Congratulations Mike, your mascot is one of the creepiest mascots in the NCAA.
Daddy's little girl.....
Here's two parts of a three-part series. The Six Girls You Meet on Campus. Starting with the Mom and the Friend, and leading to the "We Need to Take a Picture" girl and the Woo girl.
Since this is the year we all turn 21 (and in honor of our friend LT's big birthday this past week), here are 5 People we will soon be meeting at the local establishments called bars.
These are funny, but probably won't get you any.
And here's my song of the week, "Run this Town" by Jay Z, Rihanna, and Kanye
Well hellooooo everyone. I told you I'd succumb to my duties and return as WIR contributor. Let's take a look at the season long ASS 2.0 ratings. For all of those who have forgotten, this method takes each of the 14 stat categories for each of the 15 weeks we've played and squares them off against every other team's specific stats for a random weeks. Okay, so maybe that sounded really complicated. It just randomly pairs up one week's stats versus all of the other team's exactly 1000 times and gives a W%. So this one counts every week this season and I even adjusted Week 15's stats since it was a short week.
And here are the ratings from only Weeks 13-15:
So what we can conclude from this is that JP sucks recently, but in general he has underperformed. Therefore, he underperformed heavily earlier in the year and now there's nothing he can really do about it if he's going to keep sucking like this. He's almost as bad as TMac.
Grim also is expected to move up in the standings but recently he hasn't been doing well enough to do that. Abusement park has had a surprising past 3 weeks. He's in 6th place in the league and as we can see, there's a bit of a cluster in spots 5-7 to fight for 2 playoff spots. So Grim would be doing himself a favor by heating up now. The people in places 1-4 seem to have distanced themselves from the rest, especially Yung Joseph, who is trying to poach talent off of our perplexed last place manager.
And as for media, I have a few.
1) These guys are insane. Look at their thighs. Yikes. The 0:32 second gives me nightmares and I wake up in a pile of my own feces.
2) And here we got Keith Eloi with his buddies. The guy he's talking about who "jumped out the pool" has his video linked on the side after the clip is done.
I'm still getting back into the swing of American life, so be patient if these aren't up to par.
After much anticipation and because of the high demand, the Week Recap is back after a little bit of a hiatus. I apologize for the week off fellas, been crazy busy around here lately, and it's been tough to get the time to write a quality Week Recap. And we have not approached the doldrums of summer yet my friends, as I am still here and rearin' to go. Alas, I find myself with nothing to do for the next hour, and so here is this week's Week 12 Recap...
Religious Sects 10, The Common Team 3
Apparently I have some sort of jinx against Mike, because it seems I can never beat him. I suppose it is pretty hard to when my team has their worst week of hitting so far this season (really guys? one home run?!) I couldn't even grab K's from Caff this week, despite having six starters go in one day. My guys kind of took a week off this week, and it sucks that now both my third basemen are out (hint, hint...David's willing to trade for a three-bagger....except not from Joe). Congrats Caff, you are the better man...as you probably already assumed. Oh and you proved exactly why I ranked you number one in my rankings after getting ten wins in each of the past two weeks. Not as crazy as you though eh Joe? The Commish's forecasting skills prevail again.
Superhydrophobocity 9, Tony McDonald 3
Another week, another loss for Tmac. Oh, and JP's still in the bottom third of the league. Damn still unlucky even after we went past the halfway mark eh buddy?
Yung Joseph 9, Just 2(5) Guyz 4
Joe wins again, but is still stuck in second place. I will point out that Joe still has not reached the century mark in moves, which I thought he would have done a long time ago. Impressive Mr. Johnston. Luke's team didn't hit the greatest, despite Prince Fielder having a pretty solid week. But it's tough to beat a team that's shortstop provides one-third of the team's RBI's for the week, when Hanley Ramirez knocked in FIFTEEN runs all by his lonesome.
