Thursday, June 30, 2011

Ladies and Gentlemen: I present your 2011 NL PTP MVP

CARGO! CARGO! CARGO!

So, I wrapped up my 2011 PTP Season over the weekend and despite being under .500, I am likely the fourth seed in the playoffs. Here are some stat updates for you, including Carlos Gonzalez' record-setting numbers.

AVG:
C. Gonzalez, .365 (in 178 abs)
Omar Infante, .320 (in 147 abs)
Logan Morrision, .305 (in 118 abs)

HR:
Prince Fielder, 8 (Prinsky Platoon had 14 hrs)
Hinske, 6 (in only 31 ABS!)
D.Wright, 6

RBI:
Ethier, 32
Wright, 30
Prince, 27

SB:
Cargo, 5

ERA:
Ian Kennedy, 3.92
Tommy Hanson, 4.20

WINS:
Padilla, 5

K's:
Strassy, 61
Oswalt, 55
T. Hanson, 49
Padilla, 49

SAVES:
Luke Gregerson, 7
Strassy, 3

Monday, June 27, 2011

NL Season Playoff Picture - Part Deux (and draft order update)

Standings are updated, and presumed correct unless someone tells me otherwise.  Since Sunday, we have firmly established 2 playoff seeds, with 2 more to come.

By going 5 and 1 yesterday, Fish earned yet another regular season title, edging my Marlins out by 1 game.  I blame Carlo's inept team.  And so is our established #1 seed for the playoffs.  Congrats to you sir!  That also locks me in as the firm #2 seed, as Spencer cannot reach my 28 wins, and I have the tiebreak against him. 

Spence is in control of his own destiny, and needs to win just 2 games to formally clinch a playoff spot.  Nick finished his season strong, and just needs Mario and Carlo to lose 3 of their remaining 9 games to clinch. 

So if things remain as they are right now, the draft order would be as follows (with picks 6 and 7 locked in place):

1. Keith
2. Goldy
3. Mario
4. Nick
5. Spencer
6. Torto
7. Fish

***Stat Leaderboard update needed***
My current best stats are up now on the board.  I've changed the minimum IP and ABs required to qualify to reflect where we are in the season, so some of your guys you haven't updated in a while have dropped off.  Get me your up to date qualifiers, and when the season is over we'll have a vote for Season MVP and Cy Young.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

NL Season Playoff Picture - Clarity thru W-L tracking


Another playoff team clinched this week, with Fish taking 5 of 6 from Spencer on Monday.  Because the 4 teams most closely trailing 1st and 2nd place all have games against each other, only 2 of the 4 can potentially get enough total wins to get to 24 wins where Fish currently sits.  SO - that appears to lock up a spot for Fish's squad, and he has a solid chance to take the 1-seed if he can win 4 of his last 6 games.

Carlo, Mar, Spence, Nick and even Ben all have a chance to get in on those last 2 playoff slots, but it could be very tight down the stretch, given that many games remaining are between these teams.  Tiebreakers could become key, which if I recall go first to overall H2H record, and if a 3-3 tie there, total runs in the series.  So hang on to those scoresheets, since not all the series have been documented on the site here.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Ready to Play out the String

Fellas, as we reach the home stretch of the 2010 NL season, it looks like the Goldy Padres are not going to make the playoffs. However, I do have 6 games left against Spencer, and 3 against Carlo, Nick, and Fish. For the rest of June work has slowed to a normal pace and I now have my nights and weekends free. I would love to knock out these games before the AL draft. Let me know when and where you guys would like to play. I have softball on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but am pretty clear outside of that. Good day gentlemen.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Marlins clinch playoff spot, fully healthy for playoff run: Torto vs. Carlo x 6

Poached Marlin anyone? Billy relaxes in the hot tub after a successful regular season campaign.
Last Sunday, our beloved commissioner was gracious enough to meet up with me for a 6 game swing with Carlo's AWOL team.   We met up in the AM at one of the parks along the Root River Parkway, were mistaken for beer delivery guys by a neighboring wedding reception party, and finished up with a late lunch at the Bosch tavern up the road.  Good times - here's a quick synopis of each of the games.

