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Eugene Church · 11-01-2012, 09:27 PM

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Monday, May 1, 2034

2034 Tycobbian South Preseason Poll

RANK/TEAM (LAST YEAR)
1. Turon Typhoons (2nd)
2. Southport Sun Sox (5th tied)
3. San Alejo Montaneros (5th tied)
4. Arroyo Grande Suns (4th)
5. Cape Coral Hurricanes (8th)
6. Summerland Sunsets (1st)
7. Ginza Ninjas (3rd)
8. Colchester Elites (7th)

Turon, Southport Tied For TU South
So far the Tycobbian South is playing out just like expected. The forecast called for the Turon Typhoons to slip by the Southport Sun Sox in a close affair with the San Alejo Montaneros coming in a distant third. Arroyo Grande was picked to finished fourth. At the end of April the Typhoons (15-11) and and Sun Sox (15-11) are dead even with the Monties (14-12) just one game back. Rounding out the first division are the Suns (13-13) and the Cape Coral Hurricanes (13-13), tied for the fourth spot in the standings and trailing by just two games. The Colchester Elites (10-16) are 5 games off the pace in sixth, last year's champion Summerland (9-17) has played poorly and is in seventh place with Ginza (6-20) buried deep in the cellar. The Sunsets are 8 games out and the Ninjas are behind by 9 games.

In its first 18 seasons in the IPA Turon enjoyed great success with 13 playoff appearances... four times in six tries the Typhoons won it all, taking the Pro Cup more than any other club in IPA history... but it's been 15 long years since Turon has made a postseason appearance... last year was a good one with a second-place finish... manager Alan Hansen has them poised to be a strong contender for the TU South title... they were chosen as the division favorite in THE ISLANDIAN TIMES preseason poll... so far, so good, the Typhoons have lived up expectations, though they are tied with Southport for the top spot... statistically Turon looks like an average team with a .268 BA (13th) and a 3.71 ERA (17th)... Hansen's best pitchers are starter Errol Gaudet (4-3/2.60) and relievers Ralph Fulton (0-1/2.45/3 saves), Jonathan Pitri (3-0/0.52/2 saves) and Victor Stravinsky (0-0/0.00)... the bullpen is ranked 8th in the TU with a 2.22 ERA... Hansen took a chance and traded for the 40-year-old Gaudet two years ago, who is 276-174 lifetime with a great 2.90 ERA... Gaudet spent 13 great seasons with Rolling Hills... he sparked them to 8 pennants and 2 Pro Cups and is destined for the IPA Hall of Fame... Turon's top bats belong to rookie 2B C. C. Kingsford with a .347 BA, 6 HRs, 14 RBIs and 22 runs, CF Clint Dunn with a .305 BA, 1 HR, 8 RBIs and 10 runs, and LF Edwin Asher with a .265 mark, 3 HRs, 16 RBIs and 15 runs... Kingsford is the son of Typhoon great 1B and Hall of Famer Clyde Kingsford... Kingsford ravaged IPA pitchers for a .319 average in his 14 seasons with 485 homers and 1523 RBIs.

The Southport Sun Sox snapped a string of eight consecutive first-division finishes last season with a fifth-place finish... those years included two pennants in 2027 and 2028... skipper Charley Oscar has them tied atop the division this season with a solid pitching rotation and offense... the Sun Sox have posted a 3.85 team ERA (19th) and a .280 BA... starters Bob Bondy (3-2/2.76), Don Pascioni (3-2/3.00) and Chip Bickford (3-2/3.00) have all been very reliable... Oscar's reliable bats are CF Billy Gray (.338), C Davy Reichert (.263) and 3B Yancy Duvicque (.389)... Gray tops the club with 20 RBIs and 6 roundtrippers... However, the big story in Southport is the huge loss of legendary slugging RF Lorne Evans through free agency... He signed with the Tuckanarra Blue Jays of the TU East... Evans, in his 10th year in the IPA, is a career .314 hitter with 371 home runs and will be sorely missed.

