AAABA Tournament

[business]

I totally agree with Lakeview about posting the names of the kids released. Another act again of the tribune that shows what boneheads they are. What I love now is if anyone payed attention all season to the paper and their coverage (or lack there of) of the AAABA league, they will know it gives off a biased opinion, now they will be all over Delweld's nuts because they are the champs after giving them the Safe Auto coverage all year (bare mininum). I guess the thing that bothers me is they don't understand how pure the AAABA league is and how fortunate we are to have it. You have kids out there playing, each and every night not for money but to play the game. Instead of giving more coverage and maybe peaking the interests of subscribers to get out to a game. It was great to see that many fans at game 5. Maybe more coverage would translate into more people getting a paper in the morning. Instead they raised the price to 75 cents and you are lucky if the sports section has 3 pages to it. Of that 3 pages I get to see that Jim Smith bowled a freakin 157 at Zips lanes. Sorry to rant, they are just morons.

[Jtwnbaseballguy]

Not to defend the Trib because a lot of what you say is true, but the issue with how much space they can devote to covering the AAABA is something the sports staff has very little say in, that's a business decision that comes from either their publisher or their corporate office.

Getting back to baseball
1. With Pat Smith back in pads and Pelekanos, um, injured, Vescovi as the opening night starter is a no brainer (he probably would have been the guy in any event). But who do you go to the second night? Matt Staub has been a little shaky his last couple starts and doesn't seem to hit as well when he pitches. Bandzuh?
2. In another thread someone referenced Bobby Carbaugh as an 18 year old, but I think even though he graduated this year he's technically a 17 year old AAABA-wise. Anyone know for sure?

[PIAARULES]

i believe they refer to him as a 17 yo in this video (i'm assuming that's him at the end) where they also discuss vescovi "from cambria heights way" as opening night starter.

http://www.tribune-democrat.com/multime ... d=topstory

[business]

Vescovi is a no brainer. I also would think that Staub would throw game 2 but don't forget about Bandzuh. He almost beat Baltimore and kept them in check. He is a gamer and wouldn't rule him out for game 2. I guess it depends on the draw, if they win opening night, I would throw Staub in game 2 and have Bandzuh or Shaulis throw in game 3. With no Baltimore in it and a decent draw, they could be in business. I feel that this team is much stronger than last year's team. They have alot of arms, with Skoner, Smithmyer and Carbaugh.

[business]

No Washington either, insert Martella's. I would have invited the returning champs, but that is just me.

[Jtwnbaseballguy]

Interesting. They picked up Burkett already. They'll need to get a couple more pitchers. Gehret from Altoona who pitched for the Renegades comes to mind. Pelekanos is either injured or going to the beach, depending on which story you believe. It will be interesting to see if he ends up on their roster.
http://www.tribdem.com/sports/local_sto ... d=topstory

[sydfinch]

Good call on Gehret. They also added Mark Saxman and Nate Antone.
http://www.eteamz.com/martellas/index.cfm?

[Jtwnbaseballguy]

I think the situation from the regular season has been amplified with the pickups. Martella's has a better lineup (even better now, Burkett and Rasky in the same outfield, yikes!) and Delweld has better pitching (even better now, I look for Carbaugh and Fees at 17 and 18 years old to be the "secret" weapons). If Pelekanos is going to be around to pitch for Martella's (anyone know?), I wouldn't rule out seeing the two Johnstown teams play each other on Day 4 or Day 5. How cool would that be?

[d6sports]

Prediction: Martellas will go deeper in the tournament than Delweld.

[business]

I don't see how Martella's has a better lineup. Delweld has the best player overall in their lineup and beat Martella's in a 5 game series. One of those games they won by 10+ runs. I guess it all comes down to the draw to see how far they go. Would be cool to see them play each other later in the week.