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!

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.

NPL - At the End of Period # 2.

Okay, here we are at the end of Period 2 of the North Park League. The Adam LaRoche – NPL story is at the end of this report, but first some odds and ends……

BULLDOGS grab the headlines again in week 2, and they have the top scoring team on both the Hitting and Pitching side. In 22 games started their staff has a record of 15 – 6 with a league best 3.83 ERA. Tony is vacationing in Las Vegas and Eddie says he should stay in Vegas as the Big E has this first place club under control.

The H-BOMBS had most of the league surprised that no moves were made this week. The Bombers 3rd round pick Carlos Quentin is batting an okay .275 but has 73 points in only 51 At Bats.

Did you know that those two NPL teams have an interesting side bet going on for 2009? The team that finishes ahead in the standings between the two will have its 2010 $100.00 entry fee paid for by the other!

We often hear of milestone numbers being reached in MLB. Well, in 2009 it looks like we will have a couple of milestone occurrences in the NPL as well. As they are reached, I figure to make note of them.

I had some fun with the Chien-Ming Wang thing this week before he got his one way ticket punched sending him back to Taiwan, but isn’t it amazing that an MLB pitcher can actually have stats that show 6 Innings Pitched with 6 Walks and 23 Hits Allowed?


And then I grab Ricky Romero from the waiver wire only to hear that the next day (Thursday) he goes on the DL, with no prior news that he had any injury problems and this news came just a couple of days after the Ryan Doumit injury. At this point the KOOPERSTOWN KIDS are searching for answers in trying to figure it all out, as I’m still waiting for this guy to call me back with some advice!!!!!

Have you noticed that two veteran lefty’s for the 69’ERS are both off to a 2-0 start. Yep, Mark Buehrle and Andy Pettitte have good starts under way and here’s an oddity for the Boys of Piffy… His # 4, 5, and 6 outfielders taken in the draft have already been dispatched. That would be Chase Headley, Marcus Thames and Ken Griffey Jr. – gone, and a lot of owners liked the Jason Kubel pick-up on Wednesday. In fact, Mr. Schoming gave it his personal endorsement!! The Niners off to a little bit of a slow start but you know Piff will not have any lifeboats going off the side of the ship. He’ll be in it all the way.

The VULCANS have quietly been moving up in the standings over the past week. Thanks to Dodgers in the Outfield. Manny is hitting well, over .320, but it is Andre Ethier the # 2 hitter in NPL scoring that has been a nice surprise. Now the Vulcs just need to get two other big thumpers untracked – Matty Holliday and David ORRR-tese (as Buck Martinez pronounces his name, for reasons that remain unclear).

Some baseball writer on espn.com wrote that Wandy Rodriguez (ROCK CATS) could be this year’s version of Cliff Lee. In the meantime, the Raven’s Cats have the best batting average in the NPL with a .293 mark as a pair of Phillies are the RC’s top two hitters – Raul Ibanez and Chase Utley.

Interesting that Free Agent pitcher Tim Wakefield had two consecutive Complete Game Wins but yet no one even mentioned his name for a free agent claim. Hey, he’s old, but he’s younger than Jamie Moyer!

Consistently within the top 3 of the standings all year has been the BIG TRAIN. The BT ranks 3rd in both overall hitting and pitching points. “Youk”, who was labeled by Billy Beane as “The Greek God of Walks” in the well known baseball book MONEYBALL is leading all of MLB in On Base Percentage with a .522 mark. Bob is enjoying his new MLB Network and I understand he is a big fan of the MLBN’s hottie from Boston - Hazel Mae!!


Another team near the top of the standings all year has been the historically tough LOCKHORNS. 2nd sacker Ian Kinsler is the # 1 hitter in the entire NPL with 93 points in only 59 At Bats and he has an obscene slugging percentage of .813. And he’s a 2ND BASEMAN!!! You may recall that Harv got Kinsler in the 2nd round and then followed with Uggla in the 3rd to finish off that shitty position. Horns catcher Chris Iannetti only has 3 hits thus far, but 2 of those are long balls. Did you know that Harv’s 3rd baseman Emilio Bonifacio has 178 stolen bases in his past 4 minor league seasons?

There are three MLB teams that have all three of their starting outfielders sitting as NPL free agents. They are the 1st place Florida Marlins, the San Fran Giants and San Diego Pods.

On the pitching side, there is one MLB team in which not even one SP is on an NPL roster. They be the Oakland A’s…. Even the Nats have one rostered in Jordan Zimmermann of the Dawgs.

