A Hot Dog At The Ballgame. . .

"A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz." -Humphrey Bogart

SAINT PAUL, Minn.- The past few weeks have been incredible in the Northern League. As with all baseball leagues, transactions and releases continue however; unexpected suspensions for poor on field behavior between Winnipeg and Edmonton added a bit of flair to an already action packed season.

This year not unlike the previous, the Northern League continues a standing tradition of signing and producing incredibly talented ball players. The pitching staff in the Northern League has great strength with incredible starters like Johnathan Krysa, Greg Bruso, Jamie Bennett, Quinton Oldenburg, Bryan Gaal, Darren Truty, and Jason Shelley. The Northern League bull pens are filled with incredible arms from pitchers Travis Kerber, Chris Andel, John Gonzalez, Randy Vanderplow, Cody Fisher and Dominic Woody just to name a few.

This season a team to pay close attention to under the tutelage of new Manager Greg Tagert are the Gary South Shore RailCats. In their past three seasons they have struggled a bit with getting the team dynamics to click but this year the RailCats have been proven fierce competitor's for last seasons Northern League leaders. They have been using a 4 man pitching rotation and focusing on their defensive strategy to bring them an incredible season. They have incredible strength in their starting pitchers and bullpen. The hitting is coming together and team veterans like Anthony Iapoce and Scott Samuels continue to prove they have more than what it takes to surprise and delight us with their hitting abilities as seen on June 13th against Sioux Falls with each of them hitting home runs.

As we get closer to the All-Star Game and Division First half it will be incredible to see who prevails and if that trend can continue during the second half to the Northern League 2005 Championship. Good luck everyone!

Tonight's Northern League match ups are:

Kansas City at Winnipeg
Schaumburg at Gary
Fargo-Moorhead at Sioux City
Sioux Falls at Joliet
St. Paul at Lincoln
Calgary at Edmonton