DIVISION FOUR ACTION

-Joe Sanchez reporting

-photos by Sal Riggio

July 17, 2014 Results

WARRIORS & KNICKS WIN AND STAY IN TITLE BATTLE

BOBCATS END TEN GAME LOSING STREAK

SUNS WIN STREAK NOW AT SIX

MAVS SHUTOUT PISTONS

WARRIORS 11, SIXERS 3

WARRIORS: They moved one step closer to the pennant with an easy win over the Sixers….. Leading 10-0 in the fifth, the Warriors cruised to the finish…. Filling in for John Witte, Ed Humphries pitched and held the Sixers to nine hits a new low for a Warriors’ opponent…. John Stastyshyn and Art Hines had three hits each with Hines adding three RBI… The Warriors’ last two games are at home, where they are undefeated (9-0)… Don Cox was held without a hit for the first time this season

SIXERS: As if getting only nine hits weren’t enough, the Sixers also committed four errors …. Tom Thestrup had three hits and Bob Farrow drove in three runs with a bases-loaded double… The team has lost five of its last six games…. The Sixers close the season with games against two teams below them in the standings (Bobcats and Kings) and a chance to finish as high as ninth… Al Puzyn missed his first game… Tom Kankainen and Bob Shuman were held hitless for the first time, leaving the Sixers without any players who have hit safely in every game

KNICKS 20, WIZARDS 7

KNICKS: Scoring in every inning and playing perfect defense, the Knicks took sole possession of second place, remaining two games behind the Warriors…. Lead-off hitter Art Loesel was 5-for-5 with a double and four RBI and John Zrinski contributed three hits… The Knicks are now within one point (.547 to .546) of beating the Bulls for the best team batting average

WIZARDS: Five runs in the very first inning gave the Wizards a 5-1 lead, but they were outscored 19-2 the rest of the way….. Dave Bronte, Paul Provance and Kevin Selfridge all had three hits with Bronte belting a three-run home run…. Wizards have lost three of their last four, but can’t finish last since they hold the tiebreaker advantage over the Bobcats

BOBCATS 15, BULLS 14  

BOBCATS: The Bobcats stunned the Bulls with the most dramatic comeback of the season. Losing 14-3 in the bottom of the seventh, the Bobcats proceeded to put together FOURTEEN CONSECUTIVE HITS scoring 12 runs and sending the Bulls home with a walk-off loss….. The decisive blow was a single by Angelo DeFontes which scored Tom Gibbons with the winning run….. Gibbons had four hits and sub Bob Henry drove home four runs….. The win put an end to the season’s longest losing streak: ten games… Because they hold the tiebreaker over the Rockets, the Bobcats have a chance to escape the cellar: if they win their last two games and the Rockets lose theirs, the Bobcats will finish 15^th

BULLS: With a 14-3 lead in the seventh, no one could blame the Bulls for looking ahead to Monday when they were hoping to still be alive in the pennant race. However, they lost the game and their first place aspirations came to an end…. Five different Bulls had three hits apiece and Manager Rick Valdes had four RBI…. Losing games to the Bobcats and Rockets (teams with the worst records in the division) down the stretch really hurt the Bulls’ pennant chances….With two wins and two losses by the Knicks, the Bulls can still finish in second place

PACERS 9, ROCKETS 8

PACERS:    Pacers held the Rockets to one run in the last three innings to pull out a tight win…. Four Pacers had two hits apiece with pitcher Ed Meyer driving home what proved to be the winning run in the fifth inning….. With the victory, the Pacers retain hopes of finishing as high as third place…. The Pacers are now 6-1 in close games…. By committing three errors, the Pacers surrendered the division’s defensive leadership to the Cavaliers who have two fewer errors

ROCKETS: The loss prevented he Rockets from moving up to 13^th place and ended their longest winning streak of the season at two….. Bruce Carlson was 4-for-4, but the first three batters in the Rocket lineup were 2-for-12….. In his last four games, Bruce Carlson is hitting .867 (13-for-15)

 SUNS 7, CELTICS 6

SUNS: With the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, Brad Reese drove the ball into left field for the winning hit…. The walk-off win kept the Suns tied for fourth place and dropped the Celtics to sixth…. Reese, Doug Dunn and Kit Kittrell all had three hits for the winners….. Suns have now won their last six and finish the season against two teams they have already beaten (Mavericks and Pistons)… Bill Oar is five short of tying the division record for most bases on balls in one season

