Double Down 98.3 - Gamblers Pace MBBA

[braveheart]

With 14 wins in the first 18 games of June, the Atlantic City Gamblers have polevaulted to the top spot in the Frick League Atlantic. Their record of 48-25 is good for the best record in the Frick League and ties Madison for the MBBA's best record overall. The Gamblers have used a potent offense, with improved pitching, to earn themselves a 4 game lead over defending champs Hackensack in the ultra competitive Frick League Atlantic.

Despite a myraid of injuries discussed previously, the Gamblers own thge MBBA's most prolific offense, scoring 5.4 runs per game. The club leads the league in batting average, on base percentage and slugging, and holds the second spot in homeruns and fewest times struck out. Thru 73 games, the Gamblers already have 8 players with double digit homeruns. If not for injuries, that number may be at 9 or 10. Impressive leadoff man Tony Nalley has hit 16 homeruns already and leads the way. He has 42 RBI from the top spot, to go along with his MBBA best 59 runs scored. Despite missing a couple weeks to injury, CF Ross white paces the MBBA in batting average. And On base percentage. And Slugging. And obviously OPS. Not bad. Swinging a hot bat has helped Flavio Luna set an increbile pace in the year in walks. He has been walked 12 times intentionally and already has 58 bases on balls for th eyear. He walked 6 1times the entire season in 1997.

The Gamblers had early concerns about their pitching. Over the past few weeks thu, the pitching has improved from 11th to ranking 6th overall in the MBBA. @ of the big reasons for the change have been the emergence of 2 young hurlers. Art Messer did giv ethe Gamblers concerns about his control early on - as he had a 1.66 WHIP last year with 11 losses. but a short stint in AAA has eased their concerns. In 23 games, Messer was pitched 25.2 innings, allowing only 13 hits with 34 Ks. His 13 walks are on the high side, but with no homeruns allowed (8 last year) and a 1.01 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP, he is growing into a reliable pitcher for thhis club. Same could be said for Lucas Bacher. Bacher, the 4th overall pick in the 1995 draft, started the year in the pen, but has found himself in the rotation. In 2 starts he has gone 15.1 innings and allowed 3 runs per game. With the MBBAs top scoring offense, Bacher should easily rack up the wins if he keeps this up.

The Gamblers feel pretty good about themselves coming off some key wins. They took 2 of 3 versus Hackensack last sim and are 6-1 versus them in their last 7. They took 3 of 4 from Buffalo and took all 3 from Las Vegas. they also took 2 of 3 from FL West leading Seattle to start June. They close june with games against DM, NO and AUS - a FL Midwest run that may have scared them years ago, but they are riding a huge wave of confidence.