Newsletter for games through 5-23-2010

Laynce Nix of the Braves hit for the cycle in the 17-13 slugfest against the Braves on 5/20….One day later, Adam Jones of the Orioles hit for the cycle against the Nationals…Jeff Francis of the Rocks and Steve Shell of the Mariners each had 14 strikeout games last week…Would you rather have had Nix’s cycle, or Kendry Morales’ 3 HR and 6 RBI against the Chisox last week?…The Chisox also had Miguel Cabrera knock in 7 runs against them, but despite the 2 monster days they allowed they managed to scrape together a 3-4 week…Philly added room in the NL East this week, but the Nationals look pretty good and are about to get a Strasberg infusion….and the Braves lurk in the middle of the pack, posting a 5-2 week…6-1 weeks got the Angels and the Tigers back into the action, and made Baltimore look like a dangerous spoiler in a brutal division…It’s still early, but Adam Symonds’ Mariners have a commanding WOR out of the gate…Andre Ethier is 1 HR behind Mark Reynolds from leading the NL in HR, RBI, and batting average…Minnesota leads the ASFBL in offense, having scored 28 more runs than the next closest team, the Yankees…Tampa Bay and the Yankees are doing it with speed; they have 42 and 41 stolen bases respectively…Baltimore and Philadelphia each have 6….The Padres lead the league with 50…I don’t know about the real Padres, but the ASFBL team is for real, with great pitching (3rd in the ASFBL) and defense (73 hit-saving plays) to go with the speed….they only have 28 HR, in the bottom 3…Yunel Escobar of the Giants contributed his own inning to the pitchers vs Oakland last week, robbing 3 hits on 5/23.

25 of 30 owners turned in lineups last week; next week we’ll have almost 2 full months behind us!

Jon

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Newsletter for games through 5/16/2010

The NL West saw a lead change, with the Giants nudging in front of the Rockies with a perfect 6-0 record…Not that the Rockies were slouches, either, as they went 5-2…No AL team did better than 4-2 last week, although five teams did win 4…the real test of league strength happens next week, of course, in the interleague games…The Reds made a move to emerge from the middle of the pack this week, posting a 5-1 record….No other NL Central team had a winning record…San Diego is doing it with power arms; they are 3rd in ASFBL team ERA, but have almost 100 more strikeouts than TB and SF, the only 2 teams with better ERA numbers…The only team close to the SD team strikeout total of 359 is division rival Colorado, only 3 behind at 356…The Rockies pitching is surprisingly good on a number of fronts, including the bullpen which has allowed only 1 of 35 inherited runners to score, tops in the league…Seattle had a team ERA under 3.00 and is 4th in the ASFBL, but their bullpen has allowed half of the inherited runners to score, worst in the league…4 of the top 6 ASFBL teams in runs scored are in the AL East…Houston has the fewest runs scored in the league, but their defense is the tightest; they lead the league with the fewest bad plays and errors…Texas and Tampa Bay are the speed demons of the league, with 36 and 35 stolen bases respectively, first and second in the league…The Toronto team composition is fascinating; considering their real numbers, they have the best power in the league and are 6th in fielding, but are 28th in batting average and 25th in team ERA…The White Sox also have a huge gap in their power-to-average ratings, just the way Billy Beane would like it…The interleague games should be competitive; of the top 8 teams in overall power ratings, 4 are from the AL and 4 from the NL.

Interleague games are next week, so many sure you have  lineups set for both leagues.

Thanks to everyone for a smooth week!

Newsletter for games through 5/10/2010

In honor of Mother’s Day, I turned fonts on the fantasy player names to pink on the games of 5/10…4 of the 5 NL East teams posted winning weeks…Tampa and Minnesota posted the only 5+ win weeks…Every NL divisional race is 1.5 games or closer, while every AL division leader is up by exactly 4.5 games…Even Dallas Braden couldn’t stop the Rays this week, giving up 5 runs and losing to them…The aging Livan Hernandez is the workhorse of the ASFBL, leading the league in innings…Have we seen this movie before?  Miriano Rivera leads the league in saves.  Isn’t he about 70 now?…The amazing Congaltonian Cubs lead the ASFBL with a .294 batting average….The Padres, Mariners, and Rays all have team ERAs under 3.00…In the “all or nothing” category, or what I think of as the Rob Deer awards, the Blue Jays lead the ASFBL in real HR% but are 29th in batting average…not surprisingly, they lead the ASFBL with 58 HR…

Wish Leo luck on his Yellowstone endeavors…the first set of waivers was active this week, and will remain so until the last lineup of the season…

Thanks to all for a great week!

Jon

Newsletter for games through 5-2-2010

The Yankees and the Rays, locked in a footrace atop the AL East, tied for the best league record this week…4 of 5 teams in the NL East have winning records…Adam Symonds has the Mariners +6 WOR; Jeanine Congalton and Scott Treffer are each +4….All 3 teams are in first place or within a half game of it…Arizona leads the ASFBL with 45 HR; the Yankees, Boston, and the Cubs all have more than 40, while 5 other teams have fewer than 20….The Reds’ bullpen has allowed none of 25 inherited runners to score…Every ASFBL team is within .02 of their real team batting average…The Cubs are in the top 10 in HR, batting average, ERA, and fielding…Minnesota has the best defense in the league…Brett Gardner of the Yankees leads the ASFBL in stolen bases with 18…Carl Pavano has the best BB per IP ratio…

We are now on the upload Monday, lineups Tuesday, game run Wednesday schedule…next upload is Monday, May 10 and will include games through May 9.