NPL - 2010 Post Draft Report

2010 POST-DRAFT REPORT, by selection order.

PITTSBURGH O’s:
As Thursday night turned into Friday, it was a clear, crisp, sun-splashed morning and the Good Friday Holiday. And the Big O had a little extra hop in his step. But that was because this was Fantasy Baseball draft day. It was 19 years ago that Big O, John Stasko, Harv, myself and four others gathered at Laura Ott’s mom’s house and wrote players names on poster board taped up against the living room mantle. I’m not sure who O took with his 1st round pick on this day back in 1992 but here’s another Déjà vu moment in Pittsburgh O’s history….. #5 of the St. Louis Cardinals hit the majors in 2001 and the rookie was not drafted in the NPL,


but he soon showed he was the real deal and in May of ’01 the Pitt O’s made him a waiver claim (discovery). Pujols was on the NPL winner in 2009 (Bulldogs) and Larry wants him to have two in a row. The O’s have a nice roster of help to do it and in an Ooooo and Ahhhh moment, the O’s pulled the trigger on Andrew McCutchen on the first selection of round 7, the 61st pick overall, and he joins his old running-mate Nyjer Morgan, now of the Nats.

VULCANS:
The Vulcans led by Roy Halladay should be heard from in 2010, and Curtis Granderson may have a huge year with the short porch at the new Yankees Stadium. Lots of speed on this roster, and heck, they may challenge the Owls for the Stolen Base title in ’10. If Jose Reyes comes back to form after injury and Jimmy Rollins avoids the slow start, this could by the top shortstop group in the NPL. It could have been the assistance of the Laptop, and most likely the 24 oz. Miller Lite’s, but Rich left Kennedy’s liking the chances of the 2010 V’s.

69’ERS:
The Niners went a little off the charts with their 2010 draft. It was A-Rod, Miguel Cabrera and then bring on the pitchers… The next 10 picks (round 3 thru 12) knocked off and cleaned up the 10 man pitching staff. I think I heard Harv say…. “That’s finishes off that shitty position, Piff.” Some other area had to take a back seat due to the run on pitchers, and the OF position was completed with rounds 23 through 26, but Piff figures there will always be some solid OF’ers available through the waiver wire. The 69’ers will also have to watch when those DH types (Matsui, Burrell, Griffey) go on the road to the N.L. during inter-league play, and keep an eye on 13th round pick, catcher Kurt Suzuki. This under-rated 26 year old catcher from Hawaii had 88 RBI’s last year and may really ready to break out in 2010.

KOOPERSTOWN KIDS:
With the Big Daddy Deferment, I was another team that moved up one spot in the draft. With CBS Sportsline projecting Ryan Howard to go 46-144, I had to go with the Big Fella…. And speaking of big fella’s, if 18th round pick Kyle Blanks doesn’t make it in baseball, maybe he has a future as a Tight End in the NFL. The dude is 6’ 6” and goes 285. Was even wearing #88 in spring training. Blanks is just one of several young guys I’m hanging my hat on in 2010. By hey, at least this year they are all starting in the majors!!

And oh yeah...... That Cincy Reds player pictured on the website article is named Don Blasingame. A good field - light hitting 2nd baseman who played for four teams from 1955 to 1966. His "autograph" was on the baseball glove I owned as a kid. Geez, I can remember this kind of crap, but can't remember important stuff from a week ago!!

The BIG TRAIN:
As Bob makes Chase Utley the #1 pick of the Train, it is now three Phillies drafted out of the first six players taken overall. It was a real steal to get CC Sabathia with the 16th overall pick and when Ian Kinsler comes back, the top 2nd base position may belong to the Train. For having catchers taken in rounds 12 and 22, Russell Martin and Chris Iannetta are two good ones. Is 26th round pick Andy LaRoche just a caretaker of the #2 3rd base position for the B.T. until Pedro Alvarez gets the phone call from Neal A. Huntington???? Bob’s Assistant General Manager was not happy that he missed out on Cutch, but round 21 brought home “The Legend.”

H-BOMBS:
Taking a page out of the 69’ers book, the Bombers went early and often on Starting Pitching. But first we have round 1. Big Daddy deferred from the 3rd spot back to #6 and grabbed Evan Longoria….. Back on March 9th, new baby boy Evan Longoria Schoming was born to John & Heather. And keep in mind that 2010 is an “even” numbered year. Back in 2006, Big D had Albert Pujols on the squad. Kylee Pujols Schoming was born that same year and the H-Bombs won a championship. Will history repeat itself in 2010 – baby born, same middle name of the H-Bombs star player, and an NPL title in the bag?

LOCKHORNS:
Before the festivities got under way, we had Harv and Big Daddy exchanging pleasantries. I have not been so shocked by a change of allegiance since Sgt Slaughter teamed up with the Iron Sheik and supported Iraq during the Persian Gulf War of the early ‘90’s…..



But that’s just me….. The ‘Horns were extremely happy to get Hanley Ramirez with #7 overall, followed by Adrian Gonzalez (the future Red Sox) at #2 and Ryan Zimmerman at #3. H also likes his top three SP’s in Ubaldo (or, as Harv calls him – “Ubangie”) Jiminez, Liriano, and Clayton Kershaw, a young guy who held opposing batters to a .200 batting average in ‘09. And with Harv’s track record of finishing in the top 5, who am I to disagree?

ROCK CATS:
The Raven going 8th, took #8 of the Brew Crew Ryan Braun….. Does Braun’s fan club go with him too…..


John switched up his strategy in 2010, as a team that usually gets premier Starters early, the Cats first two pitchers were in rounds 8 and 10. But if Tommy Hanson avoids the sophomore jinx, he may be something special. Keeping it all in the family, both Upton brothers are Rock Cats in ’10 as Justin went in round 5 and big brother B.J. came on board 11 rounds later. Another top pick was Tulo in round Two.

