News and Notes from Around the League

Standings from 5/16/2009 thru 6/7/2009 (including game stats through 6/7/2009)

Name Avg HR R RBI SB ERA K S W W PCT Total
The Stinking Badgers
8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 7.5 8.0 9.0 1.0 7.0 8.0 72.5
Giant Steps
4.0 5.5 6.0 5.0 7.5 9.0 8.0 2.5 9.0 9.0 65.5
The Depositions
9.0 9.0 9.0 9.0 6.0 3.0 1.0 7.0 3.5 4.0 60.5
A Cancer on the League
3.0 7.0 5.0 7.0 4.0 4.0 5.0 4.0 5.5 3.0 47.5
The FunGhouls
5.0 5.5 2.0 6.0 4.0 7.0 4.0 2.5 5.5 5.0 46.5
T. S. Intellectual
7.0 1.0 7.0 3.0 9.0 5.0 3.0 5.0 2.0 2.0 44.0
Marfa Dogs
1.0 2.5 1.0 2.0 1.0 6.0 7.0 7.0 8.0 7.0 42.5
Little Chi Chi
2.0 4.0 4.0 1.0 4.0 2.0 6.0 9.0 3.5 6.0 41.5
The Money Shot
6.0 2.5 3.0 4.0 2.0 1.0 2.0 7.0 1.0 1.0 29.5

Why has Peter surged to first place? It’s not enough to say the goddess has a ‘wide on’ for Peter. Who in the league is not a morsel to delight an average woman’s sex palate? No, we are a league long on charm, longer (in fact) on charm than on skill. So the question remains: blind luck or a series of master strokes on Peter’s part? (Peter does love to lay some master strokes on his part, of course, but that is semantic quibbling, so we will leave it alone. Which is more than you can say about Peter and his part. He’s a veritable coxswain: Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!)

Where was I?

How do we explain Peter’s success? He manned up and took Halliday, willing to spend money to make money, and thence on to the rest of his pitchers. Here is our first ‘aha’ moment. We are now a little frightened. He took a chance on Lee and Liriano. Particularly in Lee’s case, we see successful but unrewarded pitching. So look at that upside. He took a chance on Liriano, who has been appalling. But there is goodness in the badness: more upside! When I examine Peter’s pitching numbers, I foresee better numbers later on, no less. And oh: McCarthy? People had lost all hope. Verlander? Risk piled on risk. The question really is: What did Peter know and when did he know it?

We are also ravished by the fact Peter did what other great champions have done and blew off saves. He only has two, yet he thrives.

Now, on the hitting side, we are immediately struck by the fact his one true ‘can’t miss’ player – Grady Sizemore – has missed. And *still* Peter thrives. Mark Texarkanas – to which Peter will respond, ‘whatever’ – is now blasting in NYC. Kinsler is living up to hype and beyond. Ichiro dazzles and went cheaper than he should have. But no one rules our little roost without a stroke of luck good fortune. Choo-Choo is hitting. Astrolabe Cabrera is now on the world’s radar. Varitek was written off and has proceeded to write himself back on.

What I’m saying is Peter could hang in there and win this thing. And what a banquet that would be.

News and Notes from Around the League

Rather than an overview, this week we’ll take a look at two teams, one doing better than expected, the second worse. The surprise challenger is Little Chi Chi, sitting on the rail and ready to surge past the BCL into 2^nd place. The surprise arises in that – let’s face it – half the league members have underwear older than Matty. He’s a child. He’s still proud of having pubic hair. He needs at least another decade of experience before he should even think about cashing a check. Yet here he is, strong in third, ready to make a move on second.

Why? How??? Let’s look at his team.

Lineup Free Agents Team Stats Trades Contract Info

Year To Date Last 7 Days Last 14 Days Last 28 Days Choose Dates A Cancer on the League Giant Steps Little Chi Chi Marfa Dogs T. S. Intellectual The Depositions The FunGhouls The Money Shot The Stinking Badgers Fantasy - Active Fantasy - Non-Active MLB Year to Date

Stats for Players While Active

Name	Pos	AB	H	AVG	HR	RBI	SB	R	AVG
Betancourt, Yuniesky (SEA)	SS	118	30	.254	1	12	2	7	.254
Chavez, Endy (SEA)	OF	106	29	.274	1	8	6	11	.274
Damon, Johnny (NYY)	OF	134	42	.313	9	26	3	27	.313
Dye, Jermaine (CHA)	OF	117	33	.282	8	19	0	19	.282
Figgins, Chone (LAA)	3B	128	33	.258	0	7	15	23	.258
Jacobs, Mike (KAN)	1B	115	31	.270	8	22	0	14	.270
Kendrick, Howie (LAA)	2B	120	28	.233	3	17	5	18	.233
Napoli, Mike (LAA)	C	94	30	.319	6	17	2	15	.319
Pena, Carlos (TAM)	1B	133	34	.256	13	33	0	25	.256
Totals		1065	290	.272	49	161	33	159	.272

