[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times

Monday, June 23, 2008

Typhoons Blow Away Opposition, Tops TU South by 9

Best Team BA: Turon Typhoons .277
Most Runs: Turon Typhoons 400
Most HR: Cape Coral Hurricanes 82
Best Team ERA: Turon Typhoons 3.62
Best Team Defense: Ginza Ninjas .981 FA

Worst Team BA: Blue Lake Blue Sox .247
Fewest Runs: Summerland Sunsets 309
Fewest HR: Arroyo Grande Suns 48
Worst Team ERA: Arroyo Grande Suns 4.50
Worst Team Defense: Cape Coral Hurricanes .966 FA

Turon Typhoons
Ashton "Whitey" Richburn
This season: 1st Place (46-27)
Last season: 2nd Place (80-74)

The only team to have two Pro Cups is the Turon Typhoons and judging by the way they are dominating the Tycobbian South this season, Whitey Richburn could be seeking number three in mid-September... Turon is a good all-around team with solid pitching, excellent hitting and good defense... The Typhoons are batting .277 (2nd), have scored 400 runs (1st), hit 67 home runs (13th) with a good 3.62 ERA (9th) and above-average defense with a .975 FA... CF Mac McCurnan (.316/10 HR/49 RBI/58 R) and C Fats Dalton (.298/8 HR/39 RBI/37 R) both are All-Stars... RF Andy Porter (.360/8 HR/43 RBI/37 R) and 2B Andy Hansen (.285/1 HR/20 RBI/55 R) are worthy contributors as well... on the mound Anthony Nardone (10-6 2.56) and Scotty Boswell (12-2 4.02) are seasoned winners.

Colchester Elites
Robbie Wilbertson, Manager
This season: 2nd Place Tie (37-36)
Last season: 1st Place (95-59)

The defending TU South champs, the Colchester Elites, piloted by Uncle Robbie Wilbertson, have done well in their history with only one sub-par season... this year they are in second place, but 9 games back... Colchester is an average ball club this season with a .269 BA (12th), 333 runs scored (19th), 70 homers (10th), 3.87 ERA (19th) and a not-so-good .970 FA... top performers are pitchers Jimmy Simmons (6-7 2.14), Frank Payne (9-7 3.88), Keith Cline (8-5 4.13) and two All-Stars 1B Harlan Roscoe (.348/13 HR/42 RBI/36 R) and C Benny Walker (.288/14 HR/43 RBI/35 R)... Another good run producer is CF Douglas Tilford (.268/9 HR/28 RBI/45 R).

Ginza Ninjas
Huroko Uchiyama, Manager
This season: 2nd Place Tie (37-36)
Last season: 5th Place (63-91)

Ginza's strengths are pitching and defense... 3.73 ERA (13th) with an outstanding .981 FA... the Ninjas are not much with the bats: .255 BA (27th), 316 runs (24th) and 50 HR/(26th)... Top arms are Carl Trebek (10-7 3.48), Toshio Nozaki (4-4 2.46) and All-Star closer Ernie Teague (2-2 3.38), who has 16 saves... Skipper Huroko Uchiyama platoons a lot of players... only one starts most games... 1B Toshiro Nomura (.289/10 HR/29 RBI/37 R).

Summerland Sunsets
Will Hackett, Manager
This season: 2nd Place Tie (37-36)
Last season: 7th Place (61-93)

Summerland is a perennial also-ran in the TU South with only one playoff appearance, when the Sunsets finished second in 2005... Like Colchester and Ginza, pitching is its strong point with a 3.68 ERA (10th)... otherwise the Sunsets rank poorly in all categories: .256 BA (26th), 309 runs (26th), 50 homers (26th – tied) and a very poor .967 FA... Denny Coulon (9-8 3.50), long-time ace of the Bay St. Clair Buccaneers, switched allegiances this year and quickly became Summerland's top hurler... Toshiya Tamura (8-7 3.41) has also pitched well... in the bullpen Scott Oeltjen (3-0 1.01) has done unbelievably well... Manager Will Hackett's best hackers have been LF Ed Holt (.330/7 HR/38 RBI/35 R) and SS Don Hanks (.303/6 HR/28 RBI/34 R).

