Week 14 in Review: Parity Reigns

The fun is getting even better now that we are 2/3rds into the season. Just as the weather has been scorching hot, so do the weekly battles in the race for playoff positioning. I thought previous years' races were tight, but this year there are almost 9 teams at .500 or over. Zonk and Ageless are just below, but at one time during the week there were exactly 9 teams at this plateau. That is remarkable this late in the season. Stattracker isn't up to date at this very moment, but if memory serves me correctly the 8th and 9th place teams are only 3 games or so back of playoff position, while teams 3-7 are bunched as well. Positioning changes each week and this is what Hardball Heaven has become (one very bad week) and what looks like good position can evaporate like a small puddle on a hot summer's day. Now on with the review.

BASEMAN 6 to Champs 6: GREAT MATCHUP! This was strictly top offense vs. top defense and ended in a stalemate. Ed's pitching is PHENOMENAL. Although Ryan Franklin had an ERA of about 124.00 one evening, Ed managed a 2.80 for the week. That was the lone loss also. The staff is downright "Sick!" and the term is used in the most positive way. All I could do was shoot low in my pitching stats for the week and hope to take 2 categories. I barely could do that. Champs had a BB:K ratio of 52:9 (almost 6:1)! So, B-Man barely hung onto BB's for one point. Was fortunate to get saves at 6-4 for the other point. I say fortunate because Champs has Mariano Rivera, Heath Bell, and Ryan Franklin. These are all winning teams that give their closers more opportunities. While I on the other hand have Kerry (Balsa) Wood, Alfredo Simon of the woeful O's, and Leo Nunez, who actually is having a fine season, despite playing for an under 500 club in the Marlins. So yes, I was fortunate to get saves. Now on offense, Champs did prove worthy in the power dept, which is a strength. Anyone notice what Adam Dunn did this week? Only 5 HR's, 10 runs and rbi's, and a robust .455 average! Ed is also trying to upgrade with speed so have to give him some credit for trying to help a weaker part of the squad. I do have to mention that Ed did miss out on a Rajai Davis grand salami after releasing him. Oh well, he didn't need him anyhow. Ed had a great week and only lost 4-2 on offense, but here's the problem with this squad despite awesome pitching. The offense is too streaky and usually won't hit for high average, hits, or runs, while speed will come and go. I happened to hit this team at the wrong time and had to have some big offensive numbers to winpoints on offense, but Adam Dunn and Mike Stanton aren't going to go off each week like that. The same goes for Jonny Gomes, Jay Bruce, and Troy Glaus. Because of pitching that no one else in the league can come close to matching, I like Champs to make the playoffs. But to get on a roll and win the whole thing will be a long shot due to the sporadic offense. One needs a team that is consistent for week to week on offense to win it all and Champs offense can't do that. But for this week anyway, Champs gets congrats for a great week. BASEMAN was fortunate to walk away with a tie! Oh yeah, did I mention I hate relievers!
P.S. ED I hope to see you in the Springs next year and we should hook up for a Rockies game.

Stars 9 to Uticans 2: Talk about running into a team at the wrong time! OUCH! Did Kerm get hurt or what? Stars offense was just a wrecking ball this week clobbering 15 HR's, collecting 50 runs and 72 hits, and posting a .323 average. Poor Kerm actually had good enough offensive numbers to take 4-5 points from several teams. When it is not going right.....well you know the rest. OUCH! OUCH! OUCH! Stars has made some tremendous pickups in Posey and Santana. Posey only hit .562 with 3 dingers and this has been going on now for some time. Not just this week. Carlos Gonzalez is another youngster who just tore the cover off the ball this week hitting .519. What a crime this guy is not on the NL All Star team will Omar Infante is! The league needs to change having to select a utility guy as that is a joke. And to even think Joey Votto had to be voted in! Come on Major League Baseball! Get your act together. Anyway, the youngsters stepped up for Stars this week. I am not usually sold on so many on a team, but these guys are all stars in the making. Utica could have done more on defense though as Stars numbers weren't great, but Kerm only managed one point and a tie. Had to stream to get the K's category and a tie in W's on the last day too. It is strictly pasting together a staff and hoping for the best. Doesn't work too often in this league of ours. Sorry Kerm, but until you start developing a system for putting together a decent pitching staff, it will be tough to ever win this league. It's your achilles heel and we all know it. Great win by Stephen, who may very well be getting back on track in his own words. Stephen has high expectations for success obviously.

