Let’s Play Two!

For the first time in Holiday Baseball League history a double header of three game series will be played tonight. The first will take place in Boggstown and pits the Boilers vs the Joplin Crawdads and the second will feature the Merrimack Owls vs the Westport Fleas in Merrimack.

Tonights Game @ Boggstown :: American League
Boggstown Boilers	VS.	Joplin Crawdads

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Crawdads To Open HBL In Boggstown

Boggstown – The Joplin Crawdads look to open their portion of the Holiday Baseball League on the right foot tonight in Boggstown against the defending Champion Boilers. The last remaining team in either league to start their season, the Dads’ will have their work cut out for them on the road against a 2-1 Boilers team.

“That Boilers team should be 3-0 right now,” ASB Network commentator Joe Gordon said. “This is going to be a really great night of ball… Looking through the lineup of the Dads’ gives me a bit of deja vu. Morgan, Trammell, Hornsby, Griffey and Greenberg are guys that have been there for this team in the past. Unlike several of the other teams, they seem to have gotten a good amount of the guys that they like to play with. They have proven that if nothing else, there is a HUGE amount of power in that lineup.”

Power indeed. The Crawdads organization has collected 3 of the top 4 Home Run hitting seasons of all-time (35, 35, 29) and with the additions of Hornsby and Greenberg to their already devastating lifetimer duo of Trammell and Griffey they look to be at it again this season.

“There are only 4 slots on that team homer list and they hold 3 of them. That can’t be a fluke… They drop dingers like crazy around there and after watching the Falcons and Boilers a couple of weeks back, I think these Crawdads could really put a dent into the American League,” said Gordon.

High hopes for Duncan
Dads’ manager Dave Duncan has made no secret that he has high expectations for this team. “Yeah, he thinks he has the best team in the league, but I would guess that all of the managers think that,” a close friend of Duncan that wishes to remain unnamed said. “I have watched him fill out that lineup a million times… I have seen him put a million names in those slots, but the only time I see his eyes light up is when he writes the name ‘Hornsby’ in there… With this lineup, how can you not think this is going to be our year?”

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Tonights Game @ Brisson Field :: National League
Merrimack Owls	VS.	Westport Fleas

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Owls Look For First Place, Fleas Look For First Win

Merrimack – Two teams looking for different types of “firsts” take the field tonight in Merrimack as the Owls and the Westport Fleas renew their rivalry at Brisson Field. The Owls will be looking to win at least two games in order to lock in first place in the National League at the half-way point in the season and the Fleas will be looking to win their first game after getting swept by the McCall Mudhens in the opening games of the season.

Owls not looking past Fleas
Looking at the win/loss numbers it would seem that the Owls at 2-1 would be the favored team, but as the numbers start to get deeper, these two teams begin to look closer to an even match. The Fleas have better power numbers with 3 Home-Runs and 12 Doubles compared to 1 and 10, while the Owls own the AVE and OBP categories with .361 and .464 vs .339 and .448.

“I watched the first game of that opening series against the Hens’ and the Fleas looked like they should have won that game. I know that Buck has worked with them on their defense and Brisson Field is pretty flat, so that should help them,” Owls assistant manager and lifetimer Ryne Sandberg said before conditioning practice. “They are going to win some games this season, hopefully we can keep them down for a little while longer, but we are all aware of how good a team they are.”

Hungry Fleas look for victory
The history books tell us that the Westport Fleas need at least 2 victories tonight to have a chance at an automatic birth in the NLCS. No team has ever lost 5 games in the first half of the season and received an automatic birth.

“It is not unheard of to loose your first three games and come back and win the whole stinking thing, but loosing 5 in the first half would be a pretty tough thing to overcome,” baseball expert Joe Gordon said Tuesday. “Truthfully though, in a playoff setup like this, all a team has to do is get on a run and they can hoist the trophy. The Boilers from last season proved that! … The Fleas have time, but they need to start figuring it out soon.”

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