Day: September 30, 2009

Admiral Ramius in Hunt for Red October. There is a scene where Admiral Painter tells Jack Ryan :”Your Russian’s going to make it to America, Mr. Ryan. He’s going to die within sight of it.”

I have a 1.5 point lead with five full days of baseball to go. Ron made up some serious points last night and even though he may be pessimistic, I think with just the right breaks he may be able to leap frog both Lawr and me. It is mind blowing to think I could be in the lead all week going into Sunday and still lose, but that’s what an incredible season this has been. Lawr said it best, nobody is going to choke, two of us are going to have very good seasons but have “nothing” to show for it. Whoever comes in 2nd or even 3rd will know exactly what the 93′ Giants felt like. That year they won 103 games and didn’t make the playoffs, the Braves won 104. In contrast to Ron rooting for the Twins, for fantasy purposes I have become an enormous Tigers fan. Needing them to throw Pavano (Lawr) a beating then not needing Verlander (Ron) this weekend if they wrap it up and want to line him up for game 1 vs. Yankees. With all that said I still need my guys to perform. After a nuclear weekend (no pun intended) my bats had a quiet day yesterday due to a rainout and the Angels sending out the JV. If Doc, Erv and E-Jack can keep it strong and the bats do a notable job this just may be crazy enough to work. Then again I could be in 3rd tomorrow morning……Siano

Four starters, three wins, 20 strikeouts. Most days, I would have been thrilled to pick up enough points to move within 3.5 of first place. But it’s not likely going to be enough.

The problem was the one starter who didn’t get a win. Three batters into Clay Buchholz’s start, I was reaching for the oxygen. Thanks to his 7 ER gopheritis attack, I could not pick up a needed point in ERA.

So what’s left to hope for? This same quartet of pitchers (Verlander, Felix, Wade Davis and Buchholz) are all scheduled to go out on the season’s final day. Verlander will only pitch if the Tigers need the game to get into the post-season, so I’ll be rooting for the Twins the rest of the week. Any of the remaining trio might also sit since none will be in meaningful games. So winning this thing on my own is going to be tough.

As for help from others, Mike could lose a half point in wins, but would need massive meltdowns in his remaining three starts — Halladay, Jackson and Santana — to lose ground anywhere else. I do trail him by only 4 HRs, but my bats have recently gone silent. Lawr could still lose a point in stolen bases, and maybe WHIP. I can’t see how today’s standings are going to change much by Sunday night.

In 25 years of playing this game, I have seen a few miracles. I have seen a team come back from a 30 point deficit in September. I have seen a team pick up 10 points in the final week alone. I have seen a team run the board, wire to wire, only to lose it in the final weekend. But I just don’t see it happening for me in these final five days.

But I’ll still be rooting for the Twins, because, if there is even the tiniest molecule of a chance, I am going to need Verlander to pitch on Sunday.