The Kruk Bucket, Tax Return Christmas Edition

Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas and a Happy Kruk Bucket to all! Today I'm playing Santa here at JELLY QUEEN Arena, distributing free tax returns to the first 30,000 fans that show up here. Afterwards we'll be covering the much anticipated battle between the Lindsyans and her feline rivals Meow Meow Dui. Tell you what, I know what I'd be spending my tax return on...a mountain of the world famous Lindsayn Christmas Crambeau! You might be surprised at my choice there, but rest assured, I got my gift certificates to the Burger Palace covered on my Xmas list. Santa bats 1.000 for me, so no need to worry folks.

Speaking of high batting averages, an important piece of news came out this week. Edgar Martinez Jr., the son of the longtime Alyxian DH who was murdered by a mob of angry Zachrians during a game ten years ago, has now announced his free agency. Word on the street is that his asking salary is exceedingly high, but he's still attracted the attention of several teams. Rumors have it that the most interested parties were the Red Clay Aces, Mao's Tycoons, and the Alyxian Darkpaws, of whom his father played for. Because of the high price of this prospect, either team would have to move a lot of players around which wouldn't make it an immediately good fit for the Aces or Tycoons, who are both doing well now; the Darkpaws had just cleaned out house, so the timing for them isn't ideal either. But one thing is for sure, this news has caused the most buzz in the league since Cluckin Bell ended their discount for the press covering Ash Street Showdown.

Anyway, I got a few comments from some people around the league regarding where Martinez might end up.

"Trust me, we are evaluating this player very closely. We probably have more open cap space than any other team in the league AND we carry a sixth reliever. If we eventually decide that it makes sense to add Edgar to our roster, we will make that move as fast as we can." -Ishmael von Corrin, General Manager of the Red Clay Aces

"It's difficult to integrate this kind of player into an already established team. You really need to build one around him." -Ronde Barber, General Manger of the Spartans of Bobia

"We need him. He's the kind of player that can turn our season around. You know Mike [Cameron] and I would love to have us three Seattle Mariners batting 1, 2, and 3 again for the Darkpaws. If anyone could bring the glory days back to Alyxia, it would be us three." Ken Griffey Jr., CF Alyxian Darkpaws

"I've been crunching the numbers on this one, and to be honest, I think there's a distinct possibility that we might not see Martinez catch onto a team until the offseason. If that ends up being the case, I see him possibly being the centerpiece of one of the expansion teams, possibly the one for Cape Koresh, if that ends up materializing." -Al Leiter, Leit'em Up Roster Report correspondent.

So folks, I've been here talking tax policy all day, and I've already tired myself out talking about all this Edgar Martinez news. So I'll do a quick lightning round of my power rankings, and then its time to sample some of the Christmas Eve's Eve delicacies.

1. BOB (+1) six straight wins, nine straight quality starts, a rotation that gives the league nightmares, and an offense with the hottest hitter (Ichiro), the hottest baserunner (Luis Aparicio), and the highest hot sauce tolerance (Charles "Colon Cleaner CJ" Johnson), and I just don't see anyone slowing this team down. In the last few games, the second you give up a run to them, you essentially lose. This is going to be the most exciting pitching staff to watch in the entire league heading into the second half of the schedule. I'm just really impressed; I know I'm repeating myself, but you really can't sing GM Ronde Barber's praises loud enough...at this point, at least.

2. RED (-1) Bit of a tough series against Meow Meow Dui, but the downgrade here is really just because the Spartans have come on so strong. With the Tycoons getting swept, the Aces again sit at the top of Division 2. This next series against the Cardinals is an important one; a strong performance would firmly entrench them as the inter-divisional counterpart to the Spartans. If they should stumble here, that would send Division 2 into looking even more like plate of spaghetti shot up several times by a shotgun.

3. ZSY (0) Well, we know the offense works well. But how much longer can this team put up Cy Young like pitching performances? Really they've only had serious issues with their 4th starter, as the other 3 have racked up 6 quality starts. Rumors keep floating around that they are looking to beef up the offense further, but what could the possibly improve on? And where would they be getting the money? In any case, golden opportunity to pick up some wins as the Darkpaws come to play in the still worse for wear Z-Slayer Park.

