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Eugene Church · 02-01-2010, 06:30 PM

The Islandian Times

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Red Bluff Wins TU East For 4th Time, Tuckanarra Runner-up
It took Mack Connery and the Red Bluff Red Sox several years to get their fourth Tycobbian East pennant, but they did it this year, whipping the second place Tuckanarra Blue Jays by 4 games. The Red Sox and the Blue Jays battled neck-and-neck until July when Red Bluff got a little buffer between them. Connery's club won consecutive division titles in 2003, 2004 and 2,005 and took the Pro Cup in 2004.

Red Bluff (86-68) took advantage of a strong pitching staff to win the TU East this season... Connery had four fine starters, two very good ones and two that were quite dependable... the Red Sox notched a 3.82 ERA and were paced by All-Star John Dougherty (19-12 3.10), Frank Beaudoin (21-12 3.29), Jim Melanakos (14-10 4.13) and Cloyd Harris (18-18 4.04)... firepower also set Red Bluff apart from Tuckanarra... they outhomered the Blue Jays 149 to 99... both clubs hit about the same for average with Tuckanarra batting .268 and Red Bluff .267... Tuckanarra also had a slight edge defensively .978 FA to .976 FA... Connery's best bat was 3B Tommy Klegg (.281/36/132/85), who topped the IPA with 132 RBIs, along with Waleska's Kippy Doyle... other strong contributors were All-Star CF Stan Helmke (.317/14/62/100), SS Jose Aguilar (.290/13/66/106) and 1B Kris Grabowski (.299/17/72).

The Tuckanarra Blue Jays (82-72) were near the top again, but slumped in July and it cost manager Carlton "Lefty" Stevens a chance for a sixth playoff appearance... Stevens has a good mound corps, but not as deep as Red Bluff... Titus Bristow (17-17 2.81), an 8-year veteran, is as good as it gets in the IPA... lifetime Bristow is 145-101 with a 2.85 ERA... Bristow could have easily won 25 games this season except for poor bat support... Tuckanarra has two good pitchers in All-Star Delaney Elliott (23-13 3.94) and Coorain Janama (18-16 3.81)... the Blue Jays also have a solid closer Niles Applewhite (4-5 3.14), who racked up 32 saves... Stevens needs to find a fourth starter to compete with Red Bluff... he also needs some power-hitters... his best bats are 1B Erik Vayda (.296/9/76/84), 3B Rocky Fuqua (.305/8/58/84), CF Earl O'Brien (.257/9/47/91), LF Tony Blundell (.254/14/66/71) and Lee Thomson (.271/14/71)... nowhere near the quality that Red Bluff possesses.

The High Mesa Cowboys (76-78) and Ozarka Naturals tied for the third spot in the TU East and trailed first place Red Bluff by 10 games... The glory years of 2002 and 2003 are long gone for Frisky Franks when High Mesa was riding high in the standings... his Cowboys won the division and the Pro Cup in their first IPA season... High Mesa came in second in 2003... they have only been an average club since... Queen Ranch Stadium is one of the smaller venues in the league, so High Mesa usually ranks high in homers... this season the Cowboys clouted 184 into the stands and batted .269... in the pitching department they registered a 3.92 ERA, which is not so bad considering the short fences at Queen Ranch Stadium... Franks' team is only fair on defense with a .971 FA... the top hitters are 1B Nat Thurlow (.312/34/83/72), SS Wild Deer Etchimin (.275/22/79/81) and 3B Lloyd Windham (.316/15/63/83)... top hurlers are Kent Wells (20-16 3.46), Johnny Falcon (14-15 3.72) and John Rainer (13-19 3.93).

Joe Mac Carney's Ozarka Naturals (76-78) have been in the thick of things the last four seasons in the TU East with a first or second place finish, but slipped some this year... Carney's pitching wasn't what it has been recently as the team ERA dropped to 4.05... the Nats best pitchers were Tyrus Yokum (12-9 3.25) and Karl Kleinert (14-14 4.25)... Ozarka was only average at the plate with a .263 batting average and 130 homers... the Nats best bats were LF Vic Weinstein (.311/13/73/93), 2B Gil Lantz (.303/9/76/83), 3B Todd Chadwick (.254/24/77/107) and SS Nathan Ferrell (.272/22/100/92).

The Hillsboro Blazers (75-79) made some progress this season and completed the year in fifth place, only 11 games back... manager Arky Spanderson's club has finished last five times, has never been above .500, never been in the first division and never made the postseason... the Blazers hit pretty well with a .271 BA and 139 homers, but are woefully weak with a 4.46 team ERA... Hillsboro is average with a .973 FA... only one good pitcher to speak of: Ed Dupard (16-14 3.48)... Spanderson's top batters are All-Star 2B Ray Bassett (.316/33/108/80), 3B Brad Walker (.282/13/64/102) , Rickey Alfonso (.269/18/78/89) and 1B Bobby Bayas (.294/9/62/77)... the Blazers could use an infusion of power and pitching.

