SBL Notebook, Week 4

That most egalitarian of divisions, the National, welcomed yet another new face at the top of its leaderboard, making it four different NL No. 1s in four weeks. Week 1 was the Whiteskins’ moment in the sun, to be followed by DamianUnited (Week 2 numero uno), the Derelicts (Week 3 head honchos) and, this week, the Inmates, sharing the catbird seat with the Double-Ds, but listed first because they had a better week (5-1 to Derek’s 4-2). This actually is the Mental Defectives’ second appearance in first place; they shared it with DamU in Week 2, with Damian listed first because of his superior 6-1 performance that week. The ’Mates’ owner has lamented the slow starts by a couple of key early draft picks, Carlos Gonzalez and Shin-Soo Choo, but the team has hummed along anyway, yet to put up a losing week -- thanks in part to a spectacular start by Matt Kemp, solid work by a semi-anonymous rotation (Michael Pineda? Tim Stauffer?) and a productive bullpen, always an Inmates staple. The only NL teams that haven’t sniffed the heady air of first place are the Godfathers and the Cherry Valley Bombers -- and the G-Daddies have been close, within one game of the top a week ago and three back now. If their injury luck ever turns around, they just might earn their own turn at the top. This week, though, they lost another key player, 2B Aaron Hill, who joined first- and second-round picks Evan Longoria and Josh Hamilton on the DL. . . . Meanwhile, what happened to the Whiteskins? After a scorching 6-0 start, they’ve gone 1-18 to plummet into a last-place tie with the Bombers. . . . The top of the American division treaded water, with the Bammers (now 21-3) and the Badgers (18-7) each going 4-2 to remain the top two teams in ball. There was a rumbling among the AL also-rans, though, as Paulo’s Zero’s rose up to go 6-0 and get their noses above .500 (at 13-12) for the first time this season. Their end-of-first-round double picks, Jose Bautista and Ryan Braun, propelled the Z’s to league highs in runs (40), HRs (13) and OBP (.377), in what was otherwise another tepid hitting weak. Meanwhile, the bottom three in the stratified division have dropped almost out of sight, already 12, 16 and 17 games, respectively, behind the Bammers. Is it possible to be out of a baseball divisional race after only four weeks? Maybe not, technically, but hope is hard to come by just now for the AL’s poor and huddled masses.

Week 4 standings

AMERICAN DIVISION
Team, LW..............W....L....PCT....GB
Bammers (4-2).........22...3....880....--
Badgers (4-2)...........18...7....720.....4
Zero's (6-0).............13..12....520.....9
Moaners (2-4)..........10..15....400....12
Barristers (0-6)..........6..19....240....16
Pontiffs (2-4)............5..20....200....17
NATIONAL DIVISION
Team, LW..............W....L....PCT....GB
Inmates (5-1)..........17...8....680....--
Derelicts (4-2).........17...8....680....--
DamianUnited (3-3)...14..11....560.....3
Godfathers (2-4)......14..11....560.....3
Bombers (4-2)..........7..18....280....10
Whiteskins (0-6).......7..18....280....10

Free agent draft No. 2

Pre-draft moves:
Zero's: SP Hughes to DL
Inmates: 2B Utley to DL
Derelicts: activate SP Jimenez, drop Vargas
Badgers: RP Feliz to DL

1. Madmen take RP Boggs, drop Bard
2. Bombers take OF Berkman, drop M.Ramirez;
........Taxi: Matsuzaka up, C.Lewis down
3. Barristers take OF Damon, drop R.Davis
4. Whiteskins take SS Lowrie, drop Furcal
........Taxi: Billingsley up, Carmona down
5. Zero's take SP Beachy
........Taxi: ASanchez up, Bedard down
6. Moaners take OF Fuld, drop Bay
........Taxi: Zambrano up, Liriano down
7. DamianUnited take OF Boesch, drop Scott
8. Inmates take 2B J.Herrera
........Taxi: Morrow up, ESantana down
9. Godfathers take OF Francoeur, drop Gutierrez
10. Derelicts take 3B Roberts, drop Aviles
........Taxi: Marcum up, Romero down
11. Badgers take RP Rhodes
12. Bammers take SP Masterson, drop J.Vazquez
........Taxi: Masterson up, J.Zimmerman down

