September 15-17

Jenny's mother turned 80 on Friday, she celebrated by spending part of the day receiving medical attention. Helen was walking home from an errand when she fell on the sidewalk, she suffered a cut above her right eye. I saw her on Saturday when I visited for lunch, she is OK but she definitely looks like she went fifteen rounds with the champ. The Atlantic League season ended on Sunday with the Barnstormers on the outside looking in, the ballclub was eliminated from postseason contention with a Saturday night loss in York. The Revs claimed the Freedom Division second-half title, they meet Southern Maryland in the first round of playoffs starting Wednesday the 20th. The Barnstormers finished tied with Bridgeport for the league's best overall record at 76-64 but neither club qualified for the postseason (Somerset and Long Island meet for the Liberty Division pennant). The split-season format has its supporters and its detractors but the ALPB has used it for all twenty years of its existence and everybody knows going in what needs to be done to qualify for the postseason. It's interesting to note that the clubs playing for the Freedom Division title each finished 28-42 in the half they did not win, the Revolution went 40-30 in the second half to finish 68-72 overall while the Blue Crabs were one game off the pace at 67-73. Each division series is a best-of-five played in a 2-3 format, The Revs host the Crabs for the first two games of their series. I was not at any of the games in York over the weekend but I plan to make at least one of the two playoff games depending on my personal schedule. Take care, thanks for reading.