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Eugene Church · 12-28-2013, 08:31 PM

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Tuesday, September 23, 2042

SOUTHPORT-COLFAX PRO CUP PICKS, NOD TO SOX
It's that magical time of the year in the Islands. All roads lead to the IPA Pro Cup playoffs, which begins tomorrow afternoon at four venues around Islandia. In the Ruthlandian Division Series favored Colfax will host the Wynnamac Sundowners and St. John will travel to play the Kilkenny Cats. Over in the Tycobbian Division Series the Pro Cup favorite Southport Sun Sox will be at home against the Hartsdale Hellcats, while the Kenwood Wildcats will welcoming the South Fork Stallions. All postseason series in the IPA are best-of-seven affairs. The Ruthlandian champion will meet the Tycobbian winner for the Pro Cup, emblematic of baseball supremacy in the Islands.

Trying to pick the Pro Cup champion is a difficult proposition. Just ask the experts. The Pro Cup poll has been wrong for 17 years in a row. The last time the prognosticators got it right was in 2024. In spite of the odds, the oddsmakers still try to pick the champ every year at this time. This year the Pro Cup race is wide open with lots of new faces in it. None of the perennial powerhouses made the Big Show this year. Only two repeat performers from last year are back - Kenwood and South Fork. Kilkenny is making its first-ever appearance.

For what it's worth, The Islandian Times Pro Cup poll has predicted that the Southport Sun Sox of the Tycobbian Union will defeat the Colfax Blasters of the Ruthlandian Union for the IPA Pro Cup.

1. Southport Sun Sox (100-54): three playoff appearances with no Pro Cups... the Sun Sox easily beat their all-time best record... the most they had ever won was 90 games in 2021, when they finished second... the Sun Sox have never won a Pro Cup... they were in the playoffs last in back-to-back years 2027 and 2028... Southport does everything well except play good defense (.969 FA)... they hit .275 (4th), scored 806 runs (4th), racked up 184 HRs (8th) and put up a fine 3.19 ERA (5th)... look out Pro Cup, the Sun Sox look like the top seed... the starting four did their job well sparked by Billy Hoover (26-11/2.16), a strong contender for the Golden Arm Award... others in the rotation were Brandon Delmore (16-10/3.13), Johnny Swanson (15-12/3.52) and Gordon Forbes (12-5/4.17)... Southport had a solid bullpen, too, with Hal Combs (7-4/1.73/10 saves) and Wayne Stewart (4-2/1.52/10 saves)... top guns were All-Star 3B Craig Glennon (.278/34/115/107), All-Star CF Barney Lewis (.277/34/98/85), 1B Eddy Douglas (.339/28/103/75), 2B James Long (.276/23/82/79), C Vasillis Vlachos (.285/17/69/57) and RF Pat Kinney (.301/5/40/78).

2. Kenwood Wildcats (94-60): four playoffs with one Pro Cup in 2014... the Wildcats posted the second-best record in the IPA this year with 94 victories... Southport of the TU South was number one with 100 wins... the Wildcats have few weaknesses with a .282 BA (3rd), 809 runs (3rd), 3.37 ERA (7th) and .975 FA... but they do come up lacking in longballs with 135 (26th)... Kenwood had pitchers galore with Rusty Bradford (22-11/2.77), Clyde Myers (19-9/3.51), Freddy Gooch (18-17/3.42), Tommy Carter (11-3/2.29) and Glen Murray (17-12/4.12) in starting roles... Artemus Hale (4-5/2.98/14 saves) was solid in the bullpen... at the plate they were paced by star All-Star C Corky DiNozzo (.304/43/114/91), All-Star 2B Country Crowder (.349/2/65/91), 3B Rod Jenkins (.272/18/84/77) and rookie 1B Aldon Belew (.294/6/72/65)... Kenwood should be one of the favorites to win this year's Pro Cup trophy.

