TSTBL Needs 2 For 4th Season

[Driver 8]

In a season that was short on pennant suspense, the 2004 TSTBL playoffs proved long on surprises. In the West, the resurgent Portland Beavers (97-65) won the North Division going away from defending champs, the Salt Lake City Stingers, while the Colorado Springs Sky Sox (100-62) exacted a certain measure of revenge by reclaiming the South division they previously won in 2002. In the East, the defending TSTBL champion Toledo Mudhens (114-48) ran away from the pack out of the chute and ended with a league-record win total, while the Memphis Redbirds (87-75) dethroned the two-time EL South champion New Orleans Zephyrs.

In the first day of divisional playoffs, the favored Sky Sox jumped all over Beaver starter Shawn Chacon en route to a 9-2 victory. Carlos Lee paced the Sox with 4 hits, while Joe Kennedy held Portland to one-run on four-hits over 8 innings. In the East, Josh Beckett, who came to the Redbirds from Toledo in a mid-season trade, combined with a pair of relievers on a 4-hit, 5-1 victory over EL Most Valuable Pitcher winner, Ricardo Rodriguez. In game-two, series MVP Kevan Burns knocked in 4 runs, powering Memphis and Rookie Of the Year Neil Turin to a 10-2 victory over Toledo. In the West, Colorado lit-up Barry Zito for 6 runs in their 6-4 victory to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Not willing to go quietly, Portland sent Kerry Wood to the mound in game three, and the righty responded with a scratch-single over 8 innings in the 10-0 victory as the series shifted back to Portland. Back in the East, the mighty Mud Hens came out flat against the Redbirds in Memphis and dropped a 5-2 contest to fall behind 3-0 in the series.

Facing elimination, the Mud Hens once again turned to Rodriguez. Toledo 2B Damian Rolls hit a solo homer in the third to counter Memphis' scratch run in the first, only fall behind by a 3-1 count in the third. The Memphis faithful sensed something magical as Andy Van Hekken shut down Toledo in the fifth. The lead was short-lived as Toledo scratched across a pair of runs in the sixth to once again tie the score. Van Hekken appeared to get his second-wind as he blanked the Mudhens in the 7th and 8th, to keep the score tied entering the ninth. In a surprise move of sorts, Van Hekken took the mound to start the ninth. The rookie lefty quickly dispatched the first two Toledo hitters before Jorge Padilla hit a long homer to deep left to give the Mud Hens a 4-3 lead. In the bottom of the frame, Toledo brought in the Fireman Of the Year honoree, Byung-Hyun Kim to try and series to a fifth game. He quickly retired the leadoff hitter before walking pinch-hitter Reggie Taylor and 2B Akiyama Shigeo. With a pair of runners on, 3B Joe Crede worked the count full against Kim, only to get caught looking on a fastball that appeared to be inside. With two-down, Burns lined a single to center, scoring Taylor and sending Shigeo scampering to third. With runners on the corner, SS Gookie Dawkins hit a first-pitch fastball to left that was left uncontested as Shigeo walked home with the winning run, sealing the sweep, the biggest upset in TSTBL history.

Back in the West, Colorado was working on holding up their end of the bargain by sending ace lefty Joe Kennedy to the mound once again. Trailing 4-2 entering their half of the eighth, Colorado exploded for 9 runs, on their way to an 11-5 victory to take a 3-1 lead in the series. In game five, Zito made up for his failure in game two by combining on a three-hitter with two relievers in a 6-2 victory to bring the Beavers within a game. On the brink of elimination again, Kerry Wood and Steve Colyer allowed 5 hits in the Beavers 5-1 victory to tie the series at 3 games apiece. The situation appeared grim as the Beavers were set to face Colorado ace Joe Kennedy in game seven. After retiring the first two batters in the 2nd, Kennedy came up grimacing after throwing a pitch to WL MVP Ben Broussard. Forced out of the game with a stiff elbow, his replacement, Luke Prokopec, gave up a solo shot to Broussard and allowed 4 more runs to give the Beavers a 5-0 lead. Colorado tallied 3 in the sixth and one more in the eighth, but the rally was too little, too late as the Beavers prevailed 5-4 to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win the series and advance to their first World Series appearance.

