Series Four: Opening Salvo!

MEL 0, STL 1 F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

MEL       0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0           

STL         0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              1              

W – Springer (1-0)                   L – Groom (0-1)

This was a pitching duel from the very start and lasted through eight innings, the tenure of both starters in this game. Darren Oliver was very sharp for the Cardinals and improved greatly over his first round performance. Josh Beckett was as steady as ever for Vindaloo’s Marauders, going tit-for-tat and only allowing four hits although he did intentionally walk Larry Walker SS three times. Aside from the pitching there really wasn’t much activity until the bottom of the ninth, where the Cardinals won the game on a Larry Walker 04 single. In his first postgame loss press conference, a rather gloomy Dr. Vindaloo did his best to see things in a positive light. “I’m veddy close to my wits end, my friend. I’m currently in the market to hire a new batting coach since there currently aren’t anymore 2003 edition players for me to sign. But say what you will, my friend, we are one of the best pitching squads in the league. And as long as we maintain that distinction, we will be competitive.” This loss effectively cancels his proposed Tikka Mesala party, but John Kruk has started a petition to go ahead with the party should the Marauders win game 2.  

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

TEN 6, RED 7 F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

TEN        0              0              0              0              3              0              0              3              0           

RED        1              2              3              0              0              0              0              0              1              

W – Takatsu (2-1)                   L – Shuey (0-1)                 

The Aces got to scoring early. Alfonso Soriano kicked things off with a sacrifice fly the scored Tom Goodwin in the first. Keith Ginter homered in another two runs in the second. Soriano struck again with a two run shot in the third, followed by a solo homer by Larry Walker 04. Red Clay Starter Josh Fogg had the Green Sox on lockdown until David Ortiz got his team back into the game by crushing a three run homerun in the fifth. Things quieted down again until the eighth when Ortiz stepped up to the plate again and hit another home run: his second of the game, his league leading fifth, and his double digit cracking tenth RBI of the year. Three batters later, and the game was tied at six after Doug Mientkiewicz homered in the tying run. Definitely an oversight by the Red Clay coaching staff to have kept the starter in so long in a tight game, although it certainly hadn’t felt like that up to this point. Both teams buckled down for extra innings by bringing in their long relievers. Shingo Takatsu worked out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth, preventing the winning run from coming in. Paul Shuey entered the game for the Green Sox and gave up a leadoff single to Alfonso Soriano. Taking advantage of Green Sox catcher Jorge Posada’s notoriously weak arm, Soriano stole both second and third bases. With one out, the Green Sox elected to walk Jason Giambi and set up the double play with Larry Walker 04. But Walker had other plans, sending a line drive deep into left centerfield which easily brought home Soriano to win the game. Stay tuned for Game 2, which should also prove to be another electric contest.

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

AXN 0, BOB 3 F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

AXN        0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0           

BOB       2              0              1              0              0              0              0              0              0              

W – Halladay (1-0)                   L – Wood 04 (0-2)                                     

For the first time in history, a rookie pitcher has tossed a 1 hitter in his Showdown debut. After fanning over a dozen batters, walking only a handful, and giving up just one single, Roy Halladay amazed the entire league with an absolutely dazzling performance against the Darkpaws last evening. In an emotional game where the crowd waited with bated breath to see if they were indeed witnessing the fourth 1 hitter in league history, the Bobians emerged with a solid victory over a division rival. The top of the batting order also looked the best it had all year, with Juan Pierre, Luis Aparacio and especially Ichiro Suzuki contributing to the win. Ichiro, who was only a single short of hitting for the cycle, accounted for all of his teams RBI’s in this game after a homerun in the first and a triple in the third. Ronde Barber is certainly establishing himself as a genius of a GM, but he and his coaching staff will be tested even further as the season goes on. Firstly, expectations need to be managed for the young rookie Halladay, who has certainly set the bar very high for himself in his first start. Additionally, the offense still is one of the weakest in the league statistically speaking, as they have failed to score more than three runs in all but one of their games. In any case, the small-ball style clubs tend to do well as the Bobian 4-2 record shows, and they have quite a bit of momentum heading into Game 2 in Alyxia. The Darkpaws, on the other hand, are in a dark place, so to speak. Despite being shaky in the early innings, starter Kerry Wood 04 did his best to keep up with Halladay and blanked the Bobians through seven. Despite his second consecutive good performance, he finds himself with an 0-2 record. Even Ken Griffey Jr. looked particularly hapless against the rookie Spartan, striking out twice. Despite the recent roster changes called by ALLIED_MASTERCOMPUTER, the entire Darkpaw establishment has the general feeling of the season starting to slip away from them.

