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Eugene Church · 11-16-2008, 10:49 PM

The Islandian Times

Saturday, September 1, 2001

Ginza and South Fork Battle Down to the Wire in TU East Race

It a two-team pennant race in the Tyrobbian Union East between the Ginza Ninjas and the South Fork Stallions. Ginza has a half-game lead heading into the final two weeks of the season.

South Fork made up some ground last month with the best record in the division. The Stallions were 17-13, followed by last place Hartsdale at 17-14, fifth place Luxora 17-16, fourth place Ozarka 16-17, first place Ginza 16-17 and third place Cape Coral had the worst record with a 13-19 mark.

The Ginza Ninjas are ahead in the race because they do everything pretty well except hit the long ball. Manager Huroko Uchiyama's club has all the fundamentals down pat. They don't beat themselves. The TU East is a pitcher's league with Ginza leading the teams in hitting with a .261 average. The Ninjas are third in runs scored with 572, second in pitching with a 3.34 ERA and third in fielding with a .976 percentage. But they are having a tough time with South Fork, who is coming on strong in the last weeks of the regular season.

Pitching is the name of the game in Ginza and Uchiyama has a fine mound corps. The Ninja manager has had the luxury of having the same starting rotation just about the entire season. At the head of the class is Kojiro Matsumoto, who has rung up an 18-10 record with a fine 2.98 ERA. Toshiharu Ito began the season in the bullpen, but didn't stay there long. Ito has sparkled with a 16-7 mark and a 2.56 ERA. Kazuhiru Nakayama is the number three man in the rotation with an 11-13 record, but an impressive 2.91 ERA. He always keeps Ginza in the game. Rounding out the staff is Vic Rouzakis with a 16-15 record and a 4.14 ERA. Rouzakis is prone to giving up gopher balls, but usually keeps the game close. In the bullpen Uchiyama can call on dependable Ken Watkins. He has worked in 40 games this year, saved 13 games and has compiled a 4-6 record and an excellent 2.32 ERA. Helping out in relief is Emil Kreskas, who signed a month ago and has been a find so far with 2 saves in 12 appearances, a 1-0 record and a microscopic 1.89 ERA in 33 innings, mainly in long relief.

The Ninjas have a good core of hitters, they just lack the power some of the other clubs have. Uchiyama depends on first baseman Kenshin Yamamoto, right fielder Charlie Campbell and left fielder Toshiharu Fujimoto for run production. Yamamoto tops the lot with a .323 batting average, 29 doubles, 22 homers, 87 RBIs and 75 runs scored. Campbell is batting .290 with 25 doubles, 3 triples, 18 roundtrippers, 82 RBIs and has scored 66. Fujimoto is hitting .288 with 23 doubles, 6 triples, 22 home runs, batted in 77 runs, scored 91 times and stole 26 bases. Shortstop Shinjiro Aoki has set the table for the big hitters and is hitting .268 with 33 doubles, 6 triples, 2 homers, scored 89 runs and stole 41 bases.

South Fork is playing very well now and has the best pitching in the league, but lost the season series to Ginza 19-11. They don't play any more against one another the rest of the regular season. With the race so close, every game is vital down the home stretch. The season ends September 13.

The South Fork Stallions lumbered along the first half of the season without much in the way of hitting, the mound staff had to do it all. But at mid-season GM Finley Charles got busy and started to wheel and deal, trading good pitchers for good contact hitters and it turned the season around. He still has a superb pitching staff and now has added some very much-needed offense, defense and speed.

Right fielder Art Atkins and second baseman Rick Tsoukalis came from Elnora in mid-July for power-hitting outfielder Paul Giles. The Stallions picked up two younger players and contact hitters and made the team better now and in the long run, too. First baseman Keith Burke was obtained in a June swap for Jerry Harrison, a quality pitcher. South Fork also sent pitcher Booger Burchfield to Marston of the RU South for center fielder Ronnie Lee. All four players improved the offense and defense. The Stallions became a new ballclub.

