[Izulde]

I'm tired. So unbelievably tired. I wanted to just fly from Milwaukee to St. Louis, but Delbert insisted that we all caravan it down here for the River Series, so that's what we did after a week of intense planning and getting everything established.

Right now I'm in the hotel room. It's a pretty shabby place, with a lot of dust and the heavy smell of smoke from past guests. The ventilation system here is sadly lacking, much like my skills with fair and fair-haired young women.

I want to sleep, but can't bring myself to it. The joys of being overtired... You drone along in an unsteady rhythm with blood-cracked eyes, wishing the bliss of slumber, but it doesn't come. So you stay awake, maybe even get slaphappy after a while. That's how I feel now, I'd have to say.

Besides, the game is due to start in a couple hours and I can't miss it.

On the table, under a weak light that keeps flickering, is a copy of The Tentacle. CJ's article is in there, the one where he says he's leaving to go back out to war. I understand why he did it and even consider him noble for doing so, but I don't like that it hurts the Vices' chances at the title. That it hurts Allen Davidson's chances, more specifically. As someone who has spent most of my life fighting back against conceptions that I wasn't good enough and against my own failures, I feel his pain and passion, and I want to see the ring on his finger to make it all worthwhile.

The issue also has a preview of the River Series itself, which I just got done reading.

I think I'll go reread it.

Octopus League River Series Preview:

Tonight the River Series starts at Busch Stadium in St. Louis and it promises to be an exciting competition, particularly after Curtis Jones's abrupt resignation from the league. Here's a position-by-position breakdown of the starters and who has the edge.

Catcher:

Miami Vices:
Eugene Toombs is batting .255 with just 4 extra-base hits. He hasn't been a real run producer, but he was superb on defense in the regular season. No errors and 47.4% of baserunners got thrown out thanks to his arm. He even had a double play to go with his 9 assists and 166 putouts.

San Diego Bishops:
Daniel Alvarez's offensive numbers: .273/.359/.443/.802. He's Toombs's superior in every way with the bat, getting 4 HRs and 20 RBIs in his 24 games. Clearly a key component to the Bishops' attack as he's their #3 hitter. On defense, he hasn't been so spectacular. 5 errors and a 23.1 baserunners thrown out % isn't going to cut it against the likes of say, Miami's William Canterbury.

Advantage: Miami
Alvarez's hitting numbers just can't make up enough for the defensive gap between himself and Tombs.

First Base

Miami Vices:
Neal Penney is the East Division league leader in batting average and HRs at .337 and 7 respectively after Curtis Jones's removal from the statistics. He's also third in runs with 16 and will have to have a big River Series if the Vices are to win, for Miami's counting on him to fill in the gap that CJ left. Although he doesn't have much range, he's committed just one error thus far at first base.

San Diego Bishops
21 year old Jeremy McCleery is one of the Octopus League's brightest young stars, as he's hitting .278 and finished with 6 HRs in the regular season. He, too, committed only one error before the playoffs and there's some who argue that he should have won the Rookie of the Year award over teammate Jose Leyba.

Advantage: Miami
About the same defense, but Penney powers past McCleery. Give it a few years though, and it'll be Jeremy who is arguably the top first baseman in the league.

Second Base:

Miami Vices
He may be 30 years old and only batting .259, but William Canterbury is one of the top leadoff hitters in the entire Octopus League. With a ratio of 19 BBs/10 K's, he's got a great eye and the fact that he leads the league in steals with 14 is nothing to sneeze at either. Part of 8 double plays in the field with just one error. Average range, but still good enough to get the job done, obviously.

San Diego Bishops
Bryan Prioleau hit a weak .224 and had an astonishing 7 BBs/26 Ks but he also hit 8 doubles and 5 HRs. Still, it's not the extrabase hits that's earned him accolades; it's his phenomenal range in the field that helped him to turn 20 double plays and only make one error. With him out there, the Bishops' infield D is a great one.

Advantage: Draw
Canterbury's better contact, exceptional eye, and phenomenal base-stealing are counterbalanced by Prioleau's XBHs and stellar defense. Expect to see William take advantage of Alvarez's poor arm in the series to rack up the steals, though.

Shortstop:

Miami Vices
14 BBs/13 Ks is a good thing concerning Deon Maya. And though his batting average is only a pedestrian .267, he hits .381 against lefties, something that won't be a factor in the River Series, as San Diego only has one lefty on their staff, 3rd starter and Rookie of the Year Jose Leyba. On defense, Maya had 2 errors and was generally speaking, an okay player out there.

