After two weeks of play, we’re right back to where we were
at the end of last season with both the Philly Cheese Steaks and Big League
Choo in first place.
In the National League, the Otto Parts are eight games back
and in the American League, the Bombers are six games back.
Obviously, plenty of time to go here being in just Week 3 of
21, but the three teams that are 10 games under .500 have a bit of work to do
to climb back into it.
STEROID over
SLAMMERS, 11-9-2
I batted .306, had a decent power week and still lost a few
categories and I blame Nelson Cruz. That dude was ridiculous last week, belting
six homers, going 12-for-24, with 10 RBIs. Add that with Matt Carpenter’s
12-for-25 showing with seven doubles — yes, seven — a homer and five RBIs.
Those two guys made the difference. Steroid also lucked out on Sunday when
Scott Kazmir didn’t get tossed in the first after hitting Lorenzo Cain. That
allowed him to keep going and win strikeouts and quality starts.
CHEESE over VANDELAY,
15-6-1
Cheese won this matchup because pitching, going 9-4 with a
2.81 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 84 strikeouts and eight quality starts. In all, the Steaks
went 9-1-1 in pitching, and held his ground in a fairly even batting week.
Andrew Cashner and Shane Greene led the way with a combined
four quality starts, going 3-1 while allowing just a single earned run. Cashner
was flawless in his 12 innings of work with 14 strikeouts and the 0.00 ERA.
Greene logged 15 innings of one-run ball with six strikeouts.
OTTO PARTS over OUTS,
11-10-1
The Target Carts squeaked out a one-category win, and it was
one that could have really gone either way with five categories decided by one
and three more separated by two.
Robinson Cano (11-for-25, 5 runs, HR, 3 RBIs) led the way
offensively, and he was one of six batters (of those who had at least 10
at-bats) who hit .300 on the week. Travis d’Arnaud was among those .300
hitters, but Otto lost him Sunday to a broken hand and it’ll be a month on the
DL for him.
Outs had some mighty blowups pitching, including a pair of
really tough outings for Jordan Zimmermann. Fortunately, guys like Gerrit Cole
(2-0, 12 innings, 14 strikeouts, 2.25 ERA) helped pull the ERA down to 4.15
which was plenty enough to beat Otto.
The Outs also got a monster week out of his boring third
baseman, Josh Donaldson (11-for-29, 3 HRs, 7 RBIs.) I call him boring because
the more exciting one got the call-up and went 3-for-10 over the weekend with
an RBI and three walks. Man, he’s going to be good.
GAMBLERS tie CHALUPA,
9-9-4
Adam Jones and Justin Upton brought some excitement to the
outfield for the Gamblers, but the Batman still went 7-4-0 in the batting
categories, including 10 homers from nine different guys. Jones and Upton had
five of the Gamblers’ seven.
The pitching categories were extremely close as the Gamblers
won 5-2-4. Outside of the four ties, Chalupa lost two more by one and another
by two. This could have easily gone the wrong way for the Gamblers, who opened
the season with a big setback. Salvaging a 9-9-4 tie was big.
CHOO over BOMBERS,
12-5-5
Choo won seven batting categories and added five more
pitching to hand the Bombers a deflating loss. Choo hit eight homer — all off
Cuban bats — to out blast the Bombers, whose Paul Goldschmidt hit a trio of
dingers.
Yoenis Cespedes also had three bombs, while Jorge Soler and
Jose Abreu each had two. Yasiel Puig added the eighth homer.
Pitching-wise, Michael Pineda has been all that and a bag of
Pine Tar chips, going 2-0 last week with 14 strikeouts. His 6.00 ERA, however,
shows that he benefited from a strong offensive backing. Perhaps the biggest
difference, in a week when Choo wins strikeouts by one, was Danny Salazer, who
sat down 10 in six innings after getting called up from Triple-A.
PANTHERS over JERK,
12-6-4
The Sex Panthers won eight pitching categories, including
two that she shouldn’t have due to the fact that the Jerk didn’t get enough
starts. With only one quality start in eight, I’m not sure the ninth start
would have helped much. Collin McHugh had the best start of the week with his
11 strikeouts for the Panthers on a pitching staff that hasn’t been all that
bad. The offense, however, needs a spark.
Nick Markakis had 10 hits last week to lead the way, but the
next best output was six hits by Jonathan Lucroy, and he’s headed to the DL.
Jerk’s best offense, like the Yankees, has come from ARod,
who went 6-for-17 with three homers and five RBIs.
Comments