First half Shorebirds standings report

It was a tough finish to the half for the Shorebirds. After battling the Lexington Legends tooth-and-nail through most of May, they fought to a draw in a visit to Lexington in their last May series. That seemed to take the wind right out of the Delmarva nine’s sails though, as they plummeted to a 6-12 finish in the first half while Lexington amassed a 14-4 mark in the same stretch to win the SAL North going away. In fact, the West Virginia Power snuck by the Shorebirds and grabbed second place at the halfway mark.

But as usual in the SAL, everything starts afresh on Thursday. All Lexington’s great finish got them was a playoff date in September, but nothing says they can’t have a poor second half. In the topsy-turvy world of the South Atlantic League, last year’s champion can be this year’s doormat – case in point, the Kannapolis Intimidators, who won the 2005 SAL pennant but frightened no one except their fans with a 20-50 first half mark this season.

So what I’m doing here is a rehash of the first half standings, and adding commentary on each team’s second half schedule. There’s a scheduling quirk in the SAL this season. To avoid scheduling onerous roadtrips for some teams, the league is divided into four groups, which are as follows:

What I’ll call group 1 includes Delmarva, Hagerstown, Lake County, and Lakewood.

My group 2 is the rest of the North Division: Greensboro, Hickory, Lexington, and West Virginia.

Turning to the South Division, group 3 is Asheville, Augusta, Greenville, and Kannapolis.

Group 4 is the Georgia group (almost): Charleston (SC), Columbus, Rome, and Savannah.

The oddity is that Group 1 teams do not play Group 4 teams, so they’ll not have to face 3 of the top 4 South Division teams at all this season, while the Group 2 teams will play all eight South foes in the second half. Obviously the league doesn’t want a 13-14 hour bus trip (such as between Lake County and Columbus) to happen often. So Group 1 teams will have 4 games against just the Group 3 teams in the South in the second half, which as noted turns out to be an advantage.

Here are the standings for the first half along with the strength of their schedule in the second half. To determine that, I simply figured out the games below or above .500 for each remaining team on the schedule – for example the aforementioned Kannapolis team is a factor of minus 30 for each time played, and 44-25 Lexington would be a factor of plus 19 every time.

1. Lexington Legends (44-25, won division by 5 games.)

Second half schedule factor: minus 38 (3rd easiest). They play 4 games against each team in the other three groups, as well as 6 against Hickory, and 8 against Greensboro and West Virginia. They have 35 home and 35 away games.

First half summary: A 14-4 finish featuring an appearance by Roger Clemens boosted the Legends to the first half title.

Key games in second half: They play the South first half champion Rome Braves at home August 2-5 in what could be a championship preview.

2. West Virginia Power (39-30, second place 5 games back.)

Second half schedule factor: plus 32 (5th easiest). Just like Lexington, 4 games against the teams in the other three groups, along with 6 against Greensboro and 8 against Hickory and Lexington. They also are even with 35 home and away games apiece.

First half summary: Improved throughout the half from also-ran to second place club.

Key games in second half: A stretch from August 2-22 where they play 16 of 20 games at home, the lone road trip in the middle to Delmarva. The first homestand features Columbus and Rome, the second against division foes Hickory and Hagerstown.

3. DELMARVA SHOREBIRDS (37-31, third place 6 1/2 games in arrears.)

Second half schedule factor: minus 273 (easiest). As mentioned, they play only the four games each against Group 2 and Group 3 teams, along with 12 against Hagerstown, 15 against Lake County, and 11 against Lakewood. The schedule maker did give them a slight disadvantage of just 33 home games against 37 away from Perdue Stadium.

First half summary: Great pitching throughout, but a batting swoon cost the Shorebirds the first half title.

Key games in second half: They play the top two North teams as well as the second place South team (Augusta) a total of 12 times, all at home. By the way, if you’re sick of seeing Lakewood after 14 home games against them (of our 37 total), we don’t see them here again until the final home series August 28-31.

