Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Season 22 All Star Coverage

It's hard to believe the All Star game is already here in Season 22, but the festivities are getting under way and the All Star teams have been announced.  Tampa Bay (AL) led the way with 7 All Stars this season, followed by Dover (NL) with 6.  Boston (AL), Buffalo (NL) and Pittsburgh (NL) each had 5.

In the AL, only 9 teams had players on the squad.  Leading the way for the AL again, is the great one or Mr. Perfect, as he is known in some circles James Haselman, making his 11th All Star appearance in 11 seasons.  Roberto Bennett of Vancouver gets an honorable mention for making his 7th appearance.

In the NL, 12 teams were represented on the squad, and headlining is a pair of Dover teammates grabbing the headlines, as Mendy Kondou is making his 8th appearance, and Norman LaPorta is making his 7th.

Here are the complete All Star Rosters!

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Starters


Player Team Appearance
C Roger DuBose Boston 2nd
1B Vern Connelly Louisville 1st
2B Dustan Jackson Louisville 4th
3B Benjamin Delcarmen Rochester 1st
SS Dorian Hochevar Durham 1st
LF Stubby Shaw Boston 4th
CF Morgan Cerda Atlanta 3rd
RF Juan Mercado Charlotte 2nd
DH Arthur Stern Vancouver 1st




Pitchers


Player Team Appearance
P Walt White Charlotte 3rd
P James Haselman Tampa Bay 11th
P Edwin Radlosky Boston 4th
P Luis Valdes Durham 1st
P Gus Masaoka Atlanta 1st
P Victor Almanzar Boston 5th
P Terry Cameron Louisville 2nd
P Julio Sanchez Tampa Bay 4th
P Tony Saenz Tampa Bay 1st
P Footsie Blauser St. Louis 1st
P Logan Roberts Charlotte 1st
P Carlos Castro Tampa Bay 1st
P Vic Amaral Atlanta 1st




Reserves


Player Team Appearance
C Jimmie Newson St. Louis 1st
1B Eugene Brantley Tampa Bay 6th
2B Gerald Jacobsen Tampa Bay 2nd
3B Roberto Bennett Vancouver 7th
SS Pedro Cervelli Tampa Bay 1st
LF Midre Mantalban Vancouver 3rd
CF Aaron Kennedy Boston 3rd
RF William Sabathia Vancouver 5th

AL All-Stars by Team
Tampa Bay 7
Boston 5
Vancouver 4
Atlanta 3
Charlotte 3
Louisville 3
Durham 2
St. Louis 2
Rochester 1

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Starters


Player Team Appearance
C Stan Dickens Dover 4th
1B Victor Guzman Helena 1st
2B Benny Lee Pittsburgh 1st
3B Mendy Kondou Dover 8th
SS Albert Pineda Dover 6th
LF Felipe James Los Angeles 4th
CF Chris Nye Dover 3rd
RF Jerrod Griffiths Houston 2nd




Pitchers


Player Team Appearance
P Manuel Estrada Houston 3rd
P Homer Butler Los Angeles 5th
P Rodrigo Ontiveros Las Vegas 2nd
P Brent Voyles Ottawa 3rd
P Don Monahan Dover 3rd
P Jayson Klesko Austin 3rd
P Lewis Peterson Pittsburgh 2nd
P Norman LaPorta Dover 7th
P Edgar Henriquez Pittsburgh 2nd
P Welington Melendez Buffalo 2nd
P Pedro Mijares Pittsburgh 1st
P Juan Seanez Little Rock 2nd
P Antonio Ishida Buffalo 1st
P Dom Sturtze Austin 1st




Reserves


Player Team Appearance
C Dan Pall Helena 2nd
1B Howard Greer Pittsburgh 4th
2B Kevin Taylor Las Vegas 1st
3B Vic Rios Buffalo 1st
SS Hideo Sakamoto Salt Lake City 2nd
LF Pascual Hernandez Buffalo 4th
CF Timo Worrell Seattle 1st
RF Magglio Johnson Buffalo 1st
 
NL All-Stars by Team
Dover 6
Buffalo 5
Pittsburgh 5
Austin 2
Helena 2
Houston 2
Las Vegas 2
Los Angeles 2
Little Rock 1
Ottawa  1
Salt Lake City 1
Seattle 1

Friday, January 24, 2014

Season 22 Power Rankings # 2

We're exactly half way through season 22, so it's time to check in with another edition of the Power Rankings.  The top team hasn't changed, with Dover earning the top spot for the 11th straight edition of the Power Rankings.  Tampa Bay has been pushing hard to take over that top spot though, tying Dover for the best record since the last rankings and putting up very similar numbers.  Boston, Pittsburgh and Houston round out the top 5.   Here are the rest of the rankings, it should be a very interesting second half of the season!


