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It was perhaps one the single greatest series I've played in all my 34 years of Strat.  The series was marked by dramatic hits, 2 out rallies, Game ending walkoff HR's. Starting ace's crunched, heroes from the pen. Unlikely bench subs coming up huge.  It was the series for the ages.  The war for the right to meet the Skokie Wolfman.

Game 5:  It was sick!.  One of the all time great games in CBA history.  Brooklyn jumped out to an early 2-0 lead behind a Furcal triple, his 2nd of series and a long Cabrera HR.  The pitching was sharp.  R.A. Dickey was throwing a gem all night long keeping Philly off balance.   Nelson Cruz who had a terrific series then hit a solo bomb cutting the lead to 2-1. Brooklyn came right back scoring on another Cabrera HR to make it 3-1.  It went all the way to the 9th. With 2 outs, Utley walked against CBA save king Mariano Rivera.  Mariano was called in for a 4 out save. After Utley walked, Russell Branyan caught the cutter, and sent it deep to Right field pavillion for a game tying  2 RBI blast.  Rivera closed the inning and the game went until the 11th.  Andres Torres ripped a base-hit.  Chase Utley stepped up to the
plate and he reached on an error.  After an out was recorded, Russell Branyan
stepped in and he slapped a single to load the bases.  J.D. Drew followed
next and he laced a one-base hit resulting in a mighty exciting win for
Philly and the 53,416 home town fans in attendance.  Philly had a total of 9
hits for the game.  A dramatic Branyan HR and the Phanstastics led the series 3 games to 2.

Game 6:
Back to the House of Pain where Brooklyn feels at home.  When this game started, it was all Brooklyn.  Not so fast.  After a heartbreaking and nearly devastating loss in Philly game 5, the Superbas gathered up and struck for 8 runs against lefty Francisco Liriano.  Everyone in the lineup hit.  Markakis 4 for 5, Cabrera again 3 for 5, Jeter had a big game 2 for 5, Howard knocked in a pair, Rolen went 3 for 4 and had a big HR to seal the game after Philly mounted a furious comeback to make the game 8-7 by the top of the 4th!  Philly got huge hits from their whole lineup.  Utley had 3 hits knocked in 3.  Starlin Castro knocked in another 3, roughing up David Price and sending the Brooklyn #2 right to the showers.  But as throughout the whole series, (save Dickey's gem) the Brooklyn bullpen closed the door behind Sergio Romo and rev Righty Sergio Mitre. The Phanatstics always kept coming.  Abreu and Drew had some big hits, and some RBI's as well to round out the Philly attack.  These two powerful teams slugged it out. Philly edged back closer. Ivan Rodriguez who had a terrific series, added an RBI on his 3rd hit of the game.  Later Scott Rolen put it away against the lefty Tony Sipp with a 3 run bomb.  Final Brooklyn 13 Philly 8 series tied.

Game 7
 For the ages.  Greatest CBA playoff game ever for Brooklyn. Halladay vs Hamels.  Perhaps one of CBA's biggest ever.  Series tied at 3.  It was a good day for baseball, and Philly looked to make it a great upset victory in the House of Pain.  Brooklyn jumped out early when Nick Markakis doubled. Miguel Cabrera knocked him in for a 1-0 lead.  Philly came back with 1 in the 4th when Nelson Cruz and Russell Branyan hit back to back doubles and a JD Drew single off starter Roy Halladay who had been cruising till then, tied the game at 1.  It then fell apart for Doc in the 5th, he self destructed in games 1 and 4 as well.  Zobrist let the air out of Superbas fans chests after the super sub replacing banished Longoria hit a solo HR to give a 2-1 to Philly.  Two batters later, little Andres Torres hit another solo blast to make it 3 to 1 Philly.  A lead that the excellent Philly bullpen would hold onto until the 7th inning.  With 1 out Casey Blake was summoned from the bench and he doubled to left center :)   Derek Jeter then came up against the lefty starter Cole Hamels and singled. Next key RF Nick Markakis doubled and Blake scored jeter was cut down at the plate by Torres on a 1-15 drawing a 17.  The score was cut to 3 to 2, but the inning ended on a Cabrera K.  The game went 3-2 as Brooklyn's Burnett and Hensley quieted Philly for 2 more innings giving Brooklyn their last opportunity in the bottom of the 9th.  Arthur Rhodes and Tony Sipp had been great this series and held Brooklyn in check and down by 1.  After two walks in the 8th, Arthur Rhodes induced a Double play from Ryan Doumit.  To the 9th.  Hensley mows 'em down, and Brooklyn faces lefty Tony Sipp to pitch to the Brooklyn top of the lineup.  He gets Denorfia PH for Vernon Wells, to pop out.  Omar Infante comes up and hits a gapper double to left center, and with 1 out Brooklyn was in business but would it be enough?  The fans were screaming at the top of their lungs as Brooklyn's Nick Markakis stepped up.  Markakis had been red hot this series and facing lefties was dangerous.  Hite replaces Sipp with Heath Bell to face Derek Jeter.  With no subs on bench Jeter had to hit vs the Righty Bell.  He grounded weakly to SS. Now with 2 outs and the lefty Markakis up, Hite stayed with Bell.  Markakis promplty deposited a game tying single allowing a play at the plate and safe score for Infante!.  Game tied.  Miguel Cabrera red hot at the plate.  The pitch the swing.....LONG LONG BACK BACK BACK GONE!!!!  Walk off HR for Miguel Cabrera.  Brooklyn wins round 1 vs Philly 5 to 3!!  Huge win  for Brooklyn.  The story an absolutely gutty hard fought nearly won series played expertly by Rob Hite.  Hite played this team that was hit by overuse on two best hitters to the max.  A fine gentleman, and fun as heck to play gainst.  My hats off to you Rob for a whale of a fun series win or lose.





BOXSCORE: 2011 Brooklyn Superbas At 2011 Philly Phantastics         10/4/2011

[1]  Superbas           AB  R  H RBI AVG     Phantastics        AB  R  H RBI AVG
  R.Furcal SS         3  1  2  0 .500     A.Torres CF         5  1  1  0 .200  
B-O.Vizquel SS,2B     2  0  0  0 .222     C.Utley 2B          4  1  2  0 .368  
  O.Infante 2B        3  0  0  1 .182     N.Cruz RF           5  1  2  1 .429  
C-D.Jeter SS          2  0  1  0 .455     R.Branyan 1B        5  1  2  2 .500  
  M.Cabrera 1B        3  2  2  2 .471     J.Drew LF           5  0  1  1 .190  
  R.Howard DH         6  0  2  0 .318     V.Martinez C        4  0  1  0 .300  
  R.Braun LF          5  0  1  0 .238     C.Lee DH            3  0  0  0 .375  
  V.Wells CF          3  0  0  0 .125   E-L.Berkman PH        0  0  0  0 .333  
D-C.Denorfia PH,CF    0  0  0  0 .125     B.Zobrist 3B        2  0  0  0 .211  
  S.Rolen 3B          5  0  1  0 .188     S.Castro SS         4  0  0  0 .227  
  R.Doumit C          2  0  0  0 .167                                          
A-I.Rodriguez C       2  0  0  0 .286                                          
  N.Markakis RF       5  0  1  0 .190                                          
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      
[1]         Totals      41  3 10  3                 Totals      37  4  9  4

A-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Doumit In 4th Inning
B-Subbed Defensively (SS) For Furcal In 6th Inning
C-Subbed Defensively (SS) For Infante In 7th Inning
D-Pinch Hit For Wells In 10th Inning
E-Pinch Hit For Lee In 10th Inning

Superbas........ 2 0 0  0 1 0  0 0 0  0 0 -  3 10  2
Phantastics..... 0 0 0  1 0 0  0 0 2  0 1 -  4  9  1

[1]Superbas (2-3)           IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET
R.Dickey                  7 2/3   5   1   1   0   4   1   1.17  A1 C8
M.Rivera L(0-1) BS(1st)   2 1/3   2   3   3   2   1   1   8.10  C9 E1
C.Hensley                 0 1/3   2   0   0   0   0   0   6.00  E2
[1]Totals                   10 1/3   9   4   4   2   5   2

[1]Phantastics (3-2)        IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET
J.Verlander               7       8   3   3   1   3   2   4.91  A1 D3
E.O'Flaherty              1       0   0   0   1   0   0   0.00  D4 D6
A.Rhodes                  0 1/3   0   0   0   1   0   0   0.00  D7 D8
H.Bell                    1       1   0   0   1   3   0   3.86  D9 E4
T.Sipp                    1       1   0   0   2   2   0   0.00  E5 F1
L.Gregerson WIN(1-0)      0 2/3   0   0   0   1   0   0   6.75  F2
[1]Totals                   11      10   3   3   7   8   2

ATTENDANCE- 53,416 DATE- Tuesday, October 4th 2011 TIME- Night WEATHER- Good
T- 3:00
LEFT ON BASE- Superbas:13  Phantastics: 5
DOUBLE PLAYS- Superbas: 2  Phantastics: 1
ERRORS- S.Rolen, C.Hensley, C.Utley
DOUBLES- R.Furcal(1st), D.Jeter(1st), S.Rolen(1st)
TRIPLES- R.Furcal(2nd)
HOME RUNS- M.Cabrera-2(3rd), N.Cruz(1st), R.Branyan(4th)
STOLEN BASES- R.Howard(1st)
CAUGHT STEALING- O.Vizquel, C.Utley, N.Cruz
SACRIFICE HITS- B.Zobrist
SACRIFICE FLIES- O.Infante
WALKS- O.Vizquel, M.Cabrera-3, V.Wells, C.Denorfia, I.Rodriguez, C.Utley,
       L.Berkman
HIT BY PITCH- B.Zobrist
STRIKE OUTS- O.Vizquel, R.Howard-2, R.Braun, V.Wells, S.Rolen, I.Rodriguez,
             N.Markakis, A.Torres-2, J.Drew, C.Lee, S.Castro
GIDP- R.Howard, A.Torres, R.Branyan
WILD PITCHES- J.Verlander, T.Sipp
PASSED BALLS- I.Rodriguez
2-out RBI- N.Cruz, M.Cabrera, R.Branyan-2

The Philly Phantastics and the Brooklyn Superbas locked up in an exciting
one-run game at Ameriquest Field.  The final score was the Philly Phantastics
4, the Brooklyn Superbas 3 in 11 innings.

The score was tied at 3 after nine.  Finally, Philly prevailed in the 11th
inning.  Andres Torres ripped a base-hit.  Chase Utley stepped up to the
plate and he reached on an error.  After an out was recorded, Russell Branyan
stepped in and he slapped a single to load the bases.  J.D. Drew followed
next and he laced a one-base hit resulting in a mighty exciting win for
Philly and the 53,416 home town fans in attendance.  Philly had a total of 9
hits for the game.  

The victory was credited to Luke Gregerson(1-0) who went 2/3 of an inning,
allowing no runs. Mariano Rivera(0-1) ended up with the loss in relief.  He
allowed Philly 3 runs in 2 and 1/3 innings of work.  

