AROUND THE DIAMOND IN THE ABL WEEK 8 6/2/16 BIG STORY: The 27th Annual ABL All-Star Break is upon us. Game play for the 2nd half may begin now as the drive begins for the coveted Bambino Cup Championship. Enjoy the fun and excitement as the ABL celebrates the great game of baseball. 2016 ABL STANDINGS NATIONAL W L GB PCT RS RA AWAY HOME DIV VS AD Mudville 10 8 -- .556 88 79 2-4 8-4 4-4 6-4 Titusville 10 8 -- .556 98 83 1-3 9-5 6-2 4-6 Tallahassee 8 10 2 .444 82 102 5-7 3-3 3-5 5-5 Chesapeake Bay 8 10 2 .444 95 89 4-6 4-4 3-5 5-5 AMERICAN W L GB PCT RS RA AWAY HOME DIV VS ND Long Beach 12 4 -- .750 85 68 5-2 7-2 8-2 4-2 Ocracoke 10 8 3 .556 89 82 2-4 7-3 6-4 3-3 Syracuse 9 11 5 .450 86 92 7-4 2-7 4-6 5-5 Manahawkin 7 10 5.5 .412 82 92 4-8 3-2 4-5 3-5 La Jolla 6 11 6.5 .353 67 85 3-7 3-4 2-7 4-4 X-PLAYOFF SPOT Y-DIVISION Z- TIED FOR PLAYOFF SPOT, ONE GAME SHOWDOWNS DEADLINES: Play Week begins June 3rd Recap and Score Sheets due June 13th 8 p.m. est. SCORES LBI 6 SYR 3 LBI 4 SYR 3 CB 2 OC 1 OC 3 CB 2 TV 8 MAN 0 TV 5 MAN 0 LJ 5 MUD 3 MUD 10 LJ 3 2016 ABL TEAMS AND MANAGERS: National Division Chesapeake Bay Channel Cats(27th Season) Scott “Commish” Allen (Defending Champions) Tallahassee Terriers(26th Season) Don “Legend” Allen Jr. Titusville Perfectos(9th Season) Lennart “Lenny” Saaf Mudville Nine(2nd Season) Casey "The Kid" Allen American Division Long Beach Island Starfish(14th Season) Jim “Skibby” Bomysoad Syracuse Hazard(12th Season) Jason “Coop” Cupelo Ocracoke Blackbeards(9th Season) Duran “Stole” Allen Manahawkin Pelicans(8th Season) Michael Saaf La Jolla Juggernaut(2nd Season) Kevin “Eradicator” Waters ABL 2016 IP’S Tallahassee 15 Titusville 15 Syracuse 15 Long Beach Island 15 Chesapeake Bay 15 La Jolla 15 Manahawkin 15 Ocracoke 13 Mudville 12 ROLLING DICE?? ( Q and A with Game Play Notes) (PLEASE TAKE NOTE) (Italic are present in the current charts) st rd 1. What happens if runners are on 1 and 3 and DP is rolled? Can the manager not take the DP to rd prevent the runner from scoring from 3 ? ANSWER: Yes. The manager has the option to go for the DP or just take the RG (If Infield is in) to keep rd the runner scoring from 3 . The Runner from 1 st base advances to 2 nd base. SKIBBY’S SPOTLIGHT: Skibby’s Spotlight – Zika Virus Free since Forever Welcome to the post All-Star break, pre second half Spotlight, where there are still no signs of the Zika virus anywhere, so I’m one up on the 2016 Summer Olympics. Speaking of summer, it is finally here in upstate NY, where temperatures hit the 90’s this Memorial Day weekend. Warm weather, teams making moves, tight standings; all these combine to make a very exciting start to the 2 nd half of the ABL season! MLB Notes • Clayton Kershaw is ridiculous. 100 strikeouts and 5 walks this year. I wonder if he looks at the record books and just says “I want that one this year” and then takes it. Dude had more CG shutouts than walks in May. Greatest of this generation hands down. No argument. You can try. You’re just wrong. Vin Scully and I say so. • Friday this past week the White Sox were in first place in the AL Central. Saturday the Indians took it. And then on Sunday the Royals took it. I think there’s gonna be a race before this is over in the AL Central. • As of Monday morning, there are 4 players with .351 batting averages (Boegarts, V-Mart, Zorilla, and the Juicin Jew). • Which will be a larger value this year: The Cubs positive run differential (128), or the Reds negative run differential (110)? Which value is more difficult to maintain as a year goes on? • When will the Pirates petition MLB to switch divisions? • Did Johnny Peralta lose his starting gig without ever touching the field this year? Rookie Aledmys Diaz is currently sporting the 4 th best batting average in the NL, and is on pace for 46 doubles and 21 home runs. Might be hard to pull the kid out of the lineup. • David Ortiz: Not so quietly putting up MVP numbers in his final MLB season. • Manny Machado and Stephen Piscotty: Quietly leading their respective leagues in WAR. • Is there any way Rich Hill could be an AL Cy Young candidate? This time last year he was bouncing between the minors and Indy ball at the age of 35. After a dominant September