The statement “What can you do?” really holds true for me
this week.
What could I have done to possibly avoid a 13-8-3 setback to
division rival Vandelay?
The answer is: Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Vandelay put together an amazing first week with strong
pitching and insane hitting. He batted .331 for the week, compiling 87 hits,
including 59 singles and 12 homers.
Yes, that’s right, 59 singles. Some teams didn’t even reach
59 total hits for the week.
I know by now, the Gamblers and Choo are looking for a
picture of a “wambulance” to post on the Facebook wall, but let me make it
clear; I’m not crying here. I’m praising Vandelay. He had a hell of a week.
How good was it? Well, let’s look at it this way. After the
draft and during the matchup, he made four waiver moves, allowing him to put
Maicer Izturis, Chris Denorfia, Denard Span and Mike Olt into his lineup for 17
at-bats. He got nine combined hits, a homer, four RBIs, a SAC, a stolen base
and a GWRBI from them.
Or, let’s look at the category of GWRBIs. I tallied eight,
which is a crazy amount for one matchup. To put it in perspective, the Gamblers
had a League-best 118 GWRBIs last season. I’m on pace to get 168.
But Vandelay collected his ninth GWRBI in the Sunday
nightcap to win the category.
Or, lets look at a pair of bats who just dominated.
Giancarlo Stanton and Michael Cuddyer are on fire to start the season. Stanton
has opened the season with two homers and 12 RBIs, and Cuddyer has 13 hits and
seven RBIs. Both are among five batters on his team to have two home runs in
Week 1.
On the pitching side, it didn’t start out well for Vandelay
when Tanner Scheppers gave up seven earned runs on Opening Day, but it got
better quickly.
Chris Sale, Jose Fernandez and Adam Wainright all got two
starts and they helped Vandelay log 107.1 innings, going 9-4 with a 3.44 ERA
and 1.27 WHIP. He had 106 strikeouts and nine quality starts.
He, of course, leads several JLB categories — eight to be exact — after one
matchup.
It’s still early, but he couldn’t have asked for a better
start.
Or could he?
If he would have played Chief Otto Parts, he would have won
18-3-3. If he would have played the Outs, he would have won 18-3-3. The Cheese
Steaks would have fell 17-5-2. Steroid.ERA would have lost 16-6-2.
So, I was the worst matchup he could have faced this week,
and vice versa, the same went for me. I, likewise, would have had double-digit
wins ranging from 12 to 16 depending on who I would have faced.
What’s the point of all this comparing? It’s to show that
the National League had two teams jump out to great starts and they faced each
other.
But in the National League standings, it’s the Cheese Steaks
on top, picking up a few key categories Sunday night to beat Chief Otto Parts
14-5-5. Cheese Steaks will hold a 2-game lead over Vandelay.
For the Cheese Steaks, he led 10-9-5 heading into the final day,
and Hanley Ramirez’s homers and average helped him take both those categories.
He also turned ERA and Losses into wins with Otto’s Sunday starters combining
to go 0-4 with a 6.00 ERA.
Both the Outs and Steroid.ERA fought to a stalemate at
11-11-2 and sit 4.5 games out.
In the American League, the standings are much tighter with
only three games separating first from last.
The N.J. Bombers own first place for now, but barely, after
a 12-9-3 win over Jerkin’, who sits three games back. The Gamblers are a
half-game back after an 11-9-4 win over hated rival Big League Choo, and
Coldsmith is a game out after an 11-10-3 win over the Sex Panthers.
The Jerk made the biggest move on Sunday, trailing 14-5-5
heading into the final day, but a sacrifice, 17 pitching strikeouts and three
quality starts softened the blow, leaving him only three games back, rather
than nine.
His second-round pick Brandon Belt broke out in a big way,
batting .323 with six singles, four homers, seven runs scored and seven RBIs.
It was an impressive start for Belt.
But it wasn’t the most impressive of the AL bats.
Coldsmith’s leading offensive threat was Mark Trumbo, who
homered five times and drove in 13 runs. That helped him win a close battle
with the Sex Panthers.
In the loudest matchup of the week, the Choo won eight
offensive categories after the Gamblers’ offense got off to an extremely cold
start. But it was all for naught as the Gamblers won eight pitching categories
— because he almost always has the best pitching staff — to even things up.
Five homers in the last three days helped the Gamblers flip
the script and give him the 11-10-3 win. Torii Hunter hit three of those homers
to lead the way.
Imagine that. A draft pick helped him win. And he says
there’s no value in the draft. If we fast forward to August and he makes the
playoffs by a half-game, we can look back to Hunter's three-day homer streak as
a helper.
I know, I know. Playoffs, August; it’s all so far away.
It’s too early for anyone to panic, which is why I can sit
back and just laugh at how ridiculous it is that when I pulled the numbers out
of a hat to make a schedule, I drastically changed the way the National League standings would look after one week.
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