Week 1

I end the first week of the season in 3rd place overall...

1 ~ Smokin' Armadillos - 80.5
2 ~ Fantasy Tools - 78.5
3 ~ Antelope Crusaders - 76.0
4 ~ Chris B Wheats N Raisins - 65.5

Solid first week for sure. Predictably enough, most of my points came from hitting... 53.5 points, 12 more than any other team. Pitching scored me 22.5, 9th most in the (11 team) league. Some good signs with pitching though, so I'm hoping to have a better second week there.

Hitting (92 for 304, .303ba, 13hr, 63rbi, 50rs, 7sb)
I finished week 1 in first place in every hitting category, except Stolen Bases where I was second. So, there were lots of big weeks. Three players had 10 RBI and eight players hit over .300. Ryan Howard was massive (3hr, 10rbi, .357)... Matt Kemp and Jorge Cantu were excellent too. Placido Polanco got off to a huge start too (1 hr, 8rbi, 8rs, .482 in 27AB). Ballpark and lineup wise, he's in as good a spot as is possible. He could have a really nice season in 2010. Not going to win an MVP or anything... but 15hr and a .300ba with 100+ Runs is very possible.

Ronnie Belliard got off to a fast start too. 6 for 12 with a HR... which should help him get more ABs. He'll at least platoon, but I'm hoping he works himself into 400 ABs this season.

So, a lot of good news. The Hitter of the Week though, without question... is Albert Pujols. 4hr, 10rbi, 7rs and a .375 ba (in 24 ABs). He remains amazing.

Disappointing hitters are few. Tony Gwynn was 2 for 14 (with 2sb). He wont play much against LHP, which is a good thing. No concern with him. Troy Glaus was 5 for 24 with no extra base hits. That's a slow start, and combined with the lack of power he showed in the Spring is a bit of a concern. Bobby Cox says he looks great though, and he is a streaky power hitter. Nate Schierholtz only picked up 5 ABs on the week, and that is a real concern. He needs to play... and I assume he will... to get things going. It is only the first week and all, but I'd sure as heck like to see more in week 2 (a couple of starts would be nice).

Greg Zaun is easily the goat of the week though. He went 0 for 14. He did walk twice and didn't strike out though, so he's not being overwhelmed. I'm not exactly expecting a lot of him either (7hr, 40rbi, ,260 would be fine). But the O-for makes him the goat of the week in Antelope.

Pitching (79.2 ip, 5.31era, 1.48ratio, 58k, 5w, 0s)
Tyler Clippard got off to a fast-fast start (6.1ip, 0.00era, 0.79ratio, 8k, 1w) which was great to see. Zack Duke got 2 starts in the week, and he won them both (12ip, 3.00era, 1.17ratio, 3 ks). Really thrilled to see that. It's going to be hard to find wins, so 2 in a week for Duke is sweet.

My pitcher of the week though was Hiroki Kuroda. He tossed 8 shutout innings and won his opener (7Ks, 6on). He was probably my best draft day deal (at $2).

No shortage of goats. The week started off real badly when Nick Masset gave up 5er in an inning. He bounced back strong though with 3 straight shutout innings, and he even picked up a win. That gave me 2 relief wins in the week... and, true story... it took me over half the season to do that last season.

The real issue was with the Starting Pitching. Brett Myers was left in way too long and paid the price (6ip, 4er, 13on). Houston has to ease him into things a bit... not send him out there to get shelled while throwing his 100th pitch. Ugly situation there. I think Myers is a decent pitcher with some upside talent. Will be tough finding wins there though.

Jason Marquis was bad too, after a bad spring. (4ip, 6er, 11on). The Phillies are a tough draw though. John Garland got two starts on the road and lost them both. He was at least able to halfway hang in there though, which is more than the goat of the week can say... Vicente Padilla.

8.2ip, 11er, 18on. He did get 8Ks which was nice, but what really killed him was giving up 4er in 4ip to the Pirates in the opener at home. Ouch. Like they say on ESPN... come on, man! Gotta take advantage of games like that.