Extra Innings

Of course I’m kidding about Berkman cheating… Selig’s new drug testing is foolproof. But props goes to Berkman on his great season so far. His average is off the charts and he’s having a great overall season similar to Derek Lee’s 2005 campaign. The problem, however, is that the Astros are still under .500 and don’t seem like they will be able to overtake the Cubs and the surprising Cardinals (I’ll write about some of the surprises this season in the coming days). But good win by the Astros and another pitful loss by the Dodgers. The injury bug continues to bite as the only two positions that haven’t had issues this season are 1st base and catcher.

The good: Watching Lance’s remarkable season.

The bad: The names Torre writes on the lineup card.

The ugly: The Dodger outfield. Once thought of being overcrowded, we have Repko and Young out there. Bad.

Great pitching performances the past two days by the Dodgers and Angels. Both games resulted in a 1-0 victory for both sides. Of course, the game that everyone is going to remember and talk about is the “unofficial” no-hitter by the Angels. The no-hitter was “unofficial” because the Dodgers didn’t need to bat in the 9th inning with them winning 1-0 and all. The only score of the game came due to an error by Jered Weaver on a slow roller hit by Matt Kemp. This lead to Kemp stealing 2nd and advancing to 3rd on a errant throw by Mathis. Kemp scored on a sac fly by Dewitt. Great game called by Vin Scully as he pointed out some of the flaws in Weaver’s game. Weaver was especially prone to stolen bases and is also a fly ball pitcher. Both weaknesses in Weaver’s game led to his loss in the no-hitter.

The good: Pitchers ruled the weekend freeway series. Props to Weaver, Lackey, Billingsley, and Lowe. Although I do have to mention that both offenses blow hard.

The bad:  Losing when you’ve thrown a no-hitter.

The ugly:  Maple bats. They are dangerous and don’t seem to help Dodger and Angel hitters at all.

As the 1st half of the season closes, lets take a look at some guys that may turn out to be steals in the second half that I’m looking to target.

1. Fausto Carmona. I love sinker ballers especially in leagues that reward fro CG’s. Carmona’s numbers are better across the board in the second half and it looks like Cleveland is a major pitchers park this year.

2. Garrett Atkins. Im not sure how low you can get him for, but I’m expecting big things from him in the second half. Even if Holliday is traded, something that I’m certain won’t happen this year, Atkins will become the main man in the middle of the lineup and will produce as hes shown in the second half over past years. In fact, I would try to get any one of those Rockies.

3. Robinson Cano. I think this is an obvious one, although I’m not big on going for 2nd basemen as I believe that you can rotate the middle and lower tier. But the Yankees always seem to stick  around in the 2nd half and Cano will bounce back.

4. Chad Billingsly. I believe he’s finally got it. The K’s are there, the pitch count may be a bit high, but he’s the real deal. Hope you can still get him for a discount after 3 straight wins.

Some thoughts on interleague rivalries and the Dodgers and Angels “rivalry.”

Compared to other cross town rivalries such as the teams in Chicago and New York, the Dodger and Angels have absolutely nothing on them. Some possible reasons as to why it isn’t nearly as intense.

So Cal is way too relaxed. The crowds at both stadiums are way too easygoing. At Dodger stadium they are too busy gobbling down all you can eat Dodger Dogs while the Angel fans are too busy being amused at the Rally Monkey. Speaking of the Rally Monkey, New Yorkers and Chi-town fans would murder that thing if their team ever brought out such as lame mascot.

We don’t play in the same city. Contrary to what Arte believes, the Dodgers are “of LA” while the Angels are “of Anaheim.” Heck sometimes the traffic is so bad, the Angels are “closer” to the Padres. Maybe they can be called the Los Angeles Angels of San Diego from Anaheim.

The Angels own the Dodgers. Yea I don’t have a problem admitting it. The Angels just simply dominate the Dodgers in interleague play. The Halos have won 9 of the last 11 meetings and have scored almost twice as many runs as the Blue Crew over this span. The Angels play a brand of National League ball that is brought from Sosh. In fact, we could just say that the Angels and Dodgers are the same team except the Angels have better players.

Lets compare:

Catcher: Martin v. Mathis/Napoli. Martin takes the cake here as hes going to be a yearly all-star.

1st: Loney v Kotchman. Even as both players are essentially the same contact but low power hitters.

2nd: Kent v Kendrick. Even as both are clutch hitters but Kent sucks on D and Kendrick sucks on the DL.

