LIBERTY 74 REVIEW: #13 EAST SIDE GAS

 EASTSIDE GAS 
 NORTH DIVISION 
Thomas Mink (74-98)
Franchise Record (96-120)
Playoff Record :  None 

RANKINGS 

Hitting 16 
Pitching 8 
Defense  4 

ROSTER 

HITTERS 

c  Boone F+
1b Mayberry B
2b D. Nelson F
ss  Metzger F+ 
3b  Hebner A
lf   Cardenal A-
cf   Cedeno A 
rf   Evans C+ 
2c  Herrmann D+
of  Anderson D+
if   Chaney D-
of   Hahn D+
cr   Killebrew D+
if    Reitz D+ 
of   Sharp D+

PITCHERS 

Carrithers C-
Carroll C   B 
Foster   D+
Hassler D+
Rau  C- 
Sadecki  C 
Stottlemyre C-
Tiant C+
Krause C-
Swan  D 

NOTES 

As a fellow elder statesman in the league, I enjoy playing against Tom Mink because he knows his baseball history, especially it seems when it comes to the St. Louis Cardinals. 

Unfortunately,  the ESG history has been an exercise in futility with no playoff appearances since the inception of the league.  This can be due to a number of factors but Mink must continue to look for new answers given an analysis of this year's team reveals too many weaknesses to break the playoff appearance drought. 

Not to say the team does not have any strengths.  Any time you have an outfield of Cardenal, Cedeno and D. Evans you know they are going to catch a lot of line drives which will be outside the range of the normal outfielder. Metzger adds a 4 range at SS which helps explain why ESG ranks 4th in team defense. 

Hebner, Cardenal and Cedeno are excellent hitters and Mayberry is a solid slugger but outside of Dwight Evans, the supporting cast drops off into a series of D ratings and the resulting power outage drops ESG to a 7/16 ranking in hitting.  Look for ESG opponents to throw a punch of lefties against this lineup. 

Luis Tiant will always be worth the price of admission.  I can still see him using various gyrations looking like an electrocuted octopus before the ball comes out of nowhere resulting in many hitters swinging at air.   While Tiant will provide some entertainment and Clay Carroll will provide some solid relief out of the pen, the rest of the staff will give ESG nation a bad case of heartburn. 

Mink is a solid field manager but you can only play the cards you are dealt and Mink will have a hard time winning with this hand. 

PREDICTION:  4th in the NORTH