Sun-sational Six (Week 3)

Can't remember if it was Carl Sagan or Ray Kroc, but one of those guys had some kind of saying about billions and billions. That would seemed to be the odds of some owner -- say like a guy living in the Northwest who follows the Mariners and Seahawks -- of ever cracking the SS list. Hard to believe, but it's finally happened in this week's Sun-sational list. Here they are -- late, but not absent.

1. Bammers (Last week ranking: 1): OK, Good Goff. We believe. He suffered the indignity of his first loss last week, but 18 out of 19 ain't bad, chief. This team has a lethal combination of offense and pitching. The American race might be over by the All-Star Game, especially if the No. 2 guy keeps pace with the Bammers.

2. Badgers (Last week ranking: 2): Clearly the Bay City Rollers look like the only thing standing between BGoff and a divisional title. Yeah, you win a lot of these things in April, huh Badge. Anyway, the Badgers have been worthy of their No. 1 selection status since the draft, going a perfect 6-0 to close the gap -- gasp! -- on the Bammers. As Kobe Bryant would say, oh, never mind.

3. Derelicts (Last week ranking: none): At the sake of losing all credibility with this list, we bring you the Derelicts. Apparently, no one told the bottom-feeders they were supposed to stay in the cellar. Hey, DRich, it's better than coming out of the closet. The SS-list begrudgingly thinks this team just might do some damage. Just hope it's not self-inflicted.

4. Inmates (Last week ranking: 5): Representing the Old Guard, this criminally insane group brings a little normalcy to the proceedings. OK, so 3-3 last week is nothing special, but the Inmates know a thing or two about surviving the marathon season. Like a Kenyan flying home from Heartbreak Hill, Patton just may have a frontrunner here, folks.

5. Damian-U (Last week ranking: 3): D-dog is starting to go a little Tressel on us -- not sure we're believing what we're seeing, but we think it may involve some tats. Anyway, the gamers need to start producing, instead of these 2-4 weeks, but have a feeling that there just may be some jostling in the ol' National Div over the course of the season. Hang tough, DU.

6. Godfathers (Last week ranking: none): There's probably too much love here for the Nationals, but it's tough to ignore a guy's second-place team, even if it's coming from Belo in Dallas. Now, if it was Bevo ... whatever. Got to give some cred to the Michaelangelo of the SBL. We don't have a chapel worth painting on the SS-list, but a statue or two outside the ballpark would be real classy. Get to chisseling, WicVest.

