Newsletter for games through 5-24-15

IRRELEVANCIES:  You may have noticed that our website briefly hosted a page about the Hermosa Elementary production of “Peter Pan” — that has now been moved to a more appropriate an permanent home.  Also, in real life last week Bartolo Colon had an infield hit.  I don’t know what your religious beliefs are, but if they include an apocalypse that may have been a sign it is near….

COMMENTARY: Best record in the NL went to the Giants at 5-1, although the Dodgers managed a 4-2 record and were not shut out for 35 consecutive innings like the actual club was….The Dodgers did drop 2 of 3 to the Giants but swept the Padres…29 lineups submitted this week; thanks a ton!…Yankees posted a perfect 5-0 mark, and the AL East is looking downright competitive….4 of 5 teams there have positive WOR figures and the lone team out of that category, the Bosox, went 4-2…Congrats to the Chisox, who may be turning a corner at 5-2….Royals had another winning week and are charging forward at a torrid +.700 clip…Angels had the best record in the AL West and lurk only 4.5 back…All three NL divisional races are closer than 2 games…the Reds were 4-1 and moved into first-place in WOR…Mr. Malveaux is putting together another fine season….everyone in the NL Central had a winning week except for division-leading St. Louis, and they are still in positive WOR territory….Best actual MLB team batting average on an ASFBL roster goes to Detroit at .302…best real ERA is St. Louis at 2.82…Giants, Houtson, St. Louis and the Dodgers all have sub-3.00 fantasy team ERAs….the Miami bullpen has only allowed 4% of inherited runners to score; league average is about 20%…The Washington active roster has 63 real HR, tops in the league…Aviles, Pedroia, and Murphy all hit better than .370 for Cleveland this week…Chris Sale allowed only 1 run in 17 innings…Zach McAllister of Cleveland struck out 22 in 10  innings….Rockie fielders have robbed 81 hits, tops in the league…Arizona was second at 80…Peralta of the Cards had 10 RBI last week, and was the only ASFBL player in double-digits…

NAME GAMES:  They key to Baltimore’s ASFBL success?  They lead the league in name length with an average number of letters at 11.4….Since Odor got demoted, the Odor vs. Odorizzi matchup I’ve been waiting for might never happen….No player has more than 9 vowels in their name, and I put Atahualpa Severino of the Angels as the most interesting name with that number…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Jimmy Nelson of MIL had 14 strikeouts against DET on 5/18/2015
J.D. Martinez of DET struck out 4 times against MIL on 5/18/2015
Zach McAllister of CLE had 16 strikeouts against CWS on 5/18/2015
Jose Abreu of CWS struck out 4 times against CLE on 5/18/2015
Justin Turner of LAD robbed 3 hits against SFG on 5/19/2015
Danny Salazar of CLE had 11 strikeouts against CWS on 5/19/2015
Marcus Semien of OAK struck out 4 times against HOU on 5/20/2015
Brett Lawrie of OAK struck out 4 times against HOU on 5/20/2015
Jonathan Villar of HOU struck out 4 times against OAK on 5/20/2015
Mark Reynolds of STL struck out 4 times against NYM on 5/20/2015
Hector Santiago of LAA had 13 strikeouts against TOR on 5/20/2015
Brian McCann of NYY had 7 RBI against WAS on 5/20/2015
Ralph Henriquez of LAD struck out 4 times against SFG on 5/20/2015
Mike Bolsinger of LAD had 14 strikeouts against SFG on 5/21/2015
Jose Abreu of CWS struck out 4 times against CLE on 5/21/2015
Chris Carter of CLE struck out 4 times against CIN on 5/22/2015
Marcus Semien of OAK struck out 4 times against TBR on 5/22/2015
Charlie Blackmon of COL struck out 4 times against SFG on 5/23/2015
Chase Utley of PHI had 6 RBI against WAS on 5/23/2015
Rafael Ynoa of COL struck out 4 times against SFG on 5/24/2015
Brandon Phillips of CIN struck out 4 times against CLE on 5/24/2015

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Newsletter for games through 5-17-2015