South Fork's big bat, third baseman Glenn Holliday, struggled for the first two months, mired in a terrible batting slump. His average was .215 in early June. Since then, Holliday has rebounded and built his average up to .286 with 28 doubles, 2 triples, 30 homers, batted in 79 runs and scored 77. Add in Atkins, Burke and Tsoukalis and the Stallions became a different ballclub. Atkins is batting .315 with 29 doubles, 4 triples, 12 homers, 55 RBIs, scored 71 times and stole 11 bases, Burke has a .287 batting average in 73 starts with 11 doubles, 7 triples, 12 home runs, 46 RBIs, scored 58 runs and stole 10 bases, and Tsoukalis has hit .279 in 63 games with 13 doubles, 2 triples, 2 roundtrippers, batted in 34 runs, scored 31 and stolen 12 bases. Burke and Tsoukalis were backups in Elnora and played very little. They have added speed, defense and hitting to the South Fork attack. Center fielder and lead-off man Ronnie Lee is batting .315 in 99 games and has 36 RBIs, scored 62 runs and stolen 30 bases.

South Fork's highly-articulate and sometimes outspoken skipper, DeRoche "Lips" Leon, has praised his pitching corps all season long -- they deserve it with a brilliant 3.00 team ERA. Who wouldn't be happy with the likes of Vince Bernini with a 10-6 record, 3 shutouts and a 2.61 ERA, Flint Battle with an 18-10 mark, 2 shutouts and a 2.63 ERA, Ken Conner with a 13-8 record and 2.93 ERA and Ken Olson with a 14-12 mark and 3.02 ERA. And when Leon goes to the bullpen, what does he find? Glenn Turnbull with a 7-5 record, 9 saves and a 2.81 ERA in 42 games, Billy Joe Gordon with a 2-6 mark (5 losses in the first month), 7 saves with a 2.70 ERA in 38 games and Kyle Moss with an 0-2 record, 2 saves and a 2.98 ERA in 18 games.

The Cape Coral Hurricanes are tied with Waleska for third place in the TU East, 10 games back in the race. Both clubs are too far out to make the playoffs. They will just fight one another for third place, but will have to watch their backsides as Luxora and Hartsdale are not too far behind. Manager Zoggy White's Hurricanes have been in the middle of the pack most of the season, plagued with just average pitching and hitting and poor defense.

The Hurricanes are hitting only .256 as a team and are ranked third in the division, second in homers with 126 and second in scoring with 585 runs. Pitching-wise the team is rated fourth with a 3.64 ERA. Defensively, not very good -- the 'Canes are last with a .973 fielding percentage.

Cape Coral's starting rotation has been pretty good with Wally Robinson leading the way with an impressive 16-10 mark and a solid 3.07 ERA. Robinson has fanned 205 in 255 innings and posted three shutouts. After him White's mound corps is just average. Katsuyuki Nagashima is 11-15 with a 3.41 ERA, Josh Salow is 7-5 with a 3.49 ERA and Gary Fountain is 11-12 with a 3.78 ERA. The bullpen has been lacking most of the season. White robbed it when he put Nagashima in the starting rotation in June. It took him until late July to find and sign Tommy Archer, who has been absolutely terrific in the closer role. Archer is 2-1 with a ridiculously low 0.40 ERA and 7 saves in his 15 game appearances.

At the plate, first baseman Rodger Wooten and left fielder Rob Kelly have been the only standouts. Wooten has compiled a .296 mark with 27 doubles, 2 triples, 27 homers, 88 RBIs and 79 runs scored, while Kelly is batting .291 with 27 doubles, 3 triples, 20 home runs, 73 RBIs and scored 79 times. In 94 games right fielder Danny Mullins has added some punch and longball to the lineup. Mullins is hitting only .251, but has slammed 16 roundtrippers, driving in 46 runs and scoring 46 times.