3. Hartsdale Hellcats (92-62): six postseason appearances with no Pro Cup... for the past few years the Hellcats have been a bottom-rung team, but they snapped out of it this year and climbed up from sixth to first place... Hartsdale last won the TU North in 2029... they have never won a Cup, but should have a serious shot this year... the Hellcats are solid in most respects with a .264 BA (9th), 731 runs (9th) and 175 homers (10th)... they do well on the hill, too, with a 3.33 ERA (6th)... fielding is average with a .971 FA... Hartsdale has a good group of starters in Gil Younger (20-15/3.25), Freddie Whitaker (19-16/2.85), Perry Givens (17-11/3.00) and Bill Reeves (12-9/3.56)... in the bullpen Alfonso Cervera (8-4/2.18/27 saves) led the IPA with 27 saves... no great bats, but a bunch of good ones in LF Marv Shaw (.293/30/91/87), 1B John Ford (.283/28/86/75), 2B Greg Melson (.267/25/82/67), 3B Robinson Alomar (.276/24/91/69) and CF Darrell Nesbitt (.290/18/69/103)... a good, all-around club that dethroned the mighty North Hills Hawks this year, who won the TU North for the last eight seasons and have won four Pro Cups in the last decade... this just might be the Hellcats' year.

4. Colfax Blasters (93-61): 12 playoff appearances with one Pro Cup (2010)... also made the Finals in 2032, but were beaten by San Alejo... the Blasters came close to winning the RU West in '41, '40, '37 and '35, but managed to rev it up a bit this year to win their first division flag since 2038... they have one Pro Cup, captured in 2010... the Blasters' strong point is scoring runs... they do it with a .275 BA (5th)... they ranked third with 803 runs... Colfax is better-than-average on the hill with a 3.68 ERA (12th)... could be a tough team in the postseason... the Blasters have a solid core of five .300 hitters in their batting order... All-Star 3B Kristian McEly (.322/33/128/103) ranked fifth in the IPA with 128 RBIs... 2B Gerry Sives (.328/3/71/114) tied for the IPA lead with 222 hits... Cape Coral's Rikky Van Dalen (.371) and Fairfax's John Velasco (.349) were the other co-leaders... McEly also went over the 200-mark with 201... LF Chet Penn (.329/30/106/94), CF Geno Calabrese (.315/10/65/97) and RF Kevin Williams (.300/13/80/87) had good years... 1B Ernie Kidd didn't hit much for average with a .248 mark, but did go deep 22 times and drove in 91 runs... on the mound Colfax was led by three 20-game winners: Nilos Andris (20-13/3.45), Bobby Porter (20-9/3.53) and Ron Paige (22-16/3.79)... the bullpen is in good hands with Jack Scanlon (9-2/2.68/18 saves).

5. Kilkenny Cats (92-62): for the first time in the club's history, they have finally made the Pro Cup playoffs... the Cats have solid starters and a super bullpen... poor on defense with a .969 FA... Ciaran Cullen (21-11/2.99), James Crockett (17-16/3.32), Fred Doyle (12-9/3.44) and Jon Kostro (17-8/4.04) sparked the starting rotation, while the bullpen was led by Joe Pierce (13-6/1.07/7 saves) and Andy Mayfield (2-1/1.26/13 saves)... team improved from 73-81 (3rd-11 GB) to 92-62 this year... the batting jumped from .239 to .260, too... 3B Jorge Collazo (.296/20/75/97), CF Kevin McLaglen (.267/18/98/87) and C Frank Jordan (.278/25/73/53) are the top run producers... with its good pitching the Cats have a chance to knock off some of the higher-ranked teams.

6. St. John Crusaders (86-68): six postseason appearances, but has never won a Pro Cup... they were beaten in the 2036 Finals by North Hills... last pennant came in 2036... the Crusaders improved from fourth place (9 GB) this season... the club features good offense (.278 BA-4th), pretty good pitching (3.50 ERA-8th) and solid defense (.975 FA)... All-Star Jeremy Kirk (22-14/2.59) won 20 games for the fifth time in his career... he got help from Frank Long (19-15/2.89)... the bullpen was weak... most of the offense came from star RF Nicky Farrugia (.338/35/102/104), 3B Marty Blankenship (.260/34/108/84) and SS Tab Allison (.304/17/81/112)... the Crusaders have good bats throughout the batting order, but come up a little short on power (130 HRs-21st tied)... had the worst record of all the RU Division winners... not expected to do much in the postseason playoffs.

