Week 9 v. Sixteen Brendan

Welcome back, Hiroki Kuroda! A second straight fantastic return from the disabled list highlighted a nice week for the Five-Ways. Mr. Bedard showed up his former teammates with more than 11 innings of quality pitching. That means once again the staff held down ERA & WHIP. Unfortunately Brendan's never-ending stream of crappy pitchers netted him both strikeouts and wins. And all we needed was one lone save to take care of that area. Brendan's been punting saves all season, even if he wasn't trying to (Brandon Morrow, cough, cough).

Woohoo for offense! Apparently the entire fictional clubhouse loves Luke Scott. Since his return, many have awoken from the dead. Andre Ethier finally stopped moping about Manny and hit the baseball again. Steals continues to be a team effort, with waiver-wire heroes like David Murphy contributing. Even Geovany Soto managed to make solid contact once during the week and put the ball out of the park. Did we? Yes, we did. All five offensive categories went to the kids from the Queen City. That makes the final score 8-2.

Now to the biggest news of the week. Or what I thought would be the biggest news. At least until the end of the week. Only Monday evening, I finished a deal to get more saves in the form of Huston Street of the Colorado Rockies. But did he pitch for me this week? um, no. And neither did the outgoing party, Joe Saunders, whom I wisely sat that evening as he got roughed up. That's probably my final deal for a while. I've traded away starting pitching to gain in another area, without weakening the team I was fielding. Thanks to Kuroda's return, I think I actually upgraded my rotation. And as much as I like Saunders, he was a really fair price to pay for a decent closer. I would still like to get more offense somehow, but right now the hitters are hitting.

Speaking of hitters, in week 10 I shall face Bedwetter Brent. That's right, poor Brent had a crush on the girl next door when he was in elementary school. And then there was a family emergency - he had to spend the night at the neighbor's house. And he spent that night in her house IN HER BED. Upon awaking in the morning, he had done more than sleep in that bed. Yep, he had used it as a water closet. So much for the crush. But welcome to the Man's League, Bedwetter Brent! Embarrassing childhood stories now equal comedy gold on the worldwide leader! So ahem, yes, his team is pretty good. He's at 55-30-5, currently second in the Anne Hathaway Division. A tough opponent to be sure, but the Man's League is a wild and wacky place, even for the world of fantasy baseball. That means everyone's got a shot in every week. Fingers crossed...