[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Monday, June 1, 2037

EP PANTHERS LEAD TUCKS BY A GAME IN TU EAST
The cream has risen to the top in the Tycobbian East pennant race... East Point and Tuckanarra look like the only challengers as the High Mesa Cowboys came down-to-earth in May after being in a three-way tie for the top spot the first month of the season... the Panthers were 18-10 in May to take a one-game lead over second place Tuckanarra... the Blue Jays were 17-11 in the second month, while the Cowboys were bucked out of the saddle with a dismal 9-19 mark and tumbled down to fourth place, 9 games off the pace... Ozarka, the preseason favorite in THE ISLANDIAN TIMES poll, rebounded to third place after a poor opening month... the Naturals climbed up to the .500 mark, but are seven games behind East Point... the Nats posted a 16-12 record in the last month... the rest of the TU East are way below .500 and can pretty much forget about this year.

East Point (33-19) hits with power, can score and has very good starting pitching... however, a bad bullpen is their sore point... the Panthers have a formidable foursome in Dixie Brooks (7-3/2.71), Johnny Moore (7-3/2.54), Frank Blair (6-2/3.26) and Burton Cook (6-7/3.48)... they just need some help from the relief corps (6.51 ERA-31st)... Brooks and Blair could both reach the 200-win milestone this season... the IPA home-run leader Dean O'Donnell heads up a power-packed lineup that includes Karl Jankauskas (.226) with 14 HRs and 40 RBIs, and Tetsu Tanaka (.260) and Chris Cardinale (.234) with 10 each... O'Donnell has 19 with a .332 BA, 42 RBIs and 41 runs... Ricky Arnold (.329) is the only other .300 batter... the Panthers are hitting only .255 (23rd), but are number two in the IPA with 88 roundtrippers, topped only by Sugar Valley of the Ruthlandian East with 89... East Point is in it for the long haul and should give Tuckanarra and Ozarka a tussle for the division crown... Ozarka was the critics' choice with the Blue Jays second and the Panthers third... the stage is being set for a dynamite three-way battle for the flag and the playoff spot... the Tycobbian East should be a fan pleaser.

The Tuckanarra Blue Jays (32-20) have won the last three pennants by double-digit margins and they may be even better this year with improved hitting... the Tucks are tops in the IPA with a .291 BA and 302 runs and rank fourth in homers with 69... only Sugar Valley outscores them in the IPA... the Rattlers have rung up 339 runs... iconic slugger Lorne Evans is off to another fine season with a .327 mark, 15 HRs, 36 RBIs and 44 runs... John Paul has chipped in with 16 HRs, 35 RBIs and a .298 BA... steady Eddie Darby (.296) is still a solid defender and good contact hitter at age 34... Tuckanarra uses a lot of platoon players... Andy Pearson (.397), Nicky Weill (.295) and Cliff Winter (.317) are playing their roles well... vets Josh George (.258) and Spade Weldon (.263) have had slow starts this year... the team ERA is 3.32 (5th) with three strong veteran starters in Jeff Buttrum (6-4/2.38), Junior Bristow (8-3/2.80) and Bobby Reid (7-3/3.24).

The Ozarka Naturals (26-26) got off to a slow start, but improved in recently weeks... the Nats came in a distant second to Tuckanarra the last three years, but improved pitching is supposed to make them a serious challenger... the team ERA is a rock-solid 3.06 (3rd)... the club has a strong bullpen with a 2.30 ERA (3rd)... but they are not much offensively with a .266 BA (13th), only 39 HRs (28th) and 229 runs (24th-tied)... leading the mound staff are starters Glen Jenkins (7-6/2.40), Leon Bernard (5-5/2.38) and Zenon Metaxis (7-3/3.44)... not much in the way of bats... Gunnar Norheim (.333), Sid Elmore (.314) and Duffy Morrison (.314) are the club leaders, but none have any power... Ozarka was the preseason favorite, but they don't really look in the class of Tuckanarra and East Point... third place is the most likely finish... they just don't have much offense.

The High Mesa Cowboys (24-28) were really on a high in April, but flopped badly in May... in a month they have fallen from first to fourth and now trail by 9 games... maybe May was the real Cowpoke club... the pollsters put them in last place in the preseason guesses... they now rank near the bottom in batting (.250) and pitching (4.57 ERA) and could be headed for the cellar... the run producers are Corbett Brooks (.254) with 15 HRs and 37 RBIs, Michael Page (.281) with 13 HRs and 31 RBIs and Clay Johnston (.317) with 12 HRs and 33 RBIs... and Dean Harris (7-1/3.42) and Max Jung (7-6/4.26) lead the pitchers.