4. MMD (0) Just when you open your mouth to criticize this team's offense, they go ahead and beat down the Aces for 12 runs. So go figure. Huge matchup here this week though against the Lindsyans; they're both clawing (no pun intended) at a playoff spot in the highly competitive Division 1. I'm excited to see Curt Schilling take the mound this next game: he's 2-0 with two quality starts in both his appearances.


5. LIN (+2) Maybe this team has the highest morale in the league at the moment. Coming out with a hard fought sweep against the ascendant Marauders, Manny Ramirez and Rondell White continue steadily manufacturing runs while the veteran bullpen is clearly one of the best out there. But can they win the big games? They certainly have two big ones next against MMD, but a very easy schedule after that when the last place teams of both divisions come to town.

6. TYC (-1) Commence hate mail. But Tycoon fans, I got news for you. Your team got swept! Outscored 9-0 in their last two games! And you think I'm biased against them? Really people, what does this team have going for it? The offense has been drier than Mee Maw's Thanksgiving turkey.


7. STL (+2) Finally breaking out from the number 9 spot, I'm bumping this team up a few spots. They've only been swept once (by MMD way back in Series 1) and otherwise have been able to get a piece of every opponent they've faced. Lots of inconsistency here, that shouldn't be news to you, but there's certainly potential. Looking at the matchups, I think they'll maintain the number 3 spot in Division 2 despite a tough fight coming up against the Aces.

8. QEY (+2) Gotta say that these guys looked good this week, taking the Green Sox to task. But I still have to say that there are still a few open questions about this team, despite the fact that we are nearing the middle of the season. Its anybody's guess which bullpen shows up on any given game; Luis Castillo and Carlos Guillen both do not have a single RBI between them, none the less worrying because they are at the top of the Warrior order. Although this team has worked their way back to a respectable 4-5 record, they have the most brutal stretch of scheduling of many any team for the next four series: BOB, then RED, then ZSY, then TYC.

9. MEL (0) They took two losses to the Lindsyans, but they were "good" losses. They were only outscored by three runs, and both the offense and pitching is looking much better than how they did at the beginning of the season. Scott Rolen is starting to heat up, and is going to be toward the top of the leaderboards if he keeps up his current pace of RBIs and homeruns. This team has a tough road ahead and will be watching the Cardinals and Green Sox very closely. Of the three, the Marauders arguably have the most difficult matchup against the Tycoons. Dr. Vindaloo certainly gets credit for a novel approach, but I personally don't see how a replica of the Ganges River in the outfield will help.

10. TEN (-4) This team just can't seem to catch a break. After losing three straight games by just one run, they got taken to the cleaners by the Warriors in just a morale crushing loss. As John Kruk said, this team certainly has the ingredients for success, but something just isn't congealing right. The team hits a lot of homeruns, but their baserunners are so few that most of them go for solo shots. It also hasn't helped that Magglio Ordonez and former MVP J.D. Drew are both having their worst seasons of their career so far. This team certainly has a chance to get two much needed wins against the hapless Bombers, but you can really feel that the winds have entirely vacated this team's sails.

11. AXN (0) Woohoo! You swept the Bombers! But can you beat anyone else? Open question. I personally don't think they have a chance against the Z-Slayers next week. Either way, Hank Blalock has performed quite nicely since the team added him a few games ago, Enough to keep his job if Edgar Martinez is still available down the stretch?


12. MAX (0) Ouch. Swept by the Darkpaws. But to be honest, I think they might be able to pull an upset against the Green Sox. If there is any team that's more in need of a bacon flavored ice cream sundae, it might be them. Ah what the hell, I'll go ahead here and predict that they snap their eight game skid this series. I think most fans are still buying tickets for this team more to see if Ashburn can put together another all star season.

Well that's it for now folks. Hope you had a merry koreshmas and look forward to a happy new year! According to the Chinese Zodiac its going to be the Year of the Cordon Bleu, so I'm excited!

