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

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

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.