OWLS:
It looks like the running Owls are back. Speedy lead-off hitter types abound and you gotta love the best catching tandem in the NPL this year in Joe Mauer (round 1) and V-Mart (round 3). Those picks sandwiched Tim Lincecum at #2. But keep an eye on Ricky Nolasco (round 8) and Jorge De La Rosa (round 13). They both have a chance to be the pitching break-out stars of 2010. When round 6 comes, just pencil the Owls in for a Closer. This year was no different; it was the first one off the board in Jonathan Broxton of the Dodgers.

Hey also……. John has announced that as he is now in a permanent home again back in the North Hills area, he would like once again host a Mid-Season, All-Star Break Wednesday Night Live NPL Pick-Up at his new home, also known as the New Owls Nest. Further details to come, but mark that Wednesday on your calendar.

BULLDOGS:
As we now know, in 2009 the Bulldogs draft selections made them look like Ken Jennings during his epic "Jeopardy" run.

And if a draft strategy works, why change it? Getting the wrap-around picks of #10 and #11, the Bulldogs came out and nailed it with Mark Teixeira and Prince Fielder. Power Bats are what the Dawgs are all about and they continued in rounds 3 through 7 with Mark Reynolds, J-Bay, Zobrist, Choo and Hawpe. They are then looking for Matt Garza to be this year’s Zach Greinke. Ben Zobrist, the much talked about player during the pre-draft discussion could end up at 2nd base, which would a big bat at that fairly weak position, but for now T & E are “getting’ Figgy wit it”, as Chone mans one of the 2B spots. And as the draft played out on Friday night, Tony & Eddie had a little extra help at their table…….

Okay let’s get this season going…… Looking forward to 2010.

NPL - TURN BACK THE CLOCK - Volume 8.

Below is a reprint from the NPL newsletter dated May 18, 2000.

As we know, Larry often has to make NPL baseball moves while in the middle of a softball game on a Wednesday evening. O is a dedicated NPL team owner, who always calls in, even if it means being on the cell phone while playing a softball game at the same time. This sometimes causes unusual situations. Here is one story that was reported by a North Park League fan who was attending O’s softball game.

The story picks up with Big O going to bat for the “Roadhouse” softball team, after completing his cell phone call for round 2 of the Wednesday NPL fantasy baseball transactions……. But keep in mind….. Larry also needs to do a round 3.

>>>> With a 3-1 count on Larry Ott, right-hander Juan Cardenas of Franklin Park tied up the lefty slugger with a pitch in on the hands to go full on the count. A cool breeze now kicked up, blowing straight in from center field, right in the face of the big power hitter as a slight mist had also started coming down on this gray overcast evening in the North Hills.

This caused Ott to go to the pine tar as he stared out at the veteran Cardenas. After being busted inside on the last pitch, the crafty Ott, a longtime warrior of North Hills softball battles was looking for something on the outside part of the plate. And that’s just where Cardenas placed it. Like a good hitter will do, Ott hit the ball where it was pitched and drove a rocket down the left field line. The only question was fair or foul? The ball came down hard about 10 feet short of the fence and right on the chalk line. It hit so hard that it caused a puff of white dust to flash up from the ground, making it an easy fair ball call for 3rd base umpire Julio Ruiz, who frantically waived and pointed to fair territory. The big man can still call on a burst of speed when he needs it and Ott was thinking three bases right out of the batter’s box. Left fielder Elian Franco, the pride of Wexford, was shading Ott towards centerfield due to his reputation as a dead pull hitter, so Franco had a long run towards the left field line. And once he got to the ball which one hopped on the base of the fence, Franco, who has a cannon of an arm made a good play on the ball, grabbing it in his bare hand and wheeling to throw all in one motion.

Ott at this point was steaming towards 2nd base and took a glance at 3rd base coach Luis Diaz. OH NO!!! Diaz was giving Ott the STOP sign. But Ott would have none of it. As he rounded 2nd he turned on the jets and put it into another gear. Franco had now unleashed a bullet that 3rd baseman Chico Gonzalez was poised to catch and tag.

As Ott started into his patented head first slide…..

… he noticed Gonzalez’s glove moving towards the outfield side of the bag. Ott deftly dove about three feet to the inside and stretched his right arm back and to the right to avoid the touch. He got a hold on the base and held on as his body slid into foul territory a split second before the swipe tag of Gonzalez was applied.

All eyes were now on 3rd base umpire Enrique Martinez Jr, a native of West View. His arms went into the safe signal while bellowing out…. SAFE! SAFE! And then punctuating his call by pointing to Ott’s fingers, now barely clinging to the bag.

Larry Ott asked Martinez Jr. for time, slowly rose to his feet, sheepishly looking at 3rd base coach Luis Diaz whose stop sign he had ignored. Diaz did not admonish Ott, instead he gave him the obligatory pat on the butt. Ott was now breathing hard, out of breath. Yeah, triples will do that to you.

The mist had now turned into a hard damp drizzle as Ott stood alone at 3rd base. From across the infield there was a high pitched ringing sound coming from the 1st base dugout. Big O’s cell phone was ringing. It was time for Larry’s selection in the 3rd round of fantasy baseball.

It's time to get the band back together

Welcome back to the NPL world of baseball. And remember….. as we keep things in perspective….. It’s all just a fantasy.

When we last convened in October of 2009, the BULLDOGS had just completed a coast-to-coast run of historic proportions.

When asked recently for any final comments on the 2009 season, the Dawgs went into Mark McGwire mode with their statement of……

“We’re not here to talk about the past.”

