Saturday, September 5, 2009

Week 20 v. Bedwetter Brent

Losing streaks - who likes them? No one, really, although some folks have to get used to them, I guess. I've now got my first one of the season. Not quite the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, but still not comforting to this owner. Especially because things are not getting any easier in the coming weeks. To look ahead or to look back? I guess we better check the damage of this wreck before shopping for a new clunker.

Roy Oswalt and newly-acquired knuckler Charlie Haeger will have their masterpieces hung on my refrigerator door. Each of them tossed seven innings of shutout baseball and snagged a win. Derek Lowe, on the other hand, got absolutely shelled by the Mets. For the week, he gave up 20 hits and 11 earned runs. His "artistic creation" will be lucky to end up underneath the fridge with the stray cheerios and dust bunnies. Chalk up strikeouts, ERA, and WHIP on Brent's side of the board. On the plus side, workhorses Street and Franklin combined for seven saves to seal up that category. The bonus one from LaTroy Hawkins was just showin' off.

At the plate, I must give massive props to Luis Castillo for an out-of-this-world average of .538 as well as two very important steals. The list of stinkers is a lot longer: Jermaine Dye, Julio Lugo, Luke Scott, David Murphy, and Geovany Soto all had more than 10 ABs and hit under the Mendoza Line. Combine them together and you get a 10/89, which, at best, roughly carries the aroma of this object. On the whole, the offense was just not good, even in the usual strongest categories for the Five-Ways. Steals were the only bright spot as Brent earned a 6-3-1 victory.

So what's next, you say? A rematch with Mr. Mistoffelees, the only team to truly thump me all year. Even though Jim's a great guy and a fellow Dawg, the 0-8-2 of late June still stings a little. Luckily, my team didn't let a squirt of grapefruit juice in the eye unravel everything for everyone, right, Costanza? Anyway, the magical one's team is a bit banged up (David Wright), so my plan for redemption starts there. Fingers crossed...