[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANIAN TIMES
Friday, July 31, 2037

TUCKS STILL ON TOP IN TU EAST
It was a strange month in the Tycobbian East... not a lot changed in the standings... the best record in July was 15-14, shared by Hillsboro, Midway and Red Bluff... the worst record went to High Mesa with a 13-16 mark... first place Tuckanarra still possesses a 3-game edge over runner-up East Point as both of the contenders carded 14-15 records this month... Ozarka is in third place and trails by nine games... the Nats were also 14-15 for the month... everybody else is fighting for the only first division spot still available - fourth place.

The Tucks were coming off three terrific months when they suddenly played just average baseball... still the Blue Jays are a dominating team with a .278 BA (4th), 546 runs (4th), 124 HRs (9th) and a 3.42 ERA (5th)... they are good defenders, too, with a .976 FA... the only apparent shortcoming is a bullpen with a 4.25 ERA (24th)... Tuckanarra's top hurlers are Junior Bristow (15-8/2.63), Bobby Reid (15-6/3.05) and Jeff Buttrum (10-8/3.33)... the top gun is IPA superstar Lorne Evans, who recently slammed his 500th home run... Evans is batting .298 this season with 24 HRs, 60 RBIs and 79 runs scored... John Paul has chipped in 23 roundtrippers with 56 RBIs, 55 runs and a .282 BA... average-wise Pancho Villa (.318) and Andy Preston (.303) lead the club... the Blue Jays are forecast to hold off East Point for the TU North title and then seek a fourth IPA Pro Cup championship.

East Point has solid pitching with a 3.48 ERA (8th)... good power and scoring with 149 HRs (3rd) and 524 runs (9th-tied)... but comes up short with a .254 BA (24th)... the Panthers have the best starters in the league with a 3.21 ERA... but the worst bullpen with a horrific 5.87 ERA (32nd)... four fine starters Frank Blair (13-4/2.29), Dixie Brooks (15-9/3.15), Johnny Moore (13-9/3.22) and Burton Cook (10-11/3.18) makes them a very tough team... main run providers are Dean O'Donnell (.273/25/71/62) and Karl Jankauskas (.246/26/72/59)... Tetsu Tanaka (.262) and Chris Cardinale (.242) don't hit much for average, but can go deep with 16 HRs each... the Panthers are a powerful team that could knock off Tuckanarra and go deep into the postseason playoffs.

The Ozarka Naturals were the preseason pick in THE ISLANDIAN TIMES poll at the beginning of the year, but they have not been able to stay up with Tuckanarra and East Point... they are all alone in third, nine games off the pace... the Nats have strong pitching with a 3.27 ERA (2nd), but a lackluster offense with only 429 runs (25th) and just 78 HRs (29th)... the top arms are Glen Jenkins (14-9/2.38), Zenon Metaxis (11-7/3.51), Teddy O'Shea (11-11/3.83) and Leon Bernard (9-10/3.08)... however, Ozarka's rotation is not equal to the Blue Jays and the Panthers... and the bats fall far short of the two prime-time teams... Duffy Morrison is the only reliable hitter in the batting order with a .293 BA, 12 HRs and 64 RBIs.

Hillsboro is tied with High Mesa for fourth, but they both have plenty of competition... the Blazers have no pitching except for two relievers Lucky Luciano (8-0/3.28) and rookie Cazzie Reier (3-1/2.73)... and not much at the plate except for Philip Stafford, who is batting a team high .302 with 58 RBIs... Jurrien Bellini is the club HR and RBI leader with 21 homers and 60 RBIs, but he is batting a lowly .233 for average.

The High Mesa Cowboys surprised everybody in the Islands by being in a three-way tie with Tuckanarra and East Point at the end of April... but it has been all downhill since... the Cowpokes are near the bottom with a 4.41 team ERA (29th) and a .241 team BA (32nd)... Dean Harris (10-8/3.22) and Max Jung (13-13/3.87) are the only decent starters... and the trio of Corbett Brooks (.253) with 27 HRs and 64 RBIs, Michael Page (.273) with 21 roundtrippers and 52 RBIs and Clay Johnston (.283) with 18 HRs and 56 RBIs provide most of the offense... the Cowboys' great season is slowly fading into the sunset.