7. South Fork Stallions (85-69): four playoff appearances with one Pro Cup trophy won in 2025... offensively South Fork is just average, but good on the mound... the top twirlers are Jay Murphy (25-7/1.90), Chris Sorenson (16-12/3.36) and Big Murph McAlister (18-17/3.46)... Murphy was tied for second in the IPA with 25 victories... Southport's Billy Hoover was number one at 26-11... Summerland's Jayson Hallstrom also chalked up 25 wins with only 9 defeats... the Stallion bullpen was strong with a 2.49 ERA (2nd), headed up by the threesome of Gary Golden (2-3/2.16/5 saves), Ryan Madison (2-0/2.67/3 saves) and George Richardson (1-0/0.73)... the club offensive leader was 3B Elton Jacoby, who top them with a .307 BA, 32 HRs, 95 RBIs and 102 runs... SS Jess Wilkerson also added a good bat with a .299 BA, 23 roundtrippers, 93 RBIs and 73 runs... other decent bats were 2B Pete Arnold (.290), 1B Paul Sexton (.278) and CF Scotty O'Sullivan (.293)... the oddsmakers don't give the Stallions much regard in the playoffs... ace Murphy can't pitch every game.

8. Wynnamac Sundowners (89-65): five postseason appearances with one Pro Cup trophy won in 2008... the Sundowners were much improved over 2041... the pitching ERA went from a terrible 4.66 to a fairly decent 4.02 (21st), considering the offense went from a .266 BA to a very impressive .281 (2nd)... however, they are poor defensively (.969 FA)... top bat was superstar All-Star RF Nioka Inkamara (.329/49/141/117), who had another super season leading the IPA with 141 RBIs and the RU with 49 homers... Inkamara also was tied for second in the RU with 117 runs scored... other quality hitters were CF Darrell Donnelly (.303/14/82/88), 3B Duane Hudson (.293/5/73/91), C Edward Williams (.308/16/91/85) and 2B Curtis Whetstone (.278/8/75/83)... top starters were Geoff Hobart (18-10/3.53) and Shirai Nakamura (21-10/4.10)... best in the bullpen was Johnny Mitchell (8-7/3.33/18 saves)... sometimes good offensive clubs do well in the Pro Cup playoffs, if they can get some decent pitching to go with it... be wary of Wynnamac.

