BGB Fantasy League 2014 Week 9

We have a new leader this week in the BGB Fantasy League, with two teams just half-a-game behind in what’s proving to be a very competitive competition.

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Norwich No II	32	8	32	3	.289	.843	4	6	57	4	5.54	1.29	10
Mighty Slugs	31	7	30	7	.270	.779	3	4	48	1	4.28	1.30	2

 

The new team that the top are Norwich No II as they earned an impressive 10-2 victory over the Mighty Slugs.

Dee Gordon, Carlos Gomez and Matt Carpenter allowed the Slugs to put up a strong stolen base total (7) to win that category, but Norwich’s performance across the rest of the categories made it a comfortable match-up win. Kyle Seager went deep twice for No II, whilst Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen and Zach Britton picked up a combined seven saves.

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
The Cheddar Chasers	33	6	28	4	.281	.786	7	2	69	4	3.64	1.28	10
Iron Men	22	5	31	0	.231	.653	5	5	65	0	4.21	1.37	2

 

Next up were my own Cheddar Chasers who managed to match Norwich No II with a 10-2 match-up win over Iron Men.

Miguel Cabrera looks like he might be starting to hit like the two-time MVP winner he is and he put three balls over the fence and collected seven RBI in the process, whilst David Ortiz drove in six when he wasn’t arguing with David Price. Tim Hudson, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Jon Lester all earned two pitching wins apiece with Lester leading the week with 19 strike-outs.

As for the Iron Men, Devin Mesoraco provided three homers from the catching position, but they’ll be extremely glad to see slugger Jose Abreu returning to the White Sox’s lineup this week after his spell on the Disabled List.

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Orpington Isotopes	42	12	36	7	.298	.929	2	2	52	1	2.94	1.19	8
Bits & Bytes	20	3	12	0	.211	.561	3	3	34	0	2.51	0.87	4

 

Mark’s Orpington Isotopes took an 8-4 victory over Bits & Bytes with a strong offensive display that included four bombs from Nelson Cruz, three more from Lucas Duda alongside two homers, eight RBI and two stolen bases from Hanley Ramirez. Meanwhile it was a depleted showing from Bits & Bytes with their St. Louis contingent (Molina, Bourjos and Holliday) going strangely quiet.

The Bytes could rely on King Felix Hernandez to add a win and nine K’s to their total, yet the Isotopes were able to put up a good showing overall with all ten of the pitchers earning at least one strikeout.

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Batteries Essential	32	8	27	3	.260	.739	3	1	57	1	3.70	1.23	7
NE Riverkings	23	7	23	4	.233	.662	2	4	36	1	2.17	0.86	4

 

Batteries Essential stayed in second place after they completed a 7-4 win over NE Riverkings.

Pablo Sandoval, Yoenis Cespedes and Giancarlo Stanton all went deep twice for Batteries as they took five of the offensive categories. The Riverkings used just five pitchers on the week but they combined to three of the pitching categories with David Robertson and Cody Allen each collecting two saves and Chris Sale performing well despite having a rain-shorted start against Cleveland that limited his ability to clock up some K’s.

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Weston-Super-Sox	27	6	21	7	.281	.774	3	3	38	0	3.25	1.06	7
Angels of Ash Vale	35	9	30	4	.253	.761	2	0	41	0	5.07	1.39	4

 

George Springer’s continued hot streak helped the Angels of Ash Vale to split the offensive categories in their match-up against the Super Sox, but Weston’s pitching staff gave them the edge overall.

Zack Greinke provided a win and eighteen strike-outs, with Madison Bumgarner also adding a win and just getting into double-digits in the K column and Huston Street adding three saves for the Sox. Springer’s week for Ash Vale amounted to three homers, nine runs and seven RBI and they were quick to add another top prospect to their ranks in the Cardinals’ Oscar Taveras, although he wasn’t in Ash Vale’s starting line-up when he announced his arrival to the Majors with a home run.

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
London Bananas	28	5	29	6	.236	.643	5	1	50	1	2.39	1.11	7
Jesmond Dennings	19	4	21	3	.285	.735	7	0	34	6	2.81	1.02	5

 

Ryan Howard powered the Bananas with a four-homer, fourteen RBI week as they got the better of the Jesmonds 7-5.  Mark Reynolds was the only other Banana to go yard yet decent performances across the batting lineup kept them in good shape.

Jonathan Broxton led Jesmond’s pitching staff with four holds and their six pitching wins came from six different pitchers in a good combined effort. The Bananas were able to grab a few categories and the match-up thanks to Casey Janssen’s lone save of the match-up and double-digit strikeout totals from Cole Hamels and Kyle Lohse.

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Richie’s RBI’s	33	3	25	3	.319	.794	1	0	43	0	3.52	1.15	5
Northfleet Knights	22	7	33	3	.267	.757	4	5	48	1	3.92	1.29	6

 

Only one category score could separate the RBI’s and Knights last week and it went in favour of Northfleet.

Will Smith’s solitary hold was the only one of the contest and that proved to be decisive for the Knights in such a tight battle. Joakim Soria and Ernesto Frieri combined for five saves for Northfleet as the RBI’s pitchers didn’t really get going despite Masahiro Tanaka adding another win to his collection.

The RBI’s didn’t take their own category but the offense did well in average and OBP, with Adam LaRoche putting p good numbrs and taking two balls over the fence for good measure.

 

Team	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OPS	W	SV	K	HLD	ERA	WHIP	Score
Beck ‘Nams (GB)	31	5	21	5	.242	.685	5	0	55	6	3.81	1.33	6
Enfield Butchers	31	10	29	4	.278	.901	2	3	40	3	4.75	1.49	5

 

Finally, Beck’Nams narrowly got the better of last week’s league leaders the Enfield Butchers.

Edwin Encarnacion completed a torrid month by launching five homers on the week to help the Butchers’ cause, scoring nine runs and driving in ten along the way and Tyler Skaggs was the stand-out performer on the mound for Enfield with 15 K’s from his two starts.

Beck’Nams took four of the six pitching categories with 12 strikeouts each from Yu Darvish and Corey Kluber and two holds each from Junichi Tazawa and Jean Machi, but arguably the decisive category came on the offensive side of the ledger. A.J. Pollock may have broken his hand but he at least gave the Beck’Nams two stolen bases on the week and with Allen Craig, Jose Reyes and Norichika Aoki all adding a swiped bag too that was enough to take the category 5-4 and to make for a 6-5 match-up.

Week 10 match-ups

Norwich No II (1^st) v Bits & Bytes (15^th)

Batteries Essential (2^nd) v Mighty Slugs (13^th)

Enfield Butchers (3^rd) v Weston-Super-Sox  (11^th)

Cheddar Chasers (4^th) v NE Riverkings (16^th)

London Bananas (5^th) v Angels of Ash Vale (10^th)

Beck’Nams (6^th) v Orpington Isotopes (7^th)

Northfleet Nights (8^th) v Jesmond Dennings (9^th)

Iron Men (12^th) v Richie’s RBI’s (14^th)