THE ROOKIE OF THE
YEAR RACE
A meeting of the minds not so long ago over
some pretty bitchin $2.50 mini-pitchers at splitz allowed a few other players to get themselves into
the rookie of the year race this season.
In previous years, only those who had not played in any prior season
were eligible to win ROTY. However, it
was decided that rookies will now also include those who played in only one
week in the previous season, which opens the door for a handful of other SBL
superstars this season, and should make for an interesting rookie game.
Here is how I see this years
rookie of the year race playing out if voting where to take place today:
Winner- Opie Neff, Fleshy Funbridges
19 GP, .380 AVG., 44 RBI, 14
HR, 2 AST, 19 DP, 0 PSY, 9 DUMB
As of now, the ROTY is Opie’s
to lose. He’ll get some competition down
the stretch, and there are probably more talented players in the ’08 rookie
class, but no rookie has shown up as consistently or meant more to his
squad. Right now, this is a no-brainer.
Runner-up: Tim
Martin, Laser Cats
8 GP, .527 AVG., 23 RBI, 3
HR, 4 AST, 15 DP, 0 PSY, 2 DUMB
One of the beneficiaries of the new rule,
Martin has been a solid 3rd or 4th for the Cats this
season. He may well be the most talented
rookie, but his lack of games played (including his seeming unwillingness to
play for jukebox here) may cost him. If
he shows up in the final three weeks he’ll close the gap fast.
3: Chris Pacsi,
7 GP, .383 AVG., 28 RBI, 13
HR, 1 AST, 13 DP, 0 PSY, 5 DUMB
I’d put Pacsi and
Martin neck and neck right now for the 2-spot.
After a strong early season showing that had him way out in front of the
pack, Pacsi has been a no show for three weeks in a
row. As a result, he’s now in the middle
of the pack. He definitely has the
skills and the team to get himself back to the top by
voting time, but obviousl that’s going to require him
showing up.
4: Brandon Gillshire, Banana Democracy
13 GP, .300 AVG., 19 RBI, 2
HR, 0 AST, 13 DP, 0 PSY, 11 DUMB
Where did this guy disappear to? He was in the thick of things not so long
ago, and may well have been the most consistent player of a surprising BD
squad, which in itself would have earned him some votes. He’s now been MIA for two weeks, which to me
seems very strange considering how into the SBL Gillshire
appeared to be.
5: Billy
Deforest, Laser Cats
13 GP, .383 AVG., 18 RBI, 6
HR, 0 AST, 2 DP, 0 PSY, 0 DUMB
Billy unfortunately plays on the deep and
talented Laser Cats, which has certainly cost him some stats this year. Furthermore, he’s been less than spectacular
in his JBH performances. He does,
however, have a great personality and genuine interest in showing up every
week, and a couple of good games this weekend will probably vault him over the
two gentlemen above him if they continue to keep away.
6:
3 GP, .667 AVG., 11 RBI, 2
HR, 0 AST, 0 DP, 0 PSY, 0 DUMB
Okay, so she’s probably not going to show up
again, which will surely eliminate her from consideration, but what a
performance she had last Sunday in her first week of baseketball. For arguments sake, lets
say she does show up one more week and passes the few people above her to lead
the league in batting average come seasons end.
Think that’ll get her a vote or two?
Maybe next year we can get her to come from week one… first female ROTY?
7: Chuck Muszik, Banana Democracy
5 GP, .381 AVG., 6 RBI, 0 HR,
0 AST, 8 DP, 0 PSY, 1 DUMB
Realistically, Chuck isn’t in anyone’s
equation right now. He’s just on this
list because 1) he was nearly a consensus ROTY pick in April and 2) he’s
definitely got the talent to play himself back up the ladder in the final three
weeks. Sadly, Chuck will be getting
married next weekend, which probably means he’s done for the year.
THE BEST DEFENSIVE
TEAMS IN THE SBL THROUGH WEEK SEVEN
1) Laser Cats
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure
out that the team in the league with the best two defensive players in the
league is going to be good at defense. Shernisky and Tomko are still a cut above the rest
defensively, though the gap is closer on this side of the ball than
offense. What really makes the Cats
tick, though, is their total lack of weakness here. With the athletic trio of Tim Martin, Bob Spohn, or Billy Deforest, it doesn’t really matter; they’re
gonna know that anyone on the court can box out or
tip in. Tomko’s also coercing psyche-outs at what in any
year would be a record pace.
2) The
It’s hard to imagine that a team whose
regular third starter is a girl would make number two on this list, but the
fact that the girl is Aryn Christman
and the boys are twin towers Stud and Bryan Frankovich
should erase all doubts.
