Just a note in case you haven't noticed..... To see what the Year-to-Date Transaction totals are, it is this year being listed on the "Commissioner Board" of the CBS - NPL website - right side - yellow panel.
And I thought that at the end of the weekly report we would go with a little Sopranos recap and discussion. I know there are a number of yins guys (and girls) who are fans, so with series winding down to a bang-up finish, why not? And please feel free to add your feedback on this subject, be it in comments or e-mail.
Now, on to the nonsense.... In no specific order........
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The 69'ers woke up this morning to find themselves behind the O and in 10th place. Piff has a lot of players nicked up, none the least is # 3 overall pick Alfonso Soriano. My sources tell me that a frustrated Piffy came into the lunch room at the Laborers District Council this morning and turned over the buffet table, ala Jim Leyland. Piff don't worry - only 20 days gone, about 160 to go.
How good have those Rock Cats been? They lead the NPL in both hitting and pitching points, and of their 17 pitching Wins, 3 are from the RP's. They're purring like a well oiled machine right now and this week added two veteran outfielders in Felipe's son and L-Gon.
A team that quietly moved into the first division this week were the Alabama Slammers. Big man Carlos Lee went on a rampage and Erik Bedard has 3 Wins, despite an ERA of 5.40. Mr. Cotton has a new "poll" on our CBS website to check out. One item insinuates that Tony is in a "Chess Slump!!" Say it ain't so T, say it ain't so......
If there is one team thus far that could be described as "steady" it would be those Flying Owls. A solid 3rd place as a result of being 4th in both hitting and pitching points. I've heard from more than one team - saying that they regret the decision to pass on selecting A-Rod, and it appears that Tim Hudson is back and better than ever. BTW, I had him last year when he sucked!! (This could be a theme for tonight).
The Dynamic Duo of the Bulldogs grabbed a pair of Dodgers in the pick-ups this week - Nomar and the Wolf. The X-Man has been a pleasant surprise. Who's pick was he anyway? Tony's? Eddie? Seems to be some disagreement about that.
The Kooperstown Kids took a high risk - high reward shot this week with Josh Hamilton of the Redlegs. When he joined my squad, I gave Josh four important words of advice...... "SAY NO TO DRUGS." We'll see...... And in a real swift move by yours truly, it was after 9:00 PM on Wednesday night when I noticed two transaction reports, one time-stamped at 7:35 PM and the other at 8:25 PM stating that Howie Kendricks was officially DL'ed by the Angels... I must be losing my edge. I never caught that move while doing the phone calls..... Way to go Slappy (Me)!!!! Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait until next Wednesday to pick up Jose Castillo, if no one else grabs him first.
Speaking of Pirates, The Big Train was very happy and surprised to get "Gorzo", as he is affectionately known to Bob.. The Train was pretty sure that the O's would be on that move in round 1. Here's a scary thought for the BT.... 3 Nationals and 2 Royals from the hitting side. Gutsy.... During this past week, the Badger was the benefactor of an almost unheard of 10 inning Complete Game Win. This was by Roy Halladay and he out-dueled Bob's other SP - Jeremy Bonderman of Tigertown. The last time there was a 10 inning CG in MLB was back in 2005. It was Mark Mulder and I'm sure Mr. Frissora will recall that Mulder was an Owl in '05.
It may not be a stretch to say that the The Pittsburgh O's have had more injuries that Mick Foley in his WWF heyday.
But the O has already made 5 DL moves in 2007. They are almost halfway to their 2006 grand total of 11 DL moves. And old friend Tim Wakefield is back in the fold. I didn't realize this until Larry told me - but did ya know that Mariano Rivera doesn't have a Save yet!! O will be playing softball on Wednesday nights again, albeit the late game. When I told him he may be calling in his moves during team warm ups, Larry said.... "Ah, we really don't do much warming up." Good Luck to The Roadhouse in 2007!!The Lockhorns are another solid team in 2007 thus far. But last week Felix Hernandez was "King" and this week the dude has a tender elbow. As David K. Littlefield likes to say.... "You can never have enough pitching." Harv's middle infield is going nuts... Jimmy Rollins with 6 HR's and Ian Kinsler with 7. In fact the Kinsler whispers have started...... "The next Chase Utley?" On the moves this week, Big Daddy picked Paul Byrd in round 1 and was targeting Carlos Quentin in round 2. He's the highly touted D-Back rookie fresh off the DL. But Harv called in for round 1 and promptly tossed out Quentin's name, then had a hearty belly laugh when I informed him B.D. wanted him in round 2.
But do the H-Bombs get the last laugh?? First off, we have to mention the Mark Buehrle No-Hitter. A total of 83 points for Buehrle that evening. He had 2 points coming into the game. Forgive me if I sound bitter, but this bulky southpaw screwed me last year as he went 3-7 with a 6.44 ERA for me after the All-Star Break. But in any event - congrats to B.D. on the No-No. But here's where J-Schom got back at Harv... At the same time Buehrle was doing his thing, the 'Horns John Maine of the Mets has his own No-Hitter going against Florida into the 7th inning. At least until Big Dad called upon his own Miguel Cabrera to get the knock to break it up..... And in his best Vince McMahon impression, the H-Bomb owner then said...... "Scrreeew you Harv!!"-
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Ok, here's my Greg Brown rant for this week..... And no, it's not about "Raising the F***ing Jolly Roger"..... I have LaRoche on my team, so sure, that's then two reasons to be glad to see the guy hit one out of the park. But I don't think I'll be able to stand it if Brown continues to use the HR call he pulled out for LaRoche's long ball this week in St. Louis........ In case you missed it.....
"That's an ADAM BOMB... From... La-La-La-La-Roche!!!!!"
Please Greg. Just stop it.
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SOPRANOS - Sunday, April 15. "STAGE 5."
Wow, what great dialogue in this show. This one could have been one of the best ever for good lines from beginning to end. And anytime you get Christopher and Little Carmine together you know the malapropisms are going to fly.... High comedy! Sydney Pollack playing the part of the incarcerated murdering doctor Warren Feldman was great. His calm description of what he did was too funny. "At that point I had to fully commit." Beautiful...
But my favorite line of the week came from Paulie Walnuts.... Or should I say the always self-absorbed Paulie.......
"I beat cancer but it took Johnny Sack out. Ride the painted pony let the spinning wheel glide, huh?"
And what's up with Blanca being bitchy with A.J.?? I think she might be pregnant!!
(Yikes).
And the baby christening was Godfather-esque wasn't it? I'd say if you have Christopher to get whacked in your office pool, you're looking pretty good.... The look on Christopher's face when he hugs Tony is priceless. He knows. He has to.
All in all, a great episode....
