Week 13 standings

AMERICAN DIVISION
Team, LW..................W....L....PCT....GB
Bammers (2-4)............51...30....630....--
Zero's (5-1)................49...32....605.....2
Badgers (4-2).............47...34....580.....4
Moaners (2-4).............46...35....568.....5
Barristers (5-1)...........22...59....272....29
Puny Pontiffs (0-6).......13...68....160....38
NATIONAL DIVISION
Team, LW..................W....L....PCT....GB
Inmates (4-2)..............52...29....642....--
Godfathers (6-0)..........51...30....630.....1
Derelicts (2-4).............47...34....580.....5
DamianUnited (0-6).......44...37....543.....8
Bombers (5-1).............38...43....469....14
Whiteskins (1-5)..........26...55....321....26

Trade, Pre-Draft DL Rules

From the Office of the Commish...

"We have a reminder to pass along on the subject of trades –- they are not permitted on draft days. Any trades made leading into a supplemental draft must be completed, and the commissioner’s office notified, by the Sunday night before the draft. . . . And what the heck, as long as we’re sending out notices, here’s another, on the subject of DL moves: When an SBL owner activates a player from his DL, necessitating that he drop someone to create a roster spot at that player’s position, that move must be made no later than Sunday evening before a supplemental draft. That way, the rest of the league can be notified in advance of the draft that the player being dropped will be available in the draft pool."

SBL Notebook, Week 12

DamianUnited and the Moaners, division champions last season but fourth-place also-rans and fifth wheels in the NL/AL chases for most of this one, have rather suddenly elbowed their way into contention in what is turning into a compelling pair of come-one, come-all divisional races. Employing diametrically opposite methods, DamU and the M’s both arrived at the same 7-0 Week 12 destination, leaving us with the following unusual but highly desirable situation: Eight quasi-contending teams (four in each division), all at least 11 games over .500, none more than six games out of first place. While the Damned United remain in fourth place -- despite going 13-0 the last two weeks, 18-1 the last three and 22-3 the last four -- they now are 44-31 and only four games behind the National division-leading the Inmates (seven games closer to the top than DamU was just three weeks earlier), and only one game back of the runners-up Godfathers and the Derelicts. The Moaners, who as recently as Week 8 were treading water at .500 (25-25) and trailed the American division-leading Bammers by 16 games, have ridden a 12-1 surge the last two weeks to gain a whopping nine games on the suddenly struggling Bams, who went 1-6 this week after last week’s 1-5 toe-stub. That has vaulted the M’s into a second-place tie with the Zero’s at 44-31, with the Badgers right on their heels at 43-32. And the Bammers’ once unassailable division lead, 11 games over the Z’s and Badgers after Week 10 and nine games over the same pair a week ago, is down to five over the M’s and Z’s. The Bam-Bams, an eye-popping 41-9 through eight weeks, are 8-17 since. . . . DamiamUnited, coming off last week’s franchise record-smashing offensive display (19 HRs, 62 RBIs), laid down the lumber and let the pitchers pick up the slack this week, to the tune of a 1.64 ERA, 1.07 BR stat and a stunning nine saves, also believed to be a franchise record. That, plus significant spikes in a couple hitting stats (46 TB, .369 OBP), led DamU on a largely unchallenged romp, with none of their seven wins closer than 7-4. . . . The Moaners went in another direction, relying on big offense, as in days of yore. In a week when the spectacular hitting numbers seen earlier this month went into full retreat for the rest of the league, the M’s posted league bests for the week in RBI (45), runs (40), HRs (11) and OBP (.398), plus 44 TB, second only to DamU’s 46. Those numbers weren’t just better than the competition’s, they were conspicuously better -- in those five stats the M’s beat the next-best team in their division by 17 RBIs, 19 TB, seven runs, four homers and .037 in OBP. And league-wide, no one (other than DamU in TB) really came close to them in any of those five stats, either. They stuck out like a sore thumb. How out of character was this? Last Wednesday, Moaners hitters bashed six homers and drove in 18 runs, exceeding in one night the team’s totals in those categories for the entirety of Week 10 (five and 16, respectively).

