Damn my team sucks!

So it’s the fourth week of fantasy baseball and I’m losing – AGAIN!  apparently it’s 7-run week for my pitchers – every single one that has thrown so far has given up 7 runs!  Aghhh!  Last year I helped a friend move from dead last in week 11 to 2nd place and eventually into the championship game – so I know there’s still hope…but this is frustrating!

It started with a not-so-good draft.  It was entirely my fault, but I also blame a shortage of time – as I was told that I was being allowed into the league only a couple of weeks before the draft.  (And I was on vacation for almost a week of that time.)  Of course I ran out and picked up a couple of fantasy baseball magazines – and started checking out the scoop on sleepers, potential comebackers, overrated and underrated players, etc.  I somehow forgot about those veteran guys who have already proven themselves to be solid and, in many cases, have become household names.  Mostly I got wrapped up in rookies with tons of potential – ie. Pedro Alvarez, Corey Luebke, Madison Bumgarner, and the underrated guys who could surprise everyone – ie. Angel Pagan, Mike Pelfrey, Jarrod Saltalamacchia.  Unfortunately – none of these guys panned out – AT ALL – and so none of them remain on my team today.

In all reality – I should have done more research and snagged just a few of these guys as fillers and back-ups, instead of stacking my roster full of them, but, well, hindsight is 20/20.  And it’s not like I drafted them in the first few rounds or anything.  Actually – my early rounders are worse if you can believe that.  Since they have proven pasts I’ve talked myself off of several ledges, where I’d have dropped them – not myself, and decided to stick with them a little longer.

My top 3 picks were A. Gonzalez/BOS, M. Kemp/LAD, and Ian Kinsler/TEX.   Gonzalez and Kinsler are a combined 44/175 – a batting average of .251 – with 23 walks and 27 strike outs.  They’re struggling, at best – Gonzalez has only hit 1 homer in 93 at-bats for crying out loud!  Being in a contract year is historically good for players – they tend to have stellar years so they can get the big bucks at the end, but seeing as he just signed a gazillion dollar contract extension I don’t think he’s too worried about showcasing his potential net worth.  All I can say is THANK GOD FOR MATT KEMP!  He is my glimmer of hope on an otherwise dismal team.  He’s cooled off a bit from his incredible start where over the first dozen or so games he was batting somewhere around .999 and stole like 26 bases!  (Ok – maybe I’m exaggerating a bit here, but he did get off to a ridiculous start and I’m ever so grateful.)

Sooooo, I’ve been searching the free agency pool – and honestly – I’ve just been picking up and dropping players left and right.  In fact I’ve actually circled around and added back some of the players that I originally drafted, had no patience for as they slumped, and dropped in the second week.  Now that their performances have leveled – I’ve taken them back.  What’s really driving me crazy – is I’ll pick up a pitcher who has had a few stellar starts, is maybe 3-0 with an ERA around 2.50, and once I put him in he’ll go out and give up 7 runs in 2.1 innings.  SEVEN RUNS!  I’ve had 4 pitchers in 3 days give up SEVEN RUNS!  EACH!!!

FML.

Seriously – if you’re reading this please send good vibes my way.  I’m currently in 11th place out of 12 – and sinking.  Maybe I can hire Vladimir Shpunt, the Russian “healer” that former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt paid to send positive energy to the team during the 2008 playoffs, although I believe he charges upwards of 6-figures.  )Hmmmm…and you wonder how their finances are in such shambles.  But that’s a whole other blog for another day.)  For now – I just need my boys to step it up – BIGTIME!  Good grief!

12 wins to be World Champs?

Every April (or very, very late March) 30 teams embark on a journey with high hopes of being one of only 8 of those teams to stretch their season beyond 162 games.  To be exact – they want to win 11 more.  That’s how many playoff wins it takes to win it all: 3 wins in the best of 5 Division Series + 4 wins in the best of 7 League Series + 4 wins in the best of 7 World Series = 11 playoff wins; aka a World Series Championship Title.  But that could all be changing for the 2012 season and beyond.

Bud Selig has been exploring the idea of expanding the  playoff teams from 8 to 10 for some time, and it looks as though it’s going to happen.  The current format is this:  The first place team from each division and two wild card teams – the team with the best record of all the remaining teams in each league.  The new format moves to 10 teams by allowing TWO wild card teams to qualify from each league and having them play each other in a new wild card round to determine who moves on.  The playoffs would then continue with the LDS, LCS and WS remaining as is.