So with that, let’s take a look at some items that took place inside and outside the world of sports since the Dawgs sprayed the victory champagne all over their co-workers in the BMC lunch room….. and then we’ll have some standard NPL items at the end…

THE #1 STORY OF THE OFF-SEASON:

Naturally it was the Tiger Woods saga – what else? And that is why the statement about “Elin” goes on the Quote Billboard for this posting. And I’m sure we’re all tired of hearing about Eldrick Wood’s troubles by now. So let’s look at a positive side of things.

The winner to come out of this may be JACK NICKLAUS and his record 18 Majors.




With Team Tiger in shambles, do you think Jack is sitting in a recliner at the Nicklaus mansion with a smirk on his face? Maybe breaking out the champagne, a la Don Shula and the ’72 Dolphins? Perhaps. And when the Tiger news broke I could picture Jack high-fiving family members and reacting like he just sank the putt on 17 at Augusta in 1986. Deep down you know he wants to scream out …. “Yeah baby, my record of 18 majors is a little safer.”

You gotta love the Golden Bear.

FANTASY FOOTBALL:

I previously mentioned the success of the Harvster in this sport. Well in 2009 the young man went Back-to-Back championships in The Cotton League. Harv says he “owns” that league!! And for good measure he took 2nd place in a bigger money league in which he raked in a cool $800.
I think this entitles us to bestow Mr. Harvey with the mythical title of…..




And speaking of football……

A FOOTBALL OXYMORON:

I realize this is sort of old news at this point, but what the heck was IKE TAYLOR doing on the HANDS TEAM when he botched the on-sides kick recovery against Green Bay? I’m just sayin……


A STRANGE BASEBALL INJURY ALREADY:

Did you hear that Orioles starting pitcher Brad Bergesen strained his right shoulder during the filming of an Orioles promotional commercial back in early December? And so it begins.

WHEN IS A RETIRED UNIFORM NUMBER - NOT RETIRED?

I guess it’s when Omar Vizquel signs with the White Sox and sweet talks former Hall-of-Famer Luis Aparicio into letting Vizquel bring #11 out of retirement. Seems Omar’s usual #13 is worn by manager Ozzie Guillen and he ain’t givin’ 13 up for nobody. So #11 gets dusted off for Vizquel with the HOF’ers permission. I don’t like it myself. Could you picture a new infielder coming to the Pirates and they unretire #9? I think “retired” should mean “retired” when it comes to uniform numbers. But that’s just me.





BASEBALL GOES THE REALITY SHOW WAY:

Seems like the MLB Network is following the White Sox manager and front office for a show called…”The Club.” It will debut on MLB Network later this summer. Here is more on it…..

http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/02/19/white-sox-front-office-to-star-in-mlb-network-reality-series/

SCOUT SPEAK:

What’s with Pirates GM Neal A. Huntington these days? When interviewed about new player acquisitions he has reverted into geeky scout lingo to describe a player’s ability….. The following quotes from the GM were taken directly from Dejan Kovacevic’s articles in the PG during the off-season……

On Jesus Brito, acquired from Atlanta in the Bixler trade….. "He really came on this year. He's got good bat-to-ball skills……”

Bat-to-ball skills????

On pitcher Steven Jackson who was taken off the 40-man…… “As we compare his probable role and stuff package to others in the organization……”

His Stuff Package????

THE BUCCO LOSING STREAK WILL COME TO AN END:

One man’s prediction….. In 2011 under the guidance of new manager Gary Varsho.


SHOULD THIS PIRATES PLAYER BE CONSIDERED A

“TRAGIC FIGURE?”

A 1st round draft pick.

Position changed from C to 3B.

Team acquires a young 3rd baseman in Andy LaRoche

Team drafts a can’t miss 3rd baseman in Pedro Alvarez.

Team asks Walker to give up his uniform #19 for Ryan Church, a journeyman outfielder who should be a back-up on this 2010 team.

Walker will desperately try to make team as a jack of all trades utility guy.

And Chuck Finder of the PG still continues to refer to him as “Pine-Richland’s Neal Walker.”

But on the bright side…… He still has good bat-to-ball skills.

NPL PRE-SEASON TIMELINE:

As we hopefully watch a transformation from this…

To this……….

Here is what we will look at as we move towards the April 2nd draft.

** CBS website is paid for the 2010 season.

** Annual review of league rules & procedures is currently out.

** Week of March 8th - the first look at MLB player position changes that are said to be taking place in 2010. Such as…. Troy Glaus is now at 1B (Atl.) and Gordan Beckham will be a 2nd baseman (Wsox).

** Week of March 8th – I order the draft board and labels.

** Late March – Final designation of player positions who are changing and where the DH’s are to be placed.

ALSO…….

I understand we may need a new Sticker Guy if we can find one. Something to keep in mind if you know someone who can handle the job (and we do pay them!)

NPL related comments can also be found on the Twitter account I created in the league name. Although with it being off-season, it’s mostly me rambling in 140 characters or less about anything that comes to mind, but as the season gets underway, you may see a comment about YOUR team mentioned there. The link is…

http://twitter.com/NorthParkLeague

Final note – on the side panel to the right, I have added a new link under “Audio”. It’s the 2 minute, 6 second - original radio call of Maz’s HR in game 7, 1960.

Questions? Comments?

Just give me a shout.

NPL Week #13. "Half way home."

AT THE HALF-WAY POINT IN 2009........

MORE ON THE OWLS WEEK 13:
The pitchers had 10 starts in the week and racked up 5 Wins and then tacked on 2 more from the Closers. Good call on the DROP of SP Ryan Sadowski on Wednesday as he gets sent down to the minors on Thursday.

CLOSERS:
The two players who lead the league in the SAVES category are Brian Fuentes (24) of the H-Bombs who was a 14th round draft choice and the 9th RP drafted and Heath Bell (23) of the Kids who was a Free Agent pick-up.