Abusement Park 7, Consistency 5
Another week, same story for Schneider. He loses a close one, but somehow manages to stay in first place still. This strategy may work now, but you can't move on in the playoffs by losing by one or two...Of course neither team is going to go very far when they combined for 37 RBI's among the two of them. Even if they would have paired up this week, they still would have lost to Yung Joseph in that category. Derek Lowe is making that whole Kemp trade look bad, but rumors have it Captain Consistency is making an attempt to reacquire the LA outfielder, but negotiations are moving slow because of the high demands from The General. Looks like they've even taken their negotiations to Facebook. Man, I love our league...
The Sandbaggers 7, The Poblano Effect 6
You know times are tough for Grim when he only manages to beat a team by one when their manager is out gallavanting around the world. How the mighty have fallen...I can't go that far though because as of now you are ahead of me in the standings, but still, your team used to be dominant. Big week from Aaron Hill to seal the deal though, depsite the strong week's from Berkman and Utley for Jack this week. Looks like Berkman finally realized the season has started...
Transaction of the Week
The Common team trades Matt Cain sp, SF to Yung Joseph for Kevin Slowey sp, MIN and Gavin Floyd sp, CHW
I wanted more pitching, and so this was the way to get it. Slowey and Floyd aren't studs, but they're both solid starters who I think will outperform Cain combined. Floyd started the year slow, but is picking it up real well, and Slowey and is having a solid year. Cain is also having his best year so far, but he also walks a lot of guys and so that leaves the potential for him to fall maybe.
Oly's Rankings
1. Religious Sects
2. Yung Joseph
3. Consistency
4. Just 2(5) Guyz
5. The Common Team
6. Abusement Park
7. The Sandbaggers
8. The Poblano Effect
9. Superhydrophobocity
10. Tony McDonald
Hot Clicks of the Week
Since it's the 4th of July, I'd like to go patriotic here and present the Best Play in Baseball History....
In honor of the USA's unexpected appearance in the Confed Cup, here's a soccer clip.
One of the worst Best Man speeches possibly ever...yes, the man tried to make an abortion joke at a wedding...
A sad, sad day for Minnesotans.
Text from Last Night of the Week...
(516): He ripped my extensions out during sex, not noticing until this morning when he saw them on the floor. I told him they werent mine and he went and threw them in his sister's room.
The How-To book on How to Be a Creeper....
Song of the Week
The '59 Sound by The Gaslight Anthem
There ya go fellas. Week Recap is back. Hopefully I can get some more content up here soon. Possibly this weekend. Everybody have a good 4th!!
Not a whole lot of creativity with scores this week. A lot of nines, fives, and sevens (except for Joe, thanks a lot)...Consistency once again stays in the top spot despite losing, and it was a full week of upsets, minus TMac, who I predict will not win another matchup all year. Not too much to say on that really, so let's get on to the recap...
The Common Team 9, Yung Joseph 3
After Joe's 4.5 year review and the nickname I was given as the best of the lousiest and the lousiest of the best, I felt a name change was in order. In typical Joey J fashion, as soon as he makes a prediction or a shot at someone, he usually fails to follow it up. What's really surprising is Joe is has lost two weeks in a row now and has had what he called his worst fantasy week ever. Perhaps YJ's reign could be ending as perpetual leader of the Armchair Fantasy Leagues? On a side note, only 17 days until Manny is back!
The Sandbaggers 9, Tony McDonald 5
Who do you call when you need to bust up a five-week losing streak? Tony McDonald! Grimmer had been on the downslide for a while now, but there's no better pick me up than playing an owner who stops checking his team once Memorial Day comes around. If you do end up somehow finding your way onto this post Tmac, I'll give you a hint and say now would be a good time to drop Chien-Ming Wang. While 14.34 would be a solid scoring average in basketball, it's not exactly what I would call a stellar ERA.
Superhydrophobocity 9, Consistency 5
After the shellacking he took last week, SHP came back strong with 15 dingers this past week, thanks to three in one game from Torii Hunter. Schneider has lived up to the team name though, that's for sure, as he's gone loss-win-tie-loss-win-tie in the last six weeks. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he ties this week. Finally, JP, thanks for taking the week off against my team. I needed it.
