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Eugene Church · 01-22-2011, 07:45 PM

The Islandian Times
Monday, September 21, 2020

2020 Ruthlandian West Final Recap

Snappers Win 4th Straight RU West
The reigning Pro Cup champion Rocky Rapids racked up its fourth Ruthlandian West crown in a row, but didn't do it in a snap this year. The Volusia Vigilantes almost stole it with a late-season rush that fell 2 games short. The Sligo Rovers hung close most of the season and came in third in the race, just 5 games back of the Snappers. The Stoner Stars surged in the second half and finished fourth, trailing by 11 games.

Ryan Noland's Rocky Rapids Snappers head into the postseason with excellent power and scoring, good hitting and adequate pitching - a pretty good combination for winning another Pro Cup... the Snappers slugged 184 homers (3rd), ranked 4th in scoring, 9th in batting and 12th in pitching... Noland's top bats are 2B Paul Shelton (.286/40/138/94), who led the RU for the fourth straight year with 138 RBIs, CF Carl Johnson (.296/27/69/92), 1B Don Timmons (.272/25/73/66) and LF Rob Barton (.335/14/84/102)... on the hill the Snappers were paced by Don Chaney (20-12 2.62)... Joe Anderson (14-16 3.78) and Junior Noland (17-16 4.07), who usually ring up 20 wins, had lackluster years... Milt Baker (4-6) did a nice job again as closer with a strong 2.52 ERA and 22 saves... pitching may be Rocky Rapids Achilles' heel this season... All the other RU division champs appear to be stronger in that department than the Snappers... Noland is hoping he can hold his own on the mound and win with offense.

Alfonso Feliz had a good blend of offense and pitching in Volusia... the second-place V's came close to knocking off the defending Pro Cup winner this season... rookie Billy Blair (20-12 3.59) really stood out, along with 41-year-old veteran Gerry Hersh (17-14 2.94)... Hersh can still get it done on the hill and won his 200th game the last week of the season... Sixto Moreno (13-17 3.61) and Kent Elam (14-7 3.76) gave Feliz solid three and four starters... another sensational rookie LF Carlos Quintana (.313/26/121/100) and veterans CF Joe DeLucca (.321/30/91/120), SS Vince Wilson (.288/25/92/88) and 1B Rafael Garza (.322/16/64/95) sparked the Vigilantes at the plate.

The third-place Sligo Rovers just can't get past the more powerful Snappers and Vigilantes... Eddie Keys' club can more than match them on the mound, but can't score as well... the Rovers are number two in the RU in ERA (3.29) with the starting foursome of Les Patterson (22-13 2.56), Ralph Odakota (19-11 3.35), Sam Tate (16-14 2.58) and Luka Abromowitz (14-11 3.84), all quality hurlers... but the bullpen is suspect (21st)... the Sligo hitters are rated 13th in the RU and don't have a big RBI man or power hitter... 1B Johnny Lee Harder, obtained in a pre-season trade with Ancona, led the club with a .335 batting average and 88 RBIs, while going deep 18 times... LF Tony Ellis had 26 home runs, 76 RBIs and a .291 BA... CF Chris Michel (.277/12/56/107) and RF Clell Renshaw (.286/14/79/100) also helped out offensively... third-year C Sherman Albert (.291/20/83/64) also had a productive season.

The fourth-place Stoner Stars wound up 11 games off the pace... Benny Stern depends on strong pitching... his Stars posted a 3.31 team ERA (3rd), but were ranked 15th in batting and an even worse 22nd in scoring and 26th with only 107 homers... Billy Chapel (17-14 2.96) was the ace... Charley Norton had a terrible 12-24 record, but a rock-solid 2.96 ERA... poor run support doomed him... the Stars number three and four starters Iggy Cobos 917-13 3.44) and Don Patterson (17-13 3.31) gave Stern one of the best rotations in the IPA... but Stoner falls short at the plate... only LF Mike Jaffe (.309/22/101/88) and 1B Robert Dunbar (.298/25/84/90) are serious threats.

Once-powerful Colfax ended up in the second division for the fourth year in a row, but did climb up two rungs to fifth place... the Blasters were 12 games behind champ Rocky Rapids... if they had played the first half like the second half, Clem Rogers' crew could have been in the thick of the flag chase... the Blasters were 44-37 after mid-season and rose up from last place... Colfax used to do it with great pitching in its heydays of 2008 to 2016 when Rogers' club won 7 pennants and one Pro Cup... now it wins with the bats... the Blasters hit .269 (2nd), clouted 162 out of the park (6th) and were 9th in runs scored, led by 3B Mike Janocko (.306/33/85/89), LF Billy Garrett (.341/29/99/86), C Joe Alexander (.274/21/88/85) and CF Mike Glaviano (.279/19/81/89)... Sadly Colfax is 22nd with a 4.10 team ERA... Cliff James (16-11 3.83), James Elliott (15-13 4.07) and George Erwin are Rogers' best hurlers... long-time IPA star, legend and certain Hall-of-Fame inductee Ilya Szabo is still around at age 41, but finished 12-17 with a 3.87 ERA... but he did surpass the 300-victory milestone and now has a 309-193 record and a brilliant 2.50 ERA in his 18 seasons with Colfax.

