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(AP)
Mighty Maine moves back to the top of the power rankings after a 6-1 week. They have now won 8 of their last 9 with their only loss on May 7th to Syracuse. Not to be outdone in the Ale the Hartford Whalers also went 6-1 by sweeping Toronto and taking three of four from Pawtucket. The final 6-1 week belonged to the team who did have the worst record in the BLB, the Phoenix Roadrunners. After rumors started about acquiring another first basemen via trade shocked the media it looks like it awoke the beast in Manny Quezada. One of the best young players in the league finally showed it by hitting .423 with four home runs for the week. Some other notable stats of the week as all teams played seven games: Windy City with 12 stolen bases, New York with 19 home runs, California giving up only 19 runs, and Hartford with a .401 OBP.
Power Rankings
1) Maine Guides (131.9, ++)
2) Washington Bats (131.8, o)
3) Hartford Whalers (130.1, ++)
4) Montreal Exports (119.1, -)
5) Denver BC (119.0, -)
6) Batavia Red Jackets (118.1, --)
7) Windy City Blues (107.9, +)
8) Seattle Pilots (105.9, --)
9) Santo Domingo Rum Runners (100.3, -)
10) New York Knights (96.6, +)
11) Pittsburgh Millers (95.9, ++)
12) Wilmington Wildcats (89.0, -)
13) Indianapolis Racers (81.4, +)
14) Pawtucket Patriots (80.3, -)
15) Los Angeles Dinos (77.3, ++)
16) New Orleans Dukes (73.8, -)
17) Baltimore Bulldogs (72.5, ++)
18) Miami Sharks (70.5, --)
19) Philadelphia Freedom (70.5, --)
20) Phoenix Roadrunners (66.9, ++)
21) Syracuse Snappers (62.9, -)
22) California Kodiaks (60.3, o)
23) Carolina Tobs (51.1, --)
24) Toronto Canadians (49.5, -)
Performance of the Week
3B Dave Crackel - On May 11th Hartford crushed Toronto 13-3 as they racked up 20 hits with Crackel getting four of those. He had two home runs, drove in three, and scored five times during the route. He's now hitting .311 on the year with 5 HR's and 10 RBI's while starting 31 games at third.
Injury of the Week
P Tatsuya Okinaka - Windy City just can't get a break when it comes to pitching injuries. This time it's the 24 year old Okinaka who left the game against Baltimore on May 9th and was diagnosed with a bicep injury. He will be out several months. On the year he had pitched for 22.1 innings and was 1-0 with a 2.01 ERA. The Blues have to be close to firing their training staff.
Prospect of the Week
SS Rufus Lowell - The 17 year old for the Roberson HS Red Claws is a three year starter with a career .314 average who when developed can play both in the infield and the outfield effectively. Scouts say he has the "ability to effectively prepare for upcoming games" and is an extremely hard worker.
Five Things We Think We Think
1. May 9th was quite a game between Philly and Seattle. With the Freedom slipping as of late and going 2-8 in May they needed a win and it looked that way when they scored four in 8th and took a 7-5 lead going into the 9th. After two quick outs their win probability was at 95% before Johnny Swope hit a double, then Jimmy Edge was hit on the 10th pitch of his at bat. Jimmy Jeffs then hit a double and after Swope scored Edge slid under the tag at the plate and the game was tied. In the 11th Philly then scored four runs off five hits and an intentional walk and the home fans started to head for the exits. Not so fast though as Seattle went walk, single, single before Robby Caddell hit a grand slam to tie it up. The Freedom were demoralized to say the least and went down quickly in the 12th. In the bottom of the 12th Seattle had two quick outs before Jimmy Edge hit a walk-off 344 feet off of Joey 'The Snake' Dunn to shock Philly and end the game.
2. It looks like manager TJ Rowe in Baltimore is trying to light a fire under his team. On May 5th he went on quite the tirade against the Baltimore media for their lack of journalistic integrity and defended reliever Jamie Marley. Marley has been in the organization since 2023 when he was signed as a minor league free agent but is known around town as someone who takes days off. This is Rowe's 2nd season in Baltimore and after going 83-79 last year and being 13-18 this season he's starting to feel the heat from an organization that has gone to the playoffs 11 straight seasons. Baltimore went 3-3 after the blow up.
3. Tommy Davis of Syracuse has been one of the best young bats in the game the last few years. Last season he hit .303 with 34 HR's and the year before he hit .329 with 47 HR's. He has been struggling this season though but last week hit 5 home runs and drove in 11 runs, both best in the BLB. He's now hitting .218 on the season with 10 HR's and 20 RBI's. The Snappers would love nothing more than for him to light a fire under this team that is currently last in the Ale while also being last in hits and first in strikeouts.
4. Some good series this week feature Washington vs Batavia, Denver vs Windy City, and Maine vs Hartford. All those are 1-2 match-ups and every single one of the previous series were sweeps by the 1st place team. If Batavia, Windy City, and Hartford expect to challenge the division leaders its time to fight back.
5. The watch is in full effect for Jamie O'Hearn in Denver to break the all-time home run record, but this month he hasn't hit one out yet. He's still leading the team in dingers with six but is nine short of the record. There are some big milestones that are coming up as well for some other players. Tom Lewis (MAI) is 17 home runs short of 450 and 33 walks short of 1000, Dylan Owens (TOR) is 3 home runs short of 400, and Matt Healey (DEN) and Jamie Kitchen (DEN) are 20 and 31 runs respectively short of 1000.
Stat of the Week
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