For --- WEDNESDAY – AUGUST 1.
For moves – contact BOB SPROULE.
RFSMMS@verizon.net
412-366-9323
Thanks in advance Bob…
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The KOOPERSTOWN KIDDIES went with youth over experience this week, cutting loose the 41 year old future HOF’er for a 23 year old kid coming off of cancer. Maddux hasn’t been up to par lately. I’m not going as far as to say he’s finished, but the only thing missing from his recent mound appearances this year have been a pack of coyotes cautiously approaching him from different angles. And if Lester stays in the rotation with the return of the Bloody Sock Guy, I’ll somehow have three BoSox Starters in Schilling, Lester and Dice-K, along with the Closer, Paplebon, and we haven’t even yet mentioned batters Pedroia and Youkilis. It’s enough to think that I’m starting a rivalry with the Owls and his plethora of Yankees. But ya gotta like the Red Sox…. After all, they are looking good these days!
While mentioning the OWLS, it should be noted that on Tuesday night, Tim Hudson was one out away from a Complete Game Shut-Out Victory. Somehow it all went awry, and a few minutes later Hudson was gone and didn’t even get the W. John thinks Bob Wickman is somehow in cahoots with that crooked Ref from the NBA. And while driving from Philly back to Erie this week, the Owl had a chance to tune in some out of town baseball games over the air waves and caught some of Cleveland – Boston. Said what a breath of fresh air to listen to good teams play and good announcers describe it.
More to come on the Slammers in a moment, but with that team now holding down 2nd place to the league lead of THE BIG TRAIN, this has to be “Deja-Vu all over again” for the Train…. It was back in that magical, mystical, rookie season of 1999 when the then Shoeless Joe’s of “B&C” were entrenched in 1st place, but the Slammers were always out there lurking in 2nd…. Does this mean that Marilyn will go back to asking Bob first thing each and every morning the question of…….. “What did Al do last night?” just like it was 1999 all over again?
The ROCK CATS are suddenly in 3rd place due to the Slammer Surge. The pitching continues to Rock. Lots of wins, including the large number of 8 W’s by the Closers already. Not only do they Close, they Win! John was very close to cutting Barry Bonds a week ago. He held onto him, and BB paid dividends this week. But is the HR chase a distraction to the Cats? And more importantly, the media wants to know if the Raven will be in attendance IN PERSON when Barry breaks Aaron’s record?
The 69’ERS may have slipped into the basement for now, but give them credit for trying some strategy. The pick-up of J.D. Durbin has a lot to do with his match-up. On Saturday, J.D. goes against Sugar Shane Youman and the Bucs. WAIT…. My God, did I just use a Greg Brown-ism there with the “Sugar Shane” thing? If I ever do that again, please slap me upside the head!! Thank you.
Sorry…… Back to the Niners……. Also picking up Ryan Theriot. Did you know his nickname in Chicago is “The Riot.” Put those two words together into one and you have his name of Theriot. Piff says he’s still working on the pitching as he made two moves there this week since the staff compiled a Pirate-like ERA of 6.68 for the period.
The BULLDOGS made an Outfield move. Cutting loose Reggie Willits, who I understand was at one time earlier this year known at the Post-Office as “The next Pete Rose.” (the on the field Rose, that is.) Now the duo has claimed a guy named Franklin Gutierrez. Just where do T&E find these guys anyway?? The pick-up of the year so far is turning out to be 3rd baseman Ryan Braun of the Brewers. The Dogs claimed him in place of Ty Wigginton back on May 30th. All Braun has done is tally 235 points in 187 At-Bats while hitting a lofty .358. The Slams were lamenting the fact that they selected ahead of T&E that night but didn’t make any moves. Also having a shot at him and passing were the Bombers and O’s. Hey, more to follow on this, but Eddie asked me to let everyone know that Eddie Jr. is once again running the NFL – Individual Player Survivor League on the same website as last year. All are welcome. I was in this last season and it was fun and a really interesting concept. Easy to do – all on the web. No draft to attend, just set your line-up on line each week and follow the action. Thinking and strategy are required. Again, Eddie will have more details to follow for signing in. Here's the Logo from the Leagues website.....
More to come on the Slammers in a moment, but with that team now holding down 2nd place to the league lead of THE BIG TRAIN, this has to be “Deja-Vu all over again” for the Train…. It was back in that magical, mystical, rookie season of 1999 when the then Shoeless Joe’s of “B&C” were entrenched in 1st place, but the Slammers were always out there lurking in 2nd…. Does this mean that Marilyn will go back to asking Bob first thing each and every morning the question of…….. “What did Al do last night?” just like it was 1999 all over again?