DRAG RACE WEEKEND:
I did have a question as to how my weekend trip was at the end of June? Well it was fun, even though our girl Angelle Sampey wasn’t racing.

In racing terms, she “didn’t have a ride.” Meaning sponsorship. Hard to believe the US Army team would let her go, but after all – like the excuse for everything else these days ----- “It’s the economy.”

And speaking of racing, I think I lost my Golf Cart Drivers License. At least in the state of Ohio!!
VULCANS LOVE NEW YORK:
Yes, in addition to Cyprus, The Vulcans gotta love the Big Apple as their top two hitters are the Yankees Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter. And welcome back to the USA, Rich. It appears Joel Pineiro has you off to a good start in week #14.

LARRY'S MIDDLE INFIELDERS:
The Big O’s are glad that J-Roll is finally back in the line-up and hitting too. Hit ‘em up at a .428 pace this week. But now Freddy has been out with the stiff back – getting out of a cab!! Huh?? And rumors are he’s going to the City by the Bay.

MORE PIRATES TRADE BAIT:
Wonder if any of these guys would have been traded back in 1960 if the state of the game and the franchise were as it is today?


RECORD PACE:
For all intents and purposes we are at the half-way point of the season right now. I did a little research and wanted to point out that we have been a 10 team league since 2005. The most points scored in a season as a 10 team circuit was 12,506 back in that magical 2006 season by the H-Bombs, led by Albert Pujols. Which by the way is the reason Kylee Schoming born in ’06 has the middle name of “Pujols.” But at this time the Bulldogs with J-Schom’s co-worker buddies of Tony and Eddie are on pace to top that number. In fact, the Rock Cats may make a run at it also.

WHILE ON THE SUBJECT OF THE BOMBERS:
Interesting pitching week for B.D. as only 2 Wins were registered but the team pitching had an ERA of 2.01.

AND – BOMBERS BATTERS:
With the anticipated return of Carlos Quentin, Johnny will have an interesting decision on the stacked group of outfielders. Will this guy stick??

TAIWAN CURSE:
The 69’ERS picked up the Curse of the Wanger this week as Chien-Ming screwed up the Kids and Bombs earlier and then joined Piff’s staff for one start and now a trip to the DL. On the season it is a 9.64 ERA in 9 Games Started for CMW. Geez, Ian Snell is better than this guy!!!

GOING AGAINST HALL-of-FAME PITCHERS:
Yikes, the Bucs get shut out twice in three games this week. But oh well, you can understand it as they were facing Koufax and Drysdale.

Oh wait…… It was Hampton and Wandy….. Never mind.

ON THE TRADE BLOCK:
The Jays and Owls Roy Halladay. Would that be good? Maybe…. Wouldn’t have to pitch so many games against the Yanks, Red Sox and Rays – unless traded to one of those teams, but the Jays do offer some good offensive support right now.

I LEARNED SOMETHING THIS WEEK:
Don’t EVER call Harv on a Tuesday night between 8:00 and 9:00 PM when this show is on….

ROCK CATS MAGIC WAND:
The Cat loves when his pitchers hurl against the PBC and is looking forward to July 19 with Tim Lincecum against the locals. If Wandy can do it……..

IS HARV SORRY HE ASKED?:

About the pitch count background to the SABR contingent?

Sure did get a lot of responses. Anything else you need to know Harv? Myself, I wonder when players started wearing their baseball pants down below their shoe tops? But that's not an official request Bob, I'm just thinking out loud.

I COULD – BUT I WON’T GO THERE WITH THIS:
Ya know Harv didn’t have one Upton (Justin) play well as a Lockhorn. But the other one has 110 points in 95 At Bats since being claimed. I could think of a great headline for this item, but I’ll just let it go.

WE ALL DRAFT TOP PITCHERS EARLY:
And as we sit here on July 9th, the two pitchers who lead MLB in Wins are Jason Marquis who was not drafted and then claimed by the Train on May 6th and Tim Wakefield, a pick-up of the R Cats on April 29th. Both guys have 11 W’s, which is more than all the big names.

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN:
Remember when Chris Duffy left the Pirates organ-i-zation – took a self imposed Leave of Absence for reasons that had pretty much to do with his mental state of mind? Well, not sure if you saw the MLB note on him? When he was optioned to AAA by Milwaukee recently, Duffy then left that team for “personal reasons.” Some things don’t change.

NOT WORRIED:
The Bulldogs are still confident in their lead over 2nd place, but they did have a team meeting to discuss the second half strategy…..


And they still have PUJOLS. Eddie keeps pinching Tony when he sees him, saying….. “I still can’t believe that four freaking teams passed on him!!!”

THE GENIUS STRIKES THE BIG TRAIN AGAIN:
Bob’s arch nemesis got under his skin once again on Tuesday. As Tony LaRussa pulled Big Train Adam Wainwright after 8 1/3 shut-out innings but then he did bring in the Train’s closer Ryan Franklin to finish it out. Only problem was that it was not a Save situation!!


Does this guy ever look like he’s getting older?? I think he’s the Captain of the Benjamin Button All-Stars!!!

HITTERS ARE AVAILABLE:
Looking at the Free Agent Hitters out there it appears that there are some good sticks available. Some good stats on some of those free agents.

FREE AGENT PITCHERS:
Well, not so much.

BACK TO THE BIG TRAIN:
As the Kommish has some events coming up on Wednesdays, here are the dates Bob will be filling in for me on the Wednesday Night Pick-Ups……

July 29 -- Myrtle Beach Vacation

Sept 9 -- Sand Pit Fantasy Football Draft. This is also my 31st wedding anniversary. I must be a brave man to attend a fantasy draft on that day. Or, maybe a just a very stupid one!!!

