Man's League Blog: Week 16 v. Weaselly Brian

Just a few days before I faced off with Weaselly Brian, he pulled a trade with Peanut Rico and picked up quite a haul of offense. Ryan Zimmerman, Dexter Fowler, and Josh Hamilton were all going to line up against me. Fowler immediately scored a combo meal on Monday and the five-category rout was on.

The good news for my hitters centered around crusty and rusty vets Carlos Guillen, who finally returned from the DL, and Julio Lugo, my called-back-from-exile pickup of the week. Youth didn't fare poorly either: Coghlan and Ethier also woke up from mid-summer slumbers to go yard twice each. And in case you were wondering, typing both either and Ethier in the same sentence wouldn't be possible without the under-valued delete key. I'm telling you, buy low on the delete key. Or for those of you in PC-only leagues, the backspace key.

From the mound, the only contributors in the accumulating stats were Lowe and Street with two each, leaving me behind in wins but ahead in saves. Erik Bedard had a semi-meltdown before leaving with the same shoulder trouble as before. Which, especially after Mark Buehrle's perfect game, makes me wonder how those two have fared since I swapped one for the other on May 24th:


Looking deeper into those numbers, I think I'd still rather have Bedard, assuming he returns from his injury as relatively the same pitcher. And speaking of pitching injuries, the 94-year old Tim Wakefield has finally broken down with a bad back. The remaining guys will have to carry the load. And they did well enough against Brian to secure both ERA and WHIP.

Luckily for me, the 7-3 loss didn't cost me anything in the divisional standings. It did drop me to 6th place overall, which is a little close to the edge of the playoff boundary for my liking. And with only three teams left to face before repeat opponents begin, the match-up with Pod Vader looms just over the horizon. Standing in my way is Stand Up Jill, who is playing fantasy baseball for the first time this year. As the only woman in the Man's League, she gained entrance with her most manly act rather than an unmanly deed. And considering her rookie status, she's not doing too shabby after a rough start. But despite my depleted pitching staff, there's a decent chance that Queen City Nine will help the shabbiness return. Fingers crossed...