Series 1: Carlo(Nick) @ Torto
Game 1: R.Nolasco vs. R.A.Dickey
Mr. Dickey continued his dominant soft tossing ways, going 7 and 2/3rds and giving up only 1.  Nolasco got beat by the longball, giving up a 2-run shot to league MVP-candidate, Ryan Zimmerman, and another on a deep drive by Josh Thole. 
Torto wins 5-1

Game 2: B.Arroyo vs. W.Rodriguez
The leg kick was working for Carlo's Arroyo - and he kept the Marlins off the board with 5 strong innings. Only a 3-run HR from Miguel Olivo in the 8th kept my squad from getting blanked out, despite getting Jason Heyward back in the lineup.
Carlo wins 7-3

Game 3: T.Lincecum vs. J.Cueto
Faced with matching up against one of the NLs best pitchers, Johnny Cueto uncharacteristically rose to the challenge, and pitched 8 innings of shutout ball, before fatigue gave way to the bullpen for the 9th.  Lincecum did what he does, and pitched 8 and 2/3rds of outstanding ball.  Tied 0-0 until literally the last out of the 9th, Heyward and Zimmerman singled, and A-Gone nullified the jam with his own clutch, and walked the game off with a game-winning single. 
***RECORD ALERT*** - rookie phenom Jason Heyward, broke the single season walk record in this game (37), eclipsing Barry Bonds mark of 36 set by Fish in the 2007 NL season
Torto wins 1-0

After cruising thru that series in record time, Nick and I decided to stay outside in the absolutely perfect weather for series 2, where we strangely enough, found that Carlo's normal home stadium (Colorado) could not be played in due to a major structural flaw discovered - i.e. we couldn't remember where Carlo played.  Luckily Keith's Padres were done and Petco was sitting empty, so we moved the games there.

Series 2: Torto @ Carlo(Nick)
Game 1: J.Garland vs. C.Kershaw
Garland gave a virtuoso performance on the mound, in support of his bid to be the 4th starter in the playoff rotation, and shut down Carlo's bats, giving up only 1 unearned run (on a Luis Castillo error) in a full 9 innings.  Tony Gwynn Jr, filling in for the injured Dexter Fowler, managed to provide lead-off extra-base power (2B & 3B) to set the table for the win in this game.
Torto wins 4-1

Game 2: C.Billingsley vs. R.Dempster
The bats woke up a bit in this one, led by league HR leader, Mike Stanton - who hit 2 jacks in this one to carry the day.  The dismal Chase Utley, relagated to the 8-hole, also cracked a 2-run homer, but his frustrating season continued on when he was ejected late in the game for arguing the strike zone. Billingsley was not sharp, but managed to get himself out of some trouble using his jam and the on a few times.
***RECORD ALERT*** - Young Mike Stanton managed to tie the league single season HR mark with his second longball of this game, which is held by Adrian Gonzalez's 2009 mark (Spencer) of 16 .  
Torto wins 7-2

Game 3: R.A.Dickey vs. R.Nolasco
Now fully fearful of a 'Joe Mauer kicking Roy Halladay' moment, I decided to rest most of my everyday players, with the exception of Stanton (going for that HR record) and Dexter Fowler (just off the DL, needed the work).  Nolasco was dialed in and pitched a 2-hit gem against my B-squad, allowing only 1 run in 6 innings.  The Marlins were just happy to get out healthy from this one.  Stanton couldn't get that last HR he needed for the record of 17, going 0-3 with a walk.
Carlo wins 3-1

So both series were won 2-1, 2-1 by the Marlins.  Season complete and ready to see how things shake out for the playoffs.