Belated Week 4 Wrap...

The Wrap-Up (Week Four)

White Bear Bears beat Little Falls Polaks 3-0 (7-0, 6-0-2, 4-2-1)

The defending champs stopped the resurgent Polaks dead in their tracks with a resounding sweep. On the hitting side, White Bear absolutely dominated with a .294 batting average, a 34-24 RBI advantage and twice as many home runs.  Six different Bears homered and four of them had 6+ RBI with Miguel Cabrera (.450, 8 RBI) and Howie Kendrick (.375, 2 HR, 6 RBI) doing the heavy lifting. The Polaks meanwhile had five guys bat below .200 with superstar Mike Trout (.125, 1 RBI, 8 K) continuing his sophomore slump. The Polaks pitching was even worse with a 6.89 ERA and 1.46 WHIP. Jarrod Parker and Alberto Aceves giving up 13 runs in 9 innings definitely wasn’t part of the plan. The Bears pitching was adequate enough with a 4-2 record and a 3.43 ERA.  Hisashi Iwakuma (1.64 ERA, 19 K in 11 IP) continued to be the sleeper of the year and Chris Tillman (2.13 ERA in two starts) is starting to look like the prospect he once was. Mixed was close in every category, but the Bears had more games pitched and obviously took K/9 (9.24) to finish out the sweep. The Bears enjoy the best record in the league (10-2) and have opened up a four game lead on first place, while Little Falls hangs on to a one game playoff lead.

MVP- (It should probably just be Miggy, but I’m sick of him dominating) Hisashi Iwakuma (1-0, 1.64 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 19 K in 11 IP)

LVP- Mike Trout 3-24 (.125, 1 XBH, 1 RBI, 8 K)

Roesville Raiders beat Township Tomahawks 2-1 (4-3, 3-4, 3-3-1)

Home field advantage proved to be the difference as the Raiders and Tomahawks tied across the board, but Roesville Arena’s sold-out crowd willed the first place Raiders to a victory. Roesville’s pitching was once again dominant with a 4-1 record, a 1.62 ERA and 0.97 WHIP, but Township stole the category with more innings, more saves and more wins. Jim Johnson and Joe Nathan (who both look like high school shop teachers) each contributed three saves, and Felix Doubront contributed two wins and 16 K in 13 1/3 IP. Roesville really had nothing to complain about pitching-wise with Wei-Yen Chen giving 8 scoreless, Felix going 2-0 with only 1 ER in 14 IP, and Ogando putting up a 3.46 ERA in two starts. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains. Hitting was also really close with the Raiders slight BA advantage (.261-.258) and one extra HR proving to be the difference. Joe Mauer finally came down to earth (.091), but Roesville got great production from infielders Kyle Saeger (.346, 2 HR), Ian Kinsler (.333), Elvis Andrus (.357) and a returning Brett Lawrie (.250, 2 HR). On the Township side Jose Bautista’s 3 HR were wasted, while four guys hit under .200 (Swisher .133, Bautista .148, Jennings .182, and who the hell is Luis Jimenez .160). Mixed was a tie with Roesville taking most of the batting categories (28 more Abs and 10 less Ks) and the Tomahawks taking the pitching (16 appearances, 9.94 K/9). Despite five errors the Raiders win came from batting average against (.205) and a tie in BBs. If Township wants to point any fingers, Jiminez, Jennings, Bautista and De Aza struck out an astounding 35 times and only took 8 free bases in 97 at-bats. The Raiders continue their domination of the Frigid division, opening up a two-game lead over Dinkytown, while Township is already five games out of the playoff hunt.

MVP- Felix Hernandez 2-0 (0.64 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 10.29 K/9)

LVP- Luis Jiminez 4-25 (.160, 0 XBH, 1 R, 2 RBI, 9 K, 0 BB)

Hugo Hurt Locker beat Dinkytown Wildcats 2-1 (2-5, 4-2-1, 5-2)

