Thanks - or rather, no thanks - to the local area's inclement weather at the weekend, three of Munich's suburban baseball teams had their games postponed, including a much-anticipated 2. Bundesliga-South "battle of the 'burbs" clash between Haar Disciples 2nd team and Baldham Boars. The Gauting Indians' home fixture against the Füssen Royal Bavarians in the Regionalliga Southeast likewise fell victim to the rain.

The other local Munich area teams - the Haar Disicples first team in the 1. Bundesliga South and the Munich Caribes in the Regionalliga Southeast - played away, with diametrically opposing results.

Haar lost both contests at the league-leading and still undefeated Mainz Athletics, 7-0 and 7-4, while the still-unbeaten Caribes continued to show their impressive form, beating the Stuttgart Reds by 1-0 and 13-0.

The Disciples' first game in Mainz was decided fairly early on when Mainz built up a quick 4-0 lead against Haar pitcher Lukas Steinlein, before putting the game away with three more runs in the eighth inning. Game two - with US pitchers Pat Haugen for Mainz and Brian Fields for Haar - was more evenly balanced. The score was tied at 3-3 through four innings after Haar had taken a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a solo home run from newly- acquired Dominican infielder Dadynoel Lorenzo. Then, after falling behind 3-1, Haar equalized in the fourth inning on a two-run home run shot by slugger Josh Petersen. Petersen also had a single and a double in the game.

While Mainz hurler Haugen settled down and gave up only one further run, striking out 12 batters in seven innings, Haar pitcher Fields didn't have his best day. Despite going eight innings and striking out 12 Mainz batters, he also battled with control problems, throwing two wild pitches and being called for a balk in a crucial moment of the game and took the loss. With the two defeats, Haar's record in the Bundesliga South season is now 3-3. Mainz, at 8-0, leads the league, with all the signs pointing to a tight title race. The defending German champions Regensburg Legionaires were surprisingly beaten twice away at Heidenheim, putting their season record at 8-2.

In the Regionalliga Southeast, the Caribes produced their fifth straight sweep for a perfect 10-0 record after a pair of wins at Stuttgart to continue their reign at the top of the league.

The Reds' 2nd team - their top team plays in the 1. Bundesliga South - was no match on the day for the older and more experienced guests from Munich. In particular, the Caribes' pitching duo of player-coach Steve Walker and fellow-American Nick Angstman dominated the Stuttgart batters, allowing just 3 hits and no runs in each of the two contests.

In the first game, Walker drove in the game-winning run - the contest's only run in fact - and was also credited with the victory as winning pitcher. The Caribes made some base-running mistakes that cost them one or two other possible runs, and Stuttgart's defence made a couple outstanding plays that also thwarted the guests from Munich.

Game two was a wild affair - literally speaking in terms of the Stuttgart pitching - as the Caribes won convincingly by 13-0. Munich had only 4 hits but still scored so many runs thanks to the countless number of walks, hit batsmen and wild pitches from Stutgart's pitchers. Stuttgart's fielders also made four errors to help the Munich cause.

In the Bundesliga Southeast, the question on everybody's lips is who can stop the Caribes? Walker is keeping a wary eye on Gauting (5-3), but with a three-week break now starting up in the baseball action due to the German baseball federation's scheduling, an answer won't be forthcoming until June 8th, when the
Caribes head into "Indian Territory" in Gauting.

Besides Gauting, the only other team still within calling distance of Munich are the Ellwangen Elks (6-4), whom the Caribes beat twice at home in two close contests in early May.

"Nuts About Lutz"

Germany's baseball community is still going "nuts about Lutz." German ballplayer Donald Lutz became the first German to be called up from the minor leagues to the US Major League club Cincinnati Reds last week, triggering a wave of social media, frenzy as well as even, rather remarkably, some mainstream media attention in Germany.

The 24-year-old product of the Bad Homburg Hornets and Regensburg Legionaires is making good on what is supposed to be only fill-in duty while established Reds players are on the 15-day disabled list due to injuries.

After a slow start at the bat, Lutz now is batting over .300. In 19 at-bats he has six hits - including a 3-run home run on Sunday in Cincinnati against Milwaukee - and 5 RBIs. So he's making a strong case for Cincinnati to keep him up in the "bigs" even when the injured players are ready to play again.