Thursday, 2007 April 1 –  After a long and cold winter hiatus, baseball and the famed Daly City Montis return again.  After a record fourth consecutive championship and a league-leading record in 2006, things would appear to be going well for the young club.

But quietly, fear and uncertainty have started to permeate through the clubhouse during the early spring training months.  Despite their unrivaled success, the team has been on a decline ever since its inaugural season, dropping from ___ in 2003 to ____ in 2004 (125-37, .772) and finally to their 119-32 mark last season.  A number of contracts – most of the players who have been with the team for three or four years – also expired after the 2006 season, and the resulting contracts and arbitrated salaries have ballooned the payroll to an immense $51 million – this for a team that brought in just $5.8 million in ticket sales in all of 2006.

A number of key players over the past couple of years have also hit the farm: designated hitter Rudy Puzon, who has compiled a steady .315-.397-.533 line over the past two seasons and has led the team with 245.11 runs created; RF prodigy Jason Liu, who slugged his way onto the scene way back in 2004 (he put up a .323-.422-.702 line as a rookie!) but has somewhat fizzled since then; and the somewhat inconsistent RP Helen Yamamoto (who puts up a 7.36 career CERA).

But the April brings smells of fresh-cut grass, light showers, and new hope.  Despite the loss of key players and a history of decline, the Montis have restocked and reloaded in a way that hasn’t been seen since… well, the inaugural 2003 season.  The 2007 roster brings in 6 new players – 4 batters scouted and recruited from the Montis’ Daily Cal affiliate in the Berkeley Independent League, and 2 new pitcher draftees.  For the first time ever, there appears – on paper – to be a net increase in talent; could this be the year Daly City finally sees a season-over-season improvement on their record?

Tina “Experimental Error” Quach, Catcher: Quach enters in her second season as full-time catcher for the Montis – a role she didn’t particularly thrive in last season when she dipped to a .286-.363.-380 line and had a number of defensive miscues.  Quach has been performing decently in batting practice, however, and despite the rigors of being a full-time starter at the game’s toughest position for the first time last season, was able to maintain a decent OBP.  She’s currently projected to bat 2nd in the order, so it’ll be up to her to set the table for the power hitters in the 3-4 slots.

Marco Paz, Backup Catcher: Paz made a huge experience leap from AA ball to the majors last season. Most scouts didn’t believe he was ready to face major-league pitching yet – Paz had batted just .250-.317-.515 in AA, and an abysmal .167-.163-.310 in a short AAA stint during the 2005 season. But with the suddent departure of long-time catcher Sam Lau, the Montis were desperate and needed a catcher, fast.  The results were terrible – Paz racked up a .139-.160-.228 line in the worst individual season hitting performance on record, producing just 0.98 RC/27 outs.  The spring training reports from Paz haven’t been good either – he’s been flailing all over the place, and on top of this his vaunted power seems to have faded a little.  For now, the backup catcher job, and what few plate appearances that brings, is Paz’s by default, but his continued poor performance might mean a long summer behind the plate for Quach.

Derek Lew, First Baseman: Team captain Derek Lew will once again anchor the team.  He’s the Montis’ longest-tenured hitter (602 games over four seasons), and made his mark last season with a .304-.338-.593 line en-route to his (admittedly undeserving) Batter of the Year award.  Helped by his #4 slot hitting behind OBP machines like Puzon, Nghe, and Chee, Lew was a monster run-producer last year, putting up 162 RBIs (second most in team history).  This year he’s projected to bat 5th, behind new LF recruit Ted Kwong – whether Kwong adds more runners on base or simply sweeps the RBIs up for himself remains to be seen.

Cristian Ortiz, Second Baseman: The speedy Ortiz, who obliterated the stolen base record with 91 steals last season, will have his sights on the grand prize this year: at 151 career bags, he’s just 19 steals away from overtaking Aubrey Cubilo as the Montis all-time steals leader.  Ortiz also brings his enigmatic power to the plate – though he’s got all the speed in the world, he rarely ever pulls in the doubles (just 21 all last year, in 662 plate appearances) but somehow manages to hammer in the dingers at the most opportune times (22 HR in 2006, and 59 career HR total to 56 doubles).  Ortiz is projected to bat leadoff most games, once again forming a double-steal tandem with the classically slow Monti #2 hitters (Tina Quach this year).

Joanna Maung, Saung-gah-basewoman: Maung, Daly City’s pinch-hitter extraordinaire, is back for a second season trying to fill the enormous shoes of the legendary Joey Wong. Maung’s attempts fell flat her first year – while Maung was known for pulling through in the clutch (she indeed posted an outstanding .344-.432-.422 in close/late situations), she fell flat on a day-to-day basis, hitting just .281-.351-.379.  She’ll face some stiff competition from new rookie Salgu Wissmath this season – with Ortiz and Nghe set as 162-game warriors at the middle infield positions, 3B is perhaps the only open and contestable spot.  Maung is currently projected as the #9 hitter.

Henry Nghe, Shortstop: Following his outstanding rookie campaign in 2005, Nghe went through a bit of a sophomore slump, hitting a disappointing but decent .305-.386-.429.  Despite seemingly losing his power and contact ability (the latter of which may have been caused by his stratospheric .409 BABiP regressing to a more typical .343), Nghe made great strides in his on-base ability, drawing 55% more walks per plate appearance over last year.  It’s been a quiet spring for Nghe, who’s currently projected to hit at #3 despite the bottoming-out of his power levels.

Salgu “Swissmath” Wissmath, Utility Infielder: A new recruit from Berkeley Independent League (BIL), Wissmath is an agile native 2nd basewoman who will serve as the Montis’ utility infielder.  Wissmath was a star in the BIL, hitting .361-.440-.483 for the Daily Cal Office Team in 2006.  In addition to her stellar defense, Wissmath brings an average offensive skillset to the table – league-average on-base ability and power, but with the potential for plus contact ability (she’s currently rated as 74/100).  While Maung is still the incumbent at third, Wissmath looks to mount  a strong challenge for playing time, especially as a defensive replacement in late-game situations.

Ted Kwong, Leftfielder: Another of Daly City’s BIL recruits, Kwong is perhaps the highest-rated batting prospect the Montis have had since Norman Ho.  Though he hasn’t played a game in the majors yet, Kwong is already rated with the 4th highest power potential in the league, behind Microsoft’s Jabba Desilijic-Ture, Daly City’s own inconsistent Francis Chen, and the demigod Gates Skywalker.  Kwong brings perrenial Batter of the Year credentials to a team that really hasn’t seen that kind of production since third baseman Joey Wong retired after 2005.  Currently he’s projected to bat in the cleanup spot, bumping longtime power hitter Derek Lew to 5th, mostly on account of Kwong’s far superior on-base skills.

Skyler Reid, Platoon Centerfielder: Another BIL recruit, Reid, at just 19, is a seasoned baseball veteran who’s currently the frontrunner for the starting centerfielder job in what looks to be a three-way platoon at the position.  Reid brings decent, if inconsistent, power to a position that has clasically been devoid of any power whatsoever.

Tiffany Ho, Platoon Centerfielder: Daly City’s own Eckstein-type sparkplug, Ho returns from her first full year in the majors to face serious competition and some shaky job security at her starting centerfield roaming grounds.  With Wissmath backing up the infield positions, Ho may be hard-pressed to find at bats at other positions, though she should still see plenty of defensive replacement action as the team’s top overall fielding outfielder.

Jessica Kuo, Platoon Centerfielder: The feisty young walk-on recruit from BIL, Kuo is currently projected as the third centerfielder in Daly City’s outfield platoon. While Kuo’s batting skills are rated fairly low, she’s been a human highlight reel in tryouts and spring training so far – she’s got one of the fastest pair of wheels on the team, and bests even Ho in centerfield range, though her raw inexperience leaves her a bit more error prone and shaky on the basepaths.

Francis Chen, Rightfielder: If there’s one thing to be said about Chen, it’s that he’s consistent… ly inconsistent.  After a couple of seasons as a spot starter in rightfield, Chen finally got his chance to start in 2006.  He got just that – to the tune of 130 games and 539 plate appearances – allowing him to display his trademark flashes of prodiguous power (translating to career-high 31 homers).  Despite that, Chen’s rate stats weren’t encouraging – though his batting line increased over 2005 across the board, Chen saw severe declines in both walk rates and isolated power.  Perhaps with a full year of starts under his belt, 2007 will finally be the year.

Jonathan “The Cheet” Chee, Designated Hitter: With the departure of the rock-steady Puzon, the defense-challenged Chee takes over the designated hitter position.  Chee won’t rake in the extra base hits like Puzon did, but has served in the past couple of seasons as an isntrumental component of the Monti’s offensive machine, getting on-base and setting the plate to the tune of a .390 career OBP.

Nathan Yan, #1 Starting Pitcher: The most dominating pitcher in league history, Yan has gotten better and better every season and looks to follow up his most gaudy season to date: 30-1, 284 innings, 568 K’s, 0.79 ERA, 18.0 K/9, and a scale-breaking -0.01 DIPS ERA.  It’s hard to imagine the Daly City flamethrower soaring any higher, but then again the same was thought after Yan’s then mind-blowing 2005 season.

Whitney Esguerra, #2 Starting Pitcher: The runner-up rookie of the year Esguerra had all kinds of bad luck her freshman season, losing 11 games and winding up with a 13-11 record, despite putting up some of the best performances in the league (3.15 ERA, 10.8 K/9, 6 CG and 2 shutouts).  With Zhao’s mini-slump over the previous year, Esguerra moves up to the #2 slot, where she’ll have to rise up to the challenge of even stiffer opposition.  Hopefully, she’ll be facing it with something better than her team-low 4.3 run support/game last season.

Terrence Zhao, #3 Starting Pitcher: After an other-worldly 2005, Zhao experienced a regression of sorts in 2006, and after a somewhat rough spring relative to the upstart Esguerra, sees himself once again out-of-luck and stuck at the #3 slot, where he’s pitched at or lower throughout his career, despite easily being Daly City’s second most consistent starter throughout its history (he’s 2nd in career wins, innings, K’s, CG’s, shutouts, and QS).

Samantha Chin, #4 Starting Pitcher: Entering her third season, the catty Chin looks poised for a breakout season.  She’s been firing lightning bolts all spring, and improved by leaps and bounds last year over her rookie season, improving her consistency (quality start rate jumped to 82.76% over 53.85% the season before) and allowing hitters to make far less good contact (opponent batting averaged declined .234 to .209 and slugging from .402 to an absurdly low .339 – only Zhao and Yan did better among Daly City starting pitchers in 2006).  Projections are wildly optimistic for Chin, but first she’ll have to learn to manage her control issues – she walked far more batters in 2006, and as a result her opponent OBP remained static despite a drop in the hitting categories.

Sean Wade, #5 Starting Pitcher: After an extensive sophomore slump, Wade returns as a big question mark for 2007, finding struggled to find his trademark consistency through the past season as well as spring training.  Dropping down to the #5 slot, Wade stands at great risk for dropping down even further if he doesn’t perform well early on – all five other returning starters ended 2006 on a hot streak, and pitched markedly better than Wade.

Alfred Vong, #6 Starting Pitcher: After two seasons toiling away in long-relief/spot-starter purgatory, Vong finally moves into the #6 starter spot with the retirement of longtime spot starter Miguel Pardo.  Vong certainly proved himself capable of taking the starting reins in 2006, when he delivered a 3-0, 2.70 ERA and 0.72 WHIP performance in four substitute starts for the injured Pardo.

Kelley Cox, Long/Middle Reliever: A newcomer from the Berkeley Independent League, Cox slots into Vong’s old long relief role, and will likely see a large amount of work in day-to-day relief as well, in Daly City’s minimized bullpen (Cox will be just one of four bullpen pitchers).  Cox is more developed than most recruits, possessing a wide variety of breaking ptiches, throwing a curveball, sinker, slider, and a surprisingly effective screwball.

Bernadette Dugtong, Middle Reliever: Another newcomer to the remade bullpen, Dugtong is a movement pitcher in a similar mold to Cox.  Dugtong has a huge upside, with one of the best curveballs in the league for a player her age and precision control, but her skills are still in the developmental stage.  With Cox’s longer durability fitting her into the long relief role, the rookie Dugtong will be thrown into the fire right away as the primary middle reliever.

Alvina Chu, Setup Reliever: Chu resumes her setup role, as the most experienced member of the bullpen. Though she was shaky last season, she did end up blowing only one save, and that veteran consistency will be needed to shore up the largely green relief corps.

Josiah Leong, Closer: No one delivers a roller coaster ride as well as Leong, who’s overpowering stuff and horrid lack of control means you’re as likely to see a 3-K perfect inning save as you are a 4-walk blown save.  Nonetheless, with few relievers to choose from, the team has chosen the wild brilliance of Leong over the consistency of Chu, which should make for many interesting 9th inning leads this season.

Another year, another championship, and another year of impending doom for the Daly City Montis. The championship this year, as in the past, was handily won, in a clean 4-0 sweep of the Pentax Shake Reducers. Daly City had another sweep of the postseason awards, with Yan winning his fourth-straight Pitcher of the Year, and Derek Lew winning his first Batter of the Year, and rookie Whitney Esguerra narrowly missing by placing 2^nd in the Rookie of the Year balloting.

But amid another year of success, the 2007 season dawns upon fair Verona Daly City, and the shadows of free agency loom. When the original roster signed in 2003, all of the contracts were for four years, at $1 a year – through the 2006 season. Now the remaining 8 of those 4-year players – Terrence Zhao, Nathan Yan, Josiah Leong, Derek Lew, Cristian Ortiz, Jonathan Chee, Angel Poon, and Joanna Maung – are bound for free agency, unless the team can resign them. On the free market, however, each of those players could command 7-figure, if not 8-figure, multi-year salaries. Despite the team’s prodigious growth, their stadium situation, the 5,000 seat Panorama Park, has hindered them since their inception, and their net profit from 2006 was a mere $4.3 million, and their cash reserves leftover from 2006 were a mere $340,000. On top of this, each of the other players currently on roster enter into their arbitration years, and could also figure to command exorbitant sums, most notably stars Samantha Chin, Whitney Esguerra, Henry Nghe, and Rudy Puzon. The outcome doesn’t seem to have a clear resolution now, but it appears that if Daly City wants to retain their players, their era of small-town baseball may be over.

