Sunday's report

HEAD-TO-HEAD PLAYOFFS

Misfits 203, Fresh Fish 75; Misfits win series 1-0
Gladstone Goatwhisperers 182, VC Appraisers 160; Goatwhisperers win series 1-0
Pickle Bugs 190, Triple-A's 183; Pickle Bugs lead series 1-0
Arbitration Losers 211, Upton No Good 200; Arbitration Losers lead series 1-0.

For the first time since moving to the head-to-head format, both Nos. 1 and 2 seeded teams advanced to the semifinals without having to play a second game in the series. The Misfits earned the most lopsided victory in FBLG head-to-head history with a 203-75 victory. The week the Fresh Fish had likely ranks as the worst single week that did not fall during the All-Star Break in the FBLG's 18-year history. We know for fact that the best week in league history is 299 points. We don't have an exact number on the previous worse, but we believe it to have been in the 80s somewhere, easily bested by the Fish's anemic 75-point total. Just how bad was it? Well, the Fish's ace (Josh Johnson) put up a -5 outing. Two positions players (Clint Barmes and Seth Smith of the Rockies) posted 0-point weeks. Ryan Braun was the team's star for the week with 14 points. But heading into Friday's game, he had a 0 points for the week.

The Goatwhisperers were not hurt by the fact the Johnny Cueto lost out on a second start last week because of his suspension. The VC Appraisers went into Sunday almost in a dead-heat, but came up empty on Sunday, scoring only 13 points. The GGs scored 39 despite missing out on Cueto and having Tim Lincecum post a two-point outing.

The Misfits and Goatwhisperers get Week 20 off to rest their starters for the semifinals beginning Week 20.

The other two games are still very tight, despite Week 19 wins from the Pickle Bugs and Arbitration Losers.

The Triple-A's and Upton No Good must win in Week 20 to stay alive and they must outscore their opponents by more than what they were outscored by in Week 19.

In other words, UNG needs to beat the Losers by 12 points in Week 20 after losing 211-200 in Week 19. The Triple-A's deficit is just seven points after the Bugs won 190-183.

OVERALL STANDINGS


1. Arbitration Losers (Tim) 3396
    Time for Johnny Gomes to take his whopping one-point week to the bench
2. Upton No Good (Bill-Rich) 3394
    Really hoping starting pitchers get a little more help from hitters and bullpen next week
3. Gladstone Goatwhisperers (Arik) 3360
    Hunter Pence quietly having a great season
4. Misfits (Reid) 3351
    Really hoping Howard returns from DL in time for semifinals
5. Pickle Bugs (Jon) 3308
     Heath Bell's 20 points made him the best PB pitcher of the week
6. VC Appraisers (Kevin-Dave) 3135
    Ronny Paulino's 0-point week hurt head-to-head chances
7. Pitch You Blockhead (Scott) 3081
    Huge 38-point week for Wade LeBlanc
8. Triple-A's (Ken) 3067
    Padilla's -5 outing on Sunday came at a very bad time
9. Chico's Chuggers (Shawn) 3022
   Jonathan Sanchez needs to guarantee more points for Chuggers
10. Fresh Fish (Rick) 3012
    Garcia, Zito set for dual starts; We'll see if that's a good thing or bad thing