From the Desk of the Commish

I had an entire article written about the MLB labor strife and the impending strike, but I realized while proof-reading it that I'm sick and tired of reading about that stuff. So I scrapped it and decided instead to just provide some random thoughts and vow not to use the "S-word" unless it refers to a pitched ball that passes over home plate (or, if you're an umpire in my over-30 league, somewhere in the general vicinity of home plate.)

-- I know Tom DiStefano is going to protest this item, but in thinking about this recently, I can't help but come to the conclusion that the 2002 Allentown Ridgebacks are the most dominant team ever in the history of the BDBL.

For starters, the Ridgebacks are on pace to win more games (115) than any other team in the history of the BDBL (112, by the 2001 Zoots.) As I said recently on the message board, If the Ridgebacks don't win the BDBL championship, it will be the biggest November upset since Truman beat Dewey. If they do win, it only confirms their place at the top.

The Ridgebacks don't just win, though. They dominate. How do I define "dominate?" Pretty simple: out-scoring your competition by a lot of runs. Here's where the 2002 Ridgebacks rank in that category as I type:

Rank	Team	Runs Diff.
1	2001 Kansas	341
2	2002 Allentown	329
3	2001 Salem	279
4	2001 Akron	251
5	2000 Chicago	248
6	2002 Salem	242
7	2001 Chicago	226
8	2000 Los Altos	222
	2001 Stamford	222

With 44 games remaining on Allentown's schedule, it's safe to assume that record of dominance will be broken this season. In fact, if the Ridgebacks continue their current pace, they will have scored 1,094 runs this season (which would rank second all-time to the 2001 Law Dogs) and will have allowed 640 runs (which would rank fourth all-time), giving them a run differential of 454, which would completely annihilate the previous record. The 2002 Ridgebacks are to runs differential what Babe Ruth was to homers back in the late 20's.

-- Those Eck League teams hoping for an end to the Ridgebacks' reign of dominance may have to wait another year. While we all know that Allentown will be returning the triple threat of Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson and Roy Oswalt (plus infamous "throw-in" Eric Gagne) most of us were at least comforted in knowing that #4 pitcher Wade Miller was having an off-year. Not anymore. If you're like me, you probably blinked and missed Miller's reentry into ace-dom. In his past nine starts, Miller has compiled an ERA of 1.86 over 58 innings, striking out 49. His ERA has gone from 5.86 to 3.81 in a span of just eight weeks. That gives the Ridgebacks a 2003 rotation of:

I don't know about you guys, but Allentown's #4 pitcher would be my ace. The good news is that the Ridgebacks will lose Barry Bonds to free agency, and Edgar Martinez and Manny Ramirez have only played half seasons. The bad news is that they'll have over $20 million to spend in the draft, and will likely have the best record in the league, giving them the tie-breaker on all bids in our new auction draft.

-- The flip side to the Ridgebacks is the Manchester Irish Rebels. The Rebels are gunning for a different kind of record than Allentown this season, and that is the BDBL all-time record for fewest runs scored. Manchester has scored 415 runs this season, an average of just 3.6 per game. At this pace, they will have scored 572 runs by season's end. The BDBL record is 641, set by the Bowling Green Spoilers in 2001. After spending $8 million on Darin Erstad and Brad Ausmus in last winter's draft, and moving into a new pitcher-friendly ballpark, the Rebels had this record sewn up on Opening Day.

-- d-day™ update: our new on-line drafting tool is now complete and ready to be unveiled. I've been testing it myself for weeks now, and I plan to roll out a mock draft for the entire league between September 2nd through the 13th. Look for an announcement on the board and via e-mail soon.

-- If our auction draft were held today, here's what the lots would look like. (Note: this list includes only players who are currently on the disk and are free agents. It doesn't include players - cough, cough, MikeMussina, cough, cough - that will be released on Cutdown Day or any other free agents not on the disk.):

Lot #1	Lot #2	Lot #3	Lot #4	Lot #5
Bonds Bagwell B.Santiago Neagle Shuey	Sosa Burks Yoshii Cordova Higginson	Guerrero Dotel Clemens Beltre Cameron	Edmonds Valdes Lieber McLemore Weathers	L.Walker G.Anderson Sele D.Miller H.Perry
Lot #6	Lot #7	Lot #8	Lot #9	Lot #10
Sweeney Appier Sh.Stewart S.Reed J.Speier	Glavine Kotsay I.Rodriguez Mi.Williams Halter	Washburn T.Batista Karsay Burkett Zeile	Maddux Randa Pettitte Varitek Suppan	L.Gonzalez Grissom Rueter Mesa Nevin

-- Those of you who read the game summaries for all Salem Cowtippers games on the Scoreboard page (I guess that would be just you, Paulie) know that I have been driven nearly insane by my team's inability to hit with the bases loaded all season long. I know what you've been thinking: "There goes Glander again, whining like a little baby as usual."