The Hurt Locker pulled off a last second upset with two Indians pitchers (Pestano and Perez) entering late afternoon on Sunday to take both innings pitched and strikeouts and a 2-1 victory over the second place Wildcats. Hitting was pretty close across the board with Dinkytown’s batting average (.309) and steals (5) making the difference. Manny Machado (.433 and 2 steals)), Jason Kipnis (3 steals), Nelson Cruz (.360) and Billy Butler (.353) all had a hand in the victory. Hugo stars Albert Pujols (.111) and Prince Fielder (.125) combining to go 5-43 was definitely not in the blueprints. As mentioned before, the pitching was close enough to go down to the final game with Hugo edging the Wildcats out by 2 IP and 1 K. Having a 2.52 ERA didn’t hurt either. This was largely due to another Cy Young week from Matt Moore (2-0, 1.29 ERA, 0.64 WHIP, 11.57 K/9) and solid two-start weeks from Bud Norris (3.27 ERA in 11 IP) and Jason Vargas (3.00 ERA in 15 IP). His real-life teammate Jeremy Hellickson (7.50 ERA) didn’t help Dinkytown, nor did Derek Holland (6.39 ERA in 12.2 IP). On the mixed side the Wildcats were only able to take two pitching categories (.202 OPP BA and 9.00 K/9), with the Hurt Locker having big advantages in walks, strikeouts and errors. Mark Trumbo striking out 12 times and Prince Fielder walking 7 times played into the result. The win keeps Hugo right in the hunt, while Dinkytown continues to lag behind the big-city Roesville Raiders.

MVP- Matt Moore 2-0 (1.29 ERA, 0.64 WHIP, 18 K in 14 IP)

LVP- Albert Pujols 3-27 (.111 BA, 0 HR, 0 XBH, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB)

Midway Mets beat Twin City Brewers 2-1 (4-2-1, 2-4-1, 5-2)

The struggling Midway Mets finally grabbed a victory with a huge offensive week. Midway led the league with 38 runs, 35 RBI and 11 HR (which was actually a tie with Twin City). The Mets got two home runs from five different people which included a returning David Ortiz, who also had 9 RBI and a .478 batting average. Twin City was a victim of bad luck as they would have won offense against any other team. Edwin Encarnaccion (5 HR) had as many home runs as three other teams in the league. On the pitching side Twin City was dominant (2.34 ERA and 1.07 WHIP) with thirteen shutout innings and two wins from Ervin Santana and Yu Darvish. Midway’s Justin Masterson finally came down to earth with a 6.08 ERA in 13 innings. On the mixed side Midway had 40 extra at-bats and a solid batting average against (.215). Hopefully for Midway this is the start of a return to last year’s form.

MVP- David Ortiz 11/23 (.478, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 7 R)

LVP- Colby Rasmus 4/24 (.167,  0 HR, 2 RBI)

The Wrap-Up (Sweep Edition)

Week Three

Let me apologize to my loyal reader (Jeremy) for the lateness. Next week it'll be up right away. Anyhoo, in non-league news, look at the big balls on the Vikings. Love it. Also read this story: 

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/04/25/carjack-victim-recounts-his-harrowing-night/FX6CAnypP1NbrMuPFb6zTM/story.html

White Bear Bears beat Twin City Brewers 2-1 (4-3, 1-6, 5-1-1)

In the only non-sweep of the week the Bears continued to roll with a 2-1 victory over the Brewers. They took a close 4-3 hitting matchup with a 21-20 RBI win making the difference. White Bear’s big dogs Miggy, Beltre and Carlos Santana combined for 14 RBIs. Sadly the Brewers’ JP Arencibia’s 4 HRs were wasted. Twin Cities pitching was dominant with a 3-0 record, 1.82 ERA and 0.91 WHIP which eased them to a 6-1 victory in the category. Yu Darvish pitched seven shutout innings, Kuroda and Shields both only gave up one ER, and the highest ERA anyone on the Brewers staff put up was a 4.50 from Addison Reed. It wouldn’t have mattered much, but the Bears could have done without the putrid performances from Brett Anderson (4 ER in 1 IP) and Erik Bedard (8 ER in 4.1 IP). Despite a poor pitching performance, the Bears did what they always did: Strike a bunch of dudes out. Their 11.2 K/9 and 56 extra at-bats took mixed and put them on the winning side of the matchup.

MVP- Miguel Cabrera .423 (11/26, 1 HR, 5 RBI)

LVP- Justin Morneau  .176 (3/17, 0 R, 0 HR)

Little Falls Polaks beat Midway Mets 3-0 (7-0, 6-1, 5-0-2)

The Midway Mets continued their precipitous decline with an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the suddenly surging Polaks. Little Falls got 4 HR from Longoria and 9 RBI from Trout, which led to an easy 7-0 hitting victory. Five Mets hitting under the Mendoza line, zero steals, and a mere 16 RBI certainly didn’t help. On the pitching side the Polaks went 4-1 with a 3.05 ERA, which was enough to win a relatively close pitching matchup. Sexy newcomers Doug Fister and Mark Buehrle both had great two-start weeks adding up to a 2-0 record with a 2.00 ERA. The Mets did manage their one category victory, completely dominating saves 4-0. Silver linings. Mixed was again closer than the 18-1-3 final deficit looked, but nevertheless resulted in a Little Falls victory. Midway finds itself five games out of the playoffs, while Little Falls head into an important early season matchup against the Bears only one game behind.