Aug 26 -- MAYBE?? I may have a work event that night. To Be Determined.

#2 IN THE LAST 21 DAYS:
The Niners Derek Lee is 2nd in hitting points for that time frame, 2nd to only Albert Pujols.

#2 IN THE LAST 28 DAYS:
The Kids Jayson Werth is 2nd in hitting points for that time frame, 2nd to only Albert Pujols.

THIS JUST IN:
That Pujols guy must be pretty good.

BRYAN CALLED IT:
Jayson Werth has come on like gang-busters. Bryan the sticker guy told me at the draft he liked the Werth pick and said he would have a big year. Thanks Bry….. Good call. Maybe Bryan's the Baseball Genius of the BMC??

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU’VE HEARD IT ALL:
With strange injuries….. This past week my 3rd baseman PABLO SANDOVAL missed a couple of games and was listed as “day-to-day.” That alone is not uncommon. But his injury was described as “Skinned Knees.” At least before the Giants must have realized that sounded weak and then changed it to bruised knees. Skinned knees????? Gee, I think my Mom kept me out of the playground games back when I was 6 years old with Skinned Knees and labeled me as day-to-day. But a major leaguer?

And to add insult to injury, “Kung-Fu Panda” didn’t win the NL honors for the extra All-Star roster spot and our CBS website in its player notes then referred to him as “the portly 3rd baseman!!” Not the best week for Pablo, but I’ll still take the .326 and 13 Dingers from him going into the break. If he only could have got those 10 games at catcher!

Good luck to everyone as we head into the 2nd half.

NPL Week #10. "40% in the books."

Gee, it seems like just yesterday that we were at Kennedy’s Tavern drafting players, but we’re now 10 weeks deep into the season, or approximately 40% of the year is complete.

The races are not necessarily close at this time, as the Bulldogs show no signs of taking their foot off the gas, their lead once again close to an amazing 400 points. The Lockhorns continue to challenge the Rock Cats for 2nd place. Currently 64 points back, which is down from 123 points just one week ago. And the Owls appear to be stranded on some 4th place desert island. 201 back of 3rd, but 220 points in front of the 5th place Big Train.

The Train got a little bit of breathing room this week and currently lead a trio of teams trying to catch up to the Caboose as the O’s (78 pts) Vulcans & 69’ers (both 93 pts behind) are all within striking distance.

The Kids and H-Bombs are just trying to catch the pack and the Bombers did have a nice start to week #11 as J-Schom’s boy Tommy Hanson looked good, and just up from the minors and H-Bomb claimed Ricky Nolasco goes CG-W on Thursday.

Owner News – Congrats to Eddie Dubis as Eddie Junior got hitched this past Saturday and I understand all went well, even with Fast Eddie being laid up with the bad wheel.
A trip through the standings……

Hey – do you realize that ex-Pirate Jason Bay has 63 Ribbies?? Yep, he’s a BULLDOG! The Dogs this week claimed Luke Hochevar of Kansas City who was the #1 overall pick in the 2006 MLB draft of college and high school players. If you’re wondering about the Bucco’s, they took Brad Lincoln as #4 overall that year. At least things sound like they’re looking up for him. And Zack Greinke has shown that he is actually human!! But maybe not this guy……. Although it’s just 160 At Bats, Joltin’ Joe is hitting an amazing .425 with 13 round-trippers.

The ROCK CATS finally got on the board with not one, but two Complete Games. The Cats were the last NPL team to score in that category and one was even a Shut-Out for Tim Lincecum. RC’s surge to the top of the Pitching Wins category, now with 50. Cats dropped Felipe Lopez at 2B although he was hitting .301 but the pop in the bat wasn’t big.

If there is an under the radar pitcher this year it may be the LOCKHORNS Matt Cain who is 9-1 with 3 CG’s and a 2.39 ERA. The last couple of years Cain was a hard luck pitcher who couldn’t seem to buy a win. Just ask the Dawgs, they’ll tell ya…. Horns nab Cody Ross for the OF this week. In 2008 Ross may have had the quietest 22 HR season ever.

Speaking of Complete Games, does it seem that there are more happening in 2009? This week alone we had 10 CG and 5 Shutouts. The Horns had 3 of those 10 CG’s and the Vulcs had 2 of the 5 Shutouts.

Those 4th place OWLS had a tough break this week when all announcements concerning Roy Halladay on Wednesday - stated he would be placed on the DL on Thursday.

The Doc is 10-1 on the season. So that development would be enough to make most owners have this type of reaction……

But the head Owl remained calm. Then we also learned that the Vulcans Erik Bedard was a late Wednesday night DL and early Thursday the 2nd ranked NPL hitter - Raul Ibanez of the Cats went on. As the Raven said earlier on Wednesday in regards to the DL which just misses our deadline of 9 PM Wednesday…. “It happens to everyone throughout the year.”

Hey – did you realize that big Prince Fielder has 64 Ribbies???? Yep, he’s a BIG TRAIN slugger. The Train is hanging tough in 5th place despite having 4 SP’s on the DL, including the Ace Brandon Webb. Interesting that the Pirates happen to be in Colorado this week, isn’t it? Home of the Big Train’s still stalking stalker.

“I will not be ignored.” - - - ALEX FORREST.

The PITTSBURGH O’s have a hard luck pitcher this year in Paul Maholm. 14 starts and 4 Wins but has deserved more. The Closer Matt Capps however has done just fine, thank you! And when you talk about Pitt O’s closers, there may be one at the College World Series that is just destined to be a Pittsburgh O. Have you seen the Freshman Closer for LSU? He has 16 saves, a 2.17 ERA and in 45 IP he has 63 K’s and only 4 BB. His name…….

MATTY OTT

Yep, I can see him being Capps’ successor with the O’s.

