The European League of Champions

[AstaSyneri]

2nd best in the Continental Conference, 8th best record overall, surprisingly the Latvian team is en route to the playoffs.

Rotterdam Ports

39-36, 1st Central Division

Stadium: De Kuip (51577, Open)

Economically strong and one of the major European baseball nations even before the founding of the ELC the Netherlands were awarded a second team (along with France and Germany), to be based in Rotterdam.

Rotterdam has the largest ports in Europe, with a huge petrochemical industry that is processing the many raw oil tankers landing here. The Rotterdam ports in the traditional Oranje share one of the more famous football stadiums in Europe, Feyenoord Rotterdam's De Kuip.

This year they are sending three players to the All-Star game:

[AstaSyneri]

Coastal Conference tops Continental Conference in tight finish

In the first annual ELC All-Star game in Madrid, Spain it was not all just media promotion. In an event-filled weekend the league's best players went on the field to find out just who the best are.

Miners Star Pitcher Alfred Eickhoff started of for the Coastal Conference and kept the opposing team scoreless in two innings pitched. His counterpart Jaroslaw Melcer was not so lucky - he collected 3 runs in the 2nd inning.

The Coastals were able to add 2 more runs in the 4th (on a 2-run HR by the Athens Mymidons W. Steinbrecher), and another 2 at the bottom of the sixth for a resounding 7-0 lead.

Then, with Helsinki's D. Bernard on the mound the Continentals rebounded and scored 3 points in the 7th, 1 in the 8th and 2 in 9th, to fall just short of egalizing the lead.

Final score: 7-6 for the Coastal Conference.

Player of the Game was the Sofia Lions RF Bras Clemente (2-4, 2R, 3 RBI), with a HR in the 9th.

[WTH? The winning team's W. Steinbrecher was 2-4, 2 runs and 3 RBI on 7 total bases vs. Clemente's 6 as well. And won! I am smelling politics.]

[AstaSyneri]

Note: The following 11 of 30 first-round draft picks of the inaugural draft made it into the All-Star Game:

• Fiorello Fasoli BUC, 1st overall
• Treasaigh Killeen STO, 3rd
• Jaroslaw Melcer LUX, 5th
• Sebastiaan van Trigt MAD, 8th
• Leo Asther PRA, 10th
• Sergio Curbelo BRA, 11th
• Hanni Bastian ROT, 14th
• Markus Eichholz HEL, 18th
• Phil Amati AMS, 21st
• Manole Leucuta LJU, 27th
• Ukko Malmivaara PAR, 30th

[Nick Soulis]

Originally Posted by AstaSyneri

Thanks for the feedback. Hellenes would have been a bit to blatant. Like calling a team the Glasgow Scots, the Berlin Germans or the Paris Gauls. Nah. ;-).

Unfortunately at this points the Myrmidons aren't doing so great - and I still have to do the proper logo and uniform for them. Any wishes? Colors White and lightish blue are a given, if I can find a good monochrome outline for a Myrmidon.

Also the new Single A team doesn't have a team name picked. How do you like Heraklion Minotaurs?

This is very fun stuff....

Yes blue and white is a must however a cross could help in the logo or maybe blue stripes, also the double headed eagle is used throughout Greece but is also a more religeous symbol, it is called the dikefalos.

The new team in my opinion should be based in Salonika which is the next biggest city in Greece and represents Northern Greece. A good name for them of course would be the Macedonians, Alexandrians. Or you can always use Olympians, Phalanx, or Oracles.

[AstaSyneri]

Originally Posted by Nick Soulis

Yes blue and white is a must however a cross could help in the logo or maybe blue stripes, also the double headed eagle is used throughout Greece but is also a more religeous symbol, it is called the dikefalos.

Terribly sorry -it's going to take a while till I get to optimize Single A team logos - there is still some for the ECL to be done (as you'll see shortly).

Originally Posted by Nick Soulis

The new team in my opinion should be based in Salonika which is the next biggest city in Greece and represents Northern Greece. A good name for them of course would be the Macedonians, Alexandrians. Or you can always use Olympians, Phalanx, or Oracles.

