Week 2 MSSSMRMoW

Kyler's Backyard Superstars win over Tom's Molesters  is week 2's
Mike Shaw Subaru Super Mo Replay Matchup of the Week

 

The Week 2 Mike Shaw Subaru Super Mo Replay Matchup of the Week features Kyler's Neighborhood Hooligans vs Tom's Creepers in Panel Vans in a classic matchup of deliquent children against dirty minded, possibly perverted, degenerate adults...you know, kinda of like Home Alone.

Team	R	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG	W	K	ERA	WHIP	QS	SV+H	Score
Backyard Superstars	37	24	3	0.386	0.441	0.641	2	54	2.01	1.07	5	7	8
Lester The Molesters	23	34	4	0.308	0.38	0.528	6	52	3.06	1.26	5	0	3

 This isn't the matchup of the week because of how close it was or how it could have turned on only a couple of small differences throughout the week.  In fact, this was the most lopsided matchup that week 2 had to offer.  No, this is the MSSSMRMoW because of the absolutely ridiculous slash line that Kyler's team managed to put up.  Look at that line. 386/441/641.  Thats a line that would make prime time juiced up sluggers like Ken Caminiti blush.  Even with that hard to fathome slash line, Kyler managed to win on 4 of the 2 hitting categories.  A nearly as strong pitching effort rounded out the week to give Kyler the 8-3 win.  Tom got very unlucky this week as he posted numbers that would have won him a majority of categories against any other team this week.  Let's take a closer look as we disect the Backyard Superstars and Lester the Molester.

This one came down to the supporting cast as this matchup featured the top 4 individual performances for week 2, a pair for either team (we will get to those momentarily).  The difference in the hitting categories was that only 1 BySs finished with an average under .320.  Joey Votto managed to overcome with his 250/423/600 line that offset some of the OBP/SLG loss with Brandon Phillips' 360/360/440 line.  For LesMoles, both Evan Longoria and Torri Hunter struggled to get to their BAs over .260, neither posted an OBP over .300 and both struggled to get over .300 SLG. 

The starting pitchers largely cancelled each other out, but Tom needed to use more spots to do it and Kyler's robo-pen continued to roll on.  Kimbrel, Uehara, Rafael Soriano, Fernando Rodney and Tommy Hunter make a formidible group of back end finishers that will keep Kyler ahead in SV+H for much of the season.  This week the group contributed 17 Ks and 7 SV+H while giving up only 3 runs.  Tom's bullpen features several SP,RP designated starting pitchers and Joe Nathan, whose implosion on April 9th against the Dodgers (3 ER, 5 baserunners, 1 IP) probably cost Tom the ERA and WHIP categories.

The top 4 hitting performances of the matchup (and week):

4- Carlos Beltran - BySs - 423/464/923 7R 6RBI-
This is the 4th best stat line of the MATCHUP!!!  Beltran turned back the clock this week with the only thing missing from vintage Beltran being 2 or 3 steals in as many attempts.  He didnt have the greatest first week of the season and he simply cannot put up these numbers long term, but many thought that the short porch in RF at new Yankee Stadium would treat Carlos well.  They may have been right.

3- Chase Utley - LesMoles - 563/611/938 5R 4 RBI-
Not a typo...a .611 on base % and 1.549 OPS is the 3rd best player of this matchup.  This is another turn back the clock performance from what was once the best 2nd basemen in the National League.  Injuries have forced Utley to be a shell of his former self for the past couple of seasons.  Maybe he is finally healthy again?  Or maybe he got to face the Cubs pitching staff with the wind blowing out at Wrigley.

2- Adrian Gonzalez - Les Moles - 409/435/1045 6R 11RBI -
Gonzalez is riding a 9 game hitting streak and has homered in 4 straight games entering play on Tuesday.  His power strangely vanished during 2012 when he went from a 30 HR guy to a "hope he gets to 20" HR guy.  This streak shows that the power is still there, potentially in a big way.

1- Justin Upton - BySs - 591/654/1227 8R 8RBI-
Kate's cousin put up the single most ridiculous 1 week line that I can ever recall seeing.  This followed a week 1 line 182/280/182, but Upton is a supremely talented 26 year old who has been in the Bigs since 2007.  Strangely, he seems to regress in even years and break out in odd numbered ones.  Perhaps he finally bucks that trend this season.

To leave you: