PaulO's Note: Week 3

"Some genuinely shaky numbers here, but somebody has to win. And it is the Bat-faced Girls who, true to early form, are the (marginally) better team ... and the Zeroes who didn't do enough to take advantage of weaknesses by their cellmates. ... The BFGs beat The Champs (hah) 8-3, but the Girls' game with the Papists was a excruciatingly tight affair. The BFGs won 6.5-4.5, avoiding a tiebreaker on the basis of (pick one) one more out recorded/one fewer baserunner allowed, winning the pitching BR stat by .001 -- 1.296 to 1.297. ... The Girls perhaps deserved to win, having put up the one genuinely impressive number on offense from this trio, those 12 (!) steals (five by NCruz). ... The Vatican's game with the Z's was nearly as close, coming down to a handful of baserunners in the OBP stat, which the Papacy carries by .015 points in a 6-5 game. ... So, onward and downward; we make no claims that any of the Tiny Trio will do much outside of this sad little pod."

SBL Notebook, Week 2

It's unwise to read too much into a baseball season in its infant stage -- SBL results, 13 games in, determine supplemental draft position but little else. So the ongoing spectacle of last season's division winners, Dan's Cherry Valley Bombers and league champions Paulo's Zero's, sharing cellar space with four-time SBL champs the BGoff Bammers after two weeks probably should be taken with entire shakers-full of salt. But perhaps the most surprising development at this early juncture is the presence of Mikee's Moaners at the top of the American division heap -- not because they haven't been there before (they have, and not infrequently), but because of how they got there. The M's, to put it bluntly, cannot hit -- Week 2 totals of four home runs, 28 runs, 31 RBIs and an abominable .278 OBP drive home that point much more effectively than the team's hitters have been driving home baserunners. But, in a shocking turn of events for a team owned and operated by one of the SBL's most notoriously pitching-phobic CEOs, the Moaners have suddenly and unaccountably begun channeling the mid-1960s Dodgers, overcoming a popgun offense by deploying a dollop of speed on the basepaths and superior work on the mound to fashion a 12-1 record, including an unlikely 7-0 run this week despite the feeble hitting numbers cited above. Those Dodgers featured Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and an offense, personified by speedsters like Maury Wills and Willie Davis, that labored to manufacture just enough runs to eke out a 3-2 or 2-1 or 1-0 victory. Today’s Moaners have, for two weeks, featured Tim Lincecum and Adam Wainwright in the Koufax-Drysdale roles and Rajai Davis offering a somewhat pale Wills impersonation. Lincecum and Wainwright this week contributed 23 quality innings in which they allowed two runs, 20 baserunners, struck out 23 and notched three Ws, making them the linchpins in perhaps the best pitching week in franchise history -- microscopic ERA (1.23) and BR (.79) numbers, a 5-1 WL and monster K-rat (1.14). Moaners starters trudged to the hill seven times and surrendered exactly six earned runs in 53.2 IP. Meanwhile, R.Davis, who seems to have less trouble getting to second base than he does to first, contributed three of the Moaners' seven stolen bases, even as his OBP plunged to .246 (as leadoff hitter for OBP kings the Oakland A's, no less). And that, more or less, is how the M's managed to go 7-0 -- they won at least four pitching stats from everyone they played (in fact they conceded only 3.5 of a possible 35 pitching points), were beaten in stolen bases by only one of seven opponents, and picked just enough low-hanging fruit in the other hitting categories to win a fistful of close games -- one in a tiebreaker, three by 6-5, one by 6.5-4.5 and two 7-4 "blowouts." Decades of SBL experience and wisdom inform us that reliance on starting pitching as a long-term strategy is a recipe for failure in a fantasy league, particularly one that is 55% offense. But it has paid a short-term dividend for a Moaners team that deviated wildly from its traditional drafting approach by spending (wasting?) six of its first 10 selections on pitchers -- three starters and three relievers. . . . OK then, after availing himself of what he's sure will be his only opportunity all season to extol his team's (clearly ephemeral) virtues, your humble servant turns his gaze to the rest of the league, and sees that it is good. DamianUnited extended their stay in the first division with another solid week anchored by pitching (1.87 ERA, 1.04 BR, 4-1, .98 Ks) anyone but the Moaners would envy; they share the NL penthouse (at 10-3) with the Patton Inmates, whose combination of solid hitting and exceptional pitching was all but unbeatable in a 6-1 week. Andy's Badgers continued to look like the league's most explosive offensive force, though their pitching (5.40 ERA, 1.56 BR) let them down in a 4-3 week that left them two games behind the Moaners, and one ahead of Bristow’s Batfaced Girls, who rode 12 SBs, a .399 OBP and quality pitching across the board to a nice 6-1 week. And as for the Bombers, Bammers and Zero's, hey, it's only a two-week sample, just a blip on a long season's radar screen, not a six-month trend.

Week 2 standings

AMERICAN
Team, LW........W....L....PCT....GB
Mike (7-0)........12....1....923....--
Andy (4-3)........10....3....769.....2
David (6-1)........9....4....692.....3
Dennis (3-4).......5....8....385.....7
Paul (3-4)..........3...10....231.....9
Brian (1-6).........3...10....231.....9
NATIONAL
Team, LW........W....L....PCT....GB
Gregg (6-1).......10....3....769....--
Damian (5-2).....10....3....769....--
JP (3-4)............6....7....462.....4
Derek (1-6)........5....8....385.....5
Vic (3-4)...........3...10....231.....7
Dan (0-7)..........2...11....154.....8

Free Agent Draft No. 1

Pre-draft moves:
Dan: OF Beltran to DL
Vic: RP Howell to DL
Derek: SS Rollins to DL
JP: RP Wood to DL
Gregg: C Montero to DL

1. Dan: takes OF J.Guillen;
..........Taxi: Garcia, Hughes up; Niemann, Wolf down
2. Brian: takes OF Francoeur, drops Stubbs;
...........Taxi: Kazmir up, Latos down
3. Vic: takes RP Saito
4. Paul: takes SP CJ Wilson, drops Maine;
..........Taxi: Pettitte up, Harden down
5. Derek: takes SS Alex Gonzalez
6. Dennis: takes OF Austin Jackson, drops Fowler
7. JP: takes RP Affeldt
8. David: takes C Barajas, drops Shoppach
9. Andy: takes RP Ji.Johnson, drops Guerrier;
...........Taxi: Matusz up, Harang down
10. Damian: takes OF Maybin, drops Drew
11. Gregg: takes C Snyder
12. Mike: takes 2B Wigginton, drops Ellis

SBL Notebook, Week 1

Opening Week 2010 was a power-to-the-proletariat deal, with last year's unwashed masses enjoying a week in the sun while our two defending champions were driven underground, if not into it. Paulo's Zero's went from winning the whole shebang in October to an 0-6 stagger-out-of-the-gate in April, and Dan's Cherry Valley Bombers, last year's National division titlists, could manage only a 2-4 start, with one of the victories an ultra-tight 6-5 squeaker over the Z's. Meanwhile, Andy's Badgers, who ended last season on an 18-1 tear that lifted them into the AL wild-card spot and, ultimately, a highly competitive SBL Series that the Zero's won 14-12, extended their hot streak to the start of the new season, riding robust offense (10 HR, 43 RBIs, 37 TB, .397 OBP) and solid pitching (1.03 BR, 3.30 ERA, 6 saves) to the week's only 6-0 ledger. Also faring well were Mikee's Moaners and DamianUnited (both 5-1) and The Patton Inmates and Derek's . . . um, Team Formerly Known As The Itch Doctors Whose Current Name, I Am Embarrassed To Report, Escapes Me At The Moment, both of whom went 4-2. Those clubs finished fourth, fifth, fourth and sixth, respectively, in their divisions in '09. . . . Good offense is often at a premium in April, but not this year, as several teams posted numbers that were pretty damn impressive for a Week 1 -- perhaps at least partly attributable to weather that must've been pretty mild, judging by the near-total absence of rainouts. Four teams reached double digits in homers, three got into the 40s in RBIs, half the league had 36 or more runs, and eight teams reached the 30s in TB -- numbers you don't often see in the cold-weather weeks. But, with much of that offense apparently spread around fairly evenly, SBL success ended up being largely dependent on pitching well -- four of the five winning records were posted by teams whose ERAs ranged from 2.38 to 3.30, and the fifth winning team checked in with a decent 3.70. Those five teams accounted for 24 of the 36 wins on offer. On the flip side, the teams with the three worst ERAs went a combined 2-16.

Week 1 standings

AMERICAN
Team.........W....L....PCT....GB
Andy..........6.....0..1.000....--
Mike..........5.....1....833.....1
David.........3.....3....500.....3
Dennis........2.....4....333.....4
Brian..........2.....4....333.....4
Paul...........0.....6....000.....6
NATIONAL
Team.........W....L....PCT....GB
Damian.......5.....1....833....--
Gregg.........4.....2....667.....1
Derek.........4.....2....667.....1
JP.............3.....3....500.....2
Dan...........2.....4....333.....3
Vic............0.....6....000.....5

PaulO's Note: Week 1

If you've ever had PaulO keep your stats every week then you would have probably receved notes like this one, which I've been getting since I first joined the SBL. He's brutal but incisive, as usual. And when his teams are bad he's beyond self-depricating, he's self-destructive. Though there wasn't as much of that last season.

PaulO's note:

"Nice start by the Barristers. David's Bat-faced Girls scored more often than Tiger Woods in a singles bar, showed a little pop and walked like an Egyptian. Dennis had some moments, most of them sudden and big -- like 5 and 4 sub-in RBI days from Chris Young, as well as a sub-in granny from Yadier, giving him 13 unexpected RBI on his way to a big number there. But he is one homer and one steal shy of a tiebreaker with the Barrister. Game of inches, and all. ... Meanwhile, the defending champs fell on their faces, and the question already has been asked of the commish: Has anyone started 0-6 and won a pennant? OK, how about finishing with a winning record? Oh. I see. It's April 12 and already it's a long season for your favorite exile ..."