With nine weeks remaining in the BBFL regular season, absolutely nothing has been decided, but it's nice to have a little more breathing room at the top.
My Toronto Walrus defeated the Gashouse Gorillas 9-1, in a contest that was much tighter than the score suggests. Second place AGF won the all-California matchup with Chatsworth Halos by a 7-5 margin. Baird Brain turned things around on the weekend to defeat the Springfield Isotopes 7-4 and take over sole possession of third spot. The Moscow Rats stumbled a bit, losing 7-5 to the Reykjavik Fish Candy, but remain fourth. Billie’s Bashers took over fifth by beating the SABR Magicians 8-4, while sixth-place Mebion Glyndwr battled to a 6-6 draw with Red Mosquitos. The Eastern Shore Birds, who edged the K-Town Mashers 7-5, remain in the thick of the race, and the Horse Field Hammers, with the most lopsided win of the week (10-2 over the Thunderbirds) jumped from 12th to 9th in the standings.
Twelve teams are above .500, jockeying for playoff positions, then there's a gap of 5.5 games to the second division, where Jick's Rays, despite whipping Hannibal's Cannibals 9-3 this week, remain the distant cellar dwellers. Seven other clubs are bunched within ten games, with a chance to move up into the Consolation playoff bracket, but perhaps more focus on avoiding relegation. Our Commissioner's trade of a keeper, the injured Vernon Wells, for immediate pitching help from Brad Radke, is an example of how this new rule is changing our league. Props to King Rat for pulling it off; I had suggested something similar to Moffatt, but was too worried about my pitching depth. Here's where we stand through Week 13:
So that worked out OK, but I made another questionable managerial decision, blowing my #8 waiver priority on Paul Byrd, whose first two starts of the season (after missing almost two years with TJ surgery) were promising before he was rained out after two innings last time. I have always admired the crafty righty, but if he gets lit up against the anemic Expos in now pitcher-friendly Hiram Bithorn today, I’ll feel very foolish. Then I'll remind myself that every GM — real or fantasy — makes mistakes, and continue the never-ending quest to find another castoff pitcher who might help.
The Hammers are sure to be a formidable opponent, especially this week, as the quirks of HtH scheduling give Geoff two starts each from Clemens and Schmidt. He also has that Bonds guy, so my team, which might get the Delgado kid back, will need to be on its toes again just to split. After that, because of the All-Star break, the "Week" 15 matchups will be only four days, which makes luck, including pitching rotations, an even bigger factor than usual.
My Toronto Walrus defeated the Gashouse Gorillas 9-1, in a contest that was much tighter than the score suggests. Second place AGF won the all-California matchup with Chatsworth Halos by a 7-5 margin. Baird Brain turned things around on the weekend to defeat the Springfield Isotopes 7-4 and take over sole possession of third spot. The Moscow Rats stumbled a bit, losing 7-5 to the Reykjavik Fish Candy, but remain fourth. Billie’s Bashers took over fifth by beating the SABR Magicians 8-4, while sixth-place Mebion Glyndwr battled to a 6-6 draw with Red Mosquitos. The Eastern Shore Birds, who edged the K-Town Mashers 7-5, remain in the thick of the race, and the Horse Field Hammers, with the most lopsided win of the week (10-2 over the Thunderbirds) jumped from 12th to 9th in the standings.
Twelve teams are above .500, jockeying for playoff positions, then there's a gap of 5.5 games to the second division, where Jick's Rays, despite whipping Hannibal's Cannibals 9-3 this week, remain the distant cellar dwellers. Seven other clubs are bunched within ten games, with a chance to move up into the Consolation playoff bracket, but perhaps more focus on avoiding relegation. Our Commissioner's trade of a keeper, the injured Vernon Wells, for immediate pitching help from Brad Radke, is an example of how this new rule is changing our league. Props to King Rat for pulling it off; I had suggested something similar to Moffatt, but was too worried about my pitching depth. Here's where we stand through Week 13:
# Team W-L-T Pct GBIn our match, Snellville had three pitchers starting early games on Sunday, while I could wait until 4:30 before deciding whether to use Carlos Silva. All three Gorillas pitched into the sixth, giving him the lead in IP, but when Capuano had one bad inning and the Cleveland bullpen coughed up a “sure” Westbrook W, I figured there was a good chance at regaining IP and a remote shot at a win (the Twins were facing Randy Johnson) at the risk of squandering my lead in the pitching rate categories. I was leading 8-3, but greedy. Though Silva was shaky early, he came through. What I didn’t expect was 10 unanswered runs by the Rockies, who had been trailing 8-zip, and a tying SV from the often erratic Shawn Chacon.
1 Toronto Walrus 93-52-11 .631 --
2 AGF 88-59-9 .593 6
3 Baird Brain 87-62-7 .580 8
4 Moscow Rats 86-66-4 .564 10.5
5 Billie's Bashers 85-67-4 .558 11.5
6 Mebion Glyndwr 84-66-6 .558 11.5
7 Eastern Shore Birds 83-70-3 .542 14
8 Red Mosquitos 80-69-7 .535 15
9 Horse Field Hammers 77-72-7 .516 18
10 Chatsworth Halos 77-74-5 .510 19
11 hannibal's cannibals 73-72-11 .503 20
12 gashouse gorillas 74-73-9 .503 20
13 Springfield Isotopes 68-78-10 .468 25.5
14 Austin Senators 67-78-11 .465 26
15 SABR Magicians 68-80-8 .462 26.5
16 Reykjavik Fish Candy 67-86-3 .439 30
17 Garces_not_on_roids 67-86-3 .439 30
18 K-Town Mashers 63-85-8 .429 31.5
19 Thunderbirds 61-90-5 .407 35
20 Jick's Rays 43-106-7 .298 52
So that worked out OK, but I made another questionable managerial decision, blowing my #8 waiver priority on Paul Byrd, whose first two starts of the season (after missing almost two years with TJ surgery) were promising before he was rained out after two innings last time. I have always admired the crafty righty, but if he gets lit up against the anemic Expos in now pitcher-friendly Hiram Bithorn today, I’ll feel very foolish. Then I'll remind myself that every GM — real or fantasy — makes mistakes, and continue the never-ending quest to find another castoff pitcher who might help.
The Hammers are sure to be a formidable opponent, especially this week, as the quirks of HtH scheduling give Geoff two starts each from Clemens and Schmidt. He also has that Bonds guy, so my team, which might get the Delgado kid back, will need to be on its toes again just to split. After that, because of the All-Star break, the "Week" 15 matchups will be only four days, which makes luck, including pitching rotations, an even bigger factor than usual.
