MLB Headlines Week 21

I suppose the first order of business is to wish everyone a Happy Labor Day. Of course, by the time you read this it'll probably be Tuesday, and you'll all be working like chumps. I on the other hand........will be working like a chump too. Sucks, don't it?
Anyway, color me worried about the Twins. Sure they won big on Sunday, but on Saturday Nathan blew a save big time. And that's two blown saves in a week, each leading to a loss. But the worst thing about Saturday's loss is not just that Nathan blew a save, he looked completely panicked. And if you can't rely on Joe Nathan anymore, then the whole season is up in the air. Then again, the Twins have been known to surprise me before. So we'll see.

http://www.mlb.com/ Headline of the Week:
Brewers Have the Cards' number, and it's Wild

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cards...Cardinals...Wild Card. We get it.

Dr. Bitz:
August 31st, 2008 - Brewers 7 Pirate 0
Brewers brutalize Pittsburgh and CC bathes in victory once again

August 31st, 2008 - Twins 12 Atheletics 4
Twins score a Baker's dozen and secure Scott's success

August 31st, 2008 - White Sox 4 Red Sox 2
Sock it Thome! Two-run homer rockets White Sox to a win over Boston

Teebore:
August 31st, 2008 - Dodgers 8 Diamondbacks 1
Dodgers defeat Diamondbacks in desert duel

August 31st, 2008 - White Sox 4 Red Sox 2
Thome homer helps halt Hosiery Hoedown sweep

August 30th, 2008 - Twins 2 Athletics 3
Blown Opportunity: Bad throw on bunt scores Brown, blows save.

I won last week. Voting to the left. You know the drill.

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11:00 AM: For the past few weeks my team has been hitting thirty to forty RBI and Runs. This week, my team collapsed. My collapse topped off on Friday when my hitters combined for 4 hits and a Run. Much like the Twins, my team is falling apart, complete with closers blowing it and everything!

R HR RBI SB AVG W SV K ERA WHIP
Me: 24 6 19 1 .254 2 4 58 4.96 1.27
Him: 32 4 22 7 .335 1 5 43 5.85 1.53

I'm going against boots~ this week. He's got 4 starting pitchers going today and I have three. (I picked up Oakland's pitcher who's facing the Twins today for...obvious reasons.) Thanks to my closers combining for 6 Runs in 3 innings yesterday, my ERA and WHIP sky rocketed. Runs, Steals, and Average is his. The rest of the categories are up for grabs. But I don't really care how well I do against boots~ this week, I just have to make sure my sister doesn't win 3 more categories than I do. Or else it's no playoffs for me.

12:30 AM: First batter of the day is Carlos Delgado...and he grounds out to first. No surprise there.

1:12 PM: Not a whole lot going on. I got a run and am 2 for 8. I'm very happy to see that both Brandon Phillips and Jermaine Dye are benched because they want to screw me over. Stupid baseball holding a grudge against me.

1:14 PM: Wandy Rodriguez managed to get out of the first inning without any runs scored. Gave up two hits though, which is lame. Although one of those hits was from Mr. Pooh Holes himself, so I guess that's acceptable.

1:17 PM: Alex *Expletive Deleted* Rodriguez finally remembered who he is this week and hit a solo home run.

1:25 PM: Sometimes I'm really slow on the uptake. Two of my pitchers are facing each other. Wandy Rodriguez and Todd Wellemeyer. That should mean a Win for my team is inevitable, right?

1:29 PM: Two of boots~'s pitchers are struggling. Pettite and Matt Cain current have a 9 ERA. Pettite's through 4 innings and Cain's through 5. So that's good. And apparently Carlos Zambrano who was supposed to pitch is not for unknown reasons. I'm not complaining.

1:34 PM: And now Cain's been taken out of the game. 5 Innings, 5 Runs. Me likes.

1:40 PM: According to TBS, Zambrano is out due to a 'tired arm'. Poor baby.

1:41 PM: I dropped "Do it all" Doumit for Kelly Shoppach for a multitude of reasons not the least of which because Shoppach's been on a roll. It paid off because Shoppach's in the lineup today and Doumit is not. Shoppach also just hit a double. So that's good. Could use some RBI though.

2:00 PM: Way-Rod gave up two lead off singles but a double play and strikeout got him out of the inning. I always feel like a double play should count as a negative hit towards a pitchers WHIP. Like instead of WHIP being (Walks + Hits)/Innings Pitched it should be (Walks + Hits - Double Plays)/Innings Pitched. Just a though. Although that formula wouldn't have as cool of name as WHIP.

2:07 PM: Pettite has been taken out of the game. No win for him. It's really shaping up like I'm going to Win wins.

2:09 PM: According to TBS the White Sox managed to "manufacture" a run. Does hitting two two out doubles really count as "manufacturing" a run?

2:12 PM: Carlos Delgado is up to bat with two men on and two outs. I wonder what's going to happen? (Here's a hint: It starts with "S" and ends with "trike Out")

2:13 PM: "Delagado struck out looking."

