[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Union

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

IPA Completes 9th Season, Readies For the Pro Cup Playoffs

2009 was another great year for the Islandian Pro Alliance with seven close races, only Turon in the Tycobbian South had an easy time, winning by 12 games. Defending Pro Cup champions Wynnamac will not be back to defend its title. The Sundowners lost out by one game to Belle Plaine in the Ruthlandian East. However, Denton City will be back. The Redbirds went to the finals last season, but were beaten by Wynnamac. The Pro Cup playoffs are slated to begin tomorrow with 8 clubs in action.

Colfax had the best record in the RU with a 94-60 mark, a half-game better than Far Mountain, which finished 94-61. The Redhawks had to play an extra game to win its division to capture a playoff spot. Claxton was the other division winner. It will be Belle Plaine (81-73), Colfax, Far Mountain and Claxton (85-69) representing Ruthlandia in the Pro Cup postseason. To the west in Tycobbia it will be Denton City (92-62), Hartsdale (92-62), Turon (91-63) and Red Bluff (86-68) in the playoffs.

Ruthlandian Union North Division

It was quite a finish in the RU North as two clubs tied for first at the end of the regular season and needed an extra game to decide the pennant. It wasn't decided until Far Mountain edged Ancona 5-4 with a dramatic rally in the last two innings of the playoff game. The Redhawks trailed 4-1 after seven innings and need three runs in the ninth to claim the division crown. The Red Elephants faded in the last week of the season and allowed Far Mountain to overtake them. Ancona lost its last three games, all by one-run margins.

Alex Groveland has it all in Far Mountain (94-61), good hitting (.278), good power (179 HR) and good pitching (3.42)... climbed from seventh to first this year... first time in six years to make the playoffs... top pitchers are Leroy Hill (20-15 2.90), Boomerang Hines (9-4 3.10) and Robby King (17-13 3.34)... Dave McDonald (19-9 4.46) benefited greatly from excellent offensive support... All-Star SS Don Nichols (.336/22/106) tops the hitters with help from C Otis Ott (.297/26/89) and 2B Duane Parsons (.336/22/106)... good defense with .976 FA.

Manny Mickens' Ancona Red Elephants (93-62) won the pennant in 2007, fell to eighth in 2008 and turned it around this season... Pitching was the difference, improved from 4.63 to 3.68 ERA, led by starters Gary Culver (21-12 3.80), Sollie Yakis (17-13 3.07) and Nikon Maragos (20-11 3.64)... and superb All-Star closer John Sharpe (1-3 1.12) who posted 27 saves... average hitting (.270) and power (137 HR) with two All-Stars... 1B Johnny Lee Harder (.313/32/117/107) and 3B Bob Arlin (.294/13/85)... also helped by CF Lacey Tompkins (.312/15/90/101) and LF Louie Dimucci (.309/16/70)... good defense with .976 FA.

Last year's division champ LaGrange (80-74) slipped back to third place, 13.5 games back... awesome hitting in 2008 (.292) fell off to .270 this season... Foxy Jimison still has a solid core of hitters, but none hit like they did last year... CF Karl Perret (.315/12/69/106), LF Quincy Peterson (.301/24/98/96), C Otto Kronvath (.270/29/106/82) and SS Bill Nilsen (.274/25/85/96)... best hurlers were Jay-Jay DeJarnette (16-14 3.83) and Denny Kristensen (20-16 4.53).

There was a three-way log-jam for fourth place with Kilkenny, Ranford, and Taranto all at 78-76 for the season and 15.5 games off the pace... the Kilkenny Cats were the worst hitting team in the RU North, batting only .262 with 111 homers and only so-so on the hill (4.07)... Manager Kieran McKenna has two veterans starters in Gregg Neal (17-18 3.94) and Roger Davidson (14-17 3.98)... Steve Ohlinger (13-14 3.59) made the All-Star staff, but tailed off severely in the second half of the year with a 4-11 mark... not a whole lot at the plate... the Cats best batters are LF Ben Butler (.288/23/91/79) who came over from Crystal Lake in August, RF Marv Nolan (.285/16/76/86), SS Stu Ashford (.302/10/71/69) and 9-year vet 2B Scooter Perez (.261/7/59/101) who can still scoot at age 33... best defense in the RU North with a .977 FA.

Page Satcher's Ranford Bulls are just an average ball club, similar to Kilkenny... BA .265 with only 115 roundtrippers and a 3.90 ERA... 8-year vet and All-Star Chris Bernhoffer (19-15 2.83) is as good a pitcher as there is in the IPA... Cleve Skinner (13-13 3.79) is the number two man... Gerry Fisher (13-9 4.04) shines at times... hitting-wise C Walt Horvath (.314/12/91/76) and Jose Castillo (.310/13/65) provide what little offense the Bulls have.

Taranto manager Tommaso Lazzorda has the power (197 HR) and solid hitting (.274), but not the pitching (4.61) to compete like the Tars did in the playoff years of 2005 and 2006... All-Star 2B Ed Miles (.340/33/124/117) is one of the top 10 players in the IPA and a slick fielder, too... RF Wayne Pounders (.272/46/110/103) had a career year... ditto for SS Jake Travanti (.300/30/95)... Taranto's top pitchers are Sal Pascioni (13-14 4.19) and Ralph Mauriello (12-4 4.12), but they have to pitch in the Palazzo di Sport, one of the smallest ballparks in the IPA with 320 feet down the lines and only 385 in center... but the fans love the home-run haven.

Looking at it on paper McDuffie Hughes' Glasco Athletics (76-78) are the best seventh-place team in the IPA... the A's wound up 17.5 games behind the division leader, but hit .273 with 152 homers with a fine 3.54 team ERA... defensively, however, they were the worst fielders with a poor .969 FA... it's a strange situation... Glasco has talent in pitchers Felipe Branco (18-13 3.00), Andrei Marsiske (19-10 3.15) and Bobby Joe Trent (17-15 3.78)... and in the batter's box Hughes boasts 2B George Ferguson (.304/35/118/88), CF Ike Plunkett (.280/24/81/79), LF Aidan Lattimer (.311/14/74/87), Gold Glove 1B Russ Honor (.293/18/71/72) and C Les Ferguson (.287/17/56)... but it doesn't show in the standings.

The Valmara Vipers (71-83) have been one of the better franchises over the years, but not the last two... skipper J. Jackson Samuel's team sunk from a dismal sixth last year to an even worse last in 2009, 22.5 games in back of the flag-winning Far Mountain Redhawks... atrocious pitching (4.72) is the problem... Tommy Betanzos (17-15 3.98) was traded from Volusia in August, but did not fare well the rest of the season (3-6 4.88)... 37-year-old Daryl Vannoy (14-14 4.20) may be showing his age... while ace Vanya Vasylenko (12-20 4.41) went from 20 wins to 20 losses in a year... the Viper fans miss the glory days of Jet Kazmarek, Jan Szymanski and Masaichi Okawa... losing them to free agency has been fatal to Valmara... the current Vipers can't compare to them... Valmara is hitting .267 with 123 homers... 3B Joe Courtney's (.287/19/85/74) best days are behind him... he no longer hits 35-40 homers and drives in a 100 runs as he did with Oxford... C Erich Adamcyzk (.297/20/75/78), 2B Pat Sanders (.291/7/71/78) and LF Lou Gdowski (.290/12/65/87) are better-than-average, but can't lift the Vipers out of the second division.