With two weeks in the books, we’re pretty much where we
expected things would be at this point: three teams front-running in the
American League and five of six teams at the top in the National League.
The only difference is, Chief Otto Parts isn’t among those
five of six.
Of course, it’s early, but he’s 10.5 games back after
back-to-back series setbacks.
Heading into Week 3, the Otto Parts just has to be happy
that it isn’t worse than 10.5 games. And at his age, pushing 40, it's the little things that make him happy.
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| Michael Wacha was one of several pitchers who led the Outs to a ridiculous 13-2 record with 11 QSs, 100 Ks and a 2.47 ERA. |
At Sunday start, he was losing to my Slammers 15-4 and
he got all the categories he needed to cut it down to a 10-6-8 setback — a 3.5 game
swing. The Slammers' owner — what a idiot — made a late move to bench Yoenis
Cespedes in favor of Eric Hosmer, and it cost him two wins.
Come Sunday night, looking at the missed opportunity, there
was a slight pain. Not enough to put me on the DL, though. Only Jerks go on the
DL, which we learned this week.
Renaming his team to the Handi Jerks — with commissioner
approval — the Jerk is dealing with seven players on the DL and only five DL slots.
It’s pretty insane.
Many of us have had times where we have had all of our DL
slots filled, but often times, it’s filled with those “stash and pray” players or
just a late draft pick you’re not ready to give up on.
That’s not the case for Jerk. He has seven legit players
out, including four starting pitchers. After Mat Latos went down, he jokingly
asked the League if anyone would give him three DL slots for Marcell Ozuna.
Ironically, Ozuna fouled a ball off his foot Sunday and was using crutches to
get around Sunday night. He’s not to the caliber of the other seven DLers, but
he’d be No. 8 if it comes to it.
To make matters worse, he lost his matchup to the Gamblers
and he’s sampling the wine collection in the JLB cellar.
The Gamblers had a huge pitching week with seven quality
starts and a 2.29 ERA, which is to be expected from a team of his caliber, boasting the all-time best pitching staff the world has ever known. Add in his 13 homers, and he powered his way to a 13-7-4 win.
The big difference was Ryan Braun, who batted 10-for-24 with seven runs, a
triple, three HRs and 10 RBIs — most coming against the Phillies.
Still, the matchup with the Handi-Jerks was close, as he won
four categories that could have gone either way.
His two front-running division mates, the Bombers and the
Choo, did not have great pitching weeks, but neither did their opponents, so
each picked up big wins to create a 1.5-game separation between first and third
place.
Choo, led by Jose Abreu’s four HRs and eight RBIs, powered
past Coldsmith 14-5-5, and the Bombers got a great week out of Jacoby Ellsbury,
Carlos Beltran and Devin Mesoraco in a 13-6-5 win over the Sex Panthers.
Mesoraco exploded last week, getting his first starts of the season, hitting
two homers and driving in six runs for the Bombers.
But, if we were to award a Player of the Week award, it
would have to go to the Cheese Steaks’ Justin Upton — the Jerks just
cringed and sipped some more wine — or the ENTIRE pitching staff for the Outs.
And, of course, those two fantasy teams were playing each other
last week. The Outs squeaked out a 12-11-1 win, but it wasn’t easy.
Justin Upton had 13 hits, eight runs scored, two doubles,
four HRs, eight RBIs and two GWRBIs to lead the Cheese Steaks, who won eight of
12 batting categories.
The Outs made up for that loss with his pitching, winning
nine of 12. And it’s not like the Cheese
Steaks had a bad pitching week. The Philly Cheese posted 90 Ks to 24 walks, eight
quality starts, three saves, 3.84 ERA and 1.24 WHIP.
Many teams in the JLB would have killed for those numbers.
The Outs, however, posted 100 Ks to 32 walks, 11 quality
starts, a CG SO, 13-2 record, three holds, 2.47 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. #ridonk
I’ll be lucky if I get anywhere close to that this next week
with the way Chris Archer is pitching right now.
So, who provided the big weeks for the Outs? Madison
Bumgarner? … Nope. Jordan Zimmermann? … Nope. Yu Darvish? … Not exactly,
although his eight scoreless innings helped — drink some more, Jerks.
Instead of those names, it was Kyle Lohse, Tyson Ross,
Michael Wacha, Andrew Cashner and Corey Kluber who led the way with their
quality starts and strikeouts.
You would think that 13 pitching wins in Week 2 of the
season would put you atop the JLB in that category, but Vandelay has the edge
after his 12-5 performance in Week 2. He only had six quality starts, but the
wins totals were still there. However, after Steroid.ERA won seven of 12 batting
categories, he only found himself in a 9-9-6 stalemate at the end of the week.
For Steroid.ERA, predicted to finish last by the
Slammermetric Scale, it’s been a great first two weeks of the season. He put up
some great numbers, including 11 hits from both Alexei Ramirez and 11 RBIs from
Adrian Gonzalez last week. Josh Donaldson, who was slow out the gates Week 1,
exploded in Week 2 with a 9-for-28 showing, three HRs, six runs, seven RBIs.
Steroid, shocker, posted 13 homers, but he only earned a tie
in that category because Vandelay, for the second straight week, had four or
more players hit at least two home runs. Both he and Steroid.ERA lead the JLB
in homers with 25 and 22, respectively.
Week 3 features more divisional matchups, with probably none
more important than the Outs vs. the Otto Parts. As mentioned to start this
post, 10.5 games two weeks in isn’t anything to panic about, but another decent
loss may create a bit of a scare heading into Week 4.
In the American League, the matchup to watch is the Bombers
vs. the Choo. A pair of top teams going at it in an early season matchup that
could make a difference heading into August when these two could be battling
for the division title.
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