And finally the first series is over. With the new scheduling format, it was much longer than it has been in prior years.Before the season would start on Sunday with one game at night, extending the series to eight days.
This season, with four full extra days of baseball, I felt like I was back in the 2009 World Series against Parker — a matchup that lasted 16 days before he finally won his first title.
The good thing about this long series was that it wasn’t for all the marbles.
It was just the start — which was good for me and five other owners.
Here’s a quick look at the first week that was:
No bluff, Gamblers can hit
Well, he said it.
His spreadsheets said it.
Now the stats say it.
The Gamblers can hit: 76 singles, 17 homers, 48 RBIs, 70 runs scored and a .295 average.
And it wasn’t any wild draft picks doing the damage. It’s all keepers. Ryan Braun (.353), Brandon Philips (.389), Joey Votto (.455), Andre Ethier (.353) and Alex Rodriguez (.321). The five combined for 62 hits and 44 runs. That’s just ridiculous. They’ll cool off a bit, but it’s certainly a good sign for a franchise looking to do what no one in the REAL National League can do — go to three straight World Series.
And winning three, well, we might just need to start buying Parker Target security shirts with pinstripes.
Late Sunday Night Buck Robbin-ery
It just got worse and worse and worse for the Slammers.
The batting average hovered around .198 for the first six, seven days before the Slammers jokingly dropped backup Manny Ramirez to write a funny blog and spark the team. Somehow, the batting average went up after that, but only to .232.
Ironically, Manny retired three days after the Slammers dropped him. The Slammers, already missing 2B Chase Utley, lost replacement and first-round pick Tsuyoshi Nishioka to a broken leg.
Both Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee had horrible games, and Brian Wilson — who the Slammers traded for because he thought he was hilarious — gave up five runs in 1 1/3 innings of work.
I think Murphy’s Law applies here, because IT WENT WRONG.
Still, he scraped his way to 10 wins against Buck, whose offense — led by Adrian Gonzales and Dustin Pedroia — came alive in the final weekend to take the lead for good. Those two provided 12 hits in the Yankees series to take over the singles category. And Jonathan Papelbon scored a 1-2-3 ninth late Sunday night to move ahead in the WHIP category.
Batting .298 for the week, the Droids (yes, that’s his nickname in this league) are off to a good start and tied with the World Series Champs in the AL West.
N.J. Bombers pitching staff is back
Remember the Bombers’ pitching staffs’ start last season? They were in the 2s for ERA for about four, five weeks.
Well, Firestine has done it again.
With a 2.96 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP, he dominated the pitching stats and downed Interleague foe Backward Ks.
Leading the way were Jered Weaver, who managed three starts in the series, and Kyle Drabek.
First, Weaver was ridiculous, going 3-0 with 27 strikeouts and an 0.87 ERA in 20.2 innings. Jealous anyone?
Well, if you are, there wasn’t much you could do. Weaver was a keeper. But Drabek, he was available in the draft.
And Firestine made the move, picking up a pitcher who has two quality starts, 12 strikeouts and a 1.38 ERA. He’s 1-0 and looking like a keeper.
Last season, Firestine’s pitching returned to Earth in mid-May. Let’s see how long it lasts this year.
Suck it
That’s what Team Suck can say about his pitching to Firestine. His ERA is better and the names are surprising. Outside of Matt Cain (13 innings, two quality starts, 1-0 with 1.38 ERA), it was Brett Myers and Jonathan Sanchez leading the Suck to victory.
Not who you expected, but Suck will take it. Especially Sanchez, who struck out 15 batters in two starts. He walked five. His problem over the years has been consistency. If he can keep up with the strikeouts over walks, he’ll be a excellent one-two punch (with Cain) for Team Suck and the Giants.
Bad News, the Bad News Bears are Bad News again
What happened?
A .228 average for week one? Only 29 RBIs? Ugh, what’s going on? Only Robison Cano and Aramis Ramirez are hitting (.342) after 14 days.
Maybe it’s time for his draft consultant to be the roster-setting consultant, because I really thought this offense had it this year.
Although, it didn’t help that he went up against the Outs who hit out of the freaking minds in week one. He had 71 singles, 15 homers and 67 RBIs. Somehow he had 90 strikeouts in one week, which is unheard of and means he’s well on his way to the strikeout title, but hey, he’ll take it if he wins every week.
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