Two years ago in 2032 the San Alejo Montaneros came out of nowhere to win the TU South for the first time in 28 years... the next year the Monties faded back into the second division... now manager Alberto Herrera has them cranked up again and forecast to be in the race this season... San Alejo is currently in third place, just one game out of first... they have an average offense with a .261 BA (18th) and a better-than-average mound staff with a 3.47 ERA (12th)... vet Johnny Brown (3-3/2.23) leads the staff, aided by Pablo Pilar (2-1/3.07)... free agent acquisition from Tucknarra CF Dusty Rogan (.327) has been worth it.. other reliable hitters are 1B Rob Lewis (.288) and LF Adrian Otero (.283)... Lewis tops the team in RBIs with 13... Otero has the most runs scored with 18... they both have 4 home runs.

After two good back-to-back seasons in 2029 (4th) and 2029 (1st), the Cape Coral Hurricanes have sunk back into mediocrity, falling deep in the second division the last three years... manager Flipper Bird's team has been basement-bound for the last two years... things are looking up for them, though, Cape Coral signed quite a few free agents in a spending spree... that's why the 'Canes were ranked fifth in the preseason poll... in the early going they are in a third-place tie with Arroyo Grande. only 2 games behind the division leader... however, stats-wise they don't look very potent with a .267 BA (15th) with little power, only 16 HRs (30th), and a pretty bad 4.29 ERA (25th)... ace Tommy Van Noord (2-3/2.01) is the most capable hurler, along with free agent Billy Trakas (3-0/3.57) from Blue Lake... 20-year-old RF William Snyder is the Hurricanes' top batsman with a .333 mark and 17 RBIs... free agent SS Jeff Lang from Kenwood has been solid with a .276 BA and 18 RBIs... other contributors are CF Alan Ellis with a .294 BA and 18 runs, 2B Vic Hayes with a .282 BA and 13 RBIs and free agent 3B Joel Collins from Colchester with a .359 OBP and 11 RBIs, but with a subpar .241 BA... rookie 1B Buddy Brando (.296/3 HR/12 RBI) shows promise.

Buddy Bechtel has had a fairly good team in Arroyo Grande, at least record-wise with a third-place finish two years ago and fourth last year... the Suns are picked for fourth this season... the Suns are tied with Cape Coral for fourth place and are rated the fifth-best team in the TU South... it's been over a decade since Arroyo Grande graced the Pro Cup playoffs... this year they broke even in month one using home-run power (8th) and fairly good starting pitching with a 3.52 ERA (12th)... however at the plate it's been terrible with a .234 BA (32nd)... Bechtel's bunch has trouble scoring runs (28th) and a lousy bullpen with a 4.46 ERA (23rd)... a trio of starters have carried the club: Meteus Castro (5-1/2.28), veteran Matt Stevens (4-2/2.95) and rookie Fernando Campos (1-2/2.97)... longtime reliever John Nelson (2-1/0.92) has been very effective so far... newcomer 2B Frank Marcello and C Frank Jourdan have been the only quality bats in the Suns' lineup... Marcello is hitting .303 with 7 homers and 21 RBIs and Jourdan is batting .288 with 7 homers and 17 RBIs... all the rest of the regulars are .250 and below.

The Colchester Elites haven't been in the playoffs since 2007 and it's not likely this is the year for manager Patsy Bates' squad... the baseball scribes give them little chance, ranking the Elites the worst team in the division... they are in sixth place and already 5 games off the pace after just one month of play... the pitching corps is horrendous with a 5.00 ERA (30th)... the batting is a little better with a .253 average (24th)... Colchester can score fairly well with 123 runs (12th) and 31 HRs (9th)... superstar LF Jim Lewellen had a super April with a .388 BA, 12 homers, 23 RBIs and 20 runs... free agent C Benny Donaldson from Chicopee is batting .353 with 3 HRs and 14 RBIs... the Elites grabbed free agent 1B-3B Billy Christianson, the longtime Rolling Hills star (.273) and he has driven in 19 runs... 2B Jackie Jackson is having a solid season with a .316 average and 17 runs scored... and free agent 3B from Tuckanarra Charley Taylor has moved into the regular lineup, hit .267 and batted across 13 runs... Dave Lacoste (1-1/2.61) and Roy Watson (3-0/3.58) have been the only effective pitchers... longtime ace Mackie McGinnity (109-75/3.47) is really suffering with an 0-7 mark and an atrocious 5.52 ERA.

