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The Islandian Times
Tuesday, June 22, 2027
2027 Ruthlandian South Mid-Season Standing and Team Stats
6-Team Brawl In RU South
At the All-Star break it's a ding-dong dandy in the Ruthlandian South with two teams deadlocked for the top spot and four more hovering like vultures ready to swoop in and grab the crown... last year's runner-up Waleska and the San Dimas Rancheros are tied for first, just one game ahead of third place Crystal Lake... three games up on fourth place Valka... only four games ahead of fifth-place Grand City... with last season's flag winner St. John 5 games back and in sixth... only seventh place Claxton and last place Belair Beach seems to be out of the race.
It's the bats that make the Waleska Westerners go this season (.268 BA-4th)... Manager McGraw Johnson has a bevy of them in his batting order, sparked by an IPA icon and All-Star CF Roy Hobbs with a .375 BA, 15 homers and 48 RBIs... Hobbs leads the IPA in hits with 110 and 58 runs... Kenwood's Babe Hankins sports the best batting average in the IPA with a .383 mark in the Tycobbian Union... also lending strong support at the plate are LF Loco Dillinger (.392/14/48/57), 1B Glenn Childress (.311/4/49/50), SS Jose De Leon (.309/6/47/31) and RF Wilson James (.295/5/32/50)... Waleska's best bets on the hill are rookie fireballer Wild Bill Butler (13-5 3.96), who really lives up to his name with a 100 mph fastball, 137 Ks and 108 walks in 139 innings... along with fine closer Jarred Laclair (1-1) with 13 saves and a 1.16 ERA.
Skipper Wesley Pate in San Dimas relies on his mound corps with two splendid rookies Miguel Valdes (12-5 2.76) and Joaquin Lima (10-5 3.13) and veteran Shannon White (9-7 3.54), mixed in with a quality closer like Matt Stevens (2-3) with 16 saves and a 2.60 ERA... CF Ray Ford (.280/9/47/37) and LF Andre Venturella (.277/12/36/39) top the offense.
The Crystal Lake Crushers dropped out of the RU South first division last year, falling to fifth place, but they have come back this season and are currently in third place, just a game off the pace... manager Baby George has several good starters and a decent offense... on the mound T. D. Burnham (8-3 2.85) has taken the lead... longtime ace Duncan Welch (8-9 3.60) has struggled in the first half of the season... at age 33 Welch's ERA has soared way above his lifetime 2.31 ERA... rookie Arnie Cason (4-1 2.20) has been effective in his 16 starts and taken up some of the slack, but doesn't go deep in the game and has had a lot of no decisions because of a bad bullpen... CF Herm Taylor (.324/1/21/49) and RF Teddy Dietrich (.333/5/31/40) are the top contact hitters with power supplied by 1B Josh George, who has a club-high 12 homers and 46 RBIs with a .259 BA... George is the skipper's 21-year-old son, playing his second season with the team.
Last year the Valka Blackhawks were near the bottom of the division... but this year new manager Ron Landauer has them fourth in the standings and only 3 games out... the Blackhawks have moved up into contention because of the influx of some fine new rookies infielders in the batting order, who also handle the gloves very well... 3B Leevi Viru (.281/6/34/32) and 1B Andy Preston (.283/4/34/24) have been good additions to veteran RF Tonu Viks (.307/8/30/50), C Don Pontros (.281/5/36/25) and 2B Kusta Savisaar (.317/1/26/25)... reliever Earl Davidson (0-1) has really stood out since being given the closing role this year... Davidson has notched 17 saves, tops in the RU and third in the IPA and has posted a brilliant 1.23 ERA... Valka has two capable starters with Adam Aru (11-6 3.26) and Glenn Cadman (10-8 3.89) in the rotation.
Wade Joslin's Grand City Cybercats are fifth best in the RU South and boast the top offense in the RU with a .276 BA and 381 runs, ranking first in both categories... they are the highest-scoring club in the IPA... but his Cybercats pitching staff has been terrible with a 4.66 team ERA, the worst by far in the IPA this year... still they trail the leaders by just four games ... Grand City has a formidable lineup with All-Star CF Thomas Hall (.331/20/63/57), who is second in homers and RBIs in the IPA, topped only by Sugar Valley's great Dean Woods... Woods has hit 26 out of the park and driven in 83 runs... vet RF Nick Baldini (.321/2/18/49), vet C Ben Stern (.324/1/28/25) and SS Jared Lundquist (.282/1/23/40) don't hit for power, but they get on base for a couple of slugging rookie first sackers Mick Langston and Maury Rice... Langston has slammed 15 home runs, batted in 58 and scored 40 times... his backup Rice has delivered a .421 BA with 10 homers and 28 runs batted in,while starting only 9 games... pitching-wise, All-Star closer Ralph Teague has excelled with a 5-1 mark, splendid 0.96 ERA and 10 saves... the only decent starter has been rookie Charley Chisholm (8-7 3.66).
St. John was the surprise winner of the RU South last season... manager Clayton Luck had super pitching (2.79 ERA), but this year it is only fairly average at 3.68 (17th)... but the hitting has perked up considerably from .258 to .270 (3rd)... and the Crusaders are still within striking distance, 5 games behind in the pennant race at mid-year... 2B Byron Johannsen (.359/1/20/27), 1B Roger Lanier (.343/7/37/47) and LF Joey Daigrepont (.319/10/44/34) are the bat leaders with help from All-Star C Phil Olafsen (.278/7/34/30) and 3B Cody Francis (.277/9 HR/29/29)... starters Don Baillie (8-7 3.37) and Dave Carnera (7-7 3.49) have been Luck's most effective starters... and bullpen ace Nelson Hawthorne (5-4) has claimed 14 saves and put up a strong 2.43 ERA.
Neither seventh place Claxton, nor last place Belair Beach are expected to contend this season... the Diamonds are 9 games back and the Sunbirds 11 games behind... Jack Vogel is manager Stacy Engel's top pitcher with an 8-5 record and a solid 3.28 ERA... LF George McKay has racked up 18 homers and 44 runs batted in to go with his .328 BA to top the bats... but no one else in the lineup has been much of a threat.
The only thing the Belair Beach Sunbirds do well is go deep... the Birds have smacked 71 roundtrippers and are 4th in the RU... overall hitting is only average with a .252 mark (15th)... on the hill, not so good either with a 4.26 team ERA (30th)... superstud All-Star 1B Kees Draeger is having another fine season with a .344 BA, 19 homers, 50 RBIs and 48 runs scored... RF Carlos Gomez chipped in with 14 home runs and 41 RBI, but is batting a lowly .221 for average... top pitcher on the club is 38-year-old Denny Whitaker (6-8 3.21).
RU South Forecast:
Waleska will manage to hold off San Dimas in the second half and take the pennant... Grand City will beat out Valka for third place... Crystal Lake will be fifth, followed by St. John, Claxton and Belair Beach.
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