BOXSCORE: 2011 Philly Phantastics At 2011 Brooklyn Superbas         10/6/2011

[1]  Phantastics        AB  R  H RBI AVG     Superbas           AB  R  H RBI AVG
  S.Castro SS         4  1  2  3 .389     D.Jeter SS          5  2  2  2 .364  
  B.Zobrist 3B        4  1  1  0 .235     N.Markakis RF       5  1  4  2 .353  
  V.Martinez DH       5  0  1  0 .176     R.Braun LF          5  1  1  1 .250  
  C.Lee 1B            5  0  1  1 .400     M.Cabrera 1B        5  3  3  1 .467  
  C.Utley 2B          3  1  2  2 .500     R.Howard DH         3  2  1  2 .286  
  N.Cruz CF           1  1  0  0 .333     S.Rolen 3B          4  1  3  3 .417  
A-A.Torres PH,CF      3  0  1  0 .200     C.Denorfia CF       4  1  0  1 .000  
  J.Lucroy C          4  0  0  0 .000     I.Rodriguez C       5  1  3  1 .385  
B-R.Branyan PH        1  0  0  0 .500     O.Vizquel 2B        4  1  1  0 .375  
  B.Abreu LF          4  2  2  1 .313                                          
  J.Drew RF           4  2  2  1 .313                                          
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      
[1]         Totals      38  8 12  8                 Totals      40 13 18 13

A-Pinch Hit For Cruz In 4th Inning
B-Pinch Hit For Lucroy In 9th Inning

Phantastics..... 0 4 0  3 0 0  0 1 0  -  8 12  1
Superbas........ 8 0 0  1 0 1  0 3    - 13 18  0

[1]Phantastics (1-3)        IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET
F.Liriano LOSS(0-1)       4 1/3  12   9   4   1   1   0   4.63  A1 C9
L.Gregerson               2 2/3   3   1   1   0   6   1   2.25  D1 E3
T.Sipp                    0 2/3   3   3   3   0   0   1  40.50  E4 E9
A.Rhodes                  0 1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   0.00  F1
[1]Totals                    8      18  13   8   1   7   2

[1]Superbas (3-1)           IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET
D.Price                   3 2/3   9   7   7   2   5   0   8.68  A1 C5
S.Romo WIN(1-0)           1 2/3   0   0   0   1   4   0   0.00  C6 D2
S.Mitre SAVE(1st)         3 2/3   3   1   1   1   1   1   1.59  D3
[1]Totals                    9      12   8   8   4  10   1

ATTENDANCE- 49,281 DATE- Thursday, October 6th 2011 TIME- Night WEATHER- Good
T- 3:43
LEFT ON BASE- Phantastics: 8  Superbas: 9
DOUBLE PLAYS- Phantastics: 1  Superbas: 0
ERRORS- B.Zobrist
DOUBLES- S.Castro(3rd), C.Utley(1st), N.Markakis(1st), M.Cabrera-3(7th)
TRIPLES- S.Castro(1st)
HOME RUNS- J.Drew(1st), R.Howard(2nd), S.Rolen(1st)
CAUGHT STEALING- B.Zobrist
SACRIFICE FLIES- R.Howard, C.Denorfia
WALKS- S.Castro, B.Zobrist, C.Utley, N.Cruz, O.Vizquel
HIT BY PITCH- C.Utley, D.Jeter, R.Howard, S.Rolen
STRIKE OUTS- S.Castro, B.Zobrist, V.Martinez, A.Torres-2, J.Lucroy-3, J.Drew-2,
             D.Jeter-2, R.Braun-2, M.Cabrera, R.Howard, C.Denorfia
GIDP- O.Vizquel
WILD PITCHES- F.Liriano
2-out RBI- I.Rodriguez, D.Jeter-2, N.Markakis-2, C.Lee, C.Utley-2

Scott Rolen jacked one out of the ballyard and had 3 RBI as the Brooklyn
Superbas beat the Philly Phantastics by a score of 13 to 8.

Sergio Romo(1-0) did a nice job in relief and was credited with the win.  He
allowed no hits and 1 walk in 1 and 2/3 innings and struckout 4 Philly
batters.  Brooklyn had 18 hits for the night while Philly had 12.  

Sergio Mitre was credited with his 1st save.  Francisco Liriano(0-1) took the
loss.  Brooklyn scored big getting 9 runs off him in 4 and 1/3 innings.  

BOXSCORE: 2011 Philly Phantastics At 2011 Brooklyn Superbas         10/7/2011

[1]  Phantastics        AB  R  H RBI AVG     Superbas           AB  R  H RBI AVG
  A.Torres CF         4  1  1  1 .227     D.Jeter SS          5  0  1  0 .381  
  C.Utley 2B          3  0  0  0 .360     N.Markakis RF       5  2  3  2 .355  
  N.Cruz RF           4  1  1  0 .385     M.Cabrera 1B        5  1  2  3 .481  
  R.Branyan 1B        4  0  1  1 .435     R.Howard DH         3  0  1  0 .321  
  J.Drew LF           4  0  2  0 .276   D-R.Furcal PR,DH      0  0  0  0 .500  
  V.Martinez C        3  0  0  0 .250     R.Braun LF          4  0  2  0 .267  
E-J.Lucroy C          0  0  0  0 .000     S.Rolen 3B          3  0  1  0 .304  
  B.Abreu DH          4  0  0  0 .292     I.Rodriguez C       1  0  0  0 .350  
  B.Zobrist 3B        3  1  1  1 .231   A-R.Doumit PH,C       3  0  1  0 .222  
  S.Castro SS         4  0  1  0 .267     V.Wells CF          3  0  0  0 .091  
                                        F-C.Denorfia PH       1  0  0  0 .077  
                                          O.Vizquel 2B        2  0  1  0 .267  
                                        B-C.Blake PH          1  1  1  0 .250  
                                        C-O.Infante 2B        1  1  1  0 .250  
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      
[1]         Totals      33  3  7  3                 Totals      37  5 14  5

A-Pinch Hit For Rodriguez In 5th Inning
B-Pinch Hit For Vizquel In 7th Inning
C-Subbed Defensively (2B) For Blake In 8th Inning
D-Pinch Ran For Howard In 8th Inning
E-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Martinez In 8th Inning
F-Pinch Hit For Wells In 9th Inning

Phantastics..... 0 0 0  1 2 0  0 0 0  -  3  7  0
Superbas........ 1 0 0  0 0 0  1 0 3  -  5 14  0

[1]Phantastics (3-4)        IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET
C.Hamels                  6 1/3  10   2   2   0   7   0   2.79  A1 D1
B.Morrow HOLD(1st)        1       1   0   0   2   2   0   1.42  D2 D6
A.Rhodes HOLD(1st)        0 2/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   0.00  D7 D7
T.Sipp HOLD(1st)          0 1/3   1   1   1   0   0   0   9.82  D8 D9
H.Bell LOSS(0-2) BS(1st)  0 1/3   2   2   2   0   0   1  10.13  E1
[1]Totals                    8 2/3  14   5   5   2   9   1

[1]Superbas (4-3)           IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET
R.Halladay                6 1/3   6   3   3   2   6   2  10.20  A1 C9
S.Burnett                 0 1/3   0   0   0   0   1   0   4.15  D1 D1
C.Hensley                 0 2/3   0   0   0   0   1   0   4.91  D2 D3
S.Mitre                   1 1/3   1   0   0   0   0   0   1.29  D4 D8
M.Rivera WIN(1-1)         0 1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   7.36  D9
[1]Totals                    9       7   3   3   2   8   2

ATTENDANCE- 47,194 DATE- Friday, October 7th 2011 TIME- Day WEATHER- Bad
T- 3:08
LEFT ON BASE- Phantastics: 6  Superbas: 8
DOUBLE PLAYS- Phantastics: 2  Superbas: 1
DOUBLES- N.Cruz(3rd), R.Branyan(2nd), N.Markakis-2(4th), C.Blake(1st),
         O.Infante(1st)
HOME RUNS- A.Torres(1st), B.Zobrist(2nd), M.Cabrera(4th)
STOLEN BASES- S.Castro(1st)
WALKS- C.Utley, V.Martinez, R.Howard, S.Rolen
HIT BY PITCH- B.Zobrist
STRIKE OUTS- A.Torres-2, N.Cruz-2, R.Branyan, V.Martinez, B.Abreu, S.Castro,
             D.Jeter-2, N.Markakis, M.Cabrera-2, R.Howard, R.Braun, R.Doumit,
             V.Wells
GIDP- R.Braun, R.Doumit
WILD PITCHES- R.Halladay
2-out RBI- N.Markakis, M.Cabrera-2

Miguel Cabrera left the yard and had 3 RBI as the Brooklyn Superbas came back
to win one over Philly Phantastics, 5 to 3.

Brooklyn won the game with a rally in the 9th inning plating 3 runs using 3
hits.  After an out was recorded, Omar Infante kicked off the action when he
doubled.  One out later, Nick Markakis stepped in and he stroked a single.
Cabrera then lifted one out of the park for a two run home run.  For the game
Brooklyn out-hit Philly 14 to 7.  

The win went to Mariano Rivera(1-1) who allowed no runs in 1/3 of an inning.
Heath Bell(0-2) was the losing pitcher in relief.  'Now that is what I call
fun! I just love baseball, especially games like this, of course,' Marc Wass
offered.  'Everyone at the stadium had a great time - did you see the fans go
wild there at the end?!'

The 2011 CBA season has closed.  It was another in a long line of great seasons. the races again were outstanding.  This year again went to the final block.  Although the division winners San Diego, Philly, Limoilou, won their divisions outright, Brooklyn had to defeat Carolina in the last block, and Skokie didn't wrap things up until the end.  Perennial favorites like Brooklyn, San Diego, Philly, Indiana, Skokie, Carolina franchises, continue to win big.  Other franchises have now certainly joined the elite as this year Ohio repeated their division title to join the exclusive club after successful campaigns and playoff appearances the past few years.  A few teams rose to a higher level.  High Bridge was the Staub story winning their first ever playoff appearance out lasting their rivals Towaco, Belfast, and Joliet to advance by 1 game.  Perhaps it was the huge September 21st win at San Diego that put them over, while Towaco was swept in their first series, last block by the Ohio Outlawz, who won their crown in Rogers in that series. Kudos to Joliet on a fantastic season in which shaep management, small ball and speed took them far into the last block.  Towaco formerly Allentown a snake bitten franchise that had struggled along since its days as Kansas City appearing in only 1 playoff in their existence (2004).  This year Kevin Gibson took the reigns and brought them within 1 game of the playoffs.  Belfast returned from their year rebuilding plan, and put together a sensational year in Dawson finishing with 89, just out of playoff reach. Brooklyn took 2 of 3 from Carolina to win Parker with the Copperheads taking the wildcard spot facing Wolfman Shapiro's Skokie Wolfmen who had the best conference record with 108 wins.  Philly plays Brooklyn once again in round 1.

We saw some great games and performances in 2011.  The 25 inning game won by Skokie on Sept 15th, over the tenacious Lake County team.  Lake County had a good second half and played spoiler against Indiana in the final September stretch run.  Septemeber saw 2 other 20+ inning affairs. A Stirling 9-3 win over Ottawa on Sept 10th.  A huge game between High Bridge and San Diego combining 43 hits total in which the Heaters won in 20, 10-9.  It was the Heaters big wins over San Diego that earned them a playoff spot...Brooklyn and Sunville played in the three of the highest scoring games of the year. On July 31st, Brooklyn winning 19-10, and Sunville returning the favor Sept 8th 18-5. BSP won a 16-13 game on Apr 5th as well. ERA killers for both.  Cooperstown and Ottawa played a 10 inning slugfest won by Ottawa 16-14 on August 25th.  That was a wild one....On June 30th, Ut Chasely of Philly had a 6 for 6 day against Cooperstown. Delmon Young had 7 hits in a 14 inning game vs Bryan April 21st...The Heaters Gregor Blanco walked 5 times vs Longue Pointe a team known for great pitching (even in this down year)...On June 5th, Joey Votto slugged 4 HR's vs Stirling a feat only achieved in CBA by Albert Belle of the Bodega Bay Madbirds vs Cooperstown Sept 4th, 2000. Mike Piazza of Skokie Wolfmen also did it vs Cooperstown July 10th, 2007....On June 12th Shin Ha Choo of Stirling had 9 Ribbies vs. Philly in 5 at-bats.  Pedro Alvarez of Towaco and Aubrey Huff both had 8 in games this year...Both Carl Crawford and Juan Pierre stole 5 bases in a single game, twice...Brooklyn's Edwin 'Ronson' Jackson gave up 16 runs in 6 IP vs Sunville during the September 8th 180-5 SSP win...Gio Gonzalez tossed the seasons only no hitter for Sunville vs Stierling July 5th...There were 7 one hitters...Dontrelle Willis of Longue Pointe walked 12 vs Towaco Sept 4th in midst of a pennant race. Not to feel so bad, both Edwin Jax and Philly's Brandon Morrow walked 11.  The CBA record is 14 set by Hartford's Steve Reed in 2003, and Maine's Noah Lowry in 2006...