In a huge surprise the Summerland Sunsets climbed from seventh to first last season, but they seem to be doing a complete reversal again this year... the baseball experts chose them to wind up sixth in the TU South this year... after a month's play skipper Will Hackett's club is near the bottom in everything... his Sunsets are in the seventh spot in the standings... star pitchers Freddi Rossi (0-6/5.40) and Ron McDonald (1-5/6.00) haven't been able to get anyone out this season... last year Rossi won 22 games with a 2.04 ERA and McDonald was 14-11 and a 2.77 ERA... rookie Johnny Young (2-1/3.67) and Toshikuni Tanaka (1-1/3.52) have been the best of the lot... Hackett's best bat has been LF Nicky Titov with 7 roundtrippers, 17 RBIs and a .298 BA... 2B Ken Wyman (.313) and SS Norm Van Kleeken (.306) sport the best averages... 15-year veteran 1B Mandu Purula, a career .319 hitter, had a slow April with a .268 average, but did hit 3 HRs and bat in 10 runs.

The proud Ginza Ninjas with five TU South flags since 2023 had an embarrassing month with a 6-20 record and are solidly in last place... manager Huroko Uchiyama's club was forecast to come in seventh in THE ISLANDIAN TIMES preseason poll... the only thing the Ninjas do well is go deep... they have poked 33 out of the park (7th)... the team ERA was a lofty 5.56 (32nd)... leading the Ginza lineup are 2B Roger Lanier (.329/6/16/13), LF Sadaharu Uchiyama (.302/4/17/11), 1B Kazzy Nishimura (.318/4/14/10) and rookie RF Scott Sparks (.303/5/10/11)... on the hill only veteran Hollis Pace (2-4/3.71) has been decent... Gary Mills (2-4/4.92) is the next best starter... the rest of the staff are 5.23 and higher... looks like a long, long season for Ginza this year.

