Newsletter for games through 5/28/2017

METS LAMENTS: Terry Collins just became the longest-tenured manager in Met history with 1,020 games..I hate to brag, but I’ve got over 4,000 ASFBL games as the Met manager…and if you’ll indulge me one real-life Met moment, last night Smoker got the win in an emotional 12-inning game where he pitched 3 scoreless innings…it was his 3rd multiple-inning, scoreless appearance of the year…and lowered his ERA to 6.86…

COMMENTARY: Steve Skrovan got the Indians into first with a 5-2 week, bumping Rob Perkins and the Chisox…Rob reports that last week was the first time since 1994 he’d been in first place…didn’t double-check, but I’ll take his word for it…Washington turned a 5-1 week into first place…and now every team in the NL East is in positive WOR territory…Braves and Mets have identical fantasy and reality team records…Miami was 4-1…Cubs inched closer in the NL central, but Zewiske’s Brew Crew still hold first place…Arizona and Colorado matched each others’ 5-2 weeks in the NL West…Dodgers were 4-2….Baltimore picked up 1.5 games over the Yankees in the AL East…Oakland had the only winning record in the AL West, and is 2 back of Houston…Philadelphia has moved into first place in the WOR standings…Lance McCullers of Houston had 4 strikeouts vs. the Orioles on 5/26…4 were against Trey Mancini…so in the 16-inning game Seattle played against Washington, Washington starter Gio Gonzalez allowed 1 run on 1 hit through 7….the bullpen allowed 11 hits over the next 9 innings but didn’t allow anyone to score…Gonzalez also walked 4 and the 3 relievers walked nobody…Murphy won the game in the 16th with a homer…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Gabriel Ynoa of BAL had 11 strikeouts against MIN on 5/22/2017
Joey Gallo of TEX struck out 4 times against BOS on 5/23/2017
Max Scherzer of WAS had 13 strikeouts against SEA on 5/23/2017
SEA and WAS played 16.5 innings on 5/24/2017
Luis Severino of NYY had 10 strikeouts against KCR on 5/25/2017
Corey Dickerson of TBR struck out 4 times against MIN on 5/26/2017
Jeff Samardzija of SFG had 13 strikeouts against ATL on 5/26/2017
Buck Farmer of COL had 14 strikeouts against STL on 5/26/2017
Cesar Hernandez of PHI robbed 3 hits against CIN on 5/26/2017
Allen Cordoba of SDP had 5 hits against WAS on 5/27/2017
Daniel Mengden of OAK had 14 strikeouts against NYY on 5/28/2017
Max Scherzer of WAS had 12 strikeouts against SDP on 5/28/2017
Ryan Schimpf of SDP struck out 4 times against WAS on 5/28/2017
Domingo Santana of MIL had 5 hits against ARI on 5/28/2017
ARI and MIL played 15.5 innings on 5/28/2017
Kris Bryant of CHC robbed 3 hits against LAD on 5/28/2017

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Newsletter for games through 5-21-17

RANDOM REQUEST: The injury reports have been wonky — mostly, baseball-reference just changes where the put the information every week — so if you see something amiss let me know and the best email for that is jbruschke@fullerton.edu.

