Week 22 MSSSMRMoW -



John's beatdown of Kyler is week 22's Mike Shaw
Subaru Super Mo Replay Matchup of the Week.

This is it.  The last of the Mike Shaw Subaru Super Mo Replay Matchup of the Week.  Next season, we will look for new corporate sponsorship options and will likely move on from the Shaw.  It's been a great run and I know that I have gotten far more enjoyment out of a random Subaru dealer in Colorado than any one person should be able to.  I hope that some of the rest of you have as well.  If you have ideas for next season's featured matchup of the week, let me know and we can contact them and see what they will offer us.
For the last Shaw, we have the matchup that is as close as we have ever had to a complete skunking.  Coming into the matchup, John's team had been eliminated and had really nothing to play for.  Kyler's team needed only to make sure that they didnt get destroyed, and they would walk easily into the postseason. Well...

Team	R	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	W	K	ERA	WHIP	QS	SV+H	Score
KIODL	20	14	6	0.256	0.309	0.390	2	38	2.60	1.16	4	9	11
BySs	9	11	0	0.192	0.282	0.300	1	39	6.61	1.55	3	7	1

So much for that.  Luckily Kyler got some help from Tom and I and was able to hold onto his spot anyways.  Also luckily for Kyler, Tim Hudson struck out 1 Detroit Tiger in 6 innings of Sunday work to give him his only category win this week.  If he hadnt pulled that category out, BySs would have been the first and only team to fail to win at least 1 category in a week.  So thanks, Tim Hudson, no one at next year's draft really wanted to see Kyler have to the old Euchre skunking penalty of running to the nearest stop sign in the nude.

I am going to go through these kinda quickly.  John's team had a decent week, but really the story of this matchup is the epic terribleness of the Backyard Nonstars.  The DLers offense featured a pair of players who had legitimately good weeks, several mediocre to poor weeks and one disaster.  Josh Harrison (421/421/579 3R 2RBI) and Coco Crisp (429/429/429 0R 0RBI 3SB) led the way while Albert PooHoles (5R 5RBI) and Lucas Duda (.414 OBP 3R 4RBI) pitched in.  Only Jacoby Bellsbury tanked hard this week with a 130/160/304 3R 2RBI line. 

Kyler, on the other hand, had exactly 1 player who would qualify as either legitimately good or mediocre (Jonathon Lucroy, who with a 320/414/440 1R 2RBI week, was actually pretty solid).  The other 6 starters (Daniel Murphy was in the lineup but on the DL) were all terrible with the now injured for the rest of the season Melky Cabrera (143/188/214 1R 1RBI) and Matt Adams (111/150/278 1R 3RBI) being the lowest of the low. Yaisel Puig has started losing time to Joc Pederson in the LA outfield, as Puig is only 23 of 126 with 13 walks, 3 2bs, 0 HRs, 4 RBIs and 1 SB since August 1st (182/259/206 slash line) and was 143/333/143 this week. As a team, ByNs hit 192/282/300 and combined for 1 fewer RBI than Nelson Cruz.  If they had ended up missing the playoffs, I would feel bad about making fun of them this much.  But since they made it, it will go down as just a terrible week instead of the league defining collapse that it almost was.

For the pitching, Kylers struggles continued, as only Craig Kimbrel (0.50) finished with a WHIP under 1.00 (Alex Cobb finished with 6K 0.00/1.00 1 QS as well).  Otherwise, Sonny Gray (2k 10.80/1.80), Henderson Alvarez (1K 11.57/1.71) and Rafael Soriano (5K 13.50/2.63 1 SV/H) continued their recent struggles.  Gray has seen his effectiveness decrease as his innings have increased, Alvarez has struggled because he is Henderson Alvarez and has now been replaced by the recently acquired Doug Fister in Kyler's starting lineup and Kyler has been trying to trade Soriano for the better part of 2 months now, with no one taking the bait.  With Danny Duffy coming out of his Saturday start after one pitch due to "discomfort", Kyler's staff is coming apart at the worst possible time.  I think I am starting to smell a "No one believed in us" upset run to the league championship.

For John, the season ended much like it started...with some dominant pitching.  Most of the names are different, as Masahiro Tanaka, Jose Fernandez and Johnny Cueto have been replaced by James Shields, Matt Shoemaker's Beard (until this week) and Johnny Cueto's dreadlocks.  Cueto has been a rock all season, with his 1W 8K 1.29/1.14 1QS line bringing his season total to 17W 213K 2.23/0.98 in 214 innings.  Shields (1W 6K 0.00/0.36 1QS) is having a bit of a down year and Mark Buehrle (4K 0.00/0.75 1QS this week) has come crashing down to Earth after his sensational start to the season, and I am curious to see if either of these guys will be kept.  Matt Shoemaker (2K 6.75/2.25) had a rough week, but had entered on a 21 inning scoreless streak and has been a huge piece of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim California USA Earth's rotation.  With his work as both a SP and RP this year, he will likely retain that designation for 2015 and his numbers 14W 117K 3.25/1.10 in 121 2/3 innings mean that the LAAACUE will crayola him into a starting rotation that should feature Jered Weaver, Garrett Richards, CJ Wilson, Shoemaker, and Tyler Skaggs or Hector Santiago...not quite the Dodgers rotation, but nothing to sneeze at either.

I am still waiting on a couple of the stragglers to get their choices in for next season's keepers.  Right now keepers due March 1, due at the draft and the graduated plan with some due at different points all have 2 votes.