The Less Filling playoff picture clarified itself dramatically when the Seattle Pilots closed out their season strong, sweeping both Georgia and Grundy County.
The 91-71 Pilots will represent the Less Filling as the Wildcard team in the 2007 NASBL Playoffs.
What remains to be seen is whether their 1st round opponent will be the Vermont Fighting Sioux, or the Dallas Fort Worth Spurs. Both division winners (presumptively in the case of the Sioux, whose magic number is still technically at 1, with the New York Knights dangling by the proverbial thread) are within percentage points of one another.
Over in the TG, the East is still technically wide open, with Honolulu yet to eliminate either Springfield or Lake Champlain from either the division title or Wildcard hopes. Nevertheless, the Hawaiians are in the driver's seat for the division crown, and Springfield holds all the cards in the WC chase.
In the TG South, Outlaw now holds a 1/2 game edge over Texas, with New Jersey 4 games back.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Home Not so Sweet Home for DFW
Bk-3 finds the Spurs struggling to finish at .500 at home going 9-9, while on the road they posted an 11-9 record. During a 5 game series the Spurs went 0-3 vs HHA, and 0-2 vs LCC, and they had their 'heads' handed to them (all net-play). The LCC series was a 'Blood Bath'! LCC out scored DFW 22-1. "I was afraid they wanted to film a slasher movie. There wasn't that much blood in the movie Halloween", stated C Victor Martinez. "If we weren't getting or brains beat out, we were getting numbed to death". When asked what he meant, Martinez continued, "A blop single here, a seeing eye single there. A wild pitch here or passed ball there. You know numbed to death". When a reporter asked V-Mart, "Well when the Spurs are the team getting the seeing eye singles and the all the breaks (splits!!) you consider that making things happen right"? V-Mart just gave him a smile and a wink.
What also is puzzling is that DFW has a better road record 43-23 than they do home record 44-32!
What also is puzzling is that DFW has a better road record 43-23 than they do home record 44-32!
Monday, August 6, 2007
Sioux stars shine bright in mid-season classic - Commish Beard Still Confused
The All-Star game means lots of things to lots of people. For the Vermont Fighting Sioux participants it meant this:
A chance to excel on a big stage and bask in the spotlight
Showcasing the deep talent pool that is the VFS roster
And most importantly, lock up home field advantage for the NASBL World Series. We are expecting NASBL GM Steve "Bud" Beard to announce that the NASBL will mirror MLB's practice of awarding home field to the winning league in the All Star game. However, it's worth noting that we have lost many a bet expecting "Triple Bogie" Beard to do the right thing.
So, with the stage set to achieve the above goals, here's how the Sioux players did:
- Albert Pujols, HR, Game MVP
- John Lackey, Perfect IP, winning pitcher
- Jorge Posada, 3 run HR
When cornered at the game, Triple Bogie's confused state was captured on camera.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
At the end of BK-2 lets take a look around the NASBL. We'll look at the Less Filling Division. WEST
DFW leads the West with a record 67-38. Lead by SS C.Guillen .319
ba/14hr/70rbi, 3B F.Sanchez .333 and T.Hafner .297ba/33hr/103rbi. The Spurs lead the LF Division with a team BA of .294. The most surprising thing is their also lead the LF Division in team ERA of
4.30. The pitching is lead by D.Bush 11-5, 3.43era with G.Maddux 9-7, 4.74era, and K.Rogers 9-6, 5.63. The biggest surprise for DFW
is closer F.Rodriquez(K-Rod) who is having an outstanding year with
30 saves and is 1-1, 2.57era.
MSU find themselves in 2nd place with 58-46 record 8.5 games out.
They do lead the WC race by 3 games. The offense is lead by 3B D.
Wright .321ba/18hr/70rbi and R.Ibanez .309ba/24ba/61rbi. The table
setter is SS J.Reyes has scored 82 runs and leads the league in SB with 60 and has been throw out only twice. The pitching staff has four 9 game winners in D.Lowe,J.Westbrook, M. Morris, B.Howry [a reliever] and J.Beckett with 8 wins. To help beef up the staff for the stretch run they traded for Jason Schmidt. Closer JJ Putz has 27 saves a with a record of 4-2 with a minuscule era of 1.17!