The PITTSBURGH O’s have got to be enjoying the success of 8th round draft choice Paul Maholm. And he’s formed a nice SP-RP combo with Matt Capps. And speaking of Pirates, how ‘bout ANDY LaRoche. 0 for 16 while on the O’s. Then cut and since then 9 for 24. Here’s an odd stat…The O’s are 21 for 21 in the Stolen Base category. Zero Caught Stealings and consider the fact that every other NPL team has at least 4 Caught Stealings. The O’s are one of three teams that have 0 Blown Saves thus far. The Cats and Owls are the two others.

A note on the PBC blog on the Post-Gazette stated that in many 2009 box scores of the Cleveland Indians, their # 8 and 9 hitters are named …. “Francisco” and “Cabrera.” Not that I want to bring back sour memories or anything……

Avoiding those many injuries and DL moves thus far this season are the new Wexford OWLS, and this has helped John into the top 5 of the standings. The Birds also have a strange stat to note…. The only NPL team that does not have a Triple thus far in 2009. Especially odd with all the speed guys they’ve got. I made note of the town of Wexford with John and if you were not aware, the Owner and President of “Frissora Gaming Enterprises” is no longer in Erie, but back in the ‘burgh and renting a house in Wexford while a permanent residence is being looked at. It seems that the Wexford neighborhood has many new homes that are rented at this time and John lives on a cul-de-sac in which he happens to have neighbors both two houses to the right and two houses to the left which are Pittsburgh Pirates. Adam LaRoche and Tyler Yates. It was after John informed LaRoche that he is also a member of the Owls in the North Park League that Adam started turning it on and has become “Mr. April” as dubbed by Greg Brown. I can just picture John, LaRoche and Yates having beers on John’s deck on hot summer nights after the two Bucs return from PNC Park and a Bucco Victory. John will have to have a “Jolly Roger” ready to be raised on the family flag pole when the two drive down the street.

One funny side story to this is how John related that Tyler Yates has a 6 year old kid and the other day Yates was in the driveway throwing tennis balls to the kid who was in front of the garage door. Well, it seems that the intense Yates was firing these tennis balls at almost full velocity and by the time the poor kid swung the bat, the tennis ball had already bounced off the garage door and were on their way back to Yates…. After this, his next game out Yates was taken deep by Florida. Geez, if he comes down with a sore elbow this season I think we may know why!!

Good Luck in Period # 3.

NPL - "2009 Post Draft Report".

Hello Fantasy Geeks:

Well, another fantasy baseball draft is in the books, this being draft number

of the North Park League, 1992-2009. Also, this new location of Kennedy’s Tavern is the 8th different venue we have used and I think it worked out well. Piff will look to hook us up for the same spot in 2010 and we’ll work on getting a lamp for Harv in the back! But when it was all said and done, the results looked good……

Here’s a look at each NPL team, by order of draft selection……

the BIG TRAIN (Bob):

The Train gave us a minor surprise by going with Hanley Ramirez as the #1 overall pick. Bob had Han-Ram last season and liked the idea that the young superstar will now be a #3 hitter in the batting order. BT goes with 17 players from the NL including 8 of the 10 pitchers. And for the Bucco Report, Bob couldn’t keep up with Big O but he did get Nate for the 2nd consecutive season, this time the “N-Dog” was the lead pick of round 7. B.J. Upton as a DL player in round 12 was cause for the “nice pick” comment from other league owners, always a good thing to hear. One major blunder to report was that Bob chose to eat a burger on this Friday in Lent, a fact that did not escape Mr. Bill Harvey, who didn’t let the Train off easy for this “sin” as Harv labeled it, threatening to contact Bob’s Parrish over this transgression. Yep, it’s the NPL Draft and we were off and running!

69’ERS (“Piffy”):

The 2009 version of the “Niners” are fairly evenly split between A.L. and N.L. and Bobby went with 3 Phillies and 4 Yankees. Sliding up to the 2nd pick after the pass by the Vulcans, Piff takes David Wright as the #2 overall selection and then comes back in round 2 to clean up the 3rd base position by taking the young phenom Evan Longoria. A nice 3rd base duo for sure. Piff – did I ever tell you who “discovered” Longoria?? We heard some groans out of the Bulldog camp when the name of Dice-K was announced in round 5 and the 69’ers went early for closers and got a couple of studs in Rivera and Lidge in round 7 and 8. It looks like the 69’ers will be in charge of the Ken Griffey Jr. Farewell Tour, as Junior, once a steady candidate for the #1 overall pick went in round #25 to the Nines. And once again, THANKS to Piff for arranging the location, and getting us Amanda, the cute girl with the pink hair for our waitress, even though she was shocked by the number of beverages a certain NPL owner had ordered.