3) Voltron
It was stated by someone prior to the season
that under the tutelage of Billy Weisberg, Mike Frankovich
would evolve into one of the better defensive players in the league. Boom!
Weisberg, St. John, Lockovich,
Jamie Fabian and Frankovich give the V the deepest
defensive rotation in the business, and now that they’ve added top-tier
defensive force Jared Clayton to the mix, they could easily shoot up to the top
of this list before seasons end. Their only downfall?
Nobody even tries to psyche-out.
4) Oatcake Hate
Monsters
I covered this pretty thoroughly in my fact
or fiction this week. Terry is good and
Mac is gonna get the double plays that fall his
way. Without one of those two, this is
the worst defensive team in the league.
I still think they should sacrifice some of their plentiful offense to
shore up the D.
5) The Banana
Democracy
Kip Corbett has always been a solid defensive
player, and may have one of the toughest box-outs in the league to get
around. Ben Smith has been a monster on
the boards since his return, though that can probably be attributed to Kip
always boxing out and John Offutt being the third. If this team gets Gillshire,
who is way more athletic than he appears, back into the defensive lineup they
could seriously shut some teams down come playoff time. And I haven’t even mentioned Dennis Lackey,
who has a 5-psyche-out game in him waiting to explode, or Chuck Muszik, who is a 60+ double play guy if he plays an entire
season.
6) The
Mike Moroco. That’s the only reason this team isn’t
last. He’s the best psyche-out artist
currently working in the SBL, and his ability to turn the seemingly unturnable double play makes him the most exciting player
to watch on this side of the ball. He’s
already passed pal Bryan and is closing the gap quickly on Nate and Terry.
7) The Fleshy Funbridges
Though Opie and Rando are serviceable defensive players, this team has yet
to produce any third that is capable of even slowing down an opponent on their
way to an assist. Any team is going to
struggle with three players best described as ‘serviceable’ anchoring the
defense… two ‘serviceables’ and a human pylon aren’t
going to get it done. At least they’ve
got Lee Nespor entertaining us with his bevy of
psyche-outs.
SBL PICKS, WEEK 8
Oatcake vs Funbridges
On paper, this one seems like it’s gonna be pretty one sided.
I’m guessing it’s gonna play out that way on
the court as well. Here’s hoping Rando decides to make another run at 100 homers this week
(yeah, he’s not even close) in an effort to keep this 6-inning game interesting
with some sort of side story.
My prediction: Oatckake- 22, FF- 6 (6 innings)
Funbridges vs. Voltron
The good news for the FF is that they’re gonna be playing a Voltron team that will be missing Billy Weisberg and Gavin
St. John. That should leave a Val
Taylor, Mike Frankovich, Derek Lockovich,
Jared Clayton lineup that Rando and Co. will be able
to keep up with. Note that I didn’t say
win.
Voltron- 15, FF- 13
Kamikazees vs. Oatcake
I made this my upset of the week on the front
page of the website, and I’m not gonna bury a safe
pick in the depths of the site. The Kamikazees get Pacsi and Glackey back and put on one for the ages, taking down an
Oatcake team that is only 2-2 over the past couple weeks in a real nailbiter.
KK- 22,
Oatcake- 20 (10 innings)
Cats vs.
Many people, most vocally Matt Mcclelland, have stated that this is the game the Cats will
lose. Not to imply that this team is
incapable of ending the streak at 14, but I beg to differ. The Cats have already taken the
Laser Cats-
26,
Cats vs. Banana Democaracy
It was stated earlier this week that Biddle
and Fred would be back for this game.
Pardon me for getting your blood pumpin, but I
was a week early on that one. They won’t
be back for another week. So Cats
easily, obviously.
NOT SO FAST!
This is the game the Cats are more likely to
drop this week. They will obviously be
more concerned with the red-hot
Laser
Cats- 22, BD- 11
Banana Democracy vs. Jukebox
This team needs a win, so they’ll get a team
they should beat. And they will, because
they’re too good to lose to Jukebox twice in a row.
BD- 15,
JBH- 5
Jukebox vs. Voltron
I seriously think that Voltron,
in its weakened state, is going to drop one this Sunday. Since I’ve already picked them to beat the Funbridges, I guess this is the one.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been having
trouble forming crappy jukebox teams. The
trend continues this week, and Voltron loses another
tough one to fall even further back in the SBL National. And Jukebox inches closer to a date with the
playoffs.
JBH-
12, Voltron- 8
The queens aren’t bad enough to lose two on
their home court, and the Kamikazees aren’t nearly
good enough to beat two of the top three teams in the league in the same
week. The magic is lost, and this one
turns ugly early. The Kamikazees aren’t built to dig themselves out of
holes. Or hold on to leads, for that
matter.