POWER RANKINGS

RANK	FRANCHISE	W	L	WIN%	RS	RA	xW	xL	SOS	HIT	PIT	DEF	PREV RANK
1	Dover Dinklebergs	99	56	0.639	918	745	92	63	1	2	18	1	2
2	Houston Roughnecks	97	58	0.626	836	627	97	58	3	6	6	10	10
3	Durham Doormats	96	59	0.619	930	707	97	58	4	1	16	27	4
4	Boston Pilgrims	97	58	0.626	892	590	105	50	2	4	4	2	3
5	St. Louis Arch Angels	93	62	0.600	782	673	88	67	6	12	12	21	1
6	Colorado Springs Night Watchmen	95	60	0.613	911	665	99	56	5	3	11	28	7
7	Seattle Strikers	91	64	0.587	746	569	96	59	7	17	2	11	8
8	New Orleans Zephyrs	87	68	0.561	806	784	79	76	9	8	21	5	5
9	Iowa City Hawkeyes	88	67	0.568	676	561	91	64	8	28	1	6	13
10	Vancouver Canucks	86	69	0.555	750	649	88	67	10	15	8	13	9
11	Jackson Juggernauts	86	69	0.555	684	589	88	67	11	27	3	12	12
12	Tampa Bay Thunder	86	69	0.555	796	696	87	68	12	10	14	19	6
13	Fargo Wood Chippers	83	72	0.535	786	691	87	68	13	11	13	15	17
14	Louisville ARF ARF ARF ARFs	81	74	0.523	747	644	88	67	14	16	7	14	14
15	San Juan Pollos Hermanos	78	77	0.503	843	895	73	82	17	5	28	31	11
16	Oklahoma City Prairie Dogs	80	75	0.516	663	590	86	69	15	30	5	17	15
17	Charlotte Knights	78	77	0.503	707	651	83	72	16	20	9	8	22
18	Montreal Leaf Blowers	75	80	0.484	700	660	82	73	18	22	10	3	18
19	Cincinnati Firestorm	73	82	0.471	667	706	73	82	19	29	15	18	19
20	New York Damage Controllers	70	85	0.452	803	955	65	90	22	9	30	30	21
21	Rochester Retards	72	83	0.465	767	785	76	79	20	13	22	29	16
22	Philadelphia Moneymakers	71	84	0.458	699	766	71	84	21	23	20	16	25
23	Nashville Nalas	68	87	0.439	807	914	69	86	24	7	29	26	23
24	Jacksonville Juice	68	87	0.439	659	711	72	83	23	31	17	25	28
25	Albuquerque Komodo Dragons	67	88	0.432	708	823	67	88	25	19	24	7	27
26	Syracuse Crunch	67	88	0.432	741	839	69	86	26	18	25	24	20
27	Los Angeles Regulators	67	88	0.432	700	759	72	83	27	21	19	9	24
28	Washington D.C. Justices	63	92	0.406	602	839	55	100	28	32	26	32	30
29	Kansas City Hotsteppers	61	94	0.394	685	797	67	88	29	25	23	20	26
30	Tucson Sidewinders	59	96	0.381	763	883	67	88	30	14	27	23	29
31	Pittsburgh Ironmen	54	101	0.348	685	991	52	103	31	26	31	22	31
32	Madison Melons	44	111	0.284	697	1402	34	121	32	24	32	4	32

Minor League Update: Playoff Edition

New York Damage Controllers (High A) 2
Dover Dinklebergs (High A) 1

Jose Cortazar of the High A New York Damage Controllers had an unbelievable year for New York going from Low A to High A and the playoffs. He threw 6 innings of 1 run ball against the Dover Dinklebergs. Angel Ramirez came in to relieve and threw 2 innings of no run ball with 3 strikeouts. Richard Peters picked up the save by finishing the ninth inning in the 1-2-3 fashion.

Jeremy Spencer scored the winning run in the second inning when Mikey Wells misplayed the ball in LF for an error.  Robb Demel pitched a great game for Dover but came out on the losing end after throwing 8 innings of 6 hit and 13 K ball. New York leads the series 2 - 0.