World champion Brooklyn's offense led the CBA with a final .304 BA, 264 HR, 981 runs. Skokie was second at .288, 248 HR.  Philly had 244 HR, and Ottawa 245...High Bridge led by 4 players with 35+ SB's.  Figgins 64, Rajai 59, Crisp 40, Span 35, Blanco 18. Joliet stole 190 led by league leaders Juan Pierre 86, and Michael Bourne 73...In Clemente, Indiana's Joey Hamilton won the Clemente Batting crown at .344  Omar Infante fell just shy of appearances to qualify, while Staub crown went to Robby Cano of San Diego at .337...Clemente HR champ was Jose Bautista who slugged 64 HR and tied with Pujols whose .305 55 HR helped him to 142 RBI's. Miguel Cabrera led Brooklyn with .336 43 HR 131 RBI 47 Doubles.  In Staub Adrian Gonzalez won the HR crown with a 40 HR effort recording 121 RBI...With no 20 game winners in Clemente, Skokie's Jeremy Guthrie won 19-5  4.11 ERA. Roy Halladay finished second 18-8 3.88 ERA.  The ERA crown went to Carolina's Alex Sanchez at 15-5 158 K's 2.72.  He edged team mate 14-11 Brett Myers who also had 178 K's  In Staub King Felix and Jon Lester both of SD had 21 and Lester won the ERA title  at 2.11 to boot...

The Clemente Conference boasted some of the strongest teams in CBA.  The race was decided early in Schmidt.  Philly took control of first place on June 23rd wresting control to a hot Stirling team.  Ottawa was in the mix, then when bench strength became a necessity, Philly made some adjustments then took over first for the rest of the season finishing 97-65, 17 games over Stirling who fell off in the second half to oblivion along with Ottawa.  The Phantastics won another title in gaining their 8th playoff trip questing for Rob Hite's 4th championship.  This year San Diego broke the Phantastics 2000 season record 120 wins.  Rob Hite knows talent, and this year no exception.  A young team with an expanding roster of blue chip prospects, who generally seem to develop for baseball junkie Rob.  This year with the development of Starlin Castro, long time Phantastic SS, all time CBA hits leader and future HOF Derek Jeter was dealt to the Brooklyn Superbas.  The Superbas already boast future HOF types such as Ivan Rodriguez, Omar Vizquel, Miguel Cabrera, Roy Halladay, and Mariano Rivera.  Perhaps a signal Brooklyn is aging but this year the two storied long time franchises will meet in the 1st round Marquis matchup.  Power vs Power.

Philly rode the strength of destroying his own division.  They went 14-8 against all teams Schmidt.  Philly had it's struggles with Monday division teams like Bryan whom they went 4-8, Skokie, and Lake County.  They feasted on Parker destroying Cooperstown 12-0, and had a winning record against Sunville and Carolina but splitting the Brooklyn Superbas. Hard to figure, but would that mean Monday was the strongest of the conferences?  Perhaps Bryan and Lake  should move up the power rankings based upon impact on Schmidt's Philly. A total team effort, Hite's platoon system worked to perfection.  Michael Morse .336 25 HR 68 RBI, in 298 AB's  a name you will hear more of next year. Nelson Cruz .336 20 HR 74 RBI in 411 AB.  Longoria's 30 113 .282 was excellent at 3B.  Drew 29, Branyan 26 , Abreu 21 and Torres 22 added more HR power.  A .282 team BA with 240 HR and 908 runs.  Another year over 900 runs.  Playing in Ameriquest adds to that total, but don't forget inflates the Philly pitching totals as well.  Philly's 4.16 era was quite good for that park. It was helped along with excellent defense, only 73 errors.  Verlander 13-11 3.76 ERA 231 K was good as the ace but had some struggles despite the card.  Brandon Morrow had the best win pct 13-4 3.36 ERA.  Greinke went 15-9  4.83 ERA, and Health Bell saved only 13 ina bullpen by committee approach.  Gregorson, Rhodes, O'Flaherty, contributed with middle and set up support. 

This team promises to get better if not great.  PPS .355 OBA .483  Slug .839 and Production was excellent.  Philly relied heavily on the hit and run advancing the runner 53 times and gaining 23 hits, 2nd to Belfast in CBA.  The Staub division has clearly made use of the "Longue Pointe" small ball style in recent years, utilizing the Hit and Run more and more like LP did in winning their World Series in 2005, and getting back there 2 years ago.  Philly has brought that to Clemente.  Philly did steal 80 bases which was less than rivals Brooklyn and Skokie, but part of a trend towards some speed in the Power conference. A breakdown of the team lineups show that the front of the order got on base and exploded significantly more stats wise than the bottom half.  Jeter, the injury loss of Utley, hurt in that lineup.  Philly will power up against anyone and will be a force as always and years to come.

The Stirling RedSox were a team of promise and hope going into the second half of 2011.  The started out by residing atop Schmidt division before taking a turn.  According to GM Malachi Nellum, the teams collapse in July was centered on Phillip (being counted on as a stopper) Hughes crumble, and the bullpen in that month could not hold on to leads.  99 errors that seemed to come at the wrong time.  Do they ever come at the right time?  That pattern cotinued as the RedSox IRSC was at .346 an unacceptable percentage for a contender with pen so vital.  Stirling had enough juice to contend this year on offense scoring 819 runs with a.345 team OBA.  Perhaps a bit more slugging in their conference could have helped somewhat.  Carlos Pena 31 HR 88 RBI .218 and Chin 30 HR 88 RBI  .284 were the power sources. Pena flashed good leather at 1B, so he was of value beyond his low BA.  But this team won with small ball in Clemente. Stirling stole 150 bases an excellent total in Clemente.  Carl Crawford 13 HR 89 RBI .322 69 SB 12 triples and 4 doubles.  He only hit into 4 double plays all year.  It an was awesome year and CC is an MVP candidate despite the other players gaudy numbers.  A lot of underachieving performances for the Sox while playing at Bank One Park with good singles, and 1-10 HR numbers on average.  So here goes Stirling.  Once again strengthening as they prepare for 2012.

The Ottawa Otters are an original 1996 (yes, December) team.  They own a World Championship secured by the likes of players like Vladimir Guerrero, Omar Vizquel, and the retired HR giant Mark McGwire.  Vladdy 30 HR 94 RBI .289 still plays at a high level to this day, and is high among the all time  league leaders in many categories like batting, HR, RBI, Slug, OBA, and even SB.  His tandem with first big Mac, then Big Papi are CBA legendary.  Still going strong.  Big Papi Ortiz spit his way to a 40 HR 98 RBI .257 season.  Cust 22, Drew 24, McCutcheon 21 and the Moody Justin Haywood played the blues only nailing 20 HR 51 RBI and a .250 BA.  Only 78 Stolen bases, Haywood didnt move much. and only M'Cutch stole 25.  Alot of power off the bench too as the Otters hit 242 HR.  Guys like Baker, Izturis, Varitek, Hinske, McDonald al showed some pop.  The pitching was a near disaster with a 4.52 ERA. Gallardo 13-7  4.16 ERA, Lackey 12-9 4,09 with a nearly 1.50 WHIP.  Randy Wells went 12-11 but a 5.60 ERA. 

Its a similar pattern for many Clemente staffs. The numbers are always inflated , so runner movement or lack thereof is very important when considering pitchers.  The numbers can lie on the surface, but deep down that runner advance and strikeouts which stop runners dead often contribute to CBA wins.  Ottawa pitching only K'd 1080 batters which is low by standard.  Considering how many pitches thrown is another way of showing that runners were on base moving around.  In combination with LOB, team base runner patterns may become clearer.  Only 7 clutch outs by pitchers and alot of pitches thrown show many dangerous situations encountered by Ottawa.  108 errors and a .702 X rating were poor.  Led to many runs.  The defense hurt the pitching. 30% of the runners crossed the plate when relievers were summoned.  By contrast Limoilou had a .205 IRSC.  A division title too.  The importance of relief even in a softball slugfest, is unmistakable.  Ottawa staffs tossed 8 CG's and only 5 shutouts for the team all year.  As long as Ottawa has played, they have always been an offensive minded team.  Their teams lineups were of legend.  The Otters are still however quite a good young team.  The OF may be among the best of CBA, and getting better with the rapid development of Cameron Maybin.  Next year, Fister, Ogando, Gallardo and Serge Santos will be strong.  With a good draft the Otters could be a team that could challenge. 

The New Hampshire WildCats are a team building their way to the future.  Give Chris Brazeau credit.  He is a perfect fit for CBA.  It was said, that he brings an enthusiasm to CBA that is exactly what CBA has wanted.  He began right away to establish a foundation for his new franchise.  He inherited perhaps CBA's worst and already has added some talent throught attention to building relationships and trading.  Some interesting future players include Justin Masterson, Diane Viciedo, Jose Tabata, Gaby Sanchez, Yoder Alonso, JP Arrencibia, Gerardo Parra, Matt Harrison, Danny McCutchen, and good performances from David Pauly and Bruce Chen.  With a record of 42-120, the team can only move up from there.  Highlites included reliever Brandon League's 0.86 ERA and holds.  Dan Wheeler had 12 saves in 14 innings. Ross Ohlendorf gave 5-6  3.81 RA in 100 IP.  It was mostly the relievers not the starters who helped the cause.  The Wildcats played well in September against the contenders going 11-15. Tim Stauffer was solid in the middle with 4-2  3.58 ERA in 45 App.  New Hampshire will lok ahead to better times.  Attendance in the cats lair is sparse game after game.  The Wildcats must play better than the Goldie Hawn led WWildcats to get the respect of other team CM's  in Schmidt division competition.  Perhaps one day people will cae less about resting their regulars when New Hampshire comes to town.

The Parker division hosts two perennial beasts who have long dominated their division, Brooklyn and Carolina.  It was widely thought that this year Sunville could present a challenge, but Keith Jones and his infrequent managerial CM's put a quick end to the notion of a playoff, let alone his continued participation in CBA.  It's a shame he had put together a nucleus of talent there.  Now it's up to upcoming Cooperstown to fufill some promise.   The story wound up being Brooklyn's.  The SUperbas are an original franchise and the 5th one created by Gerald and Claude way back in winter of 1996.  The Alexandria Assault, Ottawa Otters, Philly and the Louisville MobSquad were also among the first teams created.  Brooklyn quickly established Coors field as their "House of Pain" and developed stories, press, and a webpage to comemorate what was Brooklyn's return to pro baseball.  The Superbas started out with a team led by the enigmatic Albert "Joey" Belle as their team hero.  In that first season, Belle slugged 50+ HR, led the league in HR, RBI, and almost won the BA title and the triple crown.  It was then the the Superbas established identity as CBA's leading power and offensive team of all time.  Brooklyn team and players share or hold many CBA records for offense both individually and as a team.  A few players with huge career totals like Todd Helton, Sammy Sosa, Ivan Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Halladay, have played a majority of their career there putting up huge numbers.  This year the Brooklyn bad Boys had a team full of huge offensive numbers.  They boasted a CBA leading amount of HR, 264, Runs 980, 376 doubles, and even 94 SB.  The Superbas pitching was less spectacular and accounted for many problems allowing lesser offensive teams to score at will and even win games.  The bullpen fared better than the starters with a .282 IRSC.  The starters had a substandard defense behind them in which they accounted for a .717 X rating 3 /1000 less than league average. A majority of the most dangerous kind, OF errors, and big errors on the INF left side.  The staff threw the most pitches in CBA.  Perhaps if RA Dickey pitched more, or better.  Perhaps if Edwin Jackson's 13-9  and 7.53 ERA didnt hover around 9.00 all season until the end.  Forget his 13 wins, Brooklyn gave him the best run support in CBA. John Lannan 3-8  7.50, and released John Maine also did little.  This team with a 4,5 starter could have done alot more.  Dice-K  12-8  4.53  had a fine season. Haladay 18-8  3.88 209 K's had another fine season, and David Price 16-5  4.34 172 K's is an emerging ace.  Both could have been better and were weaker in the first half before settling down.  The bullpen is among the best led by Mariano 2-2 2.09 27sv.  Clay Hensley 3-2  2.59 5sv, Jon Rauch 4-2  3.14, Mitre 4-0  2.52 ERA, Sergio Romo 7-1 3.25, and Sean Burnett 2-3 1.86 7sv all had strong seasons. Carlos Zambrano 6-2  4.91  4sv won some swingman games and some saves in long relief.  The starting staff was let down by themselves, and the porous defense.  The offense thrived.

