Newsletter for games through 8-26-2012

COMMENTS: Every 2nd place team in the NL gained ground this week…Milwaukee and Philly did especially well, although they have some ground to cover..kudos to the Rockies and Braves, who each posted winning weeks…The Dodgers won’t go away in the West…Cincy held on to the best record in the NL…Houston and Boston are taking command of the WOR standings as the real clubs collapse…Minnesota is also picking up key WOR ground…5 of 6 races are 5 games or closer…the Rangers squeezed back out in front of the Angels in the tightest race in the ASFBL….Boston is looking to take the best record in the league AND the top WOR spot….”good job” to Tony….Jonathan LuCroy hit .615 for the Brewers last week…Kris Medlen pitched 18 shutout innings….the league-wide team real-to-fantasy ERA is within .003 … Boston and St. Louis have real team ERAs of under 3.00..The only player on my Mets due to have a week hitting better than .280 was pitching phenom Matt Harvey….

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Matt Moore of WAS had 12 strikeouts against ATL on 8/20/2012
Chris Young of ARI robbed 3 hits against MIA on 8/20/2012
Matt Harvey of NYM had 10 strikeouts against COL on 8/21/2012
David Wright of BOS robbed 3 hits against LAA on 8/21/2012
Travis Ishikawa of MIL struck out 4 times against CHC on 8/21/2012
Shin-Soo Choo of WAS struck out 4 times against ATL on 8/22/2012
Scott Podsednik of PHI had 5 hits against CIN on 8/22/2012
Matt Moore of WAS had 12 strikeouts against ATL on 8/20/2012
Chris Young of ARI robbed 3 hits against MIA on 8/20/2012
Matt Harvey of NYM had 10 strikeouts against COL on 8/21/2012
David Wright of BOS robbed 3 hits against LAA on 8/21/2012
Travis Ishikawa of MIL struck out 4 times against CHC on 8/21/2012
Shin-Soo Choo of WAS struck out 4 times against ATL on 8/22/2012
Scott Podsednik of PHI had 5 hits against CIN on 8/22/2012
Justin Ruggiano of HOU struck out 4 times against STL on 8/22/2012
Madison Bumgarner of SFG had 10 strikeouts against ATL on 8/23/2012
Jason Heyward of ATL struck out 5 times against SFG on 8/23/2012
Juan Francisco of ATL struck out 4 times against SFG on 8/23/2012
Yovani Gallardo of MIL had 12 strikeouts against PIT on 8/24/2012
Felix Hernandez of NYY had 12 strikeouts against CLE on 8/24/2012
Adam Dunn of CWS struck out 5 times against SEA on 8/24/2012
Francisco Liriano of TBR had 10 strikeouts against OAK on 8/25/2012
Yoenis Cespedes of OAK struck out 4 times against TBR on 8/25/2012
Derek Norris of OAK struck out 4 times against TBR on 8/25/2012

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Newsletter for games through 8-19-2012

Just imagine that I’ve written a witty, insightful newsletter that was nuked by 2 errant keyboard strikes.  Was there a saved draft?  No.

Things I remember: The big news is that the Angels have taken over the AL west…The Reds made up some serious ground in the NL Central…You gotta respect what Hugh Brown has done with Toronto; he’s got the best WOR record for a team with a winning record… the NL division leaders have an “X” and two “Y”s in their names…Albert Pujols (of the ASFBL Nationals) hit 3 HR and had 6 RBI in a game against the Mets on the18th….he was, of course, acquired from the Mets…promise to be more careful with the various keyboard buttons next week…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Mark Buehrle of MIA struck out 4 times against PHI on 8/14/2012
Justin Upton of SFG robbed 3 hits against WAS on 8/14/2012
Yadier Molina of NYY had 6 RBI against TEX on 8/15/2012
Brandon Hicks of OAK struck out 4 times against KCR on 8/15/2012
Mark Teixeira of NYY had 6 RBI against TEX on 8/16/2012
Juan Francisco of ATL struck out 4 times against SDP on 8/16/2012
Matt Harvey of NYM had 10 strikeouts against CIN on 8/16/2012
Mark Reynolds of BOS struck out 4 times against NYY on 8/17/2012
Chris Johnson of HOU struck out 4 times against ARI on 8/17/2012
Ryan Howard of SFG struck out 4 times against SDP on 8/17/2012
Steve Johnson of BAL had 10 strikeouts against DET on 8/18/2012
Nick Markakis of BAL had 5 hits against DET on 8/18/2012
Tyler Greene of BAL struck out 4 times against DET on 8/18/2012
Ian Kennedy of ARI had 11 strikeouts against HOU on 8/18/2012
Michael Saunders of CLE robbed 3 hits against OAK on 8/18/2012

