The Dublin Hurricanes wrapped up their regular season campaign with an 8-7, come from behind victory over the Greystones Mariners last Saturday at Corcaigh Park. The ‘Canes will now face either the Blacksox or Spartans in the first round of the playoffs. The Hurricanes are the number one seed on the back of taking the ’09 League title with a banner 13-3 record.
That 13-3 record didn’t create itself, some hard work, heavy lumber and glove work went into it. The Hurricanes end of regular season statistics reflect just that. The ‘Canes 13-3 campaign was built on super team-work and every single ‘Cane contributed to that. Certain players stood out even further still.
First mention has to go to Hurricanes veteran Tom Kelley. TK played in every single Hurricanes game in ’09.and amassed a whopping 64 plate appearances. After a slow start he got his average up to a very respectable .260 but perhaps most impressive is his .420 OBP. TK led the ‘Canes in both plate appearance and at bats. He also played some of the best center field defence ever seen in the Irish baseball league. In fact, we are going to just come right out and say it, TK’s incredible collection of athletic catches in center field make his ’09 easily the single greatest defensive center field display in Baseball Ireland history. Yes, even more so than the time that Dave 'Sweetness' McDermott caught a fly ball with his teeth.
There is little doubt who the two offensive forces behind the Hurricanes were, Eric ‘Vegas’ Valkys and Andy Martin. Valkys, the greatest red head to ever play baseball in Ireland, led the ‘Canes in batting average and stolen bases, and was tied for the lead in hits (16). Amazingly Eric batted an even .400 for the Hurricanes, with a tremendous .520 on base percentage. He also stole 9 bases, and was only caught twice.
To give Eric’s numbers a bit of flavour, if you divide them by 15 (games played) and multiply by 150 (an average Major League players number of games in a given season), well Valkys had 150 base hits and a sensational 90 stolen bases!!
The stand out offensive performance of the Hurricanes ’09 season was, as it often is, Andy Martin’s amazing season with the lumber. Once again Andy was a terror to pitching all around the league, leading the ‘Canes in hits, runs, walks, doubles and OBP. Andy knocked 16 base hits, crossed home plate 20 times, walked 18 times and cracked 7 doubles. Andy’s on base percentage was a simply sensational .581, meaning he reached base in almost 6 out of 10 plate appearances. You can’t make that kind of stuff up.
Andy would be amongst the league leaders in all offensive categories, if we had league leaders, the Irish League hasn’t kept statistics since the 2005 season. The Hurricanes keep their own statistics, however.
If you project Andy’s numbers as we did with Eric’s above, you get pure All Star figures. 150 base hits, 200 runs, 180 walks (wow!) and 70 doubles.
Apart from TK, Vegas and Andy, another player who had a great ’09 at the plate was Hurricanes skipper Steve Divito. Steve not only led the team in RBIs with 15, he also hit one of the few home runs managed in the Irish League in ’09 – perhaps the only one, we’re not even sure as, once again, not to beat a dead horse, but for whatever reason the league doesn’t keep statistics!
Steve and TK were absolute RBI machines for the ‘Canes in ’09, driving in 29 runs in total between them, in only 15 games (the ‘Canes benefited from one walk over victory in ’09).
There were other interesting figures amongst the final statistics.
Mike Johnson, the ‘Canes fiery Canadian, was hit by a pitch 6 times, earning 6 free passes for same. What this says about Mike, we are not sure, although to be hit 6 times in less than 10 games might say everything!
Jose Gomez, who loves to hit, drove in 8 runners in only 27 at bats. The man was probably born with a maple bat in his hand.
Chris Foy, Andy Martin, Tom Kelley and Dioni Guerra spent the season wearing opposition pitchers out, with a whopping 57 walks between the four of them, or an average of 14.25 each.
Finally, Hurricanes pitching wasn’t completely horrible in 2009. The Hurricanes main starter managed an 11-1 record with a 2.33 ERA. Those numbers portray most of all the impressively high level of defence the Hurricanes played in the ’09 league campaign.
