Weekly Matchups - Week 13

Week 13's installment of the DDWPIPOTCFFBE (Diamond Dynasty Weekly Preview In Pursuit Of The Chalice For Fantasy Baseball Excellence)

Last two weeks – The top 4 hold their positions as does the bottom 3; Kurt, Adrian, and Jarrett play musical chairs in the middle.

Sleepy's® "Snoozer of the Week" – James (3^rd)vs Drew(10^th)

Two weeks ago, Drew lost 8-2 to Adrian due to the weakest offensive week the DD has ever seen (16 runs, 1 home run). Last week he lost 6-4 to Kurt. Am I the only one that is pissed the fuck off about him? His lack of interest in the league went from funny to frustrating about 3 weeks ago. Just as I said in the mid-season review last week, he has started Asdrubal Cabrera right through his month-long DL stint and has left a healthy Jayson Werth on the DL. The fact that he quit in May is fucking frustrating as all hell, I hope everyone else realizes this.

James has cooled off a little bit,, going 1-0-3 over the last two weeks. He has a pretty crazy W-L this year at 5-2-5. Two weeks ago he beat Jarrett 6-4. I would say that James was less shitty than Jarrett that week, rather than James was better than Jarrett. I mean they both sucked. Last week James tied Colin 5-5 behind a stronger offensive performance (the pitching left much to be desired.) Pedro Alvarez hit 4 dingers to lead the way. Drew might steal a couple of pitching categories but James should win this one going away

(season series James 5-3)

Dell's® "Dull Duel" – Richie (9^th) vs Ben (2^nd)

After enjoying a couple weeks without losing, Richie has crashed back to his miserable 2013 reality. Two weeks ago TJ cleaned him out 7-1 behind a less-than-stellar offensive effort. Last week he fell to Alex 6-3 after a valiant comeback (down 10-0 on Wednesday, started Sunday 5-5). Alex survived a revenge week from David Wright (3 homers) and a where-the-fuck-have-you-been-all-year Hanley Ramirez (3 homers). Tough luck to get 8 saves and still lose the category. He'll face off against Ben this week who continues to play great fantasy baseball. He's 14-4 over the last two weeks and 33-15 (.680) over the last 5 weeks. Two weeks ago Ben beat Alex 6-4 in a tightly contested match-up across the board. Last week, he shut out a suddenly spiraling Jarrett 8-0 though it was so much closer than that. He won by 1 run, 1 homer, .004 in average, 10 k's, and close ERA/WHIP. He was one win and one SB from getting the 10-0 shutout. Chris Davis just doin' the damn thang as usual, 5/4/10/0/.348. Edwin Encarnacion hit 3 homers. Max Scherzer netted two wins and 16 strikeouts with solid ratios. This team is really cooking right now.

(season series 4-4)

The Average Match of the Week presented by Not Your Average Joe's – Colin (8^th) vs Jarrett (7^th)

These two teams are colder than a witches tit, with a combined 1-8-3 record over the past 6 weeks. Colin lost to Kurt 6-2 two weeks ago, but got an impressive 5-5 tie against James last week. He got multi-homer weeks from Joe Mauer, Adam Lind, Miguel Cabrera, and Nolan Arenado. Jean Segura and Mike Trout won the SB category by themselves and he got 10 strikeouts each from Paul Maholm, Yu Darvish, and Jarrod Parker.

Jarrett lost 6-4 two weeks ago to James, no thanks to his offense (4 homers, 27 runs and RBI's). Last week he took a tough 8-0 loss, though he deserved better. Paul Goldschmidt smashed 4 homers and Nelson Cruz had 3 homers and 11 RBI's, but it wasn't enough to prevent a 0-4-1 record on offense. Mat Latos had 22 strikeouts, which I think is the second highest total we've seen this year (Yu Darvish had 26 one week for Colin I think). Jarrett started the year 0-2-1 before beating Colin, Richie, and Drew in weeks 4-6. It's still the only teams that he's beat on the year but he might be able to reinsert himself into the playoff picture by Independence Day.

(season series Jarrett 9-0)

The Post-It® "Noteworthy Match-up" – Alex (4^th) vs Adrian (6^th)

Alex has cooled off a little after a 5-1 stretch. He's 2-2 over the last month, playing roughly .500 ball. To be fair, his two losses did come against TJ (1^st) and Ben (2^nd). Two weeks ago it was Ben who ousted Alex 6-4, but he came back with a 6-3 win against Richie last week. He had 5 multi-homer guys (Anthony Rizzo, Nick Franklin, David Ortiz, Yasiel Puig, Giancarlo Stanton) and 4 multi-save closers (Addison Reed, Glen Perkins, Ernesto Frieri, and Edward Mujica). He faces off this week against the ever-steady Adrian, who lost big and won big over the last two weeks. He crushed Drew 8-2 in week 11 but lost by the same margin last week against TJ. Ryan Howard was basically his entire offense, hitting 3 homers and driving in 7. The pitching was pretty awful too even though he got 9 wins (might be a season high for the league). Alex mopped the floor with Adrian last time around, 7-2. Let's see if Adrian has any fight in him this week.

(season series Alex 7-2)

Diamond Strike Anywhere Matches® "Match-Up of the Week" – Kurt (5^th) vs TJ (1^st)

Another week, another Match-Up of the Week for TJ. These two teams are 11-0-3 since week 6. TJ has won 6 in a row and his season record stands at 9-1-2. He's 22-5 in the last 3 weeks (.783). Two weeks ago he beat Richie 7-1 and last week he beat Adrian 8-2. The offense was on display last week, blasting 13 homers and scoring 40 runs. Jay Bruce hit 6 - six! - home runs last week, and Matt Harvey won both his starts, K-ing 19. He'll take on Kurt who continues to win, if only slightly. Strange breakdown for the commissioner; he's 7-2-3, but has yet to win more than 6 categories in a week. All of his wins are of the 6 or 5 category variety. It could be the least-dominant team with a winning record that we've seen. But the good news is it only takes 6 to win, and Kurt seems to have mastered that philosophy. He beat Colin 6-2 two weeks ago, and last week he held off Drew for two in a row. Evan Longoria and Ian Desmond each hit three homers, but the team managed just a 2-3 record on offense. The pitching was good not great, but Drew's an asshole who doesn't check the league so Kurt was able to just manage his staff to victory. These are the two hottest teams in the league right now, and I'm anticipating big numbers and close categories across the board.

(season series TJ 7-3)