Let’s say I have an iPod classic which I’ve owned for 2 years.  Let’s also say the battery life on the device has become awful, so much so that I can’t get more than 15 minutes of video out of it.  So I call the Apple store and setup an appointment with one of their “geniuses” to get the battery replaced.  I’d love to replace the battery myself, but Apple is just too ‘cool’ for that.

My big day comes and I head into the Apple store.  Upon arriving I stroll to the back and meet my ‘genius’.  He says he has to perform tests on the battery to make sure they can replace it.  Weird, but I hand it over and wait patiently.  After testing, he reports the iPod didn’t fail the 3 tests required to get a new battery, but I can pay $50 to buy a power pack that attaches to the outside of the iPod.

“But I’m willing to pay the $70 for a new battery,” I say.  He says they can’t replace it and sends me on my way.  Pretty good commercial huh?

So what 3 tests are there to determine a bad battery other than the battery not providing energy, and thus not being a battery?  This is actually a true story and happened to my wife.  Just sayin’

So the “Battle of the Brews” in DCRoto is heating up, but I’m finding myself back on top, thanks to a great start by Edwin Jackson last night.  I knew there was a reason I traded for him.  By the way, I call it “Battle of the Brews” because it’s DejaBrew versus Lite Brigade, hitting versus pitching, good versus evil.

I picked up Ramon Ramirez from the BoSox to fill my empty roster spot.  He’s a reliever with 5 wins already as well as some good skills.  I figure I might be able to steal some wins with him, as well as keep my ERA and WHIP low.  We’ll see.

Rank	Team	Batting	Pitching	Total	Dif	Behind
1	DejaBrew All Over Again	63.5	40.0	103.5	1.5	0.0
2	Lite Brigade	37.0	62.0	99.0	-6.0	4.5
3	Lesbian Spank Inferno	45.0	50.5	95.5	6.5	8.0
4	Logan’s Monsters	54.0	33.5	87.5	-5.0	16.0
4	Springfield Isotopes	29.0	58.5	87.5	-1.0	16.0
6	Bates Bandits	52.0	34.0	86.0	-1.5	17.5
7	BigPoppaLip	52.0	32.0	84.0	2.0	19.5
8	Scrubbies	41.0	39.0	80.0	1.5	23.5
9	Closer by Committee	15.0	55.0	70.0	-1.0	33.5
10	Berkshire Lumber Company	45.5	21.0	66.5	2.5	37.0
11	Donnie Baseballers	31.0	33.0	64.0	4.5	39.5
12	Tools of Ignorance	20.0	23.0	43.0	0.5	60.5
13	Rebuilding Cleveland	11.0	31.0	42.0	-6.0	61.5
14	Purple Submarine	29.0	12.5	41.5	1.5	62.0

Here are the standings:

Rank	Team	Batting	Pitching	Total	Dif	Behind
1	DejaBrew All Over Again	64.5	38.5	103.0	1.0	0.0
2	Lite Brigade	40.0	61.5	101.5	-3.5	1.5
3	Lesbian Spank Inferno	45.5	48.5	94.0	5.0	9.0
4	Logan’s Monsters	52.0	37.0	89.0	-3.5	14.0
5	Bates Bandits	53.0	34.5	87.5	0.0	15.5
6	Springfield Isotopes	27.5	58.5	86.0	-2.5	17.0
7	BigPoppaLip	52.0	33.5	85.5	3.5	17.5
8	Scrubbies	43.0	36.5	79.5	1.0	23.5
9	Closer by Committee	15.5	57.0	72.5	1.5	30.5
10	Berkshire Lumber Company	42.0	21.0	63.0	-1.0	40.0
11	Donnie Baseballers	29.0	29.0	58.0	-1.5	45.0
12	Tools of Ignorance	22.5	22.5	45.0	2.5	58.0
13	Rebuilding Cleveland	11.0	33.5	44.5	-3.5	58.5
14	Purple Submarine	27.5	13.5	41.0	1.0	62.0
Standings Updated as of: 7/7/09 3:32 AM EST

As you can see, not a whole lot has changed.  It seems to be a classic showdown of hitting v. pitching right now.  You can see Lite Brigade has the pitching, and I have the hitting.

