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The Islandian Times
Monday, September 19, 2011
2011 Ruthlandian Union South Final Standings, Team Batting and Team Pitching
Claxton Claims RU South Title, 2nd in 3 Years
The Claxton Diamonds threw it into high gear and pulled away from the pack in the second half of the season in the Ruthlandian South to claim its second division flag in the last three years - and they did it by a wide 8-game margin. At midseason Stacy Engel's squad was locked in a three-way tie for first with Crystal Lake and St. John. Only 7 games separated first place from last place. All of the challengers faded in the heat of summer. Belair Beach came in second, Crystal Lake was third and 11 games off the pace with St. John in the fourth spot, 12 games behind. Valka finished fifth, 13 games back, San Dimas was in sixth place and trailed by 14, followed by seventh place Waleska, 16 games out and Grand City was in the basement and 22 games to the rear. Waleska was the defending champ.
Claxton is just a good, solid and well-balanced club. The Diamonds do everything pretty well... hit .264 (8th) with 174 homers (5th), sport a 3.55 team ERA (9th) and are one of the better fielding teams with a fine .977 FA... Charlie Murphy (21-14 2.59), Doug Torvik (19-14 3.64) and Paul Grange (16-14 3.64) give Claxton a very good starting rotation... and closer Tony Haverkamp (3-4 2.43) gets the job done when called in from the bullpen... Haverkamp posted 34 saves this season... Claxton gets great run production from 39-year-old LF Helmut Graczyk (.312/28/111/95) and 1B Mike Luzzatti (.311/34/104/108).
The Belair Beach Sunbirds under the aegis of Marty Pedroza had the bats to compete, but didn't have the pitching... defensively they were good with gloves with a .976 FA... still they wound up in the runner-up spot... the 'Birds battered pitchers for a .273 batting average (2nd) and tied for third in scoring, but couldn't get anybody out with a 4.63 team ERA (30th)... Pedroza's only dependable arms were Slim Mosley (19-15 3.69) and bullpen specialist Groot Tenbrook (4-7 1.51), who chalked up 28 saves... CF Billy Martz (.333/15/74/75) had a solid season and was helped out by RF Ron Dizon (.291/23/71), C Little Jake Bungarooba (.287/12/65/92) and 3B Zippy Parks (.277/12/75/94).
Baby George's third place Crystal Lake Crushers lived up to their name with 184 roundtrippers (3rd), but they only batted a paltry .242 (32nd)... 1B Phil Gravelli (.308/34/95/95) is one of the IPA's premier players at age 27... and he got plenty of help from his longball buddies LF Ronnie Patterson with 32 homers, 2B Cristian Avajos with 24, RF Jerry Lee Presley with 24 and C Todd Simons with 20... on the hill Phil Varnado (15-16 3.69) was the best starter and closer Jeff Jernigan (4-6 2.80) saved 26 ballgames.
Skipper Dickie Billings and his St. John Crusaders had a good first-half run, but faltered badly at the end and came in fourth, under .500 and 12 games back in the race... Billings has mediocre hitting (.254 BA), decent pitching (3.81 ERA) and excellent fielding (.978 FA)... Teddy Garson (11-4 3.02), Paul Tarkovsky (15-13 3.06) and Fuzzy Olnick (16-20 3.44) form a solid set of starters... second-year 3B Vinny Sardisco (.278/18/101) really flourished in his first full season... Sardisco is only 20.
The Valka Blackhawks were in fifth place and trailed by 13 games... looking at their stats it's a wonder manager Jaan Kurus' crew finished that high... they had the worst offense in the Ruthlandian Union and hit a poor .246 (31st)... the Blackhawks relied on their 3.85 team ERA (15th) to get by... Jerry Smith (21-13 3.41) had a fine year along with the team's outstanding closer Vinko Markovic (5-5 1.38), who notched 35 saves... compared to most teams Valka's run output was quite pale... the Blackhawks best batters were 38-year-old Les Reynolds with a .326 BA, 14 homers, but only 54 RBI and 58 runs... 2B Scott Gibson with a .302 average, 13 roundtrippers and just 57 RBIs... and RF Mike Nordmann hit .290, batted in 56 runs and went deep 18 times.
Sixth place belonged to the San Dimas Rancheros... the club is managed by Paco Bandera, who finished up 14 games out of first place, mainly due to a lack of scoring (29th), despite 144 home runs (10th) and .260 BA... and poor pitching (4.19 ERA)... Carl Schmitz (19-14 3.34) put up another solid year at age 34... Schmitz has won 180 games in his 11 IPA seasons... relief sensation Raul Marroquin (3-5) had a remarkable year with a microscopic 1.42 ERA and 29 saves... 1B Ron Armstrong (.295/24/84/85) and CF Rickey Alfonso (.281/5/65/89) were Bandera's top batsmen.
Skipper McGraw Johnson saw his Waleska Westerners stumble and fall from first place to seventh in a very disappointing season... Blame it on the pitching corps... last year's stalwarts Ken Vakros (14-19 3.62) and Wilson Whitmore (13-17 3.62) suffered down seasons... closer Sherman Mooney registered 31 saves with a good 2.76 ERA, but he had a lousy 5-11 won-loss record... the Westerners did hit the ball with authority and compiled a .263 BA (12th) with 124 homers (25th)... top guns were three vets LF Kippy Doyle (.295/26/96/79), CF Harold Setser (.291/25/90/94) and 3B Grant Betzer (.290/7/77/84).
The Grand City Cybercats, piloted by Torry Joseph, had the dubious honor of last place for the second successive season... the Cybercats were 22 games off the pace... they hit only 85 home runs (31st), hit .257 (23rd) and had difficulty scoring runs (22nd)... on the hill Joseph's rotation compiled a 4.21 team ERA (25th)... however Grand City does possess some talented hurlers in Emmitt Yates (11-17 3.35), closer Paul McBride (7-6 2.38) with 27 saves and rookie Randy Andrews, who was terrific with an 8-3 record and a 2.97 ERA after joining the Cybercats in late July... Joseph's top hitter was LF Sassy Garfield, who had a career year... the 9-year vet rapped out a .328 average with 18 homers, 85 RBIs and scored 107 times.
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