You are aware that the AAA affiliate of the Athens Myrmidons is the Thessaloniki Hoplites, aren't you? After that's it's Patras for AA and now I think it's mandate to move to the islands. And for Heraklion Minotaurs I can just select one of the many bulls logos that are around - after all I want to play the game a bit, too ;-).

Anyways, I made the mistake of play too far - if I do end of the month standings you can now see who made the play-offs, so I'll just summarize the rest of the regular season and go from there (learing-by-doing it's called, I guess9.

[AstaSyneri]

"Hello again - this is Hans de Lechteren and the final day of the first ever ELC regular season is over!"

After being on course for a playoff spot, the Metroplex Miners surpised us with some key transactions in July:

First, on July 1st, the Miners trade away their successful SP Kazio Tofil and couldn't be persuaded to comment on the trade.

The players apparently knew they were on the trading block, so it did not surprise one of them when he learned that he had been traded to the Miners. "Got my bags packed already," he said, when reached for comment. The Miners will receive 20-year-old closer Aurelio Mosca, while 35-year-old starting pitcher Kazio Tofil will go to the Malta Crusaders.

On his stats sheet for the year Tofil shows a 5-2 record, 8 starts, 57.2 innings, 13 strikeouts and a 2.81 ERA.

This season Mosca has notched no saves with 7 strikeouts and 1 walk in 6.1 innings while registering a 5.68 ERA and a 1-0 won-lost record.

Incidentally, Tofil contributed as a reliever to help the Crusaders reach the vaunted Wild Card spot, allowing 1.82 ERA in 27 G and 29.2 IP. He never reached quite the success he saw in the Miners layout.

Ten days later the headline "Blockbuster Deal in ELC" came through the ticker. Number 2 pitcher Fernando Buzzacarina, heralded as the future anchor of the franchise, suddenly found himself with another team, along with a bevvy of his team mates.

A star-studded deal has been made! The Metroplex Miners were pleased to announce a trade with the Dreadnoughts today that will send 30-year-old minor league reliever Arnauld Casamonica, 31-year-old reliever Frank Coalan, 28-year-old starting pitcher Fernando Buzzacarina, 28-year-old minor league reliever Dave Rodriguez, 25-year-old second baseman Tom Koch and $4,000,000 in cash to London in exchange for 27-year-old starting pitcher Gabriel Kvasnicka. "It's always nice to complete a deal like this." the Miners general manager was quoted as saying. "We are very happy with the way this deal came together."

This season Buzzacarina has a 4-12 record with a 4.60 ERA in 21 starts.

Kvasnicka has started 18 times this year, pitched 138.2 innings, fanned 84 batters and walked 25. His current record is 10 wins and 5 losses with a 2.79 ERA.

Later in the day another trade involving the Miners came through, this time adding a SP to the Miners pitching staff.

It's being reported in the Metroplex press that the Miners have traded 23-year-old minor league first baseman Flobert Wammes, 23-year-old minor league left fielder Dan Florescu, 26-year-old minor league reliever Stefan Bouzios, 25-year-old starting pitcher Vasilis Sirtakis and 23-year-old catcher Slavko Seselj to the Warsaw Tritons for 28-year-old starting pitcher Laurent Pellerin. However, there is no confirmation by the two ball clubs.

This year Pellerin has registered 7 wins and 5 losses in 18 starts with a 3.55 ERA while registering 95 strikeouts and 30 walks in 114 innings.

After the dust had settled, Miners head scout and our inside contact Michael Hummert did agree to a statement.

"Yes, trades always are hard on all involved. After gaining a lot of experience in the first half of the series, we looked at where we were and where we wanted to go from there. One thing we wanted from the start was to have a dependable rotation and we are delighted to have one of the very best in Alfred. Fernando is a great pitcher, too, but somehow he never felt at home in the Rhein-Ruhr area. We talked at length to him, and he was actually happy to start afresh with a different team.

We'll certainly miss Tom, he is a quality guy and contributed greatly to our success so far. But he was stuck at 2nd base behind Scott Goossens and Ion Grigore, so we decided that he'd have a better chance to prove his mettle with the Dreadnoughts. Pretty much the same applied to Frank and
Arnauld in that trade - they wanted to play in the ELC, not some affiliate and now they got the chance.