San Diego Bishops
Yes, Erik Aitken only hit .228 on the year and yes he had just 4 BBs to a horrendous 23 Ks, but he's not there for his bat. He's there because of his stellar defense. As Chicago Pale Hose manager Craig Knox one said, "Aitken may suck with the bat, but he plays Major League Baseball quality defense." No word yet on whether or not Mr. Aitken will in fact be joining the Pale Hose. The numbers back up Mr. Knox's claims, as Erik was absolutely flawless playing shortstop, with 0 errors and engineering 15 double plays.

Advantage: San Diego
Maya's lefty-killing does nothing for the Vices and Aitken is the single best defensive shortstop in the Octopus League.

Third Base

Miami Vices
David Bailey was expected to be one of the Octopus League's top rookies, but he struggled horribly at the plate, batting just .177 with 27 strikeouts and only 4 walks. On the plus side, he did show some pop with 4 HRs. Sadly, David was also terrible defensively, committing 4 errors for a .926 fielding %

San Diego Bishops
Donald Stine is one of the league's best contact hitters, as evidenced by his .357 average. Some consider him to be an even better hitter than Octopus League batting champion Wayne Dewitt, who captured the average title with a .393 showing. Defensively speaking, he made 3 errors, but was still able to convert a lot of plays, thanks to having Prioleau and Aitken as his infield mates.

Advantage: San Diego
Bailey just isn't ready for the big time and he may in fact be the Vices' biggest Achilles heel in this series.

Left Field:

Miami Vices
With the loss of Jones, the Vices are forced to juggle their outfield and as a result, former bench player James Wireman is thrust into the lineup, accompanied by a nauseating .107 average. Sample size might apply here though, because it's based on just 28 at-bats. Similarily, his perfect execution in the outfield may also be the result of too small a sample size.

San Diego Bishops
Freddie Villalobos hit .207 on the year, but like teammate Aitken, is here for his defense. Exceptional range and fielding without error in the regular season makes him prototypical of this Bishops squad that relies on superb team defense and amazing starting pitching to win.

Advantage: San Diego:
Losing Jones probably kills any chance that the Vices had to win the Series and this is a prime example as to why.

Center Field:

Miami Vices
Mark Burges hit .179 as the LF starter, now moved to CF. He also had 8 walks to 20 strikeouts. Are you starting to get the idea yet just how much CJ meant to this Miami team? If he had left earlier in the year, we'd probably be seeing the Memphis Rebels in the River Series. Though he was quite good on defense in LF during the regular season, expect to see a few more miscues as he shifts away from his natural position in left.

San Diego Bishops
Timothy Chesson's 3 BBs/13 Ks isn't what you want to see in a leadoff hitter. To that we say, so what? The man is not only the second-best base thief in the league behind Canterbury, he's also hitting .296. Want more? How about the fact that he didn't make even one error out in CF? The real debate here should be whether Canterbury or Chesson is the best leadoff hitter in the Octopus League.

Advantage: San Diego
Chesson is a true talent. Burges is a sack of crap, at least in center. Enough said.

Right Field

Miami Vices
Bobbie Calhoun hit .260 and had a few doubles and HRs. It's sad to say that he becomes one of Miami's key offensive weapons now that CJ is gone. On the positive side, he was errorfree in the field.

San Diego Bishops
So Glenn Reed only hit .187? That's pretty bad, but the man also jacked 7 HRs. Sure he had 25 strikeouts vs 9 walks, but the man hit 7 HRs to lead the West Division. He may have made an error, but he has a cannon of an arm and had 4 assists and 2 double plays. Oh and he hit 7 HRs that led the West. Chicks dig the long ball.

Advantage: San Diego
We dig both chicks and the long ball.

Designated Hitter

Miami Vices
In 16 games, Carl Zimmerman hit .362 and had 2 HR and 8 doubles, good for 13 RBIs. This is a very good thing, an excellent thing indeed. Just the kind of exceptional hitting you like to see from the guy who's there just to hit. 3 BBs/4 K's is a decent ratio, too.

San Diego Bishops
.206 with 1 HR and 1 double, and only 6 RBIs? Say it ain't so, San Diego. But it is and Edgardo Chevarria may be the most useless DH in the league. Did we mention he has 5 BBs/18 Ks?

Advantage: Miami
The streak of San Diego is shattered.

We won't go into the pitching matchups here, as everyone is familiar with the Davidson versus Perez debate already and nothing will change their mind as to which the better pitcher is.

We still say Allen Davidson gives Miami the ace advantage though, even if San Diego has a more complete set of starters and the best bullpen in the Octopus League. At closer, we'll take Proven Closer (TM) Anton Arispe over his San Diego counterpart.

Predicted Champions: San Diego Bishops

The Vices just have too much of their talent stripped away with CJ going back to the Navy.

***End Article***

They're probably right, but I wish they weren't. Poor Allen Davidson. I really want him to get the ring.