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The Islandian Times
Monday, September 18, 2034
2034 Ruthlandian North Final Recap
30-Year Drought Ends, Ranford Finally Win RU North
The Ranford Bulls were the fourth pick to win the Ruthlandian North in The Islandian Times preseason prognostications, while the Far Mountain Redhawks were the favorite... But it didn't turn out that way... the Bulls chugged along and persevered, playing just one game over .500 in the second half, but it was good enough to overtake the Redhawks, who dipped to seven games under the break-even point... it got down to the last few games and Ranford won two of its last four contests, while Far Mountain folded and lost them all to finish 2 games behind the Bulls... only two teams in the division wound up with winning seasons.
The last time Ranford (84-70) won the TU North was way back in 2005... Ranford possesses pretty good pitching with a 3.42 team ERA (5th), paced by All-Star Jimmy Collins (21-9/3.38) and Chad Cummings (17-14/2.43)... add in the Satcher brothers, Rube (14-15/2.80) and Joah (9-9/3.17) and skipper Rick Fargnoli has a solid starting rotation... the mound staff is the team's only hope in the postseason... the offense is weak with a .259 BA (25th), 643 runs (25th-tied) and only 107 homers (30th)... 3B Alex Vanno (.280/27/88/84) and SS Sonny Statum (.285/5/51/86) are the only respectable batters in the lineup... the Bulls are overmatched in the Pro Cup playoffs.
Runnerup Far Mountain (82-72) led most of the first half of the season, but faded in the stretch drive... the Redhawks have good pitching with a 3.26 team ERA (3rd), but lacked offense with a .259 BA (23rd), 643 runs (25th-tied) and only 104 home runs (31st)... manager Don Nichols has five quality starters in Jakob Wagner (20-12/2.77), Jeff Cooper (15-10/2.87), Keith Griggs (13-11/4.03), Paul Zimmer (15-14/3.44) and Frankie Moreland (15-18/3.25)... none of the bats were outstanding with the best of the lot being LF Jeff Karkinos (.311/16/78/55) and RF Wes Wernstedt (.305/3/57/67).
The Ancona Red Elephants (76-78) with rookie manager Kenny Willard at the helm batted .256 (27th) with 683 runs (22nd) and 168 HRs (5th)... the team ERA was 4.10 (25th)... not really much of a ballclub... Ancona came in third in a very weak division, ending up 8 games out of first... Giannis Bakas (16-13/3.63), Lou Gianakos (17-11/4.06) and Matt Loudermilk (18-20/3.11) topped the staff, while CF Felix Domengeaux (.244/38/102/74) powered the offense with help from SS Tommy Richardson (.338/18/65/85), 1B Danny Webber (.289/17/61/64), 3B Alex Zitek (.307/22/70/59), 2B Ricky Boyer (.271/16/51/82) and LF Floyd McClellan (.253/23/70/72)... new manager Kenny Willard didn't win the pennant, but he did get a nice consolation prize... he was named to the IPA Hall of Fame this year... Willard starred for the Red Elephants for most of his standout 19 seasons... he batted .301 lifetime with 441 HRs and was a 6-time All-Star and 6-time Gold Glover... in 2022 Willard was the Ruthlandian MVP.
The LaGrange Sports (75-79) were coming off two pennants in a row, but came in fourth this year, 9 games off the pace... a third straight RU North flag was not beyond expectations... especially if you went by the stats... the Sports batted .263/(19th) with 686 runs (19th-tied) and walloped 173 roundtrippers (3rd)... they were good on the hill, too, with a 3.48 team ERA (8th)... one bad month killed them... LaGrange was 10-19 in August... strong vets Ryan Jansen (21-14/3.09) and Walt Thurber (17-14/2.99) led the pitchers... All-Star LF Russell Watkins (.312/40/104/87), 1B Chris Charbonnier (.293/31/80/83) and RF Anton Hymel (.287/20/86/87) led the veteran lineup.
Jet Kazmarek hasn't had much talent the last three seasons in Valmara (69-85)... just a lackluster ballclub, the Vipers wound up in the fifth spot in the standings.. Lucky Lafferty (15-12/3.34) and rookie Janek Zoldak (17-13/4.15) were the winningest hurlers... 1B Radley Singleton (.297/20/68/71) and LF Benny Hooper (.263/15/69/74) provided what little offense the Vipers had.
Rusty Denicola's Kilkenny Cats (67-87) began the season optimistically and were the second choice of the baseball world to win the pennant after Far Mountain... but that forecast didn't come to fruition... the Cats were clawed to pieces by the opposition and they flopped to sixth place in the RU North, trailing by 17 games... Kilkenny has the worst offense in the RU with a .244 batting average (32nd) and only 594 runs (32nd)... the pitching is fairly good with a 3.53 team ERA (9th)... veteran starter Dave Whitaker (16-14/2.93), twice an RU Golden Arm winner and also an RU MVP winner, still can do the job very well, but lacks run support... Dean Harris (15-18/3.35) is in the same boat... talented 3B Leevi Viru (.286/20/90/71), a 6-time All-Star, is still a standout hitter... the rest of the batting order is mediocre at best.
It's been over three decades since the Glasco Athletics (65-89) have won a pennant or made the Pro Cup playoffs... Barry McCord's club is long overdue... the A's are at the bottom of the division in hitting and pitching with a .259 BA (26th) and a 4.25 team ERA (29th)... consequently they finished next-to-last and 19 games out in the pennant race... veteran Earl Perkins (19-15/4.06) was the most effective starter and SS Greg Stone (.291/18/72/46) was the only productive bat in the lineup.
For the ninth time in ten years the Taranto Tars (62-92) are a second-division team... new manager Augie Marshall led them to another last-place finish in his rookie year... it's the fourth time in the last five seasons they came in last... Marshall starred for the Tars for 10 years during their glory days... in 2015 Taranto won its only Pro Cup... lifetime Marshall batted .287 with 504 homers... he was the RU Rookie of the Year in 2013 and made the All-Star team nine times... the Tars were last in pitching with a very poor 4.52 ERA and they batted just .248 (30th)... Taranto hits homers in its tiny Palazzo di Sport, but the opponents do it even better... the Tars were outhomered 252 (32nd) to 164 (7th)... CF Antonio Venacio (.283/23/65/78) was the club leader, followed by 1B Pasquale Zavaglia (.248/26/72/39)... Tommy Brown (14-12/3.87) was the only pitcher with a winning record.
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