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Eugene Church · 08-09-2010, 09:15 PM

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Ginza Ahead In Jam-Packed TU South
The Ginza Ninjas and the Colchester Elites are challenging the traditional powers in the Tycobbian South this season. The Ninjas are on top in the jam-packed division with the Elites in the second spot, just one game off the pace. However, hanging real close are two clubs that have won 9 pennants between them, the Turon Typhoons and Cape Coral Hurricanes. Turon is third and trails by only two games with Cape Coral fourth and just three games back.

Finally after 11 years of failing to make the playoffs, manager Huroko Uchiyama has got a good shot at making them... He has put together a solid ball club with excellent pitching and defense and better-than-average hitting and power. The Ginza Ninjas (40-33) are ranked number one in the TU with a 3.08 ERA and tied for fourth with a sparkling .978 FA... top starters: Joji Azuma (10-3 2.92), Carl Trebek (10-4 2.73) and Al Myers (5-9 2.50) gives Uchiyama three very good starters... Best bats: All-Star C Crash Davis (.320/16/38/39), CF Chazzie Lombardo (.270/13/37/39) and LF Mark Buchanan (.273/14/43/39).

It's been a 7-year postseason drought for the Colchester Elites (39-34)... They have vastly improved its mound staff and can hit with decent power... Manager Uncle Robbie Wilbertson's best pitchers are veterans Timmy Brooks (10-6 2.52), Jimmy Simmons (9-8 3.57) and Mark Bright (7-5 3.61), who have over 30 years' experience combined... Brooks made the All-Star for the second time in his career... top players: one of the most prolific hitters in IPA history is superstar 1B Harlan Roscoe (.315/18/53/43)...Rascoe has scored over 1000 runs and batted in over 1300 in his 13 years in the league... Rascoe is a lifetime .316 batter with 375 homers and a 3-time All-Star... C Tommy Booker has added 14 homers and 46 RBIs with a .263 BA... SS Patsy Bates is super in the field and totes a .298 BA with 4 HRs, 38 runs and 17 RBIs... the Elites could use better defense... they have a poor .970 FA.

The defending division winner Turon Typhoons (38-35) are in third place, two games behind the Ninjas, mainly because of a pretty fair drop in hitting and pitching from last year... The Typhoons won easily in 2013 by 9 games over Cape Coral... star reliever Merle Studebaker (1-1 0.59) has also been out for the last two weeks with a bad knee... he is expected back soon... Studebaker has 9 saves this season... His replacement has been poor... Manager Whitey Richburn's defense is quite suspect, too... The Typhoons are a dismal .969 in the field... 4-time All-Star Nicky Engstrom (11-4 2.28) still anchors the mound corps, but needs some help from the other three starters that are having off-years so far... Gifted slugger and 1B Clyde Kingsford (.312/16/66/50) is having another superb season and again made the All-Star team... CF Mac McCurnan (.269/11/50/45) is still a productive hitter and covers center field well... 35-year-old 2B Alan Hansen (.301/0/18/50) is one of the IPA's all-time best second baseman with a career .306 average and over 1400 runs, 1400 walks and 500 stolen bases... Turon will be okay if Richburn can get a couple of hitters and a pitcher to step it up in the rest of the season... The Typhoons are not dead in the water yet... they may be brewing up a storm in the last half of the season.

Huggy Miller's Cape Coral Hurricanes (37-36) are still a team to contend with in the TU South... Miller's problem this year is his pitching... it has dipped the last two years and is now at a 4.09 ERA (23rd)... two years ago when the 'Canes snatched the pennant from Turon, it was a solid 3.43, last season it fell to 3.77... starter and All-Star Cody Burg (11-7 2.66) and closer Bobby Maas (0-3 3.04) are still his mainstays, but the rest of the rotation have faltered... Burg, a cinch for the IPA Hall of Fame, is the all-time leader with 238 victories and over 3000 strikeouts... Cape Coral's key to success this season is its very capable batter order, which has a .271 BA (7th)... White has the best offense in the TU South, led by All-Star LF Rich Osolinsky, who is leading the TU with a .380 mark... Osolinsky has 7 home runs, 39 RBIs and has scored 31 times... RF Glenn Armstrong is at .333 with 9 homers and 38 RBIs... Newly-obtained 1B Avery Worley has come on strong in his first opportunity at a full-time spot... In his sixth season, the 29-year-old Worley is batting .340 with 3 home runs and 31 RBIs... other top bats are 2B Lonnie Moon (.316/7/36/43) and CF Derek Ryckman (.287/10/46/38).