COMMENTARY: Chris Zewiske and Raphael Malveaux are turning the NL Central into one of the more compelling early races…they were a combined 11-2 and this week, they are both in positive WOR territory, and they are within a game of each other at the top of the NL central…the Mets were 1-5 but no ePlayer tweeted pictures of obscene objects in their locker, so that was a win…Danny Wildes is still working his magic with the Braves…he was 5-2, is 1.5 back of the lead, and is +5 WOR…in fact, the entire NL East is +16.5 WOR, and Andy is to be forgiven for not substantially improving on the Nationals’ 26-17 start…it’s mostly a testament to how things go when the entire division is under .500 in reality…Johnny Mac’s Phils were 4-2….and are tied for the lead in the WOR standings…Rick Wynne is making a good team better and the DBacks rode a 5-1 record to the biggest divisional lead in the ASFBL…of course, 15 teams are within 3 games of first…including the entire AL Central…LA and SF were each 4-2…and they played each other this week…Cleveland, KC, and Detroit all gained ground to tighten things up…Yanks went 4-2 for the best record in the AL East…John Weerts’ Oakland club had a league-best 6-1 week and has the best WOR in the AL West…8 ASFBLers have more than 15 HR, but Brandon Moss of KC has done it in the fewest AB…the top 2 run scorers both play for Washington…Mike Trout is 3rd…Chris Sale has 8 wins to top the ASFBL…Boston is 3rd from the top in batting average and 3rd from the bottom in HR…that puts them just below in the middle in runs scored…but the team ERA is 3.60, which is 3rd best in the AL…Marcell Ozuna of MIA had 10 RBI last week….which offsets the 10 strikeouts…Gerrett Cole threw 18 shutout innings…Eric Thames hit .444 last week…and was a distant second to team-mate Eric Sogard who hit .548…Thanks to all of you for getting those lineups in….routinely have 26 or more submitted each week…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Robbie Ray of ARI had 12 strikeouts against NYM on 5/15/2017
Jeff Samardzija of SFG had 10 strikeouts against LAD on 5/16/2017
Tucker Barnhart of CIN had 5 hits against CHC on 5/16/2017
Michael Pineda of NYY had 10 strikeouts against KCR on 5/17/2017
Trey Mancini of BAL struck out 4 times against DET on 5/17/2017
Manny Machado of BAL struck out 4 times against DET on 5/17/2017
BAL and DET played 15.5 innings on 5/17/2017
Adam Lind of WAS had 6 RBI against PIT on 5/17/2017
Adam Lind of WAS had 5 hits against PIT on 5/17/2017
Jose Berrios of MIN had 13 strikeouts against COL on 5/18/2017
Christian Bergman of SEA had 10 strikeouts against CWS on 5/19/2017
Clayton Kershaw of LAD had 11 strikeouts against MIA on 5/19/2017
CWS and SEA played 13.5 innings on 5/20/2017
Jacob deGrom of NYM had 10 strikeouts against LAA on 5/20/2017
Mike Moustakas of KCR hit 3 home runs against MIN on 5/20/2017
Mike Moustakas of KCR had 7 RBI against MIN on 5/20/2017
Cody Bellinger of LAD struck out 4 times against MIA on 5/20/2017
Marcell Ozuna of MIA struck out 4 times against LAD on 5/20/2017
Gerrit Cole of PIT had 15 strikeouts against PHI on 5/21/2017
Jeff Samardzija of SFG had 10 strikeouts against STL on 5/21/2017

Newsletter for games through 5-17-17

NOTHING DOING: Wade Miley of the Reds threw a no-hitter against SFG on 5/14/2017…it took 141 pitches and he gave up 4 walks…Peraza and Aoki each had hit-saving plays…