But 2007 is 2007. Without further ado, the 2006 recap:

Tina “Experimental Error” Quach, Catcher: Finally emerging from under the shadows of long-time catcher Sam Lau, Quach got her first chance at a starting role this season. Having done incredibly well the past two seasons in a part-time role (accumulating about a half-season’s worth of plate appearances in 2003 and 2004), Quach projected as a light-hitting, good OBP catcher, with decent defense behind the plate but a poor arm overall. Quach pretty much lived up to just that, going .286-.363-.380, which was off from her half-season numbers, but still fit into her player profile and was above-average on the Daly City team. Behind the plate, Tina’s runners thrown out percentage was a mere 30.8%, a far cry from the 50% numbers Lau used to achieve annually, but still good enough to rank 7^th out of 16 teams. Overall, about what was to be expected from Quach, if not a little disappointing on the development of hitting. Perhaps with another year adapted to the rigors of a full season, Quach will pick up with the .300-.380-430 numbers she showed in a part-time role.

Marco Paz, Backup Catcher: Paz secured his place in history with undoubtedly the worst season by a Daly City hitter, ever. Rushed to the majors as a backup catcher after Lau’s retirement to AA, Paz, who put up a decent .250-.317-.515 in AA, and only .167-.163-.310 in AAA, never quite got the ball rolling, hitting .139-.160-.228 in 106 plate appearances, for a cumulative .388 OPS and 0.98 RC/27, by far the lowest in the league of any player with as many plate appearances as Paz did. Nonetheless, Paz was excellent behind the plate, committing no errors in 173 defensive innings and throwing out 4 of 7 would-be baserunners, and showed some signs of life once he got to the postseason, hitting .316-.350-.474.

Derek Lew, First Baseman: Talk about a comeback season for D.L. Lew. After a poor 2006 campaign marred by injury, Lew came back bashing in 2006, returning to his career average AVG and OBP numbers, and setting a new career record for SLG. No one on the team was more consistent than Lew, either, as he hit an .850 OPS every month except September, and ravaged pitchers with the best run production in the league, driving in 164 RBIs (a career high, and league lead), on the strength of a career-high 77 doubles (league record), career-high 16 triples, and 408 total bases (UL lead). Lew even won the Batter of the Month award for his monstrous August performance, where he hit .398-.419-.771 with 9 HR and a staggering 39 RBIs. To top off this year’s comeback story, Lew won (highly contentiously) the 2006 Batter of the Year award, maintaining Daly City’s 4-year stranglehold on the trophy.

Rudy Puzon, Designated Hitter: Although Lew may have the defense and the flashier 2B, HR, and RBI numbers, when it comes down to it pure production, no one, not even Lew, helped drive in more runs than Puzon did. He was 1^st in AVG and OBP, and 3^rdin SLG, and led the team with a .950 OPS and 8.72 RC/27. Far from a sophomore slump, Puzon improved in just about every single hitting category, and this year formed part of Daly City’s 3-4-5 core, batting in the 3^rd position and scoring 129 runs (6^th in the league). After only two years in the league, Puzon has solidified himself as one of the game’s best, and perhaps the best run-producer in the Daly City lineup.

Cristan Ortiz, Second Baseman: It was a whirlwind year for Ortiz, coming off of his first full-time breakin to the majors, and trying to live up to a .284-.342-.460 season in which he hit 23 homers and stole 58 bases, exceeding what his talent ratings indicated. Ortiz quietly put up a .279-.349-.435 line in 2006 – slightly worse AVG, slightly better OBP, and a prodigious power dropoff. However, Ortiz became one of only three players on the team, and a select few elite in the league, to drive in 100 RBIs and score 100 Runs, with 104 RBIs and 128 Runs on the season. The story of the year, however, was Ortiz’s season-long race against Apple’s Ben Kenobi in an attempt for the Stolen Base title, and eventually, Aubrey Cubilo’s year-old SB record of 77. Ortiz trailed Kenobi for much of the season, and at the end of August had accumulated 53 steals – on pace for a career-high and possibly even the record, but still lagging behind Ben Kenobi’s 59 at the time. From then on, however, Ortiz put on the afterburners, and helped along with a .356 OBP in August and .377 OBP in September, swiped 38 more bags (19 in each month), leaving Ben Kenobi’s 13 combined steals in the dust. Ortiz finished with 91 steals to Kenobi’s 72, obliterating Cubilo’s record and setting a mark that no one but himself stands to approach anytime soon.

Henry “Mr.” Nghe, Shorstop: Where’s the magic gone for last year’s rookie of the year? Hitting from the #5 spot – the cleaning up the cleanup spot – Nghe had a phenomenal year behind the plate – yet missed all expectations. While nobody expected him to go .362-.408-.545 like he did his rookie year, and many skeptic figured he’d do much worse, Nghe put up a very respectable .305 AVG and .386 OBP… yet fell flat with a .429 SLG. Nghe played great throughout most of the season, consistently hitting for a good average and getting on base, yet never managed to find the pop he had in 2005 – aside from very good months at the beginning (.336-.430-.536 in April) and the end (.375-.449-.558 in September), Nghe hovered in the .280-.360-.370 range all season.Nonetheless, Nghe was good on the field and on the basepaths, going 34 for 41, 83%, against last year’s 19 for 28, 68%, and the flashes of his rookie brilliance he showed in April and September.

Joanna Maung, Saung-gah-basewoman: After 3 years in the shadow of Joey Wong, Maung finally got her chance starting a full season at 3B. Long a pinch hitter and bit-role player (averaging 160 AB’s per year), Maung was perhaps the least experienced of the four year players. How did she do? Well, the worst that could have been expected – a .281-.351-.379 line that was far below her career numbers, and a scarily declining rate of walks and increase in strikeouts. Given the transition into full-time starter, most of this was to be expected, and Maung can only look to improve upon her numbers in 2007.

Jonathan “The Cheet” Chee, Leftfielder: After one heck of a comeback campaign in 2005, it was perhaps Chee’s turn to fall flat once again. Jonathan played extremely well in the first half, especially with a huge .347-.436-.545 month in May, but began showing a rapid decline in skills – his 1^st half/2^nd half splits were .318-.416-.449/.204-.360-.282. Nonetheless, Chee still led the league in hit-by-pitches – 46 to Jabba Desilijic-Ture’s 30 and Francis Chen’s 26, and demonstrated an improved batting eye – his OBP-AVG (OBP minus AVG) difference was .099 in the first half, and a staggering .156 in the second half. Chee performed well in the playoffs, with a .327-.469-.490 line, and maintained his ~1.4 SLG/AVG ratio in the second half, so it seems only a matter of making good contact with the ball again. Whether Chee can still catch up to major league pitching, however, is a big question indeed heading into 2007.

Tiffany Ho, Centerfielder: From bit-role player to full-fledged starter, perhaps no one made a big a leap as Tiffany Ho did this year, diving head-first into the most demanding defensive position in baseball – centerfield. After a fairly ordinary rookie season, most weren’t expecting much from the light-hitting native rightfielder. Nonetheless, Ho made improvements at the plate, going .290-.323-.382, along with solid, though not gold glove caliber defense. Tiffany, however, became a whole new player in the postseason, becoming one of the unlikely spark plugs of the Daly City engine by going .431-.477-.569 in the postseason, leading the team in both AVG and OBP. Ho’s base-running was quite a concern this year, though, as she set a career high of 22 steals… in 37 attempts (that’s a 59.5% success rate).

Francis Chen, Rightfielder: Another year of the Francis Chen experiment, and another round of… well, it’s hard to tell these days. Chen got the chance to play nearly the whole season this year, starting 128 games and accumulating 546 plate appearances. He went .212-.336-.480, setting a career high for OBP, and improved upon his AVG and SLG from the previous year, yet still remained highly unsatisfactory, with only average OBP and SLG numbers to go with his typically abysmal AVG. Yet as always, Chen showed glimmers of hope, with a few months of good OBP and SLG (his September .256-.369-.610 is a particular standout) – just not quite consistently good enough and not improving fast enough for fans and management. Chen did improve on his base-stealing, however, swiping 26 bags in 30 attempts – good for #3 on the team and extraordinary considering Chen’s low OBP.

Jason Liu, Rightfielder: Once with a future so bright, hard days have fallen on Jason Liu. Poised to finally inherit the RF starting position, the spot once again returned to the fan-favorite Francis Chen, leaving the powerful Liu, a career .311-.390-.643 in two seasons, on the bench. Perhaps the lack of opportunities got to him this year, as Liu declined once again, and was hampered by a very slow first four months when he couldn’t seem to find a groove anywhere – his April numbers of .171-.189-.429 in 35 at bats set the tone for the rest of the year. Liu showed signs of returning to life at the end of the year however, when he batted .314-.386-.665 in August-September

Nathan Yan, #1 Starter: It was a career season upon career seasons for Yan, who came in knowing he would dominate once again in 2006, and still blew away everyone’s expectations. His WHIP remained roughly the same at 0.47, but his ERA plummeted to 0.79, his ERC down to 0.06, and most amazingly, his Ks per 9 innings skyrocketed to a blistering 18 K’s per 9 inning. While Yan jokingly referred to going after the 500-K mark, no one imagined he could actually approach it, until he started piling up the strikeouts with monstrous games, including four 19-K games, five 20-K games, four 21-K games. His season was highlighted by two consecutive starts in June-July, where he threw a 21-K no-hitter, and followed it up the next start with an 11-inning, 1-hit, 25-K shutout. He topped 100 K’s in May, July, and September, and ended the season with a staggering 568 strikeouts, obliterating the league record of 469 he set last year. What’s next on the list for Yan – 700? The sports writers will be careful what they predict next year – the limits of Yan’s ability these days is virtually limitless.

Whitney Esguerra, #2 Starter: It was a rough-and-tumble year for the rookie starter, who jumped in the #2 role after an insane 2005 at AAA – there she racked up a staggering 27-0 record in 29 starts, with a 2.01 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, and 341 K’s in 246 innings (that’s 12.5 K/9!). Everyone expected big things, and Esguerra didn’t disappoint – she threw 214 innings in 30 starts, with a 3.15 ERA and 1.12 WHIP, and was second in the league (by a wide margin) with a 10.8 K’s per 9 innings, resulting in 256 strikeouts – 2^nd on the team and #5 in the league. Esguerra was plagued, however, by an inability to finish out long games (due mostly to her rather low 72 endurance) and bad luck with offensive support – Daly City scored only 4.3 runs per game for her, abysmally below the team’s average (6.0 runs per game) and ranking 9^th-worst in the league – and embarrassing number for baseball’s #1 offense. The result was a team-worst 13 wins and team-worst 11 losses, the latter actually setting a team record for most losses in a season. With hopefully another year of experience, and some endurance training, Esguerra can evolve into a full-fledged ace, though she’s already one of the game’s best (5^th best ERA, 8^th best CERA, 7^th best WHIP).

Terrence Zhao, #3 Starter: After the stunning evolution of Zhao in 2005 (1.74 ERA, 1.74 CERA, 1.01 WHIP, 9.3 K/9), Zhao regressed a bit in 2006, putting up a 14-7 record (far off from last year’s 23-4) and only a 3.03 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in 205 innings in 30 starts. Zhao did improve on K’s per 9 innnings, however, with a 10.4 mark that ranked 3^rd in the league, and he was 2^nd on the team in complete games with 9. Zhao started off slow, with a combined 2-4, 3.92 ERA, 1.32 WHIP April-May, but ended strongly and had a good playoff run before getting knocked out with a pulled bicep tendon in Round 2.

Samantha Chin, #4 Starter: Daly City could have yet another new ace on its hands. Showing some flair for the daring, a lot of luck, and inconsistency in her rookie season, Chin showed all signs that she was beginning to put things together in her sophomore year. In a Zhao-esque like development, Chin jumped from a 13-1, 4.06 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 3.23 CERA to a 19-4, 3.20 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 2.61 CERA season, and improving her 14/26, 53.8% Quality Start rate to a #2 on the team and #3 in the league 24/29, 82.8% rate. The way she improved this 2^nd year, 2007 could be a season of even bigger things to come.

Sean Wade, #5 Starter: From glory boy to washed-up prodigy, things fell apart for the sophomore starter, who experienced a slump for the ages in 2006. After nearly winning the Rookie of the Year award in 2005, Sean fell way back from his 2005 numbers, putting up a 13-8 record, 4.09 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 3.63 CERA, and for the rookie named Mr. Consistency, a horrendous 54.2% quality start rate. Nobody’s quite sure what’s happened to Wade, who was on and off all season, pitching 3 shutouts to rank #2 on the team, yet throwing SEVEN games in which he gave up 6 runs or more, a truly horrendous number. Have opposing hitters finally figured out Wade’s impossible knuckleball, or has the boy wonder still got a few more tricks up his sleeve? Wade did put up another spectacular postseason run, with 2 wins in 3 games, and a 1.82 ERA and 0.65 WHIP, so there’s hope yet for a 2007 comeback.

Miguel Pardo, #6 Starter: Poor Pardo, forever at the whim of luck. It was another fast start year for Pardo, who began 3-2 with a 3.07 ERA in 44 innings over 6 starts. From there, however, things went downhill for Pardo, and never looked up again – he put up decent 4-ERA months in June and July, but by August Pardo was in full free-fall with an 11.32 ERA in 3 starts, before he was (perhaps mercifully) knocked out for the season after tearing his rotator cuff muscle, also knocking him out for the playoffs.After a 2005 season of such progress and high hopes, 2006 was a disaster for Pardo, who will known enter into an uncertain offseason filled with surgery and the prospect of free agency.