in Beantown, he’s dealing for the A’s and has put up front line starter numbers at age 36. Does the Cy Young candidacy depend on where Oakland deals him before the trade deadline since he’s only on a one year deal? • Did Baltimore do something to wrong Mookie Betts? Betts became the first leadoff hitter in Soxes history to hit 3 bombs out of the leadoff spot. (Unfortunately for the manager of the Starfish, 2 of 3 off Kevin Gausman). Editor’s Note: He has now hit two more on Wednesday evening, and is threatening to become the first player in MLB history to have back to back 3 HR games. • Will the real Matt Harvey please stand up? No really, either pitch that well all the time, or be garbage all the time. The fans need to have expectations sir and you are messing with our emotions! • There are currently 19 starting pitchers with ERAs north of 5.00. Amongst them are three Cy Young winners (Price, Keuchel, Peavy), several former top prospects (Pineda, Moore, Ventura, Harvey), and savvy veterans (Wainwright, Hughes, Buchholz, Jimenez, Weaver, Sanchez). Pineda is league worst and approaching a 7.00 ERA (currently 6.92) and I wonder if more of these players will get the Buchholz treatment and shifted to the bullpen to work through their issues before reentering the rotation. Editor’s Note : Evidently I jinxed Anibal “ATM” Sanchez, as he is now heading to the Tiger’s bullpen to work through his issues. 2nd Editor’s Note: Joe Kelly has decided not to be outdone, giving up 7 earned in 2.1 innings tonight, to raise his ERA to 8.46, by far worst for qualified starter. 3rd Editor’s Note: After his debacle last night, Joe Kelly promptly got demoted to AAA to try and work out his issues there. • There are three teams (Titusville [32], Chesapeake Bay [30], and Long Beach Island [26]) with more home runs [21] than the Atlanta Braves. I’M READY FOR THE BIG LEAGUES COACH! • #RIP Ryan Howard’s baseball career. Mr. Howard set a new record for offensive futility in a month, batting a WHOPPING .101 with 3 home runs. The .101 average is worst ever for a starter in a month. Mookie Betts had 3 home runs yesterday. I believe it’s time to see your self out Mr. Howard. Positive Run Differential Wins Games – Rarely a more obvious statement made. There are currently 5 ABL teams with a positive run differential, and 4 of the 5 have a winning record (Apologies to the Channel Cats, at 8-10). What I find curious as I look into the numbers, the top two teams in run differential (Long Beach Island at +17 and Titusville at +15) is the differential between their runs and earned runs. LBI has allowed only 2 unearned runs, and Titusville has only allowed 3. The next two teams in run differential, Mudville (+9) and Ocracoke (+7) have allowed 13 unearned runs. No surprise these teams are near the top of the league lead in errors allowed (Ocracoke at 15, leads league, and Mudville at 12, in third). As teams seek to improve their ball clubs, is defense an oft-overlooked piece of the puzzle in the ABL? First Half Storylines / Into Second Half Storylines • Year of the Pitcher – Getting roughed up edition! In the MLB in 2015, the league average ERA was 3.96. So far in the ABL, using those cards/stats, the league average ERA is 4.47. Are the qualities of our lineups better than the lineups pitchers are facing in MLB? This could be part of it, and granted, it’s a MUCH smaller sample size (as teams have played approx. 1/9 th of the MLB season right now). • The league average WHIP in MLB last season was 1.29, whereas in the ABL so far we’re at 1.40. Only two teams, just like with ERA, are at or below that MLB average. • The league average batting average was .254 in MLB last year. Currently in the ABL we sit at .273. I think this may answer the aforementioned ERA question indirectly. #AllStarRosters • Teams making moves – There has been an increase in trading going on, with a 10 player deal and a pair of 6 player deals since the last play week and during the break. Are these teams looking to “shake things up” or the signs of teams beginning to retool looking toward next season? • Tallahassee’s home runs allowed pace has slowed dramatically, as at one point they were projected to allow 105 home runs.