COMMENTARY: Hats off to the Reds, who were the only team in the league to run the table…they’re now 1.5 WOR…and are part of a 3-team logjam at the top of the NL central where the teams are separated by less than a single game…Washington and Arizona both moved into first place in their divisions…The Mets and Braves each came down to earth a little bit, as the reality of the lousy reality for those clubs made itself known…Padres were only 2-5, but the -.5 WOR for newcomer Joel Rollins is the second-best in the division….Eight teams are within 3 games of first place in the AL central and east…Jays had the best showing in their division…Royals and Twins picked up tiny gains in the AL central, which is meaningful in a division where there’s not much elbow room…The state of Texas fared well in the AL west as the teams from Houston and Arlington each had winning weeks…and the other 3 teams are all even-or-better in WOR…Dodgers have a league-best 3.15 team fantasy ERA…Houston bullpen has allowed only 1 of 26 runners to score…Boston pitchers have 423 strikeouts, and nobody else has over 400….or is even really close…Washington and Seattle pitchers have each walked only 88 batters, tied for the league lead…nobody else is in double-digits…Cub pitchers have allowed only 271 hits…nobody else is under 300…the Nationals took 3 of 4 from Baltimore, in Baltimore, winning lots of friends in Tampa Bay, Toronto, New York, and Boston…Baltimore is still holding on to first in the AL east…Ezequiel Carrera, Dee Gordon, Cesar Hernandez, and Aaron judge have all had 17-game hitting streaks this year…longest current streak is Xander Bogaerts at 13…Brad Peacock of Houston hasn’t allowed a run in 10 innings, tied for the longest streak of the year…Dodgers have the 3rd best run differential in the league…they really look like a sleeper in the NL west…Chad Green appeared on the waiver wire as a result of some AAA promotion rights data errors earlier in the year and was administratively removed…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Yasiel Puig of LAD hit 3 home runs against PIT on 5/8/2017
Yasiel Puig of LAD had 8 RBI against PIT on 5/8/2017
Chris Archer of TBR had 11 strikeouts against KCR on 5/8/2017
Ryon Healy of OAK robbed 3 hits against LAA on 5/9/2017
Gio Gonzalez of WAS had 12 strikeouts against BAL on 5/9/2017
Hyun Soo,Kim of BAL struck out 4 times against WAS on 5/9/2017
DET and ARI played 13.5 innings on 5/9/2017
Cody Bellinger of LAD had 6 RBI against PIT on 5/10/2017
Jason Vargas of KCR had 18 strikeouts against TBR on 5/10/2017
Logan Morrison of TBR struck out 4 times against KCR on 5/10/2017
Johnny Cueto of SFG had 10 strikeouts against NYM on 5/10/2017
CLE and TOR played 13.5 innings on 5/10/2017
Zack Greinke of ARI had 13 strikeouts against PIT on 5/11/2017
Cliff Pennington of LAA struck out 4 times against DET on 5/11/2017
Eduardo Rodriguez of BOS had 10 strikeouts against TBR on 5/12/2017
A.J. Griffin of TEX had 12 strikeouts against OAK on 5/12/2017
Trevor Plouffe of OAK struck out 4 times against TEX on 5/12/2017
Joey Gallo of TEX struck out 4 times against OAK on 5/12/2017
Yu Darvish of TEX had 12 strikeouts against OAK on 5/13/2017
Carlos Martinez of STL had 12 strikeouts against CHC on 5/13/2017
Cameron Rupp of PHI struck out 4 times against WAS on 5/14/2017
LAD and COL played 14.5 innings on 5/14/2017
Carlos Beltran of TOR struck out 4 times against SEA on 5/14/2017
Delino DeShields of TEX struck out 4 times against OAK on 5/14/2017
Michael Conforto of NYM had 6 RBI against MIL on 5/14/2017

Newsletter for games through 5-7-17

SINGLES NIGHT: Aaron Judge of NYY would have hit for the cylce on 5/6/17 against the Cubs, but having hit a double, triple, and homer, he went ahead and hit two more homers, missing the cycle by a single…Ardolis Chapman appeared in the game for the Cubs….

