Friars Celebrate 1st Title!

The San Francisco Fightin Friars celebrated their first ever World Series title with a parade down the streets of the city yesterday.  Parades in San Francisco always bring out an interesting crew and this one was no exception.

While the fans were over-joyed at the title, many were equally concerned about the future.  The Fightin Friars have a number of difficult off-season decisions to make.  Two starting position players, 3B Michael Lee, RF Jose Escobar, and two key pitchers, staff ace Dude Wheeler, and 5th starter Terry Pressley are all eligible for free agency.  Eleven additional players are eligible for arbitration.  No matter what decisions the Friars, make, everyone expects the payroll to rise significantly from last seasons $83 million.

But today was about celebrations.  One  fan did appear at the parade dressed as a deranged bunny wielding a chain saw to demonstrate his belief that ownership intends to dismantle the championship team.  But this team was carefully built by duece112 and dspahlinger on the strength of the high draft picks that came with early tradition of losing.  Since duece arrive, that tradition has done a 180, with the squad winning 3 straight division titles.  Kevin Canseco (#1 overall, season 6), Dude Wheeler, (#3, S4), and Vinny Jameson (#16, S11) are all draft picks that contributed to the title.  Many others were used in deals to acquire key pieces.  This is not a franchise that was built for one season, but for the long haul, so expect to see them back competing for the AL pennant this season.

Say it ain't so Jalal

After years of deftly avoiding the issue, Commissioner Jwendt finally took on the steroid issue in Second City prior to the season. For the first time ever, random steroid testing was mandated for all imaginary players. While the commissioner handed down no suspensions, his zero tolerance policy clearly had an effect.

In Second City's 14 seasons, there have been 448 individual teams (32*14 seasons). This year's leading home run hitting team, the Texas Riders, hit just 265 home runs. While that sounds like a lot to the rest of us, it ranks as just the 78th best team performance in Second City History.

In fact, the leagues total of 5504 home runs is the fewest in world history by a long shot, as the chart below reveals.




That's right, this season saw 21% fewer home runs than the average Second City season.





But, not every player was juicing. Which players seem to have experienced the most dramatic drop offs?

Let's start with the guys everyone expects. The chart to the right shows the 10 players that led the league in HR's this year. Two spent all or part of last season at AAA (Clarke and Pascual). Their minor league (or combined) numbers are shown here.






It appears that nobody misses the juice more than Mexico City's Jalal Rivera.



In fact, WCM investigative reporter Geraldo Rivera uncovered even more damning evidence than that stats. When Rivera was drafted out of Spotsylvania, VA, he weighed just 168 pounds. Since moving full-time to Mexico City, a place known for shady pharmaceutical practices, Rivera has added almost 20 pounds. Moreover, his hat size has increased an alleged 1/2 inch.

But perhaps nothing is more damaging than a first-hand account. You see, while Jalal and Geraldo have never met, they share several 2nd cousins. One such cousin, Yuri, has long been known to work out with cousin Jalal in the off-season. They often meet in Nogales, Mexico, a nearly lawless border town south of Tucson. While Jalal has often referred to both the great food and frequent visits from University of Arizona undergrads as benefits to training in Nogales, Yuni admitted that is was also a great place to buy cheap steroids.

Jalal Rivera Mexico City Bandejos Age: 30 B/T: L/R Born: Spotsylvania, VA Position(s): 2B/LF View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Since learning of the accusations, Jalal, Yuni, and Mexico City owner dyuen have all refused comment. This news couldn't come at a worse time for the Bandejos who trail San Francisco in the World Series, 2 games to 1. Rivera is 4-12 with 1 HR in the series, but has he peed in a cup yet?

Richmond Wins!

The Richmond Confederates took home their first World Series title and just the AL's second in 9 seasons. The 'Feds won their 4th straight AL East title and posted the 3rd best mark in the entire world at 115-47. A closer look at how they did it follows.

AL MVP Julio Nunez posted .330 average with 62 HRs, 67 SBs, and 185 RBIs. 4-time MVP and the worlds first 500 HR hitter Dick Caruso put up 45 more dingers to go with his .343 average. Two other hitters (Torres & Peterson) topped 40 HRs and a 5 in all all 100+ RBIs. In addition to Nunez' 67 SBs, Rule V pick Tim Ward stole 73 bases and scored 104 runs.

The pitching staff was aolid and deep. The top 4 starters, Brankley, Sheets, Xaio, and Griggin all won between 13 and 16 games with ERAs between 3.96 and 4.14. The fifth spot was split between 14-game winner Richard Stieb and 11-gam winner Wil Mann. Stieb proved his worth with a revenge victory against his former squad, Mexico City in the World Series. Closer Peter Hoiles was spectacular all year saving 37 of 38 games.

The starters combined to go 8-4 in the playoffs with Marty Brantley posting 3 of the team's 4 losses. Their 4.23 ERA throughout the playoffs is impressive. The offense didn't miss a beat either with Nunez and Caruso each hitting 5 dingers and knocking in 14 runs. Nunez and Ward combined to swipe 17 bases while getting caught just twice. Team averaged nearly 6.5 runs for the playoffs.

So what's in store for this squad going forward? The team had a very reasonable $91 million payroll, so there's some room. Most of the roster is already under contract for Season 10, though a couple of key pitchers could be on the move in free agency. Interestingly, no Confederate 1st round pick played a major role on the championship team, with Brett Karl (season 4) and Slick Black (season 7 sandwich) playing minor roles. The team was built largely through trades with MVP Nunez, closer Peter Hoiles, 3B Jorge Torres, OF Dick Caruso, P Vin Sheets, and P Marty Brantley all coming via deals.

Congratulations to the Richmond Confederates on their first World Series title!

Sioux Falls announces Game 3 Entertainment

With the World Series making it's first appearance in the great state of South Dakota, the franchise is sparing no expense with the entertainment.

Myron Floren, best known as the accoridanist on The Lawrence Welk Show between 1950 and 1982, will play the National Anthem prior to Game 3 in Sioux Falls. Floren headlined the Strawberry Festival in Plant City and PolkaFest at the Welk Resort in fabulous Branson, MO. Floren was inducted into the International Polka Hall of Fame in 1990.