Newsletter for games through 8-12-2012

Thanks to everyone for their patience with my delayed upload.  27 lineups this week; all but 1 in the AL and all but 2 in the NL!

Good wishes go out to Rick Wynne, who had knee replacement surgery this week.  That’s not going on the ASFBL DL, that’s earning the ASFBL purple heart….

COMMENTS; Score one for Rangers in the Texas-Boston showdown this week; the teams with the best 2 records in the ASFBL squared off, and Texas took 2 of 3…Boston outscored them in the series 14-13…may be a preview of playoff series to come…Another big series was St. Louis/San Francisco…the teams split 4 games…Baltimore and the Yankees, meanwhile, are conceding nothing, posting 6 and 5 wins respectively…While the Cards and Giants were beating each other up, the Reds snuck back into first place in the NL Central with 6 wins…3 division leaders actually had losing records this week, while the Twins, Brewers, Rockies, and Pirates were all winners…The Angels won’t go away, and picked up another game in the AL West….it’s the tightest race in the AL….The Dodgers also kept the heat on in the NL West; still in striking distance….As the actual Astros fall apart, Colby Perkins’ 10.5 WOR number looks pretty good…Adam Jones still leads the ASFBL with 37 HR…Scott Downs of Anaheim has 29 saves, even with all that time on the DL…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Robinson Cano of STL hit 3 home runs against SFG on 8/6/2012
Robinson Cano of STL had 7 RBI against SFG on 8/6/2012
Alfonso Soriano of CHC struck out 5 times against SDP on 8/8/2012
Dan Uggla of ATL struck out 4 times against PHI on 8/8/2012
Giancarlo Stanton of MIA hit 3 home runs against NYM on 8/8/2012
Bryan LaHair of CHC struck out 4 times against CIN on 8/9/2012
Alex Avila of DET had 6 RBI against TEX on 8/10/2012
Matt Carpenter of TBR had 5 hits against MIN on 8/10/2012
R.A. Dickey of LAA had 12 strikeouts against SEA on 8/10/2012
Curtis Granderson of NYY struck out 4 times against TOR on 8/11/2012
Carl Crawford of KCR struck out 4 times against BAL on 8/12/2012
Jake Peavy of LAA had 10 strikeouts against SEA on 8/12/2012

Newsletter for games through 8-5-2012

Did I say something ludicrous in the last newsletter like I’d have more time this week?  The week before I got the games posted a day late?  Apologies both for missing the deadline and actively misleading you.  My performance is up to the standards of the Angel bullpen.

21 trades last week!  28 liineups submitted!

Last Sunday I pitched the idea of the HSP and DNM (in use in ASFBL since its inception) to the LA chapter of SABR; Don Zminda, co-founder of Stats, Inc., was there, and he went out of his way to tell me that we might be on to something.  My hope is that by next Spring we’ll have something set up to start collecting the information and have it distributed somewhere.  But then again, I thought I’d have the games posted on time 🙂

