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The top four teams in the Batter's Box Fantasy league had close matchups last week. First-place Gashouse Gorillas and second-place Billie's Bashers battled to a 6-6 tie, and after leading Baird Brain all week, my Toronto Walrus went to the Carl Pavano well once too often, coughing up three pitching categories on Sunday to lose 6-5. Ouch.

There's a virtual three-way tie for second, with AGF, 8-4 winners last week, moving into a closer fifth. Red Mosquitos stung Chatsworth Halos 11-1 to make the biggest gain in the standings, and Nation Builders climbed back over .500 with a 10-2 romp over the slumping Springfield Isotopes. Here's how it looks after 9 of 22 weeks:
 #  Team                     W-L-T   Win %   GB 
1 gashouse gorillas 71-33-4 .676 -
2 Billies Bashers 60-42-6 .583 10
3 Toronto Walrus 60-42-6 .583 10
4 Baird Brain 59-42-7 .579 10.5
5 AGF 59-45-4 .565 12
6 Red Mosquitos 54-48-6 .528 16
7 Sub-Urban Shockers 53-47-8 .528 16
8 Eastern Shore Birds 55-50-3 .523 16.5
9 Mebion Glyndwr 54-52-2 .509 18
10 Nation Builders 53-52-3 .505 18.5
11 Springfield Isotopes 50-53-5 .486 20.5
12 Reykjavik Fish Candy 49-53-6 .481 21
13 Hannibals Cannibals 49-53-6 .481 21
14 Jicks Rays 48-53-7 .477 21.5
15 Chatsworth Halos 49-56-3 .468 22.5
16 Moscow Rats 46-55-7 .458 23.5
17 Geoffs Grumpy Group 46-58-4 .444 25
18 K-Town Mashers 45-61-2 .426 27
19 Thunderbirds 36-68-4 .352 35
20 Garces_not_on_roids 34-67-7 .347 35.5
I'm looking forward to facing Jordan's team this week, but am too worried about my once-solid pitching to make any rash predictions.
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_R Billie - Monday, June 02 2003 @ 12:30 PM EDT (#13477) #
As long as Worrell doesn't do a second half fade it should work for you. Then again the same could very well be said for Mondesi.

I can't believe I split with Bosterich. I feel like the Blue Jays after sweeping New York and Boston.
_R Billie - Monday, June 02 2003 @ 12:31 PM EDT (#13478) #
And by Bosterich of course I mean the Gorillas. Thinking of another league.
_Jurgen - Monday, June 02 2003 @ 01:03 PM EDT (#13479) #
This week was quite a battle against the Walrus. Koo-koo-ka-choo!

Last month around this time, I noted it was a bad sign for my offense that I was looking forward to the return of Burnitz. So much for sarcasm. His replacement, Wil Cordero, secured his own spot on the roster with a .341/.394/.495 May, and Burnitz has resumed right where he left off, going on a .379/.419/.759 tear since coming off the DL.

Team awards for May:

Barry Bonds Award
2B B. Boone (3rd round) 26 R, 22 RBI, 3 SB, .327/.371/.625

Lofton's .387/.454/.594 with 6 SB performance deserves merit (especially for a 12th round pick), but I'm not about to tempt fate again (see below). The award ultimately belongs to Boone, who's hitting like it's 2001. You can't convince me he doesn't deserve to start in the All-Star game over Soriano.

Neifi Perez Award
OF J. Cruz (9th round) 11 R, 8 RBI, 2 SB, .216/.311/.304

Bad Karma for making him co-MVP last month (Helton's lines were clearly superior)—although I couldn't resist showcasing his great performance knowing he'd probably never get a chance to earn the honour again. He's still a solid #3 OF, especially if he keeps drawing walks at this near-Bondsian rate. After posting a .690 OPS in April and now a .655 May, however, Matsui is getting dangerously close to winning of string of Neifis. How do you say, "5th Round Bust" in Japanese?

Pedro Martinez Award
SP J. Schmidt (6th round) 35.1 IP, 1 W, 0 SV, 3.31 ERA, 0.76 WHIP, 6.5 K/BB

I can't hold the lack of wins against him. Schmidt's living up to Gammons' billing as Curt Schilling II.

Jose Lima Award
SP M. Buerhle (4th round) 27.2 IP, 0 W, 0 SV, 7.16 ERA, 2.06 WHIP, 0.63 K/BB

Buerhle seems to have righted ship and pulled out of his tailspin with two back-to-back quality starts (and probably deserves the week MVP), but it only underscores how horrible he had been pitching.
_LMK - Monday, June 02 2003 @ 02:29 PM EDT (#13480) #
While AGF is on a winning streak it has not been on extraordinary overall performance, but rather on solid pitching (IP, W, ERA, WHIP) and counting batting stats (R, RBI, SB). I am still interested in bats (I am 20th in OBP) for pitching, where I believe I have quite a few good starters.

Monthly Awards:

MV Hitter
Ichiro (2nd Round) 24 R, 14 RBI, 5 SB, .394/.422/.577
He edges out ever young Santiago (who I tried to trade after the auto draft selected him for me...) and Byrnes who is playing beyond comprehension.

LV Hitter
David Bell (Trade) a clear winner with 5 R, 10 RBI, .186/.270/.279.
And I stupidly traded Ishii for him in a desperate search for corner infielders (I am still looking).

MV Pitcher
Carlos Zambrano(13th Rd) 42.2 IP, 2 W, 2.74 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 1.94 K/BB
A huge surprise on a wild-card in the draft.

LV Pitcher
Ted Lily 28 IP, 1 W, 5.46 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 1.50 K/BB
Not terrible, but he could do so much better if he was more aggressive.

Looking forward for a great June which might mean the return of Randy Johnson. And many thanks to German for his work on the Roto-stats.
_Scott Lucas / N - Monday, June 02 2003 @ 04:40 PM EDT (#13481) #
Last week, I was feeling sorry for myself because of my terrible "pythagorean" split: I had the 9th best hitting (for the season) and 11th best pitching but was in 16th place. In the loopy world of HTH, just one week can right the ship. Condolences to the Springfield Isotopes, who's roster performed like mine did the previous week.

This week, it's even money as to who will perform better: My 3B Joe Crede, or the unfilled spot Baird Brain has for his Corner Infielder.

May MVH: Albert Pujols (surprise!): .345/.402/.718, 23 R, 25 RBI. Honors to Jeff Kent and Ronnie Belliard.

LVH: Tino Martinez (whose middle name is now, officially, a seven-letter word beginning with "F"): .161/.215/.276, 6 R, 8 RBI. Dishonors to Joe Crede and Jason Kendall.

MV Pitcher: Keith Foulke, 3 wins (!), 7 saves, 2.35 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 5.00 K/bb. Honors to Rick Reed.

LV Pitcher: Andy Pettitte: 1 win, 6.14 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 3.14 K/BB. Buddy Groom was much worse but pitched only seven innings.
_snellville jone - Tuesday, June 03 2003 @ 06:35 PM EDT (#13483) #
If I had gotten one more pitcher to hit the DL, I might have been able to avoid the suspense of the pitching battle Billie and his Bashers gave me. At least I can take solace in the solid performance Oswalt gave in his return. Well, that and the Big Hairy Machine which is the Gorillas line-up. Conine had 23 RBIs last month and Javy's OPS was an obscene 1.318. Keep it up, guys!
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