With the 14-month baseball season coming down the stretch, there is an interesting dichotomy between the American and National League Championship Series. In the AL, you have two of the original eight charter franchises, the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox. While ironically in the senior circuit, you have two relative newcomers to the game, the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks.

A similar juxtaposition is shaping-up in the Scratch Draft Trios League at Harvest Park Bowl in Brentwood, where two of the original Scratch Draft Trios teams are locked in a fierce battle with a pair of newcomers atop the standings.

Heading into Monday's action, Discovery Bay Dental held a 6.5-point lead on second place Kinder's Meats. However, it was Kinder's that left a numb feeling in Discovery Bay Dental's mouth with a 20-8 victory in the position round, to take over the top spot in the league. Kinder's, the evil empire, then charred Team 2 25.5-2.5 during the second set of the night to solidify its position. Meanwhile, The Visually Impaired found their way to a 27-1 thumping of Team 4, but ran out of land against HansonRealEstate.com in a 12-16 second-set defeat. The forty-plus point nights for Kinder's Meats and HansonRealEstate.com move them both into the top four for the first time since early last fall.

Top scores on Monday belonged to the husband and wife duo of Mark and Denise Mazzulla, both members of Team 9. The rookie keglers used consistent rolling, with only one game below 200 in their eight combined games, to rise to the top of the league. Mark shot games of 255, 202, 220 and 211 for a league best 888 four-game set. Meanwhile, Denise used a high game of 224 to propel herself to a ladies' best 787 series.

The battle between the league fixtures and new arrivals will continue next week when Kinder's Meats tries to hold off The Visually Impaired, and Discovery Bay Dental faces off against HansonRealEstate.com in the weekly position round.