I smell a controversy brewing. The Fast and the Bi-Curious pitched a meager 15.1 innings while accumulating a Greinke-like 0.587 ERA and 0.913 WHIP this past week. As you might imagine, these numbers were good enough to take home those respective pitching categories. However, Bi-Curious lost or tied the remaining pitching-based categories against Lincecum Honor. I personally don’t believe this maneuver was done on purpose, but it certainly fuels our debate about the necessity to put a minimum on innings pitched per week. Ultimately, Bi-Curious’ offense overmatched ‘Cum Honor's en route to a 9-5-1 victory.
The Win-Loss correction I mentioned in last week’s post has begun for Laminated Wood. They dismantled Fantasy Filipinos 10-4-1 behind solid performances by Alex Rodriguez (10-for-24) and Shane Victorino (11-for-23). But pitching was largely the story here as Wood notched seven quality starts including a Bronson Arroyo gem (9 IP, 1 ER, 3Ks). You’d like to see the strikeouts come up, but holding Houston to five total baserunners through nine innings is pretty dominant. The Flips, on the other hand, had a breathtakingly bad pitching week. In fact, the lone bright spot for the entire team was none other than Adrian Gonzalez. I’ll have more on him later.
The Frederick Keys (4-3-1) are riding a very encouraging four game non-losing streak (3 wins and 1 tie). However, after sitting here for 15 minutes trying to analyze the numbers, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Keys victory was attributable to dreadful performances by three significant Yuri Sucart, M.D. players: Victor Martinez (.158 BA), Adam Jones (.200) and Carlos Lee (.250). V-Mart, in particular, has had an especially rough time of it. Since May 16, he’s had 8 hits in 48 at bats (.166). He’s managed only 2 extra base hits in that time (two doubles) and his slugging % has dropped more than 100 points from .644 to .543, as of today. That’s a mammoth slide in production and certainly a concern for all V-Mart owners.
Taking the award for “Biggest Upset” this week, (and no, I’m not talking about Twilight upsetting Slumdog for best picture at the MTV Movie Awards) but rather J. Gomes’ Wife beating up on the San Francisco Switchhitters 11-3-1. J Gomes’ Wife received big performances from Marco Scutaro (14-for-29) and Jose Lopez (Hey! A J-Lo sighting!). Oh, those silly pre-season “sleepers”. I can’t think of one fantasy site that didn’t mention Lopez as a top second base sleeper, and yet, he’s had difficulty hitting the ball with any power all year. To date, Lopez has had 13 extra base hits with 8 doubles and 5 HRs -- Pujols does that while making an order at a Taco Bell drive-thru. But, of those 13 extra baggers, four have come in the last six games, so maybe the tides are finally turning.
The Streamers edged Gangsta Nation in what was the most explosive showdown of the week. Both offenses clicked on all cylinders as they combined for 224 total bases and had averages above .331 and OPS’s over .936. The Streamers, however, were the benefactor of a force known only as Ichiro. He was sensational, going 15-for-26 and totaling 22 bases on the week. Gangsta, meanwhile, is still trying to find his stride and is desperately seeking his first win since the second week of the season. Getting Vlad and Jorge Posada back should help, but the real reinforcement [ManRam] won’t be arriving until shortly before the All-Star Break.
Inspect Her Gadget currently leads the league in ERA and WHIP, in part, from the great pitching all season long of Greinke, Edwin Jackson, and Chad Billingsley. Taking six of seven pitching categories away from HeGotRoidsFrom RidingTheTrikey helped seal their fate in week 8. Offensively, Mark Teixeira and Nelson Cruz put on a spectacle of power, combining for 6 HRs, 15 rib-eyes, and a 1.286 OPS. After enjoying back-to-back wins in weeks 6 & 7, Trikey took a step backwards. The wins and losses seem to come in bunches for this streaky bunch.
Raking:
Luke Scott: If Luke Skywalker and the dude who beams up Capt. Kirk had some outrageous star-ship romp, I'm fairly certain Luke Scott would be their lovechild. The DL stint and subsequent rest did Scott pretty well because he’s been the walking, living, breathing embodiment of the term ‘raking’. In just five games last week, he collected a mind-boggling 6 HRs, 14 RBIs, scored 12 runs, and slugged a freakish 1.733. Uh, what?! Long term prospects don’t look too good. You don’t all of a sudden go from being an average outfielder to becoming Ken Griffey, Jr. (or Sr., for that matter). But this was quite the hot streak, to say the least.
