This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
08/16/2021 12:00 AMWith just two more games remaining in the regular season, the Deep River Horseshoe League (DRHL) has plenty of room for changes in the standings. The Reds have run away with first place, the Dodgers look pretty comfortable in second place, but only 5
½ games separate the third place Marlins and the two teams tied for 12th place in the Royals and Cardinals. With the top-8 teams reaching the playoffs, there are still several teams with everything to play for in the DRHL.
Week 15 of the DRHL featured some outstanding performances, and a few surprises, as well. There were four teams that topped 300 points in a series, which is an impressive mark. The Marlins scored their 1,000th ringer of the season in just 15 weeks, a speedy pace to be sure.
DRHL statistician and media liaison Joe Heery is excited to see what the final standings will look like in a couple of weeks. This season was a little bit different for the DRHL, which will lead to some interesting tie-break scenarios by the end of Week 17.
"It's a crap shoot for some of these teams, you just don't know what's going to happen. Right now, the teams that are still on the bubble are the Angels, Red Sox, Pirates, Tigers, Yankees, and Rangers. Things can go anyway. You never know if the bubble teams are going to be able to make a move. It's very interesting," said Heery. "Since we only play each team once, it'll be interesting to see if you tie for the playoff position. If you split during the season, what's the next tiebreaker? That affects the seedings, too. That's what we're going to have to find out."
Heery was very surprised to see four teams surpass the 300-point threshold this past week.
"Four teams topped 300 in scoring. The Marlins scored 335. The Pirates had 322. The Giants had 324, and the Dodgers had 307 points. That means that each player is average 100," Heery said. "Obviously the A player is carrying a bit more there, but the average for a team in general is somewhere in the 260 range. An A player is usually scoring 110 to 120. The B's should be in the 70 to 80 range, and then a C player is somewhere around a 50- to 60-point scorer."
Seeing that the Marlins scored their 1,000th ringer of the year was also a shock to Heery. The pace the Marlins were ringing up the points was historic for the league. It also helps when the Marlins' Mark Goodale, who lives in Clinton, had the second-best mark among A's at 146, and Chester's Karen Perna, the Marlin's C player, has the third-best mark in the division at 104.
"The Marlins scored their 1,000th ringer, and it's pretty uncommon to get to that in a season. We're also only playing 17 games this season. That means they're throwing about 60 ringers per game," Heery said. "That's pretty impressive. The normal ringer average for team is 55 ringers or so. They managed to reach 1,000 in 15 games. In Week 15, they threw 75 ringers as a team."
Another team that was playing well and recently hit a slump against some tough teams is the ninth place Pirates. Heery feels for the Pirates because they are scuffling at one of the most impactful times of the year, even though Sheryl Serviss, the Pirates' C player, scored 130 points, which was more than any B or C player in the league last week. Heery is the Rangers' A player, and his squad picked up a 4-2 win over the Pirates despite Serviss's great performance.
"The poor Pirates. They were up in fourth place in Week 11, and then they played some of the top teams. I know when we played them, the handicap did help us win a couple of those games," said Heery. "The Pirates needed a substitute for John Nilson, and Neil Johnson had just stopped by for a casual visit. He was in the league for 30 years before he retired. They got him to play as a sub, and he pulled out a 32 game. It was good to see him there. It made the games competitive for sure."
One of the best contested games of the week came with the fourth place Braves taking on the eighth place Red Sox. The Braves claimed a 4-2 victory over the Sox, but it was a barn-burner in terms of scoring. Deep River's Ed Turner had a good showing for the Sox and had the third best tally among all B players at 102.
"The Braves and the Red Sox, their team scoring is pretty much equal. During that match, the Braves scored 256 points and the Red Sox had 251. Scoring-wise they are pretty equal, and overall on the season, there is only about 100 points difference between them," Heery said. "I think the big difference there was the blind for the Red Sox. That hurt them. Their A and B players matched up well against each other."
The Giants have been having a rough go of it this season, but their A player and league president Mike Zanelli, Sr. has had fantastic showing after fantastic showing. Week 15 was no different, Zanelli, Sr. turned in a series score of 165 to lead all A players. The Giants split their contest against the White Sox and Deep River's Cody Layton, who was second among B players with a score of 110.
Mike Didomizio of the Padres scored 140 for third. The Yankees gained a split against the Cubs, but the standout player for the Yanks was Deep River's Robert Cifaldi who led all B players with a score of 115. Deep River's Scott Allen, Jr., of the Dodgers, had the C Division's second best mark at 114.
Heery anticipates that next season will see some of these top-performing players in the B and C divisions move up to the higher divisions to maintain a good competitive balance. After an altered season in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic's second wave, the DRHL didn't want to make any drastic changes to the divisions. After the scoring outburst the league is seeing this season, though, there will be some reorganization.
"Because of COVID, we had a reduced number of teams, so we kept the team averages from the previous year (2019). So some of those C players have really improved their scoring. Next year I expect Andy Perna will be an A Player. I think Sheryl Serviss will also be an A player," said Heery. "There are probably some A players that will drop down, too. We have a couple of people who will probably be moving. There will be some shuffling."
The DRHL standings after Week 15 are as follows: Reds (62-28), Dodgers (55.5-34.5), Marlins (50.5-39.5), Braves (50-40), Yankees (49-41), Angels (47.5-42.5), Tigers (47.5-42.5), Red Sox (47-43), Pirates (46.5-43.5), Rangers (46-44), Cardinals (45-45), Royals (45-45), Cubs (42-48), Padres (40-50), Giants (36.5-53.5), Orioles (34-56), White Sox (33.5-56.5), and Mets (32.5-57.5).
Heery's Rangers are right there within striking distance in 10th place, and Heery is just trying to stay in the zone. Heery believes that his consistent practice should pay dividends, but acknowledges that it's hard to tell how anyone will throw on a given day.
"I just try to practice on my delivery and my mechanics. That' the key. That's what you have to do, be consistent and release it at the same time and height. You need that repetition. The thing that I pride myself on is not having open boxes. One point can make a difference. We had nine games decided by one point one week. You never know. You want to get ringer, but sometimes all you need is a point," Heery said. "It's amazing to have a player that throws a great score, like a 41 game and then throw a 15 the next game. It's like, how does that happen? That's what frustrates a lot of players."