With one week in the book, there are four teams feeling
really good, another pair are happy to just escape the week with near .500
records, and then there are the four who will look to forget all about it.
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| Kinsler had a phenomenal first week for the Bombers, scoring 10 runs, driving in seven on 11 hits and walking four times. |
The Cheese Steaks is out in front in the National League at
15-3-4 — man, is that starting to get old — and the NJ Bombers and Big League
Choo each blew their competitors away to lead the American League.
Three playoff teams a from a year ago open with losses,
including the Outs, who struggled mightily in a 15-3-4 loss to the Steaks, and
the Gamblers, who fell 12-6-4 to the Jerk.
N.J. BOMBERS over SEX
PANTHERS, 16-4-2
The pitching was the big difference in this one as the
Bombers won it 9-1-2. His ERA of 3.00 ranks second in the JLB after one week,
led by Yordano Ventura, who went 2-0 with a 2.31 ERA. He has had a cramping
problem though, and that has to be troublesome. He left his first start early
with a thumb cramp and then his second game with a leg cramp.
Offensively, it was the middle infielders Jose Reyes
(10-for-24, 3 RBIs, 3 runs, 2 SACs, SB) and Ian Kinsler (11-for-25, 7 RBIs, 10
runs, 4 walks, SAC, SB) leading the way.
BIG LEAGUE CHOO over
CHALUPA BATMAN, 14-4-4
It wasn’t the first week Chalupa wanted, getting just four
wins, but he can walk away saying two things: First, it was against the
two-time defending AL Champ, and secondly, nine categories were winnable for
him and he just missed out on it by a few.
Choo’s Yoenis Cespedes led the way with nine hits, but the
rest of his Cubans struggled, as did his boy, Brian Dozier. Can’t imagine that
will be the case all year.
Pitching-wise, the 3.67 ERA wasn’t bad at all considering
some of the spot starts he had — Ricky Nolasco (3.0 innings, 6 runs) an Nathan
Karns (5.2 innings, 6 runs).
JERKIN’ MY KURKJIAN
over GAMEDAY GAMBLERS, 12-6-4
It’s going to be a long week for the Gamblers because this
was a disappointing start. Jerk won the pitching categories 8-0-3, led by Sonny
Gray, who went 1-0 with two quality starts and an 0.59 ERA in 15.1 innings. The
Jerk got a few good starts and a lot of great relief (3 saves, 6 holds) to take
this matchup.
The only thing that saved the Gamblers from complete
domination was Adam Jones and Joey Votto, who combined for 16 hits, 11 runs,
five homers and 15 RBIs.
Oh, and Mike Zunino went 1-for-14 with zero runs and zero
RBIs. Man, so much for spring training.
PHILLY CHEESE STEAKS
over YOU’RE FREAKING OUT, 15-3-4
If you would have told Jim Vaughn on Wednesday that he would
turn around and win the majority of the pitching categories, he would have laughed
it off.
Well, the Outs had a troublesome first week on the mound and
the offense didn’t help out at all — man, where’s Kris Bryant when you need him
— and it led to the most lopsided loss of the first week.
Max Scherzer led the Steaks with a pair of quality starts,
striking out 16 with a 0.66 ERA. Most of the rest of the pitching was suspect
as the Steaks really lucked out in terms of scheduling. Against most other NL
teams, he scrapes away a .500 record because of pitching.
Offensively, Todd Frazier and Hanley Ramirez combined for
six homers and 15 RBIs to fuel the best offensive performance of the week. Only
the Slammers — go figure — hit more homers with 11.
CHIEF OTTO PARTS over
JIMMYJAM SLAMMERS, 12-9-1
David and I exchanged the “handshakes” via Facebook
messenger Sunday night as Clay Buchholz was giving up 10 runs on the Otto Parts’
bench.
That’s how crazy this matchup was. If that Yankees-Red Sox
game is at 1 p.m. on Sunday, I win the matchup 11-10-1. The power came alive
for my team as I slugged 11 homers and edged Otto in RBIs 38-34, but his
ridiculous 2.46 ERA did me in. It was a lot closer than it ended because I was
starting pitchers on Sunday just in hopes to catch up, but it wasn’t enough.
Otto’s offense may not have hit homers, but the 51 singles,
17 doubles and two triples were enough to help him take six of the eleven
categories.
STEROID.ERA over
VANDELAY, 9-8-5
Steroid got five quality starts from his three aces alone
and his pitching won 6 categories, while Vandelay won six offensive categories
in this near tie to open the season.
Adrian Gonzalez’s benching wouldn’t have made much of a
difference as it turned out, as Vandelay had eight players notch six or more
hits in the matchup.
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