TRY are in 3rd place 11.5 out with a record 54-48. They are only 3 games out in the WC race. With a big BK-2, TRY raised their team BA to .291. Lead by C. Crawford .329ba/78r/93b/15hr/60rbi, I. Suzuki .323 and V. Wells .250ba/14hr/61rbi. TRY is 3rd in the NASBL with a 103 team SB. The pitching is lead by K.Millwood 12-5, 480era and C.Hensley 8-4, 5.49. The strength of the team is the relief staff. 5 relievers have pitched a minimum of 30 games with a combined record of 19-10. The Closer BJ Ryan is 5-3, 2.25era and has 22 saves.
SPL even with a winning record of 55-51, are 12.5 games of in the West, but only 4 games out in the WC. The hitting is lead by C J. Mauer .338ba/14hr/59rbi, P. Konerko .288ba/26hr/73rbi. The pitching is lead by F.Garcia 11-6, 3.49era and J. Lieber 9-4, 4.93era. Rookie phoenum F. Hernandez is 7-11, 6.83era has been throw to the wolves but has shown signs of brilliance. SPL is hoping the trade that brought them J. Dye and future HOF R. Clemens can jump start them to make up ground in their play off hunt. Also look for INF E. German to have a Big impact the last half of the season.
DFW leads the West with a record 67-38. Lead by SS C.Guillen .319
ba/14hr/70rbi, 3B F.Sanchez .333 and T.Hafner .297ba/33hr/103rbi. The Spurs lead the LF Division with a team BA of .294. The most surprising thing is their also lead the LF Division in team ERA of
4.30. The pitching is lead by D.Bush 11-5, 3.43era with G.Maddux 9-7, 4.74era, and K.Rogers 9-6, 5.63. The biggest surprise for DFW
is closer F.Rodriquez(K-Rod) who is having an outstanding year with
30 saves and is 1-1, 2.57era.
MSU find themselves in 2nd place with 58-46 record 8.5 games out.
They do lead the WC race by 3 games. The offense is lead by 3B D.
Wright .321ba/18hr/70rbi and R.Ibanez .309ba/24ba/61rbi. The table
setter is SS J.Reyes has scored 82 runs and leads the league in SB with 60 and has been throw out only twice. The pitching staff has four 9 game winners in D.Lowe,J.Westbrook, M. Morris, B.Howry [a reliever] and J.Beckett with 8 wins. To help beef up the staff for the stretch run they traded for Jason Schmidt. Closer JJ Putz has 27 saves a with a record of 4-2 with a minuscule era of 1.17!
TRY are in 3rd place 11.5 out with a record 54-48. They are only 3 games out in the WC race. With a big BK-2, TRY raised their team BA to .291. Lead by C. Crawford .329ba/78r/93b/15hr/60rbi, I. Suzuki .323 and V. Wells .250ba/14hr/61rbi. TRY is 3rd in the NASBL with a 103 team SB. The pitching is lead by K.Millwood 12-5, 480era and C.Hensley 8-4, 5.49. The strength of the team is the relief staff. 5 relievers have pitched a minimum of 30 games with a combined record of 19-10. The Closer BJ Ryan is 5-3, 2.25era and has 22 saves.
SPL even with a winning record of 55-51, are 12.5 games of in the West, but only 4 games out in the WC. The hitting is lead by C J. Mauer .338ba/14hr/59rbi, P. Konerko .288ba/26hr/73rbi. The pitching is lead by F.Garcia 11-6, 3.49era and J. Lieber 9-4, 4.93era. Rookie phoenum F. Hernandez is 7-11, 6.83era has been throw to the wolves but has shown signs of brilliance. SPL is hoping the trade that brought them J. Dye and future HOF R. Clemens can jump start them to make up ground in their play off hunt. Also look for INF E. German to have a Big impact the last half of the season.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
My 2 cents......
At the end of BK-2 lets take a look around the NASBL. We'll look at the Less Filling Division. CENTRAL
VFS are in 1st place with record of 62-41. The Sioux are having their best season in years. Six starters are hitting over .300 lead by 1B A. Pujols .328ba/38hr/99rbi. 1st Rd pick R. Zimmerman is struggling to get use to NASBL pitching batting just .238, but has 302b/9hr/59rbi. The pitching is lead by John Lackey 12-4, 3.63era and Brett Myers 9-6, 411era. Closer Billy Wagner has 22 saves with a 1.27era. The other 1st Rd pick Nelson Liriano is tearing up the NASBL with a 8-1 record and has 92 K's in just 68 ip and will push for ROY honors.