SBL Notebook, Week 3

There’s something happening here (in the National division) . . . What it is ain’t exactly clear (because, while it’s way too early to draw any conclusions, the NL race is looking like a four-team free-for-all) . . . So, let’s throw it out there (for what it’s worth)—could this finally be the year when the SBL balance of power shifts toward the senior circuit? We posed essentially the same question around this time last season, and the answer turned out to be no – the NL would finish with only one winning team, and an AL team won the championship for the sixth straight year. So take this with however many grains of salt you choose, but at the moment the NL, although it may not have the best team, certainly appears to have more good ones. The division has already had four different leaders in three weeks, with the Derelicts taking their turn atop the heap this week thanks to a nice 6-0 run. The top four teams are separated by only two games (though again, it’s way early), with records of 13-6, 12-7, 12-7 and 11-8, and all have virtues any SBL team would covet, assets that should hold them in good stead for the long term. (For details, consult your rosters.) Contrast this with the American division, which appears to have quickly devolved into a two-team affair -- the Bammers, off to a blistering 18-1 start, and the Badgers, hanging tough at four games back on the strength of the most dominant week the league has seen so far this young season. The rest of the division is made up of four losing teams already staring at double-digit deficits. . . . The Badgers simply were not going to be beaten this week, posting league bests in six categories—runs (39), TB (42), HR (12), RBI (39) WL (4-0) and saves (6), plus the second-best ERA (2.32) and SB total (8). The closest game in their 6-0 onslaught was an 8-3 win over the Bammers. Speaking of the Bams, they were nothing special, at least by the standards they established the first two weeks, but still eased to a 5-1 mark mainly because no one among the Bottom Four in the division appears capable giving them a game right now. . . . The Derelicts’ 6-0 week was considerably more dicey than the Badgers, featuring two 6-5 wins and another by 6.5-4.5. But a league-leading ERA (2.27) and BR stat (1.07) combined with just enough offense (38 BI, 37 TB) carried them through. Also worthy of mention are the Godfathers, who have soldiered on impressively despite devastating injuries to their top two draft picks (Evan Longoria, Josh Hamilton, both on the DL). Deprived of their primary power sources, the G-Daddies managed only 4 HRs and 21 RBI this week. But, ever resourceful, they found other ways to win, going 5-1 by getting on base (league-best .386 OBP), taking the extra base (33 TB), stealing any bag not nailed down (15 SBs!) and, not coincidentally, scoring lots of runs (37). They also pitched pretty well—2.98 ERA, 1.13 BR, league-leading .99 K-rate. The ’Daddies are 12-7, tied with the Patton Inmates, one game behind the ’Licts, one ahead of DamianUnited -- and who knows what the NL standings will look like next week? With four good-looking teams, this could go on all season. Or not.(How’s that for hedging our bets?). . . . Tough-luck award of the week goes to DamU, losers of what had to be the closest tiebreaker in SBL history—155.4 to 155.3, against the Batfaced Barristers.

Week 3 standings

AMERICAN DIVISION
Team, LW...............W....L....PCT....GB
Bammers (5-1)..........18....1....947....--
Badgers (6-0)............14....5....737.....4
Moaners (3-3).............8...11....421....10
Zero's (1-5)................7...12....368....11
Barristers (3-3)...........6...13....316....12
Puny Pontiffs (0-6).......3...16....158....15
NATIONAL DIVISION
Team, LW...............W....L....PCT....GB
Derelicts (6-0)..........13....6....684....--
Godfathers (5-1).......12....7....632.....1
Inmates (3-3)...........12....7....632.....1
DamianUnited (2-4)....11....8....579.....2
Whiteskins (0-6).........7...12....368.....6
Bombers (2-4)............3...16....158....10

Sun-sational Six (Week 2 Edition)

Starting to shape up as another season of the haves and the have-nots, as the traditional powers in the Big Boy Division are starting to assert themselves. The Have-nots Division is starting to look like a D-dog, Inmate and Godfather kind of season. Here's how SS stack up so far:

1. Bammers (Last week: 3): You go undefeated, the SS-list gives you love. Kind of hard not to notice a 13-0 start with incredible pitching and hitting. We're still not sold that Stubbs and Walker are the next coming of Ruth and Gehrig, but they sure look kick-ass for April. SS loves the Bammer's rotation and bullpen -- and he even has a White Sox reliever!

2. Badgers (Last week: 2): We're still waiting to Pujols to show up and then we'll see if the Badges can rise to the pinnacle of the SS. There were news story out of the Bay Area that Badge had a book signing this past week. The list isn't happy that it didn't get an invitation. Might be why Badge hasn't shown up on the NY Times Bestselller List. Shame, shame.

3. D-United (Last week: 4): The Gamers are looking solid on offense and the mound. Definitely the team to beat in the Lesser Division. D-dog probably will have to assert his alpha-ness against the Inmates and Godfathers, but the SS is pretty confident this is going to be a playoff team that will challenge for its first Sun title. Whoopee.

4. Moaners (Last week: 1): Still not panicking because the Yankees-light had a bad outing last week, but this team may have to draft a Bautista or two this year to get really serious with the Big Boy Division. We're pretty confident that will happen over the next couple supplemental drafts. Please school us, Commish. We're watching.

