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Eugene Church · 02-26-2009, 10:28 PM

The Islandian Times

Saturday, June 15, 2002

Tight Race in RU East, Marston and Sugar Valley Co-Leaders
At the All-Star break, two of the better teams from last year are the co-leaders in the Ruthlandian Union East standings. The Marston Nine and the Sugar Valley Rattlers are 1 game up on an expansion club, the Cold Creek Catamounts, who are in their first season in the Islandian Pro Alliance. Holdovers from last season, the Elnora All-Stars are in the fourth spot and are only 2 games off the pace. The top five positions are tight with the Eastshore Elegants only 4 games back of the leaders. The Beechwood Bobcats are tied for sixth with the Wynnamac Sundowners, 8 games behind. Rounding out the division in the basement are the Belle Plaine Musketeers, 18 games out.

Both Marston and Sugar Valley possess good hitting and good pitching. Elnora also hits well and has a good pitching staff. Cold Creek and Eastshore are using the longball power for success and suffer from pitching. And as you always hear from the experts, good pitching beats good hitting. But the power teams are hanging close at mid-season.

The Marston Nine (39-32) are piloted by Johnny Walters, perhaps the finest righthanded hurler in the history of the Islands... His veteran club is solid in all aspects of the game... .263 BA (3rd)... 44 HR (5th)... 3.28 ERA (1st)... .978 FA (3rd-T)... Starters: Excellent... Nick Pace (8-6 2.68)... Casey Ledbetter (10-5 3.15)... Vinnie Gardner (4-2 2.07)... Booger Burchfield (3-4 3.01)... all vets from last year... Bullpen: Mediocre... Closer: Mediocre - Walt Sellers (4-4 4.22) 9 saves... Hitting: Solid - 2B Ken Green (.325/3 HR/30 RBI)... CF Kerby Jost (.294/8 HR/30 RBI/25 R)... IF Don Nichols (.266/7 HR/29 RBI/32 R)... Disappointments: SS-3B Roland Thomas .359 hitter last year, down to .270 this year... and Sellers in the closer spot... Bright spots: Starters... and 3B Roddy Teague (.348/3 HR/13 RBI).

The hard-nosed and tough Gibson Bobkins is the Sugar Valley (39-32) manager. The former pitching great has a well-rounded team... .270 BA (1st)... 55 HR (4th)... 3.32 ERA (2nd)... but lacking good defense with a .975 FA (6th)... Good starters... Lacks 4th starter... excellent with Ron Benson (8-7 2.89)... Jay Washington (5-4 1.95)... Gregg Neal (6-5 2.40)... Bullpen: Respectable... Closer: Poor - Harvey Hines (6-4 4.98) only 3 saves... Hitting: Very Good - LF Bruno DiPirro (.369/2 HR/35 RBI/38 R/16 SB)... SS Flipper Bird (.319/10 HR/40 RBI/45 R/18 SB)... CF Freddie Vaux (.319/2 HR/21 RBI/44 R/26 SB)... and 2B Jorge Vargas (.253/9 HR/41 RBI)... Disappointments: Closer Hines and Vargas... Vargas hit .323 last season and hit 32 homers... Bright spots: DiPirro is the #2 hitter in the RU... other hitters Bird and Vaux.

Both Marston and Sugar Valley will make the playoffs, while the Nine are favored to take the RU East crown in the regular season... Marston's starting pitching gives them the edge.

In third place in the RU East and only one game out are the heavy-hitting Cold Creek Catamounts (38-33) under T. Kelly Holmes, the renowned "T. K. Ho" in amateur league circles. The Catamounts are batting .257 (4th)... have hit 65 homers (2nd)... with a 4.06 team ERA (5th)... and are the #1 defensive team with a .981 FA (1st-Tied)... one outstanding starter in Dave Molinari (6-3 2.89)... two good ones in Pat Saunders (5-1 3.55) and Mitch Saffo (7-5 3.61)... and a fine closer in Lew MacAlester (6-2 2.44), who leads the IPA in saves with 13... solid middle relief in Jimmy Gustafson (1-3 3.03) and Bobby Windsor (1-0 2.02)... powerful hitters with 1B Johnny Carducci (.310/13 HR/54 RBI/39 R)... RF Karl Yashin (.300/8 HR/36 RBI/32 R)... LF Joel Reed (.284/6 HR/33 RBI/44 R) and CF Trip Holmes (.282/15 HR/39 RBI/51 R)... Holmes is the grandson of skipper T. Kelly Holmes... methinks, no nepotism here.