VULCANS (Rich):

Rich gets the award for coming the furthest distance, so you can’t blame the Monroeville native for getting…….

on his way to the draft. The Vulcs then dropped back from the 2 slot to 3 and got the 2nd shortstop off the board in Jose Reyes. Looking for the Cliff Lee – Kerry Wood SP/RP combo to do some damage and Matt Holliday in round 2 should be an interesting player to follow. In his free agent year and if the A’s are not contending, Holliday could be shipped to a contender in July. Some insider info here….. Eddie D says look for it to be his Red Sox! And Rich followed in round 3 with another outfield slugger…. Maybe the Vulcans team slogan in 2009 should be… “Welcome to Mannywood.” Yankee hitters will be a key to the season as The V’s have three of them in Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and don’t forget the Yankee Captain, #2 Derek Jeter.


OWLS (John F.):

Speaking of Yankees….. A big question of the night was …. When would A-Rod go? John responded by taking the troubled slugger in round 4, which followed the trio of Owls in rounds 1 through 3 which were Sizemore, Doc Halladay and Geo Soto, a nice group to start filling those positions of OF-SP-C. Mike Lowell will hold down 3rd base during A-Rod’s absence along with Edwin Encarnacion. In the usual Owls tradition, the first Closer off the board was Francisco (K-Rod) Rodriguez, now a New York Metropolitan, and this year the 2nd Closer is also named Francisco (Cordero) which should not be confused with Texas Closer Frank Francisco who is a Lockhorn. Whew….. John grabbed Shin-Soo Choo in the 10th round, as he was no doubt impressed by the Asian going 11 HR -48 RBI and .343 after the All-Star Break in ’08. This 2009 Owls team has speed and the Stolen Base crown should be wrapped up by June 1. Look for the golden spikes trophy to come your way, John! The Owls strategy for 1st base was get ‘em with the final two picks and round 25 & 26 brought home Jim Thome and Adam Bomb… LA-LA-LA Roche, unless big brother gets off to a slow start in which case he’ll be LA-LA-LA waived. But does Adam ever start slowly? Just askin……

BULLDOGS (Tony and Eddie):

If the Owls game plan was for 1st baseman late, it was just the opposite for the Bulldog duo. Albert Pujols with the #5 overall could be a steal and getting new Yankee Mark Teixeira in round 2 (#16 overall) was also a heist. The Dawgs took 3 BoSox in Lowrie, Varitek and Jason Bay but an under the radar fact was that they also drafted 4 Diamondbacks, three of which were hitters. Stephen Drew is thought by many to be ready for a major breakout season in 2009. By sitting next to the Dawgs at the draft table I was able to learn some insider information about this combo owned franchise. Such as Tony had to veto Eddie’s proposed team name change to “Ed Sox” and last year’s draft night selection of Josh Fields “almost broke up the ownership.” And Tony did not give approval of Fast Eddie fraternizing with the enemy, but Ed went ahead anyway and had this photo taken with the H-Bombs!

H-BOMBS (“Big Daddy”):

John’s evening got off to a contentious start, as upon his arrival at Kennedy’s, while sitting at the bar minding his own business, he was accosted and harassed by some crazed female Yankees fan who didn’t like the fact that Big Daddy was wearing Red Sox gear. But once he was safely in the confines of the draft room, Big D came out firing with outfielder picks as rounds 1 through 4 brought Ryan Braun, Josh Hamilton, Carlos Quentin and Alfonso Soriano into the fold. Then jumping to SP for rounds 5, 6, and 7 for Liriano, Lester and Shields. Yes, the young man did come in with a plan. One team did receive extra attention from B.D. as the Angels have four representatives in Napoli, Kendrick, Escobar (DL list) and closer Brian Fuentes. Sounds like Big D will have reason for late night west coast viewing on the MLB Extra Innings package this season. Some things never do change on draft night, and we were able to enjoy the pleasantries exchanged by Johnny and Harv. Ah, good times……..

Just a quick break in the report, to have the NPL say thanks to BRYAN for coming to do the stickers again for the 3rd straight year. It really moves things along more quickly and it helps that Bryan evidently knows his baseball, as you can see from his picture at the draft board below.

Guys at the BMC – tell Bry thanks again, and now let’s get back to the analysis……

LOCKHORNS (“Harv”):

Harv may have been surprised to see Ryan Howard sitting there for pick #7. No way the big guy will pass up those 50 dingers and then he got his boy Ian Kinsler coming back in round 2. Bryan commented that Harv’s team looked young, and that would then include those three youthful starters for the Fish in Ricky Nolasco, Josh Johnson and Chris Volstad who was added as a DL replacement pick after round 26. The Horns say watch out for 24th round draft choice Ryan Spilborghs and Harv didn’t realize that the fantasy experts from the MLB Network love this guy as a sleeper pick in 2009. The Lockhorns and Closer Jose Valverde are linked together for the third consecutive season. In looking at each teams split of A.L. vs. N.L. players, the Lockhorns had the most lopsided entry. Of the 27 players drafted which includes one extra due to the DL, they had 20 from the N.L and only seven from the Junior Circuit, and of those seven, three are Texas Rangers. At this draft Harv gave us a new term for certain MLB players in 2009. Not sure who qualifies but Harv labeled some players as “Watusi’s”, which almost blew up my spell check, and finally a question…….. Why was Harv giving the Big Train the finger all night???

