The big week of THE BIG TRAIN jumped the BT from 8th at this time last week to 5th place today. The ROCK CATS are still driving the NPL pace car with the LOCKHORNS in hot pursuit and the OWLS steadily holding onto 3rd. The ALABAMA SLAMMERS are playing good baseball and hold down 4th place.... Those of us in 6th to 10th place still have a couple more days to play our .... "It's still only April" card. Here's an odd thing about the standings... When we drafted, the first 3 teams selecting were in this order ........ 1. Big O. 2. Dave. 3. Piffy. And when we made transactions on Wednesday, it was the same order to select.. O-Dave-Piff. Wonder if the slow start of those top three players taken - Pujols - Howard - Soriano, have anything to do with that!
THE TEAMS:
Many teams had big individual performances this week. Maybe none more surprising than the Shut-Out tossed by Paul Maholm of the PITTSBURGH O's. And looking at O's hitters, Beltran and Chipper rank 4th and 5th right now in Year-to-Date hitting points. The pitching staff is a work in progress and Larry said he finally grew tired of Mariano Rivera's shenanigans, and thus he was shown the door. (Yes, O actually used the word "shenanigans"). Back to Maholm for a moment... When he finished that game, during the post-game high-five / fist-bump line-up that takes place on the field, Maholm was coming up to pitching coach Jim Colborn. But Colborn did not give Paul the standard slap or fist. Instead, in the ultimate show of respect, the coach, gave the youngster a "tip of the cap." A nice gesture from an Old School coach.
And although currently in 10th place, The O's are sort of like Jack Bauer of "24." They always bounce back. In fact, further down in this report, Larry has a special message he wants to deliver to the rest of the league... (and this one isn't "Beat 'em Bucs".)Another big individual pitching performance in Period 3 was Cole Hamels of the 69'ERS. He didn't notch the Shutout, but Hamels got a CG-Win with 15 K's, a 45 point game. Hey, we now know that Piffy was born in 1968 and that he has a birthday this weekend. As the "young guy" of this league Piff, I see future Kommissioner duties in your future!! The Niners grabbed A.J. Pierzynski off the waiver wire. AJ's off-season claim to fame was that he had the role of one of the on-stage bouncers / fight breaker up guys, on the Jerry Springer Show.
Here's another item about the top score of 609 by THE BIG TRAIN. Last season, Bob's top tally was 595 points in week 19. A sign of good things to come in '07 perhaps... With the Train adding JJ Hardy, in addition to having JJ Putz on the roster, it was pointed out that this club leads the league with players who go by the JJ initial. Now you may recall that in Bob & Chris' 1999 Championship season of the SHOELESS JOE'S, they were the only team to roster two players named "Omar." Yes, it was Vizquel and Daal. Ok, come on now.... Seriously folks...... Isn't this the kind of obscure information that keeps you coming back here for more??????
So many hitters in baseball are hovering around the "Mendoza Line", a .200 Batting Average. But I'm looking for a description for the KOOPERSTOWN KIDS Adam LaRoche. You know, he's got the batting average that is bouncing over and then under again, the .100 mark. Please e-mail your suggestions to GoldSox21@comcast.net or leave it in the comments section. If he's still hitting at that mark for me in August, I'll definately need a name for it by then. Thanks!
The Beat Goes On... Of course we're talking about YOUR first place ROCK CATS of Mr. Johnny Stasko. Both elements of hitting and pitching are Rockin' and a team BA of .290 leads the league. Jose Reyes has been the best NPL hitter not named Alex Rodriguez with 117 points in 87 At Bats thus far. And here's another outstanding individual performance.... Jake Peavy with the 16 K game (including 9 in a row) but ironically doesn't get the W as Piffy's Trevor Hoffman blows the save. The RP's have been big for the RC's. Street & Ray are 3rd and 4th in overall Pitching Points at this time. Those two Closers even have a total of 4 Wins between them. As the first month concludes, we're all Chasin' the Cat.....
Saying "My outfield is a mess", the OWLS John Frissora, was able to grab two new boys off the waiver wire in Shane Victorino (Phils) and youngster Adam Lind of the Jays. Shane-Vic was the 18th round draft pick of the 'Horns. But as long as Alex The Great is healthy and happy this team will be a contender. What more can we keep saying about A-Rod? An amazing April, 150 points in 78 At Bats. And check out Travis Hafner's numbers... He may be overlooked because of Alex, but he's been impressive in his own right (5-15, .373). A crazy game Wednesday night for the Owls Tim Hudson. 8 shutout innings, 12 K's against the Fish, but then Big Daddy's Bob Wickman comes in and blows it for T-Hud. It's those damn pitch counts!! (Right Bob?)