COMMENTARY: The war in the NL central got tighter this week…the Marlins, Braves, Philllies, Brewers, Dodgers, and Dbacks are all within 2 games of the second wildcard spot…that’s a lot of meaningful games down the stretch…a big role for spoilers, too…In the AL, the fantasy Angels are gaining on both the real club and the Rangers, although Rick Wynne’s group picked up a game this week…The Jays, Orioles, and Yankees are all within a half game of each other and are all vying for the second wildcard spot….The Indians were 2-4, but that was a lot better than the real club has been doing lately; Steve’s team is now +3 WOR…the AL central race is a long way from over, but Steve Horak has finally made the Chisox the front-runners…Jose Reyes of the Marlins stole 5 bases last week…Jeff Smardzija of the Cubs led the ASFBL with 17 strikeouts last week…As the actual Astros collapse, Colby Perkins has a serious shot at the WOR title, and much of it may depend on whether the actual Bosox can stay competitive….Congrats to Colby, a 19-year ASFBL vet, who has finished in the top-10 WOR 5 times….this would be his highest finish ever, and arguably his best ASFBL season (although 91 wins in 2010 wasn’t too shabby).

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Bryan LaHair of CHC struck out 4 times against PIT on 7/30/2012
Drew Sutton of OAK struck out 5 times against TBR on 7/30/2012
Danny Espinosa of SEA struck out 4 times against TOR on 7/30/2012
Scott Hairston of NYM had 6 RBI against SFG on 7/30/2012
Brian McCann of BOS robbed 3 hits against DET on 7/31/2012
Quintin Berry of PIT struck out 4 times against CHC on 7/31/2012
Francisco Liriano of TBR had 11 strikeouts against OAK on 7/31/2012
Travis Hafner of CLE had 6 RBI against KCR on 8/1/2012
Clayton Richard of SDP struck out 4 times against CIN on 8/2/2012
Justin Morneau of MIN struck out 4 times against BOS on 8/2/2012
Torii Hunter of LAA had 6 RBI against TEX on 8/2/2012
Ryan Braun of BOS robbed 3 hits against MIN on 8/3/2012
Erik Kratz of KCR had 5 hits against TEX on 8/4/2012
Paul Konerko of BOS had 5 hits against MIN on 8/4/2012
Jeff Samardzija of CHC had 10 strikeouts against LAD on 8/4/2012
Garrett Jones of PIT hit 3 home runs against CIN on 8/5/2012
Garrett Jones of PIT had 6 RBI against CIN on 8/5/2012

Newsletter for games through 7-29-2012

COMMENTS:  Big news in the NL is that St. Louis picked up 2 and 1/2 games in the NL central….and Houston went 6-1 as well…the top of the NL west stalled but the Dbacks went 5-2…Boston crept out a little farther in the AL East….just like the real club, the Mariners are surprisingly strong in the second half; a 5-2 record this week….The Indians were an impressive 5-2, but the Chisox went 5-1 to hold the lead in the AL central….Right now, Baltimore and Tornoto are duking it out for 2nd and 3rd in the AL East, and the winner would get the last wild card spot if the season ended today…Washington and St. Louis have ASFBL team ERAs under 3.00…San Francisco is right at 3.00….Anaheim leads the AL…The Yankees have the ASFBL team pitching most due to adjust down….the Marlins are most due to adjust up…next week I should again have a little more time to devote to this; thanks for your collective patience for my crazy summer schedule.

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Ryan Sweeney of PIT struck out 4 times against CHC on 7/23/2012
Ben Sheets of ATL had 12 strikeouts against MIA on 7/23/2012
Jordan Zimmermann of WAS had 11 strikeouts against NYM on 7/23/2012
Carlos Quentin of WAS had 6 RBI against NYM on 7/23/2012
Joe Blanton of TBR had 11 strikeouts against BAL on 7/24/2012
Nick Markakis of BAL struck out 4 times against TBR on 7/24/2012
David Price of BOS had 11 strikeouts against TEX on 7/24/2012
Joe Mauer of WAS had 5 hits against NYM on 7/25/2012
A.J. Griffin of OAK had 13 strikeouts against TOR on 7/26/2012
Josh Reddick of OAK had 6 RBI against TOR on 7/26/2012
Drew Sutton of OAK struck out 4 times against TOR on 7/26/2012
Rickie Weeks of MIL struck out 4 times against WAS on 7/26/2012
David Price of BOS had 12 strikeouts against NYY on 7/29/2012