White has shored up his faulty defense with third baseman Spook Estes (.967), shortstop Kenny Hall (.979) and second sacker Howie Winters (.995), but none of them have hit very well. Estes has a .258 average, Winters .269 and Hall a poor .229 batting mark.

The Ozarka Naturals got off to a fast start in the first month of the season and held first place for awhile, but tapered off after that to just an average team. Guided by manager Joe Mac Carney, the Naturals are tied with Cape Coral for the third spot in the TU East and trail first place Ginza by 10 games.

The only thing Ozarka excels in is hitting home runs. The Nats lead the division with 134 roundtrippers. The team is down at the bottom with only a .239 batting average, last in runs with 525, fifth with a 3.69 team ERA and fourth in fielding with a .975 fielding percentage.

Carney has a good starting rotation, excellent closer, but weak middle relief. Sid Hyder joined the Hurricanes in June and went into the starting rotation in July and has been sensational with a 10-3 record, 3 shutouts and a 2.53 ERA. The rest of the staff gives good outings, but suffer from poor run support. Luther Hatch is 13-15 with a 3.31 ERA, Yasuyuki Nakagawa is 13-15 3.36 ERA with a pair of shutouts and Tony Didriksen has a 12-14 mark and a 3.71 ERA. Cape Coral has one of the best closers in the IPA in Alec DiMaggio. He has rung up an 8-6 record, 15 saves in 43 games with a splendid 1.45 ERA.

The Hurricanes main sticks have been third baseman Doug Cunningham with a .248 average, 43 doubles, 4 triples, 28 home runs, batted in 84 runs and scored 67 times. first baseman Floyd Snow with a .245 batting average, 28 doubles, 21 homers, 71 RBIs and 50 runs, center fielder Teddy Braun with a .288 average, 22 doubles, 7 triples, 11 home runs, 44 RBIs, 68 runs and 10 stolen bases and left fielder Ronnie Patterson, hitting .261 with 32 doubles, 8 triples, 24 roundtrippers and 30 stolen bases.

Fifth place Luxora and last place Hartsdale will be covered tomorrow.

