SBL Notebook, Week 19

Being American isn't always such a good thing -- like, say, if you're in Afghanistan, Iran or North Korea. But lately it's been a very good thing if you happen to reside in the Sun Baseball League, where, from a National perspective, the American division has evolved into some kind of Axis of Evil. Following up on its 33-3 bludgeoning of the NL in Week 18, the AL hung a 27-9 kick-me sign on the backs of its rival division in Week 19, the next-to-last week of interleague play. Leading the onslaught again were Bristow's Batfaced Girls, who, despite their last-place standing, have been simply the best team in ball these last two weeks. Another week of scorched-earth offense (44 runs, 41 RBIs, 41 TB, .416 OBP, 7 SBs) combined with another week of unassailable pitching (2.29 ERA, .90 BR, 6-1 WL, 7 saves) to produce another week of one-sided victories for the BFGs, who won three games by 10-1 counts and three others by 9-2, 8.5-2.5 and 8-3. The only downside for Girls is that their 12-0 surge the last two weeks has gotten them virtually nowhere in the standings, where they trail the pace-setting Paulo's Zero's by 20 games, only two games closer than they were after Week 17. That's because they entire AL has been getting rich off the backs of their NL brethren, resulting in precious little pennant-race movement. The NL leaders, Dan's Cherry Valley Bombers, endured a second consecutive 0-6 week, thanks largely to another injury wave that at various times in recent weeks has sidelined every pitcher in their starting rotation (only Chad Billingsley has avoided the DL, though even he missed a start) as well has hitting stalwarts Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz, Aramis Ramirez and Nate McLouth. Yet the CVBs have lost no ground to runners-up JP's Whiteskins, who also went 0-6 for a second straight week and still trail by eight games. The only significant northward movement in the NL was achieved by Vic's Godfathers, who overcame some shoddy pitching to post a second consecutive 3-3 ledger and have moved solidly into wild-card contention, just four games behind the Whiteskins in a division where, sadly, everyone but the Bombers is now below .500. The Zero's added another game to their AL lead, now nine games over Dennis' Pitching-Rich Pontiffs, with three other teams bunched up behind them like planes on approach at LAX -- the BGoff Bammers, Mikee's Moaners and Andy's Badgers are now tied for third, 10 games behind the Z's, meaning that only one game separates the second through fifth positions in the AL wild-card race. Five AL teams are at least 14 games over .500, and the sixth, the Batfaces, has climbed to within six games of the break-even mark.