After two seasons in the first division, including winning the TU East in 2008, the East Point Panthers (74-80) are back in the second division, in the sixth spot in the standings and a dozen games off the pace... Griff Clarke can blame it on his very poor pitching... the team carry a pathetic 4.67 ERA, which is the second worst in the entire IPA, topped only by Midway with a 4.73 ERA... even his top aces from a year ago faltered... Tommy Fuller (15-16 3.55) and Smokey Joe Carter (14-17 4.05) were much more effective last season, when they piled up 20 and 19 wins respectively... However at bat, the Panthers put some runs on the scoreboard with 184 roundtrippers, sparked by 2B Jesse Goodwin (.279/44/119/95), CF Joey Olson (.277/28/83/84) and LF Karl Dietz (.249/30/82/65)... defensively East Point was only adequate and fielded at a .972 rate.

The Midway Wolves (67-87) have never made the playoffs... this season Cochise Chandler's club came in seventh and tied with South Fork for last place, winding up 19 games out... not much to cheer about in Midway... the Wolves batted only .259, but did hit 141 homers... on the hill they were appalling with a 4.73 ERA and ranked absolutely last among the 64 IPA teams... Chandler has some decent starters in Antonio Anaya (13-17 4.25), Ted Chambers (10-19 4.08) and Kojiro Matsumoto (11-17 3.97), but no one after them... the rest have atmospheric ERAs... Midway's best bats are 1B Don Piper (.269/28/92/88), RF Lou Sturge (.254/27/81/105) and SS J. T. Edmonds (.316/11/61/65)... with the glove the Wolves have a .974 FA.

Lips Leon is not a happy camper in South Fork (67-87)... the Stallions finished in the TU East cellar for the second year in a row and in the second division for the seventh straight year... South Fork doesn't hit much and sports a .260 BA with 120 homers... on the mound Leon does have some dependable starters in Leonard Urban (15-12 3.57), Bobby Karu (16-17 3.48) and Dave Small (11-15 3.82)... at bat the Stallions rely on RF Robby Michael (.295/19/80/75), LF Gary Horn (.281/14/78/81) and All-Star SS Rolf Kellgren (.299/12/60/93), who had a Gold Glove year.