11-16-2008, 10:49 PM	#558
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,820	The Islandian Times Saturday, September 1, 2001 Ginza and South Fork Battle Down to the Wire in TU East Race It a two-team pennant race in the Tyrobbian Union East between the Ginza Ninjas and the South Fork Stallions. Ginza has a half-game lead heading into the final two weeks of the season. South Fork made up some ground last month with the best record in the division. The Stallions were 17-13, followed by last place Hartsdale at 17-14, fifth place Luxora 17-16, fourth place Ozarka 16-17, first place Ginza 16-17 and third place Cape Coral had the worst record with a 13-19 mark. The Ginza Ninjas are ahead in the race because they do everything pretty well except hit the long ball. Manager Huroko Uchiyama's club has all the fundamentals down pat. They don't beat themselves. The TU East is a pitcher's league with Ginza leading the teams in hitting with a .261 average. The Ninjas are third in runs scored with 572, second in pitching with a 3.34 ERA and third in fielding with a .976 percentage. But they are having a tough time with South Fork, who is coming on strong in the last weeks of the regular season. Pitching is the name of the game in Ginza and Uchiyama has a fine mound corps. The Ninja manager has had the luxury of having the same starting rotation just about the entire season. At the head of the class is Kojiro Matsumoto, who has rung up an 18-10 record with a fine 2.98 ERA. Toshiharu Ito began the season in the bullpen, but didn't stay there long. Ito has sparkled with a 16-7 mark and a 2.56 ERA. Kazuhiru Nakayama is the number three man in the rotation with an 11-13 record, but an impressive 2.91 ERA. He always keeps Ginza in the game. Rounding out the staff is Vic Rouzakis with a 16-15 record and a 4.14 ERA. Rouzakis is prone to giving up gopher balls, but usually keeps the game close. In the bullpen Uchiyama can call on dependable Ken Watkins. He has worked in 40 games this year, saved 13 games and has compiled a 4-6 record and an excellent 2.32 ERA. Helping out in relief is Emil Kreskas, who signed a month ago and has been a find so far with 2 saves in 12 appearances, a 1-0 record and a microscopic 1.89 ERA in 33 innings, mainly in long relief. The Ninjas have a good core of hitters, they just lack the power some of the other clubs have. Uchiyama depends on first baseman Kenshin Yamamoto, right fielder Charlie Campbell and left fielder Toshiharu Fujimoto for run production. Yamamoto tops the lot with a .323 batting average, 29 doubles, 22 homers, 87 RBIs and 75 runs scored. Campbell is batting .290 with 25 doubles, 3 triples, 18 roundtrippers, 82 RBIs and has scored 66. Fujimoto is hitting .288 with 23 doubles, 6 triples, 22 home runs, batted in 77 runs, scored 91 times and stole 26 bases. Shortstop Shinjiro Aoki has set the table for the big hitters and is hitting .268 with 33 doubles, 6 triples, 2 homers, scored 89 runs and stole 41 bases. South Fork is playing very well now and has the best pitching in the league, but lost the season series to Ginza 19-11. They don't play any more against one another the rest of the regular season. With the race so close, every game is vital down the home stretch. The season ends September 13. The South Fork Stallions lumbered along the first half of the season without much in the way of hitting, the mound staff had to do it all. But at mid-season GM Finley Charles got busy and started to wheel and deal, trading good pitchers for good contact hitters and it turned the season around. He still has a superb pitching staff and now has added some very much-needed offense, defense and speed. Right fielder Art Atkins and second baseman Rick Tsoukalis came from Elnora in mid-July for power-hitting outfielder Paul Giles. The Stallions picked up two younger players and contact hitters and made the team better now and in the long run, too. First baseman Keith Burke was obtained in a June swap for Jerry Harrison, a quality pitcher. South Fork also sent pitcher Booger Burchfield to Marston of the RU South for center fielder Ronnie Lee. All four players improved the offense and defense. The Stallions became a new ballclub. South Fork's big bat, third baseman Glenn Holliday, struggled for the first two months, mired in a terrible batting slump. His average was .215 in early June. Since then, Holliday has rebounded and built his average up to .286 with 28 doubles, 2 triples, 30 homers, batted in 79 runs and scored 77. Add in Atkins, Burke and Tsoukalis and the Stallions became a different ballclub. Atkins is batting .315 with 29 doubles, 4 triples, 12 homers, 55 RBIs, scored 71 times and stole 11 bases, Burke has a .287 batting average in 73 starts with 11 doubles, 7 triples, 12 home runs, 46 RBIs, scored 58 runs and stole 10 bases, and Tsoukalis has hit .279 in 63 games with 13 doubles, 2 triples, 2 roundtrippers, batted in 34 runs, scored 