We’re up to June 15, and the amateur draft will be run in Monday’s sim. Because it’s going to take a while to run it, I’ll probably start the sim at 4:00 pm Pacific time. So, this weekend will be your last chance to get your draft list set. If you make one, remember to copy it and paste it to all rounds.

In the Platonic League, the Pittsburgh Pisces remain smoking hot, having stretched their winning streak to 17 straight and their lead over the Miami Masters of Their Domain to six full games. Stockholm is now in third, 13.5 back and three under .500. Ramapough Mountain, after losing 12 straight, rebounded to win its last two of the sim and is in fourth. Maryland is one game ahead of Cairo at the tail end of the standings.

In the Socratic League, the Jersey City Skeeters have run off seven straight wins to claim the division lead. The Brooklyn Bombers have lost four in a row and are 1.5 games back. New York is just a half-game behind Brooklyn in third. Seattle remains in fourth, nine games back and three under .500. Gainesville is another half-game back. Marietta has lost seven straight and is solidly in the cellar.

In league news, sluggers Gary “Tiny’ Croce of Pittsburgh and Brendan Townsend of Jersey City took home Player of the Week honors. No significant league transactions.

In injury news, Seattle lost pitcher Trevor Canela for the season to a ruptured triceps. Canela should be ready for the start of 2008 spring training though. Still, bad news for Pilot Nation. Stockholm’s Sam Gimenez has bronchitis and is day-to-day.

On July 10, Stockholm’s Marvin “The Martian” Weist hit two bombs in leading Stockholm to a 6-5 win over Miami. James “Cool as the Other Side of the” Pilla struck out ten for the Skeeters as they topped Gainesville 6-4. Pittsburgh scored two in the ninth to edge Ramapough 5-3.

But the game of the day was in Seattle. Marietta led 5-4 as the game entered the ninth inning when Pilot Juzo Zeshin got a bases-loaded single with two outs to score the tying run. Stud Miles “Stretch” Horne couldn’t come through with the winning hit though and the game went into extra innings. The frames rolled by without either team scoring. 10 innings. 11. 12. 13. The 14th inning passed with the score still tied at 5. In the top of the 15th inning, Canela blew out his arm when walking his second batter to start the inning. But, the Mammoths failed to take advantage as Walter Maley grounded into a fielder’s choice and Stephen Hyer grounded into a double play. Finally, young stud Frankie Garnett doubled to lead off the bottom of the fifteenth and scored when reliever Larry Bergquist hit a sacrifice fly to left field for the Pilots’ 6-5 win. Millard “Dirty” Hoar was reviled by his colleagues for allowing a pitcher to win the game with his bat.

On July 11, the Sluggers lived up to their name as they crushed 19 hits en route to a 17-6 thumping of Miami. Carroll Pinon hit two home runs and drove in seven in the win. Maryland also nipped Cairo 5-4 and New York shut down Brooklyn 5-1 in the abbreviated schedule.

On July 12, Nathan brought the Funk with eight shutout innings as Brooklyn led Jersey City 1-0 entering the ninth. But, Bombers closer Steve Corner gave up a two-out, two-run home run to Raymond “Walla” Walla as the Skeeters triumphed 2-1. Miami beat Ramapough Mountain 6-5 with the winning run scoring with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. With runners on first and third, the runner from first broke for second. Indians catcher Nathan Sanchez threw the ball into centerfield, allowing the winning run to jog home.

On July 13, Ramapough Mountain returned the favor, scoring twice in the eighth and twice in the ninth to claim a comeback 6-3 victory over the Masters. An eighth inning grand slam by Darren Schmeltzer gave Pittsburgh a 6-5 win over Cairo. Jersey City’s Joseph “One Dog” Silas was one big dog indeed when he threw seven innings of two-hit shutout baseball as the Skeeters topped Brooklyn 1-0. The only run off losing pitcher Tyler Conn was unearned and scored on a sacrifice fly in the first. Conn’s ERA is now a miniscule 1.00. The revitalized 38-year-old Alfonso Reyes doubled twice and drove in four in the Knights’ 11-7 win over the Mammoths. Reyes’s OPS stands at 1.032 in mid-June.

On July 14, Ramapough again scored in the ninth, this time with Jacobo Xiquena tripling and scoring on a sacrifice fly to win 5-4 over Miami. New York got two in the ninth with two outs to slide past Marietta 6-5. Reyes had an RBI double and then scored the winning run. Dan Rushing hit two bombs and Milton “Smokin’” Blount drove in four in the Purple Porpoises’ 13-3 rout of Seattle.

The wildest game of the sim though was in Maryland. The Poedamnedmonium scored four in the top of the first off Sluggers starter Stephen Guthrie. They had stretched the lead to 7-2 as the game entered the seventh inning. But then, the Sluggers’ bats woke up. Stockholm struck for eight runs on eight hits, a walk, and a hit batter to claim a 10-7 lead. The bullpen could not hold the lead though as Maryland scored once in each of the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings to tie the game at 10. Stockholm then scored four times in the top of the twelfth and held on for a 14-10, 12-inning victory.

High school awards for Gold Gloves, Cy Young, and Ted Williams awards were handed out. The equivalent college awards will come after the draft.

Again, the draft will be the next sim, which I’m running a little earlier than normal, so get your draft lists in! League file is posted. I’ll get the web pages updated over the weekend.