Week 2 Matchup Recap

The matchups this week were much more balanced as even Merry T's Moors made an appearance.  It wasnt a great appearance by any means, but at least the team decided to play this week after last week's complete and utter embarassment.  Did I pound that home enough yet?  I'll be more clear...T who shall not be yler's team sucked it something awful last week.  And this week no one sucked nearly as much as T's team sucked last week.  So T...less shame this week, even though you still have the shame of being in 10th place after 2 weeks.  Keep it up with the rum and live chicken sacrifices and you'll be in 9th place in no time.

Once again we will start with the close matchups and move to the more lopsided (though none are as lopsided as the "yler" battle last week which T lost).  The records listed are after the week, so they are up to the minute.


The Zach Attack (10-13-1)         5
You Can Call Me Al (11-12-1)  6
Tie                                              1

This was not only the closest match of the week in terms of final outcome, it was also the closest in terms of what happened in each category.  Uncle Jimmy won categories by 2 runs, 1 win and 1 quality start; Zach won categories by .001 in batting average, and 1 save + hold.  For UCCMA, the evil Cardinal Matt Carpenter had 5 runs and 7 RBI go go along with his 304/400/304 (all singles?!?) slash line and Carlos Gomez threw in 7 runs and 5 RBI with an even better slash line (423/429/846...walk much Carlos?).  Zach's offense was bouyed by Ryan Braun who had 7 runs and 10 RBI (thanks 3 HRer game!) and hit 417/423/917 for the week.  On the pitching side, Matt Cain (7ip, 7 base runners, 8Ks) finally showed up for the Kelly Kapowski Lovers (who isnt though, right?)  but unfortunately so did Homer Bailey (7.20 ERA, 2.20 WHIP) and Jim Johnson (7.71 ERA, 1.71 WHIP).  The Garfunkel Haters got solid efforts from Tyson Ross (9Ks, 2.19 ERA, 1.38 WHIP across 2 starts) and Grant Balfour (3 saves + holds, 0.00 ERA, 4 Ks.)

 

 

Dusty's Nustys (11-11-2)         4

Bob's AutoTrackers (11-11-2) 6

Tie                                            2

 

This was supposed to be the week that Dusty's team took off.  He finally had a real life, honest to goodness Major League Baseball playing catcher.  And that catcher (AJ Pierzynski) had a huge week that featured a 474/500/632 slash line with 5 runs and 3 RBI.  That should have been enough to put Dusty's Murder's Row ahead of Bob's Speed Demons in most of the counting stats.  Only...it wasn't.  Dusty took the slash categories thanks in large part to Pierzynski, but Jose Abreu's 8 RBI and Bob's plethora of SB guys took those two categories and the team's split the runs.  Miguel Cabrera played more like Miguel Tejada (the today version, not the 2004 one) putting up a 100/182/150 line with 0 runs and 1 RBI.  That's a rough week for a $1 player, let alone a $76 one.  In the pitching categories, Bob's volume approach gave him 4 wins and a tie despite getting a Jordan Zimmerman performance that featured 9 baserunners 5 runs, and only 5 outs. 

 

 

MWP Masters (15-8-1 )     7

Merry T's Moors (6-17-1)  5

 

The Masters showed off their firepower this week, winning all 6 hitting categories behind Yadier Molina (458/480/708 5R 6RBI) and Freedie Freeman (458/481/833 6R 8RBI).  It didnt help the Moors cause much that they slashed 166/279/252 AS A TEAM for the week.  Particularly craptacular were Carlos Santana (definitely without The Product G&B) and his .083 batting average and .083 slugging percentage and Dustin Pedroia and his 111/111/185 slash line.  So, remember when I said that no team was as bad as MTM last week?  That was a lie.  They were actually worse this week in terms of trying to hit a round object with another round object.  As bad as the offense was for the Merry Men, the pitching redeemed the team and saved the week from becoming a disaster by winning 5 of the 6 matchups.  Had T used his full allotment of SP slots, he likely would have split this week 6-6.  Hyun-jin Ryu (1 W, 8Ks  0.00 ERA 0.43 WHIP 1QS) and Masahiro Tanaka (10Ks 1.14WHIP 1 QS) led MWP  while Stephen Stratsburg and Corey Kluber combined for 26 Ks for MTMs. 

 

 

Mark Baker All Stars (15-9-0)  8

Springfield Isotopes (11-13-0)  4

 

Despite only having a decent week from 1 player (Jayson Werth - 286/348/619 6R 7RBI 1SB), MBAS was able to come away with an even split on the hitting categories thanks to Jerad starting the previously injured Wilson Ramos and incurring mid week injuries to Adrian Beltre and Jaaaaaah Hamilton.  Bryce Harper led the 'Topes offense with 476/560/667, but his efforts were largely canceled out by the largest player on the 'Topes, Prince Fielder and his 130/259/174.  With two consecutive sub Mendoza weeks to start the season, Prince is in danger of turning into what every man fears turning into...his father.  One the pitching side, Felix Hernandez did Feliz Hernandez things (1W 11K 2.57 ERA 0.87 WHIP 1 QS), Michael Wacha continued his rise to the upper tier of starting pitchers (2W 11K 2.92 ERA 1.14WHIP 2 QS) and Andrew Cashner 1 hit the Tigers.  And none of those 3 things were the most impressive thing about the MBAS pitchers.  That honor belongs to Danny Salazar, who set an MLB record by striking out 10 batters in 3 2/3 innings.  He also gave up 5 runs and 8 baserunners.  Not a single one of the 18 batters Salazar faced made an out on a ball in play.