As for the second trade - we had always had an eye on Laurent. He is just 28 years old, has great technique and very decent stats. We liked him so much, that we gave up a lot of depth. I wouldn't be surprised in Flobert rips up the League of Champions and hope we won't regret letting him go, same with Slavko - who is only 23 but stuck behind our 20-year old Camillo Moschino.

We had to sacrifice a lot to fill up our rotation, but with Maxence staying on we feel we are set up very well for both this season and the near future."

In the end apparently it did pay off: The Miners went on a 20-8 run in August and could afford to let some September call-ups gain experience in the final regular season games while still clinching the top spot in the league with a 100-win season.



The Miners were 1st in the Coastal Conference in Slugging Percentage, On-Base + Slugging, Runs Scored (855), Extra-Base Hits (544), Home Runs (225) and Bases-on-Balls (601), while their defense took 1st in ERA (3.63), Starters ERA (3.53) and Strikeouts (1191).

Of the teams ahead at the All-Star break the Riga Silver Griffons took the most significant dive - falling to rank 4 in their division. Also the Stockholm Thunder were just surpassed by the Helsinki Cavalrymen and fell out of the Wild Card spot as well.

Next are our playoff reports.

[AstaSyneri]

Arrrg. A Beginner's mistake: I failed to to set my playoff roster properly. That meant I left LF Julien Rivière would be out of the playoffs entirely and recently Dl'ed DH / RF Andreas Winkler would be out for the first (and final?) series. Winkler was our lead slugger with .541 SLG (.284 AVG, .870 OPS).

Instead I had a multitude of September call-up relievers on board.

OUCH!

The Miners game 1 lineup:

CF Pouget
LF Besnard
RF Grenier
1B Dibble
DH Régnier
SS Carmelengo
C Moschino
2B Goossens
3B Ehrmann

The team performed great for six innings. A 2-RBI home run by C. Moschino and Pouget's RBI Single in the 2nd inning set up a 3-0 lead. Then Lester Dibble scored on wild pitch with Moschino at the plate in the 5th.

Then in the 7th SP Gabriel Kvasnicka tired, allowed a triple with no outs, and was subsequently replaced by recent call-up MR Panu Moilanen. He allowed 3 scores and a single RBI and a 2-RBI home run to let the Crusaders close the score to 3-4.

In the bottom of the 7th the Miners rebounded and Guillaume Grenier scored on a sacrifice fly-out from M. Régnier. 3-5.

Then in the 8th, after LHP Anton Lange had put one out, Carlos Noriega allowed a heart-wrenching 3-RBI HR for a 6-5 score, silencing the ecstatic crowd in the Miners Schalke Arena, deficit the Miners would not be able to erase.



Crusaders lead 1-0 in the series.

[AstaSyneri]

Having lost home field advantage in game 1, the Miners would come out in game 2, determined to win this one at home.

In an exciting game it took till the 5th inning before the scoreboard was modified. First Dirk Ehrmann's solo home run electrified the full capacity crowd, then it was the Albert Pouget show: After walking on first, with Serge Besnard at bat, Pouget first stole 2nd base, then on a Single by Besnard advanced to 3rd and instead of playing it safe sprinted around and made the home plate safe!

0-2 for the Miners.

Alfred Eickhoff continued his dominant pitching allowing one RBI through 8 innings, only to be replaced by Xavier Bonnard, the second-most prolific Saver in the Conference, with 43 SV behind Copenhagen's Noah Le Corre (44).

With an ecstatic crowd behind him Bonnard ... totally blew it. His first batters up resulted in a Single, Walk, Single, Double, Intentional Walk before he could strike out one. The next Sac Fly out yielded a result of 4-2 and a change of relievers. With two runners on base, Armin Weidmann fared a similar fate: His fourth pitch was hammered beyond the wall for the final score of 7-2.




The Crusaders overwhelm the Miners and lead the series 2-0, putting a whole season in jeopardy.

[AstaSyneri]

Moving the series to the tiny island of Malta the Miners were greeted with multiple banners "Crusaders bury Miners" and others.

In this pivotal game the Crusaders felt they could get an almost insurmountable lead on their home field and the fans were excited.

The Miners started with the same line-up as the last two unfortunate games and had #4 in the rotation, Maxence Renaudin on the mound. A recipe for defeat?