The Kruk Bucket Episode 2: Challenge Accepted

Welcome to the second episode of the Kruk Bucket, with your host John Kruk. Today I’m in Tycoonia, on assignment to cover the first game of the series between the Tycoons and the Maxion Bombers. To be honest, I really wanted to be in Red Clay to cover their matchup against the Green Sox, which I think will ultimately be a much more entertaining series. But I changed my assignment at the last second because it appears that some of my comments about Mao’s team have not gone over so well here in Tycoonia. In particular, Mr. Randy Johnson took offense at my saying that he was getting older, since we are roughly the same age. Well, as it turns out, he’s publicly challenged me to an at bat. If I can get a hit off of him, Mr. Johnson will make a $1000 donation to a charity of my choice. If I can’t, then I need to make the donation. I think Randy needs to take things not so personally, but I’m up for any challenge. As a journalist I frequently need to put my money where my mouth is, and trust me, if you look at my dining out budget, that's a lot of money we are talking about. So before the game we’ll have our little contest. In my playing days, I had plenty of hits off Randy so I’m really not worried about it. I’m more concerned about lunch here in Tycoonia…gosh, I tell you, this town is not good for eats. Purina, Meow mix…none of the local delicacies ever really did anything for me. Ah! Here’s my roast beef club with chips and cole slaw…wow, that's great…look at that… Well thank goodness that the Bacon Boutique delivers! O.K., I’m ready now, so let’s dive into it.

1. LIN (+3): So you might be surprised that I’m giving the number 1 spot this week to JELLY QUEEN, but this team really is brilliant when things work well. Although they only split their series with St. Louis, I think they are developing an excellent team culture of manufacturing runs: excellent baserunning by Shannon Stewart and Brian Roberts; big hits from the heart of the lineup from Manny Ramirez, Rondell White, and Victor Martinez. The pitching has been solid, but the bullpen has really shined so far this year, led by Steve Karsay who's tied for the league lead in wins and appearances. I think this next series against the Z-Slayers is going to make or break them. If they can sweep or honorably split the two games, I think they may emerge as the leaders of Division 1.

2. RED (0): Despite just splitting their series with the lowly Alyxians, I’m going to keep the Aces at number 2. Everything about this team is going right, with the exception of number 1 starter Mark Buehrle, who has pitched in both losses for this team. I’m interested to see if this team will make a big name acquisition down the stretch, especially since they have a little bit of cap room to work with if they dropped their sixth arm in the bullpen. Although they’ve lost a little momentum since my last update, I still bank on them to be the Division 2 leaders.

3. MMD (-3): Bit of an ugly loss there against the Tycoons last week. Stunk like tofu, truth be told. And very worrying coming from reigning Cy Young Carl Pavano. But this kind of loss is probably just an anomaly, just a one off type of thing. The game before was an overtime heartbreaker so I don’t think it's a systemic thing. But it just goes to show you how fragile this team’s strategy is. If the pitching isn’t there, the offense isn’t really capable of getting them back into the game. Gregg Zaun has been ok batting in the third spot, but he’s not getting any support whatsoever from Miguel Tejada or Eric Chavez behind him. I’d be curious to see what happens if Meowth makes any move to shore this weakness up. I’m also curious to see if there are any other moves on the horizon regarding the coaching. Taklamente has been behaving very strangely lately; the coach’s latest antic? Banning the team from drinking anything cold. Needless to say, their sponsorship with Gatorade is now over.

4. TYC (+2): I’ve gotten all sorts of hate mail from Tycoon fans, but that's only a very small part of the reason why I’m ranking the team with the best record in the league at number 4. Yes, they sweeped Meow Meow Dui who is a good team in their own right, but one of those wins was just a one run squeak and the other was just Carl Pavano imploding. Pitching has been good, which is to be expected with Mao’s team, but the offense is nothing with the both Giambi brothers slumping. Fred McGriff has admirably picked up some of the slack with an tied for league leading 7 RBIs, but how can an on-base 9 card keep that up for any long period of time? Four wins is great and sure there is some talent there, but I see that’s mostly luck. And I’ll keep telling you the way I see it, no matter how much hate mail and Randy Johnson challenges I get. Definitely watch for our showdown next week; if I take Johnson long, I’ll even through in a few cans of Friskies…how’s that for Tycoon delicacies?