Cape Coral Hurricanes
Huggy Miller, Manager
This season: 5th Place (35-38)
Last season: 4th Place (68-86)

Cape Coral has been successful under the leadership of Huggy Miller with two division titles in 2004 and 2005 and has made four playoff appearances... This year the Hurricanes are in fifth place and it may be too late to overcome Turon's huge 11-game lead in the second half of the season... Miller uses home run power as his main weapon along with some outstanding talent... Cape Coral's mound staff is led by one of the greatest IPA pitchers, Cody Burg (10-6 3.38), a five-time All-Star with three 20-game seasons and two Golden Arm Awards... Miller has two other solid pitchers in the rotation: Tommy Archer (6-7 3.48) and Steve Aaron (5-4 3.67)... the Hurricanes possess three fine position players in All-Star LF Kippy Doyle (.338/15 HR/56 RBI/41 R), free agent All-Star 3B Flipper Bird (.297/9 HR/25 RBI/60 R) and free agent RF Maurice Vidrine (.324/12 HR/48 RBI/37 R).

Southport Sun Sox
Charley Oscar, Manager
This season: 6th Place (34-39)
Last season: 8th (60-94)

It has been quite a while since Southport made the postseason... the Sun Sox finished third in 2002 and made the playoffs... and it may be a while before they do it again... Southport is presently in sixth place and 12 games off the pace... Skipper Charley Oscar has a pretty fair pitching corps with a 3.72 ERA (12th) led by Tom Wiley (8-3 2.19), Russ Courtney (8-8 3.38) and Leland Urban (9-6 4.02)... in the bullpen his closer Keith Callahan (1-1 2.86) has been effective... batting-wise the Sun Sox are only average with a .265 BA (17th), 320 runs scored (20th – tied) and 64 homers (17th)... fielding-wise they are a little bit better than average with a .974 FA... Southport has All-Star 1B Charlie Gamble (.302/12 HR/35 RBI/43 R) in its line-up... Gamble is a three-time All-Star, Golden Bat winner (2006) and also a Gold Glover... 7-year IPA vet RF Monty Draycott (.271/14 HR/35 RBI/42 R) still swings a good bat... 7-year veteran LF Big Stick Takala (.290/8 HR/35 RBI/32 R) gives Oscar another experienced and productive bat.

Arroyo Grande Suns
Jean-Luc Marchand, Manager
This season: 7th Place Tie (32-41)
Last season: 6th Place Tie (62-92)

Fans in Arroyo Grande have not had much to cheer about in its seven years in the IPA except for 2005 when the Suns slugged an ungodly total of 260 home runs, by far the most any team has ever hit... But even then the Suns could finish no higher than sixth with a 77-77 record... None of those long-ballers are still on the team... Arroyo Grande has never made the playoffs... this season they are tied for seventh and are 14 games out of first place and headed nowhere... the Suns are average hitters with no power... no pitching... but average in defense... They are hitting .267 (13th), with 336 runs (16th), only 48 homers (28th – tied)... very poor 4.50 ERA (31st)... decent defensively with a .974 FA... free agent All-Star Jet Kazmarek (.304/4 HR/44 RBI/47 R/23 SB) came to the Suns two years ago... Last year's Rookie of the Year 1B Sherm Miles (.255/10 HR/41 RBI/43 R) is still productive, but is suffering a sophomore season slump... Arroyo Grande's only quality pitcher is Miguel Aguilera (9-8 3.30).

San Alejo Montaneros
Lando Peceda, Manager
This season: 7th Place Tie (32-41)
Last season: 6th Place Tie (62-92)

Manager Lando Peceda's Montaneros won the TU South regular season crown its first two seasons in total domination, but have never reached anywhere near those heights since... San Alejo is tied with Arroyo Grande for the cellar and are 14 games back of first place Turon... Peceda's problem is pitching with a 4.33 ERA... the Montaneros don't play defense very well either with a .967 FA... but they do a fair job in the batter's box with a .270 BA (7th), have scored 360 runs (8th) and hit 69 homers (12th)... on the hill San Alejo has two solid veterans in Daniel Fitzmorris (7-7 3.56) and Alberto Herrera (6-6 3.85).