Team	Points	Bats	Slot	Arms	Start	Week
1.		Bru Cru	4724	2147	6.81	2577	30.67	780
2.		Wizzard	4560	2181	6.92	2379	28.32	940
3.		Congreg	4334	1983	6.29	2351	27.98	763
4.		Mudville	4309	1978	6.27	2331	27.75	862
5.		Sonic De	4140	2037	6.46	2103	25.03	850
6.		Columbu	4114	1818	5.77	2296	27.33	880
7.		EVIL	4025	1977	6.27	2048	24.38	796
8.		MAC &	3900	1924	6.10	1976	23.52	804
9.		Little Le	3885	1830	5.80	2055	24.46	825
10.		Florida P	3793	1905	6.04	1888	22.47	629
11.		Rosies H	3735	1895	6.01	1840	21.90	676
12.		BANAN	3702	1953	6.20	1749	20.82	622

Bru is dominating!

		Team	Points	Bats	Slot	Arms	Start	Week
1.		Bru Cru	3944	1703	6.75	2241	33.34	985
2.		Wizzard of	3620	1718	6.81	1906	28.36	845
3.		Congregati	3571	1595	6.32	1976	29.40	830
4.		Mudville Ni	3447	1623	6.44	1824	27.14	855
5.		Sonic Death	3290	1651	6.55	1639	24.38	851
6.		Columbus M	3234	1454	5.76	1780	26.48	823
7.		EVIL EMPI	3229	1597	6.33	1632	24.28	916
8.		Florida Pirat	3164	1576	6.25	1588	23.63	826
9.		MAC & ZACK	3096	1578	6.26	1517	22.57	683
10.		BANANA SL	3080	1561	6.19	1518	22.58	750
11.		Little Leagu	3060	1516	6.01	1544	22.97	718
12.		Rosies Halos	3059	1570	6.23	1488	22.14	694

Bru has a commanding lead after only one month. He has done it by outstanding pitching numbers. I know it's early but that is a 320 point lead very quickly. I hope this doesn't turn into a laugher. Cliff Lee has really helped him. Let's see if he keeps it up.

Rosie had a really bad week. From 6th to 12th. Evil pretty much swapped places with Rosie having a stellar week.

One interesting thing I noticed about the pitching verses batting number is that the pitching numbers are always higher for the teams that are higher up in the standings. They even out about halfway down and reverse order at the bottom. Have to see if this continues and figure out what it means.

		Team	Total	Bats	Slot	Arms	Start	Week
1.		Bru Cru	2959	1279	6.76	1680	33.33	1058
2.		Wizzard of Ozz	2775	1310	6.93	1465	29.06	930
3.		Congregationa	2741	1219	6.44	1522	30.19	832
4.		Mudville Nine	2592	1159	6.13	1433	28.43	866
5.		Sonic Death M	2439	1258	6.65	1181	23.43	773
6.		MAC & ZACK	2413	1168	6.17	1245	24.70	714
7.		Columbus Mad	2411	1145	6.05	1266	25.11	833
8.		Rosies Halos	2365	1196	6.32	1169	23.19	713
9.		Little Leaguer	2342	1174	6.21	1168	23.17	786
10.		Florida Pirates	2338	1223	6.47	1115	22.12	808
11.		BANANA SLU	2330	1234	6.52	1096	21.74	763
12.		EVIL EMPIRE	2313	1206	6.38	1107	21.96	642

Wow, we were all pretty miserable this week besides Bru and Ozzie. Bru just cleaned up. A monster week! And it's seen in his pitching numbers. By far the highest start average.

