Week 17: Friday's Roundup

Do yourself a favor and check out the video of Joc Pederson's line-drive homer to center. 

Studs: Jon Lester (M) scored a run and got the win while fanning 7 in 6 shutout innings. Max Scherzer (M) allowed 1 run and struck out 6 in a 7-inning win. Junior Guerra (GH) struck out 5 and allowed 1 run in an 8.2-inning win. Charlie Blackmon (GH) went 4 for 5 with 2 doubles, a run and a steal. Carlos Gonzalez (LGM) had an RBI double and a 3-run homer. Paul Goldschmidt (GH) doubled, singled twice, drove in 3 and scored. Brandon Phillips (R) had 2 doubles, an RBI single and 2 runs. Joc Pederson (AL) had a 2-run double and a 2-run homer. 

Duds: None.

Transaction: The Misfits activated OF David Peralta from the DL and moved Ender Inciarte to the bench. 

Scores

Fresh Fish 127, Hundley Eyes 123

Goldschmidt Happens 146, Retire 21 110

Arbitration Losers 106, Misfits 91

Rookies 114, Pitch You Blockhead 90

Lawyers, Guns & Money 138, The Lumbar Yard 98

Week 17: Thursday's Roundup

Call it petty, but every time Jonathan Papelbon makes the Duds list, his picture has a good chance of making it here.

Studs: Aledmys Diaz (Misfits) homered, doubled, scored twice and drove in 3. Tanner Roark (LY) had an RBI single and allowed 1 run in a 7-inning win, striking out 3.

Duds: Jonathan Papelbon (AL), demoted from the closer's role, gave up a run in a 0.1-inning outing, still stupidly managing to earn a hold for the "effort." Nolan Arenado (PYB) went 0-for-5 with an error. Jeurys Familia (FF) blew his second consecutive save, allowing 2 runs and striking out on in a 0.1-inning loss.

Transactions: Lawyers, Guns & Money activate 2B Dee Gordon from "DL" and bench 2B Derek Dietrich. Pitch You Blockhead place OF Peter Bourjos on DL and sign/activate OF Alex Dickerson.

Scores

Fresh Fish 109, Hundley Eyes 97

Goldschmidt Happens 95, Retire 21 87

Arbitration Losers 83, Misfits 51

Rookies 84, Pitch You Blockhead 75

Lawyers, Guns & Money 122, The Lumbar Yard 70

Week 17: Wednesday's Roundup

Freddie Freeman was one of 4 Studs from the Retire 21 lineup.

Studs: Jason Hammel (FF) struck out 7 and allowed 1 run in a 7-inning win. Stephen Strasburg (R) got the win and struck out 7 in 7 shutout innings. Gerrit Cole (GH) struck out 6 and allowed 1 run in a complete-game win. He also singled and scored. Adam Conley (LGM) singled, scored, drove in 2, got the win and struck out 6 in 6.2 shutout innings. Freddie Freeman (R21) went 4 for 4 with a double, a homer, a steal and 5 RBIs. Andrew McCutchen (R21) was a triple short of a cycle, scored twice and drove in 4. Jordy Mercer (R21) had an RBI double, singled twice and scored 3 runs. J.T. Realmuto (R21) doubled twice, singled, scored twice and drove in a run. 

Duds: Jeurys Familia (FF) blew a save for the first time in forever. He fanned 1 but allowed 2 runs in 1 inning and took the loss. Jonathan Villar (R) doubled but committed 2 errors and was caught stealing. Zach Eflin (AL) singled, made an error, allowed 7 runs and fanned 1 in a 5-inning loss. Anthony Rendon (LGM) went 0 for 3 with an error. 

Super Dud: Free agent outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis went 0 for 3 with 3 errors. Place your claim on him now! 

Scores

Fresh Fish 97, Hundley Eyes 69

Goldschmidt Happens 72, Retire 21 71

Arbitration Losers 77, Misfits 32

Rookies 83, Pitch You Blockhead 55

Lawyers, Guns & Money 107, The Lumbar Yard 41

Week 17: Tuesday's Roundup

Oh, great. Another American League guy for us to track. Thanks a lot, Padres.

