ROBINSON ROUNDUP

by Machine Gun Max Mercy

"They come and they go, Hobbs. They come and they go."

The Robinson Division seems to have two tiers at the end of April. Albany, 'Skayuna and Valparaiso posted winning records while Mudville Perth and Burleigh dropped quickly to the second division. Albany had a 22-12 start to set a fast pace, while the Squires and the Drench settled in nicely 3 and 4 games back respectively. Albany's fast start was in large part due to their hitting (.295 as a team for April). Hanley Ramirez socked 9 homers and slugged .628. A solid bullpen kept the Avs pitching afloat as the starter other than Marcum (3-1 3.74 ERA) and Matsuzaka (3-1 3.78 ERS) were bashed around mercilessly.

Albert Pujols (.365 5 homers 23 RBI's) paced a 'Skayuna squad that socked the ball around pretty good at a .292 clip. Despite better pitching than the Avs, the Squires were not ale to translate it to enough wins to stay ahead of Albany. The Fearsome Foursome of Morris Beak Lilly and Hudson posted ERA's between 3.08 and 4.01.

Valparaiso's pitching was also solid paced by early Cy Young candidate Jason Marquis (3-2 2.42 ERA). Valpo hit very well (.285) and its on base and slugging kept pace with the Avs and Squires. Again, it seems little more than luck seperated Albany from these teams.Chase utley went beserk, hitting .319 with 8 homers and 28 RBIs, but he was outshone by Raul Ibanez who hit .400 for the month and had 6 homers and 26 RBIs.

The rest of the division was as cold as the April weather. Perth was welcomed to the league with 7 straight losses before the Cats took one behind the clutch hitting of Chris Gomez. Kylr Lohse got the franchise's first win. Jason hirsh was a major bright spot for the bejeweled Cats, but his glittering ERA of 2.14 could only net him a 1-2 record in 6 starts. Perth's hitting was not there in April although Mike Lamb and Carlos Lee went deep 5 times apiece.

Mudville's hitting also could not get untracked. Newcomer Brad Wilkerson ht 5 homers and budding propect Ron Paulino hit .348, but it was not enough to carry the team. Mudville's starting pitching was mediocre, but the Nine flashed a solid bullpen lead by Grabow, Morrow and Messinger.

Burleigh's pitching was second to only Albany's in the division (4.38 ERA) paced by Dontrelle Willis (3-2 3.15 ERA). Like Albany, the back of Burleigh's rotation was smacked around hard and a solid bullpen did wat it could to minimize damages. The Burleigh offense was lead by the second base pair of Vidro and Biggio. Manny Ramirez hit .328 in part time duty as he battled injuries. The 11-23 start wore heavily on veteran replayer Jim Pertierra. After the Blue Jays could only muster 5 hits against Skayuna in the last game of the period, the manager finally cracked. In his post game remarks, Pertierra admitted, "My ma urged me to get out of this game. When I was a kid, she pleaded with me. And I meant to, you know what I mean? Now look at me. I'm wet nurse to a last-place, dead-to-the-neck-up ball club, and I'm choking to death!" Luckily I was there to remind him it could be worse. He could be managing Carolina.....