Well, thanks to Tom Milne and his partner Ron Gudykunst, co-creators of the BDBL-favorite B.A.S.E. application, I now have justification for my year-long whining. Tom and Ron recently added two new programs to their B.A.S.E. package, and are offering all three as a "trilogy", free of cost. One of those programs allows you to compile situational stats, so I plugged in the bases-loaded situation and let 'er rip. And there, at the bottom of the list, ranked 23rd in the BDBL just ahead of those atrocious Manchester Irish Rebels is the Salem Cowtippers.

In 110 at-bats with the bases loaded this season, my pathetic offense is hitting .200/.323/.336. Just to put that in perspective, yours truly is hitting .200 this year for my over-30 team. So basically, when my team has the bases loaded, I could get the same results by inserting myself as a pinch hitter as I would by allowing guys like Lance Berkman, Todd Helton and Sammy Sosa to flail away.

That anemic batting average is actually misleading, considering that they've hit 10 sacrifice flies. Not only aren't they getting any hits, they're hardly putting the bat on the ball at all. They've whiffed a whopping FORTY times this season with the bases loaded. That projects to 182 strikeouts over a 500-AB season! Just imagine how many more runs I could have scored this season if only half of those players were able to ground out to the infield - or better yet hit a long fly ball to the outfield. You really don't have to imagine. The number of potential runs not scored is 20. That's a lot of runs!

Now imagine if my offense (which is above-average when the bases aren't loaded) performed merely average with the bases loaded. That would be ten extra hits. Even if they're all singles, it's safe to assume at least 15 extra runs would have scored! Of course, anyone who witnessed last November's playoffs shouldn't be shocked by the news that my team can't hit in the clutch.

But enough about me. Here's a list of the top performing teams with the bases loaded:

The Ridgebacks (.333/.438/.605) have driven in 133 runs with the bases loaded, thanks to nine grand slams. They've also drawn 22 bases-loaded walks. They lead the league in all three of those categories. Manny Ramirez has accounted for five of those Allentown grand slams and 34 of those RBI's all by himself. He leads the league in both categories.

Atlanta's top bases-loaded performer is a modern-day Pat Tabler. Fernando Vina is 6-for-9 with the bases juiced, with three doubles, a walk and 14 RBI's. The bottom five teams, by the way, are:

I ran some more numbers for runners in scoring position, and my team climbed up the rankings all the way to #11. Kansas (.340 BAvg) was the leader in that category as well, followed by Allentown (.306), Villanova (.296), Litchfield (.292) and Kentucky (.287).

Where my team really shines is when there are two outs and runners in scoring position. There, we rank fifth in the BDBL at .275. Of course, Kansas (.324) leads that category as well, followed by Great Lakes (.278), Stamford (.275) and Litchfield (.275).

On the flip side, you might be wondering which pitching staffs have performed the best under pressure. I only ran one report for pitchers, in bases loaded situations, and the answer shouldn't come as a shock to any of us:

Salem, by the way, is one of the worst in the league at .347/.396/.694, but has the lowest number of innings (14) and at-bats (49) with the bases loaded, so I guess that's a good thing. The New Milford Blazers (.414/.457/.609 over 21 IP and 87 AB) rank dead-last.

Individually, Jeff Tam of Gillette has been nearly untouchable in bases-loaded situations this year (12 batters faced, no hits, one walk), while Blazers pitcher Jamey Wright (13 BF, 9-for-19, 2 doubles, one HR, 21 RBI's) has been the league's worst pitcher under pressure.

As you can see, the "Situational Stats" program is a lot of fun to play with. If you'd like me to run any other numbers for you, just let me know, and I'll include them in my next "From the Desk."