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Eugene Church · 08-06-2010, 12:02 AM

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, June 24, 2014

BB Sunbirds Lead RU South By 6 Over Crushers
After finishing second to St. John last year, the Belair Beach Sunbirds have come back with a vengeance to take over first place in the Ruthlandian South by 6 games over the Crystal Lake Crushers. They are 9 ahead of third place San Dimas and 12 in front of the fourth-place Claxton Diamonds. Marty Pedroza's Sunbirds are the class of the division this season and seemed headed for another pennant. Belair Beach has won the division 3 times over the years and finished second 4 times.

Belair Beach (45-28) has the third-best record in the league after Far Mountain (49-24) of the RU North and Rocky Rapids (46-27) of the RU West. Pedroza has three fine starters, good fielding and a quality hitter in each slot in the batting order. All-Star Jeff Nieman is the biggest winner in both leagues with a 14-4 mark and a 3.45 ERA. The Sunbirds traded for Nasty Naymick and he has been a good addition with a 6-4 record and a strong 2.31 ERA. Overall Naymick is 10-5 with a 2.64 ERA. Pedroza got him from Cape Coral for two players. The trade was a win-win for both clubs as 1B Avery Womack is hitting .337 for the Hurricanes. Second-year man Denny Whitaker is starter number three with a 10-7 record and a 3.32 ERA. The Sunbirds are a well-balanced ball club and should rack up its fourth RU South title in September.

Herman "Baby" George may have the best team he's ever had in Crystal Lake (39-34). He has two quality starters and a dynamite closer, along with two standout hitters, but not enough talent to top Belair Beach. Second place is most likely where his Crushers will wind up. Al Duhon (9-3 3.88) and Ben Dewberry (7-9 2.25) are his best starters and All-Star Jeff Jernigan is George's bullpen ace. Jernigan (2-4) has appeared in 32 games, saved 20 of them and has posted a brilliant 1.51 ERA. Crystal Lake's attack is led by future Hall-of-Famer 1B Phil Gravelli and budding star RF Chip Fiske. 30-year-old Gravelli is the all-time leader in home runs, RBIs and games in the IPA. He had played in 2012 games, hit 454 homers and batted in 1454 runs in his fabulous career with a .316 batting average. This year Gravelli is at .290 with 17 home runs and 52 RBIs. Fiske, in his second year, has a .315 BA with 7 roundtrippers, 43 RBIs, 21 stolen bases and has scored 44 times.

None of the other teams is over .500 in the RU South. The third place San Dimas Rancheros (36-37) are 9 games off the pace and are led on the mound by Rudy Nasquez (9-5 3.71) and at the plate by 1B Ron Armstrong (.298/12/42/48) and C Wesley Pate (.297/11/30/37). Ranchero skipper Paco Banderas just doesn't have a lot of talent, which is the case for the rest of the division.

The Claxton Diamonds (33-40) with the Old Perfesser Stacy Engel at the helm are 12 games out in the race and sitting in fourth place. Charlie Murphy (9-8 2.52) is his best starter and George Ferguson (2-1) is becoming quite a closer with an outstanding 1.19 ERA and 10 saves on the year. The Diamonds only productive hitter has been superstar and All-Star 1B Mike Luzzatti with a .306 BA, 16 home runs, 43 RBIs and 51 runs scored.

Last year's surprise pennant-winner, the St. John Crusaders (32-41), have totally fallen apart and plunged to fifth-place tie with the Valka, 13 games back. When your team ERA climbs out-of-sight and your team batting average take a severe dive, your team is in trouble. Dickie Billings still has two solid starters with Denny Copeland (6-4 2.68) and Teddy Garson (6-4 3.20), but little else. The team ERA stands at a poor 4.28 (28th) and the team BA is only .227, the worst in the IPA. It just might be the worst in the league history. The Crusaders have no hitters worth mentioning. They are that bad.

The Valka Blackhawks (32-41) have some power with 77 home runs (3rd), but not much besides that. Manager Jaan Kurus only has two players of any note. Starter Erke Tonisson (7-7 3.53) is having a fair year and LF Kurt Jankauskas has hit 14 out of the park and driven in 47 runs, but is batting only .264 this season.

Manager Torry Joseph in Grand City (31-42) hasn't made the playoffs since 2002 and probably will continue the trend for a few more years. The Cybercats are in seventh place in the standings and trail by 14 games. They may have trouble staying ahead of cellar-dwelling Waleska. Grand City's top players are Denny Yarrow, Paul McBride and Jimmy Tremayne. 36-year-old Yarrow came to the Cybercats in a trade with Mahaska and he has been a great addition with an 11-6 mark and a 3.49 ERA. Closer McBride (0-1) has been absolutely sensational with a 0.92 ERA and 12 saves. Tremayne, a 37-year-old journeyman CF, is leading the team with a .315 BA and 33 RBIs.

McGraw Johnson guided the Waleska Westerners (30-43) to the RU South crown in 2012, but it's been all downhill since with second-division finishes. At the All-Star hiatus the Westerners are at the bottom of the entire totem pole, some 15 games behind the pack. However all is not gloom - the Westerners can hit the ball and will probably move up in the standings if Johnson can find a decent pitcher or two. Budding superstar CF Roy Hobbs sports a .318 BA with 15 homers, 46 runs batted in and has scored 56 times. All-time great LF Kippy Doyle still gets the job done with a .332 BA, 10 home runs and 44 RBIs. And RF Harold Setser may be 41, but still can hit with a .278 BA, 14 roundtrippers, 50 RBIs and 40 runs scored. Waleska's only pitcher to date has been Sammy Grimaldi with a fine 6-3 mark and a strong 2.78 ERA.