The TU flag winner will go to one of the above teams... none of the remaining clubs have the talent to challenge the current top four teams... The Arroyo Grande Suns (33-40) are fifth in the standings and are 7 games out... Skipper Jean-Luc Marchand's Suns are just average in most respects, but he does have two fine starters in Miguel Aguilera (10-7 3.40) and Omar Allende (6-4 3.17) and a talented All-Star shortstop in Andy Pearson (.340/8/39/43)... The best hitter ever in the IPA LF Jet Kazmarek with a career .352 BA, 1431 runs, 1142 RBIs and 800 stolen bases is showing signs of aging at 39... Kazmarek is hitting almost 100 points under his lifetime average... He is batting only .267 this year and plays only against right-handers... Kazmarek has won an unprecendented 9 batting crowns in his illustrious 14-year career... the last one came in 2012.

It's been a dozen years since the Southport Sun Sox (32-41) made the postseason... They are in sixth this season and trail by 8 games... Manager Charley Oscar's crew will not make the playoffs anytime soon... just not much talent... The Sun Sox best performers are pitchers Neil Howell (9-8 2.81) and Keith Callahan (8-5 3.69) and RF Big Stick Takala (.303/9/31).

It's been 11 years since Lando Peceda's San Alejo Montaneros were a playoff team... it will be stretched to 12 years this year... Peceda top players are pitchers Daniel Fitzmorris (7-6 3.68) and Chad Gilmore (7-5 3.54)... at the plate 1B Dominique Poirot (.335/9/38) and CF Adam Marzoni (.321/1/22) are the Montaneros best bats.

The Summerland Sunsets (28-45) wound up a surprising third in 2012, but have since fallen deep in the second division... Will Hackett's Sunsets are in last place this year and 12 games behind in the race... Weak hitting (.247 BA) and mediocre pitching (3.99 ERA) equal the cellar this season... However Hackett's hurlers are quality pitchers... Denny Coulon (8-9 3.80), Herbie Drahm (8-8 3.78) and Pat Dreux (6-9 3.92) are his top three pitchers... Summerland has one All-Star, CF Jim Garrison, who has 19 roundtrippers with a .285 mark, 40 RBIs and 47 runs scored... and 2B Don Hanks (.307/6/32/29), who has contributed to the offense, too.

