Lead Story - 2/19/2022

Swamp Turkeys Win It All in Five

The Championship Series was never close. Some could argue the league was rarely close, though the Sandinistas did take the Turkeys to seven games in the semi-finals. But the Turkeys crushed the Bad Boys in five games, winning the final game going away by a 21-2 margin. The Boyz showed some early fight, training by a single run going into the sixth inning, but short stop Hubie Brooks had a three-run double and it was all downhill from there. Brooks knocked in five for the game and Tom Brunansky plated four on a grand slam. Dennis Eckersley got the win, going seven and two-thirds and allowing all of the Bad Boy runs--two of them. Manager Lerner congratulated the Bad Boyz, but there was no cheering crowd to greet the plane when the Bad Boyz landed in DC last night. Rumor has it that they were bad to the bone and raged through clubhouse until the wee hours in typical Bad Boy fashion.

2/18/2022

Swamp Turkeys Take Three-Games-to-One Lead to Game Five

The Bad Boyz won Game Two in Glass City and looked poised to use home field advantage in the next three games to make a contest of the World Series. But two convincing victories for the Turkeys in DC, have checked the Bad Boyz into the ICU. They are getting the best care possible, but the outlook is not good.

2/14/2022

Championship Series Starts in Glass City Tomorrow

The Bad Boyz Waltzed into the Championship; the Swamp Turkeys had to fight to the finish. In the deciding contest, the Swamp Turkeys left little doubt, winning by a 10-4 margin. The Sandinistas jumped out in front early against Orel Hershiser, but in the bottom of the third inning, the Turkeys scored five runs and that would be all they needed. The Bad Boyz travel to Glass City for a two-game set to start the finale in the Iran Contra League. Don't touch that knob. It's going to be a barn burner.

2/12/2022

Second Round of Playoffs Head to Finish Line

The Bad Boyz of DC were agnostic on the subject of the Tulsa Circuit Riders. Playing in Tulsa, in front of a screaming crowd of believers, the Circuit Riders put up a game fight but lost their Second Round Playoff series to the Bad Boyz by a four-games-to-one TKO. Frank Tanana and Don Sutton were locked in for the first six innings, with Tanana ahead by a 2-1 margin when he left the game at the end of the sixth. But the Circuit Riders rallied the home crowd with two runs to go ahead in the bottom of the eighth inning on a Hal McRae single that scored Tom Paciorek. With a one-run lead in a 3-2 game, Tulsa manager, Winkler went to the pen for closer Tom Henke, hoping he would preserve the win and keep the flagging Circuit Riders hopes alive. But Henke allowed the Bad Boyz a tying run and in the top of the 12th inning, Daryl Strawberry hit a three-run home run to ice the game for the DC nine. In San Francisco, the Sandinistas were using home field advantage to the fullest. Fernando Valenzuela won his 18th game of the season going eight and a third innings and allowing only three runs. He got robust support--four home runs, including a Grand Salami from Don Mattingly. The series stands at three games to two in favor of the Sandinistas as play moves back to Glass City. The odds will still favor the regular season champion Swamp Turkeys, but they are walking a tight rope. Bert Blyleven will start Game Six for San Francisco. Manager Lerner is not tipping his hand as to who he will use for the Turkeys.

2/9/2022

Second Round of Playoffs Each Start With Split

The Sandinistas found their magic sauce--great pitching, to win one against the 1927 Yankees, sometime known as the Swamp Turkeys. The League's regular season winners eeked out a win in Game One of the series by a 6-5 margin. The Bad Boyz of DC, spotted the Tulsa Circuit Riders a win in Game One of their series, but came back to win to tie their series as well. The teams head to San Francisco and Tulsa for two three-game series there before returning for a two-game finale in DC and Glass City respectively.

2/7/2022

Playoff First Round Ends Predictably

The Circuit Riders swept Oliver's Arm in three games, and the Sandinistas lost the first game against the Athletics, but came back to win three straight and the series. The Sandinistas got excellent starting pitching from Fernando Valenzuela in the deciding game Mike Scott and Steve Rogers won the prior two games. All three went eight or more innings. The Circuit Riders just cruised easily and barely broke a sweat. They will play the Bad Boys who will get home field advantage in a best of seven series to start tomorrow, while the Sandinistas will face uphill odds against the Swamp Turkeys in a best of seven as well. the winners will play for the Iran Contra Trophy.

11/29/2021

Cheese Heads Boo Thirteen Inning Loss To Arms Dealers

The cow manure on Uncle Jasper's work boots was the only thing that kept Rolling Hills Stadium--known around town as Cheese Curd Field--from selling out. Most folks in Green Bay are unaffected by the wide array of Jasper's aromas, but it was Ladies Night and by the end of the third inning, every member of the fairer sex had taken to the exits. Another concern for the ladies may have been the visiting team, the Arms Dealers, whose unsavory reputation for drinking, spitting tobacco, cursing, and chasing underaged girls, has been commented upon from several pulpits around town. Which is a shame, because those who stayed were treated to a duel between Arms Dealer ace, Jack Morris--known for a certain brand of spitting--and hometown hero, Dwight Gooden. From the outset, runs were as scarce as good men unrelated by birth. But Arms Dealer lead off man, Paul Molitor, got on base and stole second. The call at the base was seen as deeply flawed by all in attendance. With no women to sooth the savage beasts, ugly epithets rained upon the field until the umpires were forced to halt play while gendarmes restored order. Molitor came around to score on a fly ball out, and that run stood tall until the fifth inning. The Arms Dealers tallied three runs behind a Gary Pettis two-run homer, But the home nine were not to be routed easily. Second baseman Bill Doran cleared the bases with a triple and the score sat at 4-3. The Greyhounds scored again in the seventh and looked as though they would push another run across in the eighth, but Manager, Voychevski wore a path to the mound and his bullpen held. Then, in the top of the thirteenth inning. the Arms Dealers pushed three across to win by a 7-4 final.

