OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - ISLANDIAN PRO ALLIANCE (RUTHLANDIA and TYCOBBIA BASEBALL UNIONS)

Eugene Church · 12-28-2010, 08:58 PM

The Islandian Times
Tuesday, June 18, 2019

2019 Ruthlandian South Mid-Season Recap

GC Cybercats Class Of RU South
Wade Joslin has been slowly building a good ball club in Grand City and 2019 could be the year of the Cybercats in the Ruthlandian South. At mid-year Grand City has a 5-game edge over last year's division winner, the Claxton Diamonds. There are no other challengers for the pennant. It looks to be between the Cybercats and the Diamonds. Belair Beach is third, 8 games out, followed by Waleska, trailing by 9.

Joslin has a good mixture of veteran pitchers and youthful position players... Grand City has fine pitching and good contact hitting, but lacks firepower... the Cybercat bats have registered the best team batting average in the RU so far with a .275 team average... Joslin has a strong rotation, featuring All-Star Brent Sturgis (10-2 2.63), Randy Andrews (9-5 2.95) and Jimbo Stearns (8-7 3.54), along with an excellent closer in Ralph Teague (4-4 2.60), who has chalked up 15 saves... the line-up doesn't have much power, but they hit for average... All-Star RF Richy Rich (.338/9/53), All-Star 3B Jug Slavin (.333/8/37), 2B Jim Mellencamp (.300/0/23) and CF Nick Baldini (.313/7/38) give Joslin some good offense, at least enough to get by.

Stacy Engel always has his Claxton Diamonds near the top in recent years, winning the pennant last year for the fourth time in his career... Pitching is his shortcoming... Tom Dahl (10-6 3.60) and Ernie van Riebeeck (10-6 4.19) are his only decent starters... but Engel does have a competent closer... Tony Haverkamp (2-4) has rung up 13 saves and posted an outstanding 1.73 ERA... Claxton may be short on starters, but they have some top-notch hitters in All-Star LF George McKay (.318/21/67), All-Star 1B Mike Luzzatti (.317/22/63), RF K. C. Moerdijk (.308/20/45) and C Allen Lemay (.280/11/39)... the Diamonds boast a high-scoring attack, second best in the RU... Engel needs another pitcher to step it up to compete with Grand City.

No other teams are expected to challenge the top two clubs in the RU South this season. Impotent bats are holding back the third place Belair Beach Sunbirds... Marty Pedroza has two solid starters in All-Star Denny Whitaker (12-4 1.50) and Rik Flippen (7-7 3.00), but is severely lacking in hitting... All-Star C Little Jake Bungarooba (.261/8/30) and 1B Derek Krohn (.256/14/33) are the Sunbirds best producers.

McGraw Johnson has a vastly-improved pitching staff over last year... but the Waleska Westerners are a long way from the top... Johnson has guided them up to fourth after a sixth-place finish in 2018... second-year starter Doug Watts (10-5 2.20) and rookie closer Marv Cook (4-3) have led the push... Cook has 10 saves and a superb 1.45 ERA... offensively the Westerners have two standout sticks, but All-Star CF Roy Hobbs (.376/14/53) and 3B Grant Betzer (.329/7/49) can't do it all by themselves.

Herman "Baby" George has gotten his Crushers close the past two seasons... they lost the pennant by one game both times... George has the same problem in Crystal Lake as Belair Beach and Waleska... the fifth-place Crushers are terrible at the plate and rank last in the RU with a .242 BA and are last in scoring... even legendary 1B Phil Gravelli (.311 BA) is having a down year with only 11 homers and 36 RBIs... over his 19-year career Gravelli has averaged 35 homers and 115 RBIs... But George has two superlative starters... All-Star Vic Bauer is 8-2 with a super 2.00 ERA and Duncan Welch has fashioned a 2.38 ERA, but only has a 6-8 record to show for it... if Ralph McCullough (6-8 3.65) can regain his form of the last two seasons, when he was a 20-game winner, Crystal Lake could really liven up the pennant chase in the RU South.

The sixth-place Valka Blackhawks won the division flag two seasons ago, but dropped to third last season and now have declined even further... Andrei Kokk still has capable starters, but Valka can't score enough to compete, despite being third in the RU in homers with 85... Arno Vainmaa (10-5 3.12), Richie Jost (7-8 3.26) and Eddie Lasky (4-10 3.43) need some run support badly... the best Blackhawk bats are rookie RF Glen Nance (.263/16/50), LF Kurt Jankauskas (.271/12/34) and C Thomas Lawson (.284/18/40).

The seventh-place San Dimas Rancheros and eighth-place St. John Crusaders have little to brag about or to look forward to this season... the future is bleak... Ranchero skipper Paco Banderos and Crusader boss Dickie Billings have absolutely no pitching at all with 4.46 and 4.60 team ERAs respectively... San Dimas has three quality hitters in All-Star RF Norm Owens (.287/14/60), SS Greg Lawrence (.267/9/50) and CF Andre Drexel (.314/9/39)... St. John 3B Vinny Sardisco (.303/14/46) is Billings only threat at the plate.

RU South Outlook:
Probable first-place finish for Grand City with its fine pitching and offense... Claxton will have to settle for second... because of their fine pitching rotations Crystal Lake and Valka might pass Belair Beach and Waleska in the second half ... no hope for San Dimas and St. John.

