[Clipper]

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Division-by-Division Dispatches

Great Lakes

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Look out folks, there go the Ghost Riders into first place! I will be out of town today and tomorrow, so I hope to get my team file in on Thursday.....
Gulf Coast

BATON ROUGE -- The Batton Rouge Battlecats, off to a slow start at 9-19, going 5-5 in the last 10 games. Leftfielder Ronald Wakefield, was selected as the Blue League Player of the Week after hitting .417 with 2 HR's and 9 RBI to bring his BA up to .302 with 8 HR's and 28 RBI with 8 SB. "I'm starting to see the ball better and I'm also getting better pitches to swing at". Wakefield, who will be a Free Agent after this season, is currently negotiating a 3 yr extention with the club, "my agent called me last night and said that it should get done by the end of the week if not early next week, I like it hear in Baton Rouge, the fans are great and they deserve a winner and I want to be hear when that happens".
On a Minor Note
As fans and beat writers swarm to the Battlecats Double A games to get a glimpse of 18 year old fireballer Zack Wright, single A pitcher Matthew Young is being promoted to the AA club this weekend. "He was unhittable in single A, so we're bringing him up to AA ball and see how he does", 'Cats Manager Billy Kidd stated.

LUBBOCK -- Richard Manzi doesn't know much about being first. He was the last of five children. He was last on the team bus before each game last week. Heck, his team last season was always last. Things have changed for Manzi and his West Texas cohorts. The Wildcats took a two-game lead over dominant Mississippi last week, taking control of first place for the first time in the franchises history. Manzi's played a part. As a 23-year-old rookie, the middle reliever played well last season, but not as well as many had hoped. This season he's led the 'Cats' stingy bullpen. He has .93 ERA and has appeared in 14 of the teams 28 games. The Wildcats won two against Providence and took two of three from Columbus last week to take first place.

DALLAS -- A miserable start to the season for the Destroyers seems to have only gotten with the latest injury news showing young left handed starter Antoine Cavender being lost for the year. Cavender was being counted on to hold down the 5th spot in the rotation for the Destroyers but all hopes of that ended when he tore his rotator cuff in the 5th inning against Madison. The injury bug has knocked starters out for the year in the first two seasons for the Destroyers and the owner is wondering if the owner from Austin has hired a voodoo queen to put a curse on the team. The team will have to be creative to come up with a fix for the rotation and only time will tell what kind of impact the loss of Cavender will be. At 8-14 things certainly have started rough and the Dallas owner is getting impatient with manager Jeb Walker who is rumored to be sitting on the hot seat. Stay tuned....

Frontier

SPOKANE -- Last night, in the cover of darkness, the front office of the Cougars made a very questionable move. The Cougars traded for Dom Higgin, from Durham, and gave up, #1 pitching prospect 19 year old, Eric Buntin, and up and coming leftie closer, Chico Taylor. The cougars also gave up an undisclosed draft pick.
While Higgin may well be one of the better pitchers out there, the Cougars won it all last year and it wasn't done with starting pitching. No offense is intended toward Houston or Dorst, they came thru, in the end, when needed. But his team was built around the bull pen, and if the starters got you to the 5th inning you were happy because you knew that the bull pen was going to hold the other team to whatever runs that they had already gotten and the Cougars had a chance to win. Well the front office just went and traded one of the best young arms in the bullpen and Chico Taylor will surely be missed. Buntin also will be missed. At 19 years old, Buntin was in the top 50 of the WWBL prospects. So say good bye youngsters, hello big money pitcher.
The Cougars already had money troubles without getting this clown. The Dom already makes 4+ mill this season and is a free agent this fall. He will more than likely ask for twice what he makes now. Add that to the already three important pitchers that are free agents this season and shortstop Frank Trueblood, who is a must keep, along with left fielder Christopher Lewis are also free agents. Don't forget that Spokane's favorite son, 1B Derick Fanning, is a free agent after next season. So where does the money come from? Don't get me wrong folks, I like the Dom as much as anyone and think he will be great for the team, my big question is, how will this team stay together? Money doesn't grow on trees, at least not in Spokane. So is this the begining of the end for the Cougars? What are the moves that this front office has to make to keep this team together? As for now, only time will tell. But Cougar fans, the future ain't so bright to me.
I'm Chili Spencer, and that's my $.02.

FARGO -- Fargo (13-9) now sits in 2nd place in the GL Frontier Division 3 GB the leader Spokane.
The River Rats have been lead on offense by Theo Raurk (.306 AVE, 3 HR), Scott Mondor (.310 AVE, 3 HR), and new acquisition Richard Terrell (.295 AVE, 7 HR). Lloyd Depuy has been their best pitcher this season going 3-0 with a 3.03 ERA so far this season. John Dalrymple, last years 19 game winner, has really struggled this season he is 1-2 with an ERA over 6. Dalrymple states, "Man I just can't figured it out... I put in the work just like I always have and I feel good out there on the mound. Players are just crushing the pitches that I am throwing. I know I am good pitcher and I am not letting this get me down. I am just going to go out there each game Mr. Kerns puts me in and give it my all. In the end, I think I will have a successful season."
Also struggling at the plate are catcher Mervin Small (.143 AVE, 3 HR) and 3B Andrew Lunn (.198 AVE, 1 HR). Manager Bruce Kerns said, "Mervin has never been know for hitting for average he is obviously a long ball hitter. We know he will come around and produce for this team. He is a leader and he always plays with a lot of heart. Andrew however hit .290 last season. We know he is a better hitter than he is showing us right now. What is really hurting us right now is that he is hitting .056 with runners in scoring position. He knows that is just not acceptable. We expect Andrew to pick up his production as the season continues forward. He is a good player. We are challenging him to work on his swing more everyday and to get back to the hitter we all know he can be."
MR Alan Thatch has been Fargo's suprise this season. Last year he sported an ERA over 7 and right now he is 2-0 with a 1.56 ERA in 10 apperances this season. Also SP Eddie Albert who came over in the Terrell trade with Idaho has pitched well. Eddie is 3-1 with a 4.26 ERA in 2002.

COLORADO SPRINGS -- The Colorado Springs Firestorm have made a flurry of deals recently to bolster their squad over the past 2 weeks.First, Donald Molden and Bill smith, acquire din the offseason from Albany, were both called to action at the ML level. Smith has done well from a relief role, and Molden has done well, and is showing signs of improvement.
Secondly, is the first of two moves with the Savannah Sharks. The Firestorm deal LF James Leming, P Joesph Matthews, and 3b Fredrick Jun to Savannah for 3b Brad Delaville, Lf Daniel Pitts and RP Brad Ledonne. Delaville will bring much needed power to the Firestorm lineup. And Pitss should serve well in the outfield.
The third move, and second with the Sharks was to send Lf Doug Seigrist and MR prospect Burhadaden to Savannah for agin SS R Craig. Craig, should also add some pop to the already potent Colorado Springs lineup.
The Firestorm are not done however. Rumor has it that they have been discussing dealing All-star Catcher Micheal Eady. Eady was voted one of the leagues top ten players in the offseason polls. NO confirmation on these reports, but its fun to report them anyway.
The Colorado Springs are reportedly VERY interested in acquiring bullpen help. Not just help, but they are looking for top notch guys to improve thier bullpen. No one is untouchable as the FireStorm seek to patch what they believe is their biggest hole. The FireStorm sit at 11-11, and are shooting for the playoffs....

to be continued