Hardballers 7 to Squirrels 3: Two very good teams in a big matchup that was quite close on Sunday, but Randy pulls it out in the end taking hits and average on offense and winning more points on defense against a strong pitching staff for Juan. Miguel Olivo, another all star crime victim, had another huge week hitting .562 and coming through in the clutch for the Rockies. Someone tell me why the Rockies get no love out there when they damn well deserve it? Never on national television, no respect from the east coast media, and made the playoffs last year. Just glad I get to watch them anytime on tv as they are one exciting team pulling out some huge comeback victories this week. Oh yeah, this is a Week in Review column! Sorry for digressing. Another interesting tidbit about Hardballers is that Martin Prado hit an unusual number of HR's this week (3), but only hit .192. That is backwards for Prado. Dare I go on about the Rockies? Yes, because I must add that Jason Hammel has been a tremendous pickup for Randy. Hammel has won something like 6 straight games now. Huge addition to the pitching staff. I still like this team to make the postseason in HH, but I think it will be a dogfight. There are some question marks in certain categories, but Randy is savvy and will see his way through somehow, someway this year. Juan's team really had a decent offensive week putting in 11 HR's and 42 RBI's for solid output. Carlos Quentin has been hot, and Juan jumped on him off the waiver wire.Much needed addition and adds even more pop! The problem was the pitching this week. If the pitching can't be depended on, then Squirrels has problems. I wouldn't be too worried yet, but something to watch as Carpenter hasn't been himself, Romero got shelled and Niemann left Sunday with a tight back.

Hitters 7 to Road to .500 4: Both teams played rather well in this matchup, but unfortunately for Tim, he came up short. Timmy's team has played well of late, but just can't make up enough points or get that big win to get back in it. Might want to be changing that name right about now. Hitter's team is kind of like the Ageless One. Doesn't always get the respect it deserves is what I mean. Like Tommy, who is quiet on the message boards and we just don't hear much, the team is kind of quiet and sneaks up on you. Nobody talks about how intimidating Hitter's team is, but when all is said and done, the team is constantly in the playoff hunt. One noticeable stat was 8 W's with a 4.70 ERA. 8 W's is impressive, but 3 of those wins came from closers. That means some fortune took place because unless tied in the 9th or whatever, usually closers have to give up runs to get a win. Axford got 2, while Street got 1. Street also got 3 saves, so a big week from Huston Street. Another huge pickup has been Angel Pagan for the Mets. I'm telling you, a few smart waiver wire additions can make all the difference and Pagan has been solid for Tommy. Also, Teixeira and Howard are showing muscle, so the offense is gelling. Gavin Floyd and Cliff Lee are two nice pitchers that will keep this team in contention as well. Carlos Silva is coming back to earth, but there are enough pieces in place to make a run at what I believe would be the #6 seed. Sneaky good team here. On Timmy's side, I like Mat Latos and what he has done for the Padres. Wish I had him. Offense was led by Matt Holliday with a .320 average, 5 HR's and 12 RBI's. Despite hit only .175, Matt Kemp had 5 steals. Kemp still has been a disappointment so far this season, and when high draft picks don't pan out, it can really hurt a team. The team is steady and has turned things around after the abysmal start, yet it is too big a climb at this point in the season to overcome the slow start.