5. ZSY (0): Shock and awe. That’s basically how this team was designed; use the offense to bludgeon the opponent into submission. The plan so far this year has worked even better than expected, with the pitching coming up big, especially the starters who have pitched long enough so that the shaky bullpen really hasn’t had the opportunity to blow anything. If I had to pick a Cy Young right now, I’d probably go with Kip Wells, who is on pace for a career year. Their losses have come only in games where the offense struggles, which has become fewer and fewer of late as Albert Pujols and Ralph Kiner have come alive as of late. Jack Wilson is maybe the most valuable offseason acquisition so far this year and has performed very well batting third. If the pitching continues, that’s just a bonus for them, it’s really up to the offense with this one. I don’t think this next series against JELLY QUEEN is as important for the Z-Slayers as it is for the Lindsyans, but this is a big opportunity for a team to break out and take command of Division 1. Could very well be the Z-Slayers.

6. BOB (+1): This is another team that has potential to come out of next series atop Division 1, but I’m not too keen on their chances. They swept the Bombers in Series 3, but the Maxions are not particularly good this year and the games were really close ones. Thank goodness their clubhouse is catered with such great bacon bites, otherwise they might have nibbled off all ten of their fingernails. But I have to say, I think Ronde Barber made some good moves last week, as covered by my good friends Al Leiter and Butthead last week. It’s going to take some time for the rookies to get up to speed, but I’m in particular excited about Luis Aparicio – I think he’s got the biggest potential to get this offense going, especially at the top of the order. I tell you though, the pitching has been great so far with this record string of quality starts, you need to give those guys and David Cone A LOT of credit. But if you don’t have any run support, that's just like French fries without any salt…nobody really wants that. In any case, I’ll be rooting for the rookie Roy Halladay when he takes the mound this week. I’d like to see this streak continue and eventually for this team to make the playoffs. I’ll never be hoping against any excuses for a visit to Bobby’s Burger Palace.

7. TEN (-3): This team has a lot of potential, but I’m really disappointed by the inconsistency here. The lineup is packed with potential MVPs, but at least one of them always seems to be slumping miserably at any given time. David Ortiz has emerged so far as the most consistent bat here, so I would expect to maybe see him moved up in the lineup from this number 6 spot. They survived a difficult matchup against the Z-Slayers, but now they have an even more difficult one against the Aces. I’m expecting the Aces to come out on top of this one, and if they do in dominating fashion, I’m concerned this might blow this team off course as they voyage toward the playoffs.

8. QEY (0): Being swept by the Marauders has to be like finding someone put an olive in your empanada (with a pit): unexpected, disappointing, and probably going to make a mess as you try to pick it out with your fingers. That being said, the Warriors are a team that knows how to handle adversity and certainly has the veteran leadership to turn things around. Although there are on the outside of the four way logjam at the top of Division 1, they are only one game out which is nothing in the grand scheme of things at this point in the season. Pitching has not been as good as expected, especially the bullpen, but I really admire how this team manufactures runs and doesn’t rely on the longball. Thanks to excellent base running and key hits, the Warriors do an excellent job of bringing runners home. In fact they lead the league in runs scored off of sacrifice fly balls. Definitely like how this offense works with Ellis Burks and Geoff Jenkins providing the power, Frank Cattalonotto wayfaring around the bases, and the likes of Sean Casey and Edgardo Alfonzo driving him home.

9. STL (0): Same problem as the Warriors: inconsistency. The only constant has been Larry Walker, who has shredded up ever pitcher he’s faced so far this year, but he’s still an isolated threat depending on if the rest of the team shows up. When they are able to play ball, this team wins. When they don’t, they lose. It’s that simple. I don’t know if you can eat Cardinals, but Thanksgiving is coming up and lots of people are going to be looking to roast some big birds. Melmegetia comes to town next, and Dr. Vindaloo’s squad in particular is looking to advance a few steps into playoff contention.

