AAABA Tournament

[Jtwnbaseballguy]

If you didn't see Roberts' play, you can watch it by clicking here:
http://www.wjactv.com/video/20393125/index.html

[Jtwnbaseballguy]

Having had a 15-day break since he last pitched, Shaulis' arm was electric last night. He always has good breaking stuff but once he got it under control his fastball was darting away from righties and in on lefties. That was no fluke. He had amazing stuff.
Also, that game could have been 10-1 if not for Burkett and Rasky who made a handful of highlight-reel catches. Two studs.
Delsignore is in good shape with his arms. He's got Vescovi tonight and probably Staub for Sunday and a bunch of really fresh arms otherwise. His issue, surprisingly, might be offensively where he's got some regulars who are in deep slumps. You want to stick with the guys who got you there but on the other hand you're in the final four and you never know if you'll get there again. I wouldn't be surprised to see Shaulis and maybe even Fees and Vignero get some ABs. Donaldson will remain at DH I'd guess. Brooklyn will likely throw the kid that beat Buffalo Tuesday in St. Michael. I wasn't there but I heard he throws hard, decent off speed stuff.

[Jtwnbaseballguy]

I think that's about the max you could have hoped for out of that team. I would say they had championship calibre defense and above average pitching but offensively they just didn't have enough firepower (Mike Mastovich noted in a column a while ago that there just don't seem to be any sluggers around in recent years and that certainly still holds true). Seeing what Brooklyn put out there last night, I think the lesson on pitching is that no matter how much you think you have someone else always has more. I hate to play the "what if" game but think about if you put Pelekanos, Pat Smith and Tommy Shirley on that team. Then again, it's hard to win a game when you score zero runs. All in all, that was one exciting week of baseball and something those kids will remember fondly for the rest of their lives. Not much more you can ask for than that.
Alright, who you got next year?
A quick scan of the 2009 rosters and it looks like Martella's, Delweld, Renegades to me. Of course, there'll be new coaches, new players, maybe even new teams.

[ball66]

I first want to say congrats to delweld and martella's for representing the city so well... Now with that being said, last night was a game Delweld could have won... 1st Drew Westover should have been no where near 4th in the lineup, Roberts was in scoring position 4 times himself last night and nobody could get him in not even once, after the double to right it was obvious they were pitching around George knowing that the guys behind him were not producing. A very uncharacteristic error by the Delweld 2nd baseman from the little i seen him play this year it just seems he eats everything up. Delweld just could not get the hit when they needed it. Also i noticed Mcdermit, and Reighard never got to pitch in the tournament at all Fees got in the 1st game but the guys that helped get delweld there got nothing i bet there are a few angry young men there. Till next year aaaba fans it was fun

[Jtwnbaseballguy]

Ball66,
I understand what you're saying about the pitching, but I think DelSignore played it just right and no slight was meant for the kids who weren't used. Using Fees in the first game was strictly mop up, let him get his feet wet in case you need him as a starter on Day 4 or Day 5. I'm guessing he planned on using two more pitchers in that game for one inning each but then they had the seven-run inning and the game ended after 7. I'm sure he planned on using his own Delweld experienced middle relievers (McDermott, Reighard, Novotny) over the next few days but then he got a 98-pitch complete game from Staub and a no-hitter complete game from Shaulis. That's something you never would have expected before the tourney started.