Abusement Park 7, Religious Sects 5
Pretty sure Mike hasn't moved from the five or six spot the entire season. Simply amazing, especially with how much has changed around him through the first ten weeks. Riley had a rare loss in steals this week, but hey, not much you can do when your hammered at the College World Series in Omaha for half the week. BJ Upton alone could have taken steals for Mike with 7 last week. I think I might join the "Riley's team is going to fall" bandwagon. It's hard to like a team that would have been stellar three years ago, with Tejada, Helton, Lowell, Varitek, Abreu, Oswalt, and Ryan all were their best days behind them. Sorry Riles, but your just a couple seasons too late.
The Poblano Effect 7, Just 2(5) Guyz 5
Luke goes back to his losing ways, but actually is in second place? There weren't really too many swing categories here that he lost either, so it might be time to worry LT, specially with Lidge, Peavy, and Bedard hurt now. Speaking of pitching staffs, how has Jack even stayed in anything but second to last with a staff full of washups and nobodies besides Dan Haren and maybe Gil Meche? Oh and LT wins player with the funniest name award after picking up Randy Choate...
Transaction of the Week
Consistency adds Anthony Swarzak, sp, MIN
OK so there's not really a transaction that stands out, so i just decided to pick an idiotic one Andy made. Schneider decided to pick him up after his last start in the majors, and so immediately had to drop him once he got demoted. That's what you get for trying to add a spot starter to just keep on your team. Leave those guys to me, Joe, and everyone else who uses them during the week. Your addition of Rick Porcello thoroughly pissed me off, and your add of Randy Wolf this week ruins it for the rest of us. Might as well add Josh Outman next dude.
Oly's Rankings
1. Religious Sects
2. Superhydrophobocity
3. Da Commish
4. Yung Joseph
5. Consistency
6. Just 2(5) Guyz
7. Abusement Park
8. The Poblano Effect
9. The Sandbagger
10. Tony McDonald
Hope you like it Mike. Just thought I'd mix it up a little this week.
Hot Clicks of the Week
I don't have any real funny clips or stories, so these will be more thought provoking clicks....
If you think there was too much hype about Stephen Strasburg, you might want to wait on reading about next year's number one draft pick.
Jack's dream come true...
Ross Ohlendorf is kinda smart
Read very carefully Schneider...you may want to bookmark this for yourself.
Two Texts from Last Night of the week...
(973): just went home with some hot chick. she has posters of the jonas brothers in her room. i basically ran out of the house.
and
(778): You're perfectly engineered for doggy style
The Hockey Phrase Bible...pretty self explanatory and hilarious...courtesey of Danny Grimmer...personal favorite of mine is the swamp donkey.
Song of the Week
Say Hey by Michael Franti and Spearhead
Twins Update
| Cent | W | L | GB | |
| DET | F | 34 | 29 | -- |
| MIN | F | 32 | 33 | 3.0 |
| CHW | F | 30 | 34 | 4.5 |
| KCR | F | 28 | 34 | 5.5 |
| CLE | F | 29 | 37 | 6.5 |
Not a whole lot of chatter for all the work myself and Jack have put in. So comment or die.
[Note: This blog entry was updated June 10, 2009 at 4:26 AM Minnesota time after I found there was in fact a large error in only Superhyrdro's stats. I fixed them.]
Here's what we witnessed after Week 9:
1) Superhydro, after all the hype leading up to this week, got smoked.
2) Religious Sects, after being bashed repeatedly for his horrible WHIP numbers, put up the single best WHIP number out of any team in any week.
3) Tony McDonald is the worst team by any statistical ranking.
4) Yung Joseph tooted his horn a bit too much.
