Sunday, September 28, 2008

Games 163 & 164?

Unbelievable finish thats not over yet...

New York wins the East at 94-68, Denver wins the Central at 93-69, and thats all we know at this point. Philadelphia and Detroit tie for the wild card at 89-73, and Hawaii, Bay Area, and Hollywood all tie at 88-74 for the West title. Tomorrow, coin flips will help determine how the playoffs get resolved. Detroit and Philly will flip for home field advantage for a one game playoff to determine the wild card winner. Correct me if I'm wrong (and Jeff, perhaps you can double-check MLB's rules for this wacky situation), but I believe the West will be decided with teams 1 and 2 playing, and then the winner will host team 3 for the division title. The coin flip will determine who is who. You want to be team 3, since they only have to play one game to advance, even though it is on the road (plus, they get an extra day of rest). Regardless of whether they are team 3 or not, Hawaii will have to play their next 2 games without both Jake Cisco and Yoda Skywalker, who were injured on a freak collision in a game on Saturday.

Kenny Jr. finished with 98 steals. He might have gotten to 100 but Jason Gonzalez homered with Kenny taking off from first. It was a straight steal, but Gonzalez liked the pitch too much. Jojo Lewis won his 300th game in his next to last start. Roger Chillingworth gave New York home field advantage throughout the Major League playoffs and helped make the west into a 3-way tie by beating Hollywood on the final day of the season. Roger finished 13-1 with a 1.99 ERA in 18 starts. At the moment, Hank Crowell won the triple crown at .336-48-129. Nearest competitors are Ryan Harris at .327 (and he still may have 2 games left), Brett Solo with 42 homers, and Miguel Tejawa with 122 RBI (and he still may have 2 games left).

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Major League Update - 1 week to go

Great Playoff races in the Major League as there is now 1 week to go. Here are the standings:

East W - L GB
New York 90-65 ---
Philadelphia 85-70 5 1 GB Wild Card
Toronto 66-88 E
Florida 63-93 E

Central W - L GB
Denver 89-65 ---
Detroit 86-69 3.5 Tied for Wild Card Lead
Alaska 69-86 E
Green Day 68-86 E
St. Louis 66-89 E

West W - L GB
Bay Area 86-68 ---
Hawaii 86-69 0.5 Tied for Wild Card Lead
Hollywood 84-70 2 1 GB Wild Card
Portland 73-81 E
Los Angeles 71-83 E

