TOUT WARS!

ok, so i have written before here about rooting for my guys to do well, as opposed to mike’s or ron’s players doing poorly.

the germans, should you not know, had a word, schaedenfreude, which basically means deriving pleasure from the misery of others.

which is a little shy of what i would like to think we are doing, but, i gotta confess, it takes a lot of consciousness not to engage.

i know if tim wakefield or carlos torres get clobbered tomorrow, it will probably be to my advantage.

and, it is sooooooooo bloody hard to not think of that. although, i do need to focus on scott feldman having his own good start today, for that is as important.

as of now i am half a point down, with maybe six categories where in mike or i can pick up or drop a point or so to the other.

and, ron is not far off, although only in strikeouts can he directly influence the battle between mike and i.

although, if he does, and we have a blip, well…

i am trying to watch the tigers and twins, and am rooting for the twins to go all the way. cos i like them and it would be a good story.

i am trying not to pay attention to jeremy gutherie, whom i have benched, and don’t have to not pay attention to justin masterson cos his game got rained out.

and, now i understand peavy will go against the tigers this weekend. meaning maybe i have to rethink and hope the tigers clinch friday, giving peavy a second string roster?

sigh. i don’t know. i think i will go hide in ken burns wonderful documentary on the national park system, and forget about watching.

just wake me when it is over….

Seven points out this morning, and my brief cameo appearance as a contender hinges on today’s games.

I came into the week with my pitchers potentially making 8 starts. But Tillman has been shut down (in atonement for Sunday’s debacle, I suppose) and Verlander might not pitch next Sunday, so I might be looking at only a 6-start week.

Four of those starts are today. Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, Clay Buchholz and Wade Davis. If I managed a 3-win, 30 strikeout performance from three starters last week, can I hope for any less from four starters today? But that’s what it will take to keep me in the race. If this quartet performs to their abilities (and only Verlander is facing an opponent of any consequence), five points potentially hang in the balance. Of course, none of those five would come from Lawr or Mike, but 5 points is 5 points. That would put me two points out, potentially, and would still give me a shot.

Oh, and I could use a bunch of home runs too because there’s a point I could steal from Mike in that category. But given that Mike’s had all the momentum there, and Russ Branyan looks like he’s done, I’m probably going to have to stick a fork in hopes of any HR gains.

So, this could be the last day of my season. It’s all on today and four ballgames… Verlander at 7:05, Davis at 7:08, Buchholz at 7:10 and Felix at 10:10. Nice of them to at least stagger the schedule for me.

last week. i remember back in july when i had a big lead and just wanted the season to be over with then and there and spare me, well, the tension of this last week.

which is tense.

as of now mike leads me 92-90.5

there are a handful of points i can gain or lose. there are a handful of points he can gain or lose.

as with ron, i essentially need the cooperation of our league mates, however.

i will note that i did activate chad gaudin against the royals. and, i grabbed brad kilby of the athletics, and reserved jeremy gutherie and justin masterson. meaning i still have seven starts this week to mike’s four. but, i don’t have a clue any longer how many starts jason grey and dean peterson have.

too hard to track, and, well, as with the rain in new york as i write, and that in detroit, well, que sera sera.

a good last week to you all. i have trust we will survive, but not sure in what shape…

Sunday was the last day of moves unless we have a play in I suppose, but anyway there is nothing left for me, Lawr and Ron to do except stare. If you remember a post from last week I yelled at my bats to wake up and boy did they. Think about these numbers and you’d be ecstatic if they were mixed league outputs. In a two day period my AL only team hit 9 homers, scored 23 runs and knocked in 34 RBI. That’s what I’m talking about. Unfortunately my pitching slipped some but here I am going into Monday’s action in first place. A ton still has to go right and I am at best skeptical I can hold on.  I would not be surprised to see this league come down to a half point. Halladay, Erv Santana, Edwin Jackson and Aardsma will play a hefty roll in my fate but if my bats can stay hot there is a chance I hold on. I am the hunted and that’s really all you can ask for with a week to go but now Lawr and Ron have house money in a way and know they have a shot to “steal” this from me. Good luck to them both and everyone else losing hair and stomach lining this week……………Siano

Chris Tillman? Fernando Rodney? After what you did to my title hopes yesterday, I can only hope….. Grrrr.