Series 5 Finale

AXN 5, MAX 4 F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

AXN        0              0              0              0              5              0              0              0              0           

MAX       0              0              1              1              0              0              1              1              0              

W – Zito (2-0)                   L – Halladay (0-1)                  S – Kolb (3)

Both starters looked on point early. Longtime Darkpaw Barry Zito was nearly perfect before he gave up a solo homerun to Bengie "Don't Make Fun of My Speed" Molina in the third, and another solo homerun to Tony Clark in the fifth, his first RBI of the season. The Darkpaws responded with a 2 out rally in the fifth, culminating in a Hank Blalock three run shot. He has homered in his first two career games now, and otherwise had a very solid showing at the plate in this one, going 3-4 with a walk. Halladay settled down and pitched well through the eighth. Zito was replaced in the seventh by Satoru Komiyama who worked into a jam but managed to escape with giving up only one run. Coach Gorrister sent him out again in the eighth, and things began to get interesting when he immediately surrendered a solo homerun to Jeff "Automatic Out" Kent. This lead to a very tense bottom of the ninth, where Darkpaw closer was called upon to collect the save. Despite pitching in two straight games, he managed to earn his second straight save and third of the season. This is the second straight Darkpaw win of the season, their third overall of the season, and their first sweep. If there ever was an opponent to energize this team, it was the Bombers. We'll see if Blalock and crew can keep the momentum in a brutal matchup next week against the Z-Slayers. As for the Bombers, not much to say after an eigth straight loss. Richie Ashburn was 0-5 in this contest, a shame because it was Assburn Bobblehead Night at the stadium, which featured an innovated bobblehead design that bobbles also on the...er...assburned side...

------------------------------------

MEL 4, LIN 5       F/12

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7             8              9          10          11          12

MEL       0              3              0              1              0              0              0              0              0            0            0             0

LIN         4              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0            0            0             1    

W – Nen (1-1)                   L – Pollitte (0-1)                 

This one looked like it was going to get ugly early for Moyer and the Marauders; the twin threat of the JERKY QUEEN offense struck powerfully in the bottom of the first with Manny Ramirez unleashing an RBI double that was immediately followed by Rondell White’s third homerun of the year, a three run shot. But Lindsyan ace Josh Beckett really struggled in the inning immediately succeeding, surrendering an ugly three run rally to the bottom half of the Marauder lineup. Scott Rolen tied things up for the Marauders in the top of the fourth when he took Beckett deep, also his third long ball this year. After that Beckett was back to his prime form, and was quite dominant through seven. Season 1 Cy Young winner Jamie Moyer was good enough to keep the Lindsyans off the board also through seven, but he was not without his own struggles, working out of a bases loaded jam in the seventh. Thus commenced another battle of bullpens: Jelly Bean sent out her star reliever Steve Karsay, who is starting to be mentioned in Cy Young conversations, unprecedented for a reliever. Karsay put out an unbelievable performance, pitching 4 and 2/3s innings, surrendering only two hits. Had he pitched one more out, he would have received his third win of the year. For the Marauders, Buddy Groom entered the game in relief of Moyer and had to work out of jams in both innings that he pitched; the Lindsyans were an atrocious 0-5 with runners in scoring position in the late innings of this game, blowing multiple opportunities to end this one. The game looked like it was going to drag on for a while until Lindsyan third baseman Jeff “Silly” Cirillo homered off of Cliff Pollitte’s first pitch in the bottom of the twelfth. The walk off win puts the JELLY QUEENDREAM TEAM back in winning territory with a 5-4 record and at a very interesting position in Division 1; currently at 4th place, but only 1   and ½ games back of first place. Next week is the second battle of Cat teams when they face off against Division rivals Meow Meow Dui. A good performance in that series could have far reaching effects as far as standings are concerned. As for the Marauders, the team’s performance has absolutely improved as of late although this sweep at the hands of the Lindsyans is certainly a setback. But Doctor Vindaloo’s faith in his team is not shaken; he’s been active in the media making all sorts of guarantees that his team will make the playoffs. His latest claim is that he will promise to convert bleacher seating in the Melmegetia Municipal Stadium into a full scale replica of an elbow of the Ganges River. 
--------------------------------------------------

