Playoffs, Week 5: Saturday's Roundup

Canadian hero Joey Votto is shown in his natural habitat.

Studs: Adam Wainwright (LY) singled and struck out 7 while allowing 1 run in an 8-inning win. Johnny Cueto (FF) had an RBI single, struck out 6 and allowed 2 runs in a 7-inning win. Hunter Pence (FF) went 3 for 3 with a homer and 4 runs. Jonathan Lucroy (FF) hit a 2-run homer and an RBI double. Joey Votto (AL) went 4 for 5 with a homer, a double and 2 runs. 

Duds: Jonathan Villar (R) went 0 for 3 and made his 27th error. Jon Gray (HE) got knocked around at Petco Park, allowing 6 runs — 5 earned — and striking out 3 in a 4-inning loss. 

Transaction: Hundley Eyes place OF A.J. Pollock on the season-ending DL and replace him with Marcell Ozuna. We hardly knew ye, A.J.

Final scores

The Lumbar Yard 194, Hundley Eyes 149 

Third-place final scores

Fresh Fish 162, Misfits 150 

Consolation scores

Lawyers, Guns & Money 158, Goldschmidt Happens 101

Retire 21 123, Rookies 121

Pitch You Blockhead 140, Arbitration Losers 123

Playoffs, Week 5: Friday's Roundup

Trea Turner has sparked the Nationals' offense despite being soaking wet.

Studs: Jose Fernandez (HE) struck out 14, allowed no runs and had a single in a 7-inning win. Jon Lester (M) struck out 7 in 7 shutout innings for the win. Trea Turner (LY) homered twice - including the game-winner - and drove in 3. Curtis Granderson (AL) homered, singled, scored twice and drove in 3. Tyler Chatwood (PYB) singled, tripled, scored, drove in 2 and allowed 1 run with 5 strikeouts in a 6.2-inning win. Mark Melancon (R) struck out 2 in a scoreless inning to earn a vulture win. Hunter Pence (FF) had 2 singles, 2 doubles and scored 4 runs.

Duds: Jedd Gyorko (AL) went 0-fer with an error.

Final scores

The Lumbar Yard 156, Hundley Eyes 122

Third-place final scores

Misfits 123, Fresh Fish 116

Consolation scores

Lawyers, Guns & Money 134, Goldschmidt Happens 91

Retire 21 112, Rookies 100

Pitch You Blockhead 118, Arbitration Losers 97

Playoffs, Week 5: Wednesday and Thursday's Roundup

Hernan Perez thanked his new owners with a 4-hit FBLG debut.

Studs: Ivan Nova (FF) singled and threw a complete game, allowing 1 run, striking out 4 and making an error in a win. Ryan Schimpf (LGM) homered, doubled and drove in 4. Jonathan Villar (R) hit 2 solo homers. Noah Syndergaard (HE) singled and struck out 7 in 5 shutout innings for the win. Hernan Perez (HE) doubled twice, singled twice, drove in 3, stole a base and made an error.

Duds: Santiago Casilla (R21) allowed 2 runs in 0.1 innings.

Transactions: Hundley Eyes place 3B Maikel Franco on irrevocable DL, sign and activate Hernan Perez. Arbitration Losers place 3B Matt Duffy on irrevocable DL, activate Jedd Gyorko. Rookies activate SP Stephen Strasburg from DL. Lawyers, Guns & Money activate 1B Justin Bour from DL; move Buster Posey from 1B to C and cut Travis d'Arnaud.

Final scores

The Lumbar Yard 120, Hundley Eyes 76

Third-place final scores

Fresh Fish 90, Misfits 85

Consolation scores

Lawyers, Guns & Money 104, Goldschmidt Happens 70

Retire 21 82, Rookies 74

Pitch You Blockhead 80, Arbitration Losers 74

Playoffs, Week 5: Tuesday's Roundup

The infuriating Wily Peralta had a big day Tuesday.

Studs: Anthony Rizzo (LY) homered twice and drove in 3. Yadier Molina (AL) had a grand slam and a pair of doubles. Ryan Braun (AL) homered, drove in 4 and scored 3 runs. Jeff Samardzija (PYB) struck out 9 and allowed 2 earned runs in a 7-inning no-decision, adding a single at the plate. Jonathan Villar (R) tripled, homered, scored twice and stole a base. Anthony Rendon (LGM) hit a grand slam. Wily Peralta (LGM) doubled, scored and struck out 6 in 7.2 innings, allowing 4 runs in the win.