MVP- Doug Fister 1-0 (14 IP, 1.29 ERA, 0.86 WHIP)

LVP- Will Middlebrooks .080 (2/25, 1 R, 0 XBH, 0 RBI, 11 K)

Roesville Raiders beat the Hugo Hurt Locker 3-0 (5-2, 5-2, 4-3)

Roesville continued to dominate with their third straight series victory, taking a close 14-8 sweep over the doormat Hurt Locker. The Raiders pitching continues to be the most unbeatable staff in the league throwing up a 2.89 ERA and 1.13 WHIP in 37.1 IP. Other than a bad Alexi Ogando start, every pitcher on the staff threw up a sub-3.00 ERA. On the Hugo side, Bud Norris and Jason Vargas gave up 11 ER in 4 IP. This week Roesville’s hitting gave just as good an effort as the pitching with a .340 BA. Five guys hit over .330, with Lorenzo Cain (.556), Joe Mauer (.588) and Kyle Saeger (.409) leading the charge. On the Hurt Locker side, five guys didn’t manage to hit over .200 with Josh Hamilton (1/21) continuing to disappoint. Mixed was closer than the rest, with Hugo managing almost forty more at-bats, but their 9.00 K/9 was somehow not good enough to beat the Raiders ridiculous 9.64. Striking out 50 times (21 alone from the Tigers’ Jackson and Fielder) didn’t help their cause. The Raiders improved to a league best 8-1 and are already resting pitchers for the playoffs, while Hugo fell to six games back in the postseason hunt.

MVP- Joe Mauer .588 (10/17, 1 HR, 3 R, 6 RBI, 4 BB)

LVP- Josh Hamilton .048 (1/21, 0 XBH, 0 RBI, 1 R, 1 E)

Dinkytown Wildcats beat the Township Tomahawks 3-1 (5-0-2, 4-1-2, 5-2)

Frequent trade partners Dinkytown and Township did battle with the Wildcats taking a closer-than-it-looks sweep. They had identical 3-1 records and Township had an impressive 2.75 ERA, but ex-Tomahawk Jeremy Hellickson was just too much, putting up a 1.29 ERA/0.57 WHIP/9.64 K per 9 in 14 IP. Hitting was close in most of the categories, but Dinkytown used a .289-.228 BA advantage and thirteen extra RBI to take the victory. The Wildcats got 12 RBI from the left side of their infield (Machado and Lowrie) and a .450 BA from Mark Trumbo. On the Township side, something called Jeff Keppinger had more eligible positions than hits (4 positions-1 hit in 25 at bats) and only one player (Swisher) had more than 3 RBI. In the spirit of fairness, it should be pointed out that the guy Hellickson was traded for (Desmond Jennings) had 2 HR and 2 SB. On the mixed side both teams struck out way too much (47 and 44), but Dinkytown continued to play flawless defense (0 E) and finally managed to make some hitters swing and miss (7.88 K/9).  The parity in the Frigid division (can we change the dumb names of these divisions ?) makes the NBA look like communist Russia as seasoned veterans Roesville and Dinkytown are 5-6 games up on playoff spots three weeks into the season.

MVP- Jeremy Hellickson 1-0 (1.29 ERA, 0.57 WHIP, 15 K in 14 IP, .133 opponent BA)

LVP- Jeff Keppinger .040 (1/25, 1 R, 3 RBI)

The Retro Wrap-Up (Week 2)

Sorry, for the delay in the standings and not having a wrap-up for last week. Had our last Timberwolves game at work. A bender followed. Here it is. I'll do one for week 3 soon.

Week Two

White Bear Bears beat Midway Mets 3-0 (6-1, 6-1, 6-1)

The defending champs kept on rolling with a complete domination of the struggling Midway Mets. Hitting was closer than the 6-1 score, but all the Mets could take was home runs. Other than Robinson Cano, the Mets infield was a disaster with Middlebrooks, Moustakas and Nunez combing to go 4-54. The Bears were without Carlos Santana for most of the week, but received a consistent effort from everyone else.  Neither team pitched very well with the Bears taking ERA 4.50-6.17. Other than Justin Masterson, the Mets didn’t receive a 6+ inning start from everyone. Chris Sale was particularly dreadful, giving up 8 runs in 4 1/3 innings. The Bears mistakenly thought it was 2010 with a Ubaldo Jimenez start, but David Price finally came back with a nice start, and they got 4.2 scoreless innings from their bullpen. The Bears defense was dreadful (6 errors) but took the rest of the mixed categories with an impressive 9.47 K/9. The two playoff teams from the Crisp division are definitely headed in opposite directions.

