Newsletter for games through 6-23-13

Apologies for the lateness; windows decided to install 62 updates last night, crashed 3 times, cost me 2 hours of computer time, and I never really caught up.

27 lineups this week!

COMMENTS:  Will be shorter this week in the interests of getting them out…Big news is that the Chisox had a perfect week and put themselves in striking distance in the AL central…Boston picked up a game in the AL East, where Toronto and Baltimore remain deadlocked…The Dodgers raced to a 5-1 week and moved to within a game of the actual club…the Giants picked up a game and a half…Chris Carter had 8 RBI in the series against the Cubs…the Cub team scored 8 runs…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Omar Quintanilla of NYM hit for the cycle against PHI on 6/22/2013!!!

Zack Wheeler of NYM had 12 strikeouts against ATL on 6/17/2013
J.J. Hardy of MIA had 5 hits against ARI on 6/17/2013
John Mayberry of PHI struck out 4 times against WAS on 6/18/2013
Chris Carter of HOU struck out 4 times against MIL on 6/18/2013
Andrew McCutchen of TEX had 5 hits against OAK on 6/19/2013
Gordon Beckham of CWS had 5 hits against MIN on 6/19/2013
Sean Rodriguez of TBR had 5 hits against NYY on 6/21/2013
Brian Dozier of MIN struck out 4 times against CLE on 6/21/2013
Juan Francisco of MIA robbed 3 hits against SFG on 6/21/2013
John Lackey of TOR had 10 strikeouts against BAL on 6/22/2013
Chris Carter of HOU hit 3 home runs against CHC on 6/22/2013
Chris Carter of HOU had 6 RBI against CHC on 6/22/2013
J.D. Martinez of HOU struck out 4 times against CHC on 6/22/2013
Erick Aybar of LAA had 5 hits against PIT on 6/22/2013

Advertisement

Newsletter for games through 6-16-13

LIFE IMITATING ART: Last Wednesday, I wrote about how the marathon games thrashed a real club but helped your fantasy bunch…one day later there were 3 extra-inning games in MLB, in which pitchers logged 36 extra innings and allowed all of 3 runs…fantasy boon…

COMMENTS: All NL division leaders had winning records this week…which helped the Rockies and Braves, for St. Louis the Pirates and the Brewers were also 5-1…Toronto fought it’s way to a tie for the AL East division lead with a 5-2 record…Boston was also 5-2….Seattle only went .5oo but overtook Texas, for which they can thank Toronto and Cleveland, who took 5 of 6 from the Rangers…in the course of that favor, the Tribe picked up a game on the Tigers…11 AL teams are within 3.5 games of first place…Combining the AL and NL central, 8 of 10 teams had winning records…The Mets and Cubs slugged it out this week, and each winning team in the series scored 8 runs or more…each team had a losing week, and each team stayed ahead of its real counterpart…the Cubs are a half game ahead of the Mets in the WOR standings…Houston and Minnesota were each 4-2…The Twins swept the mighty Tigers, and held them to 2 runs in 3 games…If the season were to end now, the NL dogfight would be for the last wild card spot, where 5 teams are within 4 games of the Reds…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Donovan Solano of MIA had 7 RBI against MIL on 6/10/2013
Dexter Fowler of COL struck out 4 times against WAS on 6/11/2013
Felix Hernandez of SEA had 14 strikeouts against HOU on 6/11/2013
David Freese of STL had 5 hits against NYM on 6/12/2013
Hunter Pence of WAS had 5 hits against COL on 6/12/2013
Yadier Molina of STL struck out 4 times against MIA on 6/14/2013
Evan Gattis of ATL had 7 RBI against SFG on 6/14/2013
Kyle Seager of SEA struck out 5 times against OAK on 6/14/2013
Austin Jackson of DET struck out 4 times against MIN on 6/15/2013
Everth Cabrera of SDP stole 6 bases against ARI on 6/15/2013
Anthony Rendon of WAS struck out 4 times against CLE on 6/16/2013
Marlon Byrd of NYM hit 3 home runs against CHC on 6/16/2013
Marlon Byrd of NYM had 6 RBI against CHC on 6/16/2013
Mark Ellis of LAD struck out 4 times against PIT on 6/16/2013
Ben Revere of ATL had 5 hits against SFG on 6/16/2013
Mike Napoli of OAK struck out 4 times against SEA on 6/16/2013
Everth Cabrera of SDP robbed 3 hits against ARI on 6/16/2013

Newsletter for games through 6-9-2013

COMMENTARY: 4 of 5 teams in the NL central had winning records…The same is true of the AL West…The Cubs and Brewers combined to go 8-4, and they’re looking up at the top of the division…Leo’s Marlins posted another winning week, and picked up ground in the East…The Cards and Rockies each extended their leads by a game…Jim Gerety’s Padres posted a strong 5-2 week…Nobody in the AL central had a winning week, and with the middle of the country stuck in neutral the Tigers still added a game to their lead despite going only .500…the second-place Indians remain +1.5 WOR…AL West newcomer Scott Treffer is enjoying the change of coastline, posted a winning week, and held on to first place in a tough division…The actual AL East is brutal enough, with only the Jays really out of it, but in the ASFBL it’s even worse with Hugh Brown running the club at 9.5 WOR…Tulowitzski had 6 HR last week, not far off his real-life tear…Jay Bruce had 11 RBI and 9 K….Cliff Lee had 18 scoreless innings and 18 K for Jim Casey’s Giants…Boston has the only ASFBL team in the top 4 spots in runs scored and ERA…look for that negative WOR to reverse itself, and tighten things up even more in the AL East..The Pirates have the best team ERA in the league but have allowed 35% of inherited runners to score, one of the worst figures in that category…the worst is 45%, belonging to the Mets of yours truly…