The Midway Wolves are in sixth place, 20 games behind Tuckanarra with not much talent on the team... age may be finally catching up with future Hall-of-Famer Bobby Dorignac... at 36 he is only 8-14 with a 4.38 ERA... Dorignac is 308-215 in his 17 years with the Wolves... his lifetime ERA is a fabulous 2.88... for the last three years Dorignac has piled up at least 19 victories per season... Yancey Tanner is the only regular batting over the .300 mark... Tanner leads the club with a .305 average and 69 runs scored.

The seventh place Red Bluff Red Sox don't have any standouts this season, just a bunch of so-so so-and-so's with some power... they don't hit much for average (.244-31st), however, the Red Sox do lead the Tycobbian Union in homers with 160 (1st)... Sugar Valley in the RU East is the best in the IPA with 163... Gene Bates (.260) tops the club with 27, David Kelso (.277) has 23, Fran Blanchard (.262) 21, Garris Aiken (.257) and Jesse Shaw (.294) both have hit 18 out of the park, and Ike Sweetwater (.293) has belted 17 home runs... Banzuki Hasagawa (11-13/3.28) has the most wins on the squad and the best ERA... Jimmy McMillan (9-9/3.70) occasionally has a good game.

The basement-dwelling South Fork Stallions haven't had much to cheer about this year except Elton Jacoby with a team-leading .336 BA, 18 HRs, 76 RBIs and 74 runs... Jess Wilkerson has also chipped in with a .292 BA, 17 HRs, 60 RBIs and 62 runs... journeyman Mike Lambertini finally got his chance after two previous short trials in 2031 and 2037... in the last month the 30-year-old right-hander won 6 games and only lost once with an impressive 2.76 ERA.

CATFIGHT IN TU WEST, WILDCATS UP BY ONE OVER LYNX
Two members of the cat family are going at it in the Tycobbian West hot-and-heavy for the top spot... the Kenwood Wildcats still have the lead, but not much over the hard-charging La Claire Lynx... La Claire went on a 19-10 rampage and closed to wiithin one game of the Wildcats, who were a solid 16-13 for July... the Lynx were picked as the preseason favorite in THE ISLANDIAN TIMES poll... the Wildcats were rated number five in the balloting... tied for third place and four games back are Denton City and Bay St. Clair... the Redbirds posted a 16-13 mark, while the Buccaneers slumped to 13-16... the pennant battle is crowded with two other clubs in the running... Arlon is fifth, five games out and Bayview is sixth, six games off the pace... the Champions went 15-14 last month, while the Vikings were 14-15.

Kenwood has a robust attack with a .280 BA (3rd), 524 runs (9th-tied) and 130 HRs (7th) and pretty reliable pitching with a 3.58 ERA (9th)... the Wildcats have four .300 bats in the lineup, led by Ricky Boyer (.348/13/42/72), Clark Chamberlain (.331/10/44/44), Corky DiNozzo (.315/20/51/59) and Harry Tashina (.315/20/74/66)... top pitchers are Glen Murray (14-9/2.82), Claude Watson (12-6/4.30) and Milt Cochrane (10-10/4.00)... recent add to the rotation knucleballer Chuck Holland went 5-1 in 7 starts with an impressive 2.47 ERA in July... he could be an important key down the stretch.

La Claire has been the best team in the TU West the last two months... very similar to Kenwood with a .271 BA (7th), 544 runs (6th), 111 HRs (15th) and a 3.78 ERA (12th)... top performers on the mound are Pat Kovacs (10-10/2.86), Tony Rossi (11-6/3.71), rookie Glenn Smith (8-7/3.77) and Bruce Kinson (9-3/4.10)... leading the offense are Billy Holland (.278/15/56/65), Kris Wilson (.291/12/64/35), Jarrod O'Neal (.249/13/60/58), Rog Clemens (.305/11/46/34) and Weldon Waller (.313/8/40/40)... the pennant outlook is for a barnburner between Kenwood and La Claire down the stretch in the TU West.