10. MEL (+2): They swept the Warriors, but is it meaningful? If they fall on their faces in Game 1 against the Cardinals, I see all that momentum draining away like a platter of popcorn chicken at my last World Series party. Dr. Vindaloo has invited various people around the league (myself included) to an Indian food part if the team finishes this series at or above .500. So that makes me a little biased, but not really because I have no idea what Tikka Mesala tastes like. If they are going to start winning, the pitchers need some more run support. Adam Kennedy and Scott Rolen showed some signs of life last series, but Brandon Larson and Fred McGriff are really going to have to pick things up. Aside from the scrappy Orlando Palmeiro batting ninth, the bottom of their order has become the place where potential rallies go to die.

11. AXN (0): I’m going to applaud ALLIED_MASTERCOMPUTER’s calculations to finally act on their bullpen issues. Changing two relievers is a big move, but I think even just the symbolism of this will have a positive impact on the team. I’m not so sure however about their decision to take Marty Cordova back on. Don’t get me wrong, he’s an experienced veteran, but he’s always been very hit or miss throughout his career, and I’m not sure if that’s what the Darkpaws needed right now. The offense looked much improved with the lineup shake up last game, so we’ll see if that continues. I think most Darkpaw fans are eager to see how Ken Griffey Jr. performs this series against the Spartans. He’s been very quiet of late, and needs something to break out of that. He’s traditionally done quite well against Bobian pitchers, so that might just be what the doctor ordered.

12. MAX (-2): Four straight losses for the Bombers put them at the bottom of my rankings and the bottom of the standings. Not much going right here at the moment, but the pitching was a little better this time around against the Spartans. There have been some bright spots in the offense: Bengie “Don’t Make Fun of My Speed Molina and Delino “Delicious” Deshields and Corey “The Cock” Koskie. But the heart of the lineup has been a total black hole, erasing a lot of the baserunners that Ashburn and the end of the lineup have put on the board. A very tough matchup on the horizon against the Tycoons could easily be an early season knockout punch for this team.

End of Series 3

STL 1, LIN 5 F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

STL         0              0              0              1              0              0              0              0              0           

LIN         2              0              2              0              0              0              1              0              0              

W – Beckett (1-0)                   L – Smith (0-1)                                     

Before the game, the Lindsyans announced that former player Moises Alou will take over head coaching responsibilities for JELLY QUEEN DREAM TEAM. “Old Piss Hands”, as he was called back in the day, saw his team do everything right in this game. The offense got to scoring right away thanks to a Rondell White homerun in the first. White struck again with a big hit in the third, crushing a bases loaded double. On the other side, ace Josh Beckett pitched an excellent six innings, looking much more effective than he did in his first start against the Aces. When he did wander into trouble in the fifth, the defensive came up big, turning a very difficult double play. The good vibes continued into the late innings where Manny Ramirez notched his league leading 7^th RBI with a double and reliever Steve Karsay pitched 3 excellent innings to finish the game. JELLY QUEEN DREAM team is 3-0 when Karsay pitches, who is having an all-star caliber season, if not the best reliever in the league thus far. Alou was seen after the victory shaking hands with Jelly Bean, an extremely rare occurrence for the cat to let someone touch her paws. For the Cardinals, it shows just how inconsistent this team can be. The only offence came in the form of a Larry Walker solo shot (his league leading 3^rd) and the pitching was mediocre. They’ve got an interesting match-up next week against the ascendant Marauders, potentially an important series for these teams later on in the season.

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

TYC 9, MMD 2 F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

TYC        0              0              0              2              0              0              0              0              0           

MMD    4              0              3              0              0              1              0              1              0              

W – Johnson (1-0)                   L – Pavano (0-1)                                     

