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Old 10-01-2009, 12:08 PM   #1227
Eugene Church
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The Islandian Times

Monday, August 22, 2005

Tycobbian Union East Division Standings

Red Sox in a Runaway in TU East, 11 Games Ahead
No contest in the Tycobbian Union East pennant chase. Mack Connery's powerful Red Bluff Red Sox have forged ahead by 11 games and seem destined to easily capture their third consecutive regular season championship. No one has the horses to compete with the defending IPA Pro Cup titlist. Ozarka, with its good pitching, is the runner-up with a good chance to make the postseason. Third place Midway is 17 games off the pace, followed by High Mesa and South Fork, tied for fourth and 18 games behind. The Tuckanarra Blue Jays are 20 games out and in the sixth spot in the standings, while Hillsboro and East Point pull up the rear in seventh and eighth place. The Blazers are 24 games back and the Panthers are trailing by 25 games.

Red Bluff (79-49) has it all - fine pitching from Milo Mohoski (18-8 3.04), Frank Beaudoin (17-8 3.46) and Leonard Urban (15-8 3.31) with John Dougherty (7-8 3.10) in the pen - and solid hitting from RF Kris Grabowski (.321/26 HR/95 RBI/81 R), SS Jose Aguilar (.333/16 HR/65 RBI/80 R/24 SB), LF Tony Blundell (.292/18 HR/78 RBI/75 R/24 SB) and CF Stan Helmke (.299/13 HR/63 RBI/83 R/30 SB). The Red Sox sport a .271 batting average (3rd-tied) with 127 homers (5th-tied) and a 3.64 team ERA (2nd). They can hold their own with the bats, but it's the pitching that dominates.

Joe Mac Carney's Ozarka Naturals (68-60) owe second place to its impressive pitching corps, which has compiled a 3.58 ERA (1st) and is top-ranked in the division. Leading the way are Karl Kleinert (13-6 3.68), Sid Hyder (11-11 3.38) and Alec DiMaggio (10-11 2.81). The Nats could certainly use more offense, but get by with 3B Nathan Ferrell (.321/27 HR/78 RBI) and CF Kermit Wiggins (.290/2 HR/60 RBI/78 R/26 SB). Ozarka is short of power with 105 homers (7th), but carries a .271 BA (3rd-tied).

The Midway Wolves (62-66), High Mesa Cowboys (61-67) and South Fork Stallions (61-67) all have an outside shot at the last playoff spot, but it will be tough to make it up in the last month, especially with Ozarka playing its best ball of the season. Midway trails the Nats by six games, while High Mesa and South Fork are seven behind them.

The Wolves are in fourth place by virtue of some good hitting. Midway is batting at a .273 clip (2nd) with 127 home runs (5th-tied) and third in scoring with 654 runs. Topping skipper Cochise Chandler's batting list are CF Jan Szymanski (.327/33 HR/95 RBI/89 R), 1B Don Piper (.315/26 HR/90 RBI/88 R) and LF Johnny Gillespie (.283/17 HR/87 RBI/90 R). Chandler could use some help on the mound. The Wolves show a 4.11 ERA (4th), which is pretty fair in the high-scoring TU East. Nosyt Sani (17-9 3.15) is Midway's ace.

Frisky Franks' High Mesa Cowboys are deadlocked with the South Fork Stallions for fourth place and are batting .276 (1st) with 161 roundtrippers (2nd) and 692 runs (1st). Hitting is the name of their game. Franks' club can score a bunch of runs in a hurry with LF Adam Zitek (.285/43 HR/134 RBI/88 R), the IPA home run and RBI leader this year. Zitek has a chance to crack the RBI mark of 146 set by Karol Zodoka of East Point in 2002. Zodoka also holds the home run record with 54 in the same year. The Cowboys have four other fine hitters in 1B Jay Fessler (.327/12 HR/58 RBI/83 R/22 SB), SS Rolf Kellgren (.294/11 HR/50 RBI/94 R/28 SB), 2B Ed Granberg (.285/17 HR/84 RBI/80 R) and CF Lex Neville (.288/19 HR/72 RBI/81 R).