2:17 PM: Despite my team hitting .400 today, they only have one RBI. Can't say I approve of that.

2:58 PM: Despite not giving up an earned run, Wandy Rodriguez was taken out of the game after 5 2/3 innings pitched. We'll see if that becomes significant.

3:05 PM: Funnily enough, since boots~ had 4 pitchers going he had to take Detroit's closer out of his lineup, who promptly got a save today. I almost feel sorry for him.

3:09 PM: Here's a shocker, Denard Span struck out again Greg Smith. Hmmm...perhaps my logic was sound to pick up Smith? Maybe not, he just gave up a double to Big Poppi Punto.

3:13 PM: RBI single for Morneau, against my pitcher. Not upset though. That's why they call it hedging your bets.

3:58 PM: So Greg Smith has given up 3 runs in 3 innings. I don't mind. That's good for the Twins and I think regardless of what happens with ERA that I'm going to make the playoffs. So whatev. Let's hope Nathan doesn't biff it this time though.

3:59 PM: Wandy Rodriguez got the win. That pretty much seals that category for me.

4:00 PM: All my batters are done for the day. Alex *Expletive Deleted* Rodriguez hit a solo home run, my other hitters added a single run on top of that. That's all. So for those of you counting at home, this weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) my team combined for a total of 4 RBI. That's spectacularly lame.

4:04 PM: I just saw one of those lame Channel 9 morning show commercials where they go to New York to see what New Yorkers know about Minnesota. You know, because other morning shows have their studio in New York while Channel 9's studio is local. Anyway, they had New Yorkers try to say hard to pronounce cities in Minnesota, like Ely, Wayzata, and Mahtomedi. Everyone, of course, screws it up. That is until they come across someone who I swear is Stan Lee. Stan easily belts out the city name he's given, "Excelsior!" I laughed fairly hard.

4:12 PM: Redmond just grounded into a double play despite Kubel running on the pitch. And this was a routine ground ball double play. That's just...amazing.

5:04 PM: Well 5 runs in the 6th inning all credited to Greg Smith...who didn't get an out in that inning. Pretty rough...but good for the Twins. But naturally, I pick up Greg Smith and he gives up more earned runs in this start than in any other start hes had this season. Cool.

5:08 PM: I think the accounts of this game are being disseminated by me without the expressed written consent of the Minnesota Twins. I'm a fugitive!

5:49 PM: Frank "With a last name like Francisco I expect a more exotic first name than Frank" Francisco got me an inning and a third of one hit no run ball and garners me a save. The category is tied now and I lead in categories now, 5-4.

6:38 PM: Day games are over, and unless Brandon Webb pitches a shutout with 23 Strikeouts, I think I'm safe. This day will probably end with me winning 5 to 4.

11:29 PM: All the games are over. Webb got rocked which simply amuses me. Here's how the week ended:

R HR RBI SB AVG W SV K ERA WHIP
Me: 26 7 20 1 .261 3 5 72 4.61 1.19
Him: 33 4 22 8 .314 1 5 53 6.88 1.75

Aside from Home Runs, my team has some very paltry hitting numbers. And aside from Strike Outs, my pitching numbers aren't anything to write home about either. But, luckily boots~ had an equally bad week and I ended up in the playoffs. Ain't no stopping me now.

Nemesis of The Week:
Nobody springs immediately to mind. Maybe because I won most the pitching categories and my team's hitters played so poorly I didn't deserve to win those categories. But let's check the stats. Brian McCann's a catcher who hits home runs. We all know how I feel about that. So his 3 Run, 2 Home Run, 5 RBI, .375 performance was enough to earn him the dishonor this week.

Savior of The Week:
After Wednesday when Carlos Delgado has his second multi-home run game of the week I figured he was shoe in for savior. But Delgado had equally as bad a weekend as any other hitter on my team. I should note his 4 home runs garnered me the win in the category, but my savior will go to a guy who helped get one and a half categories for me. Dan Wheeler. He pitched 3 innings, had 1 Win, 2 Saves, 5 Strikeouts, a 3.00 ERA, and 0.33 WHIP. He's my Fantasy Savior.

The Moral of this week's story is that looks can be deceiving. You see, I've been planning on making a change of catcher and outfielder. I wanted Kelly Shoppach and Andre Ethier on my team. But because of the player add limit I could only get one today and would have to get the other tomorrow. After a series of internal debates, I went with Shoppach. It looked like a brilliant move as Shoppach played today and Doumit did not. Meanwhile, Adam Lind was playing and so would Ethier but that would be a wash. I thought I was so smart. Of course Adam Lind and Kelly Shoppach combined for 0 RBI. Andre Ethier? A home run and a total of two RBI. I could've tied RBI. Oh well, Ethier will be on my team tomorrow, I'm in the playoffs, and that half a category would have amounted to nothing. No harm, no foul. I'll see you all in the playoffs!