3rd: Dewitt/Laroche v Figgins. Figgins has shown to be a solid player day in and day out. Absolutely don’t know about Dewitt and Laroches yet.

SS: Blank v Blank. Berroa brings nothing. Furcal has never been consistent as he’s shown he can get hot and go cold or be injured as is the present case. The Angels platoon Izturis and Aybar, siblings to other major leagues. But they are scrappy and agressive players that fit Sosh’s game.

OF: Kemp, Pierre, Ethier v Vlad, Hunter, Anderson. Here’s the difference maker. All 3 Angel OFs are consistent, solid, and proven performers while the Dodgers have unknowns.

Pitching: Dodger pitching is in disarray while the Angel pitching has supported their team. It’s as simple as that.

Very intriguing draft this year especially the first 15 or so picks and the trades that were made. Some quick thoughts on the winners and losers of the draft.

Winner: Portland and Bayless. I think the Blazers are building an incredible team there. They have amazing talent in Roy, Oden, and now Bayless. Like a solidly built team, they have an all around player maker and a gifted big man. Now all they need is a solid and composed point. Hopefully Bayless comes through.

Winner: Milwakee. I don’t know how they did it but they replaced a wrong fit in Yi with a great athlete in Alexander and pulled out a solid player in Richard jefferson. I know that leaves them little cap space to improve the team through free agency, but seriously who wants to come to Milwakee? Might as well get a capable all-star player for two stiffs.

Winner: Beasley and Heat. I think Riles knows whats hes doing and can the most out of a Beasley with a chip on his shoulder. He will be more focused and work harder that way.

Loser: Kevin Love. Hes a great guy and skilled center, but is no way dominant enough to save the Grizzlies. Love is going to be stuck on basketball’s equivalent to the lovable Cubs, except they have horrible ownership and no tradition at all. Good luck to Kevin.

UPDATE: Looks like OJ is the loser here. He’s a good talent and has the ability to turn a team around, but Im not so sure hes going to stick around Memphis for his entire career. Great news for Kevin as he will be teamed with Jefferson, Miller, and Randy foye, things are looking good for that team. He’s a great complementary player and will succeed with the Wolves.

Loser: Gallinari. No way an unknown like him can succeed in New York. It just doesn’t work out.

Loser: Bobcats. I still don’t know what they are doing. Hiring Larry Brown then drafting a young point and a guy that will be stashed over seas? Aug might be good, but its going to be awhile.

Great game by Eric Stults today for the complete game shutout. Like every solid outing by a pitcher, he got ahead in the count and the control was amazing. Stults at his full potential is compared to a Tom Glavine, although I doubt if he can get there. He’s definitely shown that he has composure and focus. His major league debut resulted in a solid win and his previous 2 starts have been very promising. The only problem is that he’s always been overshadowed by other lefty prospects such as Clayton Kershaw. But on to the game.

MVP: Eric Stults.

The good: The Dodger running game absolutely ran circles around the young Gavin Floyd. Even the ugliest runner in James Loney stole a base.

The bad and ugly: Stults made up for any of them.

Ah… the Angels. How do they do it? Well first off they have a former Dodger in Sosh. Man, we should have handed the job to Sosh instead of going through Davey Johnson, Jim Tracy, and Grady Little. Its amazing what the instability that occurred after the transfer from the O’malleys to FOX did to the Dodgers. We lost Sosh and Vlad to the Angels because of the indecision and turmoil that occurred during that time. Imagine what these past years would have been like. We probably wouldn’t run through so many GM’s as well because we would actually be good!

But kudos to the Angels for being one of the premier franchises in this decade. I know they only won one world series but they have been consistent contenders every year. They have done a great job building upon a solid foundation and plugging in gritty players that match their aggressive style, along with a solid defense up the middle.

Good luck to them this season.

So this will be my first shot at proclaiming myself a “fantasy expert.” I’ll mainly focus on the H2H fantasy baseball format as there seems to be much less written specifically for H2H. You can find roto advice from ESPN, Yahoo, SportingNews, Foxsports, Sportsline, and SI. As for H2H, I prefer it, especially in yearly leagues. In a roto format, usually you can tell be 1/3 of the season whether you have a shot or not of winning. Most managers usually desert their teams and the league becomes stale. I suggest playing keeper or dynasty roto leagues to keep people involved. As for H2H, I had a couple of points of emphasis going into the season. Lets see how they panned out.