5. Inmates (Last week: not ranked): Yes, old dogs can learn new tricks. The SS was distressed to find out at the draft that Gregg was being taken off the market by Shelly. Still waiting for our invitation to the nuptials, but we digress. Pattons traditionally are a power in the SBL, and this looks like one of his typical power teams. Probably in the SS for the duration.

6. Zeroes (Last week: 6): Kind of threatened this club last week, and it didn't disappoint. This definitely looks like a team that will contend for the playoffs, but there's going to be competition. We like the Zeroes' chances.

SBL Notebook, Week 2

The sleeping giant of 2010 is fully awake and roaming the (scorched) SBL earth in 2011. The Bammers, four-time league champions who last season simply had One Of Those Years, tumbling into the American division cellar and staying there, are back in their more familiar position atop the AL heap, kicking butt and taking names . . . and no prisoners. OK, yeah, it’s only two weeks, but the Bammers seem so far ahead of the field that the rest of the AL, in recent seasons the SBL’s power division, simply looks powerless at their feet. It’s not just that the Bammers have roared to a 13-0 start after this week’s 7-0 cakewalk. It isn’t just that they already have sprinted out to a five-game division lead. It’s that no one else even appears close to them at the moment. Their six Week 1 wins were by 10-1, 9-2, 9-2, 9-2, 9-2 and 7.5-3.5. This week, apart from a 6-5 semi-squeaker against NL co-leaders DamianUnited, their other six Ws were by an average score of 8.5-2.5. Two words: Un . . . touchable. The Bams seem to have everything you could ask for in a baseball team – power (8 HRs, a league high in this rather tepid hitting week), speed (8 SBs, tied for second), strike-zone selectivity (.377 OBP, third), quality starting pitching (ERAs of 1.26 and 3.11 this season), a lights-out bullpen (7 saves this week) and power arms across the board (league-best 1.08 K-rate). What are their division rivals to do but bide their time and hope the Bammers punch themselves out in the early rounds? The Badgers’ respectable 8-5 record has earned them nothing better than a five-game hill to climb, and two AL teams, the Puny Pontiffs and the Batfaced Barristers, already are staring at double-digit deficits. . . . Things are more competitive just now in the National division, where DamU and the Inmates share first place, and three other teams are tied for third, two games back. In fact, take a picture of this week’s standings—the AL, cradle of champions and contenders, currently has only two winning teams and FOUR ABJECT LOSERS, while the NL, which more than occasionally struggles to get more than a couple squads above .500, has five teams on the winning side of the ledger. . . . Speaking of the NL race, a statkeeping snafu deprived the Patton Inmates of two Week 1 saves to which they were entitled; adding those two saves changed the Mental Defectives’ result against DamU from a loss to a win.

Week 2 standings

AMERICAN DIVISION
TEAM, LW..............W....L....PCT....GB
Bammers (7-0).........13....0..1.000...--
Badgers (4-3)............8....5....615....5
Zero's (5-2)..............6....7....462....7
Moaners (1-6)...........5....8....385....8
Pontiffs (3-4)...........3...10....231...10
Barristers (1-6).........3...10....231...10
NATIONAL DIVISION
Team, LW..............W....L....PCT....GB
DamianUnited (6-1)....9....4....692...--
Inmates (4-3)...........9....4....692...--
Godfathers (6-1).......7....6....538....2
Derelicts (3-4)..........7....6....538....2
Whiteskins (1-6).......7....6....538....2
Bombers (1-6)..........1...12....077....8

Free agent draft No. 1

Pre-draft moves:
Madmen: 1B Morales to DL
Moaners: RP Aardsma to DL
Derelicts: SP UJimenez to DL
Godfathers: RP Lidge to DL