The ROCK CATS are suddenly in 3rd place due to the Slammer Surge. The pitching continues to Rock. Lots of wins, including the large number of 8 W’s by the Closers already. Not only do they Close, they Win! John was very close to cutting Barry Bonds a week ago. He held onto him, and BB paid dividends this week. But is the HR chase a distraction to the Cats? And more importantly, the media wants to know if the Raven will be in attendance IN PERSON when Barry breaks Aaron’s record?
The 69’ERS may have slipped into the basement for now, but give them credit for trying some strategy. The pick-up of J.D. Durbin has a lot to do with his match-up. On Saturday, J.D. goes against Sugar Shane Youman and the Bucs. WAIT…. My God, did I just use a Greg Brown-ism there with the “Sugar Shane” thing? If I ever do that again, please slap me upside the head!! Thank you.
Sorry…… Back to the Niners……. Also picking up Ryan Theriot. Did you know his nickname in Chicago is “The Riot.” Put those two words together into one and you have his name of Theriot. Piff says he’s still working on the pitching as he made two moves there this week since the staff compiled a Pirate-like ERA of 6.68 for the period.
The BULLDOGS made an Outfield move. Cutting loose Reggie Willits, who I understand was at one time earlier this year known at the Post-Office as “The next Pete Rose.” (the on the field Rose, that is.) Now the duo has claimed a guy named Franklin Gutierrez. Just where do T&E find these guys anyway?? The pick-up of the year so far is turning out to be 3rd baseman Ryan Braun of the Brewers. The Dogs claimed him in place of Ty Wigginton back on May 30th. All Braun has done is tally 235 points in 187 At-Bats while hitting a lofty .358. The Slams were lamenting the fact that they selected ahead of T&E that night but didn’t make any moves. Also having a shot at him and passing were the Bombers and O’s. Hey, more to follow on this, but Eddie asked me to let everyone know that Eddie Jr. is once again running the NFL – Individual Player Survivor League on the same website as last year. All are welcome. I was in this last season and it was fun and a really interesting concept. Easy to do – all on the web. No draft to attend, just set your line-up on line each week and follow the action. Thinking and strategy are required. Again, Eddie will have more details to follow for signing in. Here's the Logo from the Leagues website.....
Did you know???????? That about 20 minutes before the 1st pitch of each Pirate game at PNC Park, there is a short clip on the Jumbo-Tron, in which the Pirates are promoting their Pirates Fantasy Camp. You will see a lefty - #44 pitching in the Bucco unnie. That’s the Big O from the 2006 camp. And as the Sproule’s are heading to Altoona in a couple of weeks to catch a Curve game, they will be looking out for any Larry Ott – Altoona Fantasy Camp MVP memorabilia. The Pittsburgh O’s have two Cleveland Indians SP’s on the roster, but little did Larry think that Jake Westbrook would be 1-6 with a 6.19 ERA and a guy named Fausto Carmona would be 13-4 with a 3.30 ERA. Strange stuff indeed….. And The O’s have been wondering about the fate of their SS Jack Wilson. There was the trade rumor to Toronto. But then the Blue Jays GM apparently nixed that with this emphatic quote to the Toronto newspapers…..
"We have absolutely no interest in Jack Wilson. None. We're not going to trade Josh Towers for a bag of donuts."
--- J.P. Ricciardi, GM – Toronto Blue Jays
A bag of donuts?!?! Ouch! (and why would Pittsburgh want Josh Towers??)
The H-BOMBS re-acquired Garret Anderson this week. GA was the 21st round draft pick of Big Daddy in 2007. And today – Thursday, July 26th is a historical date. The Bombers emerge from out of the cellar for the first time since May 17th. Now it gets tricky. B.D. has had to spend 28 moves thus far. Two DROP moves remain for the five Wednesdays in August before the additional four are given in September. But the team is on a roll, scoring 508 and 559 points in the past two weeks.
By the way……. Damn, I’m still frantically searching for my future out there….. I’m about ready to panic……. Oh well, I’ll keep looking and hoping……
(Back to Baseball)……
Lots of ALABAMA SLAMMERS news this week…. First off, Al said if Wandy Rodriguez can’t even beat the Pirates, he is OUT!! And here is the league record I spoke about that will never be broken under our current rules…….. On Tuesday, both of the Slammer Closers were on teams that played a doubleheader – Texas and the White Sox, but it was not a DH against each other. Eric Gagne SAVED both ends of his DH for 2 Saves in one day. Bobby Jenks did likewise. That’s 4 Saves in one day. Once again, it is a record that can be tied, but never broken. And what are the odds on that happening?
