(BPI-Van Schaick Island, New York) Biff Barnes Jr. TML Highlight Reel – September 2016 ======Chinook Winds Heat Up The Williams!

The Rocky Mountain Chinooks went 11-2 on the road and put up a TML-tying best 19-7 September! This was more than good enough for the Chinooks to open up a virtual clinching 16-game lead over the rest of the Williams Division . Starting C.C. Sabathia (5-0), Lance McCullers (3-0), Jaime Garcia (3-0) and (2-0) were undefeated in their 13 GS! Leading the Chinook offense were Kole Calhoun (.348, 18 RBI), C.J. Cron (.346, 20 RBI) and (.333, 20 RBI).

Elsewhere in the Oceanic Conference , it was “business as usual” as Arkansas (16-10 for the month) has a near clinching 14-game lead over Perth (16-10) in the Ruth Division , and Albany (17-9) easily clinched the Steinmetz Division Crown . Perth leads ‘Skayuna for the Wild Card by 7 games.

Over in the Atmospheric Conference , Toxic Waste (18-8) clinched the Gehrig Division Crown , while Gatto Division leader Beverly (19-7) has a near clinching 14-game lead over Valparaiso (14-12). Duluth (15-11) put together another winning period and now leads the Robinson Division by 6 games over Vanderlyle . Valpo now leads Burleigh by 9 games for the Wild Card . ------Perth’s has taken over the batting lead from Marco Island’s , .333 to .329. Chesapeak’s Adam Eaton is right behind at .324. Harper still leads the TML in OBP (.474), SLG (.669), walks (128) and RC (153). The HR Title is “up for grabs” between Duluth’s (45), Harper (44), Amsterdam’s Chris Davis (44), Perth’s Josh Donaldson (43) and Danny Way’s (43). Albany’s still leads in Runs (114) and RBI (136). Rocky Mountain’s Nolan Arenado has a big lead in doubles (56), 12 more than the next guy. Toxic Waste’s A.J. Pollock is still the SB leader, with 55 SB in 70 attempts.

The ERA leader is still Arkansas’ at 1.56, well ahead of Toxic Waste’s at 2.09. There are already four 20-game winners, Arrieta (23-3), Toxic Waste’s (21-3) and Keuchel (21-4), as well as Albany’s Chris Sale (20-7). Duluth’s R.A. Dickey and Albany’s Matt Harvey have 19 victories. Arrieta also leads the TML in OAVG (.164) and QS(26). Keuchel now leads in Shutouts (6). The leader is still Lake Wobegone’s , with an incredible 313 K. Arkansas’ (31-32 SVO, 0.68) and Perth’s Craig Kimbrel (31-35 SVO, 3.71) are tied in Saves, with Valparaiso’s Alex Wilson (30-36 SVO, 3.90) right behind those two.

Below are some awards and tid-bits from September in the TML American. ** Player of the Month **

(PC) Josh Donaldson .324, 33-102, 2-0-14, 77 TB 25 R, 36 RBI, 12 W, 3 GW-RBI OPS 1.150, 29 RC

Honorable Mention: Yoenis Cespedes(AR).381, 7 HR, 17 R, 28 RBI, 28 RC Dexter Fowler(VD) .299, 7 HR, 22 R, 22 RBI, 26 RC Manny Machado(GL) .317, 7 HR, 18 R, 19 RBI, 24 RC ------** of the Month **

(TX) Dallas Keuchel 5-0, 1.11, 6 GS, 6 QS, 2 CG 48.2 IP, 29 H, 7 W, 47 K .169 OAVG, 0.74 WHIP 2 shutouts

Honorable Mention: (PC) 4-0, 1.44, 6 QS, 0.68 WHIP C.C. Sabathia(RM) 5-0, 1.85, 5 QS, 1.18 WHIP (BB) 4-2, 1.52, 5 QS, 0.89 WHIP Wei-Yin Chen(CH) 4-1, 1.94, 5 QS, 1.06 WHIP (AV) 4-1, 2.40, 5 QS, 1.14 WHIP R.A. Dickey(DT) 3-1, 1.80, 5 QS, 1.17 WHIP Jake Arrieta(AR) 4-1, 1.22, 4 QS, 0.89 WHIP Mark Buehrle(TX) 3-0, 1.08, 4 QS, 1.12 WHIP Masahrio Tanaka(BV) 3-0, 1.38, 4 QS, 1.08 WHIP ------

** Top Pitching Performance of the Month **

Rocky Mountain’s Lance McCullers pitched a nifty 1- shutout against host Mudville . The only hit was a 2-out single in the 3 rd by , following a fielding error. McCullers worked around two other fielding errors, walking none and fanning 9 to preserve his gem.

8/14/2015, RM15-M915, Progressive Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Rocky Mtn. 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 3 10 3 Mudville 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 1 0

Chinooks IP H R ER BB K PC/ST ERA L.McCullers (W11-2) 9.0 1 0 0 0 9 107/80 2.02

Honorable Mentions: 8/15: Corey Kluber(BB) 9ip, 6 H, 1 R, 0 W, 15 K 9/ 3: (MN) 7.2ip, 8 H, 1 R, 1 W, 15 K

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** Offensive Performance of the Month **

Mudville’s Jonathan Schoop blasted three HRs, including a in the 4 th inning! His 7 RBI led his team to a 10-3 pasting of visiting Walla Walla . Schoop had hit only 5 HRs this season heading into the game.

9/5/2015, WW15-M915, Progressive Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Walla Walla 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 - 3 7 0 Mudville 0 3 0 6 0 0 1 0 x - 10 9 0

Nine AB R H HR BI BB AVG J.Schoop 2b 4 3 3 3 7 0 .275 2:2-RBI HR ; 3:K; 4: GS-HR ; 7: HR

Honorable Mention: 8/14: (PC) 5-6, 2B, 2-run HR, 4 R, 3 RBI

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** Overtime Game of the Month **

The longest game of the month was a 16-inning marathon between ‘Skayuna and Marco Island . After giving up an unearned run in the top of the 16 th inning, delivered a 2-out, clutch 2- run, game-winning double for the Gators . The two runners had reached base on walks.

8/18/2015, SS15-MG15, Coors Field 123 456 789 012 345 6 R H E LOB ‘Skayuna 000 000 200 000 000 1 - 3 13 0 13 Marco Island 010 000 010 000 000 2 - 4 11 2 14 ======Next up ... End-of-Season October highlights!

Staff Columnist - Biff Barnes Jr. Previous articles: http://tmlam.org/news/2016-AUG.pdf