5) Just 2(5) Guyz has quietly moved into 2nd place
Here's the Simulated Winning Percentages after Week 9:
Superhydro, now that the error has been fixed, is in 4th place. Yes, he's still been the most unlucky, but not by as much. Look for him to leave that 9th spot very soon. JJmakesmeHARD(Y) is the 2nd most likely team to jump. As for the flip side, Yovani's Young Gun's should soak up their time in the top 5, because I don't know how much longer that will last.
However, let's look at the ASS 2.0 stats for each team in the past 3 weeks:
[Again, thanks for your responses everyone ... NOT]
Luke Luke and more Luke. He has just put up Ruthian numbers these past 3 weeks; leauges ahead of everyone else. Yung Joseph, who has touted himself as a top tier fantasy baseballer, sits at a mediocre 6th place over the course of the past 3 weeks, perhaps his best weeks are behind him. Something tells me that's wrong though. Abusement Park has fought to stay afloat and not take the predicted plunge.
Another funny side note, before we get to the media portion of our WIR. My mother who has been diligently reading my blog about Spain, saw that I was following another blog by someone named Da Commish. She clicked on it, read it, and wanted to know who JP was and why I wanted to marry him ....
Aaaaand to the Media:
I have two videos of Florida Congresswoma Corrine Brown. She first made an appearance by commending her UF Gators back in '08 (Be sure to go to the YouTube website and read the comments. It says she holds a Masters in Public Speaking from UF. God help us.):
Go Gata! Then she met with California Congresswoman Maxine Waters to talk some smack:
Maxine knows a little bit about her Lakers, but Corrine knows nothing about her teams. Bandwagon anyone? Yikes.
And to cap it off, we all know we love Bret Michaels. Let's watch his exit at the Tony Awards last night:
Good night, and good luck.
Now that we have all played each other one time this year and are quite close to mid-season, I decided to look into the archives and compile a crap load of information together. To warn you now, it is very long and took a while to do. But, it is also VERY interesting stuff and there is something in here for everyone (including all previous members of the Armchair Fantasy Baseball League). Here is the review of all reviews....
To Begin, I put together all of the head-to-head matchups of the current members. The first row is the record against that opp. The second row is the total stat catagory W-L-T over the years. We will start with TMac as an example: First is his record over the years, in parenthesis is his playoff record that year, and it is not included that record. eg. He lost 3-7 to Mike in the playoffs of '06.
Tony Mac 90-112-18, 101-97-12 (3-7), 121-86-13 (10-10), 133-142-33
playoff records- included in the all-time records below
Jp 10-0-1
Mike 3-6-2 (0-1)
Grim 1-2
Riles 6-0-2 (1-0)
Andy 2-3
-If you can believe it, TMac is an astonishing 10-0-1 head-to-head lifetime against JP and it shows in record against him. In parenthesis is the playoff record against that person. TMac faced Riles in the playoffs and beat him 6-4, hence the (6-4). All playoff records ARE included in the all-time matchups (only winners bracket games, not 3rd place or 5th place games)
-part of the original 7
-also known as kneehockeyguy, Tmac Attack, fjfkgkgfkg, Tom Kocon
Jack 116-93-11(3-6-1), 116-82-12(3-5-2), 78-123-19, 167-117-24(14-11-3)
Vs. Joe 5-4-1 (0-1)
playoff appearances: 2005*(bye), 2006*(bye), 2008*(bye)
Luke 6-3-1
Olie 3-9-1 (0-1)
Tmac 3-7
JP 7-4 (1-0)
Mike 2-8-1
Grim 2-2 (1-0)
Riles 3-4-1
Andy 3-2
-Has lost many head-to-head matchups but is only 1 game under .500 (either most of Jack's wins against David come in the form of blowouts, or Dave has won many close matchups against Jack, I can't remember hah)
-Jack is the only person that is winning his all-time series against me, both head-to-head and catagorically, congrats.
