Week 18 Recaps

Since I posted the standings in the entry directly proceeding this one, I am taking the lazy way out and not including them here.  If you really want to know, just go back and look it up yourself.


YCCMA 9
ZAttack 3

Homer Bailey creeps me out.

This big win propelled Jimmy back into a playoff spot and brought Zach from near lock to bubble team.  Jimmy may have missed out on starting Javier Baez and his 3 HRs and 6 RBI, but he did get 13R, 17RBI and 4 SB from the OF trio of TMGS (who also hit 286/407/714), Carlos Gomez and Michael Brantley (360/414/560) as well as a 421/476/684 2R 4RBI week from Freddie Freeman.  Maybe I should have taken Jim up on his attempt to arrange a marriage between his son and my youngest daughter.  He offered Freddie Freeman as a dowry, I wouldnt settle for anything less than the namesake of his child...negotiations stalled, though they arent dead.  Shin-soo Choo finally showed signs of life for Zach (400/423/720 4R 2RBI), but that was about all the offense the ZAttack was able to muster.  David Ortiz was particularly bad, putting together a 067/167/133 1R 2RBI line for Zach as UCCMA won all 6 hitting categories.  On the hill, Zach got great starts from Jeff Samardzija (1W 8K 2.77/1.15 2 QS) and Homer Bailey (1W 8K 0.00/0.71 1 QS), as well as the Clayton Kershaw doing Clayton Kershawy things (1W 13K 2.40/1.13 2QS). I know everyone is talking about how amaze-balls Clayton is, but seriously...his 1.78 ERA would be the 10th lowest since 1968 amongst pitchers with more than 200 innings and the best since Pedro's 1.74 in his 2000 season that is widely called one of the 5 best seasons ever by a pitcher.  His 0.86 WHIP would be the 5th best in the same time frame.  If you take the 1968 season (which caused MLB to lower the mound) out, Kershaw has the 3rd lowest WHIP behind the 2000 Pedro and 1995 Greg Maddux (Maddux's 2 year run in the 94 and 95 season is the greatest 2 year run in history.  If you want, I can write a ton about this...maybe this type of thing is my offseason project).  Jimmy got 15 K, 2 QS and 1.80/1.17 ratios from Max Scherzer, but no wins to show for it and Doug Fister struck out 7 in 7 1/3 shutout innings.  Strange fact of the matchup, UCCMA, despite having Huston Street, Joe Smith and Dellin Betances, got 0 saves/holds for the week - that might be a first.


Les Moles 7
Dust Bunnies 5

Talk abotu a reversal...Les Moles won all 6 hitting categories and Dusty won 5 of the 6 pitching ones.  Josh Donaldson (360/484/480 2R 3RBI 3SB) and Escalator Club members Chase Utley (417/517/792 5R 6RBI) and Adrian Gonzalez (346/400/692 4R 7RBI) led the way for Tom's bats while Dusty got an Escalator performance from AJ Pierzynski (off all people) with his 308/400/538 performance.  Unfortunately for AJ, everyone thinks he is a prick and the bouncers wont let him in the actual club.  He gets a jacket and he dont have to go home, but he cant stay here.  On the mound, Dusty got a 2W 16K 1.38/1.00 2QS from hometown hero Phil Hughes and respectable stats from everyone not named Tiny Tim Lincecum (10K but 8.68/1.93 ratios) or T-Rex Arms Brothers (6.00/2.37).  Tom also had decent stats throughout almost his entire staff, but a Jake Arrieta implosion (3K 16.20/2.60 ratios) and JP Howell's refusa to retire a batter in 2 appearances leading to the spectacular specatular INF/INF line tilted the pitching towards Dusty.


MTMTAS 7
Bob's ATers 5

Apparently this is the strange hat edition?

Someone beat Bob in stolen bases!  In fact, Tyler beat Bob in all of the hitting categories.  Unfortunately, Bob was able to win 5 of the pitching categories to even out the matchup (dont worry Bob, its not that I dont like you, cuz I do, I just dont want you to win).  Corey Dickerson put up crazy numbers for Bob (429/429/714 5R 6RBI...and with CarGo back on the NoGo, Dickerson should continue to see plenty of PT and a prime batting slot...though with much less protection in the lineup), but that was really all Bob's offense was able to muster as both Alex Rios and Dee Gordon came in sub Mendoza this week.  For Tyler, this was a 2 man race...and its not the 2 men (Brian McCann and Allen Craig) who are on the DL but still in the starting lineup.  Gregory Polanco finally had a week worthy of the early season hype machine, finishing 348/375/609 with a schmorgashborg of counting stats with 5 runs, 8 RBI and 2 SBs.  But the real story of the week was Alex Gordon and his 6 runs and 6 RBIs to go along with the Escalator line of 381/458/810.  Tyler's pitching stats were hurt by rough starts from Stephen Stratsburg (9K 12.60/1.80) and Julio Teheran (5K 9.00/1.83) as well as a general bullpen meltdown which wasted yet another Corey Kluber week of domination (2W 17K 0.68/0.98 2 QS).  For Bob, Alex Wood's 12K Sunday night won that category for Bob, while Chris Sale (9K 3.00/0.83), Hisashi Iwakuma (1W 3K 1.29/0.71 1 QS) and Marcus aStroman (4K 2.00/0.78 1 QS) led the charge to 5 pitching wins.


KIODL 7
MBHB 5

It does exist

This one of the more balanced matchups of the week, as the teams split the hitting categories (where have you gone Paul Goldschmidt?) but John was able to hang on to 4 of the 6 pitching ones.  John had exactly 2 pitchers finish the week with something other than a 0.00 ERA.  I am not gonna lie, that's probably going to win a lot of matchups, even if one of the guys with an ERA is Mark Buehrle and his ERA is 7.36 and his WHIP is 3.00.  Its been a rough month+ for Mark as he has only made it out of the 4th inning once in his last 4 starts.  For the Hitless ones, official man crush of the commish Garrett Richards had 1W 14Ks 0.59/0.78 2QS and King Felix (who has been nearly Kershawian) had 1W 8K 1.13/0.63 1 QS.  Not having Goldschmidt hurt, as KIODL won RBI by a single run knocked in but Ben Zobrist announced his presence with authori-tie, putting up 375/483/542 4R 1 RBI 1 SB.  For the Johns, Jason Kipnis (393/433/500 7R 0RBI 1SB) and Tacoby Bellsbury (417/500/667 4R 2RBI 1SB) put up Escalator Club lines to lead the offense.


Huckleberries 6
BySs 5
Tie 1 (SB; 2)

I wish I had the time to give this matchup the write up it so richly deserves.  This was one of the closest matchups of the year to date.  In fact, I am going to put this one on hold and do it up right tomorrow in addition to the drop/adds.  Sorry guys, sometimes there just isnt enought time in the day...