That changed today.

I have developed rather large leades in HR’s and Saves, so much so that I need to sell some of my power and relief pitchers for categories I’m not doing so well in.  In rotisserie baseball, it does you no good to get a significant lead in any category, you only want to be up by the tiniest bit.  If you start pulling away, trade your strengths to help your weaknesses, which is what I did today.

Ian Kinsler, Fernando Rodney, and David Aardsma for Edwin Jackson and Elvis Andrus.

I lose power and saves but gain a top 20 starter.  I was afraid to deal Kinsler because not only do I lose the power, but I lose speed as well.  Getting Andrus fixes that.  However, I still lose out on Runs and RBI’s.  But I gain in Average, since Kinsler has been killing me in that department over the last month.  And the pickup of Martin Prado at 2B should help with those two categories.  Really I end up benching Marco Scutaro and replacing him with Elvis Andrus, also losing Kinsler and plugging in a Martin Prado.  All the while, getting Edwin Jackson for essentially nothing, since their saves will no longer help me.

I have been very tentative to trade, being as how I’ve been at the top all season.  There’s a tendency to not want to rock the boat.  But here I saw what I thought was an advantage in gaining speed and average, while not losing too much in RBI’s and Runs, and the power wasn’t a concern.  While doing that, I obtained a reliable starter with a sub-3 era and a sub 1.3 whip.

We’ll see how it goes.  My roster now looks like this:

• C - Matt Wieters, Omir Santos
• 1B - Pujols
• 2B - A. Hill
• 3B - C. Jones
• SS - E. Andrus
• MI - Martin Prado
• CI - Justin Morneau
• OF - Kemp, Span, Ichiro, G. Anderson, Ludwick
• DH - Branyan
• Off. Bench - J. Guillen, L. Scott, Scutaro
• P - E. Jackson, Pettitte, A. Cook, Maholm, Happ, Je. Weaver, Happ, Blanton, H. Bell, L. Hawkins, M. Stetter,

I’m at the grocery store last night and promptly developed a new Pet Peeve.  Let me first say, I love the idea of the self-checkout.  If I run in quickly to pickup some Ketchup, Milk, and Doritos, I love the fact that I can walk up to my own checkout aisle and take care of myself.

That said, this country needs to establish some rules on these things.  After spending about 20 minutes shopping around my local grocery store last night I made my way to the checkout.  I won’t say which store it was, but just that it rhymes with “Bopper’s Mood Bearhouse”.  Upon arrival at the checkout scene I make my way to the self checkout.  All I have is some Greek Salad Dressing and Ravioli’s (don’t ask).

There was this one girl at the self checkout, with roughly 74 items in her cart.  It was all I could do not to rip open my ravioli bag and throw some frozen pasta at her.  For those of you that have never been through a self checkout because you fear the future or something, they are a little different.  The machine overall is much slower, because it doesn’t want you to make mistakes and hold other people up (more on this later).  Also, if you are buying alcohol, it won’t let you move on until you show your id to a nearby attendant, thus slowing everyone else down, again.

Let’s go over the process:

1. Scan your item and place it in the bag - if you don’t place it in the bag, the machine goes nutso and starts yelling at you to do so.  This is how it stops you from stealing or something.

2. Wait 5 seconds or so.

3. Scan next item and place it in the bag.  If you have fruit or veggies I think the process gets more complicated, but I haven’t made that leap yet so I can’t get into it.

4. Coninue on this path, pausing about 5 seconds between items until you have scanned and bagged all your groceries.

5. Enter your coupons if you have them.

6. Choose method of payment and pay.

You can see it takes quite a while.  So long in fact that I jumped into a normal line with around 6 people in front of me.  They had anywhere from 3-25 items and by the time I finished checking out, that woman was still in the self checkout line.  Yeah, she had coupons.

Please stop the madness.  I have a dream of an America where you cannot self checkout with more than 10 items.  If a politician runs on that platform they have my vote, even if they have a history of severe cruelty to children and old people, while hating puppies.

