As the calendar turns to June and everyone gets new scouting reports (hurray!), separation has been achieved in one of the leagues. In the Platonic League, both Pittsburgh and Miami ran off undefeated 5-0 sims. Unfortunately for third place Ramapough Mountain, the sim went exactly the wrong way with an 0-5 sim. As a result, Pittsburgh still leads Miami by 1.5 games but Ramapough Mountain is now 9.5 games behind the Pisces and just a half-game ahead of the 2007 World Champion squad in Stockholm. Cairo and Maryland are tied for last place in the PL and for the first pick in the 2008 draft.

In the Socratic League, Brooklyn now leads the division by 2.5 games over Jersey City. New York is third, a half-game behind the Skeeters. Gainesville is in fourth, 7.5 games back of the Bombers while the Seattle Pilots are fifth and the Marietta Mammoths bring up the rear.

Lots of league news, as monthly and weekly awards were handed out. Maryland’s Brian Atlas and Jersey City’s Basil Gomez were Players of the Week. In the Platonic League, the May awards for best hitter, pitcher, and rookie went to Miami’s Richard “Wedge” Vuong and Pittsburgh’s Gaby Duran and Alberto Jimenez. In the Socratic League, the winners were Marietta’s Kenrokurou Yoshii, Brooklyn’s Tyler “Ex” Conn (again) and Seattle’s Frankie Garnett.

The only remotely significant transaction occurred when Stockholm claimed minor league starter Glen Campbell off waivers from Maryland.

Two significant injuries as Miami (NOT Seattle) lost outfielder John Fine for four weeks to back spasms and Cairo lost top starter Davis Oppenheimer to a strained back muscle for five weeks. The Pisces’ Gary “Tiny” Croce also sustained a concussion when hit by a pitch, but toughed it out and is only day-to-day. (Still, tough year so far in the Pittsburgh organization for head injuries.)

On to the game action.

On May 31, Miami’s Lewis McGurk threw a five-hit shutout against Stockholm in a 3-0 win. Pittsburgh’s Perry Hodgin hit a double and two home runs as the Pisces rolled to a 12-3 win over the Indians. Marietta scored six in the eighth to come back and beat New York 9-5.

But, for the game of the sim, we head to Jersey City. Going into the eighth inning, Brooklyn led Jersey City 4-3. The Bombers then struck for four runs on four hits and a walk to extend their advantage to 8-3. The Skeeters’ Basil Gomez hit a three-run home run to cut the gap to 8-6 as the teams went to the ninth inning. With a walk and three consecutive two-out singles, the Bombers opened up a 10-6 lead. More could have scored, but John Douglass was thrown out trying to score from second on Carlos Villareal’s single. Remarkably, after a run scored with two outs, Gomez hit yet another three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings tied at 10. Brooklyn’s Glenn Dufresne clubbed a two-run, two-out double to deep center in the top of the tenth. Unfortunately, the Skeeters went down in order and kept Gomez from batting again, losing 12-10 in 10 innings.

On June 1, Miami got its second straight complete games as Robert Mullen yielded only a single unearned run in a 6-1 defeat of Stockholm. Seattle’s Myles “Stretch” Horne had five hits, including a ninth-inning, game-tying two run home run only to see Gainesville prevail 10-9 in 10 innings. Cairo got an unearned run in the top of the 12th to beat Maryland 4-3.

On June 2, Charles Flores pitched the first six innings of Maryland’s 4-0 shutout of Cairo. Jersey City held on despite yielding four runs in the top of the eighth and beat Brooklyn 5-4. Pittsburgh got a pinch-hit two-run home run from Karl Urick in the eighth inning to get past Ramapough 6-4.

On June 3, two of the OEL’s best pitchers squared off and Hernando Desalvo threw eight shutout innings to beat Tyler Conn and Brooklyn 1-0. The Bombers only managed two hits in defeat. Stockholm’s Michael Pellerin recorded his seventh win of the season in beating Maryland 6-1. Miami edged past Ramapough 2-0 with Cruz Alonso recording seven shutout innings. And, playing his first game after suffering a concussion, Gary Croce hit two home runs, scored four times, and drove in five in the Pisces’ 18-4 rout of Cairo.

On June 4, Croce kept the good times rolling with a 3-4, double, home run, 3 runs scored, 4 RBI day as the Pisces won again 10-3. Management is considering hiring someone to hit the leftfielder in the head before every series. Brooklyn got three in the tenth to beat Gainesville 6-3. Miami’s Michael Southwood hit a solo home run in the ninth to complete the Masters’ comeback from a 3-0 deficit and beat Ramapough 4-3. Jersey City’s Donald Parson drew a bases-loaded walk in the ninth for the Skeeters’ 5-4 win over Marietta.

The College World Series (emphasis on world here) is tied at two games each between the University of Washington and Sweden’s SFI Riksby. Notably, Husky hurler Roberto Ramos threw a no-hitter in game two as the Huskies won 8-0. The series will end in the next sim.

And, somewhat amusingly, a number of high school teams fired their field manager and/or general managers as the season wrapped up. Unsurprisingly, Saint Mary’s let go manager Kris McKinney as he was unable to overcome the Schoolgirls’ blindness. Seems like a tough gig to me, but maybe someone else will be able to make it work. I do note that Saint Mary’s allowed a league high .363 batting average on balls in play. It’s probably pretty hard to field the ball based solely on the sound it makes when it leaves the bat.

Assuming we stay on schedule, the 2007 Amateur Draft should be next Monday. League file is posted. Good luck in June to everyone.