CELTICS: The inability to score in the last three innings cost the Celtics the game….. Six different players had two hits each, but two double plays and timely defense by the Suns kept the Celtics at bay; two fielding plays by second baseman Doug Dunn were crucial…. The Celtics’ last two games are against teams directly behind them (T-Wolves and Blazers)

MAVERICKS 16, PISTONS 0 (MERCY)

MAVERICKS: Solid hitting by the heart of their lineup (Tom Tucker, Jeff Hageman and Ross Irlam combined for 10 hits, eight runs and eight RBI) and Manager Vic Sherring’s five-hit shutout pitching added up to a mercy win….. It was Sherring’s second whitewash of the summer: the Wizards were the first victims…..With the victory, the Mavs move into a sixth-place tie…. This was the second mercy win for the Mavericks—the first one came against the Wizards, also by a 16-0 score

PISTONS: The Pistons almost had as many errors (four) as they did hits (five)….. Manager Larry Liotta was 2-for-2, but the rest of his players checked in at 3-for-21 (that’s a .143 average)….. The Pistons only had five base runners the entire game with no one getting past second base… Three negatives for the Pistons in this game:   lowest score (0), fewest hits (5) and tie for most errors (four)… Dave Bigelow, Denny Gruszecki and Marc Guarin were held without ahit for the first time this summer, leaving James Wadsworth as the only Pistons with one or more hits in every game played

T-WOLVES 9, CAVALIERS 5 (eight innings)

T-WOLVES: A five-run rally in the top of the eighth inning broke a 4-4 tie for the win…. The T-Wolves had been blanked for four straight innings before they put together five hits, an intentional walk and a Cavalier error for five runs….. Dale Loy, Dave Albert and Manager Dave Miller had three hits apiece…. In their last five games, the Wolves have needed 12 subs… By winning their last two games, the team could finish as high as sixth… Bill Taylor missed his first game of the season

CAVALIERS: The Cavs stranded 17 base runners and could only score five times…. Manager Mike Thurik had three hits and five others had two…. The Cavaliers are part of a four-way tie for eighth place…. Kevin Mukri had to leave the game in the third inning due to an injury

BLAZERS 22, KINGS 5 (MERCY)

BLAZERS: It took the Blazers only five innings to score 22 times and breeze home with a mercy decision…. With a team average of .750 for the game, four RBI by legendary Dave Thorpe, four walks and three errors by the Kings, the Blazers had no problems scoring 22 times… It was the second mercy win for the Blazers this season; on May 8 they crushed the Rockets, 20-2…. The 22 runs were a season-high for the Blazers whose last two games will be at home

KINGS: By the time the Kings scored their first run, they were already down 15-0….. Behind 22-3 in the fifth, they needed five runs to stay alive and they fell short…. Dan Salvatore, John Robbins and Bill Klein had two hits each…. With the loss, the Kings cannot finish higher than 12^th…. Steve Buch missed his first game of the season

MATHEMATICAL ELIMINATION

         The Knicks (14-6) are the only team with a chance to overtake the Warriors (16-4) and claim the summer ’14 pennant. With the Bulls (13-7) eliminated yesterday, the Knicks must win on Monday (against the Rockets) and hope that the Pacers upset the Warriors. A Warrior win would clinch the championship, but a loss would set up a decisive final game on Thursday when the Knicks play the Warriors.

Standings:

Batting Leaders:      

Pitching Stats:

GAMES OF MONDAY, JULY 21     Winner of first meeting

#14 Rockets at #2 Knicks               Rockets, 18-17

#12 Sixers at #16 Bobcats             Sixers, 15-10

#4 Pacers at #1 Warriors              Warriors, 2-1

#8 Cavaliers at #8 Blazers             Blazers, 20-12

10:30

#13 Kings at #3 Bulls                    Kings, 17-12

#4 Suns at #6 Mavericks                Suns, 14-3

#8 Pistons at #14 Wizards             Pistons, 13-6

#8 T-Wolves at #6 Celtics              T-Wolves, 18-17

MILESTONES REACHED ON JULY 17

800 at bats         Dave Miller (T-Wolves)