Week 12 standings

AMERICAN DIVISION
Team, LW..................W....L....PCT....GB
Bammers (1-6)............49...26....653....--
Moaners (7-0).............44...31....587.....5
Zero's (5-2)................44...31....587.....5
Badgers (4-3).............43...32....573.....6
Barristers (0-7)...........17...58....227....32
Pontiffs (5-2).............13...62....173....36
NATIONAL DIVISION
Team, LW..................W....L....PCT....GB
Inmates (4-3)..............48...27....640....--
Godfathers (5-2)..........45...30....600.....3
Derelicts (1-6).............45...30....600.....3
DamianUnited (7-0).......44...31....587.....4
Bombers (3-4).............33...42....440....15
Whiteskins (0-7)..........25...50....333....23

Free agent draft No. 6

Pre-draft moves:
Pontiffs: activate 1B Hafner, LaPorta to DL
Whiteskins: activate RP Broxton; RP Sanchez to DL
DamianUnited: SP Johnson to DL
Zero's: activate 2B Uribe, drop O.Cabrera; C Barajas to DL
Badgers: activate OF Wells, Craig to DL
Derelicts: OF Kubel to DL

1. Pontiffs take OF Morse, drop Tabata
2. Barristers take 2B Ackley, drop Sanchez
3. Whiteskins take 2B J.Weeks, drop Hall
4. Bombers take SS Hardy, drop Tejada
5. Moaners take SP Humber, drops Drabek
........Taxi: Humber, Liriano up, Zambrano, Lohse down
6. DamianUnited take SP Karstens
........Taxi: Karstens up, Happ down
7. Zero's take C Soto
........Taxi: Kennedy up, DeLaRosa down
8. Badgers take 3B Moustakas, drop Callaspo
........Taxi: Anderson down, Bumgarner up
9. Godfathers take OF Cuddyer, drop Span
........Taxi: Cueto up, Hanson down
10. Derelicts takes OF Blackmon
........Taxi: Romero up, Oswalt down
11. Inmates take 3B Wigginton, drop Valencia
........Taxi: Stauffer up, Morrow down
12. Bammers take SP Norris, drops F.Garcia

Derelicts, 'Tiffs Make Deal

From the Office of the Commish...

"For those who missed it, there was a trade over the weekend between the Derelicts and the Puny Pontiffs:

RP Papelbon and 3B Alvarez to the Double D's; RP Lyon and 3B Roberts to the Poontiffs."

---

The trade was a fairly even swap. The 'Licts bolster their already stout bullpen with a Papelbon-er, and the 'Tiffs get a warm body at third base.

SBL Notebook, Week 11

It was another week, the third in a (hopefully) continuing series, when the SBL was converted into a MASH unit -- and no team induced pitching-staff triage quite like DamianUnited. The club that draws its name from the lowest-scoring sport on the planet produced some most un-soccer-like offense, highlighted by a preposterous 19 HRs and 62 RBIs, both all-time franchise highs and within hailing distance of the SBL records in those categories (believed to be 21 and 68 respectively; if anyone can confirm or disprove these figures, please notify the commissioner’s office). That, plus 42 runs, 33 TB and not-too-shabby pitching (3.19 ERA, 1.13 BR, 4-1 WL) carried DamU to its first 6-0 week this season, and lifted the National division’s fourth-place entry to within seven games of co-leaders the Inmates and the Derelicts. Just about everyone in DamU’s lineup contributed to the onslaught, but leading the way in this voyage of the Dam were 1B David Ortiz (four HRs, 13 BIs) and SS Troy Tulowitzki (2 HRs, 2 2Bs, 13 BIs). Their efforts were augmented by a dab of when-you’re-hot-you’re-hot sub-in luck: backup catcher Miguel Olivo produced a combined 3 HRs, 6 RBIs and 4 runs on two days when starter Miguel Montero happened to sit out. Something magical about catchers named Miguel, apparently. Every team that had the misfortune to encounter DamianUnited on the schedule ended up shaking his fist and shouting “Damn you, DamU!” Leading that chorus were the Moaners, who managed to take Da United to a tiebreaker in the teams’ interleague matchup but were blown away by what might have been the highest tiebreak number in SBL history -- a 212.1 figure fueled by those 19 HRs, which translated to 76 points in the top-secret tiebreaker formula. That loss was the only blemish in a 5-1 week that left the M’s two games out of second place in the American division, still shared by the Badgers and the Zero’s. Both of those teams went 3-3, failing to take full advantage of a rare 1-5 stumble by the pacesetting Bammers, who still enjoy a comfy nine-game lead. The NL race remains where the action is, with the Inmates going 5-1 to pull back into a tie with the Double-Ds (4-2) atop the heap, the Godfathers hanging tough at four games out and DamU now very much in the picture, too. The NL, still feeling frisky after its interleague triumph in weeks 7-10, won five of six cross-divisional tilts this week. And small wonder, when you look at some of the prodigious offense around the division, notably for the Derelicts (47 BI, 44 runs, 12 HRs) and the Inmates (39 runs, 13 HR, 42 TB). The Cherry Valley Bombers (44 runs, 33 TB, .362 OBP) and the Whiteskins (10 HR, 35 BI, 32 TB) also did their share of damage, but were undone by horrendous pitching (7.09 and 6.30 ERAs, respectively). . . . Congrats to the Batfaced Barristers, who posted their first winning record of the season (4-2), one of only two the AL could manage this week.