1. Bombers take RP S.Burnett, drops Lopez
........Taxi: McClellan up, Lilly down
2. Barristers take RP Boyer, drops Romo
3. Madmen take 1B Hafner
........Taxi: Latos up, Porcello down
4. Moaners take RP Walden
........Taxi: Drabek up, Rodriguez down; Jurrjens up (provisional), Zambrano down
5. Zero's take OF BFrancisco, drops Coghlan
........Taxi: De La Rosa up, Hughes down
6. Whiteskins take OF Bloomquist, drops Morse
........Taxi: A.Burnett up, Billingsley down
7. Derelicts take SP Harrison
........Taxi: Lowe up, Marcum down
8. Godfathers take RP Farnsworth
9. Badgers take OF Soriano, drops Fowler
10. Inmates take SP CYoung, drops WDavis
11. DamianUnited take SP Narveson, drops Lackey
12. Bammers takes SS Izturis, drops Bartlett

Sun-sational Six (Week 1 Edition)

Like the catcher who hits .500 the first week with three of his four HR he's going to hit for the season, the Sun-sational Six isn't fooled by fast starts. Impressed as hell, but fools? Nah.

Here's the SS-hit list after Week 1.

1. Moaners (Last week's ranking: 1): Get your blemishes while you can on the Moaners. Oh my god, the Moaners dropped two games in the first week. The world is coming to an end. Riggggghhhhht. We'll buy that right after we see it for another 25 weeks.

2. Badgers (Last week's ranking: 4): Any team with Albert Pujols batting a buck-something and still wins four games deserves a little respect. Since it's Andy, we hedge a bit. Still, there's no shortage of first-pick talent on this team, and over the long haul (as long as the Badges don't panic and sell Pujols low for say Manny PED-mirez), this group is going to contend.

3. Bammers (Last week's ranking: None): Probably dropped the ball on not including the Bammers on the preseason list. What? You thought this was science? Anyway, we're not completely sold with any team loaded with Pirates is going to be there when it counts, but the BGoffs do know a thing or two about powering to an SBL title or four. Welcome to the SS list.

4. Damian U (Last week's ranking: 2). The Sun-sational list is treating the Laker-lovers a little harsh, but man up, D-dog. This team definitely is built to repeat in the weaker division, but probably will have issues competing with the big dogs on the other side (or in this case, see those ranked 1-2-3 here). Anyway, the U's are no sheep.

5. Whiteskins (Last week's ranking: None). JP is probably looking around the room, saying, 'Who? Me?'" Yeah, what the hell, JP, you go 6-0 and you make a list. We're certainly not sold after four friggin' games of play, but crazier things have happened. You sure look a lot better than those pathetic CV Bombers or VW Godfathers. Just don't disappoint us.

6. Zeroes (Last week's ranking: 3): The Sun-sational list isn't fooled by the 1-5 start. There's way too much talent on this squad to be fooled by one week of competition. That means, get your act together this week or start looking for another list to get on, Paulo.

-- Dan Evans, owner of the Cherry Valley Bombers

SBL Notebook, Week 1

Our newly truncated opening week produced a veritable trunkload of offense (proportional to the diminished sample size of course), but nothing of lasting value. What worthwhile conclusions are there to be drawn, after all, from what amounts to three measly days of major league baseball games? The unexpectedly explosive, bats-out-of-hell start by MLB hitters on opening weekend could possibly suggest that they are adjusting to the new world order and reclaiming some of the ground lost during a 2010 season rightly dubbed the Year of the Pitcher; then again, maybe it was all just a product of unseasonably mild weather nationwide. Big-picture analysis is fruitless at this early juncture; best to just forget about this week and move on—the good news being that, thanks to MLB’s decision to start and end the season midweek so as to condense the schedule and get the World Series over with before November, the heinous SBL “short week” is out of the way right from the jump, leaving us with 25 full and uncompromised weeks of competition to determine our 2011 champion. . . . One conclusion we CAN safely draw, based at least as much on roster inspection as on Week 1 results, is that the Bammers appear to be Back-with-a-capital-B, after a year in cellar-dwelling purgatory. Team management performed quite well on draft night and the four-time SBL champs reaped immediate dividends, posting numbers that ranked among the league’s top three in six stats (runs, RBI, ERA, BR, TB, WL). Of particular note were a microscopic, league-leading 1.26 ERA and .78 baserunner stat. Needless to say, the Bams went 6-0. . . . Much stranger, but no less successful, was the performance of the Whiteskins, who also went 6-0 despite throwing up a truly hideous 7.75 ERA (thank you, Fausto Carmona). A league-best four saves took a little of the sting out, but the real difference-maker for the Skins was that they simply killed it on the hitting side, mashing nine HRs (in three-plus days??!!), driving in 26 runs and scoring 24.

