Pennant Race update

A quick update on the pennant races. All but 2 participants are decided. In the AL, Ottawa leads Kansas City by 2 games and Tacoma by 4 with 4 to play. That puts their magic # at 3.

In the NL, a crazy wild card race is shaping up. Las Vegas and Cheyenne are tied atop with West with the runner up likely to earn the top wild card (3 up with 4 to play). The 2nd wild card spot is a free-for-all with Arizona (won 6 of 10), Toledo (won 7 of 10), and Helena (lost 7 of 10) all tied at 86-72. San Juan trails them all by 2 games with 4 to play. Only 1 of those 4 teams will make the playoffs.

Chase to the playoffs

As the season approaches its end, a number of tight races remain. A recap and brief preview follows.

In the AL North, Ottawa (79-73), Kansas City (78-74), and Tacoma (74-78) are locked in a tight battle, with just 4 games separating the teams. The Ottawa franchise has won the division 7 of the last 8 years, so the strong challenge bodes well for KC. KC remains 10 games out of the wild card.

In the AL East, the three best records in the AL are fighting it out. Scranton has a commanding 7 game lead on Richmond and 8 games on Baltimore. It appears likely that the runners up will win both wild cards, so this battle won't truly be decided until the playoffs. Richmond has made 6 consecutive playoff appearances and that streak does not appear likely to end.

In the AL South, Monterrey (83-69) holds a precarious 4 game lead over Texas with 10 to play. The teams meet in Texas for a 3-game set in the next-to-last series of the season. If Texas can narrow the margin, that series figures to decide the division which Monterrey has won 6 times while missing the playoffs just once. Texas is the defending division champ.

In the AL West, Salem and San Francisco are separated by just two games. Salem is one of only 2 franchises to have won their division in every season, so the streak is very much non the line. Despite their 81-71 record, the Salamies are actually 2 games UNDER .500 at home where they meet SF on the final weekend of the season.

Sioux Falls has a 5 game lead over Helena in the NL North with 10 to play as they attempt to extend their division championship streak to 11 years. Helena is in a 3-way wild card tie with Las Vegas and Cheyenne at 85-67. Three other teams, including Toledo from the North, are within 4 games.

Burlington has stomped the rest of the NL East, leading by 27 games and long ago clinching their division. This will mark the Bulldogs 5th consecutive division crown and they appear likely to receive the 2 seed and a first round bye.

Mexico City once again has the best record in the NL at 102-50. They've also clinched their 5th straight division crown. Fellow Southerns San Juan is 4 games out of the wild card, placing their 10 season playoff streak in jeopardy. Nashville needs a ton of help to make the wild card for the 4th time in its history.

Las Vegas and Cheyenne are deadlocked at 85-67. Whoever loses the division is well-positioned for the wild card. Arizona (82-70) sits three games back of both the division and the wild card. Lucky for the Isotopes, they close with 17 consecutive home games, including their final six against Las Vegas and Cheyenne. Las Vegas recently took 2 of 3 from Cheyenne and are done with them in the regular season. They face defending champion Sioux Falls 4 times followed by their showdown with a hungry Arizona team. The Double Downs narrowly missed out on wild card berths while losing the division to Cheyenne in each of the past two season.

Prattfalls?

Mexico City Bandejos CF Aaron Pratt was a revelation last season. The Season 4 sandwich pick out of Apple Valley, CA hit the majors with huge gaps in scouts opinion of his ability. After hitting .281 in 303 ABs in Season 9, Pratt was handed the Bandejos CF and leadoff jobs in Season 10. He came through HUGE, finishing with a .348 average, 155 runs scored, and 84 SBs in 95 attempts despite striking out 113 times (he added 14 HRs for good measure). These numbers earned Pratt the CF silver slugger, a place on the All-star team, and several votes for rookie of the year.

Hardball Dynasty's

Aaron Pratt

The scouts and Bandejo management considered the questions answered. But Pratt wouldn't be denied. Pratt came to spring training announcing to the world that he would prove that he deserved the rookie of the year award. He showed up to camp just 3 lbs. heavier than last year but insisted that he'd actually reduced his body fat % from 9% to 4% while adding 70 lbs to his bench press. The hard work appeared to have paid off as Pratt got 13 hits in his first 6 games, posting a .448 batting average.