31 and stolen 12 bases. Burke and Tsoukalis were backups in Elnora and played very little. They have added speed, defense and hitting to the South Fork attack. Center fielder and lead-off man Ronnie Lee is batting .315 in 99 games and has 36 RBIs, scored 62 runs and stolen 30 bases. South Fork's highly-articulate and sometimes outspoken skipper, DeRoche "Lips" Leon, has praised his pitching corps all season long -- they deserve it with a brilliant 3.00 team ERA. Who wouldn't be happy with the likes of Vince Bernini with a 10-6 record, 3 shutouts and a 2.61 ERA, Flint Battle with an 18-10 mark, 2 shutouts and a 2.63 ERA, Ken Conner with a 13-8 record and 2.93 ERA and Ken Olson with a 14-12 mark and 3.02 ERA. And when Leon goes to the bullpen, what does he find? Glenn Turnbull with a 7-5 record, 9 saves and a 2.81 ERA in 42 games, Billy Joe Gordon with a 2-6 mark (5 losses in the first month), 7 saves with a 2.70 ERA in 38 games and Kyle Moss with an 0-2 record, 2 saves and a 2.98 ERA in 18 games. The Cape Coral Hurricanes are tied with Waleska for third place in the TU East, 10 games back in the race. Both clubs are too far out to make the playoffs. They will just fight one another for third place, but will have to watch their backsides as Luxora and Hartsdale are not too far behind. Manager Zoggy White's Hurricanes have been in the middle of the pack most of the season, plagued with just average pitching and hitting and poor defense. The Hurricanes are hitting only .256 as a team and are ranked third in the division, second in homers with 126 and second in scoring with 585 runs. Pitching-wise the team is rated fourth with a 3.64 ERA. Defensively, not very good -- the 'Canes are last with a .973 fielding percentage. Cape Coral's starting rotation has been pretty good with Wally Robinson leading the way with an impressive 16-10 mark and a solid 3.07 ERA. Robinson has fanned 205 in 255 innings and posted three shutouts. After him White's mound corps is just average. Katsuyuki Nagashima is 11-15 with a 3.41 ERA, Josh Salow is 7-5 with a 3.49 ERA and Gary Fountain is 11-12 with a 3.78 ERA. The bullpen has been lacking most of the season. White robbed it when he put Nagashima in the starting rotation in June. It took him until late July to find and sign Tommy Archer, who has been absolutely terrific in the closer role. Archer is 2-1 with a ridiculously low 0.40 ERA and 7 saves in his 15 game appearances. At the plate, first baseman Rodger Wooten and left fielder Rob Kelly have been the only standouts. Wooten has compiled a .296 mark with 27 doubles, 2 triples, 27 homers, 88 RBIs and 79 runs scored, while Kelly is batting .291 with 27 doubles, 3 triples, 20 home runs, 73 RBIs and scored 79 times. In 94 games right fielder Danny Mullins has added some punch and longball to the lineup. Mullins is hitting only .251, but has slammed 16 roundtrippers, driving in 46 runs and scoring 46 times. White has shored up his faulty defense with third baseman Spook Estes (.967), shortstop Kenny Hall (.979) and second sacker Howie Winters (.995), but none of them have hit very well. Estes has a .258 average, Winters .269 and Hall a poor .229 batting mark. The Ozarka Naturals got off to a fast start in the first month of the season and held first place for awhile, but tapered off after that to just an average team. Guided by manager Joe Mac Carney, the Naturals are tied with Cape Coral for the third spot in the TU East and trail first place Ginza by 10 games. The only thing Ozarka excels in is hitting home runs. The Nats lead the division with 134 roundtrippers. The team is down at the bottom with only a .239 batting average, last in runs with 525, fifth with a 3.69 team ERA and fourth in fielding with a .975 fielding percentage. Carney has a good starting rotation, excellent closer, but weak middle relief. Sid Hyder joined the Hurricanes in June and went into the starting rotation in July and has been sensational with a 10-3 record, 3 shutouts and a 2.53 ERA. The rest of the staff gives good outings, but suffer from poor run support. Luther Hatch is 13-15 with a 3.31 ERA, Yasuyuki Nakagawa is 13-15 3.36 ERA with a pair of shutouts and Tony Didriksen has a 12-14 mark and a 3.71 ERA. Cape Coral has one of the best closers in the IPA in Alec DiMaggio. He has rung up an 8-6 record, 15 saves in 43 games with a splendid 1.45 ERA. The Hurricanes main sticks have been third baseman Doug Cunningham with a .248 average, 43 doubles, 4 triples, 28 home runs, batted in 84 runs and scored 67 times. first baseman Floyd Snow with a .245 batting average, 28 doubles, 21 homers, 71 RBIs and 50 runs, center fielder Teddy Braun with a .288 average, 22 doubles, 7 triples, 11 home runs, 44 RBIs, 68 runs and 10 stolen bases and left fielder Ronnie Patterson, hitting .261 with 32 doubles, 8 triples, 24 roundtrippers and 30 stolen bases. Fifth place Luxora and last place Hartsdale will be covered tomorrow.