Belgians Making Waffles Out of European League
Code:
America/Asia Standings
Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10
RC Mounted Baseballists 15 5 .750 - 13-7 2 10-1 5-4 1-0 5-0 142 W3 6-4
Mexico City Aztecs 11 6 .647 2.5 11-6 0 5-2 6-4 1-1 1-4 L3 7-3
Chicago Defenders 11 8 .579 3.5 12-7 -1 4-7 7-1 0-1 2-2 W2 5-5
Cincinnati Reds 9 8 .529 4.5 8-9 1 5-5 4-3 1-1 5-2 W3 7-3
New York Giants 8 8 .500 5.0 9-7 -1 4-3 4-5 1-0 2-4 L2 5-5
USA Baseball Engineers 10 10 .500 5.0 10-10 0 8-7 2-3 1-3 2-4 L4 4-6
Rio de Janeiro Carnival 9 10 .474 5.5 10-9 -1 5-3 4-7 0-0 0-0 L1 6-4
Shanghai Dragons 10 12 .455 6.0 11-11 -1 4-4 6-8 1-0 5-5 L1 6-4
Tokyo Rising Sun 6 10 .375 7.0 6-10 0 3-6 3-4 0-1 3-3 W3 4-6
Sydney Outback 4 16 .200 11.0 5-15 -1 3-4 1-12 1-0 2-3 L5 1-9
European League Standings
Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10
Brussels Painters 18 4 .818 - 17-5 1 12-2 6-2 1-0 2-0 137 L1 9-1
Amsterdam Admirals 13 8 .619 4.5 10-11 3 7-3 6-5 0-1 2-0 L2 7-3
Paris Revolutions 11 8 .579 5.5 8-11 3 7-5 4-3 1-0 2-1 L1 6-4
London Monarchs 12 9 .571 5.5 13-8 -1 4-3 8-6 1-0 3-1 L1 6-4
Rome Cardinals 12 9 .571 5.5 11-10 1 7-7 5-2 1-1 6-3 W2 7-3
Athens Philosophers 8 11 .421 8.5 9-10 -1 4-3 4-8 0-0 1-2 W3 3-7
Moscow Proletariat 7 12 .368 9.5 8-11 -1 5-5 2-7 1-1 2-3 L5 4-6
Berlin Teutonic Knights 8 14 .364 10.0 8-14 0 5-8 3-6 0-0 0-4 W1 5-5
Madrid Matadors 7 13 .350 10.0 7-13 0 4-4 3-9 0-0 0-3 W1 2-8
Vienna Musik 6 14 .300 11.0 8-12 -2 4-3 2-11 1-3 3-4 W1 1-9
All offseason long the baseball people in
Brussels watched the League of Nations with a mixture of envy and anger. While other countries concentrated on restoring their economies following the Great War, Belgium spent much of 1919 engineering what they thought would be the greatest baseball team ever assembled. Athletic Belgians were hand-picked from across their tiny nation and drafted into the Painters, where they drilled for hours a day throughout the summer. So far, the fruits of their efforts have been citrusy and delicious.
The Painters featured both the Batter of the month in 1B
Gary Lemaitre (.378, 2 HR, 15 RBI) and EURO Rookie of the Month
Olaf Mathijssen (4-1, 1.00 ERA). They've nearly doubled their opponents' run totals, 125 to 68, and look nigh unstoppable. The only bits of good news for the rest of the European League is that it's very, very early and there is still the #2 position to win.
Canada's rise has been quite a bit less heralded by the worldwide press; after all, they're just picking up where they left off in 1919. Also, their success is muted a bit by the news that 1B
MacKillan Dwywy (.367, 4, 20) will miss the next two months with a torn muscle in his midsection. There was a malicious rumor spread that the injury caused a hole to rupture in his stomach and beer was seen to pour out; this was not true.
Chasing .400
At this moment there are 5 baseballists with batting averages over the mythical .400 mark. These players are:
Luis Vargas, 2B, Mexico City .456. We can say for sure that Vargas will end the season over .400, but it's not good news for the Aztecs. On the 27th of April the speedy second sacker out of the town of Chetumal broke his ankle and will not return to action until 1921.
Gerd Michelson, 2B, Brussels, .416. What is it with second basemen and hiting for average? We know it's not exactly a fielder's position, but jeez. Gerd has shown absolutely no power so far this season and that will probably not help his cause, but as long as the first line of his BA begins with a 4 he's got a good shot.
Aurochs Eckhardt, 1B, Berlin, .410. Eckhardt's been carrying a Teutonic Knights club that so far has not lived up to the high expectations one associates with a playoff berth. Well, you can't blame Berlin's 8-14 on Eckhardt at least. The reigning EURO MVP has 8 extra base hits to go along with his plus-.400 average.
Raimondo Pazzi, SS, Rome, .410. Pazzi's play is a big part of why the Rome Cardinals are right up there in the thick of it. Pazzi went largely unnoticed last year despite hitting .337 while fielding the toughest position in the game. Now the 24-year-old thinks it's time to get some recognition.
Kevin Martin, CF, Sydney, .400. The Sydney Outback have decided to go with the strategy of trying to out-bludgeon their opponents, in the hopes that they'll get tired of running around on the bases against Sydney's horrendous pitching and will then commit errors of their own in the field. So far, that has not worked so well. Nonetheless, Kevin Martin is getting his. His .400 average includes a scorching .481 in the Outback home Professionals' Ballpark, and he turns the effort up with runners in scoring position, hitting .438 with men about to come home.