Al said he was at the Pirates game on Saturday when the Pirates won their only game (to date) since the All-Star Break. He was sitting low in box seats and close to the McClatchy Home Plate Club area. Low and behold Al spots former NPL member Tom Vandergrift sitting directly behind McC and chatting him up and joining in with Kevin’s home plate Entourage that evening in standing and clapping along with the outgoing CEO. Clapping when Kevin claps, cheering along with him, etc. etc…. If Van was part of the Entourage, wonder if he would be “Turtle” or “Johnny Drama?” (HBO reference).
Remember when the Slammers owner stated at the beginning of the season that 2007 was to be 1st place or bust? Meaning, if Al didn’t win the league in ’07 he was going to retire from the NPL. Al told Big Daddy, Eddie and Tony that he is a man of his word and he will stick to that statement. And now the A.S. are actually mounting a charge to win the championship in 2007. Maybe he’ll be back in 2008 after all…. However, keep in mind that when Al made that statement, our hidden NPL cameras were on the scene and Tony, Eddie and Big Daddy may not have seen this view of Al when he said those words…….
"We have absolutely no interest in Jack Wilson. None. We're not going to trade Josh Towers for a bag of donuts."
--- J.P. Ricciardi, GM – Toronto Blue Jays
A bag of donuts?!?! Ouch! (and why would Pittsburgh want Josh Towers??)
The H-BOMBS re-acquired Garret Anderson this week. GA was the 21st round draft pick of Big Daddy in 2007. And today – Thursday, July 26th is a historical date. The Bombers emerge from out of the cellar for the first time since May 17th. Now it gets tricky. B.D. has had to spend 28 moves thus far. Two DROP moves remain for the five Wednesdays in August before the additional four are given in September. But the team is on a roll, scoring 508 and 559 points in the past two weeks.
By the way……. Damn, I’m still frantically searching for my future out there….. I’m about ready to panic……. Oh well, I’ll keep looking and hoping……
(Back to Baseball)……
Lots of ALABAMA SLAMMERS news this week…. First off, Al said if Wandy Rodriguez can’t even beat the Pirates, he is OUT!! And here is the league record I spoke about that will never be broken under our current rules…….. On Tuesday, both of the Slammer Closers were on teams that played a doubleheader – Texas and the White Sox, but it was not a DH against each other. Eric Gagne SAVED both ends of his DH for 2 Saves in one day. Bobby Jenks did likewise. That’s 4 Saves in one day. Once again, it is a record that can be tied, but never broken. And what are the odds on that happening?
Al said he was at the Pirates game on Saturday when the Pirates won their only game (to date) since the All-Star Break. He was sitting low in box seats and close to the McClatchy Home Plate Club area. Low and behold Al spots former NPL member Tom Vandergrift sitting directly behind McC and chatting him up and joining in with Kevin’s home plate Entourage that evening in standing and clapping along with the outgoing CEO. Clapping when Kevin claps, cheering along with him, etc. etc…. If Van was part of the Entourage, wonder if he would be “Turtle” or “Johnny Drama?” (HBO reference).
Remember when the Slammers owner stated at the beginning of the season that 2007 was to be 1st place or bust? Meaning, if Al didn’t win the league in ’07 he was going to retire from the NPL. Al told Big Daddy, Eddie and Tony that he is a man of his word and he will stick to that statement. And now the A.S. are actually mounting a charge to win the championship in 2007. Maybe he’ll be back in 2008 after all…. However, keep in mind that when Al made that statement, our hidden NPL cameras were on the scene and Tony, Eddie and Big Daddy may not have seen this view of Al when he said those words…….
Hmmm…. Interesting…… Hey, I also have a theory on what could take place in the future – such as the year 2009 in relation to this situation…… Running out of time now, but something to look at in a future blog.
The LOCKHORNS are sitting in 6th place, trying to get back into the money, but I don’t think Harv is too worried about it…. Other events going on for the Harvster these days.. He’s looking forward to a trip to Camp Tomlin (or “Camp Coon” as Harv called it) on Wednesday, and then on Thursday the Harv celebrates his 53rd birthday. Here’s to you Harv……….
The LOCKHORNS are sitting in 6th place, trying to get back into the money, but I don’t think Harv is too worried about it…. Other events going on for the Harvster these days.. He’s looking forward to a trip to Camp Tomlin (or “Camp Coon” as Harv called it) on Wednesday, and then on Thursday the Harv celebrates his 53rd birthday. Here’s to you Harv……….
Okay………. YESSSSSSSSS!!!
I’ve got it……..
Finally……..
I have thankfully found where I am going………….
Whew……..
See ya in two weeks!!
Whew……..
See ya in two weeks!! 