Denton City and Bay St. Clair are deadlocked for third... the Redbirds are on the uptick in recent months, while the Bucs have cooled off after a great start... DC is hitting .266 (10th), scored 524 runs (9th-tied), hit 132 HRs (6th) and compiled a pretty fair 3.67 team ERA (10th)... the mound staff is led by Troy McIntosh (12-8/3.11), Francisco Salcido (13-11/3.22) and Kevin Blevins (8-9/2.47)... number four Stephen Edwards (9-7/4.05) is capable at times, too... the Redbirds are sparked at the plate by one of the top hitters in the IPA this year... Felton Welch has excelled with 25 HRs, 94 RBIs and a .321 BA... Welch leads the Tycobbian Union in ribbies... two other dependable bats are Sam Carson with a .297 BA, 21 HRs and 58 RBIs and Pete Doyle with 17 HRs, 67 runs, 45 RBIs and a .272 BA... Denton City may have to be satisfied with third place... they don't seem to have the overall talent of Kenwood and La Claire.

Bay St. Clair played heavenly in April and May, but have come down-to-earth in recent months... still they are hanging around just four games back in the race... if they can bring back the magic the last seven weeks in the season, they would really pull off a huge upset... the Bucs were picked to finish last this year... offensively they are adequate with a .261 BA (17th), 516 runs (13th), 115 HRs (13th), but not on the hill with a poor 4.40 ERA (28th)... John Karlsen (13-11/3.59) has been the only reliable starter... and Sam Zale (4-2/2.02) the only effective reliever... Cotton Cornwall (.313/18/64/47), Ryan Dukes (.298/22/47/60) and Milt Powers (.257/17/61/60) have been the most dependable batters... looks for the Buccaneers to continue the downward slide... it appears they were playing over their heads early in the year.

Fifth place Arlon has had a winning season so far, but doesn't have the stuff to be a serious contender in the TU West... the Champs only have average pitching and mediocre bats... in the pitching department, Emil Nowak (14-8/4.00) is the biggest winner, but Lanny Gray (10-12/3.21) and Dale Greene (6-6/3.18) have been more effective... leading a poor offense are Todd Benson (.295/4/39/54) and Mark Cameron (.273/16/69/54)... it's really somthing that Arlon has a winning record... they really don't have a lot of talent... sixth place is the most likely finish.

Bayview is in sixth place, only 6 games out of first, but doesn't have the pitching to compete for the division flag... but they can hit home runs and score pretty well, collecting 147 HRs (4th) and scoring 526 runs (8th)... the Vikings are just fair on the hill with a 3.99 ERA (17th)... the starting four are pretty good, but the bullpen is not very good... the starting four consists of Vance Codsworth (14-9/2.63), Christy Kane (11-13/3.20), the number one and two, plus Kris Melgaard (8-6/3.96) and Karl Magga (5-3/3.98) in the three and four slots... all of the relief corps have ERAs of 5.00 or more... Jerry Culpepper is the IPA HR king with 35 this year... he is hitting .295 with 76 RBIs and 66 runs scored... Roy Ricks is batting .313 with 23 HRs, 56 RBIs and 69 runs... despite a low .249 BA, Derek Jorstad has 17 HRs, 51 RBIs and 68 runs... fifth place might be the best the Viks can do this season.

The Rolling Hills Reds are seventh in the TU West standings, 10 games out... there is very little talent on the club... Mike Daniels (15-9/3.77) leads the club in victories... and 22-year-old Matthew Christianson (9-11/3.53) has the best ERA... Dino Manale (.326/7/41/75), Brian Davis (.306/11/38/53) and Buffy Kowalczyk (.298/8/54/43) are the most reliable bats... Rolling Hills appears to be better than poor Chicopee and shouldn't finish last.

It's been a terrible season for defending division champ Chicopee, which has gone from first to worst in one season... the Braves flopped miserably at the plate this year... only Kurt Gustavsen (.295/15/60/47) had a decent season... Judd Hampton (11-7/3.47) was the only reliable pitcher... mark them down for eighth place.