Tagged: Brandon Phillips

Fantasy 2011…pt 3

cpDOOM! 3.0 is drafting this time around.

Almost forgot about this draft…almost. But I never forget to draft. I forget to watch some shows…miss a game…miss a date, job interviews and some classes…but I never, never miss a draft.

 

Pick 10th overall. MLB.com fantasy league this time around mo fos, so Im thinkin I want the Phillies pitching staff 1st chance I can within reason…

 

New Rule, please? If you draft #1, and you dont show up for the draft, your autodraft picks you player ranked #101 instead of #1 as punishment.

Pick 1: Evan Longoria…never fails me

Couple people picked the Phillies and Giants pitching 6 and 7th overall…seriously?
…once upon a time that wouldve made sense. The scoring was so obviously broken back in the mid-2000s that a solid pitching staff would score all the points you need to blow out the other guy, mainly because it was unforgiving for when a team did anything but pitch shutouts. Win the game but give up 4 runs? You might break even. Give up 4 runs and lose? Then youre looking at a -23 score. Its gotten way better since, making fantasy baseball here so much more fun.

Pick 2: Carlos Gonzalez
Pick 3: Nelson Cruz
Pick 4: LA Dodgers pitching

Guess talking about the pitching in this game made me want something reliable now. My MO tends to be that I draft pitching much later and go after the staff poised to have a turnaround season. The 2008 Rays are an example of that.

Pick 5: Brandon Phillips
Pick 6: Paul Konerko
Pick 7: Stephen Drew
Pick 8: Nick Markakis

FYI: Im trying to avoid drafting the same player twice. So the idea is to draft players who I didnt draft in the other 2 drafts from earlier…

Really need a Catcher…

Pick 9: Kurt Suzuki
Pick 10: Grady Sizemore
Pick 11: Angel Pagan
Pick 12: Russell Martin

I hear a voice in the back of my head saying “Really? Martin?” But I keep telling myself hes just the backup catcher here…

Pick 13: Chase Headley

Gettin in those late rounds. Always a blast. Always look to find that late pick gem to round out the roster…or Ryan Theriot…

Pick 14: Ryan Theriot

I’m gonna throw a fit if Ike Davis has a big year cuz I keep putting him off in the drafts and someone else grabs him juuuuuuust before me…

Pick 15: James Loney
Pick 16: Baltimore Orioles pitching

And the Os are my pick to have a turnaround run….playing backup to the Dodgers…

Aight, no more of this unique picks only drafting…One more draft comming…

Week 26 in review: The Mets should make me their next GM or manager, seeing how I was able to lead 2 different fantasy teams to victory.

So…….regular season is over, 22 teams are going home and the Yankees are in the playoffs. No big shock there…

The Rays won the east….yeah, enjoy that-have fun losing to Cliff Lee while the Yankees waltz through Minnesota. Anyway, Ill predict the results tomorrow or something. Lets get onto something much more interesting…like…

I won 2 of my fantasy leagues. Not 1, but TWO!
The Roid Sox held off a late rally to clinch while cpDOOM! 2.0 destroyed their opponent to claim the title. I’m already thinking about next year, where cpDOOM! 3.0 will be claiming a title.

Anyway…

Biggest Yankee Game:
9/28/10: Yankees-6, Blue Jays-1
Playoff clincher and Sabathia proving yet again that he should be Cy Young.

Favorite Picture:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/The-Twins-have-a-problem-with-the-Timberwolves-m?urn=mlb-273996

The story here is that the Twins, like most teams, have about a million ads all throughout their field…and theyve got a problem with the NBAs Minnesota Timberwolves’ ad that can be seen. Instead of a picture, Im just gonna let y’all read the article, which includes 2 images…so that this week I can avoid violating copyright laws…

Fantasy:
I dont know if you heard, but I won 2 Fantasy titles.

For the sake of comparison:
cpDOOM! 2.0 opening day……..finals
C: M. Montero…………………….R. Doumit
1B: Sandoval………………………D. Lee
2B: Roberts………………………..J. Keppinger
3B: Blake…………………………..J. Bautista
SS: Bartlett………………………..T. Tulowitzki
OF: Braun………………………….R. Braun
OF: Crawford………………………C. Crawford
OF: Swisher……………………….N. Swisher
U: Upton……………………………B. Upton
P: Atlanta Braves………………..San Diego Padres

on bench for the finals were Montero and the Braves. (Like I said in my previous post, the Padres are damn good against the giant for some reason)

Roid Sox opening day…………..finals
C: M. Napoli………………………J. Buck
1B: M. Cabrera…………………..M. Cabrera
2B: B. Phillips……………………M. Aviles
3B: C. Davis………………………J. Bautista
SS: C. Barmes…………………..S. Drew
OF: C. Quentin…………………..L. Morrison
OF: N. Swisher…………………..N. Swisher
OF: A. Lind……………………….R. Raburn
U: J. Morneau…………………….T. Wigginton
P: San Francisco Giants……..San Francisco Giants

Phillips and Lind were on bench for the finals. The other guy started the Red sox pitching, so I knew I was safe pitching the Giants.