1.		Congregati	1909	847	6.72	1062	31.60	942
2.		Bru Cru	1901	831	6.59	1070	31.85	861
3.		Wizzard of	1845	857	6.80	988	29.40	801
4.		Mudville N	1726	839	6.65	887	26.39	702
5.		MAC & ZA	1699	756	6.00	943	28.06	726
6.		EVIL EMP	1671	802	6.36	869	25.86	768
7.		Sonic Death	1666	830	6.58	836	24.88	690
8.		Rosies Halo	1652	860	6.82	792	23.57	691
9.		Columbus	1578	773	6.13	805	23.95	751
10.		BANANA	1567	812	6.44	755	22.47	774
11.		Little Leag	1556	722	5.73	834	24.82	679
12.		Florida Pir	1530	809	6.42	721	21.45	807

Week One Roundup

		Team	Total	Bats	Avg	Arms	Start
1.		Wizzard of Oz	1044	454	7.20	590	35.11
2.		Bru Cru	1040	466	7.39	574	34.16
3.		Mudville Nine	1024	464	7.36	560	33.33
4.		Sonic Death	976	431	6.84	545	32.44
5.		MAC & ZACK	973	398	6.31	575	34.22
6.		Congregation	967	444	7.04	523	31.13
7.		Rosies Halos	961	491	7.79	470	27.96
8.		EVIL EMPIRE	903	432	6.85	471	28.03
9.		Little Leaguer	877	392	6.22	485	28.86
10.		Columbus Mad	827	375	5.95	452	26.90
11.		BANANA SL	793	409	6.49	384	22.85
12.		Florida Pirates	723	367	5.82	356	21.19

One week doesn't really give us a good idea yet (that goes for the Royals too). Some extreme numbers. One thing that sticks out is how pitching is producing a lot more points than bats. Now some could be contributed to early season and cold weather when pitching has the advantage. But I don't think that accounts for that much. Rather I feel with the point adjustments we are going to see this all year long. As far as strategy it really doesn't change anything.

With all the 'pre-openings' it is hard to get an accurate week total. I looked through the top guys and I didn't notice any of them taking advantage of the double start for like Matsuzaka or Blanton, etc.

One note, I think this year I am going to try and do this on Tuesday's. It falls on the natural week and since we are starting this time at the beginning and if we carry it all the way through, we will have some accurate data.

Gary's predictions

I am adding his predictions here so we can easily look them up and laugh later.

Here we go with Garys (what the heck does he know about making predictions) predictions!!!

12-Whole lotta Rosie-As Ac/DC would say. The sun sets in the west. So does Rosies team. Not a very good way to start the season with SP's Lackey and Escobar on the DL. It will be a long season for Keith ! But hey ! eathquakes do happen in California !!

11- Columbus Mad Cows- Sorry Steve !!But the race is on between you and rosie for last. I think it will be a good one !!!Some bright spots ahead with Adam Jones,Kouzmanoff,McGowan !!!Hey but that's only 3 of 27. Can Francis win big again in the thin air of Colorado??Will Fukudome be a grizzly bear or a cub? (Wait he is a Cub) ! damn !! I guess Steve will have pleanty of time for grilling mad cow steaks this summer!!

10-Fla. Pirates.-Hank has some great young talent-Upton,Braun,Kennedy,Gallardo. But to many questions to contend this season.Was Byrnes and Hardy's great seasons a fluke/RP very suspect. Could make some noise and move up tp 7 or 8. But my best guess as with most pirates is that your ship will sink!! Maybe you should sign Johnny Depp !!!Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum !!!

9-Congregationals- This is what happens to your team when it becomes a feeder system for Mudville !! DeJesus a starter ? Will Gordon have a breakout season?Rowand will come crashing down to earth this season.Ibanez will be sleepless in seatle with very littlr help.Greg does have a very good pitching staff. If they produce and stay healthy. Hey he could move up some. But Greg needs to start praying now or it will be a "LONG" season !!

8- Banana Slugs- if our man Chad keeps up with his team they could rise a little. But hey so does bread when you bake it.So this team is baked for the season. Taveras, Upton need to prove themselves. The doughboy would be better to carry on this roster than Freel and Sexson,ditto for Zitto !!!RP could colapse with age!! Beckett should be off and on the Dl all season. He can't go 2 seasons in a row healthy . This banana has been peeled !!