Manager Zoggy White has the Elnora All-Stars (37-34) running on all cylinders and a very close fourth in the race, just two games behind the co-leaders... his crew is batting .266 (2nd)... 41 home runs (6th)... with a 3.36 ERA (3rd)... and .979 FA (2nd)... hitting is strong point with 2B Gil Foster (.354/10 HR/35 RBI/46 R)... CF Rusty Gilbert (.313/8 HR/36 RBI/42 R/15 SB)... and LF Quincy Peterson (.287/8 HR/45 RBI/48 R/16 SB)... White's ace is Carl Costas (10-4 3.02)... others in rotation are Charlie Murphy (5-1 3.14), Hunk Sweitzer (3-4 2.89) and Taylor Gibbs (4-4 3.42)... best middle relievers are Stevie Howard (3-0 1.56) and Harry Dye (4-5 3.56)... pretty fair closer in Tyrone Gray (4-5 3.28)... Disappointments are 13-game winner from last year Pat Savoie (1-5 4.36) and RF Paul Giles (.206/2 HR/24 RBI)... Giles hit .285 with 32 HRs and 92 RBIs in 2001.

If Giles can rebound in the second half of the season and Elnora can get another dominant pitcher to go with Costas, the All-Stars could be right up there with Marston, Sugar Valley and Cold Creek.

The fifth place Eastshore Elegants (35-36) trail by only 4 games... They are managed by Killer Brewster, who starred for many years in the industrial leagues as a slugging third baseman... Brewster's club is following in his footsteps... The Elegants top the division with 71 roundtrippers (1st), but are hitting a puny .238 (8th)... pitching is not too strong with a 3.89 ERA (4th)... fielding only adequate at .976 (5th)... It's hard to win when your best pitcher Justin Lloyd is only 5-5 with a 3.89 ERA... but things really perk up when you have in the line-up LF Darrel Alston (.314/10 HR/43 RBI/51 R)... 1B Vito Iacoboni (.283/8 HR/48 R)... 2B Miles Sheehan (.261/13 HR/35 RBI... and RF Ron Dizon (.254/16 HR/57 RBI/48 R)... Dizon leads the RU in RBIs and is second in HRs.

Fifth is about the best Eastshore will finish... Brewster just doesn't have the pitching like the top four teams do, but the Elegants pitching is much better than the teams behind them. It is not likely they will catch Eastshore.

The Wynnamac Sundowners (31-40) are currently tied with the Beechwood Bobcats for the sixth spot in the standings and are 8 games out of first place... Wynnamac seems to have a better ballclub than the Bobcats with slightly better pitching and much better fielding... Matt Donnelly, a very good hitter and first baseman in his amateur days, is in charge of the Sundowners... Wynnamac has a .253 average (6th)... 38 roundtrippers (7th)... 4.18 ERA (7th)... and tied for third in fielding percentage with .978... Donnelly has three fine offensive players, but little after them... 2B Fred Younger (.358/5 HR/41 RBI/58 R) is all-star caliber... RF Tee Boy Joubert (.299/9 HR/43 RBI)... and SS Marvin Hollis (.305/0 HR/17 RBI/40 R) help supply most of the Sundowners offense... Wynnamac's best pitcher Uko Illka (7-8 2.54) was just picked up in a trade a month ago from Valka... Liam Bristow (7-7 3.78) and Angus Conroy (4-5 3.81) are creditable pitchers and good at times... as far as the relief corps, Donnelly is in deep trouble when he has to go to the bullpen... they are all way over 5.00 ERAs except for the latest closer project Gerry Van Buren (0-1 1.80) with 4 saves... Van Buren just joined the team a month ago.