The big three are the biggest triple threat in CBA.  Brooklyn always had a fearsome middle order. A team .358 OBA, .519 slug, 6.39 runs created are all excellent.  An .840 totoal avg is outstanding for a team effort.  Years before, It was Helton, Sosa, Bagwell, wells, before that Ventura, Henry Rodriguez, Brian Daubach, Luis Polonia, Jay Payton all had huge seasons in a Brooklyn Black and Gold, vested uniform.  Brooklyn has led the CBA in power categories many times.  Miguel Cabrera 43 HR 131 RBI .336, was sensational this season and will get strong MVP support.  Ryan Howard 47 HR 123 RBI  .283  no doubt will receive many top votes in one of his best years ever.  Ryan Braun 28 HR 106 RBI .296 10sb, nearly matched his MLB numbers and was a key force protecting the other two stars. Vernon Wells had another huge year.  The former Clemente MVP, and 2011 candidate hit .309 with 33 HR 82 RBI's.  Wells made no errors in CF and threw out 9 runners.  Brett Gardner led CBA CF with 21.  The Markakis hit 17 HR 79 RBI .296 BA was great defensively leading CBA in RF assists.  The under rated Omar Infante nearly won the batting crown this season hitting .351 falling just shy on PA's. Derek Jeter certainly didn't add much this year in September, but he's an October player. Furcal 6 HR 40 RBI .329 29 SB was great offensively at ss with Omar Vizquel  ) HR 24 RBI .286 in 315 AB, likely in his last season before retirement and it was a good one for his BA stats.  Brooklyn has to shwo they can get past round 1 and Philly to be a threat in the CBA playoffs.  They didn't make it last year, but if they do this year, watch out.  This team can explode and will.  Especially if their front three starters can get er done.

Carolina 100-62 and a wildcard, rode atop the division for a good amount of time going back n forth.  Their match ups with Brooklyn 6-16, haven't always worked in their favor with Brooklyn having their number. The match ups aren't favorable, but Carolina struggled with Sunville a bit too.  Carolina fattened up their record a lot on Cooperstown going 20-2 done well vs the other teams.  Carolina had identical 50-31 records on the road and at home.  They struggled in 1 run games going below .500 in those 23-24.  Carolina scored an average of 5.08 runs and let up an excellent 3.75 runs.  A good margin for winning ball.  Carolina did finish the season strong winning at a .700 clip the last few weeks.  Opponents scored 10+ runs 10 times, Carolina did 20 times.  Kenan's teams seem to win.  Carolina had a team .343 OBA with a good .444 slug. They used a platoon system at some positions.  The 10th man award will undoubtedly go to Jim Thome in his final days .  He hit 33 HR 73 RBI .325 in only 271 at bats!  Has to be some type of performance record.  14.92 RC/27, Total avg  1.508,  1.244 Productivity, his ISO was .458, OM lord...  The other platooner Adam Dunn 19 HR 53 RBI .286 in 287 at bats, not too shabby ehh? . Thats insane numbers.  Absolutely insane.    Ryan Zimmerman had 33 HR 113 RBI  .303 BA.  Werth 26 HR 117 RBI .290, D Stubbs 23 HR 67 RBI 26 SB 5 CS, although Joey Votto was a 'disappointing' 28 HR 91 RBI .265.  Ian Kinsler will need to step back up after a .258 6 HR 41 RBI campaign.  The team batted .261, but scored 823 runs but only grounded into 130 DP's a good number for baserunner movement.  That big power accounted for 215 HR's  mostly from those hall of fame platooners.  The team made 90 errors which was fair. It could have been better to help the great pitching.

The pitchers limited hitters to a 5th best 3.50 ERA in Clemente!  Thats outstanding in a DH league built for rip.  Those pitchers K'd 1176 batters, and a .233 IRSC.  They had 26 CG's, 8 shutouts, 46 saves led by Valverde's 3-5  2.91 24sv, and Andrew Bailey added 11 more saves.  Chris Carpenter 17-11  3.75 had a good year atop the staff. Annabelle Sanchez 15-5  2.72 led the Clemente in ERA. Brett Myers was excellent doing at a 14-11  2.74 clip.  Excellent back to back staff.  John Johnson 14-9 4.26 ERA. All that without talking about Johann Santana 11-11  4.83 not even on the playoff roster.  Set up middle man Matt.Belisle  had a great season appearing in 70 games going 3.16  7-0.  Len Ondrusek was 2-0 with a brilliant 1.54 ERA and 10 holds in 65 games as a set up man.  Elmo Dessens went 5-1 with 2.38 ERA in 45 IP. Peter Moylan of Joliet had a CBA leading 29 holds.  Looking at the low inning but high number of appearance data of Carolina leads me to believe they employed quick set up men more than most teams did.  Carolina is a good fielding team with a .757 X rating avg  It will carry them into the playoffs where a balanced team is necessary.  They can hit, for power, pitch, field, and run a little.  A formidable team that can beat anyone in CBA on any day.

Sunville management dropped the ball in 2011.  Keith Jones an original manager, disappeared in July and with only 1 communique in 4 months, I wont waste my team reviewing his franchise.  Just know that Jose Bautista 64 HR 142 RBI  .276 BA was electrifying to watch this year.  With Austin Jackson 1 HR 41 HR  .290 37 SB and Carlos Gonzalez 24 HR 88 RBI .321 BA in front of him, it was a run producing machine atop that helped generate their 742 runs. Beyond those guys there was a few performers like Barton 12 HR .276, Gomes .272 12 HR, Barajas 16 HR, and Willingham who hit 14 HR.  Sunville did slam 187 HR.  The staff was led by Gio Gonzalez 13-6 3.61 ERA 171 K's was outstanding for a poor club.  The bullpen let them down.  Guys like Rafael Soriano 1-10 3.69 27 saves, blew plenty of opportunities with no one else stepping up.  No manager to alter the pecking order, no manager, no more.

Cooperstown Iron Horses on the other hand is a quality organization that is re tooling and working very hard to build a contender ground up.  They have alot of future wealth that tell the story more than the season they just closed. C Town went 52-110.  20 of those to Carolina, and 16 to Brooklyn.  Shave half those from those teams and you would have 16 more wins should the Horses decipher those foes. It would have been a little closer if they could have won more from the Monday division.  In fact had they won more anything would have been better.  The Horses spit the bit in a 2011 race they'd rather forget. The offense hit 178 HR's, and had a .250 BA.  Their PH hit only .220.  The team amassed a measly 6,171 PA's.  Not many rallies there. Better focus on the hitting cuz the pitching was well.  The young talent had bright spots.  Neil Walker .301 20 HR 64 RBI was good from 2B. Casey McGehee .290 23 HR 62RBI was a solid producer. Delmon Young added a .284 28 HR 74 RBI season. McCann 21 HR 59 RBI .260 season was adequate but below his usual numbers.  Still not bad for a backstop.  The nucleus is here. Excellent young talent that will develop further. Guys like Weaver, Walker, Young Jr, Storn, Mejia, Bumgarner, Chacin, Nova, Latos, Tomlin, Morton, Pinieda, and Lots of better draft picks to come too.  A few guys will have excellent cards in 2012.  This team could be a force, soon.

The Monday division got it roots back in 1997.  Bryan formerly Kilgore is an original team there. Southwest Lizard Kings now known as the Skokie Wolfmen were an original there too.  Now it is said it could be the toughest division in CBA's Clemente.  Judging by the record of success that the Monday teams had over the other divisions, a case could be made.  This divisions teams beat the best teams of the other divisions.  Bryan had success against the better teams, yet they finished just under .500.   A team that defeated Indy 11-11, Philly 8-4, Stirling 8-4, 7-5 vs the Sunville, 12-10 vs Lake Co, and 5-7 vs Brooklyn.  Why then couldn't Bryan break free?  Skokie went 3-19 vs them.  Carolina 3-9, and Ottawa had their number 4-8.  If they had played better vs Skokie and Ottawa, it may have been a race.  Indy went 25-11 vs Parker a winning record vs all the teams there.  A winning record vs Schmidt too.  Skokie struggled with Parker.  But it was Skokie's domination over Indiana that finally separated this divisional race.  Skokie took that season series in a year when three teams could have made playoffs.  Lake County played well vs the tough teams and were just below despite the record. 

Skokie outlasted Indiana in the end.  Skokie maintained an advantage pretty much all season, but Indiana kept nipping at the Wolfmen's collar, pushing Josh Shapiro to make adjustments often to keep ahead.  Shapiro guided this team to the franchises best season ever with 108 wins.  Shapiro programs two CM's each week tailoring the team to his opponents and it makes all the difference.  The team did perform for him, so luck or Skullduggery may have had some...effect.  The team was remarkably well balanced between the CBA's 2nd rated offense and an excellent pitching staff.  The defense was strong as well with a.779 X Rating.  Skokie was just as good at home or the road, righties or lefties didn't matter winning at .600+, 700+ against righties.  They were 28-16 in 1 run games, but for some reason only 6 and 6 in extras.  Seems like Soria and the pen really let down the excellent starting staff whose ERA's inflated a bit as they allowed .356 IRSC.  Very poor.  Soria 4-3 2.96  saved 19, blew only 3 saves but allowed 44% of runners inherited to score.  Ineffective in the clutch, horrible numbers.  Imagine if he stopped them cold what a few more wins could have done.  A team 3.83 ERA, the starters were led by C.Lee 3.57 16-11  12 QS, J.Guthrie 4.11 19-5 only 12 quality starts whereas league leader Jon Lester had 20, and  M.Cain 4.23 14-11, Clayton .Richard 4.36 14-4  The numbers don't jump out at you.  But they got it down limiting opposition scoring to 1.25 runs better than the opposition.  The team did K 6.9 batters per 9 IP, and let righties hit .232.  Lefties batted .246.  Them pitchers  Stopped the runners dead in their tracks.  The defense chipped in with 24 OF assists and 4 Double plays 10 from CF, 7 from Bupton.  The offense was classy.  .288 BA with 248 HR  894 runs scored.   ,A.Beltre  .312 30 HR 106 RBI and SS Troy Tulowitzki contributed .278  27 HR  75 RBI and with 11 men collecting double digit HR's.  It was a team effort.  Many players contributed.  Platooners thrived.  M.Holliday  .333  21 HR  73. RBI M.Ordonez .372  19 HR  65 RBI in 290 AB was effective in the OF platoon. Backups like Ramon Castro hit .339 9 HR, C Will Rhymes .366  21 RBI in 180 AB all led to a title in Monday.  The team showed good ISO power .198  figure average is around .180-.190.  A .815 total average and .839 Production rating are good numbers and mean wins.  By contrast New Hampshire had a .561 total abg, and .643 production.  New Hampshire was better at keeping runners from scoring though .335 to Skokie's .35  :)

Indiana A team 4.16 ERA, the starters were great R.Oswalt  2.82 15-8 , A.Wainwright  2.98 18-9, J.Garland 3.86 14-7 although H.Kuroda 4.77 14-6 underachieved. Bill3 Wagner was 3-5 and 32 saves.  Team K's 1279 players, with Wainwright having 202 of them.  Oswalt 198 K's.  The bullpen despite the saves was shaky a team .339 IRSC.  The pitchers allowed a .240 BA against.  The offense gave Indiana 5.4 runs per game to work with. Indy couldn't out muscle Skokies CM's, nor edge Carolina and Brooklyn down the stretch.  It was so close.  The offense may not have been enough.  Who knows had Bob been able to tweak the CM's what could have occurred.  The proxy did a great job, and Indiana won too down the stretch but already behind they just ran out of time.  The team batted .271 with 238 HR.  A .333 OBA and a nice .461 slug, but in Clemente where Brooklyn, Skokie reside. Fell short.  Scored 863 runs.  J.Hamilton  hit .344  38 HR 112 RBI.  Alfert.Pujols.309 44 Do 1 TR 55 HR 142 RBI 100 extra base hits not up to others in CBA but a stellar year.  P.Polanco .304 11 HR  52 RBI was under rated and steady.  Great glove .808 X rating at his off position.  A.Rodriguez       .267 18 HR 76 RBI 12 SB had an off year at 3B.  Huntor.Pence.265 24 HR 99  RBI 21 SBwas solid.  Hanley.Ramirez  disappointed at .261 25 HR 68 RBI but had 33 SB.  Starter Rahul Ibanez killed them in LF .235 10 HR 49 RBI with no glove or speed or variables to think of.  The bench players were adequate but Wilson Valdez for 260 AB's at .241 and no power hurt a bit more than his glove helped.  Alfonso Soriano acquired for the stretch didn't help much in nearly 200 Ab only .217 and 6 HR.  Pinch hitters batted .243 with only super card vs Lefty Drew Sutton hitting 1 PH HR.  Had 16 of 20 successful sacrifices.  There was a significant production decline at the end of the batting order, but so much firepower up front that Indiana finished with a great season.  A credit to Bob Fidler that he always is in the game.