TYC 0, BOB 1 F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

TYC         0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0           

BOB        0              0              0              0              0              0              0              1              0  

W - Seaver (1-0)                   L - Johnson (1-1)                    S - Fingers (1)

Tom Seaver had a lot to live up to in his first career start; the Bobians were riding a five game win streak, Bobian starters had chained together an incredible string of 8 quality starts, and Roy Halladay and Tom "Schutzstafel" Glavine both put up two of the best starts in the entire league to date. No less against the ace starter of the number one team in Division 2. Although it was close, I think it's safe to say that Seaver lived up to expectations. Although he faced bases loaded jams at three different instances, he managed to pitch a relatively solid eight innings. He gave up probably a few more hits than Greg Maddux might have wanted, but eight innings of shut out baseball against a two time champion is nothing to complain about in your first career start. Randy Johnson turned it into a real pitching dual, really only getting into trouble twice. On the second instance, Luis Aparicio stole two bases, his league leading ninth and tenth., leading to a situation where the Bobians had a speedy runner on third with nobody out. Johnson looked like he was going to get out of it after retiring Ichiro and Edgar "Fredgar" Martinez, but Travis Hafner certainly had other ideas, and brought Aparacio home with a double. One run was all the Bobians needed when they turned over the game to Rollie Fingers in the ninth, who went 1-2-3 through the top of the Tycoon order. While the Bobians now take a commanding league of Division 1 with the best record in either league, the Tycoons now drop down to second place for the first time in Division 2. While both teams are pitching great, Mao might be getting a little nervous after failing to score a single run against the extremely strong pitching of the Spartans.  

Series 5 Part 3

QEY 6, TEN 0 F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

QEY        0              0              2              0              0              0              0              0              4           

TEN        0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              

W – Mulder (1-1)                   L – Piniero (0-3)                  S – Lopez (1)                   

Both teams were hungry for win in this one, with the Green Sox trying to end a 4 game skid and the Warriors trying to climb back up the ranks of Division 1. It was certainly billed to be an interesting matchup with both team’s aces taking the mound. In the early innings, both pitchers looked strong, with Mulder giving up only one hit through four. Piniero however ran into trouble in the third, where Ellis Burks knocked in two RBIs with a double, thanks again to smart baserunning from Luis Castillo enabling him to score from first. After that, both starters went into lockdown mode and totally shut out their opponents. Mulder was pulled in the eighth after a leadoff double, but the Green Sox were prevented by infringing on the Warriors tenuous two run lead by reliever Javier Lopez. Tenbil Town kept Piniero in the game in through the ninth, simply because the Green Sox bullpen was desperate for some rest. The good news is that the Green Sox relievers did get the rest they needed. The bad news is that the ninth was just a bit too much for Piniero, who despite his good performance up to that point, had racked up a fairly large pitch count. As a result, Ellis Burks struck once again, doubling in another two runs. Cliff Floyd followed with an RBI single, and Frank Catalonotto knocked in the last run with a sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the ninth, Javier Lopez returned to the mound to secure the two inning save. He struggled right away, and it looked like the Green Sox were finally going to get on the board when the Queynos defense came up big. With the bases loaded and nobody out, the struggling Magglio Ordonez grounded out into a double play, thanks to an excellent decision to throw home by shortstop Carlos Guillen. That brought DH Jorge Posada to the plate, who smacked Lopez’s first pitch on a beeline down the third baseline. It surely would have been a double if not for an amazing diving grab by third baseman Edgardo Alfonzo and an even more amazing throw to first in time to get Posada out and end the game. After the game, John Kruk had this to comment about the Green Sox fifth straight loss “It’s sad, but they really are much better than their 3-6 record shows. Three of the losses on this streak were by only 1 run. The pitching of course could be better, but that’s not really a glaring issue for this team. But unfortunately that’s just the way life is in this league. Good often isn’t always good enough. So my heart goes out to this hard working team. I will eat an entire funnel cake in their honor this evening.” I don’t think this team ever expected to see their 620 point ace pitcher with an 0-3 record, but he Green Sox luckily have a lull in the schedule when they take on the hapless Bombers next series, which is a golden opportunity to put some more wins in the W column. As for the Warriors, Queynos fans are riding high after the team’s first sweep of the year. The obvious weakness of this team is the bullpen, but the starting pitching is solid and this team is one of the best baserunning teams in the league. The offense really seems to be the x-factor here; if Ellis Burks continues having an All Star caliber season and Frank Catalonotto keeps being one of the most dangerous baserunners in the league, then they will be in good shape as they try to climb back up the ranks of Division 1.