Duds: Brandon Moss (M) scored a run and made an error.

Final scores

The Lumbar Yard 90, Hundley Eyes 37

Third-place final scores

Misfits 49, Fresh Fish 49

Consolation scores

Lawyers, Guns & Money 70, Goldschmidt Happens 14

Retire 21 53, Rookies 35

Arbitration Losers 46, Pitch You Blockhead 41 

Playoffs, Week 5: Monday's Roundup

Adam Wainwright almost made the Studs list for his batter's box offense alone.
(That's an inside joke referencing a term preferred by Mike Scioscia, in case you're wondering.)

Studs: The Lumbar Yard had 2 players fall just shy of hitting for the cycle: Corey Seager (LY) lacked only the triple, drove in 3 and scored twice. Trea Turner (LY) nearly did the same — he scored only once, though. Adam Wainwright (LY) doubled, singled, drove in 3 and scored; on the mound, he struck out 5 and allowed 4 runs in a 5-inning win. Carlos Gonzalez (LGM) hit a grand slam and doubled. Kyle Hendricks (LGM) struck out 6 and allowed 1 run in a 6-inning win. 

Duds: Matt Moore (M) allowed 6 runs and struck out 1 in a 2.2-inning loss. Mark Melancon (R) allowed 4 hits and 2 runs in 1 inning. Chad Kuhl (R21) allowed 3 runs and fanned 2 in a 2-inning loss. 

Final scores

The Lumbar Yard 44, Hundley Eyes 28 

Third-place final scores

Misfits 26, Fresh Fish 22

Consolation scores

Lawyers, Guns & Money 30, Goldschmidt Happens 5

Retire 21 22, Rookies 10

Pitch You Blockhead 10, Arbitration Losers 9

Week 23 (Playoffs, Week 5) Transactions and Lineups

Ryan "Jumbo" Schimpf is basically Dave Kingman playing second base.

Players acquired

• Lawyers, Guns & Money sign OF Yasiel Puig (September move #1), 2B Ryan Schimpf (September move #2) and SP Wily Peralta (September move #3).
• Arbitration Losers sign RP Jim Johnson (September move #1).
• Hundley Eyes sign OF Jose Peraza (September move #1).
• Retire 21 sign SP Homer Bailey (September move #1) and SP Chad Kuhl (September move #2).

Players released

• SP Matt Cain
• OF Peter Bourjos
• SP Zach Davies
• RP Tony Watson
• SP Jaime Garcia
• SP James Shields
• OF Odubel Herrera

Players unprotected/available to be stolen

• none on Fresh Fish
• 3B Aaron Hill (Rookies) 
• OF Melvin Upton, Jr. (The Lumbar Yard)
• OF Jorge Soler (Goldschmidt Happens)
• C Derek Norris (Misfits)
• SP Braden Shipley (LG&M)
• SP Jimmy Nelson (PYB)
• 3B/SS Jose Reyes (Arbitration Losers)
• OF Billy Hamilton (Hundley Eyes)
• OF Keon Broxton (Retire 21)

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

• SP Jeff Locke (Rookies), C Francisco Cervelli (LY) and OF Nick Markakis (R21) are also available to be stolen after spending four weeks on the bench.

Lineup changes

• Fresh Fish: Bench SP Tom Koehler and OF Yasmany Tomas; activate SP Clayton Kershaw and OF Hunter Pence.
• Rookies: None.
• The Lumbar Yard: Bench SP Robbie Ray; activate SP Luke Weaver.
• Goldschmidt Happens: None.
• Misfits: Bench 1B Brandon Belt; move Brandon Moss from OF to 1B; activate OF Ender Inciarte.
• Lawyers, Guns & Money: Bench 2B Dee Gordon, SP Braden Shipley, SP Julio Urias and RP A.J. Ramos; activate 2B Ryan Schimpf, OF Yasiel Puig, SP Wily Peralta, SP John Lackey (from DL) and RP Tony Cingrani.
• Pitch You Blockhead: Bench SP Christian Friedrich; activate SP Tyler Chatwood (from DL).
• Arbitration Losers: Bench 3B Jedd Gyorko, OF Joc Pederson and SP Reynaldo Lopez; activate 3B Matt Duffy, OF Curtis Granderson, SP Gio Gonzalez and RP Jim Johnson.
• Hundley Eyes: Bench OF Billy Hamilton; activate SP Jerad Eickhoff and OF Jose Peraza.
• Retire 21: Bench SP Francisco Liriano; activate SP Chad Kuhl and SP Homer Bailey.

