Week 14: Saturday's Roundup

Anthony Rizzo showed off his blazing speed in Pittsburgh on Saturday. 

Studs: Max Scherzer (M) scored and allowed an unearned run while striking out 9 in a 7-inning win. Carlos Martinez (LGM) allowed 1 run and struck out 11 in a 5-inning win. Anthony Rizzo (LY) went 4 for 5 with a triple, 2 doubles, an RBI and a run. Daniel Murphy (LY) was a triple short of a cycle and drove in 4. 

Dud: Jerad Eickhoff (HE) allowed 8 runs — including a 2-run homer by a pitcher — and fanned 3 in a 5.1-inning loss. 

Transaction: PYB released RP Brad Ziegler after his trade to Boston and sign Jeanmar Gomez. 

Scores

Retire 21 147, Lawyers, Guns & Money 146

The Lumbar Yard 204, Arbitration Losers 129

Rookies 162, Misfits 149

Goldschmidt Happens 177, Hundley Eyes 135

Pitch You Blockhead 200, Fresh Fish 149

Week 14: Friday's Roundup

Yasmani Grandal (3 homers, 2B, bunt 1B, 6 RBIs) had an 18-point day on the Misfits' bench. Ouch. 

Studs: Melvin Upton Jr. (LY) pummeled LA pitching, going 4 for 5 with 2 homers, 3 RBIs, 3 runs and a steal. Stephen Strasburg (R) improved to 12-0 by striking out 9 and allowing 1 run in 7 innings. Jose Fernandez (HE) allowed an unearned run and fanned 8 in a 7-inning win. Chris Carter (R) hit a pair of solo homers. Jeff Samardzija (PYB) doubled, scored, got the win, struck out 6 and allowed 2 runs in 6.1 innings. Brandon Crawford (AL) had a 2-run homer, a double and an RBI single. 

Duds: All the guys who got hurt Friday. Let's see if we can name them all: Billy Hamilton, Brandon Phillips, Gregory Polanco, Matt Holliday, Michael Wacha, Trevor Rosenthal, Noah Syndergaard and Yoenis Cespedes. Not to mention the AL guys who got hurt (Byron Buxton, C.J. Cron, Mark Teixeira and Brock Holt). What a strange day. 

Scores

Lawyers, Guns & Money 115, Retire 21 115

The Lumbar Yard 163, Arbitration Losers 108

Rookies 145, Misfits 105

Goldschmidt Happens 159, Hundley Eyes 124

Pitch You Blockhead 185, Fresh Fish 131

Week 14: Thursday's Roundup

Who likes facing crappy left-handed pitching? Trevor Story does!

Studs: Drew Pomeranz (R21) tossed 7 shutout innings, striking out 6 for the win and adding an RBI single. Nick Markakis (R21) hit 2 - yes, TWO - home runs to bring his season total to 4. That's 7 homers in the last 2 years in nearly 1,000 at-bats. Trevor Story (HE) also (but much more predictably) hit 2 homers, driving in 4 and scoring 3 runs. Adam Wainwright (LY) struck out 9 and allowed 1 run in a 7-inning win. Daniel Murphy (LY) homered and drove in 3 runs. He is slugging a ridiculous .580 this year, 140 points over his career mark. We don't want to imply he's been hanging out with Ryan Braun or anything, but...

Duds: Corey Seager (LY) went 0-fer with an error, ending his hitting streak at 19 games.

Transaction: Retire 21 place 3B Matt Carpenter on the DL, move Kris Bryant from OF to 3B and sign OF Brandon Nimmo.

Scores

Lawyers, Guns & Money 96, Retire 21 96

The Lumbar Yard 144, Arbitration Losers 89

Rookies 95, Misfits 87

Goldschmidt Happens 102, Hundley Eyes 90
Pitch You Blockhead 147, Fresh Fish 110

Week 14: Wednesday's Roundup

Don't you just hate when you bench a guy and he goes and homers in 4 consecutive at-bats?

Studs: Johnny Cueto (FF) singled and allowed 1 run while striking out 8 in a complete-game win against the Rockies. Yangervis Solarte (GH) was a triple short of a cycle, scored twice and drove in 5. Brandon Belt (M) tripled, doubled, scored twice and drove in a run. Jacob deGrom (PYB) scored a run and fanned 7 while allowing 2 runs in a 7-inning win. Wil Myers (PYB) is a Stud again. Imagine that. He stole a base, singled twice, scored 3 runs and had an RBI double. 

Duds: Jay Bruce (AL) walked and was caught stealing. Daniel Murphy (LY) went 0 for 4 with an error.

Transaction: Lawyers, Guns & Money place 1B Justin Bour on the DL, sign 1B Ryan Zimmerman.

Scores

Lawyers, Guns & Money 85, Retire 21 62

The Lumbar Yard 93, Arbitration Losers 75

Rookies 92, Misfits 66

Goldschmidt Happens 85, Hundley Eyes 62
Pitch You Blockhead 137, Fresh Fish 87

Week 14: Tuesday's Roundup

Say hi to Wil Myers, FBLG's leading scorer among hitters and also a guy who could tell you where the good waves are.