The Forest City Lumberjacks and Fort Benton Defenders deadlocked for the sixth spot in the RU West standings, finishing 16 games back in the pack... Forest City manager Rob Jackson has two talented twirlers in starter Tommy Zenon (18-13 3.10) and closer Andy Velasco (7-6), who saved 27 games and registered an excellent 2.03 ERA... The Lumberjacks are led at the plate by 2B Stan Tipton (.329/19/68/100), 16-year star LF Joe Judlin (.299/24/96/89) and CF Luc St. Germain (.295/12/66/103).

After three properous seasons in the first division, Fort Benton stumbled back to a tie for sixth this year... skipper Robbie Brooks just didn't have the talent this season... vets Cal Walger (15-18 3.76) and Tucker Dawes (16-14 4.16) were the Defenders best arms... the offense was almost non-existent... 38-year-old journeyman RF Joe Darwell was the most productive batter, but only had 17 homers, 78 RBIs and a .271 BA.

For the third time in the last four seasons, the Middlefield Roosters have nothing to crow about... they once again wound up in the basement of the RU West and 25 games off the pace... As bad as their record was, manager Smitty Michaels does have some gifted players... 20-year-old rookie phenom 1B Allan Stewart slammed 45 home runs, drove in 108 runs and scored 102 times en route to a .297 BA... Stewart led the RU in homers... LF Vic Ivarsson missed about 20 games with injury, but still logged a .344 BA with 22 homers, 95 RBIs and scored 81 runs... and SS Stu Butterfield supplied 31 roundtrippers and 89 runs batted in, but hit only .252... 24-year-old starter Joe Schneider topped the staff with a 3.25 ERA and a 14-20 mark... Schneider won the RU Golden Arm Award in 2018 with a 22-8 record and a 2.19 ERA.