NYK 52-50 The young Knights are in 2nd place 9.5 games behind VFS, but are only 5 games out in the WC race. NYK has a .289 team batting average and are lead by Garrett Atkins.304ba/13hr/73rbi and Billy Hall .291ba/25hr/76rbi. The pitching is the big reason the NYK are in contention. 1st Rd pick Matt Cain is 11-7, 5.60era with 3 CG. 2nd Rd pick closer T. Saito is 4-1, 1.85era and 22 saves. Saito is the guy the NYKbeen looking for to come in and close out games. If they continue to play team ball they should be in the thick of things in September.
PCM 50-54-- Find themselves in unfamiliar territory. They are 12.5 games behind in the South and 8 games out in the WC race. CF Tori Hunter leads the team .310ba/27hr/65rbi and 1st Rd pick Prince Fielder .266ba/15hr/51 rbi is a star in the making. The pitching is the reason PCM is struggling. It's all or nothing. Two starters are responsible for half the teams wins, J.Santana 13-7, 4.12era and B.Arroyo 13-5, 4.41era. Then there is Dan Haren 3-10, 5.69era and P.Martinez 3-8, 5.44era PCM has won '7' straight South Titles. They will need a big second half to make it '8'.
GCG 33-71- If one team knows the term 'growing pains', it's GCG. They made the biggest off-season trade with HHA when they traded R.Oswalt and P.Burrell for M.Cabrera and M.Buehrle. Cabrera leads the team in hitting .320 but hasn't been a big run producer. They are building a young team with the likes of Cabrera, 1B- J. J.Morneau, C- R.Martin and SS-S.Drew. INF-K.Youkilis has been a pleasant surprise .300ba/10hr/52rbi and NASBL stolen base thief J.Pierre has 59 steals in 70 attempts. The pitching which looks like a MASH unit is struggling. M.Prior 1-5, 5.80era, J.Moyer 3-13, 6.37era and V.Padillia 2-13, 7.26era. Young Closer C.Ray has on the job training 2-3, 6.47era and 7 saves.
VFS are in 1st place with record of 62-41. The Sioux are having their best season in years. Six starters are hitting over .300 lead by 1B A. Pujols .328ba/38hr/99rbi. 1st Rd pick R. Zimmerman is struggling to get use to NASBL pitching batting just .238, but has 302b/9hr/59rbi. The pitching is lead by John Lackey 12-4, 3.63era and Brett Myers 9-6, 411era. Closer Billy Wagner has 22 saves with a 1.27era. The other 1st Rd pick Nelson Liriano is tearing up the NASBL with a 8-1 record and has 92 K's in just 68 ip and will push for ROY honors.
NYK 52-50 The young Knights are in 2nd place 9.5 games behind VFS, but are only 5 games out in the WC race. NYK has a .289 team batting average and are lead by Garrett Atkins.304ba/13hr/73rbi and Billy Hall .291ba/25hr/76rbi. The pitching is the big reason the NYK are in contention. 1st Rd pick Matt Cain is 11-7, 5.60era with 3 CG. 2nd Rd pick closer T. Saito is 4-1, 1.85era and 22 saves. Saito is the guy the NYKbeen looking for to come in and close out games. If they continue to play team ball they should be in the thick of things in September.
PCM 50-54-- Find themselves in unfamiliar territory. They are 12.5 games behind in the South and 8 games out in the WC race. CF Tori Hunter leads the team .310ba/27hr/65rbi and 1st Rd pick Prince Fielder .266ba/15hr/51 rbi is a star in the making. The pitching is the reason PCM is struggling. It's all or nothing. Two starters are responsible for half the teams wins, J.Santana 13-7, 4.12era and B.Arroyo 13-5, 4.41era. Then there is Dan Haren 3-10, 5.69era and P.Martinez 3-8, 5.44era PCM has won '7' straight South Titles. They will need a big second half to make it '8'.