Alfred Vong, #6 Starter: It was a mixed season of sorts for Vong, who was expected to make significant strides in his second season. Instead, Vong performed abysmally out of the gate – at the end of July, his ERA was a gaudy 5.66 and his WHIP 1.38! With Pardo’s injury, however, Vong got his chance to start again in the #6 role, and from there on out he performed brilliantly. In four starts he was 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA and 0.72 WHIP, lasting at least 7 innings in each start and throwing 2 complete games. Despite 2/3 of a season spent figuring things out, with Vong’s recent development Daly City will be hard-pressed to keep him out of the rotation for much longer.

Helen Yamamoto, Mopup Reliever: In 2005, Yamamoto set records as the worst pitcher in the history of Daly City baseball. Her 9.35 ERA, 2.54 WHIP, 12.05 CERA, all set records, besting former mopup reliever Katie Clayton. In 2006 Yamamoto was better, but still not quite good enough – she improved her numbers to 6.00 ERA, 1.96 WHIP, and 7.14 CERA, once again worst on the team. Yamamoto did show signs of improvement during the season, however – through the month of June she had put together a spectacular stretch which chiseled her ERA down just under the 3.00 mark. From there, Yamamoto suffered perhaps one of the worst meltdowns in history, putting up ERA marks of 7.36, 11.57, and 11.25 in the following months, before a 1-appearance, 13.51 ERA, 6.00 WHIP performance in the playoffs.

Zubeda Khan, Middle Reliever: In a bad year for the bullpen, the downgraded former closer didn’t fare too well, leading off with a horrendous 6.43 ERA, 1.43 WHIP April and ending the season on a sour 6.48 ERA, 1.56 WHIP note. In between, Khan put together one of the best 4-month stretches of any reliever, with a 2.73 ERA and 0.81 WHIP. Despite a fairly inflated 4.00 ERA, Khan led the bullpen in WHIP with a 1.04 mark and CERA at 2.69.

Angel Poon, Middle Reliever: For Daly City’s veteran reliever, things seem to have stagnated over the past two years. Once looking up with a 2.88 ERA season in 2004, Poon has faced declining appearances, innings, and ERA numbers ever since. This season she threw only 44 innings, the lowest out of Daly City’s five primary relievers, and was bogged down all season by a slow start in the first two months of the season, where she accumulated a 6.61 ERA. Things fared better for Poon in the middle of the season, where in the 3-month summer stretch from May-August, she put up a 2.00 ERA and 0.72 WHIP. Perhaps she’s still got more left in the tank, but as Daly City’s longest tenured reliever, the first to break the 200-inning career relief innings mark (which she reached this season), the 18-year old reliever may be past her prime and on the decline already.

Alvina Chu, Setup Reliever: Though she was the best of any reliever, Chu disappointed this year when she set career lows for ERA (3.63) and WHIP (1.23), and maintaining one of the worst inherited runners scored records on the team, allowing 8 out of 22 (36.4%) to score this season. Nonetheless, Chu seemed to improve in several key areas, notably reducing her blown saves drastically from 7 out of 19 to just 1 out of 9. Once again, Chu also led the league in reliever wins, setting her own career mark with a 10-2 record.

Josiah Leong, Closer: 2006 was a year of big changes and great anticipation for Leong. The inconsistent starter-turned-closer-turned-starter, after a tumultuous 2005 season wracked with nail-biting starts, took to the bullpen once again, where he pitched in an even more nail-biting 2004 season as the team’s closer. Two seasons ago, Leong put up a 3.70 ERA, 1.20 WHIP in 58 1/3 innings while saving 40 games, and the Montis hoped that another two years of experience and maturity would help him gain more consistency, or at least improve upon the mediocre 5 blown saves rookie Zubeda Khan had in 2005. Still, since the inception of the team in 2003, Leong had been hands-down the most inconsistent pitcher on the staff, and mixing that in with high-stakes save situations was treading a fine line between brilliance or disaster. The result was just that – a mix of brilliance and disaster, and perhaps the most mercurial performance by any pitcher, anywhere, to date. A workhorse of the staff, Leong threw 71 innings, by far the most of any reliever this year, and second to Sarah Jimenez’s 90 innings in 2003. Leong even managed career bests in ERA (3.68), WHIP (1.14), and CERA (3.04), not to mention K/9 (12.8). Leong started the year leerily, with a near-disastrous first four appearances in which he earned 1 save, blew three, and won 2 and lost 1 of the games he blew. His ERA was at 8.10, his WHIP at 1.95, and things were looking to go downhill, fast. From there, Leong somehow caught fire, going on an incredible April-July stretch run spanning 35 1/3 innings in which he put together an 0.51 ERA

And the team awards for the 2006 season…

Team Defensive Player of the Year: Derek Lew
In a bounce-back year from an injury-plagued 2005, first baseman Derek Lew brought nothing short of amazing consistency to first base. Starting all 162 games, Lew led the league in starts and defensive innings. However, it was Lew’s stellar consistency that earned him the award – over 1467 2/3 innings and 1504 total chances, Lew made only 4 errors for a league-leading .997 fielding percentage.

Rookie of the Year: Whitney Esguerra
There weren’t many rookies on the team this year, but rookie #2 starter Whitney Esguerra would be a clear lock in any season. The rookie finished in 2^nd place for Rookie of the Year voting, but despite being just 17 years old, ate up innings to the tune of 214 innings over 30 starts. A string of bad luck resulted in a meager 13-11 record that masks a team-worst 4.3 run support per game. Over those 30 starts she threw 6 complete games and 2 shutouts with 23 quality starts, while losing complete game 0-1 decisions twice. With a 3.15 ERA, 3.01 CERA, 1.12 WHIP, and an astounding 10.8 K’s per 9 innings, Esguerra might have the brightest future of any starter to join the team since the inaugural season in 2003.

Comeback Player of the Year: Derek Lew
After a disastrous season in 2005, Lew came back roaring in 2006, reassuming his role as the team’s #1 power hitter. Lew set new career highs in slugging percentage (.593), OPS (.931), stolen bases (13), RBI’s (164), and triples (16), in addition to setting a new league record with 77 doubles in only 688 at bats (that’s a double every 8.94 at bats, shattering his previous best of 10.19).

Breakout Player of the Year: Samantha Chin
Coming off a promising rookie season and strong finish in 2005, big things were expected from Chin, and boy did she deliver – over 29 starts Chin pitched 202 2/3 innings and won 19 games while throwing 199 strikeouts. She averaged a 3.20 ERA (6^th), 1.07 WHIP (3^rd), and 2.61 CERA (5^th) over the season, earning her 5^th place Pitcher of the Year voting. Her performance strongly paralleled Terrence Zhao’s 2004 campaign – an average 4 ERA season before breaking out with a ~3 ERA campaign. If that’s the case, opponents in the Galactica Division – and Daly City depth chart – should watch out: Zhao’s very next season was his jaw-dropping 23-4, 245 K, 1.74 ERA runner up Pitcher of the Year season, and Chin has all the same tools to follow in his footsteps.

It’s Wednesday, September 9^th, 2006, and with only 27 games to go, the league is coming down to the wire as usual.  Except for the Galactica Division, no division leader leads by more than 4 games, and the wildcard slots are tight in all four divisions.

Compared to their 29-game lead at the conclusion of the 2005 season, the Daly City Montis are hanging onto a history-worst, yet still-sizable 16-game lead going into September.  With a 12-game magic number, another division title for Daly City seems secure, and all eyes turn towards individual recording-breaking opportunities and preparation for the playoffs.

In the two months since the All-Star break, Daly City has gone 38-16, .704, off of some absolutely dominating star performances.  They’ve been even more dominant in pitching, and are now solidly back at the top in terms of batting, leading by a large margin in OBP and total runs.

But before we get there, let’s have a quick look at the rest of the league:

Things were lopsided in 2005 in the Universe League, when Daly City and Apple placed 1-2 in the division, and the Microsoft Longhorns, 94-68 and a full 17 games ahead of sub-.500 Terran division winner Europe, failed to make the playoffs.  This year, the Universe League and especially the Galactica Division seem more stacked than ever – while Daly City still leads the pack, Microsoft and Apple follow up 2-3 not only in the division, but in all of baseball.  The fourth best team in baseball, the Canon Image Stabilizers, are four games behind Apple, and within the Universe League, even the last-place Mozilla Firefoxes, 66-71, .474 and 33 games out of first place, lead Terran division leader Asia by 6 games!  Sadly, with the current playoff structure, Daly City and one of Microsoft or Apple look to head into the playoffs against two sub-.500 teams from the Terran Division.

The headlines in the Universe League have been dominated once again by the epic Microsoft-Apple struggle.  The most dramatic change for both teams has been a huge beef-up in hitting – Apple, who went .262-.312-.435 in 2005, are now .286-.341-.465, riding almost purely on the shoulders of their two superstars, SS Ben Kenobi and RF Chewie Gonzales.  Microsoft, meanwhile, has developed into an offensive juggernaut, from .262-.330-.444 to .274-.337-.488, on the strength of a slew of power hitters – SIX out of their nine starters are slugging over .500.  On the pitching front, their aces have been dueling it out all season long, with Apple’s Kyle Katarn 18-8, with a 2.31 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 240 K’s in 249 1/3 innings (8.7 K’s/9) and Microsoft’s Kernel Tyranus at 21-5, with a 2.03 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and 189 K’s in 217 2/3 innings (7.8 K’s/9).  So far in the season, Microsoft is leading by two games, and Tyranus is 2-0 in 2 starts against Apple, with a 1.13 ERA and 0.75 WHIP, while Katarn is 1-2 in 3 starts against the M-Dollar, with a 3.38 ERA and 1.13 WHIP.

Over in the Shinto-World League, the league is dominated by a smattering of mediocrity, save for Canon’s Gates Skywalker’s single-handed march to the record books.  At the young age of 24, Skywalker appears headed straight for his second straight Batter of the Year Award, hitting .354-.442-.907 with already 67 HR through only 5 months, putting on pace for 80.  If Skywalker continues his amazing August run, however, in which he hit 23 homers, he may very well challenge Kenton McClinton’s 66-year old HR record of 88.  With 157 RBIs already, he may be on his way towards the RBI record as well.

But despite Skywalker’s individual achievement, his Canon Image Stabilizers are only 75-60, .556, hanging onto a tenuous 4 game lead over the Nikon Vibration Reducers.

Tina “Experimental Error” Quach, Catcher: The Daly City catcher hit a bit of a cold streak after the end of the all-star break, going .238-.313-.298 in July, but like the rest of the lineup, heated up n August, where she posted a .307-.402-.426 line.  Quach has seen a noticeable uptick in walks – she’s drawn 25 in July and August, compared to only 24 in April-June combined.

Marco Paz, Backup Catcher: Things haven’t gone well this rookie season for Paz.  After posting some of the worst numbers in the league, Paz hasn’t seen much of any opportunity, seeing a total of only 31 plate appearances since June, in which he’s gone .138-.194-.172.  Among players with 100 plate appearances, Paz is by far the last in the league in almost every single hitting category.  On the bright side, Paz’s fielding has been flawless – he’s the proud owner of a perfect fielding percentage, and has thrown out 3 of 6 baserunners.

Derek Lew, 1^st Baseman: What a comeback season it’s been for Derek Lew!  While Lew was consistently good throughout the first half of the season, he has simply exploded in the second half – he posted a .312-.342-.615 line in July, and he followed that up with an even bigger .398-.419-.771 August in which he drove in a staggering 39 RBIs and scored 25 runs.  He’s now leading the league by a large margin with 143 RBIs, and with a line of .318-.350-.609, is poised to set career highs in all the batting categories, not to mention shatter his career high of 160 RBIs he set in his rookie year and the league-record 74 doubles he hit in 2004 – all this in likely 100 less at bats than he had in 2003-2004.  He’s 7^th in the UL in batting average, 3^rd in hits, 1^st in doubles, 3^rd in triples, 1^st in RBI, 2^nd in SLG, and looks to be in strong contention for the Batter of the Year award, especially if he can keep up his August hot streak through September.

Rudy Puzon, Designated Hitter: As big of a season as it’s been for Lew, Daly City’s designated hitter Puzon, batting in the third slot ahead of Lew, has been every bit as critical to the team’s success.  Like Lew, Puzon seems to have turned on the burners since the All-Star Break, since which he’s posted consecutive .400+ OBP months (.453 in July and .427 in August), which has been key to Lew’s prodigious RBI totals.  Puzon has built on his rookie success, and has been an OBP machine all year – he currently leads the team with a .407 OBP (4^th in the league), and is 4^th in the league in Runs Created as well, and his 108 runs are 2^nd in the league.

Cristian Ortiz, Second Base: While it’s been up and down for Ortiz, the one thing he can say is that he’s never been abysmally bad.  He appeared to be in a prolonged July slump but still pulled out a .250-.317-.407 month out of it, and rebounded back with a .293-.356-.455 August.  Throughout all this, he’s been as quick as ever on the basepaths, stealing 11 more bases in July and 19 in more in August, when he finally eclipsed Ben Kenobi for the lead league in steals.  For the season, he’s just reached 72 steals, and looks just about ready to break Aubrey Cubilo’s freshly-set steals record of 77.

Joanna Maung, Saung-gah-basewoman:  Despite everyone else’s breakout second-half performances, Maung has been a sore lack of production so far, barely even reaching  the .300 OBP plateau.  Her power has seen a noticeable increase of late – her total bases per hit has gone up to 1.45, compared to 1.23 in the second half.  If she can get her batting average back up, which might be tough considering the number of strikeouts she’s accumulating.

Henry “Mr.” Nghe, Shortstop: The story’s stayed the same for Nghe, who’s been combining solid hitting all year long with a complete and utter power outage.  So far in the second half, Nghe’s added another weapon to his arsenal – walking power, drawing 10 in July and 19 in August, to post OBP’s of .360 and .380.  He’s also increased his speed prodigiously, swiping 7 bags in July and 9 stolen bases in August, to put him at 30 steals for the year.  Despite all this improvement, Nghe still can’t seem to hit the ball much further than the infield – he’s slugged .363 and .383 the past two months, and still isn’t showing any signs of improvement.

