Week 5

For the 5th scoring period I came in third place... behind the Dittoheads who has a massive hitting week and the Tools (the best team in the league). I was close though, just 7 points out of winning the week. Overall, I picked up 0.5 points... so a positive week. Enough to keep me solidly in second place.

Here is a look at the top of the standings:


1 ~ Fantasy Tools 83.0
2 ~ Antelope Crusaders 78.0
3 ~ Lynnwood Legacy 67.0
4 ~ Balls Deep 63.5
5 ~ Dittoheads 62.5


I have 49 hitting points, easily the most in the league. There is room for improvement though. Pitching wise, I have 29 points... which is middle of the pack. I'd love to maintain that too. Actually, I'd take second place right now. I don't think the Tools can be beat... so... yea... this is probably the best I can hope for.

One to the week in review...


Hitting (83 for 316, .263ba, 9hr, 36rbi, 40rs, 7sb)
The hitter of the week was Greg Zaun (6 for 15, 2hr, 5rbi, 3rs, 0sb)... and the goat of the week was Albert Pujols (6 for 27, 0hr, 1rbi, 2rs, 0sb)... so you know it was a strange week!

Besides Pujols... Ryan Howard (6 for 26), Jorge Cantu (3 for 22, 1hr) and Matt Kemp (5 for 22) struggled too. I'm actually a touch worried about Kemp too. The Dodgers have moved him to the #2 spot in the order, which hopefully will help. He is really struggling though. Of those 5 hits, I know 2 were infield hits and 1 was a routine fly ball lost in the sun. He's pretty much been awful since General Manager Ned Colletti dinged his defensive efforts (and his defense has NOT improved). Batting in front of Either and Manny though... with his skill set... it has to just be a matter of time. Right?

With all those stars having off weeks, I'm pretty pleased with the week I was able to have. Some of my 'other' players really steeped up. Greg Zaun obviously had a big week. Since starting the year a painful 0 for 18 he has gone 21 for 63 (.333). He'll never be a "good" player (well, unless he hits .333 the rest of the way, lol)... but he can certainly be a decent $1 catcher.

Now, Nick Schierholtz can be a good player and he has totally nailed down the Giants RF job. He had a great week (7 for 19, 1hr, 2rbi, 6rs, 2sb) which could have been better had he not been drilled in the head with a pitch. Would really like to see him out of the 8th spot in the order though... which he was doing later in the week. I think he should bat leadoff, but that aint happening.

Roger Bernadina went 6 for 18 with a steal. Only 1 extra base hit there though (a double) and a couple of those we infield hits (and zero walks). Really hoping he can hang on to his starting (or semi-starting) job. No one else is doing better in Washington right now. Tony Gwynn went 2 for 19 and he most certainly is not better than Scott Hairston (at least offensively). Will Venable (22 for 99) and especially Kyle Banks (16 for 87) have been bad though... and that is why Gwynn is still finding ABs. He needs to start hitting though, because the Padres will eventually look for someone else to add to the mix. Getting ABs because everyone else sucks worse isn't really what I'm hoping for anyway... lol.

Polanco (9 for 29, 2hr) and Glaus (7 for 23, 5rbi) were solid... Bengie Molina (4 for 14) was good too, until a minor hamstring issue slowed him down (is that possible... for Bengie to get slower?).

Hoping some of these lesser players can keep it going... that Gwynn and Bernadina can continue to start... and that my star hitters heat up for me. I think I have as many as 4 top ten hitters (Pujols, H Ramirez, R Howard, Kemp)... and thus far none of them are in the top 10 (or even top 20). So, given that... I think my hitting is in great shape.



Pitching (68.1ip, 3.29era, 1.43ratio, 57k, 5w, 0s)
Wow, not bad for a $37 pitching staff! Heck of a week. It starts with Tyler Clippard (5.2ip, 1er, 8on, 6k, 3w, 0s)... that's THREE wins. He now has 6 wins, tied (with only 2 other pitchers) for most in the league. Last season... when I carried between 3 and 5 RP all year... I didn't pick up a relief win until ~after the All-star break~. Now I'm getting 3 in a week from a single RP... and have 11 on the year.

Not that my RP have been good (besides Clippard). Brian Bruney has a 6.00era and needs to go... Nick Masset is at 7.88 and Juan Gutierrez has a 6.75 (Ramon Troncoso has been decent, and early on Chad Durbin looks great). I think Masset and Gutierrez are solid pitchers though and will turn things around. Quite obviously though, the wins are going to slow down. Having 3 or 4 set-up guys (which was the plan) so they wont stop.

The starting staff has been largely solid. Jon Garland tossed 7 shutout innings, putting only 3 on and getting the W. That's pitcher of the week if Clippard doesn't go nuts. That start was on the road too. He's looking more and more like the real deal. Brett Myers had another solid start (7ip, 2er, 9on, 6k) and he's looking to be solid too. Has gone at least 6 innings in all of his starts.

Kevin Correia had another strong outing (and had his second start of the week skipped due to a death in the family)... Zack Duke got out of his slump... and Anibal Sanchez had a good start and a poor one.

Goat of the week was Luis Atilano (5.1ip, 6er, 12on, 4k). He really struggled to throw strikes... 5 walks there. Have seen some notes about him being a weak pitcher that lacks major league stuff. I disagree. I think he has the stuff to be a #3 starter. He has decent stuff. He does need to pitch to contact though... and this last outing he was really aiming the ball... and it obviously didn't work. He gets two starts this coming week and we shall see how it goes.

My focus is dumping Brian Bruney and adding a Starting Pitcher. Would like to do that this week, but finding a halfway decent SP is a challenge and I wont rush it.