12-28-2013, 08:31 PM	#3920
Eugene Church Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 35,944	THE ISLANDIAN TIMES Tuesday, September 23, 2042 SOUTHPORT-COLFAX PRO CUP PICKS, NOD TO SOX It's that magical time of the year in the Islands. All roads lead to the IPA Pro Cup playoffs, which begins tomorrow afternoon at four venues around Islandia. In the Ruthlandian Division Series favored Colfax will host the Wynnamac Sundowners and St. John will travel to play the Kilkenny Cats. Over in the Tycobbian Division Series the Pro Cup favorite Southport Sun Sox will be at home against the Hartsdale Hellcats, while the Kenwood Wildcats will welcoming the South Fork Stallions. All postseason series in the IPA are best-of-seven affairs. The Ruthlandian champion will meet the Tycobbian winner for the Pro Cup, emblematic of baseball supremacy in the Islands. Trying to pick the Pro Cup champion is a difficult proposition. Just ask the experts. The Pro Cup poll has been wrong for 17 years in a row. The last time the prognosticators got it right was in 2024. In spite of the odds, the oddsmakers still try to pick the champ every year at this time. This year the Pro Cup race is wide open with lots of new faces in it. None of the perennial powerhouses made the Big Show this year. Only two repeat performers from last year are back - Kenwood and South Fork. Kilkenny is making its first-ever appearance. For what it's worth, The Islandian Times Pro Cup poll has predicted that the Southport Sun Sox of the Tycobbian Union will defeat the Colfax Blasters of the Ruthlandian Union for the IPA Pro Cup. 1. Southport Sun Sox (100-54): three playoff appearances with no Pro Cups... the Sun Sox easily beat their all-time best record... the most they had ever won was 90 games in 2021, when they finished second... the Sun Sox have never won a Pro Cup... they were in the playoffs last in back-to-back years 2027 and 2028... Southport does everything well except play good defense (.969 FA)... they hit .275 (4th), scored 806 runs (4th), racked up 184 HRs (8th) and put up a fine 3.19 ERA (5th)... look out Pro Cup, the Sun Sox look like the top seed... the starting four did their job well sparked by Billy Hoover (26-11/2.16), a strong contender for the Golden Arm Award... others in the rotation were Brandon Delmore (16-10/3.13), Johnny Swanson (15-12/3.52) and Gordon Forbes (12-5/4.17)... Southport had a solid bullpen, too, with Hal Combs (7-4/1.73/10 saves) and Wayne Stewart (4-2/1.52/10 saves)... top guns were All-Star 3B Craig Glennon (.278/34/115/107), All-Star CF Barney Lewis (.277/34/98/85), 1B Eddy Douglas (.339/28/103/75), 2B James Long (.276/23/82/79), C Vasillis Vlachos (.285/17/69/57) and RF Pat Kinney (.301/5/40/78). 2. Kenwood Wildcats (94-60): four playoffs with one Pro Cup in 2014... the Wildcats posted the second-best record in the IPA this year with 94 victories... Southport of the TU South was number one with 100 wins... the Wildcats have few weaknesses with a .282 BA (3rd), 809 runs (3rd), 3.37 ERA (7th) and .975 FA... but they do come up lacking in longballs with 135 (26th)... Kenwood had pitchers galore with Rusty Bradford (22-11/2.77), Clyde Myers (19-9/3.51), Freddy Gooch (18-17/3.42), Tommy Carter (11-3/2.29) and Glen Murray (17-12/4.12) in starting roles... Artemus Hale (4-5/2.98/14 saves) was solid in the bullpen... at the plate they were paced by star All-Star C Corky DiNozzo (.304/43/114/91), All-Star 2B Country Crowder (.349/2/65/91), 3B Rod Jenkins (.272/18/84/77) and rookie 1B Aldon Belew (.294/6/72/65)... Kenwood should be one of the favorites to win this year's Pro Cup trophy. 3. Hartsdale Hellcats (92-62): six postseason appearances with no Pro Cup... for the past few years the Hellcats have been a bottom-rung team, but they snapped out of it this year and climbed up from sixth to first place... Hartsdale last won the TU North in 2029... they have never won a Cup, but should have a serious shot this year... the Hellcats are solid in most respects with a .264 BA (9th), 731 runs (9th) and 175 homers (10th)... they do well on the hill, too, with a 3.33 ERA (6th)... fielding is average with a .971 FA... Hartsdale has a good group of starters in Gil Younger (20-15/3.25), Freddie Whitaker (19-16/2.85), Perry Givens (17-11/3.00) and Bill Reeves (12-9/3.56)... in the bullpen Alfonso Cervera (8-4/2.18/27 saves) led the IPA with 27 saves... no great bats, but a bunch of good ones in LF Marv Shaw (.293/30/91/87), 1B John Ford (.283/28/86/75), 2B Greg Melson (.267/25/82/67), 3B Robinson Alomar (.276/24/91/69) and CF Darrell Nesbitt (.290/18/69/103)... a good, all-around club that dethroned the mighty North Hills Hawks this year, who won the TU North for the last eight seasons and have won four Pro Cups in the last decade... this just might be the Hellcats' year. 4. Colfax Blasters (93-61): 12 playoff appearances with one Pro Cup (2010)... also made the Finals in 2032, but were beaten by San Alejo... the Blasters came close