The other part I despise about self checkout is how it talks to you like you’re 4 years old.  ”Please gently slide your item, bar code facing the scanner, across the checkout area.  Now place the item slowly in the bag”.  Like I’ve never seen a cashier before.  I’d like to meet the person that needs those instructions.

• Machine - “Slide item across bar code scanner with bar code facing it”.
• Idiot - “Ok, interesting these computer.”.  (slides item)
• Machine - “Now place item in the bag”.
• Idiot - “Oh, I see where you’re going with this machine.  Now we’re cooking!”

Enough on this though.  I feel better now.

The last few weeks I’ve been extending my lead in saves over the rest of the league.  A lot of this is because of LaTroy Hawkins vulturing some saves from the injured Jose Valverde.  Also, George Sherrill has had quite the resurgence lately.  Therfore it’s time to make a deal.

I received an offer from Purple Submarine on Wednesday for those saves.  He offered me Ryan Ludwick, who would be coming off the DL that Friday.  I have a soft spot for Ludwick beacause he was one of my great pickups last year with his 30+ home runs.

I took the deal.

My philosophy has always been offense first, and it’s no different here.  If I can trade a shaky closer for a 30 home run guy I’ll do it every time.  Especially since I have 3 other closers still on my roster.  So I’d like to welcome Ryan Ludwick to DejaBrew and say “don’t disapoint me”.

Also, Matt Weiters made his debut yesterday.  This first means bye bye Nick Hundley, if only you could hit more like Todd Hundley.  Hopefully Weiters pans out.  If he ends up with 15 HR’s and batting .280 or so, he will still be a top 10 catcher this year, which is much needed.

Standings are below.

Rank	Team	Batting	Pitching	Total	Dif	Behind
1	DejaBrew All Over Again	59.5	45.0	104.5	1.5	0.0
2	Lite Brigade	40.5	56.0	96.5	5.0	8.0
3	Scrubbies	51.0	38.5	89.5	-1.0	15.0
4	BigPoppaLip	53.5	35.5	89.0	20.0	15.5
5	Logan’s Monsters	58.0	29.0	87.0	-14.5	17.5
6	Springfield Isotopes	33.0	51.0	84.0	9.5	20.5
7	Bates Bandits	50.5	30.0	80.5	-2.0	24.0
8	Lesbian Spank Inferno	20.5	51.5	72.0	19.5	32.5
9	Berkshire Lumber Company	37.5	30.5	68.0	-7.5	36.5
10	Closer by Committee	18.0	49.5	67.5	-10.5	37.0
11	Tools of Ignorance	29.0	29.0	58.0	7.5	46.5
12	Purple Submarine	39.0	16.0	55.0	-12.5	49.5
13	Donnie Baseballers	26.0	26.5	52.5	6.5	52.0
14	Rebuilding Cleveland	9.0	37.0	46.0	-21.5	58.5

Before I get into my top ten I want to share a link I read yesterday.  The story is titled, “Virginia Bans Smiles at the DMV”.  Yes, you read that right - smiles are out at the DMV.  My favorite quote from the story is…

“No cheese today”, the DMV Attendent said.

You just cannot make this stuff up.  Here’s the link if you want to read more - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/27/AR2009052703627.html?hpid=topnews.

…And back to baseball.

Now that we are about a quarter of the way through the season I thought I’d post on my “Top 10 Surprises (so far) of the 2009 MLB Season”.  Without further ado, here they are:

1. Zack Greinke is the leader in the Cy Young Race.
   Now I know you all predicted Mr. Greinke to go 8-0 while leading the league in ERA (.84), WHIP (.88), Completed Games (5), and Wins (Tied w/ Halladay at 8).  Oh yeah, and he’s on the Royals.

   (If you don’t believe me check it out at the ESPN Cy Young Predictor - http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/features/cy.  That’s him in 1st!)

2. Manny Ramirez gets caught juicing.
   Like many of you I am tired of hearing about steroids.  However, after all the whining and lying he and his agent did in the off-season to get his new contract with the Dodgers this was just too great to ignore.  Oh the irony…

3. The Pittsburgh Pirates are not the worst team in the NL Central.
   Dear Houston Astros,
   You are letting the only professional sports franchise to EVER go 16 straight seasons without finishing over .500 win more games than you.  Nice, very nice.

