Written by Nick T.
May 3, 2010
Ladies and Gentleman,
Unfortunately, we will not be celebrating Adam Wainwright nor a fantasy victory this week. This week's opening photo contains some of the most annoying 'mascots' in sports.
Worse than the National's president race is two of the several reasons that I lost this past week. Thank you Washington for bringing me...
1. Ivan 'Pudge' Rodriguez: This week my man played 3 games and accumulated these monster stats (sarcasm): 3 1B 2 RBI 1 BB 2 KO 1 CS
2. Ryan Zimmerman: My first round pick in 2010. Apparently 'OUT' recovering from a hamstring this week, he still managed to put up some solid numbers (1 1B 3 2B 2 HR 3 RBI 3 R 2 BB ) in just 3 days. His replacement for the week, Jose Lopez...not so much: 3 1B 1 2B 3 RBI 1 BB 2 KO. These two gems in addition to Morneau straining his back on Monday and not being 100% til Friday when he blasted a 444-foot homer over the centerfield wall plus Bonderman's lousy performance earlier in the week (74 PC, 5.2 INN, 6 HA, BBI, 3 K, 4 ER), Nolasco getting crushed (twice by Ryan Zimmerman) dand obnoxious performances by Barry Zito and Joakim Soria this week contributed to Team Euro's second loss.
Some good news this week were the decisions made to bench Peavy (112 PC, 6.1 INN, 6 HA, 5 BBI, 7 K, 6 ER, L), Ervin Santana (111 PC, 6.2 INN, 6 HA, 3 BBI, 8 K, 3 ER) and Oliver Perez (74 PC, 3.2 INN, 3 HA, 4 BBI, 2 K, 3 ER) in the last minute move due to the rain-out. More good news is that we didn't need the double duties for pitchers like Dana Eveland who had a first start with this line: 3 INN, 8 HA, 3 BBI, 3 K, 6 ER.
The bad news is that with Andre Ethier's MONSTER game (3-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 2 R) on Sunday, Team Euro's bench had the juice to win. Thank you CBSSports and Ryan Zimmerman for your accurate updates (sarcasm).
Yadier Molina IN. Pudge OUT.
Fire Joe Morgan & Sunday Night Baseball (Can someone please revive firejoemorgan.com?)
After last week's praise and Friday's win over the Phillies, I was SURE that I would be high on the boys again this week. After Sunday Night Baseball, I have nothing else to say but 'Same Old Mets'. Although, I will add something on Ike Davis as I promised to last week...
Mets manager Jerry Manuel gave rookie first baseman Ike Davis the night off on Sunday. "It gives him a chance to exhale". Fine. He's a beast and Jerry should let the kid play going forward...HOW ABOUT THIS JERRY?! Ike Davis is .306/.409/.472 in 36 at-bats since his call up!
Yadier Molina IN. Pudge OUT.
Per the frustrations described to this point, I cut Pudge for Yadier in addition to some other moves during week 4:
Konerko, Paul 1B CHW - Added
Bonderman, Jeremy RP DET - Dropped
Just one week ago I was welcoming Pudge back and sending off Yadier. I guess that's what you get for not taking a catcher into consideration on draft day. Looking forward to playing a game of CATCH on the waiver wire...
Molina: 15 RBI in April, matching his career best in 2007.
Pudge: OUT after taking a hard slide by Cody Ross into his knee.
You may see it as dramatic but at .500, we need a W!
The Konerko move is a combination of Grady Sizemore embarrassing himself, hitting .191 while Konerko has been a beast without any waiver wire love in this league...3rd best 1B by points, leads the majors with 12 homers, is first in slugging percentage at .790. He is also, second in the American League with 24 RBI and is even seventh in the AL in walks with 17. Oh, and by the way, he's hitting .296. As a result, he will be replacing Sizemore in week 5 as a utility player.