Jonathan “The Cheet” Chee, Leftfielder: After a solid first half of 2006, Chee hasn’t been anywhere close to the mark since the All-Star break.  While he’s maintained a high OBP through walks and hit-by-pitches (including a combined 29 walks and HBP in August), he’s his .239 and .198 in July and August, and slugged only .337 and .271 in those months.  Nonetheless, Chee’s consistent OBP has still kept him in the #2 slot, where he’s managed to score 93 runs so far in front of sluggers Puzon and Lew, and is on pace to record his first-ever 100 run season.

Tiffany Ho, Centerfielder: The young spunky outfielder continues to provide life to this team, as Ho continued her success through the second half.  She had a monstrous .340-.384-.437 July, in which she also stole 13 bases, and she’s also been steadily increasing her walks every month.  For the year so far she’s .294-.332-.382, demonstrating dramatic improvements across the board, along with some star contact ability and stellar defense.

Francis Chen, Rightfielder: Where has the long road known as the 2006 season led for Francis Chen?  While he appeared to be off to a blistering start, Chen fell long and hard in June, and only continued that through July, with a .182-.289-.364 line, playing only 18 games.  Things got slightly better in August, where Chen went .177-.311-.435, but Francis is still far off from his April-May marks in which he appeared to show his true potential.  With just a month to go, and with a batting average barely above the Mendoza line (it sits at .203) it looks sadly like another wasted season for Chen.

Jason Liu, Rightfielder: Speaking of wasted seasons, Jason Liu and his enormous power potential has sat on the bench for much of the season, being placated by the more popular Chen.  As a result, Liu’s performance seemed to suffer with the inconsistent playing time.  Liu finally appeared to get it together in August, however, where he played 15 games and accumulated 55 at bats, going .309-.345-673 with 6 homers.

Nathan Yan, #1 Starter: Yan’s continued his dominance so far in the season, although he accumulated his first loss and had a fairly ugly 1.90 ERA August.  Regardless, Yan appears on pace to shatter all records (and personal career highs), including the hallowed 500-K mark (he’s up to 462 K’s, on 18.0 K’s/9).  Since August he’s had a number of phenomenal performances, including perhaps his best start yet, an 11-inning 1-hitter, in which he struck out 25 batters (and had K’d 21 through 9 innings).

Whitney Esguerra, #2 Starter: It’s been a long, hard season of bad luck for Esguerra, who can’t seem to get a break anywhere.  Despite her 3.26 ERA, ranked #6 in the league, Esguerra has been the victim of the 12^th worst run support in baseball, garnering only 4.2 runs per game on a team that scores 5.9.  Despite being perhaps the best pitcher on the team in August, where she pitched 38 1/3 innings with a 1.88 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and a shutout, she was only 2-3, and overall is 10-10 with a 3.26 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and 19 quality starts (76%), which is ranked 5^th in the league.

Terrence Zhao, #3 Starter: While his numbers may now show it, Zhao has been one of the most dominant in the second half – seven of his last 11 starts have been complete games, and 8 of those 11 have been 1-run starts.  Zhao seems to have a habit for getting bombed, however, which is where the worst of his numbers come from – despite all this he’s been a healthy 6-2 in July-August, and his 1.67 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and 13.14 K’s/9 in August show that the lights-out 2005 Terrence is still buried in there somewhere.

Samantha Chin, #4 Starter: Chin’s break out season continues, as the sophomore starter was nothing but brilliant in July and August.  She went 6-0, with a 2.41 ERA and 0.90 WHIP, and has been just a couple runs of support and a few shaky bullpen appearances short of being a perfect 10-0 so far this second half.  4^th in the league in ERA, 3^rd in WHIP, 5^th in wins, 7^th in K’s per 9, Chin appears well on her way to becoming a superstar in who is surely this year’s breakout player for Daly City.

Sean Wade, #5 Starter: After an abysmal first half, Sean seems to have righted himself back on track, with sub-1.00 WHIPs in both months so far, and an especially dominant 0.75 ERA in July.  While Wade isn’t going to come anywhere close to his rookie season numbers, a seemingly strong finish to the 2006 season is a positive sign that Wade will be able to begin 2007 with a fresh start.

Miguel Pardo, #6 Starter: Pardo suffered a tragic end to his season, tearing his rotator cuff muscle clean off in his 3^rd August start.  He’s now shelved for the end of the season, and perhaps not a moment too soon – his July ERA hit a high 4.38 with 1.38 WHIP, and his three starts in August seemed to show a regression to the Miguel of old, with only 10 1/3 innings in 3 starts, with an 11.32 ERA and 1.84 WHIP.  A somber end to another season of hope and heartbreak for Pardo – one wonders whether he’ll ever break through to become anything more than a #6 starter, especially in Daly City’s stacked rotation.

Helen Yamamoto, Mopup Reliever: After a blistering first half, in which Yamamoto brought her ERA all the way under 3, she’s regressed significantly to her 2005 form – so far in the second half she has a 9.00 ERA and 2.33 WHIP, mostly in non-consequential games.  She still stands at a decent 4.95 ERA and 1.70 WHIP in the season, although if she were to retire right now (as she’s expected to be sent down to the farm at the end of 2006), her 7.30 ERA and 2.17 WHIP career numbers would go down as the worst in Daly City history – a little bit of September effort, and she might manage to get her numbers down lower than Clayton’s 7.28 ERA and 1.67 WHIP

Angel Poon, Middle Reliever: After her shaky start, Poon has been nothing but sheer brilliance since June, with 18 innings of work and a 2.00 ERA and 0.72 WHIP.  While her ERA from 2006’s early months still weigh  her numbers up at 4.19 ERA (right now, a career-worst), her WHIP is a career-best and league-#4 1.02.  On another note, despite another year of declining appearances and innings, Poon has just broken the 200-inning mark, a first for a Daly City reliever.

Alfred Vong, Long Reliever: It hasn’t been a good year for the sophomore reliever, who was expected to make great strides on the mound, but has instead regressed in every way.  Vong was abysmal in July, where he accumulated a 7.27 ERA and 1.73 WHIP.  With Pardo’s season-ending injury, Vong gets a reluctant chance to prove himself, although with the way he’s pitched this year, he hardly seems ready to become a starter.  In two semi-starts so far, however, Vong seems to have risen to the occasion – he filled in for 5 1/3 innings the game that Pardo was injured, giving up only 1 run and earning the win.  The next game, Vong’s first start this season, Alfred pitched a complete game, allowing 2 runs and striking out 8, and accomplishing it in only 109 pitches, no less.  Perhaps this is Vong’s big break – he’s got a whole September (2 or 3 starts) to show his stuff, and all eyes will be watching perhaps Vong’s first and last big chance to make the rotation permanently.

Zubeda Khan, Middle Reliever: The former closer has quietly put together a season of steady improvement – while her ERA at 3.44 isn’t much better than last year’s at 3.47, and she’s blown 3 saves as a middle reliever, her WHIP has dropped dramatically to 0.93 (good for 2^nd in the league, if she was an inning qualifier).  Perhaps more tellingly, her Component ERA has dropped from last year’s solid 3.28 to a gaudy 2.27.  She’s been the one steady part of a tumultuous season in the bullpen, and who knows… she may well see herself back in the closer’s role next year.

Alvina Chu, Setup Reliever: It’s been a season of ups and downs for Chu, who seems to have put it all together in the last three months after a dreadful April and May.  She’s 4-0 with a 0.93 ERA in 19 1/3 innings since June.  However, her WHIP remains at a high 1.27 (including a scary 1.67 August WHIP), and her CERA is a pedestrian 3.24.  She has, however, only blown 1 save in 8 opportunities this season, although she’s allowed 41.2% of her inherited runners to score.  On another note, her 7 wins this year puts her in the all-time lead for reliever wins with 27, toppling Sarah Jimenez’s old record.

Josiah Leong, Closer: What looked so right has gone horribly wrong this second half for Leong.  The player who led the league in saves and had a sub-2.00 ERA at the end of the first half has been hammered all second-half, posting a 9.95 ERA and 1.84 WHIP. He’s also blown a staggering 9 saves so far this season, far more than any Daly City closer in history, and 2^nd in the league.  Despite all this he’s still 2^nd in the league with 31 saves , is #1 with 12.8 K’s per 9, and could conceivably become the 1^st reliever in Daly City history to strike out 100 batters in a season.

It’s the midseason, July 1^st, 2006, in the land of Monti Bizarro Baseball. After a somewhat disastrous start to May, the Daly City Montis have rebuilt themselves into dominant form. Fresh off a 15-game winning streak (and 21-4 overall June), the Montis are now 59-22, .728, and leading the 2^nd place Apple Septic Tanks by 9 games. The team is once again in dominant form, with a league-first 3.23 ERA, and 2^nd-place 468 runs scored (trailing the Canon Image Stabilizers’ 497 runs).

Daly City seems to have regained its form, and appears to be cruising to another Division Championship, although their 9-game lead is more tenuous than in any year past. What’s more, for the first time the Montis are looking at some formidable competition all around in the league. While they top the league in almost all pitching statistics, as expected this year, the offensive machine has been more mortal, though still good. They’re 2^nd in runs, but whether that’s sustainable is a legitimate question – they top the league in OBP, but lag behind a lot in SLG, with only .439 (which ranks 5^th out of 16 teams). Most importantly, the rival top-team Canon Image Stabilizers of the Shinto-World league, who faced Daly City in the finals last year, has far and away the top offense in the league, although their pitching doesn’t hold a candle to Daly City’s.

It’s been an exciting half so far, and with three months to go, anything can happen.

On the Daly City homefront, the pitching staff has settled into a strange mellowness – the staff as a whole has been performing fine, but no one, outside of Yan, of course, has shown much signs of dominance. The bullpen has been in taters all year, except for one surprise standout. On the offensive front, things have gone pretty much as expected, with the lineup barely hanging on together and eking out just enough offense to get those wins.

Tina “Experimental Error” Quach, Catcher: After a slow start in April, Quach has come around to her usual production levels, hitting a combined .317-.379-.411 over May and June, filling in nicely in the OBP department, with a surprisingly high AVG as well. What Quach is lacking, however, is true run production – she has 27 RBI and 39 Runs, mostly due to a poor .269-.354-.299 line with runners in scoring position, which thus far has kept her in the bottom of the order, besides otherwise decent stats.
Stats:

Marco Paz, Backup Catcher: The power-hitting prospect has been off to an abysmal start so far in the season. His meager .250-.317-.515 numbers in AA last year might have indicated he wasn’t yet ready for the big leagues, and so far at least, those projections have born out. In 71 plate appearances he’s .132-.141-.206, not really finding any kind of groove. As a result, he hasn’t seen that much time behind the plate, either, logging only 111 defensive innings. Hopefully his power numbers come along as the season progresses, as Paz is one of the few power-hitting prospects the Montis have got.

Derek Lew, First Baseman: After a promising April, Lew has been bashing away at a steady clip and seems to be demonstrating a full comeback from his injury-riddled 2005 (he also hasn’t missed a game). He knocked in a tremendous 36 RBIs in May, and is, like before, hitting towards record doubles numbers – he’s hit at least ten every month, and is on pace for 74, which would tie his 2004 record (although in less at bats). He also has 10 triples, which leads the league and already breaks his previous career high of 6 in 2005 and 2003) With a .552 slugging percentage, he’s by far the best hitter on the team, and the only one to remain consistently good all throughout the first half.

Rudy Puzon, Designated Hitter: Puzon got off to a blazing hot start, and didn’t let up at all in May, going .330-.403-.563. Puzon dipped significantly just before the all-star break, however, with a disappointing .247-.330-.443 start. Puzon nonetheless leads the team in OPS, and is second in OBP, SLG, and AVG, and hitting from the #3 spot, has the highest RBI+Run total of any player on the team. While his June cool-off seems to be temporary, Puzon seems to have solidified himself as the real deal in 1 ½ seasons of playing time.

Cristian Ortiz, Second Baseman: Ortiz has been hot and average this season – after starting the season off with a mediocre .265-.312-.393 April, Ortiz hit .318-.381-.482 in May, and then dipped down to .258-.348-.340 in June. His numbers are in line with his 2005 season, except that his ability to hit for power seems to have disappeared . While his numbers have been fluctuating, his patience at the plate seems to be improving – he’s increased his walks drawn every month, and the one constant for Ortiz has always been speed – this season he’s faster than ever, with 42 steals that seems set to obliterate not only his previous career high (58 in 2005), but Cubilo’s league record as well.

Joanna Maung, Saung-gah-basewoman: After three seasons under the shadow of former superstar Joey Wong, Maung has proven herself, well, sufficient at third base. After she started out with a hot April that somewhat concealed an alarming lack of power (.333 AVG, but only 2 extra base hits for a .354 SLG), Maung had a rough May (.247-.319-.329), before bouncing back to the kind of solid, consistent numbers that she’s showed the previous three years: .293-.375-.424. If she can continue hitting at that level, she’ll have played out the team’s most optimistic expectations from Maung’s first full year. Defensively, Maung hasn’t fared so well at third base – her fielding percentage of .935 is disappointing, especially compared to the rest of the infield (Nghe, .963, Ortiz, .979, Lew, .999).

Henry “Mr.” Nghe, Shortstop: Perhaps the fairy-tale story for the sophomore shortstop is over. After surprising everyone by winning the rookie of the year award in 2005, Nghe picked up right where he left off with a sizzling April, quieting many critics who said he was overrated. In the two months since, however, Nghe has fallen back to Earth, hard. While he hasn’t been bad, Nghe’s numbers have been very average – .278-.346-.364, most shocking of all being his complete power outage (last year he had a SLG of .545)., fueling many of those same critics who have said all along that Nghe has outperformed his ability.

Jonathan “The Cheet” Chee, Leftfielder: Following up on last year’s breakout season, Chee is once again having an awesome season – he’s batting .318-.413-.449, about in line with last year’s numbers. In fact, Chee leads the team in both AVG and OBP, and has been a run machine at the top of the order. A trivially alarming sign, however, is Chee’s low hit-by-pitch rate – he’s got 20 this year, compared to his record-shattering 49 from 2005. While he still leads the league, #2 Jabba Desilijic Ture has 19 HBP, trailing Chee by only one.

