Man's League Blog: Week 14 v. Blossom Jim

Just before the All-Star break there was an epic battle of native Ohioans between yours truly and Blossom Jim, hailing from the town of Waynesfield, Ohio. Yeah, I didn't know where it was either, despite having lived all around the state. It's one of about a million things named for General "Mad" Anthony Wayne. Kind of like the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Duke, and Batman's alter ego. But since neither team was able to put Mad Anthony himself on their roster, the result of this contest was in doubt. Let's see how it turned out!

On the hill, Jim was punting saves, but the other categories were hotly contested. Erik Bedard left the training room behind to contribute two starts, while Derek Lowe decided to rejoin the ranks of pitchers who don't smell like a garbage truck. And even though Hiroki Kuroda's bonus relief appearance didn't turn out so well, those earlier efforts were enough to snag ERA and WHIP for the Five-Ways, but not quite enough to take wins or K's.

What of the other five categories, you say? A gigantic 7-RBI Tuesday from "el monstruo de cuadrangular", Luke Scott, highlighted a very nice offensive week for the Queen City Nine. This team effort brought home all five categories. Even Luis Castillo chipped in. No, not this Luis Castillo and not this kind of chipped in. More like this Luis Castillo. Not making quite as big an impact was Geovany Soto, whose sophomore slump continues in the form of an oblique injury. He was just coming around, but my team has survived without his best all season, so hopefully they'll continue to do so.

With this victory, my squad has jumped back into 2nd place in the Division de Megan Fox with a record of 78-56-6. That's not shabby at all heading into the break. In the short week after the All-Star festivities, Traveling Pants Ben is my opponent. His fame and Man's League entry derives from his enjoyment of this in its book & long form version. His team is definitely stronger on the pitching side of things, but being that our match-up will only last four days, anything could happen. Fingers crossed...