The Budchuggers and the Rocky Ones are in a tight battle for first, with the All-Star break coming up in a couple of weeks. I’m up by two at the moment, but the ‘chuggers are closing in on a couple of catgories. I am going to make a move to replace Harvey who is now of 60 day DL and probably won’t be back this season (at least as far as I am concerned.)

Looks like two of the five projected starters for Sunday have been pushed back to Monday, where they can join good ol’ Kenny Rogers for a three way start. Of course, this means Colon and Rogers are going against each other.

Note how the players leverage their athletic abilities to enhance their negotiation position:

06.22 The agent for Kenny Rogers said yesterday he has entered into discussions with the Rangers regarding a contract extension for his client, according to the Star-Telegram. Agent Scott Boras said Rogers is seeking a multi-year deal

From 6.22 box score:
Name Tm IP H R ER BB SO BF ERA WHIP

Kenny Rogers Tex 3.3 10 6 6 3 0 24 16.36 3.94

I still need to figure out how to tab or columnate this Word Press text.

Looks Like Kenny Rogers decided to join his compatriots from the previous day and give up 6 earned runs in 3-1/3 innings. I think the only reason my ERA for the week isn’t over 9 (that’s really, really, really bad) is because my relief committee has picked up an inning or two without giving up a run; they have even picked up a save along the way.

So I ended up the night
25-1/3 IP
33 Hits
28 Runs
22 Earned Runs
10 Walks
21 stiKeouts
123 Batters Faced
7.80 ERA
1.69 WHIP

Luckily, my 5th starter only allowed 3 runs and got the win. Should be a repeat next Sunday when the same five are still projected to start.

Although I am a bit leery about that start projection service. It shows Meche starting Friday against Detroit when his team is playing the Padres. Yes, it’s another mixed league weekend.

79 Points, so I went back into first. For the time being.

Just checked in on my stats for the evening. Saw 25 Runs given up in 18 1/3 innings. Fortunately, only 19 of them were earned. That was between 4 starting pitchers. I supppose I should consider myself lucky that they were all removed from their games before they let more than 6-7 runs score. Turns out I still have one more start, just getting underway. How bad the damage will be in the morning?

Looks like I have 12 starts projected for the week. I wonder how many will still be projected after tonight’s debacle sets in?

The Budchuggers certainly had a good night, gaining 6 points in the standings to pass me into first place by 1.5 points. I lost half a point when the ‘chuggers tied me for first in runs. So now, I have 1 more HR than them, tied in runs, 2 more RBI than them, I’m .003 ahead in average, and .07 ahead in ERA. The other categories are pretty wide open, with others between us. So, except for Runs, the ‘chugggers didn’t gain any points at my expense. But, it looks like that will change in the next week or so.

The point swing becomes much more pronounced when your opponent gains a point while you lose one.

I did get to reactivate Millwood today, dropping Williams back into the pool. Looks like I have 10 starts projected for the week. Got 4 wins on 7 starts last week.

I sure took a pounding this week. All over. Not sure what happened. HR below LA. RBI below LA. someone had 9 wins this week. Ks Below LA, lost a couple of points there. ERA worse the LAA and WHIP worse the LAA, losing a couple more points in WHIP.

Compared to the past 11 weeks, the League numbers were signifigantly better in all offensive categories except SB and in all pitching categories except saves. The league seems to average 20 saves a week( 2 per team), no matter what. And I just didn’t keep pace with them.

HR – 7 ; LA – 8.5 : PTS 8
R – 40 ; LA – 36.7 : PTS 10
RBI – 31 ; LA – 35.9 : PTS 9
AVG – 0.288 ; LAA – 0.288 : PTS 9
SB – 5 ; LA – 3.8 : PTS 9
W – 4 ; LA – 4.2 : PTS 9
S – 1 ; LA – 2.0 : PTS 3
K – 35 ; LA – 37.7 : PTS 6
ERA – 3.38 ; LAA – 3.30 : PTS 9
WHIP – 1.28 ; LAA – 1.23 : PTS 5

Lost the lead in RBI but regained it in Runs. Something is happening in the pitching ranks, I gained points in ERA even though my ERA was higher than the League Average.

Only 3 wins in 8 starts. I hope these guys go back to playing AL teams now. Nope, they’re still playing NL teams this week. And I only have 7 starts projected for this week. Would be 8, because Millwood is scheduled for Wednesday, but he is still on DL this morning so I can’t activate him this week. The good side is that I don’t have to worry if he gets shelled after coming off DL. The downside is that Millwood is an ex-NL pitcher and he knows how to pitch to them.

HR – 9 ; LA – 8.0 : PTS 8
R – 43 ; LA – 33.9 : PTS 10
RBI – 33 ; LA – 32.9 : PTS 9.5
AVG – 0.274 ; LAA – 0.275 : PTS 8
SB – 2 ; LA – 2.7 : PTS 9
W – 3 ; LA – 2.6 : PTS 10
S – 2 ; LA – 1.9 : PTS 3.5
K – 46 ; LA – 35.0 : PTS 8
ERA – 4.25 ; LAA – 4.02 : PTS 9
WHIP – 1.40 ; LAA – 1.30 : PTS 7

What to make of it all. HR below LA; Pts dropping. Runs second worst in league; Pts dropping. RBI below LA; margin is very narrow right now. Average was second best; that’s good. SB above average; still holding on there.

Wins did good; 5 in 8 starts. Saves working better than expected, although the Chicago relief crew had a rough week. Even though Ks are above league average, they still aren’t keeping up withthe other big number guys and I am losing serious ground here. ERA is better than average and WHIP is worse than average but I don’t seem to be losing ground in these categories.

HR – 7 ; LA – 7.9 : PTS 8
R – 24 ; LA – 35.5 : PTS 9
RBI – 34 ; LA – 35.5 : PTS 10
AVG – 0.295 ; LAA – 0.276 : PTS 8
SB – 6 ; LA – 4.2 : PTS 9
W – 5 ; LA – 3.1 : PTS 10
S – 2 ; LA – 1.5 : PTS 3
K – 39 ; LA – 36.4 : PTS 6
ERA – 3.59 ; LAA – 4.52 : PTS 8
WHIP – 1.46 ; LAA – 1.36 : PTS 7