7-Mac/Zack-Should be better than last seasons train wreck !!Most of Chuckies team was on the DL.Sheets should no doubt make the DL.Mr steroid Tejada will contiue to see his numbers drop !Hughs will win games by accident in NY. Verlander will be the AL Cy Young winner!!Dice K will put up good numbers,Will Liriano be able to bounce back from a year and a half off?Not a good sign with pitchers on the DL already .Lucky Chucky wont be very lucky this year!!

6-Little Leaguer-dan could take this team higher .a few questions need to answered. Can Bay bounce back from a terrible season?Ellsbury is unproven. What will cabrera do with the Sox? Kerry(Mr DL) Wood !a closer! . Good luck with that one.Decent SP will keep Dan in contention. I would'nt change your name to Big Leaguer just yet though !!

5-Bru Cru- Stu's Cru could move up a lot if he quits chasing the Scottsdale skirts and he stays focused on his team.(LOL)Hey can ya blame him !!???He has some ancient warriors on this team that need to stay off the DL -Pedro,Randy,Chipper et al..Decent SP's HMM come to think about it Stu maybe you should stick with the skirts !!

4-Sonic Death Monkees-If the pitchers all go on the DL like at the end of last season this team will be drinkig rum with the Pirates and grilling steaks the the Mad Cowa.Lowry scares me,Sanchez and Hermida are becoming brittle.Very good hitting and pitching . Will contend if healthy.

3-Wizzard of Ozzie- He'll need some magic to pull off the title!!Pierre -no power & slowing down. M.Young has lost a step. Sheffield will be part time the 2nd half.Holliday is great when healthy.What Peavey will show uo this season/ last yr 19-6 the yr before 11-14. Wainwright does'nt have alot of help in STL. Can Well's bounce back from off season surgery? Pujols may not make it through the season. I think it's time to flush the wizz!!

2-Evil Empire- Fine young pitching staff and hitters. Only thing that keeps me from picking this team #1 is RP. Can BJ come back from surgery? Jobas good but not the closer. What about Zumayas roll ?Willis will win 15 games by accident in Detroit .Look for Zack Greinke to have a breakout season!! Having Howard and Fielder in the same lineup should be outlawed ( 100 + HR's ) All I can say is may the force be with you .

1- The kiss of death goes to Mudville. ( or should I say Congregationals 2)
We'll have to see how Suzuki does for a whole yr. Very good balance. Outstanding hitting ! Hoffman is old but effective. Billy Butler will be a stud!! Maddux and Smoltz are old but time won't catch them yet this season.Santana and Oswalt !! WOW !!! Danks could be a real sleeper. He was'nt as bad as rookie numbers would indicate 6-13 (The White sox stunk)Flip a coin as to what Brad Penney will do . A lot of luck last season. The numbers did'nt indicate the amount of wins.

So there you have it sports fans. Good luck to all. I hope you all have fun. It's a pleasure to be in this leagu

Worst use of a roster spot

To borrow a great idea from Mud, here is a poll. I started to add sarcastic commentary like he did but found my creative part of my brain was totally useless after ready Gary's predictions.

What is the worst use of a roster spot
	Todd Jones - Banana Slugs
	Eric Gagne - Mac and Zack Attack 2
	Kenny Rogers - Wizard Of Ozzie
	Wandy Rodriguez - Congregationals
	Greg Maddux - Mudville Nine
	Aaron Cook - Columbus Mad Cows
	Jason Varitek - Little Leaguer
	Garret Anderson - Rosies Halos
	Jason Schmidt - Florida Pirates
	Jeremy Bonderman - Sonic Death Monkeys
	Randy Johnson - Bru Cru
	B.J. Ryan - Evil Empire
Free polls from Pollhost.com

I have to say it was hard picking players for some people. Mud and Sonic specifically.

Year ending analysis

Since the season starts tomorrow I figured it was a good time to recap last year. The totals from last year will give us an idea of what we need to shoot for and what is average and what is exceptional. The only annoying thing is that even though we have verifiable data from a complete year... it isn't comparable because someone decided to arbitrarily modify the points >:o With that in mind I might also try to look at how the ammended points would have affected the totals from last year. But first the totals as they stood with last years points.