Looking ahead this week:
As we discussed we see Yadier and Konerko in the starting lineup in addition to Zimmerman making his return. That sends both Jose Lopez and Grady Sizemore to the bench to clear their heads and get ready to PLAY! Last week, the 3 closers didn't get the job done so Bailey was moved to the bench with Fuentes and Rauch both with 7 games this week. Lets hope there are more saves this week than last (3 combined). You probably want to crucify me with Ollie Perez and Jake Peavy in the lineup but without many better options and 4 starts combined, I had to roll the dice. Ervin Santana also is lined up for two starts this week as well as Adam Wainwright. The last pitcher to get the nod this week is Ricky Nolasco who is 1-1 with a 1.13 ERA against the Giants. I know, he's been on and off for us this year but with 8 double duties and 2 closers with 14 games combined, we felt like we could afford to take the chance.
On to Week 5's match-up:
MY WEEK
Molina, Yadier C STL
Morneau, Justin 1B MIN
Prado, Martin 2B ATL
Zimmerman, Ryan 3B WAS
Bartlett, Jason SS TB
Ethier, Andre RF LA
Span, Denard CF MIN
Swisher, Nick RF NYY
Konerko, Paul 1B CHW
Fuentes, Brian RP ANA
Nolasco, Ricky SP FLA
Peavy, Jake SP CHW
Perez, Oliver SP NYM
Rauch, Jon RP MIN
Santana, Ervin SP ANA
Wainwright, Adam SP STL
HIS WEEK
Posada, Jorge C NYY
Votto, Joey 1B CIN
Phillips, Brandon 2B CIN
Reynolds, Mark 3B ARI
Gonzalez, Alex SS TOR
Abreu, Bobby RF ANA
Ludwick, Ryan RF STL
Suzuki, Ichiro RF SEA
Guerrero, Vladimir DH TEX
Buchholz, Clay SP BOS
Capps, Matt RP WAS
Haren, Dan SP ARI
Hoffman, Trevor RP MIL
Lee, Cliff SP SEA
Qualls, Chad RP ARI
Verlander, Justin SP DET
So Far...
No results since I got my article in before the first game this week (2 weeks in a row!).
Finally, some random ramblings and findings from the week...
While full ratings have not come out, Saturday's Kentucky Derby drew the highest TV ratings in 18 years, up 1 percent from 2009.
Super Saver takes this years race and will be back in the Triple Crown hunt at the Preakness on May 15th. I would like to Todd Pletcher a congratulatory shout out in this week's issue. He finally broke an 0-for-24 skid in this year's Derby. If you do not know who Todd Pletcher is, here is a small blurb from Wikipedia.com: Todd Pletcher (born June 26, 1967, Dallas, Texas) is a leading American thoroughbred horse trainer. He has won four consecutive Eclipse Awards as outstanding Trainer of the Year, while topping the leader board in purse earnings in 2004, 2005, and 2006. His horse Super Saver won the 2010 Kentucky Derby, the first of his 24 horses entered in his career to win the Run for the Roses. He also won the 2007 Belmont Stakes with filly Rags to Riches.
If you're not into the Derby, maybe this will convince you (or not):
This weekend, we also had a major fight where we saw Floyd Mayweather overcome a near knockdown in the second round Saturday night to dominate the rest of the way and win a lopsided 12-round decision over Shane Mosley in their welterweight showdown.
Does anyone else miss boxing, the way it was?
Finally, this is totally a selfish post but as a HUGE fan of the movie American Psycho, I invite you to check this out:
Hope you enjoyed (understood) the reference! - see you next week!
NT
NT@BTFFS.com
You can visit the latest column directly by visiting BTFFS.com
You can visit the latest column directly by visiting BTFFS.com
THE League, g.fantasy: GFANTASY.com
Going into week 5, we're 2-2. Chuck and pray!
Next Issue (1.9): Nationals doom us again? Over or under .500?
Next Issue (1.9): Nationals doom us again? Over or under .500?