4. Raul Ibanez is a beast.
   As a Philly fan I was not all that excited about getting another left handed bat in the middle of our lineup.  I’m not quite as worried anymore now that Ibanez is batting .339 with 36/17/44.  Those 17 HR are good enough for 2nd in the MLB (as noted by Mike Merrill in his previous post - http://justsayin.net/?p=202).  Not to mention his 4 SB, which matches his total from the past 3 seasons combined.

5. The new Yankees Stadium plays like a little league field.
   This “ballpark” is on pace to break Coors Stadium’s record of 303 HR allowed (1999).  They’ve already given up 87 HR through just 23 games.  They are on track to give up about 326 HR through 81 games this season.  I think they should only be allowed to use wiffleball bats.
   
   
6. The Dodgers are kicking butt.
   This team is just damn good.  Even without “Manny-The-Nanny” the Dodgers are 8-2 in their last ten.  They are also leading the league in run differentail (+89) and have the 3rd lowest runs against in the league behind St. Louis and San Francisco.  Must be that Juan Pierre guy.

7. The Nationals are bad, with a side of awful.
   I did not expect the Nats to compete this year, but come on!  They have the highest runs against in the league (280), the worst run differentail (-62), and are sporting a league-worst 13-33 record.  If I were a Nats fan I would be contemplating setting myself on fire (*cough* Nick *cough*).

8. Aaron Hill is a beast, too.
   After an injury-riden 2008, Aaron Hill has bounced back nicely with a line of 23/12/37 and a nice lofty BA of .344.  He’s leading the league in AB and is a big reason Toronto got off to a great start.  It’s a shame they decided to lose 9 straight after that start.

9. Tampa Bay has a losing record.
   I’m not saying I expected them to be in first place, but when you realize they are leading the MLB in SB (82) and have a +30 run differential you would expect them to be at least .500.  On the plus side, Evan Longoria is having a sick season.

10. The Mets are 3rd to last in the league in HR.
    I know they experienced a few injuries, but seriously 32 total HR…as a team…all season?!  They can be proud that Pittsburgh (31) and San Francisco (25) are worse than they are in that category.  Unfortunately, Raul Ibanez and Adrian Gonzalez (33) combine for more than their entire team.  Ouchtown population YOU, Mets!

Seriously, either walk or ride, don’t do both.  And certainly don’t ride on the sidewalk.  After work today I’m crossing the street in the middle of rush hour and I see a monster coming at me.  This monster is on a bike … crossing the street … in a cross walk.  Let me say that again.

A crossWALK!  Not a crossRIDE!

Why can’t they just ride on the street.

Anyway, it’s the 25% mark of the baseball season and I’ve got some things to say.

It’s too bad the Blue Jays are on a 9 game losing streak and have dropped out of first.  I would have loved another year of the ‘Sawx’ and ‘Yanks’ finishing runner up to a major underdog.  The Jays’ pitching couldn’t hold up though, they have too many pitchers hurt right now.  However, they are definitely on my “teams to watch in 2 years” list.

Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres is leading the league in home runs right now.  Do you know more than 5 people that could pick him out of a lineup?  I could ask the same thing about the guy in 2nd, Raul Ibanez.  Have you noticed there is no “Home Run Chase” press going on right now, even though they are on pace to hit 72 and 68 HR’s respectively?  If it were Albert Pujols, things would be different.

Speaking of Home Runs, Derek Jeter has 7 which puts him on pace for 28.  He’s never hit that many before.  In fact, since 2004, he has declined every year in that category.  Maybe the fact that Yankee Stadium is on pace to give up 360+ home runs has something to do with it.

Everyone is complaining about attendance at ballparks.  The people I know (normal people) have been complaining about ticket prices for years, especially for the lower level seats.  Who wants to pay $60 to see John Lannan v. Ian Snell at Nationals Park from lower left field?  The answer is no one.

The Dodgers are really good and will win their division by 30 games.  Mostly because they are good, but also because the rest of the teams in that division are worse than most girls softball teams.  The addition of Manny late in the year will really get things going.  He may STILL hit 30 home runs this year.