COMMENTARY: The digital Mets are +800,000 PTBR….that’s “Profane Tweets Below Reality”…Mets, Nationals, and Rockies all had 5 wins in the NL…Cincinnati and St. Louis each put together winning weeks to keep things tight in the NL central…Dodgers went 4-2 to gain ground on everyone but Colorado…Baltimore and the Yankees each had 5 wins and are now in a dead tie at the top of the AL East…Cleveland had the best record in the AL central and are now only 2.5 out of first…Houston went 5-2 and is in first in the AL West…they’re they only AL west team without a positive WOR…Rick Wynne called his tough week against Andy and Leo; his pitching didn’t allow more than 6 runs in any of the losses, but the offense only averaged 2.6 runs in those games…he’s still only .5 back of Leo and dead even on WOR…Kansas City went 0-7 and they’re still 3rd in the league in WOR…Atlanta is at the top at +6…Danny hasn’t exactly overhauled the roster, but has made 4 separate 1-for-1 trades….seems to be working out…7 teams made trades last week, and 4 of them made more than one…Daniel Murphy hit .500 and had 6 HR last week…Kris Bryant hit .458 and also walked 7 times…Andrew Benintendi of Boston only hit .286 last week, but he drew 7 walks and scored 7 runs…Miguel Montero of the Cubs hit .500 and robbed 4 hits…Pineda of the Yankees had 18 strikeouts in 13.67 innings…Drew Storen had 18 strikeouts in 10.33…and Pineda is a starter while Storen is not…it was feast or famine for Padre pitching this week…6 pitchers had an ERA of 3 or less, led by Trevor Cahill with a 1.26 ERA in 2 starts….the other 5 guys all had ERAs over 6.42….”led” by Zach Lee’s 6-runs-in-2.33-IP performance…that’s an ERA of 23.14…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

…notice 4 different players had 3-HR games this week….

Michael Pineda of NYY had 10 strikeouts against TOR on 5/1/2017
Rick Porcello of BOS had 11 strikeouts against BAL on 5/1/2017
Nicholas Castellanos of DET had 6 RBI against CLE on 5/1/2017
Trevor Cahill of SDP had 13 strikeouts against COL on 5/2/2017
Cody Bellinger of LAD had 5 hits against SFG on 5/2/2017
SFG and LAD played 16.5 innings on 5/2/2017
A.J. Griffin of TEX had 10 strikeouts against HOU on 5/2/2017
Yu Darvish of TEX had 10 strikeouts against HOU on 5/3/2017
Lance Lynn of STL had 15 strikeouts against MIL on 5/3/2017
Jonathan Schoop of BAL hit 3 home runs against BOS on 5/3/2017
Mark Trumbo of BAL struck out 4 times against BOS on 5/3/2017
Robbie Ray of ARI had 10 strikeouts against WAS on 5/4/2017
Matt Garza of MIL had 10 strikeouts against STL on 5/4/2017
Jason Vargas of KCR had 14 strikeouts against CLE on 5/5/2017
Chris Davis of BAL struck out 4 times against CWS on 5/6/2017
Justin Bour of MIA hit 3 home runs against NYM on 5/6/2017
Jeff Samardzija of SFG had 14 strikeouts against CIN on 5/6/2017
Aaron Judge of NYY hit 3 home runs against CHC on 5/6/2017
Aaron Judge of NYY had 7 RBI against CHC on 5/6/2017
Aaron Judge of NYY had 5 hits against CHC on 5/6/2017
Danny Salazar of CLE had 11 strikeouts against KCR on 5/6/2017
Miguel Cabrera of DET hit 3 home runs against OAK on 5/6/2017
Miguel Cabrera of DET had 6 RBI against OAK on 5/6/2017
Trevor Cahill of SDP had 10 strikeouts against LAD on 5/7/2017
Justin Turner of LAD robbed 3 hits against SDP on 5/7/2017
Daniel Murphy of WAS hit 3 home runs against PHI on 5/7/2017
Ryan Zimmerman of WAS had 5 hits against PHI on 5/7/2017

Newsletter for games through 4-30-2017

NO-HITTER!  Ian Kennedy of KCR threw a no-hitter against MIN on 4/29/2017…Byron Buxton walked and stole second, but that’s as far as any Twin got…Kennedy struck out 12 and walked 2…Kennedy’s real and fantasy WHIP are both under 1…and as more bad news for the rest of the league, he’s still due to adjust downward…