Studs: Bartolo Colon (FF) struck out 8 and allowed 1 run in a 7-inning win. Tom Koehler (FF) got the win and fanned 5 in 6 shutout innings. James Shields (LGM) continued to be surprisingly competent, striking out 5 and earning the win in 7.2 shutout innings against the Cubs. Brandon Crawford (AL) can't decide whether to be a Dud or a Stud; he had a 2-run triple, singled twice and scored twice. Gregory Polanco (M) went 4 for 5 with a solo homer and a steal.

Duds: Jonathan Papelbon (AL) hilariously bungled another save opportunity, allowing 2 hits and 2 walks without recording an out (with the help of a timely error from Ryan Zimmerman). Papelbon allowed 3 runs — 2 earned — and took the loss. Randal Grichuk (M) and Aledmys Diaz (M) managed to stink up the doubleheader against the Mets. Grichuk went 0 for 4 with an error; Diaz was 1 for 8 with an error. Derek Norris (M) went 0 for 4 with an error. 

Scores

Fresh Fish 56, Hundley Eyes 45

Goldschmidt Happens 40, Retire 21 20

Arbitration Losers 55, Misfits 14

Rookies 54, Pitch You Blockhead 45

Lawyers, Guns & Money 67, The Lumbar Yard 23

Week 17: Monday's Roundup

Dioner Navarro prevents Javier Baez from grabbing
a knife that Baez hoped to use to cut up
those White Sox throwback uniforms. 

Studs: Javier Baez (GH) was a triple short of a cycle, stole a base, drove in 2 and scored twice. Jay Bruce (AL) hit a pair of 2-run homers. 

Duds: Adeiny Hechavarria (FF) went 0 for 3 with an error. Brandon Crawford (AL) went 0 for 2 with a run and an error. 

Note: The Mets-Cards game was rained out. There will be a doubleheader today. 

Scores

Hundley Eyes 5, Fresh Fish -1

Goldschmidt Happens 21, Retire 21 14

Arbitration Losers 17, Misfits 7

Rookies 28, Pitch You Blockhead 25

The Lumbar Yard 11, Lawyers, Guns & Money 5

Week 17 Transactions and Lineups

David Dahl - the next great Rockies outfielder?

Players acquired

• Rookies sign C Tucker Barnhart (July move #1).
• Goldschmidt Happens sign OF David Dahl (July move #3).
• Arbitration Losers sign SP Zach Eflin (July move #3).
• Hundley Eyes sign RP Aroldis Chapman (July move #3).

Players released

• SP Jon Niese
• RP Trevor Rosenthal

Players unprotected/available to be stolen

• none on Fresh Fish
• 3B Aaron Hill (Rookies) 
• C Francisco Cervelli (The Lumbar Yard)
• 2B Cesar Hernandez (Goldschmidt Happens)
• 2B Kelby Tomlinson (Misfits)
• SP Aaron Nola (LG&M)
• SP Matt Cain (PYB)
• 3B Conor Gillaspie (Arbitration Losers)
• none on Hundley Eyes
• RP Fernando Rodney (Retire 21)

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

• SP Brandon Finnegan (Rookies) and SS Trea Turner (FF) are also available to be stolen after spending four weeks on the bench.

Lineup changes

• Fresh Fish: None.
• Rookies: Bench C Cameron Rupp and SP Jeff Locke; activate C Tucker Barnhart and SP Jaime Garcia.
• The Lumbar Yard: Bench OF Ben Revere and SP Tyler Chatwood; move C Francisco Cervelli from DL to bench; place SP Hyun-Jin Ryu on DL; activate OF Chris Owings (from DL) and SP Jeremy Hellickson.
• Goldschmidt Happens: Bench SP Matt Wisler and OF Jason Heyward; place SP Wei-Yin Chen on DL; activate SP Michael Wacha and OF David Dahl.
• Misfits: None.
• Lawyers, Guns & Money: Bench OF Adam Duvall, SP John Lackey and SP Aaron Nola; activate OF Odubel Herrera, SP James Shields and SP Kyle Hendricks.
• Pitch You Blockhead: Bench SP Christian Friedrich; move SP Matt Cain from DL to bench; activate SP Colin Rea.
• Arbitration Losers: Bench OF Curtis Granderson, SP Archie Bradley and SP Bud Norris; activate OF Joc Pederson, SP Zach Eflin and SP Gio Gonzalez.
• Hundley Eyes: Bench SP Jon Gray and RP Seung-Hwan Oh; activate SP Patrick Corbin and RP Aroldis Chapman.
• Retire 21: Bench SP Brandon McCarthy; activate SP Steven Matz.