MVP- Miguel Cabrera .333 (9-27, 1 HR, 7 RBI, 1 SB (!))

LVP- Brandon Morrow 0-1 (9.2 IP, 6.52 ERA, 1.86 WHIP, 2.79 K/9)

Roesville Raiders beat Dinkytown Wildcats 2-1 (1-6, 6-0-1, 6-1)

In the other matchup between last year’s playoff teams, the Raiders took advantage of injuries to Jose Reyes and Jared Weaver and dominant pitching to take a relatively lopsided 2-1 victory. Roesville pitching was absolutely dominant with a 1.95 ERA/1.08 WHIP/7.157 K/9 in a remarkable 55.1 innings. They had eight starts with the two super-studs Verlander and Felix being the only one-start pitchers on the staff. Clay Buchholz finally looked like the one-time super prospect with a scoreless 15 innings and 2 wins. On the other side along with the Weaver injury, J.A. Happ looked absolutely hapless (see what I did there) and everyone else other than Derek Holland was just average. Neither team hit very well, but Dinkytown took everything but steals with Konerko breaking out of his slump (.333, 2 HR, 7 RBI) and 7 of their 9 hitters hitting .280 or higher. Roesville only had three hitters that could say the same. On the mixed side, the Raiders almost doubled the Wildcats in games pitched, dominated them in K/9 (7.15-5.85) and had an amazing .197 batting average against. The Raiders took a one-game lead in the Frigid division with a pitching performance for the ages.

MVP- Clay Buchholz 2-0 (0.00 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 19 K in 15 IP)

LVP- Nelson Cruz .154 (4-26, 1 RBI, 8 K)

Little Falls Polaks beat Twin City Brewers 2-1 (4-3, 1-6, 4-3)

The Polaks marched into Twin City field and took a surprising 2-1 road victory despite only taking 9 total categories. The Brewers definitely hit the ball harder taking extra-base hits, RBI and HR, with Franklin Guttierez hitting two dongs and Mark Reynolds knocking in seven runs. But Little Falls exhibited some small ball, getting on base (hit .279), swiping bags (5 steals to 2) and scoring runs (24-17). Top of the order guys Mike Trout (.292, 5 runs), Brett Gardner (.350, 5 runs) and Coco Crisp (.333, 5 runs, 4 SB) all contributed to the difference. Twin City took pitching with ease, with Little Falls putting up a 5.22 ERA thanks mostly to Jarrod Parker (13.50 ERA, 3.45 WHIP) and Mark Buerhle (10.38 ERA, 2.08 WHIP). Twin City got pure dominance from Ervin Santana (1-0, 16 IP, 11 K, 1.13 ERA, 1.19 WHIP) managing to cover up a pitiful performance from Joel Hanrahan (6 ER in 1.2 IP in three appearances). Little Falls took mixed 4-3 thanks to a high strikeout rate (8.59) and Twin City swinging at everything (6 BB in 179 AB). The result ended up putting both teams at 3-3, and with Midway facing a myriad of questions, these two might be fighting for a playoff spot when it’s all said and done.

MVP- Coco Crisp .333 (6-8, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 5 R, 4 SB, 3 BB)

LVP- Joel Hanrahan  0-1 (6 ER in 1.2 IP, 32.40 ERA)

Township Tomahawks beat Hugo Hurt Locker 2-1 (1-5-1, 7-0, 4-2-1)

In a matchup between a dominant Hugo offense and a dominant Township pitching staff, the Tomahawks did enough in the mixed categories to pick up a victory. You could make an argument that Township’s pitching was even better than Roesville’s mastery, with a 5-0 record, a 2.02 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in 53.1 innings. Anibal Sanchez (2-0, 14 IP, 1.93 ERA) pitched like a MAN, despite his name, and Jon Lester, CC Sabathia and R.A. Dickey did what they are supposed to do. Hugo’s pitching didn’t stand a chance no matter what they did but their 4.28 ERA could have been avoided if Josh Johnson (6 ER, 5 outs) would have just stayed on the team bus. Hugo’s hitting was better than anyone else’s in the league with a .352 BA, 8 HR and 31 RBI. Hamilton, Fielder and Pierzynski all had two HRs, and an amazing seven people hit over .300. Hugo’s two Detroit Tigers dominated with Prince Fielder (see below) being an absolute beast and Austin Jackson hitting .394 and tallying 10 runs. Mixed was closer than the other two categories, but once again the unhittable Township pitching (8.43 K/9, .207 BAA) was too much to handle. With Dinkytown’s team decimated with injuries, the status quo in the division could change, and this could prove to be a huge victory as the year progresses.