I don’t think anyone would have thought that this game would have been the biggest blowout of the year thus far, especially given that Game 1 of the series was an extra inning nailbiter. Reigning Cy Young winner Carl Pavano was absolutely shellacked: a first inning rally resulted in a Fred McGriff bases loaded double, a Joe Mauer RBI double, and a Grady Sizemore RBI single. Pavano struggled throughout the rest of the game, the real kill shot coming in the form of a Corey Koskie three run shot in the third. For the Tycoons, Randy Johnson pitched very well, completing the game and earning his first win. Strangely enough, Coach Taklamente never pulled Carl Pavano and had him pitch the rest of the game. When asked after the game as to why they never went to the bullpen, Taklamente bizarrely commented: “We had already lost by the third inning. So I just wanted to see Pavano suffer and burn in shame for the rest of the game. I still can’t believe we lost to some stupid dead cat.” An eerily Zachrian comment, if you ask me. This sweep at the hands of the Tycoons soils a previously perfect record, but is still good enough to hold a very tenuous first place lead in Division 1. We will see if they can hold and or expand that lead next series against intra-division rivals Queynos Warriors. As for the Tycoons, commentator John Kruk was quoted as saying that despite the sweep of a first place team, he’s still not a believer in the Tycoons. “Look, I’ve got a lot of respect for Meow Meow Dui, but that team can’t hit their way out of KFC 10 Piece bucket (Extra Crispy). Randy Johnson is getting old; clearly he doesn’t have the stuff that he used to. To be frank, I think they’ve gotten lucky. The Ghost of Mao is a smart guy and knows how to win championships, but I just don’t see them sustaining this down the stretch.” We’ll see if Kruk will have to "eat" his words again; the Tycoons travel back home for a favorable match-up against the Maxion Bombers.

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

ZSY 5, TEN 2 F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

ZSY         4              0              0              0              0              0              0              1              0           

TEN        0              0              0              0              0              2              0              0              0              

W – Wells (2-0)                   L – Piniero (0-1)                    S – Graves (2)

This one looked like it was going to get ugly, early. In the first, Piniero was knocked around for four runs, three of which came from a Ralph Kiner homerun and the last one coming from an Albert Pujols double. However, he was steady after that, pitching the rest of the game for the Green Sox and only giving up another run in the form of a Carl Crawford solo shot in the eighth. For the Z-Slayers, they can’t be happier with the performance of their ace Kip Wells, who if you remember, was only a 3^rd starter for the Elves last season. He’s simply been dominant in his first two starts and is the only pitcher in the league thus far to secure two quality starts and two wins. The Green Sox barely had any opportunities against him and only managed to score off of a David Ortiz homer that just barely cleared the right field fence (his league leading third, by the way). After Wells went eight strong, the Tuldarians handed the game over to the very reliable Danny Graves who closed out the game for his second save of the season. At 3-2, the Z-Slayers find themselves in a four way logjam in Division 1, separated only by intra division record.  Heading into the next intra division series, the Z-Slayers will have an opportunity to break through that logjam in a big way against the JELLY QUEEN DREAM TEAM.

Series 3, Part 3

QEY 0, MEL 3 F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

QEY        0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0           

MEL       0              1              0              0              1              0              1              0              0              

W – Moyer (1-1)                   L – Mulder (0-1)                  S – Koch (1)                   

Dr. Vindaloo’s Marauders sent ace Jamie Moyer to the mound seeking the teams second victory of the season after edging out the Warriors in Game 1 of Series 3. Moyer pitched his second quality start of the year, and then some: dominating for 8 innings, only giving up 4 hits and 1 walk. Only 1 Warrior reached scoring position the entire evening, off of a Frank Cattalonotto double (the only multibase hit that Moyer allowed). On the flip side, Queynos ace Mark Mulder also pitched well, but was burned by RBI doubles in the second, fifth, and seventh innings hit by Derek Jeter, Miguel Olivo, and Fred McGriff. While these were the first RBIs of the season for Olivo and McGriff, Derek Jeter continues his hot hitting (he had 2 doubles this game) after batting in the winning run in the previous game. Mulder ended up pitching the entire game, but was inevitably tagged with the loss without any run support. As Billy Koch closed out the game, Dr. Vindaloo was seen doing the Nick Jr. kid dance in his massive luxury box suite while blasting the song “How Do You Like Me Now?” For the second game in a row, he was not available postgame for an interview due to undisclosed reasons. Either way, he’s gotta be glad with his team’s sweep of the Warriors, which partially erases their awful start. The Warriors, on the other hand, perhaps underestimated the Marauders and dropped two games that they were probably counting on winning. They have a difficult task in the series ahead, facing off against Division 1 leaders Meow Meow Dui.