Playoffs, Week 4: The Check Swing

Were 2 Braves the best players in FBLG this week? Sometimes baseball just doesn't make sense. 

Final matchup

The Lumbar Yard vs. Hundley Eyes 

Third-place final matchup

Fresh Fish vs. Misfits 

1. Fresh Fish (3,827 points, last week 1): Rick's team needed a big week to advance to the playoff championship series, but the Fish came up empty. Jeurys Familia led the team with 19 points, which means no one did anything outstanding. Adeiny Hechavarria (0) had the most nondescript week possible. 

2. Hundley Eyes (3,818 points, last week 2): The commishes didn't really do anything special, either; but it was enough to hold off the Fish and reach the title series. Jon Gray (21), Aroldis Chapman (19) and Yasmani Grandal (19) were fairly good, but Ben Zobrist (2) and Josh Bell (5) didn't do much. 

3. Rookies (3,725 points, last week 5): Don't look now, but the Rookies are making a push in the overall points race. They're also 2-0 in the consolation round — and this week, they'll face Retire 21, which is also 2-0. Matt Kemp (26) and Christian Yelich (25) were studly this week. 

4. The Lumbar Yard (3,709 points, last week 4): It's on to the championship series for Good Vertebrations, which got a surprising 19 points from Chris Owings. Corey Seager (2) was pretty mediocre, but you have to figure that won't last. Tanner Roark did his usual thing, posting starts worth 18 and 3. 

5. Lawyers, Guns & Money (3,685 points, last week 3): Yikes. Matt got 31 points from Carlos Martinez and still managed only 121 for the week. Buster Posey, Dee Gordon, Eduardo Nunez, Travis d'Arnaud, Carlos Gonzalez, Adam Duvall, Odubel Herrera, Julio Urias and A.J. Ramos failed to reach double digits. 

Jeanmar Gomez pitched 3 times and totaled -4 points.
That makes him a lock to be our Dud of the Week. 

6. Arbitration Losers (3,682 points, last week 6): Doesn't it seem like Madison Bumgarner (19) and D.J. LeMahieu (24) lead this team in points just about every week? Too bad Ryan Braun (5) and Reynaldo Lopez (2) were no-shows this time around. Tony Watson pitched only once and posted a zero. 

7. Retire 21 (3,623 points, last week 9): If the Rookies aren't the hottest team in FBLG, the Sons of Clemente certainly are. Who'd have figured Ray would get monster weeks from two Braves? Julio Teheran (39) and Freddie Freeman (27) were phenomenal. Matt Carpenter (3) was surprisingly bad. 

8. Misfits (3,585 points, last week 8): Reid's team went stagnant at the wrong time, scoring 137 points and falling 6 points short of advancing to the championship series. Brandon Belt (-2), Brandon Moss (0), Cameron Rupp (5), Justin Turner (7) and the Mets' second-base tandem of Neil Walker (0/DL) and Wilmer Flores (4) are the goats. 

9. Pitch You Blockhead (3,579 points, last week 7): Nolan Arenado (24) did typical Nolan Arenado things, but Wil Myers (13) was a pretty lame second-leading scorer for Scott. The 5 pitchers combined for only 19 points, which explains the 116-point output this week. 

10. Goldschmidt Happens (3,313 points, last week 10): All but 2 players reached double digits for Bill's team, which clearly had a point to prove after months of ribbing in this blog. GH winning the consolation round would certainly shut us up. 

Playoffs, Week 4: Sunday's Roundup

Chris Carter showed off his power
in a second consecutive game.

Studs: Julio Teheran (R21) got the win and struck out 7 in 6 shutout innings. Jean Segura (HE) went 3 for 4 with a double, 2 steals and 2 runs. Chris Carter (R) hit a 3-run homer, doubled and scored twice. Yangervis Solarte (GH) went 3 for 3 with a homer and 3 RBIs. 

Duds: None.

Semifinal scores

Hundley Eyes 162 (340), Fresh Fish 145 (301)

The Lumbar Yard 159 (337), Misfits 137 (332)

Consolation scores

Retire 21 195, Lawyers, Guns & Money 121

Goldschmidt Happens 180, Arbitration Losers 145

Rookies 188, Pitch You Blockhead 116