GCG 33-71- If one team knows the term 'growing pains', it's GCG. They made the biggest off-season trade with HHA when they traded R.Oswalt and P.Burrell for M.Cabrera and M.Buehrle. Cabrera leads the team in hitting .320 but hasn't been a big run producer. They are building a young team with the likes of Cabrera, 1B- J. J.Morneau, C- R.Martin and SS-S.Drew. INF-K.Youkilis has been a pleasant surprise .300ba/10hr/52rbi and NASBL stolen base thief J.Pierre has 59 steals in 70 attempts. The pitching which looks like a MASH unit is struggling. M.Prior 1-5, 5.80era, J.Moyer 3-13, 6.37era and V.Padillia 2-13, 7.26era. Young Closer C.Ray has on the job training 2-3, 6.47era and 7 saves.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
News and Notes from Illinois
Illinois and LCC Complete 2nd Trade
Illinois sent David Dellucci and Kiko Calero to Lake Champlain for Casey Blake and John Rauch. This trade should help LCC in the pennant race and give the Chows more flexibility at the corner positions for next season.
Chows Petition NASBL to hold Draft at Seventies Stadium
After acquiring two first round picks via trade, GM Brad Sherlag is formally petitioning the league to hold the live draft at Seventies Stadium this off-season. “It would be a real boost for our small season ticket base if they could come out and see the draft in person. Having the home team go to the podium three times would add some excitement to the event that I am sure the home viewers on ESPN2 would enjoy. We may not have a posh club to hold the event in like some of the more expensive stadiums, but we do have a banquet room in the lower lever that would fit the draft teams, the commentators and some fans. We hope Commissioner Beard will see this as an exciting opportunity and allow the great people of Illinois the chance to host the draft.”
Can’t Tell the Players without a Program
As the second half of the NASBL season gets underway, you may not recognize your Chows. Of the 30 Chows that broke with the club over a quarter of the roster has turned over. Only eight holdovers remain in place from when Brad Sherlag purchased the old Yorktown franchise. Those eight are Beltran, Beltre, Barrett, Kearns, Dunn, Halliday, Speier and Gagne. Vidro was with Yorktown, however he was released by the Chows and re-acquired via the draft.
Illinois sent David Dellucci and Kiko Calero to Lake Champlain for Casey Blake and John Rauch. This trade should help LCC in the pennant race and give the Chows more flexibility at the corner positions for next season.
Chows Petition NASBL to hold Draft at Seventies Stadium
After acquiring two first round picks via trade, GM Brad Sherlag is formally petitioning the league to hold the live draft at Seventies Stadium this off-season. “It would be a real boost for our small season ticket base if they could come out and see the draft in person. Having the home team go to the podium three times would add some excitement to the event that I am sure the home viewers on ESPN2 would enjoy. We may not have a posh club to hold the event in like some of the more expensive stadiums, but we do have a banquet room in the lower lever that would fit the draft teams, the commentators and some fans. We hope Commissioner Beard will see this as an exciting opportunity and allow the great people of Illinois the chance to host the draft.”
Can’t Tell the Players without a Program
As the second half of the NASBL season gets underway, you may not recognize your Chows. Of the 30 Chows that broke with the club over a quarter of the roster has turned over. Only eight holdovers remain in place from when Brad Sherlag purchased the old Yorktown franchise. Those eight are Beltran, Beltre, Barrett, Kearns, Dunn, Halliday, Speier and Gagne. Vidro was with Yorktown, however he was released by the Chows and re-acquired via the draft.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
My 2 cents.....
At the end of BK-2 lets take a look around the NASBL. We will start with the Taste Great Division. SOUTH
Their are so many things that could be said tongue in cheek about the South. We are going to take the high road. OK how about this-- 1st team to 74 victories wins the Division.
TTB leads the division with a 49-56 record. They are tied with HHA with a League Leading team BA of .296. TTB is lead by the duo of OF Matt Holiday .347ba/30hr/76rbi and young slugging 1B Ryan Howard .285ba/37hr/92rbi. The Achilles heal for TTB is their pitching. They have team era of 5.89. Chris Young is 11-5, 5.26era & Gil Meche is 10-7 5.97era. Stopper Akinori Otsuka is 3-5, 3.93era, but has 18 saves. TTB needs to out slug their opponents to win the division.