COMMENTS: What a flurry of trading this week, with Rick Wynne finishing 5 trades in 1 day…I’m still not sure if he or Leo lead the league in trades…28 lineups submitted this week; thanks to you all for making it easier on my end…Congrats the Phils, who asserted themselves with a 5-2 record this week…the Cubs and Dodgers also put up a record of 5-2…speaking of the Dodgers, congratulate Chuck Ballingall who got a spot start as the PA Announcer for the class A Rancho Cucomunga Quakes…probably not quite as cool as doing the Clipper games, but then again, the Quakes are still playing…St. Louis was the only NL division leader with a winning record this week…biggest NL lead is only 2.5 games…Baltimore went 5-1 and picked up 2.5 games…Toronto and the Yanks each crept up in the standings…KC had the only winning record in the AL Central this week…Seattle and Oakland each went 3-3 but gained 2 games, taking advantage of the space that opened at the top of the standings…Cleveland still leads the AL central in WOR…Baltimore and Miami are now battling it out at the top of the WOR standings…Congalton’s Cubs did not sweep my fantasy Mets, as the actual Cubs did to the actual Mets, but it took 9 runs in game 2 to avoid the sweep….we might not score 9 runs again all season…Leo and I traded Dickerson for Colon on Thursday; on Friday Colon got shelled and Dickerson hasn’t played since with plantar facitis…which is latin for “won’t be 100% all season”…Teixera led all of the ASFBL with 12 RBI last week…Freddy Galvis hit .593…Adrian Gonzalez drew 10 walks…the Cardinal team ERA is only 2.66…Indian pitchers lead all of the ASFBL with 345 strikeouts…Miami relievers have only allowed 5% of inherited runners to score, tops in the league…Detroit is second with 10%, and Toronto is third with 11%…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Howie Kendrick of LAD struck out 4 times against MIA on 5/11/2015
Max Scherzer of WAS struck out 4 times against ARI on 5/11/2015
Ryan Zimmerman of CIN struck out 4 times against ATL on 5/12/2015
Gregory Polanco of PIT struck out 4 times against PHI on 5/12/2015
Peter Bourjos of STL struck out 4 times against CLE on 5/13/2015
Wei-Yin Chen of BAL had 10 strikeouts against TOR on 5/13/2015
Brad Miller of SEA hit 3 home runs against BOS on 5/14/2015
Brad Miller of SEA had 7 RBI against BOS on 5/14/2015
Lance Lynn of STL had 11 strikeouts against CLE on 5/14/2015
Brandon Belt of SFG struck out 4 times against CIN on 5/16/2015
Marcus Semien of OAK struck out 4 times against CWS on 5/16/2015
Anthony Gose of DET struck out 4 times against STL on 5/16/2015
Ian Kinsler of DET had 5 hits against STL on 5/16/2015
Nate Karns of TBR had 11 strikeouts against MIN on 5/17/2015
Justin Upton of SDP had 6 RBI against WAS on 5/17/2015

News letter for games through May 10th

NO HITTER THIS WEEK! Tim Lincecum of SFG threw a no-hitter against SDP on 5/4/2015…he had 3 walks, so not a perfect game, but he also had 2 hits…and I don’t know how I missed this last week, and thanks to John Weerts for pointing it out:  On 5/3/15, Sonny Gray pitched 10 2/3 perfect innings (yes, 10 2/3 innings) only to give up a solo home run to Robinson Chirinos of the Texas Ranger in the 11th and take the loss. Ouch!

COMMENTARY: Toronto raced out to a 5-1 week, got back to even in the WOR, and is back to .500…Arizona went 6-1, is now .5 up on the actual club, and has restored themselves to “contender” status in the NL West…St. Louis was 6-1, has the best record in the NL, and is atop the NL central…and still half a game behind the actual club…the Royals are doing something similar in the AL, posting the best record and sitting atop the AL Central…and they’re +2.5 WOR…kudos to Josh Clark, who is arguably doing the best job of managing this year…the top 3 WOR teams — Baltimore, San Francisco, and Miami — are all leading their divisions…the actual Orioles are more or less the roadkill of the AL East, but Mark Chen has his crew in first…NL west is a composite +5 WOR; the rest of us are looking forward to those teams playing some within-division games…Seattle crept forward in the AL west…Tampa Bay and Toronto inched forward in the AL east…Atlanta and Washington are making Miami a little less comfortable in the NL East…Tampa Bay and Cleveland are holding at +3 WOR…Grandal of the Dodgers hit .429 with 5 HR last week…Murphy hit .522 with my Mets but we still could only go 3-2…Marlon Byrd of Cincinnati had 6 HR and 10 RBI last week to lead the ASFBL…John Lackey pitched 18 shutout innings…the Cubs used 2 pitchers or fewer in their last 5 games; that sounds like a well-rested bullpen going into the Mets series next week…look out for the Dodgers; they’ve got the best ASFBL team power rating…

