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THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Monday, September 18, 2045
WILDCATS WIN TU WEST IN A THRILLER
The defending division champion Kenwood Wildcats had to really claw their way to repeat in the Tycobbian West this season... the Wildcats had to dig themselves out of a deep hole they found themselves in right out of the gate in April... the Wildcats went 7-19 and fell 11 games back in the early going... but they righted the ship over the course of the next few months and copped their fourth pennant in five years... Kenwood still trailed by 9 games at the All-Star break, 4 at the end of July and finally moved into the top spot in August... runner-up Denton City led for most of the season, but slumped in August and ended up losing to the Wildcats by a single game... Rolling Hills came in third, just 2 games out of first... the Reds took the lead in July, but fell back with a poor August... fourth place went to the Chicopee Braves, who wound up 7 games behind Kenwood.
1. Kenwood won its only Pro Cup in 2014... this will be the Wildcats' seventh postseason appearance... they were 90-84 last year and slipped a bit to 84-70 this season... solid pitching with a 3.30 ERA (5th) and an adequate offense with a .269 BA (5th), 674 runs (19th) and 152 HRs (17th) won it for them... plus solid defense (.976 FA)... Clyde Meyers (21-13/3.32) and Tommy Carter (17-13/3.13) were the biggest winners on the staff... two veterans Freddy Gooch (8-10/2.63) and Rusty Bradford (8-8/3.76/4 saves) boycotted the club the first two months... rookie Gregg Campbell (13-9/2.83) filled in for them quite well... in the bullpen Artemus Hale (.6-3/2.16/7 saves) and Mike Jones (2-3/2.31/7 saves) did their jobs well, too... four regulars were missing in the early months: superstar C Corky DiNozzo (.296/22/71/45), rookie RF Billy Nix (.268/22/69/51), CF Warren Vickers (.305/10/40/70) and 1B Bert Henrich (.277/15/50/400... their absence had a lot to do with the slow start... the only regulars that played a full season were 3B Country Crowder (.329/6/63/88) and LF Dorsey Faircloth (.305/22/71/70).
2. Denton City has come in second the last two years to Kenwood... the Redbirds were 83-71 last year and the same this year... they lost out by 7 in 2043 and by one this year... DC was up by a whopping 11 games over Kenwood at the end of April, but they saw it slowly erode as the season progressed... the Redbirds have been to the playoffs on 9 occasions... the last pennant came in 2040... they were an early power in the IPA with 8 playoff appearances from 2002 to 2013... twice the Redbirds reached the Pro Cup Finals, but lost... this year they had fairly good pitching and just an average offense... on the hill it was Mel Coley (13-5/2.67/11 saves), Harry Elliott (20-15/3.23) and Jimmy Ellerbee (16-8/3.16)... 40-year-old ace Francisco Salcido (5-17/4.06) apparently suffered by being out during the boycott... he never really regained his form of previous seasons... at the plate superstar Wayman Stetson (.302/35/101/84) and LF Frankie Montgomery (.297/18/80/83) were the only real threats.
3. Rolling Hills had a good year... they improved from sixth place (19 GB) with a 71-83 mark to a very close third (2 GB) with an 82-72 record... the Reds led at the end of May, but had a horrific 7-19 June and fell 8 games behind Denton City... a great 20-8 in July got them back into a first-place tie with the Redbirds... thereafter Kenwood was on a roll and couldn't be stopped... Rolling Hills is only adequate offensively and on the mound, but is good with the gloves (.975 FA)... the trio of superstar All-Star CF Jimbo Foxx (.273/46/151/89), star 1B Darwin Tard (.303/23/88/110) and LF Orin Phillips (.279/31/88/74) carried the club... Foxx was on pace to break the IPA all-time RBI mark, but came up 20 short of Adam Zitek's 170 in 2005 for High Mesa... still he led the IPA with 151 and was fourth in homers with 46... on the mound Matthew Christianson (19-13/3.29) and Johnny Howard (17-7/3.61) were the biggest winners.