NJT is in second place 6 games behind in the South with 43-62 record. They closely mirror TTB with a team BA of .293 but a league worst 6.14era. J.Damon .326ba/18hr/63rbi, A.Rodriquez .307
ba/19hr/77rbi and R. Sexson .291ba/27hr/82rbi our doing their part in leading NJT in hitting. The very un-NJT perforamnce is the pitching staff. Future HOF R.Johnson is only 6-8 with a 4.64era [very un-Johnson-isk]. J.Bonderman is 10-10 with a 5.78era and F.Cordero is 2-4-18saves and a 5.35era. No pitcher on the staff has an era under 4.50!
OJW is in third place 7 games out with a record of 43-64. The hitting is lead by M.Ramirez .281ba/25hr/67 rbi, J.Bay
.260ba/29hr/70rbi, having a bit of a slow start are A.Soriano
.242 however with 28hr/77rbi and A.Ramirez with.234ba/22hr/57hr.
The problem for the Whales is their pitching. Youngster's Jake Peavy is 8-8, 4.53era and Scott Kamir 7-4, 4.19 are doing their part but veterans Tim Hudson 4-10, 5.80era and Andy Pettitte 6-10, 6.44era. The vets need to turn things around to 'Make my Day' for OJW fans.
GRK the Defending Champs find themselves with a record 40-67. GRK started rebuilding when they traded All-World Roger Clemens and J.Dye to SPL for OF Alex Rios and P Noah Lowry. Then they traded Jason Scmidt and Y. Torrealba and GRK 5th in 2008 to MSU for Joe Crede, Chris Britton and MSU 2nd in 2008. Valdy Guerrero is having
a monster year hitting .362/33hr/94rbi. Valdy said "Me kno care what front office do, me here to pla beezsball"!
Their are so many things that could be said tongue in cheek about the South. We are going to take the high road. OK how about this-- 1st team to 74 victories wins the Division.
TTB leads the division with a 49-56 record. They are tied with HHA with a League Leading team BA of .296. TTB is lead by the duo of OF Matt Holiday .347ba/30hr/76rbi and young slugging 1B Ryan Howard .285ba/37hr/92rbi. The Achilles heal for TTB is their pitching. They have team era of 5.89. Chris Young is 11-5, 5.26era & Gil Meche is 10-7 5.97era. Stopper Akinori Otsuka is 3-5, 3.93era, but has 18 saves. TTB needs to out slug their opponents to win the division.
NJT is in second place 6 games behind in the South with 43-62 record. They closely mirror TTB with a team BA of .293 but a league worst 6.14era. J.Damon .326ba/18hr/63rbi, A.Rodriquez .307
ba/19hr/77rbi and R. Sexson .291ba/27hr/82rbi our doing their part in leading NJT in hitting. The very un-NJT perforamnce is the pitching staff. Future HOF R.Johnson is only 6-8 with a 4.64era [very un-Johnson-isk]. J.Bonderman is 10-10 with a 5.78era and F.Cordero is 2-4-18saves and a 5.35era. No pitcher on the staff has an era under 4.50!
OJW is in third place 7 games out with a record of 43-64. The hitting is lead by M.Ramirez .281ba/25hr/67 rbi, J.Bay
.260ba/29hr/70rbi, having a bit of a slow start are A.Soriano
.242 however with 28hr/77rbi and A.Ramirez with.234ba/22hr/57hr.
The problem for the Whales is their pitching. Youngster's Jake Peavy is 8-8, 4.53era and Scott Kamir 7-4, 4.19 are doing their part but veterans Tim Hudson 4-10, 5.80era and Andy Pettitte 6-10, 6.44era. The vets need to turn things around to 'Make my Day' for OJW fans.
GRK the Defending Champs find themselves with a record 40-67. GRK started rebuilding when they traded All-World Roger Clemens and J.Dye to SPL for OF Alex Rios and P Noah Lowry. Then they traded Jason Scmidt and Y. Torrealba and GRK 5th in 2008 to MSU for Joe Crede, Chris Britton and MSU 2nd in 2008. Valdy Guerrero is having
a monster year hitting .362/33hr/94rbi. Valdy said "Me kno care what front office do, me here to pla beezsball"!
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