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!

Period 3, Greinke's World and Other NPL & Misc Items

As we close out the month of April – with apologies to Peter Gammons, here are some North Park League Diamond Notes……

On the CBS Website report we mentioned the big hitters in the BULLDOGS line-up and it’s now worth mentioning the Zach Greinke stats for April… And I’m sure Zack will avoid the SI cover jinx!!

GS – 5
Wins – 5 (5-0)
CG – 2
SH-O – 1
IP –36
K’s – 44
ERA – 0.50
NPL Points – 169 (#1 rank for all players)

Mr. Greinke could end up being the best 9th round draft pick this league has ever seen. Who did I take in the 9th? Let me look….. Oh yeah, Chien-Ming Wang. Okay, let’s just move on…….

The Dawgs top rival the H-BOMBS grabbed a young pitcher this week whom they also had on the Bomber roster for a period of time last season. Johnny Schom is looking for better things in 2009 from a guy he’s had his eye on for a while - Yankee Phil Hughes.

HB’s try to get their 10th ranked pitching untracked to go along with the good hitting which is ranked 2nd in NPL scoring. And the Bombs also own the newest Pirates villain – “Cryin" Ryan Braun.


But I’m sure we’d all take him. The boy can hit.

Two 69’ERS infielders already have 5 HR’s in Longoria and Robby Cano. Cano is a Yankee. In fact Piffy must love The Big Apple. The Niners have 5 Yankees and 3 Mets on the 26 man roster.



The PITTSBURGH O’s have to be happy with 15th round draft choice Adam Jones. This guy ain’t no PacMan. Batting a lofty .359 with good HR and RBI numbers… Big O mentioned that 2009 may be a sabbatical year from the Softball Wars. (Unless he gets a Roger Clemens-like mid-season call). This got me thinking……. And it may call for a TURN BACK THE CLOCK report…. Stay tuned…

With the Steelers drafting ZIGGY HOOD in the 1st round, I then had to check some baseball research sites to see if there were ever any “Ziggy’s” in MLB history. None listed other than a 1940’s minor leaguer. But how ‘bout other Ziggy’s in general? Well, here’s just a personal favorite…..

http://www.hbo.com/thewire/cast/characters/port/ziggy_sobotka.shtml

As mentioned, those ROCK CATS had a huge week and currently are in 2nd place, as it’s the Cat chasing the Dog. The Phillies duo of Utley and Ibanez once again led the hitting, but watch out for Joey Votto who is coming on strong. Last week’s pick up of Kosuke Fukudome was a good one, hitting .381 for the 7 day period. Both the Raven’s Closers got a WIN on the same day last week as Broxton and Nathan blew the Saves and both get the W’s. The Dodger SP-RP combo of Chad Billingsley and Jonathan Broxton have combined to go 6-0 with 6 saves and 50 K’s in 43 IP. Can a Cat catch a Dog????

If you’re a Throwback – Old School Baseball type of guy, check out this You-Tube clip of the Texas Tech Red Raiders announcers doing retro type highlights (with Black & White film) of the throwback game vs. Kansas. It’s the Bee’s Knees, if you get my drift.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JTi8YhS-FE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsportsbybrooks%2Ecom%2F&feature=player_embedded

The LOCKHORNS are in contention, but that’s really no surprise is it?. Harv had to enjoy his boy Yovani Gallardo’s game against the Bucs on Wednesday, the 1-0 victory, 8 innings and 11 K’s, but the Horns don’t get credit for the Gallardo Home Run. Sorry Harv!! And another young pitcher - Armando Galarraga has quietly gone 3-0 with a 1.85 ERA and 24 K’s in 24 IP to start the season….. Harv once again enjoyed the Ribs on Wednesday Pick-Up night from the Rochester Inn.

Are these two guys separated at birth?? Take a look at the modern day PETE ROSE….

and the modern day version of “KC” from KC and the Sunshine Band….

Did you ever have one of your fantasy league players in any sport kill someone?? Well, that’s what almost happened to John Frissora last weekend, as his fantasy league NASCAR driver in the all sports MOASP league – Carl Edwards in the #99 car came very close to wiping out part of the crowd at Talladega.

But the best part was when Edwards finished the last lap of the race by running on foot to cross the finish line just as Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) did in the movie “Talladega Nights.” Life imitating art, I guess.

I’m not exactly sure what this term means, but for some reason I like when the NASCAR announcers make it known that some driver was awarded the “Lucky Dog Free Pass.” But hey, that’s just me…..

The VULCANS are holding down a money spot in the standings right now. Things are running pretty smooth for Rich at this point. Only one move has been made and the Vulcs have none of those little Red and White Crosses next to any player names….. The Vulcans also came up in a conversation that the Owls owner had with his new neighbor Adam LaRoche. We’ll get to that soon…. For some reason I think we’ll have some good LaRoche – Tyler Yates stories to hear about in 2009!!

It’s a good thing that BIG TRAIN owner Bob Sproule does not subscribe to pitchers worrying about their Pitch Count. The Train’s Ian Snell tossed a career high and 2009 MLB season high 131 pitches on Wednesday in just 7 innings. The B.T. has been hit with a rash of “Day-to-Day’s” recently and his closer Brian Wilson was also the first MLB player to be involved in a “Twitter” controversy. But even with all these distractions, the Men of Walter Johnson are hanging in the 1st Division of the NPL standings. The Train owner and lifelong Tony LaRussa fan has three St. Louis pitchers on his staff. One new Closer in Ryan Franklin, and……… “Hey Tony…. How many of your starters does Bob-O have????”


“You got two of my starters, Sproule!! So treat ‘em right, ya got that?”

Ah, thanks Tony... (I think.)

Oh by the way, just for the record……. Despite rumors to the contrary….. Harv is not on Twitter.

When the KOOPERSTOWN KIDS made two OF moves this week, I later realized the following….. I dropped my 21st and 23rd round picks (Cuddyer and DeJesus) and picked up the Lockhorns draft night picks of round 21 and 24 in Justin Upton and Ryan Spilborghs who Harv dropped recently. I’m looking for some good MoJo with Upton as I had B.J. the past two years so this season I’ll give “J-UP” a shot. And it’s usually the Owls that grab those castoff Lockhorns outfielders!

And just for the integrity of this report I must make note that the Kids were the only team in Period # 3 which failed to cross the

Line, as I ranked 10th for the week with 394 points.

Last but not least are the OWLS….. On the field the Birds of John F will have the most starts in Period # 4 with 13, but let’s get to the fun stuff, shall we? As I mentioned, John had another conversation with his new neighbor Adam LaRoche in which John once again talks about the North Park Fantasy League to LaRoche. And by the way, these are real conversations folks, not something I’m making up. The conversation went like this and John also used it to take a shot at Rich’s squad……… Or, would Rich call it a “cheap shot?”

JOHN: “Adam, I’m glad you’re off to a good start for my Owls Fantasy Team. Heck, if you had that slow start I may have had to cut you and then the team in the cellar in July – for sure to be the Vulcans would be picking you up, and that wouldn’t be a good move for you.”

LAROCHE: (nodding affirmatively – but with a confused look on his face)… “The Vulcans? Yeah, who wants that?”

Best of Luck in Period # 4.