--------------------------------------------

ZSY 8, STL 4  F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

ZSY         0              0              2              0              0              0              5              1              0           

STL         0              0              0              1              0              0              0              0              3              

W – Wells (3-0)                   L – Smith (0-2)

        

I don’t think anyone would have picked Kip Wells to have been the first pitcher in the league to reach three wins; I also don’t think most people would be consider him a candidate for Cy Young at any point of the season either. If you were really high on the Z-Slayer offense, you might have made a case for the wins issue, but the truth of the matter is that Wells has earned every bit of his three wins. In this contest, he pitched most of the game with just a one run lead, clearly keeping the Cardinals off balance up and down the lineup. He handled Larry Walker very carefully, intentionally walking him once and unintentionally walking him twice. Otherwise, most of the Cardinals offense came from CF Ray Lankford and SS Edgar Renteria, who put the Cardinals on the board in the 4^th with an RBI double thanks to his silver slugger icon. Cardinals starter Bud Smith had a meltdown in the seventh when a series of doubles from Ken Harvey and Jeff Cirillo increased the Z-Slayer lead to three. The deathblow came when catcher Jason Larue homered in another three runs, bringing the score to 8-1. Reliever/ secondary closer Jason Isringhausen 03 also had trouble and couldn’t keep the Z-Slayers off the board. Kip Wells started the ninth with the comfortable seven run lead, but very quickly got into trouble. He surrendred one run and was pulled with two men on base. Reliever Danny Patterson entered the game and promptly allowed the two baserunners to score, spoiling what would have been Wells’ third quality start. The Cardinals threatened to score more, but Patterson managed to eke out the inning and finish the game in the Z-Slayers favor. Overall this was an excellent series, with two teams in the playoff hunt really duking it out. With a Cy Young candidate in the form of Kip Wells and MVP candidates in the form of Jack Wilson and Albert Pujols, the Z-Slayers have established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in Division 1. As for the Cardinals, just when you think they are about to string together a couple of big wins, something like this happens. For Larry Walker’s club, inconsistency is their new normal. With Tenbil Town and Melmegetia both struggling, they will look to solidify their number 3 spot in Division 2 with a very tough matchup next week against Red Clay.
-----------------------------------------------------------

RED 0, MMD 12  F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

RED         0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0           

MMD      8              0              0              0              0              0              0              4              0   

W - Pavano (1-1)                    L - Buehrle (0-2)

Mark Buehrle has had a difficult year so far, but he went so far as to put out the worst performance by a pitcher so far this season, giving up six runs before recording a single out in the first. Meow Meower Miguel Tejada  \kicked off the scoring with a bases loaded double walk, which was followed by a Eric Chavez double, then a Bernie Williams double, then a Scott Hatteberg double.  Red Clay reliever Travis Harper struggled in relief allowing two further runs to score that were tagged to Buehrle as men he had left on base. To his defense though, the Red Clay defense was absolutely horrendous in this game, failing to turn a single double play from five different opportunities. Reigning Cy Young winner and MMD starter Carl Pavano was in top form this game after being publicly attacked by Coach Taklamente after his last start, a disastrous blowout against the Tycoons. In this game Pavano was out for blood, and kept the normally vivacious bats of the Aces at bay for a full 9 innings. He did have frequent help from the defense, which preserved the shutout when Eric Chavez threw out a tagging Tom Goodwin at home plate in the top of the 8th. In the bottom of the eighth, Meow Meow Dui taked on some insurance runs, in the form of a 2 run double by former Darkpaw Aaron Rowand and a two run homer by Gregg Zaun. For the Aces this snaps a three game win streak, while the win for Coach Taklamentes squad keeps them close to the top of the extremely fast paced Division 1 standings. 

