Pastime Baseball League
April Review (cont.)
Southern League Report
The defending champion New Orleans Knights have picked up right where they left off last season, going 17-8 in April to get off to a first-place start. The trio of Mark Prior (3-2, 2.89), Doc McJames (4-1, 2.65) and Dontrelle Willis (4-1, 2.11) are leading the way, with the Knights having posted a collective 3.05 ERA so far. The losses of Topsy Hartsel (broken hand) and Curtis Granderson (hamstring) haven't derailed the champs, whose biggest change is the position swap of Ross Barnes and George Wright - Barnes now plays short and Wright plays second.
Tim Keefe is on his way to being the comeback story of the year if he can keep this up. The Orlando Orcas traded spare part Tom Brown to Arizona to get Keefe, who is universally regarded as having great potential but lost 24 games last year. So far, Keefe has posted a 2.57 ERA and hurled four complete games in five starts as the Orcas stand at 13-11, led by Sam Crawford (.340-5-24).
The Memphis Strummers stand at .500, getting the usual great performance from 2-time Outstanding Hitter Oscar Charleston, and surprise production from Ty Wigginton (.357-3-18). Ryan Braun (.203-6-24) is producing runs despite few hits, while Ichiro has found himself assigned to the bench to start the year in a surprising move. On the hill, Tim Lincecum (4-2, 3.33), Lady Baldwin (3-2, 3.57) and Frank Dwyer (3-0, 3.22) have led the rotation to a good start, though the bullpen's ERA is above 7.
It looks like the Arizona Sandmen have found an infield that sticks. For the first year-and-a-half of their existence, the Sandmen shuffled second base, shortstop and third base with mixed results. Late last year, they cemented Willie Wells at shortstop and moved the speedy Jose Reyes from short to second. Wells (.265-3-14) has been a rock at short, and Reyes (.347-1-8 with 9 steals) is becoming the dynamic force Arizona anticipated when drafting him. At first, Ryan Howard (.259-6-19) may well be the best trade pickup in the PBL's short history.
The Las Vegas Bosses are somewhat mirroring the Northern League's Philadelphia Ringers. The Bosses are 5th in OPS, yet league the South in runs behind 7 homers from Alejandro Oms, who has become one of the PBL's best players. The consistent Jouett Meekin (3-0, 2.70) is off to a fine start.
The San Antonio Sheriffs have the best early 1-2-3 punch of any pitching staff. Ted Trent (2-1, 1.82), Dick Rudolph (4-1, 1.06) and Joe McGinnity (4-1, 2.34) have been brilliant, offsetting the struggling start of Brandon Webb (0-4, 6.61) to keep a struggling lineup - hurt by injuries to leadoff man Scott Podsednik (broken hand) and Buck O'Neil (quad strain) - afloat.
Despite having the three Player of the Week award winners, one of whom was the Batter of the Month, the Los Angeles Idols are 8-16.
AWARDS
Player of the Week
4/11 1B Fred Tenney - Los Angeles Idols
4/18 CF Mike Donlin - Los Angeles Idols
4/25 C Cal McVey - Los Angeles Idols
Batter of the Month
1B Fred Tenney - Los Angeles Idols
Pitcher of the Month
Dick Rudolph - San Antonio Sheriffs
Rookie of the Month
1B Chad Tracy - New Orleans Knights