Around the League:
East: New York - Has been hot of late to take command of the division. Roger Chillingworth is 11-1 with a 1.84 ERA. With 419 wins, he has passed Walter Johnson for #2 all time, and is a dark-horse candidate for the Cy Young award. He has 2 starts left. Harry Henderson has been a nice acquisition, hitting .414 in part time play against RHP. Philadelphia - What a year for Rocky Balboni, .296-27 HR, 114 RBI, 58 doubles. Roscoe Savage has been great too, 2nd in the league with a 2.85 ERA. Toronto - Flying under the radar screen, Sid Rubin leads the league with a 2.74 ERA. Florida - Its been a bad season in Florida, but one of the amazing stories of the 2nd half is the play of Kenny Anderson Jr. Kenny was called up after the blockbuster Jake Cisco trade. Kenny has only played 43 games, but has inherited his father's uncanny ability to steal bases at will. With 78 SB's already, Kenny has passed teammate Kimba Bartee (75) for first in the league. Everyone said he was crazy when he said his goal was to lead the league in SB's this season. With 6 games left, Kenny says he wants to get 100 bags. Anyone want to take that bet? Denver - They refused to make trades at the deadline or make a play for Roger Chillingworth...and Big Cheese looks like a genius for doing nothing. They have been one of the hottest teams in the 2nd half and look to wrap up the division title soon. Pitching has been a big reason why. Youngster's Bartolo Fatone and Clint Meyers have combined for a 5-2 record in 9 starts, with an ERA below 3.00. Free Agent signee Steven Hyde (13-10 2.88) has been an ace. Joey Renseller has finally put together the season that earned him an 12 million dollar contract a few years ago with .287-25-108 and 47 doubles and 72 walks. Detroit - Catcher Bud McNamara has had another great season and is one of the main reasons why Detroit is still in playoff contention (.306, 42 doubles, .530 slugging). Travis Steele is a bonafide dominant hitter in this league, .308-29-84, 8.1 RC/G. Alaska - Reggie Stocker looks to be a lock for the rookie of the year award, .255-31-105. Jojo Lewis has had a horrible season for the Sox and is due a large contract for next season. He recently won his 10th game of the season, improving to 10-13 4.47. The 10th win was his 299th career win. He failed in his first attempt to get to 300. He likely has 2 starts left to reach the milestone this year. Green Day - Future superstar Jek Lewis has impressed in his callup this season. The 19-year old jawa has 149 ABs so far, projected to 600 ABs, he would have 44 doubles, 16 triples, 16 homers, 76 walks, 76 stolen bases, and a .268 average. Yup, he's an exciting player. St. Louis - They have an exciting young player of their own in Derek Tufnel, son of former Utah catching great Nigel Tufnel. Derek usually only plays against RH's, and has managed an impressive 42 walks in 213 ABs for a .391 OBA. The power isnt there yet (2 HR), but he looks like a future star. Bay Area - Ryan Harris has emerged as the team's best player, hitting .335-18-79 and creating 7.0 RC/G. 4th OF Ned Davis has been pretty awesome this year too, hitting 17 homers in 207 ABs, with 7.3 RC/G. Hawaii - Recently reeled off 11 wins in a row to get back into the division race. Yoda Skywalker continues to be one of the best fantasy baseball players in the league, with 25 homers and 28 SB. Where would this team be without closer Troy Lewis? The dominant jawa is 8-6, 2.42 ERA, and 38 saves, and has 82 K's in 78 innings. Hollywood - Miguel Tejawa continues to carry this team on offense with .284-36-118. On defense, he has made 33 errors already. Is it time for a position change? RD Phillips had a great rookie year for Hollywood. He is one of the best young pitchers in the game and made great contributions to the team with a 14-8 record and 3.22 ERA. Unfortunately, he pitched a career high (by far) 184 innings this year and had to be shut down due to soreness in his arm. Unless they get to the World Series, it looks like RD will not pitch again this year. Portland - Roger Lewis won't win the Cy Young this year, but he was still dominant on a poor team. He is 13-13, 3.21 and leads the league with 224 K's. He has also allowed only 162 hits in 221 innings. After a poor start to the season, JetStorm has been the best reliever in the league. On the year, he is 3-4 with a 2.60 ERA, and 41 saves. Los Angeles - It looks like Jake Cisco will have company as Hank Crowell is poised to win the 2nd triple crown in league history (and most likely the MVP as well). Crowell is hitting .338-46-122 and has a .410 OBA and a .647 SLG. Crowell leads the league in almost every hitting category known to man and is creating 10.4 RC/G. Damon Lewis is looking good in his cup of coffee season. Lewis will likely be the everyday centerfielder next year and will win a gold glove. In 79 ABs, the 21 year old jawa is hitting .329.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Chicago Winds

The Winds spent most of the season outside the playoff picture in the Superior League's weakest division, but have turned it on down the stretch to make a playoff bid. Heading into the final two days of the season, Chicago had pulled one game ahead of 2nd place Charlotte. They had two games left against Springfield, when the league informed them that they would have to play a double-header.

Problem was that back on June 11th, Chicago and Texas had a game cancelled by rain. The league decided only to have them make the game up if it had playoff implications, and it did. In game one Chicago sent Mike Jolley to the hill, having a a breakout year at 15-9, 3.59 ERA, and 230 strikeouts. Jolley did not have it, giving up 5 runs in 4 innings in an 8-7 loss. In game 2, due to the late schedule shift, Chicago had no starters left. Catfish North, a workhorse in long relief this year, pitched 5 1/3 innings for the win. The final score was 7-2 as Ray Hamilton, Dragomir, and Jim Koons all homered.

