I am so glad there is no more "global warming," but to be politically correct we now have "climate change." I know climate change has affected our baseball season this year, but so far it's for the better. Where were all the common rainouts in April? Shoot, I had no excuses for my team losing due to lack of AB's due to constant rainouts. Actually, it was a joy not seeing the PPD come up on my fantasy screen. Now could May be a different story? I know if the Rockies were at home today, the game would have been cancelled due to SNOW! So, instead of "May Flowers", might we in Hardball Heaven again start cursing our screens due to some cancellations. They are bound to happen, so watch out for some of that inclement weather. For those who may be wondering, I am more for "polar cooling" actually. Then, baseball can be played in nothing but domes and there will never be PPD's. Just a little satirical view on "political correctness" that unfortunately has to epitomize our society. Now onto some baseball information!!
Uticans 6 to Champions 4: Was this a true upset? Champions has been at the top all season so far. It was an upset, but a minor one in my estimation. Champs easily has the better staff, and it showed, but the offense is stagnant and dropping each week. Of course, Utica's offense dominated and only hit .248. Champs better enjoy his reign at the top for now, because it ain't going to last much longer. Outside of SB's, the offense was absolutely abysmal. With the likes of Jay Bruce and Adam Dunn, this team is going to go through some droughts. Jose Guillen isn't going to keep it up forever either and he came back to earth this week. I'm not buying into any Ike Davis hype either. Don't get me wrong, the offense has the potential to blow you out of the water some weeks, but there are going to be some severe power outage numbers like this week that is bound to drag this team down. Pitching is relied on heavily for this team to succeed over the long haul. It is a better than average staff, but not enough to overcome the offensive shortcomings. Look for Ed's fantastic start to start leveling off. As for Uticans, had an off week offensively and won. The offense is a given with Longoria and Jeter delivering on cue every week. I think Austin Jackson will not continue to deliver like a madman soon as the league figures him out, but ride him while you can. Pitching staff actually had a decent week, but still lost out. More often than not they will as they can be wild. Riding a roller coaster will be what Utica experiences with this bunch all season long. Reminds me too much of last year's squad. Good win to beat a first place team though.
Stars 6 to Hardballers 6: Stars just hung on in this tightly contested thriller after pouncing all over Hardballers early in the week. Stephen's team was putting up some frightening awesome numbers early on. Drafting Carlos Gonzalez was brilliant as he hit .390 with 2 dingers, 10 RBI's, and 3 SB's. This guy can flat out play as I watch him almost daily. Ryan Doumit hit well on the left coast this week posting a .400 batting average. If only Stars pitching staff performed like the first 3 weeks, then this matchup could have gotten ugly for Randy. But to be kind, his staff really had a nice week, so the points were very deserving on the defensive end. Who is the best player in MLB right now. Hands down, it is Robinson Cano! He hit .440 with 11 hits and 4 HR's. Not the first week, he has put up some impressive numbers either. It may not be pretty for teams when Prince Fielder gets going either. I haven't even mentioned Andre Eithier who hit 4 HR's himself with 10 Runs, 10 RBI's and a .385 average. OK, a lot of that onslaught was against the Pirates, but the last I checked they were a major league team (I think?) This was a matchup to watch this week!
Blind Squirrels 10 to Zonk 1: Swami predicted this one to be a no-brainer. Looks like it was with Squirrels putting an ass whooping on Zonk. Yet, it was predicted that Squirrels would get an ass kicking, so what was up? Squirrels numbers offensively and defensively was "UP!" Squirrels had an outstanding pitching performance and I warned the league about this before the season began. If Juan can hold his own offensively, the this team is going to be tough to deal with. Chris Carpenter was dealing with 2 W's. Dan Haren was his usual self. Niemann plays for an offensive power on the Rays. Ricky Romero is underrated playing in Toronto. Unfortunately for Squirrels is that De La Rosa may be out for some time with a torn tendon in his finger. The big question on offense is if the young guns can keep it up throughout the long season like Heyward, McCutcheon, and Escobar. Kelly Johnson has been spectacular in AZ. Can he keep up the pace? There are proven commodities in Pujols, Reynolds, and Kinsler (just coming back), but some question marks. Also, Ivan Rodriguez is hitting excellent right now. Can this offense keep it going??? It did this week and won BIG! Zonk has had some misfortune happen to his club and it showed. Losing Ellsbury and Nelson Cruz is a big blow. Cruz was literally, tearing the cover off the ball. This team has some serious weapons! Theriot was a great pickup as he continued his hot streak hitting .419 with 13 hits. Butler was solid, but the rest of the offense took the week off. King Felix had a surprising bad week with 2 losses. You won't see that much. Now Trevor Hoffman is killing this team! He reminds me of Kevin Gregg, whom I had to suffer with last year. OMG, Zonk has Kevin Gregg too! Yikes! I love the starting pitching staff, but the relief pitching is going to be murder for Stephen's team to deal with all year. It won't last!! But, let's just say playing Zonk now in the schedule is the time to be doing it. When the offense gets healty, this is one of the last teams I would want to deal with. This will easily be the worst loss of the season for Zonk!
