven't hit for much average, but have been great run producers... 3B Monty McMurtry (.306/4/24/46) has been strong at the plate, too... another missing element was ace Kevin Meeks (4-2/1.58), who didn't sign until late May and then showed management what they had been missing... Dillinger and Meeks could have the Westerners in the thick of things in September... starters Terry Richards (6-7/3.12) and Vern Bass (7-6/3.87) have been effective at times... Waleska was named the fourth-best club in the preseason polling.

The San Dimas Rancheros, Valka Blackhawks and preseason choice Claxton Diamonds are all within striking distance... the Rancheros are in the sixth spot in the RU South standings... they have a good offense with a .268 BA (12th), 347 runs (8th) and 75 homers (5th-tied), but not quite so strong on the hill with a 3.93 team ERA (22nd)... at the plate LF Wes Stanley (.296/12/45/33) and 1B Mick Langston (.290/10/38/24) have been the main RBI guys... SS Glendon Pratt (.365/5/30/31) has really blossomed this year at bat and in the field... C Arved Tarand (.296/4/25/35) and RF Denny Hendrix (.298/8/23/35) have helped the cause, too... free agent and All-Star Gregg Hughes (12-3/2.88) has been outstanding... vet Zack Dowdle (6-6/2.89) has been strong, too.

Seventh-place Valka has a high-powered offense, but very little pitching... the Blackhawks staff ERA is a lofty 4.87 (32nd), but they are the highest-scoring club in the Ruthlandian Union with 380 runs (1st), .278 BA (4th) and 66 homers (14th-tied)... All-Star SS Olari Ojastu (.295/12/43/44), 1B Mikk Kukk (.294/8/42/37), 2B Bill Bradford (.308/8/39/34) and RF Kenny Mitzusaka (.286/5/37/34) have put up solid stats... what they need to rival the leaders is some pitching... the best of the lot are Jake Weiland (7-7/4.11), Vanni Lakos (4-5/3.64) and Nicky Palermo (7-5/4.77).

The Claxton Diamonds were expected to be a prime contender for the pennant this season, but it hasn't worked out that way... at the halfway point, the Diamonds have plummeted to last place... during spring training their top player 2-time All-Star and 2032 RU Most Valuable Player 2B Gary Colton, a career .298 hitter and 20-homer and 90-RBI man was lost for the season with a broken kneecap... still the Diamonds have a quality team, headed up by RF Ivan Krause (.299/15/37/40) and C Jaan Hoogendoorn (.333/7/32/32)... a trio of starters have turned in credible performances, but don't have a lot of victories to show for it except Tommy Brothers, who is 9-5 with a 3.18 ERA... Sam Nathan (6-9/2.95) and Max Jung (4-5/3.12) deserve better.