It was no coincidence that both teams featured Jose Bautista. Unbelieveable now, but he went undrafted in both those leagues. Picking him up proved to be the clincher, though at the time I thought he might prove to be a decent bench player.

This Week:
The 27 time defending world champion New York Yankees will continue their title defense as they face off against the Twins in the American League Division Series.

…yes, the same Twins we swept last year in the ALDS.
…actually no, not the same Twins because they dont have Morneau and Mauer sucks this year so theyre actually worse than last year.

3 key and avoidable screwups that cost the AL

The streak is over. The NL finally found a way to win, blah blah blah. The AL didnt help its case much last night, and speculations can be made all day over what Girardi and Manuel did or didnt do. However, the following three things DID happen, and ended up costing the AL.

1-Joe Mauer makes a baserunning mistake they teach you not to do in little league.

5th inning. Robinson Cano just hit a sac fly to put the AL up 1-0. Joe Mauer is on 2nd, 1 out. Carl Crawford hits a groundball to short, and Mauer takes it upon himself to go for 3rd, right in front of Hanley Ramirez! Ramirez easily nails him at 3rd for the 2nd out.
What professional baseball player pulls a stunt like that? You go AFTER Ramirez throws to 1st, then you wouldve scored on the Torii Hunter fly ball.

 

2-Elvis Andrus stole 2nd, then caught off the bag.

Jeter led off the 6th the only way he could, he got a hit. Then in comes Andrus to run for him. He takes 2nd as Konerko strikes out, but he came in to 2nd too fast and slid himself right off the base. Brandon Phillips catches him a mile off the bag and applies the tag. Josh Hamilton then hits a single that wouldve scored the speedy Andrus. Big Floppi strikes out to end the inning.

 

(For those counting, thats now at least 2 runs the AL lost out on…but was there a way to prevent the NL runs?)

 

3-Matt Thornton (how the hell is he an all star?) walks the bases loaded despite being ahead in the count 0-2.

7th inning. Runners on the corners, 2 outs. Marlon Byrd steps up to the plate against Thornton. The count quickly goes to 0-2. One more strike and the AL can breathe easy. Thornton then decides hes gonna get Byrd to chase some high heat.
Ball one.
Ok, so, lets try something new. BUT NO! Thronton trys to get Byrd to chase another high fastball!
Ball two.
Alright. Byrd clearly isnt fooled. Go to a new pitch? Nope! Lets try the same pitch AGAIN!
Ball three. Full count.
Thornton finally decides to try a different location. Down and away, and Byrd isnt swinging.
Ball four. Bases loaded. McCann steps up and the rest is history.

 

Honerable mentions go out to Joe Girardi for leaving David Ortiz to run the bases in the 9th, Joe Mauer for that terrible throw to 2nd that ended up in center field, and David Wright for not taking 3rd on the beforementioned Mauer throw.

 

Despite the above, im not that bitter. This just means the Yankees wont need 6/7 games to win the world series at home this year.

Week 13 in review: All Star tweaking

Lets take a moment to single out all the Yankees on this years All Star team.

-Derek Jeter. As always, one of the best shortstops in the AL. The no-brainer pick to win the vote.

-Robinson Cano. The best 2B in all of baseball. Again, a no-brainer selection.

-C.C. Sabathia. Good 1st half, though he wont play if he pitches on Sunday against the Mariners.

-Phil Hughes. One of the best 1st halfs of any AL pitcher. Should be a no-brainer to start if not for his recent streak of high ERA.

-Alex Rodriguez. Only injuries could stop him from being an All Star, and this year he was healthy (thus far *knock on wood*)

-Mariano Rivera. Best closer in history. Always gets the save for the AL. The man probably has a lifetime roster spot reserved for him.

-Andy Pettitte. Thats right b!tches. Pettittes an All Star. Replacing an injured person, but he was gonna be an All Star anyway for the beforementioned Sabathia thing. That was Girardis plan all along, or so he claimed. Though, I dont see why he couldve had a Red Sox pitcher replace Sabathia, forcing Jon Lester to wait until the last minute out of spite…

-Nick Swisher (as soon as he wins the final vote thing). Because I said so…

Biggest Yankee Game:
7/4/10: Yankees-7, Blue Jays-6, 10 innings

Holy crap. That game went back and forth and back and forth the whole damn time. Jays by a run, Yanks by 2, then its Jays by 2, then Gardner hits a 2 run inside the park homer to tie it up, Yanks take a 1 run lead into the 9th, Jays touch Rivera up to tie it up again, then Thames literally comes up off the DL to win it for us in the 10th. DeWayne Wise prolly has more than a few mixed moments from the whole game himself…
Momentum building win for the Yankees, making them the first 50 win team in baseball…while the Blue Jays slip below .500
I think its officially over for them this year. Though God dammit a few more key additions for them and they can contend long term…

Favorite Picture:


HoPark.pngDuring the Yankees 6-1 loss to the Blue Jays over the weekend, Chan Ho Park came in and was anything but effective. During that outing, he hits Aaron Hill with a pitch and knocks him over, to which the Yankees announcer, Michael Kay says “…and Chan Ho Parks Aaron Hill.” Which I laughed at for a while. I couldnt find a picture or video of it, so heres a pic of Park from that very game, which is the best I can give you right now…