The details of the wild card round are undecided as of now.  The players want a 3 game series but the owners prefer a 1 game play-in.  The latter means that the four wild card teams will have their playoffs decided by only 9 innings.  No player wants that.  Now a 3 game series means that you have to make room for that many additional games in an already tight schedule – without running a potential WS game 7 into November.  No one wants to shorten the 162 game season, and players are opposed to a handful of scheduled double headers each year.  It also means that the 6 division champions teams will have to spend 4 or 5 or even 6 days sitting around waiting to get started, which can be detrimental to momentum, not to mention – these guys are gonna get impatient!  That 1 game play-in is starting to sound a little better huh?

So we know which side the owners will be on and which side the Players Association is taking…so what about the fans?  Tell me what you think!

Does anyone actually understand balks?

A balk is a funny thing.  It doesn’t happen too often and when it does it often leaves fans – and sometimes even players, managers and umps – confused.  This season we have already seen several balks, the most notably from Justin Verlander.  His balk was incredibly unusual and it took both teams’ coaches and all 4 umps to figure it out!  He was going to throw to first base but didnt turn his body enough, so in hopes of slipping his mistake past the umps, he lobbed it towards home, bouncing it and hitting the batter.

The batter went to first base assuming he’d been “hit-by-pitch”.  Unfortunately for him it was (after several lengthy on field conversations) ruled a balk – meaning the ball is dead, the pitch is neither ball nor strike, the at bat continues, and any base runners advance one base.  (Last year I believe there was a bases loaded, bottom of the 9th, tie-game balk….aka a “walk-off balk”)  At any rate, a balk can even be ignored if there are no runners, because calling the balk effects nothing and no one.

So what makes a balk a balk?  Well outside of the guys on Baseball Tonight and a collaboration of umpires on any given diamond….I’m guessing no one really knows.  It has something to do with the specific motions a pitcher can and cannot make before he commits to throw either to home plate or to a base.  Check out the wikipedia on balks – every last confusing detail is there.  And if you can manage to make sense of it all, do you think you can explain it to me?

Is it still considered “early”?

On my fantasy team I have Adrian Gonzalez, BOS as my primary first baseman and Ian Kinsler, TEX at second.  I drafted them both early, really early, and they are absolutely KILLING ME.  Kinsler started off decent in his first few games but has been atrocious since.  Gonzalez, well I think he just never got started (and yet has somehow been declining).  There are guys in the free agency who are playing way better than these 2 and could be earning me way more points.  I know it’s still early but it’s not that early.  So my question is this – At what point do I give up on these guys?

A baseball season is a funny thing.  In other sports like football a couple games can make or break your season.  You can have a run of luck – good or bad – and that will determine if you schedule playoffs or tee times.  But in baseball you can start slow, struggle, slump – and still manage to come out on top.  Why?  Because the season consists of 162 games and winning 90 or so of those is usually enough.  Baseball is more about endurance and consistency.  Luck might win a game or 2, but it won’t win a season.  So what can the first dozen or so games really say about a team’s or player’s ability?  Unfortunately…not much.  You have to wait it out a bit longer to see.

Baseball can often get started uncharacteristically.  Great teams will lose and terrible teams will win.  Gazillion dollar sluggers will go 0-for and gold glovers will make errors.  Guys you’ve never heard of before will clobber the ball and show up on web gems.  The first couple weeks is always fun, watching the oddities unfold and slowly shape into more realistic outcomes.  But sometimes these unusual situations linger, making you wonder if it’s a fluke start or if a particular team or player is going to maintain this level of play.

Look at Boston.  Before Opening day – many had picked them to go to the world series this year – some even to win it.  Yet they have been creeping around in baseball’s cellar from day one.  Their starting pitching is miserable.  They score runs – more than 4 per game on average, they just keep offering up meatballs at the dish and letting the other team score more.  And there isn’t much sign of improvement.  (Which keeps me wondering how Gonzalez is going to heat up with no real sparks around him)

How about those Royals?  They tore out of the gate and have been playing their hearts out and are currently 5 games over .500.  Sitting just above them atop the AL Central is – the Indians?  And they’re doing it without 2 of their best guys!