High Mesa's hill corps has put up a sky-high 4.69 ERA (6th). Franks can count only two effective starters, Joey Popovich (18-10 3.87) and Jay McDowell (11-4 4.02).

South Fork gets by with good pitching and good fielding. The Stallions have compiled a 3.83 ERA (3rd) and a .981 FA (2nd). Manager Deroche "Lips" Leon has two quality arms in his rotation, 37-year-old Flint Battle (15-12 2.76) and Ken Marsh (11-8 3.14). Battle has 94 career victories, the most of any other pitcher in the IPA history. South Fork also has a quality closer in Ken Olson (3-4 2.34), who has registerd 19 saves in 46 games.

As far as offense the Stallions are hitting only .253 (8th) with 90 dingers (8th) and have scored just 520 runs (8th). No one on the club is a standout batter. Leon's best is CF Preston Crim (.287/19 HR/77 RBI/66 R/14 SB), not too great compared to other teams' top performers.

The Tuckanarra Blue Jays (59-69) are sixth in the TU East, 20 games off the pace of Red Bluff. Manager Carlton "Lefty" Stevens is blessed with two strong hurlers in Mike Amato (14-6 3.18) and Titus Bristow (15-11 3.11). They give Stevens a better-than-average shot at winning each series. The Blue Jays staff has a 4.16 ERA overall (5th).

Batting-wise Tuckanarra is seventh in the division with a .255 average, but is fourth with 131 homers and seventh in runs with 576. Stevens could use a few more good bats like 1B Charley Schofield (.300/25/90 RBI/78 R) and SS Dan Conroy (.265/23 HR/76 R).

Hillsboro (55-73) is currently 24 games out of first. The hard-hitting Blazers are next-to-last in the TU East for one reason - absolutely lousy pitching. Hillsboro is absolutely last in the entire IPA with a pitiful 5.59 ERA. Bayview and Arroyo Grande are the second worst with 4.68 ERAs. Manager Arky Spanderson has tried 20 pitchers this year to no avail. Even the worst clubs have at least one quality pitcher - but not Spanderson. Right now his ace is Marty Antonelli with a 5-7 record and a 4.77 ERA.

But Hillsboro does have some big-time sluggers in rookie SS Barry Barrett (.321/34 HR/98 RBI/88 R), LF Keith Baker (.253/31 HR/81 RBI/77 R) and CF Jorge Mercado (.264/24 HR/75 RBI). The Blazers are batting .263 (6th) with 164 home runs (1st), but are fourth in runs with 636.

The East Point Panthers (54-74) are presently in the division basement, 25 games back. Skipper Griff Clarke is in the same predicament as Spanderson. His team can hit, but can't pitch. The Panthers are pounding the ball at a .268 rate (5th) with 159 home runs (3rd) and have scored 674 times (2nd). What a line-up Clarke has - 2B Karol Zodoka (.319/30 HR/109 RBI/86 R/24 SB), 3B Rex Sokolov (.258/27 HR/88 RBI), RF Jimmy Cappola (.304/32 HR/83 RBI), SS Keith Wasik (.312/12 HR/60 RBI/72 R) and 1B Hank Archer (.283/13 HR/60 RBI/80 R/17 SB).

Most managers would love this type of offense. The only catch is East Point's ERA is around 4.81 (7th). The only saving grace is Clarke has two decent starters in Jarred Robillard (12-13 4.10) and Carl Thompson (14-15 4.09). Because of these two quality hurlers East Point may escape the cellar and slip past Hillsboro.

What's going to happen in the Tycobbian East? Odds are Red Bluff and Ozarka will make the playoffs. The Red Sox are a cinch for the pennant and the Naturals seem to have a pretty safe lead for second place and the other postseason spot.
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