Week Four Wrap-Up....

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

Little Falls pulled off an early season upset by taking two of three from the defending champion White Bear Bears.  The Polaks got home runs from seven of their nine players, and had sixteen more hits than the Bears. Future hall of famers Erick Aybar (.480), James Loney (.385) and Omar Infante (8 RBI) helped key the offensive victory. Little Falls also managed to take the mixed category with big advantages in at-bats, strikeouts and walks. The mixed win came despite the Bears insane 10.8 K/9 over 42.2 innings, which is even more amazing when you consider the same pitching staff had a 5.91 ERA. In fact the only pitcher on the whole staff that didn’t manage a K/9 of at least 9.0 was Michael Pineda who might have joined them if he hadn’t slathered his entire body in pine tar. Strikeouts along with a slight WHIP advantage (1.406-1.413) gave White Bear a slight pitching advantage, narrowly allowing them to avoid a sweep. Both teams had fairly horrible pitching weeks, but Danny Salazar did stand out for the Bears (14 K in 11.1 IP, 3.97 ERA). The underdog Polaks have moved to one game out of the playoffs while the Bears are now two games out of first place.

MVP: Erick Aybar (12/25, .480, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 1 SB)

LVP: Carlos Santana (1/20, .050, 0 RBI, 5 K)

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

Not only is this the latest into the season that the Matt Hugger-run Township Tomahawks have played a meaningful game; thanks to a 2-1 upset of Roesville they find themselves in first place of the whole division. Despite taking six losses, the Tomahawks managed 59 Ks in 56 IP and a 1.089 WHIP. Early season breakout candidate Garrett Richards (13 K in 13 IP, 2.08 ERA, 0.77 WHIP) starred for Township, while the Raiders obscene 6.75 ERA didn’t hurt. Current and past Twins Kyle Gibson (21.00 ERA) and Grant Balfour (16.88 ERA) did little to help the cause. On the offensive side Roesville continued to use their league-leading speed to pick up victories. The Raiders got 8 SB (Gardner 4 and Crisp 3) and 34 runs to help beat Township despite the Tomahawks’ 6-0 HR advantage (Albert Pujols reanimated corpse continues to impress with 3 HR). The pitching advantage help Township take the weekly matchup as it again took advantage of its superiror pitching with a 9.48 K/9 and a .204 opponent batting average. Township has taken both the week and first place from the Raiders, who are now one game out.

MVP: Garrett Richards (13 K in 13 IP, 2.08 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, .093 BAA)

LVP: Clay Buchholz (1-1, 9 ER and 4 K in 9.1 IP, 8.68 ERA, 1.82 WHIP, .317 BAA)

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

After recently being denied their third NCAA hockey title, the oversexed pissant would-be rioters turned their attention to fantasy baseball, where they helped the Wildcats use their homefield advantage to secure a very close victory. Dinkytown had a huge hitting week with 9 HR and 39 RBI, thanks in large part to Nelson Cruz (4 HR, 13 RBI) finding better, less-traceable roids and recent signee Chris Colabello (2 HR, 7 RBI). Hugo managed to take pitching 4-1-2 with a win in every category except wins. Rarely does a team get five pitching wins and lose all of the other categories but that’s exactly what happened to the Wildcats. Ex-Wildcat (and two time league runner-up) Jared Weaver made his old team pay with a solid six-inning start and John Lackey put down his fried chicken long enough to strike out 11 guys and only allowed one run in 8 IP. Somehow despite getting dominated in the pitching category, Dinkytown took victories in K/9 and BAA to tie the mixed category at home for a surprising 2-1 victory. The two teams stayed in the same place in the standings with the Wildcats two games out of the playoffs and Hugo one game back.

MVP: Nelson Cruz (8/27, .296, 4 HR, 13 RBI)

LVP: Mike Zunino (1/15, .067, 7 K)

Twin City Brewers beat Midway Mets 3-0 (5-2, 5-2, 5-2)

The Twin City Brewers used a dominating sweep over the struggling Midway squad to take over first place of the division. The Mets actually had a solid power week with 9 HR and 34 RBI thanks in large part to the contributions of Brett Lawrie (.333, 3 HR, 8 RBI). But those were the only two offensive categories they managed to win with Twin City having a consistent .295 average and 8 HRs of their own. James Shields (2-0, 2.08 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 15 K in 13 IP) and R.A. Dickey (1-0, 2.92 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 12 K in 12.1 IP) helped the Brewers take a closer-than-it-looks 5-2 pitching win. Almost all of the categories were close, so Shields’ and Dickey’s two starts each were just as important as their masterful performances. The Mets only got eleven more at-bats from Suzuki and Choo than they did from Tanka, which led to 35 less ABs, and Twin City had a 9.89 K/9 helping them take mixed to finish the sweep. Twin City now has a two-game lead in the division, while the Mets need to start winning soon if they don’t want 2014 to be another lost season.

MVP: James Shields (2-0, 2.08 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 15 K in 13 IP)

LVP: Mark Buehrle (0-1, 10.13 ERA, 2.81 WHIP, 12 H and 6 ER in 5.1 IP)