Tag Archive: fantasy baseball

We’ve Got the Coolest Fantasy (and Weddings) Around

September 6, 2011 Randy Neil

First, I gotta talk about this guy. Way to be, fellah. If you didn’t see it, my man in the Phillies jersey over here decided to lean over the railing to catch what was going to be Hunter Pence’s double. Marlin’s outfielder Bryan Petersen complained that it interfered with his catch (which it did) and the umpires got together to review the play.

All the while, our friend in the stands sits on his cell phone, radiating with glee because of the amazing event that just happened to him! He couldn’t have had a bigger smile. Does he not remember Steve Bartman?

Then, umpire and former frog Joe West comes out from the dugout, points at Hunter Pence, gives him the boot, points at Ryan Howard, and puts him back at first. According to the rulebook, if at any point an ump feels a fan interfered with the ball, it is then ruled dead and the batter is automatically out.

Baseball, unlike football, may be the only sport that has video review and still manages to create controversy. You’re supposed to review the video IF and ONLY IF you think it was a home run. Apparently, you can’t review fan interference if the umps originally determined the ball to be a double. Charlie Manuel got ejected for arguing this.

OH MY CONTROVERSY ABOUND!! Of course, the Phillies lost this game, which was fitting. Arguing about whether reviewing the ball was correct or not seems meaningless to me. That’s like a defense attorney getting evidence thrown out in court because their defendant murdered the victim with a rent-a-car instead of his own car. If it happened, it happened. Get it right.

And nameless fan…. you got it wrong.

The boring, long, dull task of managing fantasy baseball is almost over. Theheadrush’s league was a great success this year. Adam and I are both in the playoffs (no surprise there.) In a last minute effort to scrape by with a win, I’ve dipped into the free agency pool. My team has been pretty solid all year (Konerko, Cano, Granderson, Ortiz, Francoeur) but I decided to grab a few “wildcards” to put me over the top.

The hardest stat to conquer in fantasy baseball may very well be the “Save” category. Who gets more than 2 saves a week, honestly?? Well, from August 24th-Sept 4th, my man Bobby Parnell from the Mets got 6. Nevermind that I’m risking a whole point on a guy who just got called up from the minors to perform on a dismal team with no future. I saw the numbers, I picked him up.

Then, I look through some of the hitters to see James Loney is available?? Check-mate. Loney has been a meager hitter to have all year, but in the past 14 days, .365 average, 12 runs, 12 RBIs, 3 homers. That’s all I care about. Who’s hot right now? Who can I add to my consistent line-up to give me that extra something?

You can see how well that works out for me here. It’s Tuesday, and I’m losing 2-5. Loney makes his start tonight.

Enough about baseball, though. She’s had her fill. Football is less than a week away!! That’s great and all, but really what we are saying is : FANTASY FOOTBALL IS LESS THAN A WEEK AWAY!!

We just finished the draft and I have to admit my team is utterly stacked. Bad news is, so is everyone else. We narrowed it down to an 8-man league, mostly because very few people wanted to play for money. The Lincoln Logs and Tonka trucks are down the hall, fellas. This here for the big boys.

I had the honor of first pick. Michael Vick? Yes, please. Our league sits apart from others in that it has 2 quarterbacks, so a QB was a no-brainer. Even with more traditional scoring leagues, I’m not opposed to a QB first pick. He’s going to be your bread and butter. Ain’t nobody winning a Superbowl with Rex Grossman… just saying.

The other downside to an 8-man league is I don’t know who to drop!! Just to list some of the people I drafted : Roddy White, Jeremy Maclin, Darren McFadden, Peyton Hillis, LeGarrette Blount, Darren Sproles, Tim Hightower, Mario Manningham…. I still don’t have a Defense or Kicker, lol.

Two things I will note: 1) Tim Hightower is going to have an incredible fantasy year. I’m calling it right now. Great pre-season, new team, new offense, sole responsibility. No more Arizona front-line setting him up. 2) LeGarrette Blount is on Yahoo!’s Do Not Cut list? I can’t drop Blount? How did this guy get in the ranks of Peyton Manning and Calvin Johnson after one year?

Check out the draft results and league here. I’ll have the banner and football predicts coming later this week. Get ready.

 

My man Adam is getting married this week. Congratulations, brother. We’re going to party it up this week to what may be the most awesome-sauced 80’s throwback event of all time.

If there’s one thing I can do, it’s the electric slide. Ladies gon’ feel me.

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Random Thoughts

May 20, 2011 Adam Thomas

1.) If I could dunk, every time I slammed the ball through the hoop I would scream “Kali Ma!”  and raise my hand like the dude from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as I ran back down the court.

There are three ways I could do this:

Maybe like “Kali (as I float through the air) and then MA! (as I slam the ball down on some dude’s face).

Or maybe like a quick “Kali Ma!” As I go up.

And of course, there’s always the option of dunking and then just bellowing to the heavens “KALI MA!!!!!!” Like I just ripped out a dudes heart and set it on fire.

FYI: according to IMDB, that guy’s name is Mola Ram.

Look, I gotta be honest, my fiance and I got rid of TV and internet so I don’t watch any sports any more.  All I do is watch the NBA recaps on NBA.com (except when the Heat win) and then glance casually at the Phils scores on Yahoo, so I don’t feel really comfortable spouting off a bunch of stuff like I’ve watched the games.