And you may have noted that the Pirates made 50 draft choices this year. Minor trivia here – 5 of the 50 have the first name of Zachary. Including picks in the 4th and 6th rounds – that one named Zach von Rosenburg. Soon to be dubbed ZVB?

If you want a good site for in-depth analysis of every single pick of the Pirates, here is a link for a site from a Pirates minor league / draft expert - guru named Wilber Miller. When you click on the players name you see the analysis.

http://users.rcn.com/wtmiller/positions/2009draft.htm

One of the first waiver wire claims in 2009 that was a hot commodity that everyone wanted was Adam Lind of Toronto who was grabbed by the VULCANS back on April 15th. He hasn’t disappointed as he is the 17th ranked hitter in NPL points and leads the A.L. in Doubles with 22. On Sunday the V’s had two Complete Game Shutouts which meant a 153 point day.

The 69’ERS Robby Cano hit a lofty .458 for period #10. And the Niners Ichiro leads MLB in Singles with 69. Of course he’s batting .348 to lead the A.L. Piff is probably wondering what to do with Daisuke Matsuzaka these days.

Gee, the hype has sort of left that guy as he has a Wangesque like ERA of 7.55 and if you follow the WHIP stat, it is 2.10 as opponents are hitting .372 against him. Yikes!!

The H-BOMBS have tough luck with injuries to the highly touted outfield but one bright spot has been RP Brian Fuentes who leads the A.L in saves with 18. Maybe it’s an Angels thing, as their former closer K-Rod was usually the A.L. Saves leader.

And the KOOPERSTOWN KIDS have a weekend experience to share as it was cool to watch game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals on the Club Level of PNC Park when the Bucs were taking on the Tigers and we were at PNC again on Sunday when the Pens and the Cup were honored.

And you may remember that was the Turn Back the Clock Game – 1909, so the ball park treated it like it was 1909. Meaning an old fashioned scoreboard on the jumbo-tron for the whole game and no 7th inning stretch or in-game entertainment whatsoever. Now I thought this was going to really neat and I looked forward to this atmosphere of what it was like in the good ‘ole days. Except something happened along the way…….. Much to my embarrassment, I have to admit I was bored in between innings. I actually missed my Box of Mystery, my Pierogi Races,

and the pitch count on the auxiliary scoreboard. And Damn it, I wanted my Hot Dog Launch!!

I guess the modern day gimmicks have ruined me!! And on that note, enjoy upcoming Period #11. Gotta go find some Pirates Q and A.

NPL - Week 6. "Sometimes you just need a little inspiration."

Lots of items to get to this week, let’s start it out with the reference to the Quote of the Week you see at the right. Brian Bixler may not be the answer as Shortstop of the future for the Pirates. But if you think he is, then hey --- I have some Chad Hermansen rookie cards to sell you!

Maybe the future at SS is with the Altoona Curve. Have you followed this BRIAN FRIDAY kid at shortstop for the Curve? The 2007 3rd round draft pick out of Rice is expected to hit PNC in 2011. He’s currently hitting over .400 at Altoona.

Once again, props to the ROCK CATS for winning Period # 6. Their weekly scores over the past month are 578, 468, 504 and 578.

Along with the previously mentioned Raul Ibanez from the CBS website notes, the Cats are getting big points from 1st baseman Justin Morneau. 37 and 39 points in the last two weeks.

The BULLDOGS caught a chink in the armor this week as 2nd sacker Ricky Weeks goes DL and out for the season. The Owls even suggested that the Michael Vick release from prison may have been bad karma for the “Dogs.” But Weeks was over performing his draft status. Taken in round 17, he was the 6th best hitting 2nd baseman at the time of injury with 145 points in 147 At Bats for Tony and Fast Eddie. And geez, he really wore out Pirate pitching in the series played earlier, didn’t he?

The Dogs still have a comfortable lead but they were no doubt distracted this past week. Here’s what happened….. Our old buddy, the “former NPL owner” got a hold of Tony’s CBS NPL password and came onto the site and posted a poll question which naturally registered under the Bulldogs name. Problem was it wasn’t from either Tony or Eddie. Nothing wrong with the question, but upon learning it wasn’t from T&E, I thought it best to delete the poll. I just wasn’t comfortable with someone not in the league posting stuff on the site under the name of a current owner. The resulting reactions I heard however were kind of funny. Mr. Bill Harvey was outraged at what he called this “Soap Opera” and the fact that our old buddy would do this. In typical Harv fashion he unleashed a profanity laced tirade against this action and our former owner, and of course I can’t repeat that here on the internet.

WAIT….. It’s the INTERNET. I can write anything I want on the internet, damn it… But maybe I’ll refrain. After all this is a public domain and there could be a young baseball fan in Nebraska or Montana reading this.

But back to the Bulldog situation…. Some owners looked at this as some sort of CBS Sportsline North Park League Identity Theft, and poor Tony was blindsided and had no idea this took place. In fact, Tony’s response to Eddie was coincidently the exact same as Michael Corleone’s from GODFATHER 3.


Remember what Michael screamed at Vincent Mancini (Andy Garcia) after learning of the Joey Zasa assassination?

“This is NOT…… WHAT I WANTED!”

Yep, same quote from Tony…..

Anyway, we can now put all that drama to rest and move on…….

Piffy’s 69’ERS rebounded nicely in period #6. Piff goes from 10th place to 7th and how about Dontrelle Willis with one hit in 6+ innings and looking like the D-Train of his rookie season. Ya know last week when Willis was picked up no one liked the move, including me. Well, actually one owner did like it. Dogs co-owner Tony Lang was in Dontrelle’s and Piffy’s corner, but Tony was the only one. Can’t argue with someone dominating in 1st place, right?

Oh yeah, Piff says he likes his new pitcher “The Rum-Dum” – thank you Harv!!