11/18/2021

At the Quarter Pole

An ordering of sorts has taken place over the first forty-plus games of the Iran Contra season. There are the very obvious "Haves," such as the Swamp Turnkeys, who have dominated every season of Pennant Chase in which our groups has been involved. Then there is an equally distinct group of "Also Rans," starting with the Bad Boyz, Circuit Riders, Sandinistas, and Beantown Ollies. For purposes of the playoffs, divisional distinctions will not matter. It will be the top five against the bottom five in a round-robin of some variety. But however the playoff structure is determined, the league leaders will provide the dramatic flourishes to the action. Mike Schmidt of the Circuit Riders remans the fiercest offensive player and favorite for the MVP.. Mike Scott of the Sandinistas and Don Sutton of the Circuit Riders lead the league in Wins and ERA, and are in the lead for the Cy Young at this juncture. The Circuit Riders have the horses to push the Turkeys, and the Bad Boys may as well. But other teams will likely emerge. The CPU is funny that way.

11/8/2021

San Francisco Sweeps Turkeys at Home

The Sandinistas were dead tired, and then the heavens opened. A rain-out gave them what they needed more than anything, a rest. The San Francisco nine put the new energy to use immediately with a home win against the 19-2 Swamp Turkeys. Steve Rogers, Bill Caudill and Rollie Fingers kept the Glass City offense in check and Rickey Henderson's solo home run was the difference in the first game win by a tight 3-2 margin. The second game wasn't that close as the Sandinistas swept down from the volcanoes and overran the Swamp Turkey positions by a 6-1 score. Robin Yount had a three-run homer in the second inning when San Fran put four on the board, and they coasted home behind the one-run, complete game tossed by Sandinista ace, Mike Scott. Scott had ten strikeouts and allowed only three hits. Around the league, the Arms Dealers and the Northmen have faced off in a series that should decide for now who owns the cellar. The Bad Boys, Circuit Riders and Beantown Ollies are all riding high currently. But the Bad Boys go to Glass City for a series against the league-leaders. We are approaching the quarter pole. A lot of baseball still to play.

11/4/2021

The Rich Stay Rich, The Poor Stay Poor

No less than life itself, the Iran Contra League is a drama between the haves and the have nots--though not one to rival Victor Hugo's famous story line. Nonetheless, there they are, the Swamp Turkeys in their penthouse suite, far above the madding crowd, gazing down absent-mindedly on the bustling throng, wondering what the lives of the poor must be like. And they have a day off? As though they need one. But there! Emerging from the throng, is that the Circuit Riders? Have they traded ever faithful Rocinante in for a jet pack? Their pitching is now the class of the league. John Tudor and Don Sutton are among the best five starters in the league. And what devious plot has Javert hatched, sending them down to the minors for rest? As with other teams that have hoped to challenge the Turkeys, the Circuit Riders are going to need more than clever tricks to stretch their pitching. They will need to wake the slumbering bats of Tom Paciorek and Kirk Gibson. Mike Schmidt--the heart of the Circuit Rider's lineup--is an early favorite for MVP of the Iran Contra League, but he cannot carry the Tulsa nine alone. And there are the Bad Boys and Sandinistas, maintaining a steady pace, just behind the front running Riders. But Tulsa has the Ollies at Asbury Park--not the Springsteen one--and then they travel north to Petrosky to a poverty stricken land. The opportunity is there for the Circuit Riders to take off and make something of themselves. Will there be a happy ending? The odds are not good, and the story is an old one, engraved in time.

11/1/2021

Greyhounds Off to Fast Start

The Green Bay Greyhounds have leapt ahead of the Swamp Turkeys in pitching stats.(Please excuse this writer's recent absence, whose winnings from betting on Jerry Reuss to beat the Turkeys allowed him to extend his weekend in Las Vegas). The Greyhounds have one of the best pitchers in the league in Dwight Gooden, and he has lived up to that billing. But Kirk McCaskill has surprised everyone with three wins out of the gate. There is a lot of ground left to cover, but Green Bay's pedestrian run production will hold up if the pitching staff continues to maintain anything close to its current 2.28 staff ERA. The Turkeys look like road runners, but the Greyhounds are nothing like Wiley Coyote. Look out Turkeys, you've got fast company.

Brooks delivers in clutch, Swamp Turkeys win

Hubie Brooks drove in 5 runs, carrying Glass City to a 12-2 victory over the Bad Boys. Glass City's Tom Brunansky had 4 RBIs. | Box