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Old 01-30-2010, 10:30 PM   #1519
Eugene Church
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The Islandian Times

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Turon Typhoons Blow Away TU South
The Turon Typhoons raged through the Tycobbian Union South with little opposition and easily took the title by 12 games over second place Colchester. Manager Whitey Richburn will now get a shot at Turon's third Pro Cup.

The Turon Typhoons (91-63) are on quite a roll with their third TU South pennant in four years... Richburn has a sound club in all respects... hitting, power, pitching... and decent defense... Turon's team batting average is .274... they hit 154 homers... have a fine 3.66 team ERA... and a .974 FA... the pitching rotation consists of Anthony Nardone (20-12 3.03), Jacques Lemaire (24-6 3.42) and James Stuart (17-13 3.61)... Freddi Spiegel (7-1 2.80) stands out in middle relief... at the plate Richburn has a bunch of good bats in CF Mac McCurnan (.306/34/105/106), 1B Johnny Carducci (.297/23/91/69) and 2B Alan Hansen (.299/1/49/109) with help from All-Star 3B John Cottrell (.304/8/63/57), LF Jimmy Tremayne (.306/14/80/67) and RF Andy Porter (.298/21/71/62).

Runner-up Colchester (79-75) was a distant 12 games behind Turon... manager Robbie Wilbertson's Elites don't hit much for average (.259), but can go deep (155 homers)... they have only average pitching (4.05 ERA)... and good defense (.975)... Colchester best bats are 1B Harlan Roscoe (.278/27/90/78) and C Benny Walker (.303/29/83/62)... RF Lou Cutrer (.238/23/91/75) doesn't hit for high average, but does produce runs... Wilbertson has a couple of quality arms in Jimmy Simmons (17-17 3.36) and Frank Payne (17-11 3.63), both are veterans and consistent winners.

Third place in the TU South belongs to the Cape Coral Hurricanes (75-79), skippered by Marty Pedroza... The 'Canes ended up 16 games behind Turon, primarily because of the hitting (.259 BA) and terrible defense (.966 FA)... pitching carried Cape Coral (3.75 ERA)... the staff is anchored by 6-time All-Star Cody Burg (20-12 3.22)... he is only 27 and has already won 153 games in his 9 seasons... other quality pitchers are Nasty Naymick (16-12 3.66) and Steve Aaron (13-11 3.85), along with closer Jesse Balfour (3-5 2.55), who racked up 17 saves... the Hurricane hitters are led by SS Bobby Josker (.307/16 HR/101/100), LF Rich Osolinsky (.325/13/73/105), 1B Lonnie Moon (.259/20/69/103) and C Todd Boyd (.292/16/85).

There was a real log-jam for the fourth spot in the TU South with a four-way tie among Ginza, San Alejo, Southport and Summerland, all 19 games back... the Ginza Ninjas (72-82) are guided by Huroko Uchiyama and the club's strong point is its pitching (3.53 ERA), headed by 8-year veteran Carl Trebek (20-12 3.33) and rookie Joji Azuma (11-18 3.38), who didn't deserve his 18 defeats... in the bullpen is capable closer Ernie Teague (3-6 2.83), who notched 25 saves... after going 16-10 last year with a 2.90 ERA Toshio Nozaki ballooned to an 11-18 and 4.29 ERA... the Ninjas are hampered by poor defense with a .968 FA... Uchiyama plays everybody on his roster in an effort to get some run production, but to no avail, as is apparent by his top hitters: LF Domingo DeLeon (.259/11/61/97), OF Andy Willingham (.307/9/50/59) and OF Jack Vorland (.291/10/63/52).

The San Alejo Montaneros (72-82) also suffer from a lack of hitting (.259), but can hit with power (149 homers)... pitching is the name of the game in San Alejo... as team they have a 3.73 ERA and are led by 35-year-old southpaw Alberto Herrera (16-17 2.79), the 8-year vet with 119 wins and a superlative 2.86 lifetime ERA... manager Lando Peceda has two other capable pitchers in his rotation in Jaime Serrano (15-13 3.64) and Roberto Concepcion (15-10 4.05)... the Montaneros get most of their offense from homers, spearheaded by 1B Miles Shufford (.265/31/81) and LF Dennis Riley (.250/26/71)... defensively San Alejo is just slightly below average with a .971 FA.

The Southport Sun Sox (72-82) are part of the four-way deadlock for fourth place... Charley Oscar is at the helm of the Sun Sox... the TU South doesn't have a lot of hitting except for home runs... Southport hit only .258, but rapped 145 out of the park... Oscar's mound staff is decent with a 3.89 ERA with two veteran starters Keith Callahan (13-14 3.59) and Russ Courtney (15-20 3.80)... in the bullpen the Sun Sox have All-Star closer Todd Turner (11-7 1.88), who had an outstanding season with 26 saves... Oscar's defense is poor with a .969 FA... Southport's best bats belong to 35-year-old SS Charlie Gamble (.260/36/110/85), who had twice hit over 50 home runs in a season... LF Big Stick Takala (.313/22/85/72)... CF Tom Barella (.297/9/42/95)... and 2B Bill McCann (.287/19/68).

The Summerland Sunsets (72-82) are also tied for the fourth spot in the standings... Will Hackett's ball club is also hitting like most of the teams in the TU South... the Sunsets sport an atrocious .246 batting average and have hit only 108 home runs... but they have compiled a good 3.67 ERA... Hackett's top hurlers are vets Denny Coulon (16-13 3.11), Eddie Hoffman (13-16 3.43) and Bill Taft (11-11 3.56)... Coulon has piled up 144 victories in his career with a superlative 2.89 ERA... third-year man Pat Dreux (15-18 3.50) fills out the rotation... Summerland's main run suppliers are SS Don Hanks (.304/16/71/83), 2B Randy Rudelmeier (.281/12/77/58) and 1B Charlie Marks (.272/10/67/83)... the Sunsets are only average defenders with a .973 FA.

Only two clubs in the TU South batted above .260, the first place Turon Typhoons at .274 and the last place Arroyo Grande Suns (70-84) with a .276 mark... apparently it didn't do manager Jean-Luc Marchand's club much good as the Suns finished 21 games off the pace... the culprit was its subpar pitching corps with a pathetic 4.26 ERA... Marchand had only one pitcher under 4.00... that was 30-year-old Miguel Aguilera (14-19 3.87), who has labored long and hard for 8 seasons in Arroyo Grande... but the Suns can score runs with the likes of 7-time batting champion RF Jet Kazmarek (.349/14/82/115), a career .358 hitter, 1B Sherm Miles (.301/29/126/82) and SS Johnny Nowitzki (.321/0/53/88)... Kazmarek has failed to win the batting title twice, last year when hit .338 and finished third and his rookie year in 2001 when he hit only .314... in the field Arroyo Grande is average with a .974 FA.
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