Series 5 Part 2

LIN 4, MEL 2  F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

LIN         0              1              0              0              2              0              1              0              0           

MEL       1              0              0              0              0              0              0              1              0              

W – Rueter (1-1)               L – Garcia (0-1)                S – Nen (1)                 

After the Marauders drew first blood, the JELLY QUEEN DREAM TEAM stuck back in the top of the second with an RBI double from shortstop Jimmy Rollins, his first RBI of the year and his first of three doubles in this game. Through the middle innings of this game, both pitchers did alright, keeping the other team off the board but not exactly dominant. Lindsyan Kirk Rueter avoided his dreaded “hell inning” and was able to go six innings with no further runs allowed. The former Bobian Freddy Garcia was similarly mediocre, except he surrendered a big 2 run double to Brian Roberts in the fifth, and an RBI single to Season 5 all-star Shannon Stewart in the seventh. For JELLY QUEEN, Aquilino Lopez came on in relief of Rueter and pitched a strong seventh, but quickly worked himself into a jam in the eighth. With one run in, runners on second and third , and only one out, Coach Moises “Piss Hands” Alou made another call to the bullpen and brought the long time veteran reliever Jesse Orosco into the game. Facing the heart of the Marauder lineup, Orosco struck out Scott Rolen and Brandon Larson to retire the side and get out of the jam. Closer Robb Nen took over in the ninth and went 1-2-3 to earn his first save of the year. In a postgame conference, Doctor Vindaloo noted that this game did take away a little bit of momentum that the team had built up, but not all of it. Instead, Vindaloo said he was more frustrated that no Marauder had hit a homerun and therefore was unable to light up the giant Shiva Nataraja statue behind the right-centerfield wall.  In any case, this puts a little wind in the sails of the Lindsyans who are back to a .500 record at 4-4. Stay tuned for what will probably be a classic pitching duel between Season 1 Cy Young Jamie Moyer and three time 5 game winner Josh Beckett.    

------------------------------------------------------

MAX 1, AXN 4  F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

MAX       0              1              0              0              0              0              0              0              0           

AXN        0              0              0              1              3              0              0              0              0   

W - Morris (1-0)                    L - Pettitte (0-2)                     S - Kolb (2)

The Battle of the Basement dwellers got off to a rocky start for Darkpaw starter Matt Morris, who found himself in trouble in each of the first three innings. He managed to get through only surrendering a run when the speedy Delino "Delicious" Deshields was able to score from second off of a Bengie "Don't Make Fun of My Speed" Molina single. His opponent former Cy Young winner Andy Pettitte was solid through the first three, but the two might have had a body swap; Morris settled down and dominated the Bombers through the seventh while Pettitte was hit by a pair of homers: a solo homerun from Hank Blalock in his first career game and a three run shot from veteran Mike Cameron. After that, there really wasn't much action in this one. Both offenses looked rather pathetic, racking up an absurd number of bad strikeouts and double play balls. For a change of pace, the Darkpaw bullpen held the lead long enough for closer Danny Kolb to nab his second save of the year. Although the Darkpaws won their first game after restructuring their team, it wasn't the most encouraging win. Brad Fullmer and Ken Griffey Jr. 04 did not meaningfully contribute; Hank Blalock, who did hit a solo homerun, blew two crucial scoring opportunities, grounding out into a double play in once case. Well, that's not great, but at least they aren't staring at a seven game losing streak, like the Bombers are. 

