I am sure I have said this before, but this has been a very frustrating season so far. In more ways than one. Right now, I just want it to end. I have averaged about one five game series per 10 days, and feel as though it has been at a snail's pace (I am 11-13 in my series' thus far, as I haven't yet figured out how to split a 5 game series!), yet I am one of the leaders in games played. Frustrating because the league let the summer slip away with hardly any games being played (hello, it is called the "Summer League"), and now at times seems to be frantically trying to make up for that, yet still not many games are played. Frustrating because my team is four games under .500, and I still feel as though I have one of the most talented (read: balanced) teams, certainly enough talent to be in the playoffs.
You know, when you come away from a season thinking your team should have been named the Cubs, that you have had a bad year. This year, more than any other, that Draft Notes guy should rip me a new one. Looking back at the draft, half of my team was poor picks. The fact that I am even close to the playoffs is a joke. My team has been a study in contrasts so far. I am somewhat running away with the dubious distinction of scoring the most runs, yet have been shut out 5 times, including by such stalwarts as Reynolds (6), and Weaver (7). Being shutout five times is right about on par with the league average, but it makes me think about this: Why can't my crappy pitchers have a shutout? If these guys got them against one of the better offensive teams, why can't my guys get one against a lesser offensive team? Let's even forget shutouts for a minute (although my pitcher Moyer has zero, and was the 5th starter taken). Brad Radke can't even get a quality start (he has 1 in 24 starts). I am not saying that he should be a stud pitcher or anything, just that it would be nice to be able to rest my bullpen....once.
Speaking of bullpens.......do I really have the league's worst? Granted I knew that I was weakening it when I traded away Rivera, but I couldn't have foreseen dropping all the way down to 9th (If anyone has the 40 game org, they could check--I think I was 3rd or 4th). If I sound like I am bitching, well, I am probably just venting out my frustrations. Wins aren't coming as easily as they used to for me, and I am rethinking my whole drafting strategy, and how I manage those poor souls that end up on my team. But enough about me, let's see what else is up with the SL......
From the start, the Molson Lights has been eerily similar to last year. At the Winter Meetings, we discovered Greg, Keith and Graham would be sharing a division for the 2nd straight year. Now there are even more similarities, as Greg has a 9.5 game lead with about 30 to go. It would seem as though Greg could have a runaway on his hands, but did he already blow his wad? Felix Rodriguez has been positively brilliant thus far, with his 1.78 ERA, and having a win or save in about 50% of Greg's wins. He is down to 14 IP remaining for the year. I never question the genius that is Greg, I am just saying that he made a gamble, and it will be exciting to see how it turns out. I can't say anything bad about Keith, as he and I have uncannily similar offensive numbers. He leads in ERA, which is understandable, as he is a master at getting the most out of his staff. He is 2nd in fielding, fighting Bob for the lead the whole season, which I cannot understand, as Bob's is much better, and Keith's is nothing spectacular. I don't know if Graham made a calculated gamble (or just a miscalculation), but both IRod and Drew have much limited time left. Neither one can play even 50% of Graham's remaining games. He is only 4.5 behind Keith for the Wild Card, but it will be hard to make up those games without the services of those two key players. And, oh by the way, Drew has been one of the leagues top five hitters all year so far.
In the Cousin Chad, Bob has been a runaway freight train all season long. Right now Dave, and the ghost of Joe (I never thought I would refer to Steve as the ghost of anything!), are each about 10 games back. Dave still has 90 to play, so anything could still happen, but he would have to leapfrog two strong teams to get there. How has Bob done it? He is first in fielding, and rightfully so. He has massaged his pitching staff to a 4th place spot up to this point, which many prognosticators, including myself, are very surprised by, and are wondering if it will continue. If anything topples him, it may be his own pitching staff. His offense will continue to do its thing; hit some big homers, and steal some big bases. Steve has been a godsend to the league this year. He really solved a lot of problems for us, and we are in such indebtedness to him. Hopefully it didn't cost him future participation in the league. He inherited a Joe team, that had both strenghts and weaknesses. The best starting staff in the league. A core of four monster offensive players. Joe's draft, rounds 1-12 was spectacular, but after that was not much. If anything is noteworthy right now about this team, it is that they are last in runs per game. Dave is a mystery to me. This is his third year in the league, and both years he finished just under .500. Well guess where he is en route to finishing this year. He has Bonds, Alou and Pujols performing well for him offensively, but that is about it. And his team is last in ERA. But, like I said, with so many games left, anything could happen, and like Bob, if his pitching turns around, his team could make a move. Having Bonds to fall back on is a good thing (and he has only warranted 14 intentionally passes in Dave's 75 games so far).
The Swinea Schwinea division should have been named the Klein division from the start. Want to talk about what a weird season it has been? Ken, with the league's best running game went 16-4 against Graham, who has the league's best catcher. He is 31-39 against the rest of us. In my career, I have dominated both Bob and Graham. This year I am 2 below .500 vs. those two. I am 4 behind Ken, but with us having 16 games remaining against each other, it could probably still go either way (like Steve). Matt took his lumps early, like all rookies do, but as of late, has started to come around. His forte? He owns his division, going 15-10 against me and Ken, but only 13-37 against everyone else. He too, has many games remaining, but needs to make up 10.5 for the wild card, or 11.5 for the division title, and either would be a difficult task.
I apologize if this all seems quite jaded. I think a year ago this week, we were having the playoffs, and quite honestly I wish we were there now. But the remedy to restore my faith, quite simply, is to get there. According to Keith, we have 269 games left. He has optimistically scheduled 110 of them for the next 7-10 days. I don't know how reasonable it is, but let us please at least make the effort. And then keep it going after that. I wrote most of this yesterday, but today some things came to my attention that have been keeping me in stitches all day. Bob and Steve on a road trip together? I would love to be a fly on the wall in that car! Steve and Dave playing on Dave's laptop? Just think of the millions of possibilities that could happen there. I picture them at Bennigan's, with Steve calling "hit and run" through a mouthful of club sandwich, and after his eighth Mike's Hard Lemonade. Then they go to Comiskey, and sit in the parking lot, so Steve feels as though he has the home field advantage. Finally they play some on the Metra ride home (or even better, the 'El'), and Steve is so loud, they get kicked off. And the whole time this is going on, Keith is updating his website to where they are. During the Metra ride, he is changing the city they are in like every couple of minutes.
To make a long story short, LETS PLAY BALL!!