[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Sunday, March 31, 2058

SUN SOX TO SHINE BRIGHTLY IN TU SOUTH
The Turon Typhoons might have won 6 of the last 7 pennants in the Tycobbian South Division and ran away with it by 16 games last season, but they didn't get the favorite's role this year in the preseason polling... that went to the pitching-strong Southport Sun Sox... Turon is forecast to slip below the .500 mark and wind up in fourth place in the standings... Cape Coral and Ginza were ranked higher in second and third place.

1st: SOUTHPORT SUN SOX
Last Year: 3rd Place (76-78) (17 GB)
Two Years Ago: 3rd Place (80-74) (16 GB)
Outlook: Lorne Evans, the Sun Sox skipper, apparently has improved his club's offense and its pitching, too... he has added two 22-year-old rookies to his starting rotation and both did well in spring training... lefty Jeff Moncriffe and righty Jake Shank will join two talented veterans, Champ Shafer (19-15/2.89) and Jordy Wales (15-19/3.06) in the starting four... Evans thinks this year's Sun Sox may rival his 2055 division champion that piled up 99 wins... Southport still has its superb closer, Troy Hill, still going strong in the relief corps at age 35... the bats are fairly good with Bobby Lee Coats (.337/9 HR/46 RBI/67 R/8 SB), 1B Zee Graham (.294/24 HR/83 RBI/56 R) and SS Kenny Urban (.293/12 HR/68 RBI/73 R)... Southport has racked up 8 pennants in the last two decades... if the crystal-balling baseball prognosticators are correct, the Sun Sox could be hoisting another one over Pleasure Beach Park soon.

2nd: Cape Coral Hurricanes
Last Year: 2nd Place (77-77) (16 GB)
Two Years Ago: 6th Place (67-87) (29 GB)
Outlook: if manager William Snyder could get his pitching better, his 'Canes would be a bonafide contender in the Tycobbian South... so he signed 4 rookie hurlers this year, only one of them will start, but it may have improved his bullpen... Snyder already has a fine closer in Manny Rosetti (3-2/1.85 ERA/23 saves/42 G)... his ace on the mound is Edgardo Arriaza (19-12/3.30)... his #2 Jerrod Kipling (16-19/3.81) is pretty fair, too... hopefully #3 Frisco Francis (10-19/4.71) and #4 Davis Tyrrell (18-14/4.75) will cut down on the homers this season... #5 is a rookie Rod Mason... Cape Coral already has the best offense in the division with the likes of 3B Jaybird Ethridge (.274/29 HR/101 RBI/87 R), 1B Kalian Coston (.287/25 HR/93 RBI/94 R/8 SB) and LF Marvin Cordice (.297/17 HR/69 RBI/94 R/23 SB).

3rd: Ginza Ninjas
Last Year: 5th Place (tied) (66-88) (27 GB)
Two Years Ago: 7th Place (64-90) (32 GB)
Outlook: it's been 6 years since Ginza had a winning season ('51)... new rookie manager Sogo Takagi sees good progress on the mound with the addition of rookies Mikio Nosaka (#2 starter) and Shintaro Matsushina (bullpen)... both did well in spring training... Nosaka will join ace Kurt Brophy (18-10/3.20) in the starting rotation... three others Fran Kercheval (12-17/4.53), Yoshiro Makihara (12-17/4.55) and Franco Funicello (8-16/4.79) need drastic improvement to challenge in the pennant race... also the Ninjas don't put a lot of runs on the scoreboard... star SS and Gold Glover Kuzuki Tamura (.292/17 HR/56 RBI/92 R/10 SB) is his best by far... while RF Chris Pfeiffer (.252/21 HR/69 RBI/73 R/13 SB) is just a modest longball threat... rookie 2B Kai Toritani had a good spring and could work his way into the lineup... Takagi is hoping 1B Brendan Duffield (.276/14 HR/59 RBI/54 R/8 SB) and LF Otto Beckford (.253/15 HR/59 RBI/55 R/6 SB) will step it up to the next level after fairly good seasons last year... Ginza has a lot of question marks and ifs... the Ninjas just might sneak into the TU South first division this year.

