Week 8

A slow start to the week saw me fall all the way down to 4th place (clinging to 4th place) until a solid weekend pushed me back into Second Place. For the weekly scoring period, I finished in 7th place... so actually not a very good week. My main competitors just happened to do worse. Glad to be back in 2nd, but that wont last unless things start to turn around.

Here is a look at the top of the overall standings.

1 ~ Fantasy Tools 83.5
2 ~ Antelope Crusaders 70.0
3 ~ Balls Deep 67.0
4 ~ Wheats N Raisins 65.0
4~ Lynnwood Legacy 65.0

First place remains a distant dream, but as you can see... there are teams right on my heels. Here is a more in-depth look at how things went in week 8.


Hitting (60 for 284, .211ba, 9hr, 33rbi, 29rs, 6sb)
Hard to believe that my team has fallen into a batting slump, but that is definitely what has happened. After hitting a pretty sad .250 last week... things got truly pathetic this week with a .211 effort. As a team last season, the collection of players I have hit .289.

While the batting average was extremely poor this week, the other numbers weren't too bad. Albert Pujols hitting 3 HRs on Sunday (and 1 on Saturday) had a lot to do with that. It shows the impact a star player getting hot can have. The big weekend made Pujols (8 for 22, 4hr, 9rbi, 6r) my player of the week. The Machine can make a huge difference.

Hanley Ramirez (6 for 21, 1hr, 3rbi, 3r, 3sb) looks like he might be heating up too. He talked about running more this week, and backed that up with 3 steals. Certainly hoping that lasts. Troy Glaus (5 for 19, 1hr, 7rbi, 4r) continues to sting the ball. He's been streaking for most of May. Rod Barajas (5 for 14, 4rbi) had a solid week too... which might have been better had he not gotten a little dinged up. Placido Polanco (5 for 12) got more of a ding, and it looked like he might miss a couple of ~months~ at one point... but it sounds like it instead will just be a few games. Good news there.

There wasn't a lot of good hitting news to be found though. Bengie Molina went 1 for 18, and the Giants have now called up Buster Posey. Molina still has his job... for now... but the dude better start hitting. Roger Bernadina went 1 for 15, putting his playing time back in jeopardy. Ryan Howard (4 for 21, 1rbi) isn't going to lose any time, but he all of a sudden looks lost at the plate. Matt Kemp (5 for 24) isn't doing much better.

The new guys from my most recent trade all sucked. J Upton (1 for 14), D Eckstein (3 for 15) G Kottaras (2 for 10) and L Nix (0 for 3) combined to go 6 for 42... ugly.

Lots and lots of candidates for 'goat of the week' and no one could argue if Bengie Molina was given the goat. But, I think Nyjer Morgan (2 for 23, 1r) was even worse. He's striking out way too much, not drawing walks or getting extra base hits... he is just 9 for 17 in SB... he isn't scoring runs... and now, he's lost his leadoff spot (he's been moved down to second). He's getting ready to lose playing time too.

Can understand a guy like Bengie Molina getting into a slump. He never-ever gets an infield hit and drawing walks has never been a part of his game. If he's not hitting the ball hard, than he almost has to be slumping. Morgan though... he ~should~ be able to get some bunt hits... he ~should~ get infield hits... he ~should~ reach enough to steal some bases and score some runs... he ~should~ be able to be halfway decent even when he isn't hitting the ball. Yet... he has been slumping for a solid month now.

I'm hoping June is a better month in Antelope. This team is built around finishing First and Second in the hitting categories... and the current 4th and 5th spots aren't going to cut it.


Pitching (75ip, 3.00era, 1.40ratio, 59k, 4w, 1s)
Pretty solid pitching week by most standards... and here in Antelope... wow... look at that ERA! This does NOT feel like my team... lol... so-so hitting and good pitching.

There was lots of good pitching this week though. Jon Garland (14ip, 1.29era, 1.00ratio, 11k, 2w) was brilliant. Jon Ely (7.1ip, 1er, 6on, 4k, 1w) continues to post great numbers... Luis Atilano had a solid start... Kevin Correia threw 6 shutout innings... and Tyler Clippard (5ip, 0er, 3on, 7k) got back on track.

Lots of good news there. The best of it though comes from Anibal Sanchez (13ip, 1.39era, 1.15ratio, 13k, 2w). His control is far better than it has been, and he's not giving up the long ball (just 1 hr in 63 innings). He has become a dependable pitcher for me.

On the negative side... Chris Narveson (4ip, 4er, 10on, 2k) got hammered. That trade has NOT worked out thus far. Have hopes for the hitters, but Narveson isn't likely to last. Matt Capps (1ip, 1er, 5on, 1s) all of a sudden can't get an out... a trend that started when I traded for him. He only pitches 1 inning all week... and gives up 5 hits... come on.

Nick Masset (2ip, 2er, 5 on, 4k) continues to get 2 Ks an inning... while giving up a run. Those Ks have me hanging on, but I honestly don't understand why the Reds continue to let him pitching tight innings. I'd move him to middle relief if I were Dusty Baker. He's not going to get any wins or saves giving up runs like he does, so it doesn't much matter what his role is to me.

The goat of the week though is Zack Duke (5.1ip, 7er, 14on, 4k). An ugly start for a pitcher that gives up too many hits. Would like to find a way to upgrade Duke. He isn't much of a K pitcher and the few wins he gets aren't much help to me. Starting to think I'd be better of with a Relief Pitcher. Not thrilled with Mr Duke.


Other News
Didn't have any moves other than the big trade I blogged about earlier in the week. Can do some more tweaking here and there... like dumping Zack Duke for a less harmful ERA and Ratio pitcher. Really though, it's about my hitters hitting now. That needs to start happening.