Probably one of the most controversial topics on the boards revolves around the legitimacy of one team. It's been said that the Dragon Slayers aren't for real, that their schedule is weak, that they can't run with the big dogs. True enough their schedule that lent itself to a 9-3 record last season and an early exit to in the playoffs was nothing special, they only beat one team with a winning record while playing a couple other close. So what about this season?
Well, they took down Denny's Grand Slam by one run in game one of the season. DGS is a strong squad and this isn't to be overlooked, but what you can look at is DGS the following week, when they faced off with Strike Place Market and only won by 1 run in the 9th inning. The DGS that was around for the first few weeks of the season was not the same as the one we see near the top of the Standings now. You can't take a win off the Slayers record based on that, but I think the story might change a little if they played today.
Having looked at the Slayers lone victory of note, lets look at their lone loss at the hands of the Defending Tournament champions. It's important to note that they were tournament champions and not regular season champions last year. Blue Pups, while solid, have a track record of beating strong, but not stellar clubs in the regular season, and losing to the real powers. Blue Pups most notable regular season win over the past 3 seasons was over a 7-3 Saints, 17-5 in 2007, leading some to think the Pups may be more of a Tournament Power than a regular season force. A strong team to be feared for sure, but not a powerhouse like the Insliders, Big Lebowskis, DGS, Fat Drunk and Awesome, and the Texas Republic.
So what we're looking at are a good Dragon Slayers team, with still a lot to prove. With one close loss and one close win against top 15 teams over the past 3 years, and then a series of wins against unimpressive teams, I'm willing to call the Slayers a top 15 talent, probably more Top 10 with potential for more, but certainly not #1 yet, though they can change that soon enough. It wouldn't be the first time the softball guy has been wrong.
Monday, June 29, 2009
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If you are insinuating that the Blue Pups bring out ringers for the tournament you are sorely mistaken. Our team usually does not have our full squad out on any given week. Due to work/travel/other obligations we usually have a different group of people out every week. For the tournament we usually have our full compliment of players since everybody makes arrangements months in advance to participate and it's on a weekend. Also, because the tournament is played on real fields with fences and umpires, you quickly weed out those teams that can only hit cheap HR's on the Mall into the trees (but not on 300 foot fences) and don't know how to pitch when somebody is calling balls and strikes. This kind of softball is much different from you typical "drinking beer Mall ball" during the regular season. For our part, when we've played great defense we've done well in the tournament (as was evidenced last year when we won). In my opinion the teams that play the best defense in the tournament tend to have the greatest success. When we've played poorly in the field we've lost. People try to over-analyze the regular season on the message boards and blogs and it's really kind of silly since we play in all different kinds of conditions, fields, and situations during the regular season. -Hukc
ReplyDeleteThanks Huck, not insinuating that you bring out ringers. You guys are good during the regular season, you're just better during the playoffs, could be any number of reasons, turnout being the most likely. It is absolutely a different game off the mall on a real field, and it could be that you all simply know how to play the real game better.
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