Stretch Run For The Money Looking Like A Photo Finish  (August  21, 2003)

While the Men Of Stone and the Hart Worms may have used July and August to run and hide from the rest of the LGML, the league heads into the final five weeks of the 2003 campaign with much left to be decided. Ten and half points separate the third place Stepping Stonz from the eighth place V-Reddy Racketeers. The fight for fourth place is turning into an all out brawl with the Phillips Heads, the Chris Shunned Soldiers and the Gambino Family currently tied with 54 points. The Heads have been carried on the shoulders of the resurgent Javy Lopez. The 32 year old catcher is leading the team with a .325 average, 33 home runs and 82 runs batted in. What there is of an offense for the Soldiers comes in the form of third baseman Mike Lowell. With 32 homers and 103 runs batted in the San Juan, Puerto Rico native has already surpassed his previous career highs. Perennial front runners the Gambino Family has seen their legendary pitching staff fall to a more human plane this season as long time staff co-aces Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine have struggled. Riding to their rescue has been 26 year old Randy Wolf with his 12 wins and 3.46 earned run average. With a good bit of time to go, third through eighth in the LGML is a wide open race. Will one or more of these teams make a late season deal to aid them in their chase? We shall soon see.

Drew Moved From Brother to Brother in First Off-Season Deal (December 21, 2002)

Christmas time means moving time for outfielder J.D. Drew this off-season. The talented but oft-injured Drew was packaged with the number five pick in the 2003 minor league draft by Ducks On The Pond general manager Richard Larivee Jr. and shipped to brother and Hello Larivees general manager Randy Larivee in exchange for pitchers Shawn Estes and Scott Williamson, as well as the number eight pick in the 2003 minor league draft. In 2002 Drew hit .252 with 18 home runs, 56 runs batted in and 8 stolen bases while spending much of the second half of the season battling injuries. Drew, along with Lance Berkman and prospect Marlon Byrd are being counted upon by the Hello Larivees to be the team's outfield foundation for 2003 and beyond. Estes suffered through the 2003 season, finishing with only 5 wins and a 5.10 earned run average. Williamson did solid work out of the Cincinnati bullpen, recording 3 wins, 8 saves and a 2.98 ERA.

Jones and Leiter Change Addresses (April  29, 2002)

The first trade of the 2002 LGML season turned out to be a big one. Desperate for starting pitching, the YouKilled Kennys this week traded slugger Chipper Jones to the V-Reddy Racketeers for workhorse Al Leiter. The 36 year old Leiter, who  immediately becomes the Kennys' ace, has won two games this season with a sparkling 1.13 ERA. Jones, traded by the Kennys for the second time in less than a year, adds extra pop to a Racketeer outfield already anchored by Bobby Abreu and Adam Dunn. The 30 year old Jones is up to his old tricks, getting out of the gate this season with a .333 average with 3 homers, 16 RBIs and a stolen base. If this is any indication of the kind of names that will be changing homes in the LGML this season fans may be in for a very interesting ride. When asked to comment on the trade a spokesman for the league office responded only with the statement that he was going to go find the Fred Lynn Trophy and dust it off since it looked like the league might need it again.

Schilling and Encarnacion Key Fast Start For Gambinos and Heads (April  21, 2002)

The race for the 2002 LGML flag has begun and racing to the front are pre-season favorites The Gambino Family and the upstart Phillips Heads. Schilling spearheaded the Gambino charge to the early lead by starting the season 3-0 with a 1.17 ERA and allowing only 18 men to reach base in his first 23 innings pitched. The Phillips Heads' Juan Encarnacion led the team's offensive charge hitting .327 with 4 homers, 11 RBI and 3 stolen bases in the first half of April. Also off on a quick pace is the very young Chris Shunned Soldiers squad led by the pitching of Vicente Padilla. The 24 year old Padilla was on fire in his first three starts, allowing all of 2 earned runs in his first 20 innings of work. Surprisingly slow out of the gate has been last season's third place finisher the Hart Worms. The Worms' starting rotation of Wade Miller, Javier Vazquez, Ben Sheets, Mike Hampton and Matt Clement combined for one win and a 6.475 ERA through tax day. The game is afoot, where it goes from here will be interesting to see.