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

BOB 3, MAX 2       F/11

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9          10          11

BOB        0              1              0              1              0              0              0              0              0           0             1

MAX       0              0              0              0              1              0              0              0              1           0             0  

W – Groom (2-0)                   L – Lowe (0-1)                     Blown save – Dotel (1)               

Although it’s still early in the season, this was one of those absolutely gut wrenching games that can impact a team very heavily going forward. And not only in terms of morale; these are the kinds of games that might prove crucial when the time comes to start paying attention to records down the stretch. Like every single Bobian game so far, this one was a classic small ball pitching duel. Roy Halladay looked much sharper than he did in his first start, although he is certainly a little bit lucky that he only have up 2 runs during his nine innings of work; the Bobians frequently stranded runners in scoring position and overall saw their offensive frustrations continue. The former Darkpaw Raul Mondesi hit his first homerun of the season while Charles “Bases Loaded CJ” Johnson notched his third RBI of the season with a single in the fourth. Bobian rookies Luis Aparicio and Ichiro Suzuki had quiet debuts; Aparicio made several nice defensive plays and stole a couple of bases while Ichiro only managed a walk and a couple of strikeouts. Not an excellent performance, but definitely the top of the order is heading in the right direction. The Maxions were similarly stymied by Jamie Moyer, who pitched very strongly through seven, only surrendering a run in the form of a Derek Jeter solo shot. However, things got interesting in this game starting in the seventh. Moyer found himself in a bases loaded no out pickle, but thanks to a crucial double play masterfully worked his way out of it. The Bobians stranded runners in scoring position themselves in the eighth and ninth, while Octavio Dotel struggled in his second consecutive appearance in the eighth. Bobian coaching decided to send him out to the mound again in the ninth the capture the two inning save, but he again struggled to finish the inning. With runners on first and second with two outs, Maxion DH Fredgar Martinez smacked an RBI double sending the game to extra innings. In the top of the tenth the Bobians again loaded the bases but failed to score. However they did manage to mount a rally in the eleventh, anchored by a clutch double from their own Fredgar and clinched by Travis Hafner’s single that brought Juan Pierre home for the winning run. A heart breaking loss for the Bombers, who now find themselves with a four game losing streak after winning their first game in thrilling fashion against cross town rival Warriors. They will look to turn the ship around next week against Mao’s Tycoons. As for the Bobians, definitely an uplifting, if not harrying win. A whole host of pharmaceutical companies have now placed big money offers to sponsor the team, seeing huge opportunities for developing a clientele for heart medicine among Spartan fans, as they typically consume massive amounts of bacon and are frequently exposed to stressful one run ballgames. Not to be outdone, traditional Bobian sponsor Dulcolax has nearly tripled their offer to become official and sole health sponsor of the Spartans. We’ll see what Ronde Barber decides, but he’s got quite a bit on his plate as is. 

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

RED 2, AXN 5 F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

RED        0              0              0              0              0              1              0              1              0           

AXN       0              0              2              0              1              1              1              0              0              

W – Zito (1-0)                   L – Buerhle (0-1)                  S – Kolb (1)

It's amazing how refreshing a little stirring of  the pot can be. Marty Cordova replaced Mike Piazza at DH, but Coach Gorrister opted to tinker with the lineup for the first time, moving Luis Rivas from the number nine hitter to number two and Mike Cameron from number two to number five. The moves seemed to work well, as Rivas scored twice as well as notching his first RBI of the year. Cameron looked comfortable back in his number five spot, homering in the sixth. Cordova, however, grounded out into a double play twice.  The new editions to the bullpen both performed after Barry Zito pitched a very solid seven innings; Vladimir Nunez gave up a solo home run to Jason Giambi off his first career pitch, but was able to settle down afterwards thanks to a clutch double play. Danny Kolb entered in the ninth and dominated the Aces for a save in his first career appearance. Red Clay pitching was not so stellar, as Buehrle didn't finish the sixth. As a side note, the Aces turned the first triple play of the season in the bottom of the sixth off of a Mike Lieberthal ground ball. The Darkpaws will look for their second win of the season next week against the Spartans; the Aces will host the Green Sox in a tremendous Division 2 showdown.