01-22-2011, 07:45 PM	#2317
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,696 Blog Entries: 1	The Islandian Times Monday, September 21, 2020 2020 Ruthlandian West Final Recap Snappers Win 4th Straight RU West The reigning Pro Cup champion Rocky Rapids racked up its fourth Ruthlandian West crown in a row, but didn't do it in a snap this year. The Volusia Vigilantes almost stole it with a late-season rush that fell 2 games short. The Sligo Rovers hung close most of the season and came in third in the race, just 5 games back of the Snappers. The Stoner Stars surged in the second half and finished fourth, trailing by 11 games. Ryan Noland's Rocky Rapids Snappers head into the postseason with excellent power and scoring, good hitting and adequate pitching - a pretty good combination for winning another Pro Cup... the Snappers slugged 184 homers (3rd), ranked 4th in scoring, 9th in batting and 12th in pitching... Noland's top bats are 2B Paul Shelton (.286/40/138/94), who led the RU for the fourth straight year with 138 RBIs, CF Carl Johnson (.296/27/69/92), 1B Don Timmons (.272/25/73/66) and LF Rob Barton (.335/14/84/102)... on the hill the Snappers were paced by Don Chaney (20-12 2.62)... Joe Anderson (14-16 3.78) and Junior Noland (17-16 4.07), who usually ring up 20 wins, had lackluster years... Milt Baker (4-6) did a nice job again as closer with a strong 2.52 ERA and 22 saves... pitching may be Rocky Rapids Achilles' heel this season... All the other RU division champs appear to be stronger in that department than the Snappers... Noland is hoping he can hold his own on the mound and win with offense. Alfonso Feliz had a good blend of offense and pitching in Volusia... the second-place V's came close to knocking off the defending Pro Cup winner this season... rookie Billy Blair (20-12 3.59) really stood out, along with 41-year-old veteran Gerry Hersh (17-14 2.94)... Hersh can still get it done on the hill and won his 200th game the last week of the season... Sixto Moreno (13-17 3.61) and Kent Elam (14-7 3.76) gave Feliz solid three and four starters... another sensational rookie LF Carlos Quintana (.313/26/121/100) and veterans CF Joe DeLucca (.321/30/91/120), SS Vince Wilson (.288/25/92/88) and 1B Rafael Garza (.322/16/64/95) sparked the Vigilantes at the plate. The third-place Sligo Rovers just can't get past the more powerful Snappers and Vigilantes... Eddie Keys' club can more than match them on the mound, but can't score as well... the Rovers are number two in the RU in ERA (3.29) with the starting foursome of Les Patterson (22-13 2.56), Ralph Odakota (19-11 3.35), Sam Tate (16-14 2.58) and Luka Abromowitz (14-11 3.84), all quality hurlers... but the bullpen is suspect (21st)... the Sligo hitters are rated 13th in the RU and don't have a big RBI man or power hitter... 1B Johnny Lee Harder, obtained in a pre-season trade with Ancona, led the club with a .335 batting average and 88 RBIs, while going deep 18 times... LF Tony Ellis had 26 home runs, 76 RBIs and a .291 BA... CF Chris Michel (.277/12/56/107) and RF Clell Renshaw (.286/14/79/100) also helped out offensively... third-year C Sherman Albert (.291/20/83/64) also had a productive season. The fourth-place Stoner Stars wound up 11 games off the pace... Benny Stern depends on strong pitching... his Stars posted a 3.31 team ERA (3rd), but were ranked 15th in batting and an even worse 22nd in scoring and 26th with only 107 homers... Billy Chapel (17-14 2.96) was the ace... Charley Norton had a terrible 12-24 record, but a rock-solid 2.96 ERA... poor run support doomed him... the Stars number three and four starters Iggy Cobos 917-13 3.44) and Don Patterson (17-13 3.31) gave Stern one of the best rotations in the IPA... but Stoner falls short at the plate... only LF Mike Jaffe (.309/22/101/88) and 1B Robert Dunbar (.298/25/84/90) are serious threats. Once-powerful Colfax ended up in the second division for the fourth year in a row, but did climb up two rungs to fifth place... the Blasters were 12 games behind champ Rocky Rapids... if they had played the first half like the second half, Clem Rogers' crew could have been in the thick of the flag chase... the Blasters were 44-37 after mid-season and rose up from last place... Colfax used to do it with great pitching in its heydays of 2008 to 2016 when Rogers' club won 7 pennants and one Pro Cup... now it wins with the bats... the Blasters hit .269 (2nd), clouted 162 out of the park (6th) and were 9th in runs scored, led by 3B Mike Janocko (.306/33/85/89), LF Billy Garrett (.341/29/99/86), C Joe Alexander (.274/21/88/85) and CF Mike Glaviano (.279/19/81/89)... Sadly Colfax is 22nd with a 4.10 team ERA... Cliff James (16-11 3.83), James Elliott (15-13 4.07) and George Erwin are Rogers' best hurlers... long-time IPA star, legend and certain Hall-of-Fame inductee Ilya Szabo is still around at age 41, but finished 12-17 with a 3.87 ERA... but he did surpass the 300-victory milestone and now has a 309-193 record and a brilliant 2.50 ERA in his 18 seasons with Colfax. The Forest City Lumberjacks and Fort Benton Defenders deadlocked for the sixth spot in the RU West standings, finishing 16 games back in the pack... Forest City manager Rob Jackson has two talented twirlers in starter Tommy Zenon (18-13 3.10) and closer Andy Velasco (7-6), who saved 27 games and registered an excellent 2.03 ERA... The Lumberjacks are led at the plate by 2B Stan Tipton (.329/19/68/100), 16-year star LF Joe Judlin (.299/24/96/89) and CF Luc St. Germain (.295/12/66/103). After three properous seasons in the first division, Fort Benton stumbled back to a tie for sixth this year... skipper Robbie Brooks just didn't have the talent this season... vets Cal Walger (15-18 3.76) and Tucker Dawes (16-14 4.16) were the Defenders best arms... the offense was almost non-existent... 38-year-old journeyman RF Joe Darwell was the most productive batter, but only had 17 homers, 78 RBIs and a .271 BA. For the third time in the last four seasons, the Middlefield Roosters have nothing to crow about... they once again wound up in the basement of the RU West and 25 games off the pace... As bad as their record was, manager Smitty Michaels does have some gifted players... 20-year-old rookie phenom 1B Allan Stewart slammed 45 home runs, drove in 108 runs and scored 102 times en route to a .297 BA... Stewart led the RU in homers... LF Vic Ivarsson missed about 20 games with injury, but still logged a .344 BA with 22 homers, 95 RBIs and scored 81 runs... and SS Stu Butterfield supplied 31 roundtrippers and 89 runs batted in, but hit only .252... 24-year-old starter Joe Schneider topped the staff with a 3.25 ERA and a 14-20 mark... Schneider won the RU Golden Arm Award in 2018 with a 22-8 record and a 2.19 ERA.