The Bryan Bashers were better than the record shows.  In a very tough division they held their own against the best as was chronicled previously.  The Cory Light Led team gave away some distance after contending in the first half but this year was no disappointment.  77-85, but a tough losing record.  A sweep the final week hurt the record more as the Redbirds laid into them with a full arsenal at the end.   A team .327 OBA and .382 slug.  Both need some improvement but the oBA isn't too bad.  4.38 RC and a .662 Production meant the offense slipped this season and didnt get much going.  142 HR and 662 runs were weak in Clemente they only stole 52 bases too, so no runner movement hurt.  Nick Swisher  batted .288 with 24 HR 78  RBI 4 SB and Paul Konerko hit .280  28 HR 95 RBI.  Pat Burrell .241 17 HR 62 RBI, and Marlon Byrd            .258  16 HR  62 RBI were solid.  This team killed any lefties hitting .281.  It was just that righties hurt this righty lineup limiting them to a team .238 BA vs R.  The pitchers were opposite, a .235 BA vs L, and a .282 BA vs R against them.  The team generally went 40 AB between HR's.  Brooklyn comparing had 1 every 22 AB.  A .137 ISO was abysmal. The defense however was excellent posting a .777 X rating helping a strong pitching staff for 2011.  A 4.17 ERA 1,062 K's.  The staff fared better than the offense.  Using that solid defense, Bryan pitchers had good seasons.  The bullpen was weaker but still led by Kevin Gregg's 30 saves 1.54  4-1 5 blown saves and set up man Broope Badenhop 2.14  5-0 led to a few wins.  A .375 IRSC hurt.  Starters Joe Blanton 3.80 12-10, T.Wakefield 4.21 10  7,  Wanda Rodriguez  4.32 10-11, and Randy Wolf a hard luck pitcher who was 3.28  9-9.  The Whips of the starters were pretty good but runners trickled in.  Bryan will need to continue to build the franchise to keep pace with the fading Redbirds and Skokie who will slow a bit barring deals next season.  Injuries in MLB may help Bryan by hurting some rivals.  Cory looks forward to a brighter 2012 season. 

The Lake County Leopards finished with a stronger September and helped eliminate the Indiana team in the end.  The Leopards perhaps could have done more in a different division but it is a team on the rise.  Some good talent and decent MLB season could spell wins for David Jones.  This season a weak offense hurt this team evidenced by a .248 BA.  127 HR and 644 runs won't win in CBA, though the teams 4.54 ERA doesn't hurt as bad when you're scoring runs either.  A .314 OBA with a .376 Slug is bad.  Garrett Jones led the team with a 20 HR season and a .217 BA took the gain away.  The team allowed 198 HR's against.  They were successful bunting 27of 28 times.  Only 86 SB with 47 CS doomed the runner movement despite the bunts.  The # 3  hitter hit .281  23 HR  85 RBI's. The #4, .238 15 HR 69 RBI very Mets like. Dexter Fowler and Cody Ross did throw out 13 runners from RF a plus. A .756 X rating was quite good.  G.Soto            .275 13 HR  47 RBI, and Ryan Spilborghs  .266 12 HR  52 RBI were among team leaders. Jimmy Rollins .249 5 HR 27 RBI 14 SB was a bust.  The pitching records reflected the teams offense a bit in the loss column J.Cueto 4.33  7-13 145 K's is a star waiting to explode. Jamie Garcia 4.86  9-14  133 K's is as well.  Derek Lowe 5.16  9-18 deserved better.  These pitchers and Tyler Clippard, Papelbon (13 sv), Venters, Acosta, forma good nucleus and mean trouble for Monday.  Could be the best pitching staff in the division next season.  The development of Fukudome, Avila, and Fowler should help a bit.  A return by Rollins, some added power you never know.  Jones has recruited some good players here. 

The Staub conference has had it's share of fantastic finishes.   The is no question that year after year the conference will all boil down to the last block of games.  The competition so fierce.  This year the battle was epic.  All season San Diego had ran away with the Carter title.  Joe Wallace's 2011 Staub championship team has made it through a wondrous season finishing at 122 - 40.  The best record ever in CBA.  Joe must be proud of the team that swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs in dominating fashion winning 4-0 both series.  As of this writing will face the powerful Brooklyn Superbas in what promises to be an excellent World Series.  The Surf had unbelievable balance. Robison Canoe 202 hits 35 HR119 RBI .337 13 HB and stellar defense .984 X rating.  David Wright  .308  37 HR 115 RBI had a super season against all types of pitching.  Jay Bruce in CF slammed 27 HR, Victorino hit .289 with 37 steals.  The numbers don't scream at you but if you run down the stats, you can see how it was a team effort.  The platooners like David Murphy, Justin Morneau, Kevin Youkilis hit .326, and got on base at a .423 clip and a .564 slug in platoon had great seasons.  Wallace strung together great cards.  Look at the numbers.  As a team, they had it all.  3rd in batting .283  .360 OBA, .478 slugging. They were1st by far in pitching 2.66 ERA. That is a CBA record.  Struck out 1378 batters.  An outstanding .228 IRSC 2nd in CBA behind the Wolf Pack of Towaco.  A .753 X Rating, combined with that K and ERA.  The whip was an astounding +173 !  The only blemish perhaps, Nict Hundley and crew 22 PB.  They stole 19 of 86 bases for a .819 clip. San Diego started the season going 12-1, never looked back.  Always seemed to have trouble with rival High Bridge including a memorable inning inning affair that had a direct impact on the Staub wild card races.  It was San Diego's losses to High Bridge that allowed the Heaters to slip past the red hot Towaco Wolfpack.  In essence SD controlled the entire outcome of the Staub.  Thank you Mr Schedule maker.  The staff with King Felix 2.36 21 - 8 +22 Whip, but Jon Lester went nuts. 2.11 21 - 3 +30 whip 200 IP 130 hits 101 BB.  Hong Kuo 1.33 17 saves, Nap Feliz 1.62 12 sv. M.Garza 3.12 17 - 5, Earvin Santana    3.28 16 - 4  Dan Haren 3.60 19 - 5 completed an awesome rotation with Daniel  Hudson 2.18 11- 4.

John Miller took an expansion club.  He was given nothing but the promise of better days should he be patient and build.  John had a plan.  It took 3 years, but in that time he created a contender.  A playoff team.  The Heaters survived a Battle Royal to win the wild card and the right to face the Surf.  The Heaters were clearly among the contenders of CBA for much of the season for the first time in their history. They had a chance to vie for elite status that a conference championship can bring. We rarely remember the contenders, but this year San Diego was in the way of a dream.  The final season games between SD and HB were phenomenal the 20 inning affair won by High Bridge was legendary.  The Heat were .591 against their own division, and they owned Rogers as well .604 29-19.  They were .500 against the Dawson, having loads of trouble with Limoilou and Belfast, two of Staub's better teams.  Struggled at times with Longue Pointe too falling prey to the pitching.  A healthy mix of platoon players drove the limited offense of the Heaters. A team .243 BA, 699 runs, 125 HR the offense was just enough to compete.  You can look at the stats and counter that offense with a superior pitching performance, and you have a good Staub team.  Both Juan Uribe the versatile infielder and Tyler Colvin hit 21 HR to lead the team.  Ike Davis added 18 more.  The platooners Melvin Mora .289 13 SB, Gegor Blanco .302, Wus Helms .27 added some pop to the line up. They were a great speed team 242 SB, with table setters who did damge in the late innings when their turn came around. Denard Span stole 35, Crisp .284 40 SB, .Chone Figgins acquired from Brooklyn for 2B hit 3 HR 72 RBI and stole 63 SB.  Rajai Davis 7 HR 51 RBI .248 acquired from Montreal stole 60 himself.  The team OBA was pretty poor at .316 with a below average .366 slug.  So it was all about the speed game that even managed to create nearly 700 runs.  HB's pitching really kept the Heaters in most of it's games.  The speed stole wins for the pitching.  A .736 X rating, they struggled batting .238 vs righties .258 vs Lefties. But the pitching?  A different story.  they allowed a .225 vs lefties and a .243 vs righties.  The Heaters staff not only kept the games close, but they hit .170 knocked in 24, and had 51 sac bunts.  They were destructive to good offenses all over CBA.  Charlie.Narveson  3.29 11-10 and  Fausto.Carmona 3.40 14 - 11 were strong. Brent Cecil   2.71 15 - 6, and Rick.Porcello  2.80 12 - 8 led the staff. The bullpen by committee approach was effective. a .248 IRSC.   Kenji.Uehara  1.07  2 - 0 24  saves who was a hero with Montreal before getting injured leading them to within a series of the playoffs had a sensational year for the Heaters.  Ace set up person J.Benoit  1.23  2 - 0  12,  S.Marshall  2.00  5 - 3 , D.Hernandez  2.11  8  - 1  ,M.Delcarmen  2.34  1 - 1,  all contributed to a 92 - 70 season. It was September when it matterd most.  The custom lineups produced by Miller effectively set strategies to tear through the final month and keep pace outlasting Joliet, and Towaco.

Joliet came out of nowhere it seemed and became a big story in the CBA soap opera. Now what happened here?  Did anyone predict that Joliet would be a factor in the Staub.91-71, they went nuts on the base paths. Like the Heat the team tore it up with 190 SB. Somehow they would win. Like HB, they had some pop, but a low .243 BA.  JJC's .685 .315 OBA and 370 Slug and only 2000 total bases.  The Iso .120 didn't scare anyone. They had a league leading 8 clutch hits. The pitching staff was very good with a 3.79 ERA though not the caliber of High Bridge or San Diego.  Then where did they win?  A team approach. solid components K.Jepsen  2.34  4 - 3 , B.Duensing 2.45 11 - 6,  .J.Hanrahan 3.10  8 - 0 8sv, B.Matusz   3.11 11 -11,  A.Burnett 3.26 13 - 7  146K a committee approach.. Where did they win from?  Hit .219 vs lefties. Opponents batted only around .250 but could that be it?  Other teams had better stats.  Huigh Bridge more speed, better pitching, then only 1 game?  A testament to Jack Frost's gamesmanship in what could be one of the best performances by a GM this season. Joliet was able to  A .679 OPS, wheres the beef? Perhaps the speed and a lot of key match ups in the CM's perhaps?  Joliet didn't always send a CM for each opponent, but he managed his usage which gave him a competitive edge.  The bench?  No.  Luke.Scott .285  20  65, and the amazingly under rated clutch season of  Corey Hart another strong MVP candidate.  The numbers don't tell the story there with .273 28 HR 111 RBI considering his seemingly limited offense MVP candidate Juan Pierre .268  1 HR 66 RBI a CBA leading 87 SB he is setting records in CBA with every SB. Michael Bourne's .267 3 HR 43 RBI with 73 SB.   These guys were the key while the bullpen nailed it down .248 IRSC.  Matt Capps  4.31  3 - 7  44 saves held what Hart and the speed kings handed him.  Their record against Dawson was in contrast with HB having won 27 games. The late Joliet rush occurred when the other teams knocked each other around and had to substitute in their lineups.  Joliet then took advantage  through most of August before finally succoming at the end to High Bridges San Diego wins.  Jolient wasn't as lucky in the final week losing to their arch rival in their final series.

The New Jersey Beatles didn't create much music in 2011.  A true expansion team with a building future, the veteran league face to face commisioner/manager Steven Adler came to us from the Tri-State Strat-o-matic League based in Northern New Jersey.  In his 2nd season, the nucleus is there.  Lind hit 16 HR and drove 69 in.  He looks better for 2012. Prospects like Bryuce Harper, Justin Smoak, Jed Lowrie .282 15  34, Jeremy Hellickson, and of course Mike Stanton .242  22 HR 54 RBI .  Meanwhile the team made it through the season managing usage well.  Jeff Niemann 3.98  5 - 13 134 K's led the staff and pitched pretty well.  Donnie Bush  5.03  3 - 20. J.Francis 5.57  7 - 10, Ben Sheets 7.26  3 - 14. Blake Dewitt.289  5 HR  33 RBI had a good rookie season.  The team batted .231 with 111 HR's and scored 547 runs a very low figure.  Much of the concern was to develop the young talent. A 42-100 can only improve as the Beatles will hope their yellow submarine surfaces. A .300 OBA with a .347 slug.  A .116 ISO is horrendous.  The figures really serve to point out the low end of the range, and where teams that are more successful may lie.  Whereas a team has a .190 and reaches the Conference finals, the other end is at .116.   Brooklyn is at .209.  A 3.46 runs created is also the low range. New Jersey did go 6 - 5 in 1 run games. Motte 3.12  4 - 4  and Perry 3.86  1 - 2 did well in the pen for the Beatles.  Jesse Crain saved 9 games in a surprise.