Name	Pos	W	L	IP	S	W	K	ERA	W PCT
Braden, Dallas (OAK)	P	3	4	42.0	0	3	27	2.79	0.429
Carmona, Fausto (CLE)	P	2	4	47.3	0	2	27	5.70	0.333
Cruz, Juan (KAN)	P	2	0	16.7	1	2	12	1.62	1.000
Fuentes, Brian (LAA)	P	0	2	12.7	9	0	16	4.97	0.000
Greinke, Zack (KAN)	P	7	1	60.0	0	7	65	0.60	0.875
Guthrie, Jeremy (BAL)	P	3	3	46.7	0	3	29	5.21	0.500
Nathan, Joe (MIN)	P	1	1	14.7	6	1	15	3.07	0.500
Sabathia, C.C. (NYY)	P	3	3	56.0	0	3	37	3.70	0.500
Totals		21	18	296.0	16	21	228	3.41	0.538

Damon is tracking ahead of even the most optimistic projections. Pena apparently isn’t a fluke when it comes to long ball. Napoli is also going deep – and batting over .300. Kendrick and Figgins have BA’s that won’t linger low forever. On the hitting side, The Kid has some surprises but also more upside than makes me comfortable. Same on pitching. Greinke is finally the pitcher people back in the day thought he would be. Kudos to his shrink, who is probably also his chemist. I thought Braden was a blunder: apparently not. Fuentes is definitely going to be a disappointment – with 40 saves. And *Sabbathia has not yet begun to pitch.* I came to point out that Baby Cheech is swaying on a tightrope, and the only way to go is down. But it turns out he on a ladder that could lead to the stars. My prediction: 2-1 this year when the leaves turn to gold, there will be gold in Matt’s pocket.

Now, let’s look at Marfa, who I thought would be in the 40’s with the season a quarter gone, perfectly situated as A-Rod begins to pound.

A Cancer on the League Giant Steps Little Chi Chi Marfa Dogs T. S. Intellectual The Depositions The FunGhouls The Money Shot The Stinking Badgers Fantasy - Active Fantasy - Non-Active MLB Year to Date

Stats for Players While Active

Name	Pos	AB	H	AVG	HR	RBI	SB	R	AVG
Aviles, Mike (KAN)	SS	108	21	.194	1	8	1	9	.194
Barajas, Rod (TOR)	C	108	33	.306	3	22	0	13	.306
Davis, Chris (TEX)	1B	121	29	.240	10	21	0	21	.240
Gomez, Carlos (MIN)	OF	58	12	.207	0	2	3	10	.207
Lopez, Jose (SEA)	2B	137	33	.241	3	19	0	17	.241
Ordonez, Magglio (DET)	OF	124	32	.258	2	16	0	16	.258
Quentin, Carlos (CHA)	OF	118	27	.229	8	18	1	19	.229
Rodriguez, Alex (NYY)	3B	22	3	.136	1	4	0	1	.136
Thome, Jim (CHA)	DH	91	21	.231	6	18	0	18	.231
Totals		887	211	.238	34	128	5	124	.238

Name	Pos	W	L	IP	S	W	K	ERA	W PCT
Blackburn, Nick (MIN)	P	2	2	41.7	0	2	19	4.32	0.500
Floyd, Gavin (CHA)	P	2	3	39.3	0	2	31	7.32	0.400
Harrison, Matt (TEX)	P	4	2	44.7	0	4	24	4.23	0.667
Lester, Jon (BOS)	P	2	4	47.0	0	2	54	6.51	0.333
Lyon, Brandon (DET)	P	1	3	15.7	0	1	5	6.89	0.250
Papelbon, Jonathan (BOS)	P	0	0	16.0	9	0	19	1.13	0.000
Sonnanstine, Andy (TAM)	P	1	4	34.7	0	1	21	7.27	0.200
Wilson, C.J. (TEX)	P	2	2	15.3	1	2	10	4.11	0.500
Totals		14	20	254.3	10	14	183	5.52	0.412

Well, damn. What you notice first is that at .238, his team BA won’t stay there forever, and with those hits will come runs, ribs and homers. But again: *damn*. That’s a deep hole. Quentin disappoints, Gomez disappoints, Maggs DISAPPOINTS. On the pitching side, Brad’s mysterious Harrison pick (and what website shared that secret) looks prescient, but Lester puzzles more than Harrison amazes. I read some articles saying Lester was the ace of the Bosox staff and a Cy Young darkhorse. Even Papelbon has blown a couple saves. Brad says he’s not even going to pay attention till August 1. Let’s hope we won’t have to sneak into his house and burn all his calendars. This is a huge deficit.