The Dice-K return for Livan Hernandez is a MAJOR upgrade to the Niners roster.

The OWLS are quietly moving up in the standings. Probably no surprise that this coincides with the return of A-Rod. In 5th place when Alex returned and now in 3rd. Still points to make up, but as John likes to say…… “Lots of grass to mow yet.”

Roy Halladay and Justin Verlander have been the best 1-2 Starting Pitching Punch in the NPL thus far, and you may be surprised to know the leading Owls hitter after period 6 is Brian Roberts of the Balt O’s.

Hey, remember when I told you of the Tyler Yates story on this blog that John F related to me? Just look back to the blog entry posted on April 23, the end of Period #2. It talked about how Yates was seen by John firing tennis balls to his 6 year old kid in the driveway at about 90 MPH and we joked that if Yates comes up with a sore elbow we’ll know why. Well, yes Yates is now on the DL with the bum elbow. If Neal Huntington only knew this!!!

Is it only me, or are you sick and tired of that “Most interesting man in the world” – DOS EQUIS beer commercial?

Have you noticed that the LOCKHORNS have both their draft night closers on the DL? Yes, Jose Valverde and now Frank Francisco are on the shelf. This week Harv goes with Scott Downs as a replacement RP as he didn’t think he could take the stress of Matt Capps and those edge of your seat 9th innings.

When the Horns Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers almost tossed a No-No this week, Joe Torre compared his curve to Sandy Koufax’s!!

I’ll go one step better and compare his curves to our girl Christina Hendricks of “Mad Men."

Gee, that’s Christina’s 2nd picture reference on this site already this year! But I’m sure you’re not complaining!

Okay, back to THE GODFATHER….. Did you know that we have two types – or two styles of weekly roster pick-ups and they can be referenced to the Corleone Brothers of Michael and Sonny.

A Michael Corleone move is a patient, reasoned, well thought out calculated move.

While a Sonny Corleone move is a hasty, rash, spur of the moment decision. And sometimes those Sonny moves don’t always work out for the best.

By virtue of a couple of Return Moves, the BIG TRAIN got much better due to the activation of Kevin Youkilis and Carlos Zambrano. And with the Drop of 6th round choice Garrett Atkins, the Train has now dispatched both of their 3rd basemen from draft night. Bob might quote Harv on that one by saying……. “That takes care of that shitty position!”

If you wondered which owner was being “stalked” by a female Colorado Rockies fan, wonder no more – Yes, it is Big Train owner Bob Sproule. Let me first start off by mentioning this…..

Did you happen to see the Pirates game on FSN Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon, late in the game when the Pirates were scoring 10 runs in one inning? The FSN camera man in the stands then had a shot of a woman in a Rockies jersey scoring the game and she held up her scorecard for the camera with the 10 Diamonds (runs) colored in. If you recall seeing this – that’s the woman I am referring to.

This tale starts out on Friday prior to the game down at PNC Park against the Rockies. Bob notices a woman by herself wearing Rockies gear looking around outside the ballpark. Bob approaches her in his position of “unofficial ambassador to all out of town fans” and they have a pleasant chat about Pittsburgh and her being on a ballpark tour – she is from Colorado (travelling alone) and Bob wished her well and that seemed to be the end of it.

However, Bob evidently mentioned his affiliation with the SABR organization – Pittsburgh Chapter. Bob had never exchanged e-mail addresses with the lady. A few days later he gets an e-mail from her. Seems that she researched things through SABR on the internet and found his address and writes a pleasant note of thanks to Bob. He responds in kind – mentions (several times) that he is married but the young lady continues to correspond.

Apparently Bob had also mentioned that he was thinking about a trip to “The Jake” for a game this year and now it seems the Colorado hussy may plan on going there as well, and goes as far as to suggest a possible hook-up with Bob in Cleveland!!!! Say What!!!!!!!! Bob better watch out, he could be getting into trouble just like Jon Gosselin, huh?

And geez, is this another movie scenario? The Colorado woman as Glenn Close, Bob as Michael Douglas, and…………

Marilyn as the wife, played by Ann Archer



Who then puts an end to the Glenn Close character!!!



Wow, how did I get this off track???? Back to baseball………….

The PITTSBURGH O’s had a solid week and moved up. CC Sabathia is rounding into form (no pun intended) and Papelbon has been his usual lights out as a Closer.

Bobby Abreu of the O’s is an interesting case this year. He’s still looking for his first Home Run of the season but already has 15 Stolen Bases. Last year he had 22 for the entire season. But now he’s got a sore toe!!

O is using his moves wisely thus far. Says he’s from the Michael Corleone school of thought when it comes to that.

And let’s wrap this up with the last three teams not mentioned yet. The three clubs that had rough weeks in Period 6 were the VULCANS, KOOPERSTOWN KIDS and H-BOMBS.

None of these three teams are down on themselves. Their teams just need a little inspiration, so each owner in his own way took it upon himself to meet with his team and see what needed to be said…….

KIDS ---------- I wanted my guys to remember that – we didn’t give up when the Germans Bombed Pearl Harbor, did we???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8lT1o0sDwI&feature=related

VULCANS ----- Rich talked it over in the locker room with the boys, and they clapped it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4Lhw4M-GTg&feature=related

BOMBERS ------- Johnny told his team to never quit. That they were going to keep on fighting for every inch in this 2009 NPL season…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2K5Rt8Mog8

And with that…… let’s go get ‘em in week # 7.

Period #4. Who's in more trouble? Manny or Jon Gosselin?

As Scoring Period # 4 ended in the North Park League, lots of items to cover. Let’s get right to it, shall we?

** Their stellar play thus far this season says that the BULLDOGS are still up for mad props, and they lead the NPL in both total hitting and pitching points with no sign of slowing up.

