View Single Post
Old 10-14-2008, 01:32 AM   #491
Eugene Church
Hall Of Famer
 
Eugene Church's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 35,898
The Islandian Times

Tuesday, July 24, 2001

Around the IPA
Ruthlandian Union - North Division

The Far Mountain Redhawks are on top of the RU North Division, 3.5 games in front of the Colfax Blasters. The Redhawks just jumped ahead of the them in the last ten days as the Blasters have spiraled into a 1-9 slump and dropped out of first place. The last third of the season looks like it is going to be a humdinger in this division with a four-team battle between Far Mountain, Colfax, Volusia and Valmara. The Vigilantes are only 4 games off the pace and playing well of late, while the Vipers are just 4.5 games out. Valmara, the best hitting team in the RU North, has had a good July, too.

So far the Redhawks and the Blasters pitching has kept them at the top of the standings. Far Mountain and Colfax are tied for the best team ERA at 3.74, Glasco is third with a 3.82 ERA, Volusia is fourth with a 3.91, Elnora is fifth at 4.27 and Valmara is dead last with an atrocious 4.53 ERA. The clubs that have good pitching can get by with it, more so than the team that hit well. Look out, if Valmara ever gets any kind of good pitching.

Valmara leads with a .280 team batting average, Volusia is second with .275, Colfax and Elnora are tied for third at .271, Glasco is fifth at .267 and first place Far Mountain is last with a .265 average. The Vipers and Blasters are the best run producers by far over the other four clubs, averaging a run a game more.

The Valmara Vipers also are the best defenders in the division with a .980 mark. The other four clubs are closely bunched with Volusia and Elnora at .978, Glasco and Colfax .977 with Far Mountain way down the line at .974.

The Far Mountain Redhawks have not had a good July thus far. They have an 11-14 mark. Pitching has been their strong point with two fine starters in righthanders Sonny Elliott (13-7 2.68) and John Luzzatti (9-7 3.22) and two good relievers in Doc Rutledge (6-6 3.00) and Mike McCabe (4-2 2.59). McCabe recently took over the closer role from Rutledge. McCabe has two saves and 32 relief appearances this season, while Rutledge has 11 saves and 36 game appearances. Stan Lamoreaux (6-3 4.24) and Vic Vaux (8-6 4.27) have been good at times and ineffective at other times. Consistency has been their problem.

Far Mountain is skippered by the legendary pitching great of the amateur leagues, Alex Groveland. In order to shore up his hitting for the final six weeks of the regular season, Groveland shipped one of his pitchers, Vance Mitchell (5-4 3.73), to Valmara in exchange for second baseman Steve Kaminski (.345). Mitchell had four starts for the Redhawks, while Kaminski was a backup utility infielder with good potential, but no place to play for the Vipers. Newly-signed Bud Ford, a 29-year-old righthander, will take Mitchell place in the starting rotation.

Offensively the Redhawks are led by All-Star catcher Dave Davis, who tops the RU with a lofty .383 batting average, while driving in 56 runs. Third baseman Johnny Strickland (.281) has been good in the clutch and tops the team with 15 homers and 55 RBIs. He is one of the few longball threats, but is weak on defense with a .924 fielding percentage. Power is sorely lacking in Far Mountain. First baseman Royce Benson (.309) and center fielder Hawk Gallagher (.306) have been important cogs in the Redhawks success this year, but both lack power. They both have stolen over 30 bases each. Gallagher is a solid defender (.996 FA) and tops the league in putouts. In an attempt to perk up the offense Groveland has picked up two new outfielders, left fielder Dennis Jones and right fielder Sid Cameron. Both will split time with Gerald Davis (.234) and Tommy Sonnier (.254). Shortstop Joey Cannizaro (.307) has taken over for Al Nixon (.256), but his defense is not quite as good.

The new additions will be the key to how well Far Mountain does over the last 50 games of the season. If they come through for them, you could see them in the Final Four playoffs. Time will tell if it was wise to give a division rival a desperately-needed good pitcher. The Kaminski for Mitchell trade could backfire on them.

What's wrong with the second place Colfax Blasters? On paper they are one of the best-balanced clubs in the North Division with good pitching and good hitting. But lately everything seems to have gone south on them. They are 8-16 this month, the worst record in the division. Colfax has now fallen 3.5 games behind Far Mountain.

All-Star righthander Flash Guidry (11-10 3.14) always gives skipper Clem Rogers a good start, along with southpaw Harry Manning (11-8 3.87). 1 through 9 in the mound corps, Colfax may be just about as good as it gets in the IPA. Lefty Robbie Smith (6-6 3.19), and righthanders Irv Panko (1-2 3.47) and Jim Dreyer (3-0 3.21) have done well in limited service so far. New middle reliever Vic Jankovich (2-0 1.02) had been outstanding in his 10 appearances. Closer Walt Sellers (2-5 3.25) has struggled at times, but had pitched fairly well with 8 saves in 32 games. Jankovich has just been promoted to the finisher role by Rogers. Sellers will be his main long relief.

Except in home runs the Blasters have a solid bunch of regulars. 1 through 7 Colfax is good with the bats. All-Star first baseman Dennis Cole (.328) is outstanding with 27 homers, 86 RBIs, 77 runs and 99 walks. He will definitely be in the running for all the batting awards this year. Other regulars include second baseman Tucker Hill with a .329 average and 61 runs, left fielder Blinky Brandon with a .302 average and 76 runs scored, third baseman Russ Farrell, batting .290 with 48 RBIs, right fielder Pat Lott with 57 RBIs and a .277 batting average, and center fielder Tatsuya Suzaki (.274), a sure-handed defender. Rogers has restored Wayne O'Reilly to the shortstop position. He is a good fielder with power. He has 12 roundtrippers and will lend some much needed power in the lineup and better defense.

Look for Rogers to crack the whip and get his ship turned around and headed in the right direction. The Blasters are too good of a club to continue playing so poorly. Rogers said they have just hit a bad stretch in the season and will be in the hunt for a Final Four position come late September.

A trade between Colfax and the Bayview Vikings of the Tycobbian Union East was made official this morning. The Blasters have sent 27-year-old backup third baseman Vic Boldt to the Vikings in exchange for 33-year-old catcher Jose Hernandez. Manager Clem Rogers thinks Hernandez can contribute some run production to the lineup.

In 24 games Boldt is currently hitting at a .257 pace with 1 home run, 14 RBIs and has scored 11 times.

This season in 15 games, Hernandez is batting .276 with 1 home run. His totals include 9 RBIs and 7 runs scored.

Last edited by Eugene Church; 10-15-2008 at 09:58 PM.
Eugene Church is online now   Reply With Quote