Week 19's installment of the
DDWPIPOTCFFBE (Diamond Dynasty Weekly Preview In Pursuit Of The
Chalice For Fantasy Baseball Excellence)
Last week – Colin wins big to
launch himself back into the thick of the playoff race and James
takes over first place while keeping his unbeaten streak alive.
Strength of
Schedule (remainder of regular season)
1. Jarrett - .559
2. Richie - .531
3. Colin - .510
4. Kurt - .508
5. Ben - .503
6. Adrian - .501
7. Drew - .482
8. TJ - .478
9. Alex - .473
10.
James - .454
Sleepy's® "Snoozer of the
Week" – Richie (10th)
vs Drew (9th)
This
is that mid-September game when San Diego visits Miami and there are
1,245 people in attendance. Except worse. Three clear tiers have
formed (as it does seemingly every year) and these two lovebirds have
been kickin' it in the basement all season long. They are now in a
virtual tie for last place, although Richie has finally slid behind
Drew in the standings for the first time since week 6. Richie lost
8-1 last week behind just a terrible week all around. Offense and
Defense were equally unimpressive and he very well could have gotten
shutout, as the score was 9-0 for the majority of the week. I just
pulled up Drew's match-up with Ben (6-3 loss) for the first time and
my jaw almost dropped off my skull. After boasting one of the worst
offensive seasons (if not the worst) this year, he put up arguably
the best single week of the season. I should have been keeping track
of these things, but I think his 56 RBI and .343 average might be the
high water marks of the season. He got homeruns from everyone in his
lineup except Marco Scutaro, and he had two guys go deep thrice. The
pitching wasn't awful from a stat perspective, but he failed to win a
pitching category against Ben. Richie's strength of schedule would
suggest that he is the favorite for the 2013 Paul French Award but
we've all seen what Drew can do. These teams have tied 5-5 in their
two previous meetings.
(season series 10-10)
Dell's® "Dull Duel" –
Colin (7th)
vs Adrian (8th)
On the brink of playoff extinction,
Colin roared back to take an 8-1 victory over the floundering Travers
last week. The win jumped him up to 7th and he is now
just two games out of a playoff spot. Mariano Rivera (Richie) blew
three saves in a row for the first time in his storied career, and
two of them came (one of them directly, on e of them indirectly) from
the bat of Miguel Cabrera (Colin). The saves category ended in a 5-5
tie. Cabrera finished with 4 home runs and 11 RBI for the week, and
somehow has a shot at winning back to back triple crowns (first in
AVG and RBI, second in HR). Mike Trout was a 5 category-filler as
always with a 5/2/6/3/.350 slash line. Colin has a difficult road
ahead with the third most difficult schedule the rest of the way, and
his last 3 games are against current playoff teams. Adrian has a
slightly easier schedule to end the season, but he is really
scuffling at the worst possible time. He's 0-3-1 over the last month
and has fallen 4.5 games out of the final playoff spot. He earned a
respectable 5-5 tie last week against James but probably feels a
little cheated after a poor Sunday performance cost him a chance at a
win. Adrian closes with top-tier teams TJ and Alex so he'll have to
take care of business this week and next, when he takes on Drew.
These guys have split the season series 1-1 but Colin has a slight
edge in the records.
(season series Colin 10-9)
The Average Match of the Week
presented by Not Your Average Joe's – James
(1st)
vs Kurt (5th)
We move into the first of two match-ups
that can have implications on both the bye and playoff races but
first, let's take a moment to give James some respect as the new
leader of the DD. The unbeaten streak is up to 12 (Kurt, record
check?) and, with by far the easiest schedule the rest of the way he
is poised to capture the regular season crown. This is the last week
he'll face a top 5 opponent, and one of the last two weeks he'll face
a (current) playoff opponent. As previously mentioned, James stole a
tie last week against Adrian thanks to solid weekend play. He
outscored Adrian by 8 RBI's on Sunday to give him a 1-RBI win, and
his 2 saves gave him a 4-3 edge for the 5-5 tie. He draws Kurt this
week, who's faded back to the middle of the pack after making a push
for the top-tier group. He dropped an important 5-2 decision last
week to Jarrett which featured some skittish offense (3 homers) but
good pitching. Newly acquired Shelby Miller got two pitches into his
first start with Kurt before taking a line drive off the elbow and
exiting the game, which probably cost Kurt K's (84-81) and possibly
wins (3-3). Like Adrian, Kurt is fading at a bad time. He's lost
three of four and his playoff cushion is down to 6 games. With TJ
looming in the last week of the regular season and James this week,
he'll have to try to hold the fort against those two and solidify his
playoff spot against Colin and Drew. Another even match-up here as
these guys have split the season series as well.
(season series 10-10)
The Post-It® "Noteworthy
Match-up" – Alex (4th)
vs Jarrett (6th)
The second game
that impacts both races is between Alex and Jarrett. While Shelby
Miller didn't come back to haunt Staaf, Miller's compensation (Buster
Posey) was equally bad, mustering only 1 RBI and a .105 average. But
Staaf's staff came through again, racking up a 4-0-1 record on
defense. Jarrett's played well as of late, going 3-2 in the last 5
weeks and playing at a .560 clip. But Alex is the best team that
he's played since week 12 (Ben, an 8-0 loss) and his difficulty with
good teams is well documented. To close the season Jarrett has to
play three of the top four teams (James and Ben after this week)
before closing with Colin. He has the 6th spot now but by
September he could be on the outside looking in. His opponent this
week is one of the hottest teams going as Gentilli has a 5-1-1 record
in his last 7 contests (and the only loss was a 6-4 decision in week
14 against Kurt). This excellent play has unexpectedly catapulted
him into the bye week discussion. Don't get me wrong – Alex was my
pre-season pick to win it all and I'm sticking to it, but I didn't
think he really had a shot at a bye. At only 4.5 games out of second
and the second-easiest schedule to end the year, Gentilli fans
everywhere are going crazy. Alex has taken care of business against
Jarrett this year, winning both matches.
P.S. - How bad does
that 10-0 week 2 loss to Ben suck for Alex right now
(season series Alex 13-7)
Diamond Strike Anywhere Matches®
"Match-Up of the Week" – TJ
(2nd)
vs Ben (3rd)
TJ plays Ben in the first match-up of
100 game winners this year. After trading off first place virtually
all year, this will be the first week in months where one of these
two fine gentlemen do not hold the top spot. TJ lost 6-3 last week
to Alex in a close battle. He fell short by just 1 win and 2 runs,
and the ratios were fairly close. The loss broke a 3 week winning
streak for Geers, who is just 1 game behind James for first place.
Ben is right on his heels at 2 GB following a 6-3 barn-buster win
against Drew where every single starter going deep at least once (!).
The hero was old friend Justin Concustin' Morneau, who went deep 4
times and drove in 10. His 4 homers this week were almost half of
his homers for the season before this week (because he has 14 now, so
that means he had 10 before he hit the 4 this week, and 5 is half of
10, and 4 is almost but not quite 5....my head hurts). Elvis Andrus
also swiped 5 bags in the victory. Ben has 10 of the top 55 players
over the last 30 days, but is surprisingly only 21-17 in the last
month (.550). With James taking on Kurt and Alex playing Jarrett,
the top four next Monday morning is anybody's guess. TJ has owned
Ben this year, winning both match ups going away.
(season series TJ 14-5)
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