Beechwood's manager is Bret George, one the greatest third baseman ever in the Islands... The Bobcats (31-40) have compiled a .255 (5th) mark with the bats... have hit with good power with 56 homers (3rd)... are last in the division with a 4.24 ERA... and last in defense with a very poor .970 FA... No much chance of them moving up in the standings with stats like that... George has three decent starters in Will Cadbury (6-8 3.56)... Joe Hahn (7-7 3.85)... and Frankie Lacaze (4-7 3.47)... Beechwood only has one other capable pitcher... that is Shane Ross (3-1 3.44), who is a spot starter, but mainly a long reliever... offensively three players carry the Bobcats... LF L. J. Aldridge (.304/16 HR/54 RBI/46 R)... CF Lonnie Snider (.296/6 HR/21 RBI/45 R/20 SB)... and RF Clifton Czabo (.279/6 HR/35 RBI/45 R/12 SB).

Sixth is the best Beechwood will do this season... but seventh is more likely... Bret George is lucky Belle Plaine is in the East Division... otherwise it could be worse.

Belle Plaine (21-50) manager Boo Ladreau has one of the three worst teams in the IPA, rivaled only by Fort Benton (27-44) in the RU West and Arroyo Grande (21-50) in the TU South... his club is 18 games behind in the standings... Even 7th place is out of reach this year... The hapless Musketeers are hitting .246 (7th) with only 29 homers (8th)... 4.15 team ERA (6th)... and a .974 fielding percentage (7th)... Ladreau has only three quality players... LF Juan Mendes (.338/1 HR/26 RBI/23 R)... and two starters: Karl Antoine (3-7 2.78) and Lou Dozier (7-6 3.19)... it is going to be a very long season for the Belle Plaine fans.

It is going to be an exciting pennant chase in the second half of the season in the Ruthlandian Union East between Marston, Sugar Valley, Cold Creek and Elnora. The Marston Nine are a slight favorite over the other three because of their pitching. Eastshore has an outside shot at the playoffs. No chance for the other three ball clubs.