			Points		Bats	Slot	Arms	Start
1.		Mudville Nine	22659		11552	7.92	11107	28.57
2.		Wizzard of Oz	22495		11298	7.75	11215	28.85
3.		EVIL EMPIR	22232		11441	7.85	10791	27.75
4.		The Congrega	21885		10868	7.45	11017	28.34
5.		Sonic Death	21565		11333	7.77	10232	26.32
6.		Bru Cru	21544		11135	7.64	10409	26.77
7.		Little Leaguer	20761		10862	7.45	10018	25.77
8.		Florida Pirate	20628		10813	7.42	9815	25.24
9.		Banana Slugs	20481		9691	6.65	10760	27.67
10.		Mac & Zack A	19714		10075	6.91	9039	23.25
11.		Columbus Ma	19255		9431	6.49	9824	25.27
12.		Rosies Angels	18219		9550	6.55	8689	22.35

The top offense (Mud) recorded a 7.92. That is awfully close to a full 8. So we have the benchmark for a great offensive season. The average score was 7.32. We only had four score below the average but the made up for with really tepid scores.

Ozzie recorded the top pitching mark with a 28.85. That is pretty good. The average per start score was a 26.34. That is pretty much in the middle so Rosie didn't bring it down too much ;)

What will the scoring changes do to this year's numbers? Besides render them useless? Well... Mud averaged 86.5 K's per batter. His present roster was pretty healthy so we just took the numbers as they were last year. Now we compare that to Ozzie who finished second. 76.5 if you include Barton since on average he had more AB per batter than Mud. This isn't scientific but you COULD take the time to ratio it out to AB's and come up with a much more accurate number. So there is a difference of 10 points per batter between Mud and Ozzie. That comes to a point total of 90 (10 x game slots). It doesn't change the outcome of last year but I would consider it a significant change. It would put Ozzie within 80 of Mud. If I am bored I might try to get the more accurate number just to see if it would have changed things. Of course we will have to figure in the pitching changes too.

The reason the points change bugs me is we all built our teams on the system in place. To arbitrarily change the numbers makes some players value fall off the table (Youkilis for me) while players we may have traded away now become more valuable. /rant

I totally agree that these numbers are more accurate to value in a game. And in the long run will make a better system. So I'm not upset. Just kinda bummed at it I guess.

If we figure in the Ks for a projection for this year... Mud's average would be circa 7.39. That is the new standard.

I'm not going to mess with prediction (I will leave those up to Gary). I really enjoy this league and am looking forward to a great time this year!!

Good luck everyone!

I am READY for baseball.

Now before you all go ragging on the Royals and how your team has MUCH more enjoyable memories... let me remind you that this is MY blog and I can post whatever I want! (neener, neener, neener)

Of course you could post your own stuff if you wanted to....

These videos are all the more sweeter because it was against the dirty White Sux. Opening Day. Packed house. Going into the bottom of the ninth down three. The first video is Mendy 'freakin' Lopez blasting a tying three run home run! The second video is Beltran hitting the game winning home run the same inning. The only time I have yelled out loud because of my beloved Royals. Well the only time I yelled not out of frustration.

Homer Bailey for Dontrelle Willis

Dontrelle Willis --> Evil Empire

Homer Bailey --> Mudville

Mike Lowell for Jon Garland and Aubrey Huff

Mudville traded Jon Garland and Aubrey Huff to Rosies Halos for Mike Lowell.

Jon Garland --> Rosies Halos
Aubrey Huff --> Rosies Halos

Mike Lowell --> Mudville

Trades: 2/17/08

Trevor Hoffman ---> Mudville Nine
Jim Thome ---> Columbus Mad Cows


José Valverde ---> Sonic Death Monkees
Takashi Saito ---> Bru Cru


Analyze, Discuss, Ridicule.