Down The Stretch They Come... (October 2, 2001)

With a week to go in the most heated pennant race the LGML has seen in years, the Men Of Stone and Gambino Family will go to the last day of the season to decide the 2001 title. Going into the final week Barry Bonds and the Men Of Stone sport a narrow 2 1/2 point lead over Sammy Sosa and The Gambino Family. However, it will not be the home run exploits of these two men which will decide the crown, rather it is the pitching staffs that will determine who crosses the finish line first. The earned run average and ratio categories are so tightly packed at the top that one bad outing on either side could be the difference between first and second. This is not the only LGML race yet to be decided. The Vamp Eyers and Stepping Stonz are battling it out to see who finishes in fourth place and gets the final "money spot" and who suffers the fate of finishing in the dreaded fifth place spot. Meanwhile, only 1 1/2 points separates four teams vying to finish in sixth place, not only the final spot in the first division, but also the position which receives the number one minor league pick next April. One week to go, but so many rivers left to cross.

Contenders Load Up For Stretch Run (August 11, 2001)

The MLB trade deadline brought several important players to the National League, men who could each have a significant impact on the final 2001 LGML standings. The biggest move could prove to be the Vamp Eyers' acquisition of first baseman Fred McGriff. Known for his borderline addiction to Cubs players, Vamp Eyers G.M. Rick Peatman made signing the veteran slugger his first and only priority at the deadline. McGriff should be a big help to an offense that at the time of his arrival ranked seventh, eighth and seventh in home runs, runs batted in and batting average respectively. Several other teams jumped headfirst into the free agent waters as well. The Stepping Stonz, fighting mightily back toward the top of the standings after a season riddled with injury, acquired second baseman Jose Ortiz and pitcher James Baldwin. The deeply troubled YouKilled Kennys franchise signed pitcher Albie Lopez and the Chris Shunned Soldiers inked Andres Galarraga. The next week brought in a record free agent bid of $99 as G.M. Shannon Hart inked Met outfielder Matt Lawton for the Hart Worms. With these shifts in the balance of power, August and September should be interesting times in the LGML.

Stepping Stonz Bitten Repeatedly By Injury Bug (June 7, 2001)

Starting the season with a lineup consisting of Tyler Houston catching, Mark McGwire at first, Jose Vidro and Barry Larkin up the middle, Aaron Boone at third, Todd Hollandsworth, Jay Payton and Adrian Brown in the outfield and Carl Pavano on the hill would seem to be a good idea. Unfortunately for the Stepping Stonz, 2001 has not been the season to have this lineup on the field. All of these players have spent significant time on the disabled list this season, with seven of the nine still currently on the DL and outfielder Brown out for the season. Just a few weeks ago the Stepping Stonz looked like a sure-fire contender for the LGML crown, running a solid third in the standings and sporting one of the top home run clubs in the league without McGwire. However, in the last two weeks the injuries have finally caught up with the team. Between May 15 and June 5, the Stepping Stonz managed just 11 home runs, falling five spots in the category and three spots in the standings, down to sixth. Unless the team gets healthy in a hurry, a return to the top of the LGML seems unlikely. When reached for comment frustrated team owner Karen Stoneman said "Just because I'm in physical therapy does not mean I want to be treating our entire roster." 

Hart Worms' Lieberthal Out For The Season (May 16, 2001)

In one of the most impressive displays of injury in recent memory, Hart Worms catcher Mike Lieberthal was lost for the season Saturday. Lieberthal tore the ACL, MCL and meniscus in his right knee while trying to retreat to first on a pickoff move by pitcher Brian Anderson. Ironically, Anderson had been waived only five days earlier by the Hart Worms to make room on the roster for Tom Gordon. Anderson was claimed off waivers by the Ducks On The Pond. Lieberthal, a two time All-Star, was hitting .231 with two home runs and eleven runs batted in. The Hart Worms this week acquired catcher Johnny Estrada, called up from AAA Louisville to take Lieberthal's spot on the roster.