9 of the 11 top scoring teams in the leage are in the American League.  I don’t think that’s all because of the DH.  The AL is just hitting much better this year.

The Lost season finale was one of their greatest episodes ever.

How many “Real Housewives of …” are there now?  Will the craptasticness ever stop?

I’m still feeling ok about my predictions, but my confidence is fading fast.

We got there early Sunday to check out the sites and ended up at Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure.  It was a beautiful day and with almost no lines, we got to ride everything we wanted.  We left the park, headed to Margaritaville, and the second we walked inside it started raining.  

The rain didn’t stop until Thursday morning.  

No pool for Sarah, no more theme parks for either one of us, no outdoor bar, etc.  The news was saying Orlando got more rain this week than they did during Hurricane Andrew.  

To top it all of, we head to the airport to leave Thursday night and as I swipe my credit card to check-in the machine tells me, “You did not arrive early enough to check-in through the kiosk, please see an attendant for assistance”.  Turns out Expedia, at 11:27am that day, was nice enough to change our flight to an ealier time AND NOT TELL US.  Looks like we get one more night in Orlando.

Airtran was great about it and got us setup in a hotel for the night and on a 1:50pm flight the next day.  So we leave the hotel to catch the shuttle to the airport and the second we walk out the door, it starts raining again.  We get through security, stop at the airport Outback for some quick lunch, then board the plane.  We get out to the runway and pilot comes over the loudspeaker, “The airport is shutting down all flights due to high winds and rain, please be patient”.  Do you know what it’s like being on an airplane full of kids who are leaving Orlando after a full week of rain, and no theme park action?  The name Dante comes to mind. 

Our 1:50pm flight finally takes off after sitting on the runway until 3:15ish.  The weather in DC?  

82 degrees and sunny.  Sunshine state my foot.

And now for something completely different.  

So you know who the best second baseman in DCRoto is?

Ian Kinsler? … No

Brian Roberts? … No

Brandon Phillips … No

If you guessed Aaron Hill, you are correct.

Who?  You ask.  Aaron Hill, 2B, Toronto Blue Jays.  His numbers are a wee bit insane.

• .350 avg., 11 HR’s, 35 RBI’s, 2 SB, 30 R’s.

The minute your blog starts talking to you, it’s time to speak to someone with letters after their name.  I’ve always said that.

It’s been a while since I updated, and I wanted to check in for the 5-6 of you that read this.  Actually, that’s not true.  It turns out most of the DCRoto league reads this thing, which I found out after mentioning a possible trade in my last post.  The next day I received many offers and inquiries as to what I’m looking for.  I may be able to use this to my advantage.

To the Numbers:

Status

After 2 weeks into May, I found myself in 4th place.  Quite the swing from last month, but that’s how these things go.  My pitching really slumped for a while, mainly in wins, mainly beause I don’t have all that many starting pitchers.  However, they’ve picked it up, and I’m back on top.  Props to the Commish, Ian, by the way, for a meteoric rise to the top.  He was in first place for a few days a while ago, and remains over 100 points today.  What a beast.  

Good Stuff

Justin Morneau is off the hizzy.  In his last 6 games, he’s batting .462 with 6 HR’s.  Just nuts.  Not to meantion my Blue Jays are staying strong.  Aaron Hill remains one of the best 2B in the game and Marco Scutaro is a Run machine.  I feel like Runs are a stat that everyone forgets about in fantasy baseball.  Everyone pays attention to HR’s, avg., and RBI’s, but Runs are just the forgotten stat.  And those forgotten stats can be an opportunity.

My pitching is doing exactly as expected.  Horrible in Wins, but really well in ERA, Saves, and WHIP.  George 
Sherrill, even though he lost his job, continues to get saves, thank god.  Fernando Rodney tries to hold of Joel Zumaya, and Heath Bell is just hoping the Padres can actually win some games.  Meanwhile, Latroy Hawkins has been a nice source of saves.

Bad Things

Luke Scott is hurt.  He’s been a pleasant surprise this year, going

What are all those people doing with grills and meat in their car?