FANTASY FOOLERY:  In one of the many ironies created by fantasy baseball, the 18-inning marathon game is one of the worst things for your real club (bullpen beaten to death and everyone exhausted) but one of the best things for your fantasy team (tons of scoreless relief innings and extra AB for your position players)…the many real marathon games this week helped out more than a couple fantasy owners who had players kissing overuse caps…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Justin Masterson of CLE had 10 strikeouts against NYY on 6/3/2013
Willie Bloomquist of ARI had 6 hits against STL on 6/3/2013
Chris Carter of HOU struck out 4 times against LAA on 6/3/2013
Scott Kazmir of CLE had 10 strikeouts against NYY on 6/4/2013
Justin Upton of ATL struck out 4 times against PIT on 6/4/2013
Nelson Cruz of PIT struck out 4 times against ATL on 6/4/2013
Carlos Pena of HOU robbed 3 hits against BAL on 6/4/2013
Hisashi Iwakuma of SEA had 11 strikeouts against CWS on 6/4/2013
Felix Doubront of CLE had 11 strikeouts against NYY on 6/5/2013
Justin Morneau of MIN struck out 4 times against KCR on 6/5/2013
Felix Hernandez of SEA had 13 strikeouts against NYY on 6/6/2013
Clayton Kershaw of LAD had 10 strikeouts against ATL on 6/7/2013
Justin Upton of ATL robbed 3 hits against LAD on 6/7/2013
Alex Colome of TBR had 15 strikeouts against BAL on 6/8/2013
Chris Davis of BAL had 5 hits against TBR on 6/9/2013
R.A. Dickey of NYY had 12 strikeouts against SEA on 6/9/2013

Newsletter for games through 6-2-2013

SIDE NOTES:  I am far too big a person to point out that the Cal. State Fullerton Titans, my alma mater, trounced the crap out of the Arizona State Sun Devils, where Adam Symonds currently works, in the College World Series regional last week.   But I will say that Fullerton is playing in a super-regional this weekend, and ASU isn’t.

COMMENTS:  Danny Wildes’ Pittsburgh had the big week in the NL, going 5-2 for the best record in the league…they moved within 1.5 games of Jeremy Moore and the Cards…Tim Matsuoka’s Rockies put distance between themselves and the rest of the NL west this week…Don’t look now, but Bernacchi’s Bosox went 6-1 and are now within 4 games of first…their real problem is that the Orioles and Jays are a collective +13.5 WOR…Gordon Stables has quiently skippered the Royals to +1 WOR and right in the middle of the AL central…Skrovan’s Tribe went only 3-4 but picked up a half game in that division…Steve Horak’s ChiSox had the division’s only winning record…Kudos to Scott Treffer’s Rangers, who picked up a game in the AL West and moved into first place…not that I’d sleep on Adam Symonds, who has the Mariners +8 WOR…John Weerts’ Athletics may have awakened, and were 6-1 in the AL west…they’re in 4th place, but only 4 games out…Greg Acthen’s +6.5 WOR for the Angels is good enough to be 4th in the ASFBL….but only 2nd in the AL West…Boston pitchers lead the ASFBL with 583 strikeouts…Giant pitchers have issued only 132 walks all year…Red batters have drawn 239 walks, also tops in the league…check out Edward Encarnacion’s game on 5/29…Leo Leckie has the Marlins +11 WOR….I suspect he’s linked to the Biogenesis operation brain enhancement division….

STUCK ON REPLAY: It’s almost getting redundant to say, but there were 29 lineups submitted this week….we usually hover in the mid-20s, but this is becoming the most active and competitive season we’ve had…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Yu Darvish of PIT had 12 strikeouts against DET on 5/27/2013
Ubaldo Jimenez of CLE had 14 strikeouts against CIN on 5/27/2013
Colby Rasmus of TOR had 6 RBI against ATL on 5/27/2013
John Lackey of BOS had 11 strikeouts against PHI on 5/27/2013
Evan Gattis of ATL struck out 5 times against TOR on 5/28/2013
Marcell Ozuna of MIA struck out 4 times against TBR on 5/28/2013
Matt Harvey of NYM had 11 strikeouts against NYY on 5/29/2013
Edwin Encarnacion of TOR had 9 RBI against ATL on 5/29/2013
Wil Nieves of ARI had 5 hits against TEX on 5/30/2013
Jason Kipnis of BOS had 7 RBI against PHI on 5/30/2013
Jason Kipnis of BOS had 5 hits against PHI on 5/30/2013
Marlon Byrd of NYM struck out 5 times against NYY on 5/30/2013
Jordany Valdespin of NYM struck out 4 times against NYY on 5/30/2013
Jean Segura of MIL had 6 hits against PHI on 6/1/2013
Norichika Aoki of MIL had 6 RBI against PHI on 6/1/2013
Jacob Turner of MIA struck out 4 times against NYM on 6/1/2013
Stephen Strasburg of WAS had 12 strikeouts against ATL on 6/1/2013
Matt Hague of PIT had 6 RBI against CIN on 6/1/2013
Alex Colome of TBR had 14 strikeouts against CLE on 6/2/2013
Dustin Pedroia of CLE struck out 4 times against TBR on 6/2/2013
Michael Bourn of BOS struck out 4 times against NYY on 6/2/2013