REDS 6 to Zonk 5: Tale of offense vs. defense here. Rick almost sweeps on offense, and Stephen almost sweeps on defense. REDS had an explosive offense this week with 74 hits and 40 RBI's. I must add that the average was .309. These days in the post steroid era, it is almost worth mentioning if a team hits over .300 for the week because overall averages are down. So good stat there for Rick's team too. Geovany Soto led the way with a .545 average with Miguel Cabrera following at .435 and Curtis Granderson at .400. Rafael Furcal even hit 2 dingers. Big offensive week. Adam Wainwright did his usual solid performance and Tim Hudson has had a nice comeback year. Weaver and Pelfrey hurt REDS this week though. Tough team and will be in the playoff hunt for the rest of the way. Zonk is another team that will continue to be in the playoff mix despite being behind right now. I really like Verlander, King Felix and even Andy Pettite at the top of the rotation. Zito has been good as well. Is Tommy Hunter for real? Not sure? Corey Hart and Scott Rolen are the unsung heroes who have helped keep the offense rolling. I even have to add Chris Young to this list. Last year was not a good one for him, yet he has good numbers this season. Zonk must have these 3 continue to provide extra offense for this club. At least this week, Zonk didn't get a raw deal in terms of score as offensive numbers were down compared to most teams. It is really hard to pick playoff teams 3-6 at this time, but I assure you that Stephen's team will compete for one of those spots despite being out of them for practically the whole season. The numbers back that up as the team should be higher as it is.

Ageless 6 to Plaz 5: This was Ageless' offense to Plaz's defense in this one. When Mike drafted Carl Crawford early in the draft, most thought he was crazy. I know I did and laughed. Umm, I at least am eating crow right now! Crawford only posted a .379 average with 4 HR's, 9RBI's, 8 runs, and 2 steals. Can you say contract year for Crazy Legs Crawford! This guy will make bank and it won't be in Tampa. Adrian Gonzalez also showed why he is an all star with impressive numbers this week as well. Hitting outside of Petco Park for the week didn't hurt. I look at the offense as a whole though and just shake my head as to how they are doing it. Stats are toward the bottom, but this team is right in the thick of the playoff hunt. Outside of Josh Johnson, the pitching staff isn't electric or anything. Clayton Richard has been a nice surprise, and despite a big ERA, James Shields has some ok numbers. But, what is going on here? I tell you what is going on and the Ageless One is savvy at getting the most points where he can. He strategizes on the pitching end and has enough pesky hitters to get him points on offense. Keeps him in the playoff hunt at about .500! It would be stunning for this team to win a title this year, but after seeing how Mike manages his team, I wouldn't surprise me at all for this team to sneak past others and find a spot in the playoffs. I'm not guaranteeing this, but he's done it before and can definitely do it again and defy the odds despite what the roto stats say. Plaz, on the other hand like Road to .500 and Utica, is just playing out the string at this point and hoping for the best in the consolation rounds. Bad luck had befallen Pete this year (kind of like last) with the injury bug. Not many teams can survive losing the top two draft picks for extended time such is the case with Utley and Tulo. That is just rotten luck. Geesh, I even missed Jake Peavy being gone for the season. Some bright spots though have been Josh Hamilton of course. Also, Nick Swisher has been a bonus with an unusual high batting average for him. He deserves his all star bid. Gardner, also of the Yanks, has been another nice surprise. Besides losing players to injury, Justin Upton, another high draft pick, hasn't been all that he was supposed to be. Now I see, Greinke has shoulder discomfort. The jury is out on that, but how much more can Plaz take if he loses Greinke? I picked this team towards the bottom at the beginning of the year. It looks like I am going to be right, but not for the reasons I thought. Plaz has done an admirable job with this team despite of all the injuries and should be commended. The pitching is honestly not a strength and there are some streaky hitters on the club, but Plaz may just not have been out of the running if not for the rash of injuries to hit. Just have to chalk it up to one of those years. No way is there quit in his team or any team in this great league of ours. I assure you that much.

Hope you all enjoyed! Until next time.
BASEMAN