And so that was the numeric description of the 2009 Irish Baseball League campaign for the Dublin City Hurricanes. Now the second season starts, as the Hurricanes join three other teams in the quest for the ’09 Irish baseball Championship.
.
That 13-3 record didn’t create itself, some hard work, heavy lumber and glove work went into it. The Hurricanes end of regular season statistics reflect just that. The ‘Canes 13-3 campaign was built on super team-work and every single ‘Cane contributed to that. Certain players stood out even further still.
First mention has to go to Hurricanes veteran Tom Kelley. TK played in every single Hurricanes game in ’09.and amassed a whopping 64 plate appearances. After a slow start he got his average up to a very respectable .260 but perhaps most impressive is his .420 OBP. TK led the ‘Canes in both plate appearance and at bats. He also played some of the best center field defence ever seen in the Irish baseball league. In fact, we are going to just come right out and say it, TK’s incredible collection of athletic catches in center field make his ’09 easily the single greatest defensive center field display in Baseball Ireland history. Yes, even more so than the time that Dave 'Sweetness' McDermott caught a fly ball with his teeth.
There is little doubt who the two offensive forces behind the Hurricanes were, Eric ‘Vegas’ Valkys and Andy Martin. Valkys, the greatest red head to ever play baseball in Ireland, led the ‘Canes in batting average and stolen bases, and was tied for the lead in hits (16). Amazingly Eric batted an even .400 for the Hurricanes, with a tremendous .520 on base percentage. He also stole 9 bases, and was only caught twice.
To give Eric’s numbers a bit of flavour, if you divide them by 15 (games played) and multiply by 150 (an average Major League players number of games in a given season), well Valkys had 150 base hits and a sensational 90 stolen bases!!
The stand out offensive performance of the Hurricanes ’09 season was, as it often is, Andy Martin’s amazing season with the lumber. Once again Andy was a terror to pitching all around the league, leading the ‘Canes in hits, runs, walks, doubles and OBP. Andy knocked 16 base hits, crossed home plate 20 times, walked 18 times and cracked 7 doubles. Andy’s on base percentage was a simply sensational .581, meaning he reached base in almost 6 out of 10 plate appearances. You can’t make that kind of stuff up.
Andy would be amongst the league leaders in all offensive categories, if we had league leaders, the Irish League hasn’t kept statistics since the 2005 season. The Hurricanes keep their own statistics, however.
If you project Andy’s numbers as we did with Eric’s above, you get pure All Star figures. 150 base hits, 200 runs, 180 walks (wow!) and 70 doubles.
Apart from TK, Vegas and Andy, another player who had a great ’09 at the plate was Hurricanes skipper Steve Divito. Steve not only led the team in RBIs with 15, he also hit one of the few home runs managed in the Irish League in ’09 – perhaps the only one, we’re not even sure as, once again, not to beat a dead horse, but for whatever reason the league doesn’t keep statistics!
Steve and TK were absolute RBI machines for the ‘Canes in ’09, driving in 29 runs in total between them, in only 15 games (the ‘Canes benefited from one walk over victory in ’09).
There were other interesting figures amongst the final statistics.
Mike Johnson, the ‘Canes fiery Canadian, was hit by a pitch 6 times, earning 6 free passes for same. What this says about Mike, we are not sure, although to be hit 6 times in less than 10 games might say everything!
Jose Gomez, who loves to hit, drove in 8 runners in only 27 at bats. The man was probably born with a maple bat in his hand.
Chris Foy, Andy Martin, Tom Kelley and Dioni Guerra spent the season wearing opposition pitchers out, with a whopping 57 walks between the four of them, or an average of 14.25 each.
Finally, Hurricanes pitching wasn’t completely horrible in 2009. The Hurricanes main starter managed an 11-1 record with a 2.33 ERA. Those numbers portray most of all the impressively high level of defence the Hurricanes played in the ’09 league campaign.
And so that was the numeric description of the 2009 Irish Baseball League campaign for the Dublin City Hurricanes. Now the second season starts, as the Hurricanes join three other teams in the quest for the ’09 Irish baseball Championship.
.
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