Studs: Pitch You Blockhead's infield owned the day Tuesday. Wil Myers tripled, singled 3 times and scored twice. Jean Segura tripled, singled twice and scored 3 runs. Zack Cozart doubled, homered and scored twice. And Nolan Arenado hit a 3-run go-ahead homer. That's 32 points for PYB's infield.
Billy Hamilton (HE) - yes, Billy Hamilton! - singled, doubled, scored twice and stole 3 bases.

Duds: Matt Carpenter (R21) - who seems to be either a Stud or a Dud nearly every day - dudded his way onto the list by going 0-for-5 with 2 strikeouts and his 10th error. Gregory Polanco (Misfits) also went 0-for-5 with an error.

Transactions: Misfits place OF Brandon Moss on DL and activate OF Randal Grichuk. Arbitration Losers place SP Jameson Taillon on DL and activate SP Bud Norris, while also activating RP Jonathan Papelbon from the DL and benching RP Shawn Kelley. Misfits activate SP Stephen Strasburg from DL, bench SP Jaime Garcia and cut C Tony Wolters.

Scores

Lawyers, Guns & Money 63, Retire 21 54

Arbitration Losers 51, The Lumbar Yard 45

Rookies 68, Misfits 43

Goldschmidt Happens 61, Hundley Eyes 49

Pitch You Blockhead 84, Fresh Fish 43

Week 14: Monday's Roundup

Admit it: Before the season, you had never even heard of Junior Guerra.

Studs: Jerad Eickhoff (HE) scored a run and struck out 8 while allowing 2 runs in a 7.2-inning victory. Junior Guerra (GH) singled and improved to 6-1 by striking out 7 in 7.1 shutout innings. Gregory Polanco (M) hit a 2-run homer and a solo homer. Yoenis Cespedes (FF) doubled twice, singled, drove in 2 and scored. Jake Peavy (R) fanned 6 and allowed 1 run in a 6.1-inning win. Derek Norris (M) homered, doubled, drove in 3 and scored twice. 

Duds: Ryan Braun (AL) went 0 for 4, committed an error and was called out for batting out of order. Brandon Phillips (R) and Trevor Story (HE) each went 0 for 3 with an error. 

Scores

Lawyers, Guns & Money 49, Retire 21 32

The Lumbar Yard 22, Arbitration Losers 14

Rookies 45, Misfits 34

Goldschmidt Happens 46, Hundley Eyes 27

Pitch You Blockhead 38, Fresh Fish 28

Week 14 Transactions and Lineups

Yep, that's another first baseman for Hundley Eyes.
The list so far: Zimmerman, Paulsen, Reynolds, Duda, Adams and now Loney.

Players acquired

• Lawyers, Guns & Money steal SP James Shields (July move #1) from Fresh Fish and sign SS Danny Espinosa (July move #2).
• Pitch You Blockhead sign OF Peter Bourjos (July move #1).
• Arbitration Losers sign SP Jameson Taillon (July move #1).
• Hundley Eyes sign 1B James Loney (July move #1) and RP Seung-Hwan Oh (July move #2).
• Retire 21 sign SP Brandon McCarthy (July move #1).

Players released

• SS Freddy Galvis
• 1B Tommy Joseph
• 2B Chase Utley
• 1B Matt Adams

Players unprotected/available to be stolen

• none on Fresh Fish
• C Tony Wolters (Rookies)
• OF Trayce Thompson (The Lumbar Yard)
• 2B Cesar Hernandez (Goldschmidt Happens)
• 2B Kelby Tomlinson (Misfits)
• SP Aaron Nola (LG&M)
• none on PYB
• none on Arbitration Losers
• RP Trevor Rosenthal (Hundley Eyes)
• RP Fernando Rodney (Retire 21)

Please email the commish by first pitch Saturday to change your unprotected player.

• 3B Aaron Hill (Rookies) and 3B Jake Lamb (Misfits) is also available to be stolen after spending four weeks on the bench.

Lineup changes

• Fresh Fish: Bench OF Jayson Werth; activate OF Yasmany Tomas.
• Rookies: None.
• The Lumbar Yard: Bench C Nick Hundley and SP Robbie Ray; place SP Joe Ross on DL; activate C Willson Contreras, SP Tyler Chatwood and SP Jeremy Hellickson.
• Goldschmidt Happens: Bench SP Matt Wisler and 3B David Freese; activate SP Junior Guerra and 3B Javier Baez.
• Misfits: None.
• Lawyers, Guns & Money: Bench SS Addison Russell, SP Adam Conley and OF Giancarlo Stanton; activate SS Danny Espinosa, SP James Shields and OF Odubel Herrera.
• Pitch You Blockhead: Bench OF Ichiro Suzuki and SP Christian Friedrich; activate OF Peter Bourjos and SP Colin Rea.
• Arbitration Losers: Place SP Zach Greinke, OF Joc Pederson and OF Kike Hernandez on DL; activate SP Jameson Taillon.
• Hundley Eyes: Bench SP Jon Gray and RP Trevor Rosenthal; place OF Denard Span on DL; activate SP Kenta Maeda, RP Seung-Hwan Oh and 1B James Loney.
• Retire 21: Bench SP Francisco Liriano and RP Fernando Rodney; activate SP Mike Leake and RP Santiago Casilla.