4. Chicopee made some progress this season, going from 70-84 and seventh place (20 GB) to fourth place with a break-even 77-77 mark (7 GB)... good pitching got them there... the Braves have never won a Pro Cup and have appeared only three times in the playoffs... the last time was in 2036... All-Star Tony Dazzi (21-16/2.34) was brilliant this year with 29 complete games... only Beechwood's Jimmy Herman (26-9/2.72) with 30 had more... Josh Dougherty (13-14/2.12) was also a very tough customer, but he suffered a lack of run support... Harry Robinson (6-3/2.82/5 saves) was solid in the pen... all by himself 1B Sam Patrick (.285/45/107/90) was the Braves' offense... he had 45 of the team's 107 homers and led them in BA, HRs, RBIs, runs and walks.
5. Arlon was fourth last year with a 79-75 record (11 GB), but dipped to fifth this year with a 72-82 mark (12 GB)... the Champs won their last pennant in 2043 and have been in the postseason on five occasions... they reached the Pro Cup Finals one time in 2039 and lost in six games to Waleska... vets Lanny Gray (16-18/3.34) and Pat Stuyvesant (11-10/3.37) led the starters... in the bullpen Mack Blair (9-6/1.85/15 saves) was outstanding... on the offense RF Mark Cameron (.224/38/82/88) hit a lot of homers but little else... and C Nick Shafer had 27 homers and 77 RBIs, but batted only .259.
6. Bayview was looking forward to this year... the Vikings finished third last season with an 82-72 record (8 GB), but relapsed to their old ways again, falling to sixth place with a 70-84 mark (14 GB)... their pitching failed them this year with the ERA going from last year's 3.59 skyward to 4.25 this season... it's been eons since the Viks made the playoffs... long ago and far away in 2016 to be exact... they have participated in the postseason only 6 times and never have hauled in a Pro Cup trophy... as usual the great Bayview Bomber 3B Jerry Culpepper led the team's hit parade... he hammered 55 home runs, batted .311, drove in 143 runs and scored 98 runs... all team highs... Culpepper was second in the IPA in homers and RBIs... Red Bluff's David Kelso got the HR title with 65, almost breaking Culpepper's IPA mark of 66 in 2040.. Rolling Hills' Jimbo Foxx topped him in RBIs with 151... LF Rusty Hunter (.267/2/54/86) and 2B Zack Mason (.276/12/47/91) were the best of the rest... the Viks missed the power of SS Anreas Stokke (.278/12/55/54), who was out a third of the season with the boycott... Bobby Knudsen (18-18/3.47) was the only steady starter.
7. Bay St. Clair wound up in the second division for the 10th year in a row... the Buccaneers were fifth last season with a 76-78 record (14 GB)... this season they slumped to 64-90 (20 GB) and seventh in the standings... it's been 15 years since the Bucs made the playoffs... still haven't won a Pro Cup trophy... they did make the Finals in 2015, but were whipped by Taranto in five games... heading up the pitching corps are Clyde Gordon (14-14/3.23) and Dion Hawkins (12-10/3.61)... bullpen ace Clark Van Vreeland (14-9/1.83/9 saves) had another superb season... veteran RF Spade Weldon (.315/18/68/47), LF Gilbert Bauer (.293/14/50/74) and SS Edison Randall (.248/19/82/62) were the most reliable bats in the order... defensively the Buccaneers are the best in the IPA with a .980 FA, tied with Ginza for the honor.
8. La Claire got condemned to the cellar for the second successive season... they were 60-96 (24 GB), down from 69-85 last year (21 GB)... the Lynx have been to the postseason only four times in history with no Pro Cups... from 2028 to 2038 they won four TU West flags... those were the glory years... Nelson Stubbs (17-16/2.69) was the only effective starter... and veteran closer Terry Baird (4-8/3.18/14 saves) did a pretty fair job in the pen... La Claire didn't have much offense, either... LF Hank Morton (.284/8/77/69), CF Donny Griffith (.274/16/72/54) and 3B Phil Lyons (.282/17/57/44) were the best of the lot... however, the Lynx are a strong defensive club with a .977 FA.
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