New York Trades for Javier Solís

                                       With Ronald Hart New York's setup man going down with a injury for the season Mafia went out and acquired Javier Solís from the Boston Cardinals. Solis has proven he is a stud reliever in the ABL, he has 2.59 life time ERA 198ip and 261K with 1.07WHIP. Solis can throw heat and will rack up a ton of K's and fit nice in the setup role in New York.

                                       Mafia will face Seattle Sasquatch (50-25) the best record in the league. New York played them last year in the 1st round of the playoffs and they knocked Mafia out. This series Mafia will look to make a statement in Seattle to jump start New York who has been playing .500 ball over there last 10 games.

                                       New York sits 3rd in the TDL watching Ann Arbor Barn Owls go from last to making a nice run at the leaders for the division. Mafia will play Nottinghamshire Outlaws in a 2 game series right before All-Star break so there is a chance to gain some ground being 3 1/2 games back at the moment.

                                       New York has brought up Kyle Dyce from AAA and have high hopes for him and in the 2 weeks he was here he did hit nicely but now will miss 3 weeks diving for a ball in the outfield. Dyce has power and this is something New York is last in the league in.

                                      When manager Jaime Cantú was asked about his thoughts on losing the lead in the division Cantu said "we are not even at the half way mark yet, we know what we have on this team and what we can do, yes teams in are division are playing well and have solid rosters but we feel like if we play are game we will be on top in the division by season end.

Hart Out For Year

                                Ronald Hart Mafia's set up man will under go elbow ligament reconstruction surgery and will miss the rest of the season. Hart has been a top set up man in the league for the past 2 years and was off to a good start in 2014. Sixto Lavio will now have to fill that role and he has all the right stuff to do so but things get slim behind him. Starting pitcher José Serrano has come back to the starting line up so Roberto Campos will now fill in a bullpen role along with recent call up Ronald Burnett. New York is #1 in ERA but without Hart they will need more out of there starters.

                                Mafia have a 1/2 game lead over Nottinghamshire Outlaws and 1 game over Dallas Texans in TLD, this looks alot like last year race for the division, tight. A big weakness has been in the #5 hole were Holden Adams was put into this year and has really been a disappointment. Adams who never had power was asked to hit for a high average to help knock in some much need runs from that spot and just has not happened. Catcher Ashton Finley seems to have lost a bit with his bat and vs right handed pitching has been just down right awful, the hope is the almost 34 year old is just in a slump.

Finally a Winning April

                     Posting a 13-9 record in April is New York's 1st winning April since the start of ABL. What makes a successful April and a 17-9 record to lead the TLD lets start with being 12-1 on the road but being 5-8 at home has to improve as NY moves forward. To date Mafia as a whole have the best ERA in RCL and are expecting SP José Serrano who is in AAA rehabbing a torn rotator cuff to come back to NY by the end of May. Serrano 1st pick ever for NY has high expectations and just hasn't lived up to those as of yet. Mafia are 2nd in runs scored and are last in homeruns which is a concern but leading the RCL in walks and 2nd in OBP, NY has found ways to score without the long ball.

                    What goes without notice is the play of LF Jorge Mora and CF Joe Herman having there best start to a season. Mora is in the top 6 in most offencive categories for the RCL, the one that really stands out for NY is the 25RBI's. With Mora having 25RBI's someone has to score and its been Dave Olson scoring 26 times in 26 games.

                    Picks #1 and #2 this year were SP Masahide Memoto and SP Woody Owen both off to a very good start to 2014 and look to make the move to AA sometime soon.
                   

2014 Spring Training Report

                                              Spring training is just around the corner so we take a look at what New York has done in the off season too help win another division title and try and get past the 1st round of playoffs. Mafia knows they need help hitting left handed pitching so they went and took 1B Daniel Roberts and IF Tony Wright off of rule 5 from Maple Marauders both played in AA last season but will be in spring training this year trying to win a roster spot. Another rule 5 pick was right handed MR Tomás Menéndez from So Cal Republic AA team. 31 year old Menendez is 6' 7" and throws 99mph so he could be a nice fit in New York's bullpen. One other mention is RF Holden Adams who's been in Mafia's AAA most of last season is also looking stay in the big's in 2014.