-part of the original 7
-also known as Theo’s Disciple, Sabernomics, Greek God of walks, Hot Stove Cool Music
Olie 93-118-9, 95-101-14(15-13-2), 107-92-21(14-12-4), 155-125-28(6-7-1)
Vs. Joe 4-6-3 (1-0-1)
Luke 5-4 (0-1)
Jack 9-3-1 (1-0)
Tmac 4-5-1
JP 5-5-2 (0-1-1)
Mike 2-9-1 (1-0)
Riles 5-3
Andy 2-1-2
-Part of the original 7
-also known as The Fallen Empire, Leyland’s Lay-Z-Boyz, Yovani’s Young Guns, Yovani’s Bad Knee
-Olie has had his stuggles with Caff, maybe all of Caff's pokes at him have gotten to his head...
*had 2 playoff games(including championship to Joe) where he tied 5-5 and won on the ERA tie-breaker that was unknown to all managers at the time.
-I have always considered David to be my main rival and we have played each other 13 times, more than anybody else has played each other. Close matchups as well.
Mike 127-82-11(12-7-1), 100-96-14(10-10), 108-98-14(3-5-2), 162-130-16(6-7-1)
Vs. Joe 3-8-1 (0-2)
Playoff appearances: 2005(bye), 2006, 2007, 2008(bye)
Luke 5-3-2
Jack 8-2-1
Tmac 6-3-2 (1-0)
JP 5-6 (0-1)
Olie 9-2-1 (0-1)
Grim 2-1
Riles 3-4
Andy 2-2-1
-part of the original 7
-also known as David’s Team Sucks, Meester Cafferty, Student Sex Scandel, 2*2*2 Goocher
- 8-2-1 lifetime against close-friend Jack, I hope this resembles Caff's all-time betting record against Jack as well.
-2nd in all-time moves to yours truly, but had over 200 moves in 2005 which skewed the numbers a bit.
Luke 117-96-7(5-5), 83-120-7, 121-82-17(11-7-2), 134-149-25
Vs. Joe 3-5-2
Mike 3-5-2
Jack 3-6-1
Tmac 6-6-0 (1-0)
JP 5-7
Olie 4-5 (1-0)
Grim 1-1-1
Riles 5-0-2
Andy 5-1
-Tied east c wombats in playoffs of 2005 but lost the *cough*-tiebreaker
- part of the original 7
-also known as Fridley Factors, Run hit blunder, Pablo Sanchez, Explosive Renteria
-combined 10-1-2 against Riles and Andy
JP 86-123-11, 103-96-11(5-5), 98-108-14, 141-139-28(20-19-3)
Vs. Joe 3-6
Mike 6-5 (1-0)
Jack 4-7 (0-1)
Tmac 0-10-1
Luke 7-5
Olie 5-5-2 (1-0-1)
Grim 2-1
Riles 4-2-2
Andy 3-2-1
-Tied Leyland’s lay-Z- boyz in playoffs of 2006 but lost the tiebreaker
-Part of the original 7
-also known as JP, JPizzy, JPizzyIV, Djibouti Bongos
-I still can't get over the 0-10-1 to TMAC!
-I believe all of JP's trades have been with me, in fact many of the trades in this league have involved me, as you will soon see.