08-09-2010, 09:15 PM	#1892
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,696 Blog Entries: 1	The Islandian Times Tuesday, June 24, 2014 Ginza Ahead In Jam-Packed TU South The Ginza Ninjas and the Colchester Elites are challenging the traditional powers in the Tycobbian South this season. The Ninjas are on top in the jam-packed division with the Elites in the second spot, just one game off the pace. However, hanging real close are two clubs that have won 9 pennants between them, the Turon Typhoons and Cape Coral Hurricanes. Turon is third and trails by only two games with Cape Coral fourth and just three games back. Finally after 11 years of failing to make the playoffs, manager Huroko Uchiyama has got a good shot at making them... He has put together a solid ball club with excellent pitching and defense and better-than-average hitting and power. The Ginza Ninjas (40-33) are ranked number one in the TU with a 3.08 ERA and tied for fourth with a sparkling .978 FA... top starters: Joji Azuma (10-3 2.92), Carl Trebek (10-4 2.73) and Al Myers (5-9 2.50) gives Uchiyama three very good starters... Best bats: All-Star C Crash Davis (.320/16/38/39), CF Chazzie Lombardo (.270/13/37/39) and LF Mark Buchanan (.273/14/43/39). It's been a 7-year postseason drought for the Colchester Elites (39-34)... They have vastly improved its mound staff and can hit with decent power... Manager Uncle Robbie Wilbertson's best pitchers are veterans Timmy Brooks (10-6 2.52), Jimmy Simmons (9-8 3.57) and Mark Bright (7-5 3.61), who have over 30 years' experience combined... Brooks made the All-Star for the second time in his career... top players: one of the most prolific hitters in IPA history is superstar 1B Harlan Roscoe (.315/18/53/43)...Rascoe has scored over 1000 runs and batted in over 1300 in his 13 years in the league... Rascoe is a lifetime .316 batter with 375 homers and a 3-time All-Star... C Tommy Booker has added 14 homers and 46 RBIs with a .263 BA... SS Patsy Bates is super in the field and totes a .298 BA with 4 HRs, 38 runs and 17 RBIs... the Elites could use better defense... they have a poor .970 FA. The defending division winner Turon Typhoons (38-35) are in third place, two games behind the Ninjas, mainly because of a pretty fair drop in hitting and pitching from last year... The Typhoons won easily in 2013 by 9 games over Cape Coral... star reliever Merle Studebaker (1-1 0.59) has also been out for the last two weeks with a bad knee... he is expected back soon... Studebaker has 9 saves this season... His replacement has been poor... Manager Whitey Richburn's defense is quite suspect, too... The Typhoons are a dismal .969 in the field... 4-time All-Star Nicky Engstrom (11-4 2.28) still anchors the mound corps, but needs some help from the other three starters that are having off-years so far... Gifted slugger and 1B Clyde Kingsford (.312/16/66/50) is having another superb season and again made the All-Star team... CF Mac McCurnan (.269/11/50/45) is still a productive hitter and covers center field well... 35-year-old 2B Alan Hansen (.301/0/18/50) is one of the IPA's all-time best second baseman with a career .306 average and over 1400 runs, 1400 walks and 500 stolen bases... Turon will be okay if Richburn can get a couple of hitters and a pitcher to step it up in the rest of the season... The Typhoons are not dead in the water yet... they may be brewing up a storm in the last half of the season. Huggy Miller's Cape Coral Hurricanes (37-36) are still a team to contend with in the TU South... Miller's problem this year is his pitching... it has dipped the last two years and is now at a 4.09 ERA (23rd)... two years ago when the 'Canes snatched the pennant from Turon, it was a solid 3.43, last season it fell to 3.77... starter and All-Star Cody Burg (11-7 2.66) and closer Bobby Maas (0-3 3.04) are still his mainstays, but the rest of the rotation have faltered... Burg, a cinch for the IPA Hall of Fame, is the all-time leader with 238 victories and over 3000 strikeouts... Cape Coral's key to success this season is its very capable batter order, which has a .271 BA (7th)... White has the best offense in the TU South, led by All-Star LF Rich Osolinsky, who is leading the TU with a .380 mark... Osolinsky has 7 home runs, 39 RBIs and has scored 31 times... RF Glenn Armstrong is at .333 with 9 homers and 38 RBIs... Newly-obtained 1B Avery Worley has come on strong in his first opportunity at a full-time spot... In his sixth season, the 29-year-old Worley is batting .340 with 3 home runs and 31 RBIs... other top bats are 2B Lonnie Moon (.316/7/36/43) and CF Derek Ryckman (.287/10/46/38). The TU flag winner will go to one of the above teams... none of the remaining clubs have the talent to challenge the current top four teams... The Arroyo Grande Suns (33-40) are fifth in the standings and are 7 games out... Skipper Jean-Luc Marchand's Suns are just average in most respects, but he does have two fine starters in Miguel Aguilera (10-7 3.40) and Omar Allende (6-4 3.17) and a talented All-Star shortstop in Andy Pearson (.340/8/39/43)... The best hitter ever in the IPA LF Jet Kazmarek with a career .352 BA, 1431 runs, 1142 RBIs and 800 stolen bases is showing signs of aging at 39... Kazmarek is hitting almost 100 points under his lifetime average... He is batting only .267 this year and plays only against right-handers... Kazmarek has won an unprecendented 9 batting crowns in his illustrious 14-year career... the last one came in 2012. It's been a dozen years since the Southport Sun Sox (32-41) made the postseason... They are in sixth this season and trail by 8 games... Manager Charley Oscar's crew will not make the playoffs anytime soon... just not much talent... The Sun Sox best performers are pitchers Neil Howell (9-8 2.81) and Keith Callahan (8-5 3.69) and RF Big Stick Takala (.303/9/31). It's been 11 years since Lando Peceda's San Alejo Montaneros were a playoff team... it will be stretched to 12 years this year... Peceda top players are pitchers Daniel Fitzmorris (7-6 3.68) and Chad Gilmore (7-5 3.54)... at the plate 1B Dominique Poirot (.335/9/38) and CF Adam Marzoni (.321/1/22) are the Montaneros best bats. The Summerland Sunsets (28-45) wound up a surprising third in 2012, but have since fallen deep in the second division... Will Hackett's Sunsets are in last place this year and 12 games behind in the race... Weak hitting (.247 BA) and mediocre pitching (3.99 ERA) equal the cellar this season... However Hackett's hurlers are quality pitchers... Denny Coulon (8-9 3.80), Herbie Drahm (8-8 3.78) and Pat Dreux (6-9 3.92) are his top three pitchers... Summerland has one All-Star, CF Jim Garrison, who has 19 roundtrippers with a .285 mark, 40 RBIs and 47 runs scored... and 2B Don Hanks (.307/6/32/29), who has contributed to the offense, too. Last edited by Eugene Church; 08-13-2010 at 08:14 PM.