Week 14 Review 2009

Week 14

Brain Freeze DEF Jobu’s Hats for Bats 8-2

And just like that, Jobu has lost 3 weeks in a row, sits in 6th place currently and is only 2.5 games up on Bobz Boyz. Maybe it’s bad to win week one 10-0? Brain Freeze only batted .244 for the week, but all of their hits were home runs (19). That pesky Magglio Ordonez is still sitting on that roster though… bizarre… Jobu meanwhile may have some serious pitching deficiencies. RJ, Joba and Harang have been serverly mediocre, if not worse, and Kazmir’s been terrible. Carpenter and Kershaw have been elite, but can they maintain it, and will it be enough? It’s also clear that when Thor is mortal, Jobu’s offense is not intimidating at all. For some reason this team fascinates Blog, both in the way it was constructed through the draft and the deals made since. Blog doesn’t take joy in ‘I told you so’s’ (he he, that’s such a lie), but Blog can point to ½ a dozen moves/picks at least in the past 6 months that Blog would not have done, and Blog can’t wait to show Jobu that was why he didn’t make the playoffs this year.

Stud of the Week: Brain Freeze didn’t win average, but he won everything else with a lot of help from Jayson Werth: 6-4-11-1-.292

Dud of the Week: I guess Aubrey Huff was pretty bad: 2-0-1-0-.105

Regulators TIED Legends 5-5

Regs can’t speak for Legends, but this tie was just so disappointing. Both teams had stats that they could have/should have taken but could not. Regs jumped out to huge lead early as he hit 6 home runs by Tuesday night, 3 alone from Paul Konerko. Of Course, Regs hit 3 home runs total over the next 5 days. How infuriating. Regs also stole 14 bases this week. Only 5 other times this season has a team stolen at least 14 bases (Regs has 3 of them). Of course, one of those other times was this week, as Legends stole 17, led by 5 from an all-of-a-sudden relevant Jimmy Rollins, and 5 from Jason ‘Crazy Legs’ Bay. Don’t get me started. Legends was also very close to taking WHIP and K/9, which possibly could have driven Regs to give up fantasy forever. Regs is sticking by his claims of bad luck though… Had Regs played Jobu in week 14, Jobu would have been skunked. Legends would have won 8-2. Figure that one out… Legends has now gone 4 weeks without losing. Of course, they haven’t won more than 5 games in any of those weeks. In fact, Legends has won more than 5 in a week once… in week one.. a 6-3-1 victory over… Bounty Hunters.

Stud of the Week: There were several studs this week, but for Jimmy Rollins, Mr. Invisible in the 1st half, to secure steals the way he did is noteworthy: 8-0-2-5-.370

Dud of the Week: Tough call, but we’ll go with Mike MacDougal. Is the rare possibility of a save worth these numbers? 0-0-20.25-5.25-0.00. Legends won saves without getting one from this scrub, but he may have cost Legends WHIP.

Swine Nine DEF Snot on the Ball 6-4

Snot will live with this score after being threatened by a skunking early on in the week. Rafael Soriano had as many saves (4) this week as Joe Nathan, Francisco Cordero, Dan Meyer and Fernando Rodney combined. That is super news for Brain Freeze who apparently has just swapped the Braves closer with Snot without changing players. Bizarre. Swine still sits firmly entrenched in first place overall, but over the past 4 weeks, they’ve been a very pedestrian 19-20-1. Every team has slumps, and they have managed to stay the course despite their decrease across the board in production, so they can be positive about that… Still… there seem to be some cracks in Swine’s armor that perhaps some feisty team can take advantage of in the upcoming short week. he he he…

Stud of the Week: Had Snot won, it would have been Chase Utley, but for this week, it should go to the other 2B: Brandon Phillips: 5-3-7-1-.280

Dud of the Week: Several star duds in this matchup: Morneau, Wieters and Braun really stunk for Snot, but Swine’s going to need Adrian Gonzalez to do a little better than this down the stretch: 1-0-1-0-.111

Ryan Howitzers DEF Bounty Hunters 6-4

Well, it’s going to be 50% harder for Blog to rip Bounty Hunters this week, as they put their best offensive week of the season: 51-9-52-8-.299. The two ‘50’s’ in runs and rbi mark the first time that BH reached the 50 mark in either category this year. Yet, in a hilarious twist of cruel, FBL fate, BH lost all 5 offensive categories to possibly the best all around offensive week we’ve seen this year from Ryan Howitzers: 57-13-58-9-.354. the .354 average was .001 off of the record set by Brain Freeze in week 8. If RH would have been able to get anything close to something resembling good pitching, they would have crushed anyone this week, but they instead, their pitching was terrible. 5 pitchers with era’s over 7 and 4 pitchers with WHIP’s over 2 will not get it done any week. RH is a legit playoff contender, but as Blog has pointed out before, when Gallardo and Hamels are off, so are their chances of winning. All BH had to do was beat RH’s 1.43 WHIP to secure only their 2nd non-losing week of 2009… but they posted a 1.75 whip, which, of course, is not better. Once Again, time to plan for 2010…

Stud of the Week: RH’s lineup was remarkably balanced, with props going to Mr. Howard, Zobrist and the Flyin Hawaiian, but BH got a great week from Michael Bourn: 10-1-6-5-.286. Too bad it didn’t deliver one category victory…

Dud of the Week: Since we can’t put “Both Rotations” here, we’ll pick Carlos Villanueva, who probably cost BH a tie: 0-0-54.00-7.50-6.75. Blog would also like to point out that Blog advised BH to cut this waste waaaay back in week 11’s review. The lesson? Blog is wise… Heed his advice… Reject it at your own peril.

Bobz Boyz DEF Karma Kameleons in absentia: 5-4-1

The #7 Boyz earned a smidgen of separation from the #8 Kameleons by winning their 4th week in their last 6 (4-1-1). Ryan Ludwick had a solid month this week, as he’ll probably take player of the week honors, but Blog will get to that in a bit. First: a moment of silence for Jay Bruce’s wrist. That was just yucky. … ok… Thankfully, Karma has been found and has returned to his team just in time to start trading chips like Cabrera, Kubel, Hill, Damon and closers for picks. What a disappointment Brandon Webb has been this year. If he can possibly come back down the stretch, maybe Karma can get something for him too? Unlikely though. Meanwhile the Boyz have bid adieu to Scott ‘Widowmaker’ Baker, because, let’s face it, when you can add Brian Moehler to your roster, who isn’t expendable?

Stud of the Week: Ryan Ludwick could become Thor’s best friend down the stretch: 5-3-12-0-.478

Dud of the Week: Johnny Damon has, as the kids say, ‘cooled’: 1-0-1-0-.125

Player of the Week: Ludwick

Pitcher of the Week: Verlander (lucky for Karma).

Manager of the Week: Big win for Brain Freeze.

Blog is soooooooooooooooooooo looking forward to the week 15 review….