Mister Baseball

In our series to review the 2008 season in the German Baseball-Bundesliga, Dirk Fries is going to look at the four northern teams in the play-downs this week.

by Dirk Fries

Neunkirchen Nightmares

Who would have expected this collapse of epic proportions? The last few years the team based out of the small village of Wolperath seemed to use the shadow of the more prominent neighboring teams like Cologne and Bonn in order to creep closer to contending. Their core of German players seemed to make improvements every year. The Nightmares in general were believed to be just a few additions away from actually making it to the playoffs. But then came 2008.

While the Nightmares have for years profited from the luxury of having the financial resources to add American players, the move paid no dividends at all this time around. While Ben Barker (in 2006), Bill Secor and Jeff Mayo (in 2007) really helped the team, this year´s foreign players did not have the needed quality. Neither Brandon Ishikawa nor Brett Van Hooser was able to perform, or couldn´t make up for what the German guys lacked.

It seems like everything that could go wrong, did. Not an untalented club at all, there is not much else to say, other that the Nightmares were the worst team in the division this year. But so were the Regents in 2007. And they did get a second chance. It figures into a lost year, that the Nightmares might not have. Had the Nightmares had a year like that last year, things wouldn´t have been all that bad. With only seven teams, they would have at least the chance to right the ship in the relegation series and avoid descending.

What the stats say:

Van Hooser hit .370, but only appeared in nine games. Ishikawa played in only 13 games, hitting less than spectacular at .171. But also veteran players like Mike Daniels, Urs Kortes and Christoph and Markus Bardenheuer did not perform to expectations. Not a single player managed to hit above .250 for the year. Markus Bardenheuer (.231) and Marc Wiefels (.221) came the closest. Urs Kortas (.140), Pablo Reveand (.107), Tobias Schlieperskötter (.164), Jonas Giese (.165) were just plainly overmatched.

Hendrik Tschuschke, Neunkirchen´s Ace, had shown promise the last couple of years. This year, he didn´t exactly live up to those expectations. His ERA rose to 7.76 and he finished with a 1-9 record. Compared to the last few years he worked considerably fewer innings, which raises questions about possible overuse in recent years. Sergej Heinrich, a prior to this season unknown 21-year-old, led the staff in the ERA department (3.99 in 29 innings). His numbers were not outstanding, but solid and unexpected. Even while his walks plus hits per innings (WHIP) stood at 1.88, he still was able to pitch himself out of jams and to keep his team in the game better than anybody else on the staff. Pablo Reveand led that staff in wins (2), his high ERA (8.39) is an indicator that his offense had some work on its hands to make those wins happen. Steady veteran Mike Daniels finished at 5.30, but only threw 18.2 innings all year. Christoph Bardenheuer went winless (0-4) in 2008, and compiled a 12.44 ERA over 34 innings.

Depending on the federations decision we might see the Nightmares back in 2009. With Pulheim coming up, and both Dohren and Hannover both unwilling to play first division, one spot technically is still available. One can only guess about the likelihood of such a scenario in which the Nightmares are awarded that spot.

Next Week: The Bottom Four of the Southern Division

Previous:
Solingen Alligators
Paderborn Untouchables
Cologne Cardinals
Dortmund Wanderers
Mainz Athletics
Heidenheim Heidekoepfe
Mannheim Tornados
Buchbinder Legionaere Regensburg
Bonn Capitals
HSV Stealers
Hanover Regents