Leit'em Up Roster Report Episode 1

AL: Hey all you Leitheads out there! Welcome to the first installment of the Leit’em Up Roster Report. I’m Al Leiter and I’m joined here by my colleague Butthead, of Beavis and Butthead fame. We will be dissecting for you all the latest roster moves across the league, of course always bringing our expert analysis to the table. An expert analysis, I might add, that includes someone who was quite successful in his own right as a pitcher, despite all the claims from the peanut gallery that I had an issue with giving up walks. If I did give up so many walks, I must have been pretty darn good to keep that career ERA so low, huh? How’s that for expertise! So rest assured my loyal Leitheads, no peanut gallery commentary on this show! Anyway Mr. Head, shall we dive right into this?

BH: Heh heh…eheh heh heh…this is cool.

AL: Right, very cool. Let’s start off with the Bobians, who had a bit of a makeover despite returning to their winning ways last week against the Bombers.

ADDED

SS Luis Aparicio

RF Ichiro Suzuki

P Roy Halladay

P Tom Glavine SS

P Chris Mears

DROPPED

SS Angel Berroa

RF Lance Berkman

P Greg Maddux

P Tom Glavine

P Mike Stanton

AL: Some of these moves were predictable, but quite frankly, some others were totally out of the blue. Aparicio and Suzuki were badly needed to jump start an offense that really struggled early on, especially the top of the order. Look for Aparicio to shine as an all-around solid player, hopefully someone who could anchor the offense in a similar fashion as how Richie Ashburn does for the Bombers. As for the pitching, it’s surprising to see Ronde Barber tinker with something that seems to have worked well thus far. Halladay and new Glavine are certainly fine pitchers, as they both usually give up walks rather than big hits. Maddux pitched well in his first appearance, but gave up the same number of homeruns as he did walks (1). We’ll see if he catches on as a coach or ends up becoming the franchise star of a new team down the road. Mike Stanton, who hadn’t made an appearance yet this season, seems to be a victim of salary cap issue, as his replacement Chris Mears tends to surrender hits instead of walks. As for the hitters, Berroa was tied for the team lead in RBI’s but the shortstop position was too good an opportunity to pass up for Aparicio. Berkman’s future, however, is perhaps the most murky, as he looked downright awful in his first four games in the league. It’s been reported that he’s been missing since he was cut, so our thoughts and prayers go out to the Berkman family and the rescue team assembled thus far.

BH: Uhhhhhhhh…like, maybe he just went for a walk…or something…ahuh huh huh.

AL: A WALK? *eye twitch* Erm, ah let’s move along to the Darkpaws.

ADDED

DH Marty Cordova

P Danny Kolb

P Vladimir Nunez

DROPPED

DH Mike Piazza

P Shigetoshi Hasegawa

P Mike Myers

AL: Folks, you probably saw this one coming. With the Alyxian bullpen blowing the first four games of the season, it was just a question of who would be the sacrificial lamb to make cap room to improve the bullpen. Eventually it was Mike Piazza who will be thrown out, as a reward for his hitting a three run homer in the last game against the Aces. In any case, Mike Lowell must be breathing a sigh of relief, as his much higher salary could have opened up other doors for Darkpaw management to make changes. But Coach Gorrister will go forward with largely the same team with an improved bullpen that can hopefully minimize damage by converting opposing homers and doubles into walks and outs. Also reunited with the Darkpaws is Marty Cordova, who played on the Darkpaw championship teams in Seasons 1 and 2. Cordova, a free agent after playing for the Z-Slayers for the last two seasons, has good power but is prone to going on bad streaks. We’ll see if these moves are enough to turn the team around or if further changes are needed.  

Lastly, we turn to the Tuldarian Z-Slayers, who picked up a discarded Darkpaw reliever. Mike Myers was not out of work for long, as several teams immediately tried to acquire him.

ADDED

P Mike Myers

DROPPED

P CJ Nitkowski

AL: The Z-Slayers came into the season with the weakest bullpen on paper, so you can see why they would clamor after a reliever discarded by another team that has bullpen issues. Although Myers has 3 control and Nitkowski only has 1, I’m not sure if this was a good move. You see, 18-19 is a walk for Nitkowski but only 18 is a walk for Myers. That's a really risky tradeoff, in opinion. What is your opinion, Mr. Head?

BH: Eheh…eheheh…uhhhhh…I think they both suck…eheheheheh.

AL: Well Leitheads, that just about covers it. Hope you enjoyed the first Leit’em Up Roster Report, keeping you up to date with all the wheeling and dealing across the league. From beautiful Red Clay, this is Al Leiter and Butthead signing off, and saying…”We’ll leave the LEIT on for you!”  