4. Lakewood BlueClaws (37-32, fourth place 7 games back.)

Second half schedule factor: minus 268 (2nd easiest). Just like Delmarva, only 4 against each team in Group 2 and Group 3. They play the Shorebirds 11 times, Hagerstown 15 times (11 at Hagerstown), and Lake County 12 times. They’re another even 35-35 team as far as road/home goes.

First half summary: After an 0-9 start, they rebounded with solid pitching to grab a first-division finish. Had they not dug such a hole, they may have been playoff-bound.

Key games in second half: A 12 game homestand August 11-22 against Lexington, Hagerstown, and Delmarva.

5. Greensboro Grasshoppers (36-34, fifth place 8 1/2 games back.)

Second half schedule factor: plus 74 (7th easiest). As with the other Group 2 teams, it’s 4 against everyone in the South and 4 against the Group 1 teams. They also have 8 against Hickory and Lexington, with 6 against West Virginia. They have 35 each at home and on the road.

First half summary: The Grasshoppers leaped into contention in early June after taking 3 of 4 at Delmarva, but the strong Lexington finish (at their expense) squashed the Grasshoppers’ hopes.

Key games in second half: Their final seven games (August 29-September 4) are at West Virginia and Lexington.

6. Hickory Crawdads (33-36, sixth place 11 games behind Lexington.)

Second half schedule factor: plus 94 (toughest). The final Group 2 team, they play that schedule along with 6 against Lexington and 8 each against Greensboro and West Virginia. They do get an advantage from the scheduler of 37 home games in the half against 33 on the road.

First half summary: The ‘Dads never really got going, they scuffled throughout the half and pretty much inhabited the second division throughout.

Key games in second half: A July 24-31 roadtrip to Columbus and Rome could drown the Crawdads’ chances for a second half crown.

7. Lake County Captains (29-41, seventh place 15 1/2 games out.)

Second half schedule factor: plus 16 (4th easiest). As with Delmarva and Lakewood, they get to skip most of the Georgia teams and Charleston, SC. They do play the obligatory four each against the Group 2 and 3 teams, along with Delmarva 15 times, Lakewood 12 times, and Hagerstown 11 times. A 35-35 split home to away is on their second half docket.

First half summary: Lake County’s Captains hit a late-winter iceberg at the end of April. After a 14-10 start they sank through the standings as they only won 15 more first half games.

Key games in second half: They finish with 8 road games August 28-September 4 at Hagerstown and Lakewood. Also, they start the second half at home with Delmarva for 4 games.

8. Hagerstown Suns (28-42, last place and trailing by 16 1/2.)

Second half schedule factor: plus 35 (6th easiest). The same deal as Delmarva, Lake County, and Lakewood, with 12 against the Shorebirds, 11 against the Captains, and 15 against the BlueClaws. Having 11 at home against Lakewood helped them have a 37-33 home to away advantage in the second half.

First half summary: Never in contention, but they managed to lay the wood to cross-state rival Delmarva at the end of the half.

Key games in second half: They have 17 of their first 22 games at home to begin the second half. Last season they won the first half title and tanked in half number 2 – so they hope for a reversal in fortune like Delmarva had last year. But there can be no all-Maryland playoff this season.

Just in: The North Division won this year’s SAL All-Star Game 4-0 at Lake County. There were four Shorebirds on the winning North team:

Quincy Ascencion started in left field and batted ninth. He played the entire game, collecting a single in 3 trips.

Brandon Erbe pitched the fourth inning, allowing one hit but striking out 2.

Chorye Spoone got the final out of the eighth inning. His first batter reached on an error and stole second but he got the strikeout to end the South’s inning.

Jim Hoey was selected to the team but didn’t pitch.

Also, the pitching coach for the North was the Shorebirds’ Kennie Steenstra.

So ends post number 150.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.