Joe 114-93-13(21-7-2), 124-68-18(12-8), 127-76-17(4-6), 153-124-31(6-8)
Vs. Jp 6-3
Playoff appearances: 2005, 2006*(bye), 2007*(bye), 2008
Mike 8-3-1 (2-0)
Jack 4-5-1 (1-0)
Tmac 7-2-1
Luke 5-3-2
Olie 6-4-3 (0-1-1)
Grim 2-2 (0-1)
Riles 5-3
Andy 4-2
Part of the original 7
-tied for the League title in 2006 but lost ERA tiebreaker
-also known as J’s Cellar Dwellers, Johns’ Sand Gnats, JJ’s Gyro Ballers, JJ’s Revolution
-winning record in terms of catagorical records against everyone except Jack
Riles 91-109-10, 104-104-12(4-6), 123-159-26
Vs. Jp 2-4-2
Mike 4-3
Jack 4-3-1
Tmac 0-6-2 (0-1)
Luke 0-5-2
Olie 3-5
Grim 0-3
Joe 3-5
Andy 5-0-1
-Riles took over for crafty July 19th 2005, he posted this message when he took over: “im the new owner hello im in from Cleveland” Hah I don’t know why I put this in here, thought the message was funny. Craft actually had a good team, when Riles took over he went on a 5 week losing streak
- I decided to start counting stats on Riley in 2006 since 2005 was not his team
-Also known as East Compton Wombats(don’t think that was the original), Team Ramrod, Porridge
-Riley has a couple of winless head-to-heads and an undeafeated
Andy 65-138-17, 117-161-30
Vs. Jp 2-3-1
Mike 2-2-1
Jack 2-3
Tmac 3-2-0
Luke 1-5
Olie 1-2-2
Grim 2-1
Joe 2-4
Riles 0-5-1
-Joined the league in 2007
-also known as Man of no Wiles, The Sticky bandits.
-Andy has a chance to right the ship with his team this year
Grim 146-133-29(13-13-2)
Vs. JP 1-2
Mike 1-2
Jack 2-2 (0-1)
Luke 1-1-1
Olie 1-2
Andy 1-2
Joe 2-2 (1-0)
Riles 3-0
-joined the league in 2008
-also and only known as JJmakesmeHARD(Y)
-closest team to .500 as there is, kind of expected after only a year and a half.
Finally, I decided to put together everyone's record over the years. All playoff records are included (winner's bracket games only). W-wins L-losses T-ties P-playoff appearances RT-regular season titles LT-league titles (not Luke Thompsons') M-moves Tr- trades
sorry about the tough read of the standings, this thing does not allow more than one space in between letters and numbers or something, explains the weird formatting.
ULTIMATE STANDINGS W L T WinPct P RT LT M Tr
Joe 628-445-85 .585 4 2 1 451 18
Mike 587-490-71 .545 4 1 0 426 3
Jack 551-496-85 .526 3 1 1 244 5
Luke 541-511-62 .514 2 0 1 310 3
Olie 545-530-83 .507 3 0 1 275 7
Grim 215-210-37 .506 1 0 0 86 2
Craft 111-113-16 .496 1 0 0 6 1
Pat L 102-107-21 .488 1 0 0 45 0
TMac 492-518-84 .487 2 0 0 22 0
JP 507-553-76 .478 2 0 0 65 3
Riles 379-438-57 .464 1 0 0 114 3
Tom Olson 182-214-34 .459 0 0 0 7 2
Brian Sk. 132-157-19 .457 0 0 0 11 0
Jake J. 212-273-33 .437 0 0 0 44 3
Andy 250-344-60 .421 0 0 0 29 3
Charlie 87-122-11 .416 0 0 0 10 1
-Hope you enjoyed it and please comment
-and yes I have made 18 trades....
A couple of weeks ago, Joe gave me the idea of reviewing the draft as the season went on. I thought it was a great idea for a midweek thing, and so here is the first installment of Draft Review, beginning with Round 1. It is still kind of early, but we are almost half way so I figured we could start now because there are twenty five rounds to cover for the rest of the year. Feel free to argue against my points that I make because as we all know, this wouldn't be as much fun if we didn't. Oh and Jack, I vote for three weeks. Sounds like a good number to start with and increases the accuracy of the ASS Rankings. With that, on to Round 1...
1st Pick: Hanley Ramirez, ss, Yung Joseph
I will admit I was a little surprised when Joe took Hanley instead of Fat Albert, but hey, he's Joe and he does everything differently than everybody else. Looking at it now though, it was a smart move because there is more disparity between the top shortstops as opposed to the top first basemen. Joe was still able to get a solid first basemen in Adrian Gonzalez, and he has a shortstop how is hitting .342. His power production is a little down, as he's only on pace to hit 25 homers, but with Adrian and ARod on his team, Joe will be fine with that from the SS position.