Philadelphia Moneymakers (High A) 4
Madison Melons (High A) 3

Humberto Seanez of the High A Philadelphia Moneymakers hit a solo home run in the 6th inning of the first playoff game against the Madison Melons. It proved to be the game winning run.

Oswaldo Jose threw 7 and 2/3 innings of 3 run ball striking out 7. Brian Taylor pitched 1/3 of an inning to close out the 8th inning. Ajax Blackmon picked up the save for Philadelphia.

J.R. Cox started the game for Madison and went 5 innings giving up 3 runs and picked up the loss. Cleatus Blake went 3 for 4 with one run batted in for Madison. The series is tied up 1 - 1.

Montreal Leaf Blowers (Low A) 1
Washington D.C. Justices (Low A) 2

Carmine Redding went 8 innings in the lose giving up 2 runs on 4 hits with 7 strikeouts for Montreal. His one mistake was a pitch that was outside to Luke Thielman of Washington. Luke drove the ball to RF, and it barely made it past the reach of David Sherman into the stands for a Home Run.

Check out this pitcher's duel. Los Angeles vs Nashville (Low A).

In the Rookie League, Pittsburgh beat Los Angeles 3 games to 1 to advance to the second round. Syracuse and Kansas City are tied at 2 games a piece with the final game to decide who will move on.

Philadelphia swept Jacksonville in 3 games to move to the second round. Albuquerque won 3 games to 1 against Cincinnati to move on.

All the series in AA are tied up at 1 game a piece. One of the better games so far has been game one between New York and Nashville.

At AAA, St Louis leads Syracuse 2 games to 0. Durham and Tampa are tied at 1 game a piece. St Louis won the first game in the 8th inning against Syracuse.

Iowa City and Oklahoma City are tied 1 - 1 as are Charlotte and Louisville.

Minor League Update

Edmer Rivera of the High A Syracuse Crunch went 0 for 3 with a K in last nights game against the New York Damage Controllers. He has a .198/.260/.262 slash line on the season.

Benny Garcia of the Rookie League Syracuse Crunch had a great game last night against the Kansas City Hotsteppers. He was 1 for 3 with his 10th HR on the season. He scored 2 runs, drove in 3, and had 2 walks to boot. When asked about the game Benny responded, "I was seeing the ball really well. As you can see with the game, we were all seeing the ball exceptionally well out of Hugh's hand. Boy, it looked like a bowling ball coming to the plate, and he threw it about that fast!"

Steve Olson of the Rookie League Kansas City Hotsteppers was 2 for 4 with a double and home run in last nights game against the Syracuse Crunch. Steve has 21 HR to go with a .371 average on the season.

Anthony Belinda of the Rookie League Kansas City Hotsteppers went 0 for 5 with a K in a game three days ago against the New York Damage Controllers. He was the only starter not to get a hit in the game. After the game our reporter was able to ask Anthony how it felt not to get a hit, and he responded, "Wow! This is my first interview ever. We won so I can't complain. I try to help my team however I can." Our reporter went on to say in his article that he didn't foresee Anthony getting many interviews in the future, and he questioned how Anthony was helping the team. We say never give up Anthony. You may one day make it to the big leagues.

One other note...

Max Charlton who has played for 15 years in the minors was recently called up to Louisville. He has as of yet appeared in a game. When GM Arfy was asked about the surprise call up, he said, "We rewarded him for his loyalty. This guy just wouldn't go away so we called him up to the bigs to use him in a mopup roll."

Max was asked about the excitement he must have that he has finally made it. He stated, "I just had to keep my head up each day and know that I deserve this shot." When he was asked what this meant to others like him, he said, "Just hang in there. One day you may get that phone call to pack your bags and head on up to the big league." Max also mentioned that he would like to give a shout out to Anthony Belinda of Kansas City to keep the faith that he too would make it.