COMMENTARY: In the NL, it was all about the Phils, Braves, DBacks, and Dodgers, all of whom had at least 5 wins….Braves went an ASFBL-best 6-0…congrats to Danny Wildes…DBacks are +1 WOR over a very good actual club…Joel Rollins has the Padres on an even keel, dead even with the actual club after a month in the league…in the AL the Yanks and Toronto were collectively 10-3 in a loud announcement that it’s early in the season and they are capable of winning some ball games…White Sox went 5-1 to move to within a game of the AL Central lead…Jim Casey’s Astros went 5-1 to move into first in the AL west by 2 games…my digital Mets officially announce that we are replacing our bullpen with an emergency room…Kansas City has 3 players with 10 or more homers…5 trades involving 6 teams this week…Mike Trout leads the league with 6 triples…Miguel Sano is having a season both on the field and in the computer…he logged a 3-HR game this week…Ervin Santana and Anderson Chase are #1 and #2 in ASFBL ERA…Santana also leads the league in WHIP…Matt Barnes of Boston has allowed none of the 10 inherited runners to score this year…nobody has fewer of the former or more of the latter…Archie Bradley has had 2 actual seasons with a plus-5.00 ERA, but his actual ERA is 1.13 so far this year and he leads the ASFBL in saves…when Arizona lures Rick Wynne out of retirement to manage the actual club it will be a big boost to his career…Piitsburgh Pirates lead the ASFBL in team ERA…Anaheim leads the AL in runs scored…

FEATS AND FAILURES:

Tim Beckham of TBR struck out 4 times against BAL on 4/24/2017
Steven Souza of TBR struck out 4 times against BAL on 4/24/2017
TBR and BAL played 17.5 innings on 4/24/2017
Gio Gonzalez of WAS struck out 4 times against COL on 4/24/2017
Dwight Smith of TOR had 5 hits against STL on 4/25/2017
Jacob deGrom of NYM had 11 strikeouts against ATL on 4/25/2017
Brandon Moss of KCR hit 3 home runs against CWS on 4/25/2017
Brandon Moss of KCR had 6 RBI against CWS on 4/25/2017
Chris Sale of BOS had 14 strikeouts against NYY on 4/25/2017
Zack Greinke of ARI had 13 strikeouts against SDP on 4/25/2017
KCR and CWS played 14.5 innings on 4/26/2017
Miguel Sano of MIN hit 3 home runs against TEX on 4/26/2017
Miguel Sano of MIN had 8 RBI against TEX on 4/26/2017
Jacob Faria of TBR had 16 strikeouts against BAL on 4/26/2017
Trevor Cahill of SDP had 12 strikeouts against ARI on 4/26/2017
Yulieski Gurriel of HOU had 5 hits against CLE on 4/26/2017
George Springer of HOU struck out 4 times against CLE on 4/27/2017
Ariel Miranda of SEA had 10 strikeouts against DET on 4/27/2017
Eduardo Rodriguez of BOS had 13 strikeouts against NYY on 4/27/2017
Matt Cain of SFG had 13 strikeouts against LAD on 4/27/2017
Cody Bellinger of LAD struck out 4 times against SFG on 4/27/2017
Miguel Sano of MIN hit 3 home runs against KCR on 4/28/2017
Antonio Senzatela of COL struck out 4 times against ARI on 4/28/2017
Kris Bryant of CHC struck out 4 times against BOS on 4/28/2017
Luis Severino of NYY had 10 strikeouts against BAL on 4/28/2017
Chris Davis of BAL struck out 4 times against NYY on 4/28/2017
Buck Farmer of COL had 12 strikeouts against ARI on 4/29/2017
Domingo Santana of MIL robbed 3 hits against ATL on 4/29/2017
Gregory Polanco of PIT struck out 4 times against MIA on 4/29/2017
Nomar Mazara of TEX struck out 4 times against LAA on 4/29/2017
Jacob deGrom of NYM had 11 strikeouts against WAS on 4/30/2017
Mike Leake of STL had 14 strikeouts against CIN on 4/30/2017
Mark Reynolds of COL struck out 4 times against ARI on 4/30/2017
Dallas Keuchel of HOU had 10 strikeouts against OAK on 4/30/2017
Matthew Joyce of OAK struck out 4 times against HOU on 4/30/2017