02-26-2009, 10:28 PM	#717
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,956	The Islandian Times Saturday, June 15, 2002 Tight Race in RU East, Marston and Sugar Valley Co-Leaders At the All-Star break, two of the better teams from last year are the co-leaders in the Ruthlandian Union East standings. The Marston Nine and the Sugar Valley Rattlers are 1 game up on an expansion club, the Cold Creek Catamounts, who are in their first season in the Islandian Pro Alliance. Holdovers from last season, the Elnora All-Stars are in the fourth spot and are only 2 games off the pace. The top five positions are tight with the Eastshore Elegants only 4 games back of the leaders. The Beechwood Bobcats are tied for sixth with the Wynnamac Sundowners, 8 games behind. Rounding out the division in the basement are the Belle Plaine Musketeers, 18 games out. Both Marston and Sugar Valley possess good hitting and good pitching. Elnora also hits well and has a good pitching staff. Cold Creek and Eastshore are using the longball power for success and suffer from pitching. And as you always hear from the experts, good pitching beats good hitting. But the power teams are hanging close at mid-season. The Marston Nine (39-32) are piloted by Johnny Walters, perhaps the finest righthanded hurler in the history of the Islands... His veteran club is solid in all aspects of the game... .263 BA (3rd)... 44 HR (5th)... 3.28 ERA (1st)... .978 FA (3rd-T)... Starters: Excellent... Nick Pace (8-6 2.68)... Casey Ledbetter (10-5 3.15)... Vinnie Gardner (4-2 2.07)... Booger Burchfield (3-4 3.01)... all vets from last year... Bullpen: Mediocre... Closer: Mediocre - Walt Sellers (4-4 4.22) 9 saves... Hitting: Solid - 2B Ken Green (.325/3 HR/30 RBI)... CF Kerby Jost (.294/8 HR/30 RBI/25 R)... IF Don Nichols (.266/7 HR/29 RBI/32 R)... Disappointments: SS-3B Roland Thomas .359 hitter last year, down to .270 this year... and Sellers in the closer spot... Bright spots: Starters... and 3B Roddy Teague (.348/3 HR/13 RBI). The hard-nosed and tough Gibson Bobkins is the Sugar Valley (39-32) manager. The former pitching great has a well-rounded team... .270 BA (1st)... 55 HR (4th)... 3.32 ERA (2nd)... but lacking good defense with a .975 FA (6th)... Good starters... Lacks 4th starter... excellent with Ron Benson (8-7 2.89)... Jay Washington (5-4 1.95)... Gregg Neal (6-5 2.40)... Bullpen: Respectable... Closer: Poor - Harvey Hines (6-4 4.98) only 3 saves... Hitting: Very Good - LF Bruno DiPirro (.369/2 HR/35 RBI/38 R/16 SB)... SS Flipper Bird (.319/10 HR/40 RBI/45 R/18 SB)... CF Freddie Vaux (.319/2 HR/21 RBI/44 R/26 SB)... and 2B Jorge Vargas (.253/9 HR/41 RBI)... Disappointments: Closer Hines and Vargas... Vargas hit .323 last season and hit 32 homers... Bright spots: DiPirro is the #2 hitter in the RU... other hitters Bird and Vaux. Both Marston and Sugar Valley will make the playoffs, while the Nine are favored to take the RU East crown in the regular season... Marston's starting pitching gives them the edge. In third place in the RU East and only one game out are the heavy-hitting Cold Creek Catamounts (38-33) under T. Kelly Holmes, the renowned "T. K. Ho" in amateur league circles. The Catamounts are batting .257 (4th)... have hit 65 homers (2nd)... with a 4.06 team ERA (5th)... and are the #1 defensive team with a .981 FA (1st-Tied)... one outstanding starter in Dave Molinari (6-3 2.89)... two good ones in Pat Saunders (5-1 3.55) and Mitch Saffo (7-5 3.61)... and a fine closer in Lew MacAlester (6-2 2.44), who leads the IPA in saves with 13... solid middle relief in Jimmy Gustafson (1-3 3.03) and Bobby Windsor (1-0 2.02)... powerful hitters with 1B Johnny Carducci (.310/13 HR/54 RBI/39 R)... RF Karl Yashin (.300/8 HR/36 RBI/32 R)... LF Joel Reed (.284/6 HR/33 RBI/44 R) and CF Trip Holmes (.282/15 HR/39 RBI/51 R)... Holmes is the grandson of skipper T. Kelly Holmes... methinks, no nepotism here. Manager Zoggy White has the Elnora All-Stars (37-34) running on all cylinders and a very close fourth in the race, just two games behind the co-leaders... his crew is batting .266 (2nd)... 