Chicago clinched a tie with the win. For game 162, they play Texas and Charlotte plays Toledo.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Miami in the playoffs

Miami scored a pair of runs in the 10th against Baltimore, and Bob Belardi struck out Joe Young to end the game, his 39th save. Miami clinched a tie with Las Vegas and finally eliminated Louisville, who had won 14 in a row.

Las Vegas, playing against Mars, took a 5-4 lead into the 9th thanks to a 2 run homer off the bat of Jose Harris. John LaRusso could not hold the lead, as Mike Reeder stole second and scored the tieing run on Hank Webb's single, and then Michael Johnson won the game with a`2 run homer.

The collapse is complete. While Boba Fett wants to punish his team, the league sent him a warning:

"No disintegrations"

Friday, September 12, 2008

Celebration on Mars

Dealt a tough hand, Las Vegas finally folded. They sent Joe Callahan to the mound and Joe had the worst inning of his career, allowing hits to the first 7 batters he faced. All seven scored. Callahan settled down and pitched into the 6th inning, but Las Vegas could not overcome the first inning and lost 9-4. They still have an outside shot at the wild card.

Pennant race update

The Superior League is playing ahead, and onto games of September 27th.

In the wild card, Miami (87-71) holds a 2.5 game lead over Las Vegas (84-73). Louisville seemed out of the race, and one more loss will finish them, but the Sluggers (83-75) have a 13 game winning streak going.

In the central, Chicago has pulled into a tie with Charlotte, 2.5 ahead of Springfield.

In the West, Mars (88-67) has a magic number of 2 as they prepare to play a 2 game series against Las Vegas. Las Vegas suffered a devastating defeat against Texas, blowing a one run lead in the 9th but also losing Kermit Holmes for the rest of the season.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Las Vegas in trouble

With 10 games to play, Las Vegas has fallen 4.5 games behind Mars. In a recent 2 game series, Mars won the opener 6-3. In the second game, Kurt Scherman gave Vegas a 1-0 lead, but in the second inning it was rained out. The game will be rescheduled for the final day of the season. Las Vegas had that day off, and Mars will play a doubleheader against Texas on the second to last day to accomodate the makeup game.

After the LV series, Mars won their next 2 against Utah.

Miami won an 18 inning game against Boston, then lost the next 2 games. They hold a 3.5 game lead in the wild card.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Colts clinch

Baltimore wins their division with an 8-3 win over Miami, their 100th win of the season. With 16 to play, they cannot tie the 1995 Ute record for team wins, but could wind up in second place if they can win 10 of 16.

Storm Morris (17-6) pitched 7 innings, allowing 2 hits and 1 run for the win. Joe Young hit his 36th homerun in the game. Darin Elam led the game off with his 4th homer, off Damon Collins.

Superior League Pennant Races as of 9/7

Miami defeated Baltimore in 13 innings to keep the race alive. Baltimore's magic number is 1, with a 99-46 record and a 17 game lead.

In the central, Charlotte (75-70) clings to a half game lead over Chicago and 2 games over Springfield. Bryan Brooks has not been the answer for the Isotopes, with a 1-4 record and 8.03 ERA since the trade.

On August 1st, Las Vegas held a 10 game lead over Mars. Since then, Mars has won 24 of 33 to take a 1.5 game lead. For Las Vegas, they may miss the playoffs if they can't catch Mars because they trail wild card Miami by 2.5 games.

Kermit Holmes and Conan are doing their best to pull the Gamblers out of their tailspin, since the trade from New York Holmes is hitting .356 in 14 games, with 12 runs and even 10 rbi. Holmes had only 1 stolen base for New York, but has 4 for Las Vegas. Conan is hitting .321 with one homer in 9 games.