The fifth place Red Bluff Red Sox (20-32) don't do much except hit homers... they are third in the IPA with 86... David Kelso (.276) is the club leader with 18 HRs and 47 RBIs, which is tied for second in the IPA HR race and tied for fourth in RBIs... Gene Bates (.256) has 15 HRs and 36 RBIs, Fran Blanchard (.254) has 13 HRs and 30 RBIs and Garris Aiken (.269) has 10 HRs and 22 RBIs... Jimmy McMillan (7-3/3.15) and Bazuki Hasegawa (5-5/2.98) are the pitching leaders.

The South Fork Stallions (19-33), Midway Wolves and Hillsboro Blazers are tied for last place, 14 games back... the Stallions are hitting .260 (18th) with a 5.47 ERA (32nd)... Paul Sexton (.325) and Elton Jacoby (.312) are the club leaders at the plate... Chris Sorensen (5-5/3.90) is the only decent pitcher... looks like a long season for the Stallions.

Midway (19-33) is in the same boat as South Fork with a lot of mediocrity... the Wolves have a .254 team BA (24th) and a 4.37 team ERA (26th)... Bobby Dorignac (4-7/3.66), John Anderson (5-7/3.87) and Cary Snead (4-5/3.93) are fair pitchers... rookie Yuma Chandler is the one bright light on the team with a .391 BA in a parttime role... Chandler recently was made the full-time CF.

Hillsboro (19-33) is plain bad, too... with a horrific .227 BA (32nd), by far the worst in the IPA... and a 4.25 team ERA (25th)... Lucky Luciano (4-0/2.91) has been excellent in the bullpen... the only starter with an ERA under 4.00 is Lee Dixon (5-9/3.65)... Jurrien Bellini (.254) leads the team with 12 HRs and 34 RBIs, while Philip Stafford (.283) has the best BA with 9 HRs and 27 RBIs.

BSC BUCS BEST IN CRAZY TU WEST
It's wacky in the Tycobbian West Division this year... certainly not a pollsters' paradise... the good teams are bad and the bad teams are good... Bay St. Clair, rated the worst team in the preseason poll, has emerged as the top team and has run up a surprising five-game lead after two solid months of play... the Buccaneers may not be a flash in the pan... Kenwood and Arlon, both forecast for the second division, are running second and third with Denton City fourth... the second division is filled with so-called first division teams like preseason favorite La Claire and second-ranked Chicopee, who has dominated the division the last three seasons... Rolling Hills was picked to finish fourth and currently is in fifth place in the standings, tied with La Claire 10 games out of first... Bayview, the seventh choice in THE ISLANDIAN TIMES preseason poll, is 12 games behind and in seventh... while the Chicopee Braves, ranked second by the preseason experts, have been a big-time flop... they are in last place 15 games behind first place Bay St. Clair.

Bay St. Clair (34-18) jumped out to a 16-8 record in the first month of action and then kept it up with a fine 18-10 mark in May... so the Bucs apparently are for real... they are batting only .257 (20th), but can score enough runs to get by with 252 (20th-tied)... the Buccaneers are good on the hill with a 3.63 ERA... the starters are only fair with a 4.00 ERA, but the bullpen is strong with a 2.23 ERA (2nd)... Pete Cross (3-4/1.91/7 saves) and Sam Zale (1-0/0.49/1 save) anchor the relief corps... heading up the starters are two very good ones in Jay Callahan (7-1/2.67) and John Karlsen (8-4/2.60)... a little more help from starters three and four would really stabilize the Bucs' flag hopes... Cotton Cornwall is the club's leading hitter with a .336 BA... Ryan Dukes (.301) is the HR leader with 11... Milt Powers (.241) is tops with 36 RBIs and number two with 10 HRs... it would be a good Cinderella story if Bay St. Clair can pull off this huge upset in the Tycobbian West.

The Kenwood Wildcats (29-23) are also a team on-the-rise... improved bats and better pitching has made them a credible challenger... they are batting .269 (12th) with 224 runs (16th) and 63 HRs (8th-tied), along with a 3.66 ERA (10th)... Glen Murray (7-2/2.69), Freddy Gooch (6-3/3.61), Claude Watson (5-3/4.00) and Milt Cochrane (4-6/4.10) are the primary starters... topping the batting order are Clark Chamberlain (.345), Ricky Boyer (.337), Harry Tashina (.299) and Corky DiNozzo (.297)... the Wildcats may have staying power and just might wind up in the first division.