12-28-2010, 08:58 PM	#2225
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,890	The Islandian Times Tuesday, June 18, 2019 2019 Ruthlandian South Mid-Season Recap GC Cybercats Class Of RU South Wade Joslin has been slowly building a good ball club in Grand City and 2019 could be the year of the Cybercats in the Ruthlandian South. At mid-year Grand City has a 5-game edge over last year's division winner, the Claxton Diamonds. There are no other challengers for the pennant. It looks to be between the Cybercats and the Diamonds. Belair Beach is third, 8 games out, followed by Waleska, trailing by 9. Joslin has a good mixture of veteran pitchers and youthful position players... Grand City has fine pitching and good contact hitting, but lacks firepower... the Cybercat bats have registered the best team batting average in the RU so far with a .275 team average... Joslin has a strong rotation, featuring All-Star Brent Sturgis (10-2 2.63), Randy Andrews (9-5 2.95) and Jimbo Stearns (8-7 3.54), along with an excellent closer in Ralph Teague (4-4 2.60), who has chalked up 15 saves... the line-up doesn't have much power, but they hit for average... All-Star RF Richy Rich (.338/9/53), All-Star 3B Jug Slavin (.333/8/37), 2B Jim Mellencamp (.300/0/23) and CF Nick Baldini (.313/7/38) give Joslin some good offense, at least enough to get by. Stacy Engel always has his Claxton Diamonds near the top in recent years, winning the pennant last year for the fourth time in his career... Pitching is his shortcoming... Tom Dahl (10-6 3.60) and Ernie van Riebeeck (10-6 4.19) are his only decent starters... but Engel does have a competent closer... Tony Haverkamp (2-4) has rung up 13 saves and posted an outstanding 1.73 ERA... Claxton may be short on starters, but they have some top-notch hitters in All-Star LF George McKay (.318/21/67), All-Star 1B Mike Luzzatti (.317/22/63), RF K. C. Moerdijk (.308/20/45) and C Allen Lemay (.280/11/39)... the Diamonds boast a high-scoring attack, second best in the RU... Engel needs another pitcher to step it up to compete with Grand City. No other teams are expected to challenge the top two clubs in the RU South this season. Impotent bats are holding back the third place Belair Beach Sunbirds... Marty Pedroza has two solid starters in All-Star Denny Whitaker (12-4 1.50) and Rik Flippen (7-7 3.00), but is severely lacking in hitting... All-Star C Little Jake Bungarooba (.261/8/30) and 1B Derek Krohn (.256/14/33) are the Sunbirds best producers. McGraw Johnson has a vastly-improved pitching staff over last year... but the Waleska Westerners are a long way from the top... Johnson has guided them up to fourth after a sixth-place finish in 2018... second-year starter Doug Watts (10-5 2.20) and rookie closer Marv Cook (4-3) have led the push... Cook has 10 saves and a superb 1.45 ERA... offensively the Westerners have two standout sticks, but All-Star CF Roy Hobbs (.376/14/53) and 3B Grant Betzer (.329/7/49) can't do it all by themselves. Herman "Baby" George has gotten his Crushers close the past two seasons... they lost the pennant by one game both times... George has the same problem in Crystal Lake as Belair Beach and Waleska... the fifth-place Crushers are terrible at the plate and rank last in the RU with a .242 BA and are last in scoring... even legendary 1B Phil Gravelli (.311 BA) is having a down year with only 11 homers and 36 RBIs... over his 19-year career Gravelli has averaged 35 homers and 115 RBIs... But George has two superlative starters... All-Star Vic Bauer is 8-2 with a super 2.00 ERA and Duncan Welch has fashioned a 2.38 ERA, but only has a 6-8 record to show for it... if Ralph McCullough (6-8 3.65) can regain his form of the last two seasons, when he was a 20-game winner, Crystal Lake could really liven up the pennant chase in the RU South. The sixth-place Valka Blackhawks won the division flag two seasons ago, but dropped to third last season and now have declined even further... Andrei Kokk still has capable starters, but Valka can't score enough to compete, despite being third in the RU in homers with 85... Arno Vainmaa (10-5 3.12), Richie Jost (7-8 3.26) and Eddie Lasky (4-10 3.43) need some run support badly... the best Blackhawk bats are rookie RF Glen Nance (.263/16/50), LF Kurt Jankauskas (.271/12/34) and C Thomas Lawson (.284/18/40). The seventh-place San Dimas Rancheros and eighth-place St. John Crusaders have little to brag about or to look forward to this season... the future is bleak... Ranchero skipper Paco Banderos and Crusader boss Dickie Billings have absolutely no pitching at all with 4.46 and 4.60 team ERAs respectively... San Dimas has three quality hitters in All-Star RF Norm Owens (.287/14/60), SS Greg Lawrence (.267/9/50) and CF Andre Drexel (.314/9/39)... St. John 3B Vinny Sardisco (.303/14/46) is Billings only threat at the plate. RU South Outlook: Probable first-place finish for Grand City with its fine pitching and offense... Claxton will have to settle for second... because of their fine pitching rotations Crystal Lake and Valka might pass Belair Beach and Waleska in the second half ... no hope for San Dimas and St. John. Last edited by Eugene Church; 01-02-2011 at 12:05 AM.