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)