Stupid.

Another stupid one is that Pizza Hut Pasta commercial where the family thinks they are at a restaurant but their really at their house.  They are blindfolded, put into a car, driven around, dropped back off at their house, walked inside to their kitchen table, and fed pasta from Pizza Hut.  They think they are in a restaurant.  

Either this family has never been to a restaurant before, or Pizza Hut thinks we are all morons.  Are we really supposed to believe they (a) don’t realize they are walking up the steps to their front porch when walking in, (b) don’t realize that there is NO ONE ELSE in this “restaurant” they think they are in, (c) can’t tell the difference between restaurant chairs and their own kitchen table chairs, and (d) can’t feel the dog licking their legs under the table?  

Stupid.

Fantasy baseball time.  DCRoto is tightening up.  Trades are happening, trends are turning into realities, the injury bug is starting to hit, and my pitching is finally collapsing.  That said, the standings going into today were as follows:

Rank	Team	Batting	Pitching	Total	Dif	Behind
1	DejaBrew All Over Again	57.0	46.0	103.0	0.0	0.0
2	Lite Brigade	32.5	68.5	101.0	9.5	2.0
3	Logan’s Monsters	54.5	45.0	99.5	-2.0	3.5
4	BigPoppaLip	54.5	39.5	94.0	25.0	9.0
5	Scrubbies	58.0	31.0	89.0	-1.5	14.0
6	Bates Bandits	49.5	34.5	84.0	1.5	19.0
7	Closer by Committee	34.0	39.5	73.5	-4.5	29.5
8	Springfield Isotopes	33.5	37.0	70.5	-4.0	32.5
9	Berkshire Lumber Company	35.5	34.0	69.5	-6.0	33.5
10	Rebuilding Cleveland	13.5	50.5	64.0	-3.5	39.0
11	Purple Submarine	41.0	15.0	56.0	-11.5	47.0
12	Lesbian Spank Inferno	17.0	38.5	55.5	3.0	47.5
13	Tools of Ignorance	26.5	25.5	52.0	1.5	51.0
14	Donnie Baseballers	18.0	20.5	38.5	-7.5	64.5

I still had my lead, but things are clearly tightening up.

What happened?

Well in my middle relief and closer-heavy strategy, I knew I would be struggling in wins and K’s, which is finally catching up with me.  Paul Maholm and Andy Pettitte were doing great out of the gate, but have come back down to earth.  That said, I’ve dropped from around 3rd in wins, to last.  Also, I’m 2nd to last in K’s, with a HUGE gap between me and the team ahead of me.  Lots of ground to make up there.  The offense is still good, and I’m in the top 5 in all other categories, which is again what I planned for.

Trends

Albert Pujols is still good.  The Aaron Hill, Ian Kinsler, Albert Pujols trio is carrying me.  They are 3 of the top 5 batters in the league.  And the rest of my offense isn’t that bad either.  Matt Kemp is on pace for a 20/30 season, Ichiro is struggling a little right now, but still stealing bases and his average will come around.  Russell Branyan is still belting HR’s and his average remains high somehow, though I know it won’t last.  Marco Scutaro is 3rd in the league in runs, and should continue to produce in that hot Jays lineup.

My pitching is hurting.  I’m just not getting enough starts to get wins, and the pitchers I have are either on very bad teams, or aren’t staying in the game long enough to record a decision.  I’m amont league leaders in Saves, ERA, and WHIP though, which is what I was hoping for.  Now I just need to try to fight my way to the middle of the pack in Wins, so the category doesn’t really hurt me.  K’s are already a lost cause.

Bad Stuff

George Sherrill is finally losing his job.  Or at least the process has started.  He’s still picking up saves, but the O’s manager has stated he won’t be the only one anymore.  I can understand it, especially because of his George Sherrill’ness.  So I’ll need to pickup some Saves elsewhere.  Also, Fernando Rodney has seemed to lose his edge that he had earlier in the year.  He’s giving up lots of runs, which makes me worry about Joel Zumaya taking that job.  Ah the fun with closers.