Tiffany Ho, Centerfielder: After a typical first two months, Ho seems to be showing signs of blossoming into a strong contact hitter – in June she hit .337-.378-.446, and overall is .294-.323-.391, already improving on her rookie season, with half the year still to go. She seems to love the home crowd, where she has a .327-.361-.442 home split against .263-.285-.342 on the road. Defensively, Ho’s been showing great improvement – Ho’s zone rating of 1.96 dwarfs that of the other outfielders (1.40 for Chee in leftfield and 1.58 for Chen in right), although she still can’t cover quite the same range that Cubilo did (2.35 in 2005). Nonetheless, Ho seems to have grown into a very capable replacement at centerfield, a slightly better hitter and slightly worse fielder than her predecessor.

Francis Chen, Rightfielder: Just when you thought Chen was back, it turns out he’s… not. Chen followed up his huge April with another flashy, although not quite as spectacular, May, going .195-.340-.524, hitting another 7 homeruns and winding up with the league lead. Chen faltered in June, however, putting up the ugly .212-.303-364 numbers of the Francis of old. Interestingly, like Ho Chen has a noticeably home-road split. At home he’s hitting like the all-star Francis Chen – .264-.391-.568, but on the road he’s an abysmal .162-.289-.385. This actually somewhat mirrors his 2005 splits – hm… maybe a platoon is in order?

Jason Liu, Backup Outfielder: Things just haven’t been bright for poor Jason Liu. After being “swiftly” ousted from his starting job by old-fashioned politics, Liu struggled out of the gate, while his rival Francis Chen had a monster season, further eliminating any hope of Liu regaining his starting role. Since then, Liu doesn’t seem to have found his groove anywhere – he had a good .275-.351-.549 May, but hasn’t really found a groove anywhere else otherwise – so far he’s .226-.273-.481 on the season, although his 9 HR is actually not that far off of the mark.

Nathan Yan, #1 Starting Pitcher: In a season that hasn’t gone so well for the pitching staff, everything is going right for Yan, who seems to be on an extended fire streak – in three months he hasn’t registered an ERA over 1.00, or a WHIP over 0.60. In addition, Yan’s maintained his amazing 18 K’s per 9 innings rate and is all set on actually breaking the 500-K mark (right now he’s projected for 572 K’s!) Since his two 20-K performances in April, he’s hit that mark another three times, hasn’t struck out less than 14 batters, and on June 24^th, threw a 21-K NO-HITTER. Things look better than ever for Yan, who just may have reached god status with his now 0.08 CERA.

Whitney Anne Esguerra, #2 Starting Pitcher: It’s been a weird, trying season for Esguerra. After an extremely promising April, she’s now had an abysmal May, highlighted by a 4 2/3 inning, 11 run (8 earned) start. She seemed to come into her own in June, however, going 2-0 in five games with a 2.84 ERA and 0.92 WHIP, garnering her first shutout. She’s also second on the team in K’s, 2^nd in ERA, and 3^rd in WHIP.

Terrence Zhao, #3 Starting Pitcher: Zhao has been perplexingly average all season this year, and has only a 66.7% quality start rate, compared to his 87.1% last year. His complete games (2), and shutouts (1) also indicate that Zhao is far from the dominating form he’s had the past two years. His CERA, however, still indicates a dominating 2.69 (despite his 3.44 actual ERA).

Samantha Chin, #4 Starting Pitcher: Chin has followed her spectacular start to the season with an equally impressive May – she went 4-0 yet again in 5 games, with an even lower 2.68 ERA and 1.03 WHIP, and seemed to be well on her way to becoming one of the game’s elite. She somehow got derailed in June, however, with a 5.40 ERA, although a somewhat more forgiving 1.20 WHIP. Perhaps the best indicator is that her CERA, at 2.93, is third best on the team and 8^th best in the league. All in all, Chin seems well on her way to developing into one of the best pitchers on the team, and yet another cornerstone of the Daly City rotation.

Sean Wade, #5 Starting Pitcher: Wade’s fall from grace continues to spiral. While Wade hasn’t been as bad as in April, he hasn’t done much to turn his season around – his May and June ERA was 4.39, with even worse WHIP numbers (1.50 and 1.35 in May and June), along with a rapidly disappearing ability to strike batters out (5.96 K’s per 9 in May, 5.40 in June, off from 7.3 in 2005). With a 5.18 ERA and a 4.92 CERA that doesn’t give much cause for hope, the season only looks to drag on for Sean Wade.

Miguel Pardo, #6 Starting Pitcher: What can be said about Miguel Pardo? The sporadically brilliant pitcher is once again on his good side, and so far this season, he’s achieving – dare I say it? – consistency. After a good April, Pardo has gone 3-1 in five starts (including a shutout), achieving a decent 3.85 ERA and 1.23 WHIP. So far in the season, Pardo’s 3.47 overall ERA ranks fourth on the team, and were he to have enough qualifying innings, 11^th in the league.

Alfred Vong, Long Reliever: It hasn’t been a good sophomore follow-up for Vong. While he’s pitched a lot of innings (39, putting him on pace for 78), he hasn’t been particularly effective. His K’s per 9, ERA, WHIP – almost everything is worse than his first season. He’s blown two out of two save opportunities (last year he blew none in 7 chances) and has allowed 4 out of 9 inherited runners to score (compared to 3 of 17 in 2005). What’s happening to Vong? Is it mechanics? Tiredness? No one seems to know, but at this point he’s got to be thanking Wade for providing those mopup long relief situations to pitch in.

Helen Yamamoto, Mopup Reliever: Color this a surprise. After an abysmal 9+ ERA 2005, and coming back to start the season with a 7.72 April ERA, Yamamoto has somehow transformed herself into the second best reliever on the team with a 0.96 ERA since May and 3.21 ERA overall. Her WHIP, however, is still a scary 1.43, so the mopup reliever’s newfound brilliance may not last for long.

Angel Poon, Middle Reliever: After a nasty April, Poon didn’t seem to improve a whole bunch in May, when she threw a nasty 10 innings of 5.40 ERA ball. She’s begun to show signs of life in June, however, when she had a 1.69 ERA and 0.56 WHIP over 5 1/3 innings. Perhaps Poon is back to form? Despite a high ERA, her 1.15 WHIP is back to her career average, and actually lower than last season.

Zubeda Khan, Middle Reliever: Talk about lights-out brilliance. Like the rest of the bullpen, Khan came out with an abysmal April start, but has flourished in the time since then. While none of the other relievers really were, Khan proved to be a rock of consistency in May, throwing 7 1/3 innings with a 3.68 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. Since then, however, Khan has just been other-worldly brilliant – she’s currently on an 8-inning shutout streak, during which she’s also carrying an 0.25 WHIP. Maybe removing her from the closer’s role was a bit premature… or maybe it was just the ticket she needed to rebuild her confidence.

Alvina Chu, Setup Reliever: Chu pitched and struggled again in May, with a 4.82 ERA and 1.61 WHIP over 9 1/3 forced innings. With June has come some glimmer of improvement – her 1.50 ERA and 1.00 WHIP harkens back to the Alvina of old, although her season numbers are still at an ugly 4.50 ERA and 1.27 WHIP. Chu does, however, have six reliever wins, leading the league and setting her on pace for a career-high twelve.

Josiah Leong, Closer: From the category of sheer brilliance comes Josiah Leong, who after struggling a bit with a white-knuckle April, has settled into one of the most dominant closers in the league. Leong saved 5 games with a 1.00 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in May, and then vaulted into the leaderboard with 10 saves, a 0.47 ERA, and 0.88 WHIP in June. He’s striking out batters at an amazing 12.9 K’s per 9 innings, and he seems to have been particularly thorough with right-handers, who have a .069-.213-.069 line against Leong. With 23 saves, Leong leads the league by two, and has 1.71 ERA ranks 4^th best, and best in the Universe League.

It’s a month into the season, and already big changes are evident in the dying Spring air of the 2006 season.

At the conclusion of April, Daly City stands at 19-9 (.679), tied with the Canon Image Stabilizers in the Shinto-World League for the best record in the majors.  However, the Monti’s 19-9 mark is not only their lowest starting mark ever, but leaves little margin for error as the all super-.500 Galactica Division hotly tails the team, with the Apple Septic Tanks two games back, the Mozilla Firefoxes 3 games back, and the Microsoft Longhorns 4 games back.

Despite standing atop the standings, Daly City is far from being the dominant team it used to be.  It’s ranked 2^nd in runs scored, and with a 3.79 team ERA, a full run over 2005’s ERA, ranked 3^rd in pitching.  What’s been plaguing the team?  Everyone knew the team would be worse hitting-wise, losing a huge chunk of production in Batter of the Year Joey Wong and all-star catcher Sam Lau.  Compared to 2005’s .304-.369-.484 average line, the team is down to .283-.357-.436 – a similar on-base ability, but a huge power outage (OBP in fact ranks 1^st in the league, while SLG is 5^th out of 8 teams).  The problem seems to have stemmed from a lack of any midrange whatsoever.  Several players (Derek Lew, Rudy Puzon, Henry Nghe, and surprisingly, Francis Chen) have all performed fairly well, each slugging in the .521-.546 range.  After this, however, there is a significant dropoff to Jason Liu, who slugs .429, Jonathan Chee, who slugs .404, and then 3 ¼ more sub-.400 sluggers after that.  Lacking a 1-9 slot of consistent slugging power, and lacking a single supreme slugging force (like Wong, or the Lew of years past), Daly City seems to be struggling a lot more with scoring runs.

On the pitching side, there seems to be a heavy contrast between the rotation and the bullpen.  The rotation’s ERA is a fairly low 3.15, which is still a bit higher than usual.  However, the bullpen ERA is at a hideous 5.93, driven by several abysmal performances among nearly every single member of the bullpen (save Josiah Leong, ironically).

Despite the struggles, Daly City is still winning, although these days there seems to be more haphazard duck-taping of the leaks rather than smooth sailing.

Tina “Experimental ErRR” Quach, catcher: After finally inheriting the catcher position after two seasons waiting in the wings of Sam Lau, Quach began the season behind the plate… only to fall flat when stepping up to it.  She’s played in 23 games out of 28 so far, but has done so with an abysmal .228-.287-.304 line.  Defensively she’s getting her bearings straight, and despite a weak arm has thrown out 3 out of 9 would-be base stealers.  One of the biggest drop-offs so far from 2005 production, Tina definitely needs to turn it around for the team to return back to form.

Marco Paz, backup catcher: The rookie hasn’t seen too many chances so far he’s had 7 starts to play, and in 30 plate appearances, a .143-.167-.250 line to show for it.  Given time, Paz looks to come around, although at this time there really isn’t much to see.

Derek Lew, first baseman: After a bit of an agonizing 2005 season, Lew looks to be back to form so far in 2006.  He’s hitting .277-.346-.546, and while his contact numbers are a little off, he’s slugging every bit as well as he used to, and is currently Daly City’s top power hitter in terms of slugging.  A surprisingly new aspect of Lew’s game is his newfound penchant for walks – after only 14 in all of 2005, Lew already has 11 so far in 2006, a .083 BB/PA that far exceed’s 2005’s .027 BB/PA.  With Wong gone, Lew emerges as the veteran and leader of this team, and so far he’s done a superb job returning to form and leading what’s left of the hit parade.

Rudy Puzon, designated hitter: There’s no sophomore slump for this rookie hitter, who burst right out of the gate to hit .333-.412-.541 in 27 games, averaging well over his 2005 numbers in each category.  Part of Daly City’s new 3-4-5 core of Puzon, Lew, and Nghe, Puzon has so far been instrumental in keeping the team afloat, and his continued hitting is vital to the run production of the team, especially in his dual role of run-driver for the 1-2 hitters and place-setter for RBI leaders Lew and Nghe.

Cristian Ortiz, second baseman: Hounded by critics all offseason, Ortiz appeared to silence most of them as he raised his batting average to well over .300 in late April, only to see a slump that would bring it all the way back down to a meager .265-.312-.393 line.  While a single month isn’t very telling, the beginning of the season has been a bad sign for Ortiz, whose critics have lamented that he performed far pass his actual skill level in 2005.  On the bright side, Ortiz has 13 steals in April, putting him on pace for 78, which would just barely top Cubilo’s record.

Henry “Mr.” Nghe, shortstop: The rookie of the year returns in 2006 to slightly less flashy numbers but overall better performance.  While his batting average of .333 is off his league-leading .362 mark, a newfound ability to walk and new penchant for extra base hits has left his OBP at .430, higher than 2005’s .408, and his .536 slugging not far behind 2005’s .545.  Hitting at the backend of the 3-4-5 core, Nghe is tied for the league in RBI, and perhaps due to his high OBP, also leads the team with 21 runs, despite having only the 6-7-8 hitters to drive him in.

Joanna Maung, saung-gah-basewoman: Coming in with the need to fill big shoes, and at the same time with no expectation to do so, Maung in her first full starting role has adapted beautifully.  Both her AVG and OBP at .333-437 are career highs, yet at the same time her SLG of .354 is a career low.  Despite cranking out the hits and walks at a dizzying pace, Maung has only 2 doubles, leaving her with 31 singles out of 31 hits for a shocking .939 1B%.  While the team will take what it can get – solid on-base production – from a good tablesetter, there’s some luster missing from a Joanna Maung who no longer hits those clutch pinch-hit homers.  When or if those start to come around, Maung looks, surprisingly, to join the echelon of elite hitters on the team, at least based on her performance so far.

Jonathan “The Cheet” Chee, leftfielder: After making a big name for himself in 2005, Chee returned again to a permanent starting role in LF.  He’s been doing well so far, with a .314-.392-.404 line that isn’t too far off from his 2005 numbers, although he’s scored only 16 runs despite hitting well at the #2 spot in front of the 3-4-5 core.  HBP-wise, Chee’s monthly total of 4 is a far ways off from his 2005 total of 49, so he’ll need to start leaning in towards those beanings if he wants to duplicate his 2005 success in that regard.