Series 3 continues, part 2

TEN 6, ZSY 5       F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

TEN         0              0              0              0              6              0              0              0              0           

ZSY          0              1              1              0              0              1              0              0              2   

W Thomson (1-0)                  L - D'Amico (0-1)                   S- Foulke (2)

Albert Pujols came alive for the Z-Slayers in this one, batting in three of the Z-Slayer runs this evening, his first of the season. Thanks to his solo homer in the second and RBI double in the third, Jeff D'Amico worked to maintain a lead for five innings, before the Green Sox struck. Third basemen Adrian Beltre shifted the lead to the Green Sox's favor with a three run homer. D'Amico struggled further in the inning, eventually giving up another 3 run shot to Steve Finley, also his first of the season.  Keeping this lead was a joint effort from the Green Sox pitching staff, using four pitchers in total; John Thomson pitched six innings, only giving up another solo shot to Jason Larue; Paul Shuey worked out of a seventh inning jam, while Danny Graves dominated the 8th in a 1-2-3 fashion. Closer Keith Foulke was brought in to close the game, but the Z-Slayers mounted a come back in the form of two solo homeruns, one from Jack Wilson and the second of the game from Pujols. But the comeback stalled one run short, and Foulke was able to collect his second save of the year.

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

AXN 3, RED 6       F/10

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9           10

AXN         3              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0            0

RED         0              0              1              0              2              0              0              0              0            3

W - Takatsu (1-1)                   L - Komiyama (0-1)

Red Clay starter Ramon Ortiz certainly looked rattled after Darkpaw DH Mike Piazza belted a 3 run homer in the top of the first. But gotta give him credit, he settled down beautifully after that, not allowing another run in six innings. The Aces offense was equally persistent, chipping away at the Darkpaw lead by manufacturing runs with clutch hits from the middle of their lineup. Ortiz and Darkpaw starter Matt Morris both earned the quality start, handing over a tie to their respective bullpens; you could see the Darkpaw management biting their fingernails once it dawned on them that this would be a battle of bullpens. Travis Harper navigated a scoreless seventh and eight for the Aces, while Mike Myers did the same for the Darkpaws. Two Japanese relievers took over in the ninth and attempted to pitch two innings. Takatsu kept the Darkpaws after a bit of trouble, striking out Mike Piazza with the bases loaded. Satoru Komiyama seemed to be doing comparatively better, cruising through the ninth and getting the first two outs straight away in the tenth. But after a Jose Cruz walk and a Tom Goodwin single, Miguel Tejada stepped up to the plate and smacked the game winning three run homer. Chalk up another Darkpaw loss coming from the bullpen; it's been said that roster changes are imminent. Who will be sacrificed to free up cap to improve the bullpen? Stay tuned.

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

MMD 1, TYC 1       F/12

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

MMD      0              0              0              0              1              0              0              0              0            0             0            0

TYC          0              1              0              0              0              0              0              0              0            0             0            1

W - Kolb (1-0)                         L- Foulke (0-1)

Although its the fourth starter slot, this match up certainly pits the two most pitching oriented teams against each other. In his first career start, Russ Ortiz pitched very well across seven innings, only getting into trouble in the second, where he gave up and RBI single to Chuck Knoblauch. His Tycoon counterpart, the aging veteran Albie Lopez, showed that he certainly has something left in the tank, going six strong innings giving up only 2 hits and 1 walk. Unfortunately for Meow Meow, one of those hits was a solo home run surrendered to RF Eric Chavez. The rest of the game was a magnificent display of pitching: Shingo Takatsu relieved Albie Lopez and pitched an excellent four scoreless innings of relief. Kevin Gregg took over for Ortiz and brought the game into extras. Both teams closers then entered the game, and both pitched two dominating innings. Coach Taklamente had a difficult decision to make in the bottom of the twelfth, but eventually opted to have Foulke attempt a third inning. With two outs and the speedy Chuck Knoblauch on second, reigning MVP Jeremy Giambi notched his first RBI of the season by driving home Knoblauch with a double. This hands Meow Meow Dui their first loss of the season, despite the all around excellent pitching performance for every one of their pitchers that has taken the mound. All eyes will be on the second game of this series, as the intriguing pitching match up of Carl Pavano vs. Randy Johnson takes center stage.