Matt Weiters is struggling in triple-A so I’m not sure when he’s going to be called up.  I’m not sure how much longer I can keep a dead roster spot on my team.  If the pitching starts to suffer especially, I may have to try to move him.  Luckily Nick Hundley and John Baker are playing very well for me.

Injuries

None really, knock on wood (that’s what she said).  Other than a minor knee issue with Kyle Lohse, there haven’t been many health issues with DejaBrew.  I’d like to thank our excellent medical staff for that.

Trades

I’ve been working on a deal with Closer by Committee that could land me a LOT more strikeouts, and maybe some more wins, but I’d have to give up one of my strongest offensive players.  The question comes down to whether or not I think I can win this thing by punting K’s and Wins.  It would take some CRAZY good offense to do so, but I think I have that.  That’s what my mind has been on for the last week or so.

Sorry for not getting back to you Brent, but I’m still mulling it over.

Conclusion

I knew I wasn’t going to stay in the lead forever, especially with the great owners in this league, so now it’s time to really start managing.  I’m working on a new strategy now that will hopefully let me pickup some wins and keep pace there, but it might hurt my era/whip.  I’ll give it a go for a while and see.

Otherwise, I’ll be avoiding the Swine Flu and hoping Jon and Kate don’t really break up.  What would the +8 do?

After 3 weeks, we’re still holding strong at the top.  In the middle of the week, Closer By Committee was within 4 points, but seemed to finally lose steam.  That same team 2 weeks ago was in 3rd to last place.  There is no team hotter.

Trends

Albert Pujols is good.  Not only is he batting around .350 but he now has 3 stolen bases.  It’s just nuts.  I don’t expect the speed trend to continue, but I’ll take any steals I can get.  The trade seems to have somewhat worked out so far.  Prince Fielder started hitting once I dumped him, but Aaron Hill is still going strong.  

Based on Sportsline’s rankings, I have 3 out of the top 4 batters in fantasy baseball and at one point this past week, 4 of 6.  As far as pitching, I’ve got 3 of the top 15, which isn’t bad.  If I can continue to start guys on good days, don’t try to play for Wins, and pretty much punt strikeouts, I should be able to win Saves, ERA, and WHIP.

Injuries

None as of now.  Jose Guillen and Russell Branyan are back and “Big Russ” is on a tear.  He’s batting .300+ with lots of power.  Guillen is on my bench right now, but will play when I have openings in the OF.

Surprises

Branyan.  Everyone always knew he had 30 HR potential if he got a starting job, but the average is very unexpected.  I know he will end up around .240, but I’ll take it while it lasts.  Also, Jered Weaver (ugliest guy in baseball) finally pitched a nice game.  7 scoreless innings against Seattle.  I NEED him to have a good year.

On the Horizon

I’m contemplating trading for another starter, specifically a pitcher for the Twins.  It’s hard to initiate trades when you’re up big on the league because I don’t want to mess with success.  However, I know my team will slump at some point if I don’t keep improving.  Sell high and buy low.  That’s how you win in fantasy baseball. 

Rank	Team	Batting	Pitching	Total	Dif	Behind
1	DejaBrew All Over Again	54.5	52.0	106.5	106.5	0.0
2	Closer by Committee	34.0	54.0	88.0	88.0	18.5
3	Logan’s Monsters	56.0	31.5	87.5	87.5	19.0
4	Scrubbies	64.0	21.5	85.5	85.5	21.0
4	Berkshire Lumber Company	47.5	38.0	85.5	85.5	21.0
6	Lite Brigade	17.5	66.5	84.0	84.0	22.5
7	Rebuilding Cleveland	25.0	54.5	79.5	79.5	27.0
8	BigPoppaLip	47.5	28.5	76.0	76.0	30.5
9	Bates Bandits	44.5	25.5	70.0	70.0	36.5
10	Springfield Isotopes	29.0	39.5	68.5	68.5	38.0
11	Purple Submarine	43.0	19.5	62.5	62.5	44.0
12	Tools of Ignorance	26.5	31.5	58.0	58.0	48.5
13	Donnie Baseballers	19.0	33.0	52.0	52.0	54.5
14	Lesbian Spank Inferno	17.0	29.5	46.5	46.5	60.0