Pastime Baseball League
April Review
EAST DIVISION
The Pastime Baseball League's fifth campaign started with the Louisville Racers jumping out to the division lead behind the duo of Nig Cuppy (5-0, 1.27) and Shawn Chacon (3-1, 1.55). While the Northern League has struggled offensively as a whole in the first month, batting only .248 collectively in the early going, the heart of Dan Brouthers (.320-5-16), Joe Kelley (.304-3-16) and a fast start by Hardy Richardson (.277-8-23) have put the Racers in the early driver's seat. It helps that closer Francisco Rodriguez has been perfect in 11 appearances thus far.
The New York Heroes sit two games back despite the loss of first-round pick Joe Morgan to a herniated disc. He'll be out until the end of May after hitting .438 in his first 10 games. Despite the blow, New York leads the Northern League in runs (133) and batting average (.272), led by Irish Meusel (.349) and David Wright (.302). Fielder Jones, who hit 13 homers last season, hit 7 in the first month. After a 7-9 start, the Heroes have won 9 of their last 10.
Three of the expansion clubs are in the cellar. The one who isn't? The Boston Riders, who have hammered 31 homers (second in the Northern League) and took a stunning three-game sweep in Wichita last week. Leading the pitching is Jim Palmer (3-1, 2.61), getting backing from Rube Foster (3-2, 3.41) and closer Dennis Martinez - perfect in 11 games with 10 saves. Harry Stovey and rookie Buck Leonard have each homered five times, while Jumbo Kimbro, Rick Reichardt and Dan Uggla have each hit four.
It's not what we're used to seeing from the Philadelphia Ringers, but at present their offense ranks ninth in the Northern League, while they have allowed the fewest runs in the league. Micah Owings (2-1, 2.90), Jeff Francis (2-2, 3.59) and a surprising Joel Pineiro (4-2, 1.66) have led the way there, while Charley Jones' five homers pace the struggling offense.
The Charlotte Cougars have dropped 8 of 10 to fall into the Eastern cellar. They've had some good performances, though, as Ben Sheets (3-1, 2.49) and Rick Sutcliffe (2-2, 2.02) look formidable while on offense reigning Outstanding Hitter John Beckwith (.324-4-19) and Paul Hines (.394-6-15) lead the way.