-----------------------------------------------------

MMD 3, RED 4  F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

MMD      0              0              0              0              3              0              0              0              0           

RED         1              1              0              2              0              0              0              0              0    

W - Ortiz (1-0)                      L - Ortiz (0-1)                           S - Wagner (2)

If the Battle of the Basement dwellers wasn't exciting enough for you, immediately followed was the Battle of Ortiz! Meow Meow Dui starter Russ Ortiz struggled early, surrendering RBI singles to Alfonso Soriano and Jose Cruz, and eventually blowing the quality start when he gave up a two run homerun in the fourth to catcher and Long Island native A.J. Pierzynski. After that he handled the dangerous Red Clay lineup rather effectively, and went the distance to finish the game. On the other side of things, Ramon Ortiz once again punched way above his measly 40 point salary, securing his second quality start of the year. Besides a three run homer surrendered to Scott Hatteberg in the fifth, he seemed totally in control during his six innings on the mound, although the characteristically weak Meow Meow offense did squander a lead off double more than once. For Red Clay, Mike Myers entered the game in the seventh and got himself into a pickle right away, but the heart of the Meow Meow lineup embarrassingly could not bring the winning run home. That was the golden opportunity for Coach Taklamente's club in this one, since Myers was eventually replaced by Aces closer Billy Wagner, who has been largely untouchable this year. An honorable mention should go to Larry Walker 04, who was a homer short of hitting for the cycle. With this result, Meow Meow Dui officially moves out of first place in Division 1, and Red Clay dethrones Mao's Tycoons in Division 2. Look for another interesting matchup in Game 2, when both teams struggling number 1 starters attempt to get back on track: Mark Buehrle is still looking for his first win (and quality start) while reigning Cy Young Carl Pavano is still trying to get out of Coach Taklamente's doghouse after an embarrassing blowout in his last performance. 

First results back from the break

BOB 8, TYC 0  F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

BOB       0              1              0              0              3              0              0              0              4           

TYC        0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              

W – Burkett (2-0)                   L – Lopez (0-1)                 

Both streaks continue for the Bobians: a five game win streak as well as an eight game quality start streak. Through the first five innings both pitchers worked in and out of trouble, most notably with Albie Lopez picking up a clutch triple play to stop the bleeding at one run in the second inning. The top of the Bobian order manufactured a run in the fifth thanks to excellent baserunning as always from Juan Pierre and a clutch hit from Luis Aparicio. Then stepped up to the plate the hottest bat in the league, wielded by none other than Ichiro Suzuki. He then proceeded to crush his second homerun of the year and rack in his seventh RBI of the season. That puts him in the top ten for the entire league, but remember, he was not on the Bobian roster for the first couple of series. The Bobians went on to double their score in the ninth when reliever Luther Hackman had a meltdown in only his second appearance of the season. John Burkett did not surrender a single run through six, the veteran following up his very good first start against the Maxions with an even more impressive performance. With the departure of Jamie Moyer, Burkett now leads the team in starts, wins, and quality starts. Reliever Rollie Fingers entered the game and pitched two solid innings before giving way to the always solid Buddy Groom who wrapped up the ninth. After the game, commentator John Kruk had the following to say: “This game was eerily similar to the Bobians last contest against the Darkpaws: a very close one in the early innings, but broken wide open in the later innings. There is one key difference here. We are talking about a win over a first place team, not just the Darkpaws. I think that’s really impressive.” Impressive indeed, but the Tycoons have to be very disappointed with their performance here. All three Tycoon pitchers (Lopez, Ryan, Hackman) struggled at one point or another, and the offense just looked totally impotent. There were a few opportunities when a runner made it into scoring position, but absolutely no follow-through to speak of. No comment came from the Tycoon management; despite being in first place in Division 2, this is a team that has come under a barrage of criticism from fans and the media as of late. With the prospect of facing Tom Seaver in enemy territory, the Tycoons have a tough fight ahead of them in Game 2.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

TEN 6, QEY 7        F/11

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8______9_____10____ _11

TEN        0              0              0              0              2              2              0              0              0             0              2

QEY        2              0              2              0              0              0              0              0              0             0              3

W – Lowe (1-2)                    L – Foulke (0-2)