11-01-2012, 09:27 PM	#3322
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,896	*THE ISLANDIAN TIMES* Monday, May 1, 2034 2034 Tycobbian South Preseason Poll RANK/TEAM (LAST YEAR) 1. Turon Typhoons (2nd) 2. Southport Sun Sox (5th tied) 3. San Alejo Montaneros (5th tied) 4. Arroyo Grande Suns (4th) 5. Cape Coral Hurricanes (8th) 6. Summerland Sunsets (1st) 7. Ginza Ninjas (3rd) 8. Colchester Elites (7th) Turon, Southport Tied For TU South So far the Tycobbian South is playing out just like expected. The forecast called for the Turon Typhoons to slip by the Southport Sun Sox in a close affair with the San Alejo Montaneros coming in a distant third. Arroyo Grande was picked to finished fourth. At the end of April the Typhoons (15-11) and and Sun Sox (15-11) are dead even with the Monties (14-12) just one game back. Rounding out the first division are the Suns (13-13) and the Cape Coral Hurricanes (13-13), tied for the fourth spot in the standings and trailing by just two games. The Colchester Elites (10-16) are 5 games off the pace in sixth, last year's champion Summerland (9-17) has played poorly and is in seventh place with Ginza (6-20) buried deep in the cellar. The Sunsets are 8 games out and the Ninjas are behind by 9 games. In its first 18 seasons in the IPA Turon enjoyed great success with 13 playoff appearances... four times in six tries the Typhoons won it all, taking the Pro Cup more than any other club in IPA history... but it's been 15 long years since Turon has made a postseason appearance... last year was a good one with a second-place finish... manager Alan Hansen has them poised to be a strong contender for the TU South title... they were chosen as the division favorite in THE ISLANDIAN TIMES preseason poll... so far, so good, the Typhoons have lived up expectations, though they are tied with Southport for the top spot... statistically Turon looks like an average team with a .268 BA (13th) and a 3.71 ERA (17th)... Hansen's best pitchers are starter Errol Gaudet (4-3/2.60) and relievers Ralph Fulton (0-1/2.45/3 saves), Jonathan Pitri (3-0/0.52/2 saves) and Victor Stravinsky (0-0/0.00)... the bullpen is ranked 8th in the TU with a 2.22 ERA... Hansen took a chance and traded for the 40-year-old Gaudet two years ago, who is 276-174 lifetime with a great 2.90 ERA... Gaudet spent 13 great seasons with Rolling Hills... he sparked them to 8 pennants and 2 Pro Cups and is destined for the IPA Hall of Fame... Turon's top bats belong to rookie 2B C. C. Kingsford with a .347 BA, 6 HRs, 14 RBIs and 22 runs, CF Clint Dunn with a .305 BA, 1 HR, 8 RBIs and 10 runs, and LF Edwin Asher with a .265 mark, 3 HRs, 16 RBIs and 15 runs... Kingsford is the son of Typhoon great 1B and Hall of Famer Clyde Kingsford... Kingsford ravaged IPA pitchers for a .319 average in his 14 seasons with 485 homers and 1523 RBIs. The Southport Sun Sox snapped a string of eight consecutive first-division finishes last season with a fifth-place finish... those years included two pennants in 2027 and 2028... skipper Charley Oscar has them tied atop the division this season with a solid pitching rotation and offense... the Sun Sox have posted a 3.85 team ERA (19th) and a .280 BA... starters Bob Bondy (3-2/2.76), Don Pascioni (3-2/3.00) and Chip Bickford (3-2/3.00) have all been very reliable... Oscar's reliable bats are CF Billy Gray (.338), C Davy Reichert (.263) and 3B Yancy Duvicque (.389)... Gray tops the club with 20 RBIs and 6 roundtrippers... However, the big story in Southport is the huge loss of legendary slugging RF Lorne Evans through free agency... He signed with the Tuckanarra Blue Jays of the TU East... Evans, in his 10th year in the IPA, is a career .314 hitter with 371 home runs and will be sorely missed. Two years ago in 2032 the San Alejo Montaneros came out of nowhere to win the TU South for the first time in 28 years... the next year the Monties faded back into the second division... now manager Alberto Herrera has them cranked up again and forecast to be in the race this season... San Alejo is currently in third place, just one game out of first... they have an average offense with a .261 BA (18th) and a better-than-average mound staff with a 3.47 ERA (12th)... vet Johnny Brown (3-3/2.23) leads the staff, aided by Pablo Pilar (2-1/3.07)... free agent acquisition from Tucknarra CF Dusty Rogan (.327) has been worth it.. other reliable hitters are 1B Rob Lewis (.288) and LF Adrian Otero (.283)... Lewis tops the team in RBIs with 13... Otero has the most runs scored with 18... they both have 4 home runs. After two good back-to-back seasons in 2029 (4th) and 2029 (1st), the Cape Coral Hurricanes have sunk back into mediocrity, falling deep in the second division the last three years... manager Flipper Bird's team has been basement-bound for the last two years... things are looking up for them, though, Cape Coral signed quite a few free agents in a spending spree... that's why the 'Canes were ranked fifth