In the 3rd, Scott Goossens scored on a sac fly from Serge Besnard, giving the Miners the early lead for the third time in the series. 1-0.

First at bat in the 6th Guillaume Grenier, 2nd ELC pick overall, drove the ball 362 ft wide for a sole home run, doubling the score. 2-0.

In the bottom of the sixth, with 2 players out, S. Besnard dropped the ball for a single, allowing Victor Laguna to advance to second. The next hitter, Toby Johnson, then hit the ball for a single and Laguna made for home plate and scored. 2-1.

In the third G. Grenier scores on a Single from M. Régnier, adding to the lead. 3-1.

In the 8th Anton Lange replaces Renaudin and keeps the bases clean on three consecutive ground-outs.

After an uneventful top the half of the 9th, the bullpen doors opened to let out X. Bonnard. Unfazed by the loud cheering of the Crusaders fans and signs proclaiming "Blow It Again Bonnard", the Miners CL dispatches the last three Crusader batters with a flyball, a groundball and a K.

Player of the Game: Maxence Renaudin.



The Miners rebound and stay in the series. 2-1 Crusaders.

[AstaSyneri]

If this game were a Ludlum novel, it would be called "The Kvasnicka Implosion".

After the habitual early game lead of 4-0 after three innings, Kvasnicka lost his touch for the first time and loaded the bases on a single, a walk, and a single. On the subsequent two outs a runner scored each time, reducing the lead to 4-2.

Then, in the 6th, Kvasnicka totally lost control of his pitching and allowed 4 runs, until Armin Weidman stopped the bleeding somewhat, retiring the Crusaders with only one additional run getting through.

The Miners inched back into the game on a solo home run by Lester Dibble top of the 8th, but then Anton Lange and Esteban Régnier each were hit with multiple-RBI HR for a score of 5-12. Guillaume Grenier's solo home run top of the 9th had only cosmetic value.




With this blowout win the Crusaders are up 3-1 and the Miners are with the backs to the wall. They would need to win 3 games in a row, which does not seem probable after the effort they have shown this far.

[AstaSyneri]

Today the Malta Crusaders have the chance to finish this series and to advance to the Coastal Conference Finals.

Not surprisingly the Miners change things up a little bit, with L. Pellerin on the mound they change the line-up order and put Grenier in the Center Field, while Pouget takes over the right.

1. LF Besnard
2. SS Carmelengo
3. CF Grenier
4. 1B Dibble
5. DH Régnier
6. RF Pouget
7. 3B Ehrmann
8. 2B Goossens
9. C Moschino

[Note: Up to this point I had left line-ups and substitutions to the AI. Now I set the batting order manually decided about pitching changes myself. I can't do much worse now, can I?]

This shuffling of the lineup to improve the fielding proved successful. A single RBI in the 1st and another 2 RBI in the 4th give the Miners their almost customary early lead. Tensions run high as everybody is waiting for yet another batting explosion by the Crusaders.

But the Miners manage to extend their lead to 4-0 in the 6th and Miners SP Laurent Pellerin keeps the opponents off the home plate despite 10 hits against him.

Only after he visibly tires the Crusaders manage to load the bases with 0 out in the 7th. Pellerin strikes out 1, while a sacrifice fly-out brings in one run and the 2nd out.

Rookie substitute pitcher P. Moilanen then takes over with another strike-out. After he gets in trouble in the 8th and allows a second run the Miners Manager makes a daring move and puts in MR Declan Blakey. Blakey had been banned to the AAA Hamburg Commanders in the first half of the season after disagreeing with the Manager and came back as a September Call-up.

Blakey's comeback came with a vengeance: 2 Strikeouts in 4 runners faced brought him his first ever play-off save and the Miners the much needed 2nd victory. They are still down 2-3 in this Playoffs series but can withstand the Crusaders charge in their own stadium.

Player of the Game: Serge Besnard



The Crusaders still lead the series 3-2 and have two more matchballs, but the series now shifts back to the Miner's Schalke Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany.

[AstaSyneri]

Are the Miners on their way to do the improbable? Down 3-1 in the series they have now fought back to a 3-3 tie and can complete the comeback at home tomorrow.

