week 16 recaps

I'm not gonna beat around the bush...on to the recaps:

MBHB (105-78-9) 9
BySs (92-86-14) 2
Tie 1 (W; 3)

I can thank my lucky stars for 3 things in this matchup. 1) Carlos Santana.  2) Justin Morneau going on the DL on Monday, just before games started, and leaving Kyler 1 starter short.  MBHB won runs by 1, and RBI by 3...totals that would have almost assuredly been reached had there been a 1b who was actually playing in Kyler's lineup. 3) Yasiel Puig missed all but the last 3 games of the week...a full week from him and it probably doesnt matter than Morneau was out.  Outside of Santana and the short week Puig, the only hitter in the matchup that did well was Melky Cabrera and his 370/433/593 5R 5RBI contribution.  Most hitters more closely resembled Brian Dozier's 143/143/321 or Aramis Ramirez's 083/120/208 lines....basically, there werent a ton of pretty numbers to be seen in this box score.  On the pitching side, MBHB won 4 of the categories behind 10K, sub 1.00 WHIP efforts from Felix Hernandez and Cole Hamels as well as 7 K and 0.00 ERA/0.00 WHIP 4 SV/H from Zach Britton.  BySs got a spectacular start from Alex Cobb (1W 10K 0.00ERA/0.71WHIP) and their bullpen was solid, they just could not keep up with the 12 SV/H put up by MBHB.

LesMoles (87-99-6) 9
Huckleberries (77-104-11) 3

And, just like that, Tom's crew rolls into the last playoff spot behind a strong effort from his hitters, who won all 6 categories this week despite an subpar effort from Tom's Mancrush, Andrew McCutchen (182/308/227).  Les Moles had 4 hitters post OBP's north of .400, including a pair of 300/400/500 guys in Adrian Gonzalez (435/500/739 4R 7RBI) and Ian Desmond (360/407/520 4R 2RBI -- though much of that was from his 5 for 5 game last Monday).  Huckleberries, on the other hand, has a group of solid, but unremarkable, hitters outside of Hanley Ramirez's 462/462/538 line in 3 games of action.  Other than HanRam, only Kurt Suzuki had a BA above .300 or an OBP above .400.  On the pitching side, Kevin's team was able to win ERA, WHIP and SV/H, in large part due to solid outings from Kyle Lohse (1W 1.35ERA/0.90 WHIP) and Gio Gonzalez (8K 1.29ERA/0.86WHIP) and spectacular outings from Yovanni Gallardo (8K 0.00ERA/0.52WHIP) and Steve Cishek (8K 1.80ERA/0.40WHIP 5 SV/H).  Les Moles got solid output from Zach Greinke (1W 10K 0.00ERA/0.71WHIP) and his other starters, but a Tuesday hiccup from Brad Ziegler (13.50ERA/3.75WHIP) likely turned the ERA and WHIP categories into wins for Kevin.


MTMTAS (80-98-14) 7
ZAttack (97-85-10) 5

Here is how this week's renewal of the brother battle went down.
Z: Hey Tyler, whats up man?
T: Nothing Zach, cept I'm fixin to whoop your ass.
Z: That's uncalled for.  Hows this, since I continue to start Chris Owings even though he has been out of the lineup since June 27th, how about you leave Allen Craig and his suck in your lineup at 1b?
T: Sweet! It'll be like a handicap match in wrestling.
Z:  Yeah...since I am pretty sure that Allen Craig is actually handicap in some way this year anyways, lets do it!
T: Wait...wont Allen Craig's outs hurt me more than Owings dead spot hurts you?  Are you trying to trick me again like that time you told me there were Bear tickets in the bathroom and all I found was a really stinky poop in the toilet?  I spent 10 minutes looking for those tickets and all you did was laugh.
Z: What?!?!  No way man, this is totally good for both of us. I'm not trying to trick you at all.
T: I smell a trick...I'm telling mom.
Z: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
--scene--

As for the matchup, there are only 3 things that need mentioning...1) David Ortiz hit 5 HRs and had 12 RBIs (he only had 8 hits total) for a 286/310/893 6R 12 RBI line that is one of the strangest BA/OBP/SLG combinations I have ever seen.  2) The Clayton Kershaw is Sandy Koufax train rolled on as Candy Kerfax threw another CG shutout with only 7 Ks.  He faced 3 batters over the minimum and now has his season line at 1.76ERA/0.81WHIP with 141K in 112.1 innings.  He is clearly playing a different game than everyone else in the Majors.  3) Both of these players were on the losing team, which shows that it isnt always about having the best player (it usually is).

Oh yeah, one more thing, Allen Craig entered the Yanger Zone with a 000/222/000 line...and all those outs did hurt more than Owings dead spot and Tyler should have told mom that Zach was trying to cheat him.


Dust Bunnies (97-88-7) 7
KIODL (84-101-7) 5

Its for their own good John...

Dusty caught a break with AJ Pierzynski signing with the Cardinals mid week and then coming out of the gate hitting.  But really, he didnt need it as John's squad kept their hitting ability on the DL this week, combining for an impossibly bad 182/267/242 as a team.  Holy schnikes.  I cant even make fun of that...its too pathetic.  The effort was summed up best by Coco Crisp and his 063/200/063 line.  On the pitching side, John survived a return to reality for Mark Buherle (3ip 2K 18.00 ERA/3.33 WHIP) to win 4 pitching categories thanks to a pair of solid starts from Hyun Jin Ryu (2W 12K 3.46 ERA/1.00 WHIP 2 QS) and a dominate effort from Predator Cueto (1W 9K 0.00 ERA/1.00 WHIP 1 QS).   Dusty got a rogue save from Tiny Timmy Lincecum in an extra inning affair, but was torpedoed by the pair of Colorado Rockie relievers that he is currently starting (WTF?!? how did I miss this before?) as Rex Brothers (11.57 ERA/2.14 WHIP) and LaTroy Hawkins (13.50 ERA/3.00 WHIP) destroyed any chance the Bunnies had to win the pitching ratios stats...only they didnt because somehow John's staff was worse (thanks Shae Simmons and your 18.00 ERA/6.00 WHIP and Joakim Soria and your 3.00 WHIP and Josh Beckett and your 9.82 ERA...sorry John...it might be time to take this rag tag bunch out to pasture).