41 home runs (6th)... with a 3.36 ERA (3rd)... and .979 FA (2nd)... hitting is strong point with 2B Gil Foster (.354/10 HR/35 RBI/46 R)... CF Rusty Gilbert (.313/8 HR/36 RBI/42 R/15 SB)... and LF Quincy Peterson (.287/8 HR/45 RBI/48 R/16 SB)... White's ace is Carl Costas (10-4 3.02)... others in rotation are Charlie Murphy (5-1 3.14), Hunk Sweitzer (3-4 2.89) and Taylor Gibbs (4-4 3.42)... best middle relievers are Stevie Howard (3-0 1.56) and Harry Dye (4-5 3.56)... pretty fair closer in Tyrone Gray (4-5 3.28)... Disappointments are 13-game winner from last year Pat Savoie (1-5 4.36) and RF Paul Giles (.206/2 HR/24 RBI)... Giles hit .285 with 32 HRs and 92 RBIs in 2001. If Giles can rebound in the second half of the season and Elnora can get another dominant pitcher to go with Costas, the All-Stars could be right up there with Marston, Sugar Valley and Cold Creek. The fifth place Eastshore Elegants (35-36) trail by only 4 games... They are managed by Killer Brewster, who starred for many years in the industrial leagues as a slugging third baseman... Brewster's club is following in his footsteps... The Elegants top the division with 71 roundtrippers (1st), but are hitting a puny .238 (8th)... pitching is not too strong with a 3.89 ERA (4th)... fielding only adequate at .976 (5th)... It's hard to win when your best pitcher Justin Lloyd is only 5-5 with a 3.89 ERA... but things really perk up when you have in the line-up LF Darrel Alston (.314/10 HR/43 RBI/51 R)... 1B Vito Iacoboni (.283/8 HR/48 R)... 2B Miles Sheehan (.261/13 HR/35 RBI... and RF Ron Dizon (.254/16 HR/57 RBI/48 R)... Dizon leads the RU in RBIs and is second in HRs. Fifth is about the best Eastshore will finish... Brewster just doesn't have the pitching like the top four teams do, but the Elegants pitching is much better than the teams behind them. It is not likely they will catch Eastshore. The Wynnamac Sundowners (31-40) are currently tied with the Beechwood Bobcats for the sixth spot in the standings and are 8 games out of first place... Wynnamac seems to have a better ballclub than the Bobcats with slightly better pitching and much better fielding... Matt Donnelly, a very good hitter and first baseman in his amateur days, is in charge of the Sundowners... Wynnamac has a .253 average (6th)... 38 roundtrippers (7th)... 4.18 ERA (7th)... and tied for third in fielding percentage with .978... Donnelly has three fine offensive players, but little after them... 2B Fred Younger (.358/5 HR/41 RBI/58 R) is all-star caliber... RF Tee Boy Joubert (.299/9 HR/43 RBI)... and SS Marvin Hollis (.305/0 HR/17 RBI/40 R) help supply most of the Sundowners offense... Wynnamac's best pitcher Uko Illka (7-8 2.54) was just picked up in a trade a month ago from Valka... Liam Bristow (7-7 3.78) and Angus Conroy (4-5 3.81) are creditable pitchers and good at times... as far as the relief corps, Donnelly is in deep trouble when he has to go to the bullpen... they are all way over 5.00 ERAs except for the latest closer project Gerry Van Buren (0-1 1.80) with 4 saves... Van Buren just joined the team a month ago. Beechwood's manager is Bret George, one the greatest third baseman ever in the Islands... The Bobcats (31-40) have compiled a .255 (5th) mark with the bats... have hit with good power with 56 homers (3rd)... are last in the division with a 4.24 ERA... and last in defense with a very poor .970 FA... No much chance of them moving up in the standings with stats like that... George has three decent starters in Will Cadbury (6-8 3.56)... Joe Hahn (7-7 3.85)... and Frankie Lacaze (4-7 3.47)... Beechwood only has one other capable pitcher... that is Shane Ross (3-1 3.44), who is a spot starter, but mainly a long reliever... offensively three players carry the Bobcats... LF L. J. Aldridge (.304/16 HR/54 RBI/46 R)... CF Lonnie Snider (.296/6 HR/21 RBI/45 R/20 SB)... and RF Clifton Czabo (.279/6 HR/35 RBI/45 R/12 SB). Sixth is the best Beechwood will do this season... but seventh is more likely... Bret George is lucky Belle Plaine is in the East Division... otherwise it could be worse. Belle Plaine (21-50) manager Boo Ladreau has one of the three worst teams in the IPA, rivaled only by Fort Benton (27-44) in the RU West and Arroyo Grande (21-50) in the TU South... his club is 18 games behind in the standings... Even 7th place is out of reach this year... The hapless Musketeers are hitting .246 (7th) with only 29 homers (8th)... 4.15 team ERA (6th)... and a .974 fielding percentage (7th)... Ladreau has only three quality players... LF Juan Mendes (.338/1 HR/26 RBI/23 R)... and two starters: Karl Antoine (3-7 2.78) and Lou Dozier (7-6 3.19)... it is going to be a very long season for the Belle Plaine fans. It is going to be an exciting pennant chase in the second half of the season in the Ruthlandian Union East between Marston, Sugar Valley, Cold Creek and Elnora. The Marston Nine are a slight favorite over the other three because of their pitching. Eastshore has an outside shot at the playoffs. No chance for the other three ball clubs. Attached Images Last edited by Eugene Church; 02-26-2009 at 11:05 PM.