4th: Turon Typhoons
Last Year: 1st Place (93-61)
Two Years Ago: 1st Place (95-58)
Outlook: it's hard to see Turon falling to 4th place this year... they totally dominated the TU South last season... and the Typhoons are not getting old and long in the teeth... and they still have a fine starting rotation with Yancey Hedges (21-10/3.15), Dickie Parmenter (18-7/2.12), Ivar Jevicks (13-8/2.69) and Ollie Dickenson (15-13/3.38)... plus manager C. C. Kingsford has improved his bullpen a little bit with 3 rookies, who proved themselves capable in the spring... however, there are no newcomers in the regular position lineup... the Typhoons could still use an infusion of offense in their batting order... they will again depend on RF Matthew Fears (.276/19 HR/82 RBI/60 R), 1B Shoyo Yuro (.264/18 HR/79 RBI/71 R), LF Andy Wilkerson (.291/18 HR/52 RBI/62 R/5 SB), 2B Bo Kaline (.298/3 HR/43 RBI/65 R/11 SB) and CF Tank Shepperton (.293/7 HR/46 RBI/78 R/24 SB)... I wouldn't be surprised to see Turon win their third straight division flag... Kingsford still has a solid ballclub.

5th: Arroyo Grande Suns
Last Year: 5th Place (tied) (66-88) (27 GB)
Two Years Ago: 2nd Place (84-70) (12 GB)
Outlook: after fine third and second-place seasons in '55 and '56, manager Eduardo Villanueva saw his pitching go into the pits in '57 and the Suns sank way down to 6th place in the TU South standings... Roy Tuthill (8-27/5.43) and Rocky Steed (14-19/5.05) had terrible years... Tuthill was 19-15 (2.94) and 20-15 (3.15 ERA) in the good seasons... Steed was 14-10 (4.28 ERA) and 15-17 (4.06 ERA)... Villanueva still has star ace Beau McCloud (16-19/3.20), but even he dropped from 20-11 (2.55 ERA) and 25-12 (2.94 ERA) the previous two years... #2 starter Nap Vickerson (19-18/3.28 ERA) also dipped a little bit from 18-13 (3.57 ERA) and 19-14 (3.15 ERA) in '55 and '56... Arroyo Grande signed Diego Avalos just prior to the start of the regular season... his credentials are good enough to merit the #3 spot in the rotation... the Suns' season hinges on the mound staff... they depend on good pitching and home runs... the club doesn't hit much for average but can score runs... LF Chris Hardcastle (.221/31 HR/80 RBI/68 R/6 SB) and CF Rueben Jones (.250/25 HR/48 RBI/53 R/3 SB) are the top run producers... Villanueva has improved his infield with the addition of rookie SS Dick Barney... he's a very good defender and had a good spring, showing some pop in his bat... don't be surprised if Arroyo Grande gets better pitching and gets back among the top 3 or 4 teams in the Tycobbian South again.

6th: Summerland Sunsets
Last Year: 4th Place (72-82) (21 GB)
Two Years Ago: 4th Place (78-76) (18 GB)
Outlook: Summerland's pitching may be on the decline... IPA great Jayson Hallstrom retired at the end of spring training, saying his time has come... the 41-year-old Hallstrom pitched 21 years and ranked 6th overall in victories in the IPA with a 368-274 mark and and a superb 2.65 lifetime ERA... Hallstrom was 8-10 (3.38 ERA) in his final season... that's why Antonio Vasques' Sunsets have been dropped to the 6th spot in the TU South standings in the preseason polls... Summerland always depends on its mound corps for success... the team is notorious for its lousy offense due to its big ballpark Sunset Stadium... on the hill this year Vasques will go with Rudy Hilgendorf (9-12/2.88), Tommy Underhill (15-14/3.05), Jared Drobish (5-6/3.11), Marty Westhuizen (8-7/3.49) and Jacob Vandenboom (10-17/3.72)... the bullpen is paced by reliable Rory Poe (5-8/2.61 ERA/20 saves/46 G)... two rookies Billy Braithwaite and Mick Marlow also worked in relief... Braithwaite looked especially good... not a lot to say about the Sunset hitters... the best of the lot is LF Cy Brigman (.259/18 HR/57 RBI/61 R), SS Jayson Nickell (.263/8 HR/60 RBI/64 R/9 SB), CF Gerrit Peerenboom (.268/8 HR/59 RBI/66 R/15 SB) and 1B Reg Leyden (.282/16 HR/48 RBI/41 R)... Summerland sure does look like a second-division team this year.

