1st-place Vampires surprising even themselves
May 29, 2001
New Orleans, LA (AP)- The New Orleans Vampires find themselves in an unlikely position: atop the McCoy Division of the Enterprise League. Entering the season, although the consensus was that they were young and promising, no one had any idea that they would challenge the co-division champions, Edmonton (currently 1.5 GB) & Montreal (7.5 GB). The team has been lead by a motley crew of rookies in CF Chris Singleton, SS Alex Gonzalez, 3B Michael Barrett, DH Sean Casey and P Matt Clement. Gonzalez, regarded primarily for his out-of-this-world defensive capabilities, has been the surprising offensive leader for the ballclub. Gonzalez currently leads the team with 29 RBI. Meanwhile, second-year players Sean Casey, Michael Barrett and Matt Clement have developed well and at an extraordinarily high rate. But the questions remain: How is New Orleans winning and can they sustain it? Here's the current reality...
Phoenix 32-12
Area 51 29-14
N.O. 29-16
To look at the Top 3 teams at this point in the season and not find Galena or Edmonton is amazing. But to instead find Area 51 and New Orleans is unthinkable. Vampires Manager Bip Roberts credits the overacheivements, thus far, of his pitching staff. "I can't believe it," commented Roberts, "some of these guys were just dumped by other clubs and now they're performing like All-Stars. Maybe our guys have something to prove. I don't know. People keep asking me if we can sustain this level of success and, to be honest, I have no idea." His players, meanwhile, are more confident that they're contenders and feel they deserve to be. Catcher Jason Kendall claims, "We're one of the best team in baseball. Some people may think I'm crazy but I'll swear we're a playoff quality team right now. We may not be the most talented club but, in my observation, we have the mental edge over everyone else right now and that means more."
"The funny thing is," commented New Orleans GM Peter Gammons, "that two of the guys we expected huge numbers from, Hitchcock and Wasdin, have thus far underacheived compared with everyone else on staff. God help the rest of the division if Sterling and John put it into high gear anytime soon." Another interesting aspect of this club's success is that it has come in the shadow of a few major injuries. All-Star outfielder Doug Glanville missed about the first 20 games of the season while key offensive components Bill Mueller and Matt Lawton have also ridden the DL. "It's the perfect situation for a team," commented one anonymous PVBL GM, "to have quality veterans go down and to have hard-working rookies step in and more than do their share in their place." More good news for New Orleans? You bet. Bill Mueller returns from the DL this week and Doug Glanville returned from the DL last week. Bad news for New Orleans? No one, including their own coaching staff and management, have any idea what to expect from this team for the rest of the season.