In the first inning triple crown winner A. Eickhoff had a hick-up and a allowed a run on a 1-out sacrifice fly-out but found his form afterwards and kept his homeplate clean for 8 innings. A. Weidmann and surprisingly left-handed pitcher P. Baul mopped up after him.

Offensively just one inning - the third - was enough. Moschino's double, Besnard's single and Camelengo's patience rewarded with a BB loaded the bases. Grenier allowed Besnard to score on a sacrifice fly-out, which in hindsight took away All-Star batter Lester Dibble's first Grand Slam home run. This way it was only a 3-RBI home run - enough to put away the Crusaders 4-1.

Player of the Game: Alfred Eickhoff



Miners are back in the series, it's 3-3 and the final game is on their home field.

[AstaSyneri]

At a time when the Miners needed a hero, they got six!
Defensively G. Kvasnicka only allowed one run on three hits - and that only in the 6th of his 7 innings.
It was definitely the offense that responded to the pressure and the ecstatic home crowd. In the first inning G. Grenier set the tone by sending Serge Besnard home with a sacrifice fly-out. Then in the 5th Camillo Moschine doubled the lead with a solo home run. But it was Lester Dibble who made a case for hero of the day - he mirrored his feat from game six and sent out a 3-RBI home run, giving the Miners a 5-0 lead. After seeing the guests shorten the lead by 1 in the 6th, it was budding superstar Guillaume Grenier, 2nd pick over all of the inaugural draft, who smashed the cork ball 425 for a playoff GRAND SLAM, giving him 5 RBI for the night. This performance was then - almost silently - followed up with solo home runs by M. Régnier (7th) and Serge Besnard (8th) for a final count of 11.
The broken-spirited Crusaders only managed to squeeze in one final run and are now out of the contention.



In the other series in the Coastal Conference the Ljubljana Partisans ousted the Helsinki Cavalrymen 4 - 2.

In the Continental Conference the Luxemburg Citadel dominated the Sofia Lions 4 - 1 and the Rotterdam Ports scraped by the Paris Musketeers 4 - 3.

[AstaSyneri]

In Game 1 of the Coastal Conference Finals the Miners caught a break - Jaroslaw Melcer, the Partisans' star pitcher would not return in time from his injury.

Despite this the Schalke Arena fell quiet when Ljubljana went ahead 1-0 in the first and raised the ante to 3-0 in the third.

But in the bottom of the third first Carmelengo batted in 2 runners who had advanced on an error and a walk, then Lester Dibble followed up with a 2-RBI home run, putting Metroplex up 3-4. In the 4th Lester Dibble added another run, this time giving Grenier the chance to show his speed on a line drive into right field.

The tight lead remained in effect until L. Pellerin tired in the 7th. Patrick Paul took over with one runner on base and promptly served Hayden Edward a fastball that he converted into a 2-RBI home run. 5-5.

Armin Weidmann kept the bases clean in the 8th and 9th and it came down to the bottom of the 9th. Star Closer Liam Le Bihan had a rare blackout and let Domeneco Carmelengo triple on his second pitch. He then intentionally walked Grenier, ground out Lester Dibble and intentionally walked Andreas Winkler to load the bases with one out.

A ground ball from Pouget brought him first base as the Partisans caught Carmelengo on his way to home base for the 2nd out. Finally Dirk Ehrmann's patience won out over Le Bihan and he walked in the winning score by G. Grenier.

Player of the Game: Lester Dibble



The Miners lead the series 1 - 0.

[AstaSyneri]

Game 2 proved to be a well-earned respite for the Miners. Top-rated talent Maxence Renaudin kept the bases clean for 6 innings with 7 strike-outs while Dibble, Pouget, and Goossens batted 4 runs in in the 3rd.

The Partisans never managed to get close, only avoided the shut-out with a single run in the 8th.

Player of the Game: Maxence Renaudin



The Miners lead the series 2 - 0.

[AstaSyneri]

Serge Besnard had Ljubljana pitcher Aarre Halme's number. In the first two innings Besnard locked in perfect on the pitcher's balls and drilled two home runs out of the ballpark for an early 3-0 lead.

Halme recovered and didn't allow any runs in the following five innings while his teammates All-Star Manole Leucuta and O. Maurice managed to punish All-Star pitcher A. Eickhoff with two solo home runs to cut the lead short to 3-2.