A week ago, I was content to watch Mike and Lawr battle it out for this year’s title, and ink in my 3rd place finish. Then suddenly, my arms post a 3-win, 30 K night on Thursday and I am counting my points deficit on the fingers of one hand. Can I actually sneak in and pull this thing out?

It’s possible, but I am in the unenviable position of having to rely on everyone else to do my work for me. Except for the one point in strikeouts that I stole from Lawr on Thursday, none of my gains have been at the expense of the duo at the top. It should be an interesting week.

Should I actually pull this out — and even if I don’t — this season will be a testament to the power of dumb luck. It will be all about how I FAABed Andrew Bailey for $1 on April 12 just to replace the injured Scott Lewis, how Rajai Davis became a regular when Matt Holliday was traded, how I spent half the season sitting on Clay Buchholz, Chris Tillman and Wade Davis. How I sat in 7th place, 20 points out, at the season’s midpoint.

It is also a reminder that the season is six months long, and those who threw in the towel back in July because football season was coming may have sacrificed the reason we play this game in the first place. It’s to win, and sometimes it takes 6 months to achieve that goal.

Just by virtue of the fact that I’m still glued to the boxscores this late in the season must mean that I’ve done something right. I think.

Halfway there, I am, thanks to Carl Pavano, kind of (at least he got a win) and Jake Peavy, who held the Tigers to pretty much nothing, striking out eight, winning a game, and making me wonder how the standings would be had Mr. Peavy been healthy to pitch a month ago, as originally planned.

And, no complaints. At least I have two starts, two wins, and his effectiveness put me back up to 92 points meaning it looks like Mike and I might go into the final week of the season tied. Ugh. Tied.

Funny to, because though I had  pretty good offensive day (go Arod and his three swipes and Michael Cuddyer, well what can you say?) with a pair of homers and eight RBI.

I even got within one RBI of Mike, whose hitters then exploded as his squad notched 14 RBI and three homers. Sigh. So close, yet so far.

Of course Mr. Shandler is lurking below both of us with 88 points, waiting for us to falter just a little. At least that is what I would do/hope for.

So, this weekend I have a freebie. Nothing save a guitar lesson and some bass practice and maybe a trip to the dog park with Jazzy and Pavi on the horizon. Well, that and, like it or not tracking my team during Ben Hur (which is on TCM tonight) because it works better for my players to not actually watch them play, as noted.

I will check back in before football tomorrow and see how things shake out. Have a great Saturday.

ugh.

Well, Mike got his wish as Oakland, whose bats have been a red hot .300 the last two months (since trading Cabrera and Holiday, interestingly enough) tore poor Scott Feldman to pieces, costing me another point.

Adding to the mix Ron Shandler got 30 whiffs and three wins yesterday, boosting him to 88 points, just 1.5 off my tail, and 2.5 from Mike. So, Ron is this year’s Twins in a Tout sense.  (I am not sure whether to welcome him to the insanity, or advise him of the grief to come).

As for me, after my first “P” (no inuendo, please, which is another “P” word), that being PANIC,I reminded myself that Pavano, Peavy, and Pettitte (the other three “P’s”) all start this weekend, and relax and let my players do their thing.

There are, by my calculations, seven points I can pick up over a couple of days with some good play. And, well, this Tout team is really different than any other team I have had in that they really are a team. That is one guy has a bad day, and someone else has a good one to pick him up.

As an example, I could really use a guy like Julio Borbon right now, who is stealing everything in sight, and successfully. Not that I don’t have stealers (Cabrera, Figgins, Aybar) but, the question is whose place would Borbon take?  For, everyone, from Ryan Sweeney and David Murpy, to Arod have contributed.

The second thing is I had this huge lead two months ago that evaporated. And, I have to remind myself that my team has not choked. Rather it has been hanging at between 88-93 points for months. It is just that Mike and Ron made the tweaks to catch up.

Which means I simply have to rely on a fifth “P”: PATIENCE.

Welcome to the roller coaster Ron. And, be careful what you wish for, right Mike?