Monday, August 5, 2013

Weekly Matchups - Week 18

Week 18's installment of the DDWPIPOTCFFBE (Diamond Dynasty Weekly Preview In Pursuit Of The Chalice For Fantasy Baseball Excellence)

Last week – Little movement in the standings as the top 5 all win and the bottom 5 all lose

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

Drew lost 6-4 last week to Alex. He hit one home run. Last week I pointed out that he's starting two guys on the DL – they're still starting. That's all I'll say about that.  Ben outlasted Colin 6-4 last week behind some stellar pitching. 6 wins, 80 K's, a 2.00 ERA and 1.06 WHIP will win you a lot of weeks. His worst pitcher was Adam Wainwright, go figure. Chris Davis was back to his mashing ways (3 homers) and Brian McCann had his best week of the season (3/3/9/.300). It was an important bounce back win for Ben to keep pace with the top 2 after his 9-1 loss to James last week. He is solidly in 3rd place and projects to be there for at least another week before moving up or down the standings. Interesting to note that Ben has made significantly less moves than the others teams in the top four (TJ, James, and Alex happen to be the top three in moves). Ben's looking for his first back to back wins since weeks 12-13 and is the heavy favorite, but the standings should remain virtually unaffected regardless of this outcome.

(season series Ben 8-2)

Dell's® "Dull Duel" – TJ (1st) vs Alex (4th)

TJ has followed up a mid-season mini-slump with three straight victories. His latest was a tightly contested 6-3 win against Jarrett. Geers posted a 4-1 record on defense by really slim margins – 1 win, 2 K's, and .01 WHIP. He split offense 2-2-1 thanks in large part to his hometown Atlanta Braves (minus Dan Uggla). Justin Upton and Freedie Freeman combined for 18 runs, 5 homers (I saw one of Upton's in Philly on Saturday!), 17 RBI and an average right around .380. TJ would have taken the RBI category too if it wasn't for B.J. Shuck. The win allowed TJ to retain first place for another week but the competition is a little stiffer this week against Alex. Gentilli has taken care of business lately, going 4-1-1 in his last 6 weeks against mostly the bottom half of the league. He's unbeaten in his last 3 and is coming off a 6-4 win against Drew. Anthony Rizzo (3 homers, .310 average) and Andrew McCutchen (8/1/7/2/.379) were the standouts on offense, and a resurgent Francisco Liriano (2 win's, 14 K's, sub-1 ratios, ranked 40th on the season) lead the way on defense. Alex owns three of the top 11 players over the last two weeks in McCutchen, Liriano, and Yasiel Puig, and just added Curtis Granderson from the DL. Alex has a tough three game stretch in TJ, Jarrett, and Ben before closing with Richie and Adrian. He won't miss the playoffs but a bye is starting to feel out of reach.

(season series TJ 6-2)

The Average Match of the Week presented by Not Your Average Joe's – Richie (9th) vs Colin (8th)

Richie saw his modest 2-week winning streak come to a frustrating end last week.. He fell short by three runs, one homer, and one stolen base en route to another 7-2-1 loss to James, the same score as in their previous meeting. Richie fell to 0-10 offensively against Maimonis on the season and is glad to be done with him in 2013. The defeat dropped him 16 games back of the playoffs, and with several key players either on or nearing the DL, Travers' 2013 season may finally be over. Colin has dropped 4 in a row to difficult competition (TJ, Alex, and Ben) although he's been able to avoid a death knell-type loss that would take him out of the hunt. Lancey lost 6-4 last week to Ben despite Jason Heyward's 12 runs scored (which I believe is a season-best for any player). As it currently stands, this week will be the last week Colin comes in as the favorite though he only has one elite team remaining on the schedule (James in week 21). It will be an uphill battle but he's certainly not out of it yet. (And for the record, Colin squares off against Jarrett in week 22 which could be a win-or-go-home situation.)

(season series Richie 7-3)

The Post-It® "Noteworthy Match-up" – Kurt (5th) vs Jarrett (6th)

Kurt found his way back to the win column last week after a 5-4 victory over Adrian. The offense was not good – 4 homers and a .252 average – but he did get one of the better pitching performances of the year from his staff. Pretty impressive to post 101 K's with only one spot start! Gottschalk had 5 guys hurl double digit strikeouts in the win. But the bigger news was his addition of rookie sensation Shelby Miller. The potential NL Rookie of the Year joins a staff that's already leading the league in Wins and K's, and should make Kurt virtually unbeatable in those categories moving forward. He should also help to lower The Commissioner's ERA and WHIP, which is currently in the middle of the pack. But you have to give something to get something and that something was Buster Posey, the best catcher in fantasy. This looks to be a truly mutually beneficial deal - Kurt had a servicable back up in Jonathan Lucroy and a lack of flexibility to keep Posey, and Jarrett had more arms than the Chinese Army. Just as Richie and Alex faced off the week after their deal, Kurt and Jarrett draw each other this week. Jarrett's lead over Adrian for the final playoff spot shrunk from 4 games to 3 following a 6-3 loss to TJ last week. He could have easily won by the same margin but lost some really close categories. There's one team that gets burned every week, and last week it was him. This should be a great, close battle. It'll be interesting to see how the new additions contribute for both sides. Also, it's another edition of the battle of whatever street you guys live on.

(season series 5-5)

Diamond Strike Anywhere Matches® "Match-Up of the Week" – James (2nd) vs Adrian (7th)

Another week, another Diamond Strike Anywhere Matches® "Match-Up of the Week" for James. The 7-2 win last week against Richie broke Kurt's record 10 week unbeaten streak. While Kurt had a better weekly record (8-0-2, .590), it's clear that James's streak is much more dominant (7-0-4, .655). Maimonis didn't play great last week but he got enough production to sweep offense. Mark Trumbo went deep 3 times and drove in 8 (but still only managed to hit .138) and Matt Holiday was great, scoring 9 times and hitting over .400. He gets Adrian this week, loser of three in a row. He seemed to be one of the few teams with a good offensive output last week, launching 11 homers, driving in 41, and hitting over .300. He was up against a monster in the form of Kurt's pitching staff, so he couldn't get much done on the mound (just a 1-4 record). I love this match-up because it's so important to both races we have right now; come Sunday night we could have a new team in first and Adrian desperately struggling for playoff life, or Adrian grabbing hold of 6th and James falling behind Ben again in a race for the byes.

Or more than likely, a modest win from James and everything stays the same.

(season series 5-5)



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