PITTSBURGH Os: (“The Big O”):

The O’s enjoyed a pre-draft meal at Kennedy’s restaurant with Lockhorns owner Bill Harvey and then off to the draft. And after what both CC Sabathia and Tim Lincecum did for the O’s in 2008 you had to figure Larry would grab one of them when both were available with the 8th overall pick. And CC got the call. Can’t go wrong with that selection. Lincecum didn’t make it back to O for the 2nd round so therefore the O’s went with Jimmy Rollins, also known as “J-Roll” or his own self proclaimed nickname of “J-Smooth.” The Pitt O’s then took the catcher who most guys probably had ranked #1 at that position in Brian McCann of the Bravos. And now to the Pirates……. O grabbed Paul Maholm in round 8, probably the best bet of the Buccos. If you compare the 2008 stats of Maholm and Roy Oswalt for E.R.A., and K’s to Innings Pitched, there wasn’t actually much difference. For the second year in a row the O’s have The Big Bull Rider Matt Capps to close games and Larry cut-off Bob to grab Freddy Sanchez at 2nd base. The O’s are looking for the 2006 “Go Freddy Go” version of Sanchez in ’09. And the final Pirate came in final round 26 with little brother and Pirate 3rd baseman ANDY LaRoche. In 2009 Andy will be attempting to win.... “THE TED KENNEDY AWARD”. Which is given out for … “The most improbable overachievement by a younger brother.”

KOOPERSTOWN KIDS (Dave):

I went first round with a repeat from 2008 in Miguel Cabrera. Only in ’09 he is at 1st base instead of 3rd. That was after the obligatory NPL ceremony of the trophy presentation.

Actually a cheap bobblehead which is a free gift from CBS Sportsline, but what the heck….

I may have reached a little early for Jay Bruce Almighty in round 6, but I guess I was influenced by the fact that he plays his home games in the ballpark known as “The Great American Launching Pad.” When I got home after the draft I was stunned to see that I had drafted four Kansas City Royals!!! My God, what have I done???? But when Trenni Kusnarik of the MLB Network had informed me this spring that after the All-Star Break in 2008 only four MLB pitchers had more K’s than Gil Meche, well……… she had me at “Hi, I’m Trenni Kusnarik….”

Went with Chris Davis as his 17 HR and 55 RBI in only 80 games last year got my attention and for the record – he was a discovery in 2008 by the Bulldogs and I felt good about the pick after Big Daddy later told me… “I wanted Davis.” Yeah, and the good news is that he ain’t no “Watusi.” (I think?) Harv????

ROCK CATS: (“The Raven”):

The Rock Cat just had to roll down the hill from home and he was at Kennedy’s. Home Cookin?? John was sitting at 9th pick but slid back one spot for the double picks at 10-11 and then went Chase Utley and Tim Lincecum. Lincecum is an interesting guy with his small stature and pitching motion and as mentioned, we all first remember him as a Pittsburgh O from 2008. In fact, he is the subject of the weekly quote currently on the Blog and he’s got a great video game commercial out as well. Like the Lockhorns, the Rock Cats went heavy towards the National League with 18 picks. A well balanced team as John spread his picks around as opposed to concentrating on one area early on. When I put out the Top 5 prediction results you will see that the NPL liked this Rock Cats draft. But another item I was surprised to see once I got home and started looking at things is the number of San Francisco Giants the Cats drafted. Yeah, the Cats are riding the G-Men in 2009 like Arnold Rothstein rode the Reds in 1919!! Five (5) San Fran’s are the most MLB players taken from one NPL team this season. Along with Tiny Tim they are… Bengie Molina, Edgar Renteria, The Big Unit, and taken as a DL replacement after round 26 – Barry Zito. This spring some experts were saying that Zito was getting his breaking ball back like he had it in his Oakland A’s days when it was said that he had better curves than Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks) of “Mad Men.”

And on that note, I think we’ll conclude this 2009 post-draft report. As always, the draft was a fun time and I think it’s one of the favorite days on the calendar for everyone.

Enjoy the 2009 season and best of luck to everyone!