In early November, St. Johns veteran slugger Nate Thimons got married. When it came time for summer baseball in the greater Pittsburgh Federation League, Thimons put up some of the best numbers of his 11-year career with St. Johns.

Manager Tom McCarthy hopes that wearing a wedding ring to games has the same effect on Greg Stokes who was married July 4 and has rejoined the St. Johns lineup.

Stokes and Thimons, who were the best men at each other's weddings, provide the punch in the middle of the lineup for first place St. Johns in the Greater Pittsburgh Federation League. Through 21 games, St. Johns finds itself in a familiar place, at 16-4-1 and with a playoff spot already clinched.

Thimons is a Bethel Park graduate and Stokes graduated from South Park.

Through the last nine seasons, all of which Thimons and Stokes, a 10-year veteran, have been a part of, St. Johns has captured seven of nine Federation League titles including last season's.

In the lineup Thimons has been a force scoring runs and knocking them in. He leads the team in runs with 22 and RBIs with 25, no easy feat.

He has played in all 21 games for St. Johns and is hitting .378 with a .649 slugging percentage thanks to 6 doubles, 4 triples and 2 home runs.

"Nate is our best consistent power hitter," McCarthy said.

"He has our best power numbers, but he is still second on the team in average. He is more of a long ball threat than any other individual. He can drive the ball a long way. He is somebody who hits in our five-hole and hitting there he has been able to do a lot of things for us."

While on his honeymoon, Stokes' bat was sorely missed in the lineup. Before he left he had been hitting .458 with 21 runs scored and 10 RBIs. Stokes also stole seven bases.

"Stokes has been out of our lineup and it has shown," McCarthy said.

"Anytime someone hitting .458 is out of the lineup it shows. Greg is a very stable part of our lineup. He starts a lot of things for us."

McCarthy will have Stokes penciled into the second spot in the lineup when he returns. Without him on the starting roster St. Johns went through a dismal, by its own standards, 3-2-1 stretch.

In the field, Thimons starts at either first or second base and Stokes has been playing either right field or second base.

"When we have our best team out there Greg is going to be in right field and Nate is at first base," McCarthy said.

Veterans such as Stokes and Thimons have been especially valuable to St. Johns this season as McCarthy has lost a few of his stalwarts. Veteran pitchers Scott Chisholm and Todd Schiffhauer along with pitcher Eric McGough are unavailable for McCarthy this year. Chisholm started a team in a college league in Minnesota and Schiffhauer battled soreness in his throwing arm that may jeopardize his career. McGough recently signed with a Texas Independent League.

To compound St. Johns' situation, the Federation League expanded to eight teams this year, and finding players to fill the holes has been hard as there are now more teams to choose from if players want to play in the wooden bat Federation League.

St. Johns is filled with veteran players who have been part of the Fed League for more than 10 years. They are going up against new teams made up solely of collegiate players who are back in the area for the summer.

"The days of going out and walking around with one or two losses all season are pretty much gone," McCarthy said.

"Every team has a dominant pitcher now. We are not going to be to just run away from teams anymore."