Week 8: 2 Blowouts, a Tie, and a Near Upset

	t			h			p			Manager	Team
1	Dave	2.429	1	Dave	2.125	1	Cory	2.667		Arthur	...Arthur
2	Dean	4.857	2	Michael	4.000	2	Dave	2.833		Max	…Max
3	Marcley	5.143	3	Marcley	4.125	3	Dean	4.000		Marcley	China Basin
4	BJ	5.143	4	Keith	4.500	4	BJ	4.500		BJ	Good Betts
5	Cory	5.143	5	Paul	5.250	5	Paul	5.167		Keith	Bourbon St
6	Paul	5.214	6	Dean	5.500	6	Arthur	5.833		Paul	soflagators
7	Michael	5.500	7	BJ	5.625	7	Max	6.167		Dean	Bad Hammy
8	Keith	6.429	8	Cory	7.000	8	Marcley	6.500		Cory	Hebrew Ntl
9	Max	6.929	9	Max	7.500	9	Michael	7.500		Dave	Hates Fantasy
10	Arthur	7.500	10	Arthur	8.750	10	Keith	9.000		Michael	Bringing up Rear

Memorial Day threw me for a loop so this blog is coming to you a few days late. I actually got a few comments looking for it so I guess this thing has caught on a little bit.

My league-wide takeaways are coming few and far between these days. Most of the league is vastly inconsistent. Look no further than our second place team. Dean was making a steady climb up the rankings until last week when he hit .216 on the week and put up equally poor numbers across the board. Cory had been steadily falling down the hitting rankings before busting out with 13 HR/48RBI/.311 AVG. There are a number of teams that are at least fairly consistent in either hitting or pitching that could really improve through trade. We’ll see if any trades pan out.

Michael and Marcley tied last week in a battle of great hitting versus 6 days of great pitching. Marcley played the pitching matchup well though and streamed his way into stealing the W category. Who knew? Josh Summer-Swoon Marcley actually might know what he’s doing out here. Watch out, he’s got a great offense and high end pitching. Fun fact of the matchup, Michael benched old man Pujols over the weekend because Stolen Bases was one of the winnable offensive categories by that time. Pujols stole a base on Sunday and Michael lost the category by one. Also notable, after trying desperately to deal Sir Albert, he has been Michael’s second best hitter lately.

Dean held off Max despite Max’s 9^th ranked offense taking 5 categories from Dean. I’ve already mentioned how Dean kinda stubbed his toe last week so let’s give Max some props even in the loss. Max hit 14 HRs with a .290 AVG. Max is struggling to find a team identity lately, after showing some potential a few weeks ago things have gone downhill. Carrying 6 pitchers won’t get you too far in this league but it’s the offense that is dragging him down. Ranked 8^th, 9^th, or 10^th in R/H/RBI/hittingKs/AVG Max may need a change of offensive philosophy to make a move up the rankings.

Cory blew out Arthur, not too much more to it than that. Cory was a monster, no doubt about it. He won all 8 hitting categories in mostly blowout fashion but he honestly could have streamed a little better over the weekend to compete in more of the pitching categories. This mis-play may keep him from Monster of the Week status. Arthur has made some curious moves lately that really aren’t working out. This week was the addition of Astros prospect AJ Reed. Arthur is now carrying 2 AAA players on a team that really can’t afford to be waiting on players. Arthur must win now. We are barely a third of the way through the season, there is plenty of time left to make a move.

Dave snuck by Keith on a late week offensive surge. I was getting very excited deep into this matchup when it appeared Keith may be pulling the upset of the year, but then I Hate Fantasy woke up and hit over .400 over the weekend. Keith doesn’t have a ton of firepower right now, but it was almost enough. Keith too is carrying 6 SP and could use a change in team philosophy to improve his ranking.

Paul thumped team BJ despite being on the other side of the world gallivanting across France. Paul actually didn’t allow a single run for the week over 2 starts and enough RP innings to get three saves. This was another example of a monster week, tough for BJ to be too upset. They have run into tough opponents this year. Their ranking has them in a solid 6^th place in the rankings, but unreasonably far back in 8^th place in the standings. BJ must hope that this isn’t fantasy karma coming back to bite them for quitting too early last year. Paul’s team is sitting very middling in the rankings. He has shown flashes of domination such as this week, and other weeks of poor stats that makes you question what is going on. He is a microcosm of the whole league, who is for real? Time will tell

Monster of the Week: Josh Marcley takes this despite well rounded weeks from Cory and Paul. When placed side by side though, Josh’s offense blows their weeks away and he played the pitching as well as he could to eek out a point there.

Max of the Week: at the beginning of the week Arthur was looking Monstrous as Joey Gallo got called up and hope sprang eternal. But then Gallo didn’t even get a start and was sent back to AAA by week’s end. What does Arthur do? Instead of dropping him, he goes and picks up another AAA player. Owning minor league players is how Max got part of his reputation in this league, so it’s only fitting that owning minor league players is what is earning Arthur the Max of the Week.