Week 13: The Check Swing

Even Ben Revere thinks it's funny that The Lumbar Yard is tied atop the standings at 8-5. 

1. Fresh Fish (2,377 points, 8-5, last week 1): The Fish got toppled by FBLG's last-place team, and Clayton Kershaw went on the disabled list. Who'd have thought? Jason Hammel tallied a -5 across a pair of outings. On the bright side, everyone else scored in double figures. 

2. Hundley Eyes (2,326 points, 7-6, last week 2): Trevor Rosenthal (finally) lost his job, Matt Adams was sort of hurt and sort of terrible, and Trevor Story was fully hurt. Still, the Eyes managed to beat the Misfits thanks to Maikel Franco (24) upon his return to the lineup.

3. Lawyers, Guns & Money (2,313 points, 8-5, last week 3): Led by Anthony Rendon (24), LGM put a hurting on the Rookies. Addison Russell (7) and A.J. Ramos (2) didn't do much, but it didn't matter in the 43-point victory. 

4. Arbitration Losers (2,271 points, 6-7, last week 5): A 28-point week from Brandon Crawford wasn't enough for the Losers in a loss to Retire 21. And now Zack Greinke is on the disabled list. Is it Bud Norris time for FBLG's longest-tenured Giants fan? 

5. Pitch You Blockhead (2,254 points, 6-7, last week 4): PYB had a down week, but even a good week wouldn't have been enough against the Lumbar Yard buzzsaw. Wilson Ramos (26) and Wil Myers (24) continue to be standouts at their positions. 

GH's Ryan Raburn and HE's Trevor Story went
scoreless this week. But since Story was hurt and
Raburn was healthy, Raburn is our Dud of the Week. 

6. Retire 21 (2,235 points, 6-7, last week 7): How did Clemente's Kids manage to beat the Losers? A 38-point week from Kris Bryant was the biggest reason, and Freddie Freeman (25) certainly did his part. The pitching was mediocre, but with sluggers like that, who cares? 

7. The Lumbar Yard (2,197 points, 8-5, last week 9): The mashers mashed for the Yard in its 220-point eruption. Daniel Murphy (27), Anthony Rizzo (24), Bryce Harper (20), Ben Revere (20), Corey Seager (19) and Melvin Upton Jr. (18) carried the load. 

8. Rookies (2,192 points, 5-8, last week 6): Thanks for your "efforts," Jake Peavy (-4), Jon Niese (0), Jonathan Villar (4) and Matt Kemp (5). 

9. Misfits (2,182 points, 7-6, last week 8): Scott Kazmir (31) had a strong week, but the Misfits can blame their loss on the failures of Jon Lester (5) and Matt Harvey (3). Hector Rondon (1) pitched twice and didn't help, either. 

10. Goldschmidt Happens (1,997 points, 4-9, last week 10): GH used 7 starts to take down the Fish. Well done, Vincent Velasquez (35), Michael Wacha (26), Matt Wisler (20) and Julio Urias (17). 

Week 13: Sunday's Roundup

Before Cameron Rupp, the last Phillies catcher to make the Studs list was Darren Daulton. 

Studs: Vincent Velasquez (GH) fanned 7 and allowed 2 runs in a 6-inning win. Yangervis Solarte (GH) went 4 for 4 with a homer, a double and 2 runs. Cameron Rupp (R) hit a 3-run homer, singled and scored twice. Wilson Ramos (PYB) was a triple short of a cycle, drove in 2 and scored 3 runs. Noah Syndergaard (HE) doubled, scored, struck out 8 and allowed 1 run in a 7-inning win. Guess that bone spur isn't an issue after all. Stephen Piscotty (HE) hit a grand slam, singled twice and scored twice. Maikel Franco (HE) homered, singled twice, scored twice and drove in 2. J.T. Realmuto (R21) homered, singled twice, drove in 2, scored 3 runs and stole a base. 

Duds: Jon Lester (M) gave up 8 runs and fanned 3 in a 1.1-inning loss to the Mets. Trevor Rosenthal (HE) is on the Duds list again? Imagine that. He faced 4 batters, retired none of them and allowed 2 runs. Buster Posey (LGM) went 1 for 3 and made his first error of the season. 

Scores

Retire 21 188, Arbitration Losers 177

Goldschmidt Happens 191, Fresh Fish 169

The Lumbar Yard 220, Pitch You Blockhead 159

Hundley Eyes 176, Misfits 169

Lawyers, Guns & Money 182, Rookies 139