When you are building a team, the obvious strengths to focus on are hitting and pitching. Lately there has been a trend to renew focus on fielding and defense, but there is a further dimension to teams that often get overlooked, and that is baserunning. Throughout the season, any given team has games that are won or lost due to their ability or inability to run the basepads effectively. This is a skill that the Warriors have employed effectively since Game 1, and really came into the spotlight in this one. In the top of the first, Warrior Cliff Floyd hit a double with runners on first and second; Carlos Guillen scored easily from second, but thanks to very smart running, centerfielder Ellis Burks was able to make it home all the way from first. Floyd hit a solo homerun in the third, which was followed up by a Frank Catalonotto single. Catalonotto then advanced to second on a steal, and then was able to score when first basemen Sean Casey singled. Although these were all excellent calls and execution from the Warriors, the Green Sox have to be disappointed given that this was the first game for catcher Brent Mayne, a defensive upgrade who was supposed to stop things like this from happening. Things were looking very comfortable for the Warrios, but their 4-0 lead was cut in half when starter Jimmy Haynes surrendered a 2 run double to Jorge Posada. The coaching staff considered going to the bullpen in the sixth, but made the mistake of sending out Haynes again; he allowed the tying run home on a two run homerun by Green Sox thirdbaseman Adrian Beltre, who has been batting very well of late. Thus it became a battle of bullpens, for which both teams got nervous: The Green Sox because their bullpen was quite frankly exhausted after a 14 inning marathon against the Aces and the Warriors because most of their losses have come from bullpen snafus. The late innings of regulation were relatively tame, with relievers Tim Spooneybarger and Paul Shuey taking care of business for their respective team. When the Green Sox pitcher Danny Graves finished the ninth without giving up any runs, the game went to extra innings. Fast forward to the top of the eleventh, where reliever Sean Lowe was booed vociferously by the hometown crowd by blowing yet another game; this time in the form of a 2 RBI triple to Omar Vizquel, his league leading third of the year. Heading to the bottom of the inning, the Green Sox turned to their closer Keith Foulke who was clearly exhausted after having pitched more than four innings last game against the Aces. This decision proved disastrous. Foulke struggled horribly, loading the bases with only one out. With no one else to turn to, Foulke remained on the mound. After walking in not just one run, but two, Frank Catalonotto put Keith Foulke and the Green Sox out of their misery with a rocket into the left field corner that ended the game. Both teams now sport a 3-5 record and are in fifth place in their respective division. Game 2 will be a huge matchup for the Green Sox, who desperately need first starter Joel Piniero to eat up some innings and give the bullpen some much needed rest. 
----------------------------------------------------------

STL 16, ZSY 7        F

                1            2              3              4              5              6              7             8              9

STL          2            0              5              0              1              0              0              0             8             

ZSY          3            4              0              0              0              0              0              0             0     

W - Ankiel (1-0)               L - D'Amico (0-2)                    S - Isringhausen 04 (2)

When you don't invest a whole lot into your number 4 starter, or a bullpen for that matter, you get games like this one. Tuldarian starter Jeff D'Amico struggled every minute of the 4 and 2/3s innings he pitched, giving up big hits to basically every hitter in the Cardinals lineup. His pitching opponent, Rick Ankiel, didn't fare much better in his painful five innings, with the big blow coming in the form of an Albert Pujols grand slam. Both starters might have been pulled earlier in this root canal of a game  if it weren't for the state of both team's overworked bullpens. At the end of five, the Cardinals enjoyed a precarious 8-7 lead. But who knew that the Cardinals were only halfway done with their scoring. In the top of the ninth, they rallied for a season high eight runs, tearing through three different Z-Slayer pitchers. The offense was lead as always by Larry Walker, but this time he was supported by great performances by the top of the lineup, with Placido Polanco, Edgar Rentaria, and Orlando Cepeda all having multi RBI games. Jason Isringhausen 04 bizarrely earned his second save of the season, since he began pitching in the eighth when the lead was only 1 run. As for Game 2 of this series, we will see if the Z-Slayer All Out Offense model can redeem itself with a little bit more of a favorable pitching matchup when the very solid Kip Wells takes on Bud Smith. Although the Z-Slayers relievers are in slightly better shape, both teams bullpens are badly in need of rest and will really need a solid performance from their ace starters.