The best team in all of baseball right now isn’t as much of a surprise – it’s the Colorado Rockies.  We knew they’d be good, but they’re rolling like a well oiled machine.  Troy Tulowitzki is ridiculous right now, and with 7 home runs already he’s on pace to hit 75!  DAANNMMM!  I’m curious to see how long they can stay afloat up there in the #1 spot! 

Now – about my Cardinals.  Sheesh.  We struggled at first but just finished up a 10 game road trip where we went 6-4, which is pretty good.  But it could have been much better if we hadn’t blown 3 saves (4 total on the season).  All of them came from the arm of the now former closer, Ryan Franklin.  YIKES.  Honestly – I feel sorry for the guy.  Am I frustrated?  Hell yeah!  I doubt there are too many people in the Cardinal’s family – immediate or extended – who aren’t, including Franklin himself.  But he’s human.  Baseball is his job.  It’s not like he goes to the mound and says “Eh, I’m not feelin it today, I’ll just lob them in there for now.”   He’s struggling.  He’s frustrated.  He’s thinking too much, trying too hard.  We’ve all been there.  No matter what job you’re in you have days or weeks where you just can’t seem to get things right.  And the harder it is, the harder it gets.  I’m thrilled we’re not going to use him for saves right now – partly for the sake of the team and actually winning games when we’re up, but also so Franklin can feel a load of pressure off his shoulders while he works out whatever isn’t working.  And when he gets his groove back, I’ll be glad to see him in the 9th again.  One thing I can tell you though – is that when you’re having a hard time, being crucified for it by thousands of people certainly isn’t helping.  He’s off to a slow start, but I’m betting he’ll be back. (On a better note – the Cardinals rank first in the National League in batting average (.298), hits (164) and runs scored (87).  So that can give us something to smile about!)

So as we look around the league in this, the 3rd week of baseball – which teams/players are showing their true colors and which teams still have to morph back into themselves?  Who is playing on a sustainable level and who is yet to bounce back to reality?  How much more time do I wait on Kinsler and Gonzalez to start hitting like I know they can, when there are more stable guys available to take their place?

Give me your feedback, baseball fans!

Opening Day

The first day of a baseball season brings with it many reasons to celebrate.  The reuniting of us with our “summer friends”, the end of a long and dreary winter, a cold beer at noon…ahhh opening day.  It often falls on a workday forcing thousands of us to cash in some vacation time.  Wouldn’t it be easier on employers if we could just make it an official Holliday? (and no – that’s not a typo)  I scheduled a Dr. appointment for Thursday morning so that I had more of an excuse to take the day off, only to have my Dr. cancel the appointment leaving me free to head downtown even earlier! 

After spending an hour or so in Keener Plaza wandring around the pep rally, my family and I headed to Paddy O’s.  If you don’t already know – they’ve built on and it’s now HUGE!  (They also bought Al’s and plan to turn it into parking, so the pre- and post-game options are now one less.)  I tend to wander off a lot, so it wasn’t long before I lost track of my family and hung out with some old friends for a while before heading into the stadium.

As I walked in I marveled.  It’s not like I’ve never been here before – I average between 45-60 games per year, and I was just here 4 days ago for a stadium tour.  But still, there’s nothing like opening day.  Soon I was watching the players ride around the stadium in Ford trucks, and then – the game.  And it was a good game (for the first 10 innings anyway).  Franklin allowed the Padres to tie it up in the 9th, then Theriot struggled to make a play in the 11th, then sailed the ball over Yadi’s head and we lost 5-3.

But opening day isn’t totally about the game.  It’s about a fresh start to another season.  It’s about getting your baseball friends back together after a winter spent apart.  It’s a team of players with blank stat lines and the possibilty to fill them with big numbers.  It’s the beginning of endless trash talk in fantasy leagues.  Opening day is a celebration that baseball has finally returned after what seems like an eternity without it.  Yes, it’s about the game and yes we want our team to win.  But opening day is a great game even when it’s not.  Because whether you’re at home in front of the tv, at work sneaking it on your computer, or at the stadium with a beer and brat, you know that this day – you get to watch the ball game.  And what’s even better??  There’s 161 more to follow.