But they were all singles. Pratt's agent Sam O'Shea, founder of the O'Shea's casino in Las Vegas, convinced him that the only way he'd earn the accolades and the paycheck he wanted was to become a power hitter. Pratt's approach changed. Since that 6 game streak, his average has fallen to .254 for the season. He's hitting just .229 in the games since the hot start. Moreover, his power has not returned with just 3 HRs and 12 extra-base hits total.

It was also revealed that his off-season work-out regime wasn't just to add to his game. New Line Cinema recently released the trailer for a hastily put together action film starring Pratt and Wesley Snipes as top-secret commando team. The movie is entitled White Hammer - Black Thunder. Snipes declined to be quoted for this article.

Gomes tabbed with #1 pick

Sante Fe used the top overall pick on 20-year old left hander Nick Gomes. Gomes, a bit short at 5'10, is reported to have "filthy" stuff. Gomes fastball has been clocked as high as 94 mph. He also throws a slider that makes left-handed batters cry.

So where does Gomes come from? He hails from Bridgeport, CT. PT Barnum was once the mayor of Bridgeport and Gomes is a fan. In fact, he had to head out west after his own 3-ring circus, established at famous Mount Trashmore, nearly interupted the filming of "Confessions of a Shopaholic", scheduled for release later this year. Allegedly, three dwarf elephants escaped from the circus and stampeded through town, almost trampling Joan Cusak before John Goodman invited them for dinner and the filming was saved.

Civic outrage and a since-dismissed lawsuit prompted Gomes to leave Bridgeport for the warmer climate and co-eds of Bergen Community College.

Sante Fe is On the Clock

Reigny and the Sante Fe Firehawks are on the clock. This will mark the 4th consecutive season that Sante Fe has picked in the Top 5, so reigny is used to it. The major league team continues to try to recover from the long period of mismangament by texas_ron while the team was in El Paso. So how has Reigny done with all the high picks?


Season 7 - Chris Boswell P (#1 overall): Boswell wasn't given much time to develop after being chosen first overall in the Season 7 draft. The HS lefty spent just 1 season at Low A before debuting in the bigs and posting a 7.47 ERA out of the pen. He was dealt to what's now the Ottawa franchise very early in Season 8. He's career mark stands at 30-35 with a 6.40 ERA. Scouts feel that Boswell was rushed and has never really reached his potential. He's still just 22, but makes $6.875M.

Season 8 - Clay Burnett P (#2 overall): Despite spending the full 4 years at Georgia Tech, Boswell was allowed to develop at a more moderate pace, making 33 minor league starts (11-14, 4.48) before debuting in Sante Fe early in Season 9. He struggled mightily as a rookie (1-6, 10.35 ERA), but found some success in season 10 making 19 starts and 50 appearances (8-11, 7.21). The Goldendale, WA native seems to have found his sea legs at 25, making 12 solid starts so far this year while posting a 6-4 record and 3.81 ERA.

Season 9 - Pascual Guzman P (#3 overall): Guzman came to Sante Fe from Palinville HS in Kansas. The tall (6'6) lefty jumped from rookie league to AA last year and posted a respectable 11-4 mark and 4.97 ERA. He's at AAA this season where his record stands at 2-2 with a 6.04 ERA. Guzman is just 20 years old and the Player development folks are urging caution with his development. He's already hit the DL twice with elbow and shoulder injuries, but scouts still see him as a potential workhouse, capable of 220+ innings of excellent work if he's allowed to develop and stays healthy.

Season 10 - Mark Wan P (#5 overall): The charismatic Wan signed a $7M contract out of Ambassador Christian HS in Fontana, CA. For that kind of money the team was not willing to baby him, sending Wan to AA where he went 3-3 in 12 starts with a 3.38 ERA. That was enough to bump him to AAA this year, where the 19-year old is the youngest in the league. He's been knocked around by the older hitters to the tune of an 8.76 ERA and 1-6 record. Wan's sinker and change are both considered potential out pitches but he's ball has so much movement that he struggles to command the strike zone (90 BB in 134 IP). Fire Hawk management is also worried about Wan's card playing habits where he's become a regular at the Buffalo Thunder Casino, the only American casino offering Wan's World, known as poker's answer to Balderdash, the fabulous bluffing game.