The NL South GMs were very pleased to see Max make it to the majors. They really hope he can hang on even into next season. The GM of Charlotte was really hoping the manager would try to make Max a starter and extend his pitch count to 100+ as a reward. "Alas, it doesn't seem to be", he said.

Here's to you Max! And let the rest of the career minor leaguers keep the faith. Or maybe Arfy will sign you after 6 years, and you can play for him. Either way, play ball!

Arfy's Ramblings: Playoff Race Predictions

The playoff races are getting crazy this season!  With 24 games left to go in the season, here are my Playoff race predictions.  I did not include teams that are way in front or way behind.

NL North
Iowa City 93-69
Fargo 86-76

NL East
Cincinnati 75-87
Philadelphia 74-88

NL West
Seattle 99-63
Colo Spr 98-64

NL Wildcard
Colo Spr 98-64
Jackson 88-74
Fargo 86-76
OK City 86-76
Louisville 85-77
Charlotte 82-80

AL East
Durham 102-60
Boston 100-62

AL South
New Orleans 88-74
Tampa Bay 87-75
San Juan 84-78

AL Wildcard
Boston 100-62
Vancouver 89-73
Tampa Bay 87-75
San Juan 84-78

NL WEST STATS

Albuquerque Komodo Dragons
Games Played: 138

Offense			1	Defense			1	Pitching
Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank
AVG	0.265	19		FLD %	0.985	11		ERA	5.08	26
OBP	0.337	14		DP	312	22		WHIP	1.5	25
SLG	0.412	21		+ Plays	70	6		OAV	0.279	26
OPS	0.749	19		- Plays	23	12		K	841	27
Runs	655	18		CS %	0.326	12		Saves	32	24
HR	150	25		SBA	165	19		HR	193	26
SB	95	21		PB	4	5		QS	65	19

Colorado Springs Night Watchmen
Games Played: 138

Offense			1	Defense			1	Pitching
Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank
AVG	0.284	3		FLD %	0.983	20		ERA	3.97	11
OBP	0.364	1		DP	350	15		WHIP	1.4	18
SLG	0.477	2		+ Plays	23	31		OAV	0.253	10
OPS	0.84	2		- Plays	33	20		K	909	15
Runs	825	3		CS %	0.326	13		Saves	42	6
HR	203	7		SBA	141	9		HR	139	2
SB	97	19		PB	13	22		QS	79	5

Oklahoma City Prairie Dogs
Games Played: 138

Offense			1	Defense			1	Pitching
Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank
AVG	0.25	28		FLD %	0.988	6		ERA	3.69	6
OBP	0.328	24		DP	326	19		WHIP	1.26	4
SLG	0.399	25		+ Plays	54	15		OAV	0.246	6
OPS	0.727	26		- Plays	33	21		K	929	8
Runs	602	30		CS %	0.352	7		Saves	51	2
HR	162	24		SBA	122	1		HR	142	4
SB	88	23		PB	5	8		QS	63	22

Seattle Strikers
Games Played: 138

Offense			1	Defense			1	Pitching
Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank
AVG	0.273	10		FLD %	0.987	8		ERA	3.47	2
OBP	0.349	4		DP	253	32		WHIP	1.23	2
SLG	0.397	27		+ Plays	54	16		OAV	0.235	1
OPS	0.747	20		- Plays	19	8		K	985	4
Runs	691	13		CS %	0.285	24		Saves	39	14
HR	127	30		SBA	137	7		HR	155	7
SB	155	5		PB	11	19		QS	87	1

NL SOUTH STATS

Charlotte Knights
Games Played: 138

Offense			1	Defense			1	Pitching
Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank
AVG	0.252	26		FLD %	0.989	3		ERA	3.92	10
OBP	0.33	22		DP	374	4		WHIP	1.31	10
SLG	0.405	23		+ Plays	68	8		OAV	0.254	11
OPS	0.734	23		- Plays	28	17		K	920	10
Runs	634	22		CS %	0.331	11		Saves	29	26
HR	166	20		SBA	133	4		HR	146	5
SB	101	18		PB	17	28		QS	73	12

