Pictured are the Cardinals of the Deep River Horseshoe League with Kris Casey, Keith Toohey and Mike Mercier. Photo courtesy of Joe Heery

The second-place Braves regained first place with a 5-1 victory over the third-place Pirates in Week 15 of the Deep River Horseshoe League. The Mets couldn’t keep up with the Braves in their 4-2 win over the Rangers and the Angels missed the shorthanded Marlins by one point. The Orioles dented the Tigers’ playoff hopes while the Cardinals clinched the final playoff spot with a 5-1 win over the Rockies. The White Sox defeated the Red Sox.

In Week 14, both the Braves and Pirates struggled to score points. This week, the Braves’ Warren Bellows and Matt Valentin still struggled with their play, but it was Mike Zanelli Jr. who brought the points for the team. He finished the night as the “A” Division’s top scorer with his 147 points, 43 rings, and nine doubles. The Pirates’ scoring problems continued, as the team only scored 226 points, its lowest of the season. Skip Robinson and Anthony Malerba both had their lowest series of the season.

Despite the team’s struggles, the Pirates’ Harvey Strausser was the third-best “C” scorer with 94 points. After winning games point for point, the Braves won the next four games by an average of 16 points, and the Pirates were able to win the final game. The Braves’ 5-1 victory put them back in first place by a half-game, while the Pirates slipped to sixth place.

In a game that pitted the seventh and eighth place teams against each other, it was expected that one of the teams could move up the standings and the other would wait until next week to get into the playoffs. In games one and four, it was Deb Scully of the Yankees and Brian Walsh of the Diamondbacks who decided the games, as Todd Nuhn of the Yankees and Chip Goodrich of the Diamondbacks were tied, winning one game each.

The Yankees’ Damin Roberts’ 32 points led to a Yankees win in game two, and the Diamondbacks’ Gary Stevens (Chester) defeated Roberts in game three to win. The teams split the game. The Diamondbacks remained in seventh place while the Yankees slipped to ninth place, half a game behind the eighth-place Cardinals.

The Orioles suffered a resounding loss to the White Sox last week, but continue to show a carefree attitude toward the playoffs. But Sheryl Serviss’ Tigers are a different story, and they will have to fight tooth and nail to earn a playoff spot.

Ed Turner of the Orioles had his best series of the season in Week 15 with 124 points, 31 wrestlers and three doubles, and his best game with 40 points and 11 wrestlers. He was the top “B” scorer. The Tigers could not answer and struggled with open boxes (-58 for the game). The Orioles won 5-1 and remained in fourth place. The Tigers slipped from ninth to eleventh place.

For the third time in five weeks, the Marlins were forced to use a blind score for Howie Fisher. The Angels’ Tony Cutone and Ted Dubay were ready to take advantage of the situation, winning three of four games by an average margin of 21 points. The Marlins tried their best in the third game, but it ended in a tie thanks to the Angels’ handicap points. Cutone’s 128-point streak was a season-best and Dubay’s 111-point streak was the second-best “B” score. With the 5.5-0.5 win, the Angels are now in third place.

For the second week in a row, Frank Rausch replaced Bob Cifaldi of the Mets and Leif Selander replaced Bob Beckwith as they faced Joe Heery’s Rangers. Keith Toohey of the Mets scored a season-high 31 points in the first game, setting the tone as the Mets won by 24. Heery and Rausch had a close head-to-head matchup, with Rausch defeating Heery 129-126. Rausch’s 129-point streak was the third-highest for an “A” player. The Mets won 4-2, but fell from first to second place, a half-game behind the Braves.

Kris Toohey’s Cardinals and Mike Didomizio’s Rockies struggled to score points last week. It was only the Cardinals who were able to improve in Week 15, matching their season average of 268 points. They also got some help from the Rockies, who ended up with the lowest steam score of the season. The Rockies did their best despite some lingering injuries to Mike and Paul Stevens. Toohey’s 132-point streak was the second-best scoring streak of the “A”s, and Kris Casey had a season-high 103 points, 24 rings and two doubles. The Cardinals won 5-1 and moved into eighth place – the final playoff spot.

The Dodgers played the Cubs, but the game revolved around Dennis Allen of the Dodgers. He started with a 30-point game and had three more games in the 30s en route to a season-high 126 points, 31 wrestlers and eight doubles. With that output, he is now the league leader in all statistical categories in the “C” Division. In the first four games, the Dodgers won three, and their only loss came when they failed to capitalize on their nine-point handicap. Jeremy Davis of the Cubs was the key to his team’s two victories. His 106-point streak was the third-highest for a “C” player.

The White Sox swept the Red Sox and have the potential to clinch a playoff spot if they can maintain their scoring pace. Peter Furmonavicius had his season-best game with 36 points and was disappointed not to reach 40. He had already accomplished one of his goals last week when he broke the 100 mark. In Week 15, he topped it again with a 108-point streak and was the second-leading “C” scorer. Furmonavicius is in the top three in all of the league’s leading statistics for the “C” division.

Here is the table of teams currently qualified for the playoffs:

1. Braves (56.0-34.0)

2. Mets (55.5-34.5)

3. Angel (52.0-38.0)

4. Orioles (51.5-38.5)

5. Dodgers (50.5-39.5)

6. Pirates (48.5-41.5)

7. Diamondbacks (48.0-42.0)

8. Cardinals (48.0-42.0)