(AP)Ann Arbor - The Ann Arbor AllKnighters, in their inaugural
season, are close to snatching a playoff spot. Their magic number has
been reduced to three over New Diggens.
"Well, it's been a struggle. Espcially when you consider we lost
Pedro (Martinez) for the remainder of the season. Something seemsd to
happen when the bulldog went down, the team turned it up a notch. Our
two new guys have really come through for us", said field manager Buddy
Bell.
He was refering to Paul Quantrill and Gary DellaVentura.
DellaVentura has contnued in his role as one of the top relievers in the
game while Qunatrill has sizzled in the AllKnighter rotation, lowering
his ERA more then a run in the short time he has been in Ann Arbor.
"It didn't look good for a while. The team was really playing .500
ball for about a month and a half around the all star break, runnng hot
and cold. We were still in the race at that point, but it didn't look
like we would be able to string together enough wins. When the horse
went down the team really responded", saidGM Michael Kenndy, " (Jay)
Buhner, as I had predicted, has really flourished in our offense. He has
raised his BA about .15 since joining the team, including recovering his
power stroke."
One of the key reasons for the AllKnighter's improbable playoff run
has been their speedy 1-2-3 combo at the top of the lineup. Eric Young
has leadoff with a .312 BA, 95 runs and 13 HR. MVP candidate Quentin
McCraken has had an incredible all-around season hittin .336 with 19 HR,
86 RBI, 117 runs and 49 SB out of the #2 slot in the lineup. Johnny
Damon has hit third most of the season at a .302 clip with 14 dingers,
83 RBI, 100 runs and 36 SB.
Following this amazing trio is a solid 4-6 of Scott Stahoviak, Jay
Buhner and Shane Andrews, averaging 28 HR and 88 RBI between them.
The lineup is rounded out by Tony Phillips hitting better then .300
against both righties and lefties, Joe Girardi who has come on late in
the season to hit .268 with 12 SB and Ron Choate who has split time at
SS and still hit .284 with 12 HR and 9 RBI. From the mound the
AllKnighters have also been strong, boasting 6 pitchers with 10 or more
wins. Martinez had 13 wins when he went down and Scott Sanders, Dave
Wells and Paul Wilson each have 14 wins. The Bullpen is led by
DellaVentura and Dwight Gooden who have combined for 31 saves and 21
wins, a outstanding total from relief pitchers. The AllKnighters will
close out the season against division rival and league power Galena, no
small order.