Season 11 - Who knows what this year's draft brings. Sante Fe has shown a proclivity for pitching, selecting starters in each of the last four drafts, including 3 HS hurlers. Whoever it is better be ready to contribute as he's not likely to spend long in the low minors. Several pitchers are considered to be among the draft's top prospects and Sante Fe has one of the top amateur scouting departments in the league.

Other top draft stories include Fresno's 3 picks in the top 33, Scranton's 4 in the top 42, including 3 straight selections (40, 41, and 42), and Mexico City who will choose at 30, 32, and 39. Those 3 franchises will combine for 10 picks before Baltimore makes its first choice at #48 or Ottawa awakens at pick 66. Finally Kansas City got to keep it's #15 pick which is protected, but lost it's 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round picks as compensation for signing 3 Type A free agents.

Bulldog fire sale? or not?

Rumors continue to swirl that the Burlington Bulldogs are trying to move their best players. But, the Bulldogs have the biggest lead in the NL at 7 games and are the 4-time defending NL East Champs. So why would a seemingly successful franchise be so keen to rebuild?

1 - PLAYOFFS? WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE PLAYOFFS?
As Bulldog player-personnel chief Jim Mora found out, team owner mike1184 is all about winning in the post-season. Winning the NL East is a little like beating up your neighbor's kid brother. Yeah, it's nice to have won the fight, but you ain't exactly Joe Frazier. The 'Dogs have knocked the aging and reeling Crownrificos out of the playoffs in 3 of the last 4 years. Only in Season 7 were they also able to take out the powerful Mexico City Bandejos. Some locals refer to mike1184 as the Steinbrenner of Vermont and with a 3-time division winning manager like Bob Coppinger being let go before the season - who can blame them? In fact, Bulldog management so bad-mouthed the departing Coppinger, that he had to settle for a Low-A job with Houston.

2 - Maple Syrup?

Bulldog owner mike1184 made his fortune in the Maple Syrup business. The low-carb crazy started by the South Beach diet hit the bottom line. Now, with the economy in the tank, Aunt Jemima is finding her way onto more tables while the authentic stuff and it's higher price tag stays on grocery shelves. Could the pullback in the syrup industry be hitting the bottom line too hard for the 'Dogs to continue paying franchise legends like Patsy Lindsey.

3 - Tony Soprano?
Miguel Gutierrez recently broke his leg stealing 2b against the Mexico City Bandejos. It seemed like a freak accident, but Bandejo 2B Jalal Rivera didn't seem particularly remorseful for landing on Guitierrez' leg. There have long been whispers that Rivera is connected to organized crime. In fact, many have theorized that he moved to Mexico to escape the street gangs of Virginia. But, could there still be a connection? Auditors have noticed irregularities with the Bulldog books and it could be that the struggling owner turned to a mob loan to finance team operations. When the team couldn't pay, and trades couldn't clear enough cap room, perhaps a message had to be sent.

Sure it's all rumors, but the talk continues.

Threester Forgos Defense

Austin Drillers owner threester may have gotten himself in too deep. Threester amassed a fortune playing high limit poker at the Bellagio and renowned skin flint, Larry Flynt's Hustler Casino. Threester took down many a pro, including Phil Ivy, Johnny Chen and the annoying Chris Moneymaker. With these vast resources, threester came up with a sound business plan. He decided to invest in some baseball teams. Threester thrived on the poor economy as many teams were going under. His strategy was to buy teams on the cheap in the ever expanding What If foreclosure market.

But he may have gone too far. Threester has acquired nineteen franchises! Novice owners have a tough time getting away with two franchises. Many of us know that the hardest part of running a franchise is naming the team, but threester got around this dilemna but naming most of his teams the Pilots. However, all this acquistion has caused problems in his brain. One need only look to the saga of Al Escobar for evidence of this fact. Despite having a below average range and glove for a first basemen, threester has started poor Al in centerfield 18 times this season! When hes not playing CF, Al has been tossed in the ring at 3b. Things have gotten so bad that the slowest man in baseball, San Juan's Rudy Leiter, often bunts for hits against Austin. As seen in the accompanying picture, Al is celebrating after a game where he actually caught a fly ball.

Players of the Week Spotlight

Hello again,

Another week has gone by and these guys stood above the rest.
As we continue our series on "Who are these guys?" lets breakdown and see makes these players of the week so special.

