[Eugene Church]

The Islandian Times

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

2012 Tycobbian East Final Recap

Ozarka Wins 3rd Straight TU East, SF Flops In 2nd Half
In an unlikely turn of events, the Ozarka Naturals rallied from a 7-game deficit at the All-Star Game to capture the Tycobbian East for the third year in a row. At that point the South Fork Stallions were playing the best ball of any team in the IPA, but in the second half of the season they faltered, floundered and flopped, winding up a frustrated second by a 2-game margin. The third place Red Bluff Red Sox made it a three-way chase and finished just 4 games off the pace. The Midway Wolves were fourth and 9 games back. At the top of the second division and in fifth place was Tuckanarra, 15 games behind. Sixth place went to the High Mesa Cowboys, who were 18 games out. Hillsboro was seventh, trailing by 30 games, with 106-game losing East Point in the cellar and 40 games behind the TU East champions, the Ozarka Naturals.

It was Ozarka's (88-66) fourth division crown... Joe Mac Carney has a top-notch batting order with a tough out in each spot and five .300 hitters like LF Vic Weinstein (.325/16/86/116), All-Star 3B Todd Chadwick (.320/22/95/122), All-Star C Todd Pepper (.315/11/71/87), 2B Gil Lantz (.314/19/65/81) and 3B Nathan Ferrell (.301/19/85/75)... Other contributors are RF Chris Hughes (.277/19/97/72) and 1B Al Wesner (.263/17/72/58)... Eddie Roberts (18-8 2.94) and Emile Leduc (18-11 3.63) are the prime starters.

Everything went Lips Leon's way in the opening half of the season, but not too much went right when his South Fork Stallions (86-68) played sub-.500 ball in the last half and allowed Ozarka to overtake and beat them... The Stallions bullpen was atrocious with a 5.08 ERA (32nd), the worst in the IPA... In comparison Ozarka's relief corps compiled a strong 3.10 ERA and ranked 5th in the league... South Fork couldn't compete with the Stallion bats, either... Their top bats were 3B Bobby Ritter (.326/9/62/90), CF Robby Michael (.304/18/91/85), LF Gary Horn (.283/24/85/96) and 1B Joe Peters (.268/20/104/86)... It was the fantastic pitching of Blackie Terranova, who almost single-handedly kept the Stallions in the race with a 25-6 record and a 2.59 ERA... Kurt Glinka also chipped in with a 17-16 mark and a 3.71 ERA.

Mack Connery had his Red Bluff Red Sox (84-70) in the hunt this year as in most years, but the deciding factor was a weak bullpen... Red Sox relievers were hit hard with a 4.94 ERA (31st)... otherwise they could hang with Ozarka and South Fork, winding up just 4 games out of the top spot... Red Bluff batted at a .267 clip (8th) with 160 homers (9th) and a good 3.55 ERA (11th)... Connery had a solid starting four with Jim Melanakos (20-9 3.06), John Dougherty (17-17 2.82) leading the mound corps with help from spot starter Ray Schiller (13-3 3.16), Frank Beaudoin (11-14 3.66) and Ivan Brasco (13-15 3.65)... The normally-reliable closer Ricardo Topez had a down year with a 2-8 record, lofty 4.37 ERA, yet still notched 31 saves... hitting-wise the Red Sox had a good offense with 1B Tommy Klegg (.275/39/119/84), All-Star SS Jose Aguilar (.315/17/81/103) and 3B Ty Knight (.315/17/74/61).

Cochise Chandler led the Midway Wolves (79-75) to a fourth-place finish and 9 games back... Chandler has never made the playoffs in the club's 11-year IPA history... Midway is just an average team with good power... the Wolves walloped 168 homers (7th)... Chandler's top hitters were 1B Don Piper (.294/22/97/96), CF Johnny Lee (.300/29/88/90) and RF Lou Sturge (.257/28/54/87)... on the hill the Midway moundsmen were paced by Matt Niemeyer (23-10 3.02), Sherm Jarvis (17-16 3.64) and bullpen ace Dom Vilaggio (5-4 2.53), who totaled 32 saves.

The fifth-place Tuckanarra Blue Jays (73-81) were hampered greatly by a lack of scoring and were 15 games behind in the race... The Blue Jays offense produced only 600 runs (32nd)... However, Carlton "Lefty" Stevens' pitching corps was one of the best in the league with a 3.21 team ERA (3rd), anchored by four quality starters and a good closer... Titus Bristow pitched extremely well, but had little to show for it with a 10-21 record, despite a very fine 2.65 ERA... Delaney Elliott (16-20 3.32), Roy Spence (18-15 3.30) and Mook Epperson (12-11 3.44) all could have used better run support... Closer Neil Hilton (5-4 3.02) did well with 26 saves... Tuckanarra's bats were not in abundance with only two average run producers in SS Wayne Snider (.327/14/77/60) and 3B Rocky Fuqua (.298/11/46/80).

The sixth place High Mesa Cowboys (70-84) can hit, but so can the opposition in the tiny bandbox of Queen Ranch Stadium, where almost anyone is a powerhitter... Frisky Franks' Cowpokes poked 182 out of the ballpark this year and ranked 2nd in the league, only the Bayview Vikings outdid them with 202 circuit clouts... All-Star 2B Wild Deer Etchimin (.279) led the hit parade with 34 roundtrippers and 104 RBIs, LF Darrel Alston (.263) rapped 26 and 3B Ed Albrecht (.312) and 1B Maury Duncan (.290) collected 18 apiece... Veteran CF Kermit Wiggins stood out with a .318 BA, but only had 3 home runs... On the mound Johnny Falcon had a truly fine season considering he has to pitch half his games in such a small stadium... Falcon was 21-11 with a 3.33 ERA... Overall the Cowboys pitchers posted a mediocre 4.26 ERA (26th).

The seventh place Hillsboro Blazers (58-96) had their worst season in history with only 58 victories... The Blazers were 30 games back in the standings under the leadership of Arky Spanderson... They have never finished higher that 5th and have never come close to making the postseason... Hillsboro batted only .242 (32nd) and scored just 650 runs (27th), but slugged 176 homers (4th)... The mound staff logged a poor 4.32 team ERA (29th)... Spanderson's best performers were SP Domenico Belizon (13-17 3.67), MR Lou Zanelli (4-2 3.06), closer Randy Love (2-4 3.18) with 18 saves, 1B Dominic Carbonetti (.257/33/87/64), C Pete Robinson (.266/26/77/75) and SS Tommy Cooper (.255/26/60/80).

Griff Clarke won the pennant in 2008, but his East Point Panthers (48-106) haven't been close since... This season the Panthers were pathetic and set an IPA record for losses with 106... The Arroyo Grande Suns set the record in 2002 with a 49-105 mark... East Point was last with a 4.70 ERA (32nd), hit for a .249 (27th) average, pounded out 171 longballs (6th) and scored 675 times (23rd)... Superstar All-Star 2B Jesse Goodwin had a monster year with 50 homers, 138 RBIs, .333 BA and scored 114 runs... Goodwin topped everyone in the IPA in home runs and RBIs... LF Karl Dietz hit 33 out of the park and drove in 82 runs, but hit only .248... rookie closer Mark Hobbs chalked up 18 saves with a strong 2.23 ERA, but suffered with an 0-8 record.