And here are the standings for the last 11 days.

Standings from 5/4/2009 thru 5/5/2009

Name	Avg	HR	R	RBI	SB	ERA	K	S	W	W PCT	Total
Little Chi Chi	8.0	8.0	4.0	9.0	6.0	9.0	7.5	9.0	8.0	7.0	75.5
T. S. Intellectual	7.0	1.5	9.0	3.0	9.0	6.0	4.0	3.0	9.0	8.5	60.0
The Stinking Badgers	2.0	6.0	1.5	7.0	8.0	8.0	3.0	3.0	5.5	8.5	52.5
Giant Steps	9.0	3.5	5.0	7.0	2.0	4.0	5.5	3.0	5.5	5.0	49.5
The FunGhouls	5.0	6.0	6.0	4.5	2.0	5.0	9.0	7.0	2.0	2.0	48.5
The Depositions	4.0	3.5	7.0	1.0	6.0	7.0	2.0	3.0	5.5	5.0	44.0
The Money Shot	6.0	6.0	3.0	4.5	2.0	3.0	7.5	7.0	2.0	2.0	43.0
A Cancer on the League	3.0	9.0	8.0	7.0	6.0	1.0	1.0	3.0	2.0	2.0	42.0
Marfa Dogs	1.0	1.5	1.5	2.0	4.0	2.0	5.5	7.0	5.5	5.0	35.0

News and Notes from Around the League

The results from the last week:

Standings from 4/26/2009 thru 5/3/2009 (including game stats through 5/3/2009)
Name Avg HR R RBI SB ERA K S W W PCT Total
T. S. Intellectual
9.0 6.5 9.0 6.5 9.0 9.0 7.0 6.0 8.5 8.0 78.5
Little Chi Chi
2.0 6.5 6.0 4.5 8.0 7.0 8.0 8.0 4.5 3.0 57.5
A Cancer on the League
5.0 9.0 8.0 8.5 7.0 2.0 2.0 4.5 6.5 4.0 56.5
The Stinking Badgers
1.0 1.0 2.5 3.0 6.0 8.0 9.0 2.0 8.5 6.0 47.0
The Depositions
8.0 8.0 7.0 4.5 5.0 1.0 1.0 8.0 1.0 1.0 44.5
The Money Shot
6.0 3.5 2.5 1.5 4.0 5.0 3.0 8.0 4.5 5.0 43.0
The FunGhouls
4.0 3.5 4.5 8.5 2.5 3.0 5.0 2.0 2.5 7.0 42.5
Giant Steps
7.0 3.5 4.5 6.5 2.5 6.0 6.0 2.0 2.5 2.0 42.5
Marfa Dogs
3.0 3.5 1.0 1.5 1.0 4.0 4.0 4.5 6.5 9.0 38.0


Russ had a slow week, but he’s still in front; Kevin Slowey is 4-0 with a 5-plus ERA (oh that’s not right)… Little Chi Chi is closing fast on the backs of Pena and Greinke, and Sabbathia has not yet begun to fight and Upton has not yet begun to hit, so he’s feeling good…. If A-Rod is back in a week, will it pick up Marfa’s lagging fortunes? Even the experts disagree, but at the end of the year his team won’t be hitting .233 so put down those clubs and torches… Tola gets six SBs in one game from Crawford; Scutaro and Inge make a mockery of prediction and projection … Don’t count Paulie out, no not yet. Mauer homers first AB back, with E.Santana, Dice-K and Wang waiting in the wings (it’s a long year)… Bob is keeping close without Lackey; so who in the hell is Frank Francisco? … Peter is convinced that Liriano can only get better while Halliday really may win 25; but that Lowrie pick won’t take its teeth out of his ass… How much do Vlad and Big Papi have left in the tank? Kevin wonders. Meanwhile, K-Zook and Cano go nuts…The BCL has four A’s, and none of them are worth a damn; he says, “More smoke! More mirrors!”

Cover of Paulie

Image via Wikipedia