Team  W L PREV    Comments
1 Dover 56 25 1 11 straight #1s and still rolling
2 Tampa Bay  54 27 5 Tremendous play since last rankings
3 Boston  55 26 4 Top offense, and pitching has been good
4 Pittsburgh  51 30 2 Numbers fell off a bit, but still playing well
5 Houston 49 32 9 Major improvement in pitching as of late
6 Buffalo  47 34 10 Great since last rankings thanks to pitching
7 Atlanta  47 34 3 If offense gets rolling, look out 
8 Little Rock 45 36 6 Hanging in there with solid offense
9 Durham  49 32 15 Hanging tough in a very good division
10 St. Louis 43 38 18 Solid across the board and playing well lately
11 Los Angeles 43 38 8 Getting it done, but division is very tough
12 Austin  43 38 20 Tremendous improvement across the board
13 Burlington  40 41 23 Looking good lately in a very tough division
14 Salt Lake City 40 41 11 Fell off a bit, but still looks like a solid team
15 Charlotte  42 39 19 Pretty steady, with pitching up, but bats down
16 Las Vegas 41 40 13 Solid all around and potential to be better 
17 Helena 40 41 12 Offense fell off , but still in the division race
18 Vancouver  38 43 16 Leading their division, for what it's worth
19 Louisville 37 44 22 Very good offense, but pitching has struggled
20 San Juan 40 41 24 Showed improvement since last rankings
21 Texas 38 43 26 Pitching has stepped it up as of late
22 Syracuse  40 41 27 Playing better as of late, which is a good sign
23 Detroit  34 47 25 Improving, but pitching has been an issue
24 Salem 35 46 7 It's been a total disaster since the last rankings
25 Ottawa 37 44 14 Major drop off in offense as of late
26 Colorado Springs 36 45 17 They've gone into full rebuild mode, it seems
27 New York  37 44 21 Drop off overall since the last rankings
28 Seattle  27 54 30 Need more offense, but did improve some
29 Rochester 33 48 28 In rebuild mode, and Lamb isn't his usual self
30 Philadelphia 25 56 32 Showed some improvement since last rankings
31 San Francisco 25 56 31 Pitching has been much better as of late
32 Jacksonville 29 52 29 Pitching fell off, but bats have been better

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Season 22 Power Rankings # 1

We're about a quarter of the way through Season 22, and it's quite a battle out there.   The entire NL West is over .500, proving to be the most competitive division this season.  Last season, Dover was a clear cut #1 the entire season, this season a number of teams have made it a tough call early on to name the top team, but in the end a decision had to be made.  By the slimmest of margins, your #1 team in the first rankings is Dover.  Dover hangs on to the top spot with outstanding pitching and a great offense.  Pittsburgh comes in at #2, basically the tiebreaker was Pittsburgh went 3-4 vs. #1 Dover in their 7 games this season.  Self proclaimed Season 22 champion Atlanta bolts up the rankings to #3, while offensive juggernaut Boston comes in at #4, with ever steady Tampa rounding out the top 5.   It's been a tremendous battle out of the gate, here's hoping the great competition continues!   Here are your complete first power rankings!





Team  W L PREV   Comments
1 Dover 26 14 1 Great so far, but a lot of teams knocking at their door
2 Pittsburgh  27 13 7 Very close #2, 3-4 vs. Dover is the tiebreaker, great start
3 Atlanta  27 13 12 Owner predicted WS title, and is living up to the hype
4 Boston  27 13 10 Offense is crushing it, pitching ok but not great
5 Tampa Bay  24 16 3 Solid as expected, great pitching and good offense
6 Little Rock 23 17 11 Pitching has been rough so far, but still winning games
7 Salem 24 16 16 Leading  AL West that has produced last 4 WS reps
8 Los Angeles 21 19 4 Incredibly tough division so far, but hanging in there
9 Houston 24 16 9 Numbers not great so far, but winning percentage is 
10 Buffalo  21 19 6 Mediocre start, but numbers still look pretty good
11 Salt Lake City 22 18 17 Numbers are great, but no losing teams in the division
12 Helena 23 17 20 Offense is clicking, but the pitching has been roughed up
13 Las Vegas 23 17 21 Pretty solid across the board in all over .500 NL West
14 Ottawa 23 17 22 Nice start here, the offense is sure rolling so far
15 Durham  25 15 23 Putting up Durham numbers and winning games so far
16 Vancouver  18 22 2 Rough start, but they are known to bounce back
17 Colorado Springs 19 21 5 Seem to be looking to the future a bit with a few trades
18 St. Louis 20 20 8 Solid numbers show room for improvement in record
19 Charlotte  21 19 15 Doing good so far, but tough competition this season
20 Austin  20 20 25 Hanging in there, we'll see if the bats can pick it up some
21 New York  21 19 30 Leading division, but there are a lot of good teams 
22 Louisville 17 23 14 Numbers aren't bad, record could improve a bit
23 Burlington  17 23 19 Stats are up this season, but division is really tough
24 San Juan 19 21 24 Pitching has taken a hit so far, but record is not bad
25 Detroit  15 25 18 Pitching has been down a bit, but getting good offense
26 Texas 16 24 27 Didn't play great the first quarter, but could bounce back
27 Syracuse  18 22 28 Pitching hasn't gotten the job done so far this season
28 Rochester 15 25 13 Numbers haven't been great, but could improve
29 Jacksonville 13 27 32 Pitching isn't bad, but offense is practically non-existent
30 Seattle  10 30 29 Rough start, they're better than a .250 winning % team
31 San Francisco 11 29 26 Guess the move from Colorado didn't help all that much
32 Philadelphia 10 30 31 The bats aren't good enough right now to contend.