[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times

Thursday, September 23, 2010

2010 IPA Ruthlandian South Final Recap

Waleska Edges Claxton For RU South Pennant
In the Ruthlandian South, Waleska almost got caught in the last few days of the season by hard-charging Claxton, who came on the last six weeks. Going into the final day of the season only one game separated them. At the end of the day both teams lost and the Westerners held off the Diamonds. The San Dimas Rancheros were 8 games out in third place and the Valka Blackhawks came in fourth and were 10 games out. The rest of the teams never figured in the pennant race.

McGraw Johnson finally won the RU South after the Westerners finished third the past two seasons... Johnson has fashioned a fine club with solid pitching and excellent hitting... Waleska (85-69) has a rock-solid line-up with good players in each of the eight spots, sparked by RF Kippy Doyle with 26 homers and 103 RBIs, CF Harold Setser with a .325 batting average, 22 homers and 98 RBIs, LF Johnny Stratton with 14 roundtrippers, 14 home runs, 91 RBIs and a .301 BA, 3B Grant Betzer with a .318 BA and 111 runs and 1B Nat Mayakovsky with 16 homers, 89 RBIs and a .291 average... on the hill Johnson has some talent, too... Waleska starters are Wilson Whitmore (18-13 2.87), Ken Vakos (14-7 3.47), Lenny Milazzo (13-10 3.36) and Sammy Grimaldi (8-5 3.06).

The Claxton Diamonds (84-70) were the defending champs and had another good year under "the Old Perfesser" Stacy Engel... Claxton has a potent attack and hit 174 homers (2nd) this season, led by LF Helmut Graczyk with 34 homers, 112 RBIs, 109 runs and a strong .338 BA, CF Dixie Baker with 33 home runs and 98 RBIs, 1B Mike Luzzatti with 28 roundtrippers, 80 RBIs and 102 runs and 3B Artie Sherman, who hit 26 out of the park... Engel doesn't have the staff Waleska has... his top arms are Pat Grange (17-11 3.94), Charlie Murphy (15-19 3.33) and Doug Torvik (15-8 3.79)... the only edge the Diamonds have on the Westerners is better defense, .975 FA to .971 FA... just looking at the numbers Waleska is a better team than Claxton and should have won more easily.

The rest of the clubs are not on par with the top two teams... the San Dimas Rancheros (77-77), managed by Paco Banderos, were the most improved ball club in the RU South... the Rancheros were last in 2009... Banderos doesn't have a lot of talent... his best are pitcher Carl Schmitz (18-15 2.88), who has chalked up 161 victories in his 10 IPA seasons with a fine 3.11 ERA... the 33-year-old southpaw is even better in the postseason with a 10-7 mark and a 2.76 ERA... and 32-year-old 1B Ron Armstrong (.280/14/74) is a two-time All-Star and has a Gold Glove, but not the player he used to be.

The Valka Blackhawks (75-79) improved its pitching a tad this year and moved up from fifth place to fourth, trailing Waleska by 10 games... skipper Jaan Kurus just doesn't have the offense to really contend... on the mound Kurus has a steady set of veteran starters and one of the best closers... rookie Vinko Markovic really excelled with 33 saves, 2.43 ERA and a 6-3 record in 52 appearances... Erke Tonisson (19-16 3.56), Jerry Smith (15-16 3.05) and Connie Krueger (14-20 3.65) give Valka a good consistent rotation... the Blackhawks are not much at the plate, but did get a great first year from rookie Kurt LF Kurt Jankauskas, who smacked 23 homers, batted .283 and drove in 84 runs... C Tom Hewlett chipped in a .303 BA, 10 home runs, 53 RBIs and scored 80 times.

Three teams were tied for the fifth spot in the RU South standings: the Belair Beach Sunbirds (68-86), Crystal Lake Crushers (68-86) and St. John Crusaders (68-86)... All of them wound up 17 games of the pace.

Marty Petroza's Sunbirds are the best fielding ball club in the division with a strong .978 FA, but they suffer in other aspects of the game... Belair Beach has decent pitching with one standout performer in 36-year-old right-hander Jeff Nieman (16-13 2.94)... But the Sunbirds come up short in the batter's box... you are in trouble when the best man in the batting order is CF Billy Martz, who hit .274 with 19 home runs and 78 RBIs.

Crystal Lake only does two things well - they do hit home runs and have a super reliever... Manager Baby George's sluggers went deep 174 times and tied with Claxton for the number two spot... the Sligo Rovers of the RU West hit the most with 182... 1B Phil Gravelli led the way with 27 and a .301 BA, 2B Cristian Avajos with 26, but only hit .211, RF Jerry Lee Presley with 21 roundtrippers and a .259 average, C Todd Simons with 21 and a .242 BA and CF Mel Ballard hit 17 home runs and batted .312 for the season... the Crushers best pitcher is in the bullpen and he is a good one... closer Jeff Jernigan saved 29 games and compiled a 6-3 mark with a brilliant 1.48 ERA...the 27-year-old southpaw has 110 saves in four seasons with a superb 2.38 ERA.

St. John lacks offense, is only average on the hill and woefully inept on defense (.968 FA)... manager Dickie Billings has two division crowns to his credit in 2003 and 2007, but little else... Fuzzy Olnick (12-10 2.88) and Denny Copeland (12-7 3.14) are his best pitchers... offensively RF Clayton Luck is his only solid hitter with a .282 BA, 15 homers and 82 RBIs... 36-year-old C Virgil Chapman led the Crusaders with 25 home runs, but hit only .242 for average.

In the RU South cellar 19 games back are the Grand City Cybercats (66-88), who have atrocious pitching and rank near the bottom with a 4.51 team ERA (29th)... even former Golden Arm and Tycobbian MVP Emmitt Yates struggled with a 14-14 record and a 3.53 ERA... last year Yates was 21-11 with a 2.35 ERA... Grand City can hit for contact with a .271 batting, which is fourth best in the league, but Torry Joseph's team doesn't put much on the scoreboard... Joseph's best batters are 1B Marlin Kiefer (.299/13/62/86) and CF Val Krol (.298/12/74).