Tiffany Ho, centerfielder: After a meager half-season with not much in the way of noteworthy statistics, Ho plowed into the 2006 season as the starting centerfielder.  While her fielding has been decent, her batting abilities are clearly still developing.  With a .292-.309-.349 line, she’s been building up her average, although her OBP and SLG numbers aren’t really going anywhere for now.  Time will tell, but until then Ho slaves away at the bottom-of-the-order 7-8-9 slots.

Francis Chen, rightfielder: Guess who’s back to form?  Surprise!  It’s Francis Chen, who was set to become a bench player in favor of Jason Liu, only to be brought back by grassroots activism.  It turns out that all 2005 postseason indicators (where Francis went .244-.404-.805) were correct – so far this season Francis has batted .234-368-.521 and leads the team with 7 HR, right around where most optimists estimated his performance, and setting the stage for potentially greater development in the coming months.  It’s always a roller coaster ride with Francis Chen, so stay tuned to see what happens in the coming two months.

Jason Liu, backup outfielder: Once slated in the offseason to become the opening day rightfielder for the first time, Liu surprisingly found himself back on the bench, despite arguably being Daly City’s best hiter in 2005.  Maybe it’s frustration and discouragement, but Liu hasn’t been hitting well at all so far, with a mere .171-.189-.429 line (check out that AVG to SLG ratio though!).  As long as Francis Chen keeps slamming away and The Cheet keeps getting on-base, the plate appearances may be hard to come by for Liu, especially if he keeps hitting like this.

Nathan Yan, #1 Starting Pitcher: It’s been a rough month for Yan, who somehow still comes out better than his 2005 average.  In his first start Yan got slammed for a career-high 10 hits in only 8 innings, allowing 4 runs (only 1 earned).  He was, however, still set to win that game, when he handed off the ball to Josiah Leong for the save.  Instead, Leong BLOWS THE FIRST SAVE OPPORTUNITY OF THE SEASON and renders Yan with his first ever career No Decision, breaking the streak.  Since that first game, Yan has bunkered down, throwing four complete games but only one shutout.  Nonetheless, his 0.82 ERA is fairly below 2005’s 0.98 ERA, and Yan’s K per 9 rate has skyrocketed to a godly 18.2, over last year’s already-record 15.3.  Yan also threw a 20-K game in his 2^ndstart, and tied that record again in his 5^th start.

Whitney Anne Esguerra, #2 Starting Pitcher: The rookie starter has had four great starts and one bad one thus far, and has emerged with a 1-2 record to show for it (including a complete game 1-run loss), which isn’t too surprising given her team-low 2.9 runs per game.  She’s currently pitching at a 2.83 ERA, 1.06 WHIP level, which just may be the best performance from a rookie pitcher in years.  So far, she’s shown every bit of the potential that put her into the #2 slot, and it’s just a matter of time (and some offensive support) before the wins start rolling in.

Terrence Zhao, #3 Starting Pitcher: Another victim of poor and inconsistent offensive production, Zhao, like Esguerra, has thrown four good starts and one bad one, including a 9 2/3 inning, 1 run performance that went far into extra innings and resulted in a no decision.  Zhao’s ERA stands at 3.77 and his WHIP at 1.29 with a 1-1 record, but the real culprit has been his low 5.2 runs per game offensive support.  On the plus side, Zhao seems to be gaining a little bite on pitches, striking out 9.9 K’s per 9 innings and fast approaching the magical 10-K mark.

Sean Wade, #4 Starting Pitcher: The steadfast rookie, who has built his reputation on consistency in his rookie year, has been anything but so far this season.  In four out of five starts Wade has given up 6 runs or more, and yet the fifth start was a complete game shutout.  This all combines together for a 6.35 ERA and 1.24 WHIP, which may easily be Wade’s worst month ever.  However, with a team-high 9 runs per game offensive support, Wade’s record stands at 2-1.  So early into the season it’s hard to make any judgements, but Wade’s performance thus far has been most disappointing, to say the least.

Samantha Chin, #5 Starting Pitcher: Going through her rookie year brimming with potential, Chin seems to have achieved that sooner rather than later.  So far through April, she’s 4-0 with 2.92 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP, although she’s thrown with a more consistent style rather than sheer dominance (no shutouts or complete games, but four out of five quality starts).

Miguel Pardo, #6 Starting Pitcher: For yet another year, the enigmatic Pardo starts out the season blazing, defying all analysts’ predictions.  In three starts this year (all quality starts), he’s 2-1 with a 2.86 ERA, including a beautiful 2-run complete game, despite a high-ish 1.32 WHIP.  As always with Miguel, it’s a game of roulette every time he takes the mound, but for now it seems as if luck is on his side once again.

Helen Yamamoto, Mopup Reliever: I guess the one thing that can be said about Yamamoto is that she has improved.  Where her ERA used to be 9.35, she’s now down to 7.72, her WHIP down from 2.54 to 1.93.  She’s given up an earned run in every appearance she’s made, although she’s not actually the worst of the bullpen woes…

Angel Poon, Middle Reliever: What’s happened to the steady Poon?  Once humming along steadily as one of the team’s better relievers, Poon seems to have hit a very rocky spot.  Her ERA has ballooned to a team-high 8.53, with her WHIP at 1.58.  Could this be the beginning of the end for Daly City’s longest-tenured reliever?

Zubeda Khan, Middle Reliever: Khan seems to have taken her fall from the closer’s role hard, as she gets slammed for a 6.43 ERA and 1.43 WHIP in her first month as a middle reliever.  More than anything, she seems to be particularly affected by big hits, having given up 3 HR and 3 doubles in only 7 innings of work (her SLG of .688 is far higher than 2005’s .408).  Like the rest of Daly City’s ailing bullpen, things need to turn around quick for Khan before the efforts of the rotation and feeble offense are squandered away.

Alfred Vong, Long Reliever: Things have gone from bad to worse for Vong, and no one is quite sure why.  His ERA has risen all the way to 5.89.  In his share of close games, Vong has stepped in to throw 4, 4, and 6 inning outings, which may be stretching things  a bit for the young reliever (he’s on pace to throw 110 innings, after having only thrown 63 2/3 in 2005).  Surprisingly, his other performance metrics aren’t all that bad, with his WHIP at 1.15 and both AVG and OBP numbers lower than last year’s. Maybe a bit of luck is all Vong needs, and the team is hoping the bullpen, and most especially Vong (who’s thrown 30.2% of bullpen innings), finds it soon.

Alvina Chu, Setup Reliever: The leader of the Daly City bullpen, it’s perhaps most shocking of all to see the troubles of Chu, who owns a 5.91 ERA from two very bad relief outings.  Her 1.13 WHIP still offers hope, however, although it is a far cry from her 0.91 2005 WHIP.  At the very least, Chu is no longer vultering those starter wins into no-decisions…

Josiah Leong, Closer: When the team announced that Josiah Leong would be returning to the closer role in 2006, everyone braced themselves for one hell of a ride.  Leong has delivered, to say the least.  In his first four appearances Leong blew three saves (and in the process three wins, including Yan’s first no-decision), going into extra innings in both of them to win two for himself and lose the other.  Outside of those three blown saves, however, Leong has been flawless, and since his last blown save has gone six shutout innings with only 2 hits and 2 walks, and seven consecutive saves.  In fact, with 8 saves, Leong currently leads the league!  With a return to the bullpen, Leong is also throwing at a 3.95 ERA, 1.24 WHIP clip, slightly below his career averages, and throwing out his three blown saves, has got a 0 ERA and .60 WHIP.  More rough spots can be expected along the way, but perhaps this current shutout streak is a sign that Leong may have finally put it all together as a dominant reliever.

Games

*Denotes active player
G: Games
GS: Games Started

A sheer sign of his workhorse nature, it shouldn’t be any surprise that Yan tops the charts in both Games Started and Games. Angel Poon, another three-year veteran, is tied for tops in games, but Josiah Leong, who looks to pitch an ungodly number of relief games in the long-relief closer role, looks to pass up everybody by the end of the season. In terms of starters, Yan and Zhao should remain at 1-2, but the season will likely see Wade, Pardo, and possibly Chin move up beyond 2003-2004 players Fong and Lin for the 3-5 spaces.

Innings

*Denotes active player
IP: Innings pitched (innings are baseball’s time unit)
IP/GS: Average innings pitched per start
IP/RA: Average innings pitched per relief appearance

A much more exact statistic of work, Yan once again dominates this chart, not only in sheer innings but also in innings per start – rounded off he averages a complete game very start! It’s slightly disappointing to see Leong so low on the list, although he did spend a year in relief. Wade seems to be the fastest-rising player – after a single season he’s already 9^th on the list, and looks to pass up everyone up to and maybe even including Leong after this season. Angel Poon tops the charts for a pure reliever, a statistic she’ll probably hold onto for awhile.

Wins

*Denotes active player
GS: Games Started
W: Wins, counted whenever a pitcher “wins” the game
L: Losses, whenever a player “loses” the game

Yan once again tops the leaderboard, by a very far margin. After three 30-2 seasons, however, his Winning % actually hasn’t improved, so he’s in fact still behind Fong, who in 2004 put together a perfect 29-0 season Yan still holds the prime distinction of being the only player to not have recorded a single no decision, however, although Wade had only one in his rookie year. The coming year should see all starters move up, possibly past Lin’s #4 spot, but likely not beyond Fong’s 48.
K

*Denotes active player
IP: Innings pitched (Innings are baseball’s time unit)
K: Strikeout, when the batter fails to even put the ball in play
K/9: A strikeout rate, measured by strikeouts per 9 innings pitched

No surprises here: Having blown away the league for three consecutive years, it shouldn’t be any surprise that Yan dominates this chart. After three years, Zhao also finally surpasses Fong for #2 all-time, although Leong, with his far higher K/9, should have been well past both now, if he had been consistent enough to pitch the innings. Depending on his innings, Leong may yet move past Fong. An interesting thing to note is the dying breed of high K pitchers – of the five players with higher than 9 K’s per 9 innings, 3 of them are retired

Quality Starts

*Denotes active player
GS: Games started
QS: Quality starts, where the pitcher throws at least 6 innings with fewer than 3 earned runs allowed. A mark of consistency
CG: Complete games, where the pitcher throws the entire game from beginning to end. A mark of endurance
SHO: Shutouts, a complete game where the pitcher allows no runs. A mark of dominance
QS%: Quality starts as a percentage of starts
CG%: Complete games as a percentage of starts
SO%: Shutout games as a percentage of starts

Yan dominates all three QS, CG, and SHO categories by a large margin. A more interesting note is Zhao, who has steadily bettered year after year. Despite his overall career averages not being as high as Fong, at this point he’s probably a better pitcher, and over time he should be able to increase his averages up to #2. Other notes: it’s clear to see that Leong, Chin, and Pardo rank among the most inconsistent, where as Wade has already demonstrated he can be one of the most consistent players around.

ERA

*Denotes active player
IP: Innings pitched (innings are baseball’s time unit)
ERA: Earned Run Average, the average earned runs allowed by the pitcher per 9 innings
CERA: Component ERA – an overall performance metric similar to ERA. Probably the performance indicator
DIPS: Defense-Independent Pitching ERA – an overall performance metric similar to ERA, which involves only walks, strikeouts, and homeruns.
WHIP: Walks and hits per inning pitched, a rough performance metric

What’s this? A category where Yan isn’t on top? Surprisingly, Yan’s career ERA has actually been bested by Absalon, who boasts a 0.84 ERA in 2003 and 0.64 ERA in 2004. Despite this, all other indicators point to Yan being the far more dominant pitcher. Among other players, Chu is making quite a name for herself, with the third best ERA all-time, just barely edging Fong.

Saves

*Denotes active player
S: Save, when a relief pitcher enters a close game and successfully maintains the lead (the primary role of a “closer”)
G: Games played
RA: Relief appearances
GF: Games finished, relief appearances in which the reliever was the last pitcher
HLD: Hold, similar to save, where a relief pitcher enters a close game and successfully maintains the lead (a reliever does not need to finish a game for a hold)
SVO: Save opportunities, the number of opportunities the pitcher has had to save the game.
BS: Blown saves, when a pitcher enters into a save situation and fails to maintain the lead
SV%: The percentage of save opportunities converted into actual saves.

After three tumultuous years and three starters, the leaderboard is still topped by none other than the inaugural closer Michelle Absalon, who picked up 46 saves in her first season, and added on another 4 the subsequent year. Last year’s closer, Zubeda Khan, managed a scant 29 saves, while year 2 closer Josiah Leong picked up 40. Leong returns as the year 4 closer, marking the first year without a new face at closer. With another year of saves under his belt, Leong should skyrocket past Absalon for first place, and until next year at least, no other candidate has presented himself/herself to climb significantly up this leaderboard.

Games

*Denotes active player
G: Games
GS: Games started
PA: Plate appearance, the number of times the player has shown up at the plate to bat. This indicates how many opportunities the player had.
AB: At bats, the number of plate appearances minus PA’s that resulted in non-batting events, such as walks and hit-by-pitches. This indicates how many opportunities the player had to bat.

A quartet of three-year veterans headline this leaderboard, which isn’t really an indicator of anything but longevity. Wong dominates this chart, although Lew held the position for a long time before his injury-plagued 2005 season. With Lew the only player in the top 5 still active, look for him to move into the leaderboard without rival, as he becomes the only regular starter who has been with the team since 2003. Fellow three-year veterans (albeit not regular starters) Jonathan Chee and Cristian Ortiz also look to move up beyond most of the retired players on the board.

Hits

*Denotes active player
AB: At bats, the number of plate appearances minus PA’s that resulted in non-batting events, such as walks and hit-by-pitches. This indicates how many opportunities the player had to bat.
H: Hits, when a player hits the ball and successfully reaches a base.
AVG: Batting average, hits per at bat, or the percentage of at bats that result in hits

No surprises here – Wong tops the leaderboard by a wide margin, as he also retires as Daly City’s all time batting average leader (a feat that will be tough to match). While veteran Lew looks to pass Wong by this season, it appears a long ways off before any other player will come close to surpassing the current leader totals.