The Rogers division saw a great playoff run by the perennial contender Ohio Outlawz and the emergent Towaco Wolf Pack, (not to be confused with Skokie Wolfmen).  Once home of .500 and below type teams, this division has become a stronger division in the CBA.  With he Clemente dominating recent World Series play, teams like San Diego, Limoilou, and Ohio emerged to try and wrest the Conference bragging rights from the likes of Brooklyn, Indiana, Carolina, Philly, and Skokie. Tall order.  But the guard changes quickly here in CBA as powers emerge and some fade into CBA's abyss.  Now we see new powers emerging. Rogers will be a battle in 2012.  It's expected that Kennesaw Mt will begin to emerge as the young talent has started to pay some dividends.  Ohio may have a set back with Posey's injury, but their talent has moved ahead as well. Maine looks pretty powerful in the middle of the lineup. Towaco will need another good draft as the division emerges. 

Ohio had a great season. They had power and pitching and 97 wins. They won as much on the road as at home.  Even money in one run games as well.  Went 9-7 in extra innings.  To say the least, Ohio is a CBA elite team.  They started 2011 with a quick start from the gate, then faded back a bit in  May and really began to slide through June and into the first week of July.  Who'd have thought that the Outlawz could finish first? Firing their six shooters at the sky, and instead of hitting nothing, they shot down stars. The streak began.  On June 30th, 11 games out, they began a torrid month of July.  By July 28th, they were 1 game behind Towaco.  They were 7 games out on July 19th, by the 28th just 1. They took a share of 1st place on July 29th, and kept pace with Towaco eventually outlasting them taking first place through August. , though Towaco made it really close all season. Looks like they may be up there awhile as the team is stocked with good talent.  The Posey 15 HR 54 RBI .329 affair may be a stunning set back for Glen Kenan, but players like Dan Alex Gordon 3 HR 18 RBI .195, Logan Morrison 29 RBI .254, Melty Cabrera 2 HR 17 RBI .231, Seth Smith 15 HR 48 RBI .264, will join Mark Texeira 19 HR 82 RBI .270, in a solid lineup again.  Those numbers will look better.  This season aside from Posey, Chris Young had a return to stardom with a great 35 HR 98 RBI .253 36 SB .912 X rating, a great all around season.  He will undoubtedly get votes in the MVP voting as well.  MVP candidate, Kelly Johnson porked 27 HR 78 RBI .278 45 doubles, 15 SB with a CBA 8th best 105 runs scored, all at 2B. Miguel Tejada in the twilight of his career managed 16 HR 83 RBI .255 BA.  John Buck  .292 16 HR 64 RBI .818 Total avg at catcher was a blessing in Posey's absence. Best tandem in CBA for 2011. A team .339 OBA and .421 slug in Staub is pretty good.  A 4.92 runs created, and .725 total avg on .761 production works out quite nicely in the non DH 12 team Conference.  The team showed excellent power despite playing in San Francisco's ball park. 91 stolen bases were also pretty good, though not elite.  Mainly a power team.  Imagine if they were in Clemente? Ohio did ground into 150 double plays and will need to reduce that number.  

Ohio's pitching was excellent as well.  Team 3.49 ERA allowing only 129 HR with a +377 Whip is quite good. They K'd 1233, and kept opposing runners honest when in scoring position 26% of the time.  The league average was .298. Erick Aybar's 26 errors didn't help, but Ohio's .683 X rating was abominable.  They may have done a lot more with gloves behind the staff.  10 CG's 14 shut outs.  Cy Young candidate Clay Bucholz led the staff a stellar year  2.58 19 - 4 only 6 HR allowed in 170 IP.  Jesus Sanchez went 2.97 11 - 10, Jake Westbrook 3.72 16 - 7. Ricky Nolasco 3.81 11 - 4.  Chris Perez 3 - 2 1.88 22 saves all had fine seasons.  The middle corps were solid with Breslow, Wright, and Lopez.   Ohio should be in good shape next season as their talent develops further.

Following Ohio in the race for the Steve Rogers division was first year GM Kevin Gibson's Towaco Wolfpack. Towaco held first place throughout much of the seasons first half.  Great pitching and offense led the pack and they were the talk of the Staub conference for that while.  Knowing they would come back to earth, Kevin Gibson still managed to keep the Pack quite motivated and winning right until the final block, despite Ohio's hot streaks and stellar play.  Towaco was in first polace up until August 8th.  It was a great season to stay up there that long.  They and Joliet missed on a wild card by the slimmest of margins when High Bridge defeated San Diego for a big series in September, and won 1 more against the eventual Staub Champions.  That was the difference, 1 game between Towaco a playoff or a long winter in North Jersey.  It took conference rival Maine to split a 4 game series at the end to keep the Pack out.  Just 1 win, could have meant a game 163. Towaco won 49 games on the road 7 more than home. The team offense totals were good for Staub, though not as strong offensively as Ohio, the Wolves hit a collective .257 with 146 HR and a total 745 runs.  Good numbers.  281 doubles could be upgraded a bit and the defense must buckle down.  .710 X rating 128 errors is poor.  The catchers Russell Martin 5 HR 51 RBI  .260, and Matt Treanor 7 HR 40 RBI  .235, threw out 31% of the would be thieves, a nice number. The offense managed a .329OBA and .402 slug, numbers that aren't awful, but approaching mediocrity.  A bit more slug and OBA go a loooong way.  They managed to pilfer 110 bases in contrast to their catchers throwing many runners out.  A good turn around there.  .731  production is .037 pts lower than was Ohio.  The win column reflects this.  Oh and they did hit into 1 triple play somewhere along the line.  Kenduck Morales .335 15 HR 36 RBI in 188 AB's,  and Matt Diaz .330 215 AB 9 HR 45 RBI, were worthy of Johnstone award consideration. Jose Reyes was great 9 HR 81 RBI 35 SB and a solid SS glove.  Martin Prado 12 HR 57 RBI .291 was solid, as was Colby Rasmus' 19 HR 72 RBI's. Carlos Quentin added 21 HR and 50 RBI's despite an anemic .212 BA. 

The pitching staff was the opposite very strong. A team  3.27 ERA, with opponents batting a measley .242 against.  Relievers were lights out allowing only a .221 IRSC.  Joel Piniero led the staff as ace 2.40 17 - 3 , Tim Hudson  was superb and a top 5  ERA leader, 2.30 13 - 10.  Travis Wood added 3.12 with a 10 - 6 record.  The middle pen and closer roles were by committee.  Brian ' The Beard' Wilson 2-3 1.96 saved 15, and Brandon League 2 -4 2.12 ERA 10 saves were efficient in tandem.  The other set up and middle men were outstanding.  Joel Peralta was 2 - 0  0.92 in 49 IP! Doug Slaten 2.11 ERA,  Kyle Farnsworth  in 50 games went 2.22  5 - 1 as righty set up man.  Wuertz, Carrasco, and Mota  2.88  4 - 2 4 saves were solid as well.  With some and new young talent like Taillon Jamison,  the resurgent Jeff Karstens, batting champ Reyes, there is reason to think there is a future nucleus to center upon win or lose in 2012.

The Maine Express rolled off the track in 2011 75-87. Mike Koepp's team fading away as usage woes, and a less than Maine standard team played in Maine's 'Expressway' stadium. The offense was a respectable .263 BA with 167 HR's, and 703 runs scored. The pitchers were 4.01 team ERA with an opposing .267 BA.  and a +628 Whip, could be better if they hadn't let as many men on base. Maine themselves only had a .319 team OBA and a .728 production, with a .408 slug.  In Staub the slug is fairly decent, but in the speed pitching conference Staub that OBA meant everything almost 30 pts less than the contenders, and a full hundredth below league average.  Maine's defense accounted for so many base runners reaching against. 126 errors, not good.  .687 X rating is horrid. The IRSC of .376 was a problem compounding all those problems, scoring many more runners.  It is the lack of OBA, defense,  and bullpen (lack of) that doomed the Express train.  Chase Headley .309 13 HR 73 RBI's and 24 SB had an excellent season with 606 AB's and 187 hits.  MVP/Player of the Year candidate Adrian Gonzalez  .305, hit 40 HR and drove home 121 RBI's to lead Staub in both categories just another great year for the perennial all star. Dan Uggla hit.266 16 HR 60 RBI, and will undounbtedly be a force combined by AGonzo, Matt Kemp .230  26 HR 84 RBI 17 SB next year.  The pitchers were led by Rick Romero 2.52 13 - 9, and Dollars Braden 3.66 10 - 9 .  Brian Fuentes saved 17 for the Express otherwise there was little to cheer about.  The good news  This is a team on the rise, and next years lineup will score a bunch of runs.

The Kennesaw Mountain Boys had many unfufilled expectations in 2011. With Michael Blakeley pushing his team for a wild card berth, the Braves, Mountain men, Woodsmen, whatever they're known as din't respond.  A 48 - 114 record meant one thing for Blake, a high set of draft picks.  A horrifying .235 road pct 19 wins. 29 at home. Won .289 vs Righties. Weak vs righty pitchers in CBA is a recipe for lack of wins.  They did win 6 of 11 extra inning games.  A .237 BA .297 OBA and a .375 slug.  3.65 runs created, .590 total avg, .672 productivity, and .138 ISO.  Meanwhile they did hit 145 HR led by team MVP Hideki Matsui .267 23 HR 63 RBI's who was acquired to play 1B before the season.   Edwin Encarnacion added 20 HR, Jose Guillen hit 17 HR, and SS Yuniesky Betancourt popped 15 taters.  Future superstar Carlos Santana  used Black Magic to ellicit a  .260 12 HR 25 RBI performance in 169 AB's. The team stole a league low embarrasing 23 bases and was caught 19 times, nearly as many.  They hit .216 vs left handers as a team.  The pitching was a bit better than the offense with a team 4.62 ERA and opposition hit .264 BA against Kennesaw. Matt Latos  went 2.73  8 - 8  before he was dealt. John Danks was a terrific 3.35 but let down by the offense 5 - 14, with 159 K's. Andy Pettitte retired this season following a strong 3.55 11 - 9 record.  HOF enshrinement possible.  Wade Davis was a good 4.08  but 3 - 12.  Drew Storen saved 10.
With a few good prospects on the squad, and better luck the team will surely rise in 2012. It may be possible that the Bravewoods could look towards a .500 season.   

The  legendary Dawson division.  The home of some of CBA's most historic moments.  A legacy of gentlemanly play, intense competition, and the small teams.  The Dawson has usually been characterized as the quintessential National league style of baseball. Usually lots of baserunning, good solid pitching, and top shelf defense. Could anyone whose been here long enough forget the earliest competitions between Quebec Capitales, Longue Pointe, and Limoilou? With Chris Boutin's retirement, and the rise of the Belfast Brawlers, it has generally been a 3 way dance year after year with all the teams shuffling year to year in fierce competition that often had resulted in game 163's. Can anyone forget the classic Belfast Limoilou end season struggles?  or Longue Pointe and Limoilou's epic battles in the playoffs?  How many times has Dawson been to the World Series?  Limoilou 5 times has been to the World Series. By comparison, Rob Hite has made the trip 5 times winning 3, Bob Fidler has won Indiana 3 championships in 3 tries, Marc Wass has won 2 of 3 World Series, and Dennis Concepcion has 1 in 2 appearances. It is no easy task getting into the playoff circle of elites.  Maintaining it year to year is very difficult in CBA.  It is a testament to the teams who can compete at a high level.  With great teams in LP, Limmer, Belfast, and last years surprise success of Montreal all should have a shot at some playoff next season. The trading has begun with Limoilou making moves at the end of last season, Belfast and Longue Pointe making moves.  Neither have had the flurry of moves that Cooperstown has recently made, but CBA is changing and the old guard must continually update or get left behind the new stallions. 