2nd Pick: Albert Pujols, 1b, Religious Sects
This was pretty much a no-brainer for Caff. Granted it was Yahoo! who chose Pujols, but still Mike probably would have done the same thing. He's the best hitter in the game, and has not disappointed this year with a .346 BA, 1.168 OPS, and 17 homers. The dude's a freak.
3rd Pick: Jose Reyes, ss, JJmakesmeHARD(Y)
This seemed like a solid pick at the time with Reyes debatably the best shortstop in the game with Hanley, but Reyes recently was injured and then injured himself with a torn hamstring while on the DL. SI.com says he'll be out until July, but Yahoo! makes it sound like it's not as serious. Even without the injury, Reyes started out kind of slow (at least for him), hitting only .279 and 2 dingers. He was still solid with 11 steals, but we'll see if that changes when he gets back or not.
4th Pick: David Wright, 3b, Tony McDonald
Wright is the second best third basemen after ARod, and so Tmac did pretty well to take him here I believe. He's batting .345, although he only has three home runs this year so far, which is not what you want out of a first round pick. Fourteen steals so far though is pretty solid, considering last year he only stole fifteen in the whole season.
5th Pick: Grady Sizemore, of, Just 2(5) Guyz
Even before going on the DL, Sizemore had been struggling mightily. Hitting only .223 this year, Sizemore may need surgery on his inflamed elbow which would keep him out until late July. With all all of this being said, it makes Luke's rise from the cellar even more impressive without his first round pick in the lineup for the majority of the run. I don't know if it can last though once Manny comes back because Juan Pierre will probably go back on the bench, unless he gets traded. Luke would be wise to trade one of his stud pitchers (hint hint Luke) to get some more hitters for his team, because he won't last at the top of the standings with Ben Zobrist as his shortstop.
6th Pick: Miguel Cabrera, 1b, Consistency
As can be seen by Joe's all-time review, Andy has pretty much sucked in fantasy baseball (let's be honest Schneides, you've been terrible). With that being said, he has stuck to the top of the standings this year, and a large part of that is due to Cabrera. He is one of the most consistent players in the game when it comes to hitting, and he hasn't disappointed this year hitting .340 with ten dingers so far this year.
7th Pick: Lance Berkman, of, The Poblano Effect
This was probably the surprise of the first round for me, but hey, when doesn't Jack surprise with his first round choice? Everybody should remember the time Jack selected Tony Gonzalez with his first pick in fantasy football. Berkman has not hit anywhere close to where a first round pick should hit, with a .246 average and .847 OPS. His BABIP is .261 though, so all hope is still not lost for Jack.
8th Pick: Ryan Howard, 1b, Superhydrophobocity
I'm not a big fan of taking a first basemen not named Pujols in the first round, only because there are so many solid first basemen (case in point, Adrian Gonzalez leads the league in homers this year, but was taken with the last pick in the sixth round by Joe). With 17 homers and 47 runs batted in, he has done fine in power categories, but he's hitting .259 and strikes out more than anyone not named Mark Reynolds. If I were JP, I would have gone for Mark Teixeira here because he hits for a higher average and similar power.
9th Pick: Josh Hamilton, of, Abusement Park
Hamilton's only played in 35 games this year, and is going to be out a while longer because of surgery, and so there really isn't much analysis I can do here. Riley's not hurt that bad really because he had some other solid outfielders, although it would be nice to have Hamilton in the lineup instead of Luke Scott.
10th Pick: Jimmy Rollins, ss, Da Commish
Rollins may have been a little reach for me here, but I wanted to make sure I got a top-notch shortstop and so there he was. He hasn't hit like a top-notch shortstop, with a .222 average and an extremely ugly .583 OPS so far this year. He does have a .238 BABIP though, and so I'm hoping he rebounds soon.
Well that's it for this time around with the Draft Review. I'll post more rounds as we go on. Obviously this one doesn't have too many surprises, but once we get farther down in the draft I should have more to say. Hopefully I can get a Week Recap done here this week also.