Newsletter for games through 6-24-2012

Apologies, again,for last week’s confusion.  I think the only thing that happened was that I typed in 6/16 instead of 6/17, and then all the figures that were based on a 7-day backtrack looked bizarre.  I believe we are back on track, but as always, I welcome as many other pairs of eyes as are willing to share observations.

28 teams turned in lineups last week!

COMMENTS: Washington had a huge week and is looking to run away with the NL East…maybe by the all-star break…congrats to Andy on an excellent first 3 months….St. Louis and Cincy are in a dogfight for the NL central…Ralph is having an especially gratifying year; a Cincinnati loyalist, he’s turned in positive WOR performance for 6 of 7 years and finally has a real team good enough to contend for the division…The Brewers are also a strong plus-WOR team…There are only 2 teams with a WOR of exactly zero; the Dodgers and Orioles….each club, of course, started the season as hot as can be, so there wasn’t much reason to tinker…Every AL west team has a positive WOR….Since I dumped Ike Davis on June 12 he’s hitting .302 with 4 HR with a 1.106 OPS…5 Boston players hit .387 or better last week…Kudos to San Diego and Minnesota, teams stuck in the standings but with impressive WOR numbers…Brett Wallace of Houston his .429 but struck out 11 times last week…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Jonathon Niese of NYM had 14 strikeouts against BAL on 6/18/2012
Will Middlebrooks of BOS had 5 hits against MIA on 6/19/2012
Roy Oswalt of TEX had 11 strikeouts against SDP on 6/19/2012
Jason Hammel of BAL had 12 strikeouts against NYM on 6/20/2012
Justin Wilson of MIN had 12 strikeouts against PIT on 6/21/2012
Franklin Morales of BOS had 11 strikeouts against MIA on 6/21/2012
Cory Burns of SDP had 10 strikeouts against SEA on 6/22/2012
Jose Altuve of HOU struck out 4 times against CLE on 6/23/2012
Miguel Montero of ARI had 5 hits against CHC on 6/23/2012
Omar Quintanilla of NYM struck out 4 times against NYY on 6/24/2012
Jason Heyward of ATL had 5 hits against BOS on 6/24/2012
Elian Herrera of LAD struck out 4 times against LAA on 6/24/2012
Logan Forsythe of SDP struck out 5 times against SEA on 6/24/2012

Newsletter for games through 6/16/2012

ONE DAY OFF: Games ended on the 16th…somehow I typed in the wrong number and was away from my computer from the moment of upload until the run of games today.  Playing until the 17th would have created havoc, with some owners having set their pitching and some without.  Playing till the 16th is less than ideal but didn’t upset the competitive balance.  Next week we’ll play the 17th-24th.

COMMENTARY: Is cancelled, due to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, although the top of the AL East had a very impressive run.  I will also note, briefly, that after the RA Dickey for Ervin Santana swap, both pitchers threw 1-hitters…sometimes a change of ASFBL scenery is all it takes to turn the real performances around.

BIG NEWS!  Jake Peavy of BOS threw a no-hitter against MIA on 6/11/2012…and that part of a 6-0 week!

FEATS AND FAILURES:
Steve Pearce of NYY struck out 4 times against ATL on 6/12/2012
Matt Cain of TBR had 12 strikeouts against NYM on 6/13/2012
Michael Saunders of CLE robbed 3 hits against CIN on 6/14/2012
Andy Pettitte of NYY had 13 strikeouts against WAS on 6/16/2012
Jason Giambi of COL struck out 4 times against DET on 6/16/2012
Chris Davis of BAL struck out 4 times against ATL on 6/16/2012
Nathan Eovaldi of LAD had 11 strikeouts against CWS on 6/16/2012

Newsletter for games through 6-10-2012

COMMENTS:  Thanks to all of you who were very polite about pointing out that there were, in fact, inter-league games this week.  Thanks to the larger group of you who didn’t complain about me getting this out 8 hours late.  If you let me off the front on both counts, you’re probably going to easy on me, so a special thanks for that.