Fantasy:
The following are all 5 of my fantasy teams, and (purely for my ego and bad @s$ drafting/trading/waiver skills) All Stars for each of them…

The Roid Sox:
-Justin Morneau
-Brandon Phillips
-Jose Bautista
-Miguel Cabrera
-Ty Wigginton
-Nick Swisher*

Showdown:
-Brian McCann
-David Ortiz
-Alex Rodriguez

cpDOOM 2.0:
-Jose Bautista
-Carl Crawford
-Ryan Braun
-Chris Young
-Ty Wigginton
-Nick Swisher*

Pretenders:
-Derek Jeter
-Marlon Byrd
-Roy Halladay
-Phil Hughes

F*cking Lozers:
-Brandon Phillips
-Evan Longoria
-Corey Hart
-Michael Bourn
-John Buck
-Tim Lincecum
-Josh Johnson
-Phil Hughes
-Trevor Cahill
-Brian Wilson

This Week:
West coast trip time. Lots of 10oClock games for me. At the A’s and at the Mariners.

 

…BTW, Sundays game was the official half way point in the schedule. 50 wins already? I smell another 100 win season!

Fantasy Draft #3…plus assinine suggestions

Fantasy baseball is like a drug. You cant make just one team.

Ive got multiple teams in the works this year. 1 in a money league, 1 for kicks, 1 to test a theory I have, and 1 that I created with some friends to test another theory.

This week I’m drafting my solo theory team, named “The Roid Sox” This is very simple, Im gonna draft power hitters and hope they homer me to victory. If theres a power hitter on the maket better than any of my existing power hitters, Ill aquire him….also if you use steroids, then theres a place for you on my team (Good news for David Ortiz)

…and my draft position is 11. So there goes Pujols, Tex, Fielder, ARod and Howard right from the getko. Eh, the bright side is Ive got a near end position, 11/12 meaning when I draft, I get 2 of the following 4 picks…plus Ill have more time to elaborate on my selections. Remember: home runs only, RBIs a plus, SBs dont mean sh!t here.

 

…and as I wait for the hour to pass…

Aceves pitched today, got the start even, and got shelled off his #1 position in the search of this years #5…Hughes becomes the new frontrunner. A nice 2.08 while Aceves falls down with Mitre as they jockey to keep up. Gaudin and Joba so far back in obscurity I wonder if theyre even in this race anymore.

Meanwhile Gardners average is a nice plump .281, putting him sadly way out in front in the OF race. Thames however is fighting to not get sent to AAA, and with an average barely over .100, it dont look too good.

 

……and yeah, theres also basketball going on apparently…I dont follow it much,  usually hope for Syracuse to lose and Kentucky to win. Why Kentucky? Here are the years when the Kentucky Wildcats won the NCAA tourney: 1948, 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, 1996, 1998
Notice something similar?

 

Good lord, what else can I do to kill time…
oh yeah…

THIS was published. More or less highlighting changes needed to baseball.

I agree with the playoff off day shenanigans. Too many off days is annoying. Back in my day 1998, playoffs went 1-2-off-3-4-off-5 in the LDS, and 1-2-off-3-4-5-off-6-7 in the LCS/WS.
That Yankee/Angel ALCS last year? 1-2-off-3-4-off-rain-5-off-6 Thank God that the Yankees won game 6 or there wouldve been another off day thrown in there before game 7. I could care less about FOXs potential ratings. I cared more about how John Lackey was getting enough rest where he prolly wouldve pitched game 7.

Oh, and expanding the LDS to a best of 7? God no. Baseball should not be played in November. At this current rate, we’re gonna have to change the “Fall classic” to the “Late fall-early winter classic”

All Star game to stop determining home field advantage? Im sure every NL owner, fan and player would agree with that. It should go to the team with the better record. Period.

Division realignment? Pssssssssssssh. Ill touch on that in another post as to why thats a pretty dumb idea.

Shortening games? I really never had much to say for or against this. Pitchers who work fast (but not too fast) usually do well, while if someones getting rattled-it always helps to give him half a minute or so to collect himself mentally, usually with the help of the catcher/manager….but dont strictly enfore the push to quicken games…DONT fine a pitcher for “going too slow” and DONT get your panties in a knot when a game takes over 3 hours to complete.

I’d take a 4 hour victory over a 2 hour defeat any day.

 

…Im out of ideas. I’ll just sit quietly for this draft to begin…

…Wow, half the league is actually here this time…

First couple picks, M. Cabrera and Justin Morneau.
Aramis Ramirez and Adam Lind follow suit…

Draft over. You’d be suprised at how many people wanted Zobrist so bad…

anyway…projected lineup…

The Roid Sox:
C: M. Napoli
1B: M. Cabrera
2B: B. Phillips
3B: C. Davis
SS: C. Barmes
OF: C. Quentin
OF: N. Swisher
OF: A. Lind
U: J. Morneau
P: San Francisco Giants