Week 16: The Check Swing

Christian Yelich is trying to seduce you with his dreamy eyes and his .325 batting average. 

With only 2 weeks left in the FBLG regular season, the playoff picture is beginning to take shape. Arbitration Losers, Rookies, Retire 21 and Hundley Eyes are in danger of missing the postseason — and 2 of those teams are 2nd and 3rd in points! Goldschmidt Happens seems to be in "wait till next year" mode, and the other teams appear to be playoff-bound.

1. Fresh Fish (2,807 points, 10-6, last week 1): Eighteen points from Adrian Gonzalez and Howie Kendrick in the Sunday night game pushed the Fish past the Losers for a 5-point win.

2. Hundley Eyes (2,788 points, 8-8, last week 4): The Eyes got big weeks from Jose Fernandez (39), Trevor Story (38) and Billy Hamilton (25) in a 78-point win against LGM. 

3. Arbitration Losers (2,719 points, 6-10, last week 5): Who's to blame for the 5-point loss? Well, Jonathan Papelbon was worth -5 himself on Sunday. Of course, Brandon Crawford posted a zero for the week. 

Christian Friedrich made 2 starts this week and totaled
-1 for Pitch You Blockhead, so he's our Dud of the Week.

4. Lawyers, Guns & Money (2,718 points, 9-7, last week 3): Carlos Gonzalez (19) was the leading scorer in a surprisingly "meh" week for the Fightin' Zevons. 

5. Pitch You Blockhead (2,709 points, 9-7, last week 2): PYB had only 5 players in double figures, posted a paltry 122 points ... and beat GH anyway. 

6. The Lumbar Yard (2,673 points, 10-6, last week 6): As usual, Anthony Rizzo (24) and Daniel Murphy (24) piled up the points, but the rest of the team was a train wreck in a blowout loss to the Misfits. 

7. Rookies (2,635 points, 7-9, last week 8): Christian Yelich (31), Matt Kemp (24) and Mark Melancon (22) did most of the damage in a victory against R21. 

8. Retire 21 (2,628 points, 7-9, last week 7): Francisco Liriano (22) and Freddie Freeman (21) were impressive, but no one else did anything of note against the Rookies. 

9. Misfits (2,613 points, 9-7, last week 9): Look at all that damage done by a couple of Dodgers — Justin Turner (33) and Scott Kazmir (32) — in a win against the Yard.

10. Goldschmidt Happens (2,356 points, 5-11, last week 10): Only 3 players had more than 13 points for GH, which appears poised to pick first overall in the 2017 draft. 

Week 16: Sunday's Roundup

Poor Papelbon. It's heartbreaking to see such bad things happen to such a good guy. 

Studs: Tyler Chatwood (LY) allowed only 1 hit, struck out 6 and walked 8 — that's not a typo — in 5 innings for the strangest win we've seen in a long time. Jay Bruce (AL) hit a 3-run homer, had an RBI single, stole a base and scored 3 runs. Nolan Arenado (PYB) hit a 3-run homer, doubled and scored twice. Wilson Ramos (PYB) homered, singled twice, drove in 3 and threw out a base-stealer. Adrian Gonzalez (FF) hit a grand slam, singled twice and scored twice. Howie Kendrick (FF) and Trevor Story (HE) each hit a 2-run homer, doubled and scored twice. Daniel Murphy (LY) doubled twice, singled, drove in 2 and scored 2 runs.  

Duds: Jonathan Papelbon (AL) allowed 4 runs and fanned 1 in a 0.2-inning loss. Christian Friedrich (PYB) allowed 5 runs in 3 innings. Carlos Gonzalez (LGM) singled and erred. 

Scores

Fresh Fish 177, Arbitration Losers 172

Rookies 171, Retire 21 150

Misfits 180, The Lumbar Yard 135

Pitch You Blockhead 122, Goldschmidt Happens 114

Hundley Eyes 213, Lawyers, Guns & Money 135