08-06-2010, 12:02 AM	#1884
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,894	The Islandian Times Tuesday, June 24, 2014 BB Sunbirds Lead RU South By 6 Over Crushers After finishing second to St. John last year, the Belair Beach Sunbirds have come back with a vengeance to take over first place in the Ruthlandian South by 6 games over the Crystal Lake Crushers. They are 9 ahead of third place San Dimas and 12 in front of the fourth-place Claxton Diamonds. Marty Pedroza's Sunbirds are the class of the division this season and seemed headed for another pennant. Belair Beach has won the division 3 times over the years and finished second 4 times. Belair Beach (45-28) has the third-best record in the league after Far Mountain (49-24) of the RU North and Rocky Rapids (46-27) of the RU West. Pedroza has three fine starters, good fielding and a quality hitter in each slot in the batting order. All-Star Jeff Nieman is the biggest winner in both leagues with a 14-4 mark and a 3.45 ERA. The Sunbirds traded for Nasty Naymick and he has been a good addition with a 6-4 record and a strong 2.31 ERA. Overall Naymick is 10-5 with a 2.64 ERA. Pedroza got him from Cape Coral for two players. The trade was a win-win for both clubs as 1B Avery Womack is hitting .337 for the Hurricanes. Second-year man Denny Whitaker is starter number three with a 10-7 record and a 3.32 ERA. The Sunbirds are a well-balanced ball club and should rack up its fourth RU South title in September. Herman "Baby" George may have the best team he's ever had in Crystal Lake (39-34). He has two quality starters and a dynamite closer, along with two standout hitters, but not enough talent to top Belair Beach. Second place is most likely where his Crushers will wind up. Al Duhon (9-3 3.88) and Ben Dewberry (7-9 2.25) are his best starters and All-Star Jeff Jernigan is George's bullpen ace. Jernigan (2-4) has appeared in 32 games, saved 20 of them and has posted a brilliant 1.51 ERA. Crystal Lake's attack is led by future Hall-of-Famer 1B Phil Gravelli and budding star RF Chip Fiske. 30-year-old Gravelli is the all-time leader in home runs, RBIs and games in the IPA. He had played in 2012 games, hit 454 homers and batted in 1454 runs in his fabulous career with a .316 batting average. This year Gravelli is at .290 with 17 home runs and 52 RBIs. Fiske, in his second year, has a .315 BA with 7 roundtrippers, 43 RBIs, 21 stolen bases and has scored 44 times. None of the other teams is over .500 in the RU South. The third place San Dimas Rancheros (36-37) are 9 games off the pace and are led on the mound by Rudy Nasquez (9-5 3.71) and at the plate by 1B Ron Armstrong (.298/12/42/48) and C Wesley Pate (.297/11/30/37). Ranchero skipper Paco Banderas just doesn't have a lot of talent, which is the case for the rest of the division. The Claxton Diamonds (33-40) with the Old Perfesser Stacy Engel at the helm are 12 games out in the race and sitting in fourth place. Charlie Murphy (9-8 2.52) is his best starter and George Ferguson (2-1) is becoming quite a closer with an outstanding 1.19 ERA and 10 saves on the year. The Diamonds only productive hitter has been superstar and All-Star 1B Mike Luzzatti with a .306 BA, 16 home runs, 43 RBIs and 51 runs scored. Last year's surprise pennant-winner, the St. John Crusaders (32-41), have totally fallen apart and plunged to fifth-place tie with the Valka, 13 games back. When your team ERA climbs out-of-sight and your team batting average take a severe dive, your team is in trouble. Dickie Billings still has two solid starters with Denny Copeland (6-4 2.68) and Teddy Garson (6-4 3.20), but little else. The team ERA stands at a poor 4.28 (28th) and the team BA is only .227, the worst in the IPA. It just might be the worst in the league history. The Crusaders have no hitters worth mentioning. They are that bad. The Valka Blackhawks (32-41) have some power with 77 home runs (3rd), but not much besides that. Manager Jaan Kurus only has two players of any note. Starter Erke Tonisson (7-7 3.53) is having a fair year and LF Kurt Jankauskas has hit 14 out of the park and driven in 47 runs, but is batting only .264 this season. Manager Torry Joseph in Grand City (31-42) hasn't made the playoffs since 2002 and probably will continue the trend for a few more years. The Cybercats are in seventh place in the standings and trail by 14 games. They may have trouble staying ahead of cellar-dwelling Waleska. Grand City's top players are Denny Yarrow, Paul McBride and Jimmy Tremayne. 36-year-old Yarrow came to the Cybercats in a trade with Mahaska and he has been a great addition with an 11-6 mark and a 3.49 ERA. Closer McBride (0-1) has been absolutely sensational with a 0.92 ERA and 12 saves. Tremayne, a 37-year-old journeyman CF, is leading the team with a .315 BA and 33 RBIs. McGraw Johnson guided the Waleska Westerners (30-43) to the RU South crown in 2012, but it's been all downhill since with second-division finishes. At the All-Star hiatus the Westerners are at the bottom of the entire totem pole, some 15 games behind the pack. However all is not gloom - the Westerners can hit the ball and will probably move up in the standings if Johnson can find a decent pitcher or two. Budding superstar CF Roy Hobbs sports a .318 BA with 15 homers, 46 runs batted in and has scored 56 times. All-time great LF Kippy Doyle still gets the job done with a .332 BA, 10 home runs and 44 RBIs. And RF Harold Setser may be 41, but still can hit with a .278 BA, 14 roundtrippers, 50 RBIs and 40 runs scored. Waleska's only pitcher to date has been Sammy Grimaldi with a fine 6-3 mark and a strong 2.78 ERA. Last edited by Eugene Church; 08-06-2010 at 12:08 AM.