The surprise 5th keeper

According to Yahoo!, the top players on my team in terms of this year's stats (league ranking) are Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Nelson Cruz, and.....Hideki Matsui!

Matsui has quietly put together a pretty solid season off the waiver wire, good for top 20 OF status....280, 60 runs, 28HRs, and 88 RBIs.

Oh and by the way, Yahoo has my next best player as Adam Kennedy, who is hitting .290 with 19 steals 11Hrs, and 60 runs and RBI.

Weekly update September 30, 2009

Weekly Update		R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	W	SV	K	ERA	WHIP	Total Pts	Net Pts
1	Mr Bill's Boppers	38	5	26	2	0	4	2	41	-0.07	-0.01	65.5	0.5
2	Oh Balls!!!	37	6	23	5	0.001	2	4	52	0.02	0.01	57	0
3	Soap Box Yakkers	33	9	32	2	0	2	1	39	0.04	0.02	48.5	0.5
4	Smell The Glove	22	7	32	5	0	3	2	29	0	-0.01	48	1.5
5	I Ain't Got My Taco	33	9	32	2	0	2	1	39	0.04	0.02	48	-3
6	Soo Choo Train	36	8	30	5	0.001	0	1	32	0.09	0.03	39.5	-0.5
7	The Chones	38	9	41	5	0	4	2	21	-0.01	0	34.5	0.5
8	A-Roid's RagingRotos	37	11	45	4	0.001	3	0	19	-0.04	0	19	0.5

Not too much to report. My pitching continues to look very sharp and I've been hanging on to my points. ERA and WHIP continue to be tight enough that a shitty week of pitching makes things much more interesting, but I'm starting not to worry about a late run as much.

Weekly Update, September 13

Another spectacular week of pitching for me, as my ERA dropped another 0.10. Between August 27th and now my ERA has dropped from 4.27 to 4.02. Over the course of that two week stretch my team's ERA has been 1.75 with a WHIP of 1.10. Andrew has been extremely unlucky with his pitching lately, but I've also been equally lucky with mine over the same stretch. Mark is starting to pull away from me in stolen bases, thanks to the addition of Ellsbury. Home runs remain tight between us as well, although the loss of several players due to injuries and trades makes it likely that I'll hang on to my slim lead.

Weekly Update		R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	W	SV	K	ERA	WHIP	IP	Total Pts	Net Pts
1	Mr Bill's Boppers	30	6	40	3	0.001	3	5	48	-0.1	-0.01	65	65	0.5
2	Oh Balls!!!	36	10	44	3	0.000	3	2	48	0.02	0	68	57	-1
3	I Ain't Got My Taco	31	7	30	3	-0.001	2	0	20	0.02	0	59	51	-1.5
4	Soap Box Yakkers	28	7	38	7	0.001	1	6	18	-0.03	0	56	48	1.5
5	Smell The Glove	23	5	25	6	0.000	2	2	41	-0.05	-0.01	58	46.5	-0.5
6	Soo Choo Train	34	8	31	8	0.000	4	0	37	-0.08	0	65	40	3
7	The Chones	35	10	31	4	0.001	2	1	23	0.04	0.01	60	34	-2
8	A-Roid's RagingRotos	31	10	26	4	0.002	1	0	18	0.06	0.01	59	18.5	0

Want to see how to ruin an organization?

Check out this list of talent the Mariners have traded away or lost through free agency. NBC sports just did an overview of how teams would look if they only had homegrown talent and the Mariners' lineup and bullpen are particularly incredible, especially for a team that has been terrible for several years now.

Either that or ask Spencer how he runs his fantasy baseball team. He's gone from winning the league to having a combined score over the last two years that would currently place him 7th.

Weekly Update, September 6

I guess the dump trades are starting to have an effect. The bottom four teams lost a combined 9.5 points this week, while Andrew and I gained 3.5 points each. My points were gained in pitching (passing Luke and Kate in ERA, swapping first in WHIP with Andrew), while Andrew's offense has been carrying his team of late. A spectacular pitching day on Friday (19 IP,16 K, 0.47 WHIP, 0.53 ERA to go with two wins and two saves) saved Andrew's week - coming into Friday he was looking at a 10+ point lead after poor pitching earlier in the week. On Friday alone Andrew gained 6.5 points, with 6 of those coming from pitching (2 ERA, 2 WHIP, 1 W, 1 saves). I still like my chances, but after that massive day I don't have the league wrapped up, despite what Spencer keeps saying. If I can hang on to the points I have, I'm in great shape. Any slippage in pitching stats, especially WHIP, could be trouble. With Andrew, Caleb, and Taylor tied at 1.29, just 0.01 behind me, WHIP should continue to be extremely volatile.

I don't have many points to gain at this stage, 0.5 from passing Spencer in saves, possibly passing Mark in average and SB (much more likely now that Sizemore is done for the season).

Weekly Update		R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	W	SV	K	ERA	WHIP	IP	Total Pts	Net Pts
1	Mr Bill's Boppers	36	11	40	4	0.000	6	3	59	-0.13	-0.01	65	64.5	3.5
2	Oh Balls!!!	45	10	43	3	0.001	4	6	46	0	-0.01	68	58	3.5
3	I Ain't Got My Taco	46	13	47	3	0.003	3	6	55	0.02	-0.01	70	52.5	2.5
4	Smell The Glove	30	10	36	4	-0.003	4	3	43	0.04	-0.01	70	47	0
5	Soap Box Yakkers	36	6	27	3	-0.002	0	6	26	0.03	0	66	46.5	-2.5
6	Soo Choo Train	32	10	44	2	-0.002	0	0	35	-0.01	0.01	73	37	-3.5
7	The Chones	25	5	26	5	-0.001	1	5	22	0.03	0	64	36	-2.5
8	A-Roid's RagingRotos	35	8	34	4	0.000	1	2	24	0.02	0	70	18.5	-1