Houston Roughnecks
Games Played: 138

Offense			1	Defense			1	Pitching
Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank
AVG	0.271	11		FLD %	0.986	9		ERA	3.67	5
OBP	0.343	9		DP	310	23		WHIP	1.28	7
SLG	0.458	4		+ Plays	81	3		OAV	0.243	4
OPS	0.801	4		- Plays	13	2		K	962	5
Runs	751	5		CS %	0.214	32		Saves	42	7
HR	228	2		SBA	154	13		HR	158	10
SB	72	27		PB	18	30		QS	72	13

Jackson Juggernauts
Games Played: 138

Offense			1	Defense			1	Pitching
Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank
AVG	0.261	23		FLD %	0.985	12		ERA	3.61	3
OBP	0.33	23		DP	289	28		WHIP	1.28	8
SLG	0.395	29		+ Plays	56	11		OAV	0.24	3
OPS	0.725	27		- Plays	27	14		K	987	3
Runs	621	26		CS %	0.333	10		Saves	40	9
HR	138	29		SBA	126	3		HR	154	6
SB	111	16		PB	2	2		QS	79	6

Louisville ARF ARF ARF ARFs
Games Played: 138

Offense			1	Defense			1	Pitching
Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank
AVG	0.274	7		FLD %	0.985	14		ERA	3.87	8
OBP	0.342	10		DP	336	18		WHIP	1.26	3
SLG	0.435	14		+ Plays	55	13		OAV	0.249	7
OPS	0.777	11		- Plays	18	7		K	900	17
Runs	679	15		CS %	0.264	27		Saves	38	15
HR	186	11		SBA	140	8		HR	140	3
SB	72	28		PB	12	21		QS	79	7

NL NORTH STATS

Fargo Wood Chippers
Games Played: 138

Offense			1	Defense			1	Pitching
Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank
AVG	0.266	16		FLD %	0.984	17		ERA	4.19	15
OBP	0.334	20		DP	307	24		WHIP	1.34	13
SLG	0.437	12		+ Plays	55	12		OAV	0.257	14
OPS	0.771	13		- Plays	16	3		K	924	9
Runs	709	10		CS %	0.262	28		Saves	43	5
HR	196	9		SBA	164	18		HR	157	9
SB	155	4		PB	1	1		QS	81	3

Iowa City Hawkeyes
Games Played: 138

Offense			1	Defense			1	Pitching
Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank
AVG	0.249	30		FLD %	0.988	5		ERA	3.45	1
OBP	0.315	30		DP	306	26		WHIP	1.22	1
SLG	0.395	28		+ Plays	56	10		OAV	0.237	2
OPS	0.71	30		- Plays	17	5		K	897	19
Runs	603	29		CS %	0.338	8		Saves	34	21
HR	165	22		SBA	133	5		HR	159	11
SB	43	31		PB	3	4		QS	81	4

Madison Melons
Games Played: 138

Offense			1	Defense			1	Pitching
Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank
AVG	0.258	24		FLD %	0.983	21		ERA	9.02	32
OBP	0.319	27		DP	361	7		WHIP	2.11	32
SLG	0.424	16		+ Plays	75	5		OAV	0.329	32
OPS	0.744	21		- Plays	20	9		K	539	32
Runs	637	21		CS %	0.352	6		Saves	21	31
HR	184	12		SBA	142	10		HR	310	32
SB	126	11		PB	6	10		QS	40	29

Montreal Leaf Blowers
Games Played: 138

Offense			1	Defense			1	Pitching
Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank		Category	Stat	Rank
AVG	0.252	27		FLD %	0.987	7		ERA	4.07	12
OBP	0.315	31		DP	302	27		WHIP	1.34	14
SLG	0.41	22		+ Plays	45	22		OAV	0.26	17
OPS	0.725	28		- Plays	16	4		K	871	24
Runs	643	20		CS %	0.413	2		Saves	36	19
HR	176	16		SBA	143	11		HR	170	15
SB	96	20		PB	13	24		QS	72	14