Limoilou was never in doubt in 2011.  They were in first place for 160 games.  Is that record? Would anyone doubt Jeff Boutet is a Strat-o-matic force in CBA? Why is it that year after year. The pretty much held a full notch over Belfast despite the scrappy Brawlers cutting it close at times during the long haul.  The story was domination with pitching.  Big time Wendigo pitching.  Enough to lead CBA and the rest of the Dawson was left to Belfast to pound on Longue Pointe and do netplay with Belfast in tough series. It was a sensational year for the Wendigo and Jeff Boutet.  It also saw the return of Jim Edmonds in his last hurrah and impending hall of fame candidacy.  Limoilou had some power, but in a role reversal became more of a speed team using the LP model of Pitching and speed. A few guys who were in double digits, but no real standouts. Curt Granderson's 22 HR  81 led the team  in RBI's, but generally it was just a solid team effort.  Mike Cuddyer hit 16 HR and 68 RBI, Ian Stewart 18 HR 65 RBI.  Prince Fielder hit only 17 HR's curiously. An off year for him. Angel Pagan swiped 47 bases hitting .271 and playing excellent defense.  Chipper Jones had a difficult year at the plate and with the glove, but should return for another round in 2012.  The years are dwindling for Larry.  The team got on base at a .335 clip which is good for Dawson. A 4.48 Runs created, .721 production. .688 Total avg, and .139 Iso Pwr.  The numbers don't jump out.

The pitching staff was marvelous. .230 Opp BA, .205 IRSC was one of CBA's best ever.  The offense was basically irrelevant when the staff allowed 3.35 runs per game despite the shoddy defense .709 X rating pct. The only flaw being a 10-11 record in extra innings which showed some closer problems in late innings in fact.  A void likely left behind when Joe Nathan suffered his injury.  The staff struck out 1406 batters stopping base runners dead in their tracks.  M.Scherzer went 2.61 18 - 7,  C.Kershaw  went 2.28 14 - 5, U.Jimenez went 2.72 18 - 4, Tommy Hanson went 3.40 11 - 10, and Barry.Zito 3.43 12 - 9.  Opponents batted .222 vs L, and .236 vs R. Each had 18 quality starts, sans Zito who had 19! Zito?  yes Zito! Ryan Franklin saved 22 with a 1.74 ERA. What a great staff.  The Wendigo were eliminated in the playoffs by Eventual Staub Champion San Diego, but indeed it was quite a season.

The Belfast Brawlers were contenders to the last block.  They opened quickly despite a hot Limoilou team, and held it close throughout the first three months.  Only 4 back on June 25th, the Brawlers couldn't match that Limmer team pitching.  No one could.  The core impression of this franchise is scrap iron tough, fight back and scratch out wins.  Its given the Brawlers and owner Derek Adams an impressive CBA resume.  It has also struck CBA fear in the hearts of some immortal GM's. The Brawlers whether in a good year or an occasional off season, do evoke pangs of fear in opposing GM's.  Belfast plays tough to the last out.  They played 2011 to the hilt scratching out wins against tough competition.  Generally through the seasons Belfast has been characterized as one of the better hitting franchises in Staub.  The teams usually hit for high team average and 2011 was no exception batting .270.  Power never a forte was better than last season with 116 Hr's which isn't awful in Stab.  A majortiy from the bat of team MVP once gain Aubrey Huff.  Huff 29 HR 116 RBI .313 is a Belfast legend competing in the MVP races many times for the Brawlers.  A BBD hall of famer, will he be back?  728 runs is pretty good in Staub as well. Alexi Ramirez had a break out 10 HR 80 RBI .323 season.   In a season where the bench and the lineup players were all over .270.  Jamie Carroll hit.306, Danny Valencia hit 4 HR 45 RBI .296 in his rookie year.  Freddie Sqanchez so good with the glove had a .295 bat, Rios and Napoli hit 14 and 17 HR respectively.  Joey Jay hit .306 in his rookie year.  Nate McClouth stole 17 bases, Alex Rios 14 HR 80 RBI 35 sb and 27 double plays, and Alexi 20 in 29 attempts, so speed again a specialty.  The Brawlers used old time small ball and employed the hit an run to maximum advantage.  An amazing 25 hits in 69 attempts with 52 runner advances best in CBA.  An amazing success ratio.  It's worthwhile it seems to have a B hit and run guy working behind the table setters.  They attempted and made 11 of 20 squeeze play attempts, second to only 12-21 by the Joliet Jacks. They sacrificed successfully 88 of 119 times for 73.9%.  Those strategies helped propel a healthy offense for the Brawlers.

The pitching was led by staff ace Trevore Cahill 16-7 3.10.  A little thin in the starters, the step down was to 10 wins by Craig Stammen 10-7 4.90.  Juan Contreras had 26 saves out of the pen.  A team 4.10 ERA 9th in Staub will need to come down in a conference where teams don't always score many runs.  A run and a half behind the Conference leader San Diego.  A wide margin.  The bullpen had some good numbers. They notched 44 saves and a .250 IRSC while the starters could only complete 4 games.  The team shut out opponents 8 times.  The defense was better than most with an excellent .786 X rating.  Fewer hits, fewer runners allowed and less base runner movement.  Kyle Davies had a solid season 4.28  9- 10. But the pen did it all. Jerry Lewis went 1.60  3-0, Manny Corpas  went 2.39  3-1,  Shawn Camp 2.58  7-1, Chris Ray  3.29  3-4, Hisanori Takahashi  3.36  5-6, and set up man Tony Pena finished at  3.74  3-2.  It was that pen that kept Belfast in it.  Belfast and Derek Adams will no doubt always find a way to maximize their talent.

It was a disappointing season for Staub finalist Longue Pointe owned by Dennis Concepcion.  Concepcion a lifetime Montreal Expos fan knows what suffering poor season is all about, now.  Prior to this season, the Loggers have compiled an impressive winning percentage over .550, including a 2005 World Championship.  Fans of the Loggers can remember classic playoof and series  performances and walk off HR not unlike this years playoffs and series.  Who can forget 'Miracle Mirabelli's huge playoff and clutch HR's.  Perhaps some remember Ichiro's walk off playoff game 7 winning HR.  Those days seem long ago and far away after a dismal season going 71-91.  Ichiro who once led CBA with a record setting .405 BA in 162 games, (Miguel Cabrera the other CBA player to top .400), fell to 4 HR 39 RBI .285 with only 25 SB. Not Ichiro like but good nonetheless.  Torii Hunter did manage a good offensive season with 26 HR 99 RBI and .305 BA, but alas was nailed 13 times on the paths stealing a pitiful 8 bases.   The Loggers couldn't play well on the road 20 games below .500, but .500 at home. A lot of the offensive woes were due to low on base numbers, and RBI production. The were able to move runners with the Hit and run 16 hits in 62 att with 45 advances. They were 3 for 7 on the squeeze and 69 for 87 sac 79.3%. Brandon Phillips was excellent at 2B with gold glove and bat 23 HR 79 RBI .290 20 SB 3 CS.  Recently traded Aramis Ramirez hit a disappointing .241 but did manage 22 HR and a weak 64 RBI's.  The team OBA was .318 and the slug .380.  They hit 132 HR's most by LP in years, with a .254 BA, stole 125 bases and had just 666 runs a dubious number.  The .380 slug was indeed an upgrade over last season. The offense was better than last years, but the pitching weaker.  Generally as LP always is a platoon style team.  The team concept didn't work too well this time, but is sure to be employed in the future.  The pitching staff faltered, especially the pen.

A team 4.05 ERA was nearly 3/4 of a run worse than 2010 where LP was near the CBA leadership.  LP dropped 9 notches in team ERA. The bullpen was not its usually dominant self with a .323 IRSC.  The fielding was shoddy and contributed to several loses .705 X rating.  The catchers Varitek, Laird, and Thole (1 HR 17 RBI .291), allowed .761 OSB, a poor number.  LP's defense, and pen seemed to be the biggest reason for the collapse.  Perhaps even the OBA could have been lived with, but it's certain LP will have their work cut out for them in 2012. Blaine Boyer 2.09  1-2 51.2 IP  41 Hits, was the only bright spot in the pen. CJ Wilson was awesome with a fantastic 2.43 2.43 14-7 152K's for a 91 loss team.
Old man river, Jaimie Moyer  3.02  6-7 and steady Tum Lincecum 3.35 12-7  209.2 IP 195 hits 212 K's wasn't his dominant self. Ryan Dempster 3.54  9-7 will see a drop off in 2012 as his card turns to crap. With so many poor team performances, it was hard to get excited about this team in 2011.  Dennis C will always find a way.

The Montreal Crows 52-110 had a well documented spectacular year in 2010 winning 90+. Now look. In 2011 it was almost certain not to be follwed up.  That didn't stop the building of the franchise as it looks like the Crows will take a step up in 2012.  This season not many highlites to talk about except for the great face to face battles that both Montreal and Belfast endured while Belfast chased the gold in the pennant drive.  Montreal did have some good performances worth noting, and was never a team to just lay down and let others roll over them.  The GM Doug Brunet would never allow his boys to tank not a single game.  Trades to bring in talent like James Shields, Daniel Hudson, Jordan Zimmerman, Cameron Maybin, and Robert Andino, to go along with improved 2011 MLB performances by Jeff Francoeur (2011 CBA  9 HR 31 RBI .241) , Jeff Keppinger (2011 CBA 4 HR 44 RBI .274 solid) bring youth promise and hope to Montreal. Todd Helton disappointed when he batted .260 this year in CBA with 13 HR  54 RBI, and Will the thrill.Venable batted .247 with 17 HR and  48 RBI's while stealing 36 bases, a great season. Alberto Callaspo hit 6 HR 48 RBI and .269.  Fred Lewis 7 HR 27 RBI and a good .274 BA. The pitching was poor to fair with a team 4.37 ERA.  Armando Galarraga 3.60  8-12, Tom Gorzelanny 3.63  6-11 and Livan Hernandez  went 3.74  6-16, but will he be back?  On a sadder note, Paul Maholm was better known for striking out Billy Crystal cause he sure didn't strikeout too many in CBA.  5.97  5-18 was pathetic. Will he be back? Fernando Rodney saved 22 games! but was 2-7 with a 6.26 ERA, so he was a sweet and sour patch kid.  Doug Brunet is admittedly building.  He is no doubt one of the teams that will take a step up in 2012.  Who else will be there to rise. Can new teams make the playoffs in 2012? Can anyone dethrone Brooklyn's Supebas with all that power.  We will wait till next season to find out.

Lake County has come up huge in the second half.  Playing role of Spoiler and knocking around Indiana taking 3 out 4 games, and perhaps stalling Indy's race for their 4th championship.  Look how David Jones Lake County Leopards took Skokie to the absolute limit.