FEATS AND FAILURES

Tim Lincecum of SFG had 12 strikeouts against SDP on 5/4/2015
Jose Abreu of CWS hit 3 home runs against DET on 5/5/2015
Joey Votto of WAS had 6 RBI against MIA on 5/6/2015
Giancarlo Stanton of MIA struck out 4 times against WAS on 5/6/2015
Denard Span of SDP had 5 hits against ARI on 5/7/2015
Chris Young of KCR had 16 strikeouts against CLE on 5/7/2015
Danny Salazar of CLE had 10 strikeouts against MIN on 5/8/2015
David Murphy of CLE had 6 RBI against MIN on 5/8/2015
Eddie Rosario of MIN struck out 5 times against CLE on 5/8/2015
Shelby Miller of ATL had 10 strikeouts against WAS on 5/8/2015
Daniel Murphy of NYM had 5 hits against PHI on 5/9/2015
Sonny Gray of OAK had 10 strikeouts against SEA on 5/9/2015
Alex Colome of COL had 12 strikeouts against LAD on 5/9/2015
Xander Bogaerts of COL struck out 4 times against LAD on 5/9/2015
Michael Pineda of NYY had 11 strikeouts against BAL on 5/10/2015
Andrew Cashner of COL had 12 strikeouts against LAD on 5/10/2015
Todd Frazier of CIN struck out 4 times against CWS on 5/10/2015
Adam Lind of MIL hit 3 home runs against CHC on 5/10/2015

Newsletter for May 6, 2015

COMMENTS: Nobody ran the table, but Tim Walsh had his Twins go 6-1, best in the league…The Giants and Yankees each logged in at 5-2….Ben Leckie has his Marlins atop the NL East and with the best record in the NL East….Every division leader in the NL managed at least 5 wins last week….and every ASFBL division leader had a winning record…Baltimore moved  into first in the AL East…Houston added distance in the AL west…The Indians are only .500 but are tied for the AL least with a +3 WOR…Josh Clark has his Royals at 18-8, tops in all of the ASFBL…The Reds +3.5 WOR but behind the Cardinals, who are -2.5; then again, it is the actual performance of the Cardinals I consider unrealistic…Martin Russell of Toronto and Hanely Ramirez of Boston each had 12 RBI last week….Nelson Cruz had 5 HR and 17 overall to lead the league…Pedro Alvarez of Pittsburgh is second with 13…this is a little unusual: Our website had 31 unique visitors last week…since we only have 30 owners, I wonder who else would care about the newsletter?…If you missed it on the facebook page, Mark Yee had a brush with greatness named Giancarlo Stanton this spring…Chuck Ballingall — the voice of Damien high school athletics — got a couple turns on the PA at some Clipper games earlier this year…officemate Jeanine Congalton has pointed out that her Cubs are a half game up on my Mets…Ardolis Chapman leads the ASBL with 10 saves; the Reds have 16 wins…

FEATS AND FAILURES;

Carlos Martinez of STL had 10 strikeouts against PHI on 4/27/2015
Omar Infante of KCR robbed 3 hits against CLE on 4/27/2015
Salvador Perez of KCR had 5 hits against CLE on 4/27/2015
Russell Martin of TOR had 7 RBI against BOS on 4/27/2015
Caleb Joseph of BAL had 6 RBI against CWS on 4/28/2015
Jason Hammel of CHC had 12 strikeouts against PIT on 4/28/2015
Brian McCann of NYY hit 3 home runs against TBR on 4/28/2015
Bryan Mitchell of SFG had 10 strikeouts against LAD on 4/29/2015
Scott Kazmir of OAK had 15 strikeouts against LAA on 4/29/2015
Darin Ruf of PHI struck out 4 times against STL on 4/29/2015
Yohan Pino of KCR had 11 strikeouts against CLE on 4/29/2015
Hanley Ramirez of BOS had 6 RBI against TOR on 4/29/2015
Francisco Liriano of PIT had 15 strikeouts against CHC on 4/29/2015
Jorge Soler of CHC struck out 4 times against PIT on 4/29/2015
Darin Ruf of PHI had 5 hits against STL on 4/30/2015
Jose Altuve of HOU had 5 hits against SEA on 5/1/2015
Michael Cuddyer of NYM struck out 4 times against WAS on 5/1/2015
Oswaldo Arcia of MIN struck out 4 times against CWS on 5/2/2015
Howie Kendrick of LAD robbed 3 hits against ARI on 5/2/2015
Chris Carter of CLE struck out 4 times against TOR on 5/2/2015
Nick Castellanos of CLE had 9 RBI against TOR on 5/2/2015
Slade Heathcott of NYY had 6 RBI against BOS on 5/3/2015
Chris Carter of CLE struck out 4 times against TOR on 5/3/2015