Thursday, August 1, 2013

Weekly Matchups - Week 17

Week 17's installment of the DDWPIPOTCFFBE (Diamond Dynasty Weekly Preview In Pursuit Of The Chalice For Fantasy Baseball Excellence)

Last week – James dominates Ben and moves up to second, Richie gets his first winning streak of the season, and the Trade Deadline BBQ helps to heat up trade talks.

Sleepy's® "Snoozer of the Week" – Colin (8th) vs Ben (3rd)

Colin and Ben draw the short straw this week as they're both slumping at a bad time. Colin is the coldest team in the league, riding his second three-game losing streak of the year. He made the only deal at the cookout, shipping Jean Segura and Kyle Lohse for Chris Sale and Glen Perkins. The trade bolsters his pitching staff (already above .500 not counting the saves category) and gives him a third reliable closer with Bobby Parnell and Steve Cishek. Colin lost a tough one last week against Alex. 6 RBI's, 1 win, .07 ERA and .08 WHIP marked the fine line between a win and a loss. The Wil Myers trade looks like it's starting to pay off as he went 5/3/8/1/.429 (what an outfield combo he might have moving forward in Myers and Trout!) Ben has cooled off recently, dropping two of his last three and playing two games under .500. James mopped the floor with him last week in a 9-1 drubbing, although it was closer than it looked. Despite 6 saves, a 2.29 ERA, and a 0.93 WHIP Ben lost all three and slipped out of the top two for the first time in months. Chris Davis finally went a week without hitting a home run. Max Scherzer had another good week, posting 2 wins, 12 K's and great ratios. The race for the bye week is on!

(season series Ben 8-2)

Dell's® "Dull Duel" – TJ (1st) vs Jarrett (6th)

TJ held on to beat the suddenly competitive Drew 5-4 behind a 4-0 pitching shutout. With the win, TJ re-takes first place by a slim margin over James. Craig Kimbrel racked up 4 saves and has given up just one run over his last 27 appearances. He'll take on Jarrett this week who beat Adrian 7-3 last week and has won two of three. More importantly, it's Jarrett's first win against an opponent outside the bottom three (Drew, Richie, Colin)(but to be fair, Adrian was 7th so its a small improvement). Jarrett had an Adam Dunn week, knocking 10 homers, driving in 30, but hitting .197, which might be the low number on the year for the league. Jose Altuve stole 4 bases and Paul Goldschmidt drive in 7. On the rubber, Jon Lester was the ace of the staff netting Jarrett 2 wins, striking out 16, and boasting great ratios. This week will be a good test for Jarrett to see if he can beat a quality top 5 opponent, though I bet he would win if he added Prince Fielder, David Wright, Bartolo Colon, Mike Napoli, and Sergio Romo.

(season series TJ 7-3)

The Average Match of the Week presented by Not Your Average Joe's – Drew (10th) vs Alex (4th)

Drew had his two week winning streak snapped (barely) last week, dropping a close 5-4 decision to TJ. Donovan had his best offensive output of the year, hitting 13 homers, 47 RBI's, and a .311 average. He had really solid production from a number of offensive sources led by Jayson Werth's 7/3/7/1/.385 slashline. Unfortunately the pitching was a big letdown and was unable to get even one category for the tie. I still don't completely trust that Drew has come around from his negligence (he's starting two players on the DL) but to be fair, he has started making more moves so I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. But I'll be watching you, Drew. Every move you make, every breath you take, I'll be watching Yu Darvish. He takes on Alex, who dealt a promising lefty in Chris Sale for a breakout star this season, Jean Segura over the weekend. Despite Alex's deep pitching staff, his offense has actually posted a better record than his defense thus far. Consistent with that theme, Gentilli beat Colin 6-3 last week behind a 4-1 effort from his offense. Giancarlo Stanton and Nick Franklin hit 3 homers each in the victory. Alex was able to snatch the ERA and WHIP categories despite Ernesto Frieri's 33.75/5.25 efforts to thwart his manager. If Alex loses this week, he might put himself out of contention for a bye week so this will be one to keep an eye on.

(season series Alex 6-3-1)

The Post-It® "Noteworthy Match-up" – Kurt (5th) vs Adrian (7th)

This match-up could carry with it some heavy playoff implications. If Kurt wins big, he all but solidifies himself for the 2013 playoffs. If Adrian wins big, He thrusts himself back into the playoffs (temporarily) but, more importantly, drags Kurt back into the clusterfuck of playoff bubble teams. And Kurt just be ripe for the pickin'. Last week's 5-4 loss to Richie was his second in a row (and his first official losing streak). The teams were very evenly matched and were separated by just 4 runs, 2 homers, 2 rbi's, .003 average. The pitching was much the same, as they tied in wins and split the ERA/WHIP categories. Patrick Corbin kept the train rolling, winning a start and striking out 14 with great ratios. The good news for Kurt is Adrian has been playing even worse, dropping two in a row and four of five. His only win was a 5-4 edging of Ben, but his record over the last 5 weeks is a dismal 14-34-2 (.300%). He had a really poor offensive effort last week hitting only 5 homers and driving in 16. He somehow won average at .219. He did get jobbed on the pitching a bit, as his 2.49 ERA was not enough. Add it all up, and a 7-3 loss to Jarrett put him firmly in 7th. It's officially playoff push time.

(season series Kurt 6-4)

Diamond Strike Anywhere Matches® "Match-Up of the Week" – Richie (9th) vs James (2nd)

Hey, Winning Streak! I waited a long time for you! We were good buddies last year, where'd you go?
Look, I kinda need you to stick around this week...and for the rest of the year. Most people don't think I have a shot at the playoffs this year – hell, deep down even I have my doubts. We did good last week to hold off Kurt on the final day. As you know, he's the 6 Win King and I definitely expected him to steal some bullshit category for a 6 spot. But look, James is really good. He's so cocky he's not even starting a catcher! Did you see last week, when he beat Ben 9-1? Ben! He was in first place! Did you notice he has 6 pitchers in the top 55 over the last 7 days? He finally cracked the top two as well. Either way, I'm glad you're back, Winning Streak. And just in time for the rival! Like I said, there's only 6 weeks left, why don't you stay a while?

P.S. - Hey, Winning Streak. I'm not going to question you but I'm not sure a 6.85 ERA after three days is the right play. Just sayin'.

(season series James 7-2-1)



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