                                              New York in 2013 draft took 6 pitchers in a row and their 1st two seem like a lock to make the pro's. #1 pick 19 year old left handed Masahide Memoto from Japan league who lead the league in wins this past year going 17-4, some think his control can be something special. #2 pick 22yro right handed Woody Owen has a cannon for a arm and his best pitch by far is his fastball, if Owen can work hard on his control he could be a dangerous pitcher.

                                              When we get into the season will report on the other picks and players that shine.

                                              

Recap

                       In 2012 Mafia missed the playoffs but with the young players having a year under there belt made a big deference in 2013. LF  Dave Olson who missed 10 weeks in 2012 cut that in half this year to 5 weeks and really looked healthy and comfortable by have a star type season posting a (OBP .429) and (OPS .911) in a 128 games.

                       CF Joe Herman was projected to be one of the best CF in the game and he proved that this year by putting up some nice numbers.

                       We saw RF Jorge Mora step on the scene in 2013 batting 3rd in front of Herman, Mora really got some good pitches to hit this year because of Herman and delivered. Mora who dont like extra innings has 11AB 4HR 10RBI.

                        These 3 outfielders are young, good and hungery for the W (All or High or very high desire to win).

                         SS Earl Cook   has played just 125 games in 2 season and cant seem to stay healthy for a full season Cook seems to be injury prone and his contract is up this year, but along came SS/2B Bob Fry from out of nowhere to bat leadoff and has fit in nicely. Fry playing SS seems like a tough task as Fry dosent exactly have a cannon for a arm.

                        1B Dave Hutchinson  Had a off year with his power numbers, in 2012 he had 43 2B and 31 HR but in 2013 he had 18 2B and 26 HR. Hutchinson is going into his last year of Arby in 2014.

                         NY's pitching has been the same as last year, good. In RCL Mafia is 2nd in runs allowed, 1st in home runs allowed and 2nd in walks. The talk now is about SP Bob Lee and how will NY handle his contract in the offseason.

                         Mafia is currently ranked 3rd in BA Top Systems having a hand full of nice players.

                         Mafia won there 1st division title and are now playing in the 1st round of the playoffs vs Seattle Sasquatch who has finished with the same record as NY (92-70). The playoff series is tied at 1-1 and going to the Big Apple to play 3 games. Lets if the Mafia can put the cement shoes on the Sasquatch.

                        

Big Home Stand

                             NY 20 games over .500 (86-66) have a 5 game lead over Dallas Texans and 6 over Nottinghamshire Outlaws both teams will face Mafia this week in Don Corleone Park where NY is (46-28) There is 10 games left to play and with these 2 important series coming up NY could clinch this week and nowhere better to do that then right at home.

                             Two big pitchers in the TLD will meet in the 3rd game of series on 9/22  Texans Rich Bussell (11-7)  3.40 ERA 1.21 whip, last years CY award winner is (3-1) 1.81 ERA in his last 4 games. Javier Flores (12-9) 3.93 ERA has been just the opposite (0-1) 9.00 ERA in last 3.

                              Mafia has been healthy all year with there starting 5 rotation and even with the ups and downs over the season, this starting 5 has shown alot of heart and really deserves alot of the credit for having a 5 game lead. All 5 starters have 11 or more wins and a .500 or better winning %

                           

Division Play

                               That time of the schedule where 13 games will be all played within the division. NY started it off with 3 games at home vs Dallas Texans (54-54) NY took 2 out of  3 and the game on 7/31/13 was one to remember. When Dalles scored 2 runs in the top of the 8th to tie the game at 3 this would be enough to send the game to extra innings. In the last half of the 10th Campbell singled to left, Finley singled to left center and a ground ball to short turn out to have everyone safe base loaded for up and coming star Jorge Mora, Mora on a 1-2 count sent Alex Martin curveball into the left field seats a GRAD SLAM to win it. Mora went 2-5 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI's.

                              Mafia look to start a 3 game set vs Nottinghamshire Outlaws who have shown a lot of heart and fight this year to have a (56-52) record that is 5 games back from NY, Outlaws have a lot of young talented players that NY will have to contend with for some time to come.

                              Stat of the day: NY doesn't hit many homeruns (97) the least in the RCL but only gave up (77) homeruns witch is the best in the RCL.