Singles

*Denotes active player
AB: At bats, the number of plate appearances minus PA’s that resulted in non-batting events, such as walks and hit-by-pitches. This indicates how many opportunities the player had to bat.
H: Hits, when a player hits the ball and successfully reaches a base.
1B: Singles, hits that result in the player reaching the first base (out of four)
1B%: The percentage of hits that are singles

The number of singles correlate fairly well with the number of hits – there is not much Huange in the leaderboard here. Wong dominates by a large amount, although Lew, due to a team third-lowest 1B%, only edges out second place by 1 single. A more interesting statistic than pure 1B totals is 1B%. As expected, the light-hitting players such as Mok, Quach, and most especially Tiffany Ho, Maung, and Chee, were singles dominant, all hitting for singles 70% of the time. In contrast, the biggest pure sluggers like Lew and Norman Ho, batted in the low .500’s for singles. The biggest anomalies, however, turn out in fellow sluggers (and RF position competitors) Jason Liu and Francis Chen, both of whom hit for singles less than half the time (in Chen’s case, a scant 42.9% of the time!)

Doubles

*Denotes active player
AB: At bats, the number of plate appearances minus PA’s that resulted in non-batting events, such as walks and hit-by-pitches. This indicates how many opportunities the player had to bat.
H: Hits, when a player hits the ball and successfully reaches a base.
2B: Doubles, hits that result in the player reaching the second base (out of four)
2B%: The percentage of hits that are doubles
AB/2B: The frequency of hitting doubles, in at bats per double (lower is better)

As Wong dominates the hits and singles chart, Lew excels here at his specialty – the double. Now only does Lew have by far the highest 2B total, but he also dominates the 2B% and AB/2B charts as well. There doesn’t appear to be anyone who will challenge him soon, or ever, although rookie Henry Nghe showed a strong penchant for hitting doubles in his rookie season.

HR

*Denotes active player
AB: At bats, the number of plate appearances minus PA’s that resulted in non-batting events, such as walks and hit-by-pitches. This indicates how many opportunities the player had to bat.
H: Hits, when a player hits the ball and successfully reaches a base.
HR: Homeruns, hits that result in the player reaching all four bases and scoring a run
HR%: The percentage of hits that are homeruns
AB/HR: The frequency of hitting doubles, in at bats per homerun (lower is better)

While it’s clear that the slugger era dominated by the likes of Norman Ho and Desiree Tienturier are long over, it’s actually the three-year veterans Wong and Lew that top the leaderboard. With Wong’s retirement, Lew seems likely to move into first place, although there’s a great potential threat from sluggers Jason Liu and Francis Chen. Although both players lag far behind, both players have insanely high HR% and AB/HR numbers that equal or even top the numbers Ho and Tienturier put up. Given enough playing time, look for both to move up the charts quickly, although it will take them awhile before really approaching the top of the board. Rudy Puzon, who had 17.31 AB/HR in his rookie season, also seems like a strong candidate to have a lengthy HR career.

Total Bases

*Denotes active player
AB: At bats, the number of plate appearances minus PA’s that resulted in non-batting events, such as walks and hit-by-pitches. This indicates how many opportunities the player had to bat.
H: Hits, when a player hits the ball and successfully reaches a base.
1B: Singles, hits that result in the player reaching the first base (out of four)
2B: Doubles, hits that result in the player reaching the second base (out of four)
3B: Triples, hits that result in the player reaching the third base (out of four)
HR: Homeruns, hits that result in the player reaching all four bases and scoring a run
Total Bases: The cumulative number of bases from all hits (where singles count as 1 base, doubles as 2, triples as 3, and homeruns as four)
AVG: Batting average, hits per at bat, or the percentage of at bats that result in hits. This is a rough indicator of contact ability
SLG: Slugging percentage, or total bases per at bat. This is a rough indicator of power ability, although it is partially dependent on average
TB/H: Average total bases per hit. This is a pure indicator of power ability, independent of contact ability.

As with most other categories, Wong retires at the top of this chart, with only Lew within easy reach of claiming first place anytime soon. Interestingly, TB/H yields some affirmative results for the best pure hitter in the team’s history. While Ho dominates this category for regular players, Liu and to an even greater extent Chen have hammered away in this category, and both possess numbers greatly in excess of the team’s historical leaders.

Walks

*Denotes active player
PA: Plate appearance, the number of times the player has shown up at the plate to bat. This indicates how many opportunities the player had.
BB: Base on balls, or walks, where a player automatically reaches first base after a pitcher has thrown four off-target pitches
OBP: On-base percentage, or the percentage of plate appearances in which the player reaches base safely, regardless of method.
BB/PA: Walks per plate appearance, or the percentage of plate appearances that result in walks:

It’s quite interesting to dip back into the past – despite having played only two seasons, only in the last season have players Lau and Wong surpassed Ho, and not even by that much. Turning towards the rates, we find that Ho clearly dominates in the OBP and BB/PA departments. Nonetheless, all three of the top players are retired, leaving Chee as the current active leader, on pace to take the lead sometime in 2007. Noticeably absent from the top is longtime player Derek Lew, who ranks only 12 in this category, due to his longtime inability to garner any walks despite a great ability to fend off strikeouts.

RBI

*Denotes active player
AB: At bats, the number of plate appearances minus PA’s that resulted in non-batting events, such as walks and hit-by-pitches. This indicates how many opportunities the player had to bat.
RBI: Runs batted in, when a player directly drives another player (or himself, via a homerun) in for a run (runs are baseball’s point/goal unit)
RBI/AB: RBI’s per at bat

After three dominant RBI seasons, Wong, Lew, Ho, and Tienturier dominate this chart, each averaging well over 100 RBI’s per season. Except for the up-and-coming Liu, Chen, and Puzon, all four players dominate in the RBI/AB rate as well. Lew, as the team’s new #4 hitter following the departure of Wong, looks to dominate in this category after this season, without anyone else to really challenge him for years to come.

Runs

*Denotes active player
PA: Plate appearance, the number of times the player has shown up at the plate to bat. This indicates how many opportunities the player had.
R: Runs, the number of times the player has scored by reaching the fourth base
R/PA: Runs per plate appearance

Runs pretty much follows an order of longevity, although it is again the best sluggers who also end up with the highest run totals, much like RBIs.

Steals

*Denotes active player
SB: Stolen bases, or steals, when a player runs to take an extra base
CS: Caught stealing, when a player unsuccessfully attempts to steal a base
SBA: Stolen base attempts, when a player attempts to run to advance an extra base
SB%: Stolen base %, or the rate of success

Daly City’s heralded speedster Aubrey Cubilo dominates this chart, with numbers far in excess of anyone else. With the top three players all retired, and not another speedster in the group, Ortiz remains as the only true base stealer on the team, although Jonathan Chee could look to make a long career out of piggy-backing double steals.

AVG

*Denotes active player
AVG: Batting average, hits per at bat, or the percentage of at bats that result in hits. This is a rough indicator of contact ability
AB: At bats, the number of plate appearances minus PA’s that resulted in non-batting events, such as walks and hit-by-pitches. This indicates how many opportunities the player had to bat.
H: Hits, when a player hits the ball and successfully reaches a base.

Joey Wong dominates here as batting champ, although surprisingly the next two spots are not other veteran hitters but one-season players Nghe and Leong, both of whom are still active. While both are talented contact hitters, it would be a surprise if either ended up playing at a consistently high level enough to surpass Wong’s .367 mark, although both players are already very close.

OBP

*Denotes active player
PA: Plate appearance, the number of times the player has shown up at the plate to bat. This indicates how many opportunities the player had.
H: Hits, when a player hits the ball and successfully reaches a base.
BB: Base on balls, or walks, where a player automatically reaches first base after a pitcher has thrown four off-target pitches
HBP: Hit-by-pitch, where a player automatically reaches first after he has been hit by the ball

All-world hitter Norman Ho dominates this category, where he both hit for a high batting average and garnered a large number of walks in two seasons. Not far behind is the one-season wonder Josiah Leong, followed by Joey Wong, after which there is a significant dropoff. One player who looks to improve greatly is Jonathan Chee, who after 1 ½ seasons of mediocrity finally emerged as an OBP machine in 2005. Continuing his on-base ways, he should easily be able to exceed Mok, Nghe, and possibly even break into the top 3 in several years.

SLG

*Denotes active player
SLG: Slugging percentage, or total bases per at bat. This is a rough indicator of power ability, although it is partially dependent on average
AB: At bats, the number of plate appearances minus PA’s that resulted in non-batting events, such as walks and hit-by-pitches. This indicates how many opportunities the player had to bat.
Total Bases: The cumulative number of bases from all hits (where singles count as 1 base, doubles as 2, triples as 3, and homeruns as four)
1B: Singles, hits that result in the player reaching the first base (out of four)
2B: Doubles, hits that result in the player reaching the second base (out of four)
3B: Triples, hits that result in the player reaching the third base (out of four)
HR: Homeruns, hits that result in the player reaching all four bases and scoring a run

The Babe Ruth of Daly City baseball, Norman Ho remains at the top of the slugging board, although in recent years slugger Jason Liu has made a strong run, and Leong in his half-season also came close. Outside of those three, no other active player ranks even remotely close to the elite slugger range. Henry Nghe is the next best, topping out at .540
Games

*Denotes active player
G: Games
GS: Games Started

A sheer sign of his workhorse nature, it shouldn’t be any surprise that Yan tops the charts in both Games Started and Games. Angel Poon, another three-year veteran, is tied for tops in games, but Josiah Leong, who looks to pitch an ungodly number of relief games in the long-relief closer role, looks to pass up everybody by the end of the season. In terms of starters, Yan and Zhao should remain at 1-2, but the season will likely see Wade, Pardo, and possibly Chin move up beyond 2003-2004 players Fong and Lin for the 3-5 spaces.

Innings

*Denotes active player
IP: Innings pitched (innings are baseball’s time unit)
IP/GS: Average innings pitched per start
IP/RA: Average innings pitched per relief appearance

A much more exact statistic of work, Yan once again dominates this chart, not only in sheer innings but also in innings per start – rounded off he averages a complete game very start! It’s slightly disappointing to see Leong so low on the list, although he did spend a year in relief. Wade seems to be the fastest-rising player – after a single season he’s already 9th on the list, and looks to pass up everyone up to and maybe even including Leong after this season. Angel Poon tops the charts for a pure reliever, a statistic she’ll probably hold onto for awhile.

Wins

*Denotes active player
GS: Games Started
W: Wins, counted whenever a pitcher “wins” the game
L: Losses, whenever a player “loses” the game

Yan once again tops the leaderboard, by a very far margin. After three 30-2 seasons, however, his Winning % actually hasn’t improved, so he’s in fact still behind Fong, who in 2004 put together a perfect 29-0 season Yan still holds the prime distinction of being the only player to not have recorded a single no decision, however, although Wade had only one in his rookie year. The coming year should see all starters move up, possibly past Lin’s #4 spot, but likely not beyond Fong’s 48.
K

*Denotes active player
IP: Innings pitched (Innings are baseball’s time unit)
K: Strikeout, when the batter fails to even put the ball in play
K/9: A strikeout rate, measured by strikeouts per 9 innings pitched

No surprises here: Having blown away the league for three consecutive years, it shouldn’t be any surprise that Yan dominates this chart. After three years, Zhao also finally surpasses Fong for #2 all-time, although Leong, with his far higher K/9, should have been well past both now, if he had been consistent enough to pitch the innings. Depending on his innings, Leong may yet move past Fong. An interesting thing to note is the dying breed of high K pitchers – of the five players with higher than 9 K’s per 9 innings, 3 of them are retired

Quality Starts

*Denotes active player
GS: Games started
QS: Quality starts, where the pitcher throws at least 6 innings with fewer than 3 earned runs allowed. A mark of consistency
CG: Complete games, where the pitcher throws the entire game from beginning to end. A mark of endurance
SHO: Shutouts, a complete game where the pitcher allows no runs. A mark of dominance
QS%: Quality starts as a percentage of starts
CG%: Complete games as a percentage of starts
SO%: Shutout games as a percentage of starts

Yan dominates all three QS, CG, and SHO categories by a large margin. A more interesting note is Zhao, who has steadily bettered year after year. Despite his overall career averages not being as high as Fong, at this point he’s probably a better pitcher, and over time he should be able to increase his averages up to #2. Other notes: it’s clear to see that Leong, Chin, and Pardo rank among the most inconsistent, where as Wade has already demonstrated he can be one of the most consistent players around.

ERA

*Denotes active player
IP: Innings pitched (innings are baseball’s time unit)
ERA: Earned Run Average, the average earned runs allowed by the pitcher per 9 innings
CERA: Component ERA – an overall performance metric similar to ERA. Probably the performance indicator
DIPS: Defense-Independent Pitching ERA – an overall performance metric similar to ERA, which involves only walks, strikeouts, and homeruns.
WHIP: Walks and hits per inning pitched, a rough performance metric

What’s this? A category where Yan isn’t on top? Surprisingly, Yan’s career ERA has actually been bested by Absalon, who boasts a 0.84 ERA in 2003 and 0.64 ERA in 2004. Despite this, all other indicators point to Yan being the far more dominant pitcher. Among other players, Chu is making quite a name for herself, with the third best ERA all-time, just barely edging Fong.

Saves

*Denotes active player
S: Save, when a relief pitcher enters a close game and successfully maintains the lead (the primary role of a “closer”)
G: Games played
RA: Relief appearances
GF: Games finished, relief appearances in which the reliever was the last pitcher
HLD: Hold, similar to save, where a relief pitcher enters a close game and successfully maintains the lead (a reliever does not need to finish a game for a hold)
SVO: Save opportunities, the number of opportunities the pitcher has had to save the game.
BS: Blown saves, when a pitcher enters into a save situation and fails to maintain the lead
SV%: The percentage of save opportunities converted into actual saves.

After three tumultuous years and three starters, the leaderboard is still topped by none other than the inaugural closer Michelle Absalon, who picked up 46 saves in her first season, and added on another 4 the subsequent year. Last year’s closer, Zubeda Khan, managed a scant 29 saves, while year 2 closer Josiah Leong picked up 40. Leong returns as the year 4 closer, marking the first year without a new face at closer. With another year of saves under his belt, Leong should skyrocket past Absalon for first place, and until next year at least, no other candidate has presented himself/herself to climb significantly up this leaderboard.