With expectations and hopes high on both sides of the diamond, Portland Zito to the mound to face Memphis, who countered with Beckett. Despite strong efforts by both starters, it was a two-run homer by relatively unknown Alejandro Pelaez in the fourth, breaking a 2-2 tie, which accounted for the Beavers' 4-2 win in game one. Hoping to send the series to Portland tied at a game apiece, Memphis sent Rookie Of the Year Turin to the mound in game two against Wood. As three Beaver pitchers held the Redbirds to four hits, Memphis never stood a chance as the Beavers beat up on Memphis 12-1, with Pelaez contributing another pair of RBI's. Shifting to Portland, the Beavers once again beat-up on the Red Birds, even though the game was not as close as the 12-8 score would suggest. In game four, with Memphis on the brink of elimination, Van Hekken and Zito hooked up in a duel that went to the ninth tied at one-apiece. In the top of the 9th, back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Adrian Gonzalez and Burns highlighted a four-run ninth that game Memphis the 5-1 lead. After pushing across a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame, Tommy Aurand of the Beavers struck out looking with a man on second as Memphis escaped with a 5-3 win in game four to prolong the series. Game five featured a match-up of both team's aces, Beckett and Wood. Portland jumped on Beckett for five runs in five innings and never looked back in their 9-4 win, turning the hands to midnight on Memphis' fairytale post-season.

[Driver 8]

The TSTBL is about to start their fourth season, 2005, with the start of the free agency period, which begins Sunday evening. After experiencing no turnover this past season, we have two owner's who are unable to continue with the league. This presents us with an increasingly rare need for owners. We feature a great group of active owners who submitted rosters at a 84.5% rate last season, and are looking for two more of the same.

As far as the league's government, we sim three times a week like clockwork...In 3 seasons simmed, there has never been a cancelled sim. If you're an active owner and are looking to get into a league, we have these two teams open:

Oklahoma (77-85)...Once a doormat in the Western League (93 losses in '02), the team is slowly progressing into a contender. On the mound, the team is lead by starters Tim Redding (10-15, 6.51) and Ryan Drese (14-12, 4.34), middle reliever Kris Keller (14-6, 5.49) and closer Kelvim Escobar (12-3, 2.08/the league's 2003 Fireman Of the Year). On offense, the team is lead by Eric Chavez (.338-51-125), who has lead the majors in doubles all three seasons. Supporting cast include: C Ramon Hernandez (.262-17-72), C Jorl Reyes (.292-14-55), 1B William Blaisdell (.253-16-98), 2B Jose Ortiz (.244-33-103) and RF Gabe Gross (.312-12-102).

Sacramento (70-92)...Although never a powerhouse, the team does feature some good, young pitchers in Kurt Ainsworth (9-9, 4.63), Taylor Buchholz (12-13, 4.82), Roy Halladay (10-12, 3.86), Nickolas Neugebauer (4-11, 3.90) and Danys Baez (3-8, 3.88). The offense is lead by C Brad Cresse (.342-16-96), SS Wilson Betemit (.327-14-84), LF Lonnie Shreffler (.305-18-96) and CF Nathan Haynes (.318-7-67).

With quite a few teams in salary cap trouble, and this being a banner year for potential free agents, this is the perfect time for a creative owner to come in and become a player in the market and get these franchises over the hump. Both of these teams are in the bottom half of the league in terms of salary.

If you think you are the one to turn one of these franchises around, please drop me an e-mail.

[Sudy Nym]

It's hard to believe some of the ringing endorsements you hear for leagues, as they're everywhere. So I'll try not to make any.

But I've had an amazing amount of fun in the TSTBL- I've just found it to be the only league that I've participated in so far with a truly interesting and understanding commissioner and core group of owners, and we've only been able to build off of that. I've been taking part since the end of the first season, and had the pleasure of being this year's champion.

The competition is stiff, but it's still easy to turn your team around. I went to 97-65 from 71-91 in my first complete season. There's plenty of talent- and speaking of talent, the talent curve is a very interesting mix of real young major league players, and an increasing number of drafted fictional players. It really balances out well. You won't find the "drabness" and consistently weak players of a fresh fictional league.

Also, all league rules are not set in stone- things are constantly added and improved, season after season. The site isn't flashy, but it's the most functional league site that I've ever seen.

If you want to be a part of a league that you can really be involved in, I invite you to take a look. Transactions are plentiful, and with more stable owners, there will only be more. That being said, I think you'll get the most out of the league if you want to be dedicated to it- you may not notice how great it is if you're an owner who simply submits rosters every sim.


http://www.bkick.com/tstbl/main.htm

[bigsmooth]

This is a great league. If you are looking for a league with a good core group of owners and GM's who are willing to shake things up a bit from time to time, look no further. The commissioner does a fantastic job running the league. This is the best league of the 3 I belong to, no comparison!!

Edmonton Trappers GM
Rob Tomlinson

[Ghaleon1902]

I've been looking for a league to join, and think I can turn one of those franchises around.