02-01-2010, 06:30 PM	#1521
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 36,111	The Islandian Times Tuesday, September 22, 2009 Red Bluff Wins TU East For 4th Time, Tuckanarra Runner-up It took Mack Connery and the Red Bluff Red Sox several years to get their fourth Tycobbian East pennant, but they did it this year, whipping the second place Tuckanarra Blue Jays by 4 games. The Red Sox and the Blue Jays battled neck-and-neck until July when Red Bluff got a little buffer between them. Connery's club won consecutive division titles in 2003, 2004 and 2,005 and took the Pro Cup in 2004. Red Bluff (86-68) took advantage of a strong pitching staff to win the TU East this season... Connery had four fine starters, two very good ones and two that were quite dependable... the Red Sox notched a 3.82 ERA and were paced by All-Star John Dougherty (19-12 3.10), Frank Beaudoin (21-12 3.29), Jim Melanakos (14-10 4.13) and Cloyd Harris (18-18 4.04)... firepower also set Red Bluff apart from Tuckanarra... they outhomered the Blue Jays 149 to 99... both clubs hit about the same for average with Tuckanarra batting .268 and Red Bluff .267... Tuckanarra also had a slight edge defensively .978 FA to .976 FA... Connery's best bat was 3B Tommy Klegg (.281/36/132/85), who topped the IPA with 132 RBIs, along with Waleska's Kippy Doyle... other strong contributors were All-Star CF Stan Helmke (.317/14/62/100), SS Jose Aguilar (.290/13/66/106) and 1B Kris Grabowski (.299/17/72). The Tuckanarra Blue Jays (82-72) were near the top again, but slumped in July and it cost manager Carlton "Lefty" Stevens a chance for a sixth playoff appearance... Stevens has a good mound corps, but not as deep as Red Bluff... Titus Bristow (17-17 2.81), an 8-year veteran, is as good as it gets in the IPA... lifetime Bristow is 145-101 with a 2.85 ERA... Bristow could have easily won 25 games this season except for poor bat support... Tuckanarra has two good pitchers in All-Star Delaney Elliott (23-13 3.94) and Coorain Janama (18-16 3.81)... the Blue Jays also have a solid closer Niles Applewhite (4-5 3.14), who racked up 32 saves... Stevens needs to find a fourth starter to compete with Red Bluff... he also needs some power-hitters... his best bats are 1B Erik Vayda (.296/9/76/84), 3B Rocky Fuqua (.305/8/58/84), CF Earl O'Brien (.257/9/47/91), LF Tony Blundell (.254/14/66/71) and Lee Thomson (.271/14/71)... nowhere near the quality that Red Bluff possesses. The High Mesa Cowboys (76-78) and Ozarka Naturals tied for the third spot in the TU East and trailed first place Red Bluff by 10 games... The glory years of 2002 and 2003 are long gone for Frisky Franks when High Mesa was riding high in the standings... his Cowboys won the division and the Pro Cup in their first IPA season... High Mesa came in second in 2003... they have only been an average club since... Queen Ranch Stadium is one of the smaller venues in the league, so High Mesa usually ranks high in homers... this season the Cowboys clouted 184 into the stands and batted .269... in the pitching department they registered a 3.92 ERA, which is not so bad considering the short fences at Queen Ranch Stadium... Franks' team is only fair on defense with a .971 FA... the top hitters are 1B Nat Thurlow (.312/34/83/72), SS Wild Deer Etchimin (.275/22/79/81) and 3B Lloyd Windham (.316/15/63/83)... top hurlers are Kent Wells (20-16 3.46), Johnny Falcon (14-15 3.72) and John Rainer (13-19 3.93). Joe Mac Carney's Ozarka Naturals (76-78) have been in the thick of things the last four seasons in the TU East with a first or second place finish, but slipped some this year... Carney's pitching wasn't what it has been recently as the team ERA dropped to 4.05... the Nats best pitchers were Tyrus Yokum (12-9 3.25) and Karl Kleinert (14-14 4.25)... Ozarka was only average at the plate with a .263 batting average and 130 homers... the Nats best bats were LF Vic Weinstein (.311/13/73/93), 2B Gil Lantz (.303/9/76/83), 3B Todd Chadwick (.254/24/77/107) and SS Nathan Ferrell (.272/22/100/92). The Hillsboro Blazers (75-79) made some progress this season and completed the year in fifth place, only 11 games back... manager Arky Spanderson's club has finished last five times, has never been above .500, never been in the first division and never made the postseason... the Blazers hit pretty well with a .271 BA and 139 homers, but are woefully weak with a 4.46 team ERA... Hillsboro is average with a .973 FA... only one good pitcher to speak of: Ed Dupard (16-14 3.48)... Spanderson's top batters are All-Star 2B Ray Bassett (.316/33/108/80), 3B Brad Walker (.282/13/64/102) , Rickey Alfonso (.269/18/78/89) and 1B Bobby Bayas (.294/9/62/77)... the Blazers could use an infusion of power and pitching. After two seasons in the first division, including winning the TU East in 2008, the East Point Panthers (74-80) are back in the second division, in the sixth spot in the standings and a dozen games off the pace... Griff Clarke can blame it on his very poor pitching... the team carry a pathetic 4.67 ERA, which is the second worst in the entire IPA, topped only by Midway with a 4.73 ERA... even his top aces from a year ago faltered... Tommy Fuller (15-16 3.55) and Smokey Joe Carter (14-17 4.05) were much more effective last season, when they piled up 20 and 19 wins respectively... However at bat, the Panthers put some runs on the scoreboard with 184 roundtrippers, sparked by 2B Jesse Goodwin (.279/44/119/95), CF Joey Olson (.277/28/83/84) and LF Karl Dietz (.249/30/82/65)... defensively East Point was only adequate and fielded at a .972 rate. The Midway Wolves (67-87) have never made the playoffs... this season Cochise Chandler's club came in seventh and tied with South Fork for last place, winding up 19 games out... not much to cheer about in Midway... the Wolves batted only .259, but did hit 141 homers... on the hill they were appalling with a 4.73 ERA and ranked absolutely last among the 64 IPA teams... Chandler has some decent starters in Antonio Anaya (13-17 4.25), Ted Chambers (10-19 4.08) and Kojiro Matsumoto (11-17 3.97), but no one after them... the rest have atmospheric ERAs... Midway's best bats are 1B Don Piper (.269/28/92/88), RF Lou Sturge (.254/27/81/105) and SS J. T. Edmonds (.316/11/61/65)... with the glove the Wolves have a .974 FA. Lips Leon is not a happy camper in South Fork (67-87)... the Stallions finished in the TU East cellar for the second year in a row and in the second division for the seventh straight year... South Fork doesn't hit much and sports a .260 BA with 120 homers... on the mound Leon does have some dependable starters in Leonard Urban (15-12 3.57), Bobby Karu (16-17 3.48) and Dave Small (11-15 3.82)... at bat the Stallions rely on RF Robby Michael (.295/19/80/75), LF Gary Horn (.281/14/78/81) and All-Star SS Rolf Kellgren (.299/12/60/93), who had a Gold Glove year.