The morning shines again on the Daly City Empire.  Of course, these days the sun never really sets.  On yet another sunny April in the Gateway to the Peninsula, spring training abounds yet again with the same enthusiasm, determination, and fresh faces.

Coming off yet another World Championship, last year’s team nonetheless fell short with their first sub-.800 season in history, finishing at 125-37, .772.  The falloff was somewhat expected, given the mass departures of team stalwarts such as 3-4 hitters Ho and Tienturier, a .951 OBP SS Mok, and a full ½ of the pitching staff.  If 2005 was any indicator of how Daly City could carry on without many of its star players, 2006 might see even further decline.  The 2005-2006 offseason saw the departures of all-star catcher Sam Lau, Batter of the Year Joey Wong, speedy CF Aubrey Cubilo, and reliever Katie Clayton.  The trio of batters accounted for 337.4 out of the team’s 1083.7 runs created, or 31.1%, and so far none of their replacements seem completely capable of approaching their production levels.

There are new faces, and new roles, however.  Last season’s crop of promising rookies return, and this year sees two new rookies in starting pitcher Whitney Esguerra, who looks to take role of #2 starting pitcher, and catcher Marco Paz, who will likely fill into the backup catcher position.  In the wake of the latest round of retirements, longtime backup catcher/utility outfielder Tina Quach finally gets her chance at the starting catcher position, while longtime benchwarmer Joanna Maung steps into the big shoes left by Joey Wong at third base.  The centerfield position is the biggest question – Tina Quach, having the best CF defensive ability, used to fill in here (21 games in CF in 2005), but with her new role as catcher, Tiffany Ho seems the best candidate (67 out of 100 defensive rating), although her hitting skills are still a bit underdeveloped and her defense is better at the corner outfield positions.  Jason Liu, with a 55 out of 100 CF rating, also seems capable, although again his defensive skills seem much better suited for the corner positions.  On the pitching side, the departure of Clayton has opened up a spot in the bullpen, which no other than 2005’s closer, Zubeda Khan, steps in to fill.  After a tumultuous season filled with blown saves, the closer position for 2006 goes back to a known commodity in Josiah Leong, who despite shaky stats managed a bottom line of 40 saves and only 3 blown saves in 2004.

More than ever, the team seems to rest on the strength of the pitching staff – though still quite formidable, the lineup has taken yet another strong punch this year, and would be hard-pressed to repeat last year’s league high 1085 runs.

Without further ado, the hardened sophomores, old stalwarts, and new faces of Daly City’s 2006 team.

Tina “Experimental Error” Quach, Catcher: After two years as an understudy to retired all-star catcher Sam Lau, Quach finally moves up to take the reins of the catcher position.  Playing in two partial seasons, Quach has shown signs that she can be a capable on-base hitter, with her .381 career OBP, but this season will be a test of how well she can sustain that level of production over the course of an entire season, in addition to handling her defensive responsibilities as catcher and her management of the pitching staff.

Marco Paz, Backup Catcher: Straight from AA ball, Paz is a new recruit who spent part of 2005 in the minor leagues, beginning in AAA where he struggled and then moving onto AA, where he batted .250-.317-.515 in 20 games. While still a bit underdeveloped, the retirement of Lau and the lack of any other viable catcher meant that Paz was needed up with the major league club to serve as a backup.  The 17 year old is projected as a below-average defender, although he has a cannon arm.  His hitting skills are in the below-average range, but as indicated by his short time in AA last year, he projects out to be an average hitter with decent slugging skills.  He’ll be watched closely as the season winds along, making sure he isn’t impossibly challenged at the major league level, in which case someone else, such as emergency catcher Jonathan Chee, would have to fill in.

Derek Lew, First Baseman: After a vigorous offseason of training, Lew bursted into spring training like a vicious Vladimir Guerrero-type swinger.  So far he looks like he’s been more aggressive free-swinging with the bat, meaning even less walks and a bit more strikeouts, but he’s also been doing it with much greater contact and power than last season.  With last year’s disastrous campaign, Lew is looking to come back, and in a big way.  With Joey Wong gone, Lew remains the last of the “Big Four” of hitters of the inaugural 2003 team, and more than ever, the offensive production will rest squarely on his shoulders.

Rudy Puzon, Designated Hitter: Puzon looks to follow up his explosive rookie season with further development, although it might even be fair to say that he had already began hitting like what many hitters projected he would do after he reached his prime. After a solid all-around performance, with no clear weaknesses in his game, nobody knows what to really expect in terms of development for Puzon.

Cristian Ortiz, Second Baseman: The defensive wizard surprised everyone last year as he turned in a strong statistical season, most especially on the basepaths.  Despite being deemed Daly City’s “breakout” player of the year, many of the league’s scouts still rate Ortiz as simply average in almost all categories, and put strong doubt on whether Ortiz can replicate his 2005 numbers.  2006 will be the year Ortiz proves that his ‘breakout’ performance was no fluke.

Joanna Maung, Saung-gah Basewoman: After three years coming in from the bench, Daly City’s most prolific pinch hitter steps into her first starting role.  With only limited playing time over three seasons, Maung has shown decent OBP ability and virtually no power skills, although it’s anyone’s guess what kind of hitter Maung will actually be in her 4^th year and 1^st full season.  On the defensive side, Maung has been training hard, and has built herself up to a very respectable 61 defensive rating at 3B. She certainly won’t be an MVP Joey Wong (or will she?) but in terms of sheer love for the game and enthusiasm at finally getting the coveted starting third basewoman role, she may yet turn out to be the Wiggin to the now-retired Wong’s Bean.

Henry “Mr.” Nghe, Shortstop: Reigning Rookie of the Year and oldest player at the same time, Henry Nghe returns for his sophomore campaign hoping to continue on his first-year success.  Surprisingly, like Ortiz many scouts still have doubts over Nghe’s ability, believing he far exceeded performance expectations last year.  Without a dedicated middle infield backup in Kelvin Chang (since retired back to AAA), both Nghe and Ortiz will test their endurance and look to gut out all 162 games on their own out in the middle this year.

Jonathan “The Cheet” Chee, Leftfielder: Daly City’s “comeback” player of the year, Chee looks to continue his tremendous success into 2006, this time going the distance to play in a whole season (last year, he played in only 119 games and had 446 at bats).  Chee’s slated to be in either of the 1-2 leadoff positions, where he’ll set the table for the more powerful hitters with his team-high career .392 OBP.  Having come ever so close to the 50 hit by pitch mark (he had 49 HBP last year), Chee looks to make another run, this time possibly getting there with a full season.

Tiffany Ho, Centerfielder: Taking over the reins from longtime incumbent Aubrey Cubilo, the rookie Tiffany Ho, who had an unremarkable rookie year (.279-.305-.361), is one of the biggest question marks.  While she’s still one of the more promising hitters in terms of skill, she hasn’t demonstrated the ability to hit well yet.  Although originally a corner outfielder, with Quach at catcher, Ho is the best fielder left at the center position, although her 67 CF rating lags behind her 77 rating at the LF and RF positions.  Nonetheless, she’ll be thrown out of the frying pan and into the fryer, starting centerfield on opening day in baseball’s biggest small-town stage.

Francis Chen, Rightfielder: The enigma Francis Chen returneth once again.  Afer enduring a horrendous 2005, Francis was dropped from a starting role, replaced by slugger Jason Liu, and at times, utility player Tina Quach.  After toiling away all during the regular season, however, Chen seemed to catch on fire in the postseason, batting .244-.404-.805 in 41 at bats.  Despite all this, he was about to be dumped back to the bench, or even back to the minors for more conditioning, before the Daly City fans emerged.  All winter long they picketed and protested the stadium and front office with a grass-roots “Bring Francis Back” campaign, ultimately succeeding when management gave in to demand.  So by popular demand, the oft-inconsistent and fleetingly brilliant Chen is back to his role in RF, ready to take a backseat manage whenever Yan is on the mound, albeit with a tighter hook than ever.  He’ll have to jump out of the April gates full blast if he hopes to establish any security at the RF position.

Jason Liu, Backup outfielder: For the third straight year, Jason Liu finds himself starting the season on the bench, despite consistently demonstrating his skills at the plate, and in the field.  After a breakout rookie campaign in 2004 and a strong 2005 followup, Liu was all set to become the starting rightfielder, before the “Bring Francis Back” campaign derailed the club’s plans.  For now, Liu remains on the bench, his pure strength and raw power ready to pounce the second Chen begins inevitably slipping at rightfield.

The Pitching Staff

Nathan Yan, #1 Starter: After a record-shattering 2005 campaign, in which he went 30-2 yet again, with a 0.98 ERA and 0.48 WHIP, the staff ace and three-time reigning Pitcher of the Year returns with his overpowering arsenal of stuff.  Virtually unrivaled anywhere in the league, at this point it’s pretty much just a guess of what record highs he’ll accomplish next.  Zero-loss season?  A 500-K campaign?  30 complete games?  In any case, Yan is on track to surpass 1000 career innings, 1500 K’s, and 100 wins, and 100 complete games and 50 shutouts is not out of the question either.

Whitney Esguerra, #2 Starter: After a year of demonstrating her skills in the minors, rookie Whitney Esguerra makes her way to the big leagues in a surprise move, taking over Josiah Leong’s spot in the rotation.  The young right-hander comes in fully polished already, with a 93-96mph fastball, good control and movement pitches, and dominating stuff.  Her Stuff-Control-Movement rating is 101-77-70, with a talent potential of 124-78-96.  Spending nearly a full season in the minors in 2005, Esguerra pitched 29 games, dominating with a 27-0 record, 2.01 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, and 341 K’s in 246 innings (that’s 12.48 K’s per 9, and 8.48 innings per start!

Terrence Zhao, #3 Starter: Daly City’s unexpected staff ace continues to flourish.  A year after a breakout 2004 campaign, Zhao found himself with yet another breakout beyond all expectations.  There doesn’t seem any stopping Zhao, who worked hard to improve his control, his one point of slight weakness, this offseason.  Zhao looks to continue his winning ways and dominating stuff, although he once again finds himself sitting pat behind the #2 spot for the second straight year.

Sean Wade, #4 Starter: Daly City’s other star rookie is back for a sophomore season.  Wade was a breakout success in his rookie year, and despite not having spectacular stuff, cruised by on sheer consistency to earn himself a 3.00 ERA and 1.00 WHIP.  All signs point to Wade repeating his rookie success, although his second-half dropoff in performance could be some cause for reservation.

Samantha Chin, #5 Starter: Chin finds herself in the not-so-enviable role of being the best #5 pitcher in the league, by a far margin.  With at times dominating stuff, Chin floundered with a bit of inconsistency in 2005, with a 4.06 ERA.  Her 3.23 CERA, however, indicates that she can do a lot better, and much like Zhao breaking out in 2004, after a shaky 2003 that was brimming with potential, many scouts believe Chin will break out into one of the league’s most dominating pitchers this seasons.

Miguel Pardo, #6 Starter: Daly City’s #6 returns to round out the DC6, the only rotation in the majors consisting of 6-man rotation.  Pardo has improved in some aspects – his 2005 season certainly saw significant improvement over his past seasons, although the second-half Pardo looked much more like Miguel at his worst.  It’s perhaps time to see if Pardo can work his fleeting magic once again, and it might be his last chance to do so, with new rookie Alfred Vong breathing down his neck for the #6 slot.

Alfred Vong, long reliever: The oft-forgotten rookie pitcher, Vong spent much of 2005 as the long reliever, a role in which he was, in a word, inconsistent.  While clearly displaying good all-around talent, consistency has been a bit of a problem, which is why Vong once again finds himself back in the bullpen.  With a little more time to develop, however, Vong looks to become a solid pitcher, and could look to dislodge Pardo from his coveted #6 starting spot soon.

Helen Yamamoto, mopup reliever: After the worst season in recorded history, Yamamoto returns in 2006 with her 2005 numbers not leaving much to hope for: 9.35 ERA and 2.54 WHIP, and an opponent’s line of .379-.475-.672.  The upcoming season will probably be make-or-break for Yamamoto, as the reliever, especially the mopup kind, seems to be a dying breed in the Daly City system.

Angel Poon, middle reliever: Once again, Poon finds herself in the middle relief role, although the increasingly better pitching staff and increasingly closer games may mean even fewer innings than ever.  While her ERA has been erratic – 4.15, 2.88 3.75, Poon has shown consistency in her WHIP (1.14, 1.14, 1.19), and she looks to fill in a few, although likely not many innings, in middle relief.

Zubeda Khan, middle reliever: Once the team’s great hope at closer, a season marred by blown saves and stretches of downright atrocity have left her out of the running, despite averaging out to a decent 3.47 ERA and 1.14 WHIP in 2005.  She joins the regular bullpen, although like Poon she doesn’t expect to see many innings this year, especially with the development of Vong at long relief, the introduction of Esguerra, and the movement of starter Leon to the closer role.

Alvina Chu, setup reliever: Perhaps the most maddening member of the bullpen in 2005, Chu put it down with one of the league’s best 1.70 ERA and 0.91 WHIP, yet at the same time blew wins and saves like no other.  Still, over the past two years (102 innings, 2.03 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 95 K’s), she’s been Daly City’s most dominant reliever by far, and she once again earns her spot as the team’s setup woman.  Forever the bridesmaid, never the bride, I guess….

Josiah Leong, closer: After an unsuccessful try at turning rookie Zubeda Khan into closer material, it was an offseason back to the drawing board, and at this point, the best Daly City has turns out to be none other than their 2004 closer, Josiah Leong. Partly driven by his prior experience, and partly by his abysmal track record as a starter, 2006 will bring Leong back to the bullpen, where he pitched 58 1/3 innings with a 3.70 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, and 40 saves in 2004.  All signs point to things being more of the same for Leong, who still hasn’t quite gotten a handle on his control issues, but many still hold out hope for a Gagne-like conversion (without the Gagne-like injury flameout)

On a closing note, everyone’s contract ends after the 2006 season, so it’s time to rework those $1/year salaries.  That’s right: Contract year for everyone.