Week Eleven: Summary of Series

Sass win, again!
Ranking remains steady, but wins are keeping them up
By Beth Sass / hereforthesass.blogspot.com

PITTSBURGH -- Wins have always been in short supply for the Sass, particularly with their penchant for visiting the DL, and for the occasional meltdowns by various members of the staff. So Sunday night, Dawn announced to the assembled Sassians that the Sass had pulled out an 8-4 victory over the Wombats.

“It’s so much fun to announce a win. We’ve been winning more lately. We’re still in 14th place, but that’s so much better than 18th place where we spent most of the early part of the season,” Dawn said.

It was pointed out that the Sass faced many of the top teams in the BFL the first weeks.

“That’s no excuse for losing as much as we did, though,” Beth said, “We really had some unfortunately playing, and it’s nice to see that a few trades and a few turn-arounds by some key Sassians. I think that’s helped us the most.”

The hitting, again, was key, taking 5 of six categories. The scores were: runs (41-20), home runs (11-4), RBIs (44-12), stolen bases (0-2), walks (20-11), and average (.285-.279).

“I’m glad we managed to get our hitting back up,” Juan Encarnacion said, “I can’t say anything about the poor hitting, because I did my fair share of the sucking early in this year. I’m just glad to see that, as a team, we managed to turn this thing around.”

The team had many excellent performances this week in hitting. Shortstop Carlos Guillen led the team with 7 runs, but Placido Polanco, JEn, and Michael Cuddyer all scored 6 runs, and Rocco Baldelli, straight off the DL, scored 5 runs. Adam Dunn led the team with his 3 home runs, but both JEn and Carlos G. hit 2 each. Carlos G. led the team with his 9 RBIs, but JEn had 8, and Jermaine Dye had 7. Alas, no one stole a base, but 3 Sassians--Placido, Carlos G., and Michael all walked 4 times each. JEn’s .480 batting average led the team, with Placido’s .355 and Rocco’s .320 both earning honorable mentions.

“It was a fantastic week for me,” Carlos G. said. “I know many people were pleased at the power, the hitting, running, and defense that I showed. I was quite happy. I just saw the ball really well this week. All the extra time Mikey [hitting coach Michael Restovich] and I spent in the batting cages and watching videos of at-bats and pitchers really paid off. I hope it continues.”

The Sass, for the weekly competition, were one run short of Save the Twinkies, who led the league in runs. The second-place finish was cause for great celebration. For the success in hitting, Mrs. Guillen made cheesecake for the entire team to enjoy after the game on Sunday.

The pitching managed a tie, taking 3 of 3. Amazingly enough, the holds, a usual Sass power area, lost, while saves, a usual weak spot with the Sass, won. The final scores were: wins (6-3), saves (2.-0), strike-outs (51-41), holds (2-4), ERA (2.58-2.12), and WHIP (1.16-1.03).

“The Wombats have quite the formidable pitching staff, so this is pretty impressive,” Beth said.

The starters kept things even, by noting that each of them did something for mentioning among the team leaders. The team leaders for the starters included two wins by Chan Ho Park and Kristin Benson. Aaron Harang led the team with his 16 strike-outs, while Kristin and Chan Ho both put 9 on the board. Carlos Silva was the only starter to have an ERA of 0.00, while Aaron Cook had the lowest WHIP at 1.00.

The relievers were equally dispersed in their jobs, with Jon Rauch picking up the sole win among relievers, and Ambiorix Burgos picking up both saves. Brandon Medders led the relievers with 5 strike-outs, and both Jon and Rheal Cormier had 1 hold each. Ambiorix, Rheal and Julio Mateo both posted perfect 0.00 ERAs, and Rheal had the lowest WIHP of 0.00.

The only reliever who was looking at his locker, dejected, was Brad Halsey. “I feel like I let down the team. I didn’t do anything outstanding.” Brad’s numbers should not be forgotten, as his ERA and WHIP were both 1.50.

The Sass look forward to their competition this week against Gassner’s All-stars, led by Ryan, leader of Team Ryan. Incidentally, Gassner’s All-stars does not include Dave Gassner on their roster.