Week 1 standings

AMERICAN DIVISION
Team, LW........W....L....PCT....GB
Bammers..........6....0...1.000...--
Moaners...........4....2.....667....2
Badgers...........4....2.....667....2
Barristers.........2....4.....333....4
Zero's..............1....5.....167....5
Madmen...........0....6.....000....6
NATIONAL DIVISION
Team, LW........W....L....PCT....GB
Whiteskins.......6....0...1.000...--
Derelicts..........4....2.....667....2
DamianUnited....4....2.....667....2
Inmates...........4....2.....667....2
Godfathers.......1....5.....167....5
Bombers..........0....6.....000....6

PaulO's Note: Week 1

That "splat" you heard was the Tiny Trio flopping out of the gate. The Z's had some memorably wretched pitching, including a K-ratio of 0.56, which has to be a franchise low. The Jurists put up a "what's-that-smell?" .292 OBP and seven TB (a problem for everyone in this pitiful pod), but salvaged things with five circuit clouts (a big number in this universe) and on the pitching side with five nice outings from the SPs. The Holy See, playing without on-the-DL starters KMorales, SDrew and GSizemore, was so puny in so many places that it contrived to lose to the Z's in what undoubtedly will be their only victory of the week. Really nice K-rat of 1.26, though, to keep the Vatican warm. On to Week 2. Can't get worse. Can it?

Sun-sational Six (Preseason Edition)

While the standings will tell us one thing about how our teams our doing, we'll attempt to keep a more subjective eye on the power in the Sun Baseball League with the Sun-sational Six, a weekly tab on who's the biggest and baddest among the SBL.

Since no one has played any games yet, this really is The Barometer of the best and brightest among this season's teams. So without further ado, here's the Sun-sational Six after Tuesday's draft (no brownie points to the Inmates for hosting the draft).

1. The Moaners (who else?). Not exactly an upset here. Seeing as how they have been even more dominant than the real Yankees, I'm thinking maybe we should rename them the Bronx Moaners. That might have a different meaning in NYC, but for the SBL, the Moaners are BFD. Or as my 13-year-old daughter would say, "OMG!"

2. Damian United. We give a tip of the cap to some real gamers, who celebrated their second championship series run in 2010, but still seek their first title. Hey, it's tough to win a baseball title with a soccer nickname. Suck it, DU.

3. Abu Dubai Zeroes. Good thing this league ain't in Arizona or I doubt we'd even let these foreigners play, but there's little doubt that the Zeroes are an institutional power worthy of the upper-echelon of the SBL. They're kind of like the Moaners Light, both in substance and receding hair line.

4. Badgers. Hurts to give any credit to this Bay Area franchise, because let's face it: Andy ain't afraid to pluck some low-lying fruit on his team. The Badgers, despite a propensity to draft all that he sees from the A's and Giants, still manages to pound most of the SBL. Plus, now Andy is an author. That's got to get him a pass onto the Sun-sational list.

5. Godfather. You gotta give some props to the inventor of this glorious game. Plus, it's the spring. We can all hope Vic has a chance just like the Cubs. Chances are the Godfathers will flame off this list in a week or two, but it never hurts tug at our furlocks, as Ed Mauel would have said. Vic's probably starting to look like that guy, too. Hope he never talks like him, though.

6. Pope's Pontiffs. Not sure where this Vatican Madmen shit came from, but there's no denying anyone who can take Kendrys Morales with the 28th pick of the draft deserves to be on some list (probably not this one anymore at the beginning of next week.) But you have to give the guy credit. He was the only one in the draft room who could count to 300 and right on the button. Sweet.

-- Dan Evans, owner of the Cherry Valley Bombers