in the preseason poll... in the early going they are in a third-place tie with Arroyo Grande. only 2 games behind the division leader... however, stats-wise they don't look very potent with a .267 BA (15th) with little power, only 16 HRs (30th), and a pretty bad 4.29 ERA (25th)... ace Tommy Van Noord (2-3/2.01) is the most capable hurler, along with free agent Billy Trakas (3-0/3.57) from Blue Lake... 20-year-old RF William Snyder is the Hurricanes' top batsman with a .333 mark and 17 RBIs... free agent SS Jeff Lang from Kenwood has been solid with a .276 BA and 18 RBIs... other contributors are CF Alan Ellis with a .294 BA and 18 runs, 2B Vic Hayes with a .282 BA and 13 RBIs and free agent 3B Joel Collins from Colchester with a .359 OBP and 11 RBIs, but with a subpar .241 BA... rookie 1B Buddy Brando (.296/3 HR/12 RBI) shows promise. Buddy Bechtel has had a fairly good team in Arroyo Grande, at least record-wise with a third-place finish two years ago and fourth last year... the Suns are picked for fourth this season... the Suns are tied with Cape Coral for fourth place and are rated the fifth-best team in the TU South... it's been over a decade since Arroyo Grande graced the Pro Cup playoffs... this year they broke even in month one using home-run power (8th) and fairly good starting pitching with a 3.52 ERA (12th)... however at the plate it's been terrible with a .234 BA (32nd)... Bechtel's bunch has trouble scoring runs (28th) and a lousy bullpen with a 4.46 ERA (23rd)... a trio of starters have carried the club: Meteus Castro (5-1/2.28), veteran Matt Stevens (4-2/2.95) and rookie Fernando Campos (1-2/2.97)... longtime reliever John Nelson (2-1/0.92) has been very effective so far... newcomer 2B Frank Marcello and C Frank Jourdan have been the only quality bats in the Suns' lineup... Marcello is hitting .303 with 7 homers and 21 RBIs and Jourdan is batting .288 with 7 homers and 17 RBIs... all the rest of the regulars are .250 and below. The Colchester Elites haven't been in the playoffs since 2007 and it's not likely this is the year for manager Patsy Bates' squad... the baseball scribes give them little chance, ranking the Elites the worst team in the division... they are in sixth place and already 5 games off the pace after just one month of play... the pitching corps is horrendous with a 5.00 ERA (30th)... the batting is a little better with a .253 average (24th)... Colchester can score fairly well with 123 runs (12th) and 31 HRs (9th)... superstar LF Jim Lewellen had a super April with a .388 BA, 12 homers, 23 RBIs and 20 runs... free agent C Benny Donaldson from Chicopee is batting .353 with 3 HRs and 14 RBIs... the Elites grabbed free agent 1B-3B Billy Christianson, the longtime Rolling Hills star (.273) and he has driven in 19 runs... 2B Jackie Jackson is having a solid season with a .316 average and 17 runs scored... and free agent 3B from Tuckanarra Charley Taylor has moved into the regular lineup, hit .267 and batted across 13 runs... Dave Lacoste (1-1/2.61) and Roy Watson (3-0/3.58) have been the only effective pitchers... longtime ace Mackie McGinnity (109-75/3.47) is really suffering with an 0-7 mark and an atrocious 5.52 ERA. In a huge surprise the Summerland Sunsets climbed from seventh to first last season, but they seem to be doing a complete reversal again this year... the baseball experts chose them to wind up sixth in the TU South this year... after a month's play skipper Will Hackett's club is near the bottom in everything... his Sunsets are in the seventh spot in the standings... star pitchers Freddi Rossi (0-6/5.40) and Ron McDonald (1-5/6.00) haven't been able to get anyone out this season... last year Rossi won 22 games with a 2.04 ERA and McDonald was 14-11 and a 2.77 ERA... rookie Johnny Young (2-1/3.67) and Toshikuni Tanaka (1-1/3.52) have been the best of the lot... Hackett's best bat has been LF Nicky Titov with 7 roundtrippers, 17 RBIs and a .298 BA... 2B Ken Wyman (.313) and SS Norm Van Kleeken (.306) sport the best averages... 15-year veteran 1B Mandu Purula, a career .319 hitter, had a slow April with a .268 average, but did hit 3 HRs and bat in 10 runs. The proud Ginza Ninjas with five TU South flags since 2023 had an embarrassing month with a 6-20 record and are solidly in last place... manager Huroko Uchiyama's club was forecast to come in seventh in THE ISLANDIAN TIMES preseason poll... the only thing the Ninjas do well is go deep... they have poked 33 out of the park (7th)... the team ERA was a lofty 5.56 (32nd)... leading the Ginza lineup are 2B Roger Lanier (.329/6/16/13), LF Sadaharu Uchiyama (.302/4/17/11), 1B Kazzy Nishimura (.318/4/14/10) and rookie RF Scott Sparks (.303/5/10/11)... on the hill only veteran Hollis Pace (2-4/3.71) has been decent... Gary Mills (2-4/4.92) is the next best starter... the rest of the staff are 5.23 and higher... looks like a long, long season for Ginza this year. Last edited by Eugene Church; 11-03-2012 at 05:52 PM.