 

BOXSCORE: 2011 Skokie Wolfmen At 2011 Lake County Leopards          9/15/2011
 
  Wolfmen            AB  R  H RBI AVG     Leopards           AB  R  H RBI AVG
  J.Repko CF          8  0  1  0 .222     D.Fowler CF        11  0  2  0 .246  
  O.Hudson 2B        11  1  1  0 .259     C.Guzman 2B        10  0  0  0 .236  
  M.Holliday LF      11  1  2  1 .331     G.Soto C            9  0  2  0 .274  
G-T.Crowe LF          0  0  0  0 .220     J.Michaels LF       5  0  1  0 .248  
  C.McGehee 3B        9  0  0  0 .273   D-A.Avila PH          1  0  0  0 .211  
  A.Ethier 1B         9  0  2  0 .297   E-C.Carter LF         4  0  0  0 .235  
  R.Castro DH         4  0  2  0 .322     G.Jones DH          9  1  1  0 .221  
A-C.Patterson PR,DH   6  0  1  1 .292     C.Ross RF           8  0  2  0 .256  
  M.Ordonez RF        8  0  1  0 .362   F-R.Spilborghs PH,RF  3  0  0  0 .261  
  Y.Molina C          4  0  1  0 .294     J.Rollins SS       10  0  4  1 .251  
B-B.Upton PR          0  0  0  0 .224     J.Loney 1B          9  0  1  0 .269  
C-J.Posada C          5  0  0  0 .189     J.Lopez 3B         11  0  2  0 .231  
  C.Izturis SS       10  0  1  0 .308                                          
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      
         Totals      85  2 12  2                 Totals      90  1 15  1
 
A-Pinch Ran For Castro In 8th Inning
B-Pinch Ran For Molina In 11th Inning
C-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Upton In 11th Inning
D-Pinch Hit For Michaels In 13th Inning
E-Subbed Defensively (LF) For Avila In 14th Inning
F-Pinch Hit For Ross In 20th Inning
G-Subbed Defensively (LF) For Holliday In 25th Inning
 
Wolfmen......... 0 0 0  0 1 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  1 -  2 12  3
Leopards........ 0 0 0  0 0 1  0 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0  0 -  1 15  0
 
Wolfmen (97-53)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA
C.Lee                     6       8   1   1   1   3   0   3.65
M.Guerrier                1       0   0   0   0   0   0   7.07
R.Ramirez                 2       0   0   0   1   2   0   4.47
J.Soria                   3       1   0   0   1   2   0   3.24
C.Coleman                 2       0   0   0   0   0   0   2.34
D.Nippert                 0 1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   3.86
D.Oliver                  0 1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   5.43
J.Lopez                   2 1/3   2   0   0   2   0   0   2.91
M.Adams                   2       1   0   0   2   1   0   3.39
D.Bard                    2       2   0   0   0   1   0   3.53
T.Lilly WIN(13-6)         4       1   0   0   0   3   0   2.89
Totals                   25      15   1   1   7  12   0
 
Leopards (63-87)         IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA
C.Silva                  10 1/3   8   1   1   5   8   0   5.55
J.Venters                 4       0   0   0   3   5   0   3.12
T.Clippard                2       1   0   0   1   0   0   3.19
J.Papelbon                3       0   0   0   1   3   0   3.05
B.Sanches LOSS(1-6)       5 2/3   3   1   1   1   7   0   4.41
Totals                   25      12   2   2  11  23   0
 
ATTENDANCE- 9,284 DATE- Tuesday, September 15th 2011 TIME- Night WEATHER- Bad
T- 7:50
LEFT ON BASE- Wolfmen:20  Leopards:23
DOUBLE PLAYS- Wolfmen: 1  Leopards: 0
ERRORS- O.Hudson, C.McGehee-2
DOUBLES- J.Repko(1st), M.Holliday(32nd), A.Ethier(33rd), G.Soto(11th),
         C.Ross(19th), J.Lopez(24th)
TRIPLES- O.Hudson(4th)
STOLEN BASES- J.Repko-2(2nd), B.Upton(20th), J.Rollins(13th)
CAUGHT STEALING- J.Repko, C.Patterson
SACRIFICE HITS- C.Guzman
WALKS- J.Repko-3, C.McGehee-2, A.Ethier-2, M.Ordonez-3, Y.Molina, G.Soto-2,
       C.Carter, G.Jones-2, J.Rollins, J.Loney
HIT BY PITCH- C.Patterson, J.Loney
STRIKE OUTS- J.Repko-3, O.Hudson-5, M.Holliday-2, C.McGehee, A.Ethier-3,
             R.Castro, C.Patterson-3, M.Ordonez, Y.Molina, J.Posada-2,
             C.Izturis, D.Fowler-4, J.Michaels, G.Jones, C.Ross-2,
             R.Spilborghs-2, J.Loney, J.Lopez
GIDP- J.Michaels
WILD PITCHES- J.Soria
PASSED BALLS- J.Posada
2-out RBI- J.Rollins
WEB GEMS- Bot 5th: Matt Holliday robbed Cristian Guzman of an extra base hit.
          Bot 20th: Jason Repko robbed Ryan Spilborghs of an extra base hit.
 
Ted Lilly came through with a solid 4 innings and left fielder Matt Holliday
had 2 base hits at Jacobs Field as the Skokie Wolfmen beat the Lake County
Leopards in 25 innings 2 to 1.
 
Both teams had scored 1 runs after nine full innings.  Finally, Skokie pulled
the game out in the 25th inning.  Holliday doubled.  After an out was
recorded, Andre Ethier came to the plate and drew a walk.  Corey Patterson
then slapped a one-base hit.  Despite losing, Lake County out-hit Skokie 15
to 12.  
 
Lilly(13-6) got credit for the victory, pitching 4 innings and allowing no
runs. Brian Sanches(1-6) ended up with the loss in relief.  
 

Date: Sept./Oct. 2009 - extra game playoff
with Belfast -

The Skokie fans have been use to seeing their home team,
the Wolfmen, year in, year out playoff bound ..

however for the first time, in 2009, as their stars ran
out of gas - so to speak - in the extra playoff game
of the season, the Wolfmen didn't make it

plus have had a chance the two years before to
go to the CBA world series and come up empty -
as Skokie returned to the CBA, coming into
the Clemente Conference for the 2011 - the
management of the Wolfmen set some goals

the first goal was to get back to the playoff, which
was not seen as an easy goal - as the Clemente
conference has quite a few power teams - including
Indiana in our own conference - with 3 time champ
and nemesis Bob Fidler who beat Skokie in 7
in the 2008 CBA WS - especially with the way
Bob does his trades and builds his team - definitely
there were no guarantees that Skokie might make
it to the playoffs or win the conference - this would
be one of our most challenging seasons.

As the season started, the Skokie fans were in
shock going 0-6 in Block 1 - it appeared that
this was going to be a very long season but the
players believed and the team started to reverse
directions after the first few weeks.

There were big questions marks for Skokie if
we were to have success --

a) could we win with 3 main left handed starters?
(although we did pick up two righties for spot starts
of which we traded Nova to Cooperstown but this
was a trade we had to make)

b) how would our team do at the end of the season
due to usage? - would we fall as in 2009 when our
key players had to be rested - primarily Beltre and Tulo
(the trade for McGehee helped with Beltre as well as
another RH bat for 1B) - C. Itzuris has done an
amazing job filling in for Tulo - also Hudson too
at 2B - would need rest and Rhymes did an
amazing job - so this year we were prepared -
Crowe also filling in for Patterson in CF was
another key

c) The revolving doors at key positions - 1B was
a big question mark - who would we start - we tried
working with Betemit - Posada - LaRoche - surprisingly
LaRoche came through in the end of the season and
also again McGehee helping out - for catcher - we needed
3 catchers - using different strengths with Molina - Castro -
Posada - and the RF Platoon was amazing between
Ethier and Ordonez - combining for over 40 HRs and 140 RBIs
and then DH by committee too

anyway the key we have tried for every season is to have
enough diverse players to be ready for any type of pitching.
Also our staff too - with five solid starters and pretty good
relief with our defense at the end - this is what brought
Skokie its chance to return

Finally, after this past block, Skokie set a record for victories
in a season passing over 100 and finally sweeping
a block at the right moment -

so we wish to thank everyone for allowing Skokie to return to the
CBA - for those who have helped us with rules and procedures -
and we look forward to another great playoffs - as we have learned
many times in the CBA, the season record is not always a guarantee
who will win - one season we made it to the world series with 87 victories
but we created a team that could play in short series as I believe
we are now -

this email isn't to gloat but only to share our joy and excitement
as Skokie had a miracle week - we send good wishes to all the other
teams who have qualified for the playoffs and to those who are still
in the hunt - who will emerge as the 2011 CBA Champion -
of course this is Skokie's 2nd goal to get back to the WS - but
its not a sure thing with the great managers and teams in
Clemente

a good weekend to one and all and to the end of another
great season next week

The Skokie Wolfman

The battle this season is fierce. Several GM's faced with franchise altering decisions. Do I play for now or later?
Well with many teams in it, we've seen quite a few deals. Towaco was busy bringing bullpen help with lefty Phil Coke and righty closer specialist
Dan Wheeler. Blake and Kennesaw moved someplayers Drew Storen, and Mat Latos, to bring in some strong draft picks and address usage concerns.
Blake may not win it this year, but considering circumstances beyond his control affected his draft, Blake took one for the team and has sacrificed
and dealt to meet requirements. It is GM's like Blake whose passion for CBA drives us. On the otherhand, some teams were assesed penalties for
going over their alloted usage. We have had some incredible races going on in both Conferences. In Clemente things have started to become a little clearer.
Stirling and Ottawa had slipped back a little bit which put them further behind Indiana and Brooklyn in the wild card race. Both teams are within distance,
but time is quickly running out. This block was good for both teams as Ottawa swept Lake Co, and dropped 2 to Indiana. Stirling took 2 of 3
from Carolina, and Cooperstown. Papi, Vladdy, and Rickie Weeks have had huge years for Ottawa, Bryan,and Striling has gotten some good production from Carl Crawford,
Austin Kearns, and carlos Pena. They will both need to win big the next month. Brooklyn dropped 2 of 3 to the skokie Wolfmen who took a 4 game lead over Indiana this week.
Indiana and MVP candiate Josh Hamilton are making a strong push for a playoff spot. The Colby trade has been paying off as the staff ERA contnues to drop.
Brooklyn's pitching has betrayed their a-1 offense. Miguel Cabrera, Ryans Howard and Braun, Doumit, Infante, Wells, Markakis can put a hurtin on any team, and could
be deadly in a playoff series. Pitching will decide Clemente. Carolina has enough and holds the Parker with strong pitching.
Philly has a sizeable lead in the Schmidt. The Bashers made a case with a tough series win over Brooklyn, and is 12 for last 15.
Could it be that resurgent Bryan can disrupt all Clemente?

The Staub races are pretty much decided in Dawson and Carter where Limoilou and San Diego look to wrap it up early. Ohio, Towaco, has been dropped
quite a few games of late and have slipped to 4 games behind Ohio who is winning at a better clip.
This leaves a wild card race for the ages with the on rushing Joliet led by Jack Frost taking a 1 game lead over the Brawlers. Towaco is 4 out of the WC,
along with the not so hot High Bridge Heaters. High Bridge performed poorly against leaders Limoilou and SanDiego, both potential
playoff opponents. HB ace Carmona lost twice for them. So now, it looks like Belfast may have an advantage. The team gets on base at a high clip for Staub.
they will hit and be a pest witha team .275 BA. With Longue Pointe virtually out of the picture, and LP's usage poor, Belfast could fatten up on a weaker division, where as Towaco, Maine, Ohio, will face each other and knock each other
around. Joliet, High Bridge and San Diego will be all tough opponents. The month will be very exciting indeed.
Notes: Limoilou's offense is weak, but the pitching staff is one of the best ever. A 2.84 team ERA, .189 IRSC! San Diego has a .196!
Despite less than gaudy numbers, has anyone been more valuable to a teams offense than Aubrey Huff's 20HR 82 RBI .300 BA.
Miguel Cabrera has been sensation 36 HR 99 RBI, .332 BA looking for an MVP? Jose Batista may have something to say. Sunville's 3B-OF 55 HR 119 RBI,.264 BA. Could he break 70?
Jim Thome in 205 AB's 26 HR, 55 RBI, .307 BA. Could be Johnstone award candidate. Jared Weaver 3.03 10-8 for basement Cooperstown. Bright outlook for the Iron Horses.
Defintiely a spoiler now...Quietly Brett Cecil 12-6 2.95 and Rick Porcello 10-5, 2.58 have led the High Bridge Heaters staff this season.
Koji Uehara's efficient CBA career continues. He is 2-0 1.03 ERA with 19 saves in 2011. Remember his all star appearance last season in first half before injury slowed him?
Cory Harts bat has been carrying the Jackhammers. CBA's hottest team is now leading the wildcard race...The power compliments CBA swiftest team 189 steals. The Jacks Duensing having a good year...
Charles Wilson having a strong year for Longue Pointe. 10-6, 2.61 ERA, 145 IP, 104 hits....

Hard to find CBA stats August 9th 2011 schedule

Clutch Triples

S.Drew OOS 5
G.Beckham KWR 2
T.Colvin HHC 2
J.Jay BBD 2
R.Weeks OOS 2
F.Pie LLD 2
A.Torres PPS 2
I.Desmond MER 2

Game Winning RBI

R.Cano SSC 17
C.Hart JJC 16
J.Werth CCP 15
A.Gonzalez MER 15
A.Huff BBD 15
J.Hamilton IRM 15
C.Gonzalez SSP 13
J.Bautista SSP 12
P.Fielder LWD 12
M.Cabrera BSP 12
R.Weeks OOS 11
E.Longoria PPS 10
M.Holliday SWM 10
B.Butler SRS 10
H.Pence IRM 10
C.Young OOR 10
J.Pierre JJC 10
R.Zimmerman CCP 10
J.Bartlett LWD 9
S.Rolen BSP 9
J.Morneau SSC 9
A.Hill JJC 9
S.Victorino SSC 9
A.Pujols IRM 9