Don’t bother drafting a catcher until the last round. I’ve always found in a H2H format where the stat sheet is wiped clean every week, drafting a catcher early was a huge risk that doesn’t really pay off based on the small increase in production you get each week. And so far, the only catcher that has been somewhat productive is McCann. Martin’s been nice but I doubt he’s won any H2H categories for many teams. These catchers are nice in the roto format as their stats accumulate over the season, but I’ll pass in H2H. Instead you can rotate catchers size Suzuki, Navarro, or even Shoppach.

Draft Utley or wait to the end for a 2nd bagger. I think this strategy is somewhat debatable. It would seem that Uggla and Kinsler have joined Utley, Upton, and Phillips in the upper eschalon. So you would be missing out on some solid production from a weak position if you didn’t get any of the guys in between. Although in most of my leagues I either have Pedroia or Kelly Johnson and they have around 7 homers/ .280 avg/ 40 runs scored.  So its not like I’m getting nothing from the postion. I anticipated Upton and Phillips to be somewhat mediocre, and they have been but didn’t see Uggla and Kinsler rising.

Draft a shortstop, 3rd baseman, and OF in the first 3 rounds. I believed these 3 positions to have the greatest drop in production after the first 3 rounds so I targeted these players early. In most of my leagues I pushed for Hanley or got Tulowitzski. So far, it looks like almost every shortstop has been a bust accept for Hanley and Reyes. So if your SS sucks don’t worry too much as the gap with the next team isn’t too much. If you have Hanley or Reyes. Congrats.

As for 3rd base, I think I am dead on. After Aramis Ramirez on the draft board, you have players like Reynolds, Crede, or Youkilis. They have some decent stats, but are no where consistent producers like the upper 3rd basemen. I have Aramis in the majority of my teams and am glad I took him in the 3rd round before the huge drop off.

As for OF, I think there have been huge surprises this year in Hamilton, McLouth, Ludwick, and Quentin. What I orignally though was a weaker position than most year has turned up some amazing sleepers. I guess you just never know about the OF as there are more players playing it, thus increasing the possibility of breakout players.

Nice comeback attempt by the Dodgers after Cliff Lee left the game. Too bad they couldn’t come up with the clutch hits.

The good: Nice to see that the Dodgers did not fold in the tent. Troncoso did a nice job keeping the game within reach and the Dodgers staged a nice comeback to tie.

The bad: Except for Troncoso, the bullpens in the game were horrible. Bad outing by Saito, but I’m not going to worry to much about him. I do have one thought about using bullpens however. Cliff Lee was absolutely dominating the Dodgers and Wedge pulled him after 104 pitches leading 4-0. I think most of the time, this backfires, especially when the opposing team has shown to be clueless so far. Better to stay with your guy until he at least gives up a run. Plus, wouldn’t it be possible for relievers to pitch more than one inning? I know they aren’t trained to do so, but I think that major league relievers should be extended to pitch at least 2 innings just like the old days.

The ugly: Wow was it boiling in LA today. We were pushing 100 degrees in some spots.

A good game by the Blue Crew today, some quick observations and thoughts:

The good: Kemp broke out of his slump and didn’t K against Harang, but Harang’s problem is that he serves his pitches on a platter for hitters. Kemp still needs to learn how to hit against pitchers who know how to pitch and fool him. Stults had a good outing, much better than what Penny can muster up these days.

The bad: We all know Jeff Kent blows at defense. Before Loney became a mainstay at 1st, I proposed moving Kent there but nowadays, I think we should just get rid of Kent. I am a firm believer in having a solid defense up the middle and Kent just doesn’t cut it.

The ugly: Furcal, Kuroda, Penny, Schmidt, Garciaparra, Jones. While we can blame the injury bug for the huge DL grocery list, all the players on the list are either old, have limited athleticism, or inconsistent producers. Kuroda, Schmidt, and Garciaparra are all rental signings that were made in hopes of creating some splash to add to the make believe possibility that they could help the Dodgers win it all. Penny is absolutely limited until he can shed that frame of his, the only way he can make it if he doesn’t is become a reliever. Furcal and Jones have never proven to be consistent at all. They have always been hit or miss talents and there is no way the Dodgers will become consistent contenders with them.

As you may notice, this is a follow up to my previous post on the State of the Dodgers. We seem to have all this dead weight on our team and I do hope that we wake up and realize this.