to winning the RU West in '41, '40, '37 and '35, but managed to rev it up a bit this year to win their first division flag since 2038... they have one Pro Cup, captured in 2010... the Blasters' strong point is scoring runs... they do it with a .275 BA (5th)... they ranked third with 803 runs... Colfax is better-than-average on the hill with a 3.68 ERA (12th)... could be a tough team in the postseason... the Blasters have a solid core of five .300 hitters in their batting order... All-Star 3B Kristian McEly (.322/33/128/103) ranked fifth in the IPA with 128 RBIs... 2B Gerry Sives (.328/3/71/114) tied for the IPA lead with 222 hits... Cape Coral's Rikky Van Dalen (.371) and Fairfax's John Velasco (.349) were the other co-leaders... McEly also went over the 200-mark with 201... LF Chet Penn (.329/30/106/94), CF Geno Calabrese (.315/10/65/97) and RF Kevin Williams (.300/13/80/87) had good years... 1B Ernie Kidd didn't hit much for average with a .248 mark, but did go deep 22 times and drove in 91 runs... on the mound Colfax was led by three 20-game winners: Nilos Andris (20-13/3.45), Bobby Porter (20-9/3.53) and Ron Paige (22-16/3.79)... the bullpen is in good hands with Jack Scanlon (9-2/2.68/18 saves). 5. Kilkenny Cats (92-62): for the first time in the club's history, they have finally made the Pro Cup playoffs... the Cats have solid starters and a super bullpen... poor on defense with a .969 FA... Ciaran Cullen (21-11/2.99), James Crockett (17-16/3.32), Fred Doyle (12-9/3.44) and Jon Kostro (17-8/4.04) sparked the starting rotation, while the bullpen was led by Joe Pierce (13-6/1.07/7 saves) and Andy Mayfield (2-1/1.26/13 saves)... team improved from 73-81 (3rd-11 GB) to 92-62 this year... the batting jumped from .239 to .260, too... 3B Jorge Collazo (.296/20/75/97), CF Kevin McLaglen (.267/18/98/87) and C Frank Jordan (.278/25/73/53) are the top run producers... with its good pitching the Cats have a chance to knock off some of the higher-ranked teams. 6. St. John Crusaders (86-68): six postseason appearances, but has never won a Pro Cup... they were beaten in the 2036 Finals by North Hills... last pennant came in 2036... the Crusaders improved from fourth place (9 GB) this season... the club features good offense (.278 BA-4th), pretty good pitching (3.50 ERA-8th) and solid defense (.975 FA)... All-Star Jeremy Kirk (22-14/2.59) won 20 games for the fifth time in his career... he got help from Frank Long (19-15/2.89)... the bullpen was weak... most of the offense came from star RF Nicky Farrugia (.338/35/102/104), 3B Marty Blankenship (.260/34/108/84) and SS Tab Allison (.304/17/81/112)... the Crusaders have good bats throughout the batting order, but come up a little short on power (130 HRs-21st tied)... had the worst record of all the RU Division winners... not expected to do much in the postseason playoffs. 7. South Fork Stallions (85-69): four playoff appearances with one Pro Cup trophy won in 2025... offensively South Fork is just average, but good on the mound... the top twirlers are Jay Murphy (25-7/1.90), Chris Sorenson (16-12/3.36) and Big Murph McAlister (18-17/3.46)... Murphy was tied for second in the IPA with 25 victories... Southport's Billy Hoover was number one at 26-11... Summerland's Jayson Hallstrom also chalked up 25 wins with only 9 defeats... the Stallion bullpen was strong with a 2.49 ERA (2nd), headed up by the threesome of Gary Golden (2-3/2.16/5 saves), Ryan Madison (2-0/2.67/3 saves) and George Richardson (1-0/0.73)... the club offensive leader was 3B Elton Jacoby, who top them with a .307 BA, 32 HRs, 95 RBIs and 102 runs... SS Jess Wilkerson also added a good bat with a .299 BA, 23 roundtrippers, 93 RBIs and 73 runs... other decent bats were 2B Pete Arnold (.290), 1B Paul Sexton (.278) and CF Scotty O'Sullivan (.293)... the oddsmakers don't give the Stallions much regard in the playoffs... ace Murphy can't pitch every game. 8. Wynnamac Sundowners (89-65): five postseason appearances with one Pro Cup trophy won in 2008... the Sundowners were much improved over 2041... the pitching ERA went from a terrible 4.66 to a fairly decent 4.02 (21st), considering the offense went from a .266 BA to a very impressive .281 (2nd)... however, they are poor defensively (.969 FA)... top bat was superstar All-Star RF Nioka Inkamara (.329/49/141/117), who had another super season leading the IPA with 141 RBIs and the RU with 49 homers... Inkamara also was tied for second in the RU with 117 runs scored... other quality hitters were CF Darrell Donnelly (.303/14/82/88), 3B Duane Hudson (.293/5/73/91), C Edward Williams (.308/16/91/85) and 2B Curtis Whetstone (.278/8/75/83)... top starters were Geoff Hobart (18-10/3.53) and Shirai Nakamura (21-10/4.10)... best in the bullpen was Johnny Mitchell (8-7/3.33/18 saves)... sometimes good offensive clubs do well in the Pro Cup playoffs, if they can get some decent pitching to go with it... be wary of Wynnamac. Last edited by Eugene Church; 10-28-2018 at 03:05 PM.