MVP- Usually always from the winning team, but come on…Prince Fielder .632 (12/19, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 9 BB)

LVP- Josh Johnson 0-1 (40.50 ERA, 1.1 IP)

The Wrap-Up

Week One

Dinkytown Wildcats beat the Hugo Hurt Locker 3-0 (5-2, 4-2-1, 4-3)

The Wildcats eked out a sweep thanks primarily to Adam Jones and some solid starting pitching. Dinkytown took hitting 5-2 though most of the categories were close. Sixteen doubles and a higher batting average were key to the victory. Hugo superstars Josh Hamilton and Yoenis Cespedes going 7-50 definitely didn’t help. Both teams pitched well but ten more innings and a couple more saves made the difference. As for mixed Dinkytown took the win by just being on the field more, which included both batters and pitchers. In unrelated news, Dinkytown’s horrific k/9 (5.47) was said to have led to both Terry Ryan and Ron Gardenhire being found masturbating in seperate incidents.

MVP- Adam Jones .538 (14/26, 9 R, 4 2B, 7 RBI, 1 SB)

LVP- Josh Hamilton .160 (4/25, 3 R, 2 RBI, 10 K)

Roesville Raiders beat the Township Tomahawks 3-0 (5-1-1, 4-2-1, 4-3)

The Raiders joined the Wildcats in reestablishing the division’s status quo with an easy sweep over the Tomahawks. Hitting really wasn’t even close as the Tomahawks could only muster a .186 average. Two former can’t miss Mariners prospects (Ackley and Montero) combined to go 5-42, which definitely didn’t help. Pitching was a little closer, but Felix and Verlander will just be the punctuation marks of the matchup as they each started twice and combined for a sub-3.00 ERA. Mixed was close too but Township striking out one extra time was the difference. De Aza and Swisher both striking out six times was both unsurprising and important.

MVP- Justin Verlander 1-1 (2.19 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 8.03 K/9)

LVP- R.A. Dickey 0-2 (8.44 ERA, 1.97 WHIP)

White Bear Bears beat Little Falls Polaks 2-1 (3-4, 5-0-2 4-3)

The defending champs had a tight matchup with Little Falls, pulling out a close 2-1 victory. Little Falls pitching was a disaster with a 7.20 ERA and 1.60 WHIP leading to an easy shutout pitching victory for the Bears. Six of Little Falls hitters hit over .300 and Coco Crisp looked like a stud, which helped seal hitting for the Polaks. Ryan Cook and Greg Holland both appeared three times which cued a mixed victory for the Bears.

MVP- Brett Anderson 1-1 (1.38 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 11.08 K/9)

LVP- Matt Harrison 0-2 (8.44 ERA, 1.97 WHIP)

Twin Cities Brewers beat Midway Mets 2-1 (4-2-1, 2-5, 4-3)

Twin Cities squeaked out the closest matchup of the week tying Midway 10.5 a piece, but taking two of the three categories. Alex Rios hit .364 and smacked three homers helping Twin Cities take hitting. Midway’s pitching was probably the best performance anyone in the league put up with a 6-0 record and a 2.50 ERA. Justin Masterson was masterful (see what I did there) with two wins and an 0.69 ERA, and Chris Sale was also undefeated with a 1.84 ERA. Mixed was where Twin Cities took down the victory with a 9.45 K/9 led by Yu Darvish (13.17 K/9) and James Shields (10.50 K/9).

MVP- Alex Rios .364 (3 HR, 2 SB, 5 RBI)

LVP- Robinson Cano .130 (3-23, 0 HR, O RBI, 0 XBH)

Roster Protection Updates

Hello WBLFBL-ers,
The following pages have been updated to reflect the 2013 Roster Protection.

Minor League Draft Order
Minor Leagues 2013
Draft Day 2013

Please review them as you feel necessary for the big draft day this Saturday, 3-23-2013 starting at 10:00 AM at Jeremy's House.

2013