Nelson Cruz: For fear of getting lambasted for stating the truth, or being labeled a fantasy blogger with no integrity (is there even such a thing?) I’ll keep my praise of Cruz short. After hitting another 3 HRs in week 8, he now totals 15 on the year (including one Tuesday night). His numbers are in line with what most statistical projection sites predicted at the beginning of the season, which was .285 / 36 HR / 94 RBI / 15 SB. Cruz is in the prime of his career at 28 years of age. It’s safe to say he will probably never have another season quite like this one.
Adrian Gonzalez: If the San Diego Padres hit 200 total home runs this year, it will be because Gonzalez cleared 175 of them. Week 8 was another mammoth week for Gonzalez, where he smacked five more HRs. He now leads the league with 20 and is the front runner in most offensive statistics. I bet he wished he had someone better than Scott Hairston hitting behind him. It could be worse, he could have David Eckstein hitting in front of him…. Oh, wait.
Ryan Howard: As an Atlanta Braves fan, color me concerned about the progression of Ryan Howard. Much was made about his offseason workouts to shed about 15 to 20 lbs. But truthfully, he looks to be in great shape. I suspect there’s some correlation with his heavier frame and his annually slow starts. In 2007, Howard was hitting .222 on June 1st. In 2008, he was hitting .206. But in 2009, he’s fairing quite well with a .266 batting average. He hasn’t gotten off to this good a start since his rookie season in 2006. Last week, Howard hit four HRs while driving in 10 runs.
Ichiro Suzuki: It’s safe to say that Ichiro, in his age 35 season, has lost a step. In 47 steal attempts last season, he was caught four times. He has already been caught four times in just 13 attempts this year. But, the Japanese import is riding a 24-game hitting streak going into Monday’s action [Update: 25-game hitting streak after getting a hit in Tuesday night’s action]. After racking up 15 hits in Week 8, he’s now batting .353 and ranks fourth in the AL. If I were a major league pitcher, I’d imagine Ichiro would be the most annoying batter to face, ever. The count would be 3-2 and he’d foul off about 14 straight pitches. At some point you just say, here's a fastball down the middle, go ahead and hit it. And before you even finish your thought, Ichiro is standing at second with a stand up double. Ugh.
Filthy:
Edwin Jackson: He’s fallen into the untradeable pitcher category alongside Wandy Rodriguez because his true value is dwarfed by his “perceived value”. In other words, you can’t trade him for how valuable he’s been, because no other owner believes it’s real. But just to give you some kind of indication about how good Jackson’s been for the Tigers this year, he ranks tied for fourth in AL Cy Young projections on ESPN (http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/mlb/features/cy) right behind Greinke, Halladay, Buerhle and tied with Verlander. Yeah, he’s been that consistent.
Nick Blackburn: Here’s a little trivia question for you: How many starting pitchers in the last two decades have won 20 or more games in a single season with a K/9 rate under 5? The answer is one, Tommy Glavine in 1993. It just doesn’t happen. While Blackburn isn’t anywhere near approaching 20 wins yet, he’s flirting with 18 or so wins after picking up two more victories in Week 8 (and 5-2 record on the season). Let’s be clear, he’s been pretty solid with May having been a particularly good month for him. But the stats say he’ll come back down to earth soon since he doesn’t strike enough guys out.
Chris Carpenter: Looked good in his second and third consecutive starts since returning from the DL. Looks like there are no lingering effects of his oblique strain, which is good news for fantasy owners and the Cards faithful. In Week 8, Carpenter was dealing, 14 IP, 2 ER, 15 K, and only 1 BB. They should really consider DLing Carpenter for all of August and bringing him back in September and then for the postseason.
Tim Lincecum: Disposed of my Bravos last Thursday and made it look effortless. I’m not sure if that was an indication of Atlanta’s lack of offense or Lincecum’s dominant stuff, but I’d like to believe it was the latter. After going 8 IP and striking out 8 against the Braves, he now totals 91 Ks in 72 IPs for the years. He’s kind of like the anti-Blackburn. There are no smoke-and-mirrors here, just pure filth.
Brad Lidge: Picked up four saves last week. It was a toss-up between Verlander and Lidge for my last spot but I chose Lidge because I’d been talking up his demise for some time now. It seems my concerns about his ability to perform may have been stated prematurely. I’ll own up to it this week, but don’t be surprised if Lidge goes on to blow four out of his next five and has to hit the DL with some mental stress related symptom. The Closer-gods are a fickle bunch.
Power Rankings (as of June 2):
The League Standings are in line with about where you’d expect each team to place according to the Power Rankings. However, there is one exception, and that is Gangsta Nation. He’s currently sixth in the power poll but dead last in the league with a 1-6-1 record. He’s had some bad luck. I’d expect a major bounce back soon. Wouldn’t surprise me in the least if he goes on a 7 or 8 game run around the time Manny comes back.
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