The Miner's bullpen came through in the end, though and held the lead. Scott Goossens even added to the score with another RBI in the 8th.

Player of the Game: Serge Besnard



The Miners lead 3 - 0 in the best of seven Conference Finals.

[AstaSyneri]

With a home crowd loudly backing the Partisans the Ljubljana players showed grim determination before the game. Their top player M. Leucate offered "I will have to have the game of my life today". In the end he went hitless in four plate appearances and collected 2 Ks.

In the third it was All-Star Lester Dibble who quieted the crowd with a 2-RBI home run, making a quiet pitch for Playoff MVP. A misunderstanding with outstanding pitcher G. Kvasnicka and a subsequent second error by himself allowed the Partisans to equalize the score in the fourth and gave flaring hope to the Slovenian fans who had received an encouraging message from Phoenix Suns point guard Goran Dragic on the stadium video wall before the game.

In the sixth inning it was the "threat" Scott Gossenswho scored a 2-RBI triple. The Partisans never could come back from this 4-2 deficit, as Moilanen, Weidmann and Bonnard kept the bases clean with a combined 5 Ks.

Player of the Game: Lester Dibble



The Miners advance to the first ever Champions trophy series!

[BabyLemonade]

Great work..Will be following to check my fellow Athenians closely. Nicknames are spot on..Good luck with your project

[AstaSyneri]

The first game in the Champions Series and the whole Rhein-Ruhr Metroplex is excited. When Schalke Manager Horst Heldt was asked how annoyed he was that his football team had to reschedule a match he said "I am not annoyed at all, rather to the contrary - this is much on par with playing in the finals of the UEFA Champions League - and who wouldn't root for a German team in that. Actually playing a day earlier gives us more rest for the tough matchup the following weekend with Bayern Munich."

The game itself in the Schalke arena is to be televised to parallel big screen showings in the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund, Centro Oberhausen and the Müngersdorfer Stadion in Cologne, home of the Miners Double A affiliate Cologne Cardinals.

The visiting players have been announced and are on the field, but the Miners Pitcher is missing. Now, what is happening here? The lights are being dimmed - this is something new. As you can here the stadium sound system is blaring a song, wait, that is Conquest of Paradise by Vangelis - the intro music Henry Maske used. Ah - and there is the spotlight, highlighting Miners starting pitcher Alfred Eickhoff on his way to the mound. The crowds are going crazy here, chanting "EICKHOFF, EICKHOFF, EICKHOFF". I can hardly hear my own words.

Torsten Roos, one of the best Germans in the game, had been favorably received, but now it is clear who is being supported in this cauldron.

The 2-2 pitch, and its a SSSSTRIKE. Roos is out and the roof is almost coming off here. Next up is Anatole Guy. The 0-1 pitch - high into the rafters, and caught for the out. This is amazing, with this sound behind him, Alfred Eichhoff is a Giant of Legend out there on the mound.

Sansao Custance is up, the 1-2 strike is up, he swings... and misses! The first half inning is over and Eickhoff already has 2 Ks.

Now it's the Miners turn. Serge Besnard singles on the second throw. Carmelengo puts it high in the air on his second, but it's a fly-out. Guillaume Grenier is ever patient and is walked 4-1, with Besnard advancing to second.

All-Star Lester Dibble is walked as well, but Besnard is caught stealing on his way to 3rd. 2 on 2 out. Andreas Winkler hits a double, Grenier scores, but Dibble is caught on his way home. The inning is over, 1-0 Miners.

In the third Eickhoff lets two batters single with 1 Out, but then has Anatole Guy hit into a double, inning over.

Guillaume Grenier then hits Carmelengo home with a groundball single, but is caught stealing, the Citadel's defense is very alert. 2-0 Miners.

After that it's the Alfred Eickhoff show, who keeps the bases clean with 10 Ks and 4 Hits. P. Baul and Armin Weidmann clean up after him, securing the first ever Champions Series shutout!

Player of the Game: Alfred Eickhoff



Miners lead the Champions Series 1 - 0.

[AstaSyneri]

In the second game of the series G. Kvasnicka allows for 5 runs, something even the high-octane Miners offense could not overcome against the well-oiled Citadel defensive machine.



Series is tied 1 - 1.