Now that Harv had guys on the DL this week, the ALABAMA SLAMMERS are the only NPL team that has not had to make a DL move yet. And one owner in the league has accussed Al of being "evil." Not sure if that's in the Knievel sense or not...... The Slams were looking at grabbing JJ Hardy this week but he was gone when their turn came up. Maybe not getting a guy you want can turn out to be a good thing. The ss who would have been cut was Stephen Drew, and he turned around and rewarded his owner by belting out the big HR off Trevor Hoffman in that D-Back win (the Peavy game) later that Wednesday night. And this may surprise you, but the Chi-Sox Bobby Jenks is the highest scoring Pitcher in the entire NPL after racking up 5 Saves this scoring Period. Jenks' 8 Saves on the year are 8 more than some guy named Rivera has.
So speaking of it perhaps being a good thing not to get a pick-up you had targeted..... Remember last week when the H-BOMBS wanted OF Carlos Quentin? Well when Harv took him first, the Bombers held tight with Shawn Green, who would have got the axe. Then Green turns around and out-scores Quentin in the 7 day period, 39 to 7. Ya just never know. Matsui returned from the DL this week... The Bomber OF must be loaded. A tough call when you have to get rid of Brad Hawpe, a 9th round selection on draft night. And Big Daddy was off work on Wednesday, and when I told him that Al, Tony and Eddie were concerned and worried about him, Big D said he wasn't buying any of it.... Just more shenanigans from those guys, he says. Hmmm, there's that word again!!
More big games??? The BULLDOGS Matt Cain tosses a gem earlier in the week. A CG 3-hitter and this guy looks like the real deal. The BD's are hoping for good news on Big Ben Sheets' groin. Only in fantasy sports do grown men worry about other guys groins, huh? Dogs came out sluggin this week too.. Magglio hits .521 for the week. Khalil .461. Xavier .363. Miggy .391, Nomar .315 (Do any of these guys have last names??) And this Willy Taveras guy is driving Tony and Eddie nuts!! I dont' see a long term future for Willy T as a Bulldog...
When the Dogs picked up Mike Pelfrey last week, it was reported here that T&E said "Thanks Big Daddy" for making him available by cutting him the week before...... Well, this week the LOCKHORNS had this to say about the Dog now cutting Pelfrey themselves..... "Hey Eddie, are ya still thanking Big Dummy for that bum now?" Yikes! The verbal barrage Harv is tossing on his distant relative continues from draft night. Just think if he wasn't related! Harv has been going through the same search that Big O and myself were doing.... A good 3rd baseman is hard to find these days. Thus, the Chone Figgins double move for $6.00 to stash the speedster..... But 2nd base has been no problem for the Horns. Kinsler and Weeks rank 7 and 9 in NPL overall hitting points.
And now to Big O's message to the rest of the NPL..... Larry's a little hot about being in the cellar at this time, but says to look out, like Jack in "24",
Whoa..... Let's all stay calm, and look at the struggles of three former Pirates in MLB. Although Bonds, Ramirez and Giles are having good starts to their seasons, take a look at these three players........
Craig Wilson ---- 0 HR, 1 RBI, .122 BA. 16 K's in 41 AB's
Jason Kendall -- 0 HR (no surprise there), 5 RBI. No longer batting at the top of the order.
Rob Mackowiak -- A .219 average in his part-time role.
THE SOPRANOS: Sunday, April 22. "Remember When"
A couple of things about this episode... First was the fact that for anyone who seen the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, it was an immediate comparison to that flick and Uncle Junior's nut house that he is incarceriated in. Sad ending for UJ. They should have just had a big deaf long-haired Indian guy smother him with a pillow at the end.
Couple of creepy things..... I and others I have talked to and read, had an eerie feeling about seeing the young Asian guy starting to crack and you could see a violent incident was coming. Eerie in the sense that it was this soon after the VT incident, but of course this would have been filmed long before that took place. But that did give me the creeps. Also on the Fishing Boat. Geez, the camera work with the boat rocking.... I was starting to feel sea sick myself. And then wondering if T was going to whack Paulie right there. If so, it would have probably had to have been with that Axe or big Fishing Knife they kept showing.... Ooo, that would have been messy, huh?
My Favorite Line..... Without a doubt...... Uncle Junior dictating his letter to Vice President Dick Cheney, by saying......... "Like yourself, I was involved in an unfortunate incident when a gun I was handling misfired......." Whichever writer came up with that one should get a raise!
Some Trivia...... The end credits list a womans name... Kate Rogal. She was the lady of the evening that was Paulie's "date" at the dinner table in Miami with Tony and Beansie. Her imdb.com page shows her as "Katie Cardille-Rogal." It's the daughter of Pittsburgh's own Chilly Billy Cardille. I'd reveal my source on that info, but I'm too embarrased to say......
And to conclude, the NPL BLOG contacted the White House to get a reaction for the VP on how he feels about having his name and a former hunting incident of his in an episode of The Soprano's........ Well Mr. Cheney, what do ya think????
Catch ya on the flip side......
--Kommish.