** The other teams are banking on time. In other words we have played 17% of the schedule to this date, and thus, 83% of the baseball calendar remains.

** Speaking of the baseball calendar, the VULCANS now have an interesting dilemma. Or, maybe not. Rich may have his mind made up and we’ll find out on Wednesday, but what’s the best thing to do with the Manny 50 gamer? That’s 50 games out of the approximately 130 remaining on the Dodgertown schedule.

** Manny was ranked 13th in NPL batters scoring at the time of the suspension.

** For this mistake, Manny may be in more hot water these days than Jon Gosselin.

Kate treated Jon like crap before he went astray, geez just think what he’s in for now!!

** And in regard to not quite suspensions – but suspended games. Astros at Washington suspended this week with a 10-10 score in extra innings. The upper right side yellow panel of the NPL home page offers the CBS website explanation but basically it’s the same as in the past and suspended games seem to happen once or twice every year. All those individual stats are counted into the current totals, and as the game is finished on July 9th, the rest will be added in after they occur. CBS does a good job of getting this right as I’ve looked at it closely when it has taken place.

** Back to the Vulcans and the M-Ram situation…… This news overshadowed the fact that the Vulcs were the top hitting team for the 7 day period #4 with 373 points.

** I also understand that Rich was obviously shook up by what took place at Dodger Stadium on Thursday. No, I’m not talking about the news conference announcing the 50 game ban for an illegal substance……

** Rich was taken aback at the celebrity throwing out the ceremonial first pitch that night at Dodger Stadium..
** Just what type of baseball spike is Kim Kardashian wearing? And where’s Reggie Bush?

** The PITTSBURGH O’s must have been sick last Monday night when Paul Maholm was pulled with the lead and the middle relievers gave it up. But O had a shot later at the Save when the Bucs got the lead back but The Mad Capper then blew the save as the O’s closer. Two nights later, the O’s cut the Capps.

** Good news O’s… As we start into this week 5, CC gets his first CG-Shutout of 2009.

** And….. Brian McCann is wearing glasses, back on the field..

** The 69’ERS may have made a discovery we will talk about for a while in Tribe Outfielder Matt LaPorta. As long as the Indians can give him the playing time.

** Piff had just recently returned from competing in the annual Transportation Association Bowling Tourney for keglers in the Eastern U.S. This year the event was held in Zelienople, PA. When I asked Piff how it went, he said everyone liked the venue as the lanes In Zelienople were managed by “an all girl staff”.



** At that time I thought it better to ask no further questions. After all, as the famous saying goes…… “What happens in Zelie, stays in Zelie."

** The BIG TRAIN is having a hard time keeping an 8 man starting staff healthy. Seems like every week another SP hits the DL.

** ROCK CATS cut bait with Kosuke Fukudome this week. His brief history shows he’s an April wonder and then it’s a steady downhill trend. And since April is now over………..

** The H-BOMBS have had good hitting. In fact, they’re 3rd in overall Slugging to date. Big D knows he has to find some points from the all-important Pitching WINS category. At this time only 12 Wins in 50 Games Started.

** Remember when the Train lost out on Freddy Sanchez late in the draft? He then “settled” for Aaron Hill in round 23. Well, only Ian Kinsler has more points from the 2nd base position. Hill is out-hitting such guys as Chase Utley and Dustin Pedroia and is currently at .356 with 8 HR and 28 Ribbies.

** The OWLS seem like they have found their wings. John wanted to be in the top 5 of the standings when A-Rod returned and it looks like the plan is working.

** Oh yeah, Justin Verlander appears to have got his groove back as an Owl.

** LOCKHORNS Rick Ankiel and Aramis Ramirez both hurt as we hit into week #5.

** After Jonathan Broxton, the RP of the Rock Cats who is putting together big points with Saves and Wins, the next top RP in scoring is Harv’s Frank Francisco. 1 Win, 9 Saves (tied for MLB lead) and an ERA of 0.00.

** Oh yeah, Francisco was taken in the 26th round, the final Closer taken on draft night.

** Worth watching ---- Tonight (SATURDAY) the Bulldogs Zach Greinke toes the rubber in Anaheim against the Angels (69’ers) Joe Saunders (4-1).


** This past Wednesday the Train cut Ian Snell. It’s only early May but Snell seems worn out and the velocity is down.


But hey, I’m glad he was able to pitch his heart out in March for Team Puerto Rico in the WBC. But wait…. Snell was born and raised in Delaware – in the USA, right? Color me as someone who doesn’t get that. It’s only May but I can’t even remember who won the WBC. I’m just saying….

** While on the subject of the hometown Bucs, things seem to be going downhill fast. When this happens we usually hear the critics get on Bucco Skipper John Russell for being too laid back and easy going. This got me thinking……………. I wish I could have had John Russell as one of my college professors back in the day……… The conversation would have probably gone like this………


ME: "Ah, Mr. Russell…… Sir….. Is it possible I could get the grade for my Final Paper?"

RUSSELL: "Well Dave, that wasn’t the greatest paper you ever turned in. Many typos and the last two pages were missing. But you came to class on time and you tried your best. Here’s an A-minus!"

ME: "Sweet!!"

** It’s May 9th and still no Matt Wieters for the KOOPERSTOWN KIDS! Okay, let’s check him out and see what he’s doing in AAA for the Norfolk Tides…… Hmmm…. Batting .286 with only 1 HR and has been nursing a sore hammy. (Gulp!)

** The catcher I would have otherwise taken in round 26, picking just ahead of the Dawgs, was John Baker of Florida. He’s currently the 5th best hitting catcher in the NPL with 85 points in 80 At Bats and hits 2nd in front of Hanley Ramirez. (Damn!)

Enjoy the upcoming week!