Steven Hutch Colorado Mountain Oysters Age: 28 B/T: S/R Born: Jackson, NJ Position(s): RF View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Steven Hutch of the Colorado Mountain Oysters is a studly 28 year old right fielder who brings home a hefty paycheck of 6.75 million/year. He first got the phone call as a Round 1 pick #8 draftee. For good reason too, his best current ratings are a Contact of 93, Power of 66, L/R spilts of 71/63, and a cool eye of 71. He has also made his name known before when he was a Season 8 ML All-star in RF. Keep your cool eye on him in the near future.

Rafael Aguilera Helena Hound Dogs Age: 23 B/T: S/R Born: Ingenio Quisqueya, DO Position(s): P (SP1) View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Rafeal Aguilera, of Helena, is a 23 year old #1 starting pitcher ace. At such a young age he still can only take home 343,000 and not millions just yet. Rafeal was a goldmine find as an International Free agent pickup where his signing bonus also took some gold bars at 16.4 million. But so far he is worth it with current ratings at Stamina 79, Control 84, L/R spilts at 92/94, velocity at 85, Pitch 1 at 85. Now while those numbers are impressive believe he still has room to grow with many of these ratings topping in the 90s. You may remember him from last season 10. He only picked up the triple-crown in awards for a pitcher with Rookie of the Year, ML All-star, and the Cy Young! Yes all while as a rookie! Pray for rain when he pitches.

Smith wants no special treatment

Sante Fe CF, Nolan Smith currently leads the league with 12 errors. While some bemoan Smith's continued place in CF, others blame what they call a disability.

Hardball Dynasty's

Nolan Smith

"Listen, I'm not disabled. I was born this way. It's in my genes, but it's not a disability." Smith changed his name when he was young to avoid attention. You see, he's the son of famous Rebel Admiral Ackbar.



As you can, see, Smith's "hands" are really better suited to swimming. His HS swimming coach was deeply saddened when Smith left the team to pursue baseball, feeling he had real Olympic potential given his flipper-like hands. But baseball was Smith's first love. Smith, a former 1st round draft pick, began his career in RF. But Cf was the place that had an opening, so the Mon Calmarian went there. Despite making an unconscionable 41 errors for the Fire Hawks last season, he's back in CF again. He's got such a cult following that he's launched a breakfast cereal (click for commercial).

Part of Smith's problem might be equipment. He's been using a standard glove but he has trouble getting his exceptionally large hands into appropriate fingers. Wilson has offered to custom-make a Calmarian friendly glove but Smith refuses special treatment. Meanwhile, he proudly runs into CF every game. But don't call for a suicide squeeze while he's on 3rd - you're more likely to hear, "It'a a trap!" than see him running toward home before the batter swings. He knows what it's like to attempt to attack the Death Star before the Ewoks get the Shield Generator down.

Players of the Week Spotlight

Congrats to Rod Perez of Las Vegas and Anthony Moore of Mexico City as our Pitcher/Hitter players of the week.


But who are these guys and how did they get to be so good?
Let's take a look at their resume.

Rod Perez Las Vegas Double Downs Age: 26 B/T: S/R Born: Cedar Rapids, IA Position(s): P (ClA) View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Rod Perez is a 26 yr who has dominated as the closer for a couple of years.
He earns his 6.75 Million paycheck with lock down performances every time.
His current ratings speak for themselves:
Stamina -36
Control -95
Left -74
Right -94
Velocity -89
GB/FB -73
Pitch 1 -80
Rod's talent was obvious as noted by his Round 1 44th pick in the draft out of Community College. Since those days of English 101 classes he has gone on to be a
3 Time ML All-star. Rod Perez is a name and a face we will see again.

Anthony Moore Mexico City Bandejos Age: 23 B/T: S/R Born: Brookline, MA Position(s): LF/1B View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Anthony Moore is a 23yr old left fielder who just recently burst on the scene in only his second full year. His 360,000 salary now certainly won't last long with a future like his. His current ratings show his current star status even now:
Contact -95
Power -71
Left -90
Right -75
Eye -74
Speed -99
Anthony was taken right away as a Round 1 31st pick in the draft as a high schooler at 18. Since then he has been a perienial minor league all-star. The question is will he get his first ML all-star nomination this year?