Tuesday, May 19, 2009

NFBC Journal: Week 6 - Welcome to the season Jimmy Rollins!

Well - it took 6 weeks but Jimmy Rollins finally showed up this week. My first round pick, who had been stinking up the joint. Ian Kinsler, the guy I talked myself out of taking at #8, was of course as hot as a piston. While I didn't expect that kind of production from my SS, his struggles were really hurting my team, particularly in the SB department. So needless to say, the best news of the week was Rollins' production.

A seven game hit streak, 3 multi-hit games, 3 sb's, a run scored in every game and even a HR thrown in made it easily his best week of the season so far. It also is the kind of production I will need if I want to climb a bit more in the overall standings and reel in the teams ahead of me in my Main Event league.

At the end of Week 6, I am sitting in 3rd place with 103 points. In the overall standings, I moved up to number #59 by weeks end. My pitching has been consistently good, as I ended the week with 64.5 out of a possible 75 points. I am leading the league in ERA, WHIP and SV's. On the hitting side, I made some gains, but still have room to move up from my 38.5 points. While I have crept my BA up to a respectable level, I will need a power and speed boost to make up points quickly. The good news is these counting stats can be the easiest ones to make up ground on in season. There are 10-12 points waiting for my team to grab with a prolonged power and/or speed influx.

Week 6 was a solid week for the team. New addition Jerry Hairston provided a speed boost as expected with 3 steals. He and Rollins led the way to an 11 steal week, 2 spots up in the category and put the middle group within reach. Colby Rasmus was the weeks most dissapointing player, he did smack a homer, but overall he failed to capitalize on Rick Ankiel's absence from the lineup.

My pitching continued to impress. Max Scherzer fnally got his first W and Brett Myers finally had a start worthy of a #2 SP. Papelbon and Fuentes were both solid. My pitching has been so good that I actually am down to one P in reserve, Kawakami. I dropped Dan Wheeler for this weeks pickup, OF Carlos Gomez. This was a speculative grab, for $3, as the big money went elsewhere. I see an opportunity for Gomez to get some starts this week - so I am trying to hit on some SB's from him for the week.

I also have inserted Baltimore's Nolan Reimold, who I picked up a couple of weeks ago for $1. Rasmus and LaPorta, who might be sent down head to the bench. Rick Ankiel should return this week, but I will wait to see it first before staring him. Kevin Louzmanoff almost made it back into the lineup, but I elected to go with Gomez for this week at least. Ryan Doumit (DL) and Cameron Maybin (AAA) fill out the bench.

It is rather unorthodox to have 6 hitters in reserve, but injuries have forced the issue. Also I interestingly have 5 players with SS eligibility, which would help explain my power slump. I need Ankiel to come back a add some pop and it wouldn't hurt for Kouzmanoff to start hitting. While Marco Scutaro has been a very pleasant surprise, I can't count on a full season out of him.
Also - Hairston will surely be a stopgap - as he usually is - he produces when he plays, but it never lasts. Injuries always come - but I will ride him while he hits. As of today, he might be the first guy I would cut, as Alex Gonzalez figures to steal AB's shortly.

Anyway, looking forward to Week 7, and happy to report that Kendry Morales has started me off with 2 HR's tonight, and Carlos Gomez stole a base. Keep it up guys, keep it up!!!

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