It's been 8 years since the Arlon Champions (26-26) had a winning season... they have pretty good pitching with a 3.59 ERA (6th), but rank near the bottom in offense (31st)... the pitchers have carried the club this year... Lanny Gray (4-5/2.81) has been the most effective starter with help from Emil Nowak (7-4/3.57) and Pat Stuyvesant (6-3/3.89)... Dale Greene has done well in relief with a 2-2 record, 1.82 ERA and 5 saves... Todd Benson (.295) and Mark Cameron (.293) are the most dependable hitters, but have no power... with it weak offense, it may be hard for Arlon to remain in the top three teams... sixth place seems more like it.

Fourth place Denton City (25-27), rated number four in the preseason poll, which was a disappointment because last season the Redbirds finished a strong second to champ Chicopee... they are pretty much the same ball club roster-wise, but two of their best starters Denny Mills (3-3/4.54) and Stephen Edwards (3-4/4.64) have not been the same pitchers... Mills was 22-7 last year with a 3.99 ERA and Edwards was 15-15 with a 3.63 ERA... Troy McIntosh (7-3/3.21) and Francisco Salcido (6-6/2.92) have been the most effective starters this season... Denton City has a solid core of hitters that have posted a .272 BA (9th), scored 266 runs (6th) and hit 68 HRs (5th)... leading the way have been Russ Foster (.347), Felton Welch (.320), Sammy Thornton (.301), Pete Doyle (.300) and Sam Carson (.288)... the Redbirds started the season off fine with a 14-10 mark, but slipped badly in May with an 11-17 record... the key to the season will be Mills and Edwards... they have to do much better in the second half of the season.

The Rolling Hills Reds (24-28) are fifth and 10 games off the pace, but they did improve to 15-13 in May after a bad first month... they are tied in the standings with preseason favorite La Claire ... the Reds don't have much on the ball and are just a mediocre team with three quality starters in Mike Daniels (8-2/2.68), Maury Cantrell (4-1/1.64) and Matthew Christianson (5-5/3.81) and a lousy bullpen with a 6.03 ERA (30th)... they don't hit for power... the best bats are Dino Manale (.344), Buffy Kowalczyk (.319) and Brian Davis (.312)... ranked fourth in the preseason poll, Rolling Hills will probably end up in the second division.

Preseason pick La Claire (24-28) started off the year well with a 15-9 record, running neck-and-neck with first place Bay St. Clair, but the Lynx faltered badly in May with a terrible 9-19 mark... it may be too early to give up on them since they still have three capable starters in Pat Kovacs (4-6/3.31), Tony Rossi (6-3/3.49) and Glenn Smith (2-4/3.13)... maybe they just had a bad month... the Lynx lack offense... Ernie Pryor (.303), Kris Wilson (.289) and Billy Holland (.267) are just adequate and nothing special... La Claire's hitting must pick up for them to be a contender... they can be better assessed after the All-Star Game.

As expected the Bayview Vikings (22-30) are in seventh place, just like the analysts predicted... they are 12 games back and headed nowhere... Jerry Culpepper (.292) tops the club with 13 HRs and is tied with Roy Ricks (.313) for the RBI lead with 30... Ricks has 11 roundtrippers... Vance Codsworth (6-4/2.38) leads the staff in wins and ERA... Kris Melgaard (4-3/3.17) has been effective, too.

Once-proud Chicopee (19-33) has crumbled this year and fallen from the penthouse to the outhouse... the Braves dominated the Tycobbian West, capturing the division the last three years with a high-powered attack that has suddenly dropped out-of-sight this year... the Braves have averaged hitting about .278 with 840 runs and 190 HRs per year... they are hitting a lowly .251 this year and are on target for only 657 runs and 165 HRs... the offense suffered a huge loss in early May when slugger Charley Kota hurt his shoulder and will be out until August... Kota was having a terrific season with a .379 BA, 6 homers and 17 RBIs in 26 games... no one on the team is having a good year offensively... and only pitchers Judd Hampton (6-3/3.80) and Ryan Ledbetter (5-6/3.75) have held done reasonably well... it would take a wholesale turnaround for the Braves to make fourth place this year... their string of titles will certainly be snapped this year.