7th: San Alejo Montaneros
Last Year: 8th Place (63-91) (30 GB)
Two Years Ago: 8th Place (62-92) (34 GB)
Outlook: for two decades (2032-2053) San Alejo was a solid first-division team in the TU South, winning 6 pennants, one Pro Cup (2032) and regularly in pennant contention... most of the time winning 80 or 90 games a season... sometimes as many as 94, 96 or 100 games... those were the golden days of the dynamic pitching duo, Matt Bell and Will McKinney, along with the new skipper, Paolo Teixeira, a hard-hitting outfielder... but now hard times have set in... in the last four years the Montaneros finished 6th, 6th, 8th and 8th... this season the Monties have a new manager, Paolo Teixeira... and the future is as bleak as it can be... the cupboard is bare in San Alejo... just a few decent starters... bad bullpen... and 3 fair bats... that's it... Teixeira has added 5 rookies in hopes of rebuilding the ballclub... in the spring 3B Benito Clemente earned a spot in the batting order with a good glove and good contact... and Moises Chavallos and Terry Starr showed well in the bullpen in training camp... but San Alejo will need more than that to rise up in the standings... not likely this year... Teixeira has a couple of quality starters in Elmer Cane (11-15/3.27) and Adrian Acosta (19-17/3.92)... a third one may be better than his record shows... Tonico Ribiero (7-19/3.62) has good stuff and a good command... he has good potential... the Montaneros are weak at bat... LF Wilfredo Peralta (.300/28 HR/74 RBI/81 R/7 SB) is a solid ballplayer and played very well as a rookie... at age 36, 1B Alanzo Grassi (.300/25 HR/64 RBI/53 R) still swings a good bat, but his days are probably numbered... two others are so-so: 2B Roman Redondo (.261/22 HR/76 RBI/68 R) and C Afonso Marques (.254/15 HR/57 RBI/55 R)... not much after these four.

8th: Colchester Elites
Last Year: 7th Place (65-89) (28 GB)
Two Years Ago: 5th Place (67-87) (29 GB)
Outlook: the Elites also have a new skipper, Dave Lacoste... he spent 18 years with Colchester as a good journeyman pitcher, finishing with a 217-258 mark and a good 3.50 ERA for a bad team... it's his job to turn the Elites around... 19 times in the last 20 years they have posted a losing record... only once in that period did they make the TU South first division... that was in '51 when they came in fourth with an 81-73 record... Colchester has fairly good power, led by 1B Erroll Waldrep (.302/35 HR/79 RBI/80 R) and RF Graig Sutton (.240/27 HR/69 RBI/66 R)... CF Eldon McLennan (.302/7 HR/41 RBI/79 R/17 SB) is also a good contact hitter, but doesn't have a lot of power... not a lot after them in the lineup... rookie CF Dan Humes may give them a lift at the plate... has a little bit of power... on the hill the Elites are not so good... could be the worst staff in the IPA this year... the best of the lot is Bunky McCracken (16-17/3.66) and Denzel Durand (14-20/4.00)... Lacoste has added two rookies Bryan Allen and Frank Hawkins to the starting rotation... they impressed him in the springtime.