BASEMAN 9 to Hitters 3: Don't know why it is, but always have good fortune against Tommy's team. The offensive categories were close until about 2 days left and then B-Man's team exploded! The league was warned about the offense before the season, and of course most teams thought I was being biased. Maybe that looked like the case, but check the stats and one will see I wasn't kidding. Now watch my team lay a goose egg next week.....LOL. I knew all was going well when I had to use Brandon Inge to sub for Zimmerman, and Inge only hit 3 HR's. Then Zimmerman comes back on Friday and hits me 2 HR's. Hanley R. hit 4 dingers this week. One weird stat came in pitching where Tommy got his first victory in saves. Despite having 3 legit closers to Tommy's one closer in Feliz, Hitters wins 3 saves to 0 saves. Now who would have thought that. But then, my team win the W's, but pitches about 4 games less. Pitching is one facet very tough to figure out. Let's just say you hope to have an ace or two who you hope to give you the best chance to win! Tommy's team will step it up. The offense is too good. Rickie Weeks at 2nd base is a huge question mark, but the rest of the pieces are there. Cliff Lee came back strong with 0 BB's and 8 K's, but didn't pick up the win despite giving up 0 runs. Problem with Seattle is they don't score much. Question? Tommy, are the Orioles your favorite team because you have a boatload of them? Why is a bigger question?
REDS 7 to Ageless 4: Rick RED'S took out the sticks this week for an impressive offensive performance. Ageless' offense might have well not even played this week as it was just plain "Sorry." Let's start with some positives, which was REDS performance. 4 guys hit over .4oo this week. Standouts were Asdrubal Cabrera, Tejada, Marlon Byrd and David Wright. Marlon Byrd has been a nice surprise this season and D. Wright is back to his old self. Tejada must have discovered the fountain of youth because he just keeps on keeping on! Bad break losing Granderson and Manny will help big time when he comes back. Teams need to take advantage of Rick's team now. Not sure what happened to the pitching, but was almost a complete sweep for the lone bright spot for Ageless. James Shields and Josh Johnson were dominant with 12 K's apiece. Mike needs these 2 horses to continue and carry the load. Sizemore and Kubel need to get the bats going soon as well. Garrett Jones has stopped hitting after a decent start. This team drastically underachieved this week and was fortunate the loss wasn't a massive beat down! Ageless needs to right the ship in a hurry or this team will be way off course of finding any sort of destination.
Plaz 7 to Coyote Utley 4: For two teams at the bottom, they sure didn't play like it. These clubs do have some holes, but they won't stay at the bottom. First off, looking at the offense, I see Power!Plaz led the league this week with 44 runs. A ton of participants in that category. The teams won't win any batting titles, but they do produce. Vernon Wells is playing up to his might contract and Josh Hamilton is healthy and starting to hit like his old self. Good news for Plaz! There is punch on this squad. For Utley, Konerko and Cantu had a great month of April. If they can keep it up, then this team will climb. Lots of power as evidenced by 13 HR's and 38 RBI's. In pitching, Colby Lewis has been a gem so far for Utley. Matt Cain had a nice performance as well. The problem is Javier Vazquez. What is it with him and NY? Ben Sheets had an awful week. These two pitchers have to turn it around for Coyote to get back in contention. Plaz has had terrible luck with Grienke, who has pitched like his Cy Young self, but getting absolutely no support from KC's punchless offense. Hamels has not got it really going yet and he is going to be crucial to Plaz's success. Can these two clubs turn it around. Oh yes, but how far is the question?
Hope you enjoyed!
BASEMAN
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