Two big trends: The Dodgers made a big push with a 6-1 week, and now threaten the Giants in the NL west.  They are -1 WOR, but showing strong.  The Bosox went 6-0 and picked up 3 games in the AL east.  Minnesota played scrappy, went 5-1, and are +1.5 WOR…it is true that my Mets are horrific -10 WOR, but I take some comfort in knowing the real team has allowed 18 more runs than they’ve scored, so their +.500 record might not hold for long…who am I to argue with the Pythagoream Theorem?…St. Louis reclaimed a razor-thin edge in the NL central…Every NL race is 2.5 games or closer…Florid is the only NL east team with a positive WOR…the Padres continue to be the strongest challenger to the Rangers in the WOR standings…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Chris Sale of CWS had 15 strikeouts against TOR on 6/5/2012
Kelly Johnson of TOR struck out 4 times against CWS on 6/5/2012
Trevor Bauer of ARI had 11 strikeouts against COL on 6/5/2012
Desmond Jennings of SFG robbed 3 hits against SDP on 6/5/2012
\David Cooper of TOR had 5 hits against CWS on 6/6/2012
Zack Greinke of MIL had 14 strikeouts against CHC on 6/7/2012
Jonathon Niese of NYM had 11 strikeouts against NYY on 6/8/2012
Matt Moore of TBR had 11 strikeouts against MIA on 6/8/2012
Marlon Byrd of BOS robbed 3 hits against WAS on 6/9/2012
Kelly Shoppach of BOS hit for the cycle against WAS on 6/9/2012
Kelly Shoppach of BOS had 5 hits against WAS on 6/9/2012
Mike Trout of LAA had 5 hits against COL on 6/9/2012
Chris Sale of CWS had 12 strikeouts against HOU on 6/10/2012
R.A. Dickey of LAA had 10 strikeouts against COL on 6/10/2012
Nathan Eovaldi of LAD had 12 strikeouts against SEA on 6/10/2012

Don’t forget to check out the players of the week on the stats pages…

Promise to turn it around more quickly next week!

Newsletter for games through 6-3-2012

26 lineups submitted this week!

COMMENTARY;  The Congaltonian Cubs, after a slow start, have climbed up to 3rd in the central and are +4.5 WOR….the actual club, of course, continues to follow historical pattern…every team in the NL East has a negative WOR…and kudos to Jeremy Moore, who’s got the Padres +7 WOR….no team had fewer than 2 wins on the week, something of a statistical oddity….The Orioles held on to 1st place this week, something the real team couldn’t do….Minnesota pitchers have had the worst ASFBL luck, with a collective ERA .62 higher than their actual figure…the team is due to collectively adjust down by half a run…Cincinnati fielders have robbed 94 hits, tops in the league…The ASFBL Rangers have a real team batting average of .290…Look out for the Chisox, who have the top team power rating, largely thanks to their #1 rank in real HR…Detroit ranks in the middle of the hitting rankings, but has the 5th best team real ERA and went 5-1 last week….5 of 6 division races are 3 games or closer…3 of 6 races are within a game and a half…Johann Santana gave up 6 hits in 7 innings of ASFBL work this week…In case you missed Rick’s email, ASFBL rookie Tom Duckett has the Rockies in the top 8 in the ASFBL standings…

FEATS AND FAILURES;

Carlos Gonzalez of COL had 6 hits against HOU on 5/28/2012
Rickie Weeks of MIL struck out 6 times against LAD on 5/28/2012
Casey Kotchman of CLE robbed 3 hits against KCR on 5/30/2012
Brent Lillibridge of CWS had 5 hits against TBR on 5/30/2012
Everth Cabrera of SDP struck out 4 times against CHC on 5/30/2012
James McDonald of PIT had 13 strikeouts against MIL on 6/1/2012
Mike Napoli of TEX struck out 4 times against LAA on 6/1/2012
Matt Moore of TBR had 13 strikeouts against BAL on 6/3/2012
J.J. Hardy of BAL struck out 4 times against TBR on 6/3/2012
Mark Reynolds of BAL struck out 4 times against TBR on 6/3/2012
Michael Brantley of CLE had 5 hits against MIN on 6/3/2012