I will say that I WISH I had TV if just for the NBA conference finals cause two 1-1 splits make for fantastic TV viewing.  Oh, wait, one more thought before I go.

2.) I lost 0-10 to my brother last week in fantasy baseball. I lost by 3 runs, 1 home run, 3 RBI’s, 2 stolen bases and one save.  What in the hell did I do to offend the fantasy gods?  Maybe disconnecting your cable really does piss them off.

Anyway, that’s all I got.  I feel like Shane Mosley.  I only showed up for the check.

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Fantasy Baseball is No Longer a Fantasy

April 20, 2011 Randy Neil

It’s a nightmare. I remember watching the ESPN 30 for 30 about the start of fantasy baseball, and they made it sound so cool and neat. Our league (seen above) is turning out pretty nice actually. Aside from our buddy Sweede dropping Brandon Marrow and Chase Utley instead of putting them on the DL slots given, it’s been a pretty tight race. Everyone has pretty decent squads, including yours truly, who happens to have the 2nd best record after week 1. Big deal right? Right.

Who’s got the best record? Nonchalant Brendan. Of course he does. You know that guy who never puts effort into anything (or at least hides that effort) but still manages to walk away with the victory every time. That’s Brendan. You know that guy who works really hard and over analyzes everything perfectly to get the victory? That’s Adam. You know the guy who has a good idea and put his heart and soul into something and loses? Thaaaaaaat’s me.

What really fucked me this week was Yahoo’s lack of starter notifications. Who’s got time to check their fantasy team everyday?

Not this guy.

So what I do is run through the daily rosters for the week on Monday, and let the lineups adjust themselves for the upcoming days. Normally this is fine, except Yahoo didn’t tell me Josh Johnson and Colby Lewis were starting yesterday. They both sat on my bench… just hanging out.

That’s a quality start, 12 Ks and a 0.00 ERA from Johnson just sitting on the bench doing nothing. Damn you Yahoo!

Watched the Phillies this afternoon and it was nice to see them recover from the 9-0 loss to the Brewers last night. My credit card rewarded me with free tickets again, this time 6 rows behind the home dugout, giving me great seats to the Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder show. David Herndon got destroyed in his relief outing.

His first two pitches went like this : Ball 1, 3 Run Homer.

At least we recovered this afternoon from getting swept. That was nice.

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Making a Deep Fantasy Baseball Run…

August 16, 2010 Randy Neil

It’s almost time for fantasy football, and that means that your fantasy baseball playoffs are coming real soon.  Are you in?  Did your team hold up against the DL fest that was the 2010 season?

Hopefully, I’ve got a few tips to let you make a good playoff run this season:

Guys to pick up :

Mike Stanton – OF – Florida Marlins : This guy has been on fire.  He’s 20 years old, batting .333 with 19 RBIs and 9 HRs in the past 30 days.  

Luke Scott – 1B, OF – Baltimore Orioles : Another recent rising star, he’s been batting a consistent .293 all year, but with the comeback of Mr. Buck (stops here) Showalter, I except his recent stint of 10 HRs and 23 RBIs this past month to continue or get better.

Pat Burrell – OF – San Francisco Giants : PAT BURRELL!! That’s right… Pat THE BAT Burrell.  Since being traded to the Giants this summer, he’s been batting .285 with 10 HRs, 30 RBIs.  The Giants are making a serious wild-card run, so expect Pat to have plenty chances at bat (no pun.) 

Andres Torres – OF – San Francisco Giants – Another OF having an a very nice season, and he might not be available in your league, but he’s still only owned by 66% of Yahoo! fantasy leagues, so somebody is sleeping on him.  18 RBIs this month, but what really stands out is his 6 stolen bases, and 21 Runs, which always come in handy.  

Guys to drop : 

Torii Hunter – OF – Los Angeles Angels – 18 HRs and 70 RBIs sounds great right?  Guess what he’s done the past 30 days though…  3 HR and 8 RBI.  Aside from getting suspended 4 days for fighting with an umpire and throwing a hissy fit, the Angles have fallen out of playoff contention, and so has Hunter’s batting game.

David Wright – 3B – New York Mets – Since the All-Star Break, Wright’s numbers have been pretty much atrocious.  3 HRs, 12 RBIs, and a .211 batting average just doesn’t cut it.  I take a lot of joy in writing this as well, simply because I’m a Phillies fan.

Victor Martinez – C, 1B – Boston Red Sox – Since July 26th, Martinez has been putting up very meager numbers.  A .244 average with 1 HR and 6 RBIs has been quite a drop off from his typical performance, but yet he still has a 97% owner rating.  Time to move on.

Ben Zobrist – 1B, 2B, SS, OF – Tamba Bay Rays – Although he’s a great positon player to have on your roster, he’s stopped putting up numbers like the first half of the season.  Batting .141, 1 HR, 7 RBIs, he’s not living up to the 94% owner rating.

Another thing to note that is that I won’t go as far to say you should drop him, but Vladimir Guerrero has basically been stagnant since the All-Star Break.  Batting .196 (which isn’t much of a surprise for someone who strikes out often and swings at everything) but he’s put up just 1 HR and 11 RBIs.  His season total is 21 HR and 87 RBI, so do the math.  He’s not having the stellar first half anymore.

I say all this with a 1 game below .500 record in my fantasy league, and in 5th place, but I’m making a hot play off run baby!  Best believe it.  Just keep your eyes open and your rosters full.  There’s almost always somebody better.  Good luck to everyone except the people in my league…

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